An apparatus for separating air by cryogenic distillation comprises N air compressors (C1, C2, C3) connected so as to receive air at ambient pressure and designed to produce air at a first pressure above 12 bar absolute, N being at least 3, each of the compressors being driven by a single asynchronous motor (M1, M2, M3), the total power of the compressors being at least 10 MW.

In order to limit engineering costs and to achieve purchasing savings through repetitiveness, standardised ranges of air separation apparatus have been created, ranging up to tonnages of around 700 Mt/day, or even 1000 Mt/day. These standardised productions do not always exactly correspond to the requirements of the customer or customers in terms of output and/or pressure but the cost on these small units is the main optimisation factor, and standardisation responds well to this key criterion.
Beyond these capacities, since the energy assumes greater and greater importance, so-called modular units have been introduced, the orientation this time being to standardise certain key parts, but to follow the requirements of the customers as closely as possible and to take into account in the sizing the parallel constraints of energy and investment.
EP-A-0504029 describes a pump cycle based on the concept of monomachine with a single large high-pressure air compressor.
This approach provides appreciable savings in investment compared with a traditional pump cycle, by introducing all the energy necessary with this single air machine, the discharge pressure of which may be between approximately 12 bara and 35 bara, whatever the purities and pressures of the productions required. However, this single machine, when we arrive at very high powers, is difficult to implement and starts with complex and expensive starting artifices at the motors, referred to as regulators. The number of manufacturers is also extremely small, which limits, without however destroying it, the technical and economic advantage of this approach. Some of these problems are described in "Turbomachinery Limitations for Large Air Separation Plants" by Wolentarski, Cryogenic Processes and Equipment Conference, Century 2—Emerging Technology Conferences, San Francisco, Calif., Aug. 19-21, 1980.
For reasons of maintenance and reliability, spare parts are purchased for all these critical machines, with regard to both the compressors and the motors. It is entirely acceptable to have a single set of spare parts for a group of identical machines installed on the same site, or even in the same country.
Depending on the power, the technology of the motors varies: in fact beyond 25 MW, there is on the market no motor other than synchronous, the current technology of asynchronous motors not making it possible to go beyond this limit without taking very great industrial risk.
The article "Oxygen Plants: 10 years of development and operation" in CEP July 1979 describes the use of synchronous motors and explains that three sizes of synchronous motor are stored for replacing the European compressors of the Air Liquide group, in the event of breakdown.
In general terms, the equipment cost of an air separation unit with cycles with a single high-pressure air compressor (apart from storage and vaporisation vessels and high-voltage utilities) breaks down into four main parts:
i) Compression function (compression, motor, starting equipment and associated electrics): 45% to 50%.
ii) Cold box function and associated equipment: 30% to 35%.
iii) Purification function for the hot part of the air before entry into the cold box: 10% to 15%.
iv) Miscellaneous: 5% to 10%.
It is therefore clear that reducing costs and increasing the reliability of the compressors, motors and starting equipment is a priority.
With methods using a cold booster driven by a turbine, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,475,870, or the methods as described in EP-A-0504029, all the power is introduced by the high-pressure air compressor. A booster is a compressor that compresses a gas from a pressure higher than atmospheric pressure. It is also possible to compress all the air at high pressure and not to use a booster or to use only boosters coupled to an air and nitrogen turbine, as in EP-A-0504029, so that all the power is introduced by a single high-pressure air compressor. The arrangements at the heat-exchange line, the number and type of turbines coupled to a booster and the distillation columns makes the productions compatible with the purities, pressures and throughputs required by the customer.

Method and apparatus for separating air by cryogenic distillation

L'Air Liquide Société Anonyme Pour l'Étude Et l'Exploitation des Procedes Georges Claude


Marking instrument having a cap with a sound producing apparatus mounted therein. The sound producing apparatus includes a sound generating electronic member along with a switch and an optional button for controlling the mode of operation of the switch for determining whether the sound and/or music is generated thereby. The sound producing apparatus is retained within the cap between an intermediately positioned shoulder member and a retaining ring extending into the upper opening of the cap. The retaining ring defines an orifice through which the button member or switch means of the electronic member may extend. The retaining ring is preferably formed as a single integral member with a clip for facilitating mounting thereof with respect to the marking instrument cap to facilitate retaining of the clip member extending longitudinally along the cap of the writing instrument as well as holding the retaining ring within the opening of the cap for fixedly holding the sound producing apparatus therein. In this configuration the cap preferably defines a chamber for covering the marking tip which also includes the sound producing apparatus therein with the intermediate shoulder positioned therebetween.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention deals with the field of devices for marking on substrates. Such marking devices include writing instruments such as pens, pencils and mechanical pencils as well as marking implements such as markers, felt tip markers, etc.
More particularly this invention deals with the field of such marking instruments including auxiliary operating devices and most particularly the present invention deals with devices wherein the auxiliary operating apparatus comprises a sound or music generating item. The present invention provides an improved item which is capable of being produced in a very narrow profile since many prior art devices utilized for producing such music in the writing instrument field have been very large and cumbersome. Since the present invention can be produced at approximately 14.5 millimeters in diameter for the barrel or less across the cap, a more pleasing profile can be achieved as would be expected in a writing instrument which does not include any auxiliary music generating means. Furthermore the present invention is a step in advancement of the prior art since it includes a means for initiating operation of the music as well as a means for selectively terminating such music or other sound producing apparatus.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many prior art devices have been utilized for the purposes of attaching auxiliary equipment with respect to an auxiliary separate operating implement with respect to a writing instrument such as sound or music generating means as shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,371,278 patented Feb. 1, 1983 to H. Joo on a "Musical Pen"; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,763,355 patented Aug. 9, 1988 to J. Cox on a "Combined Writing And Signaling Instrument"; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,812,068 patented Mar. 14, 1989 to J. Seong on a "Writing Device With Alarm"; and U. S. Pat. No. 4,969,180 patented Nov. 6, 1990 to M. Watterson et al and assigned to I.I.N.V. Computing Ltd. on a "Cordless Pen Telephone Handset"; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,984,494 patented Jan. 15, 1991 to M. Yang on a "Tuning Pen"; and U.S. Design Pat. No. Des.324,238 patented Feb. 25, 1992 to T. Nitta and assigned to Tokai Corporation on a "Writing Instrument"; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,119,932 patented Jun. 9, 1992 to I. Semanoff and assigned to Unified Printing & Promotions Corp. on a "Musical Base For Desk Top Articles"; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,131,775 patented Jul. 21, 1992 to C. Chen on a "Retractable Pen With Illumination Means"; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,174,440 patented Dec. 29, 1992 to C. Chiu on a "Lipstick Case Equipped with A Sound Generating Unit"; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,251,112 patented Oct. 5, 1993 to M. Chen on a "Flashing And Musical Device For A Writing Implement"; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,313,557 patented May 17, 1994 to R. Osterhout and assigned to Machina on a "Pen Recorder"; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,405,207 patented Apr. 11, 1995 to L. Lubli on a "Voice Pen For Generating Audible Messages"; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,433,642 patented Jul. 18, 1995 to F. Chia on a "Toy Marking Device With Changing Display"; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,673,996 patented Oct. 7, 1997 to D. Ducker on a "Pen With Led Indicator"; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,688,063 patented Nov. 18, 1997 to K. Yu et al on a "Writing Apparatus with Massager Means".

Marking instrument with sound producing apparatus


The present technology analyzes the content of images to create complex representations of the images and then reduces the complexity of these representations into a size that is both suitable for comparison but also contains critical image descriptive aspects. These reduced complexity representations can then be used to efficiently search for similar images. Moreover, the reduced complexity representations are formatted such that they can take advantage of existing text search engines, which are well suited to efficiently searching through a large number of unique results.

Most technologies that attempt to perform text-based image searches generally use file names and metadata associated with the images to find relevant images, but this approach requires quality file names and metadata. Some techniques appears to search for images based on image content, but search approaches utilize incredible amounts of computing power, and is not practical for most use cases and does not account for the fact that internet image content that is being generated at a faster pace than ever making the search space ever larger. Moreover, approaches are not efficient enough to satisfy the need to search images quickly and in a large scale.

Visual image search using text-based search engines


Systems and methods for performing preprocessing of received data packets, to reduce processing burdens and improve efficiency of communications terminal receivers, are provided. A first stage filter receives a data frame comprising data packets representing respective encapsulated fragments of a PDU. The first stage filter parses a header of one of the packets to locate a start field, and determines whether the start field indicates that the packet comprises a start fragment of the PDU. When the start field indicates that the packet comprises the start fragment, the first stage filter determines, based on packet label information of the packet header, whether to forward the packet to a second stage filter or to discard the packet, and forwards or discards the packet accordingly. When the start field indicates that the packet does not comprise the start fragment, the first stage filter forwards the packet to the second stage filter.

