A spear fishing gun having a receiver assembly that has a grip housing containing a removable trigger assembly with a spear point shaft latch bar, a trigger, and a safety pawl mounted on a shaft extending through the trigger assembly and the grip housing with an external operator, with the shaft being supported in the grip housing in a manner to increase its stability. The grip housing has a line holding and release assembly that is automatically tensioned as it is assembled to the grip housing, and a muzzle assembly is provided that permits the lateral insertion and removal of the spearpoint shaft.

Fishing spearguns have not changed dramatically over the last century in that they continue to enjoy spearpoint shafts that are biased into a trigger release mechanism by a plurality of rubber bands, and a string line is provided for retrieving the spearpoint and shaft after firing.
Of course, modern manufacturing techniques have made improvements which have somewhat affected the appearance of the speargun, its safety and ease of cocking and trigger pull. For example, the grip assembly now includes, in one case, a one-piece plastic housing that forms the handle grip, the trigger guard, the butt support, the forepiece support and the housing for the trigger assembly.
The trigger assembly has been improved by providing it with a removable frame that permits the trigger assembly to be easily removed from the grip housing. This prior trigger assembly includes a one-piece plastic frame having an upper spearpoint shaft guide and spaced parallel lower frames that pivotally support both the trigger and a shaft latching bar.
The trigger assembly is also provided with a safety pawl operated by a knob on the outside of the grip housing.
Since these spearguns have remained basically unchanged, performance improvements, although they may appear small, contribute greatly to the popularity of the speargun in this fascinating, competitive and still somewhat esoteric sport.
In these prior trigger assemblies, the latch bar and the trigger slidably engage one another and are constructed of the same material and after a period of use, the interengaging surfaces become scored causing trigger pull to become erratic which results in a jerking movement of the gun during firing throwing the spear off target.
Another problem in these prior trigger assemblies is that the safety mechanism requires the use of the fisherman's other hand, or more particularly, with the fisherman's left hand on the grip housing handle, he either has to operate the safety release with his right hand or take his left hand off the grip to release it.
In my U.S. Pat. No. 4,962,747, issued Oct. 16, 1990, I disclose and describe a speargun that includes a trigger assembly that has a left-right reversible safety operable with the trigger hand while on the grip, and an improved trigger pull achieved by engaging bearing surfaces on the latch bar and trigger.
That speargun was provided with a one-piece grip housing in the general shape of the housing of an automatic pistol that has an upper slot into which a trigger assembly is insertable. The trigger assembly has a plastic frame with an integral top tube that receives the proximal end of the spearpoint shaft, and parallel spaced depending walls that pivotally support the trigger, the latch bar, and a safety pawl.
The latch bar has an upwardly projecting shaft locking pawl substantially in line with the pivotal axis of the locking pawl, and this location has the effect of reducing the outward shaft torque on the latch bar, and hence the trigger, reducing trigger pull effort by at least 32%.
The latch bar has an elongated arm that rests on a shoulder on the trigger in the set or firing position. The latch bar is constructed of hardened 17-7 stainless steel, while the trigger is constructed of 302 stainless, or equivalents thereof, resulting in a significant difference in hardness and creating a bearing effect between the latch bar arm and the trigger shoulder eliminating the prior problem of scoring on these surfaces and thereby smoothing out trigger pull substantially.
The safety pawl is operated by a knob and shaft assembly projecting through the grip housing and the trigger frame. The knob has a radially extending finger that is positioned so that when the safety is "on" with the latch bar holding the spearpoint shaft in a firing position, this finger depends over the trigger blocking movement of the fisherman's index finger toward the trigger. This is important in spearguns because underwater conditions make it difficult to visually observe whether the safety is "on" or "off".
After recognizing a safety "on" condition, the fisherman, with his trigger hand on the housing grip, releases the safety with this index finger of his trigger hand by rotating the knob finger clockwise toward a horizontal position away from the trigger, rotating the safety pawl away from the trigger creating a firing condition.
The safety knob and shaft assembly is insertable through the safety pawl from either the right or left side of the grip housing permitting the safety to be used with the trigger hand on the grip for both right or left side spear fishermen.
While my prior speargun has worked well and been extremely successful, it does have several disadvantages that are addressed in the design of the speargun according to the present invention.
Firstly, the safety assembly is journaled in the frame of the removable trigger assembly, and since the width of the frame is fairly narrow, the shaft supporting the safety assembly tends to rock somewhat during use, creating a feeling of uncertainty in operation. And oxidation caused by salt water and foreign matter in my prior gun had a deleterious effect on the metal bearings. This prior safety assembly also includes a spring for urging the safety assembly to its appropriate axial position. The spring is mounted externally of the grip housing, which requires the safety assembly shaft to project a significant distance from the grip housing. This design has resulted in some cases in the safety assembly shaft bending which sometimes prompts the spear fisherman to completely remove the safety assembly.
My prior speargun also included a line holding and release assembly mounted in the grip housing that included a shaft with an hexagonal head, a torsion spring, and a finger bar. The torsion spring was seated at one end in the hexagonal shaft head, and the other end seated in the line holding finger bar. As these parts are assembled to the grip housing, it was necessary to rotate the hexagonal head to tension the spring prior to pushing the head into a mating hexagonal hole in the grip housing. This was an extremely difficult assembly procedure that required repetitive attempts to locate the parts properly and at the same time rotate the head to tension the finger bar. Also in this design the spring was carried by the shaft inside the housing, without any support during initial assembly, and tended to push the shaft out of the housing sometimes causing these parts to be lost.
The third problem with my prior speargun, as well as all of the spearguns that I am aware of, is the necessity for the spearpoint shaft to be threaded completely through the muzzle both when loading the spearpoint shaft and when removing the spearpoint shaft from the gun after an incomplete fire when the spearpoint shaft fails to clear the muzzle.
It is a primary object of the present invention to ameliorate these problems noted above both in the prior art and in my prior speargun, as shown and described in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,962,747, issued Oct. 16, 1990.


A data merging program causes a computer to perform a step of selecting a first cell as a starting point of merging; a step of comparing a first numerical value, which is recorded in the first cell, with a preset reference value; a step of, if the first numerical value is smaller than the reference value, calculating a total value of the first numerical value and a second numerical value recorded in a second cell adjacent to the first cell in the same column; a step of comparing the total value with the reference value and, if the total value is smaller than the reference value, setting a third cell into which the first and second cells are merged and recording the total value in the third cell; and a step of selecting the third cell as a new starting point of merging.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data merging program which merges numerical data recorded in cells arranged in a matrix; a data merging method; and a scoring system which utilizes the data merging program and is adapted to calculate a score representing the probability of fraudulent use in response to a credit inquiry of a credit card or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Customarily, when a credit card is used, in order to prevent fraudulent transactions by a third party who has found the credit card and pretends to be the owner, the store or the like where the card is being used checks with the credit card company to ascertain the credit card balance as well as to conduct a credit inquiry concerning fraudulent use. In a system for such credit inquiry, quickness and accuracy of determination are important.
At present, credit card companies use a system which automatically determines a score for the possibility of fraudulent use on the basis of authorization data (data which is sent from the store or the like concerning the owner of the credit card, the monetary value of the transaction which is requested, etc.). In such systems, typically a score is determined by use of a scoring system which utilizes a neural network using neural theory (see Nonpatent Document 1).
A neural network is leading-edge technology which models the structure and information processing function of nerve cells of the human brain. Constructing such a system requires special know-how and a large monetary investment. Accordingly, many credit card companies do not themselves construct a basic system for score determination, but instead typically introduce a general purpose, external system for portions relating to a neural network.
Nonpatent Document 1
Asano Yoichiro, Suda Yoshinobu, "Introduction of a Fraudulent Use Detection System and Its Results", Gekkan Syohishashinyo, Kinzai Institute for Financial Affairs Research Group, May 2000, pages 16–19.
However, a scoring system using a neural network has problems, in that the logic for making a determination is a black box, so that the basis of determination is unclear to the credit card company or the like which utilizes it. In addition, as the user such as the credit card company does not itself create the neural network, difficulty is encountered in reflecting trends from the authorization data for that company. A conceivable measure for coping with such problems is to construct, in place of a neural network, a scoring system using a Bayesian network which uses Bayesian theory, which has recently come into use in the fields of artificial intelligence and the like.
A Bayesian network classifies objective events into patterns according to individual factors and statistically obtains the probability of occurrence of an event from past record values in the respective patterns. For example, when a Bayesian network is used for determination of fraudulent use of a credit card, factors such as the time, the monetary value, and the purchased article contained in authorization data are extracted, and, for example, data are collected for an individual pattern such as "use during the time period 15:00–18:00 to purchase an article having a monetary value of up to 10,000 yen" or "purchase of electric appliances having a monetary value of 50,000 yen–100,000 yen." From the ratio between the total number of samples for each pattern and the number of frauds for that pattern, the probability of occurrence of fraudulent use is calculated as a score.
Specifically, in scoring according to a Bayesian network, as illustrated in FIG. 14, a matrix whose coordinates (columns and rows) are factors contained in authorization data is created, and for each pattern, the number of samples and the number of frauds are plotted in a corresponding cell of this matrix. For example, upon receipt of an inquiry for determination on use of a credit card at 15:00 for a purchase having a monetary value of 20,000 yen, a score is calculated from a piece of past record data indicating that a single occurrence of fraud appeared among 120 samples, by referring to the cell of 12:00–18:00 and 10,000 yen–50,000 yen. If such a method is utilized, the basis of determination is clear to the credit card company, and the credit card company can construct a scoring system matching the trend of users of that company, while reflecting, in such data, the authorization data concerning the use of credit cards by the users of that company.
If the factors contained in authorization data are of two different kinds such as "time" and "monetary value," a two-dimensional matrix like the above-mentioned example of FIG. 14 is used. Alternatively, if the factors contained in authorization data are of three kinds including an additional factor; e.g., "article," a three-dimensional matrix as that shown in FIG. 15 including an additional coordinate is used. Further, if other kinds of factors such as "store" and "attribute of user" are added, a multi-dimensional matrix such as a four—or five-dimensional matrix is constructed.
The problem with this method using a multi-dimensional matrix is that as the number of dimensions of the matrix increases, the number of cells to be contained in the matrix becomes enormous, thereby increasing the load of processing of the system imposed for scoring, rendering a speedy determination difficult. Increasing the number of factors is preferable, from the viewpoint of more accurate determination; however, the increase in the number of factors leads to a decrease in processing speed. In scoring of credit card use, because the store is reluctant to keep a customer waiting for a long time for credit inquiry, speedy determination must be performed.
Further, when the number of cells increases with the increase in number of factors, the number of samples of past record data to be contained in a single cell decreases. As a result, when the number of samples to be contained in a cell is too small, the result of calculation of scoring is likely to be scattered. If a single fraudulent use happens to occur with a certain combination of factors, a score to be notified as a response to the store is that the probability of occurrence of fraud is 100%, provided that no other sample exists. An essential measure for preventing such a phenomenon is to set the number of samples to be contained in a single cell to a value equal to or larger than a fixed value that would prevent scattering of the result of calculation.

