A method and apparatus are provided for configuring a virtual circuit set up between a first and a second terminal installation. The virtual circuit is carried by an underlying path including a first link set up between the first terminal installation and an intermediate installation, and a second link set up between the intermediate installation and the second terminal installation. A third link of the underlying path is set up between the intermediate installation and a third terminal installation. The method includes a step of configuring the third terminal installation, on completion of which the latter is able to process in reception a data stream transmitted through the virtual circuit.

In a packet switching network or Packet Switched Network, the data to be transmitted take the form of packets processed by installations of the network until reaching their destination. The set of packets to be transmitted constitutes a data stream.
An exemplary technology used in packet switching networks to convey data packets is the MPLS (MultiProtocol Label Switching) technology. The MPLS technology proposes that the header of the data packets be supplemented with one or more labels containing information allowing the installations of the network to determine the next hop that a packet must perform in order to reach its destination.
In such a network, the various installations of the network are connected together by means of MPLS paths called LSPs (Label Switched Paths).
An LSP path is set up from a head terminal installation (or Ingress installation), through intermediate installations and to a destination terminal installation (or Egress installation).
MPLS technology is described in greater detail in a document from the IETF (Internet standardization group, the abbreviation standing for Internet Engineering Task Force), referenced RFC 3031 (RFC standing for "Request For Comments").
However, MPLS technology allows only packets complying with the IP (Internet Protocol) protocol to be processed.
In order to alleviate this drawback, the PWE3 (Pseudo Wire Emulation Edge to Edge) standardization group of the IETF defines a concept of virtual circuit making it possible to emulate a bidirectional point-to-point link between two installations of a packet switching network relying on IP/MPLS technology. Virtual circuits such as these, defined in the document RFC 3985, allow the transmission of data packets not complying with the IP protocol, such as for example data packets complying with the ATM protocol.
With reference to FIG. 1, a virtual circuit pw1 is set up between a first terminal installation PE1 disposed at the boundary of a packet switching network PSN and a second terminal installation PE2 also disposed at the boundary of the network PSN. A virtual circuit pw1 such as this is carried by an underlying LSP path, LSP1. An underlying path LSP1 such as this comprises a first link L1 set up between the terminal installation PE1 and an intermediate installation R of the PSN network. A second link L2 of the underlying path LSP1 is, for its part, set up between the intermediate installation R and the second terminal installation PE2. The first terminal installation PE1 constitutes at one and the same time a first end of the virtual circuit pw1 and of the underlying path LSP1. The second terminal installation PE2 constitutes at one and the same time a second end of the virtual circuit pw1 and of the underlying path LSP1. Once the virtual circuit pw1 has been set up, the terminal installation PE1 sends a data stream conveyed via the virtual circuit pw1 up to the terminal installation PE2.
In order to ensure continuity of service in the case of failure of the second link of the underlying path LSP1, it is known to implement the protection solution which is the subject of patent document WO 2008/037917, filed in the name of the applicant so as to ensure the continuity of the traffic between a source installation CE1 connected to the first terminal installation PE1 and a receiver installation CE2 connected to the second terminal installation PE2.
Such a solution consists in setting up a third link L5 between the intermediate installation R and a third terminal installation PE3 to which the receiver installation CE2 is also connected. The third link L5 is set up at the same time as the other constituent links L1 and L2 of the underlying path LSP1 on the initiative of the first terminal installation PE1.
Thus, when the intermediate installation R detects a failure of the second link L2 or of the second intermediate terminal PE2, it activates the third link L5 and shifts the data traffic onto the latter link.
Such a solution thus makes it possible to ensure continuity of service at the level of the underlying paths. However, such a solution does not make it possible to protect the virtual circuit pw1 in the case of failure of the second link of the underlying path. Indeed, a virtual circuit being a point-to-point link set up between a first terminal installation and a second terminal installation, a failure of the second link of the underlying path causes a break in the virtual circuit.
To alleviate this drawback, the PWE3 working group proposes a solution consisting in twinning the first virtual circuit pw1 with a second virtual circuit pw2 serving as backup virtual circuit so that, when the second link of the underlying path develops a fault the data packets are conveyed by means of the backup virtual circuit pw2, one end of which is constituted by a different output terminal installation.
Thus, with reference to FIG. 1, a second virtual circuit pw2 is set up between the terminal installation PE1, constituting a first end of the virtual circuit, and a second terminal installation PE3 constituting a second end of the virtual circuit. A virtual circuit pw2 such as this is carried by an underlying LSP path, LSP2. An underlying path LSP2 such as this comprises a first link L3 set up between the terminal installation PE1 and a second intermediate installation R′ of the network PSN. A second link L4 of the underlying path LSP2 is, for its part, set up between the intermediate installation R′ and the third terminal installation PE3.
In order to ensure continuity of service, the input terminal installation PE1 comprises means implementing a function for detecting a fault of the second link of the underlying path LSP1 or of the terminal installation PE2 and a function for shifting the data stream from the first virtual circuit pw1 to the second virtual circuit pw2.
When a failure occurs at the level of the second link of the underlying path LSP1, it is detected at the level of the input terminal installation PE1, for example on the basis of a message, sent across the network PSN, indicating the occurrence of a failure. Once informed of the failure, the input terminal installation PE1 triggers the shifting of the data stream from the first virtual circuit pw1 to the second virtual circuit pw2 thus ensuring the conveying of the data to the output terminal installation PE3.
However, a consequence of such a solution is a lengthening of the restore time in the case of failure of an output terminal installation or of a constituent link of an underlying path, this having a negative impact on service quality.


Disclosed is a method for modifying a surface of a hydrogen storage alloy for an Ni/MH secondary battery using flake type metal comprising the steps of ball-milling metal powder to produce flake type metal powder; and ball-milling the flake metal powder together with hydrogen storage alloy powder to obtain mixture powder. The method according to the present invention provides the hydrogen storage alloy capable of increasing discharge capacity of an electrode and lengthening electrode life duration for the Ni/MH secondary battery.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for modifying a surface of a hydrogen storage alloy, and more particularly to a method for modifying a hydrogen storage alloy for an Ni/MH (nickel-metal hydride) secondary battery using flake type metal powder to enhance discharge capacity of an electrode and to lengthen electrode life duration.
2. Description of the Related Art
A hydrogen storage alloy refers to a metal or an alloy capable of absorbing or discharging hydrogen reversibly at a certain temperature and a certain pressure, and it must have large storage capacity of hydrogen being reversibly available and exhibit high hydrogenation velocity in an electrolyte in order to be applied in practice to an electrochemical battery.
Such a hydrogen storage alloy is used in, for example, a negative electrode of an electrochemically rechargeable battery whose positive electrode is typically made of nickel hydroxide material. A rechargeable secondary battery of this type is commonly referred to as "a nickel-metal hydride (Ni/MH) secondary battery" due to the nickel hydroxide positive electrode and the hydride nature of the negative electrode metal.
The hydrogen storage alloys for the Ni/MH secondary battery developed so far can be largely divided into three types: (1) AB.sub.5 type including La--Ni and Mn--Ni based alloys, wherein A is an element having a strong affinity for hydrogen, for example, alkali earth metal, such as, La, Ti, Zr, Ce, Pr, Nd, etc., and B is a transition element or a transition metal, such as, Ni. Mn, Co, Fe, Al, etc.; (2) AB.sub.2 type including Zr--Ni and Ti--Ni based alloys; and (3) AB type including V--Ti based alloys. The first AB.sub.5 type has a drawback in its low energy storage density while the second AB.sub.2 type is poor in nearly all of its performances. Also, in spite of its largest hydrogen storage capacity, the third AB type still has a problem in its incapability of charging/discharging in an alkali aqueous solution. Thus, in order to cope well with coming development of a high capacity and high performance Ni/MH secondary battery, it is necessary to precede researches for realizing high performances of the AB.sub.2 or AB type hydrogen storage alloys in which higher capacity is guaranteed than in the AB.sub.5 type hydrogen storage alloys.
In general, on a surface of the hydrogen storage alloy electrode is formed an oxide film which causes reduction of activated materials and acts as a barrier to the absorbance/discharge of hydrogen. This results in deterioration of every performance of alloy due to increases of contact resistance and charge transfer resistance. In the end, the oxide film becomes a major factor that reduces the discharge capacity and degrades the life duration of electrode.
To solve the above-mentioned problems, there have been developed various techniques for improving of surface characteristics of the hydrogen storage alloy, such as, an alloy design technique, an alloy surface-coating/etching technique, a surface characteristic-improving technique by means of additives, and a surface-modifying technique using a ball milling. The alloy design technique, however, has a difficulty in designing the alloy to maintain its thermodynamic characteristic, i.e., its large hydrogen storage capacity and at the same time to have excellent surface characteristics. Also, the alloy surface-coating/etching technique not only requires additional processes due to use of solutions, but is scarcely applied in practice because it is inevitably performed under a noxious atmosphere. On contrary, the surface characteristic-improving technique by means of additives and the surface-modifying technique using a ball milling are advantageous in that they can enhance all of the performances only by modifying the alloy surface without having an influence on the thermodynamic characteristic of the alloy. In connection with this, it is reported by M. A. Fetcenko et al., J. Electrochemical Society, 15 (1991) that nickel is necessary material for these surface-modifying or surface characteristic-improving techniques. Since the report, there have been proposed a technique using nickel as an additive in production of an electrode or a ball milling technique using nickel powder. Nevertheless, these surface-modifying techniques using normal type of nickel did not succeed in enhancing efficiency by lack of uniform contact of the nickel on the alloy surface.

