In a programmable digital arithmetic circuit, each input/output terminal of the necessary elemental circuit is connected via a matrix switches.in order to selectively constitute multiple types of basic digital arithmetic circuits that differ from each other. By turning on and off each switching element of the matrix switches, any one of the above-mentioned desired basic digital arithmetic circuits can be selectively constituted. Changing the functions is realized by a matrix switches and during the setting of the coefficients a purely physical coefficient value can be chosen so that a programmable digital arithmetic circuit that can be easily understand and handled by users will be constituted.

The present invention relates to a programmable digital arithmetic circuit, particularly, a Programmable Digital Arithmetic IC (PDIC). The PDIC of this invention has a large benefit when used as an arithmetic system such as various simulators and a programmable digital control board (a substrate having a dedicated transmission function by programming the standard substrate offline).
When an operational amplifier, resistor and capacitors are appropriately combined and wired, depending on the difference in the combinations and wiring, it is possible to realize a variety of basic analog arithmetic circuits that carry out specific mathematical operations. In addition, when each of the basic analog arithmetic circuits are converted to a digital circuit by applying Kirchhoff""s law, it is possible to realize basic digital arithmetic circuits that are equivalent to each basic analog arithmetic circuit. These digital arithmetic circuits are comprised of an adder (adding circuit), coefficient unit (coefficient circuit), and integrator (integrator circuit). The above has already been demonstrated in U.S. Pat. No. 6,003,054 (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9c""054 patentxe2x80x9d)). Moreover, a digital arithmetic circuit comprising an adder, coefficient unit and integrator can constitute a digital polyarithmetic IC that can selectively constitute said variety of different basic digital arithmetic circuits by changing the coefficient value of the coefficient unit, namely, a general-purpose digital arithmetic IC that can select from a multiplicity of operational functions. In addition, by extending and connecting the multiplicity of above-mentioned general-purpose digital arithmetic ICs in a crisscross pattern, it is possible to constitute the desired digital arithmetic circuit. This fact also has been discussed in ""054 patent.
A microprocessor, DSP (Digital Signal Processor) and DDA (Digital Differential Analyzer) are examples of digital arithmetic ICs. These are sequential processing types based on the Neumann Computer and software interferes with the operational process, consequently, it is difficult to increase the speed of the operational process.
The present invention is to further develop the technological philosophy of the PDIC described in ""054 patent, and to contrive a circuit structure so that it is clear and easy to use by the users of a PDIC. In other words, the PDIC described in ""054 patent was not easy to handle for users because changing the functions and settings of the coefficients was realized through the setting of the coefficient value. In this invention, the change in the functions and settings of the coefficients of the PDIC are separated. Changing the functions is realized by a matrix switches and during the setting of the coefficients a purely physical coefficient value can be chosen so that a PDIC circuit that can be easy to understand and handle, for users will be constituted. In addition, in the present invention, the number of coefficient units in the PDIC is reduced by using a matrix switches so that the circuit size of the entire PDIC is reduced and consequently an inexpensive PDIC is constituted.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is constituted such that each input/output terminal of the element circuit such as an integrator, differentiator, adder and coefficient unit are connected to each other via a matrix switches. By selectively turning on and off each switching element of said matrix switches, the necessary digital arithmetic circuit is selectively constituted. In other words, a matrix switches is added to the digital arithmetic IC as a circuit structure control element (circuit selection control element) for the digital arithmetic circuit, and during the selection of the digital arithmetic circuit with the desired operational functions, without relying on the coefficient value of the coefficient unit, the necessary digital arithmetic circuit is selectively constituted by selectively turning on and off the switching elements of the matrix switches.
If the number (type) of the functions desired for the PDIC is finite, the intersections that need to be turned on and off from among all the intersections of the matrix on the matrix switches are limited. Therefore, the PDIC is completed by arranging the switching elements only at the necessary intersections.

Programmable digital arithmetic circuit, device using programmable digital arithmetic circuit and method for making a programmable digital arithmetic circuit


The invention relates to hESF I, II and III polypeptides, polynucleotides encoding the polypeptides, methods for producing the polypeptides, in particular by expressing the polynucleotides, and agonists and antagonists of the polypeptides. The invention further relates to methods for utilizing such polynucleotides, polypeptides, agonists and antagonists for applications, which relate, in part, to research, diagnostic and clinical arts.

The regulation of cells and tissues is controlled by autocrine and paracrine factors, such as systemic hormones and factors that modulate or mediate the action of hormones.
Many peptides, expressed locally, can influence certain biological activity in the mammalian system and are very important in the regulation of cells of the epithelium. These factors largely have not been identified or characterized particularly not in humans.
A few factors that play a role in the regulation of functions of the lung and uterus, both adult and fetal, have been identified in non-human organisms. One such factor is mammalian CC10, i.e., human, rat and rabbit CC10. (Wolf, M. et al., Human Molecular Genetics, 1(6):371-378 (1992)). Clara Cell 10 kDa secretory protein (CC10) which is also called Clara Cell 17 kDa protein, is a homodimer consisting of 8.5 kDa monomers that are joined by two disulfide bonds (Umland, T. C. et al., J. Mol. Biol., 224:441-448 (1992)). It is the predominant secreted protein of lung Clara cells which are the lining of the bronchiolar epithelium (Singh, G. and Katyal, S. L., J. Histochem. Cytochem., 32:49-54 (1984)). The physiological role of the protein is not yet completely understood. It has been reported that CC10 specifically binds methylsulfonyl-polychlorated biphenyls (PCBS) (Nordlund, Moler, L. et al., J. Biol. Chem., 265:12690-12693 (1990)) and inhibits phospholipase A.sub.2 (Singh, G. et al., Biochem. Biophys. Acta, 1039:348-355 (1990)). In the last few years the sequences of rat (Katyal, S. L. et al., Prog. Respir. Res., 25:29-35 (1990); and Hagen, G. et al., Nucleic Acids Res., 18:2939-2946 (1990)), and human (Singh, G. et al., Biochem. Biophys. Acta, 950:329-337 (1988) CC10 cDNAs have been reported. cDNAs, and the derived amino acid sequences, show striking homologies to rat uteroglobin (Singh, G. et al., Biochem. Biophys. Acta, 1039:348-355 (1990); and Hagen, G. et al., Nucleic Acids Res., 18:2939-2946 (1990)).
Like CC10, rat uteroglobin is a covalently bound homodimer whose three dimensional structure is well known (Morize, I. et al., J. Mol. Biol., 194:725-739 (1987). Uteroglobin expression in rabbits has been originally reported in the uterus during the preimplantation phase (Beier, H. M., Biochem. Biophys. Acta, 160:289-290 (1968)). More recently, the protein was also detected in oviduct (Kirchner, C., Cell Tissue Res., 170:490-492 (1976)), male genital organs (Beier, H. M. et al., Cell Tissue Res., 165:1-11 (1975)), esophagus (Noske, I. G. and Feigelson, M., Biol. Reprod., 15:704-713 (1976)) and lung (Noske, supra; and Torkkeli, T. et al., Biochem. Biophys. Acta, 544:578-592 (1978)).
In vitro, several distinct properties of uteroglobin have been described. Soon after its discovery it could be shown that the steroid hormone progesterone is specifically bound by the protein (Beato, M. and Baier, R., Biochem. Biophys. Acta, 392:346-356 (1975); and Beato, M. et al., J. Steriod Biochem., 8:725-730 (1977)). Therefore, rabbit uteroglobin was believed to be a potential carrier or scavenger of progesterone that regulates the progesterone concentration in the endometrium (Atger, M. et al., J. Steroid Biochem., 13:1157-1162 (1980)). It has also been shown to specifically bind certain methylsulfonyl metabolites of polychlorinated biphenyls with even higher affinity than progesterone (Gillner, M. et al., J. Steroid Biochem., 31:27-33 (1988)). Furthermore, uteroglobin has been found to inhibit phospholipase A.sub.2. The relationships of all these properties and their physiological significance is still not understood and remains largely a matter of speculation.
The rat CC10 mRNA is expressed like rat uteroglobin not only in lung but also in the esophagus as well in uteri of estrogen and progesterone treated female rats (Hagen, G. 1990 supra) suggesting that rat CC10 is the rat counterpart of rat uteroglobin (see in general Wolf, M. et al., Human Molecular Genetics, 1(6):371-378 (1992)).
Human CC10 expression is abundant in non-neoplastic human lung, and it is detectable in tumors in corresponding cell lines at markedly lower levels (Broers, J. L. V. et al., Lab. Invest., 66:337-346 (1992); Linnoila, R. I. et al., Amer. J. Clin. Pathol., 90:1-12 (1988)). CC10 levels were also significantly lower in serum and bronchoalveolar lavage specimens obtained from smokers and lung cancer patients compared with specimens from healthy non-smokers (Bernard, A. et al., Europ. Resp. J., 5:1231-1238 (1992)).
These findings suggest the expression of CC10 mRNA becomes altered in distinct lung compartments and may implicate a role for CC10 in the development of pulmonary carcinomas (Jensen, S. M. et al., Int. J. Cancer, 58:629-637 (1994).
Some of the biological properties of UG, such as masking the antigenicity of blastomers (Mukherjee, A. B., et al., Med. Hypotheses, 6:1043-1055 (1980)) and epididymal spermatozoa (Mukherjee, D. C., et al., Science (Washington D.C.), 219:989-991 (1983)), inhibition of monocyte and neutrophil chemotaxis and phagocytosis in vitro (Schiffman, E. V., et al., Agents Actions Suppl., 12:106-120 (1983)), and inhibition of ADP- and thrombin-induced (but not of arachidonic acid-induced) platelet aggregation (Manjunath, R., et al., Biochem. Pharmacol., 36:741-746 (1987)), may be due, at least in part, to the potent inhibitory effect of this protein on PLA.sub.2 activity (Levin, S. W., et al., Life Sci., 38:1813-1819 (1986)). A nonapeptide derived from the amino acid sequence of .alpha.-helix-3 of UG monomer (residues 39-47) possesses all the biological properties of the intact protein and has been identified as an active site of UG responsible for its PLA.sub.2 -inhibitory and antiinflammatory activities (Miele, L., et al., Nature (Lond.), 335:726-730 (1988)).
It has been indicated that cclOkD-specific transcripts are present in several nonrespiratory human organs and tissues. By using an antibody to rabbit UG, a UG-like immunoreactivity in human endometrium (Kikukawa, T., et al., J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab., 67:315-321 (1988)), prostate (Manyak, M. J., et al., J. Urol., 140:176-182 (1988)), and respiratory tract (Dhanireddy, R., et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 152:1447-1454 (1988)), has been described.
Recently, the cDNA (Singh, G., et al., Biochem. Biophys. Acta, 950:329-337 (1988)) and the 5' regions (Wolf, M., et al., Human Mol. Genet., 1:371-378 (1992)) of the gene encoding human uteroglobin (hUG), a counterpart of rabbit UG (rUG), has been characterized. Human UG or Clara cell 10-kD protein has 61.5% amino acid sequence identity with rUG (Singh, G., et al., Biochem. Biophys. Acta, 950:329-337 (1988)), 54.2% similarity with rat UG (Singh, G., et al., Biochem. Biophys. Acta, 1039:348-355 (1990)), and 52.8% with mouse UG (Singh, G., et al., Exp. Lung Res., 19:67-75 (1993)). Although this protein was originally discovered in the alveolar Clara cells (Singh, G., et al., J. Histochem., 36:73-80 (1988)) it is detectable in many extrapulmonary tissues similar to the ones in which rUG is expressed (Peri, A., et al., DNA Cell Biol., 5:495-503 (1994)) and this expression is induced by progesterone. It appear that some of the biological properties of hUG are virtually identical to rUG (Mantile, G., et al., J. Biol. Chem., 27:20343-20351 (3993)).
It has been reported that UG in the rabbit uterine fluid is first detectable on day 3 of pregnancy, and peak level is reached on day 5 (for a review see Miele, L., et al., Endocr. Rev., 8:47414 490 (1987)). UG, by inhibiting PLA.sub.2 activity, may down-regulate the production of proinflammatory lipid mediators, which promote contraction and motility of the uterine smooth muscle. Therefore, it is suggested that UG facilitates the maintenance of myometrial quiescence during gestation.
There is a clear need in the art to further isolate and characterize proteins which are homologues of mammalian Clara cell 10 kDa secretory protein and rat prostatic steroid-binding protein. The genes and gene products of the present invention display homology to the rat prostatic steroid-binding protein and Clara cell 10 kDa secretory protein.

