The invention relates to a process for the dry surface treatment of at least one metal surface portion, according to which the portion is treated at a pressure close to atmospheric pressure by a gaseous treatment atmosphere comprising excited or unstable species and substantially devoid of electrically charged species, obtained from a primary gaseous mixture and if necessary an adjacent gaseous mixture, the primary gaseous mixture being obtained at the gas outlet of at least one device for the production of excited or unstable gaseous species, in which an initial gaseous mixture comprising an inert gas and/or a reducing gas and/or an oxidizing gas has been converted, the adjacent mixture not having passed through the device.

(i) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the stages for the preparation or treatment of metal surfaces taking place in the course of processes for the production or processing of flat products (such as sheet metal) or hollow bodies (bottles, valves, etc.).
Depending on the part of the production line for these products at which these stages take place, these preparation stages provide for cleaning, degreasing or activation of the surface, often prior to a subsequent process, which may be, e.g. annealing, the electroplating of zinc, aluminium, tin or alloys thereof, or the deposition of organic coatings, such as varnishes or paints, or inorganic coatings, such as nitrides or films based on silicon.
A stage of this kind for the preparation of surfaces may also take place at the end of the production line, e.g. just before sheet metal of this kind is coiled.
The products are made of steel, stainless steel, copper or, e.g. aluminium, depending on the final destination of the products in question (e.g. motor vehicles, electric household appliances, buildings or packaging, such as tins).
(ii) Description of Related Art
The methods most commonly used to effect these operations for the preparation of surfaces include first and foremost liquid-phase methods.
Examples in this category include the case of a preliminary degreasing stage effected with the aid of solvents, usually containing chlorine or fluorine (at present subject to very strict regulations) or methods consisting in degreasing the metal surface in a chemical bath in an aqueous medium containing acid, alkaline or neutral products, these having disadvantages associated with the required subsequent treatment of the waste water after cleaning.
In this context, a second category of methods for the treatment or preparation of metal surfaces has emerged, these being referred to as "dry methods". One example in this category is cleaning surfaces by gaseous plasma under low pressure using an electric discharge. This method is at first sight very attractive, as it has the advantage of showing great respect for the environment. It unites two separate operations of the electric discharge, i.e. on the one hand, the intense ion bombardment induced under certain conditions by the ionized medium, i.e. a cleaning operation by atomization, and, on the other hand, the method makes use of the high reactivity of the excited atoms and molecules present in the plasma in order to form volatile compounds with the bodies to be eliminated present on the surface of the sheet metal, i.e. chemical action on bodies of an essentially organic nature. The gaseous atmosphere generally preferred for this method of pickling under electric discharge contains a high percentage of argon on account of its highly plasmagenic gas quality and on account of the high mass of its ions promoting the atomization of this gas. It is moreover enriched with oxygen or hydrogen in order to use part of the chemical action of the discharge by eliminating the organic bodies present on the surface of the sheet metal by the formation of light compounds of the CO.sub.x or CH.sub.y type.
The high potential of this process cannot hide its major disadvantages connected to the fact that it is carried out under low pressure, or even in vacuo. These pressure conditions are undeniably curbing its development as they are relatively incompatible with the treatment of large metal surfaces or with high production rates (as is the case with the industrial production of sheet metal).
The use of low pressures of this kind moreover represents considerable additional expenditure. In a more general context, in French Patent Application published under the No. 2 697 456, the Applicant proposed a process for the plasma fluxing of metal surfaces prior to soldering or tinning at atmospheric pressure, the plasma being created by means of a microwave source or a corona discharge transferred via ports arranged in a suitable manner in a dielectric layer situated above the component to be treated.
Although this application provides an advantageous solution to the problem of the fluxing of metal surfaces, the Applicant has demonstrated the fact that the proposed process could be improved, inter alia with respect to:
its yield (ratio between the power introduced in order to create the plasma and the density of the species produced actually interacting with the support to be treated) or the energy density obtained (in the case of corona discharge it only reaches a few W per dielectric unit area), which, if increased, could allow for shorter treatment times, PA0 but also as a result of limiting "geometric" factors: in the case of conventional corona discharge, the distance between the electrode and the sample is quite critical and must be kept very small, which can cause problems in the case of uneven substrates. In the case of microwave discharge, it gives rise to the formation of a plasmagenic spot of predetermined dimensions limited by the plasma source, PA0 moreover, a plasma such as the one created in this document by definition contains ionic species and electrons (and therefore electrically charged species) which can induce ion bombardment and thus atomization of the metal surface which can in some cases prove to be harmful (e.g. when the metal surface is covered in a coating it is desired not to alter). PA0 to operate substantially at atmospheric pressure, PA0 to obtain high flexibility with respect to the distance between the object to be treated and the device used to carry out this treatment, PA0 to avoid contact between the components and electrically charged species, and PA0 to offer improved energy density allowing for an increased treatment rate.
In parallel to this, in French Patent Application published under the No. 2 692 730, the contents of which are incorporated hereby reference, the Applicant proposed a device for the production of excited or unstable gas molecules operating substantially at atmospheric pressure.

Process and apparatus for the dry treatment of metal surfaces

L'Air Liquide, Societe Anonyme pour l'Etude et l'Exploitation des Procedes Georges Claude


A method and an apparatus are provided for transmission of band limited QPSK data which is orthogonal direct-sequence spread using a BPSK sequence which preserves the band limiting even with subsequent amplification by non-linear amplifiers. This feature allows inexpensive implementation in mass produced, portable communications devices.

This invention relates generally to telecommunications systems and more particularly to portable wireless telecommunications systems. Satellite systems exist for supporting telecommunications with fixed and mobile user terminals. Satellite based telecommunication systems, such as the Odyssey.TM. system (as proposed by one of the assignees of the present application), utilize a constellation of satellites to relay communications signals between user terminals and earth or base stations. The user terminals are assigned to earth stations. The earth stations direct calls to and from the assigned user terminals. The user terminals and associated earth stations communicate along preassigned communications channels having a preassigned bandwidth (subband) centered about a carrier frequency.
Technological advances in the last several years to satellite based systems have made it possible to offer voice and data services to hand held terminals on a global basis. The systems can also provide services to fixed installation terminals and basic telephony services in areas lacking terrestrial telecommunications infrastructure. The key objectives for these personal communication satellite services are to offer the services at lower prices to subscribers and to provide a high level of service quality. In order to provide the quality service at a low price, the number of simultaneous subscribers each satellite can support must be maximized while the capital cost of the system (including the cost of terminals) is minimized. The number of subscribers that can be supported depends on the bandwidth available for terminal-satellite communications and satellite-earth station communications, the power required by each terminal, the satellites' RF transmission capability, a variety of physical environment factors, and national/international regulatory constraints (such as terminal radiated power constraints, satellite power flux density constraints and out-of-band emissions constraints.
Several communications systems are in existence, and others have been proposed. One of these systems, the Odyssey.TM. telecommunications system (proposed by one of the assignees of this application) uses an enhanced continuous phase subclass of orthogonal direct-sequence code division multiple access (ODSCDMA), frequency orthogonality, and frequency re-use techniques to maximize user capacity. Inexpensive and portable battery-operated devices may be used in the Odyssey.TM. system and are commonly used in other systems. In addition, battery-operated devices must be designed for power efficiency to achieve a reasonable operating time.
One of the most significant factors which limits the operating time of portable wireless communications devices is the power efficiency of the transmitter amplifier. Typical non-linear amplifiers achieve a peak efficiency of approximately 55% in the saturation region versus approximately 20% in the linear region. For this reason, it is highly desirable to operate these amplifiers as close to saturation as possible to take advantage of the nearly 35% increase in efficiency.
As an additional consideration, wireless communications devices must also limit emissions outside the allocated bandwidth to prevent disrupting other services. A standard industry practice for reducing out-of-band (OOB) emissions is to combine Offset Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (OQPSK) with filtering or pulse shaping before amplification. OQPSK techniques are incompatible with the Odyssey.TM. system because the link is frequency orthogonal and not phase locked. The compromises required for OQPSK techniques are unacceptable, and both filtering and pulse shaping create a time-varying power envelope at the input to the amplifier which is undesirable when used with non-linear amplifiers.
When non-linear amplifiers are operated in saturation, they will significantly distort an input signal with time-varying power. Standard approaches for controlling OOB emissions are ineffective when used with a saturated non-linear amplifier because the amplifier will distort the signal of interest and regrow the out-of-band energy. While it is possible to place the filter after the amplifier, this would result in a significant insertion loss. Maintaining the same RF power level would require increasing amplifier power consumption, further reducing transmitter efficiency and operating time. This option is clearly impractical for battery-powered communications devices.
An example of constant-envelope modulation can be found in "SBPSK: a robust bandwidth efficient modulation for hard-limited channels," Dapper and Hill, IEEE, pages 31.6.1-31.6.6 (1984). A family of constant-envelope modulation formats in which spectral containment is achieved through the use of controlled phase trajectories is described. A BPSK code is used in a non-linear channel, and a linear interpolation is used between one phase state and the next. However, the linear interpolation causes broadening in the spectral domain which degrades frequency orthogonality. Thus, the method described by Dapper & Hill would not be compatible with modulation schemes using frequency orthogonality such as the Odyssey.TM. system.
Many different methods have been developed for utilizing the available bandwidth. Instead of using the frequency domain of a transponder, it is possible to time-share the entire bandwidth. Time division multiple access (TDMA) provides access to the available transponder spectrum on a time-shared orthogonality basis. In a simple example, one carrier fully occupies the transponder at a time. Each station transmits a burst of digitized voice, video, or data in its exclusively assigned interval. Each user goes in an assigned time slot, one at a time. A drawback of TDMA, however, is that each time slot must be allocated, whether or not it is used. As a result, certain time slots may be empty. TDMA also requires gaps between users, and one user cannot utilize another user's unused time slot to increase the efficiency of the system. Thus, many inefficiencies exist in TDMA systems.
Another method, frequency-division multiple access (FDMA), distributes the users in frequency bands. For example, one user may continuously transmit at a certain frequency and others may transmit at separate frequencies. A similar disadvantage exists in FDMA; a single user may not utilize the other frequencies of other users even if they are not using them. This also leads to inefficiencies. In code division multiple access (CDMA), each transmit station uses a unique pseudorandom code to spread its transmitted signal. Each authorized receiving station in the network must have the identical pseudorandom noise (PN) code for retrieving and collecting the information. Other networks may operate simultaneously within the same spectrum as long as different, non-interfering (orthogonal) codes are used for transmitting and receiving the signals.
Orthogonal, direct sequence CDMA is a variation of standard CDMA. Frequency orthogonality and frequency re-use techniques can also be used.
Orthogonal direct sequence refers to the fact that there is a precomputed code so that a user can be separated out. The code is known by both the handset and by the ground station. The code is necessary to separate the user information out of the data stream.
Direct sequence refers to a system that is not frequency hopping; it is not jumping all over the spectrum from frame to frame. Direct sequence is on a single frequency and a single code. The knowledge of the code is used to separate the information of the user out of the signal. Thus, orthogonal direct sequence refers to knowing the user's code, and that the user is on the same frequency all the time. This is in contrast to frequency hopping spread spectrum where the user is on one frequency, jumps to another frequency, and jumps to a third frequency to avoid something that is interfering with the user's transmission. This frequency hopping is done to avoid the source of the interference since it is most likely not interfering on every frequency.
Frequency orthogonality refers to the fact that subbands are offset at a frequency separation related to the chip rate. The frequency separation can be computed by knowing just the data rate. Thus, the next subband can be displaced by the amount of the frequency separation so that the subbands will not interfere with each other.
Frequency re-use techniques can be described as follows. Beams used in satellite transmissions are so large that they are broken down into cells. Each cell has a set of frequencies associated with it. For example, one set of frequencies can be used for a first cell. However, the same set of frequencies cannot be used for a cell adjacent to the first cell because they would interfere with each other. However, the set of frequencies used in the first cell can be re-used on another cell if it is far enough away from the first cell.
Another CDMA standard, IS95, uses either amplitude shaping or filtering or some combination of the two to vary the power of the signal in amplitude over time. Thus, the chip will be shaped so that when it passes through a filter and passes through a satellite, the data can be separated back out. However, any kind of amplitude change going through a non-linear channel, when the amplifier is heavily compressed generates regrowth from the amplifier which is very undesirable. A great deal of distortion is also created.
Standard industry practices for controlling OOB emissions with a non-linear amplifier significantly degrade system capacity and performance. Therefore, a need exists for a modulation scheme compatible with non-linear amplifiers to permit the manufacture of inexpensive, mass produced, communications devices compatible with the Odyssey.TM. telecommunications system and others.