Method for modifying surface of hydrogen storage alloy for NI/MH secondary battery using flake type metal

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology


A method and apparatus for stirring molten metal as it is poured into a covered metallurgical vessel in a neutral atmosphere. A gas pressurized tube shroud assembly is positioned in an opening in the covered metal vessel and wherein atmosphere is replaced by the injection of inert gas under pressure through the shroud assembly. Molten metal is poured through a portion of the shroud assembly and as it becomes partially submerged within the molten metal forms a bubble field around the shroud protecting it from nonmetallic inclusions and associated erosion normally incurred.

1. Technical Field:
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for pouring and stirring molten metal into a receiving vessel in a neutral atmosphere.
2. Description of Prior Art:
Prior Art devices of this type have generally been directed to shroud systems and stirring lances that inert gas or oxygen to the molten metal to form either shroud seals as seen in U.S. Pats. No. 4,429,816, U.S. Pat. No. 3,460,725, U.S. Pat. No. 455,050 and applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 4,624,292 or stirring lances see for example U.S. Pats. No. 4,619,443 or applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 4,740,241.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,429,816 a union for providing inert gas is disclosed that utilizes a union block between a pouring nozzle and a pouring tube. The union block has a metal jacket surrounding same for the inclusion of inert gas under pressure to form a seal and a protective gas film within the pouring tube.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,460,725 discloses a two-part refractory shroud tube into which inert gas can be added under pressure.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,555,050 shows a closure mechanism with a gas seal for discharged nozzles on a metallurgical vessel. A snug conical joint is formed between the discharge nozzle and a shielded tube. An annular surface is formed defining a ring shaped seal that is filled with inert gas.
In applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 4,624,292 a method and apparatus is disclosed that uses a closure within the vessel through which a pouring nozzle extends. Inert gas is supplied through the closure in spaced relation to the nozzle engagement forming a neutral inert gas atmosphere within the vessel and around the nozzle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,740,241 and applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 4,619,443 shows examples of stirring lance configurations that can be used in metallurgical vessels. Each has a cast or coalesce refractory body through which gas tubes extend and exit therefrom.

Method and apparatus for stirring and pouring molten metal in a neutral atmosphere


A support and mounting bracket is provided for rain gutters having an exposed side and a mounting side, the mounting side having formed at the upper end an L-shaped lip with a horizontal surface and a vertical surface. The support and mounting bracket comprises an elongate, slender and substantially straight body portion which terminates at an outer end portion with at least a lower ramping surface which aids in the installation of the bracket into a rain gutter, the inner end portion being also configured for fitting within the lip of the rain gutter so as to support the exposed side of the rain gutter. The body of the bracket terminates at an inner end portion having a hooked region into which an upper edge of the mounting side of the rain gutter fits upwardly, such inner end region being formed with a downwardly and outwardly inclined aperture through which an elongate attachment, such as a nail or a screw, can be installed to mount the rain gutter to a facia plate or the like. The inner end portion is constructed having a transverse bead at lower regions thereof to help retain the inner end portion onto the upper edge of the mounting side of the rain gutter. Preferably, the bracket is constructed of a transverse cross sectional section of an aluminum extrusion, but may alternatively be constructed of a rigid, tough plastic which contains one or more ultraviolet inhibitors to protect the bracket from degradation due to prolonged exposure to sunlight.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of rain gutters, especially rain gutters used for residential homes, and, more particularly, to brackets for mounting such rain gutters to facia plates, exposed ends of roof rafters, or the like.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
It is known, even to the most casual observers, that most residential homes, as well as apartments, condominiums, and many other types of buildings, have rain gutters installed under the eves collect rain running off the roofs and direct such runoff to downspouts. In particular, rain gutters are commonly used over entries and windows so as to prevent the runoff from roofs from pouring down onto persons entering and leaving the building and to prevent possible water leakage around doors and windows, as might otherwise occur in the absence of rain gutters which divert roof runoff away therefrom.
Rain gutters are commonly constructed of sheet metal, such as aluminum or galvanized steel. In some instances, however, rain gutters may be constructed of a strong, thin plastic material, such as PVC, polycarbonate, or fiberglass.
Typically, rain gutters are more or less rectangular in transverse cross section, but may be sculptured in shape to provide an aesthetic appearance and to provide greater longitudinal stiffness. To provide greater longitudinal stiffness, at least the outer upper edge of most rain gutters is bent into an inverted J-shape to provide a narrow, inwardly and downwardly extending lip. For residential use, rain gutters are typically about four to five inches in width and are about four inches deep; although, larger sizes may be used for commercial and industrial buildings.
Rain gutters are attached to facia plates (or to exposed ends of rafters) by a variety of different types of attachments. One of the most common--and presumably the least expensive--type of rain gutter attachment merely comprises a long, common nail and a tubular spacer having a length equal to the inner width of the rain gutter at its top, the nail being substantially longer than the tubular spacer. With the spacer in place to prevent collapse of the rain gutter, the nail is driven through the outer (exposed) side of the rain gutter, near its upper edge, through the inside of the spacer, through the back (mounting) side of the rain gutter, then into the facia plate (or exposed rafter end).
Although easy to use and inexpensive, such nail and spacer rain gutter attachments have several significant disadvantages. Primarily such attachments usually do not provide a very strong said rigid gutter support and attachment of the rain gutter to the facia plate (or rafter end). Especially in regions of the country where snow and ice collect in the rain gutters in the winter, the long nails used in such nail and spacer attachments bend under the weight of the snow and ice in the rain gutter, thereby permitting the rain gutter to sag in an unsightly and ineffective manner. However, even in regions of the country which do not have snow and ice in the winter, the exposed nail heads of the nails used in nail and spacer rain gutter attachments are unsightly. This especially is the case for single story homes having relatively low and exposed eves over entryways, where the rain gutters are readily visible.
Consequently, different types of rain gutter attachment means have been devised. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,294,422, which was issued on Oct. 13, 1981 to Wm. Odekirk, discloses a one piece gutter hanger bracket which is constructed of a bent-up piece of sheet metal strip. As disclosed, the hanger bracket has an upwardly and outwardly inclined nail guide portion in its midsection, which enables a mounting nail to be driven through the bracket at a slant so that the nail is accessible for driving without damaging the rain gutter or being visible from below.
While such hanger bracket for rain gutters appears to be an improvement over the above-described, simple nail and spacer attachment, it nevertheless seems to have some disadvantages. As an example, the hanger bracket has, as depicted in FIGS. 1 and 2 of the Odekirk patent, about twelve bends. Special, costly equipment would, therefore, seem to be needed to make large production quantities of such brackets. Moreover, care must be taken when attaching rain gutters using the disclosed hanger brackets, for if the attaching nail is driven into the facia plate with too great a force, the nail guide portion of the bracket can be easily collapsed, thereby requiring the pulling of the nail from the facia plate and replacement of the hanger bracket and possibly also the section of the rain gutter being installed. Still further, because the disclosed hanger bracket is constructed of bent-up sheet metal, it is subject to bending under snow and ice loading of the rain gutter with which it is used.
For these and other reasons, the need still exists for a sturdy, inexpensive, easily installed, fool-proof rain gutter support and mounting bracket, and it is a principal objective of the present invention to provide such an improved support and mounting bracket for rain gutters. Also, the nail in the bracket is very difficult to hit if there is too much roof overhang, as the hammer hits the front of the rain gutter or roof.

Rain gutter support and mounting bracket


The present disclosure includes apparatuses and methods related to accessing status information. One example apparatus comprises a host and a memory device coupled to the host. The memory device includes a controller configured to provide, to a status arbiter, a status signal indicating whether a status register of the controller contains generated status information. Responsive to the status signal indicating that the status register contains the generated status information, the controller can also provide the status information from the controller to the status arbiter via a status intermediary.

