To provide a method for stabilizing unstable α-thrombin in a thrombin-containing solution, a solution containing stabilized α-thrombin, and a liquid fibrinogen assay reagent containing the solution. The method for stabilizing α-thrombin in a thrombin-containing solution, which includes adjusting the percentage of α-thrombin to 70% or more with respect to the amount of total thrombin in the thrombin-containing solution.

Fibrinogen is a precursor of fibrin, which is a predominant protein that forms blood clots, and is produced in liver parenchyma cells. In the human body, about 80% of fibrinogen is present in plasma (e.g., about 200 to 400 mg/dL in a healthy adult), and the remaining amount is present in tissues. Fibrinogen is a glycoprotein containing three paired polypeptide (i.e., Aα, Bβ and γ) chains coupled via a disulfide bond. When the Aα chains and the Bβ chains are cleaved from fibrinogen by thrombin, fibrin is formed. Fibrin plays the main role in thrombus formation and hemostasis. Clinically, fibrinogen increases under the condition of inflammation, and decreases in severe hepatic disorders, DIC, etc.
Fibrinogen can be assayed through the Clauss method (thrombin addition method), the PT-derived method (clotting time method), TIA (tubidimetric immunoassay), the latex method, etc. Among them, the thrombin addition method is commonly employed. Specifically, thrombin and calcium chloride are added to a sodium citrate-added plasma sample, and the clotting time is measured. The fibrinogen concentration (mg/dL) in the sample is calculated by a calibration curve obtained from clotting times at known fibrinogen concentrations.
A thrombin employed in fibrinogen assay is α-thrombin, which is produced through cleavage of a peptide from prothrombin (i.e., precursor of thrombin) and exhibits a clotting activity. The α-thrombin is known to undergo self-decomposition to form β-thrombin, or further to form γ-thrombin, which are low molecular weight thrombins with no clotting activity. Therefore, α-thrombin is generally lyophilized for long-term storage.
Several attempts have been made to stabilize thrombin in a solution. For example, there have been known several methods such as: (1) a method in which high-concentration glycerol and polyol (e.g., sucrose, mannitol, sorbitol, etc.) are added to thrombin (Patent Document 1); and (2) a method in which saccharide, amino acid, etc. are added to thrombin (Patent Document 2).
However, these methods exhibit an unsatisfactory effect of stabilizing thrombin in a liquid fibrinogen assay reagent.
One known stabilization method for thrombin contained in a fibrinogen assay reagent includes adding a thrombin antagonist to a thrombin-containing solution (Patent Document 3).
However, the mechanism of this method is based on inhibition of the activity of thrombin. Therefore, when this method is employed, the clotting time of a low-fibrinogen-concentration sample, which is an important sample in fibrinogen assay, is considerably prolonged, and in some cases not detectable. Prolongation of the clotting time causes reduction in sample throughput and failure in assaying of low-fibrinogen-concentration samples causes an increase in the number of samples to be re-assayed. Thus, the above method is not suited for an emergency medical test.
Under such circumstances, there is demand for a method for stabilizing α-thrombin in an α-thrombin-containing solution which can be performed on low-fibrinogen-concentration samples without causing considerable prolongation of assay time and with little effects on measurements, thus being applicable to liquid fibrinogen assay reagents.
Patent Document 1: JP-A-1987-106028
Patent Document 2: JP-A-1989-040433
Patent Document 3: JP-A-2004-191367

Method for stabilizing α-thrombin in thrombin-containing solution


An architecture making it possible to provide sufficient absorption of shocks for a power shaft while maintaining rigidity at front bearings so as to not compromise meshing of power teeth of a drive pinion. A compressible dynamic shock absorption is provided in alignment with a downstream shock absorber of an additional meshing. An assembly for dynamically absorbing shocks for a power shaft includes upstream and downstream bearings including power rollers mounted on two casings and flanking a speed-reducing teeth meshing. The downstream bearing is coupled to at least one additional roller bearing associated with a compressible shock absorber to form a downstream shock absorber axially offset relative to the upstream bearing opposite the teeth meshing. Both downstream bearings are connectable by a flexible frame mounted on the common casing. The architecture can be used for power-transmission shafts, for example supercritical shafts in turbine engines.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for dynamically absorbing shocks in a power shaft, in particular a supercritical shaft, as well as to a shock-absorbing architecture capable of implementing such a method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Power rotating shafts, in particular in turboshaft engines, have nominal operating ranges which can exceed their first critical speed of deflection. By definition, the operating range of supercritical shafts always exceeds their first critical speed. At resonance, which occurs when crossing a critical speed, power shafts undergo overload phenomena which amplify deformations and strain caused by the imbalances of the shaft.
A modal analysis of the architecture of a given power shaft—which typically has a front bearing and a rear bearing—makes it possible to calculate the values of the critical speeds, the shape of the modal deformations as well as the distribution of the strain energy between the components parts of the drive shaft: front, rear bearings and shaft linking these bearings.
An exemplary modal analysis of a given supercritical shaft supplies a value of the first critical speed equal to 15 000 rpm, that is 70% of its nominal speed, with a distribution of strain energy equal to 10% at the front bearing, 30% at the rear bearing and 60% at the shaft.
In order to absorb the amplified stress, which is associated with the use of supercritical shafts notably, shock-absorbing bearings with an oil film, also called "squeeze film", make it possible to limit the amplitude of the overload caused when crossing the critical speed.
However, these shafts may have power tooth systems, which is generally the case on turboshaft engines with speed reducer used in the aeronautical domain when the rotation speed of the power shaft is high. The speed reducer makes it possible to convert the power in order to feed the receivers (helicopter main transmission gearbox, electric generator, etc.). In that case, the use of squeeze films with the bearings flanking the tooth systems of the power shaft is excluded. Because these bearings must have enough rigidity to limit any radial displacement of the pinion undergoing the meshing forces, in order to transmit the driving torque and avoid any disengagement or premature wear. Now, squeeze films require the radial displacement of the rolling-element system so that they can be compressed and produce their shock absorbing effect. The use of squeeze films is thus incompatible with these bearings used for flanking tooth systems.
The strain energy remaining always important at the rear bearing—where it is superior to 10%—and the shock absorption being difficult to achieve at the front bearing because of the presence of the power tooth systems, the shock absorbing systems of the architectures of engines with speed reducer and critical shaft were thus arranged at the rear bearings of the drive shaft.
However, in some modern architectures, the rear bearings do not participate any more in the modal deformation, no external shock absorption being then possible at these rear bearings. So, the front bearings concentrate, typically, about 25% of the strain energy and the shaft approximately 75%: the rear bearings—which do not operate as shock absorbers—absorb then practically no deformation (less than 1%). The bearings of the drive pinion become thus the only area where it is possible to provide the whole drive shaft with external shock absorption, 75% of strain energy in the shaft being an unacceptable percentage.

Method for dynamically absorbing shocks in a power shaft, in particular a supercritical shaft, and shock-absorbing architecture for implementing said method


Power generating component connectivity resistance monitoring techniques are disclosed. In an array of power generating components that are connected in parallel to a power bus, a power generating component measures an output current that it supplies to the power bus. Respective first and second power generating components measure a first voltage at an output of the first power generating component and a second voltage at an output of the second power generating component. A resistance in the array between first and second connection points in the array through which the output current flows is determined based on the measurements of the output current, the first voltage, and the second voltage.

PhotoVoltaic (PV) solar panels are becoming an important source of electrical power. Large, megawatt arrays with panels numbering in the tens of thousands are increasingly common. BIPV (Building Integrated PhotoVoltaic) power generation in which the panels are integral to a building itself (e.g. roofing tiles) is also becoming popular. A typical PV panel array is organized into many small groups of panels (typically tens of panels in a group) connected to a local power bus. These local buses connect to a main power bus.
PV panels are necessarily exposed to the outside weather and have a typical service lifetime requirement of tens of years. Over this lifetime an individual panel's connection to the power bus may be subject to corrosion from moisture ingress, mechanical stress from wind or snow loads, thermal cycling and other environmental factors, resulting in a deterioration of the connection quality and high connection resistance. The local power bus is also subject to similar stress and problems. Increased connection resistance can lead to undesirable lost power, overheating or fire.
Manual monitoring of the quality of the array's power connections is undesirable since it would be time consuming and require the creation of special test points for access. BIPV panels pose additional problems since they may not be at ground level and their cabling runs can be hidden between the panel and the building and therefore difficult to access and inspect.


A bladeless mixer/mill for agitating and mixing a compound/product. The mixer/mill comprises a driving shaft rotatable about a first vertical axis of rotation, and a motor unit operatively coupled to the driving shaft for rotating the same. A support plate is mounted onto the driving shaft and is rotatable about the first vertical axis. The mixer/mill also has a stationary ring gear coaxial to the support plate. The stationary ring gear has a portion with an inner surface extending above the support plate. At least one pinion gear is rotatably mounted onto the support plate about a second vertical axis of rotation parallel to the first vertical axis of rotation. The pinion gear has an outer surface complementary to the inner surface of the stationary ring gear. The outer surface of the pinion gear meshes with the inner surface of the stationary ring gear. The pinion gear has a cavity wherein the compound/product to be agitated and mixed/milled is inserted.

