Methods of determining values of keywords in an internet search are described. According to one aspect of the invention, a method comprises steps of receiving keywords entered for a plurality of searches; detecting converted transactions associated with the plurality of searches; analyzing the converted transactions; and determining values associated with the keywords based upon the converted transactions. According to other aspects of the invention, methods for recommending subsets of keywords and for recommending keywords based upon converted transactions and click through rates are disclosed. A database search system is also disclosed.

Generally, in a web-based search on an Internet search engine, a user enters a search term comprising one or more keywords, which the search engine then uses to generate a search result list comprising of web pages that the user may access via a hyperlink. There are many ways in which a search engine can return the results list. There are search engines that use automated search technology, which relies in large part on complex, mathematics-based database search algorithms that select and rank web pages based on multiple criteria such as keyword density and keyword location. The search results generated by such mechanisms often rely on blind mathematical formulas and may be random and even irrelevant. These search engines often catalog search results that rely on invisible web site descriptions, or "meta tags", that are authored by web site promoters. It is not uncommon for web site owners to tag their sites as they choose in attempt to attract additional consumer attention at little to no marginal cost and no guarantee that the website's content is actually relevant to the meta tags used on its site.
Internet advertising can offer a level of targetability, interactivity, and measurability not generally available in other media. With the proper tools, Internet advertisers have the ability to direct and target their messages to specific groups of consumers and receive prompt feedback as to the effectiveness of their advertising campaigns such as the services offered by commercial search engine providers such as Overture (overture.com). Many of the traditional paradigms of advertising and search engine algorithms fail to offer appropriate options to businesses or advertisers or to maximize the delivery of relevant information via the web to interested parties in a cost-effective manner for those businesses and advertisers. Ideally, web site promoters or advertisers should be able to control their placement in search result listings so that their listings appear in searches that are relevant to the content of their web site and to control their mode of participation and any associated costs so that such listings are desirable or effective for their marketing objectives in using a commercial search engine. Search engine functionality needs to facilitate an online marketplace which offers consumers quick, easy and relevant search results while providing Internet advertisers and promoters with a cost-effective way to target consumers in a manner they determine most appropriate for their business goals. In this online marketplace, companies selling products, services, or information will be able to determine the options that best suit its advertising and cost needs and appear in desirable positions on a search result list generated by an Internet search engine.
Since advertisers generally must pay for each referral generated through the search result lists generated by the search engine, advertisers have an incentive to select and bid on those search keywords that are most relevant to their web site offerings and are most likely to achieve their marketing goals, e.g. inducing searchers to purchase the advertisers products or services.
A referral can be of any one of a number of types. One type of referral is an impression referral, whereby the advertiser's listing appears in the search results list. Another type of referral is a click-through referral, whereby a consumer clicks on the advertiser's listing. Still another type of referral is an action referral, whereby after the consumer has clicked on the advertiser's listing, the consumer takes further action in connection with the advertiser's web site. These further actions include, for example, actions such as registering with the advertiser's site, participating in a promotion in connection with the advertiser's site, and/or purchasing a good or service from the advertiser. Advertisers can bid on one or more of the various types of referrals. In the case where the advertiser bids on more than one type of referral, a bid will comprise multiple elements, one element per type of referral bid upon. The higher the market value of an advertiser's bid, the higher the advertiser's position on a search result list. The higher an advertiser's position on a search result list, the higher the likelihood of a referral; that is, the higher the likelihood that a consumer will be referred to the advertiser's web site through the search result list by clicking on the result in that position on the page.
The advertiser influences a position for a search listing in the advertiser's account by first selecting a search term relevant to the content of the web site or other information source to be listed. The advertiser enters the search term and the description into a search listing. The advertiser influences the position for a search listing through a continuous online competitive bidding process. The bidding process occurs when the advertiser enters a new bid amount, which is preferably a money amount, for a search listing. The commercial search engine then compares this bid amount with all other bid amounts for the same search term, and generates a rank value for all search listings having that search term. The rank value generated by the bidding process determines where the advertiser's listing will appear on the search results list page that is generated in response to a query of the search term by a searcher or user on the computer network. A higher bid by an advertiser will usually result in a higher rank value and a more advantageous placement although other factors besides bids may also be considered in ranking the search results.
Thus, when a user performs a search on such a search engine, the results are conventionally sorted based on how much each advertiser has bid on the user's search term. Because different users will use different words to find the same information, it is important for an advertiser to bid on a wide variety of search terms in order to maximize the traffic to his site. The better and more extensive an advertiser's list of search terms, the more traffic the advertiser can generate for their website. In cases where the advertiser is able to track relative keyword performance for directing traffic to their website.
However, selecting search terms by an advertiser can be a challenge. Good search terms have three significant properties: they are relevant to the advertiser's site content, they are popular enough that many users are likely to search on them, and they provide good value in terms of the expected return from the traffic they send to the advertiser's website. An advertiser willing to take the time to consider all these factors may get good results. Selecting successful bidding strategies using conventional tools can also be unpredictable because such conventional tools do not take converted transactions into account and cannot aggregate price change data over time. Not only do values of search keywords change over time, conventional tools for helping select a bidding strategy fail to make recommendations for a search based upon converted transactions or other individual advertiser objectives influenced by time.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved database search system and method of determining a value of a keyword in a search over time.

Database search system and method of determining a value of a keyword in a search


A contact portion 9 of a lens holding frame 1 and a contact portion 8 of a nut 10 are so formed that when the lens holding frame 1 and the nut 10 are brought into contact with each other by a coil spring 12, an urging force acts on the lens holding frame 1 in an optical axis direction and an orthogonal direction that orthogonally intersects the optical axis direction.

Conventionally, an imaging device such as a camera has an image pickup optical system composed of a plurality of lenses and image sensors such as charge coupled devices (CCDs) placed at specified positions, in which arrangement a subject image to be formed based on a light pencil incident on the image pickup optical system is formed by the image sensors.
In this type of imaging device, for autofocus function and zoom function, a lens driving device for moving the lens in an optical axis direction is used. In this lens driving device, generally, by rotating a lead screw with use of a stepping motor or the like as a driving source, a lens holding frame is moved in the optical axis direction via a nut having a female screw portion engaged with the lead screw.
In such a lens driving device, the lens holding frame and the nut are fitted to each other, or thrust into contact (urged) against each other with aid of a reaction force (preload) of a spring material, so as to allow individual components involved to smoothly operate, by which backlashes that occur to the lens holding frame in the optical axis direction (thrust direction) are absorbed.
Also in an orthogonal direction (radial direction) that orthogonally intersects the optical axis direction, there occur backlashes due to clearances of components between the guide shaft and the bearing of the lens holding frame, as well as between the lead screw and the nut. Therefore, another spring material is used to apply the urgency in the radial direction as well (JP 2000-206391 A).
On the other hand, there has been known an imaging device in which a mechanical shutter for adjusting light quantity in response to the brightness of the subject is fixed to a lens holding frame so that the mechanical shutter is moved integrally with the lens holding frame (JP H5-134159 A).
In such an imaging device, a flexible printed circuit (FPC) board for controlling the opening and closing of the mechanical shutter changes in configuration along with the movement of the lens holding frame, causing a reaction force of the configuration change to act on the lens holding frame.


A semiconductor circuit design method, system and computer program product for placing a unit pin on a boundary of a unit of a semiconductor circuit to be designed may be provided. Pin position data is received, wherein the pin position data comprises a chip pin position of a chip pin within the chip area and outside of the unit of a semiconductor circuit, to which the unit pin is to be electrically connected. The coordinates of a center point of the unit are determined, as well as a line crossing the center point and the chip pin position. The unit pin is placed on an intersection of the boundary of the unit and the line crossing the center point.

