Some embodiments of the disclosure provide a flatness detection device. In an embodiment, the flatness detection device includes a back plate, an electromagnet, a cross beam, a probe, and a limiting frame. The limiting frame and the electromagnet are provided side by side on the back plate. The cross beam is located above the limiting frame and the electromagnet. The probe vertically penetrates the cross beam and the limiting frame. A spring is provided between the cross beam and the electromagnet. The spring is movable in a vertical direction by a guide, the movement being at least one of compression and extension.

The printing effect of a 3D printing device is very dependent on the flatness of a printing substrate. The flatness of the printing substrate largely determines whether the printing is successful. Software correction requires an extremely accurate detection method. The precision of the existing mechanical touch sensors in the market cannot meet the increasingly demanding customer needs. An active platform is self-leveling and is rarely used by printer manufacturers because the cost is high and it is difficult to achieve.
Other mechanisms on the market are in the storage state with the electromagnet working all the time, retracting the probe against the force of the spring, which will generate noise, adversely affect the life of the machine and the spring, and affect the precision and reliability after long-term work.


The present disclosure relates to an electronic device and a radio frequency (RF) communication connection method for the electronic device. A method of connecting an electronic device to an external device includes searching for at least one external device connectable with an electronic device within a preset communication range by using first short-range communication, determining an operation period of a second short-range communication module for performing second short-range communication with the at least one external device, based on a search result with respect to the at least one external device, activating the second short-range communication module according to the determined operation period and detecting a contact of a user of the electronic device with respect to an external device among the at least one external device by using the activated second short-range communication module, and receiving address information of the external device by performing second short-range communication with the external device, upon detecting the contact of the user.

There is a demand for development of a radio frequency (RF) communication technology for mutual control between electronic devices and/or control over electronic devices via other electronic devices. For example, an RF communication technology for mutual control between electronic devices may be used for mobile phones, smartphones, wireless head phones, glasses using virtual reality (VR)/augmented reality (AR), televisions, home appliances, and various sensor devices located in a smart house and to establish a city's infrastructure such as for transportation.
In particular, for fast and accurate RF communication connection, development of an RF communication connection technology including a technique for prompt and accurate target device identification, a technique for a stable communication channel, and a technique for low power consumption for RF communication is required. Moreover, various technologies for RF communication between electronic devices have been developed, and especially in relation to a human body communication (HBC) technology, technologies for a communication system and method using a part of a user body as a communication channel have been developed.
However, communication technologies using a general HBC module need a tunable element or a switchable element, increasing a size and a production cost of a communication device. RF technologies such as Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), ZigBee, 2.4 GHz Adaptive Network Topology (ANT)+, Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi), and Wi-Fi Direct, and an HBC technology have a limitation in that they are not associated with each other.
Moreover, a general HBC communication technology requires a plurality of identification and connection processes for connection between devices, and in particular, according to a state and a position in which an electronic device including an electrode of an HBC module is attached on a user's body, an impedance of the electrode changes, and according to the changing impedance of the electrode, a reliable channel is difficult to form through the user's body, and thus, stable data transmission and reception is not possible.
Furthermore, general HBC requires additional power consumption for achieving synchronization between electronic devices, solving collisions therebetween, and sensing HBC connection therebetween. Therefore, there is a need for development of a technique for overcoming limitations of a short-range RF communication technology and an HBC technology.

Method for RF communication connection using electronic device and user touch input


Provided is an inkjet printing apparatus that can dry a medium immediately after printing or bleed-through ink while preventing the medium or bleed-through ink from being in contact with a dryer. In an inkjet printing apparatus including an inkjet head (20) for discharging ink onto a mesh-like media (10) having through holes penetrating from the top surface, which is the printing surface, to the bottom surface, a feeder (12) for feeding the mesh-like medium (10) in a feed direction, and a dryer for drying the mesh-like medium (10) hit by ink discharged from the ink-jet head (20), the dryer has a blower (28) placed under the mesh-like medium 10) for applying an air flow to the bottom surface of the mesh-like medium (10) with the top surface hit by the ink.

A printing apparatus for printing to a material, such as fabric or film, is conventionally known.
As an example of such a printing apparatus, Patent Literature 1 discloses a configuration for forming an image on a fabric. The printing apparatus of the Patent Literature 1 applies a sublimation ink to a fabric as print target while winding the fabric in its longitudinal direction and heats the applied sublimation ink to a predetermined temperature. In this printing apparatus, a preheater having a far-infrared ray lamp is placed under the fabric to which the sublimation ink is applied, and the preheater heats the fabric to dry the sublimation ink.

Inkjet printing apparatus for printing mesh-like medium


Described are systems and methods for managing data transfer from a communication device to a communication network over a wireless connection comprising determining that a requesting process on the communication device is authorized to establish a protected connection to the communication network; and, configuring a network interface on the communication device to allow data packets to be transmitted from the requesting process to the communication network over the protected connection, wherein the network interface is associated with the protected connection.

Communication devices are commonly used to transmit data across communication networks, including cellular networks. Often cellular networks have protected, zero-rated or data-sensitive connections that can only be used by authorized applications and processes. Data, including audio or other data, can be transmitted across such protected connections from one or more applications or processes on a device.

Managing data transfer across a network interface


An electric water heater has a tubular side port insert, projecting into the interior of the filament-wound plastic tank portion of the water heater tank, operative to conduct tank water heat to an external temperature controller. The insert has a tubular base extending through the tank wall and circumscribing a cold pin portion of an electrical resistance type heating element extending into the tank, and a hood portion forming a horizontally inward extension of the insert base and extending along only a top side portion of the element in an upwardly spaced relationship therewith so that no portion of the insert extends beneath the active portion of the heating element. In this manner, scale forming on the active portion of the element, and falling therefrom, does not become trapped between the heating element and the side port insert, and overshoot of the controlled tank water temperature is substantially reduced.

The present invention generally relates to liquid heating apparatus and, in a representatively illustrated embodiment thereof, more particularly relates to a specially designed temperature sensing side port insert for an electric water heater.
In electric water heaters having non-metallic tanks, such as plastic tanks reinforced by external, resin-impregnated filament winding, a design challenge is presented in sensing the temperature of heated water in the tank portion of the water heater for water temperature control purposes. Sensing the water temperature by simply sensing the outer side surface temperature of the tank is not a practical option due to the thermal insulating characteristics of the plastic/filament winding construction of the tank walls.
Previous alternative proposals have entailed the sealed insertion through the tank wall of a tubular metal port member through which an electric heating element extended into the tank interior, the heating element being appropriately sealed within the port member. Heat from the stored tank water was conductively transferred outwardly through the port member to an externally disposed thermostat used to appropriately activate and de-energize the heating element in response to sensed tank water temperature.
This proposed approach to sensing internal tank water temperature presented two primary problems. Depending on the configuration of the port member, it could cause an undesirable degree of temperature sensing lag, and a corresponding amount of water-set point temperature overshoot, or could alternatively cause a scale build-up between the electrical heating element and the port member which substantially shortened the operational life of the heating element. A need thus exists for an improved port member design which eliminates or at least substantially reduces these problems.

Side port insert design for water heater


A computer-implemented method for securely managing multimedia data captured by a mobile computing device is disclosed. The method may include (1) identifying a mobile computing device, (2) receiving multimedia data captured by the mobile computing device that has been encrypted using an asymmetric public key, (3) decrypting the multimedia data captured by the mobile computing device using an asymmetric private key, and (4) auditing the multimedia data captured by the mobile computing device. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.

An increasing number of mobile computing devices (such as cellular telephones) are now capable of capturing multimedia data, such as photo and video. While the ability to capture multimedia data in real time may represent an important tool for many organizations, IT management of such organizations may have little (if any) control over multimedia data captured by such devices.
For example, IT management may be unable to prevent a user of a mobile computing device from capturing sensitive data or information using the capturing capabilities of the mobile computing device and misusing the same, either intentionally or inadvertently. As such, the instant disclosure identifies a need for monitoring and controlling the multimedia capture capabilities of mobile computing devices.

Methods and systems for securely managing multimedia data captured by mobile computing devices


The present invention relates to a process for producing 4-hydroxybutyraldehyde, characterized in that allyl alcohol dissolved in polar solvents is reacted with CO and H2 in the presence of a catalytic system which is formed from a rhodium complex and a cyclobutane ligand which contains at least two trans-coordinated 3 5-dialkylphenylphosphinomethyl groups, with the exclusion of catalysts which contain an aliphatic, araliphatic or cycloaliphatic phosphine as ligand.

