The present invention provides a modeling method of a SPICE model series of a Silicon On Insulator (SOI) Field Effect Transistor (FET), where auxiliary devices are designed and fabricated, electrical property data is measured, intermediate data is obtained, model parameters are extracted based on the intermediate data, a SPICE model of an SOI FET of a floating structure is established, model parameters are extracted by using the intermediate data and data of the auxiliary devices, a macro model is complied, and a SPICE model of an SOI FET of a body leading-out structure is established. The modeling method provided in the present invention takes an influence of a parasitic transistor of a leading-out part in a body leading-out structure into consideration, and model series established by using the method can more accurately reflect actual operating conditions and electrical properties of the SOI FET of a body leading-out structure and the SOI FET of a floating structure, thereby improving fitting effects of the models.

Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a modeling method of a SPICE model series of a field effect transistor (FET), and specifically to a modeling method of a SPICE model series of a Silicon On Insulator (SOI) FET, belonging to the field of micro-electronic device modeling.
Description of Related Arts
A Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor (MOSFET) is a four-port semiconductor device, where different excitation is applied to each port, and a drain current of the device also changes accordingly. An input/output mathematical expression is obtained by establishing a mathematical model of the device, and circuit designers use the model to perform SPICE emulation of circuit design. Currently, multiple mathematical models with respect to the MOSFET are proposed, and each model includes a large number of parameters.
An SOI FET (also referred to as an MOSFET) generally has two application modes. In one application mode, a body leading-out structure (including T-shaped gate leading-out structure and an H-shaped gate leading-out structure) exists, and in the other application mode, no body leading-out structure (that is, a floating structure) exists. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a layout of a device of a T-shaped gate leading-out structure. When a voltage is applied to a gate, a substrate below the T-shaped gate 102 is reversed to form a conductive channel. Currently, it is generally considered that the properties of the channel are completely consistent with those of a channel below a normal gate 101, so the T-shaped gate 102 is only equivalent to that an effective width of the device is increased. However, such a processing manner is extremely simple, and is even faulty in the current process. The device of a body leading-out structure may even present some characteristics that the model fails to cover.
The T-shaped gate 102 is not singly doped, where one half is doped with N-type impurities and the other half is doped with P-type impurities. The electrical properties of the T-shaped gate 102 are totally different from those of the singly doped normal gate 101. Moreover, when modeling (referred to establishing a SPICE model, the same below) is performed on the floating structure, model parameters, related to the body, of the device need to be extracted through a device of a body leading-out structure. If the leading-out part (that is, the conductive channel below the T-shaped gate 102) is not taken into consideration and test data of the device of a body leading-out structure is directly used to extract the model parameters, it is difficult for the established SPICE model of a floating structure to accurately express some properties of the device, and even a fault occurs during emulation.
In view of this, the present invention provides an accurate modeling method of a SPICE model series of an SOI FET, so as to more accurately and effectively model and emulate the SOl FET.

Modeling method of SPICE model series of SOI FET

SHANGHAI INSTITUTE OF MICROSYSTEM AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES


Low resource internet devices such as consumer electronics products connect to web service by means of a proxy method where the connected device does not need to maintain the expensive and fragile web service interface itself, but rather uses simple low level protocols to communicate through a gateway that executes software to translate a low level proprietary wireless protocol to a proprietary low level internet protocol that can pass through a firewall to proxy servers that translate the low level protocols thus presenting an interface that makes the internet device appear to have a full web service interface to enable communication between the internet devices and the web server.

1. Field of the Invention
Invention relates to networked communication systems, particularly to systems enabling simple electronic devices having web service connectivity.
2. Related Art
It is desirable to create a wireless internet system to connect products that can communicate with each other and web applications. The adoption of these systems has been held back by the cost of the devices themselves to support internet protocols because current methods require robust and relatively expensive radio, memory and microprocessor systems as compared to non-networked products. Adoption of internet connected products have also been held back by the cost to support application servers that provide web or internet functionality for the device because the product provider is burdened with back-end infrastructure costs that increase the cost of the product. Inventions that reduce the cost of connected devices while maintaining their internet connected functionality and inventions to improve the efficiency of the back-end infrastructure to support connected products are needed improvements to the current art.


Systems and methods for monitoring a mechanical force applied to a wound site repairing structure are disclosed. In an embodiment, the systems include a wound site repairing structure, a magnetoelastic sensor coupled to the wound site repairing structure, and a detection system. The detection system includes an excitation coil configured to transmit a signal to the magnetoelastic sensor and a detection coil configured to detect a signal indicative of a mechanical force applied to the wound site repairing structure. The detection system also includes a detection unit configured to detect the signal indicative of the mechanical force applied to the wound repairing structure.

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for monitoring mechanical forces. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to systems and methods for monitoring mechanical forces applied to wound site repairing structure at a wound site.
Wound site repairing structure includes surgical sutures, which are typically threads applied to a wound site using a needle to hold body tissues together. Surgical sutures can be permanent or temporary, and can be made of degradable or non-degradable materials depending on the type of wound. Permanent, or non-degradable, sutures are typically used for closing a skin wound, and may be removed after the wound heals. Permanent sutures can also be used internally for applications that require strong mechanical support for the tissues over a long period of time. In contrast, temporary sutures, which are biodegradable, are used for smaller wounds that exhibit a faster healing time. Depending on the severity and location of the wound, the number of sutures used, and surgical techniques that are practiced, some surgical sutures may experience a large tensile force that may cause them to fail or further tearing of the tissue.
A number of sensors have been designed for monitoring forces and other conditions at wound sites during and after surgery. For example, stitch-force sensors and hook-force sensors monitor the tension of a suture prior to wound closure. The sensor systems can guide surgeons to apply the correct tension on the suture. The correct amount of tension is important because an excessively tight suture can lead to ischemia of tissue and a loose suture is unable to provide a proper mechanical support for the wound. Although such sensors are accurate, they cannot be used to monitor wound conditions, including tension on the suture, postoperatively.
A flexible sensor system, made of integrated single crystal silicon nanomembrane electronics, can be incorporated within a suture to monitor pressure and temperature and to generate heat in the area around the suture. However, this sensor is not designed to monitor the tensile force on the suture. Rather, this sensor monitors the conditions near the wound site. In addition, this sensor requires direct connection to a power supply and data acquisition system, which prevents it from long-term monitoring of a suture at a closed wound.
The ability to track conditions of orthopedic injury sites is very useful for improving treatment outcomes. Current sensor technologies do not allow for real-time tracking of internal injury sites. Standard sensors cannot directly measure stress and/or strain at internal muscles or tendons, while imaging methods such as magnetic resonance imaging, x-ray, and ultrasound cannot be deployed accurately while in motion or around metallic implants.
It would therefore be desirable to have a system and method to provide for postoperative in vivo monitoring of mechanical forces. Such a system may prevent excessive force from damaging the wound repairs and may be used to gain useful information for improving surgical techniques for wound repair as well as in post-operative care.

System and method for monitoring of a mechanical force

Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research


Methods to improve the accuracy of non-contact measurements of an object's dimensions using a dimensioning system are disclosed. The methods include a method for creating a mathematical model (i.e., error model) based on an observed correlation between errors in an estimated dimension and the characteristics of the measurement used to obtain the estimated dimension. These error models may be created for various dimensions and stored for future use. The methods also include a method for using the stored error models to reduce the error associated with a particular dimensioning-system measurement. Here an error model is used to create an estimated error. The estimated error is then removed from the estimate of the dimension to produce a final estimate of the dimension that is more accurate.

Determining an item's dimensions is often necessary as part of a logistics process (e.g., shipping, storage, etc.). Physically measuring objects, however, is time consuming and may not result in accurate measurements. For example, in addition to human error, measurement errors may result when measuring irregularly shaped objects or when combining multiple objects into a single measurement. As a result, non-contact dimensioning systems have been developed to automate, or assist with, this measurement. These dimensioning systems sense an object's shape/size in three-dimensions (3D) and then use this 3D data to compute an estimate of an object's dimensions (e.g., length, width, height, etc.).
Accurate dimensioning is highly valued. For example, regulatory certification often demands highly accurate measurements when dimensioning is used for commercial transactions (e.g., determining shipping costs). Unfortunately, there are errors in the dimensions estimated by dimensioning system. One way to reduce these errors is to (i) constrain the size/shape of measured objects and (ii) place strict requirements on the measurement setup. These constraints, however, limit the flexibility of the dimensioning system and the speed at which a measurement may be taken. Therefore, a need exists for methods to reduce the errors associated with estimated dimensions returned from a dimensioning system.

