Apparatus for the production of a product gas (eg hydrogen and ozone) comprises: a supply of reactant gas (eg oxygen and steam) (14); a pair of electrodes (24) with a space between them of less than 1 mm (28); a conduit to lead the reactant gas from the source through the space between the electrodes; a power source (26) to apply a voltage across the electrodes to dissociate the reactant gas and ultimately permit formation of product gas; and a conduit (40) to supply the product gas to an outlet. A sterilization unit for water treatment employs such apparatus and includes a fluidic oscillator to oscillate the flow of oxygen and/or ozone, and wherein said outlet comprises a plurality of orifices (42) to be submerged in said water and for the purpose of forming micro bubbles of ozone. An analyzer for detecting large organic molecules in eg air can employ the ozone generator to breakdown the large molecule into simpler and easier-to-detect-and-identify molecules.

The micro scale is not specifically defined, but, used herein, it means employing dimensions between 1 and 1000 microns. The micro scale is of interest in many environments, particularly in the analytical field where possibly only small quantities of reactants are available.
Plasmas are gases to which an electric field is applied, dissociating molecules of the gas into charged ions. The ions can be employed for a number of purposes although it is a well-recognised property of plasmas that ions are extinguished once they collide with surfaces, for example the surfaces of the container in which the plasma is formed, or the plates of the electrodes. Consequently, containers tend to be large, and plates separated by as large a distance as possible, so that the energy put in to create ions is not lost by ion extinction.
Such large distances have the corollary effect that electric voltages applied by the plates have to be substantial in order to create a sufficiently concentrated electric field to form the desired plasma. Indeed, the high voltage required is frequently the reason why plasmas are not employed in many situations. For example, ozone is produced in plasma, but the cost of production using this technique renders it uneconomic for many purposes, particularly sewage treatment and water sterilisation, which is a relatively low value operation.
Ozone is known to be useful in two applications, at least. A first application is in the sterilisation of water for drinking purposes. Indeed, ozone is the preferred material for water sterilisation in many countries, but not in the UK where economic considerations take precedence. Thus, the less expensive chlorination process is used in the UK to obtain potable water. However, the improved taste of water sterilised with ozone could be achieved if a cost effective method of ozone production was available. This would be especially true if an efficient mechanism for distributing the ozone within the water was also available.
A second application is in a reactor. Ozone is employed to break down unsaturated carbon-carbon bonds of hydrocarbons. This splits large molecules into smaller ones. The smaller molecules can be identified and quantified by other techniques (such as mass spectrometry and chromatography) and this is potentially identifying of the original larger molecule.
There are also many uses of ozone that are economic. For example, ozone is used in the field of medical sterilizers and gas phase atmospheric "cleansers" (the latter removing bacteria, dust and dust mites). These applications use large plasma reactor chambers that are energy intensive.
A method of generating ozone with less power requirements would be desirable. In the field of water treatment, if an economic method of ozone production could be developed, it would also be desirable to have an effective delivery method for the ozone into the water being treated.
Hydrogen is also a useful gas. It can be produced by the plasmolysis of steam. However, the energy employed in its production must not be so high that a good proportion of it is not recoverable later in a hydrogen fuel cell, for instance. Indeed, it is well recognised that production of hydrogen using electricity generated from solar power or other "free" sources is a means of "storing" the electricity for later use, for example when it is wanted but when the solar or wind power have temporarily subsided. It would be desirable to have an efficient production method for hydrogen, as well as a simple separation mechanism to separate it from oxygen, its co-product of plasmolysis of steam.
Microplasma reactors are known [1,2]. Agiral et al [1] concerns reactors to decompose CO2 and relates to the incorporation of nanotubes and nanowires as electrodes. Lindner et al [2] employs microplasmas as a means of reforming hydrocarbons, in particular JP-8 jet fuel, to produce hydrogen for solid oxide fuel cells. However, neither of these papers actually discuss the economics of the proposals.

Plasma microreactor apparatus, sterilisation unit and analyser


A display device includes a substrate, a display unit on the substrate, and an encapsulating unit configured to seal the display unit from external moisture or oxygen and including an organic layer and an inorganic layer. The inorganic layer includes a first layer, a second layer on the first layer, and one or more first particles between the first and second layers. A method of manufacturing a display device includes forming a display unit on a substrate and sealing the display unit from external moisture or oxygen by forming an encapsulating unit. The forming of the encapsulating unit includes forming an inorganic layer. The forming of the inorganic layer includes forming a first layer, forming one or more first particles on an upper surface of the first layer, and forming a second layer on the first layer and the first particles.

1. Field
Aspects of embodiments of the present invention relate to a display device and a method of manufacturing the display device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Displays connect media between users and information. The display market increases as information technology develops. Accordingly, utilization of display devices such as liquid crystal displays (LCDs), organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays, electrophoretic displays (EPDs), and plasma display panels (PDPs) increases. Recently, demand for display panels has expanded not only for flat display panels, but also for flexible display panels capable of folding in various directions. However, flexible display devices may have low lateral visibility, white angular dependency (WAD), and luminescent efficiency as emitted light may only project or emit outward (e.g., from the display surface) and not from lateral surfaces.

Display device having a plurality of particles between inorganic layers and method of manufacturing the same


Designs and fabrication of dual-gate thin film transistors are provided. An active region and a top gate electrode of the transistor can be made of a transparent thin film material. A photoresist can be coated onto a surface of the transparent conductive thin film for forming the top gate electrode. Light is from the bottom of the substrate during exposure. After the development, a photoresist pattern aligned with the bottom gate electrode is formed on the surface of the conductive thin film. The top gate electrode aligned with the bottom gate electrode is formed by etching the conductive thin film. The bottom gate electrode can be used as a mask, which may save the cost for manufacturing the transistor and improve the accuracy of alignment between the top gate electrode and the bottom gate electrode and the performance of the dual-gate thin film transistor.

Thin film transistors, as switching elements or integrated elements of peripheral driving circuits, are important elements in panel display technology. The exhibition of the panel display is directly dependent on the performance of the thin film transistors. Thin film transistors generally comprise single-gate transistors and dual-gate transistors. A dual-gate transistor in contrast to a single-gate transistor has advantage such as a high drive capability, a steep subthreshold slope, and a small circuit area. Combination of dual-gate transistors can be reasonably used to implement devices and circuits with new functions. However, the process for manufacturing dual-gate thin film transistors, especially planar dual-gate thin film transistors, is complicated. In particular, it is difficult to realize self-aligning in dual-gate thin film transistors. Conventional methods are those for manufacturing non-self-aligned. Non-self-aligning will cause the device to have a large performance dispersion and result in a large parasitic element such as a large parasitic capacitance, which is unacceptable to a panel display application. Thus, there is a need implement a method for manufacturing self-aligned dual-gate thin film transistors.

PEKING UNIVERSITY SHENZHEN GRADUATE SCHOOL


When a DBMS receives a suspend instruction in which a suspend completion time of query processing is a future time and between receipt of the suspend instruction and the suspend completion time, if there is a target object (at least a processing object whose execution is in progress upon receipt of the suspend instruction) whose predicted completion time is at or precedes the suspend completion time, the DBMS changes the state of the target object to a state signifying a snapshot suspend. If there is a processing object whose state signifies a snapshot suspend, the DBMS executes the processing object at or before the suspend completion time.

The present invention generally relates to database management and particularly relates to suspension of query processing.
Cases where it is desirable to suspend and resume query processing according to a query to a database are possible. Technologies relating to suspending and resuming query processing include the technologies disclosed in Non-PTL1 and Non-PTL 2.
According to Non-PTL1, a suspend/resume method with the smallest total cost is selected from two types of suspend/resume method, namely, DumpState, where suspend is implemented by outputting a heap (execution state) and resume is implemented by reading the heap, and GoBack, where suspend is implemented by discarding processing being executed and processing is resumed from a suitably configured mid-execution checkpoint, and suspend and resume are performed according to the selected suspend/resume method.
According to Non-PTL 2, during suspend, part of the suspend result is dumped and upon resume, parts other than the dumped part are scanned.    [Non-PTL1] Badrish Chandramouli et al., "Query Suspend and Resume", SIGMOD '07 Jun. 12-14, 2007, Beijing, China    [Non-PTL2] Surajit Chaudhuri, et al., "Stop-and-Restart Style Execution for Long Running Decision Support Queries", VLDB '07, Sep. 23-28, 2007, Vienna, Austria

