The invention relates to a multicomponent composition for photodegradable and biodegradable plastic articles, and the use of said composition in the manufacture of various disposable and packaging plastic articles and the articles made therefrom. The multicomponent composition does not contain starch, and is a multicomponent compounded composition of new bioactive material of chitin, casein and the like, with biodegradable aid component, photodegradable and auto-oxidation catalysis component, and nonmetallic minerals and the like. Under natural condition, the degraded material can be utilized by microorganism to release carbon dioxide and water, and acts as an eco-friendly plastic material.

With the rapid progress of plastics industry, current plastics throughput of the world has far beyond hundred million tons. On the basis of statistics, worldwide synthetic resin throughput in 1999 is 156,700,000 tons. The use thereof has reached every section of national economy as well as every field of daily life. Among them, plastic packaging material and articles account for about 30 percent, approximately 46,000,000 tons. Only for china, consumption of synthetic resin in 1999 is 18,660,000 tons. The articles for plastic packaging are 5 million tons. That is to say, the consumption of plastic articles for packaging is huge.
The rapid increase of plastic consumption and advance of environmental sense of the people make that the research of degradable plastic is increasingly concerned. Recently some patents (for example Chinese patent application No:95191396) reports that new type polymer (such as microorganism polyester, aliphatic polyester, poly(lactic acid) and the like) of structure unit readily affected by light and microorganism is made by use of synthetic method. When this new type polymer is discarded after use, it can be degraded by utilizing the direct effect of illumination or microorganism. The degradability of degradable plastics made by this method is very good, but difficultly applied in great amount in market owes to synthesis difficulty thereof, and high cost.
Other patents (for example Chinese patent application No:98106850.2 and 98101407.0) report a "photodegradable and photodisintegrable" material. They adopt the process that photosensitizer, or the blend of photosensitizer with mineral powder of calcium carbonate, talc and the like is added to plastic raw material. Due to the fact that these materials are only subjected to photodisintegration, the degradation thereof is the change of from chunk to nub, satisfactory results are hardly obtained.
Still other patents (for example Chinese patent application No:95121178 and 99100726.3) report that a "biodegradable starch resin" is made by adding as the inducement of biodegradation, starch to plastic raw material. As is well known, starch can be utilized by microorganism, but the macromolecular of above-mentioned general plastics still hardly degradable. Finally only some pore is leaved in the surface of these "degraded plastic articles", it is difficult to attain degradation in true sense. Additionally, granule of starch is often large, influences mechanical property, and it is difficult to make article of high strength and in thin thickness. At the same time, starch is readily absorbing water, however in the processing, even in the case of very low water content, bubble is also readily produced in the plastic articles. Starch is readily scorched at a high temperature, however the processing temperature of plastic is often high. For example, some companies adopt "biodegradable starch resin" mixed with high density polyethylene, which is blown to manufacture shopping bags, and due to the fact that starch is readily scorched, it is difficult to continuously make film.
All these impose numerous inconvenience to the processing of plastics. That is to say, the prior art can not realize truly degradation of general plastics themselves which are hugely used in the market, eliminate and reduce "white pollution", realize friendliness to environment.

Multicomponent composition for photodegradable and biodegradable plastic articles and the use thereof


The invention herein provides a supervisory circuit which is adapted to monitor an input signal and produce as an output signal, a parametric signal corresponding to the input signal. The circuit includes an input for receiving the input signal, and a stochastic processor coupled to the input for receiving the input signal and processing it to derive a signal that represents a parametric measure of the input signal. An output connected to said stochastic processor provides the parametric output signal as an output for supervisory purposes.

Electrical measurement metering in power management has been traditionally carried out by analog devices while the electronics industry has been basically converted from analog devices to digital devices primarily computers and other electronic digital apparatus. In keeping with the development of the electronic field it is important that electronic devices such as power management devices be reduced to very small size but still maintain increased flexibility to improve turnaround time in manufacturing so that a basic circuit design can be used in many different devices with only minor modification or reprogramming at the most to fulfill the new function or provide the new voltage or power levels desired.
The need for reliable power supplies has become increasingly important as circuit densities and hence functionality of the various systems powered by these power supplies continue to rise. Unforeseen failure of power supplies in a computer system, for example would be catastrophic, as it can result in the loss of valuable data. As a result, constant supervision or monitoring of the power supply is required and this has made it necessary to include specialized power supervisory circuits within such systems. These supervisory circuits keep the over all system informed about the integrity of the power supply and hence allows for the safe shutdown of the dependent systems in case this integrity is breached.
Generally, supervisory circuits monitor the voltage or current levels of analog voltages or currents and inform the system on whether the signals are within the allowed range of operation. The operating range is fairly large (typically +/-10% of a pre-specified value) and hence, the resolution required to monitor the signal is not too demanding with a +/-2% full-scale resolution being sufficient. Furthermore, the monitored signals have low bandwidths since they are usually the dc output voltage (current) or ac-line input voltage (current) of the power supply. A supervisory circuit, however, may be required to monitor a number of signals simultaneously as a mixed analog-digital system may operate off a number of different voltage levels. Existing power-supervisory applications specific integrated circuits (PS-ASIC) are primarily analog in nature and function sufficiently well in this context. These PS-ASICs, however, are found to be inflexible to changes in component tolerance values that occur during the manufacturing process and are fixed in their signal processing operations once they are set into the product. It would be advantageous therefore to have a PS-ASIC that would accommodate drifts in threshold values due to aging, product upgrades during the lifetime of a product, and alteration of the signal processing capabilities of the PS-ASIC.
Such a PS-ASIC would be "reconfigurable" or field upgradeable and also make possible the use of a single PS-ASIC in a wide range of similar products thereby reducing development costs and time to market.
Until recently, analog based circuit techniques were used for signal processing. These circuits were implemented in bipolar technology and required the use of accurate voltage and current sources as well as precision resistor divider networks for every parametric threshold detection routine used. This was area intensive and due to the drifts that occurred in the references it was also found to be prone to failure in terms of meeting operating specifications. Furthermore, the advent of switched-mode power supplies introduced the ASIC to noisier operating environments making it even more prone to false threshold detection problems. Masking times for threshold faults were achieved by the use of external components (to set RC time constants) which made the PS-ASIC once again susceptible to component tolerance problems. As far as more complex computation were concerned, they all basically relied on obtaining the average time that a waveform (such as the ac line voltage) exceeded a certain threshold value before the resulting average would trip a parametric test. Hence, the computational complexity of these circuits was limited. Finally, the ASIC was fixed in terms of its application to a specific product and hence was not flexible to operate on updated specifications on the same product or other products. These problems have thus made the use of present implementation techniques unattractive.
Switched capacitor circuit techniques make it possible to design programmable mixed analog-digital circuits. For example, a "programmable capacitor array" (PCA) used in an amplifier feedback can result in programmable gains that are controlled by digital co-efficients. PCA's can be used in comparator circuits to obtain programmable trip points by distributing the charge in the PCA to attain the desired threshold voltage. This technique can give a fair degree of programmability in terms of some basic signal processing. However, using PCAs as the primary implementation technique can be expensive in terms of an ASIC layout. For example, an eight bit resolution would require a capacitance spread, (Cmax/Cmin) of 256. Since very small capacitors are undesirable due to increased noise (kT/C noise) and mask resolution inaccuracies and in addition need to be at least an order of magnitude greater than the parasitic capacitance within the circuit (the gate-to-source capacitance of a minimum size CMOS transistor in a typical 1.2 micro-meters CMOS process is 20 Femtoferads (fF)) one is limited in the maximum value of capacitance chosen. For a Cmin of 200 fF, a Cmax/Cmin of 256 would give a Cmax of 51 pF. Given that in a typical 1.2 micro-meter CMOS process, 1 pF occupies approximately 1290 micro-meter.sup.2 this makes Cmax alone occupy 66,000 micro-meters.sup.2 (approximately 102 mil.sup.2). One can see that area requirements may become quite demanding for an implementation that requires a number of such switched capacitor configurations.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,345,409 makes use of digital signal processors (DSPs) and is incorporated herein by reference. Digital signal processors have gained widespread use in a number of applications including power monitoring as can be seen by the above reference. They are capable of computationally intensive tasks and are programmable by software. The reference discloses a programmable power metering ASIC comprised of a mixed analog-digital circuit that uses a customized DSP for computations. Six Delta-Sigma analog to digital converters are used to provide an oversampled serial bit-stream of information from the six source signals (three in voltage mode and three in current mode). This information is low pass filtered and decimated using digital filtering techniques. The resulting output is fed to the DSP which has two programmable processors that are used to execute calibration and computing operations using the algorithms stored in and off-chip PROM. This allows the ASIC to compute the RMS values, real and apparent power consumptions and power factor rating of the source signals. The final readings are measured to give an absolute accuracy of 0.04% when using the calibration coefficients. The performance of this implementation comes at the expense of silicon die area. The ASIC corresponding to the structure disclosed in the reference occupies about 6.4 mm.times.7.1 mm in 1.5 micro-meter CMOS technology (most of which is occupied by the DSP) in order to monitor six signals.
One of the objectives of the present invention is to provide sufficient signal processing capability while minimizing the amount of silicon die area required in order to reduce cost and still provide the necessary function.
The invention described herein provides a moderately accurate (less than 2% full-scale error) programmable supervisory circuit that can monitor a number of critical low frequency signals in a complex power supply by applying stochastic and pulse density based computational techniques.
Stochastic computing techniques were developed in the mid-sixties in an effort to obtain parallel computing structures for neural networks. Stochastic computing relies on principles based on Boolean algebra and probabilistic mathematics. Analog quantities are represented in terms of a probabilistic digital bit-stream and the resulting hardware needed for signal processing becomes very simple in comparison to that required by conventional digital or analog methodologies. This hardware simplicity comes at the expense of computational accuracy but the desired operating specification for a supervisory circuit can still be easily met. Furthermore, the implementation in digital circuitry gives it an advantage over analog implementations since it means better noise immunity (important in switch mode power supplies) and easier testability. Most importantly, it also allows the circuit to be reconfigurable when field-programmable gate array technology is used. The encoding of the analog signal can be done by using Delta-Sigma Modulation (DSM) to obtain a highly oversampled serial pulse density modulated digital bit-stream. This encoded representation of the analog signal can then be processed by a stochastic computer. Delta-Sigma modulation can be used to simplify digital filter structures by providing an alternative way to multiply digital filter coefficients in a filter. This is used to advantage in one aspect of the invention in order to implement one aspect of the supervisory function.
The invention herein provides a power supervisory circuit and attendant applications which together provide simplicity, robustness and programmability with the integration of stochastic and DSM based computations to perform threshold, means squared and RMS outputs which can be used to control power supplies or for monitoring purposes.