Methods for improving the accuracy of dimensioning-system measurements


A SoC interconnect network topology is represented. The corresponding SoC floorplan is divided into windows, which are contiguous and non-overlapping. Within each window a subnetwork of the SoC interconnect network topology is defined that includes links or communication paths between IP blocks in the window as well as links or communication paths that traverse the window. At the shared boundaries of the windows, ports are added and defined as virtual ports. The overall SoC topology can be optimized and synthesized by optimizing each window independently and then incrementally optimizing all links, from end-to-end, that traverse two or more windows. The SoC topology is edited, such as by adding switches, removing switches, and adding and removing switches on routes. An initial location of elements within the floorplan is automatically computed and recommended. Locations can also be edited. Statistical metrics are calculated, including wire length, switch area, SoC area, and maximum signal propagation rate. The SoC overall interconnect network topology is represented by the plurality of windows and the respective subnetworks of each widow. The windows are analyzed and combined and optimized to obtain an overall near-optimal SoC interconnect network topology.

The designers of chips connect cores or Intellectual Property (IP) blocks, which comprise logic cells and often multiple ports. Certain software, for chip design, displays chip floorplans. Floorplans define various physical regions, in which the logic cells of certain cores or IPs can be placed and blockages where no logic cells can be placed.
A network-on-chip (NoC) is an efficient and widely used mechanism for connecting cores and IP blocks in a System-on-Chip (SoC). Cores have standard interfaces or ports. A SoC connects cores through their interfaces, in order for the cores or IPs to communicate with each other. A SoC includes logic cells, which are placed throughout the floorplan, and wires, which are routed throughout the floorplan. A SoC includes an array of IP blocks that are implemented as either "hard" blocks, whose physical shape and size is mostly fixed, or "soft" blocks, which are generally implemented at the end of a design cycle, using space left by the hard blocks. For example, an interconnect of a SoC connects communication ports on both hard and soft IPs with "links". The interconnect is an IP that is a soft IP.
Developing a physical interconnect topology can be done using conventional approaches for SoCs or chips with small numbers of IP blocks and simple floorplans. However, chips now include many cores or IPs and the number is growing increasingly larger with correspondingly more complex floorplans. Given a SoC with a highly irregular floorplan and more than 100 IP port connections, it is very challenging to generate an interconnect topology that is near-optimal for the floorplan and various QoR metrics, such metrics including, for example, area, power, frequency performance, bandwidth, etc. Therefore, what is needed is a method and a system to synthesize the design of a complex or irregular SoC interconnect network topology within the physical implementation and constraints of a floorplan.

Synthesizing topology for an interconnect network of a system-on-chip with intellectual property blocks


The tool provides for cleaning of debris from grooves positioned on a face of a golf club. The tool has at least one working set of groove penetration pins which extend from a face contact side of the tool. Each groove penetration pin of the working set utilized during a cleaning procedure seats within a respective groove of the golf club. Preferably each deployed working set has three groove penetration pins. Once the groove penetration pins of the utilized working set are seated in unique grooves the tool is moved along the face of the golf club where each groove penetration pin is displaced substantially along the length of the respective groove. This provides for at least a substantial portion of any debris within the groove under treatment to be removed from the grooves. A series of such swipes of the tool are employed to clean debris from all grooves.

1. Field of the Invention
Generally, the invention relates to devices to clean debris from the grooves of a face of a head of a golf club. More specifically, the invention relates to such devices which clean debris from multiple grooves simultaneously.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Numerous methods exist to remove debris from grooves of a face of a head of a golf club which become deposited therein during play of the game of golf. The most common method utilized by golfers involves using the pointed end of a golf tee to individually scrap each groove having debris deposited therein. Following the scraping procedure the golfer typically follows up by wiping the club face with a cloth. This method of scraping grooves with a golf tee is time consuming and typically fails to leave the grooves free of debris to an acceptable level. This method of groove cleaning also tends to be less than uniform across all the grooves on a face of a golf club. This is due to wear to the tip of the golf tee being utilized for the cleaning. Golf tees typically are either formed from wood or plastic and the original tip normally does not match the width and shape of grooves where the tip will not fully seat within the grooves. Additionally, the user does not have any real guidance relative to the required pressure to apply during the movement of the golf tee along each respective groove other than experience and visual observations during the cleaning of the grooves of the golf club under treatment. For these reasons the cleaning process utilizing the golf tee does not typically produce the same level of cleaning from one cleaning procedure to another. This lack of uniformity of cleaning of the grooves of a particular golf club results in minor variations in outcome of strokes taken with that golf club during play of the game of golf.
Various devices have been proposed to provide for cleaning of debris from grooves of golf clubs. Most of these devices have a single tip which cleans a single groove during movement of the tip along each respective groove. Such devices have obvious advantages to use of the tip of a golf tee. First the material utilized to form the tip of the device can be durable and not subject to wear during usage where the tip retains its original shape for a prolonged period of time. Additionally the tip of the device can have a desired configuration which mates with a specific configuration of groove to be cleaned. This mating of the tip of the device to a specific groove configuration can generally match width, depth, configuration of the base of the groove and the configuration of the transition from the walls of the groove to the face of the golf club. This provides for a more uniform cleaning when the single tip groove cleaning device is utilized in an identical manner for all of the grooves on the golf club under treatment. Unfortunately, such single tip groove cleaning devices typically lack features to ensure that the same angle of placement of the tip within each of the grooves occur during movement of the device from one groove to another. This may result in a less than uniform cleaning operation to all of the groove having debris therein. Additionally, if the device is not held and retained at the proper angular orientation during movement of the tip from one end of the groove under treatment to the opposing end the device may actually damage the groove and change the configuration of the groove. Most of these devices lack features which prevent the tip from applying undue pressure to the base of the groove. This can result in damaging the base of the groove and either changing the cross section configuration or even in deepening the groove beyond the original specifications of the golf club. Additionally, such single tip groove cleaners only have a single tip configuration which mates with a single groove specification. Often golfers will have golf clubs having at least two unique groove configurations, such as one specification for their woods and one for their irons. In these instances the golfer utilizing a single tip groove cleaning device will not obtain optimum groove cleaning on all of his or her clubs. Additionally, single tip groove cleaning tools must be manipulated by the user along each groove to be cleaned. This individual swipe along each individual groove is time consuming and can be a distraction to the overall enjoyment derived from the game of golf. Additionally, such a time consuming procedure can result in the player not maintaining a desired level of cleanliness to the grooves of his or her clubs resulting in less than consistent performance during play of the game of golf.
Various deficiencies exist with the groove cleaning methods conventionally known and utilized during the play of golf. As can be seen various attempts have been made to provide for a golfer to maintain the grooves of his or her golf clubs in a debris free state where consistency of play may be obtained with each respective golf club having grooves positioned on the face of the club. These attempts have been less efficient than desired. As such, it may be appreciated that there continues to be a need for a groove cleaning tool which performs a consistent cleaning procedure to the grooves of a golf club while cleaning multiple grooves with each cleaning swipe of the tool across the face of the golf club. The present invention substantially fulfills these needs.


A process and apparatus for separating polymer solids, hydrocarbon fluids, and purge gas in an intermediate pressure zone and a purge zone. The purge gas in the purge zone is used to remove hydrocarbon fluids from the polymer solids, and a stream containing the purge gas and hydrocarbons is passed to a hydrocarbon/purge gas recovery zone. High-purity purge gas from the recovery zone is efficiently used by passing a portion back to the purge zone and another portion to an extruder feed zone. Hydrocarbon fluids separated from polymer solids in the intermediate pressure zone and in the hydrocarbon/purge gas recovery zone are liquefied and passed to a recycle zone, and the hydrocarbons (typically liquid diluent and/or unreacted monomer) are recycled to the reactor without fractionation.

