Presented is a wheeled carrier defining a nacelle within which may be carried articles to be transported, such as duck and goose decoys. The carrier includes a main frame joined by a bottom frame structure to form the nacelle. Wheel assemblies are pivotally mounted on the main frame and may be attached or detached from the bottom frame structure for use or for storage.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to carrier vehicles, and more particularly to a collapsible wheeled carrier that may conveniently be handled by one person in both its extended and collapsed form.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A preliminary patentability and novelty search has indicated the existence of the following United States patents:
______________________________________ 2,183,066 3,073,614 4,045,040 4,373,737 4,728,244 4,806,063 ______________________________________
It requires only a cursory review of the above-listed patents to show that the structure, function, and mode of operation of the invention forming the subject matter hereof is significantly different from the structures illustrated and described in the noted patents.
Referring to the above-listed patents in the order of their issuance, it is noted that U.S. Pat. No. 2,183,066 is directed to a two-wheel hand cart in the nature of a wheel barrow, but provided with a frame pivotally mounted on two handle bars in a manner to enable maintaining the frame relatively horizontal with respect to the surface over which the cart is wheeled simply by manipulation of one of the handle bars. The frame is utilized for carrying a game carcass, but is not collapsible to enable the cart to be easily carried on the top of an automobile, or to be submerged in a body of water so that it cannot be seen from the air.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,073,614 discloses a combination game cart and chair, and has the advantage that it can be easily disassembled to facilitate transport. However, the structure is not constructed in a manner to enable quick and easy collapse of the structure while still completely assembled as is true with respect to the invention forming the subject matter hereof.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,045,040 discloses a wheeled game carrier structure, which can be connected to a back pack worn by a hunter so as to trail the wheeled carrier while the hunter wearing the back pack walks from one location to another. When desired, the carrier frame may be converted to a four-legged tripod-like stand having a seat at its upper end formed by the back pack, and on which a hunter may sit while watching for the approach of game, such as deer.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,373,737 relates to a game carrier that comprises simply a pair of parallel telescoping members which may be collapsed for storage, or which may be telescopically extended for use in carrying game. A pair of wheels are mounted on one end of the telescoping rail members to facilitate the transport of game.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,728,244 is directed to a structure that functions both as a roof rack for securement to an automobile for the purpose of carrying equipment, such as bicycles, and as a two-wheeled cart when off-loaded from the roof of an automobile and reassembed into a two-wheeled cart. It requires only a cursory review of this patented structure to show that there is very little resemblance in structure, function or mode of operation with the subject matter of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,806,063 relates to a portable wild game hoist adapted to be attached to the rear portion of a vehicle having a conventional trailer hitch. The purpose stated is to facilitate skinning and dressing game at the kill site, rather than having to laboriously pack the carcass to some other location for this purpose.
All of the devices illustrated and described in the patents noted above appear to be limited in their structure and mode of operation to carrying heavy game, such as deer or elk. None of the structures depicted by these patents appear to relate to a wheeled carrier cart that may be collapsed while entirely assembled so as to facilitate loading of the decoy laden cart on the roof structure of a vehicle, and then enable off-loading of the laden cart, extension of the wheels to enable transport of the duck decoys to a place of use, and subsequent collapse of the wheels in relation to the frame to enable submersion of the entire structure in a pond so as to hide the structure from overflying game fowl attracted by the decoys.
Accordingly, the principal object of the invention is the provision of a light-weight wheeled cart that is collapsible while fully assembled to enable the wheeled cart to be transported on a vehicle in collapsed condition, or extended to enable use of the wheels to transport decoys to the place of use, and to then enable collapse of the wheels while still attached to the structure to enable submersion of the entire structure below the surface of a body of water.
Another object of the invention is the provision of a wheeled decoy cart that is fabricated to provide a frame having a nacelle within which up to 150 duck decoys, or 200 goose decoys may be carried, and which may also contain such items as an ice chest, food, guns, clothing and waders.
A still further object of the invention is the provision of a collapsible wheeled decoy cart that is fabricated from light-weight metal tubing and is provided with a pair of wheels that are centered longitudinally on the frame so as to enable easy handling of the cart by one person over various types of terrain or water.
A still further object of the invention is the provision of a wheeled duck or goose decoy cart that may be loaded on the ground, then with its wheels retracted, slid onto a vehicle rooftop, to serve temporarily as a storage rack while being transported to the location of use, whereupon it may be unloaded, while fully laden with decoys, by sliding the cart partially off the rooftop, extending and locking the wheels, then lowering the wheeled cart with wheels extended onto the ground so that it may be wheeled to the field or body of water, where the decoys may be offloaded and distributed, the wheels collapsed, and the cart camouflaged in the field or submerged in the water to hide it from overflying game fowl.
The invention possesses other objects and features of advantage, some of which, with the foregoing, will be apparent from the following description and the drawings. It is to be understood however that the invention is not limited to the embodiment illustrated and described since it may be embodied in various forms within the scope of the appended claims.

Collapsible wheeled carrier for duck and goose decoys and the like


An exercise device can include a pair of pedal members, each of which can be rotatably connected on at least one end to a planet gear that is rotatable about a sun gear on each side of the device. The pedal members and the planet gears can be rotated to provide an elliptical exercise motion. The device can include a mechanism for simultaneously rotating each of the sun gears together to change the orientation of the elliptical exercise motion relative to a user. The orientation of an elliptical exercise motion can be changed dynamically from one orientation to another, for example, from horizontal to uphill or downhill, during a particular workout period. The exercise device can change the orientation of an elliptical exercise motion while maintaining a user's ankles at a substantially constant angle during the exercise cycle.

The benefits of regular exercise are well documented. To facilitate regular exercise, a number of exercise and fitness machines are now available for both commercial and in-home use. One of the more recently developed fitness machines is the so-called elliptical trainer. Elliptical exercise machines comprise various mechanisms to create a more or less elliptical exercise path for the user that provides the benefits of walking or running on a treadmill while reducing impact stress on the user's joints, such as the knees and hips.
Conventional elliptical exercise machines provide elliptical pedal motion by virtue of various reciprocating members and geared linkage systems. For example, elliptical pedal motion can be generated by a pair of foot pedal members driven on one end by a bicycle-type wheel, or bell crank, about a pivot axis. The pedal members can be guided on the other end by swinging arms or by being slidingly or rollingly engaged with a linear track or ramp. The wheel allows the foot pedals to move in upward and downward directions, while the slide or roller configuration allows the pedals to move in forward and backward directions. Such configurations result in a reciprocating, pseudo-elliptical exercise path and limit the range of exercise motion to the fixed circular guide path of the wheel or crank.
If the user of a conventional elliptical exercise machine is standing in an upright position, the exercise motion is generally in the form of a horizontal ellipse, such that the major axis of the ellipse is in the horizontal plane. It may be desirable to change the orientation of the exercise motion to provide a variety of "uphill" and "downhill" motions in an exercise program. In some conventional elliptical exercise devices, the orientation of the exercise motion ellipse cannot be changed from a preset orientation, such as an orientation in which the ellipse has a horizontal major axis.
Other conventional elliptical-type exercise machines allow for adjusting the orientation of the exercise motion. For example, a roller guide track that provides for generation of an elliptical path may be disengaged from one support position on a frame and re-engaged in another support position in order to change the exercise path. In another conventional elliptical exercise machine design, an upright support member connected to a bicycle wheel can be adjusted to allow for variable pedal motion.
One disadvantage of adjusting an elliptical exercise path in such conventional devices is that the adjustments often must be made manually. For a manual change of an elliptical exercise path, a user generally must stop use of the device, dismount the device, and physically move components of the device related to generation of an elliptical exercise path. Such manual changes to an elliptical exercise path can disrupt an exercise routine and may be so complicated or strenuous that users may opt not to make such changes, thereby defeating the purpose of having a device with an adjustable elliptical exercise path.
In a conventional elliptical trainer, a pedal can be attached to an arm on a planetary gear that is rotatable about a sun gear. The exercise path can be changed by moving the point of pedal attachment to discrete attachment points on the arm. By changing the point at which the user's foot exerts force on the planetary gear, the exercise motion of the planetary gear about the fixed sun gear can be changed. Such a means for changing the shape of an exercise motion has several disadvantages. In addition to the change having to be made manually, the change can only be made between the discrete, separated points of contact on the planetary gear arm. As a result, the exercise motions are limited to the orientations of an ellipse at those particular points of contact. However, it may be desirable to change an elliptical exercise motion to any orientation along a continuum between horizontal and vertical and to be able to provide those exercise motions in either an "uphill" or "downhill" orientation.
To alter an exercise path by achieving a longer stride, conventional elliptical cross trainers often use exaggerated pedal articulation. In elliptical-type exercise devices in which one end of a pair of pedal members rotates about a pivot axis and the other end is guided through a reciprocal path of travel, the angle formed by the user's ankles constantly changes between flexion and extension during the exercise cycle. Such conventional exercise devices that employ exaggerated ankle articulation and/or constant changes between flexion and extension have the disadvantage of potentially overworking a user's ankles.

