Provided is an apparatus and method for output voice, which receives an information item suitable to a user's taste among information items existing on a network such as the Internet in a text format, converts the information item into voice, and then outputs the voice. The apparatus to output voice includes an information search unit searching at least one first information item corresponding to a preset information class among information items existing on a network, an information processing unit extracting a core information item from the first information items in such a manner as to correspond with a preset reproducing time period, a voice generating unit converting the core information into voice, and an output unit outputting the converted voice.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an apparatus and method for outputting voice. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus and method for outputting voice, which receives an information item suitable to the user's taste among information items existing on a network, such as the Internet, in a text format, converts the information item into voice, and then outputs the voice.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the ARPANET, which was constructed in 1966 so as to connect four universities in the U.S.A. with each other with the aid of the U.S. Department of Defense became known as the Internet in 1990, it has become possible for users to share one or more information items with each other through the Internet. However, information items existing on the Internet are too vast for users to easily search one or more desired information items. As a result, web-based search sites and portal sites have appeared.
However, since such search sites or portal sites indiscriminately provide searched contents, all users receive the same kind of contents. That is, the users receive the same kind of contents regardless of their tastes.
In the past, portable computer apparatuses have included PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) and laptops. However, as the functions of portable phones have been diversified, it has also become possible for a portable phone to serve as a portable computer apparatus. In addition, portable apparatuses, which provide services such as games, navigation, digital multimedia broadcasting or multimedia contents' reproduction, have appeared, where such apparatuses not only provide their own functions but also provide information items existing on networks by using wireless communication.
Despite the increase in the supply of portable apparatuses, all users indiscriminately receive certain information items as described above. As a result, each user receives information items that are not suitable to the user's own taste, but suitable to popular tastes.
In addition, portable devices typically have a display window that is not very large in order to emphasize the portability of the device. Thus, a user may feel that receiving an information item transmitted through a network in a text format displayed on the display window is inconvenient.
Therefore, an information item suitable to a user's taste among a vast number of information items existing on a network is needed to be easily and conveniently transmitted to the user.

Apparatus and method for outputting voice relating to the preferences of a user


In a motorcar having a compressed fuel cylinder charged with a compressed fuel disposed in a compartment, pipes connected to the fuel cylinder within the compartment are connected to a joint unit penetrating a partition wall partitioning the compartment from an outside and the joint unit is connected to pipes connected to an internal combustion engine and the like out of the compartment. A fuel charge passage, a fuel supply passage and a relief passage in a cylinder cap of the fuel cylinder and a fuel charge passage, a fuel supply passage and a relief passage in an interior side of the joint unit are connected with each other through an interior charge pipe, and interior supply pipe and an interior fuel relief pipe, respectively. A fuel charge pipe, a fuel supply pipe and a relief pipe out of the compartment are connected to a fuel charge passage, a fuel supply passage and a relief passage in an exterior side of the joint unit. The interior fuel charge pipe, the interior fuel supply pipe and the interior fuel relief pipe are covered by a seal cover airtightly. A fuel leakage inspection is conducted by comparing gas pressures at two different times after fuel charging in the piping outside the compartment.

The present invention relates to a motorcar having a compressed fuel tank charged with a compressed fuel such as natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas disposed in a compartment such as a trunk room, particularly to a structure of a piping for the compressed fuel in the motorcar and a method for inspecting leakage of the piping.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. Sho 52-93024 (1977) discloses a motorcar having a compressed fuel tank charged with liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) disposed in a trunk room in which a circumference of the compressed fuel tank, a supporting member of the tank and a pipe connection part of the tank is closed up tightly by a fuel cylinder case and a fuel cylinder case cover so that a fuel gas leaking out from the connection part between the compressed fuel tank and a pipe does not flow into the trunk room.
In the motorcar described in the above Japanese Publication, the fuel cylinder case and the fuel cylinder case cover have to cover the supporting member of the compressed fuel tank as well as the whole of the tank, so that the case and the case cover becomes broad, and also, a length of a edge of the case to be joined to the car body becomes long to necessitate a careful attention for the tight closing up thereof. Moreover, the working time is prolonged necessarily and a high cost is inevitable.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. Hei 7-195948 (1995) discloses a structure for sealing a compressed fuel tank piping of a motorcar. In this structure, as shown in FIG. 11, a compressed fuel supply auxiliary unit 02 housing devices necessary for charging a fuel into a compressed fuel tanks 01 and for supplying the fuel from the tanks 01 to an internal combustion engine is covered with a seal case 03 which is supported by a supporting member 06 standing from a floor 05 within a trunk room 04. Pipes 08 extending free from the auxiliary unit 02 are exposed at openings 07 of the seal case 03. Four pipes 08 are connected with valves 09 attached to the compressed fuel tanks 01, and other two pipes 08 are connected with a gas charging pipe 010 and a fuel supply pipe 011 on the outside of the car room, respectively. The fuel supply pipe 011 is connected to an internal combustion engine not shown. So as to cover these pipes 08, both ends of two tubular covers 014 are tightly attached to openings 07 of the seal case 03 and tubular end plates 012 attached to the valves 09 and both ends of another tubular cover 014 are tightly attached to another opening 07 of the seal case 03 and a tubular opening 013 standing from the floor 05.
According to the prior art of the Japanese Publication No. Hei 7-195948, since only parts having a chance of gas leak occurring is covered by the tubular covers 014, a small sealing member can be used and it is not necessary to cover-up to a supporting member of the tank so that the sealing structure is simplified. However, since all connection of the pipes 08 must be carried out within the narrow trunk room, it is difficult to perform the pipe connection work in a short time, efficiently and surely.


A method and system to for optimization of cost management that allows implementation of such controls and rules. In one embodiment, the system and method are integrated into an existing service procurement system.

The increasingly mobile, remote and distributed nature of today's workforce makes it difficult for an organization to provide adequate administrative support for their workers. As a result, the workers themselves must spend part of their working day identifying, procuring, managing, coordinating and accessing the services they need to perform their job. Additionally, even people who are not mobile or remote workers find that they have less time to spend in organizing the services they need for their business or personal life.
This problem is further exacerbated when many workers must attend off-site events requiring travel plans including airfare, sleeping accommodations and local transportation. The distributed nature of the workforce could result in numerous people staying in varying hotels, renting individual cars and/or transportation to and from airports and event locations. This can add up to the redundant cost of travel-related services.
Another problem is the inherent lack of knowledge between workers as to who is attending a given event, further hindering a chance for coordinated travel arrangements. Online systems such as the EVITE invitation service and the YAHOO! CALENDAR and MICROSOFT OUTLOOK scheduling services have brought together group notices of events and meetings. This has allowed workers to know who has been invited and whether they plan to attend a given event. However, such systems do not alleviate the problem of redundancy in the booking of event-related services to attend such off-site events. Organizations have an interest in reducing redundant expenses such as individual rental cars and hotel rooms. However, they often lack the bandwidth to coordinate a sharing of such services.
When people are traveling, sometimes events can require changes in the trip. Such changes may be due to outside influences, such as weather or equipment problems, or they may be due to schedule changes by another party whose plans and actions affect the schedule of the traveler(s). Such changes may then create the myriad of phone calls and confusion to address the unexpected changes.
As a result, what is further needed when changes occur during a trip, is that rather than each traveler in a group traveling together being responsible for making his own travel arrangements by himself, is a process to makes arrangements for the entire group during the travel.

System for optimization of cost management


A capacitive keypad and/or touchpad construction includes a flexible or rigid printed circuit board and a non-conductive keypad/touchpad top surface layer. A semi-conductive adhesive layer in between said flexible or rigid printed circuit board and said non-conductive keypad/touchpad top surface layer serves both to connect the top surface layer to the printed circuit board and to act as capacitive sensing layer.

Capacitive touchpads or keypads that include a layer of semi-conductive material are known, and find widespread use in mobile electronic devices. When using a capacitive sensor in impedance measurement configuration in a there is always a need for a sheet or layer of semi-conductive material. Making good connections to this semi-conductive material is difficult, as soldering is most often not possible, and wiring is always hard and expensive. Previous solutions used a paper sheet or ITO that has a certain square-resistance, suitable for the impedance based capacitive sensing usage. The problem is related to this construction is the problem of making reliable connections from the paper sheet to the electronics. Attaching wires is difficult, as the materials cannot tolerate heat (for soldering), and silver paste is not very robust in use.
Also, thinness of keypads and touchpads is a crucial factor in the modern mobile device business.


A method for constructing a network enabling layer-2 interconnection of data centers includes: a current data center registers at a neighbor server when the current data center gets online, obtains information of all registered data centers, generates a virtual bridge port for each registered data center; after the current data center comes online, the current data center obtains information of all newly registered data centers according to a pre-set rule, generates a virtual bridge port for each newly registered data center; establishes a tunnel to each registered data center by using the virtual bridge port corresponding to the registered data center, and transmit data via the tunnel.

