A system and method for acquiring, processing, and comparing an image with a stored image to determine if a match exists. In particular, the system refines the image data associated with an object based on pre-stored color values, such as flesh tone color. The system includes a storage element for storing flesh tone colors of a plurality of people, and a defining stage for localizing a region of interest in the image. A combination stage combines the unrefined region of interest with one or more pre-stored flesh tone colors to refine the region of interest based on color. This flesh tone color matching ensures that at least a portion of the image corresponding to the unrefined-region of interest having flesh tone color is incorporated into the refined region of interest. Hence, the system can localize the head, based on the flesh tone color of the skin of the face in a rapid manner. According to one practice, the refined region of interest is smaller than or about equal to the unrefined region of interest. This method and apparatus are particularly adapted to consumer devices such as hand-held devices and cars.

The present invention relates to systems for identifying and verifying an individual's identity to perform subsequent tasks such as allowing access to a secured facility or permit selected monetary transactions to occur.
Modern identification and verification systems typically provide components that capture an image of a person, and then with associated circuitry and software, process the image and then compare the image with stored images, if desired. In a secured access environment, a positive match between the acquired image of the individual and a pre-stored image allows access to the facility.
Like the written signature, the facial image is now a legally binding authenticator. With the advent of hand-held and "PALM" consumer devices, a range of two-way wireless data is now available to consumers such as broadcast video, analog and digital voice, and even internet text and images. These devices already bring together video and voice for communication through means of a tiny camera built into the device. As these devices continue to push the technology envelope and offer more advanced features, we may come to accept them not as a novelty, but more of a necessity, much like we take a wrist watch for granted. These devices may evolve to incorporate IR communications to facilitate quick and authenticated communications with compatible bank automatic teller machines (ATMs), home security systems, automobiles and more.
The capture and manipulation of image data with modern identification systems places an enormous processing burden on the system. Prior art systems have addressed this problem by using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) on image data to reduce the amount of data that needs to be stored to operate the system efficiently. An example of such a system is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 5,164,992, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. However, certain environmental standards need still be present to ensure the accuracy of the comparison between the newly acquired image of the pre-stored image. In particular, the individual is generally positioned at a certain location prior to capturing the image of the person. Additionally, the alignment of the body and face of the individual is controlled to some degree to ensure the accuracy of the comparison. Lighting effects and other optical parameters are addressed to further ensure accuracy. Once the individual is positioned at the selected location, the system then takes a snapshot of the person, and this still image is processed by the system to determine whether access is granted or denied.
The foregoing system operation suffers from a real time cost that slows the overall performance of the system. Modern system applications require more rigorous determinations in terms of accuracy and time in order to minimize the inconvenience to people seeking access to the facility or attempting to perform a monetary transaction, such as at an ATM. Typical time delays in order to properly position and capture an image of the person, and then compare the image with pre-stored images, is in the order of 3 to 5 seconds or even longer. Consequently, these near real-time systems are quickly becoming antiquated in today's fast paced and technology dependent society. There thus exists a need in the art to develop a real-time facial identification and verification system that in real-time acquires and processes images of the individual.
Accordingly, an object of this invention is to provide a real-tine identification and verification system, particularly for use with hand-held devices and computers.
Another object of this invention is to provide an identification system that simplifies the processing of the acquired image while concomitantly enhancing the accuracy of the system.
Other general and more specific objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear from the drawings and description which follow.

Real-time facial recognition and verification system


A request for quote (RFQ) engine (10) includes a data and metrics designer (22) that generates, in response to input from a user, a data and metrics model (42) for an RFQ template using a data and metrics meta-model (32). The RFQ engine (10) also includes a state transition designer (24) that generates, in response to input from the user, a state transition model (44) for the RFQ template using a state transition meta-model (34). Furthermore, the RFQ engine (10) includes a workflow designer (26) that generates, in response to input from the user, a user interface workflow (46) for the RFQ template using a workflow meta-model (36). In addition, the RFQ engine includes an execution engine (40) that executes the RFQ template that includes the data and metrics model (42) generated by the data and metrics designer (22), the state transition model (44) generated by the state transition designer (24), and the user interface workflow (46) generated by the workflow designer (26). The RFQ template is executed to generate an RFQ.

When a business wishes to acquire a product or service from a supplier, the business will often generate a request for quote (RFQ) that details the various requirements the business has regarding the desired product or service. For example, an RFQ may include an identifier of the desired product (such as a part number or the part numbers of the components of the product), a desired price and quantity, and a location to which the product is to be shipped. The business sends the RFQ to one or more suppliers and the suppliers may then bid or otherwise respond to the RFQ. RFQs are used in a broad and diverse range of industries and within each of these industries a variety of different types of RFQs are used to fulfill various purchasing and servicing needs. The actual details of how each of these RFQs are generated and communicated between a business and a supplier may vary significantly depending on the nature of the product or service for which a quote is requested, the size and type of purchaser or supplier, the type of industry, and many other factors. As a result, RFQ engines that are designed to generate and communicate RFQs for a specific industry can often not be used by businesses in other industries. Alternatively, generic RFQ engines that are designed to apply to a number of industries are often too simplistic to fulfill a business' needs and may cause the business to resort to other methods (such as telephone, email, or fax communications) to complete an RFQ transaction.

Generation and execution of custom requests for quote


A tissue supporting device is provided and method of use. The device includes an anchor element having a plate-like element and first and second side walls extending upwardly therefrom. The plate-like element is defined by front and rear edges, and first and second side edges, with the rear edge being longer than the front edge. The first and second side walls are aligned substantially along at least a portion of the first and second side edges of the plate-like element such that a distance between the first and second side walls at a front side is less than a distance between the first and second side walls at a rear side. The device also includes a soft tissue supporting element adapted for engaging and supporting soft tissue. The soft tissue supporting element is coupled to the plate-like element and extends outwardly from the anchor element.

