The present invention provides a sensor for detecting mercury, comprising: a first polynucleotide, comprising a first region, and a second region, a second polynucleotide, a third polynucleotide, a fluorophore, and a quencher, wherein the third polynucleotide is optionally linked to the second region; the fluorophore is linked to the first polynucleotide and the quencher is linked to the second polynucleotide, or the fluorophore is linked to the second polynucleotide and the quencher is linked to the first polynucleotide; the first region and the second region hybridize to the second polynucleotide; and the second region binds to the third polynucleotide in the presence of Hg2+ ions.

Mercury is a highly toxic and widespread pollutant in the environment. Mercury can be a source of environmental contamination when present in by-products of burning coal, mine tailings and wastes from chlorine-alkali industries.[1,2] These contaminations can cause a number of severe health effects such as brain damage, kidney failure, and various cognitive and motion disorders.[3] Therefore, there is high demand for sensitive and selective mercury detection.
Towards this goal, many mercury sensors based on small fluorescent organic molecules,[4-11] conjugated polymers,[12] foldamers,[13,14] genetically engineered cells,[15] proteins,[16-18] oligonucleotides,[19,20] membranes,[21,22]electrodes,[23,24] and nanomaterials[25-30] have been reported. Despite this progress, few sensors show enough sensitivity and selectivity for detection of mercury in aqueous solutions.
Sensors that meet such requirements remain complicated to design and operate, or are vulnerable to interference, making difficult facile on-site and real-time detection and quantification of mercury. A particular interesting example is environmental-monitoring applications, such as mercury detection in drinking water, in which a detection limit below 10 nM (the maximum contamination level, as defined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)) is required. However, only a few reported sensors can reach this sensitivity.[11,15,18,26,27] Therefore, a simple sensor with high sensitivity and selectivity for facile on-site and real-time mercury detection is still needed.
Polynucleotides provide an attractive methodology for mercury sensing. Ono and co-workers reported that mercury ion Hg2+ has the unique property of binding specifically to two thymine bases and stabilize thymine-thymine mismatches in a DNA duplex; they demonstrated a fluorescent sensor for Hg2+ ion detection based on this property.[19,31] In their sensor design, one single-stranded thymine-rich polynucleotide was labeled with a fluorophore and quencher at each end. In the presence of Hg2+ ions, the two ends of the polynucleotide became closer to each other through thymine-Hg-thymine base pair formation, resulting in fluorescence decrease due to an enhanced quenching effect between the fluorophore and quencher. A detection limit of 40 nM was reported.
The Hg2+ ion-induced stabilization effect on thymine-thymine mismatches has also been used to design colorimetric sensors with DNA and gold nanoparticles based on labeled[25,29] or label free methods.[27,28,30] Recently, Liu et al. reported a highly sensitive mercury sensor based on a uranium-specific DNAzyme by introducing thymine-thymine mismatches in the stem region of the original DNAzyme.[32] Hg2+ enhanced the DNAzyme activity through allosteric interactions, and a detection limit as low as 2.4 nM was achieved.
Although highly sensitive and selective, this sensor however requires the use of 1 μM UO22+ for DNAzyme activity. This drawback creates the motivation to find an alternative method for mercury sensing, with comparable sensitivity but without the need to use other toxic metal ions as co-factors.
Fluorescent sensors based on structural switching aptamers have been developed to detect a number of non-metal ions such as adenosine-5′-triphosphate (ATP),[33-35] cocaine,[36] thrombin,[37] and platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF).[38] Aptamers switch structure in the presence of an effector usually due to the formation of non-covalent interactions, such as hydrogen bonds, ionic bonds and Van der Waals interactions, between the aptamer binding site and the effector.

The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois


A detection information memory stores, for each object, detection information that includes a distance to and a traveling speed of an object for each predetermined timing detected by a radar apparatus which detects detection information on the object, and the radar apparatus detects the detection information by receiving a reflected wave of an irradiated radar wave from the object. A predictor predicts, for each object, the detection information to be newly detected by the radar apparatus from a history of the detection information. A tracker tracks the object by identifying the object which is the target of the detection information newly detected using a result of the predictor; a determiner determines whether the object is a fixed object or a moving object. An output unit outputs the detection information on the object determined to be the moving object by the determiner.

A technique of detecting the presence of a line of cars which stop before a road with poor visibility such as a curve, a rising slope, and the like, and of reporting the detection result to a succeeding vehicle is useful from the viewpoint of preventing rear-end accidents. As one such technique, a technique of traveling vehicles tracking and detecting by using a milliwave radar arranged on a road is known. In this technique, first, a position and a speed of a vehicle are predicted by using tracking data obtained by a first scanning. Then, segmentation processing and attribute forming processing are performed on the data obtained by the first scanning and to the position-speed data obtained by the second scanning, and the result is collated, respectively. Further explanation is given for the technique of traveling vehicles tracking and detecting.
In the technique of traveling vehicles tracking and detecting, first, background subtraction processing is applied to measurement data sent from a milliwave sensor. This processing is the processing of obtaining the difference between the measurement data and the background data, deleting background fixed structures including power poles, guardrails, and the like, and leaving the measurement data of the moving objects. By making the background out of the target of the later mentioned processing by performing the background subtraction processing, more time for processing may be allocated for the processing of a moving object tracking and detecting.
Concerning generation of background data, a technique is known, for example, in which the background data are generated by updating the background data by taking a weighted average of the previous background data for measurement data. A technique is also known in which updating the background data is controlled in accordance with a detection result of whether or not a background object which has been temporarily obscured by other object is present.
The above-mentioned technique of traveling vehicles tracking and detecting, following the background subtraction processing, performs segmentation processing which groups moving objects with substantially the same speed and attribute forming processing which obtains attributes including a barycentric position, a speed, and the like of the groups from the measurement data of these groups. Then, on the basis of the obtained attributes, prediction of measurement data which are obtained next for the groups is performed, and by collating this prediction result and the actually obtained measurement data, tracking these groups is performed.
Techniques described in each of the following documents are known.
Document 1: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2002-99986
Document 2: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2000-172980
Document 3: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2001-4742
In the detection of a moving object by a radar apparatus, a position of the moving object, that is, a distance from the radar apparatus, and a speed of the moving object, that is, a relative speed of the moving object with respecting to the radar apparatus, are obtained as measurement data. Here, when a rotary scanning type is used as the radar apparatus, a presence direction of the moving object seen from the radar apparatus is also obtained as measurement data.
FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a detection system which includes a rotary scanning type radar apparatus 1 and a controller 2, the detection system detecting a vehicle 4 which travels on a road 3. The radar apparatus 1 detects the presence direction of the vehicle 4 and a tree which is a structure 6 positioned on a road side 3 by scanning a detection area 5 rightwards and leftwards on a horizontal surface.
As mentioned above, when a rotary scanning type radar apparatus is used, the presence direction of the moving object is also obtained as measurement data, and therefore, the position of the moving object is specified in two dimensions. The rotary scanning type radar apparatus, however, is provided with a mechanical mechanism for rotating antennas in order to make a radar wave scan on the horizontal surface, and for such a mechanism, a maintenance operation of the radar apparatus is performed.
On the other hand, in a non-scanning type radar apparatus, the position of the moving object is specified in one dimension. Accordingly, when there is a plurality of objects present at the same distance from the radar apparatus, with the non-scanning type radar apparatus, the measurement data of these objects are not obtained for each object.
FIG. 2 schematically illustrates a detection system which includes a non-scanning type radar apparatus 1 and a controller 2, the detection system detecting a vehicle 4 which travels on a road 3. In such a radar apparatus 1 that does not scan the detection area 5, the detection of the presence direction of the vehicle 4 is not performed.
Here, a case is considered in which the above-mentioned technique of the traveling vehicle tracking and detecting is performed by using the non-scanning type radar apparatus. In this case, when the vehicle stops for a while at the same position as the structure present at a road side with respect to the distance from the radar apparatus for example, since the data of the vehicle have been lost by the above-mentioned background processing, it is difficult to perform the vehicle tracking and detecting.

Moving object tracking apparatus, and moving object tracking method


Apparatus for use by a golfer with a putter, and the method of its use, includes a member, removably and firmly attachable at/near its lower end to the shaft of the putter, and extending upwardly from the point of attachment and having an upper end, and the upper end of the member being adapted to contact an appropriate part of the anatomy of the golfer. When a golfer executes a correct putting stroke, the upper end of the member remains in contact with that part of the golfer's anatomy throughout the whole of the swing but, if the stroke is not correct, the upper end of the member either loses contact, or moves across, or presses harder into the anatomy of the golfer. A contact device in the form of a resilient ball or the like is fixed to the or each upper end. These are capable of giving an audible or visual warning of loss of contact with the golfer's body or of increased contact pressure with the body.