A data center is a location in which various services are provided, such as, data processing, data storage and data exchange. To provide better services, a service provider generally deploys a plurality of data centers (also referred to as sites, and each site usually includes multiple physical devices) at different geographical locations for load balancing and for higher reliability. Furthermore, hardware resources of multiple servers can be virtualized to form a resource pool by using server virtualization techniques. A virtual server may be capable of managing multiple hardware facility platforms, and enabling a virtual machine to move freely from one data center to another. Moving of a virtual machine should be transparent to users. therefore the virtual server should have the same IP address after the move. Therefore it is desirable to provide layer 2 interconnection between data centers in different geographical locations.

Constructing a network enabling layer-2 interconnection of data centers


A portfolio cover for a portable information handling system may include a display portion and an input device portion and a cover portion separated by two hinge sections. The display portion, the input device portion and the cover portion may be reinforced with a polymer laminate and laminated together, while the hinge sections may remain unlaminated.

1. Field of the Disclosure
This disclosure relates generally to portable information handling systems and, more particularly, to a portfolio cover for portable information handling systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Liquid crystal displays (LCDs) are commonly employed for portable information handling systems configured in the form of laptop, notebook, netbook, and tablet computers, among others. The LCD of a typical laptop computer is mounted within a display housing that is hingeably attached to a base housing that contains the keyboard for the notebook computer. Recently various designs for portable information handling systems have been introduced that combine conventional laptop and tablet functionality, also referred to herein as "tablet-laptop" systems, and may employ various types of connections to a base housing, including various types hinges and/or removable attachment mechanisms. Furthermore, with the advent of various mobile operating systems supporting touch operation, integration of touch panels within the LCD assembly of portable information handling systems has become highly relevant to satisfying market expectations.
Simultaneously, certain design aspects of tablet-laptop systems present technical and/or aesthetic challenges for manufacture and usability. For example, different types of keyboards may be used with tablet-laptop systems and many newer keyboard designs are much lighter in weight than in previous laptop systems, which may be desirable for improved portability. However, as a result of the lighter keyboard, when a tablet-laptop system is used in laptop mode, mechanical instability may arise due to weight imbalance. Design efforts to buttress the hinge mechanism in tablet-laptop systems may involve significant complexity and cost, and may further add thickness and weight to the overall package, which is undesirable. Furthermore, when tablet-laptop systems are used in tablet mode, undesirable contact of the keyboard may occur with a working surface on which the tablet-laptop system is placed during use.
Accordingly, it is desirable to have an improved design and a correspondingly improved manufacturing method for portable information handling systems, particularly for tablet-laptop systems, that provides an improved hinge design and provides protection to various components in different modes of use.

Portfolio cover for portable information handling systems


Among each of the conductors 4a to 4e that form the flat cable 2 of the flat harness 1, at the installation part of the relay connector 6, conductors 4a and 4e, conductors 4a1 and 4a2, and conductors 4e1 and 4e2 are respectively cut and separated, and then connected to the relay connection terminal 8. Thereby, the number of conductors 4 that form the flat cable 2 is decreased to a minimum, and thus it is possible to decrease the unnecessary amount of material. In addition, in the manufacturing steps, the crimping step of the flat cable 2 to the relay connector 6, the cutting step, and the molding step are carried out in one step, and thus the number of manufacturing steps can be decreased.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flat harness formed by a flat cable (FC), a flexible flat cable (FFC), or the like, that connects electrical components (auxiliary machineries) mounted on a vehicle, for example, and in particular relates to a flat harness and a manufacturing method for the same that minimizes the materials and the number of manufacturing steps for the flat harness.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, wire harnesses have generally been used to connect electronic components (auxiliary machineries) of a vehicle or the like. The wire harness bundles electrical wires that connect auxiliary machineries into a harness configuration, and normally crimp-style terminals are installed on the end of each of the electrical wires that form the harness. The crimp-style terminals are built into the connector that is connected to the connectors provided on each of the auxiliary machineries. In addition to wire harnesses, flat harnesses in which the electrical wires can be arrayed into a flat configuration and arrange a plurality of wirings at regular intervals are frequently used.
However, as described above, because a flat harness has a structure in which a plurality of wirings are arrayed in parallel, the width of the harness becomes wider as the number of wires increases, and thus there are cases in which wiring installation at a narrow site becomes difficult.
Thus, the present applicants proposed a wiring method for a flat harness that can form an arbitrary number of circuit wires by cutting and eliminating a part of the wiring of the flat harness and forming a joint part made of an electrically conducting material, and can realize a decrease in the number of electrodes of the connector of the terminal part along with space-saving and a simplification of the structure of the connector by minimizing unnecessary wiring (for example, refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication, No. Hei 10-136530).
However, in this wiring method, a number of operational steps are necessary to form the joint part because an arbitrary circuit must be formed after forming the joint part.
The present invention is performed to provide a flat harness and a manufacturing method for the same that further advances the object of realizing space saving and a simplification of structure by minimizing unnecessary wiring that has been proposed by the present applicants as described above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a flat harness and manufacturing method for the same which can minimize materials and manufacturing steps for the flat harness.

Method for manufacturing a flat cable harness


New thermoelectric materials comprise highly [111]-oriented twinned group IV alloys on the basal plane of trigonal substrates, which exhibit a high thermoelectric figure of merit and good material performance, and devices made with these materials.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is in the field of semiconductor materials, and more particularly thermoelectric materials and devices made with highly [111]-oriented twinned group IV semiconductor alloys on the base plane of trigonal substrates.
2. Description of the Related Art
Solid-state thermoelectric devices convert temperature differences into electricity, or develop a temperature difference when a voltage is applied. Thermoelectric effects in semiconductor junction devices include (among others) the Seebeck Effect. The Seebeck Effect is due to a combination of charge carrier diffusion and phonon drag.
Charge carrier diffusion, in semiconductors made from n- and p-doped materials, results when electrons and holes diffuse in response to a temperature gradient. The diffusing charges are scattered by impurities, imperfections and lattice vibrations (phonons). Since the scattering is energy dependent, a charge density differential will develop in response to a temperature gradient. The magnitude of the effect tends to increase with the electrical conductivity of the material, and to decrease with its thermal conductivity. However, there are interdependencies of these characteristics, which have added to the difficulty of developing good thermoelectric materials.
While good semiconductor device materials require a single crystalline phase without defects, many good thermoelectric materials have electrically connected poly-type crystalline structures that scatter phonons, thus reducing thermal conductivity. For example, thermoelectric skutterudite material has three pnictogen square planes that can orient randomly. See M. Formari, D. J. Singh, I. I. Mazin, and J. L. Feldman, in MRS Symposium Proceedings 626, Thermoelectric Materials 2000—The Next Generation Materials for Small-Scale Refrigeration and Power Generation Application, 2000, p. Z6.3.1. One material that has particularly been employed for thermoelectric purposes is Skutterudite CoSb, which has many poly-type structures to scatter phonons, yet the structures are electrically connected.
As another example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,207,886 teaches the use of a Co—Sb-based filled-skutterudite sintered material having a lower thermal conductivity and thereby having a higher figure of merit. This reference teaches a formulation involving fine crystals, in which the areas at the boundaries of the fine crystal grains are increased, phonon scattering is enhanced, the thermal conductivity is decreased, and the figure of merit is increased.
Thermoelectric devices have been made from other materials, such as silicon-germanium (SiGe), but these have conventionally exhibited lower figures of merit. While Skutterudite CoSb has a good figure of merit, it can perform only at intermediate operating temperatures. Because electric output is proportional to operating temperature, SiGe thermoelectric materials have been preferred for many applications because of their ability to operate at higher temperatures. Similar performance has been seen with other group IV variants, including various alloys of silicon, germanium, carbon and/or tin. However, previously known SiGe and other group IV thermoelectric materials have a relatively low figure of merit due to their high thermal conductivity.

The United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration


Example embodiments relate to smart content feeds for document collaboration. In example embodiments, a user may use a system to perform a search of a document repository in order to identify related content for adding to a target document. In response to a user approving the related content identified in the search, the system may create a reference data entry that includes a timestamp and a storage location of a source document that contains the related content. The system may then use the timestamp to detect that a modification of the source document has occurred and generate a notification for the user that describes the modification.

In some scenarios, a user may desire to share documents with other users via a network to collaborate. For example, the user may upload a document to a document management system so that other users can review the document. Other services also exist to enable collaboration and document sharing between users. In another example, users may create document shares and then expose the document shares to a selected set of users. The users may search the document management system or document shares to identify content related to a current project. Typically, the user that owns a document designates who may access the document, and the access to the documents is limited by permissions specified by the user.

Smart content feeds for document collaboration

HEWLETT-PACKARD DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, L.P.


A polypeptide having a heavy chain variable region and/or light chain variable region that specifically binds to CTLA4 protein as well as antibodies and antibody fragments containing the heavy chain variable region and/or the light chain variable region that bind to CTLA4 protein. Pharmaceutical compositions and kits comprising the polypeptide or antibodies and antibody fragments containing the polypeptide are also provided.

