An apparatus for dispensing a liquid feed supplement to animals in measured quantity according to an established schedule within which both quantity dispensed and times when dispensed are user definable. Liquid feed is allowed to flow from a bulk storage vessel by lowering a transfer pipe a predetermined distance into the storage vessel, thereby allowing the liquid feed to gravity flow from the storage vessel to a feeding vessel. The control of dispensing time and the quantity of liquid feed dispensed is accomplished through the use of a microcomputer which can be programmed to enable the dispensing of liquid feed for two time periods in a 24-hour cycle.

1. Technical Field
This invention generally relates to an apparatus for controlling the feeding of liquid feed to livestock. More particularly, this invention relates to a portable programmable device for the feeding of liquid feed to livestock in controlled quantities and at controlled times.
2. Background Art
A common practice within the livestock industry, is to utilize liquid feed products to provide supplemental nutrients and feed additives to animals. These liquid feeds are manufactured by solubilizing or suspending a wide range of individual ingredients that contain specific nutrients and feed additives within a variety of liquid carriers, such as molasses, fermentation solubles, condensed whey, etc. These finished products are then fed to the animals. There is a wide variation in the application of these liquid feed products as they are fed to variable numbers within the feeding groups as well as various classes, weights and ages of animals. Frequently, it is inconvenient to combine the liquid feed with other feed ingredients prior to feeding, and consequently they must be provided to the animals as a separate ingredient and in a manner in which the animals have unlimited access to the liquid feed in an undiluted form. Unfortunately, it is oftentimes difficult to constrain the animals voluntary intake within a range which provides for maximum response to the nutrients and feed additives. Over feeding of nutrients and additives is wasteful and will adversely affect the return on the feeding investment. Also, animal health and mortality can be affected if the nutrients and feed additives are not provided at the prescribed rate. For this reason there are governmental regulations which specifically control the allowable levels or dose for some nutrients and feed additives. Furthermore, when these feed additives are provided on a basis where the animals are given unlimited access to a feed source in which the additives are included, the manufacturer must provide demonstrable evidence that the average twenty-four hour consumption for the group of animals being fed will provide the feed additive at a level which falls within the required dose range for that particular feed additive.
In addition to the need for regulating the quantity of liquid feed fed, it has also been demonstrated that the timing in which the nutrients and feed additives are provided has an effect on production. For example, it has been demonstrated that cattle grazing on pasture will consume more grass when supplemental feeds are not made available until the afternoon of each day. By consuming more grass, the animals have more energy to support production and this results in an increase in performance and average daily gain for each animal. In a like manner, it has been demonstrated that the death loss which can be associated with cattle grazing legume pasture in a rotational grazing system, can be reduced or eliminated if the cattle consume a liquid feed containing a feed additive which affects the surface tension of gas bubbles formed in the animal's rumen. The ability to control bloat in these applications is enhanced if the cattle consume this additive approximately one hour before they are moved to a new pasture containing the legumes.
It can be seen that there are a wide variety of liquid feed needs from one location to another and the needs change throughout the year. Therefore, there are a wide variety of formulations required to meet these needs and any feeding system must easily accommodate change in regards to quantities being fed, timing at which the liquid feed is made available and varying product composition.
The application of liquid feeds of the type previously described are most often accomplished in remote locations. More often than not, it is economically impractical to provide the labor required for daily hand feeding operations. Because of a lack of convenient access to an AC power source it is necessary to have feeding systems which require no power or which can be operated on a DC power source for long periods of time. The feeding system must also be readily portable as the animals are frequently moved from one confined feeding area to another.
Prior art solutions to the needs described above have generally relied on methods and devices directed towards affecting the quantities of liquid feed being voluntarily consumed as opposed to those directed towards controlling the amount actually dispensed and being made available for voluntary consumption. One common method has been to decrease voluntary intake of the liquid feed by lowering its relative palatability. An example of this approach would be the practice of incorporating increased levels of a specific ingredient such as salt within the liquid feed. This can affect the animals sense of taste in such a way as to sometimes lower the animals voluntary intake. Another method of reducing voluntary intake has been to provide a means for applying increased tension on a revolving lick wheel that is acting as a liquid feed pickup device. This increased tension will result in the animals requiring more time and effort to consume a specified quantity of liquid feed and this may also lower voluntary intake.
The prior art specifically describing liquid feed dispensing devices which can provide a means of controlling the quantity of liquid feed that is dispensed within a specified period of time to one or more animals is lacking. Typically the devices available can be best described as constant flow or constant level devices which allow the animals access to unlimited quantities of liquid feed or they may be designed to provide access to unlimited quantities of liquid feed during specified periods of time. Unlike the invention which we will describe these devices typically utilize a pressurized source of liquids, an AC powered electric control circuit and some type of automated control valve. Additional mechanical elements common to prior art but which also fall outside our invention are pumps, hydraulic cylinders, vacuum valves, air pressure valves, weighing systems, float valves, stopper plugs, metering valves, metering orifices and batch dumping cylinders.
More specifically, U.S. Pat. No. 3,347,212 to ANDERSON ET AL. discloses an apparatus for the feeding of liquid feed to livestock on a continuing output basis. This is accomplished by lowering a flexible hinged transfer tube through a vertical plane in a storage vessel containing liquid feed thereby allowing the liquid feed to gravity flow through the tube and into a liquid feed pickup device. It can then be accessed by the livestock through a lick ball. The device described by this patent utilizes a predicted rate of descent as a means of dispensing liquid feed on a constant flow basis. The rate of descent is controlled through the use of a battery assisted spring wound clockwork motor and integrated unwinding cable working in conjunction with a spool assembly fitted with multiple diameters the use of which allows for selecting differing rates of descent by the drop tube assembly. The element of time in the device described by this patent only has meaning in respect to affecting the rate of descent. As soon as automated feeding is initiated the control means will continue on a basis that is only manually interuptable and therefore the transfer tube will normally continue to drop through the fluid until it rests on the bottom of the supply vessel. Thus it can be seen that the quantity of liquid feed automatically dispensed is totally independent of the liquid feed actually consumed by the livestock during the total dispensing period. This period being the time required to allow the transfer tube to travel from the top of the liquid level to the bottom of the storage vessel. This system has a number of disadvantages as applied under practical feeding situations. The primary deficiency of this invention is that if the voluntary consumption is less than the projected rate the potential consumption is accumulated. This can continue to a point where the total remaining feed in the storage vessel is essentially all available. Therefore, there is no means of protecting the livestock against excessive consumption when there has been a period of time when consumption is less than projected in establishing the rate of decent. This is particularly a problem when the number of cattle placed in a particular feeding area are being changed from one day to the next. This is a common livestock management practice. Another disadvantage of the device described by this patent is that the use of controlled rate of descent as applied in a battery operated system results in a significant opportunity for error. A small difference in the total distance traveled by the transfer tube can make a significant difference in the total quantity of liquid feed dispensed. The effective voltage potential in a battery powered operation can vary significantly depending on the batteries remaining charge or the batteries effective ambient temperature . This drop in voltage output will produce a corresponding drop in revolutions and or a sporadic disfunctioning of the clockwork motor and thereby changes the effective distance of downward travel by the transfer tube. Furthermore, the opportunity for inaccuracy and the lack of an ability to time the feeding periods in a more specific manner give rise to the significant need for our invention.

Portable programmable liquid feed dispensing device


The performance of wireless devices is improved using methods and devices which comprise novel SPEED and NOISE metrics. The SPEED metric is generated from a mean value of a differential signal while the NOISE metric is generated from a variance value of a differential signal. The generation of both metrics assumes the use of a limited number of symbols used to generate the mean and variance values. One example of a signal used to generate the metrics comprises the 14 synchronization symbols which make up part of an IS-136 standard signal. The SPEED metric was discovered to comprise a value which is equal to the magnitude of the mean value of the differential signal while the NOISE metric was discovered to comprise a value which is approximately equal to twice the variance of noise in a received baseband signal, while at the same time being independent of the speed at which an object, such as a wireless device, moves. In the case where a Least Mean Square (xe2x80x9cLMSxe2x80x9d) method is used to estimate channel fading in a flat-faded channel, it was discovered that the logarithm of a ratio of the SPEED metric to the NOISE metric as plotted against optimum step sizes is a substantially linear relationship.

