A water quality sampling system and method in which compact water impurity detector and monitoring units intended for domestic use are installed in a residential environment while detected values are electronically transmitted to a Central Monitoring Station (CMS), where customers can register and pay over the Internet. Using the impurity detector units, a portion of an incoming water stream is passed to an analyzer for detection of chlorine and various contaminants. The detector analyzes related data for determining the condition and extent of impurity in the water elements. This data is transmitted from a compact control box, known as the wall unit, that translates the data for output to the CMS, located in another geographic locale, via a common data acquisition network. This network can be the Internet or a cellular and/or satellite connection. Upon detection of contaminants above a threshold level, the monitoring device will make a sound through a wall unit located in the vicinity, to warn the average household tap water user of such unsatisfactory condition of his/her water elements, as the conditional values are sent using EDI onto the network, and then onward to the CMS website.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to water monitoring systems and, more particularly, to a system and method for monitoring the quality of tap water using a drinking water impurity detection system that simultaneously transmits and records water quality data, with interactive web-interface to facilitate user sign-up processes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The demand for purer water products is generally increasing. Government agencies need to produce higher quality water products, of the kind derived using chlorine in particular, in order to meet increasingly stringent safety and environmental standards, as well as to improve general operations. Additionally, due to the demand for purer tap water by its millions of household users worldwide, public health authorities are being increasingly compelled to monitor the various contaminants in the water stream during the various processes such as, for example, desalination, to ensure that the water meets the demand for purity and to be able to take rapid corrective measures to detect and/or reduce the contaminants when they do begin to appear. Particular contaminants, which may be present in the water and more particularly, in the chlorine content, are halocarbons, including methylene chloride, chloroform. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,654,201 discloses a representative chlorine quality monitoring system.) In order to monitor the water contaminants and have the ability to take corrective action, it is necessary that a suitable system and method be available which will accurately detect and measure such contaminants and which can also be used on-line at the household site, taking samples directly from its tap stream.
The primary causes of water pollution include household waste, industrial waste, farm pesticide(s) and the animal waste produced by hog and poultry farms which can result in the notorious E. coli strain of bacteria, responsible for a number of recent fatalities. As the pollution problems threatening the source of our drinking water such as the river become increasingly worrisome, people lose their confidence in the quality of the drinking water provided by the local water company and/or government ministries. In addition, people""s anxiety about the quality of their drinking water is further aggravated by the fact that the conditions of the water supplying pipes and reservoirs are often found to be unsatisfactory. Accordingly, a variety of water-treating devices such as water-filtering devices, water purifying devices, water softening devices, etc., have become ubiquitous in offices, homes, factories, schools, religious institutions and so on.
The conventional systems for water purification have now become passxc3xa9, creating the requirement for a new detection device and system, as opposed to a filter, that will serve this need to warn the average household user of a potential health hazard not only in the household, but quite possibly and much more probably, in the community at large. Existing systems, such as that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,865,991, can be used to warn individual consumers but fail to integrate water quality information from a plurality of consumers; such integration not only helps to identify the overall scope of an existing water contamination problem but also enables consumers to be pre-warned of potential problems through notification of surrounding water quality readings.
Even in the case of the average carbon or reverse-osmosis filters that are currently on the market, the purifying elements used there are generally replaced after a predetermined period of time of usage without knowing the actual condition of the elements themselves. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,024,867 discloses a water filter that displays the state of the life span of a filter cartridge therein, based on the amount of water which has passed through the filter. This approach assumes a relatively constant contaminant level in the incoming water and does not account for actual contamination which may increase in response to environmental or other changes. Hence, in many cases, overused purifying elements are not replaced in a timely manner, thus resulting in the consumer unknowingly drinking the poor quality water produced by such an ineffective water purification system. This scenario actually provides an excellent environment for bacteria and fungi to grow. Such overused and clogged elements would contaminate the water passing through the systems instead of purifying it. This illustrates the need not only for a filtration element, but more importantly perhaps, an impurity and contaminant identifier.
Representatively, U.S. Pat. No. 5,646,863 is directed to the detection of contaminants in water supplies of municipal utilities, industrial processes and surrounding water supply systems. Ground, surface or industrial water is pumped into a storage chamber and preconditioned for analysis. The water analysis structure is highly complex, including such elements as hydraulic module, fuzzy logic correlator and controller, neural network, etc., and does not represent a system that may be easily and effectively implemented within the household environment of a typical consumer for immediate tap water quality verification and which enables the consumer to receive feedback through a centralized monitoring station over a distributed computer network.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,494,573 teaches a water purification monitoring system for a beverage processing system. Various system characteristics are monitored using sensors, with data being transmitted to a remotely located computer for diagnosis. The system is designed to operate at the municipal water supply level for monitoring a primary water source, and is not a practical solution for residential water quality monitoring requirements on an individualized basis.
Previously, a common practice in home water monitoring has been to send an individual sample of water to be tested by way of a water-sampling laboratory, litmus tests, etc. It has become important, however, for public health bacteriologists to have a faster, more accurate way of measuring certain selected characteristics possessed by a single simple sample of common tap water. In addition, it is important to note that a single sample is of limited value. The most a single sample can show is the water quality at the time and place of sampling. Therefore, a system is needed whereby repeat samplings may be performed, such as every few weeks.
Whether one sample or many, the whole process generally needs to be expedited from a customer""s standpoint. Having an electronic file transfer of information pertaining to the above allows costs to be kept to a minimum. Although the traditional paper contract serves the purpose of security well, nowadays authentication systems have been developed specifically to ensure the enforceability of electronic contracts, as mentioned later in this document. One such method of authenticating electronic contracts in order to make them legally enforceable is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,191,613, which utilizes digital signatures.
There exists therefore, a significant need for further improvements: 1) in expediting the whole water monitoring process on an individual basis; 2) in water quality monitors for testing and indicating the relative quality of a tap water system, particularly a water quality monitor made responsive to the predetermined values of the unit so that accurate and reliable test readings will result in a more spontaneous fashion; 3) in regularly repeating the water sampling process in a convenient, cost-effective way; and 4) in integrating water quality data from a plurality of consumers through the means of today""s available technology to transmit information across vast distances, if necessary, to a Central Monitoring Station (CMS) through which customer feedback information is provided over a distributed computer network.
In light of the above, the primary object of the present invention is to provide an improved system and method for measuring chlorine and contaminants in tap water which allows for quickened response and recording for the user, measuring a plurality of different contaminants.
Another object of the invention is to disclose a novel apparatus for automatically making intermittent qualitative measurements of the properties of a water sample, in order to determine if the water meets certain predescribed standards as programmed, and then advancing informational values to the Central Monitoring Station (CMS) when the output water quality is below that standard.
It is another related object of the present invention to provide a water analyzing system of the aforementioned type which is particularly useful in determining if industrial water being drawn from a pipe is in a suitable unpolluted condition for an average household consumer.
It is yet another object to disclose an apparatus that can sense and sequentially record (on a single screen) a heavy metal level or other component content of a flowing sample of tap water, for example, a chlorine content, such that the user can always be assured that he/she has a reliable computer-charted representation of his or her water stream available within moments over a distributed computer network.
Another object of the invention is a technique for repeatedly testing water samples at a consumer""s tap which allows for valid comparison of data collected in different places at various times and identification of trends in water quality.
A further object of the invention is a method for using a computer system to facilitate a transaction between a customer and a company, comprising inputting into the computer a payment identification specifying a credit card account and simultaneously being automatically assigned a password unique to that customer, for sign-up to the water monitoring service and corresponding website of the present invention.
Yet another object of the invention is an integrated water monitoring and reporting system in which water quality data is collected from a plurality of consumers by a CMS and made available to the consumers on a web site accessible over a distributed computer network such as the Internet.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention may be achieved through the provision of a system and method of sensing the presence of various contaminants, chlorine, heavy metals, etc., in tap water, and providing a warning alert signal to the user in a more immediate and improved fashion. The present invention ensures that the tap water will maintain a quality of purity in conformity with the standard in public health for that region. The present invention is also adapted for notifying off-site maintenance personnel at a CMS of a hazardous public health situation, and recording the data for future reference. An added benefit to the user is the ability to sign up for the services immediately with the ability to choose the terms via live web interaction, and of viewing their water usage as well. This system and method may also be applied to business and industrial usage.
The method for monitoring the quality of drinking water according to the present invention comprises taking a sample in a stream of water, passing a portion of the sample to an analyzer, detecting the presence of chlorine, heavy metals, etc. in the sample stream, and passing that data (via EDI) regarding the presence of the detected material to a common data acquisition network, which could be wireless, for recording and data output at CMS, and then onwards to the website for customer queries.
The present invention comprises a system and method for monitoring the quality of water and transmitting that information. A preferred embodiment includes a line for taking a sample stream of water, an analyzer, a microprocessor control box, and a common data acquisition network. Lines may be provided for taking a plurality of portions of the sample and passing portions to the analyzer. The analyzer may be a halocarbon in chlorine analyzer, a fiber-optic based residual chlorine monitor, and/or an ultra-violet lamp/reactor located beneath the faucet tap water unit or adjacent an incoming water line near the hot water heater or pump, depending on the embodiment. The control box converts the signals and transmits them onto the network. A central monitoring station is provided for receiving data from the network and integrating and outputting that data.
Through the use of a suitable number of the aforementioned described instruments, it is possible to present concrete evidence on a charted record(s) or database, located at the CMS, showing the exact time at which a certain measured condition of the tap water indicated it to be contaminated and/or polluted. These values can be presented on a corresponding website within minutes of detection.
The present invention provides rapid analysis and reliability. There is no required maintenance for photometric devices, and no chemicals are required. The system exhibits no drift in the response over time and, for spectrophotometric devices, is not affected by interferences. Furthermore, the overall system is relatively portable. These and other objects are attained by the present invention which may be better understood from the following description, reference being made to the accompanying drawings.