Golf is an extremely popular game, both as a form of recreation and as a competitive sport.
As a recreation, it plays an important part in providing players with physical exercise, e.g. walking, bending, keeping the body supple and, of course, exercising the heart, lungs, etc., as well as giving them fresh air in an outdoor environment. Thus for many, golf is an essential part in keeping themselves physically fit and healthy. In addition to being a pure recreation, many golfers naturally wish to improve their technique and their handicaps, so that they can take part in competitions at their local club, with other nearby clubs or, perhaps, even play professionally.
Golf, perhaps more than any other sport, is one where technique is all-important and where a slight improvement can bring disproportionate rewards. Learning the correct technique is difficult and thus there is a need for equipment, and methods of using it, which golfers can use to help them improve.
Golf consists of three stages, i.e. driving, playing on and off the fairway, e.g. with woods, irons, wedges, etc., and putting. Technique is important at each of these stages but possibly most critical at the putting stage on the green where all those playing congregate for the climax of the hole. It is here, under the critical gaze of one's opponents, that nerves can affect a golfer's play and where adherence to correct technique can be most critical.
Most golf coaches advocate a 'pendulum stroke' for putting, in which the putter is swung by rotating the upper body and shoulders, with the wrists and arms remaining passive. Training devices for putting, based on this method, include U.S. Pat. No. 5,520,392, where a member attached to the putter extends under the armpit, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,156,401, which teaches a frame under both armpits. In both these cases, the training device acts to restrict the movement of the golfer to that required, i.e. they act as a form of straightjacket physically restraining movement. In contrast, a much more preferable form of training teaches the golfer to control muscle movements voluntarily. Thus, neither of these training devices adequately helps the golfer to gain the necessary degree of voluntary muscle control to putt correctly.
A training device for the golf swing is U.S. Pat. No. 4,145,054, which teaches a rod, attached to the golf club, that contacts the forearm in an incorrect swing but does not touch it if the swing is correct. The proper technique for the golf swing is quite different to that for putting and so this method would not be suitable for putting practice. Furthermore, there are types of incorrect swing in which the rod will move away from the arm, and these will not be indicated by this particular device. U.S. Pat. No. 5,531,446 teaches a putting aid with an extension of the putter shaft, which contacts the stomach area of the golfer's body. This is not the best part of the body to monitor for incorrect movements during a practice swing.
The best parts of the body to monitor are the arms and shoulders, as these are the key members connecting the torso to the putter. Monitoring the movement of the arms and shoulders relative to that of the putter and controlling these movements voluntarily is the best way to perfect a putting stroke. None of the prior art achieves this.


A cursor on a graphics display is controlled by a cursor control device including a tactile generator. The tactile generator is activated when the cursor is located at a graphics object that has been determined to be interesting, and that has a size which bears a predetermined relationship to the speed of the cursor, provided an update time has elapsed since the time of the last tactile activation of the cursor control device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to computer cursor control devices, and more particularly to methods and apparatus for establishing tactile feedback in a cursor control device based on an associated computer's displayed graphical presentation.
2. Description of the Related Art
The immense rise in popularity of personal computers is in large part attributable to improvements in user-machine interfaces. More particularly, the improvements in data input devices, such as the mouse and the trackball, have made communication with computers easy and convenient, thus increasing the usefulness of computers.
As is well-known, a mouse and a trackball are useful devices for positioning a cursor on a computer display. To quickly and efficiently input certain types of data or commands to a computer, the cursor is positioned on an appropriate graphics object and then manipulated (colloquially referred to as "clicked"). It will readily be appreciated that the convenience and, thus, usefulness of the computer is promoted by facilitating rapid, yet precise, cursor placement.
Representative of such cursor control devices is the device sold under the trademark "Trackpoint" by International Business Machines Corporation of Armonk, N.Y., the assignee of the present invention. Details of the "Trackpoint" device are disclosed in related U.S. patent applications Ser. Nos. 07/917,091 and 08/006,427, both of which are assigned to International Business Machines Corporation and incorporated herein by reference.
It happens, unfortunately, that rapid cursor positioning is more or less competitive with precise cursor positioning. This is because the faster the cursor moves across the screen, the less time the user has to react to stop the cursor when it arrives at the desired screen location. Stated differently, the user is provided with only one kind of feedback, namely, visual feedback, to aid the user in stopping a rapidly moving cursor, and visual feedback alone often is insufficient to promote both rapid and precise cursor placement.
As the present invention recognizes, however, both rapid and precise cursor placement can be enhanced if more than one kind of feedback is provided to the user. More specifically, the present invention recognizes that tactile feedback can be used in conjunction with visual feedback to promote both rapid and precise cursor placement.
As still further recognized herein, while tactile feedback can be effective for its intended purpose, providing a tactile feedback signal every time a cursor crosses a semantic boundary can be somewhat distracting, thereby detracting from the advantages provided by the device. Accordingly, the present invention recognizes that the effectiveness of tactile feedback in a cursor control device can be promoted by rendering tactile feedback only upon certain predetermined conditions.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a cursor control system that generates a tactile feedback signal to a user when a cursor controlled by the system crosses a graphics boundary. Another object of the present invention is to provide a cursor control system that generates a tactile feedback signal only when a cursor crosses a tactile boundary defined to be "interesting". Still another object of the present invention is to provide a cursor control system that generates a tactile feedback signal in part based on the speed of the cursor. Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a cursor control system that generates a tactile feedback signal in part based on the time since a tactile feedback signal was last generated. Another object of the present invention is to provide a cursor control system that is easy to use and cost-effective.

Tactile feedback controller for computer cursor control device


The switching unit has the switching member on the front side and the switching member on the back side which are mutually mechanically and electrically connected when mounted on the spoke portion of the steering wheel, and is designed such that when the switching members are assembled in one unit, the elastic electrode portion on one side comes into elastic contact with the electrode pattern portion on the other side. The switching members, therefore, are not required to be assembled into one unit prior to installation on the steering wheel. In addition it is possible to dispense with such a complicated operation as electrically connecting the switching members by a wiring harness after installation to the steering wheel, therefore improving the ease of installation. Furthermore, since there is no necessity to form a through hole in the spoke portion of the steering wheel, the steering wheel will not be deteriorated in mechanical strength.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a switching unit fixedly attached on a spoke portion of a steering wheel in a motor vehicle and, more particularly, to a switching unit for a steering wheel which is provided with a switching member on the front side and a switching member on the back side which are mutually integrated and electrically connected.
2. Description of Related Art
According to a conventional switching unit for a steering wheel, a switching member on the front side and a switching member on the back side are attached for mechanical integration on a specific bracket, and are electrically connected by wiring. The bracket of the integrated switching unit is fixedly attached to a core metal of the spoke portion of the steering wheel, so that the switching member on the front side may be mounted on the front side of the spoke portion and the switching member on the back side may be mounted on the back side of the spoke portion as viewed from the driver""s seat of the motor vehicle.
As another example of conventional switching unit, there also has been proposed that the switching member on the front side and the switching member on the back side are separately secured on the core metal of the spoke portion of the steering wheel, then are electrically connected by a wiring harness.
The switching unit for the steering wheel is usable as a push-to-operate switch for performing up- and down-shifts during driving in DRIVE range, and also as a switch for controlling an air-conditioning system and a car phone, and furthermore as a horn switch.
In the former of the above-described conventional arts, the switching unit formed in advance by assembling the switching member on the front side and the switching member on the back side into one unit is securely attached on the spoke portion of the steering wheel. It is, therefore, necessary to attach these switching members to a bracket so formed as to make it possible to hold the core metal of the spoke portion. In this case, there is such a disadvantage as a lowered degree of design freedom because of the shape and size of each switching member. Furthermore, as a modification of the art, both switching members are integrally formed in the status that one of the switching members can be fitted in a through hole provided in the core metal of the spoke portion of the steering wheel. In this case, the shape and size of each switching member are liable to a restriction. Moreover, the provision of a large through hole in the core metal of the spoke portion presents such a problem that the mechanical strength of the spoke portion will be largely deteriorated.
In the case of the latter, the switching member on the front side and the switching member on the back side are separately secured on the core metal of the spoke portion of the steering wheel, and there is no fear of lowering the degree of design freedom and deteriorating the strength of the spoke portion. In this case, however, it becomes necessary to perform, in a narrow space on the back side of the steering wheel, the electrical connection of both switching members by the wiring harness after installing them on the spoke portion, resulting in a deteriorated facility of installation.
In view of the above-described problems inherent in the heretofore known arts, it is an object of this invention to provide a switching unit for a motor vehicle steering wheel which facilitates mechanical and electrical connection of the switching members both on the front and back sides, with little restriction to their shape and without deterioration of the strength of the spoke portion of the steering wheel.
The above-described object of this invention is accomplished by the following constitution. That is, the switching unit fixedly installed on the spoke portion of the motor vehicle steering wheel is provided with a switching member on the front side and a switching member on the back side which are mutually mechanically and electrically connected when mounted on the spoke portion. Electrode portions are located in opposite positions of the switching members. One of these electrode portions is an elastic electrode portion which elastically deforms. In the integrated form of these switching members, the elastic electrode portion as one electrode portion deforms into elastic contact with the other electrode portion.
According to the switching unit of such a constitution, there is no need to integrate the switching member on the front side and the switching member on the back side prior to installation to the steering wheel; therefore, the switching unit is little restricted in shape and size and has a high degree of design freedom. Furthermore, in the mechanically integrated switching members, the elastic electrode portion comes into elastic contact with the other electrode portion, thereby making electrical connection. Therefore, it is possible to dispense with such a complicated operation that the switching members are electrically connected by a wiring harness after installation to the steering wheel. Furthermore, since there is no need to form a through hole in the spoke portion of the steering wheel for installing the switching unit, the switching unit will not decrease in mechanical strength.
On addition to the constitution stated above, if the switching members on both the front and back sides are designed to be integrated by snap fitting, the switching members can easily be integrally mounted on both sides of the spoke portion, to thereby largely improve the facility of installation.