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a medical condition that is caused by a blockage of the airway, which usually occurs when the soft tissue in the throat collapses and closes during sleep. According to the National Institutes of Health, OSA affects more than twelve million Americans. During each apnea event, the brain briefly arouses the sufferer in order to initiate the resumption of breathing. This type of sleep, however, is extremely fragmented and of poor quality. When left untreated, OSA may result in high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, weight gain, impotency, headaches, memory problems, job impairment, and motor vehicle crashes. Despite the seriousness of OSA, a general lack of awareness among the public and healthcare professionals results in the vast majority of OSA sufferers remaining undiagnosed and untreated.
In the human body, the air filled space between the nasal cavity and the larynx is referred to as the upper airway. The most critical part of the upper airway associated with sleep disorders is the pharynx. The pharynx has three different anatomical levels. The nasopharynx is the upper portion of the pharynx located in the back of the nasal cavity. The oropharynx is the intermediate portion of the pharynx containing the soft palate, the epiglottis, and the curve at the back of the tongue. The hypopharynx is the lower portion of the pharynx located below the soft tissue of the oropharynx. The oropharynx is the section of the pharynx that is most likely to collapse due to the high prevalence of soft tissue structure, which leaves less space for airflow. The hypopharynx lies below the aperture of the larynx and behind the larynx, and extends to the esophagus.
As is well known to those skilled in the art, the soft palate and the tongue are both flexible structures. The soft palate provides a barrier between the nasal cavity and the mouth. In many instances, the soft palate is longer than necessary and it extends a significant distance between the back of the tongue and the posterior pharyngeal wall.
Although the muscles relax throughout the body during sleep, most of the muscles of the respiratory system remain active. During inhalation, the diaphragm contracts and causes negative pressure to draw air into the nasal cavity and mouth. The air then flows past the pharynx, through the trachea and into the lungs. The negative pressure causes the tissue of the upper airway to deform slightly, which narrows the airway passage. In apneic patients, the soft palate, the tongue, and/or the epiglottis collapse against the posterior pharyngeal wall to block airflow into the trachea. As the airway narrows, airflow through the pharynx becomes turbulent which causes the soft palate to vibrate, generating a sound commonly known as snoring.
During sleep, humans typically experience brief obstructions of airflow and/or small decreases in the amount of airflow into the trachea and lungs. An obstruction of airflow for more than ten seconds is referred to as apnea. A decrease in airflow by more than fifty percent is referred to as hypopnea. The severity of sleep disorders is measured by the number of apneas and hypopneas that occur during every hour of sleep. If apnea or hypopnea occurs more than five times per hour, most medical personnel diagnose the individual as having an upper airway resistance problem. Many of these patients exhibit symptoms related to sleep disorders including sleepiness during the day, depression, and difficulty concentrating.
Individuals having ten or more episodes of apnea or hypopnea during every hour of sleep are officially classified as having obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. As the airway is obstructed, the individual makes repeated attempts to force inhalation. Many of these episodes are silent and are characterized by movements of the abdomen and chest wall as the individual strains to draw air into the lungs. Typically, episodes of apnea may last a minute or more. During this time, oxygen levels in the blood will decrease. Ultimately, the obstruction may be overcome by the individual generating a loud snore or awakening with a choking feeling.
When an individual is awake, the back of the tongue and the soft palate maintain their shape and tone due to their respective internal muscles. As a result, the airway through the pharynx remains open and unobstructed. During sleep, however, the muscle tone decreases and the posterior surface of the tongue and the soft palate become more flexible and distensible. Without normal muscle tone to keep their shape and to keep them in place either alone or as a group, the posterior surface of the tongue, the epiglottis, and the soft palate SP tend to easily collapse to block the airway.
One known treatment, commonly referred to as continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), is currently the "gold standard" for treating OSA and operates by delivering air into a patient's airway through a specially designed nasal mask or pillow. The flow of air creates positive pressure when the patient inhales to keep the airway open. Although CPAP is considered by many to be an effective non-surgical treatment for the alleviation of snoring and obstructive sleep apnea, patients complain about discomfort caused by the mask and hoses, including bloating, nasal drying, and dry eyes. As a result, patient compliance for CPAP is only about 40%.
Surgical treatments have also been used to treat OSA. One such treatment is referred to as uvulopalatopharyngoplasty, which involves removing about 2 cm of the trailing edge of the soft palate to reduce the soft palate's ability to flutter between the tongue and the pharyngeal wall. Another procedure uses a surgical laser to create scar tissue on the surface of the soft palate, which reduces the flexibility of the soft palate for reducing snoring and/or closing of the air passage. Yet another procedure, commonly referred to as cautery-assisted palatal stiffening operation (CAPSO), is an office-based procedure performed under local anesthesia whereby a midline strip of soft palate mucosa is removed, and the wound is allowed to heal whereupon the flaccid palate is stiffened.
Surgical procedures such as those mentioned above continue to have problems. More specifically, the area of tissue that is surgically treated (i.e., removal of palatal tissue or scarring of palatal tissue) is often larger than is necessary to treat the patient's condition. In addition, the above-mentioned surgical procedures are often painful with extended, uncomfortable healing periods. For example, scar tissue on the soft palate may present a continuing irritant to the patient. Furthermore, the above procedures are not reversible in the event of adverse side effects.
Surgical implants have also been used to treat OSA. One such implant system, sold under the name AIRvance by Medtronic, Inc. of Minneapolis, Minn., uses a titanium screw that is inserted into the posterior aspect of the mandible at the floor of the mouth. A loop of suture is passed through the tongue base and attached to the mandibular bone screw. The procedure achieves a suspension or hammock of the tongue base making it less likely for the base of the tongue to prolapse during sleep. The use of the screw style bone anchor increases the risk of damage to the teeth or the nerve roots and or vasculature for the teeth.
Another known tongue suspension device similarly utilizes a bone screw in the mandible, but has the advantage of being adjustable. The device utilizes a flexible shape memory anchor within the tongue that is shaped similar to a grappling hook to engage the tissue within the tongue base. It is placed through a small incision in the sub-mental region and the suture is attached to a spool-like component attached to the mandible. Two to four weeks after healing, a small incision is made under the chin and a screw is turned to tighten the suture, thus pulling the device forward. While the device provides a simplified installation technique from within the sterile space, the anchors suffered from a high rate of device fracture and failure due to loading within the tongue musculature. Additionally, the risk of damage to the teeth or the nerve roots for the teeth is similar in both devices.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,367,340 describes the use of an element that is anchored to the mandible and is capable of applying force within the tongue to prevent the tongue from collapsing during sleep. In the embodiments described, the device consists of an element that is attached to the mandible though drilling of the mandible to provide a rigid point of fixation. The method of attachment produces essentially the same risk to the dental anatomy and nerve structures within the mandible.
This risk of damage by the above-described devices is illustrated by FIG. 1, which shows the typical mandible placement of a bone screw with a suspension fiber. As the screw extends into the mandible as shown, it may potentially strike the nerves, vasculature or teeth depending upon placement.
In order to avoid the risk of damage to the bone or nerves, an alternative approach that utilizes a flexible soft tissue anchor is illustrated in FIG. 2. In this embodiment, the anchor for the suspension loop is placed within the soft tissue of the sub-mental region and the suspension element is fixed to the soft flexible anchor. While this method avoids the issues associated with the placement of a bone anchor or screw in the mandible, it results in a more vertical angle θ2 of fixation for the suspension loop. When comparing the foregoing illustrations, it can be seen that the angle θ2 is larger for the soft tissue anchor system than the angle θ1 for the bone anchor device. It is possible that the anchor, if placed to far posterior to the infra-mandibular margin, may result in a vertical compression of the tongue base instead of anterior displacement of the tongue. Therefore, it is desirable to provide an anchor system that more closely approximates the resultant angle of suspension.
Given the disadvantages described above, there remains a need for a tongue suspension device that provides a point of fixation relative to the mandible, that can effectively resist motion due to loading of the musculature of the tongue during swallowing and speech, and that does not damage the boney structures or nerves of the mandible.


Disclosed is a design support system capable of fully keeping tabs on the components that can be affected by the design change of a given component. The system includes a component name database; a relevant information database that at least includes, in relation to each failure event, the name of tier-one component having failed and the name of tier-two component possibly affecting the failure of the tier-one component; a component network generation unit that, based on the data stored in the component name database and the relevant information database, generates data of a component network covering names of components as well as relevance between components; a component network database storing the component network data; and a component network diagram display control unit that reads data from the component network database and causes a screen display unit of a computer to display a component network diagram based on the read data.

Heretofore, there has been disclosed apparatus for supporting FMEA (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis) work that involves predicting a possible failure of a product, analyzing its effects on the product and extracting the cause of the failure (e.g., see Patent Document 1). This support apparatus is designed to prepare FMEA sheets. An FMEA sheet contains such items as the name of a component, the function of the component, the mode in which the component failed (failure mode), the effects of the feature on the product, the influence rate of the failure, the cause of the failure, the incidence rate of the failure, design management for failure prevention, the defection rate of the failure, and the importance of the failure (=influence rate×incidence rate×detection rate). Specifically, the sheet may describe, as one record depicting "batteries" as a component constituting part of a product "electric torch" for example, the function of "supplying a miniature bulb with power", the failure mode in which "the supply of power is cut off", the effects of the failure entailing "no light", the cause of the failure as "dead batteries", and design management involving "verifying the remaining battery level."
The support apparatus is explained below in detail. A storage device of the support apparatus stores function model data made up of a function deployment section and a component list section, the function deployment section representing broken-down functions in tiers for implementing the functionality of the product. In the function model data, function nodes as elements of the function deployment section are relevant to component nodes as elements of the component list section. Also in the function deployment section, failure mode nodes and failure-affected nodes are input in relation to the function nodes. And in the component list section, failure cause data is input in relation to the component nodes, and design management data is input in relation to the failure cause data. The failure-affected nodes are accompanied by input influence rates; the failure cause data is accompanied by input incidence rates, and the design management data is accompanied by input detection rates.
And the support apparatus displays on a display device the above-described function model data, and prepares FMEA-related data based on the function model data. For example, upon preparation of one FMEA record, the designer first selects a failure mode node from the function model data and inputs the selected node to the FMEA record. This triggers a search through the function model data for the function nodes relevant to the failure mode node in question, automatically listing the failure-affected nodes relevant to the function nodes. Thereafter, the designer selects the relevant failure-affected node from the list and adds the selected node to the above FMEA record. And the component nodes relevant to the above-mentioned function nodes are automatically listed. The designer then selects the relevant component node from the list and adds the selected node to the above-mentioned FMEA record. The failure cause data relevant to the above component node is also listed automatically. The designer then selects the relevant failure cause data from the list and adds the selected data to the above FMEA record. The design management data relevant to the above component node is also listed automatically. The designer then selects the relevant design management data from the list and adds the selected data to the above-mentioned FMEA record. As a result, one FMEA record is prepared which includes such information as the failure mode, effects of the failure, influence rate, components involved, cause of the failure, incidence rate, design management, and detection rate.


A freezeless wall hydrant for delivery of hot or cold water from a single discharge conduit has first and second fluid inlet pipes in parallel spaced relation. The pipes have forward and rearward ends and are connected respectively to sources of hot and cold pressurized water. A laterally extending fluid conduit member connects the forward ends of the first and second fluid inlet pipes and is in communication therewith. A fluid closure valve is located in the rearward ends of each of the first and second fluid pipes. A check valve is in each of the pipes forwardly of the fluid closure valves and is capable of permitting fluid flow in the pipes in a direction from the closure valve, but prevents fluid flow towards the closure valves. A valve rod having forward and rearward ends rotatably extends through the laterally extending fluid conduit and through the forward ends of the first and second inlet pipes and has one end operatively connected to the check valves in the rearward ends of the fluid inlet pipes. A handle is located on a protruding forward end of the valve rods to permit the manual movement of the rods to open or close the fluid closure valves. A fluid exit conduit has a rearward end in communication with the laterally extending fluid conduit and extends forwardly and downwardly and terminates in a hose threaded portion. A check valve is located in the fluid exit conduit to prevent fluid flow therein only towards the forward end of the fluid exit conduit.

It is often desirable to have both hot and cold water available at a hydrant on the external wall of a structure or building. While many freezeless hydrants for mounting externally on a building have long been available, they are not designed to adaptation to both hot and cold water supplies.
It is therefore a principal object of this invention to provide a freezeless wall hydrant for delivery of hot or cold water through a single discharge conduit.

