A method and system for flow mobility filter rule verification is provided. According to an embodiment of the present invention, a network node of a telecommunications packet network is configured to receive filter rules provided by a user entity (UE) relating to a requested IP-CAN session. The filter rules are applied by a Policy and Charging Control (PCC) network architecture for the session. The network node is also configured to compare received filter rules with Inter-Mobility Policies (IMPs) of the user in order to determine if the filter rules match with the user's IMPs, and to send a filter rule verification response indicating whether or not the filter rules match the user's IMPs.

With the increase in availability and use of services, such as IP multimedia services, that has occurred since third generation telecommunications networks were introduced, user entities (UEs) often require the use of multiple simultaneous accesses to such networks. This involves the UE requesting multiple simultaneous IP-CAN sessions. However, the networks and/or services often require, or make use of, different access technologies.
The Third Generation Project Partnership (3GPP) is standardizing an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) concept that will converge different access network technologies into a common core network. As part of this EPC architecture UEs can be provided with multiple Packet Data Network (PDN) connectivity capabilities so that the UE can use multiple access networks simultaneously. In addition, EPC will provide IP flow mobility, meaning that a UE can move active flows from one access network to another.
The most prominent global mobility protocol in the EPC network will be the Common Management Information Protocol, CMIP (Dual Stack Mobile IPv6, DSMIPv6) protocol. This will be used for non-3GPP accesses over the reference point S2c. 3GPP is also standardizing an Access Network Discovery and Selection Function (ANDSF), used to provide a UE with information about the access technologies that the UE is allowed to use, or should be using for particular applications, and access priorities. These are referred to as Inter Mobility Policies or IP Flow Policies, which can be accessed by the ANDSF, and include a list of accesses that the UE can use, which accesses the UE should be using for specific applications, and in which priority order. For example the Inter Mobility Policies may specify that all video application traffic should first use a Long Term Evolution, LTE, access and if LTE is not available then WLAN but never 2G or 3G accesses. These Inter Mobility Policies are high level policies that dictate what accesses the UE should use for particular application flows. To use the Inter Mobility Policies, the UE needs to calculate filter rules from them and these filter rules are then installed into the network's Policy and Charging Control (PCC) architecture.
Current activities in 3GPP are ongoing to standardize the multi-PDN connectivity and IP flow mobility. As part of this activity, and as stated in 3GPP TS 23.261 ("IP flow mobility and seamless WLAN offload"), 3GPP will specify how filter rules, that are needed to route specific traffic flows via specified accesses, are installed into the EPC network by the UE. The UE will have the capability to send filter rules to its Home Agent (HA) that normally resides in the Packet Data Network Gateway (PDN-GW). These filter rules are either calculated by the UE from the Inter Mobility Policy set provided by the ANDSF, or by manual configuration. The HA will then forward these filter rules to the PCC architecture that will create an IP-CAN session based on the filter rule set.
According to the 3GPP Technical Specification, TS 23.261, the multi-PDN connectivity and IP flow mobility specified provides the UE with control as to what filter rules are installed for the UE in the core network at any given time. This means that, as currently specified, the UE is in charge of calculating the filter rules from the Inter Mobility Policies provided by the network operator, and the UE will send these rules inside CMIP signals to the network where they will be installed into the PCC architecture without any verification.
A problem with this arrangement is that because the UE has control over the filter rules, it can therefore control the behaviour of the core network by simply updating filter rules with CMIP signalling. Even though CMIP signalling is protected with the IPsec security protocol, there remains the possibility that attackers could set filter rules in the PCC architecture that consume resources from other users. Even bigger problems can arise with wrongly-configured and active UEs in the network. For example, a large number of poorly behaving UEs accessing the network could end up deteriorating the capabilities of the whole network by installing filter rules that are clearly wrong or totally contrary to the policies of the network operator. As the architecture is currently defined, no verification is required that the filter rules generated by the UE comply with the Inter Mobility Policies provided by the operator or the EPC network. There is no operator control over filter rules what so ever!
The present invention has been conceived with the foregoing in mind.


The present disclosure relates to a method for producing glucaric acid, and more particularly, to a method for producing glucaric acid including the steps of: (1) inputting aldohexose and potassium hydroxide to an aqueous solution; and (2) deriving a catalytic oxidation reaction after adding a supported noble metal catalyst to the aqueous solution under the presence of oxygen gas.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to a method for synthesizing glucaric acid, which can be used as a raw material for adipic acid, from aldohexose obtained from plants or marine resources.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Due to continuous increase in population and development of industry, oil resources are the resources mankind is most dependent to the extent that it occupies 95% of the currently produced chemicals. However, the limitation of oil deposits and the inevitable environmental problems caused by extracting such deposits, it is urgent to establish an alternative.
Hence, recently, various alternative materials capable of replacing oil resources are actively studied, and above all, since biomass which is derived from plant resources repeatedly produced annually in nature such as corn, sugar cane, wood-based plant resources, palm, algae, etc. is eco-friendly as well as reproducible, it has emerged as an important future resource.
However, the bio material business is still a small business, and also the economy is lower than petrochemical materials. But, according to the report by EPNOE (European Polysaccharide Network of Excellence) and announced by Utretcht University of Netherlands, it predicts that the usage of biomass is rapidly increased after 10 years and concretely, it is marketable to the extent that it can replace 90% of oil-extracting materials.
On the other hand, the industrial importance of the biomass related study has been increasingly emphasized in terms of automotive component materials deeply associated with oil resources. For example, polypropylene, nylon, polycarbonate, and ABS materials, etc. are used as an interior and exterior injection molding material, polypropylene material of them is most widely used in quantity, followed by nylon material (around about 15 kg per vehicle). In particular, because Nylon 66 of the nylon materials has excellent physical properties such as heat resistance, wear resistance, and chemical resistance, etc., it is widely used as the component requiring high temperature characteristics of automotive components next to Nylon 6.
Nylon 66 is prepared by dehydration polymerization of hexamethylenediamine and adipic acid. The adipic acid monomer has been produced by chemical synthesis process in which cyclohexane is obtained from crude oil refinement process, starting from crude oil, as an intermediate (e.g., crude oil→benzene→cyclohexane→adipic acid→Nylon 66). However, the above described technology and process of manufacturing adipic acid from crude oil is susceptible to problems such as the instability of oil price, the use of benzene which is a toxic material, the occurrence of environmental pollution by-products and the like. Moreover, recently, due to rising oil price, the price of chemical intermediate materials are rising, e.g., the material which is highly risen is butadiene which is the raw material of petroleum-based ABS (acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene resin) and adipic acid which is to be the raw material of Nylon 66 resin. That is, the adipic acid is prepared via the intermediate cyclohexane, and the price of the cyclohexane consistently is rising.
Accordingly, if the production technology of nylon raw material having high availability, for example, is changed to a biomass based process, economic benefits would be expected and substantial effects can be expected in terms of an environmental aspect due to the reduction of environmental pollution.
However, the manufacturing process technology using biomass as a raw material is not established, and moreover, the bio-manufacturing process technology for synthesizing adipic acid which is a monomer of nylon 66 from biomass is just at the R&D level so far, it is not commercialized.
Thus, the development of a new bio-synthesis technology capable of manufacturing adipic acid at a low cost is urgently required.
On the other hand, as the currently known bio-technology, a producing method derived from green algae is disclosed in Korean patent application No. 10-2011-0073628. The method relates to a method for manufacturing D-glucaric acid by using green algae sugars, and more particularly a method for changing D-glucuronic acid obtained from a green algae primitive to D-glucaric acid by using the recombinant microorganism introducing the glucaric acid production gene. However, although this method has the characteristics which is a new fermentation process for manufacturing a chemical having a high industrial value by using the green algae resources, it is not used industrially because the manufacturing process is complicated, e.g., it is performed by a diastatic technique involving preparing a monosaccharide from green algae primitive and the subsequent monosaccharide engineering step for manufacturing glucaric acid using the recombinant microorganism.
Further, Moon, T. S. et al. (2009) Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 75:589-595 disclose the example which produces biomass-derived D-glucaric acid by using D-glucose as a raw material. However, the existing study producing glucaric acid by using D-glucose has the disadvantage of which the productivity is very low as compared with the injected glucose amount, because D-glucaric acid is produced through the chain enzyme reaction such as PPS (phosphoenolpyruvate-dependent phosphotransferase system), myo-inositol-1-phosphate synthase, phosphatase, myo-inositol oxygenase, myo-inositol oxygenase, etc. in Colon bacillus (<17.4%)


A system assesses quality of an image of human anatomical components in the presence of a metallic object. The system comprises an image processor for selecting an imaging protocol to use in imaging a test unit in response to data indicating a metal type employed in the test unit. The test unit includes, at least one object of the metal type used for a medical implant, an object comprising water and an object representing human fat. The water object and fat object are less than 3 centimeters, for example, distant from the metal object.

