A system for collaborative analysis from different processes on different data sources. The system uses a unique approach to lightweight temporary data structures in order to allow communication of interim results among processes, and construction of semantically appropriate reports. The data structures are generated in near real time and their lightweight nature supports massive scaling, including many diverse streaming inputs.

Vast amounts of information are increasingly available, in part because of the growing development of rich sensors and information gathering devices. A growing proportion of this information can be characterized as flows or streams. In order for this information to be useful, it needs to be interpreted. Many methods currently exist to extract useful information from a single flow of a single data type, but these methods do not successfully combine flows of different data types for situational evaluation in near real time and on a large scale.
Generally, a multiprocessor computing environment accomplishes tasks by utilizing connected multiple processors as computing elements. The connection can be by many means, ranging from discrete processing devices that are networked together to those that have processors more integrally connected within a single device. Often, the processors consist of diverse types, optimized for different functions. For example, some processors may be optimized for video feature extraction, while others may be optimized for general reasoning. These different processors may perform analysis and transformations on very different data types.
Multiprocessor systems divide the work of the system into tasks that each processor handles. Processors communicate with one another to determine the nature of the tasks, coordinate the execution of those tasks and synthesize the results. Situationally aware multiprocessor systems are multiprocessor systems that can adjust the processes that each processor executes, change the way that tasks are defined and assigned, and adjust the communication mechanisms based on the result of computations across processes. Such an in-process synthesized multiprocessor result characterizes a "situation" that guides future tasks.
Multiprocessor systems can include parallel processing, distributed processing and virtual machines. Processors can be single or grouped and can include processing units such as those found in computers, mobile devices, gaming consoles, video cameras, military sensors, medical sensors or other devices with computing elements or logical devices.
While situationally aware multiprocessor systems provide the advantage of dynamically adapting to new information, there are many drawbacks, disadvantages and deficiencies. Processing tasks can be generally divided into: (a) those that do the basic work, for example watching a video stream for a specific behavior; (b) those that communicate partial situated information (meaning information that is relevant to the task of a single processor but created by another processor); and (c) those that look at the big picture, coordinating the work. If not properly designed, the latter two processing task types in situated multiprocessor systems grow very quickly in computational cost. This limits the scale of the system and the speed with which combined results can be provided to a user.
In the field of information processing, there are methods for transforming information variously known as stream processing, event processing, complex event processing or event stream processing. These systems are designed to deal with continuous flows of information. Examples are sensors (or otherwise supplied streams of metrics) controlling a manufacturing operation or processing plant; monitors that watch financial markets; sensors used in a military intelligence environment; and systems that watch multiple television stations and read internet-conveyed feeds, extracting patterns of interest. These systems may use specialized processors or be hosted on conventional computers or multiprocessor systems, and may include different data types in their streams. Such stream processing systems can ingest many streams; they work by inserting processors in these streams producing possibly both discrete data and transformed streams.
Processors in such systems can interact with others producing discrete and continuous data about a complex situation. While these systems provide distinct advantage in handing streams and events, they generally cannot adapt quickly. The reason is the assignment of processors and tasks to streams is currently pre-programmed in a well defined manner that is largely constrained by the types of information they are programmed to handle. The difficulty of adapting to new situations is amplified in stream processors compared to general multiprocessor systems. In other words, these systems do not reprogram themselves based on local, unexpected situations in a significant, cost-effective and scalable way.
Teachings in the field of situated reasoning can be helpful in analyzing flows of information. The teachings in this field go by many names, including system engineering; reasoning in context, modal logic, non-monotonic reasoning, and situation theory. A fundamental idea is that considering the system or situation as a whole adds new knowledge to many of the constituent processes. The fundamental mechanism is that information flowing from each process can be combined into one or more situations, some of them relevant situations that can influence a given process. One example taken from military intelligence involves the following: one sensor reports rustling in trees, another a motor sound, a third source of information is a discrete report, and a fourth is a memo reporting a stolen tank. None of these by themselves would flag a threatening situation, especially if tanks traveling under a jungle canopy is unanticipated; together they can be fused to produce a likely conclusion.
In a dynamic stream processing system, the actual depth of a process can be adapted in real time based on the situated reasoning extracted from other processors. For example, the processor or processors associated with an airborne radar can have processing tasks adjusted to analyze in more depth and to add certain vehicle recognition algorithms.
There are several methods for reasoning about and designing logical systems for such situated reasoning. The most comprehensive is situation theory, a formal system of logic designed to address this generic problem. Situation theory provides formal tools that can be applied to situated reasoning systems. A problem is that there has been no practical implementation of situation theory in processing systems because proposed architectures carry too much logical overhead, among other things.
In the field of feature processing, a "feature" is a structured piece of information that has been extracted from a stream or data item and that has utility. A simple example of a feature is used in object recognition from video. In this example, a processor associated with a video camera looks at frames of its video comparing it to certain references with a goal of identifying a tank. In doing so, it will find characteristic visual patterns (as features) that indicate the possibility that the image includes a tank. That possibility can later be reported as a semantically expressed fact, possibly with an associated probability.
The general notion of feature abstraction is widely used in many computerized applications, under different names. (Common allied concepts are Kalman filtering, Bayesian inferencing and Markov chaining.) For example, in natural language recognition, a processor will seek certain grammatical and semantic structures than can be said to be features in this way.
One use of feature structures is in the creation of b-frames for video compression. When a video compressor finds a feature or feature structure that spans multiple frames of the video, and it seems to change from video frame to video frame in an ordered manner, then it can be identified with a data structure known as a b-frame, which is a single representation for all those frames in the compressed file. On decoding, the b-frame is uncompressed once, then placed with suitable distortion in the video frames. An example may be where a camera is stationary with mountains in the background and a car passes in the foreground. One b-frame may be formed of the mountain background which is compressed and saved once for the duration of the video, using component features characteristic of a mountain and representable by the compressor as mathematical functions. A second b-frame would encode the car, which is similarly encoded and stored once, but placed and distorted on the video frames differently for each video frame, also using mathematical functions to encode the placements and distortions. Thus, the b-frames in video compression are single representations that can be used in multiple video frames, with or without alteration by mathematical formulas across frames.
In video compression, features that are more important to comprehension have been identified by a motion picture experts group (MPEG). These are both the features that convey semantic meaning when interpreted by a viewer and that provide the basic mathematical structures for representation in the compressed stream.
Representations such as b-frames are very useful when applied to processor-specific stream processing because they can be scalably implemented, be extracted quickly and the abstraction can be flexibly defined. A difficulty is that existing approaches are strongly domain-specific. In the current art, there is no specified layer of abstraction that can unify something like b-frames across processes of the same type so that processes can share constructive semantics. Moreover, in the current art, there is a lack of a similarly defined abstraction layer that can allow b-frame constructed semantic exchange across diverse stream types (audio, video, text strings, MRI output, SAR feeds and so on) to support the associated interpretive processes.
In view of the foregoing, there also exists a need in the art for a scalable system capable of collaborative analysis from different processes on different data sources. To do so, the system should create lightweight temporary data structures in order to allow communication of interim results among processes, allow shared construction of relevant situations and allow construction of semantically appropriate reports to users. The data structures should support near real time analysis, allow growth to large scale systems and accept diverse streaming inputs.

System and method for scalable semantic stream processing


A system and method process a transaction between a merchant and a consumer at a point of sale (POS). Transaction information for the transaction is received from the consumer at the POS. The transaction information identifies an alternative payment option of an alternative payment provider to use for the transaction. A universal merchant platform (UMP) is requested to approve the transaction with the alternative payment provider of the identified alternative payment option. The request includes the received transaction information and is provided to the UMP according to a unified payment implementation. In response to approval of the transaction, an order identifier is received from the UMP. The order identifier uniquely identifies the transaction. The UMP is requested to authorize and/or capture funds for the transaction using a payment implementation specific to the alternative payment provider of the identified alternative payment option.