Freezerless wall hydrant for delivery of hot or cold water through a single discharge conduit


Systems and methods for preventing saturation of analog integrator outputs are provided. Applications of the systems and methods in hybrid analog-digital integrators are also provided. Exemplary systems include two switches, one operational amplifier, one capacitor C, four gain blocks, three comparators, one XOR gate, one OR gate, one T flip-flop, and one digital counter.

The analog integrator is a fundamental component in numerous important electronic devices such as analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), control systems, and analog computers. Analog integrators produce output signals that are the time integrals of their input signals. Input signals with high amplitudes may cause conventional analog integrators to produce an output that saturates at the circuit's supply voltage and therefore does not accurately reflect the integral of the input. If not designed properly or carefully, a conventional analog integrator may produce incorrect results given certain input signals because of saturation of its output at the value of its supply voltage. Such saturation could cause errors or inaccuracies.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,555,507 to Bryant et al. ("Bryant") discloses a technique to prevent the saturation of analog integrator's output. When the output of the analog integrator reaches the threshold voltage, a pre-charged capacitor will be used to reset the output, forcing the output to go to zero. Thus, there would be a sudden discharge for the capacitor of the analog integrator.

THE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK


Disclosed is a headwear which is mainly made of non-stretchable fiber. The headwear comprises a head receiving portion including a first stretchable fabric made of high twist yarn and a sweat band peripherally attached to the inside of the head receiving portion. Since the head receiving portion is mainly made of high twist yarn, the headwear has a fixed peripheral size but is adjustable within a predetermined range corresponding to small changes of head size. Also, the headwear can fit the head size to provide a comfortable sense of wearing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a headwear, more particularly, relates to a headwear that fits a variety of head sizes and can slightly expand to fit different head sizes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A baseball cap generally includes a crown, a visor and a sweat band. The crown receives a wearer's head and fixes the cap on the head. Accordingly, it is formed substantially in the shape of a hollow hemisphere. The crown, in general, is composed of panels or gores, which are successively stitched to form the crown. The visor is attached to the front portion of the lower edge of the crown, to protect the eyes from excessive sunlight. The sweat band is peripherally attached to the inside of the crown, along a lower edge thereof, such that it circumferentially contacts the head. The sweat band absorbs sweat to prevent it from running down onto the wearer's face, and presses the head to fix the cap on the head.
Because people have different sizes of head, size adjustable caps are preferred to fill this need. In order to meet this demand, several types of headwear have been designed, such as an adjustable cap, a free size cap and a sized cap.
FIG. 1 is a rear perspective view of a conventional adjustable cap.
Referring to FIG. 1, the conventional adjustable cap 10 includes a crown 20 and a visor 30. The crown 20 is composed of a plurality of gores, which are connected one by one to form the crown 20. The visor 30 is attached to the crown 10 at the front portion thereof. Additionally, a sweat band may be formed on the inside of the crown 20.
In order to fit a range of head sizes, the adjustable cap 10 includes a size adjustable part, which is composed of a rear opening, a strap 42 and a buckle 44. The rear opening is formed at the rear portion of the lower edge of the crown 20. The strap 42 is provided at one end of the rear opening and the buckle 44 is at the other end corresponding to the strap 42. By lengthening or shortening the length of the strap 42 and buckling it to the buckle 44, the peripheral size of the crown 10 can be adjusted depending on the head size of the wearer.
However, the adjustable cap 10 has a drawback in that some of the wearer's hairs coming out from the rear opening, and the lower edge of the crown could be partially wrinkled or crumpled. This drawback and the wrinkling affect the aesthetic appearance of the cap. Also, it requires a wearer to manually adjust the length of the strap 42 depending on his/her own head size.
Compared with the adjustable cap, a free size cap is capable of fitting a relatively broad range of head sizes without the use of a buckle and strap, so that it overcomes some of the above problems associated with the adjustable cap. Generally, in a free size cap, the crown and/or sweat band can be elastically stretchable in the direction of circumference so as to fit a broad range of head sizes. In this instance, the crown and/or the sweat band are composed of elastic material, for example spandex or polyurethane.
When the crown and/or the sweat band are stretched depending on the head sizes, they have the restoring force and press the head in return. The restoring force of the stretchable elastic fabric helps the cap to hold the head.
However, the more the crown is stretched, the bigger the pressing force applied to the head. Also, this pressing force is continuously applied to the head, when in use. So, the wearer could find it uncomfortable when he/she wears it, and it could leave an indent mark on the head after wearing for a long time. Moreover, since the crown of a free size cap is made up of stretchable fabric, there is a problem that the crown can be wrinkled and cannot maintain its aesthetic shape when not in use.
Some prior arts are known concerning to the free size cap, as follows.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,131,202 to Yan relates to a multi-axially stretchable cap. According to the Yan patent, the gores of the cap are composed of multi-axially stretchable fabric, in which stretchable synthetic fiber are woven in both directions, as weft and wrap. Also, a sweat band includes a thin layer of synthetic foam material. Thus, the stretchable cap can stretch in weft and warp direction to provide an easy fit for the head. However, as the above described, the synthetic fabric can press the head with a large restoring force, when in use. Also, since the warp expands and contract in longitudinal direction and the weft in circumferential direction, the restoring forces by the weft and the warp are applied to the head independently. So, the restoring force by the weft is applied not associating with the warp, such that the wearer might still have an uncomfortable feeling while wearing the cap, in a manner similar to other free size caps. Further more, in case that the warp is elastically stretchable, the restoring force of the warp can draw the crown upward while wearing the cap, so to present the wearer an unpleasant feeling of wearing.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,347,410 to Lee relates to a self-sizing cap. The self-sizing cap of the Lee patent includes a crown portion, a visor and a sweat band. The crown portion is composed of triangle-shaped fabric panels and it can accommodate a range of head sizes comfortably. The sweat band is composed of two or more layers shaped into an elongated rectangle. The lower edge of the sweat band is flexibly attached to the lower peripheral edge of the crown portion, such that the sweat band can be stowed or deployed. When the sweat band is deployed, it can expand the attachment area on the wearer's head and provide more shade and warmth, and also it can have matching or contrasting color combinations.
PCT application No. WO01/05259 relates to a cap with a stretchable band. The cap includes a crown and an inner band, wherein the inner band is elastically stretchable along its direction of elongation and includes a liner for encircling the head comfortably. The crown is composed of gores and at least one of the gores is made of elastically stretchable material.
The abovementioned three patent references all are related to free size caps, which fit a relatively broad range of head sizes. The crowns of the free size caps continuously press the head and might provide the wearer with an uncomfortable feeling when in use. Moreover, the more the free size cap stretches, the more heavily the cap presses the head.
On the other hand, a sized cap is mainly made of non-stretchable material and has a fixed peripheral size. The sized cap generally includes a crown and a sweat band, which are mainly made of non-stretchable fiber. It does not have a rear opening for size adjustment, and does not elastically expand and contract. Thus, the crown of the sized cap is not wrinkled or crumpled, providing a good appearance.
The sized cap can best fit only one head size. However, it follows that many different sizes of caps should be fabricated for different head sizes. Also, depending on one's hairstyle and/or length, a sized cap could feel either too tight or loose, such that it could occasionally make the wearer feel uncomfortable.


A solar energy conversion device comprises a solar collector configured to collect solar energy. The solar collector comprises a plurality of roof panels. Each of the panels comprises at least one roof sheet comprising at least one wall, and further comprises a substantially transparent thermoplastic polymer.

The present invention relates generally to solar energy conversion devices to generate power output and particularly to solar collector roof panels used therein.
Typical solar energy conversion devices of the type known as a "solar chimney" use a solar collector built from several transparent roof panels to transmit solar radiation therethrough. Solar energy transmitted by the solar collector heats a fluid, typically air, contained within the solar energy conversion device. The resulting thermal energy in the fluid is converted to kinetic energy to maintain a convective updraft between the solar collector and a chimney, and this kinetic energy is used to drive a turbine coupled to a generator to produce power output.
The solar collector should desirably have sufficient thermal insulation to retain the thermal energy within the fluid while enabling efficient transmission of solar radiation thereto. However, conventional solar collectors typically comprise modular glass panels having poor thermal insulation properties. Solar collectors generally have relatively large surface area to ensure adequate thermal performance of the solar collector. For example, a solar collector design for a typical 200 megawatt power station has typically about 5 Km overall diameter so as to operate at an estimated overall efficiency level of about 70%. Such solar collectors should be substantially reinforced with adequate support structure at appropriate span lengths to maintain overall structural integrity when exposed to the substantial load caused by wind impinging on the large surface of the collector. Fabricating and maintaining a solar-energy-based power plant made from modular glass solar collectors require substantial capital investment, which adversely affects cost effectiveness of power generated by the plant.
Solar collectors fabricated from roof panels comprising thin polymer films have been contemplated. In such a design, overall thermal insulation of the solar collector is enhanced to a certain extent, but in practice maintaining structural integrity of the roof panel comprising such thin polymer film poses a challenge, particularly when the solar collector is subjected to substantial wind load.
Accordingly, there is a need in the related art to address enhancement of performance of the solar collector while minimizing size and weight to render overall cost effectiveness, without compromising structural integrity of the solar collector assembly.