Communications system networks employ various protocol levels, including encapsulation protocols. The OSI model includes seven independent protocol layers, introduced in further detail below. Generic Stream Encapsulation (GSE) provides a data link layer protocol, which facilitates the transmission of data from packet oriented protocols (e.g., Internet protocol or IP) on top of a unidirectional physical layer protocol (e.g., DVB-S2, DVB-T2 and DVB-C2). With regard to such encapsulation protocols, network terminal nodes must decode or de-encapsulate such data packets to determine which data packets are intended of destined for that particular terminal. Accordingly, in typical systems, a software filter is implemented in each terminal node, which is configured to process the header information of each and every packet to determine the particular packets that are destined for that terminal. In view of the fact that a system may include a large number of terminal nodes (many tens or hundreds of thousands, or even millions), and a substantial amount of data traffic traverses such networks, any given terminal node would be burdened with the processing of a substantial number of data packets not even destined for that terminal. Accordingly, this burden of processing such a large volume of data packets via a software filter results in a significant amount of wasted processing power and bandwidth usage, as well as significant unnecessary time delays.
What is needed, therefore, are systems and methods for performing an initial high-speed, low complexity pre-processing of received data packets to reduce the processing burdens of the customary software packet filters of terminal node receivers.

System and method for low-complexity, high-speed preprocessing of encapsulated packets in a broadband communications network


The present invention relates to a new type of safety system that is designed to protect a vehicle occupant during a rollover crash. The safety system will generally include a vehicle seat and a sensor. The sensor is designed to sense the occurrence of a rollover crash. The safety system also includes a support member that has an undeployed mode and a deployed mode. The support member converts from the undeployed mode into the deployed mode when a signal is received from the sensor indicating a rollover. The support member will generally be housed within the vehicle seat when the support member is in the undeployed mode. The support member is also anchored to the floor pan of the vehicle. When the support member is deployed into the deployed mode, the support member is disposed in effective engagement with the vehicle roof to limit movement of the roof toward the vehicle seat during rollover conditions. Accordingly, the likelihood that the vehicle roof will be collapsed onto the vehicle occupant during a crash is significantly reduced.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a system that protects a vehicle occupant during a rollover crash. More specifically, the present invention is a new type of safety system that is designed to prevent the vehicle roof from collapsing onto the vehicle occupant during a rollover crash.
2. Description of Related Art
Rollover crashes or accidents are some of the most serious accidents involving automobiles. As its name implies, a rollover crash is one in which the vehicle literally rolls over-i.e., the vehicle becomes inverted (at least for a short period of time) such that the vehicle's tires are positioned above the vehicle roof. Rollover accidents are extremely dangerous for convertible vehicles as there is no structure that will protect the occupant from harmfully impacting the ground. In fact, occupants of a convertible vehicle involved in a rollover accident are often killed or seriously injured.
Rollover accidents are a serious concern for non-convertible vehicles as well in that such accidents can cause injury/death to vehicle occupants. Generally, the occupants of a vehicle having a roof will be injured or killed in a rollover due to (1) the vehicle roof being forced down onto the occupant (thereby causing head trauma, spinal trauma, etc.) and/or (2) the occupant's head or torso being ejected through an opening in the vehicle such that the body part contacts the ground. Given these problems, a vehicle with a roof is not necessarily safer than a convertible vehicle in a rollover crash.
Because of the significant dangers/risks associated with rollover conditions, significant research and development has been conducted into constructing safety systems that protect vehicle occupants in a rollover. Some of the currently known systems include seatbelt pretensioning systems and side curtain airbag systems. While these systems provide increased protection to the vehicle occupant, such systems generally rely on specific anchorage points within the vehicle that secure the seatbelt system in place and restrain the occupant during the rollover. However, as the roof and/or side structure of the vehicle is generally deformed during a rollover, these anchorage points may move and/or become inoperable, thereby diminishing the overall effectiveness and ability of these systems to adequately protect occupants during the crash.
Other systems designed for rollover protection include deployable members, such as deployable rollbars or other structures. These systems are designed typically to support the entire weight/impact of the vehicle during a rollover. Unfortunately, for many passenger vehicles such as SUVs, the inclusion of the rollbar makes the vehicle interior cumbersome and unappealing.
Likewise, many of the rollbars or other deployable members create additional problems in that they are rigid systems that do not allow the roof to deform as part of the rollover incident. As is known in the art, it is sometimes desirable to have all or a portion of the vehicle roof deform during the rollover in that this deformation will actually dissipate some of the energy of the crash. If the roof/vehicle structure is so rigid such that no deformation occurs, there is a risk that the energy/angular momentum of the rollover crash will not be rapidly dissipated, which in turn, increases the risk that the vehicle will roll multiple times during the incident. Obviously, the more times the vehicle rolls during the crash, the greater the likelihood that the occupant will be injured. Accordingly, any safety system that does not allow all or a portion of the roof/vehicle to deform and dissipate some of the crash energy will generally be disfavored.
Other options for rollover safety systems involving the "A-pillar" and the "B-pillar" of vehicles involve making the "A-pillar" and the "B-pillar" more resistance to buckling or deformation. However, the problem with this method is that such a system adds significant unwanted weight and bulk to the vehicle, which increases the vehicle centre of gravity and hence propensity to roll-over and may also reduce the driver's visibility. Consumers will simply not accept these changes, regardless of any added benefits that may result for these changes. Accordingly, such systems are not viable "solutions" to the problems associated with rollover crashes.
Based upon the foregoing, it is clear that many currently known safety systems designed to protect a vehicle occupant during a rollover accident are inadequate or undesirable. Accordingly, it would be an advancement in the art to provide a new type of safety system that would protect vehicle occupants during rollover conditions and would overcome one or more of the problems/limitations discussed above. Such a system is disclosed herein.


The application describes methods for screening subjects with breast cancer to determine if the breast cancer will be responsive to a breast cancer therapy including a taxane or a taxane derivative. The application also describes methods for treating subjects with breast cancer by screening them for the likelihood of the effectiveness of treating the cancer with a therapy including a taxane or a taxane derivative and administering the therapy in subjects when it is found that a taxane or a taxane derivative is likely to be effective.

Human breast cancers are classifiable into five molecular distinct intrinsic subtypes, Her2-enriched, Basal-like, Luminal A, Luminal B and normal-like (Perou et al. Nature, 406(6797):747-52 (2000); Sorlie et al. PNAS, 98(19):10869-74 (2001)). Although differences in prognosis and molecular biology have been established, to date, there exists less evidence demonstrating a variation in chemosensitivity among the intrinsic subtypes.
Taxane therapy has proven to be effective against many types of tumors. However, side effects are associated with taxane therapy, including nausea and vomiting, loss of appetite, change in taste, thinned or brittle hair, pain in the joints of the arms or legs lasting two to three days, changes in the color of the nails, and tingling in the hands or toes. More serious side effects such include bruising or bleeding, pain/redness/swelling at the injection site, change in normal bowel habits for more than two days, fever, chills, cough, sore throat, difficulty swallowing, dizziness, shortness of breath, severe exhaustion, skin rash, facial flushing, female infertility by ovarian damage and chest pain. Based on these side-effects of taxane based therapy, there is a need in the art to determine types of cancer that respond best to taxane based therapy and which types of cancer would be better to treat with non-taxane based therapy.

Methods of treating breast cancer with taxane therapy

The University of Utah Research Foundation

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill


A reciprocating pump includes: a housing with a suction port and a discharge port; a reciprocated member disposed in the housing to form a pump chamber and reciprocable such that fluid is sucked into the pump chamber through the suction port and then discharged from the pump chamber through the discharge port; an actuator configured to reciprocate the reciprocated member; and a pressure gauge with a pressure receiving portion, configured to detect pressure of the fluid in the pump chamber through the pressure receiving portion, and coupled to the reciprocated member to be reciprocated by the actuator integrally with the reciprocated member.

A kind of reciprocating pumps are known, which are for transferring fluids including liquids such as chemical solutions. The reciprocating pumps include, for example, diaphragm pumps as described in Patent Document 1. Such diaphragm pumps are frequently used for manufacturing semiconductor, liquid crystal, and organic electroluminescence (EL) devices, solar cells, and light emitting diodes (LED).
Such a reciprocating pump includes a housing, a reciprocated member, an actuator, and a pressure gauge. The housing has a suction port and a discharge port. The reciprocated member, which consists of a rolling diaphragm or the like, is disposed to form a pump chamber in the housing.
The reciprocated member is reciprocable in the housing such that fluid is sucked into the pump chamber through the suction port, and then discharged from the pump chamber through the discharge port.
The actuator reciprocates a movable member. The pressure gauge has a pressure receiving portion and through it, detects the pressure of fluid in the pump chamber. The pressure gauge is attached to the housing.


A probe for detecting magnetic particles. In one embodiment, the probe includes: a cylindrical probe core having a first end and a second end, the cylindrical probe core defining two channels for containing coils of wire, one of the channels being adjacent the first end of the cylindrical probe core; two sense coils, one each of the sense coils being located in a respective one of the channels; and two drive coils, one each of the drive coils being co-located with the respective sense coil in a respective one of the channels.

The recent use of magnetic sensor probes to detect magnetic nanoparticles in the localization of sentinel lymph nodes in the staging of cancer in preparation for surgery has made the job of determining the location of the sentinel nodes easier for the surgeon. Further, the use of a probe to detect magnetic markers has also made relocating biopsy sites easier after pathology microscopic examination of excised tissue.
The inventors of the sensor probes for these systems seek to improve the design by: reducing thermal effects which cause coils in the sensor to shift with respect to one another and reduce the ability of the user to detect the signal from the magnetic nanoparticles; reducing interference caused by diamagnetic responses due to the body itself; and reducing the interference caused by eddy currents induced in objects near the sensor probe. In addition, it is desired that all these functional improvements be accomplished using a smaller sized probe with heightened sensitivity.
The present invention addresses this need.