Switching unit for steering wheel in motor vehicle


A driving apparatus for driving an object comprises a pair of piezoelectric elements, one of them being arranged on the one side of the object while the other of them on the other side of the object, and the respective electrode arrangement directions of the pair of piezoelectric elements being substantially identical to each other, and a control circuit which applies a predetermined voltage across the outer electrodes of the pair of piezoelectric elements respectively, gives an equipotential to the inner electrodes thereof, and causes the pair of piezoelectric elements to drive the object by varying the value of the potential given to the inner electrodes. Hence, the increased amount of a voltage applied to one piezoelectric element is exactly identical to the decreased amount for the other so as to make the extended and contracted amounts of the piezoelectric elements on both sides of the object the same. Consequently, no useless stress is given to the piezoelectric elements for the prevention of the deterioration of the elements to implement a precise fine driving over a long period.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a driving apparatus and a recording and/or reproducing apparatus using the driving apparatus, which is preferably suited for a scanning type tunnel microscope and other apparatuses which requires a precise positioning control.
2. Related Background Art
A conventionally known fine movement driving means is structured, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,786,332, for example, to drive a portion to be driven in such a manner that one of the piezoelectric elements provided before and after the driven portion in its driving direction is contracted while the other is extended.
As an actual driving method, such as apparatus as shown in FIG. 1 is known. In this case, a fine movement driving mechanism is constructed to sandwich a movable portion 2 by arranging in series a pair of polarized piezoelectric elements 1a and 1b having the same characteristics in forward direction. Then, while bias voltages VB in forward direction having the same intensity are applied to both piezoelectric elements 1a and 1b to extend them by the same amount, each one driving signal is amplified by two amplifiers 3a and 3b having opposite output polarity to each other to superimpose the driving signals thus obtained each having opposite phases, whereby the applied voltages are increased or decreased so that the directions in which the two piezoelectric elements 1a and 1b are extended in such an amount are made opposite to each other, thus enabling the movable portion 2 to be moved.
Nevertheless, in the above-mentioned case, unless the characteristics of the two amplifiers 3a and 3b are exactly symmetrical in their opposite polarities, there occurs a drawback that a delicate difference is generated between the driving voltages applied to both piezoelectric elements, and when one piezoelectric element 1a is extended, the other piezoelectric element 1b is not contracted equally by the same amount, for example. As a result, useless stress is given to each of the piezoelectric elements 1a and 1b, hence leading to the earlier deterioration of the piezoelectric elements 1a and 1b.

Driving apparatus and a recording and/or reproducing apparatus using the same


A method and system for searching an information retrieval system for items of interest that are in proximity to geographical locations provided by the user. The information retrieval system can perform a search for specified types of businesses or items of interest that surround or are in close proximity to the user's present geographical location, or a geographical location that the user has pre-configured in a database. The system receives geographical location information concerning the user's position from the wireless network carrier, which tracks the location of the user's mobile communications device. When the user desires to store a geographical location and geographical name for a future search, the information is entered into the pre-configured database. When conducting an information search at a later time, the user can narrow a search request to a geographical area in the vicinity of the stored geographical location.

In our modern, fast-paced society, consumers are increasingly relying upon directory assistance systems instead of conventional telephone books for quick access to directory information and guidance concerning local retail establishments or other popular destinations. Whether by use of landline or mobile telephones, directory assistance systems obviate the inconveniences of physically locating an appropriate telephone book and manually searching through the book to find a desired telephone number to call. Further, directory assistance systems are particularly useful for mobile telephone users who normally do not have access to a telephone book.
Conventional telephone directory assistance systems operated by local telephone companies have been in place in some format for over a century, before telephones even incorporated dialing mechanisms. In the modern versions of conventional telephone directory assistance, a computerized voice prompts a user to first identify a city and state and then provide a name of a person or a business. The requested telephone number is provided through a computerized voice. If necessary, a human telephone operator asks for additional information, such as spelling or a street address, and then performs a database search. While this service is quite useful, it is generally limited to either providing telephone numbers or directly connecting the caller to the requested person or business.
Recently, directory assistance systems, particularly those designed for use with mobile telephones, have incorporated additional features to facilitate searching for other types of information concerning retail business establishments. For example, directory assistance operators can provide information concerning the weather, movie listings, or restaurants of a particular cuisine located in the vicinity. These systems have proven to be quite popular. However, their operation requires direct interaction with a human operator, which is expensive.
As speech recognition technology continually improves, applications for utilizing speech recognition for information retrieval systems are becoming a more popular resource for consumers. As an example, "Info by VoiceSM for Atlanta" is an automated, voice-operated telephone directory that is available to consumers in the metropolitan area surrounding Atlanta, Ga., who wish to obtain directory assistance information concerning topics such as restaurants, traffic information, stock quotes, weather, sports, and business news. By using this service, a caller provides information in response to a series of questions from a digitized voice, and then receives a list of names and contact information for businesses matching the desired criteria. For example, if a caller submits a request for Chinese restaurants, the system might identify five restaurants for the caller to consider. As can be readily seen, an audio information retrieval directory can provide a useful and convenient resource for local and topical information.
Developments in dynamic processing of an index in a database for information retrieval systems are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,878,423 to Anderson et al., issued Mar. 2, 1999 ("the '423 patent"), which is incorporated herein by reference. The '423 patent discloses a method and system for dynamically processing an index to create a set of questions used when processing a data query. An index is a guide that is processed and used to find information from within a database, such as a database of classified advertising information. The set of questions are arranged according to a question set order associated with the index, and the set of questions only includes those questions that trigger responses that are found within the database.
While information retrieval systems such as those described in the '423 patent have become more efficient for processing data inquiries and retrieving database information, there are still difficulties that users encounter when using automated information retrieval systems. For example, although a caller may only be interested in obtaining directory assistance information pertaining to businesses in the caller's immediate vicinity, the system may unnecessarily identify businesses in locations that are scattered throughout a geographical region. As another example, the user may wish to search for items of interest near a certain location, but is unable to describe the location in a manner that is recognized by the system. These difficulties may require the user to either conduct multiple searches or to receive unnecessary search results, both of which detract from the benefits associated with the information retrieval system.
Accordingly, there is a need for a system and method for searching an information retrieval system according to user-specified location information for narrowing the scope of the database search.

Method and system for searching an information retrieval system according to user-specified location information


The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for determining radio link failure between the UE and the eNB in a wireless communication system. Particularly, the present invention provides a method and apparatus for determining radio link failure efficiently in such a way that the UE measures the radio link quality of the anchor carrier, the radio link qualities of the aggregated carriers, and the radio link quality of neighbor cells in order, and determines whether the radio link quality fulfills a predetermined condition.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cellular radio communication system and, in particular, to a method and apparatus for controlling radio link based on whether radio link failure is detected.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, many researches are being conducted on the Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) and Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) as useful schemes for high speed data transmission over a radio channel. In such multiple access schemes, the user-specific data and/or control information are mapped to time-frequency resources without overlapped from each other, i.e. maintaining orthogonality, to identify the user-specific data and/or control information.
In a cellular communication system, one of the significant factors to provide high-speed wireless data service is bandwidth scalability for dynamic resource allocation. For example, Long Term Evolution (LTE) system can support the bandwidths of 20/15/10/5/3/1.4 MHz. The carriers can provide services with at least one of the bandwidths, and the user equipments can have different capabilities such that some supports only 1.4 MHz bandwidth and others up to 20 MHz bandwidth. The LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) system, aiming at achieving the requirements of the IMT-Advanced service, can provide broadband service by aggregating carries up to 100 MHz.
The LTE-A system needs the bandwidth wider than that of LTE system for high-speed data transmission. Simultaneously, the LTE-A system needs to be backward compatible with the LTE system such that the LTE UEs can access the services of the LTE-Advanced system. For this purpose, the entire system bandwidth of the LTE-A system is divided into sub-bands or component carriers that have a bandwidth supporting transmission or reception of the LTE UE and can be aggregated for supporting the high speed data transmission of the LTE-A system in the transmission/reception process of the legacy LTE system per component carrier.
Meanwhile, if the radio rank quality between a transmitter and a receiver is degraded below a predetermined level, it is difficult to expect the normal data communication. Accordingly, the UE or the eNB monitors the radio rank quality to determine the Radio Link Failure (hereinafter, referred to as RLF) and performs the operation corresponding to the RLF. A description is made of a procedure for a UE to determine whether RLF occurs in the legacy system not supporting carrier aggregation with reference to FIG. 1.
The UE connects to an eNB to transmit and receive data (108), recognizes, if the radio link quality with the base station degrades continuously for a predetermined observation period, the problem of the radio link (110), and determines, if the radio link quality does not recovered for a predetermined time T1 (112), occurrence of RLF (104). If the RLF is detected, the UE attempts to connect to a cell having the best radio link quality among the neighbor cells for a predetermined time duration T2 (114) to continue, if the attempt is successful, data transmission/reception and end, if the attempt fails, end all the transmission/reception operations and transition to idle mode (116).
The procedure related to the RLF is defined for the conventional system without consideration of carrier aggregation and thus there is a need to define a procedure for controlling the radio link depending on whether RLF occurs or not in the wireless communication system supporting carrier aggregation.

