A central processing unit (CPU) and a real-time scheduling method applicable in the CPU are disclosed. The CPU may determine a first task set and a second task set from among assigned tasks, schedule the determined first task set in a single core to enable the task to be processed, and schedule the determined second task set in a multi-core to enable the task to be processed.

1. Field
Example embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a central processing unit (CPU) that may effectively schedule tasks requiring a real-time performance, while ensuring the real-time performance, in a multi-core environment to be a base of an ultra-high performance embedded system such as a media service system of the future, an intelligent home server, and the like, and a real-time scheduling method applicable in the CPU.
2. Description of the Related Art
A multi-core based real-time scheduling algorithm may be roughly classified into a partitioned scheduling algorithm and a global scheduling algorithm. Each of the real-time scheduling algorithms may assign real-time tasks included in a queue to a core to enable the tasks to be processed in real time.
The partitioned algorithm may include effectively utilized algorithms, such as a partitioned-Earliest Deadline First (EDF), etc. However, the partitioned algorithm may cause a situation in which the tasks are not able to be scheduled to ensure the real-time performance even in a task set in which real-time scheduling is possible.
As a representative algorithm of the global scheduling algorithm, a Pfair algorithm may be used. The Pfair algorithm is an algorithm in which the multi-core based real-time scheduling is possible while ensuring the real-time performance in the tasks. Specifically, the Pfair algorithm may ensure the real time performance with respect to all task sets in which the real-time performance is determined to be ensured. However, in the global scheduling algorithm, problems may frequently occur, such as task migration and context switch, and much overhead may occur in system resources as a result. Consequently, the global scheduling algorithm such as the Pfair algorithm may ensure the real-time performance in a multi-core environment in theory, however, may be rarely used in an actual environment.

Real-time scheduling of task sets and determination of task sets based on verified weight, cache hit radio of the tasks and available processing cores


Apparatus for preventing jackknifing between a tractor of a trailer truck and a trailer coupled thereto is disclosed. The apparatus includes a latch block that is movable to a deployed position forward of the front edge of the tractor's fifth wheel and a pair of stop blocks, one disposed on each side of the trailer wear plate so that a laterally extending arm of the latch block will come into contact with one of them upon relative pivotal movement of the fifth wheel and trailer wear plate beyond a predetermined angle. Upon making contact, the blocks prevent further angular movement. Arms of the latch block have projecting end portions on their upper side that slide under end portions of the stop blocks which are spaced apart from the wear plate. This secures the latch block from being sprung downward past the stop block upon occurrence of jackknifing. The latch block is supported by a forward extension of the fifth wheel and by gussets that extend underneath the fifth wheel and are welded thereto. All of the blocks have a substantial thickness, providing high strength locking action, and the blocks and supporting structure may be secured to the fifth wheel and wear plate by welding and without cutting of holes or slots in those members. The disclosed structure also includes sensors and switching devices for automatically deploying and retracting the latch block at predetermined speeds, as well as an electronic control and monitoring module that records the history of deployment and retraction events.

One of the problems associated with operation of trailer trucks in the tendency of the tractor and attached trailer to jackknife under certain conditions. Tractors and trailers are conventionally coupled together by a fifth wheel on the trailer in which a kingpin secured to the trailer is pivotally received. This coupling enables the tractor to pull the trailer and provides for relative pivotal movement for maneuvering the vehicle. Jackknifing occurs when the trailer pivots relative to the tractor to an extent such that the operator can no longer maintain or recover control over the vehicle. Typical driving conditions which may cause jackknifing are those in which the tractor wheels are made to lock and slide or to spin; in either case, the direction of the wheel can no longer be controlled, and it takes the path of least resistance. Improper braking or steering and accelerating or decelerating too fast can all cause jackknifes, especially on roads made slick by rain, snow, or ice. Anti-jackknifing arrangements have been developed to prevent or minimize jackknifing action by limiting the allowable pivotal movement between the tractor and trailer.
Various anti-jackknifing devices for installation on trailer trucks are disclosed in prior patents. In general, these devices include a first stop retractably mounted on either the fifth wheel or on a wear plate under the trailer and a pair of cooperative stops mounted spaced apart on the other of these members. The pair of stops limit pivotal movement beyond a predetermined angle when engaged by the first stop. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,556,232, issued Dec. 3, 1985, to Server; 4,585,248, issued Apr. 28, 1986, to Miller et al.; and 4,120,514, issued Oct. 7, 1978, to Sanders, disclose arrangements wherein an auxiliary pin is mounted on the fifth wheel and is deployable upward so as to be positioned in an arcuate slot in the wear plate under the bottom of the trailer. Pivotal movement of the tractor in these devices is limited by the length of the slot, the pin being stopped when it engages an end of the slot. U.S. Pat. No. 4,119,330, issued Oct. 10, 1978, to Capps, discloses the use of a pair of spaced abutments on the fifth wheel and a movable stop on the trailer. U.S. Pat. No. 3,895,827, issued July 22, 1975, to Padrick, discloses mounting of a stop block on the fifth wheel platform for movement upward into an arcuate recess at the periphery of the wear plate on the trailer, stopping action occurring by engagement of the block with the edge defining an end of the recess. The devices disclosed in these patents include features such as a pneumatic or hydraulic cylinder and suitable linkage for deploying and retracting the stop in and out of its operating position.
Prior anti-jackknifing arrangements as discussed above present a disadvantage in that they require cutting into the fifth wheel and/or the wear plate of the trailer in order to provide necessary slots or recesses for operation of the movable stop member. This requirement makes installation of the apparatus on the fifth wheel and trailer plate difficult, and the resulting slots or recesses substantially reduce the strength of the plate or fifth wheel, creating weak points susceptible to failure. It would be desirable to provide anti-jackknifing apparatus that may be installed on existing trailers and fifth wheels by means such as welding without cutting slots or recesses in existing structural members. Apparatus with such features is disclosed in my co-pending application, referenced above. That apparatus included a brick-shaped latch block deployable from a stowed position below the fifth wheel and engageable when deployed upward with similarly shaped stop blocks secured to the bottom of the wear plate of the trailer. In this apparatus, flush contact of the end of a stop block is made by a side of the latch block adjacent to its forward end when deployed. This arrangement proved unsatisfactory when undergoing tests in that the deployed latch block end, when subjected to the severe forces encountered in an actural jackknifing situation, was sprung downward out of position and past the stop block, thus allowing the trailer and tractor to jackknife. Structure that provides for interlocking of the engaging blocks so as to prevent failure due to being sprung out of position is therefore required.
Other features needed for optimum use of such apparatus include a means for automatically disabling the system at low speeds to enable routine turning of the truck and means for monitoring and recording a history of occurrences of activation and deactivation of the system.

Anti-jackknife apparatus for trailer trucks


An engine having a rotor including at least one slot and at least one combustion chamber used to form a cavity is provided. The engine also includes at least one vane rollably disposed in the slot, and a block for receiving the rotor, and having a first quadrant including an inlet port, a second quadrant, a third quadrant, and a fourth quadrant having an outlet port. The vane moves through the first quadrant, drawing air into the block and the cavity. The vane then moves through the second quadrant, compressing the air. The vane then moves through the third quadrant, combusting the air, and forcing the rotor to rotate. The vane then moves through the fourth quadrant, forcing the air out of the outlet port.

