This invention provides methods for treating and for inhibiting the onset of cancer in a subject comprising administering an agent that inhibits the ability of Sir2α to inhibit p53-dependent apoptosis. This invention also provides a related method for inducing the death of a cell. This invention further provides a method for decreasing the amount of damage to a subject's cells caused by physical stress comprising administering agent that increases the amount of Sir2α in the subject's cells and/or the ability of Sir2α to inhibit p53-dependent apoptosis in the subject's cells. This invention further provides related methods for prolonging the life-span of a subject, decreasing the amount of damage to a cell caused by physical stress, and prolonging the life-span of a cell. Finally, this invention provides two articles of manufacture for performing the instant methods.

The p53 tumor suppressor exerts anti-proliferative effects, including growth arrest, apoptosis, and cell senescence, in response to various types of stress (Levine, 1997; Prives and Hall, 1999; Vogelstein et al., 2000). Mutations within the p53 gene have been well documented in more than half of all human tumors (Hollstein et al., 1994). Accumulating evidence further indicates that, in the cells that retain wild-type p53, other defects in the p53 pathway also play an important role in tumorigenesis (Prives and Hall, 1999; Lohrum and Vousden, 1999). The molecular function of p53 that is required for tumor suppression involves its ability to act as a transcriptional factor in regulating downstream target gene expression (reviewed in Nakano and Vousden, 2001; Yu et al., 2001).
p53 is a short-lived protein whose activity is maintained at low levels in normal cells. Tight regulation of p53 is essential for its effect on tumorigenesis as well as maintaining normal cell growth. The precise mechanism by which p53 is activated by cellular stress is not completely understood; it is generally thought to involve mainly post-translational modifications of p53, including phosphorylation and acetylation (reviewed in Appella and Anderson, 2000). Early studies demonstrated that CBP/p300, a histone acetyl-transferase (HAT), acts as a coactivator of p53 and potentiates its transcriptional activity as well as biological function in vivo (Gu et al., 1997; Lill et al., 1997; Avantaggiati et al., 1997). Significantly, the observation of functional synergism between p53 and CBP/p300 together with its intrinsic HAT activity led to the discovery of a novel FAT (transcriptional factor acetyl-transferase) activity of CBP/p300 on p53. This finding also indicates that acetylation may represent a general functional modification for non-histone proteins in vivo (Gu and Roeder, 1997).
Through the use of site-specific acetylated p53 antibodies, CBP/p300 mediated acetylation of p53 was further confirmed in vivo by a number of studies (Sakaguchi et al., 1998; Liu et al., 1999; Luo et al., 2000; Kobet et al., 2000; Ito et al., 2001). Significantly, the steady-state levels of acetylated p53 are stimulated in response to various types of stress, indicating the important role of p53 acetylation in stress response (reviewed in Ito et al., 2001).
By introducing a transcriptionally defective p53 mutant (p53Q25S26) into mice, it was found that the mutant mouse thymocytes and ES cells failed in undergoing DNA damage-induced apoptosis (Chao et al., 2000; Jimenez et al., 2000). Interestingly, this mutant protein was phosphorylated normally at the N-terminus in response to DNA damage but could not be acetylated at the C-terminus (Chao et al., 2000), supporting a critical role of p53 acetylation in p53-dependent apoptotic response (Chao et al., 2000; Luo et al., 2000).
Furthermore, it has been found that oncogenic Ras as well as PML can upregulate the levels of acetylated p53 in normal primary fibroblasts, and also induce premature senescence in a p53-dependent manner (Pearson et al., 2000, Ferbeyre et al., 2000). p53 acetylation may also play a critical role in protein stabilization (Rodriguez et al., 2000; Nakamura et al., 2000; Ito et al., 2001). In addition, another independent study showed that acetylation, but not phosphorylation of the p53 C-terminus, may be required to induce metaphase chromosome fragility in the cell (Yu et al., 2000).
In contrast, much less is known about the role of deacetylation in modulating p53 function. The acetylation level of p53 is enhanced when the cells are treated with histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors such as Trichostatin A (TSA). This observation led to the identification of a HDAC1 complex which is directly involved in p53 deacetylation and functional regulation (Luo et al., 2000; Juan et al., 2000).
PID/MTA2, a metastasis-associated protein 2, acts as an adaptor protein to enhance HDAC1-mediated deacetylation of p53, but this activity can be completely repressed by TSA (Luo et al., 2000). In addition, Mdm2, a negative regulator of p53, actively suppresses CBP/p300-mediated p53 acetylation, and this inhibitory effect can be abrogated by tumor suppressor p19ARF, suggesting that regulation of acetylation also plays a critical role in the p53-MDM2-p19ARF feed back loop (Ito et al., 2001; Kobet et al., 2000).
The yeast silent information regulator 2 (Sir2) protein belongs to a novel family of histone deacetylases (reviewed in Guarente, 2000; Shore, 2000). Sir2 activity is nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD)-dependent, but can not be inhibited by TSA (Imai et al., 2000; Landry et al., 2000a; Smith et al., 2000). The NAD-dependent deacetylase activity of Sir2 is essential for its functions, and this activity also connects its biological role with cellular metabolism in yeast (Guarente, 2000; Imai et al., 2000; Lin et al., 2000; Smith et al., 2000). Recently, mammalian Sir2 homologs have been found to also contain the NAD-dependent histone deacetylase activity (Imai et al., 2000; Smith et al., 2000), further supporting the notion that the enzymatic activity is key to elucidating the molecular mechanism for its mediated functions (Min et al., 2001; Finnin et al., 2001).
Among Sir2 and its homolog proteins (HSTs) in yeast, Sir2 is the only protein exclusively localized in nuclei, whose activity is critical for both gene silencing and extension of yeast life-span (reviewed in Guarente, 2000). Based on protein sequence homology analysis, mouse Sir2α and its human ortholog SIRT1 (or human Sir2α) are the closest homologs to yeast Sir2 (Imai et al., 2000; Frye, 1999, 2000). However, their biological functions remain unclear.

Sir2α-based therapeutic and prophylactic methods

The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York


A method and system for tracking hits of a requested network file includes embedding an instruction within the file that directs the requesting device to transmit an indicator to a processor for counting subsequent to the requesting device receiving the requested file. The request for the network file is made by a requesting device (e.g., client of an end-user) and may be made over the Internet. The instruction is executed by a Web browser at the requesting device. The instruction is embedded within the Internet file, so that if the file is cached by a proxy server, the instruction is also cached. Thus, the instruction will reach the end-user regardless of whether the file is downloaded from the proxy server or from an originating server. When the file reaches the end-user, the instruction triggers the transmission of the indicator that is send to the processor for counting.

With the growth of the World Wide Web, an increasingly large fraction of available bandwidth on the Internet is used to transfer Web documents. Often, a Web document is formed of a number of files, such as text files, image files, audio files and video files. When an end-user at a requesting device, such as a personal computer, designates a particular Web document, a request may be made to an originating server to download the corresponding file. The total latency in downloading the requested file depends upon a number of factors, including the transmission speeds of communication links between the requesting device and the originating server in which the requested file is stored, delays that are incurred at the originating server in accessing the file, and delays incurred at any device located between the requesting device and the originating server.
One approach to reducing the total latency in downloading the requested file is the use of proxy servers. Proxy servers function as intermediaries between browsers at the end-user side of an Internet connection and the originating servers at the opposite side. An important benefit provided by the proxy server is its ability to cache frequently requested files, so that the need to continuously retrieve the same requested files is eliminated.
While caching is beneficial to the end-users, a concern is that it offsets inability of a Web site administrator of the originating server to accurately count the number of hits for the requested file, since at least some of the requests may be intercepted and serviced by the proxy server. A "hit" is an instance of accessing a network file, which may be temporary in nature, such as a "visit" to a Web site, or which may be more permanent in nature, such as a download of an executable file. There are advantages to enabling a Web site administrator to accurately count the number of hits for a particular file. For example, an accurate count may determine a popularity level of the Web site, so that the Web site administrator can determine how much to charge advertisers to present commercial banners that are displayed with each visit to the site.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,935,207 to Logue et al. describes a method for counting a number of hits made to a proxy server. According to the method, a hit is recorded for every request that is satisfied by a transfer of one or more cached files from an accessible proxy server (i.e., proxy server in which the Web site administrator has access to a hit report for the number of hits made for the requested file), if the requested file was pre-selected for tracking. There may be many of these accessible proxy servers. The total number of hits for the requested file is reported to the administrator when a request to report is made by the administrator to the accessible proxy server. While the Logue et al. method works well for its intended purpose, a concern is that the method loses its ability to accurately count the total number of hits for the requested file, since the administrator does not have access to a hit report for requests made to non-accessible proxy servers. As an example, the non-accessible proxy server may be located in a local-area network between multiple end-users and the accessible proxy server. The end-users may make multiple requests for a same requested file that is downloaded from the accessible proxy server to the non-accessible proxy server, and finally, to the end-users. While there are multiple hits for the same request, only the hit by the accessible proxy server is recorded, since the administrator does not have access to a hit report for requests satisfied by the non-accessible proxy server. Consequently, the number of hits for the requested file is inaccurate.
Another concern is that a same request made by one end-user may be counted more than once if the request is reported by more than one accessible proxy servers. As an example, an end-user may make a single request for a file that is downloaded from a first accessible proxy server to a second accessible proxy, and finally, to the end-user. During the hit reporting process, the same request may be reported twice if a hit is reported by the first accessible proxy server and another hit is reported by the second accessible proxy server.
What is needed is a method and system to accurately count the total number of hits for requested files made over a network.

