A method and equipment for implementing call forwarding in a mobile system having at least one forwarding exchange and at least one subscriber database is provided so that routing of a forwarded call can be implemented. The forwarding exchange can receive a call addressed to a subscriber in the mobile system. A subscriber data request can be performed to a subscriber database connected to the forwarding exchange. A response message containing data the call forwarding and a forwarding number can be transmitted from the subscriber database to the forwarding exchange. Basic service data indicating basic service related to the call can be transmitted from the subscriber database to the forwarding exchange in connection with the response message. A basic service code is derived the service data and the call can be transferred to the forwarding number. The routing can be arranged according to the basic service code.

The invention relates to telecommunication systems and especially to a method and equipment for implementing call forwarding in a mobile system comprising at least one forwarding exchange for carrying out call forwarding on the basis of subscriber data related to the call forwarding, and at least one subscriber database for storing the subscriber data related to the call forwarding. The method comprises the steps of receiving at the forwarding exchange a call addressed to a subscriber in the mobile system, performing a subscriber data request to the subscriber database, and transmitting a response message from the subscriber database to the forwarding exchange, the message containing data indicating the call forwarding and a forwarding number.
Modern mobile systems provide subscribers with different data transmission properties in addition to conventional speech transmission. Mobile system services can be divided generally into teleservices and bearer services. A bearer service is a telecommunication service that constitutes the transmission of signals between user-network interfaces. For example modem services are bearer services. In a teleservice, the network also provides terminal services. Important teleservices in turn include speech, facsimile and videotex services.
One mobile subscriber may typically have access to different tele- and bearer services that are referred to in this connection as basic services. A subscriber may use for example a speech, facsimile and data service. A call terminating at or originating from a mobile station may therefore require any of these basic services, and therefore the correct service must be indicated to the mobile network. For example in a GSM mobile system, call set-up signalling transmitted by a mobile station contains data about the required basic service in a bearer capability information element (BCIE). In this manner, the mobile network is able to select the correct basic service for calls originating from the mobile station. Calls arriving from an integrated services data network (ISDN) also contain a corresponding information element that indicates the required service. However, if the call arrives from a public switched telephone network (PSTN) or travels through it, the mobile network does not receive such data concerning the service type of the call. In such a case, the mobile network should know in some other manner the type of basic service required by the call.
A known solution to this problem is a multi numbering scheme, here a mobile subscriber has as many numbers as he has services to which he wants to receive incoming calls. The number is also called the mobile subscriber ISDN number, i.e. MSISDN. For example, a subscriber may have a number for a speech service, a facsimile service and a modem service. In a multi numbering scheme, the calling subscriber selects from the mobile subscriber's numbers the one corresponding to the desired service.
An additional service in mobile systems is call forwarding that may be activated by a subscriber. Call forwarding may be unconditional, in which case a call is always transferred to the new number given. Call forwarding may also be set to be conditional, for example when the subscriber is busy, does not respond or cannot be reached. Due to the multi numbering scheme, the subscriber may transfer different types of calls addressed to him to different numbers. However, this requires that the subscriber determines the basic service to which the forwarding is directed in connection with the activation of the forwarding. If no basic service is determined, all subscriber calls are transferred to the same number. When the subscriber determines the forwarding specifically for each basic service, he has to activate the forwarding several times and to manage separately the set of numbers related to each service, the activated forwarding procedures etc. The management of such functions requires that the users are well trained, which consumes resources. There is also the danger that functions that are found to be difficult are not used.
One of the most common forms of call forwarding is the voice mail service where a subscriber directs the received calls to be transferred, either unconditionally or conditionally, to a voice mail service centre (VMS) that attends to responding to the calls and that stores the messages left for the subscriber. Most VMSs are capable of distinguishing whether an incoming call is a speech call or a facsimile call, but this requires that for each call arriving at the VMS there is an equipment that identifies the incoming call type. The number and costs of the equipments required could be reduced considerably if different types of incoming calls would be directed to the exchange via different lines. In order for the calls to be transferred to the VMS, the called party number Cd# must be the same in the forwarding and therefore different types of calls cannot be distinguished from one another on the basis of analysing the called party number.

Routing of call forwarding according to basic services


A system and method for providing decision support to a physician during a medical examination is disclosed. Data is received from a sensor representing a particular medical measurement. The received data includes image data. The received data and context data is analyzed with respect to one or more sets of training models. Probability values for the particular medical measurement and other measurements to be taken are derived based on the analysis and based on identified classes. The received image data is compared with training images. Distance values are determined between the received image data and the training images, and the training images are associated with the identified classes. Absolute value feature sensitivity scores are derived for the particular medical measurement and other measurements to be taken based on the analysis. The probability values, distance values and absolute value feature sensitivity scores are outputted to the user.

Much attention and research has been paid toward medical applications using content-based image retrieval techniques. Some work has been done toward summarization of echocardiogram videos using visual contents such as color, shape, and the tracing of the Electrocardiogram (ECG) signal. However, limited efforts have been spent on diagnosis support of cardiomyopathies using echocardiography, advanced statistical classification and learning techniques.
Conventional computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) systems treat different inputs independently, such as between components of a numerical feature vector, between vectors of different modalities, and between numerical and symbolic inputs. Furthermore CAD systems make decisions in a sequential, rule-based, tree-like fashion. The disadvantage to this approach is that when the numerical feature inputs are unreliable, which is usually the case when using automated feature extraction instead of manual extraction; the system performance can degrade dramatically, depending upon the order in which the sequential decisions are arranged.
Another drawback of the traditional decision tree approaches is that each decision can only be made along existing feature dimensions, which is in turn limited by the prior selection of the feature components, without linear or nonlinear transformation invariance. Some recent general approaches using classification trees extends the traditional paradigm for decision tree construction and can use an aggregation of multiple trees to achieve higher capabilities.
There is a need for a CAD system capable of implementing probabilistic classification, content-based similarity comparisons and machine learning algorithms using multidimensional medical image databases in order to assist a medical professional to reach a medical diagnosis.

System and method for performing probabilistic classification and decision support using multidimensional medical image databases


RingOp/Claim oscillations due to duplicate addresses and transmit aborts are avoided by using token preserver frames to reset the TVX timer in a station. A communications network having a plurality of stations capable of transmitting frames onto the network, and the stations capable of detecting transmission on the network, and the stations capable of taking predetermined action in the absence of detecting the transmission for a predetermined first time interval, and a first timer for measuring the predetermined first time interval. Measuring a second predetermined time interval, the second predetermined time interval being chosen to be less than the first predetermined time interval; transmitting a reset frame onto the network by a selected station at time intervals substantially equal to the second predetermined time interval, and the reset frames being capable of causing a station to reset the first timer to a beginning value. The network may be a token controlled ring. The reset frame may be a token preserver frame.