The vertebrate immune system requires multiple signals to achieve an optimal immune activation; see, e.g., Janeway, Cold Spring Harbor Symp. Ouant. Biol. 54:1-14 (1989); Paul William E., ed. Raven Press, N.Y., Fundamental Immunology, 4th edition (1998), particularly chapters 12 and 13, pages 411 to 478. Interactions between T lymphocytes (T cells) and antigen presenting cells (APC) are essential to immune activation. Levels of many cohesive molecules found on T cells and APCs increase during immune activation (Springer et al., A. Rev. Immunol., 5:223-252 (1987); Shaw and Shimuzu, Current Opinion in Immunology, Eds. Kindt and Long. 1:92-97 (1988)); and Hemler, Immunology Today, 9:109-113 (1988)). Increased levels of these molecules may help explain why activated APCs are more effective at stimulating antigen-specific T cell proliferation than are resting APC's (Kaiuchi et al., J. Immunol., 131:109-114 (1983); Kreiger et al., J. Immunol., 135:2937-2945 (1985); McKenzie, J. Immunol., 141:2907-2911 (1988); and Hawrylowicz and Unanue, J. Immunol., 141:4083-4088 (1988)).
T cell immune response is a complex process that involves cell-cell interactions (Springer et al., A. Rev. Immumol., 5:223-252 (1987)), particularly between T cells and accessory cells such as APCs, as well as production of soluble immune mediators (cytokines or lymphokines) (Dinarello, New Engl. Jour: Med., 317:940-945 (1987); Sallusto, J. Exp. Med., 179:1109-1118 (1997)). The immune response is regulated by several T-cell surface receptors, including the T-cell receptor complex (Weiss, Ann. Rev. Immunol., 4:593-619 (1986)) and other "accessory" surface molecules (Allison, Curr. Opin. Immunol., 6:414-419 (1994); Springer (1987) supra). Many of these accessory molecules are naturally occurring cell surface differentiation antigens defined by the reactivity of monoclonal antibodies on the surface of cells (McMichael, Ed., Leukocyte Tiping III, Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford, N.Y. (1987)).
CTLA4 is a T cell surface molecule that was originally identified by differential screening of a murine cytolytic T cell cDNA library (Brunet et al., Nature 328:267-270 (1987)). CTLA4 is also a member of the immunoglobulin (Ig) Superfamily. CTLA4 comprises a single extracellular Ig domain. CTLA4 transcripts have been found in T cell populations having cytotoxic activity, suggesting that CTLA4 might function in the cytolytic response (Brunet et al., Supra; Brunet et al., Immunol. Rev., 103:21-36 (1988)). Researchers have reported the cloning and mapping of a gene for the human counterpart of CTLA4 (Dariavach et al., Eur: J. Immumol., 18:1901-1905 (1988)) to the same chromosomal region (2d, 33-34) as CD28 (Lafage-Pochitaloff et al., Immunogenetics 31:198-201 (1990)). Sequence comparison between this human CTLA4 DNA and that encoding CD28 proteins reveals significant homology of sequence, with the greatest degree of homology in the juxtamembrane and cytoplasmic regions (Brunet et al., 1988, Supra: Dariavach et al., 1988, Supra).
Some studies have suggested that CTLA4 has an analogous function as a secondary costimulator (Linsley et al., J. Erp. Med., 176:1595-1604 (1992); Wu et al., J. Exp. Med., 185:1327-1335 (1997) and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,977,318; 5,968,510; 5,885,796; and 5,885,579). However, others have reported that CTLA4 has an opposing role as a dampener of T cell activation (Krummel, J. Exp. Med., 182:459-465 (1995); Krummel et al., Int'l Immunol., 8:519-523 (1996); Chambers et al., Immunity, 7:885-895 (1997)). It has been reported that CTLA4 deficient mice suffer from massive lymphoproliferation (Chambers et al., supra). It has also been reported that a CTLA4 blockade augments T cell responses in vitro (Walunas et al., Immunity, 1:405-413 (1994)) and in vivo (Kearney, J. Immunol., 155:1032-1036 (1995)), exacerbates antitumor immunity (Leach, Science, 271:1734-1736 (1996)), and enhances an induced autoimmune disease (Luhder, J Exp. Med., 187:427-432 (1998)). It has also been reported that CTLA4 has an alternative or additional impact on the initial character of the T cell immune response (Chambers, Curr. Opin. Immunol., 9:396-404 (1997); Bluestone, J. Immunol., 158:1989-1993 (1997); Thompson, Immunity, 7:445-450 (1997)). This is consistent with the observation that some autoimmune patients have autoantibodies to CTLA4. It is possible that CTLA4 blocking antibodies have a pathogenic role in these patients (Matsui, J. Immunol., 162:4328-4335 (1999)).
CTLA4 has been shown to negatively regulate immune activation through both intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms. See Grosso and Kunkel, Cancer Immunity, 13: 5 (2013). Specifically, (i) reverse signalling through CD80 and CD86 on APCs results in suppression of T cell responses and/or promotes conversion of naïve T cells to Tregs, (ii) signaling through CTLA3 stimulates production of regulatory cytokines such as TGF-β, resulting in inhibition of antigen presentation by APCs and inhibition of T cell function, (iii) binding of CTLA4 to CD80/CD86 reduces availability of these ligands for binding by CD28, resulting in reduced activation of T cells by APCs, (iv) binding of CTLA4 to CD80/CD86 causes their transendocytosis, reducing the ability for APCs to activate T cells, (v) CTLA4 recruits inhibitory proteins such as PP2A and PTPN11 to the T cell synapse, inhibiting signalling through CD28 and TCR, (vi) CTLA4 acts as a high affinity competitor occupying CD80/86 and thereby preventing binding by CD28, (vii) a soluble splice variant of CTLA4 may be capable of inhibiting T cell activation, and (viii) CTLA4 inhibits the T cell stop signal, which is important for activation of T cells by APCs.
Thus, inhibition of CTLA4 has been shown to promote stimulation of adaptive immune response and T cell activation. CTLA4-blocking antibodies have been shown to be efficacious in mouse models of cancer, and anti-CTLA4 antibodies such as ipilimumab (WO 2001/014424) and tremelimumab are being investigated as strategies to promote anti-tumor immunity in cancer. Blockade of CTLA4 is also a promising therapeutic strategy for disorders associated with T cell exhaustion such as chronic viral infection.
Antibodies to CTLA4 have been previously developed. U.S. Pat. No. 9,758,583 discloses antibodies or antibody fragments that are said to bind to one or both of human and murine CTLA4, which may be formulated into compositions for treatment of cancer. Some of the antibodies or antibody fragments are also said to optionally inhibit or prevent interaction or functional association between human CTLA4 and human CD80 or CD86, or between murine CTLA4 and murine CD80 or CD86. Such inhibition or prevention of interaction or functional association between CTLA4 and CD80 or CD86 may inhibit or prevent CD80 or CD86-mediated activation of CTLA4, CD80/CTLA4 signalling or CD86/CTLA4 signalling.
US 2009/0252741 also discloses monoclonal antibodies that bind to human CTLA4. These anti-CTLA4 antibodies are said to induce protection against cancer and also demonstrate some autoimmune side effects. The antibody that induced the strongest protection against cancer also induced the least autoimmune side effects. US 2009/0252741 also provides a method for selecting optimal anti-CTLA4 antibodies or other therapeutic agents with the most desirable balance between cancer protection and autoimmune side effects.
US 2016/0237154 discloses compositions and methods relating to or derived from anti-CTLA4 antibodies or antibody fragments. The anti-CTLA4 antibodies and antibody fragments may block binding of human CTLA4 to human B7, and thus are said to be suitable for treatment of cancers of the prostate, kidney, colon, lung or breast; pathogenic infections; diseases associated with the central nervious system, e.g. amyloidogenic diseases including Alzheimer's disease; and diseases with inflammatory or allergic components such as graft versus host disease, host versus graft disease, allergies, autoimmune diseases and other inflammatory diseases.
Though antibodies against CTLA4 are known and commercially available, it is desirable to find improved anti-CTLA4 antibodies that are suitable for cancer therapy with reduced or minimal side effects. The present invention provides anti-CTLA4 antibodies or antibody fragments that are suitable for therapeutic and diagnostic use, especially for diagnosis and treatment of cancers. Some of these anti-CTLA4 antibodies or antibody fragments may have a higher binding affinity to CTLA4 in a tumor in comparison with CTLA4 present in normal tissue. These anti-CTLA4 antibodies or antibody fragments typically have at least comparable efficacy to known anti-CTLA4 antibodies or antibody fragments. In addition, the present anti-CTLA4 antibodies or antibody fragments may exhibit reduced side effects in comparison with monoclonal anti-CTLA4 antibodies known in the art. These advantages may provide a more selective treatment of the CTLA4 in a tumor and may permit use of higher dosages of these anti-CTLA4 antibodies or antibody fragments as a result of the selectivity for CTLA4 in a tumor, whereby more effective therapeutic treatments can be realized without a corresponding increase in undesirable side effects.