Method and apparatus for radio link control in cellular radio communication system supporting carrier aggregation


A system and method for identification tag resolution is disclosed. The method discloses the elements of: identifying a set of attributes for a structure; assigning a tag to the structure; scanning the tag with a tag scanner; and modifying the structure's attributes, in response to scanning the tag. The structure's attributes can be modified in response to a value of a variety of variables, including a spatial variable, an orientational variable, a temporal variable, and a trust variable. The method also discloses that devices can be located proximate to the structure and, after a set of attributes identified for the device, the device's attributes can then be modified in response to scanning the tag. Also disclosed is that a set of attributes for the tag scanner can be identified and modified in response to scanning the tag. The system discloses all means for effecting the method.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for resolving identification tags, and more particularly for variably resolved identification tags.
2. Discussion of Background Art
Universal Product Code (UPC) and RF-Identification (RFID) tags are a fixture in modern businesses. They are tools for enabling computers to associate a fixed set of information with each item carrying such tags. Such tags are often placed on goods for sale, so that a fixed set of product information, such as a model number and serial number, and a sales price, can be retrieved.
During use, a unique tag is scanned in some manner, interpreted, and a set of information corresponding to that unique tag is retrieved. Each time that unique tag is scanned the information retrieved is the same. In this way, for example, a store can consistently and automatically charge a certain predetermined price for each item for sale carrying one of these unique tags, so that the checkout person need not repetitively punch in the same price every time the same item is checked out. Similarly, during inventory management, a business can track it's capital equipment more efficiently by scanning such a tag, placed on an item, than by having an operator manually key in item information. It is this one-to-one correspondence between the tag and the item it represents which in the past has greatly improved the efficiency of many business enterprises.
Such a use, however beneficial, is also very rigid, especially in an increasingly mobile yet constantly connected modern culture. It is this very one-to-one correspondence, between the tag and the information the tag points to, which while useful, does not dynamically take into account the many variables affecting business enterprises and their customers.
In response to the concerns discussed above, what is needed is a system and method for resolving identification tags that overcomes the problems of the prior art.

System and method for variably resolved identification tags

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


Methods and apparatus are provided for generating a decision trees using linear discriminant analysis and implementing such a decision tree in the classification (also referred to as categorization) of data. The data is preferably in the form of multidimensional objects, e.g., data records including feature variables and class variables in a decision tree generation mode, and data records including only feature variables in a decision tree traversal mode. Such an inventive approach, for example, creates more effective supervised classification systems. In general, the present invention comprises splitting a decision tree, recursively, such that the greatest amount of separation among the class values of the training data is achieved. This is accomplished by finding effective combinations of variables in order to recursively split the training data and create the decision tree. The decision tree is then used to classify input testing data.

The data classification problem is well known in the literature for its numerous applications in customer segmentation, customer targeting, and marketing. A supervised data classification problem is defined as follows. A set of records is given, each of which contains a set of feature variables and another predefined variable which is referred to as the class variable. This set of records is referred to as the training data. This training data is used to construct models in which the class variable may be predicted in a record in which the feature variables are known but the class variable is unknown. In order to perform this prediction, a model is constructed in which the feature variables are related to the class variable.
Numerous techniques are known which relate the feature variables to the class variable. In order to perform the classification, numerous techniques are known for creating the relationship between the feature variables and the class variables. The techniques for building the relationships include, for example, DNF (Disjunctive Normal Form) Rules, decision trees, and Bayes classifiers, among others, see, e.g., Agrawal R., Ghosh S., Inielinski T., Iyer B., and Swami A., "An Interval Classifier for Database Mining Applications," Proceedings of the 18th VLDB Conference, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada 1992; Apte C, Hong S. J., Lepre J., Prasad S., and Rosen B, "RAMP: Rules Abstraction for Modeling and Prediction," IBM Research Report RC 20271, June 1995; Quinlan J. R., "Induction of Decision Trees," Machine Learning, Volume 1, Number 1, 1986; Shafer J., Agrawal R., and Mehta M., "SPRINT: A Scaleable Parallel Classifier for Data Mining," Proceedings of the 22nd VLDB Conference, Bombay, India, 1996; Mehta M., Agrawal R., and Rissanen J., "SLIQ: A Fast Scaleable Classifier for Data Mining," Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Extending Database Technology, Avignon, France, March 1996, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein.
In decision trees, which is the classification model technique to which the present invention is directed, a goal is to construct a hierarchical decomposition of the data. This hierarchical decomposition is used to create partitions of the data in which one of the class variables dominates. Tn order to predict the class variable for a record in which only the feature variables are known, the hierarchical partition in which the record lies is found. The dominant partition is used in order to predict the class variable. Decision trees are further discussed, for example, in J. C. Shafer, R. Agrawal, M. Mehta, "SPRINT: A Scalable Parallel Classifier for Data Mining," Proc. of the 22th Int'l Conference on Very Large Databases, Mumbai (Bombay), India, September 1996; M. Mehta, R. Agrawal and J. Rissanen, "SLIQ: A Fast Scalable Classifier for Data Mining," Proc. of the Fifth Int'l Conference on Extending Database Technology, Avignon, France, March 1996; and M. Mehta, J. Rissanen, and R. Agrawal, "DML-based Decision Tree Pruning," Proc. of the 1 st Int'l Conference on Knowledge Discovery in Databases and Data Mining, Montreal, Canada, August, 1995, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein.
In order to explain this further, the following example is presented. Consider a set of records comprising the following two feature variables: (i) age, and (ii) whether or not the person is a smoker; and the class variable comprising an indication of whether or not the person suffers from lung cancer. The distribution of records is such that smokers of higher age are more likely to suffer from lung cancer. A decision tree may partition the data in the following way. In the first phase, there are two branches formed; one corresponding to people who smoke, and another corresponding to people who do not. The branch corresponding to the people who smoke is more likely to have a higher percentage of lung cancer patients. At the second level, the tree is divided into two branches; one corresponding to the people with a higher age, and another corresponding to the people with a lower age. Thus, there are a total of four nodes at the lower level of the tree, and each of these nodes has a much lower number of records, but with different proportions of the class variable. Thus, for a given record, in which the class variable is not known, the class variable can be better predicted by finding the percentage of the class variables in the node in which the current record fits. Thus, this above-described method is one in which the decision trees are created by splits (i.e., division of the tree into branches) using a single variable.
However, it would be highly advantageous to have methodologies in which the splits are created by linear combinations of variables which discriminate between the different nodes effectively.

Methods and apparatus for generating decision trees with discriminants and employing same in data classification

International Business Machines Coporation


A molding and film forming apparatus 700 molds a disc substrate from a stamper 330 formed from an optical disc disc-master 320 and forms a coating film, for example, a reflective film onto the disc substrate, thereby forming a recorded optical disc 360. A postscript apparatus 200 writes postscript information once onto an optical disc 340 formed by the molding and film forming apparatus 700. As postscript information, a laser beam is irradiated to a predetermined interval of the optical disc 340, a portion which is detected as a pit is formed, and an optical disc 350 on which postscript information 420 has been recorded is formed. Identification information which enables each optical disc 340 to be identified can be postscribed. The postscript information is recorded in a conventional format and the postscript information can be reproduced by an existing reproducing apparatus.

