A screw separator for separating solids out of suspensions, having at least one housing and at least one feed pipe for the suspension, at least one discharge pipe for liquids, and at least one outlet for the at least partially dewatered solids. At least one strainer basket is provided in the housing in which a screw is rotatably mounted, and the screw vanes terminate in a replaceable wearing ring mounted downstream of the strainer basket.

The present invention relates to a screw separator or a screw press separator for separating solids out of suspensions, the screw separator comprising a housing having a suspension feed pipe, a liquids discharge, and an outlet for the at least partially dewatered solids. These screw separators, often called filter screw presses, are per se known from the prior art.
For example a screw press separator for dewatering solids suspended in water has become known from EP 0 367 037 B1 comprising in a housing a feed pipe to the water to be separated, a discharge pipe for the separated water, and a mouth for the dewatered solid matter. To this end the housing is provided with a strainer basket in which a press screw is arranged. The worm shaft of the press screw protrudes beyond the end of the mouthpiece. In the region of the strainer basket the worm shaft comprises a helical screw or a screw vane the edges of which are positioned close to the inner face of the strainer basket to enable efficient dewatering.
In this known screw press separator a slug forms in front of the mouth during operation and is urged out of the mouth of the screw press separator as a dewatered slug while the solids-free water emerges from the strainer basket, leaving the screw press separator housing. At the same time the slug keeps building up from the solids sediment. To prevent the water from spurting through, a narrow gap must be maintained between the radially outwardly edge of the screw vanes and the strainer basket.
The known screw press separator is reliable in operation. There is the drawback, however, that due to the high stresses the strainer basket must be inspected and possibly replaced on a regular basis.
It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide a screw separator for separating solids out of suspensions which is subjected to reduced wear.


Portable corkscrew with accessory to shear the caps on the neck of bottles, the corkscrew comprising a grip (11), on substantially one end of which are pivoted a drawing screw (12) and a supporting lever (13), the shearing accessory (14) being located substantially at the other end (11a) of the grip (11) and comprising a plurality of shearing wheels, the shearing accessory (14) comprising at least two assemblies of wheels, a first assembly of wheels (15) and a second assembly of wheels (17) respectively, these two assemblies of shearing wheels (15, 17) being associated with respective supports, which are reciprocally movable and positionable and which define a first closed inactive position forming substantially a continuity of line together with the outer shape of the grip (11) of the corkscrew (10) and at least one second opened working position.

This invention concerns a portable corkscrew with an accessory to shear the caps on the neck of bottles.
To be more exact, the invention concerns a corkscrew of a portable type for use with corks or crown corks and incorporating an accessory suitable to shear the cap which normally covers at least the upper part of the neck of bottles for protection against the dirt which may form on the cork, on the neck and on the connecting edge between the cork and the neck.
In the corkscrew according to the invention the accessory to shear the caps is provided directly on the grip of the corkscrew and advantageously at a position substantially opposite to the position of the screw normally employed for drawing the cork from the bottle.
In the state of the art the neck of bottles is normally associated with a cap of tin foil, plastic or another material which covers at least the upper part and top of the neck and which performs aesthetic purposes and the purpose of hygienic protection of the cork.
The cap is normally difficult to remove by hand, and this situation has the result that the cork is often drawn without removing the cap first.
However, the result is that the liquid poured out or being poured or in the form of drops comes into contact with the edges of the torn cap with the resulting hygienic and operational drawbacks.
A plurality of accessories for removing the caps have been disclosed, whether independent or integrated into the structure of the corkscrew, and solve partly this problem by providing a more or less practical, functional and versatile solution.
In the solutions of the state of the art, however, the inclusion of the shearing accessory integrated into the grip of the corkscrew entails a worsening of the engagement and handling characteristics of the corkscrew during its normal use; moreover, the inclusion of this accessory often entails a substantial change of appearance, which spoils the line of the corkscrews and often does not allow a continuous and linear form to be achieved.
Documents of the state of the art, such as EP-A-0220850 for instance, disclose shearing accessories which are independent or integrated into the grip of the corkscrew and which include four shearing wheels grouped in two parallel pairs, and these wheels during the shearing step cooperate with the neck of bottle.
In this type of shearing accessory, which is associated with a corkscrew of a non-portable type, the manual compression action to press the shearing wheels on the neck of the bottle and therefore to carry out the shearing action takes place on a fulcrum which lies on the median axis of the quadrilateral defined by those wheels and outside the ideal area defined by the quadrilateral itself.
This compression action can therefore be considered to be a force which is developed along a cone the vertex of which coincides with that fulcrum.
The result is that the shearing wheels are not brought against the neck of bottle with the same force as each other inasmuch as the wheels lying closer to the fulcrum act on the neck of the bottle with a greater intensity than the other wheels, thus leading to an imperfect different shearing action.
Even when the manual compression action is carried out substantially at the center of the wheels, the shearing action of the wheels on the bottle is seldom properly balanced since the wheels are not constrained in any way in their reciprocal approaching movement.
Another drawback often found with the shearing accessories of the state of the art is that they cannot be adapted to different dimensions of the neck of the bottle and cannot maintain at the same time a shearing action equally effective for all those dimensions.