Anyone who has used a cellular telephone or another type of wireless device is familiar with the occasional xe2x80x9chiccupsxe2x80x9d which occur in the reception of voice, data or video information. Many of these are due to a loss of signal, others are due to increased bit error rates (abbreviated xe2x80x9cBERxe2x80x9d), which results in reduced voice quality or lower data throughputs. Generally, a wireless communication signal is transmitted to and from a moving object, such as a wireless device, to a fixed transceiver or the like through space. This space is known as the xe2x80x9cchannelxe2x80x9d through which the signal travels. One important measurement when it comes to the transmission of digital information through a channel is the BER of the channel. A channel which has a high BER is undesirable.
There exists a number of ways to minimize the BER of a channel. One way is to improve the way that a received signal is processed in order to extract original data embedded within an original, transmitted signal. That is, instead of changing the channel itself (which is many times impractical to do), the method used to generate the received signal from the transmitted signal may be improved. Many methods for generating a received signal from a transmitted signal rely on information related to the speed of the moving object and the amount of noise in the channel. For example, the object""s speed is related to a characteristic called xe2x80x9cchannel fadingxe2x80x9d. Some methods for generating a received signal involve estimating the affects of channel fading. It has been recognized that the BER of a channel can be reduced or minimized if a transceiver within a wireless device is provided with information about channel fading. In other words, if a transceiver is supplied with information which describes how errors were introduced into the signal by channel fading, then the transceiver can be adapted to correct these errors.
Because the speed of an object and the amount of noise in the channel affects a signal traveling through the channel it becomes important to estimate these affects. To date, there has been no easy way to estimate the speed of a wireless device or the noise in the channel from a received version of the signal.
Such estimates, if reliable, could be used to reduce the BER of a signal and thus improve the performance of wireless devices.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide for methods and devices for improving the performance of wireless devices.
It is also desirable to provide for methods and devices for improving the performance of wireless devices using information about an object""s speed and the amount of noise present in a transmission channel.
Other objectives, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
In accordance with the present invention there are provided methods and devices for improving the performance of a wireless device. As envisioned by the present inventor the present invention comprises methods and devices for generating a SPEED metric from a mean value of a differential signal and generating a NOISE metric from a variance value of the differential signal. One or both metrics may be generated in this manner provided the number of symbols used to generate the mean and variance values is a limited number of symbols.
Two examples of devices envisioned by the present invention are an arithmetic logic unit (xe2x80x9cALUxe2x80x9d) and a wireless device comprising an ALU.
In the novel methods and devices, the SPEED metric comprises a value which is: the square of the absolute value of the magnitude of the mean value of the differential signal; or the magnitude of the mean value of a differential signal; or the square root of the magnitude of the mean value of a differential signal.
The NOISE metric comprises the variance of the differential signal which is shown to be approximately equal to twice the variance of the noise in a received baseband signal while at the same time being independent of the speed at which an object, such as a wireless device, moves.
As envisioned by the present inventor, the novel methods and devices can be adapted to generate an optimum Least Mean Square (xe2x80x9cLMSxe2x80x9d) step size for use in channel estimates which bears a substantially linear relationship to a logarithm of a ratio of a SPEED metric to a NOISE metric.
The present invention and its advantages can be best understood with reference to the drawings, detailed description of the preferred embodiments and claims that follow.

Methods and devices for improving the performance of wireless devices using speed and noise metrics


A folding knife is disclosed. The folding knife includes a handle; a blade connected to the handle in a manner allowing movement of the blade between a closed position in which the blade extends along the handle and an open position in which the blade extends away from the handle; and a blade-assisting mechanism configured to apply a manually adjustable force to urge the blade towards the open position over at least a portion of the blade travel between the closed position and the open position.

Folding knives enjoy wide popularity, particularly among sportsmen, campers, hikers, and many others engaged in outdoor activities. Common elements to folding knives include a handle and a blade pivotally connected to an end of the handle so that the blade pivots with respect to the handle between an open position in which the blade is extended away from the handle and a closed position in which the blade is at least partially received within the handle. Many folding knives also include a blade-assisting mechanism that urges the blade towards the open position and/or closed position.
Examples of folding knives, including folding knives with blade-assisting mechanisms, may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 551,052; 552,928; 557,760; 600,442; 1,315,503; 1,319,532; 1,412,373; 1,440,793; 1,603,914; 1,701,027; 1,743,022; 1,864,011; 2,736,959; 5,293,690; 5,815,927; 5,822,866; 5,802,722; 5,819,414; 6,145,202; 6,308,420; 6,338,431; 6,378,214; 6,397,477; 6,651,344; and 6,732,436; and U.S. patent application Nos. 2003/0070299; 2004/0020058; and 2004/0158991, the entire disclosures of which are herein incorporated by reference for all purposes.

Adjustable blade-assisting mechanism for a folding knife


The present invention relates to various aspects of managing display of supplemental on-screen windows known as popup windows. In one embodiment, an exemplary method includes detecting a first window on a screen, determining whether the first window qualifies as a popup window, and if the first window qualifies as a popup window, searching for other windows on the screen that satisfy certain testing conditions and closing the first window without a user request upon failing to find any other window on the screen that satisfies the testing conditions.

Content retrieved over the Internet in response to a user request is usually presented in a primary window of the Internet browser, such as Internet Explorer® developed by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash. Some Internet content contains embedded instructions written in a script language, which cause opening of a new browser window without an additional user request.
Such a new browser window usually "pops up" in front of the primary window with the requested content, and is often referred to as a "popup" window. Usually, the size of a popup window is smaller than the size of a primary window and the number of interface elements displayed in a popup window is smaller than in a primary window to increase space available for content. For instance, some popup windows display only a window title, and not a menu bar, a toolbar and an address bar. Content displayed in a popup window is often optimized for a fixed size and is presented in a window having non-resizable borders.
A popup window may also be opened in response to a direct user input, such as a click on a link. In this case, the user input does not specify that a new window has to appear. Rather, a content provider causes a new window to open by embedding special instructions associated with a standard user action. A significant number of Web sites prefers to display new content in an additional window without an address bar, instead of replacing content in a primary window.
Popup windows may play a useful role, providing an additional means of delivering content outside of a primary window. Web sites may use popup windows to display advertisements or supplemental content such as navigation hints, subscription offers, input feedback, etc. However, many Internet users consider popup windows to be annoying distractions that decrease quality of their browsing experience. One of the main reasons for this is that popup windows make navigation more difficult: a user must manually close each popup window to avoid the accumulation of irrelevant windows on a desktop. As a result, a user has to spend at least twice as much effort to leave a site with a popup window than a site with no popup windows.
Different methods of an automatic control of popup windows have been developed to make the browsing process more convenient. For example, a script embedded in a main document may be used not only to open a popup window when a main document is loaded but also to close this popup window when the main document is unloaded or when the popup window is covered by another window. However, this approach does not keep a popup window visible while the user browses related documents stored on the same server. For instance, the main page of the news site may show a popup window with an offer to subscribe to premium content. If the user clicks on a content link, reviewing a sample of the premium content, the popup window will be automatically closed, and the user will have to return to the main page to see the subscription offer again. As a result, the site can loose the potential subscribers that do not return to the main page.
Closing a popup window when a main document is unloaded is especially inconvenient when combined with other popular methods of popup control, such as an opening of a popup window only if the same popup window has not already been opened during either the same browser session or within a pre-defined time. In the above example of the news site, the user may not see a subscription offer again if a corresponding popup window appears only once per session. As a result, the majority of web sites do not close their popup windows when unloading a main document, thus giving a user more time for accessing a popup window but making navigation more difficult.
Some Internet browsers, such as Netscape Navigator® developed by Netscape Corporation of Mountain View, Calif., support an automatic closing of a popup window when executing a user request to close a main window with a parent document. In this case, the popup window remains visible while the main window is open, even if the parent document is replaced with some new content. New content may, in turn, cause other popup windows to appear on the screen. If the user does not close each popup window manually, accumulated popup windows may clutter the desktop during navigation in the same main window.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,133,918 describes a solution in which a selection of a window on the desktop causes other windows to slide off the screen, instead of remaining in the background. Hidden windows may be recalled from their icons on the taskbar. However, if multiple popup windows appear during the same browsing session, their icons will clutter the taskbar even if the windows themselves are hidden, making the selection of useful items more difficult.
Some users are tolerant to the display of advertisements in popup windows, if such popup windows can be easily closed. Other users prefer popup advertisements not to be displayed at all, even if specified by the content provider. For instance, majority of the users do not want to see popup windows opened when main documents are unloaded (a technique used by some content providers that deliberately makes a content change more difficult).
To prevent unsolicited popup windows from appearing, users may install special applications known as popup blockers. For instance, a Pop-Up Stopper® Pro application, developed by Panicware Inc. of Seattle, Wash., enables a user to prevent all popup windows from opening. However, blocking all popup windows may significantly degrade the user experience on the sites that use popup windows to provide relevant content, references or input feedback. To mitigate this problem, Pop-Up Stopper® Pro and other similar applications allow users to specify a list of sites allowed to open popup windows, and reject popup windows initiated by a site that is not included in the list. A problem with such a "white list" implementation is that, unless a popup window is displayed, a user may not know whether it is useful enough to request its display in the future.
To give a user an option to see relevant popup windows, an alternative approach is provided, in which a user is presented with all popup windows except those that are contained in a "black list" or contain proscribed words in their content or title. In this case, the user is constantly required to teach an application which popup windows must be rejected. Stored black lists rapidly become obsolete with changes of domains and headers used by advertisers. In addition, rejecting a popup window based on its title or content may not provide a workable solution because a popup window has to be loaded on the user computer before its title or content becomes known. As a result, this approach decreases a useful bandwidth and may also present a security risk if popup content was retrieved as a result of redirection to an unknown server. In at least one known case, content retrieved after such redirection contained embedded instructions that placed unauthorized executable modules on users' computers, creating "back doors" to monitor user activities.