Elliptical exercise device and methods of use


A method and system for enabling persistence of a value by a dynamically reconfigurable processor (“DRP”) from the time of execution of an earlier executed instruction to a time of later executed instruction. The value may represent a constant a variable value of a software program. The value may be read from or written into a memory circuit, a DRP logic element, an iterator of a DRP logic element, or other value storing element or aspect of the DRP. The value may be maintained in a single logic element through the duration of one or more instruction execution cycles, or alternatively or additionally, the value may be transferred between or among one or more value storage hardware elements. The persistence of the value and transfer of the value within, into and/or out of the DRP enables later access of the value by, and/or positioning the value within, the DRP.

The subject matter discussed in the background section should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in the background section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the background section or associated with the subject matter of the background section should not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the background section merely represents different approaches, which in and of themselves may also be inventions.
Prior art computers based on the design innovations of Turing and von Neumann currently dominate the field of general purpose computing. Yet this brilliant and fundamental design work was originally done with several now anachronistic constraints. The Turing and von Neumann computer architectures were also driven by the criterion of defining a simplest computer design that could therefore be reliable given the manufacturing technology available in the early 1940's. While electronics technology has dramatically evolved in the ensuing decades to empower the commercially feasible manufacture of increasingly more powerful logic circuits and more complex data processing systems, the prior art of computational system design has remained fixated upon complying with the design concepts and constraints selected by Turing and von Neumann that were established under the technological limitations and military necessities existent during the Second World War.
The Applicant has disclosed a radically new approach to the design of computational systems in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/301,763 that embodies an inventive concept of computational design that is a novel and non-obvious departure from prior art computer design. In one singularly novel quality of the method of the present invention, the configurable circuit array of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/301,763 enables the automatic application of the entire command set of certain high level languages to automatically configure logic circuitry to computationally efficiently instantiate the logic of the originating high level source code without human operator intervention. More specifically, the method of the present invention enables the automated application of the higher level programming languages of FORTRAN, C, the Gnu C Complier ("GCC"), C++, JAVA and other suitable software languages known in the art by means of configurable logic and thereby instantiate logic of source code software programs written in each of these languages into a logic circuit configuration.
In prior art computers, the input to the prior art computer is a sequential series of instructions that is selected from a limited instruction set. In contrast, the method of the present invention (hereinafter, "the invented method") discloses that a dynamically reconfigurable processor, to include the apparatus of the present invention (hereinafter, "invented processor") need not have such an instruction set, but rather may execute a series of complex instructions that are applied to dynamically reconfigure a target circuit on the fly. The method of the present invention provides a compiler (hereinafter, "invented compiler") that extracts the logic, values, parameters, information and interrelationships of a sequence of instructions to efficiently configure a series of reconfigurable circuits coupled with input/output ("I/O") operations and memory operations. The invented compiler thereby accepts and automatically converts the logical flow of an arbitrarily long series of high level language instructions into an arbitrarily long sequence of reconfigurations of an array of reconfigurable circuits coupled with I/O and memory operations in order to functionally and practically perform a wide range of general purpose computing processes.
In a dynamically reconfigurable processor, most hardware components and circuits are adapted for at least partial reconfiguration with other hardware components and circuits in the transitions from one reconfiguration instruction to another. In distinction from prior art processor architectures is that most paths of many operations of a dynamically reconfigurable processor are generated and applied within a single instruction execution cycle and present no need for persistence beyond the instruction execution cycle in which they are generated, and are therefore not stored beyond the completion of a single instruction execution.
Occasionally, access to a value received, created or determined by a reconfigurable hardware component in an earlier executed instruction is required for the full execution of, or reconfiguration in accordance with, a later executed instruction. It is understood that the instant term "value" includes both constant values and variable values that may be altered in the computational processing of the comprising dynamically reconfigurable processor, wherein the value of interest may be a software program variable value or a software program constant value.
Such values are preferably maintained in logic elements, registers, memories and other value storing elements or components of the instant dynamically reconfigurable processor. Yet these hardware components may be required to hold an alternate value or values in intervening instruction executions rather than be available to devotedly store a same value during the execution cycles of one or more instructions.
The invented compiler preferably manages the storage and positioning of values within a dynamically reconfigurable processor as required for successful executions of one or more instructions of the dynamically reconfigurable processor by determining a pathway of value storage elements across a duration of time to provide these values as required in the execution of one or more instructions by the dynamically reconfigurable processor without creating a conflict of assignment of hardware elements or components in storing values. It is a clear benefit to a dynamically reconfigurable processor to be adapted to persist certain values beyond one or more reconfigurations of its reconfigurable logic elements and other hardware elements. Yet the prior art fails to provide compilers optimally adapted to prevent conflicts of assignments of value storing elements across the execution cycles of two or more reconfiguration instructions in the operation of a dynamically reconfigurable processor.
There is therefore a relatively long-felt need in the application and design of dynamically reconfigurable processors to provide methods and systems that enable a more efficient and effective temporal persistence of values in order to provide one or more persistent values as required in the computational activities of dynamically reconfigurable processor as required by one or more instances of reconfiguration and instruction executions.

Method and dynamically reconfigurable processor adapted for management of persistence of information across multiple instruction cycles


A method of processing a sequence of images of a retina acquired by an ophthalmic device to generate retinal position tracking information indicative of retina movement during acquisition. The method includes (i) receiving one or more images of the retina; (ii) calculating a cross-correlation between a reference image and an image based on the received image(s) to acquire an offset between the image and reference image; and repeating processes (i) and (ii) to acquire, as the tracking information, respective offsets for images that are based on the respective received image(s). Another step includes modifying the reference image during the repeating, by determining a measure of similarity between correspondingly located regions of pixels in two or more received images and accentuating features in the reference image representing structures of the imaged retina in relation to other features in the reference image based on the determined measure of similarity.

Ophthalmic devices having an imaging section such as a scanning laser ophthalmoscope (SLO), which can use the imaging section to generate a stream of retinal images for tracking eye movements, are often used in optical coherence tomography (OCT) and other kinds of ophthalmic work. The imaging section typically acquires the images at high frame rates and under relatively low levels of infrared (IR) illumination. The acquired images therefore tend to be of low dynamic range and exhibit poor signal-to-noise. In addition, small eye movements can affect the image lighting in such a way that retinal feature variation and fragmentation can occur from one image frame to another. These factors can make it difficult to achieve satisfactory positional confidence, repeatability, accuracy and stability during eye movement tracking or in post-processing of the images.


A security apparatus is disclosed herein for securing a secured object to a tabletop of a display table or to another display surface. The security apparatus comprises a housing with a support surface for supporting the secured object. A pair of arm assemblies extend above the support surface and are configured to move between an open position where the secured object may be placed on or removed from the support surface. A mechanical drivetrain is provided for actuating the arm assemblies between the open and closed positions. When the security apparatus is attached to a tabletop of a display table, at least a portion of an actuator of the mechanical drivetrain will extend beneath the surface of the display table, which should be made inaccessible to the public.

Wearable electronic devices, such as smart watches and fitness trackers, are often sold in retail stores. To enable customers to view, touch, and interface with such wearable electronic devices, which are also referred to herein more succinctly as "wearables", such wearables are often displayed on a display table. Since such wearables are often costly, it would be preferable if they could be secured to the display table to prevent theft. While there are currently some apparatuses available to securely display wearables in retail stores, it would be beneficial if further and improved display apparatus were available.

Apparatuses that secure wearables to display tables and other display surfaces


The present invention can provide an npin-type optical modulator that has a high withstand voltage and is easily fabricated. A semiconductor optical amplifier (10) according to an embodiment of the present invention is an npin-type semiconductor optical modulator in which layers are sequentially stacked, with a cathode layer (12-1) arranged on the substrate side, including at least a first n-type cladding layer (13-1), a p-type cladding layer (14), a core layer (17) and a second n-type cladding layer (13-2). In this semiconductor optical modulator, the p-type cladding layer (14) is electrically connected to an electrode (18-1) of the cathode layer. Accordingly, the accumulation of holes in the p-type cladding layer associated with light absorption in the npin-type optical modulator can be absorbed in the electrode on the negative side. This npin-type semiconductor optical modulator can be comparatively easily fabricated using conventional semiconductor manufacturing techniques by adopting a mesa type waveguide structure.

