Shared network area (SNA) information is distributed using indicators that represent the SNA information. First SNA information for a first group of first network mobile subscribers is mapped to a first SNA indicator. Similarly, (SNA) information for a second group of second network mobile subscribers is mapped to the second SNA indicator. Those mappings are established in a core network node and sent to radio network nodes and used to determine from the SNA mappings the network access restrictions for a subscriber. The network access restriction information is not sent—only the indicator. The indicator is used to ensure that the cell selected to establish a call connection or for a handover is permitted based on the SNA information.

Since the public mobile radio systems were introduced in the late 1970s and early 1980s, several "generations" of mobile radio communication systems have evolved in different parts of the world. First generation (1G) systems used analog frequency modulation at the radio and digital control of the network. Second generation (2G) systems are based on Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA). An example of a 2G system is the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). Work is ongoing in third generation (3G) systems based on Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA). An example of a 3G system is a Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS).
Third generation systems are backward compatible with other types of radio systems—like GSM—so that multimode User Equipment (UE) can obtain service from both 2G and 3G systems. This requires that the multimode UEs and the 2G and 3G infrastructure all support inter-system handover from a cellular that employs one type of radio access technology to another cellular system that employs a different type of radio access technology, e.g., from GSM/TDMA to UMTS/TDMA. Commonly assigned U.S. patent applications Ser. No. 09/286,472, filed on Apr. 9, 1999 and entitled, "Inter-System Handover—Generic Handover Mechanism," describes one mechanism for accomplishing such intersystem handovers, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
In addition to coordinating inter-system handovers, network operators may share their network in order to extend network coverage and provide other extended network services to their respective subscribers. Shared networks may be geographically split or they maybe commonly shared. In a geographically split network, each operator covers a different geographical area with its respective network. Consider an example where two cellular network operators A and B share each other's network to provide their subscribers with cellular coverage over an entire country. Operator A's network may cover one half of the country, and operator B's network covers the other half. Network sharing allows both network's mobile subscribers to have service throughout the entire country. A problem arises when the two networks overlap, e.g., in the middle of the country. In that overlapping area, service can be provided by either operator's network. Naturally, each operator would like its subscribers to use its network in this overlap area, with access to the other operator's network restricted or prohibited. In other words, each operator wants to service its own subscribers using its own infrastructure whenever possible.
In one likely shared network example, a UMTS is shared by network operators A, B, and C, and each operator has its own GSM network overlapping the UMTS and the other GSM networks. The problem arises when a user equipment (UE) is leaving the UMTS network area that is not overlapped by any of the GSM networks and must be handed over into an area where the UMTS and the three GSM networks overlap. In this situation, it would be desirable to restrict which GSM network cells are possible candidates for handover. For example, if the UE is a subscriber of operator A, it would be desirable to restrict the GSM handover candidate cells for that UE to those belonging to operator A's GSM network. A GSM cell belonging to operator B or C should only be selected if no cell in A's network is available.
One approach to solving this problem is to provide shared network access/restriction information to every network node involved in handover decision making. The difficulty with this approach is the need to distribute large volumes of shared network area (SNA) information with high frequency to many nodes. Such SNA access data must be sent to the radio access network at every call setup and must also be included in every handover/relocation message. This frequent SNA signaling containing substantial amounts of SNA data requires considerable bandwidth. In addition to significant bandwidth resources being consumed, signaling protocol messages typically have maximum lengths so there may not even be sufficient room to carry the necessary SNA information.
The present invention solves these problems with distributing SNA information using indicators that represent the SNA information. SNA information for a first group of first network mobile subscribers is mapped to a first indicator. Similarly, second shared access network information for a second group of second network mobile subscribers is mapped to the second indicator. Those mappings are established in a core network node and sent to radio network nodes involved in call connection setup and/or handover. The radio network nodes store these mappings for future use.
When a call connection is being set up (or soon thereafter) with one of the first network mobile subscribers, a core network node sends the first indicator to the radio network node handling the connection set up. That radio network node uses the first indicator to determine from its stored SNA table the network access restrictions for this subscriber. The shared network access restriction information is not sent—only the indicator.
If a handover is requested for the call connection from the first radio network node to a second radio network node, the first indicator is sent to the second radio network node. The second radio network node uses the first indicator to determine from its SNA mapping the network access restrictions for this subscriber. Based on the determined network access restrictions, the second radio network node selects an appropriate cell for the handover.
Thus, in shared network situations, using SNA indicators conserves resources every time a call is set up and every time a call is handed over. Sending only the SNA indicator rather than all of the SNA information reduces signaling complexity and volume. This allows network operators to efficiently control which network cells are permitted as viable handover candidates.

Distributing shared network access information in a shared network mobile communications system


Described is an approach for performing context-aware prognoses in machine learning systems. The approach harnesses streams of detailed data collected from a monitored target to create a context, in parallel to ongoing model operations, for the model outcomes. The context is then probed to identify the particular elements associated with the model findings.

Database systems and database clusters are becoming increasingly larger and more complex. The horizontal expansion of computing component resources (e.g., more and more computing nodes, more and more storage-oriented devices, more and more communication paths between components, more and more processing modules and instances, etc.) coupled with the proliferation of high-performance component instrumentation results in systems capable of generating extremely high bandwidth streams of sensory data. Even a session of very short duration to capture this data can result in an accumulation of correspondingly large volumes of raw data of very detailed complexity, which presents a large challenge to system administrators to perceive the meaning within the volume of data.
The problem is that given the size of modern database systems and clusters, it is becoming more and more difficult for administrators to efficiently manage the health and correct operational state of the technology given the quantities and complexities of data being collected for those databases. Conventional approaches often rely upon ad hoc logic that is notorious for having low-grade accuracy with regards to the current state of health of the system, and to then act upon their possibly inaccurate assessment of the state the of the system.
Machine learning has been proposed as a solution for managing and monitoring complex systems such as databases. Machine learning pertains to systems that allow a machine to automatically "learn" about a given topic, and to improve its knowledge of that topic over time as new data is gathered about that topic. The learning process can be used to derive an operational function that is applicable to analyze the data about that system, where the operational function automatically processes data that is gathered from the activity or system being monitored. This approach is useful, for example, when a vast amount of data is collected from a monitored system such that the data volume is too high for any manual-based approach to reasonably and effectively perform data review to identify patterns within the data, and hence automated monitoring is the only feasible way that can allow for efficient review of that collected data.
However, it is not normally feasible to use machine learning to model each and every single object within a system, nor is it normally feasible to model and track each and every item of detailed data captured for all of the objects in the system. Instead, model-based monitoring systems, which incorporate machine learning techniques for their prognoses, tend to navigate towards some finite set of predefined classes of decisions and outcomes. This is because, given the amount of effort and expense that is needed to generate even a single model based upon limited numbers of selected data signals, it would be highly impractical and quite un-scalable to expect to be able to do so for every component and sub-component within the system. Instead, conventional machine learning is typically applied to generate models for certain select components based upon certain select data signals for that component.
The problem is that this approach for applying machine learning and modeling only at the component level for selected signals makes it very difficult to account for and identify other objects in the system that are not being modeled, but which may pertain to influences or effects upon the specific components that are being modeled. One practical result of this limitation is that conventional systems are typically unable to pinpoint individual offending software/hardware components or the real culprits behind root cause(s) for problems that are identified from the machine learning models.
What is needed, therefore, is a method and/or system that overcomes the problems inherent in the prior approaches, and which permits identification of individual offending software/hardware components or the real culprits for problems that are identified from the machine learning models.

Method and system for performing context-aware prognoses for health analysis of monitored systems


The invention relates to a cognitive SIMO network access method based on cooperative relay, wherein a cognitive base station collects channel responses in a network and judges whether the cognitive users can cooperate with a primary user to achieve the target transmission rate required by the primary user or not, if so, a cognitive SIMO network is accessible to a frequency band licensed to the primary user; otherwise, the cognitive SIMO network is non-accessible. The access method can enable a plurality of the cognitive users and the primary user to simultaneously use the same licensed spectrum in the same geographical position, on the premise of ensuring the target transmission rate of the primary user, and further improve the utilization efficiency of the spectrum as far as possible. As the access method is based on cooperative communication, the nearer the distance from the cognitive network to the primary network is, the greater the network throughput can be achieved; and furthermore, a large-range network coverage can be realized, so the deficiencies in the existing cognitive radio access ways are made up.