The hydroformylation of allyl alcohol is known and is utilized industrially (see e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,064,145; 4,215,077; 4,238,419; 4,678,857; 5,290,743). Allyl alcohol is reacted in these processes with CO/H2 gas mixtures, giving 4-hydroxy-butyraldehyde (HBA). Following distillative removal of undesired by-products, HBA is hydrogenated in a known manner to give 1,4-butanediol (BDO).
A disadvantage of this mode of production is the formation of undesired by-products. In particular, as well as the desired linear product, the isomeric branched product 3-hydroxy-2-methylpropionaldehyde (HMPA) and other C3 by-products such as n-propanol and propionaldehyde are formed. This adversely affects the economic viability of the process.
The present invention provides a process for producing 4-hydroxybutyraldehyde, characterized in that ally alcohol dissolved in polar solvents is reacted with CO and H2 in the presence of a catalytic system which is formed from a rhodium complex and a cyclobutane ligand which contains at least two trans-coordinated , 3,5 -dialkylphenyl-phosphinomethyl groups, with the exclusion of catalysts which contain an aliphatic, araliphatic or cycloaliphatic phosphine as ligand.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


Systems and methods for virtualizing the peripherals in a wireless device to enable remote management via removable portable media with processing capability are described. One aspect may include a system for virtualizing a peripheral device of a wireless device from a media device, the system comprising a media device, including a first memory; a processor coupled to said first memory; and a virtualization device controller interface remote layer adapted to run on said processor and first memory, wherein said virtualization device controller interface remote layer is adapted to communicate with a peripheral device of the wireless device.

Current wireless device or wireless handset designs function with the software layer running on the main processor or application processor with direct access to the attached peripherals such as but not limited to the display, keyboard, communication hardware, codec, printer, camera, and network hardware. The application and runtime environments are dependent on the hardware architecture and operating system of each wireless device or wireless handset. The runtime environment accesses the hardware via a hardware framework layer that controls the hardware using the embedded operating system and associated device drivers. Substantial efforts are required to maintain the applications and runtime environment when porting software, particularly when wireless device features are enhanced and the operating system is upgraded.

System and method for virtualizing the peripherals in a terminal device to enable remote management via removable portable media with processing capability


Methods and apparatus relate to recovering petroleum products from underground reservoirs. The recovering of the petroleum products relies on introduction of heat and solvent into the reservoirs. Supplying water and then solvent for hydrocarbons in direct contact with combustion of fuel and oxidant generates a stream suitable for injection into the reservoir in order to achieve such thermal and solvent based recovery.

Conventional processes for production of hydrocarbons from heavy oil or bitumen containing formations utilize energy and cost intensive techniques. In addition to the cost, other viability criteria relate to generation of carbon dioxide (CO2) during recovery of the hydrocarbons. In order to recover the hydrocarbons from certain geologic formations, injection of steam increases mobility of the hydrocarbons within the formation via one of the processes known as steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD). Exemplary problems with utilizing such prior techniques include inefficiencies, amount of the carbon dioxide created and difficulty in capturing the carbon dioxide in flue exhaust streams.
Therefore, a need exists for improved methods and systems for thermal recovery of petroleum products from underground reservoirs.

Generation of fluid for hydrocarbon recovery


Systems and methods for performing single instruction multiple data (SIMD) operations on a data set. The methods may include examining a structure of the data set to determine what reorganization may be necessary to facilitate SIMD processing. The method may include selecting a stored bit mask corresponding to the organization of the data set and loading the bit mask into an application specific register (ASR). Subsequently, the data may be reorganized inline according to the ASR as the data is loaded into the SIMD functional unit such that the SIMD functional unit may operate on the data set. The results of the SIMD operation may be written to a results register.

The instructions in the instructions sets used with single instruction multiple data (SIMD) architectures operate on a plurality of operands with the same operation. For example, first and second floating point registers are used to store source operands A0 to An, and B0 to Bn, respectively. For a particular function op, each source operand A_s (where s ranges from 0 to n) in the first register and an identically positioned source operand B_s in the second register may be operated on by an execution unit of a microprocessor to produce a result R_s. The result R_s is stored in a corresponding location in a result register.
SIMD instructions have the potential to deliver significant performance improvements in a wide variety of important applications. However, the pair-wise operation (e.g., A0+B0∥A1+B1) of these SIMD instructions can make them difficult to use effectively if the data incorrectly organized or misaligned. This tends to be more of a problem when retrofitting SIMD processing to existing applications, where the data organization may have been undertaken without taking its suitability for SIMD in to consideration. However, even in new applications, the requirement to organize and align the data to suit the requirements of the SIMD instructions can be a significant burden for the programmer (and/or compiler), particularly if operations like convoluted cross-product operations are required. Further, autovectorization, the process where the compiler will automatically use SIMD instructions, can be often frustrated by data organization or alignment problems, therefore significantly curtailing the benefits of the SIMD support.
To combat these problems, two approaches have typically been employed. Firstly, an ever more complex set of instructions have been introduced in an effort to allow programmers to more cost effectively reorganize the data before processing. Secondly, new SIMD instructions have been introduced that perform operations in a different order to the standard pair-wise ordering, in an effort to support other commonly occurring data organizations (e.g., an array of structures versus a structure of arrays).
The requirement to use data reorganization (swizzle) instructions will always introduce a performance overhead. While the sophistication of these swizzle instructions has improved over time, they can still cut performance by 50% in many situations. Further, this situation tends to be exacerbated on chip multithreading (CMT) processors, where there tends to be: i) slightly fewer execution resources; and ii) many hardware strands sharing these resources. In this situation, it is often not feasible to "hide" the impact of the swizzle instructions—even if the latency of the operations themselves can be hidden, the requirement to issue these additional instructions will often prevent other, more useful, processing from being undertaken. With respect to adding new forms of SIMD instructions in an attempt to handle different data organizations; it is limiting since only a few additional organizations can be realistically supported, and, in addition, it is very wasteful of opcode resources—an increasingly valuable commodity on RISC processors with 32-bit opcodes. Further, in some situations the formatting or alignment cannot be easily determined statically.

Low-overhead misalignment and reformatting support for SIMD


A catheter and introducer needle assembly having a needle with a proximal and distal end attached to a needle hub and a bent area therebetween. The device further includes a tubular catheter having proximal and distal ends in which the introducer needle can be coaxially received within the catheter. The device has a hollow catheter hub having a distal end attached to the proximal end of the catheter and is in fluid communication therewith. The assembly includes a needle tip protector having a proximal end and a distal end disposed within the catheter hub. The distal end of the protector covers the needle tip when the needle is removed from the catheter. The protector has a proximal opening at its proximal end wherein the bent area is angled away from the proximal opening such that when the needle is removed from the catheter the protector remains attached to the needle.

An intravenous (IV) catheter is an instrument that is used to introduce certain fluids such as saline solution directly into the bloodstream of a patient. Typically, a needle or other stylet is first introduced through the cannula portion of the catheter and into the skin of the patient at the desired location such as the back of the patient's hand or a vessel on the inside of the arm. Once insertion is complete, the needle is removed from the cannula portion of the catheter. After removing the needle, a fluid handling device such as a syringe is attached to the luer fitting located at the proximal end of the catheter hub. Fluid then flows directly from the fluid handling device through the catheter into the bloodstream of the patient.
When the needle is removed from the cannula, the health care worker must place the exposed needle tip at a nearby location while simultaneously addressing the task required to accomplish the needle removal. It is at this juncture that the exposed needle tip creates a danger of an accidental needle stick occurring which leaves the health care worker vulnerable to the transmission of various, dangerous blood-borne pathogens such as human immune virus (HIV) and hepatitis.
The risk of a contaminated needle stick is not just isolated to the health care worker inserting the intravenous catheter. Careless disposal of used needles can put other health care workers at risk as well. Even others outside the health care profession, for example those involved in the clean-up and final disposal of medical waste, are at risk of an accidental needle stick from a carelessly discarded needle.
The danger to health care workers and others outside the health care profession from accidental needle sticks has yielded the development of catheters with safety mechanisms in which the occurrence of such accidental needle sticks is prevented. An example of a catheter having a safety mechanism is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. Re. 34,416 issued to Lemieux. A safety catheter is described which includes an element that covers the needle tip upon removal of the needle from the catheter. The safety element includes a split flange at its proximal end which is expanded by the needle as the needle is inserted into an undersized hole at the center of this flange. The safety element is thus held secure within the catheter hub by inserting the needle through the undersized hole which forces the outside perimeter of the split flange against the inside wall of the catheter hub. One of the drawbacks to this design is the amount of friction force exerted against the needle by the split flange. A tight fit of the flange against the catheter wall causes great friction against the needle making it difficult to be withdrawn from the catheter by the clinician. A lose fit leaves the flange prone to releasing prematurely from the catheter as the needle is withdrawn, creating the potential that the needle tip will be left exposed.
Another example of a catheter having a safety mechanism is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,117,108 issued to Woehr et al. A safety IV catheter is described including a resilient needle guard which protects the needle tip upon removal of the needle from the catheter hub. The needle guard includes an arm that includes an opening through which a needle passes causing axial movement of the arm. This axial movement forces the arm into a groove or behind a rib located on the inside of the catheter hub, capturing the needle guard in the catheter hub. A potential issue with this design develops when the needle guard is not properly seated into the. catheter hub. If the distal end of the needle guard arm is not in alignment with the groove in the catheter hub, excessive forces are placed on the needle causing a high drag force as the clinician removes the needle. And, since the needle guard arm is not properly seated in the groove, it may prematurely release from the catheter hub upon the removal of the needle leaving the needle tip exposed.
The prior art safety catheters all exhibit one or more drawbacks that have thus far limited their usefulness and full acceptance by health-care workers. What is needed therefore is a safety IV catheter that functions reliably, is easy and inexpensive to manufacture, and easy to use.