Optical signals used in a long-distance wavelength multiplexed optical communication system are required to have small wavelength chirp in order to suppress the influence of the fiber dispersion effect. Such optical signals are usually generated by a configuration combined with a laser diode light source and an external modulator. A typical external modulator of this kind is an LN modulator fabricated with LiNbO3 (LN) waveguides. The operation principle of the LN modulator is to couple an optical waveguide with an electrical waveguide, inducing a change in refractive index based on the electro-optic effect by an electrical signal input and creating a phase change in the optical signal. Such LN modulator includes not only a simple optical phase modulator, but also an optical intensity modulator composed of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer, and a device operating as a highly-functional optical switch with numbers of waveguides combined, etc.
Also, there exists a semiconductor optical modulator using the same principle of operation as the LN modulator. There are, for example, a GaAs optical modulator in which a Schottky electrode is disposed on semi-insulating GaAs and formed as an opto-electronic waveguide, an InP/InGaAsP optical modulator configured to apply a voltage more effectively to the core portion of the waveguide along with the optical confinement by using a hetero pn-junction, and the like. While semiconductor optical modulators have an advantage of a small size, there is a problem that the driving voltage is high in both the GaAs optical modulators and the pn-junction type InP/InGaAsP optical modulators.
Recently, what has been proposed as a structure for avoiding such problems is an npin-type optical modulator structure in which both InP cladding layers are made n-type and a thin p layer (p-type barrier layer) is inserted between the two n layers as a barrier layer for suppressing an electron current (Patent Document 1). This npin-type allows the use of a relatively long waveguide because no p-type cladding layer having large optical loss is used. Furthermore, because it has the degree of freedom in that the thickness of a depletion layer can be optimally designed at any value, a reduction of a driving voltage and matching between the electric speed and the light speed can easily be satisfied simultaneously, which is an advantage to improving the response speed of a modulator.
However, the npin-type optical modulator has a semiconductor layer structure similar to that of a transistor, and therefore, when finite light absorption occurs, there is a problem that generated hole carriers accumulate in the p-type barrier layer. Due to this phenomenon, the height of barriers decreases which causes what is called the phototransistor behavior. This can cause not only an increase in the electron current across terminals, i.e., a decrease in withstand voltage, but also dispersion in frequency. Thus, what has been proposed is a structure for sweeping out the accumulated holes by locally forming a new p-type layer (Patent Document 2). However, it has a disadvantage in that it is structurally complex.
FIG. 8 shows the structure of a semiconductor optical modulator according to such conventional technology. This semiconductor optical modulator 80 has first n-type electrode layer 82-1 formed on semiconductor substrate 81, on which first n-type electrode 88-1 and first n-type cladding layer 83-1 are formed. On top of first n-type cladding layer 83-1, layers are further stacked in order of first low-concentration cladding layer 85-1, first intermediate layer 86-1, core layer 87, second intermediate layer 86-2, second low-concentration cladding layer 85-2, p-type cladding layer 84, second n-type cladding layer 83-2, second n-type electrode layer 82-2, and second n-type electrode 88-2. For portions of second n-type cladding layer 83-2 and second n-type electrode layer 82-2, regions 89 are formed in which the conductive type is changed from n-type to p-type.
The core layer 87 is configured such that the electro-optic effect works effectively at an operating optical wavelength. Second intermediate layer 86-2 serves as a connecting layer for preventing carriers occurred due to light absorption from being trapped at a hetero interface, and p-type cladding layer 84 serves as an electronic barrier. In the structure of the semiconductor optical modulator shown in FIG. 8, second n-type electrode 88-2 is in contact with second n-type electrode layer 82-2 and p-type regions 89, and has the same electric potential. Therefore, it allows the holes accumulated in p-type cladding layer 84 due to light absorption to flow to second n-type electrode 88-2, thereby enabling the optical modulator to operate at a higher reverse voltage and in a more stable manner.
However, in order to introduce regions 89 in which the conduction type is changed from n-type to p-type, it is required to use techniques, such as the thermal diffusion of Zn and the implantation of Be ions. This makes the manufacturing process complex, which causes an increased cost of the device for manufacturing.
The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and the object of the invention is to provide an npin-type optical modulator that has a high reverse voltage and is simple to fabricate.    Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-099387    Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-114868 (FIGS. 1 to 3)

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation


An object detection algorithm that generates a two-layer Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) during a training session, and subsequent to the training session, uses the two-layer GMM to perform face detection. No labeling of local features is needed. The only input that is provided by a user is the setting of a few global parameters for the image being captured during the training session, such as, for example, the person's facial pose.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to image analysis, and more particularly, to using a Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) image analysis technique to perform object detection.
2. Description of the Related Art
Face detection is used in a variety of technical fields including, for example, security, military, multimedia database management, and entertainment. Extensive efforts have been made during the last couple of decades in these areas to improve face detection techniques. Face detection often must be performed before face recognition can be attempted. Therefore, the face detection process may be viewed as part of the face recognition process.
Current face detection techniques can generally be classified into three categories, namely, template-based methods, knowledge-based methods and appearance-based methods. In template-based methods, several templates are stored that describe either the entire face pattern or separate local facial features. The correlation between an input image and the stored templates are then evaluated in order to perform face detection. Knowledge-based methods utilize a set of rules to capture the relationships between facial features. Face detection is then performed by examining the input image areas based on the pre-defined rules of the rule set. Appearance-based methods use face models that are first learned using a number of exemplary face images. Theses learned models are then used to perform face detection.
To date, appearance-based methods have achieved the best detection accuracy. The learning methods used in appearance-based methods include, for example, neural networks (NNs), support vector machines (SVMs), linear discriminate analysis (LDA), Hidden Markov Model (HMM). Face detection based on NNs is one of the best existing methods currently available. However, existing NN systems generally only work well for frontal face poses, and do not effectively handle faces with multiple poses.
All of the methods described above only detect faces for a specific pose. Dedicated pose estimation is normally needed for the candidate region before the face detection can be performed. Face detection using the HMM technique has been proposed for the detection of side-view face poses. With this technique, two HMMs are trained to discriminate face profiles from non-face profiles.
Compared to many other pattern recognition methods, the power of the HMM technique lies in its ability to tolerate pattern variations as long as the same transition patterns exist between the same variations. However, the HMM technique has a disadvantage in that the state distribution and the transition probabilities are defined independently. Although the HMM technique provides limited support for controlling the state transition globally, it does not describe a complex pattern very well when the states and/or their transitions are controlled by certain common global settings and are thus not independent.
Another known technique for face detection uses a set of classifiers/recognizers to detect salient facial features, and then integrates the feature detection results based on their spatial configurations, such as location, scale and pose. This technique has the advantage of handling large variations that result from different facial appearances, poses, and illumination conditions. However, the salient facial features need to be labeled in order to train the facial feature recognizers. This introduces some drawbacks. First of all, only clearly defined features such as nose, mouth, and eyes are suitable for manual labeling. Other features such as hair and face areas are difficult to define in manual labeling in terms of boundaries and center positions. Secondly, even for salient features, manual labeling does not provide optimized segmentation. It is difficult to determine, for example, if eye areas should also include eyebrows. In addition, manual labeling may include errors in determining the boundary or center of a salient feature. Thirdly, like other existing face detection systems, a different pattern needs to be learned for each pose, and knowledge learned from different poses generally cannot be shared.
Accordingly, a need exists for a technique for performing face detection that overcomes the aforementioned shortcomings of the aforementioned approaches, such as being limited with respect to pose, the requirement to manually label local features, etc., and thus is capable of robustly detecting complex patterns without being limited to certain poses and without requiring manual labeling of local features.

Method and apparatus for performing object detection


Methods, systems, and computer-readable media are provided. Some embodiments include receiving, at a computing device, a security token identifier and a request to access one or more resources of the computing device. The computing device obtains information that identifies one or more domains each having a trust relationship with the domain associated with the computing device. The computing device determines that an entry in a first data store associated with a first domain of the one or more domains matches the security token identifier. In response to the determining that an entry in the first data store matches the security token identifier, the computing device updates a local data store such that, in the local data store, the security token identifier is associated with first domain information that identifies the first domain. The computing device grants the requested access to one or more resources of the computing device.

Modern computing systems often employ security measures to control access to protected resources. For example, a computing system may implement authentication and authorization processes in order to prevent unauthorized entities from accessing a protected resource. Authentication may include the computing system prompting an entity to provide a credential in order to verify the entity's identity. The authentication may be based on a username and password, a smart card and personal identification number (PIN), or other information associated with the entity. Authorization may include the computing system checking attribute information of the entity in order to verify that the entity is authorized to access the requested resource. For example, the computing system may grant or deny access to a resource based on whether the attribute information of the requesting entity satisfies predefined criteria.
A management system may be employed to manage information, such as user accounts and their associated attributes, and security processes, such as authentication and authorization processes. The computing system or application that provides the protected resource may include such a management system. That is, the computing system or application may manage the information and security processes locally using its own management system dedicated to one or more resources the computing system provides. Alternatively or additionally, the computing system or application that provides the protected resource may use a centralized management system.
A centralized management system may provide, among other things, information management and authentication services for various entities on a network. For example, the centralized management system may manage user accounts for network participants as well as accounts for network resources. When a user tries to access a network resource, the centralized management system, using the account information, may authenticate the user and determine whether the user is authorized to access the resource. Then, only authenticated users who are authorized to access the protected resource may be granted access.
User accounts may be added or deleted, and account attributes may be modified. If a security token, such as a smart card, is to be used for user authentication, the security token must be registered to associate the user account with the security token. Once registered, the security token may be used to gain access to a protected resource on the network.

Canon Information and Imaging Solutions, Inc.


A combustor for a gas turbine engine includes a combustor liner and a dilution chute integral and conformal with the combustor liner to provide an outlet into the combustor for fuel, wherein the dilution chute has at least one wall with a tapered edge extending into an interior of the combustor.