Anti-CTLA4 antibodies, antibody fragments, their immunoconjugates and uses thereof


A device for lifting oversized pieces of material. The device includes a spreader bar capable of attaching to a lifting vehicle. At least two cross members are attached to the spreader bar along with at least one cross-member power source. The at least one cross-member power source is connected to at least one drive mechanism which in turn is connected to at least one of the at least two cross members. A load-pick power source is attached to each of the at least two cross members and well as to at least one load-pick drive mechanism. The at least one load-pick drive mechanism is connected to each of the at least two load pick points, and the cross-member and the load-pick power sources are each electrically connected to an operating or control panel in a cab of the lifting vehicle.

Precast and prestressed concrete products come in many forms. These products include precast rooms such as jail cells and road and building products such as I-beams, double tees, and bridge segments.
In the normal course of a manufacturing or construction process, these precast and prestressed products must be moved several times. At a minimum, the products are moved from the mold to storage area for curing and then from storage to a transportation vehicle for shipping.
These precast and prestressed products usually have a lifting means integrally placed on them. These lifting means can be wire rope loops, inserts for attaching lifting devices, or other lifting means. The actual lifting and moving of the product is typically accomplished by the use of some type of lifting vehicle such as a gantry crane or boom crane.
The products to be lifted usually have multiple lift points and the lifting vehicle often uses a spreader bar with multiple lift points to connect to the product to be lifted. The spreader bar also has crane lift points that are used to connect the spreader bar to the lifting vehicle.
The actual connection of the product to be lifted to the spreader bar is accomplished with a variety of devices such as slings, hooks, shackles, specialized attaching devices, etc. The connections are typically made by yard personnel manually connecting the spreader lifting devices to the pick points on the product. This process often involves manually positioning variable position lifting points on the spreader. This manual process is time consuming and sometimes hazardous when yard personnel must climb on stacks of stored products to make the connections. Given these problems, an automatic and remotely controlled device that alleviates and eliminates the steps and problems previously mentioned would be an important improvement in the art.


A plumb bob reel capable of retracting, housing, and protecting the entire length of flexible line which is attached to a plumb bob. The reel is generally comprised of a reel housing having a line retaining spool rotatably mounted therein, and a spring retraction member cooperatively positioned with respect to the spool. Further features of the reel include a protruding section which cooperatively receives a specially designed plumb bob, and two ways for accurately guiding and holding the flexible line in vertically aligned relation above a predetermined datum. The two ways of aligning the line are comprised of a knobbed member fixedly attached to the front wall of the housing, and a plurality of longitudinally formed, contiguous grooves through which the flexible line may pass. In addition, the reel is equipped with ways for securely attaching the housing to either ferrous or non-ferrous structures.

The present invention broadly relates to tools used in the construction and surveying industries and, more specifically, to reels for use in combination with plumb bobs. The present invention further relates to reels which fully retract and protect flexible plumb bob lines.
In surveying and construction, it is quite often necessary to establish a point, or set of points, which vertically, or laterally, align with a preexisting point (datum). To accurately establish these point(s), a tool termed a plumb bob is commonly employed. A plumb bob is basically comprised of an elongated, frusto-conically shaped, weighted member attached to one end of a flexible line (i.e., string). In practice, it is typical for a worker to hold the free end of the flexible line in vertically aligned relation above a predetermined datum such that the plumb bob is suspended slightly above the datum. The worker may, of course, adjust the positioning of the plumb bob until it becomes vertically aligned with the predetermined datum. The flexible line then becomes a vertical extension of this datum, thereby providing surveyors, and other workers who may have an obstructed view of the actual datum, with the ability to focus in on the line and make accurate lateral alignments from the datum.
In traditional plumb bobs, there are no means of housing and protecting the flexible line attached thereto. Therefore, the line is constantly being cut due to the chafing and slicing caused through contact with other tools and foreign objects. When breakage of the line occurs on the worksite, work must come to a halt until the line is replaced. If extra line was not brought to the particular location on the worksite where work was being done at the time of the breakage, an extraordinary amount of time, and therefore money, is lost until new line is found and attached to the plumb bob.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,172,205 to Gammon attempts to correct the above-identified problem by providing a reel which protects the line by retracting it into a housing when the plumb bob is not in use. The Gammon reel does protect the majority of line, but fails to adequately protect the portion of the line immediately adjacent the top surface of the plumb bob. This causes that particular portion of the line to fray and eventually break, thereby necessitating cutting a small portion of the line and retying the remaining line to the plumb bob. Due to the positioning and cooperation of the spool and line retraction mechanism, only a short amount of line can be stored on the spool and protected within the reel housing. Therefore, after the line breaks a few times, it becomes too short to be of any value, thereby rendering the reel useless.
A second problematic area which exists in this art, and has yet to be adequately addressed in the prior art is that of attaching the flexible line to a conveniently positioned structure, thereby permitting the plumb bob to dangle above a predetermined datum for an extended period of time. It is quite often necessary for a plurality of laterally aligned points to be constructed from a single datum. Therefore, after a surveyor has marked one point, he must move the transit to the next location where a mark needs to be established. Since this transfer of location takes a considerable amount of time, in order to maintain maximum consistency, the worker holding the plumb bob must remain motionless. In this situation it would be beneficial to have a feature which permits the attachment of the line to a conveniently placed structure. This feature could also be utilized in another scenario, such as in the construction of a door jamb, where the work area is confined to a small area and two workers are needed to make a set of points vertically and laterally aligned with a datum. By attaching the line to a conveniently placed structure, the second worker could be eliminated, thereby saving time and manpower.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,442,610 to Owens, Jr. provides a plumb bob holding device which is capable of being magnetically attached to any ferrous object. This attachment device is completely separate from the plumb bob and line, therefore the free end of the line must be tied to it every time it is utilized. Furthermore, since the sole means of attachment are magnetic, it is incapable of attaching to any non-ferrous object.


A method and system of facilitating the use of AT commands specified for a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) packet domain in relation to an Evolved Packet System (EPS) packet domain is provided. An embodiment of the present invention comprises defining, in response to an AT command directed to the definition of a secondary Packet Data Protocol (PDP) context, an EPS Service Data Flow (SDF) on the basis of the secondary PDP context.