Agitating and mixing compounds in a container is generally done with mixers having impellers producing a flow pattern within the container to achieve the desired results. These impellers are usually of the type straight-blade turbine radial flow, pitched-blade turbine mixed flow or hydrofoil impeller axial flow, depending of the flow pattern required. Dirty accumulations surrounding the work area are usually produced during the mixing process. Therefore, cleaning these mixers often require large quantity of solvents.
Moreover, although these known mixers are appropriate for mixing a large range of compounds, they are not suitable for some others because the impellers may create a lot of friction on the compounds, which can result in substance damage and change.
In addition, good mixing often requires that the impellers mix the content of the entire container, which can be a difficult task to accomplish. Mixing of compounds with these mixers can thus result in poor or uneven mixing of the compounds, poorly dispersed solid particles or their agglomeration.
Known in the art are Japanese Patents Nos 2003/093862 (HIROSHIGE), 2001/276592 (HIROSHIGE) and 2000/271465 (HIROSHIGE), which disclose apparatuses that fully agitate and mix compounds to be kneaded. The apparatuses disclosed in these patents use rotation and revolution to agitate and mix the compounds. These apparatus, also referred to as bladeless mixers, mix the compounds by simultaneously rotating a batch container and revolving it in a planetary motion, thus producing acceleration forces of 400 G and higher. The mixing principle underneath these apparatuses is generated by both centrifugal and centripetal forces. The advantage of such mixers is that they mixed liquids and powders evenly in seconds while imparting no heat. Since the containers are rotated at a predetermined angle, air may be entrapped within the containers. Therefore, once the mixing is complete, an additional step may be required to remove submicron bubbles present within the compounds. Another problem with these apparatuses is that they are very costly and complicated to build, due to their complex mechanical structure.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,334,583 (Li) discloses a planetary-like high-energy ball mill for milling powders. Two cup-like rollers are mounted onto a turntable that is driven in rotation by a vertical main shaft. A mill pot containing the powders to be mixed is fixed within each of the cup-like rollers. A stationary circular ring is mounted over the turntable and is disposed coaxially with the shaft. The cup-like rollers may rotate about their own pivotal shafts while rotating along with the turntable. Sides of the cup-like rollers are in contact with an inner surface of the stationary ring and are therefore rotating about their own pivotal axis due to friction counterforce with the stationary ring. A vertical movement may also be applied to the vertical shaft in order to further mill the powders. One potential problem with such a mill is that at a high velocity of rotation, control over the speed of rotation of the cup-like rollers may be lost if the cup-like rollers spin on themselves. As a result, the uniformity and quality of the milled powder may not be constant. Furthermore, in some cases, the frictional force required to drive into rotation the cup-like rollers upon beginning of rotation of the turntable may not be sufficient. Therefore, there may be a delay before the cup-like rollers may begin to rotate about their own pivotal axis.


An imaging apparatus, comprising: a first recording module, which has a first initialization time from initialization to coming into a recordable condition; a second recording module which has a second initialization time from initialization to coming into a recordable condition, being longer than the first initialization time; a mode switching module, which is configure to switch over a power OFF mode, a mode for recording into the first recording module, and a mode for recording into the second recording module, wherein the mode exchange switch, which is configured to exchange the mode in an order from the power OFF mode to the mode for recording into the first recording module, and to the mode for recording into the second recording module, whereby shortening an apparent initializations time of the recording module having a long initialization time, while using a high-speed initialization characteristic of the recording module having a short initialization time effectively, thereby obtaining an improvement on the operability for a user.

The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus, and in particular, it relates to an operating portion of the imaging apparatus.
In relation to a switch for starting or initializing a came, as being an operating portion of the imaging apparatus, for example, in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. Hei 6-6651 (1994), there is the following description:
"While being provided with a video tape-recorder mode side silk-screen printing 3 and a camera mode side silk-screen printing 5, on a side surface in the thickness direction of a rotating ring-like operation key 1, an electric power switch mark 7 at the position opposite to the silk-screen printing 3 and 5, a reproduction mark 9 for indicating a reproducing portion on a side surface in the thickness direction of the operation key 1, an edit mark for indicating a position switching into an editing function, and a line input/output mark 13 for indicating a position of switching between line input/output, etc., at the position where the silk-screen printing 5 is provided is provided a portrait mode mark 15, a sports mode mark 17 and a shutter mode mark 19, etc., for indicating the rotating portion of the operation key 1 for selectively exchanging to one of modes, i.e., portrait, sports, shutter, on a side surface in the thickness direction of the operation key 1, as well as, an automatic operation mode mark 21."
Also, relating to processes when a camera is started or initialized, in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2006-93950 (2006), there is the following description:
"In a system, having a plural number of units therein, each having the same function, such as, in case where a plural number of cameras are provided, as being imaging means, or when it can install a plural number of media, as being recording means, etc., wherein there is a difference in initialization process time from when an electric power is turned ON until when the system can be utilized, the initialization process is conducted, one by one, from the unit having a short initialization process, while utilizing the unit, which is started in advance, until the initialization is completed upon the unit having a long initialization process time."
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. Hei 6-6651 (1994); and
[Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2006-93950 (2006).

Imaging apparatus having specific mode switching sequence and hard disk drive appearance to externally-connected devices


A semiconductor memory device having a transistor formed on a semiconductor substrate and a capacitor formed on the upper layer of the transistor and electrically connected to the transistor, includes: a cell contact which is formed on a first interlayer insulation film covering the transistor and is electrically connected to the transistor; a bit contact which is formed on a second interlayer insulation film provided on the first interlayer insulation film and is electrically connected to the cell contact; a bit line which is formed on the second interlayer insulation film and is connected to the bit contact; a capacitor which is formed on a third interlayer insulation film covering the bit line; a capacitor contact which is formed through the third and second interlayer insulation film and makes a connection between the capacitor and the cell contact; and a side wall which has an etching selectivity with the second and third interlayer insulation films formed on the surface of the bit line.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a semiconductor device, specifically a semiconductor memory device appropriately applied on a semiconductor device integrally made up of a peripheral circuit and a dynamic random memory (DRAM).
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a semiconductor device in which a peripheral circuit and a dynamic random memory (DRAM) are integrally formed on a single semiconductor device, especially a COB (Capacitor On Bit line) where the capacitor of DRAM is arranged above a bit line, there is a problem of a contact resistance that makes an electrical connection between an element and a metal wiring in a peripheral circuit. Heretofore, such a kind of the semiconductor memory device, as shown in a schematic cross sectional view thereof in FIG. 18, is prepared by the steps of: forming a memory cell transistor Tm for DRAM on a memory cell region and forming a peripheral circuit transistor Ts on a peripheral circuit (logic circuit) region on a silicon substrate 101, followed by forming a bit line 115 on an interlayer insulation film 106 of the memory cell region, and forming interlayer insulation films 110, 112 on these components, and forming a capacitor 127 for charge storage, which is comprised of a lower electrode 124, a capacitor insulation film 125, and an upper electrode 126, in a recessed portion formed in the interlayer insulation film 122. Subsequently, the bit line 115 is electrically connected to the memory cell transistor Tm through a contact 112, while the capacitor 127 is electrically connected to the memory cell transistor Tm through a contact 119. Furthermore, the capacitor 127 is covered with an interlayer insulation film 128, followed by forming a metal wiring 131 on the peripheral circuit region and electrically connecting to the peripheral circuit transistor Ts through a contact 130. In this semiconductor memory device, however, the total film thickness of the interlayer insulation films that cover the bit line 115 and the capacitor 127 in the peripheral circuit region, so that the deep contact 130 extending to the peripheral circuit transistor Ts through the thick interlayer insulation films should be formed. Such a configuration of the semiconductor memory device causes the difficulty in forming an opening hole for the contact in the interlayer insulation film, resulting in a trouble in the manufacture of the contact.
In an improved semiconductor device in the prior art, on the other hand, as shown in a cross sectional diagram of FIG. 19, each of the memory cell region and the peripheral circuit region on which the memory cell transistor Tm and the peripheral circuit transistor Ts are respectively formed is constructed by forming a contact (referred to as a cell contact) 109 in the interlayer insulation film 106 below the bit line 115 and electrically connecting the cell contact 109 to each of the transistors Tm, Ts of the respective regions. In the memory cell region, furthermore, the bit line 115 is connected to the cell contact 109, while the capacitor 127 is electrically connected to the cell contact 106 through a contact (referred to as a capacitor contact) formed in the interlayer insulation film 110 above the cell contact 106. In the peripheral circuit, a metal wiring 131 on the interlayer insulation film 128 above the capacitor 127 is electrically connected to the cell contact 109 through a contact (referred to as a metal contact) 130A. According such a configuration of the improved semiconductor device in the prior art, opening holes for the metal contact 130A may be only formed through the interlayer insulation films 128, 122, 110, respectively. Comparing with the semiconductor memory device of FIG. 18, the depth of the contact hole can be reduced, so that the process for manufacturing the contact can be simplified.
However, in such an improved semiconductor device, the upper end portion of the sell contact 109 is exposed at the surface of the interlayer insulation film 106. Thus, when the bit line 115 is formed on the upper surface of the interlayer insulation film 106, the bit line 115 may be displaced from a predetermined position as a result of a photolithographic technology. Therefore, as indicated by "X" in FIG. 19, a part of the bit line 115 interferes with the cell contact 109 to make a short circuit between the bit line 115 and the cell contact 109. Specifically, not shown in the figure, the cell contact 109 is formed by subjecting the interlayer insulation film 106 to a selective etching technology just as in the case with the typical contact hole. Thus, it can be formed in the shape of a taper such that the diameter of an upper opening is larger than the diameter of a lower opening. In other words, the upper end portion of the cell contact 109 tends to become one having a larger diameter, so that a short circuit can be easily occurred between the cell contact 109 and the bit line 115. Therefore, the restriction on pitch dimensions of the bit lines 115 may be occurred, resulting in the difficulty of highly integrated semiconductor memory device in addition to the decrease in the process yield.
Furthermore, the capacitor 127 is formed like a cylinder in the recessed portion formed in the interlayer insulation film 122 that covers the bit line 115. For increasing the capacitor, there is a need to increase the facing area between the lower electrode 124 and the upper electrode 126. In this case, if the film thickness of the interlayer insulation film 122 is increased so as to increase the dimensions of the capacitor in the film thickness direction, even though the cell contact 109 is formed, the depth of the metal contact 130A in the peripheral circuit region becomes deeper. Therefore, it becomes difficult to manufacture the contact, resulting in the decrease in the process yield. In addition, if the area of the capacitor 127 in the plane direction is increased, there is a restriction on proving the memory cell corresponding to the capacitor in high density and the production of a highly integrated semiconductor memory device becomes difficult.