Tracking hits for network files using transmitted counter instructions

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A carrying bag includes a flexible bag body that defines an accommodation space therein and that has a lower peripheral edge defining a lower access opening. A rigid base member has a periphery configured to matingly engage the lower peripheral edge, and is displaceable relative to the lower peripheral edge between a closed position to close to the lower access opening, and an open position to expose the lower access opening. The base member has holes formed therethrough to be adapted to permit a wheel and a rest of a baby playpen to extend outwardly of the base member for facilitating carrying the playpen. A blocking member is disposed to block the holes so as to permit the bag to receive any other articles.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a carrying bag, more particularly to a carrying bag adapted for accommodating a wheeled foldable article of furniture so as to facilitate carrying and transport thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional wheeled foldable article of furniture, such as a foldable baby playpen, can be carried in a carrying bag after being folded. Since the conventional carrying bag is not designed to permit extension of the wheels of the playpen therethrough, the user has to hand-carry or shoulder-carry the bulky playpen, which is very inconvenient to the user. Moreover, the conventional carrying bag is used only for carrying a foldable baby playpen.

Carrying bag adapted for accommodating a wheeled foldable article of furniture


The invention relates to a method for rough-honing the peripheral surface (3) of a bore (2). According to said method, a honing tool (5) is introduced into the bore (2), the longitudinal axis (MB) of the bore (2) before rough-honing comprising an off-set (s) relative to the finished bore (2). Said off-set (s) is evened out during rough-honing.

The invention relates to a method of rough-honing the circumferential surface of a bore.
Based on the possible metal-removing capacities and tool lives, it has already been proposed that fine-boring be replaced by rough-honing. In this way, the advantages of the honing process can be more fully utilized. In order, however, to achieve quality corrections in terms of angularity and positional precision comparable to those when using fine-spindle-machining, it is not possible to transfer the normal degrees of freedom for a honing tool and workpiece to rough-honing.
The concept of employing rough-honing instead of fine boring thus provides for a fixed alignment of the tool axis as well as fixed clamping of the workpiece. Based on the index position, the workpiece can be received with sufficient accuracy relative to the tool axis. Based on top and bottom tool guidance, a rigid alignment of the tool at the specified position of the bore can be achieved, with the result that the angular axial position of the tool is stable. The difference in regard to position and angular position of the tool axis to the pre-machined bore axis represents the required correction potential.
At the start of the rough-honing process, the honing stones only partially work the circumferential surface of the bore. As more and more material is removed, cutting expands to the full area of the entire bore. Since generally a varying amount of material is removed locally, a new bore center is created which is identical to the tool center. During the initial cut, only a few honing stones transfer the contact pressure to the bore wall. This therefore requires a form-locking feed device, i.e., an incremental feed. The feed functions consist in the intermittent feed motion, composed of the parameter defined from the feed phase and the feed pause interval in which the previously developed feed pressure diminishes.
This method of rough-honing, which is known from the article by U. Klink/G. Flores "Honing CGI Cylinder Bores" [Honen von Zylinderbohrungen aus GGV] in the journal WB. Werkstatt und Betrieb, Volume 133, 2000, Issue 4, Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich, can be implemented only with those workpieces in which very specific requirements are met in regard to accessibility of the bores, with the result that significant limits are placed on the method's scope of application. It is usable for continuous bores but not for blind-hole bores, which are predominantly encountered in, for example, cylinder barrels.
Therefore, there is a need for a technique of rough-honing the circumferential surface of a bore that has broader applicability.

Method for rough-honing the peripheral surface of a bore


An organic electroluminescence device of one or more embodiments includes a first electrode, a hole transport region on the first electrode, an emission layer on the hole transport region, an electron transport region on the emission layer and a second electrode on the electron transport region, wherein the hole transport region includes a monoamine compound represented by Formula 1, thereby showing high emission efficiency:

One or more aspects of embodiments of the present disclosure herein relate to an organic electroluminescence device and a monoamine compound for an organic electroluminescence device.
Recently, the development of an organic electroluminescence device as an image display device is being actively conducted. Different from a liquid crystal display device, the organic electroluminescence device is a self-luminescent display device in which holes and electrons injected from a first electrode and a second electrode recombine in an emission layer, and a light emission material including an organic compound in the emission layer emits light to attain (realize) display of images.
In the application of an organic electroluminescence device to a display device, the decrease of the driving voltage, and the increase of the emission efficiency and the life of the organic electroluminescence device are required (or desired), and development of materials for an organic electroluminescence device which are capable of stably attaining the required (or desired) features is being continuously required.

Organic electroluminescence device and monoamine compound for organic electroluminescence device


The disclosure provides a method and apparatus for designing a resistive random access memory, and the method comprise: receiving a preset first parameter standard of a resistive switching material, searching for and outputting a first resistive switching material based on the first parameter standard, first parameters including: band gap, charge transfer, vacancy, migration barrier, carrier activation energy. Schottky barrier and number of mesophase: establishing a resistive switching material database according to the first resistive switching materials; receiving a second parameter standard for a resistive random access memory device model, and selecting a second resistive switching material from the resistive switching material database according to the second parameter standard, second parameters including: Forming voltage, SET voltage, RESET voltage, erasing and writing speed, power consumption, storage window, stability, durability, on-off ratio, fluctuation of current parameter and storage density of the device model; and designing a resistive random access memory by using the second resistive switching material, corresponding electrode material, and a predetermined storage structure.

With the rapid development of technologies such as big data, cloud computing, and Internet of Things, the data that need to be stored and processed in the world are increasingly growing, and better-performing memories are needed to meet the requirements of rapidly developing information technology for ultra-high-density storage.
Resistive random access memories (RRAMs) have become popular to users due to their low operating power consumption, long durability, simple structure, and small device area. However, due to wide varieties of materials for resistive random access memory, the factors affecting the characteristics of resistive random access memory are diversified. At present, when designing resistive random access memory, current experimental means and theoretical methods cannot fully consider the factors affecting the characteristics of resistive random access memory, resulting in that the overall performance of the resistive random access memory cannot be guaranteed.