Method and apparatus for managing display of popup windows


The purpose of the present invention is to provide a method, whereby, in the dry fractionation of an oil or fat, a decrease in solid-liquid separation efficiency, said decrease being caused by the engulfment of a filtrate fraction into a crystal fraction after crystallization and press filtration, can be prevented and thus the crystal slurry can be efficiently separated after the crystallization. A method for the dry fractionation of an oil or fat, said method comprising, before or after crystallization, adding a definite amount of a filtration aid followed by mixing and then press-filtering the thus obtained crystal slurry. Thus, the crystal slurry can be easily separated into a crystal fraction with little engulfment of a liquid fraction and the liquid fraction.

A natural oil-and-fat, mixture of natural oils-and-fats, hydrogenated oil thereof or interesterified oil thereof is a mixture of various triglycerides having different melting point. An oil-and-fat is used for various applications, such as oil-and-fat for deep-frying, oil-and-fat for margarine/shortening, oil-and-fat for filling and oil-and-fat for chocolate, in accordance with physical properties thereof. As a processing technique for adjusting physical properties of an oil-and-fat, oil-and-fat fractionation such as dry fractionation and solvent fractionation has widely been put into practice use.
The above-described solvent fractionation has been traditionally used suitably for fractionation into a crystal fraction and a liquid fraction. However, it is necessary to use hexane or acetone, which is an organic solvent, in a large amount. In recent years, therefore, dry fractionation method which is simpler and higher-in-safety has been widely considered from the viewpoint of safety and relief.
The dry fractionation method is generally a method of cooling a raw material oil-and-fat, which has been completely molten by heating without using any solvent, with stirring in a crystallization tank, thereby precipitating a crystal (crystallization), and then separating the oil-and-fat into a crystal fraction and a filtrate (unsolidified low melting point fraction) by pressing and/or filtration. This method has been already and widely used for fractionation of palm kernel oil, butter oil, palm oil and the like.
The dry fractionation method is a more preferred method than the solvent fractionation also from the viewpoint of energy efficiency. However, as compared with the solvent fractionation, the dry fractionation method is lower in separation accuracy into a crystal fraction and a liquid fraction, and also has problems that the liquid fraction involved in the crystal fraction is not easily removed, and that the crystal slurry rises in viscosity so that the crystal is not easily separated by pressing or filtration when the amount of the crystal is too large after the crystallization.


The disclosure discloses a method for sharing audio and/or video. The method includes the steps that: a first terminal writes audio and/or video from an audio-video providing module into a cache space according to a play request of a second terminal, and transmits the audio and/or video stored in the cache space to the second terminal. The disclosure further discloses a system for sharing the audio and/or video. With the disclosure, a video conference of a mobile terminal can be displayed at a digital home network terminal in real time, so that the video content can be displayed through the digital terminal that does not support video conferences. Moreover, when a user gets home, a mobile phone terminal involved in the video conference can conveniently switch the images to a television terminal, thus not needing to be held by the user. Therefore, user experience is improved.

Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) is a cross-industry organization which consists of a plurality of companies leading consumer electronics industry, computer industry and mobile setting industry. The DLNA aims to share wired and wireless networks that are formed by indoor and outdoor interconnected consumer electronics, personal computers, mobile equipment and the like, thereby promoting the sharing of digital multimedia content and service. The DLNA devotes to launching an open industrial standard-based interconnection guideline to realize cross-industry digital convergence. The DLNA does not create a technology, but forms a solution and a standard which can be complied with. Therefore, various technologies and protocols selected by the DLNA are the technologies and the protocols which are applied very widely at present. The DLNA equipment must support a HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) serving as a basic transmission mode to transmit multimedia content, for which, in addition, a Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) can serve as an optional media transmission mode, but the HTTP as a mandatory requirement must be supported.
Streaming media refers to a media format played on the Internet by adopting a stream transmission mode. The streaming media is also called a streaming-type media, which refers to that a dealer sends out a program as a data packet to a network by using a video transmission server. After a user decompresses the data by decompression equipment, the program can be displayed. Three streaming media protocols, which are widely applied in current mobile internet, are an HTTP progressive download streaming media protocol, a Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP)/RTP-based real-time streaming media protocol stack, and a HTTP Live Streaming Protocol proposed by Apple Inc lately.
A video conference, which is also called a televised conference, a teleconference and the like, can transmit the information in the forms of moving images, audio and application data (electronic whiteboard and graphics) and the like between two points and among a plurality of points in real time. By the video conference, people can communicate more effectively, because visual communication is the most natural communication mode. Therefore, seeing can deepen the understanding and memory of people better than saying, particularly when the topic per se is a very figurative point of view, the video conference make the people in different places influence each other, no matter the distance between the people is 10 minutes' walk or 10 hours' airplane travel. The video conference can make people exchange ideas and exchange information as they are in the same room. This means that the people need not spend their working time in waiting E-mails, faxes or express.
By the DLNA, the terminal supporting the DLNA protocol can share pictures, videos, files and the like through the HTTP protocol conveniently. For example, the pictures on a mobile phone terminal are shared with a television for displaying. However, what shared by the DLNA is mainly the contents which have been stored in a digital terminal, while the media contents transmitted in a streaming mode cannot be shared by the DLNA at present.

Method and system for sharing audio and/or video


A modular integrated software and hardware suite can accept data exported from a voter registration database corresponding to requests for mail ballots, sort the data as necessary for ballot preparation, create a road map for ballot mailing preparation, provide for mail presorting, scan returned ballot envelopes using a ballot envelope scanner, and accept data from the scanner. The scanner uses a passive feed system, a separator brush, and a variable speed straight paper path to minimize jamming through the ballot envelope scanner. The scanner can work with a workstation application to interpret a barcode, store an image of the ballot envelope signature in association with a specific voter, print an endorsement on each verified ballot envelope, and store the endorsement with the signature image. The scanner can divert ballot envelopes with unrecognizable or unmatched barcodes to a separate tray for manual processing.

Vote by mail ballots are commonly used in elections as part of the absentee voting process. Typically voters who expect to be absent from their polling on election day, or expect to be unable to reach their polling place for other reasons may request to vote by mail. In addition, some jurisdictions permit, or even encourage, voters to vote by mail by establishing a permanent vote by mail status. Individuals who have requested to vote by mail are typically mailed a ballot in advance of the election. The voter will mark the ballot, insert it in a special return envelope, sign the outside of the envelope, and mail it back to a central location to be tallied.
Management of voting by mail is a complex, costly, and labor intensive process. Each voting jurisdiction prepares numerous ballot types for each election in order to present each voter with the particular subset of issues and candidates that are associated with that voter's particular state, county, city, school district, road district, party, or other categories. For each mail ballot requested, the individual must be identified as a registered voter by consulting the voter registration database to determine if the individual is a registered voter. Once an individual is identified as a registered voter, the voter must then be associated with, and sent, the correct ballot for that particular voter based on address, party affiliation, and other characteristics.
Isolated portions of this process are currently automated, such as printing mailing labels for mail ballots. Much of it, however, remains labor intensive manual work, including identifying absentee voter status and required ballot, affixing the labels to the envelopes, selecting and inserting and sealing the correct ballot in the envelope, and organizing the outgoing envelopes in trays for delivery to the post office. Because mail ballots are not necessarily requested and printed in the optimum order for mailing, voting jurisdictions currently cannot generally take advantage of reduced rates which are available for specially sorted mail.
Once the ballots have been mailed to absentee voters, a number of things may happen to the ballots. For the most part, the proper absentee voter will receive and cast one mail-in ballot. Occasionally a voter will misplace his or her first ballot, request a second one, and inadvertently mail back both. Similarly, a voter may request and mail back an absentee ballot, forget that he or she had done so, and vote at the polling place as well. In other instances individuals interested in stuffing the ballot box may deliberately request duplicate ballots or intercept, vote, and return absentee ballots that were not intended for them. Because not every returned ballot is eligible to be cast, once the ballot is marked and returned, the ballot envelope must be verified as associated with a unique registered voter who has not yet voted.
Currently when ballots return for counting they are either associated with a particular voter by visually checking the voter number and comparing it with the data in the voter registration database, or if the envelope contains a barcode it may be identified and associated with a particular voter by scanning the barcode with a hand held barcode reader. Attempts to automate this process have generally been unsuccessful because of the difficulties associated with automated scanning and processing of the envelopes. Even in a single voting jurisdiction, ballots may vary considerably in size because of precinct issues or candidates, creating return ballot envelopes of varying thicknesses. It has generally been impossible to automate the processing without requiring the user to specially sort the envelopes by thickness, and to make adjustments to the scanning hardware between processing stacks of returned ballot envelopes of different thicknesses. Even when manual presorting and hardware adjustment is done, currently existing technology does not permit the automated sorting of ballot envelopes into separate stacks of accepted and rejected ballot envelopes based automated verification that the envelope returned corresponds to one requested by an individual voting by mail. Even though there are mail sorting devices available for massive, relatively permanent sorting facilities, such large expensive immobile technology has not been adaptable for use in small occasional sorting operations such as required for processing ballot envelopes a few times a year.
Once the registered voter associated with a particular envelope has been identified, the voter's signature on the envelope must be compared with the voter's signature on file in order to ensure that the ballot was not inadvertently or deliberately cast by an individual other than the registered voter. Currently, this is done for each voter by visually comparing the signature on the ballot envelope either with a paper exemplar or an electronic one that may be selected manually and displayed on a computer screen.
Another difficulty arises when two ballot envelopes are apparently returned by the same voter. In the processes currently available, it is very difficult to track where an individual ballot envelope is stored once it has been identified as associated with a particular voter. In the event that a second apparently legitimate ballot envelope is returned by the same voter, or the voter appears at the polls to vote, election workers need to be able to retrieve the initial ballot envelope for review and resolution of the conflict. Under the current manual system, it is difficult to locate the previously received ballot once it has passed the initial review.
In addition, the mail ballot processing system comprises a series of isolated tasks. There is currently no integrated method of following the process from start to finish to ensure continuity, thoroughness, and timely completion.
Thus, there is a need for an integrated system for the management of vote by mail voting which reduces the labor and associated costs by interfacing with the existing voter registration database; automating the preparation, mailing, and return verification process; and by creating an integrated record of the absentee ballot from voter request to verified return.