Memory devices are typically provided as internal, semiconductor, integrated circuits in computers or other electronic systems. There are many different types of memory including volatile and non-volatile memory. Volatile memory can require power to maintain its data (e.g., host data, error data, etc.) and includes random access memory (RAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), and thyristor random access memory (TRAM), among others. Non-volatile memory can provide persistent data by retaining stored data when not powered and can include NAND flash memory, NOR flash memory, and resistance variable memory such as phase change random access memory (PCRAM), resistive random access memory (RRAM), and magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), such as spin torque transfer random access memory (STT RAM), among others.
Electronic systems often include a number of processing resources (e.g., one or more processors), which may retrieve and execute instructions and store the results of the executed instructions to a suitable location. A processor can comprise a number of functional units such as arithmetic logic unit (ALU) circuitry, floating point unit (FPU) circuitry, and a combinatorial logic block, for example, which can be used to execute instructions by performing an operation (e.g., a compute operation) on data (e.g., one or more operands). As used herein, a compute operation can be, for example, a Boolean operation, such as AND, OR, NOT, NOT, NAND, NOR, and XOR, and/or other operations (e.g., invert, shift, arithmetic, statistics, among many other possible operations) that may involve manipulating data. For example, functional unit circuitry may be used to perform the arithmetic operations, such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division on operands, via a number of logical operations. A compute operation such as described above can be distinguished from a "memory operation," which, as used herein, can refer to an operation that does not involve data manipulation (e.g., via a functional unit often associated with a processing resource). Examples of memory operations include data read, data write, and data refresh operations.
A number of components in an electronic system may be involved in providing instructions to the functional unit circuitry for execution. The instructions may be executed, for instance, by a processing resource such as a controller and/or host processor. Data (e.g., the operands on which the instructions will be executed) may be stored in a memory array that is accessible by the functional unit circuitry. The instructions and data may be retrieved from the memory array and sequenced and buffered before the functional unit circuitry begins to execute instructions on the data. Furthermore, as different types of operations may be performed in one or multiple clock cycles through the functional unit circuitry, intermediate results of the instructions and data may also be sequenced and buffered.
In many instances, the processing resources (e.g., processor and associated functional unit circuitry) may be external to the memory array, and data is accessed via a bus between the processing resources and the memory array to execute a set of instructions. Processing performance may be improved in a processing in memory device, in which a processor may be implemented internally and/or near to a memory (e.g., directly on a same chip as the memory array). A processing in memory device may save time and/or may reduce power consumption by reducing or eliminating the amount of data transfer over a bus in association with performing compute operations, for example.
In various instances, it can be useful for a host, such as a host processor, to access status information from a memory device. For example, such status information may relate to flow control, debugging, exceptions, and/or errors, among various other status information associated with operations performed by the memory device.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A use of ginsenoside M1 for manufacturing a medicament for treating oral cancer.

According to the recent report from the Department of Health, Executive Yuan, Taiwan, oral cancer affects a significant number of patients in their economically productive age and approximately 2300 men in Taiwan with an average age of 58.3 years succumb to oral cancer every year. Oral cancer is also a common malignancy worldwide and the incidence of oral cancer continues to increase annually (Murugan et al., 2012). The usual therapy for oral cancer involves one or more of the following modalities: surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Unfortunately, despite advances in clinical management, the survival rate remains poor (Petti and Scully, 2007; Tsantoulis et al., 2007). Further, some anti-cancer treatments have toxic side effects (for example, toxic damages to normal gingival epithelioid cells) and patients undergone anti-cancer treatment usually suffer from a low quality of life and even life-threatening complications. This strongly underlines the importance of discovering and developing new and effective treatments to improve the prognosis of oral cancer patients, especially with reduced side effects.
Ginsenosides, the main active ingredients of ginseng, are known to have a variety of pharmacological activities, e.g. antitumor, antifatique, antiallergic and antioxidant activities. Ginsenosides share a basic structure, composed of gonane steroid nucleus having 17 carbon atoms arranged in four rings. Ginsenosides are metalized in the body, and a number of recent studies suggest that ginsenoside metabolites, rather than naturally occurring ginsenosides, are readily absorbed in the body and act as the active components. Among them, ginsenoside M1 is known as one metabolite of protopanaxadiol-type ginsenosides via the gypenoside pathway by human gut bacteria. Until now, no prior art references report the effect of ginsenoside M1 in treatment of oral cancer.

Use of ginsenoside M1 for manufacturing medicament for treating oral cancer


The present application discloses a method and an apparatus. In the present application, a radio access network RAN server receives a measurement report from a terminal, determines a target inter-RAT cell of the terminal based on the measurement report, and configures a resource for the terminal in the target inter-RAT cell. The configured resource is a resource to be used by the terminal to access the target inter-RAT cell. The RAN server sends a handover command to the terminal. The handover command is used to instruct the terminal to hand over to the target inter-RAT cell, and the handover command carries an identifier of the target inter-RAT cell and information about the configured resource. In this way, when handover is performed between inter-RAT cells, handover can be implemented without across core networks, thereby reducing signaling exchange between a source core network and a target core network.

With rapid development of communications technologies, various inter-RAT networks emerge as the times require, such as a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network, a Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) network, and a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network. The plurality of inter-RAT networks correspond to a plurality of inter-RAT cells. As the plurality of inter-RAT cells have wide coverage, in a movement process of a terminal that accesses a cell, it is very possible that the terminal moves from a cell of one RAT (radio access technology) to a cell of another RAT, for example, from a cell of a WCDMA network to a cell of an LTE network. Therefore, to ensure that the terminal can always keep an access state in the movement process, the terminal needs to hand over between the inter-RAT cells.
Currently, a network architecture includes a plurality of types of core networks, and each type of core network can support a cell of only one RAT. For example, an LTE core network can support a cell of only an LTE network. Therefore, if a terminal is handed over between two inter-RAT cells, core networks of the two inter-RAT cells need to be crossed. A specific implementation process thereof includes: If the terminal moves from a source cell to a target cell, a source core network sends a handover request message to a target core network, and the target core network prepares a resource for the terminal after receiving the handover request message. Then, the target core network sends a handover response message to the source core network. The handover response message is used to indicate the resource already prepared by the target core network, and the handover response message carries configuration information corresponding to the resource. After receiving the handover response message, the source core network sends a handover command to the terminal by using a source base station. The handover command carries the configuration information. After receiving the handover command, the terminal is handed over to the target cell based on the configuration information, thereby implementing handover between the inter-RAT cells.
In the foregoing implementation process, the inventor finds that the prior art has at least the following problem: If a terminal is handed over between two inter-RAT cells, core networks need to be crossed in a handover process, and a large amount of signaling exchange exists between a source core network and a target core network, leading to a relatively large handover delay.

Method for handover between inter-RAT cells and apparatus


Methods and systems for knowledge extraction that involve providing analytics and blending the analytics with analysis of one or more knowledge processes are provided. Knowledge extraction may be based on combining analytic approaches, such as statistical and machine learning approaches. Unstructured data, such as numerical, geo-spatial, text, speech, image, video, data, and music, may be used as input for these processes. The methods and systems may convert this unstructured data into a structured knowledge that has some specific utility to its user. Some embodiments may involve service requests delivery, information and knowledge extraction, information and knowledge retrieval, media mining, marketing, and other uses. Different granularity levels of knowledge and information extraction may be provided. This differentiation may be used for monetization of the service.

Unstructured and structured data segments, including documents, may contain numerical, text, speech, music, image, video, and other types of data. These data segments, including documents, may contain information which may be useful but difficult for humans and/or computer analytics systems and software to comprehend on direct access. More and more individuals and organizations attempt to extract relevant knowledge and various insights from various sources of data to assist activities they engage in (such as organizational functions), without creating additional burden for themselves or their employees. While knowledge is often a subjective concept on the outset, the value associated with this concept is widely accepted. In some contexts, knowledge may refer to possession of a deep understanding of the inner workings and functioning of activities, steps, components, and temporal and other relationships, (such as social, matrix, and tensor related), within a specific domain, or even more broadly, across domains. Knowledge that has value to a specific individual, user, or organization may include elements that are not commonly available or understood, those that are refined, structured and granulated, and those that are frequently used in several individual or organizational activities.
Humans gain knowledge in natural ways but this knowledge is not necessarily represented in a form that may be reused by machines. This human acquired knowledge may either never be documented or documented in unstructured text or various forms such as data usage patterns for voice, numerical data, text and SMS, images and photographs, video, music, and the like. Reviewing such a compilation and understanding the exact intent behind this data may require interpretation of the language and/or context. A service delivery organization, for example, may use knowledge to address a specific requirement or to solve a specific problem. Of course, data is increasingly being generated by machines, and in immense volumes. For humans, this volume of data is often overwhelming. For instance, marketing personnel are often unable to comprehend the metaknowledge process patterns latent in the data usage patterns of mobile phones (and other similar smart mobile devices). The data in these environments can be available at a greatly detailed level, by user program member, device, application, etc. These meta-knowledge level process extraction tasks can be challenging even for humans that generated the data, let alone machines. Machines can rapidly explore an immense number of possibilities and patterns. Humans, however, have the ability to comprehend the intent and the circumstances under which such knowledge is applicable, which is helpful in creating or updating this knowledge. Machines, on the other hand, are much more constrained in their ability to understand unstructured text or other business patterns such as data usage pattern in a social group, or network, in a similar context. Nevertheless, knowledge extraction and reuse based on human resources alone is not very scalable within organizations, in which ever-increasing products and associated documentation result in an exponential growth of unstructured data, including numerical data, text, image, video, speech, music, etc. Mechanisms to automate or semi-automate the knowledge extraction and reuse process may be needed to assist expensive human resources in achieving enhanced effectiveness and productivity by having machines assist in optimizing human-machine interactions. Conversely, humans may have a role to play in machines identifying meta knowledge processes in real time.

Statistical machine learning and business process models systems and methods


The packaging of cigarettes, particularly in a bottom-folding packer, is expedited by utilizing two separate packaging lines to feed a common drying turret. The drying turret has a pair of cell supporting rotors with the first of these rotors receiving, at a pair of diametrically opposed locations, formed packages from the two lines. The packages, in the course of drying, are transferred in pairs between the first and second rotors of the drying turret and, during such transfer, sealing stamps are affixed thereto.

