A gas in a vacuum plasma processing chamber is ignited to a plasma by subjecting the gas to an r.f. field derived from an r.f. source having a frequency and power level sufficient to ignite the gas into the plasma and to maintain the plasma. The r.f. field is supplied to the gas by a reactive impedance element connected via a matching network to the r.f. source. The matching network includes first and second variable reactances that control loading of the source and tuning a load, including the reactive impedance element and the plasma, to the source. The value of only one of the reactances is varied until a local maximum of a function of power coupled between the source and the load is reached. The value of only the other reactance is varied until a local maximum of the function is reached. The two varying steps are then repeated as necessary.

Vacuum plasma processors are used to deposit materials on and etch materials from workpieces that are typically semiconductor, dielectric and metal substrates. A gas is introduced into a vacuum plasma processing chamber where the workpiece is located. The gas is ignited into a plasma in response to an r.f. electric or electromagnetic field. The r.f. field is provided by a reactive impedance element, usually either an electrode array or a coil which couples both magnetic and electrostatic r.f. fields to the gas. The reactive impedance element is connected to an r.f. source having an r.f. frequency and sufficient power such that the gas is ignited into the plasma. Connections between the source and the coil are usually by way of a relatively long coaxial cable, connected directly to the r.f. source, and a resonant matching network, connected between the cable and reactive impedance element. The matching network includes a pair of variable reactances, adjusted to match the impedance of the source to the load it is driving.
The load seen by the source is subject to substantial variations. The load has a relatively high impedance prior to ignition of the gas into a plasma state. In response to the plasma being ignited, the load impedance drops substantially due to the presence of the charge carriers, i.e., electrons and ions, in the excited plasma. The ignited plasma impedance also changes substantially due to variations in the plasma flux, i.e. the product of the plasma density and the plasma charge particle velocity. Hence, matching the source to the load to provide efficient transfer of power from the source to the load is somewhat difficult.
In the past, the same technique which is used to maintain a matched condition between the source and load during normal operation of the ignited plasma has been used to control the variable reactances of the matching network at the time the gas is ignited into a plasma. This technique involves simultaneously varying both variable reactances to achieve a matched condition between the impedance seen looking into the output terminals of the source and the impedance seen by the source looking from its output terminals into the cable driving the matching network. In this technique, the values of the two reactances are simultaneously varied until (1) there is approximately a zero phase difference between the voltage and current supplied by the source to the cable and (2) the real impedance component seen looking into the source output terminals approximately equals the real impedance seen looking from the source output terminals into the cable.
It has been found that, in certain circumstances, this prior art approach is completely unsatisfactory because the gas is never ignited into a plasma. The values of the reactances are simultaneously varied in such a way that the power delivered to the reactive impedance element which produces the electric or electromagnetic field is never adequate for plasma ignition. In other situations, ignition is finally reached after a considerable length of time is spent changing the values of the reactances. The values of the reactances are simultaneously varied in a haphazard way, with no determination made as to what is the optimum direction to change the values of the reactances from initial values thereof.
It has also been suggested that the value of only one of the reactances of the matching network be changed until plasma ignition is obtained; see the co-pending, commonly assigned application Ser. No. 08/580,706, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,793,162, issued Aug. 11, 1998 of Barnes et al, entitled APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING MATCHING NETWORK OF A VACUUM PLASMA PROCESSOR AND MEMORY FOR SAME, filed Dec. 29, 1995. It has been found, however, that this approach is not always reliable. Under certain conditions, varying only one of the reactances does not enable sufficient power to be coupled from the source to the chamber to ignite the gas into the plasma.
It is, accordingly, an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved method of and apparatus for controlling the reactances of a matching network connected between an r.f. source and a vacuum plasma processing chamber to provide sufficient power to the chamber so a gas in the chamber is reliably ignited to a plasma.
Another object of the invention is to provide a new and improved method of and apparatus for controlling reactances of a matching network connected between an r.f. source and a plasma processing chamber in such a way that the values of the reactances are varied to provide rapid ignition of a gas in the chamber into a plasma.
Another object of the invention is to provide a new and improved method of and apparatus for varying the values of reactances of a matching network connected between an r.f. source and a vacuum plasma processing chamber so the values of the reactances are varied in the correct direction to maximize a function indicative of the power coupled from an r.f. source to the chamber.

Method of and apparatus for igniting a plasma in an r.f. plasma processor


A mounting mechanism for mounting an electronic device to a chassis, the electronic device defining a first securing hole, and the chassis defining a second securing hole, includes a securing member having a base. A plurality of elastic hooks extends from a bottom of the base. At least one blocking portion protrudes laterally from the base. The elastic hooks extend through the first securing hole and the second securing hole and are engaged with a bottom side of one of the chassis and the electronic device. The at least one blocking portion abuts on the other one of the chassis and the electronic device, for sandwiching the electronic device and the chassis between the hooks and the at least one blocking portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to mounting mechanisms, particularly to a mounting mechanism for securely and firmly mounting an electronic device to a chassis or a base.
2. Description of Related Art
Electronic devices such as motherboards or fan modules are typically secured in a computer enclosure for playing important roles while the computer is running. Conventionally, a motherboard or a fan is mounted in a chassis of the computer enclosure by a plurality of screws passing through corresponding holes defined in the electronic device and the chassis, making it difficult and time consuming to replace or remove the device for repair. Moreover, when the computer is running or during shipment, these electronic devices can generate an undesirable amount of vibration and attendant vibration noise, if care is not taken to properly isolate them from the computer interior supporting structure upon which the electronic devices mounted. More seriously, the components on the electronic device may be damaged by the vibrations.
Accordingly, what is needed is a mounting mechanism for an electronic device capable of absorbing vibration generated between the electronic device and the supporting structure.

Mounting mechanism for electronic device

Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (ShenZhen) Co., Ltd.


A base station in a LTE system and a method for use in the base station (400) are provided for allocating power in downlink transmissions for a UE. A report is received, from the UE, comprising a Reference Signal Received Quality, RSRQ, indicating a current channel quality of a downlink transmission with multiple subcarriers. A fairness factor used for achieving fairness in scheduling between UEs served by the base station is retrieved, from a resource management scheduler of the base station; and a combined factor is determined based on the received RSRQ and the retrieved fairness factor, for resource blocks, RBs, related to the downlink transmissions, the RBs comprising subcarriers pertaining to resources to be allocated to the UE. Then, a power is determined for the resource RBs based on the determined combined factor; and the determined power for the downlink transmission for the UE is allocated.

Third generation partnership project (3GPP) dealing with LTE is the latest standard in the mobile network technology. An object of LTE is to offer increased capacity and data rates for the users for mobile broadband. LTE meets the requirements of downlink data rates of at least 100 Mbit/s and uplink data rates of 50 Mbit/s. LTE also meets the requirement of a maximum round trip time of 30 MS.
Contrary to former mobile communication systems, LTE supports Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) and Time Division Duplex, (TDD). As a consequence, radio resources for LTE can be represented by a two dimensional grid, see FIG. 1, illustrating normal Cyclic Prefix (CP) condition. In the grid of FIG. 1, a Resource Element 100 (RE) comprises one subcarrier as indicated on the frequency axis and a minimum time unit as indicated on the time axis. During the minimum time unit, twelve subcarriers constitute one Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol. For normal CP seven consecutive OFDM symbols, i.e. 0.5 ms, constitute a Resource Block forming one time slot. For extended CP, six consecutive OFDM symbols, i.e. 0-0.5 ms, constitute a Resource Block, forming one time slot. The minimum scheduling unit consists of two resource Blocks (RBs) within one subframe of 1 ms, i.e. 14 consecutive OFDM symbols for normal CP, and 12 consecutive OFDM symbols for extended CP.
An RE has a specific energy, normally referred to as Energy Per Resource Element (EPRE) also usually denoted EA and EB. Some of the REs comprise reference signals, which also have an EPRE, denoted ERS.
Downlink power allocation is disclosed in Technical Specification (TS) 3GPP TS 36.213 entitled: "Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Physical layer procedures" in which disclosed two parameters, which define a ratio
      ρ    A        ρ    B  among different types of REs to satisfy system requirements, wherein ρA is the ratio of the Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) EPRE which OFDM symbol comprises no cell-specific RS to cell-specific RS and ρB is the ratio of PDSCH EPRE which OFDM symbol comprises cell-specific RS to cell-specific RS.
ρA can be expressed as
      ρ    A    =            E      A              E      RS      and ρB can be expressed as
            ρ      B        =                  E        B                    E        RS              ,where EA is PDSCH EPRE for OFDM symbols comprising no cell-specific RS, EB is PDSCH EPRE for OFDM symbols comprising cell-specific RS and ERS is the energy of cell-specific RS.
Further, according to 3GPP TS 36.213, ρA is also equal to δpower offset+ρA+1olog1o(2) when the user Equipment (UE) receives a PDSCH data transmission using pre-coding for transmit diversity with 4 cell-specific antenna ports; or equal to δPower offset+PA otherwise; where δpower offset is 0 for all PDSCH transmission schemes except multi-user MIMO and where PA is a UE specific parameter provided by higher layers and specified in 3GPP TS 36.331 entitled: "Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Radio Resource Control (RRC); Protocol specification".
In order to determine EPRE, it is common to configure PA and PB provided by higher layers and select a ratio for
            ρ      A              ρ      B        .
According to 3GPP TS 36.331, PB is a common parameter, which is used to configure cells, whereas PA is a UE specific parameter, which is used to configure UE parameters. PB is an integer and selected from the domain [0, 3], while PA is selected from a special domain comprising eight values.
The value of PA influences the power of the REs, hence it is important to obtain the best value of PA to guarantee the efficiency of power usage and power limit.
For a certain OFDM symbol, the power of the REs for a UE is determined as disclosed above. However, the frequency resource allocated to a UE comprises several subcarriers since an RB comprises 12 subcarriers. The same power is allocated to the different subcarriers. This has some drawbacks. In certain circumstances, the channel qualities may vary quickly, e.g. if the UE is moving about in the cell. In such circumstances, the power allocation may not be able to follow the rapid changes in channel qualities. This will cause a waste of power and low efficiency with regards to power usage. Furthermore, it will decrease system performance.
Still further, in the power allocation, no consideration is usually taken to fairness. Fairness is dealt with in radio resource scheduling. A scheduling function which does not consider fairness, typically only considers channel quality or condition when scheduling radio resources. Such a scheduling function will allocate radio resources primarily to UEs having favorable channel quality or condition and as a result will starve other UEs having unfavorable channel quality or condition. When scheduling radio resources, the scheduling function may make use of a fairness factor in order to schedule radio resources based both on channel quality and to avoid starving UEs having unfavorable channel quality or condition. One example of a scheduler employing fairness in scheduling radio resources to UEs in the cell is disclosed in the Francesco D Calabrese et al: "Performance of Proportional Fair Frequency and Time Domain Scheduling in LTE Uplink", European Wireless 2009.