Magnetic Resonance imaging of joints that contain metal is a challenging task, due to a magnetic field susceptibility effect, which causes significant local field changes in the main static base MRI magnetic field (B0) and RF transmit coil field (B1). FIG. 1A shows a known metal joint used for a knee and FIG. 1B shows a known metal joint used for hip joint replacement, for example. Historically imaging metal joints was not a major problem partly because technically it was nearly impossible to perform MR scanning of metallic features, and partly because such scanning was not permitted due to its unknown effect and potential safety considerations. However, it is desirable to be able to perform post-surgical examination of joints with metal hardware. Known methods support metallic object imaging and assess metal object image quality qualitatively and subjectively. Such subjective assessment is dependent on human judgment and is vulnerable to associated error and provides inconsistent results. Known test objects (phantoms) used for assessing MRI image quality fail to support metal object imaging and are constructed of non-metallic materials and do not cause significant susceptibility effects. FIG. 2, for example, shows a known test object used for MR image quality checking and service tune-up comprising materials having no magnetic susceptibility effect. A test object and system according to invention principles addresses this need and associated problems.

Metallic object MR imaging quality control system


A peristaltic pump is presented comprising a housing and a rotor assembly supported by the housing. An occlusion bed is slideably mounted in the housing. A door is pivotable about a shaft, which is supported by the housing. A pinion gear is coupled to the shaft and engages a rack on the occlusion bed. Rotation of the shaft causes the occlusion bed to slide toward or away from the rotor assembly. An open portion of a tube retaining system is associated with the housing and a clamping portion of the tube retaining system is associated with the door. The open portion and the clamping portion of the tube retaining system are configured to secure flexible tubing therebetween when the door is in a closed position.

Peristaltic pumps are typically used to pump clean/sterile or aggressive fluids, because cross contamination cannot occur. Some common applications include pumping IV fluids through an infusion device, aggressive chemicals, high solids slurries and other materials where isolation of the product from the environment, and the environment from the product, are critical. The peristaltic pump is the standard method for introducing liquids into the nebulizer on an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) unit.
Rotary peristaltic pumps typically move liquids through flexible tubing. A typical peristaltic pump has a rotor assembly with pinch rollers that apply pressure to the flexible tubing at spaced locations to provide a squeezing action on the tubing against an occlusion bed. The occlusion of the tubing creates increased pressure ahead of the squeezed area and reduced pressure behind that area, thereby forcing a liquid through the tubing as the rotor assembly moves the pinch rollers along the tubing.
For high pressure peristaltic pumps, where pressures may exceed, for example, approximately 100 psi, very thick, stiff walled tubing is required to accommodate the elevated pressures. This relatively stiff nature of this high pressure tubing poses design challenges for both the loading and occluding operations of the pump.
Accordingly, there is a need for a pump and a tube retaining system that can accommodate the stiffer tubing needed for high pressure applications in both the loading of the tubing into the pump and the occlusion of the tubing during the operation of the pump.


The present invention relates to an ultrasonic probe to be inserted into the body of a subject for image-processing a diagnostic target thereof by ultrasonic waves transmitted to and received from the inside of the body and, more particularly, to an internal examination ultrasonic probe which can be directly installed on a palpation finger. The ultrasonic probe includes a transducer array for transmitting and receiving the ultrasonic waves; a housing for supporting the transducer array, which housing is provided with a device for installing a fingertip of an operator therein; and electric wiring members connected to the transducer array and extending from the housing to the outside so that transmission and reception signals of the ultrasonic waves are supplied therethrough. Alternatively, the ultrasonic probe includes a transducer array for transmitting and receiving the ultrasonic waves; a housing for supporting the transducer array, which housing is provided with a device for installing a fingertip of an operator therein; and electric wiring members connected to the transducer array so as to supply transmission and reception signals of the ultrasonic waves therethrough, and the electric wiring members extend from the housing to the outside in such a manner that they are located on a nail side of the fingertip or a side surface adjacent to the nail side when the fingertip is installed in the housing.

The present invention relates to an ultrasonic probe for an ultrasonic diagnosis apparatus and, more particularly, to an improved technique which can be applied for an internal examination ultrasonic probe when it is directly installed on a palpation finger in the field of obstetrics, gynecology, urology or the like.
A conventional ultrasonic probe for an internal examination in the field of obstetrics, gynecology, urology or the like, which is inserted into the body so as to examine a diagnosis target, is of a structure that a transducer array for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves is located at the distal end of a rod, while a grip to be held by an operator's hand is provided at the other end of this rod. An example of such an ultrasonic probe is disclosed in the lecture article collection of the 50th congress by The Japan Society of Ultrasonic in Medicine, pp. 319-320. This transducer array has a convext shape of a small curvature diameter (about 15 mm) to effect sector scanning of the ultrasonic waves.
Palpation is often conducted in the field of obstetrics, gynecology, urology or the like. For example, in the field of obstetrics and gynecology, the internal examination has been established as a method for directly inspecting the condition of the uterus or the ovary, whereby a target organ of a subject is examined with the sense of a fingertip of a physician in such a manner that the physician's right hand is applied on the abdomen of the subject so as to hold the target organ between the right hand and the fingers of the left hand.
The conventional transvaginal ultrasonic probe includes a portion to be inserted whose distal end is 2 to 3 cm in outer diameter and a rod portion which is not less than 1 cm in diameter. Consequently, when a finger for the internal examination is accompanied with the ultrasonic probe, the overall diameter of such an insert becomes so large as to unfavorably affect the subject. Besides, since the ultrasonic probe itself is formed with the grip to be held by one hand of the physician, this hand holding the probe cannot be used for palpating the subject, hence resulting in a problem that the internal examination cannot be carried out in the above-described manner.

Ultrasonic probe to be installed on fingertip


Improved methods and apparatus for capturing emboli and subsequently removing or immobilizing the captured emboli are described. Emboli can be captured within a blood vessel and can be withdrawn to a position exterior to the blood vessel. Some filters can remain within a blood vessel yet direct emboli to a position exterior to the blood vessel.

Heart and vascular disease are major problems in the United Sates and throughout the world. Conditions such as atherosclerosis result in blood vessels becoming blocked or narrowed. This blockage can result in lack of oxygenation of the heart, which has significant consequences since the heart muscle must be well oxygenated in order to maintain its blood pumping action.
Occluded, stenotic or narrowed blood vessels may be treated with a number of relatively non-invasive medical procedures including percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA), percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA), and atherectomy. Angioplasty techniques such as PTA and PTCA typically involve the use of a balloon catheter. The balloon catheter is advanced over a guidewire such that the balloon is positioned adjacent a stenotic lesion. The balloon is then inflated, and the restriction in the vessel is opened. During an atherectomy procedure, the stenotic lesion may be mechanically or otherwise cut away from the blood vessel wall using an atherectomy catheter.
During procedures such as angioplasty and atherectomy procedures, as well during other operations and even as a result of natural events, embolic debris can be separated from the wall of the blood vessel. If this debris enters the circulatory system, it can block other vascular regions including the neural and pulmonary vasculature. During angioplasty procedures, stenotic debris may also break loose due to manipulation of the blood vessel.
Because of this debris, a number of devices such as intravascular filters have been developed to filter out debris. A need remains for improved methods of capturing and removing intravascular emboli.

Methods and apparatus for emboli removal


A method of determining a gradient of a magnetic field, includes the steps of: biasing a first/second magnetic sensor with a first/second biasing signal; measuring and amplifying a first/second magnetic sensor signal; measuring a temperature and/or a stress difference; adjusting at least one of: the second biasing signal, the second amplifier gain, the amplified and digitized second sensor value using a predefined function f(T) or f(T, ΔΣ) or f(ΔΣ) of the measured temperature and/or the measured differential stress before determining a difference between the first/second signal/value derived from the first/second sensor signal. A magnetic sensor device is configured for performing this method, as well as a current sensor device, and a position sensor device.

Devices for measuring a magnetic field strength are known in the art. They often contain one or more Hall elements or magneto resistive elements. Magnetic sensors are typically used in current sensors, distance sensors, proximity sensors, proximity switches, linear or angular position sensors, etc. while magnetic sensing offers several advantages, such as non-contact measurement, less mechanical wear, accuracy of these devices is limited in the presence of an external disturbance field.
In recent years, it was found that the influence of an external disturbance field can be largely reduced by measuring a magnetic field gradient, and by calculating the current or distance or position from the magnetic field gradient signal, rather than from the magnetic field component value itself.
There is always room for improvements or alternatives.

Devices and methods for measuring a magnetic field gradient


Provided are a method, system, and article of manufacture, wherein a request is received for switching a logical volume from one state to another state, wherein the logical volume is in a mirrored state if data corresponding to the logical volume is mirrored from a first storage to a second storage, and wherein the logical volume is in a non-mirrored state if the data corresponding to the logical volume is not mirrored from the first storage to the second storage. A determination is made as to whether to perform the switching, in response to receiving the request.