Integrated vote by mail processing system


A surface-emitting laser includes reflectors. One of the reflectors has multiple layers including one or more high-refractive-index layers and one or more low-refractive-index layers which are alternately stacked. At least one of the low-refractive-index layers includes a first region containing aluminum oxide and a second region surrounding the first region. A boundary between the first and second regions is positioned within a region where laser light is emitted. The reflectance of the multilayer reflector is higher in a portion including the first region than in a portion including the second region.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to surface-emitting lasers and methods for producing the lasers.
2. Description of the Related Art
A vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) is a laser that emits laser light perpendicularly to the plane of its semiconductor substrate.
This type of surface-emitting laser generally includes a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR), typically formed by alternately stacking high-refractive-index layers and low-refractive-index layers with an optical thickness of λ/4.
Surface-emitting lasers have advantages over edge-emitting lasers in that they provide a stable single mode in terms of longitudinal-mode characteristics, have low thresholds, and can readily be produced as two-dimensional arrays. Surface-emitting lasers are expected to be applied to light sources for use in optical communication or transmission or in electrophotography.
An important challenge in surface-emitting lasers is to satisfactorily control the transverse mode of oscillation; a single transverse mode output is demanded for applications such as communication. To provide a single transverse mode, for example, a current confinement structure is formed in a surface-emitting laser by selective oxidation to limit the emission region of an active layer and a waveguide structure is simultaneously formed with the selectively oxidized portion.
In this method, the diameter of confinement must be reduced to achieve oscillation in a single transverse mode. A reduced diameter of confinement, however, results in a narrowed emission region, thus making it difficult to produce a high laser output.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-073823 (Patent Document 1), for example, proposes a surface-emitting laser that includes a multilayer reflector defining a resonator and having a higher reflectance in the center of the reflector and a lower reflectance in the periphery of the reflector. According to Patent Document 1, this surface-emitting laser can suppress oscillation in higher-order modes to achieve oscillation in a single transverse mode even for larger diameters of current confinement than normal after selective oxidation.
The surface-emitting laser disclosed in Patent Document 1 will now be described with reference to FIGS. 4A and 4B.
FIG. 4A shows a schematic structure of the surface-emitting laser as an example of the related art. The top of the laser has a mesa structure. A lower reflector 420, an active layer 430, a first upper reflector 440, and a second upper reflector 450 are sequentially formed on a substrate 410. An insulating film 460 and an electrode 470 are formed on the second upper reflector 450. The second upper reflector 450 includes an aluminum oxide region 452 formed by selective oxidation in the periphery thereof and an unoxidized region 451 in the center thereof.
FIG. 4B is a schematic enlarged view of the right half of the second upper reflector 450. The second upper reflector 450 is formed so that the aluminum content (x) of AlxGa1-xAs layers, functioning as low-refractive-index layers, increases gradually in a direction away from the active layer 430.
Next, a method for forming the first upper reflector 440 and the second upper reflector 450 will be described.
First, the high-refractive-index layers and low-refractive-index layers of the upper reflectors 440 and 450 are stacked on top of each other. The thickness t of each layer satisfies the condition t=λ/(4n), where λ is the laser oscillation wavelength and n is the refractive index of the individual layers.
The stacked films are then oxidized in the transverse direction by heat treatment in a steam atmosphere. The low-refractive-index layers of the second upper reflector 450 have such a composition that the aluminum content increases gradually in the direction away from the active layer 430. Because the oxidation rate increases with the aluminum content, the aluminum oxide region 452 is formed in the second upper reflector 450 such that the area of the region 452 increases in the direction away from the active layer 430, as shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B.
Because aluminum oxide has a lower refractive index than AlxGa1-xAs, namely, about 1.8, the condition satisfied before the oxidation, t=λ/(4n), is no longer satisfied after the oxidation. This results in a higher reflectance in the center of the second upper reflector 450 and a lower reflectance in the periphery of the reflector 450. According to Patent Document 1, the multilayer reflector with such a reflectance distribution suppresses oscillation in higher-order modes.
In the surface-emitting laser according to Patent Document 1, as described above, the aluminum-containing layers are selectively oxidized in the transverse direction to decrease the reflectance of the periphery of the layers.
In the transverse oxidation proposed in Patent Document 1, however, the oxidation rate increases rapidly as the oxidation approaches the center of the multilayer reflector. It is therefore difficult to terminate the oxidation reaction proceeding toward the center of the multilayer reflector in the transverse direction at a target position.

Surface-emitting laser and method for producing the same


An alignment device for adjusting the camber and caster angles of a wheel in an independent front suspension. The wheel is supported on a knuckle assembly which is pivotally connected to upper and lower control arms which are pivotally connected to the vehicle frame. The control arms include bushings received in control arm mounting cylinders which are located between mounting brackets extending from the vehicle frame. Mounting bracket holes at each end of the bushing bore are aligned and, after locating an alignment device eccentric boss at the bracket holes, a mounting bolt is placed through holes in the eccentric boss and through the bushing bore thereby pivotally securing the control arm mounting cylinder. The eccentric boss hole extends through and is axially offset from a circular portion which is received within the mounting bracket hole. Contact surfaces on the eccentric boss are selectively engaged for rotating the boss and circular portion which is guided within the mounting bracket hole, thereby causing the mounting bolt, bushing and control arm to selectively move in an eccentric path and thereby selectively adjusting the camber and caster angles of the wheel. A set screw is provided and extends through an adapter plate of the eccentric boss for selectively fixing the rotational orientation of the eccentric boss and, thus, the camber and caster angles of the wheel.

Independent front suspension assemblies are today very commonly used on vehicles such as automobiles and trucks. Typically, the independent front suspension assembly includes a knuckle assembly whereupon the front wheel is rotatably supported. The knuckle assembly is pivotally attached to upper and lower control arms so as to rotate vertical about a general axis. A steering rod is pivotally connected to the knuckle assembly for selectively turning the knuckle assembly and front wheel about the vertical axis and thereby steering the vehicle. The control arms are pivotally connected to the vehicle frame so as to pivot about generally horizontal axes thereby allowing the knuckle assembly and wheel to move vertically up and down. Suspension components such as shock absorbers and/or springs are connected to one or both of the control arms for resisting and dampening the vertical motion of the wheel.
The control arms are pivotally connected to the vehicle frame assembly using rubber bushings which are pivotally supported between mounting brackets attached to and extending from the vehicle frame assembly. More specifically, the upper and lower control arms are both provided with two mounting cylinders, each of which are adapted to receive a rubber bushing. The rubber bushings are provided with a central longitudinal bole for receiving a bolt therethrough. The mounting cylinders and bushings therein are located between respective mounting brackets placing the bushing longitudinal bore in alignment with mounting bracket holes at each end of the mounting cylinders. A bolt is provided and extends through the mounting bracket hole at one end of the cylinder, through the bushing longitudinal bore and the mounting bracket hole at the other end of the cylinder whereat a nut is threaded thereon for retaining the bolt thereat. The control arm thus pivots about an axis which is generally horizontal and collinear with its mounting cylinders and respective bushings and bolts.
As can be appreciated, the bracket holes locations serve to properly locate the knuckle assembly and wheel and set or otherwise affect the wheel camber and caster angles.
Unfortunately, due to manufacturing inconsistences the mounting holes in the bracket are not always located at the optimal location for achieving the correct camber and caster angles. In view of this and the potential need to adjust the camber and caster angles both initially and after the vehicle has been placed in operation, a need exists for a device capable of shifting or otherwise moving the control arm horizontal axis of rotation for effectively, efficiently and generally inexpensively adjusting the wheel camber and caster angles.