Method and base station for power allocation in wireless system


A display device includes a rescue circuit line structure having a first conductive pattern, a second conductive pattern and a dielectric layer. The first conductive pattern is adapted to electrically interconnect a first circuit element and a second circuit element, wherein the first conductive pattern has an open. Neither of the first and second conductive patterns is used as a data line or a scan line. The dielectric layer is located on the open and disposed between the first conductive pattern and the second conductive pattern.

The circuit line structure on a circuit board or a display device may have a discontinuous circuit pattern due to different design. And a part of the circuit pattern, such as in the rescue line, the signal line, or the data line, is required to be arranged as "open". In case of the pattern of the part having open is not consistent with the pattern on the photo mask which is applied to define circuit pattern by a stepper, it is relatively inconvenient to use the photo mask step by step for defining the circuit pattern.
An active type display device is shown below and includes a base plate and a pixel array mounted on the base plate. The pixel array includes a plurality of scan lines and a plurality of data lines transversely crossing the scan lines to define a plurality of pixel units. A TFT (thin film transistor) serves as a switch for each of the pixel units. The TFT generally includes a source and a drain connected to the respective scan and data lines of the respective pixel unit. When the scan or data line is broken at a point, the signal cannot be fed into the pixel unit located beyond the broken point, thereby causing poor display ability of the pixel unit, thus quality deterioration of a displayed image occurs.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional display device 10 which includes a plurality of scan lines 1, a plurality of data lines 2 and a rescue circuit line 7, wherein the data lines 2 vertically and respectively cross the scan lines 1 to define a plurality of pixel units, which form an active area. The rescue circuit line 7 can be divided into a first rescue line portion 7a and a second rescue line portion 7b by the open 6 such that the first rescue line portion 7a surrounds a portion of the active area while the second rescue line portion 7b surrounds the other portion of the active area. As illustrated, the display device 10 has two breaks 3a, 3b. The break 3a is encircled by the first rescue line portion 7a while the break 3b is encircled by the second rescue line portion 7b. Two opposite ends of each break 3a or 3b are connected to the first and second rescue line portions 7a, 7b via the conductive lines 8, respectively, so as to fed signal via the first and second rescue line portions 7a, 7b.
In the normal condition (i.e. there is no break in the scan line 1), the scan line 1 scans the pixel units from the left terminal 9a to the right terminal 9b. When the scan line 1 has the break 3a, the scan line 1 scans only those pixel units located between the left terminal 9a and the break 3a. At such circumstance, the conductive line 8 can be applied to connect the terminals 9a, 9b and the first rescue line portion 7a in order to feed the signal into the pixel unit located between the right terminal 9b and the break 3a.
If the first and second rescue line portions 7a, 7b have to be formed on a large size plate, a photo mask with small dimension is usually applied in the lithography by the stepper in order to enhance the performance.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Rescue circuit line, display device having the same and method for manufacturing the same


There is provided an ink-jet recording apparatus that can maintain a constant light emission intensity of a light source with a simple structure, and allows easy replacement of the light source, while realizing miniaturization and reduction in weight of the apparatus. The ink-jet recording apparatus includes a recording head to jet photocurable ink onto a recording medium, wherein the photocurable ink is cured by being exposed to light; and a light emitting device having a light source to emit light to cure the photocurable ink, the light source including a light emitting tube and metal caps provided at both ends of the light emitting tube, wherein the light emitting tube has a bent section.

In general, as ink-jet recording apparatuses that flexibly respond to high-mix, low-volume demands, conventionally, ink-jet type ink-jet recording apparatuses are known. An ink-jet type ink-jet recording apparatus jets ink from nozzles provided on a surface of the recording head, the surface facing a recording medium, so that the ink impacts and fixes onto the recording medium, and thereby an image is recorded on the recording medium.
Recently, as ink-jet recording apparatuses applicable to various recording media, ink-jet recording apparatuses using photocurable type ink are known (for example, refer to Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2). Each of these uses photocurable ink containing a photoinitiator having a predetermined sensitivity to light, and ink having impacted onto the recording medium is exposed to light, thus the ink is cured to be fixed on the recording medium. By such an ink-jet type ink-jet recording apparatus using photocurable ink, ink is instantly cured just after having impacted on to the recording medium and been exposed to light. Therefore, ink sinks into the recording medium or blots little, making it possible to record an image, not only onto a plain paper sheet, but also onto a recording medium of a material such as plastic-or metal, which does not absorb ink at all.
Such an ink-jet recording apparatus using photocurable ink requires jetted ink to be exposed to light of an intensity that is great enough to properly cure and fix the ink. To meet this requirement, in recent years, there has been offered cation-curable ink that accumulates energy and can be cured by exposure to light of even low illumination intensity if the exposure is performed for a long time. To cure this cation-curable ink, a low-pressure mercury lamp or an ultraviolet light source of a low electric power and low output power, such as a cold-cathode tube, can be utilized. Even in the case of using such an energy accumulating ink, it is required that an UV-ray light source can emit light which can properly cure and fix the ink. To enable this, it has been offered that a specific light intensity required for curing the ink is obtained by increasing the electric power to be supplied to the light source and thus increasing the emission intensity per unit time of the light.
[Patent Document 1] TOKKAI No. 2001-310454
[Patent Document 2] TOKKAI No. 2003-145725
However, when emission intensity is increased, the amount of heat generation by the light source is also increased. Especially, the light emission efficiency of a low-output type light source depends on the temperature of the metal cap, of the light source, that discharges electricity and has a characteristic of dropping in light emission efficiency at a too high temperature of the metal cap, and thus the low-output type light source has a problem of difficulty in stably maintaining a light emission efficiency preferable for curing ink. To prevent curing of ink adhering to a nozzle formed surface of a recording head, wherein the curing of ink could occur when light having emitted by the light source reaches the nozzle formed surface, and to prevent a harmful effect, on human health, of leakage of light having been emitted from the light emitting device, the light emitting device is conventionally provided with a cover member or the like that covers the-light source. Accordingly, heat generated by lightning of the light source stays in the space covered by the cover member and the temperature there rises, thus, the temperature of the metal cap rises, and thereby a problem of drop in light emission efficiency of the light source is caused. Particularly, in the case of increasing the emission intensity by arranging a plurality of light sources of a line-tube type, since the metal caps of the light sources are near each other, the metal caps of the light sources located near the central part cause thermal interference to each other, making the problem of drop in light emission efficiency of the light sources more significant.
Therefore, conventionally, consideration has been made on cooling a metal cap with water or the like to maintain the temperature of the metal cap at a constant value. However, in the case of a light source of line-tube type, since metal caps are provided at both ends of a light emitting tube, when a plurality of light sources are provided, in order to water cool the metal caps of all the light sources, it is required to provide a mechanism or the like for circulating cooling water widely on both sides of a light emitting device provided with metal caps, causing a problem of complication and large size of an apparatus to be manufactured.
Further, since a light source is degraded as it is used, it is necessary to properly replace the light source. In the case where an apparatus is provided with a plurality of light sources of a line-tube type, a water cooling mechanism as described above is provided. Accordingly, there is also a problem of requiring painstaking works including replacement of light sources.
Still further, electronic radiation material (emitter) coated on a filament of a metal cap spatters by repeated flickering of a light source, and thereby proceeds blackening of the vicinity of the electrode of the metal cap. As the blackened region grows, the light emission intensity of the vicinity of the metal cap of the light source gradually drops. Thus, in the case of a line tube type, it is possible that a blackened region grows in the entire light emitting tube with elapsed time from when the light source started burning, causes unevenness of the emission intensity of the light source, and disables curing of ink with evenness.