By way of background, Internet commerce, or e-commerce as it is otherwise known, relates to the buying and selling of products and services between consumers and merchants over the Internet or other like transactional exchanges of information. The convenience of shopping over the Internet has sparked considerable interest in e-commerce on behalf of both consumers and merchants. Internet sales, or like transactions, have been typically carried out using standard credit cards such as Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, or the like, or standard debit cards, i.e., check cards or automated teller machine (ATM) cards which directly access funds from an associated deposit account or other bank account.
While widely used for more traditional face-to-face transactions, use of these standard cards in connection with e-commerce presents certain difficulties, including difficulties concerning authentication or positive identification of the cardholder. These difficulties are evident in view of increasing reports of fraud and identity theft and have led to a deterioration of consumer confidence in the security of their personal information. The resulting apprehension has been further fueled by consumer uncertainty as to the reputation and integrity of a merchant with whom the consumer is dealing. Naturally, this poses a problem for merchants because the willingness of consumers to purchase goods or services electronically is inversely proportional to the apprehension they may have about the safety of their personal information.
In lieu of these difficulties, many merchants have turned to alternative payment providers, such as Paypal and Google, which offer the prospect of greater security for both merchants and consumers. Alternative payment providers further remove the merchants and the consumers from potential fraud and allow any fraudulently obtained funds to be more readily recovered. In essence, alternative payment providers provide another layer of protection against fraud. Consequently, it should come as no surprise that alternative payment providers have the perception of being more secure for online purchases than credit cards and debit cards.
However, each alternative payment provider has its own alternative payment implementation, with its own processing flow, message formats, response codes and communication protocols. While alternative payment providers often ensure participating merchants that fraudulent transactions and other charge backs, as they are known in the art, will not be the merchants' responsibility, this assurance is conditioned on the merchants properly implementing the alternative payment implementation. And, to the extent alternative payment implementations change, merchants are responsible for updating their system. Furthermore, typical integration with an alternative payment provider uses resources, i.e., computing power, memory, data storage capacity, etc., merchants would otherwise prefer to devote to other tasks. Often, the plug-in component can be extremely large and/or cumbersome to implement on a merchant's server. Thus, as should be apparent, there are considerable burdens placed upon merchants to properly implement the unique alternative payment implementations of each alternative payment provider. And, insofar as a merchant wishes to use several alternative payment options offered by a plurality of alternative payment providers, these burdens increase that much more.
Beyond Internet commerce, merchants often transact with consumers face-to-face at points of sale. Such face-to-face transactions typically relate to the buying and selling of goods and/or services between consumers and merchants or other like transactional exchanges of information. In processing face-to-face transactions, payment options are typically limited to standard credit cards or standard debit cards; consumers are not given the option to use alternative payment options. While alternative payment options offer greater security for both consumers and merchants, as well as greater flexibility than standard payment options, implementing standard payment options at the point of sale can be burdensome and challenging. As noted above, each alternative payment option has its own alternative payment implementation. Further, alternative payment implementations are typically designed for Internet commerce.
The present invention contemplates a new and improved system and/or method to overcome the above-referenced difficulties and others.

Alternative payment implementation for electronic retailers


Polyamides comprising at least one hydrophilic C1-C10 hydrocarbyl substituent on an amide nitrogen atom, and methods for producing and using the same is provided. In particular, polyamides of the formula:

The present invention relates to a composition for modifying the mobility of DNA in a sieving or non-sieving matrix, and to methods of using the composition for determining the sequence of a target polynucleotide.
Miniaturized electrophoresis systems have the potential to substantially increase the speed and throughput of automated DNA sequencing while reducing the overall cost per base. Current miniaturized electrophoresis systems, in particular capillary electrophoresis, continue to rely upon the use of viscous polymer solutions as xe2x80x9cgelsxe2x80x9d that provide a physical separation of DNA fragments according to chain length.
Unfortunately, gel-based methods for DNA sequencing have a maximum read lengths of about 1000 bases, with a typical read length being at most about 550 to about 650 bases. Since engineered DNA polymerases can produce more than 2500 bases of sequence per Sanger sequencing reaction, even optimized sequencing gels essentially xe2x80x9chidexe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9closexe2x80x9d about 1500 bases of information per reaction. Moreover, the replacement of viscous polymer gels from chip microchannels is difficult, if not impossible, thus preventing the use of automated chip-based gel electrophoresis systems for multiple, consecutive DNA sequencing analysis.
In addition to the above-described read-length limitations of gel electrophoresis, there is another drawback to the use of gels that makes them particularly inconvenient for capillary and microchip geometries. A reusable sequencing chip or capillary array must allow gels to be replaced before each run to eliminate sample carry-over and avoid irreproducibilities and current failures that may result from chemical- and/or field-induced gel breakdown. Unfortunately, no replaceable, high-performance sequencing gel appropriate for the microchannels on CE chips is currently available. And since sequencing gels cannot be replaced from chip microchannels, each chip is essentially a single-use device, an outcome that will greatly increase associated operating costs and decrease the convenience of miniaturized DNA sequencers.
Moreover, the sequencing gels used in experimental microchips currently are typically polymerized in situ, which typically yields low-performance gels because acrylamides generally do not polymerize to high molecular weights or yield greater than 85% conversion, i.e., polymerization, in a confined microchannel. While extremely xe2x80x9clargexe2x80x9d channels may be fabricated onto the chip (e.g., 100 xcexcm widexc3x9790 xcexcm deep), which allows viscous gels to be forced into the channels under pressure, these large channels, however, result in broadened DNA bands and/or reduced separation efficiency.
Therefore, there is a need for a method for electrophoretic DNA sequencing that does not demand the use of high-viscosity physical gels or cross-linked chemical gels. There is also a need for novel sequencing technologies that will substantially increase the speed and throughput of automated sequencing instruments while reducing the overall cost per base.
The present invention provides a compound and methods for using the same in electrophoretic separation of binding polymers. In particular, the present invention provides a polyamide compound comprising at least one hydrophilic C1-C10 hydrocarbyl substituent on an amide nitrogen atom and methods for using the polyamide in electrophoretic separation of binding polymers in a non-sieving liquid medium.
One aspect of present invention provides a polyamide of the formula:
where
L1 is selected from the group consisting of H, amide protecting groups and moieties of the formula:
each X is independently an amino acid side-chain residue or of the formula xe2x80x94CH2SL2 or xe2x80x94(CH2)3NL3R4;
each L2 is independently a thiol protecting group or a moiety of the formula:
each L3 is independently H, an amine protecting group, an xcex1, xcex2-unsaturated carbonyl moiety or a conjugate moiety of the formula:
provided at most one and only one L3 is the conjugate moiety;
each L4 is independently H, amide protecting groups or the moiety of the formula:
each R is independently xe2x80x94CH2xe2x80x94 or
each R1 is independently H, a protecting group or C1-C10 hydrocarbyl;
each of R2 and R3 are independently H, C1-C6 alkyl, or an amide protecting group;
each R4 is independently H, an amine protecting group, or C1-C6 alkyl, provided at least one of L3 or R4 on the same nitrogen atom is not H;
each R5 is independently C1-C10 alkylene;
aaal is the polynucleotide moiety;
p1 is H, C1-C6 alkyl or an amine protecting group;
a is an integer from 1 to 200;
each b is independently an integer from 1 to 200;
c is an integer from 1 to 10;
d is an integer from 1 to 50; and
each e is independently an integer from 1 to 200.
Preferably, for polyamide of formula I, at least one R1 is hydrophilic C1-C10 hydrocarbyl.
Another aspect of the present invention provides a polyamide of the formula:
where
each R10 is independently H or a carboxylic acid protecting group;
each R11 is independently H, a protecting group or C1-C10 hydrocarbyl;
q is an integer from 1 to 1,200; and
each Q1 is independently an amino acid side-chain residue or a derivative thereof, provided at least one Q1 is an amino acid side-chain residue derivative of the formula:
each of the moiety xe2x80x94Q3xe2x80x94X1xe2x80x94is an amino acid side-chain residue having xe2x80x94X1H functional group;
each X1 is independently O, S or NP2;
L is a linker comprising C1-C6 alkylene with carbonyl groups on both of the terminal groups; and
each of L1, L2, L3, L4, P1, R, R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, X, a, b, c, d, and e is independently those described above.
Another embodiment of the present invention provides a polyamide-polynucleotide primer conjugate and method for determining the nucleotide sequence of a target nucleic acid which comprises the steps of:
(a) annealing a polyamide-polynucleotide primer conjugate to the target nucleic acid, wherein the polyamide moiety comprises at least one hydrophilic C1-C10 hydrocarbyl substituent on an amide nitrogen atom;
(b) extending the primer with a nucleic acid polymerase in the presence of nucleoside triphosphate precursors and at least one chain terminating nucleotide, thereby forming conjugated nucleic acid fragments;
(c) separating the conjugated nucleic acid fragments by electrophoresis in a non-sieving matrix; and
(d) determining the nucleotide sequence of the target nucleic acid by the separated nucleic acid fragments.
Preferably, the polyamide-polynucleotide primer conjugate comprises a thioether linkage between a polyamide moiety and a polynucleotide moiety. Preferably, the polyamide-polynucleotide primer conjugate is a polypeptoid-polynucleotide primer conjugate of formula I or polypeptide-polynucleotide primer conjugate of formula II above comprising at least one L3 where one and only one L3 is the conjugate moiety of the formula:
where aaal is the polynucleotide moiety, wherein the hydroxy group of the terminal 5xe2x80x2-position of the polynucleotide moiety has been replaced with a thiol group to form the thioether linkage between the polyamide moiety and the polynucleotide moiety.
Another embodiment of the present invention provides a method for producing a polyamide of the formula:
comprising contacting a nucleophilic compound of the formula:
with an xcex1, xcex2-unsaturated carbonyl of the formula:
under conditions sufficient to produce the polyamide III, where
L5 is a moiety of the formula:
L6 is a moiety of the formula:
Y1 is S or NP2;
each P2 is independently H, C1-C6 alkyl or an amine protecting group;
each R13 is C1-C6 alkylene;
m is an integer from 1 to 200;
n is an integer from 1 to 200;
x is an integer from 0 to 200;
y is an integer from 0 to 10;
z is an integer from 0 to 50;
s is an integer from 0 to 200;
t is an integer from 0 to 10;
u is an integer from 0 to 50; and
each of L2, L3, L4, P1, R, R1, R2, R3, R4, X, and e is independently those described above.
Still another embodiment of the present invention provides a method for producing a polyamide of the formula:
comprising contacting a polypeptide of the formula:
with a polypeptide of the formula:
under conditions sufficient to produce polyamide VI, where
L7 is a moiety of the formula xe2x80x94C(xe2x95x90O)xe2x80x94R12xe2x80x94C(xe2x95x90O)OM;
M is H or a metal;
each q1 is independently an integer from 0 to about 40;
each q2 is independently an integer from 1 to about 40;
each q3 is independently an integer from 0 to about 40;
q4 is an integer from 1 to about 50;
L is as described above, preferably a moiety of the formula xe2x80x94C(xe2x95x90O)xe2x80x94R12xe2x80x94C(xe2x95x90O)xe2x80x94;
R12 is C1-C6 alkylene; and
each of L1, L2, L3, L4, P1, Q1, the moiety xe2x80x94Q3xe2x80x94X1xe2x80x94, R, R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R10, R11, X, X1, a, b, c, d, and e is independently those described above.
Still yet another embodiment of the present invention provides a method for forming a bond between a fused silica surface and a polyamide comprising:
(a) contacting the surface of said fused silica with an oxidizing agent to form an oxidized surface comprising a hydroxy group;
(b) silanizing the oxidized surface of the fused silica with a silanizing agent to form a silanized surface;
(c) contacting the silanized surface with a linking reagent to form a surface having silanized linker; and
(d) contacting the silanized linker with the polyamide to form a covalent bond between the silanized linker and the polyamide.
In one particular aspect of bond formation between the fused silica surface and the polyamide, the polyamide is a polypeptoid of the formula:
which forms the covalent bond between the fused silica and the functional group X, where
each of P1, R1, R2 and R3 is independently those described above;
X is as described above, preferably xe2x80x94CH2SH or xe2x80x94(CH2)3NHR2; and
w is an integer from 1 to 200.
In another aspect of bond formation between the fused silica surface and the polyamide, the polyamide is a polypeptide of formula II above provided the polypeptide comprises at least one X which forms the covalent bond between the fused silica and the functional group X.