Water quality monitoring and transmission system and method


Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, system for tile-based video streaming using a proxy executing at a mobile edge cloud, which adaptively offloads decoding and merging of video tiles from mobile devices to the mobile edge cloud. A processing system including the proxy communicates with a video server and a client device. The proxy receives a request for video content from a client device; the request includes historical field of view (FoV) information. The proxy predicts a client FoV, requests video tiles from the server, downloads the tiles from the server, generates a video chunk by decoding and merging the downloaded tiles, and delivers the video chunk to the client device. The client device performs local decoding and rendering of the generated video chunk. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Panoramic videos, including 360° videos also known as immersive or spherical videos, play a critical role in users' Virtual Reality experiences. Users can consume panoramic videos on mobile devices combined with affordable head-mounted displays.
In a segment-based video streaming scheme, segments of the presentation overlapping with a user's predicted Field of View (FoV) are delivered to the user device. Multiple video segments need to be decoded simultaneously in order to re-construct the corresponding FoV. For mobile devices having a limited number of video decoders, processing segments of panoramic videos can lead to unacceptable stall time and high energy consumption, which affects the quality of user experience.

Proxy assisted panoramic video streaming at mobile edge


A method and apparatus for location determination by a WLAN station is disclosed. The method can include a first WLAN station receiving a packet sent by a second WLAN station, deriving a channel quality metric for a channel between the first WLAN station and the second WLAN station, comparing the channel quality metric to a threshold, and calculating a distance between the first WLAN station and the second WLAN station in an instance in which the channel quality metric satisfies the threshold.

Wireless communication devices are often used within large facilities, such as airports, office complexes, stadiums, and the like, which can have a WLAN that includes a plurality of WLAN stations. A user of such a wireless communication device can wish to know his or her location within a facility, such as for purposes of indoor navigation. Techniques have been developed for a wireless communication device, operating as a WLAN station, to determine its location based on signaling that can occur with another WLAN station.
While these techniques have been developed to enable a wireless communication device to determine its location, location accuracy is fundamentally limited by the ability of a WLAN station to determine its distance from another WLAN station. In indoor conditions, the accuracy of a distance calculation can be severely affected by reflected signal paths resulting from a line of sight signal reflecting off of objects. As such, WLAN stations can often derive inaccurate location estimates based on inaccurate distance estimates and can expend overhead in terms of computation time and battery power calculating several distance estimates due to inaccuracies. User experience often suffers due to inaccurate location estimates and reduced battery life from performing several calculations.


An apparatus and method is presented for displaying auxiliary information associated with a multimedia program. Specifically, the present invention is directed to receiving program signals, acquiring auxiliary information (e.g. closed captioning information) from the program signals, associating time information with the auxiliary information, storing the auxiliary information in a file associated with program content, using the auxiliary information file and program content to determine candidate program portions for customization of the auxiliary information, and displaying customized auxiliary information with the program content in accordance with user selections (see FIG. 1). Using the present invention, users with differing abilities and/or preferences related to display of caption text may customize display of the caption information transmitted with television programs.

Programs transmitted for use with audio-video display devices (e.g. television programming) commonly include textual information embedded in the transmitting signal, known as "closed captioning." Closed captions may be displayed along with video portions of the program to assist those unable or unwilling to make use of the audio portion. For example, closed captions may include a textual transcript of the audio portion of a television program for use by hearing-impaired viewers, viewers in noisy environments, and viewers learning a language.
The display of caption information is largely controlled by parties other than the viewer, such as the broadcaster or program originator. For example, closed captions for most programming are displayed on two or three lines of the display screen, appear on-screen in a predetermined size and for a predetermined duration, and cannot easily be re-displayed once they disappear from the screen.
Because the display parameters are often predetermined, closed captions are usually "one size fits all" and hence may be unsatisfactory for some viewers. Viewers with a slower reading pace, for example, may find that captions appear and disappear more rapidly than desired. In another example, viewers in distracting or "multitasking" environments may desire that captions appear on-screen for a longer duration to permit comprehension even with intermittent viewer attention. In a further example, viewers with poor eyesight may desire that captions appear in a larger text size.
In addition, the "one size fits all" scheme for closed captioning is often unsatisfactory for individual programs or portions of programs. For example, dialogue between characters often occurs in bursts, and when caption information is similarly presented in bursts users may have a difficult time comprehending the dialogue. For another example, users of scientific and educational programming may desire that certain portions of a program be slowed to permit comprehension of complex or critical passages of caption text.
Therefore, there is a need for a system and method of customizing the presentation of caption information according to the desires of individual users. The desired system and method should permit users to determine display parameters such as size and presentation rate, and should permit display of caption text to be customized for particular portions of a program.


The invention relates to medicine, in particular, to gynecology and urology, namely, to for ligature delivery system for axial fixation of pelvic floor structures in pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence. Ligature delivery system for axial fixation of pelvic floor structures in pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence consisting of the mesh material that is woven from a non-biodegradable and biodegradable monofilament threads, according to the invention so that non-biodegradable threads are arranged along to the implant axis and are not linked with each other. The technical effect is providing the axial support that is physiological for apical structures of pelvic floor and minimizing risks of mesh-associated postsurgical complications.