Disclosed is a lighting apparatus for a vehicular discharge lamp which prevents the occurrence of an electric shock when the status of a vehicle is changed while the discharge lamp is on, such as when the hood of the vehicle is opened for inspection or repair. A hood open/close detector detects that the hood is opened while the discharge lamp is lit, and upon reception of a detection signal from the detector, the power supply/cutoff circuit opens a cutoff switch means to stop power supply from a battery to a lighting circuit, turning off the discharge lamp. In this manner, a person who opens a hood for work can be kept out of danger of a high voltage that is supplied to the discharge lamp.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a novel lighting apparatus for a vehicular discharge lamp, which stops power supply to the discharge lamp when a change in the status of the vehicle, such as opening of the hood of the vehicle, is detected while that lamp is on, thus protecting a human body from an electric shock by a high voltage.

Lighting apparatus for vehicular discharge lamp


A diesel engine oil dilution managing device is configured to act as an oil dilution detecting device to determine if a premature combustion occurred before fuel injection by an injector based on an engine parameter that correlates with an occurrence of the premature combustion, such as an amount of time required for the crankshaft to rotate per unit crank angle or a rotational speed change rate of the crankshaft. Moreover, the diesel engine oil dilution managing device can have an engine output control section that is configured to suppress the production of output power by the engine when it is determined that the premature combustion occurred before the fuel injection by, for example, driving a throttle valve in a close direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a diesel engine oil dilution managing device for a diesel engine that detects dilution of the engine oil by fuel. More specifically, the present invention relates to a technology utilized in a diesel engine, which is configured and arranged to recirculate blow-by gas to the cylinders, to detect dilution of the engine oil by fuel and to prevent unintended acceleration (i.e., unintended by the driver) resulting from the dilution of the oil.
2. Background Information
In a conventional diesel engine, blow-by gas that leaks from the combustion chamber through the piston rings is directed to an oil separator, which liquefies the engine oil in the blow-by gas to separate the engine oil from the blow-by gas. Then, the liquified oil is returned to the oil pan and the remaining blow-by gas, which contains unburned fuel, is recirculated to the cylinders and combusted again. Thus, in such conventional diesel engine, an amount of unburned fuel released to the atmosphere from the diesel engine can be reduced.
Moreover, as disclosed in Japanese PCT Publication No. H10-510028, the conventional diesel engine can be provided with a knocking sensor so that the output of the knocking sensor is used to monitor the conditions inside the cylinders after the fuel is injected.
In view of the above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that there exists a need for an improved diesel engine oil dilution managing device. This invention addresses this need in the art as well as other needs, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.

Diesel engine oil dilution managing device


The application is directed to methods for moving a media sheet through the media path of an image forming device. In one embodiment, the media sheet may be moved by a pick mechanism having a pick roll from an input tray. The pick roll in the input tray may maintain contact with the media sheet and drive the sheet at a first elevated speed as it moves towards the nip. The pick roll may then slow as it brings the leading edge into contact with the nip. This slower speed may reduce the amount of nip shock or compression that may cause reengagement of the pick mechanism and an unintentional double sheet feed. Moving the media sheet at the fast speed a majority of the distance along the media path between the input tray and nip may increase media throughput.

Demand for smaller, less expensive image forming devices has created a unique set of media feed reliability problems. As the rate of images printed increases and machine size decreases, it has become increasingly difficult to reliably transfer media sheets through the system.
Media sheets move through an image forming device along a media path. The media path begins at the input point of the media sheet, such as an input tray or a manual feed position. The media may then move through the path along a series of rollers, belts, or combination of both. An image is formed on the media sheet as it moves along the media path. The sheet may be outputted from the device after an image is placed on a first side, or may be re-routed through a duplex path where another image is placed on a second side.
The speed and position of each media sheet is carefully monitored as it moves along the media path. A jam occurs when a media sheet does not arrive at a predetermined position along the media path at a predetermined time. A jam may be caused by a variety of different occurrences. One occurrence is when the media sheet is not accurately picked from the input tray. Another likely location for media jams is when the media sheet is moving along the media path and is passed from a first roller or belt to a second roller or belt.
Once a media jam occurs, the user may be required to access and remove the media sheets, and reset the device prior to continuing printing. This is frustrating to the user, and severely limits the output of the device. Methods and apparatus to reduce and/or eliminate jams and increase throughput are needed.

Methods of moving a media sheet from an input tray and into a media path within an image forming device


An ultrasonic device includes an ultrasonic element group, a first to an Nth driving electrode lines, first and second terminals. The ultrasonic element group includes a plurality of ultrasonic elements forming “N” columns arranged along a second direction intersecting with a first direction with each of the “N” columns including a plurality of the ultrasonic elements arranged along the first direction, “N” being a natural number that is equal to or more than 2. The first to the Nth driving electrode lines are arranged along the first direction. An ith driving electrode line is connected to the ultrasonic elements constituting an ith column among the “N” columns, with “i” being a natural number equal to or less than “N”. The first terminal is connected to one end of the ith driving electrode line, and the second terminal is connected to the other end of the ith driving electrode line.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an ultrasonic device, a probe, an electronic instrument, a diagnostic device, and a processing device.
2. Related Art
An ultrasonic device (for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2007-142555) has been known in which ultrasonic waves are emitted from a tip end of a probe toward a target and ultrasonic waves reflected on the target are detected. For example, this device is used as an ultrasonic diagnostic device in which the inside of a patient's body is imaged to be used for diagnosis. Generally, a piezoelectric element is used as an ultrasonic element that emits ultrasonic waves.

Ultrasonic device, probe, electronic instrument, diagnostic device, and processing device


Systems and methods of performing a fused multiply add (FMA) operations are provided. In one embodiment, the length of the adder used by the FMA operation is less than 3*N, where N is the number of bits in the mantissa term of a floating point number. A mask may be used to perform the addition portion of the FMA operation using the adder. A second mask may be used to denormalize the result of the addition portion of the FMA operation if an underflow occurs.

Processing devices (e.g., processors) may execute instructions when executing applications and/or performing various other functions and operations. As the processing devices execute instructions, the processing device may often perform operations that use floating point numbers. One type of operation that uses floating point numbers is a fused multiply add (FMA) operation. The FMA operation operates on three floating point numbers, A, B, and C. The FMA operation may compute the product of A*B and may add the product to C. For example, the FMA operation may compute (A*B)+C.

Fused multiply add operations using bit masks


A content management system (CMS) includes a content reuse mechanism that checks a reuse contract corresponding to a component in the repository, and determines if all relevant criteria in the reuse contract corresponding to the component are satisfied before allowing reuse of a component in the repository. In this manner the reuse of components is controlled in a way that allows reuse when stated criteria in the reuse contract are satisfied yet restricts reuse when the criteria in the reuse contract are not satisfied.

1. Technical Field
This disclosure generally relates to content management systems, and more specifically relates to reuse of components in a content management system.
2. Background Art
Content management systems (CMSs) have been developed and allow many users to efficiently share electronic content such as text, audio files, video files, pictures, graphics, etc. Content management systems typically control access to content in a repository. An author (or user) may generate content, and when the content is checked into the repository, the content may be available for reuse by other users. A user may also check out content from the repository, or link to content in the repository while generating content.
It may be undesirable to allow free reuse of all components in a content management system. If a user spends a significant amount of time and effort in generating a component, the user may want to charge other users or customers for reuse of that component. In addition, the author may desire to condition reuse on satisfying various criteria. Without a way to control reuse of content in a content management system, known content management systems will not provide the needed flexibility in reusing components.

Controlling reuse of components in a content management system

International Business Machines Corporation


The present invention relates to a method for defining an area (4) of a layer on a porous substrate comprising compressing a volume of the substrate to produce a compressed region (8) which defines, or which in combination with an edge (7) of the substrate or of the layer defines, a boundary of the area and which substantially prevents the transport of material through or across its surface. The present invention also relates to an electrochemical sensing device comprising: a porous substrate; and an electrode (1) on one side of the substrate; wherein a region of the substrate is compressed to an extent which forms a barrier to migration of electrolyte within the substrate, the compressedregion defining, or in combination with an edge of the substrate or the electrode defining, a zone on the electrode of predetermined area.

In the past it has been found that whenever quantitative electrochemical measurements are performed it is necessary to have both a reproducible and accurately defined electrode area which is in contact with the sample being analysed. When performing a measurement in a bulk solution the usual practice has been either to have the electrode immersed to a certain level in the liquid or alternatively to have an insulation layer applied to the electrode to leave only a precisely defined area in contact with the solution. These practices have proved to be relatively expensive and unreliable. It has also been found that when these methods are used it is difficult to prevent leakage and contact with the electrode outside the defined area, especially when the substrate upon which the electrode is placed is porous.
The present invention seeks to overcome or at least ameliorate the problems of the prior art by providing a method which is inexpensive, simple to apply and reliable.


The current invention describes a tool mounting device that permits a rotating attachment of a tool to an excavator arm in such a way that the tool can be used for work in relatively small work spaces, independent of the alignment of the excavator arm and the excavator.

