An electric connector having an insulating casing with at least one axial cavity, an electric terminal retained inside the cavity by primary retaining means, and a secondary retaining device in turn having a first movable element which snaps onto the casing for ensuring correct engagement and preventing release of the terminal by the primary retaining means. The secondary retaining device also has a second movable element interposed between the first movable element and the terminal, and which, when subjected to thrust by the first movable element, cooperates with the terminal for at least partially expelling it from the cavity in the event the terminal is not correctly engaged by the primary retaining means, the first movable element presenting an elastically deformable portion which is released from the second movable element in the event the terminal is correctly engaged by the primary retaining means.

Known electric terminals of the aforementioned type comprise a secondary retaining device for ensuring correct insertion as well as retention of the terminals inside the respective cavities.
The secondary retaining device normally comprises a movable element which snaps onto the casing, and which may either be hinged integral with the casing or consist of a separate element. In either case, snap-on connection of the movable element to the casing is only possible when the terminal is correctly inserted and retained inside the cavity by the primary retaining means which normally consist of an elastically deformable lance forming part of the casing. In the event that the terminal is not properly or fully inserted, residual deformation of the primary retaining means prevents the movable element from being assembled, thus enabling the fault to be detected.
Known connectors of the type briefly described above present several drawbacks. In the event that the terminal is not fully inserted inside the cavity, the movable element may be forced into the engaged position despite interference with the primary retaining means, e.g., by breaking or deforming the contacting parts, in which case improper insertion of the terminal may go undetected due, for example, to the terminal being so positioned as to determine a precarious electrical contact. In applications, however, in which the connector is subjected to vibration, as on a motor vehicle, it is only a question of time before the connection is cut off, with all the obvious consequences this entails.
Moreover, known secondary retaining devices provide for detecting the presence of at least one improperly inserted terminal, but not for detecting which terminal is at fault.


A lithium ion secondary battery includes a positive electrode containing a spinel-type lithium-nickel-manganese composite oxide as a positive electrode active material; a negative electrode containing, as a negative electrode active material, an active material in which introduction and release of lithium ions take place at a potential of 1.2 V or higher relative to a lithium potential; a separator inserted between the positive electrode and the negative electrode; and an electrolytic solution, wherein a capacity ratio of a negative electrode capacity of the negative electrode to a positive electrode capacity of the positive electrode (negative electrode capacity/positive electrode capacity) is 1 or lower, and the electrolytic solution contains dimethyl carbonate as a non-aqueous solvent at a content ratio of higher than 70% by volume with respect to a total amount of the non-aqueous solvent.

Lithium ion secondary batteries, a type of non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery, are high-energy-density secondary batteries and have been used as power sources of portable devices (e.g., laptop computers and cell phones) because of their characteristics.
In recent years, lithium ion secondary batteries have been drawing attention as power sources for increasingly downsized electronic devices, power sources for power storage, power sources for electric cars and the like, and there is a demand for a lithium ion secondary battery having even a higher energy density.
As a means for improving the energy density, for example, a method of using a spinel-type lithium-nickel-manganese composite oxide showing a high operating potential as a positive electrode active material may be employed. However, in a conventional electrolytic solution in which a cyclic carbonate and a linear carbonate are used, such a high potential may cause oxidative degradation of the cyclic carbonate or the linear carbonate in a part where the positive electrode active material and the electrolytic solution are in contact with each other. Further, the product of this oxidative degradation may be accumulated or precipitated on the negative electrode side having a low potential and act as a resistance, as a result of which the capacity of the lithium ion secondary battery may be reduced. Due to these phenomena, in lithium ion secondary batteries using a positive electrode active material showing a high operating potential, there is a problem that satisfactory charge-discharge cycle characteristics cannot be obtained.
As a means for solving this problem, there have been proposed lithium ion secondary batteries in which a negative electrode containing a lithium-titanium composite oxide as a negative electrode active material is used along with an electrolytic solution that contains a non-aqueous solvent having a diethyl carbonate (DEC) content of 80% by volume or higher (see, for example, Patent Document 1).


The present invention relates to PTP05 polypeptides and PTP10 polypeptides, nucleic acids encoding such polypeptides, cells, tissues and animals containing such nucleic acids, antibodies to such polypeptides, assays utilizing such polypeptides, and methods relating to all of the foregoing. Methods for treatment, diagnosis, and screening are provided for PTP05 and/or PTP10 related diseases or conditions characterized by an abnormal interaction between a PTP05 polypeptide and a PTP05 binding partner and/or a PTP10 polypeptide and a PTP10 binding partner.

The following description is provided to aid in understanding the invention but is not admitted to be prior art to the invention.
Cellular signal transduction is a fundamental mechanism whereby external stimuli that regulate diverse cellular processes are relayed to the interior of cells. One of the key biochemical mechanisms of signal transduction involves the reversible phosphorylation of proteins, which enables regulation of the activity of mature proteins by altering their structure and function. The best characterized protein kinases in eukaryotes phosphorylate proteins on the alcohol moiety of serine, threonine and tyrosine residues. These kinases largely fall into two groups, those specific for phosphorylating serines and threonines, and those specific for phosphorylating tyrosines.
The phosphorylation state of a given substrate is also regulated by a class of proteins responsible for removal of the phosphate group added to a given substrate by a protein kinase. The protein phosphatases can also be classified as being specific for either serine/threonine or tyrosine. The known enzymes can be divided into two groups—receptor and non-receptor type proteins. Most receptor-type protein tyrosine phosphatases (RPTPs) contain two conserved catalytic tyrosine phosphatase domains each of which encompasses a segment of 240 amino acid residues (Saito et al., Cell Growth and Diff. 2:59-65, 1991). The RPTPs can be subclassified further based upon the amino acid sequence diversity of their extracellular domains (Saito, et al., supra; Krueger, et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89:7417-7421, 1992). Alignment of primary peptide sequences of both types of known PTPases shows some sequence consensus in catalytic domains and has made it possible to identify cDNAs encoding proteins with tyrosine phosphate activity via the polymerase chain reaction (PCR).
Many kinases and phosphatases are involved in regulatory cascades wherein their substrates may include, but are not limited to, other kinases and phosphatases whose activities are regulated by their phosphorylation state. Ultimately the activity of some downstream effector is modulated by phosphorylation resulting from activation of such a pathway.
It is well established that the abnormal or inappropriate activity of tyrosine kinases and/or tyrosine phosphatases plays a role in a variety of human disorders including cell proliferative disorders such as cancer, fibrotic disorders, disorders of the immune system and metabolic disorders such as diabetes. A need, therefore, exists to identify new tyrosine kinases and phosphatases as a first step in understanding a disease process and the subsequent identification of therapeutic treatments for the disorder.

Diagnosis and treatment of PTP related disorders


An apparatus for applying friction modifying materials to a railroad track includes an input for receiving a signal representative of the passage of railroad vehicle wheels, and means for applying friction modifying material to the railroad track for a user defined, field programmable time duration when the number of wheels reaches the user defined, field programmable, activation level. A method of applying friction modifying materials to a railroad track performed by the apparatus is also provided.

Lubricants and/or other friction modifying materials are commonly applied to the rails of railroad tracks. The application of lubricant to the rails has been found to reduce the frictional wear on the railhead and the noise produced by the flanges of the wheels on the railhead. Lubricating devices that are positioned next to the rails of a railroad track and activated by the passage of the wheels of the railroad vehicle to discharge a lubricant onto the railhead are well-known. Many of the known lubricating devices include a lubricant supply tank located in the ground near the rail, one or more lubricant distributing elements positioned on one side of the rail, a pump in the supply tank for conveying lubricant through one or more pipes to the lubricant distributing elements positioned on one side of the rail, and an actuator element located along the length of the rail. The actuator element is suitably connected to the pump and operates the pump in response to the passage of the wheels of the railroad vehicle over the actuator element.
In some of the present-day lubricating devices, the connection between the actuator element and the pump in the supply tank is mechanical, involving an elongated rotatable drive rod with attendant joints, springs, bearings, etc. However, over time, these mechanical elements deteriorate due to wear and tear. Additionally, in order to function, these lubricating devices must be located above the ground next to the rail. The location of these devices generally results in damage to the devices particularly when the railroad vehicle derails or when rail equipment is dragged along the tracks. From this, it can easily be appreciated that a lubricating device using a mechanical connection is sometimes undesirable.
Further known lubricating devices include a connection between the actuator element and the pump in the supply tank that consists of either a single hydraulic fluid line or a recirculating fluid loop in which hydraulic fluid, such as light oil is caused to flow by the activation of the actuator element.
Electric lubrication systems can be used to supply lubricant to railroad tracks. In one known electric lubricating system, a fixed, standing cabinet is divided into two compartments. A lower compartment houses two containers of grease, one in use and the other in reserve. The upper compartment houses the electric motor driven pump and an electronic control box. The pump is arranged so that the pump inlet tube projects downward through the cabinet partition into the grease container below. Space is provided for the mounting of batteries and any additional electric regulator equipment for a DC version operated using batteries and/or solar panels. Initiation of pump operation is triggered from a vibration sensor mounted on a track sleeper and the pump action causes grease to be pumped via flexible hoses to grease distribution units adjacent the rail.
In the arrangements described above, the distribution of grease is triggered by the passing of a train, either by the mechanical depression of pumps by successive passing of wheels in the case of a mechanical lubricator or by the triggering of a sensor in the case of an electrical lubricator. Both systems are relatively inflexible and not adapted to all types and densities of traffic. For example, it might be the case that at one location, a mechanical lubricator might apply too much grease if a train having a large number of cars were to pass. On the other hand, in the case of a sensor-triggered lubricator which would not recognize the length of a passing train, too little grease might be applied.
There is, therefore, a need for an improved lubricating and/or friction modifying system, so that desired friction characteristics can be maintained.

