A sheet metal carrier strip for electrical pins used for the production of electrical multipole connectors, comprises a planar substantially rectangular base portion 24. Two rows of upright legs 26, 30 are formed at each longitudinal edge of the base portion 24. The legs 26, 30 are alternately arranged in parallel vertical planes transversely offset one from another by at least the thickness of the legs 26, 30. A recess 14, 16 is provided in each leg, the recess opening at the upper edge of the leg 26, 30. All recesses 14, 16 in pairs are transversely aligned and designed to insert a contact pin 34 respectively. An interspace formed between each pair of adjacent legs 26, 26 of each row of legs is smaller then the width of the legs 28 of the adjacent row of legs as measured in longitudinal direction of the carrier strip 10, so that a leg 26 of one row is overlapped by a pair of legs 28 of the adjacent row respectively as seen in transverse direction.

This invention relates to a sheet metal carrier strip for electrical contact pins used for the production of electrical multipole connectors, comprising a planar substantially rectangular base portion, two rows of upright legs formed at each longitudinal edge of the base portion, the legs of both rows alternately arranged in parallel vertical planes transversely offset one from another by at least the thickness of the legs, a recess provided in each leg, the recess opening at an upper edge of the leg, all recesses in pairs being transversely aligned and designed to insert a contact pin respectively.
A carrier strip of this kind is known from DE-U-9314510. This carrier strip comprises legs, which are separated via transverse separating cuts in the strip, and afterwards bent upright. According to this document the legs follow each other without spacing. Based on a center-to-center spacing of the contact pins of 0.050 inches the arms of each leg, which are holding the contact pins, have a width of approx. 0.012 inches. The thickness of the legs is about the same. Thus the upright arms of the legs have a very small diameter with respective bending tenderness. Consequently the insertion of the contact pins requires a high-grade accuracy for both strength effort and direction. Even minimum misalignments might lead to a distortion of the legs'arms.
The EP-A-0501392 discloses a carrier strip similiar to the aforementioned, where the distance between the upright bent legs is not alternating but staying the same. Instead of the alternating distance of each pair of legs is transversely offset by at least one thickness of the legs. The separation of the legs is effected via shearing at predetermined lines. As a result the edges of the consecutive legs are transversely offset, but positioned at the same transverse planes defined by the respective cut lines.
The DE-C-4014557 discloses a carrier strip with free cuts between each two legs. Then the legs are bent upward, so that they form edges of the strip in the same longitudinal planes.

Carrier strip and method of its manufacturing


A mechanism for evaluating hybrid expressions which allows access to more than one modeling domain is discussed. The present invention allows an evaluation of a portion of a hybrid expression in a first modeling domain. Following the evaluation of the portion of the hybrid expression specific to the first modeling domain, at least a portion of the remainder of the hybrid expression is provided to a second modeling domain for further evaluation.

Simulation of graphical models is an important tool in the design and analysis of physical systems. Simulation enables the studying of system behavior, the automatic performing of optimizations, and the evaluation of system analysis algorithms, among other uses. Various classes of graphical models describe computations that can be performed on application specific computational hardware, such as a computer, microcontroller, FPGA, and custom hardware. Classes of such graphical models include time-based block diagrams such as those found within Simulink® from the MathWorks, Inc. of Natick Mass., state-based and flow diagrams such as those found within Stateflow® from the MathWorks, Inc. and data-flow diagrams. A common characteristic among these various forms of graphical models is that they define semantics on how to execute the model.
During the initialization phase of a graphical model that occurs prior to the execution/simulation of a graphical model, each model component is analyzed. Many model components correspond to underlying code that is evaluated in order to initialize the model. The underlying code expression is evaluated in light of the modeling domain to which it corresponds. For example, for a statechart environment, the expression being evaluated must contain numeric constants, statechart constants, statechart parameters, and references to the size of other statechart data. Following the evaluation of all of the underlying expressions corresponding to the model components, the graphical model may be simulated or executed.
Unfortunately, conventional mechanisms for evaluating expressions do not lend themselves to heterogeneous computing environments where hybrid expressions include references to more than one type of modeling domain. For example, in a statechart environment, an expression conventionally cannot contain an inherited size from a block diagram modeling domain. As a result, the ability to integrate model components from different types of modeling domains is limited.

System and method for performing hybrid expression evaluation


A liquid crystal display comprising an insulating substrate; a plurality of gate lines formed on the insulating substrate; a plurality of data lines formed on the insulating substrate and crossing the gate lines; a plurality of switching elements connected to the gate lines and data lines; and a plurality of pixel electrodes connected to the switching element, and wherein dots each having a red, green, blue, and white pixels are successively arranged, the ratios the liquid crystal capacitance, the storage capacitance, the parasitic capacitance, and ratio of channel width and length (W/L) of the switching elements between the red and green pixels and the blue and white pixels are same is provided.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display (LCD), and in particular, to a four color filter (RGBW) LCD.
(b) Description of the Related Art
An LCD is one of the most popular flat panel displays. Generally, a liquid crystal display has two substrates with electrodes, and a liquid crystal layer sandwiched between the two substrates. Voltages are applied to the electrodes so that the liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer are re-oriented to thereby control light transmission.
A basic LCD has two substrates respectively having electrodes for producing an electric field. One of the two substrates has a plurality of pixel electrodes arranged in a matrix shape, and the other has a common electrode covering the entire display area of the substrate.
The liquid crystal display has a plurality of pixels with pixel electrodes and color filters of red, green, and blue. The pixels are driven by way of signals applied through the wiring lines. The wiring lines include scanning signal lines or gate lines for carrying scanning signals, and picture signal lines or data lines for carrying the picture signals. Thin film transistors are formed at the respective pixels while each is connected to one gate line and one data line. The picture signals applied to the pixel electrodes are controlled by way of the thin film transistors.
There are several types of arrangement with the color filters of red, green, and blue. Among them are a stripe type where the color filters of the same color are arranged at the respective pixel columns; a mosaic type where the color filters of red, green, and blue are sequentially arranged in the pixel row and column directions; and a delta type where the pixels are zigzag-alternated in the pixel column direction, and the color filters of red, green, and blue are sequentially arranged at the pixels. In the case of the delta type, the three unit pixels with the color filters of red, green, and blue are operated as one dot, and this makes it easy to express a circle or a diagonal line.
The Clairvoyante, Inc. laboratories have proposed a pixel arrangement structure called the "PenTile Matrix™," which has a high resolution expression capacity advantageous in displaying pictures while involving minimized design cost. In such a pixel arrangement structure, the unit pixel of blue is common to two dots, and the neighboring blue pixels receive the data signals from one data driving IC while being driven by two different gate driving ICs. With the use of the PenTile Matrix pixel structure, the resolution of the UXGA level can be realized by way of a display device of the SVGA level. Furthermore, the number of low-cost gate driving ICs is increased, but the number of high-cost data driving ICs is decreased. This minimizes the design cost for the display device.
However, the PenTile Matrix pixel structure has defects such as the arrangement of gate lines and data lines is complex and the aperture ratio is low because the complex gate lines and data lines diminish the aperture area. Further, a difference of pixel area among the red, green, and blue pixels induces a difference of pixel parameters such as storage capacitance (Cst) and liquid crystal capacitance (Clc). This difference of pixel parameters results in display defects such as flicker.
A four color LCD (RGBW LCD) using red (R), green (G), blue (B), and white (W) color filters is being developed for increasing brightness. There are two types of RGBW LCD, which are distinguished by their arrangement of color filters. One is a stripe type and the other is a checkerboard type. In a stripe type of LCD, a dot comprise four pixels of red, green, blue, and white, and the number of data lines is increased by 25% over an LCD using only red, green, and blue color filters. In a checkerboard type, the number of data lines is decreased by 30% with respect to an LCD using only red, green, and blue color filters, but the number of gate lines is increased by twice compared to an LCD using only red, green, and blue color filters. For solving such a problem, a white pixel may share the area of one of the red, green, and blue pixels. In particular, it is appropriate for a blue pixel to share its area with the white pixel.


The invention relates to antibodies that specifically bind a myelorollin comprising an unbranched polylactosamine comprising at least 10 monosaccharides and having terminal .alpha.2.fwdarw.3 sialylation and internal .alpha.1.fwdarw.3 fucosylation at various N-acetylglucosamine residues except the penultimate N-acetylglucosamine residue. The invention also relates to a method of using such antibodies to inhibit E-selectin-dependent rolling of a cell on another cell, wherein one of the cells expresses a myelorollin that binds the antibodies.