The invention relates generally to chip layouts of a semiconductor and more specifically, to semiconductor circuit designs placing a unit pin on a boundary of a unit of a semiconductor circuit.
Proper chip design remains one of the areas in which experience matters a lot, even though developers and chip designers are supported by highly sophisticated tools and abstraction languages, for example, VHDL (Very High-speed integrated circuit Hardware Description Language). Typically, a large complex semiconductor circuit and the form of a chip are not designed by one developer or a small team, but by a plurality of teams working on different units of the semiconductor chip. At the beginning of the design process, the teams focusing on different functional units, may only loosely work together, i.e., they start to design their specific unit without incorporating direct requirements from other units. However, during later stages of the design, different teams can collaborate to optimize the final semiconductor product. For example, the wiring between the different units using different signal paths on different metal layers can be designed at a later stage in the development process. Further, collaboration between the different teams can optimize the final product. For instance, in order to achieve short lengths of the wires between different units during the wiring phase, the positions of the various units, relative to one another are considered. If a second unit is positioned "south" of a first unit, then in an optimal case, the connection wire between the first and the second unit should not leave the first unit at its "north "side.
As an additional aspect, it may also be taken into account that some changes to the pin placements of units may happen very late in a design process. Thus, a method to interconnect units on a newly designed chip may need to be highly flexible, but at the same time allow a high degree of optimization. In this context, it should be kept in mind that the units of the chip being designed are composed of several blocks of macros, for example, Regression Analysis and linear Model (RLMs), registers, caches, etc. that are combined into the units. A plurality of units may be constructed as cores or complete semiconductor chips. In order to connect the units to each other or to input/output (I/O) pins, unit pins placed at the boundary of a unit are used as endpoints for electrical connections to other units. In the initial phase of the development, unit pins may be defined and positioned but may not initially have electrical connections to units.
US patent publication number 2016/0232275 A1 discloses a "method, a system, and a computer-readable medium . . . that enable efficient design processes for integrated circuits. In particular, tools are described which enable integrated circuit designers to visualize an integrated circuit design without combinational logic and, from such visualization, identify locations in the design of common node logical connectivity."
Further, US patent publication number 2006/0053396 A1 discloses an "electronic design automation system" providing optimization of Register-Transfer Level (RTL) models of "electronic designs, to produce detailed constraints and data precisely defining the requirements for the back-end flows leading to design fabrication. The system takes the RTL model of an electronic design and maps it into an efficient high-level hierarchical representation of the hardware implementation of the design."
However, despite the teachings of US 2016/0232275 and US 2006/0053396, the problem of positioning unit pins remains due to the complexity of the wiring optimization. The wiring between the units and the internal structure of the units should, in the best case, be taken into account when optimizing the metal wire layers. Accordingly, there is a need for a mechanism to optimally place unit pins during the chip design process.

Semiconductor circuit design and unit pin placement

International Business Machines Corporation


A digital loudspeaker and a method for operating a digital loudspeaker are disclosed. In an embodiment a digital loudspeaker includes a substrate, a first stator fixed with respect to the substrate, a second stator fixed with respect to the substrate and spaced at a distance from the first stator, and a membrane between the first stator and the second stator. The membrane is displaceable between a first position in which the membrane mechanically contacts the first stator and a second position in which the membrane mechanically contacts the second stator. The first stator and the second stator are arranged to electrostatically move the membrane from a rest position spaced apart from the first position and the second position to the first position and the second position, respectively.

A majority of the loudspeakers manufactured and used today are of the electrodynamic type. A common design of an electrodynamic speaker includes a permanent magnet, a moveable coil within a magnetic field produced by the permanent magnet, and a membrane attached to the moveable coil. An alternating electric current flowing through the coil causes the coil to oscillate within the magnetic field, thus driving the membrane, which in turn produces a sound. An electrodynamic loudspeaker typically has a relatively large back volume behind the membrane, i.e., at a side of the membrane opposite to the side of the membrane from which the sound waves are propagated to the environment. The size of the back volume of an electrodynamic loudspeaker typically is reciprocally related to the intended frequency range of the loudspeakers, that is, a loudspeaker of a low frequency range typically has a relatively large back volume.
Notable alternatives to electrodynamic loudspeakers are piezoelectric loudspeakers and electrostatic loudspeakers.
Besides the underlying physical phenomenon that is used in a loudspeakers (electrodynamic, piezoelectric, electrostatic, etc.), loudspeakers may also be distinguished by their structure and their method of manufacture. In recent years various solutions were proposed that are aimed at manufacturing loudspeakers based on micromechanical constructions. Some of these solutions propose the use of piezoelectric or ferroelectric materials on micromechanical membranes made from silicon. For the manufacture of such micromechanical loudspeakers, a new material system is integrated into the semiconductor manufacturing process. Typically, the loudspeakers manufactured in this manner are analog transducers, as are the majority of today's loudspeakers.
In contrast to analog loudspeakers, digital loudspeakers use pressure waves having discrete sound pressure levels (SPL). To this end, the sound producing element within the digital loudspeaker performs a predefined movement of a predefined amplitude. A digital-to-analog conversion, which is typically performed electrically and upstream of an electrical input of an analog loudspeaker in many modern electronic devices, is actually moved to the sound or pressure variation side of a digital loudspeaker. The ear of a listener may also be involved in the digital-to-analog conversion of the digital sound signal. Digital loudspeakers typically comprise relatively large arrays of basic transducer elements.


