An improved method is provided for producing natural gas from wells where gas production has been hampered by the infiltration of water which had heretofore been deemed too expensive to remove when compared to the amount of gas produced from the well. The method includes lowering a conduit from the surface into the well to a depth the water level is to be lowered. Water in the well is allowed to flow into the conduit in a single direction only. A volume of refined natural gas is injected into the conduit below the water contained therein. The injected gas expands within the conduit lifting the volume of water to the surface. Water removed from the well is transported with the injected gas to a storage and processing facility. Lowering of the water level in the well reduces the hydrostatic pressure exerted upon the gas producing horizon to allow gas to flow into the well. Produced gas is transported along with the water and injected gas. This method and an apparatus for use in carrying out the method may also be used in newly drilled gas wells.

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for producing oil and gas, and particularly to a method and apparatus for efficiently and effectively removing cormate or interstitial water from oil and gas wells.
Oil and gas are produced from wells penetrating subsurface hydrocarbon-bearing formations or reservoirs. Such reservoirs can be found at various depths in the earth's subsurface. In gas-producing reservoirs, the gas contained therein is compressed by the weight of the overlying earth. When the formation is breached by a well, the gas tends to flow into the well under formation pressure. Any other fluid in the formation, such as connate water trapped in the interstices of the sediments at the time the formation was deposited, also moves toward the well. Production of the fluids is maintained as long as the pressure in the well is less than the formation pressure. Eventually production ceases either because formation pressure equals or exceeds bore hole pressure. In the latter case, it has often been found that cormate or interstitial water filling the well exerts sufficient pressure to stop or sharply reduce production. A problem arises when the expense of removing the water becomes a substantial portion of, or exceeds the value of the hydrocarbon produced.
Several kinds of lift or pumping devices have been used to extract fluids from wells. Piston pumps are common and require either an electric or gas powered motor which is coupled by belts or gears to a reciprocating pump jack. The reciprocating motion of the pump jack, in turn, reciprocates a piston within a cylinder disposed within the well. As the piston reciprocates within the well, valves open and close, creating a low pressure in the well and drawing the oil to the surface. Centrifugal or rotary pumps, often found in water wells, also operate by either an electric or gas powered motor. Usually, the pump is attached directly to the shaft of the motor. The rotary motion of the veins creates a low pressure in the well, thereby causing the fluid to flow up the well.
A major disadvantage with both piston and centrifugal pumps is the mechanical fatigue and failure of moving parts which require continual maintenance and repair. Furthermore, such systems are consumers of energy, that is, they use electricity or burn fuel costing many times more to run than passive systems. Typically, the expense of maintaining and operating such systems will eventually exceed the economic benefits returned.
In the singular case of oil wells, gas-lift systems have been used wherein gas from the well, an air compressor, or other source of gas is injected down the well through a pipe coupled to a second pipe having an end immersed in the oil. The injection of a volume of gas below a volume of oil in the pipe lifts the oil to the surface. Gas-lift systems, which use an air compressor or other mechanical device located at the well site to inject the gas, also require periodic service and maintenance and thus suffer the same disadvantages as the mechanical pumps described above. Gas-lift systems which use the gas produced from the well are expensive and difficult to install since the gas producing formation must be physically separated from the oil producing formation by at least one packing device. Such systems are typically permanent and are expensive to remove or service. Moreover, systems using formation gas are only effective so long as gas is being produced from the well; otherwise, an external source of gas is necessary. Lastly, many of the gas-lift systems corrode because they are made from materials unsuitable for the well environment. This is undesirable and can eventually lead to failure of the complete system.
Because of the ever increasing cost associated with the production of hydrocarbon resources, there has been, and continues to be a long-felt need for a low maintenance gas-lift assembly to more fully develop hydrocarbon resources. Moreover, such a device should be able to operate at a fraction of the cost of previous systems.

Gas injection dewatering process and apparatus


A method for detecting the high-pressure sealing performance of a gas system after an impact test of a compressed natural gas vehicle, including installing a high-pressure sensor with a characteristic curve on an air inlet pipe of a pressure reducer, and inflating a high-pressure pipeline with compressed gas under a safe pressure; inflating the gas system with compressed gas to a normal working pressure before the impact test of the compressed natural gas vehicle; collecting a voltage value by the high-pressure sensor within 1-3 hours, and determining that the sealing performance of the gas system of the compressed natural gas vehicle is satisfactory when a detected voltage drop value is smaller than a preset value; otherwise, determining that the sealing performance of the gas system of the compressed natural gas vehicle is unsatisfactory.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a detection technology of a vehicle system, and more particularly to a method for detecting the high-pressure sealing performance of a gas system of a compressed natural gas vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Compressed natural gas vehicles have being developed quickly. However, there is no method and standard for safely detecting the high-pressure sealing performance of a gas system of a compressed natural gas vehicle in and after an impact test.
Conventional detecting methods widely used currently include a leak detecting solution (neutral foaming solution) detecting method and an explosion-proof gas detector. However, these methods are not suitable for the safety detection of the high-pressure sealing performance of a gas system after an impact test of a compressed natural gas vehicle.
After an impact test of a compressed natural gas vehicle, under the condition of without destroying the existing pipeline system and pipeline connector of the vehicle, the gas system of the compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicle is filled with compressed air or nitrogen gas (20 Mpa), and then the high-pressure sealing performance of the gas system of the vehicle is detected. However, the detector does not know whether the gas system of the vehicle leaks, when the leak detecting solution or explosion-proof gas detector is directly adopted for detection, it may cause the consequence: if the gas system partially leaks, the personal safety of the detector will be hurt unpredictably.
As for the technology and method for safely detecting the high-pressure sealing performance of a gas system after an impact test of a compressed natural gas vehicle, the method for detection has not been given in detail, and the corresponding regulations and standards are defined vaguely. The safety detection of the high-pressure sealing performance of the gas system after the impact test of the compressed natural gas vehicle has been done in America, and only the sealing requirement for the gas system is regulated in the FMVSS303 standard, that is, the detecting technology and detecting method are not defined in detail for the quantification of pressure drop within a certain period of time, the safety is poor, and the operability is not strong. Currently, the method is still in blank in this industry.

Method for detecting high-pressure sealing performance of gas system after impact test of compressed natural gas vehicle

DONGFENG PEUGEOT CITROEN AUTOMOBILE COMPANY LTD.


The inventive chimeric ligand in the form of a fusion polypeptide of a single-chain antibody specific for Tag-72 surface antigen and GaLV envelope glycoprotein shows high transduction efficiency to cancer cells, specifically infects target cells and efficiently delivers a therapeutic gene. Accordingly, the inventive chimeric ligand can be effectively used for gene therapy to inhibit tumor growth and metastasis.