Trackside friction management digital control system


A design structure including a digital system. The digital system includes (a) a first logic circuit and a second logic circuit, (b) a first register, (c) a second register, (d) a third register, (e) a clock generator circuit, and (f) a controller circuit. The first logic circuit is capable of obtaining first data and sending second data. The second logic circuit is capable of obtaining the second data and sending third data. The clock generator circuit is capable of asserting (i) a first register clock signal at a first time point, (ii) a second register clock signal at a second time point, and (iii) a third register clock signal at a third time point. The controller circuit is capable of (i) determining a fourth time point, (ii) determining a fifth time point, (iii) controlling the clock generator circuit to assert the second register clock signal.

In the normal operation of a conventional digital system, simultaneous clocking of registers of the conventional digital system can cause signal noise. Therefore, there is a need for a digital system (and a method for operating the same) in which the noise due to the simultaneous clocking of data registers can be reduced compared to prior art.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Structures including circuits for noise reduction in digital systems

International Business Machines Corporation


An imaging apparatus includes an electron emission array having electron sources arranged in matrix form and having a plurality of horizontal scan lines, a photoelectric conversion film opposed to the electron emission array, and a control and drive circuit configured to select one or more of the horizontal scan lines in a given video signal output period and to cause the electron sources included in the selected one or more horizontal scan lines to emit electrons toward the photoelectric conversion film to produce a video signal, wherein the control and drive circuit is configured to control electron emission of the electron emission array in a blanking period in response to a signal level of the video signal produced in the given video signal output period.

1. Field of the Invention
The disclosures herein relate to an imaging apparatus provided with a photoelectric conversion film and an electron source array having electron sources arranged in matrix form wherein electrons are emitted from the electron source array during a video signal output period and a vertical blanking period.
2. Description of the Related Art
Research has been conducted for some time with respect to imaging apparatus that is provided with a photoelectric conversion film and an electron emission array having a matrix of electron emission sources, from which electrons are drawn out by an electric field without application of heat. This electron emission array has a plurality of Spindt-type emitters arranged in matrix form, which are opposed to the photoelectric conversion film across vacuum space. In such imaging device, holes that are generated and accumulated in the photoelectric conversion film in response to light arriving from an external source are read out by using electrons successively emitted from the Spindt-type emitter array, thereby producing a time sequence of video signals (see Patent Document 1).
When highly bright light enters a portion of the photoelectric conversion film of such an imaging apparatus, a large amount of holes will be accumulated in this portion of the photoelectric conversion film on its electron scan side, resulting in a potential increase at this local portion. As electrons are successively emitted from the electron emission array, those electrons emitted toward the vicinity of the portion of the photoelectric conversion film that is illuminated by highly bright light have their trajectory bent towards this portion of the photoelectric conversion film having an extremely high potential. This phenomenon will hereinafter be referred to as "bending". As a result of the bending, holes accumulated in this portion of the photoelectric conversion film will be read out. Consequently, the output video image suffers an artifact by which a highly bright object appears expanded from its original size (which will hereinafter be referred to as "blooming"), degrading image quality such as image resolution.
Further, when highly bright light enters a portion of the photoelectric conversion film, a large amount of holes are generated and accumulated in this portion. When this happens, it may not be possible to read out all the generated and accumulated holes by use of the electrons emitted from the electron emission array on a single scan, thereby creating a prominent capacitive residual image.
Moreover, the entry of highly bright light into the photoelectric conversion film causes a large amount of holes to be accumulated on the electron scan side of the photoelectric conversion film. This serves to drop the effective electric field applied to the photoelectric conversion film, resulting in a large amount of optically generated electric charge (electrons and holes) being trapped in the photoelectric conversion film. As the electric field in the photoelectric conversion film increases in response to scanning on the photoelectric conversion film by electrons successively emitted from the electron emission array, the optically generated electric charge is released from its trapped state. Holes of this freed electric charge are then accumulated on the electron scan side of the photoelectric conversion film. As a result, these holes that were trapped are read out on a next scan, creating a prominent photoconductive residual image.
In order to obviate these problems, research has been conducted with respect to a flat-type imaging device that continues to apply voltage to a gate electrode during a residual charge sweeping period that follows immediately after an image signal output period, during which a pixel signal for a horizontal scan line is read (see Patent Document 2, for example). The application of voltage serves to remove residual electric charge to prevent residual images from occurring in response to the entry of highly bright light.
The flat-type imaging device disclosed in Patent Document 2 also applies a voltage to the gate electrode of a next horizontal scan line in an excessively-accumulated charge sweeping period following the residual charge sweeping period, and sets the potential of cathode electrodes higher than the potential of a reference scan surface. This serves to remove the accumulated electric charge that is provided in excess of the amount readable within a video signal output period. With this arrangement, white saturation, smear, and resolution degradation resulting from imaging a highly bright object are prevented.
Patent Document 2 discloses dividing a no-video-signal-output period following a video signal output period into two periods including a residual charge sweeping period and an excessively-accumulated charge sweeping period. In the residual charge sweeping period, all the electron sources included in a horizontal scan line for which a video signal has just been output emit electrons to remove residual holes existing in the photoelectric conversion film at the position opposite to this horizontal scan line. The disclosed flat-type imaging device can thus prevent the occurrence of residual images responsive to highly bright incident light.
According to Patent Document 2, further, in the excessively-accumulated charge sweeping period, all the electron sources included in a horizontal scan line for which a video signal is about to be output emit electrons to remove excessive holes accumulated in the photoelectric conversion film at the position opposite to this horizontal scan line. The disclosed flat-type imaging device can thus prevent white saturation, smear, and the degradation of image resolution from occurring in response to highly bright incident light.
In Patent Document 2, however, electrons are emitted without exception during a no-video-signal-output period, i.e., during a blanking period, regardless of whether highly bright light enters the photoelectric conversion film. Because of this, electrons emitted during the blanking period are wasted if no highly bright light enters the photoelectric conversion film.
By the same token, electrons emitted during the blanking period toward a portion of the photoelectric conversion film where no highly bright light arrives are wasted even if highly bright light enters another portion of the photoelectric conversion film.
Such drive method ends up not only wasting all or part of emitted electrons but also imposing a heavy load on the electron emission array. This gives rise to a problem in that the reliability and product life of the electron emission array will be significantly degraded.
In Patent Document 2, further, electron sources included in a horizontal scan line for which a video signal has just been read and in a horizontal scan line for which a video signal is about to be read are made to emit electrons in a single blanking period during one field or frame period. When extremely bright light enters the photoelectric conversion film to accumulate a large amount of holes on the electron-scan side of the photoelectric conversion film, the amount of electrons emitted in a single blanking period fails to remove all the residual holes remaining in the photoelectric conversion film immediately following a corresponding scan and all the excessive holes accumulated in the photoelectric conversion film immediately prior to scan. There is thus a risk of suffering the occurrence of capacitive residual images and the degradation of image resolution due to blooming.
Further, the imaging device disclosed in Patent Document 2 cannot prevent the generation of a photoconductive residual image resulting from the lowering of an electric field within the photoelectric conversion film in response to highly bright incident light. Especially when a highly bright object in motion is filmed, the object leaves a visible trace on the screen. This causes a severe reduction in image quality.
Accordingly, there is a need for an imaging apparatus that can prevent the degradation of image resolution and the generation of capacitive or photoconductive residual images resulting from the entry of highly bright light into the photoelectric conversion film while reducing the load on the electron emission array.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 6-176704.
[Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-134144.

Imaging apparatus having electron source array


A memory device is provided that includes at least one MTJ pillar which can have a ternary program state as compared to a binary program state in a conventional device. The MTJ pillar contains a lower MTJ structure that includes at least a first magnetic reference material, a first tunnel barrier and a first magnetic free layer material, and an upper MTJ structure that includes at least a second magnetic reference material, a second tunnel barrier and a second magnetic free layer material; the upper MTJ structure is stacked atop the lower MTJ structure. The first and second magnetic free layer materials have different designs and/or compositions resulting in different switching voltages.