1. Field
The disclosure relates to a method, system, and article of manufacture for the storage of data in cache and non-volatile media.
2. Background
Storage subsystems, such as the International Business Machines ("IBM") Enterprise Storage Server*, may receive Input/Output (I/O) requests from one or more hosts directed toward an attached media storage system. The attached media storage system may comprise an enclosure including numerous interconnected disk drives, such as a Direct Access Storage Device ("DASD"), a Redundant Array of Independent Disks ("RAID" Array), Just A Bunch of Disks ("JBOD"), etc.
The storage subsystem may have a cache comprising of one or more gigabytes of volatile storage, e.g., Random Access Memory (RAM), Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), etc. The storage subsystem may store modified data, i.e., write data, in the cache. The cache may need to be scanned periodically, and subsequent to scanning data in the cache may be destaged, i.e., moved or copied, to the disk drives from the cache.
A non-volatile storage that is battery backed may be coupled to the storage subsystem. In the event of a power failure, data that is stored in the cache may be lost, but if the data in the cache is mirrored to the non-volatile storage then the data that was stored in the cache may be retrieved.
A storage subsystem that includes a cache may be referred to as a caching storage controller. Caching storage controllers may adopt different mechanisms to cache write data received from a host. In one mechanism, the host is not notified of write completion until data is written to both the cache and the non-volatile storage. In another mechanism, the non-volatile storage may not be used, and the host is notified of a write completion when the data is written to the cache. While writing to both the cache and the non-volatile storage provides redundant storage of data and may be better from an error recovery perspective, writing data only to the cache may allow for better performance in the storage controller by reducing the number of writes that are performed.

Switching between mirrored and non-mirrored volumes

International Business Machines Corporation


There are provided: compound semiconductor particles that can display more excellent performance in functions peculiar to the compound semiconductor (e.g. luminosity and luminescence efficiency); and a production process for obtaining such compound semiconductor particles with economy, good productivity, and ease.

It has hitherto been known that: particles including a so-called compound semiconductor such as ZnS and CdSe (also including compound semiconductors doped with such as Ag and Mn) (compound semiconductor particles) have various useful functions such as of being able to emit fluorescence by irradiating the particles with ultraviolet rays and/or electron beams as excitation sources or applying a voltage to the particles (e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 5,455,489). In addition, in recent years, as to compound semiconductor particles including such as CdSe and Mn-doped ZnS, it is being verified on a research level and thus becoming clear that, if the particles are more fined to thereby be quantum-sized, then the particles become excellent in various functions, for example, there can be obtained particles having a high luminance of the fluorescence.
However, the compound semiconductor particles generally have a problem such that, if the compound semiconductor particles are quantum-sized, then they become unable to sufficiently perform their peculiar functions, for the reason such that: the particles are lacking in heat resistance, and their surfaces become more easily oxidized. Thus, it is thought that: the particles are lacking in stability and durability and are very difficult to put to practical use. In addition, in the case where the particles are fined to thereby be quantum-sized, it becomes more and more difficult to maintain a favorable monodispersed state. However, unless the compound semiconductor particles are in such a favorable monodispersed state, for example, there is a problem that: their luminosity greatly decreases, and further there is a problem that the properties such as luminescence greatly vary also with the kinds of dispersants as used for dispersing the particles.
On the other hand, as is mentioned above, the dispersed state of the compound semiconductor particles has a great influence on such as their luminosity and/or luminescence efficiency. Thus, in order to treat the compound semiconductor particles in a state where their primary particles are isolated from each other (in the monodispersed state), there have hitherto been made the following proposals.
First, there has been proposed a method that involves treating the surfaces of CdSe particles with ZnS (for example, M. G. Bawendi et al., "J. Phys. Chem. B", volume 101, pages 9463 to 9475 (published in 1997)). However, as to this method, the compound semiconductor particles which are inherently lacking in chemical durability (e.g. oxidation resistance) and thermal durability are merely treated with the similar compound semiconductor. Therefore, even if the properties are temporarily enhanced, there is a problem of lacking the practicability after all.
In addition, there has been proposed a method that involves attaching oxide particles (e.g. zinc oxide, indium oxide and silica) to surfaces of micron-sized sulfide-type fluophor particles (for example, JP-A-104684/1989 and JP-A-041389/1990). However, as to this method, the attachment of the oxide particles to the compound semiconductor particles needs a heat-treatment step at a high temperature after the attachment-treatment step. Therefore, there are problems such that: the movement of substances and the defectiveness occur during this heating at the high temperature to greatly deteriorate the luminescence property; and there are economical disadvantages of increasing such as treatment costs, and it is necessary to involve a complicated treatment step, so the productivity is inferior.
Furthermore, in recent years, there have been proposed some methods that involve covering a nano-sized level of fluophor particles with such as sulfides, oxides, and other inorganic substances (for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,985,173, JP-A-265166/2000, Japanese Patent No. 2514423, and Japanese Patent No. 2946763). However, these methods, for example, have the following prior problems: the chemical and thermal stabilities are insufficient; the monodispersibility is so inferior that the excellent fluorescence property as expected by the nano-sizing cannot sufficiently be displayed; and also, the economy is poor, and the productivity is inferior.

Compound semiconductor particles and production process therefor

Abstract: Compound semiconductor particles, according to the present invention, are characterized by comprising body particles and a metal oxide, wherein the body particles have particle diameters of smaller than 1 μm and are covered with the metal oxide and include a compound semiconductor including an essential element combination of at least one element X selected from the group consisting of C, Si, Ge, Sn, Pb, N, P, As, Sb, S, Se, and Te and at least one metal element M that is not identical with the element X, and wherein the metal oxide is a metal oxide to which an acyloxyl group is bonded.


A method for entering keys in a small key pad is provided. The method comprising the steps of: providing at least a part of keyboard having a plurality of keys; and predetermining a first probability of a user striking a key among the plurality of keys. The method further uses a dictionary of selected words associated with the key pad and/or a user.

Data entry using a key board or a key pad is known. However, a user may mistakenly enter an unintended key within a neighborhood of the intended key. Therefore, it is desirable to provide a probability based scheme to determine the intended input of the user based upon the sequence of entered keys.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Probability-based approach to recognition of user-entered data


A Powered Device (PD) in a Power Over Ethernet system that supports increased cable lengths of more than 100 m is provided herein. The proposed PD design requires no modifications at the PSE side. Embodiments include example modifications of IEEE 802.3af PD system rules, including example modifications of PD classification and port voltage ranges to enable increased cable length PoE.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to Power over Ethernet (PoE), and more particularly to a PD controller for PoE systems with increased cable length.
2. Background Art
Ethernet communications provide high speed communications between data terminals.
Power over Ethernet (PoE) systems enable power transmission over the same transmission lines that carry data in an Ethernet. Generally, power is generated at a Power Source Equipment (PSE) side of the PoE system and is carried over the data transmission lines to a Powered Device (PD) side of the PoE System.
A PSE controller is typically used at the PSE side to enable power management functions of the PD. For example, a PSE controller may be used to detect whether a valid PD device is active and to manage power flow to the PD. Further, at either side of a PoE system, a transceiver physical layer (PHY) is available to transmit and receive data over the transmission lines.
Current IEEE compliant PoE systems support cable lengths up to approximately 100 meters only. There is a need therefore for improved PoE systems that support greater cable lengths.

Powered device for power over Ethernet system with increased cable length


The present invention provides additives for a non-aqueous electrolytic solution secondary cell and a non-aqueous electrolytic solution electric double layer capacitor comprising a phosphazene derivative represented by formula (1):(PNF2)n  formula (1)wherein n represents 3 to 14, and provides the non-aqueous electrolytic solution secondary cell and the non-aqueous electrolytic solution electric double layer capacitor each containing a non-aqueous electrolytic solution which has the additive for the non-aqueous electrolytic solution secondary cell or the additive for the non-aqueous electrolytic solution electric double layer capacitor and a supporting salt, an anode, and a cathode.

