An allergen exposure system includes a mixing chamber, delimited by walls and distinct from the air inlet duct and from the exposure room in which the patients are situated. A mixing between a stream of allergen particles from an allergen injection device and a flow of air devoid of allergens which has passed through a filtration device, occurs through a phenomenon of microturbulence in this mixing chamber which forms a widening with respect to the air inlet duct and makes it possible to obtain a flow of air laden with allergen particles which is injected into the exposure room through at least one diffusion outlet so that it can be inhaled by the patients. This invention is of benefit to medical and pharmaceutical research in the field of allergy study.

Allergies are a global scourge, affecting more than one out of four people in the western world. It is believed that within the next few years, almost 50% of the population of the developed countries may be affected by at least one allergenic illness. Medical research in the field of allergies, and especially in the development of anti-allergic medication or desensitizing treatment, is accordingly a fast-growing sector.
To carry out clinical trials concerning allergies, or to assess the efficiency of new drugs or desensitization treatment, observing the reaction of allergic patients when they are exposed to natural allergens is essential.
Making observations like this in the natural environment, scientifically and objectively, is particularly difficult because of the major changes in the quantity of allergens that a patient inhales, depending, for instance, on the season, the weather conditions or the places frequented by the patient. Indeed, the quantity of allergens occurring naturally in ambient air varies enormously according to, for instance, the area or the season, the weather conditions, especially temperature, humidity or the presence of winds, the time of the day, or even the elevation with respect to ground level.
To be able to overcome the many parameters that fluctuate in a way that is difficult to control, in prior art, devices known as allergy test chambers or EECs (European/Environmental Exposure Chamber) have been developed.
These devices accommodate one or several patients in a closed environment where a controlled amount of allergens is released, to observe scientifically their physiological reaction after a longer or shorter exposure period. The various experimental parameters used in the chamber are constant and controlled throughout the experiment. Accordingly, trials can be performed under reproducible conditions on several patients or several times on the same patient and results that are comparable with one another can be immediately obtained in a reliable way.
Such devices allow allergenic inhalation tests to be carried out under controlled conditions close to the natural state, and that are reproducible. They guarantee reliable, complete, and comparable results that can be used scientifically as part of many clinical studies. For instance, they can be used for in vivo testing of the efficiency of desensitization treatment or of new anti-allergenic medications and, for instance, to determine the doses to be prescribed, or the efficiency time.
For instance, an allergy test chamber described in the European patent No. EP 1335750 by HORAK or those described in the patent applications FRAUNHOFER WO 2010/0063714 and PATEL WO 2007/140601 are known.
In these known prior devices, one constant concern relates to obtaining a homogeneous concentration of allergens throughout the exposure room. Indeed, for the results to be reliable and usable, it is particularly important to make sure that the patients are exposed to the same allergen concentration, wherever they are located in the room. Therefore, in the prior art, various devices for distributing and diffusing allergens in the exposure room have been imagined.
In the HORAK patent, on the one hand an allergenic powder is infed via a compressed air particle dispenser in the ceiling of the exposure room and on the other, fresh air devoid of allergens via spherical nozzles, separate from the particle dispenser, also ceiling-mounted but at different places and pointing in different directions in order to generate a turbulent air flow.
In the FRAUNHOFER and PATEL patents, a liquid preparation of allergens is used from which an aerosol is generated. Once this aerosol is fed into the exposure room, one or several fans mixes it with the ambient air in the exposure room coming from separate air inlets.
In all these devices, the air and the allergen particles are mixed directly in the exposure room by means of a strong turbulent air flow or by fans.
Distribution systems like this are not satisfactory and do not guarantee uniform mixing and homogeneous concentration throughout the entire exposure room when such a room is large. The concentration differs depending on the height from the floor level and the distance from the inlet zone of the allergens or the position with respect to the fans.
In addition, high turbulences and strong air flows generated by the nozzles and/or fans are disagreeable to patients in the exposure room, also liable to cause the degradation of the allergens which consist of particularly fragile compounds or a rearrangement of particles by an aggregation changing their size.
The following publications are also known: W. EDUARD AND AL. "Generation and Homogeneity of Aerosol in a Human Whole-Body Inhalation Chamber", C. LINDEN AND AL. "New Whole-body Exposure Chamber for Human Skin and Lung Challenge Experiments—the Generation of Wheat Flour Aerosol" and CHRISTIAN MONSE AND AL. "Considerations for the design and technical set-up of a human whole-body exposure chamber".
These documents describe the respective exposure systems for aluminium oxide, wheat flour and gases. In these systems, mixing with the ventilation air no longer takes place in the exposure room but upstream of it, directly in the air inlet duct, whether it concerns a coaxial internal duct opening out longitudinally into the air duct as in the first document, or via a simple T connection as described in the two other documents.
The mixture obtained with these prior devices is not satisfactory either, because the flow of air circulates too fast through the inlet duct for real mixing to take place. The particles are simply drawn in by a Venturi effect and carried without there being any real mixing between the various flows.

Allergen exposure system comprising a chamber for mixing air and allergens, which is separated from the exposure room that accommodates the patients


A method includes receiving, from a probe that comprises electrodes and is positioned inside a cavity in an organ of a patient, (i) proximity signals indicative of proximity of the electrodes to a wall of the cavity, and (ii) position signals indicative of positions of the electrodes within the cavity. Based on the proximity signals and the position signals, at least a portion of a volume of the cavity is represented by a sphere model including multiple spheres. An estimated contour of the wall of the cavity is calculated based on the sphere-model. The estimated contour of the wall is presented to a user.

Various techniques were proposed for electroanatomical mapping of cardiac tissue. For example, U.S. Patent Application Publication 2006/0116576 describes systems and a method for navigating a catheter relative to a heart. A mark, such as a point or line, representing an anatomical region of interest, such as cardiac tissue targeted for treatment, is displayed on a representation of the anatomical body. The positions of the medical probe and the mark are determined within a three-dimensional coordinate system, and the proximity between the medical probe and the mark determined based on these positions. This proximity can then be indicated to a user, e.g., using graphics, text, or audible sounds.
As another example, U.S. Patent Application Publication 2001/0009976 describes a system that records use of a structure deployed in operative association with heart tissue in a patient. An image controller generates an image of the structure while in use in the patient. An input receives data including information identifying the patient. An output processes the image in association with the data as a patient-specific, data base record for storage, retrieval, or manipulation.
U.S. Patent Application Publication 2012/0158011 describes a robotic catheter control system that includes a proximity sensing function configured to generate a proximity signal that is indicative of the proximity of the medical device such as an electrode catheter to a nearest anatomic structure such as a cardiac wall. The control system includes logic that monitors the proximity signal during guided movement of the catheter to ensure that unintended contact with body tissue is detected and avoided. The logic includes a means for defining a plurality of proximity zones, each having associated therewith a respective proximity (distance) criterion.
U.S. Patent Application Publication 2006/0287649 describes a radio-frequency based catheter system and method for ablating biological tissues within the body vessel of a patient that comprises a radio-frequency ("RF") generator for selectively generating a high frequency RF energy signal in a deployable catheter having an RF transmission line, an RF antenna mounted on the distal portion of the catheter, and a temperature sensor also mounted on a distal portion of the catheter for detecting temperature adjacent an ablation site. The shapeable catheter apparatus may carry one or more intracardiac electrocardiogram (ECG) electrodes to permit physicians to obtain both optimum tissue proximity and electrical conductive activities before and after tissue ablation.

Radiofrequency (RF) transmission system to find tissue proximity


Methods and apparatus to provide assistance data for satellite navigation in a wireless communication device are disclosed. Processing circuitry in the wireless communication device determines whether to obtain assistance data for navigation based on a set of criteria. The set of criteria include one or more of a property of a geographic region in which the wireless communication device operates, a satellite signal quality estimate measured by the wireless communication device, and a user setting of the wireless communication device. When the set of criteria indicates that assistance data for navigation is beneficial for satellite navigation in the wireless communication device, the processing circuitry obtains one or more sets of assistance data. The processing circuitry configures operation of the wireless communication device for navigation based at least in part on the one or more sets of assistance data obtained.

Wireless communication devices continue to evolve to include features that supplement the functionality of a cellular telephone used to provide voice communication. Wireless communication devices can include not only voice, but also support text, provide Internet access, e.g. through a cellular wireless network or through a wireless local area network (WLAN), and offer navigation service capabilities. Many wireless communication devices include hardware modules and/or software modules to provide support for Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). The United States government provides a Global Positioning System that typically uses 31 satellites orbiting the Earth broadcasting specialized GPS signals in the 1.6 GHz range. Other global positioning systems such as the Russian GLONASS and the Chinese Beidou systems function in approximately the same manner. The term GNSS can be used to refer to satellite based positioning systems in general, and the terms GNSS and GPS can be used synonymously herein to indicate satellite based global positioning systems and signals without loss of generality.
Wireless communication device based GNSS systems can try to determine a position of the wireless communication device by receiving GNSS satellite signals. Oftentimes, the position of the wireless communication device can be presented to a user of the wireless communication device through a map displayed on the wireless communication device or on a display to which the wireless communication device is coupled. The wireless communication device can attempt to determine a position based on information obtained while in poor GNSS operating conditions, which can adversely affect the accuracy of position determination and information provided for map location display. GNSS signals are prone to fade, can suffer multipath or may be blocked by structural objects such as tunnels and/or tall buildings. When operating in a dense urban geographic region, a GNSS determined position of a wireless communication device can be less accurate than when operating in an open rural geographic region. During some operation conditions, a GPS module in the wireless communication device can benefit from additional assistance data. The additional assistance data can occupy additional memory in the wireless communication device or can vary with operating conditions, and thus a targeted set of assistance data for a particular wireless communication device can be preferred to a static set of assistance data loaded into any wireless communication device. In addition, downloading additional assistance data at all times to the wireless communication device can consume user memory or can require additional resources that, in some instances, can deplete a battery relatively quickly.
Therefore, what is desired is a reliable way to identify operating conditions when additional GNSS assistance data can be a benefit to the wireless communication device for determining an accurate location and/or to modify operating conditions of the wireless communication device.