1. Field of the Invention.
The present invention relates to the packaging of groups of articles and particularly to enhancing the speed of formation of cigarette packages by folding wrappers about blocks of cigarettes and sealing such folded wrappers. More specifically, this invention is directed to improved packaging apparatus wherein groups of cigarettes, combined to form cigarette blocks, are wrapped in inner paper and then enveloped in an appropriately adhesively coated outer-paper blank, the apparatus including means for folding the top and bottom ends of the wrappers and affixing a sealing stamp over the last closed end of the package. Accordingly, the general objects of the present invention are to provide novel and improved methods and apparatus of such character.
2. Description of the Prior Art.
Methods of and apparatus for the formation of packages about blocks of cigarettes are well-known in the art. A commonly employed cigarette package forming apparatus is known in the art as a "bottom-folding packer". An example of such a "bottom-folding packer" may be seen from German Patent No. 3,046,063 (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,476,665). In the operation of the apparatus of German Patent 3,046,063, two diametrically opposed cells supported on a block-forming turret are simultaneously filled with cigarettes from a double hopper and the cigarette blocks thus formed are subsequently transferred in pair, to a press turret which is equipped with specially oriented cells. The cigarette blocks are pushed, in pairs, from the cells of the press turret into cells of a wrapping turret. At the wrapping turret, the cigarette blocks are wrapped with inner and outer paper wrappers to form open-topped packs. The next step in the package forming operation comprises the transfer of the wrapped cigarette blocks to a top-closing turret wherein the partially completed packages are closed at the top end by folding. The partially formed packages are then transferred to cells of a drying turret which consists of two cellular wheels arranged in succession, the packages being moved from one wheel of the drying turret to the other by means of double slides. Sealing stamps are affixed to the folded package tops at the time the packages are transferred from the first cellular wheel of the drying turret to the other drying turret wheel. After a relatively long rotation, required for the adhesive to set, the finished packages are pushed out of the second wheel of the drying turret. The use of specially designed press and top-closing turrets enables apparatus such as depicted in German Patent 3,046,063, to operate at a higher packaging speed than has characterized previous apparatus of such character. It is, however, desired to further increase packaging speed.
Published European Patent Application 268,917 also depicts a cigarette packaging machine. The apparatus of European Application 268,917 employs a common drive for the folding units and conveyors of a pair of packaging lines. However, the speed of operation of this apparatus is limited by the fact that each packaging line is provided with its own drying turret.

Method and apparatus for packaging cigarettes or the like

Maschinenfabrik Alfred Schmermund GmbH & Co.


An automated system for disassembling a roller rail assembly includes an actuation device configured to move the roller rail assembly in a disassembling direction. A guide bracket is arranged and configured to receive the roller rail assembly as the roller rail assembly is moved in the disassembling direction. The guide bracket allows movement of the roller rail assembly in the disassembling direction. A separator member is located downstream of the actuation device. The separator member being received by a housing member of the roller rail assembly and having a wide region that separates sidewalls of the housing member and releases roller wheels of the roller rail assembly as the roller rail assembly is moved past the separator member by the actuation device.

Various shelving systems and conveyors may utilize a roller-type element, such as a roller wheel, to facilitate movement of goods or parts from one location to another along the shelving systems or conveyors. One example is a gravity feed shelving system that allows a rearward located good to feed forward once a forward located good is removed from the shelving system.
Some roller rail assemblies include removable rollers or wheels. The rollers or wheels may be removably fixed in a support. For example, it is known to provide snap-fit engagement sockets for removably securing the wheels within the sockets. The wheels may be removed from the sockets by hand by pulling on the wheels and overcoming the snap-fit engagement.

Automated systems for roller rail disassembly and methods of disassembling roller rail assemblies

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.


A fuel cell includes a membrane electrode assembly and a separator. The separator includes a water accumulation portion including at least one of a buffer portion, a lowermost channel groove, a channel junction portion, and a bypass channel. The buffer portion is connected to a reactant gas channel through which a reactant gas is to flow along a power generation surface of the membrane electrode assembly. The channel groove is provided in the reactant gas channel and located at a lowest position in the reactant gas channel in a direction of gravity when the membrane electrode assembly and the separator are in an upright position. Channel grooves of the reactant gas channel are joined in the channel junction portion. The membrane electrode assembly includes a water impermeable layer which is disposed outside of a power generation region and which faces the water accumulation portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a fuel cell.
2. Discussion of the Background
For example, a solid polymer electrolyte fuel cell, which is a power generation cell, includes a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) and a pair of separators sandwiching the MEA therebetween. The MEA includes a solid polymer electrolyte membrane, which is a polymer ion-exchange membrane, and an anode electrode and a cathode electrode sandwiching the solid polymer electrolyte membrane therebetween. A fuel cell stack, which usually includes a plurality of power generation cells that are stacked, is used in a stationary usage or used as a vehicle fuel cell system mounted in a fuel cell vehicle.
In the fuel cell, a fuel gas channel (also referred to as a reactant gas channel), through which a fuel gas flows to the anode electrode, is formed on a surface of one of the separators; and an oxidant gas channel (also referred to as a reactant gas channel), through which an oxidant gas flows to the cathode electrode, is formed on a surface of the other separator. Moreover, for each power generation cell or for a group of power generation cells, a coolant channel, through which a coolant flows, is formed along a surface of a separator.
In such a fuel cell, it is necessary to humidify the electrolyte membrane in order to keep good ion conductivity. Therefore, an oxidant gas (for example, air) and a fuel gas (for example, hydrogen gas), which are reactant gases, are humidified and supplied to the fuel cell.
Water used for moisturizing the electrolyte membrane may not be absorbed by the electrolyte membrane and liquid water may accumulate in the reactant gas channel. In the fuel cell, water is generated in the cathode electrode due to a power generation reaction, and the generated water is back-diffused to the anode electrode through the electrolyte membrane. Therefore, water may condense and accumulate in the reactant gas channel. Therefore, in particular, on the cathode electrode side, which has a higher electric potential, a metal may leach into accumulated water and the metal may be trapped into the electrolyte membrane. Thus, there is a problem in that the electrolyte membrane deteriorates rapidly due to metal ions.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 5-21077 discloses a sealing structure to address this problem. As illustrated in FIG. 17, the sealing structure is incorporated in a solid polymer electrolyte fuel cell 1.
The fuel cell 1 includes an MEA 2 including a solid polymer electrolyte membrane 2a sandwiched between an anode electrode 2b and a cathode electrode 2c. The MEA 2 is sandwiched between an anode separator 3, on which a fuel channel 3a is formed, and a cathode separator 4, on an oxidant channel 4a is formed.
In the MEA 2, the solid polymer electrolyte membrane 2a has a surface area that is larger than that of each of the anode electrode 2b and the cathode electrode 2c. Frame-like protection films 5 are disposed on both surfaces of a peripheral portion of the solid polymer electrolyte membrane 2a.
Outer peripheral portions of the protection films 5 include portions that overlap the outer peripheries of the anode electrode 2b and the cathode electrode 2c. A pair of gas sealing members 6, each having a frame-like shape, are disposed in the outer periphery of the anode electrode 2b and the cathode electrode 2c.
Thus, the outer peripheral portions of the protection films 5, which are fixed to the solid polymer electrolyte membrane 2a, are sandwiched between the pair of gas sealing members 6; and inner peripheral portions of the protection films 5 are sandwiched between the anode electrode 2b and the cathode electrode 2c. Therefore, the solid polymer electrolyte membrane 2a is prevented from becoming damaged and can have gas sealability.


An implant is arranged with a thread which can be exposed to a jaw bone and which has a first extent in the longitudinal direction of the implant. Thread flanks are assigned second extents between the inner and outer peripheries of the thread. Along all or most of the first extent, the thread flanks are arranged with one or more grooves that can extend in the peripheral direction and can be situated on the second extents. The groove or grooves are arranged to participate in the process by which the implant fuses with the jaw bone (2).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates dental implants, and more particularly, to a dental implant arrangement and methods of manufacturing the same with a thread which can be exposed to a jaw bone and which has a first extent in the longitudinal direction of the implant and in which thread flanks are assigned second extents between the inner and outer peripheries of the thread.
2. Description of the Related Art
In connection with dental implants, there is a need, in different patient situations, to achieve effective functions so as to make the implant fuse in the part of the jaw bone in question. The anchoring of the implant in the jaw bone depends on various factors, for example the part of the jaw bone to be provided with an implant, the patient's condition, etc. Different implant structures, the use of bone-growth-stimulating agents or substances, etc., have been proposed, and in this connection reference may be made inter alia to the patent applications filed by and patents granted to the same Applicant and same inventor as for the present invention. There is, however, a need for further improvements so as to obtain effective fusion and retention of the implant in the jaw bone.


A method and arrangement in a first mobile terminal (600) for determining allocation of radio resources for DMO communication amongst a group of mobile terminals. M the first mobile terminal, a first determining module 600a determines a communication (Sout, Sin) with a second mobile terminal (602) of the group. A second determining module (600b) determines a resource element (RE) for communication by applying a predefined cryptographic function P based on a terminal identification (K)). The cryptographic function has been configured in the mobile terminals of the group to provide terminal-specific resource elements for different mobile terminals within respective radio frames. A communication module (600c) then communicates with the second mobile terminal (602), either by transmission or reception of the data, on the determined resource element (RE).

