An image reading device includes: a light source irradiating a reading target with light; an image sensor receiving incoming reflection light from the reading target and reading the reading target; a plurality of kinds of white reference plates of mutually different brightness levels provided for acquiring a white reference in shading correction; an input part accepting input of selection, as a mode for document reading, between a character mode prioritizing character reproduction and a photo mode prioritizing figure and photo reproduction; and a shading correction part, when the character mode has been selected, perform the shading correction by defining the white reference based on output of the image sensor when the character-mode white reference plate darker than the photo-mode white reference plate has been read.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image reading device which is provided in an image forming apparatus such as a multi-function printer (MFP) or a copier and which performs shading correction on image data obtained by document reading. The present invention also relates to an image reading device shading correction method.
2. Description of Related Art
An image reading device such as a scanner reads a document to generate image data. Moreover, the image reading device may be provided in an image forming apparatus such as a copier, a multi-function printer (MFP), a fax machine, or the like. The image reading device has distortion occurring depending on a pixel position due to a variation between light receiving elements in an image sensor (for example, CCD), a difference in the degree of condensation between a lens center and a peripheral part, uneven light amount distribution of a light source, etc. Thus, in the image reading device, image processing of shading correction for performing, for example, normalization between a white reference and a black reference to correct the distortion depending on the pixel position may be performed on each of pixels.
In order to acquire the white reference ("sparkling white") in the shading correction, a white reference plate may be provided in the image reading device. Then a white reference of each pixel is defined based on output data provided from the image sensor when the white reference plate has been read. Note that in order to indicate "jet black", a black reference plate may be provided in the image reading device.
Here, for example, when a character-dominant document has been read, in order to sharpen characters to obtain an image with a clear white-black difference, image processing such as Υ conversion processing, spatial filter processing (for example, edge enhancement processing), and/or the like may be performed on image data already subjected to the shading correction.
Known as one example of an image processor performing such image processing is an image processor which handles image density as image data quantized in multi-gradations for each pixel, which has a Υ converter for the image data and a smoother for the image data, and which controls Υ conversion properties of the Υ converter in accordance with a result of smoothing by the smoother. With this configuration, an attempt is made to obtain a reproduced image with less background disturbance and a clear black-white difference.
Typically, gradations of each pixel of the image data in reading by the image reading device are regulated between a white reference and a black reference. Then the white reference is acquired by reading a white reference plate. In other words, the image reading device cannot read (acquire) white whiter than the white reference plate.
Then in the image reading device, not only a written document but also various other types of documents such as photos are read, and thus it is preferable that a density range in reading be as wide as possible. Therefore, to the image reading device, a whitest possible white reference plate is fitted. Moreover, used as the black reference is, for example, output data of an image sensor in a state in which a reading lamp is turned off.
However, in a case where a character-dominant document is read by a copier or the like, if black as the black reference is darker (blacker) than black of a character portion, characters are read in gray a little brighter than jet black. Similarly, if the white reference plate is brighter (whiter) than background and a blank space of white paper, the background, etc. are read in gray a little darker than sparkling white.
Here, in the image forming apparatus or the image reading device, in a case where a character mode that prioritizes character reproducibility has been selected, in order to obtain an image with a clear black-white difference, image processing of replacing a density value of the pixels at the character portion to be blacker and replacing a density value of the pixels at the background portion to be whiter may be performed. Specifically, the γ conversion processing and/or spatial filter processing as described above may be performed on the image data. Moreover, for example, image processing of replacing a density value to be sparkling white or jet black with density between the white reference and the black reference serving as a border may be performed on each pixel.
However, the image processing such as the Υ conversion processing and/or the spatial processing is performed on the entire image data. Thus, the image processing such as the Υ conversion processing and/or the spatial processing causes a problem of image quality deterioration, such as lack of information of a pixel portion in gradations between the white reference and the black reference, such as pictures, figures, color gradation, a photo portion, etc. other than characters in the image data. In other words, as long as some image processing is performed, the image data is modified, whereby the image quality deterioration possibly occurs in terms of document reproducibility, etc.
For conventional image reading devices, MTF correction (edge enhancement), γ conversion, and/or the like is performed on image data already subjected to shading correction. Therefore, there possibly arises a problem of image quality deterioration attributable to the image processing such as the γ conversion, which fails to solve the problem described above.

Image reading device, image reading device shading correction method, and image forming apparatus


Presented herein is a system and method for a line address computer for providing line addresses in multiple contexts for interlaced to progressive conversion. A feeder fetches a first line from a top field, fetches a first line from a bottom field corresponding to the top field, after fetching the first line from the top field, and fetches a second line from the top field after fetching the first line from the bottom field. The second line from the top field is adjacent to the first line in the top field.

A video decoder receives encoded video data and decodes and/or decompresses the video data. The decoded video data comprises a series of pictures. A display device displays the pictures. The pictures comprise a two-dimensional grid of pixels. The display device displays the pixels of each picture in real time at a constant rate. In contrast, the rate of decoding can vary considerably for different video data. Accordingly, the video decoder writes the decoded pictures in a picture buffer.
Among other things, a display engine is synchronized with the display device and provides the appropriate pixels to the display device for display. The display engine determines the picture buffer address of the appropriate pixels, in order to provide the appropriate pixels to the display device. The address of the appropriate pixels is dependent on, among other things, the chroma format of the decoded pictures, the chroma format of the display device, the storage format, whether the pictures are interlaced or progressive, and whether the display is interlaced or progressive.
The chroma format of pictures describes the spatial relationship of chroma pixels to the luma pixels. A picture comprises a two dimensional grid of luma pixels Y, chroma red difference pixels Cr, and chroma blue difference pixels Cb. Generally speaking, the luma pixels are the greatest in number, and often as many, if not more, than the chroma Cr, and chroma Cb pixels combined. The grid of chroma Cr pixels and the grid of chroma Cb pixels are overlayed the grid of luma pixels during display. The overlaid grid of chroma pixels Cr/Cb can have a variety of spatial relationships with the luma pixels. For example, every other luma pixel can be co-located with a chroma Cr and chroma Cb pixel. Alternatively, the chroma pixels Cr/Cb may not align with the luma pixels Y. Examples of chroma formats include MPEG-1/2/4, 4:2:0 (now referred to as MPEG 4:2:0), MPEG 2/4 4:2:2 (now referred to as MPEG 4:2:2), DV-25, and MPEG-2 TM5.
Where the chroma format of the decoded pictures (decoded chroma format) and the chroma format of the display pictures (display chroma format) are different, chroma pixels corresponding to chroma pixel positions in the display chroma format are interpolated from the chroma pixels in the decoded picture that are nearest or surround the chroma pixel positions. During display, the chroma pixels in the decoded frame are replaced by the interpolated chroma pixels that are displayed in their corresponding chroma pixel positions in the display chroma format. One advantage of the planar format is that reading consecutive memory locations produces a rasterized bitstream of either the luma, chroma CrCr, or chroma Cb pixels.
The video decoder can also store a decoded picture in a number of different ways. In the planar format, the luma pixels are stored in raster order in one array, the chroma Cr pixels are stored in raster order in a second array, and the chroma Cb pixels are stored in raster order in a third array. In the packed YUV format, the luma, chroma CrCr, and chroma Cb pixels are packed together in a single array in raster order. One advantage of the packed YUV format is that reading consecutive memory locations produces a rasterized bitstream of the luma, chroma CrCr, and chroma Cb pixels.
Another format for storing decoded frames is known as the macroblock format. Several encoding and compression standards provide for a picture to be divided into two-dimensional blocks of luma pixels, chroma Cr pixels Cr, and chroma Cb pixels Cb. A macroblock comprises a block of luma Y pixels, and the blocks of chroma CrCr/Cb pixels are co-located therewith. The macroblocks are encoded, compressed, and represented by a data structure. The picture in its encoded and compressed form, is represented by the data structures representing the constituent macroblocks.
During decoding, the macroblocks are decoded/decompressed. As each macroblock is decoded, the video decoder stores the macroblock into a memory. A consecutive set of memory locations in one array store the block of luma pixels, and a consecutive set of memory locations in another array store the blocks of chroma Cr and chroma Cb pixels together.
Unlike planar storage format, or packed YUV storage format, however, reading consecutive memory locations where the macroblock format is used does not produce a rasterized bitstream.
The decoded pictures and the display can either be interlaced or progressive. Interlaced pictures are captured in two fields at two distinct time instances. All even numbered lines in the picture are captured/displayed at one discrete time, and all odd-numbered lines in the picture are captured/displayed at another discrete time. Both the National Television Standards Committee (NTSC) and Phase Alternate Lining (PAL) use interlacing. In contrast to interlaced pictures, progressive pictures are presented at the same discrete time instance.
Progressive display units are becoming more and more common. Most computer monitors are progressive display devices. Additionally, many television sets are capable of both interlaced and progressive displaying because more of the content displayed on television screens is from a progressive video sequence. For example, most motion pictures on Digital Versatile Discs (DVDs) are a progressive scan video sequence. Therefore, television sets can be equipped to display the DVD content as a progressive sequence. Additionally, many of the proposed high-definition television standards (HDTV) involve both progressive and interlaced displaying.
Conventionally, after each horizontal synchronization pulse, the host processor calculates the address of the first pixels of a line and the parameters for chroma format conversion after each horizontal synchronization pulse. The host processor then programs the display engine with the foregoing. Programming the display engine at each horizontal synchronization pulse consumes considerable bandwidth from the host processor.
An inherent problem exists when displaying an interlaced video on a progressive display. Most proposed solutions involve processing and analyzing the video signal in both the spatial and temporal domains, and producing a converted progressive picture based on the interlaced video source. Various methods for approaching the problem involve the utilization of vertical filters, vertical-temporal filters, adaptive two-dimensional and temporal filters, motion adaptive spatio-temporal filters, and motion-compensated spatio-temporal filters.
Very complex deinterlacers analyze the picture information in the spatial and temporal domains, sometimes storing several consecutive fields of video in memory in order to analyze the characteristics of the video sequence and make decisions on a pixel-by-pixel basis as to how to display the video information in a progressive display. Very simple deinterlacers perform only spatial filtering regardless of motion in the sequence. However, the foregoing look at actual picture data, and overlook the origin of the picture data, especially when the source is a compressed bit stream.
A particularly complex case arises when interlaced decoded pictures with a decoded chroma format are to be displayed on a progressive display with a different display chroma format.
The conventional approach in such a case is to convert the chroma format of the top field and bottom field, thereby generating a new top field and a new bottom field with the display chroma format. The new top field and bottom fields are provided to a deinterlacing filter. The deinterlacing filter operates on the new top field and the new bottom field to develop a progressive picture.
The foregoing approach has several disadvantages. The entire top field and bottom field are converted prior to deinterlacing. As a result, the advantages of pipelining are lost. Additionally, a large amount of data, e.g., the new top field and bottom field, are provided to the deinterlacer at one time. This causes increased reliance on software for data management, and the speed advantages of hardware are lost. Additionally, because the chroma format conversion does not occur in real-time, to guarantee completion of the chroma conversion and the interlaced to progressive conversion by display time, the chroma conversion occurs at a greater time prior to display. This reduces the processing power that is available to other functions that need to occur well in advance of display time.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems with embodiments of the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.

