Methods and systems for forecasting a future event in an event stream are provided herein. The event stream includes a number of events, wherein each of the events includes an event label and an associated time stamp. The system includes a processor that is adapted to execute stored instructions and a system memory. The system memory includes code configured to generate one or more decision graphs for predicting events with event labels chosen from a number of event labels based on the events within the event stream, wherein the decision graph includes decision nodes and leaf nodes, and wherein each of the decision nodes includes a question. The system memory also includes code configured to analyze event stream data using the decision graph and forecast a future event in the event stream based on the analysis of the event stream data.

Event streams, which are sequences of discrete events over continuous time, are ubiquitous in many applications, such as system error logs and web search query logs. Learning a model for the temporal dependencies and relationships among events within a system can present a useful paradigm for better understanding the relationships in the system. For example, a system administrator of a datacenter may be interested in knowing how failures on certain machines or machine types can affect failures elsewhere in the datacenter for preemptive maintenance.
The inherent temporal nature of the problem leads to many algorithmic and statistical challenges. In many cases, the model is to learn long-range dependencies, where examining few events in a particular time interval can be insufficient. For example, what a user will query for at a particular time is not just a function of what he has queried for in the previous day, but also what he has previously queried for on that day of the week, as well as at that time of the day, and the topics he has queried for in the past. Similarly, for datacenter logs, the likelihood of a machine failing may depend on many other failures, warnings, and repairs that have accumulated over time, not simply what the machine's status was the day before the possible failure. Moreover, machines are not equally likely to fail, and each user is not equally likely to search for the same topics, so events from different machines or users may not be modeled well if they are assumed to behave identically given the same history.
While graphical models such as Bayesian networks and dependency networks are widely used to model the dependencies between variables, they do not model temporal dependencies. Dynamic Bayesian Networks (DBN) allow for the modeling of temporal dependencies in discrete time. However, it is not clear how continuous-time data could be discretized in order to apply the DBN approach. At a minimum, too slow a sampling rate results in poor representation of the data, and too fast a sampling rate increases the number of samples, making learning and inference more costly. In addition, allowing long term dependencies involves conditioning on multiple steps in the past, and choosing too fast a sampling rate increases the number of such steps that need to be conditioned on. Further, since the number of different event types is typically very large, these models can become quickly intractable.

Forecasting a future event in an event stream


Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described. In some cases, a wireless device such as a user equipment (UE) may receive a downlink transmission from a base station over a wireless channel, select, based on the received downlink transmission, a channel state information (CSI) computation mode for the wireless channel, where the CSI computation mode is based on an effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP) constraint, measure a set of one or more CSI reference signals (CSI-RSs) from the base station to obtain a CSI measurement, and transmit a CSI report to the base station based on the selected CSI computation mode and the CSI measurement.

The following relates generally to wireless communications, and more specifically to channel state information (CSI) computation for effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP)-constrained transmissions.
Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of such multiple-access systems include fourth generation (4G) systems such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) systems, or LTE-A Pro systems, and fifth generation (5G) systems which may be referred to as New Radio (NR) systems. These systems may employ technologies such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), or discrete Fourier transform-spread-orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFT-S-OFDM). A wireless multiple-access communications system may include a number of base stations or network access nodes, each simultaneously supporting communication for multiple communication devices, which may be otherwise known as user equipment (UE).
In some wireless communications systems, such as those operating in a contention-based or other shared radio frequency spectrum band, wireless devices (e.g., UEs, base stations) may be limited by one or more transmission constraints. For instance, regulatory agencies (e.g., Federal Communications Commission (FCC)) may set a total power limit (e.g., EIRP limit), which may be based on whether the spectrum in use is unlicensed or licensed, whether the frequency band is in use, etc. Further, in some cases, in addition to the total power limit in unlicensed spectrum, wireless devices may be limited by an overall power spectral density (PSD) limit. In some cases, a UE may not be aware a base station is operating under EIRP constraints, which may impact channel quality reporting. Thus, efficient techniques for reporting channel quality, for example, based on EIRP constraints at the base station, may serve to optimize network performance.

Channel state information (CSI) computation for effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP)-constrained transmissions


An applicant dispersal assembly is described that couples to an irrigation system. It is contemplated that the irrigation system may be a center pivot irrigation system, a linear move irrigation system, or the like. The applicant dispersal assembly is configured to receive an applicant and selectively adjust a flow rate of the applicant. In an implementation, the applicant dispersal assembly includes a pump assembly configured to couple to an irrigation conduit. The irrigation conduit is configured to provide an applicant to the pump assembly for dispersing over a cultivation area. The pump assembly is configured to pump the applicant and to selectively adjust a flow rate of the applicant. The applicant dispersal assembly also includes an applicant dispersal device that is coupled to the pump assembly. The applicant dispersal device is configured to disperse the applicant.

Modern day agriculture has become increasingly efficient in the past century and this trend must continue in order to produce a sufficient food supply for the increasing world population. A notable advancement in agricultural production was the introduction of mechanized irrigation systems, such as the center pivot and linear move irrigators. These irrigation systems make it possible to irrigate entire fields thereby reducing a crop yield's vulnerability to extreme weather conditions. The ability to monitor and to control the amount of water and/or nutrients applied to an agricultural field has increased the amount of farmable acres in the world and increases the likelihood of a profitable crop yield.

Irrigation system having an applicant dispersal assembly


An epicyclic gear train including a central sun gear, an outer ring gear, and a number of planet gears which are mounted to a planet carrier. The planet carrier includes a centrally disposed torque transfer coupling with a torque transmission point at an axial end thereof. First and second carrier plates extend radially from the torque transfer coupling and are axially spaced apart to support the planet gears therebetween at aligned gear mounting points. The first carrier plate is closer to the torque transfer point than the second carrier plate. The second carrier plate has a stiffness that is greater than that of the first carrier plate.

Epicyclic gear trains are frequently used in reduction gearboxes of gas turbine engines. The planet gear carriers of such epicyclic gear trains, however can be prone to torsional deflection wherein the planet carrier twists around its central axis under load, causing the individual axis of rotation of the planet gears to lose parallelism with the central axis of the carrier. This can negatively affect the efficiency and life span of the gear train.
Improvement is sought to provide a planet carrier that provides a more balanced stiffness, thereby allowing a more uniform load distribution on the two sides of each planet gear of the epicyclic reduction stage.

Epicyclic gear train with balanced carrier stiffness


A conductive contact includes a hollow cylinder, a spring strip and a contact head.

The ongoing trend toward increased performance and higher density electrical circuits has led to the development of surface mount technology in the design of electronic packages and printed circuit boards (PCBs). As the amount of memory increases in electronic systems so does the amount of bandwidth required for the processors, and resultantly the number of in/out (I/O) connections.
Sockets are commonly used to enable multiple insertions of packages onto PCBs (e.g., mother boards) or other substrates to provide mechanical and electrical connections. Shielded sockets electrically isolate an array of conductive contacts from the housing that surrounds the conductive contacts, thus reducing the number of ground pins that are necessary.
The reduction in ground pins, and subsequent reduced pin count, causes a decrease in socket loading force, resulting in a reduced requirement for socket stiffness. Accordingly, current contact designs (e.g., clip and spring designs) do not provide sufficient normal force or electrical resistance for shielded socket designs.


A communications system includes a satellite hub, a remote satellite terminal, and a satellite configured to provide communications therebetween. The remote terminal includes a controller that functions as an enforcement mechanism when adjusting antenna polarization on the remote satellite terminal to facilitate communications with the satellite. The satellite transmits an acquisition signal at a first satellite polarization angle, and a jamming signal at a second satellite polarization angle different from the first satellite polarization angle. If the polarization is not set correctly, then the jamming signal is not filtered by a narrow width null of the receive gain pattern at the remote satellite terminal, and the controller inhibits transmission. This forces an installer to correctly set the polarization of the antenna at the remote satellite terminal.