Abstract: and methods for using the same for altering the ratio of charge/translational frictional drag of binding polymers to allow electrophoretic separation of polynucleotides or analogs thereof in a non-sieving liquid medium is provided, where a, q, L1, P1, Q1, R, R1, R10 and R11 are those described herein.


Apparatuses, methods, and program products are disclosed for controlling appliances. One apparatus includes a processor, and a memory that stores code executable by the processor. The code is executable by the processor to receive control data from an application. The control data corresponds to multiple appliance types. The code is executable by the processor to control a first appliance type of the multiple appliance types as a direct result of receiving the control data. The code is executable by the processor to control a second appliance type of the multiple appliance types as a direct result of receiving the control data.

Description of the Related Art
Information handling devices, such as desktop computers, laptop computers, tablet computers, smart phones, optical head-mounted display units, smart watches, televisions, streaming devices, etc., are ubiquitous in society. These information handling devices may be used for multiple purposes. For example, information handling devices may be used to communicate with other devices.

Apparatus, method, and program product for controlling appliances


A method of modeling an aquatic environment or locating an acoustic source in the aquatic environment. A range-dependent medium is approximated in terms of a series of range-independent regions and obtaining single-scattering solutions across the vertical interfaces between regions. One or more acoustic waves are propagated from a known acoustic source through the range-dependent medium to one or more known seismoacoustic receivers to model iteratively the various solid and liquid layers of the range-dependent medium. Alternatively, one or more acoustic waves are reverse-propagated from one or more known seismoacoustic receivers through the range-dependent medium to determine whether an acoustic source is present within a user-defined range.

Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to method of using seismoacoustic sensing data, and in particular to method of using seismoacoustic sensing data to either locate an acoustic source or to determine the composition of an aquatic environment.
Description of the Related Art
Bodies of water, e.g., oceans, lakes, and rivers, include layers of fluids and solids. Examples of fluid layers include salt water, brackish water, and freshwater. Examples of solid (or elastic) layers include an ice layer on the surface of the body of water, a sandy or sedimentary layer at the bottom of the body of water, and a rock layer under the sandy or sedimentary layer. The layers often have sloping interfaces over a horizontal range. For acoustic waves traveling through such bodies of water, the fluid layers propagate compressional waves, and the solid layers propagate compressional waves and shear waves.
Because of their complex composition, such bodies of water do not behave like a range-independent acoustic waveguide with perfectly reflecting boundaries. Accordingly, solutions to seismoacoustic problems in bodies of water have herein lore been inaccurate or impossible.

Method of using a parabolic equation model for range-dependent seismo-acoustic problems

The United States of America, as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


A technology solution for remediating a cyberattack risk in a computing resource asset in a network system. The technology solution includes monitoring data traffic directed to the computing resource asset in the network system along with data traffic to one or more additional computing resource assets in the network system, generating network utilization data based on the monitored data traffic to the computing resource asset and the monitored data traffic to the one or more additional computing resource assets in the network system, receiving a common vulnerability score (CVSS) for a vulnerability in the computing resource asset, determining a network traffic adjustment (NTA) value for the common vulnerability score (CVSS) based on the network utilization data, adjusting the common vulnerability score (CVSS) by the network traffic adjustment (NTA) value to generate a prioritized common vulnerability score (PCVSS) for the computing resource asset, and remediating the computing resource asset to resolve the vulnerability based on the prioritized common vulnerability (PCVSS) score.

A cybersecurity flaw is often referred to in the industry as a vulnerability, and it is defined in the ISO/IEC 27002 information security standard as "a weakness of an asset or group of assets that can be exploited by one or more threats." The ISO/IEC 27002 standard is published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), A computing resource asset can include any device that has an Internet Protocol (IP) address, including, for example, a router, a switch, a server, a printer, a scanner, a computing device, a communicating device, or the like. A system that is commonly employed to identify and assess principal characteristics of vulnerabilities in computing resource assets is the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS), which was the result of research carried out by the National Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIAC).
The CVSS is a free and open industry standard for assessing the severity of computer system security vulnerabilities. CVSS produces and assigns numerical scores to vulnerabilities in computing resource assets. Scores are typically between 0 and 10, with 10 being representative of the most severe vulnerabilities. Its quantitative model ensures repeatable accurate measurement while enabling visibility into the underlying vulnerability characteristics that were used to generate the scores. These scores can be used to calculate the risks associated with the vulnerabilities, as well as to prioritize remediation efforts. However, when the number of detected vulnerabilities is high, the CVSS scores can be ambiguous and may not reflect the true risks associated with the vulnerabilities. Therefore, there exists an unfulfilled need for a technology solution for detecting, identifying, accurately assessing vulnerabilities and remediating the vulnerabilities in computing resource assets or groups of computing resource assets based on a reclassification and reprioritization of the vulnerabilities. The present disclosure addresses this and other needs.

Cybersecurity vulnerability classification and remediation based on network utilization


An antenna structure and a communication device are provided. The antenna structure includes a first base substrate, a second base substrate, a dielectric layer disposed between the first base substrate and the second base substrate, and a plurality of first electrodes disposed on a side of the first base substrate close to the dielectric layer and being spaced apart from another. The antenna structure further includes at least one first buffer block disposed between the first electrodes and the first base substrate, the first buffer block is at least partially and directly contacted with the first electrodes.

With continuous development of the communication technology, an antenna has gradually developed toward a technology direction of miniaturization, wide-band, multi-band, and high-gain. Compared with a traditional horn antenna, a spiral antenna, and an array antenna, a liquid crystal antenna is an antenna that is more suitable for a current technology development direction.
Generally, a liquid crystal antenna includes an emission patch, a ground electrode, and liquid crystals disposed between the emission patch and the ground electrode. When a specific frequency electromagnetic wave flows into the liquid crystal antenna, upon the specific frequency coinciding with the resonant frequency of the liquid crystal antenna, the electromagnetic wave with the specific frequency can radiate outward through the liquid crystal antenna, and upon the specific frequency being not coincident with the resonant frequency of the liquid crystal antenna, the electromagnetic wave with the specific frequency cannot radiate outward through the liquid crystal antenna. And because a change in orientation of the liquid crystals may cause a different effective dielectric constant, resulting in a change in capacitance, an orientation of the liquid crystals between the emission patch and the ground electrode can be adjusted by the voltage applied to the emission patch, so as to adjust the resonant frequency of the liquid crystals can be adjusted.

Antenna structure and communication device


Compositions and methods for controlled polymerization and/or oligomerization of silane (and optionally cyclosilane) compounds, including those of the general formulae SinH2n and SinH2n+2, as well as halosilanes and arylsilanes, to produce soluble polysilanes, polygermanes and/or polysilagermanes having low levels of carbon and metal contaminants, high molecular weights, low volatility, high purity, high solubility and/or high viscosity. The polysilanes, polygermanes and/or polysilagermanes are useful as a precursor to silicon- and/or germanium-containing conductor, semiconductor and dielectric films.