Internal combustion engines are generally known. The type of internal combustion engine most commonly used is an internal combustion engine having at least one piston disposed within a cylinder and connected to a crank shaft through the use of a connecting rod. The piston moves from the top of the cylinder to the bottom of the cylinder during operation, this is also referred to as stroke length. Air and fuel that is injected into the cylinder gets compressed as the piston moves toward the top of the cylinder. Once the air and fuel is compressed, it is combusted, forcing the piston to move downward in the cylinder. Air is repeatedly taken into the cylinder, compressed and combusted as the piston moves in the cylinder in a cyclical manner.
The motion of the piston moving in the cylinder is translated to the crank shaft through the connecting rod which translates the linear motion of the piston to rotational motion. The connecting rod has a bearing which is offset from the center of the crank shaft bearing and connected to the connecting rod. As the distance from the bearing to the center of the crank shaft is increased, the stroke length of the piston increases, and the ability to generate an increased amount of torque is increased as well. However, an increased stroke length also increases the amount of compression of the air inside the cylinder. One of the draw backs to an internal combustion engine is that increasing the compression of the air inside the cylinder can cause the air and fuel to combust prematurely. Therefore, in a conventional gasoline internal combustion engine, the stroke length, and hence the maximum torque which can be generated, is limited.
Also, the angle of the connecting rod also changes as the piston moves in the cylinder and the crankshaft rotates. The crank shaft is typically heavy in order to deal with the reciprocating motion of the piston in the cylinder. A great deal of heat and mechanical energy is wasted during this transfer of motion of the piston. The piston also has to stop at a "top dead center" position (the point at which the piston has moved to the top of the cylinder) during the combustion stroke. This allows valuable heat and energy that can be used to provide mechanical energy to escape. Approximately one third of the heat energy from combustion is lost through the cooling system and another third is lost through the exhaust system. This leaves one third of the heat energy from combustion to be used for mechanical energy.
The piston slides in the cylinder and relies on oil to minimize friction. In one portion of the stroke of the piston, the angle of the connecting rod is positioned such that the friction level on one side of the piston increases greatly. If the engine does not have an adequate cooling system, and oil lubrication, the piston would seize inside the cylinder under load. An oil pump is needed to generate significant pressure to keep the bearing sliding on a film of oil, or else the bearings will seize. This friction can also produce inconsistencies in power and reduce the efficiency of the engine. Other points of friction that are located in the valve train also inhibit efficiency as well.
Another type of engine is commonly referred to as a "rotary engine." This type of engine includes a rotor disposed within a housing, with the rotor mounted on a large circular lobe on an output shaft. The lobe is offset from the center of the output shaft, providing the leverage, and therefore torque necessary for operation. The rotor is typically three-sided, and creates three chambers inside the housing, one chamber for each side of the rotor. Each chamber changes size as the rotor rotates in the housing. As the rotor rotates, each chamber receives air from an intake port, and the air is then compressed in a similar manner to that of an internal combustion engine having pistons. The rotor will continue to rotate, and the air will be combusted, and forced out of an exhaust port. To help keep the chambers separate from one another, seals are used between the rotor and the housing to keep the air and fuel in each of the chambers from mixing.
However, these seals not only rotate in a circular manner with the rotor, but also rotate in an epitrochoidal manner, causing excessive wear in the seals. Also, typical rotary engines do not burn all of the fuel in the chamber during the combustion process due to the poor surface to volume ratio, which leads to reduced fuel economy and higher emissions.
Accordingly, there exists a need for an improved type of internal combustion engine which does not have the disadvantages of an internal combustion engine having pistons, such as poor utilization of combustion energy as mechanical energy, high friction, and being limited by the stroke length of the pistons; as well as not having the disadvantages of a rotary engine, such as poor sealing characteristics, poor fuel economy, and lower torque due to limited leverage at the output shaft.


An adjustable goggle with eyepieces that are individually custom fitted over the user's eye sockets. The goggle includes a strap configured to extend around the user's head, two face conforming eyepieces affixed and configured on the strap so that they may be positioned over the user's eyes, and a three axis, adjustable nosepiece that extends between the two eyepieces. The nosepiece is made of one or more elastic strands that have the same or different resilient properties. The ends of the strands are affixed to the eyepieces to apply a resilient force thereon. During use, the user selects the desired nosepiece so that the eyepieces may be independently aligned themselves over the eye sockets and form a comfortable, watertight seal against the surrounding facial tissues when the goggles are worn. If needed, an optional sealing pad may be affixed to the inside surface of each eyepiece to provide a watertight seal against the surrounding facial tissues.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to goggles and more particularly to goggles designed to conform to the user's eye sockets and facial features.
2. Description of the Related Art
For swimmers, finding goggles that properly fit and provide a watertight seal against the face is important. Unfortunately, it is estimated that approximately 50% of commonly worn goggles provide a watertight seal. While some goggles are designed to address the watertight problem by using seals made of gel material to create a watertight seal, these goggles do not address the problem of eye spacing variations and the anatomical facial differences of the users that cause poor fitting goggles.
For example, one variation is the distance between the user's pupils and eyes and orbital sockets. Some individuals have less distance between their pupils, eyes, and orbits compared to the norm, which is commonly known as hypotelerism. Other individuals have greater distance between their pupils, eyes, orbits compared to the norm, which is known as hypertelerism. Unfortunately, most goggles commonly available today are 'one size fits all' and have fixed length nosepieces that hold the eyepieces apart at a fixed distance for most wearers.
The primary purpose of a nosepiece on a goggle is to hold the two eyepieces in place over the users' eyes. While some goggles include nosepieces that enable the user to selectively adjust the distances between the eyepieces, they do not allow the eyepieces to be independently adjusted to conform to the adjacent eye socket or anatomical features.

Goggles with facial conforming eyepieces


A system for sowing seeds in cells of a germination tray or other container and related methods of operation. The system may include a conveyor configured to move the germination tray in a conveying direction, a seed storage container configured to hold a plurality of seeds, a seed sowing machine, and a seed diverting mechanism. The seed sowing machine may be configured to transfer the seeds from the seed storage container along at least one seed transport path and into respective cells of the germination tray as the conveyor moves the germination tray in the conveying direction. The seed diverting mechanism may be configured to selectively divert seeds from the at least one seed transport path such that the diverted seeds are not deposited in cells of the germination tray during operation.

Young plants are sometimes grown together in a germination tray. Germination trays typically include a plurality of cells or compartments arranged in evenly-spaced row and columns. Each cell may be filled with soil and then sowed with a single seed or grouping of seeds. The seedlings that sprout from these seeds may be transplanted into separate containers or the ground when they become too large for the germination tray.
Oftentimes a seed sowing machine is employed to assist with depositing seeds into respective cells of the germination tray. Conventional seed sowing machines typically are configured to pick up seeds from a hopper or other container of loose seeds. Thereafter, the seed sowing machine will carry the seeds in an orderly fashion to respective drop-off locations where the seeds are released and fall into respective cells of the germination tray. Throughout this process, the germination tray is continuously conveyed beneath the seed sowing machine, so that the seeds are dropped into cells of the germination tray in relatively rapid succession.
In certain situations, a conventional seed sowing machine may fail to deposit a seed or a target number of seeds in each cell of the germination tray. Such sowing errors can result from a variety of factors including, for example, the seed sowing machine failing to pick up seeds from the hopper, the seed sowing machine prematurely dropping seeds before transporting them to their intended drop-off locations, and/or the seeds bouncing or rolling off of the soil included in the germination tray upon impact. The faster the seed sowing machine operates the more likely that such sowing errors may occur. Thus, in order to ensure a high yield of seedlings from the germination tray, a conventional seed sowing machine may be operated at reduced speeds, where seed sowing errors are less likely to occur. Another challenge is that due to the size or color of certain seeds, it may be difficult or cost-prohibitive for a human to visually inspect the germination tray to confirm that a seed or a target number of seeds has been sown in each cell. Consequently, sowing errors may go unnoticed until seedlings begin to sprout from the germination tray, which in many cases is too late for taking corrective action.
The present disclosure sets forth seed sowing systems and seed sowing methods embodying advantageous alternatives to existing seed sowing systems and seed sowing methods, and that may address one or more of the challenges or needs mentioned herein, as well as provide other benefits and advantages.

Systems for correcting seed sowing errors and related methods


A post securing system that secures a post in the ground, while allowing for a full range of vertical adjustment via a coupling assembly that includes an articulating ball joint element that is connected to a post support element secured within two clamp assemblies. The clamp assemblies each include an anchor assembly which, when assembled, secures at least three stake elements at a predetermined angle. The post securing kit includes both the coupling assembly and the anchor assembly to allow securing a post into a non-horizontal ground, while maintaining the desired vertical alignment of the post held therewithin.

Post or pole fixation is most often seen in securing fence posts in the ground. These applications require that the pole or post be vertically aligned with great accuracy; however, the ground into which these are secured, may not be level or may be against the side of a slope or hill. Because the poles or posts being utilized are typically long in relation to their thickness, it can be difficult to accurately align them.
One of the existing common methods utilized is to dig a hole and set the post in concrete. The post or pole can be aligned vertically with other posts or poles to keep the alignment while the concrete cures. In many cases, the position of the pole or post must also be constrained with additional posts or poles to maintain alignment during concrete curing. Generally, concrete must cure for several days, depending on weather conditions, before the post or pole is sufficiently fixed to be usable. This method, although labor intensive and time consuming, allows for exact vertical alignment of the pole or post. Thus, there is a need for a system that allows for the accurate alignment of posts or poles while requiring much less labor and time than the existing systems.
In addition, many post or poles used currently for fencing deploy wood directly in the earth or encased in cement. Both of these methods result in failure in a relatively short period of time. In some environments where moisture, freezing temperatures and insects are prevalent the time period is extremely short. Frost heave is a common problem in cold weather climates, in which the frozen ground effectively pushes out of the ground the concrete block that is securing a post. Thus, there remains a further need to an improved system for anchoring posts that minimizes costs, and enables the use of materials having long-term durability in a ranges of environments.

Anchoring system with post angular adjustment


A liquid crystal display panel and a manufacturing method thereof, and a motherboard of a liquid crystal display panel are provided. According to the embodiments of the present disclosure, in one aspect, identification patterns are formed in different unit display panel regions of the same exposure region of a motherboard of an array substrate by designing a mask of the array substrate of a liquid crystal display panel, to distinguish the unit display panels exposed in the same batch; in another aspect, the unit display panels exposed in different batches are distinguished through the arrangement modes of the color filters in the unit display panel regions of a motherboard of a color filter substrate, to realize marking of all unit display panels on a same motherboard glass.

