The present invention relates to a method for producing dendritic cells from human hematopoietic progenitor cells by obtaining a cell sample that includes human progenitor cells and culturing the cell sample under plasma-free and serum-free conditions in the presence of a combination of cytokines to produce dendritic cells, where the combination of cytokines include TGF-xcex21.

Substantial numbers of functional dentritic cells (DC) can be generated from precursor cells in blood or bone marrow upon in vitro culture with appropriate combinations of cytokines. For the in vitro development of DC from human CD34+ progenitor cells the most efficient cytokine combination was found to be GM-CSF plus TNFxcex1 and SCF. The culture media used for growing functional DC from progenitor cells were not only supplemented with exogenous cytokines, however, but also with serum or plasma. This raised the question whether, in addition to the added cytokines, also as yet undefined serum components play a critical role in the in vitro DC development. TGF-xcex21, known to be present in serum and plasma samples, is such a component. In its presence, but not or only minimally in its absence can substantial numbers of DC be generated from CD34+ progenitor cells also under serum/plasma-free conditions.
The invention concerns a process for the production of DC under serum/plasma-free conditions in the presence of TGF-xcex21.


Described are methods for early diagnosis and progression monitoring of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's Disease (AD) by quantifying neurite and/or synapse miRNAs in bodily fluids.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common neurodegenerative disease, which comprise a large group of pathologies caused by metabolic changes in brain cells, loss of synapses and other compartments of neurons, and finally neuronal death (for review see Neurodegenerative diseases: From Molecular Concepts to Therapeutic Targets. Editors: R. von Bernhardi, N. C. Inestrosa, Nova Publishers, 2008). Due to increased lifespan, neurodegenerative diseases in general and AD in particular have become very common in developed countries. In the US alone, there are currently more than 5.4 million (and 36 million worldwide) people living with AD, and estimated 70-80 million people, who are over 55 years old, are considered to be at risk of developing the disease. In 2011, the annual cost of healthcare services for AD patients in the US was estimated at $183 billion (Rocca, W. A. et al. Alzheimer's & Dementia. 2011, 7:80-93; http://www.alz.org/downloads/Facts_Figures_2011.pdf). Drug development and successful treatment of AD and other neurodegenerative diseases are significantly complicated by the absence of effective methods for their early diagnosis and monitoring. Development of effective diagnostic methods is further complicated by the strong brain potential to compensate for the dysfunction and loss of neurons over a long period of time. This results in late clinical manifestation of disease symptoms when treatment cannot be very successful due to serious morphologic changes in the brain including the massive loss of neurons. Thus, diagnostic methods based on detection of early events in the disease development are particularly desirable.
Alzheimer's disease is characterized by neuronal death in several disease-specific areas of the brain, such as hippocampus and cortex. However, the neuronal loss is a relatively late event in the disease progression that typically is preceded by synaptic dysfunction, synaptic loss, neurite retraction, and the appearance of other abnormalities such as axonal transport defects (See, e.g., Crews, Masliah, Human Mol Gen., 2010, 19:R12-R20; Bredesen, Molecular Neurodegeneration 2009, 4:27; Nimmrich and Ebert, Rev Neurosci. 2009, 20:1-12; Yoshiyama et al., Neuron. 2007, 53:337-351; Wishartet al., J Neuropathol Exp Neurol. 2006, 65:733-739; Gylys et al., Neurochem Int. 2004; 44:125-131; Conforti et al., Trends Neurosci. 2007, 30:159-166; Revuelta, et al. Am J Alzheimers Dis Other Demen 2008, 23: 97-102). Numerous studies are devoted to description of axon destruction with shedding of membrane-enclosed "axosomes", axon, dendrite and spine pruning, and disassembly of synapses (Goda, Davis, Neuron 2003, 40:243-264; Eaton, Davis, Genes Development, 2003, 17:2075-2082; Koirala, Ko, Neuron, 2004, 44:578-580; Bishop et al., Neuron, 2004, 44:651-661; Low, Cheng, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 2006 361, 1531-1544).
Currently there are attempts to develop anti-AD therapeutics capable of restoring dendritic spine density and synapses (Adlard et al., PLoS ONE, 2011, 6:e17669).
The first symptomatic stage of Alzheimer's disease that is manifested by mild clinical symptoms is Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), which is usually defined as an intermediate state between normal aging and dementia (DeCarli, Lancet Neurol., 2003, 2:15-21; Stephan et al., Alzheimer's Res Therapy, 2009, 1:1-9; Apostolova et al., Human Brain Mapping, 2010, 31:786-797). On average, MCI patients convert to dementia at a rate of 10-15% annually (Petersen et al., Arch Neurol. 2001, 58:1985-1992; Apostolova et al., Human Brain Mapping, 2010, 31:786-797). However, currently the MCI outcome is not reliably predictable. First, up to 40% of MCI patients revert to normal status (Larrieu et al., Neurology, 2002, 59:1594-1599; Brooks, Loewenstein, Alzheimer's Res Therapy, 2010, 2:28-36), and autopsy studies demonstrate that a substantial percentage of MCI patients do not have evidence of AD pathology (Jicha et al., Arch Neurol, 2006, 63:674-681; Khan, Alkon, Neurobiol. Aging, 2010, 31:889-900). Second, about 20% of MCI patients who convert to dementia are diagnosed not with AD but other neurodegenerative diseases, such as vascular, Lewy body, Huntington, Parkinson, and other dementias (Jicha et al., Arch Neurol, 2006, 63:674-681; Stephan et al., Alzheimer's Res Therapy, 2009, 1:1-9). Third, disease progression varies for AD patients from slow to intermediate and rapid (Doody et al., Alzheimer's Res Therapy, 2010, 2:2-10). Even clinically MCI is not a homogeneous pathology and can be described as two conditions, with amnestic symptoms (aMCI) and without amnestic symptoms (Dlugaj et al., Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord., 2010, 30:362-373; Brooks, Loewenstein, Alzheimer's Res Therapy, 2010, 2:28-36). Some publications have demonstrated that aMCI converts to dementia much more often and is a better predictor of AD (Mariani et al., J Alzheimer's Dis., 2007, 12:23-35; Luck et al., Psychiatr Prax., 2008, 35:331-336; Koivunen et al., Neurology, 2011, 76:1085-1099). However, other authors have not found significant difference in the conversion rate for two MCI forms (Rountree et al., Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord., 2007, 24:476-482).
Currently, diagnosis of AD and other forms of dementia is based on analysis of the patient's cognitive function. As mentioned above, due to effective compensatory mechanisms in the brain, the decrease of cognitive function is usually registered when a disease is in its later stages and fewer treatments are available. Amyloid plaques between neurons, neurofibrillary tau-tangles, and an overall shrinkage of brain tissue are the hallmarks of AD, and there were many attempts to develop diagnostic tests based on these phenomena. New imaging techniques, including in vivo detection of β-amyloid deposition (e.g., positron emission tomography (PET), computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), multiphoton imaging, magnetoencephalography (MEG), electroencephalography (EEG) etc.) (Mucke, Nature, 2009, 461:895-897; Mistur et al., J. Clin. Neurol., 2009, 5:153-166; Miller, Science, 2009, 326:386-389; Perrin et al., Nature, 2009, 461: 916-922) are becoming increasingly popular, but cannot be used for screening purposes.
The existing diagnostic molecular tests for AD and other forms of dementia can be divided into two groups. The first group is based on analysis of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP), which is helpful for predicting a higher risk of a disease but not for diagnostics (Bettenset al., Hum Mol Genet. 2010, 19(R1):R4-R11). The second group uses analysis of proteins involved in AD pathogenesis or brain-specific proteins, such as neural thread protein (NTP), in bodily fluids (Schipper, Alzheimer's & Dementia. 2007, 3:325-332). However, these tests are not sufficiently sensitive and specific. Recently published data have demonstrated high sensitivity of AD detection by measuring concentrations of three protein biomarkers (beta-amyloid protein 1-42, total tau protein, and phosphorylated tau181P protein) in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) (Meyer et al., Arch Neurol. 2010, 67:949-956; Fagan A. M. et al. Arch, Neurol. 2011, 68:1137-1144). The high invasiveness of the CSF collection procedure makes such tests impractical and challenging for everyday clinical use. Several groups have reported diagnostic assays for AD based on analysis of a large number of proteins or antibodies in human blood (Ray S. et al. 2007, Nat. Med. 13, 1359-1362; Reddy M. M. et al. 2011, Cell 144, 132-142; Nagele E. et al. 2011, PLoS One 6, e23112). However, other researchers were not able to confirm the results of these studies (Bjorkqvist Met al. 2012; PLoS One 7, e29868).
On the 19th of April, 2011 The National Institute on Aging/Alzheimer's Association provided new Diagnostic Guidelines for Alzheimer's Disease (Khachaturian ZS, 2011 Alzheimer's and Dementia. 7, 253-256). The new guidelines were published in four papers devoted to: (i) classification of the AD phases, namely the dementia phase, the symptomatic pre-dementia phase (MCI), and the asymptomatic, preclinical phase of AD (pre-MCI) (Jack et al., 2011, Alzheimer's and Dementia. 7, 257-262); (ii) Recommendations from MA for the diagnosis of dementia due to AD (McKhann et al., 2011, Alzheimer's and Dementia. 7, 263-26 (iii) Recommendations from NIA for the diagnosis of MCI due to AD (Albert et al., 2011, Alzheimer's and Dementia. 7, 270-279) and (iv) Recommendations from NIA toward defining pre-MCI (Sperling et al., 2011, Alzheimer's and Dementia. 7, 280-292). The new guidelines stress the current lack of and a great need for reliable biomarkers which can be used for detection of pre-MCI and pre-symptomatic AD, as well as MCI and AD.
Thus, there is a huge need in a non-invasive or minimally invasive molecular test(s) capable to detect MCI or even earlier asymptomatic stages of: D (pre-MCI). Further, it would be even better if such a test could be used thr prognosis of the disease outcome and disease and treatment monitoring.
Metabolic changes occurring in AD and other neurodegenerative diseases cause the destruction of spines, dendrites, axons, and synapse loss, and the latter likely induces neuronal death (Bredesen, Molecular Neurodegeneration 2009, 4:27; Crews, Masliah, Human Mol Gen., 2010, 19:R12-R20). Similar processes happen during embryonic brain development. Numerous neurons are trying to establish intercellular contacts, those neurons that do it successfully survive, and other neurons die (Butts et al., Cell Death Differ. 2008, 15:1178-1186; Enokido and Hatanaka, Gan To Kagaku Ryoho. 1994, 21:615-620; Gasic and Nicotera, Toxicol Lett. 2003, 139:221-227).
Axon destruction with shedding of membrane-enclosed "axosomes", axon, dendrite and spine pruning, and disassembly of synapses lead to appearance of cell-free vesicles containing cytoplasmic components of neurons, axons, neurites, spines and synapses, including proteins, RNA and their degradation products. There are other processes leading to liberation of these compounds into the extracellular medium, in particular, blebbing (Charras et al., Biophys. J. 2008, 94:1836-1853; Fackler, Grosse, J. Cell Biol. 2008, 181:879-884), exocytosis (Skog et al. Nat Cell Biol., 2008, 10:1470-1476) and other forms of active secretion (Wang et al. Nucleic Acids Res., 2010, 38:7248-7259; Kosaka et al., J Biol Chem., 2010, 285:17442-17452; Pigati et al., PLoS ONE, 2010, e13515).
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of non-coding RNAs whose final product is an approximately 22 nt functional RNA molecule. They play important roles in the regulation of target genes by binding to complementary regions of messenger transcripts to repress their translation or regulate degradation (Griffiths-Jones Nucleic Acids Research, 2006, 34, Database issue: D140-D144). Frequently, one miRNA can target multiple mRNAs and one mRNA can be regulated by multiple miRNAs targeting different regions of the 3′ UTR. Once bound to an mRNA, miRNA can modulate gene expression and protein production by affecting, e.g., mRNA translation and stability (Baek et al., Nature 455(7209):64 (2008); Selbach et al., Nature 455(7209):58 (2008); Ambros, 2004, Nature, 431, 350-355; Bartel, 2004, Cell, 116, 281-297; Cullen, 2004, Virus Research., 102, 3-9; He et al., 2004, Nat. Rev. Genet., 5, 522-531; and Ying et al., 2004, Gene, 342, 25-28). There are other classes of less characterized small RNAs (reviewed in Kim, Mol. Cells, 2005, 19: 1-15).
Many of miRNAs are specific to or over-expressed in certain organs/tissues/cells (see, e.g., Hua et al., BMC Genomics, 2009, 10:214; Liang et al., BMC Genomics. 2007, 8:166; Landgraf et al., Cell. 2007, 129:1401-1414; Lee et al., RNA. 2008, 14:35-42).
Some miRNAs, including those that are cell-specific, are enriched in certain cellular compartments, particularly in axons, dendrites and synapses (see, e.g., Schratt et al., Nature. 439:283-289, 2006; Lugli et al., J. Neurochem. 106:650-661, 2008; Bicker and Schratt, J Cell Mol Med., 12:1466-1476, 2008; Smalheiser and Lugli, Neuromolecular Med. 11:133-140, 2009; Rajasethupathy, Neuron. 63:714-716, 2009; Kye, RNA 13:1224-1234, 2007; Yu et al., Exp Cell Res. 314:2618-2633, 2008; Cougot, et al., J. Neurosci. 28:13793-13804, 2008; Kawahara, Brain Nerve. 60:1437-1444, 2008; Schratt G. Rev Neurosci. 2009; 10:842-849; Pichardo-Casas et al. Brain Research. 1436:20-33, 2012).
Expression and concentrations of miRNAs are regulated by various physiological and pathological signals. Changes in expression of some miRNAs were found in neurons of Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative disease patients (Hebert and De Strooper, Trends Neurosci. 32:199-206, 2009; Saba et al., PLoS One. 2008; 3:e3652; Kocerha et al., Neuromolecular Med. 2009; 11:162-172; Sethi and Lukiw, Neurosci Lett. 2009, 459:100-104; Zeng, Mol Pharmacol. 75:259-264, 2009; Cogswell et al., Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. 14: 27-41, 2008; Schaefer et al., J. Exp. Med. 204:1553-1558, 2007; Hebert, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2008; 105:6415-6420; Wanget al., J. Neurosci. 2008, 28:1213-1223; Nelson et al., Brain Pathol. 2008; 18:130-138; Lukiw, Neuroreport. 2007; 18:297-300).
Due to their small size, miRNAs can cross the blood-brain, placental and kidney barriers. miRNA release can be activated by pathology, e.g. malignancy (Pigati et al., PLoS ONE, 2010, e13515). Analysis of cell/tissue-specific miRNAs in bodily fluids was proposed for detection of in vivo cell death (U.S. Patent Pub. No 20090081640; Laterza et al., Clin Chem. 2009, 55:1977-1983).
Cognitive function testing and brain imaging, which are currently used as main methods for diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases such as AD, allow only detection of later stages of disease and are not sufficiently specific. There is still a great need in the art to develop methods for early diagnosis of MCI and AD prior to occurrence of major morphological changes and massive neuronal cell death.