An air filtration and aromatizer apparatus which includes a housing, a motor in the housing with a fan for drawing air through an inlet toward an outlet through a pollution-collecting chamber, and an elongated hollow tubular perforated member having an upper end connected to the motor output shaft and a lower end disposed in a bath of water. The hollow tubular member is formed in such a manner that as it is rotated by the motor, it draws water from the container under the influence of centrifugal force, and then forces the water through the perforations to form a mist or rain-like atmosphere in the path of motion of the air passing from the housing inlet toward the housing outlet.

This invention relates to an air cleaning apparatus having a pollution-collecting chamber, a container of water, and a rotatable elongated perforated tubular member having a lower and disposed in the water such that as the tubular member is rotated, the water is drawn up into the tube and out through the perforations to form a rain-like spray in the path of motion of air in the chamber.
Many air filtration devices, such as vacuum cleaners and the like, have a housing with a motor for passing air through the housing and one or more filters. In some cases the prior art devices use a water bath filter in which the unfiltered air is passed through the water to remove pollutants from the air.
The broad purpose of the present invention is to provide an improved air filtration apparatus and aromatizer having relatively few components, as well as a novel way for forming a water mist for collecting pollutants from the air.
The preferred embodiment of the invention comprises a frusto-conical housing having a motor at its upper, narrow end and a container of water at its base. A pollution-collecting chamber is disposed between the motor and the container of water. The unfiltered air is passed down into the chamber through a pair of tubes to impact on the surface of water, which functions as an initial filter.
The motor is connected to the upper end of an elongated tube. The tube has a lower end disposed in the water. The curvature of the tube is such that as the tube is rotated by the motor, the lower tube end draws water up into the mid-section of the tube where it then issues through perforations in the tube into the pollution-collecting chamber as a mist. The mist is disposed in the path of motion of air in the pollution-collecting chamber. The mist removes further pollutants from the water and passes the filtered air upwardly where it then passes through a H.E.P.A. and charcoal filter. A lazy susan support carries aromatic products to aromatize the filtered air.
Still further objects and advantages of the invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains upon reference to the following detailed description.


An improved induction motor control system utilizes an inverter supplying a variable frequency AC voltage to drive the induction motor, and volt/frequency (V/F) control section controlling the inverter to produce a suitable voltage and frequency in a predetermined relationship therebetween. A power factor detecting section is included to detect a power factor phase angle between the motor current and the inverter output voltage as indicative of an amount of load imposed on the motor. The detected power factor phase angle is compared with a predetermined phase angle which is a frequency dependent angle indicative of a standard load at a given frequency, in order to provide a control output in response to which the V/F control section alters the inverter output voltage out of the predetermined relationship with the frequency for improving motor efficiency. Thus, the detected load (i.e., power factor phase angle) can be evaluated, by simple comparison with the standard load level (reference angle), for controlling the inverter to effect the output voltage or motor torque regulation in response to the load imposed. Also, the frequency dependent reference angle can well compensate for a significant phase shifting of the motor current in relation to the inverter output voltage as seen in the low frequency range, enabling a consistent motor control even in the lower frequency range.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to an induction motor control system, and more particularly to an improved control system for controlling a variable speed induction motor on a constant volt/frequency basis.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Control systems for a variable speed induction motor are known in the art to include a vector control, slip-frequency control, and a constant volt/frequency control. These control systems utilize an inverter supplying a variable frequency AC voltage to the induction motor but differ in a manner of controlling the inverter. The constant volt/frequency control is devised to keep a motor flux constant by regulating the output voltage of the inverter in relation to a frequency in order to drive the motor efficiently, and therefor has been widely utilized among the other control systems for general application purposes by the reason that it requires no additional tachogenerataor essential in the slip-frequency control or no complicated operations inherent to the vector control.
However, at low frequency, the constant volt/frequency control technique suffers from a considerable torque drop due to a significant stator resistive drop, i.e., the reduction of the motor flux. That is, with a constant volt/frequency control it is practically impossible to regulate the torque in the low frequency range and therefore to handle a load which requires a great starting torque. To overcome the problem, the prior art has proposed a scheme of compensating for the stator resistive drop in order to obtain a constant induced air gap voltage per frequency rather than a constant inverter output voltage per frequency in the low frequency range. This scheme utilizes a predetermined volt/frequency relation or volt/frequency (V/F) curve arranged to compensate for the significant stator resistive drop at the low frequency. Such V/F curve is assigned to and effective for a specific load requirement, therefore the scheme further requires to use a number of V/F curves for different power or load requirements so that a suitable V/F curve can be selected in accordance with the torque pattern or load requirement already known to an intended work. As described, such prior art scheme is found to be effective only for a limited application where the torque pattern of a load is known, thus failing to provide a general purpose motor control system. In addition, the above prior scheme is found inconvenient in that the selection of V/F curves have to be done by an user.
To eliminate the above insufficiency, Japanese Patent Publication (KOKAI) No. 61-81197 has suggested an automatic selection of V/F curve in response to the load imposed on the motor. This patent teaches to derive the amplitude of the motor current at an angle of 90.degree. of the inverter output voltage and to utilize such amplitude of the motor current as an index of the load imposed in controlling the inverter. That is, the system monitors the amount of the motor current at a particular angle to indicative of the instantaneous load and selects a suitable V/F curve prepared for such load in a proportional control basis. Although the system enables an automatic selection of V/F curve or motor torque regulation with varying loads, the above proportional control requires a rather complicated analog circuit which is hindrance to reducing the manufacturing cost of the control system. In addition, the control system is found not to operate reliably at the low frequency. The unreliability comes from that the above index of the load becomes no longer reflect a correct load as the stator resistance will act again to disorder the phase relation between the motor current and the inverter output voltage to a serious extent at the low frequency. For instance, under no load condition, the phase angle between the motor current and the inverter output voltage becomes considerably less than 90.degree. due to the stator resistance remarkable at the low frequency, while the phase angle is kept about at slightly less than 90.degree. at the high frequency. Such serious variation of the phase angle at the low frequency will eventually results in the variation in the detected amount of the motor control and therefore leads to an unreliable or erroneous motor control. That is, even under no load condition, the system will detect a significant amplitude of the motor current at 90.degree. angle of the inverter output voltage and acknowledge a correspondingly amount of load being imposed, thereby controlling the inverter based upon such false detection to increase the output voltage in an attempt to follow the false load. The result is that the motor is overheated or driven with unacceptable high noise level.


The present invention relates to a user terminal device comprising a first and second antenna arrangement and a first and second radio chain arrangement. The first antenna arrangement comprises at least a first antenna element and a first and second antenna port. The second antenna arrangement comprises a third and fourth antenna port, a first polarized antenna element arranged for transmitting and/or receiving signals at a first polarization via the third antenna port and a second polarized antenna element arranged for transmitting and/or receiving signals at a second polarization via the fourth antenna port. The polarizations are mutually orthogonal in at least one direction. A first switching device is arranged to connect the first radio chain arrangement with either the first or third antenna port, and a second switching device is arranged to connect the second radio chain arrangement with either the second or fourth antenna port.

In the future, wireless communication systems may use smaller cells and denser deployments. This will lead to an increased probability of Line-of-sight (LOS) communication between base stations and user terminals as well as increased interference level. The wireless communication systems today are usually interference limited, and in the future the interference over noise level will probably be even higher.
The antennas that are used in user terminals are typically designed to have high efficiency for a large number of frequency bands, so-called multi-band antennas. When designing multi-band antennas for user terminals, it is difficult to achieve a desired polarization for the antenna pattern while at the same time keeping the efficiency high. This means that if there are two multi-band antennas in a user terminal, the polarization orthogonality between the antennas is typically not good. When user terminals are in LOS to a base station, it is difficult to achieve more than one stream per polarization due to low scattering. In such situations, it is desirable to have user terminal antennas with mutually orthogonal polarization.
In this context, the term efficiency at an antenna port of an antenna is defined as 1−(S11)2, where S11 is the return loss at the antenna port in question.
It is therefore a desire to provide a user terminal device for use in a wireless communication system, where the user terminal device is arranged to provide a desired functionality for different scenarios such as LOS and non-LOS scenarios where the scattering may be low or high.

User terminal device for interference limited scenarios


Method and system consist of a mobile application installed on a mobile device with internet connection and a geographical positioning device; a remote hosting server configured with software and database; an onsite wireless communication hosting apparatus. The mobile application communicates with the remote hosting server and the onsite wireless communication apparatus. The remote hosting server and onsite wireless communication apparatus communicate and transfer data to one another, the remote hosting server communicates with third party databases via secured access and retrieves location related information requested by onsite users of the mobile device. Web users at anywhere may select a location displayed on a digital map over interface of a web application configured to the remote hosting server; access the same as onsite users; including data entered by location owners, received from third-party databases via secured connection, and uploaded from onsite wireless communication apparatus.