A computer communications network is made up of a number of stations connected by a communications medium. A number of stations having a limited geographical extent is often referred to as a Local Area Network, or LAN. A number of LANs may be connected together by a variety of means in order to form a communications network. The LANs may be connected by bridges operating in the Medium Access Control, MAC, or Logical Link Layer, LLC of the OSI seven layer communications model, or alternatively, may be connected by routers operating in higher layers of the OSI seven layer model, or as a further alternative, may be connected by other means.
A note on terminology is in order. A number of LANs connected together will be referred to as a network. An individual LAN will be referred to as a system, as for example an ethernet IEEE 802.3 system, or for example a token ring IEEE 802.5 system, or for a further example an ANSI/IEEE FDDI token ring system, etc.
Quotation marks are used to enclose a phrase in order to improve the readability of a sentence. For example, a compound noun may be enclosed in quotation marks. However, in many sentences quotation marks are not needed for improved readability of the sentence, and so are not used.
The stations communicate by transmitting frames onto the medium, and by the stations detecting the frames. When a station detects a frame addressed to that station, then the station receives the frame by transferring the frame from the layer handling medium access, referred to as the MAC sublayer or Medium Access Control layer, to the LLC sublayer for delivery to a higher client layer. Frames transmitted or received for higher layers are called client frames.
For a token ring network, permission for a station to transmit onto the medium is controlled by a token which is passed from station to station. Possession of the token gives the station permission to transmit onto the medium.
Transmission errors or medium transients may cause frames or tokens to be corrupted. In order to detect and recover from these transient errors, each station maintains a timer in order to insure that a valid frame or token is received within a specified time period. For example, in both the IEEE 802.5 Token Ring Standard and in the Fiber Data Distributed Interface (FDDI) Standard, this timer is referred to as the Transmission Valid Timer, and is further referred to as the TVX timer. In this document the Transmission Valid Timer will be referred to as the TVX timer.
The TVX timer is assigned a timeout value. If a valid frame or token is not received within the timeout value, then the TVX timer will expire. Expiration of the TVX timer in a station typically causes the station to initiate fault recovery and ring initialization.
A number of conditions in stations on a communications network can cause the TVX timer to erroneously expire. Erroneous expiration of the TVX timer causes erroneous initiation of fault recovery and ring initialization, and consequently degrades performance of the ring communication network. The presence of a fault may cause repeated expirations of the TVX timer, and each expiration may then be followed by fault recovery and ring initialization. Repeated cycles of expiration of the TVX timer followed by initiation of fault recovery and ring initialization is described by the term, "RingOp/Claim oscillations". RingOp/Claim oscillations interfere with transmission of desired messages between stations, and may substantially prevent transmission of such messages.
A first exemplary condition causing erroneous expiration of the TVX timer is the situation where a station has a duplicate address of another station on the communications network. Duplicate station addresses are particularly severe problem in token controlled ring communications systems using source address stripping. The station having the duplicate address erroneously strips frames of the other station, causing a loss of traffic downstream from the stripping station. The prolonged loss of downstream traffic causes downstream stations to have their TVX timer expire, and to therefore erroneously initiate fault recovery and ring initialization. Accordingly, duplicate station addresses lead to RingOp/Claim oscillations, particularly in a communications system using source address stripping.
There are at least two cases of a station having a duplicate address. In the first case the two stations having duplicate addresses are connected into the same LAN, and in the second case the two stations having the duplicate addresses are in different LANs where the two LANs are connected, for example by a bridge, etc.
A station has a unique address, called "my address", used to identify the MAC layer of the station. Additionally, a station that forwards frames which originated in other stations, such as stations on other LANs, may maintain a table of source addresses referred to as a SA list. For example, when a bridge forwards a frame onto a LAN, the source address of the frame contains the "my address" of the originating station, and the SA list of the bridge station also contains the "my address" of the originating station so that the forwarding bridge station will have information in order to perform source address stripping and remove the frame from the LAN. Removal of the frame, by source address stripping, occurs after the frame circumnavigates a ring LAN and returns to the bridge station transmitting it onto the ring LAN.
As a further example of entries in a station's SA list, a station may use several addresses for reception and transmission of frames in addition to the "my address" of the station. Examples of additional addresses used for frame transmission include multiple protocol stacks in a station, addresses used for network management, et cet. And the addresses used for frame transmission in addition to the station's unique "my address" are entered into the station's SA list. And duplicate addresses in the SA lists of stations using source address stripping may lead to false re-initialization of the network.
A number of methods have been advanced in order to eliminate the presence of duplicate station address in a single LAN. For example, methods advanced for the FDDI network are Ring Management, RMT, and Station Management, SMT protocols. Particularly in SMT, Duplicate Address Test, DAT, which is part of Neighbor Notification protocol are helpful in dealing with stations on a single LAN, where the stations have duplicate "my addresses", and reference to ANSI documents describing these protocols is given hereinbelow in the Appendix.
However, the interconnection of LANs into ever larger networks may bring tens of thousands of stations into a large communications network. RMT and DAT become impractical as a means for detecting and dealing with stations having duplicate addresses in large networks having many interconnected LANs because RMT and DAT require execution of logic upon detection of frames. The logic is, for example, executed in software. And software is too slow for efficient use of the large network. Further, DAT procedures require transmission of Neighbor Information Frames, NIF frames, in order for stations to learn the addresses of their neighbor stations, and the addresses of other stations on the network. And transmission, reception, and processing of NIF frames requires bandwidth of the communications medium and is not practical for all tens of thousands of stations on a communications network of interconnected LANs. Accordingly, the presence of stations having duplicate addresses, where the stations are geographically widely distributed on different interconnected LANs, is not satisfactorily solved.
That is, in a single LAN, there may be a plurality of stations with each station having an SA list containing tens of thousands of addresses, both from "my address" of other stations in the network, and from additional addresses used by the various stations for transmission of frames. And any one of these tables may contain an address that is a duplicate of either a "my address" of a station in the LAN, or may be a duplicate of an entry in another station's SA list. Either of these conditions may cause Ring/Op claim oscillations as a result of source address stripping. And RMT and DAT are not a practical technique for locating the presence of such duplicate addresses.
A further example of erroneous fault recovery and ring initialization occurs in the situation where a bridge forwards frames from a first LAN to a second LAN and the bridge station on the second LAN does not keep a SA list, and a station address on the first LAN is duplicated in the second LAN. The bridge does not keep track of the source address in the SA field of the frame being forwarded, and simply forwards the frame with the source address field containing the source address contained in the arriving frame. ( Of course, in this example, the forwarded frame must be removed from the second LAN by a stripping method other than source address stripping. The other stripping method may use delimiter frames, or by counting frames transmitted and counting frames stripped, or by a combination of these process as disclosed in the article FRAME CONTENT INDEPENDENT STRIPPING FOR TOKEN RINGS, H. Y. Yang and K. K. Ramakrishnan, proceedings of the ACM, Sigcomm 1990, September 1990, or by other methods.)
A second exemplary condition causing erroneous expiration of the TVX timer is consecutive abortion of transmissions. For example, a number of conditions can lead to consecutive abortion of transmissions, including:
1) A single station repeatedly aborts transmission of frames due to internal station errors such as, for example, buffer errors. Other stations on the ring then timeout their TVX timers.
2) A number of stations repeatedly abort transmission of frames, resulting in the absence of a valid frame to circumnavigate the ring for a TVX timeout interval. For example, a station captures the token and aborts its transmission without transmitting a valid frame, and then releases the token. The next station then captures the token and also aborts its transmission without transmitting a valid frame, and then releases the token. The same sequence of aborts is then repeated by successive stations. The net result is that stations further downstream from these stations will see "aborted frames" and nothing else. These stations have their TVX timers expire because they do not receive a valid frame or token.
Accordingly, consecutive abortion of transmissions by either one station or by a succession of stations can lead to RingOp/Claim oscillations.
RingOp/Claim oscillations resulting from repeated transmission aborts have not been satisfactorily addressed.

