A display/input device is provided which includes a position sensor on which an electrode pattern in grid form is arranged, the position sensor being for specifying a position of an operating tool by detecting a capacitance changing at a contact part or a proximity part at a time the operating tool is made to contact the electrode pattern or is brought into proximity of the electrode pattern, and an outer frame portion forming an outer frame of a display screen provided with the position sensor. A boundary of an area where the position of the operating tool can be specified by the position sensor despite a non-presence of the electrode pattern is visually or haptically indicated at the outer frame portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display/input device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a small electronic device is often provided with a touch panel as an input device for inputting information or for operating a graphical user interface (hereinafter, a GUI). By using a touch panel, it becomes unnecessary to separately provide an input section such as a keyboard, and thus an electronic device can be miniaturized. Furthermore, a touch panel is also a display device on which an image, a GUI or the like is displayed. Thus, by using a touch panel, an intuitive operating system for directly touching and operating an image, a GUI or the like displayed on the touch panel can be realized. Having these features, a touch panel is mounted on various electronic devices, such as a mobile information terminal, a mobile phone, a car navigation system, a lap-top personal computer, or an information appliance.
As described above, a touch panel has a function of an input device and a function of a display device. The function of a display device is realized by using a display panel, such as a liquid crystal display panel (hereinafter, an LCD panel) or an organic electroluminescent display panel (hereinafter, an OELD panel), for example. On the other hand, the function of an input device is realized by providing on a display panel a capacitive sensor or an optical sensor for optically scanning an operating tool that is brought into proximity of or made to contact the surface of the display panel. In many cases, a sensor area where sensing by the capacitive sensor or the optical sensor is possible is set in a pixel area (displayable area) on the display panel. Furthermore, Japanese Patent No. 4161814 discloses a technology for expanding the sensor area to the frame portion of a display panel and realizing a convenient operating system by using the expanded sensor area.


The present invention is directed to a recoverable Ethernet receiver. A joint decision feedback equalizer (DFE) and Trellis decoder is configured to decode a receiving signal to result in a received symbol, and configured to generate a check-idle value which is used to indicate an idle mode. A physical coding sublayer (PCS) block is configured to generate a seed value and a polarity characterization according to the received symbol, with the joint DFE and Trellis decoder generating the check-idle value according to the seed value and the polarity characterization.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a communication receiver, and more particularly to a recoverable Ethernet receiver.
2. Description of Related Art
Ethernets following 10BASE-T, 100 BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T standards, and higher-speed Ethernets, use unshielded twisted pair (UTP) transmission medium. As link speed increases, it becomes more difficult to design the physical layer (PHY), when considering constraints such as multipath fading, pulse/white noise, adjacent/co-channel interferences in wireless channel, or inter-symbol interference (ISI), (near-end or far-end) channel crosstalk, echo or thermal noise in wired channel. In, gigabit Ethernet (1000BASE-T), Trellis-coded modulation (TCM) is used as error control coding (ECC), which may, in theory, achieve a coding gain of 5.6 dB.
Viterbi decoders are commonly used to decode TCM code. However, it is noticed that the target 5.6 dB coding gain cannot be satisfactorily achieved by the conventional transceiver, particularly the transceiver having a separate Viterbi decoder and ISI post-cursor equalizer that may result in error propagation. In order to improve the coding gain, and error propagation, Kamran Azadet discloses a 1-tap lookahead-parallel decision, feedback decoder (LA-PDFD) in "A 1-Gb/s Joint Equalizer and Trellis Decoder for 1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet," IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, Vol. 36, No. 3, March 2001; and U.S. Pat. No. 7,363,576 entitled "Method and Apparatus for Pipelined Joint Equalization and Decoding for Gigabit Communications," the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference. The scheme disclosed by Azadet, however, cannot effectively improve the coding gain with respect to Ethernet having a link segment length greater than the specified 100 m. In order to resolve this problem, Lin et al. discloses a P-tap parallel decision feedback decoder (PDFD) in U.S. Pat. No. 7,188,302 entitled "Parallel Decision-Feedback Decoder and Method for Joint Equalizing and Decoding of Incoming Data Stream," the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
TCM is a convolutional code, in which relationship highly exists among parts of the codes. Accordingly, error propagation or burst error may occasionally occur at the receiver end, and may even, result in error catastrophe if not detected and recovered in time.
For the foregoing reasons, a need has arisen to propose a novel scheme that can promptly detect and recover from error.


A lead body having a defibrillation electrode positioned along a distal portion of the lead body is described. The defibrillation electrode includes a plurality of electrode segments spaced a distance apart from each other. At least one of the plurality of defibrillation electrode segments includes at least one coated portion and at least one uncoated portion. The at least one coated portion is coated with an electrically insulating material configured to prevent transmission of a low voltage signal (e.g., a pacing pulse) while allowing transmission of a high voltage signal (e.g., a cardioversion defibrillation shock). The at least one uncoated portion is configured to transmit both low voltage and high voltage signals. The lead may also include one or more discrete electrodes proximal, distal or between the defibrillation electrode segments.

Malignant tachyarrhythmia, for example, ventricular fibrillation, is an uncoordinated contraction of the cardiac muscle of the ventricles in the heart, and is the most commonly identified arrhythmia in cardiac arrest patients. If this arrhythmia continues for more than a few seconds, it may result in cardiogenic shock and cessation of effective blood circulation. As a consequence, sudden cardiac death (SCD) may result in a matter of minutes.
In patients at high risk of ventricular fibrillation, the use of an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) system has been shown to be beneficial at preventing SCD. An ICD system includes an ICD, which is a battery powered electrical shock device, that may include an electrical housing electrode (sometimes referred to as a can electrode), that is coupled to one or more electrical lead wires placed within the heart. If an arrhythmia is sensed, the ICD may send a pulse via the electrical lead wires to shock the heart and restore its normal rhythm. Owing to the inherent surgical risks in attaching and replacing electrical leads directly within or on the heart, subcutaneous ICD systems have been devised to provide shocks to the heart without placing electrical lead wires within the heart or attaching electrical wires directly to the heart.
Electrical leads being utilized in subcutaneous systems typically include a single dedicated defibrillation electrode and one or more dedicated pacing and/or sensing electrodes along the length of the lead. Each of these electrodes is electrically connected to separate conductors within the lead body and connected to the ICD. Thus, the capability of the electrical lead to deliver a defibrillation shock, a pacing pulse, or to sense a cardiac depolarization is fixed to the particular longitudinal or radial placement of each electrode.

Extravascular lead designs for optimized pacing and sensing having segmented, partially electrically insulated defibrillation coils


Method and system for performance assurance in a network slice subset instance (NSSI) or a network slice instance (NSI) of a network. The method comprises receiving, at a network management function (OAM) of the network, a trigger indicating a network performance deficiency; based on the trigger, determining, by a data analytics (DAM) function of the OAM (OAM DAM) in coordination with a network analytics function of one of the core network and a radio access network (RAN), an NSI/NSSI modification; and implementing, by the OAM, a change in at least one of: NSI/NSSI policies, configurations in at least one of core network functions, the RAN and network resources, in accordance with the NSF NSSI modification.