A digital fluorography apparatus includes an X-ray tube, an X-ray/photo converter, an imaging system, an image processing unit, a display, a comparing unit, a fluorographic control unit, an imaging control unit, and an X-ray tube control unit. The converter opposes the tube to sandwich an object therebetween. An X-ray image formed by the converter is sensed by the imaging system. The image processing unit directly outputs image data sensed by the imaging system in a fluorography mode, and performs predetermined digital image processing of the image data and then outputs the resultant image data in an imaging mode. The image data output from the image processing unit in the fluorography mode is compared with reference data by the comparing unit, and a fluorographic control signal corresponding to the comparison result is generated from the fluorographic control unit. The imaging control unit generates an imaging control signal corresponding to the control data from the fluorographic control unit. The X-ray tube is driven under the X-ray radiation conditions corresponding to the control signals.

The present invention relates to an apparatus used for X-ray diagnosis and, more particularly, to a digital fluorography apparatus which obtains an X-ray image and performs digital image processing of the obtained X-ray image.
A digital fluorography apparatus consists of an X-ray TV apparatus and a video-signal digital processing unit. The X-ray TV apparatus comprises an X-ray tube serving as an X-ray source for generating X-rays to be radiated onto an object; an image intensifier (to be referred to as an "I.I." hereinafter) which faces the X-ray tube and serves as an X-ray/photo converter for converting X-rays transmitted through the object into an optical image; a TV camera for imaging an output image from the I.I.; and a monitor for displaying an image imaged by the TV camera. Operation modes of the digital fluorography apparatus include a fluorography mode for observing a fluorographic image of an object inserted between the X-ray tube and the I.I. by means of a TV image displayed on the monitor, and an imaging mode for recording the fluorographic image of the object and performing digital image processing, if necessary. Therefore, in the digital fluorography apparatus, the desired portion of an object to be imaged is found upon fluorographic observation in the fluorography mode, and the imaging operation and image processing are performed when the operation mode is switched to the imaging mode.
Recent digital fluorography apparatuses have adopted a digital subtraction imaging method for extracting an image of a contrasted portion of an object through an arithmetic operation during, e.g., angiography (an imaging method for obtaining an X-ray image by injecting a contrast medium in a blood vessel). In this imaging method, image (mask image) data of a portion of interest before contrasting (before injection of a contrast medium) is subtracted from image data after contrasting (after injection of the contrast medium) so as to obtain, as an image, a difference between X-ray absorption values due to the presence/absence of the contrast medium. When the mask-image subtraction processing is performed with respect to a plurality of subsequent frames of a video signal after injection of the contrast medium, a plurality of image frames representing sequential flow of the contrast medium can be obtained. When a plurality of image frames are sequentially displayed, contrast medium flow can be observed as an animation. In order to obtain a processed image which can provide a high diagnostic effect with the above image processing method, the amount of light incident on the TV camera, which corresponds to an X-ray image converted into an optical image by the I.I., must be controlled to fall within the dynamic range of the TV camera.
In the digital subtraction imaging method, however, if an X-ray dose to the object is changed during imaging, an unnecessary image (an image indicating a change in dose and/or an image indicating a change in absorption characteristics due to the change in dose) caused by the change in dose appears during subtraction processing, resulting in an image having a poor diagnostic effect. For this reason, an X-ray dose to the object must be set at an optimal value before imaging takes place.


The present disclosure relates to hair accessories and more specifically to a hair accessory for maintaining previously styled hair. In accordance with aspects and embodiments, a hair accessory is provided having a stretchable loop and an arc affixed perpendicularly to the stretchable loop. A user can pull styled hair through the stretchable loop, wrap the styled hair concentrically around the arc, and secure the accessory in the hair such that the hair is up but is able to be returned to its previously styled state by removing the accessory.

Time-saving products have always been popular, but as people work longer hours and have more obligations outside of the home, products designed to save time in consumers' morning routines continue to rise in popularity. The cosmetic and beauty industry, in particular, has become increasingly focused on creating products that offer users premium results in less time, allowing busy users to create optimal results while in a morning rush or while on the go.
One area of personal care that remains time-intensive is hair care. Those with medium hair or longer that requires styling generally must wake up early enough to fully wet and dry their hair and style it as desired. This process is time intensive. While some individuals with certain hair types can style their hair the evening before, sleeping on styled hair often causes the style to become undone such that further work and effort must be put into correcting the style in the morning. Moreover, many individuals with longer hair prefer to sleep with their hair up, either in a ponytail or chignon, and tying the hair up in this manner can cause indents in the hair that cannot easily be corrected.
There thus exists a need for a hair accessory that enables individuals to style their hair in the evening and tie up their hair in the accessory for comfortable sleeping such that the accessory also preserves the hair style and avoids crimping the hair. In the morning, the individual can remove the tie, returning their hair to its previously styled state for a quick and easy morning.

Hair accessory for maintaining previously styled hair


An ostomy drainage receptacle comprising a flexible pouch having a stoma-receiving opening therein. A mounting assembly surrounds the opening, the mounting assembly comprising a stiffly flexible mounting ring having a flat annular rim portion sealed to the opening and a convex dome portion having a central stoma-receiving opening therethrough. The thickness of the convex dome portion gradually increases in radial directions from the rim to the stoma-receiving opening so that the dome portion may flex upon application of the receptacle to the body for a more secure seal. The receptacle has a relatively wide upper portion to provide space for a relatively large stoma and the increased width also provides a large adhesive area for application to the body.

This invention relates to ostomy drainage receptacles and, more particularly, to ostomy appliances comprising a flexible pouch or bag adapted to be attached to the body of a patient and receive discharge from the stoma of a patient after surgical procedures, such as colostomy, ileostomy, urostomy, and ureterostomy procedures.
In the art of ostomy appliances, considerable efforts have been devoted to providing a secure yet comfortable attaching arrangement for ostomy pouches against the human body surrounding the stoma. With the development of more secure adhesives and lighter weight pouches, many ostomy patients are employing disposable pouches which are secured to the stoma area by an adhesive rather than the more traditional but comparatively uncomfortable strap or harness arrangement.
It has long been recognized that a rigid convex mounting ring or stoma plate or face plate presents a superior surface for adhesively securing a pouch to the human body adjacent to a stoma. This concept has been almost universally applied to bag mounting rings supported by a harness or belt. Such an arrangement is shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,784,718; 2,595,934; and 2,684,676. Self-supporting or beltless bags were initially provided with a flat adhesive surface to attach the bag to the body. Examples of such arrangements are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,897,780 and Reissue No. 29,453. As is recognized in U.S. Pat. No. 4,219,023, the flexible pouch or bag making up the ostomy structure is somewhat planar in the area adjacent the stoma and many times improper fit will cause the waste material to accumulate around the stoma opening of the ostomy receptacle, thereby leading to undesirable leakage and skin conditions. To overcome this problem, the patentee discloses a convex insert which has the ability to transform existing prior art ostomy receptacles of the type employing a flexible pouch having a circumscribing cushion or pad about the ostomy opening so as to convexly position the ostomy receptacle about the stoma having due regard for the contours of the human body at the stoma site.
While the arrangement shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,219,023 advantageously adapts the flat body engaging portion of existing drainage bags to a configuration which more securely seals the drainage bag to the stoma opening, the arrangement requires a relatively complicated assembly step by the user.

Marlen Manufacturing & Development Company


A skeleton structure member made up of a skeleton member (11) having a cross-sectionally closed space (16, 33, 43, 63, 73, 83, 93) and multiple granules (17) packed inside the skeleton member. A granule flow allowing part (14, 42, 61, 71, 81, 92) for allowing movement of the multiple granules is provided inside the skeleton member and suppresses excessive rising of internal pressure within the skeleton member. The granule flow allowing part is provided in the vicinity of the multiple granules.