Gene therapy is a rapidly emerging field that aims to treat acquired diseases such as cancer, diabetes and AIDS as well as inherent metabolic abnormality. Among several gene delivery vector systems currently used in gene therapy, the retrovirus vector system has advantages over others using adenovirus, liposome, electroporation and gene gun. For example, the retrovirus vector system has the ability to permanently integrate into host cells that allows stable expression of transduced cells. However, all of these systems have limitation in gene delivery to a specific target cell.
Several methods have been developed for specifically introducing a therapeutic gene into target cells using a retrovirus, e.g.; a method for linking a sugar molecule to an envelop glycoprotein of retrovirus by a chemical method so that the sugar-coupled envelope glycoprotein binds to an asialoglycoprotein receptor of target cells (Neda, H. et al., J. Biol. Chem. 266: 14143-14146, 1991); a method of using a coupling antibody bridge capable of binding to both of an envelop glycoprotein of retrovirus and a target cell's receptor or surface antigen (Goud, B. et al., Virology 163: 251-254, 1988; Roux, P. et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 86: 9079-9083, 1989; Etienne-Julan, M. et al., J. Gen. Virol. 73: 3251-3255, 1992); a method for coupling a single-chain antibody to an envelope glycoprotein of retrovirus via genetic engineering and infecting target cells with the retrovirus (Russell, S. J. et al., Nucleic Acids Res. 21: 1081-1085, 1993; Somia, N. V. et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 92: 7570-7574, 1995; Ager, S. et al., Hum. Gene Ther. 7: 2157-2164, 1996; Marin, M. et al., J. Virol. 70: 2957-2962, 1996; Schnierle, B. S. et al., Gene Ther. 3: 334-342, 1996); and a method for coupling a peptide ligand to the envelop glycoprotein of retrovirus via genetic engineering and infecting target cells with the retrovirus (Kasahara, N. et al., Science 266: 1373-1376, 1994; Cosset, F. L. et al., J. Virol. 69: 6314-6322, 1995; Schnierle, B. S., and Groner, B., Gene Ther. 3: 1069-1073, 1996). However, these methods show very low transduction efficiency.
There have also been developed methods using an avian or a murine retrovirus to introduce a therapeutic gene into human target cells (Chu, T-H. T., and R. Domburg, J. Virol. 69: 2659-2663, 1995; Chu, T-H. T. et al., Gene Ther. 1: 292-299, 1994; Valsesia-Wittmann, S. et al., J. Virol. 68: 4609-4619, 1994; Cosset, F-L. et al., J. Virol. 69: 6314-6322, 1995; Han, X. et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 92: 9747-9751, 1995; Kasahara, N. et al., Science 266: 1373-1376, 1994; Somia, N. V., et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 92: 7570-7574, 1995; HAN, J. Y., et al., J. Virol. 71, 8103-8108, 1997). The structure and function of a murine retrovirus have been widely studied, and, in particular, the tertiary structures of Mo-MuLV and Fr-MuLV envelope glycoproteins have been recently established by X-ray crystallography.
If the receptor or surface antigen of target cells is identified and specific, a method for coupling a single-chain antibody (ScFv) to an envelope glycoprotein of retrovirus via genetic engineering and infecting target cells with the retrovirus is very useful for the specific infection of target cells.
Single chain antibody (ScFv) is formed by joining the carboxy-terminal of VH and the amino-terminal of VL segments with a suitable synthetic amino acid linker. The antibody combining site is located at the Fv region of the molecule formed by the variable domains of heavy and light chains (VH and VL) (Poon et al., Molecular Immunology 39: 19-24, 2002; Fujiwara et al., Biochemistry 41: 12729-12738, 2002).
Recently, the pseudotyping of retrovirus has been studied to improve stability and transduction efficiency. For example, a gibbon ape leukemia virus (GaLV) Env-pseudotype retroviral vector showed 5 to 30 times higher infection efficiency than an amphotropic murine retroviral vector in several human cell lines (Kim et al., Proc. Amer. Assoc. Cancer Res. 38: 177, 1997). However, the limitation in specific targeting is remained to be solved.
Therefore, the present inventors have endeavored to meet the need of a gene delivery system using a retrovirus which shows higher viral titer and transduction efficiency, and develop a chimeric ligand in the form of a fusion polypeptide of the GaLV envelope glycoprotein and a single chain antibody derived from monoclonal antibody capable of specifically binding to a surface antigen of tumor associated glycoprotein 72 (Tag-72).

Cancer cell targeting gene delivery method


A parameter of interest being measured by a sensor is estimated from output response data from the sensor and the known transfer function of the sensor, allowing fast and accurate sensor data from sensors having a dynamic characteristic otherwise precluding assessment of the sensor input. A parameter of breathing gas from a ventilator is determined based upon the known transfer function and a plurality of the sensor output signals at predetermined intervals of time, to provide an estimation of the parameter of interest.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to enhancement of accuracy of sensor devices with known transfer functions and the use of information about the response of a sensor to an input parameter to closely estimate the input parameter, and more particularly concerns a system and method for determining a parameter of breathing gas in a patient ventilator from a sensor for the parameter, based upon a known transfer function of the sensor.
2. Description of Related Art
When a sensor is used to obtain data about a particular characteristic of the environment such as temperature, or the oxygen content of a given gas mixture, for example, the dynamic characteristics of the sensor, as well as the dynamic nature of such a parameter or variable, generally interfere with the accurate assessment of the parameter or variable of interest, unless and until a stable condition of equilibrium is reached by both the parameter or variable of interest to be sensed and the sensor.
The mathematical relationship between the output of a control system and its input is known as the transfer function. For a linear system, the transfer function is the Laplace transform of the output divided by the Laplace transform of the input under conditions of zero initial-energy storage. The dynamic characteristics exhibited by a particular sensor can usually be analyzed and described by the particular transfer function of the sensor. The transfer functions of many sensing elements are already known or easily ascertained, so that the response of the sensor to a given input can readily be determined.
For example, a thermistor typically has a dynamic characteristic such that a period of time elapses following initiation of temperature measurement by the thermistor before the voltage output from the thermistor represents an acceptably accurate reading of the temperature being measured. The graph shown in FIG. 1 illustrates the response of a typical thermistor to a step change in temperature, indicating that at least 0.4 seconds pass before the sensor reading substantially approximates the true value for the temperature.
Similarly, in measurement of flow of a gas with hot film anemometers, knowledge of the temperature of the gas being measured is essential to the estimation of flow. Conventional techniques for measurement of gas flow with hot film anemometers have not been able to eliminate the error introduced by the transient performance of the sensor when the gas temperature changes, and consequently involve waiting until transients in a temperature sensor""s output are substantially gone and a steady state has been reached before relying upon a temperature reading. For applications where fast and accurate measurement of the temperature is required, enhancement of the speed and accuracy of an otherwise normally slow and unstable sensor response is desirable.
Other types of sensors also frequently have a time constant (xcfx84) for adjustment to a step change of a variable parameter being measured that can be unacceptable where fast and accurate measurements are needed. Typical oxygen sensors, for example, have a time constant in the range of 10 to 15 seconds. Clearly, an oxygen concentration measurement from such a sensor will not be accurate until at least 50 to 75 seconds have elapsed, and then the accuracy typically is not better than 2%. It would be desirable to provide a system and method that allows the use of such otherwise slow sensors to obtain accurate information (accuracy depends on the sensor""s estimate of xcfx84) about the oxygen content of a gas mixture within a shorter period of time from the onset of the measurement. The present invention meets these needs.
Briefly, and in general terms, the present invention provides for a system and method that provide for the estimation of a measured parameter of interest from output response data from a sensor having a known transfer function, allowing fast and accurate sensor data from sensors having a dynamic characteristic otherwise precluding assessment of the sensor input when the measured parameter is also subject to dynamic change.
In one currently preferred embodiment, the invention accordingly provides for a system for determining parameters of a patient respiratory system for a patient receiving breathing gas from a ventilator having a source of the breathing gas and a ventilation flow path for delivering the breathing gas in fluid communication with the patient. The system comprises a sensor having a known transfer function and generating sensor output signals indicative of a parameter of interest, as well as computing means connected to the sensor for receiving a plurality of the sensor output signals at predetermined intervals of time, for processing the plurality of output signals, and for determining an estimate of the parameter of interest of the breathing gas in the ventilation flow path based upon the sensor input signals and the known transfer function. Means are preferably also provided for outputting an indication of the estimate of the parameter of interest.
The invention also provides for a method for determining parameters of a patient airway for a patient receiving breathing gas from a ventilator having a source of the breathing gas, a ventilation flow path for delivering the breathing gas in fluid communication with the patient, and a sensor having a known transfer function for generating sensor output signals indicative of a parameter of interest of the breathing gas. The method comprises the steps of generating sensor output signals indicative of the parameter of interest; determining an estimation of the parameter of interest based upon the known transfer function and a plurality of the sensor output signals at predetermined intervals of time; and outputting an indication of the estimation of the parameter of interest.
The dynamic characteristic exhibited by a particular sensor can usually be analyzed and explained through the particular transfer function of the sensor. For many sensing elements, these transfer functions are already known or easily determined, so that the response of a sensor to a given input can readily be determined, and an accurate value of an input signal can be readily determined from the transfer function of the sensor and a plurality of output responses of the sensor using the system and method of the invention.
These and other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings, which illustrate by way of example the features of the invention.

System and method for transient response and accuracy enhancement for sensors with known transfer characteristics


A crimping tool for crimping lead end sleeves, contact sockets, or plugs on the electrical conductors, two crimping jaws arranged in a tool head section for performing crimping, pivotably mounted and axially fixed in the tool head section, and forming a crimping aperature of adjustable cross-section, the crimping jaws on their outer peripheral surfaces receiving a pivot lever and are bringable into and out of a crimping position by a pivoting drive movement of the pivot lever, a toggle lever mechanism driven by the handles and effecting the pivoting drive movement of the pivot lever, for a force-stroke compensation between parts of a force transmission system, the crimping jaws in a region of their crimping profile being formed by a die surface and a sliding surface, the die surfaces of the crimping jaws forming a die profile of closed shape in all crimping position within an adjustable crimping range, the sliding surface of each of the crimping jaws being in planar contact with the die surface of an adjacent one of the crimping jaws, extending a plane of the adjacent die surface, the handles including a fixed handle formed as a compensating spring for force-stroke compensation between the parts of the force transmission system, and an elastic lever integrated and fixed in the fixed handle and mechanically linked with one lever arm of the toggle joint mechanism.