Communication networks enabled by technologies such as network slicing may be flexibly organized so as to serve various customer/business demands. Network slicing is a specific form of virtualization that allows multiple logical networks to run on top of a shared physical network infrastructure. A key benefit of virtualization is that it provides an end-to-end virtual network encompassing not just networking but compute and storage functions also. The objective is to allow a physical mobile network operator to partition its network resources to allow for very different users, or customers, to multiplex over a single physical infrastructure. The resources allocated to a virtualized component could be scaled in/out or up/down by a customer request as indicated in the ETSI NFV standard. Such resources include computing resources, storage or memory resources and link resources which provides transport capability of the links. In this document scaling in and scaling down terms are used synonymously to mean resource decrease although the way resource is decreased inside the infra-structure may be different in these two cases. Similarly scaling up and scaling out terms are used synonymously to represent the action to increase the resources. Network slicing provides a further sharing of a virtualized network or virtualized infra-structure by sharing even virtualized network components across different slices so that a network operator could provide different network services or slices to multiple customers using the same virtualized network. Main differentiation is that multiple network slices may share the same virtualized component. In this case, sharing principle and assigning the shared and non-shared components are decided by the wireless network which is not visible to even the virtualized infra-structure/network provider. The virtualized infra-structure provider may do resource scaling automatically depending on the resource usage or as per the instructions from the infra-structure customer, for example, the network slice provider.
As described later in detail, in 5G networks, a consumer can request a network slice instance (NSI) or a network slice subnet instance (NSSI) from a provider, Usually an NSI is a slice of the network which can provide end to end (E2E) services while NSSI is a segment of a sliced network which can be one or more of a TN part, RAN part or a CN part. In this document network slice is used to generally represent to either an NSI or NSSI unless specifically expressed otherwise.
There are two generic ways a network slice management service consumer (NSMS-C) requests a service. First it can request a network slice instance (NSI) specifying the services it requires together with the performance requirements guarantees it needs for different geographical areas and time periods without specifying the resources it needs. This is termed 'service provisioning scenario with minimum performance guarantee' or 'network slice as NOP internal' in this document. In this scenario the customer is not aware of the internal network structure of the slice. In the other scenario the NSMS-C specifies resource requirements with or without service requirements and the NSI is exposed to the customer. The provider of network slice management service is termed as NSMS-P. Similarly a consumer can request an NSSI in both ways, e.g. NSSI as a service (NSSaaS) or NSSI according to the service provisioning scenario with minimum performance guarantee. The NSSI service provider is termed 'NSSMS-P' and NSSI consumer is termed 'NSSMS-C' in this document.
In building advanced networks, such as those to support future developments in wireless networks (including next generation wireless, such as so-called fifth generation (5G) networks), network slicing provides the ability to create isolated network slices over which different traffic flows can travel. Network slicing provides flexibility and adaptability in the characteristics of each slice, allowing the slices to each have characteristics tailored to the specific needs of different services, optionally provisioned for service according to different service levels. This allows a plurality of different services to be supported by a single pool of network infrastructure, a desired feature for 5G networks. However, managing varying and often conflicting demands for network resources according to different service levels in a potentially large network scale is a complex proposition requiring an effective architecture and management thereof. The problem of managing the different demands become exacerbated when there are conflicting demands for a number of different types of services.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and system of performance assurance with conflict management in provisioning a network slice service


A quilt assembly is divided into pockets (10), each containing a removable fabric sleeve (24) containing fill. Sleeves can be individually laundered and dried. Connectors in the sleeve (24) maintain a substantially flat profile to stabilise the shape of the sleeve and reduce unwanted fill movement.

This invention relates to a quilt assembly configured to maintain shape and stabilise fill within the assembly.
Quilts are commonly constructed as a fabric bag to contain thermal insulation, with a series of parallel stitch runs which divide the bag into mutually parallel tubes in order to prevent undesirable movement of the insulation between adjacent tubes. The insulation tends to migrate within a tube during use and accumulate in dense clumps in corners.
Laundering operations present problems because quilts are often too large to fit into a domestic washing machine or tumble dryer. Drying in the open air may take a long time. During such periods, water stains may appear and spoil the appearance. The growth of bacteria and moulds within the fill may generate unpleasant odours. Dry-cleaning the entire article to remove minor marks such as drink stains is costly.
Manufacturers attempt to minimise this laundering disadvantage by provision of an envelope which can be laundered frequently, but the problems of migrating fill, slow drying and allergic responses in susceptible people remain.
In one aspect of the invention provides a quilt assembly having multiple, elongated compartments holding fill wherein each compartment has an upper surface and an opposed surface, the surfaces extending generally parallel to the plane of the quilt when the quilt is laid out flat, the fill being spread along the compartment between the surfaces, flexible connector means within the compartment and bridging between the surfaces, the connector means constraining the compartment to a substantially flat profile but permitting manual manipulation of fill along the compartment, the dimensions of the compartment and the length of the connector means being selected to maintain the substantially flat profile and thereby stabilise fill within the compartment in order to resist its migration in use.
The flexible connector means may be inserted at or near the centre of the compartment but better control is attained with multiple (eg. pairs) of longitudinally spaced connectors, typically at quarters or thirds of the compartment length. The connector means may be a cross wall. A cross wall of up to half the cross section of the compartment is feasible, allowing the remaining half of the cross section for charging the compartment with fill. Effective control of fill movement is obtainable with a cross wall of less than half the cross section and we have found that a fabric band of 15-35 mm width sewn across the centre axis of the compartment is useful for this purpose. In another embodiment there are laterally spaced pairs of bands located along the length of the compartment.
Clearly the connector function maintaining shape may be achieved without the connector providing any substantial blocking function to longitudinal movement of fill. In this arrangement the assembly relies solely on the stabilising function afforded by connector retaining the flat profile of the compartment.
In another more preferred aspect the invention comprise a quilt divided into pockets, wherein each pocket receives a removable fabric sleeve containing fill. Each sleeve has connectors between opposed surfaces as previously described in relation to the compartments of the first aspect, the sleeves effectively each form a removable compartment whereas in the first aspect the compartments were fixed. The sleeves may be locatable within the pockets by fasteners. Fasteners such as studs or hook and pile strips are useful. The ends of the sleeves may be arcuate in order to leave no corner into which the fill may become trapped. A semicircular closing run is convenient for this purpose. When stitched into a square ended sleeve, the curve leaves a pair of ears which may readily act as location sites for the fasteners.
The sleeves may be made of a single rectangular pattern piece joined by a single seam (or other known closures such as tape or the like). Alternatively, two like superimposed pieces may be joined by a seam around the perimeter thereof. The seams are preferably outwardly facing in order to create drag relative to the pocket in which the sleeve is accommodated, thereby stabilising the sleeve in the compartment. This reduces the need for fasteners. This also has the advantage of providing a smooth inner join within the sleeve thus inhibiting accumulation of fill that would otherwise occur with an internal seam.
The ends of the pockets may be closed by a common flap or by separate flaps. Each adjacent pair of pockets may be separated by a gusset which extends the length of the pocket and tapers down adjacent the end of the pocket. The gusset permits a quilt of uniform thickness. The effect is to create pockets of substantially rectangular cross section which in use are fully occupied by the sleeves containing fill. This promotes uniform insulation for the user.
The fill may be conventional and inserted into the sleeves by conventional techniques.


A mechanism associated with a network management system (NMS) interprets and predicts the impact on a network of a network configuration change proactively. By providing pre-configuration analysis in this manner, a network administrator can determine the potential effect of the proposed configuration change in advance of actually inserting a configuration command in the network that might otherwise have unforeseen and damaging consequences. The technique is implemented using a predictive analytics engine that receives a proposed network command and, using a current network topology, executes the command against one or more NMS algorithms to verify that the command can be implemented safely.

Technical Field
This disclosure relates generally to network management tools.
Background of the Related Art
Maintaining the proper operation of various types of computerized services is usually an important but difficult task. Service administrators are often called upon to react to a service failure by identifying the problem which caused the failure and then taking steps to correct the problem. To avoid wasting resources investigating the wrong problems, administrators must make accurate assessments as to the causes of failures. Because substantial time and resources are often required, administrators must also make accurate decisions as to when to allocate resources to the tasks of identifying problems and fixing them.
A number of network management tools are available to assist administrators in completing these tasks. Network management systems discover, model and maintain knowledge bases of network devices and their connectivity, and provide mechanisms to actively monitor the network proactively to identify network problems. IBM® Tivoli® Netcool® is a suite of applications that allow network administrators to monitor activity on networks, to log and collect network events, including network occurrences such as alerts, alarms, or other faults, and then report them to network administrators in graphical and text-based formats. Using such tools, administrators are able to observe network events on a real-time basis and respond to them more quickly. Such systems also typically include network service monitors of various types which measure performance of a network so that, among other things, network resources can be shifted as needed to cover outages. A system of this type may also include a configuration management tool to automate network configuration and change management tasks. This enables network operators and administrators to enhance network security by controlling access by users, devices and commands, maintain the real-time state of the network, and automate routine configuration management tasks.
While these tools provide significant advantages, fault management occurs after-the-fact, i.e., after the issue or incident has already occurred and for the purpose of minimizing the damage already done. Indeed, root cause analysis, although sophisticated, is designed to drive recovery automation and related approval processes before corrective commands are inserted into the affected network element (e.g., a router or switch). The problem with this approach is that the corrective action itself may cause new problems. For example, a network management tool may suggest a corrective course of action, such as instructing a network engineer to open a port when the result of that action causes a broadcast packet storm that then floods the network with packets and interrupts other services. When the corrective action itself causes new issues, further operational costs and network downtime often result.
There remains a need in the art to provide new techniques for network management that addresses these and other deficiencies in the known art.