Cognitive radio is one of the most popular wireless techniques. The emergence of the cognitive radio has changed the spectrum using way of exclusively using spectrum resources by a licensed user. Each cognitive user can perform interactive perception with the wireless communication environment and automatically changes its transmit-receive parameters, so that the authorized spectrum can be dynamically reused on the premise of ensuring the normal communication of the licensed user (primary user) and the utilization efficiency of the spectrum can be significantly improved. In addition, a multi-antenna way is recognized as one of the required technical schemes for further high-speed wireless networks. A multi-antenna communication system increases space dimension on the basis of original frequency domain, time domain and code domain, with the advanced space-time signal processing technologies, its capacity can be upgraded by times without increasing bandwidth and transmission power, in addition, the anti-interference and anti-fading performances of the communication system can be simultaneously enhanced, so that the scarce spectrum can be effectively eased and high-speed business support can be further provided. Both as the effective means for improving the spectrum efficiency, the combination of the multi-antenna technique and the cognitive radio technique can further realize very broad application prospects.
At present, there are two well-known spectrum access models for cognitive radio, namely the spectrum hole-based opportunistic spectrum access and the interference temperature-based spectrum sharing.
The spectrum hole-based opportunistic spectrum access is as follows: spectrum resources which are not used by the primary user in specific positions at specific times are called as spectrum holes, and the opportunistic spectrum access manner utilizes the spectrum holes to communicate, which is the direct realization of cognitive radio. This kind of access way does not need to control the transmission power, but a high-precision spectrum detection technique is required in the cognitive network; and when the traffic in primary network is busy, it is very difficulty to obtain the communication opportunity in the opportunistic spectrum access model.
The interference temperature-based spectrum sharing is as follows: interference temperature is defined at the front end of radio frequency of a wireless receiver, which is used for measuring the interference received by a receiver in a certain geographical position within a certain frequency band, and the maximum interference temperature which can be tolerated by normal communication of the receiver is called as an interference temperature boundary. As long as the interference from the cognitive network to the primary receiver can be controlled within the interference temperature boundary, the licensed frequency band can be reused by the cognitive user without affecting the normal communication of the primary user. By utilizing this kind of access way, the cognitive network and the primary user can simultaneously use the same licensed frequency band in the same position, but the transmission power of the cognitive network must be controlled to meet the interference temperature boundary of the primary user, so that the spectrum sharing way can not realize a large-range network coverage and the communication performance is very poor when the distance to the primary network gets shorter.

Cognitive SIMO network access method based on cooperative relay

PLA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY


A liquid crystal display is presented that includes: an auxiliary electrode protruding from a gate line; a third gate electrode protruding from the gate line; a first source electrode and a second source electrode connected to a data line and overlapping the first gate electrode and the second gate electrode, respectively; a first drain electrode overlapping the first gate electrode and the auxiliary electrode; a second drain electrode overlapping the second gate electrode; a third source electrode overlapping the third gate electrode; a third drain electrode overlapping the third gate electrode and connected to a storage electrode line; first and second subpixel electrodes connected to the first and second drain electrodes, respectively, wherein a connection between the first drain electrode and the first subpixel electrode and a connection between the second drain electrode and the second subpixel electrode are adjacent to each other.

(a) Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a liquid crystal display. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a liquid crystal display with improved transmittance.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Liquid crystal displays (LCDs) are one of the most widely used flat panel displays today. Typically, an LCD includes a pair of panels provided with field-generating electrodes and a liquid crystal (LC) layer interposed between the two panels. The LCD displays images by applying signals to the field-generating electrodes to generate an electric field in the LC layer that determines the orientation of LC molecules in the LC layer, thereby adjusting polarization of incident light.
The liquid crystal display includes a thin film transistor array panel and a common electrode panel facing each other. The thin film transistor array panel includes a gate line transmitting a gate signal and a data line transmitting a data signal, and intersecting each other, a thin film transistor connected to the gate line and the data line, and a pixel electrode connected to the thin film transistor. The common electrode panel includes a light blocking member, a color filter, and a common electrode.
The liquid crystal display has room for improvement in visibility and viewing angle, and thus various modes of liquid crystal displays have been developed in order to solve the problems. However, even though there have been improvements in the visibility and viewing angle, there are still problems that prevent a desired pattern from properly forming, for example due to misalignment of a mask. That is, an overlapping area between the gate electrode and source/drain electrode may be varied due to misalignment of the mask. As a result, a striped pattern may be displayed in a direction perpendicular to the data line.
Also, an insulating layer is formed between the thin film transistor and the pixel electrode, and a contact hole is formed in the insulating layer to allow interlayer connection. A light blocking member is formed to prevent light leakage at a portion in which the thin film transistor and the contact hole are formed. When forming a plurality of contact holes in one pixel, as the contact holes are designed to have a sufficient margin, a light blocking area is increased such that transmittance is decreased.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.


Apparatus and methods for hydrolyzing protein-containing raw material into water soluble protein and other products. The apparatuses and methods comprise an optional collection or processing stage in which protein-containing raw material, such as fish or animal carcasses from food production plants, are collected and optionally processed. The raw material is then reacted with one or more enzymes to hydrolyze the protein present, after which the one or more enzymes are inactivated and the components separated. The processes and apparatuses, which can be run as a batch processes or, advantageously as a continuous processes, can yield water soluble protein, oils, bone meal and other products that have utility as food or food additives.

This disclosure relates to plants and methods for hydrolysis of protein containing raw material, and to uses of the hydrolysis products obtained therefrom.
Various batch hydrolysis processes are known, each having certain disadvantages, such as prolonged processing time, low yields of soluble protein, deficient product quality or flavor, high fat content, and inefficient use of resources. This disclosure provides apparatuses, methods, and systems that provide hydrolysis of protein-containing material, such as fish, animal and plant materials, and hydrolysis products resulting therefrom.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Apparatus and method for hydrolysis of a protein containing raw material and application of the resulting hydrolysis products


The present invention includes compositions and methods of treatment for glutamate abnormalities and associated nervous tissue insult in a animal by inhibition of NAALADase enzyme. Compositions include glutamate-derived hydroxyphosphinyl derivative compounds, acidic peptide analogs, phosphinic acid derivatives and mixtures thereof that inhibit NAALADase enzyme activity and their use for treating glutamate abnormalities such as created by global and focal ischemia.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the treatment of glutamate abnormalities in animals and in particular to the prevention or alleviation of brain damage caused by strokes and other types of ischemia. More particularly, the present invention relates to methods of treating global and focal ischemia before, during and/or after nervous insult has occurred by using compositions which are believed to prevent excess glutamate formation, and which are shown to inhibit N-Acetylated .alpha.-Linked Acidic Dipeptidase (NAALADase) enzyme activity in animals.
2. Description of the Prior Art

Treatment of global and focal ischemia using naaladase inhibitors


A comparator circuit has first and second inputs and an output and includes means for operating the comparator in alternate autozero and comparator phases. During an autozero phase, the inputs of the comparator are clamped to a reference potential and during a compare phase, input signals are applied to the input of the comparator. Control signals are applied to the inputs of the comparator during a portion of the compare phase. The control signals determine the state of the comparator output when the input signals applied to the inputs of the comparator are below a predetermined level.

This invention relates to amplifier and comparator circuitry and, in particular, to amplifier and comparator circuitry including circuitry for suppressing small, noise-like, input signals.
A problem which exists in the art and which is solved by the present invention may be best explained with reference to FIG. 1 which shows a system designed to sense the "knock" of an engine and means for generating signals to correct for the knock. A knock sensor 10, which may generally be a microphone and which is located on or near an automobile engine, produces a knock signal (ek) in response to the "knocking" of the engine. The signal (ek) is then applied to an amplifier 12 whose output is applied to the input of an anti-aliasing filter 13 whose output is applied to the input of a programmable gain stage 14. In response to the knock signal ek the programmable gain stage 14 produces at its output an in-phase signal (ek1) and an out-of-phase signal (ek1b). The signal ek1 is applied to a bandpass filter 16a and the signal ek1b is applied to a bandpass filter 16b. The output of filter 16a produces a signal identified as V.sub.IN and the output of filter 16b produces a signal identified as V.sub.INB. Theoretically, in-phase signal V.sub.IN should be the exact complement (or inverse) of the out-of-phase signal V.sub.INB. Input signals V.sub.IN and V.sub.INB are then applied to a rectifier section 18 which controls the application of the signals V.sub.IN and V.sub.INB to an integrator 20. Integrator 20 includes a positive signal integrator 20a and a negative signal integrator 20b. The rectifying circuit 18 includes circuitry for comparing V.sub.IN and V.sub.INB and switches for enabling the positive going portion of signals V.sub.IN and V.sub.INB to be applied to integrator 20a and the negative going portion of signals V.sub.IN and V.sub.INB to be applied to integrator 20b. As a result, the outputs of integrators 20a and 20b function to increase the positive and negative amplitude of the knock signal over selected integrating intervals.
The outputs of integrators 20a and 20b are fed to a differential to single-ended amplifier whose output charges a storage capacitor C24 whose potential is used to drive a buffer 26 whose output is then used to control (reduce) the engine knock.
A problem exists when there is no knock signal (e.g., the knock sensor is disconnected) or when the knock signal is very small. It is virtually impossible to manufacture programmable gain stage (e.g., 14) such that the circuit sections producing the in-phase and out-of-phase signals and their filters (e.g., 16a, 16b) are totally identical. No matter how carefully the circuit and its components are made, there are differences (albeit small) in the components and their lay out. Consequently, when the knock signal (ek) is very small or non-existent, a net difference or offset will nevertheless exist between V.sub.IN and V.sub.INB. Although the difference and offset may be small, a significant error may result. This is because the outputs of the bandpass filters (16a, 16b) are fed to a rectifier section 18 to control the application of V.sub.IN and V.sub.INB to integrators 20a and 20b. The difference between V.sub.IN and V.sub.INB due to noise and offsets produces a "false" signal which increases in time, magnifying the effect of the false signal.
It is an object of this invention to reduce or eliminate the effect of "low level" and "offset" signals which tend to provide a false indication of the input signal.