The present invention provides methods of increasing the half-life and/or specific activity of factor VIII. More specifically, the invention provides methods of increasing the half-life and/or specific activity of factor VIII by substituting one or more amino acids in the A2 domain. It further provides methods for producing such factor VIII mutants. The invention also provides polynucleotides encoding the mutant factor VIII, and methods of treating hemophilia using the polypeptides and polynucleotides of the invention.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a mutant factor VIII having increased half-life and/or specific activity, methods of production, and pharmaceutically acceptable compositions and uses thereof.
2. Related Art
Coagulation of blood occurs by either the "intrinsic pathway" or the "extrinsic pathway," whereby certain blood proteins interact in a cascade of proteolytic activations to ultimately convert soluble fibrinogen to insoluble fibrin. These threads of fibrin are cross-linked to form the scaffolding of a clot; without fibrin formation, coagulation cannot occur.
The intrinsic pathway consists of seven steps: (1) the proteolytic activation of factor XII; (2) activated factor XII cleaves factor XI to activate it; (3) activated factor XI cleaves factor IX, thereby activating it; (4) activated factor IX interacts with activated factor VIII to cleave and activate factor X; (5) activated factor X binds to activated factor V on a membrane surface, which complex proteolytically cleaves prothrombin to form thrombin; (6) thrombin proteolytically cleaves fibrinogen to form fibrin; (7) fibrin monomers assemble into fibrils, which are then cross-linked by factor XIII.
The extrinsic pathway consists of the following steps: (1) upon rupture of a blood vessel, factor VII binds to tissue factor, a lipoprotein present in tissues outside the vascular system; (2) factor VII is activated to factor VIIa by proteolytic cleavage; and (3) the factor VIIa-tissue factor complex cleaves and activates factor X. Thereafter, the extrinsic pathway is identical to the intrinsic pathway, i.e. the two pathways share the last three steps described above.
The plasma glycoprotein factor VIII circulates as an inactive precursor in blood, bound tightly and non-covalently to von Willebrand factor. Factor VIII (fVIII) is proteolytically activated by thrombin or factor Xa, which dissociates it from von Willebrand factor (vWf) and activates its procoagulant function in the cascade. In its active form, factor VIIIa (fVIIIa) functions as a cofactor for the factor X activation enzyme complex in the intrinsic pathway of blood coagulation, and it is decreased or nonfunctional in patients with hemophilia A.
In hemophilia, blood coagulation is impaired by a deficiency in certain plasma blood coagulation factors. People with deficiencies in factor VIII or with antibodies against factor VIII suffer uncontrolled internal bleeding that may cause a range of serious symptoms unless they are treated with factor VIII. Symptoms range from inflammatory reactions in joints to early death. The classic definition of factor VIII, in fact, is that substance present in normal blood plasma that corrects the clotting defect in plasma derived from individuals with hemophilia A. A deficiency in vWf can also cause phenotypic hemophilia A because vWf is an essential component of functional factor VIII. In these cases, the half-life of factor VIII is decreased to such an extent that it can no longer perform its particular functions in blood-clotting.
The fVIII protein consists of a homologous A and C domains and a unique B domain which are arranged in the order A1-A2-B-A3-C1-C2 (Vehar, G. A., et al., Nature 312:337–340 (1984)). It is processed to a series of Me2+ linked heterodimers produced by cleavage at the B-A3 junction (Fay, P. J., et al., Biochem. Biophys. Acta. 871:268–278 (1986)), generating a light chain (LCh) consisting of an acidic region (AR) and A3, C1, and C2 domains and a heavy chain (HCh) which consists of the A1, A2, and B domains (FIG. 11).
Activation of fVIII by thrombin leads to dissociation of activated fVIII (fVIIIa) from vWf and at least a 100-fold increase of the cofactor activity. The fVIIIa is a A1/A2/A3-C1-C2 heterotrimer (Fay, P. J., et al., J. Biol. Chem 266:8957–8962 (1991)) in which domains A1 and A3 retain the metal ion linkage (FIG. 11) and the stable dimer A1/A3-C1-C2 is weakly associated with the A2 subunit through electrostatic forces (Fay, P. J., et al., J. Biol. Chem 266:8957–8962 (1991)). Spontaneous dissociation of the A2 subunit from the heterotrimer results in non-proteolytic inactivation of fVIIIa.
The A2 domain is necessary for the procoagulant activity of the factor VIII molecule. Studies show that porcine factor VIII has six-fold greater procoagulant activity than human factor VIII (Lollar, P., and E. T. Parker, J. Biol. Chem. 266:12481–12486 (1991)), and that the difference in coagulant activity between human and porcine factor VIII appears to be based on a difference in amino acid sequence between one or more residues in the human and porcine A2 domains (Lollar, P., et al., J. Biol. Chem. 267:23652–23657 (1992)).
Infusion of fVIII/vWf complex or purified plasma or recombinant fVIII into patients with severe hemophilia A who do not have fVIII (Fijnvandraat, K., et al., Thromb. Haemostas. 77:298–302 (1997); Morfini, M., et al., Thromb. Haemostas. 68:433–435 (1992)) or in normal individuals (Over, J., et al., J. Clin. Invest. 62:223–234 (1978)) results in a similar fVIII disappearance with a half-life of 12–14 hours. Although the complex between fVIII and vWf is crucial for normal half-life and level of factor VIII in the circulation, the mechanisms associated with turnover of fVIII/vWf complex are not well defined.
The human factor VIII gene was isolated and expressed in mammalian cells (Toole, J. J., et al., Nature 312:342–347 (1984); Gitschier, J., et al., Nature 312:326–330 (1984); Wood, W. I., et al., Nature 312:330–337 (1984); Vehar, G. A., et al., Nature 312:337–342 (1984); WO 87/04187; WO 88/08035; WO 88/03558; U.S. Pat. No. 4,757,006), and the amino acid sequence was deduced from cDNA. Capon et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,965,199, disclose a recombinant DNA method for producing factor VIII in mammalian host cells and purification of human factor VIII. Human factor VII expression in CHO (Chinese hamster ovary) cells and BHKC (baby hamster kidney cells) has been reported. Human factor VIII has been modified to delete part or all of the B domain (U.S. Pat. No. 4,868,112), and replacement of the human factor VIII B domain with the human factor V B domain has been attempted (U.S. Pat. No. 5,004,803). The cDNA sequence encoding human factor VIII and predicted amino acid sequence are shown in SEQ ID NOs:1 and 2, respectively.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,859,204, Lollar, J. S., reports mutants of factor VIII having reduced antigenicity and reduced immunoreactivity. U.S. Pat. No. 6,376,463, Lollar, J. S., also reports mutants of factor VIII having reduced immunoreactivity.
Porcine factor VIII has been isolated and purified from plasma (Fass, D. N., et al., Blood 59:594 (1982)). Partial amino acid sequence of porcine factor VIII corresponding to portions of the N-terminal light chain sequence having homology to ceruloplasmin and coagulation factor V and largely incorrectly located were described by Church, et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 81:6934 (1984). Toole, J. J., et al., Nature 312:342–347 (1984) described the partial sequencing of the N-terminal end of four amino acid fragments of porcine factor VIII but did not characterize the fragments as to their positions in the factor VIII molecule. The amino acid sequence of the B and part of the A2 domains of porcine factor VIII were reported by Toole, J. J., et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 83:5939–5942 (1986). The cDNA sequence encoding the complete A2 domain of porcine factor VIII and predicted amino acid sequence and hybrid human/porcine factor VIII having substitutions of all domains, all subunits, and specific amino acid sequences were disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,364,771 by Lollar and Runge, and in WO 93/20093. More recently, the nucleotide and corresponding amino acid sequences of the A1 and A2 domains of porcine factor VIII and a chimeric factor VIII with porcine A1 and/or A2 domains substituted for the corresponding human domains were reported in WO 94/11503. U.S. Pat. No. 5,859,204, Lollar, J. S., discloses the porcine cDNA and deduced amino acid sequences.
Cellular endocytosis mediated by LRP was shown to be a mechanism of removal of a number of structurally unrelated ligands including several proteins related to coagulation or fibrilolysis. These ligands are: complexes of thrombin with antithrombin III (ATIII), heparin cofactor II (HC11) (Kounnas, M. Z., et al., J. Biol. Chem. 271:6523–6529 (1996)), protease nexin I (Knauer, M. F., et al., J. Biol. Chem. 272:12261–12264 (1997)), complexes of urokinase-type and tissue-type plasminogen activators (u-PA and t-PA, respectively) with plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI-1) (Nykjaer, A., et al., J. Biol. Chem. 267:14543–14546 (1992); Orth, K., et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 89:7422–7426 (1992)), thrombospondin (Mikhailenko, I., et al., J. Biol. Chem. 272:6784–6791 (1997)), tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI) (Warshawsky, I., et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 91:6664–6668 (1994)), and factor Xa (Narita, M., et al., Blood 91:555–560 (1998); Ho, G., et al., J. Biol. Chem 271:9497–9502 (1996)).
LRP, a large cell-surface glycoprotein identical to α2-macroglobulin receptor (Strickland, D. K., et al., J. Biol. Chem. 265:17401–17404 (1990)), is a member of the low density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor family which also includes the LDL receptor, very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) receptor, vitellogenin receptor and glycoprotein 330 receptor. LRP receptor consists of the non-covalently linked 515 kDa α-chain (Herz, J., et al., EMBO J. 7:4119–4127 (1988)) containing binding sites for LRP ligands, and the 85 kDa transmembrane β-chain. Within the α-chain, cluster of cysteine-rich class A repeats is responsible for ligand binding (Moestrup, S. K., et al., J. Biol. Chem 268:13691–13696 (1993)). In contrast to the acidic ligand binding region in LRP, ligands of LRP expose regions rich in positively charged amino acid residues (Moestrup, S. K., Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1197:197–213 (1994)). This type of binding and 31 class A repeats present in LRP may be responsible for its wide ligand diversity and ability to serve as a multi-ligand clearance receptor. LRP is expressed in many cell types and tissues including placenta, lung and brain (Moestrup, S. K., et al., Cell Tissue Res. 269:375–382 (1992)) and is a major endocytic receptor in the liver (Strickland, D. K., et al., FASEB J. 9:890–898 (1995)).
A 39 kDa receptor-associated protein (RAP) binds to LRP with high affinity (Kd=4 nM (27)) and inhibits binding and LRP-mediated internalization and degradation of all ligands (Moestrup, S. K., Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1197:197–213 (1994); Williams, S. E., et al., J. Biol. Chem. 267:9035–9040 (1992)), therefore serving as a useful tool for testing whether LRP is involved in endocytosis of a given ligand.
Severe hemophiliacs, who number about 10,000 in the United States, can be treated with infusion of human factor VIII, vWf/factor VIII complex or vWf which will restore the blood's normal clotting ability if administered with sufficient frequency and concentration. However, supplies have been inadequate and problems in therapeutic use occur due to difficulty in isolation and purification, immunogenicity, and the necessity of removing the AIDS and hepatitis infectivity risk.
Several preparations of human plasma-derived factor VIII of varying degrees of purity are available commercially for the treatment of hemophilia A. These include a partially-purified factor VIII derived from the pooled blood of many donors that is heat- and detergent-treated for virus inactivation but contains a significant level of antigenic proteins; and a monoclonal antibody-purified factor VIII that has lower levels of antigenic impurities and viral contamination. At present, there are also five commercially available recombinant human factor VIII products (reviewed by Ananyeva et al. Expert Opin. Pharmacother.; 5:1061–1070 (2004)). Unfortunately, human factor VIII is unstable at physiologic concentrations and pH, is present in blood at an extremely low concentration (0.2 μg/ml plasma), has low specific clotting activity and is rapidly cleared from the circulation.
The problems associated with the commonly used, commercially available, plasma-derived or recombinant factor VIII have stimulated significant interest in the development of a better factor VII product. There is a need for a more potent factor VIII; a factor VIII that is stable at a selected pH and physiologic concentration; a factor VIII that is has a longer half-life in circulating blood.