Independent front suspension eccentric alignment device


A system for coating removal comprises a frame having a platform extending within the frame. A plurality of heat lamps are mounted on the platform. The plurality of heat lamps are arranged to provide a heat density of at least 40 watts per square inch. A method of removing a coating is also disclosed.

Materials such as masonry, concrete, and metal may be used in the construction of buildings, bridges, and roads, for example. These and other structures may have coatings such as paint. It can be difficult to remove coatings from these structures without damaging the underlying material structurally and/or aesthetically. Some known coating removal systems utilize mechanical stripping, such as grinding or abrasive blasting off the coating. Other known systems utilize chemicals to remove coatings.


Various aspects are described for selectivity capturing cells or bioparticles on designated surfaces in dielectrophoretic systems and processes. A particular adhesive composition is described for enhancing cell retention. In addition, certain permeable polyester membranes used in the systems and processes are also described.

The integration of tools for manipulating and controlling cells within microfluidic systems has steadily grown due to various unique features that microscale technologies can provide in terms of fine control over cellular microenvironments, flow conditions, and precise cell positioning for specific cell-cell interactions. The combination of such tools with microsystems has enabled the study of cellular processes that otherwise would not have been possible. Among the tools currently available to position cells in precise locations on a substrate is dielectrophoresis (DEP), which is an electrokinetic technique that can trap particles (e.g. cells) based on polarizability differences between the particle and the media in which the particles are suspended when both are exposed to a non-uniform field. The use of DEP has been primarily limited to, short-term manipulation studies of cells or preparative methods to separate cells from complex mixtures. Few studies have demonstrated DEP trapping for long term cell experiments where cell function still remains days after the trapping is effected. Therefore, it is of paramount importance, when developing DEP devices for in vitro cell studies, to demonstrate that cell viability and cell function (e.g., proliferation, motility, differentiation) are maintained after the electrokinetic manipulation.
A typical design for using DEP to trap cells is the placement of DEP electrodes under a fluid flow in a microfluidic device. This arrangement allows for increased trapping of cells in a short time and the removal of untrapped cells from non-DEP parts of a substrate surface. A challenge to this design is retaining the trapped cells in a fluid flow field at the selected positions when the DEP forces are removed. In order to produce DEP forces capable of moving cells up the field gradient, known as positive DEP (pDEP), cells must be suspended in sucrose or other low conductivity media. As opposed to cells suspended in high conductivity media (e.g. cell growth media), pDEP conditions produce stronger traps, thus attracting more cells and holding them on the substrate while the DEP forces remain active. The difficulty with this arrangement occurs when the DEP forces are switched off and the fluid flow field dislodges the positioned cells. In order to maintain the cells in position one needs to have good control over flow so that cells may attach through their integrins or other adhesive proteins over a period of time. An alternative to controlling the flow by pumps and valve systems is to have a "sticky" surface to which cells will anchor to, immediately after DEP trapping is achieved. By taking advantage of the extracellular molecules around the cells, such as antibodies or glycoproteins, either specific or non-specific binding can be effected. In turn, this can produce cell attachment on the pretreated surface via antibody/antigen binding or electrostatic interactions. The latter approach has been investigated using polyelectrolyte multiple layers (PEMs) as the surface coating material and has been shown to work when anchoring cells for short term experiments. However, a more relevant material is needed for in vitro long term cell experiments not only to facilitate cell anchoring, but also to maintain cell proliferation and cell function.
The present inventors have demonstrated cell patterning using PEMs when seeded in cell culture medium as well as when trapped under DEP conditions. Cells trapped under DEP and PEM conditions showed that over 93% of the cells remained anchored on the PEMs after the electrodes were de-energized. However, further research has been conducted in an attempt to extend the use of this approach for long term cell experiments. The results obtained using PEMs and DEP conditions show deleterious effects on the cells 24 hours after DEP cell trapping (see FIGS. 1A and 1B). Specifically, referring to FIGS. 1A and 1B, P19 cells attached onto PEMs are shown under different conditions. FIG. 1A illustrates P19 cells 24 hours after DEP trapping in a microfluidic channel. Cells were anchored on PEMs while in sucrose media, and then the sucrose was replaced with cell growth media. The faint vertical lines in the center are the indium tin oxide (ITO) electrodes used for DEP trapping. FIG. 1B illustrates P19 cells 24 hours after seeded on PEMs in cell growth media. Note the difference between P19 cells poorly attached in FIG. 1A versus well-attached healthy cells shown in FIG. 1B. The scale bar in FIG. 1A is 100 μm. Therefore, an alternative to this approach is needed to achieve long term cell experiments using a "sticky" surface and DEP.
The precise positioning of cells is a key requirement when utilizing microfluidic systems, specifically when cells are needed to be in defined areas for their stimulation and study. A number of approaches have been introduced to manipulate or capture cells within microchannels. These approaches vary from mechanical traps and flow control, to optical and electronic techniques. Among the electronic techniques, dielectrophoresis (DEP) has gained much attention in the microfluidics community. This phenomenon was first described by Pohl in 1951. However, it was not until the last decade that the number of publications increased significantly for applications including biosensors, medical diagnostics, particle filtration, nanoassembly, and DNA manipulation. The main advantages that DEP offers for particle manipulation include label free entrapment, simplicity of instrumentation, favorable scaling effects, the ability to apply repulsive (negative DEP) and attractive (positive DEP) forces, and the lack of microfabricated obstacles that distort the flow within the channels. DEP coupled with lab-on-a-chip devices have demonstrated suitability for DEP-based cell applications such as separation by size, sorting, focusing, filtration, trapping, and patterning.
In general, DEP electrodes have been patterned on solid substrates such as glass slides and silicon wafers. However, few previous efforts have investigated patterning electrodes, for purposes other than DEP, onto permeable surfaces. For example, Duan and Meyerhoff showed that metallization of permeable membranes was possible and used patterned nylon membranes for sandwich enzyme immunoassays. Later, {hacek over (S)}vor{hacek over (c)}ik et al. characterized the sputtering process to metallize polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AS REPRESENTED BY THE SECRETARY OF COMMERCE, THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY


An electrical connection for the tie-up of a motor vehicle sliding door to a frame-fixed cabling (44) has an elastic and insulated conductor (10) which is arranged in a vehicle guide (12) which is fixed to the vehicle body and into which a follower (16) of the sliding door engages at which one end of the conductor (10) which is connectable to the door-side cabling (46) is fastened.

As a result of increased comfort requirements on motor vehicle sliding doors (electric central locking with theft securing function, electric child securing function, electric window winders, electric door closing aids, electric door lock opener drive and a tying in of the electric door systems into a BUS information system) a permanent electric tie-up of the motor vehicle sliding door to the electric system of the motor vehicle is necessary.
A tie-up of this kind is known in principle in the form of resilient door contacts, but the contact surfaces which are in contact with one another here can however easily become contaminated, through which system disturbances are caused, which are undesirable. Furthermore, the spring force and the number of door contacts which come into engagement on the last travelling path of the sliding door makes the closing of the sliding door more difficult. Finally, the increasing of the closure force through resilient door contacts in a motor driven sliding door makes the sensitive detection of an occurrence of a pinch by means of an electronic motor monitoring more difficult.


An apparatus and method for bonding a member to a substrate is disclosed. A surface of the member is prepared by applying an element to the surface. The element includes a dye agent that changes color when exposed to a level of plasma radiation consistent with preparing the surface for bonding. The surface is exposed to the plasma radiation and is inspected to see whether or not a change in a color of the dye agent occurs. After the dye agent changes color; the surface is bonded to the substrate.

The present invention is directed to bonding processes and, in particular, to monitoring a condition of a surface during a preparation stage of a bonding process.
Structural bonding of composites is currently being pursued as a replacement for conventional fasteners in assembly of aircraft and aircraft components. During a structural bonding process, surface preparation is performed to ensure that the bonding surfaces are free from oxides and are therefore receptive to adhesive materials. One method of surface preparation uses plasma discharge to atomically cleanse a bonding surface of oxygen. However, it is necessary to determine that the plasma discharge has sufficiently cleansed the bonding surface of oxygen prior to performing a structural bonding step.
Accordingly, it is desirable to inspect the surface to determine whether or not the surface has been sufficiently conditioned by plasma exposure before bonding.

Plasma detection tracers for process monitoring


A method of searching a collection of data that includes specifying a compound query having two or more search parameters; identifying data objects in the collection that match the search parameters; and providing results that include both an identification of matching data objects and an extent to which the objects match respective ones of the search parameters. The extent of match is shown by graphical bars having elongated segments of a unique color associated with each search parameter so that the user may visually appreciate the relevance of respective parameters in the compound query. A client device communicating with a server, receives an applet to effect the user interface. Each search parameter has an associated unique color and the user may specify a range of relevance desired in the results by altering the strength of any one of the search parameters. A computer-readable medium embodying program code and a corresponding apparatus are also disclosed.

