Provided is a novel MRSA infection protective agent. Bacteria belonging to the genus Enterococcus have been found to be capable of protecting against MRSA infection. The MRSA infection protective agent comprises a bacterium belonging to the genus Enterococcus. Also provided are: a medicine for protection against MRSA infection, comprising a bacterium belonging to the genus Enterococcus; and a food for protection against MRSA infection, comprising a bacterium belonging to the genus Enterococcus.

MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) is a typical bacterium that causes healthcare-associated infection, and is a resistant bacterium that is the most frequently isolated in hospitals.
Anti-MRSA drugs approved in Japan include five drugs, namely vancomycin (VCM), teicoplanin (TEIC), arbekacin (ABK), linezolid (LZD), and daptomycin (DAP). Guidelines for treatment of MRSA infectious diseases have been formulated for proper use of the anti-MRSA drugs (Non Patent Literature 1).
In recent years, however, emergence of bacteria resistant to these anti-MRSA drugs has been reported, and there is a demand for development of a novel anti-MRSA drug.


The disclosed combustor apparatus provides for independent flow streams, one for oxidizer and one for fuel. The adjustable control capability permits various flame configurations and reproducible combustion rates at different oxidizer/gaseous fuel flow rates. The apparatus includes an oxidizer supply which is separated into a primary oxidizer path and a secondary oxidizer path, the flow rate in each of these paths being regulated. The primary oxidizer path and the secondary oxidizer path are combined in an oxidizer channel within a burner block of the burner assembly prior to exiting the burner assembly. Flow may be provided to only one of these paths should that be desired. A recombined oxidizer flow stream, of a non-homogenous velocity cross-section, is thus formed at the exit of the oxidizer channel. The burner apparatus also includes an gaseous fuel supply which is separated into a primary gaseous fuel path and a secondary gaseous fuel path, the flow rate in each of these paths being regulated. The primary gaseous fuel path and the secondary gaseous fuel path are combined in a gaseous fuel channel within the burner block prior to exiting the burner assembly. A recombined gaseous fuel flow stream of a non-homogenous velocity cross-section, is thus formed at the exit of the gaseous fuel channel.

This invention relates in general to burner units and, more particularly, to burner units which are capable of reducing undesired particulate and gaseous emissions.
The term "burner unit" as used herein refers to a combustor assembly which combines two separate flow streams, namely, a gaseous fuel flow stream and an oxidizer flow stream for combustion purposes. Typical burner units employed in industrial applications today often mix fuel and oxidizer at relatively high velocities. This high velocity mixing technique frequently results in several undesired problems such as increased burner wear and damage, low efficiency, high pollutant production and added maintenance.
Modern approaches to the reduction of pollutant emissions in combustion processes have involved the use of oxygen enrichment. In many cases the increased operating temperatures which result from the increased oxygen content in the oxidizer actually cause an increase in undesired NOX production. The high fuel-oxidizer mixing velocities found in contemporary burners also contribute to high particulate entrainment and high temperature operation. It is noted that these high burner operating temperatures are a significant cause of oxygen-related pollution such as NOX. In oxygen enriched combustion processes using conventional burners, high flame temperatures result in high NOX pollution production because nitrogen which remains after combustion may still react with available oxygen to form undesired NOX compounds at very high rates.
Conventional high temperature burners which operate in an oxygen enriched environment require special materials to enable high temperature operation. Alternatively, these high temperature burners employ extra external cooling to prevent damage to the burner. In either case, the burner unit is made significantly more expensive to enable high temperature operation.

Burner apparatus and method of operation thereof


Techniques for providing a multi-stage iterative scheme to determine fine granularity estimates of parameters of an interfering signal and for using the fine granularity estimates of the parameters to reduce an impact of the interfering signal against a signal of interest (SOI) are disclosed. An input signal is identified. A first set of estimation parameters that provide a coarse granularity estimate of a center frequency of the jamming signal and of a symbol rate of the jamming signal are determined. The first set of estimation parameters are refined to generate a medium granularity estimate of the center frequency and the symbol rate of the jamming frequency. The medium granularity estimates are also refined to produce a fine granularity estimate of the center frequency and the symbol rate. The fine granularity estimates are used to remove or reduce an influence of the jamming signal on the input signal.

Numerous different devices can be equipped with an antenna system for transmitting and/or receiving radio frequency ("RF") communications. These RF communications may be transmitted to, or received from, any number of different external targets, endpoints, wireless network nodes, or systems. As an example, RF communications can be sent and received by walkie-talkies, cell phones, vehicles, airplanes, rotary aircraft, ships, satellites, and so on.
RF communications have advanced significantly in recent years. Now, more than ever before, devices with RF capabilities are able to establish (in many cases even simultaneously) different RF communication links with external transmitters and receivers. Such advancements have substantially improved the quality of life. Because of the benefits provided by RF communications, more and more RF components (e.g., RF front-end components and RF back-end components) are being installed into electronic devices. With the proliferation of wireless RF communications, there is a substantial need to continuously improve such communications, especially in scenarios where signal interference may occur.
The subject matter claimed herein is not limited to embodiments that solve any disadvantages or that operate only in environments such as those described above. Rather, this background is only provided to illustrate one exemplary technology area where some embodiments described herein may be practiced.

Algorithm and techniques for high-resolution interference parameter estimation in low-swap environment


A non-corrosive dolly for storing containment drums having contained therein material which is potentially hazardous to the environment if spilled or leaked. Components of the dolly form a containment cavity for capturing and containing any spilled or leaked material. A handle, for conveniently moving the dolly and stored drum, is slidably engageable with a base of the dolly when oriented vertically downward, locked to the dolly when in position for use, and restrained for self-storing when oriented vertically upward.

The present invention is a non-corrosive dolly upon which to store a containment drum to facilitate movement of the drum. The dolly provides for capture and containment of material leaked or spilled from the drum as well as a self-storing handle for ease of moving the drum.
Industrial and commercial liquids are conveniently stored in metal or plastic containment drums. For example, 30 and 55 gallon drums and 95 gallon over-pack drums are widely used for storing materials in virtually every industry. In commercial establishments, the same drums are used for storing cleaning materials or the like. Often, it is convenient to permanently store each drum on a dolly so as to facilitate movement of the drum throughout a commercial or industrial facility and avoid the often difficult task of repeatedly loading a drum on a dolly, which often requires at least two workers.
It is desirable to have the dolly for achieving the above storage method to have a portion of the dolly adapted for capturing and containing material which might be leaked or spilled from the drum. Also, for convenience, since filled drums can weigh up to about 1000 pounds, it is desirable to have a grasping means for moving the dolly and drum, such as a handle which extends outwardly from the dolly. Having a handle which can easily be engaged with the dolly, and can be easily positioned and held securely in an upright position adjacent to the drum when not being utilized, is also a desirable feature.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a device, for storing a containment drum, which enables movement in an easy and safe manner.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a device which provides containment means to protect the environment from contamination with spilled or leaked hazardous materials.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a grasping means to facilitate movement of a drum and provide for storage of that grasping means in a convenient, space saving, secure, and safe manner.
The present invention is a non-corrosive dolly for use with a drum in which material is stored. The dolly includes three separate components, a base, a set of casters, and an elongated handle. The base supports the bottom end of the drum and has a drum support portion, upon which the bottom end of the drum bears; a bottom portion disposed directly beneath the drum support portion, and inner and outer wall portions extending from the drum support portion and the bottom portion respectively. A containment cavity is provided which is formed at least in part by the drum support portion and the inner wall portion for capturing and containing stored liquid which might be spilled or leaked from the drum. A handle connector extends from the outer wall portion of the base. The casters are disposed beneath the bottom portion of the base and provide contact with a dolly supporting surface. A detachable elongated handle has a connecting end, for pivotally engaging the handle connector, and an opposite grasping end for use in moving the dolly about on the dolly supporting surface. When the base is oriented with the casters contacting a horizontal dolly supporting surface, the elongated handle is: pivotable about a horizontal axis when connected to the handle connector; slidably connectable to or disconnectable from the handle connector only when it is oriented vertically downward; locked to the handle connector when it is connected to the handle connector and pivoted to be oriented other than vertically downward; and restrained from pivoting when it is connected to the handle connector and oriented vertically upward.


A semiconductor structure is formed with a first wafer (e.g. a handle wafer) and a second wafer (e.g. a bulk silicon wafer) bonded together. The second wafer includes an active layer, which in some embodiments is formed before the two wafers are bonded together. A substrate is removed from the second wafer on an opposite side of the active layer from the first wafer using a SiGeC or SiGeBC layer as an etch stop. In some embodiments, the SiGeC or SiGeBC layer is formed by epitaxial growth, ion implantation or a combination of epitaxial growth and ion implantation.

Layer transfer, or wafer bonding, techniques may be used to form the layers of a semiconductor-on-insulator (SOI) wafer having a bulk substrate layer, a buried oxide (BOX) layer, and a semiconductor layer. Integrated circuits (ICs) with active devices and conductive interconnects can then be formed into and onto the semiconductor layer.
An alternative layer transfer process may start with an SOI wafer (having an active device layer already formed), invert the SOI wafer, bond the SOI wafer to a handle wafer, and then remove the bulk substrate and the BOX. In this manner, the active device layer is transferred to the handle wafer. Additionally, the handle wafer may have previously undergone other processing, so that the resulting bonded semiconductor structure may have desirable features that are difficult to achieve in a single wafer subjected to all of the necessary processing steps. For example, the handle wafer may have a substrate with a trap rich layer, so that the resulting semiconductor structure has the trap rich layer between the active device layer and the substrate. However, if a single wafer had been used, and the trap rich layer had been formed in the wafer before the active device layer, then the processing techniques used to form the active device layer could have degraded the trap rich layer. In this example, therefore, the layer transfer process involving separately processed wafers enables a better final product.
In some respects, or for some applications, the development of SOI technology represented an advance over traditional bulk semiconductor processes. However, SOI wafers are generally more complex and expensive than simple bulk semiconductor wafers. Part of the added expense is due to additional processing steps required to produce the SOI wafers before active device fabrication can begin.