Modulation method and system using constant envelope ODSCDMA with low out-of-band emissions for non-linear amplification


A flow control apparatus having a pair of substantially identical housings, each having a path for fluid passage therethrough bounded by an annulus; a resilient body; and substantially identical portions borne by the housings releasably engageable to interlock the housings in an assembled configuration with the resilient body captured in the housings between the annuli of the paths for fluid passage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flow control apparatus and, more particularly, to such a flow control apparatus which is particularly well suited to individual configuration to perform predetermined operational objectives.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The science associated with the control of fluids incorporates a host of disciplines having application to a multitude of uses. While the particular characteristics of a given fluid influence the mechanics to be applied in achieving a predetermined objective, all fluids possess certain characteristics which must be taken into account in achieving operational objectives. For example, while the particular viscosity of a given fluid must be considered, the universal responses of fluids, regardless of viscosity, to given external influences are of more significant concern. Thus, the responses of fluids to pressure increases and decreases, velocity variations, pressure differentials, volumetric variations and friction are of paramount importance in the practical application of these disciplines.
Loosely identified by the appellation "fluid mechanics," these disciplines have a particularly useful application in the control and use of water in irrigation. While considerable technological advances have been made over many decades in the control of water used in irrigation, the need to conserve water, and otherwise to control its use, has significantly increased the practical demands upon fluid mechanics to find solutions. A premium has been placed upon the economical usage of available water resources resulting in the development of entirely new industries devoted to low volume and drip irrigation. In all types of irrigation there is a need to control the direction of fluid flow, to prevent a reversal of fluid flow, to control the volume of fluid flow, to prevent, or at least minimize, occlusion of fluid orifices by deleterious materials and otherwise to ensure that the desired quantity of water is delivered to the target from the source. These objectives criteria are typically more difficult to achieve in low volume and drip irrigation.
As contrasted with flood irrigation, for example, in low volume and drip irrigation water is delivered through a complex fluid system consisting of a multiplicity of conduits, couplings, and sprinklers or emitters. There are, thus, a significantly greater number of components comprising the fluid system which causes the cost of the fluid system, both in initial purchase price as well as in installation, to be considerably greater than would be the case with other types of irrigation systems. Accordingly, a premium is placed upon such components which can perform their operational objectives, but which are of low cost. Similarly, a premium is placed upon such components which can readily be serviced or repaired and which are sufficiently flexible in practical application to permit them to be adjusted to different operational objectives. For example, after installation, it may be determined that the optimum volume of water required for a particular target area is more or less than initially determined.
For these reasons and others, it has been recognized that it would be desirable to have a component which could be adjusted to increase or decrease the volume of water applied therethrough without having to replace the component to achieve this result. Similarly, it would be desirable to have such a component which could readily be disassembled without tools to free deleterious materials which may have become entrapped therein occluding fluid orifices. It would be desirable to have such a component which could readily be employed, if desired, completely to prevent the flow of water therethrough. Still further, it would be desirable to have such a component which could be manufactured and sold at minimum cost and yet which possessed a long operational life. Finally, it would be desirable to have such a component which was of virtually universal application in that it could be constructed in a variety of sizes and specific characteristics to control the flow of fluids of all types in virtually all areas of practical application. While prior art efforts have been directed to these objectives, they have never successfully been achieved, particularly in a single device.
Therefore, it has long been known that it would be desirable to have a flow control apparatus operable to control the flow of fluids of all types which could be employed to control the volume of fluid flow adjusting to fluctuations in fluid pressure; which had particular application to low volume and drip irrigation systems; which could readily and inexpensively be reconfigured to adjust the operational objectives achieved thereby; which could, if desired, be so adjusted as completely to obstruct the flow of fluid therethrough; which could readily be disassembled for the removal of deleterious materials therefrom without the use of tools; and which could be manufactured and sold at minimal cost.


A winding method for an electric motor stator includes at a start of winding of the coil, a first step for forming a two-turn winding portion by winding a magnet wire upwardly around a pin for two turns; a second step, subsequent to the first step, for winding the magnet wire to cross the two-turn winding portion from an outside from an upper side to a lower side on a side surface of the pin opposite from the power supply terminal; and a third step, subsequent to the second step, for winding the magnet wire for a half turn above the two-turn winding portion and then guiding the magnet wire to the power supply terminal to be hooked on the bent back section.

In the conventional technique, a winding method for a coil at the start of winding in manufacturing of an electric motor stator, in which a magnet wire is fixed to a terminal pin, is disclosed (for example, see Patent Literature 1 and Patent Literature 2).
In Patent Literature 1, a magnet wire is first wound around a center portion of a terminal pin, wound upwardly several turns, and then wound downward. This winding forms a double winding with a portion of the magnet wire from an upper end to a center portion of the winding being held from the outside.
Further, in Patent Literature 2, a magnet wire is first wound around a lower end of the terminal pin, wound upwardly to an upper end, and then wound downward to the lower end. This winding forms a double winding with a portion of the magnet wire from an upper end to a lower end of the winding being held from the outside.
As described above, the magnet wire is fixed to the terminal pin by winding the magnet wire around the terminal pin in double.