The present invention relates to a crimping tool for crimping lead end sleeves, contact sockets or lugs onto electrical conductors. More particularly it relates to a crimping tool which has crimping jaws which are arranged in the tool head section, are enclosed by a pivot lever and can be moved centrally relative to one another by the pivoting drive movement of the pivot lever effected by a toggle joint mechanism and thereby brought into and, on the return stroke, out of the crimping position. Its jaw surfaces partially abut in their active region form, together with the adjacent crimping jaws, a crimping aperture of adjustable cross section. An elastic compensation, automatically actuated during the crimping process and effected by springs, is created between parts of the force transmission system in order to compensate for differently dimensioned die profiles and the resulting variable crimping stroke.
The compensation of the respective crimping stroke produced by the differently dimensioned die profiles within the drive mechanics of the crimping tool existing between the handles and the crimping jaws is already necessary in order to guarantee the uniformity and quality of the crimping within a given size range of lead end sleeves and electrical conductors and in order to prevent breakage of tool parts by possible overloading. In this respect, it is particularly advantageous to provide this compensation in a resilient and elastic manner, e.g. by a spring element, which has been found in practice to considerably improve and facilitate the use of the crimping tools.
The crimping tool is ensured against possible premature opening of the crimping jaws by a pawl lock known in design and application. Once introduced, an operating stroke for the respective crimping is carried out in full in all cases.
In crimping tools with crimping jaws opening in a scissor-like manner, the compensation of crimping stroke differences has been effected in that only one of the mouth jaws is rigidly articulated. The other mouth jaw is articulated via an elastic zone, also in the form of a separate elastic element, to the associated handle with the interposition of the actuating member; e.g. a toggle lever mechanism (DE-PS 3109 289).
In contrast, in crimping tools designed according to the generic type, the compensation of the crimping stroke difference can be designed in such a manner that an elastically acting support, which is expediently formed by a separate elastic element, is arranged on at least one of the force transmitting elements (EP-PS O158 611). In this case, a toggle lever belonging to the force transmitting system is constructed at its outer hinged point so as to be displaceable against the action of a tension spring and is thereby able to adapt to a limited degree, together with a pawl lock, to the profile which is to be crimped. This type of indirect elastic support of the pivot lever accommodating the crimping jaws must be regarded as disadvantageous in many respects, since crimping errors which can occur in the degree of completion of the crimping can go unnoticed and therefore cannot be ruled out.
Crimping tools according to the generic features for crimping lead end sleeves onto electrical conductors have crimping jaws which are arranged in the tool head section, are enclosed by a pivot lever formed by the tool limb and can be displaced centrally relative to one another by the pivoting movement of the pivot lever. Thereby they can be brought into and out of the crimping position (U.S. Pat. No. 3,203,078).
In this type of crimping tool, the pivot lever is brought into a drive connection with the crimping jaws via a splined shaft profile, and the pivot lever is accommodated and displaceable in a centring fashion on the outer peripheral surfaces of the crimping jaws. The crimping jaws are pivotably mounted and axially fixed to the lower base plate of one crimping tool part on through bearing pins.
Because of the type and shape of the die and also the design of the structural operating elements, the crimping tool proposed here is unsuitable for crimping lead end sleeves. The latter require crimping which is complete on all sides, is as uniform as possible over the entire cross section and has precise dimensions, which cannot be achieved using crimping tools of this type.
Further known tool designs for crimping electrical conductors are illustrated and described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,261,263, U.S. Pat. No. 3,199,335, GB-PS 886,259 and GB-PS 1,324,253. These tool designs are also unsuitable for meeting the current demands of connecting or crimping technology in power electronics in terms of providing crimping which has shape precision, is non-destructive and secure. Furthermore, they are neither suitable for repeated crimping, nor are they simple and easy to handle. Whilst the structural operating features have been complicated in design and require relatively high technological outlay, it is also precisely these elements which impair the operating properties of these crimping tools as regards high operating position precision and a low degree of operational disturbance.
It is also true that multi-surface crimping tools of this type require very precise movement of the crimping jaws, particularly in the case of small and miniature crimping dimensions, for instance in the range below 1 mm.sup.2, and therefore require a similarly precise drive or force transmission system and springing system between the displaced crimping tool parts.
To date, known designs of this type of crimping tool cannot fulfil the expectations in practice, or can only fulfil them to an unsatisfactory degree. It is these circumstances which have given rise to the purpose and object of the present invention.

Crimping tool for crimping lead end sleeves and the like


An interstitial manager (100) monitors (210) network communications received by a client computer and detects (215) a potential to initiate contact with a remote computer system. When a potential to initiate contact with a remote computer system is detected (215), the interstitial manager (100) determines (220) whether the potential to initiate contact with the remote computer system entails redirection to an alternate location. The determination (220) of whether the potential to initiate contact with the remote system entails redirection is responsive to satisfying at least one condition from the group of conditions consisting of determining whether a client browser attempts to contact an address associated with the remote computer system, and identifying at least one link embedded within the network communication possessing characteristics consistent with interstitial redirection. Responsive to determining (220) that the potential to initiate contact with the remote computer system entails redirection to an alternate location, the interstitial manager (100) invokes (230) interstitial management procedures.

Internet usage, and particularly that of the World Wide Web (henceforth referred to as simply the "web"), is growing explosively, particularly as the number of remote computer systems and users that have access to the Internet continue to rapidly expand. The vast use of the Internet and its potential as an advertising vehicle has not been lost on the commercial marketplace. The display of each network communication such as a web page, electronic mail message, or instant message represents to many a new opportunity to portray information about a product or service to a potential customer. As the Internet's ability to provide a user with rich and rewarding content has expanded, so too has the advertising industry's attempts to capture and control the user's interest. Interstitial web page advertisements represent one of the advertising industry's newest pursuits.
Interstitial advertisements rely on a client browser's ability to automatically communicate with a remote computer system and display a web page once a link in a network communication has been selected. After establishing a suitable network connection to the Internet or similar network, a user at a client computer can easily employ a graphical client browser, such as Internet Explorer ("IE"), FireFox, Mozilla, Safari, or the like, to connect to a remote computer system. Once connected to the remote computer system, the client browser downloads a desired web page or similar network communication by supplying a specific address (known as a "URL" or Uniform Resource Locator) of that page to the browser. The URL identifies both the address of the remote computer system and the page of information sought at that site. Each remote computer system stores at least one, and often times substantially more than one, page. All arranged pages are in a pre-defined hierarchy, generally beginning, at the remote system's root, with a so-called "home page." Each such page is written in HTML (HyperText Markup Language) form. A page, in this context, refers to content accessed via a single URL, and can include, e.g., text, graphics and other information specified in the code for that particular page.
Once the content associated with the page is rendered, the user can position a cursor on a suitable hypertext link, button, or other suitable user input field displayed on that page and then, through, e.g., a mouse "click", effectively download a file and/or render another desired page in succession until the user has finished his or her visit to that site. Once finished, the user can transition through a link to a page at another remote computer system, and so forth. A link specifies a complete web address of an associated page, including a domain name of its hosting web site at which that page is situated. Consequently, by simply and successively positioning and selecting an appropriate link, the user can readily retrieve an HTML file for each desired page from its corresponding remote computer system.
The simplicity of browsing the web, coupled with the relative low cost of accessing the Internet, and the relative ease through which a remote computer system can be established, are collectively fueling unparalleled growth and diffusion of the Internet itself, remote computer systems, and the Internet user community throughout the world. In that regard, by establishing remote computer systems, merchants, vendors and other information providers have an unparalleled opportunity to reach enormous numbers of potential consumers—regardless of where these consumers reside—at costs far less than previously thought possible. Moreover, given the staggering amount and wide diversity of information currently available on the web, web browsing is becoming so popular a pastime for sufficient numbers of individuals that browsing is beginning to divert significant viewership away from traditional forms of mass entertainment, such as television and cable. With the wide and ever-growing reach of the web as a source of consumer information and the increasing consumer acceptance of electronic commerce, advertisers have clearly recognized the immense potential of the web as an effective medium for disseminating advertisements to a consuming public.
Conventional web-based advertising has generally yielded unsatisfactory results and thus has usually been shunned by most large advertisers. In that regard, several approaches exist in the art for implementing web based advertisements. A predominant format, referred to as a "banner", for a web advertisement takes the form of a rectangular graphical display situated, typically at a fixed location, in a rendered web page. A banner is generally produced by properly embedding specific HTML code for that banner within the HTML coding for a given web page in which the banner is to appear. A client browser, as it interprets and sequentially executes the HTML code for a fetched page, will, in turn, compile and execute the embedded code for the banner and hence display the banner, as part of a rendered page and at a specified location thereon. This type of file requires time to download and must be downloaded and assembled by the browser on the page prior to that page being fully rendered. Hence, a user will likely wait a considerable amount of time before all the page components for multimedia content are fully downloaded to permit that page to be rendered. To preserve the form and function of the web page, many content suppliers sharply limit the file size of such banners to be rendered on their pages, in order to minimize page download (and hence latency) times. Despite these limitations, most users have trained themselves to filter out banner advertisements, further curtailing the advertisement's effectiveness.
In response to the failure of banner and other forms of web advertisements, interstitial advertisements were implemented. Generally speaking, and with specific reference to web advertising, interstitial ads are displayed during an interval of time that occurs after a user has clicked on a link embedded in a web page or similar network communication to retrieve a desired web page but before the browser has started rendering the selected page. Typically, when a user elects to enter or exit a remote computer system, a page appears with its advertisement in place of the requested page. Either the user must select a further link within the displayed page to received the originally requested page, or the advertisement page will disappear after a fixed time and automatically redirect the user to the requested web site. This type of broadcast model advertisement interferes with the user's remote computer system expectation and network experience. Interstitial advertisements also increase network bandwidth requirements and can slow overall connection efficiency.
The deficiencies inherent in all known web advertising techniques have, to a significant extent, collectively inhibited the use of web advertising in general. In view of the fundamental drawbacks associated with various web based advertising techniques known in the art, interstitial web advertising appears to hold the most promise of all these techniques and its use as an advertising vehicle is growing exponentially. With the promise of increased advertising effectiveness comes the price of decreased user network satisfaction, increased bandwidth requirements, and increased risk to a user's computing environment due to uncontrolled and unsolicited contact with an unknown remote computer system. Users can no longer rely that a link will provide direct connection to the depicted remote computer system, nor are they informed prior to selecting the link of the identity of any intermediate destinations.
There remains a clear need for an effective and automated way to manage interstitial network connectivity. What is needed are methods, apparatuses, and computer readable media to detect and manage interstitial connectivity associated with links embedded in network communications.