Bonded semiconductor structure with SiGeC/SiGeBC layer as etch stop


A shift-lever device includes a key lever operating with key-lock mechanism, a sub lever independently rotatably arranged to the key lever and including a pin, a spring arranged to enable the key lever and the sub lever to rotate together, and a lock lever contacting the pin of the sub lever and operating with the key lever. The lock lever operates with the shift-lock mechanism to prevent and allow shifting of a shift lever from a predetermined position. The device also includes a release rod arranged to be operable from outside of the device and serving to rotate the lock lever to rotate the sub lever against the spring independently of the key lever.

The present invention relates generally to shift-lever devices for motor vehicles and more particularly to the shift-lever devices including a lock release mechanism.
Shift-lever devices have been proposed which include a lock mechanism operating based on a combination of shift-lock and key-lock mechanisms. The lock mechanism is constructed such that the key-lock mechanism prevents a shift lever from being moved from the parking position when parking a motor vehicle with an engine key removed, and the shift-lock mechanism prevents the engine key from being removed except when the shift lever is in the parking position, and the shift lever being moved therefrom unless a brake pedal is depressed when cruising the vehicle after engine start.
Specifically, when shifting the shift lever to the parking position P for engine stop, and removing the engine key for parking of the vehicle, a key cylinder is engaged with a steering shaft to obtain key lock, and an electric system of the vehicle is cut off. Referring to FIG. 6, an actuator 8 is turned off to press a plunger 7, which urges a lock lever 6 connected to the plunger 7 to rotate clockwise about a shaft 5 so as to move outside from a detent recess 3. However, since rotation of a key lever 10 connected to the key-lock mechanism through a joint rod 11 is restrained on the side of the key-lock mechanism, a pin 10a arranged in the rear of the key lever 10 touches the lock lever 6 to prevent rotation thereof. Thus, a position pin 2 is immovably restrained in the parking position P, disabling operation of the shift lever.
When removing key lock by inserting and rotating the engine key for cruising of the vehicle, the key cylinder is disengaged from the steering shaft which becomes rotatable by a steering wheel, and the key lever 10 becomes free of restraint to be rotatable. However, since the electric system is connected to turn on the actuator 8, and thus the lock lever 6 is kept being restrained in the detent recess 3, the position pin 2 is still immovably restrained in the parking position P.
When depressing the brake pedal for starting of the vehicle, the actuator 8 is turned off so that the lock lever 6 is moved outside of the detent recess 3 as indicated by two-dot chain line in FIG. 6, and the position pin 2 becomes free of restraint to be depressible through a knob of the shift lever, which allows the shift lever to be shifted to a desired range.
The shafts 5, 9 are supported by a gate wall formed with the detent recess 3, and the actuator 8 is fixed thereto. A support lever 13 operating with the key lever 10 to hold the position pin 2 is rotatably coaxially supported to the shaft 9. The support lever 13 serves to protect the key-lock mechanism by preventing direct transmission of a force produced when depressing the position pin 2 in the state as shown in FIG. 6. The key lever 10 and the support lever 13 are biased by a spring in the direction of holding the position pin 2.
With the known shift-lever devices, however, the shift-lock mechanism and the key-lock mechanism are mechanically connected to each other by a cable, etc., so that with the engine key removed, the shift lever cannot be shifted from the parking position P, resulting in difficulty of moving the vehicle.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide shift-lever devices including a mechanism for releasing a lock mechanism operating based on a combination of shift-lock and key-lock mechanisms.


A convertible furniture article includes a cabinet assembly; a countertop assembly, the countertop assembly attached to the cabinet assembly; a female wing; a male wing; wherein each of the female wing and the male wing are pivotally attached to the countertop assembly; and a rotatable linkage and pivot assembly connected to the countertop assembly and the cabinet assembly. The rotatable linkage and pivot assembly being configured to permit rotation of the countertop assembly approximately 90 degrees from a first position to a second position.

Cities are becoming more populous. Apartment, condominium, co-op, and housing space in general is getting tighter and tighter, and in many circumstances smaller and smaller. Space can be relatively expensive be due to the basic costs of the location and size of the housing space. In addition to these costs, people may incur further expense configuring the housing space in a desirable layout. A person might purchase or rent a housing space in a building, and then subdivide or partition the housing space into various rooms, spaces, offices, for themselves and/or others living in the space, for example, roommates or family. Rather than having to find new housing space and move as needs change, it is often desirable to reengineer and adapt the existing housing space to accommodate enhanced uses. Further, developer may want to construct buildings with spaces that are as efficient as possible, while still being as practical and comfortable as possible.
While reconfiguring space is a solution to make space more useable, converting furniture for multiple uses in a housing may be beneficial. Convertible furniture is commonly utilized as a space saving expedient, for example, in living quarters having limited space, such as in studios and in small apartments that are frequently found in densely populated urban areas. A typical non-limiting illustration of such convertible furniture is the conventional sofa-bed, which provides a sofa in one mode and a bed frame and mattress in another mode.


The invention relates to an ambient light electrophoretic display comprising a plurality of cells containing a suspension of charged pigment particles in a light-transmissive fluid. Each cell comprises a light-transmissive front window, a nonobstructing collecting electrode and counter electrode disposed in the cell, and a panel having a reflective or absorbing surface.

An electrophoretic display generally comprises a suspension of charged pigment particles colloidally dispersed in a liquid of matching specific gravity contained in a cell comprising two parallel and transparent conducting electrode panels. The charged particles are transported between the electrode panels under the influence of an electric field. In one embodiment of an electrophoretic display disclosed in Hou, U.S. Pat. No. 5,298,833, black particles are suspended in a back-lighted clear medium. When the black particles are moved against the front transparent electrode, there is displayed a black image contrasted against a light background. Unfortunately, such a display requires a back light, and therefore it is not desirable for notebook computers due to power and weight requirements of the backlight.
Dalisa, "Electrophoretic Display Technology", Proceedings of S.I.D., Vol. 18, No. 1, 1977, pp. 43-50; and "Electrophoretic Displays", Topics of Applied Physics, Vol. 40, 1980, pp. 213-232, discloses a reflective electrophoretic display (e.g., no back light) comprising charged pigment dispersed in a dyed liquid of contrasting color enclosed in a cell comprising parallel and transparent conducting front and rear electrode panels. When the pigment is packed on the front electrode panel, the color of the pigment will be seen by the observer with ambient light. When the pigment is on the rear electrode panel, the ambient room light is absorbed and scattered by the dyed liquid and the color of the dye is observed. Because the display is passive and requires no back light, the display consumes very little power. To achieve the greatest contrast, light particles with large scattering coefficients such as titanium dioxide are suspended in a dark dyed medium. Displays utilizing this approach, however, do not produce highly contrasted images and generally have low reflectivity. When their dye concentration is low, the suspension, and hence the background, appears grayish. When their dye concentration is high, the light state is not bright because the dark dye is easily noticed in the spaces between the particles and in the spaces between the particles and the viewing plate.
Therefore, there is a continuing need in the art for an electrophoretic display having low power consumption and good contrast and brightness.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved electrophoretic display having low power consumption and good image contrast. Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following disclosure.

International Business Machines Corporation


A chew toy has a bone portion impregnated with a soft solid along an interior thereof to simulate the taste and texture of bone marrow, and has a meat portion impregnated with liquid to simulate the taste of meat. The bone portion is defined by an elongated shaft terminating at opposite ends. A first terminal end and a second terminal end of the shaft are defined by a pair of condyles, or in the alternative, by a rounded body. The elongated shaft is defined by a narrow middle portion and widening at a first terminal end and a second terminal end. The meat portion circumscribes a terminal end the bone portion. The meat portion further extends toward a middle portion of a shaft of the bone portion, wherein a sufficient quantity of the bone portion is available for use by a canine.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally directed to a canine chew toy, and more particularly, is directed to an apparatus and method of making a canine chew toy comprising a bone portion and a meat portion.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are numerous chew toys available in a variety of forms and sizes. However, the present invention provides a canine chew toy comprising a bone portion and a meat portion, the bone portion fabricated from a hard substance and the meat portion fabricated from a relatively softer substance. The dual substance fabrication of the chew toy better simulates a bone and meat combination a canine might be attracted to, such as a chicken leg, a turkey leg or a ham bone. Furthermore, the dual substance fabrication of the chew toy provides contrasting textures for a canine to chew, thereby stimulating muscle growth and strength in the jaw and neck muscles and contributing to the overall dental health by aiding in removal of excess plaque and strengthening the teeth through exercise. Finally, the canine chew toy may be impregnated with a liquid (juice) substance to simulate the natural liquid and/or juice found in a bone and meat product. The canine chew toy may also be impregnated with a soft interior simulating the marrow of an animal bone. To the applicant's knowledge, there are no canine chew toys available that provide the aforementioned advantages and overcome the problems, deficiencies and disadvantages associated with commonly available canine chew toys.
Consequently, there exists a continuous need for new ideas and enhancements for existing products in the pet chew toy industry.