The compact disc (CD) standard, which has become widespread nowadays, has been referred to as compact disc audio and is based on the standard disclosed in the Red Book. On the basis of the Red Book, various formats, including a CD-ROM, have been standardized, and what is called a CD family has been constructed. In the following description, the denomination "CD" generally indicates a disc of various formats included in the CD family. An optical disc, such as a CD or the like, is used in various fields as a recording medium for recording music data, motion image data, an application program of a game or a computer, or the like.
A conventional forming system of an optical disc will be described with respect to the case of the CD as an example. FIG. 10 is a constructional diagram of an optical disc forming system which is applied to the CD. The forming system of the CD mainly comprises: a mastering apparatus for forming a disc-master of an optical disc by a laser beam; and a molding and film forming apparatus for forming a number of disc substrates by using a stamper formed from the disc-master of the optical disc and forming a film onto each disc substrate.
The mastering apparatus to form a disc-master 320 of the optical disc comprises an EFM signal transmitting apparatus 500 and a laser beam recorder 600. A molding and film forming apparatus 700 molds a disc substrate from a stamper 330 formed from the optical disc disc-master 320 and forms a coating film, for example, a reflective film onto the disc substrate, thereby forming a recorded optical disc 360. The EFM signal transmitting apparatus 500 reads information data to be recorded from a master optical disc 310 and outputs an EFM signal formed by EFM (Eight to Fourteen Modulation) modulating the read-out signal to the laser beam recorder 600. The optical disc disc-master 320 is formed by coating a photoresist as a photosensitive material onto a glass plate. The laser beam recorder 600 irradiates a laser beam according to the EFM signal onto the optical disc disc-master 320. The photoresist film is developed and in the case of a positive type resist, the photosensitized portion is melted, a concave/convex pattern is formed on the photoresist film, and a pit train according to a predetermined format is formed on the surface of the optical disc disc-master 320.
Subsequently, on the basis of the optical disc disc-master 320, a die called the stamper 330 onto which the pit pattern of the optical disc disc-master 320 has been inversely transferred is formed. The molding and film forming apparatus 700 forms the disc substrate by using the stamper 330. Further, a coating film, such as a reflective film or the like, and a protective film are coated onto the disc substrate, so that the recorded optical disc 360 is copied. The concave/convex pattern formed on the optical disc disc-master 320 is transferred onto the disc substrate and the pit pattern is formed. A compression molding, an injection molding, a light hardening method, or the like is known as a method of forming the disc substrate.
The recorded optical disc 360 formed by the conventional optical disc forming system is not a recordable film but is a disc coated with the reflective film as a coating film and is a read only type, so that additional information cannot be recorded after the disc is formed.
In recent years, in order to manage the recorded optical disc 360 on which predetermined information data has been recorded, a method of recording additional information, such as a unique identification number or the like, onto every recorded optical disc 360 is demanded. However, since the recorded optical disc 360 is manufactured by the foregoing forming step, it is difficult to record the additional information onto the recorded optical disc 360 which is obtained after it is processed by the molding and film forming apparatus 700 and on which the predetermined information data has been recorded without exerting an influence on the recorded information data.
Therefore, the conventional methods proposed as systems for recording the additional information, such as an identification number or the like, onto the recorded optical disc use a method of recording the additional information by a system different from a recording modulation system of a main signal. However, the recorded optical disc 360 on which the additional information has been recorded by those methods cannot be read out by drives other than a drive having a dedicated reading function and the additional information cannot be read out by the existing drives, so that there is a problem such that compatibility is poor.
A BCA (Burst Cutting Area) has been defined in a DVD-ROM and the additional information can be recorded there. However, such an area is provided as another area different from a main signal (EFM+modulation) portion and cannot be read out by drives other than drives having the dedicated reading function. The BCA is not applied to a DVD-Video or the like.
As mentioned above, according to the optical discs such as CD and MD based on the conventional standard and DVD disc excluding the DVD-ROM or the like, after they are once recorded, additional information, such as an identification number or the like, cannot be recorded.
The invention is made in consideration of the problems mentioned above, and it is an object of the invention to provide an optical disc medium on which additional information has been recorded onto a recorded optical disc on the basis of the conventional standard and to provide a data recording method and apparatus.

Optical disc medium and data recording method and apparatus


A compound represented by formula (2)

U.S. Pat. No. 7,569,518 describes that a compound represented by formula (1)
wherein X represents a hydrogen atom, a fluorine atom, a chlorine atom or a bromine atom, and Y represents a hydrogen atom, a fluorine atom, a chlorine atom or a bromine atom,
and the like are useful as a production intermediate of a fungicide.

Method of manufacturing pyridazinone compound

Abstract: A compound represented by formula (2)

Abstract: is reacted with a brominating agent and an alkanol having 1 to 6 carbon atoms in the presence of a base to obtain a compound represented by formula (3)

Abstract: wherein R represents a C1 to C6 alkyl group, and X and Y represent the same meaning as described above,

Abstract: and then the compound represented by the formula (3) is reacted with hydrazine, whereby a compound represented by formula (1)

Abstract: wherein X and Y represent the same meaning as described above, which is useful as a production intermediate of a fungicide, can be obtained.


A gas turbine combustor including: a primary combustion chamber; a secondary combustion chamber downstream of the primary combustion chamber; a venturi having a venturi throat; a transition piece; a cap assembly attached to the primary combustion chamber, and an external turbulator member in operable communication with the cap assembly, wherein the primary combustion chamber includes a mixing hole arrangement for improving homogeneity of an air and fuel mixture in the combustor; the venturi throat is disposed within a predetermined distance upstream from the downstream end of the primary combustion chamber; the transition piece is composed of a duct body, with a plurality of dilution holes formed in the duct body; and the external turbulator member includes a step positioned at the second end of the centerbody, the step defining a radial distance about the second end of the centerbody.

Gas turbines comprise a compressor for compressing air, a combustor for producing a hot gas by mixing fuel and air and burning the resulting mixture, and a turbine to extract work from the expanding hot gas produced by the combustor. Gas turbine compressors pressurize inlet air which is then reverse flowed to the combustor where it is used to provide air to the combustion process. Each combustion chamber assembly comprises a cylindrical combustor liner, a fuel injection system, and a transition piece that guides the flow of the hot air from the combustor liner to the entrance of the turbine section.
Gas turbines are known to emit various undesirable oxides, such as nitrogen oxide (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), as well as unburned hydrocarbons. It is well known that both oxidation of molecular nitrogen and oxidation of carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide depend on the temperature of the hot gas which is produced inside the turbine combustor and then flows through the transition piece to the turbine section. In addition, the residence time of the reactants in the combustor at these high temperatures is also a factor in producing undesirable emissions. To improve the performance of the combustor with respect to emissions, gas temperatures have to be high enough for an adequate period of time to oxidize carbon monoxide without being so high that excessive amounts of nitrogen oxides are produced.
Existing dry low NOx combustors (DLN combustors) minimize the generation of NOx, CO and other pollutants. These DLN combustors provide a fuel-lean mixture of fuel and air prior to combustion. Dilution air is provided to the combustor liner to absorb heat and reduce the temperature rise to a level where thermal NOx is not formed. Dilution air may also be provided to the transition piece between the combustor and the first stage nozzle. However, in many cases, even combustors with lean premixed fuel and air still achieve sufficiently high temperatures to produce undesirable emissions.
NOx emissions requirements are becoming more stringent Accordingly, there is a need for a lower NOx emission combustor that utilizes various ways to control the influx and movement of air in the combustor as well as to effect independent and variable control of fuel flow to fuel introduction locations of the combustor.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A method for producing a uniform and adherent brown covering layer (brown patina) on surfaces of semifinished products made of copper, particularly on rolled tapes or sheets used in building construction. The surface of the copper semifinished product is first roughened by means of a mechanical treatment. The copper semifinished product is then heat treated at a temperature lying within the temperature range of 150.degree. to 650.degree. C. for the duration of 0.1 to 30 minutes. The copper semifinished product can be advantageously subjected to a chemical postoxidation treatment immediately following the heat treatment.

The invention relates generally to a process for producing brown covering layers on semifinished products made of copper, especially for rolled tapes and sheets used in roofing and facing.
Under normal atmospheric conditions, a very adhesive and resistant covering layer of copper oxide forms on the surface of bare metal copper. This oxide film, which at first is very thin, stabilizes the surface of the copper material with respect to the effects of the atmosphere. Ideally, the slow further development of the oxide layer, which results from the continued chemical reaction of the copper with moisture and atmospheric oxygen, gradually forms a uniform brown coloring (brown patina), so that the surface of the copper increasingly loses its metallic shine. With the passage of time, the brown covering layer becomes progressively darker and turns into an anthracite brown. This is the final state that usually sets in on perpendicular building surfaces, such as on an outerwall facing. In the case of sloped roof surfaces, the roof layer changes in color by reacting with the substances contained in the atmosphere such as sulphur dioxide, carbon dioxide and chlorides, to form alkaline copper compounds, until the patina-green that is typical of copper is attained.
Under certain atmospheric conditions, however, the formation of the brown covering layer can be considerably delayed and also accelerated in spots, resulting in a relatively long wait until the copper surface becomes uniformly discolored. Deviations from a uniform shade are especially noticeable in the initial weathering stage. First, irregular dark spots and/or stripes form over and over again on the copper surface. As the weathering action continues, however, these color variations noticeably decline due to atmospheric influences.
This invention is directed to the development of a process by which a uniform and very adherent brown covering layer (brown patina) can be produced, if desired on a large scale, on the surface of a semifinished product made of copper. This covering layer will not become damaged or peel off when it is further processed as may be required in building construction.