Polyolefins such as polyethylene and polypropylene and other polymers may be prepared by particle form polymerization, also referred to as slurry polymerization. In this technique, feed materials such as olefin, monomer and catalyst are introduced to a reaction zone, and a slurry comprising solid polyolefin particles in a liquid medium is formed in the reaction zone.
In commercial loop reactors, the various feed materials may be introduced to the loop reaction zone in various ways. For example, the monomer and catalyst may be mixed with varying amounts of a diluent prior to introduction to the loop reaction zone. In the loop reaction zone, the monomer and catalyst become dispersed in the slurry. The slurry circulates through the loop reaction zone, and the monomer reacts at the catalyst in a polymerization reaction. The polymerization reaction yields solid polymer particles in the slurry.
In order to recover the polymer solids from a particle form polymerization process, it is necessary to separate the polymer solids and hydrocarbon fluids that make up the effluent slurry withdrawn from the reactor. Typical separation systems include a reduction in pressure so that the hydrocarbon liquids vaporize. The vaporized hydrocarbons exit at a top portion of a flash gas separator. The polymer remains solid, and is recovered through a bottom portion of the flash zone. Other polymer recovery processes utilize multiple stage flash systems. For example, a first intermediate pressure flash zone and a second lower pressure flash zone may be employed. The temperature and the pressure in the first flash zone are such that a major amount of the diluent will be vaporized and that vapor can be condensed without compression by heat exchange with a fluid having a temperature, for example, in the range of from about 120° F. to about 200° F. The polymer particles from the first flash step may then be subjected to a lower pressure flash step to vaporize additional remaining diluent.
In a polymer recovery system utilizing one or more flash chambers, it has been common to have some diluent entrained in the polymer leaving the flash chamber(s). It is desirable, however, to obtain polymer product substantially free of diluent. If the polymer leaving the flash chamber contains an excessive amount of diluent, the polymer product can become tacky, and then may plug up lines and cause restrictions. In many polymer production processes, polymer solids after the flash chamber are subjected to further processing to remove residual and entrained diluent. Examples of such processing include purge zones, conveyer dryers, and other drying systems known in the art.
One method for removing additional amounts of diluent after the flash chamber involves passing the polymer solids through a purge column, wherein a non-combustible gas is used to remove the diluent. In the purge column, the non-combustible gas (nitrogen is often used) typically flows upward through downward-flowing polymer solids in the column. The purge gas is used to remove and carry away hydrocarbon fluids that remain with the polymer solids after the flash separating steps. The purge gas is especially suited to remove hydrocarbon fluids that are entrained in the pores and interstices of the solid polyolefin particles. At the top (or gas outlet) of the purge column, a fluid stream comprising the purge gas and removed hydrocarbon fluid (typically and preferably gas) exits.
At the bottom (or solids outlet) of the purge zone, polymer solids exit and are passed along for finishing operations, such as extrusion. Typically polymer solids are passed to an extruder feed tank which holds the polymer solids and feeds the polymer solids to the extruder. The extruder feed tank is at very low pressure (for example, 0 to 5 psig) and the polymer solids are fed by force of gravity to the extruder. Typically, the polymer solids have been passed from the purge zone to the extrusion feed zone via pneumatic transfer. Generally, the inert gas systems for the purge column and the extruder feed tank have been separate, since inert gas exiting from the purge column contained hydrocarbon impurities even after passing through a recovery unit to remove hydrocarbons.

Process and apparatus for separating polymer solids, hydrocarbon fluids, and purge gas


Methods and systems for detecting an enhanced massive mobile broadband (eMBB) physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) in the presence of for ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC) users are disclosed. A eMBB wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) may receive a eMBB control resource set (CORESET) configuration for a CORESET including a PDCCH preemption indicator. If PDCCH preemption is enabled based on the PDCCH preemption indicator, the eMBB WTRU may identify and remove preempted resource element groups (REGs) in the eMBB CORESET by comparing channel estimates for each REG bundle in the eMBB CORESET. The WTRU may perform channel estimation based on remaining REGs in the eMBB CORESET and detect the PDCCH by performing blind decoding, based on a received signal, on the remaining REGs in the eMBB CORESET.

In New Radio (NR) for Fifth Generation (5G) wireless systems, the structure and design for the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) uses two transmission modes of interleaving units and non-interleaving units known as Resource Element Group (REG) bundles. Each REG bundle consists of multiple REGs in time or frequency for joint channel estimation. Slot-based and non-slot-based transmissions and different rates of monitoring for PDCCH are also defined in NR for 5G wireless systems.

Methods for identifying resources of a new radio physical downlink control channel which have been preempted by ultra-reliable low latency communication


The invention concerns a method (200) and system (100) for recording multiple programs onto a storage medium. The invention includes the steps of: receiving (210) a plurality of multimedia inputs; sampling (212) the multimedia inputs such that the sampled multimedia inputs contain a portion of the plurality of multimedia inputs; combining (214) the sampled multimedia inputs; and encoding (216) the sampled multimedia inputs such that the number of encoding devices required to encode the sampled multimedia inputs is less than the number of the plurality of multimedia inputs. The invention can also include the step of playing back (220) the sampled multimedia inputs. In one arrangement, the playing back step can further include the steps of: decoding (226) at least one of the encoded sampled multimedia inputs to provide a decoded signal; and processing (228) the decoded signal to enable the display of at least one of the multimedia inputs.

1. Technical Field
The inventive arrangements relate generally to video recording systems and more particularly to video recording systems that record digitally encoded video sequences onto storage media such as recordable digital video discs, hard drives, magneto optical discs and digital tape.
2. Description of Related Art
Many consumers have recording devices which they use to record their favorite programs. In recent years, however, consumers have been inundated with programming choices. For example, some satellite transmission systems can contain over 500 channels with programming content. As a result, a single recording device severely restricts the consumer's options if the consumer wishes to record several programs.
As a solution, a consumer can purchase more than one recording device and can program each of these devices to record a separate program. Alternatively, several encoders and decoders can be placed in a recording device to accommodate multiple video signals. Notably, however, both of these options increase costs significantly. Moreover, a recorder that employs multiple encoders and decoders may produce a bit rate that exceeds the recorders maximum recording rate and can increase the complexity of the design of the recorder. Although one or more optical drive units can be added to solve the bit rate problem, the issues of added cost and design complexity renders this solution inadequate as well. Thus, what is needed is a recording device capable of recording and playing back multiple video signals without significantly increasing the cost or complexity of the recording device.

Recording and playing back multiple programs


One example of a system includes a blade enclosure and a midplane within the blade enclosure. The midplane supports a first sleeve connector and a second sleeve connector, where each of the first and second sleeve connectors have a first side and a second side. A server blade installed in the blade enclosure includes an air duct coupled to the first side of the first sleeve connector. A cooling module including an air manifold is coupled to the second side of the first sleeve connector to deliver cool air to the air duct of the server blade.

Blade enclosures provide the power, cooling, and I/O infrastructure to support modular server, interconnect, and storage components. Blade enclosure fans may pull cool air (e.g., 40° C.) from the front of server blades and exhaust hot air to the rear of the enclosure. Modern server blades have high-power processor and memory devices that may heat the incoming cool air to 70° C.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP


A method is provided of using a specifically purposed computer for associating the timing of academic course offerings to the parking limitations and needs that are presented by the selected buildings being used for designated academic activities and a method is provided of using a specifically purposed computer for the correlating of course offering scheduling with determined to be appropriate teaching space availability for a particular academic period and a method of using a specifically purposed computer system to minimize heating and cooling load requirements related to the offering of academic related activities also is provided.

Academic schedule development is a process in which every institution of higher education engages to some degree. While technology has been used to automate and improve many business processes in higher education, the process of developing academic schedules has not changed much during the past several years. The primary reasons for this inertia are the complexity and political volatility of schedule creation as well as an aversion to running an institution of higher education like a business.
The room assignment component of academic schedule building has long been acknowledged by mathematicians to be a hard (or NP-complete) problem. NP-complete optimization problems are sufficiently complex that it is not possible to prove one optimal solution. Michael W. Carter and Craig G. Tovey released a study in 1991 entitled When is the Classroom Assignment Problem Hard? In which they prove that all but the most simplistic approach to room assignment is NP-complete. Adding to the complexity is the fact that room assignment is only one of the NP-complete problems that make up the entire schedule building process. Meeting time and faculty assignment are also complex, NP-complete optimization problems. The fact that each of these complex components is related to, and constrains, the others makes the academic schedule creation process quite daunting.
Academic departments typically exert significant pressure on the academic schedule development process. "Turf" battles over control of space and prime teaching times are common. Pressure to allow senior faculty to dictate what they teach, when they teach and where they teach is usually high. These political limitations have made it difficult to implement student and efficiency oriented changes to scheduling practices.
Despite their considerable operating budgets, institutions of higher education do not like to be thought of as businesses. An assumed conflict between business and learning motivations appears to be the reason for this phenomenon. Budgetary pressures and competition from for-profit technical schools have only recently forced many institutions to think and act more like businesses.
Academic schedule development includes the following key steps: course offering management, faculty assignment, meeting time assignment, and room assignment.
Course offering management is the first step in academic schedule development. During this step, an institution seeks to determine a) what courses to teach, and b) how many sections of those courses (Course Sections) to offer. These determinations rely on the institution's understanding of student demand for the various courses in their curriculum, which heretofore has been very limited. Demand Analysis, when practiced in higher education, has been limited to studying populations of students who have taken courses in past academic terms. This approach, called Historical Analysis, has been applied to overall demand and subsets of the scheduling week—like Morning, Evening, Weekend—or academic term type—like Fall, Spring, Summer. Institutions with Lock Step curriculum track the size of each group that starts a fixed program of study each academic term. The size of this group, less attrition each term, is the basis for determinations of what to teach and how many Course Sections to offer. Neither approach features the student-specific needs analysis which is the key to significant scheduling process improvements.
Faculty Assignment is the process of matching available faculty members with Course Sections in a timetable. This is typically a highly decentralized process where the academic departments assign their available faculty to the Course Sections that are being offered. Like course offering management, there has been no significant process improvement in this area of academic schedule development.
Meeting time assignment is the process of placing Course Sections into time and day slots. These slots are typically standardized by an institution so that the majority of Course Sections use the standard meeting patterns (e.g., 8:00 AM-8:50 AM MWF might be a standard meeting pattern for three contact hour Course Sections that meet on Monday/Wednesday/Friday). Time assignments can be a decentralized (done by academic departments) or a centralized process (done by a central scheduling office). Time assignments attempt to cluster activities in popular (primetime) time slots while spreading assignments out enough to eliminate room and known student conflicts. Room conflicts occur when there are more activities needing a particular group of rooms during a time slot than there are rooms in that group. In manual and automated systems (commercial or homegrown), this type of room scarcity is only discovered after the scheduling process is materially complete and certain activities can not be placed. To eliminate student conflicts, an institution relies on its ability to predict the groups of Course Sections that students will need for an upcoming term so that they can attempt to keep those Course Sections conflict free (and the students can register for those Course Sections). There has been significant progress in commercial software that can automate this assignment process. There has, however, been no progress in the process by which institutions predict which Course Sections must be conflict free for an upcoming term. The best practice has been to study historical patterns at a macro (course) level to discern what courses students might take in the same term. This approach is ineffective in determining potential conflicts between Course Sections, which is the heart of the time assignment problem. This problem is related to the limitation in the process described as Demand Analysis in the course offering management section, above, and it applies to both the Roll Forward and Lock Step approach. Institutions using a Lock Step curriculum have a similar limitation. While it is easy to know which Course Sections a cohort is supposed to take, it is very difficult to track and account for students who deviate from their prescribed schedules. These institutions have an increasingly higher percentage of students who can fall off the prescribed schedules because of transfer credits, failed courses, and an unexpected change in their time of day availability forcing them to take a part-time load.
Room assignment is process of placing Course Sections into rooms. This can be a decentralized (done by academic departments) or a centralized process (done by a central scheduling office). The objective of this step in the schedule development process is typically to assign rooms that will be satisfactory to the faculty and have an appropriate capacity. Assignments must always be made so as to avoid double booking a Course Section with another Course Section or event.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method of student course and space scheduling