Database management system and database management method


Disclosed is a small-size, high-efficiency, isolated, bidirectional DC-DC converter. The bidirectional DC-DC converter includes a transformer in which windings are magnetically coupled, switching circuits, a diode which is connected in parallel with a switch, smoothing capacitors, and a control section. First and second DC power supplies, which are connected in parallel with the smoothing capacitors, respectively, provide bidirectional electrical power transfer. When electrical power is to be transferred from the first DC power supply to the second DC power supply, the switch is maintained in the ON state. When, on the other hand, electrical power is to be transferred from the second DC power supply to the first DC power supply, the switch is maintained in the OFF state to prevent a reverse electrical power flow from the first DC power supply.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bidirectional DC-DC converter having an isolation function. The present invention also relates to a method for controlling the bidirectional DC-DC converter.
(2) Description of the Related Art
In recent years, increased use of highly efficient hybrid vehicles is promoted due to a rising demand for global environment conservation. The hybrid vehicles have a main battery for driving a traction motor and an auxiliary battery for driving accessories. The degree of freedom in designing a vehicle power supply system can be increased when the two batteries, which differ in voltage, are flexibly used for effective electrical power distribution.
In view of the above circumstances, a bidirectional DC-DC converter disclosed in JP-A No. 2002-165448 provides bidirectional electrical power conversion between two power supplies that differ in voltage. This converter is configured so that a high-voltage circuit is connected to a low-voltage circuit through a transformer. Operating a switching device in the high-voltage circuit supplies electrical power from a high-voltage power supply to a low-voltage power supply. Operating a switching device in the low-voltage circuit supplies electrical power from the low-voltage power supply to the high-voltage power supply.
A bidirectional DC-DC converter disclosed in JP-A No. 2006-187147 is configured so that a low-voltage circuit is connected to a voltage clamp circuit, which includes a series connection between a switching device and a capacitor. This converter uses the voltage clamp circuit to reduce a circulating-current-induced loss during a voltage decrease. Further, this converter makes it possible to decrease the dielectric strength of the switching device by suppressing the occurrence of a surge voltage in the low-voltage circuit during a voltage increase/decrease, and serves as a highly efficient, small-size, bidirectional DC-DC converter.
A bidirectional DC-DC converter disclosed in JP-A No. 2004-282828 is configured so that an LC resonant circuit is connected in series with a transformer winding. This converter exhibits low switching loss, makes it possible to eliminate the possibility of a large current flowing to a switching device upon power on/off, and serves as a bidirectional DC-DC converter that efficiently provides flexible electrical power distribution between two DC power supply systems through the use of a simple control scheme.

Bidirectional dc-dc converter and control method thereof


A counter pressure casting and a counter pressure casting device in which the pressures in a furnace side and a casting mold side are set to be lower than the maximum pressure of the process at a stage of the molten metal charging and increased to the maximum after the molten metal charging step. This technique provides a casting having less casting defects and improves the productivity.

Casting defects such as pinholes, shrinkage cavity (porosity) or the like due to solidification and shrinkage of the molten metal in the process of casting metals such as aluminum alloy, magnesium alloy, titanium alloy or the like air bubbles or hydrogen gas bubbles in dendrite trees are generated in the solidification process and grow with the solidification progress of the molten metal.
The hydrogen gas bubbles which form a nucleus of casting defects are generated when ambient pressure in a pressure container acting on the molten metal is lower than the hydrogen gas partial pressure in the molten metal, and the hydrogen gas partial pressure is sharply increased as the liquid phase ratio lowers.
To prevent the hydrogen gas bubbles from forming, it is effective to apply ambient pressure higher than the hydrogen gas partial pressure onto the molten metal at the stage prior to the solidification of the molten metal. A casting method disposing a casting mold and a furnace in airtight pressure containers and applying higher pressure than the atmospheric pressure to the pressure containers was invented in Bulgaria in the 1960s, which is widely known as Counter Pressure Casting.
In this counter pressure casting, as shown in FIG. 18 describing pressure control pattern, the holding furnace and the casting mold in the pressure containers are applied the same pressure from the atmospheric pressure to the set pressure P1, then, the pressure in the casting mold side is lowered while keeping that in the holding furnace side at the set level by which the molten metal starts to be charged into the casting mold. Then, after the charging of the molten metal is completed at T2, the pressures in both sides are maintained at certain levels from T2 to T3. After T3, the casting mold side pressure is increased to the holding furnace side pressure to dissolve the differential pressure. thereby the molten metal is returned to the holding furnace at T4. Further, after T4, the process discharging the gas from the pressure containers to the atmosphere starts to complete the casting of one cycle at T5.
As to the above Counter Pressure Casting, Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 186259/1989 and Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 278949/1989 disclosed casting methods characterized by providing the differential pressure between the casting mold side and the holding furnace side at from 0.5 to 30% of the maximum pressure; a method applying and holding the pressure of from 3 to 7 kgf/cm.sup.2 to the pressure containers, then adjusting the differential pressure at from 3 to 30% of the holding pressure; and a method increasing and holding the pressure of the containers at from 7 to 30 kgf/cm.sup.2, then adjusting the differential pressure at from 0.5 to 10% of the holding pressure. Further, Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 187247/1990 disclosed a casting method characterized by a following pressure controlling: applying a given pressure to both containers, retention thereof, generation of the differential pressure between both containers and its retention, and decrease of pressure to the atmospheric pressure.
But, the above conventional counter pressure casting has the following problems.
As shown in FIG. 18, the pressures of the furnace side and casting mold side have to be previously increased go P1 which is the maximum pressure in the process before T1 when the molten metal starts to be charged into the casting mold. This makes the duration till T1 long resulting in its low productivity in industrial application.
In order to decrease the period till T1 to improve the productivity, an air current has to be blown into the both containers at a high speed, by which the molten metal within the furnace side container is stirred causing the generation of oxides of the molten metal. Such oxides are mixed with the casting as non-metal inclusions providing the deterioration of the casting. Such non-metal inclusions cause internal or external defects and poor strength in the casting.
Further, the conventional counter pressure casting mentioned above is a method to charge the molten metal into the casting mold by either of the casting mold side pressure reduction method or the furnace side pressure increase method, and the differential pressure is to increase while forming a simple primary curve, Since the differential pressure increasing speed is kept statically even after the completion of charging of the molten metal, unequal solidification proceeds, and feeding head effect from the holding furnace side cannot be expected. As a result, casting defects are left behind to cause internal or external defects and poor strength in the product.
Such defects become particularly obvious when a thin-wall part with a complicated shape, thick-wall part or a material that is difficult to cast is cast, and can not be removed completely.
In addition, in the conventional counter pressure casting shown in FIG. 18, the compressed pressure in both containers is entirely discharged into the atmosphere through an exhaust pipe after solidifying so that the molten metal is returned to the holding furnace. Therefore. The molten metal moves up and down between x in FIG. 19 showing a conventional counter pressure casting device for every casting cycle, wherein x represents the distance between the molten metal surface in the furnace and the molten metal highest position in the casting mold. As the above casting work progresses, the surface of the molten metal in the furnace gradually lowers resulting in appearance of y in FIG. 19 representing the difference between the initial and final height of the molten metal in the furnace. This causes the molten metal temperature, and the necessary charging pressure and time to be changed, and accordingly, affects the quality of the casting as dispersing.
Furthermore, as a result of the molten metal moving up and down within molten metal feeding pipe, turbulent flow is induced in the molten metal in the furnace causing gas entrainment and other defects.

Counter pressure casting and counter pressure casting device


Melt-spun polyester fibers are taken up in the absence of heat at a speed of 5,000 to 6,000 m/min under conditions that satisfy the following relations (IX) and (X), subsequently heat-treating the fibers for a period of from 0.01 to 0.05 seconds with a heating roller while the length of the melt-spun fibers is held constant with no drawing step being provided between the taking up and heat treatment steps, and finally winding up the heated fibers EQU 0.04.ltoreq.L/(SSxd).ltoreq.0.08 (IX) EQU 1.0.ltoreq.To.ltoreq.1.5 (X). where L is the distance (cm) between the spinneret and the convergence point, SS is the speed (m/min) of a take up roller, To is the spinning tension (g/d) at a point immediately after the convergence point and D is the filament fineness (d) of the fiber wound up and is within the range of from 1 to 3 d.