In a technical field of display, liquid crystal display panels are widely used in modern digital information devices due to advantages such as small size, low power consumption, no radiation and high resolution and so on.
For panel manufacturers, the more unit display panels segmented from one motherboard glass, the higher the profitability of the product line is. A panel identification (ID) is manufactured on each unit display panel during the manufacturing process to distinguish each unit display panel. As different unit display panels have different panel identifications, a laser pen is used to mark each unit display panel sequentially in the product line. When there is a small amount of unit display panels on one motherboard glass, the marking of panel identifications is relatively simple, and occupies less productive capacity of the product line. But when there are a large amount of unit display panels on one motherboard glass, the marking of panel identifications is trivial, and occupies more productive capacity of the product line, especially when currently the size of unit display panels made of each generation of panel manufacturing is smaller and smaller, and there are hundreds of unit display panels on one substrate of the motherboard glass, the marking of panel identifications is troublesome. Sometimes, the marking of panel identifications is not performed for the sake of productive capacity of the product line. Consequently, problems arising in a later fabrication procedure fail to be traced back to a previous procedure, significantly reducing efficiency of the product line. On the other hand, a peripheral region of a small-sized display panel becomes smaller and smaller, and panel identifications per se will occupy certain space, so it is needed to explore a method for marking panel identifications of a small-sized display panel.

Liquid crystal display panel and manufacturing method thereof and motherboard of liquid crystal display panel

Hefei BOE Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd.


Disclosed are methods of utilizing a morphogenically active fragment of 60A protein to induce tissue morphogenesis, including methods for increasing a progenitor cell population in a mammal, methods for stimulating progenitor cells to differentiate and maintain their differentiated phenotype in vivo or in vitro, methods for inducing tissue-specific growth in vivo and methods for the replacement of diseased or damaged tissue in vivo.

This invention relates to methods for the use of morphogenically active fragments of 60A protein to induce tissue morphogenesis in mammals, including methods for promoting tissue stasis, repair and regeneration, and methods for increasing progenitor cell populations using morphogenically active fragments of the protein.
Cell differentiation is the central characteristic of morphogenesis which initiates in the embryo, and continues to various degrees throughout the life of an organism in adult tissue repair and regeneration mechanisms. The degree of morphogenesis in adult tissue varies among different tissues and is related, among other things, to the degree of cell turnover in a given tissue. On this basis, tissues can be divided into three broad categories: (1) tissues with static cell populations such as nerve and skeletal muscle where there is no cell division and most of the cells formed during early development persist throughout adult life; (2) tissues containing conditionally renewing populations such as liver where there is generally little cell division but, in response to an appropriate stimulus, cells can divide to produce daughters of the same differentially defined type; and (3) tissues with permanently renewing populations including blood, testes and stratified squamous epithelia which are characterized by rapid and continuous cell turnover in the adult. Here, the terminally differentiated cells have a relatively short life span and are replaced through proliferation of a distinct subpopulation of cells, known as stem or progenitor cells.
The cellular and molecular events which govern the stimulus for differentiation of these cells is an area of intensive research. In the medical field, it is anticipated that the discovery of factor(s) which control cell differentiation and tissue morphogenesis will advance significantly medicine's ability to repair and regenerate diseased or damaged mammalian tissues and organs. Particularly useful areas include reconstructive surgery and in the treatment of tissue degenerative diseases including arthritis, emphysema, osteoporosis, cardiomyopathy, cirrhosis, and degenerative nerve diseases.
A number of different factors have been isolated in recent years which appear to play a role in cell differentiation.
Recently, various members of the structurally related proteins of the transforming growth factor (TGF)-.beta. superfamily of proteins have been identified as true morphogens.
This "family" of proteins, sharing substantial amino acid sequence homology within their morphogenically active C-terminal domains, including a conserved six or seven cysteine skeleton, are capable of inducing tissue-specific morphogenesis in a variety of organs and tissues, including bone, cartilage, liver, dentin, periodontal ligament, cementum, nerve tissue and the epithelial mucosa of the gastrointestinal tract (see the copending, related U.S. applications Ser. No. 667,274, filed Mar. 11, 1991 abandoned in favor of (U.S. application Ser. No. 08/404,113 filed, Mar. 14, 1995) and U.S. application Ser. No. 08/404,113 filed Mar. 14, 1995 and U.S. application Ser. No. 08/260,675, filed Jun. 16, 1994 and U.S. application Ser. No. 08/132,883 filed May 21, 1995. The proteins apparently bind to surface receptors or otherwise contact and interact with progenitor cells, predisposing or stimulating the cells to proliferate and differentiate in a morphogenically permissive environment. The morphogens are capable of inducing the developmental cascade of cellular and molecular events that culminate in the formation of new organ-specific tissue, including any vascularization, connective tissue formation, and nerve ennervation as required by the naturally occurring tissue.
Among the proteins useful in tissue morphogenesis are proteins originally identified as bone inductive proteins, such as the OP-1 (comprising, e.g. Seq. ID NO. 3), OP-2 (comprising, e.g. Seq. ID NO. 5) and the CBMP2 (comprising, e.g. Seq. ID NO. 7 and 8) proteins, as well as amino acid sequence-related proteins such as BMP5 (comprising, e.g., Seq. ID NO. 14) and BMP6 (comprising, e.g., Seq. ID NO. 15), DPP (comprising, e.g., Seq. ID NO. 9) (from Drosophila), Vgl (comprising, e.g., Seq. ID NO. 10) (from Xenopus), and Vgr-1 (comprising, e.g., Seq. ID NO. 11) and GDF-1 (comprising, e.g., Seq. ID NO. 12) (from mouse see, for example, application Ser. No. 08/404,113, filed Mar. 14, 1995, U.S. Ser. No. 667,274 (abandoned in favor of CIP U.S. application Ser. No. 08/404,113, filed Mar. 14, 1995 and application Ser. No. 08/432,883 filed May 2, 1995. These TGF-.beta. superfamily members comprise a distinct subfamily of proteins different from other members of the TGF-.beta. superfamily in that the family of morphogenic proteins are able to induce the full cascade of events that result in tissue morphogenesis, including stimulating cell proliferation and cell differentiation, supporting the growth and maintenance of differentiated cells and inducing the "redifferentiation" of transformed cells to display a morphology characteristic of untransformed cells. The morphogenic proteins apparently act as endocrine factors rather than as local-acting growth factors like TGF-.beta.. Specifically, the endogenous morphogens may be synthesized and secreted from a factor-producing tissue and can be transported to, and act on, a tissue at a distance, e.g., a tissue other than the tissue in which they are synthesized.
The morphogens are synthesized in the cell as a precursor molecule approximately three times larger than the mature protein that is processed to yield mature disulfide-linked dimers comprising the C-terminal domain of the precursor sequence. The proteins are inactive when reduced, but are active as oxidized homodimeric species as well as when oxidized in combination with other morphogens to produce heterodimers. The proteins useful in tissue morphogenesis typically require a suitable environment enabling cells to proliferate and differentiate in a tissue-specific manner into, e.g., bone-producing osteoblasts, hemopoietic cells, or liver cells, depending on the nature of the local environment. The proliferation and differentiation of cells induced by the morphogenic proteins requires a suitable local environment including a suitable substratum on which the cells can anchor. The proliferating and differentiating cells also require the presence of appropriate signals to direct their tissue-specificity, such as cell surface markers.
Recently, another member of the TFG-.beta. superfamily of structurally related proteins has been identified in Drosophila melanogaster, the Drosophila 60A gene (comprising, e.g., Seq. ID NO. 1) (Wharton et al., (1991) Proc. Nat'l. Acad. Sci. USA 88: 9214-9218.) Northern blot analysis of Drosophila tissue with a C-terminal 60A-specific probe suggests that the 60A gene (comprising, e.g., Seq. ID NO. 1) is expressed throughout development with peaks of transcription during early embryogenesis. The 60A gene (comprising, e.g., Seq. ID NO. 1) consists of a single exon comprising a 1365 base-pair open reading frame encoding a 455 amino acid protein. It has been discovered that the encoded amino acid sequence for 60A (comprising, e.g., Seq. ID NO. 2) includes regions sharing high sequence homology with members of the family of morphogenic proteins.
It is an object of this invention to provide methods for utilizing a morphogenically active fragment of the 60A protein (comprising, e.g., Seq. ID NO. 2) to induce the developmental cascade of tissue morphogenesis for a variety of tissues in mammals. The morphogenic properties of 60A protein (comprising, e.g., Seq. ID NO. 2) include the ability to induce proliferation and differentiation of progenitor cells, and the ability to support and maintain the differentiated phenotype through the progression of events that results in the formation of adult tissue. Another object is to provide methods for the expression and isolation of a morphogenically active fragment of 60A protein (comprising, e.g., Seq. ID NO. 2) using recombinant DNA techniques. Still another object is to provide tissue-specific acellular matrices that may be used in combination with a morphogenically active fragment of 60A protein (comprising, e.g., Seq. ID NO. 2), and methods for their production. Other objects include utilizing a morphogenically active fragment of 60A protein (comprising, e.g., Seq. ID NO. 2) in a range of methods, including methods for increasing a progenitor cell population in a mammal; methods for stimulating progenitor cells to differentiate in vivo or in vitro and to maintain their differentiated phenotype; methods for inducing tissue-specific growth in vivo, and methods for the replacement of diseased or damaged tissue in vivo. These and other objects and features of the invention will be apparent from the description, drawings, and claims which follow.