Process for producing brown covering layers on copper


According to one embodiment, a machine translation apparatus includes an input device which inputs a first language sentence; an additional information acquisition unit which acquires a first user or a current location of the first language sentence as a first additional information; a reference data storage device which stores second language reference data that are the relationships between second language sentences and at least one of a second user and a second user usage location of the second language sentences as a second additional information; a text data acquisition unit which acquire second language text data from the second language reference data including second additional information being the same at least one part of the first additional information; and a translation unit which translates the first language sentence to a second language sentence by using the second language text data.

The popularity of computers continues to grow as performance increases and broadband infrastructures proliferate. Machine translation apparatuses and services that translate input text documents of a source language to text documents of a target language are becoming more popular. Methods for improving accuracy of machine translations are proposed to select translation dictionaries in response to usage scenes, for example, "shopping" and "vehicle" set in advance by a user.
However such methods merely react to the usage scenes classified off-line in advance.

Machine translation apparatus, machine translation method and computer program product for machine translation


A charge pulse (200A) is applied to the battery (B). The open circuit voltage of each cell (C1-CN) is then measured during a first rest period (210A). A depolarization pulse (220A) is then applied to the battery. The open circuit voltage of each cell is then measured during a second rest period (210B). The open circuit voltages for the first and second rest periods for each cell are compared to yield a voltage difference (DELTA Y). This voltage difference is then compared with a threshold voltage (V THRESHOLD). If the voltage difference is greater than the threshold voltage then the cell is being charged too rapidly, or is being overcharged, so one or more of the charge cycle parameters are adjusted. Some of the charge cycle parameters are, for example, the charge pulse current amplitude, the charge pulse duration, the number of consecutive charge pulses, the depolarization pulse current amplitude, the depolarization pulse duration, the number of consecutive depolarization pulses, the duration of the rest periods, or a combination of these. Multiple charge pulses (200A, 200B) and depolarization pulses (220A, 220B, 220C) may also be used. These parameters may be adjusted for the battery as a whole and/or for each cell individually. The adjustment to the charge cycle parameters may also be made on a "worst case" or a "best case" cell basis, with this cell controlling the charge cycle parameters for all the cells. Several techniques for adjusting the charge cycle parameters are disclosed.

An individual battery cell has a rather low voltage, typically in the range of 1 to 4.2 volts. This low voltage is quite suitable for some purposes, such as small flashlights, watches, handheld calculators and personal radios. However, a single cell is inadequate for uses which have higher voltage and/or current requirements, such as forklifts, golf carts, electric vehicles, electrically started vehicles, and uninterruptable power supply (UPS) systems. For example, automobiles typically require 6 or 12 volts, some diesel powered vehicles require 24 volts, UPS systems require 120 or 240 volts, and some other systems require even higher voltages. The battery cells are connected in series to achieve these higher voltages.
All cells are not identical, and all batteries are not identical. Rather, the particular purity of the materials used, the temperature during construction, and the placement of the plates in a cell cause each cell to be unique. Further, even when cells are constructed with materials from a single batch, constructed at the same time, and constructed with the same tolerances so as to be as closely matched as possible, the subtle differences in these variables cause the cells to become less similar as time passes. As a result, at some point the different cells may have such different states of charge that one or more cells may be fully charged but other cells may have minimal or no charge. When a cell finally reaches the point that it is discharged but the other cells are still at least partially charged, further use of the series-connected cells will cause the discharged cell to be subjected to a reverse polarity voltage, which can cause further deterioration of that cell, overheating, gassing, or even an explosion.
The construction of batteries in a compact, efficient volume dictates that the cells cannot stand isolated from one another. Rather, the cells are placed against each other. When more than two cells are involved, this usually results in some cells being on the outer portion of the battery and some cells being on the inner portion of the battery. The cells on the outside of a battery are able to dissipate heat by conduction to a cooling structure if available, or by convention (forced or natural). However, the cells on the inside of a battery are rather insulated and receive less cooling. An inner cell may be able to dissipate some heat via the top and bottom surfaces of the cell, but these surface areas are rather small and therefore have limited heat dissipation capability. An inner cell also has sides, which have larger surface areas, but these are in contact with other cells. Therefore, in order for an inner cell to dissipate heat via the outer cells the inner cell must be at a higher temperature than the outer cells. Thus, during heat-generating operations, such as charging, the inner cells will be at a higher temperature than the outer cells. Thus, the particular environment in which a cell is used can cause a cell to become more and more different from other, once-similar cells.
Likewise, batteries may be connected in series and/or in parallel, as needed to obtain the desired output voltage and energy storage capacity. Similarly, the assembly of a set of batteries in a compact, efficient volume for a battery pack, such as a battery power supply or an uninterruptible power supply, dictates that the batteries cannot stand isolated from one another. Rather, the batteries are placed in close proximity to or against each other, with some of the batteries being on the inside of the battery pack, and some of the batteries being on the outside of the battery pack. Similarly as with cells, the batteries toward the inside of the battery pack have less heat dissipating capability than the batteries toward the outside of the battery pack. Therefore, in order for an inner battery to dissipate heat via the outer batteries the inner battery must be at a higher temperature than the outer batteries. Thus, during heat-generating operations, such as charging, the inner batteries will be at a higher temperature than the outer batteries. However, batteries on the outside of the battery pack may also be subjected to greater and more rapid extremes in temperature than the batteries which are on the inside of the battery pack and are therefore somewhat insulated from the surrounding environment. Likewise, similar batteries experience different environments. For example, one 12 volt battery may be a year older than another 12 volt battery and may have been subjected to more or fewer charge/discharge cycles, more or fewer deep discharge cycles, higher or lower temperature extremes, etc.
Therefore, it is more likely than not that the temperature, the internal impedance, and the state of charge will be different from battery to battery in a battery pack and will be exaggerated as the batteries undergo aging, temperature cycling, and charging/discharging cycles. Thus, at some point, one of the batteries will reach a state of zero charge when others of the batteries still have substantial charges. Further discharging of the battery pack will cause the battery with zero charge to be subjected to a reverse polarity voltage, with the same consequences for that battery as described above for an individual cell which is reverse charged.
At 90% of full charge, a cell will not readily accept a high charging rate. Therefore, if the charging current is set so as to rapidly charge the weakest cell, the charging current will be too high for a more fully charged cell and damage can be done to the more fully charged cell. However, if the charging current is reduced to prevent damage to the more fully charged cell then the charging process will take a much longer time. For example, if each battery in a battery pack has a full-charge rating of 12 volts and 200 ampere-hours, all batteries but one are fully charged, and this one battery has a state of charge of only 90% of full charge, then 20 ampere-hours of charging current must be applied to that battery to bring it to a full charge. To accomplish this, a 20 amp charge could be applied for 1 hour, or a 40 amp charge could be applied for 30 minutes, or a 160 amp charge applied for 7.5 minutes, etc. However, the fully charged batteries may not accept the 160 amp charging current, or even the 40 amp charging current, without overheating, gassing, or damage. Therefore, to avoid damage to the fully charged batteries during the equalization process, the charging current must be limited to 20 amperes, or less, and the charging time must be extended to 1 hour, or more, to add enough charge to the lesser charged battery to bring it to the same full charge level as the other batteries.
As a result, each cell becomes a unique component, with its own output voltage, energy storage capacity, internal resistance, leakage rate, and maximum charging rates and conditions. Thus, the cells in a battery, and the batteries in a battery pack, perform differently than other cells or batteries, and these differences change as the battery is aged and is used. Therefore, each cell, and each battery, has its own, unique set of charging and discharging parameters.
Thus, the differences in the individual cells, and the differences the individual batteries, and the differences in heat dissipating capability, can easily result in temperature differences of 20 degrees Fahrenheit (11 degrees Celsius).
Electric vehicles, hospitals, aircraft, ships, power production stations, airport towers and radars, telephone central offices and relay stations, radio stations, television stations, and other systems require battery packs, either as a primary power source or as a backup power source, such as in a UPS. In some cases, the battery pack may comprise dozens of batteries connected in series-parallel configurations.
Lithium batteries are particularly sensitive to overcharging. If a Lithium battery is seriously or repeatedly undercharged or overcharged then its lifetime will be greatly shortened. If a lithium battery is overcharged then irreversible dissolution of electrolyte will occur involving oxygen and heat evolution. Likewise, if a lithium battery is over discharged, such as may occur due to undercharging before use, then nickel or cobalt (depending upon the construction of the battery) will be deposited onto the carbon electrode. This is an irreversible chemical reaction which reduces the lifetime of the battery. For example, the charge-discharge cycle lifetime of a lithium battery capable of 1000 charge-discharge cycles may be reduced to as few as 10 charge-discharge cycles. A lithium battery is currently more expensive than even a silver-zinc battery. Thus, undercharging and overcharging can be expensive. Therefore, care must be taken that a lithium battery is neither overcharged nor undercharged in order to avoid this life-cycle shortening and reduce the maintenance costs of systems involving lithium batteries.
In any battery, and in any battery pack, regardless of the type, the likelihood that one or more of the cells will be undercharged or overcharged depends upon the number of cells connected in series. The larger the number of series-connected cells, the greater the likelihood that one or more of the cells will be undercharged or overcharged. Some companies attempt to alleviate this problem by matching the cells in a battery or the batteries in a battery pack. This matching is generally done by measuring the open circuit voltage of each fully charged battery or by measuring the internal resistance of each fully charged battery. However, this procedure is expensive and time-consuming. Further, this procedure does not compensate for differences that arise due to aging or environment.
The problem, undercharging or overcharging, is compounded by series-parallel configurations. One series of cells or batteries may have a higher voltage than another series. The higher voltage series will then supply current to lower voltage series. This reduces the charge on the higher voltage series and increases the charge on the lower voltage series. This can cause over discharging or reverse charging of cells in the higher voltage series, and overcharging of cells in the lower voltage series. In addition to damaging some of the cells, this process also results in the overall configuration having less capacity.
Overcharging a cell causes overheating, loss of electrolyte, and gassing. Further, in the last stages of the charging process, the cell is nearly charged and cannot accept as large a charging current as it did when it was only slightly charged. Thus, a cell can be damaged by overheating, loss of electrolyte, and gassing even when the cell is not yet fully charged. In either case, if the charging process continues without modification then the cell will become seriously damaged. Excessive gas production in a sealed cell also shortens the lifetime of the cell by drying out the separator. In lead-acid cells, overcharging shortens the lifetime of the cell by loss of electrolyte, and also cause ozone production which corrodes the cell and causes other changes in the cell chemistry.
A cell which is at a higher temperature can accept a larger charge current and provide a larger load (discharge) current than a cell which is at a lower temperature. Thus, when cells are connected in series, but are not at the same temperature, one cell may be charged at the optimum rate, given its temperature, while other cells may by undercharged or overcharged, thus leading to damage to the cell and/or reduced capacity for the battery.
Also, the internal impedance will be different from one battery to another. The internal impedance depends upon the state of charge of the battery, the temperature of the battery, the amount of electrolyte present, the amount of water in the electrolyte, and the state (deterioration) of the electrodes. A good battery will have a lower impedance when fully charged and a higher impedance when fully discharged. The more that the charging voltage exceeds the battery voltage, the more the current that will be forced into the battery. If the amount of current forced into the battery exceeds the current that the battery can use for charging then the excess current will cause electrolysis of the battery water, gassing, and heating of the battery. Therefore, when a charging current is applied to a battery pack greater heating will occur in a more fully charged battery than the heating in a lesser-charged battery. The states of charge between different batteries may be somewhat equalized by continuing to apply a charge to the battery pack even though some of the batteries have already been completely charged. However, gassing as well as overheating of these more fully charged batteries may occur. Furthermore, if high a current pulse charging technique is used then the application of a large charging current pulse to a fully charged battery may cause damage to or catastrophic failure of the battery.
Therefore, to maximum the lifetime and capacity of a battery or battery pack, it is necessary to accurately determine the state of charge of individual cells in a battery and then to equalize the charges on the individual cells. Equalization is the process whereby all of the cells or batteries are brought to the same state of charge. Equalization is very important because it prevents the application of a reverse polarity voltage to a battery.
Some examples of procedures for measuring the state of charge or equalizing the charges are shown in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,979,658; 3,980,940; 4,238,721; 4,242,627; 4,562,398; 4,331,911; 5,498,490; 4,502,000; 5,528,122; 5,504,415; 5,594,320; and 5,592,067.