For satellite operators who support remote satellite terminals with a very small aperture terminal (VSAT) system, setting the antenna polarization on the remote satellite terminal is necessary for interference free operation of the satellite communications payload that is operating on an opposite orthogonal polarization of the satellite. With a 2-port antenna feed in a typical low cost antenna, it is difficult for an installer commissioning the remote satellite terminal to determine empirically if the antenna polarization on the remote satellite terminal is correct. This is due to the broad nature of the co-polarization peak and the narrow nature of the cross polarization null with regards to the angular displacement of a linearly polarized feed on a typical satellite antenna system.
The relationship of how transmit polarization 12 and receive polarization 10 are adjusted around the boresite of the antenna 32 is provided in FIG. 1. As indicated by arrow 13, rotation of the satellite antenna feed system 33 effects the transmit/receive polarizations 12, 10 of the antenna 32 around the boresite.
The correct polarization angle is defined as the angle at which the remote satellite terminal polarization characteristics of the signal transmitted by the antenna are aligned with the polarization characteristics of the antenna system on the satellite being accessed. Ideally, the co-polarized receive gain and cross polarized transmit gain of the VSAT system exactly matches the rotational angle of the satellite antenna feed system.
An incorrect polarization setting between a remote satellite terminal and a satellite is shown in FIG. 2. The co-polarization receive gain is indicated by reference 10 and the cross polarization transmit gain is indicated by reference 12. The satellite polarization setting 11 is offset from the feed polarization angle 6 at the satellite, as indicated by reference 14. Similarly, the co-polarization receive gain 10 is offset from the feed polarization angle displacement θ at the satellite, as indicated by reference 15.
Since the co-polarization receive gain 10 exhibits a very broad peak for receiving an acquisition signal from the satellite, the offset 15 minimally impacts reception of the acquisition signal. However, this offset 14 for the cross polarization transmit gain 12 causes a significant amount of energy to be transmitted into the opposite polarization, which causes cross polarization interference at the satellite.
To alleviate this issue with large populations of mobile VSAT systems, the normal practice is for the installer to call to a Network Operations Center (NOC), and under instruction from an operator, set the polarization with the operator. The operator has access to an earth station antenna fitted with the equipment to see signals on both polarizations.
The operator feeds back the empirical observation of the relative levels of the desired (co-polarized) signal and the undesired (cross polarized) signal. Frequencies are set aside on satellites for this application. Since the signals used for the measurement are typically single frequency sinusoidal (known as continuous wave or CW) and are generated by the transmission apparatus of the terminal, the VSAT terminal can not carry any traffic in this state. Therefore, communications between the installer and the operator requires a communications channel separate from the normal VSAT bearer channel.
As the number of VSAT systems have increased, and, in particular, VSAT systems that are in a semi-mobile (also known as nomadic) operation, the burden on network operators and installers with this polarization setting technique has increased dramatically. Since one space segment resource and one network operator is occupied full time for approximately 30 minutes, the technique is very difficult and expensive to scale.
In addition, since there is no mechanism to enforce the installer setting the cross polarization on the VSAT system, there has also been an increase in the number and severity of incidents of interference on the opposite polarization. Installers will simply point the antenna at the satellite and once the electronics package joins the network, they think that they are done. Very often, the remote satellite terminal with an incorrect polarization setting will operate satisfactorily on co-polarized receive due to the broad nature of the co-polarization peak, but the cross polarized transmit gain is not aligned correctly, as illustrated in FIG. 2. This offset results in the cross polarized transmit gain causing cross polarization interference on the opposite polarization at the satellite. The cross polarization interference needs to be resolved, which is an even more difficult and expensive analysis and remediation process.
One approach for aligning antenna polarization for a VSAT system is provided by Hughes Network Solutions, LLC. Hughes provides outdoor pointing interface (OPI) operating instructions that provide feedback from the pointing software to the installer at the VSAT system during the pointing process. However, Hughes OPI still allows the remote satellite terminal to operate satisfactory with the co-polarized receive gain even if the cross polarized transmit gain is not aligned correctly, which causes cross polarization interference at the satellite.
Other automated or non-interventional techniques have been developed that replicate the function of the Network Operator robotically. These techniques, while reducing the burden on the Network Operations centers, and at times successfully enforcing cross polarization discipline amongst the installers, are typically very complex and expensive to implement, and suffer from many of the same scalability problems as the normal procedure of human intervention.

Remote satellite terminal with antenna polarization alignment enforcement and associated methods


A client/server system and method for providing a way of repairing software failures as they occur. This system enhances the software architecture of the client device is discussed by detecting a software failure and giving the client the ability to dial up a connection to a repair server designed for supplying repair software. This special diagnostic server takes control of the client device, performs a diagnostic, retrieves log information, and downloads and executes software to repair the failure. The system turns control over from the client device to the repair server to execute commands issued by the repair server. Once the connection to the server is established, all of the intelligence in the diagnostic and repair process is driven by the repair server. This allows the repair server to identify and repair the software failures found in the client device without having to change the software in the client device. The repair process can be performed while on-line with the repair server or deferred until after a reboot.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a client/server feature providing an emergency diagnosis and repair facility between client and repair server devices. More specifically, the system relates to a process for detecting a software malfunction in a client computer and connecting to a server to repair the malfunction.
2. Description of the Related Art
A personal video device (for example, as manufactured by TiVo, Inc. of Alviso, Calif.) is a complicated product, containing both hardware and software components. Individual devices occasionally suffer from hardware failures, and need to be returned to the factory for repair. These hardware failures tend to be sporadic and random in their occurrence, and (because software is not involved) there is no way to repair the failure other than to send a technician out to fix the hardware.
Software failures can also present a troubling problem. When a software failure occurs, it can potentially affect large number of devices because the same software is running in thousands of systems. A software failure may occur in what looks like a random fashion. For example, the xe2x80x9cnines problemxe2x80x9d (bad DMA data) tends to occur in a random-like fashion because it is dependent on many timing and usage sensitive conditions in an individual device. On the other hand, a software failure may occur en masse if it results from a latent bug in the software being triggered by data sent to the device.
Some software failures simply crash the machine, or cause the application to malfunction in an annoying but non-critical way. Other software failures can xe2x80x9cpoisonxe2x80x9d the device, damaging its stored data in a way which prevents the device from functioning at all.
When a software failure occurs and a device becomes nonfunctional, it is often fairly easy to correct the problem and return the failed device to normal use, if and when the service facility can run a repair program of some sort to correct the damaged data. The hard part is being able to run the repair program on the affected device. Currently, it is difficult or impossible to run any sort of repair program on a device if the device is unable to make a normal daily (program guide) phone call to the personal video service. As a result, when this sort of failure occurs, the service facility must issue an RMA, return the device to the factory for repair, and ship a replacement device to the customer. This is expensive when it occurs occasionally. It could be fatally damaging to a company if the company had to do it en masse due to a software failure affecting tens of thousands of devices.
Fault detection and recovery for a software crash is a common issue among software based machinery. A. Federico, Control Fault Detection for Machine Recovery and Diagnostics Prior to Malfunction, U.S. Pat. No. 4,514,846, describes a process for monitoring software crashes and preventing them from halting the productivity of the machine. However, this type of fault prevention is combined within the machine and thus has no means of using an outside source to repair any software failures. Because Federico""s machine is self-contained, this technique has no way of learning from its mistakes, nor does it offer a way to prevent these malfunctions from occurring in other machines performing the same functions.
D. C. Cromer, Data Processing System and Method for Generating a Detailed Repair Request for a Remote Client Computer System, Pat. No. 6,003,081, describes a technique for detecting a fault, connecting to a remote server, and informing the remote server of the fault. However it does not go ahead and fix the fault. In a complex device, such as a personal video device it is very important to repair the detected software failures as soon as possible to ensure a continuously working system.
The invention disclosed herein provides a way of repairing software failures in the field. It enhances the current software architecture of the device, by giving the device the ability to xe2x80x9cphone home for helpxe2x80x9d during its boot-and-startup process. A special diagnostic server located at the service facility takes control of the device, performs diagnostics, retrieves log information, and downloads and executes software to repair whatever has gone wrong. This greatly reduces the number of system components which must be working correctly for the invention to function.
The basic philosophy of operation is simple: it phones home, turns over control of the device to a diagnostic server located at the service facility, and executes commands issued by the server. Once the connection to the server is established, all of the intelligence in the diagnosis and repair process is driven by the server. This allows the service facility to react to newly-discovered problems, and enable the diagnostic server to identify and repair them, without having to change any of the software in the device.
The existing device architecture assumes that the devices almost always work correctly. If a device malfunctions in any persistent way, it is difficult for the manufacturer to offer any remedy to its owner other than to box it up, and send it back to the manufacturer for repair or replacement.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a reliable running device by detecting and repairing software errors as they occur on this device.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a client computer for running software where any detected software errors are logged as error messages to be repaired.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a dial up modem connection between a client computer and a server to fix any software errors found on the client computer. These software errors are logged when they are detected and this logged information is uploaded to the server. The server is then able to take control of the client computer to download and run repair-scripts on the client computer during boot up to repair the software errors.
The invention offers several advantages over previously known repair architecture, particularly, software failure detection and repair techniques performed by connecting to a remote server. This repair architecture is improved by providing a simple way for allowing a server to take control over a client computer to repair software errors found on the client computer.

Method and apparatus for software failure diagnosis and repair


The wheel suspension for motor vehicles comprises at least one wheel guiding element which is below a wheel drive shaft and is connected with a coil spring held separately from a shock absorber. The coil spring is pivoted at the wheel guiding link by means of an interposed guiding element and is guided by means of an auxiliary control arm. The guiding element comprises a spring plate disposed above the drive shaft, the projected surface of which intersects with the adjacently extending drive shaft.