Line address computer for providing line addresses in multiple contexts for interlaced to progressive conversion


A delivery device includes a base body having an outlet opening and a chamber for receiving a flowable substance to be administered. The base body, having first and second film portions attached to each other by a connection with a plurality of regions, being configured to discharge the substance through the outlet opening by compressing the chamber. The delivery device further includes a pouring adapter tightly connected to the outlet opening. The plurality of regions of the connection include a more resilient region and a less resilient region that are arranged between the chamber and the outlet opening. When the chamber is compressed to discharge the substance through the outlet opening, the less resilient region is configured to come undone and the more resilient region is configured to remain connected so that the substance can be discharged solely through the outlet opening and the pouring adapter by compressing the chamber.

Nowadays, flowable or liquid substances that are administered in different forms are used for care-related purposes and for the therapeutic treatment of various diseases. For example, such substances are released into body orifices, such as mouth or ears, or injected into a patient's body. For this purpose, the substance is usually applied by means of a specific delivery device that enables targeted application in the specified manner.
For example, care products and medications in the form of eye droplets are often administered to the eyes in order to treat and care for the eyes. It is known to provide the care products or medications in measured portions as a liquid substance in plastic containers for this purpose. For ease of use, such plastic containers often have a beak-shaped outlet opening. During use, the outlet opening is unblocked and positioned on the eye. The liquid substance is then dispensed out of the outlet opening drop by drop by squeezing the container and released into the eye.
Similarly, drugs are also offered that are intended for oral administration. For example, oral vaccinations are applied by means of similar delivery devices.
It is also known to provide substances for subcutaneous, intravenous, or intradermal injection in portioned form in a delivery device. Filled disposable syringes are traditionally used. Alternatively, an intradermal delivery device is described in EP 1 092 444 B1, for example, which comprises a base body made of two layers of a thermoplastic material. The two layers form a reservoir in which a pharmaceutical substance is arranged and an outlet opening that is continuously connected to the reservoir. A connecting piece is incorporated into the outlet opening into which a needle device is inserted. The connecting piece has a sealing membrane that seals the outlet opening. The needle device comprises a needle that is provided both for injection and for piercing the sealing membrane of the connecting piece when the needle device is inserted into the connecting piece. When the needle device is inserted, the substance can be dispensed through the outlet opening and the needle device by compressing the reservoir.
One drawback of the known delivery devices is that the type of administration is usually predetermined. This means that the manufacturing—e.g., the tools used—must usually be adapted for each type of administration. In certain applications, it may also be desirable to select the best type only after the delivery device has been manufactured or even at the time of administration itself. In such cases, several alternative delivery devices must be made available or used. In the case of the aforementioned alternative delivery devices that are intended for injection, the insertion of the needle device can also be problematic. For example, when the needle device is inserted, there is a risk that a portion of the substance will escape immediately, so that the exact dose can no longer be guaranteed. Contamination of the substance to be administered can also occur during the piercing of the sealing membrane. Manufacturing with the connecting piece and its sealing membrane can also be relatively complex.
It is therefore the object of the present invention to propose a device that enables precise, hygienic, and inexpensive administration of medicaments or other sterile substances in different ways, and a method for the efficient and simple manufacturing of such a device.

Administration device and method for producing same


Embodiments provide systems, methods, and computer program products for inferring the switch port connectivity of discovered but unmanaged devices in a network without direct access to the devices. Embodiments operate by generating a physical address-to-port map based on collected operational data and then pruning the generated map based on switch port connectivity information and/or inferred link connectivity information. The switch port connectivity of discovered unmanaged devices is then generated or updated based on the pruned map. The switch port connectivity information can be used by various other tools to enable diagramming, asset inventory, and network planning, design, and optimization workflows.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to connectivity inference of detected Internet Protocol (IP) devices in a network.
2. Background Art
Commonly, network management systems discover unmanaged devices in the network. These devices, which are primarily host devices (e.g., end systems, servers, etc.), are typically not enabled for SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) or CLI (command line interface) access by the network management system. This makes it difficult for network management systems to identify the connectivity information of these devices, which is necessary to generate complete network diagrams or to perform modeling studies, for example. Additionally, if dynamic address assignment (e.g., Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)) is configured, the IP addresses of these unmanaged devices change regularly, further complicating the problem.
Accordingly, there is a need for methods, systems, and computer program products to determine the link and connectivity information of discovered unmanaged devices in a network.
The present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Generally, the drawing in which an element first appears is typically indicated by the leftmost digit(s) in the corresponding reference number.

Detected IP link and connectivity inference


A pneumatic tire has a first wall surface faces one side of a circumferential groove, and a second wall surface faces another side of that. The first wall surface alternately has a first inclined surface portion and a first concave portion. The second wall surface alternately has a second inclined surface portion and a second concave portion. A first land portion has a first connection portion connected to a second land portion and a first bottom surface portion constitutes the bottom of the circumferential groove. The second land portion has a second connection portion connected to the first land portion and a second bottom surface portion constitutes the bottom of the circumferential groove. The first inclined surface portion and the second inclined surface portion are alternately arranged along a tire circumferential direction overlapping with each other and a see-through region of the circumferential groove is formed between them.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pneumatic tire which can improve a wear performance and an on-road performance while retaining an off-road performance and a drainage performance.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, in a tire which is used in an off-road traveling, there is employed a block pattern provided with a lot of blocks on a tread surface, so that a traction (a traction force) can be achieved on a gravel road or a muddy place. However, on the contrary, in an on-road traveling, since the blocks tend to tilt and deform at a time of driving and braking or a time of cornering particularly in a case where a vehicle weight is large, the wear performance and the on-road performance (the on-road traveling performance) are hard to be sufficiently achieved. Further, in this kind of tire, it is important to suppress the occurrence of hydroplaning while retaining the drainage performance.
In Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-29224, there is described a pneumatic tire in which at least two block rows are comparted by a lateral groove, and a reinforcing portion connecting a side surface of the block on one side thereof and a bottom portion of the lateral groove is overlapped on the block on the other side in a tire width direction, for the purpose of achieving an off-road performance, a snow performance and an on-road performance. However, in this tire, although it is possible to support the block which tends to tilt in a tire circumferential direction by the reinforcing portion, it is insufficient for suppressing a tilting deformation in the tire width direction, so that it is not provided with a structure for improving the drainage performance, as well as it is impossible to improve a wear performance and the on-road performance at a cornering.
In Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2008-222088, there is described a pneumatic tire in which land portion row is constituted by alternately providing a first land portion and a second land portion which are comparted by a lateral groove in a tire circumferential direction, and a V-shaped groove is formed in the land portion row by overlapping an inclined surface portion of the first land portion and an inclined surface portion of the second land portion in a tire width direction. However, even in this tire, it is insufficient for suppressing a tilting deformation of a block in the tire width direction, and does not assume an off-road traveling, as a matter of course.


A radio transmission device includes a modulation unit that maps a transmission bit sequence to a symbol corresponding to any one signal point by using a constellation in which a plurality of congruent equilateral triangles having a signal point as an apex are formed in each of four quadrants of an IQ plane representing an in-phase component and a quadrature component of a signal, two arbitrary neighboring equilateral triangles share one side, and signal points closest to an original point in the four quadrants form two neighboring equilateral triangles that share one side. The radio transmission device also includes a transmission unit that transmits the symbol obtained by mapping performed by the modulation unit.