The invention relates to a tool mounting device with which tools, for example a compacting device for compacting earth, can be mounted onto an excavator arm.
In addition to the shovel, excavator arms frequently have a wide variety of tools attached to them, for example chisels or compactors. A conventional excavator arm and the attaching device with which the tool is attached to the excavator arm have certain dimensions, which are relatively large, particularly in large excavators.
In tasks where space is limited, for example when working in narrow trenches or shafts as is frequently the case in pipeline construction, it is difficult to use these relatively large excavators because the excavator arm or the tool attaching device are too wide to be lowered into the trench or the shaft. This problem can in fact be solved by widening the trench or shaft so that the excavator arm can work in it, but this represents an excessive and costly amount of effort.
This is why the prior art, for example DE 100 49 552 C1, has disclosed mounting devices with which a tool can be fastened to the excavator arm at a certain distance. These mounting devices have smaller dimensions than the excavator arm or the conventional attaching devices so that these mounting devices and a correspondingly small tool can be used for work in narrow trenches or shafts.
The tool mounting devices that have been known up till now have the disadvantage that the excavator must always be aligned in a particular direction, for example parallel to or flush with the trench or shaft in order to allow the tool attached to the mounting device to be used for work in the narrow trench or shaft. This is very disadvantageous in roadwork in which the construction vehicles frequently have only a small amount of space in which to move.

MTS Gesellschaft fuer Maschinentechnik und Sonderbauten mbH


An approach is provided for collaborative context data sensing and communications. A context platform determines context data from a plurality of devices. The context platform processes and/or facilitates a processing of the context data to determine scheduling information for causing, at least in part, a sensing, a transmission, or a combination thereof of additional context data by at least one of the plurality of devices. The context platform then determines the additional context data based, at least in part, on the scheduling information.

Service providers and device manufacturers (e.g., wireless, cellular, etc.) are continually challenged to deliver value and convenience to consumers by, for example, providing compelling network services. One area of interest has been the development of context-aware applications (e.g., applications that rely on context data collected via sensors deployed in, on, and/or around mobile devices). As such sensors become more common, there may be many mobile devices that are sensing and/or otherwise collecting context data about the same target. Accordingly, service providers and device manufacturers face significant technical challenges to leveraging the availability of growing number of context-sensing devices to improve context data and implement innovative context-aware applications.

Method and apparatus for providing collaborative context data sensing and communications


There is disclosed a method for treating psychiatric disorders including circadian rhythm disorders, borderline personality disorders, personality disorders, Late Luteal Phase Dysphoric Disorder, psychoactive substance use disorders, sexual disorders, and schizophrenia and certain psychiatric symptoms including stress, anger, worry, rejection sensitivity and lack of mental or physical energy with administration of a nontoxic dose of a serotonin re-uptake blocker. Preferably, the serotonin re-uptake blocker is fluoxetine or norfluoxetine.