Perhydropolysilanes have been studied and pursued as materials for making semiconductor films in electronics using coating and printing technologies. Different methods have been developed to make different perhydropolysilanes, such as dehydrocoupling of arylsilanes with subsequent conversion to perhydropolysilanes and polymerizing perhydrosilane monomers. There is a tremendous advantage to using oligosilanes or polysilanes for printed electronics applications, as these compositions can be formulated into inks that may be useful in a variety of solution deposition techniques to form low cost, high performance silicon devices. However, possible monomers in the polymerization of silanes (such as cyclopentasilane, Si5H10) to form polysilanes are not commercially available, difficult to make (especially at large scale) and hence expensive, time-consuming and/or inefficient to produce.
Hence, there is a need for catalysts and catalytic reaction processes that can convert commercially available (hydro)silanes to polysilanes economically, easily, in high yield, and high purity. Furthermore, many commercially available silane precursors may have carbon-containing groups (e.g., alkyl, aryl, etc.), which can result in unacceptably high levels of carbon impurities in films formed from inks containing polysilanes from such silane precursors. Also, oligo- and polysilanes may be prepared using metal based catalysts that may contaminate the desired product and/or require relatively lengthy or inefficient purification steps to remove metal impurities. Processes for producing electronically useful polysilanes that can utilize commercially available starting materials are desired.

Methods of polymerizing silanes and cyclosilanes using N-heterocyclic carbenes, metal complexes having N-heterocyclic carbene ligands, and lanthanide compounds


An endoscope including a bending operation apparatus including a bending operation mechanism section and a bending portion braking mechanism section in an operation section, the bending operation mechanism section includes a bending lever, a first bearing member transmitting a force of the lever, and a cylindrical member rotated with an operation of the lever, and the bending portion braking mechanism section includes a bending state keeping lever, a braking shaft body transmitting a force of the lever, a second bearing member pivotally supporting the braking shaft body, a rotation pressing member rotating around an axis of the second bearing member, and having inclined projection portions, a slide pressing member having inclined projection portions opposed to the projection portions, a friction member abutting on the cylindrical member, a regulation member regulating a gap where the friction member is disposed, and positioning members regulating a braking force of the friction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an endoscope that includes a bending portion braking mechanism section which keeps a bending state of a bending portion which is bent, in a bending operation mechanism section which bends the bending portion.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, endoscopes which are capable of performing observation and various kinds of treatments by inserting elongated insertion portions into bodies have been used. In the endoscopes, some endoscopes include bending portions in insertion portions for the purpose of performing observation by directing observation optical systems contained in distal end portions of the insertion portions to the directions of objects, or for the purpose of facilitating insertion into sites to be examined.
A bending portion includes, for example, a bending portion set configured in such a manner that a plurality of bending pieces are connectively provided rotatably to be bent in two vertical directions or four vertical and lateral directions. Distal ends of bending wires corresponding to the respective bending directions are fixed to a most distal end bending piece of the bending portion set.
According to a configuration, for example, a surgeon pulls a desired bending wire via a bending operation apparatus, and thereby can bend the bending portion in a desired direction. An operation section that is also used as a grasping portion is included at a proximal end side of the insertion portion of an endoscope. A bending operation apparatus is provided in the operation section.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-160791 shows an endoscope in which a vertical bending operation lever and a lateral bending operation lever are respectively pivotally supported at both left and right side surfaces of an operation section main body that configures an operation section. In the endoscope, finger rest portions of the respective operation levers extend to a top surface side region of the operation section, and the respective finger rest portions are disposed laterally side by side above the operation section main body.
Further, in the endoscope, a bending lock lever as a bending portion braking mechanism section for keeping a bending state of the bending portion is pivotally supported at both left and right side surface regions of the operation section main body. A finger rest portion of the bending lock lever is disposed on a bottom surface side of the operation section main body which is a region where a forefinger of a grasping hand is naturally located when a surgeon grasps a grip portion with one hand.
Accordingly, the surgeon can properly perform an operation of the vertical bending operation lever which is placed at the operation section main body, an operation of the lateral bending operation lever, or an operation of the bending lock lever with one hand which grasps the operation section.
The bending portion braking mechanism section of the endoscope is configured by including a bending lock lever, a shaft body, a braking regulating plate, a first cam, a second cam, and a friction member. The shaft body is configured to rotate integrally with the bending lock lever. The braking regulating plate is made of a resin with slippage taken into consideration. The first cam is configured by a metal disk which rotates with rotation of the shaft body, and includes a mountain-shaped braking projection portion. The second cam is configured by a metal disk which is disposed without rotating, and includes a mountain-shaped braking projection portion. The friction member is made of a resin, and is moved and pressed against a pulley by the braking projection of the first cam and the braking projection of the second cam being overlaid on each other.
In the bending portion braking mechanism section, a projecting amount of a regulating screw which supports the braking regulating plate is changed, whereby regulation of the braking force of the bending portion braking mechanism section can be performed.
In the endoscopes of recent years, the kind and the amount of the components contained in the endoscopes which are inserted into the insertion portions have increased with high functionality. Therefore, bending force amounts at a time of bending the bending portions become large, and fixing force amounts for keeping the bending states of the bending portions become large.


Systems and methods are provided for managing database updates in an environment in which data parity is to be maintained between multiple databases. Notifications regarding database events, such as data update operations that occur in a particular database, may be generated so that other databases and systems can perform corresponding data update operations. The notifications may be generated, consumed, and acted upon asynchronously with respect to each other. Such asynchronous propagation of database events provides improved performance and increased reliability over synchronous propagation.

Computing devices can utilize communication networks to exchange data. Companies and organizations operate computer networks that interconnect a number of computing devices to support operations or to provide services to third parties. Data centers may include a number of interconnected computing systems to provide computing resources to internal and/or external users. In a common implementation, a data center provides data storage services configured to store data submitted by client devices, and enable retrieval of that data over a network. For example, users may interact with network resources, such as web pages, mobile applications, and the like to create, read, update, and/or delete data stored by the data storage services.

Asynchronous propagation of database events


A simulation method and system based on a distributive processing model is used for training and educating healthcare teams. The system allows team members to be at the training facility or located remotely and connected via data communication links. The system allows multiple participants for individual team member roles at various connected simulation workstations. If simulation participants cannot man all the team roles, the system can provide virtual team members in their stead. The simulation server computer delivers to each workstation the particular programs and outputs required for any given simulation exercise.

This invention relates to the field of simulations for medical training, and more particularly, to a distributive processing method and system for training healthcare teams.
Healthcare education leaders have seen the need for simulation systems that efficiently train, evaluate, and enhance individual medical practitioner""s skills to improve patient outcomes. In a recent survey, 73 of the 124 US medical schools are using some form of computer simulation for student evaluation. The development of simulation and training centers for the cognitive training of healthcare professionals in the practice of interventional medical procedures represents a significant advance in being able to promote the best demonstrated practices in the use of existing and new products and procedures. The introduction rate of new therapeutic devices and procedures is accelerating such that the lifecycle of a new product can be as short as eighteen months. At the same time the American College of Cardiology (xe2x80x9cACCxe2x80x9d) reports that 50% of the 10,000 interventional cardiologists do not meet the minimum standards for procedure competency. Current training methodology cannot address these problems. The answer is broad access to cognitive training and education on an industry wide universal platform that the present invention provides.

Distributive processing simulation method and system for training healthcare teams


The invention relates to the use of polyaspartic acids and their mixtures with surfactants and emulsifiers for inhibiting or delaying deposit formation by sparingly soluble organic and inorganic components in the feed of a process that uses a membrane.