Skeleton structure members made by filling a skeleton member with a granular bulk material are known from for example JP-A-2002-193649, U.S. Pat. No. 4,610,836 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,695,343. Also, skeleton structure members made by filling a skeleton member with a gel are known from for example JP-A-9-136681.
FIG. 13 shows a solidified granular bulk material of a skeleton structure member disclosed in JP-A-2002-193649.
As shown in FIG. 13, the solidified granular bulk material 200 is made up of multiple granules 201 and a binder 202 consisting of a resin or an adhesive packed between the granules 201 to solidify the granules 201, whereby the granules 201 are bonded together into a solid. The granules 201 are packed into a mold in a dense state, and then the binder 202 is poured in to form the solidified granular bulk material 200. This solidified granular bulk material 200 is inserted into a skeleton member of a vehicle body or the like to make a skeleton structure member, and the strength and rigidity of the vehicle body is thereby raised.
FIG. 14 shows a solidified granular bulk material of a skeleton structure member set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 4,610,836 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,695,343.
This solidified granular bulk material 210 made by bonding together and thereby solidifying multiple granules for insertion into a skeleton member is made up of multiple small glass spheres 212 serving as granules coated with an adhesive 211. These glass spheres 212 are wrapped with a cloth made of glass fiber and packed into a skeleton member to make a skeleton structure member.
FIG. 15 shows a skeleton structure member disclosed in JP-A-9-136681. This skeleton structure member 220 has a gel 223 packed between two lower panels 221, 222. The reference number 224 denotes an orifice provided in the lower panel 222, and 225 a cap for plugging the orifice 224.
For example when in a vehicle collision or the like an excessive pressure arises in the gel 223, the cap 225 comes out under that pressure and allows the gel 223 to spurt out, whereby impact energy is absorbed.
A crush test method for applying a load to and forcibly breaking a skeleton structure member and results of crush tests carried out by this method on the skeleton structure members of related art shown in FIG. 13 to FIG. 15 are shown below.
FIG. 16 and FIG. 17 show details of the crush tests carried out on the skeleton structure members of related art, FIG. 16 illustrating the crushing and FIG. 17 being a graph showing the results of the crush tests.
In FIG. 16A, a skeleton structure member 232 made by filling a skeleton member 231 having a hollow square cross-section with granules is forcibly deformed by a compressive load F being applied to it in the length direction as shown with an arrow.
In FIG. 16B, when the deformation of the skeleton structure member 232, and specifically the displacement of the end of the skeleton structure member 232 under the load, is written λ, as the displacement λ increases the skeleton structure member 232 either buckles into a bellows shape or bends into a Z shape like that shown in the figure or into a dog-leg shape.
FIG. 17 is a graph showing the relationship between the load F and the displacement λ of the skeleton structure member when it is deformed as shown in FIG. 16B. The vertical axis shows the load F and the horizontal axis the displacement λ. Four test pieces were used: Comparison Example 1 (unfilled), which was a skeleton member only, not packed with any filler; Comparison Example 2 (granules bonded with binder), which was that shown in FIG. 13 made by bonding granules with a binder; Comparison Example 3 (small spheres bonded with adhesive), which was that shown in FIG. 14 made by bonding small spheres with an adhesive; and Comparison Example 4 (low-strength granules) filled with a granules of lower strength than Comparison Example 2 and Comparison Example 3.
In Comparison Example 1, the load F is small but the displacement λ at which the skeleton member collapses into a bellows shape is large. The displacement d1 at this time is the displacement at which the skeleton member collapses completely, and is the effective stroke (that is, the displacement λ from zero to d1) over which energy applied from outside can be absorbed effectively. After this effective stroke the load F increases sharply.
Comparison Example 2 to Comparison Example 4 are shown as far as their effective strokes.
The area in the effective stroke region sandwiched between the line of Comparison Example 1 and the horizontal axis shows the energy absorbed by the skeleton structure member of Comparison Example 1, and the value obtained by dividing this absorbed energy by the effective stroke is the load f1 in the figure. That is, this load f1 is the average load in of Example 1.
From this, to increase the energy absorbed by a skeleton structure member, a high average load and a long effective stroke are necessary.
In Comparison Example 2 (granules bonded with a binder, described with reference to FIG. 13), the average load is very large but the displacement λ is not so large. This is because, since the bonding of the granules is extremely strong, in the initial stage of deformation the internal pressure of the skeleton member rises excessively and the member bends into a Z-shape or a dog-leg shape, and after that the load decreases sharply. Consequently, the absorbed energy is not that much greater than that of Comparison Example 1.
In Comparison Example 3 (small spheres bonded with adhesive, described with reference to FIG. 14), for the same reason as in Comparison Example 2, the average load is large but the displacement λ is not that large, and the absorbed energy is not much greater than that of Comparison Example 1.
In Comparison Example 4 (low-strength granules), because the granules themselves break up easily and the rise in the internal pressure of the skeleton structure member is not that sharp and the member does not bend into a Z-shape or a dog-leg shape, although the displacement λ is greater than in Comparison Example 2 and Comparison Example 3, because the granules remain inside the skeleton structure member, the displacement λ is smaller than in Comparison Example 1. Also, the average load is small, and as a result the absorbed energy is small.
From the foregoing results, it can be seen that it is difficult to raise the average load of a skeleton structure member and simultaneously extend its effective stroke.
With the skeleton structure member 220 shown in FIG. 15, because it is filled with the gel 223, when a load acts on the skeleton structure member 220, the gel 223 flows smoothly and spurts out through the orifice, and consequently the internal pressure of the skeleton structure member 220 is kept roughly constant during the deformation. As a result, local deformation does not arise, and a relatively large load can be maintained up to a large displacement.
However, when the skeleton structure member is filled with granules, because due to frictional forces between the granules the fluid motion of the granules is not as smooth as the fluid motion of the gel 223, it is difficult to keep the internal pressure constant.
This will now be explained in detail with reference to FIG. 18 to FIG. 20.
FIG. 18 shows deformation of a skeleton structure member having one drain hole for granules to discharge through like the skeleton structure member 220 shown in FIG. 15.
As shown in FIG. 18A, this skeleton structure member 240 is made up of a skeleton member 241, multiple granules 242 packed inside this skeleton member 241, and a cap 244 plugging a drain hole 243 formed in the skeleton member 241 to allow the egress of these granules 242.
As shown in FIG. 18B, a compressive load F is applied to the skeleton structure member 240 in its length direction as shown with an arrow. As a result, the internal pressure of the skeleton member 241 increases sharply, and the granules 242 push out the cap 244 shown in FIG. 18A and spurt out to outside through the drain hole 243.
As illustrated in FIG. 18C, the internal pressure of the granules 242 in the vicinity where the granules 242 have spurted out falls, the strength of the part near the drain hole 243 of the skeleton structure member 240 decreases, and the whole member bends about this part. As a result, the load supported by the skeleton structure member 240 becomes very small. Consequently, the energy absorbed by the skeleton structure member 240 is small.
FIG. 19 shows deformation of a skeleton structure member having a plurality of drain holes like that shown in FIG. 18.
The skeleton structure member 250 shown in FIG. 19A is made up of a skeleton member 251, multiple granules 242 packed into this skeleton member 251, and caps 254, 256 plugging a plurality of drain holes 252, 253 formed in the skeleton member 251 to allow the granules 242 to flow out.
As shown in FIG. 19B, a compressive load F is applied to the skeleton structure member 250 in its length direction as shown with an arrow. As a result, the internal pressure of the top of the skeleton member 251 increases sharply and the granules 242 push out the upper cap 254 shown in FIG. 19A and spurt out to outside through the drain hole 252.
As shown in FIG. 19C, the internal pressure of the granules 242 in the vicinity where the granules 242 spurted out falls, the strength of the part of the skeleton structure member 250 near the drain hole 252 decreases, and the whole member bends about this part.
When the load F is increased further, the internal pressure of the bottom of the skeleton structure member 251 increases and the granules 242 push out the lower cap 256 shown in FIG. 19B and spurt out to outside through the drain hole 253, and consequently the skeleton structure member 250 bends about the part around the drain hole 253 as shown in FIG. 19D.
Because bending occurs at the part near the drain hole 253 and the whole member folds like this, the load fluctuates markedly and as a result the absorbed energy does not increase.
FIG. 20 is a graph showing crush test results of the skeleton structure members 240, 250 shown in FIG. 18 and FIG. 19.
In the case of Comparison Example 5 (the skeleton structure member 240), which has one drain hole, the load F is small and the maximum value of the displacement λ is also small, and consequently the absorbed energy is low.
In the case of Comparison Example 6 (the skeleton structure member 250), which has a drain hole in each of a plurality of locations, the member displaced to a relatively large displacement d2 with the load F fluctuating greatly.
The numeral f2 in the graph is the average load of Comparison Example 6, and because this is not that large, the absorbed energy is also not that great as a result.
Accordingly, technology for increasing the energy absorbed by a skeleton structure member for use in a transport machine has been awaited.