Network configuration predictive analytics engine

International Business Machines Corporation


A knee brace having an anterior tibial shell and an anterior femoral shell which are closely configured to the shape of the lower leg and thigh respectively and which are joined by a frame in the form of a pair of polycentric hinge joints. Each one of the joints includes an upper bar and a lower bar, the two bars being pivotally interconnected. The anterior tibial shell and the anterior femural shell are both pivotally mounted on the upper bars of the polycentric hinge joints, the anterior femoral shell being mounted above the anterior tibial shell. Because the anterior tibial shell is mounted on the upper bars of the two joints when the knee brace is mounted on the leg of a person and the knee is bent the anterior tibial shell will move downward and inward against the tibia so as to counteract forward directed forces applied to the tibia and thereby provide additional support for the knee. The knee brace also includes a pair of derotation cuffs removably mounted on the femoral and tibial shells for internally rotating the femur and externally rotating the tibia, respectively.

The present invention relates generally to orthotics and more particularly to a knee brace which is constructed to provide anterior-posterior, medial-lateral and rotational stability.
Knee braces for providing anterior-posterior, medial-lateral and rotational stability of the knee are well known in the art. Such braces generally include a tibial shell which is constructed so as to be closely configured to the shape of the lower leg and a femoral shell which is constructed so as to be closely configured to the shape of the thigh area of the leg. The two shells are secured to their respective areas on the leg and are interconnected by some type of mechanism so as to pivot relative to each other as the knee is bent. The mechanism is usually a pair of hinge joints, one on each side of the knee brace, with the tibial shell being attached to the lower part of each one of the two hinge joints and the femoral shell being attached to the upper part of each one of the two hinge joints.
For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,733,656 to S. Marquette there is disclosed a knee brace having an anterior tibial shell and a posterior femoral shell which are closely configured to the shape of the lower and thigh areas of the leg, the two shells being joined by a closed support band system which is constructed to closely track knee flexion. The band system includes upper vertical uprights and lower vertical uprights which are pivotally interconnected to each other. The femoral shell is attached to the upper vertical uprights while the tibial shell is attached to the lower vertical uprights. The brace also has anteriorly extending tabs positioned between the patella and the femoral epicondyles. The combination of two shells, the band system and the two tabs provides anterior-posterior, medial-lateral and rotary stability.
An another example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,773,404, to J. H. Townsend there is disclosed an appliance for controlling an unstable knee joint in the sagitall, coronal and transverse planes, comprising femoral and tibial cuffs joined by femoral and tibial links which are interconnected to provide a novel mechanical joint wherein camming slots are formed in one of the links with cams disposed on the other link, the slots comprising straight segments and arcuate segments so as to provide approximately 8 millimeters of sliding movement between the femur and tibia, followed by relative rotation about the center of radius of the femoral condyle as the leg is flexed. The tibial cuff is conformed about the boney prominence or shin or the tibia to inhibit rotation of the leg beneath the knee within the brace itself.
As still another example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,732,143, to Kauset et al there is disclosed a knee brace which includes a thigh plate, a shin plate and a pair of polycentric hinge joints. Each hinge joint includes an upper arm which is fixed to the thigh plate and a lower arm which is fixed to the shin plate.
It is an object of this invention to provide a new and improved orthopedic appliance.
It is another object of this invention to provide a new and improved knee brace.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a knee brace that provides anterior-posterior, medial-lateral and rotational stability.
It is still another object of this invention to provide a knee brace that provides increased protection against anterior tibial forces.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a new and improved polycentric hinge joint.


A servo-press machine determining whether or not a drive power supply voltage between a positive power supply path and a negative power supply path that connect a power supply device and a motor rotation control section is lower than an induced voltage of a servomotor, and correcting speed-related data based on slide motion information when the servo-press machine has determined that the drive power supply voltage is lower than the induced voltage.

The present invention relates to a servo-press machine that includes a drive power supply capacitor, drives a servomotor based on slide motion information, and performs a press-forming operation while converting the rotational motion of the servomotor into a vertical movement of a slide through a slide drive mechanism.
A press machine that utilizes a servomotor allows the user to easily set or select slide motion (e.g., JP-A-2003-205395). Specifically, the slide speed can be arbitrarily changed. Moreover, the slide can be stopped temporarily, and the slide motion can be reversed by reversing the rotation of the servomotor. Therefore, adaptability to press-formed products can be increased, and high-quality products can be produced.
In such a servo-press machine, a motor rotation control section controls the rotation of the servomotor based on slide motion information (motion instruction signal) set in advance. A slide drive mechanism receives rotation power generated by rotating the motor to drive the slide. As the slide drive mechanism, an eccentric drive mechanism, a link drive mechanism, and a screw drive mechanism have been known. Among these, the eccentric drive mechanism (crank mechanism or eccentric shaft structure) has been generally employed from the viewpoint of the structure or the function. The slide motion information is created as a slide position corresponding to each stroke (time or angle).
FIG. 6 shows the case of using a crank mechanism. The slide position moves downward from the top dead center (position Pu) toward the bottom dead center (position PI) along a path Rsp (i.e., slide motion information), and then moves upward toward the top dead center. The slide speed is indicated by a path Rsv.
Specifically, the slide starts to move downward at a time t0 (0.0 sec) on the horizontal axis. The slide speed is reduced immediately before a time t1 in order to achieve a soft touch. The motor torque (path Rmt) thus decreases. A forming area (time t1 to t2) then occurs. The bottom dead center is reached at a time t2, and the top dead center is reached at a time t3 (about 3.6 sec). Specifically, one stroke (production cycle) is 3.6 sec.
The motor rotational speed corresponding to the slide motion (path Rsp) shown in FIG. 6 is indicated by a path Rmr. For example, when performing a deep-drawing operation, the motor is driven at low speed in order to improve the quality. The motor is accelerated immediately after completion of forming (after the time t2) along an acceleration path Rmrin to reach a high speed (allowable maximum rotational speed Mrh).
As a measure to improve speed controllability, a device that accurately estimates the load inertia that changes during operation by calculations or the like and automatically corrects a speed control constant has been proposed (JP-A-2001-352773).
The motor torque (path Rmt) rapidly increases from the minimum value up to the time t1 at which a forming load (load) occurs to reach the forming maximum motor torque Tmh. The motor torque is reduced after completion of forming (time t2). The motor torque is then increased by a torque necessary for accelerating the rotational speed. The allowable maximum motor torque Tms indicated by a bold dotted line indicates the allowable maximum motor torque of the servomotor during forming. The capacity of the servomotor and the capacity of the motor rotation control section including a position/speed control section, a current control section, and the like are selected corresponding to the allowable maximum motor torque.
A motor drive power supply device that generates a drive power supply voltage (direct-current) based on a power supply voltage (alternating-current) has been known (e.g., JP-A-2007-282367). This type of power supply device is generally used as a power supply device of a servo-press machine. In FIG. 7, a power supply device 110 includes a rectifier circuit, a switching circuit, and the like, and generates a drive power supply voltage (direct-current) based on a power supply voltage (alternating-current) input from a power supply system 100. The power supply device 110 and a current control section 33 (that forms part of a motor rotation control section) are connected through positive and negative power supply paths 120. A capacitor 130 is connected between the positive power supply path P and the negative power supply path N. The drive current is supplied from the current control section 33 to a servomotor 7.
The load (torque Rmt) of the servo-press machine increases in the forming area (time t1 to t2), and decreases in the vertical movement areas before and after the forming area, as described above. A change in load of the servo-press machine is very large as compared with other industrial machines. Specifically, a change in load within one production cycle (one slide stroke) is large. Therefore, the capacitance of capacitor 130 is relatively large in order to achieve a drive power supply voltage (voltage Vpn) smoothing function and a buffer (capacitor) function. The capacitance of the capacitor is carefully studied and appropriately selected from the viewpoint of reducing the capacities of the power supply device 110 and the power supply system 100 and reducing cost. Specifically, the capacitor 130 discharges a large amount of power (drive power supply voltage) during forming and supplies the drive power supply voltage to the current control section 33. The induced voltage of the servomotor 7 is indicated by Vm.
When performing a high-quality forming operation, the slide speed Rsv is relatively reduced in the forming area. The slide speed is increased as much as possible over the entire area from the viewpoint of improving the productivity. Specifically, the operator performs a press-forming operation while selecting various types of slide motion (path Rsp) in a production site. However, the slide motion is not selected taking into consideration the relationship among the capacities and the characteristics of the motor rotation control section 33, the servomotor 7, the power supply system 100, the power supply device 110, the capacitor 130, and the like.
Specifically, a mismatch between the selected or set slide motion and the device functions and characteristics results in an unstable operation. Moreover, such an unstable operation may or may not occur depending the experience and the skill of the operator. Specifically, the causes of unstable operation may not be determined.
Therefore, a situation in which the operation must be stopped or the device malfunctions or breaks may occur. This results in a decrease in productivity and an increase in production cost.