Method and apparatus for designing resistive random access memory


An 8-bit input image data value has its range adjusted by an image range conversion lookup table and is converted into a 4-bit dither image data value f2 with a multi-value dither circuit. The converted 4-bit dither image data value f2 is error-corrected by an error correction unit, and then binarized with a predetermined binarization threshold value of Th=8. An error between binarized data value g and error-correction image data value f2' is calculated by the error calculation unit to be stored in an error storage line memory. Error data e' is provided with respect to a pixel of interest by a peripheral error weighting filter, whereby error is propagated to peripheral pixels of the pixel of interest. As a result, an image processing apparatus of high picture quality, high speed, and low cost is provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to image processing apparatuses, and more particularly, to an image processing apparatus using the error diffusion method.
2. Description of the Background Art
The error diffusion technique is conventionally known as the binarization method of furnishing both the gradation and resolution in an image processing apparatus. According to the error diffusion binarization technique, an error-corrected multi-valued pixel of 8 bits, for example, is binarized with the threshold value of Th=128. A binarization error is generated thereby, which is propagated to another pixel to preserve area gradation. A pseudo gradation representation of a conventional error diffusion technique will be described hereinafter.
FIG. 51 is a block diagram of an error diffusion unit 150 employed in a conventional image processing apparatus. Referring to FIG. 51, error diffusion unit 150 includes an error correction unit 151 for correcting a multi-valued pixel data f (x, y) represented by 8 bits per pixel (gradation of 256 levels), for example, according to error data e' (x, y) that will be described afterwards, a binarization unit 152 for binarizing error-corrected image data f' (x, y) with a predetermined binarized threshold value of Th=128, an error calculation unit 153 for calculating the error of binarized binary data g (x, y) and error corrected image data f' (x, y), an error storage line memory 154 for storing three lines of the calculated error, and a peripheral error weighting filter 155 connected to error storage line memory 154 for applying the weight of peripheral pixels to a pixel of interest.
Here, x, y are variables indicating the address of a pixel of image data, where the value of x indicates an address in the subscanning direction and the value of y indicates an address in the main scanning direction. Therefore, f (x, y) indicates a value of the image data of a pixel of address (x, y).
The operation of error diffusion unit 150 will be described hereinafter. Error correction unit 151 provides image data f' (x, y) that is error-corrected with error data e' (x, y) to binarization unit 152. Image data f' (x, y) is binarized by a fixed binary threshold value of Th=128 to result in binary data g (x, y) of either 0 or 1. Error calculation unit 153 provides a binarized error e (x, y) which is calculated as set forth in the following.
(i) When error-corrected image data f' (x, y).gtoreq. binarized threshold value Th (128): PA1 (ii) Otherwise:
Binary data g (x, y)=1 (black) PA2 Error e (x, y)=f' (x, y)-255 PA2 Binary data g (x, y)=0 (white) PA2 Error e (x, y)=f' (x, y)-0
Three lines of error e (x, y) calculated as above are stored by error storage line memory 154. Using peripheral error weighting filter 155, a weight average error data e' (x, y) for diffusing error e (x, y) to another pixel is calculated. Weight coefficient k (i, j) is greater as a function of a closer location to the pixel of interest, and has a total sum of 1. Weight coefficient k (i, j) is shown in FIG. 52.
FIG. 53 shows binarization error e (x, y). When error correction data f' (x, y) is greater than the threshold value of Th=128 (indicated by f1 (x, y) in FIG. 53), binarization error e (x, y) is represented as a minus error as shown in e1 (x, y) in FIG. 53. When error correction data f' (x, y) is smaller than the binarization threshold value of Th=128 (indicated by f2 (x, y) in FIG. 53), binarization error e (x, y) is represented as a plus error as shown in e2 (x, y).
Weight average error data e' (x, y) is calculated by the following equation (1). ##EQU1##
The calculated error data e' (x, y) is provided to error correction unit 151, whereby error is sequentially propagated.
According to the error diffusion technique of a conventional image processing apparatus, a particular stripe pattern is generated in the binarization pattern in images such as computer graphics and photographs that have very extremely small dispersion of pixels since the generation of a similar error is repeated periodically. An example of a binarization pattern when an original image of a picture with a dispersion of 0 (high frequency component of 0 with only DC component) is shown in FIG. 54. The continuous streak of pixels in a diagonal direction shown in FIG. 54 is the above-mentioned stripe pattern. Since a conventional error diffusion unit includes a feedback loop as shown in FIG. 51, high speed operation is more difficult to implement than a dither process. There is also a problem that the circuit complexity is increased more than a dither process since an error storage line memory is required.
In an image of an original such as a document written by a pencil which includes a low density thin stroke of an original density (OD)=0.4 (32.about.64/255 gradation levels in density data value) with a line width of 125 microns (approximately several dots in 400 dpi) on a white base (0/255 gradation level in density data value), the thin stroke segment has an intermittent appearance since error propagation is too slow according to the conventional error diffusion technique. This problem will be described in detail hereinafter.
FIG. 55a shows multi-valued image f (x, y) applied to error correction unit 151, and FIG. 55b shows error data e' (x, y). Attention is focused on image data f (x, y) suddenly switched to a low density thin stroke (density data value of 32) from a white base (density data value of 0). Image data f (x, y) of the pixel of interest is 32, whereas image data f (x, y) of the pixels preceding the pixel of interest is a white base (density data value of 0). Error e' (x, y) which is to be corrected on the basis of image data f (x, y) of the pixel of interest is 0. Therefore, error propagation for representing low density thin stroke region f (x, y) in a pseudo gradation is initiated with error data e' (x+1, y) as the origin (end). However, binarization error e' (x, y) of low density thin stroke f (x, y) takes a small value of +32. Therefore, a propagation distance of several dots in both the x axis direction and the y axis direction is required to reach the binarization threshold value of Th128 to have a black dot recorded.
More specifically, error correction data f' (x, y) in the case where the pixel abruptly changes from a white base to a low density thin stroke is represented by the following equation. EQU f'(x, y)=f(x, y)+e'(x, y)=32+0=32
When the width of the low density thin stroke region is only several dots, this error propagation will not be in time to record a black dot. As a result, the thin stroke is shown in an intermittent manner. FIG. 56 shows samples of printed characters of several sizes by a conventional image processing apparatus. Referring to the sample of size 10.5, it is appreciated that the left side portion of a thin stroke is missing in the horizontal line direction.
Thus, in an image processing apparatus employing a conventional error calculation unit 150, there was a problem that a thin stroke segment has an intermittent appearance when the width of the low density thin stroke portion is only several dots.

Image processing apparatus using error diffusion technique


Provided are a drive control apparatus and a drive control method for a vibration wave driving apparatus enabling a wider dynamic range and increased quietness. The drive control apparatus for a vibration wave driving apparatus of the present invention is a drive control apparatus for a vibration wave driving apparatus in which, by providing a drive signal to a vibrator provided with an electro-mechanical energy conversion device, a driven part in contact with the vibrator is relatively moved, wherein, when the driven part is activated by changing a frequency of the drive signal, a time throughout which the drive signal is made to be in an off state is provided every time the frequency is changed.

In a publicly known vibration wave driving apparatus (a so called ultrasonic wave motor), utilizing a piezoelectric device, included in optical apparatuses, such as cameras, a driven part called a rotor is strongly pressed against a vibrator called a stator.
Hence, to activate this driven part in a resting state, a force applied to the driven part needs to be stronger than the sum of the static friction force between the vibrator and the driven part and the static inertial force of the driven part.
Accordingly, at the time of activation, control is performed such that a voltage higher than the alternating voltage applied to the piezoelectric device in a steady state driving is applied to the device.
However, since there is a case in which even the above control does not improve activation performance, PTL 1 proposes a driving method for a vibration wave driving apparatus, in which activation is performed after lowering the fixing strength between the vibrator and the driven part by causing the vibrator to generate standing wave vibration at the time of activation.
In addition, PTL 2 proposes a driving method for a vibration wave driving apparatus in which white noise is applied as an excitation signal at the time of activation.

Drive control apparatus and drive control method for vibration wave driving apparatus


The invention relates to a method for operating a fuel cell system consisting of a fuel cell, a reformer for generating a hydrogen-rich gas, and a combustion chamber in which the fuel cell exhaust gases are oxidized to generate the heat energy required in the reformer. According to the invention, in those operating states in which the heat energy supplied to the reformer from the combustion chamber is insufficient, additional amounts of fuel and oxygen are supplied to the reformer, so that additional heat energy is produced directly in the reformer by the oxidation of the fuel. At the same time, during the oxidation of the fuel in the reformer, steam is produced that can be used in steam reformation. Advantageously, adjustment of the additional amount of fuel and the oxygen supplied is performed as a function of the reformer temperature.

The invention relates to a method for operating a fuel cell system of the type having a fuel cell, a reformer for generating a hydrogen-rich gas, and a combustion chamber in which fuel cell exhaust gases are oxidized to generate heat energy required in the reformer.
A fuel cell system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,904,548, produces a hydrogen-rich gas in a reformer from liquid methanol and water, by means of steam reformation. Thereafter, the gas is supplied to the anode of the fuel cell system. The heat energy required for endothermal steam reformation is generated in a combustion chamber by oxidation of the anode exhaust and/or fuel and transferred to the reformer.
The goal of the present invention is to provide a method for operating a fuel cell system with improved overall efficiency.
This goal is achieved according to the invention by supplying an additional amount of fuel and oxygen to the reformer whenever the heat energy supplied to the reformer from the combustion chamber is insufficient, so that additional heat energy is generated directly in the reformer by the oxidation of the fuel. Oxidation of the fuel directly in the reformer in this manner has the advantage that the steam thus produced can be used for steam reformation of the fuel. As a result, less water is required. In addition, there is no need for the heat energy that would otherwise be required for evaporating the water. Finally, the dynamics of the gas generation system are improved by generating the heat energy directly in the reformer.
By controlling or regulating the additional amounts of fuel and oxygen added on the basis of reformer temperature, the overall efficiency of the fuel cell system can be further increased, since only that amount of fuel is oxidized at a given time which is required for maintaining steam reformation.
With a load change to higher power levels, the hydrogen requirement of the fuel cell increases abruptly. However, the production of hydrogen by the reformer lags behind this increased demand because of the limited dynamics involved. Therefore, for the duration of this lag, the hydrogen content in the anode exhaust is reduced, decreasing the available heat energy. However, because of the increased hydrogen demand, an increased heat requirement also develops at precisely the same time. Thus, it is advantageous during such a load increase to supply an additional amount of fuel and oxygen to the reformer for a predetermined period of time so that the reduced heat supply is compensated by the burner.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


Methods and systems anchor hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) level communication in an information-centric networking (ICN) network. Both content requests and responses to servers within the ICN network and to servers located outside the ICN network, in an IP network for example, are disclosed. Communication may be between two IP capable only devices at the HTTP level, one connected to an ICN network while the other one is connected either to an ICN or IP network. The disclosed namespace 200 enables IP based HTTP communication within the ICN network. An information-centric networking (ICN) network attachment point (NAP) or border gateway (BGW) may receive an HTTP request packet and encapsulate the received HTTP request packet. The ICN NAP/BGW may then forward the HTTP request packet towards the local ICN network servers. The HTTP request packet may be published to a named content identifier (CID) that may be determined through a hash function of a fully qualified domain name (FQDN). The ICN NAP may receive a HTTP response packet for a subscribed information item, which may be included in a named rCID. The named rCID may be determined through a hash function of a uniform resource locator (URL). Instead of using the hash of a URL and an FQDN directly, a separate scope identifier, which may be a root identifier, may be chosen for HTTP-over-ICN communication for the overall ICN namespace. The scope identifier may include a particular structure for the ICN namespace being built up. Using a root identifier may allow for separating HTTP-over-ICN communication from other ICN communication, for example, for operational or migration reasons. Under the root scope identifier, there may be two sub-scope identifiers, a first sub-scope identifier (I) for communication within the ICN network and a second sub-scope identifier (O) for communication to IP addresses outside the ICN network. The ICN may be based on the PURSUIT publish-subscribe architecture or on the Named Data Networking (NDN) project and the like.