Mobile device users go to visit places such as a business, a facility or an entity with a range of functions and capacities may not he aware of all the information, services, or accurate places of products and live or recorded information or programs provided in, at or close to those places. Therefore there is a need to provide them with automated system, and mobile users of the system don't have to do anything to have it activated and the system will show them what are offered at those places on popup windows when users are within an approximate range of a location; the system would automatically alert them and automatically displays static or live information and or performs multimedia programs, including but not limited to live or pre-recorded audio, and or visual programs. Web users at anywhere may select a location displayed on a digital map over interface of a web application configured to the remote hosting server; access information and multimedia programs as onsite users; including data entered by location owners and users of the locations, and collected from other data resources or received from third party database, sent and uploaded from a website of the system or from an onsite wireless communication apparatus. Said onsite communication apparatus directly broadcasts and communicates with mobile software application of the system within a short range and with or without internet or mobile network signals. Users of the system may also communicate with one another or user groups via social media features and functions provided by the system.

Geo-based data provision, search and access system and methods


Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate resolving resource assignment conflicts between access terminals in a wireless communication environment. A first access terminal may receive a persistent, or “sticky” assignment of a set of resources, such as subcarriers. In the event that a second access terminal requires a brief resource assignment, a time-limited, or “non-sticky” resource assignment may be granted to the second access terminal. If a resource in the non-sticky assignment is already assigned to the first access terminal via the sticky assignment, the first access terminal may receive an indication of the conflict along with information related to a duration of the non-sticky assignment, may surrender the conflicted resource, and may resume control over the conflicted resource after the termination of the non-sticky assignment.

I. Field
The following description relates generally to wireless communications, and more particularly to reducing interference in a wireless communication environment.
II. Background
Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication; for instance, voice and/or data may be provided via such wireless communication systems. A typical wireless communication system, or network, can provide multiple users access to one or more shared resources. For instance, a system may use a variety of multiple access techniques such as Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM), Time Division Multiplexing (TDM), Code Division Multiplexing (CDM), and others.
Common wireless communication systems employ one or more base stations that provide a coverage area. A typical base station can transmit multiple data streams for broadcast, multicast and/or unicast services, wherein a data stream may be a stream of data that can be of independent reception interest to a user device. A user device within the coverage area of such base station can be employed to receive one, more than one, or all the data streams carried by the composite stream. Likewise, a user device can transmit data to the base station or another user device.
Base stations may schedule reverse link communications transferred from user devices to base stations. For instance, when employing Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), the base station may effectuate scheduling decisions (e.g., allocate resources such as time, frequency, power, etc. to one or more user devices) pertaining to reverse link communications, and thus, the base station may facilitate maintaining orthogonality. However, conventional techniques for providing scheduling information from the user device(s) to the base station(s) may be inefficient, time-consuming and difficult.
Therefore, a need exists in the art for systems and methods that facilitate allocating resources in a wireless communication environment in order to improve system throughput and enhance user experience.

Resource allocation method in a communication system


The invention relates to a method, in a wireless communication System, of determining the position, of acknowledgment/non-acknowledgment information for a hybrid automatic repeat request, in a physical uplink control channel, wherein the user equipment sends in an uplink sub-frame the acknowledgment/non-acknowledgment information for one or more downlink sub-frames. In an aspect of the invention, the base station sends to the user equipment a first starting position related to each ePDCCH set, a first offset related to a mapping relationship between the uplink sub-frame and information about the number of enhanced control channel éléments per ePDCCH set. The user equipment détermines the position, of the acknowledgment/non-acknowledgment information for the hybrid automatic repeat request, in the physical uplink control channel upon réception of the foregoing information. With the inventive solution, a waste of physical uplink control channel resources can be lowered and full use of the resources can be made to thereby improve the efficiency of the System.

In the prior art, the introduction of an enhanced Physical Downlink Control Channel (ePDCCH) enables a system to schedule a larger number of users. If a user equipment supports its scheduling by a base station over ePDCCHs, then the base station configures via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling the user equipment with parameters for scheduling over the ePDCCHs, for example, an ePDCCH set to be detected by the user equipment. The base station can configure the user equipment with one or two ePDCCH sets, and the base station needs to configure the number and the positions of physical resource blocks included per ePDCCH set; and the base station can further configure the serial number of a starting symbol per ePDCCH, a sub-frame of the ePDCCH to be detected by the user equipment, etc. Upon reception of the RRC signaling and obtaining the ePDCCH-related parameters, the UE listens to the ePDCCH and decodes its own Downlink Control Information (DCI) according to its own radio network temporary identifier.
However such a problem may arise that Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) resources in the uplink over which Acknowledgment/Non-Acknowledgment (ACK/NACK) messages for Hybrid Automatic Repeat Requests (HARQs) are sent may become insufficient along with an increasing number of scheduled users.
At present some technologies have been used to alleviate the insufficiency of PUCCH resources, for example, a lowest enhanced Control Channel Element index plus an offset has been introduced in a frequency division multiplexed system, etc. Unlike the frequency division multiplex system, there are in a time division multiplexed system both a case that one uplink sub-frame corresponds to one downlink sub-frame and a case that one uplink sub-frame corresponds to more than one downlink sub-frame (that is, ACK/NACK feedback information of a plurality of downlink data sub-frames needs to be sent in one uplink sub-frame). For example, as illustrated in FIG. 1, an uplink sub-frame in a circle corresponds to two downlink sub-frames, an uplink sub-frame to the left of the uplink sub-frame in the circle corresponds to three downlink sub-frames, and an uplink sub-frame to the right of the uplink sub-frame in the circle corresponds to one downlink sub-frame. Thus signaling for this characteristic of uplink and downlink mapping in the time division multiplexed system has to be introduced to allocate PUCCH resources. The PUCCH resources have to be allocated while avoiding both collision and a waste of resources from occurring.
In the prior art, a large offset has to be considered for a plurality of coexisting one-to-many configurations of uplink and downlink sub-frames, thus incurring a waste of resources.

Method of determining position of acknowledgement information for HARQ in PUCCH


A method for the preparation of a metallic material having catalytic activity that includes synthesizing a material composition comprising a metal content with a lower Pt content than a binary alloy containing Pt but that displays at least a comparable catalytic activity on a per mole Pt basis as the binary alloy containing Pt; and evaluating a representative sample of the material composition to ensure that the material composition displays a property of at least a comparable catalytic activity on a per mole Pt basis as a representative binary alloy containing Pt. Furthermore, metallic compositions are disclosed that possess substantial resistance to corrosive acids.

Organic fuels can be used to generate electrical power by converting the energy released from the electrochemical reactions of the organic compounds into electrical current. Organic fuels like methanol are renewable and environmentally safe since the typical products from the electrochemical reactions are carbon dioxide and water. The use of fuel cells therefore avoids many of the environmentally detrimental consequences associated with burning fossil fuels, such as air pollution caused by exhaust from gasoline-powered internal combustion engines. The interest in organic fuel cells stems from the promise of organic fuels as an alternative, environmentally friendly energy source to non-renewable fossil fuels.
Direct liquid feed fuel cells use an aqueous solution of an organic fuel such as methanol in water or an acid-base system. The mixture is circulated past the anode of the cell wherein the organic fuel is oxidized, resulting in the production of electrons and the release of protons. The movement of electrons from the anode to the cathode occurs through the electrical load that generates electrical current. The protons generated at the anode traverse the membrane that separates the anode and cathode sections to permit electrochemical reduction of oxygen at the cathode. Electrical power is thereby generated by the simultaneous electrochemical reactions that occur at the anode and cathode of the fuel cell.
In the case of a direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC), methanol (CH3OH) is used as the fuel, which undergoes oxidation to carbon dioxide (CO2) at the anode according to the following electrochemical reaction:CH3OH+H2O→CO2+6H++6e−.
Oxygen undergoes reduction to water at the cathode according to the following electrochemical reaction:O2+4H+4e−→2H2O
The overall electrochemical reaction in the direct methanol fuel cell is:2CH3OH+3O2 →2CO2+4H2O+Electrical Energy
Currently available DMFC systems are expensive and display low efficiency and low power density. A key contributor to the limited utility of DMFC systems is the limited performance exhibited by the state of the art electrocatalysts. Since methanol electrooxidation is a kinetically limited process, high catalyst loading levels are required. Typical catalyst materials are based upon noble metals like platinum (Pt) and ruthenium (Ru). To provide ample current levels from a DMFC system, approximately 2 to 10 milligrams (mg) of noble metal must be loaded onto each square centimeter of catalyst surface, which translates into a catalyst cost of up to approximately $3,000 per kilowatt of power generated from the DMFC system. The widespread commercial feasibility of DMFC systems requires the catalyst cost be approximately $100 per kilowatt, which means that catalyst loading must be reduced to 0.5 mg of noble metal per square centimeter of catalyst surface.
Furthermore, the fuel-to-electric efficiency of state of the art DMFC systems is about 22% and the power density of practical systems is about 15 W/kg. The feasibility of extending DMFC systems into portable applications requires smaller, more efficient systems, which means that the power density at the stack level should be doubled and that the overall efficiency should be increased to at least 35-40%. Notwithstanding the current challenges confronting DMFC system development, interest in DMFC systems is fueled by their potential to offer several times the energy storage capacity of advanced rechargeable lithium batteries. Thus, there is a significant need to develop electrocatalysts that display improved catalytic activities for this potential to become realized.
The prior art attempts to improve catalytic activities have focused on the development of the optimal surface area-to-volume ratio of the catalyst materials as a means for improving catalytic activity and for reducing the content of noble metal loading. Previous efforts devoted to improve anode catalysts have focused on using non-noble metal additives such as Nickel (Ni), Cobalt (Co), Vanadium (V), Iron (Fe), Copper (Cu), and Molybdenum (Mo) to enhance catalytic activity. The prior art compositions displayed lower electrode current densities than those found for commercial Platinum/Ruthenium (Pt/Ru) powders. These non-noble metal containing catalysts were not substantially resistant to the corrosive acidic environment in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. Corrosion of cell components by the acid/alkali electrolyte imposes significant constraints on the materials that can be used for the cell. The metal compositions selected for the electrocatalyst must display robust resistance to the corrosive environments of the fuel cell environment.
The invention disclosed herein addresses the feasibility of improving the cost effectiveness of electrocatalysts by reducing Platinum (Pt) content of Pt/Ru catalytic powders through substitution of a portion of Pt with non-noble metals. The invention is directed to robust combinatorial fabrication methods for producing novel metallic material compositions with low Platinum (Pt) content that display substantial resistance to corrosive acids and at least the catalytic activity on a per mole Pt basis observed for prior art Pt/Ru binary alloys. As used herein, an alloy is composed of a mixture of two or more metals. The invention thereby provides a significant advance in the state of the art for material compositions that have applications in DMFC anode catalyst films and powders as well as in other applications where it is desirable to utilize metallic material compositions with reduced Pt content.