The present application relates to a memory device and a method of forming the same. More particularly, the present application relates to a memory device including at least one magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) pillar that can be used for ternary magnetoresistance random access memory (MRAM) weight storage. The memory device can be used as a component of an artificial intelligence (AI) chip.
Multiplication operations (including convolution and matrix multiplication) are the most area consuming and power consuming components in the hardware implementation of deep neural networks. Recent advances in reduced-precision optimization suggest that at least a portion of the multiplication applications can be performed at lower precision (i.e., with fewer bits) without significantly compromising the end-to-end accuracy. This provides the opportunity for power and/or area saving by employing analog devices, such as MRAM devices, for weight storage.
MRAM is a non-volatile random access memory technology in which data is stored in magnetic storage elements. These elements are typically formed from two ferromagnetic plates, each of which can hold a magnetization, separated by a thin dielectric layer (i.e., a tunnel barrier). One of the two plates is a permanent magnetic layer set to a particular polarity (i.e., a magnetic reference layer); the other plate's magnetization can be changed to match that of an external field to store memory (i.e., a magnetic free layer). Such a configuration is known as a MTJ pillar (or structure). In an integrated circuit (IC), a MTJ pillar is typically embedded within a back-end-of-the-line (BEOL) structure. Such an IC can be utilized in a hardware implementation of a deep neural network or a neuromorphic computing system.
In a mixed precision hardware implementation of a deep neural network, a suitable combination of low precision computations (e.g., convolution with highly quantized filter weights) and high precision computations (e.g., accumulation and batch normalization) can be utilized to preserve accuracy to a large degree. However, the binary program state of MRAM (e.g., −1 with spin-down, +1 with spin-up) only allows binary quantization (e.g., of filter weights) and is typically not sufficient for preserving accuracy.

MRAM structure with ternary weight storage


A tray is mounted in a framework for sliding between extended and retracted positions, and has a separate drive adjacent each of the opposite sides of the tray. The drives on the opposite sides of the tray are effected through friction clutches so that one of the drives can be stationary and slipping while the other drive continues to move the tray. Reference stops are provided to orient the tray against the stops each time the tray is retracted.

The present invention relates to a tray drive for use in a compact disc processor such as a printer, duplicator, or the like. The device will self align the tray when the tray is fully retracted into the processing station to ensure that the tray is not skewed or misapplied to cause errors in the processing function. The drive is symmetrical so the tray remains properly positioned as it is extended to a loading position. The tray drive will realign the tray as it is retracted to a reference stopped position with each retraction of the tray.
In the prior art, it is well known to utilize this compact disc processing device for printing labels on the disc as well as recording discs. Processing devices that include both CD recorders and label printers in one processing unit have been advanced, as shown in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/447,503, filed May 29, 2003, which is incorporated by reference. It is well known to mechanically drive the disc holding trays between a processing position, wherein the tray is supported to hold the disc in position for printing or recording on the disc, and an extended position or loading position wherein the tray is outside of the processing station and the disc can be removed from the tray, and a new disc replaced.
In the above application Ser. No. 10/447,503, the discs are handled mechanically with a robotics arm, and are moved between an input bin for unprocessed discs, and the tray used for processing, and between the tray and a finished disc storage. The automated processing makes it important that the disc is at a known position in both the extended, loading position of the tray and the retracted or processing position of the tray.


The present invention relates to a method of preventing or treating a pathogen infection comprising administering to a mammal in need thereof an effective amount of an inhibitor of Abl tyrosine kinase.

Multiple bacterial pathogens have evolved mechanisms that engage intracellular signaling pathways in the host cell to achieve successful infection (Zaharik et al, Int. J. Med. Microbiol. 291:593-603 (2002)). An example of such a pathogen is the Gram negative bacteria Shigella flexneri, the etiologic agent for the diarrheal disease shigellosis (Sansonetti, Am. J. Physiol. Gastrointest. Liver Physiol. 280:G319-323 (2001)). A key step in the pathogenesis of shigellosis is the ability of the bacteria to enter the normally non-phagocytic cells of the colonic mucosa. At the site of Shigella entry, the host actin cytoskeleton undergoes dramatic changes, including the formation of filopodia and lamellipodia, which are subsequently organized into long, actin-rich extensions that engulf the invading bacterium (Adam et al, J. Cell Biol. 129:367-381 (1995)). The changes in the actin cytoskeleton observed during Shigella infection are mediated by bacterial effectors that are part of a Type III Secretion System (TTSS) that is activated following contact between the bacterium and the host cells. The TTSS inserts a pore complex, comprised of Shigella proteins IpaB and IpaC, into the host cell plasma membrane that allows for delivery of other bacterial effector proteins into the host cell (Zaharik et al, Int. J. Med. Microbiol. 291:593-603 (2002), Blocker et al, J. Cell Biol. 147:683-693 (1999), Tran Van Nhieu et al, EMBO J. 16:2717-2729 (1997), Niebuhr et al, Mol. Microbiol. 38:8-19 (2000)). A key event during the initial phase of infection is the induction of actin polymerization at the site of Shigella contact with the host cell membrane, which results in massive cytoskeletal rearrangements, and the formation of actin foci at the site of the invading bacterium (Adam et al, J. Cell Biol. 129:367-381 (1995)). The insertion of Shigella IpaC into the membrane results in changes in the actin cytoskeleton, characteristic of the activation of the Rho family GTPases Cdc42 and Rac (Tran Van Nhieu et al, EMBO J. 18:3249-3262 (1999)). Both Cdc42 and Rac localize to the site of bacterial entry, and their activation has been shown to be required for efficient uptake of Shigella (Mounier et al, J. Cell Sci. 112:2069-2080 (1999), Shibata et al, Curr. Biol. 12:341-345 (2002)). The tyrosine kinase Src is also translocated to the site of the invading bacterium, and is thought to act as both a positive and negative regulator of the entry process. Src exerts its positive role by promoting the formation of actin foci, but it also acts negatively to down-regulate Rho (Dumenil et al, J. Cell Biol 143:1003-1012 (1998), Dumenil et al, J. Cell Sci. 113:71-80 (2000)). However, the role of tyrosine phosphorylation in the uptake of Shigella flexneri has not been fully explored, and the link between tyrosine kinases and Rho GTPase-dependent actin polymerization during this process has yet to be defined.
The Abl tyrosine kinase has been shown to regulate Rac-dependent cytoskeletal dynamics in mammalian cells, suggesting that Abl kinases may play a role in bacterial uptake (Plattner et al, Genes Dev. 13:2400-2411 (1999)). The mammalian Abl family of tyrosine kinases is comprised of Abl and Arg (Abl2), and has been implicated in the regulation of cell proliferation, survival, adhesion, and migration (Pendergast, Adv. Cancer Res. 85:51-1-(2002)). While the functions of the constitutively active chimeric oncogene Bcr-Abl have been well described, the cellular functions of Abl and Arg have remained elusive. Genetic studies have implicated Abl and Arg in the regulation of cytoskeletal dynamics. Drosophila melanogaster that lack Abl exhibit defects in growth cone motility, axon guidance, and epithelial cell polarity (Pendergast, Adv. Cancer Res. 85:51-1-(2002)). The defective growth cone phenotype is identical to that of Drosophila lacking profilin, a protein known to be involved in cytoskeletal dynamics (Wills et al, Neuron 22:291-299 (1999)). A similar phenotype is observed in flies expressing dominant negative Cdc42, or mutants of Trio, a Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factor (GEF) for Rac and Rho (Wills et al, Neuron 22:291-299 (1999), Liebl et al, Neuron 26:107-118 (2000), Bateman et al, Neuron. 26:93-106 (2000)). Since Rho family GTPases have been shown to regulate the formation of F-actin structures such as filopodia and lamellipodia, these observations suggest that Drosophila Abl may regulate cytoskeletal re-organization and cell motility. Mice lacking Abl and Arg also exhibit cytoskeletal defects, resulting in delayed closure of the neural tube, and death before embryonic day 11 (Koleske et al, Neuron. 21:1259-1272 (1998)). Normal neuroepithelium display an ordered pattern of actin filaments at their apical surface, where Abl and Arg are normally located. In the Abl/Arg null mice, this apical actin latticework pattern is absent, and unorganized bundles of actin filaments are found at the basolateral surface of the cell (Koleske et al, Neuron. 21:1259-1272 (1998)). Moreover, it has been shown that Abl is required for formation of Rac-dependent lamellipodia in response to PDGF (Plattner et al, Genes Dev. 13:2400-2411 (1999)). These properties of the normal Abl family tyrosine kinases are consistent with the observed changes in the actin cytoskeleton of Bcr-Abl-expressing cells. Expression of Bcr-Abl induces the formation of filopodia and lamellipodia, and extension of pseudopods onto a fibronectin matrix (Salgia et al, J. Clin. Invest. 100:46-57 (1997)). These cytoskeletal effects were found to be a result of the increased tyrosine kinase activity of Bcr-Abl, and were reversed in the presence of Abl kinase inhibitors (Gaston et al, Exp. Hematol. 28:351 (2000)). These studies demonstrate that the Abl family kinases regulate cytoskeletal dynamics. Furthermore, Abl and Arg are unique among all known tyrosine kinases in that they contain a carboxy-terminal actin binding domain, and have been shown to have actin bundling activity (Pendergast, Adv. Cancer Res. 85:51-100 (2002)). Altogether, the Abl kinases are uniquely suited to link extracellular stimuli, such as infection by bacterial pathogens, to reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton.
The present invention results, at least in part, from studies, demonstrating a requirement for Abl and Arg in Shigella flexneri infection, and linking the requirement for Abl kinase activity to the Rho family GTPases Cdc42 and Rac during bacterial uptake.