Information-centric networks (ICNs) may constitute a new networking paradigm in which content is exchanged by means of information addressing. Different architectures may be used to realize ICNs, which may require the partial replacement of current network infrastructure and equipment, such as, for example, routers, gateways and the like, in order to realize the desired network-level functions of these solutions. ICNs may provide improvements to current networking, including, for example, better performance, multicast support, in-network caching, and the like.
Migration scenarios from current network architectures to ICNs foresee that the new architectures may be realized as an overlay over existing architectures, such as for example, Internet Protocol (IP) based or local Ethernet based architectures. Such migration, however, may still require the transition of the user equipment (UE) to an ICN-based solution. With IP-based applications currently providing a broad range of Internet services, transitioning all of these applications may easily be seen as a much harder task than the pure transition of the network-level functionality. Protocol stack implementation in the UE, for example, will require additional functionality in the ICN context. Server-side components, for example, e-shopping web-servers, content servers, and the like, will additionally require new functionality in the ICN context. Further, changes to UEs due to different network protocol stacks may be difficult to implement because upgrades to device operating systems (OS) may be needed. In addition, ICNs may require changes to applications which utilize IP-level abstraction, such as for example sockets to program distributed functionality. In addition to the difficulty of modifications applications, modifications to integrated development environments (IDEs), software development kits (SDKs) and the like may be also be required and difficult. Accordingly, one may assume that IP-based services, and with it purely IP-based UEs, will continue to exist for some time to come.

Methods and systems for anchoring hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) level services in an information centric network (ICN)


A motor drive device includes: an inverter circuit; a drive circuit which receives voltage supplied from a control power source; a first cutoff circuit which cuts off voltage supply from the control power source to the drive circuit; a second cutoff circuit connected between the first cutoff circuit and the drive circuit; a voltage detection circuit which detects a detection voltage corresponding to the voltage supplied from the control power source and which is capable of changing the detection voltage; a comparison circuit which, upon determination that the detection voltage is not within a predetermined range, cuts off the first cutoff circuit; and a diagnosis circuit which diagnoses the first cutoff circuit. The diagnosis circuit causes the comparison circuit to cut off the first cutoff circuit, diagnoses the first cutoff circuit, and upon diagnosing the operation of the first cutoff circuit as being abnormal, cuts off the second cutoff circuit.

A motor drive device which drives a motor has, in addition to the basic function of driving the motor, the protection function of stopping the motor upon abnormality detection so as not to compromise the safety of the motor and a system loaded with the motor drive device.
Abnormal states include a state in which values of various supply voltages supplied to various circuit blocks of the motor drive device become abnormal. Specifically, the abnormal states include: for example, a state in which the supply voltage exceeds the withstand voltage of a circuit component forming the motor drive device or a state in which the supply voltage falls below the operation guarantee range of the circuit component. Breakdown or malfunction of the circuit component of the motor drive device may occur in such abnormal states, compromising the system safety.
Thus, suggested to prevent the breakdown or the malfunction of the circuit component is a technology of monitoring the supply voltage supplied to each circuit block of the motor drive device and executing predetermined protective operation upon detection of an abnormal voltage such as overvoltage or low voltage (refer to, for example, Patent Literature 1 for overvoltage protection). The motor drive device which executes such protective operation will be described with reference to the drawing. FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating one example of a schematic configuration of a conventional motor controller. FIG. 4 illustrates, together with the conventional motor drive device, motor 12 which is driven by the motor drive device.
As illustrated in FIG. 4, the conventional motor drive device includes: control power source 1, voltage monitoring circuit 102, cutoff circuit 103, pulse width modulation (PWM) signal generation circuit 8, drive circuit 9, and inverter circuit 11. A drive signal is supplied from drive circuit 9 to inverter circuit 11 in accordance with a PWM signal outputted from PWM signal generation circuit 8. In response to the supply, inverter circuit 11 supplies power from a DC power source, not illustrated, to a motor winding of motor 12 to thereby drive motor 12.
Voltage monitoring circuit 102 monitors the voltage value of control power source 1 and monitors whether the voltage value is within a predetermined range. When the voltage value of control power source 1 is out of the specified range, voltage monitoring circuit 102 provides a cutoff signal to cutoff circuit 103 to cut off voltage supply to drive circuit 9.
Consequently, output of drive circuit 9 is turned off to achieve emergency stop of motor driving regardless of a command of PWM signal generation circuit 8.

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.


A method for planning under uncertainty is disclosed. The method includes steps of processing a stochastic programming formulation based on forecast values of at least one of product and service configurations, and determining a resource requirements plan for one or more planning periods in a non-deterministic bill of resources of at least two levels.

Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a method and structure for resource requirements planning for configurable products or services. More specifically, a stochastic programming formulation based on forecast values allows a determination of resource requirements.
Description of the Related Art
When managing risk and flexibility in a configure-to-order supply chain, such as an automotive supply chain, it is important to account for the uncertainty associated with how finished products are configured (i.e., order configuration uncertainty) and to recognize the value of supply flexibility. Today, manufacturers typically perform capacity planning using "average" representations of product configurations and apply deterministic methods to align supply and demand.
For example, automotive companies allocate millions of dollars every year for new types of machine tools for the manufacture of automobiles. The variability in customer preferences, products, and technology makes it difficult for automotive manufacturers to estimate future capacity requirements. Moreover, the procurement of supplier capacity occurs before actual customer demand is realized, typically several years before production launch.
In the presence of order configuration uncertainty, a manufacturer or service provider runs the risks of overage (overstock), in which excess resources are invested in capacity, and shortage, in which sales and/or goodwill are lost if customers cannot obtain their preferred configurations. Both overstock and shortage reduce profits. An optimized resource plan that accounts for order configuration uncertainty would minimize the risk exposure of the manufacturer/service provider to both overstock and shortages.
An attach rate is defined for a component-product pair, and represents the quantity of a component that is used to configure the corresponding product. Examples of components in a manufacturing supply chain may include supplier parts and sub-assemblies. Examples of components in a services supply chain may include human resources such as software programmers, customer service representatives and project managers. Attach rates may be derived qualitatively (e.g., using rules of thumb or judgement based on experience with similar products or services), or quantitatively (e.g., using historical averages or driven by sales targets). When attach rates are treated as numerical constants, they do not account for variation or uncertainty in product configurations.
In a configure-to-order supply chain, various components of a bill of resources must be determined prior to entering production. For example, FIG. 1 depicts a vehicle code of a pickup truck configuration. In an automobile, there may be within a single family platform 111 a variety of product lines 112, series 113, body styles 114, and trim levels 117, requiring different components or combinations of components. Some components, such as a vehicle platform, may be common to different configurations, and others may be unique to a particular configuration. Similarly, there may be options within each configuration where a single choice must necessarily be made from a set (for example: a single engine, or a single transmission selected from various manual and automatic transmission choices, 116). There may also be options which may be selected or declined; that is, no option is required to be selected (for example: a moon roof, a tow hitch, or a spoiler can be added to a vehicle, but no such option selection is required).
The various options may be combined in different ways. Some options might require or preclude others.
The components required for the various configurations constitute a bill of resources. A single-level bill of resources deals with only a product or service and its components.
The available options or allowable combinations of options might vary from one product planning period to another. For example, a six-speed manual transmission might be offered only in the second and subsequent model years of a vehicle. This is of particular concern because expensive production resources, such as investments in tooling and supplies, must often be arranged long before product configurations are in full production.
The procurement of supplier capacity has become more and more challenging for a number of reasons, including:
Product variety. Technology is changing rapidly, which means that new products and options are being introduced into manufacturing and planning processes all the time. This translates into ever changing requirements for capacity and tooling. Moreover, the choice of vehicle options available to customers has continuously increased, making forecasting future demand for stand-alone options and options packages even more difficult.
Procurement lead time. Most tooling equipment required by automotive suppliers is customized and made-to-order. The lead time for expanding capacity at a supplier (by purchasing additional tooling) could range anywhere from three months to several years. As a result, planners have to decide on supplier capacity based on forecasts of customer demand and customer preferences several years ahead where forecasts could be highly inaccurate.
Capacity cost. The cost of machine tools is significant, and automotive companies could spend tens of millions of dollars every quarter on procurement of new tools. Thus, even a small improvement in capacity planning decisions could have a large impact on the manufacturer's financial performance.
Various resource planning models for CTO (configure-to-order) systems are known. For example, Kessinger and Pieper (2005), "Managing risk with structured supply agreements"; Huang and Ahmed (2005), "The Value of Multi-stage Stochastic Programming in resource requirements Planning Under Uncertainty", working paper, Georgia Tech; Chen-Ritzo (2006), "Availability Management for Configure-to-Order Supply Chains", Dissertation, Penn State University. However, these models consider at most one level in the bill of resources (i.e., a product level and a component level). They fail to address the complexities of a multi-level model.
There are also known inventory models for CTO Systems, such as: Cheng, et al. (2002), "Inventory-Service Optimization in Configure-to-Order Systems", MSOM, and Lu, et al. (2003), "Order Fill Rate, Leadtime Variability, and Advance Demand Information in an Assemble-to-Order System". However, these models are used to study the structure of inventory ordering policies, not to compute a multi-period resource plan. That is, they cannot forecast needs and produce different resource plans for future periods.
The prior art also addresses demand conditioning for ATO (assemble-to-order) Systems. Ettl, et al. (2006) "Product Offering Conditioning in Assemble-To-Order Supply Chains", IBM Research Report RC23878, deals with deterministic models having specified take rates or attach rates, but has no uncertainty in the bill of resources. Chen-Ritzo, as discussed above, considers at most one level in the bill of resources (i.e., a product level and a component level).
Thus, a need exists to provide planning which deals with effects of uncertainty.