Human endometrial specific steroid-binding factor I, II and III


The present invention involves providing secure Voice Over IP (VOIP) communications to a mobile communications device. Specifically, the disclosed systems and methods enable a standard remote communications device (e.g., a cellular telephone) to utilize the Secure Communications Interoperability Protocol (SCIP) as designed by the U.S. Department of Defense. The invention provides SCIP access to users without requiring specific hardware configurations to be built into, or added to, the remote communications device. The remote communications device is equipped with software that emulates what was previously accomplished through a hardware configuration in order to facilitate secure VOIP communications over standard mobile communication devices.

Voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) technology has enabled users to transmit voice conversations over a data network using Internet Protocol (IP). This is facilitated by digitizing voice into discrete packets that are transferred independently over the network, instead of traditional circuit-committed protocols of the PSTN.
Initially, VOIP technology was limited to Personal Computers (PC) with a hard-wired connection to the Internet. However, as wireless networking technology has advanced, such VOIP capabilities have expanded to cellular telephones and other wireless devices. VOIP has offered many benefits including, for example, free or reduced fees related to conventional telephone calls over an analog network.
Because VOIP is based on the Internet infrastructure, voice communications are susceptible to eavesdropping, just as other Internet based transactions are. As in the case of standard data transfer over the Internet, efforts have been made to secure VOIP transactions from interference or receipt by unauthorized users. One such effort has been significantly successful in achieving this objective. The U.S. government developed Secure Communication Interoperability Protocol (SCIP) is a proven method for securing VOIP transmissions. However, prior art communications devices that were SCIP operational, required specifically configured hardware in order to utilize the protocol. In other words, an individual wishing to conduct secure VOIP was required to purchase a specific mobile communications device, or add additional hardware to an additional device. Accordingly, such a solution was not only costly, but did not afford the user to select a communications device of choice.
Therefore, a need exists for a system and method for enabling secure VOIP communications without requiring specialized hardware. Specifically, there is a need to provide secure VOIP to users of existing communications devices that are not equipped with the hardware configurations required to facilitate secure VOIP communications by way of SCIP or similar protocols.

System and method for facilitating secure voice communication over a network


In example implementations, a method is provided. The method includes determining, by a processor, that a vehicle is approaching a door of a building based on a velocity vector of the vehicle, calculating, by the processor, a time of arrival of the vehicle at the door based on the velocity vector of the vehicle and a distance of the vehicle from the door, and controlling, by the processor, the door to begin opening at a time based on the time of arrival and an amount of time for the door to open such that the door is opened when the vehicle arrives at the door.

Certain enterprise locations may use large doors that can be opened and closed as traffic comes into and out of the enterprise location. For example, industrial warehouses may have vehicles and people that frequently go in and out of the warehouse through certain doors. For a variety of different reasons (e.g., energy savings, security, and the like), the doors cannot remain opened. As a result, each time a vehicle or person goes through the door, the door is opened and closed.
The doors may include rolled steel doors that may be relatively heavy. The doors may take several seconds to open and close. Thus, each time an operator on a vehicle arrives at a door, the operator may wait several seconds for the door to open. Over a course of a working day, several weeks, and a year, this may add up to a large amount of time wasted on waiting for the door to open.


A method, apparatus and computer program product are provided in order to integrate clinical data with the medical images reviewed by radiologists or other healthcare providers. In the context of a method, one or more findings related to a respective risk profile of a patient are identified. The method also includes concurrently presenting both one or more medical images of the patient and a visual representation of at least a portion of the patient's body with respect to visual indications of the one or more findings. The method also includes providing information regarding a respective finding upon selection of the visual indication associated with the respective finding. A corresponding apparatus and computer program product are also provided.

Medical imaging often includes creating images of regions of the human body for clinical purposes such as examination, diagnosis and/or treatment. These images may be acquired by a number of different imaging modalities including, for example, ultrasound (US), magnetic resonance (MR), positron emission tomography (PET), computed tomography (CT), mammograms (MG), digital radiology (DR), computed radiology (CR) or the like. In a number of example medical imaging workflows, such as in the case of a picture archiving and communication system (PACS), an image study for a patient may include one or more acquired images of the patient. A radiologist or other health care provider may review the images for diagnostic or other purposes.
In addition to medical images, a wide variety of other clinical data may be associated with a patient. Typically, the other clinical data associated with the patient has not been provided to the radiologist reviewing the medical images and, instead, the radiologist just received an order requisition. In this regard, the clinical data was generally handwritten or otherwise documented in hard copy and was not readily accessible to a radiologist.
Recently, electronic medical records have maintained clinical data in a digital form, but electronic medical records are not generally structured in a manner that is convenient for radiologists who are reviewing the medical images of a patient to review in parallel with the interpretation or protocoling of a patient's medical images. In this regard, an electronic medical record, including an electronic health summary report, often fails to include information that may be pertinent to the interpretation of the patient's medical images and/or presents the data in a text-based summary, which would require the radiologist who is reviewing the medical images of the patient to divert their attention from the medical images and to take time to parse and read the text-based summary. Additionally, data from an electronic medical record, if available, may be presented by another system, outside of the PACS, so as to further distract the radiologist from the review of the patient's medical images.
By way of example, the Caradigm Amalga system permits diagnostic users, such as radiologists, to correlate medical images with clinical data. The Caradigm Amalga system may permit a patient's white blood cell count to be presented along with all PET CT medical images, but not to show the patient's hemoglobin levels in conjunction with x-rays of the patient's knee. However, the Caradigm Amalga system presents clinical data in a text-based syntax-driven report in a system outside of the PACS, thereby creating inefficiencies for the radiologist who is studying the medical images of the patient and must divert their attention from the PACS in order to review the text-based report.

Method and apparatus integrating clinical data with the review of medical images


A security element, particularly for banknotes, security cards and the like, comprising a first substrate which is at least partially opaque when viewed in transmitted light, magnetic areas being deposited on the substrate, the magnetic areas comprising at least two types of magnetic areas which have different coercivity values and whose residual magnetism is identical or different, said different values being adapted to generate at least three mutually different codes.