The present invention discloses a method and an apparatus for controlling traffic of a multi-mode base station to overcome the unfair or unreasonable traffic allocation between different systems of a multi-mode base station in the prior art. The technical solutions provided by embodiments of the present invention include: obtaining target traffic of any system in the multi-mode base station according to a preset traffic allocation ratio; decreasing an increment step size of the system if current traffic of the system is greater than the target traffic and bandwidth of the multi-mode base station is idle; or increasing a decrement step size of the system if current traffic of the system is greater than the target traffic and bandwidth of the multi-mode base station is congested; and controlling traffic of the system in the multi-mode base station according to the adjusted increment step size or decrement step size.

With rapid development of communication technologies, communication systems are evolving. The communication system evolves from the earliest analog communication to the digital GSM system, WCDMA system, CDMA system, TD-SCDMA system, and the latest LTE system. To avoid waste of investments in the existing systems of different systems and accomplish smooth evolution from one system to another, the multi-system base station, namely, the multi-mode base station that supports multiple wireless systems, is applied more and more widely.
An important feature of the multi-mode base station is multi-mode co-transmission. In the case of multi-mode co-transmission, an operator usually expects to save the transmission bandwidth by sharing the transmission bandwidth between different systems. For example, if the maximum bandwidth required by a mobile base station NodeB in a WCDMA-based 3G network is A, and the maximum bandwidth required by an evolved Node B eNodeB in an LTE network is B, the bandwidth C expected by the operator from the multi-mode base station is less than the sum of A and B. However, because C is less than the sum of A and B, bandwidth congestion of the multi-mode base station will occur when the services of different systems are all busy.
One method for solving bandwidth congestion in the prior art is to exercise traffic control on every system in the multi-mode base station. The detailed method includes: sending or receiving a detection packet, detecting the network delay, delay variation, and packet loss according to the detection packet, and judging whether the bandwidth of each system in the multi-mode base station is congested or idle; if the bandwidth of a specific system of the multi-mode base station is idle, controlling to increase traffic of the system, or, if the bandwidth of a specific system of the multi-mode base station is congested, controlling to decrease traffic of the system. This method can hardly take care of the traffic requirements of other systems when exercising traffic control on a specific system of the multi-mode base station, which leads to unfair or unreasonable traffic allocation between different systems.

Method and apparatus for controlling traffic of multi-mode base station


A method for data processing is provided, the method comprises: determining the predicted transmission time required by the data packet to be transmitted currently during the transmission course and the residence time for the data packet residing in the buffer; when the sum of the predicted transmission time and the residence time is greater than the predetermined air interface time delay, discarding the data packet. By utilizing the technical scheme of the invention, the discarding time of the data packet is dynamically adjusted, the packet discarding rate is reduced, and the service quality is improved. An apparatus for data processing is also provided.

It is very strict with delay requirement for bearing a real-time service in a packet domain in wireless communication. The delay is typically limited within a range from 80 to 150 ms for transmission of a data packet of a real-time voice service via an air interface and limited to approximately 300 ms for transmission of a data packet of a real-time video service via an air interface.
A transmission delay experienced by a data packet via an air interface generally includes two parts, i.e. a wait delay in a buffer of a transmitter side and a transmission delay during transmission. The wait delay generally depends upon a system congestion condition, and the transmission delay depends upon a transmitting capacity of an air interface channel and a capacity of a receiver side to process the received data packet, that is, the transmission delay includes a period of time required for transmission, reception, feedback and corresponding processing of the data packet.
Since it is very strict with delay requirement for a real-time service, if a data packet is subject to an excessively long wait delay in the buffer of the transmitter side, then the data packet may not contribute to a quality of service even though it is subsequently transmitted and correctly received, and on the contrary, a valuable resource of the air interface may be wasted, thus resulting in an increased wait delay of a subsequent data packet. In order to address this issue, a discard timer is provided at the transmitter side, and such a data packet that waits in the buffer of the transmitter side for a delay exceeding a packet discard threshold (i.e., the maximum wait delay) preset by the discard timer is discarded, to improve the efficiency of transmission via the resource of the air interface and reduce a wait delay of a subsequent data packet. The presetting of the packet discard threshold is of a significant influence on the packet loss rate and the transmission efficiency of the system, for example, a relatively small preset packet discard threshold may result in a relatively large packet loss rate; and a relatively large preset packet discard threshold may result in degraded transmission efficiency and an increased wait delay of a subsequent data packet. A method for presetting a packet discard threshold in the prior art lies in that: a period of time required for the largest number of transmissions via the air interface is reserved in the total delay of the air interface, that is, the packet discard threshold is determined as the difference between the total delay of the air interface and the period of time required for the largest number of transmissions via the air interface. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 1, Tbudget represents the total delay of the air interface, Ntrans represents the largest number of transmissions of the system, Ttrans represents a period of time for each transmission, and Tthreshold represents the packet discard threshold, accordingly, Tthreshold=Tbudget−Ntrans×Ttrans. A data packet waiting in the buffer for a delay exceeding the packet discard threshold is discarded. Unfortunately in this method, a data packet can only be discarded prior to its first transmission, and the timer for the data packet is reset to zero upon commence of the first transmission.
In view of the above, the packet discard threshold preset in the foregoing method has the following disadvantages.
1. Since the period of time occupied for the largest number of transmissions allowable for the system has to be accommodated, the packet discard threshold may be preset excessively short. However, the majority of data packets can be received correctly prior to reaching the largest number of transmissions in a well designed wireless system. Thus, a relatively short period of time experienced by a data packet in the buffer to wait for a first transmission may cause some data packets that can be received correctly without being subject to the largest number of transmissions to be discarded prematurely, especially in the event of a relatively short total delay of the air interface and a relatively poor quality of the channel, and the packet loss rate at the transmitter side may consequently be increased dramatically, thus degrading greatly the quality of service.
For example, in the case that the total delay of the air interface is denoted as Tbudget, where Tbudget=150 ms, the largest number of transmissions of the system is denoted as Ntrans, where Ntrans=4, a period of time occupied for each round-trip transmission is denoted as TRTT, where TRTT=20 ms, and the packet discard threshold is denoted as Tthreshold, then Tthreshold=150−4×20=70 ms as preset in the foregoing method, that is, a data packet waiting in a buffer of a transmitter for its first transmission for a period of time exceeding 70 ms is to be discarded. Actually, the majority of data packets may be transmitted successfully without being subject to four times of transmissions, and some data packets may be transmitted successfully even during the first transmission, in this case, a data packet is still valid even if it is transmitted for the first time after waiting in the buffer for 150−1×20=130 ms.
2. Presetting of a packet discard threshold is dependent upon the total delay of the air interface, the largest number of transmissions of the system and the period of time occupied for each round-trip transmission, and when these conditions remain unchanged, the same packet discard threshold is to be preset even for data packets of different users or different data packets of the same user. However, channel statuses of users vary, and this method for presetting a packet discard threshold can not enable a data packet to be discarded properly dependent upon a practical condition, thus possibly resulting in a relatively large packet loss rate and a relatively low utilization efficiency of the resource of the air interface.
3. Such a mechanism, in which a monitoring process of whether to discard a data packet is disabled after the first transmission of the data packet and it is assumed that an event of discarding the data packet will not occur during subsequent possible retransmission, may be unreasonable, because channel and system loads and hence a delay due to retransmission vary dynamically. If the sum of an actual transmission delay occupied for the first transmission and retransmission of a data packet and a wait delay occupied for the data packet exceeds the total delay of the air interface, it indicates that subsequent transmission of the data packet is useless and the data packet shall be discarded.