The present disclosure relates generally to gas turbine engines. More specifically, this disclosure relates to dilution chute geometry of a gas turbine engine.
Some aircraft can include, for example, Unpiloted (or Unmanned) Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and expendable turbojet systems for guided munitions, missiles, and decoys. These attritable aircraft are generally designed as limited lifetime vehicles, with expected lifetimes as short as a single use or single mission vehicle. As such, many components and features common in traditional piloted aircraft are unnecessary or can be simplified for attritable aircraft applications, including combustor systems.
Conventional combustor systems including dilution chutes in aircraft, both of the attritable and non-attritable type, can have many individual parts, each requiring assembly, which can be expensive and time consuming. Furthermore, cross drilling through the engine support structures has conventionally been used in order to create necessary fluid passageways, which adds additional labor and expense to the manufacturing process.
Proper combustion efficiency is essential for a gas turbine engine. Improper combustion efficiency can lead to the engine running too rich or too lean. On the one hand, a gas turbine engine running too rich can result in an engine producing low power due to incomplete combustion of the fuel, producing an engine surge or stall condition, and/or producing excessive carbon build up in the combustor. On the other hand, a gas turbine running too lean can lead to engine blow out due to insufficient fuel to sustain combustion.

Gas turbine engine dilution chute geometry


A digital signal processing method has steps of pre-emphasizing a digital signal, and then processing the pre-emphasized digital signal through a non-linear device. In the pre-emphasizing step, an undershoot is applied to a first level of the digital signal at a positive signal transition or an overshoot is applied to the digital signal at a negative first signal transition.

Signal integrity has become a major concern in communication systems using high data rates such as 25 Gbps or higher.
Signal degradation can be caused by transmitting a signal through a bandwidth-limited channel, where the transmission frequency is significantly greater than a cutoff frequency. Passing a signal through such a channel results in attenuation of components at higher frequencies, which affects the shape of a pulse arriving at a receiver. Not only is the shape of the pulse within its symbol period changed, but the pulse is also spread out over the subsequent symbol periods. Consequently, when a signal is transmitted through such a channel, the spread pulse of each individual symbol will interfere with following symbols.
The bandwidth limitation can be due to the physical properties of the active components or a medium. For example, at bit rates of 25 Gbps, a copper cable may have a cutoff frequency above which practically none of the transmitted signals will propagate. Therefore, in order to provide sufficient bandwidth for high speed data transmission applications of bit rates of 25 Gbps and above, optical links are often used. Transmission of data over an optical link however, involves conversion of electrical digital signals into optical signals.
A laser diode, such as a Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL), is conventionally used for converting electrical signals into optical signals. However, the laser diode is a non-linear device, and therefore the laser diode affects the shape of its output pulse. Problematically, this pulse distortion can cause intersymbol interference.
FIG. 1 shows a schematic of a conventional transmitter for converting an electrical digital signal into an optical signal and outputting the optical signal to an optical fiber. The conventional transmitter 100 comprises a pre-emphasis driver 101 (that pre-distorts the signal) and a laser diode 102 connected to the pre-emphasis driver 101. The pre-emphasis driver 101 receives at its input an electrical signal, pre-emphasizes the received signal, and outputs pre-distorted electrical pulses. The laser diode 102 receives at its input such electrical pulses from the pre-emphasis driver 101, converts the received electrical pulses into optical signals, and outputs the optical signals into the optical fiber (not shown in FIG. 1).
The pulse shaping performed by the pre-emphasis driver 101 is shown in FIG. 2. The curve 201 represents the shape of a pulse of a digital (binary) signal input to the pre-emphasis driver 101. This pulse makes a first, positive transition from a low level ("0"-level) to an high level ("1"-level), remains approximately constant at the high level during the pulse length, and thereafter makes a second, negative transition from the high level to the low level. For clarity, the "1"-level is defined as the high level, the "0"-level is defined as the low level, a positive transition is defined as a transition from the low level to the high level, and a negative transition is defined as a transition from the high level to the low level of the signal. The curve 202 represents the shape of the signal output by the pre-emphasis circuit 101 when the square pulse 201 is applied to its input. This curve exhibits an overshoot immediately after the positive transition from "0"-level to "1"-level and an undershoot immediately after the negative transition from "1"-level to "0"-level. Particularly, the curve 202 makes a transition from "0"-level to "1"-level, overshoots the "1"-level, relaxes to the "1"-level, makes a transition from "1"-level to "0"-level, undershoots the "0"-level, and then relaxes to the "0"-level.
Hence, the pre-emphasis driver 101 of the conventional transmitter 100 emphasizes/peaks an electrical digital signal during and/or immediately after the transition from one binary signal level to the other binary signal level.
FIG. 2 also shows the shape of the signal output by a bandwidth limited component being excited with a signal without such a pre-distortion, and the shape of the signal output by the bandwidth limited component being excited with a signal having such a pre-distortion. Curve 212 exhibits more steep transitions between the low and high level compared to the curve 211. For the case of a non-linear device showing overshoot and ringing, when the pulse 201 and 202 are applied at its input, one will observe that the shape of the output signal looks like curve 221 and 222, respectively. Here, the pulse 222 exhibits shorter transition times (faster edges) compared to the pulse 221. In other words, pre-emphasis/peaking of the electrical pulse during and/or immediately after the transition from one binary signal level to the other binary signal level shortens the transition times at the edges of the pulse. The description of the behavior of the nonlinear component is detailed in FIG. 3.
FIG. 3 shows optical signals (in terms of optical power) output by the laser diode 102 when driven by the pre-emphasis driver 101. The curve 302 represents the shape of an optical pulse output by the laser diode 102, when an electrical pulse corresponding to curve 202 in FIG. 2 showing pre-emphasis during/after the transition from one binary level to the other, applied at the input of the laser diode 102. The curve 301 represents the shape of an optical pulse output by the laser diode 102, when an electrical pulse corresponding to curve 201 of FIG. 2 showing an electrical pulse without pre-emphasis, is applied at the input of the laser diode 102.
The curve 301 exhibits an overshoot after the transition from "0"-level to "1"-level and an undershoot after the transition from "0"-level to "1"-level. This overshoot/undershoot is due to the self-resonance (relaxation oscillation) of the laser diode 102, and therefore is intrinsic to the optical pulse output by the laser diode 102. Particularly, the curve 301 makes a transition from "0"-level to "1"-level, overshoots the "1"-level by the intrinsic overshoot, settles to the "1"-level, makes a transition from the "1"-level to the "0"-level, undershoots the "0"-level by the intrinsic undershoot, and then settles to the "0"-level.
Curve 302 of FIG. 3 also exhibits an overshoot after the transition from "0"-level to "1"-level and an undershoot after the transition from "1"-level to "0"-level. The overshoot of curve 302 exceeds the intrinsic overshoot of the laser diode 102 by the overshoot that is induced by the pre-emphasized electrical pulse applied at the input of the laser diode 102. The undershoot of curve 302 exceeds the intrinsic undershoot of the laser diode 102 by the undershoot that is induced by the pre-emphasized electrical pulse applied at the input of the laser diode 102. Particularly, the curve 302 makes a transition from "0"-level to "1"-level, overshoots the "1"-level by a resultant overshoot that is induced by both the intrinsic overshoot of the laser diode 102 and the overshoot of the pre-emphasized electrical input pulse, then relaxes to the "1"-level, makes a transition from "1"-level to "0"-level, undershoots the "0"-level by a resultant undershoot that is induced by both the intrinsic undershoot of the laser diode 102 and the undershoot of the pre-emphasized electrical input pulse, and then relaxes to "0"-level.
The effect of the pre-emphasis driver 101 on the optical signal output by the laser diode 102 becomes evident when comparing the curves 302 and 301 of FIG. 3 to each other. This comparison shows that the transition times from one optical power level to another optical power level are shorter for curve 302. In other words, pre-emphasizing/peaking the input pulse of the laser diode 102 during and/or immediately after the transition from one binary level to the other binary level steepens the edges of the optical signal output by the laser diode.
However, the large overshoot of the optical pulse enhances the possibility of oscillations during the relaxation to the "1"-level. Also, the large undershoot of the optical pulse enhances the possibility of oscillation during the relaxation to the "0"-level. These relaxation oscillations prolong the time required for the stabilization of the optical signal around an optical power level. If, however, the pulse duration is too short to ensure stabilization (setting) of the optical signal, intersymbol interference may occur. This is detrimental to signal integrity of the optical signal.

Method for improving signal quality of a digital signal being transmitted through a non-linear device and apparatus using the same


A therapeutical composition comprising hydrolyzed carboxyalkyl cellulose, wherein alkyl is methyl, ethyl or propyl, optionally in salt form, which hydrolyzed carboxyalkyl cellulose has a mass average molecular mass from about 200 to about 10,000. A method for providing a laxative effect comprises the administration of such a composition.