An inter-field motion vector of an interlaced scanned inputted image is detected, and, using the detected inter-field motion vector, movements between fields are compensated to constitute a frame. The frame is then subjected to block coding. Alternatively, an interlaced scanned input image is subjected to two-dimensional block division and further an activity of each two-dimensional block is calculated. Using the activity as an index, the two-dimensional block is divided into either field small blocks constituted by field data or frame small blocks constituted by frame data, and the divided small blocks are coded. By these steps, even an image having large motion does not invite degradation of image quality, and high efficiency image coding can be realized.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image coding method and apparatus to be used for compressing and transmitting or recording a digital image.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The transfer rate of digital images reaches several hundred Mbps to several Gbps, and there arise restrictions such as communication cost in transmitting and recording capacity cost in recording, and so on. Accordingly, hitherto there have been developed an image coding method and apparatus designed to lower the transfer rate while maintaining the degradation of the image quality to the minimum extent.
Hereinafter there will be described the image coding method of CCIR H.261 specification which is an example of the conventional image coding methods as mentioned above.
The objective input is a non-interlaced image which is called a CIF format. FIG. 10 shows a time-space diagram of the pixels of the input image. In the diagram, the abscissa shows the direction of time and the ordinate shows the vertical direction, i.e., line direction. In the diagram, the group of the pixels having a same time axis is called a CIF frame, and the coding is carried out in units of CIF frames.
The first CIF frame to be coded, i.e., the image of frame t, is subjected to intra-frame coding. That is to say, the image data is first divided into two dimensional blocks of 8.times.8 pixels and converted to transform coefficients in the unit of each two dimensional block by DCT (Discrete Cosine Transform). Next, the transform coefficients are quantized and sent out to the transmission line. In general, since the images have high correlations, and when they are subjected to DCT, the energies of the images having been subjected to DCT are concentrated on the transform coefficients corresponding to the low frequency components. Accordingly, by carrying out quantizing in such a manner as to roughly quantize the visually less significant high frequency components and finely quantize the low frequency components, which are the important components, it becomes possible to limit the degradation of image quality to a minimum extent and to reduce the data amount (cf CCITT Recommendation H.261, "Video coder for audiovisual services at px64 kbits/s", Geneva 1990)
However, the above-mentioned image coding method cannot efficiently code the interlaced scanned image inputs. At present, the generally used images are interlaced scanned. FIG. 11 is a time-spaced diagram of the pixels of the interlaced images. The pixels are arranged by interlacing to the time-shifted positions every vertical line. In the figure, in general, the group of the pixels having a same time axis is called a field, and a combination of the two fields having different time axes is called a frame. A frame is constituted by a field 1 and a field 2. To the input of FIG. 11, the conventional image coding method is applicable on a field by field basis, but in such case the correlations between fields, i.e., the vertical correlations, cannot be utilized, so that the coding efficiency is low. The field 1 and the field 2 have different time-space positions from each other, but in general have high correlations. For example, in the still image, the image does not change with time. When the points x, y and z in FIG. 11 are assumed, the correlation between the points x and y is higher than that between the points x and z. Therefore, next there is consideration to combine the field 1 with the field 2 to make a frame, and to carry out coding on the combined frame by frame basis. FIG. 12 is an example of having formed a frame by combining the fields, being expressed as a vertical and horizontal two-dimensional plane. In the figure, a triangle is panned from left to right. The frame formed by simply combining the fields has problematic points such that, in the case of the images having large movements, as in the hypotenuse of the triangle in the figure, there arises a part which shows degradation of correlations in the vertical direction, thereby providing a cause for the degradation of the image quality in coding.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


An automotive tool serving as a pinch bar and lever for gripping an automotive suspension workpiece between first and second tool elements and an extended handle for increasing force to free the workpiece from its fastened position. Alternately, the first and second tool elements can be positioned against opposing workpieces to free one from the other again using the extended handle to amplify the applied force causing separation. The tool is designed for the automotive repair industry in the removal and installation of suspension members, such as CV joints, ball joints, struts, etc that require the dismantling of parts that have bonded due to dirt, wear and electrolytic reactions, such as oxidation, resulting in time intensive and hazardous tasks depending on the inventiveness of the mechanic in performing the separation task.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to manually operated hand tools and, more specifically, to a tool serving as a pinch bar and lever having means for gripping an automotive suspension fastened workpiece between first and second tool elements and an extended handle for magnifying a force placed thereon to free the workpiece from its fastened position. Alternately, the first and second tool elements can be positioned against opposing workpieces to free one from the other again using the extended handle to amplify the applied force causing separation.
More specifically, the tool is designed for the automotive repair industry in the removal and installation of suspension members, such as CV joints, ball joints, struts, etc that require the dismantling of parts that have bonded due to dirt, wear and electrolytic reactions, such as oxidation, resulting in time intensive and hazardous tasks depending on the inventiveness of the mechanic in performing the separation task.
Furthermore, some of these parts are compressed by tensioning members, which is not where you want your fingers to be. According to OSHA and the U. S. Department of Labor estimates, there are approximately 3,000,00 workers in the automotive industry and as more females enter the automotive workplace the need increases for more ergonomic tools that are less dependant on an individual's muscle mass and more considerate of the aforementioned safety concerns and can result in lower labor costs to the consumer through employment of the present invention within the automotive industry.
It should be noted that careful consideration was given and is considered an integral part of the inventive process as to the angular position of the handle when the tool is placed in the operative position since many of the suspension members extend downwardly. Preferably, once engaging the workpiece the handle is cantilevered in a positive horizontal plane.
Additional consideration was given to one of the workpiece engaging members incorporating hanger means so that once placed in the operative position, it would remain there allowing for hands free operation for the user by straddling the handle and applying the necessary pressure by leaning on the handle as needed. In other words, the tool provides means whereby the user doesn't have to use their hands to apply force. Using one's legs either by straddling the handle or simply apply pressure to the handle with a knee provides for hands free operation.
The other engaging member was also found to be more functional having a hyperbolic tip that can more easily engage tubular members from varying degrees.
It is not considered essential to the invention that the tip form a curved plane or that the hanger have a somewhat U-shape but the tool is functionally more ergonomic incorporating these improvements, as opposed to a flat or rounded tip or the hanger having more of an L-shape. The tool would certainly function in a similar manner but not as efficiently. There is also a brace extending between the curvature at the base of the handle and the shaft extending to the tool tip with the hanger fastened thereto and extending therefrom. Again it was found through trial and error that this arrangement provided a more durable tool as opposed to fastening the hanger to the main tool shaft. The tool would still function within the scope of the present invention but it is felt would result in an inferior quality tool. Therefore such an arrangement is within the scope of the present invention, but preferably manufactured having a brace with the hanger extending therefrom, which will provide a more durable and quality tool.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are other tools designed for manual use. Typical of these is U.S. Pat. No. 2,681,791 issued to Hahn on Jun. 22, 1954.
Another patent was issued to Cooper on Jul. 28, 1959 as U.S. Pat. No. 2,896,910. Yet another U.S. Pat. No. 4,039,140 was issued to Pulliam on Aug. 2, 1977 and still yet another was issued on May 2, 1989 to Thomas as U.S. Pat. No. 4,826,136.
Another patent was issued to Schmeling on Mar. 19, 1991 as U.S. Pat. No. 4,999,898. Yet another U.S. Pat. No. 5,020,202 was issued to Turrell on Jun. 4, 1991 and still yet another was issued on Dec. 21, 1993 to Senters as U.S. Pat. No. 5,271,115.
Another patent was issued to Kosbab on May 6, 1997 as U.S. Pat. No. 5,626,063. Yet another U.S. Pat. No. D424,901 was issued to Landry on Dec. 21, 1993. Another U.S. Pat. No. 5,909,910 was issued to Schaffer on Jun. 8, 1999 and still yet another was issued on Oct. 21, 2003 to Sim as U.S. Pat. No. 6,634,620.
A brake adjusting tool comprising a substantially straight bar having one end portion thereof flattened on two opposite sides, a lug disposed outwardly from the bar on one of said two sides at a point spaced from said one end thereof, a pivot pin carried by said lug and extending from one side of the lug at right angles thereto, and—a hook lever pivoted upon said pivot pin and movable around said pivot pin only in a plane parallel with the bar, said hook lever being of a length slightly greater than the distance from the pivot pin to said one end of the bar and having an angular hooked end extending to a point on the opposite side of said bar from the pivot pin and terminating in a backwardly disposed end, whereby the hook lever may be swung over said one end of the bar so that it may be disposed upon either of said first mentioned two sides of the bar with the hooked end thereof located closer to the axis of the bar in one position than in the other position.
The present invention relates to new and useful improvements in tools for use by carpenters either in the erection or demolition of buildings. A hand tool embodying a wrecking bar and constructed at one end with a U-shaped hook which projects laterally at one side of the bar and which may be used for various purposes in engaging lumber during the construction or wrecking of a building.
A tool for removing nails in the form of a bar curved to form a fulcrum at its working end, which terminates as a short first forked claw. A second forked claw of intermediate length is fixed at a second distance from the fulcrum and a long third fork claw is fixed at a second distance from the fulcrum with all forked claws being generally similarly curved and extending in the same direction from the bar. The second and third claws are used to fasten about a nail head which has been partially lifted above the surface on which the fulcrum is rested, for complete removal of the associated nail.
A lever type tool with an elongated handle, and a head having two opposed and spaced apart claws projecting in the same direction at the opposite sides of a space to closely receive a portion of a rectangular cross section of a lumber member.
An improved tool for manually removing or installing rail anchors of the spring clip type, includes an anchor engaging portion adapted to grip the anchor during installation or removal from the rail base. A handle is provided which has an angular portion and a substantially horizontally extending portion attached to the anchor engaging portion and includes a contiguously formed downwardly extending step portion for permitting stepping forces to supplement forces generated by arm and hand motion.
A tool for installing a spring clip for clipping together extensions for sheet metal. An angled handle terminates in an extended underlip at an operating end. A jaw having a flat bottom face and a hooked end is pivotally affixed, offset from the underlip. The underlip is curved to form a pushing face, opposed to the hook on the jaw. The tool is used to install a spring clip on sheet metal extensions, placing one end of the spring clip across a sheet metal extension and hooking the sheet metal extension and clip together with a jaw hook. By pivoting down the handle, the underlip presses against the opposing sheet metal extension forcing the extensions together and forcing the jaw face down over the spring clamp clipping the clamp over the sheet metal extensions, installing the clip.
A brake slack adjuster and tire tester tool including a main support assembly having mounted thereon a connector hook assembly and, on an outer end, an arm connector and tire tester assembly. The tool support assembly has a main handle assembly having on one end a hand gripper assembly which is operable to be grasped by the user thereof. The connector hook assembly is provided with a main hook member secured to an outer portion of the main handle member and operable to grasp onto a portion of a rocker arm assembly of an air brake assembly on a truck/trailer assembly. The arm connector and tire tester assembly is provided with a tire tester section and an arm connector section. The tire tester section is operable for impacting an outer surface of a tire member to check the condition thereof. The arm connector section is operable to contact and grasp a portion of the rocker arm assembly of the air brake assembly and cooperates with the connector hook assembly for ease of pivotal movement of the rocker arm assembly for testing slack in the air brake assembly.
A tool for shifting the locking bar of a fifth wheel of a tractor from a locked position to an unlocked position includes an elongate handle having a U-shaped locking handle engaging member. The handle includes a straight portion, an offset portion, and a terminal portion having the U-shaped member affixed to its outer end. The U-shaped member engages the locking handle in overlying relation and the terminal portion underlies and engages the offset portion of the locking handle whereby when the tool is rotated, the locking handle will be shifted to the unlocked position.
The ornamental design for a belt wench crank assembly, as shown and described.
A tool comprising a bar with a pair of teeth proved at one end of the bar and a handle portion attached at the other end of the bar approximately perpendicular to the bar. The teeth are spaced apart from each other in order to allow an end of a t-post clip to removably insert therebetween. The teeth are approximately parallel with the handle and extend outward from the bar in a direction opposite the direction that the handle extends from the bar. The tool is used to twist the ends of t-post clips in order to secure the clips to fence wire to the t-post, or alternately, to remove clips therefrom.
The present invention 10 discloses a special purpose tool for removing control arms 18 from ball joint sockets 24 of vehicles 20. The present invention comprises an elongated handle 22 consisting of steel tubing along with a front end piece 16 made from steel round stock being offset with member 30 from the handle 22. Also a U-shaped bracket 28 is welded to the front end piece wherein the bracket has a hook 34 with a point 38 on the hook for contacting various structures of the vehicle 20. The point 38 of the hook, the front tip 36 and the handle 22 all lie in a single plane so that the tool will not rotate and slip off the work piece. The present invention can also have variously shaped surfaces on the point 38 of the hook and the front tip 36 for contacting various structures on a vehicle.
There are other devices used for specialized prying of automotive components, but while these prying devices may be suitable for the purposes for which they were designed, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention, as hereinafter described.