Low Pt content direct methanol fuel cell anode catalyst: nanophase PtRuNiZr


The present invention relates to a method for processing an address of a short message service center in a WCDMA network, including: a load centralization confirmation step where an operation control unit receives short message processing states from each short message service center, confirms load centralization states of each short message service center, and generates an operation message; a path setup step where a mobile switching center receives a short message from a mobile station, and sets up a transmission path of the short message according to the operation message; and an optimal transmission step where the mobile switching center transmits the short message from the mobile station to the corresponding short message service center through the transmission path according to the result of the path setup step. When a lot of messages are centralized to a specific short message service center due to call habits of subscribers, some subscribers of the short message service center arc distributed to another short message service center, and thus service center reception ability is predictable. It is also possible to actively cope with civil appeals and troubles.

In general, in 3GPP, when an MS (Mobile Station) transmits a short message, the short message is transmitted to a corresponding SC (Service Center) based on an SC address from the MS. Here, the SC address from the MS is a secret number of the SC. That is, the SC set up in the MS processes the message.
In this method, when an SMS (Short Message Service) provider and a core network provider are different, subscribers can select the SMS provider.
Referring to FIG. 1, when an SC address is designated as an SC number, if an MS 10 transmits a short message, it is transmitted to an MSC/SGSN/VLR 20 with the SC address stored in the MS 10 (S100).
The MSC/SGSN/VLR 20 transmits a message MAP_MO_FORWARD_SHORT_MESSAGE to an SMSC (Short Message Service Center) 30 having the SC address (S102). Here, the transmitted SC address is the SC number, and the MSC/SGSN/VLR 20 manages routing information of the corresponding SMSC 30 by SC numbers.
The SMSC 30 processes the short message, and outputs a message MAP_MO_FORWARD_SHORT_MESSAGE_CK to the MSC/SGSN/VLR 20. The MSC/SGSN/VLR 20 outputs a short message response SHORT MESSAGE ACK to the MS 10 to notify that the short message has been successfully processed (S102 and S103).
However, when the SMS provider and the core network provider are identical, if the provider has a plurality of SC, a lot of messages may be centralized in a specific SMSC according to call habits of subscribers as shown in FIG. 2. That is, when the SC address means the secret number of the SC, the messages may not be evenly distributed to the SMSC. There is no way of distributing some subscribers of one SMSC to another SMSC, and thus SC reception ability is not predictable. It is also hard to actively cope with civil appeals and troubles.

Method for processing address of short message service center in IMT-2000 asynchronous network


A focus detection apparatus comprises: a sensor unit provided with a plurality of sensor pairs, including a first and second sensor pairs, each of which receives a light beam from an object, accumulates charge, and outputs a pair of image signals for focus detection; a control unit configured to detect a level of a predetermined signal based on the accumulated charge in each sensor pair, and controls charge accumulation time in accordance with the level of the predetermined signal; and a setting unit configured to set a priority of each sensor pair in accordance with the object. The priority of the first sensor pair is set higher than that of the second sensor pair, and the control unit detects the level of the predetermined signal of the first sensor pair in prior to that of the second sensor pair.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a focus detection apparatus and a focus detection method for an image capturing apparatus such as a digital camera.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a phase difference detection method is well-known in general as an automatic focus detection method for cameras. With the phase difference detection method, light beams that come from an object and have passed through different exit pupil areas of a taking lens are caused to form an image on a pair of line sensors, which are photoelectric conversion devices (AF sensors) for focus detection. The focusing state of the taking lens is detected by calculating a focus statesition of a pair of object images obtained by performing photoelectric conversion with the pair of line sensors (hereinafter referred to as "phase difference calculation"). Recently, various kinds of AF sensors have been proposed in which a plurality of line sensors are arranged such that focusing states of a plurality of areas in a screen can be detected.
For example, Japanese Patent No. 3854704 discloses the following control. That is to say, photoelectric conversion elements are arranged at positions corresponding to a plurality of focus detection areas, accumulation time is controlled for respective areas 1 to n by sequentially circulating through and monitoring the area 1 to the area n, and the gain at the time of reading out a pixel signal is appropriately controlled for each area. The pixel signal can be read out with an appropriate gain even when the object has different luminance levels, by appropriately controlling charge accumulation for each area.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2012-042597 proposes a focus detection apparatus that detects an abnormal signal within an image signal of a focus detection sensor and performs correlation calculation after excluding the abnormal signal.
However, with the focus detection apparatus using the photoelectric conversion device disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3854704, the circulation cycle is lengthened, possibly resulting in a delay of accumulation end timing. In particular, in the case where the object has a super-high luminance, in some cases a signal of the super-high luminance area exceeds the dynamic range of the photoelectric conversion element or an AD converter while signals of other areas are monitored, which consequently causes a decrease in focus detection accuracy.
With the conventional technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2012-042597 mentioned above, since the calculation is performed based on a correlation amount among a plurality of shifted waveforms, the number of excluded pixels differs depending on the shift amount in pixel signal columns when the correlation calculation is performed after excluding abnormal pixels. While the details thereof will be described later, the correlation amount is a value obtained by adding up differences between paired image signals of the pixels, and if the number of pixels used in the calculation differs, it may be possible that comparison between correlation amounts obtained for respective shift amounts may be inaccurate, and the focus detection accuracy decreases.

Focus detection apparatus, focus detection method, and image capturing apparatus


An imaging system including an image receiving structure including a tunable-resistivity material; and an energy source to emit an energy beam at the image receiving structure to pattern-wise program the tunable-resistivity material. A resistivity can be pattern-wise changed. Marking material can be pattern-wise adhered in response to the pattern-wise changed resistivity.

This disclosure relates to imaging systems and, in particular, to imaging systems for transferring marking material using a latent resistive layer.
Printing technologies fall into two distinct groups: those that are digital and allow every printed page to contain variable text and images and those that are master plate based and allow high volume duplication of a single image. Common examples of digital printing technologies include inkjet, electrophotography (EP), and thermal transfer. Common examples of master based duplications technologies include offset lithography, flexography, and gravure.
Unfortunately, all of the digital printing technologies are severely limited in speed as compared to the master based duplication processes. This speed limitation reduces their productivity and fundamentally limits their economics to copy run lengths no larger than a few hundred copies. In the case of inkjet printing, the marking inks consist of very dilute pigments or dyes in a solvent carrier and print speed is limited by the energy require for solvent evaporation. In the case of electro-photography, print speed is limited by the energy required for toner fusion. Finally, the print speed for thermal transfer is limited by the energy that is required to transform inked material on a ribbon from either a solid into a liquid or for the case of dye diffusion thermal transfer (D2T2), the energy from a solid to a gas. A large amount of energy is required for these thermal methods because the ink must be raised above a phase change temperature and the latent heat of melting or evaporation must be delivered. In addition to these considerations, the lower pigment concentration of typical digital marking materials can lead to higher marking pile height or image bleed. This is undesirable in terms of gloss uniformity, tactile feel, stacking thickness for books, and fold fastness. Furthermore, each of the digital marking materials usually has a much stricter limitation on color gamut and substrate latitude and size when compared with offset lithography.
In waterless offset technologies, a patterned polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) layer, commonly referred to as silicone, is used to block the transfer of ink. That is, silicone is used to prevent the transfer of the ink. Under the rapid shearing forces of the NIP, the viscoelastic cohesive forces within the ink can exceed the surface adhesion force at the silicone interface and the ink is rejected from the non-image areas of the cylinder. In non-silicone regions the adhesive forces overcome the built-in cohesive forces of the ink and the ink film splits apart thus leaving behind a layer of ink in the imaging areas.
In most offset printing systems, the mass ratio of ink film splitting in these imaging areas such as between the imaging plate and the offset blanket is usually a faction between 30/70 and 50/50. In practical terms, this means that roughly 10 blank pages are needed to remove enough ink so that the previous image is no longer visible. This is not a problem when running long jobs because much of the make ready paper is used to tune the color and alignment of colors on a page so no additional cost is of concern. This is an issue when variable data is introduced because ghosting can result from the remaining ink from a prior image.
There have only been a few attempts at high quality high speed variable data digital printing with higher pigment concentration inks. Gravure and flexography inks with viscosities in the range of 50-1000 cp have been shown to respond to electrostatic pulling over short distances. However, the electrostatic forces are too weak to work with high viscosity high pigment concentration offset inks with viscosities above 100,000 cps.
Currently, these issues make it incredibly challenging to print highly viscoelastic marking materials such as offset or waterless offset inks (i.e. marking materials having dynamic viscosities of 10,000-1,000,000 cps) in a digital fashion with variable data on each and every page.