Systems and methods consistent with the disclosure receive as an input content selected from a previous communications session with a first user, receive an input selecting a second user different from the first user, identify an object in the selected content to determine information descriptive for the selected content, initiate a new communications session with the second user, and transmit a message to the second user, including the descriptive information for the selected content.

Electronic communications services have become increasingly important in today's society. Electronic communications service providers offer various means for establishing communications sessions between two or more users. For example, users may communicate using email services, chat services, telephone services, voice or video over IP services, fax services, and more. When users initiate communications sessions, they often have specific purposes in mind. For example, a user may place a telephone call with a particular recipient to discuss a specific email or a matter raised during an earlier conversation with a third party. At the time the call is established, however, the recipient may be unaware of the user's purpose of the call, and usually a period of time is elapsed at the beginning of the call in order to provide the recipient with the background and the purpose of the call.
A Caller ID is a known electronic communications service that provides recipients information about the identity of a caller associated with the device that initiated the communications session. Even though in some cases the recipient may guess the purpose of the call based on the Caller ID information (e.g., when the recipient and the user have a single pending matter), the Caller ID service provides only a partial solution. Therefore, there is a need for dynamic system that provides recipients with information regarding incoming communications sessions.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Systems and devices and methods for initiating communications based on selected content


A plasma processing system having a plasma processing chamber configured for processing a substrate is provided. The plasma processing system includes at least an upper electrode and a lower electrode for processing the substrate. The substrate is disposed on the lower electrode during plasma processing, where the upper electrode and the substrate forms a first gap. The plasma processing system also includes an upper electrode peripheral extension (UE-PE). The UE-PE is mechanically coupled to a periphery of the upper electrode, where the UE-PE is configured to be non-coplanar with the upper electrode. The plasma processing system further includes a cover ring. The cover ring is configured to concentrically surround the lower electrode, where the UE-PE and the cover ring forms a second gap.