Apparatus and method of making canine chew toy


The present invention relates generally to an isolated antibody which specifically binds human CD137, and pharmaceutical compositions and methods of use thereof, a nucleic acid comprising a nucleotide sequence encoding said antibody, a vector comprising said nucleic acid, a host cell comprising said nucleic acid or said vector, and a method of producing said antibody.

The tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily (TNFRSF) is a protein superfamily of receptors characterized by their ability to bind tumor necrosis factors (TNFs) via cysteine-rich pseudorepeats in the extracellular domain (Locksley et al., 2001, Cell. 104: 487-501). At present, 27 TNF family members have been identified. TNFRSF members and their ligands are expressed mostly on immune cells, where they are playing a role of immunomodulators in T-cell-mediated immune responses. TNFRSF members play a role in enhancement of dendritic cell survival and priming capacity of T cells, optimal generation of effector T cells, optimal antibody responses, and amplification of inflammatory reactions.
CD137 (4-1BB, TNF-receptor superfamily 9, TNFRSF9) is a surface glycoprotein of the TNFR superfamily. It is an inducible costimulatory T cell receptor. CD137 expression is activation-dependent, and encompasses a broad subset of immune cells including activated NK and NKT cells, regulatory T cells, dendritic cells (DC) including follicular DC, stimulated mast cells, differentiating myeloid cells, monocytes, neutrophils, eosinophils (Wang et al, Immunol Rev. 229(1): 192-215 (2009)), and activated B cells (Zhang et al, J Immunol. 184(2):787-795 (2010)). In addition, CD137 expression has also been demonstrated on tumor vasculature (Broil K et al., Am J Clin Pathol. 115(4):543-549 (2001); Seaman et al, Cancer Cell 11(6):539-554 (2007)) and atherosclerotic endothelium (Olofsson et al, Circulation 117(10): 1292 1301 (2008)).
CD137-Ligand (CD137L, 4-1BBL or tnfsf9), a molecule of the TNF family, is an intercellular natural ligand known for CD137 (Alderson, M. R., et al., Eur. J. Immunol. 24:2219-2227 (1994); Pollok K., et al., Eur. J. Immunol. 24:367-374 (1994); Goodwin, R. G., et al., Eur. J. Immunol. 23: 2631-2641 (1993)). The ligand for CD137 forms a homotrimer, and the signaling via CD137 proceeds from ligated molecules at the cell surface, which become cross-linked by trimerized ligand (Won, E. Y., et al., J. Biol. Chem. 285: 9202-9210 (2010)). The higher order clustering of CD137 was suggested to be necessary for mediating the signaling. CD137 associates with the adaptors TRAF-2 and TRAF-1 in its cytoplasmic tail, resulting in coimmunoprecipitation, which is enhanced upon CD137 activation in T cells (Saoulli, K., et al., J. Exp. Med. 187: 1849-1862 (1998); Sabbagh, L., et al., J. Immunol. 180: 8093-8101 (2008)). Recruitment of TRAF-1 and TRAF-2 by CD137 results in downstream activation of NFkB and the Mitogen Activated Protein (MAP) Kinase cascade including ERK, JNK, and p38 MAP kinases. NFkB activation leads to upregulation of Bfl-1 and Bcl-XL, pro-survival members of the Bcl-2 family. The pro-apoptotic protein Bim is downregulated in a TRAF-1 and ERK dependent manner (Sabbagh et al., J Immunol. 180(12):8093-8101 (2008)). It has been suggested that the main action of CD137 is to place two or more TRAF-2 molecules in close molecular proximity to each other (Sanchez-Paulete, A. R., et al., Eur. J. Immunology 46(3): 513-522 (2016)). Based on this it was postulated that the major factor driving CD137 signaling is the relative density of TRAF-2-assembled CD137 moieties in micropatches of plasma membrane (Sanchez-Paulete, A. R., et al., Eur. J. Immunology 46(3): 513-522 (2016)). Overall, CD137 signaling is fostered by multimerization, and it was proposed that cross-linking CD137 molecules is the key factor in CD137 co-stimulatory activity.
CD137 co-stimulates T cells to carry out effector functions such as eradication of established tumors, broadening primary CD8+ T cell responses, and enhancing the memory pool of antigen-specific CD8+ T cells, induction of interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) synthesis. The critical role of CD137 stimulation in CD8+ T-cell function and survival could be potentially utilized for the treatment of tumors through manipulation of the CD137/CD137L function. In fact, in vivo efficacy studies in mice have demonstrated that treatment with anti-CD137 antibodies led to tumor regressions in multiple tumor models. For example, agonistic anti-mouse CD137 antibodies were demonstrated to induce an immune response against P815 mastocytoma tumors, and low immunogenic tumor model Ag104 (I. Melero et al., Nat. Med., 3(6):682-5 (1997)). The efficacy of CD137 agonist mAbs in prophylactic and therapeutic settings for both monotherapy and combination therapy and anti-tumor protective T cell memory responses has been reported in several studies (Lynch et al., Immunol Rev. 222:277-286 (2008)). CD137 agonists also inhibit autoimmune reactions in a variety of autoimmunity models (Vinay et al, J Mol Med 84(9):726-736 (2006)).
Various antibodies against CD137 are already known (see, for example, WO 00/29445 and WO 2004/010947), and at least two anti-CD137 antibodies are currently in the clinic: urelumab (Bristol-Myers Squibb), a fully humanized IgG4 mAb, and utomilumab (PF-05082566, Pfizer), a fully human IgG2 mAb (Chester C., et al., Cancer Immunol Immunother October; 65(10):1243-8 (2016)). Although utilization of therapeutic antibodies agonizing CD137 is a very promising treatment strategy, it is coupled to such difficulties as low efficacy of anti-CD137 agonist antibodies, high toxicities and adverse events. CD137 agonist antibodies were shown to lead to alterations in immune system and organ function increasing risks of toxicities. High doses of CD137 agonist antibodies in naïve and tumor-bearing mice have been reported to induce T-cell infiltration to the liver and elevations of aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase consistent with liver inflammation (Niu L, et al. J Immunol 178(7):4194-4213 (2007); Dubrot J, et al., Int J Cancer 128(1):105-118 (2011)). Initial clinical studies into the human therapeutic use of CD137 agonist antibody have also demonstrated elevations of liver enzymes and increased incidence of hepatitis (Sznol M., et al., J Clin Oncol26(115S):3007 (2008); Ascierto P A, et al., Semin Oncol 37(5):508-516 (2010); Chester C., et al., Cancer Immunol Immunother October; 65(10):1243-8 (2016)). Potentially fatal hepatitis was observed in a Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) phase II anti-CD137 study for previously treated stage III/IV melanoma, National Clinical Trial (NCT) 00612664. That study and several others (NCT00803374, NCT00309023, NCT00461110, NCT00351325) were terminated due to adverse events (Chester C., et al., Cancer Immunol Immunother October; 65(10):1243-8 (2016)). Such adverse events are most probably due to systemic overstimulation of T-cells.
Thus, there is a need in the field to generate improved therapeutic anti-human CD137 antibodies having higher efficacy without the inherent side effects of general anti-proliferative drugs, in particular having lower toxicities comparable to the currently available CD137 antibodies.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Antibodies targeting CD137 and methods of use thereof


A means and system is designed to distinguish human users from bots (automated programs to generate posts or interactions) in social media (including microblogging services and social networking services) by assigning a likelihood score to each user for being a human or a bot. The bot score assigned to each user is computed from statistical, temporal and text features that are detected in user's social media interactions (relative indicators specific to a given social media data set) and user's historical profile information.

The subject invention relates to a system and means for detecting bots (automated programs to generate social media posts and interactions), and in particular, to a method that assigns a likelihood score to each user for being a bot or human user. The assignment of bot score is based on statistical, temporal and text features that are detected in user's social media posts, interactions and historical profile information.
Social media such as microblogging and social networking services are generating large-scale data at an increasing pace. Social media analytics (algorithms analyzing social media data, including graph, machine learning and natural language processing algorithms) provide means to extract, capture and analyze social media data for different purposes, including marketing, advertisement and recruitment.
Social media data is available through either public Application Program Interfaces (APIs) or paid data services. However, this data is often noisy with elements that are not essential to the reasoning of social media analytics. These non-essential social media elements contribute noise and bias to data and they are often generated in large volumes by bots, including programs to generate spamming and phishing attacks, unsolicited advertisements and automated social feeds reporting news. Therefore, it is important to identify bots and eliminate them from social media data before running social media analytics. Filtering automated content increases the level of credibility of social media content.

System and means for detecting automated programs used to generate social media input


A developing agent contains a first wax-containing binder resin having a first wax and a first binder resin, a second wax-containing binder resin having a second wax and a second binder resin, and a coloring material. If the dispersibility of a wax is low because its SP value, molecular weight, or glass transition point is high, combinations of these waxes and resins are so selected that a resin having an SP value close to the SP value of that wax or a resin having a high SP value is combined with that wax.