Methods of using miRNA from bodily fluids for early detection and monitoring of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and alzheimer's disease (AD)


A semiconductor device of an embodiment includes a first nitride semiconductor layer; a second nitride semiconductor layer placed on the first nitride semiconductor layer; a first electrode placed on the second nitride semiconductor layer; a second electrode placed on the first nitride semiconductor layer; a gate electrode placed between the first electrode and the second electrode; a first field plate electrode placed on the second nitride semiconductor layer, the first field plate electrode having the same height as the gate electrode; and a second field plate electrode provided on an upper side of the first field plate electrode, the second field plate electrode being placed on a side of the second electrode compared to the first field plate electrode.

A semiconductor element such as a transistor or a diode is used in a circuit such as a switching power-supply circuit or an inverter circuit. Such semiconductor elements need a high breakdown voltage and low on-resistance. With respect to a relationship between a breakdown voltage and on-resistance, there is a trade-off relationship determined depending on an element material.
By progress in technology development, low on-resistance close to a limit of silicon that is a main element material is realized with respect to a semiconductor element. To further improve a breakdown voltage or to further reduce on-resistance, it is necessary to change an element material. By using a nitride semiconductor such as a gallium nitride or an aluminum gallium nitride as an element material of a semiconductor element, it is possible to improve a trade-off relationship determined depending on the element material. Thus, it is possible to improve a breakdown voltage or to reduce on-resistance of a semiconductor element significantly.
A gate-to-drain charge amount standardized by on-resistance Ron, QGD is known as a characteristic index of switching efficiency of a transistor using a nitride semiconductor. It is necessary to lower Ron QCD in order to improve switching efficiency.

Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation


The front cover of an industrial draw-out circuit breaker is provided with a viewing window that allows visual access to an indicator flag for the purpose of identifying the true status of the electrical power connectors and secondary test connectors extending from the rear surface of the circuit breaker. The three positions of the circuit breaker electrical power connectors relative to the compartment electrical power connectors and the circuit breaker secondary test connectors relative to the compartment secondary test connectors namely TEST, DISCONNECT and CONNECT are separately visible on the indicator flag.