In civilized societies of today, various functions and organisations for maintaining security and safety, referred to as "National Security and Public Safety" (NSPS) organisations, are often dependent on wireless communication for their operation. It is desirable or even a requirement, sometimes, that if the wireless network infrastructure normally used for the communication becomes unavailable, for whatever reason, the mobile terminals used shall still be able to communicate in a so-called direct mode operation (DMO), i.e. communicating directly with each other with no or very limited support and control by the wireless network. This situation may occur during a war-like scenario, or as a result of sabotage or some natural disaster, when the wireless network cannot operate to transmit or receive data to or from the terminals and allocate radio resources for the mobile communication.
FIG. 1 illustrates an example of the normal operation of a mobile wireless access network 100 having various nodes and mechanisms for allocating radio resources to different mobile terminals T1, T2, T3 . . . for either transmission or reception of data over a specific carrier frequency when connected to a base station, not shown, in the network 100. The radio resources are separated in the time domain and arranged as resource elements in basically consecutive time slots TS0, TS1, TS2, . . . of a radio frame structure, e.g. in the manner of an LTE system. Although only one carrier frequency is illustrated here, it can be easily understood that the resource allocation can be differentiated in the frequency domain as well, depending on the frequency bandwidth used.
In this example, the network 100 instruct terminal T1 to transmit or receive data in time slot ISO of a current radio frame. Likewise, terminal T2 is instructed to transmit or receive in timeslot TS3 and terminal T3 is instructed to transmit or receive in timeslot TS5 of the radio frame. The network 100 may employ various scheduling mechanisms for allocating the resource elements, in this case time slots and specific carrier frequencies, to the terminals over time, e.g. by taking into account various factors such as the type of communication, services, priorities and the available capacity in the network, among other things.
Assuming that terminals T1-T3 constitute a group of terminals used by an NSPS organisation and the network 100 would get out of order, e.g. in any of the above situations, the terminals T1-T3 are configured to switch into the DMO in order to maintain important communication within the group of terminals T1-T3. A network type called "TETRA" is known today that can be used for NSPS communication operating both in "infrastructure mode", i.e. resembling a conventional mobile network controlling the communication, and in DMO. TETRA uses 25 kHz carriers in four simplex channels and the resource allocation in DMO is made according to a quite rigid, pre-defined and thus predictable scheme for determining when and how terminals should transmit and receive data.
However, at least in some of the situations above, the communication may be very sensitive and/or crucial, and it is often desirable that the communication between two terminals cannot easily be tracked by an illicit eavesdropper and/or that an adversary is unable to disturb or "jam" the communication, at least not without great difficulty. Thus, robustness to interference and protection against eavesdropping is often of great importance in NSPS networks. Confidentiality protection can to some extent be achieved by standard encryption techniques. However, a relatively high level of privacy may require that the identity of the transmitting terminal is not disclosed, and/or similarly, that the radio resources used by any specific terminal is unknown.
These issues above have not been solved properly today for mobile terminals when in DMO. The rigid resource allocation scheme of TETRA, as well as other similar network systems known in the art, is predictable and therefore possible to interpret for an illicit party such that eavesdropping and jamming of a particular communication session can be performed without too much difficulty. Conventional techniques such as frequency hopping may be used, but they usually only protect against random, "natural" disruptions in radio propagation and not against adversarial behavior. Moreover, if the network infrastructure is unavailable, there is no entity that can control and co-ordinate the resource usage, which may lead to conflicts, e.g. devices accidentally using the same radio resource, causing interference.

Method and arrangement for resource allocation in radio communication


Cooling apparatus of a magnetron having a plurality of embossed cooling fins for radiating high temperature heat generated by an anode of the magnetron. Each of the cooling fins includes an anode support boss for tightly receiving and supporting the anode, a pair of erected walls being provided at both sides of the cooling fin, and a plurality of embossments for causing cooling airflow to be forced toward the rear surface of the anode and providing a cooling passage. These embossments are provided between the anode and the erected walls in order to symmetrical to each other with respect to the cooling airflow. The embossments comprise a plurality of protruded embossments provided at a side of the cooling fin and a plurality of depressed embossments provided at the other side of the cooling fin. The protruded and depressed embossments have an interval which is gradually shortened such that it is minimized at the rear of the anode. In accordance with this invention, the cooling air is forced toward the rear surface of the anode and, as a result, the separation region of the rear surface of the anode is remarkably reduced. The friction between the cooling air and the cooling fins is increased due to the embossments, thereby improving the cooling effect of the magnetron.

1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates in general to magnetrons. Note particularly, the present invention relates to apparatus for cooling the magnetron of which cooling fins are provided, in order to improve the cooling effect of the magnetron, with a plurality of protruded and depressed embossments individually.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As well known to those skilled in the art, known microwave ovens or similar heating systems are generally provided with individual magnetrons for generating microwave. In order to cool the magnetron, the microwave oven also includes forced air-cooled type cooling apparatus of which a plurality of cooling fins are mounted on the outer surface of an anode of the magnetron.
With reference to FIG. 1 showing a representative embodiment of the known magnetron suitable used for microwave ovens, the magnetron includes an anode 1 for generating microwave as well as high temperature heat. The microwave generated by the anode 1 is in turn outputted from an microwave output part 5. Above and below the anode 1, upper and lower permanent magnets 6 are arranged in order to form a magnetic field in the magnetron. Here, the high temperature heat of the anode 1 may cause the magnetron to be heated and, as a result, to be troubled. Thus, the magnetron further includes known cooling apparatus for removing the high temperature heat of the anode 1. This known cooling apparatus comprises a plurality of stepped cooling fins 2 which are mounted on the outer surface of the anode 1 in order to provide enlarged cooling surface for radiating the heat of the anode 1 therefrom. This known cooling apparatus further includes a yoke 3 for guiding the cooling air to the inside of the magnetron and a fan blower 4 for forcedly sending the cooling air to the inside of the magnetron.
In the above magnetron, when the resonator of the magnetron, i.e., the anode 1 is applied with an electric current having a predetermined oscillation frequency, the anode 1 emits thermions and, as a result, generates microwave of which a part is in turn applied to the microwave output part 5 to be outputted therefrom and the other in the form of thermal loss of the anode 1 is transmitted to the outside of the anode 1. Here, the high temperature heat, i.e., the thermal loss of the anode 1 is first transmitted to the outer surface of the anode 1, and thereafter, radiated to the outside of the magnetron through the plurality of cooling fins 2 mounted on the outer surface of the anode 1. At this time, the cooling air which is sent to the inside of magnetron by the fan blower 4 is circulated in the magnetron in such manner that it passes through the spaces between the yoke 3 and the cooling fins 2 as well as the spaces between adjacent fins 2. In this respect, the known cooling apparatus of the magnetron prevents overheat of the anode 1 and, as a result, deterioration of the permanent magnets 6 caused by the overheat of the anode 1.
However, the known cooling apparatus has a pressure difference between the side and the rear of the anode 1 as depicted in FIG. 2, thereby causing the cooling air passing between the adjacent cooling fins 3 to be forced outwards from the rear of the anode 1. In this regard, the cooling airflow E is deflected from its desired flow direction and this causes separation of the airflow E from the rear surface of the anode 1.
Such a separation causes deficient contact of the cooling air with the rear surface of the anode 1 and, as a result, prevents the rear surface of the anode from being sufficiently cooled by the cooling air. Therefore, a separation region is inevitably formed on the rear surface of the anode 1. In this regard, there is a temperature difference of about several .degree.C. to several ten .degree.C. between the front surface and the rear surface of the anode 1. This temperature difference causes the anode 1 to be thermally deformed and, as a result, reduces the using life of the magnetron.
In addition, the cooling fins, while increasing the amount of cooling air circulation since the cooling air can smoothly pass by them thanking for their flat shapes, nevertheless reduces the relative friction of the cooling air with respect to them. In this regard, it is required to increase the friction between the cooling air and the cooling fins 2 in order to improve the cooling effect of the magnetron within an extent capable of maintaining a predetermined conductance.


In a portable telephone, a sensor constructed of, for example, a 3-axial acceleration sensor is built in the vicinity of a display unit which is provided on a main body of the portable telephone. When a user moves the display unit along a vertical direction (Z-axis direction) with respect to a display screen thereof while the user holds the appliance main body, the sensor senses both a move direction and a move amount of the display unit, and thus, information displayed on the display screen of the display unit is enlarged, or compressed in display magnification defined in response to the sensed move amount. As a result, a display size of the information displayed on the display screen can be changed in such a manner that the user may have such a natural feeling achieved by moving a magnifying glass.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an electronic appliance, a display controlling method, and a display control program, which are used in the electronic appliance. More specifically, the present invention is directed to such a portable type electronic appliance such as a portable telephone, PDA (Personal Digital Assistants), and a digital camera, which is equipped with a so-called "magnifying-glass display function", and also directed to a display controlling method and a display control program, which are executed in the portable type electronic appliance.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Very recently, portable telephones (portable type telephone apparatus) operable in a PHS (Personal Handyphone System) system and a cellular system (mobile telephone system) simply own not only telephone communication functions, but also such a function capable of being connected to the Internet, so that various sorts of information can be displayed on these portable telephones. On the other hand, while portable telephones equipped with cameras have been popularized in this technical field, images photographed by these cameras can be displayed on these portable telephones equipped with the cameras. Also, since portable terminals such as PDA are utilized as various types of information tools, there are many opportunities that images such as maps are displayed via the Internet on these portable terminals.
With respect to map display methods, the following technical idea is known. That is, for instance, while an enlarging button and a compressing button are provided an a display screen, a map displayed on the display screen is enlarged and/or compressed by manipulating these enlarging/compressing buttons. Also, such an enlarging/compressing technical idea is known in this field. That is, while a touch panel is utilized, a map is enlarged and/or compressed by moving a finger of a user on the touch panel.
However, in the above-described conventional display methods, the images cannot be displayed in the enlarging/compressing operation with having natural feelings which could be realized by moving a magnifying glass.