Winding method for electric motor stator, electric motor stator, and fan electric motor


A mounting system for a heat exchanger assembly consisting of a plastic bracket secured to the heat exchanger after brazing and requires no additional fasteners. The bracket includes a pair of arms that extend over a reinforcement member and engage a core. The first arm presents a resilient finger extending in a cantilever fashion to a protrusion presenting a ramp. The ramp allows the finger to flex outward as the bracket is assembled over the reinforcement member until the ramp snaps over and engages an edge on the reinforcement member. A notch and hole on the reinforcement member align with a male post and a second section of the bracket to limit movement of the bracket relative to the heat exchanger assembly. The arms have aligned openings, to create an airway through the bracket.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to heat exchanger attachments in general, and specifically to a novel design for an automotive heat exchanger mounting bracket.
2. Description of the Related Art
Automotive heat exchangers generally include a central core made of regularly spaced tubes and intermediate corrugated air fins. The tubes extend between a pair of header tanks at opposite ends of the core. A pair of reinforcement members extend along sides of the core between the tanks. The heat exchanger is usually mounted to a vehicle or other heat exchangers by bracket(s) extending from the header tanks or from the reinforcement members to a vehicle structure, where the bracket accepts a fastener. Most of the brackets are metal pieces that are somehow held in place before the brazing operation and then are brazed into a fixed attachment. Such is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,570,737 where the bracket clamps on to the header tank prior to the furnace brazing of the heat exchanger assembly.
The addition of the bracket during the furnace brazing introduces irregularities to the braze temperature profile. In addition, such brackets are limited to locations on the pre-brazed heat exchanger that are able to receive and retain the bracket until after the brazing joins the components.
Separate brackets may be attached to the unit after the brazing operation, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,535,819, where the brackets are bolted by fasteners to the core assembly by one or more fasteners for each of the four brackets. Using fasteners requires considerable labor and additional equipment.
To avoid such labor a plastic bracket may be snapped onto the heat exchanger, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,513,579. These plastic brackets are light molded pieces that are attached to the corners entirely post braze, in a simple press fit operation that requires no additional fasteners. An additional plastic bracket as seen in U.S. Pat. No. 6,691,767, utilizes a molded plastic bracket designed to engage the extruded rail on the header tank. The extruded rail is machined with additional features, such as three holes, to allow the bracket to snap onto the rail.
There is always utility for a simple and unique bracket that can accommodate the brazing and processing of the heat exchanger, requires no additional fasteners or machining, and allows flexibility to locate the bracket along the length of the heat exchanger for better integration with the demands of the complex vehicle structures and the varying location of mating components.

Snap-on mounting bracket for heat exchangers


A method and apparatus for estimating a signal delay between a transmission signal which is to be processed in a predetermined communication device of a mobile communication system, and a feedback signal. Each of the transmission and feedback signals is sampled for a predetermined length, and signal power magnitude values are computed in a sample unit and are stored in first and second memory blocks. Mean squared error (MSE) values are computed from a plurality of samples, while a start sample position of one block is shifted on a basis of a start sample position of the other block. A sample delay value is estimated from a start sample position of the one block with a smallest MSE value such that a sample delay between a transmission signal and a feedback signal is closely estimated regardless of a frequency allocation (FA) value.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method for processing a feedback signal and a pre-distorter in a mobile communication system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for stably and closely estimating a sample delay between a transmission signal and a feedback signal output from various boards of a mobile communication system regardless of a frequency allocation (FA) value. Moreover, the present invention relates to an apparatus and method for improving performance of a pre-distorter required to closely estimate a sample delay between a transmission signal and a feedback signal in a mobile communication system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, desired signal processing is performed using a transmission signal which is to be processed and output by a designated operation routine in a board mounted in a communication device such as a base station or the like, and a feedback signal associated therewith. Delay essentially occurs according to a signal path between the transmission signal and the feedback signal. To stably process a signal, a task for estimating a signal delay and performing synchronization between the transmission and feedback signals is important.
A signal delay estimation method for performing synchronization between the transmission and feedback signals in the mobile communication system is referred to as a sample delay estimation method. For example, a conventional sample delay estimation method stores a plurality of samples of the transmission and feedback signals, performs a correlation operation on the stored samples, and estimates a sample delay interval with the largest correlation value. A method for estimating the sample delay interval is conventionally referred to as rough delay estimation.
Furthermore, the mobile communication system performs fine delay estimation for estimating a sample delay interval using the conventional rough delay estimation method using the largest correlation value, performing time synchronization between the transmission and feedback signals, and finely dividing the estimated sample delay interval, for example, in a 1/10 sample interval. Moreover, the mobile communication system performs desired signal processing based on signal synchronization between the transmission and feedback signals using the sample delay interval estimated by the fine delay estimation.
A signal processor is required to estimate the sample delay interval between the transmission and feedback signals and is comprised of a digital pre-distorter provided in a base station transmitter or other location. A power amplifier is also required for amplifying the transmission signal in the base station transmitter. The power amplifier has non-linear operation characteristics.
Because a high power amplifier (HPA) which is widely used to obtain high efficiency in the base station transmitter of the mobile communication system operates close to a non-linear operation point, the power amplifier generates an inter-modulation distortion (IMD) component. The IMD component affects other frequency bands, as well as in-band. Accordingly, the pre-distorter generates a pre-distortion signal having the same signal size as that of the IMD component generated from the power amplifier and having a phase that is opposite to the phase of the IMD component. The pre-distorter compensates an output signal of the power amplifier using the pre-distortion signal. Accordingly, the output signal of the power amplifier has linear characteristics.
The pre-distorter receives the output signal of the power amplifier for signal compensation as a feedback signal, and performs a digital pre-distortion (DPD) algorithm for eliminating a spurious component. Samples of both the transmission and feedback signals must be stored during a previous phase, and a sample delay interval must be estimated using the stored samples, such that the DPD algorithm can be performed.
However, the conventional sample delay estimation method has a problem in that an error of the estimated sample delay interval occurs according to a frequency allocation (FA) value of the transmission and feedback signals serving as input signals. For example, in a code division multiple access (CDMA) 2000 1x system, a sample delay interval is closely estimated from 12-FA input signals in a block with a size of 1,024 samples. However, a significant error in the sample delay interval estimated from the input signals with a small FA value also occurs in the block with a size of 1,024 samples.
FIGS. 1A through 1C are waveform diagrams illustrating simulation results according to a conventional sample delay estimation method, and illustrate the results of the conventional rough delay estimation for storing a plurality of samples of transmission and feedback signals as input signals, performing the maximum correlation operation on the stored samples, and estimating the sample delay interval.
First, FIG. 1A illustrates simulation results obtained by estimating a sample delay interval from 12-FA CDMA 2000 1x input signals in a unit of 1,024 samples. It can be found that a sample delay interval regularly converges, for example, in an 18-sample interval. Next, FIG. 1B illustrates simulation results obtained by estimating a sample delay interval from 4-FA CDMA 2000 1x input signals in the unit of 1,024 samples. The FA value of FIG. 1B is less than that of FIG. 1A. As illustrated in FIG. 1B, it can be found that an error in a sample delay interval estimated between a 17-sample interval and a 19-sample interval occurs. The waveforms (A), (B), (C), and (D) of FIG. 1C represent accumulated simulation results obtained by repeating a rough delay estimation operation on 1-FA CDMA 2000 1x input signals 1, 6, 8, and 14 times. When the accumulated number of times increases, it can be found that an error in an estimated delay interval is gradually reduced.
Since an estimation error in a sample delay interval is large when an FA value is small in the case of the conventional rough delay estimation, it is difficult for a sample delay to be closely estimated. Also, since the sample block length or the number of estimation operations must be increased such that an estimation error can be reduced in the case of a system with a small FA value, there is a problem in that system resources are wasted.
Accordingly, a need exists for a method and apparatus that can closely estimate a sample delay between a transmission signal and a feedback signal regardless of a frequency allocation (FA) value by using minimal system resources.

Method and apparatus for estimating a sample delay between a transmission signal and a feedback signal in a mobile communication system, and a base station transmitter using the same


A method for communication within a cooperative intelligent transport system. The method comprises receiving, in a first node, a first intelligent transport system message from another node of the cooperative intelligent transport system. In the first node, a technology status of that another node is identified. The technology status comprises information whether or not the first intelligent transport system message was transmitted configured according to a predetermined first intelligent transport system technology, and information whether or not the first intelligent transport system message comprises a dual technology indicator. The dual technology indicator is an information element identifying that the node transmitting the first intelligent transport system message is capable of communicating intelligent transport system messages according to the first intelligent transport system technology as well as according to a predetermined second technology. A corresponding node for communication within a cooperative intelligent transport system is also disclosed.

Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS) are systems that utilize Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to support improved safety and more efficient usage of the transportation infrastructure for transport of goods and humans over any transportation mean.
ITS services, protocols and connectivity solutions are described in specifications issued by standardization bodies like IEEE, SAE, ETSI and ISO. Besides in the mentioned standards, the C-ITS system architecture is elaborated in research collaborations like COmmunication Network VEhicle Road Global Extension (CONVERGE), Nordic Way and in consortiums of automobile manufacturers, suppliers and research organizations like ERTICO and Car-2-Car Communication Consortium.
There is an ongoing discussion regarding connectivity for C-ITS. The discussion is about whether the ETSI ITS G5/IEEE WAVE DSRC solutions, cellular 3GPP technologies, or a new 3GPP based LTE V2X radio solution should be used, and in what combinations (e.g. hybrid solutions).
A possible scenario is that a future migration from DRSC to LTE-V2X technology will be done. The solution being discussed for this is to partition the spectrum so that one part is used for DSRC, and another part for LTE short range, i.e. LTE V2V and V2I.
However, if each technology gets half of the spectrum, the capacity for each technology will also be halved. Also during a transition period both technologies will exist and vehicles using different technologies needs to be able to communicate.
It is also possible that due to vehicle imports/exports there will be a mix of technologies in a market. Also, in such scenarios vehicles using different technologies needs to be able to communicate.