Skeleton structural member for transportation equipment


A method of signal reception according to one embodiment of the invention includes receiving a set of data values over a first frequency band during a first time slot, and receiving another set of data values over the first frequency band during a second time slot which is after the first time slot. Between the first and second time slots, the method includes sampling a signal received over a second frequency band and storing the samples. Based on the samples, a received signal quality value is calculated.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to wireless communications.
2. Background Information
A network for wireless cellular telephony typically includes a set of fixed base stations that communicate wirelessly with mobile units. In some cases, the individual base stations may be geographically separated from one another. In other cases, more than one base station may be present at a single location. For example, a single site may have three different transmitters, each covering a different 120-degree-wide sector of a horizontal plane. In another example, a single site has six different transmitters, each covering a different 60-degree-wide sector of a horizontal plane. Collocated base stations may also differ in terms of characteristics other than directional orientation (e.g., transmission frequency).
While a mobile unit is typically embodied in a cellular telephone, other devices may also be equipped with mobile units that support voice and/or non-voice data transfer with the network. Such devices include personal digital assistants (PDAs), laptop or notebook computers having integrated or accessory wireless modems (e.g. embodied in PCMCIA cards), and other consumer electronics devices. Mobile units may also be embodied in devices that are intended to operate in generally fixed locations, such as wireless local loop (WLL) units, point-of-sale (POS) units, or other home or business appliances.
During operation, a mobile unit is typically in one of two modes. The mobile unit operates in idle mode when it is not engaged in a communications session (e.g. before a call is initiated or received, or after a call is completed). While in idle mode, the mobile unit listens to a selected channel (e.g. a particular frequency band, code channel, and/or time slot) for a paging message that indicates an incoming call. During idle mode, the mobile unit may also receive control information from (or transmit such information to) the network. After a paging message directed to the mobile unit is received, or when the user initiates a telephone call or other communications session (e.g. a request for data transfer access to support an activity such as e-mail and/or Internet access), the mobile unit enters a dedicated mode.
For portable electronic devices (such as mobile units), it is generally desirable to increase the period of time over which the device may be used before replacement or charging of the power source is needed. Among the subsystems of a mobile unit, the radio-frequency (RF) subsystem is typically one of the greatest power consumers. Therefore, it is generally desirable to limit the amount of time during which the RF subsystem is powered.
One technique currently used to reduce RF subsystem on-time during idle mode is discontinuous reception. For example, a system using this technique may be configured such that a paging message directed to a particular mobile unit will be transmitted by the network only within certain predetermined time intervals. Therefore, the RF subsystem of a mobile unit in idle mode only needs to be powered up and ready to receive during those predetermined time intervals and can be powered down the rest of the time.
From time to time, it may be desirable for the mobile unit to listen for paging messages on a different channel. For example, the propagation path of the channel being monitored by the mobile unit may be subject to change (e.g. as the mobile unit moves from one location to another relative to the base station transmitting on the channel), such that reception of the selected channel could become unreliable. In order for the mobile unit and/or the network to determine whether a different base station—and which other base station—should transmit paging messages that are directed to the mobile unit, a mobile unit typically monitors the quality of channels associated with other base stations. Such monitoring is typically performed during both idle mode (e.g. to support a continued ability to receive paging messages and other broadcast information) and dedicated mode (e.g. to support the ability to continue the communications session between the mobile unit and the network).
The task of monitoring the quality of other channels may give rise to problems. In idle mode, for example, this task may increase the proportion of time during which the RF subsystem remains powered, thus reducing the operating time between battery charges. In dedicated mode, time spent monitoring the quality of other channels may conflict with time needed to perform other on-line tasks such as communication of voice and/or non-voice data.

Method, apparatus, and system for receiving data on a first frequency band and observing a second frequency band


Techniques for transmitting voice/data and packet data services such that packet data transmissions have less impact on voice/data transmissions. In one aspect, voice/data and packet data can be multiplexed within a transmission interval such that the available resources are efficiently utilized. In another aspect, the amount of variation in the total transmit power from a base station is controlled to reduce degradation to transmissions from this and other base stations. In a specific method for concurrently transmitting a number of types of data, a first data type (e.g., voice, overhead, and some data) and a second data type are respectively processed in accordance with first and second signal processing schemes to generate first and second payloads, respectively. First and second partitions are then defined in a transmission interval. The first and second payloads are time multiplexed into the first and second partitions, respectively, and the multiplexed payloads are transmitted.

1. Field
The present invention relates to data communication. More particularly, the present invention relates to novel and improved techniques for multiplexing high-speed packet data transmission with conventional voice/data transmission in a wireless communication system.
2. Background
A modern day communication system is required to support a variety of applications. One such communication system is a code division multiple access (CDMA) system that supports voice and data communication between users over a terrestrial link. The use of CDMA techniques in a multiple access communication system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,307, entitled "SPREAD SPECTRUM MULTIPLE ACCESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM USING SATELLITE OR TERRESTRIAL REPEATERS," and U.S. Pat. No. 5,103,459, entitled "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR GENERATING WAVEFORMS IN A CDMA CELLULAR TELEPHONE SYSTEM." A specific CDMA system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,574,211, entitled "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR HIGH RATE PACKET DATA TRANSMISSION," filed Nov. 3, 1997 (the HDR system), issued Jun. 3, 2003. These patents and patent application are assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated herein by reference.
CDMA systems are typically designed to conform to one or more standards. Such standards include the "TIA/EIA/IS-95-B Mobile Station-Base Station Compatibility Standard for Dual-Mode Wideband Spread Spectrum Cellular System" (the IS-95 standard), the "TIA/EIA/IS-98 Recommended Minimum Standard for Dual-Mode Wideband Spread Spectrum Cellular Mobile Station" (the IS-98 standard), the standard offered by a consortium named "3rd Generation Partnership Project" (3GPP) and embodied in a set of documents including Document Nos. 3G TS 25.211, 3G TS 25.212, 3G TS 25.213, and 3G TS 25.214 (the W-CDMA standard), the "TR-45.5 Physical Layer Standard for cdma2000 Spread Spectrum Systems" (the cdma2000 standard), and the "TIA/EIA/IS-856 cdma2000 High Rate Packet Data Air Interface Specification" (the HDR standard). New CDMA standards are continually proposed and adopted for use. These CDMA standards are incorporated herein by reference.
Some CDMA systems are capable of supporting multiple types of service (e.g., voice, packet data, and so on) over the forward and reverse links. Each type of service is typically characterized by a particular set of requirements, some of which are described below.
Voice service typically requires a fixed and common grade of service (GOS) for all users as well as (relatively) stringent and fixed delays. For example, the overall one-way delay of speech frames may be specified to be less than 100 msec. These requirements may be satisfied by providing a fixed (and guaranteed) data rate for each user (e.g., via a dedicated channel assigned to the user for the duration of a communication session) and ensuring a maximum (tolerable) error rate for speech frames independent of the link resources. To maintain the required error rate at any given data rate, higher allocation of resources is required for a user having a degraded link.
In contrast, packet data service may be able to tolerate different GOS for different users and may further be able to tolerate variable amounts of delays. The GOS of a data service is typically defined as the total delay incurred in the error free transfer of a data message. The transmission delay can be a parameter used to optimize the efficiency of a data communication system.
To support both types of service, a CDMA system can be designed and operated to first allocate transmit power to voice users requiring a particular GOS and shorter delays. Any remaining available transmit power can then be allocated to packet data users whom can tolerate longer delays.
In the CDMA system, each transmission source acts as interference to other transmission sources. Because of the bursty nature of packet data, the transmit power from a transmission source can fluctuate widely during the transmission of data bursts. The rapid and wide fluctuation in the transmit power can interfere with other transmissions from other sources and can degrade the performance of these transmissions.
As can be seen, techniques that can be used to efficiently and effectively multiplex high-speed packet data transmissions with voice and other transmissions are highly desirable.

Method and apparatus for multiplexing high-speed packet data transmission with voice/data transmission


A tripod suitable for travel.

The present invention relates to a portable support apparatus for equipment, such as a tripod. For convenience, the term "tripod" is used as a generic identifier for a more broad class of equipment supports, which may have any number of legs, e.g., a support with one, two, three, four or more legs.
Tripods have been used for many years. Typically, tripods include an elevated mounting surface, upon which equipment may be secured, such as a camera, telescope, musical equipment, surveying equipment, antenna, etc. The elevated mounting surface is supported by a plurality of legs, which in the case of a tripod is typically three. Other numbers of legs may likewise be used, such as a single leg monopod.
Tripods are designed to provide some optimal balance between a set of features. For example, one feature of a tripod is stability, as it is often desirable to insure that shaking or other movement of equipment supported by the tripod is minimized so that, for example, blur does not occur in an image taken by a camera supported on the tripod. Tripods are often used portably, hence, it is often desired to minimize the weight and/or dimensions of the tripod so that it may be carried over great distances. Also, it is often desirable to include a locking mechanism between different segments of the legs that are efficient to operate while being suitable for use in hostile environments, such as sandy environments and ocean environments.
Many existing tripods are vertically collapsible with radially extendible legs. For example, a tripod may have three leg assemblies, with each leg assembly pivotally connected to the elevated equipment support so that each leg may be pivoted outwards when in use, and inwards when not in use. Also, each leg assembly may have multiple elements that selectively slide axially relative to each other. For example, a multi-stage tripod may have first, second, and third segments for each leg. To adjust the height of the tripod, the first and second leg segments are slidably movable relative to each other and the second and third leg segments are also slidably movable relative to each other. Each pair of legs may be selectively locked and unlocked at different positions. Tripods also may include an adjustable central column to change the height at which equipment is supported by the tripod at a fixed extension of the tripod legs. Further, the tripod legs typically include locking detents so that each of the tripod legs may be positioned at one of a plurality of fixed angular orientations. The telescopic tube structure may comprise an outer tube, an inner tube elastically sleeved by the outer tube, and a locking structure for locking two adjacent connection tubes into an integral piece.
The foregoing and other objectives, features, and advantages of the invention will be more readily understood upon consideration of the following detailed description of the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Abstract: A tripod suitable for travel.


A flow-volume detecting apparatus including a flow-volume detecting unit which measures a flow volume of a measured fluid, a flow-volume state determining unit which determines a flow-volume state of the measured fluid based on an output from the flow-volume detecting unit. The flow-volume detecting apparatus further including a plurality of filters which process a flow-volume signal, and a filter selecting unit which selects a filter that processes the flow-volume signal, wherein the filter selecting unit selects the filter that processes the flow-volume signal according to the flow-volume state determined by the flow-volume state determining unit.