Method to optimize providing assistance information to GPS


A piping joint that enables welding without back shielding and without oxidized scaling on the pipe's inner surface. A piping joint has an inner fitting portion formed around the circumference of an end of a first tubular material, and a first bevel is formed on the radial outside of the inner fitting portion around the circumference. An outer fitting portion, fitted to the radial outside of the inner fitting portion, is formed on the end of a second tubular material butt welded to the first tubular material, and a second bevel is formed around the circumference at the end of the outer fitting portion facing the first bevel. The cross-section of the face of the inner fitting portion located on the radial outside, and the cross-section of the face of the outer fitting portion located on the radial inside, are completely round with a constant circumferential curvature.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a piping joint structure. In particular, it relates to a piping joint structure that joins adjacent pieces of tubing material by butt welding.
2. Description of Related Art
As a conventional piping joint structure, there is one that is disclosed in a Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. Sho 62-270281. In the piping joint structure disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. Sho 62-270281, in the case where stainless steel tubing materials are connected by butt welding, in order to prevent the weld zone from oxidizing on the outer surface side of the tubing materials, a method of inert gas welding from the outer peripheral surface side is used, in which the welding is performed in a state in which air is excluded from the weld zone by an inert gas such as helium gas, argon gas, or the like. Similarly in order to prevent the weld zone from oxidizing on the inner surface side of the tubing materials, so-called back shielding is performed in which the whole pipe is filled with an inert gas such as helium gas, argon gas, or the like.
However, in such a conventional method, a large amount of inert gas is required for back shielding inside the pipe. Therefore, there are problems of uneconomical wastage and high cost.
Furthermore, since it is difficult to completely back shield a pipe whose piping route is complex or long, the weld zone that is located on the inner surface side of the pipe becomes oxidized. Therefore, there is also a problem in that oxidized scale (also called "slag") occurs.


A liquid crystal display includes an element substrate, pixel electrodes and a common electrode that are formed on the element substrate, a counter substrate, a liquid crystal layer that is formed between the counter substrate and the element substrate, first and second polarizing plates that are provided on an emitting side of display light and an opposite side, respectively, and a retardation film that is provided in a reflective region to be disposed between the liquid crystal layer and the first polarizing plate. Each pixel has a transmissive region where transmissive display light is emitted and a reflective region where reflective display light is emitted. The retardation of the retardation film has smaller temperature dependency than the retardation of the liquid crystal layer.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display that drives liquid crystal by means of a transverse electric field, and an electronic apparatus having the same. In particular, the present invention relates to a transflective liquid crystal display that includes a plurality of pixels, each having a transmissive region and a reflective region, and a retardation film being formed in the reflective region.
2. Related Art
Recently, for the purpose of realizing a wide viewing angle of a liquid crystal display used in a cellular phone or a mobile computer, liquid crystal displays, such as an FFS (Fringe Field Switching) mode liquid crystal display and an IPS (In Plane Switching) mode liquid crystal display, which drive liquid crystal by means of a transverse electric field, have been put to practical use. Such liquid crystal displays include a transflective liquid crystal display, which a plurality of pixels each having a transmissive region and a reflective region.
Supposing the effect of a viewing angle dependency of a retardation plate is minimized, in order to eliminate a difference in retardation when the length of a path followed by light varies in a transmissive mode and a reflective mode, the following configuration is suggested (see JP-A-2005-338256):    (a) a retardation film is provided in the reflective region,    (b) a first polarizing plate and a second polarizing plate are disposed such that their polarization axes are perpendicular to each other,    (c) an alignment direction of liquid crystal is in parallel with the polarization axis of the first polarizing plate,    (d) an angle between a slow axis of the retardation film and the polarization axis of the first polarizing plate is approximately 22.5°,    (e) the retardation of a liquid crystal layer in the reflective region is quarter wavelength, and    (f) the retardation of the retardation film is half wavelength.
That is, on the condition that display in the transmissive mode is not obstructed, the retardation film is only formed in the reflective region. Simultaneously, the polarization axis of the polarizing plate and the alignment direction of liquid crystal are set to be in parallel with each other or perpendicular to each other. In addition, the phase difference of the liquid crystal layer in the reflective region is set to be quarter wavelength, and the phase difference in the retardation film is set to be half wavelength.
However, a portable electronic apparatus, such as a cellular phone or a mobile computer, is used outdoor, as well as indoor, and a usage environmental temperature is changed. Nevertheless, in the liquid crystal display described in JP-A-2005-338256, a display characteristic when the usage environment temperature is changed is not taken into consideration. For this reason, when the liquid crystal display disclosed in JP-A-2005-338256 is used at a temperature other than a room temperature, there is a problem in that the contrast of an image displayed in the reflective mode is degraded.

Liquid crystal display and electronic apparatus


A downlink Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) is estimated in two steps. Initially, one or more subsets of received reference symbols are selected. If the transmitter may transmit signals in one or more of two or more frequency bands, optimal frequency bands are selected based on a first subset of reference symbols. If the transmitter may transmit using one of two or more VACs, an optimal VAC is selected based on the first or a second subset of reference symbols. An SINR is subsequently calculated for the selected frequency band and VAC combination, based on more than the subset(s) of reference symbols.

Wireless communication systems are required to transmit ever-increasing amounts of data, in support of expanded subscriber services, such as messaging, e-mail, music and video streaming, and the like. Transmitting a higher volume of data over a given channel requires transmission at a higher data rate.
One known technique to improve data transmission rates in wireless communications is the use of multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) technology, wherein signals are transmitted from multiple transmit antennas and may be received by multiple receiver antennas. Using advanced coding and modulation schemes, two or more streams of data may be transmitted simultaneously to a receiver, increasing the data rate.
Maintaining high data rates in MIMO systems requires fast link adaptation. That is, the transmitter must constantly alter its selection of transmission parameters, such as the transmission frequency band and transmission antenna configuration, based on the current characteristics of the channel, which can change rapidly. In a Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) system, the instantaneous downlink channel conditions are not available at the base station; they must be determined by a receiver and communicated to the base station. In Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) and Long Term Extension (LTE), the instantaneous downlink channel conditions are communicated to the base station through a Channel Quality Indicator (CQI).
Estimating the CQI is a delicate task. Ideally, the channel quality should be estimated not only once, but for different potential frequency bands (if applicable) and for different potential Virtual Antenna Combinations (VAC) (if applicable). A virtual antenna consists of one or more antenna elements. These estimates are preferably performed for all potential combinations and at every Transmission Time Interval (TTI), in order to achieve maximum performance by selecting the optimal transmission parameters. This is necessary in order to determine the rank of the channel and which antennas to use for transmission, and also the optimal transmission frequencies. Furthermore, each estimate should be performed using all received reference (pilot) symbols, to ensure the highest quality channel estimates.
However, given the computational resources and power consumption constraints of mobile User Equipment (UE), it is virtually impossible to estimate the channel quality for all potential VACs and potential frequency bands for each TTI and at all reference symbol positions.

Reduced complexity frequency band and virtual antenna combination (VAC) selection


The invention is directed to a method for preparing a polymer derived from an animal protein, such as in a feedstock derived from animal by-products. The method involves hydrolyzing proteins present in a feedstock to obtain hydrolyzed proteins, wherein hydrolysis is conducted under conditions sufficient to digest the proteins and destroy pathogens; extracting a protein fraction from the hydrolyzed proteins; and treating the protein fraction with a crosslinking reagent to form the polymer. The crosslinking reagents may include epoxies. The polymer may be further processed to form a thermoset plastic. The polymer may be used as an adhesive, or in the preparation of a natural fiber composite material.

Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) are progressive, fatal diseases affecting the nervous system, causing spongy degeneration in the brain and spinal cord. TSEs include bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or mad cow disease) in cattle, scrapie in sheep, chronic wasting disease in deer and elk, and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) in humans. Although the exact cause of TSEs is unknown, the infectious agent is suspected to be a prion, a misfolded protein which has the ability to self-replicate and accumulate in neural tissue, eventually causing tissue damage and cell death. There is no treatment or vaccine currently available for the disease. Prions are notoriously resistant to routine methods of decontamination.
BSE was first diagnosed in 1986 in the United Kingdom where the majority of the world's cases have occurred. The first North American cases were discovered in 2003. Consumption by cattle of BSE-contaminated ruminant proteins in animal feed has been cited as the most likely means of transmission. Such outbreaks have had major implications for the North American beef industries since foreign markets have closed their borders to beef and cattle exports. Surveillance programs to monitor and assess BSE in cattle herds have been implemented to provide early detection and contain any possible spread in order to keep BSE out of the food supplies of both animals and humans. In humans, vCJD is thought to be linked to the consumption of meat products derived from BSE-infected cattle.
Prior to the emergence of BSE, the primary use for animal protein by-products was as feed ingredients for cattle, poultry, pets and aquaculture in the form of meat and bone meal, meat meal and blood meal. Subsequently, specific cattle tissues, known as specified risk materials (SRM), have been banned from use in animal feed, pet food and fertilizers, and have been accumulating into landfills at a rate of about 5000 tons per week.
Rendering is a process whereby waste is "cooked" into ingredients for a wide range of industrial and consumer goods. Regulatory actions to strengthen safeguards against BSE portend significant changes in renderer's business practices, and the value of their products. If inedible animal byproducts have fewer market outlets, the overall economic value of the animal to the producer can decline, and questions arise about how to safely dispose of the SRM. The necessary restructuring of the rendering processing lines to handle SRM and non-SRM in separate lines and costs associated with SRM storing, transporting, and disposal fees have adversely affected profitability to operators and negatively impacted the beef industry.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for methods of safely handling SRMs and converting animal byproducts into useful products.

Polymers and plastics derived from animal proteins

THE GOVERNORS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA


A disposable child safety seat pad is formed of a liquid permeable outer layer, an absorbent core and a liquid impervious base layer. The pad is configured to cover the exposed child contact areas of a safety seat and is releasably secured to the seat by adhesive strips positioned on the base layer. Perforation lines are provided on a seat back portion of the pad and on a seat bottom portion of the pad. The perforations are opened to provide apertures for connecting safety harness webbing to safety seat anchor points.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to children's safety seats for vehicular use and more specifically to a disposable absorbent pad for covering same.
2. Antecedents of the Invention
The employment of restraints for children riding in vehicles has become mandatory throughout the United States. Among the types of restraints available were infant carrier/car seats, which have been designed for transporting infants from birth up to approximately one year of age. Infant carrier/car seats were required to be installed only in the rear seat of a vehicle and included a harness having shoulder straps which were engaged through the rear of the safety seat back and a chest clip for gathering and positing the shoulder straps. The harness additionally included lap straps and a center crotch buckle.
Further child restraints have been categorized as convertible car seats, which were employed in both rear facing and forward facing positions for children exceeding certain weights, but who were within the weight/height/age requirements for mandatory usage of child restraints.
A third category of child restraints were booster seats which elevated a child to a level for use of a conventional seat belt and shoulder restraint. Booster seats were available with a unitary seat and back as well as with a seat bottom only.
As used hereinafter, the term "safety seat" shall be interpreted as to include all of the foregoing child restraints.
Virtually all safety seats included cushions covering child contact surfaces, e.g. the back, bottom and inwardly facing contoured sides of the seat, so as to provide comfort and a harness having three or five point anchor contacts with the seat frame. Openings were formed in the seat cushions through which the harness webbing passed at each of the three or five contact points, as well as additional sets of openings for the seat back contact points to enable adjustment of the shoulder webbing portions of the harness.
Children were prone to soil the seat cushions either by spilling or dripping liquid or through diaper leakage. While some cushions included a liquid impervious outer layer, so that they may be wiped, such cushions were generally uncomfortable for children, since the cushion contact surface did not allow air or liquids to pass through. Further, since the spilled liquids were not absorbed in the cushion, they would tend to migrate beyond the cushion, wetting the child's clothing, as well as the safety seat frame and the vehicle upholstery.
Additionally, the removal of soiled cushions for washing proved to be a difficult and time consuming task. While the seat cover disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,926,359, facilitated removal and installation, a soiled seat cover was not readily disposable, due to cost considerations.
There was a need for a disposable child seat pad which is simple to install and easy to remove after having been soiled.


A live content switching method, a source device, and a sink device are provided. The method includes switching from first content to second content by using a dummy connection, the second content using the same resource of the source device as the first content. Accordingly, by using dummy connections set between a source device and a sink device, it is possible to switch the sink device from one live content to another live content without the need to cut off existing connections set between the source device and the sink device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to management of content via a network, and more particularly, to a live content switching method, a source device, and a sink device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Due to the advent and advance of the digital era, an increasing number of digital products, such as DVD players, cable set-top boxes, digital VCRs, digital TVs, and PCs, are being produced. In accordance with the trend of manufacturing digital products to be connectible to a single network, the Digital Home Working Group (DHWG) has established various home network standards for controlling the connection of various digital products to a network.
Today, a home network environment for multimedia is divided into three domains, i.e., a PC Internet world, a mobile world, and a consumer electronics (CE) broadcast world.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a conventional digital home network environment established based on DHWG guidelines.
A PC Internet world 100 consists of a PC 101 and PC peripherals, i.e., a game console 102, a printer 103, a digital imaging device 104, a digital music device 105, and a wireless monitor 106.
A mobile world 110 consists of mobile devices, i.e., a laptop computer 111, a multimedia mobile phone 112, and a personal digital assistant (PDA) 113. The mobile devices provide users with the freedom of movement into or out of a home network.
A CE broadcast world 120 consists of a TV monitor 121, a consumer electronics device 122, such as a personal video recorder (PVR), a tuner, or a set-top box (STB), and a stereo set 123.
Consumers want digital devices in the three digital worlds to work together in a home network. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out research on a home network that realizes the interoperability of digital devices belonging to different digital words.
A digital home network consists of a CE network, a mobile network, and a PC network and is based on IP networking and universal plug and play (UPnP) technologies. The CE network, the mobile network, and the PC network of the digital home network should cooperate with one another to achieve transparent, simple, and seamless interoperability thereamong.
Media management and control based on UPnP audio/video (A/V) technology enables digital devices and applications to identify, manage, and distribute media content over a home network and to transmit the media content to mobile devices over the home network.
UPnP is an architecture for peer-to-peer network connection of intelligent applications, wireless devices, and PCs and is versatile and easy to use in a small-size network, for example, home or small business, and is designed to provide a connection based on the standard. The UPnP architecture defines general interaction between an UPnP control point and UPnP devices. The UPnP architecture allows UPnP devices to support content and transmission protocols in any form. The UPnP devices include a TV, a VCR, a compact disc (CD)/DVD player, an STB, a stereo system, a Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG) audio layer 3 (MP3) player, a still camera, a camcorder, a PC, and so on. An AV architecture allows devices to support content of different formats (e.g., MPEG2, MPEG4, Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG), MP3, bitmap (BMP), and Window media architecture (WMA)) and transmission protocols of various types (e.g. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)-1394, Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) GET, Live Transport Protocol (RTP), HTTP PUT/POST, and Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)/IP).
The majority of UPnP AV scenarios include transmitting content (e.g., movies, music, and pictures) from one device to another device. An AV control point interacts with at least two UPnP devices that act as a source and a sink.
A media server has content a user wants to render. The media server may include or access a plurality of content. The media server accesses the plurality of content and transmits them to another device via a network, using a predetermined transmission protocol. Examples of the media server include, a VCR, a CD/DVD player, a camera, a camcorder, a PC, an STB, a satellite receiver, an audio tape player, and so on.
A media server control point controls and manages the media server according to a user's preference so as to make the media server perform an operation (e.g., data reproduction) desired by the user. Also, the media server control point provides a user interface so that the user can interact with devices to control the devices. Examples of the media server control point include, a TV having a general remote control, and a wireless PDA device. In addition, when required by the user, the media server control point may control the flow of content by invoking various AV transmission actions such as 'stop', 'pause', 'fast forward', 'rewind', and 'skip'.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a conventional system for switching live contents over a network. Referring to FIG. 2, the conventional system includes a source device 210 and a sink device 220.
The source device 210 provides content to the sink device 220 via a streaming server in a streaming server+media server unit 212 and provides information on the content to the sink device 220 via a media server in the streaming server+media server unit 212.
A tuner 211 switches from one channel to another channel, via which the source device 210 receives content from a network, and provides the content received from the network to the streaming server+media server unit 212.
The sink device 220 includes a streaming client+media server control point unit 221, which includes a streaming client and a media server control point. The media server control point fetches information on content from the source device 210 and performs its operations in response to commands input by a user. For example, when the media server control point receives a 'play' command from the user, it reads content of interest from the source device 210 by using an HTTP protocol. The streaming client receives content from the source device 210 and provides the received content to a reproduction unit 222.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a conventional live content switching method. Referring to FIG. 3, in operation 310, a sink device transmits a 'browse' or 'search' command to a source device in order to obtain information on content from the source device. In operation 320, the source device transmits the information on the content to the sink device. In operation 330, the sink device transmits an HTTP GET command with URL1 specified therein (hereinafter, referred to as an HTTP GET URL1 command) to the source device in order to receive content corresponding to URL1 from the source device. In operation 340, the source device transmits the content corresponding to URL1 to the sink device.
In order to receive content corresponding to URL2 from the source device, the sink device transmits a 'stop' command to the source device in operation 350 and transmits an HTTP GET URL2 command to the source device in operation 360. In operation 370, the source device sequentially executes the 'stop' command and the HTTP GET URL2 command, which have been transmitted from the source device, such that the content corresponding to URL2 is transmitted to the sink device. Here, the 'stop' command may not be an actual command transmitted from the sink device to the source device. In other words, even though the source device does not receive the 'stop' command from the sink device, it may automatically stop transmitting the content corresponding to URL1 when it senses that a TCP connection to a network layer is released.
As described above, in the conventional system, it always takes much time to switch from one live content to another live content. For example, in the conventional system, in order to switch from the first live content to the second live content while receiving the first live content, it is necessary to release an existing connection established for the receipt of the first live content, withdraw all hardware/software resources allotted to the existing connection, set a new connection for the receipt of the second live content, and allot resources to the new connection, rather than simply switching from a channel corresponding to the first live content to a channel corresponding to the second live content while maintaining the hardware/software resources allotted to the existing connection. Therefore, the time required for switching from the first live content to the second live content increases undesirably.