This invention relates to data analysis, but more specifically to a method and system to search a database for relevant items of information, as well as an article of manufacture embodying computer program instructions enabling implementations of such a method and system.
As the quantity of data accessible via public and private networks increases, there becomes a greater need for efficient searching to identify and locate relevant items of information. Currently, most searching is performed using various forms of queries, content matching techniques, artificial intelligence, or other forms of data analysis to obtain targeted information sought by a user. Also, these systems enable a user to refine an initial query based on results fed back to the user.
Present-day query methods and systems, however, may not provide adequate feedback for compound queries, i.e., queries specifying two or more characteristics or search parameters (e.g., queries including Boolean combination of two or more keywords or phrases). Most present-day systems and method also lack overviews of results in a form that allows a user to identify and explore patterns that emerge during the search or analysis.
For a given compound query, a search engine such as Lycos online search tool returns a total number of matching data objects found and an ordered list of hyperlinks to matching data resources. The list typically starts with the closest matches followed by more distant matches. Each link is prefixed with an ordered sequence number. No indication, however, is provided as to the extent to which the identified link matches each of the terms in the compound query.
Similarly, given a multi-keyword query, another query engine provided by Delphion Research Intellectual Property Network Service returns a prioritized list of links to pieces of intellectual property (IP), where each link is followed by a percentage value indicating the closeness Delphion calculates the associated piece of IP (intellectual property) to be to a given set of keywords. Again, query engine does not provide the user with an indication of how close each item of IP is to each keyword in the compound query.
Google also returns an ordered list of links to matching data objects—ordered from the closest to the most distant, using its own metric for closeness. Google allows the user to have each link indicate which of the keywords occur its title. It does this by color-coding the query keywords, and then showing the color-coded keywords in the link titles. Thus, if the query were "(American apple pie)"—the query implicitly conjoins the keywords and Google highlights all instances of "American" with yellow, "apple" with blue, and "pie" with purple. This approach does not provide an accurate indication of the extent to which each link's data object matches the given query terms for at least two reasons. The first is that since "American" is longer than either "apple" or "pie," the color of the resulting page will be more yellow than either blue or purple. Thus, a given user obtains an incorrect indication that the matches very closely match "America."
Second, the words in a given link's title are not the only criteria to determine the link's position in the ordering (e.g., the data object's content is also used). For example, in the list of links returned by Google there is a link to an animation (www.markfiore.com/animation/looting.swf) concerning "American as apple pie" in which the link itself does not include any of the keywords. Here again, color-coding of the link title does not accurately reflect the extent to which the referenced data object matches the given query terms.
The Glass Engine (see http://www.philipglass.com/glassengine/# for details) provides an abstract graphical user interface (GUI) with which a user may explore musical works of composer Philip Glass. In addition to a detailed listing of the composer's works, the GUI provides an abstract graphical representation indicating the extent to which each work possesses one of five characteristics (specifically, joy, sorrow, intensity, density, and velocity). Upon selection of a particular musical work, the extent to which the selected work matches each of the five characteristics is shown abstractly and graphically using a bar-chart-like method. This provides an indication of how the selected work's extent of match compares with that of other works. The Glass Engine also allows users to specify match-extent ranges for each of the characteristics. So, for example, a user may specify a desire only to explore compositions whose intensity is in the low-to-high range and whose joy is in the medium (i.e., medium-to-medium) range.
Although the Glass Engine provides an indication of the extent to which data object (i.e., musical work by Philip Glass) match given characteristics: (1) a user cannot compare the matching level of two works side by side because the engine only displays the matching extent of a single work at a time; (2) the method does not provide an overview of the extent of match of multiple works at once, and (3) both the data objects and the characteristics are predefined, i.e., the user cannot add to either (e.g., no additional data objects, such as works by Bach; or characteristics, such as complexity).
Prior methods also exist that categorize the results of a given compound query and providing abstract graphic representations of results to end-users. After finding all data object matching a given compound query, Grokker (see www.grokker.com) automatically determines grouping of the objects into one or more categories. It then provides the user with an abstract graphical user interface through which the user may navigate these categories and their associated data objects. A system and method provided by U.S. patent application Publication US 2003/0225755 A1 is similar to Grokker, except that, rather than providing groupings of categorized data objects, it provides links to the data objects that indicate how closely each associated data object belongs to each of the automatically derived categories. In both cases, though, the user is not provided with any indication of how closely each discovered data object matches each of the compound query's search terms.
Query Previews (for details see Doan, K., Plaisant, C., and Shneiderman, B., "Query Previews in Networked Information Systems", Proc. of the Third Forum on Research and Technology Advances in Digital Libraries, ADL '96, Washington, D.C., May 13-15, 1996, IEEE CS Press, 120-129) provides a two-phase dynamic query method, designed to facilitate user's search while reducing the time spent awaiting data returns from the network. In a first phase—the Query Preview phase—users develop an initial query and obtain a graphic representation indicating the number of matching data objects without ever retrieving the full content of each of the objects. In this way, the user may adjust his or her query to avoid retrieving too many (e.g., thousands) or too few objects (e.g., zero). Once the user has developed a query with a reasonable number of matches, the user proceeds to a second phase, i.e., a Query Refinement phase, in which the user bases further query modifications on the content of the retrieved data objects. This method still does not provide any graphic representation indicating how each discovered data object matches each of the compound query's search terms.
History Flow (http://web.media.mit.edu/˜fviegas/papers/history_flow.pdf) is a GUI that provides a representation of wiki versioning over time. It is a collaborative surveillance tool that helps wiki participants monitor content changes of a wiki. It offers a method for community analysis by showing patterns of site revisions through the wiki's history.
In contrast, an embodiment of the present invention provides a GUI that enables a user to make compound queries and displays a visualization of query results that shows the extent to which the parts of the queries match the overall compound query. In addition, such visualization exhibits query returns over any data set, whether the Internet, an intranet, wikis, blogs, or any other data source. Also, visualization displays results organized according to a relevance of match as opposed to History Flow's organization according to time. Advantageously, the present invention enables a complex query as opposed to community surveillance.
TileBars (for details, see Marti Hearst, TileBars: Visualization of Term Distribution Information in Full Text Information Access, Proceedings of the ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), pp. 59-66, Denver, Colo., May 1995.) are similar in that they provide a visualization that helps users make judgments about the potential relevance of retrieved documents. TileBar querying allows multiple explicit search terms and visualizes them in such a way that shows what role the query terms played in the ranking retrieved documents. TileBars use text structure (document length, query term frequency and query term distribution) of the retrieved documents to build its visualization.
In view of the current state of the art, there remains a need for a system or method that takes a compound query, determines the matching data objects, and then provides not only access to the matching data objects, but also an indication of how closely each data object matches each of the compound query's search terms. There also remains a need for a system or method that provides an overview of all of the matching data objects, the overview providing indication of how closely each data object matches each of the compound query's search terms.
To address the needs of the art, one embodiment of the present invention provides an overview of the query results to indicate overall matches in a large data set. Such overview provides a visualization that orders results horizontally (rather than stacking them vertically) to provide a user with a more direct and swift visual comparison of the list of retrieved data objects. Further, visualization may also place retrieved data objects with similar matches next to each other to show overall patterns across the set of retrieved objects. Other embodiments of the invention allow iterative querying while in the midst of a query—easily signifying which terms are most important to a user by dragging a results indicator that corresponds with the term toward the middle thereby reordering the entire visualization according to shifting priorities.

Method, system, and article to specify compound query, displaying visual indication includes a series of graphical bars specify weight relevance, ordered segments of unique colors where each segment length indicative of the extent of match of each object with one of search parameters

International Business Machines Corporation


Described herein are compositions and methods for treating cancer of a body cavity, specifically urinary tract cancer, by way of a combination of at least two immunomodulatory agents, wherein one or more of the therapeutic agents are embedded in, and slowly released from, a biocompatible hydrogel composition.

Cancers are diseases of uncontrolled proliferation of abnormal cells. Urothelial carcinoma of the urinary bladder represents more than 90% of all bladder cancers, about 80% of which are non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC), a form of superficial cancer. Transurethral resection and radical cystectomy remain the mainstay of treatment for NMIBC and MIBC (muscle invasive bladder cancer), respectively. Intravesical therapy with mitomycin is a preferred adjuvant therapy to surgery aiming at reducing disease recurrence and progression. However, some cancers remain refractory to current biological and chemotherapeutic treatments.
Certain combinations of immunomodulating compositions have been proposed to simultaneously activate innate and adaptive immunity to target tumors. However, toxicity from systemic administration of certain treatments (e.g. CTLA-4 antagonist antibodies) has limited their systemic applications for such treatments. Moreover, despite some early promise, at least one report has indicated that the benefit of such combinations may be limited (see for example International Patent Publication WO2016/23960).
Some immune response modulators have a relatively short half-life in terms of residence time at a given body cavity. It is known that such modulators appear to be cleared or metabolized, or simply diffuse away from a body cavity. This short residence duration may reduce the immune checkpoint modulator's ability to activate some immune system cells at the desired site.
There is thus a substantial ongoing need for new means of controlling the delivery and the activity of immune checkpoint modulators in order to expand their uses and therapeutic benefits.