Method and structure for risk-based resource planning for configurable products

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


A connector (F) includes a first terminal accommodating chamber (11), a rear end part of which defines a seal tower (12) projecting from a rear (10R) of a housing (10). A rubber plug (16) is fit on a first wire (15) and liquid-tightly contacts an inner surface of the first terminal accommodating chamber (11). Second wires (20) are drawn out from second terminal accommodating chambers (17). A one-piece rubber plug (30) covers the rear (10R) of the housing (10) and the second wires (20) and the seal tower (12) penetrate the one-piece rubber plug (30). Lock towers (21) project back from the rear (10R) of the housing (10) and penetrate the one-piece rubber plug (30). A rear holder (40) covers the one-piece rubber plug (30) from behind. Receiving portions (46) are formed in the rear holder (40) and lock to locking portions (23) of the lock towers (21).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2013-114844 discloses a connector in which a plurality of terminal fittings are accommodated in a housing and wires connected to the respective terminal fittings are drawn out from the rear surface of the housing. This connector is provided with both individual sealing structures for sealing an individual rubber plug individually externally fitted on each wire by bringing the individual rubber plug into close contact with the inner peripheral surface of a terminal accommodating chamber and a collective sealing structure for sealing the wires by passing the wires into a plurality of seal holes formed in a one-piece rubber plug. Rear end parts of the terminal accommodating chambers for individual sealing project backward as seal tower portions from the rear surface of the housing and these seal tower portions penetrate through holes formed in the one-piece rubber plug. In this way, individual sealing areas and a collective sealing area out of the rear surface of the housing are covered by one one-piece rubber plug.
In this connector, a peripheral wall portion is caused to project from the rear surface of the housing as a means for holding the one-piece rubber plug in a state mounted in the housing and the one-piece rubber plug is accommodated in an accommodation space in the peripheral wall portion. Further, a rear holder is provided to cover the rear surface of the one-piece rubber plug and assembled in a state accommodated in the accommodation space. Furthermore, the connector of patent literature 1 is configured to be fitted into a receptacle of a male mating connector and a ring-shaped sealing means is necessary on the outer periphery of the housing as a sealing means for sealing a connected part to the mating connector.
The peripheral wall portion in the connector of Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2013-114844 is an essential structure since having a function of accommodating the one-piece rubber plug and a function of supporting the rear holder. Since the peripheral wall portion surrounds the one-piece rubber plug, it is not structurally possible to cause an outer peripheral part of the one-piece rubber plug to function as the sealing means to the mating connector. As just described, since the connector of patent literature 1 requires the sealing means to the mating connector to be provided separately from the one-piece rubber plug, there is a problem of increasing the number of components.
The present invention was completed based on the above situation and aims to reduce the number of components.


Various embodiments of the invention allow to effectively reduce device and system power consumption in both active and inactive modes without compromising performance, without large area overhead, and at low cost. In certain embodiments, the reduction of power consumption is accomplished by combining circuit control techniques with power gating methods to reduce power loss due to leakage current.

A. Technical Field
The present invention relates to data processing systems, and more particularly, to systems and methods of managing power and reducing power consumption in digital logic circuits.
B. Background of the Invention
Power dissipation in semiconductor devices mainly consists of static power losses primarily caused by current leakage across the semiconductor P-N junction and oxide layers of transistors during the non-conducting state of the device, and dynamic power consumption caused by devices switching on and off.
At small process technology nodes, leakage (FIG. 1) may become the dominant source of power loss, greatly exceeding dynamic power consumption. As process technologies scale to even smaller nodes, power loss due to wasteful leakage increases exponentially. Therefore, reducing power dissipation caused by leakage becomes an increasingly important goal in designing systems-on-chip.
What is needed are systems and methods to overcome the above-described limitations.

System and method for adaptive power management


A mobile communication apparatus such as a cellular telephone for automotive use is provided with selectable modes for accessing stored telephone numbers either by speed-dial codes (i.e., memory storage location) or alphabetic names associated with each telephone number. A user interface is employed having an alpha mode for displaying and entering alphabetic names corresponding to telephone numbers. The alpha mode includes a jump function and a scrolling function for browsing stored alphabetic names. A normal mode is provided for storing telephone numbers at desired storage locations. A speed-dial mode is also provided for instant dialing of the most frequently called numbers.

The present invention relates to controlling operation of mobile telephones and more specifically to controlling recall and storage of telephone numbers and associated information in a cellular telephone memory using a multiple-mode user interface.
Digitally controlled mobile telephones typically provide a large number of memory locations for storing frequently called telephone numbers. This is particularly useful in automobile cellular telephones used in order to minimize the number of buttons that are pressed (i.e., keypresses) to initiate a call. A typical telephone unit may offer up to 100 stored numbers.
In order to provide convenient use of the memory capabilities, the recall and storing of telephone numbers is preferably quick and easy to implement. Furthermore, it is desirable from a cost and size standpoint to use a compact display in association with displaying the phone numbers and other information.
Individual preferences may vary as to the easiest way to remember a telephone number or a party to be called. Furthermore, the ability to remember a number, a speed-dial code, or a name is related to the frequency at which the particlar number is called. Even though every telephone number in memory may have a corresponding speed-dial code (e.g., its memory location), it is unlikely that a person could remember the speed-dial codes for a large number of stored telephone numbers. In some instances, alphabetic names associated with the number may be easier for a person to remember. Thus, the search for a convenient-to-use mobile telephone design is subject to the apparently conflicting desires to make large amounts of stored information available to the user, but with a minimum number of steps to be followed to access each individual piece of information and with a compact apparatus that displays only the needed information.

Multiple mode cellular telephone control device


In a state that the body portion 4 is regulated by inner wall planes 27, 29, 28 of the package 3 so as not to move in parallel or perpendicularly with respect to the rear plane 4b, the spectroscopic module is directly supported by the package 3, thereby when the spectrometer is downsized, the spectroscopic module 2 can be supported securely and also there is provided securely a positional accuracy between the light incident opening 22a of the package 3, the spectroscopic portion 6 of the spectroscopic module 2 and the light detecting element 7. Further, the lead 23 is buried into the package 3 to give derivation and support by the lead deriving portion 26, thereby the lead deriving portion 26 in itself of the package 3 is allowed to act as a base when wire bonding is conducted to electrically connect the lead 23 with the light detecting element 7, thus preventing breakage and deviation of the spectroscopic module 2.

The spectrometer is an optical device for decomposing light to be measured into individual spectral components by using a spectroscopic portion such as a prism and a diffraction grating (refer to Patent Document 1, for example). According to the above-described spectrometer, a light detecting element is used to detect spectral components of the light dispersed by the spectroscopic portion, thus making it possible to know the wavelength distribution of light, the intensity of a specific wavelength component and others.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. H08-145794


An apparatus for frame rate up conversion comprises a motion-compensated frame rate converter, a primitive frame rate converter and a determination circuit. The determination circuit designates either the motion-compensated frame rate converter or the primitive frame rate converter to output an interpolated frame according to an index that estimates an output quality of the motion-compensated frame rate converter.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to video processing, and more particularly relates to an apparatus and a method for frame rate up conversion.
2. Description of the Related Art
To support high frame rate display, it may need to convert a received low frame rate video signals, e.g. 60 Hz, into a high frame rate video signal, e.g. 120 Hz.
In frame rate up conversion (FRUC), interpolated frames are created using received frames as references. Currently, frame interpolation may be obtained based on motion vectors of the received frames such that moving objects within the interpolated frame may be correctly positioned.
Although motion-compensated frame rate up conversion (MC-FRUC) offers some advantages in most cases, it also suffers artifacts when motion estimation is incorrect. In particular, motion estimation is never easy when the received frames are complex or speedy.
Accordingly, there is a need to determine whether the motion-compensated frame rate up conversion is quality or not. Furthermore, when the motion-compensated frame rate up conversion is not quality enough, another primitive frame rate up conversion, such as frame averaging or frame repetition, can be used as a substitute.

Apparatus and method for frame rate up conversion


A specimen to be irradiated with an electron beam is supported by a heating member secured detachably to a specimen holder and the heating member, a power supply therefor and electric conductive lines for conducting a electric power from the power supply to the heating member are integrated into the specimen holder.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a specimen heating device for use with an electron microscope, and more particularly to a specimen heating device for use with an electron microscope which is suitable for observing a specimen in a high temperature state.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Recently, it has been required to observe in a high temperature state a fine region or area of a specimen which is for example of the order of nanometers or less in diameter. In such an observation, it is very important to prevent the specimen from vibrating or drifting because the specimen drift adversely affects image resolving power directly.
According to one of known specimen heating devices, a sample is held by a specimen holding member heated by a heater. According to another known specimen heating device, a sample is held by a heater. A specimen heating device of the former type is disclosed in Japanese utility model application laid-open No. 173159/1983 and a specimen heating device of the latter type is disclosed in Japanese patent application laid-open No. 267/1976. The known specimen heating devices are advantageous in that the specimen is efficiently heated but disadvantageous in that the specimen is liable to vibrate or drift.
In general, a power supply for the heater is arranged independently of a main body of the electron microscope which is ordinarily called a column and hence electric conductors through which an electric power is supplied from the power supply to the heater are physically or mechanically unstable. As a result, the electric conductors are liable to be affected by air convection in the room in which the electron microscope is arranged and external vibration. That is, they are liable to be moved by the external factors. It has been found through experimental studies by the inventors that the specimen vibration or drift is attributed to the movement of the electric conductors.