A method for cutting a liquid crystal display panel including: forming prearranged cut lines on a pair of attached mother substrates on which a plurality of panel regions have been disposed; and separating the liquid crystal display panel from a dummy glass around the liquid crystal display panel through a transfer unit which includes a body for adsorbing a liquid crystal display panel and transferring it, and a plate attached on an edge of the body, fixing and separating a dummy glass of a mother substrate from the liquid crystal display panel, and moving up and down separately from the body. A dummy removing plate is attached at an edge of a trans hand to remove a dummy glass when a breaking process-finished liquid crystal display panel is extracted, so a damage of the liquid crystal display panel due to the dummy glass can be prevented.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for cutting a liquid crystal display panel and, more particularly, to a method for cutting a liquid crystal panel to cut a plurality of liquid crystal display panel formed on large-scale mother substrates into a plurality of unit liquid crystal display panels, and a method for fabricating a liquid crystal display panel using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the consumers' interest in information displays grows and the demand for portable (mobile) information devices increases, research and commercialization of light and thin flat panel displays ("FPD") has increased. Flat panel displays may replace the Cathode Ray Tube ("CRT"), which is the most common existing display device.
The liquid crystal display ("LCD") device is a FPD device for displaying images using optical anisotropy of liquid crystal. LCD devices exhibit excellent resolution and color and picture quality, so it is widely applied for notebook computers or desktop monitors, and the like.
The LCD device will now be described in detail.
The general LCD device includes a liquid crystal display panel including a driving circuit unit, a backlight unit installed at a lower portion of the liquid crystal display panel and emitting light to the liquid crystal display panel, a mold frame for supporting the backlight unit and the liquid crystal display panel, and a case, etc.
With reference to FIG. 1, the liquid crystal display panel 10 includes an image display part 13 in which liquid crystal cells are arranged in a matrix form, a gate pad part 14 connected with gate lines 16 of the image display part 13 and a data pad part 15 connected with data lines 17.
The gate pad part 14 and the data pad part 15 are formed at an edge region of a thin film transistor (TFT) array substrate which does not overlap with a color filter substrate 2. The gate pad part 14 supplies scan signals provided from a gate driver (not shown) to the gate lines 16 of the image display part 13, and the data pad part 15 supplies image information provided from a data driver (not shown) to the data lines 17 of the image display part 13.
Although not shown, the color filter substrate 2 includes a color filter including red, green and blue sub-color filters implementing colors, a black matrix for separating the sub-color filters and blocking light from transmitting through a liquid crystal layer, and a transparent common electrode for applying a voltage to the liquid crystal layer.
The array substrate 1 includes a plurality of gate lines 16 and a plurality of data lines 17 arranged vertically and horizontally thereon and defining a plurality of pixel regions, the TFT, namely, a switching element, formed at each crossing of the gate lines 16 and the data lines 17, and a pixel electrode formed on each pixel region.
The array substrate 1 and the color filter substrate 2 are attached in a facing manner by a seal pattern 40 formed at an edge of the image display part 13 to form a liquid crystal display panel 10, and attachment of the two substrates 1 and 2 is made through an attachment key (not shown) formed on the array substrate 1 or the color filter substrate 2.
In order to seek improvement of a yield, in the LCD device, the TFT array substrates are formed on a large-scale mother substrate, color filter substrates are formed on another separate mother substrate, which are then attached to simultaneously form the plurality of liquid crystal display panels. In this case, for the attached mother substrates, a cutting process is required to cut the attached mother substrates into a plurality of unit liquid crystal display panels.
In general, cutting of the mother substrates is performed such that a prearranged cut groove is formed on the mother substrates with a wheel with high hardness compared with glass and then cracking is made along the prearranged cutting groove.
FIG. 2 is a view showing the structure of a section of the unit liquid crystal display panel formed by attaching the first mother substrate on which the TFT array substrates are formed and the second mother substrate on which the color filter substrates are formed.
As shown, in the unit liquid crystal panels, the thin film transistor array substrates 1 are protruded at one side compared to the color filter substrates 2, because the gate pad part (not shown) and the data pad part (not shown) are formed at the edge portion of the thin film transistor array substrate 1 which is not overlapped with the color filter substrate 2.
Accordingly, the color filter substrates 2 formed on the second mother substrate 30 are formed to be separated as long as a first dummy region 31 corresponding to the protruded portion of the thin film transistor array substrates 1 formed on the first mother substrate 20.
The unit liquid crystal panels are suitably disposed such that the first and the second mother substrates 20 and 30 can be utilized to their maximum, and though they differ depending on a model, the unit liquid crystal panels are usually formed to be separated along a second dummy region 32.
After the first mother substrate 20 with the thin film transistor array substrates 1 formed thereon and the second mother substrate 30 with the color filter substrates 2 formed thereon are attached, the liquid crystal panels are cut. At this time, the first dummy region 31 formed at the portion where the color filter substrates 2 of the second mother substrate 30 are separated and the second dummy region 32 separating the unit liquid crystal panels are simultaneously removed.
The cutting process of the liquid crystal display panel will be described as follows.
FIG. 3 is an exemplary view showing a cutting process of the liquid crystal display panel.
As shown, a cutting device of the liquid crystal display panel includes a table 42 on which the first and second mother substrates 20 and 30 for which previous processes have been terminated, are loaded, and a cutting wheel 55 for processing the first and second mother substrates 20 and 30 to form prearranged cut lines 51.
In the cutting device of the liquid crystal display panel, when the first and second mother substrates 20 and 30 including a plurality of liquid crystal display panels and attached in a facing manner are loaded on the table 42, the cutting wheel 55 positioned at an upper side of the first and second mother substrates 20 and 30 is lowered and rotated in a state that certain pressure has been applied to the second mother substrate 30, to thereby form prearranged cut lines 51 in a groove form on the surface of the second mother substrate 30.
The prearranged cut lines are also formed on the first mother substrate 20. Namely, the first mother substrate 20 is processed with the cutting wheel 55 to form prearranged cut lines at the same positions as the prearranged cut lines 51 of the second mother substrate 30. Accordingly, in the liquid crystal panel cutting process, since the first and second mother substrates 20 and 30 are processed to form the prearranged cut lines 51, after the second mother substrate 30 is processed with the cutting wheel 55, the liquid crystal panel is reversed to make the first mother substrate 20 to face upward and then the first mother substrate 20 is processed with the cutting wheel 55.
Thereafter, pressure is applied to the prearranged cut lines 51 formed on the first and second mother substrates 20 and 30 to separate the first and second mother substrates 20 and 30. And then, the first and second mother substrates 20 and 30 are separated such that the first and second mother substrates 20 and 30 are broken with a breaking bar so that cracking can be made along the prearranged cut lines 51.
In cutting the liquid crystal display panel, a scribing process and a breaking process are performed several times through a plurality of passes.
Thus, much time is required for the scribing process and the breaking process causing the problem of a reduction in productivity.
In particular, according to the cutting method of the liquid crystal display panel, since the mother substrates are struck with the breaking bar to make cracks along the prearranged cut lines formed on the mother substrates, a plurality of glass chips are generated, and if the striking is not performed inaccurately or if cracking is not incompletely made, the liquid crystal display panel would be damaged or torn off when it is extracted.