Conventionally, nickel-cadmium cells have been the main cells used as secondary cells for memory-backup or sources for driving AV (Audio Visual) and information devices, particularly personal computers, VTRs (video tape recorders) and the like. Lately, non-aqueous electrolytic solution secondary cells have been drawing a lot of attention as a replacement for the nickel-cadmium cells because non-aqueous electrolytic solution secondary cells have advantages of high voltage, high energy concentration, and displaying excellent self-dischargeability. Various developments of the non-aqueous electrolytic solution secondary cells have been performed and a portion of these developments has been commercialized. For example, more than half of notebook type personal computers, cellular phones and the like are driven by the non-aqueous electrolytic solution secondary cells.
Carbon is often used as a cathode material in the non-aqueous electrolytic solution secondary cells, and various organic solvents are used as electrolytic solutions in order to mitigate the risk when lithium is produced on the surface of cathode, and to increase outputs of driven voltages. Further, particularly in non-aqueous electrolytic solution secondary cells for use in cameras, alkali metals (especially, lithium metals or lithium alloys) are used as the cathode materials, and aprotic organic solvents such as ester organic solvents are ordinarily used as the electrolytic solutions.
However, although these non-aqueous electrolytic solution secondary cells exhibit high performance, they are prone to deterioration. Accordingly, a problem occurs in that these non-aqueous electrolytic solution secondary cells cannot maintain high performance for a long period of time. For this reason, there has been a high demand for development of a non-aqueous electrolytic solution secondary cells in which deterioration is prevented, whereby cell properties such as high charging/discharging capacity and high conductivity, and low internal resistance can be maintained for a long period of time.
Further, development has been required of non-aqueous electrolytic solution secondary cells which have excellent low-temperature characteristics because cell properties must be maintained for a long period of time even under low-temperature conditions such as in the regions or seasons in which the temperature is low.
On the other hand, a non-aqueous electrolytic solution electric double layer capacitor is a condenser making use of electric double layers formed between polarizable electrodes and electrolytes. The non-aqueous electrolytic solution electric double layer capacitor is a product that was developed and commercialized in the 1970s, was in its infancy in the 1980s, and has grown and evolved since the 1990s.
This type of capacitor is different from a cell in which a cycle of an oxidation-reduction reaction accompanied by substance movement is a charging/discharging cycle in that a cycle for electrically absorbing, on a surface of electrodes, ions from electrolytic solutions is a charging/discharging cycle.
For this reason, the electric double layer capacitor is more excellent in instant charging/discharging properties than those of a cell. Repeatedly charging/discharging the capacitor does not deteriorate the instant charging/discharging properties.
Further, in the electric double layer capacitor, since excessive charging/discharging voltage does not occur during charging/discharging, simple and less expensive electric circuits will suffice for the capacitor. Moreover, it is easy to know a remaining capacitance in the capacitor, and the capacitor has endurance under conditions of a wide range of temperature of from −30° C. to 90° C. In addition, the capacitor is pollution-free, and the like. As described above, the capacitor is superior to the cell. Consequently, the electric double layer capacitor is in the spotlight as a new energy storage product that is kind to the global environment.
The electric double layer capacitor is an energy storage device comprising positive and negative polarizable electrodes and electrolytes. At the interface at which the polarizable electrodes and the electrolytes come into contact with each other, positive and negative electric charges are arranged so as to face one another and be separated from one another by an extremely short distance to thereby form an electric double layer. The electrolytes play a role as ion sources for forming the electric double layer. Thus, in the same manner as for the polarizable electrodes, the electrolytes are an essential substance for controlling fundamental properties of the energy storage device.
As the electrolytes, aqueous-electrolytic solutions, non-aqueous electrolytic solutions, or solid electrolytes are conventionally known. However, from a viewpoint of improvement of energy density of the electric double layer capacitor, the non-aqueous electrolytic solution in which a high operating voltage is enabled has particularly been in the spotlight, and practical use thereof is progressing.
A non-aqueous electrolytic solution is now put to practical use in which solutes such as (C2H5)4P.BF4 and (C2H5)4N.BF4 were dissolved in highly dielectric solvents such as carbonic acid carbonates (e.g., ethylene carbonate and propylene carbonate), γ-butyrolactone, and the like.
However, although these non-aqueous electrolytic solution electric double layer capacitors exhibit high performance, they are prone to deterioration. Accordingly, a problem has been caused in that a non-aqueous electrolytic solution electric double layer capacitor cannot maintain high performance for a long period of time. For this reason, there has been a high demand for development of a non-aqueous electrolytic solution electric double layer capacitor in which occurrence of deterioration thereon is prevented, whereby capacitor properties can be maintained for a long period of time.
Further, there has been a demand for development of a non-aqueous electrolytic solution electric double layer capacitors which are also excellent in low-temperature characteristics because electric characteristics must be maintained for a long period of time even under low-temperature conditions such as in regions or seasons in which the temperature is low.

Additive for non-aqueous liquid electrolyte secondary cell, non-aqueous liquid electrolyte secondary cell, additive for non-aqueous liquid electrolyte electric double layer capacitor and non-aqueous liquid electrolyte electric double layer capacitor


A system and a method for locating and presenting electronic documents most-likely of interest to the user. A plurality of search terms to be located in a set of electronic document is received. One of the search terms is selected as the anchor term, and occurrences of the anchor term are located within the documents. For each located occurrence of the anchor term, a set of search term occurrences is selected. These sets include an occurrence of each search term, and the occurrences are selected by choosing the search term occurrences that are closest to a desired placement for the search terms. With each set of search terms, the method associates a value indicating the extent to which the selected occurrences vary from the desired placement. The electronic documents are ranked and presented to the user in accordance with this value. The invention further includes systems and methods for locating and presenting Web pages and for searching the Internet.

In recent years, computer users have become more and more reliant upon computers to store and present a wide range of content including news, research, and entertainment. For example, the Internet, through its billions of Web pages, provides a vast and quickly growing library of information and resources.
In order to find desired content, computer users often make use of search utilities. For example, Internet search engines are well known in the art, and commonly known commercial engines include those provided by Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft Network (MSN). In response to a user's search query, an Internet search engine will generally provide a listing of various Web pages that may contain desired content.
Many of today's commercial search engines rely on some common techniques to provide search results. An Internet search engine generally has a substantial database in which content from billions of Web pages is stored and indexed. To gather this Web page data, a utility known as a "Web crawler" scours the Internet and pulls in text and data from known Web sites.
After the Web crawler relays the content of a Web page to the database, the text is parsed and various indices are created. These indices catalog the location of various occurrences of each word on the stored Web pages. An Internet search engine can then utilize the indices to find Web pages that contain desired search terms.
However, often a user's search will yield thousands, if not millions, of "hits," Web pages containing each of the search terms. Accordingly, providers of search engines are tasked with the challenge of scoring or ranking the various hits. Optimally the scoring/ranking will predict which of the pages will be most useful to the user. It should be noted that any commercially viable search engine must make this ranking determination very quickly so as not to delay the presentation of hits to the user. Because of time constraints, generally, search engine algorithms may perform only one pass through a hit when making scoring/ranking determinations.
Currently available search engines, however, are limited in that they do not strongly consider certain aspects of a document and/or of a user's query when making ranking decisions. For example, conventional search engines do not effectively consider word placement and word order within a user's query when ranking documents. By not given ample weight to word placement and order, conventional search engines often fail to locate exact or near exact phrase matches in a document. This failure may cause highly relevant documents to receive a diminished ranking and to be excluded from presentation to a user. Accordingly, there is a need for an improved search engine that quickly and efficiently scores/ranks search results to find the hits that are most likely to contain content of interest to a user.

System and method for locating and presenting electronic documents to a user


The chemically-inducible 27 kD subunit of the enzyme glutathione-S-transferase, isoform II (GST-II-27) and sequences encoding it are provided. In particular, a genomic DNA sequence encoding the gene promoter for the GST-II-27 subunit is provided. Then linked to an exogenous gene and introduced into a plant by transformation, and GST-II-27 promoter provides a means for the external regulation of expression of that exogenous gene. Transformation with DNA encoding glutathione-S-transferase polypeptides produces herbicide resistance transgenic plants.

Glutathione-S-transferases (GST) are a family of enzymes which catalyse the conjugation of glutathione, via a sulphydryl group, to a large range of hydrophobic, electrophilic compounds. The conjugation can result in detoxification of these compounds and may result in their removal from tissue.
GST enzymes have been identified in a range of crop plants including maize, wheat, sorghum and peas. GST's comprise from 1 to 2% of the total soluble protein in etiolated maize seedlings.
Three isoforms of GST have been identified: GST-I, GST-II and GST-III. The major isoform in maize tissue, GST-I, is constitutively expressed and is capable of conjugating glutathione with pre-emergent herbicides such as alachlor. Treatment of maize tissues with chemical safeners (for example, N,N-diallyl-2,2-dichloroacetamide) raises the activity of GST-I which participates in the detoxification of the pre-emergent herbicides.
International Patent Application WO 90/08826 describes GST-II (isoform II).
Both GST-I and GST-II proteins have a native molecular weight of approximately 50 kD. As in mammals, maize GST's are dimeric; GST-I has apparently identical polypeptide subunits of 29 kD (GST-I-29), whereas GST-II is a heterodimer of a 29 kD subunit identical to that found in GST-I (GST-I-29) and a novel 27 kD subunit (GST-II-27). GST-II is detected at a very low basal level in the absence of safener, but its expression is enhanced dramatically by safener treatment. Like GST-I, GST-II confers resistance to certain herbicides. GST-II is known to detoxify chloroacetanilide and thiocarbamate herbicides such as alachlor (Mozer et al, 1983, Biochemistry, 22:1068-1072).
A cDNA and a gene corresponding to the 29 kD subunit of GST-I have been cloned previously and sequenced (Wiegand et al, 1986, Plant Mol Biol, 7:235-243). In addition, a cDNA corresponding to a 26 kD subunit of a third, minor component of GST activity in maize seedlings (GST-III-26) has been previously cloned and sequenced (Moore et al, 1986, Nucleic Acid Research, 18:7227-7235). GST-III is a homodimer of these 26 kD subunits. Like GST-I and unlike GST-II, GST-III is constitutively expressed. It is known to detoxify herbicides such as atrazine.