Data merging program, data merging method, and scoring system using data merging program


The present invention relates to silicone rubber compositions and long-term-stress-resistant silicone elastomers obtained therefrom, which have excellent resistance to long-term dynamic mechanical stresses, and to their use.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to silicone rubber compositions and to long-term-stress-resistant silicone elastomers obtained therefrom which exhibit excellent resistance to long-term dynamic mechanical stresses, and to their use.
2. Background Art
Silicone elastomers are frequently used in applications which are associated with high dynamic mechanical stresses. Examples are oscillation dampers, resonance dampers, exhaust and catalyst suspension elements, and engine mounts in automobiles. Further examples include mountings for movable parts in machine construction, peristaltic pump tubing in the medical field, diaphragms, valves, and in particular, keypads commonly used in the electronics field. To maintain the function of these silicone elastomer components, it is particularly important that the mechanoelastic properties either exhibit no change or change only slightly when dynamic mechanical stress is applied repetitively. However, repeated dynamic mechanical stress cycles generally lead unavoidably to continually increasing mechanical fatigue and damage to all elastomer materials, and this ultimately leads to a loss of function of the elastomer component. The keypads made of conventional silicone elastomers can, for example, withstand several million deformation cycles until their function is lost completely.
To meet the increased requirements in terms of the service time of elastomer components subjected to dynamic mechanical stress, numerous methods of increasing the resistance to dynamic mechanical stress, known as long-term stress resistance or fatigue resistance, durability or flex life, have been developed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,745,144 describes silicone compositions to which particular organophosphorus compounds have been added for the purpose of increasing the long-term stress resistance, as a result of which a long-term stress resistance determined by the de Mattia test in accordance with JIS K-6301 of, for example, about 7 million deformation cycles can be achieved. However, the presence of organophosphorus compounds in silicone compositions or silicone elastomers has a number of disadvantages. For example, platinum-catalyzed addition crosslinking is inhibited, compression set is higher, thermal stability is reduced, and undesirable, and at times, toxic decomposition products are formed upon heating.
EP 0 841 363 A1 discloses a method for preparing silicone rubber compositions continuously. Due to the use of specific siloxanols which promote wetting of the filler, they addition crosslink to form silicone elastomers having an increased long-term stress resistance. The long-term stress resistances determined in accordance with JIS K-6301 by the de Mattia test reach values of up to 14 million deformation cycles. However, a disadvantage is that the preparation of the required siloxanols, which proceeds via a palladium-catalyzed hydrolysis step, is relatively complicated. In addition, stabilizing additives are necessary for storage of such siloxanols and the silanol groups which have not reacted in the silicone composition can lead to a viscosity increase during storage, known as "crepe hardening".
EP 0 501 380 A2 discloses that the mechanical long-term stress resistance of silicone elastomers can be considerably improved by addition of a siloxane which has a carbinol group bound via a divalent hydrocarbon radical to Si. Long-term stress resistances of, for example, about 4 million stress cycles were able to be achieved in the de Mattia test, in accordance with JIS K-6301, by this method. A disadvantage is the relatively complicated preparation of carbinol-functional siloxanes. In addition, such compounds have a thixotropic effect, i.e. the flowability of the silicone composition is considerably impaired. Furthermore, the relatively long-chain alkylene spacers in the carbinol-functional siloxane also lead to a reduction in the thermal stability.
EP 0 497 277 A2 describes crosslinkable silicone compositions which contain an additional constituent in order to increase the resistance of silicone elastomers to repetitive deformation. The additional constituent is an organooligosiloxane which has from 2 to 10 Si atoms per molecule, at least one Si-bonded alkenyl group, and at the same time, at least two Si-bonded hydrolyzable groups. In this way, long-term stress resistances of about 4 million stress cycles are achieved in the de Mattia test. However, additives having hydrolyzable groups can cause a massive increase in viscosity in flowable silicone compositions, which is why this method is only suitable for solid silicone rubber compositions.
All approaches according to the prior art for increasing long-term stress resistance are based on addition of specific additives. However, this results in many disadvantages in terms of the performance of the silicone elastomers, for example reduced thermal stability and an increase in viscosity. In addition, the long-term stress resistances obtainable by means of these methods no longer meet increased requirements with respect to the service time of silicone elastomer components subjected to dynamic mechanical stress.
One starting point for a solution is based on the fact that low filler content and high filler dispersibility have an advantageous effect on long-term stress resistance. Furthermore, service time of elastomer components subjected to dynamic mechanical stress increases with increasing mechanical strength, for example tear propagation resistance or ultimate tensile strength of the elastomer. As described in G. J. Lake, A. G. Thomas, PROC. R. SOC. LONDON SER. A, A300, 108-119 (1967), the energy required for propagation of a crack is proportional to the square root of the mean molecular weight of the polymer chain located between two nodes of the network. Thus, the long-term stress resistance of, inter alia, a silicone elastomer should be able to be increased by setting a low crosslink density and thus a relatively low modulus. In agreement with this, DE 30 12 777 A1 discloses that the flex life of a peristaltic pump can be increased by selection of a silicone elastomer having a relatively low modulus.
EP 0 798 342 A2 describes addition-crosslinkable silicone rubber compositions which can be used to produce keypads which display improved hysteresis behavior, i.e. the actuated keypad returns to its original position more quickly and more completely. Associated therewith is a more pronounced response of the keypad which the user of the keypad perceives as stronger snapping-back and as a cracking which confirms depression, referred to as crispness. The improved hysteresis behavior is achieved by a combination of a polysiloxane having vinyl functionality exclusively at the ends of the chain, i.e. an α,ω-vinyl-functional polysiloxane, with a polysiloxane which additionally contains from 1 to 5 mol % of vinyl groups in the chain, and a reinforcing silica which has been treated with a mixture of tetramethyldivinyldisilazane and hexamethyldisilazane. Direct comparison with the approaches described above is not possible, since no information about the long-term stress resistance is given. With regard to the material composition, similar silicone rubber compositions are described in EP 0 305 073 A2. Here too, improved values for the ultimate tensile strength and tear propagation resistance are achieved by means of a combination of a polysiloxane having vinyl functions only at the ends of the chain with a polysiloxane which additionally has from 1 to 5 mol % of vinyl groups in the chain.
The hysteresis behavior described in the patent application EP 0 798 342 A2 relates to the mechanical recovery behavior of the elastomer, i.e. to the percentage decrease in the height of the specimen observed immediately after actuation, i.e. pressing down and letting go, of a keypad-like specimen. The mechanically incomplete or delayed recovery to the initial state indicates viscous, dissipative processes. Quite generally, all viscoelastic materials display a more or less pronounced hysteresis behavior on going through dynamic mechanical stress cycles, i.e. the stress-strain curve of a deformation cycle encloses an area which corresponds to the deformation energy dissipated per unit volume during the deformation cycle, known as the specific energy loss. The specific energy loss is consequently a characteristic measure of the internal friction occurring in a material when it is subjected to dynamic-mechanical stress.
In view of the above-described prior art, it is to be expected that low-modulus silicone elastomers having a low specific energy loss will have the highest long-term stress resistances. However, a direct comparison of the second approach with the first approach cannot be made, since no determination of the long-term stress resistance by means of the de Mattia test in accordance with JIS K-6301 was carried out.

Silicone rubber compositions and long-term-stress-resistant silicone elastomers obtained therefrom


A method and system switches antennas in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexed access (OFDMA) wireless communication system while transmitting symbols. Each symbol includes a cyclic prefix and a block of data signals. The symbols are transmitted during a first portion of a transmission time interval (TTI), from a first antenna. Then, the RF chain is switched to a second antenna to transmit the symbols, and in which the switching is performed substantially between transmitting two consecutive transmitted symbols.