Equalization of series-connected cells of a battery using controlled charging and discharging pulses


A method of improving corrosion resistance of a metal substrate comprising a zinc surface coated with zirconium oxide conversion coating by, prior to conversion coating, contacting the zinc surface with a composition comprising:                a) iron(III) ions,        b) a source of hydroxide ion;        c) at least one complexing agent selected from organic compounds which have at least one functional group —COOX, wherein X represents either a H or an alkali and/or alkaline earth metal;        d) 0.0 to about 4 g/l cobalt (II) ions; and        optionally        e) a source of silicate:        wherein the composition has a pH of at least 10.

There are currently in the market a number of zirconium oxide depositing conversion coating products intended to replace zinc phosphate products in automotive assembly lines. These known products are used to coat ferrous metal surfaces as well as aluminum and zinc containing surfaces.
An issue for current zirconium oxide conversion coating processes is that they do not provide as good corrosion protection as conventional zinc phosphate processes under some circumstances and on some substrates.
One particular problem has been that current processes for zirconium oxide conversion coating of zinc-containing substrates, in particular HDG and EG, do not provide coated metal articles that meet certain automotive testing requirements. Hot Dip Galvanized (HDG) and Electro Galvanized (EG) steel substrates treated with a commercially available zirconium oxide pretreatment baths exhibited weaker performance in two separate automotive industry corrosion tests when compared to the conventional Bonderite® zinc phosphate treatments currently used in the automotive industry. Thus there is a need for a process of coating these substrates with a zirconium oxide conversion coating that provides for improved corrosion performance of zirconium oxide conversion coatings on HDG and EG substrates.
The instant invention solves one or more to the above problems in zirconium oxide coating processes by including at least one pre-treating step, where the zinc-containing surfaces are contacted with a composition, for example a cleaner and/or a pre-rinse, containing cobalt and/or iron, in the zirconium oxide conversion coating processes.

Processes and compositions for improving corrosion performance of zirconium oxide pretreated zinc surfaces


The polarization-multiplexed signal contains two data signals that are orthogonally polarized in relation to one another. Their carrier signals are derived from the same source and thus have the same wavelength. The phase difference between the carrier signals, is adjusted or regulated in such a way that it corresponds to 90°. The phase difference of the carrier signals permits the susceptibility to polarization mode dispersion to be significantly reduced.

The transmission of data in polarization division multiplex whereby two optical data signals have the same wavelength with orthogonal polarizations is a highly promising method of doubling transmission capacity without having to place more exacting requirements on the transmission link or signal-to-noise-ratio.
However, a disadvantage of polarization division multiplex is susceptibility to polarization mode dispersion (PMD) which results in mutual interference between the transmission channels. Although the effect of PMD can be reduced by PMD compensation measures, compensation is required for each channel of a wavelength division multiplex system; it is also complex/costly and does not always produce the desired results. The use of PMD-optimized fibers likewise provides an improvement, but is only possible for new networks.

Method for optical transmission of a polarization division multiplexed signal


An improvement to a roadside sprayer fixates spray nozzles on a registration plate. The registration plate may include integral tabs depending on the application. Inclination of the tabs is adjustable to place streams and droplets in a desired swath coverage. With the nozzles rigidly mounted onto the plate, the entire plate is nutated. The use of the registration plate in a spray unit creates a uniform nutation among the nozzles, thereby reducing variability in droplet placement, and providing a more predictable spray from the nozzles. In other embodiments, the spray unit is utilized in a spray system adaptable to service vehicles, and may be utilized in conjunction with a vegetation engagement device, such as a cutter to engage multiple zones of a roadway right-of-way. Additionally, an improved spray unit includes an electromagnetic field and an attractor to generate plate motion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a spray apparatus and more particularly to an automated apparatus for spraying herbicides on roadsides and other right-of-ways. The sprayer is mounted to a vehicle and is controlled by the operator of the vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
A right-of-way sprayer typically includes a tank for storing the herbicide and a dilution source, normally water, also stored in a tank. The herbicide and dilution sources are connected to a water pump where a mix occurs. The mix is then fed into a manifold controlled by solenoids that allow the operator to direct the flow of the mix. After traveling through the manifold, the mixture is fed through a series of hoses to individual nozzles, which mount on the ends of the plastic hoses. The nozzles are then mounted on a common platform called a spray head. The spray head can be nutated by any suitable means such as an electric vibrator to create droplet separation at the nozzles.
The spray head, as well as the nozzles, may be remotely controlled by a vehicle operator, or a weed sensor may be utilized to determine the presence of vegetation. The vehicle operator can change the position of the spray head through the use of a power unit, such as an electric, air, or hydraulic cylinder to change the inclination of the spray head as the cylinder extends or contracts. In addition, individual swaths or nozzles can be controlled by the operator using a single switch, or any combination of switches to achieve a desired spray swath. The switches control the delivery of power to solenoids connected to the manifold. The ability to control the delivery of product to the nozzles using the switch allows the operator to provide a number of different swath patterns according to the type of application preferred. Also, a roadside sprayer may include a means of sensing vehicle speed, such as a ground based radar, or global positioning system (GPS), to help the operator to regulate the speed of the vehicle and the application rate of chemical.
Current right-of-way sprayers provide several advantages. The sprayers allow for a plurality of individual nozzles to cover swaths at different distances from the vehicle. Also, the nutation speed of the spray head may be adjustable to compensate for wind and to minimize drift, thereby achieving more uniform spray coverage. The spray head can also be positioned at different angles to produce the desired swaths.
However, in current right-of-way sprayers, the nozzles are not rigidly mounted on the spray head. Instead, the nozzles are threaded into ninety-degree elbows. The elbows are threaded into a series of common manifolds holding sets of spray nozzles. Hoses carry fluid from a remote system of solenoids to the manifiolds holding the sets of spray nozzles. This lack of a rigid mounting system for the nozzles can cause several problems. Illustratively, the lack of rigid mounting for the nozzles can create a disproportionate level of nutation in the nozzles. The lack of uniformity in the level of nozzle nutation creates a varying level of droplet sizes among nozzles designed to nutate at the same rate, thereby affecting swath coverage and the saturation level of the herbicide.
Additionally, nutation of the spray head forces the elbows to rotate with respect to the manifolds, thereby moving the nozzles out of position. In this instance, a spray stream emitted from a nozzle overlaps an adjacent nozzle. In this situation, the chemical is applied unevenly, and the reoriented nozzle produces a spray pattern that lacks uniformity.
Also, as the ends of the nozzles are not rigidly attached to a rigid structure, the nozzles may point and direct spray to unintended locations producing undesirable swath coverage. The lack of a rigid mounting system also increases the potential of causing nozzles to vibrate loose from their mounting points.
Still further, the remotely located solenoids create issues with residual product disposed within fluid circuits located beyond the flow control shut-offs. Illustratively, remotely located flow control units leave large quantities of product disposed within the fluid system after a spray. The residual fluid remains in the pressurized hoses, and then seeps out of the system as the hoses contract due to the pressure loss. The residual fluid may also drip out of the system during a change in the orientation of the system components, such as during a retraction, thereby delivering unintended drippage, possibly on desirable turf.
Still, yet further, the prior art utilizes a spray head including high-weight components. As such, a motion inducer is forced to work in a high working load range, thereby increasing the rate of motor and bearing failures.
Accordingly, a right-of-way sprayer that produces more uniform motion among nozzles, and prevents moving nozzles from pointing in unintended directions, would enable more consistent and accurate swath coverage. Moreover, a fixed nozzle mounting system would reduce nozzle vibration, ensuring that nozzles remain in their mounting points.