POP is a condition developing due to a loss of a normal support of uterus, bladder or rectum with pelvic floor structures and leading to descent of one or more organs into vagina or beyond it (Haylen B. T., de Ridder D., Freeman R. M. et al. An International Urogynecological Association (IUGA)/International Continence Society (ICS) joint report on the terminology for female pelvic floor dysfunction. Int Urogynecol J. 2010; 21:5-26). Herewith, a prolapse in anterior and apical compartment are the most wide spread, which is met twice as frequently as posterior pelvic floor compartment (Barber M. D., Maher C. Epidemiology and outcome assessment of pelvic organ prolapsed. Int Urogynecol J. 2013; 24:1783-1790). The generally accepted main etiologic reason for developing POP is incompetence of attachments supporting pelvic organs.
SUI is a pathology associated with incompetence of attachments supporting urethra in an optimal condition providing urinary retention at increase of abdominal pressure. It is a wide spread social and economic problem. According to available data, up to 30% women in the world suffer from urinary incontinence (Fultz N. H., Burgio K., Diokno A. C., Kinchen K. S., Obenchain R., Bump R. C. Burden of stress urinary incontinence for community-dwelling women. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2003; 189(5):1275-1282).
An optimal type of surgical treatment of the said conditions is implantation of fixing material providing a recovery for supporting pelvic floor organs.
The most important aspect of surgery is a necessity of I level support repair (apical fixation of cervix or vaginal vault). Many authors have shown a key role for axial cervix support fixation of pelvic floor organs in a physiological position (Summers A., Winkel L. A., Hussain H. K., DeLancey J. O. The relationship between anterior and apical compartment support. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2006; 194(5):1438-1443; Chen L., Ashton-Miller J. A., Hsu Y., DeLancey J. O. Interaction among apical support, levator ani impairment, and anterior vaginal wall prolapse. Obstet Gynecol. 2006; 108:324-332).
There are some methods providing axial support for pelvic floor structures, which have specific advantage and disadvantages.
1. Ligature fixation of vagina to the sacrospinal ligament is an effective method of apical prolapse repair. The main advantage is absence of an implanted mesh material, which excludes mesh-associated postsurgical complications. The main disadvantages are the following: a need of a wide tissue dissection for access to the sacrospinal ligament is a technical difficulty, lateralization and tension of vagina at fixation result to a high risk of developing a pain syndrome and dyspareunia. A conventional case of the operation supposes hysterectomy, which causes additional risks (Paraiso M. F., Ballard L. A., Walters M. D., Lee J. C., Mitchinson A. R. Pelvic support defects and visceral and sexual function in women treated with sacrospinous ligament suspension and pelvic reconstruction. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 1996; 175(6):1423-1431; Sze H. M., Karram M. M. Transvaginal repair of vault prolapse: a review. Obstet Gynecol. 1997; 89(3):466-475).2. Sacrocolpopexy includes cervix or vaginal vault fixation with a mesh to the anterior longitudinal ligament of the spine in the sacrum area and it is performed via abdominal access. According to the Cochrane laboratory review, this method has shown a significant efficacy in patients having apical prolapse (Maher C., Feiner B., Baessler K., Christmann-Schmid C., Haya N., Brown J. Surgery for women with apical vaginal prolapse. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2016; 10:CD012376). The main advantages of the method are durable axial fixation and a possibility for uterine preservation. The disadvantages of sacrocolpopexy are a need of laparotomic or laparoscopic intraabdominal access, a dissection in the area of the sacral plexus, a long operation time, high requirements for a technical equipment to an operation room and qualification of a surgeon, complexity of simultaneous repair of II and III levels for support, high requirements to a patient somatic condition. Also, all the specific complications associated with implantation of a permanent synthetic mesh are intrinsic for this method.3. Transvaginal prosthetic reconstruction of the pelvic floor with sacrospinal fixation includes implantation of the mesh through the sacrospinal ligaments and its fixation to the cervix or the vaginal vault. The advantage of this approach is a possibility of simultaneous precise and durable repair of II and III levels for support, which is effective, the simplest for carrying out and undemanding to a special equipment. A pain syndrome after this type of surgery is met much rarer than after ligature fixation to the sacrospinal ligaments due to a tension-free fixation of apical structures. However, presence of the permanent implanted mesh material is also associated with specific complications: erosions and chronic pain syndrome.
According to studies performed earlier, a permanent presence of mesh causes development of complications, most of which are directly associated with an excess amount of the implanted material as well as its textile structure. On literature data, incidence of the described complications can achieve 33% (Falagas M. E., Velakoulis S., Iavazzo C., Athanasiou S. Mesh-related infections after pelvic organ prolapse repair surgery. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol. 2007; 134(2):147-156). Some authors mention relationship of erosion appearance mainly with properties of implants themselves as being a foreign body, they facilitate a development of a local inflammatory reaction and promotes formation of vaginal mucosal defects (Shah H. N., Badlani G. H. Mesh complications in female pelvic floor reconstructive surgery and their management: A systematic review. Indian J Urol. 2012; 28(2): 129-153).
Significant technical difficulties and respectively high intraoperative risks are caused by a removal of mesh in a case of development of complications. The problem is in a heavy ingrowth of fibrous tissues into a structure of the mesh implants that are multiple bound monofilament threads, removal of which is impossible by a simple traction or minimal dissection. In the case of ligature fixation the removal of threads from tissues or even simple cutting them is usually sufficient for cure.
Today there is a need to develop a method of pelvic floor repair, which would combine advantages of ligature fixation (safety and reversibility) and prosthetic surgery (minimal dissection, standardizing and physiological properties). Herewith, a novel approach should minimize a possibility for development of mesh-associated complications. Implementation of axial support should be carried out on a base of a minimal implanted material and a possibility of easy retraction of pelvic floor structures, which can be achieved by delivery of surgical ligatures unlinked between each other in an implantation area and arrangement thereof along fixation axis (axially). Therefore, development of a fully absorbable system for delivery of ligatures unlinked between each other, which are intended for axial fixation of pelvic floor organs, is based on a clinically and pathophysiologically based approach to prophylaxis of mesh-associated complications and maintenance of surgery efficacy.
Various modifications of meshes for pelvic floor repair are developed at present time (AU2012289928, publ. 6 Feb. 2014; U.S. Ser. No. 10/245,134, publ. 2 Apr. 2019; US2003191480, publ. 9 Oct. 2003; US20070282160, publ. 6 Dec. 2007). These implants are not universal and their application can lead to significant complications.
A mesh endoprosthesis TiGr-Matrix produced by Novus Scientific company (FDA K163005. URL: https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/cdrh_docs/pdf16/K163005.pdf, access date 13 Apr. 2020) is known, it is a composite film with thickness of 0.6-0.7 mm, made of fast- and slow-absorbing monofilament fibers. The fast-absorbing fibers consist of a copolymer of glycolide, lactide, and trimethylene carbonate and are approximately fully resorb for 4 months. The fibers with long term resorbing are made of a copolymer of glycolide and trimethylene; a time for full resorbing for them is about 3 years. The disadvantage of this mesh is its full absorption during 3 years, which can obviously lead to the recurrence due to disorganization of fibrous tissue after the disappearance of the foreign body in the tissues.
The mesh for surgical reconstruction of pelvic floor Prolift+M is known (Khandwala S., Jayachandran C. Transvaginal mesh surgery for pelvic organ prolapse—Prolift+M: a prospective clinical trial. Int Urogynecol J. 2011; 22(11):1405-1411), which includes a central part linked seamlessly with fixing tapes. This implant is made of a partially absorbing composite mesh consisting of equal parts of non-absorbing polypropylene monofilament threads and absorbing poliglecaprone monofilament threads. After the degradation of absorbing component in 2-3 months the non-absorbable one that is left on place still has mesh textile structure but with much lower surface density. As the mesh is in the implantation site all mesh-associated complications can occur.
A surgical mesh Proflex (Proflex Mesh. URL: https://samyangbiopharm.com/eng/ProductIntroduce/medical_device02_01, access data 13.04.2020) for reconstruction of fascial defects is known. It is made of bicomponent monofilament thread consisting of fibers of two types: non-biodegradable polypropylene threads and biodegradable threads of a copolymers of glycolic acid and caprolactone. The said mesh has the same disadvantages as the previous described prototype.
A mesh endoprosthesis Vypro II (EP1520552B1) made of equal amount of biodegradable polyglactine and non-biodegradable polypropylene multifilament fiber is the closest prototype in a technical substance to the claimed system. After absorbing of polyglactine component the polypropylene net is left in the surgery site, it gives to the implant all disadvantages of non-resorbing net implants. The surgical mesh Vypro II is associated with a high incidence rate of postsurgical complications: detachment of the mesh from apical compartment (20%), extrusion of the net into a vaginal cavity (14%), development of implant-associated pelvic pain needed to retraction of the said surgical mesh (18%) among them. An observation time for patients was 1 year (Maher C., Baessler K., Glazener C. M. A., Adams E. J., Hagen S. Surgical management of pelvic organ prolapse in women: A short version Cochrane review. Neurourol Urodyn, 2008; 27(1):3-12; ElHaddad R., Martan A., Masata J., Svabik K., Koleska T. Long-term review on posteriorcolporrhaphy with levator ani muscles plication and incorporating a Vypro II mesh. Ceska Gynekol. 2009; 74(4):282-285).

Ligature delivery system for axial fixation of pelvic floor structures in pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence repair


A seal assembly comprising a ring having radial and axial seals thereon positionable between mating parts for sealing flow of fluid from high to low pressure regions between the mating parts.

In machinery which processes fluid between high and low pressures there is a need to provide a seal between the high and low pressure regions in order to maintain efficient fluid processing operation. An example of such machinery is turbomachinery such as a turboexpander or a turbocompressor. Often the most appropriate place to position such a seal is between mating parts of such machinery since such mating parts will not form an effective seal just by themselves due to differential thermal movement of the parts, movement due to pressure differences, and fluid leakage because of the large pressure differences which are often involved. The machinery art has developed numerous seals for this application. Generally such seals are characterized by being on one of the mating parts and forms an effective seal when the other of the mating parts is properly positioned in the machinery.
A problem with this arrangement arises when the mating parts are such that their positioning is not easily observable with respect to the seal. That is, the positioning of the mating parts obscures vision of the seal as the parts are brought together. This creates the likelihood that the seal could be damaged during the assembly of the machinery and thus not function properly when the machinery is put into operation. The problem of seal damage during such a blind fit-up is even more acute when the sealing must be done in two directions e.g. both radially and axially.
Another problem arises if the parts themselves are misaligned initially or become misaligned during operation. Since the seal is on one of the parts, the misalignment compromises the effectiveness of the seal even if the seal itself is not damaged.
Accordingly it is an object of this invention to provide an improved seal assembly for sealing high and low pressure regions between mating parts of machinery.
It is another object of this invention to provide an improved seal assembly which reduces the likelihood of seal damage which might be caused when mating parts require a blind fit-up.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide an improved seal assembly which effectively seals high and low pressure regions between mating parts of machinery in two different directions.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an improved seal assembly which will enable effective seal operation even if mating parts are or become misaligned.


