Orthodontic systems and related methods are disclosed for designing and providing improved or more effective tooth moving systems for eliciting a desired tooth movement and/or repositioning teeth into a desired arrangement. Methods and orthodontic systems include the generation of an overcorrection in the tooth-receiving cavities of an appliance worn in the dentition. The overcorrection may provide an improved and more accurately applied force or moment applied to a tooth. The overcorrected force or moment can move a tooth closer to a desired position than if not overcorrected as sufficient force can still applied to the tooth as it gets closer to the desired position. The overcorrected force or moment may also better target the root of the tooth where the biological response to tooth movement occurs. The overcorrection may be calculated in various ways as described herein.

Prior methods and apparatus for aligning teeth can be less than ideal in at least some instances. While braces can be used to move teeth into alignment, braces can be cumbersome to wear and can require expertise to place on the subject. Also, complex movements can be difficult to achieve and orthodontic placement may less than ideally address the complex movements of several teeth in at least some instances.
Transparent shell appliances have been used to successfully move teeth. For example a user can be provided with a series of transparent shell appliances. Each shell of the series of shells may correspond to a stage of the treatment. For example, a fourth shell in a series of ten shells may correspond to the fourth state of treatment. Although transparent shell appliances can be used to successfully reposition teeth, the transparent shell appliances can provide less than ideal results in at least some instances. For example, complex movements of teeth, such as to fill an extraction can be difficult to treat with transparent shell appliances. Also, in at least some instances, a wearer of a transparent shell appliance may not complete treatment, for example when teeth do not move sufficiently with the appliance and the user stops treatment. Additionally, in at least some instances, the course of treatment may need to be reevaluated as the treatment is implemented, which may necessitate the manufacture of a second series of transparent shell appliances, prolonging treatment time.
Prior methods and apparatus of aligning teeth with transparent shell appliances can rely on providing shells with cavities shaped to the tooth profile at a final intended position and orientation at a stage of the treatment. Work in relation to embodiments suggests cavities shaped to position a tooth at a final intended position and orientation at a stage of the treatment can provide less than ideal movement. Although attachments can be placed on teeth to facilitate movement of the teeth with polymeric shell appliances, the resulting movements can be less than ideal in at least some instances. For example, the force applied to the tooth can decrease as the tooth moves toward the target position. Also, the movement of a tooth may not be uniform, and the tooth may move more easily along some dimensions than others. For example, the movement of a tooth can occur along six degrees of freedom, and relative movement compared to a target movement can differ among the degrees of freedom of the tooth. Further, the movement of teeth can be coupled, such that movement of a first tooth can affect movement adjacent teeth.
Prior appliances to move teeth may provide teeth receiving cavities at locations corresponding to the locations of the teeth at the end of each stage of treatment. This approach can be less than ideal in at least some instances.
Although manufacturing appliances in accordance with target positions of the teeth at the end of each stage of treatment can be effective, work in relation to embodiments suggests that the amount of force applied to each tooth can be less than or greater than would be ideal, and the corresponding movement of the tooth can be less than ideal in at least some instances. There can be a discrepancy between the locations of the teeth receiving cavities of the polymeric shell appliance applied and current positions of the teeth. The force and moment may be created from the deformation of the polymeric shell appliance put on the teeth. When a tooth is moved close to its position in the next stage of the treatment course, the discrepancy between the polymeric shell appliance used and the tooth also can get smaller. Accordingly, the force applied by the polymeric shell appliance can be also reduced. When the force is small enough, there may be no tooth movement achieved until the next polymeric shell appliance with a new, larger discrepancy is used. Additionally, the force and moment created by the polymeric shell appliance can be from the discrepancy of the crown part of the tooth, and may be applied on tooth crown only, for example. However, the biological response for tooth movement can be generally centered on the tooth root and not the crown. Therefore, the force from the crown discrepancy may be less than ideal for root movement.
In light of the above, it would be desirable to provide improved methods and apparatus for moving teeth to target positions with polymeric shell appliances. Ideally such methods and apparatus would more accurately move teeth to target positions with decreased forces. In some embodiments, the methods, systems, and apparatus would allow dental practitioners to view, modify and approve suggested target tooth positions.

Method to visualize and manufacture aligner by modifying tooth position


A highly reliable vacuum heat insulating material having excellent processability, handleability and heat insulating performance, and a heat insulating box using the vacuum heat insulating material are provided. In the vacuum heat insulating material with the inside in an approximately vacuum state by sealing a core material 5 having a structure wherein plural pieces of fiber assembly 1 are laminated by a gas-barrier outer cover material 4, by using long fiber for the core material, fiber dust or remaining fiber by cutting is prevented from protruding into a sealing portion of the outer cover material from a cut surface of a sheet or an opening portion, and sealing failure is reduced. Further, since the core material is structured so as to be wound continuously from an inner side toward an outer side, the vacuum heat insulating material is easily manufactured, and excellent in handleability.

Conventionally, urethane foam has been used for heat insulating material used for the heat insulating box of the refrigerator, etc. Recently, according to requests from the market for energy-saving or space-saving and capacity-increasing, instead of the urethane foam, another structure, in which vacuum heat insulating material having heat insulating performance better than the urethane foam is embedded in the urethane foam and used together, is used. Such vacuum heat insulating material is also used for the refrigerator, etc.
The vacuum heat insulating material is formed by inserting powder, foam, fiber body, etc. as a core material in an outer cover material made of a plastic laminated film, etc. in which aluminum foil is used for a gas barrier layer. Inside of the vacuum heat insulating material, the degree of vacuum is kept to no more than some Pa (pascal).
Further, in order to suppress degradation of the degree of vacuum which becomes a cause of decrease in the heat insulating performance of the vacuum heat insulating material, adsorption agent to sorb gas or water is provided in the outer cover material. For the core material of the vacuum heat insulating material, powder such as silica, etc., foam such as urethane, etc., and fiber body, etc. is used. Currently, glass fiber having excellent heat insulating performance is mainly used for the core material of the vacuum heat insulating material.
Materials of the fiber include inorganic fibers such as glass fiber, ceramic fiber, etc. (e.g., refer to Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 8).
Further, there are organic fibers such as polypropylene fiber, polylactate fiber, aramid fiber, LCP (liquid crystalline polymer) fiber, polyethylene terephthalate fiber, polyester fiber, polyethylene fiber, cellulose fiber, etc. (e.g., refer to Patent Document 2 and Patent Document 7).
Shapes of the fiber body include cottonlike and lamination of sheets (e.g., refer to Patent Document 3 and Patent Document 4). Shapes of the fiber body also include lamination of sheets with alternating fiber orientations of sheets (e.g., refer to Patent Document 5, Patent Document 6 and Patent Document 12).
Laminating methods of the sheets include laminating in a manner of superpositioning a sheeted member with a continuous strip-shape by alternately folding back the sheeted member in different directions (e.g., refer to Patent Document 11).
Processing of the vacuum heat insulating material includes formation of an opening portion (e.g., refer to Patent Document 9) or forming a concave portion on the core material for folding processing (e.g., refer to Patent Document 10).

Vacuum heat insulating material, heat insulating box, refrigerator, refrigerating/air-conditioning apparatus, water heater, appliance, and manufacturing method of vacuum heat insulating material


The present invention realizes a vehicle control device that, even when power characteristics of a power generation device and a power transmission device changes, senses degradation of vehicle components, corrects a drive instruction to the power transmission device, and is thereby capable of stabilizing vehicle behavior over a long term. The present invention, in a predetermined vehicle environment state, measures fluctuation in drive power and acceleration in a transient region by using vehicle behavior sensors 4, performs comparison with a reference fluctuation, and thereby senses degradation of vehicle components. The drive instruction to the transmission 16-side is corrected in accordance with the degradation of vehicle components that is sensed. Thus, it is possible to stabilize vehicle behavior (performance) over a long term even when, during automated driving, the power characteristics of the drive power source and the transmission 16 change due to factors such as time degradation of vehicle components.