Method of treating infection with ABl tyrosine kinase inhibitors


The methods, systems and devices of the present invention comprise use of Support Vector Machines and RFE (Recursive Feature Elimination) for the identification of patterns that are useful for medical diagnosis, prognosis and treatment. SVM-RFE can be used with varied data sets.

Enormous amounts of data about organisms are being generated in the sequencing of genomes. Using this information to provide treatments and therapies for individuals will require an in-depth understanding of the gathered information. Efforts using genomic information have already led to the development of gene expression investigational devices. One of the most currently promising devices is the gene chip. Gene chips have arrays of oligonucleotide probes attached a solid base structure. Such devices are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,837,832 and 5,143,854, herein incorporated by reference in their entirety. The oligonucleotide probes present on the chip can be used to determine whether a target nucleic acid has a nucleotide sequence identical to or different from a specific reference sequence. The array of probes comprise probes that are complementary to the reference sequence as well as probes that differ by one of more bases from the complementary probes.
The gene chips are capable of containing large arrays of oliogonucleotides on very small chips. A variety of methods for measuring hybridization intensity data to determine which probes are hybridizing is known in the art. Methods for detecting hybridization include fluorescent, radioactive, enzymatic, chemoluminescent, bioluminescent and other detection systems.
Older, but still usable, methods such as gel electrophosesis and hybridization to gel blots or dot blots are also useful for determining genetic sequence information. Capture and detection systems for solution hybridization and in situ hybridization methods are also used for determining information about a genome. Additionally, former and currently used methods for defining large parts of genomic sequences, such as chromosome walking and phage library establishment, are used to gain knowledge about genomes.
Large amounts of information regarding the sequence, regulation, activation, binding sites and internal coding signals can be generated by the methods known in the art. In fact, the amount of data being generated by such methods hinders the derivation of useful information. Human researchers, when aided by advanced learning tools such as neural networks can only derive crude models of the underlying processes represented in the large, feature-rich datasets.
Another area of biological investigation that can generate a huge amount of data is the emerging field of proteomics. Proteomics is the study of the group of proteins encoded and regulated by a genome. This field represents a new focus on analyzing proteins, regulation of protein levels and the relationship to gene regulation and expression. Understanding the normal or pathological state of the proteome of a person or a population provides information for the prognosis or diagnosis of disease, development of drug or genetic treatments, or enzyme replacement therapies. Current methods of studying the proteome involve 2-dimensional (2-D) gel electrophoresis of the proteins followed by analysis by mass spectrophotometry. A pattern of proteins at any particular time or stage in pathologenesis or treatment can be observed by 2-D gel electrophoresis. Problems arise in identifying the thousands of proteins that are found in cells that have been separated on the 2-D gels. The mass spectrophotometer is used to identify a protein isolated from the gel by identifying the amino acid sequence and comparing it to known sequence databases. Unfortunately, these methods require multiple steps to analyze a small portion of the proteome.
In recent years, technologies have been developed that can relate gene expression to protein production structure and function. Automated high-throughput analysis, nucleic acid analysis and bioinformatics technologies have aided in the ability to probe genomes and to link gene mutations and expression with disease predisposition and progression. The current analytical methods are limited in their abilities to manage the large amounts of data generated by these technologies.
One of the more recent advances in determining the functioning parameters of biological systems is the analysis of correlation of genomic information with protein functioning to elucidate the relationship between gene expression, protein function and interaction, and disease states or progression. Genomic activation or expression does not always mean direct changes in protein production levels or activity. Alternative processing of mRNA or post-transcriptional or post-translational regulatory mechanisms may cause the activity of one gene to result in multiple proteins, all of which are slightly different with different migration patterns and biological activities. The human genome potentially contains 30,000 genes but the human proteome is believed to be 50 to 100 times larger. Currently, there are no methods, systems or devices for adequately analyzing the data generated by such biological investigations into the genome and proteome.
Knowledge discovery is the most desirable end product of data collection. Recent advancements in database technology have lead to an explosive growth in systems and methods for generating, collecting and storing vast amounts of data. While database technology enables efficient collection and storage of large data sets, the challenge of facilitating human comprehension of the information in this data is growing ever more difficult. With many existing techniques the problem has become unapproachable. Thus, there remains a need for a new generation of automated knowledge discovery tools.
As a specific example, the Human Genome Project is populating a multi-gigabyte database describing the human genetic code. Before this mapping of the human genome is complete, the size of the database is expected to grow significantly. The vast amount of data in such a database overwhelms traditional tools for data analysis, such as spreadsheets and ad hoc queries. Traditional methods of data analysis may be used to create informative reports from data, but do not have the ability to intelligently and automatically assist humans in analyzing and finding patterns of useful knowledge in vast amounts of data. Likewise, using traditionally accepted reference ranges and standards for interpretation, it is often impossible for humans to identify patterns of useful knowledge even with very small amounts of data.
In recent years, machine-learning approaches for data analysis have been widely explored for recognizing patterns which, in turn, allow extraction of significant information contained within a large data set which may also include data that provide nothing more than irrelevant detail. Learning machines comprise algorithms that may be trained to generalize using data with known outcomes. Trained learning machine algorithms may then be applied to predict the outcome in cases of unknown outcome. Machine-learning approaches, which include neural networks, hidden Markov models, belief networks and support vector machines, are ideally suited for domains characterized by the existence of large amounts of data, noisy patterns and the absence of general theories.
The majority of learning machines that have been investigated are neural networks trained using back-propagation, a gradient-based method in which errors in classification of training data are propagated backwards through the network to adjust the bias weights of the network elements until the mean squared error is minimized. A significant drawback of back-propagation neural networks is that the empirical risk function may have many local minimums, a case that can easily obscure the optimal solution from discovery. Standard optimization procedures employed by back-propagation neural networks may converge to a minimum, but the neural network method cannot guarantee that even a localized minimum is attained, much less the desired global minimum. The quality of the solution obtained from a neural network depends on many factors. In particular, the skill of the practitioner implementing the neural network determines the ultimate benefit, but even factors as seemingly benign as the random selection of initial weights can lead to poor results. Furthermore, the convergence of the gradient-based method used in neural network learning is inherently slow. A further drawback is that the sigmoid function has a scaling factor, which affects the quality of approximation. Possibly the largest limiting factor of neural networks as related to knowledge discovery is the "curse of dimensionality" associated with the disproportionate growth in required computational time and power for each additional feature or dimension in the training data.
The shortcomings of neural networks are overcome using support vector machines. In general terms, a support vector machine maps input vectors into high dimensional feature space through non-linear mapping function, chosen a priori. In this high dimensional feature space, an optimal separating hyperplane is constructed. The optimal hyperplane is then used to determine things such as class separations, regression fit, or accuracy in density estimation.
Within a support vector machine, the dimensionally of the feature space may be huge. For example, a fourth degree polynomial mapping function causes a 200 dimensional input space to be mapped into a 1.6 billionth dimensional feature space. The kernel trick and the Vapnik-Chervonenkis ("VC") dimension allow the support vector machine to thwart the "curse of dimensionality" limiting other methods and effectively derive generalizable answers from this very high dimensional feature space.
If the training vectors are separated by the optimal hyperplane (or generalized optimal hyperplane), then the expectation value of the probability of committing an error on a test example is bounded by the examples in the training set. This bound depends neither on the dimensionality of the feature space, nor on the norm of the vector of coefficients, nor on the bound of the number of the input vectors. Therefore, if the optimal hyperplane can be constructed from a small number of support vectors relative to the training set size, the generalization ability will be high, even in infinite dimensional space. Support vector machines are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,128,608 and 6,157,921, both of which are assigned to the assignee of the present application and are incorporated herein by reference.
The data generated from genomic and proteomic tests can be analyzed from many different viewpoints. The literature shows simple approaches such as studies of gene clusters discovered by unsupervised learning techniques (Alon, 1999). For example, each experiment may correspond to one patient carrying or not carrying a specific disease (see e.g. (Golub, 1999)). In this case, clustering usually groups patients with similar clinical records. Supervised learning has also been applied to the classification of proteins (Brown, 2000) and to cancer classification (Golub, 1999).
Support vector machines provide a desirable solution for the problem of discovering knowledge from vast amounts of input data. However, the ability of a support vector machine to discover knowledge from a data set is limited in proportion to the information included within the training data set. Accordingly, there exists a need for a system and method for pre-processing data so as to augment the training data to maximize the knowledge discovery by the support vector machine.
Furthermore, the raw output from a support vector machine may not fully disclose the knowledge in the most readily interpretable form. Thus, there further remains a need for a system and method for post-processing data output from a support vector machine in order to maximize the value of the information delivered for human or further automated processing.
In addition, the ability of a support vector machine to discover knowledge from data is limited by the type of kernel selected. Accordingly, there remains a need for an improved system and method for selecting and/or creating an appropriate kernel for a support vector machine.
Further, methods, systems and devices are needed to manipulate the information contained in the databases generated by investigations of proteomics and genomics. Also, methods, systems and devices are needed to integrate information from genomic, proteomic and traditional sources of biological information. Such information is needed for the diagnosis and prognosis of diseases and other changes in biological and other systems.
Furthermore, methods and compositions are needed for treating the diseases and other changes in biological systems that are identified by the support vector machine. Once patterns or the relationships between the data are identified by the support vector machines of the present invention and are used to detect or diagnose a particular disease state, diagnostic tests, including gene chips and tests of bodily fluids or bodily changes, and methods and compositions for treating the condition are needed.