A computer-implemented method that includes receiving on a computer system, a price of a debt issuance; where the price of the debt issuance includes a cost for purchase of an embedded call option; calculating on a computer system, an actual cost of the purchase of the embedded call option; comparing on a computer system, the cost calculation of the call option to a rule based system of an alternative option type and a corresponding cost of the alternative option type; and determining on a computer system, based on the comparing step, the type of option to be embedded with the debt issuance.

Debt issuance call options are generally not "free"; they have a quantifiable cost separate and apart from the dollar price cost of the underlying bond being issued. Differently structured options have different costs, and different options have different likelihoods of being exercised over their life; as such, differently structured options can serve different purposes for issuers. These options can be consciously purchased, used and structured by issuers to achieve specific purposes.

Methods and systems for analysis, tracking and modifications of call options on debt issuances


In a network of object oriented distributed systems, a plurality of program code managers, each having access to a plurality of program code segment objects, a plurality of address space managers, each having access to a plurality of address space objects having linked program segment and symbol address information, and a plurality of trusted third party authentication managers are provided, thereby allowing a client process executing in non-supervisor mode to be able to dynamically link a program segment to either another program segment in another address space or a process in either another address space or the client's address space, without compromising the security of the systems.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the fields of distributed computer systems, distributed operating system, and object oriented programming. More particularly, the present invention relates to cross address space dynamic linking of program code segments at program start, and dynamic linking of a program code segment to a process.
2. Background
Today, most modem computer systems with virtual memory systems and multiprocessing allow more than one address space to be active at one time. The central processing unit (CPU) or units switch between the active address spaces at high speed. An address space is a range of logical addresses representing a range of memory locations within which programs and data may be stored.
Address spaces form a layer of security protection for the computer system. A process executing in non-supervisor mode in one address space typically cannot access another process executing in another address space, except through special means provided by the operating system. This prevents a process in one address space whose security has been compromised from damaging the entire computer system. A process is an instance of a program in execution.
On the other hand, operations performed by a process in supervisor mode are by definition secure. Entering supervisor mode before a process is allowed to perform operations on an address space therefore ensures that system security is not compromised. Thus, traditional operating systems typically require a process to enter supervisor mode before it can dynamically load a program into an address space. Loading a program into an address space involves obtaining memory from the operating system and associating the binary code of a program with the memory obtained.
If the program consists of several unconnected segments of binary code, and the segments of binary code have not been statically linked together before the program is loaded into the address space, the segments of binary code will have to be dynamically linked together after they are loaded into the address space, before execution of the program can be started. Typically, if the program has been statically linked, then only one "segment" of binary code is loaded, otherwise, more than one segment of binary code is loaded. Traditionally, operating systems also require the process to perform the dynamic linking in supervisor mode or within the address space where the program code to be linked is located. Linking segments of binary code involves resolving references in one segment of binary code which require addresses in the other.
Additionally, a dynamically linked program typically requires an initialization function to be called before starting execution. The initialization sets up the initial conditions required by the linked program's programming language run time system, and is necessary for the linked program to function correctly.
Supervisor mode cross address space dynamic linking was originally part of the Multix operating system and TENIX. Because it was perceived to involve excessive overhead, supervisor mode cross address space dynamic linking was dropped from most operating systems, until it was reintroduced in UNIX.TM. System V (Unix.TM. is the registered trademark of Unix Laboratory). Today supervisor mode cross address space dynamic linking is offered in OSF/1. For further description of supervisor mode cross address space dynamic linking under these operating systems, see E. I. Organick, The Multics System: An Examination of Its Structure, MIT Press, 1972, D. L. Murphy, Storage organization and management in TENIX, Proceedings of the Fall Joint Computer Conference, AFIPS, 1972, J. Q. Arnold, Shared Libraries on Unix System V, Summer Conference Proceedings, USENIX Association, 1986, and L. W. Allen, H. G. Singh, K. G. Wallace, and M. B. Weaver, Program Loading in OSF/1, Proceedings of the USENIX Winter 1991 Conference, 1991.
Non-supervisor mode dynamic linking within an address space was made available on the operating system SunOS 4.1, offered by the assignee of the present invention, Sun Microsystems, Inc. of Mountain View, Calif. (Sun.TM. is a registered trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc.). Under SunOS 4.1, a process without having to enter supervisor mode first, can dynamically link shared libraries into itself when it starts up. Because the non-supervisor mode dynamic linking is limited to linking shared libraries to the process itself, therefore a process with compromised security can only affect the address space within which the process is executing. For further descriptions of dynamic linking under SunOS 4.1, see R. A. Gingell, M. Lee, X. T. Dang and M. S. Weeks, Shared Libraries in SunOS, Proceedings of USENIX Summer 1987 Conference, 1987. A similar procedure is used for dynamic linking on UNIX.TM. System V Release 4, see System V Application Binding Interface, Prentice Hall, 1991.
While limiting dynamic linking across address spaces to processes executing in supervisor mode or processes within the address space where the program code to be linked is located has the benefit of preventing a compromised process from compromising the entire system, it severely limits the extent to which dynamic linking can be used to securely modify execution behavior of a process. Thus, it is desirable to allow a process executing in non-supervisor mode to perform dynamic linking across address spaces without compromising system security.

Non-supervisor mode cross address space dynamic linking


A precise, high speed CMOS track (sample)/hold circuit uses a first circuit leg including four Schottky barrier diodes configured to form a Wheatstone bridge, a second leg with a single n-channel MOS transistor, an essentially constant current source having MOS transistors, a capacitor for holding output signal, and reverse biasing circuitry having MOS transistors for selectively reverse biasing the four diodes. An analog input signal is applied to the cathode of the first diode and to the anode of the second diode. An output signal of the same magnitude and polarity as the input signal is generated at an output terminal (the cathode of the third diode and the anode of the fourth diode) of the circuit when current flows through the first circuit leg. When the current flowing through the first circuit leg is switched to the second circuit leg, the capacitor, which is connected to an output terminal of the circuitry, holds the generated output signal level and the reverse biasing circuitry reverse biases all of the diodes so as to isolate the capacitor from all other components of the circuit.

A track/hold circuit is an important component of a high speed Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC) which requires high speed accurate sampling of an analog signal. Typically to achieve 12 bit accuracy, the aperture jitter must be less than 0.01 nanoseconds for a 10 MHz signal sampled to an accuracy less than 1 millivolt. For a 10 bit video signal, the aperture jitter must be less than 0.06 nanoseconds. It is difficult to achieve such timing accuracy independent of the voltage level of the input signal which can vary in amplitude a few volts using the well know CMOS transmission gate (the parallel combination of an n-channel and a p-channel MOS transistor) as a sampling element. This transmission gate is not well suited for precise timing accuracy since the rise and fall time of the clock signals used to control same are typically in the order of 0.5 to 1.5 nanoseconds and their gradual shutoff characteristic could easily result in wide variation of the effective sampling time period as the input signal varies over the full scale range.
The fastest known commercially available track/hold circuits are hybrid-bipolar combinations which can not be commercially formed on a CMOS integrated circuit chip. In addition, these combinations are not as fast as may be required in very fast ADC's.
It is desirable to have a high speed ADC which uses only CMOS compatible components that can be fabricated on a Silicon-On-Sapphire (SOS) integrated circuit chip or on a conventional integrated circuit chip.

Precise, high speed CMOS track (sample)/hold circuits


Method and system to search for data objects are provided. The method comprises generating an attribute index and a content index. The attribute index comprises entries associated with respective access control information for a set of data objects and generating. The content index comprises words from the set of data objects. A search query directed at the set of data objects is processed by searching the content index, searching the attribute index, and obtaining a search result based on the results of searching of the content index and the attribute index.

Enterprise solutions use data objects to represent real world items and other information. For example, data objects can be used to store content including, but not limited to, text, images, graphics, video, and/or multimedia. A business object is a special type of data object that can be used to represent information related to a business including, but not limited to, folders, documents, bookmarks, materials, material lists, item lists, data sheets, presentations, and text documents.
Data objects can be used to support collaborations, competitions, or official tenders. For example, a public tender can be implemented using a public folder, in which each bidding party can have a reserved area with folders. Inside these folders, bidding parties can read tender documents for particular items, store their bids, and store additional data and communications between parties. Since the data objects are stored centrally, access rights to the data objects need to be managed. For example, it should be possible to prohibit certain users from accessing all data objects. That is, two bidding parties should not be able to access each others' bidding or communication objects.
Data objects also store metadata. Metadata is data that not directly related to object content. Metadata can include object attributes, such as object identifiers, object names, time stamps, access control attributes, object locations, times of object creation, creator names, object change times, identities of users making changes, and the like. Access control attributes may specify who has access to a particular data object.
In more detail, the access control attributes can specify the identity of a user, a group of users, and/or users having a particular role, who have access to data objects. The access control attributes can also include access right information. Access right information specifies an extent of access. For example, certain users may be permitted only to read a data object, whereas other users may be permitted both to read and to edit the data object.
Search engines may be used to search databases, including databases that contain data objects. One disadvantage of conventional search engines is that they do not take user access rights into account when returning search results.
Like reference numerals in different figures denote like elements.