The present invention generally relates to a wheel suspension; and more particularly to a wheel suspension with a coil spring which is arranged separately from a spring strut, has a free space for a drive shaft, and ensures an optimal guiding of the coil spring.
A wheel suspension is disclosed by German Patent Specification (DE-PS) 34 05 174 in which a coil spring is supported separately from a shock absorber on a wheel guiding link. The coil spring extends into a plane below a wheel drive shaft in which the wheel guiding link is pivoted on a wheel carrier. In order for the coil spring to be arranged without any contact with the drive shaft guided through transversely with respect to the wheel, it has a joining piece in this area which is free of windings. This joining piece connects the upper spring part with the lower spring part and makes it possible for the drive shaft to extend through the enveloping cylinder of the coil spring. In this type of a construction, the lower spring pad fastened to the link always takes up the angle of inclination of the link which may result in a buckling of the coil spring.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a wheel suspension with a coil spring which is arranged separately from a spring strut, has a free space for a drive shaft, and ensures an optimal guiding of the coil spring.
Principal advantages achieved by preferred embodiments of the invention are that, in the case of a double-wishbone axle, despite a coil spring which is arranged separately from a spring strut and which, above a wheel drive shaft, is supported on a guiding element, a relatively large shock absorber ratio is achieved. By means of the auxiliary construction of a guided lower spring plate, the coil spring may be arranged separately which is utilized for the increase of the damper ratio.
In order to avoid a buckling or a snapping of the unguided coil spring in the extreme positions, the coil spring according to preferred embodiments of the invention is advantageously supported on spring plate rotatably disposed at the lower wishbone. In addition, this spring plate is guided by means of an auxiliary control arm which, if it is arranged in parallel to the lower wishbone, ensures an approximately parallel guiding of the lower spring plate with respect to the upper spring pad, so that a buckling of the coil spring is avoided.
In addition to these advantages, it is achieved by means of the guiding element connected with the wishbone that the drive shafts led to the wheels can extend free of the coil spring without contacting them even under extreme driving conditions. For this purpose, the guiding element is equipped with an approximately vertically aligned stem which is passed by the drive shaft.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


A MOS device includes an IO pad ring. The MOS device includes a first IO pad located on a first side of the IO pad ring, and a second IO pad located on a second side of the IO pad ring. The first IO pad includes a metal x layer power interconnect extending in a first direction. The first metal x layer power interconnect is of a metal x layer. The second side is 90° from the first side. The second IO pad includes a second metal x layer power interconnect extending in the first direction. The second metal x layer power interconnect is of the metal x layer. The second IO pad may further include at least one of a metal x+1 layer power interconnect or a metal x−1 layer power interconnect that extends orthogonal to the second metal x layer power interconnect of the second IO pad.

Field
The present disclosure relates generally to a metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) device, and more particularly, to an input/output (IO) power bus mesh structure design.
Background
An IO power bus is formed by stacking layers of metals of varying thickness and varying orientation, and is configured to deliver power to a plurality of IO pads of an integrated circuit. IO pads are intermediate structures that are used to transmit internal signals between a core of an integrated circuit/microchip and external pins of the chip package. IO power bus design may be impacted by IO pad design. As such, there is a need for new IO power bus designs that correspond with new IO pad designs.


Methods and systems for imaging a patient are provided. The method includes determining a location of a volume of interest within the patient and acquiring a plurality of frames of emission data, at least one frame including the volume of interest. The method further includes determining a time-of-flight (TOF) information of at least a portion of the annihilations detected along a line of response between corresponding coincidence detectors and generating an image of the patient from the emission data using the determined TOF information.

The invention relates generally to medical imaging systems, and more particularly, to Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanners.
PET scanners typically generate images depicting the distribution of positron-emitting nuclides in patients. The positron interacts with an electron in the body of the patient by annihilation, and then the electron-positron pair is converted into two photons. The photons are emitted in opposite directions along a line of response. The annihilation photons are detected by detectors that are placed on both sides of the line of response on the detector ring. The image is then generated based on the acquired emission data that includes the annihilation photon detection information.
In PET scanners the image quality depends on the image statistics. The image statistics may be improved by acquiring the emission data for longer durations. However, the total time of acquiring the emission data is limited by the decay of radioactive isotope and by the inability of the patients to lie still for extended durations.
Further, the image quality may be improved by including time-of-flight (TOF) information for the emission data. The TOF information is the time difference in detection of annihilation photon pair. The TOF is proportional to a position of origin of the annihilation photon pair along the line of response between corresponding coincidence detectors. The emission data is stored in a frame to include TOF information. However, when the emission data is stored in a frame, the memory and/or storage requirements increase significantly.


An escape door system for a bus is described which can be easily and quickly opened to enable passengers to exit the bus after an accident. The door can be used as a normal exit door or it may be completely detached and separated from the bus. Preferably the door is installed in the rear wall of the bus. A window adjacent the door can also be pivoted out of the way after the door has been separated from the wall to facilitate ingress and egress of people.

Accidents involving buses are not uncommon. Normally the more serious of such accidents involve school buses with children on board as passengers.
Although buses (especially school buses) typically have a rear exit door, sometimes it is difficult to open the door to allow people to escape from the bus after an accident. This can be a particularly difficult and serious problem when the bus has been tipped over on its side and it is necessary to lift the weight of the rear door in order to open it. Oftentimes the children do not have sufficient strength to lift the door to enable children to escape, or the time required to open the door is greater than desired, particularly when there is a fire.
There has not heretofore been provided an escape door system for a bus which is easy to open and which can be opened quickly even if the bus has been tipped on its side.


To provide a lathe in which a machined workpiece can be pulled out without fail, whereby realizing enhanced reliability in the pull-out operation. First and second tool posts 6, 7 are arranged to be capable of facing each other across a spindle axis A of a spindle headstock 4, and hold parts 30, 31 disposed on turrets 12, 13 of the first and second tool posts 6, 7 hold therebetween a machined workpiece W supported by the spindle headstock 4 to pull out the machined workpiece W from the spindle headstock 4.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lathe in which a pair of first and second tool posts are disposed between a spindle headstock and a tailstock which are disposed on a bed and the first and second tool posts perform predetermined machining of a workpiece supported by the spindle headstock and the tailstock.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a lathe of this type, a machined workpiece supported by a spindle of a spindle headstock and a tailstock is sometimes taken out to be carried outside a machining area, in order to cope with continuous production. For example, in a Japanese Utility Model Registration No. 2528744, a pull-out board attached to a turret of a tool post is brought into contact with and is hooked to a machined workpiece held by a spindle, and in this state, the tool post is moved toward a tailstock side, whereby the machined workpiece is pulled out from the spindle.
Incidentally, if the pull-out board of the turret is hooked to a machined workpiece to pull out the machined workpiece from the spindle as in the above conventional lathe, it is not sure if the machined workpiece is pulled out without fail, which poses a problem of low reliability in the pull-out operation.


A device is provided for controlled dispensing of a measured quantity of fluid from a flexible container, The device has a chamber adapted to hold a measured quantity of fluid when the container is inverted and righted. This fluid is then dispensed from the chamber through a conduit in direct response to a force exerted on the flexible wall of the container. One embodiment of the device is particularly suited to safeguard against contamination of the device. This embodiment features a dispensable nozzle ejectable by the user upon administration of the fluid, as well as a valve system to prevent airborne contaminants from entering the device and fluid reservoir. A further embodiment includes an inlet tube having a plurality of measuring notches communicating with a measuring chamber affixed to the side of the device. The inlet tube may be rotated to seal the chamber against spillage of the fluid. An additional embodiment features a floating housing floor slidingly mated within a housing. By rotating the housing chamber, the axial height of he housing floor can be varied within the housing to alter the size of the measuring chamber.