Methods of identifying patterns in biological systems and uses thereof


In one embodiment, the present invention may be a method of forming a porous and/or dense article from metal powder (12), including adding to a mold a first feedstock comprising an agglomerated metal powder (12) and an agglomeration agent, forming said first feedstock into a green state dense article (22); and removing said agglomeration agent. Furthermore, the present invention may include a second feedstock including an agglomerated metal powder (12), a space filling material and an agglomeration agent which may be formed into a green state porous article (21). The present invention also includes a dense and/or porous article (22 and 21) manufactured by various methods, as well as methods for creating the dense and porous feedstocks. Moreover, the present invention may include an article which may be a medical implant.

The metal injection molding process, as is well known in the powder metallurgy art, uses a mold which comprises an at least one injection port through which a powder metal feedstock composition is introduced into the mold. The injection equipment then employs pressure and/or heat to fuse the powder, or powders, together to form a desired shape as per the shape of the mold cavity.
The powder metallurgy art also utilizes various other types of forming processes such as die compression, uniaxial pressing, cold isostatic pressing, hot isostatic pressing and many others. Processes such as these are used to form articles from metal powder. While processes such as metal injection molding are capable of forming very precise and nearly finished articles, the cost of the molding equipment can be very high. Conversely, processes such as die compression and cold isostatic pressing are more basic processes which can form general shapes and configurations, but which often require more involved finishing and machining processes than metal injection molding, before a final article is obtained, particularly in the case of orthopedic articles.
An agglomeration process produces clusters of powder materials with a relatively uniform size distribution, independent of the starting particle size distribution of the powder material. A number of methods exist for agglomerating powder material. Some methods might include the use of a fluid bed, spray drying, and/or pan pelletizing process.

Preparation of formed orthopedic articles


In a packet repeater of a wireless base station, a packet analyzer receives uplink packets from mobile terminals and stores data indicating quality of each wireless link between the base station and each mobile terminal in a memory. A packet sorter receives downlink packets from a network and stores the received packets into buffers according to the destinations of downlink packets and their service classes. According to the data stored in the memory, packets in the buffers are into a first group of queues in which quality of service is not satisfied and a second group of queues in which quality of service is satisfied. A packet scheduler sequentially transmits all packets from the first-group queues to mobile terminals, and reorders the second-group queues in a descending order of their qualities of wireless links and sequentially transmits all packets from the reordered queues to the mobile terminals.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to packet communication, and more specifically to a method and an apparatus for scheduling packets for downlink transmission to mobile terminals from a cell-site base station.
2. Description of the Related Art
A number of packet scheduling techniques are known in the art. One of the known techniques is the round-robin system which is currently under study by the High Speed Downlink Speed Access System (HSDPA) of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and is known as "Physical Layer Aspects for High Speed Downlink Packet Access", 3GPP TR25. 848. 2001. In this system, downlink packets are transmitted in a round-robin fashion from a base station equally to mobile terminals. Since fairness is ensured when assigning time slots, equitable throughputs are realized. Another technique known as the Max C/I system ("Physical Layer Aspects for High Speed Downlink Packet Access", 3GPP TR25. 848. 2001), also currently under study by 3GPP, uses the carrier-to-interference ratios of wireless links and transmits downlink packets in a descending order of their C/I ratios. However, these known techniques are still unsatisfactory in terms of fairness and throughput. Additionally, in both of these known techniques no consideration is taken with regard to quality of service.
According to another technique called "CBQ with CSDPS" as discussed in a paper "Controlled Multimedia Wireless Link Sharing via Enhanced Class-Based Queuing with Channel-State-Dependent Packet Scheduling", Fragouli et al., INFOCOM '98, packets are transmitted at guaranteed data rates according to different services and residual bandwidths are equally assigned to mobile terminals. Qualities of wireless links are also taken into account for downlink transmission. However, packet transmission is perform in so far as the wireless link satisfies a predetermined quality level. As a result, the data rates of all downlink packet transmissions of a whole cell-site tends to decrease to a low level.

Packet scheduling method and apparatus for downlink transmission to mobile terminals


An axle assembly having two hubs, each for connection to a wheel, a housing for differential gears and a mounting arrangement for a braking system for braking a connected wheel. The housing has a depression formed therein. The depression is configured so as to accommodate:                (a) when the mounting arrangement has a drum brake mounted thereon, movement of a slack adjuster of the drum brake in a direction away from one of the hubs nearest the drum brake so as to allow detachment of the slack adjuster; and/or        (b) when the mounting arrangement has a disc brake mounted thereon, an air chamber of the braking system, wherein the air chamber is capable of being partially accommodated within the depression.

A drive axle of a heavy vehicle generally includes a pair of axle shafts housed within a live or rigid axle housing for driving wheels secured to wheel hubs. When a vehicle is driven along a straight path, the wheel hubs will be turning at approximately the same speed, and the drive torque will be equally split between both wheels. When the vehicle negotiates a turn, the outer wheel has to travel over a greater distance than the inner wheel. A differential assembly allows the inner wheel to turn more slowly than the outer wheel as the vehicle negotiates a turn.
Many different kinds of differential gear have been proposed, but the most common consist of a casing in which two or four freely rotatable planetary gears are arranged in mesh with pinion gears of the vehicle drive shafts. The casing carries an annular crown wheel which is driven by a pinion of an input shaft which is itself driven from the vehicle engine.
An example differential assembly is described in EP 1591694.
Two main types of braking systems are used on heavy vehicles; drum brakes and disc brakes.
A drum brake generally has a pair of brake shoes pivotably mounted within the drum and moveable between an applied position and a released position. The applied position causing a wheel connected to the drum brake to brake, and the released position permitting free rotation of a wheel connected to the drum brake. The brake is actuated via an actuation shaft and an actuation device, to cause the brake shoes to move to the applied position. As the brake shoes wear, a slack adjuster adjusts the actuation device to account for the wear of the brake shoes. The slack adjusters typically need maintenance through the life of a brake. Current axle assemblies require removal of multiple components of the drum brake and movement of the actuation shaft, to remove the slack adjuster for maintenance. This is an inconvenient and time consuming process.
A disc brake generally has a brake disc located between two opposed friction elements. To brake a connected wheel, the friction elements are moveable to an applied position, i.e. into contact with the brake disc. On heavy vehicles, the brake disc is generally actuated to an applied position using a pneumatic system. Due to the number of components, including for example vehicle suspension, that need to be assembled to the chassis of a heavy vehicle, it is preferable to arrange components of an axle assembly in a compact manner.
There is therefore a need for an axle assembly that permits easy assembly/disassembly of the slack adjusters of a drum brake and/or has a compact arrangement.