The present invention relates to the treatment of six different types of psychiatric disorders and treatment of several specific symptoms. The disorders and their clinical manifestations are known to practicing psychiatrists, but are briefly described herein from the American Psychiatric Association, The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The specific symptoms can be recognized by most psychiatrists.
Personality traits are enduring patterns of perceiving, relating to, or thinking about the environment and ones self, and are exhibited in wide range of important social and personal contexts. It is only when personality traits are inflexible and maladaptive and cause either significant functional impairment or subject distress that they constitute personality disorders. The manifestations of personality disorders are often recognizable by adolescence or earlier and continue throughout most of adult life. The diagnostic criteria for the personality disorders refer to behaviors or traits that are characteristic of the person's recent and long-term functioning since early adulthood. The constellation of behaviors or traits causes either significant impairment in social or occupational functioning or subjective distress.
Personality disorders are notoriously difficult to reliably distinguish from one another. The validity of the distinctions is often called into question, as for example on many psychological variables testing cannot distinguish borderline personality disorders (BPD) from antisocial personality disorder. Personality disorders and BPD are closely linked, and most commonly women will receive the diagnosis of BPD and men antisocial personality disorder (APD).
The vast majority of people in prison have antisocial personality disorder or many traits of the syndrome. This is generally regarded as unresponsive to treatment. There is an apparent need for more effective treatment which would be of benefit both to these individuals and society as a whole.
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) comprise a pervasive pattern of instability of self-image, interpersonal relationships and mood, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts.
BPD is characterized by a marked and persistent identity disturbance. The identity disturbance is often pervasive, and is manifested by uncertainty about several life issues, such as self-image, sexual orientation, long-term goals or career choice, types of friends or lovers to have, or which values to adopt. The BPD person often experiences this instability of self-image as chronic feelings of emptiness or boredom. Interpersonal relationships are usually unstable and intense, and may be characterized by alternation of the extremes of over-idealization and devaluation. These people have difficulty tolerating being alone, and will make frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III-R) of the American Psychiatric Association characterizes BPD as indicated by at least five of the following eight symptoms.
1. A pattern of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships characterized by alternating between extremes of over-idealization and devaluation.
2. Impulsiveness in at least two areas that are potentially self-damaging, e.g., spending, sex, substance use, shoplifting, reckless driving, or binge eating.
3. Affective instability: marked shifts from baseline mood to depression, irritability, or anxiety, usually lasting a few hours and only rarely more than a few days.
4. Inappropriate, intense anger or lack of control of anger, e.g., frequent displays of temper, constant anger or recurrent physical fights.
5. Recurrent suicidal threats, gestures, or behavior or self-mutilating behavior.
6. Marked and persistent identity disturbance manifested by uncertainty about at least two of the following:
self-image, sexual orientation, long-term goals or career choice, type of friends desired or preferred values. PA0 Sadly, long-term treatment and rehabilitation programs for patients with substance abuse disorders are far less successful than treatment of their acute reactions. Most substance abusers revert rapidly to the dangerous patterns of drug self administration that initially caused the acute toxic reactions. . . Medical research is urgently needed to develop new treatment approaches for the chronic maladaptive and self-destructive behaviors of substance abusers."
7. Chronic feelings of emptiness or boredom.
8. Frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment.
Patients with BPD are among the most challenging and treatment-resistant patients seen in psychotherapy. BPD patients account for 15% to 25% of patients in both inpatient and outpatient mental health settings (Gunderson et al., "Current Overview of the Borderline Diagnosis," J. Clin. Psychiatry 49:5-14, 1987). BPD patients carry a 10% risk of completed suicide over a 10 to 15 year follow-up (Stone, "Psychotherapy of Borderline Patients in Light of Long-Term Follow-Up," Bull. Menninger Clin. 51:231-247, 1987). Many practitioners turn to pharmacotherapy in the management of this disorder, but there are very few studies to guide treatment. Cowdry et al. "Pharmacology of Borderline Personality Disorder," Arch. Gen. Psychiatry 45:111-119, 1988, discloses that medications, principally monoamine oxidase inhibitors, carbamazepine and neuroleptics are useful but are generally of "limited benefit." Therefore, there is a compelling need for safer, more effective, and better-tolerated treatment of BPD.
BPD is more commonly diagnosed in females and is apparently a common disorder.
Late Luteal Phase Dysphoric Disorder (LLPDD) is the current term associated with Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS). Many females report a variety of physical and emotional changes associated with specific phases of the menstrual cycle. For most of these females, these changes are not severe, cause little distress, and have no effect on social or occupational functioning. In contrast, the essential feature of LLPDD is a pattern of clinically significant emotional and behavioral symptoms that occur during the last week of the luteal phase and remit within a few days after the onset of the follicular phase. In most females, these symptoms occur in the week before and remit within a few days after the onset of menses.
LLPDD is diagnosed only if the symptoms are sufficiently severe to cause marked impairment in social or occupational functioning and have occurred during a majority of menstrual cycles in the past year.
Among the most commonly experienced symptoms are marked affective lability (e.g., sudden episodes of tearfulness, sadness, or irritability); persistent feelings of irritability, anger or tension (feeling "on edge"); and feelings of depression and self-deprecating thoughts. Also common are decreased interest in usual activities, fatigability and loss of energy, a subjective sense of difficulty in concentrating, changes in appetite, cravings for specific foods (especially carbohydrates), and sleep disturbance. Other physical symptoms, such as breast tenderness or swelling, headaches, joint or muscle pain, a sensation of "bloating," and weight gain, may also be present.
Generally non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are administered to LLPDD patients, but these are only effective for some of the physical symptoms. "The complaints of PMS, if severe, may be treated symptomatically. Water retention may be relieved by diet or antidiuretic medication. Severity of water retention does not always correlate with psychological symptoms. Preliminary recent studies have suggested that spironolacture (Aldactone, Searle) may also be effective in relieving depression and crying spells.
Other drugs, including progesterone, lithium carbonate, thiazide, diuretics, antidepressants and bromocyptone (Parlodel, Sandoz), have been tried with uncertain success." Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry IV.
Circadian rhythm disorders are characterized by insufficient and/or unsatisfying sleep, often associated with certain types of professional activities (for example, shift-workers and travel schedules of airline personnel and air travelers). The circadian system has a key role in the regulation of the disorder of the circadian sleep-wake rhythm. It has been estimated that between 5 and 20% of the adult population in western countries suffer from insufficient and/or unsatisfying sleep.
The DSM III-R has characterized circadian rhythm disorders as "sleep-wake" schedule disorders. The essential feature of the sleep-wake schedule disorder is a mismatch between the normal sleep-wake schedule that is demanded by the person's environment and the person's circadian rhythm. This results in a complaint of either insomnia (the person attempts to sleep but is unable to do so) or hypersomnia (the person is unable to remain alert when wakefulness is expected). Transient sleep-wake schedule mismatches commonly occur when people change time zones rapidly or occasionally stay up late for several days. The frequently changing type of sleep-wake schedule disorder is apparently due to frequent changes in sleep and waking times. This is often associated with frequent airplane flights involving time-zone changes or with changing work schedules (shift work). Sleep is then often divided into two periods (e.g., napping both before and after work). On weekends or on days off, the person may temporarily attempt to revert to a normal sleep-wake schedule and thus undermine a long-term circadian adaptation to the new work schedule. For reasons as yet unknown, people vary greatly in their ability to tolerate frequently changing sleep-wake schedules. Some people work for years on rotating work shifts without experiencing any distress. In general, older people have more difficulty adjusting to frequent schedule changes.
The benzodiazepines are the present treatment of choice for the management of circadian rhythm disorders. Benzodiazepines are thought to act by potentiating the action of the neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), a widely distributed transmitter in the central nervous system. Turek et al. ("A Benzodiazepine Used in the Treatment of Insomnia Phase-Shifts the Mammalian Circadian Clock," Nature 321:167-168, 1986) reports that the acute administration of triazolam, a short-acting benzodiazepine commonly prescribed for the treatment of insomnia, induces a phase-shift in the circadian rhythm of locomotor activity in golden hamsters. Turek et al. suggests a role for GABA-containing neurons in the mammalian circadian system. Turek et al. does not disclose or suggest a serotonin effect for the circadian system. Short-acting triazolobenzodiazepines, such as triazolam are associated with anterograde amnesia and more pronounced withdrawal effects which aggravated addiction potential. Accordingly, it is addiction potential and other side effects that creates a need for better tolerated and more effect treatments for circadian rhythm disorders.
Moreover, Wright et al., "The Effects of Exogenous Melatonin on Endocrine Function in Man," Clin. Endocrinol. 24:375-382 (1986), suggest the therapeutic use of melatonin for the treatment of jet lag as not having other complications from other undesirable endocrine effects. However, in an editorial (Lancet, Aug. 30, 1986, p. 493) concluded that the efficacy and safety data for melatonin did not justify its use for jet lag.
Psychoactive substance abuse and dependence is characterized by a cluster of cognitive, behavioral, and physiologic symptoms that indicate that the person has impaired control of his psychoactive substance use and continues use of the substance despite adverse consequence. The American Handbook of Psychiatry (Vol 8. "Biologic", 2nd ed p. 87), states:
The cost of the drug problem in the U.S. alone is estimated at 100 billion dollars.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for an effective and relatively non-toxic medication to help the frequently changing type of sleep-wake schedule disorder individual cope with time-zone changes or with changing work schedules.
Schizophrenia is characterized by the presence of characteristic psychotic symptoms during the active phase of the illness, and functioning below the highest level previously achieved. At some phase of the illness, schizophrenia always involves delusions, hallucinations, or certain characteristic disturbances in affect and the form of thought. The active phase of schizophrenia is characterized by the presence of at least delusions, prominent hallucinations, incoherence or marked loosening of associations, catatonic behavior, flat or grossly inappropriate affect, bizarre delusions (such as being controlled by a dead person), or prominent hallucinations.
Schizophrenia is a prevalent psychiatric disorder. The importance of schizophrenia as a prevalent problem and the inadequacy of current treatment is evidenced in Kapln et al "The Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry", Williams Wilkens, Baltimore, Fourth Edition (1985) page 650 which states "An estimated two million Americans suffer from schizophrenia today. Approximately half of these individuals will experience a course of illness requiring continuous or intermittent dependence upon others for their support, with particular reliance on public support mechanisms." Accordingly, more effective treatment for schizophrenia is needed.
The sexual disorders of the present invention are divided into paraphilias and sexual dysfunctions, including premature ejaculation. Paraphilias are recurrent intense sexual urges and sexually arousing fantasies generally involving either (1) nonhuman objects, (2) the suffering or humiliation of oneself or one's partner (not merely simulated), or (3) children or other nonconsenting persons. The paraphilia patient has either acted on these urges or is markedly distressed by them.
Current treatment for hypersexual states is generally with antitestosterone agents. In the U.S. only Methoxyprogesetrone is used. The efficacy and morality of this treatment is controversial, especially in light of the risks of steroid use.
Other sexual disorders include premature ejaculation. No current pharmacologic therapy is available for premature ejaculation. This is important because many individuals are reluctant or unable to engage in sex therapy with a psychotherapist or lack for a cooperative partner for assisting with behavioral treatment.
Many disorders in psychiatry are actually single symptoms that are sometimes diagnosed as certain disorders if put into symptom clusters. However physicians who do not specialize in psychiatry often will treat symptoms without making a disorder diagnosis. Physicians often lack the therapeutic agents that are directed to specific symptoms rather than a specific psychiatric diagnosis. The symptoms investigated herein include stress, worry, anger, rejection sensitivity and lack of mental or physical energy.
Stress related illnesses are estimated to cause 150 billion dollars per year in treatment associated costs (Koppel Report, ABC NEWS, Dec. 26, 1988). These illnesses include heart attacks, "strokes", ulcers and other stress related illnesses.
Anger is now considered the main toxic element of the "Type A" personality which is considered to be at elevated risk for heart disease. Anger is also a central factor in domestic violence and violence in general.
Rejection sensitivity is among the most obvious symptom of many personality disorders. The patient becomes extremely upset, angry or depressed in response to what they interpret (frequently incorrectly) as rejection, abandonment, or criticism. One variation of this symptom has been termed rejection-sensitive dysphoria and is thought to be responsive only to monoamine oxidase inhibitors and not to other antidepressants. The toxicity and risks of this class of antidepressants, especially the hypertensive or "cheese reaction," their use. Accordingly, a drug with a low toxicity profile would be extremely useful for rejection sensitivity.
The symptoms of low mental or physical energy is often addresses with the use of stimulants. Currently available stimulants which are most effective are also most addicting. Illicit use of Dextroamphetamine is common among truck drivers who need to maintain alertness over long periods. However dextroamphetmine tends to be dangerous in terms of driver safety (i.e., amphetamine psychosis or rebound acute drowsiness), as well as being addicting.
Millions of Americans each year receive psychotherapy. There has long been interest in facilitating the often slow and unproductive process of psychotherapy by the use of psychotropics. This may date back to Freud and his experimentation with cocaine. More recent attempts have encountered similar difficulties. Initial enthusiasm for results was tempered by the realization of the toxicity or addiction risk of the agent. Examples include LSD in the 1960's and in the past decade ecstacy (MDMA). Currently, no available agent is established as both safe and effective in facilitating psychotherapy.
Any form of psychotherapy must address the patient's "resistance" to change. The patient is generally not conscious of this resistance. The resistance may arise from denial of a problem because acknowledging the problem may seem overwhelmingly stressful to the patient. It may stem from a patient's inability to disengage from a particular worry, and look with a less rigid mindset at a larger picture.
In patient's with personality disorders, rejection sensitivity may disrupt the alliance with the therapist as offence is taken to words or actions perceived by the patient as critical, rejecting, or lacking empathy. This same sensitivity, coupled with a tendency to react in anger, tends to lead to a series of crisis in the patient's life which can occupy a majority of therapy sessions, thereby precluding focus on important underlying problems. At times, inertia itself may be the biggest barrier as a patient may lack the very mental energy required to do the difficult work of making changes in long entrenched patterns of thinking and behavior.
Accordingly, there are a variety of psychiatric disorders and symptoms that do not have an acceptable therapeutic index in terms of usefullness and lack of toxicity. This invention was made to fulfill a therapeutic need in the specific disorders and symptoms listed.

Method for treating certain psychiatric disorders and certain psychiatric symptoms


A system and method are provided for chart pattern recognition and analysis. In one embodiment, a graphical interface is provided to enable a trader to select a portion of a chart to be used in the chart pattern analysis. The pattern of the selected portion of the chart could then be used to find one or more similar chart patterns in a user-defined timeframe, such as any future time period or a time period in the past. When a reoccurring chart pattern is found in any future time period, an alert signal can be generated to alert a user of a possibility of the chart pattern reoccurrence. Alternatively, chart pattern matches can be found in a time period in the past, and a set of studies can be applied to the found matches to generate a set of reoccurring indicator values. The reoccurring indicator values can be used in combination with the chart pattern to detect any similar chart patterns in the future.