Coated glass-based articles and methods of manufacture disclosed. An article comprises a chemically strengthened glass-based core substrate having a first surface and a second surface, a chemically strengthened glass-based first cladding substrate having a third surface directly bonded to the first surface to provide a first core-cladding interface and a chemically strengthened glass-based second cladding substrate having a fourth surface directly bonded to the second surface to provide a second core-cladding interface, wherein the core substrate is bonded to the first cladding substrate and the second cladding substrate, and there is a coating on the first cladding substrate.

Strengthened glass-based articles are widely used in electronic devices as cover plates or windows for portable or mobile electronic communication and entertainment devices, such as mobile phones, smart phones, tablets, video players, information terminal (IT) devices, laptop computers, navigation systems and the like, as well as in other applications such as architecture (e.g., windows, shower panels, countertops etc.), transportation (e.g., automotive, trains, aircraft, sea craft, etc.), appliance, or any application that requires superior fracture resistance but thin and light-weight articles.
In strengthened glass-based articles, such as chemically strengthened glass articles, compressive stress is highest or at a peak at the glass surface and reduces from a peak value moving away from the surface, and there is zero stress at some interior location of the glass article before the stress in the glass article becomes tensile. Modifications to ion exchange processes can be used to address sensitivity initial flaw populations in glass-based articles to modify the stress profile of the glass to decrease sensitivity to initial flaw populations. While modifications to ion exchange processes can be used for this purpose, as strengthened glass-based articles are increasingly being utilized, it would be desirable to develop other methods to provide strengthened glass-based materials having improved reliability, while not significantly impacting mean strength of the strengthened glass-based materials. Hard, brittle coatings on the surface of glass-based articles have been utilized to provide scratch resistance to glass based articles, however, for glass-based articles having steep stress profiles, hard coatings can have a tendency to deteriorate flexural strength performance of glass-based articles with hard, brittle coatings.

Coated glass-based articles with engineered stress profiles and methods of manufacture


Silver sulfadiazine-immobilized inorganic fillers are described, and their synthesis is presented. The fillers are believed to have utility in dental composites and dental adhesives to achieve potent, long-term, and none-leaching antimicrobial effects.

Polymer resin/inorganic filler-based composites are widely used as dental restorative materials and dental adhesives. In the US alone billions of dollars are spent in dental filling procedures using such materials every year. However, bacterial adhesion and biofilm-formation on such materials can lead to secondary caries, one of the major causes of the short service life (around several years) of the current resin-based dental restorations.
Three general methods have been tried to introduce antimicrobial functions into dental composites to control microbial adhesion and biofilm formation. The first method is to add monomeric organic antimicrobial agents directly into the composites. However, release of the antimicrobial agents will shorten the antimicrobial duration and deteriorate physical properties of the resulting materials. The second method is to add inorganic nano particles (e.g., silver, titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, etc.) into dental composites. However, the cost to prepare and use the nano particles is high, the complete mixing of the nano particles with the current dental composite formulation is difficult to achieve (e.g., nano particle aggregation occurs), and the potential health risk associated with the processing and use of nano particles is a concern. The third method is to add quaternary ammonium-containing monomers into the formulation to copolymerize with resin monomers. However, the new monomers have misciblity/compatiblity issues with the current resin monomers. In addition, quaternary ammonium salts have weak antimicrobial effects, and the effects can be quenched (stopped) by ionic compounds such as surface-active agents found in normal toothpastes.
In summary, antimicrobial activity is needed in resin-based dental restorative and adhesive materials that can inhibit microbial adhesion and secondary caries so as to prolong the service life of the resins. However, none of the current materials and methods provide a solution to these problems.

Preparation and use of silver sulfadiazine-immobilized fillers


A method of and system for femtocell implementation in evolved packet core is disclosed. A system for a mobile wireless device to communicate with a data network via a small cell radio access network using a cellular backhaul includes a hybrid gateway node communicating with an eNodeB element via a first digital communication interface and the hybrid gateway node communicating with a packet data network via a second digital interface. The hybrid gateway node includes a processor and memory configured to provide a backhaul serving gateway functionality, a backhaul packet data network gateway functionality, a serving gateway functionality to the mobile device, and a packet data network gateway functionality to the mobile device.

Field of Invention
The invention general relates to implementations of a femtocell in evolved packet core, and, more specifically, to improving performance and reducing latency in femtocell implementations involving the use of cellular access as a backhaul mechanism.
Description of Related Art and Context of the Invention
Evolved Packet Core (EPC) was first introduced by 3GPP in Release 8 of the standard and is the core network of the Long Term Evolution (LTE) system. It was decided to have a "flat architecture". The approach was to handle the payload (the data traffic) efficiently from performance and costs perspective. Few network nodes are involved in the handling of the traffic and protocol conversion is avoided. It was also decided to separate the user data (also known as the user plane) and the signaling (also known as the control plane) to make the scaling independent.
FIG. 1 illustrates an example of an Evolved Packet System (EPS) architecture 100. The system architecture 100 shows a User Equipment (UE) 105 connected to the EPC over an Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), which is the air interface for the LTE implementation. An Evolved NodeB (eNodeB) 110 is the base station for LTE radio. In FIG. 1, the EPC is composed of three network elements: the Serving Gateway (SGW) 115, the Packet Data Network Gateway (PDN GW or PGW) 120 and the Mobility Management Entity (MME) 125. The EPC is connected to the external networks (which can include internet or IMS or private networks).
The MME 125 deals with the control plane. It handles the signaling related to mobility and security for E-UTRAN access, via Sl-MME 130 and Sl-C 135 interfaces. The MME 125 is responsible for the tracking and the paging of UE 105 in idle-mode. It is the termination point of the Non-Access Stratum (NAS).
The gateways, SGW 115 and PGW 120, deal with the user plane. They transport the IP data traffic between the UE 105 and the external networks, via Sl-U interfaces 140. The SGW 115 is the point of interconnect between the radio-side and the EPC. As its name indicates, this gateway serves the UE 105 by routing the incoming and outgoing IP packets. It is the anchor point for the intra-LTE mobility (i.e., in case of handover between eNodeBs) and between LTE and other 3GPP accesses. It is logically connected to the other gateway, the PGW 120.
The PGW 120 is the point of interconnect between the EPC and the external IP networks. These networks are called PDN (Packet Data Network), hence the name of the gateway. The PGW 120 routes packets to and from the PDNs. The PGW 120 also performs various functions such as IP address/IP prefix allocation or policy control and charging. Even though the 3GPP specifies SGW 115 and PGW 120 logical element separately, in practice, they may be implemented in the same single physical entity.
A femtocell is a small, relatively low-power cellular base station, typically designed for use in a home or small business, and is a subset of what are known as small cell implementations. It typically connects to the service provider's network via broadband (such as DSL or cable). It typically supports two to four active mobile phones in a residential setting, and eight to 16 active mobile phones in enterprise settings. Femtocells operate on the same licensed spectrum that is used in macro and micro cells but only have a range of tens of meters, to cover the area within the home or an enterprise. A femtocell allows Mobile Network Operators (MNO) to extend service coverage indoors or at the cell edge, especially where access would otherwise be limited or unavailable. For a mobile operator, the attractions of a femtocell are improvements to both coverage and capacity. Consumers benefit from improved coverage and potentially better voice quality and battery life.
FIG. 2 shows an illustrative implementation of a femtocell 200. In 3GPP terminology, a Home Node B (HNB) is a 3G femtocell. A Home eNode B (HeNB) is an LTE femtocell. The communication between an HeNB 205, though which UE 210 communicates, and the network HeNB/Femto Gateway (FemtoGW) 215, when it exists, or to an MME 220, is secured by a mandatory Security Gateway (SeGW) function/logical entity 225. Since in most deployments, the HeNB 205 is providing access to the MNO via backhauling through broadband (cable/xDSL) 230, the SeGW 225 provides security to make the environment trusted. The SeGW 225 may be implemented as a separate physical entity or a co-located with FemtoGW 215. The interface between the HeNB 205 and the FemtoGW 215 is Sl and carries Sl-MME traffic for control traffic and Sl-U traffic for bearer traffic.