Avoidance of false re-initialization of a computer network


An internal-combustion-engine combustion condition detection apparatus is provided with an ignition means that makes an ignition plug ignite a fuel; an ignition control means that controls the operation of the ignition means; an ion-current detection means that detects an ion current generated; an ion current detection range setting means that sets an ion-current detection range; a preignition detection means that detects preignition within a detection range to be set; a leakage current detection range setting means that sets a leakage-current detection range; and a leakage current determination means that determines whether or not a smolder exists, based on a current detected, within a detection range to be set, by the ion-current detection means. The ignition control means includes a non-combustion-stroke ignition control means; the leakage-current detection range set by the leakage current detection range setting means is set within the non-combustion stroke.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an internal-combustion-engine combustion condition detection apparatus, and more particularly to an internal-combustion-engine combustion condition detection apparatus that can securely determine whether or not an ignition-plug smolder and/or preignition have occurred.
2. Description of the Related Art
In operating an internal combustion engine, in the case where a carbon deposit, which occurs when a mixed gas (fuel-air mixture) in a cylinder imperfectly combusts, adheres to the surface of the insulator for an ignition-plug ignition portion, the value of the insulation resistance across the electrodes of the ignition plug decreases, whereby a spark becomes unlikely to occur.
This phenomenon is commonly known as "soiling of an ignition plug due to smoldering".
In addition, the phenomenon is referred to as "smoldering" in which the value of the insulation resistance across the electrodes of an ignition plug decreases and thereby a leakage current occurs across the electrodes of the ignition plug.
Additionally, due to combustion in a combustion chamber, the molecules of a mixture gas in the combustion chamber ionize, and when a voltage is applied to the ionized combustion chamber through the ignition plug, a minute current flows. The minute current is referred to as an ion current.
To date, it has been known that, in an spark-ignition internal combustion engine, an ion current that occurs in a combustion chamber after the start of ignition through an ignition plug is detected, the driving condition, such as a knock or a combustion limit, of the internal combustion engine is detected through the magnitude of the detected ion current, the time period during which the ion current occurs, or the like, and based on the result of the detection, the ignition timing is adjusted or the amount of a fuel to be injected is corrected.
In such an ion current detection method utilizing an ignition plug, an ion current can be detected each time ignition is executed, as long as no abnormality exists in the ignition plug.
However, as the soiling of an ignition plug due to smoldering advances, the insulation resistance value of the ignition plug remarkably decreases, whereby a leakage current across the electrodes of the ignition plug increases.
Accordingly, a case may occur in which, even when, due to a misfire, no ion current occurs, a leakage current is detected as an ion current, whereby the misfire cannot be detected.
In addition, it is commonly known that soiling due to a carbon deposit has a self-cleaning action in that the soiling occurs when the temperature of an ignition plug is low and the engine is in a state in which the rotation speed is low and the engine load is small, and when the temperature of the ignition plug rises, the carbon deposit that has adhered to the surface of the insulator for the ignition portion of the ignition plug is burned off.
Accordingly, it is an effective method to facilitate increase in the temperature of an ignition plug, in terms of improving smoldering due to carbon-deposit soiling.
Additionally, there exists a phenomenon in which, in driving an internal combustion engine, a hot spot caused by a residual temperature of a carbon deposit that has adhered to an ignition plug or to the inside of a cylinder makes a mixture gas spontaneously catch fire halfway through a compression stroke.
The foregoing phenomenon is referred to as preignition; preignition not only causes a sharp decrease in the output of an internal combustion engine or an imperfect rotation but also damages the internal combustion engine in the worst case.
FIG. 7 is a set of charts for explaining a problem in a conventional preignition detection method, for example, disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 3176291 (Patent Document 1); FIG. 7 represents the relationship between the ion current and the leakage current when preignition occurs.
FIG. 7(a) represents a case in which a mixture gas normally catches fire through a discharge from an ignition plug. Firstly, a pulse occurs at each of the rising and the falling timing of an ignition signal; after that noise is caused by a discharge from the ignition plug; then, an ion current (combustion ion current) occurs.
FIG. 7(b) represents a case in which preignition occurs and then an ion current flows; the width of the pulse that occurs at the falling timing of the ignition signal is widened.
FIG. 7(c) represents a case in which a smolder occurs in the ignition plug; a leakage current flows in a secondary circuit not only as the ignition signal rises but also even after a discharge from the ignition plug.
FIG. 7(d) represents a case in which a smolder occurs in the ignition plug and preignition occurs; the respective pulses that occur at the rising and the falling timing of the ignition signal join with each other, whereby a pulse caused by preignition cannot be discriminated.
FIG. 8 is a chart for explaining the conventional preignition detection method disclosed in Patent Document 1.
The respective voltages that occur across a detection resistor at a time instant when a first predetermined time period ts (ts: smolder determination duration) elapses after a pulse-shaped ignition signal has been outputted from an ignition device and at a time instant when a second predetermined time period tp (tp: determination duration for determining whether or not a combustion ion current occurs due to preignition or the like), which is longer than the first predetermined time period, elapses after the pulse-shaped ignition signal has been outputted from the ignition device are read into a microcomputer, as a smolder-detection-timing voltage V(ts) and a preignition-detection-timing voltage V(tp).
In the case where the smolder-detection-timing voltage V(ts) is higher than a predetermined threshold voltage, a smolder has occurred in an ignition plug; therefore, because the smolder may cause an erroneous determination, the determination whether or not preignition has occurred is canceled.
In contrast, in the case where the smolder-detection-timing Voltage V(ts) is the same as or lower than the predetermined threshold voltage, no smolder has occurred in the ignition plug; therefore, because no erroneous determination is performed, determination whether or not preignition has occurred is performed based on the preignition-detection-timing voltage V(tp).
In addition, as represented in FIG. 8, a leakage current starts to occur from an ignition energization start timing; the higher the level of the smolder is, the longer the duration of the leakage current becomes.
Additionally, the higher the level of preignition is, the longer the duration of an ion current caused by preignition becomes in a direction in which the time instant advances.
FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining the configuration and the operation of a conventional ion-current detection device.
In FIG. 9, reference numeral 100 denotes an ignition plug; reference numeral 100a denotes an ion current that occurs in a combustion chamber; reference numeral 100b denotes a resistor (a smolder resistor) that is formed of a carbon deposit that occurs across the electrodes of the ignition plug 100 when a mixture gas imperfectly combusts. A leakage current flows through the smolder resistor 100b.
Reference numerals 201, 20, 20a, 20b, 30, and 41 denote an ignition device, an ignition coil, a primary coil of the ignition coil 20, a secondary coil, a transistor, and an ion-current detection device, respectively.
In the ion-current detection device 41, reference numerals 42, 43, 44, and 45 denote a capacitor, a diode, a zener diode, and an ion current shaping circuit, respectively.
The ignition plug 100 is provided in the combustion chamber and connected to the negative-polarity end of the secondary coil 20b of the ignition coil 20. The positive-polarity end of the primary coil 20a is connected to a power source, and the negative-polarity end thereof is connected to the collector of the transistor 30 for current switching.
The emitter of the transistor 30 is connected to the ground, and the base thereof is connected to an ECU (control device) 301 that controls combustion.
The ion-current detection device 41 is configured with the capacitor 42 connected to the positive-polarity end of the secondary coil 20b, the diode 43 connected between the lower-potential end of the capacitor 42 and the ground, the zener diode 44 that determines a voltage that is charged across the capacitor 42, and the ion current shaping circuit 45.
In addition, the ion-current detection device 41, configured with the capacitor 42, the diode 43, and the zener diode 44, detects an ion current, based on electric charges accumulated across the capacitor 42.
Additionally, the ion current shaping circuit 45 converts an ion current detected by the ion-current detection device 41 into a voltage and filters out noise components of a voltage-converted signal so as to shape the waveform thereof.
FIG. 10 is a set of charts representing the worst case of the relationship between the leakage current due to a smolder and the ion current when preignition is detected.
FIG. 10(a) represents an ignition signal, and FIG. 10(b) represents a secondary voltage that occurs across the secondary coil 20b of the ignition coil 20.
The ignition signal is applied to the base of the transistor 30 illustrated in FIG. 9; at the time instant when a current starts to flow through the primary coil 20a, an induction voltage of several kilovolts (e.g., approximately 1 kV) occurs across the secondary coil 20b; after that, the value (in this case, 140V) of the voltage across the zener diode 44 is determined by the voltage charged across the capacitor 42.
FIG. 10(c) represents a leakage current caused by a low-level smolder; unlike the state represented in FIG. 7(c), in the case where a low-level smolder occurs, a leakage current disappears halfway in the duration of the ignition signal.
Accordingly, in the case where a low-level smolder occurs, a leakage current can be detected only in the first half of the duration of the ignition signal, which is a short duration.
FIG. 10(d) represents an ion current when preignition occurs; FIG. 10(d) represents a case in which more runaway preignition occurs than in FIG. 7(b).
FIG. 10(e) represents the compression stroke range and the expansion stroke range of an internal combustion engine.
FIG. 11 is a diagram conceptually illustrating the configuration of an internal-combustion-engine combustion condition detection apparatus utilizing a conventional ion-current detection device.
In FIG. 11, reference numeral 100 denotes an ignition plug; reference numeral 201 denotes an ignition device that ignites by use of the ignition plug 100 a fuel-air mixture taken in for performing combustion when the internal combustion engine is operated.
Reference numeral 311 denotes an ignition control device that generates a control signal for controlling the operation of the ignition device 201.
Reference numeral 303 denotes an A/D converter that converts an ion current detected by the ion-current detection device 41 illustrated in FIG. 9 or a leakage current into a digital signal.
Reference numeral 314 denotes a leakage current detection range setting device that sets an ignition-plug smolder detection range; reference numeral 315 denotes a leakage current determination device that determines whether or not an ignition-plug smolder exists, based on a current detected within a detection range set by the leakage current detection range setting device 314; reference numeral 316 denotes an ion current detection range setting device that sets an ion-current detection range; reference numeral 317 denotes a preignition detection device that detects preignition or a precursor phenomenon of preignition, based on an ion current within a detection range set by the ion current detection range setting device 316.
In addition, reference numeral 301 denotes an ECU that is a control device.
FIG. 12 is a chart for explaining the timings for a smolder determination and a preignition determination in the foregoing conventional internal-combustion-engine combustion condition detection apparatus.
As represented in FIG. 12 or FIG. 8, to date, a smolder determination has been performed in the first half of the duration of an ignition signal, and a preignition determination has been performed in the second half of the duration of the ignition signal.
In other words, the leakage current detection range setting device 314 sets a leakage-current detection range in the first half of the duration of an ignition signal, and the ion current detection range setting device 316 sets a preignition detection range in the second half of the duration of the ignition signal.
In addition, in FIG. 12, "A" indicates a leakage-current detection range for a smolder determination, and "B" indicates an ion-current detection range for a preignition determination.
In a conventional internal-combustion-engine combustion condition detection apparatus, a smolder determination (i.e., a determination whether or not a leakage current exists) is performed in the first half of the duration of an ignition signal, and a preignition determination is performed in the second half of the duration of the ignition signal.
However, a leak current starts to occur from an ignition energization start timing; the higher the level of a smolder is, the longer the duration of the leak current becomes.
Additionally, the higher the level of preignition is, the longer the duration of an ion current caused by preignition becomes in a direction in which the time instant advances.
Therefore, the duration of a leakage current caused by a smolder and the duration of a combustion ion current caused by preignition or the like may overlap each other; in this case, neither a smolder detection nor a preignition detection can securely be performed.
Moreover, because the leakage-current detection range for a smolder determination and the ion-current detection range for a preignition determination cannot be set wide, it is difficult to raise the determination accuracy.

Internal-combustion-engine combustion condition detection apparatus and combustion condition detection method

Abstract: Accordingly, both a smolder detection and a preignition detection can securely be performed.


An electronic apparatus may include a processor, a gyro, and an imaging module. The imaging module may be arranged separately from the gyro and the processor, and include a shell and a light reflection element, a mounting base, an image sensor and a driving device received in the shell. The light reflection element may be fixed on the mounting base and configured to reflect light incident from the light incident hole to reach the image sensor, so that the image sensor may sense the external light of the imaging module. Based on feedback data sent from the gyro, the processor may control the driving device to drive the mounting base carrying the light reflection element to rotate around a rotation axis, to achieve the optical image stabilization along an axial direction of the light incident hole. The rotation axis is perpendicular to the axial direction of the light incident hole.