JP 2001-003804 A (PTL 1) discloses an intake state detecting device which effectively removes a noise component caused by intake pulsation from a signal indicating an intake state of an engine, such as an intake air amount, in a total rotation region of the engine without causing an increase in cost. This intake air state detecting device is configured to make an air quantity signal including a vibration component caused by intake pulsation from an air flow sensor pass through a filter unit which includes a band-rejection filter in which a center frequency of a rejection band changes in synchronization with a frequency of the intake pulsation and a second-order low pass filter which filters the air quantity signal in a radio frequency region equal to or higher than a practical frequency of the band-rejection filter (see an abstract). More specifically, the intake air state detecting device includes intake parameter detection means which detects a parameter indicative of the intake state of the engine, engine revolutions per minute detection means which detects a revolutions per minute of the engine, a band-rejection filter which has a center frequency of a rejection band varying depending on an engine revolutions per minute detected by the engine revolutions per minute detection means and filters an output signal from intake parameter detection means, a high-order low pass filter which filters the output signal from the intake parameter detection means in a high rotation region equal to or higher than a predetermined engine revolutions per minute, and filter function suppression means which reduces a function of the band-rejection filter operating in a low rotation region equal to or lower than the predetermined engine revolutions per minute in a low load region of the engine (see paragraphs 0011 and 0015).

Flow-volume detecting apparatus utilizing filter selection


A device and method for restraining the tail of a necktie to the front of a shirt. The device includes a longitudinal strip of flexible material with a sewn longitudinal button hole on one end and a circular hole on the other.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a device and method for restraining the tail of a necktie, and more particularly, the invention provides a removable, reusable device for operative engagement with a transverse member such as a sewn in place label extending across the back of the tail of a necktie to constrain and provide limited lateral and parallel movements of the necktie tail while the device is attached to spaced apart buttons on the front of the users shirt.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A typical necktie presents a tie tail which comprises a relatively wide tail portion and a relatively narrow tail portion, that could be held in place at the front of the users shirt or other garment by a tie tack, tie clasp or other article. Over the years, various other devices have been available to secure the necktie tail in place. Typically, such devices require permanent attachment to the necktie or alteration of the necktie, either of which may not be an option of choice to the necktie user. Whereas neckties have evolved from heavier materials to more synthetic blends, advances in manufacture of more traditional necktie fabrics such as silk and cotton have magnified the need for an improved necktie restraint.
Neckties worn underneath a jacket tend to become wrinkled with constant body movement causing the necktie to shift positions and an unsightly bulkiness to develop. On the other hand, when the jacket is removed, the necktie has a tendency to constantly change position in relation to the movement of the wearer. Such movement causes a constant shifting of the position of the necktie and results in an untidy appearance. In operation, the wearer knots the necktie in normal fashion, thereby establishing the positioning of the relatively wide tail portion and the relatively narrow tail portion with respect to each other. It will be understood that the necktie can be knotted in a number of configurations resulting in wide variances in the positioning of the relatively wide and narrow tail portions.
The present invention constitutes an improvement over the previous devices. What was needed was a device and method for restraining the tail portion of a necktie that was inexpensive, simple, removable and reusable.


A reactivation process for a deactivated supported palladium catalyst involves contacting the catalyst with an organic polar solvent for naphthalenic compounds at a temperature below about 200.degree. C. The organic polar solvent has a dielectric constant at 25.degree. C. in the range of about 4 to about 80 and has a boiling point at atmospheric pressure in the range of about 30.degree. C. to about 230.degree. C. Preferred organic polar solvents are acetone and methanol, as well as mixtures thereof.

Palladium-containing catalysts, particularly heterogeneous catalysts wherein the palladium is supported on carbon, alumina, or the like, have been used as the catalyst in a number of chemical processes, especially processes involving the conversion of hydrocarbons at a temperature below about 400.degree. C.
Recently, such a catalyst has been found to be highly active and selective for the dehydrogenation of dimethyltetrahydronaphthalenes to dimethylnaphthalenes under liquid phase elevated temperature conditions. However, in such a process, the catalyst activity unfortunately declines significantly after several uses.
Normal regeneration procedures for fixed bed catalysts, such as supported heterogeneous catalysts, call for elevated temperature heating to remove the deactivating species by oxidation. However, palladium is known to sinter at the elevated temperatures typically used for such a heating which are about 400.degree. to about 500.degree. C. Thus, such a heating results in permanent damage to the catalyst and resultant reduced catalytic activity.
A palladium-containing catalyst is expensive. When it is deactivated, it is typically returned to the manufacturer to recover the palladium, which is also an expensive process. The art of redispersing palladium on a heat-treated supported palladium catalyst has not been developed.
Thus, problems with deactivation in use and in reactivation tend to retard the usability and acceptance for commercial purposes of palladium containing catalysts.
A new and improved method for regenerating a deactivated palladium containing catalyst would be desirable. The present invention provides such a method.


A method, circuit arrangement, and program product for dynamically reallocating power consumption at a component level of a processor. Power tokens representative of a power consumption metric are allocated to interconnected IP blocks of the processor, and as additional power is required by an IP block to perform assigned operations, the IP block may communicate a request for additional power tokens to one or more interconnected IP blocks. The interconnected IP blocks may grant power tokens for the request based on a priority, availability, and/or power consumption target. The requesting IP block may modify power consumption based on power tokens granted by interconnected IP blocks for the request. A power management block may adjust power token allocation of one or more IP blocks by communicating a command to one or more IP blocks and/or by adjusting a power token request.

Power management is an increasingly important aspect of processor design. For mobile and battery powered applications, for example, minimizing power consumption to maximize battery life is often a key design parameter. In addition, in high performance applications such as supercomputers and massively parallel computers, hundreds or thousands of processors may be arranged in close proximity to one another and generate a substantial amount of heat and consume a substantial amount of power, so controlling power consumption to manage power and heat output is also of considerable importance in these applications.
In some conventional processing architectures the amount of components that may be configured on a processor may exceed the amount of components that may be powered at a particular time. In these conventional processors, power generally needs to be distributed such the appropriate components are powered at the appropriate times. In conventional systems, power may be distributed to different dedicated areas comprising a plurality of components dedicated to a particular processing task (e.g., a dedicated graphics processing unit group of components) of the processor. However, such wide granularity power distribution generally fails to address the quickly changing power needs of individual components. The inability to address power distribution at the component level generally leads to low performance.
Some processor architectures may include IP blocks, where an IP block generally represents a reusable unit of synchronous or asynchronous logic design used as a building block for data processing within the processor. In general, IP blocks comprise reusable units of logic, cell, or chip layout design and may be considered logic cores that can be formed as ASIC chip designs or FPGA logic designs. As such, in general, an IP block may be considered a component of a processor.
To address such scenarios, a processor may be designed to support the maximum power needed if every component of the processor were consuming the maximum amount of power; however, a processor designed to support the maximum power needed generally requires more area dedicated to power support and reduces the amount of area available for processing components. In addition, such processors generally consume more power than is actually required to perform all the processing functions required of the processor.
Therefore, a continuing need exists in the art for power distribution systems and methods in processor architectures.

Power distribution management in a system on a chip

International Business Machines Corporation


A system and method compute, store and use relativity measures between events in datasets where the measures are stored in a relational memory for querying. From user data and e-commerce shopping session data, relativity measures are computed for a plurality of subsets of data attributes of the user data and session data, each subset comprising two or more data attributes. The relativity measures individually or when combined represent conditional relativities between a set of events within the session data. Only the relativity measures are stored to the relational memory. The measures may be queried for results and applied to the e-commerce service (e.g. to determine which specific product data to present or an order of the presentation of the specific product data). The relativity measures may be computed only for pre-selected relations between particular data attributes which give desired trends and insights into user shopping using the e-commerce service.

Many different contexts exist where large datasets require storage and processing. Optimizing data storage may reduce the amount of storage required. Optimizing data storage may enable faster processing (i.e. use) of the data for example, to determine certain desired information from the data.
With an ever increasing amount of data on consumer shopping behaviour on e-commerce applications and websites, it is of great necessity to analyze this data to decipher consumer interest, shopping preferences, and their ideal product matches. A number of applications and algorithms have been proposed and applied to a sub-segment of the data collected for e-commerce applications, including collaborative filtering [1] and clustering of customers into specific segments for which unique products would be recommended [2]. The essential idea behind these methods is to use the data as a means of predicting the intent of the customer based on which a product is suggested. Success in the form of a good suggestion will result in a higher conversion rate, and ultimately, an increase in sales for the e-commerce app or site.
A common approach in analyzing e-commerce data has been the application of machine learning approaches such as deep learning [11] and support vector machines [4]. For example, [5] used multiple recurrent neural networks to categorize e-commerce items. These methods provide the means to analyze the data based on prior user sessions which can be readily obtained. Using such approaches to personalize recommendations can usually be effective, as shown in [6] and [7]. In [7], feature engineering was applied to e-commerce data from Alibaba's T-mall dataset for the binary classification of buyers into repeat buyers and non-repeat buyers.
An interesting approach was taken by [3], where a special data structure which was specifically designed for optimized searching and matching of data was used for analyzing e-commerce data. The idea here was that part of the computation would be performed prior to storage of the data, enabling more efficient real-time analysis during new user sessions. An approach similar along these lines was that of [8], which utilized pair-wise co-occurrences for retail data mining. Essentially, [8] used the joint distribution between pair-wise variables in order to understand retail behaviours.