Generally, a radio transmission device modulates and transmits information bit to be transmitted. Examples of a modulation scheme used for modulation of information bit include a binary phase shift keying (BPSK), a quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), a 16 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), and a 64QAM. A modulation multi-value number refers to the number of bits to be transmitted per symbol. For example, in the BPSK scheme, one bit can be transmitted per symbol, and in the QPSK scheme, two bits are transmitted per symbol. Further, in the 16QAM scheme, four bits can be transmitted per symbol, and in the 64QAM scheme, six bits can be transmitted per symbol.
In modulation performed by the modulation schemes, mapping according to a constellation representing signal points obtained by plotting an in-phase component (hereinafter, "I component") and a quadrature component (hereinafter, referred to as "Q component") of a signal on an in-phase quadrature (IQ) plane is performed. That is, when information bit is modulated by each modulation scheme, bits corresponding to a modulation multi-value number are mapped to a symbol corresponding to any one signal point on the constellation. Specifically, a 16QAM constellation is formed, for example, as illustrated in FIG. 1. In the 16QAM constellation, 16 signal points are arranged, and each signal point corresponds to one symbol that corresponds to a combination of four bits. For example, when four bits "0000" are modulated by the 16QAM scheme, a symbol corresponding to signal point closest to an original point among four signal points present on a first quadrant (a quadrant in which both of the I component and the Q component are positive) is generated.
The constellation becomes different according to a modulation scheme. As the modulation multi-value number increases, the number of signal points to be arranged increases, and thus the distance between signal points decreases. If a phase or an amplitude of a symbol changes due to influence of noise or fading at the time of transmission, the position of a signal point corresponding to a symbol changes. As the modulation multi-value number of the modulation scheme increases, demodulation errors occur more easily. Thus, in a state in which a propagation environment is good, if the modulation multi-value number increases, since the number of bits to be transmitted per symbol increases, transmission efficiency is improved. However, in a state in which a propagation environment is bad, if the modulation multi-value number increases, since demodulation is not correctly performed, retransmission is frequently performed, thereby deteriorating transmission efficiency. For this reason, a study on modulating data by a modulation scheme in which a constellation at the time of first transmission is different from a constellation at the time of retransmission, and thus improving the whole throughput has been conducted.
Meanwhile, hierarchical modulation of hierarchizing and modulating a plurality of bits per symbol has recently attracted attention. For example, in the hierarchical modulation, four bits are hierarchized into upper-order two bits and lower-order two bits and symbol-mapped so that an error can become difficult to occur in the upper-order two bits compared to the lower-order two bits. For example, in the constellation illustrated in FIG. 1, upper-order two bits including a first bit and a second bit mapped to each signal point are all "00" on four signal points on the first quadrant and all "10" on four signal points on a second quadrant (a quadrant in which the I component is negative and the Q component is positive). Similarly, upper-order two bits are all "11" on four signal points on a third quadrant (a quadrant in which both the I component and the Q component are negative) and all "01" on four signal points on a fourth quadrant (a quadrant in which the I component is positive and the Q component is negative).
Thus, even if the position of the signal point on the constellation changes due to influence of noise or fading, the upper-order two bits can correctly be demodulated unless an I axis or a Q axis is straddled due to that change. That is, in the 16 QAM constellation illustrated in FIG. 1, since the average distance on the upper-order two bits is large, the upper-order two bits of the four bits mapped to each signal point become relatively difficult to cause an error.
However, third bits in FIG. 1 are all "0" on signal points of two rows close to the I axis among signal points of four rows arranged in a direction of the I axis and are all "1" on signal points of two rows far from the I axis. Similarly, four bits in FIG. 1 are all "0" on signal points of two rows close to the Q axis among signal points of four rows arranged in a direction of the Q axis and are all "1" on signal points of two rows far from the Q axis. Thus, if the position of the signal point on the constellation changes due to influence of fading, even when a change corresponding to half of the distance between signal points occurs, a demodulation error occurs in the lower-order two bits. That is, in the 16QAM constellation illustrated in FIG. 1, since the average distance between the signal points on the lower-order two bits is small, an error occurs relatively easily in the lower-order two bits among the four bits mapped to each signal point.
However, in the conventional modulation scheme using the constellation, there is a problem in that an error resilience is not greatly different between the upper-order bits and the lower-order bits, and a sufficient degree of accuracy of demodulation is not obtained. That is, in the constellation in FIG. 1, since a signal point corresponding to four bits "0011" is far from the I axis and the Q axis, even if a phase or an amplitude greatly changes, a demodulation error does not occur in the upper-order two bits. However, since a signal point corresponding to four bits "0000" is close to the I axis and the Q axis, the position of the signal point is more likely to change while straddling the I axis or the Q axis due to a change in phase or amplitude, and thus there is little difference of an error resilience between the upper-order two bits and the lower-order two bits. That is, the upper-order bits are almost the same in error rate as the lower-order bits, and a degree of accuracy of demodulation of a symbol is not sufficiently improved.
Further, in order to sufficiently differentiate the upper-order bits from the lower-order bits, instead of arranging the signal points at a regular interval, the signal points inside each quadrant may be arranged away from the original point of the IQ plane. However, if the signal points are away from the original point in general, a maximum amplitude of a symbol increases, and thus maximum transmission power increases. Further, if the position of a signal point farthest from the original point in each quadrant is fixed and the other signal points are arranged away from the original point, although maximum transmission power does not change, average transmission power increases, and a degree of accuracy of demodulation on the lower-order bits deteriorates.
Patent Document: Japanese National Publication of International Patent Application No. 2005-533461

Radio transmission device and modulation method


A processing server may receive transaction data from one or more point of sale (POS) terminals in near real-time. Transaction data received from each of the POS terminals may be in a format that is specific to the POS terminal. Upon receiving the transaction data having the POS specific format, the processing server may convert the transaction data to a common format that is compatible with the operations of the processing server. Further, the processing server may index the converted transaction data into one or more categories. Responsive to indexing, the processing server may generate aggregate data from the indexed transaction data. Further, the processing server may receive a request for a data report associated with the aggregate data. Responsive to receiving the request, the processing server may generate the data report, format the data report to match a user preference, and transmit the data report for presentation.

Businesses may leverage transaction data from numerous data sources all over the world to obtain business performance metrics, such as product performance, profitability, margins, and other critical metrics, and consumer behavior information. Such business performance metrics and consumer behavior information may in turn be used to optimize business operations and improve profits. Each data source may generate a large volume of data that need to be processed in a timely manner to benefit from the data. However, businesses may lack the data processing power, capacity and infrastructure required to address the large volume of data. Upgrading existing data processing infrastructure to include additional processing power may be time consuming and cost-intensive. Further, even if the large volume of data can be handled, the data from the data sources may be incompatible with data systems associated with the businesses, and business may need complex conversion mechanisms to convert the data from each data source to a form that is understandable by the data systems of the business for analysis.
In addition, even if the business can efficiently process the large volumes of the data and convert the data effectively, conventional technology may lack ability to provide the data in near real-time. Instead, conventional technology may be equipped to provide the data in a batch fashion by the next day, within a week, within a month, or even by end of a business quarter. Said limitations of the conventional technology may in turn limit the analytical and data mining capabilities of businesses to leverage the data in a timely manner to benefit from the data. For example, businesses may have to wait for a month before they can obtain a product performance analysis and in a highly competitive environment, by the time they receive the analysis the product performance trends may have changed. Such limitations may limit the ability of businesses to foresee trends and take necessary proactive measure to maximize benefits and minimize losses. Thus, there is a need for a technology that provides real-time transaction data processing and reporting.

Real-time transaction data processing and reporting platform


A method is disclosed herein for the preparation of polytrimethylene terephthalate with sustained-release crystallinity. The method reduces crystallization rate and crystallinity-saturation ratio of polytrimethylene terephthalate during spinning, through addition of a third monomer during the esterification reaction step. The third monomer acts as copolymerization component generating intermolecular steric hindrance; the identity of which selects from one or more as combinations of the following: trimellitic anhydride, non-para aromatic dicarboxylic acid, C4-C10 aliphatic dicarboxylic acid having branched chains or naphthenic group and C3-C10 aliphatic dihydric alcohol having branched chains or naphthenic group, the molar ratio of carboxyl to hydroxyl is 1:1.16˜1.85, with the third monomer constituting 0.5˜6.5% of the total weight of the beginning raw materials.