The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus used in an image forming method using a technique of electrophotography or electrostatic recording and a developing agent used to visualize an electrostatic charge latent image in this image forming apparatus.
In a method of electrophotography, a photoconductive substance is generally used to form an electrical latent image on a photosensitive member by various methods. The latent image is then developed with toner and, the toner image is transferred onto a transfer medium such as paper. Thereafter, the toner image is fixed on the transfer medium by various methods to obtain a copy.
Generally, toner is classified into dry and wet toners. Since wet toner has problems relating to evaporation, recovery, and smell of solvents, dry toner s prevalent in recent years.
Dry toner is a powder, and it is necessary to impart a number of functions to the toner particles in order to accurately form toner images. A dry electrophotographic developing agent is required to simultaneously have various characteristics, i.e., (1) to prevent offset during fixing and (2) to prevent smear by which, when a toner-fixed sheet is conveyed as n original in an ADF, the fixed toner peels off from the sheet, and the like.
To meet these demands, Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 4-358159 has disclosed a method by which two kinds of waxes having different softening temperatures are contained in toner.
When two types of waxes are used, however, it is difficult to disperse these waxes uniformly in a single resin. Low dispersibility of waxes results in problems that masses of waxes stick to a photosensitive member to produce black dots in an image, electrostatic charging fails to scatter toner, and the backside of a copy sheet is contaminated by detached developing agent.

Developing agent and image forming apparatus


A method and apparatus for selecting an optimum VCO from an array of VCOs is disclosed. Each VCO in the array has an output range and a limit. In one embodiment, a search set of VCOs is designated as all VCOs in a system. The limit is compared to a tuning value which corresponds to a desired calibration frequency. The comparison divides the array of VCOs into a searched set and a non-searched set. The process is repeated until the non-searched set comprises only one VCO. In another embodiment, the VCOs are ordered such that there is a middle VCO. A VCO in the middle of the array is selected. The limit of the middle VCO is compared to a tuning limit. Based on the comparison, another VCO is selected. The process repeats N times, where N is the logarithm, base 2, of the total number of VCOs to be searched. at the end of the search, an optimum VCO will be found.

The phase locked loop (PLL) is a common method of frequency synthesis in modern communications. Among other uses, conventional PLLs are integral components in wireless communication transceivers and are also used for FM and AM modulation and demodulation, data and tape synchronization, frequency shift keying, tone decoding, frequency multiplication and division, signal regeneration, and control mechanisms in robotics, radio and satellite. A PLL normally includes a phase-frequency detector (PFD), a PLL charge pump and a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO). It is understood that another resonator element or any frequency generating element can replace a VCO in such a PLL. A PLL can also include a divider, loop filter, or a number of other devices depending on the intended output frequency of the PLL.
The PLL is normally configured to receive a reference frequency signal and transmit a desired output frequency signal. Specifically, in a conventional PLL, the reference frequency is coupled to a PFD. The PFD is coupled to a VCO. PFD is configured to receive the reference frequency and also the output frequency generated by the VCO. The PFD is also coupled to the PLL charge pump. The PFD detector transmits, and the PLL charge pump is configured to receive, an error signal with a value based on a phase and/or frequency difference between the reference frequency and the output frequency. The error signal causes the PLL charge pump to change its control voltage which adjusts the oscillation frequency of the VCO until the phase of the output frequency matches the phase of the reference frequency. This feedback loop causes the output frequency to phase lock on the reference frequency.
If a higher or lower output frequency is desired, a frequency divider or multiplier can be introduced between the output frequency of the VCO and the phase detector to manipulate the frequency to be smaller or larger. To simplify this discussion, only a divider will be considered though a multiplier can be substituted for the divider. A divider can be configured to receive the output frequency and transmit a manipulated frequency to the phase detector based on the value of the divider. The PFD generates a voltage control signal to the VCO in response to differences between the reference frequency and the manipulated frequency. The voltage control signal is provided until the phase of the reference frequency matches the phase of the manipulated frequency. The PLL thereby locks its phase to a fraction or multiple of the reference frequency. Thus, a variety of frequencies can be produced from a single reference frequency by changing the value of the divider.
In integrated circuit transceivers, the VCO must be designed to operate over the desired frequency range plus an extra allowance for process and temperature variations. This extra allowance may expand the frequency range up to three to four times the actual desired frequency range. This action requires an increase the in VCO gain (KVCO). This is contrary to high-performance transceiver design because it results in a frequency synthesizer with unacceptably large phase noise. A possible solution to the problem is to implement the PLL using several lower gain VCOs that together span the total frequency range including allowances for process and temperature variations. Multiple VCOs could be realized as physically separate circuits, a single oscillator with switchable resonator elements, or a combination of both. However, this solution creates a new problem of selecting the proper VCO and/or a configuration of switchable resonator elements to produce the desired frequency.
This has been approached several different ways. One early method describes a PLL with multiple loop filters and VCOs designed to synthesize frequencies over a broad range, perhaps several decades of frequencies. The proper VCO is selected by using a window comparator on the currently selected VCO's tuning voltage. Because a PFD is used, if the tuning voltage is in the window, the PLL locks.
A later solution prescribes the circuit to select the proper VCO using a lock detection circuit and sequentially trying each VCO until one of them locks. The lock detector could be implemented by a window comparator or as a digital circuit.
However, neither of these solutions find the optimal VCO, but simply the first one that locks. For example, two VCOs can lock and either can be chosen randomly or by predetermined means. Another scheme attempts find the optimum VCO by producing a table of the lock/unlock status for each of the VCOs. If multiple VCOs lock, the VCO in the middle is selected. Although the algorithm could terminate in as little as two iterations, as many as M iterations can be required for the algorithm to succeed, where M is the total number of VCOs. Having a variable number of iterations, and therefore a variable time required to select the optimum VCO is a disadvantage because the design of the system in which the PLL is used must be made assuming the worst case, or most time consuming condition.
Another solution describes how to select the optimum VCO when using multiple VCOs within the desired range of frequencies. A binary search is used to determine the optimal crossover frequency between each pair of VCOs. This solution leaves an unsolved problem of selecting a frequency range in which the optimum VCO is, which requires more circuitry.
Another example uses a frequency synthesizer including a calibration circuit, where that calibration circuit requires fixing the VCO input to a specific voltage and a separate frequency comparator computes the difference between the reference frequency and a prescaled VCO output frequency. A binary search is then used to select the proper VCO. However, additional circuitry is required for the frequency comparison. Furthermore, because the VCO input voltage must be switched, extra circuitry must be placed on the tuning voltage signal which results in increased phase noise. At the multiple gigahertz frequencies at which modern wireless appliances operate at, this noise is unacceptable. Each of these prior attempts has one or more difficulties. A simplified and improved approach is needed.

Method and apparatus for selecting a frequency generating element


A User Equipment (UE) including a wireless transceiver and a controller is provided. The wireless transceiver performs wireless transmission and reception to and from a first cellular station and a second cellular station. The controller continues to send or receive UP data to or from the first cellular station via the wireless transceiver after receiving a handover command message for a handover of the UE from the first cellular station to the second cellular station, and receives a Radio Resource Control (RRC) request message from the second cellular station via the wireless transceiver after sending a handover complete message to the second cellular station. Also, the controller detaches from the first cellular station in response to receiving the RRC request message.

In a typical mobile communication environment, a UE (which is also called a Mobile Station (MS)), such as a mobile telephone (also known as a cellular phone or a cell phone), or a tablet Personal Computer (PC) with wireless communications capability, may communicate voice and/or data signals with one or more service networks. The wireless communications between the UE and the service networks may be performed using various cellular technologies, including Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) technology, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) technology, Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution (EDGE) technology, Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) technology, Code Division Multiple Access 2000 (CDMA-2000) technology, Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA) technology, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) technology, Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) technology, Time Division LTE (TD-LTE) technology, and others.
These cellular technologies have been adopted for use in various telecommunication standards to provide a common protocol that enables different wireless devices to communicate on a municipal, national, regional, and even global level. An example of an emerging telecommunication standard is the 5G New Radio (NR). The 5G NR is a set of enhancements to the LTE mobile standard promulgated by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). It is designed to better support mobile broadband Internet access by improving spectral efficiency, reducing costs, and improving services.
In 5G NR or 4G LTE, a handover of a UE from a source cellular station to a target cellular station will inevitably cause interruption to the ongoing data service. During the service interruption, both Uplink (UL) and Downlink (DL) data could not be delivered from and to the UE. Typically, the service interruption may last for 15 to 20 milliseconds (ms), and this may result in poor user experience, especially when the ongoing data service is a delay sensitive service.

Enhanced handover methods and apparatuses using the same


The present invention relates to an adipocyte Insulin adpInsl with Insulin A and B chains of SEQ ID Nos. 1 and 2, a effective method of treating type 2 diabetes in a subject using adipocyte insulin, said method comprising steps of administering the insulin to a diabetic intraperitoneally, an Insulin gene of SEQ ID No. 3, a process of isolating protein Insulin from the adipocytes of the Carp, said method comprising steps of reverse transcripting RNA of adipocytes to obtain cDNA, using oligonucleotide primers of SEQ ID Nos. 5 and 6 to identify AdpInsl gene from cDNA, and deducing amino acid sequence from cDNA to obtain protein Insulin, and an adipocyte of Catla Catla useful for producing the said Insulin.

Insulin gene expression and secretion of insulin protein in all animals including human being is still known to be pancreatic p-cell specific. Search for an alternative insulin besides pancreatic P-cell has not yet been successful. Insulin like material was detected in bacteria, E. coli (1), immunoreactive and bioactive insulin was found in insects and annelids (2) and extra pancreatic distribution of insulin was reported in rat and human (3–16). But insulin gene expression and protein secretion from these sources is not known.