In the invention the blade is an "Z" like shaped plate consisting of two pitched or inclined edges for cutting grass with two opposite curved sides having series of vanes disposed on their top surface that increase the output of air power of the said blade, and a disposed through hole that accommodate the power lawn mower blade shaft for securing the blade thereto.

The background art or Prior Art power lawn mower blade is rectangular in shape with two pitched or inclined edges for cutting grass disposed on two of its right angle sides, and provided with a through hole for its attachment to a power lawn mower blade shaft, with its sole purpose and intent to cut grass and discharge the grass clippings into the grass catcher or through a deflector. Therefore, air created naturally by the Prior Art power lawn mower blade spinning and with its ridge for discharging grass clippings, is not only inefficient for blowing leaves, its incapable of producing air output for blowing leaves comparable to leaf blowing machines. These disadvantages are overcome by my invention of an "Z" like shaped blade with two curved sides that enable a series of vanes to be disposed on their surface that increase the blade out-put of air power.


A relatively short cable connects a surface vessel with an underwater vehe such that the cable does not assume a linear or straight path, but is instead provided with an arcuate shape to avoid snap loads in the cable. Floatation devices are secured to spaced locations on the cable to provide this non-linear cable configuration. The devices are balloons that exert restoring forces on the cable as required to avoid snap loads as the surface vessel heaves up and down due to wave action or the like.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to alleviating the transient loads on a towing cable provided between a surface vessel and an underwater vehicle, and deals more specifically with a means for accommodating a relatively short cable between the surface vessel and the underwater vehicle so as to avoid snap loads on the cable caused by the alternate lack of tension and tension loads created by the heaving motion of the surface vessel in a sea state with significant wave formation.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Snap loads are a significant problem when towing heavy underwater bodies. Such tow systems are characterized by a tow cable of short scope with very little curvature since the cable shape is dominated by the body weight. In addition, the short cable leads to a very large incidence angle, that is the angle formed by the cable and the horizontal.
As the ship heaves downward due to wave motion, the cable becomes slack, and the body goes into free fall. When the ship heaves upward the cable suddenly becomes taut with the result that the towing vessel and the towed body or vehicle have different and perhaps opposite vertical velocity components. While this motion may tend to stretch the cable the inertia of both the ship and the towed body are brought to zero in a very short time as a result of a surge in cable tension (the snap load). Snap loads are particularly troublesome when the cable scope is relatively short as is generally the case for heavy underwater bodies being towed. The short cable has very little stretch because of its length.
Present systems for suppressing snap loads generally function by keeping the cable taut by compensating for this heaving motion of the towing vessel. Such systems have the drawback of causing cable fatigue at the point of contact between the tension reducing system and the cable itself.
The provision for buoys on floating cables is well known. However, these buoys are not designed to suppress snap loads in a tensioned or taut cable. They are generally used only to keep the cable afloat or to maintain it at a desired depth. Two patents that are exemplary of this general concept of floating cables are 3,698,348 and 4,313,392.
More typical for suppressing snap loads and towing cables are more complicated devices such as those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,964,491 and 5,140,927. The '491 patent discloses a system for alleviating snap load intensity by providing a spring hydraulic hooking device that deflects when a snap load is imposed on the cable. The '927 patent discloses a motion compensating and tension control system for the surface vessel, the cable being supported at the submersible vessel by a carriage with spring restrained motion that is intended to compensate for wave induced surface vessel motion.

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


This invention discloses a lubricating mechanism of a hermetically sealed scroll type compressor in which an inner chamber of a housing is kept at suction pressure. The compressor includes a drive shaft supported by bearings in inner blocks. The drive shaft is operatively linked to an orbiting scroll which orbits within a stationary scroll. A rotation prevention device prevents rotation of the orbiting scroll. The drive shaft includes an axial bore extending from an open end and terminating adjacent a forward bearing. A pin extends from the end of the drive shaft to the orbital scroll. A passage links the axial bore to an opening at the end of the pin facing the orbital scroll. Radial bores are provided near the terminal end of the axial bore and at the rearward end of the axial bore near a rearward bearing. The radial bores link the axial bore to a suction chamber of the compressor to allow lubricating oil to lubricate the bearings. The narrow passages allows lubrication of the rotation prevention mechanism. In a second embodiment the suction chamber is divided into two sections by a partition wall. An inclined passage links the two sections to allow the lubricating oil to flow.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a scroll type compressor, and more particularly, to a lubricating mechanism for a hermetically sealed scroll type compressor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A hermetically sealed scroll type compressor is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 61-87994 and is shown in FIG. 1. A hermetically sealed housing includes inner chamber 1 which is maintained at discharge pressure. However, the compression mechanism including interfitting scrolls 2 and 3 and the forward end of the drive mechanism are isolated from inner chamber 1 behind partition 4. Channel 5 links intermediate pocket 6 of the interfitting scrolls with chamber 7. Refrigerant gas flows through inlet port 8 and is compressed inwardly by the scrolls towards central pocket 9, and flows to discharge chamber 12 through hole 10 and eventually outlet port 11 to an external element of the refrigeration system. Some of the refrigerant gas also flows to inner chamber 1.
The intermediate pressure in pocket 6 is maintained in chamber 7 which contains the forward end of the drive mechanism including bearings 14-16. When the compressor operates, lubricating oil mixed with the refrigerant gas, which settles at the bottom of inner chamber 1, flows through channel 13 to lubricate bearings 14-16 of the drive mechanism due to the pressure difference between inner chamber 1, which is maintained at the discharge pressure, and the intermediate pressure.
However, it is difficult to utilize the above type of lubricating mechanism in a hermetically sealed scroll type compressor in which the inner chamber is maintained at the suction pressure. Since the suction pressure is lower than the discharge pressure and the intermediate pressure, the lubricating fluid will not flow to the drive mechanism in this type of compressor.

Hermetic scroll type compressor having two section chambers linked by inclined oil passage


A spring modulation is proposed to regulate the output voltage of a voltage regulator. The spring modulation comprises a differential amplifier to generate a pair of voltage signal and current signal varied with the difference between a reference signal and a feedback signal related to the output voltage, and a PWM generator to generate a PWM signal in response to the pair of voltage signal and current signal to regulate the output voltage, in such a manner that, in load transient, the greater the difference between the feedback signal and reference signal is, the greater the on-time duty-cycle of the PWM signal is.

Voltage regulator has been applied in various electronic products to provide stable supply voltages for load on the voltage regulator. FIG. 1 schematically shows a typical voltage regulator 10 operated with constant on-time duty-cycle, which comprises a pair of high side MOS transistor 12 and low side MOS transistor 14 coupled between input voltage VIN and ground GND, inductor 18 coupled between the phase node 16 between the MOS transistors 12 and 14 and output VOUT of the voltage regulator 10, output capacitor COUT coupled between the output VOUT and ground GND and having equivalent series resistance (ESR) RESR, resistors R1 and R2 coupled in series between the output VOUT and ground GND to divide the output voltage VOUT to generate feedback signal VFB, error amplifier 20 to compare the feedback signal VFB with reference voltage VREF to generate error signal PM for constant on-time circuit 22 to generate a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal PWM accordingly, to switch the MOS transistors 12 and 14 by driver 24 to thereby produce an output current IOUT flowing through the inductor 18 to charge the output capacitor COUT to produce the output voltage VOUT supplied to load 26.
In the voltage regulator 10, the PWM signal has a constant on-time duty-cycle. However, the switching frequency of the PWM signal is variable. FIG. 2 shows waveforms of the output voltage VOUT and PWM signal in the voltage regulator 10, in which waveform 50 represents the output voltage VOUT and waveform 52 represents the PWM signal. As shown at time T in FIG. 2, when the load 26 changes from light to heavy, the output voltage VOUT drops down instantly, causing a greater difference between the feedback signal VFB and reference voltage VREF, which reflects on the error signal PM, having the constant on-time circuit 22 to increase the switching frequency of the PWM signal. As a result, the high side MOS transistor 12 turns on more frequently, and thereby the output voltage VOUT recovers back to the original level gradually.
In response to load transient, it is the switching frequency, but not the on-time duty-cycle, of the PWM signal being varied in the voltage regulator 10, and this constant on-time duty-cycle operation is easily to cause the output voltage VOUT to overshoot, as shown by the dotted curve 54 in FIG. 2. Therefore, the system becomes not stable, and the output capacitor COUT is required to have larger capacitance, resulting in higher cost and poor conversion efficiency.