Latent resistive image layer for high speed thermal printing applications


A concentrated solution of a wound healing promoter, in particular fibronectin, is used to develop solid wound dressings. The solid wound dressings containing fibronectin are easy to apply, easy to remove, and deliver fibronectin in a range of physiologically active dosages.

Fibronectin is a ubiquitous extracellular glycoprotein containing around 5% carbohydrate. It exists in a soluble form in body fluids and in an insoluble form in the extracellular matrix. Fibronectin plays a major role in many important physiological processes, such as embryogenesis, hemostasis, thrombosis and wound healing (Potts, J. R. and Campbell, I. D. Current Opinion in Cell Biology 6:648–55, 1994). The characteristic form of plasma fibronectin is a disulfide-bonded dimer of 440,000 daltons, each subunit having a molecular weight of about 220,000 daltons. Plasma fibronectin is also known by various other names, including cold-insoluble globulin, antigelatin factor, cell attachment protein, cell spreading factor, and opsonic alpha 2-surface binding glycoprotein. These names reflect biological activities of fibronectin such as cell recruitment, opsonization of particulate debris, and promotion of wound contraction. Reviews on structure and activities of fibronectin have been published elsewhere (Hynes, R. O. Fibronectins, Rich, A., ed. New York, Springer-Verlag 1990).
Wound healing is usually divided into three phases: the inflammatory phase, the proliferative phase, and the remodeling phase. Fibronectin has been reported to be involved in each stage of the wound healing process, particularly by creating a scaffold to which the invading cells can adhere. Initially, there is a release of many mediators to the wound site such as fibronectin and fibrinogen. Fibronectin promotes inflammatory cell migration into the wound and debris phagocytosis by monocytes. Thereafter, angiogenesis and reepithelialization take place. At this stage, fibronectin exerts chemotactic activity on endothelial cells, and promotes epithelial cell and fibroblast migration onto the basal membrane. Fibronectin also appears to be an essential component of the remodeling phase where it plays a major role in the organization of collagen fibrils. The fibrillar collagen ultimately forms fibrous bundles that greatly enhance the tissue tensile strength, leading to wound closure. Normally found in plasma at a concentration of about 300 μg/mL, fibronectin is extracted and purified using a method developed by Horowitz and Chang (Horowitz, B. and Chang, M. D. Y. "Preparation of fibronectin for therapeutic administration in Fibronectin, D. F. Mosher ed., Academic Press, San Diego 441–455 (1989)).
Topically applied plasma fibronectin has been reported as being useful for increasing the rate of wound healing such as in corneal wounds (Nishida, T. et al., Japan Journal of Ophthalmology 26: 416–24, 1982; Phan, T. M. et al., American Journal of Ophthalmology 104:494–501, 1987) and leg ulcers (Wysocki, A. et al., Arch. Dermatology 124: 175–177, 1988). However, there is no suitable topical carrier for use in treating wounds that can ensure delivery of an effective amount of fibronectin in a pharmaceutically acceptable formulation. A major limiting factor in developing an effective topical dosage form of a drug is not only having an active drug, but also having a formulation that allows the passage of the active drug from the carrier into a site of delivery.
A topical formulation, which maximizes the contact time of fibronectin to the wound and controls the release of fibronectin into the wound, is a hydrogel formulation. In drug delivery, the term hydrogel is typically reserved for polymeric materials that can absorb a significant amount of water (>20% of its dry weight) while maintaining a distinct three-dimensional structure (Gehrke, S. H. and Lee, P. I., "Hydrogels for drug delivery systems," In Specialized Drug Delivery Systems Manufacturing and Production Technology, Chapter 8, Vol. 8, PP 333–392, Marcel Dekker, New York 1990). The most important characteristic of a hydrogel is its degree of swelling in water. Hydrogels mimic living tissue more closely than any other non-natural material. Their immediate resemblance to tissue is in their soft, flexible nature and high water content. This helps minimize mechanical irritation and damage to body tissues. Other advantages of hydrogel formulations include: ability to keep the wound moist which results from their high water content, ability to absorb excess water (exudate) in the wound, ease of application to and removal (by washing) from the wound. They also provide a cool feeling when topically applied, a property that can increase patient comfort.
Hydrogels have four major properties: swelling degree, biocompatibility, permeability and swelling kinetics. Example of such compounds include vinyl polymers (e.g. polyacrylic acid), cellulose and cellulose derivatives. Polyacrylic acid polymer, also referred to as carbomer, e.g. Carbopol® carbomer (BF Goodrich), was chosen over other polymers (e.g. cellulose and cellulose derivatives), because it was shown to be superior to other pharmaceutically acceptable formulations in the delivery of fibronectin to skin wounds.
Hydrogel formulations comprising a water soluble, pharmaceutically acceptable polymer which can include increasing concentrations of fibronectin are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,641,483, entitled "Wound Healing Formulations containing Human Plasma Fibronectin", which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. Methods for preparing non-buffered aqueous concentrated solutions of fibronectin and hydrogels containing up to 1% of fibronectin are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,821,220, entitled "Method of Producing Concentrated Non-Buffered Solutions of Fibronectin" and International Application No. PCT/CA97/00966, International Publication No. WO 98/26797, entitled "Wound Healing Formulations Containing Human Plasma Fibronectin", both of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Alginates are naturally occurring substances extracted from marine brown algae and used in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, textile and food industry. Alginates are polyanionic polysaccharides composed of linear binary copolymers of D-mannuronic acid and L-guluronic acid. The most common uses are based on the polyelectrolytic nature of the alginates, which provides the basis of their gelling properties and their ability to swell. The commercially available sodium alginates are water soluble. When such alginates are added to a solution containing polyvalent ions, for example bivalent alkaline earth metal ions such as Ca++, alginate gels having a semi-solid form are produced. This is a result of a ionic crosslinking of several alginate chains.
Calcium alginates have long been known for their ability to form fibres or nonwoven materials. These have been used primarily as swabs or dressings for medical, surgical or other purposes, such as described in European Patent Specification, EP 0721355 B1, entitled "Alginate Wound Dressings, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Supplied in the form of nonwoven wound dressings for the treatment of exudating wounds, the calcium alginate dressing is said to encourage the formation of controlled ion-active gel over the wound site which reacts with the sodium ions in the exudate. Examples of exudative wounds include pressure ulcers, venous stasis ulcers, diabetic ulcers, arterial ulcers, second degree burns and skin graft donor sites.

Solid wound healing formulations containing fibronectin


An improved mouse scroll device installs a scroll sensing plate integrally coupled and neatly aligned with the main body of a mouse for providing an appropriate position to operate the mouse easily, and the scroll sensing plate is coupled to a microprocessor. After the neatly arranged scroll sensing plate is touched or slid back and forth by fingers or the scroll sensing plate is clicked for several times, a signal is transmitted from the microprocessor to a computer system through a universal serial bus (USB) port or a radio set to control the scroll page function on a screen of a display device or the middle button function to facilitate the operation and provides a protrusion-free artistic look effect as well as reducing the number of components and lowering the cost.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an improved mouse scroll device, more particularly to a mouse scroll device that installs a neatly aligned scroll sensing plate integrally coupled with the housing of a mouse and disposed at an appropriate position for providing an easy-to-operate position for users' fingers. After the neatly arranged scroll sensing plate is touched or slid back and forth by fingers or clicked for several times, a signal is transmitted from the microprocessor to a computer system through a universal serial bus (USB) port or a radio set to control the page up/down functions on the screen of a display device or provide a middle button function to facilitate the operation and give a protrusion-free artistic look effect as well as reduce the number of components, facilitate the assembling process, and lower the cost.
2. Description of the Related Art
A traditional mouse including a wireless mouse usually comes with a roller acting as a middle button, and the roller is rotated to control the scroll of a screen on a display device or the middle roller button is pressed to provide various different functions, and control horizontal shifts and different scrolls. The traditional mouse has the following shortcomings:
1. A mouse using roller as the middle button usually relates to a complicated structure, a difficult assembling process, and a high cost.
2. When the roller is rotated for controlling a computer operation, a user's fingers must be placed and suspended on the roller, and the fingers will become stiffed after using the mouse for a while, or cause occupational diseases after using the mouse for long time.
3. The roller is protruded from the plane of the mouse, and thus ruining the artistic look of the mouse and causing troubles to users if the roller is touched by mistake.