In automated driving systems, control architectures are being proposed that cover the series of data flow from recognition-system control including spatial recognition using sensor information and map information and course generation, to vehicle-system control of generating, from the generated course, a command value for an actuator ECU such as an engine, a steering, and a brake.
Here, the actuator ECU controls actuators based on drive commands from an ECU that supervises vehicle motion (referred to here as a vehicle integration ECU). In the powertrain area, automated driving is realized by the vehicle integration ECU issuing a drive command to an engine control ECU, whereby a gear change control ECU performs gear change control based on torque information calculated by the engine ECU. That is, even though automated driving systems have been introduced, there are automated driving systems in which it is the engine, or more specifically the throttle, that is automatically controlled and the automatic transmission-side is not automated.
Here, publicly known techniques as those below are known as correction techniques for cases in which power characteristics have changed due to time degradation of the engine and automatic transmission.
For example, there is a technique in which, in a hybrid vehicle (HEV) having an engine and a motor as drive power sources, a drive torque level difference occurring upon switching between engine drive and motor drive is suppressed by compensating for the error between an actual value and a command value of output torque. The error derives from time degradation and machine difference of each of the engine and the motor.
In detail, in a state in which power transmission of a stepped automatic transmission is cut off, torque monitoring is performed at the motor-side by fastening a clutch between the engine and the motor and driving the engine according to a certain command value. Here, the technique (the technique disclosed in PTL 1) suppresses the torque level difference upon switching of drive from engine drive to motor drive by detecting the torque error between the engine and the motor.
Further, for example, there is a technique of suppressing a gear change shock occurring upon coast downshift. The coast downshift is accompanied by rotation synchronizing control executed by an input shaft torque imparted to a transmission from a drive power source. In detail, the technique (the technique disclosed in PTL 2) relatively suppresses a change rate of the input shaft torque when the rotation synchronizing control is executed, in accordance with the area of a difference rotation speed of a release-side clutch that participates in the coast downshift.
Further, for example, there is a technique (the technique disclosed in PTL 3) of reducing a gear change shock by controlling a throttle even when a temporal change in power characteristics occurs, by estimating the output characteristics of an engine by using an output shaft rotation sensor. Further, for example, there is a technique (the technique disclosed in PTL 4) of always maintaining excellent fuel efficiency even when a temporal change occurs, by creating gear change lines based on a fuel efficiency map, and further performing learning of the fuel efficiency map during travel and correcting the gear change lines based on the fuel efficiency map yielded by learning so that an engine rotation range achieving good fuel efficiency is always used.
Further, for example, among control devices for cars provided with stepped automatic transmissions, a control device that, in order to reduce a gear change shock, executes control of suppressing output shaft torque at a correct timing by accurately detecting a switching timing of a clutch from information such as a change rate of output shaft rotation speed and power characteristics.


A temperature control device is disclosed that includes a heating wire being connected to an alternating current power source though a SCR, a sensing wire being disposed parallel to the heating wire, a thermo-sensitive resin insulating the heating wire and the sensing wire from each other and changing its impedance according to a change in temperature, and a temperature sensing unit outputting a temperature control signal to turn the SCR on or off according to a change in electric current flowing through the thermo-sensitive resin, in which the SCR is turned on or off by a sensing unit diode. The heating wire is heated by a heating current that flows in a heating cycle only, in which a forward voltage is formed in the SCR, and the sensing wire conducts a sensing current that flows in a sensing cycle only, in which a reverse voltage is formed in the SCR.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a sensing wire-type temperature control device and a safety device for the sensing wire-type temperature control device, in connection with a heating cable, which is commonly used in a heating apparatus, e.g., an electric heater such as an electric blanket and an electric mattress pad, controlling the temperature by sensing a change in temperature by use of a sensing wire and being insulated with a thermo-sensitive resin that changes its impedance in accordance with the change in temperature between an electric heating body and the sensing wire.
The present invention also relates to a temperature control device using a thermo-sensitive insulation resin of an electric heater that can reduce a magnetic field generated by an electric heating body, through which electric currents flow in opposite directions.
2. Description of the Related Art
To control the temperature of an electric heater, two methods are commonly used. One is a thermometer method in which a temperature sensor is installed in the electric heater to control the temperature of the electric heater, which is heated by an electric current flowing through its heating wire, so that the change in temperature can be detected and controlled. The other is a sensing wire method in which a thermo-sensitive insulation resin is used to detect and control the change in electric current flowing through its sensing wire by using the impedance of a nylon thermistor, which is an insulation covering.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, an electric heating cable according to the sensing wire method using thermo-sensitive insulation resin may include a heating wire insulated by a nylon thermistor (NTC), which changes its impedance in accordance with the temperature of the heating wire, a sensing wire, which is wound on the nylon thermistor, and an exterior insulation covering, which covers the sensing wire.
In the sensing wire method using the thermo-sensitive insulation resin, the heating wire produces heat when an electric current flows through the heating wire, and the sensing wire controls the temperature of the electric heating cable by sensing the change in electric current that is caused by the changing impedance of the thermo-sensitive resin, which is changed in accordance with the temperature of the heating wire.
Compared to the method of using a separate temperature sensor and a bi-metal, which is for preventing overheating, the sensing wire method using the thermo-sensitive insulation resin is widely used because it uses a typical heating wire and the thermosensitive wire itself can not only sense a change in temperature but also prevent overheating, thereby facilitating easier installation and lowering the manufacturing costs.
Furthermore, since the sensing wire is wound on the heating wire from one end to the other, its ability to prevent local overheating is much more reliable than the thermometer method using a typical temperature sensor.
For example, in the case of an electric mat, if the electric mat is folded or a heavy object, for example, a pillow, is placed on the electric mat, the thermometer method, which generally uses two temperature sensors and two bi-metals for a typical electric mat for two persons would not accurately sense the change in temperature if the portion that is partially folded or loaded with the heavy object is too far away from the temperature sensors and the bi-metals.
Consequently, the folded portion may be overheated compared to the unfolded portions because its temperature is not sensed by the temperature sensors.
Installing more temperature sensors in the electric mat may increase the reliability of sensing the overheating but would be practically impossible due to the working conditions or manufacturing costs.
Compared to the thermometer method, the sensing wire method using the thermo-sensitive insulation resin can sense the change in temperature even if a certain portion is folded or pressed, because the sensing wire is installed throughout the heating wire. Thus, overheating can be prevented from occurring despite a local overheating.
Nevertheless, the sensing wire method is unable to detect local overheating completely with the 100 percent accuracy. As a result, there have been complaints raised by the users every year due to accidents, for example, fires and burns, caused by the local overheating.
This is because the electric currents show different values for different overheating areas although the temperature rise is the same, due to different voltages caused by voltage drop at different locations of the sensing wire using a nylon thermistor.
Therefore, temperature may be detected differently at different locations of the heating wire, causing a burn to the user, causing a fire or shortening the product life.
Moreover, in case local overheating occurs at an area near the ground, sensing currents may not be sufficient enough to generate a signal to cut off the power supply despite the continuous increase in temperature. Consequently, the heating cable can reach dangerous temperatures to cause a burn or fire.
In the case of electric mats and electric floor mats, the heating wire is typically installed in the method illustrated in FIG. 2. However, if the temperature control device is unable to accurately detect an increase in temperature at different locations, as described above, the temperature may or may not be properly controlled depending on the location where the user lies and may cause overheating.
Even though the temperature control device is preset by the user at a desirable temperature, the temperature of the heating cable may be rise or drop depending on the location where the user lies. As a result, the user may have to turn the dial up or down to maintain the desirable temperature, causing inconvenience to the user.
Also, if a defect occurs in some parts of the temperature control device (especially if a power control component (SCR) malfunctions so that electrical conduction is formed, or if the change in temperature is detected inaccurately because of a short-circuit in the sensing wire), the accidents described above may occur.
Therefore, a minimal safety measure is inevitably needed.
Recently, as it has become known that a magnetic field may be harmful to humans, the development of a sensing wire that can block a harmful magnetic field is currently under way. KR Patent Publication No. 1999-012089 discloses a way of blocking a harmful magnetic field. In FIG. 1 of this example, two heating wires are combined to form a double structure, and a terminal unit is electrically connected to the double structure. When power is supplied to the heating wires, the electric currents flowing through the two parallel heating wires flow in opposite directions, and thus a magnetic field formed between the two heating wires can be offset by the two opposite flowing currents.
In this type of heating wires for blocking a magnetic field, the two heating wires may be closely positioned by interposing an insulation material in between them, or a PVC or silicon covering may be formed around one heating wire, and then another heating wire may be wound on the heating wire so as to block the magnetic field.
Although such methods described above may block the harmful magnetic field, a heating current still flows through the sensing wire so that the sensing wire may be unable to detect a minute change in electric current according to the change in impedance of the thermo-sensitive insulation resin.
Therefore, the sensing wire method using the thermo-sensitive insulation resin may not be used alone, and an additional temperature controlling method must be employed. As a result, the manufacturing costs, the manufacturing process and the manufacturing time may be increased.
The technology shown in FIG. 3 is a heating wire structure that can block a magnetic field, and was disclosed by the inventor of this application to complement those disadvantages described above in KR Patent No. 10-0871682.
The technology shown in FIG. 2 is a triple-structured electric heating cable, in which a first wire, i.e., the main wire, is used as a heating wire and then insulated with a nylon thermo-sensitive resin, i.e., the insulation covering. After the nylon thermo-sensitive resin is formed around the first wire, a second wire, i.e., the temperature sensing wire, is wound on the nylon thermo-sensitive resin.
Afterwards, a PVC covering is formed around the outer surface of the temperature sensing wire, and then a third wire, i.e., the heating wire, is wound on the PVC covering. Therefore, the first wire and the third wire are electrically connected to each other.
In this structure, when power is supplied to the first wire and the third wire, the electric currents flowing in the first and third wires flow in opposite directions, and thus the magnetic field formed between them can be offset by the opposite flowing currents. Also, the temperature of the system can be controlled by measuring the change in impedance of the thermo-sensitive resin, which is interposed between the first wire and the second wire.
Although the method described above complements some problems associated with a method using an additional temperature sensor or bi-metal, the triple-structured electric heating cable becomes too thick to be employed in a thinner product, for example, a carpet or a blanket. Also, this method still does not reduce the manufacturing costs and shorten the manufacturing time.