Intelligent transport system technology co-existence method and arrangement


Base decks for data storage systems include a spindle motor region, a medium support region, an enclosure sidewall, and a recessed channel. The spindle motor region is configured to support a spindle motor assembly. The medium support region is beneath a storage medium when the storage medium is positioned within the base deck, and the enclosure sidewall surrounds an outer periphery of the storage medium when it is positioned within the base deck. The recessed channel is within the media support region and extends from the spindle motor region to the enclosure sidewall. The recessed channel illustratively has curved sidewalls that converge.

Hard disc drives commonly include a rigid housing that has a base deck and a top cover. The rigid housing encloses a variety of internal components. The components include a medium or media for storage of digital information that is mounted on a spindle motor assembly. The components also include an actuator assembly that is used to position one or more recording heads along the medium to read and/or write information to particular locations on the medium. The recording heads are mounted to a suspension of the actuator assembly. The suspension maintains the recording heads adjacent to or in contact with the surface of the medium. A voice coil motor is used to precisely position the actuator assembly.
Hard disc drives are sensitive to particulate contamination. Particles frequently enter hard disc drives during the manufacturing process or are generated by components within the disc drives. These particles can damage disc drive components and can negatively impact reliability. For example, particles in a disc drive may come into contact with the surface of the medium. This impact can cause physical damage to the surface resulting in the data stored in the impacted area being lost. Particles may also become lodge between a recording head and a recording medium. This can result in unstable recording head to recording medium spacing or a crash of the recording head into the recording medium.

Ribbed base deck to accentuate particle filtration


A system and method for updating contact records automates analysis of contact results for one or more contact devices performing a contact campaign in order to select contact records for skip trace updates to contact information with the updated contact information for real time use by the contact devices. For instance, an update engine analyzes contact records returned by dialers to a distribution module to select contact records to skip trace based on rules, such as where a wrong number code is indicated, or cost analysis, such as where the predicted result of an update has a value greater than the cost of obtaining the update. The distribution model provides the updated contact information for real time use by the dialers of the updated contact numbers.

Customer contact centers represent the front line for customer service, marketing operations, and debt collection for many businesses. Typical centers receive or make hundreds of telephone calls, emails, and Internet chat requests per day with the aid of automated telephony and Internet equipment. For instance, predictive dialers such as the MOSAIX Predictive Dialing System ("PDS") manufactured by Avaya Incorporated automatically dial outbound telephone calls to contact individuals and then transfer the contacted individuals to agents so the agent can talk with the individual.
Devices such as dialing devices, email servers, chat servers, VOIP servers, telephony servers, and web servers allow agents to save time in contacting customers and receiving requests from customers. Dialing devices such as predictive dialers save time for the agent placing the call because the dialing device and not the agent dials the telephone number and agents' time is not wasted with unanswered calls or answering machines. Predictive dialers also spread the outbound telephone calls evenly among all the agents working from the dialing device so that the agents share the workload equally and no agents sit idle while others have too many telephone calls to place. Predictive dialers are also a significant component of customer relationship management (CRM) systems which extend the efficiency gained from predictive dialers to other contact channels such as email and live Internet chat.
Many businesses are increasing their marketing efforts, customer service programs, and bad debt collection efforts by having multiple customer contact centers or call centers or multiple devices located at a single site to serve more customers. Typically, when businesses have multiple sites, the centers are located in different geographic locations which makes coordination of customer contact strategies difficult.
Thus businesses generally manage call centers individually, with separate staffing, calling strategies, goals, and functions. Generally, a contact list is divided into as many parts as there are call centers or dialers with each call center receiving its own section of the calling list. Although this segmentation distributes work, coordination of strategy for outbound calling is difficult since each call center is responsible for its own section of the calling list and has no knowledge of the other call centers' progression with their own calling lists. For instance, if a call center goes down and cannot make outbound telephone calls, the other call centers cannot typically address the downed call center's calling list goals and priorities because the other call centers do not have access to the calling list including the telephone numbers actually called.
A similar problem occurs with a single call center having multiple CRM systems having multiple devices. Work load segmentation typically occurs at a host level, where each device is assigned a portion of the work load. A host downloads the segmented contact list to the individual dialing devices. If one device fails, the other devices do not know the status of the contacts in the failed device's segment.
Difficulties also arise in the routing of outbound calls, call records, or contact records to the agents in a single calling center or multiple calling centers. Typically when routing calls, a call center employs categorization and prioritization routing or load leveling routing. With categorization and prioritization routing, the calls are categorized and prioritized before being sent to the call centers. All of the available call records are organized into distinct groups or pools and each pool of call records is prioritized according to a particular prioritizing scheme. A typical scheme often used at contact centers is to prioritize the inbound calls with the highest priority, live Internet chats second, outbound calls third, and email or other requests last. The agents are segregated into distinct teams and each team receives call records from a particular pool based on the prioritization of the call records.
Load leveling routing of call records allows multiple agent teams to work on the same group or pools of records whether the agents are located in the same call center or if the agents are located across multiple call centers. Load leveling routing eliminates the restriction of categorization and prioritization that requires distinct groups of records for agents not working from the same dialing device. This allows for the movement of call records between the agents and call centers.
However, none of the above call record routing techniques adjusts the agent and pool workload based on the performance or the performance goals of the call record pools. Generally, if a call record pool is not maintaining a desired performance, manual intervention by a system administrator is required to adjust for the under performing call record pool. In order to address the under performing call record pool, agents must move from one team to another in order to have the ability to access call records from the under performing pool and thereby improve the call record pool performance. But this is a slow process that typically results in agent and call center downtime and often cannot be made quickly enough to respond to current call record pool performance.
In addition, such manual intervention decisions to correct under performing call records pools typically require guess work and making decisions without considering all the available options and the effect on the other call record pools. The system administrator must guess as to the effects on the other call record pools when agents are moved from pools maintaining or achieving performance requirements to under performing pools. If agent moves are made incorrectly, then additional pools may start under performing due to the agents that were moved to the under performing pool. Therefore the performance of the call record pools requires constant supervision to ensure that by the end of the calling day the performance requirements for the highest priority pools are satisfied.
Another difficulty with attempts to coordinate calling campaigns across multiple contact device dialers and/or multiple contact calling centers is that a single individual sometimes has multiple accounts that result in multiple contact attempts to the individual for each account. For instance, an individual may have call records for a delinquent account, a marketing account for new sales and a service quality inquiry. As another example, a calling center may have contracts with multiple businesses to contact each business' delinquent accounts and the delinquent accounts of two or more businesses may share common individuals who are delinquent. In such instances, multiple call centers may simultaneously contact or attempt to contact the same individual for the different accounts. An individual targeted by multiple calling centers is more likely to feel harassed and less likely to cooperate or even respond to the call center inquiries. Multiple attempts to contact the same individual by different call centers result in greater outbound call volume and less effective use of outbound calling capacity.
Another difficulty with attempts to coordinate calling campaigns across multiple contact devices is that contact information is often inaccurate or outdated. For instance, with debt collection campaigns debtors generally do not update their contact information and, often, delinquent account holders intentionally avoid contact. Thus, debt collection contact attempts are often made to wrong numbers that are no longer in service or that are no longer associated with the party responsible for the debt. When the contact information associated with a responsible party is outdated or invalid, contact centers use a number of available resources to "skip trace" the responsible party and obtain valid contact information, such as directory assistance or third party'skip tracing services like FASTDATA from FDR. However, each look-up has an associated charge so that call centers generally attempt to control the cost and number of look-ups that are performed. Skip trace look-up costs are typically controlled by consolidating the bad numbers reached throughout a calling day or campaign and querying various skip trace resources manually or with automated batches to obtain numbers for subsequent attempts. In multi-dialer operations, consolidated skip trace look-ups help prevent multiple skip traces of the same responsible party, but tend to reduce the effectiveness of a campaign by restricting the responsiveness of a campaign when bad numbers are identified since subsequent attempts to contact the responsible party after the skip-trace lookup will generally occur in another campaign after the consolidated updates are performed.

System and method for updating contact records


The present invention provides a method for treating or preventing gout in a subject afflicted therewith comprising administering a compound presented or an ester or salt thereof, so as to thereby treat or prevent the gout in the subject.