Comparator with small signal suppression circuitry


A method for determining use of a second life battery under load conditions to reduce CO2 emissions includes using Monte Carlo simulations to modeling uncertainties of a load profile, a renewable energy profile, and CO2 emissions rate, determining an initial state of charge SOC of the second life battery based on a Gaussian distribution for determining a rate of charging during low emission hours and discharging during high CO2 emission hours of the second life battery and storage size of the second life battery and CO2 emissions reduction.

The present invention relates generally to battery technology, and more particularly, to use of second battery life to reduce CO2 emissions.
Batteries used in electric vehicles cannot be used in the vehicle once the battery capacity falls to 70%-80%. The remaining capacity of these batteries, referred to second life batteries, can be employed in various applications so that they can be kept out of landfills. One of the applications is to use the second life batteries to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the grid. The CO2 emission profile varies depending on the time of the day, month and season. Emissions are high when only the base load plants are operating and low when renewable are used. We charge second life battery during the low emission hours of the day and discharge it when the emissions are high from the grid. With the increase in renewable generation such as photo voltaic, wind energy the carbon foot print changes with the hour of the day. The analysis is to optimize the use of second life battery to reduce the emissions considering uncertainties in the load and availability of renewable power.
Previous research addresses CO2 emissions reduction using hourly data of the emissions from the generators and different fuel types used. They compare the dollar amount saved by emissions avoided and peak demand reduced. However, this prior effort does not account for uncertainties in renewable energy prediction and an initial state of charge (SOC) of the second life battery as the invention does.
Prior works cover peak demand reduction vs. CO2 emission savings using stationary battery storage. One article discusses energy and emission analysis in particular focusing on the dollar value of the emissions avoided compared to the dollar value of the peak demand reduction.
In another prior work, Gaussian probability distribution is used for calculating the initial SOC of a second life battery when it is removed from the electric vehicle and is ready for second use. This process is unique in finding the range of state of charge (SOC) and the probability distribution of having a second life battery with a particular SOC. A similar procedure has been used to forecast errors for wind and load forecast errors.
Accordingly, there is a need for reducing CO2 emissions using a second life battery that takes into account availability of the zero emissions power that takes into account zero emission power uncertainties as well as load profile uncertainties.

Use of second battery life to reduce CO2 emissions


An attractive, economical, dependable frame protector and process are provided to minimize tearing, puncturing, scratching, and loosening of printing screens as well as to protect and extend the useful life of a printing screen frame. The frame protector comprises a special expandable clamp with an annular body portion and lips which clamp the printing screen. The lips of the clamp can be taped to the printing screen. The clamp annularly surrounds and covers the frame member. The annular body portion includes a printing screen frame-engagable clamping member with a bight that is shaped and arranged to complement the contour of and clamp a frame member of a printing screen frame.

This invention relates to screen printing and more particularly to a clamp and process for protecting printing screens and frames.
Screen printing has been used to print designs on mugs, cups, dishes, shirts, and other textiles and products for years. Screen printing can be accomplished with printing screens made of such silk, polyester, and fine mesh metal. The negative of the image to be printed is placed on the printing screen so that when ink flows through the screen only the desired image, pattern, illustration and/or words will be printed.
The printing screen is usually held in place by a rigid frame, such as a rectangular frame. It is important that the screen be held in place with the proper amount of tension against the frame to attain sharp accurate printing.
Printing screens and frames can be used for high volume printing and are regularly moved, assembled and disassembled. They are frequently bumped, knocked, thrown around, dropped, abused, mishandled and subject to rigorous tension, torsion, and compressive forces. As a result, printing screens often tear, puncture, fray or are scratched and printing frames are often damaged. Printing screens usually tear near the edges of the screens in closed proximity to the printing frame. Damaged printing frames can result in undesired loosening, twisting, or stretching of printing screens.
Damaged printing frames and torn printing screens often result in blurred printing, blotches, misalignment of colored images, undesired extraneous lines and ink markings, ruined prints, waste, and printed products of unacceptable quality. Substantial costs are incurred in print wastage, reprinting, replacing torn, frayed, or scratched printing screens, correcting loosened or twisted printing screens, and repairing or replacing damaged printing frames.
Over the years a variety of printing screens, frames and other equipment have been suggested. Typifying these printing screens, frames and other equipment are those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos.: 1,742,339; 1,874,476; 2,218,451; 2,299,628; 2,566,919; 2,693,205; 3,230,882; 3,273,497; 3,757,953; 3,859,918; 4,568,455; 4,863,156; 4,860,814; and 4,934,738. These printing screens, frames, and other equipment have met with varying degrees of success but have not been satisfactory to prevent tearing, fraying, and scratching of printing screens nor to prevent damage to printing frames.
It is, therefore, desirable to provide an improved apparatus and process which overcomes most, if not all, of the preceding problems.

Clamp and process for protecting printing screens and frames


A switch having first and second housing members 12, 14 sandwiching a combination terminal and disc seat member 30 has a tortuous vent path 64, 66 and 68 formed through first and second, annular bearing surfaces 60, 62 in the top surface of the second housing member. The terminal and disc seat member 30 and top surface 42 of the second housing member are configured such that an interference fit is formed between the terminal and the disc seat member 30 and the second, annular bearing surface 62.

This invention relates generally to pressure switches and more specifically to vented pressure switches adapted for use with hydraulic fluid control lines of a motor vehicle automatic transmission system.
In recent years, it has become conventional in the motor vehicle art to control various engine and powertrain functions by means of microprocessor based controls to obtain optimum performance. For example, actuation of valves used to effect transmission gear shifting and valve actuation are sensed by placing normally open and normally closed pressure responsive electrical switches in communication with hydraulic lines so that a change in pressure in such lines which occurs upon valve actuation and de-actuation can be sensed and a suitable electrical signal provided to the microprocessor as a result of the switching. Switch assemblies of this type are shown for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,861,953; 4,853,503; 5,004,876; 5,015,808 and 5,101,549, all assigned to the assignee of the present invention.
The above referenced switches employ a pressure responsive member placed in pressure communication with hydraulic fluid in a control valve line. Upon a selected change in pressure of the fluid the pressure responsive member experiences a change from one configuration to another configuration and in so doing either closes or opens an electrical circuit which is adapted to provide a signal to the microprocessor of the particular change in pressure signifying the switching of a valve and a corresponding change in a transmission function. In order for the switching to be an accurate reflection of the change in pressure it is important that the switches have a consistent response time even with changing temperatures, actuation/release pressures, endurance life and so on. This in turn requires a hermetic enclosure for the switch contact system or a means for venting of the switch contact system if the contact system operates immersed in oil (automatic transmission fluid) or a vented switch. Hermetic enclosures, however are prohibitive from a cost standpoint and therefore it is important to provide some means for venting the switching chamber. Another problem which must be dealt with is the environment of the switches. That is, the switches are mounted either totally immersed in fluid or in areas where they are splashed with fluids on a regular basis. These fluids contain contaminants such as chips or slivers from the transmission gears which are carried by the hydraulic fluid. These contaminants can have an adverse affect on switch operation. Normally open switches are particularly sensitive to contamination with large particles or slivers sometimes bridging the gap between the movable contact member when in the normal open position and the stationary contact thereby giving a false actuation signal to the microprocessor.
It is an object of invention to provide an inexpensive yet reliable pressure responsive electrical switch having improved insensitivity to contamination present in fluid in the switch environs. Another object of the invention is the provision of an improved vented pressure responsive electrical switch.


Described herein are compounds of the general formula: ##STR1## a stereoisomer, solvate, or pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein:. R.sub.1 is H, halo, aryl or aryl substituted with one or two groups independently selected from halo, C.sub.1-4 alkyl, C.sub.1-4 -alkoxy, nitro, trifluoromethyl, trifluoromethoxy or cyano; PA1 R.sub.2 is C.sub.4-9 alkyl; phenyl or phenyl substituted with one or two groups selected independently from OH, cyano, halo, C.sub.1-4 alkoxy, C.sub.1-4 alkyl, trifluoromethyl, trifluoromethoxy, nitro or phenyl; naphthyl; PA1 or 1,2-methylenedioxy phenyl;. phenyl fused to a 5 or 6-membered heterocycle; the coumarin moiety ##STR2## wherein R.sub.3 and R.sub.4 are selected independently from H, C.sub.1-4 alkyl and C.sub.1-4 alkoxy;. with the proviso that R.sub.2 is not phenyl or 3,4-dimethoxyphenyl when R.sub.1 is H.. Also described is their use as pharmaceuticals to treat indications in which the D4 receptor is implicated, such as schizophrenia and anxiety.