The following abbreviations are used throughout this disclosure: BSA, bovine serum albumin; CID, collision-induced dissociation; CHO cells, Chinese hamster ovary cells; EC, endothelial cell; EDTA, ethylenediaminetetra acetic acid; ES-MS, electrospray mass spectrometry, FABMS, fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry; Fr., fraction(s); GSL, glycosphingolipid; Ig, immunoglobulin; IHW, isopropanol/hexane/water; mAb, monoclonal antibody; MFI, mean fluorescence intensity; NMR, nuclear magnetic resonance; PLA, polylactosamine; PBS, phosphate-buffered saline; Sdiy.sup.2 or SLe.sup.x -Le.sup.x, sialosyl Le.sup.x -Le.sup.x ; SLe.sup.x, sialosyl-Le.sup.x ; SLe.sup.a, sialosyl-Le.sup.a, Str., structure(s); TLC, thin layer chromatography. Glycolipids are abbreviated according to the recommendations of the IUPAC-IUB Commission on Biochemical Nomenclature (Lipids 12:455-463, 1977); however, the suffix -OseCer is shortened to -Cer. In particular, sialosyl-Le.sup.x and sialosylLe.sup.x -Le.sup.x have the following structures: ##STR1##
As illustrated in the formulas above, the number "1" to show the glycoside-OH position in saccharide and the arrow to show the bond to adjacent saccharide is, unless otherwise indicated, omitted for abbreviation purpose in this specification.
Since 1989, cloning of vascular or platelet adhesive proteins, now termed "selectins," has led to focused attempts to identify carbohydrate epitopes which are expressed on leukocytes (Varki, A., 1994, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 91:7390-7397; Lasky, L. A., 1995, Ann. Rev. Biochem. 64:113-139) and function as targets of selectin-dependent "rolling" and adhesion of leukocytes on activated endothelial cells, followed by transendothelial migration. This mechanism plays a central role in inflammatory responses (Lasky, L. A., 1995, Ann. Rev. Biochem. 64:113-139). Such epitopes are involved in recruitment of the cells to inflammatory sites following infection or wounding. Currently, sialosyl-Le.sup.x (SLe.sup.x) is generally believed to be the target epitope of E-selectin binding, based on the following claims: (i) Human leukocytes, leukemic leukocytes, and leukemic cell lines (e.g., HL60 and U937 cells), but not non-human leukocytes, express SLe.sup.x. This claim was based on strong reactivities of these types of cells with mAbs believed to be directed to SLe.sup.x (Ito et al.,1994, Glycoconj. J. 11:232-237). These SLe.sup.x -expressing cells adhere to activated endothelial cells or platelets which express E- or P-selectin (Phillips et al., 1990, Science 250:1130-1132; Polley et al., 1991, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88:6224-6228). (ii) Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells expressing sialosyl type 2 chain do not adhere to E-selectin, whereas transfectants of these cells with fucosyltransferase III cDNA do adhere to E-selectin (Lowe et al., 1991, J. Biol. Chem. 266:17467-17477). (iii) E-selectin-dependent adhesion of SLe.sup.x -expressing cells to activated ECs is inhibited by liposomes containing SLe.sup.x GSLs, or by oligosaccharides with terminal SLe.sup.x structure (Phillips et al., 1990, Science 250:1130-1132; Polley et al., 1991, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88:6224-6228; Handa et al., 1991, Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 181:1223-1230).
These observations have encouraged acceptance of the idea that SLe.sup.x is the epitope to which E-selectin binds. E- and P-selectin also bind to SLe.sup.a, the positional isomer of SLe.sup.x (Handa et al., 1991, Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 181:1223-1230; Berg et al., 1991, J. Biol. Chem. 266:14869-14872; Takada et al., 1991, Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 179:713-719); however, SLe.sup.a is absent in leukocytes and is not considered to be a physiologic epitope of selectins for hematopoietic cells. There has been no systematic characterization of SLe.sup.x -containing gangliosides present in neutrophils and HL60 cells, nor any unambiguous demonstration that SLe.sup.x is the major epitope present in N-linked or 0-linked glycoprotein side chains in normal or leukemic leukocytes or cell lines derived therefrom.
It is reported that, in an IgG immune complex model of rat with neutrophil-mediated and E-selectin-dependent lung injury, SLe.sup.x provides protective effects against inflammatory vascular injury (Mulligan, et al., J. Exp. Med. 178:623-631 (1993)).
However, it is also reported that, from the results of immunostaining by antibodies and of indirect binding assay to E- or P-selectin affixed on plate, of human neutrophil (polymorphonuclear leukocytes; PMN), only human PMN and promyelogenous leukemia HL60 cell expressed SLe.sup.x and other lacto-series epitopes, such as Le.sup.x or Le.sup.y, but no other mammalian PMN, such as PMN of baboon, macaque, pig, rabbit, rat, guinea pig and hamster (Ito et al., Glycoconj. J. 11:232-237 (1994)). And that the E-selectin ligand saccharide sequences obtained from mouse kidney and murine leukocyte are identified as, ##STR2## (Osanai et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 218:610-615 (1996)).
These reports showed that ligands for selectin of mammals other than human beings are not SLe.sup.x. And hitherto certified results on anti-inflammatory effects obtained by using animal models have become questionable.
Further, it is disclosed that, when in vitro, liposomes containing the glycolipid; ##STR3## are added to activated endothelial cells and thereto HL60 cells are added, binding of HL60 cells to activated endothelial cells are selectively blocked (WO91/19501 and W091/19502).
Further, it is reported that glycolipids extracted from leukocytes of patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia was either absorbed to polyvinyl chloride microtiter wells or resolved on TLC plates, screened by binding to COS cells expressing endothelial leukocyte adhesion molecule-1 (ELAM-1) and analyzed structurally, so that detected was the glycolipid below: ##STR4## (Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 88:1138-1142 (1991)).
Further, Stroud et al. (Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 209:777-787 (1995)) reported that the following glycolipids, ##STR5## commonly found in solid tumor cells and tissues does not exist in human neutrophils and HL60 cells and that the following glycolipids, ##STR6## were extracted from human neutrophils and HL60 cells, developed on TLC and placed into contact with E-selectin expressing CHO cells to detect adhesion, which proved that these cells adhered to the glycolipid #4 including very little amount of #5.
On the other hand, since the rolling-type adhesion between the selectins on vascular endothelium and the oligosaccharide ligands of leukocytes participates in the initiation of the inflammatory response, it is expected to protect from influx of leukocytes into the tissue sites of inflammation and localized damage to endothelium by activated neutrophils via an inhibition of leukocyte rolling along endothelium (Lasky, L. A., Ann. Rev. Biochem. 64:113-139 (1995)).
The currently known E-selectin ligand compounds were selected and proved to be effective under conditions without any shear stress, not taking into consideration the abovementioned rolling phenomena really occurring in human body. Therefore, these compounds should not be a real E-selectin ligand material. They could control neither E-selectin dependent rolling and adhesion of leukocytes along E-selectin expressing cells, such as endothelium, which is activated in living body nor human inflammation specifically.
It is reported that E-selectin expressing CHO cells tethered under a shear stress of 0.78 dyne/cm.sup.2 along the solid phase affixed with SLe.sup.x via egg lecithin phosphatidylcholine (abbreviated as PC). The solid phase used for this experiment was prepared by adding 3 .mu.l of SLe.sup.x (dissolved at 1 .mu.g/ml in 20:1 methanolbutanol solution containing 4 .mu.g/ml PC) to the area having a diameter of 4 mm and drying, whereby, based on the amount added to said solid phase, 15% of SLe.sup.x was affixed via PC to the solid phase (J. Immunol. 154:5356-5366 (1995)). However, as mentioned before, not existing in human neutrophil, SLe.sup.x could not control human inflammation safely and specifically.

Antibodies that bind novel carbohydrate ligands (myelorollins) that cause E-selectin dependent cell rolling, and uses thereof


The disclosure relates to vehicles and door sills for vehicles. In one aspect, the disclosure relates to door sills having an interior channel configured to receive a retractable panel installed within a vehicle door. In another aspect, the disclosure relates to impact-absorbing door sills for motor vehicles, for example, an automobile. The disclosure also provides methods for forming a shaped composite article from a metal foam and attaching the shaped composite article to a side frame of a vehicle chassis.