Live content switching method, source device, and sink device


A golf instructional aid device is provided which consists of a generally U-shaped flat frame having a V-shaped base with two parallel arms forming an open gate. The frame is secured to the turf, so that a golf ball can be placed upon the turf within the open gate between the arms. A structure on either of the arms is for allowing a golfer with a golf club to make a perfectly aligned stance, being a ball position and a hand position at address. The golfer can practice a golf swing at the golf ball, which will carry over to the play on the golf course when stroking the golf ball towards a hole.

1. Field of the Invention
The instant invention relates generally to golf equipment and more specifically it relates to a golf instructional aid device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Numerous golf equipment have been provided in prior art that are adapted to assist golfers in gripping clubs, gauging/measuring distances and conditions, which might effect their play and in making strokes with the golf clubs. While these units may be suitable for the particular purpose to which they address, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention as heretofore described.


An apparatus and method for uniformly coating a fiber or tow of fibers (10) with a powder at relatively high speed to produce a prepreg. The apparatus uses an elongated chamber (401) in a container (400) for confining the fiber which is coated by an aerosol of powder dispensed from a powder dispensing apparatus (500) in counter-current mode. A fiber tensioning apparatus (300) for the fiber maintains the proper tensioning of the fibers spread by a speaker (201) below the fibers on roller bars (203) so that the uniformly spread fibers are fed to the chamber (401). A heater apparatus (600) fuses the powder to the fiber and then is taken up on a spool (700).

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved apparatus system and method for the high speed coating of fibers, particularly in a tow of fibers, with polymer particles. In particular the present invention relates to a process wherein the fibers are coated in an elongated vertically oriented chamber using a countercurrent flow of an aerosolized powder.

Apparatus and high speed method for coating elongated fibers

Board of Trustees operating Michigan State University


A rechargeable lithium ion battery with high power density comprises a positive electrode; a negative electrode; and a non-aqueous electrolytic solution, in which the positive electrode includes a active material layer containing a positive electrode active material with the particle diameter of 5 μm or less and having the thickness at a range of 20 to 80 μm. Another rechargeable lithium ion battery with high power density comprises a positive electrode; a negative electrode; and a non-aqueous electrolytic solution, in which the positive electrode has two active material layers, each of which contains a positive electrode active material with a different diameter and has the thickness at a range of 20 to 30 μm.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rechargeable lithium ion battery and more specifically, to a rechargeable lithium ion battery in which power density is increased.
2. Description of the Related Art
Research of various secondary batteries, which can be used for a long period of time and rechargeable as a power source of various electronic devices and electric apparatuses, has been made. Among others, active research and development have been made for a rechargeable lithium ion battery having characteristics such that higher energy density and higher power density can be realized in comparison with secondary batteries commercially available such as nickel-cadmium storage batteries and nickel-hydrogen storage batteries. The rechargeable lithium ion battery is commercialized as a power source of portable electric devices such as a cellular phone, a camcorder and a laptop personal computer.
In addition, interest in an electric vehicle and a hybrid vehicle has been increasing so as to solve the problems of environmental pollution of the earth and greenhouse effect of the earth. Application of the rechargeable lithium ion battery as a power source of such vehicles has been expected.
In applying the rechargeable lithium ion battery to vehicles and the like, the battery is used as a battery module in which a plurality of the batteries are connected in series to obtain high power density. The battery module also has advantages of easy control and high stability.
The rechargeable lithium ion battery has important characteristics such as energy density (i.e. energy per unit weight or energy per unit volume), power density (i.e. power per unit weight or power per unit volume) and cycle characteristic. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publications H11-31498 (published in 1999), H11-297354 (published in 1999) and H11-329409 (published in 1999) disclose technologies for improving the characteristics.


A ring oscillator comprises a control circuit for receiving a frequency-selection signal operative to select from at least two ring oscillator frequencies, said control circuit using said control signal to generate a first control signal and a second control signal; a primary chain of an odd number of serially connected NOT gates, said primary chain including a primary switching NOT gate responsive to the first control signal and operative to perform a logical NOT or an IGNORE function on a first oscillating input signal to generate a first output signal; and a secondary chain of serially connected NOT gates, said secondary chain logically parallel to at least said primary switching NOT gate, said secondary chain including a secondary switching NOT gate responsive to the second control signal and operative to perform a logical NOT or an IGNORE function on a second oscillating input signal to generate a second output signal.

A ring oscillator is a device that includes an odd number of NOT gates, e.g., inverters, whose output voltage oscillates between logical high and logical low. The NOT gates of a conventional ring oscillator are attached in a circular chain, causing the output voltage of the last NOT gate of the odd number of NOT gates to be fed back as input to the first NOT gate. Because the chain includes an odd number of NOT gates, the logical voltage exiting the last NOT gate is the logical NOT of the input voltage previously entering the first NOT gate. Thus, the output voltage of each NOT gate within the loop oscillates. Since the output voltage of the last NOT gate is asserted to the first NOT gate a finite amount of time after the previous input voltage, each NOT gate oscillates at a predictable frequency.
Controlling ring oscillator frequency may be helpful to test chips for development and quality control, to facilitate power saving during dormant periods of use, to overcome manufacturing process variations, to overcome differences in chip voltage and temperature environments in applications, and/or to provide a uniform clock frequency specification.
One known technique for controlling ring oscillator frequency is to change the number of inverters in the ring. Example digital gates and semiconductor switches to bypass selected inverters of a serial ring oscillator are described for example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,517,532 to Neidorff, U.S. Pat. No. 5,689,213 to Sher, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,815,043 to Chow. Another known technique includes modifying inverter delay time. Inverters comprised of digitally selectable, parallel-connected tri-state gates, whereby the net drive strength and thus the delay of each inverter can be individually controlled, are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,517,532 to Motoyama.
These known techniques have disadvantages and limitations that prevent widespread employment in embedded CMOS microprocessor systems, which conventionally operate at the highest possible frequency allowed by the cumulative circuit delays in the microprocessor. These known techniques are not well adapted to Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools. These known techniques do not lend themselves to logic synthesis using standard cell libraries, and physical synthesis with standard-cell-driven layout techniques. Instead, conventional ring oscillators need custom design and layout in each case, increasing cost and practical time to implement. Further, the Motoyama '532 technique requires tri-state logic, which is incompatible with more widely used logic families for digital CMOS circuits, for which EDA tools are more readily available.
Capability to use EDA tools for ring oscillator design and layout is desirable in current semiconductor technologies for embedded CMOS microprocessor systems, which employ small line widths, e.g., 130 nm and 45 nm, where the wiring delay between stages becomes significant and can exceed the inverter gate delay due to parasitic capacitance. Further, it is desirable to ensure that frequency transitions of a ring oscillator occur without any short pulses, known as runt or splinter pulses, that can cause metastability. Bistable elements can hover between logical high and logical low for extended periods of time, interrupting or stopping normal system operation. A clock oscillator free of metastability is important for embedded microprocessor systems, since for example malfunction in real-time control systems can have serious consequences.
A multi-speed ring oscillator having a physical layout adapted for development using EDA tools, and having frequency transitions without runt pulses would therefore be desirable.


A subscriber terminal holding a subscriber identity is connected to a sub-terminal using the identity of the subscriber terminal over a wireless proximity interface. A radio link directed from an infrastructure to the sub-terminal is requested by the subscriber terminal, and at least a portion of signalling between the sub-terminal and the wireless telecommunications infrastructure is routed via the subscriber terminal.

As the information transfer capacity in digital wireless communications has increased dramatically and a great variety of digital services have become available to end users, user interface elements, such as audiovisual devices, integrated into mobile terminals may turn out to be insufficient or user unfriendly.
One solution to improve the usability of services is to equip mobile terminals with an extended user interface designed according to a user's specific needs. A mobile terminal with an extended user interface establishes an independent connection based on its subscriber identity to the wireless telecommunications network, and the user may request a required service to the mobile terminal with the extended user interface from another mobile terminal.
The independent connection, however, involves signalling between the network infrastructure and the mobile terminal equipped with the extended user interface and, which signalling requires radio resources. Therefore, it is desirable to consider alternative techniques to extend the mobile terminal capabilities.

