Disclosed is a postoperative functional exerciser for frozen shoulder. The exerciser includes a hand push rod (1) and a restrictive band (2) for restricting the elbow. The hand push rod (1) comprises a wristband (11) and a push rod (12). One end of the push rod (12) is connected with the wristband (11). When the hand push rod (1) and the restrictive band (2) are in operation, a part of the restrictive band (2) winds around the elbow joint of an affected arm, the other part winds around a waist buckle (3) at a waist portion of the restrictive band (2) on a side opposite to the affected arm, and the wristband (11) is sleeved on the wrist of the affected arm. The upper arm is tied to the body by means of the restrictive band (2).

frozen shoulder, is a disease characterized by cystic inflammatory adhesion and stiffness of shoulder and glenohumeral joints, pain of shoulder joint and limited movement in all directions (especially abduction, external rotation and rear protraction) and caused by a variety of diseases. According to disease characters, the frozen shoulder can be classified into primary frozen shoulder and secondary frozen shoulder. The primary frozen shoulder is also known as idiopathic frozen shoulder, and its exact cause is unclear. At present, a large number of studies focus on the clinical symptomatic treatment of the frozen shoulder, and treatment effects are quite different. The common clinical treatment mode is to arthroscopically release the intra-articular adhesions through operations.
Success or failure of arthroscopic release operations not only depends on the operating techniques of operators, but also depends on postoperative functional exercise modes. Effective postoperative exercise not only facilitates the recovery of the activity of the shoulder joint, but also facilitates the improvement of the muscle strength of the shoulder joint. Therefore, postoperative functional exercise is of vital importance. Since the main clinical manifestations of the frozen shoulder are external rotation pain and external rotation dysfunction of patients, the main purpose of the postoperative exercise is to exercise the external rotation function.
At present, there is no special rehabilitation equipment for postoperative frozen shoulder, and only large-scale comprehensive rehabilitation equipment purchased by hospitals can be used for functional exercise. Meanwhile, the large-scale rehabilitation equipment has expensive price and poor portability. After returning home, the patients lose the exercise equipment and cannot use the rehabilitation equipment for the functional exercise.

Postoperative functional exerciser for frozen shoulder


Provided is an apparatus and method for resource allocation for multicast data in a broadband wireless access system. In the method, multicast packets are scheduled. Thereafter, a resource allocation message for the scheduled multicast packets divided into a second multicast resource allocation message including information of a user group using a multicast ID and a first multicast resource allocation message including information transmitted in common to users of the user group, and the corresponding message including changed information is transmitted for a change of information. Therefore, it is possible to reduce a waste of resource that is due to the duplicate transmission of some fields of resource allocation information about multicast data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) system, and in particular, to an apparatus and method for resource allocation for multicast data in a BWA system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Communication systems have been primarily developed for voice communication services, but they are also evolving to provide data services and various multimedia services. However, conventional communication systems, which are mainly directed to providing voice communication services, still have a narrow data transmission bandwidth and require a high subscription fee. For these reasons, they cannot satisfy diversified user demands. Furthermore, in line with rapid development in the communication industry and ever-increasing demands on Internet services, it is important to provide communication systems capable of providing Internet services efficiently. As a result of these trends, BWA systems having a bandwidth large enough to satisfy both the increasing user demands and provide efficient Internet services have been proposed.
In addition to providing voice communication services, BWA systems also aim at supporting a variety of low-speed and high-speed data services and multimedia application services (e.g., high-quality moving pictures) in combination. BWA systems are based on wireless media using a broadband of 2 GHz, 5 GHz, 26 GHz, 60 or GHz and are able to access a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), Public Switched Data Network (PSDN), Internet network, International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 (IMT-2000) network, and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) network in a mobile or stationary environment. In other words, BWA systems can support a channel transmission rate of at least 2 Mbps. BWA systems may be classified into broadband wireless local loops, broadband mobile access networks, and high-speed wireless Local Area Networks (LANs) according to the terminal's mobility (stationary or mobile), communication environment (indoor or outdoor), and channel transmission rate.
The standardization of wireless access schemes of BWA systems is being conducted by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), which is one of the international standardization organizations, particularly by IEEE 802.16 and IEEE 802.20 standardization groups. The BWA systems use an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM)/Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) scheme for physical channels. That is, the BWA systems use an OFDM/FDMA scheme to transmit physical channel signals over subcarriers, thereby enabling high-speed data transmission.
The BWA system reports resource allocation information by transmitting information, such as the size of resource allocated to each user and an operation mode used for transmission of the corresponding resource, using broadcast channels such as a MAP channel and a shared (common) signaling channel. The resource allocation information indicates which resource is allocated to which user. The operation mode information includes a channel coding type, a coding rate, a modulation scheme, a packet length, a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) type, and a multi-input multi-output (MIMO) scheme. TX data can be classified into unicast data transmitted to one user, multicast data transmitted to two or more users, and broadcast data transmitted to all users.
Schemes used for the transmission of the resource allocation information can be classified into a one-to-all resource allocation information transmission scheme and a one-to-one resource allocation information transmission scheme. The one-to-all resource allocation information transmission scheme transmits resource allocation information about all users using one encoding block to serially report the resource allocation information about all the users, which is adopted in the IEEE 802.16e standard. The size of the encoding block is transmitted over another broadcast channel. The one-to-one resource allocation information transmission scheme allocates resources using a plurality of small-sized encoding blocks. The number of the small-sized encoding block is transmitted over a separate broadcast channel.
In the one-to-all resource allocation information transmission scheme, a resource allocation message in the IEEE 802.16e system is formatted as illustrated in FIG. 1. Referring to FIG. 1, the number of terminal Connection IDs (CIDs) included in the resource allocation message is variable and the length of the resource allocation message is the sum of a fixed length of 44 bits and a variable length of 16×N_CID depending on the number of CIDs. The fixed length of 44 bits is the sum of bits of a Downlink Interval Usage Code (DIUC) (4 bits) indicating an operation mode for an allocated resource, an N_CID (8 bits) indicating the number of CIDs, an OFDMA symbol offset (8 bits) indicating the position of the allocated resource, a subchannel offset (8 bits/6 bits), a boosting (3 bits), the number of OFDMA triple symbols (5 bits/7 bits), the number of subchannels (6 bits), and a repetition coding indication (2 bits). Thus, the one-to-all resource allocation information transmission scheme is advantageous for multicast information allocation. However, because the one-to-all resource allocation information transmission scheme transmits the resource allocation information about all the users simultaneously at the start point of a frame in a time division multiplexing (TDM) scheme, power control is impossible and a TX latency such as for HARQ increases due to an increase in a scheduling period.
In order to solve the above drawbacks, the one-to-one resource allocation information transmission scheme transmits resource allocation information using an encoding block in units of the resource allocation information, which is proposed in the IEEE 802.20 draft standard. FIGS. 2A and 2B are tables showing an exemplary format of a resource allocation message in the IEEE 802.20 system.
Referring to FIGS. 2A and 2B, the one-to-one resource allocation information transmission scheme can allocate only one Media Access Control ID (MACID) (i.e., CID) to identify a terminal to one block. Thus, if resources are to be allocated to two or more users, that is, if resources are to be allocated for multicast data, resource allocation information blocks of the same type and equal in number to the number of users (i.e., MACIDs) are to be transmitted, leading to a waste of resource. For example, if Non-Sticky Forward Link Assignment Block (NS-FLAB) type information is allocated to four users, four NS-FLAB blocks with different MACIDs are to be generated and transmitted as shown in Tables 1 through 4. The NS-FLAB is a kind of IEEE 802.20 downlink resource allocation message, which is used to allocate a specific resource to a specific user only for a predetermined time. Herein, the Link Assignment Block (LAB) is the basic unit of an IEEE 802.20 resource allocation message.
TABLE 1FieldValueHeader (4 bits)0001MACID (11 bits)01101100101NodeID (6 bits)011011PF (6 bits)110110Duration (2 bits)00Extended Transmission (1 bit)0Reserved (2 bits)—CRC (16 bits)Calculated CRC
TABLE 2FieldValueHeader (4 bits)0001MACID (11 bits)010100100010NodeID (6 bits)011011PF (6 bits)110110Duration (2 bits)00Extended Transmission (1 bit)0Reserved (2 bits)—CRC (16 bits)Calculated CRC
TABLE 3FieldValueHeader (4 bits)0001MACID (11 bits)00001010001NodeID (6 bits)011011PF (6 bits)110110Duration (2 bits)00Extended Transmission (1 bit)0Reserved (2 bits)—CRC (16 bits)Calculated CRC
TABLE 4FieldValueHeader (4 bits)0001MACID (11 bits)11100110011NodeID (6 bits)011011PF (6 bits)110110Duration (2 bits)00Extended Transmission (1 bit)0Reserved (2 bits)—CRC (16 bits)Calculated CRC
As shown in Tables 1 through 4, a resource allocation information block includes a Header field that indicates the type of a resource allocation message, a MACID field that indicates an ID managed by a base station for discrimination between user terminals, a NodeID field that indicates a communication resource ID, a Packet Format (PF) field that indicates information about the combination of operation modes of data transmitted through the communication resources, a Duration field that indicates the duration of resource allocation, an Extended Transmission field that indicates the size of a resource allocation unit, a Reserved field that indicates dummy bits used to equalize the total message length in case of a component change in a resource allocation message block, and a Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) field that is used to check if there is a channel decoding error. In this case, even except for the bits of the CRC field and the Reserved field, 57 (=19×3) bits are wasted because information of the Header field, the NodeID field, the PF field, the Duration field, and the Extended Transmission field are transmitted four times. Moreover, if another packet is to be transmitted to the same four users, all of the four resource allocation information blocks must be transmitted again.