Provided is a transflective LCD device that can selectively use a reflect mode and a transmit mode in a VA mode LCD device having a multiple domain. The transflective LCD device includes: gate lines and data lines arranged to cross each other on a first substrate to define a pixel regions having a reflection portion and a transmission portion; thin film transistors located at each crossing of the gate lines and the data lines, wherein the thin film transistors include a gate electrode, a semiconductor layer, and source/drain electrodes; a transparent electrode connected to the thin film transistor and located in the transmission portion; a reflective electrode connected to the thin film transistor and located in the reflection portion; a connection electrode that electrically connects the transparent electrode with the reflective electrode; a first storage electrode located in the reflection portion and a second storage electrode under the connection electrode; a second substrate facing the first substrate; and a liquid crystal layer interposed between the first and second substrates.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display (LCD) device, and more particularly, to a transflective LCD device that may selectively use a reflection mode and a transmission mode in a vertical alignment mode LCD device.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Generally, until recently, cathode ray tubes (CRTs) have been widely used to display image data on a screen, but using CRTs is inconvenient because the CRT tubes are large in size compared to their display areas.
Today, display devices are used in personal computers, notebook computers, wireless terminals, automobile dashboards, and display boards. Also, as a large amounts of image data can be transmitted due to the growth of information telecommunication systems, a next generation display device capable of processing and realizing the large capacity image data is needed.
Next generation display devices should be lightweight and have high brightness, a large screen, low power consumption, and low manufacturing costs. Recently, LCD devices have become attractive as next generation display devices.
The LCD has excellent display resolution compared to other flat display devices and has nearly the same fast response time as that of the CRT that affects image quality when realizing moving images.
The LCD uses the optical anisotropic and dielectric characteristics of liquid crystals. Because the liquid crystals have a thin long structure, the liquid crystals have directionality in their molecular arrangement. Accordingly, the direction of the molecular arrangement can be controlled by applying an electric field to the liquid crystals (molecules).
Therefore, when the molecular direction of the liquid crystals are arbitrarily adjusted, the molecular arrangement of the liquid crystals changes, and light is refracted according to the molecular direction of the liquid crystals by the optical anisotropy, so that an image can be realized.
The twisted nematic (TN) LCD device is one of LCD devices now widely used. The TN LCD device has electrodes on two substrates, respectively, arranges the liquid crystals such that they are twisted by 90°, and applies a voltage to the electrodes to drive the liquid crystals.
Besides the TN LCD device, LCD devices may have a liquid crystal mode using dielectric anisotropy including electrically controllable birefringence (ECB) and a guest-host (GH). The ECB mode uses a negative type liquid crystal (LC) having negative dielectric anisotropy (Δ∈<0) where the LC is oriented in a direction perpendicular to an electric field.
A vertical alignment (VA) mode using ECB modes has a small variation in response time with respect to a gray scale voltage, and thus has an advantage where a response characteristic is excellent compared to the TN LCD device.
In the VA mode LCD device, LCs having negative dielectric anisotropy are interposed between upper and lower substrates, a VA layer is formed on facing surfaces of the upper and lower substrates, and polarizers are attached on backsides of the facing surfaces. At this point, LC driving electrodes are located on the facing surfaces, respectively, and the polarizers are attached such that polarizing axes of the respective polarizers are perpendicular to each other.
In the VA mode LCD device, the LC molecules are arranged vertically with respect to the substrates under the influence of the VA layer. Because the polarizing axes of the upper and lower polarizers are perpendicular to each other, the screen is dark.
Meanwhile, when an electric field is formed between the driving electrodes of the upper and lower substrates, the LC molecules are rotated such that they are perpendicular to a direction of the electric field according to the property of the LCs having the negative dielectric anisotropy. Accordingly, light is transmitted through the LC molecules and the screen becomes white.
Because the LC molecules have an elongated shape, refractive indexes and permittivities along a long axis and a short axis are different from each other. Accordingly, the refractive index varies depending on a direction in which the LC molecules are viewed. Consequently, the displayed image varies as a function of viewing angle.
Therefore, to solve this problem, a pixel electrode of the lower substrate is formed in a slit shape within the pixel so that multiple domains are formed in the pixtel when an electric filed is applied in a related art.
That is, when the electric field is applied between the pixel electrode and a common electrode, anisotropy between the long axis and the short axis of the LC molecule is compensated for by changing the direction of the LC molecule.
However, a multiple domain VA mode LCD device having the above construction may classified into transmissive VA mode LCD devices using a backlight as a light source and reflective VA mode LCD devices using ambient natural light and artificial light without a backlight as a light source.
The transmissive VA mode LCD device realizes a bright image even in a dark external environment using a backlight as a light source. However, the transmissive VA mode LCD device consumes much power.
On the other hand, the reflective VA mode LCD device can reduce power consumption because it does not use a backlight, but cannot be used in dark settings.

Transflective LCD device and method having first domain in reflective portion, second and third domains in transmission portion and with additional electrodes in third domain for third storage electrode


A signal processing apparatus and method are disclosed. A common mode signal extraction unit is configured to extract a common mode signal from input signals inputted to a differential amplifier. A common mode signal adjustment unit is configured to adjust a gain and a phase of the common mode signal and to output the adjusted common mode signal to the differential amplifier. An optimal set determination unit is configured to determine an optimal gain and phase to be applied to the common mode signal based on an output signal from the differential amplifier.

1. Field
The following description relates to a signal processing apparatus and method that enhances a common mode rejection ratio (CMRR) of a signal amplifier by adjusting a common mode signal.
2. Description of Related Art
A differential amplifier may refer to a circuit that amplifies a voltage difference between two input signals. During operation of the differential amplifier, a single-ended operation may apply an input signal to a single input terminal only and ground a remainder of input terminals. A double-ended or differential-mode operation may apply two input signals having opposite polarities to the differential amplifier. Further, a common mode operation may apply an identical input signal to two input signals.
In the common mode operation, an output signal of an ideal differential amplifier may be zero. In actuality, however, an output signal may fail to be zero due to various factors. For example, an infinitesimal signal may be output when an identical signal is input as the two input signals. A large signal may be output when an opposite pole signal is inputted. A common mode rejection ratio (CMRR) may refer to a ratio of a differential mode gain to a common mode gain. The CMRR may be used as a standard indicating a performance of the differential amplifier. For example, the differential amplifier has a better performance the higher the CMRR.


Systems and methods for treating inflammatory and proliferative diseases, and wounds, using as a pharmacon a fatty acid metabolism inhibitor, a glycolytic inhibitor, and/or an agent able to alter cellular production of reactive oxygen, or combination thereof, optionally in combination with one or more chemotherpeutic agents. In preferred embodiments, the invention combines an oxirane carboxylic acid, represented by etomoxir, with a 2-deoxyglucose compound, represented by 2-deoxy-D-glucose, and/or an antibody against UCP and/or Fas antigen. The systems and methods of the invention can be used to treat drug-resistant or multi-drug resistant cancers.