In the related art, in order to improve quality of photographing, camera module of mobile phones uses periscope-type lenses, which could offer 3× optical zoom, to capture photographs with higher quality. The periscope type lens includes a light reflection element, which reflects the incident light to an image sensor, so that the image sensor captures images out of the periscope type lens. In order to achieve the effect of optical image stabilization, a gyro and a driver integrated circuit (IC) are required to set within the camera module, resulting in a large sized periscope type lens.

Electronic apparatus and mobile terminal

GUANGDONG OPPO MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORP., LTD.


This invention relates to a novel approach for the identification and stratification of subtypes of cancer, particularly subtypes of cancer characterized by an increased expression of BCAT1, particularly Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). The invention furthermore relates to a novel approach with respect to the treatment of cancer, particularly subtypes of cancer characterized by an increased expression of BCAT1, particularly Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML).

Personalized oncology has the potential to revolutionize the way cancer patients will be treated in the future. Different entities of cancer can be divided into subclasses based on molecular differences, including the specific activation of signaling pathways that often determine therapy response and clinical outcome. For various cancer entities including breast, lung and colon cancer, the identification of such subtypes and the possibility to stratify patients into cohorts has already been translated into clinical practice to treat patients in a subtype-specific manner.
Recently, the branched chain amino acid (BCAA) pathway and overexpression of (BCAA) transaminase (BCAT1) have been associated with aggressiveness in different cancer entities 1-4. BCAT1 transfers the α-amino group from the essential BCAAs valine, leucine or isoleucine to α-ketoglutarate (αKG), which next to its role in the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle is an essential co-factor for αKG-dependent dioxygenases such as EGLN1 or TET family of DNA demethylases (see FIG. 1).
In addition to its potential relevance in, for example, gliomas, ovarian cancer and nasopharyngeal carcinoma, BCAT1 has recently been listed as part of a gene signature in AML patients, where the signature showed distinct differences between low-risk and high-risk patients (Xie et al., Computational Biology and Chemistry, 67 (2017) 150-157).
However, the molecular mechanisms of how BCAT1 expression and the catabolic pathway it is involved in contribute to tumorigenesis remain unclear.
Thus, despite certain progress that has been made in the characterization and sub-typing of cancers, and the development of stratification and treatment approaches based on such developments, there is still a great need for the development of additional and/or refined methods for cancer patient stratification and the development of more efficient treatment schemes, particularly for the treatment of AML.
The solution to this problem, i.e. the sub-typing of AML patients based on a combination of BCAT1 expression status and of the genotype, and the identification of therapeutic approaches that modify and/or interfere with such status, are neither provided nor suggested by the prior art.

Methods for sub-typing and treating cancer


An anchor davit comprising an elongated U-shaped frame for receiving a main shank of an anchor; a roller at the outboard end of the frame for guiding the anchor line as it is lowered or raised; means at the outboard end of the U-shaped frame for providing chafe protection of an anchor line when the anchor is deployed and for providing captivity of the anchor when the anchor is being raised and secured; and means at a rear portion of the flat bottom portion juxtaposed the rear of the U-shaped frame for securing the U-shaped frame to a bow, a deck, a gunnel or another structural member of a boat. The means at the outboard end of the U-shaped frame for providing chafe protection of the anchor line and for providing captivity of the anchor comprises a smooth round rod. The round rod forms an arcuate shape above and between the sides of the U-shaped frame, extends downwardly along respective edges of the sides and further extends a predetermined distance below said sides and forms an arcuate shape in a direction toward the rear of the U-shaped frame, ending at a respective opposite edge of an extended vertical portion of the sides which extends below the flat bottom portion. The rod is welded to the edges of the sides with which the rod is in contact and the arcuate shape formed above and between the sides of the U-shaped frame serves as a bail for captivating the anchor line or the shank of the anchor.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to apparatus for raising and lowering, and for storing or securing of anchors.
2. Description of Related Art
Boat anchor davits or anchor handling and securing assemblies are known in the art. These devices are typically over-the-gunnel devices and usually fall into two classes: bow rollers and boom or pulpit type. The boom or pulpit type anchor device ordinarily comprises a roller or fairlead permanently mounted on a pulpit, bow sprit or boom out over the water. Such a mount provides clearance from the side and gunwale as the anchor is retrieved and stored.
However, anchors come in many sizes, shapes and materials. When used with prior art davits, the exposed edges of the davit frames can cause chafing against the rode or anchor line when the anchor is lowered. As a boat moves about due to current and wind changes and rolls and pitches due to wave action, the anchor line or rode will rub or chafe against an edge of the davit thereby compromising the integrity of the line and potentially placing the boat in jeopardy. When an anchor is being raised, prior art davits are designed such that chafing, or damage to a surface of the boat, or injury to a person, can occur should the combination of roll and pitch of the boat as the anchor line is being raised cause the anchor to jump the roller of a davit. Chafing can also occur when the anchor line is deployed at large angles relative to the davit axis or boat centerline.
Known related art includes an anchor handling and securing assembly as depicted in U.S. Pat. No. 4,248,171 to Barbour. This device depicts a "Bruce" anchor with a roller assembly or davit; however, chafing of the anchor line and captivity of the anchor is not provided. Other prior art includes U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,899,924 and 3,082,730 to Good wherein both patents depict edges which can cause chafing of the anchor line. The '924 patent does include a bail 22 which can provide captivity features. Although the '730 patent does include a bail 40, it is rotatable and the anchor line could still jump the roller thus compromising the captivity feature provided by bail 40. Other known related anchor davits include U.S. Pat. No. 4,362,119 to Thimander, U.S. Pat. No. 2,608,174 to Sponenburg, U.S. Pat. No. 1,767,568 to Wills, U.S. Pat. No. Des. 323,483 to Patten, U.S. Pat. No. 1,739,359 to Hausenfluck, U.S. Pat. No. 1,636,944 to Schauman, U.S. Pat. No. 1,749,193 to Schauman et al., U.S. Pat. No. Des. 259,240 to Myron, U.S. Pat. No. 2,837,050 to Frank, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,556,007 to Awalt, Jr.
None of the devices in the above references solve the problem of providing both 100 percent chafe protection and total captivity of the anchor while being raised. A further object of the present invention is to provide a device to which an anchor can be secured after being raised and cannot thereafter jump the roller assembly and cause damage to the hull, deck, bow or gunnel or injury to a person standing nearby.


Methods and compositions for modulating mucin secretion by respiratory system cells are provided. In the subject methods, an effective amount of an hCLCA2 (or homolog thereof) modulatory agent is contacted with the cell to modulate mucin secretion, e.g., decrease or increase mucin secretion, by the cell. The subject methods find use in a variety of different applications, including the treatment of disease conditions associated with respiratory system mucin secretion, e.g., mucin hyper- or hyposecretion. Also provided are methods of screening for respiratory system mucin secretion modulatory agents. Finally, mCLCA4 and non-human homologs thereof, as well as nucleic acid compositions encoding the same, are provided.

Mucus is a thin film of protective viscoelastic liquid which lines the airways, gastrointestinal tract, and other organs containing mucus membranes. Mucus is an aqueous solution in which the major component is a glycoconjugate, known as mucin. Mucin secretion may be constitutive, regulated, or may occur in response to external stimuli, e.g., irritants.
In the lungs, improper or inappropriate mucus or mucin secretion, e.g., mucus hypersecretion, can result in severe medical conditions such as chronic bronchitis (CB), asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and bronchiectasis. Patients suffering from cystic fibrosis (CF) will manifest pulmonary disorders associated with mucus hypersecretion, and may also have gastrointestinal complications.
Chloride channels, widely distributed throughout various tissues, play roles as diverse as maintaining membrane potential in muscles to movement of Cl− for fluid and electrolyte transport in epithelial tissues. Several studies have suggested that a calcium activated secretory pathway for Cl− may play a role in modulating the disease severity in various tissues of CF patients. (See, Anderson and Welsh (1991) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 88:6003–6007; Knowles, et al. (1991) N. Engl. J. Med. 325:533–538; Mason, et al. (1991) Br. J. Pharmacol. 103:1649–1656; Wagner, et al. (1991) Nature 349:793–796; and Willumsen and Boucher (1989) Am. J. Physiol. 256(Cell Physiol. 25):C226–C235.)
A new family of proteins has recently been discovered that mediates a Ca2+-activated Cl− conductance in a variety of tissues. Members of this family that have been identified include: bovine lung endothelial cell adhesion molecule, Lu-ECAM-1 (Elble, et al. (1997) J. Biol. Chem. 272:27853–27861); bovine Ca2+-activated Cl−, CaCC or bCLCA1 (Cunningham, et al. (1995) J. Biol. Chem. 270:31016–31026); murine CLCA1, mCLCA1 (Gandhi, et al. (1998) J. Biol. Chem. 273:32096–32101); human CLCA1, hCLCA1 (Gruber, et al. (1998) Genomics 54:200–214); murine Gob-5, mGob-5 (Komiya, et al. (1999) Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm. 255:347–351; and human CLCA2, hCLCA2 (Gruber, et al. (1999) Am. J. Physiol. 276(Cell Physiol. 45):C1261–C1270.) Recently, Holroyd, et al., PCT publication No. WO 99/44620, described mouse and human channels that are induced by IL-9. Collectively, these channels are referred to as Calcium-activated Chloride Channels (CLCA).
It has been reported that the stimulation of chloride secretion results in the secretion of mucin from goblet cells in the intestinal epithelium. (Halm, et al. (1995) Am. J. Physiol. 269:929–942.) The murine Gob-5 gene, mGob-5, has been shown, through in situ hybridization, to be expressed in the mucus-secreting cells of the stomach, small intestine, colon, and uterus, along with slight expression in the trachea. (Komiya, et al. supra.) Similarly it was suggested that human CLCA1, the human homolog of mGob-5, may also have a role in mucus secretion. See e.g., Nakanishi et al., Proc. Nat'l Acad. Sci. USA (Apr. 24, 2001) 98: 5175–5180.
To date, however, a definitive chloride channel target for regulating mucin secretion has yet to be identified, particularly with respect to mucin secretion by cells of the respiratory system. As such, there is a continued need for the identification of a specific chloride channel target that can be used to modulate mucin secretion by respiratory system cells.
Relevant Literature
Publications disclosing hCLCA2 include: WO 00/73438; WO99/47674; and WO99/44620; as well as Genbank accession nos. AX054697; Z24653; AF043977; AB026833; AF127980; AA726662. See also Nakanishi et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2001 Apr. 24;98(9):5175–80.