Gouty arthritis is the most common form of inflammatory arthritis and affects more than 8 million people in the Unites States (Lawrence, R. C. et al. 2008). Uric acid is a metabolic product resulting from the metabolism of purines, which are found in many foods and in human tissue (Terkeltaub, R. A. 2001; Burns, C. et al. 2013). Gout is caused by excess uric acid levels in the blood, which lead to the deposition of monosodium urate crystals in tissue. These crystals are formed when concentration of uric acid in tissues and in circulation exceeds the solubility limit, leading to gout flares. Risk factors for gout include being overweight or obese, having hypertension, alcohol intake, diuretic use, a diet rich in meat and seafood, and poor kidney function (Choi, H. K. et al. 2004a; Choi, H. K. 2004b; Krishnan, E. 2012).
Acute flares occur when urate crystals in the joint causes acute inflammation. A flare is characterized by pain, redness, swelling, and warmth lasting days to weeks. Pain may be mild or excruciating. Most initial attacks occur in lower extremities. The typical presentation in the metatarsophalageal joint of the great toe (podagra) is the presenting joint for 50% of people with gout. Chronic gout is characterized by chronic arthritis, with soreness and aching of joints. People with gout may also get tophi or lumps of urate crystals deposited in soft tissue. Clinically inactive (intercritical) segments between gout flares occur after an acute flare has subsided. The person with gout continues to have hyperuricemia, which results in continued deposition of urate crystals in tissues and resulting damage. Intercritical segments become shorter as the disease progresses.
Uric acid is synthesized from its precursor, xanthine, by the enzyme called xanthine oxidase (XO). Accordingly, XO inhibitors (e.g., allopurinol and febuxostat) dominate the market (Stamp, L. K. et al. 2015; Love, B. L. et al. 2010). However, elevated levels of circulating uric acid most commonly result from undersecretion of uric acid in the kidneys. With the exception of the marginally effective probenecid, there are no approved treatments that would increase the renal secretion of uric acid.
The incidence and prevalence of gout is rising. This is due to factors such as an increase in the aged population, many of whom take thiazide diuretics and prophylactic aspirin that promote hyperuricemia and lifestyle factors characterized by diets that include excessive fructose and alcohol intake, physical inactivity and abdominal fat accumulation which favor hyperuricemia (Burns, C. et al. 2013; Choi, H. K. et al. 2004a)
Significant unmet clinical need remains in the treatment of gout. Of the 8 million of patients with gout, over 3 million are on urate-lowering therapy (mainly XO inhibitors). Despite this fact, 1 million patients continue to experience 3 or more flares per year indicating the need for better urate-lowering therapy.

Fluorenone compound for the treatment of gout

The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York


At least some implementations of a transmission gear shifter include a first body rotatable among multiple positions, a second body rotatable among multiple positions, a retainer and first and second actuators. The retainer is movable relative to the second body between a first position in which the retainer prevents rotation of the second body, and a second position in which the retainer permits rotation of the second body. The first actuator is coupled to the retainer to move the retainer between the first and second positions. And the second actuator provides a force on the second body to rotate the second body when the retainer is in the second position.

In some vehicles, a gear shift lever in a passenger compartment of the vehicle can be moved by an operator of the vehicle to shift the vehicle transmission between its park gear and other gears, such as reverse, neutral and forward drive gears. The shift lever is mechanically coupled to the transmission through a cable that transmits the shift lever movement to a transmission shift mechanism. Other vehicles use a so-called "shift-by-wire" system wherein an operator shift lever or shift control unit is not physically coupled to the transmission shift mechanism by a cable. Instead, the shift control unit is electrically coupled to a shift actuator that is arranged to shift the transmission upon receipt of a signal from the shift control unit that a transmission gear shift is desired by the operator. It may be desirable, in at least some circumstances, to selectively prevent movement of the shift lever to prevent shifting the transmission at least until certain conditions are satisfied. For example, to shift the transmission out of park, a vehicle brake may need to be depressed or some other driver action may be needed. In some instances, it may be desirable to shift the transmission without a user command to do so.

Transmission shifter assembly with automatic position reset


An electrically programmable fuse (e-fuse) apparatus includes an e-fuse macro and a switch device. The e-fuse macro is disposed in an integrated circuit, and has a plurality of e-fuse units. The switch device is disposed in the integrated circuit, and has an output node coupled to the e-fuse units and a first input node coupled to a first power source which supplies a first reference voltage acting as a programming voltage of the e-fuse macro. The switch device connects the first power source to the e-fuse units when the e-fuse macro is operated under a programming mode.

The disclosed embodiments relate to one-time-programmable (OTP) storage apparatuses, and more particularly, to electrically programmable fuse (e-fuse) apparatuses which control a reference voltage required for programming/reading an e-fuse macro in an integrated circuit via a switch device implemented in the same integrated circuit.
Electrically programmable fuse (e-fuse) apparatuses are one-time-programmable (OTP) storage apparatuses widely used in semiconductor devices to record customized data (e.g., a chip ID or serial number) or repair defective elements inevitably remaining in the integrated circuits due to the semiconductor process. As the e-fuse apparatuses have become essential components to integrated circuits, how to design the e-fuse apparatus therefore becomes an important topic to circuit designers.

E-fuse apparatus for controlling reference voltage required for programming/reading e-fuse macro in an integrated circuit via switch device in the same integrated circuit


A method and a system of deploying ignition interlock device functionality. The method comprises receiving data in authentication of a user account associated with the IID; rendering a user interface at the mobile computing device, the user interface including indication of a status of the user account associated with the IID; and receiving a selection of a user action responsive to the status of the user account associated with the IID.

Vehicles can incorporate a breath alcohol ignition interlock devices (IID) to prevent a driver from operating a vehicle while intoxicated with alcohol. Such devices are designed to prevent a driver from starting a motor vehicle when the driver's breath alcohol concentration (BAC) is at or above a set alcohol concentration threshold. Each state in the U.S. has adopted a law providing for use of such IID devices as a sanction for drivers convicted of driving while intoxicated, or as a condition of restoring some driving privileges after such offenses.
In operation, a driver must use a IID device by blowing into a mouthpiece portion of the IID coupled to an alcohol-sensing element such as a fuel cell that measures the amount of alcohol in the driver's breath, thereby providing a reliable estimate of the blood alcohol concentration in the driver's blood. The IID reads a signal generated from the fuel cell or similar alcohol-sensing element, and determines whether the driver's breath alcohol content exceeds a threshold amount. If the driver's blood alcohol content does not exceed the threshold, the driver is determined not to be intoxicated and the IID allows the vehicle to start and run by electrically enabling a system within the vehicle, such as the starter, fuel pump, or ignition system. If the breath sample delivered from the driver to IID registers a higher breath alcohol content than the predetermined allowable threshold, the vehicle is disabled from starting, and the IID device records a violation.

Method and system of deploying ignition interlock device functionality


This invention refers to a perfected roller-skating doll of the type that alternately moves its legs and head in sync, and which has two speeds that alternate while the doll is in operation. The system is based on a gear mechanism worked by a motor which includes features that allow a cog wheel to axially move so that it can engage alternately with one or another pinion, of different sizes, in order to achieve the two speeds. The mechanism is complemented with a drum which is made to revolve in order to transmit movement to the legs. The drum in question is provided with a winding, ring-shaped groove inside which a pin emerging from each corresponding leg freely moves. This pin joins each corresponding to the mechanism assembly and, in particular, to the drum groove. On the shaft on which the drum-affecting pinion is mounted, there is a socket integral with the pinion, and which houses a widened section of the aforementioned shaft. On this widened section is situated a torus with respect to which the shaft can freely slide, in such a way that the revolution of the latter is not transmitted to the drum at a certain axial position, thereby constituting a clutch assembly that comes into operation at certain times when it is desired that the motor should work at an idling speed.

There exists at the present time one type of roller-skating doll that moves its head and legs by way of a mechanism whereby the leg movements for the skating action are performed at two speeds, fast and slow. In other words, the doll skates along at a certain speed and then reduces this speed to skate more slowly for another period of time, with the sequence being repeated.

Fabricas Agrupadas de Munecas de Onil, S.A.


Provided are methods for treating Arenaviridae and Coronaviridae virus infections by administering nucleosides and prodrugs thereof, of Formula I:

Lassa virus is a segmented negative-sense RNA virus that belongs to the family Arenaviridae. Arenaviruses are further sub-divided into the Old World and New World virus complexes based on serological cross-reactivity, phylogenetic relations, and geographical distribution, (Wulff, 1978; Bowen, 1997). The New World arenavirus complex comprises viruses that circulate in North America (i.e., Whitewater Arroyo (WWAV), Tamiami (TAMV), and Bear Canyon (BCNV) viruses) and South America (i.e., Tacaribe (TACV), Junin (JUNV), Machupo (MACV), Guanarito (GTOV), and Sabia (SABV) viruses). The Old World complex includes arenaviruses that circulate in Africa, Europe, and Asia (i.e., lymphocytic choreomeningitis (LCMV) and Lassa (LASV) viruses). The range of reservoir rodent species restricts the geographic occurrence of arenaviruses, with the exception of LCMV that is distributed worldwide due to its association with Mus domesticus and M. musculus, which have migrated globally (Salazar-Bravo, 2002). The reservoir hosts of LASV are rodents of the genus Mastomys that are enzootic in sub-Saharan Africa (Salazar-Bravo, 2002). At least seven arenaviruses are known to cause severe hemorrhagic fever in humans, among which are LASV, JUNV, MACV, GTOV, and SABV that are endemic in West Africa, Argentina, Bolivia, Venezuela, and Brazil, respectively, and recently discovered Lujo (LUJV) and Chapare (CHAPV) viruses that originated in Zambia and Bolivia, respectively (Breise, 2009; Delgado, 2008).
Lassa virus (LASV) is endemic to West Africa with an estimated 300,000-500,000 people infected annually (McCormick, 1987). Transmission occurs through contact with infected rodents (Mastomys natalensis) or virus-contaminated rodent excreta, and person-to-person transmission, especially in hospital settings, has been documented (McCormick, 1987). Disease caused by LASV ranges from subclinical infection to mild to severe hemorrhagic fever that is associated with multi-organ failure. Mortality rates associated with LASV infection vary and range from approximately 2% to 15% for hospitalized cases and can exceed 50% in certain outbreak scenarios (McCormick, 1987; Fisher-Hoch, 1995). Despite the high incidence and associated morbidity and mortality, there is no approved therapy to treat LASV infection in humans. Supportive care and early administration of ribavirin are current standard of care.
LASV initially infects monocytes, macrophages, and dendritic cells and spreads systemically to produce a primary viremia that leads to infection of internal organs. Virus replication leads to a rise in inflammatory cytokine levels and development of coagulopathies resulting in vascular leakage, hypovolemic shock and multi-organ failure (Hensley, 2011).
Replication of arenaviruses is catalyzed by the L polymerase protein that utilizes viral RNA templates that consist of genomic RNA encapsidated by the viral nucleocapsid protein NP and comprises viral ribonucloprotein (RNP) (Buchmeier, 2007). Replication is initiated upon viral entry into the host cell where the L polymerase, associated with the viral RNP, initiates transcription from the genome promoter located at the 3′-end of each genomic RNA segment, L and S. The primary transcription event results in the synthesis of NP and L polymerase mRNA encoded in antigenomic orientation from the S and L segments, respectively. Transcription terminates at the distal side of the stem-loop (SL) structure within the intergenomic region (IGR). Arenaviruses utilize a cap snatching strategy to acquire the cap structures of cellular mRNAs to facilitate translation. Cap snatching is mediated by the endonuclease activity of the L polymerase that is co-factored by the cap binding activity of NP to produce capped non-polyadenylated mRNAs. Subsequently, the L polymerase adopts a replicase mode and moves across the IGR to generate a full-length complementary antigenomic RNA (agRNA). This agRNA serves as a template for the synthesis of GPC and Z mRNAs encoded in genomic orientation from the S and L segments, respectively, and for the synthesis of full-length genomic RNA (gRNA) (Buchmeier, 2007; Franze-Fernandez, 1987; Meyer, 1993; Qi, 2010; Lelke, 2010; Morin, 2010).
Human coronaviruses, first identified in the mid-1960s, are common viruses that infect most people at some time in their life, generally causing mild to moderate upper respiratory and gastrointestinal tract illnesses. The novel coronavirus referred to as "Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus" (MERS-CoV or MERS) was first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012 and has spread to several other countries. SARS-CoV, the coronavirus responsible for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) was first recognized in China in 2002 and led to a worldwide outbreak in 2002 and 2003.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Methods for treating arenaviridae and coronaviridae virus infections