System and method for generating output results based on computed relativity measures using relational memory


The optical measuring device of film thickness consists of a spectral reflectance measuring device and a film thickness deciding device. The film thickness deciding device comprises a reflectance operating device, an evaluation function operating device, a global optimization device, a local optimization device, and settlement judging devices added to the global optimization device and the local optimization device respectively. A data selecting device may be interposed between the spectral reflectance measuring device and the film thickness deciding device. The optical measuring device of film thickness is capable of measuring thickness of individual layers of a multi-layer film simultaneously, speedily and accurately.

(a) Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to an optical measuring device of film thickness which is capable of measuring film thickness without destroying or contacting measured films.
(b) Description of the Prior Art:
When spectral reflectance of a single-layer transparent thin optical film is measured with a spectral reflectance measuring device, reflectance R shows variations in conjunction with film thickness due to the effect of interference between the lights reflected by the front and rear surfaces of the thin film as wavelength .lambda. of measuring light varies as illustrated in FIG. 1. When reflectance R of a single-layer film has two or more local maxima or minima and a measuring light is incident perpendicularly on the thin film, it is known that thickness d of the thin film is given by the following formula: ##EQU1## wherein the reference symbol N represents number of local maxima or minima existing between a wavelength .lambda..sub.a at which a local maximum or minimum exists and another wave length .lambda..sub.b at which another local maximum or minimum exists, the reference symbols n.sub.1 (.lambda..sub.a) designates refractive index of a substance constituting the thin film at the wavelength .lambda..sub.a and the reference symbol n.sub.1 (.lambda..sub.b) denotes refractive index of the substance constituting the thin film at the wavelength .lambda..sub.b. In case of a multi-layer film wherein said film is composed of a plural number of layers laminated on a substrate and reflectance is measured as a total sum of interference of lights reflected by the individual layers, however, it is impossible to determine thickness values of the individual layers at the same time by the method to detect the wavelengths at which reflectance is maximum or minimum.
In view of this fact, there was contrived a method to determine thickness values of individual layers of a multi-layer film by calculating reflectance of the multi-layer film as a function only of film thickness on the basis of known angle of incidence of a measuring light as well as known refractive indices of medium on the side of incidence, a substrate and layers at each of the wavelengths at which reflectance is measured, setting an evaluation function indicating an overall difference between a measured value and theoretical value of reflectance at each wavelength, and determining a combination of film thickness values which minimizes values of the evaluation function. However, such a series of functions generally has a plural number of local solutions, and it is necessary to search for a global solution while preventing the series of the functions from being settled at the local solutions. For this purpose, it is possible to use a global optimization method which is capable of determining thickness values of individual layers of a multi-layer film by permitting finding a global solution even when a plural number of local solutions exist (Refer to Japanese Patent Preliminary Publication No. Sho 63- 32307).
Though the global optimization method permits determining a global solution with the series of the functions which allows multiple local solutions, said method has a defect that the method requires a very long time when it is repeated until the evaluation function has a minimum values after a vicinity of a global solution is reached.

Optical measuring device of film thickness


A gas sensor element which may be employed in measuring the concentration of gas such O2 is provided. The gas sensor element is of a laminated type and designed to introduce gas to be measured into a measurement gas chamber through a diffusion resistor. The measurement gas chamber has a volume of 0.15 mm3 in order to facilitate expelling of the gas remaining within the measurement gas chamber during transition of thermal activation of the gas sensor element.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an improved structure of a gas sensor element which is quickly activatable without sacrificing output characteristics thereof which may be built in a gas sensor employed in combustion control for automotive internal combustion engines.
2. Background Art
There are known exhaust emission feedback control systems which have an air-fuel ratio (A/F) sensor installed in an exhaust pipe of an automotive engine to measure the concentration of oxygen (O2) contained in exhaust emissions and determine an air-fuel ratio in the engine as a function of the measured value for controlling combustion of the engine.
Particularly, when a three-way catalyst is used to convert air pollutants contained in exhaust emissions of automotive engines into harmless products, it is essential to control combustion of the engine so as to keep an air-fuel ratio of a mixture supplied to each combustion chamber of the engine within a limited range.
Such air-fuel ratio control typically employs an A/F sensor which is equipped with a laminated gas sensor element having a measurement gas chamber into which exhaust gasses are introduced through a diffusion resistor from outside the gas sensor element, a measurement gas electrode which is affixed to an oxygen ion-conductive solid electrolyte plate and exposed to the measurement gas chamber, and a reference gas electrode which is affixed to the solid electrolyte plate and exposed to a reference gas. The solid electrolyte plate, the measurement gas electrode, and the reference gas electrode constitute an electrochemical cell which works as a sensor cell to measure the concentration of oxygen within the measurement gas chamber.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,340,419 B2, assigned to the same assignee as that of this application teaches an A/F sensor of the type as described above, the disclosure of which is totally incorporated therein by reference.
In recent years, there has been an increasing need for a gas sensor element of the A/F sensors used in the exhaust emission feedback control systems to have the ability to be activated quickly and high measurement accuracy.
Particularly, the quick activation of the A/F sensor element is one of objects of the exhaust gas regulations and is essential to reduce a large amount of hydrocarbon (HC) emitted greatly at cold start-up of engines.
The quick activation of the A/F sensor element requires a reduced heat capacity of the A/F sensor itself, that is, a reduction in size of the A/F sensor element and an increase in quantity of thermal energy produced to heat the A/F sensor element for activation thereof.
A rapid rise in temperature of the A/F sensor element for activation thereof, however, may lead to various concerns about output characteristics of the A/F sensor element.
The A/F sensor element of the above type is typically equipped with a diffusion resistor and designed to produce as a sensor output a limiting current in a one-cell type or a pump current in a two-cell type. Specifically, exhaust gasses are introduced through the diffusion resistor into a measurement gas chamber formed in a body of the A/F sensor element and then interact with a measurement gas electrode installed in the measurement gas chamber to produce the sensor output.
It is essential to heat the A/F sensor element up to a given activation temperature for producing the sensor output correctly. In the following discussion, a period of time until the A/F sensor element is activated sufficiently will also be referred to as an active transition period below.
During the active transition period, the gas staying in the measurement gas chamber of the A/F sensor element is heated rapidly so that it expands, but however, expelling of the gas from the measurement gas chamber is disturbed greatly by the diffusion resistor. This will result in a difficulty in introducing exhaust gasses into the measurement gas chamber when the A/F sensor element has reached the activation temperature, which leads to an error in determining an A/F ratio in the engine using the sensor output.
FIG. 14 demonstrates a time-sequential change in output of the A/F sensor element which was measured in the atmosphere where a A/F ratio is 18 (i.e., N2/O2=4%).
A heater installed in the A/F sensor element was turned on to heat a body of the A/F sensor at a time 0. When the temperature of the A/F sensor element was low, it produced no sensor output. Upon a rise in temperature of the A/F sensor element, it started to produce the sensor output. After the A/F sensor element was warmed up completely, the sensor output should be kept constant, as indicated by a broken line, but actually varied, as indicated by a solid line.
In a case where the A/F sensor element is installed in an exhaust pipe of the engine, when the engine is at rest, that is, when the A/F sensor element is in an inactive state at an ambient temperature, the air entering from outside the exhaust pipe would exist around the A/F sensor element, so that the gas staying in the measurement gas chamber has substantially the same concentration of oxygen as that of the air. This often causes an output of the A/F sensor element such as the one, as indicated in FIG. 14, to indicate, in error, an A/F ratio leaner than that in the engine.
When the A/F sensor element has been activated, and the rise in temperature of the A/F sensor element has been stopped, the gas staying in the measurement gas chamber stops expanding and is replaced with gas flowing outside the A/F sensor element by a pumping operation of the A/F sensor element, so that the sensor output is kept constant, as illustrated in FIG. 14.
Specifically, the output error of the A/F sensor element will result in a delay in producing a correct sensor output, which is objectionable to the quick activation of the A/F sensor element.
There has been proposed the following measures to alleviate the above problem.
Rapid expelling of the gas staying in the measurement gas chamber is achieved by decreasing the degree of diffusion resistance of the diffusion resistor. This, however, results in a difficulty in producing a limiting current as well as a decrease in the output error of the A/F sensor element, thus decreasing the measurement accuracy of the A/F sensor element.
Usually, an exhaust gas emitted from automotive engines is subjected to a great change during operation of the engine. When the pressure of gas to be measured by the A/F sensor element varies, the decreased diffusion resistance may also result in instability (i.e., pulsation) of the sensor output arising from the variation in the gas.
The output error is eliminated by decreasing a rate at which the A/F sensor element is heated up so as to permit the gas to be discharged from the measurement gas chamber completely before the temperature of the A/F sensor element reaches a activation temperature thereof. This, however, results in a difficulty in activating the A/F sensor element quickly.
The above problems are also encountered by another type of gas sensors which are designed to introduce a gas to be measured into the measurement gas chamber through the diffusion resistor and required both to be activated quickly and to have high measurement accuracy.