Neuronal cell receptors that bind the neurotransmitter dopamine constitute a group of at least five structurally distinct proteins that can now be produced using recombinant DNA techniques. These techniques have been applied to construct cell lines that incorporate the dopamine receptor in their membranes, to provide regenerable and homogeneous substrates with which chemical libraries can be screened to identify potential CNS-active drugs.
Recent evidence strongly implicates the dopamine receptor classified as D4 in the etiology of schizophrenia. It has been suggested that compounds capable of interfering with the function of this receptor, which is present in schizophrenics at levels that are six times normal, would be useful in the treatment of this disease (Seeman et al, Nature, 1993, 365:441). Some drugs currently on the market in fact exhibit the desired antagonism of D4 receptor activity, and bind with relative strong affinity to the receptor. Yet because of their structure, these drugs interact also with related dopamine receptors, particularly the D2 receptor type, which results in significant side effects that include altered motor function and tachycardia. It would be desirable to provide compounds that exhibit not only a high degree of affinity for the D4 receptor, but also a relatively low degree of affinity for the D2 receptor. In this specification, this desired combination of receptor binding properties is referred to as D4 selectivity.
Products currently marketed to treat indications in which the D4 receptor function is implicated include the dibenzodiazepine, clozapine, and the dibenzoxazepine, isoloxapine. Analysis of their dopamine receptor binding properties has shown that the preference for binding the D4 receptor relative to the D2 receptor is about 10 fold, for both products. Similarly, both bind the D4 receptor with about the same affinity (Ki value approximately 20 nM). Other products, recently published in the scientific literature, have shown similar D4 to D2 selectivity profile and D4 affinity values.
The use of certain troponyl piperazines as dopamine receptor agonists, for example to treat Parkinsonism and other related disorders, is described in EP 034,894 and in related scientific articles (see Bagli, J. et al., J. Med. Chem. 1984, 27:875 and Bagli, J. et al., J. Med. Chem. 1986, 29:186).
It is an object of the present invention to provide a compound that binds to the D4 receptor.
It is an object of the present invention to provide D4 receptor-binding compounds.
It is another object of the present invention to provide compounds which bind selectively to the D4 receptor, relative particularly to the D2 receptor.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a pharmaceutical composition comprising a compound of the present invention, as active ingredient.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method effective to treat medical conditions for which administration of a D4 receptor antagonist is indicated, such as to treat schizophrenia and anxiety.

Troponyl piperazines as dopamine D4 receptor ligands


In this uninterruptible power supply apparatus, even after electric power supply to a load stops due to prolonged power failure time, the operation of an inverter is continued, a DC power supply voltage is generated based on an output of the inverter, and a control circuit is driven by the DC power supply voltage. Therefore, when electric power supply from a commercial AC power supply is resumed during the stop of electric power supply to the load, electric power supply to the load is automatically resumed by the control circuit.

Conventionally, an uninterruptible power supply apparatus has been widely used as a power supply apparatus for stably supplying AC electric power to an important load such as a computer system. As described in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2001-61238 (PTL 1), for example, the uninterruptible power supply apparatus generally includes a converter converting first AC electric power from a commercial AC power supply to DC electric power, a power storage device storing the DC electric power, and an inverter converting the DC electric power supplied from the converter or the power storage device to second AC electric power having a commercial frequency and supplying the second AC electric power to a load.
In a normal state in which the first AC electric power is supplied from the commercial AC power supply, the converter converts the first AC electric power to the DC electric power, and supplies the DC electric power to the inverter while charging the power storage device. The inverter converts the DC electric power to the second AC electric power and supplies the second AC electric power to the load. When a power failure occurs at the commercial AC power supply, the DC electric power is supplied from the power storage device to the inverter and the inverter continues supplying the second AC electric power to the load.

Uninterruptible power supply apparatus including a control circuit that executes a first mode when supply of a first AC electric power from a commercial AC power supply is resumed at a time of discharge end

TOSHIBA MITSUBISHI-ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL SYSTEMS CORPORATION


One example of a surgical apparatus may include a staple holder; at least one feeder belt fixed to the staple holder; and staples integral with and frangibly separable from the feeder belt; where at least one of the staples is sized differently from at least one other staple.

An endocutter is a surgical tool that staples and cuts tissue to transect that tissue while leaving the cut ends hemostatic. An endocutter is small enough in diameter for use in minimally invasive surgery, where access to a surgical site is obtained through a trocar, port, or small incision in the body. A linear cutter is a larger version of an endocutter, and is used to transect portions of the gastrointestinal tract. A typical endocutter receives at its distal end a disposable single-use cartridge with several rows of staples, and includes an anvil opposed to the cartridge. The surgeon inserts the endocutter through a trocar or other port or incision in the body, orients the end of the endocutter around the tissue to be transected, and compresses the anvil and cartridge together to clamp the tissue. Then, a row or rows of staples are deployed on either side of the transection line, and a blade is advanced along the transection line to divide the tissue.
During actuation of an endocutter, the cartridge fires all of the staples that it holds. In order to deploy more staples, the endocutter must be moved away from the surgical site and removed from the patient, after which the old cartridge is exchanged for a new cartridge. The endocutter is then reinserted into the patient. However, it can be difficult and/or time-consuming to located the surgical site after reinsertion. Further, the process of removing the endocutter from the patient after each use, replacing the cartridge, and then finding the surgical site again is tedious, inconvenient and time-consuming, particularly where a surgical procedure requires multiple uses of the endocutter. That inconvenience may discourage surgeons from using the endocutter for procedures in which use of an endocutter may benefit the patient. Similar inconveniences may accompany the use of surgical staplers other than endocutters.
The use of the same reference symbols in different figures indicates similar or identical items.

Surgical stapler with staples of different sizes


An improved bag clamp comprises a first jaw member and a second jaw member. The first jaw member has an opening in a clamping surface thereof and there is a blade reciprocatingly movable along the second jaw member. A hinge couples the first jaw member and the second jaw member. The clamp is moveable between an open configuration in which the first jaw member and second jaw member are angularly spaced and a closed configuration in which the blade is received by the opening in the first jaw member and the blade is moveable along the second jaw member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bag clamp and, in particular, to a bag clamp which may be used to open a sealed bag and releasably reseal the opened bag.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known to releasably reseal an open-mouthed bag with a clamp. One type of clamp which is commonly used comprises longitudinally extending, elongate jaws which are pivotably connected at first ends thereof and releasably connectable with a locking mechanism at second ends thereof. Examples of such clamps are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,887,335 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,058,572 both to Folkmar and the full disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. In operation, the elongate jaws are pivoted about their first ends to bring the clamp into engagement with the bag. A locking mechanism is then secured to releasably couple second ends of the elongate jaws and thereby seal the bag. The bag may later be accessed by releasing the locking mechanism and pivoting the elongate jaws open to release the bag from the clamp.


Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture are disclosed to improve spatial-temporal data management. An example apparatus includes a hypervoxel data structure generator to generate a root hexatree data structure having sixteen hypernodes, an octree manager to improve a spatiotemporal data access efficiency by generating a first degree of symmetry in the root hexatree, the octree manager to assign a first portion of the hypernodes to a positive temporal subspace and to assign a second portion of the hypernodes to a negative temporal subspace, and a quadtree manager to improve the spatiotemporal data access efficiency by generating a second degree of symmetry in the root hexatree, the quadtree manager to assign respective hypernodes of the positive temporal subspace and the negative temporal subspace to respective positive and negative spatial subspaces.

In recent years, individual networked devices have been implemented to perform one or more utilitarian functions that, in the aggregate, permit objectives to be met. Example networked devices include temperature measurement devices, light incidence measurement devices, air quality measurement devices, etc. In some examples, relatively more complex networked devices are implemented, such as smart vehicles, drones, service robots, smart buildings, etc. Such devices may work together in an effort to facilitate one or more collaborative objectives based on acquired environmental information (e.g., measurement data points).