Specimen heating device for use with an electron microscope

Hitachi Instruments Engineering Co, Ltd.


A light-emitting device is disclosed which allows efficient irradiation of light from a plurality of light sources to achieve a predetermined light emission characteristic and has a small size. The light-emitting device has an optical member which includes a first reflecting surface which reflects light incident thereon from a first light source, a second reflecting surface which reflects light incident thereon from a second light source, and an emergence portion which causes the light from the first reflecting surface and the light form the second reflecting surface to emerge therefrom. The optical member reflects the light by the second reflecting surface and then transmits the light through the first reflecting surface to guide the light to the emergence portion.

The present invention relates to a light-emitting device for use in various apparatuses such as image-taking apparatuses including a digital still camera and a video camera, and a camera-equipped cellular phone.
A typical illumination apparatus (light-emitting device) used in a camera is a flash unit which provides a large amount of illumination light by light emission in a flash discharge tube. In recent years, however, the large amount of illumination light, which has conventionally been used, is not necessarily required due to the increased sensitivity of an image-pickup device employing a CCD (charge-coupled device) sensor and a CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) sensor in an electronic camera. On the other hand, light-emitting diodes (hereinafter abbreviated as "LEDs") have been improved in luminance and widely used for various types of illumination.
Thus, an illumination apparatus for taking images by using the LED as a light source has been proposed recently (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-89318). The illumination apparatus has a plurality of white LEDs arranged such that their light-emitters are located to face substantially the same direction close to each other, and an optical member disposed in front of the LEDs and including a plurality of integrally molded lenses associated with the respective LEDs.
A recent trend of electronic cameras is to have a capability to take an image at an extremely close range, for example, at several centimeters from an image-taking lens.
If the conventional illumination apparatus is used under the situation, illumination light having adequate characteristics cannot be provided especially in taking images at an extremely close range (macro photography). Specifically, part of the illumination light is blocked by an image-taking lens barrel to prevent uniform illumination all over the necessary irradiation area, and the extremely short distance to an object causes overexposure of the object to result in a failure to realize favorable exposure.
To prevent those problems, the macro photography often employs an illumination apparatus for macro photography which includes a ring-shaped light source for mounting around the end of an image-taking lens barrel. However, such an illumination apparatus tends to be large and expensive.
In this manner, it has conventionally been difficult for a small illumination apparatus to perform illumination appropriate for both of ordinary image-taking and macro photography. In reality, it is necessary to provide such an illumination apparatus which is suitable for both of ordinary image-taking and close-range image-taking and is also realized in a small size and low cost.
For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-255574 has proposed an illumination apparatus which has a ring portion for mounting around an image-taking lens barrel of a camera. The illumination apparatus directs light from a light source toward the circumference direction of the ring portion and causes the light reflected by a reflecting surface of the ring portion to emerge from an emergence surface opposite to the reflecting surface. This apparatus enables the light from the single light source to be irradiated in ring shape from around the image-taking lens barrel.
As described above, the luminance of the LED has been increased recently. However, as shown in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-89318, a sufficient light amount for taking images is difficult to provide unless a plurality of LEDs are used.
The illumination apparatus proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-255574 directs the light from the single flash discharge tube (xenon tube) toward the ring portion disposed around the image-taking lens barrel. The apparatus cannot be used without any change when a plurality of LEDs are used as light sources. In other words, no proposal has been made conventionally of an illumination apparatus which allows efficient irradiation of light from a plurality of LEDs to realize an illumination (light distribution) characteristic suitable for macro photography and also has a small size.

Light-emitting device and apparatus having the same


A system for determining the distance from and the direction to an object includes an emitter and at least two receiver elements for receiving a signal which is transmitted by the emitter and reflected by the object. The receiver elements are arranged as a linear array, as two linear arrays situated at an angle to one another, as an array which surrounds the emitter and forms a circle, or as a two-dimensional array. The diameter of the array may be greater than one-half the wavelength of the signal, and the receiver elements each have an individual surface area whose height or diameter corresponds at most to one-half the wavelength of the signal, and the emitter has a height or a diameter which is greater than one-half the wavelength of the signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a system and a method for determining the distance from and the direction to an object.
2. Description of the Related Art
For determining the distance from an object, sensors are usually used which emit a signal and receive an echo of the signal which is reflected by the object. The distance from the object is determined based on the propagation time of the signal from the point in time when the signal is transmitted until the echo is received.
In addition to the distance from an object, the direction in which the object is located is also usually of interest. In particular for applications in the automotive field, the information concerning the direction of an object as well as the distance information are essential. Distance information and direction information for objects are also of crucial importance in robotics, for example for obstacle recognition in near-field navigation.
To determine the direction of the object, trilateration methods may be used, in which the direction of the object is determined based on the distances to the object measured by at least two sensors. The disadvantages of the trilateration methods lie essentially in the problem with assignment, and thus, the ambiguity in the distance estimation and position when there are multiple reflectors in the scene. These ambiguities may typically be resolved only via multiple measurements from various positions, and so-called tracking methods.
Alternatively, the transmission and/or reception characteristics of an individual sensor are often so greatly limited that the detection range of the sensor allows the lateral or vertical positioning of an obstacle. In this case it is disadvantageous that the transmission and/or reception characteristics must be greatly limited in order to achieve position accuracies which are relevant in practice, so that a large number of sensors is necessary for monitoring the detection range.
In addition to triangulation methods for direction determination, beamforming methods in particular may also be used. In active beamforming methods, the phases of multiple parallel active emitters are precisely tuned to one another in order to control the angle of reflection of the main lobe of the superimposition of the transmitted signals. In passive beamforming methods, the phase information of multiple receivers recording in parallel is used to reconstruct the angle of incidence of a received signal. In many beamforming methods, the size of an array, in particular the diameter of the array, of multiple parallel active emitters, or for a passive method, of the array of multiple parallel recording receivers, is important, since the size of the array determines the range of a transmitted signal as well as the angle separation capability for a received signal. In addition, the distance between the array elements, i.e., the receivers in passive beamforming or the emitters in active beamforming, is also important (element spacing). In most beamforming methods, the element spacing should be less than or equal to one-half the wavelength of the signal, since otherwise, so-called grating lobes, i.e., side lobes in the transmission or reception characteristics on the order of magnitude of the main lobe, may appear which may result in ambiguities in the detection.
As a result of the element spacing being less than or equal to one-half the wavelength of the signal, the size of the usable array elements is limited. For this reason, most practical applications for acoustic waves and ultrasound are currently found in medical technology or underwater applications, since these allow a longer wavelength in the medium as well as greater element spacings. In addition, the coupling of the medium to the elements is much more favorable in water and in tissue than in air.
Applications in air, such as for obstacle recognition in the automotive field or in robotics, for example, require very small array elements having a diameter, for example, of less than 1.7 mm at 100 kHz, due to the necessary small element spacing as a function of the frequency used. Due to the poor coupling of the emitters and receivers to the medium air, large emitter surface areas in the case of emitters, or small masses/large surface areas in the case of receivers, are required. However, large surface areas for individual array elements are not achievable due to the required small element spacing between the array elements.
A system in which a transmitter and multiple receivers are arranged in an array is described in U.S. Patent Application Publication 2008/0165620, for example. However, the receivers are only conditionally suited for application in the automotive field, since the described thin film piezoelectric emitter is susceptible to mechanical strain. In addition, the system described in U.S. Patent Application Publication 2008/0165620 is used in conjunction with trilateration methods. These methods allow much larger emitters and receivers than beamforming methods. Therefore, it is assumed that the sensor described in U.S. Patent Application Publication 2008/0165620 is not suited for beamforming methods.
Beamforming methods for ascertaining the distance from and the direction to an object are described in French patent document 2 817 973 and German patent application publication 10 2004 050 794, for example. A disadvantage of the method described in French patent document 2 817 973 is that a homogeneous linear array is assumed, and in particular the function of transmission is not separated from the function of reception. In the method described in German patent application publication 10 2004 050 794, large emitters are implicitly assumed in order to achieve a narrow emitter characteristic. Although this patent describes an active beamforming, the large emitter surface as well as the narrow emitter characteristic conflicts with use as an active emitter array. In addition, the two transmitting frequencies used conflict with the approach described in this claim.