PTT polyester is a novel aromatic polyester product of organic polymer which together with PET and PBT belongs to the same polymer series. It is prepared through esterification and polycondensation using refined terephthalic acid and 1,3-propylene glycol as the beginning raw material.
Successful development of PTT has further enriched chemical fiber products series. Firstly, distinct from PET polyester which is almost linear in macromolecular conformation, molecular conformation of PTT polymer is spiral, which will allow PTT fiber to be highly "puffed" and endow its fiber with good elasticity; secondly, PTT polyester has a lower glass-transition temperature and thus apt to take low temperature phase transition, which can effectively eliminate influence on fabric by external stress, and allow its fiber and textile to be dyed at a lower temperature with good dyeing properties of disperse dye; thirdly, the Young's modulus of PTT fiber is lower. Its textile shows very soft hand feel and good bulkiness. Its fabrics possess good elastic recovery function, and thus called "Memory Fiber".
Because of above advantages, PTT polyester and its fiber are widely and fast popularized in chemical fiber field. Up to now, the following two aspects are most widely used in the market: In one aspect, parallel composite elastic fiber that has elastic function similar to polyurethane fiber and obtains very good effects with its textile having very good elastic recovery and bulky function when used in fabric substituting for polyurethane fiber is spanned making use of the different shrink function of the two composition PTT and PET; In another aspect, conjugate spinning or combing with other fibers is conducted making use of the lower glass temperature and the easiness to take phase transition upon friction at normal temperature owned by its fiber, so that the flatness variation of the fabric caused by outer force will be eliminated king the fabric easier to take care, producing effect of "one touch smooth", and fabricating so called "Memory Fabric".
Over the years, people have done a lot beneficial modification to conventional polyester PET, so that modified terylene gain a lot excellent performance and thus be widely used. Great progress has been seen in the diversity and comfort aspect. Seen from applicability aspect, PET polyester fiber among all types of human synthetic fibers is most suitable for human need and also a most widely used polyester fiber at present. Although PTT fiber possesses its unique advantages, there are still certain defects in some performance aspects. Therefore, besides to enlarge the application of conventional PTT fiber, modification and differentiation of PTT polyester and its fiber must be done cooperating with development of modified PET polyester fiber in order to better use features of PTT fiber.
PTT polyester has unique molecular structure with molecules being able to easily approach to each other. Therefore, PTT polyester possesses crystallization property similar to Nylon 6. Its crystallization speed during spinning is fast and crystallization degree is high. Minor variation of spinning condition can change inner structure of PTT fiber, leading to different fiber uniformity which will bring great difficulty to adjustment of spinning process. In addition, in the prior art, spinning of PTT polyester is generally carried out at relatively low temperature in order to prevent degradation of melt, so that color bar or chromatic difference is formed due to insufficient crystallization of fiber during winding and stretching process. Although the fabric thus obtained has good hand feel and quality, phenomena that the fiber re-crystallizes under tension when stretched by outer force exist during starching, weaving, printing and dyeing process and even for ready-made clothes. The fabric is apt to form chromatic difference and color bar during weaving, printing and dyeing process, and for ready-made clothes lead to scratch, white bar, forming mechanical damage that are unrecoverable.
In view of above problems, the present invention adopts a brand new process and formula, so as to have the sustained-release crystallinity function of conventional PTT polyester modified and widen shaping window effectively. It can improve the use properties of PTT polyester fiber greatly and thus enlarges the application scope of PIT fiber.

Method for preparing polytrimethylene terephthalate with sustained-release crystallinity

Jiangsu Zhonglu Technology Development Co., Ltd.


An earthing switch for a medium voltage switchgear comprising a plurality of fixed contacts, a plurality of movable contact surfaces which are suitable to contact said plurality of fixed contacts and a support structure suitable to support moving means which allow the movement of said second plurality of contact surfaces. The earthing switch comprises at least one guide which comprises a fixed element and a moving element coaxially coupled therewith, said moving element being operatively connected to said movable contact surfaces so as to allow their movement along a substantially rectilinear direction from a first position, corresponding to an open condition of said switch, to a second position corresponding to a closed condition of said switch.

Switchgear assemblies are typically used to connect a plurality of electrical loads to a common electrical bus. Such assemblies are typically provided with a plurality of switching devices having one side connected to the common bus and the other side connected to various electrical loads; these switching devices provide electrical protection to isolate the loads during abnormal current conditions, such as an overload or a short circuit condition.
Switchgear often comprises an earthing switch which allows either the line or bus terminals to be grounded for personnel safety. That is particularly important during maintenance operations, but also during normal function of the switchgear assemblies. Prior to earthing the line or bus terminals, it is mandatory to disconnect the upstream source of electrical power supplying the switchgear assembly; however, under certain conditions, it may happen by mistake to ground a live circuit. Another dangerous situation arises when the upstream source of electrical power is inadvertently reenergized during bus maintenance before performing closing of the switch. In both such situations, it is necessary to prevent wounds to personnel and damage to equipment by a correct functionality of the earthing switch used.
At the present, many kinds of earthing switches are known and used. For example, the patent U.S. Pat. No. 4,490,595 discloses an earthing switch which comprises a moving blade contact movable about a fulcrum and a fixed blade contact having an aperture at one end to define side walls which form spaced fixed contacts. In the open position of the switch, said moving blade is parallel to the fixed blade contact; during closing of the switch, the moving blade contact enters in said aperture from the closed end thereof and moves to the region of the current contacts until it comes into contact with an insulating stop disposed underneath the fixed blade contact. Thus, in the closed position of the earthing switch the moving blade is perpendicular to said blade fixed contact.
European patent application EP A 0592338 discloses an earthing switch which is actuated by means of an interlocking device controlled by an operating unit associated with another switch; said interlocking device moves suitable mechanisms which actuate a shaft with a plurality of mobile contacts, these latter being suitable for contacting corresponding fixed contacts by a rotary movement around a fixed axis.
At the present state of the art, known earthing switches even though performing properly the functions required, still have drawbacks and present some aspects which deserve improvements. In fact, in many cases they have a structure that is not suitable for assuring an optimised functionality of the earthing switch; in particular it does not assure an optimised contact pressure which allows contrasting the magnetic repulsion forces generated especially during the closure operation on a live circuit.
Also, the traditional layout of the components and traditional movement systems of the mobile contacts are carried out by a high number of elements which are assembled each other according to cumbersome and complicated solutions. Moreover, some earthing switches have a configuration which do not allow their easy insertion in the structure of a switchgear. Such condition increases costs and time for installation, and affects also the reliability.
Hence, it is evident the need to have technical solutions that represent a valid alternative to the known earthing switches.


A fluid control valve has: a housing in which a fluid passage is formed; a valve seat in which a fluid flow hole is formed to be communicated with the fluid passage; and a valve that is formed from rubber elastic body. At least a part of the housing is formed from resin. The valve has a valve seal portion and is installed in the housing to be able to close the fluid flow hole. In a valve-closing time, the valve seal portion is seated on the valve seat. The valve seal portion is coated by a thin diamond-like carbon coating having hardness between Hv 50 and Hv 500 in Vickers hardness.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,526,951-B2, for example, discloses an electromagnetic combination valve provided with a first valve member (hereinafter referred to as first valve) and a second valve member (hereinafter referred to as second valve). The first valve opens when a solenoid coin in an electromagnetic driving portion attracts a moving core to one side in its axial direction. The second valve lifts off a cylindrical valve seat of a housing and opens when a backpressure, which acts on the second valve in a direction to close the second valve (in a valve-closing direction of the second valve), decreases to a valve-opening pressure of the second valve and a spring force of a coil spring urges the second valve to the one side in the axial direction. In the electromagnetic combination valve, the first valve forms a valve element of an electromagnetic opening/closing valve, and the second valve forms a valve element of a pressure-sensing valve. The pressure-sensing valve means a valve device with a valve-opening property to open when the backpressure, which acts on a rear face (pressure-receiving face) of the second valve, becomes smaller than the spring force of the coil spring.
In the electromagnetic combination valve, the second valve is provided with a rubber contact member (hereinafter referred to as sealing rubber), which is to come in contact with the valve seat of the housing, and the housing is formed from resinous material. Thus, in the case that the electromagnetic combination valve is used as a pressure-sensing valve in gasoline or gasoline vapor, adhesive substance may be deposited out of the resinous material and the rubber material. As a result, the adhesive substance may stick the sealing rubber of the second valve on the valve seat of the housing, to delay a valve-opening timing of the second valve or to lean the second valve. At worst, the second valve may be adhered in its valve-closing state and go out of order.
In this regard, it is considered to form a non-adherent surface treatment coating on the surface of the rubber formed part such as the sealing rubber of the second valve, to decrease the adherent degree or the frictional coefficient of the rubber formed part. As a method to decrease the adherent degree or the frictional coefficient of the surface of the rubber formed part, JP-H10-130428-A, for example, discloses a surface treatment method to form a fluorocarbon resin coating, a molybdenum disulfide coating or a diamond-like carbon (hereinafter referred to as DLC) coating on the surface of the rubber formed part.
In the case that the surface of the sealing rubber of the second valve has the fluorocarbon resin coating, the surface of the sealing rubber of the second valve is hardened under severely low-temperature condition, to decrease the airtight performance (to increase the fluid leakage degree) of the second valve, and the thickness of the coating must be large. Accordingly, the fluorocarbon resin coating is not suitable for the sealing rubber of the second valve that requires fine airtight performance under severely low-temperature condition. In the case that molybdenum disulfide powder is adopted as the material of the surface treatment coating put on the surface of the sealing rubber of the second valve, the surface of the coating has asperities due to the grain of the molybdenum disulfide powder. Accordingly, the molybdenum disulfide coating is not suitable for the sealing rubber of the second valve that requires fine airtight performance under severely low-temperature condition as the fluorocarbon resin coating is.
In the case that DLC is adopted as the material of the surface treatment coating of the sealing rubber of the second valve, DLC coating having a smooth surface and small thickness is effective to prevent the rubber gasket of the rubber formed part from sticking in contrast to the case that fluorocarbon resin coating or molybdenum disulfide coating is adopted as the material of the surface treatment coating. However, the hardness of DLC coating substance is around Hv 1000 and it is too large. As a result, it is difficult to secure airtight performance at the gap between the sealing rubber of the second valve and the valve seat of the housing in a valve-closing time of the second valve, that is, when the sealing rubber of the second valve is seated on the valve seat of the housing, under low-temperature condition.
Further, the DLC coating, which is adopted as the material to secure gas impermeability in plastic bottles formed from polyethylene terephthalate resin, has hardness around Hv 10, and it is too small. Thus, if the DLC coating is adopted as the material of the surface treatment coating of the sealing rubber of the second valve, the thin DLC coating on the surface of the sealing rubber of the second valve wears while the second valve repeats opening and closing operations, that is, the sealing rubber of the second valve repeats seating on and lifting off the valve seat of the housing. Accordingly, the durability and reliability of the DLC coating decreases, and it becomes impossible to keep the non-adhesive performance of the DLC coating.
It may also be considered to adopt a rubber material, which has fine flexibility and rich elastic deformability even under low-temperature condition, as the sealing rubber of the second valve. However, in the case that the sealing rubber, which has fine airtight performance under low-temperature condition, is adopted as the sealing rubber, if the second valve is kept in valve-closing state for a long period, the sealing rubber of the second valve is strongly stuck to the valve seat. If the sealing rubber is forcedly detached from the valve seat, the sealing rubber can be damaged, to decrease the durability and reliability of the airtight performance of the second valve under low-temperature condition.