Adipocyte Insulin adpinsl with Insulin A and B chains and an effective method of treating type 2 diabetes in a subject using adipocyte insulin

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research

Department of Biotechnology Department of the Government of India


A multiblade lawn mower including a mower deck having a plurality of cutting blades rotatably disposed therein. A first flow control baffle is positioned in the mower deck between the cutting blades and the front wall of the mower deck and extends substantially continuously between the sides of the mower deck. A second flow control baffle is positioned in the mower deck rearwardly of the cutting blades. The first and second flow control baffles include a plurality of semi-circular baffle portions which define a plurality of open throat portions therebetween. A plurality of selectively removable mulcher baffles are positioned in the mower deck to close the throat portions, thereby defining a substantially cylindrical mulching chamber around each of the cutting blades.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a lawn mower having multiple rotary cutting blades and more particularly to a lawn mower of the type described having a first flow control baffle positioned at the underside of the mower deck forwardly of the multiple rotary cutting blades, a second flow control baffle positioned at the underside of the mower deck rearwardly of the multiple rotary cutting blades, and further including mulching baffles removably positioned between the first and second flow control baffles which enables the mower to be easily converted from a side discharge mower to a mulching mower.
2. Description of the Related Art
Commercial-type lawn mowers, whether they are walk-behind or riding mowers, normally include a mower deck having multiple rotary cutting blades positioned therein. The mower deck may be classified either as a mulching deck, a side discharge deck, a rear discharge deck or a bagging deck depending upon the manner in which the cut grass cuttings or clippings are handled or directed. When a mower is of the side discharge deck type, the grass clippings are discharged out one side of the deck and onto the ground. If the lawn mower is of the mulching deck type, the grass clippings are re-cut into finer particles and are then discharged directly down to the ground. Oftentimes, a mower is converted from a side discharge mower to a mulching mower and vice versa by changing certain of the deck baffles and the type of blade.
The prior art has previously provided mulching baffles or housings which are attached to the underside of the mower deck around the path of each cutting blade. The mulching baffles maintain the clippings cut by each blade in an enclosed area around the blade so that the clippings are re-cut by the mulching blades and are directed down to the ground. The mulching blades used on such prior art mowers normally have secondary cutting edges spaced inwardly from the primary cutting edges, which re-cut the clippings and direct them downward to the ground. For example, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,129,217 wherein a multiblade mower is described which has removably affixed mulching housings secured to the underside of the mower deck top wall and which overlie the associated cutting blade. Another type of prior art lawn mower having mulching capabilities has been marketed by Exmark Mfg. Co., Inc., the assignee of this invention, under the trademark Micro-Mulch. In the prior art lawn mowers known to applicants herein, and as described hereinabove, the lawn mowers are only able to be converted to a mulching mower and vice versa through the labor-intensive and time-consuming installation of mulching baffles or housings.
In the lawn mower of the co-pending application identified hereinabove, first and second flow control baffles are provided which are positioned forwardly and rearwardly, respectively, of the rotary cutting blades and which serve to efficiently direct the cut grass clippings towards the side discharge of the mower deck. The removable mulching baffles described in this invention are designed to cooperate with the flow control baffles described in the co-pending application.
It is therefore a principal object of the invention to provide an improved multiblade lawn mower.
A further object of the invention is to provide a multiblade, side discharge mower having flow control baffles and removable mulching baffles.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a lawn mower of the type described wherein removable mulching baffles may be quickly and easily attached to the underside of the mower deck.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a lawn mower of the type described including removable mulching baffles which cooperate with flow control baffles to define individual mulching chambers surrounding each of the rotary cutting blades.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a lawn mower of the type described having a flow control baffle which efficiently directs the grass clippings and air towards the side discharge of the mower deck in a manner which prevents the grass clippings and air from being directed downwardly onto the ground or turf unless the mulching baffles are mounted on the mower.
Still another object of the invention is to provide removable mulching baffles for a multiblade lawn mower which is comprised of a minimum number of parts and which requires a minimum number of connection points.
These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

Lawn mower having flow control baffles and removable mulching baffles


A method and apparatus for overwriting data in a disk drive is provided. In one embodiment, a disk drive includes a disk surface and a write head associated therewith. The disk surface has servo information and user data written thereon. The user data is written by the write head. User data is overwritten by sweeping the write head from a first radius on the disk surface to a second radius on the disk surface, while the write head is actively writing.

FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional disk drive system 100 in block diagram form. The disk drive system 100 is operative for performing data storage and retrieval functions for an external host computer 102. The disk drive system 100 includes: a disk 104, a transducer 106, an actuator assembly 108, a voice coil motor (VCM) 110, a read/write channel 112, an encoder/decoder (ENDEC) 114, an error correction coding (ECC) unit 116, a data buffer memory 118, an interface unit 120, a servo unit 122, and a disk controller/microprocessor 124.
In general, disk 104 includes a pair of disk surfaces (a disk surface 242 is shown in FIG. 2) which are coated with a magnetic material that is capable of changing its magnetic orientation in response to an applied magnetic field. Data is stored digitally in the form of magnetic polarity transitions (frequently referred to as pulses) within concentric tracks on one or more of the disk surfaces. The disk 104 is rotated at a substantially constant spin rate by a spin motor (not shown) that is speed-controlled by a closed-loop feedback system. Instead of the single disk 104 shown in FIG. 1, the disk drive system 100 can include a plurality of disks all mounted on a single spindle and each serviced by one or more separate transducers.
The transducer 106 is a device that transfers information from/to the disk 104 during read and write operations. The transducer 106 is positioned over the disk 104, typically, by a rotary actuator assembly 108 that pivots about an axis under the power of the VCM 110. During a write operation, a polarity-switchable write current is delivered to the transducer 106 from the read/write channel 112 to induce magnetic polarity transitions onto a desired track of the disk 104. During a read operation, the transducer 106 senses magnetic polarity transitions on a desired track of the disk 104 to create an analog read signal that is indicative of the data stored thereon. Commonly, the transducer 106 is a dual element head having a magnetoresistive read element (or giant magnetoresistive read element) and an inductive write element.
The VCM 110 receives movement commands from the servo unit 122 for properly positioning the transducer 106 above a desired track of the disk 104 during read and write operations. The servo unit 122 is part of a feedback loop that uses servo information from the surface of the disk 104 to control the movement of the transducer 106 and the actuator assembly 108 in response to commands from the controller/microprocessor 124.
During a read operation, the channel 112 receives the analog read signal from the transducer 106 and processes the signal to create a digital read signal representative of the data stored on the disk 104. Typically, detection circuitry is included in the channel 112. The channel 112 may also include means for deriving timing information, such as a read clock, from the analog signal.
The ENDEC 114 is operative for: (1) encoding data being transferred from the host 102 to the disk 104, and (2) decoding data being transferred from the disk 104 to the host 102. Data being written to the disk 104 is encoded for a number of reasons, including those relating to timing and detection concerns. The ENDEC generally imparts a run length limited (RLL) code on the data being written to the disk 104 to ensure that the frequency of transitions in the bit stream does not exceed or fall below predetermined limits. Such coding ensures that, among other things, enough transitions exist in the read data to maintain an accurate read clock. Other coding schemes may also be employed in the ENDEC 114.
The ECC unit 116 is operative for adding redundant information to the data from the host 102 before that data is encoded in the ENDEC 114 and written to the disk 104. This redundant information is used during subsequent read operations to permit discovery of error locations and values within the decoded read data. Errors in the read data detected by the ECC unit 116 can result from any number of mechanisms, such as: (1) media noise due to media anomalies, (2) random noise from the transducer, cabling and electronics, (3) poor transducer placement, which reduces signal amplitude and/or increases adjacent track noise during the read operation, (4) poorly written data due to media defects or poor transducer placement, and/or (5) foreign matter on the media or media damage. ECC units are generally capable of correcting up to a predetermined number of errors in a data block. If more than the predetermined number of errors exist, then the code will not be able to correct the errors but may still be able to identify that errors exist within the block. ECC functionality is generally implemented in a combination of hardware and software.
The data buffer memory 118 is used to temporarily store data for several purposes: (1) to permit data rates that are different between the disk drive and the host interface bus, (2) to allow time for the ECC system to correct data errors before data is sent to the host 102, (3) temporary parameter storage for the controller/microprocessor 124, and (4) for data caching.
The interface 120 is used to establish and maintain communication between the host 102 and the disk drive system 100. In this regard, all information is transferred into and out of the disk drive 100 through the interface 120.
The disk controller/microprocessor 124 is operative for controlling the operation and timing of the other elements of the system 100. In addition, the controller/microprocessor 124 may perform the functions of some of the elements of the system. For example, the controller/microprocessor 124 may perform the correction computation function of the ECC unit 116 if errors exceed the capability of the hardware based unit.
FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic representation of a simplified top view of a disk 104 having a surface 242 which has been formatted to be used in conjunction with a conventional sectored servo system (also known as an embedded servo system), as will be understood by those skilled in the art. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the disk 104 includes a plurality of concentric tracks 244a–244h for storing data on the disk's surface 242. Although FIG. 2 only shows a relatively small number of tracks (i.e., 8) for ease of illustration, it should be appreciated that typically many thousands of tracks are included on the surface 242 of a disk 104.
Each track 244a–244h is divided into a plurality of data sectors 246 and a plurality of servo sectors 248. The servo sectors 248 in each track are radially aligned with servo sectors 248 in the other tracks, thereby forming servo wedges 250 which extend radially across the disk 104 (e.g., from the disk's inner diameter 252 to its outer diameter 254). The servo sectors 248 are used to position the transducer 106 associated with each disk 104 during operation of the disk drive 100. The data sectors 246 are used to store customer data, which is provided by the host computer 102.
As mentioned above, all information is transferred into and out of the disk drive 100 to the host 102 via interface 120. As depicted in FIG. 3, conventionally, data is transferred from the host computer 102 to the disk drive 100 in fixed data sizes known as host blocks 300. Typically, a host block 300 ranges in length from 128 bytes to 4096 bytes, with 512 bytes being most common.
With reference to FIG. 4, conventionally, data is stored onto the surface 242 of disk 104 in fixed data sizes known as disk blocks 400. As shown in FIG. 4, each disk block 400 may have an error correction (ECC) field 402 associated with it. Furthermore, in order to store and retrieve a disk block 400 onto the disk surface 242, a pre-data field 404 and a post-data field 406 are typically provided for each disk block 400. The combined pre-data field 404, disk block 400, ECC field 402 and post-data field 406 comprise a disk sector 408, which is stored on the disk surface 242 in a data sector 246.
There may be many disk sectors 408 in each data sector 246. Generally, there are more disk sectors 408 in tracks near the outer diameter of the disk surface as compared to tracks near the inner diameter of the disk surface.
Because each disk sector 408 may be identified by a unique logical block address (LBA), commonly disk sectors are referred to as LBAs. FIG. 5 is a simplified diagrammatic representation of a portion of a disk surface 542 in linear rather than arcuate form.
FIG. 5 shows a plurality of tracks (Track N to Track N+6 are shown), wherein each track extends horizontally across the page (i.e., in the disk's circumferential direction). Each track also includes servo sectors (servo sectors 548a and 548b are shown), which extend vertically along the page (i.e., in the disk's radial direction), and data sectors (only one data sector 546 is shown).
Within each data sector along a track, a plurality of LBAs 560 are provided. Typically, the LBAs 560 are slightly separated from one other along a track (i.e., in a circumferential direction). Furthermore, LBAs 560 are also typically separated from one another in a radial direction.
It should be understood that FIG. 5 is an extreme simplification and is being used in order to more easily illustrate the present invention. Those skilled in the art will understand that LBAs from track-to-track (i.e., in a radial direction) are not necessarily aligned with one another. Furthermore, LBAs in a circumferential direction may be split by servo sectors 548, such that a first portion of an LBA may appear on a first side of a servo sector and a second portion of an LBA may appear on a second side of the servo sector.
Those skilled in the art also understand that there are a number of types of interfaces that may be employed for communicating data between the host computer 102 and the disk drive 100. These interfaces may include, for example, an advanced technology attachment (ATA) interface (also known as an integrated device electronics (IDE) interface), small computer system interface (SCSI), a fibre channel (FC) interface, a gigabit interconnect (GBIC) interface and a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) interface, among others. The length of the host block 300 (and, hence LBA) is determined by the particular interface that is used.
In some interfaces, the size of the host block 300 is fixed. For, example, IDE interfaces require the host block 300 to have a length of 512 bytes. Other interfaces, however, (e.g., SCSI and FC interface) support host blocks 300 having variable lengths. In such interfaces, the length of the host block 300 may be programmed by a user.
Computer disk drive users often store confidential information on their disk drives. For example, home-based users may store tax information including social security numbers, bank account numbers, and the like on their disk drives. Furthermore, in a business environment, confidential business files may also be stored on disk drives.
For obvious reasons, when disk drives are to be disposed of or are to be reused, it is important to "erase" or "wipe-out" (more properly, "overwrite") confidential information therefrom. However, many users don't take any steps to overwrite any of the information stored in their disk drives prior to disposing of their disk drives or making disk drives available for reuse. Accordingly, the confidential data stored on their disk drives is at risk.
One prior technique is to overwrite the file allocation tables associated with each disk surface, without overwriting the user data in the LBAs 560. However, software programs are available which allow user data to be read on an LBA-by-LBA basis. Accordingly, such prior technique still leaves confidential user data at risk.
In another prior technique, a software program is used to overwrite each and every LBA 560 with non-confidential data (e.g., using random data patterns or predetermined data patterns). However, the processes associated with software program are quite time-consuming.
More specifically, LBAs 560 along a particular track are overwritten (i.e., in a circumferential direction). Then, after moving to a next track (or fraction of a track), LBAs along the next track (or fraction of a track) are overwritten. This process is repeated until substantially all LBAs containing user data have been overwritten. Importantly, no writing is performed while the transducer is moving from a first track to a second track. Instead, writing is only performed after the transducer has settled on a track.
Accordingly, as the number of tracks per inch (TPI) continues to increase and as the number of bits per inch (BPI) continues to increase, the amount of time necessary to overwrite each LBA on a disk surface will continue to increase. Among other things, this may further discourage users to overwrite confidential information on their disk drives.
Therefore, it would be desirable to develop relatively fast technique for overwriting user data in a disk drive. By providing a fast technique for overwriting user data in a disk drive, users may be encouraged to overwrite confidential information stored on their disk drives, thereby reducing the likelihood of such confidential data being compromised.