Methods for diagnosing a mucin production associated disease condition


A semiconductor device having a first layer adjoining a semiconductor layer, and further comprising at least one field modification structure positioned such that, in use, a potential at the field modification structure causes an E-field vector at a region of an interface between the semiconductor and the first layer to be modified.

High voltage field effect transistors are known. A limit on the performance of such devices is the maximum voltage across the device that they withstand before breakdown mechanisms cause the current flow in the device to increase in an uncontrolled manner. This leads to loss of control of the device, and often to device failure due to ohmic heating of the device. One known way to increase the breakdown voltage is to use "field plates" to allow depletion regions to extend over greater distances with the device, thereby reducing local electric field strengths. However devices employing this technique may not last as long as expected.

Semiconductor device, and a method of improving breakdown voltage of a semiconductor device


An audio recording interface circuit having a multipurpose audio jack capable of recording voice information received/transmitted by using an external recording device in a facsimile. The audio recording interface circuit in a facsimile system, includes a voice selection unit for user selection of one of a voice signal transmitted/received through a communication path, a voice signal transmitted through a transmission path, and a voice signal received through a reception path and for outputting the selected voice signal, and an audio jack for connecting the selected voice signal with an external recorder.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to an audio recording interface circuit in a facsimile. More particularly, it relates to an audio recording interface circuit having an audio jack for recording many kinds of received/transmitted signals on an external recording apparatus in the facsimile system.
2. Related Art
In general a facsimile has an automatic answering function, and the function allows an automatic answering machine to dispatch a message stored therein in advance to a counterpart in the event that a telephone call comes in during absence of the user. Then, it can convert a message made by the counterpart into digital data so as to store it in a semiconductor memory. Thereafter, a user operates the automatic answering machine upon his return, and reproduces the message made by the counterpart; thereby, a user can listen to the message at that time.
The following patents are considered to be representative of the prior art relative to this application: U.S. Pat. No. 5,461,667 to Remillard, entitled Apparatus And Method For Electronic Device For Information Services, U.S. Pat. No. 5,524,137 to Rhee, entitled Multi-Media Messaging System, U.S. Pat. No. 5,062,133 to Melrose, entitled Multi-Function Telephone Call Management System, U.S. Pat. No. 5,396,536 to Yudkowsky, entitled Automatic Processing Of Calls With Different Communication Modes In A Telecommunications System, U.S. Pat. No. 5,056,132 to Coleman et al., entitled Switch Device Adapted To Interface Between An Incoming Telephone Line And An Internal Telephone System, U.S. Pat. No. 5,596,628 to Klein, entitled Method And Apparatus For Initiating Loading Of Software In A Personal Computer In Response To An Incoming Signal, U.S. Pat. No. 5,414,760 to Hokari, entitled Exchange For An ISDN Capable Of Controlling An Incoming Call By Kinds Of Communication, U.S. Pat. No. 5,499,287 to Campbell et al., entitled Fax-Telephone Interface Circuit, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,404,400 to Hamilton, entitled Outcalling Apparatus.
However, none of the above-mentioned patents discloses an audio recording interface circuit in a facsimile system having a voice selection unit colocated with a facsimile system for local user selection of a voice signal from among various voice signals in combination with an audio jack for providing the selected and outputted voice signal to an external recorder. Moreover, none of the patents discloses an audio recording interface circuit in a facsimile system having a key input unit colocated with a facsimile system and having a transmission voice selection key, a reception voice selection key, and a transmission/reception voice selection key, in combination with a control unit for outputting a voice selection signal for selecting a transmission voice, a reception voice, or a transmission/reception voice, as well as a selection switch responsive to the voice selection signal for selecting one of the possible voice sources and an audio jack for providing the corresponding voice signal from the selection switch to an external recording apparatus.
Moreover, systems of the prior art have been burdened by a disadvantage in that, since the semiconductor memory mounted in the automatic answering machine is a volatile memory, the messages recorded initially may be erased before the user can confirm the messages. Thus, a user may not be able to confirm the messages initially recorded in the event that a plurality of messages are recorded thereon. In addition, there has been another disadvantage with prior art facsimile machines in that one cannot record the communicated contents, the transmitted/received answering messages and facsimile communication signals.

Audio recording interface circuit for facsimile


At least one embodiment discloses a kitty litter scooper which is configured to receive at least one cover or at least one adapter. In at least one embodiment there is a scooping device comprising a handle and at least one head section. There can be at least one pusher and at least one cover wherein the cover is configured to cover over the head section. The pusher is configured to push the cover off of the head. In at least one embodiment, the pusher is configured to be coupled to the handle. In at least one other embodiment the handle extends along a longitudinal axis and the pusher is configured to slide along the handle.

At least one embodiment of the invention relates to a kitty litter scooper which is configured to receive a plurality of different covers or adapters. What is not known is a kitty litter scooper that is fully adjustable with an easily removable cover and which is adaptable for multiple uses.


A tester applies a high-voltage test signal across the probes of a high-voltage measuring apparatus, wherein at least one of the probes is mounted at a probe end of an elongated insulated pole. The tester includes a battery-powered generator for generating the test signal which is applied across two contact terminals, respectively adapted for connection to the probes. One of the contact terminals is disposed at the bottom of an elongated tubular socket which receives the probe end of the pole, the contact terminal including two conductive members spring-biased apart until the pole is inserted in the socket. The generator is energized through a switch which may be mounted on the generator housing. In one embodiment the other contact terminal is an alligator clip and in a second embodiment the other contact terminal is disposed in a second socket.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to voltage measuring apparatus for use with high-voltage circuits, such as high-voltage electric power transmissions systems and, in particular, to the testing of such measuring apparatus.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In high-voltage electrical systems, such as electrical transmission lines and equipment, it is frequently necessary to determine if selected lines or wires are energized and/or to measure the voltage between two points in the system, such as the voltage between two transmission lines or wires or the voltage between a single wire and ground. Because of the high voltage involved, it is essential that test personnel be able to safely connect the test equipment to the high voltage lines. For this purpose, elongated, insulated sticks or poles are used to permit personnel to contact electrically energized circuits.
One common type of test equipment is a voltmeter which includes two probes adapted to be electrically coupled to the two points in the high-voltage circuit between which electric potential is to be measured, and a meter connected between the two probes. In one form of this type of voltmeter, both of the probes are mounted at the ends of elongated insulated sticks or poles, and in another form one of the probes is on an insulated pole and the other probe may be at the end of a ground cable.
It is desirable to be able to test the operation of such voltmeters to determine electrical continuity within the voltmeter, to check the operability and calibration of the meter and to determine proper connection between the probes. Indeed, certain government regulations now require high voltage testing of such voltmeters before and after each use. Heretofore, this has been a significant inconvenience since high-voltage sources are not readily available. Accordingly, a crew typically has to be dispatched to a remote location where a known voltage source is available in order to confirm proper operation of the voltmeter.

Tester for high voltage measuring apparatus


An architecture for providing indoor planning data that can be used to increase the density of mobility networks. A method can comprise receiving, via network equipment, resource exhaustion data indicative of radio spectrum usage within a determined bin representing a defined geographic area; receiving, via the network equipment, traffic data associated with the determined bin, wherein the traffic data indicates a volume of data flowing into the determined bin; receiving, via the network equipment, coverage data representing a quality of service metric data indicative of a determined reference signal receive power metric; and based on applying a ranking process to the resource exhaustion data, the traffic data, and the coverage data, generating a ranked list of structures, wherein a structure of the ranked list of structures includes the determined bin.