Apparatus and method for resource allocation for multicast data in broadband wireless access system


A real-time data management system, a system, method, apparatus and tangible computer readable medium for accessing data in a power grid are described for controlling a transmission delay of real-time data delivered via a real-time bus, and for delivering real-time data in a power grid. A unified data model covering various organizations and various data resource is described. Further, a management scheme for clustered data is described to provide a transparent and high speed data access. The solutions described may efficiently manage the high volume of real-time data and events, provide data transmission with a low latency, provide flexible extension of both the number of data clusters and the number of databases to ensure high volume data storage, and achieve a high speed and transparent data access. Additionally, rapid design and development of analytical applications, and the near real-time enterprise decision-making business may be enabled.

1. Technical Field
Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of power grid management technology and more particularly to a real-time data management system, a system, method, apparatus and tangible computer readable medium for accessing data in a power grid, a system, method, apparatus and tangible computer readable medium for controlling a transmission delay of real-time data delivered via a real-time bus, and a system, method, apparatus and tangible computer readable medium for delivering real-time data in a power grid.
2. Background
Various industries have networks associated with them. One such industry is the utility industry that manages a power grid. The power grid may include one or all of the following: electricity generation, electric power transmission, and electricity distribution. Electricity may be generated using generating stations, such as a coal fire power plant, a nuclear power plant, etc. For efficiency purposes, the generated electrical power is stepped up to a very high voltage (such as, for example, 345K Volts) and transmitted over transmission lines. The transmission lines may transmit the power long distances, such as across state lines or across international boundaries, until it reaches its wholesale customer, which may be a company that owns the local distribution network. The transmission lines may terminate at a transmission substation, which may step down the very high voltage to an intermediate voltage (such as, for example, 138K Volts). From a transmission substation, smaller transmission lines (such as, for example, sub-transmission lines) transmit the intermediate voltage to distribution substations. At the distribution substations, the intermediate voltage may be again stepped down to a "medium voltage" (such as, for example, from 4K Volts to 23K Volts). One or more feeder circuits may emanate from the distribution substations. For example, four to tens of feeder circuits may emanate from the distribution substation. The feeder circuit is a 3-phase circuit comprising 4 wires (three wires for each of the 3 phases and one wire for neutral). Feeder circuits may be routed either above ground (on poles) or underground. The voltage on the feeder circuits may be tapped off periodically using distribution transformers, which step down the voltage from "medium voltage" to the consumer voltage (such as, for example, 120V). The consumer voltage may then be used by the consumers.
One or more power companies whose main responsibility is to supply reliable and economic electricity to their customers. These power companies may manage the power grid, including planning, operation, and maintenance related to the power grid. However, the management of the power grid is often inefficient and costly. For example, a power company that manages the local distribution network may manage faults that may occur in the feeder circuits or on circuits, called lateral circuits, which branch from the feeder circuits. The management of the local distribution network often relies on telephone calls from consumers when an outage occurs or relies on field workers patrolling and monitoring the local distribution network.
Power companies have attempted to upgrade the power grid to be a "smart grid" by applying the state-of-the-art IT and power engineering technologies. With the development of the smart grid, a large number of utilities are deploying Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), Phase Measurement Unit (PMU) and other online monitoring equipment. These equipments provide different data to applications and may adhere to different latency requirements. For example, the PMU has a data frequency of 20 to 50 milliseconds; a Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition/Energy Management System (SCADA/EMS) has a data frequency of 1 to 5 seconds; the AMI has a data frequency of 5 to 15 minutes; device monitoring system has a data frequency of 1 to 5 minutes; and an event should be notified immediately when the event happens. Moreover, each of devices will produce a large amount of data This means that a large amount of data is generated from different originations, business units and systems.
FIG. 1 schematically illustrates various latency levels of data in an example existing power system. As illustrated in FIG. 1, data acquired from sensor devices will be directly provided to a high speed/real-time analytical application with a latency that ranges from milliseconds to seconds; the acquired data will be stored in a real-time or sub real-time database for a purpose of medium speed/real-time analytical with a latency that ranges from seconds to minutes; the acquired data will be also stored in a database for historical data for using by a transaction analytical application with a latency that ranges from minutes to days; the acquired data are further stored in a business data repository for using by a business intelligence application with a latency that ranges from days to months. It can be seen that these data are time series continuous data with different latency varying from milliseconds to months and they are constantly increasing. Additionally, measurement objects are continuously increasing and large events might also be suddenly generated in a very short period of time when a contingency occurs, which all will rapidly increase the data volume. This constantly increasing data have become a challenge for the power system management, and hence there is a critical demand for efficiently managing the high volume of data in the art.

Real-time data management for a power grid


The lubricity of any shaving preparation is enhanced by providing an emollient oil and a thermoplastic polymeric elastomer additive in an amount effective to increase its lubricity. Specific shaving preparations suitable for application to human or animal skin may comprise at least 5% by weight of an emollient oil, and a thermoplastic polymeric elastomer additive in a ratio of emollient oil to additive of between about 5:1 and 20:1, and preferably in a ratio of between about 8:1 and 10:1. Shaving creams generally contain 5-30% of an emollient oil, a thermoplastic polymeric elastomer additive present in a ratio of emollient oil to additive of between about 5:1 and 20:1, and at least 5% by weight of soap, detergent or a combination thereof.

Razor and blade shaving preparations are provided in the art to lubricate the skin to allow the blade to glide easily over the skin and minimize irritation. These preparations also soften the hair and hold the hairs erect to facilitate cutting. Shaving preparations typically incorporate a fatty acid soap, a gelling and/or foaming agent, a lubricating agent, appropriate surfactants and other additives such as humectants, oils, preservatives, colorants and fragrances. Other formulations include "shaving assisting compositions" incorporating high amounts of emollient oils, silicones or alcoholic lotions. These compositions may be used as a prelubricant in conjunction with a conventional soap shaving formulation, or may be used alone and applied directly to the skin or the shaving blade.
Although a number of products are currently available which cater to the needs of those with sensitive skin, better formulations are highly sought after for improving the lubricity of such compositions and providing adequate moisturization of the skin.

Lubricating and moisturizing shaving preparations

Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company


A device for performing an enzyme-labelled binding assay comprises an absorbent material and a developing solution containing a substrate for said enzyme, wherein the absorbent material is provided with a plurality of reagent zones including an indicator reagent zone and is capable of transporting the developing solution by capillary action sequentially through the reagent zones, and wherein the indicator reagent zone includes a reagent capable, directly or indirectly, of immobilizing an enzyme-labelled reagent in an amount dependent on the assay result, characterized in that the absorbent material includes a reagent that prevents a signal formation except where enzyme-labelled reagent is immobilized at the indicator reagent zone. The absorbent material is suitably in the form of an elongate strip provided with transverse reagent zones. The device is useful for performing immunoassays, including immunometric assays and dual analyte assays.

Binding assays such as immunoassays, are in widespread use in clinical laboratories for the detection of substances in biological fluids. There is however increasing interest in the development of assays which can be performed without the need for complex analytical techniques and equipment, for example, by a physician in his consulting room or by a patient at home. Such assays are not only more convenient but allow savings in time and expense. Particular applications for which convenient and simple assays and reagent formulations are being sought are the detection of pregnancy and for the determination of the fertile period of the menstrual cycle.
Binding assays have been described which employ a strip of material provided with a plurality of reagent zones, in which a developing solution forms a solvent front which passes along the strip by capillary action picking up and facilitating reaction between a sample and assay reagents located at the reagent zones (see for example, British patent specification 1589234). A feature of such strips is the existence of a test location at which, under certain conditions determined by the assay protocol and the sample composition, a labelled reagent becomes immobilised, giving an indication of the assay result. In early assays, the labelled reagent was a binding partner or analogue of the analyte to be measured, labelled with a radioactive isotope. Such assays require instrumentation to detect the level of radioactive label and may present health risk problems. A solution to this has been the use of enzyme labels which produce a characteristic signal (such as a calorimetric signal) with an appropriate substrate.
A significant problem in the design of such so called "dipstick" enzyme-labelled binding assays is the application of the appropriate enzyme substrate in order to produce a detectable signal. The signal may be developed by adding substrate to the appropriate position on the reagent strip after allowing the assay to proceed to completion. Alternatively, the appropriate part of the strip may be removed and chemically analysed. All of these represent steps which would be at least inconvenient, if not impossible for home use of the assay.
In our European Patent Specification No. 225054 we describe a device for conducting competitive and non-competitive enzyme-labelled binding assays which greatly facilitates the use of such assays in the home, with a minimum of manipulative steps. The device may essentially employ an elongate strip, usually of a bibulous paper, and a reservoir. Arranged transversely in order along the strip there may be for example a sample receiving zone, a reagent zone which is impregnated with a suitable enzyme-labelled hapten or antibody for the particular assay protocol in use, and an indicator reagent zone which is capable of immobilising the enzyme-labelled reagent. The reservoir, which may be a rupturable sac, is at the end of the strip adjacent to the sample receiving zone and contains a developing solution which comprises buffer and a signal-producing substrate, together with any necessary cofactors, for the enzyme-labelled reagent. The enzyme and substrate are chosen such that when in contact they produce a signal, such as colour formation which may be readily determined. For other assay protocols the nature of the reagent zone and developing solution may be modified, and additional reagent zones may be present, as appropriate.
By way of an example, when the device is used for a competitive hapten assay, a sample is applied to a sample receiving zone and the reservoir is ruptured such that developing solution containing the signal-producing substrate together with any necessary cofactors enters the strip and moves along it by capillary action, picking up the sample and the enzyme-labelled hapten fromthe respective zones, and transporting them and the signal-producing substrate and any cofactors to the indicator zone where the enzyme labelled hapten and hapten from the sample compete for binding sites on an immobilised antibody.
In a particularly useful form of the device the signal-producing substrate, or any necessary cofactors, are chosen such that they migrate more slowly along the strip than the enzyme-labelled reagent. In this way, no signal is formed until the indicator zone when the signal-producing substrate and cofactor meets any bound enzyme-labelled reagent. This differential migration avoids any obscurity in the assay, from incomplete separation of the signal resulting from bound and unbound enzyme-labelled hapten, which can occur when the substrate and enzyme-labelled hapten move along the strip together to the indicator zone. The intensity of the signal at the indicator zone is inversely proportional to the concentration of the hapten in the sample.