As is known, as the technology evolves and devices for duplicating graphical elements which are printed or positioned on banknote paper become widespread, the need to have security elements which can be introduced at least partially in the banknote paper has been increasing and still is. One of the elements that is constantly being developed and researched is the security thread that is generally inserted at least partially in banknote paper.
Over the years, the security thread has undergone a constant but significant evolution, so much that it is still one of the least counterfeited elements, since its counterfeiting is difficult even for expert counterfeiters.
Among security threads, it is possible to identify for example metallic threads with negative text, i.e., threads provided by a plastic substrate onto which at least one layer of metal is deposited, characters, lettering and the like being formed in such layer of metal by total removal of the metal at the regions of the characters and/or lettering.
EP 319 157 discloses the method outlined above.
A thread is also known for example in which, in order to increase the security characteristics, at least one full-surface layer is added which therefore covers both the regions without metal and the metallic regions with ink having fluorescent properties.
There are other types of threads in which discontinuities of the metal are inserted between blocks of letters so that conductivity can be detected in certain and known lengths.
However, the marketing of "transfer" metalized stripes has caused all these types of threads to undergo significant counterfeiting, which has led to the need to provide a partially demetallized thread, which thus leaves in the characters a small amount of metal, which can be detected by suitable laboratory equipment.
Therefore, in this last type of threads, the characters are demetallized only partially. Patent applications WO2004/014665 and WO2004/098900 relate to so-called partially demetallized threads of the type described above.
There are also types of threads which can be detected also by means of magnetic sensors. EP 516 790 discloses a thread in which detectable magnetic regions are inserted between the letters formed by performing total demetallization so that the thread can thus be detected both as conductive (due to the presence of metal deposited in continuous form) and by means of magnetic sensors (due to the magnetic elements arranged above or below the layer of metal but never inside the letters).
Therefore, EP 516 790 discloses a security device in which the characters or letters are totally demetallized.
Generally, coded magnetic threads are currently produced by depositing magnetic areas on a fully metallized polyester substrate; these areas are composed with a single type of magnetic ink and are separated by spaces in which regions without metallic material, meant for generating texts, are generated. It is evident that once the presence of magnetic areas has been discovered, their coercivity and residual magnetism can be identified easily and consequently so can the magnetic material to be used to create a counterfeit or forgery; a code thus provided generates the same signals, and therefore the same code, both when it is detected longitudinally (along the axis of the thread) and when it is detected transversely (reading at right angles to the thread).
Security threads with magnetic regions provided with a single type of magnetic ink also have undergone counterfeiting, again with the transfer technique. It is in fact possible to provide a ribbon or stripe which has negative characters by using metallic transfers onto which magnetic elements are transferred at a later time, between the blocks of letters, both in continuous form and in discontinuous form in order to create magnetic codes. To provide industrially a thread of the type cited above it is sufficient to have a rotary press with a plurality of printing sections as described above also in EP 516 790, printing onto a transparent material (generally polyester) markings with removable inks, performing full-surface vacuum metalization so as to cover the removable inks, removing the inks and consequently also the metal that covers them, thus leaving markings which are identical to the ones printed with removable inks, and subsequently reprinting with magnetic inks continuous or discontinuous areas in the regions which have not been demetallized and are therefore adjacent to the demetallized regions.
In this manner, the presence of magnetic elements is not visible with normal viewing instruments (naked eye, optical magnifying devices, et cetera), since they are always covered by metal. The magnetic elements are visible only by means of suitable devices dedicated to the detection of magnetism, such as for example magnetic scanners or lenses with liquid magnetic ink inserted in vacuum.

Security element particularly for banknotes, security cards and the like, having anti-counterfeiting features


In one embodiment, a method comprises identifying, in a network, user selection preferences of an identified user having accessed the network, the identifying based on an accumulation of user selection inputs executed by the identified user, the user selection inputs accumulated relative to input options presented to the user and identifying respective available network items; classifying, by an apparatus in the network, the identified user into one of multiple user affinity categories relative to an advertisement campaign for a targeted product, the classifying based on determining whether one of the user selection inputs represents a view gesture of the user having viewed the targeted product; and selecting an advertisement asset for delivery to the identified user based on the classifying of the identified user into the one user affinity category.

The exponential growth of information available to users of various information networks (for example, broadcast, satellite, or cable television; wide area networks such as the World Wide Web or the Internet), requires organizing the presentation of the available information in an efficient and effective manner. Collaborative filtering attempts to organize presentation of information to a user in a wide area network (for example, the World Wide Web) based on automatically predicting the interests of a user by establishing relationships between items of interest to the user (for example, items recently viewed by the user at a commercial website) and other items that have been determined as of interest to other users. Item-based collaborative filtering, illustrated for example at the website "amazon.com" (users who bought x also bought y) is based on the premise that if a number of users purchase both items "x" and "y", then another user viewing (or purchasing) the item "x" also may be interested in the item "y".
Other examples of filtering content include human directed programming (for example, conventional network television programming), demographic based targeting that classifies individuals according to demographics, content based targeting (for example, Google AdSense available on the World Wide Web at the website address "google.com/adsense"), user defined filters (for example, a TiVo® WishList search on a commercially-available TiVo® Digital Video Recorder), popularity based targeting, domain-specific knowledge recommendation systems (for example, available at the website address "pandora.com") and ratings-based filtering (for example, a ratings system provided by the online service "Netflix" at the website "netflix.com").
Advertisers can implement an advertisement campaign for a targeted product or service based on distributing advertisement assets from the advertisement campaign (for example, text string, image banner, audio or video stream, etc.) to target audiences via various media markets. The advertisement campaign for the targeted product (referred to as an "ad buy") is assigned a rule for supplying one of the advertisement assets of the advertisement campaign in response to an advertisement request relative to a target audience attribute: the target audience attribute can be implemented in various forms, depending on the medium used to convey the advertisement, for example keyword (for example, Google AdSense at the website address "www.google.com/adsense"), Uniform Resource Locator (URL), or a target demographic. Hence, a user browser accessing a web page can cause Javascript resource executed in the user browser to send a request to an advertisement server, causing the advertisement server to execute the rule for the advertisement campaign in order to supply to the Javascript resource an advertisement asset relative to the target audience attribute (for example, keyword in the web page, URL of the web page).
One example of targeted advertising involves use of psychographic analysis for market segmentation and advertising. Psychographic analysis involves establishing a psychographic profile of a defined class of consumers to predict subsequent behaviors by members of the defined class. The psychographic profile can include attributes relating to personality, values, attitudes, interests, or lifestyles of the defined class.