A liquid removal apparatus which removes liquid on a base material, has; an absorbing member which absorbs and removes the liquid on the base material by making contact with or by approaching to the liquid; an internal rotating body which is disposed inside a hollow portion of the absorbing member and has an opening section in an outer circumferential surface of the internal rotating body; a pressure reducing device which reduces pressure of the hollow portion of the absorbing member, an internal rotating body drive device which causes the internal rotating body to rotate relatively with respect to the absorbing member; a movement device which causes relative movement of the base material with respect to the absorbing member and the internal rotating body; and an internal rotating body drive control device which controls the internal rotating body drive device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid removal apparatus, an image forming apparatus and a liquid removal method, and more particularly, to technology for removing liquid from a base material.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the related art, image forming apparatuses such as an inkjet recording apparatus and liquid electrophotography apparatus are known in which an image is formed on an intermediate transfer body by means of a liquid such as ink, liquid toner, or the like, and the image is then transferred onto a recording medium. In an apparatus of this kind, it is not possible to obtain satisfactory transfer if surplus liquid component, such as ink solvent or the carrier liquid of the toner, remains on the intermediate transfer body during transfer from the intermediate transfer body to the recording medium, and therefore the liquid component present on the intermediate transfer body must be removed before transfer.
It is suitable to use a method which brings a roller having a porous member on the surface thereof into contact with the intermediate transfer body, as a method of removing liquid from the intermediate transfer body. Furthermore, a method has been proposed in which the liquid component on the surface of the roller is recovered by setting the interior of the roller to a negative pressure in order to improve the efficiency of liquid removal.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 7-225516 describes a liquid absorbing roller in which the interior of a porous absorbing roller member having a hollow structure, which is formed by a porous sleeve having ventilating holes, is supported and the liquid inside the porous absorbing roller is suctioned via the porous sleeve.
Moreover, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-23504 describes a method in which a shielding body having an opening is provided inside a roller comprising a porous member on the surface thereof, the roller on the outer side with respect to the fixed opening is rotated, the interior of the shielding body is set to a reduced pressure, and the liquid absorbed in the porous body is suctioned via the opening.
However, in the liquid absorbing roller described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 7-225516, the suctioning pressure is distributed over the whole internal wall of the porous absorbing roller, and therefore it is difficult to achieve efficient removal of the liquid. Furthermore, in the invention described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-23504, since there is an excessively large relative speed differential between the opening and the internal wall of the roller during the high-speed printing operation in particular, then it is not possible to achieve a sufficient suctioning time and this leads to a decline in the suctioning efficiency.

Liquid removal apparatus, image forming apparatus and liquid removal method


A golf club shaft manufacturing process for making a lightweight golf club shaft that is not uniformly tapered along its length by using standard table-rolling tools and equipment. The process consists generally of creating one or more hollow sleeves and securing them around the exterior of a mandrel, the sleeves having a length and an exterior shape equal to the desired dimensions of the non-tapered portions of the shaft. Graphite flags are then rolled around the mandrel and sleeve, shrink tape is applied and the entire assembly is placed in a curing oven to cure the graphite shaft. The curing temperature is less than the melting point of either the mandrel or sleeve. Once the shaft has been cured, the shrink tape is removed and the mandrel is extracted. The remaining shaft and sleeve assembly is heated to a temperature greater than the melting point of the sleeve material so that the sleeve is liquefied and can be poured out of the shaft. The cured shaft can then be cut, sanded and finished as desired.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to golf club shaft manufacturing procedures, and more particularly to an improved shaft manufacturing procedure that allows a golf club shaft that is not uniformly tapered to be easily manufactured with standard table-rolling equipment rather than requiring the use of expensive, specialty tools.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventional golf club shafts generally have an elongate, cylindrical shape and are uniformly tapered along the length so that the smallest diameter of the shaft is at the neck, where the club head is attached, and the largest diameter of the shaft is at the opposing, handle end where the shaft is typically gripped.
The standard method for making evenly tapered golf club shafts is commonly known as the table-rolled method. This method consists generally of laying one or more graphite flags in a bias pattern on a rolling table, and then rolling the flags around a mandrel. One or more straight-pattern flags are then hand-rolled around the mandrel. When the appropriate number of flags have been rolled around the mandrel to achieve the desired strength and torque of the shaft, shrink tape is then placed around the rolled mandrel, and the entire assembly is put in a curing oven. When the graphite has been thoroughly cured, the mandrel is extracted and the shrink wrap is removed, leaving a solid, hollow golf club shaft having an interior that conforms to the shape of the mandrel. The shaft is them cut to the appropriate length, sanded and finished as desired.
However, there is currently a trend in the golf industry to manufacture golf club shafts that are not uniformly tapered, but rather have at least one outwardly curved protrusion near the handle end of the shaft. Unfortunately, the standard table-rolled method cannot be used to create such a shaft, since the shafts manufactured in this way must continually taper in order to allow for the extraction of the mandrel.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,316,299 issued to Feche et al. discloses a shaft having such a protrusion, and French patent 91 12937 discloses a procedure for creating such a shaft. As disclosed, the process for making a non-uniformly tapered shaft requires that an air bladder be used in place of a mandrel. When inflated, the air bladder has a generally elongate, tapered shape with the desired outwardly extending protrusion. Once the air bladder has been appropriately covered with layers of graphite and cured, the air is released from the air bladder and the bladder is simply extracted from the cured golf club shaft. Both the interior and the exterior of the resulting shaft conform to the shape of the inflated air bladder. Unfortunately, as disclosed this process has many significant drawbacks and limitations. Most importantly, most golf club shaft manufacturers are equipped to manufacture shafts using mandrels and standard table-rolling procedures, and thus cannot easily incorporate the air-bladder method into their current modes of operation. In addition to the air bladder, this manufacturing process also requires specialized equipment that costs approximately $100,000 per machine.
In an attempt to avoid the expense associated with the above processes, a shaft with an outward curvature has been manufactured using traditional table-rolled techniques. In order to accomplish this, graphite flags are rolled around the mandrel as described above, and then additional layers of graphite are simply added to the exterior of the mandrel to create an outward protrusion on the shaft. This produces a shaft having an interior that is hollow in a uniformly tapered manner, and an exterior that has a protrusion. However, while this method is less expensive because standard table-rolling equipment is employed, the resulting shaft is up to 20 grams heavier than those made with an air bladder, which is a significant disadvantage in achieving maximum golf swing performance.
Thus there is a clear need for an improved golf club manufacturing process that allows a shaft that is not uniformly tapered to be easily created using traditional table-rolling equipment without increasing the weight of the resultant shaft. Such a process would reduce manufacturing costs and further reduce the weight of the shaft. The present inventive manufacturing process fulfills these needs and provides further related advantages as described in the following summary.


The present disclosure provides, among other things, compounds and crystalline forms of compounds thereof and methods of making and using such compounds and crystalline forms of compounds. Disclosed compounds and crystalline forms are useful in electronic materials, semiconductor materials, and optoelectronic materials and devices incorporating these materials and which exhibit desirable characteristics for the same.

Optoelectronic materials, devices and systems source, detect, and control electromagnetic radiation. Typical optoelectronic materials are made of metals and/or metalloids. Examples of these materials include aluminum, arsenic gallium, indium among others. The properties of such optoelectronic materials are tuned by varying the proportions of the elements present. In most cases these materials are toxic and heavy. Organic conductors and semiconductors are less toxic, lighter and more flexible.

Triazinium cation forms and methods of making thereof


A package, especially a soft-cup pack for cigarettes is disclosed. An inner wrapping (12) of the soft-cup pack is provided with an opening and withdrawal aid. In the region of an end wall (15), a longitudinal tab (16) is folded out s of the region of the end wall (15). The other longitudinal tab (17) serves as a closure tab for a withdrawal opening (24) which is formed in the central region of the end wall (15). The withdrawal opening (24) is enlarged because parts of side tabs (20, 21) can be moved into the open position a together with the longitudinal tab (17). Additionally, the inner wrapping (12) is provided with a withdrawal aid which is effective in the region of the withdrawal opening (24), in particular with a lift-out strip (44) which is formed from the inner wrapping (12).

The invention relates to a package, especially a soft-cup pack for cigarettes or the like, having at least one (inner) wrapping which is made of a foldable packaging material and which has two longitudinal tabs in the region of an upper end wall which are connected, on the one hand, to a front wall and, on the other hand, to a rear wall.
The soft-cup type of pack is used world-wide for packaging cigarettes. The pack contents, i.e. a cigarette group, are completely surrounded by an (inner) wrapping. This wrapping is usually made of tin foil, but recently also of coated paper or the like. The block-shaped pack contents are usually surrounded by the wrapping in such a way that an envelope-type folding is formed in the region of an upper end wall. Trapezoidal longitudinal tabs are connected, on the one hand, to the front wall and, on the other hand, to the rear wall of the wrapping. The shape of the longitudinal tabs is formed by a folding in of side tabs which are connnected to the longitudinal tabs and extend elongated side walls of the wrapping.
In a soft-cup pack, the (inner) wrapping which is formed in the way described above is surrounded by a cup usually formed from paper. In the region of the end wall, this cup is open so that the inner wrapping projects slightly from the pack, at least with the end wall. In the case of a cigarette pack, the outer wrapping which is provided is made of cellulose film or plastic film and has to be removed when the pack is put into use.
It is a drawback of the soft-cup packs that the withdrawal of the pack contents, i.e. especially of the cigarettes, requires some effort. Usually, a portion of the end wall is removed manually by tearing in order to form a withdrawal opening. This opening remains open until the pack is emptied.

Package, especially soft-cup pack for cigarettes


An apparatus for filtering TS packets multiplexed with a plurality of programs and sending the filtered packets to decoders. A packet landing buffer is provided in a RAM used for a microprocessor for system control. After a channel is selected, the microprocessor filters video and audio data and performs a value added service process.