Paint-coated polymeric films which are bonded to substrates such as automobile panels, as a substitute for spray painted finishes, often develop surface blemishes or defects from the coating or web handling operations. These can be reduced or eliminated by vacuum thermoforming the film to the desired substrate in a plural stage procedure. The periphery of the film is clamped in a frame. Then the film is preheated to a temperature above its glass transition temperature until the film becomes taut in the frame. It is allowed to cool and is then reheated to at least the glass transition temperature and is then vacuum thermoformed to the substrate. This procedure eliminates many if not all of the visible surface defects in the thermoformed film.

As an improvement over the spray painting of articles such as automobile bodies, boats and household appliances, a new kind of paint-coated sheet material or film has been developed to provide protective and decorative finishes. The new material comprises a flexible, stretchable, thermoplastic support sheet, also known as a carrier film, which has a protective and decorative paint layer, also called a basecoat, of uniform thickness and appearance on one side and, optionally, an adhesive layer on the other side. It can also have other layers such as a tie or bonding layer between the paint layer and the carrier film. In a preferred embodiment a transparent topcoat, also called a clearcoat, covers the paint layer. This combination provides an attractive basecoat-clearcoat or clear-over-color appearance which in recent years has become popular for spray-coated finishes.
Using known thermoforming procedures such as vacuum forming and in-mold bonding, preferred types of the paint-coated sheet material can be stretched and bonded to an article such as an automobile body panel to provide a basecoat-clearcoat finish. Advantages over obtaining such finishes by spray painting include economy in the use of paint and improved control of evaporating solvents, which reduces air pollution. Furthermore, the new material has a remarkably smoother and more attractive appearance than spray painted finishes.
The new type of thermoformable sheet material and a process for its manufacture are described in the G. G. Reafler, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 116,426, filed Nov. 3, 1987. The process involves applying the paint composition to the surface of the thermoplastic carrier film by laminar flow coating, followed by drying and then coating and drying each additional layer in sequence to obtain a paint-coated film of excellent gloss and smoothness.
In the Reafler sheet materials, the carrier film has heat-softening and tensile elongation properties which adapt it to use in thermoforming. The various layers have compatible heat-softening and tensile elongation properties. As a result, the sheet material can undergo substantial elongation during thermoforming without crazing or delamination of the layers.
In use, the paint-coated film is stretched and bonded by thermoforming to a substrate such as a three-dimensional automobile panel. The procedure of thermoforming can be substantially as described in the patent to Short et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,769,100 wherein the film is heated and then drawn by vacuum into bonding contact with the substrate.
Notwithstanding its excellent thermoforming capability, areas of this high quality sheet material can become non-uniform or flawed by the introduction of visible defects during manufacture or storage of the film.
As in the large-scale manufacture of any product required to meet stringent quality standards, it is inevitable that during the production of a paint-coated film which is expected to provide a consistently uniform finish on the exterior of an automobile and the like, defective portions of production runs have to be discarded as a quality control measure.
It is of course time consuming as well as economically wasteful to detect and discard such flawed portions. By flawed portions we mean sections of film which have coating patterns, streaks, blemishes or other visible defects formed during the coating operation or that may have developed during storage or handling of the finished film.
And more so than in the manufacture of materials that remain physically unchanged during their intended use, in paint-coated films which are heated and stretched during their bonding to intricate three-dimesional parts, any flow tends to become magnified in proportion to the degree of stretch and is therefore seriously objectionable.
The present invention provides a surprisingly simple method for curing such flaws and thereby obviates the need for the time consuming and economically wasteful detection and discarding of defective portions of the film. No new equipment is required. Nor is it necessary to modify or expand existing equipment.

Method for thermoforming and bonding a paint-coated polymeric film to a substrate


The invention features methods of diagnosing and treating Meniere disease. The invention also features kits and probes for diagnosing Meniere disease.