An exchange is a central marketplace with established rules and regulations where buyers and sellers meet to trade. Some exchanges, referred to as open outcry exchanges, operate using a trading floor where buyers and sellers physically meet on the floor to trade. Other exchanges, referred to as electronic exchanges, operate by an electronic or telecommunications network instead of a trading floor to facilitate trading in an efficient, versatile, and functional manner. Electronic exchanges have made it possible for an increasing number of people to actively participate in a market at any given time. The increase in the number of potential market participants has advantageously led to, among other things, a more competitive market and greater liquidity.
With respect to electronic exchanges, buyers and sellers may log onto an electronic exchange trading platform by way of a communication link through their user terminals. Once connected, buyers and sellers may typically choose which tradeable objects they wish to trade. As used herein, the term "tradeable object" refers to anything that can be traded with a quantity and/or price. It includes, but is not limited to, all types of traded events, goods and/or financial products, which can include, for example, stocks, options, bonds, futures, currency, and warrants, as well as funds, derivatives and collections of the foregoing, and all types of commodities, such as grains, energy, and metals. The tradeable object may be "real," such as products that are listed by an exchange for trading, or "synthetic," such as a combination of real products that is created by the user. A tradeable object could actually be a combination of other tradeable objects, such as a class of tradeable objects.
Every day, there are thousands of traders buying and selling for many different reasons, such as, for example, fear of loss, hope of gain, hedging, broker recommendations, and many others. To profit in electronic markets, market participants must be able to assimilate large amounts of data in order to recognize market trends and to view current market conditions. However, trying to figure out why market participants are buying or selling can be very difficult. Chart patterns may put buying and selling activities into perspective by providing a concise picture of the two activities as a tool to analyze markets.
Identifying chart patterns is a form of what is often referred to as technical analysis based on an assumption that market trends repeat themselves. Technical analysis consist primarily of a variety of technical studies, which, when interpreted, are used by many traders to predict market trends, and detect buy/sell signals. A trend is a direction in which the market is moving, and a slope of a trend line can be used in market analysis. Typically, the movement or price development does not occur as a straight line, but rather consists of a series of successive peaks and troughs, and it is actually a direction in which the peaks and troughs are moving what many consider a market trend. For example, an uptrend line is a straight line passing through the rising of an up-move. A reversal of such a trend line is indicated with a violation of the uptrend line, and is often interpreted as a selling opportunity. On the other hand, as long as the uptrend line is intact, it is often considered a low-risk buying area. As another example, the trend lines drawn parallel through the tops and bottoms result in a channel formation, and the market movement to the top of an upward channel is often considered a selling opportunity.
Another use of technical analysis, apart from technical studies, is in deriving "support" and "resistance" levels, which can be used by a trader to provide additional information about possible market movements. The general consensus is that the market will tend to trade above its support levels and below its resistance levels. For example, in a falling market, a support level is a price level where buyers entered the market or where old sellers liquidated their shorts with enough force to keep price from going any lower. In a rising market, a resistance level is a price level where sellers entered the market or where old buyers liquidated their long positions with enough force to keep prices from going any higher. Therefore, in general, it is often said that that in an up-trend the test to support can be used as an indicator of a buying opportunity, and the same is true when a break is detected in a resistance level. On the other hand, in a downtrend movement, a resistance zone is considered as an indicator of a selling opportunity.
Even though there are many existing tools that enable traders to analyze market conditions using technical analysis or the like, traders are often not given enough flexibility as to which portions of the market data should be taken in consideration when performing the analysis. Additionally, traders are often interested in reevaluating their trading decisions in view of a specific portion of historical market data so that they can avoid mistakes made in the past, or that they can develop new strategies for the future. Therefore, it would be beneficial to provide a system along with a graphical interface that can be used by traders to perform technical analysis according to the trader's preferences.

System and method for chart pattern recognition and analysis in an electronic trading environment

Trading Technologies International, Inc.


The present invention provides an overload control method for an access media gateway and the corresponding access media gateway. The access media gateway restricts call of a subscriber coupled thereto and acting as a calling side or a called side. Different overload levels and calls with high priority to be guaranteed for the respective overload levels are set at the access media gateway. The subscriber of the access media gateway acting as a calling side or a called side determines an overload level upon detection of its own overload, judges whether the call is a call with high priority to be guaranteed for the overload level. If it is a call with high priority to be guaranteed for the overload level, the call is processed in accordance with a normal call flow; otherwise, the call is rejected. The present invention protects an AG system from breakdown at a high traffic load, and efficiently guarantees connection of the call with high priority including an emergency call and/or a call via a subscriber port with high priority, which can reduce dependence on the MGC, prevent the MGC from overload and rapidly alleviate the overload of the AG, so that the time period in which the service is influenced is shortened.

With the increasing scale of the commercial application of the Next Generation Network (NGN), reliability of NGN devices shall be guaranteed sufficiently. Since subscriber traffic is undetermined and processing capability of a device is limited, a situation where the traffic brings a load beyond normal processing capability of the device, i.e. an overload, may occur frequently. If the overload results in a partial or complete malfunction of the device, services may be interrupted. Consequently, overload control capability of a device, i.e. ability to operate under overload condition, is a crucial factor with influence upon reliability of the device and even reliability of the network.
The NGN includes a Media Gateway Controller (MGC), a Media Gateway (MG), a Signaling Gateway (SG), a relevant application server, etc. The media gateway includes an Access media Gateway (AG) and a Trunk media Gateway (TG). The AG provides a subscriber side interface connected with subscriber end equipment such as a telephone, terminates signaling of subscriber line and interacts with the MGC through H.248 or MGCP protocol to convert a media stream. The MGC is responsible for call control and controls the AG through the H.248 or MGCP protocol to set up and release a media stream connection.
The call processing capability of the AG and the MGC are limited due to restriction factors such as the CPU operation speed of a system and the like. The system shall be designed in a way that the call processing capability of the system can satisfy a demand for a normal traffic load. For instance, if one AG is provided with a capacity of 2000 line POTS subscribers, each subscriber has an average traffic of 0.1 erlan and each call lasts for 60 s in average, then the AG has an average traffic of 200 erlan and the call processing capability needs to reach 3.3 CAPS (Call Attempts Per Second), that is, 3.3 calls are processed per second. However, in many cases such as in holiday or busy period of a day, the subscriber traffic is typically far beyond 0.1 erlan and thus exceeds the normal processing capability of the system. In order to ensure normal operation of the system and a normal service under a large traffic load, an overload control mechanism is provided for a device to prevent the system from breakdown due to an impact of the large traffic and to guarantee the service as far as possible, in addition to a margin reserved in the system design to satisfy a demand for a high load (for instance, if the average traffic for a subscriber is 0.1 erlan, the system is designed in terms of 0.2 erlan).
The overload control for an AG device is actually to perform restriction for subscriber calls when the load of the system reaches a threshold, so as to make the load of the system resume to a normal level as soon as possible and thereby prevent the breakdown of the system. Such an approach for restricting subscriber calls will necessarily influence the subscriber service during an overload. How to minimize the influence upon the subscriber service depends upon the selection of call restriction policy. A subscriber coupled to an AG device may be an ordinary resident subscriber, or may be a commercial subscriber or a government subscriber, and different subscribers have different requirements for service reliability. A subscriber call coupled to an AG device may be an ordinary call, or may be an emergency call such as a call for ambulance, a call for police and the like, and different calls also have different requirements for service reliability. Therefore, a key technology in the overload control for the AG device lies in that a reasonable handling mechanism and call restricting policy shall be studied to guarantee a call with high priority during an overload as far as possible.
In a first approach of the prior art, multiple overload levels are set at the AG device, and each of the levels corresponds to a certain system load. For instance, three overload levels are set, where an overload at the first level corresponds to a CPU occupancy rate of 70%, an overload at the second level corresponds to a CPU occupancy rate of 85%, and an overload at the third level corresponds to a CPU occupancy rate of 95%.
A ratio of the subscribers whose calls are restricted in the overload at the respective levels is set at the AG device. The system initiates call restriction dependent upon the ratio for call restriction when the overload of the system reaches a certain level. For instance, in the case of the overload control of three levels, 50% subscriber calls are restricted for the overload at the first level, 70% subscriber calls are restricted for the overload at the second level, and all subscriber calls are restricted for the overload at the third level. 50% or 70% subscriber calls are selected randomly and restricted during call restriction. For instance, for restricting 50% calls, five calls per ten calls are rejected, and for restricting 70% calls, seven calls per ten calls are rejected.
For the case that a subscriber coupled to the AG device acts as a calling side, when the AG detects a hook-off by the subscriber, the AG judges whether to restrict the call dependent upon a current overload level. If it is judged to restrict the call, the call is directly rejected and a busy tone or a notification tone is played to the subscriber. Otherwise, the hook-off event is reported to the MGC through the H.248/MGCP, and the call is handled in accordance with normal call flow.
For the case that a subscriber coupled to the AG device acts as a called side, when the AG receives an Add command sent by the MGC, the AG judges whether to restrict the call dependent upon a current overload level. If it is judged to restrict the call, the call is rejected in a Reply message sent to the MGC. Otherwise, the call is accepted in the Reply message sent to the MGC, and the call is handled in accordance with the normal call flow.
The first approach in the prior art may be disadvantageous in that any call is restricted uniformly dependent upon the set ratio of the call restriction during the overload of the AG device without distinguishing priorities of calls. Although this may protect the system from breakdown under the impact of a large traffic, no guarantee can be presented for a call with high priority, which results in that the call with high priority may fail even in the case of a slight overload.
In a second approach of the prior art, multiple overload levels are set at the AG device, and each of the levels corresponds to a certain system load. For instance, three overload levels are set, where an overload at the first level corresponds to a CPU occupancy rate of 70%, an overload at the second level corresponds to a CPU occupancy rate of 85%, and an overload at the third level corresponds to a CPU occupancy rate of 95%.
The call restriction policy for the overload of the AG is set at the MGC device. The call restriction policy may be call restriction as per subscriber proportion, or may be call restriction as per call priority with priority set for a subscriber or calling number.
When the AG detects its own overload, overload information of the AG is reported to the MGC in a gateway overload control packet of the H.248.11.
The AG rejects all calls during an overload at the highest level, and performs process in accordance with the normal call flow during an overload at other levels without initiation of the call restriction. Upon reception of the overload information reported by the AG, the MGC restricts calls from a calling side and a called side of the AG dependent upon the preset call restriction policy.
Though the second approach in the prior art can guarantee a call with high priority, it still has the following disadvantages.
1. The AG does not perform call restriction substantially. The call restriction primarily depends on the MGC, which poses high functional requirement as well as intercommunication requirement on the MGC.
2. The AG does not perform call restriction substantially, but reports numerous subscriber hook-off messages to the MGC, which brings a large impact upon the MGC and tends to result in the overload of the MGC.
3. Since the AG still performs process in accordance with the normal call flow during an overload (except an overload at the highest level) and there are still a large number of messages interacted between the AG and the MGC, it is not easy to alleviate the overload of the AG, thereby normal access to the service will be affected for a long period of time.