Temperature control device of electric heater using thermo-sensitive resin and safety device thereof


Services may be provided in a networked applications services environment by authorizing access to different services from different service providers included in an aggregated system of service providers based on different aggregated authorization levels associated with users. Related systems and computer program products are also disclosed.

It is known to provide aggregated services via a single "sign-on" where a user may access the services after having their identity authenticated via the sign-on. As used herein, the term "authenticated" refers to a determination that the user is who he/she is purported to be using, for example, a usemame and password associated with the user. However, in some single sign-on aggregated systems, a user may still be required to separately gain access to each of the services provided by the aggregated system before use may be made of the services. For example, if a user signs-on an aggregated system to access two different services provided by two different service providers, the user may be authenticated by a sign-on, but may still need authorization to access the services by providing further information to one or the other of the two services.
Two examples of such single sign-on aggregated systems discussed above are the .NET Passport system ("Passport") made available by Microsoft, Inc. of Redmond, Wash. and the Liberty system ("Liberty") made available by Sun MicroSystems, Inc. of Mountain View, Calif. The Passport system provides for authentication of a user by creating a set of credentials that enable the user to sign-on to any of the services (such as that offered by a website) that supports the Passport service. An exemplary representation of the Passport system is shown in FIG. 1, including a Passport server 115 and three service providers 110A-C each of which supports the Passport system 100. According to FIG. 1, a user can access the Passport system using, for example, a computer 101 by signing-on to the service provider 110A over a link 105. The service provider 110A redirects the user's sign-on to the Passport server 115 via a link 120, whereupon the user signs-on to the Passport server 115. The Passport server 115 can authenticate the user's sign-on information using locally accessible user identity information 130. If the user's sign-on information is authenticated, the user is redirected from the Passport server 115 back to the service provider 110A via a link 135, whereupon service provider 110A allows the user to access services provided thereon. It will be understood that service providers 110B and C may operate similarly.
An exemplary illustration of the Liberty system is shown in FIG. 2, including service providers 210A-C and an identity server 214. In particular, a user can access services via the Liberty system 200 over a link 205 to the service provider 210A using, for example, a computer 201. The user's sign-on to the service provider 210A is redirected to the identity server 214 via a link 220 whereupon the user signs on using identity information 230 available to the identity server 214. The identity server 214 uses the identity information 230 to determine whether the user (identified by the identity information 206A-C) is an authentic user known to the service provider 210A over a link 222, 210B over a link 223, or 210C over a link 224. If the identity server 214 is able to verify the authenticity of the user, the user is redirected back to the service provider 210A via link 235, whereupon the user is able to access the services via service provider 210A.
Notwithstanding the authentication services provided by aggregated systems such as Passport and Liberty, there is a need for further improvement in providing authentication and authorization transparent services via aggregated systems. Each service provider in an aggregated system does not necessarily know about the authorization levels, user identities, and services offered by the others. Accordingly, it may be difficult to authorize a user subscribed to one service provider to use services offered by others with proper levels of granularity.

Methods, systems, and computer program products for user authorization levels in aggregated systems

Ineternational Business Machines Corporation


Molten metal is differential pressure, countergravity cast into a casting mold having a heat conductive chill meter disposed in the ingate to the mold cavity. The chill member accelerates solidification of a plug of the metal in the ingate in the vicinity of the chill member after the mold cavity is filled with molten metal. The plug prevents run-out of molten metal from the mold cavity when the ingate and an underlying molten metal source are disengaged after casting. Accelerated solidification of the plug in the ingate permits early disengagement of the ingate and the molten metal source to shorten casting cycle time.

A vacuum-assisted, countergravity casting process using a gas permeable mold sealingly received in a vacuum housing is described in the Chandley et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,340,108. That countergravity casting process involves providing a mold having a porous, gas permeable upper mold member (cope) and a lower mold member (drag) sealingly engaged at a parting plane, sealing the mouth of a vacuum housing to a surface of the mold such that a vacuum chamber confronts the gas permeable upper mold member, immersing the underside of the lower mold member in an underlying molten metal pool and evacuating the vacuum chamber to urge the molten metal upwardly through one or more ingates (also referred to as pin gates) in the lower mold member into one or more mold cavities formed between the upper and lower mold members.
The ingates are so sized (e.g., typically less than 0.25 inches in diameter) to effect relatively rapid initial solidification of the molten metal in the ingate(s) prior to substantial solidification of the molten metal in the mold cavity. Once a plug of the metal is solidified in the ingate(s), the metal-filled mold can be withdrawn from the underlying pool without molten metal run-out from the mold cavity. The time that the mold ingates must remain immersed in the pool is thereby reduced and shortens the casting cycle time.
Since mold ingate immersion times in the molten metal pool (e.g., an iron melt) are on the order of only about 15 to 20 seconds using this process, the reduction of even a few seconds in the mold immersion time is appreciable and results in increased production of cast parts at lower cost.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for the differential pressure, countergravity casting of molten metal wherein the time required for engagement between the mold ingate(s) and an underlying molten metal source is reduced to shorten casting cycle time and improve production economies.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for the differential pressure, countergravity casting of molten metal wherein a chill member is disposed in the mold ingate(s) to accelerate solidification of a plug of the metal therein after the mold cavity is filled with the melt and before the mold ingate(s) and the molten metal source are disengaged.

Differential pressure, countergravity casting using mold ingate chills


A data processor includes a CPU and an A/D converter for converting one of several analog inputs into digital data. A data memory stores data designating analog inputs to be converted. A circuit, responsive to an A/D conversion completion signal from the A/D converter, supplies a macro service operation request to the CPU, which interrupts the CPU without having to save the contents of a CPU program counter and a CPU status register. Upon completion of the A/D conversion, the converted digital data are stored in a predetermined location, and CPU execution resumes.

The present invention relates to a data processor and, more particularly, to a microcomputer including an analog-to-digital converter (called hereinafter an "A/D converter") for converting a plurality of analog input channels int the corresponding digital data.
A microcomputer including an A/D converter can perform a data processing operation on an analog signal supplied thereto and is thus widely employed in various systems. When data processing on the analog signal is requested, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) in the microcomputer supplies a converting command to the A/D converter and then receives the converted data to perform the requested processing operation thereon.
There is a serious problem in the operation of the CPU after supplying the converting command to the A/D converter. The time required by the A/D converter to convert the analog signal into the digital data is considerably longer than the time required by the CPU to execute one instruction. A first prior art control method, in which subsequent processing operations by the CPU are stopped until the converted digital data is derived from the A/D converter, lowers the executing efficiency of the CPU. In order to solve this problem, a second prior art control method is employed in which the CPU continues to perform the subsequent operations after supplying the converting command to the A/D converter and the A/D converter generates an interruption request to the CPU when completing the converting operation. When the interruption request is generated, the CPU suspends operations in a main program routine and saves the contents of a program counter and a status register into a stack area of a data memory, and starts operation in an interruption program routine. The program counter is used for reading each instruction out of a program memory and the status register stores status data representative of an executing condition of the CPU. In accordance with the operation in the interruption program routine, the CPU reads the converted data from the A/D converter and transfers it to a predetermined destination area of the data memory. When the operation in the interruption program routine is completed, the CPU returns the saved contents to the program counter and the status register, and then resumes the operation in the main program routine. Thus, the second control method can enhance the execution efficiency of the CPU. However, in order for the CPU to start to execute the interruption program routine and resume the suspended main program routine, overheads are required for saving the contents of the program counter and the status register and for returning the saved contents thereto, respectively. For this reason, this control method restricts the execution efficiency and processing capability of the CPU.
In order to overcome the drawbacks of the first and second control methods, therefore, a new control method has been disclosed in a copending application Ser. No. 06,707,617 filed on Mar. 4, 1985. This control method performs the operation responsive to the completion of the A/D conversion, i.e. the transfer of the converted data to the destination area, without intervention of any user's program operation. More specifically, the microcomputer disclosed in the above copending application is constructed to perform two types of interruption operation, the first one of which is executed by use of a user's interruption program and is thus required to save the contents of the program counter and the status register and the second one of which is executed by without use of a user's interruption program by holding the contents of the program counter and status register. When the A/D converter generates the interruption request by designating the second type of interruption operation, the CPU suspends the program operation which is currently being executed, inhibits the contents of the program counter and status register from being varied, and then transfers the converted data to the destination area without saving the contents of the program counter and status register and by holding them as they are. After the converted data is transferred to the destination area, the CPU allows the program counter and status register to change to resume the suspended program operation. The second type of interruption operation is also called "macro service operation". With to the macro service operation, the above-mentioned overheads are not required, so that the execution efficiency and processing capability of the CPU are enhanced remarkably.
However, the above copending application discloses the macro service operation for a single analog input channel. Some systems are required to process a plurality of analog input channels, and two or more channels thereof may be simultaneously subjected to the conversion request to perform a desired operation.