System for determining the distance from and the direction to an object


A stuffing pump for use in an apparatus for stuffing sausages or the like in which a rotating shaft for rotatively driving a rotor disposed in a housing is supported by bearings at one end thereof. A shaft member coupled to another end portion of the rotating shaft by a fitting and coupling structure is provided, and the shaft member is supported by a rolling bearing so that the rotating shaft is supported on both sides with respect to the rotor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to improvements of a stuffing pump for use in an apparatus for manufacturing sausages or the like, and more particularly to improvements of a stuffing pump for metering and discharging a raw material of a food product, such as an emulsion product, a coarsely chopped or ground meat-like product, or the like which is a raw material of sausages or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to FIG. 1, a description will be given hereafter of an overall structure of an apparatus for stuffing sausages or the like to which the present invention is applied.
In the drawing, a stuffing pump 1 meters and discharges into a stuffing nozzle 2 an emulsion-like or coarsely chopped or ground material to be stuffed. An unillustrated casing which is supplied from an accommodating box 3 is fitted over the stuffing nozzle 2. The casing stuffed with the material to be stuffed by the stuffing nozzle 2 is linked by a chuck 4 and a conveying device 5, and is suspended by a suspending device 7 via a guide 6.
The stuffing pump 1 in the above-described conventionally known apparatus for manufacturing sausages or the like meters and discharges a material to be stuffed of sausages or the like, and has the following structure as shown in FIG. 2.
Namely, a gear 11 serving as a rotor of a pump is provided inside a housing 13 for forming the stuffing pump 1, and a rotating shaft 12 for rotatively driving the gear 11 is provided. The rotating shaft 12 is supported in a cantilevered manner within the housing 13 with respect to the gear 11 by means of a rolling bearing 14 and a rolling bearing 15 which are provided between the rotating shaft 12 and the housing 13.
A cover 16 for covering an end portion of the rotating shaft 12 is fitted to the housing 13 to form a pump chamber.
With the above-described conventionally known stuffing pump, since the rotating shaft 12 is supported in a cantilevered manner with respect to the rotor 11, the following technical problems have been encountered.
Namely, the discharge pressure which occurs in the stuffing pump 1 varies substantially depending on the type of the material to be stuffed of sausages (coarsely chopped or ground material, emulsion, beef, pork, and oil) as well as the temperature of the material to be stuffed. An increase in the discharge pressure increases the deflection of the rotating shaft 12, with the result that there has been a problem in that the wear of the rolling bearing 14 and the rolling bearing 15 is promoted, or the gear 11 slides in contact with the housing 13, thereby causing the gear 11 and the housing 13 to become worn.
In addition, in a case where the length of the casing used is made long to improve productivity, the length of the stuffing nozzle 2 is also made long. However, the above-described deflection of the rotating shaft 12 also occurs in the case where, to improve productivity, the long stuffing nozzle 2 is used and the discharge rate of the stuffing pump 1 is increased by increasing the number of revolutions.
Thus, in the case where the conventionally known cantilevered rotating shaft 12 is used, if an attempt is made to improve productivity by using a long casing, or a stuffing raw material of a kind which is difficult to pass through the stuffing nozzle 2 is used, a drawback in durability is encountered.

Stuffing pump for use in apparatus for stuffing sausages or the like


The present invention provides a tubular thermoelectric generation device, comprising: a plurality of plate-like p-type thermoelectric members each having an external periphery, a through hole, and an internal periphery formed around the through hole; a plurality of plate-like n-type thermoelectric members each having an external periphery, a through hole, and an internal periphery formed around the through hole; a plurality of external electrodes; and a plurality of internal electrodes. Each of the plurality of the external electrodes comprises an internal flange expanded in a direction from the external periphery of the p-type thermoelectric member toward the internal periphery of the p-type thermoelectric member. Each of the plurality of the internal electrodes comprises an external flange expanded in a direction from the internal periphery of the p-type thermoelectric member toward the external periphery of the p-type thermoelectric member.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a tubular thermoelectric generation device. In particular, the present invention relates to a tubular thermoelectric generation device having high power generation efficiency.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent laid-open Publication No. Hei 07-106641A discloses an integral ring type thermoelectric conversion element and device employing same. FIG. 14 shows the integral ring type thermoelectric conversion element disclosed therein. As shown in FIG. 14, this integral ring type thermoelectric conversion element comprises n-type semiconductor ring elements 2, p-type semiconductor ring elements 3, external copper rings 4, nylon external rings 5, internal copper rings 6, and nylon inside rings 7.
Integral ring type thermoelectric conversion elements are also disclosed in G. Min and D. Rowe, "Ring-structured thermoelectric module", Semiconductor Science and Technology, 22, pp. 880-883 (2007) and A. Schmitz et al., "Preparation of Ring-Shaped Thermoelectric Legs from PbTe Powders for Tubular Thermoelectric Modules", Journal of Electronic Materials, 42, pp. 1702-1706 (2013).

Tubular thermoelectric generation device


A low power receiver having a feedforward equalization, FFE, based continuous time linear equalizer, CTLE. The FFE CTLE comprises: an input for receiving an input signal; a main first path operably coupled to the input and comprising a source-follower transistor arranged to apply a scaling factor to the received input signal; a second path operably coupled to the input and comprising a delay arranged to apply a delay to the received input signal and a common source transistor common source transistor arranged to apply a scaling factor to the received delayed input signal, wherein the source-follower transistor and the common source, CS, transistor are connected as a single SF-CS stage whose output is arranged to subtract the output of the common source transistor from an output of the source-follower transistor.

A primary focus and application of the present invention is in the field of low power receivers capable of use in receiver equalization circuits for high-speed serial links and wireline transceivers. As internet aggregate bandwidth increases year over year, data centres require equipment with higher bandwidth in order to be able to transmit and receive data inside data centres. Due to the nature of wired channels between transmitting and receiving integrated circuits ('chips'), the receiving side requires frequency equalization in order to compensate for the channel losses, channel bandwidth limitation, which is usually referred to "insertion loss" and is a function of channel length.
A typical data rate of 56 Gb/sec or 56 Gsymbols/sec would require circuit design to support an example Nyquist frequency of around 28 GHz, where accurate equalization at around 28 GHz data rates is known to be extremely complex to implement.
Continuous time linear equalization (CTLE) uses a linear filter applied at the receiver that attenuates low-frequency signal components whilst amplifying components around the Nyquist frequency.
A first known resistor-capacitor (RC)-degenerated CTLE design 100 is described at http://www.seas.ucla.edu/brweb/papers/Journals/GBRSep07 and shown in FIG. 1. Here, field effect transistors (FETs) M1/M2 and shunt resistor-shunt capacitor Rs/Cs provide a transconductance gain from Vin to Vout, which is multiplied by the drain resistance Rd to provide voltage gain from Vin to Vout. At low frequencies, Rs limits the transconductance reducing the low frequency gain. At higher frequencies, the shunt capacitor Cs shorts the shunt resistor Rs and the transconductance increases, which provides high frequency peaking. However, such a RC-degenerated CTLE has a major drawback for peaking frequencies of interest at 28 GHz, in that the shunt capacitor Cs value becomes infeasibly small and this circuit architecture is limited by the inherent parasitics.
A second known source-follower (SF)-based CTLE circuit 150 is also shown, which includes an active inductor to provide shunt peaking. The known SF-based CTLE circuit 150 provides good, flat bandwidth improvement, but has very limited peaking and the transistor gate capacitance limits the performance at 28 GHz.
FIG. 2 illustrates a simplified block diagram 205 and circuit diagram 280 of a known feed-forward equalizer (FFE) based CTLE design 200. The FFE CTLE design 200 includes an input signal that is passed through an input coil or electro-static discharge protection component or circuit 210 and applied to a scaling factor element 220 (which may be a gain element). The same signal is then (feed) forwarded via an LC delay line 230 that skews (delays) the data by up to 1 unit interval (UI) and applies the delayed data (signal) to a second scaling factor element 240, the output of which is then subtracted in subtractor logic 250 from the output of the first scaling factor. The UI is the minimum time interval between condition changes of a data transmission signal, also known as a pulse time or a symbol duration time. A UI is therefore the time taken in a data stream by each subsequent pulse (or symbol). Typically, the UI coincides with the bit time, i.e., with the time interval taken to transmit one bit (binary information digit). The combined signal from the FFE based CTLE is input to a buffer 260 and thereafter, in some instances, applied to comparators, for example in respective different integrated circuits (IC).
An FFE based CTLE is advantageous due to the modular nature of requiring two scaling elements and a delay-line. Assuming it is feasible to implement a 1-UI delay-line, it is more feasible and straightforward, implementation-wise, to sum two signals with separate scaling factors. Designs to achieve 10+ GHz delay-line have typically been inspired by the paper authored by: R. Navid et al. and titled: "A 40 Gb/s Serial Link Transceiver in 28 nm CMOS technology, and published in April 2015 in the IEEE Journal of Solid State Circuits, vol. 50, no. 4, pp. 814-827.
Thus, there are a number of known equalization techniques that are based on CTLE, but all known techniques fail for being usable at data rates for 10+ GHz delay-line designs, as they either do not perform well at high frequencies (e.g., around 28 GHz, or consume large amounts of power due to the need for multiple summer and buffer stages).
The inventors of the present invention have identified a need for an improved equalizer that uses CTLE, that offers one or more of the following improvements to known CTLE designs: good driving strength, e.g., sufficient to drive many comparators, low noise, e.g., with a minimal number of stages in order to ensure that there is less noise contribution and therefore more available power per device, being able to operate at a low power/voltage, and/or provide reduced input loading.