Overload control method for access media gateway and corresponding access media gateway


The present invention relates to a rotatable clipboard assembly comprising a substantially rectangular base component having a planar bottom surface and four sides depending therefrom. The area between the four sides and the planar bottom surface defines a paper holding bin. A lid component is attached to a side of the base component using a hinge means allowing the paper holding bin to be selectively enclosed. A glove component is attached to the bottom surface of the clipboard using a rotating bearing assembly allowing a user to insert his or her hand into the glove component and rotate the clipboard to a desired position. Alternatively, an arm component is attached to the bearing assembly allowing the device to be attached to and rotated about a person's arm or wrist.

The present invention relates to a clipboard/portfolio combination having a glove component rotatably attached to an exterior side thereof. The clipboard comprises a substantially rectangular base component designed to receive papers or business forms. The base component has a substantially planar bottom surface and four sides depending upwardly therefrom to define a paper holding bin. A planar lid component having approximately the same dimensions as the planar bottom surface is hingedly attached to a side of the base component allowing the paper holding bin to be selectively enclosed.
The glove component is rotatably mounted to the bottom surface of the base component using a rotatable bearing assembly. This particular embodiment may be suitable for police officers who issue numerous citations and who are constantly rotating their clipboards to allow a ticketed driver to view or write on a document resting thereon. In an alternate embodiment that may be more applicable to warehouse or dock workers, a foldable pivoting arm member may be attached to the rotating bearing assembly allowing the device to be attached to a user's wrist or forearm.


An antenna device includes: a line-shaped antenna conductor with a predetermined length; an actuator member that directly supports the line-shaped antenna or supports the line-shaped antenna via an auxiliary member and is displaceable integrally with the antenna conductor, where the actuator member is displaced to change a position of the antenna conductor in a space; and an attaching member that attaches the actuator member and the antenna member in one longitudinal end of the antenna conductor to a communication apparatus. The actuator member performs displacement control in which one longitudinal end of the antenna conductor serves as a fixed support and the other end thereof serves as a free end to be displaceable depending on the control voltage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an antenna device suitably applicable to a communication device, such as a cellular phone terminal, and also relates to a communication device equipped with this antenna device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A handheld communication device, such as a cellular phone terminal, is designed to be easily carried or moved, so that the whole size thereof including an antenna unit is smaller the better. It is also preferable that the antenna is unobstructable.
Therefore, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-167829 (Patent document 1) for example, a handheld communication terminal having a strap-shaped antenna device unit has been proposed in the art. In the patent document 1, the antenna deice unit includes an antenna member in which an antenna conductor is formed on a flexible substrate. Such an antenna device can be attached as a strap to the handheld communication terminal.
Therefore, the antenna device unit can stand clear of the handheld communication terminal and does not disfigure the handheld communication terminal.
In addition, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-147508 (Patent document 2) discloses an antenna for communication apparatus using an antenna member made of shape memory alloy. In other words, the antenna disclosed in Patent document 2 houses an antenna member in the housing of the communication member as far as possible at the time of out-of communication (nonuse). Alternatively, at the time of communication, the shape memory alloy that forms the antenna member is heated to raise the antenna so as to extend the antenna toward the outside of the housing.
Therefore, according to Patent document 2, it is convenient that the antenna is in a state of being housed at the time of out-of communication without hindrance. At the time of communication, the antenna is automatically raised to enhance the reception sensitivity.

Antenna device and communication apparatus


Isolated compounds from Adelostemma gracillimum refined fractions and compositions containing the compounds are provided by the present invention. Adelostemma gracillimum refined fractions and the extraction process thereof are also provided by the present invention. The uses of the compounds and the Adelostemma gracillimum refined fractions for inhibiting the activities of NMDA receptor or amyloid-beta peptide, for improving memory, and for treating neurodegenerative diseases, neuropathological conditions or epilepsy are further provided by the present invention.

Adelostemma gracillimum (Asclepiadaceae) is an herb found in Southwest of China and Burma. Extracts from the plant have been used for thousands of years in folk medicine for therapeutic purposes. The roots of the herb are used as a nourishing and roborant tonic and in treating convulsions in children. Extracts of Adelostemma gracillimum have been found to contain pregnane glycosides (Mu et al., 1992; Gao et al., 2009).
The central nervous system (CNS) is regulated by many complex pathways which monitor crucial cellular events such as proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis (or cell death). While apoptosis is an integral part of neuronal development, defects in the mechanisms of apoptosis are thought to contribute to the disease pathology of stroke, epilepsy, and a host of neurodegenerative diseases (Raff et al., 1993). Thus, one area of drug development is to understand the processes that underlie neuronal survival and apoptosis.
Studies have shown that many, growth factors and neurotrophins, including insulin, insulin-like growth factor-1, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), nerve-growth factor (NGF), and neurotropins 3 and 4/5, can promote neuronal survival by mediating specific signaling cascades such as the ERK and the PI 3-kinase pathways (Segal and Greenberg, 1996). Thus, it is desirable to identify and/or to develop compounds that can promote neuronal survival against apoptosis induced by nutrient withdrawal.
NMDA receptors are ligand-gated ion channels located primarily within the CNS. They belong to the family of ionotropic glutamate receptors and exist as multiple subtypes due to the different combinations of subunits—NR1, NR2 (NR2A, NR2B, NR2C, NR2D) and NR3—that can be expressed. In addition to the agonist binding site, NMDA receptors have multiple distinct binding sites for various compounds that enhance, modulate and inhibit the activation of the receptors.
It is known that NMDA receptors are involved in neuronal communication and play important roles in synaptic plasticity and mechanisms that underlie learning and memory. Under normal conditions, NMDA receptors engage in synaptic transmission via the neurotransmitter glutamate, which regulates and refines synaptic growth and plasticity. However, when there are abnormally high levels of glutamate (i.e. under pathological conditions), NMDA receptors become over-activated, resulting in an excess of Ca2+ influx into neuronal cells, which in turn causes excitotoxicity and the activation of several signaling pathways that trigger neuronal apoptosis. Glutamate-induced apoptosis in brain tissue also accompanies oxidative stress resulting in loss of ATP, loss of mitochondrial membrane potential, and the release of reactive oxygen species and reactive nitrogen species (e.g. H2O2, NO, OONO−, O2−) causing associated cell damage and death. Decreased nerve cell function and neuronal cell death eventually occur. Excitotoxicity also occurs if the cell's energy metabolism is compromised.
Over-activation of the NMDA receptors is implicated in neurodegenerative diseases and other neuro-related conditions as it causes neuronal loss and cognitive impairment, and also plays a part in the final common pathway leading to neuronal injury in a variety of neurodegenerative disorders such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and Huntington's disease, as well as conditions such as stroke. NMDA receptors are also implicated in many other neurological disorders, such as multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy (periventricular leukomalacia), and spinal cord injury, as well as in chronic and severe mood disorders (Mathew SJ et al., Rev Bras Psiquiatr, 27:243-248 (2005)).
NMDA receptors have played crucial roles in both regulating and promoting normal nervous system functions as well as causing cell death, which leads to lethal conditions. There has been increasing evidence to show that the type of signal given to a cell depends on the location of the activated NMDA receptor. Growth and survival-promoting signals result from activated synaptic NMDA receptors, while cell death causing signals result from extrasynaptic NMDA receptors. Recent studies also indicate that activated synaptic NMDA receptors lead to robust phosphorylation of the transcription factor CREB on the transcriptional regulatory residue Ser133 and promote CREB-dependent gene expression and neuronal survival. However, activated extrasynaptic NMDA receptors transiently phosphorylate CREB and do not activate CREB-dependent gene expression, resulting in neuronal cell death (Hardingham et al., 2002).
Yet, there are few effective therapeutic agents for excitotoxicity to alleviate symptoms of its associated neuronal disorders. One complication for the development of effective NMDA antagonists as neurotherapeutic drugs is that many NMDA antagonists also exhibit psychotogenic and neurotoxic properties. For example, MK-801 (dizocilpine maleate) is capable of providing certain degree of neuroprotection in ischemic stroke, but is associated with psychotropic and adverse motor effects. Thus, it is desirable to identify and/or to develop compounds that can potentiate NMDA synaptic activity resulting in neuroprotection.
Amyloid beta (Aβ) is a cleavage product derived from the amyloid precursor protein (APP), which accumulates as extracellular or senile plaques, the characteristic hallmark of the neurodegenerative disease Alzheimer's disease (AD). While the actual cause of AD remains elusive, Aβ has been implicated in many reports to play a part in the initiation and progression of the disease (Hock et al., 2003). Furthermore, studies have shown that Aβ is neurotoxic (Hartman et al., 2005), resulting in neuronal loss and subsequent memory loss and cognitive impairment. Upon the addition of Aβ to primary neuronal cultures, apoptosis is triggered which leads to cell death (Estus et al., 1997). Caspases are a family of cysteine-aspartic acid proteases that are involved in cell apoptosis through sequential activation by proteolytic processing of inactive proenzymes to form the active enzyme. Caspase-3 is considered to be the executioner of the apoptotic pathway and is the predominant caspase involved in the cleavage of the amyloid precursor protein as well as in the production of Aβ, which is associated with neuronal death in Alzheimer's disease. Exogenous addition of Aβ into neuronal cultures initiates caspase-3 dependent apoptosis. Therefore, developing inhibitors against caspase-3 activation is one therapeutic approach in AD treatment.
Dendritic spines, or spines, are small membranous protrusions from a neuron's dendrite that typically receive input from a single synapse of an axon. Dendritic spines serve as a storage site for synaptic strength and help transmit electrical signals to the neuron's cell body. Spines, however, require maturation after formation. Immature spines have impaired signaling capabilities, and typically only have necks and lack, or have very small, "heads". Matured spines maintain both heads and necks. Spines with strong synaptic contacts typically have a large spine head, which connect to the dendrite via a membranous neck (mushroom shape) (Yuste and Denk, 1995). Decreased spine density has been reported in aged neurons of the CA1 area of hippocampus as well as the layer III pyramidal layer (Duan et al., 2003; von Bohlen und Halbach et al., 2006). In stressed animals, an overall shift in the population of spines is observed with a reduction in large spines and an increase in small spines in the prefrontal cortex (Radley et al., 2008). Spine reduction is also associated with major depression as well as in schizophrenia (Law et al., 2004). Cognitive disorders such as autism, mental retardation, Fragile X Syndrome, stroke, and chronic alcoholism may be resultant from abnormalities in dendritic spines, especially in regards to the number of spines and their maturity (Bhatt et al., 2009; von Bohlen und Halbach et al., 2009).
Epilepsy is a clinical phenomenon consisting of excessive neuronal activities in the brain which are manifested by seizures (Fisher et al., 2005). Epileptic seizures can take on the form of tonic or clonic movements accompanied sporadically by convulsions and other neurological and physical and psychic symptoms. Seizures occur transiently and can occur through provocation, though not necessarily (Aylwar R., 2008). The incidence of epilepsy is estimated at approximately 0.3 to 0.5 percent in different populations throughout the world, with the prevalence of epilepsy estimated at 5 to 10 people per 1000 which makes it one of the most prevalent neurological disorders (Shinnar and Pellock, 2002).
Epilepsy is classified by etiology, observable seizure activity, location of seizure activity in the brain, accompanying medical symptoms, and the initial event which provoked the seizure activity. The main characteristic that distinguishes the different categories of seizures is whether the seizure activity is partial (synonymous with focal) or generalized (Brodie et al., 2009). Currently, there are over 40 recognized epilepsy types classified by type of seizures, EEG recordings, physical manifestations, treatment and prognosis (Badawy et al., 2009). In vivo experiments have shown that genetic mutations in both voltage and receptor-gated ion channels are responsible for various types of seizure activities (Meisler M, and Keamey J., 2005). For example, dysregulation in voltage-gated sodium channel localized in GABAergic neurons have been implicated in severe myoclonic seizures of infants (SMEI) (Yu et al., 2009). Seizures can also occur from trauma such as ischemia or hypoxia, fever, and encephalitis, which then lead to dysregulation of balance in neuronal transmission (Bialer and White, 2010). Neuroinflammation has also been linked to the pathophysiology of epilepsy where inflammatory responses caused by cytokines lead to neuronal damage and changes in the neuronal environment, resulting in the hyperactivity observed in seizures (Ravizza et al., 2008).
Drugs to treat epilepsy are based on anticonvulsant medications. Currently, there are more than 20 antiepileptic drugs available. However, they have been reported to have side effects on patients including mood changes, sleepiness, or unsteadiness in gait (Schmitz, 2006). While the new generation of antiepileptic drugs has considerable improvements in terms of safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics to control epileptic seizures, an estimated 30% of patients suffer from pharmacoresistant epilepsy and thus fail to respond to multiple medications (Andres and Antoaneta, 2007). The development of new drug candidates is necessary to offer alternative targets for the control of seizures with fewer or no side effects, and better efficacy is required to offer complete control of seizures in epileptic patients.
Therefore, there is a need to identify and/or to develop compounds that are capable of (i) preventing and/or treating CNS disorders, such as excitotoxicity, epilepsy, neurodegenerative diseases and neuropathological conditions; (ii) promoting neuronal survival against apoptosis induced by nutrient withdrawal; and (iii) enhancing the brain's cognitive functions. The present invention satisfies this and other needs.