Method and apparatus for data processing


This invention discloses multi-part primers for primer-dependent nucleic acid amplification methods. Also disclosed are multiplex assay methods, related reagent kits, and oligonucleotides for such methods.

It has been a long-sought medical goal to be able to detect at a very early stage extremely rare mutations whose presence in a clinical sample is useful for diagnosing cancer, determining prognosis, and indicating the choice of effective therapy. The detection and quantitative assessment of relevant somatic mutations has multiple uses, including: (i) the detection of cancer at a treatable stage in patients who inherit genes that make cancer more likely; (ii) the detection of mutations in benign cancer cells that indicate that they may now metastasize; (iii) measurement of the abundance of cancer cells during treatment; and (iv) the determination as to whether drug-resistant cancer cells have arisen during treatment, so that therapy can be adjusted. A further goal is to develop methods that enable multiplex assays that can simultaneously measure the abundance of different rare mutations. If such assays were to become available, cancer could potentially be converted from an often-fatal disease to a chronic condition that can be managed by frequent testing combined with individualized therapeutic adjustments.
Spurring on these efforts is the realization that cancer cells, no matter where in the body they are located, divide frequently, undergo apoptosis and necrosis, as a consequence of which genomic DNA fragments from those cancer cells are present in each patient's blood plasma. This realization has opened up the possibility that the presence of rare mutations indicative of cancer diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment can be detected and quantitated at a very early stage, by performing "liquid biopsies," utilizing DNA isolated from plasma. The challenge facing assay designers is to find a means of selectively detecting and quantitating these rare mutant sequence fragments in plasma DNA, despite the presence of abundant related wild-type sequence fragments originating from normal cells throughout the body, and despite the fact that different relevant mutations, though originating in different cells, often occur in the same or adjacent codons. The success of "next-generation" sequencing for the detection of rare mutant sequence fragments in plasma DNA, though complex and costly, has illustrated the value of this approach (see, for example, Murtaza et al. (2013) Nature 497:108-112).
Molecular diagnostic assays based on the exponential amplification of nucleic acid target sequences, such as polymerase chain reactions, are inexpensive and sufficiently sensitive to generate signals from as little as a single template molecule. Conventionally, specificity is obtained by making a primer sufficiently long so that under the amplification reaction conditions, primarily during the primer-annealing step, the primer goes to only one place in a nucleic acid strand. For distinguishing between or among target sequences, allele-specific hybridization probes such as molecular beacon probes are commonly used. If the sequence being investigated is an allele, such as a single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) that is present in a mixture with another allele, for example, a wild-type (WT) variant, distinguishing by use of a probe has a practical detection limit of about 3% (allele selectivity of not less than about 300 target allele molecules in the presence of 10,000 molecules of the alternate allele) due to the tendency of amplification of the prevalent allele to overwhelm amplification of the rare allele.
Researchers have turned to modifying amplification primers to improve the selectivity of amplification assays. A primer that is highly allele-selective enables the exponential amplification of a mutant DNA sequence while simultaneously suppressing amplification of a far more abundant wild-type sequence that is present, even when the difference between them is a SNP. Simply shortening a conventional amplification primer will improve its allele-selectivity, but because that improvement comes at the expense of specificity, it is of limited value for analyzing mixtures of alleles. Other modifications of primers have been developed to improve their selectivity while retaining specificity. One such approach is ARMS ("amplification refractory mutation system"). An ARMS primer has a 3′-terminal nucleotide that is complementary to the sequence variant being investigated, but that is mismatched to another allele or alleles. See Newton et al. (1989) Nucleic Acids Res. 17:2503-2516; and Ferrie et al. (1992) Am. J. Hum. Genet. 51:251-262. ARMS relies on the refractory nature of certain DNA polymerases, that is, a tendency not to extend a primer-target hybrid having such a mismatch. ARMS has been demonstrated to be useful for determining zygosity (homozygous WT, heterozygous, or homozygous mutant (MUT)), but it has a practical detection limit for other uses of about 1% (not less than about 100 target allele molecules in the presence of 10,000 molecules of the alternate allele).
Other approaches seek to reduce the likelihood that a primer for a mutant sequence will hybridize to a mutant sequence and lead to its amplification, but is unlikely to hybridize to the corresponding wild-type sequence, thereby suppressing its amplification. Several primer designs have in common that they possess a priming sequence that is perfectly complementary to a mutant target, but contain an internal interrogating nucleotide that mismatches the corresponding wild-type sequence. Among such designs are dual priming oligonucleotide (DPO) primers, MyT primers, hairpin primers, and PASS primers. The length of their priming sequence is chosen so that, under annealing conditions, perfectly complementary mutant hybrids are likely to form, and are therefore likely to lead to the generation of amplicons, while mismatched wild-type hybrids are much less likely to form, and are therefore much less likely to lead to the generation of amplicons. Alternative approaches, involving PCR-clamping or the use of hairpin oligonucleotide blockers, utilize a mixture that contains both conventional DNA primers that bind to mutant sequences, and "anti-primers" that are designed to bind selectively to wild-type sequences, thereby preventing the initiation of wild-type amplicon synthesis. However, all of these approaches, though generally applicable for the detection of mutant sequences, are either not sufficiently sensitive to detect extremely rare mutants, not compatible with real-time PCR due to the presence of unnatural nucleotides in their sequence, or have not been shown to enable quantitative determinations in multiplex real-time PCR assays when different target mutations occur in the same codon.
We have developed multi-part primers that we refer to as "SuperSelective" primers whose structure and use in PCR assays is described in copending patent application PCT/US2014/015351, published 14 Aug. 2014 as WO 2014/124290 A1. We described real-time monoplex PCR assays in which SuperSelective primers were both "specific" (went to the correct place in the genome), and highly "selective" (rejected wild-type or other abundant sequences similar to the target sequence). We described real-time monoplex PCR assays utilizing plasmid DNA and a SuperSelective primer that successfully detected as few as 10 mutant alleles in a mixture containing 1,000,000 wild-type alleles, and we described a real-time monoplex PCR assay utilizing human DNA and a SuperSelective primer that successfully detected 10 mutant alleles in a sample containing 10,000 wild-type alleles although a plot of CT values versus the log of the starting number of mutant copies (templates) departed from linearity below 100 copies. We did not, however, demonstrate multiplex assays or describe multiplex assays for closely related rare mutant target sequences in which the SuperSelective primer design and the method were capable of detecting as few as ten mutant target sequences.

Multiplex nucleic acid assay methods capable of detecting closely related alleles, and reagents therefor

RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY


A cold seek governor process for a hard disk drive includes regulating delay between seek operations when temperature of the disk drive is below a threshold temperature.