Terminal system and radio resource control in wireless telecommunications system


A system for display images comprising a thin film transistor array substrate is disclosed. The system for display images comprises a substrate having a pixel area, a source/drain region overlying the substrate within an active layer in the pixel area, a bottom electrode overlying the substrate in the pixel area, a top electrode overlying the bottom electrode, a first dielectric layer disposed on the active layer, a second dielectric layer disposed on the first dielectric layer, wherein the second dielectric layer is disposed between the bottom electrode and the top electrode and a gate disposed overlying the active layer, wherein the first and second dielectric layers are interposed between the gate and the active layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for display images including thin film transistor (TFT) liquid crystal display (LCD), and more particularly relates to a TFT array substrate.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a liquid crystal display (LCD) comprises a lower substrate, an upper substrate and a liquid crystal layer interposed therebetween. The upper substrate typically comprises a color filter and a common electrode. The lower substrate typically comprises a plurality of pixel areas defined by crossing gate lines and source lines (or data lines). Each pixel area comprises a thin film transistor serving as a switching element located near the intersection of the gate and source lines and a pixel electrode electrically connected to the thin film transistor. The thin film transistor comprises a gate, a source and a drain, wherein the gate is typically an extended portion of the gate line and the drain is electrically connected to the pixel electrode via a contact hole. The liquid crystal layer interposed between the common electrode and the pixel electrode forms a capacity of liquid crystal.
In order to improve image quality, a storage capacitor is formed in each pixel area. FIG. 1 shows the essential components of a TFT array substrate used in a conventional thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD). Typically, the formation process of the structure shown in FIG. 1 includes the following steps: forming a first active layer 2a, a second active layer 2b in a driver area 16, a third active layer 2c and a bottom electrode 2d in a pixel area 22; performing an implantation to form source/drain regions 5 in the first active layer 2a of the driver area 16, source/drain regions 15 in the third active layer 2c of the pixel area 22 and an n+ type doped bottom electrode 2d in the pixel area 22; depositing a first gate dielectric layer 3 covering the first active layer 2a, the second active layer 2b, the third active layer 2c and the bottom electrode 2d; depositing a second gate dielectric layer 7 on the first gate dielectric layer 3; and forming a first gate 6, a second gate 8, a third gate 10, and a top electrode 14 overlying the second gate dielectric layer 7 of the first active layer 2a, the second active layer 2b, the third active layer 2c and the bottom electrode 2d.
Nevertheless, the conventional LCD has some technological issues. For example, since the storage capacitor is opaque, the aperture ratio of a pixel is reduced resulting inferior pixel quality. Additionally, since the dielectric layers of the capacitors (gate capacitor and storage capacitor) are made from the same material and are of same thickness, the capacitance value per unit area for the gate capacitor and storage capacitor is same. Thus, the capacitance of the gate capacitors and storage capacitors can not be independently controlled and the value of storage capacitance per unit area is dependent on the thickness requirements of the gate dielectric. Moreover, the method hinders thinning of the dielectric layer.
What is needed, therefore, is a TFT array substrate with a storage capacitor having a thinner dielectric layer for a TFT-LCD.

System for display images and fabrication method thereof


A selectable boundary fencing strip that includes a plurality of light assemblies, in communication with the scoring controller and console. Light assemblies are embedded at predetermined locations within the fencing strip so as to indicate boundary lines, playing lines, hits, yellow cards and the command to fence. The strip includes a plurality of light sources, each controllable from a master control. The conductive top surface is perforated so that the light sources project through. Light sources in the strip provide visual cues for commencing to fence, warning cards and hits that are visible to spectators, fencers and the referee. In a further embodiment, the illustrative fencing strip is constructed and arranged with a plurality of panels along the sides of the strip that can be marketed for advertising sponsorship revenue. This revenue can be used to pay for the strip and/or underwrite activities of the fencing organization.

Fencing is an ancient and highly regarded athletic activity. It is a competitive and strenuous sport for two contestants ("fencers") at a time. As shown, by way of example in FIG. 1 in the prior art, a fencing competition involves two contestants (fencers) 110, 120 wearing appropriate protective clothing 112, 114 and face masks 114, 124, respectively. Each contestant 110, 120 uses a blade 116, 126, that is appropriate to the particular type of fencing (foil, epée, etc.).
In competition, the fencers are judged by a referee 131 who monitors the fencer's activities as each competitor attempts to score touches on key areas of the other one's body with his or her blade. In competition, and in various types of fencing, the fencers employ blades having electrical contacts on their tips that respond to a touch (for example, epee and foil). Other blades, such as saber, can employ a conductive blade surface. The fencer can also employ special garments 112, 122 that include an electrically conductive material (for use in saber, for example). The material is electrically connected to a body cord (not shown). This body cord is also connected to the fencer's weapon.
The body cord extends inside the fencer's sleeve to a connection point inside the guard of the weapon. The body cord extends down the fencer's back to a connection with wires 118, 128, which extend from each respective fencer as shown. Touchs by each fencer 110, 120 on various parts of the opponent's body transmit signals through respective wires 118, 128. The wires 118, 128 are each connected to a respective spring-wound reel (not shown) located at each opposing end of the strip, beyond the boundary lines of competition. These reels take up and pay out each wire 118, 128 while maintaining tautness as the fencers move up and down an elongated platform knows as a fencing strip 130, and are connected to the main electronic scoring device/console (described below).
When constructed from aluminum (or another metallic) sheet, the fencing strip 130 includes an exposed top surface 132 that is electrically conductive. It is often constructed from aluminum sheet that can include perforations or other structures thereon. The fencing strip is constructed in segments that are joined at joint lines 134 for easy storage and subsequent assembly during a match. Appropriate mechanical fasteners and connectors can be used to join the segments together. Sometimes, the segments are elevated on a set of lengthwise stringers 136.
The touch signals from each fencer are transmitted through the reel wires 118, 128 via a connecting cable system 150 to a central scoring console 160. The scoring console 160 can include a time clock 162 and a pair of score pylons 164 and 166. The pylons 164, 166 correspond to each fencer's scoring activities. In one embodiment, each pylon includes a discrete colored light 170 (for example, a red light on one pylon and a green light on the other pylon) to make it easier for the referee 131 and audience to identify which contestant scored a touch. An alphanumeric score window 172 can also be displayed on each pylon 164, 166, indicating each fencer's current score.
The top plate surface 132 is conductive because the strip generally represents an area in which no score is given in response to a touch. Thus, the entire surface of the strip is conductive and provides a ground plane connected to the reels. When a blade conductively contacts the strip surface during competition, the control system in the console 160 recognizes the touch as one with the strip and registers no score. Thus, it is important to be able to differentiate touches that simply contact the strip. The conductive surface in combination with an interconnection to scoring console enables such differentiation.
Because the rules of fencing are fairly sophisticated, the referee cannot simply rely upon the scoring console 160 to determine the outcome of a match. Rather, he or she must also pay constant attention to the fencer's movements to ensure that all touches have been properly scored and that the fencer has stayed with the bounds of the strip at all times.
A fully constructed fencing strip can extend at least 17 meters. This length causes the referee to move constantly with the back and forth activity over reasonably long distances to closely track the movement of the (often quickly moving) fencers. As the fencers move to either respective end of the strip 130, the referee is now faced with a fairly long-distance view of the console 160. As such, the referee must continually divide his or her attention between the fencers in front of him or her, and the more-distant, and off-angle, scoring console 160. In short, the referee must constantly turn his or her head back-and-forth, and simultaneously readjust his or her focus to keep up with the match. Only through this constant head-turning can the referee keep an eye on the score, while at the same time continually returning his or her attention to the fencers.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a system that enables a referee (and audience) to keep his or her eyes generally on both the fencers and the score at the same time, regardless of where the fencers are positioned along the fencing strip. It is also desirable to provide improvements to a fencing strip that better utilize the available space and possibly smooth the transition between the raised stringers (that can be needed in the strip's design) and the floor.


Systems and method are disclosed for determining a concentration of an analyte in a fluid (e.g., blood). The system can draw blood from a patient and deliver the blood to a sample cell. A particular component of the fluid (e.g., plasma) may be separated and/or positioned such that the concentration of the analyte is measured in the particular component of the fluid (e.g., plasma). The sample cell can include a sample container that has two window pieces. The system can have a fluid passage having a tip configured to mate with a multi-lumen catheter without leaking. The multi-lumen catheter can have proximal and distal ports. A fluid pressure system can be configured to periodically draw fluid from vasculature through a proximal intravascular opening and the proximal port while maintaining a low pressure and/or flow rate to thereby reduce risk of reversing the fluid flow in a vessel and drawing infusates upstream into another intravascular opening.