Method for cutting liquid crystal display panel and method for fabricating liquid crystal display panel using the same


A computer-implemented method, a computer program product, and a computer system for handling email flows arising from transactions initiated with a shared privileged identity at a service provider. A privileged identity management (PIM) system reads an email sent from a service provider to a single shared PIM email address, wherein the single shared PIM email address is associated with a shared ID and wherein the email is related to a transaction initiated with the shared ID at the service provider. The PIM system analyzes the email by extracting an ID of the transaction and keywords in the email. The PIM system identifies one or more PIM users relevant to the transaction, based on analysis of the email. The PIM system sends a notification of the email to the one or more PIM users relevant to the transaction.

The present invention relates generally to handling email flows, and more particularly to handling email flows arising from transactions initiated with a shared privileged identity at a service provider.
Organizations are increasing deploying privileged identity management (PIM) solutions for managing privileged identities in particular shared/functional IDs that are not tied to any specific user/employee. In a typical PIM scenario, the owner of the shared ID on-boards the ID's credentials into the PIM system and sets up a role for the ID such that only members of this role can have on-demand access to the credentials of the ID. To ensure accountability and traceability of actions performed with the shared ID at the target system, the PIM system enforces a check-out and check-in scheme so as to ensure that only one member of the role is using the ID at any time. So, if a user has checked out the ID from the PIM system and retrieved its latest password, no other member of the role can access the credentials until the user checks in the ID back into the PIM system, whereupon (if needed) the credentials will be rotated to a new value. In advanced PIM solutions, a user goes through a single sign-on (SSO) agent or gateway to check out a shared ID from the PIM system, and then gets auto-logged on to the target system with the checked-out credential; in this case, the user does not even see/know the credentials used.
A PIM system is traditionally used for managing shared access to privileged administrative IDs (e.g., root, administrator, and db2admin) on hosts (e.g., Windows, Linux, etc.), and databases (e.g., DB2, Oracle, etc.). However, the PIM system is increasingly being applied in the line-of-business domain for managing privileged shared access to various applications (usually web apps/sites) of business partners, vendors, suppliers, and other service providers. For example, the owner of the shared ID is the head of the procurement department, sets up an online account each with various suppliers for the purpose of initiating and managing purchases, and wants to allow a team of 5 procurement officers to use these online accounts to liaise with each of the suppliers. The business partners, suppliers, or vendors is a service provider; a customer wants to use a single shared online ID to connect to the service provider.
Many applications, particularly internet-based applications, uses e-mails as an essential way to conduct various workflows, such as secondary authentication, and/or to convey status updates (e.g., order status) and transactional data (e.g., new password) to users. For example, when ordering a virtual machine (VM) or a bare-metal server from an IaaS provider, the user have to wait for an email from the IaaS provider; in the email, the IaaS provider notifies the user of the provision of the VM or the server as well as the IP address and initial admin password of the VM or the server. In another example, when a purchase from an on-line store is initiated, emails are sent upon order confirmation, upon shipping from a warehouse, upon each stage of delivery, and upon final delivery of goods.
If an organization provisions individual IDs to a service provider, it can configure the ID's individual owner's email address with the ID for the service provider to send emails to. However, if an organization provisions a single shared ID to a service provider, then it is not clear whose email address should be configured for the application to send emails to. The shared ID is owned by a PIM user (e.g., a manager); however, since the ID can be used by any member of the corresponding PIM role, it is not clear whose email address should be configured for the service provider application to send emails to.
In a normal workaround, for each owner of a shared ID to request for a shared email address representing a distribution list that maps to multiple employees who are using the ID. However, it is challenging and a burden for both the ID's owner and the organization email administrator to track which user has entitlements to which shared ID in the PIM system and to keep the distribution list in sync with PIM's latest entitlements. This approach also leads to a proliferation of such shared email IDs in the organization's email system (as there will be one created per service provider), which will build-up over time and may stick around even after the ID/account with the service provider is defunct and removed from the PIM system.
Furthermore, if using a distribution list, employees will get spammed with emails not related to their interest. An employee cannot easily pick out what is relevant and of interest, and may end up missing emails that require attention. Emails may get sent to folks who did not use the ID recently. If the mailing list is not kept updated and in-sync with the role memberships in PIM system, the email may not be sent to the actual intended user but sent to employees who no longer belong to the role. In this situation, a PIM user will have to resort to periodically logging into the service provider site or application. This is a very unproductive exercise and adds unnecessary noise to the PIM system's check-in and check-out audit logs. Also, this leaves possibly sensitive email content (e.g., order information) inside user's individual mboxes.

Handling email flows arising from transactions initiated with a shared privileged identity at a service provider

International Business Machines Corporation


An engine includes a carburetor, a governor assembly, and a vacuum actuator. The carburetor includes a throttle plate configured to control a fluid flow, a throttle lever coupled to the throttle plate, and an intake port in fluid communication with an engine vacuum pressure. The governor assembly includes a governor, a governor linkage coupled to the governor and the throttle lever, and a governor spring coupled to the throttle lever to bias the throttle plate towards the fully open position. The vacuum actuator includes an actuator housing, a pressure-sensitive member positioned in the actuator housing, an actuator linkage directly coupled to the governor spring and also coupled to the pressure-sensitive member for movement in response to the engine vacuum pressure, and an actuator spring coupled between a fixed attachment point and the actuator linkage to bias the actuator linkage to increase the tension on the governor spring.

The present invention relates generally to the field of engines. More specifically the present invention relates to systems for controlling the speed of engines.
An engine governor is used to help regulate engine speed, which is typically quantified in terms of the revolutions per minute (rpm) of the engine output shaft (e.g., crankshaft). The governor systems operate in one of three configurations: the governor is pneumatically controlled by the air cooling system of the engine, the governor is mechanically controlled by the crankshaft, or the governor senses a rate of electrical pulses of an ignition system of the engine. In each configuration, the engine speed is communicated to a portion of the engine that regulates fuel usage (e.g., throttle assembly), where if the engine is running too slow, fuel flow through the engine is increased, increasing the engine speed—and vice versa.
Typical engine governors experience a phenomenon called "droop," where a decrease in the engine speed occurs with an increase in loading of the engine. As a result of droop, an engine that is running without load operates at a higher speed than a fully loaded engine. By way of example, such a difference in engine speed may range from about 250 to 500 rpm between an unloaded and fully loaded engine. For example, the engine for a pressure washer may run at about 3750 rpm with no load, and at about 3400 rpm at full load.