Passenger automobiles typically have one or more passenger entryways defined by a door sill attached to the exterior body frame of the vehicle. The vehicle door sill provides an entryway transition between the exterior of the vehicle and an interior compartment, for example, a passenger compartment. The door sill is generally configured to interface with a door connected by a hinge to the body frame at a forward position, for example, at an A-pillar of a unibody chassis. When closed, the door generally interfaces with a latching mechanism located at a rearward position, for example, at a B-pillar of a unibody chassis. The door sill provides a good seal between the door and the body frame of the vehicle, thereby reducing vibration and noise within the passenger compartment.
Door sills are commonly made from inexpensive lightweight materials such as plastics, and may be readily damaged in a collision, particularly a side impact collision. Side impact protection for a passenger seated in the passenger compartment of a vehicle is thus provided, if at all, by the vehicle frame and doors. It is known to improve passenger side impact protection by incorporating reinforcements, for example steel beams, within the doors of the vehicle. However, this adds to the cost and weight of the door and the vehicle, and can make it more difficult for a passenger to open or close the door.
It is also known to install passive side air bag assemblies to protect a passenger during a side impact with an object such as another vehicle. However, airbags also add to the cost and complexity of the vehicle, and the air bag assemblies may not provide complete passenger protection during a side impact with a massive object such as a heavy truck or concrete structure. The side air bag deployment system, which is usually built into the passenger seat or ceiling, may also negatively affect the aesthetic appearance of the vehicle interior. Airbags also do not protect the vehicle frame from damage in a side impact collision, leading to expensive repairs to the vehicle after such a collision, particularly for vehicles manufactured with a unibody frame construction.


An electrical card for providing a computer system with a signal processing module, includes metallic top and bottom covers, an insulative supporting frame, a circuit board, a first connector, a second connector and a grounding plate. The grounding plate is securely attached to the first connector by engagement between attachment plates of the grounding plate and extension arms of the first connector. The first connector together with the grounding plate are attached to the supporting frame by means of engagement between L-shaped interlocking members of the first connector and L-shaped interlocking recesses of the supporting frame. The supporting bracket is attachably received in the bottom cover, the second connector is mounted to one end of the circuit board, and the circuit board is received within the supporting bracket whereby the grounding plate forms a grounding path from grounding pads of the circuit board to the bottom cover. Finally, the top cover is engaged with the bottom cover to complete assembly of the electrical card.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical card, and particularly to an electrical card having a grounding plate for providing a grounding path from a circuit board received in the card to metallic covers of the card, and having a first connector securely interlocked with a supporting frame within the card.
2. The Prior Art
A conventional electrical input/output card comprises a pair of separate metallic top and bottom covers configured to be engaged together, a supporting frame, a circuit board having electrical elements mounted thereon, and primary and secondary electrical connectors. In assembly, the circuit board is equipped with the connectors at opposite ends thereof and then attached to the supporting frame before being sandwiched between the top and bottom covers.
Since the primary electrical connector of such a conventional electrical card is only fixed to the supporting frame by means of a rectangular protrusion received in a corresponding recess to prevent longitudinal movement of the circuit board with regard to the supporting frame, lateral movement of the circuit board is still possible which may adversely affect signal transmission between the card and the related system. Such prior art electrical cards are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,242,310, 5,339,222, 5,397,857, and 5,413,490.
Furthermore, a grounding plate is often disposed on an electrical card connector for suppressing electromagnetic interference. However, since the grounding plate is fixed to the card connector and not received within the electrical card, electrostatic accumulation within the card cannot be properly discharged which may adversely affect signal transmission. Such a card connector is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,478,260.
Hence, an improved I/O electrical card device is needed to eliminate the above mentioned defects of current I/O card devices.


A system for and method of estimating the state-of-age of a secondary cell utilizing an adaptive group filter algorithm, includes battery current, voltage, and temperature sensors, a communication device, and a controller communicatively coupled to the sensors and device, configured to filter data by analyzing only sample data points from instantaneous charge or discharge events, selecting only a sample of n instantaneous points for further regression, including n/2 charge event points and n/2 discharge event points, and separately averaging the charge and discharge event points, and further configured to determine the state-of-age by determining a resistance slope based on the rate of current and voltage change between the averages of the points, and matching the slope to a calibrated scalar or relational database.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems and methods of measuring, estimating, or otherwise determining the state-of-age of a battery, and more particularly to an improved method of estimating state-of-age including the steps of storing a data bucket of instantaneous charge or discharge points, averaging the points, determining a parameter based on a rate of change in the averaged points, and comparing the parameter to a scalar or database.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
It is often desirous to determine the state-of-age (also referred to herein as "age"), so as to predict the remaining life (i.e., the remaining period of viability) of a battery in use; and in certain applications, such as vital sign monitoring equipment or remote vehicle operation it can be critical. With respect to vehicular use, for example, the battery has been described as the heart of the electrical system and typically presents a conventional, lead-acid, AGM, or hybrid secondary (i.e., rechargeable) cell configuration.
It is well appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that where a battery has transcended its useful life, it ceases to be able to hold a charge despite connection to a fully functioning charging system. This makes the essentiality of providing accurate and reliable means for determining battery state-of-age readily apparent. Unfortunately, determining battery state-of-age is not simply a measure of its manufacture date. For example, it is also appreciated that battery age is dependant upon the level of daily discharge experienced. That is to say, a battery undergoing an average daily discharge of 10 percent may have a life that is five times as long as one discharged daily at 50 percent.
Conventionally battery inquiries regarding age or viability formerly involved a technician using a voltmeter to perform a multitude of tests, including a state-of-charge and/or battery capacity load test. More recently means of estimating battery age (also known as state-of-life or state-of-health (SOH)) have been included within a battery state estimator ("BSE") module. Controllers programmably equipped with these modules are configured to sample sensor data at high rates, and subsequently extract battery parameters by utilizing model regression/fitting techniques, or taking known endpoints and assumed/interpolated trends between age endpoints. In addition to battery age, these modules constantly determine other conditions, including whether and to what extent the battery is recharging. Finally, the parameters may be requested by and/or autonomously determined so as to provide information to another node within a communication network or an operator.
It is also appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that one extractable parameter, "high frequency" (e.g., internal 100-millisecond) resistance, exhibits a strong, distinct trend with and therefore may be used to determine battery age. More particularly, from the value of the regressed resistance and other known quantities, such as for example in a vehicular application, the power requirement to crank the engine, the interested node or operator can discern the age of the battery and therefore predict the remaining life. It is further appreciated that for all battery chemistries seen to date, the higher the frequency the stronger the trend is with respect to increasing battery age. Therefore, in conventional BSE methodology, the highest possible frequency resistance (DC resistance) has been elicited from the battery under the most instantaneous demands (i.e. high current/power demands over very short periods), which typically occur when a vehicle is cranking for example.
A concern arising when using conventional BSE modules, however, is that they typically present all-or-nothing functionality. That is to say, their current algorithms involve more data retrieval and computation than is necessary to extract only the data needed to determine battery age for example. Of further concern, these modules are also configured to manipulate input signals in order to improve reliability, making them overly complex for applications requiring only battery age information. Thus, it follows that these modules present inefficient means of determining only one parameter, such as battery age, which results in increased energy consumption, communication load and other operational/networking costs.
Another prior art method of performing autonomous battery life prediction involves a direct measurement technique utilizing electrochemical impedance spectroscopy ("EIS"). This method requires imposing a small input signal to the battery at a predefined frequency, and enables accurate impedance response measuring. Concernedly, however, this technique requires that the measurement device remains stable during the measurement process, so that the sensory cables remain free of induced electromagnetic noise. This is especially concerning in a vehicular setting, due to an abundance of uneven and poorly repaired roadways, as well as unavoidable driver caused eccentricities. Moreover, in this configuration, the sampled battery must be disconnected from parallel impedances during measurement. Of yet further concern regarding EIS systems, is the requirement of additional hardware to induce the necessary waveform. For these reasons and more, EIS systems have not been readily implemented and as such have received low market penetration.
As societal dependency upon electric power increases, so too does the need for reliable battery life prediction. This is especially the case when it comes to vehicular use, where there remains a need in the art for a more efficient yet accurate method of determining battery state-of-age.