Polymer roof panel solar energy conversion device


A mobile radio communication system is provided for keeping high-quality communications and preventing disconnection of a radio link in fast movement. The system includes the radio network controller provided with a storage unit and a control unit. The storage unit stores grouped-user-equipments management information to be used for identifying and managing a plurality of user equipments as one group. The control unit controls the user equipments belonging to the same group so that they may be connected with their respective ones of the cells formed by the node bases. This allows the plurality of user equipments belonging to the same group to execute multiplex communications, thereby preventing simultaneous disconnection of the radio links of the user equipments belonging to the same group even when those user equipments are moving fast.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile radio communication system, and more particularly to the mobile radio communication system which adopts the CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) system.
(2) Description of the Related Art
The CDMA system is more likely to be the representative mobile radio communication system of a radio interface because this system may accommodate lots of user equipments on one band, keep the speech quality excellent and also keep the speech privacy high.
FIG. 23 illustrates an exemplary arrangement of the conventional mobile radio communication system that adopts the CDMA system (referred to as the CDMA system mobile radio communication system).
The mobile radio communication system is arranged to have mobile switching centers (each of which is often referred simply to as the MSC) 801 and 802, radio network controllers (each of which is often referred simply to as the RNC) 803 and 804, node bases 805, 806, 807, 808, 809, 810, a user equipment (which is often referred simply to as the UE) 811. This communication system takes a pyramidal network with the MSCs 801 and 802 located topmost.
The MSCs 801 and 802 are connecting nodes between a radio network and a general switched network. For example, when a subordinate radio network of the MSC 801 issues a call connecting (location registration) request to the outside of the switched network of the MSC 801, the MSC 801 is served to be connected with the corresponding other MSC such as the MSC 802. Further, in a case that a receive request is issued outside the switched network of the MSC 801, if the location information of the destination UE 811 is recognized inside the switched network of the MSC 801, the UE 811 transfers a receive signal to the RNC of the concerned area such as the RNC 803. The connecting node for exchanging packets is also called xGSN (x-GPRS (Global Packet Radio Service) Support Node). In the following description, the MSC 801 or 802 cover this connecting node.
The RNC 803 or 804 performs the radio network control between the MSC 801 and the node bases 805 to 810, the call-connecting (or call-ending) control therebetween, the hand-over control therebetween, and the control of the connecting rate (communication rate) of the UE 811. When originating a call (registering a location), the RNC 803 or 804 notifies the MSC 801 of the switched network of a signal passing through one of the node bases 805 to 810 and then performs the radio networking with the concerned node base, for example, the node base 805. When receiving a call, the RNC 803 or 804 transfers the signal from the MSC 801 to a plurality of node bases located close to the UE 811, for example, the node bases 805, 806 and 807, and then receives a response from the UE 811 through the node base of the area where the UE 811 is located, for example, the node base 805. This operation allows the same connecting control (network control) as that in originating a call to be carried out.
The node bases 805 to 810 form their radio zones (each of which is referred to as a cell) for their respective locations. Further, these node bases have a function of relaying a call control signal (origination and location registration) from the UE 811 to the RNC 803 or 804 and also relaying a radio network control signal from the RNC 803 or 804 to the UE 811.
The CDMA system mobile radio communication system utilizes a cellular system that is arranged to cover a service area with lots of cells. Through this cellular system, the CDMA type mobile radio communication system performs a radio multi-link control and a radio network mobile control for supplying high-quality services.
The radio multi-link control is executed to overlap the cell of one node base with those of the other adjacent node bases so that a plurality of radio networks may be connected with one another and thereby to selectively synthesize or restore the transmission informations from those networks. This selective synthesis and restoration makes it possible to supply high-quality radio communication.
The mobile control is executed to continuously connect and disconnect the radio network (which is referred to as the hand-over operation) with movement of the UE 811 on the assumption of the function of the radio multi-link control. This makes it possible to continue the mobile communication.
The conventional hand-over procedure will be described below.
FIG. 24 illustrates the hand-over operation to be executed with movement of the UE.
In FIG. 24, the UE 811 is moved from a cell 807a of the node base 807 managed by the RNC 803 of FIG. 23 to the cell 808a of the node base 808 managed by the RNC 804. The CDMA system mobile control allows the RNC 803 or 804 to switch the cell 807a to the adjacent cell 808a when the UE 811 is moved. The switching of the cells from one to the other means connection and disconnection of the radio links.
The UE 811 constantly monitors the quality (electric power value) of the adjacent cells based on the information of the hand-over-executable adjacent cells pre-notified by the RNC 803 when a call is connected. For example, in the case of detecting a cell with higher quality than the quality of the cell 807a in communication in the hand-over interval as shown in FIG. 24, the hand-over request for the cell 808a is transmitted to the RNC 803. In a case that the concerned cell 808a is located out of the RNC 803 as shown in FIG. 24, the RNC 803 that has received the hand-over request transmits a request for setting up a radio link to the hand-over destination RNC 804 that manages the cell 808a. If the concerned cell 808a is located inside the RNC 803, the request for setting up a radio link with the destination cell is transmitted to the RNC 803.
If the concerned cell 808a is located outside the RNC 803, the hand-over destination RNC 804 that has received the request for setting up the radio link operates to set up the radio link in association with the node base 808 managed by the RNC 804. At a time, the information of the adjacent cell managed by the hand-over destination RNC 804 is reported to the hand-over source RNC 803.
The hand-over source RNC 803, which has received the report about the information of the adjacent cell of the hand-over destination RNC 804, operates to edit the information of the adjacent cell to be notified to the UE 811 from the existing adjacent cell information of the adjacent hand-over destination cell information and then report the edited cell information to the UE 811.
The adjacent cell information to be used by this hand-over system means the information in which all the adjacent cells around any cell are made active.
The CDMA system mobile radio communication system utilizes a Rake synthesis by which multi-paths delayed from each other are separated in time and synthesized in phase, for the purpose of diffusing the data signal through fast diffusion code series when transmitting the data signal. Further, this communication system keeps the quality of the received signal higher by the effective use of the signal power of the multi-paths. Moreover, this communication system enables to execute the communication through a plurality of cells by overlapping the signals from two or more cells with one another in time when receiving or transmitting the signals.
Another conventional technique has been provided which includes a control station that operates to discriminate the quantity and quality of the speech received from the plurality of node bases and then issues a request for changing the transmission output of the downstream control signal to the node base according to the discriminated result. This control station allows the UE that supports the dual mode to send and receive the upstream and the downstream control signals to and from the node base, which makes it possible to lessen call congestion and prevent the speech quality from being degraded without restricting origination or receive of a call (disconnection of a call). This technique may be referred in the Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication 2000-68928.
The recent introduction of various new techniques leads to improving the transmission speed of the data communication in the mobile station year by year. Moreover, the adoption of the communication system through a plurality of cells also leads to realizing the communication system that may keep the speech hardly disconnected.
However, the ways of use of the radio communication are becoming more and more variable. Moreover, the quality of the radio communication is requested to be higher and higher for some ways of use such as a radio or a TV relay.
For the wired communication, it is common to utilize the dual communication system that secures two lines in communication for securing the quality of communication. However, for the radio communication, no such means is provided, so that it has been difficult to secure the high-quality communication.
Moreover, it has been requested to keep the radio communication the substantially same high quality as that of the wired communication, that is, keep the radio communication hardly disconnected.


A packing element for a blowout preventer includes an annular flexible non-metallic composite body disposed about a longitudinal axis that is adapted to be compressively displaced inwardly towards the axis. A plurality of non-metallic composite inserts are embedded in the body in generally circular fashion spaced apart in respective radial planes extending form the axis for reinforcing the body. Each of the inserts includes upper and lower flanges, and a web element extending between the flanges. The web element includes trailing and leading edges, each having outer arcuate surface that are substantially semicircular in cross-section for distributing the loads applied to a bond line between the insert and the flexible non-metallic composite body during the operation of the packing element. A central rib extends between the leading and trailing edges. The replacement of metal inserts with non-metallic composite inserts eliminates sparks and scoring of string, which leads to explosions.