Normal tissue develops, and is maintained by, processes of cell division and cell death. In many diseases, such as cancer, diabetes mellitus Type I, and autoimmune disease, the normal balance between cell division and cell death is disrupted, causing either a rapid growth of unwanted and potentially dangerous cells, and/or a loss of cells essential to maintaining the functions of tissue. Inappropriate cell division or cell death can result in serious life-threatening diseases. Diseases associated with increased cell division include cancer and atherosclerosis. Diseases resulting from increased cell death include AIDS, neurodegenerative diseases (e.g., Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, retinitis pigmentosa), aplastic anemia, atherosclerosis (e.g., myocardial infarction, stroke, reperfusion injury), and toxin-induced liver disease.
The immune system, a complex organization of cells, tissues and organs, serves to protect us from potential harm. Extraordinary advances in our understanding of the immune system have been made in the last hundred years, especially since the discovery of the T cell and B cell [3-5]. Native T-cells require two signals for activation. These are recognition of antigens in Major Histocompatibility Complex-encoded (MHC) molecules [3], and a co-stimulation signal [6-10] provided by the B7/CD28 family members or other co-stimulatory molecules such as Fas (CD95) [11]. Previously activated T cells can be reactivated by co-stimulation alone [12, 13]. In the absence of activation, T-cells disregard the tissue. If a T cell is activated the consequences can be: 1) destruction of the damaged cells or 2) repair of damaged cells by promoting regeneration either directly or indirectly.
A natural question is: why doesn't the immune system destroy tumor cells as they arise? In fact, there is substantial evidence that the immune system does play an extensive role in suppressing cancer. For example, it is known that people on immune-suppressive therapy have a much higher cancer rate as do people with AIDS [14] and the very young and very old. However, it is also clear that the ability of the immune system to control cancer is not perfect.
Researchers have for many years tried to stimulate the immune system as a therapeutic strategy against cancer [15, 16]. These attempts have generally been ineffective, although there have been some recent successes [17]. There are many reasons for this variability. These include: 1) the inability to activate T cells that can destroy the tumor due to the absence of signal one (lack of recognition of the appropriate tumor antigen); 2) the presence of a signal two that results in the production of the wrong cytokines by T cells which may lead to the growth of tumors, or 3) the failure of activated T cells to kill cancerous cells [18].
Anti-cancer agents may work to promote the death of tumor cells in multiple ways. First, these agents may work by direct cytolysis requiring active participation of the tumor cell in the death process [25]. Second, chemotherapeutics may promote the ability of the tumor cell to be recognized by cells of the immune system and to be killed by immune-directed cell death [26]. Third, these agents may work to "rewire" the death inducing receptor/ligand pairs which include Fas and FasL [23, 25, 26]. The second and third possibilities are not mutually exclusive and may work in concert to result in tumor cell death.
It has been discovered that uncoupling protein ("UCP") is normally present in the plasma membrane of rapidly dividing cells, but it is not typically found on the plasma membrane of growth-arrested or chemotherapy-resistant tumor cells. UCP, which is also present in the mitochondria, can regulate cell division by manipulating the manner in which the cell processes and stores energy. It was found that the UCP in the plasma membrane plays an important role in the signal processes that determine whether a cell will undergo cellular division, cellular differentiation, or cellular death. These findings have important implications on the ability to regulate cell division as well as sensitivity and resistance to chemotherapeutic agents and, therefore, for treating diseases associated with excessive cellular division, aberrant differentiation, and premature cellular death, e.g., for the treatment of cancers, autoimmune disease, degenerative diseases, regeneration, etc.
Mitochondrial uncoupling proteins (UCP 1-5) are a family of molecules, first described in brown adipose tissue, that. dissipate of the proton gradient, lower mitochondrial membrane potential, induce of a metabolic shift to fatty acids as a source of fuel in mitochondria, promote of high rates of glucose utilization in the cytosol and increased oxygen consumption in the mitochondria; and reduce production of reactive oxygen species [29,30]. UCP-mediated uncoupling requires transport of the anionic fatty acids head groups by UCP and proton transport via the bilayer [31]. UCP-2 has been shown to be expressed at higher levels in the mitochondria of cells that are protected from apoptosis-inducing stimuli. [32]. Data is consistent with the report that the production of reactive oxygen species and subsequent cellular damage induced by hyperglycemia in endothelial cells is prevented by transfection with UCP-1. UCP are inducible proteins. For example, it has been shown that lipopolysaccharides can induce synthesis of UCP-2 [33] and superoxide can activate UCP-2 within the mitochondria [34]. UCP-2 mRNA and protein are induced in the cerebral cortex after trauma {Bechmann, 2002 #81} [35] ischemic preconditioning in vivo or intraperitoneal injection of kainic acid [36,37], and UCP-4 is inducible in neurons in vitro by glycolytic inhibitors [38]. Significant neuroprotective actions of UCP-induced uncoupling have been shown in vitro models of oxygen-glucose deprivation [39] and in vivo [39] models of trauma ischemia, seizures [39] and excitotoxicity [37] in mice overexpressing UCP.
Several cell surface proteins have previously been identified as cell death proteins. These proteins are believed to be involved in initiating a signal which instructs the cell to die. Cell death proteins include, for example, Fas/CD95 (Trauth, et al., Science, 245:301, 1989), tumor necrosis factor receptors, immune cell receptors such as CD40, OX40, CD27 and 4-1BB (Smith, et al., Cell, 76:959, 1994), and RIP (U.S. Pat. No. 5,674,734). These proteins are believed to be important mediators of cell death. These mediators, however, do not always instruct a cell to die. In some cases, these mediators actually instruct a cell to undergo cell division. The intracellular environment, and particularly the status of the proton motor force and the source of fuel for mitochondrial metabolism, determines whether stimulation of the cell death protein will lead to a signal for death or cell division (see, e.g., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/277,575, incorporated herein by reference).
These findings have important implication in the present invention in dealing with drug resistant tumors. Every year at least 6.2 million people die worldwide from cancer [1]. Many cancer patients will be treated by chemotherapy. For some people this treatment will be effective, but it many cases chemotherapy is not successful, in part because of the development of drug resistance. It is commonly observed in treating cancers, that initial treatments, such as with chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy, are effective to destroy significant numbers of tumor cells, only to leave behind a small number of tumor cells that are resistant to the treatment, which then multiply to form newly detected tumors that are increasingly resistant to treatment as new rounds of therapy are tried. The growing popularity of "cocktails" of chemotherapy drugs has given rise to multidrug resistant ("MDR") tumor cells, which are ever more difficult to destroy. Drug sensitive tumor cells, under the selective pressure of treatment with drugs, develop into drug resistant versions of the same tumor cell type. It is the drug resistant cells that take over, and with each round of chemotherapy the proportion of drug resistant cells to drug sensitive cells increases, to the point where recovery becomes more and more difficult, and eventually the cancer becomes untreatable. Indeed, drug resistance, either acquired or inherent, is the leading cause of death in cancer [27]. Mechanisms which have been suggested to account for drug resistance include over-expression of a multi-drug resistance transporter (pgp-1) [27], failure to express death inducing receptors [27, 28], and a metabolic strategy that may provide protection from a variety of stresses. Because drug resistance is such an important problem, one of the goals of the present invention is to provide methods to overcome this problem. Methods for dealing with MDR tumor cells have been proposed, but without practical, clear clinical success at entirely eliminating such cells and providing a cure for patients with MDR tumors. For example, in Lampdis and Priebe U.S. Pat. No. 6,670,330, entitled: "Cancer Chemotherapy with 2-Deoxy-D-Glucose", incorporated herein in its entirety by reference, a class of glycolytic inhibitors are described for use in combination with standard chemotherapy protocols in treating solid tumors by attacking anaerobic cells a the center of the tumor.

Systems and methods for treating human inflammatory and proliferative diseases and wounds, with fatty acid metabolism inhibitors and/or glycolytic inhibitors

The Regents of the University of Colorado


A gradation pattern preparation program by which a complicated gradation pattern can be prepared easily, wherein a computer is caused to function as: a vertical and horizontal printing density control line generation means for displaying, on a campus face, vertical and horizontal printing density control lines in a net-like manner, a vertical cross section line generation means for displaying a cross section image of the selected vertical printing density control line as a vertical cross section line on a vertical cross section line display screen, a horizontal cross section line generation means for displaying a cross section image of the selected horizontal printing density control line as a horizontal cross section line on a horizontal cross section line display screen, a printing density control point generation means for displaying, on the respective vertical and horizontal cross section lines, printing density control points for editing the respective vertical and horizontal cross section lines, and a printing density control point shift means for changing, in accordance with the shift of the printing density control points, heights to reference lines of the respective vertical and horizontal cross section lines.

Conventionally, it has been known to prepare a light guide plate used for a liquid crystal TV (television) for example by printing with an inkjet printer.
A light guide plate is composed of a transparent acrylic plate. A light guide plate is prepared by printing a gradation pattern having a color (white) for light reflection and diffused reflection on this acrylic plate. The gradation pattern printed on the printing face of the light guide plate is prepared using commercially-available drawing software with reference to the brightness distribution required for the light guide plate.


A self-stabilizing dispersion composition having a copolymer having at least one polymerizable acid-containing moiety, wherein the at least one acid-containing moiety is at least partially neutralized before or during polymerization, and at least one hydrophobic moiety. A process for producing such compositions is also provided, as well as a process for encapsulating water-insoluble actives in such copolymers.

1. Technical Field
The present invention is directed towards copolymers produced by solution polymerization. More particularly, the present invention is directed towards self-stabilizing copolymers having opacifying properties and processes for producing such polymers.
2. Background Information
Polymers having both hydrophobic and hydrophilic constituents such as styrene-acrylic acid copolymers are produced by a variety of processes illustrated in the art. In one process commonly referred to as solution polymerization, the copolymers are formed by polymerizing the water-insoluble monomer, e.g., styrene, and the water-soluble monomer, e.g., a carboxylated monomer, in the presence of a water miscible solvent, neutralizing the acid after the polymerization step has completed, and subsequently removing the water-miscible solvent from the solution. The polymerization step can occur in the presence of a catalyst.
In another variation of this solution polymerization process, these hydrophobic/hydrophilic type polymers are first polymerized, followed by simultaneous neutralization and distillation. Other solution polymerization processes in the art teach polymerizing at least one hydrophilic monomer and at least one hydrophobic ethylenically unsaturated monomer in a non-aqueous solvent, forming an aqueous polymer dispersion from this non-aqueous polymer solution, and subsequently adding an aqueous base or acid. While such polymers provide good soil release properties and are useful in cleaning compositions, they tend not to provide opacity to those compositions.
Emulsion polymerization is an example of another process for producing hydrophobic/hydrophilic type polymers. Such processes typically use surfactants to stabilize the emulsion. For example, processes for producing alkali-soluble emulsion copolymers of methacrylic acid and water-insoluble monomers such as styrene are known that utilize anionic and/or nonionic surfactants in an amount sufficient to stabilize the emulsion. Emulsion copolymers can be used as opacifiers in detergent, personal care and other applications. However, they tend not to provide good cleaning benefits in end use application. Consequently, other cleansing polymers are required in detergent formulations that make use of such emulsion copolymers.
Accordingly, there is a need for polymeric ingredients or compounds that are useful in cleaning compositions while also providing opacity to those compositions. Further, there is a need for dispersion polymers that are self-stabilizing.

Process for producing self-stabilizing dispersion copolymer providing opacity to aqueous formulations