A computing system providing resource management in a multiple resource system. In the preferred embodiment, the computing system has a plurality of resources for storing, transmitting or manipulating data. The system also has a fault management subsystem that accesses and operates the resources when the resources are in a first availability state and an operational subsystem for accessing and operating the resources when the resources are in a second availability state. The system has a mechanism for providing real time sharing of any of the resources between the fault management subsystem and the operational subsystem without disrupting the services provided by the operational subsystem. In addition, the system has a mechanism for representing the operational interdependencies of the resources by organizing the resources in a logical structure in which each resource is a node conceptually connected to at least one other resource.

This invention relates generally to a computing system for allocating resources in a multiple resource arrangement and, in particular, to a system for allocating resources in a data storage system.
A computing system may be conceptually divided into two general classes of subsystems: (1) the operational subsystems that use system resources to provide the functions the computing system is designed to perform; and (2) the fault management subsystem or subsystems (hat find, analyze, diagnose and, in some instances, take action to minimize the effect of malfunctioning resources on the overall system. The term "resources" is used herein to describe functional modules within the computing system that may be tested separately or used separately for, e.g., storing, transmitting or manipulating data within the system. Resources are hardware elements and include disk drives, processors, memories, data paths, etc. The operational subsystems and the fault management subsystems compete for access to the system resources.
In prior art computing systems, built-in diagnostic routines in the fault management subsystem may gain exclusive access to a resource for relatively long periods of time in order to test the resource. While the diagnostic routine is running on a particular resource, an operational subsystem may request access to that resource in order to perform a resource operation and to provide services to the computing system. In most computing systems, if the operational subsystem receives no reply to its request within a predetermined period of time, the service routine being performed by the operational subsystem may abort, thereby disrupting service to the computing system. What is needed, therefore, is a computing system that manages access to the resources so that the operation of the fault management subsystems do not cause any interruption of the services provided by the operational subsystems.
In conventional computing systems, the system may become partially inoperable if a resource (such as a data storage module or a data path) fails. What is needed, therefore, is a computing system that can compensate for the failure of a resource to keep the system fully operational.
A significant problem with some prior art storage systems is their use of CPU time on the external computer or computers to identify and diagnose inoperative or malfunctioning storage devices within the storage system and to reroute data paths when one or more data storage devices or other peripherals become inoperable. The use of the external computer to perform these low level functions could interfere with more important CPU tasks.

Resource management in a multiple resource system where each resource includes an availability state stored in a memory of the resource


What is described herein is a precipitation polymerization process and terpolymer products produced thereby. Polymerization is carried out in a reaction mixture of a vinyl lactam, e.g. vinyl pyrrolidone or vinyl caprolactam, a polymerizable carboxylic acid, e.g. acrylic acid or methacrylic acid, and a hydrophobic monomer, e.g. lauryl methacrylate, in a predetermined compositional range, in the presence of a polymerization initiator, and in an aliphatic hydrocarbon solvent, particularly a C.sub.3 -C.sub.10 saturated hydrocarbon, which is branched or unbranched, cyclic or acylic, and, preferably, is heptane or cyclohexane. The terpolymers are obtained in high yield, as a white powder, which can be filtered and dried easily.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to terpolymers of a vinyl lactam, a polymerizable carboxylic acid and a hydrophobic monomer, and, more particularly, to precipitation polymerization of such terpolymers within a defined compositional range, prepared in high yield, as a white powder, which can be filtered and dried easily.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Terpolymers of vinyl lactams, e.g. vinyl pyrrolidone or vinyl caprolactam, polymerizable carboxylic acids, e.g. acrylic acid or methacrylic acid, and hydrophobic monomers, e.g. alkyl vinyl ethers, have found application in the photographic industry, as coatings, as biological membranes, in drug release systems, as preservatives, in oil recovery processes, in immunochemicals, and in cosmetic materials.
For example, Straub, F. et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,595,737 prepared water soluble terpolymers of a vinyl lactam, acrylic acid and 50-80% of a C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkyl vinyl ether by solution polymerization in alcohol or a cyclic ether.
Blank, I. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,482,534, disclosed a solution polymerization process in cyclohexane for preparing terpolymers comprising 62.5% vinyl pyrrolidone, 5% acrylic acid and 32.5% lauryl methacrylate. The product was a viscous mass which was very difficult to filter; it was isolated by casting a film of the terpolymer and evaporating the solvent.
Blank, I. and Fertig, J., in U.S. Pat. No. 4,248,855, described a series of terpolymers of vinyl pyrrolidone, acrylic acid and methyl acrylate, prepared by solution and emulsion polymerization.
Other references of interest in this field include U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,044,873; 3,862,915; 4,283,384 and 4,737,410.
The terpolymer products made by these solution and emulsion polymerization methods, however, were not amenable to ready recovery of the polymer in high yield and in the form of a powder.
Precipitation polymerization is a known method for preparing polymers as a powder which can be filtered and dried easily; it is available when the monomers are adequately soluble in the reaction solvent and the polymer is insoluble in the solvent. A commercially successful precipitation polymerization process, however, must provide a precipitate of the polymer as a powder, in a non-toxic solvent, in high yield, which is easy to filter, and within a desired polymer compositional range.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a precipitation polymerization process for making terpolymers comprising a vinyl lactam monomer, a polymerizable carboxylic acid monomer and a hydrophobic monomer, which precipitation polymerization process provides the terpolymer as a powder which is easy to filter, in high yield, in a non-toxic solvent, and within predetermined compositional ranges of monomer constituents.

Precipitation polymerization of terpolymers of a vinyl lactam, a polymerizable carboxylic acid and a hydrophobic monomer in an aliphatic hydrocarbon solvent


A method, apparatus, and program product perform microstructure analysis of a digital image of rock using a trained convolutional neural network model to generate a plurality of rock features. The rock features can represent a pore space in the microstructure of the rock including pores and throats. In many implementations, a statistical process can be applied to the rock features to generate characteristics of the pore space which can be used in classifying the rock.

Simulation and modeling software are used throughout the oil & gas industry for exploration, appraisal, development and production of oil fields. In addition, visualization tools incorporated into or external to such software are used to display and manipulate representations of petroleum reservoirs that are modelled as large volumes subdivided into cells, with each cell storing properties of the reservoir in particular locations in the reservoir.
Some of the properties that are utilized in many reservoir models and simulations are porosity and permeability. Porosity refers generally to the fraction of spaces or voids in a material (e.g., a rock), and thus is useful for estimating the volume of fluid (e.g., hydrocarbons) that can be contained within the material. Permeability refers generally to the ability of a material such as a rock to transmit fluids. For some types of rocks, e.g., sedimentary rocks, the rocks are primarily formed of tiny grains that are separated from one another by a pore space generally formed of pores connected by throats, and the relative sizes and geometries of such pore spaces can appreciably affect the volume of hydrocarbons contained in different regions of a reservoir as well as the ability of such hydrocarbons to be recovered by a reservoir production system.
Therefore, a significant need exists in the art for an improved manner of assessing rock properties, and particularly for doing so in a computationally efficient manner.