Advertisement campaign system using socially collaborative filtering


There is provided a discharge lamp lighting apparatus including a dimmer circuit which is provided with a control means to dynamically adjust screen brightness according to an input signal, and a control means to adjust screen brightness based on a user's operation. The dimmer circuit includes: an amplitude adjusting circuit to superpose a first dimming control signal composed of a DC voltage onto a second dimming control signal composed of a pulse width modulation signal; an integration circuit to integrate an output of the amplitude adjusting circuit; and a comparison circuit to compare an output of the integration circuit with a triangular wave having a predetermined frequency thereby generating a dimming signal, wherein a burst dimming mode is performed according to the dimming signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a discharge lamp lighting apparatus to light a discharge lamp for illuminating a liquid crystal display (LCD) device, and more particularly to a discharge lamp lighting apparatus having a dimmer circuit which includes a control means to dynamically control screen brightness according to an input signal, and also a control means to control the screen brightness based on the user's operation, and which enables a dimming operation to be performed over a wide range without generating a brightness gradient even when a long lamp is used.
2. Description of the Related Art
A lighting apparatus such as a backlight device is employed in an LCD device used as a display device for an LCD monitor, an LCD television, and the like. A discharge lamp such as a cold cathode lamp is extensively used as a light source for such a lighting apparatus. A discharge lamp lighting apparatus is usually provided with an inverter circuit which includes a step-up transformer in order to generate a high AC voltage required to light a discharge lamp.
Many LCDs are so structured as to have screen brightness controlled according to the ambient environmental changes, and the like, such that the screen brightness basically is adjusted not only based on the user's operation but also dynamically adjusted according to continually changing input signals, wherein a voltage (or current) value out of a plurality of voltage (or current) values set for achieving respective predetermined screen brightness levels is appropriately selected by a switching operation according to a command signal sent from, for example, a microcomputer. The aforementioned control means to adjust the screen brightness based on the user's operation includes a burst dimming mode in which the oscillation operation of an inverter circuit is forcibly switched on and off so as to vary the ratio between on- and off-periods thereby performing a dimming operation, and the control means to dynamically adjust the screen brightness includes a current dimming mode in which the input DC voltage of an inverter circuit is varied by a DC-DC converter, or the like thereby varying the current of a discharge lamp connected at the secondary side of an inverter transformer.
In the burst dimming mode, the oscillation operation of an inverter circuit is intermittently switched on and off so as to vary the on-duty time (on-period per cycle) of on-off operation thereby controlling the average value of a current flowing in a discharge lamp. And in the current dimming mode, the value of a DC voltage supplied to the inverter circuit is varied so as to control the high current wave value of a lamp current flowing in the discharge lamp thereby controlling the brightness of the discharge lamp.
The current dimming mode has the following problem. When a lamp current is reduced in order to lower the brightness of a discharge lamp, a brightness gradient tends to be caused between the high tension side and the low tension side of the discharge lamp as shown in FIG. 4. Also, if a lamp current is reduced below the guarantee value of the discharge lamp, the discharge lamp exhibits an unstable discharge operation, which causes a problem of flickering, and also causes difficulty of maintaining a stable discharge operation therefore allowing the discharge lamp to readily go out. Consequently, the current dimming mode generally enables a dimming control range of about 100% to 70%.
Under the circumstances, a discharge lamp lighting apparatus is disclosed which employs a current dimming mode as a control means to dynamically adjust the screen brightness according to continually changing input signals, in combination with a burst dimming mode as a control means to adjust the screen brightness based on the user's operation (refer to, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-357995).
FIG. 6 is a circuit diagram of an exemplar of such a discharge lamp lighting apparatus as described above, and FIG. 7 is a waveform diagram to explain the operation of the discharge lamp lighting apparatus of FIG. 6.
The discharge lamp lighting apparatus of FIG. 6 for lighting a discharge lamp (CFL) 1 includes a DC-AC inverter 2 to supply a driving current to the discharge lamp (CFL) 1, an input section 3 provided with a brightness adjusting means, and a main control section 4 which has a port terminal to output a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal to the inverter 2 in response to the output sent from the input section 3, and also a digital-analog (D-A) terminal to output a reference current value to the DC-AC inverter 2 in response to the output sent from the input section 3.
The discharge lamp lighting apparatus of FIG. 6 performs a dimming operation as follows. Referring to FIG. 7, if a user operates to cause the input section 3 to function to gradually decrease the brightness of the CFL 1 from its maximum level, the main control section 4 functions to gradually decrease the reference current outputted from the D-A terminal until it comes down to a predetermined value. During this process, the output from the port terminal is represented as a PWM signal with 100% on duty (refer to period TK1 in FIG. 7). Then, if the user's operation demands further decrease of the brightness of the CFL 1, the main control section 4 functions to stepwise decrease the on-duty time of the PWM signal outputted from the port terminal while the reference current outputted from the D-A terminal is maintained at the predetermined value (refer to period TK2 in FIG. 7).
Thus, in the discharge lamp lighting apparatus of FIG. 6, the current dimming mode is performed until the reference current, which is outputted from the D-A terminal, comes down to arrive at the predetermined value, and if the reference current having arrived at the predetermined value is caused to further decrease, then the burst dimming mode is performed with the reference current maintained at the predetermined value, whereby a wide range of dimming operation is enabled without causing a brightness gradient as shown in FIG. 5.
Under the circumstances, a large LCD, which has been recently developed for use in, for example, a large television, requires an increasingly longer discharge lamp (e.g., a cold cathode tube), and such an elongated long discharge lamp tends to cause a brightness gradient between the high tension side and the low tension side of the lamp even if the lamp current value is within the guarantee value of the discharge lamp. Consequently, if the current dimming mode is performed in the discharge lamp lighting apparatus of FIG. 6 such that the lamp current is decreased down to the reference current value, there is still a likelihood that the brightness gradient as shown in FIG. 4 will be caused at the CFL 1.

Dimmer circuit for a discharge lighting apparatus


Techniques for quantitative converged network assessment are described. Performance information, associated with network infrastructure elements and application or service elements of a computer network, is received. One or more key performance indicators of a reference network architecture are compared with at least a portion of the performance information. A plurality of first scores is determined based on the comparison of the one or more key performance indicators and at least a portion of the performance information. Based on the plurality of first scores, a single second score is determined that indicates a converged state of the computer network with respect to the reference network architecture.

Computer networks are typically comprised of numerous software applications or services and physical infrastructure elements. The arrangement or "architecture" for a computer network's components and their functional organization largely differ depending on the purpose of the network. However, computer network architectures may be required or heavily pressured to change to meet the demands of new technologies or markets. One common trend in changing network architectures involves a transformation from a traditional, single function, computer network to a converged network capable of performing a vast array of services and having the infrastructure to support such services. For example, emerging networks are expected to carry data, voice, video, and other traffic types easily and efficiently. Additionally, there are enormous efficiency and reliability incentives to converge or unify traditional networks into converged network architectures for future application and service deployments.
Considering this need for change, network administrators and managers have new needs to assess the existing state of a network and the network's readiness to adapt to new applications, services, and physical infrastructure. Existing network architecture assessments operate on individual applications or technologies within a given architecture and thus fail to provide any indication of how individual applications and services impact a network as a whole. Moreover, existing remedial recommendations are highly subjective and therefore challenging to track, trend and analyze.
The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.

Quantitative management assessments of data communication networks with converged architectures


The picture frame assembly includes a picture frame which has, in cross-section, a side wall, a turned in short flange at the rear end of the side wall extending forwardly to a free end and a rearwardly extending flange at the front end of the side wall which provides a forward locator slot between the rearwardly extending flange and the side wall. The frame assembly also includes two or more retainer members. Each retainer member includes a generally U or V shaped retainer clip having an inner linear/planar leg portion having a flange extending laterally outwardly therefrom. A bight portion extends from the inner leg portion at an angle thereto, and an outer leg portion extends in a non-linear/non-planar manner to an outer end hook formation. The laterally extending flange of the clip member is received in the locator slot and the hook formation has a groove which is adapted to receive the free end of the short flange extending forwardly from the side wall toward the picture in the picture frame.. The outer areal surface is of sufficient areal extent to provide support to the picture frame and engaging means, such as an adhesive, are combined with, or provided on, said outer areal surface for grippingly engaging the planar leg portion to a backing surface of a backing panel.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a picture frame assembly and a retainer for holding a picture in the frame of the assembly. More specifically, the present invention relates to a retainer which has a large areal surface and an adhesive on that areal surface for adhering to a backing sheet within the frame assembly. The present invention also relates to a picture frame assembly which includes a frame, glass or plastic sheet, a very rigid, double faced corrugated board backing sheet and two or more of the retainers adhered thereto and fixed within the frame for holding the components firmly against the frame surface thereby providing a one piece construction which will allow the frame assembly to be held in place on a wall without distortion of the top, bottom or side walls of the picture frame when hung on nails, hanging wire or other picture hanging hardware.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore a number of picture frame assemblies have been proposed including a picture frame that is made from an extruded metal, such as aluminum, and which has cutouts in the extrusion such that the extrusion can be folded to a rectangle to form a frame.
Furthermore, it has been proposed to provide clips for engaging the frame and bearing against the backing sheet for the picture mounted thereon which is positioned within the frame. A typical prior art clip is shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 of the drawings forming part of this patent application.
A recent example of a prior art picture frame is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,790,089. This patent discloses a picture frame including a framework, a support plane on which the image is placed, a transparent plane and blocking elements independent of the framework which interact with the framework and the supporting plane to hold the support plane and the picture in place within the framework.
A major ongoing "concern" in the picture frame industry is the lack of acceptable rigidity for wood, plastic and metal frames of thin cross-section. This inherent design problem is most apparent in frame sizes of over 16".times.20" since the weight of the glass and the extended "beams" of the frame contribute to a noticeable "bow" when the frame assembly is suspended from the top horizontal frame member by nails. In severe cases, the frame deflection results in a dislodgement of the glass with resultant glass breakage and hazard to the user.
Many design approaches have been used to rectify this condition and include the following design approaches:
Gluing the glass to the frame profile. PA0 Stapling the back to the frame profile for wood and plastic frames. PA0 Use of support "strapping" (belly bands) stapled to the back side of the frame profile for wood and plastic frames. PA0 Use of paper "dust covers" glued to the back of the frame profile.
The retainer and picture frame assembly of the present invention differ from the prior art retainers and picture frame assemblies by providing a retainer which has a large areal surface area on a side of the retainer facing a backing panel or sheet and a double sided adhesive tape on that surface which is adhered to both the retainer and the backing panel of the picture frame assembly. The retainer has preset corner creases or edges forming bend lines whereby the large areal surface area with or without an adhesive thereon is held firmly (flush) against the back side of the backing panel.
Further, the picture frame assembly of the present invention differs from prior picture frame assemblies by providing a picture frame assembly including not only the retainer described above but also a backing panel made of thin double faced corrugated board whereby when an adhesive is provided between the areal flat outer surface of the retainer and the backing panel, the weight of the picture frame assembly is supported not only by the frame but also by the backing panel and the picture mounted thereon such that the weight/load is distributed throughout the picture frame assembly.

Picture/poster frame assembly and retainer for holding components in the frame of the assembly


A method and apparatus are disclosed for a method for securing a patient for a medical procedure and specifically for an innovative headrest system for securing a patient for an ocular imaging procedure. The approach avoids the need for linkages and sliding rods and such. Instead, it relies on three independently movable face rests (two for the forehead or temples and one for the chin) each with a deformable cushion that is urged into conformity with the patient's head and chin during an adjustment phase of operation. Once a comfortable position and suitable conforming shape is achieved, the positions of the face rests are rigidly fixed and the shape of the cushions are rendered rigid and non-deformable, by application of a light vacuum, for the procedural or imaging phase of operation.