Computer disk drives store information on magnetic disks. Typically, the information is stored on each disk in concentric tracks that are divided into sectors. Information is written to and read from a disk by a transducer that is mounted on an actuator arm capable of moving the transducer radially over the disk. Accordingly, the movement of the actuator arm allows the transducer to access different tracks. The disk is rotated by a spindle motor at high speed which allows the transducer to access different sectors on the disk.
A conventional hard disk drive (HDD) system, generally designated 10, is illustrated in FIG. 1. The HDD system 10 comprises a data storage disk 12 that is rotated by a spindle motor 14. The spindle motor 14 is mounted to a base plate 16.
The HDD system 10 also includes a drive arm assembly 18, which includes a transducer 20 mounted to a flexure arm 22. As is conventional, the transducer 20 comprises both a write head and a read head. The drive arm assembly 18 is attached to an actuator arm 24 that can rotate about a bearing assembly 26. A drive voice coil motor (VCM) 28 cooperates with the actuator arm 24 and, hence, the drive arm assembly 18, to move the transducer 20 relative to the disk 12.
The spindle motor 14, voice coil motor 28, and transducer 20 are coupled to a number of electronic circuits 30. As will be described in further detail below, the electronic circuits 30 typically include a read channel chip, a microprocessor-based controller (or combination), a random access memory (RAM) device, and associated signal drive and logic circuitry.
The disk drive system 10 typically includes a plurality of disks 12 and, therefore, a plurality of corresponding actuator arm assemblies 18. However, it is also possible for the disk drive system 10 to include a single disk 12 as shown in FIG. 1. Typically, one drive arm assembly 18 is provided for each surface of each disk 12.
FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram which illustrates a conventional disk drive such as that depicted at 10 in FIG. 1. The example hard disk drive system 10 is coupled to a host device 32 via an input/output port 34 and a power port 36. The host device 32 comprises a processor 40 and a power supply 42. The host device 32 may take many forms, including a general purpose computing device, a media player, a cellular telephone, and a digital camera or camcorder.
Data is transferred between the hard disk drive system 10 and the processor 40 of the host device 32 through the input/output port 34, and power is supplied by the power supply 42 of the host device 32 to the drive system 10 through the power port 36. The details of construction and operation of the host device 32, the input/output port 34, and the power port 36 are or may be conventional and will not be described herein beyond the extent necessary for a complete understanding of the present invention.
For a variety of reasons, the power supplied to the hard disk drive 10 through the power port 36 may be limited. As one example, the power supply 42 may comprise a power storage device, such as a battery, which has limited power storage capacity. As another example, the power may be transferred between the host device 32 and the power port 36 using a transmission system, such as a USB system, that has limited power transmission capacity, or by system specification limits.
In addition to the components of the disk drive system 10 shown and labeled in FIG. 1, FIG. 2 illustrates (in block diagram form) that the electronic circuits 30 comprise a drive controller 50, a read/write channel 52, and an interface 54. The drive controller 50 comprises a servo compensator 56. Except as noted below, the details of construction and operation of the drive controller 50, the read/write channel 52, the interface 54, and the servo compensator 56 also are or may be conventional and will not be described herein in further detail.
The disk drive system 10 is used by the host device 32 as a data storage device. The host device 32 delivers data access requests to the disk drive system 10 via the input/output port 34. The data port 34 is used to transfer data between the disk drive system 10 and the host device 32 during read and write operations.
The drive arm assembly 18 is a semi-rigid member that acts as a support structure for the transducer 20, holding it above the surface of the disk 12. The drive arm assembly 18 is coupled at one end to the transducer 20 and at another end to the drive VCM 28. The drive VCM 28 is operative for imparting controlled motion to the actuator arm 18 to appropriately position the transducer 20 with respect to the disk 12. The drive VCM 28 operates in response to a control signal generated by the servo compensator 56 of the drive controller 50. The servo compensator 56 generates the control signal in response to, among other things, an access command received from the host device 32 via the interface 54.
The read/write channel 52 is operative for appropriately processing the data being read from/written to the disk 12. For example, during a read operation, the read/write channel 52 converts an analog read signal generated by the transducer 20 into a digital data signal that can be recognized by the drive controller 50. The channel 52 is also generally capable of recovering timing information from the analog read signal.
During a write operation, the read/write channel 52 converts data received from the host device 32 into a write current signal that is delivered to the transducer 20 to "write" the data to an appropriate portion of the disk 12. The read/write channel 52 is also operative for continually processing data read from servo information stored on the disk 12 and delivering the processed data to the drive controller 50 for use in, for example, transducer positioning.
Referring now more specifically to the hard disk 12, as depicted in FIG. 2 the spindle motor 14 is operatively connected to the disk 12 such that the motor 14 rotates the disk 12 relative to the transducer 20. As the spindle motor 14 rotates the disk 12, the transducer 20 stores data on the disk 12 in substantially concentric data storage tracks 60 on a surface of the disk 12. The example data storage disk 12 also includes servo information in the form of a plurality of radially-aligned servo spokes 62 that each cross all of the tracks 60 on the disk 12. The portions of the track between the servo spokes 62 have traditionally been used to store data received from, for example, the host device 32 and are thus referred to herein as data regions 64.
In a magnetic disk drive system 10, data is stored, for example, in the form of magnetic polarity transitions within each track 60. Data is "read" from the disk 12 by positioning the transducer 20 (i.e., the read head) above a desired track 60 of the disk 12 and sensing the magnetic polarity transitions stored within the track 60 as the disk 12 moves below the transducer 20. Similarly, data is "written" to the disk 12 by positioning the transducer 20 (i.e., the write head) above a desired track 60 and delivering a write current representative of the desired data to the transducer 20 at an appropriate time.
The data storage tracks 60 are illustrated as center lines on the surface of the disk 12; however, it should be understood that the actual tracks will each occupy a finite width about a corresponding centerline. It should be understood that, for ease of illustration, only a small number of tracks 60 and servo spokes 62 have been shown on the surface of the disk 12 of FIG. 3. That is, conventional disk drives include one or more disk surfaces having a considerably larger number of tracks and servo spokes.
The servo information in the servo spokes 62 is a specialized form of data stored on the disk 12 that is read by the transducer 20 during disk drive operation for use in positioning the transducer 20 above a desired track 60 of the disk 12. In particular, the disk drive system 10 operates in at least two positioning modes: seek and track following. During the seek mode, the system 10 moves the transducer 20 from an initial track 60a to a target track 60b. During the track following mode, the system 10 maintains the transducer 20 above the desired track 60 while data is read from or written to the disk 12.
The servo information is configured to allow the system 10 to operate in both the seek and track following modes. As is well-known in the art, the servo information stored in the servo spokes allows the servo compensator 56 to determine a position of the transducer 20 relative to the disk 12. The servo compensator 56 uses the position information during seek and track following modes to move to and/or follow the target track 60b.
Referring back for a moment to FIG. 2, it can be seen that the read/write channel comprises a preamplifier circuit 70 and a channel circuit 72. The preamplifier circuit 70 performs two functions. First, the preamplifier circuit 70 generates a write signal for driving the write head portion of the transducer 20 based on an analog differential drive signal generated by the channel circuit 72. Second, the preamplifier 70 generates an analog playback signal 72 based on a read signal generated by the read head portion of the transducer 20. The playback signal is delivered to the channel circuit 72.
The channel circuit 72 also performs two basic functions. First, the channel circuit 72 generates the analog differential drive signal based on the digital data to be written to the disk 12. Second, the channel circuit 72 converts the analog playback signal into digital data that can be processed by the drive controller 50 and/or host device 32. The details of construction and operation of the preamplifier 70 and the channel circuit 72 are or may be conventional and will not be described herein in further detail.
As generally described above, power is supplied to the hard disk drive system 10 through the power port 36. A power distribution system 80 for transmitting this power to the various electrical components of the hard disk drive system 10 is represented by bold dashed lines in FIG. 2. In addition to wiring, the power distribution system 80 may comprise circuitry for regulating the power signal obtained through the power port 36 as appropriate for each of the components of the electronic circuits 30. The example power distribution system 80 is or may be conventional and will not be described herein beyond the extent necessary for a complete understanding of the present invention.
As generally discussed above, power supplied to the hard disk drive 10 through the power port 36 may be limited, in storage capacity and/or in transmission capacity or by system specification. The electronics 30 include fully differential buffer (FDB) and complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) electronics that consume more power at relatively cold temperatures than at relatively high temperatures. Accordingly, the power consumption associated with aggressive seek operations, which are typically performed by circuits using FDB and CMOS electronics and external transistors, increases power consumption of the hard disk drive system 10. Typically the power consumption of seek operations increases as seek operations are made more aggressive.
In some cold temperature situations, the power consumption of the disk drive system 10 due to electronics and aggressive seek operations may exceed the maximum system power specifications. It is undesirable that a disk drive system exceed maximum system power specifications because these power specifications are designed based on the limitations of the power supplied to the hard disk drive system by the host device.
Accordingly, the need thus exists for hard disk drive systems and methods that limit power consumption in cold environments to ensure that the hard disk drive system design can be properly configured for the environment, power needs, usage patterns, and reliability of a particular host device.

Systems and methods for regulating hard disk drive operation in cold temperatures


Methods, systems, and computer program products are provided for the online convex optimization problem, in which the decision maker has knowledge of the all past states and resulting cost functions for his previous choices and attempts to make a new choice that results in minimum regret. The method does not rely upon the structure of the cost function or the characterization of the states and takes advantage of the similarity between successive states to enable the method to converge to a reasonably optimal result.

The present invention relates generally to the field of artificial intelligence and, more specifically, to a method of predicting future outcomes that successively approach an optimum through the use of machine learning.
The field of machine learning is generally considered to be a broad subfield of artificial intelligence. Machine learning deals generally with the development of algorithms, methods, and techniques that allow computers to "learn" methods. Research in the area of machine learning research is generally focused on automating statistical methods for efficient use by software agents. Machine learning has a wide spectrum of applications including natural language processing, pattern recognition, search engines, medical diagnosis, bioinformatics, detecting credit card fraud, stock market analysis, classifying DNA sequences, speech and handwriting recognition, object recognition in computer vision, robotic locomotion, optimization, and game playing, to name a few.
More particularly, in the areas of optimization and game playing, an interesting set of problems relates to the so-called "experts problem", which may be expressed in the following manner. A decision maker relies upon the advice of various "experts" in attempting to predict an event, such as whether or not it will rain the next day. The decision maker has access to the experts, each of which provides a prediction based on previous observations. The decision maker uses an algorithm that combines the advice of these experts. Such an algorithm employed by the decision maker is called an experts algorithm. Known experts algorithms usually guarantee that, after many iterations, the number of mistakes that the algorithm makes will be approximately at least as good as that of the best expert, in retrospect.
An even more general framework, which encompasses the experts problem, is referred to as the online convex optimization (OCO) problem. However, the OCO problems that are described in the prior art do not utilize "state information". In the example given above, suppose that the decision maker also has access to various measurements, such as, for example, temperature and cloud location. Intuitively, this information could potentially improve the performance of the decision maker, but it is not clear a priori how to model prior information in the online learning framework.
One approach is to attempt to learn the correlation, if any, between the given information and the observable data and to use such correlation to predict future behavior. However, the information, e.g., temperature, may or may not be correlated with the actual observations, e.g., whether or not it later rains. Even more so, it is conceivable that the state information may be strongly correlated with the observations, but this correlation is very hard to extract. For example, the prior knowledge could be encoded as a solution to a computationally hard problem or even an uncomputable one. Such approaches are not generally thought to be robust or practical.
Another approach is to associate different experts with different decision states and then use standard expert algorithms to predict future behavior. The problem with such an approach is that the number of states grows exponentially with the dimension of the state space. Therefore, this approach quickly becomes infeasible even for a modest amount of prior information. Other difficulties with this approach arise when the domain of the attributes is infinite.
Sill another approach is that used in the model for portfolio management with side information introduced by T. M. Cover and E. Ordentlich, in their book entitled "Universal Portfolios with Side Information" 42:348-363, 1996. Their approach handles discrete side information, and amounts to handling different side information values as separate problem instances. The measure of performance in their model is the standard "regret" metric. The concept of regret comes from the field of Decision Theory. The regret of the decision maker after T steps is defined as the difference between the total cost that the decision maker has actually incurred and the minimum cost that the decision maker could have incurred by choosing a certain point repeatedly.
It is apparent that a new approach to the solution to online convex optimization problems is needed, which does not assume anything about the distribution of the data, prior information, or correlation between the two. The measure of performance should be comparative, i.e., based on an extension of the concept of regret. This approach should take into account the geometric structure of the available information space.