Modern Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) chip sets often support two or more different Radio Access Technologies (RATs) such as GPRS, Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), Wide Band Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) and evolved High Speed Packet Access (eHSPA). Regardless of the RAT currently active, a multi-RAT UMTS ser Equipment (UE) is always connected to the same packet-switched domain, the GPRS packet domain, for packet switched services. The UE may thus always use the same principles for Internet Protocol (IP) bearer and connection management and allocation.
IP bearer and connection management and allocation in the GPRS packet domain is based on Packet Data Protocol (PDP) contexts and comprises functions for activating, deactivating and modifying bearers and connections as generally described in the Technical Specification (TS) 24.008 "Mobile Radio Interface Layer 3 Specification; Core Network Protocols; Stage 3" of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). A PDP context can be regarded as a data record of parameters that characterize a specific bearer and connection to the target Packet Data Network (PDN).
Multiple applications running on one UE may require multiple connections to one or more PDN5, so that multiple PDP contexts may have to be defined. These multiple PDP contexts can be grouped into so-called primary PDP contexts (also referred to as non-secondary PDP contexts hereinafter) on the one hand and secondary PDP contexts on the other.
Multiple primary PDP contexts provide connections to different PDN5 and are each associated with a unique IP address. Each secondary PDP context is created based on an existing primary PDP context and provides a connection to the same PDN as this primary PDP context. However, the secondary PDP context is typically associated with a different Quality of Service (QoS) guarantee than the associated primary PDP context. Each primary and secondary PDP context has its own Radio Access Bearer (RAB) and is identified by a unique Network Layer Service Access Point Identifier (NSAPI) used both in the GPRS packet domain and locally by the UE.
Since the IP address is the same for the primary PDP context and its associated secondary PDP contexts, a Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN) in the GPRS packet domain requires a filter to route downlink user plane data into the correct RAB for the primary and secondary PDP contexts. This filter is set using a so-called Traffic Flow Template (TFT) communicated by the UE in the Activate Secondary PDP Context Request message to the GGSN.
In existing solutions the IP bearer and connection management and allocation scheme as defined in the 3GPP specifications for the link between the GPRS packet domain and the layer 3 functionalities of the UE is also used towards applications that utilize these layer 3 functionalities for data transfer. Such applications can either be installed internally in the UE or externally on a terminal device to which the UE provides modem services.
The IP bearer and connection management and allocation functionality can be provided towards the applications (and the terminal device) using an Application Programming Interface (API). For internal applications, the API may be realized in the form of a so-called Open Platform API (OPA) as described in A. Ghosh et al., "Open application environments in mobile devices: Focus on JME and Ericsson Mobile Platforms", Ericsson Review, Volume 82, 2005. Alternatively (e.g., for external applications), the IP bearer and connection management and allocation functionality may be provided through an AT command API in accordance with 3GPP TS 27.007 "AT command set for User Equipments (UE)".
As illustrated in FIG. 1, AT commands are used for controlling Mobile Termination (MT) functions as well as services in the GPRS packet domain from a Terminal Equipment (TE) through a Terminal Adapter (TA). TA, MT and TE may be implemented in the form of separate or integrated entities as needed. 3GPP TS 27.007 defines a plurality of AT commands for controlling MT functions and GPRS packet domain services based on PDP contexts. Each AT command includes a Context Identification (CID) parameter as reference to the specific PDP context (and the associated RAB) to which the AT command applies.
With Release 8 of the 3GPP specifications, the Long Term Evolution (LTE) RAT and the Evolved Packet System (EPS) are introduced. The EPS is the packet domain that will be used by a UE in the LTE mode instead of the conventional GPRS packet domain.
The GPRS packet domain and the EPS packet domain differ in many aspects. For example, instead of relying on PDP contexts, the EPS is based on a Non-Access Stratum (NAS) protocol that defines default bearers, dedicated bearers and Service Data Flows (SDFs, also called ESP bearer resources) as described in 3GPP TS 23.401 "GPRS enhancements for E-UTRAN access" and 3GPP TS 24.301 "Non-Access Stratum (NAS) protocol for Evolved Packet System (EPS); Core Network Protocols; Stage 3". Moreover, EPS bearer setup procedures are always triggered by the network side, whereas in the GPRS packet domain the UE initiates PDP context setup.
In the EPS, a bearer is the basic level of QoS control granularity (which means that all data traffic on the same EPS bearer is granted the same QoS guarantee and that different QoS guarantees may be provided for different bearers). An EPS default bearer is set up according to a defaults QoS profile in the process of initial UE network attachment. As a result, each UE has at least one active (default) bearer to speed up service initiation. Additional EPS bearers connected to the same PDN like the default bearer are called dedicated bearers and will typically have a different QoS profile than the associated default bearer.
The EPS SDF feature has similarities with the GPRS TFT feature in that each SDF can be regarded as being associated with a packet filter or packet filter aggregate (e.g., multiple uplink and downlink packet filters). Additionally, each SDF is associated with a specific QoS profile. An SDF is based on an EPS bearer, and several SDFs with the same QoS profile may build an aggregated SDF mapped to a single EPS bearer.
Contrary to GPRS, where the decision how to map TFTs and PDP contexts is performed in the UE, in the EPS the network decides how the mapping will be performed. As a result, an LTE Resource Allocation Request message for an SDF issued by an UE via NAS signalling can either return a new EPS dedicated bearer with the requested SDF or an already existing EPS (dedicated or default) bearer with an additional SDF. In the GPRS packet domain, the corresponding Secondary PDP Context Activate Request message would always return a new (secondary) PDP context with an associated RAB.
There generally exist several possibilities how to create an interface towards applications for IP bearer and connection management and allocation in the EPS. A first solution could re-use the concept as specified in 3GPP TS 24.301 for the interface between the UE layer 3 functionalities and the EPS also as a basis for the interface towards the applications residing on the UE or on a terminal device to which the UE is connected. Such an interface towards the applications would comprise EPS specific messages like Bearer Resource Allocation/Release Request messages, Activate Default/Dedicated EPS Bearer Context Request messages, and so on.
While this solution would work for a single-RAT UE providing only LTE support, it would be disadvantageous for an LTE-enabled multi-RAT UE that connects to the EPS packet domain for LTE bearers and to the GPRS packet domain for legacy UMTS bearers. Specifically, such a solution would require that the interface towards the applications for IP bearer and connection management and allocation would be different dependent on the active RAT. It would, however, in many cases be desirable that the applications can request packet-based services independently of the active RAT (i.e., that the applications can remain agnostic of the RAT currently in use).
A second interference solution could be the programming of a dedicated interface capable of interpreting PDP contexts as EPS bearers and vice versa. According to the second solution, a primary PDP context could be interpreted to correspond to an EPS default bearer, and a secondary PDP context could be interpreted to correspond to an EPS dedicated bearer. As a result, the AT command interface for LTE bearer control could re-use an existing AT command interface for GPRS packet domain control to a large extent.
The main drawbacks of the second solution are the different bearer activation approaches discussed above. That is, for GPRS packet domain bearers the UE decides whether a new PDP context shall be activated, whereas for the EPS packet domain it is the network that decides about the activation of a new EPS bearer. As a result, certain AT commands such as the PDP context/EPS bearer activation request (+CGACT) would have to be interpreted differently dependent on the active RAT. Consequently, additional logic will need to be implemented on the application side to handle the differences between the LTE RAT on the one hand and the legacy UMTS RATs on the other. This also implies that applications programmed for the GPRS packet domain might need to be updated to support the EPS packet domain.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Technique for AT command handling in relation to an EPS packet domain


A device for ensuring the transport of tanks in the form of containers with a truck so as to prevent the containers on the truck from sliding during the trip includes at least two holding supports attached in such a manner to a holding frame that pairs of holding supports are opposite each other and between them form a space for the shape-locking accommodation of the container, a container put into the space between the holding supports, and a holding frame connected to the respective bearing surface of the truck transported on water, by land or in the air.

The invention relates to a device for ensuring the transport of at least one container with a truck so as to prevent the container from sliding on the truck during travel.
A container disposal arrangement with a mobile crane with hydraulically operated gripping tongs, suspended rotatably from a mobile crane, is disclosed in German Patent 40 08 619. The gripping tongs include two opposing jaws that can be slid hydraulically in opposite directions and include two gripping claws. This container disposal arrangement works with many identical containers which include opposing claw engagement pockets that are open externally and are intended for the gripping claws. As a container, a tank is provided that tapers conically toward the bottom and to whose upper end a collar with vertical and parallel walls is attached. To manipulate the container, i.e., to lift, tilt and lower it, the upper region of the container has claw engagement pockets into which the gripping claws of the gripping jaws reach.
The containers used in the known container disposal arrangement have a height of 1 m and a width of 1 m and a length of 1.20 m, and thus have a volume of about 1 m.sup.3. The usual maximum fill weight of these containers is about 2 tons.
The bottom end of the collar has a shoulder extending around the container so that the container can stand not only on the ground but can also be positioned on the circumferential shoulder above the ground.
These containers are placed in succession in two rows onto the loading platform of the truck for the purpose of transporting them on a truck and are tied down with a belt or the like to prevent them from sliding sideways, because it is not enough to transport the containers loosely on the platform of the truck, since the side platform gates of a truck do not offer adequate safety against sideways sliding of the containers.
The procedure of tieing down the containers is time-consuming and does not offer in every case the guarantee that the containers on the loading platform will not slide sideways as happens in road traffic, since the tiedown of a container can become loose or detach itself owing to the unevenness of the road and owing to the side acceleration while driving through curves.
A device for transporting containers holding liquid materials is disclosed in German Patent Publication 22 32 319. In this device liquid containers of the same or different sizes are collected into one transport unit on trucks, especially tank trucks, and held together by means of an anchoring mechanism. The loading platform is connected detachably to the chassis of the truck via locking elements. In so doing, the loading platform includes a support frame, exhibiting crossbars, between which the spacing matches the side dimensions of the smallest container to be transported. The corners of the loading platform are provided with container corner fittings. In addition, the loading platform has pockets to receive the container feet. This known device has locking elements which are supposed to be operated together for the transport containers.

Device for ensuring the transport of containers


Water-soluble film and unit dose articles made therefrom, where the water-soluble film includes a water-soluble polymer, where the water-soluble polymer includes a blend of a caseinate polymer and a polyvinyl alcohol homopolymer.

Water-soluble films comprising water-soluble polyvinyl alcohol homo- and/or copolymers have been known for a long time and have been used in many applications.
One of the possible application fields of such water-soluble films are water-soluble laundry unit dose detergent articles. Without wishing to be bound by theory, the water-soluble unit dose article comprises a water-soluble film and a unitized dose of a treatment composition which is housed within one or more compartments within the unit dose article. Upon addition to water, the water-soluble film dissolves and/or disintegrates and releases the treatment composition into the water.
While these water-soluble films are required to dissolve completely under use conditions in order not to leave undissolved film residues on the laundry items, even when exposed to very stressed wash conditions such as short and/or cold and/or low water washes, premature dissolution or disintegration upon accidental exposure to water prior to use is to be avoided. This has been found to be very challenging, e.g. water soluble films that show superior dissolution profiles tend to also be very sensitive to premature rupture upon accidental exposure to water, while films that demonstrate low sensitivity to premature rupture also seem to suffer incomplete film dissolution under stressed water conditions. As such there is still a need for water soluble films with improved resistance to premature rupturing upon accidental exposure to water prior to use, while still securing full film dissolution during use even under stressed wash conditions. In addition, a suitable film mechanical strength profile needs to be maintained to enable sufficient film deformation upon water-soluble unit dose article making while achieving strong and tight, rather than floppy, water soluble unit dose articles at the end of their making process.