This application is a 371 of International Application PCT/EP97/06065, filed on Nov. 3, 1997.
The invention relates to the use of polyaspartic acids and their mixtures with surfactants and emulsifiers for inhibiting or delaying deposit formation by sparingly soluble organic and inorganic components in the feed of membrane processes.
Membrane technology plays an important role in the separation of fluidized systems. Obtaining drinking water from sea water by means of reverse osmosis as well as the breaking up of products by means of ultrafiltration and nanofiltration are now among the established processes in industry.
In membrane processes, as a rule dilute solutions are concentrated and organic solvents, water or salt solutions are separated off. Either valuable substances or pollutants in concentrated and possibly low-salt solutions are obtained, with the result that subsequent storage, transport, disposal and further processing can be carried out more economically. In the case of wastewater treatment, the aim of membrane treatment is to obtain the major part of the volume as permeate in an uncontaminated or only slightly contaminated form, for example for reuse. The concentrated retentate can be worked up at relatively low cost for valuable substances still present or can be disposed of more economically in this concentrated form, for example by incineration.
The area of membrane processes includes very different processes. The membranes and their technical designs, the modules, also differ correspondingly. Commercial membranes are produced, for example, from organic materials, such as polysulphone, cellulose acetate, polyamide or PVDF, or inorganic materials, such as TiO.sub.2, ZrO.sub.2 or Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 ; they are used in the form of capillary, tubular or flat membranes.
Industrially relevant membrane separation processes are predominantly operated as crossflow filtrations. High wall shear stresses, realized by high flow velocities and special module constructions, are intended to minimize or inhibit soiling of the membrane. In general, however, a decrease in the permeate output due to fouling or the accumulation of material on the membrane, is nevertheless found during the concentration of feedstreams in industrial membrane processes.
Scaling, the encrustation of the membrane by inorganic salts as a result of exceeding their solubility limit, is a special case of fouling. The calcium and magnesium carbonates, hydroxides, phosphates, sulphates and fluorides due to the hardness of the water may be primarily mentioned here as inorganic salts. In wastewater treatment, heavy metal hydroxides, such as, for example, iron and chromium hydroxides, constitute an additional problem. Scaling is always to be expected if high permeate yields are strived for in a process, such as, for example, in wastewater concentration and the recovery of pure water and drinking water. However, this phenomenon can of course also occur in desalination and concentration of product solutions. Membrane processes considered here are ultra- and nanofiltration, reverse osmosis, dialysis and perevaporation.
Fouling and scaling as a special instance of fouling result in the permeate output of a membrane plant finally decreasing to an uneconomically low level. From time to time, the feedstream must therefore be shut off and the membrane cleaned. However, such a cleaning process has several disadvantages. Cleaning means interrupting operation. Continuous operation can thus be maintained only by keeping a parallel membrane apparatus in reserve. Furthermore, depending on the type of deposits, it is necessary to use chemical cleaning agents which frequently contain poorly biodegradable surfactants and complexing agents and have to be disposed of separately. Finally, the entire deposit is in general not removed during cleaning and the membranes therefore seldom achieve their original permeate flow when they are used again.
If in a process scaling is expected, pretreatment measures, for example, by the use of ion exchangers which are known from the field of water softening, can be taken to inhibit said scaling. Furthermore, the controlled introduction of solids particles in the seeding and fluidized-bed technique permits physical control of membrane encrustation in the case of certain scalant and module systems (Chem.-Ing.-Tech. 59 (1987) 187). Hydroxide deposits can often be avoided by establishing suitable pH values. Furthermore, there has been no lack of attempts to add complexing agents, such as NTA and EDTA, to the feedstream to be processed. In addition to the not uncontested disadvantageous ecotoxicological properties, the complexing agents must be added in equimolar amounts. In contrast to the complexing agents, dispersants, so-called threshold inhibitors, can be effectively used in substoichiometric amounts for inhibiting or delaying fouling and scaling in membrane processes.
In Desalination 54, 263-76 (1985), cited in Chem. Abstracts, 104, 56 102, polyphosphates, phosphonates, polystyrenesulphonates, polyacrylamides and polyacrylates are investigated with regard to the scale-inhibiting action. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,256,303 the inhibition of calcium sulphate crystallization and of deposition in feedstreams which are passed through a membrane system is investigated. N-substituted polyacrylamides and phosphonobutane-1,2,4-tricarboxylic acid are used as scale inhibitors. A method for inhibiting the crystallization of sulphates in aqueous systems is described in EP 0 705 794. One or more polyamino acids and one or more inorganic phosphates are used but have to be disposed of by a complicated procedure because of eutrophication in waters from the main outfall. The preparation of high molecular weight polyaspartic copolymers, which can likewise be used as scale inhibitors in various industrial and hygiene areas, is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,286,810; reverse osmosis membranes, too, are mentioned, without specific details. Mixtures of polyaspartic acids and their derivatives with other polycarboxylic acids and their use in water treatment are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,525,257. Polyacrylates, polymaleates and polysulphonates are mentioned as polycarboxylic acids; here too, reverse osmosis is mentioned without further information. According to U.S. Pat. No. 5,466,760, copolymers of polysuccinimide from maleic acid, ammonia and a polyamine are used as inhibitors of salt deposits. EP-B 530 358 (=U.S. Pat. No. 5,373,086) describes a special polyaspartic acid composition which is obtained by heating pulverulent L-aspartic acid to at least 188.degree. C. and condensation, further heating to at least 216.degree. C. until at least 80% of the polysuccinimide formation has taken place and subsequent hydrolysis of the polysuccinimide, is present to an extent of over 50% in the .beta.-form and has a molecular weight of 1000 to 5000 (weight average), which is used for inhibiting precipitation of CaCO.sub.3 or Ca.sub.3 (PO.sub.4).sub.2. This special polyaspartic acid is said to be capable of being used in a wide industrial area from process water treatment to oil production; reverse osmosis is also mentioned in passing, without further information.
In summary, it can therefore be said that, according to the prior art to date, phosphonates and polyacrylates were used for scale inhibition in membrane processes. Polyaspartic acids are mentioned in numerous publications as useful scale inhibitors. However, there were to date no results which demonstrate the usability of polyaspartic acids in membrane processes. It is known to a person skilled in the art that effective scale inhibition always depends on the total system, i.e. all components and conditions involved. Particularly in membrane processes, many interfering chemical and physical factors are present which make it unlikely that a scale inhibitor investigated with a good result in another field of use will also be effective precisely in membrane processes.

Inhibition and delay of deposit formation in membrane processes


The present disclosure provides a driving circuit, a method for controlling light emission, and a display device. The driving circuit includes one or more light emission shift registers, each of which includes a first processing module configured to control a signal at a first node based on signals at the input signal terminal, the first clock signal terminal and the second clock signal terminal; a second processing module including first and second transistors, wherein the first transistor is a dual-gate transistor, and the second transistor has a first terminal electrically connected to the pulse signal terminal and a second terminal electrically connected to the second node; and an output module configured to control a signal at an output signal terminal based on the signals at the first level signal terminal, the second level signal terminal, the first node and the second node.

Generally, a display device includes a plurality of sub-pixels disposed inside the display panel and a light emission driving circuit that drives light emission of the sub-pixels. The light emission driving circuit generally includes a plurality of cascaded light emission shift registers. In the related art, each stage of light emission shift register needs to be provided with two output terminals, one output terminal is connected to a light emission control line located within a display area, and the other output terminal is connected to an input signal terminal of a next stage of light emission shift register. As a result, the structure of the light emission shift register is complicated and the circuit stability is poor.

Driving circuit, method for controlling light emission and display device


A sealing system for sealing a shaft located under water includes a bush mountable on the shaft and fixed to the shaft, a housing fixed with respect to the bush and surrounding a first portion of the bush, a lubricant chamber and an air chamber in the housing and open to the bush, the lubricant chamber being sealed with respect to the air chamber by a seal ring, a mechanical seal outside the housing and surrounding a second portion of the bush, an air supply line and an air discharge line connected to the air chamber, and a quantity of lubricating oil in the lubricant chamber, the lubricating oil being in fluid communication with a lubricant tank via at least one oil line, wherein an air pressure in the air chamber is greater than an oil pressure in the lubricant chamber.

Conventional sealing systems for sealing a propeller shaft in watercraft have a bush placeable onto the shaft and connectable to the shaft such that they rotate together, which bush is enclosed by a housing fixed with respect to the bush. At least one lubricant chamber open to the bush and one air chamber open to the bush is formed in the housing. The chambers are sealed with respect to each other via a seal ring. In addition, a propeller-adjacent mechanical seal encompassing the bush is provided. Via a supply line and a discharge line a continuous air stream is guided through the air chamber and thus also through the annular chamber. The lubricant chamber is associated with a continuous grease-lubricating of the at least one seal ring. However, the grease-lubricating has the disadvantage that in the event of a grease ingress into the air chamber the air lines can be blocked, with the result that they must be regularly rinsed in an expensive manner. In addition, grease is not the optimal lubricant and coolant for the seal ring preferably comprised of an elastomer, with the result that the grease-lubricating negatively impacts its service life and in particular its loadability. Due to the continuous air stream, salts and minerals that can reach into the air chamber in the event of a water ingress, are also excreted, which can also lead to a blocking of the air lines.


A printed circuit board includes a ground layer, a power source layer, a signal wiring layer, an insulating layer and an electromagnetic radiation suppressing member. The power source layer is provided to be opposed to the ground layer. The signal wiring layer transmits a signal in a predetermined frequency domain. The insulating layer insulates the ground layer, the power source layer and the signal wiring layer from one another. The electromagnetic radiation suppressing member is provided to cover a circumferential edge of the insulating layer. The electromagnetic radiation suppressing member has a negative dielectric constant and a positive magnetic permeability in a frequency domain including the predetermined frequency domain.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a printed circuit board.
2. Related Art
In recent years, unwanted radiation of electromagnetic waves (electromagnetic radiation) has become a problem in various kinds of electronic equipment. It has been known that electromagnetic radiation is chiefly caused not by a signal line but a power source system, that is, caused by electric resonance between a power source layer and a ground layer in a printed circuit board. For example, when a multi-layer printed circuit board has a power source layer and a ground layer which are quadrilateral, the printed circuit board serves as a parallel plate resonator to generate a natural resonance frequency (standing wave) between the power source layer and the ground layer.