Field
Some embodiments of the disclosure relate generally to methods and devices for determining a concentration of an analyte in a sample, such as an analyte in a sample of bodily fluid, as well as methods and devices which can be used to support the making of such determinations. Some embodiments of the disclosure relate to a sample cell for holding a sample fluid. Various embodiments of the disclosure also relate to systems and methods to withdraw fluids (e.g. blood) through a port of a multi-lumen catheter such that the contamination from other ports is reduced
Description of Related Art
It is advantageous to measure the levels of certain analytes, such as glucose, in a bodily fluid, such as blood). This can be done, for example, in a hospital or clinical setting when there is a risk that the levels of certain analytes may move outside a desired range, which in turn can jeopardize the health of a patient. Currently known systems for analyte monitoring in a hospital or clinical setting may suffer from various drawbacks. For example, present fluid withdrawal techniques can result in fluid (e.g. blood) being withdrawn at a fast rate and/or at high pressures which can lead to contamination of the withdrawn blood particularly in multi-lumen catheters, where fluids from the other ports of the multi-lumen catheter can contaminate the withdrawn blood. Systems and methods described herein can reduce the contamination of the withdrawn fluid.


A retraction device for retracting an incision in a body wall includes a sheath that traverses through the incision from outside the body to a body cavity inside the body. The retraction device may include a deployable, adjustable frame that supports the sheath and that, together with the sheath, retracts the incision. The retraction device may include an outer ring and an inner ring coupled to opposing ends of the sheath and further include means to place the sheath in tension between the inner and outer rings, thereby retracting the incision.

Tissue retraction during surgery is commonly accomplished by placing opposed instruments within an incision and spreading the incision open with the instruments. Another method includes the use of circumferentially expandable plates or segments that expand to enlarge an incision. The enlarged incision is held open by the expanded device. Additionally, the retraction device may be configured to isolate the incised walls so that they are not contaminated as a surgery proceeds.
Other retraction devices according to the prior art include a pair of opposed, flexible rings where a first ring is placed on one side of a body wall, a second ring is placed on the opposite side of the body wall, and a thin film of waterproof material is stretched between the two rings. Some configurations of these devices can be difficult to place and may require the use of an assistant to attain proper tensioning.
There remains a need for an easily placed and easily adjustable retraction device for maintaining retraction of an incision during a surgical procedure.


An effective prophylactic mucosal gene expression vaccine (GXV), made up of a cocktail of at least 4 different plasmid DNAs encoding corresponding RSV antigens, coacervated with chitosan to formulate nanospheres. In a murine model of RSV infection, intranasal administration with GXV results in significant induction of RSV-specific antibodies, nasal IgA antibodies, cytotoxic T lymphocytes, and IFN-γ production in the lung and splenocytes. A single dose of GXV induces a drastic reduction of viral titers.

The respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the most common cause of viral lower respiratory tract infections in infants and children, affecting about 4 million children globally and leading to about 100,000 hospitalizations and 4,500 deaths per annum in the United States alone. RSV infection is associated with recurrent episodes of bronchiolitis, bronchial obstruction and exacerbation of asthma in children. Incidence of RSV infection-induced bronchiolitis has been increasing. There is no effective prophylaxis available against RSV infection. Previous attempts to develop a vaccine using a formalin-inactivated RSV vaccine not only failed but also exacerbated the disease when subsequent RSV infection occurred. (Chanock et al, Serious respiratory tract disease caused by respiratory syncytial virus: prospects for improved therapy and immunization, Pediatrics 1992; 90:137–43). Further, development of therapy against RSV has been limited by the short incubation period. Thus, development of an RSV vaccine has been a high priority at a global level.
Most of the RSV antigens are immunogenic in humans and mice, although the F and G antigens induce the majority of the neutralizing antibodies against RSV. (Connors, et al, Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) F, G, M2 (22K), and N proteins each induce resistance to RSV challenge, but resistance induced by M2 and N proteins is relatively short-lived, J Virol 65.1634,1991; Wyatt et al, Priming and boosting immunity to respiratory syncytial virus by recombinant replication-defective vaccinia virus MVA. Vaccine 18:392, 1999). An analysis of the CTL repertoire in humans indicates that the N, SH, F, M, M2, and NS2 proteins are strong target antigens. Similarly, in BALB/c mice, the F, N, and especially the M2 proteins are shown to be the major target antigens of CTL activity. (Domachowske et al, Respiratory syncytial virus infection: immune response, immunopathogenesis, and treatment, Clin Microbiol Rev 12:298, 1999). Virus specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes play a major role in the clearance of RSV infection. Both serum and mucosal antibodies and MHC-class-I restricted cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) mediate protection against RSV infection. (Brandenburg et al, Pathogenesis of RSV lower respiratory tract infection: implications for vaccine development. Vaccine 19:2769, 2001). Previously, passive administration of neutralizing serum antibodies was shown to decrease the risk of RSV disease in animal models and in humans. (Groothuis et al, Use of intravenous gamma globulin to passively immunize high-risk children against respiratory syncytial virus: safety and pharmacokinetics. The RSVIG Study Group. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 1991 July; 35(7): 1469–73; Hemming et al, Hyperimmune globulins in prevention and treatment of respiratory syncytial virus infections. Clin Microbiol Rev. 1995 January; 8(1):22–33. Review).
Vaccines studied to date comprise a subunit, peptide, or DNA vaccine made up of the RSV-F, -G and/or -M2 protein(s). Intramuscular injection of pDNA encoding the RSV-F or -G protein was effective in mice. (Li et al, Protection against respiratory syncytial virus infection by DNA immunization, J Exp Med 1998 Aug. 17; 188(4):681–8; Li et al, Plasmid DNA encoding the respiratory syncytial virus G protein is a promising vaccine candidate, Virology. 2000 Mar. 30; 269(1): 54–65). In a cotton rat model, an F-G vaccine induced neutralizing antibody titers, which are 1–2 orders of magnitude lower compared to live RSV. (Prince et al, Efficacy and safety studies of a recombinant chimeric respiratory syncytial virus FG glycoprotein vaccine in cotton rats. J Virol. 2000 November;74(22): 10287–92). Immunization with plasmid DNAs (pDNA) expressing antigens in vivo that induce a protective cellular and humoral immune response is touted to have a number of advantages compared to other vaccines. However, the quantity of DNA used per unit bodymass and the route chosen might make these vaccines unsuitable for human use. (Guy et al, Design, characterization and preclinical efficacy of a cationic lipid adjuvant for influenza split vaccine, Vaccine 19:1794, 2001).
Currently, one of the options available to infants, who are at a high risk for developing RSV infection, is passive immunization at a monthly interval with a humanized antibody to the RSV-F antigen. Despite the inconvenience, expense, and partial effectiveness, passive immunization is often considered the only option, as a safe and effective vaccine against RSV is not available.
Therefore, a need remains for a DNA vaccine capable of mounting mucosal immunity against RSV. Given that infants of 2 to 6 months of age are among the most susceptible to RSV infection and that vaccination would preferably take place in the one month old infant, and given that a mucosal vaccine is considered more appropriate for developing a local immunity in these infants, who may have an immature local and systemic immune system, a mucosal RSV vaccine is preferred.

University of South Florida Board of Trustees


A method of enabling functionality at a User Plane Function, UPF, by a Session Management Function, SMF, in a telecommunication network. The method includes receiving, by the UPF, a session creation/modification message for creating/modifying a session between the UPF and the SMF, wherein the session creation/modification message includes a session functionality indication for indicating functionality to be enabled for said session, and enabling, by the UPF, the functionality during the session between said UPF and the SMF.

Control and user plane separation, CUPS, enables a flexible placement of the separated control plane and user plane functions for supporting diverse deployment scenarios such as a central or a distributed User Plane Function, UPF.
In The Fifth Generation, 5G, telecommunication network, CUPS refers to Session Management Function, SMF, and UPF network functions and to the N4 reference point between them, which is based on Packet Forwarding Control Protocol, PFCP.
The SMF controls the packet processing in the UPF by establishing, modifying or deleting PFCP Session contexts and by adding, modifying or deleting Packet Detection Rules, PDRs, Forwarding Action Rules, FARs, Quality of service Enforcement Rules, QERs, Usage Reporting Rules, URRs, and/or Buffering Action Rule, BAR, per PFCP session context, whereby an PFCP session context may correspond to an individual PDU session or a standalone PFCP session not tied to any PDU session.
Each PDR contains a Packet Data Inspection, PDI, that are one or more match fields against which incoming packets are matched, and may be associated to the following rules providing the set of instructions to apply to packets matching the PDI:                one FAR, which contains instructions related to the processing of the packets, specifically forward, duplicate, drop or buffer the packet with or without notifying the CP function about the arrival of a DL packet        zero, one, or more QERs, which contains instructions related to the QoS enforcement of the traffic;        zero, one, or more URRs, which contains instructions related to traffic measurement and reporting.
In the current PFCP reporting solution SMF configures PDRs associated to URRs in UPF. When a packet matches a PDR, the reporting actions configured in the associated URRs are executed. The current reporting solution in PFCP is used for charging, so the metric defined in URR is traffic volume. It is reported along with the reporting time or event (for time and event-based charging).
In 5GC, the N4 interface between SMF and UPF will be based on the PCFP protocol. The current PFCP definition only allows to report volume from UPF to SMF. One of the drawbacks of the above is that the functionality that can be enabled at the UPF is fairly limited.