A patient safety alerting system and methods for providing enhanced patient safety using a patient alerting system are provided. An illustrative patient safety alerting system comprises an output device comprising a set of indicators, each indicator displaying one of a plurality of indicator states, each of the indicator states indicating a level of compliance with patient safety procedures; a set of status lists, each status list corresponding to its respective indicator, wherein the displayed indicator state of the respective indicator corresponds to information in the respective status list, each status list provided for containing information regarding the status of a patient for a component or activity; a processing unit operatively connected to the output device for processing changes to the status lists and corresponding indicators; and an input device operatively connected to the processing unit and configured to interface with a user to allow the user to access information in any of the status lists.

Alerting systems have been used as part of safety practices in various industries. For example, in the 1930s, submarines were introduced with a novel alerting system. Historically, accidents occurred when major openings through the pressure hull had not been closed prior to diving. These apparently obvious errors had resulted in the loss of boats and lives. To improve communication about the status of the submarine, an alerting system was developed. This system incorporated visual feedback to the dive officer and the captain about the status of all openings to the sea. When a particular hull opening was not closed to the sea, the corresponding indicator would be set to a "Red" colored state. When this hull opening was closed, the indicator would be set to a "Green" state. The submarine personnel could quickly glance at the state of the "Greenboard" or "Christmas Tree" prior to giving the order to dive. This safety system is believed to have reduced the likelihood of loss of submarines in the United States Navy.
In aviation, similar safety systems have been implemented. Some of the more advanced aviation systems have incorporated electronic checklists with visual and auditory alerting. Other industries in which operational safety is paramount, including the nuclear power industry and in the launching of nuclear missiles, have incorporated similar alerting systems.
The Agency for Health Care Research and Quality (AHRQ) has proposed that medical institutions introduce safety practices similar to those used in other industries. An analysis of "sentinel events," events involving death or serious injury, has found that the Operating Room (OR) has the highest incidence of patient safety "events." Examples of OR events that represent potential opportunities for improvement include anything that does or could cause patient harm. Examples of events that do or could contribute to patient harm include: wrong site surgical procedures, not providing needed medications, incorrect timing of medications, incomplete instrumentation, incorrect instrumentation, lack of needed supplies, incorrect supplies, lack of medical records, lack of relevant imaging, sponge counting, needle counting, and others.
Additionally, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) has begun to survey all JCAHO accredited health care organizations for implementation of the following recommendations—or acceptable alternatives—as appropriate to the services the organization provides. Failure by an organization to implement any of the applicable recommendations (or an acceptable alternative) will result in a special Type I recommendation. The specific goals of this initiative include:    1. Improve the process of patient, surgical site and procedure verification.            a. Extend the current preoperative verification process by implementing an electronic checklist.        b. Facilitate this identification and comply with 2003 JCAHO criteria by confirming and recording that appropriate documents (e.g., medical records, imaging studies) are available at the time of the surgical episode.        c. Implement a process to mark the surgical site and involve the patient in the marking process.            2. Improve the effectiveness of communication among caregivers in the delivery of surgical care.    3. Improve the timely administration of prophylactic antibiotics.    4. Improve the effectiveness of clinical alerting systems.    5. Provide a closed loop feedback system to support ongoing process improvement.
Presently, most procedures that are implemented to reduce "sentinel events" comprise manual checklists. Not only is the use of such lists cumbersome, manual checklists are prone to error by the person completing the checklist. Also, if a step is omitted, it is often difficult to determine if the step had actually been omitted, or if the person performing the step merely failed to fill out the form. This is particularly problematic if the oversight is not noted immediately. The automated checklist in U.S. Pat. No. 5,267,147 overcomes some of these shortcomings, but relies on sequential review of checklist items.
Medical alert or alarm systems for equipment operation or patient conditions are also known. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,319,355 and 5,534,851 provide an alarm for a life support system that provides information for "medical conditions of patients and the status and operational conditions of any medical equipment that may be used in a pre-hospital, post-hospital, or in-hospital setting." Col. 3, lines 29–32 (See also Col. 4, lines 7–22). U.S. Pat. No. 5,416,695 discloses a medical alert system used for medical and geodetic information, such as for use with ambulatory patients. U.S. Pat. No. 5,579,775 teaches a telemetry system for monitoring a patient's physiological conditions. U.S. Pat. No. 6,032,035, discloses a portable transmitter for an emergency response system, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,607,481, discloses an emergency call system for dispatchers. U.S. Publication Nos. 2002/0082480 and 2002/0120310, disclose systems for management of medical devices. U.S. Publication 2003/0022815 displays tasks for patient care, and PCT Publication No. WO 94/22098 discloses a patient care and communication system. While many of these alert systems and automated checklists, the references for which are herein incorporated by reference, could be used in connection with the present invention, none of these systems teaches a display of the status of various safety activities applicable to a particular healthcare environment.
It is desired to provide an alert system for patient care, illustratively for use in various healthcare environments, such as the operating room, that easily alerts appropriate medical personnel of any deficiencies, including missing information, tests, or materials required for surgery. Such a system would operate to minimize events that do or could cause harm to the patient. Illustratively, the system would provide appropriate alerts in pre-operative, operative, and post-operative environments. However, it is understood that the systems and methods may be used for other aspects of patient care.


A long lifetime work glove is provided for use in works of pulling a rope and the like during fishing, for example. A first reinforcement coat is formed on the surface of a fiber-made base glove to cover a portion that extends along sides of and towards tips of a thumb and a forefinger through the center of a crotch between the thumb and forefinger, by adhering to the portion a liquid of compound rubber latex, and a second reinforcement coat is formed to cover the surface of the base glove except the back thereof, by adhering a liquid of compound rubber latex to the corresponding surface area of the base glove including the portion already covered with the first reinforcement coat.

There has been a known reinforced work glove which is manufactured by forming a single layer reinforcement coat on the surface of a fiber-made base glove (hereinafter simply called "base glove"), by adhering to the base glove a liquid of compound rubber latex containing synthetic rubber as its main component.
The above mentioned work glove manufactured by adhering the liquid of compound rubber latex to the base glove is intended for use mainly in outdoor heavy works. However, while pulling a rope or the like in the fishing industry, for example, the gloves are prone to be worn out and broken at the crotch portion between the thumb and the forefinger of the glove, in spite of the reinforcement coat formed over the surface of the base glove. Thus, there has been a problem that the work gloves have a short lifetime.


This method for producing trifluoromethanesulfonic anhydride reacting trifluoromethanesulfonic acid with phosphorus pentoxide to produce trifluoromethanesulfonic anhydride, wherein hardening of the reaction solution due to polyphosphoric acid, which is produced as a byproduct, is prevented by using an excess amount of trifluoromethanesulfonic acid with respect to the phosphorus pentoxide.