Method and apparatus for overwriting data in a disk drive


An information processing method includes: obtaining, by a data analytics network element, terminal behavioral information of a plurality of terminals; determining, by the data analytics network element, network-side expected terminal behavioral information based on the terminal behavioral information; and sending, by the data analytics network element, the network-side expected terminal behavioral information to a user data management network element.

In 5th generation (5G) communications technologies, massive Internet of things (mIoT) terminals are introduced. In other approaches, on a 5G network side, a third-party network element (such as an application function (AF) network element) is allowed to provide some third-party or server-expected terminal behavioral information (expected user equipment (UE) behavioral information), and then a 5G network element in the 5G network may use the third-party or server-expected terminal behavioral information provided by the AF network element. For example, the 5G network element may store the network-expected terminal behavioral information in a unified data management (UDM) network element as a part of subscription information of a terminal.
However, a process in which the AF network element provides the third-party or server-expected terminal behavioral information to the 5G network element is not a mandatory process. Therefore, when the AF network element does not provide the network-expected terminal behavioral information, the UDM network element may be unable to update the subscription information of the mIoT terminal. In addition, for an operator network, the expected terminal behavioral information provided by the AF network element has relatively low reliability.

Information processing method and apparatus


A postmix beverage dispenser having the appearance of a stainless steel brewed tea urn. A postmix dispensing valve is mounted inside the tea urn and is operated by a handle located on the front of the tea urn. A nozzle extender is inside the handle body and connects to the nozzle of the dispensing valve. The handle body and nozzle extender are easily manually removed without tools from outside the tea urn.

This invention relates to beverage dispensers and in particular to a postmix tea dispenser.
A wide variety of postmix beverage dispensers are known, including a housing, a dispensing valve for controlling the ratio of the water and concentrate, a spout on the valve, and a drip tray/cup support below the spout.


An apparatus comprises an optics assembly and a plate. The optics assembly configured to focus light from an EUV source onto a reticle or sensor. The plate has an opening to allow the EUV light to pass through disposed between the optics assembly and the reticle or sensor. The plate is cooled to a temperature less than that of the reticle or sensor. The plate is engineered to balance out heat absorbed from the reticle or sensor with heat absorbed by the plate. It is emphasized that this abstract is provided to comply with the rules requiring an abstract that will allow a searcher or other reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.

The optics assemblies in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) tools are very sensitive to temperature changes. The optics are generally assembled and tested at a specific temperature (normally around 22° C.) and anything that outside elements do to change the temperature of portions of the optics assembly can degrade the performance of the optics, and thus, the entire tool. However, when EUV light strikes a reticle or a target, it is partially absorbed at the surface. This creates a spot on the reticle or target which has an elevated temperature. This spot will radiate that heat to nearby objects, including the illumination optics and the imaging optics in the optics assemblies. In general, this heated spot will be higher in temperature than any nearby hardware.
Thermal control in this region of a reticle inspection tool has not been required in the past because the thermal control of prior optical delivery assemblies has not been as demanding. In addition, prior art devices utilized particle protection devices, e.g., a pellicle, which also acted as a radiation barrier, absorbing heat from the reticle and reradiating it away in a less direct manner. However inspection and lithography tools that use extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light may not be able to use a pellicle because the pellicle might absorb a potentially unacceptable amount of EUV light.
Prior methods have generally not required a radiative offset to the heat load from the hot spot on the reticle. This has been due to: a) the hot spot being cooler due to higher reflectivity of the reticle to wavelengths longer than EUV, b) the radiation attenuating characteristics of the pellicle, c) the reduced thermal sensitivity of the prior optical assemblies, and/or d) a cooling medium such as air was actively used to flow over or through the optical assemblies to control their temperature. Options b) and c) are not available to use in the EUV tool because EUV light does not sufficiently penetrate a pellicle.
An additional challenge to an actinic EUV reticle inspection tool that uses a time delay integration (TDI) assembly is that TDI sensors and their associated electronics dissipate a significant amount of heat. In atmospheric pressure tools (e.g., every existing reticle inspection tool), that heat is transferred to air to avoid heating nearby optics. This transfer of heat to air is not possible in an EUV tool since they operate in a vacuum. Therefore, the heat will generally be transferred to a water-cooled coldplate, whose operating temperature is selectable since the TDI operation is not strongly dependent upon its own temperature. There is a range of temperatures created near each TDI as each is cooled. The midpoint of that range is selectable by varying the cooling liquid temperature. However, many of those temperature zones have a view factor to the optics assembly components and thus will potentially transfer heat to or from those components.
Thermal control of the TDI in prior tools was done with air blowing across the back of the TDI package and across electronics associated with the TDI. The air performing this cooling function was supplied from the room in which the tool is located or from exhaust from other cooled portions of the tool. Exact control of the temperature of the TDI was not required. Prior methods have only been used to ensure that the TDI temperature did not exceed some threshold that would compromise the performance of the TDI, or to limit the heating of nearby elements to some nominal change (e.g., ±0.5° C.). The control was not intended to limit the actual heat transfer, merely the gross temperature changes of nearby elements.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to develop effective methods and apparatus to minimize thermal impact to reticle and optical assemblies that overcome these shortcomings. It is within this context that embodiments of the present invention arise.