The 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) specification for global system for mobile communication (GSM) includes the specifications for GPRS, EDGE, and W-CDMA. Current working assumption for the physical layer multiple access scheme is OFDMA for the downlink, and single carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) for the uplink. The subcarrier spacing in the OFDM downlink is 15 kHz and there are a maximum of 2048 subcarriers available. Supported modulation formats on the downlink data channels are QPSK, 16QAM, and 64QAM.
According to the 3GPP long term evolution (LTE), the transmission is divided in time into time slots of duration 0.5 ms, and a subframe of duration of 1.0 ms. A radio frame is 10 ms long. The basic transmission unit is a transmit time interval (TTI). A TTI can be one or more time slots.
During each time slot, multiple OFDM symbols are transmitted. Each time slot can include pilot tones and user data. The pilot tones enable channel estimation at a receiver for data demodulation, antenna selection, and radio resource allocation. Typically, the receiver sends back the channel estimates to the transmitter, and the transmitter can then select antennas according to the best channels. In a dynamic environment, channel estimation and antenna selection is performed periodically to accommodate varying channel conditions and mobile stations.
Each OFDM symbol starts with a cyclic prefix (CP). The CP minimizes inter-symbol interference (ISI) in the presence of multipath interference in a wireless channel. When the first CP-length duration of the received signal is discarded, the resultant signal turns out to be a circular convolution of the data with the channel. This is true as long as the multipath dispersion in the channel is less than the CP duration. Therefore, interference between the subcarriers, i.e., inter-carrier interference (ICI), does not exist.
OFDMA Structure in LTE
The basic uplink transmission scheme is described in 3GPP TR 25.814, v1.2.2 "Physical Layer Aspects for Evolved UTRA," Release 7, March 2006, incorporated herein by reference. That scheme is a single-carrier transmission (SC-FDMA) with cyclic prefix to achieve uplink inter-user orthogonally to enable efficient frequency-domain equalization at the receiver. This allows for a relatively high degree of commonality with the downlink OFDM scheme, and the same parameters, e.g., clock frequency, can be reused.
Antenna Selection
The 3GPP systems use multiple-input, multiple-output communications (MIMO). That is, the transmitters and receivers can use an array of antennas to increase spatial. While MIMO systems perform well, they also increase the hardware and signal processing complexity, power consumption, and component size in the transmitter and the receiver. One of the main reasons for the increase in complexity is that each receive antenna element requires a dedicated radio frequency (RF) chain that comprises a low noise amplifier, a frequency down-converter, and an analog to digital converter; and each transmit antenna element requires an RF chain that comprises a digital to analog converter, a frequency up-converter, and a power amplifier. Moreover, processing the signals received in spatial multiplexing schemes or with space-time trellis codes requires sophisticated receivers whose complexity increases, sometimes exponentially, with the number of transmit and receive antenna elements.
Antenna selection addresses some of the complexity drawbacks associated with MIMO systems because antenna elements are typically cheap, and the RF chains are considerably more expensive. Antenna selection reduces the hardware complexity of transmitters and receivers by using fewer RF chains than the number of antenna elements. In antenna selection, a subset of the available antenna elements is adaptively selected by a switch, and only signals from the selected subset of antennas are processed further by the available RF chains, N. B. Mehta and A. F. Molisch, "Antenna selection in MIMO systems," in "MIMO System Technology for Wireless Communications," (G. Tsulos, ed.), ch. 6, CRC Press, 2006, A. F. Molisch and M. Z. Win, "MIMO systems with antenna selection," IEEE Microwave Mag., pp. 46-56, March 2004, S. Sanayei and A. Nosratinia, "Antenna selection in MIMO systems," IEEE Commun. Mag., pp. 68-73, October 2004, R1-050944, "Antenna selection techniques," Mitsubishi Electric, 3GPP RANI#42, 2005, R1-051398, "Transmit antenna selection techniques for uplink E-UTRA," Institute for Infocomm Research, Mitsubishi Electric, NTT DoCoMo, all incorporated herein by reference.
Being able to switch antennas within a TTI could be advantageous because this would enable transmission of pilot tones or data from many or all of the available antennas to increase spatial diversity. That is, signals transmitted from different antennas reach a receiver through different wireless channels at any time. This improves the robustness of transmission schemes to fading since the odds of all the wireless channels being in a fading dip are considerably lower.

Method and system for switching antennas during transmission time intervals in OFDMA systems

Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.


A digital noise shaper circuit is provided which includes a signal transfer function and a noise transfer function, with associated coefficients and gain scaling factors, which ensures a predetermined frequency response, signal passband and noise stopband, and which converts a multi-bit digital signal to a 1-bit digital signal.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a digital noise shaping circuit. More particularly, this invention relates to a fourth order digital noise shaping circuit for use in a digital-to-analog conversion circuit.
2. Brief Description of the Related Technology
Typically, digital-to-analog converter circuits (DACs) operate by a resistor/capacitor divider method, or use a sigma-delta conversion method, to convert digital signals to analog signals. Sigma-delta DACs are preferred because of their inherent feasibility to be manufactured in integrated circuits. These DACs typically create 1-bit signals from multi-bit digital input signals. This quantization, if performed by merely truncating or rounding the multi-bit signal, would introduce a large amount of noise in the signal passband, thereby destroying the signal quality. Noise shaping pushes the quantization noise out of the signal passband. Also, the 1-bit signal can be converted to an analog signal with no linearity errors.

Fourth order digital noise shaper circuit


Provided are techniques for local locking in a bi-directional synchronous mirroring environment. In response to receiving a write operation for a block of data on a first volume, a lock is obtained on a corresponding block of data on a second volume to obtain exclusive access to that block of data on the second volume. in response to determining that an active write indicator is set to indicate that there is not an active write on the second volume, updated data for the corresponding block of data is written to cache for the second volume, the lock is released to remove exclusive access to the corresponding block of data on the second volume, and a transfer complete message is sent to the first volume.

Computing systems often include one or more host computers ("hosts") for processing data and running application programs, direct access storage devices (DASDs) for storing data, and a storage controller for controlling the transfer of data between the hosts and the DASD. Storage controllers, also referred to as control units or storage directors, manage access to a storage space comprised of various types of media (e.g., hard disk drives, otherwise referred to as a Direct Access Storage Device (DASD), solid state disks, flash memory, etc.). Hosts may communicate Input/Output (I/O) requests to the storage space through the storage controller.
Writes may update data, write new data, or write the same data again. To assist in recovery of data writes, a copy of data may be provided at a remote location. Such copies may also be referred to as dual or shadow copies.
Remote mirroring systems provide techniques for mirroring data in order to facilitate recovery after a system failure. Such data shadowing systems can also provide an additional remote copy for non-recovery purposes, such as local access at a remote site.
In remote mirroring systems, data is maintained in volume pairs. A volume pair includes a volume in a primary storage device and a corresponding volume in a secondary storage device that includes a copy of the data maintained in the primary volume.
Single direction synchronous mirror technology has the target volume write disabled to ensure that the target volume has the same data as the source volume. Allowing synchronous mirroring in both directions means that both the source volume and the target volume may be enabled for writes originating at that volume. That is that both volumes would be both a source volume and a target volume. Thus, both volumes continue to be a mirror image of each other.
An application program may attempt to write at the same location and the same time on both volumes. This case is called a "collision".
With the advent of newer applications that coordinate themselves to partition volumes themselves to prevent collisions and/or handle the reject of a write internally, the likelihood of collisions is less and the consequences are less severe for those applications that are coded to handle and re-drive writes when a collision occurs.

Local locking in a bi-directional synchronous mirroring environment

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


Stable high internal phase water-in-oil emulsions containing polymerizable vinyl monomers, crosslinking monomers and polymerization initiators are obtained by using saccharide fatty acid esters as surfactants. The amount of surfactants necessary to form stable high internal phase water-in-oil emulsions is decreased by using saccharide fatty acid esters as surfactants. Further, hydrophobic foams can be obtained by using saccharide fatty acid esters.