Low power receiver with equalization circuit, communication unit and method therefor


A system and method for monitoring telephone calls to detect fraudulent activity and take corrective action is described. The system receives a first group of telephone calls having associated voice characteristics and analyzes the first group of telephone calls to identify and store a first set of distributions of voice characteristics that are indicative of normal activity, fraudulent activity, or indeterminate activity. The system receives a second group of telephone calls to be analyzed. The system analyzes the second group of telephone calls to identify a second set of distributions of voice characteristics associated with the second group of telephone calls. The system then compares the second set of distributions of voice characteristics to the stored first set of distributions of voice characteristics to assess a probability that one or more telephone calls in the second group of telephone calls represents normal, fraudulent, or indeterminate activity. If the assessed probability of fraudulent activity exceeds a threshold, the system takes appropriate corrective action, such a flagging the fraudulent call or withholding a financial incentive associated with the fraudulent call.

Many advertisers are uncertain of the value of computer-based click advertising, but are more certain of the value of a telephone call from a prospective customer. The recognition of call value has given rise to various advertising programs that focus on delivering telephone calls to advertisers. Industry analysts have estimated that in 2013 more than $60 Billion was spent on advertising in the United States to persuade consumers to call a business. As opposed to click advertising, where the payout per click can be measured in cents or fraction of a cent, call based advertising pays orders of magnitudes more for quality calls. Unfortunately, such financial rewards have given rise to new forms of call spam and fraud.
Traditionally, spam blocking has been dependent on the people committing fraud retaining the same caller ID across multiple calls. That means that once a pattern has been identified either by a person or machine, the identified caller ID could be placed on a blacklist to prevent future calls. There are for example many sites on the Internet that list suspicious calls by caller ID. However, it has become increasingly easy for parties seeking to commit fraud to buy and use temporary phone numbers or to simply fake caller ID before making a call in order to circumvent fraud-prevention technologies based on caller ID.
There is therefore the need for a better method of spam and fraud detection that is not dependent on caller ID.

Analyzing voice characteristics to detect fraudulent call activity and take corrective action without using recording, transcription or caller ID


A device for coupling a laser diode emission to an optical fiber is provided. The device utilizes two opposed mirrors to redirect the divergent light beam of the laser diode to within the smaller numerical aperture or angle of acceptance of the optical fiber. The two opposed mirrors can be, for example, concave elliptical mirrors, a convex spherical and a concave spherical mirror, or a planar mirror and a concave spherical mirror. Each mirror has an aperture therein to allow passage of the initial laser diode beam or the redirected beam to the optical fiber.

The output of a laser diode is an asymmetric, highly divergent cone of light which in cross section resembles an ellipse. Lateral spread of the divergent light is generally 25-35 degrees by 8-10 degrees for the major and minor axes of the ellipse. Most laser applications require a collimated symmetric beam of light, and therefore the natural divergence of the laser diode must be corrected. Energy losses can be large if the elliptical beam is not redirected and focused.
Currently, the divergent light spread is predominantly redirected through the use of refracting optics. Compound lenses, usually triplets, and more elaborate systems of collimator lenses and anamorphic prism pairs are used. For example, Seastar Optics (Sidney, British Columbia, Canada) provides a coupling device which includes a pair of diffraction-limited glass aspheric molded lenses. The smaller of the two lenses, a high-numerical-aperture collimator, collects nearly all of the available laser diode light. Then the larger lens directs the light into the fiber. Coupling efficiencies of greater than 50 percent for single-mode applications are thus obtained (G. Rogers and M. Fitch, Photonics Spectra, 175-176, September 1991). In order to compensate for light losses, due to the coupling efficiency being less than 100 percent, higher milliwatt laser diodes are used. These higher milliwatt laser diodes are more powerful and therefore input more light into the system. More light is therefore input into the fiber, even though the coupling efficiency has not been increased. The need for higher milliwatt laser diodes contributes both bulk and temperature problems to the coupling system.
Melles Griot Co. offers a system which utilizes lenses combined with a series of mounted beam expanders, collimators and a mounted anamorphic prism pair to correct the asymmetric output of the laser diode. Once again this lens system is bulky and costly.
Further problems associated with the redirection of laser diode emissions using lenses involve spherical aberration and back reflection of light to the laser diode. Lenses typically reflect back about 4% of the light, degrading the intensity of the laser diode beam. Lenses are also devised for use at optimum wavelengths, and the wavelength of the laser diode emission can be altered by temperature changes and by the back reflection. Once the wavelength of the laser diode shifts, the lens system may no longer be appropriate for the new wavelength. Lens systems also tend to lose part of the elliptical beam when focusing to a circular collection site.
In an attempt to overcome these problems, U.S. Pat. No. 4,981,343, issued Jan. 1, 1991, to Folsom and entitled "Focusing Mirror Lens", provides a monolithic, transparent, preferably cylindrical lens body upon the opposite entrance and exit ends of which are coated focusing mirrors. At least one of the mirrors, and preferably both, has the configuration of a segment of a circular cylinder. The other mirror may have the configuration of a segment of a circular cylinder or of a sphere. The axes of the mirrors, when both are segments of a cylinder, are perpendicular to each other. Each of the mirrors has a light-transmitting unmirrored pupil aligned along the longitudinal axis of the lens body. When light passes through the entrance pupil, it passes through the lens body, is focused in a given orientation by the exit mirror and reflected back to the entrance mirror where it is again focused in an orientation perpendicular to the first orientation and is reflected toward and out the exit pupil. This focusing mirror lens corrects for the astigmatism of a laser diode and can make highly elliptical beams less elliptical.
A need always exists for additional coupling devices for the efficient coupling of laser diodes to optical fibers. Such a coupling device can also be used to focus any source of radiant energy, especially where the source emits divergent radiation which must be directed to a relatively small aperture.


Techniques are disclosed for analyzing documents to detect web components and the web frameworks in the documents. In at least one embodiment, a network analysis system is provided to passively detect web frameworks of documents. The network analysis system can render a document using a document object model to identify objects in the document that are defined as web components. A hash function may be applied to each of the objects to generate a hash signature for the object. Files defining web frameworks can be downloaded from a repository system. Each file may corresponding to a web component. A hash function is applied content in each file to generate a hash signature. The hash signatures of each file may be compared to the hash signatures of the objects in the document to identify a web component for each object. A web framework can be identified based on the web components.

As the use of the Internet and the amount of information available on the Internet has expanded, the ability to track and monitor information available over the Internet related to a particular subject or associated with a particular entity has been negatively impacted. The vast amount of information present on the Internet makes monitoring websites nearly impossible as it is difficult to quickly and efficiently compare the large amount of information contained within the large number of websites that may be associated with an entity. These challenges extend to the enterprise environment, in which an enterprise is faced with the burden of monitoring thousands of web documents accessed throughout an enterprise network including enterprise websites. In an enterprise system having thousands of electronic documents (e.g., documents provided via a website), compliance and security of the enterprise network and the enterprise website becomes difficult to manage.
Of the many challenges faced with network security in any type of computing system (e.g., enterprise system or a cloud computing system), web documents for a website may compromise the security of the enterprise system. Electronic documents for a website may include or implement one or more web components, designed to support a web-based feature, such as content management. For example, web documents may be designed to support a web framework for managing content provided for the web document. The web framework may be defined by multiple, different types of web components. Examples of web frameworks may include proprietary solutions such as WordPress®, Drupal®, Joomla®, and Concrete5®. A web component in an electronic document for a website may undergo several versions through its lifetime. The versions of a website can correspond to changes in a web component due to version changes in a web framework using the web component. The changes in the versions may be difficult to track for a large website. An entity managing a website hosting many web documents may desire to consolidate different web frameworks, or even different versions of web frameworks. The consistency in web frameworks for a website may enable users that manage the website (e.g., an administrator or an operations analyst) to better manage security and operations of a website. By limiting and identifying web framework usage, the security and operation of a website can be improved. Some web components and/or web frameworks may have or expose security vulnerabilities to a website that may go undetected if not discovered in the website. Some websites may implement multiple different web frameworks, each of which may have shared or conflicting vulnerabilities. Some vulnerabilities of a web framework may be exposed by an older version that enable malicious third parties to hide malicious code from an entity's domain names without such entity knowing that any changes have occurred or that such domains have been taken over by malicious code. As such, it is difficult to ensure that bad actors are not altering, misappropriating, and/or otherwise compromising or exploiting data, including ways that interfere with privacy, or damage an entity's intangible business assets, such as intellectual property and goodwill.
Accordingly, businesses are challenged to find ways to accurately and periodically identify and detect changes in a web framework and/or web components of documents hosted by a website. Detecting changes in a web document, in particular web framework changes, becomes paramount in dealing with security of a network, such as a network within an enterprise system. Many web frameworks provide a publicly accessible file in an administrative directory that contains the exact version installed. Using targeted (or active) crawling, the file can be downloaded and the version of the framework determined with little trouble. However, this method may not be reliable. First, the file may not be accessible via the public Internet. Removing or protecting this file from being read by external visitors to the site is a common practice. Secondly, some frameworks may not provide such files. Either way, these files are not typically requested through normal crawling or browsing. Requesting these files, whether they exist or not, should raise suspicion of the system administrator and security team, and may be considered obtrusive.