Plant-derived enzyme and DNA sequences and uses thereof


A computer-implemented method of mapping attribute names of a source data model to a destination data model includes obtaining multiple source attribute names from the source data model, and obtaining multiple destination attribute names from the destination data model. The destination data model includes multiple attributes that correspond to attributes in the source data model having different attribute names. The method includes processing the obtained source attribute names and the obtained destination attribute names to standardize the attribute names according to specified character formatting, supplying the standardized attribute names to a machine learning network model to predict a mapping of each source attribute name to a corresponding one of the destination attribute names, and outputting, according to mapping results of the machine learning network model, an attribute mapping table indicating the predicted destination attribute name corresponding to each source attribute name.

In the field of computing, many scenarios involve a distribution of data over a set of components, such as a set of servers that are connected by one or more networks. As an example, a cluster of servers may be arranged in a distributed system to store one or more distributed databases, where each server of the cluster stores a subset of the database(s), such as a subset of the tables of the database(s) and/or a subset of the records of a table of the database(s).
Many different database schemas may be aggregated into the distributed system, and each database schemas may provide different roles, store different data, etc. Each database schema may include one or more data models, with each data model having its own data with different representations, different attribute names, etc. In such a distributed system, difficulties may arise due to different data representations and attribute names among the data models, leading to problems in data transfer and communication between the data models, lack of understanding for system administrators, etc.
The background description provided here is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.

Machine learning system for automated attribute name mapping between source data models and destination data models


A self centering delivery catheter is provided for delivering a filter into a vessel in a centered manner which aids in the retrieval of the filter. The delivery catheter generally includes an outer sheath and a cannula disposed inside the outer sheath and axially translatable relative thereto. A set of centering legs are attached to the cannula. The centering legs are operable between a first retracted position and a second extended position, the centering legs moving radially away from the cannula as the centering legs move from the retracted position to the extended position. The relative position of the outer sheath and cannula control the operation of the centering legs. A control wire is disposed inside the cannula and is axially translatable relative thereto. Axial translation of the control wire operates a release mechanism to disengage the filter for delivering the filter into the vessel.

Certain interventional devices, an in particular expandable intraluminal devices such as a retrievable filter, need to be deployed into a vessel for a period of time, after which the filter is retrieved. Such devices typically include a set of struts which are biased outwardly for engagement with the vessel wall. The struts are concentrically spaced about a central axis. A hub is connected to one end of each of the struts such that the filter forms a somewhat conical shape in this deployed state. A retrieval hook extends outwardly from the hub for grasping and retrieving the filter.
Such filters need to be deployed into a vessel as centered as possible. Unfortunately, if the filter tilts, it may be more difficult to retrieve. More specifically, if the central axis of the filter is not aligned with (i.e. skewed from) an axis of the vessel, the biased struts will undesirably press against the vessel wall with different forces. Further, the retrieval hook will be misaligned with the central axis of the vessel, making if difficult for retrieval mechanisms to engage the retrieval hook. Likewise, the offset retrieval hook could block working components of the retrieval mechanism or catheter.
Accordingly, there exists a need to provide an apparatus and method for delivering a filter into a vessel such that the filter is substantially centered within the vessel for aiding in the eventual retrieval of the filter.


A boom breakaway assembly for a spray boom used by a vehicle. The boom breakaway assembly includes a reciprocating system having a first position and a second position, a retention system, and a bias system. In the first position, the bias system applies a maximum effective bias rate to the reciprocating system and the retention system applies a holding force upon the spray boom to maintain the spray boom in a desired outward position. In the second position, the bias system applies a minimal effective bias rate to the reciprocating system and the retention system reduces or disengages the holding force upon the spray boom, thereby allowing the spray boom to move from the outward position to a breakaway position when the spray boom encounters an obstacle. The bias system returns the reciprocating system to the first position once the spray boom clears the obstacle.

Boom assemblies are generally used in the agricultural industry for spraying liquids, such as herbicides, insecticides, and pesticides. Typically, the boom assemblies are attached to farm vehicles adapted to traverse cultivated fields having varying contours. More particularly, the boom assemblies comprise a number of aligned sprayers in communication with a tank of liquid transported by the farm vehicle. The booms are used for spreading the liquid along a substantially wide path provided by the movement of the farm vehicle. Two boom assemblies are generally connected to the rear of the farm vehicle, such that a first boom assembly extends outwardly to the left of the farm vehicle and a second boom assembly extends outwardly to the right of the farm vehicle.
The desire to have the boom assemblies cover a significant area of the field during the application of the liquid has resulted in the construction of lightweight boom assemblies using a lattice framework. Accordingly, common booms extend from twenty to twenty-five feet in total length. Using lightweight materials to construct the boom assemblies has decreased the durability of the boom. Consequently, a boom can suffer extensive damage, if the boom assembly comes in contact with an intrusive obstacle or abutment such as a tree, rock, or post.
Prior to the use of boom breakaway assemblies, booms were susceptible to irreparable damage or breakage when encountering an unforgiving object in the field. Boom breakaway assemblies allow the boom to give or break away when coming in contact with an object, thereby preventing damage to the boom. Generally, a boom breakaway assembly utilizes an outer boom portion pivotally connected to an inner boom portion. The pivot permits the outer boom portion to horizontally pivot in response to contact by an object. Additionally, the outer boom portion (or the middle and outer boom portions) may be capable of pivoting vertically to overcome an obstacle in its path.
Not only is the boom capable of pivoting away from the intrusive object, the boom is often capable of automatically returning to a desired outward position once the boom has cleared the intrusive object. More specifically, a spring or coil is used to return the outward boom portion to a desired outward position (e.g., perpendicular to the travel of the farm vehicle) after the boom has cleared the obstacle.
Typical boom breakaway assemblies, however, require a high holding force to keep proper tension on the breakaway joint, to minimize undesired motion of the boom parts during use. The high holding force, generally provided by a spring or coil, remains constant even after the outward boom portion comes in contact with an obstacle in the field. Consequently, damage can occur to the boom structure until the obstacle is cleared. Although the spring permits the outer boom portion to breakaway during contact with an obstacle, the spring continues to exert a holding force (e.g., an effective spring rate) on the outer boom portion, thereby attempting to return the outer boom portion to the desired outward position. Such constant holding force increases the impact force during the entire contact period with the obstacle-effectively dragging the outer boom portion over the obstacle.
What is needed is a boom breakaway assembly that quickly and temporarily reduces the holding force of a bias (or the effective spring rate of a spring) until the outer boom portion clears an intrusive object. It is to such a device that the present invention is primarily directed.


A club grip includes an elongated body having an upper end and a lower end. The lower end has a hollow portion for receiving a shaft therein. A clamp is fixed in the hollow portion for clamping onto the shaft received therein to fix the shaft relative to the elongated body.

Golf clubs typically include a shaft having an upper end and a lower end. A head fixed to the lower end is used to strike a gold ball. A grip fixed to the upper end provides a surface and geometry that allows the user to control the head and accurately hit the ball.
Golf club grips are typically fixed to a shaft using adhesives. As a result, improper initial placement of the grip on the shaft is important because once the adhesive sets, repositioning of the grip is impossible. In order to correct an improperly installed grip, the existing grip must be completely removed. If the improperly installed grip is damaged during removal, it must be discarded and a new grip must be provided. Moreover, replacing worn out grips is also difficult because the adhesive must be removed from the shaft prior to attaching a new grip. Accordingly, a need exists for a grip that can be easily fixed to and removed from a shaft.


A retractable locking mechanism comprising: a lever having a handle end opposite a rotation end and a pivot point positioned between the handle end and the rotation end such that the lever pivots about an axis of rotation of the lever; a first cam positioned on the rotation end of the lever; an actuator with a front end and a back end, the front end attached to the pivot point of the lever; a lock disposed adjacent to the actuator and the lock having a first end and a second end and an axis of rotation of the lock; a second cam attached to the lock for bearing on the back end of the actuator; and wherein pivoting the lever moves the actuator along a plane of the actuator to contact and rotate the second cam such that the lock is disposed in one of a locked state and an unlocked state.

Locking mechanisms can be utilized to secure a variety of modules or devices within cages. For example, an electronic module can be inserted and secured within a base device, such as a computer or an electronics rack. Yet the module is secured temporarily to prevent damage from handling and to ensure that electrical connections remain robust. The module must also be easily removed so that replacement modules can be inserted into the base device. In a typical example, the module contains a copper transceiver module which is connected to a router in the base. Transceiver component upgrades can become available more frequently than upgrades to the router, making it advantageous to both quickly remove and replace the transceiver without having to replace the entire router.
Often the carrier and base are compact structures and therefore require a compact locking mechanism. Extremely compact electronics require miniaturized locking devices.
The use of an actuating member to retract biased projections back into the carrier such that the carrier can be removed from the receptacle is known. However, these devices are often complex, expensive and fragile. Further, these devices can require additional force to retract the projections as they may get caught on the receptacle as they are retracted into the carrier.