Binding assay method using a signal preventing reagent


The invention provides methods of controlling pH variations during chromatography. In particular embodiments, the invention includes equilibrating and eluting proteins from chromatography resins have a solid phase that possesses a charged functional group on its backbone under controlled conditions of osmolarity and pH. The invention is particularly useful in the purification of proteins that are sensitive to pH transitions such as, for example, the IL-1 Receptor type II protein.

The development of efficient bioseparation processes for the production of high-purity biopharmaceutical products is one of the most pressing process development challenges facing the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries today. Chromatography, by virtue of its high resolving power has made itself indispensable in downstream purification of biomolecules.
The last decade has seen a plethora of new stationary phase materials with a variety of base-matrix properties, linker arm chemistries and functional groups even for the same mode of chromatographic interaction. These chromatographic media differ in a variety of properties that are relevant to process applications such as capacities (dynamic, static and ionic), resolution, plate height, pressure drop, compressibility, protein recovery, operating flow-rate, chemical stability, and spacer arm and base-matrix chemistry.
During purification process development for biopharmaceuticals significant attention is paid to resin screening and selection by means of extensive empirical studies dealing mainly with selectivity, capacity and flow characteristics. Usually, not much attention is given to the possibility of transient pH changes at the resin screening stage. Nevertheless, such phenomena can have significant implications for the development of a scaleable and robust manufacturing process.
Perhaps, the most widely used chromatographic tool for preparative applications is ion exchange chromatography. pH of the mobile phase is a very important variable in ion exchange chromatography. In some cases, deliberate pH transitions have been exploited to develop more efficient purification processes. Retained pH gradients generated by either polyampholyte or simpler buffer systems have been utilized for chromatofocussing proteins into narrow bands. The ability of these pH gradients to separate protein mixtures has also been investigated.
Unintentional pH changes have also been reported in the literature. Under certain conditions, considerable pH excursions can occur in ion exchange systems even if the pH of the solution entering the column is the same as that with which the column was equilibrated. An increase in pH was observed on an SP Sephadex C-25 column when a column eluted with 1M ammonium acetate, pH 6.8 was re-equilibrated with the starting buffer (10 mM ammonium acetate, pH 6.8) (Karlsson et al., Ion-exchange chromatography. In Protein Purification: Principles, High-resolution methods and applications, Janson, J. C. and Ryden, L. (Eds.), Wiley-VCH, New York, 1998, pp 145-205). At the breakthrough of the 10 mM buffer, pH of the effluent was 7.5 and then it had gradually dropped to 6.8. A similar increase in pH (˜0.2 units) was reported by the same authors on a weak anion exchange column TSK-DEAE when a 10 mM phosphate buffer, pH 7.6 was replaced with 10 mM phosphate+1M sodium chloride at the same pH.
Helfferich and co-workers have made a detailed analysis of the pH behavior of buffer solutions in ion exchange columns using the wave theory of multicomponent equilibrium (Helfferich and Bennett, 1984, Reactive Polymers, 3:51-66). These phenomena have been explained on the basis of local ion exchange and dissociation phenomena between the charged ion exchanger and buffering species in solution. The three-component exchange of chloride, acetate and hydroxide ions has been used to predict some of these phenomena in anion exchange resins (Helfferich and Bennett, 1984, Solvent Extraction and Ion Exchange, 2(7&8):1151-184). Jansen et al. have modeled these phenomena by a complex model involving a thermodynamic model of equilibrium on ion exchange, Donnan potential and reaction equilibria to get more accurate predictions (Jansen et al., 1996, AIChE Journal, 42(7):1925-1937).
However, most of the observations in the literature have been made with dilute buffers at pHs at which they buffer weakly, hence the observations were not entirely unexpected. These studies did not investigate transient pH change phenomena using ion exchange media widely employed in the biotechnology industry or using buffers that buffer strongly at the pH of the experiments. Additionally, the contribution of the stationary phase backbone to these equilibria and their effect on transient pH phenomena was not been investigated. Accordingly, the direct impacts of these phenomena on process chromatography as practiced in the biopharmaceutical arena have not been clearly elucidated.
The present invention concerns the elucidation of the potential mechanisms behind such transient pH changes during chromatography processes, and provides practical methods to control their occurrence.

Control of ph transitions during chromatography


An external fixator for adjustably securing first and second portions of a bone includes a ring assembly and a bone screw clamp assembly interconnected by a central body. The ring assembly secures one or more tension wires adapted to pass through the first portion of the bone. The bone screw clamp assembly secures one or more bone screws adapted to engage a second portion of the bone. The ring assembly includes a generally circular frame having a peripheral groove for securing a tension wire carriage anywhere therealong. The tension wire carriages are adjustable so that the tension wire may be positioned above or below the ring. One or more connector rods are used to rigidify the external fixator by interconnecting the ring assembly and the bone screw clamp assembly.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an external fixator for use in orthopedic surgical applications. More particularly, the present invention relates to a ring system for external fixation of bone and a related method.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In various orthopedic surgical procedures, it is necessary to secure two bone portions in a relatively fixed relationship to each other. For example, the need for establishing such a secured relationship is often a result of a fracture which has occurred to the bone. To ensure that the bone can regenerate in the proper orientation and fuse the fracture, it is important that the bone portions be fixed in their desired positions during bone regeneration.
Various external fixation devices for the repair of traumatized bone are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,662,650 to Bailey et al. discloses an apparatus for the external fixation of large bones. The apparatus is illustrated to include a main body as well as a first and second bone screw clamps. The main body serves to allow the apparatus to axially rotate, thereby providing a proper longitudinal rotational location of the bone screws with respect to a bone. The first bone screw clamp is used to secure a first pair of bone screws to the apparatus while permitting the first pair of bone screws to be axially displaced from the main body. In a similar fashion, the second bone screw clamp functions to secure a second bone screw to the apparatus and to allow the second bone screw to be axially displaced with respect to the main body. U.S. Pat. No. 5,662,650 is incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.
In certain orthopedic surgical procedures, it is known to employ a ring assembly which encircles a bone and is securely attached thereto with tension wires. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,784,125 to Monticelli, et al. discloses an external fixation system incorporating a pair of rings adapted for independent securement to a bone. The external fixation system contains a plurality of threaded rods connecting the two rings, thereby providing flexibility in inserting bone screws and an ability to distract the bone.
While known external fixation systems incorporating rings for surrounding a bone have proven to be suitable for certain applications, they are all associated with disadvantages. In this regard, known external fixation systems of the type shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,784,125 require independent rotation of multiple threaded connecting rods to facilitate bone distraction. In addition, known ring systems for external fixation typically allow for wire fixation only at fixed points above or below one of the rings. The optimal location to secure a wire may not be at one of these fixed points and it may be difficult to offset the ring from the joint space.

Ring system for external fixation of bone and related method


A new and distinct cultivar of Chrysanthemum plant named ‘Yoalisha’, characterized by its compact, upright and outwardly spreading plant habit; freely branching habit; dense and full plant habit; uniform and freely flowering habit; daisy-type inflorescences with elongated oblong to ligulate-shaped ray florets; red purple-colored ray florets; and natural season flowering about October 1st in the Northern Hemisphere.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Chrysanthemum plant, botanically known as Chrysanthemum×morifolium, commercially grown as a garden Chrysanthemum and hereinafter referred to by the name 'Yoalisha'.
The objective of the breeding program is to create new garden-type Chrysanthemum cultivars having inflorescences with desirable inflorescence forms, attractive floret colors and good garden performance.
The new Chrysanthemum originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor in January, 2003, in Salinas, Calif. of a proprietary selection of Chrysanthemum×morifolium identified as code number 00-M401, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with the Chrysanthemum×morifolium cultivar Yomindy, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 13,880, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Chrysanthemum was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled environment in Alva, Fla. in October, 2003.
Asexual reproduction of the new Chrysanthemum by vegetative cuttings was first conducted in Alva, Fla. in January, 2004. Asexual reproduction by cuttings has shown that the unique features of this new Chrysanthemum are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.