Abstract: wherein the 1′ position of the nucleoside sugar is substituted. The compounds, compositions, and methods provided are particularly useful for the treatment of Lassa virus and Junin virus infections.


The head in a series of video images is identified by digitizing sequential images, subtracting a previous image from an input image to determine moving objects, calculating boundary curvature extremes of regions in the subtracted image, comparing the extremes with a stored model of a human head to find regions shaped like a human head, and identifying the head with a surrounding shape.

This invention relates to methods and means for detecting people in image sequences, and particularly for locating people in video images to facilitate visual communication.
Locating people in video images can facilitate automatic camera panning, interfacing of humans and machines, automatic security applications, human traffic monitoring, image compression and other applications.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,086,480 attempts to identify people in video images by subtracting corresponding image elements of subsequent images, thresholding the image elements against a luminous threshold to eliminate noise, filtering and clustering the resulting data sets, determining the minimum rectangle which will contain the sets, generating a border of finite thickness around the rectangles, and generating a head code book from the elements in the original images that correspond to the elements represented by the respective sets of data that fall within the respective borders. The patentee assumes that there is a moving head within any image which will provide the subtracted output. However, if a person in the image raises a hand, the disclosed method may confuse a hand and a head.
An object of the invention is to improve systems for identifying persons in a series of images.
Another object of the invention is to overcome the aforementioned difficulties.

Method and means for detecting people in image sequences


A PROM IC including sense circuits, each including a sense amplifier. A pull-up resistor circuit whose resistance value is variable is provided on the side of an input of the sense amplifier so that, upon a reception of a test selection signal, the resistance value of the resistor circuit is changed to a value with which a drive condition of current flowing through a selected memory cell becomes severe.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a PROM IC and, particularly, to such PROM IC capable of executing a margin test for memory state of respective memory cells of such as EPROM or EEPROM, etc., under severe conditions and capable of selecting reliable memory IC.
2. Prior Art
Non-volatile read-only memory includes mask read-only memory (ROM) which is not erasable and programmable read-only memory (PROM). PROM includes erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM) and electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM).
PROM can generally be classified into the fuse type which is writable only once, such type as FAMOS which is rewritable by avalanche breakdown after erase by ultraviolet ray and such type as MNOS which is electrically erasable/rewritable by tunnel effect. A PROM IC includes a matrix of memory cells of any of the above mentioned types constituting a memory array. A general construction of the PROM IC is shown in block in FIG. 3.
In FIG. 3, a memory cell array 1 is constituted with a plurality of memory cells 1a, 1b, . . . arranged in a column and row matrix.
A column decoder 2 is responsive to an address signal A indicating a column address A to select a column having an address A and a row decoder 4 is responsive to the signal A to select a row having an address A, so that one of the memory cells which is arranged in a position defined by the column address A and the row address A is selected.
A read voltage from a read voltage application circuit 3 is applied to the thus selected memory cell through the column decoder 2 and a read signal from the selected memory cell corresponding to an information written in the memory cell is amplified by one of sense circuits 5a, 5b, . . . corresponding thereto to provide a binary one value. An output of the sense amplifier is inverted to the other value in response to an input voltage exceeding a predetermined threshold value.
The read voltage application circuit 3 is responsive to a test selection signal T to switch the read voltage to be applied to any of the memory cells through the column decoder 2 from a standard read voltage S to an external application voltage E. An operational relation among the read voltage application circuit 3, the memory cell and one of the sense circuits and hence sense amplifiers SA thereof corresponding thereto (in this example, sense circuit 5c) will be described with reference to FIG. 4. It should be noted that the test signal T is produced correspondingly to a signal externally set for selection of test state.
In FIG. 4, it is assumed that a memory cell 1c of the PROM IC is selected by the address signal supplied to the column address decoder 2 and the row decoder 4. For clarification of illustration, other memory cells are omitted and the column decoder 2 and the row decoder 4 are shown by mere dotted lines respectively. Since, in this example, the memory cell 1c is composed of a floating type transistor Qc, the read voltage is applied through the column decoder 2 to a gate electrode of the transistor Qc.
With absence of test selection signal T, that is, during a normal read, the transistor Qb of the read voltage application circuit 3 is in "OFF" state. Therefore, a predetermined standard read voltage S is applied by the read voltage application circuit 3 to the gate electrode of the transistor Qc. On the other hand, when a test selection signal T is supplied externally, that is, a performance test such as marginal test is to be performed, the transistor Qb is turned "ON" and the external application voltage E is supplied through a test terminal of a PROM IC or any other external terminal to the gate electrode of the transistor Qc of the memory cell 1c as a read voltage to read a stored information. For test, a storing state of the memory cell 1c, that is, a capturing state of electrons or holes at the floating gate of the transistor Qc is detected by the sense circuit 5c connected through the row decoder 4 to a drain electrode of the transistor Qc. The detection is performed by applying a predetermined reading voltage to the gate electrode of the transistor Qc and detecting a current drive capability of the transistor Qc.
Describing this in more detail, an input of the sense amplifier SA of the sense circuit 5c is connected to the drain of the transistor Qc and its potential is pulled-up by a source voltage Vcc through a resistor R1 whose value is several hundreds K ohms to several M ohms usually. Therefore, when the predetermined reading voltage is applied to the gate of the transistor Qc, a read current whose value corresponds to the read voltage flows from the source Vcc to the transistor Qc. With this current flow, a corresponding voltage drop occurs across the resistor R1, which is used as a read signal. The read signal is amplified by the sense amplifier SA and binarized thereby according to the voltage value thereof. The binarized output of the sense amplifier SA is supplied from the IC externally.
On the other hand, a threshold voltage of a floating type transistor at which the latter transistor is "ON"/"OFF" operated is determined by the degree of capture of electron or hole at the floating gate. Further, when the read voltage is higher than the threshold value, the transistor is turned "ON" and, when lower, it is turned "OFF". Therefore, it is possible to obtain a state in which a normal value written in the memory cell is output, correspondingly to the voltage value applied to the gate of the same transistor and thus to detect the storing state of the same memory cell.
In order to test the written state of the selected memory cell, that is, in order to test the degree of capture of electron or hole at the floating gate of the transistor Qc, the read voltage is switched from the standard read voltage S to the externally applied voltage E which may be lower than the standard read voltage, with which the written state of the selected memory cell is detected as a binary output thereof.
Thus, by reading the information written in the memory cell by means of the externally supplied read voltage E, it is possible to perform a marginal test for an actual read condition and to thereby supply only PROM IC's whose performance is more stable as products.
There may be a case where a sufficient marginal test is impossible, dependent upon the type of the memory cell. In detail, in the floating gate type transistor as the memory cell, when the floating gate captures holes or discharge electrons to make the transistor of depletion type, the marginal test is impossible. That is, in order to perform a marginal test when the transistor forming the memory cell becomes depletion type, the externally applied read voltage E must be set to a negative value possibly as low as -4 V. With such negative read voltage, a terminal for applying the external application voltage E or a path extending therefrom to a transistor of a selected memory cell of the floating type transistor memory is short-circuited to a ground terminal due to an effect of a parasitic diode existing in a portion of the path, making the performance test impossible.
Therefore, in the past, it has been practically impossible to perform a sufficient test of a memory unless such marginal test is performed for a wafer having only a circuit dedicated to such test or for memories which are subjected to destructive test. So far, marginal test of mass-produced PROM IC's is performed by applying external application voltage of 0 V at most and therefore reliability of such PROM IC's is not enough.


