This invention discloses systems and methods for control of a gas turbine or a gas turbine generator, where the gas turbine is connected to a dryer vessel in which gas turbine exhaust gases are used to heat treat a material in the dryer vessel. The control system comprises one or more sensors for temperature, moisture and/or flow rate in the dryer vessel and/or of the material inside, entering and/or exiting the dryer vessel and a controller responsive to the sensor for controlling the fuel and/or air flow into the gas turbine. This control system and method enables providing the appropriate heat output from the gas turbine to meet the process heat required for the desired material treatment. Optionally, the gas turbine can be a liquid fuel turbine engine, or a reciprocating engine can be substituted for the turbine engine.

Gas turbine generator exhaust has been used for drying or processing various materials, but existing control systems for such equipment do not provide for efficient operation of such equipment. Typically, gas turbine generators are controlled for optimum fuel usage, water spray intake, engine life, electricity production or profitability based on these and other factors. Examples of gas turbine generator control systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,584,171 to Sato et al.; U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,125,633 and 6,173,508 to Strohmeyer; U.S. Pat. No. 6,748,743 to Foster-Pegg; U.S. Patent Applications 2004/0050069 by Willems et al.; 2004/0060277 by Hatamiya et al.; and 2004/0103068 by Eker et al., the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
There is a need in the art for improved systems and methods for control of gas turbine and other engine operations in conjunction with the use of engine exhaust gases for treatment of materials.

Control system for gas turbine in material treatment unit


A laser reflecting has a low transmittance at one or more laser wavelengths while substantially transmitting all other wavelengths in the spectral range of interest, is coated on one or both sides of an absorbing or non-absorbing substrate. A laser reflecting filter on both sides of an absorbing substrate can result in an enhancement of the absorption of laser light by multiple reflections of the laser light in the absorbing substrate. The high transmittance of the laser-reflecting filter at non-laser wavelengths results in a relatively high overall transmittance through the coated substrate. In the specific case of laser reflecting coatings on a lens to protect an eye, this allows a high luminous transmittance and good color discrimination.

High power lasers can inflict damage to an eye or a device if the light from the laser is intentionally or accidentally directed to an unprotected eye or device. As one example, airline and helicopter pilots have reported laser strikes where laser pointers are aimed at their cockpits. These laser strikes can cause a significant glare hazard through dazzle which makes it very difficult to see cockpit instrumentation or see outside the cockpit. Additionally, the laser might strike a pilot's eyes directly causing temporary or permanent blindness. As another example, a person may be working with a high power laser that has the potential to cause significant eye damage if the laser light is accidentally directed to their eyes or others present in the same proximity to the high power laser. As yet another example, a surveillance camera in a high security location may be accidently or intentionally disabled using a high power laser.
One prior approach to protect eyes from laser light is to employ absorbing substrates or lenses, typically based on dyes introduced into glass or plastic substrate material which are formulated to provide some blocking at one or more laser wavelengths through absorption. With this approach, a significant blocking from optical density (OD) of OD1 to OD7 or higher can be achieved at one or more laser wavelengths. The absorption of light does not depend on the angle of which the laser light is incident upon the substrate. However, the disadvantage of these dyes is that they are not particularly wavelength selective. Hence, absorbing lenses can undesirably block a significant portion of the visible spectrum resulting in a low luminance or photoptic transmittance through the lens. As well, there can be a poor colour discrimination in these absorbing substrates which can prohibit their use. In addition, the absorption material may break down after absorbing a high intensity of light; hence, the blocking may be substantially degraded and not provide the same laser blocking protection.
Thus, there is a need for eye protection glasses that provides good optical blocking at one or more specified laser wavelengths, good luminance transmittance and colour discrimination and a reduced reflection of ambient (or laser) light back into a user's eye off the backside of a lens. There is also a need for optical filters to protect devices such as surveillance cameras from being functionally impaired by high power lasers.

Laser protective device with reflecting filter on non-absorbing and absorbing substrates


Methods and arrangements for handling information technology tickets. A plurality of information technology tickets are received. The tickets are clustered into categories, and a problem area is identified with respect to at least one of the categories. At least one recommendation is automatically generated for addressing the problem area. Other variants and embodiments are broadly contemplated herein.

Generally, there has been an ongoing trend to assign maintenance of large applications and application portfolios of a business to third parties specializing in application maintenance. These third parties are generally tasked to deliver the best possible maintenance at the lowest cost. To do so, they need to identify repeat problem areas, which cause significant maintenance issues, and seek a unified remedy to avoid the costs spent on fixing these individually. These repeat areas, in a sense, represent major, evolving areas of need, or requirements, for the customer.
Over time, each application maintenance team collects a rich repository of problem "tickets" (wherein a ticket represents a submission of a specific problem for resolution). The information about the problem is typically embedded in the unstructured text of these tickets. It can be appreciated that evolving needs of a customer may end up being buried or unaddressed as repeating groups of tickets continue to be submitted. To resolve this, repeat problems are conventionally found by manual analysis, but wholly apart from the resource and personnel costs needed in such a capacity, effective solutions are heavily tied to a volatile variable representing the collective experience of the team solving them.

Automatic generation of actionable recommendations from problem reports


The Automated Fiber Pigtailing Machine (AFPM) aligns and attaches optical fibers to optoelectonic (OE) devices such as laser diodes, photodiodes, and waveguide devices without operator intervention. The so-called pigtailing process is completed with sub-micron accuracies in less than 3 minutes. The AFPM operates unattended for one hour, is modular in design and is compatible with a mass production manufacturing environment. This machine can be used to build components which are used in military aircraft navigation systems, computer systems, communications systems and in the construction of diagnostics and experimental systems.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to fiber optics, and more specifically, it relates to fiber pigtailing machines.
2. Description of Related Art
The new technologies of high-speed communications, computer networks, and high-precision gyroscopes use optoelectronic (OE) devices and fiber optics. The main disadvantage of these components is the small size of their light emitting and transmitting areas--only a few micrometers in diameter. This means that, for example, an optical fiber must be aligned with respect to a laser diode with sub-micrometer accuracies. This is a very difficult mechanical problem and is , for the most part, performed manually by highly-skilled technicians working with microscopes and high-precision manipulators. Stress and fatigue result in only a small number of these aligning and attaching (the, so called pigtailing process) operations performed per day and with large part-to-part variations in alignment tolerances. This low production rate results in high cost for the completed OE product. Some technologies exist to perform the sub-micrometer alignments automatically by maximizing the amount of light passing between the OE components; but these systems still rely upon an operator performing the alignment sufficiently well, say a few micrometers, that some level of light can pass between the components in the first place. Although very fast (sub-second) algorithms have been developed to maximize the coupling, one of the major drawbacks of active alignment is obtaining sufficient alignment to couple some light between the OE components in the first place.
Some systems use rigid mechanical fixturing to provide the initial alignment to pass some light between the OE components, but these systems are very massive, expensive, and are custom-designed for only a specific task; many OE manufacturers are small businesses and cannot afford the initial investment of such equipment. Laser welding techniques are very robust and provide sub-micron accuracies, but require a large initial investment for the laser welder. Other alignment techniques using robotics and batch processing show promise for lowering the cost of sub-micron alignment and attachment of fibers to OE devices. Passive alignment techniques using v-grooves and other features etched in silicon waferboards show promise for lowering the cost of fiber pigtailing and are compatible with array geometries; however, obtaining sub-micron accuracies using passive alignment has proven to be difficult.
A real need exists for low-cost, flexible, high-precision automated equipment which can perform many of the processes which are presently labor-intensive in manufacturing OE products. Because labor accounts for a significant fraction of pigtailing costs, a fully automated pigtailing station should be capable of operating unattended for significant periods of time. Such topics as parts handling and feeding, initiating the coupling of light and attachment to the OE device must be considered. Many OE companies are small and cannot afford a large initial investment for such a workstation, therefore low cost is essential. Finally, flexibility to pigtail different types of OE devices is desirable to greatly reduce the costs of retooling for different products.