Advances in plasma processing have facilitated growth in the semiconductor industry. The semiconductor industry is a highly competitive market. The ability for a manufacturing company to be able to process substrates in different processing conditions may give the manufacturing company an edge over competitors. Thus, manufacturing companies have dedicated time and resources to identify methods and/or arrangements for improving substrate processing.
A typical processing system that may be employed to perform substrate processing may be a capacitively-coupled plasma (CCP) processing system. The plasma processing system may be built to enable processing in a range of process parameters. However, in recent years, the types of devices that may be processed have become more sophisticated and may require more precise process control. For example, devices being processed are becoming smaller with finer features and may require more precise control of plasma parameters, such as plasma density and uniformity across the substrate, for better yield. Pressure control of the wafer area in the etching chamber may be an example of a process parameter affecting plasma density and uniformity.
The manufacturing of semiconductor devices may require multi-step processes employing plasma within a plasma processing chamber. During plasma processing of semiconductor device(s), the plasma processing chamber may typically be maintained at a predefined pressure for each step of the process. The predefined pressure may be achieved through employing mechanical vacuum pump(s), turbo pump(s), confinement ring positioning and/or combinations thereof, as is well known by those skilled in the art.
Conventionally, a valve assembly may be employed to throttle the exhaust turbo pump(s) to attain pressure control for maintaining predefined pressure conditions in the plasma processing chamber. However, the pressure being controlled by the vat valve may result in a global change in the entire chamber without the capability of providing differential pressure control in different regions of the chamber.
In the prior art, the pressure in the plasma generating region of the plasma processing chamber (e.g., the region encapsulated by the two electrodes and surrounded by the confinement rings) may be controlled by adjusting the gaps between the confinement rings of a confinement ring assembly. Adjusting the gaps controls the flow rate of exhaust gas from the plasma generating region and pressure may be affected as a result. The overall gas flow conductance out of the plasma generating region may depend on several factors, including but not limited to, the number of confinement rings and the size of the gaps between the confinement rings. Thus, the operating windows for the pressure range may be limited by the chamber gap and/or the gaps of these confinement rings. Furthermore, the plasma cross section may be a fixed diameter for the aforementioned process due to the fix diameter of these confinement rings.
In the prior art, a plasma processing chamber configured with the capability to sustain a plurality of differentiated plasma volumes may be employed to address the aforementioned problem of plasma of fixed cross section. In an example, a wide-gap configuration may be employed to provide an increased plasma cross section with relatively low pressure. In another example, a narrow-gap configuration may be employed to provide the conventional plasma cross section but relatively higher pressure may be attained. However, active differentiated pressure control for the system is not provided.
In view of the need to process the substrate in multiple steps, each of which may involve a different pressure, improvement to the capability to provide differentiated pressure control over a wider range of pressure in plasma processing systems is highly desirable.

Methods and apparatus for dual confinement and ultra-high pressure in an adjustable gap plasma chamber


An installation gauge for use in an elevator hoistway is provided. The installation gauge includes a platform assembly and a frame assembly configured to support the platform assembly. The frame assembly includes one or more safety assemblies and one or more guide assemblies. Opposing guide shoes are connected to each of the one or more guide assemblies. The opposing guide shoes are centered about a guide rail and configured to determine a centerline of the guide rail. A lift assembly is configured to facilitate hoisting of the platform assembly and the frame assembly within the elevator hoistway. A plurality of safety ropes couples the lift assembly to the one or more safety assemblies. A climbing rope is attached to the lift assembly. The determination of the centerline of the guide rail can be used as a basis to install other hoistway equipment.

Elevators are typically constructed within a building structure commonly referred to as an elevator hoistway. In some instances, elevator hoistways can be defined by four walls that extend from a lower level of the building (referred to as a pit) to an upper level of the building. The hoistway walls can be formed from a variety of materials including cement, concrete block, drywall and glass block. In other instances, the hoistway can be formed by metal structures, such as for example, beams configured to surround the space forming the hoistway.
Various components forming the elevator, such as for example, guide rails, electrical switches, hoistway doors and electrical conduit can be attached to the hoistway walls and/or the beams at various vertical levels of the hoistway.
During construction or subsequent maintenance of the elevator, it can be desirable to have a temporary work platform and/or work surface within the hoistway. The temporary work platform can be used by construction or maintenance personnel as a support platform from which various elevator components forming the elevator can be attached to the hoistway walls or beams. The temporary work platform can also be used as a temporary storage area for components to be attached to the hoistway walls or beams. In certain instances, the temporary work platform can be moved from one level of the hoistway to another level of the hoistway as the construction or maintenance of the elevator proceeds.
In certain instances, the temporary work platform is formed from scaffolding consisting of a modular system of metal pipes or tubes, couplers and boards. In this system, the metal pipes and couplers are used to form a structure upon which the boards are installed to form a working platform. As the work progresses within the elevator hoistway, additional scaffolding is added to the existing scaffolding in order to move the working platform to higher levels.
In other instances, a device called a false car can be used as a temporary work platform. The false car can be suspended from an upper hoistway location and can travel vertically within the hoistway on a separate climbing rope by means of a winch mounted on the false car or within the hoistway.
It would be advantageous if false cars could be improved.