The present disclosure relates to systems, non-transitory computer-readable media, and methods for expanding user segments automatically utilizing user embedding representations generated by a trained neural network. For example, a user embeddings system expands a segment of users by identifying holistically similar users from uniform user embeddings that encode behavior and/or realized traits of the users. Further, the user embeddings system facilitates the expansion of user segments in a particular direction and focus to improve the accuracy of user segments.

Advancements in computer and communication technologies have resulted in improved digital content dissemination systems for generating and providing digital content to client devices across computing networks. For example, conventional digital content dissemination systems can execute digital content campaigns of various scales that provide customized digital content items to client devices of individual users in real-time. Further, content dissemination systems can provide digital content items to potential customers via a number of different media channels, such as instant messages, emails, digital alerts, advertisement displays, impressions, notifications, search results, websites, or texts.
Indeed, users routinely access millions of websites or applications a day. Furthermore, a single website, application, or Uniform Resource Locator ("URLs") may receive thousands to millions of visits or views a day. With such large quantities of network destinations and visits, web administrators and marketers often seek to gather information concerning users. In some instances, a web administrator may seek to identify a specific segment of users who have specific characteristics or who have demonstrated a certain pattern of behavior.
The amount of analytic data a system may collect, for even a single website or application, may be unwieldy or too difficult to manage or mine. The amount of data can be particularly problematic for websites or applications that receive thousands or millions of daily visitors or users. Conventional analytics engines often lack the ability to identify and organize captured data in a meaningful way. Even the conventional analytics engines that possess this ability, however, consume significant processing power.
Indeed, conventional analytics engines suffer from a number of technical shortcomings. For example, conventional analytics engines have been unable to efficiently analyze user profile and attribute data to represent users in a uniform manner. More particularly, conventional analytics engines struggle to encode user behavioral data into uniform representations. As a result, conventional analytics engines are hindered from efficiently using previous user data to serve current and future users. To demonstrate, conventional analytics engines often employ statically created rules that fail to capture the full array of users to whom to provide specific content because of the difficulty in understanding user behavior, which is in part due to imbalanced and irregular captured user data.
To cope with these issues, conventional analytics engines have relied on static rules to characterize users into segments. These static rule-based segments often omit users that should fall within a designated segment. For example, conventional analytics engines often create a user segment that includes all users who interacted with two previous campaigns. However, this static-based rule omits users that would have interacted with the two previous campaigns given the opportunity, but missed the chance (e.g., a user was on vacation and did not see a previous campaign, the user's inbox was full and she did not receive content from a previous campaign, there was a connection error preventing the user from fully interacting with a previous campaign).
Moreover, when the number of users in a segment is insufficient, conventional analytics engines employ inefficient methods to add users. Often, while added users share a few traits or behaviors with current users in a designated user segment, the added users are otherwise unlike the current users and poorly fit the desired user segment. Thus, conventional analytics engines produce inaccurate and imprecise user segment expansions. Further, by employing an inaccurate user segment, conventional analytics engines waste computing resources, bandwidth, and memory in providing content to unresponsive users that are not interested in the content.
These along with additional problems and issues exist with regard to conventional analytics engines.

Performing automatic segment expansion of user embeddings using multiple user embedding representation types


An optocoupler package made up from a pre-assembled package having a leadframe, a voltage isolation barrier, and a body molded from a reflective plastic material. The voltage isolation barrier is fabricated as part of the body and positioned in such a way as to substantially increase the electrical flashover path between the optical source and the optical detector. An optical source mounted in the pre-assembled package subsequent to fabrication of the molded body. An optical detector is optically coupled to the optical source by reflection within the pre-assembled package, the optical detector being mounted in the pre-assembled package subsequent to fabrication of the molded body A reflective plastic cover is bonded to the pre-assembled package.