A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device is capable of controlling amounts of protrusion of penetration electrodes (5) from a rear surface of a semiconductor substrate (4) in a easy and accurate manner. Recesses (7) are formed in a substrate proper (6) that has a semiconductor circuit (2) formed on one surface thereof, and an insulation film (8) is formed on an inner wall surface of each of the recesses (7). A conductive material is filled into the recesses (7) through the insulation films (8) to form embedded electrodes (15) that constitute the penetration electrodes (5). A rear side of the substrate proper (6) is re moved until one end face of each of the embedded electrodes (15) is exposed, thereby to form the penetration electrodes (5). The rear surface of the substrate proper (6) is anodized to form an anodic oxide film (9), which is then removed by etching to form the semiconductor substrate (4).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device which includes a semiconductor substrate having a semiconductor circuit on a principal plane thereof, with through holes extending through the semiconductor substrate from the principal plane toward a rear surface thereof, and penetration electrodes formed in the through holes with their one ends protruded from the rear surface of the semiconductor substrate.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the past, a known semiconductor device with penetration electrodes has been manufactured in the following procedure.
First, recesses are formed in a substrate main body or substrate proper having a semiconductor circuit on one surface thereof, and then insulation films are formed on inner wall surfaces of the recesses. Thereafter, a conductive material is embedded into the recesses through the insulation films to form embedded electrodes which later constitute penetration electrodes.
Subsequently, the rear surface of the substrate proper is ground up to the bottom of each recess, i.e., until one end faces of the embedded electrodes are exposed from the rear surface, thereby forming the penetration electrodes. Then, the rear surface of the substrate proper is removed by means of etching so that the penetration electrodes are protruded from the rear surface of the substrate proper to form a thinned semiconductor substrate. Thereafter, an insulation film is deposited on the entire rear surface of the semiconductor substrate and the one end faces of the penetration electrodes.
Finally, the insulation film covering the end faces of the penetration electrodes is removed (for instance, see a first patent document: Japanese patent laid-open No. 2001-53218).
The above-mentioned method for manufacturing a semiconductor device involves the following problem. That is, it is necessary to protrude the one end portions of the penetration electrodes from the rear surface of the substrate proper by etching the substrate proper made of silicon. Therefore, in the case of using dry etching to this end, it is difficult to uniformly etch the rear surface of the substrate proper since contamination of the substrate proper due to grinding thereof in a preceding process step or the like would greatly influence the surface condition of the substrate proper. As a result, a special process is required for removing such contamination.
On the other hand, in the case of using wet etching, there arises another problem in that when the rear surface of the substrate proper made of silicon is continuously etched, it is difficult to exactly stop the etching at a prescribed amount of etching. Accordingly, it is difficult to control the amounts of protrusion of the penetration electrodes from the rear surface of the substrate proper in a precise manner.
In addition, after an insulation film is deposited on the entire rear surface of the semiconductor substrate and the end faces of the penetration electrodes, a process step of finally removing those portions of the insulation film which cover the end faces of the penetration electrodes is separately needed, and hence the semiconductor device manufacturing procedure as a whole is accordingly complicated.
The present invention is intended to obviate the various problems as referred to above, and has for its object to provide a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device in which it is easy to control the amounts of protrusion of penetration electrodes from a rear surface of a substrate proper in a precise manner.
According to one aspect, the present invention resides in a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device which includes a semiconductor substrate having a semiconductor circuit on a principal plane thereof, with through holes extending through the semiconductor substrate from the principal plane toward a rear surface thereof, and penetration electrodes formed in the through holes with their one ends protruded from the rear surface of the semiconductor substrate. The method includes: a recess forming step of forming recesses in a substrate proper that has the semiconductor circuit formed on one surface thereof; an insulation film forming step of forming an insulation film on an inner wall surface of each of the recesses; an embedded electrode forming step of filling a conductive material into the recesses through the insulation films to form embedded electrodes that constitute the penetration electrodes; a penetration electrode forming step of forming the penetration electrodes by removing a rear side of the substrate proper opposite to the one surface thereof until one end face of each of the embedded electrodes is exposed; an anodic oxide film forming step of anodizing the rear surface of the substrate proper to form an anodic oxide film; and a semiconductor substrate forming step of forming the semiconductor substrate by removing the anodic oxide film (9) by means of etching.
According to another aspect, the present invention resides in a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device which includes a semiconductor substrate having a semiconductor circuit on a principal plane thereof, with through holes extending through the semiconductor substrate from the principal plane toward a rear surface thereof, and penetration electrodes formed in the through holes with their one ends protruded from the rear surface of the semiconductor substrate. The method includes: a recess forming step of forming recesses in a substrate proper that has the semiconductor circuit formed on one surface thereof; an insulation film forming step of forming an insulation film on an inner wall surface of each of the recesses; an embedded electrode forming step of filling a conductive material into the recesses through the insulation films to form embedded electrodes that constitute the penetration electrodes; a removal step of removing a rear side of the substrate proper opposite to the one surface thereof until one end face of each of the embedded electrodes is exposed; an anodic oxide film forming step of anodizing the rear surface of the substrate proper to form an anodic oxide film; a semiconductor substrate forming step of removing the anodic oxide film by means of etching to form the penetration electrodes and the thinned semiconductor substrate; and a removal step of removing the insulation films which cover one end portions of the penetration electrodes.

Method of manufacturing a semiconductor device with recesses using anodic oxide


An ECC control apparatus is to be connected between a host and a memory. The apparatus comprises a first input/output circuit, a detecting circuit, a code-generating circuit, a code-inserting circuit, a second input/output circuit. The first input/output circuit inputs and outputs data to and from the host. The detecting circuit detects a protected-data region and a redundant region of write data input to the first input/output circuit and having a predetermined data length. The code-generating circuit generates an error-correction code for correcting errors in data stored in the protected-data region. The code-inserting circuit inserts the error-correction code in the redundant region. The second input/output circuit inputs and outputs data to and from the memory.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ECC (Error Check and Correct) control apparatus for use in storing data output from a host into a memory and reading data from the memory to the host. More particularly, it relates to an ECC control apparatus of the type that is provided on a bus connecting a host and a memory.
2. Description of the Related Art
The number of levels of data, which one memory cell can store, may be changed from two to three or more (multi-level). Then, memory cards using memory cells used as storage elements can have their data storage capacity increased. In a memory card having memory cells that store multi-level data, the memory cells deteriorate as they keep holding the data for a long time or as data is repeatedly written to and read from them. As a consequence, the data stored in the memory card more decreases in terms of reliability than the data stored in memory cards that store binary data.
Memories with a new error-correcting means have been proposed, in which the memory cells are prevented from deteriorating. (Such a memory is disclosed in, for example, Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication 2000-349652.)
To incorporate an error-correcting means into the memory provided in a memory card, however, it is necessary to re-design the circuits used in the memory card or in the host that writes data into the memory card. If the circuits in the host are changed in design, the host will need to process more data to control the error-correcting means.


Methods for detection of a cell proliferative disorder, such as cancer, are provided utilizing analysis of target mutant nucleic acids in saliva specimens. The presence of the target mutant nucleic acids is indicative of a neoplastic disorder of the lung or the head and neck.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to detection of a target nucleic acid sequence and specifically to early detection of preneoplasia or cancer in a subject by analysis of target mutant nucleic acid sequences in a saliva specimen from the subject.
2. Description of Related Art
An increasing body of evidence implicates somatic mutations as causally important in the induction of human cancers. These somatic mutations may accumulate in the genomes of previously normal cells, some of which may then demonstrate the phenotypes associated with malignant growth. Such oncogenic mutations may include a number of different types of alterations in DNA structure, including deletions, translocations and single nucleotide alterations. The latter, also known as point mutations, may frequently be involved in carcinogenesis, in that a variety of mutagenic chemicals induce such mutations. In addition, such mutations may occur spontaneously as a result of mistakes in DNA replication.
Advances in recombinant DNA technology have led to the discovery of normal cellular genes (proto-oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes) which control growth, development, and differentiation. Under certain circumstances, regulation of these genes is altered and cause normal cells to assume neoplastic growth characteristics. There are over 40 known proto-oncogenes and suppressor genes to date, which fall into various categories depending on their functional characteristics. These include, (1) growth factors and growth factor receptors, (2) messengers of intracellular signal transduction pathways, for example, between the cytoplasm and the nucleus, and (3) regulatory proteins influencing gene expression and DNA replication.
Point mutations have been directly implicated in the causation of many human tumors. Some tumors carry oncogenes of the ras gene family, which differ from their normal cellular counterpart proto-oncogenes by the presence of a point mutation at one of a limited number of sites in these genes. Similarly, point mutations in critical regions of tumor suppressor genes, such as p53, are often detected in tumor cells. These mutations represent qualitative changes in the tumor cell genome which distinguish these cells from normal cells and provide a basis for diagnosis of the genetic origin of a tumor under study. Identification of the mutations that have created active oncogenes may provide important diagnostic and prognostic clues for tumor development. For example, a number of mutations have been found to alter the 12th codon of the ras oncogenes, causing replacement of a normally present glycine by any of a number of alternative amino acid residues. Such amino acid substitutions create a potent transforming allele. Thus, the presence of a particular nucleotide substitution may be a strong determinant of the behavior of the tumor cell (e.g., its rate of growth, invasiveness, etc.). As a result, DNA probes for oncogene mutations have promise as diagnostic reagents in clinical oncology.
Among the various types of neoplasms, a number of those which are found in the lungs are associated with oncogenic mutations. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer related deaths in Western countries. The prognosis for patients with lung cancer is primarily dependent on the stage of the tumor at the time of clinical diagnosis. Currently, only 25 to 40 percent of all lung tumors are considered resectable at the time of initial assessment. Patients diagnosed early with stage 1 tumors have a 40-70% survival following surgical resection. An attempt at lung cancer screening through the use of tri-annual saliva cytology and annual chest x-ray has proven inadequate for the early detection of lung cancer. Alternatively, the finding that tumors progress through a series of well-defined genetic changes, including point mutations in oncogenes, has stimulated efforts to develop additional, non-invasive tests that could more reliably detect neoplasms of the lung. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,561,041 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,726,223 describe detection of neoplasia of the lung by analyzing sputum samples.
Other serious cancers are the head and neck cancers. Head and neck cancer remains a morbid and often fatal disease. Large tumor bulk and tumor extension are predictors of a local regional recurrence and poor outcome. Detection of occult neoplastic cells in surrounding surgical margins is a strong predictor of local regional recurrence resulting in a significant decrease in overall survival.
DNA contains unique sequences interspersed with moderately and highly repetitive DNA sequences. Variations in the repetitive sequence elements such as minisatellite (or variable number tandem repeat) DNA sequences and microsatellite (or variable simple sequence repeat) DNA sequences have been useful for chromosomal identification, primary gene mapping, and linkage analysis. Microsatellite DNA sequences are an especially common and highly polymorphic class of genomic elements in the human genome. One advantage to the use of repetitive sequence variations is the greater number of alleles present in populations compared with unique genetic sequence variations. Another advantage is the ability to readily detect sequence length variations using the polymerase chain reaction for the rapid and inexpensive analysis of many DNA samples.
Tumors progress through a series of genetic mutations. These genetic mutations can be used as specific markers for the detection of cancer. One set of genetic mutations that can be used to detect the presence of cancer is the loss of chromosomes. Diploid organisms, including humans, have pair of chromosomes for each member of the chromosomal set. Tumor cells will characteristically lose chromosomes, resulting in a single chromosome, rather than a pair of chromosomes, for each member of the chromosomal set. Chromosomal deletions and additions are an integral part of neoplastic progression and have been described in most kinds of cancers. A pair of chromosomes has two alleles for a genetic locus is heterozygous for that locus; therefore, the heterozygosity correlates to the cell having a pair of chromosomes. For years, these chromosomal deletions or amplifications were detected through the loss of heterozygosity.
Another of the genetic mutations used to detect the presence of cancer is genetic instability. Genetic recombination tends to occur most frequently at regions of the chromosome where the DNA is homologous (where the DNA has a high degree of sequence similarity). Where a DNA sequence is repetitive, the DNA homology is greater. The DNA homology occurs not only at the same genetic locus on the other pair of chromosomes, but also on other genetic loci or within the same locus on the same chromosome. Normal (non-tumor) cells tend to suppress this genetic recombination. Tumor cells, however, characteristically undergo increased genetic recombination. Where a DNA sequence is repetitive, genetic recombination can result in the loss of repeat DNA sequences or the gain of repeat DNA sequences at a genetic locus.
Microsatellite DNA instability has been described in human cancers. Microsatellite DNA instability is an important feature of tumors from hereditary non-polyposis colorectal carcinoma patients (Peltomaki et al., Science, 260: 810 (1993); Aaltonen et al., Science, 260: 812 (1993); Thibodeau et al., Science, 260: 816 (1993)). Microsatellite DNA instability by expansion or deletion of repeat elements has also been reported in colorectal, endometrial, breast, gastric, pancreatic, and bladder neoplastic tissues (Risinger et al., Cancer Res., 53: 5100 (1993); Had et al., Cancer Res., 53: 5087 (1993); Peltomaki et al., Cancer Res. 53: 5853 (1993); Gonzalez-Zulueta et al., Cancer Res. 53: 5620 (1993)).
Early detection of preneoplasia or cancer is crucial to increase the probability for treating such disorders. A non-invasive, simple screening test would provide health care workers with a tool for performing early diagnostic or prognostic screens.