There has been a long felt need for a simple, inexpensive and accurate device for dispensing a predetermined amount of fluid directly from a reservoir of that fluid without the need for separate measuring devices such as cups and/or measuring spoons. This need has existed, with varying requirements as to accuracy and service conditions, in such widely varying applications as dispensing of cough syrups, liquid soaps, detergents, antacids, traditional and veterinary medications, as well as the accurate dispensing of fluid components for various formula in research and development laboratories and hospitals.
A particularly advantageous application of such a device would be in the dispensing of both ethical and over-the-counter liquid medications. Although the dispensing of such medications does not, in many cases, require an analytical degree of accuracy and reproducibility, the usual approach of "teaspoon measurement" leaves much to be desired. For example, due to the many varied designs and capacities of teaspoons, a "one teaspoon" measurement could vary from 4 to 7.5 ml. In addition, an appreciable error can be introduced in the measuring process by the individual making the measurement; for example, an individual may habitually undercut the measurement to avoid spillage, whereas another individual may actually take a "heaping teaspoonful" in order to ensure good measure. It follows that, as the number of teaspoons required for the desired dosage increases, this margin of error is compounded. With regard to tablespoon measurement an even wider variance is encountered, and the actual quantity of medication administered could be anywhere from 12 to 24 ml. depending on the particular spoon used and the individual measuring the dosage. Also, when the particular medication is to be mixed with water or other liquid, the separate measuring device not only represents a possible source of inaccurate measurement but also a serious source of possible bacterial or viral contamination.
Another use of such a device would be in measuring and administering medication to individuals suffering from handicaps, neuromuscular disorders or debilitating diseases such as, for example, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, blindness or other condition where dispensing and/or administering the liquid medication utilizing a spoon or cup would be difficult or impossible. Currently, when the individual for whom medication is prescribed is, for instance, blind or has poor eyesight he must rely on supervisory personnel to dispense an accurate dosage. In the alternative, he can use a "braille" cup having raised annular rings formed in the sidewalls thereof to indicate the various dosages. Measurement using this device is accomplished by placing a finger within the cup at the appropriate ring representing the correct dosage and pouring the medication into the cup the fluid level reaches the finger. The drawbacks of these methods are readily apparent. Full or part-time supervisory personnel are becoming increasingly expensive and the "braille" cup method is prone to potentially life-threatening inaccuracies.
In the field of veterinary medicine, there has also been a long felt need for measuring and dispensing apparatus capable of accurately and efficiently administering fluid medication to animals. To date this procedure has been accomplished through the use of tubes and eyedroppers wherein the veterinarian or owner would draw the correct dosage into the eyedropper or tube, insert the spout into the animal's mouth and expel the fluid. This method generates problems in that, should the animal fail to swallow the medication, a second application would be required. Further, repeated contact between the animal's mouth and the eyedropper, and then the eyedropper and the reservoir of medication, results in potentially dangerous contamination to the medication remaining in the reservoir.
Many devices have been proposed for the dispensing of controlled-volume increments of fluids from containers, but all have suffered from one or more of a number of disadvantages. For example, many of the proposed devices which operates by means of pressurizing the container holding the fluid have been prone to inaccuracy and erratic operation brought about by pressure differences between the ambient atmosphere and the vapor space over the fluid inside the device. Designs of this type tend to create a partial vacuum inside the container caused either by fluctuations in the ambient temperature and pressure or by altitude differences between the point where the dispenser is first joined to the container and the point of use. The partial vacuum could also be created by repeated withdrawals of fluid from the device without replacing the volume thus lost with an equivalent volume of air. This pressure differential tends to impede the flow of fluid out of the dispenser, resulting in dispensing of inaccurate dosages. By the same logic, an excess pressure in the apparatus will tend to promote an undesirably large outflow of the fluid causing an overdose or spillage.
This difficulty does not arise when the container is opened to the atmosphere to dispense a measured dosage with each one. However, when the container itself is opened directly to the atmosphere there is the attendant danger of spillage and/or contamination.
Devices which do not require opening for each use generally effect pressure equalization by allowing air to bubble into the reservoir of liquid medication simultaneously with the withdrawal of liquid therefrom. Heretofore this method required that the dispenser construction be rather complex to allow for the measured dispensing of the liquid and simultaneous pressure equalization. Some of these devices even made use of differential air pressure to control the flow of liquid and thereby cut off the flow at a desired volume. Such devices, however, require sophistication and expensive mechanical construction.
While the foregoing description of the background of the invention has been directed primarily in terms of measuring and dispensing of medication, it will be recognized that the same considerations apply, with varying degrees of emphasis, to a wide variety of other applications.

Device for the controlled measuring and dispensing of a fluid


A roller assembly includes an outer ring having an interior having an inner surface extending an overall axial length between first and a second axial ends. The inner surface has a radially inward facing bearing surface extending between first and second radially inwardly extending flanges. The roller assembly includes a one piece inner member extending into the interior and having a groove formed therein between third and a fourth axial ends. A retaining ring is positioned in the groove. A first row of first rollers is positioned in the interior and between the retaining ring and the first radially extending flange. A second row of second rollers is positioned in the interior between the retaining ring and the second radially extending flange. An annular seal engages the inner member and has an overall axial width no more than 6% of the length of the outer ring.

Cam follower assemblies and yoke roller assemblies are used in many industrial manufacturing and conveying applications. The cam follower assemblies and the yoke roller assemblies each typically include an outer ring disposed around an inner ring with a plurality of rolling elements such as needle rollers disposed in a cavity therebetween. An annular seal is positioned on each axial end thereof, between the inner ring and the outer ring to keep debris from entering the cavity. The seals occupy an axial length of the cam follower assemblies and the yoke roller assemblies.
The size of the cam follower assemblies and yoke roller assemblies are generally limited to a predetermined envelope. For example, the axial length of cam follower assemblies may be limited a length of the cam that the cam follower rides on. The length of the yoke roller may be limited by the distance between yoke arms that the yoke roller is mounted on of on the length of the surface that the yoke roller engages. The length of the rolling elements is limited because of the axial length which the seals occupy. The outside diameter of the cam follower assemblies and the yoke roller assemblies may also be limited to a predetermined size.
Cam follower assemblies and yoke roller assemblies are subject to high loads when used in various applications. The load capacity of the cam follower assemblies and yoke roller assemblies depends on the diameter and length of the rolling elements disposed therein. However efforts to increase the load capacity of the cam follower assemblies and yoke roller assemblies have been plateaued because of the above described size limitations.
Based on the foregoing, there is a need for cam follower assemblies and yoke roller assemblies with increased load capacity.


An apparatus that can be affixed to a standard railcar thereby converting a standard railcar into a self-propelled railcar, such self-propelled railcar having the capacity to move independently and serve as a locomotive for moving other railcars. The apparatus includes a railcar drive assembly that can be retrofitted to a railcar in such a manner that the hydraulic motor, hoses, and connectors of the drive assembly motor mechanism are positioned below the bed of the railway car and between the drive assembly housing and the railway car's wheel-and-truck assembly. This drive assembly design ensures that the drive assembly motor mechanism's hydraulic motor, hoses, and connectors are protected from general railway track debris as well as obstructions in the railroad right of way, and helps prevent unnecessary damage or the need for untimely maintenance.

In various industrial situations there is a need for a convenient and economical means for moving railcars without attaching the railcars to a traditional locomotive, which then pushes or pulls the railcars to a desired location. Attaching railcars to a traditional locomotive is both inconvenient and time-consuming, and it may require more space than is available in a railroad yard. Additionally, moving a railcar by hand is not an effective solution as it requires substantial manpower and many man hours.
Railcars may also be used for track maintenance, construction, and various other tasks. Therefore, for these applications, the method of attaching railcars to a traditional locomotive is likewise inconvenient and expensive. For example, railcars may be fitted with an apparatus for clearing brush and small trees from a railroad's right of way. In such an instance, the brush clearing apparatus necessarily faces toward the front, and thus any external means of moving the railway car necessarily pushes the railway car from behind. This external means of pushing a railcar, however, is neither convenient nor efficient as an external means such as a traditional locomotive requires additional operational and maintenance costs. Further, to effectively clear brush from the right of way, the railcar fitted with the brush clearing apparatus would need to make more than one pass, and an external means for moving the railway car, such as a locomotive, can not easily and effectively change direction as would be necessary in such a situation.
Various devices have been proposed to address the problem of moving a railcar while allowing for relative ease in changing directions and without requiring an inordinate amount of space. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,345,878 describes a method and apparatus and method for moving railway cars using hydraulic motors, which are directly coupled coaxially to the outermost end of a railcar axle, as shown in FIG. 1. Such an arrangement exposes the hydraulic motors to trackside debris (e.g., plant and tree overgrowth, railroad equipment, signage, etc.) as well as other obstructions capable of damaging the motors. Therefore, such a configuration has certain drawbacks.
Others devices for moving a railcar without the use of a locomotive include U.S. Pat. No. 6,343,554, U.S. Pat. No. 3,762,336, U.S. Pat. No. 4,170,945, U.S. Pat. No. 4,867,072. Each of these designs require modification to a railcar wheel and truck assembly. The design proposed here can be installed onto a railcar with no modification to the wheel and truck assembly.
Despite the proposed solutions, there remains a need for an apparatus that is easy to install and remove, is relatively small and inexpensive, and which is confined within the railway car's standard railcar width, thus protecting the apparatus from unnecessary exposure to trackside debris or various other obstructions that could damage the apparatus. Additionally, there remains a need for a device that can be easily retrofitted to a railcar (or standard railcar bogie), thus creating a self-propelled railcar that can operate as a locomotive, either moving independently or moving other railcars, while also being smaller, more mobile and significantly less expensive than a traditional locomotive.

Apparatus for moving railcars via self-propulsion


To slow down the speed of a biopolymer passing through a nanopore during electrophoresis to such a speed that enables a monomer sequence analysis to be performed. A biopolymer analysis device includes two tanks 101a and 101b each capable of storing a solution containing a biopolymer and an electrolyte, a pair of electrodes 105a and 105b, a thin film 104 with a nanopore, and a three-dimensional structure 103 disposed on the thin film. The three-dimensional structure has a void that can store a solution, and the void forms a flow channel, the flow channel being adapted to allow the solution to pass therethrough from the nanopore to a portion above the three-dimensional structure, and having on its surface a functional group capable of adsorbing the biopolymer. Thus, when a voltage is applied, the three-dimensional structure is not re-dispersed in the solution at least in the range of a hemisphere having the nanopore as the center and having a biopolymer trapping length r as the radius.