Programmable supervisory circuit and applications therefor

International Business Machines Corporation


A radiation therapy system and method, especially for brachytherapy, monitors and verifies dose delivered at a plurality of points at or near the region to be irradiated, integrating verification with radiation delivery. In one procedure, mapping is used to determine the shape and location of the region to be irradiated. A treatment plan is developed using the mapping information and a dose prescription. As radiation is delivered to the target region internally, preferably using an electronic radiation source, the dose received at plural points is monitored and continually fed to a central processor. As needed based on feedback, the system modifies the treatment plan and delivery of radiation accordingly, to arrive substantially at the prescribed dose at all locations in the region. In a modified procedure the treatment is done according to a prescription dose but without a treatment plan by multiple iterations of source pullback and feedback and analysis of dose received in the tissue. Source radiation levels and/or pattern and dwell are modified for each successive iteration and preferably for different dwell points in an iteration.

This invention concerns radiation therapy, usually as post operative or intra operative treatment to eradicate malignancies or other types of tissue. Specifically the invention concerns verification of dose delivered in a radiation treatment procedure, and can include real-time feedback to a controller, verification of treatment and modification of a treatment plan and of the radiation delivered in real time as needed based on monitored dose at one or more locations.
Radiation therapy, including with x-ray radiation, is used for several purposes on human beings, from treatment of minor skin cancers to post-operative treatment after resection of a tumor. In brachytherapy a radiation source is placed inside the patient for localization of the radiation treatment. In IMRT, intensity modulated radiation therapy, beams of radiation are directed from a series of external positions toward an internal target of the patient, and fingers shape the beam into beamlets for each treatment position, thus concentrating the desired radiation dose essentially at the target with the goal of delivering only harmless doses of radiation along the series of different paths. The IMRT radiation would better be characterized as "position modulated", or modulated as to a series of different angles of attack for the beams of radiation.
Although these and other types of radiation therapy have been improved in recent years and have become more specifically targeted and localized, achieving improvements in dose accuracy and better avoiding excessive dose to other tissue not to be irradiated, these radiation therapy techniques have not achieved localized verification of delivered dose or real-time correction of treatment and have not approached the accuracy, localization and safety of the current invention described below.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Real time verification in radiation treatment


Provided is an ammonia detoxification device that, when detoxifying ammonia by thermal decomposition, is capable of preventing the generation of nitrogen oxides. That is, the problem is solved by configuring the ammonia detoxification device using: an electric heater; an ammonia decomposition chamber that accepts an ammonia-containing gas to be treated and thermally decomposes the ammonia in the absence of oxygen using heat from the electric heater; a thermally decomposed gas-burning chamber that accepts the nitrogen- and hydrogen-containing gas to be treated that has been generated by the thermal decomposition of the ammonia and discharged from the ammonia decomposition chamber, and an air-supplying means for supplying air from the outside into the thermally the thermally decomposed gas-burning chamber to burn the hydrogen.

Ammonia (NH3) is gas that is colorless under normal temperature and normal pressure having a peculiar strong irritating odor, and is strongly irritative to human mucosa. A person who sucks ammonia gas at a concentration of 0.1% or higher will exhibit a critical condition. For this reason, ammonia is designated as one of the offensive odor substances under the Offensive Odor Control Act, and is also designated as a deleterious substance under the Poisonous and Deleterious Substances Control Law.
On the other hand, ammonia is an industrially very important substance because it is a starting material for basic chemicals such as nitric acid, and is often synthesized as a byproduct in the course of industrial production. Therefore, production facilities that emit exhaust gas containing ammonia are requested to install an ammonia detoxification device for detoxifying ammonia contained in the exhaust gas.
For detoxifying ammonia, various methods including a wet detoxification method in which ammonia is absorbed in water or a chemical liquid, and a thermal decomposition method of thermally decomposing ammonia have been developed.
Among these, the thermal decomposition method is currently widespread because, in contrast to the wet detoxification method, it does not require additional installation of wastewater treatment equipment and can realize a compact ammonia detoxification device, and runs at a relatively low cost.


An image processing apparatus acquires data of a finder image in an imaging apparatus, analyzes the data of the finder image, and extracts a feature amount of the finder image. Then, the image processing apparatus generates metadata based on the analysis result, and provides the metadata to a still image data captured by the imaging apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and an image processing method suitable for processing image data acquired by a digital camera or other apparatuses.
2. Description of the Related Art
A technique for analyzing a subject and an event of an image and automatically generating metadata has been known. In such an automatic generation technique, metadata that is extracted from an image is generally provided to the image of an extraction origin. For example, in the case of a digital camera, metadata that is extracted from a captured still image is generally stored in a header portion of the corresponding image.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-062868 discusses a camera that recognizes a figure (person) of a captured image in corporation with an external database and provides metadata to an image. Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-039354 discusses a camera that extracts character information from a recorded image and provides the extracted character information thereto as metadata. Furthermore, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-165822 discusses an electronic camera that overlaps related information on a captured image and displays the captured image, when a previously registered subject figure (person) exists in the captured image.
However, the metadata that is provided only according to the technique in the conventional art may not be usable for various applications. For example, metadata available at the time of viewing a captured image may not be provided.

Image processing apparatus for providing metadata to captured image and method thereof


A recording apparatus in which a recording unit performs recording with respect to a medium which is wound in a roll shape, the apparatus including a medium support unit which rotatably supports the medium; a transport unit which transports the medium in a path while pulling out the medium which is supported; and a terminal end detection unit which detects a terminal end of the medium. The transport unit transports the medium to an outlet side to which the medium, which is recorded, is discharged, when the terminal end is detected, and a length of the medium is equal to or larger than a predetermined value. On the other hand, the transport unit transports the medium to the medium support unit side, when the terminal end is detected, and the length of the medium is less than the predetermined value.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus and a transporting apparatus which use a medium which is wound in a roll shape.
2. Related Art
In the related art, an apparatus using a medium which is wound in a roll shape is known. In such an apparatus, the medium which is supported by being wound in the roll shape is used by being transported so as to be pulled out. In addition, the transported medium is discharged to the outside of the apparatus.
In addition, when the medium is used up to the vicinity of a terminal end, it is necessary to change the medium to a new medium. For this reason, an apparatus is disclosed in which roll sheet is cut using a cutter which is arranged in the vicinity of a position at which the roll sheet is supported when a roll end (terminal end) of the roll sheet is detected. In addition, the apparatus determines whether to transport the roll sheet, or to make the roll sheet stay at a position after cutting, according to the length of the roll sheet after the cutting (for example, refer to JP-A-2012-218308).
When the medium stays in a path in a state of being cut, there is a case in which it is not possible to take the cut medium out due to a structure of the apparatus. For example, there is a case in which, when the path of the medium is located at a deep position in the apparatus, it is necessary to remove the medium which stays in the path from the path at the deep position, and a worker is forced to perform hard work.

Recording apparatus and transporting apparatus


A wiring board includes an insulating board, a wiring sub board having a wiring layer, and an insulating layer. The insulating layer has a via hole in which a conductor is formed by plating. The insulating board and the wiring sub board are horizontally laid out. The insulating layer is laid out to cover a boundary portion between the insulating board and the wiring sub board and continuously extends from the insulating board to the wiring sub board. A resin which constitutes the insulating layer is filled in the boundary portion. The conductor is electrically connected to the wiring layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wiring board having an insulating board and a plurality of wiring sub boards, and a method of fabricating the wiring board.
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, Patent Documents Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-289986, Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-232089, Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2007-115855 and Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-322878 describe wiring boards and fabrication methods therefor. Those wiring boards each have an insulating board and wiring sub boards connected to the insulating board.
The contents of Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-289986, Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-232089, Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2007-115855 and Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-322878 are herein incorporated in their entirety.