Adaptive filter algorithm for estimating battery state-of-age


A probabilistic framework for acoustic-phonetic automatic speech recognition organizes a set of phonetic features into a hierarchy consisting of a broad manner feature sub-hierarchy and a fine phonetic feature sub-hierarchy. Each phonetic feature of said hierarchy corresponds to a set of acoustic correlates and each broad manner feature of said broad manner feature sub-hierarchy is further associated with a corresponding set of acoustic landmarks. A pattern recognizer is trained from a knowledge base of phonetic features and corresponding acoustic correlates. Acoustic correlates are extracted from a speech signal and are presented to the pattern recognizer. Acoustic landmarks are identified and located from broad manner classes classified by the pattern recognizer. Fine phonetic features are determined by the pattern recognizer at and around the acoustic landmarks. The determination of fine phonetic features may be constrained by a pronunciation model. The most probable feature bundles corresponding to words and sentences are those that maximize the joint a posteriori probability of the fine phonetic features and corresponding acoustic landmarks. When the hierarchy is organized as a binary tree, binary classifiers such as Support Vector Machines can be used in the pattern classifier and the outputs thereof can be converted probability measures which, in turn may be used in the computation of the aforementioned joint probability of fine phonetic features and corresponding landmarks.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention described herein is related to machine recognition of human speech. More specifically, the invention is directed to probabilistic methodologies and associated system architectures for automatic speech recognition based on acoustic correlates of phonetic features in signals representative of speech sounds by locating landmarks associated with broad manner phonetic features and extracting fine phonetic features at and around the landmark locations. In a further aspect of the invention, the acoustic correlates are knowledge-based acoustic parameters.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Numerous automatic speech recognition (ASR) procedures are known in the prior art, some of which, including embodiments of the present invention, utilize knowledge of acoustic-phonetics. These procedures can be classified into three broad categories: (1) the acoustic-phonetic approach to recognition, (2) the use of acoustic correlates of phonetic features in the front-ends of dynamic statistical ASR methods like Hidden Markov Models (HMMs), and (3) the use of phonetic features in place of phones as recognition units in the dynamic statistical approaches to ASR that use standard front-ends like Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCCs).
In ASR systems of the prior art that use phonetic features as recognition units in statistical methods, the usual statistical frameworks are implemented and use phonetic features as an intermediate unit of recognition. The output of intermediate classifiers to then used to recognize phonemes, words, or sentences. These methods use no explicit knowledge of the acoustic correlates of phonetic features.
Some prior art ASR systems have utilized acoustic cues that are correlates of phonetic features to form the front-end in HMM based ASR methods. These methods traditionally use standard front-ends like MFCCs and Linear Predictive Coding (LPC) coefficients. The use of acoustic-phonetic knowledge in the front-ends of these systems has led to some improvement in performance as measured against certain performance criteria.
Research has shown that acoustic-phonetic knowledge based acoustic parameters perform better than the standard MFCC based signal representation on the task of broad class segmentation as tested using an HMM based back end. In particular, it has been shown that the decrease in performance was much less dramatic for the knowledge-based front-end than for MFCCs when cross-gender testing was carried out, that is, when training was done on males and testing was done on females, and vice versa. These experiments were extended to isolated word recognition and a similar pattern was observed not only for cross gender testing, but also for testing across adults and children whose speech can be from different databases.
The acoustic-phonetic approach is characterized by the use of spectral coefficients or knowledge-based acoustic correlates of phonetic features to first carry out a segmentation of speech and then analyze the individual segments or linguistically relevant landmarks for phonemes or phonetic features. This method may or may not involve the use of statistical pattern recognition methods to carry out the recognition task. That is, these methods include pure knowledge based approaches with no statistical modeling. The acoustic phonetic approach has been followed and implemented for recognition in varying degrees of completeness or capacity of application to real world recognition problems. FIG. 1 illustrates via a block diagram a system configuration which implements the traditional acoustic phonetic approach. First, speech is analyzed by signal processor 110 using any one of a number of spectral analysis techniques, e.g., Short-Time Fourier Transform (STFT), Linear Predictive Coding (LPC) or Perceptual Linear Prediction (PLP). Typically, speech is processed using overlapping frames of 10-25 ms and overlap of 5 ms. Acoustic correlates of phonetic features are extracted from the spectral representation of the speech signal. For example, low frequency energy may be calculated as and acoustic correlate of sonorancy and zero crossing rate may be calculated as a correlate of frication. The acoustic correlates are then passed to landmark detection or speech segmentation module 120. Speech is then segmented by either finding transient locations using spectral change across adjacent frames, or by using the acoustic correlates of source or-manner classes to determine segments possessing stable manner classes. Further analysis of the individual segmentations is carried out in feature detection or phone classification module 130 by recognizing each segment as a phoneme directly or by determining the presence or absence of individual phonetic features and using the intermediate determinations to find the phonemes. When multiple segmentations are generated, as opposed to just a single segmentation, a number of different phoneme sequences may result. The phoneme sequences may be subsequently constrained by a sentence recognition module 140 to select a best representation of the speech based on acoustic and language scores corresponding to the vocabulary and grammar of the language spoken.
Most applications of acoustic phonetic methods in the prior art have been limited to the landmark detection module 120 and the phone classification module 130. Only the SUMMIT system discussed below has implemented an acoustic-phonetic system to carry out recognition on continuous speech with a substantial vocabulary. However, the SUMMIT system uses a traditional front end with little or no knowledge-based acoustic parameters (APs).
A number of problems have been associated with acoustic-phonetic systems of the prior art. First, it has been argued that the difficulty in proper decoding of phonetic units into words and sentences grows dramatically with an increase in the rate of phoneme insertion, deletion, and substitution. This argument makes the assumption that phoneme units are recognized in a first path with no knowledge of language and vocabulary constraints. This has been true for many of the acoustic-phonetic methods, but need not be limiting since vocabulary and grammar constraints may be used to constrain the speech segmentation paths.
Another shortcoming of the prior art is that extensive knowledge of the acoustic manifestations of phonetic units are required in those systems and the lack of completeness of this knowledge has been pointed out as a drawback of the knowledge-based approach. While it is true that the knowledge is incomplete, there is no reason to believe that the standard signal representation, for example, Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCCs) used in previous ASR systems, are sufficient to capture all of the acoustic manifestations of the speech sound. Moreover, although a comprehensive knowledge base has not been implemented, there has been significant development in the research on acoustic correlates, such as for place of stop consonants and fricatives, nasal detection, and semivowel classification. Thus, a scalable system, such as that of the present invention, must be implemented to allow the addition of new knowledge as it is developed.
A third argument against the acoustic-phonetic approach is that the choice of phonetic features and-their acoustic correlates is not optimal. It is true that linguists may not agree with each other on the optimal set of phonetic features, but standardization of an optimal set of features may commence without abandoning the acoustic-phonetic approach as a viable ASR option. For example, the exemplary phonetic feature set used in embodiments of the present invention is based on known distinctive feature theories and are at a minimum optimal in that sense. The scalability of the present invention allows reorganization of acoustic correlates at any time as feature sets converge to approach optimal.
A further drawback of the acoustic-phonetic approach, as argued by detractors thereof, is that the design of sound classifiers is not optimal. This argument probably assumes that binary decisions with hard knowledge-based thresholds are used to carry out the classification. However, statistical pattern recognition methods that are no less optimal than the HMMs have been applied to specific procedures of acoustic-phonetic methods, including some acoustic phonetic knowledge-based methods, with some success. However, application of statistical pattern recognition methods to even recognition tasks at the word level in acoustic phonetic based systems to accomplish complete recognition tasks, such as those accomplished through the present invention, has not heretofore been realized.
Another shortcoming of the acoustic-phonetic approach that has been argued is that no well-defined automatic procedure exists for tuning the method. Acoustic-phonetic methods can be tuned if they use standard data driven pattern recognition procedures, which is a requirement that also applies to the present invention. However, the present invention implements an ASR system that does not require tuning except under extreme circumstances, for example, accents that are extremely different from standard American English (assuming the original system was trained on natively-born American speakers).
The aforementioned SUMMIT system is a prior art ASR system that implements a traditional statistical model front-end using, for example, MFCCs or auditory-based models to obtain multi-level segmentations of the speech signal. The segments are found using either (1) an acoustic segmentation method which finds time instances when the change in the spectrum is beyond a certain threshold, or (2) boundary detection methods that use statistical context dependent broad class models. The segments and landmarks (defined by boundary locations) are then analyzed for phonemes using Gaussian Mixture Models (GMMs) or multi-layer perceptrons with exceptional results.
The combination of landmark and knowledge-based approaches to automatic speech recognition offers a number of advantages over systems of the prior art. First, by carrying out the analysis only at significant locations, the landmark-based approach to speech recognition utilizes strong correlation among the speech frames. Second, analysis at different landmarks may be done with different acoustic correlates that are computed at different resolutions. For example, analysis at stop bursts to determine the place of articulation requires a higher resolution than that required at syllabic peaks to determine the tongue tip and blade features. Third, the approach provides very straightforward analysis of errors. Given the physical significance of the acoustic correlates and a recognition framework that uses only the relevant acoustic correlates, error analysis can determine whether the acoustic correlates need to be refined or when the decision process did not take into account a certain type of variability that occurs in the speech signal. In fact, this combined landmark and knowledge-based approach to recognition is a tool in itself for understanding speech variability.
While there have been many attempts at an acoustic-phonetic approach to ASR, only the SUMMIT system has been able to match the performance of HMM based methods on practical recognition tasks. The other acoustic-phonetic methods were stopped at the level of finding distinctive acoustic correlates of phonetic features, detection of landmarks, or broad class recognition. Although the SUMMIT system carries out segment based speech recognition with some knowledge-based measurements, it is neither a landmark based system per se nor a phonetic feature based system. Like HMM based systems, it uses all available acoustic information (for example, all the MFCCs) for all decisions. While acoustic-phonetics knowledge and the concept of phonetic features have been used with HMM based systems with some success, the addition has only marginally enhanced the ability to recognize speech at the level of phonemes.
Certain embodiments of the present invention are similar to SUMMIT in that both systems generate multiple segmentations, as will be discussed below, and then use the information extracted from the segments or landmarks to carry out further analysis in a probabilistic manner. However, there are many significant factors that set the systems apart. First, SUMMIT is a phone-based recognition system while the present invention is a phonetic feature based system. Secondly, although the present invention uses a similar concept of obtaining multiple segmentations and then carrying out further analysis based on the information obtained from those segments, the present invention concentrates on linguistically motivated landmarks as opposed to analyzing all the front-end parameters extracted from segments and segment boundaries, as is a principle of SUMMIT. Furthermore, certain embodiments of the present invention do not require every observable acoustic correlate to be included in the phonetic analysis of the segments in that the sufficiency and invariance properties of predetermined acoustic parameters are utilized. Moreover, certain embodiments of the present invention implement binary phonetic feature classification, which provides a uniform framework for speech segmentation, phonetic classification, and lexical access. This differs greatly from the SUMMIT system where segmentation and analysis of segments are carried out using different procedures. Finally, as previously noted, the SUMMIT system uses standard model front-ends for recognition with a few augmented knowledge-based measurements, while certain embodiments of the present invention utilize only the relevant knowledge-based APs for each decision.