Water-soluble film and water-soluble unit dose article made therefrom


A portable electronic device includes a main body, a handle, two anti-rotation members, and a connecting member rotatably connecting the main body to the handle. The anti-rotation members are fixed to two ends of the connecting member. The main body defines two receiving grooves. An anti-rotation hole is defined in a side wall of each receiving groove. The handle includes a rod portion and two supporting portions extending from opposite ends of the rod portion. An engaging groove is defined in each supporting portion. An end of the supporting portions of the handle is received in the receiving grooves. The anti-rotation members are detachably latched in the engaging grooves of the handle and the anti-rotation holes of the main body such that the handle and the main body are non-rotatable relative to the connecting member and define an angle.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a portable electronic device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a notebook computer includes a main body, a display panel, a hinge assembly connecting the main body to the display panel, and a carrying handle. The carrying handle includes a rod portion and two rotation portions formed on opposite ends of the rod portion. The main body defines two elongated slots to receive the rotation portions of the carrying handle. The rotation portions of the carrying handle are received in the slots of the main body.
When the rotation portions of the carrying handle are at a first end of the slots, the carrying handle can support the main body. When the rotation portions of the carrying handle are at a second end of the slots opposite to the first end of the main body, the carrying handle may be grasped and the notebook computer easily carried.
However, impacts are easily generated on the notebook computer by the rotation portions of the carrying handle freely sliding along the elongated slots of the main body.
Therefore, there is room for improvement within the art.

Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (ShenZhen) Co., Ltd.


It is provided a dedicated winding tester for composite wire rod-type specimens for effectively measuring the minimum winding radius of the wire rod-type specimens being made with carbon fiber or glass fiber reinforced composites in various diameters or textures via automatically gripping specimens, tightly winding, and sequentially proceeding sustained load in time, thereby supplying test data and design consideration in actual use and transport of the wire rod-type specimens being made of carbon fiber or glass fiber reinforced composites that comprises a shield, a specimen receiver and a winding device being arranged within said shield, as well as a programmable controller being arranged outside the shield.

Carbon fiber or glass fiber resin is a composite material being made with carbon fiber or glass fiber as reinforcing phase mingled in a resin as matrix phase. It meets the requirements to wire core material of the novel power transmission line in power industry, because of a series of outstanding performance thereof, such as, high specific strength, high specific modulus, high temperature resistance, corrosion resistance, fatigue resistance, and creep resistance, as well as small sag and thermal expansion coefficient, thereby gradually emerging a new configuration of carbon fiber composite core with the center layer of carbon fiber or resin and the coating layer of glass fiber or resin, as time required. It is found that, in subsequent studies, compared with conventional a steel core, the quality and linear expansion coefficient of the carbon fiber or glass fiber composite core equals approximately to ⅕ and 1/12 thereof, respectively. The outer layer, namely coating layer of glass fiber reinforces the wear resistance of the wire rod-type specimens, and is conducive to alleviate the damage generated between the wire rod-type specimens and an aluminum wire. The smooth surface of the wire rod-type specimens enables mating it directly with soft aluminum wire with trapezoidal cross section without processing, that is available for possibility and necessity of its application in transmission overhead line industry, further decrease of the power consumption during transmission, and reduction of 20% quantities of tower rods for land saving, as well as reduction of the metal resource consumption, thus contributing to the implementation of a power grid with environmental protection and power saving of high efficiency.
In order to facilitating the transport and discharge of transmission wire, generally winding its core composite around a disk of reasonable size. For more delivery quantities of wire, it is usually chosen that winding the core composite around the disk in a size as small as possible. However, carbon fiber or glass fiber composite core is configured with high elastic modulus and low elongation that the outer layer of its glass fiber being exposed is prone to cause the exposed surface defects where scratches or damages is not to be promptly detected, the use of the undersized disk may in turn lead to make the wire rod-type specimens damaged or even broken.
There is a need, therefore, for how to quickly and effectively estimate the exposed surface defects of the carbon fiber or glass fiber composite core, and to provide a safe and reasonable radius of curvature for the transport and discharge of the carbon fiber or glass fiber composite core line. A need exists for the primary issue as aforementioned that promotes safe operation of transmission line in new power industry.

Winding tester for composite wire rod-type specimens

Zhejiang Huadian Equipment Testing Institute


A dispensing system includes a refill having a reservoir for containing a volatile material. A permeable membrane is disposed over the reservoir and allows the volatile material to be released therethrough. The dispensing system also includes a housing adapted to retain the refill and a manual drive mechanism, which is in communication with the refill. Actuation of the manual drive mechanism causes the refill to rotate more than 180° about a longitudinal axis.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present invention is directed to a volatile material dispensing system and, in particular, a volatile material dispenser which is adapted to release a volatile material into an environment during use both passively and actively.
2. Description of the Background of the Disclosure
Many devices and apparatuses have been developed for delivering a volatile material to an environment of use. Some devices disseminate the volatile material using passive means. Examples of devices with passive means include devices having a volatile material evaporate from a substrate or membrane, which disseminate the volatile material into the environment. Other passive devices have a reservoir, which contains a volatile material that is released into the environment as the volatile material evaporates. However, these devices do not allow a user to provide an increased dissemination of the volatile material into the environment.
In addition to the aforementioned passive devices, active devices or devices that include a combination of passive and active devices, have been developed to aid in the dissemination of the volatile material. Many of these active dispensers require the use of electrical components to run a fan, heater, or other mechanism to enhance the dissemination of the volatile material from a substrate, membrane, or reservoir.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for an improved apparatus for manually enhancing delivery of a volatile material without the aid of an electrical component.

Volatile material dispensing system and method of use


According to some embodiments, original data is retrieved from an original data source. The original data may be automatically searched for potential personal information, such as a person's name, address, or Social Security number. An obfuscation method may be selected from a plurality of potential obfuscation methods. The potential personal information in the original data may then be automatically replaced with fictional data in accordance with the selected obfuscation method.

An enterprise may store information about other entities, such as people (e.g., customers, patients, employees, or insurance policy holders) and/or other companies, in order to process transactions during the normal course of business. Moreover, some of the stored information might be considered "personal information," such as for example, a person's name, home address, email address, telephone number, credit card number, or Social Security number. Note that a person might expect that the enterprise would not let his or her personal information be accessed by anyone who does not need the information in order to process the transaction. As a result, an enterprise will generally attempt to restrict access to personal information to protect the privacy of the entities (e.g., customers) and reduce the likelihood of identity theft and similar abuses.
In addition, certain types of personal information are protected by governmental requirements that dictate how particular items of information must be handled. For example, Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and/or Personal Health Information (PHI) as defined in various US governmental regulations must be protected in accordance with specific sets of rules. Note that other countries or regions (e.g., the European Union or Japan) might have similar laws and/or rules.
In some cases, an enterprise may use one or more automated programs or applications that access information, including personal information, from data stores (e.g., databases). For example, an enterprise might have a billing application that accesses a customer's name and home address from a data store in order to mail a billing statement to the customer's home.
Note that an enterprise might want to use information from a data store, including types of information that may be considered personal, even when the information is not needed to complete an actual transaction with a customer. By way of example, it might be helpful to share such information with a team of system designers who are developing and/or testing a new or updated version of an application.
To avoid disclosing any personal information associated with actual customers, an enterprise could create an entirely fictitious or fictional data store. Such an approach may be impractical, however, when an application needs to be tested with relatively large data stores (e.g., databases that contain information about tens of thousands of entities). Moreover, generating complicated data stores that mimic actual data stores can be a difficult and expensive process. For example, many different data stores—each establishing different relationships between elements within and between those data stores—might need to be created and tested.
As another approach, an actual data store could be manually reviewed to locate data that might be considered personal information and/or such data could be manually deleted or replaced with different information. These actions, however, can be time consuming, error prone, and difficult to administer in a cost effective basis, especially when a substantial number of database elements are involved.