Polymeric foams can be generally classified as either closed-cell foams or as open-cell foams. Open-cell foams can be used as a matrix to contain various liquids. They are capable of various industrial applications such as, for example, use in wipes and diapers, as carriers and ion exchange resins. For some of these applications, it is desirable to have porous crosslinked polymer blocks which have a very low density and a high capacity of absorbing and retaining liquids. Such high absorption capacity, low density, porous polymer blocks can be prepared by polymerizing a specific type of water-in-oil emulsion known as high internal phase emulsion (HIPE) having relatively small amounts of a continuous oil phase and relatively greater amounts of an internal water phase.
Such high absorption capacity, low density foams are prepared in U.S. Pat. No. 4,522,953 by polymerizing and crosslinking the monomers in the continuous oil phase of a high internal phase water-in-oil emulsion with a polymerization initiator such as potassium persulfate. Generally, these high internal phase water-in-oil emulsions contain at least 90 weight percent of an aqueous liquid as the internal phase. In order to obtain this high internal phase water-in-oil emulsion, a surfactant must be used to stabilize the emulsion.
One class of surfactants used to produce hydrophilic foams by such processes are sorbitan fatty acid esters. Commercial sorbitan fatty acid esters are a combination of mono-, di-, tri-, and tetra-fatty acid esters of sorbitan C.sub.6 (H.sub.2 O).sub.5 H.sub.2, as well as mono- and di-fatty acid esters of isosorbide C.sub.6 (H.sub.2 O).sub.4 H.sub.2 and polyol impurities.
Relatively large amounts of sorbitan fatty acid ester surfactants are required to prepare high internal phase emulsions. To stabilize an emulsion consisting of 30 parts aqueous phase dispersed in 1 part oil phase (by volume), a 10 percent by weight or greater concentration of sorbitan fatty acid ester surfactant in the oil phase is generally needed. Use of such a large amount of surfactant is undesirable since it can adversely affect foam performance by diluting the oil phase. The large quantity of surfactant also increases the raw material cost of producing a foam.
Another disadvantage of using commercially available sorbitan fatty acid esters as the emulsifier is that a watersoluble sludge forms when these surfactants are dissolved in the oil phase. It has been found that polyols such as free sorbitan and isosorbide are the main components of the sludge. The sludge must be removed before the surfactant-oil solution can be used to prepare an emulsion in order to prevent plugging of the process mixing equipment.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a more effective surfactant for the preparation of curable high internal phase water-in-oil emulsions for producing low density crosslinked polymeric materials.

Low density porous crosslinked polymeric materials


A method for producing a borohydride is described that includes the steps of providing a source of borate; providing a material that chemically reduces the source of the borate to produce a borohydride; and reacting the source of the borate and the material by supplying heat at a temperature that substantially effects the production of the borohydride.

The prior art is replete with numerous teachings that relate to the development of environmentally friendly fuels, that is, fuels that can be used in place of traditional hydrocarbon based energy sources, and that are currently utilized in most overland vehicles. Much research has been directed, as of late, to the use of fuel cells in combination with conventional technology, in so-called "hybrid vehicles." Notwithstanding the advances that have been made in hybrid vehicle design, no single fuel storage system has been developed that can store the fuel that is typically consumed by a fuel cell, that is hydrogen. For transportation applications, a compact light-weight, responsive and affordable hydrogen storage medium is required for overland vehicle applications. In automotive applications, it is estimated that to provide a 300 mile driving range for a typical overland vehicle, would require five to ten kilograms of usable hydrogen, depending upon the size of the vehicle. Beyond the issues of providing a suitable hydrogen storage medium, other engineering issues would also need to be addressed, such as the operating pressure and temperature that the hydrogen may be provided at, the life cycle of the hydrogen storage medium, and any requirements for hydrogen purity, which may be imposed by the fuel cell that is utilized with the overland vehicle.
Other issues, that are currently trying to be addressed for overland vehicle applications, include the methodology for replenishing the hydrogen storage medium; the types of refueling conditions to replenish the storage medium, that is, rate and time, necessary to perform this process; and the hydrogen release rate that might be achieved from such a process. Other important issues directed to safety, toxicity and system efficiency would also need careful consideration. Those familiar with the current state of the art agree that no material currently available today appears to meet all the needs for the storage of large amounts of hydrogen, which might be utilized by a hybrid vehicle. While hydrogen can be stored on an overland vehicle in a substantially pure form, such as compressed gas, or in a cryogenic liquid, these present obvious difficulties with respect to replenishing the hydrogen source once it has been depleted. While some developments have occurred, with respect to storage systems for gaseous and liquid forms of hydrogen, it is fair to say that such systems are unduly complex and still may not meet the requirements as outlined by recent information released by the U.S. Department of Energy.
In view of these difficulties, many skilled in the art have initiated research directed to chemical compounds that can store hydrogen and then later release it for use in an overland vehicle. In this regard, the storage of hydrogen and chemical compounds offers a much wider range of possibilities to meet transportation requirements. However, no single material that has been investigated to date exhibits all the necessary properties.
Finding an effective hydrogen storage medium material therefore, is one of the most difficult challenges facing designers of hybrid or electric overland vehicles. As of late, a number of investigators have considered the feasibility of synthesizing light-metal hydrides, such as borohydrides, for use in overland vehicle applications. However, as of late, the current process for synthesizing borohydrides, for example, is a lengthy solvent process, as more fully understood by a study of U.S. Pat. No. 6,670,444, the teachings of which are incorporated by reference herein. The attractiveness of utilizing a borohydride is understood by a study of the formula set forth below.NaBH4+2H2O →4H2+NaBO2+heat (300 KJ).
As seen from the formula, noted above, the spent material is sodium metaborate. The regeneration of the borohydride from the spent borates, as noted above, is a lengthy solvent process that is complex and economically unattractive.
Therefore, a method of producing a borohydride that avoids the detriments associated with the prior art practices is the subject matter of the current patent.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


In determining a winning allocation in a forward auction, reverse auction or an exchange, a plurality of allocations are defined wherein each allocation defines a trade between one or more potential buyers and one or more potential sellers. At least one potential buyer is queried regarding at least one preference of the buyer about at least one allocation or a bundle associated therewith. The buyer's reply or intimation to the query is received and, based on the reply or intimation, each allocation that is either not feasible or not optimal is eliminated from consideration as the winning allocation. This process is repeated until a predetermined criteria is met whereupon one of the remaining allocations is selected as the winning allocation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to auctions and, more particularly, to winner determination in forward auctions, reverse auctions and exchanges.
2. Description of Related Art
Combinatorial auctions where bidders can bid on bundles of items can be desirable market mechanisms when the items exhibit complementarily or substitutability, so the bidder's valuations for bundles are not additive. One of the problems with these otherwise desirable mechanisms is that determining the winners is computationally complex. There has been a recent surge of interest in winner determination algorithms for such markets.
Another problem, which has received less attention, is that combinatorial auctions require potentially every bundle to be bid on, and there are exponentially many bundles. This is complex because a bidder may need to invest considerable effort or computation into determining each valuation. It can also be undesirable from the perspective of revealing unnecessary private information and from the perspective of unnecessary communication.
It is, therefore, desirable to identify a topological structure that is inherent in combinatorial auctions that can be used to intelligently ask only relevant questions about the bidders' preferences while still finding the optimal (welfare-maximizing and/or Pareto-efficient) solution(s). It is also desirable to provide building blocks for a design of an auctioneer that interrogates each bidder intelligently regarding the bidder's preferences, and optimally assimilates the returned information in order to narrow down the set of potentially desirable allocations, and decide which questions to ask the bidders next to further narrow down the set of potentially desirable allocations.

Preference elicitation in combinatorial auctions


The present invention describes methods of identifying altered recombinases and compositions thereof, wherein at least one amino acid is different from a parent, wild-type recombinase and the altered recombinase has improved recombination efficiency towards wild-type and/or pseudo att site sequences relative to the parent, wild-type recombinase. The present invention also includes methods of modifying the genomes of cells using the altered recombinases, including methods of site-specifically integrating a polynucleotide sequence of interest in a genome of a eucaryotic cell.

The current inability to perform efficient, site-specific integration of incoming DNA into the chromosomes of higher organisms is holding up advances in basic and applied biology. Recently strategies for chromosomal integration that take advantage of the high efficiency and tight sequence specificity of recombinase enzymes isolated from microorganisms have been described. In particular, a class of phage integrases that includes the φC31 integrase (Kuhstoss, S., and Rao, R. N., J. Mol. Biol. 222, 897–908 (1991); Rausch, H., and Lehmann, M., Nucleic Acids Research 19, 5187–5189 (1991)) have been shown to function in mammalian cells (Groth, A. C., et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 97, 5995–6000 (2000)).
Such site-specific recombinase enzymes have long DNA recognition sites that are typically not present even in the large genomes of mammalian cells. However, it has been recently demonstrated that recombinase pseudo sites, i.e. sites with a significant degree of identity to the wild-type binding site for the recombinase, are present in these genomes (Thyagarajan, B., et al., Gene 244, 47–54 (2000)).
The present disclosure teaches methods to alter the specificity of recombinases to provide altered recombinases that can be used more effectively in genetic engineering of the chromosomes of higher cells.

Altered recombinases for genome modification

The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University


A Josephson break junction device suitable for highly sensitive electronic detecting systems. A superconductor film such as YBa.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.7 is deposited on a substrate such as a simple-crystal MgO. The film is fractured across a narrow strip by at least one indentation in the substrate juxtaposed from the strip to form a break junction. A transducer is affixed to the substrate for applying a bending movement to the substrate to regulate the distance across the gap formed at the fracture to produce a Josephson turned junction effect. Alternatively, or in addition to the transducer, a bridge of a novel metal is applied across the gap to produce a weak-link junction.