System and method for automatic speech recognition from phonetic features and acoustic landmarks


Coil patterns are provided in first and second outer surface layers and an inner layer of the board. First and second heat-dissipation patterns are provided in the second outer surface layer. A first thermal inter-layer connection member connects the coil pattern of the first outer surface layer and the first heat-dissipation pattern. A second thermal inter-layer connection member connects the coil pattern of the inner layer and the second heat-dissipation pattern. The coil pattern provided in the second outer surface layer and the first and second heat-dissipation patterns are separated from each other. An area of the second heat-dissipation pattern is larger than an area of the first heat-dissipation pattern.

For example, there is a switching power supply apparatus such as a DC-DC converter, which performs switching so as to convert a DC high voltage into an AC voltage, and then converts the AC voltage into a DC low voltage. A magnetic device such as a choke coil and a transformer is used in the switching power supply apparatus.
For example, Patent Documents 1 to 6 disclose a magnetic device formed of a coil pattern obtained by providing wiring of a coil in a board.
In Patent Documents 1 to 5, a core formed of a magnetic substance is inserted into an opening portion provided in the board. The board is formed of an insulating substance and has a plurality of layers of exposed outer surface layers and an inner layer between the outer surface layers, and the like. The coil pattern is formed on each of the layers so as to be wound around the core. Coil patterns on the different layers are connected to each other by using a through hole and the like. The coil pattern or the through hole is formed of a conductor of copper and the like.
In Patent Document 6, the board is formed of a pair of insulating layers and a magnetic layer provided between the insulating layers. A coil pattern formed of a conductor is formed on the magnetic layer. The coil pattern is obtained by performing winding multiple times in a plate face direction or a thickness direction of the board.
If a current flows in the coil pattern, heat is generated from the coil pattern and thus the temperature of the board becomes greater. As heat-dissipating measures for the board, the coil pattern is formed on almost of the entire area of each of the layers in the board in Patent Document 1. A heat radiator is attached to an end portion of the board.
In Patent Document 3, a portion of the coil pattern on each of layers in the board is widened and a heat-dissipation pattern portion is provided. A downward board protrudes from an upward board and the heat-dissipation pattern portion is provided on a protrusion portion so as to cause the heat-dissipation pattern portion to directly come into contact with an outside air. A position of the heat-dissipation pattern portion (provided in each of the layers) in a face direction is different.
In Patent Document 6, a heat-transfer through conductor which passes through the magnetic layer and a downward insulating layer is provided on an inside of the coil pattern. A heat-dissipation conductor layer connected to the heat-transfer through conductor is provided on a lower surface of the board. The heat-transfer through conductor and the heat-dissipation conductor layer are not connected to the coil pattern.


The method and apparatus are concerned with measurement of the onset and magnitude of sucrose transport between a petiole and fruit within a plant over extended time periods. Sensors are implanted in both the petiole and fruit. The electrical potential of each sensor is measured with respect to a common electrode in the soil. A difference potential is formed by subtracting the potential of the sensor in the fruit from the potential of the sensor in the petiole. Positive values of this difference determine the onset and magnitude of sucrose transport between the petiole and fruit. Cumulative values of positive difference potential over a multi-day period yield the contribution of the leaf and petiole to sugar buildup in the fruit. The cumulative positive difference potential is specific to the location of the sensors. This has the advantage that multiple sensors in petioles in the same stem yield a continuous measure of sucrose allocation, or non allocation, from the different petioles to the fruit.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,967,198 William G. Gensler. Jun. 29, 1976. Method and Apparatus for Electrically Determining Plant Water Status    U.S. Pat. No. 6,870,376 B1 William G. Gensler. Mar. 22, 2005. Method and Apparatus for Determining Plant Water Content    U.S. Provisional Patent Application 60/622,990. William G. Gensler, Method and Apparatus for Measuring Sucrose Transport into the Fruit of Plants    Gensler, W. Measuring and interpreting diurnal activity in the main stem of tees. Chapter in Tree Ring Analysis, Biological, Methodological and Environmental Aspects. R Wimmer and R. E. Vetter, Editors, CABI Publishing, Wallingford, Oxon, UK, 1999.    Hale, C. R. and R. J. Weaver. The effect of developmental stage on direction of translocation of photosynthate in Vitis vinifera. Hilgardia (Berkeley, Calif.) 33:89-131, 1962.    Hoare, J. Oxygen. Chapter in Standard potentials in aqueous solutions. A. J. Bard, R. Parsons and J. Jordan, Editors, Marcel Dekker, Inc. New York, 1985.    Kliewer, W. M. Changes in concentration of glucose, fructose and total soluble solids in flowers and berries of Vitis vinifera. American Journal of Enology and Viticulture 16: 101-110, 1965.    Nobel, P. S. Physicochemical and Environmental Plant Physiology. Academic Press, 1991.    Pirson, A. and M. H. Zimmermann, Editors. Phloem Transport, Encyclopedia of Plant Physiology, New Series, Volume 1. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1975.    Rugenstein, S. Tissue Response to palladium microprobe as observed in Gossypium hirsutum, L (Malvaeceae). American Journal of Botany, 64: 519-528, 1982.    Seymour, G. B., J. E. Taylor and G. A. Tucker. Biochemistry of Fruit Ripening. Chapman and Hall, London, 1993.    Taiz, L. and E. Zeigler, Plant Physiology. Sinauer Associates, Inc., Sunderland, Mass. 2002.    Vracar, I. M., D. B. Sepa and A. Aamjanovic. Palladium electrode in oxygen saturated solutions. Journal of the Electrochemical Society, 134:1695-1697, 1987.    Zeigler, H. Nature of Transported Substances. Chapter in Encyclopedia of Plant Physiology, New Series, Volume 1. Phloem Transport. A. Pirson and M. H. Zimmermann, Editors. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1975.