Spring modulation with fast load-transient response for a voltage regulator


A hybrid axle assembly that includes a housing assembly, a differential assembly received in the housing assembly, and an inside-out motor. The differential assembly is rotatable about a differential axis and has a differential input and a pair of differential outputs. The inside-out motor has a stator, which is fixedly coupled to the housing, and a rotor. The stator is disposed circumferentially about the differential input. The rotor is disposed circumferentially about the stator such that the stator is disposed radially between the differential input and the rotor. The rotor is drivingly coupled to the differential input.

This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Hybrid axle assemblies are increasingly popular in modern automotive vehicles. Despite their increasing popularity, such devices are susceptible to improvement, for example to incorporate a two-speed transmissions between an electric motor and a differential assembly, to render he hybrid axle assembly easier to incorporate into a vehicle, and/or to increase the power-to-weight ratio of the hybrid axle assembly.

Hybrid axle assembly having inside out motor and ring gear directly supported on an axle housing


The disclosure provides a method and apparatus for processing service of wireless communications. The method includes that: a network side receives a request message which is sent by a terminal and used for creating a service (S102); after determining that the terminal is in a handover process, the network side notifies the terminal to delay the creation of the service (S104); and after the handover process is completed, the network side receives the request message which is resent by the terminal, and creates the service (S106). The disclosure solves the problem that when handover process is carried out, a User Equipment (UE) cannot ensure that a service is initiated normally, thereby ensuring that the service which is initiated in a handover process can be initiated normally and is not affected because of the handover process, and improving the user experience.

In wireless communications, two types of services may coexist generally. For example, a trunking communication service and a common service coexist probably. The problems which may be caused by the coexistence of two types of services in the wireless communications are explained below by taking the above-mentioned two specific types of services as an example.
The trunking communication service is a half-duplex bidirectional service and realizes one-to-many communications. The characteristics of the trunking communication service is that one user is talking while one or more users are listening. After users who need to talk initiates talk permission requests, a network decides who can obtain a talk permission in accordance with a certain seizing policy. This user who obtains the talk permission will become a talk user, and other users in a trunking group will become listen users. Thus, the talk permission can be repeatedly exchanged to make the users in the trunking group talk and communicate until this trunking call is ended.
A trunking system is frequently used in the fields of emergency, job scheduling, traffic guidance and the like. In a using process of trunking User Equipment (UE), the trunking UE will frequently move from one cell to another cell. In a system supporting concurrence of a Long Term Evolution (LTE) common service and a trunking service, LTE common services and trunking talk users have Radio Resource Control (RRC) links, while trunking listen users do not have the RRC links.
In the case that the UE moves within a cell, there is a scene, in which the RRC links exist, in a handover process controlled by a network side. In the handover process, it cannot be ensured that a service initiated during the handover process is initiated normally in the relevant art.

Method and apparatus for processing service of wireless communications


A nonvolatile semiconductor memory device includes: a memory cell array which has a plurality of first lines, a plurality of second lines intersecting the plurality of first lines and a plurality of memory cells which store an electrically rewritable resistance value as data in a non-volatile manner; a first decoder which is connected to one ends of the plurality of first lines and selects the first lines; a second decoder which is connected to the plurality of second lines and selects the second lines; and a voltage applying circuit which is connected to one of the first and second decoders and which applies a predetermined voltage between the first and second lines selected by the first and second decoders. The second decoder sequentially selects the second lines in a direction from the other ends to the one ends of the first lines.

1. Field
Embodiments disclosed herein relate to a non-volatile semiconductor memory device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, as succeeding candidates of flash memories, resistance change memory devices which use variable resistance elements as memory elements are gaining attention. Meanwhile, the resistance change memory devices include, for example, a narrowly-defined resistive RAM (ReRAM) which stores a resistance value state of a transition metal oxide in a non-volatile manner using the transition metal oxide for a recording layer, and a phase change RAM (PCRAM) which utilizes resistance value information of a crystalline state (conductor) and non-crystalline state (insulator) of chalcogenide using, for example, chalcogenide for a recording layer.
Memory cells of the resistance change memory device are known to have two types of operation modes. One mode is directed to setting a high-resistance state and a low-resistance state by switching the polarity of an applied voltage, and is referred to as "bipolar type". The other one is directed to setting a high-resistance state and a low-resistance state by controlling a voltage value and a voltage application time without switching the polarity of the applied voltage, and is referred to as "unipolar type".
To realize a high density memory cell array in a resistance change memory device, the cell array is formed by overlaying variable resistance elements and rectifying elements such as diodes on intersection parts of bit lines and word lines. Further, by providing a three-dimensional layered alignment of this memory cell array, it is possible to realize a large capacity without increasing a cell array area.
To function the resistance change elements as memory cells of the resistance change memory, it is necessary to perform forming as an initial setting operation. This forming is performed by applying a high predetermined voltage compared to data writing to variable resistance elements, forming current paths in the variable resistance elements and setting a predetermined resistance state, for example, a low-resistance state. Data is written in the memory cells for which this forming is performed, by applying a predetermined voltage to variable resistance elements for a short time in case of a unipolar type ReRAM. As a result, the variable resistance elements change from a high-resistance state to a low-resistance state. Hereinafter, an operation of changing these variable resistance elements from a high-resistance state to a low-resistance state is referred to as a setting operation. By contrast with this, data is erased from the memory cell by applying a low predetermined voltage compared to the setting operation for a long time, to the variable resistance elements in the low-resistance state after the setting operation. By this operation, the variable resistance elements change from a low-resistance state to a high-resistance state. Hereinafter, an operation of changing these variable resistance elements from a low-resistance state to a high-resistance state is referred to as a resetting operation. The memory cell, for example, places a high-resistance state in a stable state (reset state) and, to store binary data, writes data by the setting operation of changing the reset state to the low-resistance state.
With this resistance change memory device, upon forming, setting or resetting, a consumption current increases, or error setting or error resetting occurs due to a leak current to the memory cells other than target memory cells or wiring resistance.

Non-volatile semiconductor memory device


The invention relates to classification, diagnosis and treatment of cancers. In one embodiment, the present invention provides methods and kits that classify cancers into various subtypes based on expression patterns of AKT pathway components. In another embodiment, the present invention provides methods and kits that diagnose cancer subtypes by evaluating expression patterns of AKT pathway components. In still another embodiment, the present invention provides methods and kits that treat a cancer subtype by administering an alkylating agent or a PI3K/AKT/mTOR inhibitor to a patient. Cancers suitable with various embodiments of the invention include but are not limited to brain tumors, gliomas and GBM.

All publications cited herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety to the same extent as if each individual publication or patent application was specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference. The following description includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the presently claimed invention, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
WHO grade IV astrocytoma or glioblastoma (GBM) are the most common primary brain tumors and, unfortunately, the most aggressive. Median survival of patients harboring these tumors is approximately 14 months. Despite a committed effort to investigate new chemotherapies, molecularly targeted therapies, immunotherapies, surgical and radiological approaches, there has been little improvement over the last 30 years. Inadequate classification of GBM may have contributed to the difficulty of developing new therapies by decreasing power of clinical trials and underestimating benefit of class-specific drugs. It may also have confounded discovery of class-specific pathways and drug targets.
GBM diagnosed by histopathology is a collection of molecular and clinical subtypes. For example, there are two classes of GBM based on clinical presentation [1], [2]. Primary GBM arise de novo in older patients and are associated with poorer prognosis. Secondary GBM are rare (˜5-10% of total GBM), progress from lower grade tumors, occur more frequently in younger patients with better prognosis and have a different molecular profile. Studies using gene expression, DNA copy number, miRNA, and DNA methylation show these molecular characteristics can divide GBM into subclasses, some with different clinical characteristics [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [9]. Three subtypes emerged in early studies of WHO grade IV GBM (studies that combine histological subtypes or grades of glioma and use molecular classification to distinguish them are excluded from this discussion). These were called proneural (PN), Proliferative (PROLIF) and mesenchymal (MES) and each had characteristic clinical and molecular features [4]. Later approaches find 3-5 GBM subtypes including the PN, MES and Classical (CLAS) subgroups [8], [9], [10], [11]. DNA methylation identifies a subset of PN tumors with glioma CpG island methylator phenotype (GCIMP) that are younger, longer surviving and tightly associated with IDH1 mutations [8].
However, molecular classification of GBM is still in its infancy. There is no consensus on the number of subtypes and which classifiers should be used to classify them. In addition, there is considerable reassignment of tumors to different classes depending on classifier used. There is also little information on which oncogenic pathways are active in subtypes and how subtypes respond to standard and experimental therapeutics.
Alterations in the growth factor receptor/phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/AKT (GFR/PI3K/AKT) pathway occur in most human cancers including at least 85% of GBM [10]. Pharmacological inhibition of the GFR/PI3K/AKT pathway is a promising strategy for anti-cancer therapy [12], [13]. However, while sporadic responses have been reported, clinical trials of pathway inhibitors in GBM have been largely disappointing [14].