Many optical instruments, especially those used in ophthalmology, require fixation of a person's head relative to the optical and mechanical structure of the instrument. A commonly used approach is to provide one or more surfaces against which the patient rests his forehead and chin (see FIG. 1 for example). Given the relatively large and unpredictable variability in the shape of heads and chins, this presents a challenge to the designer. The designer must provide adjustable positions for the surfaces that can be set for each patient and then locked to prevent further movement. This is conventionally done by including linkages and sliding rods with lever or screw operated brakes.

Method of positioning a patient for medical procedures


An assembly includes a light-permeable film layer, a release liner, and a print pattern. The print pattern includes a base layer. The print pattern sub-divides the film layer into a plurality of discrete base layer areas and/or a plurality of transparent areas. The base layer includes a design imaging surface of a first color. The release liner includes an imperforate material. The release liner includes a release surface. The imperforate material when viewed through said light permeable film layer is a second color contrasting with said first color by the graytone of said second color differing from the graytone of said first color by at least 10%. This contrast may provide a more realistic perception of how the assembly will look in situ (e.g., on a window).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of self-adhesive film assemblies for application to windows to make vision control panels, for example one-way vision panels having a design on one side which is not visible from the other side, the other side allowing through vision.
2. Description of Related Art
Vision control panels are well known, for example panels having a design superimposed on an opaque silhouette pattern as disclosed in U.S. U.S. Reissue Pat. No. 37,186 and panels having a design superimposed on a translucent "base pattern", which enables the design to be illuminated from the other side of the panel, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,212,805. Both of these patents disclose self-adhesive assemblies comprising a light-permeable film facestock layer, an adhesive layer and a removable protective film layer, sometimes referred to as a liner or release liner. Such self-adhesive assemblies include facestock film which is perforated vinyl, or vinyl cut into discrete, elongated areas, for example stripes, or non-perforated clear film.
In September 1993 Visual Technologies, Inc., N.C., USA, made public the application of an additional non-perforated backing layer to the perforated liner of a perforated self-adhesive vinyl assembly, as also disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,773,110 and 5,609,938. The benefits of an assembly with a non-perforated backing layer are various, including the ability to hold the assembly with a vacuum suction device, for example on the bed of a screen printing press, and to prevent ink from a digital inkjet printing press passing though the perforation holes, for example onto a printing press platen. U.S. Pat. No. 5,858,155 discloses a non-perforated replacement liner applied to a perforated adhesive layer after removal of a temporary perforated liner, to achieve the same and additional benefits.
Such products are sometimes referred to as perforated base materials or perforated self-adhesive assemblies or perforated film assemblies or perforated self-adhesive films and are typically imaged by one of a number of printing techniques, including screen printing and various digital imaging methods, for example inkjet printing, electrostatic transfer printing and thermal mass transfer printing or sublimation. A perforated film assembly for subsequent application to the outside of a window typically has a white-on-black facestock, or a white facestock in conjunction with a black adhesive. An additional non-perforated backing layer is typically provided by a white self-adhesive "application tape" or by a heat-bonded film, for example a colorless, polypropylene film. A replacement liner is typically white or clear, typically a white, silicone-coated paper or a silicone-coated clear polyester. When imaged with a design, following removal of the liner and application to a window, the design is typically intended to be seen from outside the window, for example of a building or vehicle, illuminated by natural daylight. Designs such as advertisements or signs are typically seen, therefore, against a relatively dark background of the interior of the building or vehicle. Known techniques of "undercolor removal" of inks have been used to compensate for this background darkening effect, also disclosed in PCT/US96/09888.
Perforated static cling film assemblies with a non-perforated liner and no adhesive layer are also known.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,552,820 discloses a method of printing a vision control panel in which a transparent substrate is partially printed with an opaque print pattern, for example a print pattern of lines. An optical scanning device identifies leading and trailing edges of the select areas of printing and instructs a digital printing machine to print a superimposed layer, typically a design, on areas of the print pattern, for example a pattern of opaque white on black lines orientated perpendicular to the direction of primary movement of inkjet printheads, which are recognised in contrast to the transparent substrate that is unprinted between the opaque printed lines.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,250,336 (Greuse) discloses the use of a liner of contrasting color in a self-adhesive assembly in the field of kiss-cut, self-adhesive labels, to enable the quality of the cutting of the edges of kiss-cut labels to be more easily assessed following "weeding" of the surrounding unwanted facestock material.

Vision control panel assembly with a contrasting colored liner


An electric oil pump (ELOP) provided in parallel to a mechanical oil pump driven by an engine supplies oil to a clutch of a transmission. The ELOP is rotated in advance of a request to operate the ELOP at a targeted relatively-low first preoperation rotational speed. When an actual rotational speed matches the first preoperation rotational speed and an actual current matches a threshold, the ELOP is rotated at a targeted relatively-high second preoperation rotational speed. At least when an actual rotational speed matches a second predetermined rotational speed not higher than the second preoperation rotational speed, it is determined that preoperation is completed. If the number of restarts during the preoperation as one operation history of the ELOP reaches or exceeds the predetermined number of times, the current supply to the ELOP is interrupted to limit the restart, thereby reducing the number of repeated restarts of the ELOP.

A conventional electric oil pump is provided in parallel to a mechanical oil pump driven by an internal combustion engine as a power source of a vehicle to thereby supply oil to a transmission of the vehicle. The electric oil pump supplies lubricating/cooling oil to at least a part (clutch) of the transmission as needed in response to an operation request.
In some cases, however, when the electric oil pump configured to operate in response to the operation request is stopped, oil retains in an oil pipe controlled by the electric oil pump, whereby its temperature differs from oil in an oil pan that frequently flows by means of the mechanical oil pump. The oil retaining in the oil pipe controlled by the electric oil pump tends to lower the temperature and increase the viscosity. Thus, when operating the electric oil pump in this state, the motor might suffer from an excessive resistance and fail to respond to the operation request.
As a countermeasure against the above problem, the following technique has been known (see Patent Document 1). That is, in order to prepare for the operation in advance of the request to operate the electric oil pump, the electric oil pump is rotated at a target rotational speed set to a second preoperation rotational speed. At least when the actual rotational speed matches a predetermined rotational speed not higher than the second preoperation rotational speed, it is determined that the preoperation is completed. Under at least one condition that it is not yet determined that the preoperation is completed, the electric oil pump is rotated at the target rotational speed set to a first preoperation rotational speed lower than the second preoperation rotational speed and the predetermined rotational speed.

Controller and control method for electric oil pump


Innovations in range asymmetric number system (“RANS”) coding and decoding are described herein. Some of the innovations relate to hardware implementations of RANS decoding that organize operations in two phases, which can improve the computational efficiency of RANS decoding. Other innovations relate to adapting RANS encoding/decoding for different distributions or patterns of values for symbols. For example, RANS encoding/decoding can adapt by switching a default symbol width (the number of bits per symbol), adjusting symbol width on a fragment-by-fragment basis for different fragments of symbols, switching between different static probability models on a fragment-by-fragment basis for different fragments of symbols, and/or selectively flushing (or retaining) the state of a RANS decoder on a fragment-by-fragment basis for different fragments of symbols. In many cases, such innovations can improve compression efficiency while also providing computationally efficient performance.

With the emergence of media streaming over the Internet and other digital networks, digital processing of media has become commonplace. Engineers use compression to process media efficiently while still maintaining quality. One goal of media compression is to represent a media signal in a way that provides maximum signal quality for a given amount of bits. Stated differently, this goal is to represent the media signal with the least bits for a given level of quality. Other goals such as limiting computational complexity, improving resiliency to transmission errors, and limiting overall delay due to encoding/transmission/decoding apply in some scenarios.
Media compression typically includes one or more stages of prediction, frequency transformation, and quantization, followed by entropy coding. Corresponding media decompression typically includes entropy decoding followed by one or more stages of inverse quantization, inverse frequency transformation, and prediction. In general, entropy coding converts input symbols to encoded data having a lower bitrate, by exploiting redundancy in the input symbols (e.g., exploiting a pattern of many input symbols having common values, and few input symbols having rare values). Entropy decoding converts encoded data to output symbols, which correspond to the input symbols. There are many variations of entropy coding/decoding, which offer different tradeoffs in terms of compression efficiency (reduction in bitrate) and computational complexity. For example, Huffman coding/decoding is computationally simple but has poor compression efficiency for some distributions of values of input symbols. On the other hand, arithmetic coding/decoding usually has much better compression efficiency, at the cost of much higher computational complexity.
Asymmetric number system ("ANS") coding/decoding potentially offers high compression efficiency (comparable to arithmetic coding/decoding) and low computational complexity (comparable to Huffman coding/decoding). In particular, range ANS ("RANS") coding/decoding can work well when symbols have many possible values (large alphabet) but certain values (such as zero) are very common. RANS encoding/decoding also permits interleaving of output from multiple RANS encoders into a single output bitstream of encoded data, with multiple RANS decoders being usable to decode symbols from the bitstream concurrently, which can speed up the RANS encoding/decoding process.
Considering the importance of entropy coding/decoding to the overall efficiency of media compression and decompression, entropy coding/decoding has attracted significant attention in research and development. Although previous RANS encoding/decoding approaches provide good performance for many scenarios, there is room for improvement in terms of the computational efficiency and adaptiveness of RANS encoding/decoding.