The present invention relates to annular type blowout preventers and similar equipment used to control pressures while drilling a well, and more particularly to packing element elements and inserts used in such equipment. U.S. Pat. No. 2,609,836 to Knox and Canadian Patent No. 1,178,196 to Huey, Wai J. describes annular type blowout preventer packing units which incorporate metal inserts spaced about the packing element central axis, and embedded by a rubber body. Upon inward constriction of the unit about a well drill pipe, or upon itself, the rubber squeezed radially inwardly with resistance imposed by the inserts to which the rubber is anchored. Well pressure exerted upwardly upon the stretched or extended rubber also tends to displace it upwardly, so that the material, is subjected to strain both radially and vertically. This causes fatigue and weakening of the material, particularly after repeated closure of the preventer unit, so that each unit is normally rated as to its capability to safely sustain or withstand a certain number of closures, but the problem of extreme stretching of the rubber has limited the success of such efforts.
It is a major objective of the present invention to provide an improved blowout preventer unit characterized in that the capability of non-metallic composite inserts to effectively anchor the flexible non-metallic composite packing element under extreme well pressure is substantially enhanced, with the result that fracturing of the packing element is substantially reduced, and with the result that the life of the preventer unit is materially enhanced.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide non-metallic composite inserts for use in a packing element wherein the leading and trailing edges of the non-metallic composite insert exhibit a relatively large, and arcuate surface area so as to reduce the stress and strains developed at the bond line between the inserts and the flexible non-metallic composite body in the packing element.
It is an object of the present invention to provide such a non-metallic composite insert that eliminates the risk of generating sparks when in contact with drill string when tripping or stripping in and out of the well bore. Eliminating sparks is very important, as these sparks are known causes of fires and explosions.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a non-metallic composite insert that eliminates metal use in conventional inserts so that the over all weight of the blowout preventer is substantially reduced.
It is a still further object to provide a non-metallic composite insert having a dumbbell shaped cross-section, somewhat like an I-beam in construction, to provide efficient load bearing capabilities through the geometry of the insert.
These and other objects and advantages of the invention, as well as the details of illustrative embodiments, will be more fully understood from the following description and drawings.

Blowout preventer packing element with non-metallic composite inserts


A process is provided for preparing poly(arylene sulfide)/poly(arylene sulfide sulfone) block copolymer comprising: contacting poly(arylene sulfide) prepolymer, a dihaloaromatic sulfone, a sulfur source, and a polar organic compound under polymerization conditions, wherein said prepolymer is prepared by contacting a dihaloaromatic compound, a phenolic compound, a polar organic compound, and a sulfur source under polymerization conditions.

This invention relates to the preparation of poly(arylene sulfide/poly(arylene sulfide sulfone) block copolymers and the block copolymers thus produced.
Poly(arylene sulfide)s are important engineering thermoplastics that are highly crystalline and rigid, and exhibit good heat and chemical resistance. They are of commercial interest for film, fiber, moldings, and composite applications.
Poly(arylene sulfide sulfone)s are amorphous polymers and exhibit good mechanical properties relating to toughness, such as impact strength and flexibility, and are useful in molding in such areas as electrical components, wire coatings, automotive parts, and the like.
It would be desirable to produce a polymer composition which exhibits the advantages of both poly(arylene sulfide)s and poly(arylene sulfide sulfone)s, i.e. the flexibility and toughness of an amorphous material, while maintaining the chemical resistance and rigidity of a crystalline material.

Poly(arylene sulfide)/poly(arylene sulfide sulfone) block copolymers and preparation thereof


Disclosed herein is a simple method for the treatment of antigen-deficiency diseases, by orally administering to a subject a therapeutically effective amount of the deficient antigen, wherein the antigen is not present in a liposome. In one embodiment, the method increases hemostasis in a subject having hemophilia A or B, by orally administering to the hemophiliac a therapeutically effective amount of the appropriate clotting factor other than in a liposome, sufficient to induce oral tolerance and supply exogenous clotting factor to the subject.

Hemophilia A and B, caused respectively by decreased levels of clotting factor VIII (F.VIII) and IX (F.IX) levels in peripheral blood, are the most common severe inherited bleeding disorders. Although purified clotting factors from human plasma can be infused into these patients to prevent or treat bleeding episodes, this poses the risk of spreading of diseases such as Creutzfled-Jakob disease, HIV, and hepatitis C. Although recombinant clotting factor preparations are available, the supply is insufficient to cover the world-wide demand.
As an alternative to generating recombinant clotting factors in cell culture, the use of transgenic animals as bioreactors for the production of clinically useful quantities of proteins has been proposed. The transgenic animal expresses the desired protein in a body fluid, such as milk, from which the protein can readily be isolated. Transgenic pigs that secrete F.VIII (U.S. Pat. No. 5,880,327 to Lubon et al.) or F.IX (Van Cott et al. 1999. Genet. Anal. 15:155-60) in their milk were generated using gene constructs that have regulatory sequences from the gene for mouse whey acidic protein (the 4.2 kb 5′ promoter of WAP), in combination with the cDNA sequence encoding human F.VIII or F.IX. F.VIII pigs secrete 2.7 μg/ml of human F.VIII into milk (Paleyanda et al. 1997. Nat. Biotech. 15:971), while F.IX pigs secrete 2.5 g/L of human F.IX into milk, and the factor is biologically active as measured by an activated partial thromboplastin time assay (APTT).
Therefore, large amounts of functional protein can be obtained from F.IX pigs, which is purified from the milk, and subsequently administered intravenously (i.v.) to a hemophiliac patient. However, it has previously been thought that oral administration of F.VIII or F.IX results in degradation and/or inactivation of the protein due to the acidic and enzymatic composition of the stomach. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,348,384 to Horikoshi et al. teaches the administration of an oral composition containing purified F.VIII or F.IX encapsulated in a liposome along with a protease inhibitor, for the purpose of evading gastric inactivation of the therapeutic protein.
One complication that results from i.v. administration of F.VIII or F.IX is that up to 25% of hemophiliacs develop inhibitors, such as antibodies against F.VIII or F.IX that inactivate their procoagulant activity (Fields et al. 2000. Mol. Ther. 3:225-35; Bristol et al. 2001. Hum. Gene Ther. 12:1651-61; Ge et al. 2001. Blood 97:3733-7; Brinkhous et al. 1996. Blood 88:2603-10). Most inhibitory antibodies develop in severely affected patients who have little or no circulating F.IX or F.VIII antigen due to genetic deletion. However, patients with a family history of inhibitor development, severe disease, older age or higher numbers of clotting factor replacement episodes, also have a higher incidence of developing these inhibitors (Roberts. 1997. Inhibitors and their management. In Hemophilia & other inherited bleeding disorders. Rizza & Lowe, eds. W B Saunders Company Ltd., London, p. 365.). The inhibitors can completely inhibit the activity of infused clotting factor and make further treatment difficult.
One means of reducing clotting factor antibodies is the induction of immune tolerance to the clotting factors. For example, Roberts (JAMA 259:84-5, 1988) reviews studies in which F.VIII was injected at high concentrations. Although some studies reported that the level of anti-factor VIII antibodies decreased, due to the high doses required, the method was never widely used because it was prohibitively expensive. Oral administration of F.VIII as a means to prevent the formation of anti-F.VIII antibodies has also been attempted, with mixed results. Oral administration of purified F.VIII to newborn mice did not suppress induction of anti-F.VIII antibodies (Kaplan et al. 2000. Semin. Thromb. Hemost. 26:173-8). Oral administration of purified F.VIII to one of three patients with acquired hemophilia did reduce the amount of anti-F.VIII antibodies (Lindgren et al. 2000. Thromb. Haemost. 83:632-3). However, there are no teachings that oral administration of clotting factors alone can be used to treat hemophilia which is caused by inadequate expression of a clotting factor.
Attempts to induce stable production of the missing clotting factors by gene therapy using injections of transfected myoblasts have also been hampered by the host immune system which, not being tolerant of the missing factor, generates a strong rejection response when introduced (Fields et al. 2000. Mol. Ther. 3:225-35). Thus, inhibitory antibodies to the factors and vigorous T cell responses to the genetically transfected cells are major hurdles to successful treatment of hemophilia.
Another disadvantage to introduction of a foreign gene through the use of a viral vector, is the possibility of an elicited immune response against the vector and/or the transgene product For example, intramuscular (i.m.) injection of an adenoviral vector expressing human F.IX into the hind limbs of hemophiliac mice results in a CTL response against F.IX, and destruction of the transduced cells, whereas i.m. injection of a less immunogenic vector (adeno-associated virus, AAV) expressing human F.IX results in long-term persistence of the transduced cells and an absence of CTL to F.IX (Roberts. 1997. Inhibitors and their management. In Hemophilia & other inherited bleeding disorders. Rizza & Lowe, eds., W B Saunders Company Ltd., London, p. 365.). However, in both cases formation of antibodies neutralizes F.IX activity. The same problem exists in the canine model of hemophilia B, where anti-F.IX antibodies neutralize F.IX activity after gene therapy with F.IX (Evans et al. 1989. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U S A. 86:10095-9; Mauser et al. 1996. Blood. 88:3451-5; Herzog et al. 1999. Nat. Med. 5:56-63; and Kay et al. 2000. Nat. Genet. 24:257-261).

United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services

Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties, Inc.


Polymer compositions of the invention typically comprise a base polymer composition, a polymer cleavage agent, and a stabilizer composition. The preferred base polymer composition comprises an ethylene vinyl alcohol copolymer composition. Preferred cleavage agent is an alkaline earth or transition metal salt, preferably an acetate, or a salt of an acid having 8 to 20 carbon atoms. The stabilizer composition comprises an alkylated phenol or bisphenol. Preferred stabilizer composition comprises a tocopherol, preferably alpha tocopherol.