The Regents of the University of California


Method and apparatus for increasing the number of real memory addresses accessible through a translational look-aside buffer (TLB) by a multi thread CPU. The buffer entries include a virtual address, a real address and a special mode bit indicating whether the address represents one of a plurality of threads being processed by the CPU. If the special mode bit is set, the real address associated with the virtual address higher order bits are concatenated with the thread identification number being processed to obtain a real address. Buffer entries containing no special mode bit, or special mode bit set to 0, are processed by using the full length of the real address associated with the virtual address stored in the look-aside buffer (TLB).

The present invention relates to digital computer systems which provide multi-threaded execution. Specifically, a translation look-aside buffer (TLB) is provided which reduces the number of entries in the main memory required to service a multi-threaded computer system.
In order to increase the overall speed of computer program execution, multi-threaded computer processing units execute a plurality of threads associated with the program at one time. The execution of the program is divided into multiple threads which are active at the same time, and various hardware resources of the processor can simultaneously execute the active threads. Simultaneous processing of multiple independent instruction streams keeps the processors computational hardware resources active. Improved execution efficiency results and normal pipe-line stalls that may occur with a single threaded processor which are precipitated by instruction dependencies can be avoided with multi-threaded computer processors.
High performance multi-threaded processors have instructions from multiple threads which are in progress at the same time in different parts of the execution pipe line. Each of the threads is identified as a context and is allocated physical storage elements to hold the state associated with the thread. In any one instance, there is a physical register to hold an executing thread's architectural context. In this way, the various processes being executed are tagged with a thread ID, so that the computing results associated with each thread context can be applied to the correct architectural resources in the multi-threaded system.
In both single threaded processors and multi-threaded processors, memory management is necessary so that the program can retrieve values stored in a memory relatively quickly. A common technique used in memory management employs a look-aside buffer (TLB) which caches address translation key pairs. The TLB is generally a content addressable memory (CAM) having a virtual address as its look-up key. Program execution identifies a virtual address which is translated by the look-aside buffer (TLB) to obtain a real address of a memory location of a value needed for the program thread execution.
Entries in the translational look-aside buffer (TLB) are generally organized so that a virtual page number identified from code execution identifies a real page number stored within the memory. The TLB identifies from a virtual page number a group of pages, starting at a location identified by the virtual page number (VPN). The location within the group of pages is identified by the lower order bits of the virtual page number to save space in the look-aside buffer (TLB). This is important, in that the translational look-aside buffer (TLB) is a hardware table with a fixed capacity and if the CPU uses more pages of memory than the number of TLB mapping cache entries, the TLB will have to be updated from an external memory. The process of accessing the external memory and obtaining updates slows down the memory management process, and thus the overall relative speed of execution. With many threads running on the CPU nearly simultaneously, each of the active threads must keep a set of active mappings in the translational look-aside buffer (TLB) to avoid any significant penalty from fetching the mappings that are not resident in the TLB. Unfortunately, increasing the number of entries in the translational look-aside buffer (TLB) increases the required chip area and increases the access time and power consumption of the translational look-aside buffer (TLB).
It is therefore desirable to organize the contents of the translational look-up buffer (TLB) to reduce the need for frequent updates of the stored information without increasing the total number of memory locations available for translational data.

Translation look aside buffer (TLB) with increased translational capacity for multi-threaded computer processes

International Business Machines Corporation


A spatial phase sensor having a lens or opening, or the like, through which electromagnetic radiation signals are directed. Mechanism is provided for receiving the electromagnetic radiation signals and for providing an enhanced electrical signal therefrom. The spatial phase of the electromagnetic radiation signals is first determined by analysis of the polarization vectors of the electromagnetic radiation signals and a sensor is provided for converting the electromagnetic radiation signals into electrical signals containing data corresponding to the determined spatial phase of the electromagnetic signals.