Laxatives and cathartics are drugs that promote defecation. Whereas laxative effect means the elimination of a soft, formed stool, the term cathartic implies a more fluid evacuation of the bowels. The laxatives can broadly be classified into four major groups, viz. emollient laxatives, bulk-forming laxatives, osmotic laxatives and irritants.
The emollient laxatives, or fecal softeners, are drugs that promote defecation by modest softening of the faeces. Examples are dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate and some mineral oils.
Bulk-forming laxatives include various natural and semisynthetic polysaccharides and cellulose derivatives. These substances dissolve or swell in water to form an emollient gel or viscous solution that serves to maintain the faeces soft and hydrated. The resulting bulk promotes peristalsis, and transit time is reduced. Examples of bulk-forming laxatives are methylcellulose, sodium carboxymethyl cellulose, and vegetable fibers like Testa Isphaghula.
Osmotic laxatives are small non-absorbable molecules which by osmotic force draw water into the intestines and can either be fast-acting like Glauber's salt (Na.sub.2 SO.sub.4) or slow-acting like lactulose. From a mechanistic standpoint lactulose must be classified as an osmotic laxative, but the function will be that of a bulk laxative, since water, i.e. a mass, is drawn into the intestine.
Irritants, finally, induce water secretion and bowel mobility by chemical action. Examples are bisacodyl, castor oil, phenolphtalein, and anthraquinone glycosides (Sennosides A and B).
Bulk-forming laxatives like methyl cellulose and sodium carboxymethyl cellulose are hydrophilic semisynthetic cellulose derivatives marketed under various trade names. Their laxative effect is, however, not quite satisfactory. This is reflected by the numerous prior art disclosing the use of carboxymethyl cellulose as a carrier, thickener and additive for compositions with laxative or cathartic action where the pharmacological effect is largely due to the presence of an active agent, e.g. magnesium hydroxide, attapulgite, diphenolisatin; see, for example, EP-A-119 479, GB-A-1 158 169, JP-B-63026692, and FR-A-64982647.
The above mentioned osmotic laxative lactulose is a disaccharide consisting of fructose and galactose. The laxative effect of lactulose is thought to be due to the lower molecular weak acids formed in the degradation of the substance giving a bulk effect by osmotically binding water and thereby exerting a regulating effect upon the peristalsis. Lactulose has, however, several disadvantages in that it is needed in very large quantities, is very slow-acting and that the degradation thereof comprises the formation of substantial amounts of gases, which may cause abdominal pains and also is a social inconvenience.
There is therefore still a need for an efficient slowacting osmotic (bulk-forming) laxative with better efficiency than lactulose and lacking disadvantageous side-effects.

Therapeutical composition comprising hydrolyzed carboxylalkyl cellulose


The invention concerns a method and device for the automatic analysis of volatile substances in gases, in particular volatile substances in air, the method comprising the following successive steps: a) the gas to be analyzed is passed through an absortion solution or reaction solution via a sponging type exposure; and b) the solution is analyzed by a gas or liquid chromatography apparatus once the gases reach dissolved solution equilibrium with such absortion solution or reaction solution. According to the invention, samples as tiny as 10-100 microliters of the absortion solution or reaction solution are located in a depression in the bottom of a reaction recipient vessel and, when it has been acted on by the gas to be analyzed thereby additionally forming a reaction product mixed therein, is removed with a cannula and taken for chemical analysis via capillary gas chromatography (CGC) or high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) equipment means.

The invention refers to a method and a device for automatically analyzing volatile substances in gases, in particular in air, the method comprising the following successive steps:
a) the gas to be analyzed is passed through an absorption or reaction solution, PA1 b) the solution is analyzed by a chromatography method. PA1 a) The analysis by means of the two chromatographic methods commonly in use, i.e. the high resolution liquid chromatography (HPLC) and the capillary gas chromatography (CGC) allows to inject only about 20 .mu.l or 5 .mu.l respectively of the absorption or reaction liquid into the chromatograph column. Taking into account a liquid volume of about 20 ml this represents only 1% or less of the entire sample volume and signifies a corresponding loss in sensitivity. PA1 b) The absorption or reaction recipient having a volume of several milliliter cannot be cleaned at reasonable expenditure to an extent which is necessary for a sensitive measurement. Therefore the memory effect is high. The memory effect is further increased by the duct through which after exposure the solution to be analyzed must flow towards the chromatograph. For this reason this duct must also be cleaned after each analysis cycle. Moreover the volume of the recipient cannot be reduced in size at will since the length of this duct imposes a lower limit of recipient volume. Thus, in each cycle 20 ml of solution should be pumped towards the chromatograph. Under these conditions concentrations of down to 50 ppb of formaldehyde had to be measured.
Such methods and devices are known: An article of A. Gromping and K. Cammann "Development of an automated, quasi-continuous method for the simultaneous determination of nitrogen oxides, aldehydes, and ketones in air" published in the periodical INSTRUMENTATION SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 22 (1994), pages 25 to 38 describes a method of this type according to which the gas to be analyzed is passed through a recipient (impinger) which is nearly completely filled with a reaction solution, the gas sparkling upwards through the solution. After the intended exposure time a part of the solution is pumped via ducts and by means of a peristaltic pump into a chromatograph while the remaining solution is withdrawn from the recipient. The latter is then cleaned and charged with fresh solution for the next analysis cycle. All these steps are automatically supervised and controlled by a sequential program.
A main inconvenience of this method is the low sensitivity especially due to the following effects:
The increasing pollution burden of closed rooms due to the improvements in the thermal isolation and the use of poisonous adhesives in the furniture industry and for posing wallpapers or carpets has created a need for a low cost measurement and supervision of even lower pollutant concentrations, especially the concentration of formaldehyde in the concentration range below 50 ppb.

Method and device for analyzing volatile substances in gases

European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM)


A weight measurement module operatively coupled to a piece of luggage for determining the weight of the luggage and its contents. The weight measurement module includes one or more load cells, a processor operatively coupled to the one or more load cells, and a display operable to display the weight of the luggage and its contents.

The air travel industry has imposed weight restrictions on the weight of luggage checked by passengers with significant penalties if the luggage is overweight. Luggage cases are sometimes shaped in such a manner that does not allow the use of a scale to measure the weight of the luggage. Alternatively, a user holds the luggage and stands on a scale to weigh the luggage and its contents prior to arriving at the airport to prevent being charged for overweight luggage and/or the embarrassment of having to remove items from the luggage at the airport check-in counter.

Luggage with built-in weight measurement device and method of use


An acceleration measurement circuit is calibrated based on wireless communication signals that are received by a mobile terminal. A location of the mobile terminal is then determined using the calibrated acceleration measurement circuit.

The present invention relates to the field of communications in general and more particularly, to determining the geographic location of a mobile terminal.
Wireless communication systems (networks) are commonly employed to provide voice and data communications to subscribers. For example, analog cellular radiotelephone systems, such as those designated AMPS, ETACS, NMT-450, and NMT-900, have long been deployed successfully throughout the world. Digital cellular radiotelephone systems such as those conforming to the North American standard IS-54 and the European standard GSM have been in service since the early 1990's. More recently, a wide variety of wireless digital services broadly labeled as PCS (Personal Communications Services) have been introduced, including advanced digital cellular systems conforming to standards such as IS-136 and IS-95, lower-power systems such as DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telephone) and data communications services such as CDPD (Cellular Digital Packet Data). These and other systems are described in The Mobile Communications Handbook, edited by Gibson and published by CRC Press (1996).
It is desirable, and in certain places mandated by law, that mobile telecommunication network providers be able to determine an approximate geographical location of a mobile terminal, such as, for example, an actively communicating cellular telephone.
A variety of mobile terminal location techniques have been proposed. These location techniques include uplink signal location, downlink signal location, Global Positioning System (GPS) based approaches, assisted GPS approaches combining communication signals and GPS signals and approaches based on digital television signals. For "uplink signal" location techniques, the mobile telecommunications network is typically configured to determine where the mobile terminal is located based on ranging measurements associated with one or more uplink signals. These uplink signals are transmitted by the mobile terminal and received by a number of receivers having known locations, such as, for example, cellular telephone base stations (BSs). For the "downlink signal" location techniques, the mobile telecommunications network is typically configured to determine where the mobile terminal is located based on ranging measurements associated with the reception, by the mobile terminal, of downlink signals from a number of transmitters having known locations. The "uplink signal" and/or "downlink signal" location techniques may be based on, for example, an Enhanced Observed Time Difference (E-OTD) technique.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional terrestrial mobile (wireless) telecommunications network 20 that may implement any one of a variety of known wireless communications standards including uplink and downlink signals. The wireless network may include one or more wireless mobile terminals 22 that communicate with a plurality of cells 24 served by base stations 26 and a mobile telephone switching office (MTSO) 28. Although only three cells 24 are shown in FIG. 1, a typical cellular radiotelephone network may comprise hundreds of cells, and may include more than one MTSO 28 and may serve thousands of wireless mobile terminals 22.
The cells 24 generally serve as nodes in the network 20, from which links are established between wireless mobile terminals 22 and a MTSO 28, by way of the base stations 26 servicing the cells 24. Each cell 24 will have allocated to it one or more dedicated control channels and one or more traffic channels. The control channel is a dedicated channel that may be used for downlink transmission (network to mobile) of cell identification and paging information. The traffic channels carry the voice and data information. Through the network 20, a duplex (downlink and uplink) radio communication link 30 may be effected between two wireless mobile terminals 22 or between a wireless mobile terminal 22 and a landline telephone user 32 via a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 34. The function of the base station 26 is commonly to handle the radio communications between the cell 24 and the wireless mobile terminal 22. In this capacity, the base station 26 functions chiefly as a relay station for data and voice signals. It is also know to provide mobile telecommunications networks in which the base stations are satellites, having associated coverage areas, rather than terrestrial base stations. An assisted location service 36 may be associated with the communication network and used to calculate the position of the mobile terminal.
The GPS location approach generally uses location services not associated with either the uplink or downlink signals used in the mobile telecommunications network. In a typically GPS application, the GPS receivers collect and analyze ranging measurements from signals transmitted by GPS satellites having known locations.
As illustrated in FIG. 2, GPS is a space-based triangulation system using satellites 42 and GPS control computers 48 to measure positions anywhere on the earth. GPS was first developed by the United States Department of Defense as a navigational system. The advantages of this navigational system over land-based systems are that it is not limited in its coverage, it provides continuous 24-hour coverage, which may be highly accurate regardless of weather conditions. In operation, a constellation of 24 satellites 42 orbiting the earth continually emit a GPS radio signal 44. A GPS receiver 46, e.g., a hand-held radio receiver with a GPS processor, receives the radio signals from the closest satellites and measures the time that the radio signal takes to travel from the GPS satellites to the GPS receiver antenna. By multiplying the travel time by the speed of light, the GPS receiver can calculate a range for each satellite in view. Ephemeris information provided in the satellite radio signal typically describes the satellite's orbit and velocity, thereby generally enabling the GPS processor to calculate the position of the GPS receiver 46 through a process of triangulation. It is known to include a GPS receiver 46 in a mobile terminal 22 to provide position location functionality to the mobile terminal 22.
The process of monitoring GPS signals or base station signals may be significantly affected by environmental factors. For example, GPS signals or base station signals that may be easily acquired in the open typically become harder to acquire when a receiver is within a building, a vehicle, and/or under foliage.