This invention relates generally to self-purging ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH) compositions. While the principles of the invention can apply to a wide variety of self-purging EVOH compositions, the invention is described herein specifically with is respect to those self-purging compositions containing metal salts of acids. Accordingly, the principles described herein are not limited to polymer compositions containing metal salts, but are limited only by the operability of the principles disclosed herein with respect to odor and flavor suppression properties attendant the materials disclosed herein for controlling such properties.
EVOH resin is widely employed for, among other things and without limitation, food packaging and other applications as a gas and/or flavor barrier material. EVOH is usually extruded from a die in a single or multiple layer structure, and may thus be fabricated into a wide variety of shapes, such as films, sheets, or bottles.
Melted EVOH resin has a known affinity for metals, and thus tends to build up inside the extruder and downstream equipment (e.g. adapter, screens, and shaping die) of related polymer processing apparatus. EVOH is also quite sensitive to the time during which it is exposed to extruder-type temperatures. Namely, the "OH" moieties in EVOH tend to cross-link with each other.
The physical result is that, as a typical extrusion "run" progresses, viscosity of the EVOH extrudate gradually increases (MI decreases), while the amount of cross-linked EVOH builds up inside the extrusion and shaping equipment. As material continues to build up in the extrusion and shaping equipment, at some point the build-up is great enough that the material begins to break loose and show up in the extrudate as gels. The number of gels increases with time. Large numbers of gels are generally unacceptable in shaped products so made. Thus, the extruder must, from time-to-time, be purged (cleaned out) of the EVOH build-up.
One method for cleaning out the EVOH is to shut down, cool off, disassemble, and physically scrape/clean, etc. the extrusion equipment. A preferred method is to run through the extrusion and shaping equipment some material that will clean out the EVOH, including the build-up inside the respective equipment. Such material is generically known as a "purge" material, and the process is called "purging."
With EVOH, "purging" must be done periodically, even if the resin being extruded is always EVOH. Using conventional technology, the interval between "purgings" of EVOH is typically 1-7 days. The longer runs of up to 7 days require use of a self-purging EVOH resin. By self purging EVOH resin, we mean that the resin composition includes at least one component/additive which participates in a controlled amount of cleavage of the EVOH copolymer, normally by cleavage of the ethylene chain.
Typical such additives are metal salts of acids, for example, magnesium stearate. Such cleavage of the polymer chain can create short chain polymer segments, as well as oxygen-containing monomer molecules such as aldehydes and ketones, some of which have human-perceived odors and/or flavors.
This invention is directed toward improved self-purging EVOH copolymer compositions, methods of use of such self-purging copolymer compositions, and products made with such self-purging copolymer compositions.
It is an object of the invention to provide an EVOH copolymer composition providing improved control of odor and flavor.
It is a more specific object to provide a self-purging EVOH copolymer composition providing improved control of odor and flavor.
It is a further specific object to provide an EVOH copolymer composition comprising a phenol and/or bisphenol stabilizer.
It is a more specific object to provide an EVOH copolymer composition comprising a tocopherol stabilizer.
It is a still more specific object to provide an EVOH copolymer composition comprising an alpha tocopherol stabilizer.
It is yet another object to provide a method of effectively controlling odor and/or flavor in the extruded product.
It is still another object to provide a method of making an extended extrusion run of EVOH copolymer composition while effectively controlling odor and/or flavor in the extruded product.

Self purging EVOH compositions, and methods


An active front steering system includes a motor controller configured to compute a position error from a commanded position value and an actual position value, and then enter one of two modes—a commutation enable mode and a commutation freeze mode—depending upon the value of this position error. The commutation freeze mode applies when the absolute value of the position error is less than a predetermined threshold, and involves sending a set of signals to the motor's phase inputs such that commutation of the motor is prevented and a substantially constant motor hold torque is produced. The commutation enable mode applies when the absolute value of the position error is greater than or equal to the predetermined threshold, and corresponds to normal commutating operating mode.

Hydraulic power assist steering systems incorporate an engine-driven hydraulic pump coupled to the hydraulic steering gear of the vehicle. The direction and magnitude of assist provided by the hydraulic system is determined by a valve that is actuated by a torsion bar provided between the steering hand wheel and a fixed end of the steering column.
Active front steering systems typically use a geared brushless DC electric motor to augment the hand wheel steering angle. The steering wheel is decoupled from the torsion bar of the conventional hydraulic power assist steering system and a superposition gear box is utilized between the shaft of the hand wheel and that of the torsion bar. The electric motor is coupled to the superposition gear in such a way that, when the motor is prevented from rotating, the rotation of the torsion bar follows that of the hand wheel. If the motor is commanded with a positive or negative angle, however, the commanded angle is added or subtracted from that of the hand wheel after being reduced by an appropriate gear ratio, and is applied to the torsion bar.
Brushless DC motors used in connection with active front steering systems typically include commutation logic for the three motor phases based on three position sensors spaced at 60° or 120° (electrical degrees). The phases are switched whenever a transition of a position sensor is detected, and a closed-loop position control system utilizes a proportional-differential (P-D) control scheme with high gain in order to achieve high precision. Unfortunately, this control scheme can cause undesirable chattering and vibration of the system during operation near a sensor transition point, as the repeated commutations can cause torque disturbances.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide improved steering control schemes that reduce torque disturbances and the resulting chatter and vibration. Other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.

Methods and apparatus for an active front steering actuator


A gate bar for a toll gate apparatus includes a tubular member surrounded by a sleeve of resilient material. The sleeve is protected by a sheath which may be painted to improve the visibility of the bar.

1. Field of Invention
This invention pertains to toll gates and more particularly to an improved toll gate constructed of light yet sturdy materials.
2. Description the Prior Art
Toll systems are used principally to control access of vehicular traffic to bridges, tunnels, highways, to permit exit for example from a parking lot, and so on. Generally, a toll system includes a toll collecting station which may be manual or automatic and which may be used to collect a fee from a driver of the vehicle. During toll collecting, the path of the vehicle is blocked by a gate bar consisting essentially of an elongated member supported in a cantilevered manner and extending across the width of the lane. When the toll has been collected, a mechanism is activated to pivot the gate bar either vertically or horizontally to allow the vehicle to pass through. Conventional gate bars were constructed either of a heavy metal or wood. One major problem with such a gate is that if a toll gate attendant is careless while being in the vicinity of an operating gate, the gate may hit and cause injury to the attendant. In addition, if the gate malfunctions, or the vehicle is operated recklessly before the gate fully opens or closes, the gate may also damage the vehicle. A lighter gate made of styrofoam and plastic was also tried but it proved to be unacceptable because it was too flexible and was not strong enough.


A headrest associated with a seating position on a vehicle may be provided and the seating position may have a seat portion and a back portion. The headrest may include a rest portion configured for laterally and/or vertically supporting the head of a user seated in the seating position. The headrest may also include a support portion including a riser with a translucent material and the support portion may be configured for spaced apart and lateral support of the rest portion relative to the back portion of the seating position. The support portion may include a light source arranged to illuminate the support portion by directing light through the translucent material.

The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
Headrest portions of seats are often supported relative to seatback portions of seats on one or more stanchions such as posts, poles, or other supports. In some cases, particularly in motor vehicles, such stanchions are fixed to the headrest in rigid fashion extending from the bottom of the headrest. The seat on which the headrest is supported may include a sleeve for receiving the stanchion and a clamp, stop, catch, or other mechanism may be provided to control how much of the stanchion is positioned in the sleeve. As such, the headrest stanchion may be adjusted inwardly and outwardly from the sleeve and secured in a selected position to support the headrest above the seat back to properly support and/or arrest rearward motion of a head of a person seated in the seat.
In light of the structural nature of the stanchions and the physicality of their use, headrest stanchions are commonly constructed of steel, aluminum, or other substantially rigid metal material. This material selection can lead to limitations relating to alternative uses and features of the headrest stanchions.


Interference between an intake manifold and a fuel pipe during a vehicle front collision is prevented in an engine which is longitudinally mounted in an engine room. A vehicle component is arranged on the front side of an intake manifold, and a fuel pipe is arranged on the rear side of the intake manifold. The intake manifold includes a mounting portion on the intake-air downstream end side of a plurality of independent intake pipe portions and connects each of the plurality of independent intake pipe portions to a portion of the engine on one side of the engine in the vehicle width direction. The mounting portion has a front-side mounting portion relatively positioned on the front side and a rear-side mounting portion relatively positioned on the rear side, and the rear-side mounting portion has a higher rigidity than the front-side mounting portion.

Hitherto, consideration has been given to dealing with a vehicle collision using the structure of an intake manifold connected to an engine.
For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open. No. 2012-158994 discloses a front structure of an engine laterally placed in an engine room such that the cylinder array direction is in the vehicle width direction. In the front structure, an intake manifold made of resin is fastened on the vehicle front side of the engine at an upper portion and a lower portion thereof, a fuel distribution pipe that extends in the crank shaft line direction is arranged below an upper mounting portion of the intake manifold, the intake manifold is formed in a manner of being split to the side close to the engine and the side far from the engine and is composed of a plurality of joined split bodies, the strength of a base split body on the side close to the engine is set to be higher than that of another split body on the side far from the engine, an oil separator cover made of resin is provided on the vehicle front face side of the engine, and retreat restriction portions that abut against each other in the process of displacement of the base split body at the time of a collision are provided on the base split body and the oil separator cover.