Hearing loss is a heterogeneous disorder that affects over 14 million people in the United States, with approximately 1 of every 1000 infants being affected by congenital deafness. An estimated one-half of congenital hearing loss cases are due to genetic causes (Bieber and Nance (1979) Clinical Geneticsxe2x80x94A Sourcebook for Physicians, Jackson and Schimke, eds., Wiley, N.Y., vol. 60, pp. 443-461). More than 175 different forms of hereditary deafness have been characterized, including autosomal dominant, autosomal recessive, X-linked, and mitochondrial forms (McKusick (1994) Mendelian Inheritance in Man, John Hopkins Univ. Press, Baltimore, Md.).
Genetic heterogeneity in hearing disorders both associated with other clinical anomalies (syndromic) and occurring as an isolated finding (nonsyndromic) indicates the involvement of a large number of genes in the complex development and function of the hearing process. Of the several hundred syndromic hearing loss disorders described (Gorlin et al. (1995) Hereditary Hearing Loss and Its Syndromes, Oxford Univ. Press, New York, N.Y.), only about 60 have been mapped to human chromosomes, with approximately half of these with characterized gene defects (Duyk et al., Nature Genet. 2:5-8, 1992; Petit, Nature Genet. 14:385-391, 1996). The majority of congenital hearing disorders are nonsyndromic (Cohen and Gorlin (1995) Hereditary Hearing Loss and its Syndromes, Gorlin, Toriello and Cohen, eds., Oxford Univ. Press, New York, N.Y., vol. 60, pp. 9-21), but even fewer nonsyndromic disorders have been identified. This number is increasing through the study of consanguineous geographically isolated families. Over 40 human chromosomal loci associated with nonsyndromic hearing impairment have been identified, some with corresponding mouse mutants in the homologous region (Petit (1996), supra; Van Camp et al., Am. J Hum. Genet. 60:758-764, 1997). However, to date, only a small number of nuclear genes responsible for nonsyndromic hearing impairment have been discovered. These include POU3F4 in DFN3 (de Kok et al. Science 267:685-688, 1995); MYO7A in DFNB2 (Liu et al., Nature Genet. 16:188-190, 1997; Weil et al. Nature Genet. 16:191-193, 1997) and DFN11 (Liu et al., Nature Genet. 17:268, 1997); POU4F3 in DFNA15 (Vahava et al., Science 279:1950, 1998); PDS in DFNB4 (Li et al.,Nature Genet18:215, 1998); TECTA in both DFNA8 and DFNA11 (Verhoeven et al., Nature Genet. 19:60, 1998); GJB2 in DFNB1 and DFNA3 (Kelsell et al., Nature 387:80-83, 1997).
The cause of many hearing disorders are still unknown. One such disorder is Meniere disease. Meniere disease is a syndrome in which hearing loss and imbalance problems co-occur. It is clinically characterized by recurrent episodes of vertigo associated with hearing loss and tinnitus with or without aural. Meniere disease is thought to be a multifactorial condition involving both genetic and environmental components.
The invention is based, at least in part, on the discovery that a nucleic acid and corresponding protein molecule (referred to herein as xe2x80x9cCOCHxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cCOCH5B2xe2x80x9d) are associated with the hearing disorder, Meniere disease. It was found that a missense mutation in the wild-type COCH5B2 gene, leads to an amino acid substitution in the COCH5B2 protein and plays a role in Meniere disease. Thus, mutated COCH5B2 molecules (also referred to as mtCOCH5B2 molecules) as described herein are useful in diagnosing hearing disorders such as Meniere disease. In addition, wild-type COCH5B2 (referred herein as xe2x80x9cCOCHxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cCOCH5B2xe2x80x9d) may be useful for the treatment of hearing disorders resulting from the expression and production of mtCOCH5B2. The properties of COCH5B2 are described in U.S. Ser. No. 09/394,264, which is incorporated herein by reference.
In general, the invention features a method of treating a subject at risk for (e.g., having or predisposed to) having Meniere disease. The method can include identifying an individual at risk for Meniere disease, and administering to the subject an effective amount of any of: COCH5B2 or a nucleic acid encoding it; an active fragment of COCH5B2 or a nucleic acid encoding it; an agonist of COCH5B2, e.g., a peptide or a peptomimetic analog; an antibody; or a small molecule, such that treatment of the subject occurs. Identification of an individual at risk for Meniere disease can be done in a number of different ways including: analyzing the family history of an individual; identifying an individual with vestibular dysfunction; identifying an individual by performing physical tests, e.g., otoscopy and pure tone audiometry; identifying an individual with a lesion in the COCH5B2 gene or mRNA; and/or identifying an individual with a mutant COCH5B2 protein sequence.
In a preferred embodiment, a method for treating a subject having Meniere disease comprises administering to the subject a COCH5B2 protein (SEQ ID NO:2), or portion thereof, such that treatment occurs. In another embodiment, Meniere disease can be treated by administering to the subject a nucleic acid encoding a COCH5B2 protein (SEQ ID NO:1 or SEQ ID NO3), or an active portion thereof, such that treatment occurs. The COCH5B2 molecule can be administered to a subject by any standard method, e.g., the COCH5B2 molecule can be administered by any of a number of different routes, e.g., intravenous, intradermal, subcutaneous, oral, transdermal (topical), or transmucosal administration.
In another aspect, the invention features a method of identifying an individual at risk for Meniere disease. The method includes detecting in the subject a genetic lesion(s) characterized by a mutation in the gene encoding a COCH5B2 protein (mtCOCH5B2 protein). In one embodiment, the lesion occurs in the COCH5B2 gene and a mutant mtCOCH5B2 protein is encoded. In another preferred embodiment, the lesion can be a deletion, insertion or substitution involving one or more nucleotides of the COCH5B2 gene, e.g., the lesion is a deletion or a substitution of nucleotide 151 of SEQ ID NO:3, e.g., the lesion is a substitution of the cytosine at nucleotide 151 of SEQ ID NO:3 to a thymidine. In another preferred embodiment, the lesion is a substitution, insertion or deletion of nucleotide 151 of SEQ ID NO:3, or a nucleotide which is 1, 2, 3, 5, 10 or more base-pairs on either side of nucleotide 151 of SEQ ID NO:3.
In one embodiment, the method includes contacting a sample, e.g., a cell sample, with a nucleic acid probe. In a preferred embodiment, the nucleic acid probe is capable of selectively binding a COCH5B2 nucleic acid sequence which contains a lesion, e.g., the probe only binds a COCH5B2 gene sequence which has a deletion, insertion or substitution. In a preferred embodiment, the probe binds a COCH5B2 sequence which has a substitution at nucleotide 151 of SEQ ID NO:3, e.g., the probe hybridizes to a COCH5B2 gene sequence that has a cytosine to thymidine substitution at nucleotide 151 of SEQ ID NO:3, e.g., the probe includes all or a portion of the nucleic acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:6 or the probe has the sequence 5xe2x80x2-tcctctgctcagggggc-3xe2x80x2 (SEQ ID NO:6).
In another embodiment, the method includes using a probe which can bind a mutant COCH5B2 protein which has a deletion, insertion or substitution at one or more amino acid residues. In a preferred embodiment, the probe can be a labeled probe or an antibody which is capable of selectively binding a mutant COCH5B2 protein. In another preferred embodiment, the labeled probe or antibody can selectively bind a COCH5B2 protein which has a substitution at amino acid residue 51 of SEQ ID NO:2, e.g., the proline at residue 51 of SEQ ID NO:2 is substituted with a serine; or the probe can selectively bind a mutant COCH5B2 protein which contains a deletion, insertion or substitution of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or more residues on either side of residue 51 of SEQ ID NO:2.
In a preferred embodiment, the method, as described above, can also be used in fetal or neonatal diagnosis.
Another aspect of the invention features a method for diagnosing a subject as having Meniere disease. The method includes contacting the subject or a sample (e.g., a cell or tissue sample, e.g., a biopsy sample) from the subject with an agent capable of selectively detecting a mutant form of the COCH5B2 protein. In a preferred embodiment, the agent is a labeled probe or an antibody that can bind a mutant COCH5B2 protein, e.g., the agent can bind a COCH5B2 protein which has a deletion, insertion or substitution in the COCH5B2 protein. In a preferred embodiment, the method uses a probe that selectively binds to a COCH5B2 protein which has a mutant residue at position 51 of SEQ ID NO:2, e.g., the proline at amino acid 51 of SEQ ID NO:2 is substituted for a serine.
In another embodiment, the method for diagnosing a subject as having MeniEre disease is based on detection of a genetic lesion in the COCH5B2 nucleic acid sequence. In a preferred embodiment, the method involves identifying an individual at risk for Meniere disease, contacting a sample (e.g., a cell or tissue sample, e.g., a biopsy sample) from the subject with an agent capable of detecting a mutation in the COCH5B2 gene sequence. In a preferred embodiment, the agent is a nucleic acid probe that can selectively bind a mutant COCH5B2 nucleic acid sequence, e.g., the probe can detect a mutation or deletion specific for Meniere disease, e.g., the probe can detect a mutation occurring at nucleotide 151 of SEQ ID NO:3, e.g., the mutation is a substitution of a cytosine at nucleotide 151 of SEQ ID NO:3 for a thymidine. In a preferred embodiment, the probe includes all or a portion of the nucleic acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:6 or the probe has the sequence 5xe2x80x2-tcctctgctcagggggc-3xe2x80x2 (SEQ ID NO:6). The method can also include comparing the sample from a subject at risk for Meniere disease to a control sample and forming a diagnosis based on whether a mutation is present as compared to the control sample. Specific diagnostic tests are described in greater detail below.
Another aspect of the invention features a kit for diagnosing a subject at risk for Meniere disease. The kit includes agents which can be used to detect whether a nucleic acid sequence from a subject of interest has a lesion in a COCH5B2 nucleic acid sequence or contains a mutant COCH5B2 protein. In one embodiment, a kit includes a nucleic acid probe which binds a COCH5B2 nucleic acid sequence which contains a lesion but not the wild type COCH5B2 sequence. In a preferred embodiment, the probe can bind a COCH5B2 nucleic acid sequence which contains a lesion, e.g., a COCH5B2 gene sequence which has a deletion, insertion or substitution. In a preferred embodiment, the probe selectively binds a COCH5B2 sequence which has a substitution at nucleotide 151 of SEQ ID NO:3, e.g., the probe selectively binds a COCH5B2 nucleic acid sequence where the cytosine at nucleotide 151 of SEQ ID NO:3 has been replaced with a thymidine e.g., a probe which includes all or a portion of the nucleic acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:6 or the probe which has the sequence 5xe2x80x2-tcctctgctcagggggc-3xe2x80x2 (SEQ ID NO:6). In another embodiment, the kit also includes a probe which selectively hybridizes to the wild-type COCH5B2 nucleic acid, e.g., the probe cannot bind a COCH5B2 containing a deletion, insertion or substitution. In a preferred embodiment, the probe cannot bind a COCH5B2 gene sequence which has a substitution at nucleotide 151 of SEQ ID NO:3 or a COCH5B2 sequence which has a deletion, insertion or substitution of 1, 2, 3, 5, 10 or more basepairs on either side of nucleotide 151 of SEQ ID NO:3. In still yet another embodiment, the kit also includes a probe that is capable of selectively binding a mutant COCH5B2 protein. The probe can be a labeled probe or an antibody that can selectively bind a COCH5B2 protein which has a substitution at amino acid residue 51 of SEQ ID NO:2, e.g., the proline at residue 51 of SEQ ID NO:2 is substituted with a serine; or the probe can selectively bind a mutant COCH5B2 protein which contains a deletion, insertion or substitution of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or more residues on either side of residue 51 of SEQ ID NO:2. In another embodiment, the kit also includes standards and controls, e.g., the kit includes both wild type and mutant COCH5B2 nucleic acids. In still yet another preferred embodiment, an instruction leaflet is enclosed which outlines how to use the components of the kit to diagnose an individual with Meniere disease.
Another aspect of the invention features an isolated nucleic acid molecule (e.g., cDNAs) comprising a nucleotide sequence encoding a mutant COCH5B2 protein or a biologically active portion thereof, as well as, nucleic acid fragments suitable as primers or hybridization probes for the detection of mutant COCH5B2-encoding nucleic acid (e.g., mRNA) and mutations thereof. In one embodiment, the isolated nucleic acid sequence includes the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:4, or the coding sequence or complement of these nucleotide sequences. In another preferred embodiment, the isolated nucleic acid sequence encodes the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:5.
A preferred COCH5B2 nucleic acid sequence encodes a protein which possesses at least one of the mtCOCH5B2 activities described herein.
In another embodiment, the isolated nucleic acid molecule encodes a protein, or portion thereof, wherein the protein, or portion thereof, includes an amino acid sequence which is sufficiently homologous to an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:5. Preferably, the protein, or a portion thereof, encoded by the nucleic acid molecule of the invention maintains the ability to play a disruptive role in inner ear biology, e.g., vestibular dysfunction, e.g., the protein or portion may cause hearing loss associated with one or more of the following symptoms: dizziness, balance problems, oscillopsia, vertigo, tinnitus, aural fullness, or nausea in an individual. For example, the protein can be involved in disrupting one or more of the following inner ear biology activities: 1) it can interact, e.g., bind, with components of the extracellular matrix (e.g., fibrillar collagen, e.g., COL1A2, COL3A1); 2) it can modulate cell/extracellular matrix interactions; 3) it can modulate cell-cell adhesions; 4) it can interact, e.g., bind, with glycoproteins and/or proteoglycans for clearing them; 5) it can provide scaffolding by interacting with other extracellular matrix components (e.g., fibrillar collagen, e.g., COL1A2, COL3A1); and 6) it can modulate an inner ear secretory pathway (e.g., it can modulate production of acidophilic deposits).
In another embodiment, the isolated nucleic acid molecule is at least 15 nucleotides in length and hybridizes under stringent conditions to a nucleic acid molecule comprising the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:4. More preferably, the isolated nucleic acid encodes a naturally-occurring mutant human COCH5B2. In a preferred embodiment, the isolated nucleic acid is at least 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 50, 60, 100, 150, 200 nucleotides in length. For example, the probe can include all or a portion of the nucleic acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:6 or the probe can have the sequence 5xe2x80x2-tcctctgctcagggggc-3xe2x80x2 (SEQ ID NO:6).
Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description and claims.
As used herein, the term xe2x80x9csubjectxe2x80x9d refers to a mammal. Examples of mammals include human and non-human primates (e.g., a monkey), goats, pigs, cows, and rodents (e.g., a rat or a mouse) having a disorder associated with inner ear biology dysfunction, e.g., MeniEre disease. The mammal is preferably a primate, e.g., a human.
A xe2x80x9ctherapeutically effective amountxe2x80x9d refers to an amount which is capable of, at least partially, reducing, alleviating or preventing Meniere disease. A therapeutically effective amount can be determined on an individual basis and is based, at least in part, on consideration of the species of mammal, the mammal""s size, the agent used, the type of delivery system used, the time of administration relative to the severity of the disease, and whether a single, multiple, or a controlled release dose regimen is employed. A therapeutically effective amount can be determined by one of ordinary skill in the art employing such factors and using no more than routine experimentation.