All electro-magnetic radiation has a polarization vector associated with it. This vector is a complex two-dimensional spatial vector. The vector is contained within a plane that is perpendicular to the direction of propagation of the electric field. Within this plane, however, the vector may have any orientation. The complex nature of the vector stems from the fact that the orientation and magnitude of the vector may change with time, sweeping out an ellipse. Spatial phase vectors are present across the entire EM spectrum as well as for emitted, reflected and transmitted radiation and the devices to be described herein need not be limited to a single region of the spectrum.
The spatial phase of EM radiation emanating from the surface of an object, whether it is emitted, transmitted, or reflected, has a measurable spatial phase. Thus the shape of the object, the type of material from which it is made, the orientation of the object relative to the observer, etc., all effect the spatial phase of EM radiation emanating from the object. As a result, the various objects within a scene will each have a distinct spatial phase signature.
Most detection systems, especially imaging systems, measure the amplitude of the emitted EM radiation while ignoring the spatial phase of this radiation. However, there is inherently more information contained within the spatial phase than in the amplitude alone and sensors which can measure the spatial phase vector will have greater detection and discrimination capability than those which simply measure the amplitude. Illustrating this point is the fact that the amplitude information can be derived from the spatial phase data. The converse is not true.
Measuring the spatial phase of a light beam requires several optical elements in addition to those required for amplitude detection. These additional elements include but are not limited to polarizers and retarder plates. These two elements are complimentary and when used together can accurately measure the spatial phase of light incident on them.
Polarizers transmit a fixed spatial phase state independent of the incident spatial phase, in effect, filtering the incident light. Although the spatial phase of the transmitted light is independent of the incident spatial phase, the intensity of the transmitted radiation does depend on the incident state. A retarder, on the other hand, modifies the spatial phase but does not perform any filtering functions. The spatial phase transmitted by a retarder is dependent on the spatial phase of the incident light while the transmitted intensity is independent of the spatial phase of the incident radiation.
Quantitative analysis of the spatial phase of a light beam requires a mathematical formalism for describing the polarization state of radiation and the polarization altering properties of polarization elements. The principal computational methods for treating polarization problems are the Stokes elements, Jones calculus and the Mueller calculus.
The polarization state of radiation is described by the Stokes vector, a four element real vector: ##EQU1## where the lower case letters represent elements normalized by the first element of the vector S.sub.0. The units of the Stokes vector are intensity. The first element of the Stokes vector S.sub.0 gives the intensity of the radiation and is the only element that is directly measurable by experiment. The other three elements of the Stokes vector S.sub.1, S.sub.2 and S.sub.3 describe the polarization state of the radiation and give the "preference" for horizontal, .+-.45.degree., and right/left circular polarized radiation.
Formally, the S.sub.1 element represents the difference in intensities for horizontally and vertically polarized radiation, the S.sub.2 element is the difference in intensities for radiation polarized along the .+-.45.degree. axes, and S.sub.3 is the difference of right/left circularly polarized radiation. For the normalized Stokes vector, the elements range from 1 to -1. The S.sub.1 element takes on a value of 1 for completely horizontally polarized radiation and is -1 for completely vertically polarized radiation. Similarly, the S.sub.2 element is 1 and -1 for .+-.45.degree. and -45.degree. polarized radiation, and S.sub.3 =1 represents right circular radiation and S.sub.3 =-1 is left circular. The degree of polarization is found from: EQU DOP=S.sub.1 +S.sub.2 +S.sub.2 /S.sub.0 EQU DOLP=S.sub.1 +S.sub.2 /S.sub.0 ( 2) EQU DOCP=.vertline.S.sub.3 .vertline./S.sub.0
where DOP is the degree of polarization including linear and circular polarization, DOLP is the degree of linear polarization, and DOCP is the degree of circular polarization. DOP=1 represents totally polarized radiation, DOLP=1 represents totally linear polarized radiation, and DOCP=1 is totally circularly polarized radiation.
Additional polarization vector metrics that may be obtained from the Stokes vectors are ##EQU2## where DOUP is the degree to which the light is unpolarized, .THETA. is the orientation of the major axis of the polarization vector, and ellipticity is a measure of the relative magnitude of the major and minor axes. The spatial phase of radiation is defined by the complete set of polarization metrics.
Devices which measure the spatial phase of the EM radiation which is incident on them are referred to as polarimeters or polarization state analyzers. Conventional polarimeters measure the area average of the spatial phase for a beam of light. Variations of the spatial phase from point to point within the beam are averaged. An imaging polarimeter is a special class of devices in which the variations of the spatial phase from point to point within a beam of light (or equivalently from point to point within a scene or across an object) are measured. A two dimensional array of detectors is used for this device instead of a single detector as used in conventional polarimetry.
The spatial phase cannot be measured directly but may be calculated from a set of complimentary intensity measurements. There are numerous measurement sets from which the spatial phase may be calculated, each of which requiring a separate calculation method. For clarity, the methods described herein will first calculate the Stoke's vectors and then the polarization metrics. The Stoke's vectors are intermediary and need not necessarily be calculated.
Two approaches for obtaining the Stokes vector are described below. For consistency the approaches will be described for an imaging polarimetry system as disclosed herein.
The first approach for obtaining a set of complimentary intensity measurements includes the use of a sensor such as a focal plane array, an imaging lens, a 1/4-waveplate, and a polarizer, as discussed in detail hereinbelow. The waveplate is placed in front of the polarizer. The waveplate/polarizer combination may be placed either in front of the lens or between the lens and the sensor. An image is acquired at a finite number of regularly spaced angular positions of the waveplate (for example 16). The 16 intensity measurements for a given pixel (corresponding to a single object point) will sweep out a curve as a function of the angular position of the waveplate.
This curve is characteristic of the spatial phase of the radiation for that object point and may be analyzed to determine the Stokes parameters as well as a number of other polarization metrics. This analysis may be performed in two ways (1) using a measurement matrix and (2) performing a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) on the data and making a few calculations. The FFT method is outlined below.
Linear polarized light produces a signal that has four maxima and minima and will appear in the fourth harmonic component of the FFT data. The orientation of the linearly polarized signal determines the phase of the fourth harmonic component as well as contributes to the DC component. Circularly polarized produces two maxima and minima and will appear in the second harmonic component of the FFT data. The handedness (i.e. clockwise rotation or counter clockwise rotations) determines the phase of the second harmonic component. Unpolarized light produces a DC signal that appears in the DC component of the FFT data. The relative amplitudes of these components determine the degree to which the light is linear polarized circularly polarized, etc.
These effects can be quantitatively determined from the following equations. The parameters of the Stokes vector are obtained using ##EQU3## where A.sub.0 and A.sub.4 are the real parts of the DC and fourth harmonic components respectively and B.sub.2 and B.sub.4 are the imaginary components of the second and fourth harmonic components. It should be noted that the polarization metrics can be calculated directly from the FFT data without calculating the intermediate Stokes vectors.
The second approach for obtaining a set of complimentary images is to measure the intensity emitted (or reflected) from an object through a series of four filters. The choice of the filters is not unique. One particularly intuitive and insightful set of filters is (1) a polarizer at 0.degree., (2) a polarizer at 45.degree., (3) a quarter wave retarder (or equivalently a 1/4 .lambda. wave-plate which converts circular polarized light into linear polarized light) and polarizer, and (4) a 50% transmitting neutral density filter.
The intensity detected through each filter is denoted by the vector I. ##EQU4## where I.sub.0 is the intensity passed by the neutral density filter, I.sub.1 is the intensity passed by the 0.degree. polarizer, I.sub.2 is the intensity passed by the 45.degree. polarizer, and I.sub.3 is the intensity passed by the 1/4 wave plate and polarizer. The Stokes' vectors are then defined as EQU S.sub.0 =2I.sub.0 EQU S.sub.1 =2I.sub.1 -2I.sub.0 EQU S.sub.2 =2I.sub.2 -2I.sub.0 EQU S.sub.3 =2I.sub.3 -2I.sub.0
As with the FFT method, all of the polarization vector metrics may be calculated directly from the intensity vector I without necessarily calculating the intermediate Stokes vectors.
A prior art patent, incorporated herein by reference, was issued to a co-inventor, Blair A. Barbour, on Sep. 17, 1996. This patent is U.S. Pat. No. 5,557,261 and is entitled "Ice Monitoring And Detection System" and discloses the use of polarized images to detect the presence and amount of ice on a surface. The system as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,557,261 uses a rotating polarizer in one embodiment and camera having two different lenses and focal plane arrays in a second embodiment. U.S. Pat. No. 5,557,261 is not concerned with enhancing signals which form the image.

System for receiving and enhancing electromagnetic radiation input signals


Video image data is commonly encoded using a video encoder operating under the control of a bit-rate controller where a plurality of encoding passes are performed so as to improve quality in each video frame. According to an embodiment of the present invention, a systematic review of the steps and sub-steps of the encoding passes is performed so as to identify those sub-steps which are necessary and those that are unnecessary to the execution of the encoding passes. Then, those steps identified as being necessary are executed during the encoding passes. Doing so reduces the amount of processor computation that is needed to perform a given number of encoding passes allowing the passes to be performed quicker or at a greater rate, thus improving quality.

The present invention pertains to a method and apparatus to improve efficiency in multiple-pass frame encoding. More particularly, the present invention pertains to a method and apparatus which reduces the number of processing steps that are taken to encode a frame in a multiple-pass, bit-rate-controlled frame encoding environment.
Video encoding is a known procedure in the art for converting video image data into a digital bitstream that can then be transferred to a transmission medium or a storage medium (e.g., a compact disc read only memory (CD-ROM)). For example, a camera can be provided that generates video image data for a video capture component. The video capture component "captures" the video image data from the camera one frame at a time in a known manner and at a predetermined rate (e.g., approximately 30 frames per second). The video capture component transfers the video frame data to a video compressor which may compress the video image data for the frame under the control of a bit rate controller. The video compressor typically includes a coder/decoder (codec) that compresses the video image data according to a compression algorithm (the compression step is often referred to as encoding). For codecs that are used in the transfer of video data over a transmission medium (e.g., telephone lines, the Internet, etc.), typical compression algorithms include any of a variety of block transform based algorithms such as H.261 (International Telecommunication Union—Telecommunications Standardization Sector (ITU-T), March, 1993), H.263 (ITU-T, Dec. 5, 1995), MPEG-I, and MPEG-II (International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC) 11172-2 and 13818-2).
In a rudimentary example of video compression, the video frame of data that is captured by the video capture component is encoded in a single pass. In other words, the compression algorithm is executed with one iteration to form a compressed bit stream. A problem that is seen with this type of compression is that the amount of data in the bit stream may exceed (or substantially undershoot) the allowable bandwidth for that information. For example, in a video telephone application transmission of 30 frames per second video over standard phone lines using a single pass compression algorithm may produce too much data to be handled by the phone lines. Also, if the compressed video stream is being stored to a storage medium (e.g., to a compact disc), single pass compression may produce a bit stream that exceeds the capacity of the storage medium. Alternatively, if the amount of data substantially undershoots the available bandwidth for that information, the quality of the video data is unnecessarily reduced.
One known procedure for controlling the size of the bit stream or more accurately, the bit rate (i.e., size of the bit stream per unit time) is to employ a bit rate controller. Almost all video compression algorithms include a quantization parameter that has an inverse proportional effect on the bit rate (i.e., an increase in the quantization parameter results in a lower bit rate and vice versa). Given a target bit rate, a bit rate controller causes the video compressor to perform several iterations (passes) of the compression algorithm with different quantization parameters to achieve the target bit rate. For example, the video compressor may perform an initial pass, where the compression algorithm is executed in its entirety with an initial quantization parameter. Based on the result, a second (or retrial) pass is performed where the compression algorithm is executed in its entirety with a new quantization parameter. Several retrial passes can be performed, modifying the quantization parameter each time, until the target bit rate is achieved (within a given tolerance). The video compressor will then perform a final pass with the final quantization parameter.
A problem that is seen with the multiple-pass compression using a bit rate controller is that it takes some time to perform all of the steps in each pass. Each pass includes a number of complex computational steps and sub-steps that take time to execute. In a videophone application, there may be insufficient time to perform a sufficient number of retrial passes to obtain the target bit rate. Also, when storing the compressed bit stream to a storage medium, it may take an excessive amount of time to perform as many retrial passes as needed to achieve the target bit rate.
In view of the above, there is a need for a method and apparatus that improves the efficiency of a multiple-pass video encoding operation.