Disclosed are compositions and methods for enhancing the antibody and T cell response to cellular antigens by incorporating an immunopotentiating agent into the cellular membrane or into an intracellular compartment. Such adjuvant-incorporated cell compositions are useful in methods to increase immune responses against antigens, including immunologically cryptic tumor cell antigens, and may be employed to generate useful diagnostic antibodies, to elicit anti-tumor effects in immunized animals, and to significantly prolong survival in animals with cancer.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the fields of antigens, antibodies and adjuvants. The invention particularly provides for the generation of enhanced immune responses by associating or incorporating an immunopotentiating agent onto a natural cellular membrane or into an intracellular compartment. In a specific instance, the invention is exemplified by incorporating an adjuvant, such as a lipopolysaccharide-like adjuvant, into tumor cells and onto their outer membranes.
II. Description of the Related Art
Methods for manipulating the immune system to achieve a desired effect have been known for many years, and are used both in the prevention and therapy of disease and in immunization protocols to generate specific antibodies for other uses, e.g., in diagnostics. However, generating an appropriate immune response is not always a straightforward matter. Particular problems arise with antigens that are "immunologically cryptic", in which cases the immune responses are often too weak to be of practical use.
The problems associated with generating immune responses apply to a wide range of clinical and laboratory protocols, with one of the most important areas being that of cancer treatment and therapy. Various modalities of therapy have been used during the past 30 years to treat cancer, including radiation and chemotherapy, radical surgery and immunologically-based protocols. The generation of immune responses to isolated tumor antigens using microbial adjuvants has also been described (U.S. Pat. No. 4,877,611). Melanoma cell vaccines using shed antigens are available (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,194,384; Bystryn et al., 1988; Livingston et al., 1987a). However, this has certain limitations and melanoma still poses a significant health problem worldwide (Elder et al., 1995).
Portoukalian (1978) recognized the importance of gangliosides as tumor-associated antigens in human melanoma. Since this work, interest in the biochemical and immunological characteristics of tumor-related gangliosides has increased. Essentially, gangliosides are glycolipids containing sialic acids and are important membrane bound components of normal and neoplastic cells (Portoukalian, 1978). Immunologically, they are recognized as T-cell independent antigens (Hardings et al., 1991; Ishioka et al., 1992; Freimer et al., 1993) and suppressors of cellular immune functions (Kawaguchi et al., 1989; Morrison et al., 1989; Miller & Esselman, 1975; Lengle et al., 1979; Whisler & Yates, 1980; Prokazova et al., 1988; Portoukalian, 1989; Hoon et al., 1988; Chu & Sharom, 1993).
Solid tumors of neuroectodermal origin produce and shed large quantities of immunosuppressive sialoglycolipids or gangliosides (Ravindranath & Morton, 1991). Human cutaneous malignant melanoma expresses gangliosides GM.sub.3, GD.sub.3, GM.sub.2, GD.sub.2 and O-AcGD.sub.3 (Ravindranath & Irie, 1988), whereas B-16 murine melanoma expresses only GM.sub.3 (Takahashi et al., 1988). The shedding of gangliosides by solid tumors leads to significantly elevated levels of gangliosides in the sera of cancer patients, as compared to normal subjects (Kloppel et al., 1977; Horgan, 1982; Katopodis et al., 1982; Munjal et al., 1984; Dwivedi et al., 1990; Tautu et al., 1988).
Intraperitoneal administration of GM.sub.3 into the B16 melanoma-bearing mice has been reported to significantly augment melanoma growth, suggesting that GM.sub.3 shed from tumor cells may favor tumor growth, possibly by suppressing immune-surveillance (Takahashi et al., 1988). In support of this observation, it has also been demonstrated that GM.sub.3 preferentially suppresses the generation and activity of the cytotoxic lymphocytes in tumor bearing mice, suggesting that melanoma-derived GM.sub.3 in circulation may impede antitumor functions of the immune system. GM.sub.3 has also been found to be immunosuppressive in humans (Hachida et al., 1993; 1994).
Although anti-ganglioside antibodies are recognized as naturally occurring autoantibodies (Gillard et al., 1989), their level remains low even after repeated immunizations with purified gangliosides (Bogoch, 1960). Several investigators have attempted to induce antibody response to gangliosides by admixing gangliosides with foreign carrier proteins. These include, amongst others, pig serum (Rapport & Graf, 1969; Sherwin et al., 1964); serum albumin (Pascal et al., 1966; Koscielak et al., 1968); human erythrocyte glycoprotein (Naiki et al., 1974); foreign erythrocytes (Yokoyama et al., 1963); and a mixture of meningococcal outer membrane proteins, cationized bovine serum albumin, multiple antigenic peptides, polylysine and keyhole limpet (molluscan) hemocyanin (Helling et al., 1993).
The use of non-toxic microbial adjuvants with isolated and purified tumor-associated antigens was described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,877,611. The use of bacterial carriers, such as Salmonella Minnesota or Mycobacterium bovis (Livingston et al., 1987a; U.S. Pat. No. 5,102,663) has also been reported to augment antibody response against gangliosides in human and in murine studies. However, GM.sub.3 bound to cell membranes in humans (Livingston et al., 1987b), and purified and free GM3 in mice (Livingston et al., 1987a), induced poor antibody responses. It has not been established whether the failure to induce antibody responses is due to crypticity of the antigen or failure to be recognized by the antigen presenting system.
It has been shown that attaching lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and lipid A to synthetic membranes (liposomes) can result in the generation of an immune response to membrane components. This has been proposed to be connected with macrophage recruitment (Verma et al., 1992). Research has shown that immunization of mice with lipid A-attached liposomes induced antibody against components of the liposomes, whereas liposomes without lipid A failed to elicit any response (Schuster et al., 1979; Banerji et al., 1982; Verma et al., 1992). Recently, Freimer et al. (1993) have also studied the T-cell independent antibody response to purified gangliosides using lipid A as an adjuvant. However, the use of lipid A as an immunological adjuvant in humans is precluded by the toxicity of lipid A.
Monophosphoryl lipid A (MPL) is a nontoxic derivative of lipid A from Salmonella (Qureshi et al., 1985; Ribi, 1984; Johnson et al., 1987). MPL has comparable biological activities to lipid A, including B cell mitogenicity, adjuvanticity, activation of macrophages and induction of interferon synthesis (Ribi et al., 1984, 1986; Verma et al., 1992). Johnston & Bystryn (1991) tested the combined effect of mycobacterial cell wall skeleton and MPL on a melanoma vaccine of murine B16 cells. Unfortunately, MPL was not found to potentiate tumor-protective immunity in these studies (Johnston & Bystryn, 1991).
Livingston et al. (1987a) have tested the usefulness of MPL in augmenting anti-ganglioside antibodies, using purified gangliosides and ganglioside-liposomes. However, the Livingston et al. group prefer to use whole Salmonella as an adjuvant, as shown in their subsequent studies in U.S. Pat. No. 5,102,663. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,312,620, a complex system of polymeric adjuvants incorporated into lipid layers is described. The adjuvants are first conjugated to a polymerizable group and then co-polymerized with a water-soluble and/or amphiphilic polymerizable monomer or combined with a polymerized amphiphile.
Despite the continuing efforts in this field, it is apparent that improved methods and novel strategies for generating immune responses are still needed. Simple methods that are appropriate for use with a wide variety of antigens are particularly desirable. The development of a method by which to improve the immune response against immunologically cryptic antigens would represent a significant advance, particularly if such a method was adaptable for use against clinically relevant antigens.

Adjuvant incorporation into antigen carrying cells: compositions and methods


The invention relates to a single use hygiene article, comprising an absorbing body layer (24, 60, 70), which serves to store body fluids and which can also contain superabsorbent materials, and comprising standing cuff elements (26, 28), which extend in an essentially longitudinal direction, form a lateral leakage barrier and which are attached to the body-facing side of the article at least along a cuff base line (34, 36; 62, 64; 76, 78). The cuff elements (26, 28) are guided with variable distances between the cuff base lines (34, 36; 62, 64; 76, 78). The aim of the invention is to improve the absorption characteristics of the hygiene article. Towards this end, the article is designed in such a manner that the absorbing body layer (24, 60, 70) comprises, in a transversal direction (44) of the hygiene article up to the lateral edges (16) and/or in a longitudinal direction (38) up to at least one longitudinal end (40), an increasing mass per unit area of an absorbent material of this layer. In addition, the area (46, 56, 74) of the greater mass per unit area has at least one partial area (48, 66) in which the distance (42) of the cuff base lines (34, 36; 62, 64; 76, 78) from one another is greater that outside this partial area (48, 50, 66, 68).

The invention concerns a single use hygiene article having an absorptive body layer suitable for long term storage of body fluids which may contain super-absorbing materials and with cuff elements forming a sideward discharge blockage which are substantially disposed in a longitudinal direction at least through sections and which are attached, at least along a cuff base line, to the side of the article facing the body of the user, wherein the cuff elements are guided at variable separations from each other with respect to their cuff base lines. The invention also concerns a diaper or diaper pants and incontinence inlays or incontinence diapers or pants. A hygiene article of this type is e.g. described in EP0751756B1. In this hygiene article, the cuff elements or their cuff base lines follow the hour glass shape of the absorptive body.
EP0254476B1 discloses an absorptive body structure having a central liquid retention zone of reduced density and reduced surface density which is at least partially surrounded by a storage zone of higher density and higher surface density. This is intended to increase the capacity for fluid retention as well as distribution in particular in the case of liquid floods. A similar teaching is disclosed by EP1006970B1.
Departing therefrom, is the fundamental purpose of the present invention to create a hygiene article which is well suited, in particular in the event of flooding of liquids, to prevent sideward leakage and to assure that the incident liquid is rapidly absorbed and stored for a long period of time in the absorbing structure and in the absorptive body layer.


Apparatus for dubbing a film from a source language to a target language includes a replay device (1) which replays a film and a control unit (6) which generates an acoustic model of the scene. A dubbing soundtrack on the replay device (1) is fed via a line (2) to an acoustic processor (3). The acoustic processor (3) processes the dubbed soundtrack under the control of the control unit (6) to produce a dubbed soundtrack which is modified to take into account the acoustic environment of the scene. This soundtrack may be recorded on a recording device (5).