The installation of electrical devices, such as circuit breakers, in switchboard and panelboard compartments is generally of two types. In one type of installation, circuit breakers are essentially stationary mounted to structural members or frame of the switchboard, typically with terminal electrical connection effected via bolted joints. Alternatively, circuit breakers may be physically supported solely by the switchboard bus-work via these bolted terminal joints. In such stationary installations, inspection and maintenance of the circuit breaker is difficult and quite hazardous if attempted while the switchboard is live. The terms "switchgear" herein describes the combination of the draw-out circuit breaker and the compartment whereas the term "switchboard" refers to the compartment, per se. In some situations, the hazards must be assumed, since de-energization of the switchboard and thus interruption of electrical service to all of the branch circuits in the switchboard cannot be tolerated. To reduce the hazards of working with live switchboards, devices are provided with plug-in or stab-type primary disconnect contacts which do not require direct contact and manipulation to effect their connection and disconnection with mating disconnect contacts of the switchboard compartment. Thus the device, e.g., circuit breaker, can be plugged in and unplugged from a live switchboard in relative safety.
In higher current applications, the circuit breakers are physically large and quite heavy, thus rendering the bodily movement of the circuit breaker necessary to electrically connect and disconnect it from the switchboard cumbersome if not impossible, unless mechanical assistance is afforded. Not only does the weight and bulk of the circuit breaker become difficult for the electrician to handle, but, as the current ratings increase, the contact pressures of the primary disconnect contacts become extremely difficult, if not impossible to overcome. To surmount these problems, so-called "draw-out" apparatus has been resorted to for both supporting the circuit breaker and affording mechanical assistance in overcoming the extreme contact pressures of the disconnect contacts.
Draw-out apparatus are typically designed to support the electrical device for racking movement between an extended position well out of a compartment and an engaged position within the compartment where the load current carrying primary contacts of the device and compartment are fully engaged. Since electrical devices, such as circuit breakers for industrial applications, are typically equipped with a variety of accessorial functions served by external auxiliary circuits, provisions must be made for making and breaking these auxiliary circuits as the device is moved between its extended and engaged positions. To this end, so-called mating secondary disconnect contacts are mounted with the device and the compartment. These secondary disconnects are engaged while the device is in the engaged position and become disengaged at some point during movement of the device out to the disengaged position. It is common practice to provide a test position for the device intermediate its engaged and extended positions where the primary contacts are separated but the secondary contacts are still engaged. In this test position, the accessorial functions can be thoroughly tested in safety while the device itself is not electrically connected.
It is understandably important that the operator of the draw-out apparatus be constantly aware of the position of the device relative to the compartment for his own safety as well as that of the equipment. To this end, position indicators are utilized to display or otherwise indicate the position of the device relative to the compartment. U.S. Pat. No. 4,011,424 entitled "Position Indicator for Draw-out Apparatus" describes the operation of switchgear apparatus in great detail. U.S. Pat. No. 2,768,254 entitled "Draw-out Switchgear Mechanism" describes the transfer assembly for allowing the movement of the switchgear in and out of the switchgear compartment. A description of a state-of-the-art secondary disconnect arrangement for draw-out circuit breakers is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,594,221 entitled "High Ampere-Circuit Breaker Secondary Disconnect Arrangement".
With such existing draw-out devices, the operator usually relies on an estimate of the distance that the circuit breaker has moved within the compartment by means of a line painted on the rails that carry the circuit breaker while he or she continues to operate the threaded crank that moves the circuit breaker into the compartment. In the event the operator continues to operate the crank after the circuit breaker plug connectors have made contact in the completely engaged position, possible damage to the transfer assembly could occur.
Accordingly, one object of the invention is to provide visible indicia of the exact transfer status of an industrial-rated circuit breaker relative to the circuit breaker compartment to allow an operator to view the true position of the circuit breaker electrical power connectors and the secondary disconnects, at all times.

Industrial draw-out circuit breaker electrical connection indication


A step assembly includes a mounting bracket assembly adapted to be fixedly secured to a motor vehicle. A first arm includes one end pivotal with respect to the mounting bracket assembly and an opposing end. A second arm includes one end pivotal with respect to the mounting bracket assembly and an opposing end. A step pad assembly is pivotally coupled to the opposing end of each of the first and second arms. The step pad assembly includes a step movable between a retracted position and an extended position. A push to release mechanism is operably coupled to at least one of the first and second arms to release the step from one of the retracted and extended positions in response to a push action on the step.

The invention relates to a step assembly for a motor vehicle. More particularly, the invention relates to a step assembly including a step movable via a push to release mechanism between a retracted position and an extended position.
It is well-known in the art to provide fixed running boards or fixed step assemblies for assisting individuals in either entering and exiting or accessing a motor vehicle having a high ground clearance. These fixed running boards are, however, often placed at a height that is not practical for a large number of users. In addition, these fixed running boards are susceptible to dirt and mud accumulation, which is easily transferred to a user's clothing. Moreover, these fixed running boards reduce the ground clearance for the motor vehicle.
Retractable running boards or step assemblies are movable between a retracted position, in which a step is tucked underneath an underbody of the motor vehicle, and an extended position, in which the step is spaced apart from the underbody of the motor vehicle for supporting the user. Retractable running boards commonly incorporate a four-bar link for moving the step between the retracted and extended positions.


A building block includes a plurality of panel elements that are each rotatable relative to each other one of the plurality of panel elements; a connecting pin that passes through and rotatably connects the plurality of panel elements to each other; and a plurality of connectors, each connector rotatably attached to a respective panel element, where each one of the panel elements includes at least on locking feature configured to create a releasably fixed connection between adjacent panel elements.

A building block generally refers to a standardized component of a construction set. When used together with other building blocks of the same construction set, a wide variety of models, structures, or other physical objects can be created. Building blocks associated with the same construction set typically have standard features that enable the building blocks to be easily connected and/or disconnected from each other. Additionally, the standard features of the building blocks of a construction set can reduce the cost of manufacturing the construction set. Standard features of a construction set of building blocks can include, for example, struts, panels, and/or connection nodes.

Hinged clamp and stand element building blocks


A liquid discharge device includes a media reel-out unit for reeling media out, a reel-out volume adjustment unit for adjusting the reel-out volume of the media from the media reel-out unit based on change in the slack volume of the media at a position downstream from the media reel-out unit, a first sensor arranged at a position facing at least one edge part in the media width direction, and a second sensor spaced apart from the first sensor in the media width direction. Both the media slack volume and the presence or absence of meandering of the media can be ascertained using sensing information of the first sensor and the second sensor.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a liquid discharge device equipped with a media reel-out unit for reeling out media rolled into roll form, and a reel-out volume adjustment unit that adjusts the reel-out volume of the media reeled out from the media reel-out unit based on changes in the slack volume of the media at a media slack state part produced at a downstream position of the media reel-out unit, and to a media reel-out method.
2. Related Art
As devices that perform printing on fabric such as cotton, silk, polyester or the like, from the past, screen printing devices and roller printing devices for which each color plate is prepared for each pattern to be printed have been widely used. Also, in recent years, in response to digitalization, since it is possible to print on fabric without plates, inkjet printing device that are able to handle production of a wide variety of items in small volume are rapidly becoming popular.
This kind of inkjet printing device is provided with various sensors considering characteristics of fabric such as that it has greater elasticity than paper and thus can have meandering and wrinkles occur more easily. For example, with Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-3365, to correct the aspect ratio of an image to be printed considering the elasticity of the media, a sensor is provided to detect the stretching volume of the media.
Also, with Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-289274, to make it possible to do automatic printing on a long medium, a sensor is provided to detect the reel-out end edge of the media.
Also, provided are a meandering sensor for preventing in advance conveyance failure due to meandering of the media, or a slack sensor for keeping the media slack volume in a suitable range to match the properties of the media, without applying tension to the media. Of the sensors noted above, the slack sensor and the meandering sensor are the sensors that are directly linked to printing quality.

Liquid discharge device and media reel-out method


A molding apparatus for lenses includes first and second molding units. Each of the first and second molding units has a mold core holder, a plurality of mold cores disposed in the mold core holder, and a plurality of fixing elements. The mold core holder has an abutment surface and a plurality of cavities, each of which includes an open end and a positioning portion. Each fixing element engages removably the positioning portion of a respective cavity, and retains a respective mold core in the respective cavity. Individual removal of the mold cores for replacement is permitted by operating the fixing elements.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a molding apparatus for lenses, more particularly to a molding apparatus that has individually removable mold cores for forming lenses.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to FIG. 1, a currently available molding apparatus for lenses includes a lower mold unit 1 and an upper mold unit 2 facing the lower mold unit 1. The lower mold unit 1 has a lower mold core holder 101, a plurality of lower mold cores 102 disposed within the lower mold core holder 101, and a lower fixed seat 103 to be fixed to a bottom portion of the lower mold core holder 101 so as to retain the lower mold cores 102 in the lower mold core holder 101. The lower mold core holder 101 is formed with a plurality of lower mold core holes 104, each of which has a narrow upper portion and a wider lower portion. Each of the lower mold cores 102 has a shape corresponding to that of a respective one of the lower mold core holes 104. After the lower mold cores 102 are inserted respectively into the lower mold core holes 104, the lower fixed seat 103 is secured to the bottom portion of the lower mold core holder 101 so that the lower mold cores 102 are retained in the lower mold core holes 104.
The upper mold unit 2 has an upper mold core holder 201, a plurality of upper mold cores 202 disposed within the upper mold core holder 201, and an upper fixed seat 203 to be fixed to a top portion of the upper mold core holder 201 so as to retain the upper mold cores 202 in the upper mold core holder 201. The upper mold core holder 201 is formed with a plurality of upper mold core holes 204, each of which has a narrow lower portion and a wider upper portion. Each of the upper mold cores 202 has a shape corresponding to that of a respective one of the upper mold core holes 204. After the upper mold cores 202 are inserted respectively into the upper mold core holes 204, the upper fixed seat 203 is secured to the top portion of the upper mold core holder 201 so that the upper mold cores 202 are retained in the upper mold core holes 204.
Although the aforementioned molding apparatus can achieve its intended purpose, when inspection of the molded lenses indicates that forming surfaces of some of the lower and upper mold cores 102, 202 are damaged, the defective lower and upper mold cores 102, 202 have to be removed and replaced. To remove the defective lower and upper mold cores 102, 202, the lower and upper fixed seats 103, 203 have to be detached from the bottom and top portions of the lower and upper mold core holders 101, 201, respectively. To remove the lower and upper fixed seats 103, 203 from the lower and upper mold core holders 101, 201, the machine has to be stopped first, and the whole molding apparatus is detached from a machine platform to which the molding apparatus is attached. As such, removal and replacement operations of the defective lower and upper mold cores 102, 202 are not only complicated and time-consuming, but adversely affect the production efficiency as well due to interruption during the molding process.