Wiring board and fabrication method therefor


Improvements are disclosed for independent adjustment of the gauge wheel, disc hillers, stabilizer disc and, if desired, the rear, central sweep for an agricultural cultivator unit. The adjusting mechanism includes a screw jack which is easily accessible from the top of the cultivator for setting the adjustment of vertically telescoping inner and outer tubular sections, and a clamp for maintaining the setting once the adjustment is made. Improvements in the disc hiller structure itself include an indicator plate located at the top of the shank on which the disc is mounted for indicating the angular adjustment of the working angle of the disc, and a forged shank having a circular cross-section at the top, and a flattened portion at the bottom to provide strength but flexibility. Improvements are also disclosed for mounting the sweep to the distal end of the main beam, including a screw jack and clamp arrangement of the type used to adjust the disc hillers and stabilizer disc, a rigid clamp using a single bolt and two cast clamp plates, and a spring cushion mechanism permitting the sweep shank to rotate rearwardly and upwardly when an obstruction is encountered.

Cultivators are well-known in the agricultural industry. There are many different designs and different tools used for row crop cultivators, including sweeps, discs, tines and combinations of these tools. However, there is a desire to reduce the amount of capital used in farming by having a cultivator that may be used for different functions, such as both cultivating row crops and preparing seed beds. In addition to versatility in application, there is a demand to have almost universal and independent adjustment of the various tools for each cultivator unit. Past designs have relied heavily on adjusting mechanisms which were either unreliable or too cumbersome or complicated to achieve easily the kinds of adjustment required. Not only are adjustments of the tools on a cultivator row unit required for different applications, but even for the same application (e.g., row crop cultivating), the settings of the various tools may be changed as soil conditions, crop maturity, amount of residue, degree of weed growth and other factors change. A final consideration in the design of the present cultivator is that it is suited for farmers employing conservation tillage concepts, whether that includes conventional planting or ridge planting. Conservation tillage fields normally have heavy residue (to conserve water and provide mulch), and a more rugged, heavy-duty cultivator is normally desired for these farming practices.


Methods and systems may provide theft protection in one or more work machines. Methods and systems may control one or more operational systems and may provide and manage varying levels of access to work machines. Methods and systems may react to override attempts in order to provide robust theft protection. One or more control modules embedded in a work machine may be leveraged to perform theft protection services. Methods and systems may activate a first control module to restrict access to a first operational system in a work machine and activate a second control module to restrict access to a second operational system in the work machine. The first control module may detect a substitution of a new control module for the second control module and automatically configure the new control module to restrict access to the second operational system in the work machine.

Certain vehicles, especially industrial work machines, are expensive and not easily replaced. Thus, it is vital to provide such vehicles with robust theft protection systems. Nonetheless, it may not be desirable to simply disable a vehicle entirely in order to provide such protection. For example, an operator may wish to protect a vehicle (e.g., a vessel) from theft while its engine remains running. In addition, the operator may wish to restrict access to certain systems on the vehicle without deactivating such systems. For example, a vessel operator/owner may wish to allow maintenance personnel to access and/or operate the vessel subject to certain restrictions (e.g., engine speed limit).
In certain situations, a plurality of vehicles may need protection. For example, a fleet of geographically-dispersed vessels may require protection from theft. Thus, the ability to provide theft protection to each of these vehicles from a central location is critical, in terms of both economic efficiency and logistics.
To address the above concerns, various vehicle theft-protection systems have emerged, which attempt to provide robust and flexible theft protection capabilities. In many of these systems, a primary controller, to which an operator has access, communicates with a secondary controller that controls an engine or vehicle system (e.g., fuel pump). In the event the primary controller detects an unauthorized operator, the secondary unit will deactivate its respective system. Conventional theft-protection systems, however, are deficient on several fronts. Typical systems fail to provide theft protection while facilitating various system-specific modes of protection. For example, typical systems do not restrict the operation of certain vehicle systems while allowing unrestricted operation of other systems. Further, typical systems do not provide centralized control over a plurality of vehicles. In addition, conventional systems fail to provide robust protection in that they are easily defeated by bypassing or removing the primary and/or secondary controllers from these systems. Moreover, if an existing controller is replaced with a new controller, the new controller may not be configured to provide subsequent theft protection.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,356,186 to Price et al. describes a vehicle anti-theft system which allows the vehicle engine to operate in various protection modes. One such protection mode includes speed limit mode, in which a controller limits road or engine speed. The '186 patent mentions that limiting engine speed may allow maintenance personnel to move a vehicle subject to a 1000 rpm engine speed limit. Although the system described by Price et al. provides a solution for allowing a vehicle engine to operate in various theft protection modes, it is limited to engine operation. That is, the disclosed system does not allow vehicle operators to set different protection modes for a plurality of different types of systems and components associated with a vehicle. In addition, the system described by Price et al. does not provide robust theft protection and does not address the problems encountered when the controller is removed or bypassed by a thief.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,144,112 to Gilmore describes a vehicle anti-theft system which immobilizes a vehicle's fuel pump to provide theft protection. The anti-theft system uses a pump control unit (PCU) to control the fuel pump. In the system described by Gilmore, the PCU cannot be activated to control the fuel pump unless it receives certain responses from an engine control unit (ECU). Thus, if the ECU is bypassed by a thief, the fuel pump will not activate and the engine will not start. Although Gilmore provides a solution for providing theft protection in the event an ECU is bypassed, it is limited solely to deactivating a fuel pump to prevent an engine start. Thus, the disclosed system does not provide theft protection while allowing certain systems and components to operate. Further, the system described by Gilmore does not address the problems associated with configuring a new ECU upon removal of an existing unit. In addition, Gilmore's system does not address the problems associated with centrally protecting a fleet vehicles.
Methods, systems, and articles of manufacture consistent with certain embodiments of the present invention are directed to solving one or more of the problems set forth above.

Systems and methods for providing theft protection in a machine


A system is disclosed for simple, non-invasive, sustained delivery of ophthalmic substances to the interior of the eye, for the prevention and treatment of eye diseases and conditions. Liposomes and inverted micelles are disclosed as suitable vehicles, and timed release of the substances is effected. Delivery methods include coating of a lens or injection into the eye.

Materials and methods are presented to deliver liquids to the interior of the eye, in a timed release, to treat ocular diseases and conditions. Formulations for liposomes as vehicles for substances to coat contact lenses are described.
Currently, eye drops, applied externally, are used as a method to treat internal ocular disorders. However, this method suffers from the disadvantage that the liquid has to pass through many ocular bathers, many of which have opposite properties. For example; the epithelial layer of the cornea allows hydrophobic drugs to pass, whereas the stroma (the next layer) allows hydrophilic drugs to pass, not hydrophobic. In addition, lacrimation and impermeability through the corneal epithelium are responsible for poor ocular bioavailability.
Ocular diseases and conditions include age related macular degeneration (AMD), a common, chronic degenerative condition of the macula, which is a part of the retina. AMD is characterized by loss of central vision, whereas peripheral vision remains unaffected. Growth and leakage of new blood vessels beneath the retina cause permanent damage to the light-sensitive retinal cells which then die off and create blind spots in the central vision. Treatment options for AMD include intravitreal injection of steroids and macromolecules (direct injection of the drugs into the vitreous humor), a very unpleasant technique that requires multiple applications. Complications include: endophthalmitis (an inflammatory condition of the intraocular cavities), increased IOP (intraocular pressure), retinal detachment, and development of glaucoma and cataracts. Other ocular conditions that require treatment are cataracts and infections. Treatments would benefit from timed release systems.
Liposomes are a possible choice for sustained release ocular drug delivery because of their amphiphilic nature. But, the conventional liposomal formulations have several disadvantages. The first major problem is the stability and low shelf life. These can be attributed to the fact that the phospholipids which form these liposomes are highly prone to oxidation and hydrolysis. Also liposomes have a tendency to fuse together, increasing the particle size and further cause light scattering.
Another major problem with the liposomes is the encapsulation efficiency. This depends on the concentration of cholesterol used to stabilize the phospholipid bilayers. High concentration of cholesterol leads to very inflexible bilayers leading to very low encapsulation and very slow release. On the other hand, low concentration of cholesterol causes very high encapsulation but very fast release. So, in order to overcome these disadvantages, there is a need to engineer the liposomal formulations to have higher stability, very low drug leakage, high encapsulation and slow release of the drug. Currently, there are no groups that have been successful in obtaining a protein drug release over 40 days.

Timed release of substances to treat ocular disorders

Board of Trustees of Northern Illinois University


A image detector includes an array of photodetectors arranged in n rows and m columns with at least a portion of the photodetectors in each column being selectively connected to a common column output signal line by a selector means. The image information is read out of the photodetectors by sequentially selecting groups of rows starting with a row near the middle of the array and then sequentially selecting other groups of rows on alternate sides of the array middle. As image data is read out of the photodetectors in the selected row group, groups of column outlet lines are coupled together to provide a combined output signal. This readout technique provides a reduction in the image data and reduces the likelihood of signal degradation for the central portion of the image.