A method for operating a detector that is set up to check whether a data signal that is supplied to a machine learning system has been manipulated. The machine learning system is first trained in adversarial fashion using a manipulated data signal, the manipulated data signal having been ascertained by manipulation of a training data signal, and the machine learning system being trained to provide in each case the same output signal when the training data signal or the manipulated data signal is supplied to it. The detector is trained using another manipulated data signal that is produced as a function of the trained machine learning system.

German Patent Application No. DE 20 2017 102 381 describes a device for generating a manipulated data signal for misleading a first machine learning system that is set up to ascertain a semantic segmentation of a received one-dimensional or multidimensional data signal, the device including a machine-readable storage medium on which commands are stored that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to execute a method having the following steps:                a) ascertaining desired semantic segmentation of the manipulated data signal; and        b) generating the manipulated data signal as a function of the received data signal (and of the ascertained desired semantic segmentation, as well as an estimated semantic segmentation of the manipulated data signal).

Method and apparatus for improving the robustness of a machine learning system


In liquid crystal display devices based on smectic LC material having a high polarization (Deformed Helix FLC, twisted FLC, monostable FLC, electroclinic smectic A LC and antiferroelectric LC), the memory effect in, for example, monitor or video applications is eliminated by presenting compensation voltages in matrix displays based on MIMs, TFTs or diodes, dependent on the data in a previous frame, so that the polarization within a cell always switches to the correct value.

The invention relates to a display device comprising a plurality of pixels arranged in the form of a matrix in rows and columns, with a liquid crystal material from the group of smectic liquid crystal materials comprising ferroelectric liquid crystal material having a deformable helix, ferroelectric liquid crystal material having a twisted smectic structure, monostable ferroelectric liquid crystal material, electroclinic smectic A liquid crystal material and antiferroelectric liquid crystal material between a first substrate and a second substrate, and further comprising a group of row electrodes and a group of column electrodes, each pixel on at least one substrate comprising a picture electrode which is connected to a column electrode or row electrode via an active switching element, the display device comprising means for presenting selection voltages to the row electrodes and data voltages to the column electrodes.
Display devices of this type are applicable as video displays (for example, in projection systems) but also, for example, in datagraphic monitors, or as viewfinders.
A display device of the type mentioned above is described in "A Full-Color DHF-AMLCD with Wide Viewing Angle" in SID 94 Digest, pp. 430-433. The use of devices with DHFLC material (Deformed Helix Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal) is described in this article as being advantageous with respect to SSFLC devices (Surface Stabilized Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal) due to the lack of multidomains, while grey scales can be better realized due to a more continuous change of the transmission/voltage characteristic. In spite of the fast switching time which is mentioned for the mixture used in the display device, the frame frequency remains, however, too low for video applications (NTSC or PAL). Moreover, image sticking (after images) also occurs in the device described in this article.