Conventionally, the method for producing trifluoromethanesulfonic anhydride by reacting trifluoromethanesulfonic acid with phosphorus pentoxide, as illustrated in the formula below, has been known (see Patent Documents 1 and 2). In this method, ordinarily an excess amount of phosphorus pentoxide (2 to 4 times mole) is used with respect to the trifluoromethanesulfonic acid in order to increase the conversion ratio of the trifluoromethanesulfonic acid.6CF3SO3H+P2O5→3(CF3SO2)2O+2H3PO4
This conventional production method, however, has the problem that when the reaction rate of the trifluoromethanesulfonic acid approaches approximately 60%, glass-like polyphosphoric acid produced as a byproduct accumulates and hardens the reaction solution, making it difficult to stir the reaction solution, and the reaction cannot be carried out further. It is also not easy to remove the byproduct of polyphosphoric acid or carry out processing after the reaction, and it is extremely difficult to distill and recover the unreacted trifluoromethanesulfonic acid and to dilute the polyphosphoric acid. For these reasons, the industrial production of trifluoromethanesulfonic anhydride has been plagued with problems.
In the conventional production method, since a large amount of unreacted trifluoromethanesulfonic acid remains, there is known the method of adding water or phosphoric acid, or adding further trifluoromethanesulfonate metal salt, to the distillation residue and then distilling this to recover the unreacted trifluoromethanesulfonic acid (see Patent Document 1). However, since the reaction between the solidified distillation residue and water is accompanied by a sudden rise in temperature due to the reaction heat, it is dangerous and difficult to perform industrially.
A method of using a fluorine-based solvent in order to improve the reduced yield due to hardening of the reaction solution is known (Patent Documents 3 and 4). Examples of the solvents that may be used in this method include fluoroalkylsulfonic anhydrides, fluoroalkylsulfonate esters, perfluoroalkanes, perfluroalkylamines, and perfluoropolyethers that contain the desired substance, but none of these solvents sufficiently dissolves polyphosphoric acid. As a result, after the reaction, it is necessary to add water or phosphoric acid as in the case of the conventional method in order to sufficiently recover the produced trifluoromethanesulfonic anhydride by distillation.
Another method that is known is that of producing trifluoromethanesulfonic anhydride by reacting with phosphorous pentachloride, phosphorous trichloride, and chlorine (Patent Documents 5 and 6). In this case, however, there is the problem that when, after the reaction, the produced trifluoromethanesulfonic anhydride is recovered by distillation, a byproduct of phosphorus oxychloride and the trifluoromethanesulfonic anhydride are difficult to separate because their boiling points are close to one another.
Patent Document 1: U.S. Pat. No. 5,004,829
Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. H02-268148
Patent Document 3: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. H09-227498
Patent Document 4: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. H10-114734
Patent Document 5: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. H11-236365
Patent Document 6: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. H11-236366

Method for producing trifluoromethanesulfonic anhydride


A lane keeping control device of a vehicle sets a motor basic current according to driver steering torque, calculates a feed-forward control amount on the basis of a traveling road shape, calculates a deviation between positions of a vehicle track and a target course at a forward observation point to calculate a lateral position feedback control amount, calculates a yaw angle feedback control amount on the basis of a yaw angle of the vehicle, sets a lateral position feedback gain of the lateral position feedback amount to be larger when a traveling road width is large than when the traveling road width is small, and sets a yaw angle feedback gain of the yaw angle feedback control amount to be larger when the traveling road width is small than when the traveling road width is large.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a lane keeping control device of a vehicle that drives an electric power steering motor to travel along a set target course.
2. Related Art
In recent years, for the purpose of reducing traffic accidents and burdens on drivers, various techniques have been developed and proposed for lane keeping control devices that support, assist, and control steering so that vehicles can travel along a set target course. For instance, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (JP-A) No. 2007-326534 discloses a technique for a vehicular lane keeping support device that detects lateral displacement from the vicinity of a lane center of a vehicle on the basis of lane shape information obtained by an image captured by a camera and calculates, on the basis of the detected lateral displacement, reference steering torque to be applied to the vehicle to enable the vehicle to travel along the lane. According to the technique, steering torque to be applied to the vehicle is changed from the reference steering torque by increasing a dead zone or reducing a gain of the steering torque with respect to the lateral displacement when a lane width of a road is large compared with when the lane width is small.
When a driver travels on a road, as illustrated in FIG. 8A, if the driver travels on a traveling road having a large traveling road width (Wr>C: Wr represents traveling road width and C represents reference width set in advance) like an expressway, it is possible to assist steering of the driver and perform natural and stable lane keeping control along a target course by performing feedback control to eliminate a deviation from a target course set on the traveling road (e.g., the center of the traveling road). On the other hand, as illustrated in FIG. 8B, if the driver travels on a traveling road having a small traveling road width (Wr<C) like a general road, obstacles such as parked vehicles and oncoming vehicles are often present on the traveling road. The driver needs to travel while avoiding the obstacles. The driver has a lot of difficulties in traveling a target course on the traveling road. Taking into account such actual traveling environments, the lane keeping control device disclosed in JP-A No. 2007-326534 attempts to improve lateral position retaining performance in a lane by intensifying control when a road width decreases. Then, on the contrary, the lane keeping control for traveling along the target course prevents the steering of the driver.


Disclosed are an image sensor and a method for manufacturing the same. The image sensor includes a semiconductor substrate including a unit pixel, first to third color filters provided on the semiconductor substrate, a first micro-lens provided on each of the first and third color filters, and a second micro-lens provided on the second color filter, in which an outer periphery of the first micro-lens has a square shape, and an upper portion of the first micro-lens has a semi-spherical or convex shape.

Embodiments of the invention relate to an image sensor and a method for manufacturing the same.
An image sensor is a semiconductor device that converts an optical image into electric signals. The image sensor is mainly classified into a charge coupled device (CCD) image sensor and a complementary metal oxide silicon (CMOS) image sensor (CIS).
The CMOS image sensor includes a photodiode and a MOS transistor in each unit pixel, and sequentially detects the electric signals of each unit pixel in a switching mode to realize images.
In the CMOS image sensor, as a design rule is gradually reduced, the size of the unit pixel can be reduced, but the photosensitivity of the photodiode is also reduced. In order to enhance the photosensitivity of such an image sensor, a micro-lens is formed on a color filter. The micro-lens may be formed in a semi-spherical shape by performing an exposure process, a development process, and a reflow process on a photosensitive organic material. The micro-lens should have an optimal size, thickness, and radius of curvature depending of the size and the position of each unit pixel.

Image sensor and method for manufacturing the same


Improvements in the disperse dyeing process for hydrophobic textiles by the use of novel dye carrier formulations are disclosed. The carrier composition for use in disperse dyeing of hydrophobic textile material preferably comprises an alkylphthalimide carrier component and a clay dispersing agent. Dye baths and methods of disperse dyeing of a hydrophobic textile material are also disclosed. The use of clay as a dispersing agent allows for the use of carrier compositions with reduced health and environmental hazards without adversely affecting dyeing characteristics.