Immunomodulating treatments of body cavities


Methods and apparatus for assessing the condition of and treating patients for heart failure by the delivery of continuous positive airway pressure are disclosed. Treatment of obstruction due to reflex vocal cord closure often experienced by heart failure patients is distinguished from treatment of upper airway obstruction typically associated with Obstructive Sleep Disorder Treatment may also be implemented by delivering synchronized cardiac pressure oscillations superimposed on a respiratory pressure level to provide assistance for the heart. Heart treatment pressure dose indicator may be calculated for prescribing and monitoring the delivery of treatment. The apparatus may also generate data to track heart failure condition that may be indicative of the degree of severity of heart failure based upon breathing patterns to assist in the diagnosis and management of heart failure patients.

It has been estimated that in the United States alone that almost five million people suffer from congestive heart failure. Statistics from the American Heart Association also suggest that new cases of heart failure are diagnosed at a rate of about 500,000 each year. Of the newly diagnosed patients fifty percent are likely to die within five years from the initial diagnosis. Of course, these numbers do not account for the number of patients in other countries who also suffer from heart failure. Given these numbers, it is clear that congestive heart failure is a significant human crisis.
Heart failure is a condition that is characterized by a reduced ability of the heart to circulate blood through the body. Typically, an underlying disease, such as high blood pressure (e.g., hypertension), clogged arteries (e.g., coronary artery disease), heart defect (e.g., cardiomyopathy, or valvular heart disease) or some other problem (e.g., diabetes, hyperthyroidism, or alcohol abuse) will lead to a decrease in circulation over time. As the heart works less efficiently, its capacity to circulate blood decreases and the body's requirements for oxygen are not met. The cardiac muscle tends to enlarge as the heart works harder over time to compensate for the decrease in efficiency.
Heart failure may be identified by the phase of the heart cycle that is particularly associated with the nature of the circulatory problem. By this identification, two types of heart failure are known as systolic and diastolic. In systolic heart failure, the cardiac muscles' ability to contract decreases. This loss of contraction results in a decrease in the ability of the heart to force blood through the circulatory system of the body. In diastolic heart failure, the cardiac muscles' ability to relax diminishes. As the heart muscles become stiffer, the heart does not sufficiently fill with blood and thus each subsequent contraction circulates a lower volume of blood.
Alternatively, heart failure may be characterized by whether it stems from problems with the left or right side of the heart. Left-sided heart failure occurs when the left ventricle does not sufficiently pump oxygenated blood to the body. Right-sided heart failure occurs when the right ventricle does not pump adequately, which leads to fluid build-up in the veins.
Although the phrase "congestive heart failure" is often used to describe all types of heart failure including the above listed types, congestive heart failure is more accurately descriptive of a symptom of heart failure relating to pulmonary congestion or fluid buildup in the lungs. This congestion is more commonly a symptom of systolic and left-sided heart failure. As the efficiency of the pulmonary system declines, increased blood volume near the input side of the heart changes the pressure at the alveolar arterial interface, an interface between the lung capillaries and the alveolar space of the lungs. The change in pressure at the interface causes blood plasma to push out into the alveolar space in the lungs. Shortness of breath ("dyspnea") and general fatigue are typical perceived manifestations of congestive heart failure.
Congestive heart failure ("CHF") is currently classified by severity. Class I patients have no apparent symptoms and no physical activity limitations. Class II patients experience some symptoms during moderate to severe physical activity. Class III patients suffer symptoms at mild levels of physical activity. Class IV patients experience symptoms with any form of physical activity as well as at rest.
While the only cure to CHF is heart transplant, there are a number of drug and surgical treatments directed at reducing the underlying problem that led to the heart failure and/or to alleviate the symptoms of heart failure. For example, the use of diaretics is intended to reduce congestion by depleting the body of fluids. Vasodilators such as ACE inhibitors are used to expand blood vessels and reduce resistance to blood circulation. Beta blockers seek to reduce the work load on the heart by normalizing the rhythm of the heart. Cardiotonic drugs are directed at increasing the force of the heart's contractions. Surgical procedures include physical manipulation in an attempt to increase the internal size of constricted arteries, for example, by balloon angioplasty or stenting.
As previously noted, as a consequence of heart failure there is a decreased flow of oxygen in the circulatory system. This decease in oxygenated blood through the body has an impact on the body's respiratory controller. Thus, there appears to be a relationship between congestive heart failure and respiratory conditions known as Sleep Disordered Breathing ("SDB"). For example, it has been noted that 50-60% of heart failure patients have SDB. In this category of patients, approximately 29% may be classified as suffering from obstructive sleep apnea, a breathing condition associated with the cessation or limitation of airflow due to occlusion usually at the level of the tongue or soft palate. In addition, 33% of the patients may be classified as suffering from (a) Cheyne-Stokes respiration, a breathing condition characterized by waxing and waning breathing patterns or (b) central sleep apnea, a condition involving a cessation of airflow due to a cessation of patient respiratory effort. For those patients suffering from Cheyne-Stokes breathing, there is a greater degree of concern. These patients have a higher mortality rate then heart failure patients without Cheyne-Stokes breathing.
Sleep disordered breathing has long been treated by application of Continuous Positive Airway Pressure ("CPAP"). CPAP was invented by Sullivan and taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,944,310. That patent describes continuous positive airway pressure being applied to a patient, through the patient's nares, to treat breathing disorders, including obstructive sleep apnea. It has been found that the application of pressure which exceeds atmospheric pressure, typically in the range 4 to 15 centimeters of H2O, is useful in treatment. The pressure acts as a pneumatic splint to maintain upper airway patency to ensure free flow of air while the patient sleeps.
In one form, nasal CPAP treatment of Obstructive Sleep Apnea ("OSA") involves the use of an automated blower, such as the AUTOSET T™ device or AUTOSET SPIRIT™ available from ResMed Ltd., to provide a constant supply of air or breathable gas at pressures in the range of 4 to 20 cm H2O to the airway of a patient via a mask. Examples of suitable nasal CPAP masks are the MIRAGE™ nasal mask and the MIRAGE™ full face mask also available from ResMed Ltd. The AUTOSET T™ device continuously monitors the state of the patient's airway and determines an appropriate pressure to treat the patient, increasing it or decreasing it as necessary. Alternatively, bilevel pressures are delivered to the patient as in the VPAP II™ devices also available from ResMed Ltd. Some of the principles behind the operation of the AUTOSET T™ and VPAP II™ devices are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,704,345. The entire disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 5,704,345 is incorporated herein by reference.
One form of pressure treatment is delivered in accordance with a smooth pressure waveform template and a continuous phase variable to provide comfortable pressure support substantially in phase with the patient's respiratory cycle. The device is the subject of International Publication No. WO 98/12965. The device is also the subject of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/935,785, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,532,957, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
Another form of pressure treatment is directed at treatment of Cheyne-Stokes breathing. In a device designated AUTOSET CS™, also provided by ResMed Ltd., pressure support is varied in phase with patient respiration in such a manner to oppose the waxing and waning changes in patient respiration that characterize Cheyne-Stokes breathing. The device is the subject of International Publication No. WO 99/61088. The device is also the subject of a U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/316,432, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,532,959, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
At present, there are no known devices with features designed to treat a range of symptoms of heart failure patients through application of pressure as opposed to devices that might only incidentally provide such benefits. U.S. Pat. No. 5,794,615 teaches a device to provide a level of pressure support to reduce cardiac pre-load and after load. However, the device is only taught to provide one continuous level of pressure during inspiration and another level during expiration. The patent does not suggest the provision of a waveform of cardiac pressure oscillations in phase with a patient's cardiac rhythm, a feature of the present invention as described below. Moreover, the device provides no assistance directed to alleviating Cheyne-Stokes breathing or distinguishing between obstructions due to vocal cord reflex and obstructions from typical OSA due to collapse of the upper airway during sleep.
Any reference herein to known prior art does not, unless the contrary indication appears, constitute an admission that such prior art is commonly known by those skilled in the art to which the invention relates, at the priority date of this application.

Methods and apparatus for heart failure treatment


Disclosed is a housing for a portable handheld electronic device such as a cellphone. The device has a housing, having a left side and right side. The housing can be layered, such as in a sandwich configuration. The layers can be secured together via one or more fasteners that extend through at least front and rear plates of the housing.