Liquid crystal display device with control circuit


A display panel and a driving method thereof are provided. The display panel includes a plurality of scan lines, a plurality of first data lines, a plurality of second data lines and a plurality of pixels. The scan lines receive a plurality of scan signals. The pixels are arranged in an array and respectively have a first sub-pixel and a second sub-pixel. In each column, the first sub-pixel of i-th odd pixel electronically connects (2i−1)-th scan line and a corresponding first data line, the second sub-pixel of i-th odd pixel electronically connects (2i−1)-th and (2i)-th scan line and the corresponding first data line, the first sub-pixel of i-th even pixel electronically connects (2i)-th scan line and a corresponding second data line, and the second sub-pixel of i-th even pixel electronically connects (2i)-th and (2i+1)-th scan line and the corresponding second data line, wherein the i is a positive integer.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a display technology, and particularly relates to a display panel and a driving method thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
Owing to the advanced development in the semiconductor and optoelectronic technologies, the display technology is well-developed nowadays. When it comes to displays, the technology for liquid crystal displays (LCDs), which has the advantages of being light, thin, short and compact, power saving, radiation-free, full color, and portable, is the most matured and popularized.
To make the display quality of LCDs more preferable, the development of LCDs nowadays aims at a high contrast ratio, no gray scale inversion, high luminance, high color saturation, a quick responding speed, and a wide viewing angle. Regarding the technology of wide viewing angle, multi-domain vertically alignment (MVA) displays are commonly used.
In a MVALCD display, each pixel is at least divided into two sub-pixels to make compensation in correspondence with the color washout of the user, wherein voltages stored in the sub-pixels are usually different. To adjust the voltages of the sub-pixels, a conventional way is to make the adjustment by using a power-storing function of the capacitor. However, the capacitor takes up the circuit area of the pixel, and consequently influences the aperture ratio of the pixel. Namely, the display effect of the display panel is influenced. Therefore, to allow the MVALCD display to function normally, how to improve the aperture ratio has become an important issue to improve the display effect.

Display panel and driving method thereof


A resin composition has a first resin, a second resin incompatible with the first, and a modified elastomer having a reactive group capable of reacting with the first resin. The resin composition has a co-continuous phase structure including continuous phases A and B respectively formed of the first and second resins, dispersed domains a and b respectively distributed in the continuous phases A and B, and finely dispersed subdomains a′ and b′ respectively distributed in the dispersed domains a and b. The dispersed domain a includes a dispersed domain formed of at least one of the second resin and a first resin, modified elastomer reaction product, the dispersed domain b at least one of the first resin and the reaction product, and the finely dispersed subdomains a′ and b′ each independently at least one of the first resin, the second resin, the modified elastomer, and the reaction product.

Heretofore, for the purpose of improving physical properties of resins, polymer blends and polymer alloys have been actively studied, which are mixtures of resins having different characteristics from each other so as to modify properties of resins. However, among such polymer blends and polymer alloys, when resins having different polarities from each other, for example, a polyolefin such as polypropylene (PP) and a polyamide (PA), are combined together, the poor compatibility between the resins brings about a problem that the resulting composite material has significantly low impact strength.
For this reason, in order to improve the compatibility between polyolefins and polyamides, methods have been proposed, in which a compatibilizer such as a modified polyolefin is used. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 2000-327912 (PTL 1) and 2001-302910 (PTL 2) describe a thermoplastic resin composition including a polyamide resin and a modified polyolefin, in which a phase-separated structure has a matrix phase formed of the polyolefin and a dispersed domain formed of the polyamide resin.
Moreover, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. Hei 7-97513 (PTL 3) describes a polyamide resin composition including a polyamide resin prepolymer having a relative viscosity within a specific range and modified polypropylene. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. Hei 7-316423 (PTL 4) and Hei 9-59438 (PTL 5) describe a polyamide resin composition including a polyamide, a modified polyolefin, and an unmodified polyolefin, in which the polyamide forms a matrix phase, and the modified polyolefin and the unmodified polyolefin form a dispersed domain having a core-shell particle structure.
Further, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-307132 (PTL 6) describes a thermoplastic resin composition, in which a dispersed domain having a core-shell particle structure formed of an acid modified elastomer serving as a shell phase and an olefin-based resin component and a filler component serving as a core phase is distributed in a matrix phase formed of a polyamide resin component. Furthermore, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2010-195853 (PTL 7) describes a thermoplastic resin composition having: a continuous phase (matrix phase) formed of a thermoplastic resin such as a polyamide resin or a polypropylene; a dispersed domain formed of a resin having a reactive functional group; and particulates formed of a reaction product of the thermoplastic resin and the resin having a reactive functional group. However, no conventional polymer blends and polymer alloys have been obtained yet as a resin composition having sufficient physical properties.
Meanwhile, in the fields of automotive interior and exterior components and the like, particularly high mechanical properties are required, and it is essential to satisfy both impact strength and rigidity (flexural modulus). Nevertheless, rigidity and impact strength are conflicting properties. Furthermore, the physical properties of an obtained resin composite tend to be dominated by the physical properties of one of the resins thus combined. Hence, conventional polymer blends and polymer alloys have a problem that it is difficult to satisfy both rigidity and impact strength.