The present invention relates to X-ray systems utilizing a solid state multiple element X-ray detector for producing an image; and more particularly, to techniques for reading the signals from the detector elements and processing the signals.
Conventional fluoroscopy equipment includes a source for projecting an X-ray beam through an object to be analyzed, such as a medical patient. After the beam passes through the patient, an image intensifier typically converted the X-ray radiation into a visible light image, and a video camera produced an analog video signal from the visible image for display on a monitor. Because an analog video signal was produced, much of the image processing for automatic brightness control and image enhancement was performed in the analog domain.
Recently, high resolution solid state X-ray detectors have been proposed, which comprise a two dimensional array of 3,000 to 4,000 photo diode detector elements in each dimension. Each element produces an electrical signal which corresponds to the brightness of a picture element in the X-ray image projected onto the detector. The signal from each detector element is read out individually and digitized for further image processing, storage and display.
The high resolution provided by such a large array of detector elements may be beneficial to the analysis of the patient in many certain circumstances. However, in situations where a high degree of resolution is not required, the processing of the incumbent large amount of data from the array significantly increases the image processing time above that which is reasonably required. Furthermore, certain X-ray systems may not require a detector with such a high degree of resolution in which case a smaller matrix detector would be satisfactory. However, in this instance it may be cost effective to still utilize the larger matrix detector, rather than develop a different size detector for each piece of X-ray equipment having a different resolution requirement. In both these cases when the detector produces a higher resolution image than is required, a technique for reducing the amount of data is desirable.
A problem inherent in conventional photo diode detector arrays is that the biasing charge placed on the photo diode may be partially discharged by transistor current leakage and by a mechanism commonly known as "dark current". The charge depletion due to the effects of dark current and current leakage produces an offset of the image signal. Since the amount of charge removed by these currents is not constant, the signal offset varies, adding a element of uncertainty to the detector output.
The amount of charge removed from the photo diode by these currents in part is a function of the length of time from photo diode biasing until detector element charge sensing. As a consequence, it is desirable to minimize the time required to read out the elements of the detector array in order to minimize the effect of these currents. This presents a trade-off in that it is also desirable to increase the readout time in order to reduce the bandwidth of the image signal processing circuit and reduce the electrical noise added to the detector signal by the circuit.

Apparatus and method for reading data from an image detector


An efficient ammonia desulphurization and oxidation apparatus includes a desulphurization tower, where spray layers in multiple stages and a tower reactor are sequentially arranged in the desulphurization tower; a first gas-liquid distribution plate, a second gas-liquid distribution plate, and a third gas-liquid distribution plate are sequentially arranged in the tower reactor; an ammonia distribution zone is formed between the first and second gas-liquid distribution plates, and an ammonia water distributor is further arranged between the first gas-liquid distribution plate and the second gas-liquid distribution plate in the ammonia distribution zone; an absorption zone is formed between the second and third gas-liquid distribution plates; an oxidation zone is formed between the third gas-liquid distribution plate and a bottom of the tower; in the oxidation zone, oxidizing air distributors in multiple stages are arranged at a lower side of the third gas-liquid plate.

Sulfur dioxide is one of the main pollutants in combustion flue gases of sulfur fuels (such as coal and oil). Sulfur dioxide will bring environmental problems such as acid rain and cause physiological hazard to the human body after entering the atmosphere, and thus is the main pollutant for waste gas treatment.
At present, wet desulphurization is mainly employed for the removal of SO2 in a flue gas, and absorbents widely used in the wet desulphurization include CaCO3 (limestone-gypsum desulphurization), NaOH (sodium desulphurization), MgO (magnesium desulphurization), and NH3 (ammonia desulphurization). Because the ammonia desulphurization process does not produce waste water and a by-product (NH4)2SO4 thereof can be used as a fertilizer for resource recycling, the ammonia desulphurization process has great technical advantages.
Compared with the calcium desulphurization and the sodium desulphurization, the ammonia desulphurization shows higher requirements for the oxidation rate. If the oxidation rate is low, unoxidized ammonium sulfite will be decomposed in an ammonium sulfate concentration operation to release ammonia and acid gases, resulting in peculiar odor in an operating room, environmental and equipment corrosion, and the like. Due to the characteristics of the absorbent NH3 itself, the oxidation rate is restricted by factors such as temperature and pH. A relationship between the oxidation rate and the pH is as follows: the higher the pH, the worse the oxidation efficiency, and the lower the pH, the higher the oxidation efficiency; and the higher the pH, the higher the absorption efficiency for SO2, and the lower the pH, the lower the absorption efficiency for SO2. Due to the difference between the oxidation rate and the absorption efficiency, it has been a difficult problem in the industry to consider both efficient oxidation and efficient absorption in recent years.
In order to improve the oxidation efficiency of ammonia desulphurization, Chinese patent CN 208356491 U proposes an ammonia desulphurization and oxidation apparatus of ammonium sulfite, which adopts multiple layers of packing assemblies and liquid distributed rings among the assemblies to increase a gas-liquid contact specific surface area (SSA) and improve the oxidation rate of ammonium sulfite. Although this packing structure can improve the gas-liquid mass transfer efficiency, this packing structure is easily blocked due to the easy saturation and precipitation of ammonium sulfate in an ammonia desulphurization slurry.
Chinese patent CN 109260895 A proposes an oxidation circulation tank device and method for ammonia desulphurization with function-oriented product partitions, where an oxidation circulation tank is divided by a tank wall plate and a partition plate into three zones: a single-phase liquid zone, an oxidation zone, and a reduction zone, which improves the SO2 absorption capacity of an absorption slurry and strengthens a desulphurization effect for a flue gas. Since this device separates the oxidation zone from the circulation absorption zone, it is difficult to implement industrially. Moreover, a sulfite will be decomposed to cause ammonia escape and tailing after being circulated in a tower for a long time and not oxidized, and further cause a short oxidation residence time, which easily leads to insufficient oxidation.
Chinese patent CN 208512251 U proposes a combined oxidation device suitable for ammonia desulphurization. This device is an independent tank with optimized gas-liquid distribution, and an aeration pipe and a gas-liquid distributor are arranged inside the device. This device makes the oxidation efficiency of ammonium sulfite reach 99.5% or more by increasing a gas-liquid contact area. Although this patent solves the problem of oxidation, it is difficult to individually implement the separation from a SO2 absorption phase.
Chinese patent CN201120164401.2 discloses a double-oxidation ammonia desulphurization device, which improves the absorption efficiency, makes the desulphurization efficiency 95% or more, can obtain an ammonium sulfate crystal with a purity of 99% or more, and reduces an ammonia escape amount to less than 8 mg/m3. However, in the device of this patent, a flue gas directly enters a pre-washing tower after being dedusted, which leads to a high requirement for the manufacturing process of the pre-washing tower, requires more investment, and reduces a service life of the pre-washing tower. The low-temperature flue gas after desulphurization is directly discharged through a chimney, and the low-temperature flue gas is highly corrosive to the chimney and affects a service life of the chimney.
On the basis of Chinese patent CN201120164401.2, Chinese patent CN 206350984 U adopts a flue gas heat exchange device to make an original flue gas first subjected to a heat exchange treatment with a flue gas discharged from a desulphurization tower through the device, such that a temperature of the original flue gas is lowered, which reduces the requirement for the manufacturing process of the pre-washing tower and the cost thereof, and increases a temperature of a flue gas discharged from a chimney to reduce the corrosion to the chimney and prolong a service life of the chimney. This patent includes a dust collector, a pre-washing tower, a desulphurization tower, and a heat exchanger, involves a complicated process, and shows high material requirements for the pre-washing tower.
All the above patents focus on oxidation or absorption, and are difficult to achieve the improvement in both oxidation and absorption efficiency. Thus, this is also a technical problem that those skilled in the art urgently need to solve.

Ammonia desulphurization and oxidation apparatus and method

SHANGHAI LANKE ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


An approach is provided in which an information handling system invokes a conferencing session over a computer network between a first user utilizing a headset and one or more second users. The information handling system detects an audible interruption from a third user proximate to the first user, while the headset inhibits the first user from detecting the audible interruption. Next, the information handling system sends an interruption notification to the first user in response to determining that the audible interruption matches at least one of a set of notification triggers corresponding to the first user. In turn, the information handling system captures a dialog between the one or more second users in the conferencing session in response to the first user accepting the interruption notification.

Communication between people is critical, required, and vital to a business's success. Today's style of communications is dynamic, fluid, and growing in speed. Conferencing sessions, such as video conferencing, have evolved over the years and have vastly improved communications between organizations, customers, and suppliers. Video conferencing minimizes travel time, travel costs, and allows participants in different locations to view/edit the same electronic document. In addition, and of important note, video conferencing allows a participant to see other participants' visual cues that are not available during a traditional telephone conversation.
Video conference participants, however, may be interrupted by nearby personnel from time to time for urgent and not urgent matters. When this occurs, the video conference participant focuses their attention on the person initiating the interruption and, in turn, loses focus, context, and history transpiring on the video conference.