Molding apparatus with removable mold cores


The present invention relates to a method for simulating karstification phenomena in karst zones, especially in insular regions. This method defines a geological model of the karst zone and simulates the movement of a particle in the geological model, this movement being probabilistic. This method furthermore modifies the geological parameter depending on the movement of the particle and on the aggressiveness of the particle. The aggressiveness of the particle depends on the coordinates of the particle.

The expression "karstification of a rock" describes the phenomenon by which a rock is fashioned by the dissolving of carbonates, for example, in water. The water infiltrates through interstices of the rock, for example pores or fractures. This infiltration increases the size of these interstices because of the dissolving of carbonates of the rock in the infiltrated water. Fractures and cavities can thus be formed.
The water can typically be rainwater made acid by carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or from the ground. The water can originate from elsewhere, for example hydrothermal vents.
The rock can, for example, comprise limestone.
Moreover, particular karstifications can exist: insular, continental or even hydrothermal. The so-called "insular" karstification is a karstification produced notably in the particular areas formed by islands and the shoreline by the dissolving of the carbonates in the beat zone of the aquifer table and in the so-called saltwater wedge zone (area of chemical contact with fresh water and sea water).
A karst zone can be modeled statically, by using notably geological and seismic observations. In the case of the drilling of a well, data measured via the well, called well data, can be used to make a posteriori adjustments to the model of the karst zone. However, this approach is limited in that it does not dynamically reproduce the geological and hydrological processes leading to the formation of the karst, and in that the adjustment of the model with the well data can be relatively complex and sometimes unstable, notably in insular areas.
Furthermore, the simulations of karst zones in insular areas cannot be performed using the usual karst simulation tools. This is because the beats of the aquifer and the presence of a salt waterwedge are particular to insular and shoreline areas. These specific characteristics notably influence the formation of the karst in these areas.
There is therefore a need to improve the quality of the simulation of the karst formations of "insular" type.
The present invention improves the situation.


A bolt heater including a junction housing, a handle attached and secured to a wall of the housing solely from an exterior of the housing, such as by a threaded connection, a power cable including a fitting attached directly to the wall of the housing, and an electrical resistance heater rod attached to the wall of the housing. The wall may have a boss with a recess therein for receiving a portion of the handle. The housing may be a hollow cylinder with a circular top wall, a circular bottom wall, and a cylindrical side wall. The heater rod may be attached to the housing via a threaded connection and the housing may have a non-circular portion near the threaded connection point, the non-circular portion being engageable by a tool to assist in the threading attachment of the heater rod to the housing.

The present invention relates to bolt heaters.
The present invention has a particular application to bolt heaters used in the heating of studs or bolts, such as the bolts of a steam turbine casing. Although the invention is not limited to such an application, the invention will be described in such an environment and use.
It is desirable to heat the bolts used in a steam turbine casing during the fastening and unfastening thereof in that the bolt will elongate due to expansion during heating, allowing the nut to be threaded onto the bolt to a greater degree during the fastening process. When the bolt cools and shrinks, the nut is pulled tighter against the surrounding surface, thus assuring a secure fasting of the nut on the bolt and a clamping of the parts held together by the nut and bolt. In order to ease the removal of the nut from the bolt, such as during the servicing of the turbine, it is helpful to again heat the bolt to elongate it, in order to move the nut away from the surrounding surface, or at least to lessen the force holding the nut against that surface.
It has long been known to heat bolts, for example see U.S. Pat. No. 2,176,601, and to use induction heating to heat such bolts, for example, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,771,209 and 5,397,876.
Commonly available resistance type bolt heaters have a junction box, typically a standard hardware type box, to which is attached a handle, a power cable, and a resistance heating element. The resistance type bolt heater presently sold by Power House Tools, Inc., an assignee of the present invention, includes these components, in which the handle has a threaded stud projecting from one end, which is inserted through a non-threaded opening in a removable cover of the junction box, and is held in place on the cover by means of a nut which is secured to the stud from an inside side of the cover. The power cable is attached to an insert which is threaded to the side wall of the junction box, and the resistance heating element is threadingly attached to a bottom of the junction box. Individual wires from the power cable are connected to conductors on the resistance heating element inside the junction box. A power indicator lamp is supplied on the cover to indicate when the resistance heater is being supplied with power.
A standard junction box has several shortcomings which detract from its usefulness as part of a resistance type bolt heater. For example, by requiring the handle to be secured from the inside of the cover adds time required for assembly. The covers have a relatively thin wall thickness which detracts from the stability of the handle/junction box connection, and is insufficiently thick to support a threaded connection of the handle to the cover. The use of a separate insert component for attaching the power cable to the side wall of the junction box adds to assembly time, and becomes a potential point of weakness in the connection of the power cable to the junction box. The attachment of the resistance heater rod to the junction box can be made directly only when a three quarter inch resistance rod is used. When larger resistance rods are used, an adapter piece must be attached to the junction box, and then the rod attached to the adaptor piece, also becoming a potential point of weakness in the connection of the resistance rod to the junction box.
It would be an advance in the art if there were provided an easy to assemble bolt heater which would overcome one or more of the problems and limitations discussed above.

Bolt heater assembly unit having junction housing configuration


Provided are a biomolecule-immobilized carrier obtained by immobilizing a biomolecule having a membrane-binding peptide containing a C terminal polypeptide of fucosyltransferase derived from Helicobacter pylori or a membrane-binding molecule having the membrane-binding peptide and various biomolecules and a method for immobilizing a biomolecule to a carrier, particularly a biomolecule-immobilized magnetic microparticle, a probe-immobilized carrier using the biomolecule and/or the membrane-binding molecule are/is used as a probe, and a separating agent for a biomolecule to which the biomolecule-immobilized magnetic microparticle is applied. A biomolecule having a membrane-binding peptide containing either an amino acid sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 1 or an amino acid sequence encoded by a base sequence represented by SEQ ID NO: 2 and/or a membrane-binding molecule having the membrane-binding peptide and the biomolecule are/is attached to a carrier coated with an organic membrane containing a phospholipid.

Since a magnetic microparticle can be magnetically collected, conventional researches focus on a technology for immobilizing a biomolecule, such as enzyme and antibody, to the magnetic microparticle. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publications No. 1998-075780 and 1999-243951 disclose a magnetic microparticle to which an enzyme is directly immobilized by a conventional chemical method (Patent Documents 1 and 2). Meanwhile, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-289822 discloses a membrane-fusion magnetic microparticle (magnetosome) derived from a magnetic bacterium to which a peptide is anchored (Patent Document 3), and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-075103 discloses a membrane-fusion magnetosome derived from a magnetic bacterium obtained by expressing a fusion protein composed of an anchor protein MMs13 and an IgG-binding peptide in vivo (Patent Document 4).
Meanwhile, some polypeptides having cellular adhesiveness are conventionally known, e.g. syndecan-binding laminin-derived polypeptide as extracellular sugar chain (Non-Patent Document 1), Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) tripeptide sequence derived from fibronectin (Non-Patent Document 2) as integrin ligand sequence, or a polypeptide present on a C terminal side of α1,3-fucosyltransferase and α1,4-fucosyltransferase derived from Helicobacter pylori (Non-Patent Document 3 and 4) as polypeptide having cell membrane adhesiveness. It is also known that the polypeptide present on a C terminal side of α1,3/α1,4-fucosyltransferase derived from Helicobacter pylori is provided with an α-helix structure, thereby providing a property of binding to a cell membrane (Non-Patent Document 3).
Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 1998-075780
Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 1999-243951
Patent Document 3: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-289822
Patent Document 4: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-075103
Non-Patent Document 1: Pierschbacher, M. et al. Nature, 309, 303-303, 1984
Non-Patent Document 2: Mayumi Michizuki, Yuichi Kadoya, Motoyoshi Nomizu, Tanpakushitu kakusan koso (Protein nucleic acid enzyme), 50, 374-382, 2005
Non-Patent Document 3: J. Biol. Chem., 278, 21893-21900, 2003
Non-Patent Document 4: J. Biol. Chem., 282, 9973-9982, 2007

Biomolecule-immobilized carrier and method for immobilizing biomolecule on carrier

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY CORPORATION HOKKAIDO UNIVERSITY


A measuring device for process technology, having a central unit for the connection of different measurement modules, with the central unit containing a central power supply, to which the measurement modules can be connected. In the measurement module a module power supply is provided, which, from the central power supply, generates one or more supply voltage(s) (V_2, V_3) required by the measurement module. For this purpose, the module power supply has a transformer, a rectifier circuit, or also a switching power supply.