Diagnosing IDH1 related subgroups and treatment of cancer


Disclosed is a metal-based composite material comprising aluminum or an aluminum alloy combined with a whisker of aluminum borate represented by the chemical formula of 9Al.sub.2 O.sub.3.2B.sub.2 O.sub.3 or 2Al.sub.2 O.sub.3.B.sub.2 O.sub.3. This composite material has excellent mechanical properties such as high tensile strength and high hardness.

(1. ) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an aluminum type metal-based composite material comprising an aluminum borate whisker as a reinforcer, and a process for the preparation thereof.
(2) Description of the Related Art
With recent technical development in various industries represented by the aerospace industry, the demand for a new material having higher strength, elasticity and hardness and capable of resisting a higher temperature than conventional metal materials is increasing.
Among metal materials, aluminum and aluminum alloys have a low specific gravity and an easy workability and are supplied at low costs, and therefore, they are widely used as materials having high strength and heat resistance in various fields for airplanes, automobiles, construction materials, chemical machines and the like.
As the means for improving the mechanical properties of aluminum type metals, there have been vigorously investigated methods of forming composite materials by combining an aluminum type alloy with a whisker or fiber of a material having high strength and elasticity, such as silicon carbide, silicon nitride, carbon, alumina or potassium hexatitanate, as a whisker or reinforcer, and as the composite-forming method, there are known a hot press method, a HIP method, an infiltration method, a powder metallurgy method, a high-pressure casting case method and a hot extrusion method.
In the production of an aluminum type metal-based composite material, it is important that a reinforcing whisker or fiber should have a high wettability with and be inert to a melt of aluminum. However, reinforcers having such properties are limited in number and most of whiskers and fibers are practically used in the state where the surface is coated with an inert compound.
Among these reinforcers, an alumina type fiber or whisker and a silicon carbide whisker satisfy the above-mentioned two-requirements and are promising as a reinforcing material. However, since they are expensive, they can hardly be applied to general-purpose uses for automobiles, construction materials and the like, though they may be used in the aerospace industry.
At the present, from the economical viewpoint, only a whisker of potassium hexatitanate can be used as a general-purpose reinforcer for the production of an aluminum type metal composite material. However, this compound has an inherent problem in that tetravalent titanium is reduced with metallic aluminum and an intermetallic compound such as Ti.sub.3 Al is formed.
Accordingly, this reducing reaction is controlled by shortening the heat treatment time to the utmost, but in this case, the process becomes defective in that no satisfactory composite effect can be attained.

Metal-based composite material and process for preparation thereof

Agency of Industrial Science & Technology


An adhesive layered backflow preventer laminate, for use in impeding airflow from flowing in a backflow direction through the backflow preventer and a corresponding cooling fan, includes a thin front support layer adhered to a thin backflow flap layer, having a plurality of backflow flaps, which is adhered to a thin rear support layer. Each of the structural layers is adhered to the adjacent structural layer using a respective double-sided adhesive layer, by way of a manufacturing process that avoids the use of costly injection molded parts and machined plastic parts and metal components such as springs and hinges.

As networked computer systems grow in numbers and capability, there is a need for more storage system capacity. Cloud computing and large-scale data processing further increase the need for digital data storage systems that are capable of transferring and holding significant amounts of data. Data centers typically include many rack-mountable storage units that are used to store the large amounts of data.
One approach to providing sufficient data storage in data centers is the use of arrays of data storage devices. Many data storage devices can be housed in an electronics enclosure (sometimes referred to as a "rack"), which is typically a modular unit that can hold and operate independent data storage devices in an array, computer processors, routers and other electronic equipment. The data storage devices are mounted in close proximity to each other within the electronics enclosure, so that many data storage devices can fit into a defined volume. Operating many data storage devices within close proximity within the electronics enclosure can create heat issues, which can in turn lead to premature failure of the data storage devices.
Rack systems typically include fans or other cooling devices. Thus, with rack-mounted devices that utilize forced air convection for cooling, maintaining a continuous flow of air throughout the system is of utmost importance. A detrimental phenomenon experienced by such systems is that of backflow air loss, which is recirculation of air within the system rather than through the designated air channels. For example, if a fan fails in an electronics enclosure having two or more fans, the failed fan may become the pathway of least resistance for airflow and therefore may divert cooling airflow away from the data storage devices.
Any approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.


An integrated Land Mobile Radio (LMR) system enables communication between a trunking LMR system and a conventional LMR system. The trunking LMR system includes a trunking site controller including a first network gateway router. The trunking LMR system includes at least one trunking control channel and a plurality of trunking traffic channel. The trunking traffic channels each are assigned to a specific trunking LMR subscriber by the trunking site controller to enable the trunking LMR subscribers to communicate with one another. The conventional LMR system includes a conventional site controller including a second network gateway router connected to the first network gateway router by a data network. The conventional LMR system includes a plurality of conventional traffic channels. The conventional traffic channels are each assigned to a specific conventional LMR subscriber by the conventional site controller to enable the conventional LMR subscribers to communicate.

LMR systems are deployed by organizations requiring instant communication between geographically dispersed and mobile personnel. Typical users of LMR systems include police departments, fire departments, medical personnel, EMS and the military.
Current LMR systems can be configured to provide for radio communications between a site and subscriber units in the field. A subscriber unit may be a mobile unit or a portable unit. LMR systems can be as simple as two subscriber units communicating between themselves and a site over preset channels, or they can be complex consisting of hundreds of subscriber units and multiple sites.
LMR systems can be broadly divided into two classes: (1) trunking LMR systems; and (2) conventional LMR systems. A trunking system generally includes of one or more trunking sites and dispatch control centers. FIG. 1 illustrates a typical trunking LMR system 100 including a trunking site 104 and a dispatcher 108. The trunking site 104 includes a control channel 112 and one or more traffic channels (e.g., 116, 118). Typically a group of mobile users (e.g., 124, 128) creates a user group to communicate with each other and the dispatcher 108. In a trunking system 100 there can be multiple mobile users and multiple user groups. When a mobile user wants to contact other mobile users or a dispatcher in the same user group, the mobile user sends a request to a trunking site controller 132 through the control channel 112. The trunking site controller 132 contacts the other trunking sites interested in the same user group. The trunking site controller in each interested site allocates an available traffic channel. Once a channel is available, the mobile users in the user group is notified through the control channel and the mobile users move to the traffic channel to communicate with each other. Since a traffic channel is allocated dynamically on a per call basis, a trunking system provides higher utilization of a traffic channel. However, since a channel is not dedicated to a user group, a user may need to wait for a traffic channel when there is no available traffic channel.
The trunking LMR system 100 is generally suitable for high density areas where there is a likelihood of collision caused by multiple radios vying for a traffic channel. The control channel 112 is used to avoid collision by allocating available traffic channels to the radios.
FIG. 2 illustrates a conventional LMR system 200. Like the trunking system 100, the conventional LMR system 200 may include one or more conventional sites, although only one conventional site 204 and a dispatcher 208 is shown in FIG. 2. However, unlike the trunking site 104, the conventional site 204 does not include a control channel. The conventional site 204 includes a plurality of traffic channels, 216, 220, 224, each traffic channel being typically assigned to one or more user groups (e.g., 228, 232). The members of a user group may communicate with each other on the same traffic channel, thus allowing the users and the dispatcher to instantly communicate with each other without waiting for the system to allocate a traffic channel. However, the channel utilization is low in the conventional system 200 since multiple user groups may compete for channel usage on a particular traffic channel while a different traffic channel may be free to use.
In the conventional site 204, a mobile user presses a push to talk button and immediately starts talking All mobile users and dispatchers in the same user group immediately hear the call. If multiple users key up at the same time, the calls are lost because of collision. Consequently, the conventional LMR system 200 is generally suitable in rural areas with low traffic density where in some cases only one channel may be available.
Thus, both the trunking LMR system 100 and the conventional LMR system 200 allow the mobile users to communicate via the traffic channel within their user groups. For example, the police radio 124 and the police radio 128 in the trunking LMR system 100 can communicate within their specific user group over a traffic channel assigned on a per call basis. Likewise, the police radio 228 and the ambulance radio 232 in the conventional LMR system 200 can communicate within their specific user groups over a traffic channel. However, if a police radio from a trunking LMR system needs to communicate with a police user group from a conventional LMR system, the dispatcher must patch the call to enable the two similar user groups to communicate. Since the dispatcher needs to patch the call to allow the police radio from the trunking LMR system to communicate with the police radio from the conventional LMR system, the reliability of such communication is degraded due to the reliance on the dispatcher. Also, the dispatchers generally use an analog 4-wire interface for patching the communication between the trunking LMR and conventional LMR systems, which is not scalable and provide limited flexibility of deployment.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and system for integration of trunking and conventional land mobile radio systems