A natural antibacterial waterproof composition for soil and wood and a method for manufacturing includes beef tallow, soybean oil, turpentine, pine resin, paraffin, and a natural antibacterial insecticide, wherein the natural antibacterial insecticide is made by extracting effective components from ginkgo leaves through hot-water extraction. According to the present invention, the natural antibacterial waterproof composition for soil and wood is applied to the surfaces of the soil wall, soil brick and wood and absorbed therein, thus providing waterproofing performance and protecting the soil wall, soil brick and wood from harmful insects like ants, worms and so on. Further, the composition has excellent waterproofing and insecticidal performance during a long period of time as well as during a short period of time, thus desirably decreasing the maintenance cost.

The present invention relates to a natural antibacterial waterproof composition for soil and wood and a method for manufacturing the same, and more particularly, to a natural antibacterial waterproof composition for soil and wood and a method for manufacturing the same wherein the composition comprises only natural materials in such a manner as to be applied to soil walls, soil bricks, wood and the like.
As buildings in recent residential environments have been highly developed, cement, concrete, steel frames, and cement adhesives are used rampantly, and in case of closed type buildings for increasing heating efficiencies, a quality of indoor air becomes bad to cause strong alkaline virulence factors of cement and gas and dust harmful to human bodies. Due to harmful gas emitted from the wallpaper bonded by adhesives, further, dwellers have suffered from environmental diseases like atopy, sick building syndrome and so on.
Accordingly, there is a growing interest in eco-friendly construction materials, and especially, an interest in ocher, soil walls and soil bricks used for building traditional houses in a domestic housing culture grows more and more.
Soil is easily obtained around and also one of construction materials leading traditional housing culture. A soil house does not cause any specific pollution during the construction process and is recycled to nature when thrown away. Accordingly, soil is one of excellent eco-friendly construction materials.
However, the construction material made of soil is weak for heavy rain, heavy snow, and torrential rains. Further, the soil is weak for solidity to often cause separation, and dust is easily generated from the soil. As a result, it is hard to make the soil brick or wall only with pure soil.
So as to remove the disadvantages of the soil, accordingly, a soil wall or brick is made by using cement, plaster and inorganic adhesives as a binder, but if the binder is used, advantageous functions of soil such as ventilation, humidity control, antibacterial force and deodorizing become disappear.
Alternatively, a waterproof agent is applied to the soil brick or wall, and the waterproof agent is made of a synthetic rubber resin, thus undesirably losing ventilating capability and humidity control force of soil. Further, the adhesion becomes drastically weak as time is passed, and the soil is easily separated from the soil brick or wall, thus making the waterproofing performance suddenly deteriorated.
So as to over the above-mentioned problems, accordingly, there has been proposed Korean Patent Gazette No. 2003-77473 entitled 'multi-purposed and multi-functional coating composition', wherein the coating composition includes oil and fat components such as perilla oil, tung oil, pine oil and the like, rosin, and turpentine, thus providing excellent waterproofing, water repellency, anti-coloring, mildew resistance, anti-corrosion, and insect repellency. However, if the coating composition is applied to a soil brick or wall, waterproofing performance is a little exerted, but sufficient antibacterial and insecticidal effects are not provided. Further, the waterproofing performance is exhibited during a short period of time, and if the composition is applied to an outdoor wall, the surface of the outdoor wall may be collapsed due to rainwater after a given period of time is passed.
On the other hand, there has been proposed Korean Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2011-0117309 entitled 'natural waterproof composition for soil wall or wood', wherein the composition comprises vegetable oil, rosin, and turpentine, thus improving waterproofing performance, but it does not have any insecticidal effects.

Natural antibacterial waterproof composition for soil and wood and method for manufacturing the same


A jet printing head has a chamber for an inking liquid and a multilayer nozzle assembly for supplying liquid from the chamber to a data medium. The nozzles are arranged in parallel rows and lines. The nozzles in each row have a common electrode of one polarity and individual electrodes of opposite polarity. The individual electrodes for each line of nozzles are connected to a common bus. The buses for the respective lines are located in a plane parallel to the electrode plane with an interposed dielectric layer. The assembly includes a permanent magnet layer remote from the liquid chamber.

A known jet printing head comprises a chamber suited to hold an inking liquid, one of its wall having nozzles uniformly disposed in rows and representing capillary holes. Each nozzle has a pair of electrodes separated by an insulating rod whose conical end faces the nozzle.
The nozzle also has a conical inlet and a cylindrical outlet connected therewith. As pulse voltage is applied to the electrodes, the liquid in the respective nozzles is instantaneously heated whereby a maximum pressure characteristic of pin-point microexplosions is produced at the cylindrical outlet of the nozzle. The inking liquid is discharged from the nozzle onto a data medium to make a corresponding record.
One of the disadvantages of such a structure is associated with unwanted complexities involved in production of a nozzle having conical and cylindrical sections which should be made to a high accuracy because even a slight deviation from preset parameters impairs geometry of a drop of inking liquid coming out of the nozzle, a factor adversely affecting printing quality. Likewise the insulating rods should meet stringent requirements for accuracy in production and installation. This calls for the use of precision equipment and skilled labour, which substantially increases the cost of such a printing facility. Furthermore, frequent drastic temperature changes in the liquid cause wear of the electrodes and the rod. Also, the liquid should be often changed due to its disintegration in heating.
There is further known a printing head with an electric means for supplying a conducting liquid dye staff to a data medium, which comprises an inking chamber with an assembly suited to supply said liquid dye staff and having a plurality of tubes of a sufficiently large diameter, said tubes being essentially capillary nozzles. The known printing head comprises a multitude of pairs of electrodes, each of which is fitted on diametrically opposite sides of the tubes at right angles to the tube axis, as well as a permanent C-magnet encompassing the head so that the magnetic field of the magnet passes through all the holes. On application of a voltage pulse to a pair of electrodes, they will pass current due to electric conduction of the liquid. As said current interacts with the field of the permanent magnet, there is produced an electrodynamic force ejecting a drop of inking liquid from the given capillary tube. Although a fairly small current passed through the electrodes does not cause their failure and disintegration of the inking liquid, the construction of the disclosed printing head is rather complicated due to the need for inserting the electrodes in the capillary tubes and aligning them in a precise manner relative to the tube axis. If the alignment is not exact, printing quality of drastically impaired. Moreover, it is practically impossible to connect the electrodes securely to current buses. Finally, a reliable discharge of drops of inking liquid from the head nozzles necessitates similar conditions for each capillary tube, that is, a similar magnetic field in the zone where the electrodes are positioned and similar strength of a current pulse flowing therethrough. In the case of a C-magnet the magnetic field in the centre is much weaker than that round the periphery, a factor substantially affecting printing quality due to impaired formation of drops of liquid discharged from the capillary tubes. Furthermore, the size of the C-magnet must exceed by many times the area occupied by the capillary tubes to obtain an essentially uniform field over the entire area of the printing head.