Known measuring devices are often equipped with technically very complex power supplies, which must provide a number of different supply voltages.
In addition to the central unit itself, the measuring modules connectable with the central unit must also be fed from such power supply. These measuring modules have—depending on the purpose of application—a wide variety of sensor types, which oftentimes require special supply voltages.
Furthermore, the electrical power consumption of the measuring modules can be quite different, which is why it is not possible with conventional approaches to provide a power supply for a central unit, which has a good efficiency at all operating points.

Measuring device used in process technology, comprising a central power supply unit

Endress + Hauser Conducta Gesellschaft fur Mess- u. Regeltechnik mbH + Co. KG


Techniques are provided for determining and using interaction models. Discourse functions, prosodic features and turn information are determined from the speech information in a training corpus. Statistics, decision trees, rules and/or various other methods are used to determine a predictive interaction model based on the discourse functions, the prosodic features and the turn information. Predictive interaction models are optionally determined for individual users, genres, languages and/or other characteristics of the speech information. The predictive interaction model is useable to predict turns in a dialogue based on the discourse functions and prosodic features identified in the speech information. Speech information is presented and/or received based on the predictive interaction model.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to natural language processing.
2. Description of Related Art
Natural language speech offers a number of advantages over conventional keyboard, tactile and other interfaces. Natural language interfaces are among the earliest interfaces learned. Natural language interfaces are among the most intuitive interfaces for users which may reduce cognitive effort in accomplishing certain tasks.
Many command and control systems, knowledge repositories and order taking systems already benefit from conventional natural language speech interfaces. However, these conventional information retrieval systems lack any notion of how to facilitate user interaction. Instead, these conventional systems impose a protocol of interaction on the user. Typically the interaction protocol is created by the interface designer and assumes that the task dialogue is the focus of the user's attention.
In contrast, human-human dialogue uses prosodic features and sequences of discourse functions to indicate appropriate speech presentation strategies. For example, prosodic features and discourse function sequences indicate the turn sequences in the exchange of information. Silences following speech utterances may be used by one dialogue participant to indicate an expected response from another participant. Changes in pitch frequency, rate of speech and/or other prosodic features can be used to indicate questions and/or interrogatory remarks. Similarly, patterns of speech, characteristic discourse functions sequences and/or other presentation strategies are used to indicate turns in the dialogue.
Conventional human-computer natural language interfaces lack appropriate interaction models. That is, conventional natural language interfaces merely present speech information as requested and/or accept speech information when it is presented. A user of a conventional human-computer natural language interface must therefore devote cognitive resources to understanding the appropriate timing and turn taking necessary to interact with these conventional interfaces.
For example, some information retrieval systems implementing these conventional natural language interfaces accept certain types of information only at specified time intervals or only in response to certain prompts. When an information request is received, these conventional information retrieval systems immediately schedule the presentation of the requested information. That is, these conventional systems assume that the human-computer dialogue is the primary dialogue. The immediate presentation of information can distract the focus of attention if the user is interacting with human and/or devices controlled by conventional natural language interfaces. The re-direction of the user's attention creates cognitive thrashing as the user attempts to switch between partially completed tasks.
In human-human interactions, the competition for the user's focus of attention is mediated by the interaction model of the human speakers. However, when the user interacts with systems that lack appropriate interaction models, a greater cognitive load is imposed since the user is forced to follow the interaction model of the system. The user's attention is re-directed from completing the task, to the specifics of how to complete the task. These shifts in the focus of attention reduce the effectiveness of these conventional natural language interfaces. As the number of devices incorporating these conventional natural language interfaces increase, these focus of attention problems also increase.

Systems and methods for determining and using interaction models


A folding mechanism is provided in which a rotor substantially tubelike is arranged between the stationary body and movable body; cams with given gaps are arranged at both ends of the rotor and on the facing surfaces of the stationary body and movable body; and a lubricating layer is formed between the outer circumference of the stationary shaft and the inner circumference of the rotor. The simple makeup implements a folding mechanism with a low impact when opening and reliable opening/closing operation.

With downsizing and weight reduction of electronic devices such as a mobile phone and personal computer proceeding in recent years, devices with its movable housing openably and closably attached to its stationary housing, so-called a folding type, have been increasing. Accordingly, in folding mechanism used for these devices, reliable opening/closing operation and ease of use are demanded.
A description will be made for such a conventional folding mechanism, using FIGS. 4 and 5. FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the conventional folding mechanism. As shown in the figure, stationary part 1A is formed on the left side of stationary body 1 substantially tubelike. Stationary body 1 is fastened onto the left end of stationary shaft 2 substantially column-shaped, and at the same time, stationary shaft 2 projects to the right from the center of the right side of stationary body 1.
Further, stationary body 1 is integrally fastened to stationary case 3 with stationary part 1A projected from the left side of stationary case 3 substantially tubelike, and also notch 3A is provided at the left end of stationary case 3.
Meanwhile, movable body 4 substantially ring-shaped is polygonal. Movable case 5 is substantially tubelike. Movable body 4 is integrally fastened onto the right inner surface of movable case 5, and also they are arranged rotatably in the open/close direction as against stationary body 1.
Additionally, coiled spring 6 is arranged in a slightly twisted state between the right side of stationary body 1 and the left side of movable body 4. Projection 6A at the left end and projection 6B at the right end are locked to notch 3A of stationary case 3 and notch 4A of movable body 4, respectively. In this way, movable body 4 is biased in the open direction as against stationary body 1, namely counterclockwise, by means of spring 6.
The right end of stationary shaft 2 is inserted into the hollow of movable body 4 and spring 6, and is rotatably attached on the right side of movable case 5 by means of retaining ring 7. Stationary part 1A of stationary body 1 rotatably projects from the left side of movable case 5. Stationary body 1, movable body 4, spring 6, and others are contained in movable case 5 to compose folding mechanism 10.
Folding mechanism 10 composed in this way is used for an electronic device such as a mobile phone shown in FIG. 4B. Stationary part 1A of stationary body 1 is fastened to stationary housing 22 formed on its top surface with operation unit 22A having a plurality of keys and audio input unit 22B such as a microphone. Further, the outer circumference of polygonal part 5A at the right end of movable case 5 is fastened to movable housing 23 formed on its surface with display unit 23A such as an LCD and audio output unit 23B such as a speaker. In this way, a mobile phone is composed with movable housing 23 pivotally supported openably and closably as against stationary housing 22 by means of folding mechanism 10.
In the above-mentioned makeup, in a state of movable housing 23 as shown in FIG. 4A closed, movable body 4 is biased in the open direction as against stationary body 1, namely counterclockwise, because spring 6 of folding mechanism 10 is in the most twisted state. Meanwhile, movable housing 23 is locked to stationary housing 22 by means of a key-like ratchet (not illustrated) provided between stationary housing 22 and movable housing 23, and thus movable housing 23 is retained in a closed state. When push button 24 on the side of stationary housing 22 is pressed in this closed state, the ratchet is released to bias movable body 4 in the open direction, namely counterclockwise, by means of spring 6. Accordingly, a force to open is applied to movable housing 23 as shown by the arrow in FIG. 4B.
After then, as shown in FIG. 4C, when movable housing 23 opens at a given angle of around 150 to 170 degrees as against stationary housing 22, a force in the open direction of folding mechanism 10 is stopped by means of a stopper mechanism (not illustrated) separately provided between stationary housing 22 and movable housing 23. Consequently, a state of movable housing 23 open at a given angle is retained.
That is to say, as a result that push button 24 is pressed, movable body 4 fastened to movable housing 23 through movable case 5 and biased by spring 6 in the open direction is rotated to open and close movable housing 23 as against stationary housing 22.
An electronic device having such a makeup is disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2002-335316.
However, in the conventional folding mechanism mentioned above, when pressing push button 24 to open movable housing 23 at a given angle, and stopping a force in the open direction of folding mechanism 10 by means of the stopper mechanism between stationary housing 22 and movable housing 23, a turning force of movable body 4 biased by spring 6 transmits to stationary housing 22 and movable housing 23 as an impact. Consequently, a loose grasp of the electronic device may cause the device to fall off the hand due to this impact. In order to prevent this problem, a damper mechanism made of an elastic body such as rubber needs to be provided separately between stationary housing 22 and movable housing 23, resulting in a complicated structure of the device.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


Disclosed are improved lightweight rear fairings that automatically retract when the rear doors of the trailer are opened. The fairings preferably each include rearwardly extending arms that stretch back from the hinged trailer doors to sheet rollers. The sheet rollers apply tension to fairing sheets that are secured to both the rollers and the sides of the trailer. The arms are able to rotate relative to the rear doors of the trailer, however rotation limiters restrict the amount that each of the arms may rotate towards the hinge of their respective door. Rotation of the arms away from the door hinges is not limited such that the arms may be rotated away from the hinges until they are flush with their respective doors. The fairing sheets are secured to the sides of the trailer at positions that are substantially forward of the rear doors such that even when the rear doors have been fully opened the rollers are still located rearward of the forward attachment points of the fairing sheets.