Method and apparatus to improve efficiency in multiple-pass, bit-rate-controlled frame encoding


A ferrule includes a tubular wall and end wall which is divided into radially extending fingers, each of which terminates at a barb member formed by deflecting a tapered end portion of the finger. The end wall fingers extend orthogonally to the longitudinal axis of the tubular wall and the barb members are each inclined at an acute angle to the carrying fingers and axis such that when a tubular body, such as a braided or like textile sleeve, is received in the tubular wall and the end all is swaged to cause the fingers to enter the body and lie flat against the tubular wall, the bars are caused to penetrate the body and be flattened by the tubular wall to point in the direction towards the body end and inhibit its removal. The tubular wall may be circumferentially continuous (annular) or discontinuous (slit) and openable.

The invention is particular, but not exclusively, concerned with terminating such tubular bodies formed from filamentary or yarn materials that are braided, knitted or woven to form the tubular body. For convenience such a tubular body is referred to herein as a textile tubular body irrespective of the materials and/or construction.
It is a feature of such tubular bodies that the components thereof are movable relative to each other when the body is subjected to various forces and often the materials, such as filaments of glass fibres or plastics material which are smooth and/or exhibit shape memory, result both in a tendency for such bodies to fray at any cut ends and difficulty in capping them by traditional ferrule designs.
Such a traditional ferrule design comprises a metal cap having a tubular wall and an annular end face which is swaged against the tubular wall with the tubular body therebetween to crimp the body. A textile tubular body, particularly a thin walled one, is difficult to retain within such a simple ferrule.
It is known to terminate a tubular body, in joining fluid carrying hoses end-to-end or securing a component thereto, by having inner and outer parts which include radial projections that co-operate to crimp the tubular body. Such multi-part arrangements are usually employed with tubular bodies having a significant wall thickness which is amenable to such crimping but does not lend themselves to simple one-piece terminating ferrules.
Such an arrangement is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,015,015 which describes joining a pair of overlapping coaxial pipe segments by inserting between their respective inner and outer overlapping tubular surfaces a plurality of circumferentially short clips having radially oppositely inclined barbs which bite into and penetrate both pipe segments. The oppositely inclined barbs are also directed in opposite axial directions so that each is also inclined towards the end of the pipe wall it penetrates to preclude removal.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,911,960 describes an end piece for a tubular element such as a solid pipe, intended to be fitted thereto temporarily to avoid damage to the element surfaces at or near the ends due to handling of the element, including lifting by crane and hook. A tubular body or skirt is moulded to effect a tight encompassing fit on the end region of the tubular element and has an end face, arranged to overly the end of the element, which is divided into radially directed fingers to localise stress concentrations due to lifting by inserting a hook into the tubular element. The fingers are arranged, if necessary, to individually deflect and lie parallel to the inside wall of the tubular element under the action of a local lifting load to prevent damage by such hook. The end piece is not intended as a permanent termination and designed to be removed after use without damage to the tubular element, that is, without intruding into the surface of the tubular element in any way.
In this specification the term tubular body is intended to encompass both a body that is circumferentially continuous at manufacture and one that is circumferentially discontinuous, at least until the time of use and possibly in use, provided such body does in use assume a generally tubular shape for the purpose of defining an enclosure, albeit apertured. To this end it is known for a tubular member to be slit longitudinally such that is has longitudinally extending edges which are arranged to extend parallel to each other, either overlapping or spaced apart, to permit objects or materials to pass through the wall or to envelope such objects or materials; such longitudinally slit tubular members may be opened out and flattened for easy storage and assume a naturally tubular form or may have edge coupling means such that naturally flat material is curled into and maintained in, tubular form. It is also known for a tubular member to be defined by wrapping a flat strip helically about a core or former, with or without adjacent or overlapping edges secured to each other to define a tubular body.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a ferrule for, and a method of, terminating a tubular body, particularly a textile body, that is of simple one-piece construction and mitigates disadvantages of known arrangements. It is also an object of the present invention to provide a method of terminating and/or joining ends of a multi-layer tubular body.
The invention employs piercing of the tubular body and to this end is suited only for use with the above mentioned textile tubular body which has interstices between filamentary components or a cast or extruded tubular body of thermoplastics or other material whose walls are readily pierced, and within this specification the term "pierceable tubular body" is used in relation to such a body of manufactured or assembled tubular form having a structure that enables it to be pierced.
According to a first aspect of the present invention a ferrule or cuff for a pierceable tubular body (as herein defined) comprises a circumferentially continuous or discontinuous longitudinally extending substantially tubular wall, dimensioned to receive a said tubular body, and an annular end wall comprising a plurality of fingers arrayed about the end of the tubular wall and extending radially inwardly from an associated section thereof, each finger carrying a barb member inclined at an acute angle with respect to the finger and longitudinal axis and directed towards the associated section of the tubular wall, said end wall being swageable in use causing each said finger to lie parallel to its associated section of the tubular wall to enclose a portion of said tubular body therebetween and cause the barb member to penetrate the body and point generally in the direction of the end of the tubular body.
According to a second aspect of the present invention a method of terminating a pierceable tubular body (as herein defined) comprises assembling a ferrule as claimed in the preceding paragraph onto the end of the body with the body received in the tubular wall of the ferrule, swaging the end wall of the ferrule causing the fingers to bear against the inside of the body alongside the tubular wall and causing the barb member carried by each finger to pierce the body and upon penetration therethrough be deflected by the tubular wall to lie substantially parallel to the tubular wall and the finger and pointing towards the end of the body.
According to a third aspect of the present invention a method of terminating and/or joining multiple, coaxially disposed layers of a pierceable tubular body (as herein defined) comprises assembling a ferrule as defined in the last but one paragraph, and whose barb members are longer than the total wall thickness of the bodies, onto the end of the outer body such that all bodies are received adjacent the tubular wall of the ferrule, swaging the end wall of the ferrule causing the fingers to lie against the inside of the inner body alongside the tubular wall and causing the barb member carried by each finger to pierce the bodies and be deflected by the tubular wall to point toward the end of the outer body.
Embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Federal-Mogul Systems Protection Group Limited


Provided are a long-lifetime organic electroluminescence device which can be fabricated in an improved yield owing to suppressed crystallization of molecules, and an aromatic amine derivative that realizes the device, i.e., a novel aromatic amine derivative having a specific structure. Specifically provided are an organic electroluminescence device, including an organic thin film layer formed of one or more layers including at least a light emitting layer, the organic thin film layer being interposed between a cathode and an anode, and an aromatic amine derivative for at least one layer of the organic thin film layer, in particular, a hole transporting layer, the derivative having at least one such structure that a substituent in which two or more specific heterocycles are linked to each other, in particular, a substituent in which two or more specific heterocycles are linked through an aryl group is bonded to an amine through an aryl group.