Methods, systems and apparatus to improve spatial-temporal data management


A semiconductor integrated circuit according to the present invention comprises a latch circuit, a retaining circuit, and a feedback circuit, wherein the latch circuit inputs therein an input data signal, a clock signal and a feedback signal and outputs an output data signal, the retaining circuit retains the output data signal, and the feedback circuit inputs therein the input data signal and the output data signal to thereby generate the feedback signal based on logic combinations of the input data signal and the output data signal, and an internal operation of the latch circuit is turned on/off by means of the feedback signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor integrated circuit, more particularly to a technology for controlling unnecessary power consumption in a flip-flop circuit and further ensuring a high-speed operation when necessary.
2. Description of the Related Art
The range of a conventional D-flip-flop includes a dynamic type, static type, sense amplifier type and the like. FIG. 18 of IEEE Journal Of Solid-State Circuits, Vol. 34, No. 4, April, 1999, discloses a semi dynamic flip-flop, which represents a circuit example capable of realizing a high-speed operation therein. FIG. 13 of the present invention shows a D-flip-flop of the dynamic type as the circuit example thereof. The dynamic-type D-flip-flop consumes a large quantity of power even when an input data signal D and an output data signal NQ are in a same state, thereby resulting in a large mean current.
No. 2001-267889 of the Publication of the Unexamined Patent Applications discloses a circuit example achieving a reduced power consumption. The circuit example is a flip-flop of the static type attached by a clock signal control function. FIG. 14 shows an example of the static type D-flip-flop. In the static-type flip-flop circuit, an internal clock is halted when the input data signal D and output data signal Q are in a same state to thereby result in a reduced power consumption due to halting an internal operation. A problem in the static-type flip-flop circuit is that a setup time is large and an operation at a higher speed is difficult.
Abreast of an advancing miniaturization of semiconductor elements, a semiconductor substrate is provided with a sharow trench isolation region (Sharow Trench Isolation) in order to isolate respective transistors or circuit blocks. In forming the sharow trench isolation region, when a distortion is generated in a lattice constant of a molecular structure, which is a characteristic of a diffusion region constituting a source or drain of an MOS-type transistor, the diffusion region of the transistor formed in a neighboring area of the sharow trench isolation region is subject to a stress. The stress causes a mobility of an electric charge to be degraded, thereby resulting in a lower current capacity (Ids) and increased threshold voltage (Vth).

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A respirator circuit comprises a breathing tube, such as an endotracheal tube, having a proximal end, a distal end, and a lumen extending between the proximal and distal ends. The lumen defines at least a portion of the respirator circuit. A ventilator tube is in fluid communication with the proximal end of the breathing tube end and defines a portion of the respirator circuit. One or more light sources capable of emitting ultraviolet radiation irradiates at least a portion of the respirator circuit, thereby sterilizing the respiratory circuit.

In many medical situations, the pulmonary functions (i.e., relating to the lungs) of a patient need to be monitored, controlled or accessed, and in many circumstances for days at a time. To achieve this, the medical field often uses a respiratory circuit which is connected to a ventilator, which is sometimes referred to as a respirator. Typically, respiratory circuits include a breathing tube (e.g. endotracheal tubes, tracheostomy tubes, laryngeal mask airways, and the like) that acts as the interface between the patient and the respiratory circuit. For instance, an endotracheal tube is inserted through the mouth or nasal passages of the patient and into the trachea. Usually, a balloon or cuff surrounding the inserted end of the tube is inflated to provide a seal between the endotracheal tube and the trachea. Once sealed, the patient breathes through the endotracheal tube.
Once a breathing tube is connected to a patient, other components of the respiratory circuit are coupled to the breathing tube. Usually, a ventilator tube links the breathing tube with a ventilator which monitors, and if necessary can control, the pulmonary functions of the patient. Other components, such as junctions, moisture traps, filters, humidifiers and the like, optionally can be added to the respiratory circuit. For instance, drug delivery systems can be added to the respiratory circuit to delivery aerosolized medicine to the lungs of the patient. In some circumstances, medical care givers require access to the lungs and/or trachea of the patient. For example, suction catheters are used to remove secretions in a patient's lungs. In such circumstances, special junctions can be added to the respiratory circuit which allow such access without interrupting the monitoring or control of the pulmonary functions.
An ongoing challenge with respiratory circuits is maintaining a sterile environment. Indeed, one clinical study has concluded that "trying to maintain a sterile ventilator circuit for 24 hours is a difficult and perhaps impossible task." Contaminated Condensate in Mechanical Ventilator Circuits, Donald E. Craven, et al., Concise Clinical Study, p. 627. Due to the inherent moisture and warmth, respiratory circuits provide superb conditions for microbiological growth or colonization. Once colonization has started, the microbiological growth can easily spread to the patient, either airborne or through moisture condensation running down into the patient's lungs, thus risking infections and complications, often resulting in pneumonia.
The problem of respiratory circuit colonization is especially prevalent within breathing tubes. For instance, studies has documented the health risks from colonization in endotracheal tubes, sometimes called a biofilm, which can be so extensive that the walls of the endotracheal tube become slimy and sticky. See Nosocomial pulmonary infection: Possible etiologic significance of bacterial adhesion to endotracheal tubes, Frank D. Sottile et al., Critical Care Medicine, Vol. 14, No. 4, p. 265. Due to the close proximity to the patient's lungs, any microbiological growth in a breathing tube can easily spread to the patient's lungs. Condensed moisture can run down the breathing tube, over the biofilm and into the patient's lungs. Additionally, chunks of the biofilm can actually fall off the breathing tube and into the patient's lungs.

Respiratory circuit with in vivo sterilization


A system and method automates a scheduled retrieval, storage, and access of media data. Media data is retrieved from an external source and downloaded to an end user media device storage for subsequent playback at the end user media device. Media data is accessible from the end user media device storage based upon criteria including a selection of the end user, rules regulating the media data, and whether a playback time of the media data is sufficient to retrieve additional media data. The system performs regularly scheduled dynamic controls to determine whether additional media data is required for continuous and uninterrupted access of the media data.

This invention relates to media devices, specifically to devices for connecting to a network to efficiently manage the retrieval, storage and access of media data.
Prior art devices used to receive media data over a network have been designed for the end user to select stored media data, and either receive the media data streamed individually over a network (unicast), or receive the data already being broadcast to large numbers of users (multicast). Both of the delivery methods of the prior art employs one or more network servers responsible for the scheduling, retrieval and transmission of the media data to the end user. The end user media device generally performs the access and processing of the media data. In this scenario, each media data program must be re-transmitted by a media data provider each time it is scheduled for broadcast, or each time the end user decides to access the data. As a result, these methods of media data delivery are inefficient with respect to network bandwidth utilization, and therefore impart high network costs to the media data provider.
Methods have been developed to alleviate some of the negative effects associated with these inefficient transmission methods. One such development stores the media data at data hubs that are closer in proximity to the end user, thereby reducing network congestion, associated cost, and increasing efficiency by eliminating the need to re-transmit media data over long distances. However, this methodology does not reduce the need for individualized re-transmission of media data each time an end user makes a selection. U.S. Pat. No. 5,828,904 of Batson et al. describes the scheduled retrieval of data, however this system does not take advantage of storing media data locally for efficient re-accessing. Further, this system does not provide for copyright owners restrictions and other conditions placed on the media data. U.S. Pat. No. 5,826,080 of Dworzecki describes the scheduling of tasks subject to timing and succession constraints. However, this patent does not provide for additional restraints required by media data or copyright owners. In addition, the patent explicitly states that no task is performed at the same time as another task, thus limiting the access rate of the overall system.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,949,187 of Cohen describes a video communication system which stores programs locally on a viewing device. This device also limits the access to particular movies and keeps track of royalty payments to movie providers. However, the device of this patent has no means for scheduling the retrieval, storage and access of movie or media data. Further, there is no disclosure of access restrictions placed on individual media data which dictate the scheduled retrieval, storage and access of media data. U.S. Pat. No. 5,898,892 to Gulick et al. describes a computer system with a data cache for providing real-time multimedia data to a multimedia engine. However, this system does not consider the efficiencies of media data reuse and access restrictions to media data based on media data and copyright owners restrictions. Therefore, a need remains for an method and system for managing retrieval, storage and access of media data to provide a continuous play list of media data downloaded from an external source, while considering any restrictions placed upon that media data.

Scheduled retrieval, storage and access of media data


An apparatus and method for retracting an awning. A sensor detects an awning acceleration caused by wind impacting the awning, and generates a signal having an amplitude corresponding thereto. When the signal exceeds a certain threshold, the awning is retracted. The signal's amplitude may be converted into a frequency, and the frequency compared to the threshold. The signal typically must exceed the threshold for a set period of time to trigger awning retraction. A second threshold may dictate a maximum instantaneous or peak acceleration; when the signal exceeds this second threshold, regardless of the duration during which the second threshold is exceeded, the awning is retracted.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for retracting an awning, and more particularly to retracting an awning in response to detecting a wind acceleration persisting over a predetermined time period, or a wind speed exceeding a maximum threshold or a predetermined combination thereof.
2. Background Art
Awnings are used to provide shade from the sun in a variety of settings. Recreational vehicles may have retractable awnings providing a relaxing setting for people when the vehicle is parked, for example. However, excessive weather conditions, such as high wind velocities, can damage such awning if they are not retracted to be protected from the weather conditions. It is to automatically protect such awnings in excessive weather conditions that the present invention has been developed.

Apparatus and method for retracting awning


An angle detector for detecting an amount of angular change due to the rotation of a rotary body. The angle detector is provided with a rotary body rotating around a rotation axis, a graduated scale having a plurality of graduations along the circumference of the rotary body in a rotation direction, and a plurality of sensors disposed along the circumference. Each of the sensors outputs a signal according to an amount of angular change on the basis of the plurality of graduations. The output signal includes a fundamental wave component having one of the plurality of graduations as a first period first order, and a harmonic wave component having an order that is an integer multiple of at least two times the fundamental wave component. An amount of angular displacement calculated from the output signal includes an angular error component that is due to the harmonic wave component and has an order component that is an integer multiple of the one graduation that is the first period first order. The number of the plurality of sensors is determined on the basis of the number of graduations on the graduated scale and the order component of the angular error component.