Mobile terminals and methods for determining a location based on acceleration information


A process for production of sulphuric acid comprising condensing sulphuric acid vapour from a gas mixture containing 0.01 to 10 vol. % of H2SO4 vapour calculated at complete hydration of SO3 in the gas to H2SO4 and 0 to 50 vol. % of water vapour by cooling of the gas in a sulphuric acid tower, wherein a stream containing NH3 is added upstream of the tower in an amount corresponding to 0.01-100 ppm NH3 by vol. in the gas stream at the entry of the tower.

The present invention relates to a process for production of sulphuric acid by condensation of sulphuric acid vapours from a gas mixture containing 0.01-10 vol. % of H2SO4 vapour calculated under the assumption that SO3 is fully hydrated and 0-50 vol. % of water vapour.
Sulphuric acid is in many cases produced from gases containing H2SO4 vapour and water vapour by condensation in a cooling process. However, it is known that by cooling and condensation of sulphuric acid vapours in gases containing water vapour a sulphuric acid mist is formed, i.e. an aerosol of small droplets of sulphuric acid.
From European Patent No. 0 417 200 B1 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,108,731 a process is known for production of sulphuric acid, in which sulphuric acid vapours in gas mixtures containing 0.01-10% H2SO4 vapour and 0-50% water vapour are condensed in vertical, acid-resistant tubes cooled externally with air or gas. The presence of large amounts of acid mist in the gas after condensation is avoided according to this patent by keeping the temperature difference between the sulphuric-acid containing gas flowing in an upward direction and the gaseous coolant flowing in a downward direction within certain specified limits. Most of the sulphuric acid mist generated during condensation may then be captured in a high-velocity aerosol fibre filter placed in top of each of the tubes as described in the patent.
In European Patent No. 0 419 539 B1 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,198,206 it is shown how the amount of acid mist escaping from condensation of sulphuric acid vapours from a gas mixtures containing 0.01-10% H2SO4 vapour and 0-50% water vapour can be reduced to below 10-15 ppm H2SO4 by adding solid particles to the gas before entering the condensation tower. The particles act as condensation nuclei for the sulphuric acid vapours and supress spontaneous homogeneous nucleation of small sulphuric acid droplets which are not easily captured in filtering devices.
In the following, the expression "sulphuric acid tower" means a packed absorption tower as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,348,373 or a tower containing tubes as described in European Patent No. 0 417 200 B1.

Process for condensation of sulphuric acid vapours to produce sulphuric acid


Embodiments of the invention relate to the field of wireless communications and particularly to a method of and apparatus for determining a synchronous cell so as to determine a synchronous cell of an extension carrier so that the extension carrier is available between the network and a user equipment. The method of determining a synchronous cell according to the invention includes: a network-side apparatus determining an extension carrier to be configured for a user equipment; and the network-side apparatus determining a synchronous cell of the extension carrier upon determining that the extension carrier is a synchronous extension carrier. The synchronous cell of the extension carrier can be determined so that the extension carrier is available between the network side and a user equipment to thereby improve the performance of the system.

There are significantly improved required peak rates of a Long Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE-A) system up to 1 Gbps in the downlink and 500 Mbps in the uplink as compared with an LTE system. The LTE-A system is also required to be well compatible with the LTE system. Carrier Aggregation (CA) has been introduced to the LTE-A system to thereby accommodate the improved peak rates, compatibility with the LTE system and full use of spectrum resources as needed.
With carrier aggregation, a user equipment can operate concurrently over a plurality of cells in each of which there are a pair of uplink (UL)/downlink (DL) Component Carriers (CCs) instead of only one set of carriers in the LTE system and earlier wireless communication systems. The respective component carriers in the carrier aggregation-enabled system can be consecutive or inconsecutive, and bandwidths of the respective component carriers may be the same or different; and there is a bandwidth up to 20 MHz of each component carrier for compatibility with the LTE system. The number of cells that can be aggregated for the user equipment is typically up to 5 at present. Moreover the cells with carrier aggregation are further categorized in the LTE-A as follows:
A Primary Cell (PCell), where there is only one of the plurality of cells aggregated for the user equipment to be defined as a PCell selected by a base station and configured to the user equipment in Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling. A Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) is configured only in the PCell; and
A Secondary Cell (SCell), where all the other cells than the PCell aggregated for the user equipment are SCells.
In the CA system, the aggregated cells of the UE need to be searched frequently in some cell management procedures (e.g. deletion of a secondary cell, reconfiguration of a secondary cell, activation/deactivation of a secondary cell, reporting of a signal quality of a serving cell, etc.). Cells in an aggregation range each can be identified uniquely by a frequency and a Physical Cell ID (PCI). From the perspective of a signaling overhead, a cell index parameter can be introduced to avoid the two carrier parameters, frequency and PCI, and from being reused frequently. A UE-level cell index parameter encoded in 3 bits is to be introduced as decided in ongoing discussion of the standard, and the index of a cell will be allocated by the network to the UE when the cell is newly added. The cell index of the primary cell is fixed at 0, and the cell indexes of the secondary cells range from 1 to 7,
Due to possibly fluctuating and bursting traffic of the user equipment, that is, a low amount of traffic in some period of time and a high amount of traffic in another period of time, the concept of activation/deactivation has been introduced to the LTE-A system for better conservation of power of the user equipment with a low amount of traffic, where it is specified that the PCell of the UE be prohibited from being deactivated but be kept activated all the time by default whereas the SCells can be activated/deactivated.
For a deactivated carrier, the UE neither needs to detect a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH)/receive a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) nor needs to transmit a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH)/Sounding Reference Signal (SRS)/Channel Quality Indicator (CQI), etc. for a better power conservation effect.
With the LTE-A R11, downlink transmission enhancement has been decided by introducing a novel downlink carrier, referred here as to an downlink extension carrier, for improved spectrum efficiency, a better support of a heterogeneous network (HetNet) scenario and power conservation.
The downlink extension carrier is currently designed in the protocol by supporting at least two synchronous and asynchronous scenarios. In the synchronous scenario, the extension carrier is synchronized in time/frequency with at least one carrier/cell, aggregated for the user equipment, compatible backward with the LTE system, that is, the user equipment does not need to perform an additional downlink synchronization process on the extension carrier. In the asynchronous scenario, the extension carrier is not synchronized in time/frequency with any carrier/cell, aggregated for the user equipment, compatible backward with the LTE system, that is, the user equipment does need to perform an additional downlink synchronization process on the extension carrier.
At present there has not been a relevant mechanism to determine a synchronous cell of an extension carrier despite the defined extension carrier so that the extension carrier is unavailable at the network side and the user equipment.