To provide a content searching device which can efficiently present to the user a topical related keyword.

In order to search a desired piece of content out of a large number of pieces of content stored in a server, several methods have been introduced for presenting plural related keywords from a searching device. Here, each of the related keywords is a word (keyword) which is related to a word specified by a user (keyword). A degree of relevance among mutually related keywords is typically calculated based on the number of co-occurrence times among the keywords and appearance frequency thereof.
Such a searching device updates relevancy among the keywords for presenting a related keyword, upon updating data of a content database in which content is stored (See Patent Reference 1, for example). Thus, the searching device presents to the user a related keyword based on a current content stored in the content database.
However, the related keyword, recalled by a specific keyword by the user, is different from user to user. For example, a user who has watched only a currently broadcasted drama on which an "actor A" appears recalls an "actress B" who has appeared on the drama as a related keyword. Meanwhile, another user who watched only a drama broadcasted one year ago with the "actor A" appeared on recalls an "actress C" who appeared on the drama as a related keyword. In the case where each user has different knowledge, as described above, the related keyword by which each user recalls the "actor A" is possibly different. In other words, when the searching device presents only a related keyword generated based on a current content, some users may find an un-recallable related keyword. The resulting problem is that the user cannot select a keyword, and thus cannot narrow down content.
One of conventional methods for solving the problem is to classify all pieces of content, stored in the content database, according to time segments of fixed times. This allows the searching device using the method in Patent Reference 2 to establish relevancy among keywords for each time segment. As a result, the searching device can present to the user a related keyword generated based on relevancy of a different time segment for each of several time segments. As a keyword which relates to the "actor A", for example, the searching device can simultaneously present to the user the "actress B" which has great relevance to a piece of content of this year and the "actress C" which has great relevance to another piece of content of the past year. As described above, the searching device presents the related keywords over several time segments, so that the user can select a related keyword to match with his or her knowledge. In other words, the user can efficiently narrow down pieces of content by repeating the selections of the related keyword.    Patent Reference 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-188225    Patent Reference 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-183175

Content searching device and content searching method

Abstract: A content searching device (100), which searches content from a content database with a use of a related keyword, includes: a related segment calculating unit (106) which calculates, for each content attribute, a related segment which is defined in order for first content and second content to be included in a same time segment, the related segment being calculated based on whether or not a degree of difference, for each content attribute, calculated out of a plurality of first keywords and a plurality of second keywords meets a predetermined reference value, the plurality of the first keywords each describing the first content to be stored in the content database (101), and the plurality of the second keywords each describing the second content having been stored in the content database (101); and a dictionary updating unit (107) which updates a degree of relevance stored in a dictionary database (102), the degree of relevance being updated with a use of the related segment, and the degree of relevance, among the plurality of keywords, being calculated for each content attribute.


An apparatus for detecting and determining a source azimuth for gamma radiation includes at least two scintillation crystals at angular offsets and directed toward a common plane of detection, photodetectors adjacent to each of the scintillation crystals for converting the light response of the scintillation crystals into distinct electrical signals, and a digital processing system configured to analyze spectral data from each electrical signal produced for each crystal. The digital processing system monitors a finite number of spectral windows corresponding to a selected set of radioisotopes, and uses one or more of the electrical signals to determine a signal intensity and a likely source azimuth for a detected radioisotope in the plane of detection. Another scintillation crystal directed outside of the common plane of detection may be used for three-dimensional detection. Related methods for detection and location of gamma ray sources are discussed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present subject matter relates generally to radiation detection devices, and in particular to compact scintillation radiation detector ensembles that enable detection, identification and azimuth location of a radiation source in a single embodiment.
2. Related Art
The United States government has identified a vital need of law enforcement, first responder and military staff responsible for detecting and responding to radiological threats to the United States to advance the state of the art of available omni-directional radiation detection devices, such as radiation portals and hand-held devices which are sensitive enough to detect many threats, but lack the capability to rapidly determine the location of the radiation source. This problem is complicated by the fact that the terrestrial environment of concern includes significant naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) and legitimate medical and industrial sources, which camouflage a threat source. Additionally the threat source will often be present in a scatter rich environment further masking the direction and energy of the source. The current information provided may be ambiguous and inadequate in both routine inspection and live threat response scenarios given that the main goal is to find the radiation source or sources quickly to determine the risk level and the appropriate response. It is also possible for a strong benign source to mask a relatively weaker hazardous source in a nearby location. Pertinent information could facilitate sound management of these tense situations, including whether there are one or multiple sources of interest, the azimuth relative to the detector of a gamma source, the location of this source, and the identity of the source. This information must be acquired quickly, so that it may be immediately communicated to the responsible command centers.
Currently available radiation detection and measurement equipment cover a wide range of specific tasks such as isotope identification in a hand-held package and personal radiation locators. However, these devices depend on observing the variation in response intensity as the sensor is moved closer or further from the source. Other devices, often designated gamma cameras or pinhole cameras, accurately locate a gamma source when pointed in the direction of the emissions, but these devices include quite heavy collimation and because of their limited field of view, and are of greatest value only after the threat is originally detected by devices such as those noted above.
Still other devices, known as Compton cameras, while capable of gamma ray azimuth detection, cannot meet the above requirements. Compton cameras work by measuring the track of scintillation resulting from interactions between the incident gamma rays and material in different sections of the detector. The radiation source azimuth can be calculated by backward extension of the track. This approach provides a line that will include the location of the source and provides sensitivity for weak gamma-ray sources compared to non-imaging systems. However, Compton cameras currently are laboratory devices too large and cumbersome for use as set forth above.

Apparatus and method for detection, location, and identification of gamma sources


A method of providing an internal circumferential shoulder in a cylindrical passageway including the steps of forming an enlarged internal diameter groove in the passageway, machining an integral unitary circumferential shoulder blank of external dimensions conforming to the groove, cutting the shoulder blank into at least segments, each segment having opposed end surfaces that match the end surfaces of adjacent segments, the opposed end surfaces of one segment being defined by parallel, spaced-apart planes forming a key segment, positioning the shoulder segments into the groove, the key segment being inserted last and securing the key segment within the groove.