An axial flow compressor includes: a rotor having a rotor vane; a first pressing member joined to one end surface of the rotor; a second pressing member joined to the other end surface of the rotor; a rotor shaft portion penetrating the first pressing member, the rotor and the second pressing member; and a nut which fixes the first pressing member and the second pressing member on the rotor shaft portion with the first pressing member and the second pressing member holding the rotor between. The rotor shaft portion is made of a material having a lower linear expansion coefficient than that of a material making at least a part of the rotor. The material making at least a part of the rotor may be aluminum or aluminum alloy.

A rotor used for a compressor such as an axial flow compressor is securely fitted to a rotor shaft portion and thereby prevented from being displaced in the circumferential directions with respect to the rotor shaft portion when the axial flow compressor is in operation. For example, the following Patent Document 1 discloses that the fitting of a rotor and a rotor shaft portion is conducted by key coupling, tooth coupling or polygon fitting.
As given even in the following Patent Document 1, however, key coupling has a disadvantage in that a fitting hole may enlarge to thereby vibrate the rotor shaft portion. Tooth coupling or polygon fitting takes a great deal of time and labor for coupling working, thereby raising manufacturing costs.

Tokyo Electric Power Company, Incorporated

Chubu Electric Power Company, Incorporated


Telomerase reverse transcriptase is part of the telomerase complex responsible for maintaining telomere length and increasing the replicative capacity of progenitor cells. Telomerase activity is turned off in mature differentiated cells, but is turned back on again in hyperplastic diseases, including many cancers. This disclosure provides regulatory elements that promote transcription in cells that express telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT). The disclosure also provides systems using TERT promoter sequences for identifying compounds that can be used to modulate telomerase expression.

It has long been recognized that complete replication of the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes requires specialized cell components (Watson (1972) Nature New Biol. 239:197; Olovnikov (1973) J. Theor. Biol. 41:181). Replication of a linear DNA strand by conventional DNA polymerases requires an RNA primer, and can proceed only 5′ to 3′. When the RNA primer bound at the extreme 5′ ends of eukaryotic chromosomal DNA strands is removed, a gap is introduced, leading to a progressive shortening of daughter strands with each round of replication. This shortening of telomeres, the protein-DNA structures physically located on the ends of chromosomes, is thought to account for the phenomenon of cellular senescence or aging of normal human somatic cells in vitro and in vivo (Goldstein (1990) Science 249:1129; Martin (1979) Lab. Invest. 23:86; Goldstein (1969) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 64:155; Schneider (1976) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 73:3584; Harley (1990) Nature 345:458-460; Hastie (1990) Nature 346:866-868; Counter (1992) EMBO J. 11:1921-1929; Bodnar (1998) Science 279:349-52).
The length and integrity of telomeres is thus related to entry of a cell into a senescent stage. Moreover, the ability of a cell to maintain (or increase) telomere length may allow a cell to escape senescence.
The maintenance of telomeres is a function of a specific DNA polymerase known as telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT). Telomerase is a ribonucleoprotein (RNP) that uses a portion of its RNA moiety as a template for telomere repeat DNA synthesis (Morin (1997) Eur. J. Cancer 33:750). Consistent with the relationship of telomeres and TERT to the proliferative capacity of a cell, telomerase activity can be detected in highly replicative cell types such as stem cells. It is also active in an extraordinarily diverse set of tumor tissues, but is active in normal somatic cell cultures or normal tissues adjacent to a tumor (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,629,154; 5,489,508; 5,648,215; and 5,639,613; Morin (1989) Cell 59:521; Shay (1997) Eur. J. Cancer 33:787; Kim (1994) Science 266:2011). Moreover, a correlation between the level of telomerase activity in a tumor and the likely clinical outcome of the patient has been reported (U.S. Pat. No. 5,639,613; Langford (1997) Hum. Pathol. 28:416).
Telomerase activity has also been detected in human germ cells, proliferating stem or progenitor cells, and activated lymphocytes. In somatic stem or progenitor cells, and in activated lymphocytes, telomerase activity is typically either very low or only transiently expressed (Chiu (1996) Stem Cells 14:239; Bodnar (1996) Exp. Cell Res. 228:58; Taylor (1996) J. Invest. Dermatol. 106:759).
The preceding summary is intended to introduce the field of the present invention to the reader. The cited references in this application are not to be construed as admitted prior art.

Telomerase promoters sequences for screening telomerase modulators


Cloud services require the outward appearance of unlimited resources with flexible availability for varying demand. However, while on-demand allocation and deallocation of resources may seem efficient, there are significant cases where simply allocating and deallocating resources just in response to demand results in inefficiencies. As discussed herein, cloud services can be made more efficient by deallocating resources based on delays incurred between when resources are requested to be deallocated and reallocated and when they actually are deallocated and allocated, and for how long the resource would be returned to the cloud before needing to be reallocated. Deallocating resources more efficiently not only gives a direct performance improvement, but also indirect, since deallocated resources may not be available again when demand increases.

Cloud computing offers an alternative to owning and maintaining infrastructure for computing. The demands on modern computing increasingly require ways to increase capacity or add capabilities on the fly without investing in new infrastructure, training new personnel, or licensing new software. Services models, such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS) have arisen in response to this demand.
IaaS involves providing databases, servers, electrical power, and network equipment for a cloud-hosted application. This allows usage fees to replace long-term commitments to infrastructure. PaaS provides a development platform which allows for applications to extend and interact with other cloud applications and cloud data. Lastly, SaaS allows for software to be hosted and run in the cloud rather than on a user's computer. IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS provide scalability—the ability to start with a relatively small or large resource footprint and increase it as needs increase or decrease it as needs decrease.
Cloud service providers are challenged with providing sufficient resources to meet the demands of customers. The goal is elasticity: the ability of a cloud service provider to provision flexible computing power when and wherever required. Cloud service providers must provide the appearance of infinite computing resources available on demand, quickly enough to follow load surges, thereby eliminating the need for cloud computing users to plan far ahead for provisioning. This elimination of an up-front commitment by cloud users allows companies to start small and increase hardware resources only when there is an increase in their needs.
Cloud providers must provide the outward appearance of having available an unlimited amount of resources available on-demand. The benefits of cloud services allow users to avoid not just investing in long-term commitments to infrastructure, but also to avoid having to develop plans on how resources will be used. If there are surges in load, the user expects the cloud to simply provide the needed resources in response. Dedicated computer hardware and software infrastructure has limited flexibility and is unfavorable for reaching this goal. Accordingly, a cloud provider must be able to provide resources to users without the users needing to develop plan for the availability of resources. This places the burden on cloud providers to manage their resources effectively.

Efficient un-allocation of cloud resources


An apparatus is provided for removing the severed end-portions of boiler tubes installed and retained in a boiler header without consequential boiler header metal damage and in a manner whereby a compression gap of uniform width is machined throughout the length and thickness of each retained boiler tube end-portion selected for removal, the machined boiler tube end-portion is subsequently compressed to significantly close the machined compression gap and reduce the tube end cross-sectional circumference, and the compressed tube end is withdrawn longitudinally from engagement with the boiler header tube-mounting bore.

Heretofore it has been common practice in connection with the removal of water tubes or fire tubes from within a steam boiler for subsequent replacement to first cut the installed tubes adjacent their header-mounted ends with a cutting torch, to next remove the cut tube lengths, and afterwards forcefully drive the severed tube ends out of engagement with the boiler headers. Such conventional practice is time consuming, expensive to accomplish, and frequently results in damage to the tube mounting bores provided in the boiler headers. Each damaged tube mounting bore in a tube header must be repaired by welding, re-drilling, and honing to proper size for later re-use.
We have discovered a novel method and apparatus that may be utilized to effect the removal of boiler-tube ends from their mountings within a boiler header without causing damage to the co-operating header tube mounting bores, thus eliminating the necessity for subsequent header metal repair and header bore re-drilling and honing.
Other advantages and objectives of the invention will become apparent in the course of considering the descriptions, drawings, and claims which follow.