Features of range asymmetric number system encoding and decoding


A connection structure for connecting a wiring board to a to-be-connected body having electric contacts, the wiring board including: a base having board-side contacts provided on its facing surface that is to face the to-be-connected body; and a cover film which covers the facing surface except the board-side contacts and a non-covered partial region of the facing surface, the connection structure including: conduction portions formed of electrically conductive resin, for bonding the electric contacts and the board-side contacts to permit electrical conduction therebetween; and a reinforcement portion formed of the same resin as the conduction portions and disposed at a position which is different from positions of the conductive portions and at which the reinforcement portion extends across both of a surface of the cover film and a surface of the non-covered partial region of the base, the reinforcement portion bonding the to-be-connected body and the wiring board for reinforcing connection therebetween.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connection structure and a connection method of a wiring board.
2. Discussion of Related Art
There is known a connection structure in which a wiring board is connected to a to-be-connected body, such as an actuator and a sensor, having electric contacts. In the structure, there are conducted, via the wiring board, signal transmission/reception to/from the to-be-connected body, supplying of electric power to the to-be-connected body, and so on. As one example of the connection structure between the to-be-connected body and the wiring board, there is known a connection structure between an FPC (as the wiring board) and a piezoelectric actuator (as the to-be-connected body) of an ink-jet head. In the connection structure, the FPC and the piezoelectric actuator are electrically connected to each other by solders (each as a conduction portion) which are for bringing electric contacts of the piezoelectric actuator and electric contacts of the FPC into electrical conduction to one another. Further in the connection structure, there are provided, at positions different from the positions of the solders for electrical conduction, reinforcement solders (each as a reinforcement portion) by which the piezoelectric actuator and the FPC are mechanically connected.
In view of various reasons, there is disclosed a connection structure in which the to-be-connected-body and the wiring board are connected using a material other than the solders. For instance, there is known a structure for electrically and mechanically connecting a flexible print board and a plasma display panel in the following manner. Initially, electrically conductive resin including electrically conductive particles and a thermosetting insulating adhesive is applied between wiring terminals (as board-side contacts) of the flexible print board and electrodes (as electric contacts) of the plasma display panel as the to-be-connected body. Subsequently, the flexible print board is pressed, while being heated, onto the plasma display panel, whereby the electrically conductive resin is cured to allow electrical and mechanical connection of the flexible print board and the plasma display panel.

Connection structure and connection method of wiring board


The invention relates to a device for machining and/or conveying materials, comprising a roller element rotatably supported about a longitudinal axis, at least one tool holder, a support element for supporting a cutting tool and a cutting tool, wherein the tool holder includes a receiver in which the support element is received in a form locking manner and the support element includes a bore hole. In order to configure the support element that is provided for holding the cutting tool engaging the material so that it can be exchanged in a much simpler manner it is proposed to arrange the fixation element coaxial with the support element, wherein the fixation element is connected with the support element through a threaded connection.

For example DE 10 2008 010 609 A1 discloses a chisel-chisel holder arrangement in which a chisel is supported in a chisel holder, wherein the chisel holder in turn is insertable in a base holder. While the base holder can be considered as a tool holder in the sense of the device recited supra the chisel holder can be interpreted as support element according to the device described supra. The chisel which engages the material to be machined during machining operations can be furthermore interpreted as a cutting tool in the sense of the device recited supra.
In the device recited in the publication document the chisel is, as common in the art, inserted into a bore hole of the chisel holder and attached at this location for example through a clamping sleeve. The basic principle of arranging a cutting tool (in the recited document the chisel) at an associated milling device and configuring the cutting tool as a so called round shaft chisel rotating about its longitudinal axis has been a technical standard for quite a while and is being used in many applications. Due to the particularly strong force impact during milling operations all components of the device described supra are subject to substantial wear. This applies in particular for the cutting tool, wherein in particular the portion of the cutting tool is affected the most which is brought into direct engagement with the material to be machined (for example a chisel). Based on the high mechanical loadings the associated relatively short service lives of the cutting tools are accepted.
Various developments therefore relate in particular to the problem of low service life of portions of the device that do not come in contact with the material to be machined. Many innovations were already able to provide improvements. Current devices, however, do not sufficiently address the problem of high wear of the support element which is only used for supporting or receiving the cutting tool. Classic wear effects can be created for example in that high transversal forces transmitted from the cutting tool to the support element lead to a deformation of the initial cylindrical receiver of the support element so that the receiver in particular in a upper section loses its essentially circular cross section which becomes increasingly ellipsoid. This impacts the support of the cutting tool included therein significantly and prevents for example a reliable rotation of the cutting tool (for example provided in the form of a round shaft chisel) about its longitudinal axis. Furthermore, the cutting performance of the cutting tool is reduced since the orientation of the cutting tool with an optimum chip angle between the associated cutting element and the material to be processed is lost. Also the large pulsating axial forces transmitted through the chisel head into the support element in conjunction with the chisel rotation and abrasive components of the machine material ("grinding particles") lead to wear of the tool holder in the sense of a material removal in axial direction which in turn reduces the stability of the support. Due to this wear of the support element relatively frequent replacement of the support element is necessary. This is undesirable for several reasons.
On the one hand side the support element is typically a relatively massive and large component (c.f. tool holder according to DE 10 2008 010 609 A1), which respectively cause considerable material costs. On the other hand side replacing a bearing element of this type is rather complex in the prior art since the bearing element is typically welded together with an associated tool holder, for example a base holder and has to be disengaged with a cutting torch and subsequently welded on again so that besides high material costs high wages and down times are incurred when replacing the support element.
The utility model DE 296 23 215 U1 addresses the problem of the support element wearing out (chisel holder c.f. DE 296 23 215 U1) by using a support element. The support element is placed in a portion between the cutting tool and the bore hole of the support element so that impact loads which originate from milling operations are not directly passed from the cutting tool to the support element but are captured by the support element. However, it is detrimental that the illustrated support element is either sunk with a conical plug insert in an also conical dead hole and wedged therein or attached at the support element through a solder joint or a welded joint. Both attachment variants have the effect that the support element can either not be removed at all or that it can only be removed with substantial complexity, for example when the support element itself is heavily worn and cannot perform its protective function relative to the change holder anymore.

Method for attaching a chisel and associated device


A thermally-broken ornamental door includes a thermally-broken door and a thermally-broken jamb through which thermal transfer is greatly minimized. The thermally-broken door includes an outer panel and an inner panel that are minimally connected through a plurality of door bridging strips. The thermally-broken jamb includes an outer jamb frame and an inner jamb frame that are minimally connected through a plurality of jamb bridging strips. An insulating foam panel is present between the outer panel and the inner panel while an insulating foam core is present between the outer jamb frame and the inner jamb frame. A window assembly is hingedly mounted into the thermally-broken door and includes a retaining spacer frame that minimizes thermal transfer from an exterior environment to an inner window frame through a glass panel of the window assembly. The retaining spacer frame additionally provides structural support to the glass panel.

Ornamental doors are often utilized to upgrade the aesthetic appeal of a home due to their unique and aesthetically-pleasing appearance. Ornamental doors may be composed of a variety of materials. Wooden doors are favored for their strength and beauty. However, wooden doors are subject to questionable longevity due to the tendency of wood to splinter, rot, and warp over time. As a result, wooden doors require a large amount of maintenance and even then must eventually be replaced. The longevity of steel and fiberglass doors is generally greater than that of wooden doors. However, steel and fiberglass doors are not considered as beautiful as wooden doors, decreasing the overall aesthetic appeal of steel and fiberglass doors. Ornamental iron doors are favored due to a number of inherent advantages over doors composed of alternate materials such as wood, steel, and fiberglass. While ornamental iron doors are aesthetically-pleasing, the doors are not considered to be energy efficient despite the unlikeliness of leaking air or water into a building. This is due to the lack of a thermal break between the exterior environment and the interior environment as the exterior portion of the door is directly connected to the interior portion of the door. The direct connection results in a large amount of thermal transfer from the exterior environment to the interior environment through the door. Because there is no interruption of thermal transfer from the exterior environment to the interior environment, the interior portion of the door becomes cold in the winter and warm in the summer. The lack of a thermal break may additionally result in unwanted condensation forming on the door, particularly if there is high interior humidity.
The present invention is a thermally-broken ornamental door that minimizes thermal transfer between the exterior-facing portion and the interior-facing portion of the ornamental door. The exterior-facing portion and the interior-facing portion of the ornamental door are in minimal contact with each other. The minimized thermal contact between the two portions results in an ornamental door in which thermal transfer between the exterior-facing portion and the interior-facing portion is greatly reduced. Insulation is present between the exterior-facing portion and the interior-facing portion, further reducing thermal transfer. As a result, the temperature of the interior-facing portion is much closer to the ambient interior temperature.


An electric motor system implements a redundant wye-wounded motor that includes first phase leads, second phase leads, first neutral leads, and second neutral leads. The first and second phase leads receive alternating current (AC) power from a power supply. A first phase-lead switch selectively connects the first phase leads to the power supply, and a second phase-lead switch selectively connects the second phase leads to the power supply. A first neutral-lead switch selectively connects the first neutral leads to the redundant wye-wounded motor, and a second neutral-lead switch selectively connects the second neutral leads to the redundant wye-wounded motor. A controller detects a circuit fault among a plurality of different types of circuit faults, and controls the operation of one or both of the primary neutral-lead switch and the second neutral-lead switch based on the circuit fault.