Method of developing solutions for online convex optimization problems when a decision maker has knowledge of all past states and resulting cost functions for previous choices and attempts to make new choices resulting in minimal regret

International Business Machines Corporation


A method of processing a plurality of time-varying signals received at a sensor communicatively coupled to a signal data processor to identify at least one parameter of at least one of the plurality of time-varying signals is provided. The method includes receiving, at a plurality of blind source separation (BSS) modules of the signal data processor, signals derived from the plurality of time-varying signals, each BSS module of the plurality of BSS modules including a filtering subsystem having a pipelined architecture and a parallelized architecture. The method also includes generating a plurality of blind source separated signals, and transmitting at least one pulse descriptor word (PDW) parameter vector signal to a computing device of the signal data processor. The method further includes identifying the at least one parameter from the at least one PDW parameter vector signal, and outputting the at least one parameter from the signal data processor.

The field of the disclosure relates generally to separating and identifying signals of interest from a plurality of mixed signals, and, more specifically, to systems and methods for parallelizing and pipelining a tunable blind source separation filter.
In at least some known signal processing systems, a plurality of mixed signals (e.g., radar signals) are received by a sensor communicatively coupled to a blind source separation filter. Using signal processing techniques, the blind source separation filter attempts to accurately separate and identify signals of interest from the plurality of mixed signals. To improve performance, at least some known blind source separation filters use pipelining and paralleling techniques. However, pipelining and parallelizing filters typically require determining new filter coefficients for each tuned frequency, and utilizing relatively large look-up tables that require intensive memory and computational resources. Additionally, in at least some known systems, excessive hardware latencies (e.g., due to clock cycles) encountered during continuous generation, classification, and tracking may cause potential signals of interest to be misclassified or to not be included in signal tracking. Also, in at least some known signal filter tuning systems and methods, pipelining and parallelizing signal filtering requires substantially different circuit and hardware versions for use on various platforms.

Systems and methods for parallelizing and pipelining a tunable blind source separation filter


An embossed decorative sheet that can have various characteristics, and a method for producing the same. An embossed decorative sheet according to one embodiment of the present invention has a structure in which a patterned layer, an adhesive layer, a transparent thermoplastic resin layer, and a surface protective layer are laminated in this order on a thermoplastic resin substrate sheet, and in which an embossed pattern is formed on at least an outermost layer. The transparent thermoplastic resin layer has a structure including a first resin layer, an adhesive layer, and a second resin layer.

Conventionally, there are embossed decorative sheets that are bonded together with surfaces of wooden boards, inorganic boards, steel plates, etc., using an adhesive to form decorative plates. As such embossed decorative sheets, those using vinyl chloride resins are generally used. However, chlorine generation from incineration etc. has recently been problematic, and there have been demands for embossed decorative sheets that do not use vinyl chloride resins (see, for example, PTL 1).

Embossed decorative sheet and method for producing the same


The present invention proposes a solution for providing multicast/broadcast service to users roaming between different operational domains. In particular it is proposed to provide means enabling the user to contact a home multicast/broadcast server. Said means might be a request being triggered by the user. Said request includes a network identifier identifying the visited operational domain, which is provided to the multicast/broadcast server. The latter decides on a provision method for providing the at least one multicast/broadcast service to the user in the visited operational domain considering rules for a provision of multicast/broadcast services in the visited operational domain and the request triggered by the user. Further the multicast/broadcast server determines a second parameter set for accessing the at least one multicast/broadcast service in the visited operational domain according to the provision method and informs the user about the second parameter set.

Multicast/broadcast is a service that permits sources to send a single copy of the same data to an address that causes the data to be delivered to multiple recipients. Under multicast/broadcast only one copy of a message passes over any link in a network and copies of the message are made only where paths diverge. From the network perspective, multicast/broadcast dramatically reduces overall bandwidth consumption, since the data is replicated in the network at appropriate points rather than in the end-systems. Further a server, which is sending multicast message needs to manage only one session.
Multicasting in the internetworking between a fixed network, like for example the Internet or any other IP-based backbone network and a mobile network like, General Packet Radio System GPRS or Universal Mobile Telecommunication System UMTS is currently developed, because especially in the wireless network new challenges occur. These challenges are for example the mobility of the end users and low transmission bandwidth of the mobile network on the air interface, but also the lower reliability due to the packet loss on the radio interface compared to the fixed networks.
Multicasting in the internetworking between a fixed network and a mobile network like, General Packet Radio System GPRS or Universal Mobile Communication System UMTS is presented in the following according to the actual multimedia multicast/broadcast MBMS architecture of the General Packet Radio System GPRS network as depicted in FIG. 1.
The GPRS is the packet-switched enhancement of the Global System for Mobile Communication GSM, which is a circuit switched network. In GPRS, the user can be permanently online connected paying only for the real data transfer. In order to fulfill the new requirements some changes are introduced into the GSM, amongst other new logical nodes, the Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN) and the Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN). The main functions of the GGSN involve interaction with external IP packet networks providing for example connections to Internet Service Providers ISPs. For the purpose of providing multicast/broadcast service the GGSN can communicate with Broadcast/Multicast Service Centre BM-SC receiving a content from a Content Provider being located either in the mobile network or in the external network, thus the BM-SC entity is responsible for the provision of multicast/broadcast, like for example for bearer establishment and data forwarding. Further possibility for providing multicast/broadcast is by means of a Multicast Broadcast Source, which can be located in the mobile network or in an external network. The SGSN serves all GPRS subscribers that are physically located within the geographical SGSN service area. It forwards incoming IP packets addressed to a mobile station. Additional to the new logical nodes also new interfaces between the nodes are to be defined as it is depicted in FIG. 1.
The similar nodes and interfaces are also used in the next generation of the wireless networks, like the UMTS.
The introduction of multicast/broadcast into wireless network has to deal with problems being relevant for the mobile networks, amongst other with the mobility of the end users and low transmission bandwidth of the mobile network on the air interface.
In particular the mobility of the users has impact on different development directions.
For example due to users movement, different networks are to be constructed to provide service to the customers. Hence, depending on the network co-operation between operators, a possibility is provided to offer the subscribers a coverage area being much wider.
This functionality is called roaming. Roaming might be provided if some administrative and technical constraints are fulfilled. From the administrative point of view, issues like for example charging, subscription agreements must be solved between different operators each offering an operational domain. From the technical point of view some topics are consequence of the administrative matters, such as the transfer of call charges or the transfer of the subscription information between networks. Others are needed simply for roaming to be possible at all, such as the transfer of location data between networks, or the existence of a common access interface.
It should be noted that roaming, in which the user can move and keep access to the service is only possible if some conditions are met. First, the operating domains and their operators must communicate between themselves. For this purpose a number of standardized interfaces is defined, by means of which the so-called Service Layer Agreement SLA might be transferred. Second, the user must have the possibility to access a service in different networks.
In a common praxis, a user has a subscription relationship with a single operating domain, being often called home operating domain, for example, a home PLMN (Public Land Mobile Network). A user usually has access to a service in the home operating domain. The varicosity of the services for accessing depends on the subscription.
Furthermore a distinguishing between a national and international roaming is made, depending whether the operating domains belong to the same or to different countries.
Mobile telecommunications networks, such as GPRS or UMTS, aim to provide services such as voice, data, and multimedia via computing devices over network infrastructures. Particularly, the provision of services being multicasted or broadcasted to the users is an important part of the evolution of these networks. In the following the abbreviation MBMS will be used for the Multicast/Broadcast Multimedia Service.
Currently there are mechanisms for supporting a provision of Multicast/Broadcast services. MBMS services are differentiated in one network using the Temporary Mobile Group Identifier (TMGI). A TMGI uniquely identifies an MBMS bearer, which transports a MBMS service, worldwide. The TMGI is structured in a way that it is possible to define within every network an unique TMGI for a particular service. The TMGI will be described in more details afterwards.
However, if an MBMS UE roams in another MBMS enabled network, the MBMS UE is only able to receive the activated MBMS transmissions, if the visited network supports the service and then the user has to know how to access the service. This means that a visited network in order to provide the home MBMS service to the users visiting it, must also announce MBMS services and sends MBMS notifications for MBMS Services of the foreign networks besides the own service portfolio. Consequently, MBMS roaming is only possible, when potentially all services of all service providers are offered through all mobile networks.
Therefore in order to support roaming, the MBMS functionality is required in all networks. Thus, if a visited mobile network does not support the MBMS feature at all or does not support MBMS roaming, it is not possible to offer MBMS services to users being subscribed to MBMS in the home network and visiting the visited mobile network.
In the current solution, if a network does not offer the MBMS feature at all, then the roaming of the MBMS service does not work when an MBMS UE is roaming into that network. For example, the user might receive for example in a foreign country a MC/BC service in a foreign language, but it is not possible to offer to the user the home MC/BC service in the home language.
Moreover, besides the provision of the technical features, also an agreement on the roaming policy is to be provided. It might be possible that a mobile-network implements MBMS functionality, but the operator does not allow the usage of MBMS for the visiting subscribers, for example to save MBMS recourses for the own users and own services. Consequently, also in this case the roaming solution would not work.