The present invention relates, in general, to photo-electric devices, and more particularly to packages for semiconductor optical couplers.
Optocouplers are devices which contain at least one optical emitter which is optically coupled to an optical detector through some sort of electrically insulating medium. This arrangement permits the passage of information from one electrical circuit which contains the emitter, to another electrical circuit which contains the detector. A high degree of electrical isolation is maintained between the two circuits. Because this information is passed optically across an insulating gap the transfer is one way. That is the detector cannot affect the input circuit. This feature is important because the emitter may be driven by a low voltage circuit using an MPU or logic gates, while the output photo-detector may be part of a high voltage DC or AC load circuit. The optical isolation also serves to prevent damage to the input circuit caused by the relatively hostile output circuit.
Applications of this sort in which a low voltage circuit is coupled to a high voltage circuit are known as "interface" applications. Interface applications have stringent requirements for isolation voltage and minimum leakage current. As a result optocouplers may have closely defined minimum physical dimensions for spacing between low voltage and high voltage sections. These requirements are intended to guarantee safety both for equipment and for humans and as a result the requirements include dimensions for both electrical creepage and physical clearance.
The most common optocoupler outline is the dual-in-line or DIP package. This package is widely used to house integrated circuits and was readily adapted to house optocouplers. Various versions of optocoupler DIP packages having 4, 6, 8 or 16 pins are commonly manufactured. However the dual-in-line package has the disadvantage that the spacing between optical emitter and optical detector is inherently limited by the size of the package. Accordingly the internal dimensions available for electrical creepage and physical clearance are inherently limited.
According to the prior art, low cost optocoupler packages require that the device has its body molded after the process of mounting the semiconductor die and electrical connections are made. This process requires a batch processing system utilizing individual leadframes rather than a form of continuous processing. The optical path must be defined by a separate clear optical medium which is molded around the active devices and is then surrounded by a reflective package. This reflective package provides physical protection, shields external light, and may also provide an integral reflective surface to aid in light transmission. The clear optical medium largely determines the optical performance of the assembled optocoupler. Voltage isolation thus depends on the dielectric characteristics of the clear optical medium and the method by which the insulation material is placed within the optocoupler package. Typically an ultraviolet surface activation process is used to form a molecular bond between the clear optical medium and the surrounding mold compound and eliminate any path for high voltage creep. Variations in composition and amount of material applied in each unit also causes a large variation in the efficiency of the optocoupler from unit to unit.
There is a need for a method to reduce the wide range of optical performance and variation in isolation voltage within an optocoupler while providing a low cost and easily manufactured package. It would be desirable to reduce assembly cost by eliminating expensive mold presses and ultraviolet surface activation equipment, providing packages suited for assembly in a reel form rather than a batch leadframe form, and using pre-molded packages for assembly.

Optocoupler package wth integral voltage isolation barrier


A microwave energy interactive structure comprises a layer of microwave energy interactive material supported on a polymer film. A plurality of microapertures extend through the layer of microwave energy interactive material and the polymer film. The microapertures have a major linear dimension of from about 0.05 mm to about 2 mm.

Venting apertures often are used in microwave energy interactive packages to allow moisture to be carried away from a food item that is desirably browned and/or crisped. However, such venting apertures generally comprise physical holes that are mechanically punched or cut through the structure. The minimum size of the hole is dictated by the mechanical process used to form the hole. Unfortunately, when such holes extend through a susceptor, the relatively large holes reduce the effective heating area of the susceptor, and therefore, may cause the browning and/or crisping of the food item to be less uniform. Further, the holes also allow free passage of air and contaminants and therefore may reduce the shelf life of the food item.
Thus, there remains a need for a microwave energy interactive structure that includes at least one aperture that allows moisture to be vented away from the food item during heating without substantially diminishing the ability of the structure to convert microwave energy to sensible heat.

Microwave energy interactive structure with venting microapertures


A luminescent polymer comprising a triarylene repeat unit which comprises a triarylene of general formula (I) which is substituted or unsubstituted and an arylene repeat unit -[-Ar-]- that is different from the triarylene repeat unit wherein X, Y, and Z are each independently O, S, CR2, SiR2 or NR and each R is independently alkyl, aryl or H.

Electroluminescent devices are structures which emit light when subject to an applied electric field. In its simplest forms an electroluminescent device comprises a light-emissive layer between two electrodes. The cathode electrode injects negative charge carriers electrons) and the anode electrode injects positive charge carriers (holes) into the light-emissive layer. Light emission occurs when the electrons and holes combine in the light-emissive layer to generate photons. As a practical aspect, one of the electrodes is typically transparent, to allow the photons to escape the device. The light-emissive layer should be made from a light-emissive material which may be laid down as a film without substantially affecting the luminescent characteristics of the material and which is stable at the operational temperature of the device.
Organic electroluminescent devices which use an organic material as the light-emissive material are known in this art. Among organic materials, simple aromatic molecules such as anthracene, perylene and coronene are known to show electroluminescence. U.S. Pat. No. 4,539,507 discloses the use of small molecule organic materials as the light-emissive material, such as 8-hydroxy quinoline (aluminium) "Alq". PCT/W090/13148 discloses an electroluminescent device comprising a semiconducting layer comprising a polymer film as the light-emissive layer which comprises at least one conjugated polymer. In this case, the polymer film comprises a poly (para-phenylenevinylene) (PPV) film.
The color of the light generated by the light-emissive material is determined by the optical gap or bandgap of the organic light-emissive materials, that is to say the difference in energy levels between the "highest occupied molecular orbital" ("HOMO") and the "lowest unoccupied molecular orbital" ("LUMO") levels. Effectively, the bandgap is the energy difference between the valence and conduction bands. These levels can be estimated by photoemission measurements and measurements of the electrochemical potentials for oxidation and reduction. The level of these energies is affected by numerous factors. Accordingly, the use of such values is indicative rather than quantitative.
It is known to use a semiconductive conjugated copolymer as the light-emissive layer in an electroluminescent device. The semiconductive conjugated copolymer comprises at least two chemically different monomer units which, when existing in their individual homopolymer forms, typically have different semiconductor bandgaps. The proportion of the chemically different monomer units in the copolymer can be selected to control the semiconductor bandgap of the copolymer so as to control the optical properties of the copolymer. To some degree, the extent of conjugation of the copolymer can be said to affect the Π-Π* bandgap of the copolymer. Increasing the extent of conjugation has the effect of decreasing the bandgap up to the point of bandgap convergence. Therefore, selection of appropriate reaction components may be used to modulate the bandgap. This property may be exploited so that the semiconductor bandgap is modulated to control the wavelength (i.e. color) of radiation emitted during luminescence. This gives the very desirable feature of controlling the color of light output from the polymer. This property is useful particularly in the construction of electroluminescent devices.
EP 0686662 discloses a device for emitting green light. The anode is a layer of transparent indium-tin oxide. The cathode is a LiA1 layer. Between the electrodes is a light-emissive layer of PPV. The device comprises also a hole transport layer of polyethylene dioxythiophene which provides an intermediate energy level which aids the holes injected from the anode to reach the HOMO level in the PPV.
"Efficient Blue-light Emitting Devices From Conjugated Polymer Blends", Burgeson et al., Adv. Mater. 1996, 8, No. 12, pages 982-985 describes a blue-light emitting device which employs conjugated polymer blends. The emissive layer of the dev ice consists of a blend of PDHPT with PDPP. Light emission is from the PDHPT alone.
Organic materials having smaller optical gaps, towards the red end of the visible spectrum, are of particular interest at present. It has been suggested that conjugated polymers that possess narrow bandgaps are a current topic of interest because such polymers will be useful not only in optical devices but are expected to be promising candidates for intrinsic organic conductors, non linear optical devices, solar cells and IR emitters and detectors.
However, few low bandgap polymer materials are known which show good optical device characteristics when used in an optical device. These characteristics include the quantum efficiency of the copolymer when excited to luminesce, the solubility and processability of the polymer and the lifetime of the polymer when used in a device. For electroluminescence, the quantum efficiency is defined as photons out per electron injected into the structure. Other relevant characteristics for consideration are stability of the polymer during use and storage of the device.
Low bandgap materials are not well known partly because they are difficult to make.
It may be noted that polymers made by electrochemical oxidative coupling usually are not suitable for use as emitters in an electroluminescent device. This is because they have poor device characteristics such as having a large number of defects and being substantially insoluble and not processable.
In Windle et al. J. Org. Chem., 1984, 49, 3382 and Kobayshi et al., J. Chem. Phys., 1985, 82, 5717 the reported discovery of polybenzo [c] thiophene whose bandgap is about 1 eV lower than that of polythiophene showed a possibility of tuning the bandgap by structural modification. Recently, efforts have been devoted theoretically and experimentally in order to explore the correlation between the structures and bandgaps of polymers and to further reduce bandgaps.
Several approaches to achieving a narrow bandgap have been suggested. One is the copolymerisation of aromatic and o-quinoid units, indicating that the combination of monomer segments with different electronic structures can lower the bandgap through the relaxation of bond-length alternation. This is discussed in Kurti et al, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1991, 113, 9865.
Another approach is the alternation of strong electron-donating and electron-accepting moieties as disclosed in Havinger et al, Polym. Bull., 1992. 29, 119. This suggests that the mixing of monomer segments with higher HOMO and lower LUMO is effective to reduce the bandgap due to the intra chain charge transfer. The affect of steric interaction between adjacent units relating to coplanarity having regard to maximizing the effective conjugation length along the polymer backbone is addressed in Nayak et al, Macro molecules, 1990, 23, 2237.
Narrow bandgap systems symbolized as A-Q-An′ where A is a kind of aromatic-donor unit and Q is a kind of o-quinoid-acceptor unit are disclosed in "Design of Narrow-bandgap polymers", Chem. Mater., 1996, 8, pages 570-578. The bandgaps determined from the polymers on ITO-coated glass electrodes vary from 0.5 to 1.4 eV. The authors conclude that these values are small compared with usual conjugated polymers, confirming that the polymers are narrow-band gap systems. Furthermore, the authors conclude that the results show that the bandgap is widely tunable by the polymer structure.