Retracting lock mechanism for an electronics device


The present invention provides a method for comprising data by determining a central value that is greater than the minimum value and less than the maximum value of the range of data. In one embodiment, the central value is chosen to be a value that substantially reduces a decoding error in the event that the range of values is subsequently estimated. In one embodiment, the central value is the value that minimizes the expected mean square error during reconstruction when there is an error. In one embodiment, the maximum and minimum values represent intensity data for pixels of an image. In another embodiment, the compression process is Adaptive Dynamic Range Coding, and the central value is a value within the dynamic range, excluding the maximum and minimum values.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to encoding of data to provide for robust error recovery due to data losses typically incurred during transmission or storage of signals.
2. Art Background
A number of techniques exist for reconstructing lost/damaged data due to random errors that may occur during signal transmission or storage. However, these techniques are limited at handling the loss of consecutive packets of data. Consecutive loss of packets of data is described in the art as burst error. Burst errors may result in a reconstructed signal with such a degraded quality that it is easily apparent to the end user.
Additionally, compression methodologies used to facilitate high speed communications compound the signal degradation caused by burst errors, thus adding to the degradation of the reconstructed signal. Examples of burst error loss affecting transmitted and/or stored signals is seen in high definition television ("HDTV") signals, mobile telecommunication applications, as well as video storage technologies including compact disc (CD), video disk (e.g., DVD), and video cassette recorders (VCRs).
In one application, the advent of HDTV has led to television systems with a much higher resolution than the current standards proposed by the National Television Systems Committee ("NTSC"). Proposed HDTV signals are predominantly digital. Accordingly, when a color television signal is converted for digital use the luminance and chrominance signals can be digitized using eight bits. Digital transmission of NTSC color television so encoded requires a nominal bit rate of about two hundred and sixteen megabits per second. The transmission rate is greater for HDTV which would nominally require about 1200 megabits per second. Such high transmission rates are well beyond the bandwidths supported by current wireless standards. Accordingly, an efficient compression methodology is required.
Compression methodologies also play an important role in mobile telecommunication applications. Typically, packets of data are communicated between remote terminals in mobile telecommunication applications. The limited number of transmission channels in mobile communications requires an effective compression methodology prior to the transmission of packets. A number of compression techniques are available to facilitate high transmission rates.
Adaptive Dynamic Range Coding ("ADRC") and Discrete Cosine Transform ("DCT") coding provide image compression techniques known in the art. Both techniques take advantage of the local correlation within an image to achieve a high compression ratio. However, an efficient compression algorithm can result in compounded error propagation because errors in an encoded signal are more prominent when subsequently decoded. This error multiplication can result in a degraded video image that is readily apparent to the user.

Method and apparatus for recovery of encoded data using central value


A language processing unit identifies a word by performing language analysis on a text supplied from a text holding unit. A synthesis selection unit selects speech synthesis processing performed by a rule-based synthesis unit or speech synthesis processing performed by a pre-recorded-speech-based synthesis unit for a word of interest extracted from the language analysis result. The selected rule-based synthesis unit or pre-recorded-speech-based synthesis unit executes speech synthesis processing for the word of interest.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a speech synthesis technique.
2. Description of the Related Art
For train guidance on station platforms, traffic jam information on expressways, and the like, domain-specific synthesis is used, which combines and concatenates pre-recorded speech data (pre-stored word speech data and phrase speech data). This scheme can obtain synthetic speech with high naturalness because the technique is applied to a specific domain, but cannot synthesize speech corresponding to arbitrary texts.
A concatenative synthesis system, which is a typical rule-based speech synthesis system, generates rule-based synthetic speech by dividing an input text into words, adding pronunciation information to them, and concatenating the speech segments in accordance with the pronunciation information. Although this scheme can synthesize speech corresponding to arbitrary texts, the naturalness of synthetic speech is not high.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-221980 discloses a speech synthesis system which generates synthetic speech by combining pre-recorded speech and rule-based synthetic speech. This system comprises a phrase dictionary holding pre-recorded speech and a pronunciation dictionary holding pronunciations and accents. Upon receiving an input text, the system outputs pre-recorded speech of a word when it is registered in the phrase dictionary, and outputs rule-based synthetic speech of a word which is generated from the pronunciation and accent of the word when it is registered in the pronunciation dictionary.
In speech synthesis disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-221980, since voice quality greatly changes near the boundary between pre-recorded speech and rule-based synthetic speech, the intelligibility may deteriorate.

Speech synthesis method and apparatus using pre-recorded speech and rule-based synthesized speech


An in-plane switching mode LCD panel has a plurality of scanning lines each supplied with a scanning signal at both ends of the each of scanning lines. A common terminal connected to the common electrode for the pixels and a block of scanning terminals to form a terminal block for achieving a uniform driving voltage among the pixels, thereby preventing cross-talk between the pixels and a achieving a uniform driving voltage among the pixels.

1. (a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an in-plane switching mode LCD (liquid crystal display) device and, more particularly, to an improvement of such a LCD device for a uniform brightness and a higher image quality.
2. (b) Description of the Related Art
LCD panels used for LCD devices are generally categorized by the mode of the liquid crystal into a plurality of types including a TN-mode (twisted nematic mode) LCD panel wherein the LC layer is driven by a perpendicular electric field, and an in-plane switching mode LCD panel, wherein the LC layer is driven by a lateral electric field.
FIG. 1A shows a TN-mode LCD panel in a sectional view, and FIG. 1B shows the TN-mode LCD panel in a perspective view for illustrating the viewing angle dependency thereof. In the TN-mode LCD panel of FIG. 1A, a perpendicular electric field xe2x80x9cFxe2x80x9d is generated in a LC layer 100 by a set of electrodes. The term xe2x80x9cperpendicularxe2x80x9d as used herein means that the electric field is perpendicular to the surfaces of front and rear panels 101 and 102 sandwiching therebetween the LC layer 100. Each of the panels 101 and 102 mounts thereon an electrode layer for generating the perpendicular electric field.
More specifically, the front panel 101 mounts thereon a common electrode 103 at the interface between the LC layer 100 and the surface of the front panel 101, whereas the rear panel 102 mounts thereon a pixel electrode 104 for each of pixels at the interface between the LC layer 100 and the surface of the rear panel 102.
The common electrode 103 is common to all the pixels of the LCD panel and formed on the entire area of the front panel 101. The pixel electrode 104 is separately disposed for each of the pixels whereby each pixel displays the own image based on the data supplied to the pixel electrode 104. The common electrode 103 and the pixel electrodes 104 are made of transparent substance so that the user observes the image on the LCD panel by way of the light passing through these transparent electrodes 103 and 104.
As shown in FIG. 1B, since the LC molecules 105 in the TN-mode LC layer stands upright with respect to the panels 101 and 102 based on the perpendicular electric field, the image on the LCD panel depends on the direction in which the user observes the LCD panel. That is, the LCD panel has a large viewing angle dependency. For example, the effective viewing angle providing an image having a contrast ratio above 10 is limited to around 30xc2x0 with respect to a perpendicular of the panel as viewed from the upper position, around 20xc2x0 from the lower position and around xc2x145xc2x0 as viewed in the horizontal direction.
FIG. 2 shows an equivalent circuit diagram of the LCD panel shown in FIG. 1A, as viewed from the front thereof. A single pixel 106 includes an equivalent capacitor having a LC layer 100 acting as a capacitor insulator film, and a common electrode 103 and a pixel electrode 104 sandwiching therebetween the LC layer 100, and a thin film MOSFET (TFT) 107 disposed for the pixel electrode 104. The TFT 107 has a source connected to the pixel electrode 104, a drain connected to a corresponding signal line D1 disposed for each column of the pixels, and a gate connected to a scanning line disposed for a row of the pixels.
FIG. 3 shows a schematic overall front view of the LCD panel of FIG. 2, wherein a plurality of the pixels 106 shown in FIG. 2 are arranged in a matrix on the screen of the LCD panel 108. A plurality of scanning lines G1, G2, . . . are disposed for respective rows of the pixels 106, whereas a plurality of data lines D, D2, . . . are disposed for respective columns of the pixels 106. The terminals of the scanning lines G1, G2, . . . are connected to respective output terminals of a gate driver 109 disposed at the left side of the LCD panel 108, whereas the terminals of the data lines D1, D2, . . . are connected to respective terminals of a data driver 110 disposed at the top of the LCD panel 108. The terminal 103T of the common electrode 103 is connected to a ground line.
The in-plane switching mode LCD panel is now replacing the conventional TN-mode LCD panel due to the smaller viewing angle dependency of the in-plane switching mode LCD panel. FIGS. 4A and 4B show the in-plane switching mode LCD panel, similarly to FIGS. 1A and 1B for the TN-mode LCD panel.
In FIG. 4A, the pixel electrodes 204 and the common electrodes 203 are disposed on the rear panel 204, whereby a lateral electric field F1 is formed between the pixel electrode 204 and the corresponding common electrode 203 in each pixel in a direction substantially parallel to the surfaces of both the panels 201 and 202. Other configurations of the in-plane switching mode LCD panel are similar to those of the TN-mode LCD panel shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.
In FIG. 4B, the LC molecules 205 are rotated by the lateral electric field within a plane parallel to both the panels 201 and 203. This configuration affords a smaller difference in the contrast ratio between different angles of the observation by the user. For example, the effective viewing angle of the in-plane switching mode LCD panel affording a contrast ratio of 10 or more is xc2x170 degrees from the top, bottom, left and right sides in observation.
In the in-plane switching mode LCD panel, the common electrodes, pixel electrodes, common electrode line, scanning lines and data lines are generally made of metallic films disposed on the single rear panel. This necessitates smaller widths or a smaller line pitch for these electrodes and lines for achieving a specific light transmittance ratio (or opening ratio) in each pixel area, compared to the conventional TN-mode LCD panel.
The smaller width raises line resistances to increase the voltage drop along the electrodes and the lines and thereby degrade the uniformity in the brightness among the pixels, especially in a large screen LCD panel. The smaller line pitch for the lines and electrodes increases cross-talks between the pixels. Thus, image quality of the in-plane switching mode LCD panel is degraded.
In view of the above problems in the conventional in-plane switching mode LCD device, it is an object of the present invention to provide an in-plane switching mode LCD panel having less cross-talks, a uniform brightness and a high image quality by reducing and substantially equalizing the voltage drop among the pixels.
The present invention provides an in-plane switching mode LCD panel including a LC layer, and first and second panels sandwiching therebetween the LC layer to define a plurality of pixels arranged in a matrix, the first panel including a plurality of data lines each disposed for a corresponding column of the pixels, a plurality of scanning lines each disposed for a corresponding row of the pixels, a common electrode line disposed for the plurality of pixels, each of the pixels including a pixel electrode, a common electrode connected to the common electrode line, and a TFT having a source connected to the pixel electrode, a drain connected to a corresponding one of the data lines and a gate connected to a corresponding one of the scanning lines, a common terminal connected to an end of the common electrode line, a plurality of data terminals each connected to an end of a corresponding one of the data lines, a plurality of first scanning terminals each connected to one of ends of a corresponding one of the scanning lines, and a plurality of second scanning terminals each connected to the other of ends of the corresponding one of the scanning lines.
In accordance with the in-plane switching mode LCD device of the present invention, the first and second scanning terminals connected to each scanning line reduces the signal delay caused by the parasitic capacitance and parasitic resistance of each the scanning line, whereby the scanning line may have a smaller width and thus a smaller line pitch compared to the conventional in-plane switching mode LCD panel.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more apparent from the following description, referring to the accompanying drawings.