In 2004, the SmartWay Transport Partnership was created by several companies and the United States Environmental Protection Agency with the goal of advancing environmentally responsible logistics and transportation. In 2010, the California Air Resources Board program implemented rules requiring EPA SmartWay-approved fairings to be attached to trailers to reduce the aerodynamic drag on the trailers. Between 2010 and 2015, a dramatic increase in the number of trailers equipped with fairings has occurred with a corresponding increase in development and improvement of these fairings.
Two of the more common fairings that have been attached to over-the-road trailers are skirts secured to the underside of the trailer and rear drag reducers that extend from the back doors of the trailer. Each of these fairings present their own set of challenges. Being low to the road, the skirts are often damaged when the trailers pass over railroad tracks. The rear drag reducers are elevated away from the road and are less likely to be damaged from road debris, but the rear drag reducers increase the overall length of the trailer and must be disassembled, disengaged, or removed when the contents of the trailer are to be unloaded through the rear doors.
A Notable attempt that was made to solve some of the problems associated with trailer fairings includes the device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,431,381 issued to R. Wood that claims to cover "an improved method and device for the reduction of aerodynamic drag and for improved performance of bluff base vehicles by increasing the pressure on the bluff base of the vehicle by controlling the wake flow and the interaction of the wake flow with the vehicle bluff base region."


A pollution control device suitable for use with an internal combustion engine (e.g., a diesel engine) and comprising a pollution control element arranged in a casing with non-woven mat disposed between the casing and the pollution control element, said non-woven mat being a non-intumescent mat comprising at least 90% by weight based on the total weight of the mat of chopped magnesium aluminum silicate glass fibers that have a number average diameter of 5μ or more and a length of 0.5 to 15 cm, said glass fibers being needle punched or stitch bonded and said mat being free or substantially free of organic binder.

Diesel pollution control devices include catalytic converters and diesel particulate filters or traps. The pollution control devices typically comprise a metal housing or casing with a pollution control element securely mounted within the casing by a resilient and flexible mounting mat. Pollution control devices are universally employed on motor vehicles to control atmospheric pollution. Two types of devices are currently in widespread use: catalytic converters and diesel particulate filters or traps. Catalytic converters contain a catalyst, which is typically coated on a monolithic structure mounted within a metallic housing. The monolithic structures are typically ceramic, although metal monoliths have also been used. The catalyst oxidizes carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons and reduces the oxides of nitrogen in automobile exhaust gases to control atmospheric pollution.
Diesel particulate filters or traps are typically wall flow filters, which have honeycombed, monolithic structures typically made from porous crystalline ceramic materials. Alternate cells of the honeycombed structure are typically plugged such that exhaust gas enters in one cell and is forced through the porous wall to an adjacent cell where it can exit the structure. In this way, the small soot particles that are present in diesel exhaust gas are collected.
The monoliths and in particular the ceramic pollution control monoliths, used in pollution control devices are fragile and susceptible to vibration or shock damage and breakage. They have a coefficient of thermal expansion generally an order of magnitude less than the metal housing which contains them. This means that as the pollution control device is heated the gap between the inside peripheral wall of the housing and the outer wall of the monolith increases. Even though the metallic housing undergoes a smaller temperature change due to the insulating effect of the mat, the higher coefficient of thermal expansion of the metallic housing causes the housing to expand to a larger peripheral size faster than the expansion of the monolithic element. Such thermal cycling occurs hundreds of times during the life and use of the pollution control device.
To avoid damage to the ceramic monoliths from for example road shock and vibrations, to compensate for the thermal expansion difference, and to prevent exhaust gases from passing between the monolith and metal housing (thereby bypassing the catalyst), mounting mats are disposed between the ceramic monolith and the metal housing. These mats must exert sufficient pressure to hold the monolith in place over the desired temperature range but not so much pressure as to damage the ceramic monolith.
Many of the mounting mats described in the art have been developed for mounting catalytic converters for treatment of exhaust from gasoline engines which typically operate at high temperature. Known mounting mats include intumescent sheet materials comprised of ceramic fibers, intumescent materials and organic and/or inorganic binders. Intumescent sheet materials useful for mounting a catalytic converter in a housing are described in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,916,057 (Hatch et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 4,305,992 (Langer et al.) U.S. Pat. No. 5,151,253 (Merry et al.) U.S. Pat. No. 5,250,269 (Langer) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,736,109 (Howorth et al.). In recent years, non-intumescent mats comprised of polycrystalline ceramic fibers and binder have been used especially for the so-called ultra thin-wall monoliths, which have significantly lower strength due to their extremely thin cell walls. Examples of non-intumescent mats are described in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,011,651 (Bradbury et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 4,929,429 (Merry), U.S. Pat. No. 5,028,397 (Merry), U.S. Pat. No. 5,996,228 (Shoji et al.), and U.S. Pat. No. 5,580,532 (Robinson et al.). Polycrystalline fibers are much more expensive than normal, melt formed ceramic fibers and, therefore, mats using these fibers are only used where absolutely necessary as, for example, with ultra thin-wall monoliths.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,290,522 describes a catalytic converter having a non-woven, mounting mat comprising at least 60% by weight shot-free high strength magnesium aluminosilicate glass fibers having a diameter greater than 5 micrometers. The mounting mats taught in this reference are primarily intended for use in high temperature applications as can be seen from the test data in the examples where the mats are subjected to exhaust gas temperatures of more than 700° C.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,380,580 describes a flexible non-woven mat comprising shot-free ceramic oxide fibers selected from the group consisting of (a) aluminosilicate fibers comprising aluminum oxide in the range from 60 to about 85% by weight and silicon oxide in the range of 40 to about 15% by weight silicon oxide, based on the total weight of said aluminosilicate-based fibers, said aluminosilicate-based fibers being at least 20% by weight crystalline (b) crystalline quartz fibers and (c) mixtures of (a) and (b), and wherein the combined weight of said aluminosilicate-based fibers and said crystalline quartz fibers is at least 50% by weight of the total weight of said non-woven mat. The flexible non-woven mat can additionally comprise high strength fibers selected from the group consisting of silicon carbide fibers, silicon nitride fibers, carbon fibers, silicon nitride fibers, glass fibers, stainless steel fibers, brass fibers, fugitive fibers, and mixtures thereof.
Diesel Oxidation Catalysts (DOC's) are used on modern diesel engines to oxidize the soluble organic fraction (SOF) of the diesel particulate emitted. Because of extremely low exhaust gas temperature, mounting of DOC's with conventional mounting materials has been problematic. The exhaust gas of modern diesel engines such as turbo-charged direct injection (TDI) engines may never exceed 300° C. This temperature is below the temperature needed to expand most intumescent mats. The expansion is needed to develop and maintain appropriate pressure within the catalytic converter. Additionally, this temperature is too low to burn out the organic binder contained in intumescent mat materials. At these temperatures the binder only softens, which acts to interfere with the resiliency of the ceramic fibers. As a result, field failures have occurred with DOC's when using conventional intumescent mounting mats. To overcome these difficulties, the converters are sometimes heat treated prior to installation to expand the vermiculite and burn out the binder. This is expensive and time consuming. Auxiliary wire mesh "L" seals have also been employed to augment the holding force of intumescent mats at low temperature, but also add cost and complexity to assembly. Most non-intumescent mats while performing somewhat better still contain an organic binder, which significantly reduces the resiliency of the fibers in the 200-300° C. temperature range. This is expected to be true for other diesel exhaust pollution control devices, as well, including lean NOx catalysts, Continuous regenerating traps (CRT's) and NOx traps.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,231,818 attempts to overcome the present difficulties of mounting low-temperature, diesel catalysts by using non-intumescent mats comprised of amorphous, inorganic fibers. Although it is taught in this patent that the mat can be organic binder free, it appears that several of the mats used in the examples require the use of substantial amounts of binders. Moreover, it was found that the mounting mats disclosed in this U.S. patent, still do not adequately perform for treatment of exhaust from diesel engines, in particular TDI engines.
It was thus desirable to find an alternative mounting mat for mounting a diesel pollution control monolith in the metallic casing of a pollution control device for the treatment of exhaust from a diesel engine. In particular, it was a desire to obtain such improved mounting mats that can be manufactured in an easy and convenient way at an affordable cost. Additionally, it was a desire to find mounting mats that show good to excellent performance in at least one or more of the following tests Real Condition Fixture Test (RCFT), Cyclical Compression Test, and Hot Vibration Test. Desirably, the mounting mat is also more acceptable in terms of health, safety and environmental aspects.

Mat for mounting a pollution control element in a pollution control device for the treatment of exhaust gas


A flexor tendon repair device has a sheet of mesh material of rectangular shape with four edges: two longitudinal edges and two lateral edges perpendicular to the longitudinal edges. Each pair of edges is mutually parallel and spaced apart. Each edge is also folded inwardly for two smooth edges upon which the healing tendon rests and two smooth edges where the sheet mutually joins. Along with the sheet, the invention includes sutures, typically doubled, and one at each lateral edge. The lateral edges generally support the healing tendon while the sheet wraps around the tendon with the longitudinal edges generally parallel to the length of the tendon. A surgeon, during use of the invention, tightens each suture along the longitudinal edges, closing the device, and then upon the laterals to tie the suture. Upon tying, the mesh attains an ovoid shape similar to the natural cross section of a tendon.