Cognitive headset awareness with external voice interruption detection

International Business Machines Corporation


A power operated hitch with hitch ball for towing a large trailer, and having an electrically powered hydraulic fluid pumping system and multiple hydraulic rams on a main support frame of the hitch which mounts to the top of the back frame section of a transport truck. The hitch includes an L-shaped main boom which is telescopic, with the telescopic portion generally lengthwise horizontally disposed above the truck frame. The hitch ball is attached to a bottom end of a vertically disposed downward extension of the distal end of the boom. The main boom is pivotally supported by a main spherical bearing; a horizontal main support shaft through the spherical bearing; and a horizontal support arm affixed to one side of the boom and slidably retained at the distal end thereof in a channel connected to the hitch main frame. Through use of the multiple rams and articulating joints, the hitch includes movement capabilities for vertical, lateral, and extension and retraction of the hitch ball relative to the back of the truck. A semi-automatic lock is provided for mechanically locking the boom and hitch ball stationary for normal towing of a trailer.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to towing hitches having powered hitch ball movement capabilities and which are mounted on large transport trucks for towing trailers. The present invention is a hitch which is particularly structured to be useful in towing and positioning long, heavy trailers such as mobile homes and the like.
2. Description of the prior art
Although there have been a variety of prior art hitch structures attachable to large trucks for towing trailers, and many of these have included articulating joints and powered extendable actuators for moving the hitch ball and thus the trailer independent of the position of the truck, all of the prior art hitches have shortcomings, particularly when towing long and heavy trailers such as mobile homes over narrow winding roads. Some of the prior art hitches only include capabilities providing for limited movement such as vertical adjustment, while not providing for lateral movement of the hitch ball. Other prior art hitches include capabilities for vertical and lateral movement of the hitch ball. Some prior art hitches have been provided with vertical, lateral, and extending and retracting movement capabilities of the hitch ball relative to the truck, but of the hitches which provide for these three desirable movements of the hitch ball, none are believed to be as safe and as convenient to operate, and none are structured in the same manner or offer all of the useful benefits of the present powered hitch. Prior art trailer hitches which do include the three desirable movements of the hitch ball do not provide these movements in wide enough movement ranges to allow the towing of very long trailers over winding mountain roads, nor are these prior art hitches shaped and structured in a manner which would allow them to be readily or inexpensively modified to provide for wider movement ranges and still provide sufficient strength to tow a very long and heavy trailer such as a mobile home. Therefore there is a need for an improved hitch for towing a long heavy trailers.


Molten metal is supplied to a pouring basin formed between cooling members, such as movable cooling drums. A closed space is formed at a meniscus area whereat any one of the cooling members starts to come into contact with the molten metal, and a soluble gas or a mixture of soluble and insoluble gases is supplied to and filled in the closed space, thereby covering the meniscus area with the gas or the mixture. This arrangement enables a continuous casting of a thin metal sheet without surface cracks and having excellent surface characteristics.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus of continuously casting a metal sheet by using cooling members such as cooling drums and belts that are movable and act as a part of a mold, and more particularly, to a continuous casting method and apparatus that produces a metal sheet having a high quality and superior surface characteristics.
2. Description of the Related Art
A reduction in manufacturing costs and a creation of new materials are particularly required in the field of continuous metal casting, and accordingly, there is a strong demand for the ability to cast a metal sheet one to ten millimeters in thickness that is nearly equal to the thickness of a final product, by using, for example, a drum-type continuous casting machine incorporating a cooling mechanism. This sort of technique is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication 58-157250, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication 60-184449, and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication 62-130749, etc.
The object of Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication 60-184449 is to equalize the solidified thickness of a cast metal sheet and prevent surface cracks, by providing irregularities of cooling on the surface of a cooling drum. Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication 62-13079 prevents an inclusion of oxides in a cast metal sheet, and a deterioration of the surface quality of the cast metal sheet, by casting molten metal in an inert gas atmosphere.
According to tests carried out by the inventors of the present invention, however, these conventional techniques do not substantially provide sheets having a good and stable surface quality. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication 60-184449 forms irregularities, i.e., recesses and protrusions each about four micrometers or more in size on the surface of a drum, but this disclosure does not pay careful attention to the relationship between the surface irregularities and the thickness of a cast metal sheet, and thus the problems of surface cracks and a surface quality deterioration may arise. Namely, when the cast metal sheet is thin, and the irregularities formed on the surface of the cooling drum are too large compared with the thickness of the sheet, thermal stress may be concentrated around the irregularities to thereby produce small cracks that remain as surface defects of the sheet. On the other hand, when the cast metal sheet is thick and the irregularities are too small compared with the thickness of the sheet, the solidification stress is not sufficiently distributed and therefore, large surface cracks are produced.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication 62-130749 is also not satisfactory because the rotary mold thereof does not have surface irregularities, and therefore, cooling may increase an amount of thermal contraction to cause a local stress concentration, to thereby produce surface cracks.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To solve the problems of the conventional techniques, a main object of the present invention is to provide a means for stably casting a metal sheet having no surface cracks, and providing a cold rolled product having no surface defects.
To accomplish this object, a method and apparatus according to the present invention supplies a gas (a soluble gas, or a mixture of soluble gas and insoluble gas that does not dissolve in molten metal; a mixing ratio thereof being adjusted) to a meniscus area whereat molten metal starts to come into contact with a cooling member.
The present invention also adjusts the temperature of a casting atmosphere, to thereby further improve the effect of the present invention.
The present invention further maintains a complete inert atmosphere above a pouring basin of molten metal, to prevent a deterioration of the surface quality.
Generally, each rotary cooling drum of a continuous casting machine is made of copper, incorporates a cooling mechanism, and has a nickel-plated surface. Since a molten metal to be cast, e.g., molten austenite stainless steel, has a temperature of about 1500 degrees in centigrade, the drum must have a cooling mechanism that can withstand such a temperature. Nevertheless;when the casting machine casts a thin metal sheet one to ten millimeters in thickness, the cooling function, if excessive, will easily produce surface cracks on the sheet. Therefore, to prevent these surface cracks, and to control the cooling performance of the drum, dimples are formed on the surface of the drum.
According to the present invention, each cooling member, such as a drum or a belt, has many circular or elliptic dimples on the surface thereof, these dimples are exposed to the outside air and then enter a pouring basin defined between the cooling members, to come into contact with molten metal collected in the pouring basin.
Namely, the dimples of the cooling members contain air, and the molten metal cooled by the cooling members emits a gas dissolved therein and the emitted gas is caught by the dimples in a meniscus area. Therefore, as the cooling members move, the gas is locked between the dimples and the molten metal.
The locked air and gas may form scale on the surface of a solidified shell of the molten metal, thereby deteriorating the surface quality of a cast metal sheet.
If the dimples capture an inert gas instead of the air, the scale is not be formed on the surface of a solidified shell, but the inert gas may rapidly expand when heated by the molten metal or by the solidified shell, and if the inert gas is an insoluble gas such as an argon (At) gas that does not dissolve in the molten metal, the gas may form dents on the surface of the solidified shell at locations corresponding to the dimples of the cooling members. The dents on the solidified shell cause the solidified shell to freely slide on the cooling members when the solidified shell is contracted, and as a result, thermal stress is concentrated at weak locations of the solidified shell, to thereby form large surface cracks in the solidified shell.
The inventors clarified these problems, and thus have completed this invention.
According to the present invention, a soluble gas such as a nitrogen (N.sub.2) gas is supplied to a meniscus area whereat the surface of each cooling member having dimples starts to come into contact with the molten metal. The supplied gas purges air and a gas emitted from the molten metal away from each dimple and occupies the dimple, and the soluble gas thus caught in the respective dimples is absorbed by the molten metal during casting, and therefore, the solidified shell protrudes into the respective dimples.
Due to the protrusions of the solidified shell in the dimples of the cooling member, the solidified shell does not freely slide on the cooling member when the solidified shell is contracted, and the gas caught in each dimple forms a gas cap over each protrusion of the solidified shell, thereby providing a slow cooling effect on the protrusion.
Since the slowly cooled protrusions corresponding to the dimples on the cooling member are distributed over a cast metal sheet, the metal sheet is continuously and stably cast.
Peripheral areas around the slowly cooled protrusions on the surface of the cast metal sheet are rapidly cooled by direct contact with the cooling member, so that the peripheral areas may have higher rigidity, and accordingly, tensile stress caused by a contraction of the solidified shell is distributed to a plurality of the separate protrusions each having a smaller rigidity, to thereby prevent an occurrence of cracks in the cast metal sheet during solidification.
Each protrusion of the solidified shell into a corresponding dimple of the cooling member prevents an excessive amount of gas from remaining in the dimple, to thereby form a uniform gas cap over the protrusion. This ensure the casting of a smooth metal sheet.
An atmosphere over the pouring basin is not particularly limited, as long as the meniscus area is sufficiently protected by a non-oxidizing soluble gas. An atmosphere adjusting space for the pouring basin and an atmosphere adjusting space for the meniscus area may be separately provided, and gases supplied to the spaces may be separately selected according to requirement.
To protect the surface of the pouring basin from oxidation, a non-oxidizing gas such as argon (Ar) and nitrogen (N.sub.2) may be supplied to the pouring basin, and if the gas deteriorates the quality of molten metal by dissolving in the molten metal, an insoluble gas such as argon (Ar) may be supplied to the pouring basin. Even if the atmosphere over the pouring basin is air, oxides formed on the surface of molten metal will not be involved in a cast metal sheet if the meniscus area is sufficiently shielded by a gas.
According to one important aspect of the present invention, a mixture of soluble gas and insoluble gas is supplied to the meniscus area.
As described before, when a soluble gas is supplied to the meniscus area, slowly cooled protrusions are formed on the surface of a cast metal sheet, and the protrusions prevent an occurrence of cracks in the cast metal sheet.
According to tests carried out by the inventors, however, excessively large protrusions formed on the surface of the cast metal sheet may produce an uneven brightness on the sheet, after the sheet is cold-rolled. This problem may be solved by polishing the cold-rolled sheet. If the sheet is not polished, however, it is necessary to adjust the size and amount of the protrusions to an allowable range. The inventors found, as described before, that dimples containing a soluble gas form protrusions on a solidified shell, and dimples containing an insoluble gas form dents on the solidified shell, and through various tests, the inventors found that supplying a mixture of insoluble and soluble gases to the dimples and adjusting a mixing ratio of the gases can adjust the size and amount of the protrusions. Namely, the present invention adjusts a mixing ratio of gases to be sealed in the dimples, thereby forming optimum patterns transferred from the dimples to a cast metal sheet. This method is appropriate for practical manufacturing.
According to the present invention, the gas supplied to the dimples is preheated to a predetermined temperature or higher, to reduce the influence of an expansion of the gas sealed in the dimples.