Methods of diagnosis and treatment of meniere disease


A bi-directional erbium doped fiber (EDF) optical fiber amplifier (50) employing two separate EDF amplifier channels (52, 62) for two counter-propagating signals allows the optimization of each individual signal channel for efficient bi-directional optical signal repeater performance. The pump sources (53, 63) for each EDF channel (52, 62) can be switched on and off independently, to serve as an in-line signal switch, without affecting another signal channel.

The present invention relates to optical fiber amplifiers, and more particularly to an efficient bi-directional optical fiber amplifier.
The realization of an optimized high efficiency bi-directional optical fiber amplifier is essential for the development of long range fiber optic data links ("FODL") for powered weapon system guidance. Applicable systems include air-to-ground or surface-to-surface missiles of extended range as well as long range land combat missiles. One exemplary such application is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,005,930, for "Multi-Directional Payout Fiber Optic Canister," D. K. Schotter, and assigned to a common assignee with the present application. The entire contents of that patent are incorporated herein by this reference. Other potential applications for military systems include unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) and unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV). Potential commercial applications include long range radar and bi-directional satellite ground station relay links, CATV head-end link and fiber to the home (FTTH) fiber optics systems.
Erbium doped fiber (EDF) can be used to amplify optical signals in the 1.53-1.58 .mu.m band by converting pump lasers operating at a wavelength of 1.48 .mu.m or 0.98 .mu.m into signal power. For a long haul bi-directional fiber optics link, typically over 100 kilometers in length, a prior design of an optical signal amplifier operates by a single strand of EDF and suffers possible input signal level dependence, near-end reflection and in-line optical feedback induced noise, as well as cross-channel cross talk.
FIG. 1 illustrates a design for an EDF bi-directional optical fiber amplifier 20 employing a single strand of EDF, of the type described in commonly assigned pending application Ser. No. 07/655,615, filed Feb. 15, 1991, entitled "Amplifier for Optical Fiber Communication Link," by Hui-Pin Hsu, Ronald B. Chesler and Gregory L. Tangonan, now abandoned, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by this reference. This design employs two signals and two diode laser pumps (22 and 24) coupled together by couplers 28 and 30, propagating in the same EDF gain medium (EDF 26). In the system of FIG. 1, an input signal at a first wavelength .lambda..sub.1 from a first transmitter enters a wavelength division multiplexing ("WDM") coupler 10, and is sent via a long length of optical fiber on a fiber bobbin 12 to the amplifier 20. The amplifier 20 amplifies the signal at the first wavelength, and sends it through another long length of optical fiber on a second fiber bobbin 16 to a second WDM coupler 18. The coupler 18 sends the signal at the first wavelength through a narrow band optical filter 19 centered at .lambda..sub.1, and on to a first receiver. A second transmitter sends a second input signal at a second wavelength .lambda..sub.2 into the second WDM coupler 18 and through the second long length of optical fiber on bobbin 16 to the bi-directional amplifier 20. The amplifier 20 amplifies the second input signal and sends it via the optical fiber on the first bobbin 12 to the first WDM coupler 10, which separates this signal from the first input signal and sends it via a narrow band optical filter 14 centered at .lambda..sub.2 to the second receiver. The filter 14 rejects light at the first wavelength .lambda..sub.1 ; the filter 19 rejects light at the second wavelength .lambda..sub.2.
The first transmitter, second receiver, optical filter 14 and WDM coupler 10 may be carried by the master vehicle, e.g., a manned airborne vehicle, and the second transmitter, first receiver, the WDM coupler 18, and the filter 19 can be carried on a slave vehicle such as a missile.
Drawbacks of the single channel EDF design of FIG. 1 include:
1) It is difficult to optimize the EDF length to accommodate wide input signal variations which dictate the EDF length for maximum signal gain. When the EDF 26 is too long, unwanted attenuation reduces the signal gain. When the EDF length is too short, both amplified signals will not be able to realize the full signal gain allowed. In contrast, the new dual-arm EDF design in accordance with this invention allows each EDF to be optimized individually for one signal channel for maximum saturable gain. This makes the optimum length of EDF less sensitive to the input signal level. PA1 2) Single strand EDF amplifier designs cannot provide the switch-off option for individual signal channels for the bi-directional link. PA1 3) Single strand EDF amplifiers will incur higher noise figure (NF) due to the presence of a co-directional pump. PA1 4) Single strand EDF amplifiers will also suffer cross-channel cross talk when one of the signal channels is operated at a low data rate of less than 100 Hz, due to the depletion of excited state population for the stimulated emission signal gain.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a bi-directional EDF optical amplifier employing two separate EDF channels for counter-propagating signals to allow the optimization of each individual signal channel for efficient bi-directional optical signal repeater performance.

Efficient bi-directional optical fiber amplifier for missile guidance data link repeater


When it is detected that microservices have been created at a computing cluster running the microservices in containers, a respective monitoring subsystem is assigned to each microservice. Monitoring data for each of the microservices is then collected via the respective monitoring subsystems. Respective graphical user interfaces are then provided presenting at least a portion of the respective monitoring data for each microservice.

The 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.
Managing computer program applications running on networked computing devices typically involves some aspect of monitoring the applications. Monitoring can involve collecting application messages and other data traffic that the applications emit toward a network, directed at peer instances of the applications, directed at servers, or directed at client computing devices.
Many monitoring configurations include facilities to poll metrics from applications and infrastructure monitoring components. Some metric polling frameworks are embedded in specific languages or runtime environments; for example, JAVA offers the JMX framework. Some other frameworks, like NAGIOS or COLLECTD, involve running monitoring scripts that actively query the system or other process and create metrics that can be collected and visualized. Scripts can be written in any suitable scripting language and can interact with the operating system and with the processes running on it.
Whether through a language-specific framework or through a script, metric polling can involve actions such as getting data from the web interface of an application to retrieve its status, trying to connect to a socket to check the availability of an infrastructure component, opening a directory to count the number of files it contains, reading information from a file, or retrieving information from a pipe or a UNIX socket, among others.
Containerization has emerged as a popular alternative to virtual machine instances for developing computer program applications. With containerization, computer program code can be developed once and then packaged in a container that is portable to different platforms that can manage and run the containers. Consequently, containerization permits faster software development for the same program for multiple different platforms that would otherwise require separate source branches or forks, or at least different compilation and execution environments. The DOCKER containerization system from Docker, Inc. of San Francisco, Calif. has emerged as a popular choice for containerization architecture. However, containerization also can impose constraints on inter-program communications.
The word "microservices" describes a modular way to architect applications, so that they are split into independent units (i.e., "services") which communicate through application programming interfaces (APIs) and well-defined interfaces. Microservices bring many benefits, such as reduction of the number of points of failure; a structure that enables multiple teams to work concurrently on the same application and supports continuous delivery; better separation of concern and responsibility; and scalability.
Further information about microservices is available online at the time of this writing in the article "Microservices" in the "wiki" folder of the domain "en.wikipedia.org" and the present disclosure presumes that the reader is knowledgeable about microservices at least to the extent set forth in the foregoing article.
Microservices have been adopted by many enterprises in the past, but we are now seeing a big push toward them, driven by the rise of containerization technologies like Docker. Several orchestration frameworks (Kubernetes, Mesos, Amazon ECS and several others) are gaining prominence as platforms to build the next generation of microservices. In this document, we will focus on Kubernetes to have a practical example and make the description easier. However, the concepts we describe can be applied to any orchestration framework, including the ones that are not based on containers.
Kubernetes is an open-source system for managing containerized applications across multiple hosts in a cluster. Kubernetes supports multiple virtual clusters backed by the same physical cluster. These virtual clusters are called "namespaces". Kubernetes provides mechanisms for application deployment, scheduling, updating, maintenance, and scaling. A key feature of Kubernetes is that it actively manages the containers to ensure that the state of the cluster continually matches the user's intentions. A user should be able to launch a microservice, letting the scheduler find the right placement. This means that typically the containers implementing a service are scattered across multiple physical/virtual machines.
In Kubernetes, all containers run inside pods. A pod can host a single container, or multiple cooperating containers; in the latter case, the containers in the pod are guaranteed to be co-located on the same machine and can share resources. Pods and services are described through YAML configuration files. The cluster master node interprets these files and takes care of starting and running the services they describe.
Kubernetes exposes its complete interface through an API. This means that anything in Kubernetes can be controlled and observed through API calls. Users can attach to most Kubernetes objects arbitrary key-value pairs called labels. Each resource also has a map of string keys and values that can be used by external tooling to store and retrieve arbitrary metadata about this object, called annotations. Further information about Kubernetes is available in the document "namespaces.html" at the path /v1.0/docs/user-guide of the domain kubernetes.io.
Microservice-based infrastructure tends to be complex, distributed, modular and have many "owners". This means that managing them in a monolithic way tends to be confusing and inefficient. With monolithic monitoring, for example, typically one person is responsible to establish a monitoring process for each system that is created or instantiated, and clusters are monitored. Taking monitoring as an example, observing a full Kubernetes cluster is overwhelming and typically not very useful. It would be more useful for the owner (and the stakeholders) of a specific service to have a focused view on it. This view should be optimized to reflect the service type and user. Its creation should require minimal intervention.
This is not easily achievable today because of the distributed and fluid nature of services: anyone in the organization can create or delete one at any point in time. As a result, monitoring, security, compliance, logging, and network management are still heavily monolithic today. Tuning them to reflect the services structure requires a lot of manual work and is often unfeasible.