The angle detector, for example, an encoder, a resolver, an inductosyn and the like has been used for detecting the angle change amount of the rotary body in rotary motion. The angle detector includes a scale with multiple graduations, a sensor for reading the multiple graduations, and a controller for converting the read information from the sensor into the angle change amount of the rotary body. The rotary body is provided with either the scale or the sensor. The angle change amount of the rotary body may be read with higher resolving power by narrowing an angle interval of the single graduation of the scale. However, as the graduation is formed in such process as engraving, it is impossible to make the infinitely fine graduation. In order to measure the angle change amount of the rotary body in more detail, there has been proposed the method of finely dividing the single graduation by allowing the controller to execute an arithmetic operation of the output signal based on the read information from the sensor. Normally, the output signal from the sensor used for the angle detector has a shape of rectangular wave or sine wave. In the above-described case, the signal has two phases different by an amount corresponding to 90° under the condition where the single graduation corresponds to a cycle of 360°. In the case of the sinusoidal signal as the output signal from the sensor, the two-phase signal has a shape of cos θ, sin θ, in one cycle corresponding to the single graduation. For example, the method of executing the inverse tangent arithmetic operation of the two-phase signal (that is, 0=tan−1 (sin θ/cos θ) may be used as the one for dividing the single graduation. The method allows improvement in the angular resolution in accordance with the detection resolving power of the amplitude of the output signal from the sensor. The output signal from the sensor contains harmonic component distortion besides the ideal sinusoidal signal in one cycle corresponding to the single graduation. The resultant measurement includes not only the actual angle change amount of the rotary body but also a certain amount irrelevant to the actual angle change amount in accordance with the harmonic component distortion. That is, an error (angle error) irrelevant to the actual angle change amount occurs under the influence of the harmonic component between the actual value of the angle change amount of the rotary body in rotation based on a command, and the measured angle change amount obtained by converting the sensor output signal by the controller. In order to measure the actual angle change amount and the angle error, the harmonic component distortion contained in the output signal from the sensor has to be removed.
Preferably, the angle detector is configured to coaxially arrange the rotary axis of the rotary body and the center axis of the scale. Generally, however, those axes do not coincide with each other completely. The axial offset (axial eccentricity) causes the angle error between the actual angle change amount of the rotary body in rotation based on the command, and the measured angle change amount obtained by converting the sensor output signal by the controller. As the graduation of the scale is formed in such process as engraving, quality problems may occur, for example, offset between the center of the graduation pattern and the rotation center itself of the graduation scale, and an interval error of the single graduation to the ideal value to cause unevenness among multiple graduations. Additionally, degradation of components of the angle detector causes secular change of the detection accuracy of the angle detector itself. From the above-described circumstances, the angle error occurs between the actual angle change amount of the rotary body in rotation, and the measured angle change amount obtained by converting the sensor output signal by the controller.
Patent literature 1 discloses the method of detecting the third-order harmonic component distortion contained in the two-phase sinusoidal signal having different phases by the amount corresponding to 90°, and removing the detected distortion. Patent literature 2 discloses the method of detecting the third-order and fifth-order harmonic component distortions contained in the two-phase sinusoidal signal with different phases by the amount corresponding to 90°.
Patent literatures 3 to 5 disclose the angle detector including multiple first graduation reading heads around the scale plate fixed to the rotary axis, and a single second graduation reading head. The angle detector obtains a difference SAi,j between the angular signal Ai,1 of the second graduation reading head, and each angular signal Ai,j of the respective first graduation reading heads, and further obtains an average value SAVi so that self-calibration is performed. In the disclosure, the code i denotes the number of graduations (integer from 1 to NG, NG is a total number of the graduations), and j denotes the number of the graduation reading heads (integer from 1 to NH, NH is a total number of the graduation reading heads).
                                          SA                          i              ,              k                                =                                    A                              i                ,                1                                      -                          A                              i                ,                j                                                                                SAV            i                    =                                    1                              N                H                                                                                ∑                                  j                  =                  1                                                  N                  H                                                                                SA                                  i                  ,                  j                                                                                [                  MATH                                                              1                ]


The purpose of this invention is to achieve a video display device antiglare sheet having excellent black glossiness, darkness in dark places, and antiglare properties in video applications, and suited to realizing high image quality. The antiglare layer comprising a transparent resin and diffusion particles is provided on at least one surface of a transparent substrate. The antiglare layer is uneven on the surface opposite of the transparent substrate, said unevenness being formed mainly by convexities resulting from the diffusion particles, and the diffusion particles have an impregnation layer formed from the impregnation of the transparent resin. The brightness values and the transmission intensities about the antiglare sheet satisfy specific relational expressions.