Much research has been undertaken to increase the production rate of synthetic fibers and decrease the production costs by performing high-speed spinning without the necessity of any drawing step. A substantial portion of the reports published in this area is directed to polyester fibers such as polyethylene terephthalate fibers, which are easier to handle than polyamide fibers, because of such advantages as the absence of swelling problems. However, fibers having satisfactory performance are not attainable by simply increasing the spinning speed. The fiber strength increases with increasing spinning speed and reaches a maximum at a speed in the neighborhood of 6,000 m/min but as the spinning speed is increased further, the fiber strength gradually decreases. On the other hand, the fiber elongation decreases with increasing spinning speed, and no fiber is attainable that is fully satisfactory in terms of both strength and elongation. Instead of increasing the spinning speed to as high as 6,000 m/min, U.S. Pat. No. 2,604,667 describes a speed of 5,800 m/min (6,350 Y/min) in order to make a polyester fiber having a strength of from 3.2 to 4.6 g/d and an elongation of from 38 to 72%. However, this method does not employ a heat treatment during fiber making so that the fiber produced will experience a great variation in thermal shrinking stress under varying temperature conditions that are encountered in heat treatments in subsequent processing. This causes unevenness in the tension being applied to the filament yarn and increases the chance of unevenness of occurring in various aspects of the yarn such as crimp, diameter, and dye absorption.
Two methods have been proposed for producing fibers that satisfy both strength and elongation requirements; according to one proposal, the fiber being subjected to high-speed spinning is treated with steam or dry heat at a stage prior to contact with the take up roller without forcing the fiber to be drawn out between rollers as described, for example, in Japanese Patent Application (OPI) Nos. 140117/81 and 126318/85 (the term "OPI" as used herein means "unexamined published patent application"), and Japanese Patent Publication Nos. 1932/70 and 11767/80; the other method may be described as "super-high speed spinning" which simply consists of winding up the yarn at a speed not lower than 6,000 m/min as described, for example, in Japanese Patent Application (OPI) Nos. 133216/82 and 66507/84.
In the first method, the filaments are subjected to non-contact heating as they travel at high speed under low tension, so they cannot be heated uniformly, and unevenness of yarn is liable to occur. The second method is capable of reducing the fiber elongation as the spinning speed increases, but the strength of the fiber produced is inferior to that of the drawn fiber produced by the two-step spin-windup-draw process.
According to the method of the first category, described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 1932/70, a fiber having an elongation of up to 50% is produced by effecting heat treatment at a temperature of at least 80.degree. C., taking up the spun filaments at 4,000 m/min or faster, and subjecting the filaments to another heat treatment under tension. In this method, the first heat treatment is conducted after the travelling filaments have solidified upon cooling to 80.degree. C. or below, and the filaments are greatly influenced by concomitant flows because of their high travelling speed. As a result, the combined filaments will often fail to be heated uniformly. In addition, the need to effect heat treatment in two stages adds to the production cost.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 11767/80 describes a method for producing a high-strength fiber by heating spun filaments at a stage between cooling and contact with the take up roller. However, in this method a heating tube is situated immediately below the cooling section, so that unevenness of yarn will result because of the difficulty that is involved in maintaining a constant temperature of the heating tube, due to phenomena such as the carry-over of cooling air.
As an alternative to the first and second methods having the aforementioned problems, a process of "coupled spin-drawing" which involves continuous drawing of spun filaments without winding them up may be used to produce a fiber having superior characteristics in terms of not only yarn uniformity but also strength and elongation. Various proposals have been made in order to implement this process, and British Patent 1,375,151 describes a method wherein spun filaments that have been taken up at 3,000 m/min or faster are stretched at draw ratios of from 1.3 to 1.8 (i.e., 1.3/1 to 1.8/1) in a heated atmosphere of from 100.degree. to 220.degree. C. However, this method involves high-speed drawing for high draw ratios and the heating employed is indirect rather than direct, so that the temperature distribution of filaments has a tendency to become nonuniform and a fixed draw point cannot be established. Japanese Patent Application (OPI) No. 163414/84 describes a method wherein a fiber having a birefringence of 30.times.10.sup.-3 or more is subjected to continuous heat treatment and drawing. This method, however, is not economical since it requires two heating steps.
Japanese Patent Application (OPI) No. 134019/85 discloses a method wherein a fiber that has been drawn at a ratio of up to 3.0 is heat-treated and subsequently wound up at a speed of 4,000 m/min or more. In this method, the fiber is wound around the heating roller by less than one turn in order to ensure threadline stability on the roller but this impairs the uniformity of heat treatment and causes unevenness in various aspects of the yarn such as dyeability. Japanese Patent Application (OPI) No. 143728/78 describes a method wherein undrawn filaments having a crystallinity (Xc) of 30% or more are drawn in the absence of heat at low draw ratios between 1.05 and 1.35. However, crystallization has progressed to a certain extent in the fiber before it is drawn, so that unevenness of yarn may occur if it is subsequently drawn in the absence of heat. Cold drawing has the additional disadvantage that it gives rise to a drawn fiber that is unsatisfactory in both orientation and crystallinity.
The structure of the amorphous portion of a fiber, in particular its orientation, has been reviewed, for example, in Japanese Patent Application (OPI) No. 52721/78 which describes a polyester fiber suitable for processing into woven or knitted fabrics. However, this fiber is extremely low in the density and birefringence and hence is unsatisfactory in strength and elongation. Similar physical properties are specified in Japanese Patent Application (OPI) No. 147814/78; the fiber described in this patent has relaxed orientation in the amorphous portion but is still unsatisfactory in terms of strength (<4.0 g/d) and elongation (.gtoreq.40%). A description of the physical properties of the amorphous portion is also found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,156,071, but the fiber described in this patent is low in the degree of amorphous structure formation and crystallinity (low density) and hence has low-strength, high-elongation, and low-modulus characteristics. Japanese Patent Application (OPI) No. 121613/82 also includes a description regarding the structure of the amorphous portion, but the fiber proposed has an extremely high degree of crystallinity (Xc) according to an X-ray method and an excessively low shrinking stress, so that the heat settability of the fiber is too low to ensure high efficiency and good results in subsequent processing such as crimping.
As described above, various proposals have been made in order to enable a single step of high-speed spinning to produce a yarn whose quality is comparable to that of drawn fibers. However, the fibers produced by the thus far described methods are defective in one way or another as manifested by insufficient strength and elongation properties, reduced dyeability or high likelihood of unevenness of occurring in yarn on account of thermal shrinking stresses.
It is well known that the progress of crystallization during high-speed spinning is usually dependent on the rapidity of spinning operations and a sudden increase in the crystallization rate in the neighborhood of 4,000 m/min has been reported as described, for example, in Sen-i Kikai Gakkaishi (Journal of the Textile Machinery Society of Japan), Vol. 38, p. 268 (1985). As for the effects of air drag on the progress of crystallization, the relationship between the tension during spinning and the distance of fiber travel (i.e., the distance between the spinneret and the convergence point as defined in accordance with the present invention) and part of the relevant physical data have been reported in the proceedings of the 10th Joint Conference of Textile Societies in Japan (Oct. 11-12, 1984) on pages 84 and 85. According to this reference, the fiber forms an amorphous structure as it travels an increased distance, but the reference does not have any description of a heat treatment to be conducted in subsequent stage and it remains entirely unknown what changes will occur in the fiber structure or its strength and elongation characteristics as a result of heat treatment. As is shown later in this specification, ease of handling during spinning is not attainable if the spinning speed becomes higher than 6,000 m/min, and at a speed of 4,000 m/min the strength and elongation properties of the fiber taken up show so much deterioration that no significant improvement will be achieved even if the fiber is subjected to subsequent heat treatment.


Front and rear side flange portions of a filter accommodating cylinder are provided with positioning pins. A flange portion of an upstream cylinder is provided with a notched groove and a flange portion of a downstream cylinder is provided with a notched groove. In consequence, when the filter accommodating cylinder is connected between the upstream cylinder and the downstream cylinder, each of the positioning pins disposed at the front and rear flange portions is engaged with each notched groove of the upstream cylinder and the downstream cylinder. The filter accommodating cylinder can be positioned to be coaxial with the upstream cylinder and the downstream cylinder. As a result, after performing a cleaning operation to a DPF, an operation of once again connecting the filter accommodating cylinder between the upstream cylinder and the downstream cylinder can be quickly and easily performed.

Generally, a construction machine such as a hydraulic excavator is constituted by an automotive lower traveling structure, an upper revolving structure which is swingably mounted on the lower traveling structure, and a working mechanism liftably mounted on the front side of the upper revolving structure. The upper revolving structure has an engine mounted on the rear side of a revolving frame to drive a hydraulic pump, and has a cab, a fuel tank, an operating oil tank, and the like mounted on the front side of the revolving frame.
Generally, a diesel engine is used as the engine of a hydraulic excavator. It is known that the diesel engine emits harmful substances such as a particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen oxides (NOx), and the like. Accordingly, the hydraulic excavator is so constructed as to be provided with an exhaust gas treatment device in an exhaust pipe for forming an exhaust gas passage of the engine.
This exhaust gas treatment device has treatment members such as a particulate matter removing filter (generally called a diesel particulate filter, abbreviated as DPF) for capturing and removing the particulate matter in the exhaust gas, a selective reduction catalyst which purifies nitrogen oxides (NOx) by use of a urea water solution, and an oxidation catalyst for oxidizing and removing carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrocarbons (HC) (see, for example, Patent Literature 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-120277 A).
Here, the exhaust gas treatment device according to Patent Literature 1 is comprised of, for example, an upstream cylinder disposed on an upstream side in the flowing direction of exhaust gas of an engine, a downstream cylinder disposed on the downstream side, and a purifying part cylinder provided in series between these cylinders. And treatment members, including a DPF, an oxidation catalyst, a selective reduction catalyst, and the like, are accommodated in this purifying part cylinder. The upstream cylinder, the purifying part cylinder, and the downstream cylinder are arranged to be mounted to a structure such as the engine disposed in the upper revolving structure in a state of being connected in series with each other through means such as flange connections.


An agent containing a vinca alkaloid or its pharmacologically acceptable salt as an active ingredient can induce insulin production and/or secretion of non-neoplastic cells derived from the pancreas.