A blue-green emitting Ce3+-activated oxyfluoride phosphor for use with a light emitting diode (LED) in solid state lighting applications. The blue-green emitting Ce3+-activated oxyfluoride phosphor is represented as:(Sr1-x-yAEy)3(Al1-zTz)O4F:Ce3+x wherein 0<x≦0.3, 0≦y≦1, AE includes at least one element selected from alkaline earth metals on the periodic table, for example, Mg, Ca and Ba, 0≦z≦1, and T includes at least one atom selected from Al, B, Ga, and In. The blue-green emitting Ce3+-activated oxyfluoride phosphor may be combined with another phosphor to generate the white light. Specifically, the present invention provides for white light generation by combining the blue-green emitting Ce3+-activated oxyfluoride phosphor with either a near-ultraviolet (UV) LED and red emitting phosphor, or with a near-UV LED and a red-yellow phosphor.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to oxyfluoride phosphors, and white light emitting diodes (LEDs) including the oxyfluoride phosphor for solid state light applications.
2. Description of the Related Art
(Note: This application references a number of different publications as indicated throughout the specification by one or more reference numbers within brackets, e.g., [x]. A list of these different publications ordered according to these reference numbers can be found below in the section entitled "References." Each of these publications is incorporated by reference herein.)
In order to generate white light from LEDs, there are basically two strategies: the first approach is to mix different red, green, and blue components from LED chips, and the second approach is to down-convert the emission from a blue LED or ultraviolet (UV) LED to a longer wavelength using a phosphor.
For generating white light, most current commercial LED lamps employ the second approach, namely using yellow emitting YAG:Ce3+ phosphors excited by blue InGaN diodes, because of its superiority in terms of cost, efficiency and simplicity of fabrication [1-3]. Further information on the second approach can be found in PCT International Patent Application No. WO98/05078 [4], which is incorporated by reference herein.
However, YAG:Ce3+ phosphors have relatively weak light emitting intensity in the red spectral region and, consequently, it is difficult to obtain a good color rendering index (CRI) [5-7]. In addition, the output color from YAG:Ce3+ phosphors is strongly dependent on temperature and current, which will become a significant problem in high-power LEDs [8].
To overcome these drawbacks, and also to avoid issues associated with intellectual property, there are extensive efforts worldwide to develop new yellow emitting phosphors for blue-pumped LED applications [9-12], as well as to optimize existing systems. Unfortunately, with the exception of YAG:Ce3+, there are few phosphor materials for use with long UV or blue excitation sources. Up to now, no competing yellow phosphor has been found to replace the YAG:Ce3+ phosphor.
Thus, there is a need in the art for the development of new phosphors for solid-state lighting, especially phosphors with high efficiency and improved color rendering properties in the red region, that can be manufactured easily and at low cost, with better thermal stability. The present invention satisfies that need.

Oxyfluoride phosphors and white light emitting diodes including the oxyfluoride phosphor for solid-state lighting applications

The Regents of the University of California


A closed circuit television apparatus comprises a plurality of transmitters each including a remote-controlled television camera for generating video signals to a central supervisory station and a circuit for generating first code signals corresponding to a camera code allotted to the television camera, a receiver which receives the video signals and displays images corresponding to the received video signals. A controlling device is provided for controlling the television camera, receiving the first code signals, generating control signals to control the television camera and second code signals corresponding to the received first code signals, and transmitting the control signals and the second code signals to the television camera. A switching device is connected to the transmitters for selecting a transmitter to be connected to both, the receiver and the controlling device. Each transmitter includes a driving circuit for receiving the control signals and the second code signals generated in the controlling device, regenerating the control signals and the second code signals and operating the television camera based on the regenerated control signals when a code corresponding to the regenerated second code signals coincides with a code corresponding to the first code signals.

1. Field of the Invention:
This invention relates to a closed circuit television apparatus as a supervisory system, and more particularly to a closed circuit television apparatus in which operation of a television camera is remotely controlled.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
Generally, in a closed circuit television system such as a supervisory system, a remote-controllable television camera is located at each of a plurality of different places to be observed. At a central supervisory station, a monitor for receiving video signals from the selected television camera, a controlling device for controlling the operation and coordinates of the television camera, such as up-down (tilting), left-right (panning), far-near (focusing) and wide-tele (zooming), and a switching circuit for selecting one of the television cameras to be connected to the controlling device and the monitor, are located.
The positioning of each television camera coordinates such as tilting, panning, focusing and zooming are controlled by control signals supplied from the controlling device, and the television camera transmits video signals to the central supervisory station. The switching circuit includes a switch for the video signals and another switch for the control signals, and these two switches should be interlocked with each other.
A problem with such conventional closed circuit television apparatus is that if the two switches are not interlocked due to the break-down of the switching circuit, a wrong television camera coordinates could be repositioned.
Another conventional system uses two switches to be operated independently. In such conventional closed circuit system, the attendant must operate the switch to connect the monitor to the television camera that its coordinates must be repositioned and must connect the controlling device to the same television camera separately, which is laborious, time-consuming and may cause operational error as the attendant may connect a wrong camera to the controlling device.

Apparatus for remote verification and control of close circuit television cameras


A method and apparatus for the forced production of exceptionally clean steel wherein a metallurgical vessel is insulated and sealed to maintain a neutral environment into which steel is tapped and cleaned by use of gas injection and impurity precipitation and removal.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for the production of clean steel for continuous casters and the like.
2. Description of Prior Art
Prior Art methods and apparatus have for the most part been directed towards the addition of agents and the use of gas stirring within the ladle to keep nonmetallics from being included when the steel is tapped from the ladle. Additional devices have been developed to float on the steel as it is being tapped from the ladle or closed by darts to seal the tap hole at a predetermined point just prior to excessive inclusion of nonmetallics, see for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,695,042, 4,179,103, 4,740,241 and 4,339,115.
A few devices have been used to address this problem in a tundish which is an intermediate metallurgical pouring vessel.
In large tundishes nonmetallic material is often forced down from the top of the tundish by the pressure of new molten metal entering the tundish. Such material thus intrained within the tundish accumulates in dead spaces and does not normally circulate sufficiently. This problem is further compounded by the loss of temperature within the tundish by heat transfer through the exterior walls and barriers therein called weirs in the top of the tundish which restrict liquid flow continuously across the surface of the metal bath for the desired flow pattern and the removal of floating nonmetallics.
Such devices referred to as dams and gas injectors, see for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,619,443 and 4,372,544.
In applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 4,740,241 a lance for ladles is disclosed using a refractory shape with a plurality of tubular openings therein to direct and discharge gas into the ladle under pressure.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,695,042 is directed towards a lance supporting apparatus for lifting, lowering and rotating the lance for positioning within the molten steel.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,179,103 discloses a gas delivering tube within a refractory that is inserted into a metallurgical vessel.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,619,443 discloses a gas distribution tundish barrier partially within the wall and floor of the tundish.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,372,544 a blast furnace trough and linear combination is disclosed in which a monolithic precast liner is formed for placement inside of a tundish with the liner formed of multiple layers of coalesced material under different densities to achieve an increased wear factor and insulation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,339,115 discloses a heat insulating lining having refractory brick lining embedded and covered with a semi-compressable layers of mineral or inorganic fiber base temperature resistant material with a layer of plate material.


The distal end of an endoscope is provided with at least an objective optical system and a torque transmission member for supporting a rotating treatment member. The distal end of the torque transmission member comprises a hollow to which a support axis formed in the rotating treatment member is fitted, a slit for guiding a protrusion formed on the external circumference of the support axis, and a locking member for locking the protrusion in the slit. Torque is transmitted from the torque transmission member to the rotating treatment member by means of the protrusion formed on the external circumference of the support axis of the rotating treatment member and the slit formed on the torque transmission member for guiding the protrusion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an endoscope system with a rotating treatment adapter at the end. More particularly, this invention is concerned with an endoscope system having a mounting mechanism for preventing the falling of a rotating treatment member to be mounted at the end of a torque coupling member.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, an industrial endoscope allowing a worker to check the inside of a pipe or an engine at a chemical plant without disassembling it has been adopted widely.
For example, an endoscope is used to check a jet engine. Then, a defect or other damage may be detected on the edge of a turbine blade which is driven to rotate. In this case, even a minor damage causes concentration of stress, supposing it is left intact. As a result, the damage grows to necessitate replacement of the blade unit.
Therefore, in the past, even when replacement is not needed, if a damage is detected, the engine has been disassembled to grind the cracked part and its surrounding area. This procedure is, however, time-consuming.
In an endoscope of prior art disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.58-162924, a grindstone or other rotating treatment member is mounted to the distal end of the endoscope. Then, the rotating treatment member is inserted into a jet engine to grind a damaged part.
This kind of rotating treatment member is often mounted to the end of an insertion tube of an endoscope to be detachable from a torque transmission member for transmitting torque via a tightening means including a screw, a three-claw chuck, and a collet chuck. Thus, the rotating treatment member can be changed depending on the purpose of treatment or use.
For example, when the blade of a jet engine is treated using an endoscope having a rotating treatment member, a grindstone must be assuredly prevented from falling into the engine.
In general, when a metal plate is ground, the ground portion of the metal plate is misshaped depending on the rotating direction of a grindstone. Therefore, the rotating direction of a grindstone must be changed selectively. Assuming that a grindstone is attached or detached using a screw, when the grindstone is pressed to a blade for treatment, if it is rotated in the direction of loosening the engagement with a torque transmission member, it will fall off. Therefore, the rotating direction is confined to one direction and cannot be changed selectively.
A three-claw chuck or a collet chuck uses frictional force alone to fix a grindstone to a torque transmission member. Therefore, if the chuck is loosened even slightly, it may cause the grindstone to fall off. The use of an endoscope having a rotating treatment member fixed with a three-claw or collet chuck must be allowed only under the conditions that the relationship between tightening force and transmission torque is well-understood and it is confirmed that the grindstone will not fall off. Thus, when an endoscope having a rotating treatment member fixed with a three-claw or collet chuck is employed, it must be checked whether the use of the endoscope is limited or not. This deteriorates workability.