Automatic provisioning of monitoring for containerized microservices


Systems and techniques for providing a master data framework. The framework receives user input and automatically generates, in accordance with the input, a persistent definition of a business object type. The input can be simple declarations and need not be provided in any particular programming language. Definitions generated by the framework adhere to a same data model, regardless of the business object type they are defining. The framework allows the user to create a definition of a business object type by associating two or more definitions of other business object types. The framework provides services that can be applied, without further customization, to any definition of business object types generated by the framework. These services, for example, can be used by a calling application to instantiate business objects or to change a state of a business object instance.

The present specification relates to data processing and data objects.
Data objects are elements for information storage in object-oriented computing systems. Data objects can describe the characteristics of an item using a series of data fields that, for example, can correspond to described characteristics. Typically, a programmer will predefine standard object classes, referred to in the present specification as object types, that are hardcoded into a set of machine-readable instructions for performing operations. Object types are blueprints for describing individual objects using a defined set of class attributes (or properties). Instantiated objects that are members of such standard object types can be applied in a variety of different data processing activities by users, for example, customers who are largely unaware of the structure of the standard object types.
One example of a data object is a business object, which is typically used in data processing to describe the characteristics of an item or a process related to the operations of an enterprise. A business object can represent, by way of example, a document, a sales order, a product, a piece of manufacturing equipment, an employee, and even the enterprise itself.
A business object usually includes multiple layers, at the core of which is a kernel that represents the object's data. Also typically included is an interface layer that, among other things, defines an interface consisting of a set of clearly defined methods, which are said to be associated with the business object. Such methods, referred to in the instant specification as services, can be, for example, those that read, write, or delete data during run time from the kernel of the business object.
Like other data objects, a business object can be instantiated. The data of a business object instance is usually only accessible by invoking one of its associated services. The application invoking the service will be referred to in the present specification as a calling application. When executing a service on a business object instance, the calling application can change the object instance's data, that is, the object instance's state.
As with other data objects, business objects may be of a particular type. Conventionally, in a computing system of an enterprise (referred to in the instant specification as an enterprise system), one must usually define services for each business object type being used in the system, and the interface layer for a particular type of business object is typically specific to and is compatible with only the services defined for that type. Thus, one must typically define an interface layer and the services of layer whenever a new object type is being implemented in the enterprise system.


A system and method in which image processing parameters that are used globally or which change locally within the image are adapted to improve image quality by using the acquisition parameters, image analysis data, and calibration/model data. Image processing parameters are established as a function of the acquisition parameters. The acquisition parameters include one or more of an x-ray tube voltage, a pre-filtration, a focal spot size, an x-ray source to detector distance (SID), and a detector readout mode. Image processing parameters may also be established as a function of local or global image analysis, such as signal-to-noise ratio, as well as a function of predicted signal-to-noise ratio determined from the calibration data and a predetermined model.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to imaging systems, and in particular to cardiac and peripheral angiographic imaging. In particular, the present invention is directed to a system and method of using x-ray acquisition data, image analysis data, and calibration/model data to perform image processing.
2. Background Discussion
Radiography is the use of certain spectra of electromagnetic radiation, usually x-rays, to image a human body. Angiography, a particular radiographic method, is the study of blood vessels using x-rays. An angiogram uses a radiopaque substance, or contrast medium, to make the blood vessels visible under x-ray. Angiography is used to detect abnormalities, including narrowing (stenosis) or blockages (occlusions), in the blood vessels throughout the circulatory system and in certain organs.
Cardiac angiography, also known as coronary angiography, is a type of angiographic procedure in which the contrast medium is injected into one of the arteries of the heart, in order to view blood flow through the heart, and to detect obstruction in the coronary arteries, which can lead to a heart attack.
Peripheral angiography, in contrast, is an examination of the peripheral arteries in the body; that is, arteries other than the coronary arteries. The peripheral arteries typically supply blood to the brain, the kidneys, and the legs. Peripheral angiograms are most often performed in order to examine the arteries which supply blood to the head and neck, or the abdomen and legs.
Unfortunately, the conditions of image acquisition for x-ray imaging in medical diagnostic or interventional procedures can vary strongly from patient to patient due to weight, constitution, age, and other factors. The conditions may also vary from procedure to procedure due to different angulations, x-ray source to detector distances, and other factors. The conditions may also vary from operator to operator due to personal preferences or skills.
Thus, conventional imaging techniques that generate images under different conditions result in images that often vary quite substantially and may require different image processing parameters to generate optimal final images. This drawback applies to single x-ray images as well as sequences of x-ray images.
Therefore, it would be an advancement in the state of the art to utilize acquisition data and calibration/model data together with image processing to enhance the quality of image data generated under different conditions.

Systems and methods for adaptive image processing using acquisition data and calibration/model data


The present invention relates to an optical touch screen which can recognize touch coordinates when the screen is touched by a finger, a touch pen, or the like. The optical touch screen comprises units for generating infrared light sources. A control unit calculates coordinates of an object being touched on the touch screen based on data detected by the infrared cameras.

With the development of a diversity of display devices such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), a touch screen has become popular as one of the most efficient input devices for use in facilitating an interface between a display device and a user. The touch screen enables a user to easily manipulate a variety of devices, for example, a computer, a mobile phone, a banking terminal, a game console, etc. using the user's finger or a touch pen while viewing the touch screen, and thus its applications are wide.
Generally, methods for implementing a touch screen include an electrical method and an optical method. The electrical scheme may provide a resistive film type touch screen or an electrostatic capacity type touch screen. The resistive film type and the electrostatic capacity type touch screens increase in cost and have more technical problems as the size is increased, and thus they are usually manufactured as small touch screens.
The optical method may use an infrared matrix, a camera, or the like. The infrared matrix may be used for a medium/large touch screen. However, as a size of the touch screen becomes larger, power consumption and cost are increased and more malfunctions occur due to environmental conditions such as sunlight and lighting.
A camera-based touch screen may calculate location coordinates of a touching object on the basis of angles of images of the touching object captured by two cameras. Similar to the infrared matrix-based touch screen, the camera-based touch screen may have malfunction problems due to the environmental conditions such as sunlight, lighting, and the like. In addition, the angles of the images of the touching object captured by each camera may be inaccurate due to measurement errors caused by distortion of camera lenses. Further, in detecting two or more touches in the touch screen, it is difficult to identify a calculative ghost point, if any.


A process for the preparation of the crystalline monohydrate form of the compound of formula (I) ##STR1## which includes exposing the crystalline dihydrate form of the compound of formula (I) to a temperature of between about 50.degree. and 65.degree. C. and a relative humidity of between about 60 to about 100%.

This invention relates to a process for the preparation of crystalline loracarbef monohydrate.
The .beta.-lactam antibiotic of the formula (I) ##STR2## is the potent orally active antibiotic known as loracarbef. The antibiotic is described, for example, by Hashimoto et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,335,211, issued Jun. 15, 1982.
The above compound is known in various forms, including the crystalline monohydrate form, which is disclosed in European Patent Publication 0,311,366 having a publication date of Apr.12, 1989. Other known solvate forms of the compound are disclosed in Eckrich et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,977,257. The crystalline dihydrate form of loracarbef is disclosed in European Patent Publication 0,369,686 having a publication date of May 23, 1990. As indicated in the EPO application, the crystalline monohydrate may be prepared by first suspending the dihydrate in water and effecting solution by the addition of acid followed by the adjustment of the pH with base, or by the addition of base followed by acid.
It has been determined that loracarbef crystalline monohydrate is a fine "hair-like" crystal which results in very slow filtration. In filtering the monohydrate, the crystals tend to form a mat on the filter medium which prevents or reduces the ability to de-water the filter cake, which increases the wash volume required As loracarbef monohydrate is moderately soluble in water, (approximately 10 mg/ml), loss of yield results when such washes are increased. Total filtration time is of course increased as wash volume increases.
What is needed in light of the above difficulties is a process for preparing crystalline loracarbef monohydrate in a more efficient manner, that is, avoid the requirement of filtering the crystalline monohydrate.

Process for converting loracarbef dihydrate to loracarbef monohydrate