Neuro-protective compounds and their use


Provided are a magnetic core material for electrophotographic developer and a carrier for electrophotographic developer, which are excellent in charging characteristics and strength with low specific gravity and with which a satisfactory image free of defects can be obtained, and a developer containing the carrier.

The electrophotographic development method is a method in which toner particles in a developer are made to adhere to electrostatic latent images formed on a photoreceptor to develop the images. The developer used in this method is classified into a two-component developer composed of a toner particle and a carrier particle, and a one-component developer using only a toner particle.
As a development method using the two-component developer composed of a toner particle and a carrier particle among those developers, a cascade method and the like were formerly employed, but a magnetic brush method using a magnet roll is now in the mainstream. In the two-component developer, a carrier particle is a carrier substance which is agitated with a toner particle in a development box filled with the developer to impart a desired charge to the toner particle, and further transports the charged toner particle to a surface of a photoreceptor to form toner images on the photoreceptor. The carrier particle remaining on a development roll which holds a magnet is again returned from the development roll to the development box, mixed and agitated with a fresh toner particle, and used repeatedly in a certain period.
In the two-component developer, unlike a one-component developer, the carrier particle has functions of being mixed and agitated with a toner particle to charge the toner particle and transporting the toner particle to a surface of a photoreceptor, and it has good controllability on designing a developer. Therefore, the two-component developer is suitable for using in a full-color development apparatus requiring a high image quality, a high-speed printing apparatus requiring reliability for maintaining image and durability, and the like. In the two-component developer thus used, it is needed that image characteristics such as image density, fogging, white spots, gradation, and resolving power exhibit predetermined values from the initial stage, and additionally these characteristics do not vary and are stably maintained during the durable printing period (i.e., a long period of time of use). In order to stably maintain these characteristics, characteristics of a carrier particle contained in the two-component developer need to be stable. As a carrier particle forming the two-component developer, various carrier such as an iron powder carrier, a ferrite carrier, a resin-coated ferrite carrier, and a magnetic powder-dispersed resin carrier have conventionally been used.
Recently, networking of offices progresses, and the time changes from a single-function copying machine to a multifunctional machine. In addition, a service system also shifts from a system where a service person who contracts to carry out regular maintenance and to replace a developer or the like to the time of a maintenance-free system. The demand for further extending the life of the developer from the market is increasing more and more.
Under such circumstances, resin-filled ferrite carriers in which resin is filled in voids of a ferrite carrier core material using porous ferrite particles have been proposed for the intention of reducing the weight of the carrier particles and for the purpose of extending the life of the developer. For example, Patent Literature 1 (JP-A-2014-197040) proposes a resin-filled ferrite carrier core material for electrophotographic developer including porous ferrite particles having an average compression breaking strength of 100 mN or more and a compression breaking strength variation coefficient of 50% or less; and a resin-filled ferrite carrier for electrophotographic developer in which a resin is filled in voids of the ferrite carrier core material. It is described that according to this ferrite carrier, since the carrier particles can expect reduction in weight because of a low specific gravity and have high strength, effects such as excellent durability and achieving long life can be achieved.
On the other hand, it has been also known that trace amounts of elements in the carrier core material deteriorate carrier characteristics. For example, Patent Literature 2 (JP-A-2010-55014) proposes a resin-filled carrier for electrophotographic developer, which is obtained by filling resin in voids of a porous ferrite core material, in which a Cl concentration of the porous ferrite core material measured by an elution method is from 10 to 280 ppm, and the resin contains an amine compound. It is described that according to this carrier, since the Cl concentration of the porous ferrite core material is reduced within a certain range and the amine compound is contained in the filling resin, a charge amount as desired can be obtained and a small change in charge amount due to environmental changes can be achieved. Furthermore, although not related to porous ferrite, Patent Literature 3 (JP-A-2016-25288) proposes a ferrite magnetic material which includes main components containing Fe and additive elements such as Mn and has an average particle size of from 1 to 100 μm, in which the total amount of impurities excluding Fe, additive elements, and oxygen in the ferrite magnetic material is 0.5 mass % or less, and the impurities include at least two or more of Si, Al, Cr, Cu, P, Cl, Ni, Mo, Zn, Ti, sulfur, Ca, Mn, and Sr. It is described that a magnetic carrier using, as a magnetic carrier core material for electrophotographic developer, the ferrite magnetic material in which the influence of the impurities in the raw material is suppressed, has a high magnetic force and exhibits an effect of suppressing carrier scattering.

Magnetic core material for electrophotographic developer, carrier for electrophotographic developer, and developer

Abstract: A magnetic core material for electrophotographic developer, having a sulfur component content of from 60 to 800 ppm in terms of a sulfate ion and a pore volume of from 30 to 100 mm3/g.