The present invention relates generally to Josephson junctions in thin-film superconductors, and more particularly to Josephson junctions in high temperature oxide superconductors suitable for use in various electronic components.
The application of superconductor devices has been largely limited to experimentation because of the costly cryogenic requirements to operate below their transition temperatures, T.sub.C. However, a large number of superconductors with high transition temperatures are now commercially available, the highest currently being close to 125.degree. K in a Tl-based material. This enables use of more economical cryogenic refrigerants, such as nitrogen which liquifies at 77 K(-195.8 F), and a potential for a developing oxide superconducting electronic industry.
Common to all the high temperature superconductors is the copper oxide (CuO) planes, which produces a layered structure with large anisotropies in mechanical, electrical and thermal properties. They are brittle, opaque, hard and, at room temperature, poor electrical conductors. Another common property of these materials is their axis-dependent coherence length .xi., typically less than 50 .ANG..
YBa.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.7, herein after referred to as SC-123, has a superconducting transition temperature T.sub.C =92.degree. K and is one of the easiest to prepare in single phase in either bulk or thin-film form. Others, such as Tl- and Bi- based oxide superconductors have higher transition temperatures but are more difficult to prepare in single-phase form due to the proximity of several closely related structures with different transition temperatures.
The fundamental superconductor device is the Josephson junction. It consists of two independent superconductors weakly coupled to each other by a coupling structure. There are four main types of coupling structures. These are the "classic" tunnel junction, layered structures, microbridges, and point contacts. To behave as a Josephson junction, the size of the coupling structure must be of the order of the coherence length .xi. of the superconductors. The coherence length .xi. of low temperature superconductors is several orders of magnitude larger than the crystal unit cell. This made it easy for fabrication of low temperature Josephson junction devices. In the new high temperature superconductors, however, the coherence length .xi. is of the order of the crystal lattice spacing or smaller. This means that the coupling structure must be of the order of a unit lattice spacing or less. The smallness of the coherence length has been at the root of the problem of making a reliable Josephson junction.
Conventional methods of making Josephson junctions, such as multi-layer deposition of a superconductor-normal-insulator-superconductor (SNIS), e.g. Nb-Al-A.sub.2 O.sub.3 -Nb, and microbridges, are not suitable for the new high temperature superconductors. The difficulty in making a microbridge junction is in the patterning of lateral dimensions of the order of 30 .ANG.. Larger microbridges, on the order 1 .mu.m (10,000 .ANG.) have been fabricated but the critical currents I.sub.C are so high that the bridges melt when they become normal, i.e. non-superconductive. In the case of SIS junctions, the coherence length .xi. along the crystallographic c-direction is in the order of 5 .ANG., which is about one-third of the unit cell size in that direction. Therefore, it is very difficult to grow a uniform thin layer of insulating material. There is also interdiffusion among different layers, and the possibility of electrical shorts between layers. Praseodymium (Pr) is the only rare earth element which can be substituted for yttrium(Y) in SC-123, and that is not a superconductor. Several research groups have tried to use PrBa.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.7 to form a SIS structure because it has similar lattice parameters and thermal expansion coefficients as SC-123, but so far they have not demonstrated Josephson junction effects.

Method for forming Josephson break junctions

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


An orthotic cushioned article is for use by bed-ridden individuals to prop a foot off a bed or other abrasive surface. The article is generally L-shaped with a leg portion and a foot portion. The leg portion has a flattened centerwall with upwardly extending sidewalls. Each of the sidewalls has a cut-out to accommodate the individual's ankle bones. The leg portion and foot portion form a junction where they meet and that junction has a cut-out to accommodate the individual's heel bone. The cushioned article also has securing means to hold it to the individual's lower leg and foot. It further has beads in at least the centerwall of the leg portion to enhance blood circulation. The orthotic cushioned article effectively prevents the formation of decubital ulcers in the individual's leg and foot.

Individuals become bed-ridden for several different reasons. A person may be bed-ridden for a temporary time period while healing from an accident or illness. A person may also be bed-ridden for a more prolonged time period or even a time period of indefinite duration because of a serious illness. In either case, care must be taken to prevent the formation of decubital ulcers, commonly referred to as pressure sores or bed sores. The ulcers tend to form on bony areas of the body which make constant or near constant contact with a bed surface. For example, an individual's heels, ankles, and elbows are bony areas with a minimal amount of fleshy protective covering.
The heel and ankle of a bed-ridden individual in particular are susceptible to the formation of decubital ulcers. The individual lying on his back or side will cause the heels and ankles to be in constant contact with a bed surface. Natural foot movements of such an individual over time only aggravate the situation.
Decubital ulcers have been a source of discomfort to many people. Once formed, they are hard to heal. Various ointments and salves have been developed specifically for decubital ulcers. Various foot prop articles designed to prevent the formation of the ulcers or at least alleviate the discomfort associated with the ulcers have also been developed. Most of the known articles have varied means to suspend the foot of a bed-ridden individual off a bed surface. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,511,233, 4,076,022, 4,197,845, 4,266,298, 4,409,975, 5,085,214, 5,328,445 and 5,449,339 all contain descriptions of products which were designed to suspend a heel off a hard or abrasive surface. None of the disclosed products meet all the needs of a anti-decubital ulcer product which is economical to produce, easy to use, cleanable for reuse and, most importantly, effective for its intended use.
There has now been developed an orthotic cushioned article for use by bed-ridden individuals. The article prevents the formation of decubital ulcers in the heel and ankles of individuals. It is economical to produce. It is easy to clean. If effectively prevents and alleviates discomfort often times experienced by many bed-ridden individuals.

Orthotic cushioned article to prevent foot and ankle decubital ulcers


This invention relates to a transformable furniture unit, and in particular to a changing table with shelving that transforms into two sitting benches, and into a bed. The infant's changing table with shelving comprises four posts that support two tiers of shelving, with the capacity to support additional tiers in another aspect of the invention. The tiers of shelving are supported by wooden beams that connect perpendicularly to the four posts. The changing table with shelving transforms into two sitting benches when one tier of shelving is detached from the other. The furniture can be transformed into a bed when the sitting bench with the high back support is used as a headboard, the second sitting bench with no back support is used as the foot of the bed, and a supplementary support panel is attached in between, holding together the headboard and the foot of the bed.

1. Field
The present invention relates to a transformable furniture unit, and more particularly, to transformable furniture into multiple bedroom furniture.
2. Background
In preparing a home for the arrival of a new child, parents and caregivers naturally desire to provide all the objects that a child may need for his survival and comfort. Among these objects are pieces of furniture that allow a child to sleep, sit, eat, or play, or bathe, among other things.
Parents and caregivers also desire to provide to themselves objects that make caring for a child an easier process. For this reason, parents and caregivers purchase objects like changing tables, which allow a child to be placed on a flat surface, the height of which is ideal and comfortable for the parent or caregiver who is changing the child's diaper. Because changing a child's diaper occurs multiple, and often countless times per day, pieces of furniture like a changing table are key in maintaining the comfort and speed with which a parent or caregiver changes a child's diaper. Furthermore, changing tables are not only high, flat surfaces upon which to place a child. They also provide storage for diapers, baby wipes, and other things that a parent or caregiver needs at the time he or she is changing a diaper.
Storage on a changing table is not only for the purpose of the convenience of the parent or caregiver; storage on a changing table may often times contribute to the safety of the child being changed. Storage on a changing table serves to provide the parent or caregiver with all the supplies he or she needs to complete the changing of the diaper, without his or her needing to step away from the child to retrieve an item that they need but is not within reach. Leaving a child unattended on a changing table, or any high surface, is very dangerous. The child may fall and suffer an injury. For this reason, storage on a changing table also serves to provide a safe environment within which to care for the child, and more particularly, a safer environment within which to change the child's diaper.
While a parent or caregiver desires to provide their child and themselves with objects that they or the child may need or desire for comfort, he or she may simultaneously be concerned about the cost of the object or the floor space that the object consumes in a home. Along the same lines, a parent or caregiver is concerned about the use or lack thereof of the changing table once there is no longer any need to change the child's diaper. In other words, a budget-conscious parent or caregiver desires that any object they purchase for their child or themselves is a good value. As with most children's furniture, changing tables are often discarded or rendered useless when a child reaches an age in which his or her diaper is no longer necessary.
Environmentally-conscious parents and caregivers who desire to benefit the natural environment will find a continued use for the changing table once its initial use is gone. For this reason, those parents and caregivers can rest assured knowing that an old and unused changing table is not discarded. Rather, it is put into new uses as two sitting benches or as a bed. In the industry today, the designs for changing tables do not vary by much. At their most basic, the designs for changing tables include merely a flat surface that is supported by open shelving. More elaborate designs in the industry include a flat surface that is supported by drawers. Such designs allow a changing table to be continued to be used as a storage dresser once the need to change the child's diaper is gone. However, the industry lacks a design that may function as more than just a storage dresser with drawers after its use as a changing table is no longer needed. Hence, in light of the aforementioned, there is a need for an improved design which, by virtue of its design and components, would be able to overcome or at least minimize some of the aforementioned problems with prior art. The industry needs a design by which a changing table can be converted into two sitting benches and into a bed.


A method for making spirillicide includes mixing a chloride hydrargyrum (Hg2Cl2) material and a gypsum material and pork into particles, and the particles are then fried into pills. The chloride hydrargyrum (Hg2Cl2) material and the gypsum material are preferably ground into a mixed powder material before mixing with the pork, and may be fried with the sesame oil, or the peanut oil, or the soybean oil. The fried particles may be cooled into the room temperature under the room temperature, and may be refrigerated into the pills.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method, and more particularly to a method for making spirillicide.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various kinds of typical diseases, such as the syphilis, are constituted or formed by spirilla which may decompose the human tissue, such as the skin of people, and which may infect the other people. Various kinds of medicines have been developed as spirillicide. However, actually, the so-called spirillicide may be used for restraining purposes and may not be used for actually killing the spirilla.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages of the conventional spirillicide.
The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a method for making spirillicide that may be used for killing spirilla.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for making spirillicide, the method comprising mixing a chloride hydrargyrum (Hg2Cl2) material and a gypsum material and pork into particles, and frying the particles into pills.
A grinding process is further provided for grinding the chloride hydrargyrum (Hg2Cl2) material and the gypsum material into a mixed powder material.
The mixed powder material are then mixed with the pork and formed into the particles.
The frying process includes frying the particles with sesame oil, or with the peanut oil, or with the soybean oil.
A cooling process is further provided for cooling the fried particles, and a refrigerating process may further be provided for refrigerating the fried particles into the pills.
Further objectives and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a careful reading of a detailed description provided hereinbelow, with appropriate reference to accompanying drawings.