Method of and system for femtocell implementation in evolved packet core


Resilient mount assemblies provide absorption of induced loads while permitting some degree of relative rotation between the elements. It is desirable to have resilient mount assemblies which can withstand heavy operating loads while having high angular rotation. In this arrangement, a resilient mount assembly is provided having a segmented assembly interconnecting a first member having a spherical outer surface with a second member having a transverse bore therein. The segmented assembly includes first and second semi-circular half shells with first, second, third, and fourth semi-circular elastomeric layers disposed on respective first and second sides thereof. The first and second semi-circular half shells and their respective first, second, third, and fourth semi-circular elastomeric layers are disposed in intimate contact with the spherical outer surface of the first member. A preloading mechanism is provided and operative to induce a radial force into the first, second, third, and fourth semi-circular elastomeric layers during the assembly thereof. Once the preloading mechanism has been pressed to its full assembled position, the resilient mount assembly has the ability to withstand high operating loads while still having the ability to have high angular rotation between the elements thereof.

Earthmoving and construction vehicles utilize many mount assemblies that require relative angular rotation between the elements thereof and high operating loads. In the past, these assemblies have been primarily mechanical joints that have to be lubricated or used without lubrication. Naturally, rotatable joints without lubrication will wear more quickly, especially when subject to heavy workloads. In the past, there have been various efforts to provide a resilient joint assembly having relative rotation between the elements thereof while the assembly is being subjected to heavy workloads. In these attempts, it has been necessary to preload the elastomeric material in order to achieve the needed life of the assembly. Furthermore, in order to withstand heavy loads, the thickness of the elastomeric material has been kept as thin as possible. However, when keeping the elastomeric material thin, the ability to rotate the members relative to each other is seriously handicapped, since large amounts of angular rotation results in rupturing of the elastomeric material. Consequently, in order to get high relative rotation between the elements, the thickness of the elastomeric material must be increased. As previously noted, to withstand heavy loads, the elastomeric material should be thin. Therefore, in order to obtain high angular rotation between the elements while working under heavy loads, it has been necessary to provide numerous layers of thin elastomeric material, each being separated by a metallic member. In these arrangements, it becomes extremely difficult to preload the assembly and obtain an even, uniform preloading of the elastomeric material.
The characteristics of mechanisms using preloaded rubber is set forth in an article entitled "Dynamic Fatigue Life of Rubber" by S. M. Cadwell. This article was taken from the Analytic Edition, Volume 12, pages 19-23, of the "Industrial and Engineering Chemistry" book, dated Jan. 15, 1940. This article teaches the basic principle that the ability of a rubber material to withstand rupture due to shear forces is increased substantially if the rubber material is placed under a compressive load. From a review of the subject article, it should be recognized that when a rubber material undergoes internal movement, the rubber material is undergoing a shear deformation. This shear deformation can continue for numerous cycles without rupturing of the rubber material. The fatigue life of the rubber material during shear deformation is greatly enhanced by having the rubber material subjected to a compressive load.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,504,905 issued Apr. 7, 1970 to A. S. Irwin and U.S. Pat. No. 3,989,126 issued Nov. 2, 1976 to E. Katzer, each teach resilient mount assemblies that allow large amounts of rotation between the elements without rupturing of the elastomeric material, but are limited in their abilities to withstand high operating loads.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,494,814 issued Feb. 10, 1970 to R. L. Boggs teaches a resilient mount assembly designed to handle heavy operating loads while also having the ability to have high angular rotation between the elements without rupturing of the elastomeric material. In order to provide the high angular rotation between the elements, the assembly has numerous individual pieces bonded together by a very thin elastomeric material and then preloaded by forcing the assembly into a circular ring. Even though this arrangement provides a resilient mount assembly that can withstand high loads and provide high angular rotation between the elements, it is an extremely complicated mechanism to build and assemble and in many applications would be extremely difficult to uniformly preload the elastomeric material.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,111,499 issued Sept. 5, 1978 to A. R. McCloskey teaches a bearing assembly. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 thereof, the bearing assembly has a liner material and a coat of resin separated by a backing material. The liner and backing material is formed between two members to provide a moveable bearing assembly. In this arrangement, there is no shear deformation in the liner material or the coat of resin.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,690,231 issued Sept. 1, 1987 to P. Riml and U.S. Pat. No. 4,772,151 issued Sept. 20, 1988 to B. G. Lammers, et al., each teach a resilient mounting assembly. The elastomeric material of the mounting assembly is preloaded to obtain a mount that can withstand heavy operating loads, but the degree of rotation between the elements is limited to a few degrees.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems as set forth above.


According to various embodiments, an electronic device may include at least one sensor, at least one communication circuit, and a processor electrically connected to the at least one sensor and/or the at least one communication circuit, wherein the processor is configured to determine a relay message generation condition associated with a vehicle based at least on data acquired from the at least one sensor and/or the at least one communication circuit, to generate a relay message based at least on the data acquired from the at least one sensor and/or the at least one communication circuit when the relay message generation condition is satisfied based on the determination result, and to transmit the generated relay message to an external vehicle through the at least one communication circuit.

Recently, techniques have been developed in which a moving means, such as a vehicle, communicates with other entities. The vehicle may include a communication circuit for communication and may transmit various information such as the speed of the vehicle, the steering direction thereof, whether the brake thereof is operated, etc., to other entities through the communication circuit. For example, the vehicle may transmit information to other vehicles and may receive information from other vehicles. Communication between the vehicles may be referred to as vehicle to vehicle (V2V) communication.
The vehicle may transmit information to a road side unit (RSU) or may receive information from the RSU. Communication between the vehicle and the RSU may be referred to as vehicle to infrastructure (V2I) communication. The vehicle may transmit information to electronic devices carried by pedestrians and may receive communication signals including safety related information from the electronic devices carried by the pedestrians. Communication between the vehicle and the electronic device carried by the pedestrians may be referred to as vehicle to pedestrian (V2P) communication.
Various methods for the communication between the vehicles are being discussed, for example, a dedicated short range communication (DSRC) technique based on 802.11p has been proposed. In the case of the above-described technique, a coverage capable of transmitting a basic safety message (BSM) transmitted between the vehicles may be limited within a certain distance (for example, 300 m to 1 km). For example, when it is necessary to transmit a vehicle to X (V2X) message (e.g., BSM) such as V2V, V2I, V2P, etc., to a vehicle that is distantly remote, it is difficult for the V2X message to be transmitted to the vehicle beyond the transmission coverage of the BSM.

Electronic device for transmitting relay message to external vehicle and method thereof


In a game system 1 of the present invention, an image capturing device 2 captures a controller 20. The controller 20 includes a plurality of LEDs which express controller numbers assigned to the controller 20 in a game application to be executed, and periodically repeats the turning on and off of an LED in a flashing pattern defined in accordance with the controller number assigned. A cycle of the flashing is set so that the flashing appears to be continuous to a user, on the other hand, so that a continuous turning-off state and a continuous turning-on state are captured alternately in succession by the image capturing device 2. The game device 10 determines if the controller 20 is located in the image capturing space of the mage capturing device 2 based on the captured images which are captured continuously at a predetermined capturing speed by the image capturing device 2.

In recent years, a technique has been presented in which a two-dimensional code is taken by a camera, code data is recognized and a predetermined process associated with the code data is executed. Various types of two-dimensional codes are in practical use at present, since a two-dimensional code can include more coded information, in comparison with a one-dimensional bar code. Under these circumstances, a technique relating to image recognition of a two-dimensional code has been conventionally presented (for example, see Patent Document 1).
In order to acquire a three-dimensional position or the like of an object located in the real space, a technique has been presented in which a three-dimensional position or a three-dimensional posture is recognized by flashing each of a plurality of LEDs equipped on the object in a uniquely determined flashing pattern, respectively, and using images captured by a two-dimensional image sensor (for example, see Patent Document 2). In Patent Document 2, an LED serving as a marker has the identification information which can be uniquely identified for each LED.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-82108;    Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-254716.

Entertainment system and processing apparatus


A method includes identifying a table over a conventional database used by an application, creating a view of the table equivalent to the identified table in an in-memory database, and calling the view with a same call as used for the identified table such that calling the view via the application provides a same result as would have been obtained from the same call to the table in the conventional database.