Non-limiting embodiments are related generally to electric motors, and more particularly, to redundant wye-wounded motors.
Electrical systems, such as in aircraft, commonly utilize electric motors to provide mechanical power to various systems. In some electric motors it can be desirable to have windings tied in parallel with one another between a motor feed and neutral terminals within the motor. Such parallel windings can provide reduced electrical losses from winding resistance and inductance, along with efficient operation at high electrical frequencies. The parallel windings generally tie together at a neutral node located within the motor such that a single feed for each motor phase connects to externally to a power source, which is typically through an overcurrent protection device like a circuit breaker or fuse.

Fault tolerant motor including redundant wye winding and dual-state neutral leads


A system includes a multidimensional data processing system storing meta data identifying a plurality of variables, a plurality of dimensions for each variable describing attributes of the variable, and a plurality of levels in each dimension. The meta data also identifies a hierarchy of the dimensions and levels for each variable. The multidimensional data processing system is configured to use the meta data to perform multidimensional queries to retrieve data for one or more of the variables from data storage. The system also includes a variable determination module determining at least one variable of the plurality variables operable to be used to generate a model, and a model generator receiving the data from the multidimensional data processing system and generating a model using the data.

Many companies spend millions of dollars each year on advertising and other marketing activities to improve sales. However, it is very difficult to determine how their marketing activities are impacting their sales. This is primarily due to the many factors that can actually influence sales, which may or may not be related to the marketing activities performed by the companies. For example, economic trends and competitor pricing may impact sales, as well as advertising in relevant marketing channels. As a result, companies have great difficulty focusing their marketing efforts and resources on the activities that are most likely to improve sales.
One approach to determining how a marketing activity impacts sales is to use modeling. Modeling may be used to forecast or predict behavior or outcomes. Models may be generated through a regression analysis or other method of analyzing historic data. For example, companies may use historic sales data to generate a model to predict how sales will be impacted in the future, and these companies may make adjustments to improve sales based on the predictions. However, as indicated above, there are many variables that may be included in the model based on all the factors that may influence sales. Furthermore, some variables may be more accurate than other variables based on insufficient data, inaccuracies and other factors. It is very difficult to select the variables to use in the model that would yield the most accurate forecasting results. Accordingly, many models that may be currently used for forecasting can be inaccurate. Furthermore, it is very difficult to manage the data, especially for large number of variables, so the data can be used to build models. Accordingly, the processing of the data sets to build models may involve immense processing time.

Adaptive analytics multidimensional processing system


A method of operating a fire-control system for simultaneously engaging a plurality of threats in which one plan from a pool of heuristically determined feasible plans is selected based on an environment of the fire-control system and a selected criterion to engage the plurality of threats. In addition, a genetic algorithm is applied to the pool of feasible plans prior to selecting the one plans to generate additional plan to replenish the pool, and a best feasible plan is selected from the pool with the criterion serving as the standard. Further, at least one randomly selected feasible plan is added to the pool of feasible plans before the genetic algorithm is applied to the pool of feasible plans.

1. Field of the Invention
A method for operating a fire-control system based on a HEURISTIC ALGORITHM.
The invention relates to a method for operating a fire-control system suitable for at least substantially simultaneously engaging a plurality of threats, employing sensors and weapons, whereby, on the basis of an environment of the fire control system and on the basis of a selected suitability criterion, one planning is selected from a pool of for instance heuristically determined feasible plannings in order to engage the threats.
2. Discussion of the Background
A method of this type is effectively applied in large fire-control systems as for instance installed on board naval craft. It is found, however, that the formulation of heuristically determined plannings, based on a large amount of tactical and logistic information is a time-consuming process. Moreover, a pool of plannings thus determined will never be complete, since experience shows that threats are continuously turning up for which no suitable planning exists. Also a minor change in the fire-control system proves to be disastrous to the existing plannings. In conclusion it has been found that a commander, who has the ultimate decision in the selection of a feasible planning, is faced with the virtually impossible task of selecting a best feasible planning in the short space of time available to him. The fact that the own ship's chance of survival is generally taken as suitability criterion illustrates the importance of finding the best feasible planning.

Method for operating a fire-control system based on a heuristic algorithm


An improved process for the purification of crude aqueous solutions of acarbose by passing such solutions through a strong acid cation-exchange resin, saturating such resin and recovering as an eluate a substantially pure acarbose solution. Purities of more than 98%, and preferably about 99% or higher, are thus obtained.