The present invention relates to decoding video and audio data which are multiplexed after compression coding, and more particularly to a receiver/decoder for receiving video and audio data compression encoded by high efficiency coding means and decoding the received encoded data.
In order to reduce a transmission/record cost of a large amount of video data, the video data is compression encoded by high efficiency coding means which removes redundancy and thereafter the data is transmitted or recorded. An example of high efficiency coding means is the well known MPEG method standardized by ISO/SC29/WG11. In the MPEG method, an encoded data multiplexing method as well as the video and audio data encoding method are standardized as MPEG/Systems.
In the fields of broadcasting and communications, in recent years, redundancy of moving picture video data is removed to compress the video data which is then transmitted in the form of digital signals. For video data compression, discrete cosine transformation (DCT) and motion compensation prediction coding such as one stipulated in MPEG specifications are generally performed. With high compression ratio of video data, a plurality of broadcast programs can be transmitted in a multiplex manner over a single transmission channel. A program means a set of video data and its associated audio and/or text data.
Multiplexing of a plurality of programs according to the MPEG specifications is stipulated in ITU-T Rec. H.222.0, ISO/IEC13818-1, 1994 (E), "Information Technology--Generic Coding of Moving Pictures and Associated Audio--Part 1: Systems", pp. 9-21, wherein it is described that a transport stream (hereinafter abbreviated as TS) packet is used for such multiplexing which has a fixed length of 188 bytes. The structure of an apparatus called a set top box is shown in the block diagram of FIG. 2. This apparatus separates TS packets formed in accordance with the MPEG specifications and supplied from a broadcast station or the like, and supplies them to a video decoder and an audio decoder to output decoded video and audio signals. Conventional techniques will be described with reference to FIG. 2.
A tuner 1 selects data of one channel transmitted from a communications medium such as a CATV and a communications satellite, and supplies the selected channel data to a demodulator 2. The demodulator 2 demodulates the channel data which was channel encoded by QAM, QPSK, or the like, performs an error correction process by using redundancy codes, and supplies the processed data to a demultiplexer 3. The processed data is a bit stream data of the TS packet format which is shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B. The formats are classified into two types shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B according to the contents of a TS packet. The format shown in FIG. 3A is used for transmitting program elements, including video data, audio data, text data such as teletext, and other data. Each TS packet of 188 bytes is constituted by a transport stream header (abbreviated as TS header) and a payload containing elements described above. The TS header always contains a packet ID (abbreviated as PID) representative of the attribute of the TS packet, and sometimes contains a program clock reference (abbreviated as PCR) which is time information used for a decoder to recover a system clock used as a time reference when each element was encoded. The payload is part of a packetized elementary stream (PES). The PES packet is a variable length packet constituting an element unit determined by each element, the type of data storage media, and the like. The PES packet is constituted by data of each element and a PES header. The PES header includes a stream ID for describing the element contents, time stamp information (PTS) for describing a PES packet length and a time when the element is displayed, and other pieces of information. The element unit designated by PTS is called an access unit. For example, one picture is the unit for video data, and one frame is the unit for audio data. The format shown in FIG. 3B is used for program specific information (abbreviated as PSI) which is additional information used for the system control. The payload of the TS packet is part of PSI described in units of sections. Each section is constituted by a section header, PSI, and cyclic redundancy check (CRC) used for error correction. The section header indicates the attribute of the succeeding PSI and a section length. PSI is structured hierarchically and contains information necessary for the system control, such as program association table (PAT) describing program information (specifically, PID of PMT to be described later) contained in bit stream data transmitted as TS, and a program map table (PMT) describing a correspondence between the element and PID in each program. The demultiplexer 3 shown in FIG. 2 receives a TS packet, and supplies PSI data via a data bus to a system decode buffer allocated in a RAM 7, and video and audio data which are elements constituting a program selected by a user, respectively to a video decoder 8 and an audio decoder 10. The demultiplexer 3 samples time information from the header of the TS packet containing PCR, and supplies control signals to a clock generator 4 to recover the system clock. A microprocessor 12 decodes the contents of PSI data sent to the system decode buffer in RAM 7 and stores the results in a system decode buffer 73 in RAM 7 in the data format usable by system control software programs. Software programs are generally stored in the same RAM or in a dedicated ROM. The work area of software programs is generally developed in RAM 72. In response to an instruction entered by a user via a user interface unit 13, the microprocessor 12 supplies PID which is used for deriving the TS packet of a program, to the demultiplexer 3, by using the decoded PSI data, and also supplies a control signal which is used for selecting the program, to the tuner 1. The video decoder 8 and audio decoder 10 decode the video and audio data in cooperation with a video decode buffer 9 and an audio decode buffer 11. Data transmission speed on a transport channel is different from the bit rate used when each element was encoded, because of multiplexing of programs. Therefore, if data is supplied at the data transmission speed directly to the video decoder 8 and audio decoder 10, the video decode buffer 9 and audio decode buffer 11 may locally overflow or underflow and video and audio outputs are disturbed. It is therefore necessary to insert packet transport buffers 5 and 6 between the demultiplexer and decoders to convert the bit rates in accordance with the capacities of the decoder buffers, and thereafter to supply element data to the video decoder 8 and audio decoder 10. Multiplexing according to the MPEG specifications assume that a packet transport buffer having a capacity of 512 bytes per each element is provided.
The present inventors have found out problems of an increased number of system components and an increased cost to be caused by the provision of the packet transport buffers 5 and 6 independently from the system memory. Even if the packet transport buffers are implemented in the demultiplexer 3, the increased circuit scale and an increased cost thereof are inevitable.
The MPEG specifications standardize not only a video and audio encoding method but also a coded data multiplexing method, as the MPEG/Systems.
FIG. 24 shows the structure of a transport packet (hereinafter called a TS packet) adopted by the transport system which represents one multiplexing method of the MPEG/Systems.
Each TS packet is a fixed length packet of 188 bytes including a 4-byte header and a 184-byte payload. The 4-byte header is constituted by a sync byte, an error flag, a unit start flag, a scramble control flag, a priority flag, a set of PID data, an adaptation field control flag, and a cyclic counter. The contents of PID data identify the payload of the TS packet.
The payload is constituted by an adaptation field (hereinafter abbreviated as AF) designated by the adaptation field control flag and a payload having video and audio encoded data and multiplexing information data. AF is constituted by AF length data, a discontinuity flag, a random access flag, a priority flag, a PCR flag indicating a presence/absence of AF optional data, an OPCR flag, a splice point flag, a private data flag, and optional data designated by these flags. Of the optional data, PCR data is used for clock synchronization between the transmission and reception sides, and the reception side generates a reference clock of 27 MHz by using a phase locked loop.
FIG. 25 illustrates selection of a particular channel of encoded video and audio data from a bit stream (TS packets) with a plurality of programs (hereinafter called channels) multiplexed. A program association table (hereinafter abbreviated as PAT) is always transmitted by a TS packet having PID="0". PAT contains multiplexing information of a plurality of channels and supplies information on whether each channel program map table (hereinafter abbreviated as PMT) is transmitted by a TS packet having what PID value.
FIG. 25 shows an example of multiplexing of three channels. In order to select a j-th channel and obtain its PMT, the TS packet with PID=Mj is captured. This PMT has information that the video data is transmitted by the TS packet with PID=Aj and the audio data is transmitted by the TS packet with PID=Vj. Therefore, encoded video data can be received by capturing the TS packet with PID=Vj and encoded audio data can be received by capturing the TS packet with PID=Aj.
The MPEG/Systems described above, however, define only syntax of TS packets and the like and does not determine how a reception apparatus is actually configured. In addition, it does not provide particular definition of multiplexing of value added services such as program guidance, which definition is relied upon arbitrary decision on the side of broadcasting companies or program vendors.
In conventional technique disclosed in JP-A-4-229464 (corresponding to EP-0460751A2), each packet has time information which is used on the decode side as a reference of various timings including a decode timing.

Decoder for compressed and multiplexed video and audio data


A solution is proposed for dispensing substances to be taken by a user. A corresponding dispensing device comprises a memory for storing an indication of a taking plan of a plurality of doses of one or more substances, the taking plan comprising an indication of a taking time of each dose, a plurality of compartments each one for containing one of the doses, a signaling unit for providing a taking notice of each dose in response to the corresponding taking time, a pushbutton for releasing the dose corresponding to each taking notice from the corresponding compartment in response to a releasing command; the dispensing device comprises a plate having a collecting surface in a central zone thereof, the compartments being arranged in a peripheral zone of the plate and the pushbutton facing towards the central zone of the plate for collecting the doses released thereby onto the collecting surface. An assistance system is also proposed for facilitating the taking of substances by a user, the system comprising this dispensing device and a processing device of a person in charge of the dispenser device adapted to communicate with each other.