The capability of handheld electronic devices continues to advance. For instance, cellphones have increased in capability and have now evolved into so-called smartphones. These mobile phones are built on a mobile computing platform, with more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a typical cellular phone. The first smartphones were devices that mainly combined the functions of a personal digital assistant (PDA) and a mobile phone or camera. Modern models of mobile phones and other handheld electronic devices incorporate the functions of portable media players, digital still and motion video cameras, GPS navigation units and additional electronic capabilities.
Today's smartphones typically also include high-resolution touchscreens, web browsers that can access and properly display standard web pages, and high-speed data access via Wi-Fi and mobile broadband links. Application programming interfaces (APIs) on smartphones allow third-party applications to better integrate with the phone's operating system and hardware, while cellphones more commonly run on proprietary firmware. A variety of operating systems power conventional smartphones, including Android™, iOS™ and Windows® Phone (Android™ is a trademark of Google Inc., iOS™ is a trademark of Cisco Systems used under license by Apple Inc., and Windows® is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation). The confluence of consumer electronic devices and capabilities continues. Such capabilities can also be found on tablets and other handheld devices not equipped with phone capability.
Despite the significant advances in hand held electronic devices, the physical form of these devices has seen little evolution. Most are shaped like a more or less smooth brick with increasingly smooth front, back and side surfaces. This configuration can easily slip from the hand of the user, and risk damaging the phone with potential loss of valuable data as well as hardware. Some aftermarket removable covers have been proposed, but such covers add bulk and weight and otherwise fail to provide an elegant solution.


Methods, devices and computer program products for performing predicate evaluation on a compressed variable length character string are disclosed. Aspects include determining upper and lower boundaries of a false positive range for a predicate, the false positive range for the predicate being a range in which a result of the predicate evaluation may lead to a false positive error. Aspects also include compression-encoding the upper and lower boundaries of the false positive range and performing a first comparison for comparing the compressed variable length character string with the compression-encoded upper and lower boundaries of the false positive range. Aspects further include determining a result of the predicate evaluation based on at least a result of the first comparison processing.

The present disclosure relates to a field of relational database, and in particular, to a method and device for performing predicate evaluation on compressed character string of variable length.
Recent study has shown when performing a query processing in a relational database, performance of the query processing can be greatly improved by performing predicate evaluation directly on compressed data stored in a database rather than decompressing the compressed data and then performing the predicate evaluation on decompressed data. The predicate sequentially including an argument with no function, expression or clause, an operational relation operator or a logical operator, a connection constant is usually called a simple predicate in the art, and called predicate for short. In the database language, the operational relation operators or logical operators can include "=", ">", ">=", "<", "<=", "NOT", "IN", "LIKE", "BETWEEN" or the like. Performing the predicate evaluation on data means determining whether the data satisfies the predicate, and if it does, the result of the predicate evaluation is true; otherwise the result is false.
The key for performing the predicate evaluation directly on the compressed data stored in the database is to keep order preserved in compression-encoding, that is, the order relationship of the compressed data should be consistent with that of the decompressed (original) data so as to ensure the result of the predicate evaluation correct. For example, assuming the predicate is 'age<10', the compression-encoded value 'encoded(age)' for 'age' which satisfies this predicate (for example, 1, 2, . . . , 9) should be smaller than the compression-encoded value 'encoded(10)' for the constant '10' in this predicate. These days, some compression-encoding schemes capable of well keeping the order preserved for the data types such as integer, decimal, double, fixed length character string and so on have been proposed in the art. As for the variable length character string, however, there is no favorable solution yet because there are two comparison semantics for the variable length character string in the relational database: trailing blank insensitive semantic and trailing blank sensitive semantic.
When comparing the variable length character strings in the trailing blank insensitive semantic, the character strings of different length will be compared after being padded with blank characters at lower bits to the same length, while in the trailing blank sensitive semantic, the character strings of different length will be compared directly in accordance with an alphabetical order. For example, for the following five variable length character strings represented by hexadecimal ASCII codes {x′31′, x′31 18′, x′31 20′, x′31 20 20′, x′31 32′ }, in the trailing blank insensitive semantic, they will respectively correspond to {x′31 20 20′, x′31 18 20′, x′31 20 20′, x′31 20 20′, x′ 31 32 20′ } after being padded with blank characters at the lower bits (the ASCII code of the blank character is 20) and thus are ordered as x′31 18′<x′31′=x′31 20′=x′31 20 20′<x′31 32′, while in the trailing blank sensitive semantic, these five variable length character strings will be ordered as x′31′<x′31 18′<x′31 20′<x′31 20 20′<x′31 32′. It can be seen that the variable length character strings will be ordered differently in the trailing blank insensitive semantic and the trailing blank sensitive semantic, and it is difficult to find a suitable compression-encoding manner capable of keeping the order preserved for both semantics.
An generally used existing solution for such a situation is employing a compression-encoding manner in which the order of the compression-encoded data is consistent with the order in the trailing blank sensitive semantic when performing compression-encoding on the original data. In this solution, the predicate can be evaluated directly on the compression-encoded data when performing predicate evaluation in accordance with the trailing blank sensitive semantic. However, if it is desired to perform the predicate evaluation in accordance with the trailing blank insensitive semantic, the compression-encoded data must be decompressed and then the predicate evaluation is performed on the decompressed data. It is obvious that such a solution does not support evaluating the predicate on the compression-encoded data in accordance with the trailing blank insensitive semantic and thus fails to take full advantages of the superior performance of performing the predicate evaluation directly on the compression-encoded data.

Performing predicate evaluation on compressed character string of variable length

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


The disclosure relates to an optical element configure to at least partial spatially resolve correction of a wavefront aberration of an optical system (e.g., a projection exposure apparatus for microlithography) to which optical radiation can be applied, as well as related systems and methods.

In modern projection objectives for microlithography, a multiplicity of wavefront manipulators are often used for correcting optical aberrations. Most of the manipulators can bring about a wavefront correction via mechanical manipulation of optical elements. This takes place either via position change and/or via a deformation of the optical elements. The manipulators often have correction properties for low-order wavefront aberrations such as typically occur when using the objectives in conjunction with so-called conventional settings and at a throughput of approximately 120 wafers/hour.


A gas turbine engine includes a combustor. A turbine section is in fluid communication with the combustor. The turbine section includes a first vane stage aft of the combustor. A seal assembly is disposed between the combustor and the first vane stage. The seal assembly includes a plurality of openings communicating cooling airflow into a gap between an aft end of the combustor and the first vane stage. A combustor assembly and method are also disclosed.

A gas turbine engine typically includes a fan section, a compressor section, a combustor section and a turbine section. Air entering the compressor section is compressed and delivered into the combustion section where it is mixed with fuel and ignited to generate a high-energy exhaust gas flow. The high-energy exhaust gas flow expands through the turbine section to drive the compressor and the fan section. The compressor section typically includes low and high pressure compressors, and the turbine section includes low and high pressure turbines.
An interface between the combustor exit and the first vane stage can experience elevated temperatures at localized areas near a leading edge of each vane. The interface between the combustor exit and the first vane stage includes a gap. Bow wave phenomena at the leading edge of each vane in combination with the gap can result in elevated temperatures within and near the gap at this location.
Turbine engine manufacturers continue to seek improvements to engine performance including improvements to thermal, transfer and propulsive efficiencies.


A hysteretic voltage regulator is disclosed comprising an inductor having a first end and a second end, wherein the second end is connected to an output capacitor in shunt with a load. A switch connects the first end of the inductor to a supply voltage when an output voltage across the load falls below a reference voltage, and disconnects the first end of the inductor from the supply voltage when a current flowing through the output capacitor rises above a reference current.

FIG. 1A shows a prior art output voltage controlled hysteretic voltage regulator comprising a transistor for connecting a load to a supply voltage Vs through an inductor L when the output voltage Vo falls below a first reference voltage Vref 1, and for disconnecting the output voltage Vo from the supply voltage Vs when the output voltage Vo exceeds a second reference voltage Vref2 higher than the first reference voltage Vref1. In the example of circuitry of FIG. 1A, an S/R flip-flop turns the transistor 2 on/off in response to the output voltage Vo. Because the feedback is based on the output voltage Vo, the prior art hysteretic voltage regulator of FIG. 1A may exhibit poor transient response if there is a sudden change in load current.
FIG. 1B shows a prior art inductor-current/output-voltage controlled hysteretic voltage regulator which helps address the poor transient response of the prior art regulator of FIG. 1A. With the prior art design of FIG. 1B, a current sensor 6 senses the inductor current 8. When the inductor current 8 falls below a second reference current Iref2, and the output voltage Vo falls below a reference voltage Vref, the S/R flip-flop 4 turns the transistor 2 on. When the inductor current 8 rises above a first reference current Iref1, the S/R flip-flop 4 turns the transistor 2 off. Although this design may improve the response to transients in the load current, it may also cause higher current ripple leading to inefficient operation. The current ripple increases because the inductor current 8 is forced to ramp from Iref1 to Iref2 and then back to Iref1 (or lower depending on the output voltage Vo).

Output capacitor current as feedback to control a hysteretic voltage regulator