Systems and methods for de-identification of personal data


A structure useful for electrical interconnection comprises a substrate; a plurality of porous dielectric layers disposed on the substrate; an etch stop layer disposed between a first of the dielectric layers and a second of the dielectric layers; and at least one thin, tough, non-porous dielectric layer disposed between at least one of the porous dielectric layers and the etch stop layer. A method for forming the structure comprising forming a multilayer stack of porous dielectric layers on the substrate, the stack including the plurality of porous dielectric layers, and forming a plurality of patterned metal conductors within the multilayer stack. Curing of the multilayer dielectric stack may be in a single cure step in a furnace. The application and hot plate baking of the individual layers of the multi layer dielectric stack may be accomplished in a single spin-coat tool, without being removed, to fully cure the stack until all dielectric layers have been deposited.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to interconnect structures for high-speed microprocessors, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), and other high speed IC's. The invention provides ultra low dielectric constant (low-k) interconnect structures having enhanced circuit speed, precise values of conductor resistance, and improved mechanical integrity. The structures of this invention have improved toughness and adhesion along with improved control over the metal line resistance compared to conventional structures. The present invention also provides many additional advantages which shall become apparent as described below.
2. Background Art
This application is related to application Ser. No. 09/795,431, entitled Low-k Dielectric Interconnect Structure Comprised of a Multi Layer of Spin-On Porous Dielectrics, assigned to the same assignee as the present application, and filed on Feb. 28, 2001, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Many low-k dielectric plus copper interconnect structures of the dual damascene type are known. For example, reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 6,383,920, which is assigned to the same assignee as the present invention, and is incorporated in its entirety by reference, as if fully set forth herein. However, in order to achieve the necessary reduction in the RC delay in the future generations, porous materials must be used as the dielectric. In addition, due to the 5-20 nanometer pore sizes of porous organic materials, a buried etch stop layer is necessary to give smooth metal line bottoms. These structures undergo several processing steps including chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) of the copper, which create stresses within the dielectric stack that can lead to delamination. Delamination can occur due to poor adhesion at the etch stop to dielectric interfaces, or within the dielectric due to decreased toughness of the porous dielectric and increased stress near the interfaces.

Toughness, adhesion and smooth metal lines of porous low K dielectric interconnect structures


A camera apparatus and a camera system of the present invention are configured so that a lens unit is attachable/detachable. The lens unit contains at least a lens and an iris, and contains a memory storing setting information required for operating the lens and the iris. When a camera microcomputer checks detection information stored in a memory in a sub-microcomputer at a time of start-up of the camera apparatus, and first detection information is stored in the memory, the setting information is acquired from the lens unit. When second detection information is stored in the memory, the setting information is acquired from another memory in the camera apparatus. Due to this configuration, the time for shifting the switch-on to a photographable state is shortened, and the ease of convenience can be enhanced.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a camera apparatus to which a lens unit is attachable/detachable. The present invention also relates to a camera system having a camera unit and a lens unit exchangeable with respect to the camera unit. In particular, the present invention relates to a system in which a camera unit and a lens unit can communicate with each other so that unique information of the lens unit can be communicated to the camera unit.
2. Description of Related Art
Recently, in a camera system of an exchangeable lens system, respective driving systems such as focus driving means, exposure driving means, and zoom driving means are provided on a lens unit side, and control means for controlling the respective driving systems on the lens unit side is provided on a camera unit side. Furthermore, the camera system includes communication means enabling control data to be communicated between the camera unit and the lens unit. The camera unit and the lens unit are configured so as to communicate lens data information, various pieces of control information, or status information unique to a lens via the communication means, whereby the operation on the lens unit side can be controlled from the camera unit side.
The above-described configuration in which a camera unit can be communicated with a lens unit is described, for example, in JP 4(1992)-280239 A. In a camera system with an exchangeable lens system described in JP 4(1992)-280239 A, in order for various kinds of lens units to be used, when a lens unit is mounted on a camera unit, setting information (lens data) set uniquely with respect to a lens is transmitted to the camera unit. On the camera unit side, various kinds of settings suitable for the lens unit mounted on the camera unit are performed based on the lens data transmitted from the lens unit.
Furthermore, JP 2005-173314 A discloses a configuration in which a camera system is set based on the mounting history of an accessory. Specifically, when an accessory such as an exchangeable lens is mounted on a camera unit, the camera unit obtains identification information from the accessory. The camera unit determines whether or not the accessory has been mounted previously, based on the identification information obtained from the accessory. In the case of determining that the accessory has been mounted previously, the camera unit applies the settings of the camera system with respect to the accessory that was mounted previously to the current settings.
However, according to the above-mentioned conventional configuration, when the lens unit is mounted on the camera unit, or when the camera unit with the lens unit mounted thereon is switched on, the camera unit performs processing of acquiring lens data from the lens unit, so that it takes a long time to obtain a photographable state from the time at which the lens unit is mounted on the camera unit or the time at which the camera unit is switched on. This lets a shutter chance slip away, causing a decrease in ease of operation.
More specifically, the conventional camera unit performs processing of acquiring lens data that is information unique to a lens from the lens unit every time the camera unit is switched on. The camera unit performs a setting such as autofocusing control, autoexposure control, or zoom control, based on the lens data acquired from the lens unit. The transmission/reception of lens data and the settings in the camera unit as described above are performed every time the camera unit is switched on, so that there is a problem that the state cannot be shifted to a photographable state immediately after the camera system is switched on.
Furthermore, a high-performance exchangeable lens has a large amount of lens data. When the amount of lens data is large, it takes a long time for the transmission/reception of lens data between the camera unit and the lens unit, which slows down the start-up of the camera system. Particularly, according to the configuration in which lens data is transmitted to the camera unit every time the camera system is switched on as in the prior art, and various kinds of settings are performed in the camera unit, the start-up of the camera system becomes much slower.

Image pickup apparatus and image pickup system


An altimeter apparatus for an aircraft includes an altimeter circuit and can use a method of determining altitude. The method includes receiving a first signal in a first band via a first receive antenna, and receiving a second signal in a second band via a second receive antenna. The first band is a C-Band and the second band is at least one of a W-Band, Ku-Band, Ka-Band, V-band, or K-Band. The method also includes providing an altitude in response to the first signal or the second signal.

Embodiments of the inventive concepts disclosed herein relate generally to the field of altimetry. Embodiments of the inventive concepts disclosed herein relate to low range altimeters (LRA) for aircraft and methods of determining altitude.
Altimetry is the technique by which altitude is measured. An altimeter is an instrument that measures altitude. Altimeters are frequently used in avionics where the altitude of an aircraft such as a commercial jet, a helicopter, and/or any other vehicle must be known. In many cases, altimeters can be used in aircraft to notify a pilot of the altitude of an aircraft or to provide altitude data to a warning system or other aircraft equipment. Altimeters may be sonic altimeters, pressure altimeters, or radar altimeters. A conventional radar altimeter, such as a low range altimeter (LRA), uses C-Band radio frequency (RF) waves to determine an altitude above terrain for an aircraft.

Dual band radar altimeter system and method


The invention relates to pharmaceutical preparations which are suitable for treating viral infections, including influenza and immunodeficiency diseases and which can also be used in vitro, to inhibit fusion of virus-infected cells with non-infected cells, which preparations contain modified proteins or polypeptides as active substance or substance contributing to the action or as carrier for other substances, which are also active, which modified proteins or polypeptides have acquired an additional net negative charge by derivatisation of their amino groups and/or other basic functional groups with aconitic acid which prevents protonation of basic amino acids and/or other basic functional groups or replaces basic amino acids and/or other basic functional groups by one or more functional groups having a negative charge, and to modified proteins and polypeptides themselves and their preparation and use.

The invention relates to pharmaceutical preparations which are suitable for treating or curing viral infections, including influenza and immunodeficiency diseases such as retrovirus infections, including AIDS and AIDS-related diseases, and which can also be used to inhibit fusion of virus-infected cells with non-infected cells, which preparations contain modified proteins or polypeptides as active substance or substance contributing to the action or as carrier for other substances, which are also active.
The use of glycoproteins as cell-specific carriers for 3'-azido-3'-desoxythymidine (AZT) is disclosed in the publication by Molema, G., Jansen, R. W. Pauwels, R., De Clerg, E., and Meijer, D. K. F. in Biochem. Pharmacol. part 40, No. 12, pp. 2603-2610 (1990). To date AZT is the only registered agent for the treatment of AIDS. AZT blocks the synthesis of viral DNA in the infected cells. Although AIDS is not cured, the agent prolongs life expectancy. Unfortunately, AZT also attacks healthy cells and therefore gives rise to a large number of undesirable side effects. These side effects arise in particular in tissues where a large amount of DNA is produced, for example in bone marrow. According to the abovementioned publication, it is proposed to direct AZT to target cells with the aid of a carrier molecule. According to the abovementioned publication, conjugates of albumin (HSA) and sugars, for example mannose, fucose, galactose and glucose, are prepared and tested for their anti-HIV activity in combination with AZTMP (AZT phosphorylated to the monophosphate form). It is presumed that the carrier molecule releases the active substance once the conjugate of glycoprotein and active substance has been absorbed by the target cell.
The use of sulphated phenyl polymers in preparations for the treatment of retrovirus infections is disclosed in Netherlands Patent Application 8900442. Sulphated phenyl polymers mentioned in this publication are sulphated polyphenyl alcohols, sulphated copolymers of (meth)acrylic acid and phenyl alcohol and pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof. These active substances reduce the cytopathogenicity of HIV-1 in MT-4 cells and the antigen expression of HIV-1 in CEM cells. They are also active against the replication of HIV-2. In addition, the formation of giant cells (multinuclear syncytium cells), generated by HIV-1, and the adsorption of HIV fragments on CD-4 positive cells are inhibited.