Automated material classification by structural features


A smart phone system includes a smart phone with wireless local area communication function, a home phone, a public switched telephone network (PSTN) or Internet, a radio base station, a smart wireless phone gateway and an outside phone, the system utilizing the wireless local area communication system for the smart phone to register in the smart wireless phone gateway, and utilizing the smart wireless phone gateway for dialing out through the public switched telephone network (PSTN) or Internet.

A smart phone is very convenient for outdoor use, telephone numbers of relatives and friends are stored in a phone list in the smart phone, and touching the name of relatives and friends displayed on the smart phone is used for dialing out.
After going home, generally a home phone is used for dialing out, the home phone has no phone list, so the phone list in the smart phone is used for looking up, and then dialing out through the home phone, it is not convenient.
WiFi is a wireless local area network (WLAN) system based on IEEE 802.11. The communication range of WiFi are limited, a typical wireless router based on 802.11b or 802.11g and WLAN antenna has a range of about 32 meters indoors and 95 meters outdoors, so WiFi is only suitable to home or indoor wireless communication.
VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is one of the popular communication technology. In VoIP, SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) defined by IETF is the most widely used protocol because of its simple structure, expandability and easy operation.

Smart phone system for dialing through local call and methods thereof

NATIONAL TAIPEI UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY


A method of configuring a storage system includes the steps of: sending a command to one or more units in the electronic system to enter into an address setting mode; generating a signal for a user to identify units that have entered the address setting mode; and setting up an address for a unit based on an input received from the user.

In typical automated stock control systems, a storage cabinet comprises a plurality of latched drawers held between panels fixed between support beams. Articles to be supplied to users are provided in the drawers or compartments of the drawers. Examples of such articles include cutting tools and the like used with machine tools; other manufacturing tools and components; drugs, needles and other medical items; and legal documents. A control system allows a user to access the required article by unlatching the drawer containing the required article. The drawer is then pulled out from the home position (where no compartments are exposed) to the extent that the compartment containing the article is exposed, when the drawer is latched again to prevent further opening of the drawer.
In a known system, each panel is centrally connected to a system controller which sends commands for both operation and maintenance of the panels. The panels in the same row are provided on the same bus and are addressed using multi-drop communications. In other words, the system controller broadcasts the same command to all the panels on the bus, but the command includes the address of the panel for which the command is intended.
Each panel in such a system is addressed manually using a set of jumpers, in which a set of pins is connected to each other in a unique arrangement, to identify the panel. This makes the assembly process difficult and leads to problems when it is needed to replace the panel and use the same jumper arrangement as on the original panel. If a wrong jumper arrangement is used, it can be very hard to diagnose.
It is known for electronic systems to include a plurality of controllers that can self-diagnose/self-test and carry out the operations requested by the system controller. When the system controller broadcasts a command, the respective controllers on the panels check to see whether their address matches that of the address sent by the system controller. If it does not, it ignores the command; if it does, it operates based on the command. However, this approach requires the address to be pre-set for each controller. Such an arrangement presents difficulties in a configurable system in which any controller is desired to be fitted in any position, both when it is assembled in the first place and when it is reconfigured. To provide each controller with a pre-set address matching the intended physical position in the system is expensive and makes the assembly difficult and error prone. Moreover, this also requires a stock of spare parts with controllers with pre-set addresses.


A method of displaying an HLL (high, low, last) type symbol representative of changes in price during a time period in which a highest price occurred at a first time within the time period, and a lowest price occurred at a second time within the time period, the method includes receiving a last price corresponding to a third time within the time period, comparing the last price to the highest price and the lowest price, in response to the comparing step, updating the highest price with the last price and updating the highest price to correspond to the third time if the last price is greater than or equal to the highest price and updating the lowest price with the last price and updating the lowest price to correspond to the third time if the last price is less than or equal to the lowest price, generating, by a charting engine, the HLL type symbol by drawing a spatiotemporal relationship between the highest price, the lowest price, and the last price in accordance with a selected symbol rendering method, wherein a height of the HLL type symbol indicates a difference between the highest price and the lowest price and a width of the HLL type symbol indicates a difference between the third time and an earlier of when the highest price occurred and the lowest price occurred, and displaying, by the charting engine, the generated HLL type symbol at a particular position.

A bar chart also known as a OHLC (Open, High, Low, Close) chart is a collection of price bars, with each bar showing the price movements for a given time period. As shown in prior art of FIG. 1-A, each bar has a vertical line 110 that shows the highest price 114 and the lowest price 118 reached during the time period. The opening price 122 is marked by a tick mark of a small horizontal line on the left of the vertical line 110, and the closing price 126 is marked by a tick mark of a small horizontal line on the right of the vertical line 110. A bar chart variation might only display a HLC (High, Low, Close) chart including HLC bars that omit the opening price 122 and does not include the tick mark of a small horizontal line on the left of the vertical line 110. Bar charts are very similar to Japanese candlestick charts. The two chart types show the same information but in different ways. Candlesticks also have a vertical line showing the high and low of the period, but the difference between the open and close is represented by a thicker portion called a body. Neither of these charts show more specific information as to when the high price and low price occurred during that given time period nor do these charts even indicate which of a high price and low price came first.
Since the latter part of the nineteenth century far-eastern traders have used candlesticks for charting markets and for analysis based on trends in market psychology. Candlestick patterns are now commonly used in technical analysis to describe price movements of securities (e.g., stocks, bonds, ETFs, mutual funds, etc.), derivatives (e.g., options, forwards, futures, swaps, etc.), indices, or currencies over time. As shown in prior art of FIG. 1-B, the candlestick consists of a rectangular body 130, the height of which represents the difference between a time period's open price 134 and close price 138. A centerline projecting from the top of the rectangle extends upward to the period's high price 142 is known as an upper wick 146 whereas a similar centerline extends from the bottom to the period's low price 150 is known as a lower wick 154. When the closing trade price 138 is higher than its opening trade price 134, the body 130 of the up or bullish candlestick is filled with usually a white or green color. As shown in prior art of FIG. 1-C, as the opening trade price 134 is higher than its closing trade price 138, the body of the down or bearish candlestick is filled 158 with usually a black or red color.
The length of the candlestick varies with the price difference. When the price ranges between the opening trade price and the closing trade price increase, the body will be lengthened. Likewise, the upper or lower wick will be lengthened due to the highest or lowest trade price, respectively. As shown in prior art of FIG. 1-D, candlestick patterns have emerged due to the variety of sizes of both body and wicks. To name a few, a bullish Marubozu 160 and bearish Marubozu 165 have no wicks which occur when the highs and the lows also represent the opening and the closing prices and is considered a continuation pattern. A Hanging Man 170 can be a black or a white candlestick that consists of a small body near the high with a little or no upper wick and a long lower wick. The lower wick should be two or three times the height of the body and is considered a bearish pattern during an uptrend. Similarly, a Shooting Star 175 can be a black or a white candlestick that has a small body, a long upper wick and a little or no lower wick and is considered a bearish pattern in an uptrend.
A Dragonfly Doji 180 is formed when the opening and the closing prices are at the highest of the day. If it has a longer lower wick it signals a more bullish trend. When appearing at market bottoms it is considered to be a reversal signal and a Gravestone Doji 185 is formed when the opening and closing prices are at the lowest of the day. If it has a longer upper wick it signals a bearish trend. When it appears at market top it is considered a reversal signal. Lastly, a Long-Legged Doji 190 consists of a Doji with very long upper and lower wicks indicating strong forces balanced in opposition and possible market indecision. Nearly all candlestick patterns fall into three broad categories, namely bull, bear, and doji categories. There can be a price gap between adjacent candlesticks which occurs when the high and low price range of the first candlestick does not overlap with the high and low price of the second candlestick.
Both price bars and candlestick wicks are displayed along a centerline of a vertical axis to show the high and low price range of a given time period and does not offer more specific information as to when the high price and low price occurred during that given time period. Although an improvement is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,844,487 issued on Nov. 30, 2010 by Chapman, entitled, "Computer-implemented method for displaying price and value extremes" by adding angled tips to the top and bottom of a price bar to serve as additional visual indicators that show which of the high price and low price came first, such teaching relies on adding additional graphical information and remains silent on displaying more precisely when the high price and low price had occurred in a given time period.
U.S. Patent Application 20040267654 filed on Jun. 26, 2003 by Peng, et al., entitled, "Candlestick and bar charts" similarly discloses the addition of new graphical elements in the form of one or more dotted horizontal lines that yield more information as to price direction near the open and/or close price but is silent as to offering any new information regarding when either the high and low price occurred.
To date, all known charting programs from trading software, banks, brokers, independents, and third parties similarly dynamically update a current candlestick for display in a candlestick chart during price changes throughout a given time period of the candlestick by rendering and displaying the same full fixed width of the candlestick while updating the height of the body and wicks along the centerline according to each price change leaving a user without any sense of when the time period ends and left waiting to only then view the final candlestick upon learning of the close price for that time period. Analogously, the same holds true for OHLC and HLC price bars where the vertical line depicting the high price and low price remains though changing in height remains static in the same vertical position throughout the time period. The speculative reason for this is that it appears all charting engines and modules are configured to receive market data in the form of OHLC data which does not specify when the high price or low price has occurred during the time period.
Prior art candlesticks are inaccurately drawn due to chart libraries coded to draw a single high price-low price vertical line and then draw a candle body symmetrically atop of the vertical line. The art is silent regarding drawing separate vertical lines to create a separate upper wick and lower wick. Further, the time axis label indicating the start of a time period is inaccurately drawn directly under the high price-low price vertical line. The drawing of the vertical line is indicative of treating it is a single wick, which has set the stage for decades now of developers, users, and the public at large to fail to even recognize that there are much more visually accurate ways to visually represent the reality of price fluctuations during a given time period.
Accordingly, in light of the above, there is a strong need in the art for systems, methods, and devices to overcome this lack of more specific information and provide a user with more timely and more visually accurate charting information during a given time period.

Price range symbol display system, method, and device


Provided are small-molecule Trp-p8 modulators, including Trp-p8 agonists and Trp-p8 antagonists, and compositions comprising small-molecule Trp-p8 agonists as well as methods for identifying and characterizing novel small-molecule Trp-p8 modulators and methods for decreasing viability and/or inhibiting growth of Trp-p8 expressing cells, methods for activating Trp-p8-mediated cation influx, methods for stimulating apoptosis and/or necrosis, and related methods for the treatment of diseases, including cancers such as lung, breast, colon, and/or prostate cancers as well as other diseases, such as benign prostatic hyperplasia, that are associated with Trp-p8 expression.

Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH), also known as benign prostatic hypertrophy, refers a disease in which prostate epithelial cells grow abnormally which result in a non-cancerous enlargement of the prostate gland. BPH typically occurs in middle-age and elderly men, and is very common. It afflicts more than 10 million adult males in the United States, and many millions more throughout the rest of the world. Half of all men over 50 develop symptoms of BPH. The enlargement of the prostate gland may result in compression of the urethra, resulting in difficult, urgent, and frequent urination. If left untreated, it may result in urinary tract infections, urinary bladder stones, or renal failure.
Until relatively recently, surgical intervention to remove the prostate was the only treatment of the disease, and even today, surgery is the treatment of last resort, almost inevitably relied upon when other treatments are not, or cease to be, effective. Prostate surgery and recovery therefrom is painful, and the surgery itself may not be effective and poses the risk of serious side effects, including bleeding, infection, and impotence. For a recent review, see Barry et al., 2001, "Measuring the symptoms and health impact of benign prostatic hyperplasia and its treatments" Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (5th International Consultation on BPH). Health Publication, Ltd.
Only two classes of drugs are currently available to treat the symptoms of BPH: Alpha blockers and 5-alpha reductase inhibitors. 5-alpha reductase inhibitors, such as Finasteride (Proscar) work to slow prostate growth by blocking production of compounds that inhibit production of the active form of testosterone (dihyrdotestosterone or DHT). Use of drugs in this class can cause a loss of libido, sexual dysfunction. and loss of muscle mass and tone in males and is associated with an increased occurrence of high grade prostate cancer. In addition, this therapy is limited by the very long delay (months) between first administering the drug and significant reduction in prostate size in the patient.
Alpha blockers, such as Terazosin (Hytrin), act by relaxing the smooth muscles, allowing urine to pass through the urethra more freely. While this class of drugs reduces symptoms more rapidly than the first, it does not treat the disease by reducing the size of the prostate or preventing it from growing larger, which can lead to eventual surgical intervention. Side effects include dizziness, light-headedness and fatigue.
Thus, there is a significant, unmet need for drugs that can treat the underlying disease condition of BPH without serious side effects. The present invention meets that need.
Prostate carcinoma is the most common cancer diagnosed in men in the United States and has the second highest cancer death rate yielding only to lung adenocarcinoma. Parker et al., CA Cancer J. Clin. 46:5-27 (1996). Although it is possible to effectively treat organ-confined prostate cancer, there are very limited treatment options for metastatic disease. Thus, it is of great importance to find novel ways to diagnose early stage disease and to closely monitor both progression and treatment of the disease, as well as to develop new therapeutic approaches. To achieve this, it is important to understand the molecular mechanisms of prostate cancer development and to identify new biochemical markers for disease diagnosis and progression.
To date there are very few prostate-specific markers available. The best-known and well-characterized markers of proven prostate cancer diagnostic value are the proteins prostatic acid phosphatase (PAP), prostate specific antigen (PSA), and prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA). Each of these proteins has also become the target for novel immunotherapy approaches to the treatment of disease. Horoszewicz et al., Anticancer Res. 7:927-935 (1987); Barren et al., Prostate 30:65-68 (1997); Murphy et al., Prostate 33:281-285 (1997); Murphy et al., Prostate 26:164-168 (1995); Rochon et al., Prostate 25:219-223 (1995); Correale et al., J. Immunol. 161:3186-3194 (1998); and Murphy et al., Prostate 38:73-78 (1999).
It has been reported that a cation channel protein, variously designated Trp-p8 (transient receptor potential-p8), TRPM8, and CMR1 (cold and menthol receptor 1), is preferentially expressed in prostate. Cloning of the full-length human Trp-p8 cDNA revealed a transcript corresponding to an 1104 amino acid polypeptide sharing homology with the trp family of calcium channels. Clapham et al., Nature Reviews 2:387-396 (2001) and Clapham et al., IUPHAR Compendium, TRP Channels (2002). Trp-p8 shows particularly high homology with the human TRPC7 gene—a putative Ca2+ channel protein of the trp family that is highly expressed in brain tissue. Nagamine et al., Genomics 54:124-131 (1998). Trp-p8 also shows significant homology to human melastatin, another Trp family-related protein expressed in melanocytes and believed to be a tumor suppressor gene. Duncan et al., Cancer Res. 58:1515-1520 (1998) and Hunter et al., Genomics 54:116-123 (1998). Perhaps of greatest interest is the observation that the Trp-p8 gene appears to be expressed in a large spectrum of nonprostatic, in addition to prostatic, neoplastic lesions. Tsavaler et al., Cancer Res. 61(9):3760-9 (2001).
The Trp superfamily comprises more than 20 related cation channel proteins that have been implicated in processes including sensory physiology to vasorelaxation and male fertility. Defects in Trp channels have been associated with changes in growth control and tumor suppression. While all Trp proteins are calcium channels, they vary significantly in their selectivity and mode of activation. Members of the Trp superfamily share significant sequence homology and predicted structural similarities, such as size of predicted transmembrane segments.
Trp-p8 is over-expressed in a range of cancers including prostate, breast, lung and colon, while within normal tissues, it is predominantly expressed in human prostate [Tsavaler et al., supra] and dorsal root ganglia (DRG), (Dendreon, unpublished observation). Fuessel et al. reported that Trp-p8 is a highly prostate-specific and prostate carcinoma-associated gene thus qualifying it as a potential target for specific therapies. International J. of Oncology 23:221-228 (2003). Among other species, Trp-p8 orthologues are reportedly expressed in a subset of DRG and trigerminal ganglia (TG) neurons in rat [McKemy et al., Nature 416(6876):52-8 (2002)] and mouse [Peier et al., Cell 108(5):705-15 (2002)] as well. Thus, Trp-p8 is a pantumor-expressed marker with significant potential use in disease diagnosis and monitoring of disease progression during treatment as well as a viable target for cancer therapy.
Association of Trp-p8 with prostate, lung, breast, and colon cancers and the important role various ion channels play in vital cell functions suggest that the Trp-p8 channel may have a significant function in cancer cell signaling and/or proliferation. Modulation of Trp-p8 activity, either by activating via an agonist or inhibiting via an antagonist, at a physiological temperature can be valuable as a therapeutic to manipulate the Trp-p8 expressing cells in a specific manner. See for example U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/923,413.
Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for small-molecule modulators of Trp-p8 activity, compositions comprising one or more small-molecule Trp-p8 modulators, and methods for the identification and use of small-molecules for modulating the activity of Trp-p8 in a cell and for the treatment of disease associated with the aberrant expression of Trp-p8.