A system detects abnormalities in a call signal indicative of call fraud. The system includes a first device situated in an originating call network and configured to send call signals to a second device situated in a terminating call network. The first device is coupled to a first registry to which it sends the call data from the sent signals for storage as originating call records. The second device is coupled to a second registry to which it sends the call data from the received signals for storage as terminating call records. The first and second registries exchange verification requests and responses to detect whether discrepancies exist between the stored originating call records in the first registry and stored terminating call records in the second registry. The registries generate alerts based on detected discrepancies, which may be used by the devices to block the call fraud.

In the telecommunication environment, voice call communications within interconnected carrier networks are often manipulated for fraudulent purposes, such as to facilitate robocalls or other scams (e.g., Wangiri scam). For example, the call signals for communicating a call may be manipulated to cause caller identifier (CLI) spoofing, short stopping, call stretching, interconnect bypass, private branch exchange (PBX) hack, etc. Present solutions for detecting such call fraud, such as present implementations of Secure Telephone Identity Revisited/Secure Handling of Asserted Information Using Tokens (STIR/SHAKEN), require complex procedures or have other deficiencies that prevent detecting, alerting, and blocking of such fraudulent activities in real-time.

Method and system for detection of call signal manipulation


An engraving method and apparatus for engraving a cylinder for printing an intaglio pattern and/or non-intaglio pattern on a web of material. The engraver includes a driver for rotatably driving the cylinder and a computer for controlling the operation of the engraver and for generating an intaglio engraving signal corresponding to an intaglio pattern and a non-intaglio signal for a gravure pattern. The engraver also uses an engraving head for engraving the cylinder with the intaglio pattern and the gravure pattern during the rotation of the cylinder in response to the intaglio engraving signal and non-intaglio signal.

This invention relates to engraving and, more particularly, to an intaglio engraving method and apparatus not previous known.
In some areas of the printing industry, there is a need and, perhaps, a requirement that printed images have great detail. Such images are often printed with one or more very fine lines using intaglio printing plates. For example, the currency of most countries as well as many securities and other important documents are printed using intaglio printing plates.
In the past, intaglio printing was typically performed using intaglio printing plates which were flat. The intaglio printing plates consisted of lines or dots recessed below the surface of the plates. The intaglio printing plates were usually engraved by hand and, consequently, were very time consuming to engrave. Also, it was very difficult and time consuming to generate identical plates for multi-color printing processes since the intaglio printing plates were engraved manually.
Attempts have been made in the past to automate the manufacture of the intaglio printing plates by engraving the intaglio images on cylinders. For example, attempts have been made to engrave intaglio images on the cylinders using rotogravure engraving equipment. While such rotogravure equipment has been used to engrave cylinders having large cell areas for receiving viscous liquids such as glue, such rotogravure engravers of the past were not suitable for engraving intaglio patterns having one or more fine or thin lines on cylinders used in printing. This is partly because the rotogravure engravers typically engraved cups or cells having a rhomboidal shape similar to the engraved cells shown in FIG. 6A. Also, cells were not generally rectangular or square in cross section, but rather had a more concave shape as shown in FIG. 6B. Thus, sharp contrasts and print densities were difficult to achieve. The engraving heads which engraved those cells typically had a rise time which is the time required to engrave from a white depth to a full black depth. The rise time of prior art engravers was on the order of about 300 microseconds.
The shape of the cells was dictated in part by the shape of a stylus used to engrave the cells and the speed at which the cells were being engraved. A typical stylus of a gravure engraver of the past is shown in FIG. 5. The typical rise time for an engraving head using this stylus was on the order of about 300-400 microseconds. Because of the very slow rise time of the engravers of the past, it was very difficult to engrave relatively thin, deep horizontal lines (i.e., lines which were generally parallel to the axis of the cylinder) or any thin intaglio lines which were not vertical (i.e., generally perpendicular to the axis of the cylinder).
Unfortunately, this rise time was not adequate to perform intaglio engraving because the height of an engraved column or portion of a character (i.e., the portion of the character that was generally parallel to the rotational axis of the cylinder that can be engraved) is limited by the response time of the engraver and associated time T (FIG. 6B) it takes for the engraver to go from a white area X to a full depth black area Y. The height of such a line and the time T is, in turn, inversely related to the speed of the engraving head and the rotational speed of the cylinder. To increase the response time, the rotational engraving speed of the cylinder had to be slowed down. This also meant that the overall time it took to engrave was increased.
Also, intaglio patterns which had large areas engraved on the cylinder did not print well because the flow of ink into and out of the engraved areas was not controlled well.
Thus, the gravure engravers of the past were limited in design and ability when engraving fine line intaglio patterns.
What is needed, therefore, is a method and apparatus capable of engraving intaglio patterns at acceptable engraving speeds.

Engraving system and method for engraving intaglio and non-intaglio patterns


Embodiments are generally directed to message authentication code (MAC) based compression and decompression. An embodiment of an apparatus includes one or processors to process data; and a computer memory; wherein the one or more processors are to perform compression of a fixed transmission or storage unit, the transmission or storage unit including multiple slots, the compression of the transmission or storage unit including the one or more processors to calculate a MAC for data in the transmission or storage unit, determine whether a special value is present in any slot of the transmission or storage unit, and upon determining that the special value is present in a respective slot of the transmission or storage unit, remove the special value from the transmission or storage unit, shift remaining data of the transmission or storage unit to provide room in a first slot the transmission or storage unit, and insert the MAC in the first slot to generate a compressed transmission or storage unit.

In computer operations, a message authentication code (MAC, or MAC code) is commonly used to authenticate a message. The MAC is a block of text generated via one of multiple available algorithms. The recipient of the message can utilize the MAC to ensure that the message hasn't been corrupted or modified by another party.
In some technologies the MAC is further applied to for cryptography purposes to provide data against access by unauthorized persons. The cryptographic MAC thus provides a powerful and necessary tool in maintaining integrity and restricted access for data in computing systems.
However, the MAC will inevitably require a certain amount of data space in storage and transmission, and thus adds to the overhead of computing operations, particularly when the unit of data space is fixed/invariable (such as a cacheline). If the underlying data requires compression to make space for the MAC, this further increases the overhead cost as compression metadata is then added to the MAC data to provide the compression, integrity, and access protections needs of a computing system.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Message authentication code (MAC) based compression and decompression


The present invention discloses a yellow toner for flash fixation, comprising an infrared absorbent, one or more yellow colorants, and a binder resin, wherein a* of the infrared absorbent in an CIELAB color space is less than 0, and a* of one or more of the yellow colorants in the CIELAB color space is more than 0, or vice versa; and a developer and an image forming method using the yellow toner.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a yellow toner for flash fixation used in forming an image in an electrophotographic system, and a developer and an image forming method using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, demand for mass printing has been increasing to print materials such as newspapers and direct mails by electrophotography using electrophotographic toners in the field of high-speed printing. It is known that image printing by electrophotography using flash fixation methods makes far higher printing speeds possible as compared with electrophotographic image printing using thermal fixation methods associated with the use of a heat roll or the like (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) Nos. 60-63545, 60-63546, 60-57858, 60-57857, 58-102248, 58-102247, 60-131544, 60-133460, 61-132959, 2000-147824, 7-191492, 2000-155439, 6-348056, 10-39535, 2000-35689, 11-38666, 11-125930, 11-125928, 11-125929, and 11-65167). This is due to the fact that with flash methods, there is less contact between the members and the recording media. In flash fixation methods, however, when radiating light onto color toner, the efficiency of converting the light to heat is lower than when radiating light onto monochrome toner. It is therefore impossible to use color toners that are used in thermal fixation methods, as they are, in flash fixation methods. Thus, in flash fixation methods, it is known to use toners to which infrared absorbents that have low visible ray wavelength absorption are added.
Examples of compounds known as the infrared absorbents added to such toners include onium compounds (such as aminium derivatives and diimmonium derivatives), cyanine compounds, nickel complex compounds, phthalocyanine compounds, and ytterbium oxide compounds. Usually, the infrared absorbent is added to the inside of the toner, however, a technique of adhering the infrared absorbent to the outside of the toner is also known (see JP-A No. 2002-156779).
In the case of color toners for thermal fixation methods using no infrared absorbent, for example, benzimidazolone (C. I. Pigment Yellow 180 or the like), naphthol carmine F6B (C. I. Pigment Red 184 or the like) and β copper phthalocyanine (C. I. Pigment Blue 15:3 or the like) are respectively used as pigments for yellow toners, pigments for magenta toners and pigments for cyan toners (see JP-A No. 2000-199982).
Isoindoline compounds (C. I. Pigment Yellow 185 or the like), monoazo litolrubin and β copper phthalocyanine (C. I. Pigment Blue 15:3 or the like) are also respectively used as pigments for yellow toners, pigments for magenta toners and pigments for cyan toners (see JP-A No. 9-166889).
However, all infrared absorbents have color since infrared absorbents slightly absorb light having visible ray wavelengths. Therefore, when a toner to which an infrared absorbent is added is used to form a full color image with a flash fixation method, problems occur. Specifically, when the same pigment as used in thermal fixation toners is used as a colorant added to the above-mentioned toner, all of the color is shifted by the effect of the color of the added infrared absorbent. Even if the toner having shifted color(s) is used and the color of the formed image is adjusted by means of an image forming device, sufficient color reproducibility cannot be obtained. Therefore, for example, in yellow toners to which an infrared absorbent colored into green, such as a naphthalocyanine compound or an onium compound, is added, the color thereof is shifted toward a green color.
Therefore, in order to obtain a yellow toner for flash fixation excellent in color reproducibility for full color or business color usage, it is necessary to correct color shift resulting from the added infrared absorbent.
Accordingly, there is a need for a yellow toner for flash fixation wherein color shift resulting from an infrared absorbent is corrected to exhibit superior color reproducibility, and an electrographic developer and an image forming method using the yellow toner.

Yellow toner for flash fixation, and electrophotographic developer and image forming method using the same


The invention contemplates the novel neural cell protein marker RR/B, cDNA encoding RR/B, nucleic acid probes for detection of mRNA encoding RR/B, synthetic polypeptides whose sequences correspond to a portion of RR/B and have a molecular weight equal to less than that of RR/B, and methods for detection of RR/B.

A key to understanding the function of any tissue is the biochemical characterization of the proteins that are specific to that tissue. Mammalian neural tissue is composed of two predominant cell types, neurons and glia, which are organized into a great variety of structures. Whether neural tissue is viewed as one or several tissues, its organization involves many cells that are believed generally to perform the same physiological actions but at different places and in response to different signals. Accordingly, one can expect to find a large number of neural tissue-specific proteins in both undifferentiated and differentiated neural tissue, including those involved in both specialized and general processes.
Exemplary of specifiable neural tissue-specific proteins are: neuropeptide precursors, enzymes responsible for neurotransmitter synthesis and/or processing, and proteins that participate in the release, degradation or reuptake of neurotransmitters, signal receptor systems and ion channels. Proteins included in the basic cellular structures encompass those peculiar to neurons (axons, dendrites and synapses) and those involved in establishing specific cell-cell interactions. Also, there will be proteins involved in mental processes such as memory which are not at all yet understood at the cellular, let alone molecular level. Clearly, nervous system tissue is a difficult tissue to study at the molecular level due to its great complexity.
Mature mammalian neurons are incapable of cell division and cannot, with the exception of olfactory neurons, be generated from stem cells in the adult nervous system. Thus, continuous dividing clonal cell lines with neuronal characteristics have proven to be very useful to neurobiologists studying almost every aspect of the nervous system. Such cell lines allow the generation of large numbers of homogeneous cells and the manipulation of these cells through gene transfer to yield novel derivatives expressing foreign gene products. These advantages have led to development and characterization of a variety of neuronal cell lines, some of which have been useful for cellular, biochemical, and molecular studies. The utility of these different cell lines and their ability to approximate aspects of the neuronal phenotype vary widely. Rapidly dividing neuronal cell lines usually do not possess the phenotypic properties of terminally differentiated non-dividing neurons, instead they often resemble in vivo neuroblasts or embryonic neurons. For example, many rapidly dividing cell lines elaborate immature neurites with an immature cytoskeleton. Naturally occurring neoplastic derivatives of many neuronal cell types of the central (CNS) and peripheral (PNS) nervous systems usually fall within this category (e.g., neuroblastomas, pheochromocytomas and medulloblastomas).
It is presumed that all of the proteins of the nervous system are synthesized by translation from specific messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules, and thus each neural tissue-specific protein must have a corresponding mRNA. Thus, one approach to the study of the nervous system is through the transcription pattern of mRNA molecules, or by asking the question of what messenger RNA species neural tissue produces relative to its complete genomic potential. Estimates for the complexity of mammalian neural tissue-specific mRNAs are very high; tens to hundreds of thousands of discrete mRNA molecules are implicated in nervous system function (Bantle et al., Cell, 8, 39-150, 1976, and Hastie et al., Cell 9, 761-774, 1976), consistent with the variety of neural tissue-specific proteins listed above.
It is an object of the invention to provide a unique protein marker of neural tissue, and a nucleic acid encoding the protein.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a novel protein marker of certain neuronal tumor cell lines.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a novel protein marker of both neuroblastoma and glioblastoma cells.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a novel protein marker of cells of both the central and peripheral nervous system.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide antibodies specific for a novel protein marker present on neural tissue.
Another object of the invention is to provide probes for detection of a novel protein marker, or its corresponding mRNA, that is more abundant in normal neural tissue than in neoplastic tissue.

Neural cell protein marker RR/B and DNA encoding same

New England Deaconess Hospital Corporation


A method and apparatus are provided for adaptively equalizing data signals in a communications receiver. An unequalized data signal is demodulated. The demodulated data signal is filtered in an adaptive equalizer that initially updates adaptive filter coefficients using error signals derived from a first algorithm. A carrier lock signal is generated when a phase error of a filtered signal output from the adaptive equalizer reaches a threshold value. The adaptive filter coefficients are updated using error signals derived from a second algorithm instead of the first algorithm in response to the carrier lock signal. The first algorithm is a self-recovering equalization algorithm such as the Constant Modulus Algorithm. The second algorithm can be a decision directed algorithm. Carrier phase is recovered without the use of a phase rotator or phase de-rotator, by locating the adaptive equalizer inside of the carrier recovery loop. The invention is particularly adapted for use in the recovery of multilevel amplitude modulated data, such as QAM data.

The present invention relates to digital communications, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for recovering carrier phase in an adaptive equalizer without the use of phase rotation or de-rotation.
Digital data, for example digitized video for use in broadcasting high definition television (HDTV) signals, can be transmitted over terrestrial very high frequency (VHF) or ultra high frequency (UHF) analog channels for communication to end users. Analog channels deliver corrupted and transformed versions of their input waveforms. Corruption of the waveform, usually statistical, may be additive and/or multiplicative, because of possible background thermal noise, impulse noise, and fades. Transformations performed by the channel are frequency translation, nonlinear or harmonic distortion, and time dispersion.
In order to communicate digital data via an analog channel, the data is modulated using, for example, a form of pulse amplitude modulation (PAM). Typically, quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) is used to increase the amount of data that can be transmitted within an available channel bandwidth. QAM is a form of PAM in which a plurality of bits of information are transmitted together in a pattern referred to as a "constellation", which can contain, for example, sixteen or thirty-two points.
In pulse amplitude modulation, each signal is a pulse whose amplitude level is determined by a transmitted symbol. In 16-QAM, symbol amplitudes of -3, -1, 1 and 3 in each quadrature channel are typically used. In bandwidth efficient digital communication systems, the effect of each symbol transmitted over a time-dispersive channel extends beyond the time interval used to represent that symbol. The distortion caused by the resulting overlap of received symbols is called intersymbol interference (ISI). This distortion has been one of the major obstacles to reliable high speed data transmission over low background noise channels of limited bandwidth. A device known as an "equalizer" is used to deal with the ISI problem.
In order to reduce the intersymbol interference introduced by a communication channel, rather precise equalization is required. Furthermore, the channel characteristics are typically not known beforehand. Thus, it is common to design and use a compromise (or a statistical) equalizer that compensates for the average of the range of expected channel amplitude and delay characteristics. A least mean square (LMS) error adaptive filtering scheme has been in common use as an adaptive equalization algorithm for over 20 years. This algorithm is described in B. Widrow and M. E. Hoff, Jr., "Adaptive Switching Circuits" in IRE Wescon Conv. Rec., Part 4, pp. 96-104, Aug. 1960. The use of the LMS algorithm in an adaptive equalizer to reduce intersymbol interference is discussed in S. U. H. Qureshi, "Adaptive Equalization", Proc. IEEE, Vol. 73, No. 9, pp. 1349-1387, September 1987.
In an LMS equalizer, the equalizer filter coefficients are chosen to minimize the mean square error, i.e., the sum of squares of all the ISI terms plus the noise power at the output of the equalizer. Therefore, the LMS equalizer maximizes the signal-to-distortion ratio at its output within the constraints of the equalizer time span and the delay through the equalizer. Before regular data transmission begins, automatic synthesis of the LMS equalizer for unknown channels may be carried out during a training period. This generally involves the iterative solution of a set of simultaneous equations. During the training period, a known signal is transmitted and a synchronized version of the signal is generated in the receiver to acquire information about the channel characteristics. The training signal may consist of periodic isolated pulses or a continuous sequence with a broad, uniform spectrum such as a widely known maximum length shift register or pseudo-noise sequence.
An important aspect of equalizer performance is its convergence, which is generally measured by the amount of time in symbol periods required for the error variance in the equalizer to settle at a minimum level, which is ideally zero. In order to obtain the most efficient operation for a data receiver, the equalizer convergence time must be minimized.
After any initial training period, the coefficients of an adaptive equalizer may be continually adjusted in a decision directed manner. In this mode, the error signal is derived from the final receiver estimate (not necessarily correct) of the transmitted sequence. In normal operation, the receiver decisions are correct with high probability, so that the error estimates are correct often enough to allow the adaptive equalizer to maintain precise equalization. Moreover, a decision directed adaptive equalizer can track slow variations in the channel characteristics or linear perturbations in the receiver front end, such as slow jitter in the sampler phase.
Many transmission systems employ modulation schemes that are constructed with complex signal sets. In other words, the signals are viewed as vectors in the complex plane, with the real axis called the inphase (I) channel and the imaginary axis called the quadrature (Q) channel. Consequently, when these signals are subjected to channel distortion and receiver impairments, cross talk between the I and Q channels occurs, requiring a complex adaptive equalizer. In this case, the equalizer's coefficients will be complex valued. If, as noted above, the channel distortion is unknown by the receiver, then the coefficients must be adjusted after the system has been in operation to cancel the channel distortion. The term "adaptive" in a complex adaptive equalizer signifies the ongoing adjustment of the coefficients.
In many practical transmission systems, some method must be provided to derive a reference signal at the receiver's demodulator that is phase coherent with the received signal. Such coherent demodulators are used to demodulate signals containing information in their phase. For example, in binary phase shift keying (BPSK), modulation of a digital "one" is represented by a phase of zero degrees and modulation of a "zero" is represented by a phase of 180 degrees in the modulated signal. Data modulated using QAM techniques is demodulated on the basis of similar, although more complicated, phase relationships. Thus, demodulators for such data rely on a reference signal that must be synchronized in phase with the data carrier. This process is known as carrier phase recovery (CPR).
A phase locked loop (PLL) is a common and well known method used to recover the carrier in signal demodulators. When used in such applications, the PLL is sometimes referred to as a carrier recovery loop (CRL). When an adaptive equalizer is employed, it has been common practice to locate the CRL after the equalizer in the receiver. A free running oscillator is used to translate the input signal frequency to baseband, and a phase rotator is required to recover the carrier phase. In addition, a phase de-rotator is required in the adaptive equalizer to provide a correctly phased error signal for use in updating the filter coefficients. The requirement for a phase rotator and de-rotator complicates the receiver design, and adds expense to the receiver circuitry.
It would be advantageous to provide a method for recovering carrier phase in systems employing adaptive equalization without the need for phase rotation and de-rotation hardware. It would be further advantageous to provide an adaptive equalizer for a communications receiver that can initially adjust the equalizer coefficients in the absence of carrier phase recovery, thereby reducing the acquisition time of the system. Reduction of the system complexity by using self-recovering equalization algorithms that do not require a training sequence would be further advantageous. Such a system would be able to commence equalization without waiting for carrier recovery to occur.
The present invention provides a method and apparatus enjoying the aforementioned and other advantages.

Carrier phase recovery for an adaptive equalizer


An auxiliary trailer lighting and control device that includes an ergonomically configured pistol grip distributor box disposed in direct circuit with a trailer lighting system, whereby traffic signals may be manually communicated directly to the trailer lighting system, and thus relayed to other traffic, when the extant primary lighting circuit in the trailer is malfunctioning or if the particular towing automobile lacks a trailer lighting interconnect.

Various types of trailer lighting devices are known in the prior art. However, what is needed is an auxiliary trailer lighting and control device that includes an ergonomically configured pistol grip distributor box disposed in direct circuit with a trailer lighting system, whereby traffic signals may be manually communicated directly to the trailer lighting system, and thus relayed to other traffic, when the extant primary lighting circuit in the trailer is malfunctioning or if the particular towing automobile lacks a requisite trailer lighting interconnect.

Auxiliary trailer lighting and control device


Very fast integrated OPL circuits, such as pseudo-NMOS OPL and dynamic OPL, comprising CMOS gate arrays having ultra-thin vertical NMOS transistors are disclosed. The ultra-thin vertical NMOS transistors of the CMOS gate arrays are formed with relaxed silicon germanium (SiGe) body regions with graded germanium content and strained silicon channels.

Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) technology is well-known in the fabrication of integrated circuits. CMOS technology is employed not only for analog integrated circuits, but also for digital integrated circuits to which they confer low power dissipation, high density of integration and low cost of fabrication.
FIG. 1 illustrates a prior art conventional static CMOS NAND gate circuit 10. One of the drawbacks associated with the static CMOS NAND gate circuit 10 of FIG. 1 is that each input 12, 14 must drive two gates, the gate of an NMOS transistor and the gate of a PMOS transistor. Input 12 drives gates 16 and 18, while input 14 drives gates 20 and 22. As a result, large CMOS circuitry area and large number of metal wiring levels must be utilized to allow interconnections. Another drawback is that the hole mobility in a PMOS transistor is about three times lower than the electron mobility in an NMOS transistor of comparable size. Accordingly, switching transients are very asymmetrical. To compensate the asymmetry of the switching transients, the PMOS transistors are often fabricated with a large width or size to provide symmetrical switching. Nevertheless, the increase in the size of the PMOS transistors increases the stray capacitive loads, which in turn requires an even larger area for the circuits and a very inefficient area utilization.
Output prediction logic (OPL) is a technique that applies to a variety of inverting logic families to increase speed considerably. OPL relies on the alternating nature of logical output values for inverting gates on a critical path. In other words, for any critical path, the logical values of the gates along that particular path will be alternating ones (1) and zeros (0). Since all gates are inverting, the OPL predictions will be correct exactly one-half the time. By correctly predicting exactly one half of the gate output, OPL obtains considerable speedups, of at least two times, over the underlying logic families, which can be, for example, static CMOS, pseudo-NMOS or dynamic logic.
Recently, in McMurchie L.; Kio, S.; Yee, G.; Thorp, T.; Sechen, C., Output prediction logic: a High-Performance CMOS Design Technique, Proc. International Conference on Computer Design, 2000, pp. 247–254, 2000 (the disclosure of which is incorporated herein), McMurchie et al. have described a very fast logic circuit that comprises integrated CMOS technology. One of the features of the integrated logic circuit family described by McMurchie et al. is that all of the outputs are precharged high. Only if necessary and if determined by the logic function, high performance NMOS transistors are then used to discharge the output node low.
Subsets of integrated fast logic circuit families, such as pseudo-NMOS, have been analyzed and described as being particularly suited to array-type applications. For example, in Grounded load complementary FET circuits; SCEPTRE analysis, IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, Vol. SC-8, No. 4, pp. 282–284 (1973), Sakamoto and Forbes have described a pseudo-NMOS implementation of CMOS circuits. In OPL, the lower performance PMOS devices in CMOS technology are used only for precharge functions which did not have critical speed requirements. Improvements of the pseudo-NMOS circuits analyzed by Sakamoto et al. are obtained as a result of a unique clocking scheme described here in employing OPL.
Although advances in the integration of CMOS logic families are becoming increasingly notable, a major disadvantage remains the slow speed of the integrated CMOS logic circuits. The conventional integrated CMOS logic circuit is considerably slower than the OPL circuit mainly because of the PMOS devices that charge an output node high if the logic input is appropriate. Thus, the use of PMOS devices for logical switching transitions generally results in a slower speed for the integrated CMOS logic circuit.
In addition to the drawbacks posed by the integration of CMOS logic families described above, the continuous scaling of MOSFET technology to reduce channel lengths to sub-micron dimensions causes significant problems in the conventional transistor structures. Because junctions depths should be much less than the channel length, junction depths should be of a few hundred Angstroms for channel lengths of 1000 Angstroms. Such shallow junctions are difficult to form by conventional implantation and diffusion techniques. Extremely high levels of channel doping are required to suppress short-channel effects such as drain induced barrier lowering, threshold voltage roll off, and sub-threshold conduction. Sub-threshold conduction is particularly problematic in dynamic circuits technology because it reduces the charge storage retention time on capacitor nodes. These extremely high doping levels result in increased leakage and reduced carrier mobility. Therefore, the improved performance achieved by making the channel shorter is negated by low carrier mobility.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a logic circuit with CMOS gate arrays with very high performance NMOS transistors and faster switching speeds. There is also a need for CMOS gate arrays with transistors where the surface space charge region scales down as other transistor dimensions scale down. A method for fabricating very high performance transistors and a gate array including such high performance transistors is also needed. A method for fabricating a very fast CMOS logic circuit, as well as a method of increasing the noise margin while maintaining the performance gain of such integrated CMOS logic circuits, are also needed.

Output prediction logic circuits with ultra-thin vertical transistors and methods of formation


An inline skateboard assembly for providing a challenging sport activity includes a generally planar elongated board and multiple rollers coupled inline to an underside of the board. A single or multiple frictional brake members are coupled to the underside of the board.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to skateboards and more particularly pertains to a new inline skateboard assembly for providing a challenging sport activity.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of skateboards is known in the prior art. U.S. Pat. No. 5,419,570 describes a handled skateboard having a single roller set of aligned rollers. Another type of skateboard is U.S. Pat. No. 5,601,299 also having a single roller set of aligned rollers. U.S. Pat. No. 6,270,096 discloses a skateboard having a fixed roller set and a pivoting roller set for steering the skateboard.


A section mill features extendable cutting blades and centering blades that are pressure actuated for sequential extension of the centering blades before the cutting blades. Applied pressure results in flow through a flow restriction that creates a force on return springs associated with the centering and the cutting blades. The springs allow extension of the centering blades before the cutting blades. Another spring returns a mandrel to the run in position on cessation of flow. The blades are extended or retracted with a rack and pinion drive system.

In the offshore industry, the exploration and production of gas and petroleum is conducted through tubular (casing) of various diameters. The wellbore typically includes casing that extends downwardly for several thousand yards. When the well is abandoned, the owners of the wellbore are required to perform an operation called plugging and abandonment. Federal regulations and guidelines require that the well bore be sealed, entailing the removal of some existing casing to place a plug. Conventionally, the cutter in use can cut and mill the innermost section of casing. However, cutting larger diameter casing still existing lower in the well bore must still be performed by a smaller diameter tool because the operator has to negotiate through the smallest inner diameter ("I.D.") restriction of casing before the larger casing downhole is reached. In addition, the inner and outer casing may not be concentric, forcing the cutter to have to go through the smaller inner casing and exit through a cut section before cutting and milling the larger casing without being able to center the cutter in the larger casing. This painstaking and costly process can take several days, if it can be done at all without the removal of the restriction.
Devices that hydraulically actuate stabilizers and cutting blades with tubing pressure are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,265,675 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,679,328. Rack and pinion drive systems for downhole tools are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,877,564; 6,957,703 and 8,162,066.
As can be seen, there is a need for a device that can cut and mill tubular of various inside diameters in an efficient manner, thereby saving time and expense.


An image forming method using a photothermographic material including, on a support, at least a photosensitive silver halide, a non-photosensitive organic silver salt, a reducing agent for silver ions, and a binder, wherein the photothermographic material includes at least two image forming layers having spectral sensitivities that are different from each other, and wherein the image forming method includes: imagewise exposing the photothermographic material by using at least two laser beams having wavelengths that are different from each other and correspond to photosensitive wavelengths of the image forming layers; and thermally developing the photothermographic material to form a fusion image made up of two or more kinds of image information. An image forming method using a photothermographic material which records a composite image made up of a silver image and a color image of different kinds of image information is provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming method using a photothermographic material. More particularly, the invention relates to an image forming method using a photothermographic material forming a fusion image useful as a medical diagnosis image.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, in the photographic image forming field, there has been a strong desire for providing a dry photographic development process from the viewpoints of protecting the environment and economy of space. In this field, from the standpoints of high sensitivity and high image quality, a silver halide photographic photosensitive material has conventionally been used. However, for the purpose of forming an image, after imagewise exposure, wet processing steps including, for example, a color development step, a desilvering bleaching processing step and a water washing stabilizing processing step, management of processing solutions for these steps and waste solution processing are required. These have been large obstacles for realizing convenient and rapid image forming.
Photothermographic materials utilizing organic silver salts are already known. Photothermographic materials have an image forming layer in which a reducible silver salt (for example, an organic silver salt), a photosensitive silver halide, and if necessary, a toner for controlling the color tone of developed silver images are dispersed in a binder.
Photothermographic materials form black silver images by being heated to a high temperature (for example, 80° C. or higher) after imagewise exposure to cause an oxidation-reduction reaction between a silver halide or a reducible silver salt (functioning as an oxidizing agent) and a reducing agent. The oxidation-reduction reaction is accelerated by the catalytic action of a latent image on the silver halide generated by exposure. As a result, a black silver image is formed in the exposed region.
On the other hand, as for color image forming methods, a method utilizing a coupling reaction between a coupler and an oxidization product of a developing agent is most common, and a photothermographic material adopting this method is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,761,270 and 4,021,240, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) Nos. 59-231539 and 60-128438. In these patents, p-sulfonamide phenol has been used as a developing agent. All patents, patent publications, and non-patent literature cited in this specification are hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein. Since couplers do not have absorption in the visible region before processing, the photothermographic material based on a coupling method is more advantageous from the standpoint of sensitivity than a photothermographic material using a color forming material containing a dye that is already formed and is considered to be advantageous in that it can be used not only as a printing material but also as a photographing material. However, in the method of incorporating p-sulfonamide phenol, since p-sulfonamide phenol is deteriorated in the photothermographic material before development processing, there has been a problem in that an appropriate image can not be obtained. As for methods for solving this problem, photothermographic materials each containing a blocked p-phenylene diamine-type developing agent and processing methods therefor are proposed by European Patent (EP) Nos. 1,113,316A2, 1,113,322A2, 1,113,323A2, 1,113,324A2, 1,113,325A2, and 1,113,326A2; JP-A Nos. 2001-312026, 2003-215767 and 2003-215764; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,242,166.
However, in these photothermographic materials, since silver halide remains in a film after image forming, film turbidity and opacity become high due to light absorption and light scattering caused by such remaining silver halide, and therefore, such film is not appropriate for use in practically viewing a color image. For example, as shown in the Examples described in JP-A Nos. 2001-312026, 2003-215767 and 2003-215764; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,242,166, fogging becomes extremely high and is as high as 0.58 to 1.2. Further, in a portion in which the color image is formed, since a black image caused by developed silver is added on the thus-fogged image, it is difficult to directly view it as a color image. Therefore, as explained in the aforementioned references, the obtained image is a primary image and is not an image for being directly viewed, and accordingly, the image is digitalized, and image processing is performed to reduce fogging and adjust gradation and color tone, whereby it is attempted to form a reprocessed image which can be provided for viewing.
On the other hand, in the medical diagnostic image field, in recent years, the importance of diagnostic procedures for nuclear medicine such as PET (Positron Emission Tomography) and SPECT (Single Emission Computed Tomography) has been increasing. However, since there is scarce anatomic information available for these functional images, morphological images such as CT (Computed Tomography) and MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) are separately photographed and placed on a display side by side, and a diagnosis is executed by comparing these images. Further, a technique for integrating the morphological image and the functional image on a display by utilizing software programming has been developed.
Since images are separately photographed in the above described technique, there are problems such as difficulty in registry of positioning and changes in images over time.
In order to solve these problems, in recent years, as described in Image Information Medical, November Issue, pp. 1302 to 1347 (2004), a PET-CT hybrid apparatus has been developed. Since the PET-CT hybrid apparatus can almost simultaneously photograph a PET image and a CT image and then place a fusion image made up of these images on a display, it is excellent in diagnostic performance.
Such fusion images are ordinarily represented on the display such that morphological images such as CT or MRI are shown in black-and-white while functional images such as PET or SPECT are shown in color. However, although these images can be displayed on a screen of a monitor, there is no device available at present which can produce a hard print with high precision and high quality such as can be obtained by a black-and-white laser printer for medical diagnosis. With the recent increasing social demand for open medical information and execution of an informed consent, preparation of a hard print of high quality has strongly been desired.

Image forming method using photothermographic material


A method of generating a report for a digital task is provided. The method may include receiving an identification of a digital task initiated by a user, and electronically monitoring at least one of user interaction with at least one application while the user performs the digital task via an electronic system and a state of the electronic system while the user performs the digital task via the electronic system. Further, the method may include capturing a plurality of snapshots for the digital task. Each snapshot of the plurality of snapshots may include information for at least of one or more user actions and the state of the electronic system while the user performs the digital task. The method may also include generating a report for the digital task including the plurality of snapshots.

The advent of the computer age has led users to perform digital tasks (e.g., downloading, installing, and/or updating a computer program, generating content such as making a movie, generating an online survey, generating a report, backing-up data, etc.), which may include user interaction (e.g., one or more user actions) with one or more application programs.
The subject matter claimed herein is not limited to embodiments that solve any disadvantages or that operate only in environments such as those described above. Rather, this background is only provided to illustrate one example technology area where some embodiments described herein may be practiced.


A facility for performing accurate and real-time privacy-preserving biometrics verification in a client-server environment is described. The facility receives the user's biometrics data such as face, voice, fingerprint, iris, gait, heart rate, etc. The facility then processes and applies various privacy-preserving techniques to this data to complete enrollment and authenticate users, including but not limited to: encrypting data with a key using homomorphic encryption techniques and sending the encryption to the server; the server computes directly on the encryption and returns the result, which is also encrypted under the same key, to the client; the client optionally performs post-processing and decryption (in any order) and obtains the enrollment or authentication result. The facility may repeat this process to increase security level, resulting in more than 1 round trip between the client and the server. Lastly, the facility employs methods that generalize to other privacy-preserving applications beyond biometrics verification.

In the era of cloud computing, almost all companies have access to sensitive personal data. Industries such as banking and insurance are subject to heavy regulation where strict "know your customer" rules require companies to establish strong identity proofing for consumers. In other sectors such as ecommerce and healthcare, the value of identity verification systems comes in the form of enhanced user experience and personalization and increased return on investment for organizations.
A typical identity verification system consists of two primary stages: (1) enrolling a user by either directly capturing such biometric characteristics as face, voice, fingerprint, etc., or capturing identity documents such as a driver's license or passport, and (2) verifying the user via the same method of capture to grant or deny access based on the candidate identity.
Biometric authentication is a technique which allows a computing device to determine if a particular user is using, attempting to access, authorized to access, etc., a computing device without requiring a traditional username or password. Biometric authentication is typically performed by obtaining biometric data from a user, such as their fingerprint, hand image, retinal image, facial image, facial image plus depth map, voice sample, etc. In typical use-cases, if the computing device determines that the obtained biometric data matches biometric data of the same type already provided by the user, the user is granted access to the computing device.
Many identity verification solutions employ Machine Learning or AI algorithms to learn and accurately recognize users' biometrics. In an example data flow, a client device first captures the user's face via a built-in camera, the user's voice via a built-in microphone, a user's fingerprint via a fingerprint scanner, etc. The server makes a user identification prediction and returns the results to the client for authentication. The authentication result optionally contains an access token which the client uses for obtaining authorization for performing certain tasks.

Accurate, real-time and secure privacy-preserving verification of biometrics or other sensitive information


A neutral locking system for a vehicle includes a park release shaft and a neutral locking tool. The park release shaft is operatively connected to the transmission such that rotation of the park release shaft places the transmission in a neutral state. The tool is configured to couple to the park release shaft such that rotation of the tool rotates the park release shaft. The tool can also include a sliding locking pin having a first position allowing rotation of the tool within an engine compartment and a second position in which the pin contacts a component in the engine compartment to limit rotation of the tool.

Vehicle transmissions sometimes must be put into a neutral state in order for various service operations to be performed on the vehicle. In a manual transmission, this can be as simple as moving the manual shift lever to the neutral position. In one known manual transmission, a locking mechanism is provided for engaging the manual shift lever and holding or locking the shift lever in the neutral position so as to prevent the shift lever from inadvertently moving out of the neutral position. In automatic transmissions, a particular method and/or arrangement may be needed for the particular transmission that is to be placed into the neutral state.

Neutral locking system and tool for vehicle


A computer-readable medium, computer-implemented method, and system are provided. In one embodiment, one or more attributes as delta attributes are defined, and a new order object is determined which references an original order object. The original order object referenced by the new order object is determined and the new order object is compared with the original order object to determine one or more delta attributes. The one or more delta attributes are then stored.

Order management systems are computer software and/or hardware system implemented by a number of industries to facilitate order entry and processing. Companies, such as catalog companies and those utilizing electronic commerce, use order management systems to receive, process and fulfill customer orders. An order management system makes possible the entering of an order via a website shopping care or data entry system. The system typically captures customer proprietary information and/or account level information for each order. Credit verification or payment processing may then be performed to check for available funds and validate the transaction. Valid orders are processed for warehouse fulfillment, including, picking, packing and shipping of the ordered goods or services.
Business processes are typically modeled by business architects/analysts. A business process may model message exchanges with different systems in a web services environment. The business architects/analysts then provide an information technology ("IT") designer with the model. The IT designer uses an orchestration language, such as business process execution language ("BPEL"), to code the business process. BPEL processes are typically created in a BPEL editor and a deployed BPEL process is invoked. Because the IT designer and business architects/analysts generally have different skill sets (i.e., the business architects/analysts are familiar with the business process being modeled and the IT designer is familiar with the orchestration language but not the business process), the resulting BPEL process developed by the IT designer may not work as the business architects/analysts imagined. Accordingly, there may be a wide divide between the originally conceived business process model and the implemented model.
Furthermore, BPEL processes are long running (very often active beyond six months), and in almost all cases, they interact with multiple external systems. The interactions with multiple systems are separated by both time (i.e., the interactions are asynchronous) and space (i.e., each interaction is associated with a particular step in the business process flow). Since processing is done by various components that are asynchronous, distributed and self-focused (i.e., loosely coupled), a system that implements deployed BPEL processes cannot employ traditional transaction processing concepts (i.e., "ACID": Atomic; Consistency; Isolation; and Durability) that involve a commit transaction or a rollback transaction. The system cannot commit or rollback the interactions because the external fulfillment systems may have already committed parts of a transaction. In simple terms, a well defined transaction boundary for the fulfillment systems does not exist.
For example, consider a business scenario when an order is submitted to a system for fulfillment, and the order is in the middle of processing. When the system receives a request to modify the order, a system administrator must perform significant manual work to make the proper adjustments to the ongoing fulfillment process in order to reflect the modifications in the order. Further compounding the problem, if the administrator is slow to respond to a change request, in that lag time, the fulfillment processes can continue to process based on the original order. This further processing may also need to be changed, or undone, once the administrator finally is able to modify the order.
Furthermore, change requests on long running orders typically require adjustment only on parts of the order. However, there is currently no way to selectively adjust a portion of an order in an efficient and automatic manner.

Distributed order orchestration system for adjusting long running order management fulfillment processes with delta attributes


A tracking engine may respond to a first user requesting to pin a link included in a message received from a second user by storing the link in a database table associated with the first user. Alternatively, if the first user requests to clone the link, the tracking engine may store the link in the database table as well as generate a local copy of a file associated with the link. The tracking engine may generate, based on the database table, a user interface for displaying, at a client associated with the first user, one or more links received by the first user. The tracking engine may update the database table to mark or remove invalid links. As such, the user interface that is generated based on the database table may exclude invalid links or include unselectable user interface elements for the invalid links.

A cloud-based file sharing service may provide access to a variety of digital content including, for example, computer programs, multimedia files, electronic documents, and/or the like. For example, the digital content may be uploaded to the cloud-based file sharing service such that one or more users may access the digital content stored at the cloud-based file sharing service. Alternatively and/or additionally, a user may host the digital content locally, for example, in a dedicated sharing directory, in which case the cloud-based file sharing service may provide a portal for other users to access the digital content at the first client.


In a transfer press in which a crown (3) is mounted on a plurality of uprights (6) disposed vertically on a bed (4), the crown and the bed are fastened by tie rods (7) penetrating through the respective uprights to thereby constitute a press body (1). A plurality of working stations are set in the press body, the crown and the bed are divided into a plurality of crown sections and bed sections at portions offset from central axes of the tie rods, and the crown sections and the bed sections are respectively fastened by horizontal connection devices (9).

A conventional transfer press has a press body in which a plurality of work stations are formed, and a workpiece is continuously fed from an upstream side of the work stations to a downstream side thereof. However, in a large-sized transfer press of such a structure, the transfer press has a long overall length, and it was difficult to convey the transfer press from a press manufacturing factory to a press setting place.
For this reason, in order to solve such a problem, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. HEI 2-247031 provides a transfer press having a large body which is capable of being easily conveyed with the crown sections and bed sections divided at during manufacturing, and then assembled them into a crown and a bed at the press setting place.
However, the transfer press disclosed in this publication has a structure that two tie rods penetrate through an upright disposed between adjacent places at which two continuous manufacturing steps are performed and the crown and the bed are firmly coupled together. According to such a structure, it is necessary to make large a width of the upright in the bilateral direction (work conveying direction), which results in an elongation of a distance between the respective work stations, and hence, the press body is made large, thus being inconvenient. Furthermore, the weight of the upright is also increased as the width thereof is made large, thus also being inconvenient.
Furthermore, in the case of the upright having an increased width, the penetration holes through which the tie rods penetrate must be formed, respectively, in the uprights, requiring considerable work, thus being inconvenient.
In order to solve such inconveniences, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. HEI 8-52597 provides a transfer press such as shown in FIG. 1.
The transfer press shown in FIG. 1 has a structure such that a crown a and a bed b are divided into a plurality of crown sections and bed sections and a plurality of uprights c are disposed between the respective crown and bed sections a and b. The crown section a and the bed section b are firmly fastened by one tie rod d inserted into each upright c. Key grooves e are formed in upper surfaces of the adjacent crown sections a, tie plates g are fitted to keys f engaged with the key grooves e, and the tie plates g are fastened by nuts h screwed onto upper ends of the tie rods d, respectively, thus positioning the respective crown sections a.
According to the transfer press of the structure mentioned above, however, since the divided surfaces i of the crown sections a and the central axis of the tie rod d are coincident with each other, in a case where the upper surfaces of the adjacent crown sections a have differences due to, for example, manufacturing errors at the time of manufacturing the crown a, the bed b and the upright c, a fastening force applied at the tie rod fastening step is not uniformly applied to the adjacent crown sections a, so that the fastening is not reliably performed. Moreover, at such a time, there will cause such a case that an unbalanced load is applied to the tie plate g and the key f, so that these members may be damaged or positioning performance may be made worse, thus also being inconvenient.
Furthermore, since the respective crown sections a are large in size and large in weight, many steps are required for forming the key grooves e in the upper surfaces of the crown sections a with high performance, thus being inconvenient. The use of the tie plates g and the keys f increases numbers of parts or members to be used, resulting in increased manufacturing cost.
The present invention was conceived to improve the inconveniences encountered in the prior art mentioned above and to provide a transfer press having a structure such that a crown and a bed are divided into a plurality of sections, which are then coupled together by means of horizontal coupling means, so as to reduce the number of parts or members to be used and to reduce the manufacturing cost.

Transfer press having a crown and a bed divided into plural sections