A method (10) to compensate for cardiac and respiratory motion in cardiac imaging during minimal invasive (e.g., trans-catheter) AVI procedures by image-based tracking (20, 25) on fluoroscopic images.

Aortic valve disease (such as regurgitation or stenosis) affects over 100 million people globally, with half of them requiring implantation of a mechanical or biological aortic valve to replace the diseased valve. In 2007, there were about seventy to eighty thousand aortic valve implantation (AVI) procedures in the United States, and there is a steady growth trend. Traditionally, an AVI procedure is a complex open-heart surgical procedure. However, in recent years, the trans-catheter approach has rapidly emerged as a minimal invasive alternative for AVI procedures. In minimal invasive AVI procedures, a prosthetic valve is inserted into a patient's heart via a catheter. Intra-operative 2D X-ray imaging is used for monitoring the procedure and positioning the valve. Unfortunately, 2D X-ray projection images generally cannot distinguish soft tissue. To address this issue, image integration combining a high-resolution 3D aortic volume (which may be reconstructed from a preparatory, pre-operative imaging scan using one of the various imaging modalities, such as CT, MR, C-Arm CT, etc.) with the 2D fluoroscopic images has been developed (i.e., fluoroscopic overlay image guidance). The projection of the 3D aortic volume onto the frames of the fluoroscopy image sequence establishes a single image coordinate system and permits clearer visualization for navigating the catheter, positioning the valve and, otherwise, monitoring the procedure.
The 3D aortic volume used for the overlay is acquired either at a given cardiac and respiratory phase or during fast pacing. Consequently, the current fluoroscopic overlay techniques are usually static. In other words, the techniques do not follow the heart while the heart beats and moves through the breathing cycle. This results in apparent displacements of the static aortic volume due to cardiac motions (movement of the heart due to the cardiac cycle) and respiratory motions (respiratory-induced movement of the heart). Cardiac motion could be compensated at least partly using ECG gating, which are techniques in which image acquisition is triggered by a start pulse derived from an ECG taken from the patient during imaging.
However, breathing motion is less periodic than cardiac motion and needs to be explicitly compensated to provide for more accurate navigation. To accomplish this, a fluoroscopic overlay technique needs to generate a dynamic overlay. Motion-compensated navigation for coronary intervention was suggested in an article by Holger Timinger, Sascha Krueger, Klaus Dietmayer And Joern Borgert, entitled, "Motion Compensated Coronary Interventional Navigation by Means of Diaphram Tracking and Elastic Motion Models", Physics in Medicine and Biology 2005, pp 491-503, Vol. 50 (No. 3). However, the proposed method is based on a magnetic tracking system for device localization using specialized catheters and, therefore, is more expensive compared to image-based localization. Image-based device localization for breathing motion compensation during hepatic artery catheterization and electrophysiology was shown in two recent articles (one article is by Selen Atasoya, Martin Grohera, Darko Zikica, Ben Glockera, Tobias Waggershauserb (MD), Marcus Pfisterc and Nassir Navaba, entitled, "Real-time Respiratory Motion Tracking: Roadmap Correction for Hepatic Artery Catheterizations", Proceedings of Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) Medical Imaging 2008, p. 691815, Vol. 6918, San Diego, Calif. USA and the other article is by Alexander Brost, Rui Liao, Joachim Hornegger and Norbert Strobel, entitled, "3-D Respiratory Motion Compensation during EP Procedures by Image-Based 3-D Lasso Catheter Model Generation and Tracking", Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention—MICCAI 2009, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, September 2009, pp. 394-401, Vol. 5761).
There is a need for image-based localization for both cardiac and respiratory motion compensation during minimal invasive AVI procedures. There is also a need for such techniques that do not utilize specialized catheters and control systems.

Method of motion compensation for trans-catheter aortic valve implantation


A workpiece clamp device comprising a workpiece cradle for placing a workpiece, and endless belts for holding the workpiece down on the workpiece cradle.

When a large molded article is injection molded, an excess part referred to as a gate is attached to the molded article. This gate is cut off with a cutter. When the gate is cut out, the molded resin article must be held down (clamped), which requires a workpiece clamp device. An example of a workpiece clamp device used in the cutting of the gate is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 7-276362. A workpiece clamp device used in the cutting of the gate is described hereinbelow with reference to FIG. 9 hereof.
As shown in FIG. 9, a cradle 101 of a workpiece clamp device 100 is provided with a pair of supporting plates 102, 102. A resin bumper 103 is then placed on the supporting plates 102, 102, and the resin bumper 103 is clamped by being pressed on by a pair of rods 104, 104 from above. Next, a robot arm 106 provided with a cutter 105 is brought near the resin bumper 103, and a burr 107 and gate 108, which are excess parts, are cut off by the cutter 105.
When cutting is performed with the cutter 105, the resin bumper 103 must be firmly pressed down by the rods 104, 104 so that the resin bumper 103 does not move. However, pressure marks form in the resin bumper 103 because resins are generally softer than metals. These pressure marks reduce the marketability of the resin bumper 103.
In view of this, demand has arisen for a workpiece clamp device that does not cause pressure marks.


The present disclosure relates to a heat press, especially knee lever-transfer press with at least one socket, with at least one base plate and with at least one heatable counter plate pivotable towards the base plate, wherein the knee lever-transfer press further has a control unit, by which the knee lever-transfer press is controllable in an open-loop manner and/or closed-loop manner and wherein the control unit constitutes a first modular unit of the knee lever-transfer press and wherein the socket constitutes at least one second modular unit, and the base plate and the counter plate constitute at least one third modular unit and wherein at least the first modular unit and the second modular unit and/or the third modular unit are separable from each other and/or are formed to be replaceable for functional comparable modular units.