Provision of multimedia broadcast/multicast service (MBMS) for roaming subscribers


A gas turbine, especially an aircraft engine is provided. The gas turbine comprises at least one compressor (15, 16), at least one combustion chamber (17), at least one turbine (18, 19), and at least one generator (20) for generating electrical energy, each generator (20) comprising at least one stator (25) and at least one rotor (22). Each rotor (22) of each generator (20) is embodied as a free-wheeling generator turbine that is driven by a gas flow in such a way that it rotates in relation to the respective stator (25) of the respective generator (20) and thus generates electrical energy from the kinetic energy of the gas flow.

In addition to a thrust for propelling the aircraft, aircraft engines—either civil aircraft engines or military aircraft engines—generate power for supplying attachments or auxiliary units of the gas turbine or for supplying aircraft-side systems such as the air conditioning system. The attachments, auxiliary units, or also aircraft-side systems of an aircraft engine may be devices, units, or systems driven hydraulically, pneumatically, or electrically or by an electric motor.
A clear trend toward increasing need for electrical power in the aircraft can be noticed in aircraft development. This is based on the fact that hydraulically or pneumatically driven aircraft systems are replaced by systems driven by electric motors and that an ever greater power demand exists per aircraft seat. Therefore, the aircraft engines must provide an ever greater amount of electrical power. Such aircraft engines are also referred to as "more electric engines", (MEE).
For generating electrical power for supplying the attachments or auxiliary units of the gas turbine as well as the aircraft-side systems it is known from the related art to draw mechanical energy from a core engine of the gas turbine which is used for driving pumps and generators, for example. DE 41 31 713 C2 describes an aircraft engine in which shaft energy is drawn from a core engine and this shaft energy is supplied to auxiliary units.

Gas turbine with free-running generator driven by by-pass gas flow


A hand operated stapling tool, which uses the energy stored in a spring to install staples by an impact blow, is disclosed. A housing body is preferably cast or molded. A handle is pivotally attached to the rear end of the housing body, pressing down the handle stores energy in a power spring by bending the middle section of the power spring, and further pressing down the handle unlocks the front end of the power spring which forces a driving blade to move downward and expels a staple out of the bottom of the housing body. A staple feeding track is formed at the bottom of the housing body, and the stored staples are secured by a rear-hinged panel.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to hand-operated fastener applying devices and specifically to spring-powered staplers.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various spring-powered staplers employs basically the same operating principle that is to use a spring to store energy, which is then released to drive a blade to expel a staple out of the bottom of the stapler. The stapler of the present invention also uses this operating principle, but makes the structure more simplified, compact and flexible.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,326,540 issued to Krantz discloses a staple gun in which a hand lever is pivoted at the back and an actuating lever engages a vertically positioned spring and driving assembly, hence Krantz's staple gun is quite bulky.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,671,215 issued to Abrams discloses a staple gun with similar vertically placed spring and driving assembly, but a different actuating means.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,769,174 issued to Libert discloses a staple gun in which an actuating means employs two linked levers and spring and driving member assembly vertically positioned.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,862,712 issued to LaPointe et al. discloses a staple gun with a staple feeding track that slides rearward to expose a staple loading chamber. A releasable latch assembly retains the track in position.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,119,258 issued to Ewig, Jr. discloses a staple gun with a body and hand lever constructed substantially of plastic material. Its hand lever is pivoted in the front and its spring and driving assembly is vertically positioned.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,988,478 issued to Marks discloses a stapling machine in which an actuating level is used to store energy in the power spring and then released it to force a plunger to move downward and expel a staple from the bottom of the stapling machine. In order to accommodate the actuating lever, the hand-operated stapling machine is less compact.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,918,525 issued to Marks discloses a desktop stapler in which a spring lifting level is also used to activate the stapler, hence it is less compact.


An electret condenser 2 includes a fixed electrode 6, a vibrating electrode 5, an electretized silicon dioxide film 7 formed between the electrodes, and silicon nitride films 8 and 9 formed so as to cover the silicon dioxide film 7. The silicon dioxide film 7 covered with the silicon nitride films 8 and 9 is formed on the vibrating electrode 5.

Conventionally, organic high-molecular polymers, such as FEP (Fluorinated Ethylene Propylene) materials have been used for electret elements which are dielectric materials each having a permanent electric polarization and applied to devices, such as a condenser microphone. These materials, however, have poor thermal resistance and, therefore, are difficult to use as elements for reflow when mounted on substrates.
In order to achieve a small-size microphone, an electret condenser microphone was proposed recently which uses as the electret element a silicon dioxide film processed by a microfabrication technology rather than the organic high-molecular polymers (see Patent Document 1). Specifically, in this electret condenser microphone, two silicon substrates are joined to each other as a condenser, an electret film formed of a silicon dioxide film as an electret material is arranged at one of the substrates.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid Open Publication No. 11-331988A


The described embodiments comprise a selection mechanism that selects a resource from a set of resources in a computing device for performing an operation. In some embodiments, the selection mechanism is configured to perform a lookup in a table selected from a set of tables to identify a resource from the set of resources. When the identified resource is not available for performing the operation and until a resource is selected for performing the operation, the selection mechanism is configured to identify a next resource in the table and select the next resource for performing the operation when the next resource is available for performing the operation.

1. Field
The described embodiments relate to handling resources in computing devices. More specifically, the described embodiments relate to selecting a resource from a set of resources for performing an operation in a computing device.
2. Related Art
Many modern computing devices include subsystems with multiple resources for performing corresponding operations. For example, these computing devices can include multiple processor cores (resources) for executing threads (an operation), multiple banks in a cache that can be used for storing cache blocks, mass-storage devices such as disks and semiconductor memories for storing data, etc. In some cases, these resources can become unavailable during operation of the computing device. For example, one or more of the banks in the cache, processor cores, and/or network interfaces can be powered-down to conserve power. Existing techniques for selecting resources for performing operations in the computing device after one or more resources have become unavailable and/or available are complex and/or can lead to poorly balanced resource usage.

Selecting a resource from a set of resources for performing an operation


An infrared light condensing apparatus that focuses an infrared light of several tens microns in wavelength at a microfine area of submicron or less and also a near-field from a microfine area of submicron or less, and permits a scanning image to be obtained. It includes a solid immersion lens including a medium of high index of refraction for coupling an incident light or an outgoing light to an antenna, a measured specimen disposed on a base plane of the solid immersion lens, an antenna disposed away from the base plane at a distance ¼ of an effective wavelength of the light for causing the light to geometrically resonate therewith, a rod-like conductive probe having a sharply point end projecting from the antenna, and a position control means such as a triaxial XYZ mechanical stage for controlling the position of the probe with the intermediary of a cantilever.

Combining geometrical-optical lenses in any way does not allow condensing a light into an area as extremely small as one half of its wavelength because of a diffraction limit of the light. It is then not possible either to pick up selectively a light emitted from an area as extremely small as one half of its wavelength. However, light has not only waves to propagate as described by the Maxwell's equations but also a near field that exists only extremely near the surface of an object. If a probe having a sharply pointed tip whose diameter is as small as less than the diffraction limit is used to bring this pointed tip into extremely close proximity to the surface of an object, there can then be created a near-field coupling between them to bring about a near field on the object surface, also permitting such a near field from an object to be taken as a light propagating. Using this method allows an optical image of an object to be observed at a resolution less than the diffraction limit and further the nature of matter such as Raman scattering to be measured at a resolution less than the diffraction limit.
In the past, however, there has been no technique available to control positioning a probe having a tip as sharp as less than the diffraction limit and to control the relationship in position between the probe tip and a measured object at a resolution less than the diffraction limit, and for this reason the near-field could hardly be applied.
In recent years, as represented by the atomic force microscope (AFM) it has become possible to control positioning a probe whose diameter is on an atomic size level and to control the relationship in position between the tip of the probe and an object to be measured three-dimensionally at a resolution less than an interatomic distance, thus spreading the use of the near-field applied techniques.
In the near-field applied techniques, however, that utilize light into and out of an extremely small area and therefore entail a signal that is extremely small in intensity, obtaining any information that is meaningful requires that light incident be condensed into a microfine area very efficiently and that a near field in such a microfine area be collected very efficiently, and namely calls for a system that is extremely high in light condensing efficiency. Further, obtaining a near-field image for a specimen requires that any light condensing positions be scanned at a resolution less than the diffraction limit.
The conventional near-field application techniques have the problem that they can scan light condensing positions but are low in light condensing efficiency or that they are high in light condensing efficiency but cannot scan light condensing positions, there being no apparatus which can be put to practical use by being excellent in light condensing efficiency and at the same time capable of scanning at a sufficiently high position resolution. Mention is made below of further details of the difficulties met by the prior art.
One of the near-field application techniques is a scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscope abbreviated as s-SNOM. This is an apparatus that is designed to cause a light of long wavelength such as a microwave to be condensed into a microfine area of sub-microns or less in size and an infrared light or microwave emitted from a microfine area of sub-microns or less in size to be collected or condensed. It utilizes a near-field coupling brought about between the sharply pointed tip of a small electric conductor and an object to be measured to perform a variety of measurements at a resolution less than the optical diffraction limit.
FIG. 8 illustrates the operating principles of such a microscope and shows the s-SNOM in a conceptual view as it condenses an infrared light at an AFM cantilever coated with an electric conductor. See literature: B. Knoll and F. Keilmann, Nature 399 (1999), issued 13 May 1999.
An infrared light 701 is incident from the external free space on an electric conductor 703 coated on a cantilever 702, then concentrating as a near-field at a tip 704 of the electric conductor 703. This near-field is coupled with a region, which is adjacent to the tip 704, on a specimen 706 mounted on a specimen support table 705. And inversely the near-field of the specimen 706 is coupled with and thereby transmitted to the tip 704 of the electric conductor 703 which then acting as an antenna emits it as an infrared light 707 into the external free space. Here, both the incident and outgoing infrared lights 701 and 707 are condensed by usual optical lenses (not shown). According to this apparatus, moving the cantilever 702 to let it scan allows an image by the entire near-field for the small specimen 706 to be observed at a resolution less than the diffraction limit.
However, since the proportion at which the infrared light 701 is coupled to the antenna 703 is proportional to factor (∈o/∈s) where ∈o and ∈s are the dielectric constants of the external space and the specimen support substrate 705, respectively, and ∈o<∈s, the efficiency of the electric conductor 703 as an antenna is rather low. Likewise, the near-field from the small specimen 706 largely is coupled to the specimen support substrate 705 high in dielectric constant and comes to be emitted in its large part into the interior of the specimen support substrate 705 with only its reduced part emitted in the form of the infrared light 707. Thus, this system has the problem that the efficiency at which to condense an incident infrared light and the efficiency at which to condense a near-field from a specimen as an outgoing infrared light, namely its light condensing efficiency is low.
Another near-field application technique in the prior art is next shown.
FIG. 9 illustrates a method wherein light is made incident from the side of a specimen support substrate to obtain Raman scattering light. See literature: H. Hayazawa et al., Chem. Phys. Lett. 355 (2001) 369, issued 2 May 2001. An incident light 801 is condensed by a usual optical lens 802 and then past a substrate 805 coated with oil 803 and a thin film of silver 804 is focused on a specimen 806 whereupon a near-field by the focused light is intensified by surface plasmon polariton brought about and excited at a tip 809 of a cantilever 808 coated with an electric conductor 807. And similarly, Raman scattering light 810 from the specimen 806 intensified by the surface plasmon polariton brought about and excited at a tip 809 is taken out and then past the substrate 805 and the oil 803 is condensed by the lens 802. According to this method, scanning the cantilever 808 allows observing a Raman scattering scanning image of the specimen 806 at a resolution less than the diffraction limit.
In this method, however, the geometrical size of an electric conductor 807 as a whole is not taken into consideration, thereby leaving the electric conductor 807 less functioning as an antenna. Moreover, its function as an antenna is restricted by a screening or shielding effect exerted by the silver coating 804 on the specimen support substrate 805. Thus, lacking an adequate light focusing capability, the system is low in the efficiency at which to convert the near-field from the small specimen 806 into the outgoing light 810. To wit, the system has the problem that its light condensing efficiency is low.
By the way, in the field of far-infrared techniques there is known an efficient light condensing method for a microfine absorber in a far-infrared region. FIG. 10 is a conceptual view illustrating such an efficient light condensing method conventionally known for a microfine absorber in a far-infrared region. See literature: "Infrared and Millimeter Waves, Volume 10", Millimeter Components and Techniques, Part II, Chapter 1 (1983), ed. by Academic Press Inc. An incoming light 901 is incident into a solid immersion lens made of dielectric 902 and condensed on a planar dipole antenna or planar slot antenna 903 lying at its focal position. Further, the incident light condensed on the antenna is caused to geometrically resonate by the antenna and focused onto a small far-infrared absorber 904 disposed at the center of the antenna. According to this method in which a far-infrared light is caused to geometrically resonate by an antenna, it is possible to absorb the far-infrared light efficiently and at due sensitivity. Consequently, if a specimen to be measured is disposed in place of the far-infrared absorber 904 at a position at which it is disposed, then it is possible to take out the near-field 905 efficiently.
In this method, however, in which the planar dipole antenna or planar slot antenna 903 is fixed onto the solid immersion lens 902, it is not possible to move the light focusing position for scanning.
Thus, although there have already been systems designed to condense a light at a microfine area smaller than its diffraction limit or to take up a near-field from a microfine area smaller than its diffraction limit and then to condense it, e.g., to condense an infrared light whose wavelength is several tens microns or more at an area as microfine as sub-microns or less or to take out a near-field from an area as microfine as sub-microns or less and then to condense it, these conventional systems have the problem that they are low in light condensing efficiency or otherwise are incapable of scanning such a microfine position of light condensing, or light taking up.


A device including a first plate configured to interface with a first bone structure of a joint; a second plate configured to interface with a second bone structure of the joint opposite the first bone structure; and at least one mechanical actuation mechanism disposed between the first plate and the second plate and configured to apply a distraction force along an axis between the first plate and the second plate so as to urge the first plate and the second plate away from one another, wherein the device is configured so as to have a range of motion ranging from a minimum distance between the first plate and the second plate to a maximum distance between the first plate and the second plate, and wherein the mechanical actuation mechanism is configured such that the distraction force is substantially constant distraction force across the range of motion.

Expandable ligament balancing devices are used to help the surgeon to assess the proper tension of the ligament envelope surrounding the joint at the time of the surgery. FIG. 1 shows a conventional ligament balancing device. These devices (e.g., devices disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 10,154,836) include a proximal plate element 100, a distal plate element 200, and an expandable member 300 located between the proximal plate 100 and the distal plate 200. The expandable member 300 is controlled through an expansion mechanism using an electrical source, an electromechanical source, a mechanical source, a pneumatic source, a hydraulic source, or any combination of these sources.
Conventional ligament balancing devices have some limitations. A first limitation relates to the limited range of adjustment of the proximal plate 100 relative to the distal plate 200 in terms of height defined as the distance between the proximal plate 100 and the distal plate 200 (e.g., 8 to 14 mm), angular tilt defined as the sagittal and/or coronal orientation of the proximal plate 100 relative to the distal plate 200 (e.g., ±6°) and more importantly the interdependence between these two parameters. Based on the current architecture, the full range of angular tilt is only available when the height is above a threshold (e.g., at least between 10 and 12 mm), as shown in FIG. 2A. As the height is closer to its extreme minimum value, then the range of angular tilt is decreased. FIG. 2B shows a limited available range of angular tilt when the height of a conventional ligament balancing device on one side is below the threshold value. FIG. 2C shows the absence of available range of angular tilt when the height of a conventional ligament balancing device on one side is at its minimum (e.g., 8 mm). This limitation is particularly significant for bi-compartmental types of joints (e.g., during total knee arthroplasty), in which one compartment may be substantially tighter than the other compartment.
A second limitation relates to the impact of the loading condition between the considered joint and the mobile plate (i.e., the proximal plate 100 or the distal plate 200 depending on the indication) in the transversal plane on the height and angular tilt measurements. There are two individual sources of error regarding this limitation. The first source of error relates to the location of the load relative to the expandable member 300. With reference to FIG. 3, which shows a profile view of a conventional ligament balancing device, the location of the load application impacts the measured gaps and/or angular tilts. For example, when the application of the load is directly located "inside" the expandable transversal cross-section (Area A), then the impact is negligible. Area B: When the application of the load is located on the most posterior aspect or the most lateral aspect of the articular surface (Area B), then the impact may not be clinically relevant (e.g., ˜0.5 mm). When the application of the load is located on the most anterior aspect of the articular surface (Area C), then the impact may be clinically relevant (e.g., more than 1 mm).
A third limitation relates to the source of error associated with the placement of the device in the frontal (e.g., coronal) plane as it would impact the distribution of the moment arms and therefore the balance. Similar to the discussion above, this is particularly significant for bi-compartmental joints.
A fourth limitation relates to the difficulty of maintaining a true force-controlled feedback loop of the expandable member. Therefore, depending on the height, the distraction force may fluctuate.