Many applications run on application servers which are coupled to a relational database to store application data. To enhance the performance of the applications, data in the database may be stored in multiple different forms. In addition to a traditional relational table of data, various subsets of the data with aggregations may be stored in various tables and indices to facilitate quick access to the data to run certain analytical reports. Over time, the number of additional tables used to enhance the speed at which reports are run may become quite large. If the application data is frequently modified, there can be significant overhead involved in maintaining and updating all the tables. In addition, more tables may be created by customers to handle newly desired reports that may require complex aggregations of and analytics on the data.

View based table replacement for applications


Compositions of matter are described which contain restricted cancer cells. When so restricted, the cells produce an unexpectedly high amount of material which suppresses cancer cell proliferation. The phenomenon crosses cancer type and species lines. Processes for making these compositions, and their use, are also described.

The encapsulation of various biological materials in biologically compatible materials, which is well documented in the literature, is a technique that has been used for some time, albeit with limited success. Exemplary of the art are U.S. Pat. No. 5,227,298 (Weber, et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 5,053,332 (Cook, et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 4,997,443 (Walthall, et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 4,971,833 (Larsson, et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 4,902,295 (Walthall, et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 4,798,786 (Tice, et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 4,673,566 (Goosen, et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 4,647,536 (Mosbach, et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 4,409,331 (Lim); U.S. Pat. No. 4,392,909 (Lim); U.S. Pat. No. 4,352,883 (Lim); and U.S. Pat. No. 4,663,286 (Tsang, et al.). Also of note is U.S. Pat. No. 5,643,569 to Jain, et al., incorporated by reference herein. Jain, et al. discuss, in some detail, the encapsulation of islets in various biocompatible materials. Islets produce insulin, and the use of the materials disclosed by Jain, et al. in the treatment of diabetes is taught therein.
The Jain, et al. patent discusses, in some detail, the prior approaches taken by the art in transplantation therapy. These are summarized herein as well.
Five major approaches to protecting the transplanted tissue from the host's immune response are known. All involve attempts to isolate the transplanted tissue from the host's immune system. The immunoisolation techniques used to date include: extravascular diffusion chambers, intravascular diffusion chambers, intravascular ultrafiltration chambers, microencapsulation, and macroencapsulation. There are many problems associated with methods of the prior art, including a host fibrotic response to the implant material, instability of the implant material, limited nutrient diffusion across semi-permeable membranes, secretagogue and product permeability, and diffusion lag-time across semi-permeable membrane barriers.
For example, a microencapsulation procedure for enclosing viable cells, tissues, and other labile membranes within a semipermeable membrane was developed by Lim in 1978. (Lim, Research report to Damon Corporation (1978)). Lim used microcapsules of alginate and poly L-lysine to encapsulate the islets of Langerhans. In 1980, the first successful in vivo application of this novel technique in diabetes research was reported (Lim, et al., Science 210: 908 (1980)). The implantation of these microencapsulated islets of Langerhans resulted in sustaining a euglycemic state in diabetic animals. Other investigators, however, repeating these experiments, found the alginate to cause a tissue reaction and were unable to reproduce Lim, et al.'s results (Lamberti, et al. Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology 10: 101 (1984); Dupuy, et al., J. Biomed. Material and Res. 22: 1061 (1988); Weber, et al., Transplantation 49: 396 (1990); and Doon-shiong, et al., Transplantation Proceedings 22: 754 (1990)). The water solubility of these polymers is now considered to be responsible for the limited stability and biocompatibility of these microcapsules in vivo (Dupuy, et al., supra, Weber et al., supra, Doon-shiong, et al., supra, and Smidsrod, Faraday Discussion of Chemical Society 57: 263 (1974)).
Iwata et al., (Iwata, et al. Jour. Biomedical Material and Res. 26: 967 (1992)) utilized agarose for microencapsulation of allogeneic pancreatic islets and discovered that it could be used as a medium for the preparation of microbeads. In their study, 1500-2000 islets were microencapsulated individually in 5% agarose and implanted into streptozotocin-induced diabetic mice. The graft survived for a long period of time, and the recipients maintained normoglycemia indefinitely.
Their method, however, suffers from a number of drawbacks. It is cumbersome and inaccurate. For example, many beads remain partially coated and several hundred beads of empty agarose form. Additional time is thus required to separate encapsulated islets from empty beads. Moreover, most of the implanted microbeads gather in the pelvic cavity, and a large number of islets in completely coated individual beads are required to achieve normoglycemia. Furthermore, the transplanted beads are difficult to retrieve, tend to be fragile, and will easily release islets upon slight damage.
A macroencapsulation procedure has also been tested. Macrocapsules of various different materials, such as poly-2-hydroxyethyl-methacrylate, polyvinylchloride-c-acrylic acid, and cellulose acetate were made for the immunoisolation of islets of Langerhans. (See Altman, et al., Diabetes 35: 625 (1986); Altman, et al., Transplantation: American Society of Artificial Internal Organs 30: 382 (1984); Ronel, et al., Jour. Biomedical Material Research 17: 855 (1983); Klomp, et al., Jour. Biomedical Material Research 17: 865-871 (1983)). In all these studies, only a transitory normalization of glycemia was achieved.
Archer, et al., Journal of Surgical Research 28: 77 (1980), used acrylic copolymer hollow fibers to temporarily prevent rejection of islet xenografts. They reported long-term survival of dispersed neonatal murine pancreatic grafts in hollow fibers which were transplanted into diabetic hamsters. Recently Lacy, et al., Science 254: 1782-1784 (1991) confirmed their results, but found the euglycemic state to be a transient phase. They found that when the islets are injected into the fiber, they aggregate within the hollow tube with resultant necrosis in the central portion of the islet masses. The central necrosis precluded prolongation of the graft. To solve this problem, they used alginate to disperse the islets in the fiber. However, this experiment has not been repeated extensively. Therefore, the membrane's function as an islet transplantation medium in humans is questionable.
The Jain, et al. patent discussed reports that encapsulating secretory cells in a permeable, hydrophilic gel material results in a functional, non-immunogenic material, that can be transplanted into animals, can be stored for long lengths of time, and is therapeutically useful in vivo. The macroencapsulation of the secretory cells provided a more effective and manageable technique for secretory cell transplantation.
The patent does not discuss at any length the incorporation of cancer cells. A survey of the literature on encapsulation of cells reveals that, following encapsulation, cells almost always produce less of materials than they produce when not encapsulated. See Lloyd-George, et al., Biomat. Art. Cells & Immob. Biotech. 21(3): 323-333 (1993); Schinstine, et al., Cell Transplant 4(1): 93-102 (1995); Chicheportiche, et al., Diabetologica 31:54-57 (1988); Jaeger, et al., Progress In Brain Research 82:41-46 (1990); Zekorn, et al., Diabetologica 29:99-106 (1992); Zhou, et al., Am. J. Physiol. 274: C1356-1362 (1998); Darquy, et al., Diabetologica 28:776-780 (1985); Tse, et al., Biotech. & Bioeng. 51:271-280 (1996); Jaeger, et al., J. Neurol. 21:469-480 (1992); Hortelano, et al., Blood 87(12): 5095-5103 (1996); Gardiner, et al., Transp. Proc. 29:2019-2020 (1997). None of these references deal with the incorporation of cancer cells into a structure which entraps them and restricts their growth, but nonetheless permit diffusion of materials into and out of the structure.
One theory relating to the growth of cancerous masses likens such masses, e.g., tumors, to normal organs. Healthy organs, e.g. the liver, grow to a particular size, and then grow no larger; however, if a portion of the liver is removed, it will regenerate to a certain extent. This phenomenon is also observed with tumors. To summarize, it has been noted that, if a portion of a tumor is removed, the cells in the remaining portion of the tumor will begin to proliferate very rapidly until the resulting tumor reaches a particular size, after which proliferation slows down, or ceases. This suggests that there is some internal regulation of cancer cells.

Beads containing restricted cancer cells producing material suppressing cancer cell proliferation


The disclosure provides tissue webs and products comprising cross-linked cellulosic fibers. In certain embodiments cross-linked cellulosic fibers are selectively disposed in one or more layers of a multi-layered tissue, wherein the tissue layer comprising cross-linked fibers is adjacent to a layer which is substantially free from cross-linked fiber. The cross-linked fibers may include hardwood kraft fibers reacted with a cross-linking agent selected from the group consisting of DMDHU, DMDHEU, DMU, DHEU, DMEU, and DMeDHEU. Tissue products and webs produced in this manner generally have improved sheet bulk, without losses in strength, compared to similar tissue products produced without cross-linked cellulosic fibers. As such the tissue products of the present invention generally have a basis weight from about 10 to about 50 gsm, a sheet bulk greater from about 8.0 to about 12.0 cc/g and geometric mean tensile from about 730 to about 1,500 g/3″.