The invention relates to the use of smectite clays as dispersing agents for dye carriers in the dyeing of hydrophobic textiles.
Certain hydrophobic textiles such as polyester (polyethylene terephthalate, sometimes known as PET), triacetate and aramid textiles are difficult to dye with disperse dyes at temperatures below their glass transition temperatures (T.sub.g). Adequate dyeing rates are achieved when the dyeing temperature exceeds T.sub.g, and economic dyeing rates are achieved with high temperature dyeing (ca. 130.degree. C.). Adequate rates of disperse dyeing of hydrophobic textiles at lower temperatures can be achieved by the use of dye carrier compounds, sometimes referred to as dye assistants or accelerants (referred to herein by the term "dye carrier" or "carrier component"). Dye carriers have an affinity for and an ability to swell or plasticize the textile fibers and may be visualized as "carrying" the dye into the fibers. Dye carriers are typically low molecular weight, aromatic, hydrophobic organic oils that facilitate the dyeing process by plasticizing the surfaces of the fibers so that dye molecules can penetrate more rapidly and at lower temperatures. Examples of popular compounds for use as dye carriers in dyeing polyester textile material include aromatic and halogenated aliphatic hydrocarbons and phenols, such as o-phenylphenol, diphenyl or chlorinated benzenes, alkylphthalimide compounds, biphenyl, and o-chlorotoluene.
Effective carrier compounds are insoluble in the aqueous dye bath and are added to the dye bath as emulsions with the aid of a dispersing agent. Effective dispersing systems for carrier compounds must perform two functions: (1) the function of maintaining the organic carrier dispersed in an aqueous solution; and (2) the function of allowing the organic carrier to come into contact with the surface of the fiber. For some dispersing agents, these functions may be at odds with each other in that a strong dispersing agent may partition the carrier oil into the aqueous phase, allowing reduced contact with the hydrophobic textile.
The use of carrier agents in disperse dyeing of textiles is well known, including the use of alkylphthalimides and derivatives thereof. See for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,574,513, 4,780,105 and 4,994,089, and British patent 2,247,470, granted Mar. 4, 1992.
Many of the commonly used dye carrier formulations present health and environmental risks. While the use of dye carriers such as alkylphthalimides would minimize these risks, as well as objectionable odor of some previous carriers, performance versus cost concerns with previous alkylphthalimide carrier formulations have resulted in their being underutilized in the industry. Therefore, there is a long felt need for dye carrier formulations which are more acceptable as concerns safety and which deliver effective, efficient performance in the dyeing process.

Clay-containing dispersing composition for carriers used in the disperse dyeing of hydrophobic textiles


A system and method of processing wireless signal of data pulses or packets in a communicator system, in which a coded signal is received, synchronized and a histogram of signal parameters is constructed within the receiver at regular intervals. The date in the histogram is then compared to expected values for e given parameter and an appropriate correction factor is generated and utilized in subsequent signal synchronization.

Communication systems are facing a wide variety of system integrity challenges in today's ever advancing electronic world. The rapidly increasing use of wireless communication systems, often co-located with complementary wireless systems provides increased opportunity for signal corruption between intended users. Additionally, in some instances denial of signal reception to unwanted users is highly desirable both in civilian and military settings. In order to accomplish the above goals a mixture of techniques have arisen to ensure accurate signal reception only to desired users.
Among the more prominent transmission schemes for communication systems are systems that implement spread spectrum, frequency hopping and correction code techniques or hybrid systems. Such schemes allow for minimizing the effects of signal interference such as, crosstalk or noise, or alternatively, the effects of intentional signal jamming. In addition it is often desirable to transmit signals in any given region without altering those individuals not intended to receive the transmission.
One example of a system utilizing such technologies is the Joint Tactical Information Distribution System ("JDIDS"). JDIDS is a spread spectrum, time-division-multiple-access system that allows a very large number of designated users to communicate among themselves. A specific waveform having a specified number of pulses with each pulse having a specified number of date bits, has been developed to support JDIDS communications. Additionally, receiver architecture is somewhat standardized generally categorized by total functionality and the physical size of the unit
JTIDS users forming a specific network each have a common code sequence that determines the pseudo-noise and frequency-hopping modulation. A JTIDS network is considered "nodsness", and the loss of any one user does not result in a degradation of transmitted information by or to other users. Furthermore, users may transit or receive information to all other users on a given network, thereby forming a virtual information "bus", with respect to the defined network. Thus, the network routinely consists of JTIDS terminals located upon platform that are moving at very high speeds in the case of certain jet aircraft or missile applications, as well as stationary units or unit based upon ships or hand-held.
Prior art methods of processing JTIDS signals was to utilize correlators of various configuration, keyed upon certain data bits in a waveform pulse subsequent to analyzing predetermined data bit positions for the transmitted message. In this manner JTIDS network users were able to synchronize transmitted signals and utilize transmitted information.
To counter the effects of interference, intentional or otherwise, on a given frequency some users resort to utilizing high power transmitters. This brute force type approach can be exceedingly expensive in terms of allocated resources, especially in light of hopped signals and sophisticated interference practices. An alternate approach involves the use of a filter, in continuous operation, to counter the effects of a known interfering signal of relatively narrow bandwidth. This type of interference is typically referred to as excitable interference and is accordingly relatively easy to remove from the desired signal.
A more difficult type of interference to contend with that which varies in duration and frequency, or closely resembles the desired signal, often referred to as non-excises interference. Not only is the identification of such non-excitable interference more complex than existing interference, but the removal, suppression and adaptation to varying parameters is also of increased sophistication.
Accordingly, a new method of processing communication systems signals of a given format that readily identifies non-excitable interference and suppresses or removes such interference is highly desired.

Method of processing error-control coded, frequency-hopped communication signals


A method for converting an electrical connector to provide an insulated opening, including the steps of providing an electrical connector including a conductive block having at least one cavity having an upwardly oriented opening and a closed bottom, and an insulating outer coating at least partially surrounding the block, forming a hole through the bottom, and positioning an insulative sleeve through the cavity and the hole so as to provide an insulated passage extending through the electrical connector.

Electrical or power connectors are known for connecting various different conductive elements, and FIG. 1 shows a cross-sectional view of a conventional connector of the type in question. Connector 10 includes a conductive block 12 having a series of contact channels 14 each of which opens upwardly through a threaded opening as shown, and also opens towards the front of the device and the rear of the device as schematically illustrated by dashed lines 16. An insulative coating or jacket 20 is positioned around block 12.
In use, elements are passed into the front or back openings illustrated by dashed circles 16, and a threaded member is screwed down through the upward opening into threads 18 so as to frictionally engage a member passed through front or back openings 16 as desired. In this manner, conductive elements can be electrically connected through fastening in connector 10.
It is sometimes desirable to mount a device such as device 10 to a secure or otherwise rigid location and the like. In such instances, the most convenient form of mounting would be to use mechanical fasteners. However, device 10 does not lend itself well to such mounting, and therefore completely separate and different devices are provided having structure included for mounting of the device. Unfortunately, this leads to excessive amounts of required inventory, as well as multiple parts and other disadvantages.
It is the primary object of the present invention to provide an electrical connector which can readily and advantageously be converted to have one or more mountable openings.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a device whereby conversion is a simple and easily accomplished task.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide an adaptor member for use in converting an electrical connector, as well as a process for converting an electrical connector, each of which presents the advantageous features of the present invention.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will appear hereinbelow.

Electrical connector with adaptor for converting one or more openings to mountable openings


An information processing method and an electronic device are provided to rend key content of a short message in picture and text so that the user may observe the key content of the short message clearly and quickly. The method includes extracting target content from the content of a short message upon receiving the short message, with the target content corresponding to a preset field of the short message and generating and displaying a graphics-text card according to the target content, such that content rendered in the graphics-text card is matched with the content of the short message.

The present disclosure relates to the electronic technology field, and more particularly to an information processing method and an electronic device.
With the development of the science and technology, there are increasingly rich functions in an electronic device, and there are increasingly more setting options and control identifications for controlling various functions. For example, a mobile phone has evolved from having a communication function only, to having functions such as surfing on the net, editing documents, playing games, or the like, and has become one of the indispensable electronic devices of users.
Currently, there are many short messages received at a user's mobile phone, such as a consumption transaction, a booking notification, or the like. In the prior art, the short message is rendered in text. Then, when the user reads a large amount of information, it is difficult for him or her to know the content of the short message quickly, or to see the key content clearly at a first glance.

Information processing method and electronic device


A positioning device for assembling parts on a structure is disclosed. More specifically, the positioning device is designed for assembling fixed brackets to an aircraft structure. A laser projector is fastened directly on the rigid aircraft structure; its position is therefore stable in relation to the latter, even if the structure undergoes slight deformations. The position of the projector is determined accurately by utilizing targets, which are also fastened to the primary structure. A method for implementing the positioning device is also disclosed.