Data processor including an A/D converter for converting a plurality of analog input channels into digital data


Systems and methods for reducing the probability of a collision between a first object, whose trajectory is substantially controlled by an operator input command, and a second object. In one embodiment such a method includes receiving an operator input command indicative of first control data; generating model data indicative of a virtual construct of the physical environment proximal to the first object; processing the first control data to predict future dynamics of the first object in the environment; determining whether, on the basis of the predicted dynamics and the model data, the first object is predicted to collide with a second object in the environment; defining second control data for which the first object is not predicted to collide with the second object in the environment; and providing the second control data to a controller coupled to the first object such that the first object is controlled in accordance with the second control data for substantially avoiding the collision of the first object with the second object.

Any discussion of the background art throughout the specification should in no way be considered as an admission that such background are is prior art that is widely known or forms part of the common general knowledge in the field.
Collisions present a significant risk in the context of the operation of machinery. Traditionally, in cases where machinery is under the control of a human operator, it is the task of that operator to manually avoid collisions.
In more recent times, there has been an increase in automated control of machinery. Such machinery is controlled by automated means, and does not require a human operator. Of course, in absence of a human operator, collision avoidance becomes the responsibility of an automated control system, and various technologies have been developed for collision avoidance in automated control systems.
In spite of the rise in popularity of automated control systems, in many situations, human control continues to present the most appropriate approach, if not the only feasible approach. For example, in some instances technology is not yet sufficiently advanced to allow the automated control of certain machinery for certain tasks. In other instances, although the technology for automated control exists, the costs and/or logistics render such approaches impractical.
The ability of a human operator to manually avoid collisions is inherently limited, for example by factors such as experience, fatigue and the like. Various technologies therefore have been applied to human operated machinery to reduce the risk of collisions, with the general approach being to limit certain otherwise possible movements of the machinery. In the context of electric mining shovels, such technologies include Boom Profiling, which protects against dipper contact with a boom, and Cable Reel Protection, which protects against dipper contact with a cable reeler by inhibiting the machine house from swinging inside a predefined are at the rear of the machine. However, such technologies are relatively rudimentary in the overall scheme of the problems they attempt to solve.
There is a need in the art for systems and methods for reducing the probability of a collision between a first object whose trajectory is substantially controlled by an operator input command and a second object.

Collision avoidance for electric mining shovels


A zoom lens for projection includes a negative magnification-side lens group fixed while magnification is changed, a plurality of lens groups that move while magnification is changed, and a positive reduction-side lens group fixed while magnification is changed which are arranged in this order from the magnification side. The magnification-side lens group is composed of a negative front-group and a positive rear-group, arranged in this order from the magnification side. The rear-group is composed of a positive lens, a negative lens and a positive lens, arranged in this order from the magnification side, and focusing is performed by moving the rear-group. Further, the following formulas (1) and (2) are satisfied:1.73<NdRpAVE  (1);and60<νdRn  (2),where                NdRpAVE is an average value of refractive indices of the positive lenses in the rear-group, and        νdRn is the Abbe number of the negative lens in the rear-group.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a zoom lens for projection especially appropriate for projection onto a large screen in a movie theater or the like, and to a projection-type display apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, projector apparatuses (projection-type display apparatuses) using light valves, such as a liquid crystal display device and a DMD (Digital Micromirror Device: Registered Trademark) display device, and which project images by using lenses having relatively long back focus, were widely used.
In recent years, projector apparatuses that can project higher definition images appropriate for large screens gradually started to be used in movie theaters or the like.
The projector apparatuses for such a purpose adopt a reflective liquid crystal display device method or a DMD three panel method. Therefore, projection lenses used in the projector apparatuses need to have longer back focus, and excellent telecentricity similar to other kinds of projector apparatus.
Meanwhile, as a zoom lens for projection used in such a projector apparatus, a zoom lens that is focused by moving a first lens group on the magnification side of the zoom lens is known. However, since the outer diameter of the first lens group is generally large, the weight of the first lens group is heavy. Therefore, when the first lens group is moved to focus the zoom lens, a load on a mechanism for focusing tends to be large. As an attempt to solve such problems, a zoom lens in which a first lens group is divided into a first-lens-group front group and a first-lens-group rear group, arranged in this order from the magnification side, is known (please refer to U.S. Pat. No. 7,576,921 (Patent Document 1) and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2004-226803 (Patent Document 2)). In the zoom lens, focusing is performed by moving only the first-lens-group rear group in the direction of an optical axis, while the first-lens-group front group is fixed. Further, a zoom lens in which focusing is performed by moving, in the direction of an optical axis, a lens group (third lens group, for example) that is located on the reduction side of the first lens group and that moves while magnification is changed is known (please refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2006-162700 (Patent Document 3)).
However, in the zoom lens disclosed in Patent Document 1, the first-lens-group rear group that is moved in focusing is composed of a lens. Therefore, there is a problem that chromatic aberrations caused by focusing are too large.
Further, in the zoom lens disclosed in Patent Document 2, the first-lens-group rear group that is moved in focusing is composed of four lenses, namely, second through fifth lenses in the first lens group. Therefore, a load on the mechanism for focusing is not reduced, compared with the case of moving the whole first lens group.
Further, in the zoom lens disclosed in Patent Document 3, focusing is performed by moving the third lens group, which moves while magnification is changed. Therefore, a lens movement mechanism for focusing, which operates separately from a lens movement mechanism for zooming, needs to be provided in addition to the lens movement mechanism for zooming. Hence, the lens movement mechanisms become enormously complex.

Zoom lens for projection and projection-type display apparatus


The portable object is equipped with an antenna inductively coupled to a fixed station of a remote transmission device. The portable object comprises a variable load impedance and a rectifier connected in parallel to the terminals of the antenna, a regulation loop of the voltage at the terminals of the load impedance, connected between the output of the rectifier and a control terminal of the load impedance. The regulation loop comprises, in series, means for determining a difference between a setpoint voltage and the output voltage of the rectifier, a one-bit analog-to-digital converter, and command means of integrator type. The command means comprise a gain control input connected to an output of the gain control means receiving on input signals representative of the difference. Demodulation means are connected to the output of the converter.

The invention relates to a portable object equipped with an antenna inductively coupled to a fixed station of a remote transmission device, the portable object comprising a variable load impedance and a rectifier connected in parallel to the terminals of the antenna, a regulation loop of the voltage at the terminals of the load impedance, connected between the rectifier output and a control terminal of the load impedance, the regulation loop comprising, in series, means for determining a difference between a setpoint voltage and the output voltage of the rectifier, a one-bit analog-to-digital converter, and command means of integrator type, demodulation means being connected to the converter output.

Portable object inductively coupled to a fixed station and comprising gain control means