Method and device for determining synchronous cell

CHINA ACADEMY OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY


An acceleration sensor includes a sensing unit for detecting impact acceleration and a signal processing unit for measuring the magnitude of the detected acceleration. The signal processing unit has functions of calculating the sensitivity of the sensing unit when specific acceleration is applied to the sensing unit in an inspection stage, storing the calculated sensitivity, and correcting the output of the sensing unit according to the stored sensitivity in actual operation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an accelerometer used for a control system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An acceleration sensor is used for a control system such as an automotive air-bag system. The acceleration sensor has a sensing unit, an amplifier connected to the sensing unit, and a signal processing unit. The sensing unit is a semiconductor piezoresistance sensing unit formed by etching a semiconductor substrate into a stationary part, a thin cantilever beam extending from the stationary part (semiconductor post), a weight supported by the beam, and a piezoresistance bridge formed on the beam. Acceleration applied orthogonally to the surface of the sensor produces stress on the beam. The stress is detected by the piezoresistance bridge circuit and is amplified by the amplifier. The output of the amplifier is processed by the signal processing unit, which has an A/D converter and a signal processing circuit.
The air-bag system employs the acceleration sensor to measure impact deceleration at a collision. The sensing unit provides a signal representing the impact deceleration, which is amplified by the amplifier. According to the amplified signal, the signal processing unit decides whether or not to deploy the air-bag, and provides an instruction signal to a controller for the air-bag inflater.
The signal supplied to the signal processing unit must correctly represent the detected impact acceleration (deceleration). To achieve this, the sensing unit must have a specified sensitivity. The sensing unit, however, usually involves an error in sensitivity. The error is corrected by adjusting the amplification factor of the amplifier. When the amplifier includes a preamplifier and an operational amplifier, the error is corrected by adjusting the ratio of the resistance of an input resistor to that of a feedback resistor of the operational amplifier. For this purpose, the amplifier is provided with an extra output terminal at, for example, the intermediate point between the preamplifier and the input resistor of the operational amplifier. The extra output terminal is used to measure the sensitivity of the sensing unit.
The prior art corrects the sensitivity of the sensing unit in two steps. "A sensitivity measuring step" employs a vibrator to apply specific acceleration to the sensing unit, and a sensitivity detector to measure the sensitivity of the sensing unit according to a signal from the extra output terminal of the amplifier, and measures sensitivity data by the sensitivity detector. "A sensitivity adjusting step" calculates an amplification factor according to the measured sensitivity data, selects an input resistor and a feedback resistor for the operational amplifier based on the calculated amplification factor, and installs the selected resistors in the amplifier. This acceleration sensor still involves various errors such as an error in the sensitivity detector and errors in the input and feedback resistors, and therefore, is not accurate.
Another prior art installs a memory in the signal processing unit of the acceleration sensor. The sensitivity of the sensing unit is measured and stored in the memory. In operation, the signal processing unit reads the sensitivity out of the memory and corrects the output of the sensing unit accordingly. To store the sensitivity data in the memory, this prior art must employ a manipulation with a vibrator to apply specific acceleration to the sensing unit, as well as a sensitivity detector to measure the sensitivity of the sensing unit according to a signal from the extra output terminal of the amplifier. This acceleration sensor, therefore, involves an error in the sensitivity detector.


A method and device for optimizing a parameter of a combine harvester by driving the combine harvester over a field an approximately constant speed or constant throughput; determining and storing data pertaining to at least one sensor value for a parameter of the processing procedure and to the associated position of the combine harvester in a processing unit; transmitting the position data to a manual apparatus provided with a camera and with a position determination device; moving the manual apparatus to the position, and recording an image of the field ground with a camera; processing the image in order to determine a property of the image; determining a calibration value by the processing unit using the sensor value and the property; and displaying and/or automatic setting of an operating value of the combine harvester by the processing unit using current sensor values and the calibration value.

Combine harvesters are used in agriculture to harvest core-containing fruit, such as wheat or corn, from a field. During the harvesting operation, the plants are cut off or gathered. By means of a threshing device and a separation device, the grains are separated from the remaining harvested crop residues (in particular straw). A cleaning device then separates the grains from smaller harvested crop residues, such as straw fragments and chaff. Finally, the grains are placed in intermediate storage in a grain tank and transferred to a transport vehicle.
In a combine harvester, various operating parameters have to be specified by the operator, such as the rate of advance, the settings of the threshing device (rpm, threshing gap), and settings of the cleaning device (blower rpm, sieve opening size). The rate of advance defines the harvested crop throughput through the combine harvester, which, on the one hand, should not be excessively small in order to use the capacity of the combine harvester as well as possible, and, on the other hand, it should however also not be excessively large, because then the losses (which as a rule depend exponentially on the throughput), i.e., the quantity of grains released onto the field with the harvested material residue by the combine harvester at the rear side increase excessively. For the setting of the rate of advance, the operator usually uses grain loss sensors that are arranged for the detection of the lost grains downstream of the cleaning device and of the separation device. Such grain loss sensors as a rule comprise impact plates, on which oscillations are generated at the time of the impact of the loss grains, which are detected by an oscillation sensor and are verified by means of an electronic verification system and used by the operator for controlling a display device. For this purpose, reference is made to the disclosure of DE 40 35 470 C2.
The usual grain loss sensors, however, have the disadvantage that they have to be calibrated regularly in order to be able to display sufficiently precise values, because the lost grains generate different oscillations of the impact plates under different environmental conditions, such as, temperature and humidity. In addition, only a small proportion of the lost grains in fact reaches the grain loss sensors. The remaining lost grains are embedded in the straw or chaff. If the harvest conditions change, the proportion of grains that reach the grain loss sensor changes. Thus, the generated oscillations also depend on the harvest crop type and also on the respective throughput.
Thus, in the prior art, the operator of the combine harvester performs the following steps in order to calibrate the grain loss sensors: He moves the combine harvester at a certain constant speed over the field, until the processing procedure within the combine harvester has stabilized. Then, the loss value displayed on the display device is recorded or stored, and a test tray (see patent publications DE10062114 C2 and EP 1736044 A1) is released, after which the combine harvester is stopped, and the driver descends from his/her workplace in order to count the grains contained in the test tray. In many cases, this process occurs also without [a] test tray, and the operator counts the grains lying within a certain area of the ground. The number of lost grains is then entered into a separate computer in order to determine the losses as percentages relative to the throughput, or in order to read said percentages from a table on the basis of the counted lost grains. These relative losses are then used for the calibration of the grain loss sensor. As a rule, this procedure has to be carried out repeatedly until a speed has been found at which a reasonable compromise between throughput performance and acceptable losses is obtained. Finally, the combine harvester is moved manually or automatically at a speed corresponding to the determined loss value (or the throughput associated with said value, see EP 1243173 A1), so that, in the case of dense crops, the speed of advance can be slower and faster in the case of non-dense crops.
Similar processes also have to be carried out for the threshing assembly settings and the cleaning settings, for which automation has already been proposed (EP 1297733 A1, EP 1371278 A2), wherein the operator enters his/her estimate of the process result at different operating parameters into an on-board computer and on the basis of this, an automatic optimization of the process occurs.
The above-described calibration process for the grain loss sensors has to be repeated several times daily, which turns out to be quite time consuming and therefore, in numerous cases, the process is carried out only rarely or not at all. Thus, the combine harvester does not always work with optimal operating parameters, resulting either in high losses or in its capacity not being used optimally.
The problem that is the basis of the invention involves indicating a procedure that is improved compared to the prior art, for optimizing an operating parameter of a combine harvester, and a corresponding arrangement.

Method and arrangement for optimizing an operating parameter of a combine


The invention relates to the field of polynucleotide amplification. More particularly, the invention provides methods, compositions and kits for amplification of (i.e., making multiple copies of) a multiplicity of different polynucleotide template sequences using a randomly primed RNA/DNA composite primer.