The disclosure relates to positive electrode material used for Li-ion batteries, a precursor and process used for preparing such materials, and Li-ion battery using such material in its positive electrode. The disclosure describes a higher density LiCoO2 positive electrode material for lithium secondary batteries, with a specific surface area (BET) below 0.2 m2/g, and a volumetric median particle size (d50) of more than 15 μm. This product has improved specific capacity and rate-capability. Other embodiments of the disclosure are an aggregated Co(OH)2, which is used as a precursor, the electrode mix and the battery manufactured using above-mentioned LiCoO2.

The invention relates to positive electrode material used for Li-ion batteries, a precursor and process used for preparing such materials, and Li-ion battery using such material in its positive electrode.
Compared to Ni—Cd and Ni-MH rechargeable batteries, Li-ion batteries boast an enhanced energy density, mainly due to their higher 3.6 V working voltage. Since their commercialization in 1991 by SONY, Li-ion batteries have seen their volumetric energy density increase continuously. In 1995, the capacity of a typical 18650 cylindrical cell was about 1.3 Ah. In 2006, the capacity of the same type of cell is about 2.6 Ah. Such a high energy density has enabled a wide range of applications. Li-ion batteries have become the dominant secondary battery for portable application, representing a market share of about 70% in 2006.
Such significant increase of energy density of Li-ion batteries has been initially realized by optimizing cell design, accommodating more active electrode materials in a fixed volume cell. Later efforts concentrated on improving the energy density of the electrodes. Using a high density active electrode material is one way to achieve this goal. As LiCoO2 still continues to be used as positive electrode material for the majority of commercial Li-ion batteries, a highly dense variety of this material is in demand.
The tap density of electrode materials is usually a good indicator of electrode density. However, in some cases, a high tap density does not guarantee a high electrode density. For example, as demonstrated by Ying et al. (Journal of power Sources, 2004) or in CN1206758C, the tap density of a LiCoO2 powder with large secondary spherical particle size, but small primary size, can be as high as 2.8 g/cm3. However, because of its small primary particle size, and possibly because of voids in the secondary particles, the obtained electrode density is not correspondingly high. For this reason, density of electrode materials should preferably be measured under a pressure similar to the industrial conditions prevailing during actual electrode manufacture, instead of by tapping. In this invention, density therefore refers to press density, and not to tap density.
The theoretical density of LiCoO2 is about 5.1 g/cm3. For actual LiCoO2 powders, factors that impact the density are a.o. the shape of particles, the size of primary particles and the particle size distribution. In today's industry, the median primary particle size of LiCoO2 used for different application is in the range of 1 to 20 μm. Generally, the larger the median primary particle size (d50), the higher is the press density. In addition, as proposed in CN1848491A, electrode density can be increased further by mixing larger LiCoO2 particles with 15 to 40 wt % of finer particles.
Besides density reasons, a large median primary particle size is also desirable for safety purposes, especially for large cells such as the 18650 model cylindrical cells that are used in laptop computer. During charge, lithium atoms in LiCoO2 are partially removed. LiCoO2 becomes Li1-xCoO2 with x>0. At high temperatures caused by certain abuse condition, Li1-xCoO2 tends to decompose and then to release O2. The released O2 easily reacts with organic solvent in the battery electrolyte, resulting in fire or explosion of the battery. Using LiCoO2 with a large median primary particle size and low specific surface area (BET) reduces these risks, as pointed out by Jiang J. et al. (Electrochimica Acta, 2004).
Therefore, for both safety and energy density reasons, LiCoO2 with large median primary particle size, such as 15 μm or above, is preferred, in particular for large Li-ion cells. Materials with a large mass median primary particle size (d50) have also a relatively low BET. A d50 larger than 15 μm typically leads to a BET below 0.2 m2/g.
In a usual manufacture process of LiCoO2, powderous Co3O4 and Li2CO3 are mixed and then fired at a temperature ranging from 800° C. to 1100° C. The d50 of the Co3O4 needs to be relatively small, usually below 5 μm, to ensure a sufficient reactivity. The growth of the LiCoO2 particles is controlled by the firing temperature and time, and by the amount of excess Li (added as Li2CO3). To make LiCoO2 with a d50 larger than 15 μm, at least 6 at. % of excess Li per Co atom is needed, as this excess favours crystal growth. However, part of the excess Li also enters the LiCoO2 structure. Therefore, the final product will be Li over-stoichiometric. This is why all current LiCoO2 material with large primary particle size (or a low BET, which is equivalent) is significantly over-stoichiometric. Due to this excess Li in their structure, such materials have a lower capacity because some active Co3+ has been replaced by inactive Li+. In this respect, it should be noted that in this application, LiCoO2 is used to designate a wide variety of lithium cobalt oxides having stoichiometries that may slightly deviate from the theoretical.
One example of this process can be found in EP 1 281 673 A 1. Here a composition Li Co(1-x)MgxO2 is disclosed, wherein x is 0.001 to 0.15, and having an average particle diameter of 1.0 to 20 μm and a BET of 0.1 to 1.6 m2/g. However, the examples clearly show that the inventor did not succeed in manufacturing a lithium cobalt (magnesium) oxide powder having both of: a d50 of more than 15 and a specific surface area (BET) of less than 0.2 m2/g. The maximum d50 achieved in this document is 8.3 μm in a comparative example.
It is finally also desirable for electrode materials to provide good rate capability. Rate capability is defined as the ratio of specific discharge capacity at a higher discharge rate (typically 2 C), to the specific discharge capacity at a lower rate (typically 0.1 C). Unfortunately, current LiCoO2 with large primary particle size shows relatively poor rate capability, as shown in JP3394364 and by Chen Yan-bin et al. (Guangdong Youse Jinshu Xuebao, 2005). Such poor rate capability is considered to be related to the longer Li diffusion path for material with larger primary particle size when Li is removed or reinserted during charge or discharge.
In summary, LiCoO2 with a large primary particle size is preferred for Li-ion battery for improved safety and energy density. However, current large particle size powders show sub-optimal capacity and rate capability because of the significant Li-excess in their structure.

High density lithium cobalt oxide for rechargeable batteries


A document reader having a scanner. The layout of the image data read by the scanner from a document is analyzed. In accordance with the analysis of the lay out, the image data is divided into blocks, and the sequence in which to read characters from these blocks is determined. A keyboard or a mouse is operated, whenever necessary, thereby deleting any block and changing the sequence of reading characters from the blocks. Characters are read from the document in the sequence changed.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a document reader and a reading processing method therefor to read characters of general documents in English, for example.
2. Description of the Related Art
For the document reader including optical character readers, the position of the character entry area on the document sheet to be read and the processing sequence (reading sequence) for each character entry area are generally determined before reading is executed, like a slip form. These pieces of data used for reading are given to a character reader as format control data (FC). FC data is given by the description showing control contents, which is translated into the format suitable for the recognition equipment to execute recognition processing and used as processing control data. As mentioned above, the document reader to execute processing according to FC data is called the slip reading type because the character entry area and line position on the sheet and the type of characters to be read are specified.
However, unlike the slip-reading-type document reader, an equipment has been developed which is given no reading control data such as FC data, and which executes reading by detecting the character reading area in which characters are recorded and determines the reading sequence. This type of document reader is called the document reading type because it purposes to read general document specifying no reading-area position or line position. For this document-reading-type document reader, it is necessary to accurately detect the character reading area for processing to determine the sequence of reading (reading sequence) for each sheet in order to execute processing for documents consisting of various type of formats.
However, character reading areas not subjected to processing are detected or incorrect reading sequences have been determined at times since documents consisting of various types of formats are read. After the read operation is executed in the above manner, edition should be executed on read results (display of character strings) displayed after the read operation. The edition includes deletion of character strings or change of positions using, for example, a word processor. This results in increase of workload. Therefore, to decrease the workload after character reading, the function has been requested to correct and change the character reading area and reading sequence determined by the equipment.

Document reader and reading processing method therefor