Temperature control in EUV reticle inspection tool


A method of obtaining nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) data from a subterranean formation may include operating a tool in a subterranean formation for generating both NMR data and NMR scaled data based upon NMR measurements of the subterranean formation. The method also includes operating the tool for encoding and transmitting both the NMR data and NMR scaled data, and receiving and decoding, above the subterranean formation, both the NMR data and NMR scaled data from the tool. The method also includes performing error-correction of the received and decoded NMR data based upon the received and decoded NMR scaled data.

Well placement has been developed over the years by providing logging while drilling (LWD) measurements at the surface or above the subterranean formation in real time, starting with gamma ray and resistivity logs, and more recently deeper directional electromagnetic measurements. In addition, there has been increasing interest in providing additional formation evaluation data at the surface in real time, such as, for example, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) echo train measurements. The NMR measurements can provide information concerning porosity, the distribution of pore sizes, fluid typing, and fluid composition. NMR echo train measurements are very high dimensional and may include both Carr, Purcell, Meiboom, and Gill (CPMG) and enhanced precision mode (EPM) burst measurements that include thousands of echoes.
To make these NMR echo measurements available at the surface in real time, compression algorithms may be used to convert the NMR data into a bitstream that can be transmitted to the surface using, for example, a mud-pulse telemetry system. These compression algorithms may employ entropy encoding. Because of this entropy encoding, these bitstreams may be susceptible to various types of transmission errors that can cause errors in the NMR data reconstructed at the surface.

Method of performing error-correction of nuclear magnetic resonance data


The present invention provides a method for rapid detecting tumor. Moreover, this invention uses only the T1−1 value as a parameter to distinguish tumor from normal tissue, and the accuracy of this detection is highly reliable.

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is the name given to a physical resonance phenomenon involving the observation of specific quantum mechanical magnetic properties of an atomic nucleus in the presence of an applied, external magnetic field. Many scientific techniques exploit NMR phenomena to study molecular physics, crystals and non-crystalline materials through NMR spectroscopy. NMR is also routinely used in advanced medical imaging techniques, such as in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
A superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) is a sensitive detector which is used to measure extremely weak magnetic signals, such as subtle changes in the human body's electromagnetic energy field based on the quantum mechanical Josephson effect. A Josephson junction is made up of two superconductors, separated by an insulating layer so thin that superconducting electrons can tunnel through. A SQUID consists of tiny loops of superconductors employing Josephson junctions to achieve superposition: each electron moves simultaneously in both directions. Because the current is moving in two opposite directions, the electrons have the ability to perform as qubits (that theoretically could be used to enable quantum computing). SQUIDs have been used for a variety of testing purposes that demand extreme sensitivity, including engineering, medical, and geological equipment.
Both the low-field NMR and MRI are based on SQUID, which can avoid the drawbacks of high-field NMR and MRI such as susceptibility artifacts, the cost issue, the size and complexity of the high-field system and so on. The demand of the field homogeneity is not as strict as that of high-field NMR/MRI although the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is weak in low field NMR/MRI. Homogeneity of 1 part per 104 in the magnetic field can reach a line width of 0.426 Hz in the NMR spectrum. Therefore, the construction of a low-field spectrometer of high spectral resolution is much easier than that of the high-field NMR/MRI.
Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a clinical diagnostic tool which is based on the difference in longitudinal (T1−1) or transverse (T2−1) relaxation rates of protons in different tissues. In other words, it is important to study the change of spin-lattice relaxation time T1, spin-spin relaxation time T2 and effective relaxation time T2* for medical diagnosis. However, it is still a little complicated and inconvenient to use so many parameters and make images for diagnosis.
Currently, the main method of distinguishing between normal tissue and tumor tissue depends on pathological analysis of specimen obtained from biopsy. Such examination demands high human resource as this requires professional pathologists and it takes time. Moreover, when the quantity of specimen is undersized, there is usually insufficient amount to conduct all the examinations. Therefore, pieces of specimen needs to be used for regular microscopic examination under H&E staining and many other immunohistochemical staining simultaneously for coming to diagnosis. Furthermore, the specimens are depleted and unable to be used in follow-up pathological examinations.


A bit selection method will generate and record or display a sequence of drill bits chosen from among a plurality of bit candidates adapted for drilling an Earth formation in response to input data representing Earth formation characteristics of the formation to be drilled by: comparing the input data representing the characteristics of the formation to be drilled with a set of historical data including a plurality of sets of Earth formation characteristics and a corresponding plurality of sequences of drill bits to be used in connection with the sets of Earth formation characteristics, and locating a substantial match between the characteristics of the formation to be drilled associated with the input data and at least one of the plurality of sets of Earth formation characteristics associated with the set of historical data; when the substantial match is found, generating one of the plurality of sequences of drill bits in response thereto; and recording or displaying the one of the plurality of sequences of drill bits on a recorder or display device.

The subject matter of the present invention relates to a software system adapted to be stored in a computer system, such as a personal computer, for providing automatic drill bit selection based on Earth properties.
Minimizing wellbore costs and associated risks requires wellbore construction planning techniques that account for the interdependencies involved in the wellbore design. The inherent difficulty is that most design processes and systems exist as independent tools used for individual tasks by the various disciplines involved in the planning process. In an environment where increasingly difficult wells of higher value are being drilled with fewer resources, there is now, more than ever, a need for a rapid well-planning, cost, and risk assessment tool.
This specification discloses a software system representing an automated process adapted for integrating both a wellbore construction planning workflow and accounting for process interdependencies. The automated process is based on a drilling simulator, the process representing a highly interactive process which is encompassed in a software system that: (1) allows well construction practices to be tightly linked to geological and geomechanical models, (2) enables asset teams to plan realistic well trajectories by automatically generating cost estimates with a risk assessment, thereby allowing quick screening and economic evaluation of prospects, (3) enables asset teams to quantify the value of additional information by providing insight into the business impact of project uncertainties, (4) reduces the time required for drilling engineers to assess risks and create probabilistic time and cost estimates faithful to an engineered well design, (5) permits drilling engineers to immediately assess the business impact and associated risks of applying new technologies, new procedures, or different approaches to a well design. Discussion of these points illustrate the application of the workflow and verify the value, speed, and accuracy of this integrated well planning and decision-support tool.
The selection of Drill bits is a manual subjective process based heavily on personal, previous experiences. The experience of the individual recommending or selecting the drill bits can have a large impact on the drilling performance for the better or for the worse. The fact that bit selection is done primarily based on personal experiences and uses little information of the actual rock to be drilled makes it very easy to choose the incorrect bit for the application.

Method and apparatus and program storage device adapted for automatic drill bit selection based on earth properties and wellbore geometry


A method for manufacturing an organic light emitting display comprises forming a touch pad portion in a part of a dead region of the second buffer layer and the touch pad portion comprises a plurality of touch pads and each of the touch pads comprises a metal pad layer and a transparent electrode pad layer connected to each other via a plurality of first contact holes in a first insulating film.

Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to an organic light emitting display, and more particularly, to an organic light emitting display that enables realization of a thin film shape and flexibility, and exhibits superior contact properties based on an improved structure, and a method for manufacturing the same.
Discussion of the Related Art
Examples of flat panel displays include liquid crystal displays (LCDs), organic light emitting displays (OLEDs), plasma display panels (PDPs), quantum dot panels (PDPs), field emission displays (FEDs), electrophoretic displays (EPDs) and the like. These displays include a flat display panel realizing an image in common as an essential component. Such a flat display panel has a configuration in which a pair of transparent insulating substrates are joined together such that they face each other via a layer containing an inherently luminescent or polarizing material or other optical material interposed therebetween.
In accordance with the recent trend toward large-size displays, demand for flat panel displays that occupy a smaller space gradually increases. Of these flat panel displays, organic light emitting display technologies are being rapidly developed.
Organic light emitting displays do not require any separate light source and include an organic light emitting diode that spontaneously emits light in each pixel, to realize display. The organic light emitting displays attract much attention as next-generation displays since they advantageously do not require light sources as well as structures for assembling the light sources with a display panel, thus having advantages of decrease in thickness and weight.
When electric charges are injected into an organic film formed between an electron injection electrode (cathode) and a hole injection electrode (anode), electrons pair with holes and the pairs then decay. At this time, an organic light emitting diode emits light.
Meanwhile, there is increasing demand for addition, to an organic light emitting display, of a touchscreen in which a site touched by the hand or separate input element is sensed and information is transferred in response thereto. Such a touchscreen is being applied by adhesion to the outer surface of the display.
Depending on touch sense method, a touchscreen is divided into resistive, capacitive and infrared sensing types. In consideration of ease of manufacture, sensing force and the like, capacitive type touchscreens attract much attention in small models.
Hereinafter, a touchscreen-integrated organic light emitting display of related art will be described with reference to the annexed drawings.
FIG. 1 is a sectional view illustrating a touchscreen organic light emitting display of related art.
As shown in FIG. 1, the touchscreen-integrated organic light emitting display of related art includes an organic light emitting display panel 1, a touchscreen 2 and a cover window 3 laminated in this order from the bottom and includes first and second adhesive layers 15 and 25 disposed between the respect layers.
Here, the organic light emitting display panel 1 includes a substrate, a thin film transistor array having a matrix form disposed on the substrate, and an organic light emitting diode connected to each thin film transistor of the thin film transistor array, and includes a protective film and a polarizing layer that cover the top of the organic light emitting diode. In this case, the first adhesive layer 15 corresponds to the polarizing layer of the organic light emitting display panel 1. Also, the second adhesive layer 25 is formed between the touchscreen 2 and the cover window 3 to adhere the touchscreen 2 to the cover window 3.
The touchscreen-integrated organic light emitting display of related art has the following disadvantages.
First, in a case in which an organic light emitting display panel and a touchscreen are independently formed and the touchscreen is then attached to the organic light emitting display panel, the organic light emitting display panel and the touchscreen require separate glasses, thus causing increase in hardness and thickness, which makes realization of thin and flexible organic light emitting displays impossible.
Second, the organic light emitting display panel and the touchscreen have different panel shapes, thus making processes for forming these components complicated and thus decreasing yield and price competitiveness.
Third, in an in-cell type touchscreen configuration in which a pad portion of the touchscreen faces an inside, that is, a side of a pad portion of an organic light emitting display panel, a bonding process is performed using a sealant including conductive balls. In this case, relatively small conductive balls may have contact defects due to difference in diameter between the conductive balls. Also, a compression level of conductive balls is changed depending on a pressure applied during bonding and contact defects may thus occur during the bonding process.