The present invention provides a method for sharing I/O facilities among logical partitions. A remote translation control entry table is created on a hosted partition appearing to own a virtual copy of the I/O facilities to be shared. The remote translation control entry table on the hosted partition is loaded with data from a hypervisor in response to requests made by the OS running in the hosted partition. The hypervisor, in response to requests from the OS running in the hosting partition, copies the data from the remote translation control entry into a standard translation control entry table on the hosting partition owning the physical I/O facilities that target the I/O page buffers of the hosted partition to perform the desired I/O operation. The I/O page buffers of the hosted partition are accessed by the hosting partition""s I/O facilities using the data stored in the standard translation control entry table.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an improved data processing system. In particular, the present invention relates to a method, apparatus, and computer instructions for sharing input/output (I/O) facilities owned by a logical partition with other logical partitions.
2. Description of Related Art
Computing platforms that support partitioning, and even more importantly logical partitioning, such as the IBM iSeries and pSeries, often run small independent operating system images known as xe2x80x9chosted partitionsxe2x80x9d. xe2x80x9cHosted partitionsxe2x80x9d are logical partitions that rely on another one of the platform""s logical partitions known as xe2x80x9chosting partitionsxe2x80x9d to provide some or all of the hosted partition""s physical I/O facilities. Several hosted partitions can share the physical I/O facilities, such as for example disk adapters and devices, of the hosting partition. In principal any I/O device owned by a hosting partition may be shared with a hosted partition, these include but are not limited to tape, CD, and DVD drives, Local Area Network adapters such as token ring or ethernet, serial ports and terminals, non-volatile ram, real time clock and timer devices. This invention relates to any of these or other I/O devices that uses Direct Memory Access (DMA) facilities.
The current art of DMA transfers, as practiced by the IBM iSeries and pSeries computer platforms, includes a level of address translation called a translation control entry (TCE) table, per I/O adapter. The TCE tables within logically partitioned platforms are maintained by a platform firmware component known as the hypervisor, which insures that the data within the TCE directs the DMA accesses of I/O adapters to the proper target memory. Currently, the hypervisor requires that this target memory is owned by the partition owning the I/O adapter.
Current art provides a communications path among the various partitions through the hypervisor. This path is used to exchange I/O requests and responses by the means of the hypervisor copying data between the memory, which is owned by the hosted and hosting partitions. The primary responsibility of the hypervisor is to protect one partition""s memory from corruption by errors in other partitions. Therefore, the hypervisor must mediate any data movement between partitions to insure that the only data approved by their respective owning partitions are involved. With current art, the only two means available are to copy the data between two buffers, one in the source and one in the destination, or to map a segment of memory for shared access by both partitions. The former requires that when the hosting partition makes an I/O request of the hosted partition, in addition to the direct memory access (DMA) transfer of data to and from the I/O adapter, the hypervisor must copy, using processor loads and stores, the data between hosted and hosting partitions. These data copy operations significantly add to the overhead of doing I/O in a hosted or hosting environment, especially as the size of I/O data associated with an I/O operation increases. The other alternative of mapping a shared segment of storage involves operational problems including significant increase in memory consumption, and difficulty in reclaiming memory in the face of errors.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have an improved method, apparatus, and computer instructions for logical partitions to share physical I/O facilities with other logical partitions.
The present invention provides a method, apparatus, and computer implemented instructions for sharing virtual I/O facilities of logical partitions with other logical partitions using shared translation control entries. The present invention creates a remote translation control entry table for a hosted partition, wherein the hosted partition is a logical partition sharing the I/O facilities owned by a hosting partition. The remote translation control entry table of the hosted partition is loaded by the hypervisor in response to request made by the hosted partition""s Operating System. The hypervisor copies selected entries from the remote translation control entry table into selected entries in a standard translation control entry table maintained for a hosting partition per requests made by the hosting partition""s Operating System, wherein the hosting partition is the logical partition owning the physical I/O facilities making them available to the hosted partition as virtual I/O facilities. These virtual I/O facilities of the hosted partition are realized by the hosting partition""s physical I/O facilities, accessing the hosted partition""s memory using the data stored in the standard translation control entry table on the hosting partition as copied by the hypervisor from the remote TCE tables of the hosted partition""s virtual I/O facilities.

Logical partition hosted virtual input/output using shared translation control entries

International Business Machines Corporation


A connecting strut for a chassis of a vehicle comprises an elongated carrier which has at least two carrier elements spaced apart from each other. The carrier elements are connected with each other at their ends by means of a respective connecting element. The carrier has a low torsional stiffness and a high bending stiffness with respect to its longitudinal axis.

The invention relates to a connecting strut, in particular for a chassis of a vehicle.
To connect an axis or a wheel suspension of a vehicle with the vehicle body, connecting struts, so-called links are often used. The links are fastened for pivoting movement, on the one hand, to the vehicle body, and, on the other hand, to the axis or the wheel suspension by means of a bearing, so that a movement of the wheel suspension in the vertical direction (compression and rebounding) is possible. However, upon compression, the wheel orientation, the so-called camber of the wheel suspension may possibly be changed in addition to the vertical position of the wheel suspension, for example when a wheel compresses unilaterally. The wheel suspension is then pivoted about an axis extending along the longitudinal axis of the vehicle. The torsion thus generated must be compensated by the bearings by means of which the connecting strut is connected with the vehicle body or the wheel suspension. The design and manufacturing of such bearings which permit this relative rotation are however complicated and costly.
Document DE 101 53 799 A1 shows a connecting strut which is composed of an elongated base body and two terminal bearing receptions for introducing and evacuating forces. The base body is made of a unit at least composed of a flat metal insert and a plastic structure which forms the remaining contour and is realized by injection molding around the metal insert. The metal insert is configured in a solid manner, which leads to a comparatively high torsional stiffness. The connecting strut can furthermore have a curvature in the plane of the center metal insert, the torsional stiffness thus being also comparatively high.
Document DE 39 21 468 C1 shows a connecting strut according to the generic part of claim 1 in the form of a link for motor vehicle wheel suspensions. Such a link is formed of two identical compression molding pieces each comprising at one end an annular collar, these annular collars being directed towards each other. The compression molding pieces extend parallel to each other and have along the majority of their longitudinal extension a flat U-shaped cross-section, the U-legs bent from a web of this cross-section being directed towards each other. This configuration of the compression molding pieces gives the connecting strut a comparatively high torsional stiffness.


In response to determining that a target vehicle is at large, identification information associated with the target vehicle's license plate may be retrieved and used to generate one or more synthetic license plate images. The synthetic license plate images may be subjected to one or more transformation to cause them to resemble authentic license plate image captures and/or to mimic authentic license plate image captures from existing and operational ALPR system cameras. Target signatures may then be calculated from the synthetic license plate images. Upon capturing an authentic license plate image using an ALPR system camera, a signature of the authentic license plate image may be calculated. If a match is found between the signature of the authentic license plate image and a target signature, law enforcement may be alerted that the target vehicle was detected at the location of the ALPR system camera.

In law enforcement and other contexts, it is frequently necessary to locate specific vehicles. For example, in the case of a missing person alert, law enforcement may use surveillance technology, such as video or still-frame cameras to determine whether a vehicle owned by the missing person ("target vehicle") has passed through a monitored intersection or toll booth. Captured images of vehicles may be analyzed to determine license plate information using optical character recognition or image signature matching. However, in some cases, previously captured images of the target vehicle license plate may not exist, in which case signature matching may be ineffective for determining license plate information from captured images.
Accordingly, there is a need for methods and systems for improved signature matching when searching for wanted vehicles.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Methods and systems for improving yield in wanted vehicle searches


The invention discloses an assistant standing seat comprising a base having a positioning nest and a locating recess, a driving module installed in the positioning nest of the base, a shearing device mounted in the locating recess of the base and a seat mounted on the shearing device, wherein the shearing device has a top plate, a bottom plate pivotally mounted to a front part of the top plate, a U-shape bracket pivotally mounted to a middle part of the bottom plate and a translational device moving between the U-shape bracket and the bottom plate. With the above seat, a user's weight can be distributed to the top plate and the U-shape bracket to decrease a resistance force of the translational device when the translational device moves, and further avoid a difficult elevation of the assistant standing seat.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an assistant standing seat, and more particularly to the assistant standing seat capable of assisting a user to change from a sitting posture to a standing posture easily, so as to reduce the burden exerted onto the user's knee and the force expended.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
A knee joint is one of the most frequently moving parts of a human body, and many movements, such as walking, running, jumping, squatting, and kneeling, require the assistance and coordination of the knee joint to complete a smooth movement. However, our body and organs will become deteriorated due to aging, and there is no exception to the knee joint. Many people are suffered for knee joint problem caused by injury or a long-time use of the knee joint, such that they feel pain of knee joint during a movement, and the knee joint may not be bent or moved easily. Therefore, the knee joint pain is a troublesome problem to many people, regardless of they are male, female, young or old.
In the movements of our daily life, the knee joint is one of the very important joints. For example, switching sitting posture and a standing posture requires the use of the knee joint, and thus patients with a knee joint problem will feel painful and uncomfortable when they change postures between a sitting position and a standing position. Therefore, related manufacturers produce medical devices or accessories to help patients to reduce the pain and discomfort caused by changing their postures.
A portable occupant-arising assist chair with torsion springs as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,116,100 is placed on a soft chair such as an easy chair or sofa to help its user in being seated an arising, includes a rigid U-shaped lower frame that is spanned by a sheet of pliable material that is in contact with the seat, and further includes an upper U-shaped frame formed of tubing that is spanned by a rigid panel. The upper frame is resiliently and pivotally mounted to the lower frame by means of left and right torsion springs, which apply an upward force to the rigid panel to facilitate the user to sit down or arise.
A portable seating assist device as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,316,370 can be used in different chairs and furniture to facilitate users to change from a sitting posture to a standing posture, wherein the portable seating assist device comprises a base portion placed on the horizontal surface of a chair, a seating surface hingedly mounted to the base, and a compression spring mounted between the seating surface and the base to urge the two apart and allow an upwardly assisted motion between a closed and open position, so as to allow a user to stand up gradually from a sitting posture and reduce the burden exerted onto the knee joint.
However, the portable occupant-arising assist chair and the portable seating assist device are not suitable for an over-weight user. Since this device just uses a compression spring or a torsion spring as a lifting force source to provide a rising force for the elevation, and the rising force varies (or becomes weaker) with the condition of spreading open the portable seating assist device. Therefore, the compression spring is usually insufficient to support overweight users.
As disclosed in Pat. Application No. US 2003/090135 (A1), the electric seat assist device comprises: a base, a seat pivotally secured to a forward portion of the base, a scissors mechanism for use in moving the seat relative to the base, and the scissors mechanism including at least one upper cam surface extending from the bottom of the seat, a lower cam surface extending upwardly from the base, an electric control module using an electric motor as a force source, and being positioned between the upper and lower cam surfaces, and drive means for moving the seat with respect to the base to facilitate a user to change postures between a sitting posture and a standing posture.
The electric seat assist device uses the electric motor as the force source to overcome the drawback of the compression spring used in the portable seating assist device, and allow a user to apply a certain force in the process of changing postures from the sitting posture to the standing posture to assist the user to stand up. However, the scissors mechanism of the electric seat assist device has to fully support the weight of the user. Therefore, the weight of the user directly increases the resistance of the scissors mechanism that can move between the base and the seat. As a result, the electric seat assist device cannot be elevated easily.
Regardless of the portable seating assist device as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,316,370 or the electric seat assist device as disclosed in the U.S. Pat. Application No. US 2003/090135 (A1), the assist devices are insufficient for overweight users. Obviously, the structures of the conventional seats still require improvements.