Modified proteins and their use for controlling viral infections


An object of the present invention is to create a migration mapping definition based upon computer program changes and use the migration mapping definition to migrate instance data from an older software version format to a newer software version format. A developer uses edit commands, such as mouse commands and keyboard commands, to update a computer program. For example, a software developer may upgrade “Application XYZ” from version 1.0 to version 2.0 in order to include a simpler approach to import images, as well as the ability to import newer image format types. As a developer updates a computer program using edit commands, the edit commands are stored in a migration mapping definition. In turn, the migration mapping definition is deployed, along with the updated computer program, to an end user. The end user then uses the migration mapping definition to migrate instance data generated by the original computer program to instance data that is usable by the updated computer program.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a system and method for automatic instance data mapping generation. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for creating a migration mapping definition based upon model changes, and using the migration mapping definition to migrate instance data from an older software version to a newer software version.
2. Description of the Related Art
Software developers are continuously updating software application programs by providing new features in the application in order to gain a competitive advantage. For example, a software developer may upgrade application "XYZ" from version 1.0 to version 2.0 in order to include a simpler approach for importing images, as well as the ability to import newer image format types.
When a software developer updates an application version, the software developer also develops a migration product, which may be a migration application or migration adapters. These migration products allow an end user to migrate data that is generated on an older software version to a newer software version. Using the example described above, the software developer may provide a migration application that allows an end user to migrate data that was generated on application XYZ version 1.0 to a data format that is compatible with application XYZ version 2.0. A challenge found, however, is that creating these migration products requires additional effort from the software developer.
Today, software developers typically use an integrated development environment (IDE) to develop software applications that are based upon models. A software developer uses the IDE to generate the model that, in turn, is the backbone behind the application. The IDE's, however, have complex frameworks for interchanging tool data and metadata information. This information is not always complete or collected in such a way in order to automatically generate a migration application. A challenge found, therefore, is that data modelers are still required to manually write the migration applications or migration adapters that enable a user to migrate data from earlier software versions to newer software versions.
What is needed, therefore, is a system and method for automatically generating a migration product that migrates data from an earlier software version to a newer software version.

Automatic instance data mapping generation

International Business Machines Corporation


The present invention generally relates to cathode buffer materials and devices and methods comprising the cathode buffer materials.

Organic photovoltaic cells (OPVs) have received significant interest for their potential as a low-cost energy source and efficiencies have recently reached records nearing 10% using both solution and vacuum deposition methods. In the conventional orientation for organic photovoltaic cells, the OPV is illuminated through a transparent hole-collecting anode deposited on the substrate, (e.g. indium tin oxide (ITO)), and electrons are collected by a low work function metal cathode top contact. Development of efficient inverted device structures (e.g., wherein electrons are collected by a transparent cathode) (i) may provide more degrees of freedom in designing OPV fabrication schemes, including tandem and semitransparent devices, (ii) may allow for protection of the delicate organic semiconductor layers below metal oxide anode buffer layers prior to subsequent top layer deposition steps, and/or (iii) may have improved stable by allowing use of higher work function metal top contacts and/or protection of air-sensitive electron acceptor layer. However, due to the high work function of common transparent conductors (e.g. ITO and conductive polymers) such structures generally require a low work function interfacial cathode buffer layer, which aids in providing sufficient electric field through the device and/or may allow for ohmic contact with the adjacent electron acceptor.
Accordingly, improved cathode buffer materials and related devices and methods are needed.

Cathode buffer materials and related devices and methods


An image forming apparatus is provided with an optical system for forming a first electrostatic latent image and a second electrostatic latent image on a rotatable photosensitive member, a first developing device accommodating a first developer for developing the first electrostatic latent image, and a second developing device accommodating a second developer for developing the second electrostatic latent image. The second developing device is located downstream from the first developing device in a direction of rotation of the photosensitive member and is provided with a developing roller having a magnetic force. The second developer differs in color from the first developer and has a magnetism greater than the first developer. The second developer is transported to the second electrostatic latent image along a periphery of the developing roller. The image forming apparatus is further provided with a collector provided in the second developing device and having a collecting member confronting the developing roller. The first developer mixed in the second developer is moved toward and collected by the collecting member under the influence of an electric field formed between the collecting member and developing roller. Alternatively, the photosensitive member can act as a collector for collecting first developer mixed in the second developer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an. image forming apparatus for electrophotographically forming an image and, more particularly, to an image forming apparatus provided with a plurality of developing devices each containing toner of a different color.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image forming apparatus, in which a plurality of toner images of different colors are transferred all together onto a transfer material, is known. For example, when toners of two different colors are used in such an image forming apparatus, a first electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of a photosensitive body is initially developed by the first toner contained in a first developing device. A second electrostatic latent image is then developed in an overlapping manner by the second toner of the same polarity as the first toner in a second developing device. Thereafter, toner images formed by the first and second toners are both transferred onto a transfer material. According to this type of apparatus, since it is so arranged that the first toner image passes a developing area of the second developing device, part of the toner of the first image is disadvantageously scraped off by the action of a magnetic brush of a second developer material including the second toner and eventually mixed into the second developing device. As a result, image quality is deteriorated due to the mixture of first and second toners.
In order to avoid the above-described disadvantage, such a proposal is heretofore made that the first and second toners consist of non-magnetic toner and magnetic toner, respectively. Alternatively, both the first and the second toners are rendered magnetic, but the second toner consists of toner of higher magnetism than the first toner. The first toner can accordingly be selectively collected because of the difference in developing threshold value between the first and second toners.
However, according to the above-proposed method, not only the first toner is collected from among the second developer material, but the second toner is adhered to a collecter by the mechanical force such as the adhesive force thereof or the like to the collecter. In this case, there arises no problem if the amount of the second toner adhered to the collecter is considerably small. In the above-described conventional method, however, the second toner is actually collected up to 10-20% of the whole collected toner. Therefore, a good deal of the second toner is wasted without being served for the development.
In the meantime, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication (unexamined) No. 58-137846 proposes a method for separating and collecting the first toner mixed into the second developing device. The order of frictional electrification is suitably set for the first toner, the second toner and carrier according to this method, so that the first toner mixed into the second developer material may be separated from the carrier by reversing the polarity thereof to a polarity opposite to the second toner. The separated first toner is scattered out of the developing device or collected at a non-image area of the photosensitive body or by a collecting roller.
However, the above method also has the following disadvantages. That is, the control in the order of electrification is required, which narrows in many cases the allowance of the composition of toner. Since the electrification is closely related to environments, particularly humidity, the image forming apparatus should be installed at a proper place so that the resulting images may not be subject to variation. Moreover, the scattered first toner may spoil the inside of the image forming apparatus.

Image forming apparatus having a plurality of developing devices


A blood pressure measurement apparatus which can install cuffs at a tragus that has differences includes a holding member 3 having a shape part 52 to be installed in a space between an auricular concha and an antihelix, a first protrusion 54 extended from the shape part such that the first protrusion is directed towards the ear hole, a second protrusion 55 extended from the shape part such that the second protrusion is nearly right-angled with respect to the first protrusion and the second protrusion steps over the tragus, an integral member 50 having an ear hook part 51 that is extended from the shape part, the ear hook is integrally made with the integral member or made as an independent member, inner cuff 6 is supported at the end portion of the first protrusion, support member 15 is attached at the end portion of the second protrusion, cuffs 6,7 are attached to the support member through a clamping width adjustment part 11 that makes a clamping width adjustment against the tragus possible.

The blood pressure changes momentarily in accordance with changes in external and internal environments. Therefore, it is ideal to be able to continuously record heartbeats one after another. Although such continuous recording is impossible, it is important to provide health care by measuring the change in blood pressure with time by periodically (intermittently) measuring the blood pressure over the course of a day.
When periodically measuring the blood pressure by the conventional blood pressure measuring apparatus, the blood pressure is measured by winding a cuff around the brachium of a person to be measured. In this case, it is necessary to attach, to the body, a large cuff that covers the brachium and the main body of the blood pressure measuring apparatus connected to the cuff. When periodically measuring the blood pressure by the blood pressure measuring apparatus, therefore, a person to be measured must always have the cuff attached to the brachium and the main body of the blood pressure measuring apparatus connected to the cuff being attached to the body. This largely interferes with everyday life. There is also a burden on the person to be measured; he or she may feel pain because the brachium is pressed whenever the blood pressure is measured.
In order to solve such problems, instead of measuring a blood pressure at a brachium, there is a blood measuring method for measuring the blood pressure by winding small cuff on the fingers. According to this measuring method, because the size of the finger is small compared with the brachium, the cuff and the main body can be made small (non patent reference 1). There is also a method that measures the pulse wave by attaching a cuff to the earlobe and pressing it (patent reference 1).
This method can make the cuff and main body smaller than a sphygmomanometer that measures the blood pressure by attaching a cuff to the brachium, and can also reduce the burden on a person to be measured.
Non-Patent Literature 1:
Osamu TOCHIKUBO, "Measurement method and clinical evaluation of blood pressure", issued in Medical Tribune Ltd. in 1988, pages 59-61
Patent reference 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-6906

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation