A method for screening mobile application part (MAP) messages in a transit network is provided. Signaling messages are received from a first network. SCCP called party address information is extracted from each signaling message. If the called party address matches first SCCP screening criteria, it is determined whether the signaling message is a targeted MAP message type. If the signaling message is a targeted MAP message type, a screening action is performed. Different MAP screening criteria may be applied for different destination networks.

In conventional SS7 networks, message screening can occur at signal transfer points (STPs) in order for the service provider that owns the STP and the associated network to control access to the network. For example, a service provider may desire to only route SS7 signaling messages that are from another service provider with which the first service provider has an agreement. Another example in which screening may be desirable is when a service provider wishes to block certain types of traffic, such as spam short message service (SMS) messages, from entering the network. Yet another example in which it may be desirable to screen incoming SS7 messages is when the messages request information regarding the service provider's subscribers. In this example, it may be desirable to block such queries, charge a fee for the queries, or only allow queries of a certain type or from an authorized destination.
Screening of incoming SS7 messages at an STP has traditionally been performed at the message transfer part (MTP) or the signaling connection control part (SCCP) level. While screening at the MTP or SCCP levels may be effective for controlling traffic to or from a particular node, such screening does not effectively allow screening based on upper layer protocols in messages, such as the MAP protocol.
MAP messages are carried by the MAP protocol layer, which resides on top of the SS7 transaction capabilities application part (TCAP) and SCCP protocol layers. MAP messages provide services used by mobile telephone subscribers, such as anytime interrogation (ATI) service, short message service (SMS), and roaming service. Anytime interrogation service is a service in which queries can be sent from SS7 service control points (SCPs) to home location registers (HLRs) to determine information regarding mobile subscribers. It may be desirable for the owner of the HLR to identify ATI messages and determine whether the requester should be given access to the information. Similarly, it may be desirable to identify and either block or charge for SMS messages. For MAP messages associated with roaming subscribers, it may be desirable only to route messages from networks with which the routing network has a roaming agreement.
Previous techniques used to screen MAP messages rely on calling party address information contained in the SCCP portions of the messages. Screening MAP messages based on SCCP calling party information is useful for a telecommunications service provider to protect its subscribers and network infrastructure from different types of MAP messages from different sources. For example, screening based on SCCP calling party information in addition to MAP information may allow a telecommunications service provider to protect its subscribers from unauthorized anytime interrogation messages from a specific source network.
While screening based on calling party information allows a service provider to identify whether messages are from authorized senders, such screening techniques lack flexibility. For example, if the screening node is in a transit network located between a sending network and one or more receiving networks, it may be desirable to selectively screen messages based on the receiving network in addition or instead of the sending network. This situation may occur when one receiving network allows certain types of MAP messages into its network while another network does not allow that type of MAP messages. Screening on SCCP calling party information alone does not allow such distinctions to be made.
Accordingly, in light of the difficulties associated with conventional message screening, there exists a need for improved methods and systems for screening MAP messages in a transit network based on called party information in addition to or instead of calling party information.

Methods and systems for mobile application part (MAP) screening in transit networks


In a hybrid vehicle, the charging power of a power storage device can be generated through power generation by a motor generator by using an output of an engine. In response to operation of an SOC recovery switch, an ECU executes SOC recovery control for increasing an SOC of the power storage device to an SOC target value. The SOC target value in the SOC recovery control is set to be higher than an SOC control target when the SOC recovery control is not in execution. The ECU variably sets the SOC target value in the SOC recovery control based on a past driving history of the hybrid vehicle.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hybrid vehicle, and more particularly, to a hybrid vehicle having a mode of increasing an amount of charge stored in a power storage device to a target value.
Description of the Background Art
Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2003-235108 (hereinafter referred to as "PTD 1") describes a vehicle control device configured to increase an amount of charge (hereinafter also referred to as "SOC (State of Charge)") stored in a battery in response to driver's operation of a charging switch, in order to allow motored traveling in accordance with the driver's intention.
PTD 1 describes that a target charging amount (target SOC) of the battery is increased when a vehicle enters a charging mode in response to operation of the charging switch. In response thereto, an engine output is adjusted as appropriate and power generation is performed by a generator, whereby the SOC can be increased as compared with the SOC at the normal time. For example, PTD 1 describes that the target SOC is normally 60(%), while the target SOC is increased to 70(%) in the charging mode.

Hybrid vehicle having mode of increasing amount of charge stored in power storage device to target value and control method for hybrid vehicle


A method of determining the mass flow speed of a granular material through a channel by means of electromagnetic waves, preferably in the microwave area. According to the invention, either the attenuation or the phase-shift is measured or both the attenuation and the phase-shift and optionally also the reflection. Based on the knowledge of both the reflection and the absorption it is possible to determine the type of grains being involved because the proportion of these magnitudes is characteristic of the various types. When measuring especially oil-containing grains which are able to have an effect on the dielectricity constant, it is advantageous to measure the phase of the transmitted signal because the phase-shift is substantially proportional to the flow of such grains.

Several systems have been suggested for such a measuring of the flow, such as by means of yielding guard plates being pushed more or less backwards in response to the force they are subjected to by an incoming falling flow of the granular material. It has, however, been recognized that such mechanical measuring methods are too uncertain and that it is possible to employ a more advanced measuring technique based on radioactive radiation. Thus it has been found that it is possible to achieve a well-defined expression of the mass flow of a granular material by said flow passing a measuring area, where a radioactive radiation is emitted from one side of said measuring area towards an opposing side where a receiver detects the radiation and continuously detects the amount of radiation absorbed by the grain flow. In this manner it is possible to determine the mass flow.
Although it is thereby possible to employ radioactive sources which are in fact of a neglectable size, the Authorities have declared that such sources should be avoided because they require so much inspection that an inspection of thousands of moving units would be completely unrealistic.
According to the invention it has been recognized that it is possible to use an officially acceptable type of radiation-based mass determination. In other words it is possible to use electromagnetic microwaves in a frequency area where a predetermined quantity of radiation has been allowed. Besides it is by the present invention sufficient to employ a power of the magnitude of 1 W, whereby suitable shieldings may secure that the radiation problems are reduced to an acceptable level.
It is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,628,830 to perform a continuous determination of the mass flow in a flow of granular material by means of microwaves. However, this publication deals only with absorption of the wave energy caused by the water content in a coal powder fed to a burner in a power station. The measuring is performed on a falling flow of the material in a pipe where a microwave generator is placed opposite a receiver. In this manner it is possible to measure the amount of energy absorbed in the material, or rather to obtain an expression of the variations applying to the mass flow and thereby to calibrate said variations into an expression of the mass flow. A measuring of the water flow is aimed at, where said water flow in a predetermined material represents the flow of the material itself for a predetermined water content.
The above is possible as long as the material in question is almost homogeneous. A fundamental condition applies, however, to combine harvesters, namely, that the measuring device must be able to operate with various types of material which in no way is homogeneous. The major advantage obtained by the use of the above radioactive radiation is indeed that it is possible to operate with a well-defined calibration of the equipment for various types of grains and seeds.
A substantially analogous use of microwaves does not provide a similar result. Tests performed on microwaves of the type being commercially used exactly for emission of energy into wet substances turned out to be extremely unfortunate, for instance in connection with absorption of energy for heating products in microwave ovens, as it turned out to be impossible by means of one and the same equipment to obtain merely tolerably correct measurements of various mass flows of various granular materials.
It has, however, nevertheless become possible by the invention to base the measurings on the use of microwaves. A method of determining the mass flow speed of a granular material, such as grains, through a channel by means of electromagnetic waves, microwaves from a transmitter to a receiver is characterised in that the attenuation and/or the phase-shift for the main signal and optionally the reflection are measured, the amplitude and the phase shift being measured by comparing the main signal through the material with a reference signal of the same frequency, the reference signal being provided by comparing the output of the transmitter with an injection signal, said compared signal being transmitted through a separate connection to the receiver.
The increased frequency, such as 10 GHz compared to 2 to 3 GHz, results in a considerably higher radiation reflection without considerably influencing the radiation absorption in the material. In other words, the attenuation can be predominantly ascribed to the reflection. At the same time the undesired reflection from the walls of the chamber is increased, and under unchanged conditions the latter renders it almost impossible to obtain useful results.
The associated minimizing of the wall reflection can be obtained in several ways optionally in combination. The chamber can be structured so as not exactly to facilitate reflections towards the measuring window, and it can be coated with radiation-absorbing material, such as sheet material of plastics with carbon powder cast therein. A preferred, although rather complicated possibility is to structure the transmitter aerial system in such a way that the radiation is directed sharply towards the measuring window, whereby only a minor amount of primary radiation causes wall reflections. Good results are obtained by means of slot aerials and focusing parabolic reflectors.
Furthermore, it is important to arrange the measuring chamber in a steady environment. Combine harvesters comprise many metal parts moving relative to one another, and as metal is a good conductor for microwaves, such parts can cause disturbances in the measuring field adjacent the measuring chamber. Although the measuring field adjacent the measuring chamber is shielded, the external forces may, however, manifest themselves to such an extent that a high measuring accuracy aimed at is reduced in case significant vibrations apply. It has surprisingly been found that the measuring chamber is most suitably placed on the location where the radioactive measuring system was previously placed.
On this measuring location, namely, at the top of a pipe bending on a grain channel hoop, the radioactive system aimed at an almost homogeneous distribution of the material transverse to the grain flow, and this is another advantageous aspect of the technique using said measuring location according to the invention because this technique also turned out to operate in the best possible manner with a homogeneous distribution of material. The latter would be of no importance or at least far less importance in connection with measurings based on absorption.
A further incentive for increasing the frequency of the microwaves by the invention is that in order to obtain the desired reflection effect from the various types of grains and seeds it is necessary to take into account that some of these products, such as grass seeds, are of such a small grain size that the grain diameter is smaller than the wavelength of ordinary microwaves for heating purposes and for measuring absorption attenuation, respectively. In view thereof it is according to the invention preferred to operate with a frequency of approximately 22 GHz, i.e. approximately 10 times higher than the frequency for ordinary microwaves, and consequently it is additionally obvious that one should concentrate on attenuation measurings based on reflection rather than absorption.
It is, of course, correct that it is impossible to ignore the attenuation caused by an absorption of the microwave energy in the passing material due to the water content thereof. The importance thereof can indeed be weakened by the use of higher frequencies, but the absorption effect is still a significant factor. Accordingly, it has been accepted that for a good measuring accuracy it is advantageous to perform a supplemental determination of the water content in the measuring mass by means of an independent measuring equipment in or close to the measuring site for the mass flow.