An organic EL device is a spontaneous light emitting device which utilizes such a principle that a fluorescent substance emits light by virtue of recombination energy of holes injected from an anode and electrons injected from a cathode by an application of an electric field. Since an organic EL device of the laminate type capable of being driven under low electric voltage has been reported by C. W. Tang et al. of Eastman Kodak Company (C. W. Tang and S. A. Vanslyke, Applied Physics Letters, Volume 51, Page 913, 1987, or the like), many studies have been conducted for an organic EL device using an organic material as a constituent material. Tang et al. used tris(8-quinolinolato)aluminum for a light emitting layer and a triphenyldiamine derivative for a hole transporting layer. Advantages of the laminate structure include the followings: an efficiency of the hole injection into the light emitting layer can be increased; an efficiency of forming excitons which are formed by blocking and recombining electrons injected from the cathode can be increased; and excitons formed within the light emitting layer can be enclosed. As described above, for the device structure of the organic EL device, a two-layered structure having a hole transporting (injecting) layer and an electron transporting light emitting layer and a three-layered structure having a hole transporting (injecting) layer, a light emitting layer, an electron transporting (injecting) layer, and the like are widely known. In order to increase the efficiency of recombination of injected holes and electrons in such devices of the laminate type, the device structure and the process of forming the device have been studied.
In general, when an organic EL device is driven or stored in an environment of high temperature, there occur adverse affects such as a change in luminescent color, a decrease in emission efficiency, an increase in driving voltage, and a decrease in a lifetime of light emission. In order to prevent the adverse affects, it has been necessary that the glass transition temperature (Tg) of the hole transporting material be elevated. Therefore, it is necessary that many aromatic groups be held within a molecule of the hole transporting material (for example, an aromatic diamine derivative of Patent Literature 1 and an aromatic fused ring diamine derivative of Patent Literature 2), and in general, a structure having 8 to 12 benzene rings is preferably used.
However, in the case of a highly symmetrical compound and a compound high in flatness each having a large number of aromatic groups in a molecule, crystallization is liable to occur upon fabrication of the organic EL device through the formation of a thin film by using those hole transporting materials. As a result, there arises a problem such as clogging of an outlet of a crucible to be used in vapor deposition or a reduction in yields of the organic EL device due to generation of defects of the thin film resulting from the crystallization. In addition, a compound having a large number of aromatic groups in any one of its molecules generally has a high glass transition temperature (Tg), but has a high sublimation temperature. Accordingly, there arises a problem in that the lifetime of the compound is short probably because a phenomenon such as decomposition at the time of the vapor deposition or the formation of a nonuniform deposition film occurs.
Meanwhile, Patent Literature 3 reports such an amine compound that heterocycles linked to each other are bonded to an amine, but the compound does not show sufficient performance when used in an organic EL device.
In addition, Patent Literatures 4 and 5 each report such an amine compound that heterocycles directly linked to each other are bonded to an amine through an aryl group, but the compound does not show sufficient performance when used in an organic EL device. In addition, Patent Literature 5 merely gives examples of such compound, and describes neither an example in which the synthesis of the compound is performed nor an example in which the compound is used in an organic EL device. In addition, Patent Literature 6 reports such a diamine compound that two amines are each bonded through an aryl group to a substituent to which a heterocycle is directly linked, but the compound does not show sufficient performance when used in an organic EL device. In addition, Patent Literature 7 reports such a diamine compound that two amines are directly bonded to a substituent to which two heterocycles are each linked through an aryl group, but the compound does not show sufficient performance when used in an organic EL device. Patent Literature 8 reports such an amine compound that heterocycles linked to each other through an aryl group are bonded to an amine through an aryl group, but the amine compound does not show sufficient performance when used in an organic EL device.
As described above, high-efficiency, long-lifetime organic EL devices have been reported, but none of them provides sufficient performance, and hence the development of an organic EL device having additionally excellent performance has been strongly desired.

Aromatic amine derivative and organic electroluminescent element


Disclosed is a reflective type liquid crystal display device. The liquid crystal display device includes: an upper substrate provided with a polarizing plate on one surface of the upper substrate; a lower substrate spaced away from the other surface of the upper substrate; a liquid crystal layer disposed between the upper and lower substrates; a color filter layer formed at a portion on the other surface of the upper substrate; a self-luminous body coated side by side with the color filter layer in a region besides a pixel region on the other surface of the upper substrate, so as to radiate light by itself depending on the electric current; and a transparent ITO layer covered on the color filter layer and the self-luminous body. It is possible to operate the liquid crystal display device without degradation of reflection efficiency in a dark state wherein light introduced from outside is weak.

1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to a reflective type liquid crystal display device, and more particularly to a reflective type liquid crystal display which contains a self-luminous body so as to use the self-luminous body together with natural light as light sources.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Liquid crystal display devices are classified into three types of liquid crystal display device, namely, a transmissive type liquid crystal display device using a backlight as a light source, a reflective type liquid crystal display device using an outer light source, such as natural light from sunlight, or an electric lamp as a light source, and a transflective type liquid crystal display device having advantages of both the transmissive and reflective type liquid crystal display devices, and is used for a mobile phone, etc., which is usually exposed to an outer light source.
Among the liquid crystal display devices, since the reflective type liquid crystal display device uses outer artificial light or natural light as a light source, the reflective type liquid crystal display device has a problem of scarcely displaying image in a dark state wherein the natural light is weak in night or there is no the artificial light source.
Accordingly, the transflective type liquid crystal display device has been proposed in order to solve the problem of the reflective liquid crystal display device. The transflective type liquid crystal display operates using an internal light source which is mounted therein, in a dark state wherein the light from the outer light source is weak or does not exist, while operating using the outer light source in a bright state wherein the light from the outer light source is sufficient.
However, such a transflective type liquid crystal display device must also have a transmissive region and a reflective region formed in each pixel. Thus, there is a disadvantage in that the transflective type liquid crystal display device has the reduced reflection efficiency as compared with the reflective liquid crystal display device. Further, there is another problem in that the image quality is degraded by a difference between the light path for the light transmitted from the internal source and the light path for the light transmitted from the outer light source and reflected.

Liquid crystal display device comprising a filter layer lying in a same plane as a self-luminous body including a first electrode, an organic substance layer and a second electrode


There is provided a hand covering for a person for use in water based exercise having a body having a first side and a second side that are attached along an outer edge to define a hand-receiving cavity and an opening in communication with the hand-receiving cavity. The hand-receiving cavity is sized and shaped to permit the body to be worn on a left hand in a first orientation and on a right hand in a second orientation that is opposite the first orientation, and the first side has a first permeability and the second side has a second permeability that is different from the first permeability.

Aquatic exercise is recommended for many people, including those who are recovering from injuries or have limited mobility. In order to build strength for these individuals and others, water based exercises can be performed at varying difficulty levels, including the type of exercise and the degree of resistance that an individual experiences during movement through the water.

Dual resistance ambidextrous aquatic hand covering


Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to the field of video processing field, and provide a method, an apparatus, a server, and a storage medium for generating videos. In some embodiments, webpage snapshot data is obtained in real time based on a preset web address; target webpage content is selected from the obtained webpage snapshot data; and the selected target webpage content is synthesized with a pre-obtained input video, to generate an output video including the target webpage content.

Currently, more and more people get information in the form of videos from the Internet. A videos is usually collected through a picture generating process using a camera or screen recording, and then a collected video is output via a network for users to obtain or watch. In order to improve video watching experience of the users, some additional elements such as watermarks or texts may be added to a collected video picture, and then the video is transmitted after being coded by hardware or software.
The inventor discovers at least the following problems in related technologies: a picture effect of the collected video picture can be improved by adding some additional elements to the video, and the picture effect is usually preset. Because a special effect can be relatively simple while picture layout settings are limited, it is not conducive to the configuration, adjustment, and upgrading of video picture elements, layouts, effects, and the like. It is also not possible to flexibly control the picture effect in real time.

Video generating method, apparatus, server, and storage medium


This invention relates to an engine cooling system in which the supply of fuel is cooled to prevent fuel vapors by cooling the fuel pump. The cooling system uses a thermoelectric material that, either entirely or partially, surrounds the fuel pump, is the housing of the fuel pump and/or is internal to the fuel pump.