Method and apparatus for measuring sucrose transport into the fruit of plants


A temperature controller for bedding which can always provide a comfortable sleeping environment by maintaining bedding at a temperature suitable for the human body during sleeping by supplying cold or warm heat transfer medium to the inside of bedding, such as a floor mat or a bed mattress according to a preset temperature and a preset time. The temperature controller is constituted of a thermoelectric element 10 which selectively serves as a cooler or heater according to a set temperature, a controller 20 which compares the temperatures detected by means of a room temperature sensor 291, a supply temperature sensor 231 and a recovery temperature sensor 232 with set appropriate temperatures and operates the thermoelectric element 10 by outputting an output signal based on the set time of an operating time setting section 22, a heat exchanger 30 which causes heat exchange between heat exchange fins 11 cooled or heated by the thermoelectric element 10 and a heat transfer medium and supplies the heat transfer medium, and bedding 40 inside of which the heat transfer medium from the heat exchanger 30 is circulated.

Sleeping is a very important part of our life, occupying almost one third of human life. According to the sleeping environment, especially in the bed, we may have a sound sleep, invigorating us physically and mentally, or we can not sleep off our fatigue with disturbing the rhythm of not only the body itself but also our daily life.
Sleeping environment, among others, includes atmospheric temperature, humidity, etc. Ideal sleeping environment is secured where it is not affected by hot or cold weather. The inventor believes that the conditions such as the room temperature between 18 and 24.degree. C., the bed temperature between 32 and to 34.degree. C. and the humidity of about 50.+-.5% are desirable.
Apart from these conditions, the time required to fall asleep differs from individuals and a sound sleep has nothing to do with the time taken. In other words, a sound sleep for a relatively short time can also refresh us in mind and body.
In order to secure a sound sleep, human beings have invented and used beds, Japanese floor mats(tatami), electric or non-electric quilts, etc. with or without applying magnetic, finger-pressure or far-infrared ray therapeutics.
Although the room temperature can be maintained at between 18 and 24.degree. C., it is very hard to maintain the temperature in a bed of our home at the afore-said desirable level.
Electric quilts are used to keep beds or floor mat warm in the winter season, while electric fans or air conditioners are useful in the summer season. In this regard, it is feared that electromagnetic waves emitted from electric quilts may cause diseases such as cancer and electrical heat may have bad influences upon human bodies, i.e. drying and roughening the skin. Overheated appliances can be a direct cause of fire.
When an electric fan or air conditioner is kept operating during the time of sleeping, the user may suffer from evaporation of moisture from the body and drop of the body temperature and thus may be taken with an airconditioningitis or cold. When an electric fan or air conditioner is operated for a long time, it may cause oxygen deficiency in a narrow and closed room, claiming the life of the person sleeping in the room.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to bedding systems with temperature control which may substantially obviate one or more of the problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.
An object of the present invention is to provide bedding systems with temperature control for removing the problems with the electric quilts or the like by supplying the heat transfer medium heated or cooled to the preset temperature into the bedding equipment for the set time.


A nickel-based or cobalt-based superalloy substrate is covered with a protective system which is resistant to thermal, corrosive and erosive attack. An anchoring layer is disposed on the substrate. The anchoring layer is formed as an oxide compound, in particular alumina, doped with nitrogen. A ceramic coating is disposed on the anchoring layer. The modification of the anchoring layer prevents the transmission of diffusing elements through the anchoring layer to the thermal barrier layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a superalloy component which has applied thereon a protective coating system with various layers.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,055,705 to Stecura et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,321,310 to Ulion et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,321,311 to Strangman disclose coating systems for gas turbine components made from nickel or cobalt-based superalloys. A coating system described comprises a thermal barrier layer made from ceramic, which in particular has a columnar grained structure, placed on a bonding layer or bond coating which in its turn is placed on the substrate and bonds the thermal barrier layer to the substrate. The bonding layer is made from an alloy of the MCrAlY type, namely an alloy containing chromium, aluminum and a rare earth metal such as yttrium in a base comprising at least one of iron, cobalt and nickel. Further elements can also be present in an MCrAlY alloy; examples are given below. An important feature of the bonding layer is a thin layer developed on the MCrAlY alloy and used for anchoring the thermal barrier layer. This layer may be alumina or alumina mixed with chromium oxide, depending on the composition of the MCrAlY alloy and the temperature of the oxidizing environment where the layer is developed. Eventually, an alumina layer may be placed purposefully by a separate coating process like PVD.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,238,752 to Duderstadt et al. discloses a coating system for a gas turbine component which also incorporates a ceramic thermal barrier layer and a bonding layer or bond coating bonding the thermal barrier layer to the substrate. The bonding layer is made from an intermetallic aluminide compound, in particular a nickel aluminide or a platinum aluminide. The bonding layer also has a thin alumina layer which serves to anchor the thermal barrier layer.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,262,245 to Ulion et al. describes a result of an effort to simplify coating systems incorporating thermal barrier layers for gas turbine components by avoiding a bonding layer to be placed below the thermal barrier layer. To this end, a composition for a superalloy is disclosed which may be used to form a substrate of a gas turbine component and which develops an alumina layer on its outer surfaces under a suitable treatment. That alumina layer is used to anchor a ceramic thermal barrier layer directly on the substrate, eliminating the need for a special bonding layer to be interposed between the substrate and the thermal barrier layer. In its broadest scope, the superalloy consists essentially of, as specified in weight percent: 3 to 12 Cr, 3 to 10 W, 6 to 12 Ta 4 to 7 Al, 0 to 15 Co, 0 to 3 Mo, 0 to 15 Re, 0 to 0.0020 B, 0 to 0.045 C, 0 to 0.8 Hf, 0 to 2 Nb, 0 to 1 V, 0 to 0.01 Zr, 0 to 0.07 Ti, 0 to 10 of the noble metals, 0 to 0.1 of the rare earth metals including Sc and Y, balance Ni.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,087,477 to Giggins, Jr., et al. shows a method for placing a ceramic thermal barrier layer on a gas turbine component by a physical vapor deposition process comprising evaporating compounds forming the thermal barrier layer with an electron beam and establishing an atmosphere having a controlled content of oxygen at the component to receive the thermal barrier layer.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,154,885; 5,268,238; 5,273,712; and 5,401,307, all to Czech et al. disclose advanced coating systems for gas turbine components comprising protective coatings of MCrAlY alloys. The MCrAlY alloys disclosed have carefully balanced compositions to give exceptionally good resistance to corrosion and oxidation as well as an exceptionally good compatibility to the superalloys used for the substrates. The basis of the MCrAlY alloys is formed by nickel and/or cobalt. Additions of further elements, in particular silicon and rhenium, are also discussed. Rhenium in particular is shown to be a very advantageous additive. All MCrAlY alloys shown are also very suitable as bonding layers for anchoring thermal barrier layers, particularly in the context of the invention which will be described in the following.
The above-mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 5,401,307 to Czech et al. also contains a survey over superalloys which are considered useful for forming gas turbine components that are subject to high mechanical and thermal loads during operation. Particularly, four classes of superalloys are given. The respective superalloys consist essentially of, as specified in percent by weight:
1. 0.03 to 0.05 C, 18 to 19 Cr, 12 to 15 Co, 3 to 6 Mo, 1 to 1.5 W, 2 to 2.5 Al, 3 to 5 Ti, optional minor additions of Ta, Nb, B and/or Zr, balance Ni. PA0 2. 0.1 to 0.15 C, 18 to 22 Cr, 18 to 19 Co, 0 to 2 W, 0 to 4 Mo, 0 to 1.5 Ta, 0 to 1 Nb, 1 to 3 Al, 2 to 4 Ti, 0 to 0.75 Hf, optional minor additions of B and/or Zr, balance Ni. PA0 3. 0.07 to 0.1 C, 12 to 16 Cr, 8 to 10 Co, 1.5 to 2 Mo, 2.5 to 4 W, 1.5 to 5 Ta, 0 to 1 Nb, 3 to 4 Al, 3.5 to 5 Ti, 0 to 0.1 Zr, 0 to 1 Hf, an optional minor addition of B, balance Ni. PA0 4. about 0.25 C, 24 to 30 Cr, 10 to 11 Ni, 7 to 8 W, 0 to 4 PA0 5. Ta, 0 to 0.3 Al, 0 to 0.3 Ti, 0 to 0.6 Zr, an optional minor additive of B, balance cobalt. PA0 placing an anchoring layer comprising an oxide compound doped with nitrogen on a substrate formed of a nickel or cobalt-based superalloy; and PA0 placing a ceramic coating on the anchoring layer.
Information on modified alumina compounds, in particular alumina compounds doped with nitrogen, is available from an essay by the inventor entitled "Schichtentwicklungen fUr Hochtemperaturanwendungen in thermischen Maschinen" [coating developments for high temperature applications in thermic machines] and published under "Fortschritts-Berichte VDI, Reihe 5" [progress reports by VDI, series no. 5], ser. No. 345, VDI-Verlag, Dusseldorf, Germany, 1994. That essay also contains information about processes to deposit such alumina compounds in the form of layers.
Further information on modified alumina compounds may be derived from an essay by L. Peichl and D. Bettridge entitled "Overlay and Diffusion Coatings for Aero Gas Turbines" and contained in a book entitled "Materials for Advanced Power Engineering, Part One", edited by D. Coutsouradis et al., Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, Netherlands, 1994, pages 717-740, and from an essay by O. Knotek, E. Lugscheider, F. Loffler and W. Beele, published in: Surface and Coating Techniques, Vol. 68/69 (1994), pages 22 to 26.
A standard practice in placing a thermal barrier coating on a substrate of an article of manufacture includes developing an oxide layer on the article, either by placing a suitable bonding layer on the article which develops the oxide layer on its surface under oxidizing conditions or by selecting a material for the article which is itself capable of developing an oxide layer on its surface. That oxide layer is then used to anchor the thermal barrier layer placed on it subsequently.
Under thermal load, diffusion processes will occur within the article. In particular, diffusion active chemical elements like hafnium, titanium, tungsten and silicon which form constituents of most superalloys used for the articles considered may migrate through the oxide layer and into the thermal barrier layer. The diffusion active chemical elements cause damage to the thermal barrier layer by modifying and eventually worsening its essential properties. That applies in particular to a thermal barrier layer made from a zirconia compound like partly stabilized zirconia, since almost all zirconia compounds must rely on certain ingredients to define and stabilize their particular properties. The action of such ingredients is likely to be imparted by chemical elements migrating into a compound, be it by diffusion or otherwise.
To assure that a thermal barrier layer placed on a substrate containing diffusion active chemical elements keeps its essential properties over a time period as long as may be desired, it is therefore material to prevent migration of diffusion active chemical elements into the thermal barrier layer.
That aspect has, however, not yet received attention in this art. Heretofore, only oxide layers have been given consideration to anchor a thermal barrier layer on a superalloy substrate regardless of their transmission of diffusing chemical elements to the thermal barrier layer.