In the manufacture of paper products, such as facial tissue, bath tissue, paper towels, dinner napkins, and the like, a wide variety of product properties are imparted to the final product through the use of chemical additives applied in the wet end of the tissue making process. Three of the most important attributes imparted to tissue through the use additives and processing are bulk, strength and softness. Increasing bulk allows the tissue maker to use less fiber to produce a given volume of tissue while improving the hand feel of the tissue product. Bulk increases however need to be balanced with softness and strength. Increases in bulk may result in less inter-fiber bonding, which may reduce strength to a point where the product fails in-use and is unacceptable to the user. Any increase in strength however, must also be balanced against softness, which is generally inversely related to strength.
Higher bulk can be achieved by embossing, but embossing normally requires a relatively stiff sheet in order for the sheet to retain the embossing pattern. Increasing sheet stiffness negatively impacts softness. Conventional embossing also substantially reduces the strength of the sheet and may lower the strength below acceptable levels in an effort to attain suitable bulk. In terms of manufacturing economy, embossing adds a unit operation and decreases efficiency.
Another means of balancing bulk, softness and strength is to use a chemical debonding agent such as a quaternary ammonium compound containing long chain alkyl groups. The cationic quaternary ammonium entity allows for the material to be retained on the cellulose via ionic bonding to anionic groups on the cellulose fibers. The long chain alkyl groups provide softness to the tissue sheet by disrupting fiber-to-fiber hydrogen bonds in the sheet. The use of such debonding agents is broadly taught in the art. Such disruption of fiber-to-fiber bonds provides a two-fold purpose in increasing the softness of the tissue. First, the reduction in hydrogen bonding produces a reduction in tensile strength thereby reducing the stiffness of the sheet. Secondly, the debonded fibers provide a surface nap to the tissue web enhancing the "fuzziness" of the tissue sheet. This sheet fuzziness may also be created through use of creping as well, where sufficient interfiber bonds are broken at the outer tissue surface to provide a plethora of free fiber ends on the tissue surface. Both debonding and creping increase levels of lint and Slough in the product. Indeed, while softness increases, it is at the expense of an increase in lint and Slough in the tissue relative to an untreated control. It can also be shown that in a blended (non-layered) sheet the level of lint and Slough is inversely proportional to the tensile strength of the sheet. Lint and Slough can generally be defined as the tendency of the fibers in the paper web to be rubbed from the web when handled.
Other attempts to balance bulk, strength and softness have involved reacting wood pulp fibers with cellulose reactive agents, such as triazines, to alter the degree of hydrogen bonding between fibers. While this perhaps helps to give a product improved bulk and an improved surface feel at a given tensile strength, such products generally have poor tensile strength as a result of the reduced fiber-fiber bonding and exhibit higher Slough and lint at a given tensile strength. As such, such products generally are not satisfactory to the user.
Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for balancing bulk, strength and softness in a tissue product. Further, there is a need for a tissue product that balances these properties, while also providing a tissue product having lint and Slough levels that are acceptable to the user.


The present invention relates to an extrusion die and a method for extruding a sheet using the same, and according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an extrusion die comprising a storage part configured to hold a raw material, the storage part defining a first width, a pressure part configured to move the raw material through the storage part, a first die defining a second width less than the first width, such that a flow width of the raw material becomes narrower, a second die in fluid communication with the first die, the second die defining a width that increases from the second width to a third width, such that the flow width of the raw material passing through the first die becomes wider and a flow thickness becomes smaller, and a heating part configured to heat the raw material passing through the second die.

Generally, a sheet extrusion die is a device for processing a polymer paste into a sheet form.
FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing a general sheet extrusion die (10), and FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram reproducing flow of a raw material (P) passing through the sheet extrusion die (10) of FIG. 1.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the extrusion die (10) comprises a storage part (20) in which a raw material (P) is stored, a pressure part (50), a capillary die (30) for pressurizing the raw material (P) so as to be fibrous and a sheet die (40) for making the raw material passing through the capillary die (30) into a sheet. On the other hand, in FIG. 1, F represents the moving direction of the raw material, and in FIG. 2, P1 represents the raw material in the storage part, P2 represents the raw material in a first die and P3 represents the raw material in a second die (or referred to as 'sheet').
Upon extruding the sheet, there is a defect that the sheet (P3) is not stably formed at the outlet of the second die (40), thereby being tilted to one side or waving to the left and right. This is caused by very high stress around the outlet of the second die (40) under a sharp stress gradient when it passes through the sheet die (40).
The sheet formed by extrusion is further stretched to be processed into a film, and if a defect occurs in the extrusion process, there is a problem in the progress of the subsequent processes.

Extrusion die and extrusion method of sheet using the same


A color print apparatus in which a color analysis processing device is being given a process priority in a multiple color system and proceeds to shift the execution priority to the next color according to a predetermined color order in timing with the completion of continuous analysis of a predetermined data amount of the color print data less than one page.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a color printing apparatus and a color print data analyzing method, and more particularly to a color printing apparatus and a color print data analyzing method for executing a command analyzing process with respect to color print data received from a host device to generate page data for each color component and performing printing by superimposing images for respective color components for printing based on the generated page data.
2. Description of the Related Art
As disclosed in, for example, Japanese patent laid-open publication No. Hei6-139033, in this kind of conventional color printing apparatus, a definition for converting a color description into a monochrome description having only a monochrome value for each elementary color is added in a definition addition section of a page description language program including color descriptions according to a predetermined color specifying system using predetermined multiple elementary colors, the page description language program having this definition added thereto is analyzed by a monochrome color interpreter to be developed to monochrome image data, and the monochrome image data is further synthesized and outputted as color output data.
In the conventional color printing apparatus, however, all the data must be first generated for, e.g., cyan, which is sequentially followed by generation of all the data for magenta, yellow and black. The data must be, therefore, held in a receiving memory until generation of the color image data is completed, resulting in a problem of improvement in efficient use of the memory. Further, the color description in the program must be retrieved in the definition addition section to generate a program converted into the monochrome description before analyzing the page description language program for each of multiple elementary colors by the monochrome interpreter, and the high-speed color printing is hence difficult.

Color printing apparatus and color print data analyzing method


The invention relates to a method for the storage of deep-frozen goods in a freezer having a speed-controlled compressor. In accordance with the invention, the compressor is operated in long-term operation and the temperature is lowered in a low-temperature mode to a temperature which is clearly below −18° C., and is kept substantially constant at this selected temperature with only low temperature fluctuations which are caused by a change in speed of the compressor.

The invention relates to a method for the storage of deep-frozen goods in a freezer having a speed-controlled compressor.
In domestic freezers, the goods are usually stored at a temperature of approximately −18° C. or at slightly lower temperatures. This temperature value is the temperature which can be measured at the hottest position in the freezer at the core of the goods stored there. The compressor usually has an ON/OFF control which is controlled by means of temperature sensors which detect the inner temperature of the freezer space. This ON/OFF control results in temperature fluctuations inside the goods and in particular at their surfaces. The ON/OFF control is also used when speed-controlled compressors are used. Before the compressor is switched off, it is admittedly throttled down to the lowest possible speed, but a switching off of the compressor is not thereby prevented. The reason for this is that the ratio which can be established in practice from the highest to the lowest speed is too low in order to achieve long-term operation at −18° C., on the one hand, and to ensure a sufficient cold output when the highest permitted ambient temperature is present, on the other hand. The ratio which can be established from the highest to the lowest speed of the compressor would have to be much larger here. This cannot be realized from a technical machine aspect.
In order to still have a sufficient performance reserve even for high ambient temperatures, it is necessary to give the compressor correspondingly large dimensions. One is thereby forced to use an ON/OF control at normal ambient temperatures in order to obtain a freezer space temperature of −18° C. This ON/OFF control results in conventional compressors in switching cycles of e.g. 3/h or, when speed-controlled compressors are used, of 1/h. The deep-frozen goods are exposed to temperature fluctuations by these ON/OFF processes and the quality of the deep-frozen goods suffers from this.