Traffic volumes in mobility networks are growing very fast, more than ten-fold in the past couple of years. Radio spectrum and location within which new network equipment (e.g., mobile network operator (MNO) entity devices such as base station devices, and the like) is fast approaching exhaustion. Resource exhaustion (e.g., limited spectrum and/or places to situate network equipment) is particularly evident in the context of spectrum allocations, since assignable and/or usable spectrum is a finite/limited resource, and traffic volumes are growing at rates beyond the capacities of assignable spectrum.

Indoor planning for densifying mobility networks


In a fan control method, consecutive temperature values are acquired at a time interval. Whether a current temperature value is higher than a threshold is determined. A difference between the current temperature value and a previous temperature value is calculated when the current temperature value is higher than the threshold. A fan is speeded up and the time interval is greatly shortened when the temperature difference is higher than a first trigger value. Only the time interval is slightly shorten when the temperature difference falls between the first trigger value and a second trigger value less than the first trigger value. Nothing to do when the temperature difference falls between the second trigger value and a third trigger value less than the third trigger value. The fan is slowed down and the time interval is extended when the temperature difference is lower than the third trigger value.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to fan control systems and methods, and particularly to a fan control system and a method for automatically controlling fans.
2. Description of Related Art
Fan control is employed to control a speed of a fan depending on system temperature. For example, if the system temperature is higher than a threshold, the fan control speeds up the fan. In contrast, if the system temperature is lower than the threshold, the fan control slows down the fan. However, by speeding up the fan, the system temperature may fall below the threshold immediately and thus the fan control needs to slow down the fan accordingly. Similarly, by slowing down the fan, the system temperature may climb up the threshold immediately, and thus the fan control needs to speed up the fan. That is, the fan control becomes unstable when the system temperature various around the threshold.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a fan control system and a method for controlling fans using the fan control system, which can overcome the above-mentioned problem.

Fan control system and fan control method


Disclosed is a method for characterizing carbohydrate polymer by identifying at least two binding agents that bind to the carbohydrate polymer. Binding is preferably determined by contacting the carbohydrate polymer with substrate that contains a plurality of first saccharide-binding agents affixed at predetermined locations on the substrate. The carbohydrate polymer is allowed to contact the substrate under conditions that allow for formation of a first complex between the first saccharide-binding agent and the carbohydrate polymer. A second saccharide-binding agent, which preferably includes a label, is also contacted with the carbohydrate polymer under conditions that allow for formation of a second complex between the second binding agent and the first complex. Identification of the first and second binding agent allows for characterization of the polysaccharide.

Polysaccharides are polymers that include monosaccharide (sugar) units connected to each other via glycosidic bonds. These polymers have a structure that can be described in terms of the linear sequence of the monosaccharide subunits, which is known as the two-dimensional structure of the polysaccharide. Polysaccharides can also be described in terms of the structures formed in space by their component monosaccharide subunits.
A chain of monosaccharides that form a polysaccharide has two dissimilar ends. One end contains an aldehyde group and is known as the reducing end. The other end is known as the non-reducing end. A polysaccharide chain may also be connected to any of the C1, C2, C3, C4, or C6 atom if the sugar unit it is connected to is a hexose. In addition, a given monosaccharide may be linked to more than two different monosaccharides. Moreover, the connection to the C1 atom may be in either the α or β configuration. Thus, both the two-dimensional and three-dimensional structure of the carbohydrate polymer can be highly complex.
The structural determination of polysaccharides is of fundamental importance for the development of glycobiology. Research in glycobiology relates to subjects as diverse as the identification and characterization of antibiotic agents that affect bacterial cell wall synthesis, blood glycans, growth factor and cell surface receptor structures involved in viral disease, and autoimmune diseases such as insulin dependent diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and abnormal cell growth, such as that which occurs in cancer.
Polysaccharides have also been used in the development of biomaterials for contact lenses, artificial skin, and prosthetic devices. Furthermore, polysaccharides are used in a number of non-medical fields, such as the paper industry. Additionally, of course, the food and drug industry uses large amounts of various polysaccharides and oligosaccharides.
In all of the above fields, there is a need for improved saccharide analysis technologies. Saccharide analysis information is useful in, e.g., for quality control, structure determination in research, and for conducting structure-function analyses.
The structural complexity of polysaccharides has hindered their analysis. For example, saccharides are believed to be synthesized in a template-independent mechanism. In the absence of structural information, the researcher must therefore assume that the building units are selected from any of the saccharide units known today. In addition, these units may have been modified, during synthesis, e.g., by the addition of sulfate groups.
Second, saccharide can be connected at any of the carbon moieties, e.g., a the C1, C2, C3, C4, or C6 atom if the sugar unit it is connected to is a hexose. Moreover, the connection to the C1 atom may be in either α or β configuration.
Third, saccharides may be branched, which further complicates their structure and the number of possible structures that have an identical number and kind of sugar units.
A fourth difficulty is presented by the fact that the difference in structure between many sugars is minute, as a sugar unit may differ from another merely by the position of the hydroxyl groups (epimers).
The use of a plurality of such saccharide-binding agents, whether fixed to the substrate and/or employed as the second (soluble) saccbaride-binding agent, characterizes the carbohydrate polymer of interest by providing a "fingerprint" of the saccharide. Such a fingerprint can then be analyzed in order to obtain more information about the carbohydrate polymer. Unfortunately, the process of characterization and interpretation of the data for carbohydrate polymer fingerprints is far more complex than for other biological polymers, such as DNA for example. Unlike binding DNA probes to a sample of DNA for the purpose of characterization, the carbohydrate polymer fingerprint is not necessarily a direct indication of the components of the carbohydrate polymer itself. DNA probe binding provides relatively direct information about the sequence of the DNA sample itself, since under the proper conditions, recognition and binding of a probe to DNA is a fairly straightforward rocess. Thus, a DNA "fingerprint" which is obtained from probe binding can yield direct information about the actual sequence of DNA in the sample.
By contrast, binding of agents to carbohydrate polymers is not nearly so traightforward. As previously described, even the two-dimensional structure (sequence) of carbohydrate polymers is more complex than that of DNA, since carbohydrate polymers can be branched. These branches clearly affect the three-dimensional structure of the polymer, and hence the structure of the recognition site for the binding agent. In addition, recognition of binding epitopes on carbohydrate polymers by the binding agents may be affected by the "neighborhood" of the portion of the molecule which is surrounding the epitope. Thus, the analysis of such "fingerprint" data for the binding of agents to the carbohydrate polymer of interest is clearly more difficult than for DNA probe binding, for example.
A useful solution to this problem would enable the fingerprint data to be analyzed in order to characterize the carbohydrate polymer. Such an analysis would need to transform the raw data, obtained from the previously described process of incubating saccharide-binding agents with the carbohydrate polymer, into a fingerprint which would itself contain information. The fingerprint would also need to be standardized for comparison across different sets of experimental conditions and for different types of saccharide-binding agents. Unfortunately, such a solution is not currently available.
In spite of these difficulties, a number of methods for the structural analysis of saccharides have been developed. For example, PCT Application No. WO 93/24503 discloses a method wherein monosaccharide units are sequentially removed from the reducing end of an oligosaccharide by converting the monosaccharide at the reducing end to its keto- or aldehyde form, and then cleaving the glycosidic bond between the monosaccharide and the next monosaccharide in the oligosaccharide chain by using hydrazine. The free monosaccharides are separated from the oligosaccharide chain and identified by chromatographic methods. The process is then repeated until all monosaccharides have been cleaved.
PCT Application No. WO 93/22678 discloses a method of sequencing an unknown oligosaccharide by making assumptions upon the basic structure thereof, and then choosing from a number of sequencing tools (such as glycosidases) one which is predicted to give the highest amount of structural information. This method requires some basic information as to the oligosaccharide structure (usually the monosaccharide composition). The method also illustrates the fact that reactions with sequencing reagents are expensive and time-consuming, and therefore there is a need for a method that reduces these expenses.
PCT Application No. WO 93/22678 discloses a method for detecting molecules by probing a monolithic array of probes, such as oligodeoxynucleotides, immobilized on a VLSI chip. This publication teaches that a large number of probes can be bound to an immobilized surface, and the reaction thereof with an analyte detected by a variety of methods, using logic circuitry on the VLSI chip.
European Patent Application No. EP 421,972 discloses a method for sequencing oligosaccharides by labeling one end thereof, dividing the labeled oligosaccharide into aliquots, and treating each aliquot with a different reagent mix (e.g. of glycosidases), pooling the different reaction mixes, and then analyzing the reaction products, using chromatographic methods. This method is useful for N-linked glycans only, as they have a common structure at the point where the saccharide chain is linked to the protein. O-linked glycans are more varied, and the method has as yet not been adapted for such oligosaccharides with greater variability in their basic structure.
There is therefore a need for a system and method for characterizing polysaccharides using an accurate, high throughput method for identifying agents that bind to the polysaccharide.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method for characterizing a carbohydrate polymer


An asymmetry compensator for measuring and correcting of asymmetry in magnetic recording devices. The magnetic recording device includes a read head, an asymmetry compensator, a data decoder, and an analog-to-digital converter. The read head produces a read data signal that contains potential errors due to asymmetry. The read data signal is processed into a compensated data signal by the asymmetry compensator. The asymmetry compensator includes a power of two squaring device, a gamma amplifier, and a summing junction connected in a feed forward manner. The gamma amplifier uses an approach involving, for a positive isolated pulse, the amplitude of the positive pulse and the undershoot and, for a negative isolated pulse, the amplitude of the negative pulse and the overshoot. The approach further involves probabilities and weights in a weighted average to account for any variations with frequency. The approach may be performed in either the analog or digital domain.