A display device includes: a first panel having a pixel region including a pixel electrode therein; a second panel having a common electrode facing the first panel; a liquid crystal layer having vertically aligned liquid crystal molecules interposed between the first and second panels; a first alignment layer disposed on the pixel electrode; and a second alignment layer disposed on the common electrode. At least one of the pixel electrode and the common electrode has a micro slit pattern. At least one of the first and second alignment layers divides the pixel region into domains, is formed to have pretilt directions corresponding to a given domain, and pretilts the vertically aligned liquid crystal molecules in the given domain. A direction of summed horizontal components of a fringe field at an edge of the pixel region is substantially equal to a direction of summed horizontal components of a pretilt direction of the at least one of the first and second alignment layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device and a method of manufacturing the same, and more particularly, to a display device having an improved viewing angle, an enhanced display characteristic and an enhanced manufacturing efficiency, and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Among a variety of types of display devices, a liquid crystal display ("LCD") device has improved characteristics over other display devices due to recently developed semiconductor technology.
For example, the LCD device has advantages of smaller size, lighter weight and lower power consumption. As a result, the LCD device is often used to replace a cathode ray tube ("CRT"). Further, the LCD device is frequently used in relatively small-sized products such as a mobile phone or a portable digital assistant ("PDA"), for example, as well as in mid- to large-sized products such as a monitor or a television, for example. In addition, the LCD device is used in a large number of information processing apparatuses which require a display means.
However, the LCD device has a disadvantage, in that a viewing angle is narrow with respect to other display devices. To overcome this disadvantage and to enhance a display characteristic having a wider viewing angle, a vertically aligned ("VA") mode LCD device has been developed. In the VA LCD device, a single pixel, a minimum unit for displaying an image in the LCD device, is divided into a plurality of domains, and a major axis of liquid crystal molecules is aligned in a substantially vertical direction with respect to two opposite facing substrates when no electric field exists between the two opposite facing pixels.
Further, the liquid crystal molecules of a respective domain in the VA mode LCD device are aligned to have pretilt directions different than pretilt directions of other domains. More specifically, in a patterned vertically aligned ("PVA") mode LCD device, pretilt directions of the liquid crystal molecules are induced by a fringe field produced by cut-off patterns formed on a common electrode and an opposite pixel electrode facing the pixel electrode.
However, in the PVA mode LCD device, an additional manufacturing process is required to form the cut-off pattern on the common electrode and the pixel electrode. Similarly, an additional process is also required in other modes LCD devices (e.g., other than the PVA mode LCD device) to align the liquid crystal molecules. As a result, LCD devices of the prior art have a disadvantage of decreased manufacturing efficiency, due to the additional manufacturing processes thereof.
Moreover, a VA mode LCD device of the prior art has a problem of a region of uncontrolled liquid crystal molecules due to interference or collisions between the liquid crystal molecules aligned in different respective pretilt directions, or due to an influence on the liquid crystal molecules by an unintentional force. The region of uncontrolled liquid crystal molecules deteriorates light transmittance and causes the LCD display device brightness to decrease.

Display device and method of manufacturing the same


A SrTiO3-based grain boundary insulation type semiconductor ceramic contains a donor element in solid solution in crystal grains, an acceptor element at least in crystal grain boundaries, an integral width of (222) face of the crystal face of 0.500° or less, and an average powder grain size of crystal grains of 1.0 μm or less. A semiconductor ceramic is obtained by firing this ceramic, and a monolithic semiconductor ceramic capacitor is obtained by using the semiconductor ceramic. The SrTiO3-based grain boundary insulation type semiconductor ceramic powder has a large apparent relative dielectric constant ∈rAPP of 5,000 or more even when the average ceramic grain size of crystal grains is 1.0 μm or less and which has an excellent insulating property. The monolithic semiconductor ceramic capacitor is capable of having a large capacity through reduction in thickness and multilayering.

In recent years, miniaturization of electronic components have been advanced rapidly as the electronics technology has been developed. In the field of the monolithic ceramic capacitor as well, demands for miniaturization and increases in capacity have intensified. Consequently, development of ceramic materials having high relative dielectric constants, reduction in thickness, and multilayering of dielectric ceramic layers have been advanced.
For example, Patent Document 1 proposes a dielectric ceramic represented by a general formula: {Ba1-x-yCaxReyO}mTiO2+αMgO+βMnO (where Re represents a rare earth element selected from the group consisting of Y, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, and Yb and α, β, m, x, and y satisfy 0.001≦α≦0.05, 0.001≦β≦0.025, 1.000≦m≦1.035, 0.02≦x≦0.15, and 0.001≦y≦0.06, respectively).
Patent Document 1 discloses a monolithic ceramic capacitor including the above-described dielectric ceramic. The monolithic ceramic capacitor can have a thickness of 2 μm per ceramic layer, the total number of effective dielectric ceramic layers of 5, and a relative dielectric constant ∈r of 1,200 to 3,000 can be obtained.
The monolithic ceramic capacitor of Patent Document 1 takes advantage of a dielectric action of the ceramic in itself. On the other hand, research and development on semiconductor ceramic capacitors based on a principle different from this have also been conducted intensively.
For example, Patent Document 2 proposes a SrTiO3-based grain boundary insulation type semiconductor ceramic element assembly having an average grain size of crystal grains of 10 μm or less and a maximum grain size of 20 μm or less.
This grain boundary insulation type semiconductor ceramic is produced by firing (primary firing) a ceramic compact in a reducing atmosphere to convert it to a semiconductor and, thereafter, conducting firing (secondary firing (reoxidation)) in an oxidizing atmosphere to convert the crystal grain boundaries to insulators, so that a capacitance is acquired at the crystal grain boundaries.
Consequently, in Patent Document 2, a semiconductor ceramic element assembly is obtained, which is a semiconductor ceramic capacitor having a single-layered structure and which has an apparent relative dielectric constant ∈rAPP of 9,000 in the case where the average grain size of crystal grains is 8 μm.
In addition, Patent Document 3 proposes a method for manufacturing a grain boundary insulation type monolithic semiconductor ceramic capacitor including a firing step to fire a laminate composed of layers formed from a semiconductor ceramic material, in which a composition containing (Sr1-x-yCax-yYy)m(Ti1-zNbz)O3 as a primary component contains at least one type of secondary component selected from a V oxide, a Mo oxide, and a W oxide within the range of 0.1 to 0.5 percent by mole based on the molar ratio of the total amount of oxides to the primary component after firing basis, and nickel internal electrode layers, a reoxidation product addition step to add a reoxidation product to the laminate, and a step to reoxidize the laminate after the addition, wherein the above-described reoxidation step is conducted through a heat treatment in a nitrogen atmosphere under a predetermined reoxidation condition.
In Patent Document 3, a SrTiO3-based grain boundary insulation type monolithic semiconductor ceramic having a thickness of 3 μm per semiconductor ceramic layer and an outside dimension of 3.2 mm in length, 1.6 mm in width, and 1.2 mm in height is prototyped, and characteristics of a voltage value, at which 1 mA of current passes, that is, a varistor voltage V1mA, of 2.49 V to 3.06 V and an apparent relative dielectric constant ∈rAPP of 2,500 to 4,100 are obtained.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 11-302072
Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent No. 2689439
Patent Document 3: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-86020

Semiconductor ceramic powder, semiconductor ceramic, and monolithic semiconductor ceramic capacitor


A process for producing prussic acid by subjecting methanol to a gas-phase contact reaction with molecular oxygen and ammonia in the presence of a catalyst, wherein said catalyst is an oxide composition containing iron, antimony, phosphorus and vanadium with a content of vanadium content being at least 0.6 in terms of atomic ratio relative to iron content taken as 10, and a mixed raw material gas for the gas-phase contact reaction contains oxygen at an oxygen-to-methanol molar ratio of less than 1.6.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for producing prussic acid. More particularly, the present invention relates to a process for producing prussic acid by subjecting methanol to ammoxidation in a gas-phase contact reaction.
2. Description of the Related Art
Prussic acid is produced by decomposition of formamide, reaction of methane with ammonia, ammoxidation of methane, etc. A large portion of the prussic acid consumed is a by-product formed when propylene is subjected to ammoxidation to produce acrylonitrile.
Prussic acid has been increasingly used as raw material for acetone cyanohydrin, adiponitrile, chelating agent such as EDTA and the like, and also used for gold recovery. The gap between its supply and demand has been becoming more obvious.
In view of the above situation, the present invention have been completed in order to develop a novel process for producing prussic acid by ammoxidation of methanol, which has excellent industrial applicability.
For production of prussic acid by ammoxidation of methanol, various catalysts are known such as molybdenum oxide, described in U.R.S.S. Patent No. 106226; an oxide containing molybdenum, bismuth and other elements, described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,911,089; an oxide containing antimony and at least one element selected from the group consisting of iron, cobalt, nickel, manganese, zinc and uranium, described in JP-A-51-10200; an oxide catalyst containing manganese and phosphorus, described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,457,905; an antimony phosphate, described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,511,548; and so forth.
In order to improve the iron and antimony-based oxide catalyst described in JP-A-51-10200, the present inventors proposed an oxide catalyst containing iron, copper and antimony, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,461,752; an oxide catalyst containing iron, copper, antimony and phosphorus, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,158,787; and a catalyst containing iron, antimony and phosphorus as essential components and iron antimonate as a crystal phase, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,094,990. The present inventors further proposed improved processes for catalyst production, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,946,819, U.S. Pat. No. 4,981,830, etc. Theses processes showed progresses in various respects, but still had points to be improved for industrial application.
That is, in producing prussic acid by ammoxidation of methanol, the above-mentioned catalysts require a high oxygen-to-methanol ratio in a mixed raw material gas in order to avoid a reduction in prussic acid yield or a reduction in catalytic activity with time. Consequently, when prussic acid is produced industrially with the catalysts, the reaction must be conducted at a low methanol concentration, which results in a lower productivity.
The present invention has been completed in order to (1) alleviate the above-mentioned problems of the prior art and (2) provide an economical process for producing prussic acid, which uses a catalyst having significantly improved redox stability, which enables an efficient reaction at a low oxygen-to-methanol ratio of mixed raw material gas, and which gives prussic acid as intended product at a high yield, at a high selectivity and stably with the lapse of reaction time.