Heat press devices are used in the creative and marketing fields to print motifs on plurality of materials, such as clothing, mouse pads, tableware, puzzles, mugs, etc. The motifs may include but not limited to inscriptions, graphic designs, logos, artworks, symbols, trademarks or the like.
An example heat press device is shown in patent application publication WO 2013119785 A1. Therein, a heat press with a control system storing a large number of programs for operating the heat press is described. A user selects a desired program from the stored programs via a scrollable menu shown on a display. Further, a user may select a preset program and modify the preset program as desired to operate the heat press.
The inventors herein have identified potential issues with such an approach. For example, a number of programs that can be stored is limited by the memory of the control system. Further, while programs may be selectable via the scrolling menu, it may be necessary for a user to view multiple program settings before identifying the desired program. Thus, selecting a desired program can be tedious and time consuming. Furthermore, modifying a preset program as desired based on user estimations can lead to errors in setting up appropriate parameters for a heat press action. Consequently, excessive or insufficient temperature, time, or pressure may be applied to the printed material, which may result in wastage of time and resources. Further still, while setting up the heat press parameters, a user may not accurately identify the nature of the material, and may have to go back to the inventory where the material is stored to retrieve the correct information, which again results in wastage of time, and hence, inefficient operation of heat press. Further, when a user desires to use a timesaving approach for a specific material by decreasing a duration of press, the corresponding adjustments to temperature and pressure parameters have to be estimated by the user, which can be time consuming and may lead to estimation errors. As a result, flexibility and accuracy are compromised.
The above-mentioned issues can be at least partially addressed by a heat press, comprising: a socket; a base plate; a heatable counter plate pivotable towards the base plate; and a control unit including a controller and a wireless interface, the controller including executable instructions stored in non-transitory memory for receiving one or more operating parameters from a mobile device, and adjusting one or more actuators of the heat press based on the one or more operating parameters; wherein the control unit is configured as a first modular unit of the press, the socket is configured as a second modular unit, the base plate and the counter plate are configured as a third modular unit; and wherein one or more of the first modular unit, the second modular unit, and the third modular unit are separable from each other.
In this way, the pressing and transfer process can be performed with increased accuracy and speed. Specifically, through the provision of a control unit, the knee lever-transfer press can be partially automatically operated.
Therefore, it is an objective of the present disclosure to provide a knee lever-transfer press as mentioned, which provides an enhanced functionality, especially in that at least a partially automatic procedure is facilitated and to design the knee lever-transfer press to be manageable more easily.
As one example, a heat press like a knee lever-transfer press is equipped with intelligent electronics to realize a half-automatic or even a fully automatic control of the knee lever-transfer press. Further, through the provision of a control unit, which may be built as a module, a retrofitting of the existing knee lever-transfer presses can take place. It is also conceivable to be able to exchange the modules of the knee lever-transfer press against each other to be able to configure the knee lever-transfer press as needed and appropriately. Through the modular assembly, it is furthermore possible to handle the knee lever-transfer press more easily. Therefore, it is possible to provide at least two or more well manageable, transportable shipping units through the dismounting of the knee lever-transfer press in its at least three modules, namely, the control unit, the mechanical unit including at least the socket, as well as the combination of base plate and counter plate. In one example, the modular units of the knee lever-transfer press may not exceed a determined maximal weight, in particular, a maximal weight of approx. 30 kg.
Furthermore, the control unit may include at least one display. Via the control unit and its display, an input can therefore be tracked, but also an input can be specified. For this purpose, for example, a touchscreen can be provided. However, it is also conceivable that these displays are simply displays, which, for example, show operating values or operating parameters.
Further, the knee lever-transfer press is characterized in that the control unit has at least one rotary button, especially a joined rotary-push button. By means of such an input possibility through a rotary button, a simple and intuitive option is provided to be able to enter operating parameters almost continuously or without any steps.
Furthermore, it is also conceivable that the knee lever-transfer press is characterized in that the control unit has at least one actuating button, especially wherein the actuating button is formed as a push button. Via the operating button corresponding operation steps can be triggered. In particular, it is conceivable for the operating buttons to be printed with easily understandable motives in order to display their function.
It can also be provided that the control unit has at least one wireless interface, by which the control unit is coupleable to at least one mobile terminal device. This makes it possible, for example, to be able to monitor the control unit remotely via the mobile terminal device. However, it is also conceivable for the control unit to be controllable via the mobile terminal device and the wireless interface. Information may be exchanged between the mobile terminal device and the control unit. In particular, it is conceivable for the mobile terminal device to have an application (also referred to as "app"), such as a heat press app, in order to obtain operating parameters of the control unit and thus of the knee lever-transfer press in real time, to display the current progress of the operation, and also, through corresponding input options, to be able to influence the knee lever-transfer press, the operating sequence of the knee lever-transfer press, as well as the corresponding open-loop and closed-loop control units of the control unit. In particular, it is conceivable that a complete remote open-loop control and/or remote closed-loop control of the control unit of the knee lever-transfer press are made possible via the app.
The mobile terminal device can be, in particular, a mobile telephone, a smartphone, a tablet PC, or generally a PC or an industrial PC.
It is also possible that the wireless interface is a radio interface, in particular a Bluetooth interface. In particular, it is conceivable that this is a Bluetooth 4.0 interface. This makes possible a simple and unproblematic coupling of the mobile terminal device and the control unit. However, the Bluetooth interface can also be a Bluetooth 4.1 interface, Bluetooth 4.2 interface, Bluetooth 5.0 interface or an even higher-number Bluetooth interface. In addition, a WLAN interface is also conceivable in this context.
In addition, it is conceivable that the control unit is controllable by means of the mobile terminal device via the wireless interface. This allows a remote control and remote waiting function.
It should be understood that the summary above is provided to introduce in simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described in the detailed description. It is not meant to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, the scope of which is defined uniquely by the claims that follow the detailed description. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages noted above or in any part of this disclosure.
Further details and advantages of the present disclosure may be derived from the following description the preferred embodiments described in connection with the drawings.

Heat press, especially knee lever-transfer press


A Nd—Fe—B type anisotropic exchange spring magnet is produced by a method of obtaining powder of a Nd—Fe—B type rare earth magnet alloy which comprises hard magnetic phases and soft magnetic phases wherein a minimum width of the soft magnetic phases is smaller than or equal to 1 μm and a minimum distance between the soft magnetic phases is greater than or equal to 0.1 μm, obtaining a compressed powder body by compressing the powder, and obtaining the Nd—Fe—B type anisotropic exchange spring magnet by sintering the compressed powder body using a discharge plasma sintering unit.

The present invention relates to a rare earth permanent magnet having anisotropy and a method of producing the magnet.
Nd—Fe—B type permanent magnets have been widely used as a magnet for a motor. Such magnets have been produced by means of a melting method disclosed in M. Sagawa et al., Japanese Journal of Applied Physics 26 (1987) 785 or a quenching method disclosed in R. W. Lee, Applied Physics Letter 46 (1985) 790. Further, it is possible to produce magnet powder having anisotropy by means of a HDDR treatment disclosed in T. Takeshita et al., Proc. 10th Int. Workshop on Rare Earth Magnets and Their Applications, Kyoto, (1989) 511.
The magnetic properties of Nb—Fe—B type permanent magnets have approached a theoretical limit, and therefore it is desired to develop next-generation high-performance magnets. One of the next-generation magnets is an exchange spring magnet, which is also called nano-composite magnet, as disclosed in E. F. Kneller and R. Hawig, IEEE Transaction Magnetics 27 (1991) 3588. Such an exchange spring magnet has a structure where hard magnetic phases and soft magnetic phases are finely dispersed at intervals of several tens nm. The exchange spring magnet performs like as a unit hard magnetic phase as a whole since the magnetization of the soft magnetic phases is not easily reversed for the reason that the magnetizations of the hard and soft magnetic phases are coupled by the exchange interaction therebetween. Accordingly, it has been evaluated that the nano-composite magnet has a possibility for functioning as a very high-performance magnet. For example, it has been reported in R. Skomski and J. M. D. Coey, Physical Review B48 (1993) 15812 such that if Sm2Fe17N3/Fe type alloy can have a property of anisotropy, (BH)max=137 MGOe will be theoretically obtained. A producing method of Nd2Fe14B/Fe3B type exchange spring magnet has been proposed in R. Coehoorn et al., Journal de Physique 49 (1988) C8-669. Further, a producing method of Nd2Fe14B/Fe type exchange spring magnet has been proposed in Japanese Patent Provisional Publication Nos. 7-173501 and 7-176417 and in L. Withanawasam et al., Journal of Applied Physics 76 (1994) 7065.
However, a melt spun method or mechanical alloying (MA) method employed in the above magnet producing methods cannot produce the magnet having the magnetic anisotropy, and therefore the property of the obtained exchange spring magnet is not sufficient as compared to the theoretical property.
Furthermore, various producing methods of an anisotropic exchange spring magnet have been proposed. For example, Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 11-8109 has disclosed a producing method of crystallizing Nd—Fe—B amorphous alloy by heating in a high magnetic field. Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 11-97222 has disclosed a producing method of hot working a quenched thin strip alloy so that hard and soft magnetic phases are finely and dispersedly precipitated. Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 2000-235909 has disclosed a method of directly producing a magnet having the anisotropy by executing a warm-working uniaxial-deformation under a liquid phase existing condition of the raw material.

Nd-Fe-B type anisotropic exchange spring magnet and method of producing the same