Apparatus of continuously casting a metal sheet


There are provided a process for producing a zeolite membrane which, even when large, has few defects and which has higher separation performance than conventional zeolite membranes, and a zeolite membrane obtained by the process. In the process, the structure-directing agent is removed in the atmosphere having an O2 concentration of 22.0 vol % or more. Specifically, the process includes: a particle adhesion step of allowing zeolite particles functioning as seeds to flow down the surface of the substrate by means of the weight of the slurry itself, thereby adhering to the substrate and a membrane-forming step of forming a zeolite membrane on the substrate by immersing the substrate having the zeolite particles adhering thereto in sol containing the structure-directing agent for hydrothermal synthesis, thereby forming a zeolite membrane on the substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a zeolite membrane and a process for producing a zeolite membrane.
2. Description of Related Art
Zeolite is used as a catalyst, a catalyst carrier, an adsorber, or the like. A zeolite membrane-provided body wherein a membrane is formed on a surface of the porous substrate made of metal or ceramic uses a zeolite molecular sieve function and is used as a gas separation membrane and a pervaporation membrane.
There are present many kinds (types) of zeolite such as LTA, MFI, MOR, FER, FAU, and DDR. For example, a DDR (Deca-Dodecasil 3R) type zeolite contains silica as the main component and is formed by a polyhedron containing pores having an oxygen eight-membered ring having a pore diameter of 4.4×3.6 angstrom. Since the DDR type zeolite has a small pore diameter, the use as a molecular sieve membrane for low molecular gas such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), ethane (C2H6).
For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a process for producing a zeolite membrane, where a DDR type zeolite membrane is formed by immersing a porous substrate in a raw material solution containing 1-adamantanamine, silica, and water for hydrothermal synthesis of a DDR type zeolite in the presence of a DDR type zeolite seed crystal.
In addition, Patent Document 2 discloses a process for producing a zeolite membrane using a raw material solution containing a DDR type zeolite powder.

Zeolite membrane and process for producing zeolite membrane


A warning control device provided in a vehicle is disclosed. The warning control device includes a hardware processor to: determine whether a section in which the vehicle is travelling is a section prohibited from overtaking; determine whether the vehicle is attempting an overtaking action; and, in response to determining that the vehicle is travelling in the section prohibited from overtaking and that the vehicle is attempting the overtaking action, control a warning device connected to the warning control device to warn a driver of the vehicle when the overtaking by the vehicle is not permitted in accordance with driving rules, and control the warning device not to warn the driver when the overtaking by the vehicle is permitted in accordance with the driving rules.

There have been proposed various kinds of drive assist devices for assisting drive by drivers in vehicles. For example, the drive assist device described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2016-224712 is configured to warn a driver by using the warning device when overtaking of the subject vehicle is detected.
In the drive assist device described above, a driver may be warned in unnecessary cases. In such a case, the warning is troublesome for the driver.
Therefore, there is a need to prevent warning in unnecessary cases.

Warning control device, warning control method, and computer program product

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.


A method and respective system for determining quality of experience parameters of an encrypted video stream received at a client device is provided. The method comprises extracting, from one or more encrypted video streams sent over a network from a content server to a plurality of client devices, a first instance of at least one stream-related feature. A first instance of at least one quality-related label of a plurality of quality-related labels is determined based on applying a trained classifier to the first instance of the at least one stream-related feature, wherein each of the plurality of quality-related labels corresponds to a respective experience parameter of the quality of experience parameters of the encrypted video stream received at the client device.

Video is without doubt one of the top applications on both mobile and fixed networks, with end users accessing video content through content delivery technologies such as adaptive video streaming and over-the-top (OTT) video applications. Network providers may monitor network traffic in order to spot usage patterns, problems in delivery and where to improve the network, but this does not necessarily provide any information about how end-users are experiencing the network.
Video quality of experience provides a measure of how an end-user accessing video content is experiencing the network from a quality perspective. However, obtaining an accurate measure of QoE can be difficult. Feedback from an end user is subjective because each user's perception of video quality will not be the same. More objectively, the video quality of experience may be related to measurable QoE parameters, which, in principle, could be obtained from the video stream. However, almost all video streams are end-to-end encrypted for reasons of network security and user privacy, meaning that direct access to the video bitstream to estimate video quality is not possible.
Accordingly, video quality of experience may be ascertained in terms of QoE parameters measured at a client device, such as quality (low definition, standard definition, medium definition, high definition and ultra-high definition), resolution (width and height), rebuffering time, number of stalls, and time to stream start. However, the extraction of such information directly from client devices is difficult to implement and impacts on the processing power and bandwidth available to the client devices. In addition, the information obtained directly from client devices may not be easily linked to network conditions.

Determination of QOE in encrypted video streams using supervised learning


The present invention includes a glass multifocal light polarizing ophthalmic lens having a glass multifocal lens portion with a multifocal element fused to a convex outer surface of the multifocal lens portion, a single vision lens portion opposing the multifocal lens portion and a polarizing film sandwiched between the multifocal lens portion and the single vision lens portion. The present invention also includes a method for making the glass multifocal light polarizing ophthalmic lens.

The present invention relates to a glass multifocal ophthalmic lens having a light polarizing element.
Individuals wearing multifocal ophthalmic lenses made of glass have had to choose among the options of protecting their eyes from harmful rays of the sun or adequately compensating for an ocular lens accommodation deficiency from which they suffer or wearing uncomfortable spectacles. The choice arises because many of the glass ophthalmic lenses presently available either protect an individual's eyes from sunlight but do not include a multifocal element or include a multifocal element but not a light-protecting element. The glass lenses that are available having both a multifocal element and a light-protecting element tend to be heavy and uncomfortable to wear. Other lenses having a multifocal element and a light-protecting element have a limited resistance to abrasion.
Attempts to make a multifocal lens having protection against harmful rays from the sun have included a composite laminated lens described by the Ace U.S. Pat. No. 4,679,918, issued Jul. 14, 1987. The Ace patent describes an ophthalmic lens having a photochromic glass portion. The photochromic glass portion includes a glass bifocal element that is adhered to a front surface of the photochromic glass portion. The bifocal element is not made with photochromic glass.
One particular lens described in the Ace patent also includes a plastic lens portion and an adhesive layer that binds the photochromic glass lens portion to the plastic lens portion. The Ace patent also describes a lens having a polarizing film embedded in the adhesive layer. However, this lens does not include a bifocal element.
The Marks et. al. patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,923,758, issued May 8, 1990, describes a method for adhering a polarizing film to a curved lens surface. The method includes preforming the polarizing film in a manner that minimizes a hardening or drying effect. The polarizing film is then laminated to the curved lens surface. Air is excluded during lamination by a method that includes spinning the lens.
The Marks et. al. patent describes how a bifocal segment protruding from a lens and facing a polarized film causes the film to disorient due to a build up of fluid such as a softening fluid which is retained in gaps formed by the Marks et. al. process. The Marks et. al. patent describes a solution to this problem as applying the polarized film to the entire lens and then stripping the film away from a bottom portion of the lens in order to aid in draining fluid from the lens. Marks et. al. also describe how a smooth lens portion covered with the polarizing film is cemented to a smooth bifocal member to make a bifocal progressive single vision wafer lens.

Glass multifocal ophthalmic lens with polarizing element and method of making


There are beforehand prepared a monomer having a reaction residue and a polynucleotide probe set comprising plural kinds of polynucleotide probes having a residue bonded to the reaction residue. The monomer is mixed with each kind of polynucleotide probes comprising any plural probes selected from the polynucleotide probe set. Each kind of the resultant mixtures is added to each of different small holes to make the mixture into gel matrix. Thus, a polynucleotide probe chip is produced. Sample DNA is forcibly migrated in the gels by electrophoresis. Laser light is projected onto the side face of the chip. The fluorescence emitted from the whole surface of the chip is collectively detected with a high-sensitive two-dimensional detector. Thus, the polynucleotide probe chip, holding various kinds of DNA probes, for detecting DNA can be provided. This chip has high hybridization-efficiency and makes high-sensitivity and high-speed DNA detection possible.