The invention relates to a method of producing a soundtrack to accompany a moving picture sequence and to a method of dubbing the dialogue of one or more participants in a moving picture sequence, into a target language different from the source language. The invention further relates to an apparatus for producing a soundtrack to accompany a moving picture sequence and to an apparatus for dubbing the dialogue of one or more participants in a moving picture sequence into a target language different from the source language.
It is common practice for films and other television programmes to be dubbed in the language of the country in which they are to be shown, either in the cinema or on television. There is frequently a mismatch between the acoustics that would be present in the environment represented by the pictures and the acoustics of the environment in which the dubbed dialogue is recorded. For example, the dubbed dialogue is normally recorded in a studio environment by actors who are not moving about, whereas the original film or television programme may have been generated on specially constructed sets or in the open air. Additionally the actors, or participants, are frequently moving around the scene whilst the original dialogue is being produced. A similar problem may arise when films are produced with the intention of dubbing them. The sound effects then have to be recreated subsequently, without the contemporaneous dialogue, and so do not match the acoustics in which the action took place. A simple way of improving the situation is to apply artificial reverberation to the microphone signal obtained from the dubbing actor, or to the sound effects in the dubbing studio, to match the reverberation that would be created by the environment in the picture. Experience of dubbed films shows that this is not always adequate. A further possibility is to perform dubbing using the original actors in the film. This, however, is tantamount to recreating films in different languages and the cost is likely to be prohibitive.
The invention provides a method of producing a soundtrack to accompany a moving picture sequence, the soundtrack including dialogue intended to appear to be produced by a participant in the moving picture sequence, the method comprising the steps of:
a) producing, in a first acoustic environment different from that of the scene in the moving picture sequence, an electrical signal representing dialogue intended to appear to be produced by the participant,
b) constructing a model of the acoustic environment of each scene in the moving picture sequence in synchronism with the moving picture sequence,
c) specifying the position of the participant in the current scene, and
d) modifying the electrical signal in accordance with the acoustic environment of the scene and the position of the participant in the scene so as to simulate the dialogue which would have been produced had the dialogue been produced by the participant at the current position of the participant in the scene.
One application of this method is in the generation of computer animations when creating or playing games. For example, using this method a games player can insert dialogue into the mouth of a character in a computer game for replay either to that player or to another player either at the same location or at a remote location.
When the moving picture sequence soundtrack contains dialogue in a first (source) language the method may be arranged to generate dialogue, for inclusion in the soundtrack, in a second (target) language equivalent to the dialogue in the first language.
This enables dubbing of a film or other sequence into a different language while retaining the appearance of the soundtrack issuing from the participant in the scene without having to recreate the scene when producing the second language version. The target language may replace or be in addition to the source language in a dual language version of the sequence.
The method may advantageously allow dubbing of the dialogue of two or more participants, or actors, taking into account the position of each in the scene.
Step b) and Step c) may be performed using a user interface to a computer, said user interface in combination with said computer enabling a user to construct an acoustic model of the scene and to define time varying positions of the participant within the scene.
Thus a simple to use control interface may be provided which allows the operator to construct a simple model of the environment seen in the moving picture sequence and mimic the movement of the actors or other participants in a scene in order to produce a new soundtrack in which the dialogue is processed to sound as it would if it had been produced in the environment of the scene.
The method according to the invention may advantageously enable a virtual environment corresponding to that which existed when the film, or other moving picture sequence, was generated, to be created and for the characteristics of that environment to be applied to the speech of the dubbing actors, to modify it so that it appears to have the characteristics that would have been created, had the dubbing actor taken part in the original scene. This allows the power of a computer to generate a virtual environment and produce control signals for an acoustic processor, which is able to modify the signal produced by the dubbing actor to take into account the acoustics of the scenes in the film.
It should be noted that when the term xe2x80x98filmxe2x80x99 is used in this application, it is intended to cover more than purely cinematographic films. That is, it is intended to cover directly generated video programmes which may be films, documentary programmes, discussion programmes, current affairs, news programmes or any other sequence of moving pictures, however generated, and whenever the term film is used it should be given that interpretation.
The invention further provides an apparatus for producing a soundtrack to accompany a moving picture sequence, the soundtrack including dialogue intended to appear to be produced by a participant in a moving picture sequence the apparatus comprising an input for receiving an electrical signal, produced in a first acoustic environment different from that of the scene in the moving picture sequence, representing dialogue intended to appear to be produced by the participant, an acoustic model generator for generating a model of the acoustic environment of each scene in the moving picture sequence in synchronism with the moving picture sequence and the position of the participant in the current scene, and a processor for processing the electrical signal in accordance with the acoustic environment of the scene and the position of the participant in the scene so as to simulate the dialogue which would have been produced by the participant at the current position of the participant in the scene, and producing the processed signal at an output.
The invention still further provides an apparatus for dubbing the dialogue of a participant in a moving picture sequence into a target language different from a source language, comprising an input for receiving an electrical signal, produced in a first acoustic environment, and representing dialogue in the target language corresponding to the dialogue in the source language, an acoustic model generator for generating a model of the acoustic environment of each scene in the moving picture sequence in synchronism with the moving picture sequence, and the position of the participant in the current scene, and a processor for processing the electrical signal in accordance with the acoustic environment of the scene and the position of the participant in the scene so as to simulate the dialogue which would have been produced had the dubbing been performed in the scene and in the position of the participant, and producing the processed signal at an output.
The invention yet further provides a record medium having recorded thereon a soundtrack produced by a method according to the invention.
The invention enables recording media, such as magnetic tape or optical discs, to be produced with a soundtrack in a plurality of languages one of which may be selected by the viewer when the moving picture sequence is replayed. By using the method according to the invention to create the soundtrack containing secondary languages in addition to the primary (original) language of the sequence, a greater realism in viewing the sequence using a secondary language may be obtained. In continents such as Europe where many different languages are spoken there is great advantage to suppliers of recorded films in producing a single recording having a plurality of different languages in the soundtrack, one of which may be selected by the viewer at the time of replay of the film. This largely relates to the minimisation of the number of different versions which need to be produced and distributed.
The invention still further provides a computer program that, when loaded on a computer, enables the playing of a computer game, the program including a description of the acoustic environment of at least some of the scenes in the game, and a computer program that, when loaded on a computer, enables the computer to carry out a method according to the invention.

Producing a soundtrack for moving picture sequences

Abstract: The application further discloses the generation of soundtracks for computer generated scenes taking into account the virtual acoustic environment.


A microcontroller and system allowing for more than one trial time in a furnace system, while using only one pin of the microcontroller. An alternating current signal at an input port of the microcontroller causes the microcontroller to allow a first long trial time period. Any direct current signal at the input port causes the microcontroller to allow only a second shorter trial time period. The trial time input port of the microcontroller is placed between two ports which either receive or send direct current signals. Due to this arrangement of the parts and construction of the microcontroller, the microcontroller will fail to the shorter and safer trial time if a fault causes an erroneous signal to appear at the input port.

This invention is directed toward the field of furnace controls, and more specifically to the field of trial timers and controllers.
Standard furnace systems usually included a solenoid operated valve (SOV) to control gas flow into a combustion chamber. To control the operation of the SOV, a microcontroller was often used in a furnace control system so that the SOV may be opened and closed at appropriate times.
One time when it was desirable to open the SOV was during ignition of the furnace, also known as a trial. If the furnace did not ignite within a preselected amount of time, usually four or six seconds after the start of the trial, it was desirable to end the trial and close the SOV. Well known flame sense circuitry was included in the furnace control system to sense flame during a trial, and to keep the SOV open once flame was sensed.
Yet, flame was not always created during a trial, and it was left to the microcontroller to end a trial and close the SOV in such a case. As was stated earlier, most furnace manufacturers specified either a four or six second trial time for their furnaces. Thus, a manufacturer of microcontrollers for furnaces had to create a microcontroller which could handle either trial time period. Generally, this resulted in a microcontroller which had two pins, one which would be connected to get a four second trial and one for the six second trial.
Problems were created in that to meet certain certification requirements, any failure of the microcontroller had to lead to the shorter or four second trial time period. Failure which led to a six second trial time period could have caused a serious explosion which could lead to personal injury and property damage.
Lastly, only a limited number of pins were available on the microcontroller.
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide a furnace control which fails to a four second trial time. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a furnace control which only requires one pin on the microcontroller to control the trial time period.

Microcontroller and system for controlling trial times in a furnace system


There is provided a method for making diamond and CBN compacts which comprises positioning a catalyst metal disc and a barrier disc intermediate a diamond or CBN mass and a carbide mass. The catalyst metal disc is adjacent to the diamond or CBN layer and the barrier disc is intermediate said catalyst disc and the carbide mass. In order to prevent unregulated flow of metal bond from said carbide mass to the diamond layer and to prevent depletion of metal bond from the carbide near the carbide/diamond interface, the barrier disc has a surface area virtually identical to that of the carbide mass. Such arrangement of materials is subjected to temperature and pressure conditions within the diamond stable region but below the melting point of the barrier disc.