In image display devices such as cathode ray tube (CRT) displays, liquid crystal displays (LCD), plasma displays (PDP) and electroluminescence displays (ELD), the outermost surfaces are generally provided with optical laminates for anti-reflection. Such optical laminates for anti-reflection minimize virtual image formation and reduce reflectance by diffusion and interference of light.
One type of known optical laminate for anti-reflection is an antiglare film having an irregularly shaped antiglare layer formed on the surface of a transparent base material. The antiglare film can diffuse external light and prevent reduction in visibility caused by external light reflection or virtual image formation, by the irregular shape of the surface.
An example of a known conventional antiglare film is one wherein a resin containing a filler such as silicon dioxide (silica) is coated on the surface of a transparent base material film to form an antiglare layer (see PTLs 1 and 2, for example).
Such antiglare films include types in which irregular shapes are formed on the surface of the antiglare layer by aggregation of particles such as cohesive silica, types in which an organic filler is added to the resin to form irregular shapes on the layer surface, and types in which a film having irregularities on the layer surface is laminated to transfer the irregular shapes.
All such types of conventional antiglare films are designed to produce a light diffusing and antiglare effect by the action of the surface form of the antiglare layer, and require a greater number of irregular shapes to increase the antiglare property, but when the irregularities are increased, this raises the haze value of the coating film, causing discoloration and concomitantly lowering the contrast.
As the opportunity to view displays with high image quality movies and the like have increased in homes as well, there is increased demand for blackness of black screens in dark rooms (hereunder referred to as "blackness in dark surroundings").
The haze exhibited by surface irregularities is defined as the "surface haze" while the haze exhibited when smoothing has been performed using a resin that forms surface irregularities, or a resin with a difference in refractive index of at least 0.02 from such a resin, is defined as the "internal haze", and these are measured according to JIS K 7136.
The haze value, or the ratio of the internal haze and total haze, is commonly used as a simple method for evaluating contrast. Specifically, it has been considered that an optical sheet with low contrast reduction can be produced by specifying the materials and controlling the production conditions in the optical sheet production process, in order to control the haze value (see PTLs 1 to 3).
However, contrast can differ even with the same haze value, and even with production using the haze value and the ratio of the internal haze and total haze as indexes, for example, it is not always possible to stably obtain a satisfactory antiglare sheet for an image display device.
In addition, it has been attempted to lower the reflectance by additionally providing a low-refraction interference layer on the antiglare layer, but this requires precise formation of a film of about 100 nm, and is extremely expensive.
Furthermore, in recent years a variety of different kinds of viewing environments have appeared due to the diffusion and wider evolution of various types of delivery systems including one-seg, and the performance required for antiglare sheets has become ever more wide-ranging and personalized.
For example, with increasing opportunities for movie appreciation and the like, there is increasing demand for reproduction of dynamic images with high image quality in dark rooms, in order to experience a high-level viewing environment equivalent to that of a movie theatre, while as mobile usage continues to increase, there is also demand for image quality with physical strength and satisfactory balance between dynamic images and still images in light rooms, in order to bring out still images and dynamic images in the bright outdoors.
In other words, the image quality required for display terminals varies, and it is desired to develop an antiglare sheet for an image display device having performance suitable for the viewing environment.
PTL 4 and 5 indicate examples where the requirements differ depending on the viewing environment, and teach that still images and dynamic images have different requirements for performance, as well as different viewing conditions by observers.
As a result of diligent research on the problems described above, the present inventors have found that the sum of the internal diffusion and surface diffusion alone that has been considered in the prior art does not account for the total haze, but that in addition to the internal diffusion and surface diffusion, the total haze is also affected by the positional relationship between the diffusion particles and the surface irregularities.
The present inventors have also found, as a result of conducting diligent research on the performance required by antiglare sheets for image display devices suited both for high blackness in dark rooms and in light rooms and for high-level dynamic images and still images, such as for liquid crystal display devices (hereunder these will also be referred to simply as "for liquid crystal display devices"), and that in order to obtain a high level of blackness in dark rooms it is necessary to exhibit diffusion properties of a nature such that virtually no "stray light component" is produced, a factor that has not been considered in the past. The term "stray light component" refers to any of the uncontrollable light components traveling in directions inside the antiglare sheet different from the intended direction, among light impinging into the interior of the antiglare sheet, due to diffusion factors present on the surface of and/or inside the antiglare sheet, and it is usually reflected repeatedly inside the antiglare sheet.
It was also found that in order to obtain satisfactory image quality for viewing, it is important to sufficiently provide the regular reflection component of external light, which in the past has only been an object of prevention, while also considering the stray light components of projected light for dynamic images and still images in a light room.
In other words, in regard to the stray light components, when dark sections (for example, black) and light sections (for example, white) are present in the same screen, projected light in the light sections partially presents as stray light due to diffusion factors in the optical sheet, not only producing "flares", or light emitted from dark sections, and lowering contrast, and especially reducing dark room contrast, but also causing loss of stereoscopic quality and resulting in images with poor planar variation.
The stray light component has minimal influence when viewing from the front, and tends to have a stronger influence when viewing from oblique directions.
In regard to the regular reflection component of external light, it was found that an optical film with extremely low regular reflection causes images to be perceived as simulated images, being subject to human sensory characteristics, whereas an optical film with an appropriate regular reflection component presents clear images and tends to result in their perception as actual objects, increasing the unique gloss and luminance of images on a dynamic image screen, to produce images with a sense of motion.
Such performance that includes contrast, a stereoscopic visual effect and sense of motion, that are required for such dynamic images (for example, for a scene with a youth under a blue sky, the black hair displayed on the screen is smooth black, the black pupils are moist black, and the skin is visible with the vivid brilliance characteristic of youth) will be referred to as "vivid complexion and blackness".
Moreover, in recent years, there is a demand for antiglare sheets for liquid crystal display devices with excellent "blackness in dark surroundings", which is a degree of notable, high-level blackness under high-level viewing conditions, such as for film appreciation, or in other words, viewing under dark room conditions without external light, and in the optimal range of the display device (a viewing range that allows viewing with a front luminance of 33.3% or greater).
In addition, for film viewing under illumination, or for mobile purposes, a property of preventing unwanted reflection (an antiglare property) is desired even for viewing of dynamic images. An antiglare property for dynamic images is a property that is not completely free of virtual images, but rather slightly prevents unwanted reflection, where the outlines and borderlines of objects on borders and backgrounds are slightly palated for an observer observing the dynamic images.
Still images must have excellent contrast and greater prevention of unwanted reflection, and such performance of contrast and prevention of unwanted reflection required for still images will be referred to as "image crispness".
In other words, there is an increased preference that antiglare sheets for liquid crystal display devices should have excellent vivid complexion and blackness and image crispness.
Evaluation of image quality has included the "black tightness" mentioned in PTL 6 and "glazed black feel", mentioned in PTL 7.
In order to improve narrowness of angle, which is a fundamental defect in liquid crystal displays, antiglare sheets are often provided with diffusibility. However, providing diffusibility can lower contrast, especially for frontal viewing.
Black tightness is evaluated as a compromise between viewing angle enlargement and contrast, and by comparing blackness during power-off and blackness during power-on (black images) directly from the front of the display, with a more intense blackness being evaluated as a more powerful tight feel for the screen.
In addition to stray light components that are very weak in the front and more noticeable at greater oblique angles, in a liquid crystal display system structure the light leaking from the liquid crystal display unit itself (leaked light) is present even during black display, and therefore the blackness during power-on, as seen directly from the front, is the level of blackness resulting from a combination of this leaked light and external light reflection, while blackness during power-off is the blackness with only from external light reflection, since no projected light is present.
Stated differently, "black tightness" means an intense level of blackness against both external light and leaked light, without considering the stray light components, unlike the aforementioned vivid complexion and blackness, and also without consideration of an appropriate necessary level for the regular reflection component, and therefore even if the contrast is high, the gloss and luminance of the image is inferior, no sense of motion is produced, and the vivid complexion and blackness is not increased. In particular, since increasing diffusion and widening the viewing angle are a priority, stray light components are easily produced and the blackness in dark surroundings tends to be reduced.
Furthermore, a "glazed black feel" is black reproducibility when an image display device displays black in a light room environment, i.e., abundant expression of graded black, by minimizing diffusion of the non-regular reflected light component of light incident to the optical laminate from the exterior, preventing non-regular reflected light from reaching the eye of the observer, and visual evaluation is made under three band fluorescence, after attachment to a cross nicol polarizing plate or a black acrylic board via an acrylic pressure-sensitive adhesive for optical films (product with total light transmittance: ≧90%, haze: ≦0.5%, film thickness: 10 to 55 μm, such as the MHM Series by Nichiei Kakoh Co., Ltd., or trade name: "L8010" by Hitachi Chemical Co., Ltd.) on the side opposite the film side of an optical laminate.
That is, with this measurement method, evaluation of dynamic images is not performed and the effect of stray projected light components is completely ignored. Therefore, even with high gloss and luminance, no dark room contrast or stereoscopic visual effect is produced, and the vivid complexion and blackness is not increased.
"Contrast" is the ratio of white luminance to black luminance, and since the absolute value of black luminance is much smaller than the white luminance, the effect of black luminance on contrast is greater. In order to obtain images with excellent contrast, it is necessary to have excellent "black tightness", as blackness for a wide viewing angle, "blackness in dark surroundings" as the absolute blackness, and "glazed black feel" as abundant graded expression in the black region (hereinafter referred to as "excellent black reproducibility").
Also, in order to present both still images and dynamic images, it is necessary to exhibit excellence at least in terms of vivid complexion and blackness with a stereoscopic visual effect and sense of motion.
In PTLs 8 and 9, which limit the diffusion property of antiglare sheets, the contrast is satisfactory, but no consideration is given to the issues of physical performance including adhesiveness and hard coat properties, which are indispensable for practical use, or glare and presentation of both dynamic images and still images, and therefore sufficient performance has not been exhibited.

Antiglare sheet for image display device, manufacturing method thereof, method of improving black tint and image sharpness of an image display device using said antiglare sheet and suited for use with both moving images and still images


A joint that is separable by detonating a detonating cord within an expanding tube. The joint is held together with a set of bolts. Each bolt is retained on one side of the joint with a lever. The expanding tube is retained under an arm of each lever. When the detonating cord is activated, the tube expands and exerts a force against an arm of each lever, thereby breaking the set of bolts, and allowing the joint to separate. In one example, the separable joint is used to retain a payload fairing on a launch vehicle so that the fairing can be jettisoned during flight.

Separable joints are an important part of many mechanical systems such as spacecraft and aircraft. For example, spacecraft often include components that are separated and jettisoned during phases of flight. When launching a satellite on top of a launch vehicle, for example, the satellite is covered by a fairing that protects the satellite during launch and provides an aerodynamic shape as the launch vehicle travels through the atmosphere. When the launch vehicle reaches an altitude where atmospheric drag is no longer significant, one or more separable joints are activated and the fairing is jettisoned from the launch vehicle before the launch vehicle proceeds to a higher orbit. This reduces the mass of the remaining payload, and therefore the amount of fuel required to reach the desired altitude. Therefore, the creation of dependable, reliable, and lightweight separable joints is an important problem.


A method for displaying a datablock (31) on an air traffic control display system that upon each update changes a display offset angle of the datablock by a predetermined increment to either (1) rotate the offset angle toward a desired offset angle if the datablock can be displayed at the rotated offset angle without generating overlap between a padded bounding rectangle (53) of the datablock and padded bounding rectangles of any other datablocks, or (2) minimize overlap of the padded bounding rectangle of the datablock with padded bounding rectangles of other datablocks.

The disclosed invention is generally directed to air traffic control display systems, and more particularly to an air traffic control display system that automatically offsets overlapping displayed datablocks.
An air traffic control situation display system generally provides a display that is basically a top plan view of aircraft traffic in a fixed geographical region. The displayed information typically includes a symbol that represents an aircraft, a symbol that represents the tracked horizontal path of the aircraft, a symbol that represents the current velocity and direction of the aircraft, and a datablock that contains textual information regarding the aircraft such as aircraft identification, current altitude, and assigned altitude.
When aircraft are close to each other, the respective datablocks may overlap and obscure each other. Current techniques detect overlap conditions and "flip" an overlapping datablock to one of four Cartesian quadrants. This large change in position of a datablock can be distracting, and moreover requires a large amount of processing to process overlaps.

Incremental automatic track datablock offset


A method for large-scale, air-cooled floating liquefaction, storage and offloading of natural gas gathered from onshore gas pipeline networks. Gas gathered from on-shore pipeline quality gas sources and pre-treated to remove unwanted compounds is compressed and cooled onshore before being piped to an offshore vessel for liquefaction to produce LNG.