Electronic appliance having magnifying-glass display function, display controlling method, and display control program


An airbag apparatus including: an airbag; a vent hole; a plurality of rupture joining parts which join the base fabric pieces in a manner breakable by the high-pressure gas expansion; and a vent hole cover having a connecting part at which the vent hole cover is connected to the airbag by the rupture joining parts, wherein: the airbag has an outer expansion part provided at a position outside the finishing-ends of the rupture joining parts; the plurality of rupture joining parts are rotationally symmetric to each other about the center of the base fabric pieces, and partially overlap each other in the circumferential direction; and the connecting part of the vent hole cover is provided in the vicinity of a middle position of the two finishing-ends of an adjacent pair of the rupture joining parts.

1. Field of the Invention
Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Application No. 2007-154017, filed Jun. 11, 2007, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
The present invention relates to an airbag apparatus which is provided at, e.g., a steering wheel of a vehicle, and develops an airbag when an impact is applied to the vehicle, in order to protect a passenger.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are disclosures of airbag apparatuses which develop an airbag using high-pressure gas provided from are inflator, at a time of a vehicle impact or the like. Some of such airbag apparatuses are provided with a vent hole, which is released in the process of the development of the airbag.
Some airbag apparatuses have an airbag provided with rupture joining parts which rupture in the process of the airbag development, in order to control the airbag development behavior and the internal air pressure thereof. At the time of the inflating operation, the rupture joining parts are ruptured part by part, thereby gradually increasing the volume of the airbag (e.g., see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2006-224748).
In the airbag apparatus disclosed in the Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2006-224748, a plurality of the rupture joining parts are provided at the peripheral part of the airbag. The plurality of the rupture joining parts are rotationally symmetric to each other. A part of one rupture joining part overlaps with another rupture joining part in the circumferential direction. A strip-shaped vent hole cover which covers the vent hole is secured to the airbag, by a part of the rupture joining part. In this airbag apparatus, a gas inlet connected to the inflator is provided at the center part of the airbag. When the inflator is operated, the airbag develops, starting from the center part thereof, expanding in radially outward directions. During this, the rupture joining parts are ruptured starting from a starting-end thereof provided at a center part of the airbag, to the finishing-end thereof provided at an outer part of the airbag, continuously. The vent hole cover is secured at a position corresponding to the middle part between the starting-end and the finishing-end of the rupture joining part. During the outward expansion in the development of the airbag, the attachment of the vent hole cover to the airbag is released, and the vent hole is released open.
Therefore in this airbag apparatus, during the inflating operation, since the rupture joining part is ruptured gradually, the airbag development behavior and the internal air pressure can be controlled appropriately. During the rupture of the rupture joining part, by releasing the attachment of the vent hole cover, the increase of the internal gas pressure can be regulated at an appropriate timing.
As shown above, in the conventional airbag apparatus, during the inflating operation, the rupture joining part is ruptured from the center part of the airbag to the outer part of the airbag. During this, the attachment of the vent hole cover is released. If the rupture process of the rupture joining part is stopped before it reaches the part where the vent hole cover is attached for any reason, there is a problem in that the vent hole can not be released at the predetermined appropriate timing.
In view of the above problem, the object of the present invention is to provide an airbag apparatus which can release the vent hole at a predetermined timing even when the rupture of the rupture joining part is interrupted for any reason, and thereby can stably control the development behavior and the internal air pressure of the airbag.


An absorbent article can have a chassis which can have a backsheet layer, a topsheet layer, and an absorbent system positioned between the backsheet layer and the topsheet layer. The absorbent system can have at least one absorbent layer which is a lobed absorbent layer. At least one flexure feature can associate with the lobed absorbent layer. A pair of non-integral wings can be bonded to the backsheet layer of the chassis.

Products such as absorbent articles are often used to collect and retain human body exudates containing, for example, urine, menses and/or blood. Comfort, absorbency, and discretion are three main areas of concern for the wearer of the product. In particular, a wearer is often interested in knowing that such products will absorb significant volumes of body exudates with minimal leakage in order to protect their undergarments, outer garments, or bedsheets from staining, and that such products will help them avoid the subsequent embarrassment brought on by such staining.
Currently, a wide variety of products for absorption of body exudates are available in the form of feminine pads, sanitary napkins, panty shields, pantiliners, and incontinence devices. These products generally have an absorbent core positioned between a wearer-facing liquid permeable topsheet layer and a garment-facing liquid impermeable backsheet layer. The edges of the topsheet and the backsheet layers are often bonded together at their periphery to form a seal to contain the absorbent core and body exudates received into the product through the topsheet layer. In use, such products are typically positioned in the crotch portion of an undergarment for absorption of the body exudates and a garment attachment adhesive on the backsheet layer can be used to attach the product to the inner crotch portion of the undergarment. Some of these products can also include wings for wrapping about the wearer's undergarment to further secure the product to the undergarment and to protect the undergarment from staining. Such wings (also known as flaps or tabs) are frequently made from lateral extensions of the topsheet and/or backsheet layers.
Such products, however, can have drawbacks which can detract from the comfort, absorbency and discretion sought by the wearer of the product. For example, a common problem with such products is their tendency to bunch, twist, and/or distort during usage. This is a common complaint among wearers resulting in overall dissatisfaction with the product despite its absorbent capabilities. An additional drawback is that the peripheral seal between the topsheet layer and the backsheet layer can irritate the skin of the wearer which can be exacerbated by any additional distortion, bunching, and/or twisting of the product.
There remains a need for an improved product, such as an absorbent article, that can have minimal distortion, bunching and/or twisting in the undergarment of the wearer. There remains a need for an improved product, such as an absorbent article, that can cause minimal irritation to the wearer's skin during usage of the absorbent article.

Flexible absorbent article with a lobed absorbent layer


Authentication processes to counter subscriber identity module swapping fraud attacks is disclosed. A method can comprise receiving location data representative of a tower device of a group of tower devices; receiving duration data representing a time period during which the mobile device has been traversing through a transmission region monitored by the tower device; as a function of the identification data, the location data, and the duration data, formulating a challenge query for the mobile device to answer; and sending the challenge query to the tower device.

Subscriber identity modules (SIMs) are typically associated with unique identifier values and are used by mobile devices, such as smart phones, cellular devices, and the like to provide a unique identifier value that can be used by mobile network operator (MNO) entities to associate the mobile device with a mobile network operator entity. SIMs generally can store data such as password information that can be used to access various facilities and/or functionalities associated with membership with a MNO (e.g., telephonic capabilities, messaging capabilities, . . . ). Additionally, SIMs can be utilized to provide access to other facilities and/or functionalities offered, for example, by banking institutions, social networking websites, vendor/shopping sites, and the like, wherein security details stored to the SIM and needed to access such facilities and/or functionalities are generally required.
SIM swapping occurs when a bad actor, such as a hacker, gather security details on a victim, such as mobile device password, responses to security questions, and the like. With such security details a bad actor can contact an MNO claiming that the SIM associated with the mobile device has become nonoperational, lost, or damaged (e.g., become non-functional) and requesting that a new SIM be activated. Once the new SIM has been obtained, the bad actor can gain access to the victim's personal, security, and financial information.

Authentication technique to counter subscriber identity module swapping fraud attack


A variable diffuser for a centrifugal compressor comprises a passage between opposing disc faces and a plurality of vanes extending therethrough with a fixed angle relative to the engine centerline. Axial displacement between the opposing disc faces is variable. The vanes extend through one of the opposing disc faces as that disc face is axially translated.