When a molecule of a biopolymer passes through a pore with a diameter of about 0.9 nm to several nm (hereinafter referred to as a nanopore) that is embedded in a thin film with a thickness of about several Å to several tens of nm, the electrical property of a portion around the nanopore changes in a pattern in accordance with a monomer sequence pattern of the biopolymer. In recent years, a method for analyzing a monomer sequence of a biopolymer using such a phenomenon has been actively researched. A nanopore is often used in such a configuration that a solution containing an electrolyte is provided on each side of a thin film. When a voltage is applied across the front and rear sides of the thin film to generate a potential difference therebetween, the solution containing the electrolyte can be allowed to pass through the nanopore. A method that focuses on an ion current generated at that time as an electrical property and performs an analysis based on the principle that the amount of change in an ion current, which is observed when a biopolymer passes through the nanopore, differs depending on the monomer species is considered as the most promising method (FIG. 2). In addition to the method that uses an ion current, a method of, using a pair of electrodes formed at a nanopore portion and using tunnel current flowing between the electrodes, performing an analysis based on the principle that the amount of tunnel current, which is observed when a biopolymer passes through the nanopore, differs depending on the monomer species is also widely known. None of the above two methods needs a chemical operation involving fragmentation of a biopolymer unlike with the conventional methods, and can directly read a biopolymer. A system in which DNA is a target biopolymer to be analyzed is a next-generation DNA base sequence analysis system, and a system in which protein is a target biopolymer to be analyzed is an amino acid sequence analysis system. Both of such systems are expected as systems that can decode far longer sequences than those in the conventional systems.
Nanopore devices come in two types: one is a biopore device formed by embedding a pore using protein in the center of a lipid bilayer membrane, and the other is a solid pore device obtained by forming a pore in a thin insulating film formed through a semiconductor processing process. In the biopore device, the amount of change in an ion current is measured using a pore (with a diameter of 1.2 nm and a thickness of 0.6 nm) of altered protein (e.g., Mycobacterium smegmatis porin A (MspA)) that is embedded in a lipid bilayer membrane, as a biopolymer detection unit. However, as the thickness of the pore is greater than the unit of a monomer molecule (the distance between adjacent nucleic acids that are the monomers of DNA is 0.34 nm), information on a plurality of monomer molecules can be mixed in with the amount of change in an ion current. In addition to such deficiency in the spatial resolution, the use of protein for the pore portion may cause denaturation of the protein depending on the solution conditions or environmental conditions, which can result in the degradation of the device. Thus, there is a problem in that the robustness of the device is low from the viewpoint of stability and life. Meanwhile, the solid pore device can be obtained by forming a pore in a monolayer thin film of graphene or molybdenum disulfide. With the thickness of such a thin film, it is possible to ensure sufficient spatial resolution to read the unit of a monomer molecule. Further, unlike the biopore device formed with protein, the solid pore device has an advantage in that the material is stable under a variety of solution conditions and environmental conditions, and the robustness of the device is thus high. In addition, as the solid pore device can have nanopore portions that are arranged in parallel in a semiconductor processing process, the solid pore device is drawing attention as a device that is more excellent than the biopore device in view of the aforementioned advantages.
As a means for transporting a DNA chain, which is a biopolymer, to a nanopore, a method of electrophoresing a biopolymer using as a driving force a potential difference that generates an ion current is used most widely. However, as illustrated in FIG. 3, as the speed of a DNA chain passing through a nanopore during electrophoresis is very high, it is only possible to obtain a value of a signal containing a mixture of signals of a plurality of monomer molecules. Thus, in order to implement a sequencing analysis, a technique of slowing down the speed of a DNA chain passing through a nanopore is necessary. Specifically, it is preferable to slow down the speed of a DNA chain to a level of greater than or equal to 100 μs/monomer molecule. However, at present, a speed of 0.01 to 1 μs/monomer molecule is realized at the most. Therefore, it is necessary to slow down the speed of a DNA chain by at least about 100 to 10,000 times. If the speed of a DNA chain can be slowed down as described above, a signal of only a monomer molecule can be obtained.
A variety of methods has been devised in order to solve the aforementioned problems. A variety of methods for adjusting the physical properties of a solution has been studied, and for example, a method of increasing the viscosity of a solution by adding high-concentration glycerol thereto and thus increasing a frictional force that acts in a direction opposite to a tractive force that acts on a DNA chain during electrophoresis so as to slow down the speed of the DNA chain passing through a nanopore has been attempted (Non Patent Literature 1). In addition, a method of reducing the apparent negative charge of a DNA chain by adding lithium ions into a solution and thus reducing a tractive force that acts on the DNA chain during electrophoresis so as to slow down the speed of the DNA chain passing through a nanopore has been verified (Non Patent Literature 2).
Other than the method for adjusting the physical properties of a solution, a method for exercising ingenuity on the device side has also been studied. For example, a method for exercising ingenuity on a nanopore has been verified. As a simple method, there is known a method of reducing the diameter of a nanopore so as to increase a frictional force generated during passage of a DNA chain through the nanopore and thus slow down the speed of the DNA chain passing through the nanopore (Non Patent Literature 3). In addition, a method of providing a new structure on a device is also studied. Patent Literature 1 discloses a method of providing obstacles with two-dimensional shapes on a nanopore device having a two-dimensional flow channel formed therein. Specifically, Patent Literature 1 discloses a structure in which nanosized obstacles (e.g., cylinders), which are regularly spaced apart from one another, are provided on the opposite sides of a thin film having a nanopore formed therein. As other examples of the obstacles, gel materials made of polymers, resin, inorganic porous bodies, or beads are explicitly described. Patent Literature 1 describes that when a biopolymer collides with an obstacle during electrophoresis, a frictional force that acts in a direction to interrupt the phoresis is generated, which in turn slows down the speed of the biopolymer passing through the nanopore. Non Patent Literature 4 discloses, as another means for implementing obstacles, providing a structure in which nanowires made of resin materials, which are stacked in layers in random, are provided on the upstream side of a nanopore. Specifically, Non Patent Literature 4 discloses that the speed of a biopolymer passing through a nanopore is slowed down using a frictional force that is generated upon collision of the biopolymer with a nanowire during electrophoresis.

Biopolymer analysis device and analysis system


A controller for controlling a generator arranged to the generate a frequency signal for controlling a converter in a driver for driving a light circuit, the controller receiving feed-back information from the light circuit, and a processor; the processor configured to produce, in response to the feed-back information from the light circuit, a control signal arranged to control the generator, the feed-back information comprising a value of a feed-back signal that flows through at least a part of the light circuit or that defines a light intensity of at least a part of the light circuit, and the control signal defining a frequency of the frequency signal, adapt, in response to data information, the control signal, wherein the data information comprises a code for coding light produced by the light circuit; determine a static transfer of a combination of the converter and the light circuit defined by values of the feed-back signal and corresponding values of the frequency of the frequency signal; divide the values of the feed-back signal into intervals of a substantially equal size; and adapt the control signal in interval steps.

A controller for controlling a generator arranged to generate a frequency signal for controlling a converter in a driver for driving a light circuit is of common general knowledge. The generator is controlled in response to feed-back information from the light circuit to regulate a light intensity of the light from the light circuit and/or to compensate for fluctuations of the light intensity.
Sometimes the light intensity of the light from the light circuit needs to be coded for information purposes and/or for communication purposes. This can be done by manipulating the feed-back information. In that case, the controller will need to have a relatively large processing capacity.
US 2010/0327755 A1 discloses a color controlled light source with a color control unit and with an external modulator and an external demodulator.

Controlling and coding light, using transfer function of light source-driver


An array base plate and a fabricating method thereof, a display panel and a displaying device. The array base plate includes a substrate, the substrate is divided into a displaying region and a non-displaying region that surrounds the displaying region, and the non-displaying region includes a chip binding region; the array base plate further includes a target film layer provided on the substrate, and the target film layer extends to the non-displaying region; and the target film layer has a depression structure on a side that faces the chip binding region, and a position of the depression structure corresponds to a position of the chip binding region, whereby an orthographic projection of an alignment film in the array base plate on the substrate does not have a coinciding area with the chip binding region.

Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), because of the advantages such as a small volume, a low power consumption and no radiation, has been rapidly developed in recent years, and has become the mainstream of displays in the market. With the progressive development of LCDs, products of a high screen-to-body ratio have gradually become the mainstream in the market. In order to increase the screen-to-body ratio, it is required to make the boundary frame of liquid-crystal displaying devices increasingly narrower.
Currently, liquid-crystal displaying devices require an alignment film to realize the alignment of the liquid crystal. As limited by the fabrication precision, the maximum limiting value of the EM value (i.e., the value of the distance between the edge of the alignment film and the displaying region) of the alignment film is 1.85 mm, and the minimum limiting value is 0.385 mm. Moreover, when the boundary frame of the liquid-crystal displaying device is narrowed, the distance between the chip binding region where the chip to be bound is located and the displaying region also becomes lower. For example, when the width of the boundary frame of the displaying device is 3.15 mm, it is usually required to set the distance between the chip binding region and the displaying region to be 1.42 mm. Therefore, the EM value of the alignment film at the position corresponding to the chip binding region might be greater than the distance between the chip binding region and the displaying region. When the EM value of the alignment film at the position corresponding to the chip binding region is greater than the distance between the chip binding region and the displaying region, the alignment film will be spread-coated to the chip binding region, and, subsequently, when the chip to be bound is bound with the metal wiring in the array base plate, the chip to be bound will contact the alignment film.

Array base plate and fabricating method thereof, display panel and displaying device

CHONGQING BOE OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.

BEIJING BOE TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT CO., LTD.


An inductor structure, including a winding turn layer and a shielding layer, is provided. The winding turn layer is disposed above a substrate. The winding turn layer has a plurality of turns, in which one of the turns is grounded. The shielding layer is disposed between the winding turn layer and the substrate at the projection of the grounded turn. At least parts of the winding turn layer except the grounded turn thereof are projected onto the shielding layer. The shielding layer is coupled to the grounded turn in parallel.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inductor structure. More particularly, the present invention relates to an inductor structure that can improve the value of Q.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally, as an inductor acquires energy storing and releasing functions through electromagnetic conversion, the inductor can be used as an element for stabilizing current. Further, the inductor can be widely utilized, for example, in a radio frequency (RF) circuit. In an integrated circuit (IC), the inductor is a very important but challenging element. For the performance of an inductor, the requirement on the quality of the inductor is high, i.e., the inductor must have a high quality factor, which is represented by a value of Q. The value of Q is defined as follows:Q=ω×L/R
where ω is the angular frequency, L is the inductance of a coil, and R is the resistance at a specific frequency taking the inductance loss into consideration.
Currently, many methods and techniques are available to integrate inductors with IC processes. However, in an IC, the limitation on the thickness of the inductor conductor and the interference of the silicon substrate to the inductor will also lead to poor quality of the inductor. In the conventional art, a thick metal is disposed on the top of the inductor to reduce the conductor loss, so as to improve the value of Q of the inductor. However, when the thickness of the metal increases to certain extent, the improvement on the value of Q becomes unapparent. Further, as the inductor is often disposed near the silicon substrate, the parasitic capacitance generated between the silicon substrate and the inductor will increase, and the resistance of the inductor will increase accordingly. Thus, much energy must be consumed, and the quality of the inductor is degraded. As a result, it has become the key point of the vigorous development in the industry to solve the problems in the process to raise the value of Q of the inductor and reduce the conductor loss.


A word coinciding with a key word input by speech and a word related to the word are set as retrieval candidate words based on a word dictionary in which words representing formal names and aliases of the formal names are registered in association with a family attribute indicating a familiar relation among the words. Content related to any one of retrieval words selected out of the retrieval candidate words and a word related to the retrieval word is retrieved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a retrieving apparatus, a retrieving method, and a computer program product for retrieving content related to a keyword input by a speech.
2. Description of the Related Art
According to the spread of the broadband, television terminals with which it is possible to use video delivery services (Video On Demand: VOD) for movies and the like through the Internet are spreading. Television terminals including hard disk recorders and storage devices such as a hard disk are also spreading. Television terminals that can not only receive programs but also record the programs are appearing on the market. Besides the television terminals, audio video personal computers (AV-PCs) with high resolution for mainly viewing analog broadcasts and terrestrial digital broadcasts are started to spread. It is possible to record content materials such as received programs in hard disks.
A digital living network alliance (DLNA) guideline that makes it possible to mutually connect apparatuses such as the AV-PCs, the television terminals, and the hard disk recorders is decided. Users of apparatuses conforming to this guideline can view content materials (hereinafter, "contents") recorded in all the apparatuses from the users' own apparatuses.
The users can view an extremely large number of contents as described above. However, in viewing specific content, the users need to retrieve the content desired to be viewed out of the large number of contents. In retrieval of content, in general, an electronic program guide (EPG) simultaneously recorded when contents are recorded is used. The EPG includes information concerning contents, for example, genres such as sports and news and performers. Therefore, it is possible to retrieve content based on these kinds of information.
Methods of operating the AV-PCs, the television terminals, and the hard disk recorders are becoming more complicated according to an increase in functions of the apparatuses. Therefore, an operation method employing speech recognition attracts attention. To retrieve content using speech recognition, "reading" of a word related to the content is necessary. Various technologies have been conventionally proposed as a technology for speech recognition.
For example, JP-A 2004-171174 (KOKAI) discloses a technology for reading out, when a user inputs readings of unknown words not registered yet, a sentence according to the readings. JP-A 2005-227545 (KOKAI) discloses a technology for using, when a reading kana is given to a word in an EPG, the reading kana as a reading of the word. In such speech recognition technologies, to improve accuracy of speech recognition, an "isolated word recognition system" for registering object words in a dictionary and recognizing the words is generally used.
Forms of words tend to change with the use of the words. In particular, people are often called by aliases such as abbreviated names and nicknames as names of people are spoken in more opportunities. Therefore, in the isolated word recognition system, it is impossible to follow a change in pronunciation of a word. As a result, a difference occurs between a reading of the word stored in advance and a present reading (pronunciation) of the same object represented by the word.
Therefore, even when a program recorded in the past and a program presently broadcasted or a program to be broadcasted in future represent the same object, words representing the programs in an EPG can be different. For example, a name representing the same person, the same program title, or the like is described as a formal name in an EPG of programs in the past but is described in another name such as an abbreviated name or a nickname in an EPG of programs at present or in future. In the conventional retrieval technology employing an EPG, when a user tries to retrieve a program using an abbreviated name or a nickname that the user uses, even if the program is present, the user cannot retrieve the program because the program is represented by a name different from the abbreviated name of the nickname in the EPG. On the other hand, when an abbreviated name or a nickname is described in the EPG and the user tries to retrieve a program using a formal name, even if the program is present, the user cannot retrieve the program because the program is represented by the name different from the formal name in the EPG.
It is conceivable to solve the problems described above by manually registering abbreviated names and nicknames using the technology disclosed in JP-A 2004-171174 (KOKAI). However, operation for the registration is complicated because the user needs to register every abbreviated name and nickname. Moreover, when the user does not know readings of aliases such as abbreviated names and nicknames, the user cannot register the aliases.
In general, because the readings are given to only formal names in the EPG, the user cannot acquire readings of aliases of the formal names from the EPG. Therefore, even if the technology disclosed in JP-A 2005-227545 (KOKAI) is used, the problems described above cannot be solved.

Retrieving apparatus, retrieving method, and computer program product


An in-line multicylinder outboard engine for an outboard engine unit including a vertical array of cylinders, a vertically extending crankshaft, a flywheel mounted on the upper end of the crankshaft, and a camshaft driver unit positioned between the flywheel and an upper surface of an engine block. The engine also includes a vertical array of intake/fuel supply devices connected respectively to pipes of an intake manifold. The uppermost intake/fuel supply device has at least a portion of it positioned below a plane in which the flywheel is rotatable and within a region defined laterally of the camshaft driver unit. The pipes of the intake manifold have equal lengths.