A method, system and program product for securing data written to a storage device coupled to a computer system. The method includes providing a detachable data security key device for controlling access to data written to a storage within a computer system and attaching the security key device to the computer system for enabling access to the data written to the storage. Further, the method includes detaching the security key device from the computer system for disabling access to the data written to the storage, wherein removal of the security key device from the computer system renders the data written to the storage unreadable. In an embodiment, the security key device includes an encryption key module coupled to the security key device for encrypting the data written to the storage and includes a decryption key module coupled to the security key device for decrypting the data written to the storage.

One of the major concerns in product end life management of Information Technology (IT) equipment deals with the security of data and information (personal records, financial data, etc.) contained in a hard drive. Whether the asset is owned or leased, emerging privacy laws can hold businesses responsible for personal, sensitive and business data compromised during usage and at disposal. Data cleansing techniques, which include physical impairment and/or destruction solutions, such as, shredding or pulverization of the hard drives, magnetic degaussing techniques, acid or reactant baths, etc. all have drawbacks. As such, there is a need to effectively secure data and information that is also cost efficient.

Method, system and program product for securing data written to a storage device coupled to a computer system

International Business Machines Corporation


The present invention relates to a mandarin phonetic inputting apparatus by using sixteen keys. It achieves the purpose of conveniently operating for those people are not skilled in typewriting, and provides a capability of detecting ambiguous tones in mandarin language for degrading reentering caused by misunderstanding the ambiguous tones, and furthermore, to serve as a user input interface in a handhold calculator with more economical efficiency.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention related to an inputting apparatus of mandarin phonetic symbols, especially to a novel phonetic symbols inputting apparatus with only sixteen inputting keys. It is convenient to construct an inputting apparatus of mandarin phonetic symbols after degrading the required keys and area, and furthermore, becomes an invention with significant contribution in economical.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Everyone who uses mandarin inputting schemes knows, that inputting scheme of phonetic symbols needs 41 keys and space bar of a conventional keyboard for receiving inputs of 37 mandarin phonetic symbols, 4 tones, and neutral tone. Although this type of one-by-one mapping scheme is convenient for typewriting, but becomes a disadvantage to a small system while establishes such a phonetic symbol inputting interface. A consideration is that a great deal of keys are needed, to increase those keys in a small apparatus such as handhold calculator will upgrade cost and size of the apparatus.
In addition, conventional inputting scheme of mandarin phonetic symbols can not allow inputting error. A lot of ambiguous tones in mandarin, such as curly tones (" and ", " and ", " and ", and " and "), some vowels (" and ", " and ", and " and "), and sounds in mandarin (first tone, second tone, third tone, fourth tone, and neutral tone) that cause inconvenience for some users who will need to reenter for misunderstanding the ambiguous tones. Thus, traditional inputting scheme of the mandarin phonetic symbols needs some further improvements.

Apparatus and method for inputting mandarin phonetic symbols by using sixteen keys


A double cantilever beam (DCB) assembly is disclosed, comprising a fracture specimen having a notch which defines first and second spaced, substantially parallel, outwardly extending beams, terminating at a closed end where crack growth occurs and extending to an open end. The beams are connected to each other along at least a portion of a facing surface of each beam by two, substantially parallel ligaments, spaced from each other on the facing surfaces of the beams. Another disclosed embodiment is a corrosive environment measuring apparatus, comprising a double cantilever beam assembly disposed in an aqueous portion of a reactor vessel, and including the features described above. The reactor vessel is often a constituent of a nuclear reactor, and the DCB assembly is often disposed in a tube which is selectively lowered into the aqueous portion of the reactor vessel. The tube is usually a local power range monitor tube.

Structural materials which are exposed to aggressive environments are susceptible to cracking. This is particularly the case when the materials are subjected to various levels of cyclic or steady stress, and the resulting occurrence is often referred to as "stress corrosion cracking" or "corrosion fatigue". The nuclear industry has encountered this problem when structural materials (such as stainless steel piping) operate under sustained or cyclic stress in the presence of high temperature water. As described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,417,116 (Solomon et al.), damage from stress corrosion cracking is of greater concern than damage caused by uniform corrosion, since material failure in the first instance is far less predictable than in the second instance. Thus, methods for accurately and conveniently measuring the cracking phenomenon are of great importance.
One very useful technique for measuring crack growth in a corrosive environment involves the use of a double cantilever beam (DCB) sensor. These sensors usually include a pair of elongate beam portions opposed to each other, and a crack growth section formed in a connecting ligament between the beam portions, extending from an axially intermediate portion of each beam portion to a rear end thereof. As described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,378,429 (Hayashi et al.), a pre-cracking section is first formed in the starting end of the crack growth section. Crack growth is measured by a direct current potential method. Wedges inserted between the beam portions, or similar devices, are often used to maintain a selected stress intensity factor at the crack growth section. The Solomon and Hayashi patents provide illustrations of typical DCB sensors, as do U.S. Pat. No. 4,924,708 (Solomon et al.) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,677,855 (Coffin et al.). In the case of the nuclear industry, DCB sensors are often used in a boiling water reactor (BWR). The sensors are placed, for example, inside the pressure vessel of the reactor, in a position exposed to the flow of recirculation water.
A more specific description of the placement of the sensor should be preceded by a brief description of relevant components of a BWR. As those skilled in the art understand, BWR's and other types of reactors include a plurality of fuel rods grouped together to form a fuel assembly. A number of these assemblies are typically arranged in a matrix to form a reactor core. In BWR's, the fuel assemblies are usually grouped in clusters of four, with a control rod associated with each cluster. The control rods--provided with strong neutron-absorbing materials--serve to maintain control of the power level of the reactor. The control rods (or control "blades") in a BWR are often cruciform-shaped.
As described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,818,471 (Thomson et al.), strings of local power range monitors (LPRMs) are typically dispersed throughout the core of a BWR, between the corner locations of the fuel assemblies. Each string includes a hollow tube with multiple neutron detectors located at discrete axial locations. These detectors provide crucial local power monitoring information during operation of the reactor. Movable tip probes are used to calibrate the detectors at specific time intervals. The tip probes (sometimes referred to as "tip tube monitors") are usually inserted into selected detector string tubes from the bottom of the reactor core.
The cross-sectional size of a typical LPRM tube is usually not large enough to accommodate both a DCB sensor and a tip tube monitor. Thus, if a DCB sensor is inserted, a tip tube monitor usually cannot also be used in that tube. The loss of a site for the tip tube monitor would be a serious problem, because of the loss of local power monitoring information which would result from such a reactor design.
One possible way to overcome this problem is to reduce the size of the DCB sensor, which typically has a width of about 1.1-1.5 cm, and a height of about 2.5 cm-3.5 cm (dimensions "W" and "H" in FIG. 1, respectively). However, when the sensor is made smaller than those dimensions, the thickness of the ligament joining the beam portions must also be reduced. It thus becomes very difficult to manufacture and handle sensors with such thin ligaments. Even if a way is found to handle the small sensors, their fragile nature makes them susceptible to breakage. This in turn results in the inability to measure crack growth in a particular location, e.g., within a reactor vessel. Moreover, it is very costly to remove and replace sensors which break during operation of an apparatus like a BWR.
It should thus be apparent that new techniques for incorporating both a DCB sensor and a tip tube monitor into cavities like an LPRM tube would be welcome in the art. If these techniques involve reducing the size of the sensor, they must also involve maintaining its strength and durability. Moreover, a sensor having a reduced size must still fully perform its intended function, i.e., accurately measuring the crack growth of a metal in an aggressive environment. The sensor must also be fully compatible with any attached or surrounding components, and must be relatively easy to produce and incorporate into other equipment, such as an LPRM tube.