A device includes a housing, illumination means, a reflective plate, and a detector. The housing defines an aperture. The illumination means is for providing illumination (natural or artificial) along an optical axis that passes through the aperture. The reflective plate is movable, relative to the housing, between a retracted and a deployed position. The positions are defined so that during such movement, the optical axis traces a line across the reflective plate. The detector is aligned to detect illumination from the illumination means after light through the aperture is reflected from the reflective plate. A method is also described. The device is particularly suitable for moving the reflective plate temporarily in front of a pushbroom or whisk broom type sensor for calibration because the line traces across a first portion of the diffusing surface that is subject to sunlight degradation and a second portion that is always shielded from sunlight.

In the field of space-based imaging, optical sensors such as visible/infrared IR/microwave wavelength sensors and radiometers typically require routine calibration while in operation to ensure proper scaling of data returned from the sensor. Payload for a launch vehicle is an engineering concern for any space-based venture, so the calibration mechanisms generally are designed to be small in size and weight.
One known space based imaging system is termed the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer MODIS. Another is termed Visible/Infrared Imager/Radiometer Suite VIIRS, but MODIS is explained herein for background. MODIS measures the earth's land, oceans, and atmosphere from NASA's TERRA satellite, which circles along a polar orbit. Every one to two days, MODIS views the earth's surface in its entirety, collecting data in thirty six different spectral bands ranging from visible to long range IR. The breadth of wavelength imaging and of data acquired requires precise calibration of the MODIS sensing equipment, for which a solar diffuser SD is used for calibration in the visible light range.
Solar diffusers typically use high reflectance Lambertian plates by which to provide a diffuse source of known luminance to the imaging sensors for calibration. MODIS uses a space grade, Spectralon® material as its solar diffuser, a proprietary thermoplastic formulation of Labsphere, Inc. of North Sutton, N.H. Over time, the reflectance of these plates change due to a number of factors, most of which are related to exposure of the plate to solar irradiance. Once the reflectance of the reference plate changes, calibration relies on knowing the extent of that change. The MODIS sensors scan the reference plate, providing a known illumination as an input to the sensors from which they may be calibrated. To maintain calibration precision, changes in the plate's reflectance must be measured and quantified as it degrades over time from to solar irradiance.
FIG. 1A is prior art schematic diagram of the MODIS calibration system 10. The solar diffuser 11 receives direct sunlight 12 and reflects it into a reflected input port 13 of a Solar Diffuser Stability Monitor SDSM 15 along a first reflected path 12a, and to the sensors (not shown) along a second reflected path 12b. The SDSM 15 compares the reflected beam received at the reflected input port 13 to direct sunlight received at a direct input port 19 to determine true reflectance of the SD 11. When the sensor scans along the second path 12b and views the SD 11, the input to the sensor is known from the sunlight intensity and the measured reflectance of the SD 11.
FIG. 1B shows an orbital path 19 of a vehicle such as that carrying MODIS 10 superimposed over a plan view of the earth. The MODIS sensors rotate 360° about an axis substantially aligned with the orbital path 19. The lines across which the one MODIS sensor scans, traced by the sensor optical axis, are shown partially as reference numbers 20a, the thin lines that cross the orbital path near the perpendicular. Note that the illustrated scan lines 20a are abbreviated; the actual MODIS sensors scan continuously and only scan the earth's surface during a portion of each 360° rotation, so the illustrated scan lines represent only one sensor. When facing the earth, the sensors collect data. When facing away from the earth and into the space-based vehicle, the MODIS sensor scans across the solar diffuser along the second path 12b (FIG. 1A). Because the sensors scan the SD 11 on each 360° rotation (about every 2-3 minutes), the SD 11 is continually exposed to sunlight (excepting those times when sunlight does not align with the SD 11).
FIG. 1C illustrates the same orbital path 19, but shows the scan track of what is commonly termed a "whisk broom" sensor. Rather than rotate 360° as in MODIS, the whisk broom sensors always align their optical axis with the earth's surface (or other target) but scan from side to side to a limited extent in order to collect data from the periphery of the orbital track 19. The track scanned by a whisk broom type sensor is shown in FIG. 1C as a sine-type track 20b crossing the orbital path 19, and may be confined close to the track 19 or vary widely from it. Of course, the sensor may scan along a similar path 20b offset from the actual orbital path 19 rather than superimposed over it, depending upon how the sensor is mounted in the orbiting vehicle. Similar to the whisk broom type sensor is a "push broom" type sensor, which does not scan side to side but rather looks always at the target (earth's surface) along the orbital track or at a fixed offset therefrom.
Unlike the rotating MODIS sensors that change their field of view to take in the SD 11, calibration is performed on both whisk broom and push broom type sensors by physically interposing the SD between the sensor and its target. While calibration is performed much less frequently on whisk or push broom sensors as compared to MODIS or other rotational type sensors (typically spanning weeks or months as opposed to MODIS' every few minutes), a risk arises should the latter SD apparatus malfunction while positioned between the sensor and the target. Malfunctioning in that position causes the push broom type sensor to be unable to see beyond the SD, and render it unusable for practical purposes. A similar malfunction with a whisk broom type sensor may still allow the scanning whisk broom sensor to scan aside the malfunctioning SD for a portion of its scan, but the data it collects would be largely reduced in volume. Risk of a malfunctioning SD is to be minimized, as space-based repairs are difficult, costly, and often not practically viable.
What is needed in the art is a calibration system for a sensing system that relies on movement of the solar diffuser that provides a more robust design capable of error free operation over a substantial period of time. The invention is particularly well suited for sensor systems that require solar diffusers that are interposed between the sensor and the target for calibration, such as whisk or push broom type sensors.