Centrifugal compressors are commonly used for fluid compression in rotating machines such as, for example, a gas turbine engine. Gas turbine engines typically include at least a compressor section, a combustor section, and a turbine section. In general, during operation, air is pressurized in the compressor section and is mixed with fuel and burned in the combustor section to generate hot combustion gases. The hot combustion gases flow through the turbine section, which extracts energy from the hot combustion gases to power the compressor section and other gas turbine engine loads.
A centrifugal compressor is a device in which a rotating rotor or impeller delivers air at relatively high velocity by the effect of centrifugal force on the gas within the impeller. Such a compressor also includes a diffuser, which normally is an annular space surrounding the periphery of the impeller and which usually is provided with vanes to guide the gas flow in order to recover static pressure, and minimize turbulence and frictional losses in the diffuser. The air or other gas (which will be referred to hereafter as air) is delivered from the impeller with a substantial radial component of velocity and ordinarily a substantially greater tangential component. The function of the diffuser is to decelerate the air smoothly and to recover as static pressure (head) the total or stagnation pressure (dynamic head) of the air due to its velocity.
While centrifugal compressors operate over a variety of flow conditions and ranges, they are designed to operate most efficiently at one set of operating conditions, usually referred to as the design point. For example, a centrifugal compressor may be designed for maximum efficiency and minimum adequate surge margin when operating to supply maximum shaft horsepower. As a consequence of selecting these design conditions, when the compressor is operating off the design point, it operates at reduced efficiency and potentially reduced stall margin. It is therefore desirable to improve the compressor's efficiency off the design point and low flow stall margin. One option for improving efficiency and/or stall margin can be to vary the diffuser area as the operating point of the compressor changes.
While the present disclosure is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments have been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail herein. It should be understood, however, that the present disclosure is not intended to be limited to the particular forms disclosed. Rather, the present disclosure is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims.

Variable diffuser with axially translating end wall for a centrifugal compressor


A fuse and truck cable assembly for a rail vehicle third rail current collector comprising a truck cable, a cable-engaging element, a fuse canister, a canister closure, a fuse contact element, and a flexible gland arranged so that the fuse can be replaced in the fuse in the canister by turning the canister free of the canister closure without removing the gland.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a fuse and truck cable assembly for traveling electric driven rail vehicles, such as rapid transit cars and, more particularly, to a fuse and truck cable assembly extending between the collector shoe riding on the third rail and the truck bus.
2. Description of Related Art
Electric current collectors for electrically driven rail vehicles are well known in the art. Typically, they have a collector shoe in running engagement with an electrical distribution rail. The collector shoe is resiliently mounted to the vehicle by an arm that permits the working engagement with the rail. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,740,498 entitled "Electric Current Collector" and U.S. Pat. No. 5,673,774 entitled "Auxiliary Vehicle Current Collector." A fused electrical circuit is connected between the shoe and the truck bus. Typically, cables extend between the shoe and a fuse canister and between the fuse canister and the truck bus.
The time for replacement of collector fuses is a point of concern for maintenance workers performing routine maintenance on electric driven rail vehicles. Typically, it is necessary to remove a gland and then the truck cable from the fuse by removal of fasteners in order to replace the fuse.
Any number of arrangements for holding the fuse in the electrical circuit between the shoe and the truck bus are known. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,740,498, cited above, Japanese Published Application 04-331401 and German Offenlegungsschrift DE 100 54 170 A1.

Fuse and truck cable assembly for a rail vehicle third rail current collector


A device may receive, from an ingress device, a packet for a protocol session associated with detecting faults in a path of a network that includes a link aggregation group (LAG). The packet may be encapsulated with a user datagram protocol (UDP) header that includes a dynamically assigned UDP source port identifier. The LAG may include a set of links. The device may select, using the dynamically assigned UDP source port identifier, a link in the LAG to use in the path. The device may provide, using the selected link, the packet to one or more downstream devices to permit a downstream device, of the one or more downstream devices, to determine whether packet timeout has occurred. The device may receive an instruction to maintain the protocol session or to close the protocol session and close the path. The device may provide the instruction to the ingress device.

In a label switching network, data packets are forwarded from a traffic ingress node to a traffic egress node based on the labels, rather than using network internet protocol (IP) addresses. A label-switched path (LSP) is a path through a label switching network that forwards data packets based on a header (e.g., a Multi-Protocol Label Switch (MPLS) header) which contains labels. In a label switching network, one or more operation, administration, and management (OAM) protocols may be used to detect link faults or forwarding plane faults within the label switching network.

Detecting link faults in network paths that include link aggregation groups (LAGs)


The invention provides a process for microbiologically stabilizing a premix phase intended to receive bicarbonate in the manufacture of toothpaste. The process includes blending together in the premix phase a polyol, a thickening agent, a copper compound and water. The premix phase is maintained at a temperature no higher than 110.degree. F. for a time sufficient to destroy bacteria. Thereafter the bicarbonate is incorporated into the premix phase without cool-down of the premix phase. There is also disclosed an oral composition that includes a combination of humectant, thickening agent, copper, bicarbonate and water.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a process and composition for microbiologically stabilizing a toothpaste phase during the manufacture of a bicarbonate-containing toothpaste.
2. The Related Art
During normal toothpaste manufacture, it is common to form a "premix" of the liquid and water-soluble portions of the paste to facilitate semi-continuous production in the final product mixing tanks. To ensure microbiological stability, this premix phase is held at above 125.degree. F. U.S. Pat. No. 4,453,979 (DeMasi et al) is typical of this art.
Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) is a desirable toothpaste ingredient used as a mild abrasive. Unfortunately, this material cannot experience temperatures above 100.degree. F. without undergoing decomposition. Therefore, it is necessary to cool any hot premix phase down to below 100.degree. F. before combining baking soda therewith. This cool-down procedure is costly, time-consuming and adversely impacts plant output rates.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a means for microbiologically stabilizing a premix phase below 110.degree. F. so that the phase can be combined without any prior cool-down with a bicarbonate component.
A further object of the present invention is production of a sodium bicarbonate toothpaste that can be formed in a semicontinuous process without using intervention of a cooling step during addition of the various components.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a bicarbonate-containing finished dentifrice product that has been microbiologically stabilized.
These and other objects of the present invention will become more readily apparent upon consideration of the more detailed description and Examples which follow.

Microbiologically stabilized phase for bicarbonate toothpaste manufacture

Chesebrough-Pond's USA Co., division of Conopco, Inc.


An image forming apparatus (10) capable of releasing pressure of toner accumulated between photoreceptor drums and cleaning blades without affecting the life of the photoreceptor drums includes photoreceptor drums (21A to 21D), an intermediate transfer belt (31), cleaning blades (250A to 250D), a cam mechanism (36), and a drive motor (26). The photoreceptor drums (21B to 21D) bear a toner image. The toner image is transferred from the photoreceptor drums (21A to 21D) to the intermediate transfer belt. The cleaning blades (250A to 250D) remove toner remaining on the photoreceptor drums (21A to 21D) after the toner image transfer. The cam mechanism (36) switches, after an image forming process, a contact state of the photoreceptor drums (21A to 21D) and the intermediate transfer belt (31) to a separation state. The drive motor (26) rotates the photoreceptor drums (21B to 21D) backward after switching the contact state to the separation state.

As a cleaning means that removes unwanted substances such as toner remaining on a photoreceptor drum after a toner image has been transferred from the photoreceptor drum, a cleaning blade has a front end ridgeline portion that is slidably contacted with the photoreceptor drum to remove toner on the photoreceptor drum. Accordingly, toner has accumulated between the photoreceptor drum and the cleaning blade by continuous use. When the remaining toner is left as it is, the toner passes through between the photoreceptor drum and the cleaning blade, which may cause the toner to be scattered or may generate an abnormal image such as a formed image on which a black streak or a white streak appears.
Thus, an image forming apparatus has been disclosed which includes a driving portion capable of rotatably driving a photoreceptor drum in both forward and backward directions and which separates and removes toner attached on a front end ridgeline portion of a cleaning blade from the front end ridgeline portion by rotating the photoreceptor drum backward during no image formation, that is, in a direction opposite to a forward rotating direction during image formation (see Patent Literature 1, for example).


A signal generating circuit for a real time clock device is disclosed, having an oscillating circuit, a voltage detecting circuit, and a control circuit. The oscillating circuit is used for generating oscillating signals. The voltage detecting circuit is used for detecting a voltage level coupled with the signal generating circuit. The control circuit is coupled with the oscillating circuit and the voltage detecting circuit. When the voltage level detected by the voltage detecting circuit locates in a predetermined range, the control circuit configures the oscillating circuit to generate the oscillating signals with a larger current at a first interval and to generate the oscillating signals with a smaller current at a second interval. The control circuit further generates a clock signal according to the oscillating signals at a third interval.

The disclosure generally relates to a real time clock device and, more particularly, to the signal generating circuit for the real time clock device.
The real time clock device may be used to generate a signal indicating the current time (referred to as "the real time signal" hereinafter for conciseness). The real time clock devices possess the advantage of low power consumption and therefore are widely utilized in computers, cameras, mobile phones, and other electronic devices.
The real time clock device relies on a signal generating circuit and a signal processing circuit for generating the real time signal. For example, the signal generating circuit may generate a 32.768 KHz oscillating signal as a clock signal. The signal processing circuit may generate the real time signal according to the 32.768 KHz oscillating signal. The signal processing circuit may also generate a power on reset (POR) signal for resetting the circuit elements in the real time clock device after the power is normally supplied so that the real time clock device may operate correctly.
As the trends of energy conservation and environmental protection become prominent, many electronic devices are required to consume less and less power. The real time clock device, which continuously operates to generate the real time signal, must therefore improve the energy consumption efficiency. For example, some signal generating circuit operates with lower voltages or currents to conserve power. The signal generating circuit operating under lower voltages or currents usually suffers from the longer startup time and the instability caused by the noises, and therefore generates erroneous clock signals. The real time clock device may not generate the correct real time signal and may not even function at all.
Moreover, the signal generating circuit operating with lower voltages or currents may often need to be restarted because of the instability caused by the noises. When a simple resistor-capacitor circuit is used to generate the POR signal, the circuit may not generate the POR signal in suitable time because of the frequently occurred restarts. The circuit elements in the real time clock device may not be reset appropriately and therefor the real time clock device may not function correctly.