Diabetes is a disease arising from shortage of blood insulin and impaired insulin function, resulting in increased blood glucose concentrations, accompanied by complications such as neuropathy, visual disturbance, renal damage, etc. About 7 million people are afflicted with diabetes in Japan alone. There are two major types of diabetes: Type 1 diabetes is caused by an autoimmune destruction of insulin-producing pancreatic β cells, resulting in an absolute lack of insulin. On the other hand, type 2 diabetes is caused by the expression of insulin resistance in target tissues, such as muscle, fat, and liver, or by a decrease in blood insulin levels due to a decline in pancreatic β cell function. Thus, it can be said that both type 1 and type 2 result from impaired pancreatic β-cell function.
For treatment of type 1 diabetes, insulin injections are conventionally used to lower blood glucose levels in most cases. It is needless to say that, in such cases, four injections a day are laborious to patients. For treatment of type 2, the PPARγ inhibitor, which reduces insulin resistance, is used in some cases. However, the inhibitor is not very effective and causes obesity as a side effect, as has been pointed out. In other cases, agents such as sulfonylurea, which promotes insulin release from β cells, are used, but they are also not very effective.
Apart from drug dependent treatment, a new treatment by transplantation of cells or tissue has been considered promising as regenerative therapy. If large amounts of cells with insulin-releasing ability can be transplanted into type I diabetes patients, four insulin injections per day can be avoided for a long term. Meanwhile, transplantation of insulin-releasing cells is also effective for type 2 diabetes because, irrespective of insulin resistance in target tissues, normal insulin production suppresses the increase of blood glucose level. It is expected that the efficacy of transplantation is far superior to that of treatment with agents currently used, e.g., sulfonylurea, that induce insulin release from β cells.
Porcine pancreatic cells are expected to be utilized in regenerative therapy for diabetes because of their ease of availability, immunological properties, etc. The technique for collecting large amounts of cells and inducing them to differentiate into insulin producing and releasing cells to a sufficient degree has never been known in any cell system.
Most of pancreatic β cells are generated in the fetal period and then proliferate and differentiate very slowly (Herrera, P. L. et al., Development 127: 2317-2322 (2000)). However, experiments have shown that when the pancreas is damaged β cells actively differentiate and proliferate. Differentiation and proliferation of β cells, together with growth of remnant β cells, occur from pancreatic ductal cells both in adult mice subjected to a 90% partial pancreatectomy and in mice that have developed impaired glucose tolerance due to β cell destruction induced by alloxan. These findings have revealed that stem cells are also present in the adult pancreas and have regenerative capacity (Bonner-Wier S. et al., Diabetes 42: 1715-1720 (2000)). Thus, experiments were performed in which stem cells were isolated from the pancreatic ducts and induced to differentiate into insulin-producing cells (Ramiya, V. K. et al., Nature Med. 6: 278-282 (2000) and Bonner-Weir, S. et al., Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 97: 7999-800 (2000)). Still, a marker of pancreatic stem cells was not known. It was reported last year that nestin, a marker expressed in neural precursor cells, is a marker of pancreatic stem cells, and nestin was confirmed to be expressed in adult pancreatic duct. (Hunziker, E. et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 271: 116-119 (2000)). Furthermore, in vitro culture and differentiation into cells with phenotype including that of insulin-producing cells was succeeded (Zulewski, H. et al., Diabetes 50: 521-533 (2001)). In addition, differentiation of ES cells into pancreatic inlet-like tissues was also succeeded (Lumelysky, N. et al., Science 292: 1389-1394 (2001)). These techniques are expected to be clinically applied in regenerative medicine of the pancreas.
While studies are under way on cells that can potentially serve as materials for pancreatic β cells, physiologically active substances that induce differentiation of pancreatic β cells are considered promising for clinical application in the field of regenerative medicine. Examples of substances that have thus far been known as inducers of differentiation into β cells include activin A, which belongs to the TGF-β superfamily (Demeterco, C. J. et al., Clin. Endo. 85: 3892-3897 (2000)); betacellulin (BTC), which belongs to the EGF family (Ishiyama, N. et al., Diabetologia 41: 623-628 (1998) and Yamamoto, K. et al., Diabetes 49: 2021-2027 (2000); hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) (Ocana, A. G. et al., J. Bio. Chem. 275: 1226-1232 (2000)); basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) (Assady, S. et al., Diabetes 50: 1691-1697 (2001)); etc. These substances are proteins, which are not suitable for oral administration. Further, it is difficult to introduce such substances by means of injection because of their immunological problem and instability.
Meanwhile, it has been reported that among low-molecular-weight compounds, nicotinamide acts as a poly (ADP-ribose) synthetase inhibitor, promoting regeneration of pancreatic β cells (Watanabe, T. et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 91: 3589-3592 (1994) and Sjoholm, A. et al., Endocrinology 135: 1559-1565 (1994)). In addition, nicotinamide has also been reported to promote the expression of Reg protein (Watanabe, T. et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 91: 3589-3592 (1994)), which promotes the proliferation and differentiation of pancreatic β cells (Akiyama, T. et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 98: 48-53 (2001)). In another report, fetal porcine pancreatic islet-like cell clusters (ICCs) were induced to differentiate into insulin-producing cells using sodium butyrate and dexamethasone (Korsgren, O. et al., Ups J. Med. Sci. 98: 39-52 (1993)), but the technology is less likely to be put into practical use because of the low specificity.
Meanwhile, the structures of conophylline (Umezawa, K. et al., Anticancer Res. 14: 2413-2418 (1994)) and conophyllidine (Kam, T. S. et al., J. Nat. Prod. 56: 1865-1871 (1993)), both of which are alkaloids isolated from leaves of an Apocynaceae family plant grown in Malaysia and Thailand are known, as shown in FIG. 1. Conophylline is known to exhibit anti-tumor activity in animals (Umezawa, K. et al., Drugs Exptl. Clin. Res. 22: 35-40 (1996)).
It is also known that conophylline induces insulin production of pancreatic acinar carcinoma AR42 J-B13 cells. (The Book of Abstracts (01-21) of the 45th Annual Meeting of the Japan Diabetes Society held in Tokyo, May 18, 2002). However, these cancer cells did not release insulin into culture medium.
The object of the present invention is to provide agents capable of inducing insulin production and/or secretion of non-neoplastic cells derived from the pancreas.

Use of vinca alkaloids and salts thereof


The disclosure provides a method for accelerating the rebuilding of storage arrays. The method comprises identifying a failure of an original storage device that is a member of a storage array and reconstructing lost information that was on the original storage device onto one or more first storage devices based on information stored on one or more of remaining members of the storage array. Each of the one or more first storage devices has a higher I/O throughput than the original storage device.

The present disclosure relates to storage systems, and more specifically, to the accelerated rebuilding of storage arrays.
With the increasing need for large-capacity and reliable data storage in recent years, more and more data storage systems are adopting architectures involving multiple storage devices arranged in an array, such as Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID). In a RAID, data and parities are stored across multiple independent physical disk drive components to provide data redundancy, performance improvement, or a mix of those two objectives. There are several types of RAID schemes that are commonly used, including RAID-0, RAID-1, RAID-10, RAID-3, RAID-4, RAID-5, RAID-6, etc.
Data redundancy of a RAID provides integrity of data stored on the RAID, to a certain extent. If one or more member disks in a RAID fail, a user can recover the RAID by using a spare disk and starting a "rebuilding" process. The rebuilding first kicks the failed disk out of the RAID and replaces it with a spare disk. Then it uses the data and parities on other member disks to calculate the contents on the failed disk. Finally, it writes the calculated contents onto the spare disk, so that the spare disk serves as a member of the RAID in place of the failed disk. The rebuilding finishes when all the data and parities are synchronized.

Accelerated rebuilding of storage arrays

International Business Machines Corporation


The disclosure concerns the field of charges releasable from an aircraft to which they are fixed and, particularly, the keel beam safety device that prevents the activation of the charge when it is hooked on beneath the aircraft. A mechanical safety device for the keel beam consists in using the driving force of a sensor that is rotationally free in a support, by means of cable going into said sensor, one end of which is fixed to an aircraft and the other end to means for activating a fuse for the firing of a charge. To this cable, there is fixed a ball which, when a tensile force is exerted on the cable, comes into contact with the sensor and draws it, after the unlocking of the holding system, through a sufficient tensile force exerted on the cable, into contact with the aircraft when the charge is fixed beneath the aircraft, thus preventing any additional movement of the cable. When the charge is released, the cable can be pulled freely and enables the charge to be activated. The disclosure can be applied to bombs where the firing fuse is screwed in along the axis of the bomb, and to all bombs of the MK type.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns the field of loads or charges releasable from an aircraft to which they are fixed and, in particular, the keel beam safety device which prevents the activating of the charge when it is hooked beneath the aircraft.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Most releasable charges, such as bombs, are fitted out with a number of systems for the control or activation of fuses which have to be activated, after release, at a determined moment on the trajectory of the charge. Permission to activate is provided, in most cases, by a releasable safety device, also called an "RS", formed by a flexible or semi-rigid cable, connected by one of its ends to the aircraft keel beam, that is, to the metallic part fixed to the structure of the aircraft to which the charges are hooked and, by its other end, to the charge to be released or, in certain cases, to the fuse of the bomb.
Any untimely tensile force exerted on this cable, either when it is being positioned beneath the aircraft or during the flight on which the charge is carried beneath the aircraft, for example if it is struck by a winged creature, may cause the unexpected, partial or total activation of the charge that has to be released or of the bomb fuse.
The keel beam safety devices may be either electrical or mechanical. In the latter case, which corresponds to the field of the invention described, the safety device partially or totally prevents the motion of the RS cable when the bomb is hooked beneath the aircraft: these devices, in their application, should enable the following simultaneously:
hooking the "RS" to any point of the aircraft keel beam; PA1 operation when the distance between the upper part of the onboard charge and the keel beam of the aircraft is between a few millimiters and a few centimeters; PA1 preventing the activation of two fuses in one and the same charge. PA1 the general rigidity of the charge; PA1 its performance characteristics as a fragment generator; PA1 the ballistics of the charge if the devices are external.
They should furthermore occupy the most restricted volume possible to avoid adversely affecting:

Safety device for releasable airborne charge


An input data structure of a first size may be converted to a plurality of data structures of a second size smaller than the first size. The data structures of the second size are realigned such that each of the plurality of data structures fits in one cache line. The realigned data structures are compiled for use in a vector machine.