Double cantilever beam crack growth sensor


A method for modulating the impedance of an antenna circuit supplying pump signals to a charge pump comprising at least one first pump stage and one last pump stage, the last pump stage supplying a continuous voltage. The output of the first pump stage is short-circuited by means of a switch and the last pump stage goes on pumping electric charges and supplying the continuous voltage. Application in particular to RFID passive transponders.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to an antenna impedance modulation method, with application to contactless integrated circuits and, more particularly, to contactless integrated circuits of the passive type electrically powered by signals supplied by an antenna circuit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Contactless integrated circuits or RFID integrated circuits (Radio Frequency Identification) are used in various applications like the manufacture of electronic tags and contactless chip cards, for example electronic wallets, access control cards, transport cards, etc.
The disclosure more particularly relates to UHF contactless integrated circuits, provided to operate in the presence of an UHF electric field oscillating at a frequency of several hundreds MHz, generally ranging from 800 MHz to 100 GHz.
FIG. 1 schematically shows a contactless integrated circuit IC1 of the UHF type. The circuit IC1 includes an antenna circuit ACT, a primary charge pump PMP, a modulation circuit MCT and a demodulation circuit DCT, together forming a contactless communication interface. The integrated circuit also comprises a control unit CTU and a non-volatile memory MEM. The memory is for example an EEPROM memory (electrically erasable and programmable), allowing the integrated circuit to memorise transaction and identification data. The control unit CTU controls the access to the memory by executing commands for reading or writing in the memory.
The antenna circuit ACT includes two conductors W1, W2 forming a dipole. In the presence of an electric field E emitted by a reader RD1 schematically shown in the figure, antenna signals S1, S2 appear on the conductors W1, W2. These antenna signals S1, S2 are alternating signals of low amplitude, a few tenths of Volts only, and are in phase opposition.
The primary charge pump PMP is driven by the signals S1, S2, used as pump signals, and supplies a continuous voltage Vcc. The voltage Vcc is typically about one Volt to a few Volts, for example 1.8 V, and ensures the power supply of the integrated circuit if it is completely passive (that is without autonomous power supply, like a battery).
The circuit MCT receives from the control unit CTU data DTx to be sent via the antenna circuit, and modulates the impedance of the antenna circuit ACT according to these data. To that end, the circuit MCT applies to the charge pump PMP a modulation signal Sm(DTx) which contains the data DTx in coded form. The signal Sm(DTx) has a non-active value by default, for example 0, and, during the modulation periods, has an active value, for example 1, which has the effect of short-circuiting the charge pump.
When the signal Sm(DTx) is inactive, the antenna circuit ACT absorbs all the incident power Pi emitted by the reader RD1 and picked up by the antenna circuit ACT which impedance is adapted to that purpose. When the signal Sm(DTx) is 1, the short-circuit of the charge pump causes a modulation of the antenna circuit impedance and consequently a modulation of its reflection coefficient. The antenna circuit is then detuned and sends a reflected wave of power Pr. The reflected wave is received by the reader RD1 on its own antenna circuit, which outputs a modulated signal that is the image of the signal Sm(DTx). The reader extracts the modulated signal from its antenna circuit, by means of adapted filters, and deduces the data DTx, after demodulation and decoding. This technique of passive data transmission is generally called "backscattering".
FIG. 2 shows the standard structure of the charge pump PMP and also shows a modulation switch SW1 controlled by the signal Sm(DTx) and arranged for short-circuiting the charge pump.
The charge pump PMP comprises three pump stages in series. Each stage comprises two diodes and two capacitors, the latter being connected to the conductors W1, W2 of the antenna circuit to receive the signals S1, S2. The modulation switch SW1 is arranged in parallel with the output of the last stage of the charge pump. The switch is ON (conducting) when Sm(DTx)=1 and is OFF (not conducting) when Sm(DTx)=0.
When the switch SW1 is ON, the output of the charge pump is short-circuited and the voltage Vcc is no longer produced. In order to avoid a total break of voltage Vcc supply, a hold capacitor Ch is added at the output of the charge pump. The capacitor Ch is linked to the output of the charge pump through an inverse-mounted isolation diode Di. Thus, when the switch SW1 short-circuits the output of the charge pump, the diode Di blocks itself and the capacitor Ch alone holds the voltage Vcc above a critical threshold under which the integrated circuit stops operating.
An auxiliary switch SW2, driven by a signal/Sm(DTx) supplied by an inverting gate IG1, is arranged in parallel with the diode Di. When the switch SW1 is OFF, the switch SW2 is ON and the diode Di is short-circuited. Thus, the capacitor Ch is charged at the voltage Vcc without loss of voltage at the terminals of the diode Di.
This method for modulating the impedance of the antenna circuit ACT, although essential for sending data by backscattering, has the drawback of completely neutralizing the production of continuous voltage Vcc by the charge pump. Thus, despite the provision of the hold capacitor Ch, the voltage Vcc rapidly decreases when the integrated circuit sends data. The periods of data emission are thus critical periods as far as energy reception is concerned, and define the maximum communication distance with the reader RD1.


The present invention provides a master disk that can easily be brought into contact with and separated from a magnetic recording medium, and can accommodate foreign matters. This master disk transfers a predetermined magnetic pattern onto a magnetic recording medium that can record magnetic information. In the master disk, there are a magnetic pattern formation region in which the magnetic pattern is formed, and a blank region in which the magnetic pattern is not formed. A concave portion for accommodating foreign matters is formed in at least one part of the blank region.

The present invention generally relates to master disks for transferring magnetic patterns and magnetic recording media, and, more particularly, to a master disk for transferring a predetermined magnetic pattern onto a magnetic recording medium, such as a magnetic disk, mounted on a magnetic recording device generally employed as an external memory of a computer.
In recent years, magnetic recording devices have larger capacities and higher recording densities. With this trend, there is an increasing demand for reasonably priced magnetic recording media with large capacities that can record a larger volume of information and can shorten the access time for reproduction. To realize such a large-capacity magnetic recording medium, a so-called tracking servo technique has been conventionally employed so that a magnetic head can accurately perform a scanning operation on narrow tracks.
In a large-capacity magnetic recording medium, a magnetic pattern according to a signal such as a tracking servo signal is "pre-formatted" at certain intervals in each one circle on a magnetic disk, for instance. A magnetic head reads the magnetic pattern, and then corrects the position of the magnetic head itself so as to perform a scanning operation on the tracks with high precision.
In the prior art, a magnetic recording medium having the above magnetic pattern is produced by performing a recording operation on each one track of each one disk, using a servo information recording device designed specially for magnetic recording media. Such a servo information recording device requires a mechanism for positioning a recording head with high precision, and therefore is expensive. Furthermore, a longer time is required for recording a magnetic pattern on a magnetic recording medium having a larger capacity. As a result, the magnetic pattern recording procedure takes a large proportion of the entire production process for producing the large-capacity magnetic recording medium, and leads to a higher production cost.
To solve the above problems, a technique for transferring a magnetic pattern onto a magnetic recording medium from a disk (or a "master disk") having magnetic layers patterned in accordance with the magnetic pattern has been suggested, instead of the conventional technique of recording a magnetic pattern onto each one track.
According to this transfer technique using the master disk, the magnetic body is brought into contact with a magnetic recording medium to be pre-formatted, so that the magnetic layers are excited by an external magnetic field supplied to the magnetic recording medium. In this manner, a magnetic recording medium having a predetermined magnetic pattern can be produced in a short time. Thus, the production procedures can be simplified, and the production costs can be lowered.
FIG. 1 shows a magnetic pattern transfer device 100 that employs a conventional master disk. A master disk 110 is placed on a magnetic recording medium 120, and a magnetic field 105 is supplied from a magnet 101 that serves as a magnetic field generator. The master disk 110 has magnetic layers 111 at locations corresponding to a magnetic pattern predetermined by a signal such as a servo signal. In FIG. 1, the magnetic layers 111 are excited by the magnetic field 105, and, as a result, the pattern formed by the magnetic layers 111 is transferred as a transferred pattern 121 onto the magnetic recording medium 120.
In the magnetic pattern transfer device 100 shown in FIG. 1, the magnetic layers 111 of the master disk 110 are brought toward the recording medium 120 close enough to supply the magnetic field 105, so that the magnetic pattern in the magnetic body 110 can be transferred onto the magnetic recording medium 120 with high precision. To achieve this, it is essential that the lower surface 110A of the master disk 110 should be tightly brought into contact with the upper surface 120A of the magnetic recording medium 120.
The lower surface 110A of the conventional master disk 110 to be brought into contact with the magnetic recording medium 120 is flat, and generally so is the upper surface 120A of the magnetic recording medium 120. Because of this, when a foreign matter DAS exists between the master disk 110 and the magnetic recording medium 120, as shown in FIG. 2, the contact between the master disk 110 and the magnetic recording medium 120 cannot be good enough to achieve precise pattern transfer.
Generally, it is difficult to achieve contact between two flat surfaces, with air or moisture existing in between. On the other hand, once two flat surfaces are brought into contact, it also becomes difficult to separate the two flat surfaces from each other, due to the surface tension of the air or moisture.

Master disk for transferring magnetic pattern and magnetic recording medium


A method is disclosed for collecting so-called residual coke from a coke oven chamber while the door of the coke oven chamber is being opened. A collecting device is moved up against a guide plate arranged under the door of the coke oven chamber before the door of the coke oven chamber is opened, and the coke that falls out of the coke oven chamber falls across the guide plate into a collecting device. The collecting device is moved to a horizontal position after the coke has been collected so that the upper edge of the collecting device is at the height of the bottom of the coke oven chamber. The push-out device of the coke oven operating machine moves over the collecting device between the suspensions so that the coke is pushed out of the collecting device back into the coke oven chamber.