In magnetic recording devices, magneto-resistive heads are commonly used for reading signals encoded on a recording media. The recording media may take a number of forms including a disk or a tape. The signals are often in digital format. The digital information is stored on the recording media as a sequence of magnetic flux changes. One flux direction is designated as a logic one and the other flux direction is designated as a logic zero. When the signal is being read back off of the recoding media by the magneto-resistive head, the read head generates a positive voltage pulse for one flux direction and a negative voltage pulse for the other flux direction. Unfortunately, the amplitude of the pulses may not be identical. This is known as asymmetry in the read head. The amount of asymmetry may vary from head to head. The asymmetry can result in unwanted read errors.

Measuring and correcting asymmetry in magnetic recording devices


Provided by the invention is a method for the preparation of a magnetically anisotropic permanent magnet mainly consisting of crystallites of the Nd.sub.2 Fe.sub.14 B phase. The method comprises the steps of:(a) preparing an amorphous alloy of neodymium, iron and boron in molar fractions corresponding to the Nd.sub.2 Fe.sub.14 B phase or a nanocomposite of the Nd.sub.2 Fe.sub.14 B/Fe.sub.3 B or Nd.sub.2 Fe.sub.14 B/Fe system, for example, by the melt-spun method; and (b) subjecting the amorphous alloy of neodymium, iron and boron to a heat treatment in a magnetic field of at least 3 T (tesla) at a temperature in the range from 550 to 800.degree. C. for a length of time in the range from 1.times.10.sup.2 to 1.times.10.sup.4 seconds in an atmosphere of a non-reactive gas or vacuum.

The present invention relates to a method for the preparation of a rare earth-based permanent magnet having outstandingly high magnetic anisotropy or, more particularly, to a method for the preparation of a rare earth-based permanent magnet of the neodymium-iron-boron type having outstandingly high magnetic anisotropy.
As is well known, a a method for the preparation of a rare earth-based permanent magnet of the neodymium-iron-boron type, referred to as a Nd--Fe--B magnet hereinafter, has very excellent magnetic properties and the material cost for the preparation thereof is remarkably low as compared with the samarium-cobalt magnets so that consumption of Nd--Fe--B magnets is rapidly increasing.
Like rare earth based magnet alloys of other types, the method for the preparation of a Nd--Fe--B magnet alloy includes the melting method and the quenching method, of which the former method is more widely practiced in the magnet industry than the latter method. In the melting method, high purity metallic or elemental materials of neodymium, iron and boron are taken in such a proportion as to correspond to the alloy composition of Nd.sub.2 Fe.sub.14 B or somewhat richer than that relative to the amounts of neodymium and boron and they are melted together to form an alloy melt which is cast to form an ingot to be pulverized into fine particles having an average particle diameter of a few micrometers.
The fine particles of the rare earth based magnet alloy are then shaped by compression molding in a magnetic field to give a green body or powder compact which is subjected to a heat treatment first to effect sintering at a temperature of about 1100.degree. C. and then for aging at a lower temperature to give a sintered rare earth magnet having magnetic anisotropy. The above mentioned compression molding of the alloy particles in a magnetic field is effective to accomplish alignment of the alloy particles relative to the axis of easy magnetization of the individual particles so as to impart the sintered magnet with magnetic anisotropy reported in, for example, Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, volume 26, 1987, page 785, by M. Sagawa, et al.
The above mentioned quenching method is also called the meltspun method, according to which a melt of the magnet alloy is ejected from an orifice at the surface of a quenching drum rotating at a high speed so that the alloy melt is instantaneously solidified in the form of a thin ribbon which is amorphous or has relatively low crystallinity (see, for example, Physics Letters, volume 46, 1985, page 790 by R. W. Lee, and other reports). The thus obtained thin ribbon of the magnet alloy by quenching is processed into a magnet body in several different ways including the processes called MQ1, MQ2 and MQ3.
In the MQ1 process, the quenched thin ribbons of the magnet alloy are pulverized into a fine powder which is blended with a resinous material as a binder and the blend is shaped into the form of a magnet body which is a kind of so-called bond magnets. Though advantageous in respect of the low costs for magnet production, the MQ1 process is disadvantageous due to the relatively low magnetic properties of the bond magnet which is not magnetically anisotropic but isotropic because no measure is undertaken for the alignment of the magnet particles relative to the axis of easy magnetization in addition to the low packing density of the magnet particles in the blend. In the MQ2 process, the thin ribbons obtained by quenching of the alloy melt are finely pulverized and shaped as such in a hot press into the form of a magnet body which is a magnetically isotropic bulk magnet. In the MQ3 process, the MQ2 magnet is further subjected to a plastic working at a high temperature so as to accomplish alignment of the axis of easy magnetization in the direction of compression. A further processing of the MQ3 magnet is reported, in which an MQ3 magnet is pulverized and the powder is blended with a binder resin to give a blend which is shaped by compression molding in a magnetic field so as to give a magnetically anisotropic bond magnet although this process is not industrialized because of the high costs for the process involving very complicated steps.
As compared with the anisotropic bulk magnets of Nd--Fe--B magnet alloys, bond magnets are mostly isotropic as is the case with the MQ1 magnets and anisotropic bond magnets are still at a beginning stage of development presumably due to the fact that a great decrease is caused in the coercive force of the magnet when an ingot of the Nd--Fe--B magnet alloy or a sintered magnet is finely pulverized.
In view of the above described problems, a method has been developed and is reported by T. Takesita, et al. in Proceedings of 10th International Workshop on Rare Earth Magnets and Their Applications, Tokyo, 1989, page 339, in which the Nd.sub.2 Fe.sub.14 B alloy is subjected to a heat treatment in an atmosphere of hydrogen gas to give an agglomerate of fine crystallites of the alloy. This process comprises the successive steps of hydrogenation, disproportionation, desorption and recombination and sometimes called the HDDR process. It is further known that the particles obtained therein can be imparted with magnetic anisotropy when the alloy is admixed with certain adjuvant elements such as cobalt, gallium, zirconium, hafnium and the like so as to enable preparation of an anisotropic bond magnet of the Nd--Fe--B alloy. This method, which is relatively simple, is now under active investigations although several problems and disadvantages are involved therein that the crystallite diameter therein is larger by almost one order than in the quenching method to cause a difficulty in the application of the method to the nanocomposite materials discussed later, that a great danger against the workers' safety is unavoidable in the heat treatment in an atmosphere of hydrogen gas and that the desirable magnetic anisotropy cannot be obtained without addition of the adjuvant elements.
As an outcome of the development works for a rare earth based permanent magnet of the next generation having further improved magnetic properties, the so-called nanocomposite magnet materials are now highlighted as is reported in IEEE Transaction Magnetics, volume 27, 1991, page 3858 by E. F. Kneller, et al. and elsewhere. The nanocomposite magnet material is a two-phase composite dispersion system consisting of a hard magnetic phase and a soft magnetic phase each finely dispersed in the other with a fineness of the order of several tens of nanometers. By virtue of the magnetization coupling of both phases with the exchange interaction, the soft magnetic phase in the composite is strongly inhibited from inversion of magnetization so that the composite body as a whole exhibits a behavior like a single hard magnetic phase to give a possibility of obtaining a further increased saturation magnetization without causing a decrease in the coercive force. According to the calculation reported by R. Skomski, et al. in Physical Review, volume B48, 1993, page 15812, a maximum energy product (BH).sub.max of as high as 137 MGOe could be obtained in the Sm.sub.2 Co.sub.17 N.sub.3 /Fe-Co system assuming accomplishment of magnetic anisotropy therein.
The nanocomposite magnet systems heretofore investigated include the system of Nd.sub.2 Fe.sub.14 B/Fe.sub.3 N reported by R. Coehorn in Journal de Physique, volume 49, 1988, page C8-669, Nd.sub.2 Fe.sub.14 B/Fe disclosed in Japanese Patent Kokai 7-173501 and 7-176417 and reported by L. Withanawasam, et al. in Journal of Applied Physics, volume 76, 1994, page 7065, Sm.sub.2 Co.sub.17 N.sub.3 /Fe reported by J. Ding, et al. in Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials, volume 124, 1993, page L1, and others. As a method for the preparation of the two-phase composite systems in the nanocomposite materials disclosed there, a thin ribbon or powder of an amorphous alloy obtained by the melt-spun method or mechanical alloying method is subjected to a heat treatment to cause formation of microcrystallites.
Because of the non-alignment of the particles relative to the axis of easy magnetization, the nanocomposite magnets obtained heretofore are limited to isotropic magnets which are inferior to the magnetically anisotropic magnets in the magnetic properties.