The flexor tendon repair device generally relates to orthopedic devices and more specifically to a tendon enwrapping device. More particularly, the invention wraps and compresses two tendon ends joined in a repair.
Effective repair of flexor tendons has long been a significant problem and remains unresolved within the realm of hand surgery. The pursuit of a secure, relatively simple, inexpensive surgical technique and device to assist and facilitate the effective repair of flexor tendons still eludes hand surgeons and the practice and advancement of hand surgery in general.
The problems which must be addressed in any flexor tendon repair technique and device include creation of a connection, co-aptation or union of the two cut ends of the flexor tendon, usually utilizing suture or other material to connect one side of the injured tendon to the other. This typically involves passing sutures through both sides of the lacerated tendon and then tying two or more free ends of the tendon suture together, holding the cut ends together. Various suturing techniques are used including a variety of crisscross patterns, looped sutures, locking sutures, and the like. A proper tendon repair must create a repair between the two cut ends of the tendon strong enough to withstand the forces involved in muscle contraction, such as for finger movement. Many of the existing repair techniques and the treatment of flexor tendon injuries involved the use of four, six, or eight suture strands which are passed through the tendon core to provide adequate "strength of repair." Because multiple strands of suture pass through the "core" of the tendon, this also brings about multiple knots to secure the cut tendon ends. These knots, placed on the outside of the tendon, frequently become a source of irritation and adhesions to the surrounding soft tissues. When tendon adhesions occur, then "excursion," or movement of the repaired flexor tendon as it passes through the retinacular "pulley" system has significant inhibition or restriction.
Another option includes placing the knots inside the tendon, at the site of the laceration and co-aptation. Unfortunately, in this location the "core" sutures and knots can impede and interfere with the natural repair process because these knots sit between the two cut ends of the tendon which must heal and grow together. As above, patients require a strong repair but also a flexor tendon that must also move. Medicine has learned that the sooner movement of the tendon begins after the repair, the better. This movement serves to prevent and/or minimize adhesions and maximize excursion.
While the strength of the repair may be addressed by utilization of stronger and more numerous suture strands, the prior art has overlooked and not addressed the bulk of the repaired flexor tendon at the site of the repair. This bulkiness prevents movement and excursion of the repaired flexor tendon, often because of fraying of the lacerated tendon ends, or hydration and swelling of the cut ends after an injury. Multiple sutures and knots at the repair site, as well as the "accordion effect" associated with tendon re-approximation also contribute to the "fat repair site" which severely limits excursion and ultimately results in a poor functional result. Re-approximation occurs where the two cut ends are drawn together so that the tendon ends are compressed longitudinally and "bunched." The end result of a bulky repair site causes the site of the tendon repair to have a significantly larger, bulkier, and more irregular shape than the natural uninjured tendon. This bulkiness has a profound negative effect on the ability of the repaired flexor tendon to move through the flexor tendon retinaculum system. The flexor tendon must pass through a relatively narrow "tunnel" of fibro-osseus tissue which extends from the metacarpophalangeal, or MP, joint proximally to the distal interphalangeal, or DIP, joint distally. Tendon movement through this tunnel is referred to as "tendon excursion". This region is known as "no man's land" and "zone 2" by orthopedic practitioners.
The term "no man's land" arose from early surgeons who indicated that primary repair of flexor tendons in this region could not be performed successfully and therefore delayed secondary repair or performed no repairs. This pessimistic approach came about because the practitioners' experience of the repairs in this zone consistently failed due to adhesions and tendon rupture.
Medicine has the goal of a flexor tendon repair being strong enough to withstand early, or immediate, active movement of the tendon and finger after the repair. As long as early active motion begins early after the repair, then the risk of tendon adhesions reduces significantly. However, as noted above, early active motion requires a strong repair and minimum friction between the site of the repair and the surrounding retinacular pulley system, through which the tendon must pass. The repair technique must also reduce and minimize bulk (due to poor repair technique and bunching) at the site of the coaptation. Decreasing the bulk of the repair will prevent the tendon from getting "hung up," or stuck, within the retinacular tunnel. The repair must have enough strength for immediate active motion and also to create a relatively tapered, compressed repair site which will minimize friction and allow for maximize tendon excursion through the retinacular tunnel.


A method and apparatus are disclosed for the continuous annealing of amorphous metal cores of the type used in electrical transformers, and wherein the cores are heated in the presence of a magnetic field. The cores are transported serially along the length of a stationary electrically conductive rod which is located within a furnace, and such that the central openings of the cores face horizontally and the rod passes through the central openings of the advancing cores. Electrical current is caused to flow through a closed loop which includes the rod so as to generate an electromagnetic field along the length of the rod and so that the cores pass through the field while being heated.

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for annealing closed loop metallic objects in a magnetic field, and more particularly the invention concerns a furnace which allows continuous magnetic field annealing of amorphous metal cores of the type used in electrical transformers.
For some time, it has been recognized that the magnetic core of an electrical transformer may be fabricated from coiled strips of a glass-like metal alloy having a random non-crystalline atomic structure. Such cores, which are commonly referred to as amorphous metal cores, have several advantages as compared to the standard metal cores. For example, a transformer with an amorphous metal core has a no load power loss which is substantially lower than that of a transformer with a standard metal core.
It is known in the art to anneal amorphous metal cores in a furnace under controlled heating and cooling cycles, while concurrently applying a magnetic field to the cores. The magnetic field is generated by passing direct electrical current through a conductor that is positioned in the central opening of the core, during the annealing process.
Present magnetic field annealing furnaces operate as batch processes. In the batch process, each core within a batch of cores is individually loaded onto specially designed carts that carry conductive magnetizing shafts that are vertically disposed. The cores are loaded horizontally so that the vertical shafts are passed through the central opening of each core. The shafts are series connected to a current source such that each core is subjected to its own magnetic field and the batch is placed into the furnace where the lengthy heating and cooling cycles begin. After the annealing is complete, the batch must be individually unloaded so a new batch can be annealed. As will be apparent, the batch process as described above is relatively slow and labor intensive.
A continuous process for magnetic field annealing has been proposed to increase production speed and reduce the required manual labor as for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,649,248 to Yamaguchi et al. This patent discloses a process where each core is loaded onto a tray for transport through the furnace. As in the batch process, each tray holds the core in a horizontal position such that a conductive magnetizing shaft is vertically disposed in the central opening of the core while the magnetic field is being applied.
The problems with the conventional batch and continuous processes are severalfold. First, each core in the furnace is subjected to an individual magnetic field so that it is difficult to ensure statistical uniformity of material properties as amongst individual cores. Secondly, the cores are annealed in a non-optimal horizontal position with their central openings defining vertical axes. In the field, however, the transformers are oriented such that the cores hang in a vertical position with their central openings defining horizontal axes. It is preferable to anneal the cores in the same position relative to gravity as they are used in operation.
Still further, the Yamaguchi et al process requires multiple current sources, which increases the cost and complexity of the apparatus, and since the cores are annealed while lying on a tray, the heat transfer to the core is uneven. More particularly, heat transfer from the oven to the core occurs by conduction on the side of the core which is in contact with the tray and by convection on the side in contact with the atmosphere of the oven.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for magnetic field annealing that allows the cores to be effectively and efficiently annealed in a continuous fashion.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for magnetic field annealing that maintains the cores in a vertical position while the cores are heated and the magnetic field is being applied, and so as to facilitate the automation of the process.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for magnetic field annealing that subjects the individual cores to one common magnetic field during the entire continuous annealing process.
Additional objects of the present invention include the provision of a method and apparatus of the described type which requires only a single current source, and which provides rapid and uniform heat transfer to each core.

Method and apparatus for the continuous field annealing of amorphous metal transformer cores


A port terminator includes an outer nut, which may be either electrically conductive or non-electrically conductive, and an electrically conductive ground insert. A portion of the ground insert captures a ground portion of a termination resistor, while a deformable portion of the ground insert makes electrical contact with a connection end of an equipment port when the port terminator is screwed onto the equipment port. The deformable portion can take the form of a flexible brim or a plurality of petals. The petals preferably alternate between flat petals and biased petals. The ground insert permits the port terminator to make a uniform RF seal on an equipment port even with a range of tightening torques.

CATV systems continue to be plagued with service quality problems resulting from loose connections. For the most part, these connectors are loose because they were not installed to the proper torque, which can occur for a number of reasons from laziness, a lacking of training, and improper use of/inadequate tools. An improperly installed connector will result in poor signals, because there are gaps between the devices, resulting in a leak of radio frequency ("RF") signal.
As an example, a cable port is used to transfer an RF signal to a coaxial cable that transmits the signal to video equipment, such as a television. The coaxial cable has, attached to its terminal end, a female cable connector, which is used to house the cable and assist its connection to a cable port. The connector contains a nut that engages the cable port and advances the connector with a coaxial cable to the port. In this instance, the cable connector nut is used to hold two mating surfaces, the cable port and the cable connector housing the coaxial cable. If these two surfaces are not tightly connected, a gap will exist creating a loss in RF signal, resulting in lower quality cable signal.
Improvements on coaxial cable connectors have been proposed to deal with such a problem. An example of such an improvement on a connector is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,716,062 (Palinkas, et al.), the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference. In this patent, a spring element is incorporated to a traditional coaxial cable connector, under a nut element and beneath the flange portion of a post member. The spring biases the connector face towards a port after the nut is rotated around the connector a certain number of times. While this device is effective, it requires time and cost in the manufacturing process of the connector.
In addition, in high density urban CATV systems, it is often common practice to place equipment, such as taps, based on the total housing density instead of the actual subscriber density. In some countries, such as Great Britain, this is required by law, resulting in 100 taps installed for a 100-dwelling apartment building even if there are only 30 CATV subscribers. As a result, it is not unusual for there to be unused ports, particularly in systems with low penetration. When unused ports are left unterminated, or are terminated with port connectors which are easily left loose by the installer, or which become loose with the vibrations common to an urban environment, significant degradation to CATV service occurs.