Method of determining the mass flow of a flow of grains


It is an object of the invention to provide an apparatus for transporting a transported object in a transporting direction as the transported object is supported by air, the apparatus having a plurality of transporting units. A specific transporting unit of the plurality of transporting units is controlled based on the transporting state of at least one other transporting unit. Thus, it is possible to reduce the number of problems that may occur during transporting.

The present invention relates to transporting apparatuses provided with a plurality of transporting means aligned in the transporting direction, each transporting means being provided with air-supplying-type support means for blowing air toward a lower surface portion of a transported object to contactlessly support the transported object and drive force application means for applying a drive force in the transporting direction to the transported object that is supported by air-supplying-type support means, and control means for controlling operation of the plurality of transporting means.
Such transporting apparatuses transport transported objects such as glass substrates for liquid crystal displays with the plurality of transporting means aligned in the transporting direction. In each transporting means, the drive force application means applies a drive force to the transported object, which is contactlessly supported by the air-supplying-type support means, to for example support a section of the transported object, such as both or one end of the transported object, in a contacting manner, thereby transporting the transported object by transferring it from the transporting means positioned on the upstream side in the transporting direction to the transporting means positioned on the downstream side in the transporting direction.
Among conventional transporting apparatuses, there are those in which the orientation in which a transported object is transported is horizontal or substantially horizontal, and those in which the transported object is transported in a vertical or near vertical orientation. Each will be explained next.
A conventional transporting apparatuses in which transported objects are transported in a horizontal or substantially horizontal orientation is described first. The air-supplying-type support means supplies air toward an intermediate portion of the lower surface portion between both end portions of the transported object that is transported in a horizontal or substantially horizontal orientation. The drive force application means has drive rotors for applying a drive force to support, in a contacting manner, both ends of a transported object that is transported in a horizontal or substantially horizontal orientation.
Also, a plurality of transporting means provided with such air-supplying-type support means and drive force application means are arranged adjacent to one another in the transporting direction, and by the control means starting the operation of the transporting means in accordance with an order to start operation, for example, a transported object that is transported in a horizontal or substantially horizontal orientation is transferred to the transporting means adjacent downstream in the transporting direction (for example, see JP 2002-321820A).
A conventional transporting apparatuses for transporting a transported object in a vertical or near vertical orientation is described next. The air-supplying-type support means is configured so as to blow air toward an intermediate portion between both end portions of the lower surface portion of the transported object, which is transported in a vertical or near vertical orientation, and the drive force application means has drive rotors for applying a drive force to support, in a contacting manner, a lower end portion of a transported object that is transported in a vertical or substantially vertical orientation.
Also, a plurality of transporting means provided with such air-supplying-type support means and drive-force application means are arranged adjacent to one another in the transporting direction, and by the control means starting operation of the transporting means through an order to start operation, for example, a transported object in a vertical or near vertical orientation is transferred to the transporting means adjacent downstream in the transporting direction (for example, see JP 2002-308423A).
In the transporting apparatuses of the two documents mentioned above, since the control means simply starts operation of the transporting means through an operation start command, for example, a specific transporting means is controlled without consideration of the state of the other transporting means, and thus there is a risk that problems may occur.
For example, in the conventional transporting apparatuses, even if a transporting means adjacent on the downstream side in the transporting direction cannot contactlessly support and carry the transported object that it is to be transferred to it, there is a possibility that the transporting means that is positioned upstream in the transporting direction will start operation. Consequently, there was a risk that the transported object could not be contactlessly supported and transported, resulting in the transported object coming into contact with the transporting means, for example, and being damaged.
Also, in conventional transporting apparatuses, the control means simply activates the air-supplying-type support means and the drive force application means of the transporting means to which the object is to be transferred and of the transporting means that is further upstream in the transporting direction to the transporting means to which the object is to be transferred, and thus there is a risk that the transporting means to which the object is to be transferred will not be capable of contactlessly supporting the object to be transferred and the transported object will come into contact with, for example, the transporting means to which it is to be transferred and be damaged. That is to say, after the air-supplying-type support means starts operating, the amount of air that is blown toward the lower surface portion of the transported object is not immediately an amount that is capable of contactlessly supporting the transported object, and rather it takes time from the start of operation until the transported object can be contactlessly supported. Consequently, there is the problem that the time between when the air-supplying-type support means starts operating until when the transported object is transferred is short, leading to instances in which the air-supplying-type support means cannot contactlessly support the transported object.


Disclosed herein is a method for multimodal imaging during a medical procedure using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and Raman optical imaging which involves administering an MRI imaging contrast agent that a chemical structure having charge-transfer electronic transitions. The tissue is imaged using and MRI device and the tissue is illuminated with excitation light that has spectral components that are approximately tuned close to one of the charge-transfer electronic transitions thereby producing enhanced Raman optical signals which are analyzed to produce Raman imaging data followed by registering the MRI and Raman imaging data. The present disclosure also provides a method for ionizing laser plumes through atmospheric pressure chemical ionization.

A) Method for Multimodal Tissue Imaging Based on Resonance Raman Effect on Metal Based MRI Contrast Agents
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a widely used tissue imaging technique because it is non-invasive and it provides highly detailed 3D images. However, in cases like surgeries or research, there is often a challenge in spatially correlating optical images to MRI images of a tissue. The reason is that a tissue often moves uncontrollably or gets modified between MRI and optical imaging which causes loss of spatial correlations between the images. Frequent MRI scanning that would produce MRI images around the moment when optical images are acquired is impractical since MRI scans are long (typically between 15 and 90 min) and involve cumbersome instrumentation. An important example is a brain shift during neurosurgeries. Pre-op MRI scans are used for surgical navigation; however, during a craniotomy the brain often changes its position within the skull and/or can expand slightly through the hole in the skull which creates navigation errors and loss of correlation between pre-op MRI images and what a surgeon sees under an optical microscope.
For these reasons, it would be advantageous to have a contrast imaging agent that can provide imaging contrast for both MRI and optical imaging. In recent years, there have been efforts to develop multimodal imaging contrast agents. These multimodal contrast agents provide simultaneous contrast for different imaging modalities (MRI, ultrasound, Raman spectroscopy, etc.). This is advantageous since simultaneous contrast makes correlations between different imaging modalities possible thus increasing the overall informational content.
All multimodal contrast agents that combine MRI and optical modalities that have been disclosed so far are based on nanoparticles. While such approach shows great promise, this technology is still in the research phase and translation to clinical use can be long and uncertain. Thus developing a multimodal imaging method based on optical detection of existing chelated ion MRI contrast agents would be very advantageous.
B) Method for Ionizing Laser Plumes Through Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Ionization
Mass spectrometry is one of the most important diagnostic techniques for determining molecular composition of a sample. In case of samples in condensed phase, several processing steps are required for mass spectrometry analysis: (a) desorption of sample molecules i.e. moving sample molecules from the condensed into the gas phase; (b) ionization of the desorbed molecules; and (c) coupling such ionized sample molecules into a mass spectrometer. In case of fragile molecules, such as a majority of biological molecules, the first two steps involving desorption and ionization are critical since desorption and ionization processes are generally energy intensive; so it is easy to put excess energy into the sample molecules which can cause their modification or break-up. Recent advances in laser ablation techniques, which desorb molecules though creation of laser ablation plumes, make possible desorption with imparting minimal excess energy into desorbed sample molecules; however, the most optimal ionization method of such desorbed molecules is still to be determined.
One of the standard methods for ionizing gas phase molecules is atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) which consists of putting a sharp metal object under high voltage in the vicinity of sample molecules which are desorbed in a gas atmosphere. Such a sharp metal object creates a corona discharge which generates charges that are transferred to the sample molecules either directly or indirectly through interactions with molecules in the gas atmosphere of liquid sample matrix molecules (e.g. water or alcohol) that are desorbed simultaneously with the sample molecules. APCI is a standard ionization technique and its general features are known to the person having ordinary skill in the art.
However, a standard APCI configuration is not an efficient method for ionizing laser plumes since laser plumes are highly localized in space and time while standard APCI corona discharges are not. For that reason, an APCI method that that delivers ions co-localized with gas phase sample molecules in time and space would be advantageous.

Method for multimodal tissue imaging based on resonance Raman effect on metal based MRI contrast agents and method for ionizing laser plumes through atmospheric pressure chemical ionization


The present invention relates to a novel Rhodococcus bacterium and to a process of hydrolyzing a cyano group of a nitrile compound using a novel Rhodococcus bacterium to produce the corresponding carboxylic acid. The present invention also relates to a process of producing carboxylic acids, in particular cyano carboxylic acids using a transformant transformed with a plasmid containing a nitrilase gene, a nitrile hydratase gene and an amidase gene derived from Rhodococcus bacteria capable of exhibiting particularly excellent position selectivity for the cyano group of aromatic polynitrile compounds, to such a transformant, such a plasmid, to such genes, to a process of producing an enzyme using the transformant, and to enzymes obtained by the process. The carboxylic acids, in particular cyano carboxylic acids obtained by the present invention are useful as starting materials for the synthesis of drugs, agrochemicals, dyestuff and other chemicals.

Many studies have been made on the reaction of hydrolyzing a cyano group of a nitrile compound to obtain the corresponding carboxyl acids, because this is a simple and easy process for obtaining carboxylic acids.
With respect to the bioreaction of hydrolyzing only a part of the cyano groups of a polynitrile compound having a plurality of cyano groups in one molecule to obtain the corresponding cyano carboxylic acid, in particular, with respect to the process for obtaining aromatic cyano carboxylic acids by selectively hydrolyzing only a specific cyano group of an aromatic polynitrile compound, many reports have been published on the reaction utilizing the specificity to the reaction of the microorganism. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,629,700 discloses a process of producing cyanobenzoic acids from phthalonitriles using a Rhodococcus bacterium. Also, for example, European Patent 178,106 discloses a process for producing cyano carboxylic acids and cyano carboxylic acid amides by the selective hydrolysis of a cyano group from a polynitrile compound using four genera of gram positive bacteria including the genus Rhodococcus.
Selective hydrolysis reactions of a cyano group in a chemical synthesis are generally not suitable for the practical use because in order to perform the reaction, a complicated procedure, such as protection of a specific cyano group, is necessary.
Bioreactions are generally admitted to have high selectivity. However, when strictly inspected, they are in many cases accompanied by production of impurities due to side reaction. For example, according to the above-described process for producing a cyano benzoic acid from a phthalonitrile using a Rhodococcus bacterium, the selectivity is not 100%, but the reaction is accompanied by from 1.0% to a few % of by-products originating in the phthalonitrile. From the standpoint of the conversion from a starting material, this may be said to be an excellent process. However, in the synthesis of medicaments or fine chemicals, the behaviors of a slight amount of by-products greatly affect the capability or safety of a substance synthesized using a starting material containing the by-products. Therefore, the above-described selectivity is not sufficiently high for the starting material in this field.
In order to elevate the purity of the products, a method of obtaining a product and thereafter further purifying it may be considered. However, for example, various by-products produced in the process of biologically producing a cyano carboxylic acid from an aromatic polynitrile are very close to each other in the physical properties such as boiling point and hydrophobicity, and complete separation thereof cannot be attained by commonly used purification methods such as distillation, extraction, and salting out.
As such, in conventional processes for producing carboxylic acids by a hydrolysis reaction of a nitrile compound using microorganisms, the selectivity of the hydrolysis reaction itself is not high and the production of by-products is not sufficiently reduced.
An alternative method for producing carboxylic acids by the hydrolysis of a nitrile compound includes enzymatic reaction methods using nitrilase, or nitrile hydratase and amidase.
The nitrilase is an enzyme which catalyzes a reaction of converting a nitrile compound into a carboxylic acid and this is useful means for obtaining a carboxylic acid useful as a raw material for medical and agrochemical preparations. Examples of the microorganisms which produces this enzyme include Fusarium solani (see Biochem. J. 167, 685–692 (1977)), Nocardia sp. (see, Int. J. Biochem., 17, 677–683 (1985)), Arthrobacter sp. (see, Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 51, 302–306 (1986)), Rhodococcus rhodochrous J1 (see, Eur. J. Biochem., 182, 349–356 (1989)), Rhodococcus rhodochrous K-22 (see, J. Bacterio., 172, 4807–4815 (1990)), Rhodococcus rhodochrous PA-34 (see, Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol., 37, 184–190 (1992)) and Rhodococcus sp. ATCC39484 (see, Biotechnol. Appl. Biochem., 15, 283–302 sp. (1992)).
From these microorganisms, nitrilase, nitrile hydratase, or amidase is produced. In order to use these enzymes in the genetic engineering, genes of some of these enzymes have been isolated and their primary structure has been determined. With respect to the nitrilase gene, genes from Rhodococcus bacteria are disclosed, for example, in JP-A-7-99980 (the term "JP-A" as used herein denotes an unexamined Japanese patent application, first publication) and JP-A-9-28382.
In recent years, attempts have been made to utilize the capability of converting a nitrile compound these microorganisms have. Particularly, for the production of compounds having a high added value, an enzyme having excellent steric selectivity or position selectivity is required. For example, JP-A-2-84198 discloses microorganisms for use in the production of an optically active α-substituted organic acid, JP-A-4-341185 discloses microorganisms for use in the production of an optically active 2-hydroxycarboxylic acid, and EPO433117 discloses microorganisms for use in the production of optically active ketoprofen.
Among these microorganisms, the Rhodococcus sp. ATCC39484 strain has been reported to have a capacity to hydrolyze aromatic polynitrile compounds having a plurality of nitrile groups with excellent position selectivity (see, U.S. Pat. No. 556,625). The compounds having a nitrile group and a carboxyl group in the molecule, which are produced by this selective nitrile degrading enzymatic system, are very effective as a synthesis block in the production of medical or agrochemical preparations. However, the nitrilase of this microorganism is relatively low in the activity on aromatic polynitrile compounds and for utilizing this property in industry, it is an essential matter to improve the productivity of the enzyme which catalyzes the reaction. However, the nitrilase gene of this microorganism, which is indispensable in the intended modification, has not yet been elucidated.
Nitrile hydratase and amidase are enzymes which catalyze the reactions of converting a nitrile compound to an amide and an amide to a carboxylic acid, respectively. By using nitrile hydratase and amidase, amides and carboxylic acids useful as starting materials for medicines, agrochemicals, etc. can be obtained from nitrile compounds. Methods for converting nitrile compounds to corresponding amides or carboxylic acids have been developed by utilizing biocatalysts, and many microorganisms having such catalytic activity have been reported (see, JP-B-56-17918 (the term "JP-B" as used herein means an examined Japanese patent application, second publication), JP-B-59-037951, JP-B-61-162193, JP-B-61-021519, JP-B-64-086889, JP-B-4-197189, JP-B-2-000470, EP0444640, etc.).
From these microorganisms, nitrile hydratase and amidase or nitrilase have been purified, and further, in order to utilize these genes in genetic engineering, the genes have been isolated and their primary structures have been determined. With respect to the nitrile hydratase gene, for example, genes derived from Rhodococcus bacteria are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,840,253 and EP0445646 (JP-A-40211379), genes derived from Pseudomonas bacteria are disclosed in JP-A-30251184, genes derived from Rhizobium bacteria are disclosed in JP-A-6-025296 and JP-A-6-303971. Also, with respect to the amidase gene, for example, genes derived from Brevibacterium bacteria and genes derived from Rhodococcus are disclosed in EP0433117. Further, genes derived from Rhodococcus erythropolis are reported in Eur. J. Biochem. 217(1), 327–336 (1993) and genes derived from Pseudomonas bacteria are reported in FEBS Lett. 367, 275–279 (1995).
Further, an invention relating to a recombinant plasmid containing both a nitrile hydratase gene and an amidase gene derived from Rhodococcus bacteria is disclosed in JP-A-5-068566.
In recent years, attempts have been made to utilize the capacity to convert a nitrile compound that these microorganisms have. Particularly, for the production of compounds having a high added value, an enzyme having excellent steric selectivity or position selectivity is required. For example, JP-A-2-84198 discloses microorganisms for use in the production of an optically active α-substituted organic acid, JP-A-4-341185 discloses microorganisms for use in the production of an optically active 2-hydroxycarboxylic acid, and EPO433117 discloses microorganisms for use in the production of optically active ketoprofen.
Among these microorganisms, the Rhodococcus sp. ATCC39484 strain has been reported to have a capacity to hydrolyze aromatic polynitrile compounds having a plurality of nitrile groups with excellent position selectivity (see, U.S. Pat. No. 556,625). The compounds having a cyano group and an amide group in the molecule or those compounds having a cyano group and a carboxyl group in the molecule, which are produced by this selective nitrile degrading enzymatic system, are very effective as a synthesis block in the production of medical or agrochemical preparations. However, the nitrilase of this microorganism is relatively low in the activity on aromatic polynitrile compounds and for utilizing this property in industry, it is an essential matter to improve the productivity of the enzyme which catalyzes the reaction. However, the related enzyme genes of this microorganism, which are indispensable in the intended modification, have not yet been elucidated for either nitrile hydratase and amidase.


A multiple fused junction with blown fuse indication which generally includes a main body, a fuse connected to the main body and a switch disposed within the main body. The main body has multiple cable ports extending outwardly therefrom. At least one of the ports is adapted for electrical connection with a feeder cable and another of the ports is adapted to receive a fuse. The fuse is removably connected to the fuse port of the main body and has an indicator rod movably disposed therein, which protrudes from an axial end of the fuse into the main body upon electrical interruption of the fuse. The switch is disposed within the main body adjacent the fuse port and is activated by the indicator rod of the fuse upon protrusion of the rod from the fuse to provide indication of electrical interruption of the fuse.