Method for the preparation of rare earth based anisotropic permanent magnet


An insulated duct-wrap insulating product for an air duct that incorporates a wicking media to transport condensed water on the duct surface to be evaporated into the atmosphere. A wicking fabric, or fibrous media, incorporated as part of the insulating duct wrap is in contact with the metal air duct surface. A portion of the wicking fabric extends into the interior of the air duct, typically through joints in the duct system. When water vapor condenses on the air duct surface it is transported by the wicking fabric and evaporated from the wick surface within the air stream being transported by the ducting system.

Generally, heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems include such equipment as air handling units and air ducts. Typically, HVAC systems are provided with duct insulation for thermal and/or acoustic purposes. Conventional duct insulation used in HVAC systems typically includes a facing layer adhered to an insulation layer. The duct insulation is installed with the facing layer of the duct insulation positioned away from the air duct. During periods of high relative humidity, water vapor may condense on the air duct. The facing layer is typically non-porous such that the facing surface acts as a barrier between the insulation body and the external environment. As such, the duct insulation is not conducive to the escape or dissipation of the condensed water vapor on or within the insulation layer. Even when the duct insulation is unfaced the condensed water vapor may remain on the duct surface or trapped in the insulation layer. As a result, damage may be caused by the condensed water vapor to the air duct, the insulation layer, or the facing layer.

Duct insulation having condensate wicking

Owens Corning Fiberglas Technology, Inc.


A robot controllable by a portable device, the robot including a head configured to removably retain the portable device, a support removably mounted to the head, and a base mounted to the support, the base including a first wheel coaxially aligned with a second wheel and a balancing mechanism configured to maintain the head within a predetermined range of angular positions relative to a gravity vector based on instructions received from the portable device.

Telepresence systems are becoming increasingly desirable with the increased employment of distributed teams and decreased cost of teleconference infrastructure. However, conventional telepresence systems are typically designed for static desktop applications, and are unsuitable for applications in which a remote user views and interacts with a variety of remote spaces. While telepresence robots do exist, conventional robots tend to be specialized in a given field and are unsuitable for consumer use. Furthermore, due to their specialization, conventional robots tend to be expensive, bulky, and laborious to update. Thus, there is a need in the telepresence field to create a new and useful robot suitable for consumer consumption.


A heat exchanger includes first and second heat exchanging units arranged between first and second header units, and a plurality of refrigerant circuits each defining a refrigerant path, through which refrigerant introduced into the first header unit is discharged out of the first header unit after exchanging heat in the first and second heat exchanging units.

1. Field
Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a heat exchanger, and, more particularly, to a heat exchanger made of an aluminum material.
2. Description of the Related Art
An air conditioner is a system configured to control heat and humidity of ambient air. Heat exchange of such an air conditioner with ambient air is achieved by a simple refrigeration cycle.
The refrigeration cycle may include a compressor, a condenser, an expansion valve, and an evaporator. High-temperature and high-pressure refrigerant emerging from the compressor exchanges heat with outdoor air while passing through the condenser, so that it is changed into a low temperature state. The refrigerant is then changed into a low-temperature and low-pressure state while passing through the expansion valve. The low-temperature and low-pressure refrigerant subsequently exchanges heat with indoor air while passing through the evaporator, so that the indoor air is cooled.
Heat exchangers are classified into a heat exchanger for a vehicle and a domestic heat exchanger in accordance with the installation place thereof. The vehicle heat exchanger and domestic heat exchanger are different from each other in terms of the kind of refrigerant used therein and the operation environments of the installation place thereof such as air flow and air velocity. For this reason, these heat exchangers have different design factors in terms of material and size, in order to obtain optimal heat exchange efficiencies.


A hand tool (10), including: a handle (14) at a handle end (16) of an elongated main body (12); an arcuate shaped contact surface (20) on a base end (22) of the elongated main body opposite the handle end; a support strut (35) extending laterally from the elongated main body; and a connection structure (26) disposed at a distal end of the support strut, between the handle end and the arcuate shaped contact surface. The handle is positioned on a concave side (18) of the arcuate shaped contact surface along a line (50) perpendicular to a tangent (52) of the arcuate shaped contact surface, and the perpendicular line traverses a middle 80% of the arcuate shaped contact surface.

Wires, tubes, and other various long and at least somewhat flexible items are often disposed within protective conduits to prevent damage to them and/or to prevent harm to others via inadvertent contact with the items. However, the wires and tubes possess an inherent rigidity which, together with friction, usually impedes the process of drawing them through the conduit. In such cases a lead, such as a more flexible rope or a ribbon tape etc., may first be fed through the conduit to the waiting wires and/or tubes. The lead is then fastened to a leading end of the wires/tubes and the lead is pulled back to its entry point. Oftentimes the resistance of the threading operation exceeds an amount of force a person would be able to exert to complete the threading operation manually. As a result various tools have been developed to aid the person in the threading process. However, many of these tools, for example, wenches, are complex, heavy, in some cases expensive, and require a minimum amount of operating space. In addition, in many cases a winch may be more suited for heavy duty pulling when only a relatively moderate amount of pulling force is actually needed. It is common for heavy duty pullers to operate at a relatively slow speed to effect the high forces needed, and in the construction industry speed is often a paramount consideration. Consequently there remains room in the art for improvement.


The low-molecular-weight compound represented by the general formula (1): ArX-(Linker)-ArYHB (1), wherein ArX is a structure containing an optionally substituted aromatic six-membered ring, ArYHB is a structure containing an optionally substituted aromatic six-membered ring having a proton donor, the atom group “Linker” has not less than 4 and not more than 30 atoms and binds ArX with ArYHB, is used for binding a proteinaceous substance.

In recent years, demand of a biological polymer, such as a protein, an enzyme and a nucleic acid, has been drastically increased for biopharmaceuticals. In general, biopharmaceuticals are generally produced through a cultivation step and a subsequent separation-purification step. It is therefore coveted to establish an easy purification technology in a large scale in addition to a cultivation technology for improving an expression level of a target substance.
In order to purify a protein, a chromatographic isolation method is generally used, such as ion-exchange chromatography, hydrophobic interaction chromatography, reversed-phase chromatography, gel filtration chromatography and affinity chromatography. However, it is very difficult to obtain a pure target protein using only one purification technology, since there are many kinds of proteins in a culture medium after a cultivation step. Therefore, a purification process in which several methods are used in combination is generally employed (Patent Document 1).
Recently, an antibody drug has been actively developed as a medical protein. An antibody drug means a medicinal drug which utilizes a function of an antibody. An antibody drug reduces the side effects of a conventional medical drug and is expected to have a high therapeutic effect, since the antibody drug specifically acts on a target molecule.
An antibody drug actually contributes to an improvement of various disease conditions. However, with respect to an antibody drug, it is said that the purity thereof profoundly affects the quality in comparison with other medical proteins, since the antibody drug is administered to a living body in a large amount.
In order to produce a highly pure antibody, an affinity chromatography method, in which a molecule having a property to specifically bind to the target antibody is used as a ligand, is generally used. A monoclonal IgG antibody is mainly developed as an antibody drug, and Protein A which is produced by Staphylococcus is well-known as a ligand having an affinity for an IgG antibody.
For example, in an early stage of a purifying step, i.e. capturing step, of a process for producing an antibody drug, a column for affinity chromatography in which Protein A is immobilized as a ligand on a water-insoluble base material is generally used (Non-patent Document 1 and Non-patent Document 2). Hereinafter, such a column for affinity chromatography is referred to as "Protein A column".
However, Protein A needs a high producing cost; therefore, various technological developments are promoted to improve the properties of a column. For example, a ligand is modified in a protein engineered approach to increase an amount to be bound to a column (Patent Document 2 and Patent Document 3) and to improve an alkalinity-resistance for washing (Patent Document 4 and Patent Document 5).
On the other hand, a replacement for Protein A is developed. For example, a base material on which a synthesized low-molecular-weight compound having a property to bind to an antibody is marketed as MAbsorbent (trade mark) manufactured by ProMetic BioSciences Ltd.
As a low-molecular-weight compound which can bind to an antibody, a sulfone derivative (Patent Document 6), a triazine derivative (Patent Document 7), a mercapto heterocyclic ring compound (Patent Document 8), a 4-pyridylethylthioalkyl derivative (Non-patent Document 3) and a thiazole derivative (Patent Document 9) are well-known. The compounds are excellent in a chemical and physical stability.
However, there is fear that the above-described replacements for Protein A exhibit a non-specific adsorption depending on the basic structure thereof.