This relates generally to graphics processing and particularly to optimizing structures used in graphics processing.
An example of a structure used in graphics processing is a vector load/store for an OpenCL (Open Computing Language) graphics processing unit backend. See OpenCL 2.1 revision 231 Nov. 11, 2015 available in the Khronos Registry. Vector load and store structures are used in OpenCL to allow reading and writing vector types from a pointer to memory. In addition these load store operations are an important source of input/output intensive workloads.
For many graphics processing unit backend implementations, an implicitly vectorizing method is used to parallelize a kernel. So the vector type the user is using in the OpenCL kernel code will be translated into a vector in which the first level of the vector is the implicit single instruction multiple data (SIMD) lane, and each lane contains one vector to find in the OpenCL kernel code.
Typically the graphics processing unit backend cannot handle the full length of the user level vector. For example, even though a 64 byte or 16 double word (int16) cache line size is very common, some graphics processing units can only handle 4 double words (int4) at a time. Thus, to translate an int16 input would involve four int4 store instructions. If an input at SIMD 16 is used, then each int4 store instruction stores 16 int4 vectors at a time. Each int4 vector is a continuous address and the four vectors may be scattered to random addresses. This scattering of these vectors to random addresses results in inefficient retrieval.
Since the original destination is an int16 containing a complete cache line in some embodiments, the whole cache line is now split four times involving four different writes so it is extremely cache unfriendly.

Optimizing structures to fit into a complete cache line


An electric hand and towel dryer includes an enclosure having an inlet and first, second, and third outlets for heated air. A tube associated with the second and third outlets connects to opposed air outlets in the enclosure. A blower unit incorporates a heating element, a motor, and a fan located inside a first chamber of the enclosure for generating a hot air stream. The stream selectively exits the enclosure through the first outlet or the second and third outlets. A folding blind controls the flow of the hot air through the first or second and third outlets for respectively drying hands or a towel supported on the hanger.

Electric hand dryers for use in public toilets or washrooms are generally known, and provide a hot air stream for blow-drying the hands of a user. For domestic use, in particular, there are items other than hands, such as towels or cloths, that may need drying, but the conventional hand dryers are not useful for this purpose.
The invention seeks to provide an improved electric hand dryer which solves this problem.


The invention provides porous particles, a process for producing the porous particles, and cosmetics comprising the porous particles. The porous particles of the invention have an average particle diameter of 75 μm or less, based on polyethylene resin having a crystallization degree of 70% or more. The porous particles further comprise an active ingredient. The process for producing the porous particles, comprises mixing polyethylene resin having a crystallization degree of 70% or more, and a low-molecular weight compound having a melting point lower than the softening temperature (or melting point) of the polyethylene resin, with each other at a temperature not lower than the softening temperature (or melting point) of the polyethylene resin, then spraying the mixture into a gaseous phase or a solvent at a temperature at which the viscosity of the mixture becomes 600 mPa·s or less, and removing the low-molecular weight compound from the resulting particles.

Conventionally, porous particles have been developed. JP-B 2550262 discloses an oil absorber containing an organic acid metal salt and an oil-absorbing crosslinked polymer, containing porous particles which swell by absorbing a large amount of oil, are excellent in an ability to retain absorbed oil, and significantly improve the rate of absorption of oil.
As a process for producing non-swelling porous particles, JP-A (W) 2000-516973 discloses porous spherical particles obtained by melt-mixing polypropylene with dichlorobenzole or amyl acetate for dissolving the polymer, then spray-cooling the mixture, and removing the solvent in a later step.


A collapsible carriage or wheelchair, generally comprising a main frame, a seating assembly, a pair of wheel subassemblies, and a pair of rail assemblies. Preferably, the wheelchair further includes a back support assembly, an upper frame section, a front wheel, a front support assembly, and a harness system. The elements and components of the wheelchair are connected together so that the wheelchair can be quickly and easily expanded from a collapsed form to an open form. Generally, the seating assembly is provided to form a seat for a person, the wheel subassemblies are used to support the wheelchair for movement over floors and other flat surfaces, and the rail assemblies are provided to support the wheelchair for movement down stairs. The back support assembly helps to hold the wheelchair stationary while a person is being seated in the chair, the upper frame section provides direct support for the head and upper back of a person seated in the chair, and the harness system is used to hold a person in the wheelchair.

This invention generally relates to carriages or wheelchairs specifically adapted to move down stairs; and more specifically, to such carriages or wheelchairs that are particularly well-suited for use in emergency conditions.
Many people are unable to climb or descend stairs, or have considerable difficulty doing so. These people, if they live or work in, or otherwise use, high rise buildings, normally rely on elevators to move up and down the floors of the buildings. However, in some situations, such as the loss of electrical power, a fire, a bomb threat or explosion, and other emergency conditions, the elevators in a building are either not available or should not be used; and in these situations, the stairs of the building are the only means of egress from the building. Under most such circumstances, there are able-bodied people present who can assist those who require help descending stairs; nevertheless, it may be very difficult or even impossible to evacuate safely all those who need such assistance.


A double-rod hydraulic cylinder for an exerciser including a casing, a piston assembly and a universal joint. The piston assembly includes a piston head and two piston rods. Two bearings are respectively fixed to an inner wall of each closed end of the casing. A disk-type spring washer, a washer, an oil seal and a disk-like fixing gasket are arranged respectively in series from each bearing to said piston head. Each of the bearings, the disk-like fixing gaskets, the disk-type spring washers, the washers and the oil seals have a central hole in alignment for the piston rods to pass through. The washers, the oil seals and the gaskets are axially slidable a short distance within the casing. The two disk-like fixing gaskets and the piston head together define a first chamber and a second chamber. Each disk-type spring washer is compressed when the piston assembly axially moves in either direction. The hydraulic cylinder further includes an oil pipe. Respective ends of the oil pipe are communicated to the first chamber and the second chamber adjacent to each disk-like fixing gasket. A valve is provided between the two ends of the oil pipe and the speed of the piston head is controlled by operating a knob provided on the valve.

The present invention relates to an improved hydraulic cylinder, especially to a double-rod cylinder for an exerciser.
A conventional hydraulic cylinder for an exerciser, having a casing and a piston with a single piston rod attached, does not have working fluid filling the cylinder on the side of the piston head which has the piston rod connected. This ram-type cylinder only effectively acts in one direction.
For a conventional double-rod hydraulic cylinder, an oil tank or a reservoir is needed for the working fluid to circulate therethrough. Further to this, if an oil tank or a reservoir is not provided, the working fluid is pressurized within the cylinder and exerts a pressure on the inner walls of the cylinder. The pressure existing therein may reach up to 3000 psi, causing a large increase in temperature. Moreover, the high internal pressure experienced will cause a reduction in the durability of the hydraulic cylinder.


An ACM removal assembly is disclosed, including: a nozzle for directing a pressurized fluid against ACM for dislodging the ACM; a fluid supply reservoir connected to the nozzle; a housing which supports the nozzle and capturingly receives spent fluid and dislodged ACM; and a material handing and separating system which includes coarse separating apparatus for coarsely separating the spent fluid from the dislodged ACM and fluid return conduit for returning coarsely separated fluid to the fluid supply reservoir. Also disclosed is a method for removing ACM from a building structure, including: sealingly circumscribing a small-area building region having exposed ACM with an ACM containment apparatus; removing ACM from the circumscribed building region with a fluid spray blast; combiningly capturing dislodged ACM and spent fluid from the spray blast in the containment apparatus; coarsely separating a portion of the ACM from the combined ACM and spent fluid; and reusing the coarsely separated fluid to remove ACM from the building.