Connections in urban medium and low-voltage underground power distribution systems, such as between cables and transformers, are generally accomplished with some form of multiple cable junction. Such multiple cable junctions typically distribute medium or low voltage from a main feeder cable to multiple cable taps, which in turn routes power to multiple users. Conventional cable junctions for this purpose, known in the field as "junction crabs," generally consist of a unitary mass of epoxy enclosing an electrically conductive network therein and having multiple tap branches extending therefrom and fusible elements for each branch integrally molded therein. Thus, each branch includes a permanently connected fuse link, which is typically hard-wire connected to a respective tap cable.
A typical urban utility experiences approximately 1,500 failures on its network feeders each year. Such network failures are often caused by power surges in the system, which may result in one or more of the fuse elements within the "crab" being blown. Since there is no indication provided with such conventional junctions, the first problem in correcting the network failure is to find the blown fuse. The circuit configuration for most utility networks is designed to maintain service to the maximum number of customers during faults by having multiple sources and fused junctions. This makes the location of a blown fuse difficult. In addition, contamination from the blown fuse link often provides false readings when typical voltage or continuity measurements are attempted.
The second problem is replacement. As described above, conventional construction of multiple cable junctions is based on permanently connected fuse links. Therefore, if any one of the fuse links blows, the feeder cable feeding the junction must first be deenergized and the entire defective junction must be cut out of the circuit and a new unit spliced in. This means that the multiple users fed by the feeder cable remain out of service while the junction is replaced. Each feeder outage duration is directly proportional to the risk of power customer interruption and the stress experienced by other feeders and transformers in the network. Obviously, this conventional procedure results in undesirable long system outage time.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a multiple cable junction for distributing low voltage power from a main feeder to multiple cable taps, wherein the junction provides indication for individual blown fuses and wherein a blown fuse can be easily replaced without substantially disrupting service to the other tap branches.

Multiple fused junction with blown fuse indication


A method for supporting semantic matching queries in a database management system (DBMS) by extracting and storing the transitive/subsumption relationships from a given ontology data in a DBMS with native XML support. These transitive relationships are transformed into a set of XML documents that are natural mappings of the hierarchical structure of the transitive relationships. A table function construct expresses semantic matching queries in a declarative manner. The semantic matching queried are automatically rewritten or translated into standard SQL/XML search operators such as XQuery, XPath and XMLExists, and executed by the SQL/XML DBMS on the given instance data and the extracted transitive relationships data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present application generally relates to data and query processing and, more particularly, to a method for supporting semantic matching queries in a database management system (DBMS) that stores the transitive relationships of an ontology in the DBMS, expresses semantic matching queries on the transitive relationship and instance data, and processes the semantic matching queries.
2. Background Description
Database management systems (DBMSs) have been used with great success in managing and manipulating huge amounts of structured data; however, there is a substantial gap between manipulating the semantic or domain knowledge that describes the data stored in a DBMS and the data itself.
For example, assume a given database of, for example, various companies and, for each, the locations of their branches and specific names for their fields of business. A "semantic query" means a query that cannot be answered using the information contained in that database alone, without a further domain of knowledge. As an illustrative example, a user may wish to search companies that have branches in countries having a per-capita income of under X dollars. Assuming that the example database of companies, their branch locations and fields of business does not have information as to the per-capita income of countries, the user could not successfully search the database for the desired information. There may be a further domain that may known to the user, but it is a separate database.
A particular example of where such information may exist is an "ontology," which is an explicit specification of a conceptualization of a universe, or domain. Ontologies are known in various information fields and endeavors in the context of semantic web. The use of ontologies and ontology languages, such as the OWL Web Ontology Language, has attracted attention in the data processing arts. For many database applications, ontologies appear to be the best way to represent the domain knowledge of the data instances stored in the database. There is a very substantial problem, though, due to the information in the ontology, e.g., the per capita income of countries, being in separate form than the given XML database, such as the example identified above having the names, locations of branches, and specific fields of business in which each company operates.
Various systems have been developed for building and manipulating ontologies. For example, the Protégé ontology editor is a knowledge-based editor that allows the user to construct a domain ontology, customize data entry forms, and enter data. RStar is a resource description framework (RDF) storage and query system for enterprise resource management. Other ontology building systems include OntoEdit, OntoBorker, OntologyBuilder and OntologyServer and KAON (the KArlsruhe ONtology and semantic web tool suite) ontology management infrastructure. Systems often use a file system to store the ontology (e.g., OntoEdit). Others (e.g., RStar and KOAN) allow storing ontology using a relational database management system (RDBMS). However, queries on an ontology in these systems are typically processed by some middleware (wrapper) built on top of the DBMS engine. The two main disadvantages of this loosely-coupled approach are (1) ontology data cannot be accessed inside the DBMS directly and (2) the query processing and optimization power of DBMSs are lost when manipulating ontology data.
One approach to ontology management proposed in the database arts is a tightly-coupled solution by Oracle, as described by S. Das, E. I. Chong, G. Eadon, and J. Srinivasan in "Supporting Ontology-based Semantic Matching in RDBMS", VLDB 2004, pp. 1054-1065 ("the S Das et al. approach"). The S. Das et al. approach proposes a method to support ontology-based semantic matching in RDBMS using a structured query language (SQL) directly. In this approach, ontology data are pre-processed and stored in a set of system-defined tables. A set of special operators is introduced to query/access the ontology and a new index schema is introduced to optimize query processing. A database user can thus reference the ontology data directly using the new operators. The S. Das et al. approach may be viewed as "tightly coupled" and, compared to the approaches typically characterized as "loosely-coupled" approaches, it may be viewed as providing some possibility of combining ontology query operators with existing SQL operators (such as joins with other data stored in relational tables).
The present inventors have identified, though, that there is an inherent "mismatch" between the relational schema employed by SQL and the hierarchical model of ontology data. The present inventors have also identified that, because of this mismatch, the S. Das et al. relational-model approach likely has inherent, substantial shortcomings in query processing efficiency.
For example, inferencing is one of the most fundamental and also most computationally expensive operations on ontology data. Previous approaches, including the S. Das et al. approach, typically require precomputing and materializing a significant quantity of inferencing results (i.e., transitive closures) to achieve reasonable performance at query time. These in turn impose processing burdens.
Stated more specifically, materializing inferencing results involves explicitly computing and storing information that can be derived from the ontology and database tables using logical inferencing. Further, transitive closure for a collection of instances of a relation R is the collection of all possible instances of the relation R that can be derived by applying the transitivity rule. This leads to significant expense and overhead in terms of time and storage at the preprocessing step. More significantly, with these approaches, updates of ontology data may be practically impossible once they are preprocessed.
Accordingly, the present inventors have identified a need for processing semantic queries on a combined resource of an XML database and an ontology having additional information pertaining to elements stored in the XML database but which is not in a native XML system.

Method for supporting ontology-related semantic queries in DBMSs with XML support

International Business Machines Corporation


In a driver circuit for driving a pair of data lines, the amplitude of a differential input signal is reduced from 2.5 V to 0.6 V, which is smaller than a conventional lower-limit source voltage (approximately 1.5 V). The amplitude of the differential signal transmitted through the pair of data lines is amplified to 2.5 V by an amplifying circuit and the resulting signal is then latched by a latch circuit. After the latching by the latch circuit, the operation of the amplifying circuit is halted. The driver circuit is constituted solely by a plurality of NMOS transistors so as not to increase a leakage current flowing in the off state. Here, the threshold voltage of the NMOS transistor positioned on the ground side is reduced to a conventional lower-limit value (0.3 V to 0.6 V), while the threshold voltage of the NMOS transistor on the power-source side to a value lower than the above lower-limit value (0 V to 0.3 V), thereby enhancing a driving force of the NMOS transistor on the power-source side.

The present invention relates to a data transmission circuit, data line driving circuit and amplifying circuit for use in the data transmission circuit, and semiconductor integrated circuit and semiconductor memory each of which comprises the data transmission circuit.
In recent years, the capacity of a dynamic RAM (DRAM), which is among semiconductor integrated circuits (LSI), has been increasing at a rate of quadrupling in three years. With the increasing capacity, the chip area of the DRAM has also is multiplied 1.5-fold between every adjacent generations (e.g., between the 1M-bit and 4M-bit generations). With the increasing chip area, the wire length of signal lines for transmitting data in the DRAM has also increased, thus inviting an increase in wiring capacitance. Furthermore, an increase in the number of wired signal lines due to a tendency of the DRAM toward a multi-bit configuration has also spurred the increase in wiring capacitance.
In the DRAM, charging and discharging of the signal lines accounts for the most part of its power consumption. The above increase in wiring capacitance in turn increases a charging and discharging current and eventually brings about an increase in the total power consumption of the DRAM. The increase in wiring capacity also induces an increase in signal delay.
With the increasing miniaturization of a MOS transistor element in the DRAM, a voltage-withstand ability of its oxide film has also raised a problem.
To overcome the problem, there has been an effort to reduce an internal source voltage in a conventional DRAM in order to improve the reliability of the oxide film as well as reduce the power consumption and signal delay. In the conventional DRAM, a reduced voltage VINT which was generated inside a DRAM chip based on an external source voltage VCC is supplied to a MOS transistor circuit on the chip.
Reducing the voltage amplitude of a signal line is extremely effective in reducing the total power consumption of an LSI: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 4-211515 discloses a data transmission circuit which operates with a small amplitude based on an internal source voltage that has been reduced (reduced voltage). In the data transmission circuit, a driver circuit composed of CMOS transistors drives a single data line for transmitting data with a small amplitude. A receiver circuit, as shown in FIG. 18, receives a signal having a small amplitude from the data line and converts it to a signal having a larger amplitude.
However, the conventional data transmission circuit mentioned above is disadvantageous in that, if a wire for transmitting data becomes considerably long, an input IN of the receiver circuit shown in FIG. 18 changes only slowly, resulting in a lower operating speed. This is because the receiver circuit will not operate till the input IN thereof reaches (VCL-Vtn) or (VSL-Vtp) and that it is composed of a source-follower circuit, so that Vtn and Vtp are increased due to a body effect. In addition, the conventional data transmission circuit requires two power supplies VCL and VSL, which causes an increase in power consumption accordingly.
To increase the operating speed, it is possible to compose the input part of the receiver circuit of an NMOS and PMOS, each having lower Vtn and Vtp. In order to reduce the threshold voltages of the MOS transistors, however, more steps and more masks are needed in their fabrication processes. To reduce the transition time of a signal inputted to the receiver circuit, it can also be considered to provide a CMOS inverter in the upper stage of the receiver circuit, which disadvantageously generates a leakage current between the VCL and VSL in the off state.

Data transmission circuit, data line driving circuit, amplifying circuit, semiconductor integrated circuit, and semiconductor memory


An aqueous inhalation pharmaceutical composition comprising a polypeptide or protein is provided. The composition of the present invention can improve the bioavailability of the polypeptide and protein, and avoid inducing toxicity in the lung.

It is found that most orally administered polypeptide and protein (such as insulin) drugs cannot be well absorbed for the reasons that the polypeptides and proteins contained therein are readily decomposed in the stomach, and/or cannot penetrate the intestinal mucosa cells due to their large molecular size and their hydrophilic property. Even if the polypeptides and proteins can be absorbed, they can hardly avoid the first-pass effect in the liver. Therefore, the bioavailability of all polypeptide and protein drugs is too low (<2%) to achieve a good therapeutic effect (A. E. Pontiroli et al., Clin. Pharmacokinet., 17(5): 299-307, 1989). In view of the above, polypeptide and protein drugs are generally administered by injection. However, this administration manner brings the patients, who need a long-term treatment, a lot of agony so as to seriously affect their compliance. Thus, non-oral administration routes, such as nasal, buccal, anal, ocular, and pulmonary administrations, have been developed.
Since pulmonary mucosa has a large surface area to provide good absorption and penetrability, polypeptide and protein drugs can be rapidly absorbed through pulmonary mucosa. This method can not only avoid the destruction or the metabolism of the polypeptide and protein drugs in the stomach and intestine, as well as the first-pass effect in the liver, but also increase the bioavailability of the drugs and improve the convenience for and compliance of the patients (Z. Shao et al., Pharm. Research, Vo. 11, No. 2, p. 243-250, 1994). Furthermore, the drugs can directly enter the major targeted organs so as to reduce the side effects generated by injection. Therefore, the pulmonary delivery has the most potential for polypeptide and protein drugs.
However, as stated by Patton et al. (Clin. Pharmacokinet, 2004: 43(12) 781-801), absorption enhancers in the pulmonary absorbed agents can improve the absorption of the drugs, but may also cause toxicity in the lung. For example, absorption enhancers may stimulate the increase of the eosinophil in the lung and result in an allergic reaction, or cause the increase of the neutrophil to induce acute inflammation in the lung. Even more, absorption enhancers may increase the production of LDH enzyme and/or the infiltration of proteins into the blood to cause toxic reactions or injuries in the pulmonary tissues and cells.
The present invention provides an aqueous inhalation pharmaceutical composition of a polypeptide or protein, which has improved bioavailability and reduced lung toxicity.

Aqueous inhalation pharmaceutical composition


A perfume composition which contains a (4R)-cis-4-methyl-2-substituted-tetrahydro-2H-pyran derivative represented by formula (I): ##STR1## wherein ---- represents a single or double bond, and a method for improving fragrance by using this perfume composition.

4-Methyl-2-(2-methyl-1-propenyl)tetrahydro-2H-pyran (hereinafter sometimes referred to simply as rose oxide) is a compound which was found from Bulgarian rose oil in 1959 and occurs in essential oils of sweetbrier, geranium, lily, pelargonium, Fatsia japonica, gardenia, peppermint, etc., flavors of apricot, tomato, etc., and secretions of insects such as the musk long-horned beetle, etc.
Rose oxide has geometrical isomers and optical isomers and (4R)-cis- and trans-4-methyl-2-(2-methyl-1-propenyl)tetrahydro-2H-pyrans are found in natural plants such as roses and geraniums.
For the chemical synthesis of rose oxide, there have been known a method using .beta.-citronellol as the starting material and another method using dihydropyrans as the starting materials.
In general, rose oxide has a refreshing, floral and green note. However, the fragrance delicately varies from isomer to isomer. That is to say, cis-rose oxide has a green note just like a geranium and peppermint, while trans-rose oxide has a somewhat intense fragrance compared with the cis-isomer U.S. Pat. No. 3,161,657(1964)!. Further, it is described that (4R)-rose oxide has a sweet and floral fragrance with an intense green note while (4S)-rose oxide has a fragrance with a somewhat spicy note Perfume and Flavor Chemicals II, 2809 (1969)!. It is also reported that rose oxide is usable in compounding various perfumes including rose and geranium based perfumes, since the addition of rose oxide in an amount of 0.05 to 0.5% imparts a light and floral top note to the perfumes Koryo (Perfume), 178, 114 (June, 1993)!. However, the details are not stated relating to the all four individual optical isomers Olfaction and Taste, 4, 156 (1972)!.
It is reported that 4-methyl-2-(2-methylpropyl)tetrahydro-2H-pyran (hereinafter sometimes referred to as dihydrorose oxide) is synthesized from 3-methylbuten-3-ol-1 and 3-methylbutanal, and has a fragrance similar to that of rose oxide and is more stable to heat, acids and light than rose oxide, though nothing is stated relating to its optical isomers Perfumer & Flavarist, 11, Jun./Jul. 29 (1986)!.
With the recent diversification of perfumes and cosmetics, it has been required to develop a novel perfume material which is excellent in various characteristics (safety, stability, preference, freshness, natural feel, etc.) and has a good and intense fragrance. Accordingly, the present invention aims at providing a perfume composition containing a rose oxide which is capable of imparting a fresh, refreshing and rose green feel to a fragrance, and a method for improving a fragrance by which such a fragrance can be imparted.

Perfume composition containing (4R)-cis-4-methyl-2-substituted-tetrahydro-2H-pyran derivative and method for improving fragrance by using (4R)-cis-4-methyl-2-substituted-tetrahydro-2H-pyran derivative


A system, apparatus and method for the combustion of metals and other fuels are provided. The system can include: a fuel combustion apparatus including a combustor having a combustion chamber for burning ground particles from a fuel charge, and a fuel supply apparatus for supplying the ground particles of fuel from the fuel charge to the combustor. The fuel supply system can include a fuel charge holder assembly to house and store the fuel charge, a grinder assembly including a grinder housed within the charge holder assembly and configured to pulverize the fuel charge to produce a combustible fuel to be consumed in the combustion chamber, and a fuel charge linear feed assembly including a piston in contact with the fuel charge within the charge holder assembly to selectively bias the fuel charge into the grinder to thereby a control consumption rate of the fuel charge. Exhaust from the combustion chamber can be used in the incineration of radioactive, chemical and mixed hazardous materials, and in the propulsion of a vehicle in both an air or water environment.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the combustion of materials, specifically to the high temperature combustion of metals or other energetic fuel.
2. Description of Related Art
The incineration of radioactive, chemical and mixed hazardous materials requires high temperature combustors. In addition to high temperature, the incinerator needs to produce clean combustion. Aluminum, for example, is a very energetic metallic fuel and may produce an adiabatic reaction temperature of up to 10,600° C. when it reacts with oxygen. The combustion product, aluminum oxide, is a valuable product for many industrial applications. The exhaust gas from aluminum combustion, for example, is clean and does not contain any unburned hydrocarbons, nitric or carbon oxides, or volatile organic components as pollution from the combustion of hydrocarbons. The combustion of aluminum in a water phase environment has a high temperature exhaust stream of aluminum oxide in gaseous and solid phases and water vapor. The lack of pollution from an aluminum combustion process makes an aluminum combustor ideal for the incineration of hazardous materials. The ability to use air or water as the oxidizer for combustion is another very attractive feature of the combustion of aluminum. Aluminum fuel could be used in underwater incineration and also for the propulsion of various underwater mechanical devices such as torpedoes or submarines.
Aluminum reacts with oxygen exothermically following the reaction:2Al(s)+ 3/2O2<->Al2O3(g)  (A)
The calorimetric heat of reaction at 1 Bar is (ΔH° (298K)=−404 kcal/mol). There is, however, a problem with the direct burning of pure aluminum following this reaction. In an oxygen environment (e.g., air), a strong layer of Al2O3 coats an aluminum particle. The particle temperature must be raised past the Al2O3 melting point (2027° C.) to obtain ignition. The ignition delay time includes the time needed to heat, and then melt, the Al2O3 layer, plus the diffusion time for the O2 to reach the aluminum surface and react. When Aluminum vaporizes, however, the kinetics is very rapid and no longer controls the ignition process. The sum of all these times is comparatively large, so particles escape with the high-speed gas flow from the combustion chamber without chemical reaction.
A reduction of the ignition delay time and a lowering of the ignition temperature, of aluminum is possible by oxidizing aluminum with steam in the following the reaction:2Al(s)+3H2O<->Al2O3(g)+3H2  (B)
The calorimetric heat of reaction at 1 Bar is (ΔH°(298K)=−230 kcal/mol). In a steam atmosphere, a hydroxide layer that is less protective than aluminum oxide covers the aluminum particles. According to reaction (B), the ignition temperature drops to 1323-1423° C. shortening the ignition time. This reaction is most attractive for underwater power generation and propulsion, since it does not require air. The oxidizer, seawater, is provided directly by the environment, dramatically reducing on-board storage requirements. The power density of reaction (B) is less than reaction (A) since the heat of reaction, for the same 2 moles of aluminum, is less for reaction (B).
Due to the high temperature of reaction (B), however, part of the water dissociates, resulting in a release of oxygen. This oxygen is used to burn the H2 produced by reaction (B) in the following reaction:3H2+ 3/2O2(g)<->3H2O(g) (ΔH° (298K) at 1 Bar=−174 kcal/mol).  (C)
Reactions (B) and (C) together produce the same energy release as (A) with less restrictive ignition constraints. Reaction (C) does not, however, need any external ignition source, since the H2 produced in reaction (B) will be above its auto ignition temperature in an O2 atmosphere.
Since the destruction of the aluminum oxide layer, by melting, is critical to aluminum combustion, the rapid heating of the particles is especially important. Heating can be produced by friction in a strongly turbulent stream flow or by convective/conductive heat transfer. In addition, sufficiently intensive friction (shear) forces or head-on collisions between particles could crack the oxide or hydroxide layer protecting the pure aluminum and ignite it. These have been the traditional mechanisms of heating aluminum prior to combustion. Through estimation of all above effects, Applicants have recognized that neither heating nor collisions effectively destroy the aluminum oxide layer. This indicates that combustor designs based on these mechanisms will not work efficiently.
Accordingly, recognized is the need for a combustion system including a fuel supply apparatus which can supply a metal fuel to a combustion apparatus having a relatively thin oxide layer and/or remove at least portions of the oxide layer immediately prior to consumption by the combustion apparatus without requiring a direct heating application. Also recognized is the need for a combustion system including a combustion apparatus capable of receiving such energetic metal fuel and to provide a highly efficient combustion of such energetic metal fuel that operate efficiently in either an air or water environment.

System, apparatus and method for combustion of metals and other fuels


A direct injected, internal combustion engine wherein the fuel injector is mounted under the intake passage arrangement in the cylinder head. A cooling jacket is provided in the cylinder head that substantially encircles the injector. Also the water delivery system insures a full flow of water through the injector cooling jacket.

This invention relates to a direct cylinder injected internal combustion engine and more particularly to an improved arrangement for cooling the fuel injector of such an engine.
In conjunction with the design of internal combustion engines, there is a continuing quest for improved fuel efficiency and better exhaust emission control. Various systems and techniques have been employed to achieve these purposes. One way in which it has been found that the combustion efficiency and emission control can be improved is by use of fuel injection. Fuel injectors permit cycle to cycle control and are generally more accurate than carburetors.
In addition, it is desirable to achieve some stratification in the fuel air mixture in the combustion chamber in order to permit leaner burning. That is, if the entire cylinder is filed with a stoichiometric mixture, under most running conditions, too much fuel is supplied for the required engine performance. Thus, if it is possible to achieve a stratified patch of stoichiometric mixture that is present at the gap of the spark plug at the time of firing, the entire cylinder need not be filled with a stoichiometric mixture and considerable improvements in fuel efficiency and exhaust emission control can resolve.
However, it generally is a fact that stratification can be achieved in an open chambered engine more easily if the fuel is injected directly into the combustion chamber. This will permit the achievement of stratification when desired and also will permit the filling of the cylinder with adequate fuel to obtain maximum power output. Thus, running throughout the entire speed and load ranges can be significantly improved. However, there is a significant problem in the positioning of the fuel injector in the cylinder head so as to achieve direct injection.
Not the least among these problems is the actual positioning of the injector in cylinder head. If high performance is sought and the engine utilizes multiple valves and overhead camshafts, the space availability for the fuel injector becomes limited. Also, it is desirable to position the spark plug generally at the center of the combustion chamber volume at top dead center so as to insure good flame propagation and complete combustion. This further adds to the difficulty in the positioning of the fuel injector.
Furthermore, there is the added difficulty of providing adequate cooling for the fuel injector. This is particularly true where the injector is side mounted and a centrally positioned spark plug is employed. Such side mounting arrangements preferably position the fuel injector on the intake side of the engine and below the induction passage. In this way, the heat from the exhaust gases are not likely to propagate to the fuel injector and deteriorate its performance.
However, this side placement and below the intake passages means that the fuel injector in conventional engines is not adequately cool. Cooling is still necessary because if the injector becomes heated, its efficiency can deteriorate. The problem is particularly true in connection with solenoid operated fuel injectors because the solenoid for actuating the injector valve consumes a fairly large amount of electrical energy and thus, generates a fairly large amount of heat.
It is, therefore, a principal object of this invention to provide an improved cylinder head and injector cooling arrangement for an internal combustion engine.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an improved fuel injector mounting arrangement for an overhead valve multiple valve engine wherein the injector is adequately cooled and nevertheless has the desired spray path.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an improved cylinder head and cooling jacket arrangement for a direct injected internal combustion engine.

Injector cooling for direct injected engine


The present invention provides a light emitting device which comprises a blue light emitting diode, and at least an orthosilicate based phosphor for emitting light ranging from a green to yellow regions and a nitride or oxynitride based phosphor for emitting light in a red region over the light emitting diode. Accordingly, since white light with a continuous spectrum ranging from green to red can be implemented, a light emitting device with improved color rendering can be provided, and the light emitting device can be used for a general illumination or a flash. Further, since the phosphors having stable chemical characteristics against their external environment such as moisture are employed, the stability in optical characteristics of the light emitting device can also be improved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light emitting device, and more specifically, to a white light emitting device which is usable for a general illumination and a flash with improved color rendering and is provided with a phosphor having stable chemical characteristics against the external environment such as moisture.
2. Discussion of the Background
A light emitting diode (LED) is a compound semiconductor having a p-n junction structure and refers to a device for emitting light through recombination of minority carriers (electrons or holes). The light emitting diodes have characteristics of low power consumption, long life span, installation in a narrow space, and a strong resistance against vibration. In recent years, white light emitting devices in addition to single color light emitting diodes, e.g. red, blue and green light emitting diodes, have been placed on the market and their demands have been rapidly increased.
A light emitting diode may implement white light by using a phosphor which serves as a wavelength conversion means. That is, the phosphor is applied on a light emitting diode, so that the color of a portion of primary light emitted from the light emitting diode and the color of secondary light whose wavelength has been converted by the phosphor are mixed to implement white color. The white light emitting diode configured as described above has been widely used since it is inexpensive and is very simple in principle and construction.
For example, onto a blue light emitting diode is applied a phosphor that emits yellowish green or yellow light using a portion of the blue light emitted from the blue light emitting diode as an excitation source, so that white light can be obtained by mixing the blue light emitted from the light emitting diode and the yellowish green or yellow light emitted from the phosphor. However, there is a problem in that since such a white light emitting diode employs a single yellow phosphor, spectrum shortage of green and red regions happens. Therefore, color rendering of the above white light emitting diode becomes low.
In order to solve the aforementioned problem, a blue light emitting diode and a phosphors excited by the blue light to emit green and red light are used to manufacture a white light emitting diode. That is, the blue light and the green and red light emitted from the excitation by the blue light may be mixed to implement white light with a high color rendering of 85 or more.
As the red light emitting phosphor, a sulfide based phosphor such as (Ca,Sr)S:Eu and (Zn,Cd)(S,Se):Ag has been typically employed. The sulfide based phosphor may control the wavelength conversion in the range of 600 nm to 660 nm depending on its composition, so that high color rendering may be obtained. However, there is a problem in that the sulfide based phosphor easily reacts with moisture and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and is then changed into oxide or carbonate, and thus, their chemical characteristics are changed.
Further, H2S gas generated by the reaction with the phosphor and moisture changes the light emitting spectrum of the phosphor to cause a change in color coordinate and a rapid decrease in intensity and corrodes the metal such as Ag or Au formed into an electrode to lower the reliability of the light emitting diode.
A thiogallate based phosphor such as (Ca,Sr,Ba)(Al,Ga,In)2S4:Eu has been typically used as a green light emitting phosphor. The thiogallate based phosphor has excellent excitation efficiency by blue light but the thiogallate based phosphor included in a sulfide group also easily reacts with moisture, and the chemical characteristics of the phosphor are changed.


In one aspect, a computer-implemented method for monitoring and validating execution of an executable binary code, includes the step of, prior to beginning execution of the executable binary code, disassembling the executable binary code, listing all of application programming interfaces (API) or function calls in the executable binary code, generating a validation table for a type of each of the APIs or each of the function calls, a location of each of the APIs or each of the function calls, and a return address of each of the APIs or each of the function calls in the executable binary code, and listing in the validation table the type of each of the APIs or each of the function calls.

The execution stack of an application or computer program or executable binary code is the region in memory of an executing application that stores information about the functions active in the program at that moment. As functions execute and call other functions, stack frames are pushed onto the stack so that the application can return to the calling function and continue its execution from there once the actions of the called function are complete. The stack frames are pushed onto the stack in a last-in-first-out (LIFO) manner so that the stack represents the execution flow of the application. When an application is executing correctly, in the absence of an exploit or the triggering of a bug, the stack ensures that active functions will return correctly to their intended calling functions.
The goal of many exploits is to get applications to perform a function for the attacker instead of or in addition to the functions the application was designed to perform. Several avenues are available for the attacker to follow, ranging from exploitation of passive vulnerabilities to sophisticated software engineering, all with the aim of inducing an application to execute instructions of the attacker's choosing. In the discussion of these various techniques below, it will be seen that the execution stack is a common thread that can become a tool for defeating attacks that target application control.
Flaws or errors, generally referred to as software bugs, exist in almost every application. These software bugs arise from incorrect design, coding, and assembly of computer programs. While following good practices in software design, coding, and testing reduces software bugs, it seldom eliminates them. When a software bug in an application is encountered during program execution, the instructions associated with that bug may result in corruption of data or memory and cause the program to crash. More insidiously, the program may continue to run despite damage. Buffer overflow attacks deliberately trigger such bugs and take advantage of the ensuing corruption of the stack region of memory to wrest control of execution of the application and get instructions of the attacker's choosing into application memory. The attacker's instructions divert the application to execute code he/she supplies instead of the functions that were intended.
In some advanced attacks, attackers may not even inject new code into the application, but instead exploit legitimate functions to which the application has linked to carry out their malicious actions. Return-to-libc attacks, for example, use functions from libc, the standard library for the C programming language, to gain unauthorized access. Since the success of such attacks hinges on knowing the precise address of the function to be coopted, randomization of the load address of libc was introduced as a defense mechanism to mitigate them. With libc loading at a new address every time the program starts; the exploit cannot use a fixed address to call functions from libc as part of its attack. While this technique was initially successful, it was soon learned that address space layout randomization could be bypassed by obtaining the address of libc functions from the procedure linkage table (PIT) of the program or the Global Offset Table (GOT).
Recently a new class of attacks based on return oriented programming (ROP) has emerged which is able to defeat all existing methods for preventing exploits. These attacks provide the attacker with a fully functional language that is Turing-complete. Using ROP, the attacker can craft gadgets out of snippets from the code of the target application to implement any action he desires without injecting any detectable code during the attack. Some attempts have been made to apply address space randomization ideas to the structure of a program to prevent successful use of gadgets created from the application. Unfortunately, these methods impose additional cost, introduce compatibility challenges with existing monitoring tools, and do not offer guarantees that they will be robust against as yet unseen attacks.
Examination of the stack of the application provides a way to detect the presence of all the attacks mentioned above. Since the stack controls and reflects how the process is executing, if an attacker has diverted the application off to do his bidding, at runtime the stack of the exploited application will not be consistent with the function calls that were initially part of the program. The frames on the stack will, for example, now represent the calling sequence of the code injected by the attacker instead of the original sequence of legitimate function calls.
A more comprehensive analysis of the application stack, though, does have the potential to provide a deterministic answer to the question of how to detect the presence of attacks or exploits. Analysis of stack frames via stock walking has applications in security, debugging, garbage collection, and exception handling, etc. As an example, a common debugging technique involves examining the frames on the stack of an application under development to trace the source of the problem. Stack walking can, however, be a challenging problem, as compilers often omit the frame pointers that would delineate individual frames on the application stack to save memory and processing. For most function calls, the compiler has a way to compute and track stack adjustments for the function call using simple arithmetic instructions without the overhead of reserving a register for that purpose.
Most stack-walking methods require the user to execute the application and manually analyze the stack to detect loaded frames on the stack. Automating stack walking not only offers benefits for resolving bugs and analyzing crash dumps, but it provides a path for detecting attacks on the application via validation of the application stack at runtime.
Accordingly, improvements to method of stack validation in cybersecurity, as well as program analysis, are needed. However, there are still significant gaps in its utilization by systems and methods to validate the runtime state of applications. The needed solution may not take away functionality in order to improve security. The security mechanism should work seamlessly and without requiring any input from the user. This invention describes a fundamental advance in how the runtime stack of an application can be automatically analyzed and validated to detect or rule out the presence of an attack.

System and method for exploiting attack detection by validating application stack at runtime


The present disclosure generally relates to a process for converting a hydrocarbon feed including introducing a hydrocarbon feed comprising a C1+ alkane to a catalyst composition in a reactor, the catalyst composition comprising a Group 6-Group 15 metal supported on a support; and irradiating the hydrocarbon feed and the catalyst composition with electromagnetic energy in the reactor at reactor conditions to produce a product comprising a C2+ alkane, wherein the C2+ alkane of the product is heavier than the C1+ alkane in the hydrocarbon feed.

As the production of shale and tight oils is increasing in the United States, light paraffins (C2-C9) such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG, e.g., C3/C4) and natural gasoline (e.g., C5-C6) are becoming more abundant and at lower costs. At the same time, demand for light paraffins is decreasing, particularly with the growth of high performance, more efficient gasoline engines which typically require higher octane gasoline. This imbalance of supply and demand is likely to become worse with time. Upgrading light paraffins to higher value products, although desirable, remains challenging.
Conversion of light paraffins to heavier hydrocarbon products, such as chemicals and distillate fuels (e.g., jet fuel and diesel fuel), provides a high value outlet for the supply of light paraffins. However, conventional upgrading processes to convert light paraffins to distillate typically require high amounts of energy consumption. For example, a process to upgrade light paraffins could include steam cracking or catalytic dehydrogenation of paraffins to generate olefins, followed by olefin chemistries such as oligomerization, polymerization and alkylation; or converting the feed to syngas via partial oxidation, followed by Fischer-Tropsch or methanol to hydrocarbons synthesis. These approaches involve high temperatures, such as temperatures greater than 400° C., and are energy intensive. Other processes to upgrade alkanes include using electromagnetic energy. However, such processes often have low coupling efficiencies, poor safety/health/environment concerns (S/H/E) due to the use of materials such as mercury and UV-C exposure, and/or slow reaction times.
There is a need for new and improved processes to convert light paraffins to, e.g., gasoline and/or distillate using less energy-intensive processes.

Processes to convert paraffins to heavier products

EXXONMOBIL TECHNOLOGY AND ENGINEERING COMPANY


A new and distinct Alstroemeria plant named xe2x80x98Isadoraxe2x80x99 characterized by growth height of 10-30 cm; suitable for pots with a diameter larger than 7 cm; bushy, dwarf growth habit; red flowers, yellow base with black stripes; and 4-6 week inflorescence longevity.

Alstroemeria hyrida.
xe2x80x98Isadoraxe2x80x99.
The present invention comprises a new and distinct cultivar of Alstroemeria plant, hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name xe2x80x98Isadoraxe2x80x99.
The new cultivar, xe2x80x98Isadoraxe2x80x99 originated by Robert Adrian Goemans from a hybridization made in a controlled breeding program in Chichester in Sussex, United Kingdom. The female parent was an unnamed cultivar of unknown origin (unpatented). The male parent of xe2x80x98Isadoraxe2x80x99 was an unnamed selection from a breeding line named Butterfly (unpatented).
xe2x80x98Isadoraxe2x80x99 was discovered and selected as one flowering plant within the progeny of the stated parentage by Robert Adrian Goemans in 1997 in a controlled environment in Chichester, United Kingdom. The first act of asexual reproduction of xe2x80x98Isadoraxe2x80x99 was accomplished when vegetative cuttings were taken from the initial selection in May, 1998, in a controlled environment in Chichester, United Kingdom. Horticultural examination of selected units initiated in 1998, has demonstrated that the combination of characteristics as herein disclosed for xe2x80x98Isadoraxe2x80x99 are firmly fixed and retained through successive generations of asexual reproduction.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be basic characteristics of which in combination distinguish this Alstroemeria as a new and distinct cultivar:
1. Suitable for pots with a diameter larger than 7 cm;
2. Growth height of 10-30 cm;
3. Bushy, dwarf growth habit;
4. Red flowers, yellow middle with black stripes; and
5. 4-6 week inflorescence longevity.
xe2x80x98Isadoraxe2x80x99 has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary significantly with variations in environment such as temperature, light intensity and day length, without any change in genotype. The following observations, measurements and comparisons describe plants grown in Chichester, Sussex, United Kingdom under greenhouse conditions which approximate those generally used in commercial practice. xe2x80x98Isadoraxe2x80x99 is distinguished from its parental cultivars primarily in flower color.
There are no commercial cultivars known to the present inventor, similar in comparison to xe2x80x98Isadoraxe2x80x99.


This invention relates to a suction-type smoke sensing system which detects smoke with high accuracy and rapidly and identifies a fire occurrence spot quickly.