It is well known in the art to cool a fuel pump which supplied fuel to an engine, for example, a marine engine. U.S. Pat. No. 5,438,962 discloses a water cooled outboard motor engine ensuring that the fuel pumped by the fuel pump is not overheated. Specifically, a marine engine is water cooled and provided with a coolant delivery system for drawing water from a body of water in which the engine is operating, which circulates the water through a cooling jacket of the engine and discharges it back into the body of water. The cooling system includes a water inlet formed in a lower unit and permits water to be drawn through an inlet conduit by means of a water pump. The drawn water is delivered upwardly through a supply conduit that communicates with a cooling jacket. This coolant is circulated through the cooling jacket of engine and discharged through discharge conduit for return to the body of water.
US Publication 2004/0231648 discloses a watercraft engine fuel cooling system that cools a fuel vapor separator through a detachable heat exchanger. Fuel inside the vapor separator tank is kept at a predetermined temperature through the vapor separator cooling system. The vapor separator cooling system can include a detachable heat exchanger that is configured to be detachable from the vapor separator tank. When brought into thermal communication with the vapor separator tank, the heat exchanger transfers heat away from the vapor separator tank. The heat exchanger can use cooling water or other fluids for cooling.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,322,410 discloses a water cooled electric fuel pump for a marine propulsion system. A cooling jacket is disposed about the fuel pump and is in sealed engagement with fuel pump to form a cooling chamber about the fuel pump. The cooling jacket has a water inlet for admitting cooling water to the cooling chamber.


A method for handling an incoming call of an electronic device and an electronic device using the same is provided. The method includes displaying a user interface for handling the incoming call using a screen boundary of the electronic device, when receiving incoming call information while executing an application program on the electronic device, where the user interface for handling the incoming call using the screen boundary is displayed to overlap the user interface of the executed application program; sensing a touch event on the user interface for handling the incoming call using the screen boundary; and performing an incoming call handling function based on the sensed touch event.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method for handling an incoming call and an electronic device performing the same.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, an electronic device, such as a Smart Phone, a Tablet PC, a Portable Multimedia Player (PMP), a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a laptop Personal Computer (laptop PC) and a wearable device such as a wrist watch, and a Head-Mounted Display (HMD), may include various functions (e.g., a game, a social network service (SNS), Internet, multimedia, a recording and execution of photo and video) as well as a telephone function.
When using an electronic device, a user may place greater priority on functions other than the telephone function, whereas the electronic device places its priority on the phone function. Accordingly, when incoming call occurs during the execution of a function other than the phone function, the electronic device changes to a user interface related to the phone function, thereby decreasing the user's convenience.

Electronic device and method for handling incoming call of the same


A polarized electromagnetic relay including an electromagnet assembly, a contact section insulated from the electromagnet assembly, and a force transfer member disposed between the electromagnetic assembly and the contact section. The electromagnet assembly includes an electromagnet, an armature driven by the electromagnet, and a permanent magnet carried on the armature. The armature includes first and second electrically conductive plate elements holding the permanent magnet therebetween in a direction of magnetization of the permanent magnet and disposed to orient the direction of magnetization in parallel with the center axis of the coil. The armature is arranged linearly movably in a direction parallel with the center axis in a state where a part of the first electrically conductive plate element is inserted into a space between the outer peripheral region of the iron core head portion and the distal end region of the yoke major portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a polarized electromagnetic relay. The present invention also relates to a coil assembly adapted to be used in a polarized electromagnetic relay.
2. Description of the Related Art
A polar or polarized electromagnetic relay, wherein an electromagnet assembly including an electromagnet and a permanent magnet as well as a contact section including a plurality of contact members are insulated from each other and attached to a base, and wherein a force transfer member shiftable under an action of the electromagnet assembly to make the contact members of the contact section open or close is disposed between the electromagnet assembly and the contact section, has been known in the art. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 58-181227 (JP-A-58-181227) discloses a polarized electromagnetic relay of this type, in which an electromagnet assembly is configured so that a magnetic movable element (referred to as "an armature section" in JP-A-58-181227) including a permanent magnet and a pair of yokes or iron plates, holding the permanent magnet therebetween, linearly shifts in a direction parallel with a center axis of a coil in response to the excitation of the electromagnet. Typically, the electromagnet assembly configured as described above has an advantage that outside dimensions can be effectively reduced in a redial direction of the coil of the electromagnetic relay, in comparison with a configuration in which a magnetic movable element including a permanent magnet linearly shifts in a direction orthogonal to the coil center axis in response to the excitation of an electromagnet.
In the polarized electromagnetic relay disclosed in JP-A-58-181227, two large and small U-shaped yokes are assembled together to hold, between the center areas of the yokes, a permanent magnet in a direction of magnetization of the magnet, so that at longitudinally opposite end regions of the magnetic movable element, end portions of the yokes, on which respective magnetic poles are formed by the magnet, are arranged so as to face to each other. Similarly, an iron core of the electromagnet is a U-shaped member, of which longitudinally opposite ends extend in a radial direction of the coil and protrude outward. At each longitudinal end region of the magnetic movable element, each end portion of the iron core of the electromagnet is inserted into a space between the end portions of a pair of yokes, at which mutually different magnetic poles are formed. The magnetic movable element is integrally incorporated in a force transfer member as a molded component, and when the electromagnet operates under the above described relative disposition, the force transfer member linearly shifts together with the magnetic movable elements, so as to make the contact section open or close.
Further, a polarized electromagnetic relay, wherein an electromagnet includes a bobbin, on which a conductive wire is wound to form a coil, and at least three coil terminals securely supported on the bobbin, the wire of the coil being connected to each of the coil terminals (see, e.g., Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2005-243367 (JP-A-2005-243367)). In this type of the polarized electromagnetic relay, the coil may constitutes two excitation circuits, each of which includes a terminal pair defined by any two coil terminals of the at least three coil terminals, and thereby an advantage is given, such that an operation mode of the relay can be quickly switched between an operating state (i.e., a make-contact closing state) and a reset state (i.e., a break-contact closing state), and in either state, the contact section can be stably kept in the contact closing state.
In the polarized electromagnetic relay disclosed in JP-A-58-181227, the pair of U-shaped yokes constituting the magnetic movable element have lengths substantially corresponding to an entire length of the U-shaped iron core of the electromagnet, so that the dimension and weight of a movable section including the force transfer member are relatively large, which may influence the response (i.e., operating time) and outside dimensions of the relay. Further, in this configuration, the U-shaped iron core of the electromagnet and the U-shaped yokes of the magnetic movable element cooperate with each other by simultaneously exerting magnetic effects at their longitudinally opposite ends, so that in order to reduce unevenness of operational characteristics, it is necessary to improve the dimensional accuracy of these components, which may increase manufacturing costs.
On the other hand, in the polarized electromagnetic relay in which the electromagnet includes at least three coil terminals as described in JP-A-2005-243367, it is required to safely and accurately perform an automatic winding process for connecting the conductive wire to each coil terminal and thereby forming the coil on the bobbin.

Polarized electromagnetic relay and coil assembly


A wearable accessory device is disclosed. The wearable accessory device includes a flexible display coupled to a bi-stable spring. Coupling the display to the bi-stable spring allows the accessory device to be easily worn in a number of convenient locations.

1. Field of the Described Embodiments
The described embodiments relate generally to portable electronic devices. In particular methods for expanding the functionality of electronic devices are disclosed.
2. Related Art
Bi-stable springs have two equilibrium positions. This allows a device with a bi-stable spring to assume two distinct configurations. The most recent widespread use of such a device was the slap bracelet, also called the slap wrap. The slap bracelet consists of layered flexible steel bands sealed within a fabric cover. Typical slap bracelets are roughly one inch in width by nine inches in length. In a first equilibrium position they can be flat. The second equilibrium is typically reached by slapping the flat embodiment across the wrist, at which point the bracelet curls around the wrist and stays relatively secure in a roughly circular position. The slap bracelet has been used primarily as a decorative bracelet; however, other uses have included for example keeping a pant leg away from a bike chain, or even using a slap bracelet covered with reflective tape for providing increased visibility for pedestrians and bikers at night. Perhaps most usefully it is quite easy to wrap around a wrist or leg, and stays conveniently in place.
Conversely conventional accessories for electronic devices do not tend to be easily wearable. They include various clips or may even rest precariously on an ear. In some cases accessory devices may even have to sit in a pant or coat pocket. Therefore an apparatus that capitalizes on the easily wearable nature of a bi-stable spring is desired


Technologies are generally described for a pointing error avoidance scheme. In some examples, a method performed under control of a computing system with a display, may include detecting an input event applied to the computing system at a pointing location in a first area of the display, determining a first time duration for which the pointing location has been maintained in the first area, determining a second time duration for which the pointing location had been previously maintained in a previous area of the display before the pointing location moved into the first area, and determining an intended pointing location of the input event based at least in part on at least one of the first time duration and the second time duration.

Many types of input devices are available for performing operations in a computing system, such as a keyboard, a mouse, a pen, a trackball, a joystick, a touch sensor panel, a touchscreen, a motion controller, a voice input device, and the like. Among the various input devices, the motion controller is widely used as a controller for video games or smart TVs. The motion controller uses an accelerometer to detect its approximate orientation and acceleration, and serves an image sensor, so it can be used as a pointing device. A user of the motion controller may move the motion controller to be directed to a desired location on a screen, and/or click a button for selecting an icon or a virtual key displayed at the location.


A method for treating a prostate cancer, which comprises administering a therapeutically effective amount of a cancer antigen peptide-associated agent and a lower dose of an estramustine or a salt thereof to a patient in need thereof, and a pharmaceutical composition thereof are provided.

The optimal treatment strategy for patients with metastatic hormone-refractory prostate cancer (HRPC) continues to represent a challenge for oncologists. The median survival duration of patients with metastatic HRPC is about 12 months [1-3]. Although chemotherapy with mitoxantrone offers a palliative benefit [1, 2], no treatment has been shown to prolong survival. Recently, phase II trials of estramustine-based or taxane-based regimes reported a≧50% decrease in levels of serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in 45% to 67% of patients [4-8]. However, these combinations were associated with a significant degree of nausea, diarrhea, leukopenia, and cumulative fluid retention and an increased risk for thrombotic events, precluding its use in patients with a poor performance status. In addition, none of these regimes is associated with prolonged survival and the number of patients in these studies was limited.
Many tumor antigens recognized by human leukocyte-associated antigens (HLA) class I-restricted cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) have been identified in the past decade [9, 10], and new approaches for HRPC with tumor vaccines have been investigated. Phase I/II clinical trials with dendritic cell-based immunotherapy have been conducted, and also a vaccine comprising a recombinant prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) and an adjuvant has been tested in prostate cancer patients [11, 12]. Our approach in the immunotherapy for HRPC patients is a pre-vaccination measurement of peptide-specific CTL precursors in the circulation of cancer patients reactive to 30 kinds of vaccine candidates with the ability to induce CTLs, followed by administration of only reactive peptides (patient-oriented peptide vaccination) as reported previously [13, 14]. We recently completed our phase I clinical trial for HRPC to assess the safe administration of these peptides [15]. The adverse events of this immunotherapy were less severe than those of conventional therapies although the clinical responses of this trial have been limited. It is suggested that additive anti-tumor effects could be achieved by combination of peptide vaccination and cytotoxic agents when the cytotoxic agents had minimum suppression of immune system.
Estramustine phosphate is a stable conjugate of estradiol and nitrogen mustard that possesses anti-mitotic properties and causes disruption of microtubule organization [16]. Estramustine phosphate has been subjected to many Phase II and III clinical trials in the last 25 years as a second-line treatment of HRPC in addition to primary treatment. The advantage of estramustine phosphate over other cytotoxic drugs is its ease of administration (oral) and relatively good tolerability at the effective dose.
Combination of immunotherapy and cytotoxic drugs is not a new concept [27], but there have been major concerns about a negative interaction which might take place due to the myelosuppressive properties of many cytotoxic drugs. Cytotoxic drugs also preferentially kill cells in division, a hallmark of an activated immune system, and therefore could inhibit immune responses. However, myelosuppression has rarely been reported as a toxicity of estramustine phosphate in patients treated for HRPC [16]. In a phase III study of estramustine phosphate combined with vinblastine versus vinblastine alone, the rate of neutropenia was lower in the combination arm versus the monotherapy arm (grades 2, 3, 4: 7%, 1% and 1% versus 27%, 18% and 9%, respectively)[3].

Combination therapy of peptide vaccination and estramustine treatment


A drive device includes stepper motors, each having an excitation coil and a rotor rotating based on variation in the excitation state of the excitation coil; driven members, each moving in accordance with the rotation of the rotor of the corresponding stepper motor; stoppers, each stopping the driven member mechanically at a zero position; and a controller, controlling the respective stepper motors so as to selectively performs either a normal operation in which the stepper motor is driven so as to rotate, or a zero-position detection operation in which the stepper motor is driven so that the driven member is moved to the stopper. The controller starts to perform the zero-position detection operation simultaneously in all of the stepper motors and changes the stepper motor which has terminated the zero-position detection operation to the normal operation without waiting for the termination of the zero-position detection operation in other stepper motors.

The present invention relates to a drive device for stepper motors applicable to an on-board combination meter and so on and to an indicating apparatus using the drive device.
For example, JP-A-2001-327193 discloses a drive device for controlling the driving of a plurality of stepper motors for use in a tachometer, a fuel meter and so on in an on-board combination meter of the sort mentioned above. The drive device includes a plurality of stepping motors, a plurality of driven members, a plurality of stoppers, a plurality of first excitation members, a plurality of second excitation members, a plurality of detection coils, a position detection member, and control member. Each of the stepping motors has a plurality of excitation coils as well as a rotor magnetized to have N and S magnetic poles and is rotated by following variations in the excitation state of the excitation coils. The driven members moves in response to the rotating operation of the respective rotors. The stoppers mechanically stop the respective driven members in position. The first excitation members rotate the rotors forward and backward by controlling the plurality of excitation coils. The second excitation members control the excitation state of the plurality of excitation coils according to exciting patterns constituted of a plurality of exciting steps for defining the excitation state of the plurality of excitation coils and which reversely rotate the rotors in the direction in which the driven members move to the predetermined positions. The detection coils generate induction voltage in response to the rotation of the rotors. The position detection member sequentially detect the presence or absence of the induction voltage generated in the detection coils during the control operation performed by the second excitation members and detect whether the driven members stop at the predetermined positions where the contact of the driven members against the stoppers is established on the basis of the presence or absence of the detected induction voltage. The control member stops the control operation performed by the first excitation members, and causes the second excitation members to start controlling when the control member receives a command signal. The control member stops the control operation performed by the second excitation members and causes the plurality of first excitation members to start controlling when all the driven members stop at the predetermined positions by the position detection member.
In the drive device described in for example, JP-A-2001-327193, the plurality of stepper motors are such that the reset operation of restoring the driven members (pointers) in position (the zero positions) by a command signal based on ignition is started by a sequential predetermined timing deviation (e.g., a deviation of two excitation steps) and then each stepper motor is shifted to the normal operation wherein the stepper motor is rotated forward or backward according to measured values of the vehicle speed, the number of revolutions and so on after the set operation of the whole stepper motor is terminated.
On the other hand, a drive device of another type is such that the sequence of zero-position detection of a plurality of stepper motors used in an on-board combination meter is controlled so that starting the detection of the zero positions is simultaneously made in the whole built-in stepper motor. In the drive device of this type, in order to deal with the time difference required to detect the zero positions of the stepper motors, it is arranged that any stepper motor that has terminated the zero-position detection waits for the termination of the zero-position detection by any other stepper motor and that each of the stepper motors simultaneously starts giving an indication in unison at a point of time the whole stepper motor terminates the zero-position detection.
In the above-described drive device, the source voltage supplied to a computer within the drive device, used to control the drive device drops because of cranking when a starter is turned to subject an engine to the cranking in order to start the engine in such a state that a fuel meter together with a tachometer and a speedometer contained in the on-board combination meter has started giving an indication according to the measured value. When the computer is reset for preventing malfunction due to the source voltage drop, the computer thus reset causes the stepper motors to start zero-position detection process operation at the time the, power is supplied again immediately after the resetting. With the pointer deflected to an indicating value immediately before the resetting in the fuel meter, it takes time to detect the zero position until the pointer returns to the zero position. Therefore, the tachometer that should start giving an indication corresponding to the measured value after the engine is started cannot start normal operation for giving any indication corresponding to the measured value when the power is supplied to the drive device again until the zero-position detection process operation is terminated in other stepper motors that take time to perform the operation.
FIG. 6 is a time chart illustrating the driving of a plurality of stepper motors by a conventional drive device by way of example. With a stepper motor 111 acting as a tachometer, a stepper motor 112 acting as a fuel meter and a stepper motor 113 acting as a speedometer, a drive device starts performing a zero-position detection process at time t1 but does not start performing normal operation for giving an indication corresponding to the values measured by the stepper motors 111 and 113 even though the stepper motors 111 and 113 terminate the zero-position detection process at time t2. The drive device just waits for the delayed termination (time t4) of the zero-position detection process performed by the stepper motor 112 and then assumes control so that the stepper motors 111, 112 and 113 start the normal operation in unison at time t5.
As the tachometer operates not to give any indication of the number of revolutions of the engine immediately after the engine is started in the case described above, this nonconformity may give the driver a sense of discomfort.