1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to an engine, and more particularly to an in-line, multicylinder outboard engine equipped with intake/fuel supply devices.
2. Description of the Relevant Art:
Outboard engines which are detachably mounted on the stern of ships or boats outside of the hull should preferably be small in size and yet capable of producing high output power. Generally, many outboard engines as installed on vessels have cylinders oriented such that their axes lie horizontally and crankshafts are directed vertically. One problem of conventional outboard engines is that intake/fuel supply devices associated therewith are so located as to prevent the engines from operating with sufficient performance capability and also to increase the external dimensions of the engines.
One known multicylinder outboard engine is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Publication No. 62-124229 published on Aug. 7, 1987. The disclosed engine has a pair of upper and lower cylinders and an intake/fuel supply device disposed on one side of the upper cylinder. The intake/fuel device includes a carburetor coupled to the cylinders through a pair of intake manifolds, for supplying and distributing an air-fuel mixture to the cylinders.
Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Publication No. 62-184163 published on Nov. 21, 1987 also discloses an outboard engine of a V-shaped multicylinder configuration. The engine includes a pair of V-shaped banks of vertically arranged cylinders. As many carburetors as the number of cylinder pairs are disposed in the cylinder banks for supplying and distributing an air-fuel mixture to the cylinders through an intake manifold.
With the two-cylinder outboard engine disclosed in the former publication, no serious problem arises from the fact that an air-fuel mixture is distributed from the single carburetor to the upper and lower cylinders. However, if an air-fuel mixture is supplied from a single carburetor to more engine cylinders, then the air-fuel mixture may not be distributed uniformly to the engine cylinders since the pipes connecting the intake manifold to the respective cylinders have different lengths. More specifically, if the intake manifold pipes connecting the carburetor to the engine cylinders have different lengths, then the air-fuel ratio of the air-fuel mixture in the intake manifold pipes varies due to air-fuel mixture flows along the manifold walls, resulting in difficulty supplying the air-fuel mixture at an appropriate air-fuel ratio to the cylinders. As a consequence, no stable engine response is achieved especially while the engine is idling. The carburetor is usually positioned higher than the intake ports of the engine cylinders in order to prevent the fuel from being trapped in the intake manifold. One solution is to employ a vertical array of carburetors along the array of the cylinders. However, the size of such multiple carburetors that can be employed is limited because of the dimensional relationship between the vertical pitch of the carburetors and the vertical pitch of the cylinder bores. It is only possible either to employ carburetors having small bore diameters, which are however not preferable from the standpoint of producing higher engine output power, or to employ intake manifold pipes having different lengths. The engines with those carburetors or intake manifolds cannot produce higher engine output power or operate with low responses.
If an array of multiple carburetors is to be used with a bank of engine cylinders, then it is preferable for the carburetors to be coupled to a throttle adjusting link mechanism which should be as simple as possible.
The outboard engine disclosed in the latter publication is free from the aforesaid drawbacks since as many carburetors as the number of cylinder pairs are vertically arrayed. The vertical array of carburetors is suitable for use with engines such as V-shaped cylinder engines which have a space defined between the cylinder banks and which provide a large distance between upper and lower cylinders. However, the vertical array of carburetors cannot easily be combined with engines such as in-line engines whose cylinders are spaced shorter distances from each other. If as many carburetors as the number of engine cylinders are disposed on one side of a vertical in-line engine, the vertical position of the uppermost carburetor is limited by the fly-wheel positioned upwardly of the upper end of the engine block, and the vertical position of the lowermost carburetor is also limited by the lower case of the engine.
The present invention has been made in an effort to effectively solve the above-noted problems of the conventional outboard engines and/or meet the performance demands for outboard engines.


A reciprocating power sprayer for cleaning a rotating cylindrical wastewater screen of the type formed of tubular perforate wedgewire. The spray is reciprocated on an elongated pneumatic cylinder which is arranged in parallelism along the cylinder wastewater screen. Controls are provided for automatically controlling the reciprocation of the spray.

Wastewater is a byproduct of many industrial processes that use water. For example, the food industry relies rather heavily on water for processing food. Water is used to clean vegetables, beef, fish, poultry, and other types of food often before the food is cooked, blanched or sterilized using other water. Unfortunately, after all this water is used it typically must also be processed to clean it so it can be either reused or inexpensively disposed. As a result of rather restrictive environmental laws and regulations that have made disposal of unprocessed wastewater prohibitively expensive, wastewater processing or preprocessing at the site of the food processing facility is desirable.
One apparatus that has proved particularly effective at treating wastewater is a cylindrical-type wastewater screen and such is shown and described in my U.S. Pat. No. 5,433,849, issued Jul. 18, 1995. As shown in that patent, a cylindrical-type wastewater screen has a cylindrical screen, typically comprised of perforate wedgewire, into which the wastewater is introduced while the screen is rotated. The wastewater passes radially outwardly through the screen after which it can be reused, further filtered, or disposed. Solids entrained in the wastewater that were filtered out of the wastewater can be cheaply disposed of as landfill or fertilizer. As shown, two cylindrical-type screens having successively finer screen media can be concentrically arranged to provide staged treatment of wastewater.
During operation, wastewater introduced within the cylindrical screen passes radially outwardly through perforations in the screen while most of the solids entrained in the wastewater is filtered by and retained in the screen because the perforations typically are no greater than about ten to twenty thousandths of an inch. The filtered solids often cling to the screen and the screen is rotated to cause gravity to encourage the solids to separate from the screen and fall to the bottom of the screen. A small flow of wastewater at the bottom of the screen carries the solids from the screen helping to keep the screen clean.
Many times, sticky solids, such as fat, connective tissue, coatings, starch, and other sticky residue will continue to cling to the screen despite rotation of the screen. The sticky solids can also cause other solids in the wastewater to stick to it and in general will significantly reduce the efficiency of the screen by partially or completely plugging perforations. Should too many perforations become plugged, the screen will have to be taken offline and cleaned.
To help keep the screen clean to prevent too many perforations from becoming plugged, fixed or stationary nozzles carried by a manifold which is disposed adjacent the screen can discharge cold water, hot water, steam or even air forcefully against the screen. Several spaced apart nozzles must be used to clean the screen along its entire axial length. Unfortunately, where water is used, each nozzle typically requires a flow of as much as about 3 gallons per minute such that a typical screen can use as much as 30 to 90 gallons of water per minute, depending on the number of nozzles required and the type of screening apparatus used. For example, where a double cylinder wastewater screen is used, such as is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,433,849 to Zittel, as many as 30 nozzles fixed to at least two manifolds are used to keep both cylinders clean. While the frequency of cleaning can vary with the type of solids entrained in the wastewater, each cleaning cycle nonetheless uses a lot of water which undesirably increases wastewater treatment costs.
While reciprocating sprayers have been used in some types of similar processing equipment, they have not been viewed as particularly well suited for use in cylindrical-type because of reliability considerations and because of concern they could not effectively clean the rather small perforations found in wastewater screens. For example, it is known to use a reciprocating sprayer to direct water against a perforate cylinder of a bean snipper to free the perforations of bean parts that have become lodged in them. However, the perforations in the cylinder of a bean snipper are much larger, typically at least 13/64 (0.203) of an inch, the cylinder is made of polycarbonate, and a bean snipper is used to cut beans, not process wastewater. Moreover, it is not believed that the reciprocating sprayer used in bean snippers discharges water at a great enough pressure to completely pass through the exterior of the screen adjacent the sprayer and impact against the interior of the screen on the opposite side.

Reciprocating sprayer for a cylindrical wastewater screen


The present invention relates to the intersection of the fields of immunology and protein engineering, and particularly to antigens and vaccines useful in prevention of infection by Trypanosoma protozoa. Provided are recombinant protein antigens, compositions, and methods for the production and use of such antigens and vaccine compositions.

African trypanosomiasis, also known as "sleeping sickness" in humans and "nagana" in animals, is a serious parasitic disease that if left untreated is almost always fatal. The disease, spread by the bite of tsetse flies, occurs in 36 countries of sub-Saharan Africa and is reaching epidemic proportions. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are an estimated 40,000 newly infected people each year with mortality rates reaching more than 66,000 and increasing. The social and economic impact of this disease is even more devastating because it is equally fatal to humans and animals. In Africa, the wide occurrence of trypanosomiasis in both humans and livestock is a great constraint to development, particularly in rural areas. The situation is worsened by the direct impact of nagana on agriculture and food supply in sub-Saharan Africa. Millions of hectares of land cannot be economically exploited because of human and animal African trypanosomiasis. High mortality in cattle has a significant impact on milk and meat production. For example, tsetse-free-areas produce 83% more milk and 97% more meat per unit of land than tsetse-infested areas. The economic losses in cattle production alone are in the range of US$1.2 billion with total agricultural Gross Domestic Product losses approaching an estimated US$5 billion per annum. In an area that is already suffering from poor economy and almost non-existing medical infrastructure, the burden of this disease becomes even more devastating with significant local and regional impact. Currently there is no vaccine available to prevent this disease.
Thus, there is a need to provide sources of vaccines and antigens for production of vaccines. Improved vaccine design and development, as well as methods of making and using such compositions of matter are needed which provide inexpensive and highly accessible sources of such therapeutic and/or prophylactic compositions.


An abrasive sanding tool which utilizes a sanding loop stretched over a tensioning body which has a narrow lateral reaction bar at one end of the loop and a cylindrical retainer at the other end of the loop. A handle screws onto the retainer and moves a shaft on the body within the hands to shift the lateral reaction bar into a position to tension the sanding loop.