1. Filed of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for capture of spillage coke from non-recovery and heat-recovery coke ovens, said spillage coke falling from a coke oven chamber as coke oven chamber doors are opened. By way of this method, any coke falling out can be transported back into a coke oven chamber without the need for quenching or transporting coke into a collecting container.
2. Description of the Related Art
Coke is usually produced in cycles. To this effect, a coke oven chamber is charged with coal envisaged for coal carbonization, coke oven chamber doors are closed, and the cokemaking cycle is initiated. Upon coal carbonization, coke oven chamber doors are opened and coke is pushed through the oven out of the coke oven chamber. On opening the doors, some coke frequently falls out from the coke oven chamber which causes emissions as well as undesired losses of coke. Prior art technology therefore proposes devices by means of which coke is captured by capturing devices or coke shovels and disposed of or quenched further rearwards.
DE 102007045426 A1 relates to a coke oven operating machine comprised of a coke pusher machine or coke transfer machine equipped with a coke oven operating facility to capture and remove spillage coke as well as with a suction device to suck-off emissions in the area of the coke shovel, said suction element being connected to the coke oven service machine separately from the coke shovel, and said coke shovel being movably arranged relatively to the suction element to move from its home position into the capturing position. By way of this method, even those emissions in the area of the coke shovel are captured that are caused by quenching the coke in the coke shovel or that are not captured by the suction facilities usually provided on a coke oven pusher machine or coke transfer machine. Coke is at least partially quenched in the coke shovel and disposed of further rearwards into a capturing device by making it possible to move the coke shovel from the capturing position into a discharging position.
WO 2007/022816 A1 describes a device as a coke oven operating machine comprised of a coke pusher machine and/or a coke transfer machine which serves to remove spillage coke in or from the area of a coke oven bench gallery, utilizing a shoveling facility comprised of at least one coke shovel arranged in a capturing position beneath an oven door of a coke oven chamber near the bottom floor of the bench gallery, at least one suction device being provided at and/or in the coke shovel to suck-off emissions released in the area of the coke shovel. To empty the coke shovel, it is raised in the area of the bench gallery near the bottom level and swung into a position subsequently required for a further rearward discharge.
These processes utilize the coke shovel to collect spillage coke, the coke shovel being discharged into a ramp arranged rearwards. Quenching of coke is performed at least partly in the coke shovel. A reuse of captured coke or bringing it into the pushed coke cake is not envisaged. However, it would be much more favorable to press the spillage coke on coke pushing back into the coke oven chamber so that it is further utilized together with the remaining coke cake. It would obviate the need for additional collecting and transporting facilities for spillage coke which, for example, must be transported from the collecting device into the coke quenching car.

Method for collecting residual coke from non-recovery and heat-recovery coke ovens


A method of assembling a dock is provided. The method includes positioning a first dock module adjacent a second dock module wherein each dock module includes a top surface, a bottom surface, and a plurality of sidewalls extending therebetween. Each top surface includes at least one channel extending between opposed sidewalls, each bottom surface includes at least one pocket therein, and each sidewall includes at least one coupling slot extending from the top surface. A first coupling slot of the first dock module is substantially aligned with a first coupling slot of the second dock module. The method also includes inserting a first coupler into the first coupling slot of the first dock module and into the first coupling slot of the second dock module such that the dock modules are secured to one another.

This invention relates generally to floating docks, and more particularly, to methods and apparatus for assembling floating docks.
Floating docks are generally known and may be constructed from a variety of materials and formed into a variety of shapes and sizes. At least some known floating docks include a plurality of floating members coupled together to form the floating dock. Generally, the floating members are designed to withstand a variety of environment and weather conditions. More specifically, within at least some known floating members, pockets or cavities are defined that facilitate increasing the buoyancy of the dock, and thus facilitate maintaining the dock afloat. However, because pockets or cavities rely on trapped air, catastrophic events, for example, a collision with the dock, may rupture the pockets and submerge the dock.
At least some known floating docks have coupling systems that enable multiple configurations of the floating members to be assembled such that the dock can accommodate a variety of boat sizes and other uses. Generally, such coupling systems include couplers designed to facilitate ease of assembly and disassembly of floating members, and coupler receivers or sockets designed to receive a variety of couplers and dock accessories. More specifically, within at least some known coupling systems, the couplers include multiple components. Although the couplers generally ensure the floating members remain connected, couplers that include multiple components may increase the assembly time of the docks and may reduce the reliability of the entire dock system.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a docking system that would allow the user to choose multiple configurations and was simple to assemble and disassemble. Moreover, it would be desirable to have a docking system that was cost-effective to maintain and reliable in variety of environmental and catastrophic events.

Methods and apparatus for assembling docks


A new and distinct cultivar of Chrysanthemum plant named ‘Jeanny White’, characterized by its decorative pompon-type inflorescences with elongated oblong-shaped, white-colored ray florets; strong and upright flowering stems; freely flowering habit; early and uniform flowering response; and good postproduction longevity.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Chrysanthemum plant, botanically known as Chrysanthemum×morifolium and referred to by the name 'Jeanny White'.
The new Chrysanthemum is a naturally-occurring whole plant mutation of the Chrysanthemum×morifolium cultivar Jeanny Pink, not patented. The new Chrysanthemum was discovered and selected by the Inventor in March, 2004 as a single flowering plant within a population of plants of the cultivar Jeanny Pink in a controlled environment in Hensbroek, The Netherlands.
Asexual reproduction of the new Chrysanthemum by terminal cuttings in Hensbroek, The Netherlands since April, 2004 has shown that the unique features of this new Chrysanthemum are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.


A vehicle monitoring and traffic enforcement system in which a wireless communication device is associated with motor vehicles The device will transmit vehicle identification data which is relayed to a database which maintains current information concerning insurance law compliance, motor vehicle registration and licensing compliance, traffic citations and other information If a violation or compliance failure is noted, this is transmitted to a law enforcement agency and a nearby law enforcement vehicle A law enforcement officer may be required to pursue the vehicle depending on the violation and traffic conditions The system uses GPS and GIs technology to provide law enforcement with a real time display which will not only show the vehicle being tracked but also a map of the area showing roads, traffic conditions and even the location of other law enforcement or emergency vehicles so that officials may make a safe and fast response to situations.

Many vehicles on the streets, roads and highways are operated in a manner in violation with various laws and regulations. For example, many drivers operate their vehicles in violation of the traffic laws recklessly or at excessive speeds. Various approaches to the motor vehicle law enforcement problem can be found. One common method is observation of roadway traffic by an officer aided by devices which measure motorists' speed. If a motorist is in violation, the officer will pursue the offender and, once the offender is pulled to the roadside, issued a traffic ticket for speed violation. In some instances, the officer is aided by the use of a radar gun which will measure the speed of passing vehicles and, again, if an offense is observed, the motorist may be apprehended and cited. Traffic patrolling requires the physical presence of an officer which may increase the costs to the particular law enforcement agency and will often divert officers from other, perhaps more serious law enforcement activities.
As a result, various automated traffic control systems can be found in use today. For example, photo radar has been adopted by a number of governmental subdivisions. Photo radar is an automated system which is generally set up at one or more locations along the roadside. Sensors detect the speed of passing vehicles and, if an offense is detected, cameras will take photographs of the front and rear of the speeding vehicle. Normally a citation is mailed to the registered owner of the vehicle. Red light compliance is often monitored in a similar manner using sensors and cameras which detect and record violations.
Another concern is that many vehicle operators do not comply with other laws such as insurance laws and motor vehicle registration laws. It has been estimated in some states as many as one third of the motorists are uninsured and as many as 20% of collisions involve uninsured motorists. Thus, uninsured motorists who become involved in collisions impose a substantial financial burden on society. These costs include medical costs, loss of wages incurred by persons injured in such accidents with uninsured motorists along with increased insurance costs to insured motorists who must, in many cases, obtain uninsured motorists coverage at additional costs.
Also, many vehicle operators do not comply with motor vehicle registration and licensing requirements. This illegal operation of a vehicle also imposes additional costs to society and results in loss of revenue to motor vehicle divisions of the various states. Often noncompliance with motor vehicle registration and insurance requirements is not detected until a motorist is stopped for a moving traffic violation and, accordingly, such noncompliance often is not detected. Thus, there exists the need for an effective vehicle monitoring system which would assist in monitoring compliance with traffic laws, insurance requirements and motor vehicle licensing requirements. Such a system would increase revenue to various governmental subdivisions such as the various states. Further, if a system of this type could reduce the number of vehicle operators in violation of such laws, costs to society would be reduced and the number of accidents, injuries and automobile emissions would be reduced. Further, if a system which monitors motor vehicles would increase compliance with these laws, insurance premiums and other related costs to drivers would also be reduced.

Vehicle monitoring and identification system


A method for automatic anonymous visitor identity resolution using machine learning, which includes generating a visitor histogram set from visitor events of a visitor event stream that include a visitor identifier and an internet protocol address, filtering a set of user identifiers into a candidate set of user identifiers based on the internet protocol address, obtaining one or more user histogram sets generated from user events that include user identifiers from the candidate set of user identifiers, and mapping the visitor identifier to a user identifier of the candidate set of user identifiers using a machine learning model and a histogram similarity matrix generated from the visitor histogram set, the one or more user histogram sets, and a set of histogram similarity functions. The method further includes presenting a response based on the mapping of the visitor identifier to the user identifier.

A registered user of a website may visit and interact with the website before logging into the website. Events that are generated by interacting with the website (e.g., click events) before logging in may include a visitor identifier. Visitor identifiers uniquely identify different visitors of a website. Events from after logging in may include a user identifier. User identifiers uniquely identify different users of a website. Prior to logging in, a system may be unable to resolve which user identifiers correspond to which visitor identifiers. A challenge is to identify a user identifier that corresponds to a visitor identifier from events generated before a user logs into the website.

Automatic anonymous visitor identity resolution using machine learning