Nucleic acid mutation detection by analysis of saliva

The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine


Aspects of a system for keyboard, sound and mouse (KSM) over LAN A/V bridging and A/V bridging extensions for graphics thin client applications may include an I/O controller within an LAN subsystem, which enables generation of response data based on input signals from a keyboard device and/or mouse device that is coupled to a computing device. The generated response data may be encapsulated within an encapsulating PDU. The encapsulating PDU may comprise an Ethernet frame and/or and IP packet. The encapsulating PDU may be transmitted via a network based on a traffic class designation. The traffic class designation may enable the transmission of the generated response data via the network based on specified latency target values. A time stamp value may be generated for the encapsulating PDU. The encapsulating PDU may include at least one data type identifier, which indicates that the encapsulating PDU contains the generated response data.

The generation and rendering of high end graphics often involves the movement of large quantities of data. Frequently the data is stored in a server, from which it may be accessed by users at computer workstations (or, more generally, at computing devices or thin clients) via a network. Once the data is received at the computing device, the graphics may be displayed on an attached video monitor. In many cases the video monitor is physically separate and has been conventionally attached to the computing device via an analog interface, such as a video graphics array (VGA) interface, or a digital interface such as a digital visual interface (DVI). In a typical configuration, an interface in the computing device is connected to a compatible interface in the video monitor via an interstitial connector, such as a cable.
In an alternative conventional configuration, the computing device (or thin client) may incorporate a video monitor. An example of this configuration is a laptop computer in which the video monitor is a component in the physical computing device unit. Whether the video monitor is physically incorporated within the computing device or is a physically separate device, the video monitor may or may not have touch screen capability.
Display Port is a digital interface standard, which enables a computing device to send graphics and video data to a video monitor, or multimedia display device, via a Display Port interface. In this regard, the Display Port interface standard may describe a point-to-point interface, which is capable of transmitting data from a device connected at one end of a connecting cable to a device connected at the other end of the connecting cable. The graphics and/or video data communicated across the Display Port interface may be sent in mini-packets as described in applicable standards. The mini-packets may contain information comprising instructions on how to render the graphics and/or video data on the video display screen, for example. The mini-packets may be sent via a plurality of data paths referred to as "lanes". In an exemplary Display Port interface, there may be four (4) such lanes. Display Port also enables multiple multimedia monitors to be connected to a computing device, each by a separate connecting cable. The computing device may selectively send Display Port mini-packets to one or more multimedia monitors via corresponding Display Port interfaces.
Multimedia applications may generate multimedia programs streams, which comprise video and audio data. The video and audio streams may be time synchronized to enable the rendering of video stream to correspond to the presentation of the audio stream. In interactive multimedia applications, mouse clicks to specific regions on the screen, or keyboard responses to information displayed on the video screen may result in the generation of data in response to the video display.
In addition to supporting unidirectional data traffic from the computing device to the computer monitor (or other attached video display device), the Display Port standard may also enable the bidirectional transfer of data. For example, the Display Port standard may allow for the exchange of encryption keys to enable the transfer of encrypted digital data across the Display Port interface. This capability may enable protection of digital content transferred across the Display Port interface.
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 some aspects of the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and system for keyboard, sound and mouse (KSM) over LAN A/V bridging and A/V bridging extensions for graphics thin client applications


A sump has a one-piece body, comprising a hollow base member for collecting fluids leaking from a piping system, the base member having an upper portion and a lower portion. The one-piece body further comprises a hollow riser section having an upper portion defining an opening, and a lower portion, the riser lower portion extending upwardly from the base member upper portion, the riser section having sidewalls with a generally corrugated shaped cross section in an axial direction. The hollow base member has a bottom and sidewalls, each of the bottom and sidewalls having an outer surface. The base member is fiberglass encapsulated, which encapsulation comprises a fiberglass woven reinforcement pad layer disposed on the base member bottom outer surface; a chopped fiberglass material layer disposed on the sidewalls outer surface up to and including an area abutting the riser section lower portion; a polymeric coating material layer disposed on the fiberglass woven reinforcement pad layer and the chopped fiberglass material layer; and a polymeric sealant material layer disposed on a portion of the riser section lower portion and on a portion of the polymeric coating material layer, at the area abutting the riser section lower portion. The sump further comprises a lid and a mechanism for mounting the lid to the riser section upper portion in a water resistant manner.

The present invention relates generally to fluid containment systems and, more particularly, to a sump for containing spillage, or the like, in systems storing hazardous fluids and/or chemicals, such as gasoline.
Sumps, in general, are employed in fluid storage systems to contain spillage, or the like, to prevent waste. In the case of hazardous materials, sumps are also used to prevent the escape of these hazardous materials and the possible safety and pollution problems that such escape could create. In gasoline storage systems, in particular, sumps may be used at junction points where spillage of hazardous materials, if any, typically occurs. In these sumps, there may or may not exist retrieval systems for the spilled materials. The sumps, however, are usually accessible for inspection and/or for draining the material either automatically or manually.
In designing these containment systems, as well as in modernizing old systems, various types of sumps are needed for junction points in the storage plumbing system between the pumps and the storage tanks as well as at the storage filling points. Different systems with different types of hardware require varying sizes of sumps to conform to the needs of a particular system.
Adjustable sumps have been developed and are used in the field of gasoline storage systems, but are generally inconvenient to use. Sumps presently exist where the housing of the sump is adjustable using sliding and bellows-type connections for adjusting the vertical height of the sump. Also, sumps with score lines on the housings exist for cutting and taping together the sump housing for installment in the system. These systems result in sumps that leak and must be repaired or replaced frequently to avoid the escape of hazardous wastes.
In addition to being inconvenient to use and maintain, sumps generally in use at present are rather expensive to manufacture, install and maintain. Also, numerous clamping features in conventional sump lid assemblies are used in order to attempt to insure water tightness; however, these features create undesirable, added motion when removing and/or positioning the lid on the sump. Further, one sump is generally dedicated to the needs of one particular site. This adds to the cost of manufacture due to the added cost of separate tooling and the like, as well as the need for increased inventory reserve. As a consequence, these increased costs translate into increased costs for the consumer. Further, in addition to conventional sumps being generally inadequately water resistant, they also may not be adequately gasoline and gasoline blend resistant, corrosion resistant, nor do they generally include flame and smoke retardants. As can readily be appreciated, this lack of features may be inconvenient, and may also be hazardous in some instances.
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide a sump which is simple to manufacture. It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a sump which will allow ease of periodical inspection with less motion, while maintaining water resistance. It is yet another object of the present invention to provide such a sump which includes strengthening features to substantially prevent the sump from collapsing or deforming to the point where sub-assembly components malfunction or do not substantially meet expectations. Yet further, it is an object of the present invention to provide a sump which is advantageously substantially gasoline and gasoline blend resistant and corrosion resistant. It is also an object of the present invention to provide such a sump which includes flame and smoke retardants which advantageously may provide extra safety features in certain situations. Still further, it is an object of the present invention to provide such a sump which is cost effective to manufacture in various heights and widths.