The present invention relates to a system for removing asbestos-containing materials (ACM) from buildings.
Since before the second World War through the early 1970's, as much as 300 million tons of asbestos mineral had been used in building construction in the United States. By the early 1970's, medical evidence began to establish that asbestos exposure can cause severe and irreversible lung damage and various forms of cancer. By the early 1980's, public concern over the hazards associated with asbestos became manifest in legislation which (1) limited the use of asbestos in new construction; (2) specified procedures for asbestos removal in buildings; (3) required removal of asbestos-containing materials prior to building remodeling or demolition; (4) required management of asbestos in schools.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has estimated that about 45,000 schools and 73,000 public and commercial buildings contain some form of asbestos-containing materials (ACM). These ACMs are typically (1) surfacing materials sprayed or troweled onto ceilings and walls; (2) thermal insulation on pipes, ducts, boilers and tanks; (3) miscellaneous materials such as ceiling and floor tile and wallboards.
ACM removal is currently a heavily labor-intensive industry. Typically, surface ACM is removed by laborers using paint scrapers. The ACM is initially hand-wetted using sponges, low pressure water spray or the like, in order to reduce the amount of asbestos dust created during scraping. Thereafter, the ACM is scraped from its location in the building and allowed to fall to the building floor. Next, the dislodged ACM is shoveled up manually and placed in plastic bags. After the initial scraping of building surfaces with paint scrapers and the like, a final cleanup process is initiated to remove ACM from joints, crevices, beams, and other hard-to-reach areas in which large paint scrapers and the like are unsuitable. This cleanup process sometimes includes using pressurized water to blast the remaining ACM from its location on the building structure. Thereafter, all ACM, water, and other debris on the floor of the building is removed, typically by wet/dry vacuum units such as the type used in most shop and maintenance areas. As a final step, all surfaces of the building and enclosure are wiped down to remove any remaining ACM dust, etc.
Although regulations for asbestos removal vary from state to state, typically the area from which ACM is to be abated is required to be sealed off from the surrounding environment to prevent discharge of airborne asbestos fibers into the surrounding environment. During any period in which ACM removal is taking place, the sealed-off area within the building enclosure is required to remain at a negative air pressure with respect to the surrounding environment. The negative air pressure is typically provided by a "hepafiltered" vacuum source. "Hepafilter" refers to a filter which removes substantially all airborne particles having a particle diameter of greater than 0.3 microns. During asbestos removal, the air within the sealed enclosure is sampled on a regular basis to determine the density of airborne particles within predetermined ranges. Workers within the enclosure are required to wear approved protection gear having a hierarchy based upon the airborne particles within the building enclosure. In order to reduce costs associated with the more expensive protection gear, most contractors attempt to reduce airborne particle concentrations within the enclosed ACM removal area to a minimum, typically by providing a replenishing air flow which replaces the air within the enclosure on the order of four times per hour.
In order to prevent asbestos particles contained on the workers clothing and body from entering the atmosphere outside of the enclosed area, a triple air lock is typically provided at the entrance to the enclosed area. In the first area of the triple air lock positioned adjacent to the enclosed area, workers remove their protective gear and clothing, generally depositing it in sealed receptacles which are later removed from the area and cleaned or destroyed. After disrobing, a worker enters an intermediate area of the triple air lock which contains a shower. Each worker showers in this area and then progresses to the third area of the triple air lock in which clean clothes, etc., are provided. The water from the intermediate air lock shower is filtered to a particle size permissible for discharge into the surrounding sewer system, or ground water environment, typically 5 microns. In some cases, water which has been vacuumed from the floor of the enclosed ACM removal area by wet-vacuum in the final stages of cleanup is dumped into the worker's shower for filtering by the shower filter system. However, in most cases, the wet-vacuum container contains enough large ACM particles to prevent use of the shower as a filtering system, in which case all of the water and particles contained in the wet-vacuum are transferred to a barrel or other sealed receptacle for removal to an approved disposal site or for subsequent filtering. Due to the labor, dump fees, and inconvenience associated with removing large quantities of contaminated water to an asbestos disposal site, the use of water in ACM removal is minimized. Generally, blast spray water, when used at all, is applied at relatively high pressures, e.g. 5,000 psig or more, to decrease the total volume of water needed in any blast spray removal operations. The use of large amounts of water also damages underlying building structure such as floors and ceilings and has thus also been minimized to prevent unnecessary damage to the building.

Asbestos-containing materials removal assembly


A control server 4, receives the number of user terminals U which have transited to the individual Web pages from a monitoring server 3 in Step S41. In Step S42, based on the received number of transitions U of the individual Web pages, application of control is decided by the control server 4. Here, based on the assumption that the number of transitions Uc to a Web page C including a transaction access or hyper link to the end server 2 accurately represents the number of executed transactions, the number of transitions Uc to Web page C is compared with an upper limit value Cmax. When Uc<Cmax, the process proceeds to Step S43 and a control information is sent from the control server 4 to the user terminals 1 to cancel the application of control.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a transmission control method for controlling the number of access from user terminals to an end server and also relates to a system thereof. In particular, the present invention relates to the transmission control method which estimates the volume of access from user terminals to the end server in advance to control the access from individual user terminals based on the estimated result, thereby controlling the congestion of the end server and also relates to the system thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Due to the widespread of mobile terminals with Internet connectivity, sudden surge or increase of access requests caused by special events are becoming a major problem for mobile network carriers/operators. For example, vast volume of access requests could arise during interactive TV programs, such as viewers sending their answers during a quiz show. In addition, these accesses by vast number of viewers tend to concentrate in a short period of time. If such kind of interactive TV programs are provided in a daily basis, the system capacity of the end server, which accepts these requests from the users and provides the interactive TV service, could be used up causing overloads and congestion. And in the worst case, this could result in an operation halt of the server.
In order to solve the above-described technical problems, a technology has been disclosed where an access path server is set in addition to an end server. The access path server decides the access timing of a request from the viewers to the end server. Here, the access timings are calculated based on the server capacity and the prior received volume of access, so that the access sequence of requests are kept in sequential order. The calculated access timing is notified to the user terminals in the form of an access path. User terminals receiving the access path wait and suspend their access until the notified time has elapsed. After suspension, the user terminals are allowed to access the end server.
In the above-described conventional technology, if requests are accepted up to the capacity limit of the end server, accesses can be efficiently processed. However, it is difficult to find the accurate capacity and its surplus of the end server. Therefore, the end server has been generally operated under conditions lower than the capacity limit.
Patent Document 1 has disclosed a technology that controls the access requests from the vast number of viewers by utilizing sample monitoring and dynamic suspension and release of access. Firstly, a part of the viewers generating the access requests are classified into sample and the rest is classified as non-sample. The accesses by sample are allowed to generate freely while the accesses by non-sample are suspended at the terminal. The volume of access by the sample is then monitored and using the monitored volume, the total volume including that of the non-sample is estimated. Control information to release the suspended access of the non-sample is then calculated using the estimated volume and the end server capacity. The calculated control information is advertised to viewers using the broadcasting channel. Consequently, the suspended accesses are released so that the volume after release is controlled near a target value, such as the system capacity. In addition, accesses are released so that the release timings are in sequential order.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 2007-48808
In the above-described conventional technology, the access requests by the sample had to be allowed to generate, and hence arrive at the end server, in order to monitor its volume. In addition, access by the non-sample is controlled only after the access by the sample is monitored. Therefore, access by the non-sample had to be temporally suspended until the control information which allows the release of such accesses are received.


A system and method are provided for automatically generating an inspiration board. The system and method involves inputting at least one term into a computer system. Based on the inputted term, at least one image is selected from a database of images stored in the computer system and at least one pattern from a database of patterns stored in the computer system. The inspiration board is assembled by the computer system using the image and the pattern.

The present disclosure is related to the generation of inspiration boards or mood boards, and more specifically, it is directed to the automatic generation of inspiration or mood boards.
Inspiration boards are created by graphic designers when they are asked to create a campaign for a client. The inspiration board gives the client a feel for the campaign. These boards are comprised of magazine clippings, wallpaper samples, text in different fonts, ribbons, and other visual items that are pasted or pinned to a board. The board itself is covered in a fabric or paper that serves as a background for the board.
The items chosen to be placed on a board are based on a series of words that are agreed to between the designer and the client. These words include nouns and adjectives such as warm, family, happy, loving, red, etc. Based on these words, a board is created to convey the mood, color scheme, themes, etc. for a campaign to the client so that client can agree to the direction of the campaign before work begins on the actual design.
Creating a board takes time because a designer has to gather images, patterns, wallpaper samples, etc. in order to create the board. Once the items are gathered, the designer then has to apply the items to the board which takes additional time. As such, there is a need for a more efficient and less time-consuming method for creating an inspiration board.

System and method for generating inspiration boards


A method, system, and device for transmitting a preamble signal and for signal measurement, for use in solving the problem found in the prior art that the transmission power of each antenna unit is greatly reduced as a result that each antenna unit transmits one preamble signal and that the complexity of a user equipment is increased when the antenna units are of a great number. The method of embodiments of the present disclosure comprises: a network side device transmits to the user equipment determined CSI feedback configurations, where one CSI feedback configuration corresponds to one CSI-RS resource, and the preamble signal corresponding to each port of the one CSI-RS resource is transmitted via one set of antenna unit corresponding to the port. Employment of the solution of the embodiments of the present disclosure increases the transmission power of the antenna units, allows the user equipment to correctly perform signal measurement, increases the performance of data transmission, and reduces the complexity of the user equipment when the antenna units are of a great number.

Closed-loop pre-coding has been introduced in the Long Term Evolution (LTE) Release 8 (Rel-8) to improve the spectrum efficiency. Closed-loop pre-coding firstly requires the same group of pre-coding matrixes, referred to as a codebook, to be stored at both a network side device and a user equipment. The user equipment estimates channel information from a common pilot signal of a cell and then selects a pre-coding matrix from the codebook according to some criterion which can be the maximizing the mutual information, maximizing the output signal to interference and noise ratio, etc. The user equipment sends an index of the selected pre-coding matrix in the codebook to the network side device over an uplink channel, where the index is referred to as a Pre-coding Matrix Indicator (PMI). The network side device can determine from the value of the received index of the pre-coding matrix to be used for the user equipment. The pre-coding matrix reported by the user equipment can be considered as a quantized value of channel state information.
In an existing cellular system, an array of antennas of a network side device is typically arranged horizontally as illustrated in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. A beam at a transmitter of the network side device can be adjusted only horizontally but the beam is transmitted with a common vertical down tilt value for each user equipment, so various beam-forming/pre-coding technologies are generally applied based upon horizontal channel information. In fact, since a radio signal propagates in three dimensions in space, the performance of the system may not be optimal with common vertical down tilt value. Vertical adjusting of the beam may be of great significance to the improved performance of the system. Along with the development of antenna technologies, an array of active antennas with each array element being separately controllable has emerged in the industry as illustrated in FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B. Vertical dynamic adjusting of a beam becomes possible with this array of antennas. 3D beam-forming/pre-coding may be performed in a Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) system based upon channel state information reported by a user equipment, possibly using a codebook as conventionally used in the LTE Rel-8 system.
However this report of the channel state information may suffer from the following problems:
1. An array of active antennas with each array element being separately controllable is applied for antenna elements in 3D beam-forming, and antenna power amplifiers are integrated together with the antenna elements, so there is very low transmit power of each antenna element when there are a large number of antenna elements. If a pilot signal is transmitted over each antenna element as done in the prior art, then there may be so low transmit power that the user equipment might fail to achieve correct signal measurement, and the performance of data transmission.
2. If a pilot signal is transmitted over each antenna element, then there will be a such a large number of antenna ports, for each of which the user equipment has to make signal measurement and calculate Channel State Information (CSI) from a signal measurement value, that the complexity of the user equipment will be high when there are a large number of antenna elements.
In summary, as in the prior art, then there will be low transmit power of each antenna unit, and the complexity of the user equipment will be high when there are a large number of antenna elements.