Drive device for stepper motor and indicating apparatus using the same


A resource allocation method and apparatus for reducing the number of operations required when determining the resource allocation priority in the wireless packet data communication system supporting plural types of resources are provided. The method includes receiving channel quality identifiers from at least one terminal for resource allocation, selecting one of the channel quality identifiers as a representative channel quality identifier per terminal, determining a resource allocation priority of the terminal based on the representative channel quality identifier, and allocating the resource in order of resource allocation priority.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a resource allocation method and apparatus of a base station in a wireless communication system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a resource allocation method and apparatus for reducing the number of operations required when determining the resource allocation priority in a wireless packet data communication system supporting plural types of resources.
2. Description of the Related Art
Mobile communication systems have been developed to provide subscribers with voice communication services while a user is on the move. With the rapid advance of technologies, the mobile communication systems have evolved to support high speed data communication services as well as standard voice communication services. However, a limited number of resources and a desire for higher speed services in the current mobile communication system have spurred an evolution to a more advanced mobile communication system.
A proportional fairness scheduler allocates resources to candidate terminals (hereinafter, interchangeably referred to as "Mobile Station" and "MS") in descending order of a scheduling metric calculated based on the currently available data rate and the average data rate assigned to the MS. However, the conventional scheduling scheme does not perform a proportional fairness scheduling scheme based on throughput.
Therefore, in the case of adopting the proportional fairness scheduling scheme, there is a need of a method for performing the scheduling operation efficiently from the viewpoint of throughput while minimizing the loss of system throughput.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present invention.

Resource allocation method and apparatus of base station in wireless communication system


A portion of an AlN spacer layer of a high electron mobility transistor (GaN HEMI) having a nitride semiconductor used therein is removed only in a region directly below a gate electrode and in a vicinity of the region, and a length of a portion where the AlN spacer layer is not present is sufficiently smaller than a distance between a source electrode and a drain electrode.

The structure of a GaN HEMT having an AlN (aluminum nitride) spacer will be described, taking an example of Non-Patent Document 1. In FIG. 1 of Non-Patent Document 1, a sectional view of the structure of the GaN HEMT having the AlN spacer is published. In this conventional structure, an AlN spacer layer (AlN) is crystal-grown on the whole surface of a channel layer (GaN buffer), a barrier layer (AlGaN) is crystal-grown on the AlN spacer layer, and a nitride film (Si3N4), and electrodes (a source electrode (Source), a gate electrode (Gate), and a drain electrode (Drain)) are formed on the barrier layer. The feature of this conventional structure is that the AlN spacer is simply crystal-grown on the whole surface.
The GaN HEMT is used in a high-output and high-frequency amplifier or a power switch circuit.
In order to improve the efficiency of an amplifier or a switch circuit, it is necessary to reduce access resistance that is present in series between a source electrode and a drain electrode. As a method for reducing this access resistance, a method for inserting an AlN spacer between AlGaN (aluminum gallium nitride) and GaN is employed. The polarization of AlN is larger than that of AlGaN, and therefore two-dimensional electron gas concentration is increased by inserting the AlN spacer, whereby the access resistance can be reduced.
FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing an example of a structure of a conventional high electron mobility transistor having a nitride semiconductor used therein (GaN HEMT). As shown in FIG. 1, this conventional GaN HEMT is configured by inserting an AlN spacer, and includes a substrate 1, a buffer layer 2, a channel layer 3, a spacer layer 4, a barrier layer 5, an insulating film layer 6, a source electrode 7, a drain electrode 8, and a gate electrode 9. In this conventional structure, the AlN spacer layer 4 is present on the whole surface including the vicinity directly below the gate electrode 9.

Transistor having nitride semiconductor used therein and method for manufacturing transistor having nitride semiconductor used therein


An aromatic nebulizing diffuser and color light set assembly includes a fluid container, a base panel carrying two electric fans beneath the fluid container for drawing in outside air, an oscillator for causing automation of an aromatic fluid in the fluid container, a color light set for emitting color light upwardly toward the inside of the fluid container, a power adapter mounted on the base panel for providing the electric fans, the oscillator and the color light set with the necessary working voltage, a shell supporting the fluid container on a flat surface, light guide tubes mounted in the fluid container for condensing emitted color light from the color light set into vertically extending color light beams, and a slotted cover covering the top side of the fluid container.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an aromatic nebulizing diffuser and more particularly, to a combination aromatic nebulizing diffuser and color light set assembly that provides a colorful lighting effect when causing atomization of an aromatic fluid.
2. Description of the Related Art
Commercial aromatic nebulizing diffusers commonly use oscillator means to generate a high ultrasonic energy for causing atomization of an essential oil. These aromatic nebulizing diffusers do not produce any visual lighting effects. There are aromatic nebulizing diffusers with a lamp arranged therein. However, because the housing or outer shell does not admit light, people cannot see the floating of the generated fine mid in the housing or outer shell.
Further, a conventional aromatic nebulizing diffuser with a lamp simply uses a light emitting device to emit light. The lighting of the light emitting device is monotonous, insufficient to attract people's eyes.
Further, regular aromatic nebulizing diffusers commonly use screws to affix component parts together, complicating mounting and dismounting procedures. After a long use, the inside wall of the aromatic nebulizing diffuser may be covered with a layer of dirt. It takes much time and labor to practice a cleaning work.
Further, regular aromatic nebulizing diffusers commonly have a narrow flow passage for guiding out the generated fine mist of atomized aromatic fluid molecules. Thus, the amount of the generated fine mist of atomized aromatic fluid molecules being carried out of the housing or outer shell is limited.
Further, during operation of the oscillator to cause atomization of the aromatic fluid, the aromatic fluid may be causes to fly out of the housing or outer shell, causing contamination.

Combination aromatic nebulizing diffuser and color light set assembly