Enabling functionality at a user plane function, UPF, by a session management function, SMF, in a telecommunication network


A display panel is provided. The display panel includes a first back board, a first substrate, a touch panel, and an adhesive layer, wherein the first substrate is disposed on the first back board, the touch panel is located above the first substrate, and a first connecting end of the adhesive layer connects the first substrate. The first back board includes a first end surface, the first end surface is close to the adhesive layer, and the first end surface has a free curved shape.

The present disclosure relates to a display panel, and in particular to a display panel with an organic light emitting diode.
An organic light emitting diode (OLED) display is a self-luminous display. According to a driving method, it can be divided into a passive matrix driven organic light emitting diode (PMOLED) display and an active matrix driven organic light emitting diode (AMOLED) display. AMOLED displays have advantages, such as low manufacturing cost, high response speed, power saving, DC drive for portable devices, and a wide operating temperature range. Therefore, more and more AMOLED displays are used in a variety of displays with high performance.
However, an end surface of a back board of the AMOLED display is in a plane. During a bending process, the end surface of the back board generates an outward stress, and the stresses are concentrated in the same direction, thereby causing the end surface of the back board to be crushed by an adjacent flexible circuit board to cause chipping, and the product yield of the AMOLED display is reduced.
As a result, it is necessary to provide a display panel to solve the problems existing in the conventional technologies, as described above.

Wuhan China Star Optoelectronics Semiconductor Display Technology Co., Ltd.


The present apparatus includes: distortion amount detector which detects the amount of distortion of an output signal of the amplifier; parameter holder; parameter corrector which corrects a parameter held in the parameter holder in such a manner that the distortion amount detected by the distortion amount detector is improved; controller which controls frequency components to be subjected to distortion amount detection that is performed by the distortion amount detector, based on the distortion amounts of a plurality of different frequency components of the output signal of the amplifier and on specification values relating to the distortion amounts. This arrangement makes it possible to set (control) appropriate distortion data measurement point (frequency component to be detected) according to multiple specification values (for example, ACLR specification values) relating to the distortion amount.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a distortion compensating apparatus and a distortion compensating method. The invention relates particularly to an art suitable for use in a predistortion amplifier which compensates for nonlinearity of an amplifier by adaptively updating a distortion compensation coefficient for an input signal input to the amplifier based on a difference between input and output signals.
(2) Description of the Related Art
FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a construction of an important part of a previous Digital Predistortion (DPD) amplifier. The DPD amplifier of FIG. 7 includes: a Lookup Table (LUT: a distortion compensation table) 110; an address generator 111; an LMS arithmetic operator (distortion compensation arithmetic operation unit) 112; a multiplier 113; an equalizer filter (complex filter) 114; a digital/analogue (D/A) converter 115; a Quadrature Modulating unit (QMOD) 116; a local oscillator 117; an amplifier 118; a directional coupler 119; a mixer (multiplier) 120; a local oscillator 121; an analogue/digital (A/D) converter 122; a 1/M clock (CLK)-unit delay circuit 123; a clock (CLK)-unit delay circuit 124; and a subtracter 125; an FFT arithmetic operator 126; an integrator 127; a bus 128; and a CPU 129.
In the DPD amplifier with such a construction, a complex signal X(I, Q), composed of an I signal and a Q signal, is input as an input signal (digital signal). The multiplier 113 multiplies the complex signal X(I, Q) by a distortion compensation coefficient given by the distortion compensation table 110, thereby performing distortion compensation, and the complex signal X(I, Q) is input to the equalizer filter 114. In this instance, the above complex signal X(I, Q) is also input to the address generator 111, which generates an index address for distortion compensation table 110, and the clock (CLK)-unit delay circuit 124, as a reference signal, respectively.
The equalizer filter 114 controls its internal parameter (filter coefficient) to perform inverse characteristic filtering of the frequency characteristic of the input signal X(I, Q) as schematically shown in FIG. 8, so that the phases of the reference signal X(I, Q) and a feedback signal Y(I, Q) of an output of the amplifier 118, which are input to the LMS arithmetic operator 112, do not have frequency components. As a result, a linear inclination frequency characteristic of an analogue circuit is compensated for. In this instance, in FIG. 8, the input signal X(I, Q) is a multi carrier signal including four carriers of C1, C2, C3, and C4. FIG. 8 shows that the above-described filtering is capable of compensating for the frequency deviation of the power values of the carriers C1 through C4.
With this arrangement, the phase relationship of each carrier signal component (C1, C2, C3, and C4) on the frequency axis between the reference signal X(I, Q) and the feedback signal Y(I, Q) becomes constant, the DPD operation ability being thereby improved. In this instance, although FIG. 7 does not illustrate it, the equalizer filter 114 is connected to the CPU 129 via the bus 128, and the above-mentioned filter coefficient is controlled by the CPU 129.
The signal, whose frequency characteristic is compensated for by the equalizer filter 114 as described above, is converted into an analogue signal by the D/A converter 115, and is then modulated (quadrature modulation) by the quadrature modulating unit 116 based on an output of the local oscillator 117, and is input to the amplifier 118 as a signal in a radio frequency (RF) band. The input signal is amplified by the amplifier 118 up to a required power value (transmission power value), and is then output.
A part of the output signal is split by the directional coupler 119, and is fedback to the mixer 120, which multiplies the split signal by an output of the local oscillator 121, thereby demodulating (quadrature detection) the signal. The demodulated signal is output as a signal in an IF band, and is then converted into a digital signal (complex signal) Y(I, Q) by the A/D converter 122. After that, the signal is input to the 1/M clock (CLK)-unit delay circuit 123, the FFT arithmetic operator 126, and the integrator 127, respectively.
As schematically shown in FIG. 9, for example, the 1/M clock-unit delay circuit (digital filter) 123 delays the feedback signal Y(I, Q) so that the above feedback signal Y(I, Q) and the reference signal X(I, Q) are input to the subtractor 125 at the same timing. For this purpose, the 1/M clock-unit delay circuit 123 is capable of delaying the feedback signal Y(I, Q) with an accuracy of 1/M clock, by controlling its internal parameter [a filter (tap) coefficient of a delay filter tap from 0 to (M−1): M is an arbitrary number]. The 1/M clock-unit delay circuit 123 delays the feedback signal Y(I, Q) by a desired time Δt in 1/M clock units, and inputs the delayed signal Y (I, Q) to the subtractor 125. The reference signal X(I, Q) is delayed by the clock-unit delay circuit 124 in clock units, and is then input to the subtractor 125.
That is, to realize comparison of signals of the same time by the subtracter 125, these delay circuits 123 and 124 separately delay the reference signal X(I(t−n), Q(t−n)) and the feedback signal Y(I(t−Δt), Q(t−Δt)), which are deviated in a time relationship, to make the two signals match on the time axis with good accuracy. At that time, the delay amount Δt (fine adjustment), which is smaller than a clock frequency, is delayed by the digital filter 123. In this instance, this digital filter 123 is also connected to the CPU 129 via the bus 128, and the CPU 129 controls the internal parameter (filter coefficient) of the digital filter 123, thereby controlling a delay amount.
Then, the subtracter 125 performs subtraction processing on the signals X (I, Q) and Y (I, Q) of the same time, whose input timings are matched due to the above delay adjustment, thereby detecting an error signal. On the basis of the error signal, the distortion compensation arithmetic operator 112 updates distortion compensation coefficients in the distortion compensation table 110 using, for example, the LMS algorithm.
As described above, the DPD amplifier adaptively updates a distortion compensation coefficient used in distortion compensation (multiplier 113) of the input signal X (I, Q) based on a difference (error) between the reference signal X(I, Q) and the feedback signal Y(I, Q), and compensates for nonlinear distortion of the amplifier 118, thereby improving the amplification efficiency.
Here, internal parameters (filter coefficients) of the equalizer filter 114 and the digital filter 123 are adaptively corrected by the CPU 129. That is, the FFT arithmetic operator 126 performs FFT processing on the feedback signal Y(I, Q), thereby performing frequency analysis. From the result (FFT result data), the CPU 129 obtains data equivalent to ACLR (Adjacent Channel Leakage Ratio) 5 MHz carrier separation under the 3GPP standards.
For example, in a case where data (data of frequency vs. power value) shown in FIG. 11 is obtained as the FFT result data, the CPU 129 obtains data of measurement points (monitoring range) indicated by the frames 100 whose center frequency is apart from the center frequency of the power value obtaining points indicated by the frames 200 by 5 MHz in the central direction. In this instance, in FIG. 11, the power value obtaining points 200 indicate ranges of power values obtained by an integration operation by the integrator 127; C1, C2, C3, and C4 designate carrier signal components already described.
As schematically shown in FIG. 10, of the data obtained at the above-mentioned measurement points 100, the CPU 129 compares high-frequency data with low-frequency data, and regards the worse data (data with a greater distortion deterioration amount within the monitoring range) as distortion data. The CPU 129 obtains the distortion data while changing the above-mentioned parameters, and corrects the parameters so that the distortion data is improved. Here, with the construction shown in FIG. 7, the distortion amount is not only changed by changing the parameters, and the distortion amount difference becomes definite by updating distortion compensation coefficients in the distortion compensation table 110.
In this instance, the integrator 127 integrates the feedback signal Y(I, Q), and notifies the CPU 129 of the power value (the power value obtained at the power value obtaining points 200 in FIG. 11) via the bus 128, thereby making it possible for the CPU 129 to detect abnormal transmission power and to output an alarm.
As a previous DPD art, there is an art proposed in the following patent document 1.
The object of the art in patent document 1 is to provide a linear power amplifier and a linear power amplification method which are low in change over time and in change due to temperature and which is high in distortion amount. The art in patent document 1 also intends to provide a method for setting of a digital pre-distorter. To realize the above objects, the DPD generates a predistortion-added signal to which odd number order distortion due to power series model is given, and extracts, from an amplifier output, an odd number order distortion component of the power series model from a pilot signal component.
That is, a pilot signal component is extracted from the output of the power amplifier, and odd number order distortion of power series model of the digital pre-distorter is directly feedback controlled, so that the level of the odd number order distortion component extracted from the pilot signal component becomes small. As a result, it is possible to provide a linear power amplifier with small changes over time and small changes due to temperature. The odd number order distortion is compensated for by the inverse characteristics of the frequency characteristics of the power amplifier, so that distortion of the power amplifier can be removed across a wide band.
[Patent Document1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2005-65211
However, in cases where the amplifier distortion is great before distortion compensation, the distortion compensation cannot sufficiently work. For this reason, it is sometimes impossible to satisfy the radio characteristics as a transmitter simply by obtaining data equivalent to ACLR 5 MHz carrier separation. For example, as shown in FIG. 12, even if the specification of ACLR 5 MHz carrier separation of 3GPP can be satisfied, more stricter specification at more distant frequency falls outside the ACLR 10 MHz carrier separation specification.
That is, it is insufficient to obtain data equivalent to ACLR 5 MHz carrier separation as a parameter correction operation, and distortion data measurement at an appropriate point (frequency) meeting the ACLR specification is necessary. In this instance, the above patent document 1 does not disclose or suggest that setting of an appropriate distortion data measuring point in accordance with the ACLR specification is necessary.