The background of the present disclosure is hereinafter introduced with the discussion of techniques relating to its context. However, even when this discussion refers to documents, acts, artifacts and the like, it does not suggest or represent that the discussed techniques are part of the prior art or are common general knowledge in the field relevant to the present disclosure.
The taking of substances (for example, medicines by patients) is a very common operation (especially for people that are no longer young). Generally, the medicines should be taken respecting corresponding dosages that specify the amount of each medicine and its frequency.
However, compliance with such dosages is not entirely easy. In fact, especially in case of very old patients or patients with mnemonic problems, it may be difficult to remember the taking times of the medicines. In addition, especially in case of very old patients or patients with physical problems, the opening of the packages of the medicines may be difficult (for example, when they are equipped with child safety systems). This may cause the missing taking of the medicines or their incorrect taking, with potential (even serious) risks for the health of the patients.
Dispensing devices (or simply dispensers) of medicines have been proposed to facilitate their taking. In their simplest form, such dispensers are provided with compartments to receive a series of doses of the medicines for a certain period, possibly with tags to indicate their taking times. More recently, automatic dispensers have also appeared, which allow (in addition to loading the doses of the medicines for a certain period) programming their taking times (for example, through a display and corresponding keys). Once each taking time is reached, such (automatic) dispensers provide a corresponding notice to remind the taking of the corresponding dose (for example, of acoustic type); in addition, the dispensers may also send corresponding messages to telephones of the patients. In response thereto, the patients may obtain the doses to be taken by acting on a suitable command of the dispenser. Some dispensers also allow accessing information about their conditions remotely (for example, via the Internet), in particular to detect any missing taking of the medicines; for example, this allows doctors of the patients to compensate for the missing taking of the medicines by adding recovery doses or by modifying their taking.
Generally, the dispensers are provided with a releasing slot of the medicines and with a mobile system (for example, a wheel) for bringing the medicine doses to the releasing slot. Whenever the patient is required to take a medicine dose (in response to the corresponding notice), the patient brings his/her dispenser, with the releasing slot facing downwards, over an open hand or over a table. At this point, the patient presses a corresponding button that causes the exit of the dose through the releasing slot and its fall by gravity (onto the hand of the patient or onto the table).
However, the release of the medicines from the dispenser may be quite difficult. Indeed, this requires the coordination of different movements. In particular, a hand is used to cause the release of the medicines from the dispenser; the other hand is instead used to receive the medicines that fall thereon or to grab them once fallen onto the table. These operations may not be not completely easy, especially in case of very old patients or patients with physical problems. This may cause the falling of the medicines, with further difficulties for their search and collection. In such a condition, it is very often difficult for the patient to find the fallen medicines so that they are generally lost. Consequently, the lost medicines are not taken by the patient (with the already highlighted possible risks for his/her health). The medicines that have been released by the dispenser but that have been lost might appear as taken by the patient to his/her doctor. Therefore, it is not possible to detect their missing taking to intervene for compensating it accordingly.
In addition, the loading of the medicines into the dispensers is quite uncomfortable (since the corresponding keys used to enter the taking times may be difficult to use). In addition, any medicines that are not taken (and that are therefore left in the dispenser) may create difficulties for a next loading of the dispenser (with the risk of possible mistakes caused by confusion with the medicines to be load).

Dispenser of substance doses with dish for collection thereof


An apparatus (300, 400) and method are provided for multimedia communications, such as for video conferencing. One of the embodiments of the apparatus for multimedia input and control (300) includes a video input (310) to produce an input video signal; an audio input (320) to produce an input audio signal; a radio frequency modulator (350); a data/control input (330) to produce an input data signal; and a processor arrangement (360) responsive when operably coupled, through a set of program instructions, to produce a first processor signal to the radio frequency modulator to combine the input video signal with the input audio signal to form a composite audio/video signal, and the processor arrangement (360) further responsive to modulate the input data signal to form a modulated input data signal and produce a second processor signal to the radio frequency modulator to combine the input video signal with the modulated input data signal to form a combined video/data signal.

The various related applications disclose apparatuses, methods and systems for multimedia communications, such as video conferencing and telephony, over a variety of communications channels, such as wireline, cable, and hybrid fiber coaxial cable, and utilizing a variety of communications networks, such as an Integrated Services Digital Network ("ISDN"), the Public Switched Telephone Network ("PSTN"), and cable networks.
For video conferencing and other video capability, the various systems illustrated in the related applications require video camera input capability, to generate a video image for use in video conferencing or other activities, such as in-home or premise surveillance. In addition, as disclosed in the related applications, preferably under user control, various video images from a plurality of sources may also be multiplexed to create a composite image, or may be individually selected for transmission. Preferably, such a video apparatus should also provide for other means of user input, such as input of images for multimedia faxing. Accordingly, a need has remained for a multimedia input and control apparatus and method which may be utilized for multimedia communications, including video conferencing, faxing, data and other communications. In addition, such a multimedia input and control apparatus and method should also provide user control functionality and multimedia functionality for a plurality of applications.

Multimedia input and control apparatus and method for multimedia communications


An object code for sequentially switching contexts of processing circuits arrayed in a matrix in a parallel operation apparatus is generated from a general source code descriptive of operation of the parallel operation apparatus. A Data Flow Graph (DFG) is generated from the source code descriptive of operation of the parallel operation apparatus according to limiting conditions, registered in advance, representing a physical structure, etc. of the parallel operation apparatus, and scheduled in a Control Data Flow Graph (CDFG). An Register Transfer Level (RTL) description is generated from the CDFG, converting a finite-state machine into an object code and converting a data path into a net list. An object code of the processing circuits is generated in each context from the net list.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data processing apparatus and method for generating the data of an object program for a parallel operation apparatus, a computer program for the data processing apparatus, an information storage medium storing the data of the computer program, a parallel operation apparatus operable according to the object program, and a data processing system which comprises the parallel operation apparatus and the data processing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Products called CPU (Central Processing Unit) and MPU (Micro-Processor Unit) are used in the art as processor units capable of freely performing various data processing processes.
In a data processing system using such a processor unit, various object codes descriptive of a plurality of operation instructions and various processing data are stored in a memory device, and the processing unit sequentially reads operation instructions and processing data from the memory device and successively executes a plurality of data processing processes.
While one processor unit is capable of performing various data processing processes, since the processor unit needs to carry out the processing processes successively in sequence, and also need to read operation instructions from the memory device for the respective processing processes, it is difficult for the processor unit to execute complex processing processes at a high speed.
If there is only one data processing process to be carried out and if a logic circuit for carrying out the data processing process is hardware-implemented, then a processor unit would not be required to read a plurality of operation instructions sequentially from a memory device and execute a plurality of data processing processes successively in sequence. Therefore, a complex data processing process can be performed at a high speed, though only one data processing process can be executed.
Stated otherwise, a data processing system wherein object codes are freely changeable is capable of performing various data processing processes, but finds it difficult to carry out data processing processes at a high speed because it has a fixed hardware arrangement. On the other hand, a hardware-implemented logic circuit can carry out a data processing process at a high speed, but can execute only one data processing process as no object code can be changed.
To solve the above problem, the present applicant has devised, and filed a patent application on, a parallel operation apparatus as a processor unit whose hardware arrangement changes depending on software. The parallel operation apparatus has been disclosed in Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 2001-236385. The disclosed parallel operation apparatus has a matrix of many small-scale processing circuits and interconnection circuits and a state manager connected parallel to the matrix.
The processing circuits perform respective data processing processes individually according to operation instructions based on individual data settings, and the interconnection circuits individually control connections between the processing circuits according to operation instructions based on individual data settings. The parallel operation apparatus can perform various data processing processes because it changes the hardware arrangement by changing operation instructions for the processing circuits and the interconnection circuits, and can execute data processing processes at a high speed because the many small-scale processing circuits as hardware circuits perform simple data processing processes parallel to each other.
Since the state manager successively switches contexts made up of operation instructions for the processing circuits and the interconnection circuits in respective operation cycles according to object codes, the parallel operation apparatus can parallel processing processes consecutively according to the object codes.
Parallel operation apparatus in which contexts are successively switched in a plurality of cycles are disclosed in "Introduction to the Configurable, Highly Parallel Computer" published by Lawrence Snyder of Purdue University in IEEE Computer, vol. 15, No. 1, January 1982, pp. 47–56, Japanese laid-open patent publications Nos. 2000-138579, 2000-224025, 2000-232354, and 2000-232162 based on patent applications filed by the present applicant.
In the above parallel operation apparatus, since a state manager switches contexts contained in object codes successively in respective operation cycles, a plurality of processing circuits and a plurality of interconnection circuits which are connected in a matrix operate parallel to each other in the operation cycles according to the contexts.
However, the above parallel operation apparatus are basically different from conventional CPUs as to both structure and operation. Therefore, the parallel operation apparatus are unable to simply generate object codes from source codes according to a conventional method. There has been no technique available in the art so far for generating object codes from source codes for the above parallel operation apparatus.

Data processing apparatus and method for generating the data of an object program for a parallel operation apparatus