Field of the Invention: The present invention generally relates to abrasive compacts comprising a polycrystalline diamond layer and a cemented carbide support. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method for making such compacts which substantially eliminates cobalt depletion from the carbide support during high pressure/high temperature processing, and the products made thereby.
Prior Art: Polycrystalline diamond tools suitable for use in applications such as rock drilling and machining are well known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. Re.32,380 describes composite compacts comprising a polycrystalline diamond layer in which the diamond concentration is in excess of 70 volume percent and wherein substantially all of the diamond crystals are directly bonded to adjacent diamond crystals, and a cemented carbide support material which is considerably larger in volume that the volume of the polycrystalline diamond layer. Typically the carbide support is tungsten carbide containing cobalt metal as the cementing constituent.
The '380 patent teaches that the cobalt contained in the carbide support or carbide molding powder makes itself available to function both as the metal bond for sintering the carbide and as a diamond-making catalyst required for conversion of graphite to diamond. Although compacts made according to the process of the '380 patent are suitable for most purposes, the unregulated infiltration of cobalt from the carbide support into the diamond layer leaves an excessive amount of cobalt among the diamond particles, with the result that mechanical properties, particularly abrasion resistance, are less than optimal. Moreover, the physical and mechanical properties of the cemented carbide support near the diamond/carbide interface are reduced as a result of cobalt depletion from the carbide support.
It is possible to control cobalt depletion from the cemented carbide support to some extent by placing a thin cobalt metal disc between the diamond layer and the carbide support prior to high pressure/high temperature processing. However, this solution does not avoid the infiltration of excessive cobalt into the polycrystalline diamond layer of the composite compact and the resulting diminished mechanical properties.
One attempt to resolve these shortcomings is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,411,672, which provides a composite compact by placing a pulverized diamond layer adjacent to a tungsten carbide/cobalt layer, and separating these layers with a metallic material which has a melting point lower than the eutectic point of the tungsten carbide/cobalt composition. The assembly is heated at a temperature high enough to permit melting of the metallic material but which is insufficient to cause substantial melting of the tungsten carbide/cobalt composition. In this way, a controlled amount of metal is introduced into the pulverized diamond to promote bonding.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,440,573 describes another means to control the amount of metal which infiltrates from the carbide support into the polycrystalline diamond layer. The method of the '573 patent involves providing a mass of diamond particles and a mass of infiltrant metallic material, each mass having a substantially identical surface area. The mass of diamond particles and mass of infiltrant metallic material are positioned such that the surfaces are separated by a barrier layer of high melting metal having a surface area of 85% to 97% of the surface areas of said masses of diamond particles and infiltrant metallic material. The thus positioned masses and barrier layer are subjected to temperature-pressure conditions within the diamond stable region but below the melting point of the metallic barrier layer. In this way, a regulated amount of molten infiltrant metal is allowed to flow around the barrier layer and throughout the mass of diamond particles.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,764,434 teaches that a thin continuous layer of titanium nitride applied by chemical vapor deposition or physical vapor deposition to the carbide support material is sufficient to prevent diffusion of cobalt into the diamond table and thereby prevent embrittlement of the surface of the carbide support nearest the diamond table. According to the '434 patent, such thin titanium nitride layer acts as an effective diffusion barrier, preventing depletion of binder metal, such as cobalt, from the cemented carbide support.

Diamond compacts for rock drilling and machining


A system and method applicable for determining the positions of radio tags based on triangulation and respective radio tag signals transmitted from each radio tag, where each of a set of base stations is configured to transmit a radio base signal including an identifier that uniquely identifies the base station, and other base stations of the set of base stations receive the radio base signal and forward received base station messages to a central control unit which determines a position for any added base station using triangulation and known positions for base stations already included in the system, in order to facilitate expanding the number of base stations in the system.

For animal-health reasons and to maintain high quality and efficiency in animal-based food production it is important that the physical status of livestock animals can be monitored in a convenient and reliable manner. This, in turn, requires that the movements of the animals can be tracked continuously.
WO 2014/067896 and WO 2014/067897 describe systems for measuring real time positions of a plurality of animals carrying radio transmitter tags. Inputs from a plurality of sensors are received, and the actual positions of the animals are calculated based on measurements of delay in radio communication. Thus, for example the behavior of each animal can be analyzed. Calibration is performed via communication between the sensors and a plurality of fixed reference tags. Thereby, the animals can be positioned with good accuracy.
However, setting up the sensor system requires considerable efforts to ensure that the position of each sensor is known with sufficient precision.

System, method and computer program for positioning animal tags


An archer""s silent running roller guide is taught. The roller guide Is rendered silent by providing a v-shaped arrow guide wherein the v-shape is formed by the outer perimeters of two low inertia silent running roller bearings with a sound-muffling material wrapping the outer perimeter of the bearings. The v-shaped guide acting in cooperation with a coil spring serves to respond to the forces of displacement present at the instant the arrow is launched and to return the guide to its original position after the arrow is gone.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an arrow guiding means for guiding arrows as the bow is drawn and as the arrow is released.
More particularly this invention relates to the arrow guiding means described above wherein the arrow guides are silent running bearings having a sound damping wrap secured around the arrow contacting surfaces of the bearings.
Still more particularly, this invention relates to the arrow guiding means described above wherein the arrow guides are mounted on adjustable mounts that permit the positioning on the arrow guides relative to the bow and relative to each other to provide adjustment for bow configuration and arrow diameters.
Still more particularly this invention relates to the arrow guiding means described above wherein the adjustable mounts are provided with a spring biasing means that will return the mounts to a preset position if they should be knocked out of position during transport or use.
2. Description of the Related Art
The bow hunting art abounds in arrow guides and rests for positioning an arrow during bow draw and arrow release.
One of the problems solved by this invention is that of sounds produced during arrow draw and release. Many game species have hearing that is acutely tuned to sounds such as those made by drawing an arrow along a guide. It is known in the art to pad an arrow guide with felts and other sound damping material. Fixed guides that are covered with sound damping material still produce some sounds during arrow draw and release.
Another problem solved by the guide of this invention is related to the bending of arrows during initial release. An arrow bends during the acceleration following the release of the bowstring. It is known in the art to provide v-shaped guides or v-shaped roller guides to insure that the arrow bending does not result in displacing the path of the arrow flight to the side. These v-shaped guides often are not adjustable to allow for the differing locations above the v-guide of the centers of arrows of differing diameter.
Another problem solved by the guide of this invention is related to misaligned guides. The sighting and guide components of hunting weapons are subject to being knocked out of alignment during transport and use due to falling or dropping or rough contact with objects. It is the lament of many a nimrod that a sight foiled his chance at a trophy or by a guide means that was knocked from alignment and went unnoticed until after the fact of a failure.
Another problem solved by the guide of this invention is that of providing a guide means that is adjustable to fit on a diversity of bows. Hunting bows come in many configurations and usually come with an arrow guide means incorporated into the structure of the bow. Alternative guide means need to be versatile to be able to be positioned and adjusted to accommodate to the differing dimensions of hunting bows.
Another problem solved by the guide of this invention relates to sounds produced by arrows being guided by roller guides. Rotating guides made of hard rubber; plastic, or metal make sounds as they roll along an arrow shaft. Such sounds are detectable by game animals.
One or more of the problems listed above are found in the following patents which represent the most relevant prior art known to the inventor at the time of preparation of this specification.
U.S. Pat. No. 221 to Peck discloses two spring biased laterally displaceable elements of metal or durable plastic that form a v-shaped guide that responds to the bending of the arrow during the propelling of the arrow from the bow. These guides produce detectable sounds in use.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,261,383 to Halamay discloses three, spring-biased rollers mounted on axles and having depressions therein that engage the shaft of an arrow and respond to the bending of the arrow during release. The three rollers serve to center the shafts of arrows of various diameters between the rollers. These guides produce detectable sounds in use.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,061 to Gunter discloses an arrow support having two plastic rollers supported on pivot shafts in roller support arms which are adjustably mounted in posts which are secured in a support base in a way that the positions of the rollers so that they can be adjusted to accommodate to arrows of differing diameters. These guides produce detectable sounds.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,085,201 to Tepper et al discloses the use of very narrow low friction tired wheels of hard rubber to reduce the drag on the arrow as it passes over the guides. These guides produce detectable sounds.
The prior art does not provide an arrow guide that is silent during the draw and release of an arrow.
The prior art does not provide an arrow guide that has adjustable stops and spring biasing such that the guide is resiliently displaceable and self-repositioning.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an arrow guide that is silent during draw and release of an arrow.
It is further an object of this invention to provide the arrow guide described above wherein the arrow guide is resiliently displaceable and self-repositioning.
It is further, an object of this invention to provide the arrow guide as described above that is adjustable for accurate positioning on many different bow structures.
Further objects will become apparent from the following specifications and claims.
An arrow guide comprising: a mounting arm which is adjustably securable to a bow, a mounting shaft passing through the mounting arm and the mounting shaft is translatable and rotatable relative to the mounting arm, guide supports having mounting ends secured to the mounting shaft and free ends projecting outward from said shaft and lying in the same plane with each other, disk shaped silent running roller guides mounted on the free ends of the mounting arms so that the planes of rotation of the roller guides intersect at a line that is parallel to the longitudinal axis of an arrow resting in the v-shaped guide formed by the outer peripheries of the guides, sound muffling material secured to the outer peripheries of the guides, a coil compression spring encircling the mounting shaft and having one end secured in the mounting arm and one end secured in the guide support nearest the mounting arm, a translational stop secured to the mounting shaft and said stop is maintained in contact with the mounting arm by the resilience of the coil spring and, a rotational stop secured to the mounting arm which is maintained in contact with a stop on the mounting shaft by rotational tension in the coil spring.