The suction-type smoke sensing system is a system which sucks air in a region to be inspected by providing a piping in the region to be inspected and senses mixing of smoke in the air. Examples of this suction-type smoke sensing system include Patent Literature 1. The system of this Patent Literature 1 will be outlined below.
This system is provided with an air sampling pipe having a plurality of air suction holes drilled and laid in a network state, an air sucking apparatus connected to this air sampling pipe and sucking air into the air sampling pipe, a plurality of smoke detectors arranged inside the air sampling pipe in a distributed manner, and a display device for receiving a detection signal from any one of the smoke detectors and displaying the result.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 09-147255

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Abstract: The system of the present invention is provided with a piping for sucking air in each region to be inspected, a photoelectric smoke sensor which, when air in each of the regions to be inspected is sucked, senses mixing of smoke in the air, and a control unit which sucks the air in the region to be inspected and is electrically connected to the photoelectric smoke sensor so as to receive and process a detection signal. The photoelectric smoke sensor is provided with a smoke sensing portion which senses the smoke in the sucked air, a suction port provided on the air inflow side of the smoke sensing portion, directly sucks the air in the region to be inspected, and fitted with a base end portion of a suction pipe which extends to the region to be inspected, and a fitting portion provided on the air outflow side of the smoke sensing portion and fitted with the end portion of the piping.


In a process for the aligning of the tooth spaces of a workpiece with precut teeth, which is set up on the work spindle of a gear finishing machine, the workpiece (1) is brought into no-backlash double flank mesh with a pilot gear (6). The workpiece (1) is rotated, and during this rotation both the angular position of the tooth space centre lines of the pilot gear (6) and the centre distance between the pilot gear (6) and the workpiece (1) are measured. This allows the workpiece (1) to be tested with respect to radial run-out, flank material allowance, helix angle, and any possible irregularities.

Increased demands on the running qualities of gears in gear drives require more and more the precision finish machining of the gear teeth. In most cases the pre-machined workpieces are case-hardened, and then fine machined to the finished dimensions on all their functional surfaces. In this process the fine machining of the tooth flanks in particular is a complicated, resource consuming, and hence expensive operation. In the interests of economic manufacture, but also in order to avoid having to provide for unnecessarily large hardening depths and to balance and minimize the wear on the left and right flanks of the fine machining tool, it is therefore attempted to keep the material allowance for the fine machining as small as possible. For the fine machining of the teeth this means in practice that the depth of cut per flank for material removal is only a few hundredths to at most two tenths of a millimeter. If, as is generally the case, the left and right flanks are machined in the same operation, this demands a very accurate aligning of the precut teeth relative to the fine machining tool, so that the latter can be brought exactly into the centre of the tooth spaces to be machined, in order to achieve uniform material removal from the left and right flanks of the workpiece.
In the aligning process most frequently encountered in practice on gear finishing machines, a non-contact functioning measuring probe—the aligning probe—is located at a geometrically suitable point in the working area of the machine, near the outer diameter of the precut teeth of the workpiece set up on the work spindle, the said probe operating on an inductive, optical or magnetic principle. By rotating the work spindle, the angular positions of all the tooth flanks are measured, and an average value of the tooth space centre lines calculated. This is compared with the desired value stored in the machine control system, and brought to coincide with the latter by rotating the work spindle. As well as the aligning itself, the measuring action described simultaneously permits the gear blank to be tested with respect to the presence of the tooth spaces and the specified number of teeth.
Experience in industrial gear manufacture has led to the conclusion that alongside the number of teeth and the presence of pre-machined teeth prior to the machining operation intended, additional properties of the gear blank should be tested in order to guarantee the process reliability demanded. These include the radial run-out state of the pre-cut teeth, the tooth flank machining allowance, the helix angle, and any possible irregularities in the pre-machining operation across the whole workpiece facewidth on all the teeth. These properties cannot be detected with hitherto known aligning devices. Their inspection therefore requires either a previous measurement on a separate suitable measuring device in an additional operation, or additional measuring devices in the working area of the machine, which are difficult to accommodate due to the space limitations, and which increase costs.

Process for the aligning of tooth spaces of a workpiece with precut teeth


The present invention provides an improved shackle having particular utility in underwater salvage operations. The present invention discloses a shackle that has a generally U shaped body that is comprised of a bow portion and first and second spaced apart arms. Each arm has an end portion with an opening for receiving a shackle pin. The shackle pin is sized and shaped to simultaneously fit through the shackle pin openings, and end portion of the pin having external pin threads. A nut provides an internally threaded opening for engaging external threads of a shackle pin. The nut is rotatably mounted to a second end portion of the shackle body. The external pin threads of the shackle pin and the internal threads of the nut are engaged when the pin is connected to the nut by rotating the nut. The pin does not rotate relative to the shackle body, due to an elongated groove in the pin that travels on a key portion of the shackle body that is in one of the openings.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved heavy duty shackle having particular utility in the salvaging of underwater objets. More particularly, the present invention relates to an improved shackle having a shackle body that is generally u-shaped, a shackle pin that fits openings in the arms of the shackle and wherein a nut is permanently and rotatably attached to the shackle body on one of the arms, the pin being prevented from rotating with respect to the shackle body and wherein a connection of the pin to the nut is achieved by engaging correspondingly shaped threads of the pin and nut and by rotating the nut. When used in an underwater environment, the present invention prevents inadvertent loss of the nut or pin because they are both permanently attached to the body of the shackle.
2. General Background of the Invention
Shackles are commonly used as a part of rigging when lifting very heavy objects. Typically, a lift employs a lifting device such as a crane that has a lift line and a lifting hook. A number of slings can be attached to the crane lifting hook and then extending diagonally to various points of attachment on the load. When salvaging an underwater object such as sunken vessel, boat, ship or the like, divers are employed to attache rigging to selective locations on the vessel to be salvaged. In an underwater environment, it is easy for a diver to drop a part of the shackle rendering the entire apparatus useless.
Shackles that are employed in underwater salvage can be quite massive, having weights in the hundreds of pounds. Such shackles cannot be typically lifted by a diver in an underwater operation without some assistance.
Various shackle constructions have been patented. The following table lists examples of such patents that are directed to shackle constructions.
The following U.S. patents are incorporated herein by reference:
TABLEPATENT NO.TITLEISSUE DATE  417,417Nut-LockDec. 17, 18891,719,673ShackleJul. 02, 19292,449,593Jib Sheet ShackleSep. 21, 19482,909,386Shackle MeansOct. 20, 19593,958,411ShackleMay 25, 19764,079,584Heavy Duty ShackleMar. 21, 19784,273,371Claw Hook AssemblyJun. 16, 19814,690,167Fireplug Anti-Theft ApparatusSep. 01, 19875,046,881Lockable Pin and ClevisSep. 10, 1991Re.34,046Heavy Duty ShackleSep. 01, 19926,023,927Shackle with a Kant Loose PinFeb. 15, 20006,145,293Safety ShackleNov. 14, 2000Des.433,617Chain Shackle with PinNov. 14, 2000Locking Structure


An electrolyte solution containing at least one selected from a compound represented by the following formula (1-1) (wherein Rf111s are the same as or different from each other and are each a C2-C4 fluorinated alkenyl group), a compound represented by the following formula (1-2) (wherein R121 is a C1-C4 alkyl group; and Rf121 is a C2-C4 fluorinated alkenyl group), and a compound represented by the following formula (1-3) (wherein Rf131 is a C1-C3 fluorinated alkyl group; and R131 is a C6-C12 aryl group):

Current electric appliances demonstrate a tendency to have a reduced weight and a smaller size, which leads to development of electrochemical devices such as lithium-ion secondary batteries having a high energy density. Further, electrochemical devices such as lithium-ion secondary batteries are desired to have improved characteristics as they are applied to more various fields. Improvement in battery characteristics will become more and more important particularly when lithium-ion secondary batteries are put in use for automobiles.
Patent Literature 1 discloses an electrolyte solution containing a lithium salt dissolved in a solvent mainly containing at least one non-aqueous solvent selected from a carbonate, ether, and lactone, wherein the solvent contains a dicarboxylic acid diester other than succinic diester or a derivative thereof and an aromatic compound having a molecular weight of 500 or lower.
Patent Literature 2 discloses a non-aqueous electrolyte solution containing an electrolyte salt dissolved in a non-aqueous solvent, wherein the non-aqueous electrolyte solution contains at least one ester compound having a specific structure.
Patent Literature 3 discloses a non-aqueous electrolyte solution secondary battery, wherein the non-aqueous electrolyte solution contains vinylene carbonate and di(2-propynyl)oxalate, the vinylene carbonate is in an amount of 0.1% by mass or more and 3% by mass or less relative to the mass of the non-aqueous electrolyte solution, the di(2-propynyl)oxalate is in an amount of 0.1% by mass or more and 2% by mass or less relative to the mass of the non-aqueous electrolyte solution, the non-aqueous electrolyte solution contains a solvent mixture of ethylene carbonate and a non-cyclic carbonate, and the ethylene carbonate is present at a proportion of 20% by volume or more and 40% by volume or less of the solvent mixture.
Patent Literature 4 discloses a secondary battery including a positive electrode, a negative electrode, and an electrolyte that contains a solvent and an electrolyte salt, wherein the solvent contains a dicarbonyl compound having a specific structure.
Patent Literature 5 discloses a secondary battery including a positive electrode and a negative electrode, as well as an electrolyte solution, wherein the electrolyte solution contains a combination of a non-aqueous solvent, an electrolyte salt, and a specific compound.

Electrolytic solution, electrochemical device, lithium-ion secondary cell, and module