This application is not referenced in any Microfiche Appendix.
This invention is concerned with a method of providing an internal circumferential shoulder in a cylindrical passageway and is exemplified by an installable load shoulder for a tubing or casing head, that is also frequently called a xe2x80x9cwellheadxe2x80x9d. xe2x80x9cTubingxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9ccasingxe2x80x9d as used herein is inclusive of tubular products as used in drilling and completing oil and/or gas wells. The invention is particularly concerned with, but not limited to, an installable load shoulder positioned in a wellhead to support a tubing hanger or a casing hanger.
When a well is drilled into the earth it is customary to attach at the upper end of the well, such as at the upper end of surface casing, a wellhead which provides the super-structure for supporting smaller diameter tubular strings, whether strings of casing or strings of tubing. For this purpose a hanger is employed, either a casing hanger or a tubing hanger as the case may be that is secured to the upper end of a string of pipexe2x80x94that is, a string of casing or a string of tubing. Within the wellhead means must be provided for removably supporting the hanger and for this purpose it is customary to provide in the wellhead a circumferential load shoulder. A removable hanger, having casing or tubing suspended therefrom, is rested on the load shoulder. One problem with this arrangement is that the provision of an internally extending circumferential ledge within the interior of a wellhead reduces the internal diameter of the wellhead and thereby limits the diameter of drill bits or other tools or implements that may thereafter be inserted through the wellhead. The invention herein is an installable load shoulder that provides means for supporting a hanger, either a tubing hanger or a casing hanger within the wellhead and in a manner that the internal diameter of the wellhead is maximized. That is, a wellhead, having a full internal diameter opening therethrough can be equipped with a load shoulder that provides an inwardly protruding circumferential ledge on which a tubing or casing hanger can be supported and the installable load shoulder makes it possible to maintain a larger wellhead minimum internal diameter.
The concept of utilizing an installable load shoulder in a wellhead to support a tubing or a casing hanger is illustrated and described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,984,008 that issued on Nov. 16, 1999, entitled: xe2x80x9cINSTALLABLE LOAD SHOULDER FOR USE IN A WELLHEAD TO SUPPORT A TUBING HANGERxe2x80x9d. U.S. Pat. No. 5,984,008 is incorporated herein by reference and is a source of background information to the type of invention to which the present disclosure pertains. For further background information reference can be had to the following previously issued U.S. Patents:
This invention is a method of providing an internal circumferential shoulder in a cylindrical passageway and will be described and illustrated as the invention is employed to provide a wellhead installable load shoulder.
A wellhead is a metallic device affixed to the upper end of surface casing of an oil or gas well that is employed to suspend casing and/or tubing in the well. More specifically, a wellhead functions to provide the super-structure for suspending the upper end of a string of casing or tubing that extends from the earth""s surface down into a bore hole. In addition to providing the structures to support the weight of strings of tubing or casing, a wellhead functions to close off the upper end portion of casing or tubing and to provide communication as necessary with equipment whereby oil or gas produced by the well can be safely conveyed for refining and/or use without leakage to the environment.
Wellheads provide a vertical opening down which strings of tubing or casing or tools, such as drill bits can be inserted. The most typical construction of a wellhead employs the arrangement wherein the vertical cylindrical opening has two internal diametersxe2x80x94that is, a lower reduced internal diameter and an upper enlarged internal diameter, the differences in diameters providing an integral, circumferential ledge or shoulder that is used to support a tubing or casing hanger. The maximum diameter of any device passing through the typical wellhead is limited to the smaller diameter lower portion of the wellhead vertical opening that defines the load shoulder. One way of providing a larger diameter passageway is to make the load shoulder a separate element. In this way an internal circumferential groove is provided in the opening through the wellhead and a load shoulder can then be inserted into the groove to support a casing or tubing hanger when required. An example of an installable load shoulder for use in a wellhead is U.S. Pat. No. 5,984,008 entitled, xe2x80x9cINSTALLABLE LOAD SHOULDER FOR USE IN A WELLHEAD TO SUPPORT A TUBING HANGERxe2x80x9d. As previously stated, this patent is incorporated herein by reference. In this patent, a wellhead is provided with an internal circumferential groove and an integral toroidal member functions as an installable load shoulder. The integral toroidal member has a split therein that defines opposed first and second ends. The integral toroidal load shoulder can be collapsed so that the ends move toward each other providing an external diameter that is less than the internal diameter of the opening through the wellhead. When the circumferentially collapsed toroidal member is moved downwardly within the opening through the wellhead to the location of the enlarged internal diameter circumferential groove, the toroidal member can then resiliently expand to an increased external diameter within the circumferential groove. The end surfaces moving apart from each other so that the integral toroidal member is thereby seated within the circumferential groove. The toroidal member is configured so that when seated it extends circumferentially within the borehole opening and thereby provides a circumferential surface on which a tubing or casing hanger can be seated.
The present invention provides a load shoulder that accomplishes the same basic function as the installable load shoulder of U.S. Pat. No. 5,984,008 but has a completely different structural arrangement and is installed in the interior of a wellhead in a completely different way.
The present invention includes a toroidal member manufactured to have a predetermined radial cross-sectional configuration dimensioned to fit within an internal circumferential groove in a wellhead. After the toroidal member is manufactured with the predetermined cross-sectional shape, it is cut into at least three segments. In one embodiment, two spaced apart holes are first drilled and then tapped to provide internally threaded holes. The axes of the tapped holes are parallel to the toroidal member toroidal axis. After the holes are drilled and threaded, the integral toroidal member is cut into at least three segments. Cuts are made in the toroidal member through each of the tapped holes, the first two cuts being in planes that are parallel to each other to provide a first segment having end surfaces that are in planes parallel to each other. This first segment is a xe2x80x9ckeyxe2x80x9d segment, the importance of which will be described subsequently. The tapped holes are drilled at locations in the toroidal member that are spaced apart a distance less than the diameter of the toroidal member and at a distance apart from each other that is preferably about equal to the radius of the toroidal member. Therefore, after cuts are made in the toroidal member through the drilled and tapped holes, the toroidal member is then in two pieces, one piece being the portion of the toroidal member between the tapped holes which is a circumferential portion substantially less than one-half of the circumference of the toroidal member. The remainder is greater then a semi-circular portion of the toroidal member and it is cut into two, preferably about equal length portions, so that the toroidal member is now in three segments.
The segmented load shoulder can then be installed in a circumferential groove in a passageway by manually installing the two larger segments of the toroidal member (referred to as first and second segments) followed by insertion of the third or xe2x80x9ckeyxe2x80x9d segmentxe2x80x94that is, the segment between the spaced apart tapped holes. After the three segments are in position, a set screw is threaded into each of the tapped holes. This is one way of retaining the segments in position in the groove. In addition, to preserve the original internal and external diameter of the toroidal member, a spacer can be positioned between adjacent ends of the first and second segments, the spacer being preferably about the width of the saw blade employed to cut the segments. The spacer can be in the form of a spacer button. In this case, a short depth drilled opening is provided in one end surface of the first segment. A cylindrical portion of a spacer button is slidably inserted into the drilled opening. The spacer button has a head portion of a thickness equal to the thickness of the saw blade used to cut the toroidal member into segments.
The toroidal member as initially formed is configured to have an external circumferential surface that conforms to the shape of the groove provided in the cylindrical member, such as a wellhead and further, the toroidal member is preferably provided with a seating surface that is frusto-conical in configuration as typically employed on load shoulders.
A complete understanding of the invention will be obtained from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the attached drawings.

Method of providing an internal circumferential shoulder in a cylindrical passageway


The instant invention is directed to a method for the treatment of emesis comprising administering the compound [R,S]-[2-(1H-Indol-3-yl)-1-methyl-1-(1-phenyl-ethylcarbamoly)-ethyl]-carba mic acid benzofuran-2ylmethyl ester.

Nausea and vomiting are distressing symptoms associated with a variety of conditions such as motion sickness, pain, and a number of gastrointestinal disorders. Emesis also occurs in a number of clinical situations such as following cancer chemotherapy and surgery under general anaesthesia. The impact of these symptoms on the quality of life of sufferers is severe, so much so in the case of cancer chemotherapy as to have a significant impact on compliance.
Although the emergence of 5-HT.sub.3 receptor antagonists has had an impact on the treatment of emesis induced by anti-cancer therapy, their major effects are confined to the acute phase of the response. Anti-cancer drugs induce acute emesis via actions in the gut, specifically the release of 5-HT which activates receptors on abdominal vagal afferents. This is wholly consistent with the observations that 5-HT.sub.3 antagonists have a relatively restricted anti-emetic profile. Thus, these compounds are less effective against the delayed emesis observed following cancer chemotherapy, post-operative emesis, muscarinic receptor agonists, and erythromycin.
NK.sub.1 receptor antagonists have been shown to possess a broad anti-emetic spectrum, have a different site of action, and provide the best opportunity to date of an antiemetic therapy which will be effective against a wide range of emetogenic compounds and conditions, U.S. Pat. No. 5,360,820.
Treatment of emesis is intended to include prophylaxis as well as the alleviation of established symptoms.
The treatment of emesis includes the treatment of nausea, retching, and vomiting. Emesis includes acute emesis, delayed emesis, and anticipatory emesis. For example, emesis may be induced by drugs such as cancer chemotherapeutic agents such as alkylating agents, e.g. cyclophosphamide, carmustine, lomustine, and chlorambucil; cytotoxic antibiotics, e.g. dactinomycin, doxorubicin, mitomycin-C, and bleomycin; antimetabolites, e.g. cytarabine, methotrexate, and 5-fluorouracil; vinca alkaloids, e.g. etoposide, vinblastine, and vincristine; and others such as cisplatin, dacarbazine, procarbazine, and hydroxyurea; and combinations thereof; radiation sickness; radiation therapy, e.g. irradiation of the thorax or abdomen, such as in the treatment of cancer; poisons; toxins, such as toxins caused by metabolic disorders or by infection, e.g. gastritis; pregnancy; vestibular disorders, such as motion sickness; post-operative sickness; gastrointestinal obstruction; reduced gastrointestinal motility; visceral pain, e.g. myocardial infarction or peritonitis; migraine; increased intercranial pressure; decreased intercranial pressure (e.g. altitude sickness); and opioid analgesics, such as morphine.

Use of a tachykinin antagonist for the manufacture of a medicament for the treatment of emesis


An object of the present invention is to provide a novel method for producing an oxazole compound. The invention relates to a method for producing a compound represented by formula (1): wherein R1 is lower alkyl group or halogen substituted lower alkyl group, R2 is lower alkyl group, R5 is lower alkyl group, R11 is lower alkyl group, halogen substituted lower alkyl group or a group represented by formula: —CY2COOR12, wherein Y is a halogen atom, R12 is an alkali metal atom or lower alkyl group, Ar1 is phenyl group substituted with lower alkyl group, etc., or pyridyl group substituted with lower alkyl group, etc., X2, X3 and X9 are the same or different and are halogen atoms, X4 is a leaving group, and M is an alkali metal atom.

Patent Literature 1 reports an oxazole compound that exhibits a specific inhibitory activity against phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4). Patent Literature 1 discloses a method for producing an oxazole compound. It indicates, as a typical method thereof, Reaction Scheme 1 to Reaction Scheme 12.
Among these, Reaction Scheme 10 discloses that compound (14) having an oxazole ring is produced by reacting dihaloketone compound (12) (specifically, 1,3-dichloro-2-propanone) with amide compound (13); and that primary amine compound (5a) is produced by reacting compound (16) having a phthalimide group with hydrazine (17).
However, because the starting material dihaloketone compound (12) exhibits strong stimulant and tearing properties; and, furthermore, because hydrazine (17) has a risk of explosion during the processes of concentration and dehydration, it is preferable to avoid the use thereof for the health and safety of the people involved in its production.
Furthermore, in the method for producing the oxazole compound disclosed in Patent Literature 1, purification by column chromatography is necessary in a plurality of processes, in addition to the processes in the above-mentioned Reaction Scheme 10.
However, in order to produce the target product on an industrial scale, a simple and effective production process in which expensive and complicated column chromatography is unnecessary throughout the process is required.