Quickly activatable structure of gas sensor element


A process for identifying proteinaceous protoxins expressed by Bacillus thuringiensis genes is disclosed. According to the process, daughter toxins are first generated by subjecting a protoxin-containing material, such as parasporal crystals of Bacillus thuringiensis, to limited proteolysis with a proteolytic enzyme in an aqueous suspension having a pH above 9.5. The daughter toxins are then separated by high performance anion-exchange liquid chromatography at a constant pH in excess of 10 in an increasing gradient of a salt, preferably sodium chloride. The gradient conditions, which are specific for the column used, are achieved by employing a series of buffers having increasing concentration of the salt and introduced at a predetermined time and rate. The procedure provides a chromatogram showing clearly identifiable peaks of toxins and permits therefore the qualitative and quantitative characterization of the original mixture and isolation of the individual toxins. By this it provides means of screening and testing new Bacillus thuringiensis isolates, both single - and multigene, and monitoring the level of expression of known genes from a known strain. The digestion and isolation conditions permit the production of the toxins in a biologically fully active state.

The invention relates to the identification, quantitation and purification of insecticidal proteins from Bacillus thuringiensis, in particular from multigene strains of Bacillus thuringiensis.
Bacillus thuringiensis (hereinafter abbreviated Bt) is a gram-positive soil bacterium characterized by its ability to produce large crystalline parasporal inclusions during sporulation. These inclusions consist of proteins exhibiting a highly specific insecticidal activity (protoxins).
Many Bt strains with different insect host toxicity spectra have been identified. Numerous strains are active against larvae of certain members of the Lepidoptera (Bt strains active against over 100 species of lepidopterans have been identified to date), but strains showing toxicity against dipteran or coleopteran species are also known.
Bt parasporal inclusions have proven to be a valuable alternative to conventional insecticides. They are highly toxic to the target insects and harmless to the environment owing to their specificity. Other insect orders, animals and plants appear to be unaffected by the toxic crystal proteins. Various formulations of Bt have been used for more than two decades as biological insecticides to control pests in agriculture and forestry and, more recently, to control insect vectors of a variety of human and animal diseases.
Bt produces several types of toxins, the precise biochemical nature of which may vary from strain to strain. Some of them, in particular .alpha.- and .beta.-exotoxins, are toxic to a variety of insect orders or to many cell types. The parasporal crystal inclusion toxins (also called .delta.-endotoxins), which are proteins, have a more limited and specific host range. When consumed by a larva, Bt crystalline inclusions dissolve in the larval midgut and rapidly undergo proteolytical conversion into smaller toxic polypeptides (in the 23-80 kD molecular weight range) in the insect midgut. The produced toxin species interact with midgut epithelium cells of the host insect, generating pores in the cell membrane and disturbing the osmotic balance. The epithelium cells swell and lyse. The larva stops feeding and eventually dies. For several Bt toxins specific high-affinity binding sites have been demonstrated to exist on the midgut epithelium of susceptible insects, which could explain the extreme specificity of these toxins.
It has become clear in recent years that Bt is provided with a surprisingly large and variable family of insecticidal proteins. Data obtained using several experimental methods indicate that crystal protein genes in many subspecies of Bt that are toxic to lepidopterans are located on one or more large plasmids; in some subspecies, the gene may be located on the chromosome. The fact that the genes for the Bt protoxins are usually plasmid borne has made Bt a favourite candidate for genetic manipulations. This has resulted recently, among other things, in generating insect-resistant transgenic crop plants capable of expressing Bt crystal protein genes.
It has also become clear in recent years that many Bt strains contain several closely related genes coding for protoxins. For example Bt var. kurstaki NRD-12 strain is a three-gene strain. The presence of several such genes results in the production by a single Bt strain of several protoxins closely related by their amino acid sequences. Enzymatic action of proteolytic enzymes on such a mixture of protoxins, either in vitro or in the insect midgut, produces several toxins which may only differ by a few amino acid residues, which makes the obtained mixture of toxins difficult to separate. However, since these small differences frequently occur in key regions of the toxin sequence, they may result in significantly different toxicities towards a selected insect target. As the composition of the mixture of toxins produced by a multigene strain of Bt or the expression level of the individual toxins may vary with fermentation conditions, so may its relative toxicity to various insects, and, as a consequence, the host range of the multigene Bt strain. It becomes therefore important to monitor and quantitate different toxins present in endotoxin crystals, in order to optimize the production of the most wanted toxin from a multigene producer.
Various attempts to purify entomocidal toxins from .delta.-endotoxins of various strains of Bt are known from the prior art. The proposed methods typically include a digestion of crystalline inclusions of Bt with a proteolytic enzyme, such as trypsin, or insect digestive juices, followed by separation of the products of hydrolysis by various analytical procedures, such as electrophoresis, gel filtration and ion exchange chromatography. However, none of these methods demonstrated the ability to separate and purify closely related toxins obtained from a multigene strain of Bt.
Similarly, numerous methods of qualitative and quantitative characterization of Bt strains have been proposed. They involve, for example, the use of flagellar antibodies, probing for the genes with DNA probes or measuring the level of RNA production. These methods, although useful for characterization and classification purposes, are not satisfactory for quantitation of gene expression and monitoring the viability of a given strain or producing individual toxin standards for analyzing insecticidal activity, synergism, membrane studies or insect resistance.
More specifically in Fullmer, C. S. and Wasserman, R. H. Analytical Peptide Mapping by High Performance Liquid Chromatography. Application to intestinal calcium-binding proteins. J. Biol. Chem. 254, 7208-7212 (1979) a peptide mapping technique is described involving an exhaustive enzymatic digestion to provide a mixture of peptides. The analysis of the peptide mixture is carried out by reverse-phase HPLC, in association with an acid and an organic solvent.
In another reference, Yamamoto, T. Identification of Entomocidal Toxins of Bacillus thuringiensis by High Performance Liquid Chromatography. J. Gen. Microbiol. 129, 2595-2603 (1983), peptide mapping using the same Fullmer et al methodology is described. For example, see page 2601, line 5 under FIG. 4 where it is stated "A peak representing the proteinase resistant core could not be located". It is emphasized here that the use of organic solvent, either permanently reduces, or completely destroys, the biological activity of the toxins.
In a further reference, Yamamoto, T., Ehmann, A., Gonzalez, J. M. Jr. and Carlton, B. C. Expression of Three Genes Coding for 135-Kilodalton Entomocidal Proteins in Bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki. Current Microbiol. 17, 5-12 (1988), the same peptide mapping methodology is also followed. In this reference, the protoxin(s) is/are pre-purified, prior to trypsin hydrolysis. Following hydrolysis, the toxin mixture is denatured in urea and re-digested by trypsin for peptide mapping using reverse-phase HPLC (the peptides were solubilized in acid and eluted in acid/acetonitrile mixtures). As mentioned, above, this destroys the biological activity of the toxin. Unfortunately, the resultant peptide mapping, using single gene standards to interpret the results from multi-gene strains, failed to recognize the presence of the cryIA(c)[6.6] gene product in the strain kurstaki HD-1. This gene and its protein toxin is an important component, shown to be present by other researchers.
Further, in Hernstadt, C. and Wilcox E. Cloning and Expression of Bacillus thuringiensis Toxin gene Toxic to Beetles of the Order Coleoptera. U.S. Pat. No. 4,853,331 (1989) the cloning of a single gene and producing a single Bt protein by E. Coli host cells is described. The toxin is purified by affinity chromatography.
To the contrary, none of the aforementioned techniques will provide for the identification, quantitation and purification of protoxins, expressed by a Bt gene, while retaining the biological activity of the toxin. In fact, these references have a different purpose in mind, namely peptide mapping, wherein destruction of the biological activity of the toxin is irrelevant. However, in our invention, the biological activity of the toxin must remain substantially intact. Accordingly we cannot use the reverse-phase HPLC technique employed in these prior art techniques.

Isolation, quantitation and purification of insecticidal proteins from Bacillus thuringiensis

Her Majesty the Queen in right of Canada, as represented by the National Research Council of Canada


A kayak paddle for increasing paddle stroke efficiency and for improving comfort in paddle handling has a pronounced bent blade to length design of the paddle blade, as compared with prior paddle blades. The paddle has two blades, one blade secured at its top end to each end of a paddle shaft with a longitudinal axis. The bottom end of each blade extends forward of and above the longitudinal axis of the shaft, such that the chord line between the bottom end and top end of the blade intersects the longitudinal axis. The blade's length to radius of its arc is greater than 12 to 1. Through slots can be provided in the blades for stabilization and to minimize flutter. In addition, the paddle shaft is ergonomically shaped to fit the user's hand.

There has been a great deal of technological developments in the water sport/boating industry centered around the use of different and even exotic materials ranging from plastic to carbon graphite, in the manufacture of kayak paddles. However, little attention has been paid to the actual design of kayak paddles. The same basic paddle shaft and blade design continue to be manufactured and used by kayakers. Some attempts have been made to "sell" the public on the "bent shaft" design, and the recent "wing" blade design is recommended for "special use" by "advanced" kayakers (e.g., Olympic-level whitewater kayaking competition). However, limited effort has been expended in developing a more functionally engineered, ergonomic design of the shaft and the blade for the average and aging kayaker. There has been little done to advance the "touring paddle" design, so as to improve the efficiency of the basic paddle stroke for this class of user "touring" his or her kayak across a body of water. As a result, current kayak touring paddle designs have progressed little from the age old paddle configuration.