Small-molecule modulators of Trp-p8 activity


Application requirements of an application running on a wireless device are received. The wireless device is handed off from a first network to a second network when a first handoff criteria is met based on the application requirements, first network conditions, and second network conditions. A second network usage of the application is limited based on the application requirements and the second network conditions, and first network conditions are monitored while the application is running on the wireless device in communication with the second network. The wireless device is handed off from the second network to the first network when a second handoff criteria is met based on the application requirements, the first network conditions and the second network conditions.

Multi-frequency communication networks are capable of providing access to a communication network, such as the Internet, through more than one frequency band. Each wireless band may have different characteristics, including differences in coverage and differences in available and total channel capacity and spectrum. Different transmissions schema can be used, such as time-division or frequency-division multiplexing.
Frequency bands may be controlled by more than one network operator, which can permit wireless devices to access the controlled network under a subscription agreement. The network to which a wireless device is subscribed is sometimes called a home network. Wireless devices can also be permitted to access networks other than the network to which they are subscribed, sometimes referred to as foreign networks. However, roaming fees can be charged to the subscriber according to the access to the foreign network. Roaming fees can be calculated in a number of ways, for example, based on a number of bytes of data consumed on the foreign network. A subscriber is typically charged roaming fees on top of a subscription charge for access to the home network. It is therefore in the interest of the operator of the home network to avoid and/or reduce, to the extent possible, having their subscribers roam to foreign networks while delivering quality user experience.
Overview
In an embodiment, application requirements of an application running on a wireless device are received. The wireless device is handed off from a first network to a second network when a first handoff criteria is met based on the application requirements, first network conditions, and second network conditions. A second network usage of the application is limited based on the application requirements and the second network conditions, and first network conditions are monitored while the application is running on the wireless device in communication with the second network. The wireless device is handed off from the second network to the first network when a second handoff criteria is met based on the application requirements, the first network conditions and the second network conditions.

Managing a network connection of a wireless device


A lining system for a fluid containment vessel having an outer section with a floor surface and a vertical surface. The inner section is attached to the outer section so that interstitial space exists between the outer section and the inner section and a continuous negative pressure exists in the interstitial space. The floor surface is formed from a cost saving template. The vessel is divided into at least two independently sealed portions. The inner section includes a shell skirt that reaches a critical height within the vessel to reduce the effects of corrosion and to avoid stresses on the vertical surface. A flushing mechanism allows the area to be purged of any leaked material.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a lining system for a fluid containment vessel, and more particularly, to an easy to install, inexpensive system providing improved corrosion protection and enhanced monitoring and reporting ability for leakage.
2. Description of Related Art
Concern for environmental pollution has resulted in governmental requirements that certain chemicals stored in tanks must be guarded against leaking into the surroundings. For several liquids, federal, state and local regulations require double containment systems for the protection of groundwater.
For steel tanks, it is well known to protect tanks against corrosion by electrically isolating connecting piping of different metals to prevent the development of corrosive currents, by protectively coating the inside and outside of the steel tank with a coating material, by means of cathodic protection using a sacrificial anode to reverse corrosive underground current flow, and by placing an impressed current on the tank. Many steel tanks have a layer of sand between the outer tank and the inner tank for absorption of leaks, and for support of the inner tank against the outer tank.
Furthermore, it is known in the prior art to monitor corrosion by having a negative pressure between the inner tank and the outer tank. Often, because of the separation between the inner tank and the outer tank, the vacuum effect is less than the desired amount. It is therefore a need in the industry to have an improved monitoring system.
Some non-metallic liners are known to be used in the art. However, these liners do not make use of a metal's superior toughness, compression resistance and impact resistance.

Secondary containment system for liquid storage tank


The present invention relates to a constant voltage constant current (CVCC) controller, and associated control methods. In one embodiment, a CVCC controller for a flyback converter can include: (i) a current controller configured to generate an error signal by comparing an output current feedback signal against a reference current; (ii) a voltage controller configured to receive an output voltage feedback signal and a reference voltage, and to generate a control signal; (iii) a selector configured to control the flyback converter to operate in a first or a second operation mode based on the control signal, and to further generate a constant voltage or a constant current control signal based on the error signal; and (iv) a pulse-width modulation (PWM) controller configured to generate a PWM control signal to control a main switch, and to maintain the output voltage and/or current of the flyback converter as substantially constant.

With rapid development in the power supply industry, applications of constant voltage (CV) and/or constant current (CC) switch mode power supplies have increased. Consequently, requirements for CV and/or CC controllers have increased, and power supply manufactures are targeting power supplies with high performance, small volume, and low product costs. As shown in FIG. 1, an example of a conventional secondary controlled CVCC controller for a flyback converter can regulate an output voltage and an output current through sampling resistors, optical coupler 101, and secondary-side feedback controller 102. Sampling resistors can be used to sense output voltage or current, and generate a feedback signal. Optical coupler 101 can be used to transfer the feedback signal to secondary-side feedback controller 102, and second-side feedback controller 102 can be used to control switch QM. In this way, the output voltage and output current can be regulated as substantially constant. However, drawbacks of this approach include high power losses and high product costs, due to feedback components for the secondary-side feedback controller and an optical coupler to transfer the feedback signal.
FIG. 2 shows an example primary controlled CVCC controller for a flyback converter. This flyback converter can include primary winding Np, secondary winding Ns, auxiliary winding NT, main switch QM, current sense resistor Rs, dividing resistors R11 and R22, and controller 201. Auxiliary winding NT can be used to obtain output voltage information, dividing resistors R11 and R22 can be used to divide the output voltage information and generate secondary output voltage feedback signal VFB, and current sense resistor Rs can be used to detect primary current Is and generate secondary output current feedback signal IFB. Controller 201 can be used to receive output voltage feedback signal VFB and output current feedback signal IFB to control a duty cycle of switching signal of main switch QM. As a result, CVCC on the secondary-side can be achieved.
Though the volume and product costs of the example CVCC controller of FIG. 2 can be reduced, other drawbacks remain. For example, during operation of the flyback converter, when the current flowing through secondary winding Ns is reduced to about zero, an induced voltage on secondary winding NT may be significantly decreased, and as a result secondary output voltage feedback signal VFB may not follow variation of the output voltage precisely to yield a large deviation. In this approach, the system may not be precisely controlled. In addition, implementation of the controller may be relatively complicated with a large number of circuit components, because a constant voltage control loop and a constant current control loop controlled by an external compensating circuit may be included.