Method, system, and device for transmitting preamble signal and for signal measurement

China Academy of Telecommunications Technology


Systems, methods, and computer program products are presented for creating and distributing a document of a particular type, where the document is based on variable content and/or variable layout. In one embodiment, a four-step is process is used. First, the document is specified. The document can be specified anywhere, regardless of the location of the user's office or the destination address of the document. In one embodiment, the document is specified using a client device (e.g., a computer running a web browser) that is attached to a network (e.g., the Internet). Second, the specification is transmitted to a production facility based on the destination address. Third, the document is produced at the facility. Finally, the produced document is delivered to the destination address.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to creating different types of documents which can be distributed in different ways. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system that can be used to create and distribute different types of documents that are based on variable content and/or variable layout.
2. Description of Background Art
While businesses differ, one thing that they all have in common is the need for custom-produced business documents such as correspondence, contracts, transaction records, financial reports, legal disclosures, product announcements, press releases, sales proposals, marketing materials, memos or reports, account statements, invoices, and bills. Another commonality is that once these documents have been prepared, they must be delivered to the intended recipients. These business documents are almost always customized with information specific to a business such as the business' name, address, and logo. They also frequently contain content that must be changed or varied according to the specific recipient or group of recipients to which the document is directed. In its most basic form, this variable content may include such information as the recipients' address or contact data, but it may also include a wide range of other information that comprises the substance of the document and also alters or determines the form in which it is displayed or delivered.
Production and delivery of printed business documents is usually not the focus of a business. Instead, business owners want their employees to focus on serving customers and providing goods and services. Unfortunately, the handling of printed business documents can involve a great deal of time, expense, and aggravation. Consider, for example, what is required to produce a simple business letter:
First, letterhead stationery must be produced. This requires a letterhead to be printed onto first sheets, second sheets, and envelopes. Next, the letter must be composed and formatted to fit the first and second sheets, and the addressee information must be composed and formatted to fit the envelope. Then, a good printer is needed to print the first and second sheets and the envelope. Finally, delivery must be arranged. Note that this is an optimistic example. Things can get much more complicated when the letter contains typos, the envelope is incorrectly inserted into the printer, the printer is low on toner, the document must be delivered the next day, and the post office is closed. These familiar difficulties are compounded many times over when the document involved is more complex or involves illustrations, graphs or photographs, unusual page sizes, inserts or bindings, multiple languages, rush delivery, transnational delivery, or other special features.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Specifying, producing, and delivering variable-content documents


An impact torque adjusting device of a hydraulic torque wrench enhances the precision of the magnitude of the impact torque generated, shortens the generation period of impact torques, and enhances the durability when rotating in either of two directions, that is, in normal rotation (when tightening) and in reverse rotation (when loosening). A working fluid path 11b communicates with the inside of a liner 7 serving as a high-pressure chamber H and a low-pressure chamber L when an impact torque is formed. A valve body 11d biased in a direction of releasing the working fluid path 11b is disposed in the working fluid chamber 11b. At the rear back side of the valve body 11d, an oil chamber 15e is formed to communicate with a blade insertion part 8a of a main shaft 8 by way of fluid paths 7c, 7d formed in liner lids 7a, 7b. The working fluid path 11b is thereby narrowed depending on an elevation of the pressure of the working fluid in the blade insertion part 8a of the main shaft 8 elevating along with an elevation of the working fluid in the high-pressure chamber H.