Method for manufacturing organic light emitting display


A new method to capture, purify and expand antigen-specific T lymphocytes has been developed using magnetic beads coated with recombinant MHC class I molecules. This method was optimized using homogenous populations of naive T cells purified from mice transgenic for the 2C T cell receptor (TCR). These T cells were captured on beads coated with MHC class I molecules and the relevant antigenic peptides. MHC and peptide specificity was confirmed by the usage of irrelevant MHC peptide combinations. An enrichment of 800 to 1600 fold was measured, using 2C T cells mixed with irrelevant T cells, starting from a 2C T cell frequency of 1/3000. The same approach was used to purify antigen-specific CD8+ T cells from total CD8+ T cells from naive mice. The recovered cells could be expanded and specifically kill target cells in vitro; they had a significant effect in vivo as well. We expect this procedure to be suitable to purify and expand in vitro tumor- and virus-specific killer T cells for use in cell therapy.

Antigen-specific immune responses are mediated by antigen-specific effector B and T lymphocytes. These cells originate from generally low frequency resting precursor cells expressing receptors for various antigens representing the whole repertoire and which, upon encounter with specific antigens and appropriate costimulation, become activated, expand and differentiate into effector cells.
Development of ex vivo immunotherapy for conditions such as cancer or viral infections is limited by the low frequency of antigen-specific precursor lymphocytes. For instance, virus-specific CTL precursor (CTLp) frequencies in the peripheral lymphoid tissues of mice are generally lower than 1/100,000–1/1,000,000 (Lau et al., 1994; Hou et al., 1994). Isolation of antigen-specific lymphocytes by capture on an antigen-coated support has been described for mouse spleen resting B cells specific for TNP (Snow et al, 1983a). The isolation procedure involved a rosetting step on haptenated horse red blood cells and allowed the recovery of hapten-specific B cells with a 40% purity. This technique has been useful to study the requirements for activation (Stein et al, 1986) as well as the initial signaling events following activation (Snow et al, 1986; Myers et al, 1987; Grupp et al, 1987; Noelle and Snow, 1990; Gold and DeFranco, 1994). However, this was a very favorable situation because of the relatively high frequency of B cells specific for TNP (about 1%) (Snow et al,1983a). No study on B cell activation using resting B cells specific for another antigen with low precursor frequency has been reported to date (Radbruch and Recktenwald, 1995).
Low precursor frequency is also a problem with T cells. Additionally, while B cells recognize the antigen directly, T cells recognize a complex structure made of the combination of an antigenic peptide bound to a major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecule. TCR/MHC-peptide interaction has a low to moderate affinity (10−4–10−7 M range: Matsui et al, 1991; Weber et al, 1992; Sykulev et al, 1994a; Corr et al, 1994; Sykulev et al, 1994b). Antibodies usually exhibit affinities several orders of magnitude higher and exploit multivalency. New techniques of isolation of rare cell populations are available now. These are based on cell sorting and/or magnetic separation (Bellone et al, 1995; Radbruch and Recktenwald, 1995). Also, recombinant ligands for TCR are now available by combining recombinant empty MHC molecules (Jackson et al, 1992) and MHC-binding antigenic peptides (Engelhard, 1994; Ramensee et al, 1995). These synthetic MHC-peptide complexes can be immobilized on beads to yield multivalent ligands for the TCR. Theoretically, multivalency should help to overcome low affinity. The interaction between TCR and immobilized peptide-MHC complex has been previously shown to lead to the establishment of stable interactions in certain in vitro systems. First, MHC class I antigens immobilized on lipid monolayers (Nakanashi et al, 1983) or on lipid-coated cell-sized beads (Kane et al, 1988) are sufficient to cause binding of cloned allogeneic cytotoxic T cells (CTL). Second, syngeneic cloned CTL bind to MHC-coated beads in a peptide dependent manner (Kane and Mescher, 1993; Mescher, 1995). Third, a cloned syngeneic CTL can form aggregates with RMA-S cells, a cell line which expresses large amounts of empty MHC molecules, in a peptide specific manner (De Bruijn et al, 1992). In two of these reports, TCR-MHC-peptide interactions were not the primary mediator of adhesion. They rather played an initial role in the early events of aggregation, presumably by transducing signals that led to activation of adhesion via accessory molecules.
Here, we describe a method to isolate antigen-specific T cells using empty MHC class I molecules purified from Drosophila melanogaster cells (Jackson et al, 1992) immobilized on magnetic beads and loaded with peptide. This artificial substrate for T cells is coated with a high density of identical MHC-peptide complexes. T cell isolation was optimized using populations of naïve T cells purified from mice transgenic for the 2C TCR (Sha et al, 1988). Ligands of various affinities and specificities for the 2C TCR have been identified (Sykulev et al, 1994a, b). 2C T cells could be adsorbed on beads bearing peptide-MHC complexes which had an affinity for the 2C TCR as low as 10−4 M. Adsorption was MHC restricted and peptide specific since it occurred only with the proper MHC-peptide combinations recognized by the 2C TCR. Additionally, 2C T cells mixed with irrelevant T cells from a naive animal could be recovered using this adsorption procedure. This technique was successfully used to recover antigen-specific T cells from naive animals.

Purification of antigen-specific T cells


Thick matter and solids are conveyed together and substantially continuously through a conveyor pipeline. The thick matter is forced by a conveyor piston driven by a piston pump from a feed container into a conveyer cylinder. A forward face of the piston has a cutting crown with a cutting edge cooperating with an annular cutting ring to cut off solids projecting beyond an inlet in the conveyer pipeline.

To burn special waste in special waste furnace systems, which is delivered in containers, in particular in barrels of sheet metal or plastic, two methods have up to now been mainly used. The barrels are in the first method unshredded and moved by gripping means into a furnace, which is mostly designed as a rotary furnace and are there burnt together with their contents at high temperatures. This, however, results in intermittent variations in the combustion temperature, the exhaust gas amounts and the concentration of damaging substances in the exhaust gas so that the capacity of the system must be designed higher than for a continuous supply of special wastes. The filled containers, which due to their contamination with the special waste contained therein must also be burnt, are in a second method preshredded in a shredder. The scrap metal and other solids are separated in a drummed revolving screen from the special waste, which exists mostly in the form of a pasty or pulplike thick matter, before both fractions are subsequently continuously fed to the combustion furnace. Such a method, however, requires devices both for feeding the thick matter and also for feeding the solids into the combustion furnace.
Moreover, when the special waste and containers are burnt together, waste consisting of rusty melted sheet-metal or iron parts accumulates, which waste exists mainly in small pieces or in granular form, and, which should be burnt again because of its residual heating value and in order to reduce the amount of combustion residues.
Starting out from this the basic purpose of the invention is to develop a method and a device of the above-mentioned type, which enable an essentially continuous conveying of thick matter containing preshredded scrap metal or similar solids.

Process for conveying thick matter containing preshredded scrap metal or similar solids


A screw alignment device for assisting engagement of a screw driving tool during a fastening operation with a screw of the type having a shank disposed between a head end and a front end, the screw tool being of the type having a shaft with a gripping formation at one end thereof for engagement with the screw head. The screw alignment device includes a screw guide having a body of generally annular configuration formed from a resilient material and having an internal capacity of generally frusto-conical configuration. There is also a tool guide spaced rearwardly from the screw guide and aligned with the cone axis. The device further includes a connector which connects the screw guide to the tool guide.

Due to variability of finished product, variations due to manufacturing tolerances and similar manufacturing difficulties, some screw alignment devices as described in PCT/AU00/00676, may in use from time to time have one or both of the head of a screw and or the screw driving end of the screw driver pop out of the screw guide.
Further, the cartridges and screw guides described in PCT/AU00/00676 can be complex to manufacture and thus the cost of manufacture can be such that the pricing in the market place of the cartridge system will be greater than the market is prepared to pay. Thus it is desirable to develop a screw alignment guide and a cartridge system which is conducive to relatively low cost manufacture.
The applicant does not concede that the subject matter of PCT/AU00/00676 is a part of the common general knowledge of persons skilled in this art.