Constant voltage constant current controller and control method thereof

Silergy Semiconductor Technology (Hangzhou) LTD


A liquid crystal display includes an insulating substrate, gate and data lines formed on the substrate to define pixel areas, or collectively a display area. Gate signal interconnection wires are formed at a corner portion of the substrate outside the display area to transmit gate electrical signals, and provided with gate signal interconnection lines and first and second gate signal interconnection pads connected to both ends of the gate signal interconnection lines. A gate insulating layer, and a protective layer are further formed on the substrate, and provided with first and second contact holes exposing the first and second gate signal interconnection pads. Gate and data signal transmission films are attached to the substrate, and provided with first and second gate signal leads and first and second gate signal wires. The first and second gate signal leads are connected to the first and second gate signal interconnection pads through the first and second contact holes. The first or the second gate signal lead completely covers the first or the second contact hole at least in the longitudinal direction of the lead.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display and a method for fabricating the same and, more particularly, to a liquid crystal display showing good performance characteristics.
(b) Description of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display is one of the flat panel displays that have been currently used in a most extensive manner. Such a liquid crystal display basically has two glass substrates with electrodes for generating electric fields, a liquid crystal layer sandwiched between the substrates, and polarizing plates externally attached to the substrates. When voltage is applied to the electrodes, the liquid crystal molecules are re-oriented to thereby control light transmission.
One of the substrates is provided with an array of thin film transistors (TFTs) for switching voltages applied to the electrodes.
The TFT array substrate has a plurality of gate and data lines proceeding in the horizontal and vertical directions, respectively. The data lines cross over the gate lines to thereby define pixel areas, and pixel electrodes are formed at the pixel areas. The TFTs control picture signals transmitted thereto through the data lines in accordance with scanning signals transmitted thereto through the gate lines, and sends the picture signals to the pixel electrodes. The display area may be outlined by the set of the pixel areas surrounded by the wiring lines. A plurality of gate and data pads are formed at the TFT array substrate external to the display area while being connected to the gate and data lines. The gate and data pads are directly connected to external driving ICs to receive scanning signals and picture signals from the outside, and transmit the signals to the relevant signal lines.
A gate printed circuit board, and a data printed circuit board are provided external to the TFT array substrate to transmit relevant signals thereto. A data signal transmission film interconnects the TFT array substrate with the data printed circuit board, and a data driving IC is mounted on the data signal transmission film to convert electrical signals into data signals, and send the data signals to the data pads and the data lines. Furthermore, gate signal transmission films connect the TFT array substrate with the gate printed circuit board, and gate driving ICs are mounted on the gate signal transmission films to convert electrical signals into gate signals, and send the gate signals to the gate pads and the gate lines.
Gate signal pads, and data signal pads are aligned with the gate and data pads in a one to one correspondence, and connected thereto through thermal compression process using an anisotropic conductive film (ACF).
Meanwhile, the gate printed circuit board may be omitted. In this case, the data printed circuit board generates gate signals, and sends the signals to the gate signal transmission film. Gate signal wires for transmitting the gate signals are formed at the data signal transmission film connected to the data printed circuit board. Gate signal interconnection wires are formed at the TFT array substrate to connect the gate signal lines of the gate signal transmission films with the gate signal wires. The gate signal wires, and the gate signal interconnection wires are connected to each other to receive gate signals from the data printed circuit board, and transmit the signals to the gate driving ICs.
However, in the above structure, corrosion should not occur at both pad portions of the gate signal interconnection wires interconnecting the gate signal lines and the gate signal wires to obtain good contact characteristics, and the thermal compression process using the ACF should be performed in a stable manner.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a liquid crystal display which involves good contact characteristics.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a liquid crystal display where gate signal interconnection pads are covered by leads of gate and data signal transmission films, or stepped difference at the contact poritons is minimized.
These and other objects may be achieved by a liquid crystal display with an insulating substrate. The substrate is overlaied with a plurality of gate lines, and a plurality of data lines crossing over the gate lines to define pixel areas. A gate signal interconnection line assembly is formed at the substrate. The gate signal interconnection line assembly is provided with gate signal interconnection lines, and first and second gate signal interconnection pads connected to both ends of the gate signal interconnection lines to relay gate electrical signals to the gate lines. Insulating layers are formed on the substrate while bearing first and second contact holes exposing the first and second gate signal interconnection pads. Gate signal transmission films are attached to the substrate while each mounting a gate driving integrated circuit thereon to receive gate electrical signals and send gate signals to the gate lines. Each gate transmission film has first gate signal wires, and first gate signal leads connected to the first gate signal interconnection pads through the first contact holes. Data signal transmission films are attached to the substrate with second gate signal wires, and second gate signal leads connected to the second gate signal interconnection pads through the second contact holes. The first or the second gate signal lead completely covers the first or the second contact hole at least in the longitudinal direction of the lead.
The liquid crystal display further includes a printed circuit board connected to the data signal transmission films to send the gate and data electrical signals to the gate driving integrated circuits and the data driving integrated circuit.
Pixel electrodes are formed on the insulating layer at the pixel areas. First and second subsidiary gate signal interconnection pads are formed at the same plane as the pixel electrodes while covering the first and second contact holes. The first and second subsidiary gate signal interconnection pads are positioned between the first and second gate signal interconnection pads and the first and second gate signal leads, respectively.
The insulating layers are formed with a gate insulating layer covering the gate lines, and a protective layer covering the data lines over the gate insulating layer. The first or the second gate signal lead completely covers at least one side of each contact hole in the longitudinal direction. The gate signal interconnection line assembly may be formed at the same plane as the gate lines or the data lines, and provided with first gate signal interconnection lines placed at the same plane as the gate lines, and second gate signal interconnection lines placed at the same plane as the data lines. The first and the second gate signal interconnection lines are connected to each other via the first and second subsidiary gate signal interconnection pads.


A passive shim assembly for a magnet having a central bore is provided. The passive shim assembly includes a plurality of axially extending guide rails bonded directly to the bore of the magnet and equally spaced circumferentially. A plurality of arcuately shaped drawers are slidably mounted between adjacent channel pieces. A plurality of stacks of arcuate strips of magnetic flux conducting material demountably secured to each of the drawers, the strips extending in the circumferential direction.

The present invention relates to creating highly uniform magnetic fields in magnets used for magnetic resonance imaging, by the use of passive shimming to improve magnetic field homogeneity.
To create a highly uniform magnetic field with an electromagnet or array of permanent magnets, it is necessary to build the magnets to a carefully specified shape, and to strive to minimize the deviations from the specified shape due to manufacturing variations. The resulting magnets, however, typically require field corrections to achieve the desired level of inhomogeneity, due to deviations of the magnet from the designs or due to the presence of ferromagnetic material in the vicinity of the magnet.
To improve field uniformity, correction coils are typically used. These coils are capable of creating different field shapes which can be superimposed on an inhomogeneous main magnetic field to perturb the main magnetic field in a manner which increases the overall field uniformity. Unfortunately, many sets of such coil are typically required. A state of the art magnetic resonance (MR) imaging magnet has between 10 and 20 independent sets of corrections coils, each with its own power supply to provide the correct current flow. Naturally, these coils add significantly to the cost and complexity of the magnet.
Passive shimming is currently used to correct large deviations in magnetic fields that cannot be corrected by the available correction coils alone. The passive shimming is accomplished by placing a piece of iron in an appropriate place outside the magnet. The desired level of field uniformity can then be achieved by the correction coils.
A passive shimming assembly must provide accurate and reproducible placement of the passive shims in the magnet to avoid difficulties in removing and returning shim carriers to exactly the same location, the assembly must be rigid and accurately referenced to the magnet cryostat. The radial thickness should have a small radial extent to take up as little as possible of the magnet bore space thereby leaving room for the radio frequency coils and patient table.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a passive shimming assembly for a magnetic resonance magnet which can achieve a level of field inhomogeneity required for magnetic resonance imaging, without the use of correction coils.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a shimming assembly which when used with a superconducting magnet can be adjusted without de-energizing the magnet.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a rigid assembly for mounting and locating the shim carriers while reducing the radial intrusion of the assembly into the magnet bore.


A plant support comprises two or more vertically elongated closed looped members which are rotationally spaced around a common vertical axis and connected to each other at the upper end and the lower end of the plant support. The plant support comprises an above-ground section and a relatively shorter in-ground section which is inserted into a planting hole or plant pot before soil is added and a plant is placed inside the plant support. The vertically elongated closed looped members are made of a rigid band material, such as e.g. stainless steel band having a width which is significantly wider than the band is thick.

Plant supports are generally well known in the art. Typical prior art plant supports include a plurality of vertical members and a plurality of horizontal members. The vertical members have opposite top and bottom ends. The vertical member bottom ends are adapted to be inserted into the soil to thereby anchor the plant support to the earth and enable the plant support to support a plant. Some prior art plant supports have vertical members with pointed or sharpened bottom ends to facilitate the insertion of the vertical members into the soil. Typically, the horizontal members are attached to each vertical member and are arranged so that the horizontal members are vertically spaced along the length of the vertical members. The major drawback of the prior art plant supports is that they are designed to be pushed into the soil after planting, and thus to not provide reliable anchoring in the ground.
In preparing to use the prior art plant supports, a user positions the plant support over the plant to be supported and inserts the vertical member bottom ends into the soil. U.S. Pat. No. 6,349,502 discloses a prior art cage for supporting vegetable plants in a garden that can be inserted into the soil without deforming. A horizontal bottom member is provided to be stepped on so that the bottom horizontal member and lower sections of the vertical members engage with the earth and anchor the plant support in the soil. Consequently, the prior art plant support cannot be easily used for potted plants, as stepping onto a plant support in an elevated pot is inconvenient, if not impossible.
Both the horizontal members and the vertical members of prior art plant supports are typically made of wire or rods having a circular cross section. The horizontal members of the prior are plant supports are typically round hoops with a large central opening through which the plant may grow. However, some prior art plant supports utilize straight horizontal members. Prior art plant supports that use straight horizontal members are configured to allow a plant to be tied to the horizontal members by rope, twine, string or the like and are similar in nature to the aforesaid posts.
The more common, hoop type horizontal members typically have hoops that increase in diameter as the horizontal members are arranged from the bottom of the plant support to the top of the plant support. The increasing diameter hoops also have an associated increase in their central openings. These types of plant supports are positioned on top of a plant and allow a plant to grow upwardly through the central openings in the horizontal members. The horizontal members thereby provide support for the branches of the plant at various levels and allow for the plant to increase in diameter as the plant grows upwardly. These prior art plant support horizontal members are made of the same flexible and easily bent material as the vertical members. Therefore, the horizontal members also have the tendency to deform during the insertion of the plant support into the soil.
Because the typical prior art plant supports utilize a flexible and easily bent material, the durability of these plant supports is low and the plant supports are typically used only for a few growing seasons. Because the vertical members are so flexible, the user usually cannot insert a vertical member into the soil to the desired depth in a single action without bending or distorting the other vertical members. Additionally, the flexible nature of the prior art plant supports require the user to bend over or sit on the ground to grasp each vertical member near the bottom end to insert the vertical members into the soil.