Signal generating circuit for real time clock device and method thereof


A frequency discriminator of the horizontal synchronizing signal for a multi-mode monitor has a plurality of filter capacitors connected to horizontal synchronizing signal lines for rejecting noises of a direct current component of the horizontal synchronizing signal. The frequency discriminator also includes a plurality of phase comparator means respectively connected to the filter capacitors for comparing local oscillating frequencies set differently according to each mode with the inputted horizontal synchronizing signal to output one signal representative of the mode of the monitor.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a frequency discriminator of an input signal and, more particularly frequency discriminator for discriminating a frequency of a horizontal synchronizing signal inputted to a multi-mode monitor providing various screen modes.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Generally, the font number of a screen displayed on a monitor varies depending on whether the monitor is in a VGA Video Graphic Array mode, a super VGA mode, an IBM 8514A mode, or the like.
For example, in the case of the VGA mode, there are nearly three kinds, including 640.times.350, 640.times.400, and 640.times.480. In the case of the super VGA mode, there is 800.times.600. In the case of the IBM 8514A mode, there is 1024.times.768
In a multi-mode monitor providing various screen modes, to automatically control a raster of the screen and any other setting state according to the change of modes, a frequency of an inputted horizontal synchronizing signal has to be discriminated.
A type of technology for discriminating the frequency of an inputted signal such as the above kind is disclosed in the Korean Examined Publication NO. 89-8733 entitled "Circuit for discriminating frequency of supply voltage".
In the above invention, when comparing an output signal of a counter for ranking a supplied frequency of the supply voltage with that of the counter for ranking a reference frequency, if the frequency of the input supply voltage is more than 55 Hz, a signal of high state is outputted. If the frequency of the input supply voltage is less than 55 Hz, a signal of low state is outputted whereby the operation characteristic for discriminating whether the frequency of the input supply voltage is 50 Hz or 60 Hz can be achieved.
However, the above invention has a disadvantage in that, since only the resultant after discriminating whether the frequency of the input signal is larger or smaller than the reference frequency is outputted, while it can be applied to only two kinds of the frequency signals, it cannot be applied to various kinds of the frequency signals. This disadvantage leads to the inconvinence of not discriminating the various kinds of the frequency signals inputted to the multi-mode monitor providing the various modes.
Also, the above conventional discriminating circuit of the supply voltage frequency uses a sine wave signal as the input signal, so that it is difficult to apply a pulse signal to the multi-mode monitor as the input signal.
Another conventional frequency discriminating circuit uses a frequency to voltage converter circuit. An output voltage, varied according to the input signals, is obtained by the frequency to voltage converter circuit and applied to one input terminal of the comparator whose other terminal is supplied with the different reference voltage. Then, the frequency of the input signal is discriminated by the output of the comparator.
However, in the conventional technologies, as a slope is changed in the frequency vs voltage characteristic of the frequency to voltage invertor circuit, the reference voltage of each comparator has to be controlled. In that case, many controlling components may need to be added during production of the frequency discriminating device and also, aging occurs.

Frequency discriminator of horizontal synchronizing signal for multi-mode monitor


A damage detection device is used to detect damage in bonded and laminated composite structures. A tap hammer or tap coin containing an acceleration sensor is connected to a circuit that can measure the width of an impact signal and then display the result. The result correlates to local stiffness of a structure. A method of determining the desired signal width and the method of using the damage detection device, includes tapping a known good region and then tapping a suspect region. Readings from the two areas are used to determine whether the suspect region is within an acceptable range. The circuit determines the desired signal width by measuring from the time the impact signal exceeds a threshold to the time it falls below the threshold.

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for rapidly locating and determining the extent of damage in bonded and solid laminate structures, particularly fiber-reinforced resin matrix composites.
Bonded metal and composite structures and monolithic metal and composite structures are widely used in the manufacture of aircraft. The percentage of composite materials being used on aircraft automobiles, boats, and in building construction materials continues to rise. Use increases the need for Non-Destructive Inspection (NDI) methods that can effectively identify composite degradation and damage. Delamination caused by impact can significantly reduce the strength or stiffness of a composite without being visible to the naked eye. A simple, cost effective inspection method to detect such defects is needed. Methods such as echo ultrasonics, shearography, and thermography are costly to implement. These methods also often require highly trained operators to implement, and specialized, bulky equipment.
A simple composite NDI technique is the coin-tap or tap hammer method. In this method, the inspector will use an ordinary coin, such as a U.S. quarter, or a small hammer to tap along the structure and listen for a change in the sound. This method works because of the difference in the sound produced by a bad (e.g., delaminated) region versus a good region. A good region tends to ring while a bad region will sound dead. The mechanics of the tap testing method have been studied in detail by P. Cawley and R. D. Adams, who published, for example: Sound and Vibration, 122,(2), 299 (1988); Mat""l Eval., 47, 558 (1989), Brit. J. NDT, [32(9) 454 (1990); Int""l Conf. Structural Adhesives in Eng""g, C19, 139 (1986), or U.S. Pat. No. 5,589,635, which we incorporate by reference. Theoretical and experimental results from the Cawley and Adams work demonstrate the viability of using changes in features of the force-time curve of the impact as an indication of the local integrity of the structure. Damage, such as a disbond, results in a local decrease in the stiffness of the structure, which changes the force-time curve that a tap near the damage produces. The difference in the audible sound tells one that the force-time curves differ, but the tap method is difficult to implement in a noisy environment. The amplitude, duration, and frequency response of the impact curve are all affected by the local stiffness, and under various conditions can be flagged as indicators of defects and damage.
Although it is cheap and simple, the tap method has several drawbacks. It depends upon the inspector""s hearing, experience, and interpretation. The results are subject to interference from workplace noise. Workplace noise is especially a problem in an on-aircraft, flightline environment. The traditional tap method is unable to provide quantitative data. Quantitative data would provide a clearer indication for the flightline inspector to make a fly or no-fly determination. Tapping on the surface with a coin or tap hammer and listening to the tone of the part is adequate for limited detection. It is subjective and is often imprecise.
Approaches to overcome these drawbacks continue to be relatively expensive and are of limited practical use for on-aircraft inspection.
The damage detection device makes it easy to locate damage to both solid and bonded surfaces, such as an aircraft wing skin, a car door, a boat hull, or the like. The device does not change the operator""s ability to listen for audible tonal changes, but it provides a quantitative reference number in microseconds that represents the state of stiffness of the surface. This time measurement can be correlated to a level of damage. The ability to locate damage using an instrument that provides a reference number will increase the confidence of the technician and both the accuracy and repeatability of the inspection.
We have developed a simple low cost instrumented tap hammer that provides a quantitative measure of the hammer/composite impulse time. We have correlated the time (duration) measured with the amount of damage (delaminations) in the structure. The instrumented tap hammer of the present invention supplements the tonal discrimination of the operator with a numeric readout that can readily be related to local part quality. The effect of background noise and operator differences on the inspection results can be eliminated. An increased sensitivity is also shown over the audible tap test method.
In a preferred embodiment our damage detection device includes a tap hammer with an acceleration sensor mounted in the head of the hammer. A wire connects the sensor to an analysis circuit that converts an impact signal from the hammer into a readout value. The circuit measures a time in microseconds during which the impact signal remains above a predetermined threshold. The readout value is then shown on a display.
A second, miniaturized embodiment of the device includes an acceleration sensor, a circuit, and a display, in the shape of or mounted on a slug or a coin. The inspector taps the structure with the acceleration sensor like the coin tap method to produce an impact signal which the circuit converts to a readout value, which is displayed. The readout can be xe2x80x9cpass/fail,xe2x80x9d the impulse time, or some other information, as desired.
The damage detection device, including a tap hammer, is inexpensive and easy to use. It provides quantitative results without relying on elaborate or expensive circuitry. The slug or coin device, is small, easy to use, and extremely portable. It is used just like the current coin tapping process, but with more positive results. The readout provides a quantitative value to assess the condition, even if there is significant background noise.
The damage detection device addresses the genuine need for a low cost instrumented non-destructive evaluation (NDE) method for factory or field testing of composite commercial and military aircraft. The results of testing demonstrate the benefit of a quantitative indication of the local stiffness (as measured by the impact pulse width). The use of the damage detection device provides a clear improvement over the traditional coin tap method by reducing its subjectivity, increasing its sensitivity, and quantifying the actual impact response.
The skin thickness is an important consideration in whether a composite can be effectively inspected. As the skin thickness increases, the difference between the response of xe2x80x9cgoodxe2x80x9d and disbonded skin will get smaller. The effective range for the damage detection device was 1-7 plies on fiberglass/epoxy facesheets of the sandwich panels tested. The range will depend upon the material and type of structure, as well as the defect type, size, and depth. We are able to detect delaminations in 6 mm thick graphite/epoxy composite laminates.