Superalloy component with a protective coating system


A simulation system for simulating a function of a biological organ using a biological model in which the function of the biological organ are represented by a mathematical model with a computer is provided. The present system receives input of time-series actual measurement data representing the biological response of a subject, estimates the biological response of the subject at a time point at which the measurement is not performed by using the input time-series actual measurement data, and generates time-series reference data representing the biological response of the subject. The present system further generates a virtual biological organ virtually constructed in a computer system using the times-series reference data. The virtual biological organ corresponds to the function of a biological organ of the subject.

Description using mathematical model has been attempted regarding substance concentration in biological body, in particular, blood glucose level and blood insulin concentration for medical reasons as represented by diagnosis of diabetes. The model used herein includes Bergman's minimal model (e.g., Bergman et al., American Journal of Physiology, vol. 236(6), p. E-667-77 (1979), and Bergman et al., Journal of Clinical Investigation, vol. 68(6), p. 1456-67 (1981)).
The minimal model uses blood glucose level, blood plasma insulin concentration, and insulin acting amount at the peripheral tissue insulin acting point, that is, remote insulin as variables. Assuming the blood glucose level at time t is G(t), blood plasma insulin concentration is I(t), and remote insulin is X(t), G(t), I(t), and X(t) are expressed by the following differential equations having the temporal differentiation on the left hand side.dG(t)/dt=−p1(G(t)−Gb)−X(t)G(t)dX(t)/dt=−p2X(t)+p3(I(t)−Ib)dI(t)/dt=−n(I(t)−Ib)+γ(G(t)−h), (where, G(t)>h)=−n(I(t)−Ib)+γ(G(t)−h), (where G(t)<=h)
Each parameter in the equation is,
p1: insulin non-dependent glucose metabolic rate
Gb: blood glucose level base value
p2: insulin intake function at insulin action point
p3: insulin consumption rate with respect to insulin dependent glucose metabolism
Ib: insulin concentration base value
n: insulin consumption per unit time
γ: insulin secretion sensitivity with respect to glucose stimulation
h : threshold value of blood glucose level when insulin secretion starts
The values differ among individuals.
Basically, four blocks of pancreas for secreting the insulin according to stimulation of blood glucose level, liver for taking up glucose from the blood or discharging glucose to blood according to the insulin concentration and the blood glucose level, circulation dynamic system for distributing insulin to peripheral tissues, and peripheral tissues for metabolizing glucose in response to the action of insulin associate with each other in the biological body to control the blood glucose level. In the minimal model, the components of the model are abstract elements that do not correspond to the four blocks of the biological body, and thus it is difficult to consider the simulation result of the change in blood glucose level and the change in insulin concentration of the biological body in association with the four blocks of the biological body.
Another blood glucose level reproducing method includes a method of predicting the blood glucose level in a diabetic patient (see e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,971,922). The blood glucose level may be predicted with such method, but the state of the organs related to blood glucose control is not known.
Therefore, Sysmex Corporation proposed a simulation system for obtaining the state (clinical condition) of the function of the liver such as the saccharometabolism in the liver which is effective in treating diabetes (U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0277015).
This simulation system for simulating a function of a biological organ, comprises:
a biological model in which the functions of the biological organs are expressed by mathematical models,
wherein the biological model comprises a hepatic metabolism model block having specified input and output relating to hepatic function for simulating the hepatic function, and
wherein the system further comprises arithmetic means for calculating an output value by using measurable status variables of a liver based on input value to the hepatic metabolism model block.
In such simulation system, the liver block that simulates the function of the liver outputs an output value using an actually measurable state variable, and the parameters in the mathematical model representing the function of the liver are optimized by comparing the result of simulation and the actually measured state variable. As a result, a model that represent the function of the liver more approximately is obtained, and the liver function related to liver disease is accurately simulated.

Simulation system of function of biological organ


The invention relates to a time-alignment apparatus and a time-alignment method of a transmitter (TX) of a telecommunication system TELE. Successive data frames (ch1/0, ch2/0, ch3/0, ch4/0, ch8/0, ch300/0) are written to one or two frame memories (RAM1, RAM2) starting at a respective frame start write address (FRST-ADRchy). A third frame memory (RAM3) having a read state is read out in the column direction such that one data symbol of each storage resource (RES1, RES2 . . . RES300) can be output to a modulator unit (BBTX) of the transmitter (TX). The read/write state (WR/RD) of the three frame memories (RAM1, RAM2, RAM3) is cyclically switched through a first to third alignment mode (M1, M2, M3) such that always a first write state memory (RAM1) and a second write state memory (RAM2) are provided. An interleaving process can be carried out together with the time-offset adjustment if the storage resource is constituted by an interleaving matrix. An efficient usage of storage space is obtained if the data bits forming one data symbol are stored together at one memory location of the respective storage resource. The invention is particularly relevant for a CDMA telecommunication system, in order to minimize the interference between the channels.

In many telecommunication systems, the individual data frames of a number of channels are generated asynchronously, i.e. ATM data frames are not generated aligned to a given synchronization clock in the transmitter. If the individual channels have the-same basic transmission rate TRB (on the air interface) the data frames will contain the same number of data symbols, however, they will still not be aligned to a common synchronization clock. The task of the transmitter is, despite the asynchronously arriving data packets from the individual channels, to transmit the data frames (or more precisely their data symbols) on the radio link with a predetermined respective time-offset per channel, which then characterizes the beginning of data frames of this particular user channel. The transmission to the receiver can introduce further time delays between the individual data frames, for example due to varying distances during the transmission, such that the receiver must perform a time-alignment with respect to a common synchronization clock provided in the receiver. The present invention relates to the time-offset adjustment in the transmitter.
An example of a mobile radio communication system, where such a time-offset adjustment is required, is a CDMA mobile radio communication system. FIG. 5 shows a block diagram of a base transceiver station BTS in such a CDMA communication system. FIG. 6 shows the encoder unit ENC of the base transmitter station BTS in FIG. 6. It should be noted that hereinafter the invention and their problems will be considered with respect to the CDMA system shown in FIG. 5, 6, however, the time-alignment is also applicable to any communication system requiring a time-offset adjustment.
In all telecommunication systems, where several channels each comprising successive data frames are provided, a separate encoder dedicated to a specific user channel must be provided in order to encode the successively arriving data frames of one particular channel. However, this would result in e.g. up to 300 encoder units, which is unacceptable in terms of the required hardware effort. For this reason, there is always the problem of how a common encoder resource can be used efficiently for encoding the data frames of all channels. In principle, this can be achieved if the time, which the encoder spends on encoding one data frame is much shorter than the duration of the data frame itself. Then, the encoder can process the data frames of several channels one after the other within one data frame period. Since the data frames of the individual channels do not arrive synchronized to a common synchronization clock and must be provided with a predetermined time-offset per channel to the air interface, the arriving data frames must be buffered in a memory, before a predetermined time-offset can be applied to them such that the data symbols can be delivered in form of a constant stream of data symbols to the modulation unit (e.g. the CDMA modulator BBTX in FIG. 6).
The invention particularly relates to the problem of how different time-offsets can be applied to the (possibly asynchronously) arriving data frames of a great number of channels.