Acarbose is a polyglucose-based tetramer oligosaccharide obtained by fermentation of the microorganism Actinoplanes sp. (particularly A. utahensis). Its full chemical name is O-4,6-dideoxy-4-[[(1S,4R,5S,6S)-4,5,6-trihydroxy-3-(hydroxymethyl)-2-cyclohexen-1-yl]amino]-xcex1-D-glucopyranosyl-(1xe2x86x924)-O-xcex1-D-glucopyranosyl-(1xe2x86x924)-D-glucose. Acarbose is a white powder having a molecular weight of 645.6. It is freely soluble in water, and its pKa value is 5.1.
Acarbose""s empirical formula is C25H43NO18; its structural formula is:
As can be seen from the structural formula, acarbose is a complex oligosaccharide consisting of two glucoses, one deoxyglucose and one dideoxy glucose derivative. The first three monomeric units are bound by O-glycosidic links, while the fourth monomeric unit is bound by an N-glycosidic linkage.
Due to the above structure, the acarbose molecule acts as an antihyperglycemic, which is a consequence of competitive reversible inhibition of the pancreatic xcex1-amylase enzyme and the alimentary tract""s xcex1-glucosidohydrolase (Ki≅10xe2x88x9212 M). This inhibition decreases and postpones the breakdown of ingested carbohydrates, thus decreasing the elevation of blood sugar levels after meals. In type II diabetes, the enzymatic inhibition results in postponed glucose absorption and prevention of hyperglycemia after meals. Acarbose is available on the European market as Glucobay(trademark), and in the United States as Precose(trademark).
Acarbose is obtained by fermentation of a microorganism of the family Acitonoplanaceae, preferably a strain of the genus Actinoplanace, followed by isolation from the fermentation broths by filtration and precipitation. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,876,766; 3,879,546; 4,019,960; and 4,062,950. The purity of the crude acarbose thus produced is inadequate for pharmaceutical use and, therefore, additional purification is necessary to provide the high degree of purity required for clinical application.
As noted above, the fourth glycosidic unit in the acarbose molecule is bound by the N-glycosidic link, imparting weakly basic properties to the molecule. Purification procedures for acarbose previously described in the literature were based on the use of cation-exchangers for adsorbing the acarbose molecule to the binding groups thereon; such groups do not adequately bind the weakly basic acarbose, which accordingly, results in impure acarbose products in the effluent streams therefrom. For example, purification processes have been described (see DE 2,347,782 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,174,439) in which, after the initial treatment of the culture broth with activated carbon, acarbose is bound to strong acid cation-exchangers and eluted with salt solutions or dilute acids. These exchangers are gels of the macro-reticular type based on cross-linked polystyrene, which have poor mass transfer and exhibit broad peaks upon elution, resulting in relatively low product purities. Acarbose products obtained from these processes, after neutralization with basic anion exchangers, are said to have acarbose contents of about 78-88% in the dry matter (by HPLC analysis).
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,767,850 and 4,666,776 disclose the purification of acarbose solutions by adsorption to strong acid macroporous cation echange resins based on aromatic compounds possessing one or more vinyl groups and at least one hydrophilic monomer.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,904,769, on the other hand, describes an acarbose purification method, using a chromatographic column packed with a weakly acid cation-exchanger having carboxyl binding groups thereon and based on dextran, agarose or cellulose or exchangers which are derived from such exchangers by the addition of polyacrylamide. This patent states that use of the particular purification technique thereof results in acarbose contents of at least 90% and up to as much as 98% by HPLC analysis of the dry matter. It further discloses that the acarbose products thereof contain less than 10%, and preferably 2 to 5% by weight of sugar-like secondary components. During prosecution of the patent it was asserted that strongly acidic cation exchangers could not be utilized to obtain acarbose of such purities.
The method described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,904,769 is, however, difficult to use on a production scale because acarbose is not bound but rather slowed in passing through the column. Moreover, the efficacy of such method depends on a number of factors, including the temperature of the exchanger and the pH range of the acarbose feed, which must be adjusted to optimize purification. In addition, this method involves relatively high cost due to the necessity to use highly pre-purified acarbose crudes and expensive weak acid cation-exchangers.
In International Published Application WO 99/07720 a further acarbose purification method is described, based on the use of non-aromatic strong acid cation-exchanger column chromatography. Exchangers that are hydrophilic and have high mass transfer are disclosed, e.g., a polymer-coated alumina matrix, a sulfoxyethyl cellulose resin or a methacrylate copolymer sulfonate resin. The elution of acarbose products from the column is carried out with ammonia, sodium hydroxide or hydrochloric acid. In the only example of this application, an acarbose product said to possess 98% purity is described. However, it is known that the pH values of such eluates trigger partial acarbose degradation caused by hydrolysis of glycosidic links, and are, therefore, undesirable.
In International Published Application WO 01/30796 an acarbose purification technique is disclosed, utilizing a monodispersed cross-linked polystyrene-based gel strong acid cation exchanger having a hexagonal bed structure and containing a sulfate group. The eluate from such exchanger is obtained with diluted hydrochloric acid (pH 1.0-3.0) to remove remaining salts, sugar-like secondary components and acarbose analogs. The acarbose thus obtained is said to have high purity, not less than 98%.
Yet a further acarbose purification method is disclosed in International Patent Application WO 02/12256. This application describes purifying acarbose employing a strong acid cation-exchanger, e.g., an exchanger incorporating sulfo, sulfomethyl or sulfopropyl groups, in the presence of an anion of a weak acid. The application states that the impurities present in the acarbose fermentation broth cannot adsorb onto the strong acid cation-exchanger when the anion of a weak acid is present in solution. Consequently, only acarbose is said to selectively adsorb onto the strong acid cation-exchanger, resulting in an acarbose product of assertedly high purity containing less than 1% of acarbose-related substances after drying. However, the process described in this application is relatively complex, involving the use of multiple chromatographic columns, using strong cation exchangers in the presence of an anion of a weak acid, and elution with solutions having differing specific pH ranges.
As will be apparent from the preceding background discussion, various of the previously described acarbose purification methods utilize multi-step, complex processes involving the use of both cation exchangers and anion exchangers, and either basic or acidic eluates. The use of such eluates introduces additional ions into the purified acarbose solution and requires subsequent adjustment of pH. The use of multi-step processes additionally imposes substantial additional cost, and may require highly pre-purified acarbose crude feed reactant streams.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a relatively simple, direct and economical process for the purification of acarbose, by which that product is produced in purities.
The present invention relates to a process for the purification of aqueous solutions of crude acarbose, of at least 80% by weight acarbose, which comprises:
(a) passing an aqueous solution of the crude acarbose having a pH value from about 5 to about 7 through a chromatographic column filled with a strong acid cation exchange resin, resulting in binding of acarbose and related impurities from the solution to the active exchanger groups on the resin;
(b) determining that the strong acid cation-exchange resin is saturated when the eluate from the column contains acarbose of at least 98% purity;
(c) flowing additional aqueous solution of crude acarbose through the saturated strong acid cation-exchange resin, impurities in the said solution replacing acarbose at the active exchanger groups of the resin;
(d) collecting at least the fractions of the eluate removed from the column in step (c) containing at least 98% pure acarbose; and
(e) recovering and drying the purified acarbose product containing at least 98% pure acarbose from step (d).
Utilizing the process of the invention it is possible to produce substantially pure acarbose that has an acarbose content of more than 98% and, preferably, more than 99% acarbose.
The superior acarbose purities obtained by the purification process of the present invention are attributable to saturation of the strong acid cation-exchange resin with the acarbose and related sugar-like impurities from the aqueous solution of crude acarbose, followed by the formation of an eluate containing higher acarbose purities than achieved in prior art processes. It is believed that the sugar-like impurities contained in the crude acarbose solutions bind more strongly to the active exchanger groups on the strong acid cation-exchange resin than the acarbose molecules. Continued flow of the crude acarbose-containing solution then effects replacement of the acarbose molecules bound to the saturated resin with the sugar-like impurities and concomitant increased purity of the acarbose released from the resin and removed from the column in the eluate. The foregoing reaction mechanism is believed to be responsible for the superior acarbose purities obtained in the purification process hereof; however, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the adsorption mechanism thus postulated.
By determining purities of the collected successive fractions obtained by flowing additional aqueous solution of crude acarbose through the saturated strong acid cation-exchange resin, it is possible to select the fractions containing substantially pure acarbose. Moreover, in accordance with a preferred way of carrying out the process of this invention, when the purity of the eluate decreases below desired levels, the saturated strong acid cation-exchanger is washed with pure water and those fractions of the water wash removed from the chromatographic column containing at least 98%, and preferably more than 99%, acarbose are collected and admixed with the eluate fractions obtained by flowing additional aqueous solution of crude acarbose through the saturated stron gacid cation-exchange resin. In this manner, increased product yields of the desired substantially pure acarbose product are obtained.
In accordance with additional preferred techniques for carrying out this purification process, the saturated column may additionally be eluted with dilute aqueous salt solutions containing from about 0.03 M to about 0.6M NaCl or about 0.02M to about 0.2M NH4OH, and recovering those eluate fractions containing substantially pure acarbose which are removed from the column after passing either or both of these additional eluting agents therethrough. In this manner, the quantity of the substantially pure acarbose produced in accordance with the process of the invention may be further augmented.
The preceding and other preferred embodiments and advantages of this invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of the invention and various preferred embodiments thereof.
In this specification and the claims appended hereto, the following terms are used as noted below:
xe2x80x9cAqueous solutions of crude acarbosexe2x80x9d are intended to refer to acarbose-containing solutions prepared by dissolving crude acarbose in water. Crude acarbose is obtained from the materials produced by culturing microorganism of the family Actinoplanaceae or by chemical or enzymatic hydrolysis of such material, followed optionally by preliminary purification processes in a way, for example, as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,876,766; 3,879,546; 4,019,960; 4,062,950; and 4,174,439 referenced above. Crude acarbose of particular use in the purification process of the present invention may contain acarbose in excess of about 80%, and give aqueous solutions that have neutral pH values, e.g., within the range of from about 5 to about 7, preferably about 6;
xe2x80x9cAcarbose contents or purityxe2x80x9d is specified by weight of the pertinent acarbose material and related sugar-like substances on dry matter. The percentages specified herein have been determined by HPLC analysis as generally described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,904,769 (column 3, line 13 to column 4, line 4). The specific analyses were determined on an NH2 chromatographic column, Hibar Pre-Packed Column RT250-4, LiChrosorb NH2 (5MM). In the examples set forth below the specific parameters of the analytic technique (i.e., the mobile phase, flow, temperature and detector) were based on the characteristics of that system;
xe2x80x9cStrong acid cation-exchange resins or exchangersxe2x80x9d refers to that class of materials described, for example, in Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia Of Chemical Technology, Volume 14, under xe2x80x9cIon Exchangexe2x80x9d, pp. 737-783 (1995). Such materials remain substantially fully ionized over a wide range of pH values, as distinguished from weak acid cation-exchangers which are ionized over a small range of pH values. Strong acid cation-exchange resins useful in the present acarbose purification process have polysaccharide matrices and sulfo or sulfoalkyl (e.g., sulfomethyl, sulfoethyl or sulfopropyl) binding groups thereon. Preferred strong acid cation-exchangers useful herein include S-Sepharose Fast Flow (xe2x80x9cFFxe2x80x9d), SP-Sepharose Fast Flow (xe2x80x9cFFxe2x80x9d) and Express Ion Exchanger S.
xe2x80x9cA saturated strong acid cation-exchange resin or exchangerxe2x80x9d refers to such a resin in which the binding groups thereon are substantially completely bound to acarbose molecules or to sugar-like impurities incorporated in crude acarbose aqueous solutions. As used herein, a strong acid cation-exchange resin employed in the purification process hereof is regarded as saturated when an eluate recovered from such resin contains substantially pure acarbose; and
xe2x80x9cSubstantially pure acarbosexe2x80x9d refers to an acarbose composition having an acarbose content or purity of more than about 98% and preferably, more than about 99%, of the weight of that composition after drying.
Elution of acarbose aqueous solutions from strong acid cation exchangers, in accordance with prior art procedures, generally produces varying fractions of acarbose and other sugars such as the principal related substance, the acarbose-like oligomer having one glucose unit less than acarbose. During the fermentation and isolation process of crude acarbose substantial co-production of other sugar-like impurities occurs, and because these sugar-like impurities are difficult to separate from acarbose, the preparation of substantially pure acarbose compositions by previous techniques could not be carried out in an efficient manner.
On the other hand, utilizing the purification process of the present invention, it is possible to obtain fractions in which other sugar-like impurities, eluted from a saturated, strong acid cation-exchange resin in accordance with the present invention, are typically present in negligible quantities.
Employing the purification process hereof, it is important that the aqueous solution of the crude acarbose passed into the strong acid cation-exchange resin be introduced to the chromatographic column at pH from about 5 to about 7. Employing solutions of crude acarbose of pH out of the mentioned range results in degradation of acarbose and increases the concentration of other ions, which then have to be removed in subsequent steps.
As indicated above, the purification process involves passing the crude acarbose aqueous solution through the column until the strong acid cation-exchange resin is saturated, as indicated when the eluate contains substantially pure, i.e., at least about 98%, acarbose. The purity of each successive eluate fraction removed from the column is determined by HPLC analysis of each such fraction. As additional aqueous solution of crude acarbose is flowed through the saturated cation-exchange resin, impurities in the solution replace acarbose molecules on the active exchanger groups on the resin, resulting in increased purity of the eluate. Those fractions containing substantially pure acarbose, i.e., at least about 98% and, preferably, about 99% or higher, are recovered and dried in accordance with the present process.
As further indicated hereinabove, additional substantially pure acarbose-containing solutions may be produced after flowing the crude acarbose aqueous solution through the resin, by water washing of the resin and, if desired, by eluting with an aqueous solution of NaCl having a concentration of from about 0.03 to about 0.6 M or an aqueous solution of NH4OH having a concentration of from about 0.02 to about 0.2 M, through the column. There are thus formed additional fractions of aqueous solutions containing substantially pure acarbose.
These and further modifications of the acarbose purification process of the present invention are described in the following examples.