The present invention generally relates to methods and process agents for bitumen extraction from ore. More specifically, the method comprises contacting a process agent to the ore and adding water to form a bitumen-containing slurry. The process agent comprises sodium silicate, an aluminate, a dodecyl sulfate, or a combination thereof.

The largest oil sands deposit can be found in northern Alberta, Canada within the Athabasca region. Oil sands are comprised of a mixture of bitumen, solids, and water. The bitumen component of the oil sands consists of a heavy, viscous crude oil having a relatively high sulfur content. The various components can be extracted or separated and refined to generate numerous downstream commercial products. Specifically, bitumen can be separated from the oil sands to produce synthetic crude oil capable of being processed into various products.
The oil sands can be mined by truck and shovel and transported to an extraction facility. Bitumen can be removed from the oil sands by an extraction process of mixing the oil sand with hot water to form an ore-water slurry. Chemicals can optionally be added to the ore-water slurry to enhance the bitumen recovery. A well known extraction enhancement technique is to increase the pH of the slurry to increase the water-solubility of the bitumen. However, increasing the pH can also ionize organic acids and produce natural surfactants, extract the natural surfactants from the bitumen, and scavenge divalent cations, e.g., calcium and magnesium, thereby forming the metal carbonates
Traditionally, additives such as caustic soda (NaOH) and/or soda ash (Na2CO3) are added to the ore-slurry mixture to increase the pH and the water-soluble fraction of bitumen. The surfactant formation can cause emulsification during froth treatment and hinder the settling of the tailings.
During forth treatment, emulsification of released bitumen in water and suspension of fine particles in the aqueous phase can occur. Emulsification can greatly reduce the overall bitumen extraction efficiency and cause environmental problems when the process water is being disposed. Additionally, an increased tailings settling time can lead to a reduction in land reclamation and water recirculation.
Therefore, a need exits to develop a process agent that can enhance bitumen recovery and froth quality while maintaining a short settling time and high water clarity.

Methods for enhancing hydrocarbon recovery from oil sands


A deep learning based diagnostic model capable of diagnosing multi-cancer using biomarker group-related value information is trained by using a method including steps of: in response to acquiring training data including the biomarker group-related value information and GT (Ground Truth) cancer information for each of patients, inputting the training data into the diagnostic model and then instructing the diagnostic model to (i) allow each hidden layer, among a first hidden layer to a K-th hidden layer, to perform a fully connected operation on its previous sub input values for training obtained from its previous hidden layer, wherein K is an integer greater than or equal to 1, and then (ii) allow an output layer to perform a fully connected operation on K-th sub input values for training obtained from the K-th hidden layer, to thereby output multi-cancer diagnosis information for training as a result of predicting multi-cancer.

Tumor metastasis represents that some portion of a tumor is detached from a part of the body of patient and moves to other parts of the body via blood, which is an important cause of cancer-related death. A general way of diagnosing a tumor status is a biopsy which detaches and examines a part of tissue in an early stage of metastasis. It is, however, not easy to determine an exact part of the body from which the tissue is removed. As an alternative way, a liquid biopsy attracting attention in recent years can detect tumor cells in a biological sample such as blood, urine, etc. derived from a patient's body. According to the liquid biopsy, a cancer in the early stage can be detected and diagnosed and additionally a progression of cancer and its corresponding cure can be monitored.
A biomarker is a measurable indicator of some biological state or condition. Biomarkers are often measured and evaluated using blood, urine, or soft tissues to examine normal biological processes, pathogenic processes, or pharmacologic responses to a therapeutic intervention. The biomarkers can detect changes in the body by using proteins, nucleic acids, and metabolites contained in biological samples.
However, since there is a limit in diagnosing cancer with a biomarker, a cancer diagnosing method using a complex biomarkers with an improvement in diagnostic sensitivity and specificity is currently used in this field.
However, in case of predicting a certain cancer by using such complex biomarkers, a specific biomarker included in the complex biomarkers may not only represent an indicator for the certain cancer but also represent another indicator for another cancer. Thus, the certain cancer may be wrongly predicted by using the complex biomarkers.
As an example, it may indicate the adenocarcinoma as a result of prediction by using biomarker group-related value information derived from the complex biomarkers, although a patient's cancer is actually squamous cell carcinoma.
Also, in predicting a cancer by using the biomarker group-related value information of the complex biomarkers, there is a possibility of acquiring a different result according to a doctor in charge.
In order to solve the aforementioned issues, various studies on deep learning based diagnostic models for classifying cancers using biomarker group-related value information of complex biomarkers are being conducted.
Such a deep learning based diagnostic model has a complex structure with multiple hidden layers because it is necessary to accurately classify the multi-cancer even when it is difficult to distinguish one or more cancers among the multi-cancer by using the biomarker group-related value information.
However, among cancers to be classified using the biomarker group-related value information, there are some cancers that are relatively easy to classify.
Additionally, among the biomarker group-related value information, there are some specific data that may reliably diagnose cancers.
Therefore, it is inefficient to classify some data related to easily classifiable cancers by using a deep-learning based diagnostic model of the complex structure with multiple hidden layers.
Accordingly, the applicant of the present disclosure proposes to provide a deep learning based diagnostic model that can easily classify some data related to easily classifiable cancers through a simpler structure, and classify other some data related to difficultly classifiable cancers through a complex structure.

Method for training and testing shortcut deep learning model capable of diagnosing multi-cancer using biomarker group-related value information and learning device and testing device using the same


A method of producing polyurethane foam slab by allowing a urethane foam stock solution in a tank to expand in a reduced pressure. The flatness of the top of the polyurethane foam is secured by providing a lifting jig or a plate within the tank, or by rotating the tank. An apparatus for carrying out the method is also provided.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus, both for producing ultra-low-density polyurethane foam having a flat top.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
Polyurethane form has been put to various uses. A variety of products, ranging from one having a low density to one having a high density, have been produced for various purposes.
The conventional method of adjusting the density of a polyurethane foam is to increase or decrease the amount of the foaming agent (usually, water) or the foaming promotor (a low-boiling point solvent, such as trichloromonofluoromethane or methylene chloride). To produce a low-density polyurethane foam, much water is used to enhance expansion ratio.
Foaming of polyurethane is achieved by the carbon dioxide gas generated by reacting organic isocyanate with water. In the conventional method, water must be used in a great amount in order to produce a low-density urethane foam. The use of water in large quantities, however, results in the following problems.
(1) The reaction between isocyanate and a large amount of water generates much heat, raising the internal temperature of the resultant foam. Consequently, the foam is likely to be scorched and discolored. Thus, it is necessary to add a scorch retardant.
(2) At most 6 to 7 parts by weight of water can be added to 100 parts by weight of polyol to produce a lowdensity polyurethane foam. Such a polyurethane foam is very likely to be scorched. In the worst case, the foam will cause a fire.
(3) Since a large amount of organic isocyanate, trichloromonofluoromethane, or the like must be used, the gas loss of the resultant foam is great, inevitably reducing the yield.
In the conventional method, a polyurethane foam is produced as is shown in FIG. 1. That is, first, polyurethane foam stock solution is poured into large foaming mold 1. Then, the solution is foamed, and the foamed product is cured, thereby producing a polyurethane foam slab 2. In this case, the inner surfaces of mold 1 are covered with mold-releasing paper (not shown). This method, called "batch" method, can be performed in a relatively small space. It is also advantageous in that a slab of any desired shape can be obtained by using a foaming tank of that shape.
The batch-type method, however, has a drawback. After the polyurethane foam stock solution is stirred and then poured into mold 1, the foaming proceeds, whereby the surface of the solution rises in mold 1. As the surface of the solution rises, the viscosity of the solution increases. Hence, the friction between the inner surfaces of mold 1 and the surfaces of the foaming slab, except for the top and bottom thereof, increases and hinders the foaming. Consequently, completely foamed slab 2 has a rounded top as is shown in FIG. 1; it cannot have a flat top. Inevitably, it is necessary to cut the top portion of slab 2 to provide a slab having a flat top. This means that the batch method requires an additional step of cutting a slab, and involves wasting of material (i.e., the rounded top portion of slab 2).