Natural gas is becoming more important as the world's energy demand increases as well as its concerns about air and water emissions increase. Gas is much cleaner-burning than oil and coal, and does not have the hazard or waste deposition problems associated with nuclear power. The emission of greenhouse gas is lower than for oil, and only about one third of such emissions resulting from combustion of coal. Natural gas is readily available, from gas reservoirs, from shale gas, from gas associated with oil production, from pipelines in industrialized areas, and from stranded gas sources far from infrastructures.
When gas pipelines are uneconomic or impractical, such as transportation of gas over very large oceanic distances, the best way to transport gas is often in the form of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), which is gas cooled to about −160° C. to form a stable liquid at or very near atmospheric pressure. Suitable gas mainly comprises methane with some ethane, propane, butane, pentane and traces of nitrogen.
LNG is produced using two major processing steps. The first step, taking place at typically 40 to 60 bara, is gas pre-treatment to remove free water, mercury, H2S, CO2, water vapour and finally heavy hydrocarbons. Specification for residual mercury is typically <0.01 μg/Nm3, for residual H2S<2 ppmv, for residual CO2<50 ppmv, and, of critical importance, for water vapour a very low value of <0.1 ppmv. After removal of these components, heavy hydrocarbons are removed such that the concentration of residual pentane and heavier is less than 1000 ppm, while the concentration of residual hexane and heavier is less than 100 ppm. The resulting liquefaction ready gas may typically contain methane concentration above 85% on a molar basis, often well above 90%, ethane in the range from below 1 to about 10%, propane in the range from below 0.1 to about 3%, with butane and pentane in the range from below 0.1 to 1%. Nitrogen concentration may be in the range from below 0.1 to 2%.
The second processing step is liquefaction of the thus purified gas, which then comprises mainly methane. This occurs at the same pressure as the gas pre-processing, or, in some cases, preferentially at higher pressures such as 70 to 100 bara. After liquefaction nitrogen may be removed from the LNG, typically any amount that exceeds 1 mole %. This is done by flashing of the LNG at near atmospheric pressure. This flash produces the final LNG product, and a much smaller hydrocarbon gas stream enriched in nitrogen, mainly used for fuel. The final LNG product is liquid at atmospheric pressure and about −160° C. It is stored in buffer storage tanks before being transported to destinations in LNG tankers. At the destination, the LNG is re-gasified and distributed to consumers.
Single train LNG plant sizes range from less than 0.05 million tons annually (MTPA) for peak-shaving plants, via small to medium scale LNG plants in the range from 0.05 to about 2.0 MTPA, to large conventional plants producing 4.0 MTPA or more. Larger production rates may be accomplished in multiple parallel LNG plants.
The safest natural gas liquefaction processes employ nitrogen or lean natural gas refrigerant. One novel process, the AP-C1 licensed by Air Products and Chemicals Inc., uses lean natural gas refrigerant only, eliminating the need for production and storage of nitrogen or flammable mixed hydrocarbon refrigerants.
When using nitrogen refrigerant, the only components present in the liquefaction process are nitrogen and lean natural gas. The nitrogen is completely inert. The lean natural gas, mainly methane, also has excellent safety properties in that initiation energy for immediate detonation is very high, much higher than for hydrocarbons used in mixed refrigerant processes, making detonation extremely unlikely. Furthermore, natural gas is much lighter than air and any leak will quickly rise away from the process area.
The main change when using natural gas refrigerant instead of nitrogen is that the nitrogen with associated nitrogen production and storage are eliminated, reducing weight and space requirements. Natural gas is out of necessity still present, as it was when using nitrogen refrigerant. The safety impact when eliminating nitrogen is therefore small in particular when the inventory of natural gas refrigerant is minimized.
The specific liquefaction energy for liquefaction processes employing natural gas refrigerant does, as is the case for any liquefaction process, depend on water or air coolant temperature, on gas composition and heat transfer properties, on cryogenic heat exchanger warm and cold side temperature differences, and on rotating equipment efficiencies. The specific energy consumption for natural gas refrigerant may be about the same as for the more hazardous single mixed refrigerant liquefaction processes, such as for example about 350 kWh per metric ton LNG.
Recent technical developments have provided possibilities for gas liquefaction on floating vessels, FLNG. This is attractive because the liquefaction can be done near the gas source, which is often in coastal areas or further offshore. The vessel may provide space for liquefaction processes as well as buffer storage for LNG. In addition vessels may serve as deep-water export terminals.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,640,493 B1 describes a method for offshore liquefaction of natural gas from sub-sea wells, comprising an on-site gas production platform that also pre-processes and compresses the gas, transfer of the gas to a dis-connectable transport vessel in close proximity, that also assists liquefaction, and disconnection and travel by the transport vessel to a terminal for offloading. During this transportation there is no LNG production.
US2016/0313057 A1 by Air Products and Chemicals Inc. discloses a refrigeration system for liquefaction of natural gas using a refrigerant based on only the liquefaction gas itself, which is mainly methane. The liquefaction gas is first cooled and liquefied by heat exchange with cold refrigerant and then expanded to lower pressure in one or more steps. Each step reduces the temperature to the boiling point of the fluid at the pressure in question and produces a mixture of gas and liquid. The gas is compressed and recycled, and the liquid becomes the LNG product.
The object of the present invention is to provide a method for very large scale floating, uninterrupted LNG production, using gas supplied and pre-processed on-shore including dehydration to about 0.1 ppmv H2O, piped in a pipeline, part of which is sub-sea, to t an offshore floating liquefaction, storage and offloading facility where the liquefaction process inlet verifies and rectifies the dehydration status as required at a cost that competes with land-based LNG production at the same scale and in the same geographical region, using a liquefaction process that employs natural gas or methane refrigerant only, such as for example a process licensed by the owner of US2016/0313057 A1.

Method for air cooled, large scale, floating LNG production with liquefaction gas as only refrigerant


A precision bandgap reference circuit which uses an operational amplifier that has the positive and negative input terminals connected to a diode/resistor combination and a diode respectively. The output of the operational amplifier drives a diode connected PMOS transistor which regulates current sources which drives into the diode/resistor combination and the diode inputs to the operational amplifier. This allows the operational amplifier to have enough gain to minimize errors across the diode/resistor combination and the diode inputs to the operational amplifier. This also allows an output stage driven by the operational amplifier to be biased with a Proportional To Absolute Temperature (PTAT) current which is well controlled.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to bandgap reference circuits and, more specifically, to a precision bandgap reference circuit which is insensitive to temperature, supply voltage and process variations.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 1 shows the most common CMOS bandgap reference circuit. The main problem with current CMOS bandgap reference circuits is that the output reference voltage varies due to temperature, supply voltage, and process variations. Furthermore, as can be seen from FIG. 1, the basic CMOS bandgap reference circuit has very low gain which may cause errors across the resistor/diode combination input and diode input. The basic CMOS bandgap reference circuit is also unbalanced. The drain to source voltages of the transistors are different since one is connected as a diode and one is not.
Therefore, a need existed to provide a precision bandgap reference circuit. The precision bandgap reference circuit must be insensitive to temperature, supply voltage and process variations. The precision bandgap reference circuit must be produced on a standard CMOS process. The precision bandgap reference circuit must also increase the gain in order to minimize errors across the resistor/diode combination input and the diode input. The output stage of the precision bandgap reference circuit must also be biased with a Proportional To Absolute Temperature (PTAT) current thereby generating a well controlled and insensitive bandgap reference circuit.


A powder developer holding apparatus prevents developer leakage. A housing holds powder developer, and includes a discharging opening through which the powder developer is discharged. A shutter is mounted to the housing and is rotatable relative to the housing to an opening position where the discharging opening is opened or to a closing position where the discharging opening is closed. A locking member is slidably mounted to the shutter. When the powder developer holding apparatus is oriented such that the discharging opening faces upward in a gravitational direction, the locking member prevents the shutter from rotating relative to the chamber.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a powder developer, a developing apparatus, and an image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional image forming apparatuses include printers, copying machines, and multi-function peripherals (MFPs). For example, a printer includes image forming units. The image forming unit includes a photoconductive drum, a charging roller, and a developing unit. The charging roller uniformly charges the surface of the photoconductive drum. An LED head illuminates the charged surface of the photoconductive drum in accordance with image data to form an electrostatic latent image on the photoconductive drum. A thin layer of toner is formed on the developing roller, and the toner on the developing roller is supplied to the electrostatic latent image to form a toner image on the photoconductive drum. The toner image is then transferred by a transfer roller onto a print medium or paper. The toner image on the print medium is then fixed into a permanent image.
JP 2003-50505A discloses a printer in which a powder developer holding apparatus or a toner cartridge is detachably attached to the image forming unit. Toner is supplied from the toner cartridge into a developing unit. The toner cartridge includes a toner discharging opening formed therein, the discharging opening being opened and closed by a shutter with an operation lever. When the lever is operated to an opening position, the shutter opens the toner discharging opening such that the toner is discharged from the toner cartridge.
The toner cartridge suffers from a problem in that the shutter may be opened with the toner discharging opening facing upward, before the toner cartridge has been attached to the image forming unit. If the shutter is opened inadvertently, foreign matter (e.g., paper particles) may enter the toner cartridge.

Powder developer holding apparatus, developing apparatus, and image forming apparatus