Conventionally, as an impact torque generating device of a torque wrench, a hydraulic torque wrench utilizing a hydraulic impact torque generating device small in noise and vibration has been developed and put in use (see, for example, patent literature 1 and 2).
FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 show an example of this hydraulic torque wrench, in which a hydraulic torque wrench 1 includes a main valve 2 for supplying and stopping high-pressure air, and a normal and reverse rotation changeover valve 3 for selectively generating impact torques in normal and reverse rotations. A rotor 4 for generating a rotational torque is driven by the air-pressure air sent through the both valves 2, 3. A hydraulic impact torque generating device 5 for converting the rotational torque of the rotor 4 to an impact torque is provided in a case 6 of the hydraulic torque wrench 1.
In the hydraulic impact torque generating device 5, a hollow space formed in a liner 7 rotated by the rotor 4 is filled and sealed with a working fluid, two blade insertion grooves (or one or three or more) are provided in a main shaft 8 inserted coaxially in the liner 7, blades 9 are inserted in the blade insertion grooves, and the blades 9 are always biased in the outer circumferential direction of the main shaft 8 so as to contact with the inner circumference of the liner 7 by spring 10.
The impact torque generating device 5 is also provided with an output adjusting mechanism 11 for adjusting the magnitude of the generated impact torque.
By rotating and driving the liner 7 by the rotor 4, when a plurality of seal surfaces formed on the inner circumference of the liner 7, seal surfaces formed on the outer circumference of the main shaft 8, and the blades 9 are matched, an impact torque is generated in the main shaft 8, and then nuts and other parts engaged with the leading end of the main shaft 8 are tightened or loosened.
In the conventional hydraulic torque wrench, the output adjusting mechanism 11 for adjusting the magnitude of the impact torque is designed to adjust the size of the working fluid path communicating with the inside of the liner 7 composed of a high-pressure chamber and a low-pressure chamber at the time of generation of the impact torque by manipulating an operation shaft. More specifically, when the operation shaft is manipulated to a releasing side to increase the working fluid path, the impact torque decreases, and to the contrary when the operation shaft is manipulated to a closing side to decrease the working fluid path, the impact torque increases.
However, the size of the working fluid path adjusted by manipulation of the operation shaft had the following problems (1) to (4) because it is the same (fixed) during operation of the hydraulic torque wrench.
(1) There is a large difference between the magnitude of the impact torque actually generated and the preset impact torque.
(2) An abnormally high impact torque is likely to be generated upon start of a tightening operation (at the time of seating of a tightening member).
(3) The resistance is large after generation of impact torque (after pulse generation), and the generation period of impact torques is long.
(4) A loading torque is likely to be applied to the seal part, and the durability is poor.
To solve these problems, the present applicant previously proposed an impact torque adjusting device of a hydraulic torque wrench capable of enhancing the precision of the magnitude of the impact torque generated by the impact torque generating device of the hydraulic torque wrench, shortening the generation period of impact toques, and enhancing the durability of the impact torque generating device of the hydraulic torque wrench (see, for example, patent literature 3).
FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 show a first reference example of an impact torque generating device of a hydraulic torque wrench.
A hydraulic torque wrench 1 of this reference example has a magnetorestrictive torque detection mechanism 12 same as the conventional hydraulic torque wrench disclosed in patent literature 2, and by the output of this magnetorestrictive torque detection mechanism 12, driving of a rotor 4 and others is controlled. It further includes a main valve 2 for supplying and stopping high-pressure air, and a normal and reverse rotation changeover valve 3 for selectively generating impact torques in normal and reverse rotations. The rotor 4 for generating a rotational torque is driven by the air-pressure air sent through both valves 2, 3, and a hydraulic impact torque generating device 5 for converting the rotational torque of the rotor 4 to an impact torque is provided in a case 6 of the hydraulic torque wrench 1.
In the hydraulic impact torque generating device 5, a hollow space formed in a liner 7 rotated by the rotor 4 is filled and sealed with a working fluid, two blade insertion grooves (or one or three or more) are provided in a main shaft 8 inserted coaxially in the liner 7, blades 9 are inserted in the blade insertion grooves, and the blades 9 are always biased in the outer circumferential direction of the main shaft 8 so as to contact with the inner circumference of the liner 7 by spring 10.
The impact torque generating device 5 is also provided with an output adjusting mechanism 11 for adjusting the magnitude of the generated impact torque.
By rotating and driving the liner 7 by the rotor 4, when a plurality of seal surfaces formed on the inner circumference of the liner 7, seal surfaces formed on the outer circumference of three main shaft 8, and the blades 9 are matched, an impact torque is generated in the main shaft 8, and nuts and other parts engaged with the leading end of the main shaft 8 are tightened or loosened.
In the hydraulic torque wrench of this reference example, the output adjusting mechanism 11, by manipulating an operation shaft 11a, is designed to adjust the size of a working fluid path 11b communicating with the inside of the liner 7 composed of a high-pressure chamber H and a low-pressure chamber L at the time of generation of a impact torque (more specifically, when the operation shaft 11a is manipulated to a releasing side to increase the working fluid path 11b (not to narrow), the impact torque decreases, and to the contrary when the operation shaft 11a is manipulated to a closing side to decrease the working fluid path 11b (to narrow), the impact torque increases).
Further, this output adjusting mechanism 11 is provided with a valve body 11d disposed in the working fluid path 11b so as to be formed in a direction of releasing the working fluid path 11b by way of the operation shaft 11a and a spring 11c, and the rear back side of this valve body 11d is provided with an oil chamber 11e communicating with the inside of the liner 7 which is the high-pressure chamber H at the time of generation of an impact torque. When the pressure of the working fluid in the high-pressure chamber H elevates along with the progress of the tightening operation, the working fluid path 11b is decreased (narrowed) as shown in FIG. 3 (a) to FIG. 3 (b), along with elevation of pressure of the working fluid in this high-pressure chamber H.
As a result, it is capable of enhancing the precision of the magnitude of the impact torque generated by the impact torque generating device of the hydraulic torque wrench, shortening the generation period of impact toques, and enhancing the durability of the impact torque generating device of the hydraulic torque wrench.
The above action and effects are explained as follows by referring to the output characteristic diagrams in FIG. 4. FIG. 4 (a) shows prior art where the size of the working fluid path is constant (fixed while the hydraulic torque wrench is working, and FIG. 4 (b) showing the present reference example, respectively.
(1) Since it is possible to control accurately the pressure of the working fluid inside of the liner 7, becoming the high-pressure chamber H depending on the tightening state, it is possible to enhance the precision of the magnitude of the impact torque because the error between the magnitude of the impact torque actually generated and the preset impact torque is in a relation of prior art: Δt1>reference example: Δt2.
(2) Upon start of a tightening operation (at the time of seating of a tightening member), since the working fluid path 11b is wide (not narrowed), unlike the prior art, an abnormally high impact torque tx is not generated.
(3) After generation of impact torque (after pulse generation), since the working fluid path 11b is wide (not narrowed), the resistance is small after generation of impact torque (after pulse generation), and the generation period of impact pulses is in a relation of prior art: T1>reference example: T2, and the working time required for tightening can be shortened.
(4) Since it is possible to control accurately the pressure of the working fluid inside the liner 7, becoming the high-pressure chamber H depending on the tightening state, loading pressure is hardly applied to the seal part such as in the prior art, and it is possible to enhance the durability of the impact torque generating device 5.
FIG. 5 shows a second reference example of an impact torque adjusting device of a hydraulic torque wrench.
A hydraulic torque wrench 1 of this reference example, unlike the first reference example having the magnetorestrictive torque detection mechanism 12 or the like for controlling the rotor 4 and others by the output of the torque detection mechanism, is similar to the conventional hydraulic torque wrench disclosed in patent literature 1 and FIG. 8, in which a relief valve B is disposed in an output adjusting mechanism 11. When the pressure (impact torque) of the working fluid in the high-pressure chamber H reaches a predetermined magnitude as the tightening operation is advanced, the relief valve B is released, and the pressure of the working fluid is transmitted to a shut-off valve mechanism 13.
In the case of the hydraulic torque wrench 1 of this type, since the valve body 11d cannot be assembled in the output adjusting mechanism 11, a valve body 14d is assembled in the liner 7, aside from the output adjusting mechanism 11.
The valve body 14d is biased in a direction of releasing the working fluid path 14b by way of a spring 14c, and the rear back side of this valve body 14d is provided with an oil chamber 14e communicating with the inside of the liner 7, which is the high-pressure chamber H at the time of generation of an impact torque. When the pressure of the working fluid in the high-pressure chamber H elevates along with the progress of the tightening operation, the working fluid path 14b is decreased (narrowed) along with elevation of pressure of the working fluid in this high-pressure chamber H.
The action of the impact torque adjusting device of the hydraulic torque wrench of this reference example is the same as that of the impact torque adjusting device of the hydraulic torque wrench of the first reference example.
FIG. 6 shows a third reference example of an impact torque adjusting device of a hydraulic torque wrench.
A hydraulic torque wrench 1 of this reference example is similar to the second reference example, in which a relief valve is disposed in an output adjusting mechanism 11 (detail shown in FIG. 5). When the pressure (impact torque) of the working fluid in the high-pressure chamber H reaches a predetermined magnitude as the tightening operation is advanced, the relief valve is released, and the pressure of the working fluid is transmitted to a shut-off valve mechanism 13 (see FIG. 8).
In the case of the hydraulic torque wrench 1 of this type, since the valve body 11d cannot be assembled in the output adjusting mechanism 11, a valve body 15d is assembled in the liner 7, aside from the output adjusting mechanism 11.
The valve body is composed of two valve bodies 15d disposed oppositely to each other across the working fluid path 15b, and is biased in a direction of releasing the working fluid path 15b by way of the spring 15c.
The rear back side of each valve body 15d is provided with an oil chamber 15e communicating with the inside of the liner 7, which is the high-pressure chamber H at the time of generation of an impact torque. When the pressure of the working fluid in the high-pressure chamber H elevates along with the progress of the tightening operation, the working fluid path 15b is decreased (narrowed) along with elevation of pressure of the working fluid in this high-pressure chamber H.
The action of the impact torque adjusting device of the hydraulic torque wrench of this reference example is the same as that of the impact torque adjusting device of the hydraulic torque wrench of the first and second reference examples, but the two valve bodies 15d are disposed oppositely to each other across the working fluid path 15b. Depending on the elevation of the pressure of the working fluid in the high-pressure chamber H, the two valve bodies 15d are moved to decrease (narrow) the working fluid path 15b, so that the moving stroke of the valve bodies 15d when moving for adjusting the size of the working fluid path 15b can be decreased, and the response performance is enhanced, and the precision of magnitude of the impact torque can be further enhanced.

Impact torque adjusting device of hydraulic torque wrench


There is provided an machineroom-less elevator which can reduce the pit depth in a bottom part of an elevator shaft, mostly perform maintenance work on an upper space of a cage, and reduce a top clearance. A pair of right and left cage-side sheaves are disposed in the upper space of the cage, and the rotational axes of the traction sheave and the cage-side sheaves are extended in the longitudinal direction. A sheave supporting beam to rotatably support cage-side sheaves is disposed in a space between and upper beam of the cage frame and a ceiling of the cage, and disposed below rotary shafts of the cage-side sheaves.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a machine room-less elevator having no machine room disposed above an elevator shaft provided in a building.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various machine room-less elevators having no machine room disposed above an elevator shaft have been developed and proposed for efficiently utilizing spaces in buildings and for observing regulations regarding the right to sunlight.
For example, in a conventional machine room-less elevator shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, a driving unit 3 is fixed to a top wall surface 2 of the elevator shaft in which a cage 1 is adapted to move vertically, and a hoist cable 5 including a plurality of small diameter ropes is wound around a traction sheave 4 rotationally driven by the driving unit 3.
A portion of the hoist cable 5 extending downwardly from the traction sheave 4 toward the cage 1 comprises a portion 5a extending downwardly along a left side wall 1a of the cage 1, a portion 5b horizontally extending between a pair of right and left cage-side sheaves 1c and 1b rotatably supported by a lower part of the cage 1, and a portion 5c extending upwardly along a right sidewall 1d of the cage 1 and fixed to a hitching device 6 provided in the top space of the elevator shaft. Thus, an one end of the hoist cable 5 suspends the cage 1 in a two-to-one roping arrangement.
Similarly, a portion of the hoist cable 5 extending downwardly from the traction sheave 4 toward a counterweight 7 comprises a portion extending downwardly along the side-wall 2 of the elevator shaft, a portion wound around a counterweight-side sheave 7a rotatably supported by an upper part of the counterweight 7, and a portion extending upwardly from the counterweight-side sheave 7a and fixed to a hitching device (not shown) provided in the top space above the elevator shaft. Thus, another end of the hoist cable 5 suspends the counterweight 7 in a two-to-one roping arrangement.
In a conventional machine room-less elevator shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, since the cage-side sheaves 1b and 1c are provided under the cage, the depth of a pit provided in the bottom of the elevator shaft becomes deep inevitably.
In addition, since the hoist cable 5 is extending vertically along the right and left side walls 1a and 1d of the cage 1, the width "L" of the elevator shaft in the right-to-left direction becomes large to secure enough width "W1" of the cage 1 in the right-and-left direction (the door opening/closing direction).
In other words, provided that the dimension "L" of the elevator shaft cross section in the right-to-left direction is set at a specified value, the dimension "W1" in the right-to-left direction of the cage 1 become small inevitably.
In addition, the maintenance of the driving unit 3, the traction sheave 4 and a control device 8 fixed to the top side wall of the elevator shaft must be performed by an operator riding on the cage 1 stopped in the highest position of the elevator shaft.
Contrary to this, the maintenance of the cage-side sheaves 1b and 1c must be performed in the pit during the time when cage 1 is stopped in the lowest position of the elevator shaft.
Accordingly, in the above-mentioned conventional machine room-less elevator, the maintenance work cannot be efficiently performed.