The quality and quantity of nucleic acid (e.g. genomic DNA) sample is important for many studies. High-throughput genomic analysis requires large amounts of template for testing, yet typically the yield of nucleic acids from individual patient samples is limited. Forensic and paleoarcheology work also can be severely limited by nucleic acid sample size. The limitation of starting material impacts the ability to carry out large scale analysis of multiple parameters, as is required for, for example, the genotyping of multiple loci in the study of complex diseases. Moreover, it is well accepted that molecular analysis determination of genomic instability in various pathological condition such as cancer, is most precisely carried out in well defined cell populations, such as that obtained by laser capture micro-dissection or cell sorting. Nucleic acid amplification technologies that provide global amplification of very small polynucleotide samples, for example, from one or a very few cells, may provide a solution to the limited starting materials generally available for analysis.
Likewise, the ability to amplify ribonucleic acid (RNA) is an important aspect of efforts to elucidate biological processes. Total cellular mRNA represents gene expression activity at a defined time. Gene expression is affected by cell cycle progression, developmental regulation, response to internal and external stimuli and the like. The profile of expressed genes for any cell type in an organism reflects normal or disease states, response to various stimuli, developmental stages, cell differentiation, and the like. Non-coding RNAs have been shown to be of great importance in regulation of various cellular functions and in certain disease pathologies. Such RNAs are often present in very low levels. Thus, amplification methods capable of amplifying low abundance RNAs, including RNAs that are not polyadenylated, are of great importance.
Various methods for global amplification of DNA target molecules (e.g., whole genome amplification) have been described, including methods based on the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). See, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,731,171; 6,365,375; Daigo et al., (2001) Am. J. Pathol. 158 (5):1623-1631; Wang et al, (2001); Cancer Res. 61:4169-4174; Zheng et al, (2001) Cancer Epidemiol. 10:697-700; Dietmaier et al (1999) Am. J. Pathol. 154 (1) 83-95; Stoecklein et al (2002) Am. J. Pathol. 161 (1):43-51; U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,124,120; 6,280,949; Dean et al (2002) PNAS 99 (8):5261-5266. However, PCR-based global amplification methods, such as whole genome amplification (WGA), may generate non-specific amplification artifacts, give incomplete coverage of loci, or generate DNA of insufficient length that cannot be used in many applications. PCR-based methods also suffer from the propensity of the PCR reaction to generate products that are preferentially amplified, and thus resulting in biased representation of genomic sequences in the products of the amplification reaction.
Additionally, a number of methods for the analysis of gene expression have been developed in recent years. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,251,639, 6,692,918, 6,686,156, 5,744,308; 6,143,495; 5,824,517; 5,829,547; 5,888,779; 5,545,522; 5,716,785; 5,409,818; EP 0971039A2; EP0878553A2; and U.S. published patent applications nos. 2002/0115088, 2003/0186234, 2003/0087251, and 2004/0023271. These include quantification of specific mRNAs, and the simultaneous quantification of a large number of mRNAs, as well as the detection and quantification of patterns of expression of known and unknown genes. RNA amplification is most commonly performed using the reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method and variations thereof. These methods are based on replication of RNA by reverse transcriptase to form single stranded DNA complementary to the RNA (cDNA), which is followed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification to produce multiple copies of double stranded DNA. Although these methods are most commonly used, they have some significant drawbacks: a) the reactions require thermocycling; b) the products are double stranded, thus rendering them less accessible to binding to probes; and c) the reactions are prone to contamination with products of prior amplification, thus requiring strict containment of reaction mixtures. Other current RNA amplification methods use initiation of replication of mRNA from the poly-A tail at their 3′ ends. However, not all RNA transcripts have a mRNA tail (for example, prokaryotic RNAs and non-coding RNAs). In addition, due to sample preparation procedures, the RNA transcript structural integrity is compromised. Thus, it may be desirable in certain circumstances to use RNA amplification methods that do not require initiation of replication at the defined poly-A tail. Although analysis of non-amplified RNA is feasible, a significant amount of starting RNA would be required. However, the total amount of sample RNA that is available is frequently limited by the amount of biological sample from which it is derived. Biological samples are often limited in amount and precious. Moreover, the amount of the various RNA species is not equal; some species are more abundant than others are, and these are more likely and easier, to analyze. The ability to amplify RNA sequences enables the analysis of less abundant, rare RNA species. The ability to analyze small samples, by means of nucleic acid amplification, is also advantageous for design parameters of large scale screening of effector molecule libraries, for which reduction in sample volume is a major concern both for the ability to perform very large scale screening or ultra high throughput screening, and in view of the limiting amounts of library components.
Therefore, there is a need for improved amplification methods, particularly methods which can globally amplify DNA or RNA polynucleotide targets. The invention described herein fulfills this need.
All references cited herein, including patent applications and publications, are incorporated by reference in their entirety.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Global amplification using a randomly primed composite primer


A method of producing erythritol is disclosed, in which a microorganism having an ability of producing erythritol is cultivated for generation in a medium containing preferably 5 ppm or more of calcium, and erythritol is collected from the culture, thus producing erythritol efficiently.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of producing erythritol and more particularly to a method of producing erythritol that uses fermentation in a medium containing calcium and produces erythritol in an industrially advantageous manner.
2. Description of the Related Art
In methods of producing erythritol, there have been known a method in which the production is made by cultivating a yeast belonging to the genus Trigonopsis or the genus Candida in a medium containing glycerol as a carbon source and a casein hydrolysate as a nitrogen source (Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. Sho 47-41549), a method in which the production is made by cultivating a yeast belonging to the genus Candida, the genus Torulopsis, or the genus Hansenula in a medium containing a hydrocarbon or the like as a carbon source and yeast extracts or urea as a nitrogen source (Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. Sho 51-21072), and the like. However, these methods have not been yet industrialized since the raw materials used as the carbon source are unsuitable for practical productions on an industrial scale.
Also, there have been known a method in which the production is made by cultivating Moniliella tomentosa var pollinis in a medium containing a saccharide such as glucose as a carbon source (Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. Sho 60-110295 and the like) and a method in which an erythritol-producing microorganism is cultivated in a medium containing yeast extracts and corn steep liquor as a nitrogen source (Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. Hei 01-199584.
As the method of producing erythritol have been known various methods such as those described above. However, such known methods suffer much load on production process since glycerol is by-produced in large amounts or completion of fermentation (consumption of glucose) takes a long time, and are also economically disadvantageous.


A device, comprises a first counter and a second counter, a control unit and a comparing unit. The first counter and the second counter are configured to alternately count a cycle number of a monitoring clock signal. The control unit is configured to generate, based on an input clock, both a first counter enable signal and a second counter enable signal that enable or disable the first and the second counters respective, and the first counter enable signal and the second counter enable signal are inverted. The comparing unit is coupled to both the first counter and the second counter and configured to detect a loss fault of the input clock if the cycle number of the monitoring signal counted by one of the first and the second counters exceed a predetermined threshold.

The conventional method of clock loss detection tests average frequency during a predetermined period, therefore it may not promptly detect input clock loss fault. Further, there may be one cycle sampling error in start and stop point. Further, in order for the method to work, input clock duty cycle should meet Nyquist sampling theory to find an edge transition. Due to the above disadvantage of existing clock loss detection method, it is desirable to have a new device and method of detecting input clock loss.

Device and method for clock signal loss detection


The invention provides a thermal uniformity compensating method and apparatus. The steps of the method includes: respectively measuring a plurality of first resistances of a plurality of hot spot patterns of a chip over an hot spot effect, wherein a plurality of pattern densities of the hot spot patterns are different; respectively measuring a plurality of second resistances of each of the hot spot patterns of the chip by a plurality of test keys over the hot spot effect, wherein a plurality of distances between the test keys and the corresponding hot spot pattern are different; establishing a look-up information according to the first and second resistances; analyzing a layout data of the chip for obtaining a pattern density information; and generating a calibrated layout data according to the pattern density information and the look-up information.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a thermal uniformity compensating apparatus and method. Particularly, the invention relates to a thermal uniformity compensating method for hot spot effect in semiconductor process.
2. Description of Related Art
In conventional, a standard test key with 20-pads is used for detecting the thermal uniformity by resistance change. Many hot-spot-patterns with many types respectively are disposed in the wafer for the detection. For example, different sizes and densities of the hot-spot-patterns are used for the detection. Moreover, for reducing the hot spot effect, a LRTP injection direction and/or a laser scan skilled can be changed. That is, in conventional, the hot spot effect can be only measured and difficult to be predicted before the wafer being taped out again. At the stage of the hot spot detection, the hot spot effect could not be fully compensated.

Thermal uniformity compensating method and apparatus


An internal combustion engine includes at least one cylinder having a reciprocable piston, an intake system directing intake air to the at least one cylinder, and an exhaust system directing exhaust gasses from the at least one cylinder. A first fuel injector disposed to inject a first fuel into the cylinder, and a second fuel injector disposed to inject a second fuel into said cylinder. At least one intake valve of said cylinder is configured to open and close with a variable timing in accordance with a Miller thermodynamic cycle. An exhaust gas recirculation system, provides exhaust gas to said cylinder through the intake valve. An electronic controller is disposed to monitor and receive at least one input signal indicative of the operating conditions of the internal combustion engine, and adjusts at least the amount of exhaust gas recirculation.

Internal combustion engines operating with more than one fuel are known. Certain engines use two or more fuels having different reactivities. One example of such an engine can be seen in U.S. Patent Application Pub. No. 2011/0192367, which was published on Aug. 11, 2011 to Reitz et al. (hereafter, "Reitz"). Reitz describes a compression ignition engine that uses two or more fuel charges having two or more reactivities to control the timing and duration of combustion. However, as Reitz describes, engine power output and emissions depend on the reactivity of the fuels, temperature, equivalence ratios and many other variables, which in real-world engine applications cannot be fully controlled. For example, fuel quality may change by season or region, and the temperature of incoming air to the engine depends on the climatic conditions in which the engine operates.
Engine combustion systems that use stratified fuel/air regions in the cylinder having different reactivities, such as that described by Reitz, are known to work relatively well at low engine speeds and loads, where the various strata within the cylinder have a chance to fully develop, but the technology is not proven to work for higher engine loads, where the fuel amounts within the cylinder are increased and/or the incoming air to the cylinder is accelerated. Thus, the combustion system of Reitz may not be suitable for certain engine applications where higher loads are required. Further, such engines require sufficiently low cylinder temperatures to avoid rapid ignition of the gas charge and thus may not be effective at higher operating temperatures.

Reactivity controlled compression ignition engine operating on a Miller cycle with low pressure loop exhaust gas recirculation system and method