The present invention relates to a probe chip for assaying various detection items about objects to be detected, such as DNA, RNA and proteins, at a time (i.e., a many item-detecting sensor), and in particular to a polynucleotide probe chip for assaying DNA and a polynucleotide detection method using the same.
The genome project rapidly approaches the stage of functional genomics. DNA analysis has been clarifying the mechanism of livings and living phenomena. And the DNA analysis has been used for diagnosis of the many diseases. It is effective for understanding living phenomena and examining the effect of genes that the situation of expression of the genes is examined. As a high-powered means, a DNA probe array or a DNA chip wherein a great deal of DNA probes are divided depending on each kind thereof and fixed on the surface of a solid starts to be used. As a method for preparing this DNA chip, there are known a method of using photochemical reaction and lithography, which is widely used in the semiconductor industry, to synthesize oligomers having a designed sequence, one base by one base, on many cells divided up to areas (prior art 1: Science 251, pp. 767-773 (1991)); a method of planting a DNA probe one by one in every area (prior art 2: Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 93, pp. 4913-4918 (1996)); and the like. In order to increase the amount of probes fixed on a chip, a method is contrived wherein an acrylamide gel film is formed on a chip and probes are fixed on this gel (prior art 2). As a method for fixing DNA probes used in a DNA probe chip, there are known a method of using the bonding of biotin and avidin or fixing DNA probes on the surface of gold (Au) through a SH residue (prior art 3: Biophysical Journal 71, pp. 1079-1086 (1996)); a method of fixing DNA probes on the surface of glass (prior art 4: Analytical Biochemistry 247, pp. 96-101 (1997)); a method of fixing DNA probes on an element matrix of acrylamide gel applied on the surface of glass (prior art 2), and the like.

Polynucleotide probe chip and polynucleotide detection method


A method and an apparatus for data retrieval in a lightfield database are described. An acquiring unit of the apparatus acquires a sample data. An operation unit determines a plurality of two-dimensional (2D) images from each 4D lightfield data of the lightfield database, and match the sample data with the determined 2D images according to geometrical parameters of the sample data and geometrical parameters of the 2D images. One of the 2D images is selected as a target image based on the matching result, and the 4D lightfield from which the target image is determined is retrieved.

Search and retrieval of two-dimensional (2D) images in a database of 2D images using a sample image and based on similarity between the images is well known in the field. The similarity can be optionally based on different aspects. For example, a sample object shown in the sample image is searched in the database, and the images showing objects similar to the sample object are retrieved as search result. Retrieval methods usually calculate features for the images in the database and compare these features with a sample image or sample data to find similar images. The features can include, for example, color histograms, edges and feature points. The performance of the search generally depends on the quality and robustness of the feature analysis.
There are existing issues and problems for calculation of robust features. First, it is difficult to calculate and extract reliable features, such as edges or feature points, from blurred images. For images including transparent or partially transparent object, color histograms, edge detection and feature point detection would suffer from the background that is visible behind the transparent or semi-transparent object. Scattered objects such as a tree with branched and leaves would expose a large and spatially scattered range of depth. Moreover, for objects seen from different viewpoints among multiple images, geometrical and photometric distortions would make the image retrieval difficult.
Four-dimensional (4D) lightfield of a scene has been introduced as an alternative choice for image capture. A 4D lightfield can be captured, for example, by a plenoptic camera or a grid of cameras and allows refocusing of the capture after the snapshot, estimating the depth of the scene in the capture and many other flexible editing options for the capture data. Multiple classical 2D images can be calculated from a 4D lightfield data for a same scene. The calculated 2D images, so called lightfield images, may differ in viewpoint, viewing direction, resolution, depth of view, focal plane, etc. For example, a method of calculating refocused 2D images from a lightfield is illustrated in [I], where sub-images from the raw image of the camera sensor are spatially shifted in the image plane and subsequently summarized.
It can be expected that more lightfield data will be available and used in the near future. The techniques and solutions for search and retrieval of the lightfield data will also become essential for users.

Method and apparatus for data retrieval in a lightfield database


Storage volumes are provided across a plurality of storage devices, where the storage volumes include at least a first storage volume and a second storage volume. A storage controller detects fault in a portion of a particular one of the plurality of storage devices, where the portion corresponds to the first storage volume. The storage controller identifies the particular storage device as faulty for the first storage volume without identifying the particular storage device as faulty for the second storage volume.

A storage subsystem can be implemented with multiple (e.g., an array of) physical storage devices. A storage volume, which is a logical unit of data, can be implemented across the physical storage devices. One reason for implementing a storage volume across plural physical storage devices is to provide redundancy, such as redundancy based on mirroring data (in which data of a first storage device is copied to a second storage device to provide redundancy). Another form of redundancy is parity-based redundancy (in which parity information of data stored in a group of storage devices is kept in another storage device). By providing redundancy, if a physical storage device (or any part of a physical storage device) from the multiple physical storage devices were to fail, then the data stored in the storage subsystem can still be recovered under certain conditions.
Conventionally, upon detection of a storage device (from among the plural storage devices used to implement storage volumes) as failed, the storage device is marked as failed and rendered unavailable for further use by any of the storage volumes.

Identifying a storage device as faulty for a first storage volume without identifying the storage device as faulty for a second storage volume

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


Provided is an auto gain control method in a digital communication system. The auto gain control method checks a distribution of a signal and a distribution of a signal envelope during a regular check interval, and determines a state of a current gain value from the distribution of the signal and the distribution of the signal envelope which are obtained through the checking of the distribution. The auto gain control method controls a gain value for auto gain control according to the determined state of the current gain value.

The digital communication system where multiple users irregularly transmit data (hereinafter referred to as a "discontinuous digital communication system) uses an auto gain control method similar to that of a digital communication system where a single user transmits a continuous data packet (hereinafter referred to as a "continuous digital communication system"). That is, based on a signal envelope or the average energy, an AGC gain value is determined in inverse proportion to the average.
A method for controlling the AGC gain value with the average is suitable for a continuous digital communication system, but is not suitable for a discontinuous digital communication system.
The reason is because a continuous digital communication system continuously receives data uninterrupted once communication is begun, while the discontinuous digital communication system does not uninterruptedly and continuously receive data or experiences a sudden change in signal energy. That is, when data are suddenly received after a period of data reception dormancy, or received signal energy suddenly changes, AGC is not performed well. In other words, since the auto gain control method has a large gain value for scaling a narrow region for a certain duration, data (which are suddenly received or change in signal energy) overrun the current scale region.
Accordingly, when the data signal is converted into a digital signal by an analog-to-digital converter, the maximum saturation value occurs or bit resolution decreases, causing a great amount of distortion.

Auto gain control method in digital communication system

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


A receiving apparatus receives parallel data signals including a plurality of channels from a transmitting apparatus. The receiving apparatus includes a receiver, a detector, and a switch. The receiver receives the parallel data signals. The detector detects a first skew between channels within the receiving apparatus, and a second skew between channels prior to reception by the receiver. The switch interchanges the plurality of channels of the parallel data signals so as to reduce a total skew as a sum of the first skew and the second skew.