CATV port terminator with contact-enhancing ground insert


A method for dispensing liquefied fuel, the method including: providing a non-petroleum fuel as a liquefied fuel to a storage tank; increasing pressure of the liquefied fuel to a target pressure using a pump disposed within the storage tank, where a first portion of the liquefied fuel is bypassed around or at least partially around a heat exchanger, and a second portion of the liquefied fuel is discharged to the heat exchanger, where the heat exchanger is configured to warm the second portion of the liquefied fuel. A dispenser is provided that incorporates a control system that allows coordinated fueling of one or more vehicles simultaneously, where the heat exchanger uses only the fuel itself without external refrigeration to manage final dispensing temperature and the fueling station does not include a storage subsystem disposed between the pump and the dispenser.

Most of the current hydrogen refueling stations use a gaseous hydrogen supply which is expensive to transport and difficult to scale up to larger stations or networks of stations due to maintenance and capital costs. For example, gas compression in general, and hydrogen compression in particular, is energy intensive. Compressors used in current hydrogen refueling stations (HRS) are limited in size and contribute to one-third to 40% of the station's maintenance costs. Additionally, since compression raises the hydrogen temperature, cooling is required before filling a vehicle. Even with a high-pressure cascade of storage vessels, hydrogen precooling is required to produce a filling speed comparable to gasoline or diesel filling. The cascade of storage vessels also requires a large footprint and large capital investment. For the minority of stations that use liquid hydrogen, the liquid only reduces the transportation cost. Once the liquid hydrogen is transported to the HRS, it is handled similarly to a gaseous supply because vaporization is the first step in the dispensing process.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,619,336 B2 discloses a refueling method called a density fill. The system includes gas compressors, cooling means, high pressure storage vessels, and control means. This system is typical of the current state of the art. It also epitomizes the challenges the industry faces in scaling up hydrogen refueling infrastructure to meet demand, mainly, gas compression being energy intensive, precooling by refrigeration adding complexity and cost, cascade storage vessels increasing the footprint and capital investment, and gaseous supply being simply not scalable logistically.
US 2012/0159970 A1 discloses a method of filling a storage vessel. The method allows the pumping of liquid hydrogen followed by vaporizing the high-pressure liquid to gas, or vaporizing the liquid hydrogen followed by compressing the warmed gas. In either case, a set of high-pressure storage vessels are provided downstream where these storage vessels are immersed in a heat exchange bath. The heat exchange bath is actively managed with a recirculating pump and cooling or heating means to maintain a temperature. Enclosing the bulky cascade storage system inside a bath, however, is expensive and even more complicated to manage than the traditional cascade storage system.
DE 102016009672 A1 discloses a mobile refueling system using stored liquid hydrogen and a method to use the cold boiled-off gas to cool the vacuum jacketed piping. U.S. Pat. No. 8,069,885 (US 2008/0216913 A1) manages the boiled-off gas by feeding the boiled-off gas to a fuel cell which provides power to the control system and compressor on the mobile fueler, making it a self-sufficient unit without hydrogen venting. U.S. Pat. No. 5,243,821 discloses a compressor system that consumes the boiled-off gas from the vapor space of the storage tank as well as the boiled-off gas during startup. This reciprocating compressor system has elaborate control schemes to manage pump blowback. In fact, this compressor system has so much heat leak that it ices over and freezes after several hours of operation. A redundant compressor is included to provide uninterrupted customer supply while deicing of the compressor system takes place.
None of the compressor systems cited in the prior art, however, provide a viable solution to meet the frequent on and off duty cycles required by a typical fueling station, or provide ways to minimize heat leak and boil-off.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,481,218 discloses a means to pump liquid hydrogen with a slave tank which is in fluid communication with the main storage tank. The fluid level in the slave tank is determined by hydraulic head and the heat effect in the slave tank due to pumping and heat leak. Several displacement pumps are used in the slave tank, all connected to a swashplate drive that converts rotating motion from an electric motor to reciprocating motion for the pistons. The slave tank is used because of the need to keep the pumps constantly cooled at the expense of system simplicity and the extra heat leak due to the additional surface area of the slave tank. To minimize heat leak, DE 102007040087 A1 discloses a material selection criterion for the pump cylinder which, desirably, should be strong and insulating. Unfortunately, such materials are yet known.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,383,063 discloses a method of dispensing hydrogen from a liquid hydrogen (LH2) tank without any compressor or pump by using volume expansion from vaporization as the pressure building mechanism. The LH2 storage tank is isolated from the high-pressure downstream fueling circuit. A small pump may be used in a pressure-building circuit on the LH2 tank to feed the LH2 to the downstream high-pressure fueling circuit. The embodiments heavily rely on cryo-compressed pressure vessels which are very costly. Without pressurizing the LH2 storage tank to substantial pressure or venting the high-pressure circuit significantly, there is no practical way to feed LH2 to the high-pressure fueling circuit. Neither condition is desirable. Again, this design is incapable of meeting an operating scenario where multiple fills are required in a short period of time.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,762,119 discloses a mobile unit to deliver high pressure gas where the gas is stored in its liquefied state to maximize capacity. A vaporizer followed by a warm gas compressor converts the stored liquid into a high-pressure gas for customer use. Liquid pumping, although mentioned in passing, has no specific implementation.

Method and system of dispensing liquefied gas

China Energy Investment Corporation Limited

National Institute of Clean-and-Low-Carbon Energy


A method of providing supplemental service for conference calling using an intelligent peripheral in an intelligent network is disclosed. By using a specific resource of an IP, various good quality services can be provided by connecting a Service Switching Point (SSP), a Service control Point (SCP), and an Intelligent Peripheral (IP) by a No. 7 common channel signaling network.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communication network, and more particularly to a method of providing a supplemental service in an intelligent network.
2. Background of the Related Art
With varying needs of subscribers and network operators and the development of No. 7 common channel network techniques, types and functions of intelligent network services are being steadily increased.
Supplemental services of an intelligent network currently include a number conversion service, for converting a logical, virtual number provided to a service subscriber by an intelligent network service logic into an actual telephone number, a billing service, for making a charging method adaptable by the various forms of billing according to a service type, and a limiting service, for verifying and limiting a specific qualification, such as an access condition and connection permission range. Additional supplemental services include an incoming call completion service, conference calling service, malicious call tracking service, mass calling service, telephone voting service, virtual private network service, and so forth.
FIG. 1 illustrates a physical structure of a general intelligent network. As shown in FIG. 1, a general intelligent network includes a Service Switching Point (SSP) 1, a Service Control Point (SCP) 3, and an Intelligent Peripheral (IP) 2. These elements are connected through a No. 7 common channel signaling network 4 in which a telephone line and a signaling line are hierarchically separated, thus generating and managing a new service more rapidly and conveniently.
The SSP 1 performs an exchange function for intelligent network call connection, a call control function, a substitute function for the call control function, a service exchange function, and a service function. The SCP 3 performs the call control function, and is linked to the SSP 1 to control supplemental services of the intelligent network and to manage a database.
The IP 2 has specific resources, such as customized information broadcasting, voice recognition, voice synthesis, voice recording, Dual Tone Multi-Frequency (DTMF) code collection, protocol change, and facsimile document processing. The IP 2 enables a flexible communication between a subscriber and the intelligent network.
Among the supplemental services, the conference calling service is a service that supports a call connection between multiple parties (three or more persons). The number of terminal subscribers (conference participants) that can connect to the service is determined according to transfer and bridging requirements. This service is divided into a Conference Calling Add-On (CCAO) process and Conference Calling Meet-Me (CCMM) process according to a connection control type.
The CCAO process is a process in which a chairperson initially reserves a conference calling resource, and controls the multiple party call connection by connecting or disconnecting each conference participant when the conference calling service is activated.
The CCMM process is a process in which the chairperson initially reserves a conference calling resource, and each participant participates in a conference call by inputting a predetermined number at the reserved starting time of the conference call.
In the conference calling service, after the chairperson has reserved the date and time of the conference, the length of the time of the conference, etc., each participant dials a designated number at a designated date and time. A DTMF code generated by the dialing is sent to the SCP 3 via the SSP 1. The SCP 3 allows a subscriber to participate in the conference call by analyzing the information of the corresponding DTMF code. In this way, the conventional conference call service does not use a specific resource of the IP 2, and is provided in the form of only an accept conference request message and reject conference request message of a conference treatment indicator between the SSP 1 and the SCP 3.
As described above, since the functions of the conventional conference calling supplemental service support only voice calls between multiple subscribers, it is difficult to satisfy the needs of the subscribers who want various services, and there is a limit to the development of a new service item.
The above references are incorporated by reference herein where appropriate for appropriate teachings of additional or alternative details, features and/or technical background.

Method of conference calling supplemental service using intelligent peripheral in intelligent network