Integrally formed tank sump with water resistant lid assembly


A method of controlling a heat exchanger wherein the enthalpy flow into the heat exchanger serves as a correcting variable. The robust and versatile control method is particularly suitable for use in endothermic reactions and for distillation.

The invention relates to a method of controlling heat exchangers in order to set a controlled variable on the process side of the heat exchanger.
The invention resides in the field of chemical engineering operations wherein a controlled energy supply is required. On a commercial scale, these energy consumers are generally supplied centrally from a power plant. The steam produced by the power plant is conveyed via a so-called steam line to the individual consumers. At the consumer end, in exceptional cases the incoming steam is fed directly to the process. Mainly, however, only the heat contained in the steam is transmitted to the process via an interposed heat exchanger. The control of the transmitted quantity of energy forms the object of the present invention.
The method customarily used on a commercial level can be described making reference to FIG. 1. In order, for example, to control the temperature in a process (TC), the actual correcting variable, the transmitted energy, is converted into a substitute correcting variable, namely the quantity of steam fed into the heat exchanger 3 followed by steam trap 4. This is illustrated in the drawing by the feed control unit FC which controls the valve 2. The control value employed by the feed control unit is generally the pressure drop .DELTA..sub.p in the steam across an orifice gauge 5 within the feed line (FIG. 2). Under ideal conditions, i.e. in the case of constant pressure and constant temperature, the volume flow, and thus also the mass flow through the orifice gauge, is proportional to the root of the pressure drop across the orifice gauge (orifice equation).
However, the disadvantage of this known method consists in that changes can occur in the conditions (pressure, temperature) inside a steam line supplying a plurality of consumers from the power plant. For example, even the switching on and off of consumers can give rise to disturbances along a steam line.

Method of controlling heat exchangers using enthalpy flow as the correcting variable


A removable aircraft floor structure-reinforcing strongback is removably attachable to seat tracks in a conventional civilian cargo aircraft to increase the floor structure load rating thereof. The strongback does not require any permanent modifications to the aircraft fuselage and preferably engages seat tracks in the aircraft floor structure.. The strongback comprises a removable beam extending longitudinally over a significant distance of the aircraft center line. The strongback re-distributes local loads from one section of the aircraft floor structure to a plurality of transverse floor beams underneath the strongback. In this manner, the axle load rating of the aircraft floor is increased for supporting military vehicles.

Aircraft are typically optimized in design for an intended purpose. In particular, commercial airliners, such as the Boeing 747, are specifically designed for carrying either passengers or cargo in their primary mode. Also, the passenger and cargo models utilize a large commonality of structural features to make manufacture economical. Specifically, the freighter version has seat track installations that are interchangeable with those of the passenger version, at manufacture, even though a freighter is not designed primarily for seat installation and passenger carriage. However, these tracks are useful for accommodating the attachment of freighter cargo-handling components. Furthermore, there are available passenger/cargo and convertible models of 747 aircraft.
Typically, the load resulting from passengers or palletized or packaged cargo results in a rather distributed load and is carried by a modest floor structure. The floor structure consists, in part, of transverse floor beams that are connected to a monocoque skin of the fuselage through circumferential frames. Also included in the floor structure and lying on top of the transverse floor beams are longitudinal roller beams that take the cargo loading from the pallet through the rollers. Although the strength of a pallet does distribute concentrated loads, engineering design does not credit standard military pallets with this capability because their structural integrity is dependent upon their treatment or mistreatment in the field. Therefore the concentrated load of a heavy vehicle wheel is treated differently than that of packaged cargo resting on a pallet.
The freighter floor structure typically is composed of a plurality of shallow longitudinal roller tracks (roller beams with rollers installed) that are attached to the transverse floor beams and provide a structure upon which cargo pallets can slide for positioning in the aircraft. These roller beams also support the loaded pallets in their restrained positions and transfer loads to the underlying floor beams. The roller tracks run on opposite sides of the aircraft centerline. Typical military cargo pallets are comprised of aluminum skin laminated to a balsa wood core and have a thickness of approximately 2 to 4 inches and an area of approximately 109 by 200 inches. Seat track structure is typically positioned to accommodate passenger seat rows, and in these locations is used on freighters for cargo tie-down and attachment of cargo-handling components. The seat tracks are attached to the transverse floor beams.
Military cargo aircraft have stronger floor systems to support the high axle loads of military vehicles which may be transported. Static axle loads of 8,000 pounds are not uncommon. Furthermore, the aircraft may typically be subject to positive and negative vertical accelerations on the order of +2.5 gravities and -1.0 gravity, respectively. A substantial number of civilian cargo aircraft are therefore capable of performing only limited military cargo service as presently designed. The carriage of heavy vehicle, concentrated axle loads is the missing capability. It would be highly advantageous to increase use flexibility by temporarily converting these civilian cargo aircraft for heavy vehicle carriage when used for military service in a time of national emergency. Therefore, a need exists for a device which can temporarily increase the floor structure load capacity of a civilian cargo aircraft during use for military duty.

Removable aircraft floor structure-reinforcing strongback


A computer-implemented method for monetizing future location of users includes identifying indicator(s) retrieved from log data or an electronic declaration that indicate a possibility that a user will be at a specific location in the future; generating a probability that the user will be at the specific location in the future based on the indicator(s); and charging an advertiser a cost for an impression to which to serve a location-specific advertisement targeted to the user, the cost charged being greater when the probability is greater that the user will be at the specific location in the future. The method may be extended to targeting a group of users that expect to be at the same location at the future point in time. Monetization of future locations may depend on the quality and/or quantity of the log data and declarations of future locations and on a number of users in a group of users if monetized according to the group.

1. Technical Field
The disclosed embodiments relate to systems and methods for determining future locations of users, and more particularly, monetizing such future locations with advertisements targeted to users based on their future locations.
2. Related Art
Internet advertising is a multi-billion dollar industry and is growing at double digit rates in recent years. It is also the major revenue source for internet companies such as Yahoo!® that provide advertising networks that connect advertisers, publishers, and Internet users. As an intermediary, these companies are also referred to as advertiser brokers or providers. New and creative ways to attract attention of users to advertisements ("ads") or to the sponsors of those advertisements help to grow the effectiveness of online advertising, and thus increases the growth of sponsored and organic advertising. Publishers partner with advertisers, or allow advertisements to be delivered to their web pages, to help pay for the published content, or for other marketing reasons.
Social networking has also blossomed and provides a unique, relatively new source of advertising. Social networking sites can obtain information about its users that is more plentiful and easier to track and put to use compared to times before social media. This information can be leveraged to better target advertising to social media users that they are more likely to be interested in, making the advertising experience more enjoyable for the users and more profitable for the advertisers.
Furthermore, the popularity of location-based applications and advertising has grown over recent years such that advertisements and/or search results are delivered to users at least in part dependent on their locations. It may be difficult, however, to know with much certainty where a user plans to be located in the future such as to target advertising based on something other than current location.

Determination and monetization of future location


An apparatus and method for relating echoes from a surface or object produced by irradiation, such as by sonar or radar, from different grazing angles according to the relationship:

A basic function of radiative systems such as sonar or radar is to reliably correlate echoes received from an object scanned from different locations. This permits identification, classification, or imaging of objects or surfaces, examples of which might be, in a marine environment, sea shells, pebbles, rocks, shoals, patches of seafloor, terrain, naval mines, undersea pipes or cables, or sunken vessels. Unfortunately, echo signature varies with the angle of incidence, or grazing angle, at which the object is scanned, which means that echoes received back from the same object at different grazing angles will correlate poorly. In particular, increasing grazing angle progressively foreshortens the apparent size of an object along the line of sight between the sonar/radar generator and the object. This in turn changes the frequency of radiation necessary to duplicate the signature of the object, requiring different frequencies for different grazing angles.

Apparatus and method for grazing angle independent signal detection

Abstract: f    s    =            cf      x              2            cos                                      θ                      where fx is the spatial frequency corresponding to the size of the surface or object, θ the grazing angle, and fs the temporal frequency. In this manner one can relate to one another echoes from the same surface or object generated at different grazing angles, permitting good correlation between the echoes.

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