Method for the storage of deep-frozen goods


An exhaust system member is provided on a vehicle-width-direction outer side relative to a vehicle body structure such as a side sill, while avoiding widening of the vehicle, enhancing shock absorption performance during a collision, and maintaining rigidity of the vehicle body. Embodiments include an engine disposed forward of a vehicle cabin, an engine exhaust system, and a hinge pillar extending vertically. The exhaust system includes a first exhaust system member beside the hinge pillar in the vehicle front-rear direction from the vehicle-width-direction outer side of the hinge pillar and extending forward of the hinge pillar, a second exhaust system member rearward of the hinge pillar, and a connection part connecting these exhaust system members. The connection part has a smaller length in the vehicle width direction than at least one of the first and second exhaust system members, and overlaps with the hinge pillar in the vehicle front-rear direction.

In a vehicle, a structure has been known in which at least a part of an exhaust system member (for example, a filter for exhaust treatment, an exhaust pipe, or a silencer) forming an exhaust apparatus is provided not at the vehicle-width-direction center under a floor but on the vehicle-width-direction outer side relative to the floor (i.e., a lower portion of the vehicle on the vehicle-width-direction outer side).
The aim of adopting such a configuration is roughly classified into cases where a vehicle body layout property is desired and where motion performance of a vehicle body is emphasized. In the former case, for example, in a vehicle adopting a system using an internal combustion engine and a motor in combination as in a hybrid car or a range extender car, a vehicle has been known in which, for example, in order to avoid a battery disposed under a floor, an exhaust system member is provided on the vehicle-width-direction outer side relative to the battery under the floor (for example, see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2018-39452). In the latter case, a vehicle has been known in which, for example, as in a sports car, in order to dispose a heavy object near the center of a vehicle body, an exhaust system member, which is relatively light, is disposed at a lower portion of the vehicle on the vehicle-width-direction outer side.
Here, as an example in which the heavy object is disposed near the center of the vehicle body, the center of gravity of occupants seated on a driver seat and a passenger seat is lowered, or an interval in the vehicle width direction between the driver seat and the passenger seat which are adjacent to each other is narrowed.
On the other hand, as a specific example in which the exhaust system member is disposed at the lower portion of the vehicle on the vehicle-width-direction outer side, it is conceivable to lay out the exhaust system member in the vicinity of the vehicle-width-direction outer side of a vehicle body structure such as a side sill which is provided on the side of a floor.
However, in a case where the exhaust system member, which is relatively light, is laid out on the outer side of the vehicle body structure provided on the side of the floor, a problem occurs in which the width of the vehicle expands by a width corresponding to that of the exhaust system member. Thus, in a case where the exhaust system member, which is relatively light, is laid out on the outer side of the vehicle body structure with an even more emphasis on the motion performance of the vehicle, there is room for improvement.
In particular, a vehicle body is required to have, for example, a shock absorption performance for the time of collision and a certain rigidity, and these requirements need to be satisfied to preserve the motion performance of the vehicle to the extent possible.


Embodiments of the present invention provide a method and system for providing a marketing identification system by enabling creating an entry for customer data in a way that allows searching of customer attributes, querying the customer data, retrieving data in response to the query, de-identifying and aggregating the retrieved data, and displaying the de-identified and aggregated data in a way that identifies the available market as defined by the query. The invention can be implemented via a stand-alone computing system or such a system interconnected with other platforms or data stores by a network, such as a corporate intranet, a local area network, or the internet.

Identification and determination of market opportunities is critical to succeeding in today's business world. The ability to accurately identify the presence and size of an existing but perhaps untapped market, in a timely manner, is a key element of business success, important to businesses of all sizes and at all stages of the business life cycle.


A combustion chamber (4) for a gas turbine (1), the combustion chamber wall (24) of which is furnished on the inside with a lining formed of a number of heat shield elements (26), is to be designed for a particularly high level of operating safety. To this end, one or a number of temperature sensors (28) is/are located according to the invention between combustion chamber wall (24) and heat shield elements (26).

Combustion chambers are among other things an integral part of gas turbines, which are used in many fields for driving generators or machines. Here, the energy content of a fuel is used for generating a rotational movement of a turbine shaft. To this end, the fuel is burnt by burners in the combustion chambers connected downstream of said burners, compressed air being supplied by an air compressor.
Each burner can be assigned a separate combustion chamber, whereby it is possible for the working medium flowing out of the combustion chambers to be merged upstream of or in the turbine unit. Alternatively, the combustion chamber can also be laid out in a construction design referred to as an annular combustion chamber, in which a majority, in particular all, of the burners discharge into a common, usually ring-shaped, combustion chamber.
Burning the fuel produces a working medium under high pressure and with a high temperature. This working medium expands in the turbine unit connected downstream of the combustion chambers, performing work as it does so. To this end, the turbine unit has a number of rotatable moving blades connected to the turbine shaft. The moving blades are arranged on the turbine shaft in the form of a ring and thus form a number of rows of moving blades. The turbine also comprises a number of fixed guide vanes which are likewise fastened annularly on an inner housing of the turbine forming rows of guide vanes. The moving blades serve here to drive the turbine shaft by transferring a pulse from the working medium flowing through the turbine. Each of the guide vanes on the other hand serves to guide the flow of the working medium between two successive (viewed from the direction of flow of the working medium) moving-blade rows or moving-blade rings. A consecutive pair consisting of a ring of guide vanes or a guide-vane row and a ring of moving blades or a moving-blade row connected downstream in terms of the direction of flow of the working medium forms a turbine stage.
In the design of gas turbines of this type, one of the design goals is, in addition to the power achievable, a particularly high degree of efficiency. For thermodynamic reasons, an increase in the degree of efficiency can basically be achieved by increasing the exit temperature at which the working medium flows out of the combustion chamber and into the turbine unit. Temperatures of approximately 1200° C. to 1500° C. are therefore aimed at and also achieved for gas turbines of this type.
With such high temperatures of the working medium, however, the components and structural members exposed to this medium are exposed to high thermal loadings. However, in order to ensure with a high degree of reliability a comparatively long service life of the affected components, a design is usually required that comprises particularly heat-resistant materials and a cooling of the components concerned, in particular of the combustion chamber.
The combustion chamber wall is to this end generally furnished on its inside with an inner lining consisting of heat shield elements, which inner lining can be furnished with particularly heat-resistant protective layers and which can be cooled through the actual combustion chamber wall. To do this, a cooling procedure is generally used that is also referred to as "impact cooling". In impact cooling, a coolant, generally cool air, is fed through a number of bore holes in the combustion chamber wall to the heat shield elements so that the coolant essentially impacts vertically onto their external surface facing the combustion chamber wall. The coolant heated up through the cooling process is then removed from the inner cavity which the combustion chamber wall forms with the heat shield elements.
In order to fasten the heat shield elements to the combustion chamber wall, there is firstly the option of connecting these to the combustion chamber wall with screws or fastening bolts. Alternatively, heat shield elements can also be anchored to the combustion chamber wall by means of appropriate holding devices onto grooves which are located in the combustion chamber wall.
A problem when operating a gas turbine is the fact that heat shield elements or even parts thereof can work loose from the combustion chamber wall. As a rule, this happens because the heat shield elements or their fastening devices are damaged by the extreme influences in the interior of the combustion chamber such as the high thermal loadings or shocks or vibrations of the combustion chamber. As a result of the flow movement of the working medium, these parts which have been loosened from the combustion chamber wall enter the turbine unit where they can destroy moving blades and guide vanes. Where there is this kind of loss of heat shield elements, loosened heat shield elements or parts thereof do not, however, enter the turbine unit since they accumulate in front of the first row of guide vanes of the first turbine stage or wedge in front of or in guide vanes of this first turbine stage. The presence of heat shield elements or parts thereof in front of the turbine unit leads, when the gas turbine is operating, to flow and pressure fluctuations in the form of flow turbulences in the turbine unit. These turbulences are generally so strong that moving blades such as in particular the moving blades of the first turbine stage snap off and thereby destroy large parts of the turbine unit, as well as the neighboring and adjoining rows of guide vane and moving blades. As a rule, in the event of a heat-shield loss, some minutes pass between the working loose of a heat shield element on the combustion chamber wall and the first breakages of moving blades, triggered by turbulences caused by jammed heat shield elements. In the event of the turbine unit being damaged, in addition to repair costs, loss-of-production costs of the gas turbine, in particular, can also accrue so that very high total costs can accrue.