The fixed brackets of an aircraft structure are used to position and support systems in said structure. These systems are paths for electrical cables or piping that transports various fluids, cabin fitting elements such as brackets for luggage racks or equipment.
These brackets are generally fastened to the structure of the fuselage by rivets or structural bonding. In the case of a commercial aircraft, such as a wide-body airplane, the number, kind and positioning of these brackets vary from one plane to another, depending on the fittings options chosen by the airline operating said aircraft. Accordingly, said brackets must be positioned and fastened on the structure upon request. The required positioning accuracy is of the order of one millimeter.
It is known from the prior art to use a laser projector to project the outline of said brackets onto the structure at their planned positions and in this way to facilitate the work of the team in charge of fastening said brackets to the aircraft's structure. These devices are, however, complicated to use and do not, in general, make it possible to achieve the required level of accuracy. The main difficulty is in obtaining a known and stable positioning of the projector within the aircraft structure. In effect, such a projector uses the information from a digital model, which comprises the geometric definition of the brackets as well as their position and orientation within the structure, to calculate the corrections required to the projection so that the projected outline is identical to the outline of the object to be positioned. These correction factors take into account, in particular, the exact distance from the focal point of the projection lens to the projection surface, and the angle between the optical axis and the normal to said surface. For this reason, these parameters must be perfectly known and able to be determined.
In addition, because the aircraft's structure at this stage of the assembly is bristling with structure elements such as frames, stringers or mountings, there are optimum positions of the projector that provide access to a maximum volume of visibility, i.e. these remarkable positions of the projector allow a maximum number of outlines to be projected on the structure without the beam being obscured by the elements making up said structure.
According to the prior art, the projector is placed on a tripod, often outside the structure, whose position in relation to this structure cannot be known accurately. In addition, this position is not stable. Consequently, the required accuracy cannot be achieved.

Device for assembling brackets in an aircraft structure


In one embodiment, a method is provided. The method comprises determining a first value of a coefficient of an edge-determining algorithm in response to a spatial resolution of a first image acquired with an image capture device onboard a vehicle, a spatial resolution of a second image, and a second value of the coefficient in response to which the edge-determining algorithm generated a second edge map corresponding to the second image. The method further comprises determining, with the edge-determining algorithm in response to the coefficient having the first value, at least one edge of at least one object in the first image. The method further comprises generating, in response to the determined at least one edge, a first edge map corresponding to the first image. The method further comprises determining at least one navigation parameter of the vehicle in response to the first and second edge maps.

Vehicles, such as manned and unmanned aircraft, can include an onboard Inertial Navigation System (hereinafter "INS") that includes one or more Inertial Measurement Units (hereinafter "IMU") to determine and to track one or more of vehicle position, velocity, and attitude (e.g., pitch, roll, yaw).
A potential problem with using an IMU in an INS is that the IMU can suffer from accumulated error, which leads to the navigation parameters (e.g., position, velocity, attitude) that the INS estimates from the IMU output values "drifting" relative to the actual navigation parameters. That is, the respective difference between each estimated and actual navigation parameter accumulates such that over time, the error between the estimated and actual parameter values increases and can become significant if not corrected on a periodic or other basis.
One way to periodically correct the estimated navigation parameters is to use a Global Navigation Satellite System, such as a Global Positioning System (hereinafter "GPS") to determine accurate values of the navigation parameters, and to feed the accurate, or truth, parameter values to, e.g., a Kalman filter, which alters the coefficients that the filter uses to estimate navigation parameters such as position, velocity, and attitude so that these navigation parameters will, over time, converge to accurate values. That is, the Kalman filter uses the GPS values not only to correct the estimated navigation parameters at one time, but to make more accurate the algorithm that estimates the navigation parameters.
Unfortunately, because it may be subject to geographic outages and other times of unavailability caused by, e.g., spoofing or jamming of GPS signals, GPS may, at certain times, be unavailable for use by an INS to correct the estimates made in response to an IMU.
Therefore, a need has arisen for a technique and system that allows for correction, periodic or otherwise, of navigation parameters estimated by an INS in response to navigation data generated by an IMU even when GPS is unavailable.

Adaptive gaussian derivative sigma systems and methods


In order to provide sound absorbing structure capable of reducing the noise of electronic equipment while maintaining the cooling capability of the electronic equipment, there is provided sound absorbing structure in which a plurality of penetrating openings are provided by arranging a plurality of acoustic materials having a predetermined shape at predetermined intervals in a flow channel of cooling fluid from a blower, and the plurality of acoustic materials are arranged so that the sound vertically incident on a penetrating plane of the penetrating openings from the blower does not directly go out of the electronic equipment.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to sound absorbing structure of electronic equipment having the structure for cooling a heat generating element by means of a blower.
2. Description of Related Art
It is common knowledge that the development of a semiconductor used for electronic equipment, especially of a semiconductor as typified by a CPU of information processing equipment is remarkable, and the semiconductor heads for high heat generating amount and high density. In this connection, due to increase of the mounting number of blowers for cooling and the revolution speed of the blower, the noise value of the equipment also tends to increase. On the other hand, the frequency of placing the electronic equipment in an office room increases, and therefore the demand of decreasing noise of the electronic equipment becomes strong. Accordingly, sound absorbing structure using an acoustic material is often disposed in the vicinity of the blower in an electronic equipment case, or in a rack cabinet and the like outside the electronic equipment case where the electronic equipment is installed. In the case of the conventional sound absorbing structure providing a sound absorbing channel by combining a plurality of acoustic materials as shown in FIG. 10, the volume of the sound absorbing structure per se becomes large, and therefore there have been many restrictions on an installation space, handling, and the like. Further, due to its imbalanced sound absorbing structure in which the plurality of acoustic materials are combined, the distribution of cooling fluid becomes uneven, which may be an obstacle to uniform cooling of the inside of the electronic equipment. In addition, while the recent electronic equipment basically has the same substrate and sheet metal structure in its inside, it becomes often the case that the equipment is used across several generations by replacing a CPU mounted in its inside. Therefore, the revolution speed of the blower has been changed in order to obtain the cooling capability adequate to each generation, and the sound absorbing structure has been changed in response to allowable fluid resistance of the internal equipment.
The conventional sound absorbing structure is also shown in JP-A-5-226864, JP-U-3-48293 and JP-U-63-145392, for example.

Sound absorbing structure of electronic equipment


An aberration estimating method using a steepest descent method is configured to estimate, as an aberration of a test optical system, an aberration when a predetermined evaluation function becomes less than or equal to a permissible value. The aberration estimating method comprising the step of updating the aberration with a sum of a current aberration and a first derivative of the evaluation function by the aberration when the evaluation function is larger than the permissible value. The aberration is an aberration of an entire pupil plane of the test optical system. The updating step includes calculating the first derivative by Fourier-transforming the difference instead of an integration at coordinates of respective points on an image plane of the test optical system.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an aberration estimating method for measuring an aberration of a test optical system, a program, and an image-pickup apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Several methods have conventionally been suggested each of which measures an aberration of a test optical system without a measuring device such as an interferometer and a shack-hartmann sensor. For example, D. Russell Luke, James V. Burke, Richard G. Lyon, Optical Wavefront Reconstruction: Theory and Numerical Methods, Usa, Siam Review, Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics, 2002, Vol. 44, p. 169-224 ("Luke et al.") suggests an optimization method for estimating an aberration of a test optical system from a plurality of images acquired by changing a focus when a light source is a point light source (such as a star). R. Miyakawa, P. Naulleau, A. Zakhor, K. Goldberg, Iterative Procedure for In-situ Optical Testing with an Incoherent Source, Proceedings of Spie, (USA) Spie Press, 2010, Vol. 7636, p. 76361k-1˜76361k-7 ("Miyakawa et al.") suggests a method of illuminating an object by an extensive light source, that is, a partially coherent illumination, and of estimating an aberration using the genetic simulated annealing from a plurality of images acquired by changing a focus. However, the genetic simulated annealing requires a long time for calculations. The steepest descent method configured to search for a minimum value of a function from a slope of the function (first derivative) is known as a relatively fast optimization method. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. ("JP") 2007-163461 suggests a method for estimating an aberration of a test optical system by illuminating an object by a partially coherent illumination, and using the steepest descent method based on positional shifts of a plurality of images acquired by changing a focus. However, the estimation accuracy decreases when an aberration is estimated only from the positional shift.
Each of the above prior art references requires a long time for calculations, and it is difficult to quickly and precisely measure an aberration of a test optical system.