Apparatus for producing polyurethane foam


A handy riveter device includes a fastening screw, a casing, a handlebar and a pulling member. The casing has a left cover and a right cover connecting to each other. The casing has a receiving space, an attaching face and a top face. A hole is opened on the casing and communicating with the receiving space. The pulling member is slidably assembled into the receiving space. The pulling member has an engaging groove and a resisting block. An elastomer abuts against the pulling member and the receiving space. The handlebar is assembled into the casing partially and a pivoting rod passes through the casing and the handlebar. Under this arrangement, a user assembles the fastening screw into an articles and the handle bar and sets the handy riveter device on the articles and pushes the handlebar to fasten the articles via the fastening screw.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a riveter device, and more particularly to a handy riveter device.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional riveter device comprises a fixing bar pivoting on an operating bar, an engaging slice and a spring via a first pivoting rod so that the operating bar has an appropriate restoring force after being pressed, the fixing bar having an axial hole and a transverse hole opened thereon, the axial hole being adjacent to a transverse hole, the operating bar having a engaging portion, two axial engaging holes opened on the engaging portion and two transverse engaging holes opened on the engaging slice to fasten a handle bar so that a second pivoting rod, which is behind the handle bar, is selectively engaged with one of the axial engaging hole and the transverse engaging hole of the operating bar so as to adjust the conventional riveter device in a standing mode or a laying mode, a stretching spring connected between the operating bar and the engaging slice so that the handle bar is fastened because of the axial engaging hole and the transverse engaging hole of the engaging slice, the handle bar having two half-cut sandwiching block, an abutting block and a compressing spring defined therein, the sandwiching blocks both having a passing hole opened at a center part thereof, the passing hole having an engaging structure to engage with a fastening bolt, the handle bar being passing through a base, the base having an upper block and a bottom block defined at a rear end thereof for rotatably locking the base on the fixing bar, the base having a ring defined at a front end thereof so that the base is screwed into the fixing bar because of the ring, the base having an adjusting cylinder assembled at the front end thereof, a fixing cylinder being screwed into the base, the fixing cylinder having an attaching face for abutting against a plurality of articles which are stacked with each other, the base having a tilting hole opened at a center of the base therethrough, two half-cut moving blocks being inserted into the tilting hole, the moving blocks having a penetrating hole opened at a center between the moving blocks therethrough for inserting the fastening bolt into the handle bar via the penetrating hole, the moving blocks having a restoring member defined at a wall thereof so as to adjust a distance between the adjusting cylinder and the moving blocks for enlarging or reducing the penetrating hole of the moving blocks. Under this arrangement, firstly, a user assembles one end of the fastening bolt into the articles, and inserts another end of the fastening bolt into the handle bar via the penetrating hole, then the user put the attaching face of the riveter device on the surface of the articles to abut against the articles, and then the user pulls the operating bar of the conventional riveter device toward the fixing bar so as to fasten the fastening bolt between the articles and to fasten the articles together. Moreover, each of the fastening bolts with difference diameters is able to be set into the handle bar because the distance between the adjusting cylinder and the moving blocks is adjustable.
Another conventional riveter device comprises a case, a cylinder combined to a front part of an outer portion of the case, an abutting head combined to a front part of the cylinder and the abutting head being used to set the fastening bolt, the abutting head having an attaching face to abut against the articles, the case having a handlebar extended at a rear part therefrom, an angle between the handlebar and the cylinder being approximately 90 degree, a sliding block having two half-cut sandwiching blocks defined at a front part thereof, the sliding block passing into the cylinder, a clutch defined between the handlebar and the base, an upper part of the clutch pivoted on the case and abutting against a spring, a connecting member defined between the handlebar and a rear part of the sliding block, the connecting member pivoted on the case. Under this arrangement, firstly, the user assembles one end of the fastening bolt into the articles, and inserts another end of the fastening bolt into the handle bar, then the user attaches the attaching face of the riveter device to the surface of the articles, and then the user pulls the clutch of the riveter device so as to to fasten the fastening bolt between the articles and to fasten the articles together.
However, the conventional riveter devices have two disadvantages as following.
Firstly, the area of the attaching face between the riveter device and the articles is too small to stably operate the conventional riveter devices when the attaching face of the conventional riveter devices is abutted against the articles.
Secondly, operating the conventional riveter devices is inconvenient due to the handle bar is pushed from the articles toward the fixing bar. In this way, the riveter devices cannot attach to the surface of the articles well and the position of the riveter devices may shift so that the fastening bolt cannot be vertically inserted into the articles.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the disadvantages of the conventional.


A scanning head is provided suitable for scanning large-size documents including a plurality of contact type CCDs staggered on a common substrate with overlapping end portions, so that their sensitivity ranges are adjoined to one another, adjacent ends of two CCDs being fixed on the substrate by stops, and the opposite ends of these CCDs being elastically supported to allow for thermal expansion or contraction, there being interposed between the first CCD and the third CCD, a spacer which has a thermal expansion coefficient comparable to that of the CCDs, so that the sensitivity ranges of the second and third CCDs are matched to one another, irrespective of the expansion or contraction of the second CCD.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mounting structure for a plurality of electro-optical devices, and more particularly to a mounting structure for charge coupled devices (CCDs) in an image scanner or for LED-arrays in a printer.
2. Discussion of Related Art
In the art of image scanners using CCDs, reduction type systems and so-called contact type systems have been known. In a reduction type system, a line of a document to be scanned is imaged onto the CCD at a reduced scale, and the operative range of the CCD, i.e. the length of the line on the document to which the CCD is sensitive, is substantially larger than the length of the CCD itself. In a contact type system, the CCD is directly facing the document to be scanned and, accordingly, the sensitive range is substantially equal to the length of the CCD. In practice, the sensitive range is slightly smaller than the length of the CCD, because the CCD element has end portions which are not light-sensitive.
In commercially available CCDs, the number of light-sensitive elements which are sensitive to individual pixels is limited to approximately 5000. As a consequence, in both reduction type systems and contact type systems, the length of a line segment which can be scanned with a single CCD is along a line in such a manner that their operative ranges are consecutive. The CCDs must be carefully positioned in order to avoid the production of junction errors at the borders of the respective operative ranges when the scanned image is reproduced. However, since the CCDs and the substrate on which they are mounted are generally subject to different thermal expansion, for example because they are heated by a lamp used for illuminating the document, it is difficult to maintain a correct positional relationship between the CCDs.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,849,820 there is disclosed a reduction type scanner in which two CCDs are mounted on a common base plate which is fixed only at one end, so that it may expand or contract in the case of temperature variations. The first CCD is directly mounted on the base plate, and the second CCD is mounted on a secondary support plate one end of which is fixed to the base plate in the vicinity of the free end of the latter. The base plate and the support plate consist of different materials, and the lengths of these plates are so adapted to the respective thermal expansion coefficients that the thermal expansions cancel each other and the position of the second CCD relative to the first one remains substantially unchanged.
However, this solution is not applicable in cases where the electro-optical devices, e.g. contact type CCDs, have a substantial length and the thermal expansion of the CCDs themselves must be taken into consideration. In such cases, if only two CCDs are employed, the CCDs may be mounted in a staggered configuration with overlapping end portions, so that their operative ranges are consecutive, and both CCDs may be fixed to the substrate in the vicinity of their adjacent end portions. If, however, a third CCD is to be added, thermal expansion becomes a serious problem.

Mounting structure for electro-optical devices


A cold cathode fluorescent tube where an electron emitting electrode is sealed in shows much deterioration in the luminance with time, thereby being not adequate for a long time use. The electrode emitting electrode is formed in such a shape that an electric field is not locally concentrated. By mixing a material of high heat conductivity, such as tungsten, as the material for the electron emitting electrode or using helium of high heat conductivity as the sealing gas, a long life of the cold cathode fluorescent tube is achieved.