The present invention is intended to be an improvement on a sanding tool previously patented by myself and Arlen Ingram in U.S. Pat. No. 4,694,618 dated Sept. 22, 1987. The Ingram device utilized a metal frame with a handle at one end and spaced parallel bars connected by a slightly resilient rod. A closed loop of abrasive material is suspended between the bars and tensioned by the connecting rod.
Other patents include Miller U.S. Pat. No. 2,424,702 (1947) on an abrasive strip holder, and Bonapace U.S. Pat No. 3,871,141 (1975) on a knife sharpener. Miller shows a tapered belt looped over at one end on a solid mandrel and carried at the other end on a lateral peg on a handle body element. Bonapace shows a knife sharpener with a tensioning head backed by a coil spring.
The present invention has as an object the provision of a sanding tool with three elemental parts using a flat closed loop which can be tensioned by a threaded adjustment and which is so designed that it can be inserted to narrow crevices with no interference from the supporting frame. The supporting structure provides a double faced sanding tool which increases from a vary narrow distal end to a wide proximal end so it can be utilized on one or both sides in closely spaced parts.
In brief, the object of the invention is achieved by three main parts. A first basic body part has at a distal end a narrow reaction cross-bar extending transversely of the axis of the body. The body has an elongate torque which tapers from a narrow dimension at the cross bar to a wider square or rectangular head end. Beyond the head end is a control shaft also on the axis of the body. A second element is a proximal sanding loop retainer having an opening to receive the control shaft and also a square or rectangular opening to receive the head end of the body. The second element has also a threaded extension boss element, internal or external, opposite the square opening to receive the third element. The third element is a hollow handle and tension control device which receives the control shaft and has also a threaded element to cooperate with the threaded boss of the second element.
An abrasive band is formed as a loop with an aperture to receive the threaded boss as the parts are assembled. In assembly, the boss of the second element is located in the aperture at one end of the abrasive loop, the basic body is positioned with the cross bar at the other end of the loop and the control shaft is passed through the second element into the hollow handle. The threaded elements are engaged and the handle is screwed onto the retainer. This will tension the sanding loop. The limit of the tension can be controlled by the shaft abutting the end of the hollow passage.
Additional objects and features of the invention will be apparent in the following description and claims in which the principles of the invention are set forth together with details to enable persons skilled in the art to practice the invention, all in connection with the best mode presently contemplated for the invention.


There is provided a multilayered ceramic capacitor, including: a ceramic body; an active layer including a plurality of first and second internal electrodes; an upper cover layer; a lower cover layer formed below the active layer, the lower cover layer being thicker than the upper cover layer; first and second external electrodes; at least one pair of first and second internal electrodes repeatedly formed inside the lower cover layer, wherein, when A is defined as 1/2 of an overall thickness of the ceramic body, B is defined as a thickness of the lower cover layer, C is defined as 1/2 of an overall thickness of the active layer, and D is defined as a thickness of the upper cover layer, a ratio of deviation between a center of the active layer and a center of the ceramic body, (B+C)/A, satisfies 1.063≦(B+C)/A≦1.745.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multilayered ceramic capacitor, a mounting structure of a circuit board having thereon the multilayered ceramic capacitor, a packing unit for the multilayered ceramic capacitor.
2. Description of the Related Art
A multilayered ceramic capacitor, a multilayered chip electronic component, is a chip-type condenser commonly mounted on the printed circuit boards of various electronic products, such as image display devices including a liquid crystal display (LCD) and a plasma display panel (PDP), computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile phones, and the like, implementing charging and discharging of electricity therein.
Multilayered ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) may be used as components of various electronic products due to a small size, high capacitance, and ease of mountability.
A multilayered ceramic capacitor may have a structure in which a plurality of dielectric layers and a plurality of internal electrodes having different polarities and having the dielectric layers interposed therebetween are alternately laminated with each other.
Since the plurality of dielectric layers have both piezoelectric and electrostrictive properties, a piezoelectric phenomenon may occur, causing vibrations among the internal electrodes when AC or DC voltage is applied to the multilayered ceramic capacitor.
Such vibrations may be transferred through external electrodes of the multilayered ceramic capacitor to a printed circuit board on which the multilayered ceramic capacitor is mounted, and the entire printed circuit board may become an acoustic reflection surface generating sound from the vibrations.
The sound generated by the vibrations may correspond to an audible frequency within the range of 20 to 20000 Hz, and this vibrating sound, frequently causing an unpleasant feeling in people is known as acoustic noise.
In order to reduce acoustic noise, products in which a lower cover layer of the multilayered ceramic capacitor is enlarged have been researched.
Generally, equivalent series inductance (ESL) is proportional to the area of a current loop.
Therefore, as described above, the multilayered ceramic capacitor in which a lower cover layer is enlarged can partially reduce acoustic noise, but may have higher ESL as compared with products of the related art of which the lower cover layer is relatively thin.
The related art document below illustrates improvement in ESL, but fails to disclose a structure in which a lower cover layer includes an internal electrode.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Multilayered ceramic capacitor, mounting structure of circuit board having thereon multilayered ceramic capacitor, packing unit for multilayered ceramic capacitor


An ambient cured aqueous coating composition useful for maintenance coatings for architectural structures or for a finish or refinish for automobiles and trucks. The film-forming binder comprises a neutralized half-ester product of an acrylic polymer having at least two reactive anhydride groups and an epoxy-containing, optionally silane-containing crosslinker. The composition may be used as a mulit-package system. The composition is characterized by improved environmental resistance and excellent clarity and appearance, particularly for clearcoats.

There are a wide variety of multi-component coating compositions available for finishing automobiles and trucks. Various coating compositions comprising anhydride or epoxy containing compositions are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,906,677 discloses a composition comprising an acrylic anhydride polymer, a glycidyl component, and a phosphonium catalyst. U.S. Pat. No. 3,136,736 and British patent 994,881 disclose coating compositions comprising polyepoxides and maleic anhydride copolymers. U.S. Pat. No. 4,732,791 concerns a coating composition comprising a polyepoxide, a monomeric anhydride curing agent, and a hydroxyl containing polyfunctional polymer.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,906,677, in column 4, lines 40-47, discloses that anhydride polymers, in epoxy-anhydride compositions, may be converted to a half-ester by alcohol solvents.
European Patent Application, publication no. 0 353 734 A2, published 07.02.90 and European Patent Application, publication no. 0 450 63 A1, published 09.10.91 both disclose the combination of a polymer having a half-esterified acid anhydride group and a compound having an epoxy group and a hydroxy group, or a separate epoxy and hydroxy compound. These patents teach that, in such compositions, high temperature curing is required in order that the half-esterified acid anhydride groups are ring-closed to produce acid anhydride groups which then react with hydroxyl groups, which in turn release carboxyl groups which then react with the epoxy groups. These patents indicate that a certain hydroxy equivalent number or hydroxy value is necessary for adequate water resistance of the coating composition.
The afore-mentioned EP 0 353 734 A2 states that water can be used as a "diluent" if the carboxyl groups are neutralized with an amine. In contrast, the present invention is directed to compositions in which water is employed as the primary carrier, organic solvents being possible diluents. The afore-mentioned EP 0 450 963 A1 states that the half esterified polymer may be neutralized with amines to make a hydrophilic polymer which can form an aqueous composition. The examples, however, all disclose compositions which employ organic solvents.
A problem with present coating compositions for automobiles and trucks, or parts thereof, is that durability is not as good as desired. An important aspect of durability is environmental resistance. The present invention offers a high quality finish exhibiting superior environmental resistance at lower cost. This is particularly noteworthy given the fact that the present composition is a waterborne finish.
The present composition is a multi-package system, having use in refinish, maintenance, and low temperature cured systems. Such a coating composition exhibits excellent clarity, appearance and environmental resistance. Importantly, such compositions offer a low VOC (volatile organic content) since the binder is waterborne employing an aqueous (primarily water) carrier.

Ambient curing water-borne compositions comprising half esters of anhydride polymers crosslinked by epoxies


A multi-wavelength light amplifier includes a first-stage light amplifier which has a first-light amplifying optical fiber amplifying a light input, a second-stage light amplifier which has a second light amplifying optical fiber amplifying a first light output from the first-stage light amplifier, and an optical system which maintains a second light output of the second-stage light amplifier at a constant power level. The first-stage and second-stage light amplifiers have different gain vs wavelength characteristics so that the multi-wavelength light amplifier has no wavelength-dependence of a gain thereof.

Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a light amplifier for a wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) optical transmission system, and more particularly to a light amplifier having a two-stage configuration which eliminates a wavelength-dependence of the gain of the light amplifier.
Recently, an optical communications network has increasingly been used in practice. Nowadays, it is required that the optical communications network cope with multi-media networking. A WDM system is more attractive, particularly in terms of an increase in the transmission capacity. In order to realize the WDM system, it is necessary to use a multi-wavelength light amplifier capable of amplifying a wavelength division multiplexed signal. It is required that such a multi-wavelength light amplifier does not have wavelength-dependence of the gain, which is further required not to be changed due to a variation in the power of the input light.
A light amplifier is known which has an optical fiber doped with a rare-earth element and directly amplifies the input light. There has been some activity in the development of a multi-wavelength light amplifier which amplifies a wavelength division multiplexed light signal including signal components having different wavelengths (channels).
However, normally, the rare-earth-element doped fiber amplifier has a very narrow range in which the gain thereof does not have the wavelength-dependence. In this regard, nowadays, there is no available light amplifier which can practically be used for the WDM system. That is, there is no available light amplifier which does not have wavelength-dependence of the gain, which is not changed due to a variation in the power of the input light. Particularly, the wavelength-dependence of the gain, which takes place when the input power changes, deteriorates the signal-to-noise ratio with respect to a particular signal. This prevents the multi-wavelength light amplifier from being used in practice.