Distortion compensating apparatus and method


Enzyme-based regeneration of surface-attached nucleic acids is described herein. Microarrays involving hybridization of a probe to a target are important tools for genetic analysis. Conventionally, a microarray is used for a single analysis, after which it is discarded. The invention relates to a process for regeneration of a microarray through enzymatic digestion of a target from a surface-attached probe using a nuclease to digest a single strand of a nucleic acid duplex with directional specificity starting from the free end of the target strand. For example, a probe oligonucleotide bound to a gene chip at the 5′-end hybridizes to a target nucleic acid, leaving the 5′ end of the target open to 5′–3′ digestion. Lambda-exonuclease (λ-exonuclease) cleaves single nucleotides from the 5′ end of a duplex, progressing in the 5′–3′ direction. Once the target strand is digested, the enzyme is rinsed from the microarray. The microarray is thus regenerated and ready for a subsequent use.

The process of hybridization of nucleic acids and is the formation of double stranded nucleic acids from single stranded nucleic acids, by specific interaction of complementary base pairs on the respective nucleic acid strands. Nucleic acids are long chain molecules made up of the nucleosides adenosine (A), guanosine (G), cytidine (C), and thymidine (I) in DNA or uridine (U) in RNA, covalently linked by phosphate ester linkages between the 3′-hydroxyl group on the sugar residue of one nucleoside and the phosphate linked to the 5′ position of the adjacent nucleoside, in various sequences. There is chemical affinity between respective pairs of purine and pyrimidine bases comprising part of each nucleotide unit (T-A and C-G). Hybridization thus requires the presence of complementary sequences of bases in nucleic acids, and is an extremely specific and sensitive reaction. It is the basis of oligonucleotide and DNA/RNA microarrays, such as biosensors, genosensors, or gene chips, being developed for use in the areas of genetic testing and sequencing, and drug discovery and development.
A critical component in obtaining genetic information is the ability to screen a DNA sequence. The microarray is a device which allows small scale and relatively high throughput nucleic acid analysis. Microarray analysis represents an aggregation of technologies, such as sequencing by hybridization (SBH), light-directed, spatially addressable interrogation, combinatorial chemical synthesis, confocal fluorescence microscopy, robotic spotting and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). These technologies offer significant advantages in terms of the avoidance of time-consuming protocols through the use of highly multiplexed analyses of DNA sequences.
The principle of SBH is based on the fact that a solution of digested linear DNA sequence incorporating the four bases is composed of overlapping shorter sequences. Accordingly, SBH employs hybridization of a set of single strand oligonucleotides or DNA with sub-sequences in a particular DNA fragment. In practical terms, the DNA target labelled with fluorescent tagging agents is allowed to interact with probes, which are attached to a substrate surface such as glass. Detection of the level of hybridization is effected using confocal fluorescence microscopy.
Microarrays are devices involving the attachment or immobilization of a known nucleic acid sequence (or "probe") on a surface. Sensors for the detection of hybridization can be constructed from acoustic wave, optical and electrochemical devices. Detection of binding of a target nucleic acid from a test sample is effected by various methods such as radiolabelling, fluorescence or confocal microscopy. Once they have been exposed to the target (oligo)nucleic acids, some or most of the probes are hybridized as double-stranded nucleic acid or oligonucleotides. Conversion of double stranded nucleic acid to single stranded nucleic acid (denaturation) takes place relatively easily in aqueous solution using conventional methods such as heating, exposure to very high pH, of by using chemical denaturation, for example by exposure to urea. Different considerations apply to immobilized nucleic acid probes. Heating and chemical reagents have proven unsuccessful in the concurrent denaturation of double stranded DNA and regeneration of the surface-attached probe for re-use of the microarray. Accordingly, conventional microarrays are used once for a hybridization analysis and discarded thereafter. This makes microarray analysis of nucleic acids very expensive.
There are two methods for the fabrication of nucleic acid microarrays. The first involves the use of directed light via a combination of photolithography with combinatorial chemical synthesis. Bases are gradually added to a surface in a linear sequence by a photolithographical stepwise process, which includes the use of photolabile protecting moieties. Such a protocol can produce many thousands of probe nucleic acid sequences (approximately 20-mers) on a substrate surface on which the exact location of a particular probe is know accurately. The second approach involves attachment of a probe nucleic acid sequence by robotic spotting of the probe onto the surface of a substrate.
The pervasive strategy for the practical use of nucleic acid microarrays to date has been to discard the microarray after a single analysis. There are two significant disadvantages to this approach. First, despite much promise to the contrary, microarrays are still expensive to produce and purchase. Accordingly, if multiple analyses are to be performed on a particular sample the whole protocol becomes inordinately expensive. Second, particularly with respect to microarrays generated by robotic spotting of a probe onto a surface, it has proven difficult to produce identical microarrays that yield highly reproducible analytical results. Considerable variety in the pattern of probe density is often experienced leading to irreproducibility.


A method of manufacturing a multifunctional shielding mat for an interior of a vehicle is provided. The method includes providing at least one sheet of dampening material, coupling at least one sheet of electromagnetic shielding material to the at least one sheet of dampening material, and configuring the multifunctional shielding mat to cover a predetermined area of the vehicle.

This invention relates generally to aircraft component insulating methods incorporating electromagnetic shielding, and more specifically to insulation of carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) aircraft components.
Aerospace vehicles depend heavily upon electronic systems and thus must be shielded against electromagnetic interference (EMI). EMI interference may come in the form of lighting strikes, interference from radio emitters, nuclear electromagnetic pulses (EMP), and high power microwave (HPM) threats.
Aluminum hull aircraft are shielded from high-intensity radiated fields (HIRF)/lightning effects by virtue of their metallic construction. Manufacturing an aircraft from CFRP provides benefits such as reduced weight and reduced manufacturing costs. However, CFRP does not provide the same shielding capabilities that are inherent in aluminum hull aircraft.


Disclosed is an improved reel assembly for use in conjunction with an occupant restraint system. The assembly employs a dual locking arrangement whereby an occupant can be restrained during both major and minor incidents. After a major incident, the reel assembly remains locked until the occupant disengages the reel via a push button. After a minor incident, the reel assembly can be conveniently unlocked, without the need for accessing the push button, by applying counter tension to the webbing.

Field of the Invention
This invention relates to reel lock for use in conjunction with a passenger restraint system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a reel assembly with dual locking mechanisms, whereby an occupant can be restrained during both major and minor events.
Description of the Background Art
The use of harness reels is known in the background art. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,801,105 to Frisk discloses a reel assembly for retracting and locking a shoulder harness. The assembly includes a strap supporting spool affixed to a ratchet wheel. When a strap is rapidly pulled from the reel, an inertia mass turns with respect to the reel. This causes the inertia mass to move forward axially and trip a dog which locks the reel.
Likewise, U.S. Pat. No. 5,636,807 to Warrick discloses an acceleration sensor for an aircraft employing an inertia weight. The inertia weight is movable within a chamber by way of a linkage. The linkage is such that it provides the same output in response to movement of the aircraft in multiple directions.
Although these inventions each achieve their respective objectives, there continues to be a need in the art for a reel assembly with separate locking mechanisms that can be independently triggered and released in response to different events.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Reel lock for passenger restraint having dual locking positions