Generally, cold cathode fluorescent lamps of this type have been widely used in applications of backlights of liquid crystal displays and so on because it has a longer electrode life and is easily miniaturized as compared with a hot cathode fluorescent lamp using a filament. The cold cathode fluorescent lamp comprises, as generally depicted at symbol 100 in FIG. 13, a fluorescent lamp tube 101 in which a phosphor is applied to an inner surface thereof, a pair of opposing electron emitting electrodes 102, and lead wires 104 electrically connected to the electron emitting electrodes 102, respectively. The fluorescent lamp tube 101 is filled with a gas.
The fluorescent lamp tube 101 used in such a fluorescent lamp is normally formed by a glass tube and the electron emitting electrodes 102 are normally made of a low work function material, such as Ni, Ta, or Zr. Further, as the gas enclosed in the tube 101, a Hg—Ar—Ne mixed gas is normally used.
In manufacturing processes of manufacturing the cold cathode fluorescent lamp 100, the process of cleaning the tube 101 is essential. In the cleaning process of the tube 101, there has conventionally been employed a technique of feeding a cleaning liquid in one direction from one open end of the tube toward the other open end under a constant pressure, i.e. under a normal pressure.
When the cold cathode fluorescent lamp having the foregoing structure and manufactured by the foregoing technique is used in a liquid crystal display, there is a tendency that a cold cathode fluorescent lamp with a longer lifetime and a higher luminance is required following the spread of the liquid crystal displays.
In order to form the high-luminance cold cathode fluorescent lamp, it is quite important to reduce a cathode voltage drop that is generated near an electrode portion. Further, in order to reduce the cathode voltage drop, there has been widely adopted a hollow cathode structure that confines glow discharge inside a tubular electrode.
In order to further reduce the cathode voltage drop by the use of the hollow cathode, a method may be carried out which includes a simple step of applying a R2O3 type electron emission material to an inner surface of the hollow cathode to reduce an effective work function of the electrode, thereby reducing the cathode voltage drop, as disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3107743 specification (hereinafter referred to as Reference Document 1).
However, only by applying the electron emission material to the inner surface of the hollow cathode as shown in Reference Document 1, since the thermal conductivity of the electrode material is poor, La2O3 or the like being an electron emission substance evaporates to reduce the electrode life.
According to researches of the present inventors, when the tubular hollow cathode was employed, a phenomenon was observed at the start of discharge that an electric field was concentrated to an open end portion of the tube so that the electrode was sputtered. It has been found that the life of the electrode is shortened as a result of the concentration of the electric field.
Further, it has also been found that since the lead wire for supplying a voltage to the electrode is joined to the electrode by welding, a thermal resistance is generated at the joining interface and thus the heat conduction is not efficiently carried out. Further, since use is made of Ar and Ne each having a poor thermal conductivity as the noble gas components in the filled gas, the heat radiation from the electrode is not efficiently carried out so that the electrode temperature rises to reduce the electrode life.
Reviewing also the manufacturing processes, it has been found that since, in the tube cleaning process among the manufacturing processes, the cleaning liquid is delivered in the single direction and further under the constant pressure, the inside of the thin and long tube cannot be sufficiently cleaned to thereby cause a problem of adhesion failure and uneven application of the phosphor, which also reduces the life of the cold cathode fluorescent lamp.
Further, it has also been found that moisture and oxygen remaining inside the tube reduce the electrode life. With respect to the residual moisture, it has been found that there is a problem in a drying method after the cleaning. With respect to the residual oxygen, it has been found that there is a problem in an exhaust method at the time of seal-cutting the tube.
In a drying method after the cleaning, moisture inside the tube is desorbed by raising a temperature in the atmosphere. However, a problem has occurred wherein the atmospheric components enter the tube when the drying is finished and the tube is cooled, so that moisture in the atmosphere adsorbs again inside the tube.
With respect to the exhaust method at the time of the seal cutting, it has been found that since the tube is long, a pressure difference occurs inside the tube during exhausting so that the gas components inside the tube are not completely exhausted. Further, a problem has occurred wherein the components on the exhaust side of an exhaust pump are diffused back to the inside of the tube so that oxygen remains.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a fluorescent lamp, particularly a cold cathode fluorescent lamp, that can improve the light emission efficiency by improving the electron emission efficiency and that has a long lifetime.
It is another object of this invention to provide a fluorescent lamp manufacturing method that can achieve an increase in lifetime of a fluorescent lamp, an improvement in luminance, and uniformization of luminance.
It is a specific object of this invention to improve a tube cleaning process in the manufacture of a fluorescent lamp.
It is another specific object of this invention to improve a method and apparatus for drying the inside of a cold cathode lamp tube in the manufacture of a fluorescent lamp, thereby improving the life of an electrode.
It is still another specific object of this invention to improve a method of exhausting a gas inside a cold cathode lamp tube in the manufacture of a fluorescent lamp, thereby improving the life of an electrode.

Fluorescent lamp and method of manufacturing same

Foundation for Advancement of International Science


A catalyst composition for the hydrogenation of heavy hydrocarbon oil comprising at least one active ingredient for hydrogenation supported on a porous refractory oxide carrier and which has the following characteristics:. (1) the mean pore diameter of the pores thereof is in the range of 130 to 250 .ANG.; PA0 (2) the volume of pores having a pore diameter within .+-.30 .ANG. of the mean pore diameter is in the range of from not less than 30% to less than 60% of the total volume of the pores; PA0 (3) the volume of pores having a pore diameter of not larger than 80 .ANG. is not more than 13% of the total volume of the pores; PA0 (4) the volume of pores having a pore diameter of not smaller than 350 .ANG. is not more than 25% of the total volume of the pores; and PA0 (5) the ratio (mm.sup.2 /mm.sup.3) of the outer surface of a molded catalyst particle to the volume thereof is in the range of 3 to 8. There are also disclosed a process for producing the catalyst composition and a process for hydrogenating heavy hydrocarbon oil, the latter of which comprise contacting heavy hydrocarbon oil with the catalyst composition in the presence of hydrogen.

Processes for hydrogenating heavy hydrocarbon oil (hereinafter referred to simply as heavy oil) containing large amounts of asphaltene and heavy metals such as nickel and vanadium to convert the oil into desulfurized hydrocarbon oil having a low asphaltene content and increased value have been intensively studied.
When heavy oil is hydrogenated, the loading of poisoning materials per unit quantity of catalyst is high due to the presence of asphaltene or heavy metal compounds at high concentrations in the heavy oil. As a consequence, the activity of the catalyst is rapidly decreased. Asphaltene which is dispersed as colloidal particles in the heavy oil is a macromolecule. When conventional hydrodesulfurization catalysts are used, asphaltene creates high resistance to diffusion of oil in catalyst particles and coke is formed in great quantities on the surfaces of the catalyst particles, catalyst activity is rapidly decreased and the desired reactions are hindered in a short period of time. Further, heavy metals such as nickel and vanadium in the heavy oil are deposited on the surfaces of the catalyst particles and the catalyst is also poisoned by such heavy metals, that is, catalyst activity is rapidly decreased. Therefore, the catalyst must be replaced with fresh catalyst and cost is increased. In some cases, heavy oil is no longer treated by refinerys.
In carrying out the hydrodesulfurization of heavy oil of relatively good quality having an asphaltene content of not higher than about 2% and a heavy metal content of not higher than about 50 ppm with conventional processes, hydrodesulfurization catalysts having pores of a relatively small pore size of about 60 to 110 .ANG. are used. (Unless otherwise indicated, all percent and ppm are by weight.) In the hydrodesulfurization of heavy oil containing large amounts of asphaltene and heavy metals such as heavy oil having an asphaltene content of as high as more than about 3% and a heavy metal content of as high as more than about 50 ppm, poisoning materials are deposited due to the presence of asphaltene (a high molecular weight colloid) or the heavy metal compounds in substantial quantities, catalyst activity is decreased and the catalysts are deteriorated to such an extent that they can be no longer used.
When the deteriorated catalysts are taken out and analyzed, it is found that vanadium and nickel are deposited on the surface layer of the catalyst particles, pores on the surface layer are clogged and heavy oil cannot diffuse into the interior of the catalyst particles. Accordingly, it is necessary to adjust the pore distribution of the catalyst and to improve the shape of molded catalyst particles to allow the diffusion and penetration of the heavy oil into the interior of the catalyst particles to be accelerated despite the presence, of asphaltene or the content and molecular structure of the heavy metal compounds which poison the catalyst in the hydrogenation of heavy oil.
Attempts have been made to charge catalysts which have a large pore size for removing only metals in the first stage of a reactor, this stage accounting for 10 to 50% of the total capacity of the reactor, to overcome the above problem. However, this approach involves a serious disadvantage: since the pore size of the catalyst charged into the first stage is large, the active surface area of the catalyst is small and the desulfurization capability in the reaction is low from the start.
In JP-B-47-40683 (the term "JP-B" as used herein means an "examined Japanese patent publication"), JP-A-54-125192 (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application") and JP-A-57-201533, there are proposed catalysts wherein passages only for diffusion are provided in the interior of the catalyst particles to permit raw oil to diffuse into the interior of the catalyst particles without greatly enlarging pore size.
In JP-B-47-40683, large-diameter passages having a size of 100 to 1000 .ANG. or larger only for diffusion account for 20 to 30% of the total pores, and in the other two applications, large diameter passages having a size of about 500 .ANG. or larger account for about 10 to 30% of the total pores so that the life of the catalyst is prolonged and desulfurization ability is improved, even when metals are deposited. However, the large diameter passages only for diffusion are themselves merely "spaces" which have no reaction activity and such spaces account for 10 to 30% of the whole of the pores. The provision of such spaces only for diffusion reduces the area of catalytic activity in the reactor which should be as high as possible.
Accordingly, to solve the above problems, there has been a great demand to discover a hydrogenation catalyst which is excellent in desulfurization performance as well as in metal removal activity, that is, which exhibits both desulfurization and metal removal functions.

Catalyst composition for hydrogenation of heavy hydrocarbon oil and process for producing the catalyst

Cosmo Oil Company & Petroleum Energy Center