Aberration estimating method, program, and image-pickup apparatus


Disclosed is a method for electric clamping, which performs a clamping process in parallel with a core-drawing-in process, avoiding damages of molds and core mechanisms and enabling secure clamping. The method comprises the steps of: setting a check point, for judging safety of the clamping process in advance, in a position that is nearer to the operational start position by a predetermined distance in the mold opening direction than a position of the movable mold when the core-drawing-in process is expected to be completed, wherein the core-drawing-in process and the clamping process proceed in parallel with each other in a straight course for reciprocating a movable mold; activating a core system and a servo-motor to start an operation to draw a core into a cavity in parallel with an operation to move the movable mold in the mold closing direction; detecting whether or not the movable mold reaches the check point; judging whether or not the core reaches the position in which the core is fully drawn into the cavity at a point of time at which the movable mold reaches the check point, and confirming the completion of the core-drawing-in process. Thereafter, the clamping process of the molds is further continued if confirming that the core-drawing-in process is already completed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for electric clamping using a die casting machine, and particularly to a method for electric clamping using a die casting machine equipped with a mold having a core.
2. Background Art
In the past, molding which utilizes a core has been widely used in the field of injection molding machines and die casting machines. In the case of setting a core in a mold, there is an issue on the relation to the clamping process. Conventionally, methods of performing a core-drawing-in process, i.e., a process in which a core is drawn into a mold, before or after the clamping process, or otherwise methods of performing the clamping process in parallel with the core-drawing-in process have been known.
In the former methods, while a safe and secure clamping operation can be provided, the clamping process and the core-drawing-in process must be arranged in series, leading to lengthen the cycle time of the molding. On the other hand, in the latter methods, the cycle time can be shortened since the claming process and the core-drawing-in process are performed in parallel with each other, thereby enhancing the productivity.
However, in the latter methods, when the core-drawing-in process is complicated, the core, the mechanism to draw the core into the mold, or the mold itself may be damaged unless the core-drawing-in process has completed before the final mold closing step of the clamping process.
For improving efficiency of the clamping process in the die casting machines, or for prevention of the damages of the mechanism of die casting machines, molds and cores to be used, various improvements are needed.
In particular, in a die casting machine including an electric clamping unit using a servo-motor, compatibility of speedup of the clamping operation, i.e., enhancement of the productivity and efficiency, and ability to perform the clamping operation and the core-drawing-in process in parallel, are further required.
To address this situation, the technology of preventing the above-mentioned damages using various detectors has been known in the field of die casting machines. For example, in Japanese Patent Application No. 1995-88616, an example of mechanisms for preventing galling of an ejector pin, which uses a pressure sensor, is described.

Method and apparatus for electric clamping


Systems and methods relating to an end-of-arm-tool that can be used in connection with the automated handling of vehicles, such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), are disclosed. The described systems and methods can include an end-of-arm-tool which may include a load cell coupled to an end effector, such that forces and torques exerted on the end effector are translated onto the load cell. The measurement of forces and torques exerted on the end effector can facilitate determining various information in connection with the aerial vehicle, such as inertial properties or parameters associated with the aerial vehicle, the quality of the engagement between the end effector and the aerial vehicle, as well as diagnostic information in connection with the aerial vehicle. Additionally, the use of a load cell to measure forces and torques exerted on the end effector can eliminate the need to utilize traditional contact sensors typically required on the contact surfaces of an end-of-arm tool.

Aerial vehicles typically require handling that is meticulous and precise. However, manual handling of aerial vehicles can be difficult, time consuming, and can often lead to damage of the aerial vehicle. For example, various components such as pitot tubes and wings can be damaged, calibrated sensors can be inadvertently moved thereby requiring recalibration, connectors can become dislodged, etc. Further, the aerial vehicles can be unknowingly subjected to forces and torques that may compromise the structural integrity of the aerial vehicle.


A vehicle physical quantity estimating device including: a longitudinal vehicle body velocity estimating unit, estimating a longitudinal vehicle body velocity based on vehicle wheel velocities of each wheel; a longitudinal/lateral acceleration state value deviation computing unit, computing deviations in longitudinal and lateral acceleration state values based on output sensor signals corresponding to detected values of the vehicle motions of triaxial accelerations and triaxial angular velocities output from a sensor, and the estimated longitudinal vehicle body velocity; a low pass filter, letting only signals corresponding to motions that need attention pass through from the longitudinal/lateral acceleration state value deviation computing unit 14; and an attitude angle estimating unit, estimating the attitude angle based on the sensor signal(s), and signal(s) representing the deviations in longitudinal and lateral acceleration state values after low pass filter processing. Also, a memory medium, storing a computer program for the device.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a vehicle physical quantity estimating device, and to a memory medium storing a computer program for operating such a device. In particular, the present invention relates to a device for estimating, as vehicle physical quantities, such as, an attitude angle of a vehicle relative to a vertical axis, and/or a vehicle velocity in the forward-reverse (longitudinal) direction and a vehicle velocity in the lateral direction, and to a memory medium storing a computer program for operating such a device.
2. Related Art
The relationship between the acceleration and angular velocity of a rigid moving body and the attitude angle of a vehicle expressed in Euler angles is known from "Introduction to Aircraft Dynamics" (page 12, by Kato, Oya, and Karasawa; published by Tokyo University Publishers, 1982) and the like, and by integration computation based on this relationship, the attitude angle of a vehicle may be derived. However, in simple integration computation, sensor drift errors accumulate, and an accurate attitude angle cannot be derived. In order to overcome such an accumulated error in integration computation, it is necessary to configure an observer that compares the result to the output from another sensor signal and carries out correction so that they approximately match.
As conventional technology using such a correction method for estimating an attitude angle from a vehicle acceleration signal, and angular velocity signal, is the known technology of: using a signal showing vehicle velocity as the another sensor signal, and estimating the sensor inclination angle, that is to say the pitch angle, from the relationship between vehicle velocity, and the longitudinal acceleration and gravitational acceleration (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2002-243494). In this technology, pitch angle is estimated under the presumption that deviations between the value of the integral of vehicle velocity and the value of the longitudinal acceleration arise according to the pitch angle.
Further, as conventional technology for estimating vehicle body slip angle corresponding to vehicle body lateral velocity is the known method of: deriving a difference by subtracting the lateral velocity from the product of the vehicle velocity and the yaw angular velocity, further taking as an estimate value of the cant the sum of this difference and the rate of change in the estimated lateral velocity computed from a vehicle motion model, and by correcting this cant, with the low frequency components of the estimated value of cant taken as the cant components of the road surface, to give a slip angle estimating method that is not influenced by the cant of the road surface (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 8-332934).
However, since the vehicle velocity is an estimate computed from the wheel velocities of each of the wheels detected by wheel velocity sensors provided for each of the vehicle wheels, if during acceleration or deceleration a condition of tire slippage develops then an error in the estimation is generated. Therefore if, based on the technology of the above "Introduction to Aircraft Dynamics" (page 12, by Kato, Oya, and Karasawa; published by Tokyo University Publishers, 1982), estimation computation of the pitch angle is carried out simply from the deviation between the value of the integration of the vehicle velocity and the value of the longitudinal acceleration, then there is a problem that errors in the estimated pitch angle increase when there is tire slip during acceleration or deceleration.
Also, the estimated value of cant is a value that increases with an increase in the vehicle body slip angle when spin is generated. Therefore, in conventional technology of the second Patent Publication above, there is a problem that where spin is generated on a low μ road surface at a slow velocity of occurrence, then since this also influences the low frequency components these are interpreted as components of the road surface cant, with the result that the computation of the vehicle body slip angle is corrected, and spin cannot be estimated.
Also, when there is a road surface cant with frequencies the same as or higher than the preset frequency, then since correction for cant is delayed which leads to an increase in the estimated value of the vehicle body slip, there is the problem that this may be misinterpreted as spin.

Vehicle physical quantity estimation apparatus and storage medium having stored thereon computer program relating to the apparatus