Endoscope system with a rotating treatment adapter at the end


A computing system is configured to categorize digital data records each relating to an interaction between a call center agent and a customer. The system includes a rules module to determine a first probability that a data record belongs to a category based one or more rules each rule defining a relationship between one or more features of the data record and the category; a probabilistic module to determine a second probability that the data record belongs to the category based on one or more probabilistic models of relationships between one or more of the features and the category; an arbitration module to determine whether or not the data record belongs to the category based on the first and second probabilities; and an action module to receive from the arbitration processor an indication that the interaction belongs to the category and to initiate an action appropriate to the category.

The typical process, when a customer calls a call center, is as follows:                Customer explains problem to agent        Agent solves problem, takes some action and writes up any relevant notes        Agent moves to the next call.
It is desirable to accurately assign reasons to calls and other interactions between parties for many reasons, for example in order to ensure that the call reason is resolved.
For some call reasons it may be possible to automatically determine with some accuracy the reasons for the call from the actions of the agent. An agent may use an application running on an agent device such as a computer to record details about a call and perform actions on behalf of the caller such as processing a payment. The application may be part of a system operating at the call center. If a call center system generated an automatic code PAY then it may be automatically assumed that the call was about payments. In this example code PAY may be generated automatically whenever the agent manually makes a payment on the customer's account and a call reason "payment" may be automatically assigned. Such examples lend themselves to using a system of rules to automatically identify call reasons and thereby categorize calls. However they are limited to the accuracy of the rule.
It is possible to categorize calls automatically using any of a set of defined rules, the agents' contemporaneous notes, speech e.g. converted to text, as well as any system codes that may be generated during the call denoting the actions taken by the agent. The rules may define binary relationships between call features and call category, e.g. if code 'REFCREDIT' is present, then call category is REFUND.
Many call reasons are far more difficult to determine. There may only be clues from the agent's contemporaneous notes or the agent's or caller's speech where the presence of certain keywords may each slightly increase the probability of a particular call reason. In situations such as this, where there are many small clues that add up to a weight of evidence suggesting a particular call reason, then simple rules become difficult to specify and clumsy to use.
In a system for automatically analyzing call center data, data may be loaded at intervals, e.g. nightly, running through a pipeline where many aggregations are performed on the data, including the assignment of call reasons to calls. The assigned call reasons may then be used in various automated processes.
The use of pre-defined, e.g. binary, rules is not an optimal solution for many reasons including:                They need considerable time, possibly a number of months, for tuning to avoid too many false positives or false negatives.        They do not work well for call reasons where there is no clear associated action from the agent.        The setup process needs to be repeated in full for different call center applications, e.g. banking, retail, etc.


The disclosure is directed to focusing one or more detectors of an interferometry system. An initial focus position may be determined by focusing a detector on an edge of a sample by comparing image contrast of intensity frames collected by the detector. Data associated with an inner edge of a ring formed by the image of the sample reflected on a reference flat may be collected from one or more positions near the initial focus position. The detector can be focused to a selected position by comparing edge data collected at the various detector positions near the initial focus position.

Interferometry is a useful technique for measuring one or more spatial characteristics of a sample, such as a semiconductor wafer or any other semiconductor or non-semiconductor substrate. Semiconductor wafers are continually being fabricated with tighter specifications. Interferometry systems must, therefore, perform at higher levels of accuracy and precision to meet the needs imposed by modern semiconductor technologies.
One or more detectors of an interferometry system must be focused correctly prior to making measurements in order to achieve matching among different systems. A detector may be adjusted to a focus position by manually focusing on a sharp edge of an artifact disposed proximate to a test surface of a sample. However, the foregoing method does not provide adequate focus for some applications and requires specially designed samples, such as specially patterned wafers, which are often expensive.

Focusing detector of an interferometry system


A method of controlling a chiller is disclosed. The method includes predicting, by a controller, a quantity of energy used by a chiller, based on a predicted flow of heat into one or more rooms in a building, to maintain a temperature of the one or more rooms in a building at a desired temperature during each of a first plurality of time periods of a chilling cycle. The predicted flow of heat is calculated using a predicted condition. A set point of the chiller is automatically adjusted during the chilling cycle using the predicted quantity of energy.

A large heating, ventilation and air conditioning system (HVACS) for a building or other structure may use a chiller to cool or heat water that is used to cool or heat rooms of the building. The chilled or heated water may be caused to flow through coils in a room of the building. Air in the room may be caused to flow through the coils. The coils serve as heat exchangers to enable cooling or heating of the air. Chillers and rooms may have separate control systems. Thus, a thermostat in a room may control or trigger the flow of air through the coils, but not affect operation of the chiller. A separate thermostat or management system may control a set point that determines the temperature to which the water is cooled or heated.
Energy usage of an HVACS may vary according to the square of the difference between the ambient outdoor temperature and the set point temperature of the chiller.


An airfoil has a body that includes leading and trailing edges that adjoin pressure and suction sides to provide an exterior airfoil surface. A cooling passage extends in a radial direction from a root to a tip. A trailing edge cooling passage interconnects the cooling passage to the trailing edge. The trailing edge cooling passage includes first and second pedestals of different sizes that are arranged in a repeating pattern with respect to pedestals of the same size and with respect to pedestals of different sizes.

This disclosure relates to an airfoil for a gas turbine engine. More particularly, the disclosure relates to a core and corresponding trailing edge passage for an airfoil.
Airfoils for gas turbine engines typically include rather complex internal cooling passages receiving cooling fluid from a cooling source. The passages are provided by core structures constructed from ceramic and/or refractory metal cores, which provide correspondingly shaped cooling passages within the airfoil.
One type of cooling passage includes a trailing edge cooling passage extending in a chord-wise direction from a radially extending cooling passage. The trailing edge cooling passage exits the trailing edge and can be relatively narrow. Depending upon the size of the trailing edge cooling passage, which may be as little as 0.008 inch (0.20 mm), and, as a result, the corresponding core is fragile.
As turbine inlet temperatures increase to prove engine thrust and cycle efficiency, advanced technologies are required to cool the trailing edge of turbine blades while minimizing the amount of cooling flow used. Use of refractory metal cores (RMC) to create high density patterns of cast cooling features has been shown to improve high convective heat transfer at low cooling flow requirements. However, the cores used to manufacture these features, such as a dense pattern of pedestals, are fragile and may break during assembly or casting.

Gas turbine engine airfoil trailing edge passage and core for making same


A system for converting global shutter image data into simulated rolling shutter image data may include a global-to-rolling shutter image converter. The converter may be configured to receive global shutter image data associated with a plurality of global shutter images. The global shutter image data may include dynamic global shutter image data representative of a moving object in the plurality of global shutter images. The converter may also be configured to determine an optical flow field based at least in part on two or more of the plurality of global shutter images and generate the simulated rolling shutter image based at least in part on the optical flow field. The converter may also be configured to generate high dynamic range (HDR) images based at least in part on the optical flow field and the global shutter image data.

In contrast to global shutter images, which record an entire scene in a given field of view at exactly the same instant in time, still and video rolling shutter images are generated by rapidly scanning across, either horizontally or vertically, a field of view, such that all parts of a still or video rolling shutter image are not recorded exactly simultaneously. As a result, rolling shutter images may produce distortions in the images, for example, when the image records objects moving rapidly with respect to the rolling shutter imager or when rapidly flashing light is recorded. Thus, a rolling shutter image of a scene, unless corrected, often appears different than a global shutter image of the corresponding scene. As a result, a system designed for using global shutter image data may not be capable of effectively using rolling shutter image data.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


An information processing device stores a window of an application and designation information for designating an external device associated with the window. The information processing device detects an external device located near the information processing device, and when multiple windows are displayed having an overlapping portion the information processing device identifies an external device associated with the multiple windows. Next, the information processing device determines whether there is a window associated with the detected external device, and if the window(s) exists the information processing device displays the window or any one of the windows in the foremost position.

A technology used for control of display of multiple overlapping windows is described in Japanese Patent Application No. JP H08-161139A, published on Jun. 21, 1996 to Mitsubishi Electric Corp. According to the description in JP H08-161139A, when at least two windows are displayed on a display screen such portions of the windows overlap, a window displayed in the foreground is interchanged with a window(s) displayed in the background at predetermined time periods. A length of time for which respective windows are displayed in the foreground is dependent upon a length of time for which a particular window is used.

Information processing device and method for displaying a window based on a priority of the window