Time-alignment apparatus and method for providing data frames of a plurality of channels with predeterminated time-offsets


A multilayer polyester film, and a method for making the same, is provided. The film consists of alternating layers of polyethylene terephthalate and polyethylene naphthalate. Biaxial orientation and subsequent restrained heat setting of these materials results in thin films with tensile moduli in both stretch directions well in excess of the values obtained with monolithic films of either material. In some embodiments, a slippery surface is imparted to the film without the use of conventional slip agents.

Polyester films of various compositions are known to the art. These films, which may be continuously extruded into sheets of various thicknesses, have good tensile strength and modulus, and have found use, among other things, as magnetic media substrates.
To date, much attention in the art has been focused on the optical properties of multilayer films. Alfrey et al., Polymer Engineering and Science, Vol. 9, No. 6, pp. 400-404 (November 1969), Radford et al., Polymer Engineering and Science, Vol. 13, No. 3, pp. 216-221 (May 1973), and U.S. Pat. No. 3,610,729 (Rogers), for example, describe the reflectivity of certain multilayer polymeric films. This work has been extended to multilayer polyester films. Thus, U.S. Pat. No. 3,801,429 (Schrenk et al.) and U.S. Pat. No. 3,565,985 (Schrenk et al.) disclose multilayer composites made from various resins, including polyesters, and methods for making the same. The composites have the property of being iridescent, even without the addition of pigments.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,310,584 (Cooper et al.) describe the use of polyesters in making multilayer iridescent light-reflecting film. The film includes alternating layers of a high refractive index polymer and a polymer with a low refractive index. The high refractive index polymer is a cast nonoriented film that includes a thermoplastic polyester or copolyester such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polybutylene terephthalate and various thermoplastic copolyesters which are synthesized using more than one glycol and/or more than one dibasic acid.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,122,905 (Wheatley) describes a multilayer reflective film with first and second diverse polymeric materials in alternating layers that exhibits at least 30% reflection of incident light. The individual layers have an optical thickness of at least 0.45 micrometers, and adjacent layers have a refractive index difference of at least 0.03. U.S. Pat. No. 5,122,906 (Wheatley) describes similar reflecting bodies, wherein a substantial majority of individual layers have an optical thickness of not more than 0.09 micrometers or not less than 0.45 micrometers, and adjacent layers have a refractive index of at least 0.03.
Some attempts have also been made to improve the mechanical properties of particular multilayer films. Thus, U.S. Pat. No. 5,077,121 (Harrison et al.) describes polyethylene-based multilayer films consisting of layers of two or more different resins, wherein the draw ratios of the composite film are found to exceed the draw ratios of monolithic films of the component materials. In the films described, a layer of high elongation, low modulus material is sandwiched between layers of low elongation, low modulus material. The reference also notes that a similar phenomenon is sometimes observed in composites wherein a high modulus, low elongation material is sandwiched between layers of high elongation material, although in many of these composites, the low elongation material fails at its characteristic low elongation, causing a simultaneous, premature failure of the high elongation layers.
To date, however, relatively few improvements have been made in the mechanical properties of multilayer polyester films, despite the fact that such films have become increasingly important in a wide variety of commercial applications. While polyester films are already available which have a high modulus and medium elongation, in a variety of uses, as when polyester films are used as engineering materials or are subject to winding operations, the physical limitations of these films are already being tested. There thus remains a need in the art for a multilayer polyester film having improved mechanical properties, and for a method of making the same. In particular, there is a need in the art for multilayer polyester films having improved tensile modulus, tensile strength, and stretchability.
A further problem encountered with polyester films, and frequently commented on in the literature, relates to the incidence of hazing. Hazing in polyester films is undesirable in applications where a clear film would be preferred, as in window films. In other applications, a particular degree of hazing is acceptable or even desirable. To date, however, the phenomenon of hazing has been poorly understood, and no methods have been provided which allow for easy control of the degree of hazing in polyester films. There is thus a need in the art for a method of controlling the degree of hazing in polyester films, and particularly in multilayer polyester films. In particular, there is a need in the art for a method of producing multilayer polyester films with any desired degree of hazing, through manipulation of readily controllable process parameters.
Yet another problem encountered in polyester films relates to their coefficient of friction. Thin polyester films having a high coefficient of friction are prone to wrinkling, web breaks, and similar damage during winding and handling. In these applications, it would be desirable to use a polyester film having a lower coefficient of friction, so that adjacent surfaces of the film would slide over each other easily.
To date, this has been accomplished through the use of slip agents. However, the use of slip agents is undesirable in that it complicates the manufacturing process, and frequently compromises the mechanical or optical properties of the resulting film. There is thus a need in the art for polyester films which are substantially devoid of slip agents, but which have a comparatively low coefficient of friction. There is also a need in the art for a method of controlling the coefficient of friction in a polyester film without the addition of slip agents.
These and other needs are met by the present invention, as hereinafter disclosed.


Apparatus includes unit configured to compute parallax search range in (x-y-d) three-dimensional space formed of three variables (x and y providing first point (x, y) on first image and parallax candidate d), similarity unit configured to compute degree-of-similarity C (x, y, d) between point (x, y) and second point (x′, y′) corresponding to point (x, y), using sum of products of brightness levels of corresponding pixel pairs between first window on first image and second window on second image, first window including first point (x, y) second window including second point (x′, y′) and unit configured to compute parallax D between first point (x, y) and second point (x′, y′), based on C (x, y, d), where similarity unit includes unit configured to store sum, which is used for computing C (x, y, d) between new first point on first image and new second point on second image.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a three-dimensional-information reconstructing apparatus and method, and more particularly, to a three-dimensional-information reconstructing apparatus, method and program for reconstructing three-dimensional information, such as the three-dimensional configuration of an object or the distance to an object, by acquiring the parallax between images captured by a plurality of photographing means.
2. Description of the Related Art
Three-dimensional-information reconstructing techniques for measuring the three-dimensional configuration of an object or the three-dimensional position of an obstacle have been developed so far as techniques indispensable for realization of auto-working robots or auto-running vehicles. In particular, three-dimensional-information reconstructing apparatuses, which reconstruct three-dimensional information concerning a target space, based on stereoscopic views captured by a plurality of TV cameras, have been widely utilized since they provide images of high resolution, they are superior in measuring accuracy, and they are inexpensive.
For instance, Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2002-163639 discloses, at page 7 and in FIG. 4, a method for limiting the range of searches utilizing the fact that an object is positioned on or above a reference plane (e.g., a road or floor) appearing in each captured image, thereby realizing high-rate three-dimensional information reconstruction. This method is known as a method for reconstructing three-dimensional information from the parallax between an arbitrary projected point on a reference image selected from images captured by a plurality of cameras, and the corresponding projected point on each of the other images.
To search images for accurately corresponding points thereon, it is necessary to prevent occurrence of erroneous correspondence between a certain projected point and a projected point having a brightness pattern similar to that of the really corresponding projected point. To this end, it is necessary to set a large window for computing the degree of similarity. However, no sufficient studies have yet been performed on a method for reconstructing three-dimensional information at high speed by efficiently computing the degree of similarity.
Further, to apply the above-described technique to auto-working robots or auto-running vehicles, a function for receiving still image data from a plurality of cameras in a time-series manner, and performing real-time reconstruction of three-dimensional information is required. However, no sufficient studies have yet been performed on a three-dimensional-information reconstructing apparatus capable of such real-time processing.
As described above, there are no conventional three-dimensional-information reconstructing apparatuses that efficiently compute the degree of similarity between a projected point on a reference image and the corresponding projected point on another image.
Also, there are no conventional three-dimensional-information reconstructing apparatuses that perform real-time processing of still image data sent from cameras in a time-series manner, thereby reconstructing three-dimensional information.

Three-dimensional-information reconstructing apparatus, method and program