In recent optical communications systems, the transmission capacity is increased by raising the bit rate. On the other hand, when transmitting signals between internal modules such as a transmitting apparatus and a receiving apparatus or between integrated circuits (ICs) in an optical communications system, low-speed transmission or signal processing is generally performed by using not high-speed serial signals but parallel signals obtained by converting serial signals into a parallel form.
In transmission of parallel signals, the transmission rate per channel decreases as the number of parallel signal transmissions increases. This eases the high-speed characteristics required of a device, and also facilitates phase matching between channels. On the other hand, an increase in the number of parallel signal transmissions gives rise to such problems as an increase in the number of pins on ICs or modules, the resulting increase in the size of a package or the like, and an increase in the mounting area of transmission lines.
Currently, as a scheme for parallel transmission of signals at a bit rate of 40 Gbit/s, standardization of a scheme which performs transmission using four channels with a bit rate of 10 Gbit/s is underway. Furthermore, a scheme for parallel transmission of signals at 100 Gbit/s has been also proposed. However, an attempt to perform phase matching between channels at various locations in a parallel transmission interface leads to an increase in the circuit scale or power consumption of individual circuits including an optical transmitting-receiving circuit.
Accordingly, in the Multi-Lane Distribution (MLD) scheme of 40 Gbit/s and 100 Gbit/s Ethernet (registered trademark), phase shifts between channels (lanes) during transmission are tolerated, and phases are matched at once in the circuit at the receiving side.
FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary configuration of such a parallel transmission system. The parallel transmission system in FIG. 1 includes Physical Coding Sublayer/Multi-Lane Distribution (PCS/MLD) circuits 101, 104, and Physical Medium Attachment/Physical Medium Dependent (PMA/PMD) circuits 102, 103. Of these, the PCS/MLD circuit 101 and the PMA/PMD circuit 102 are circuits at the transmitting side, and the PMA/PMD circuit 103 and the PCS/MLD circuit 104 are circuits at the receiving side.
The PCS/MLD circuits 101, 104 are connected to a layer above the Media Access Interface (MAC) layer by 100G Medium Independent Interface/40G Medium Independent Interface (CGMII/XLGII). In addition, the PCS/MLD circuits 101, 104 and the PMA/PMD circuits 102, 103 are connected by 100G Attachment Unit Interface/40G Attachment Unit Interface (CAUI/XLAUI). Further, the PMA/PMD circuit 102 and the PMA/PMD circuit 103 are connected by a link (transmission path) of m channels.
The CGMII/XLGMII is a logical interface within a chip. The CAUI/XLAUI is an electrical interface between chips. If the number of channels between the PCS/MLD circuits and the PMA/PMD circuits is N, N=4 in the case of 40 Gbit/s, and N=10 in the case of 100 Gbit/s.
The number m of channels for parallel transmission between the PMA/PMD circuit 102 and the PMA/PMD circuit 103 is not necessarily fixed. The number m of channels for parallel transmission between the PMA/PMD circuit 102 and the PMA/PMD circuit 103 varies such that the number of channels may be 4 or 10 even in the case of 100 Gbit/s. The number m of channels for parallel transmission between the PMA/PMD circuit 102 and the PMA/PMD circuit 103 may be 1.
The PMA/PMD circuit 102 converts parallel signals of N channels outputted from the PCS/MLD circuit 101 into signals of m channels and outputs the signals to the transmission path. The PMA/PMD circuit 103 converts the signals of m channels received from the transmission path into parallel signals of N channels and outputs the parallel signals to the PCS/MLD circuit 104.
Skew as the difference in delay time between signals on individual channels can occur at the following locations in the parallel transmission system. (1) Within the PCS/MLD circuit 101: Transmitting-side PCS skew (2) Between the PCS/MLD circuit 101 and the PMA/PMD circuit 102: Transmitting-side electrical skew (3) Within the PMA/PMD circuit 102: Transmitting-side PMA/PMD skew (4) Between the PMA/PMD circuit 102 and the PMA/PMD circuit 103: Transmission skew (5) Within the PMA/PMD circuit 103: Receiving-side PMA/PMD skew (6) Between the PMA/PMD circuit 103 and the PCS/MLD circuit 104: Receiving-side electrical skew (7) Within the PCS/MLD circuit 104: Receiving-side PCS skew
Since each of the skews (1) to (7) mentioned above is accumulated at the receiving side, it is desirable to correct the accumulated skew in the PCS/MLD circuit 104.
FIG. 2 illustrates a method of correcting skew accumulated in the case of N=m=4. The PCS/MLD circuit 101 at the transmitting side splits a bit string to be transmitted into blocks of predetermined size (1, 2, 3, 4, . . . ) and periodically divides the blocks among four channels for output as parallel signals. At this time, the PCS/MLD circuit 101 inserts an alignment block A for skew measurement at the beginning of each channel. In the proposed scheme, the block size is 66 bits, of which 2 bits are used as a header.
The PCS/MLD circuit 104 at the receiving side detects the alignment blocks A of the four channels, and corrects skew by a deskew circuit (not shown) to align the blocks of the four channels. The detected alignment blocks A are deleted.
A typical skew compensation circuit is selects a delay time for skew compensation by switching outputs of a delay circuit by a switching circuit.
A typical skew compensation apparatus is detects an amount of skew in each channel at a timing determined on the basis of a frame signal generated for each channel, and compensates for the timing of parallel data for each channel.
Typical systems are discussed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 57-017046 and Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 11-341102.
The parallel transmission systems according to the related art described above have at least the following problems.
If each of the skews (1) to (7) mentioned above is accumulated, a very large skew can occur in the PCS/MLD circuit 104 at the receiving side. For example, when the maximum values of the transmitting-side PCS skew, transmission skew, and receiving-side PCS skew are estimated to be 25 ns, 35 ns, and 15 ns, respectively, a skew of up to about 80 ns occurs in total. This amount of skew is equivalent to 800 UI (800 bits) in terms of a bit rate of 10 Gbit/s.
To ensure phase matching between channels by correcting 800 bits of skew, it is necessary to provide a First-In First-Out (FIFO) circuit of 1000 bits or more per channel. Provision of a First-In First-Out (FIFO) circuit of 1000 bits or more leads to an increase in the circuit scale or power consumption of a deskew circuit.
The same problem occurs not only in the case of MLD scheme of 40 Gbit/s and 100 Gbit/s but also in cases when skew is accumulated in a parallel transmission system in which parallel data signals are transmitted. This problem does not depend upon whether the transmission path between the transmitting apparatus and the receiving apparatus is an optical transmission path or not.
An object of an embodiment of the present invention is to avoid an increase in a circuit scale of a deskew circuit including in a parallel transmission system which transmits parallel data signals including a plurality of channels.

Receiving apparatus, transmitting-receiving apparatus, and transmission system method therefor


An automated, on-line solvent elimination interface system is described for use in characterizing the Composition Distribution (CD) of unknown materials emerging from a fractionating unit or a process stream. Fractionated samples to be analyzed, such as a polymer, in highly diluted form in one or more solvents, are provided by a fractionation unit such as a gel permeation chromatograph (GPC), a high pressure liquid chromatograph (HPLC), or a field flow fractionator (FFF). A number of discharges of each particular fraction are supplied to individual collection units within the interface system under controlled conditions of flow rate, temperature and pressure (vacuum) such that the solvents are flash-evaporated at the collection unit. A sufficient solid residue is built up on the collection unit for analysis by, for example, a Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analyzer.

On-line analysis of the chemical composition of a solute in a carrier medium (e.g., a solvent) combination has been accomplished using various known techniques, such as a gel permeation chromatograph (GPC) coupled to an ultraviolet (UV) spectrometer. Generally, the success of such a technique depends on how well the solutes can be differentiated from the carrier medium. This differentiation has been relatively easy in most cases, but there are cases in which the carrier medium seriously interferes with the on-line analysis of the solute, rendering a particular analysis technique less useful than desired.
For example, in flow-thru high pressure liquid chromatographic (HPLC) systems coupled to a Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer, the chromatographic solvent often interferes with the detection of the solute. Therefore, various flow-thru cells (e.g., see C.C. Johnson and L.T. Taylor, Anal. chem., 56, 2642-2647 (1984)) as well as interfaces to eliminate the solvent prior to analysis (e.g., see C.M. Conroy, P.R. Griffiths, and K. Jinno, Anal. Chem., 57, 822-825 (1985)) have been designed. Eliminating low-boiling point solvents such as hexane is easy to accomplish, but not so with water or higher-boiling organic solvents. With high boiling point solvents such as trichlorobenzene (TCB), which is a common solvent in the analysis of polymers by gel permeation chromatography (GPC), the situation is one of the worst. Consequently, on-line polymer composition analysis in a TCB solvent system by GPC/FTIR has so far remained in the realm of concept only. Similarly, FTIR as a powerful and versatile analytical tool for HPLC, GPC and process analyzers has been limited in its application because of the solvent or process interference problems.
Ideally, to eliminate the solvent-solute interference problems, whether in a GPC experiment or in continuous process control, one would like to eliminate the solvent altogether. If a technique can eliminate TCB, then it readily may be used to eliminate substantially any other chromatographic or process solvent.
Overcoming the above mentioned problem in high-temperature (HT) GPC would benefit studies aimed at determining composition distributions (CD) in polymers (e.g.,L. Wild, T.R. Ryle, D.C. Knobeloch, and I.R. Peat, J. Polymer Science: Polymer Physics Edition, 20 441-455 (1982)). CD is the change in comonomer composition of polymer chains as a function of their molecular weight (MW). Most CD studies of crystalline or amorphous polymers have depended on large-scale fractionation or cross-fractionation, often followed by a slow solvent-stripping step to prepare the fractions for subsequent analytical measurements. Only in favorable cases, such as in semicrystalline polymers, where a relationship may be established between comonomer content and melting temperature has the need for an on-line composition detector not been essential. In contrast, amorphous polymers cannot benefit from such empirical relationships. Consequently, most separations have depended on solvent/non-solvent fractionations (e.g., H. Sato et al, Macromolecules, 19, 2613 (1986)). These operations are very tedious and time-intensive, and although the individual steps can be automated to reduce manpower requirements (D.L. Newhouse, R.G. Wheeler, and R.H. Waltz, U.S. Pat. No. 4,604,363 (1986)), the time-intensive nature of the analysis still remains a big hurdle to be overcome. Recent advances in HT-GPC-UV have been used for composition analysis (e.g., S. Mori and T. Suzuki, J. of Liquid Chrom., 4(10), 1685 (1981)), but the limitations imposed on the choice of solvent and the requirement that the polymer or solute must have a UV-active group restrict the applicability of this technique. Although FTIR is a less sensitive tool than UV, it is by far the more powerful structural tool because of its superior selectivity in terms of chemical species differentiation.
Another area where FTIR would be of tremendous importance is in the area of on-line analysis of liquid process streams, regardless if the stream is heterogeneous in nature or if the solutes are UV-inactive. The essential question is how to eliminate the solvent on-line for subsequent, automated on-line or off-line analytical measurements such as by FTIR.

Method and apparatus for collecting samples for analysis of chemical composition