Scanning solar diffuser relative reflectance monitor


There is provided a communication apparatus including a short-range wireless communication unit for performing a short-range wireless communication with an external communication device, a position detection unit for detecting current position information, a storage unit for storing a communication position list registering therein position information at a time of performing the short-range wireless communication, and a control unit for acquiring the current position information from the position detection unit and for controlling a generation state of a standby radio signal from the short-range wireless communication unit in accordance with a comparison result obtained by comparing the acquired current position information with the communication position list.

The present disclosure relates to a communication apparatus and communication control method that performs a short-range wireless communication.
A short-range wireless communication technology such as Bluetooth or TransferJet has been known in this field. In the short-range wireless communication, transmission of a radio signal for detection is used in order to detect a communication counterpart capable of wireless communication.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. 2011-29892 (hereinafter referred to as Patent Literature 1) discloses TransferJet as an example of the short-range wireless communication. As described in Patent Literature 1, a radio signal for detecting an opposite communication device is defined as a polling signal, and one communication device sends a polling signal and the other communication device replies a response signal according to the polling signal. The polling signal allows preparation condition when both communication devices initiate a data exchange between them to be decided and also enables processes performed between them to be synchronized. Moreover, the polling signal is discontinuously sent at a given polling interval.
Thus, in the short-range wireless communication, a radio signal for detecting an opposite communication device (referred to herein as "standby radio signal") is periodically transmitted. This periodic transmission of the radio signal is used to automatically detect an opposite communication device and then initiates the communication by bring an originator communication device and the target communication device into close proximity, thereby realizing an intuitive operation feel, particularly in the short-range wireless communication.

Communication apparatus and communication control method


A motor vehicle door lock with latching elements, such as a latch and a ratchet and with a lock mechanism. The lock mechanism has a drive, the drive having a drive motor, or the like, and an actuating element. The ratchet can be raised by the drive, so that the ratchet moves into an action area of the drive, such that continued motion of the drive is blocked by the ratchet. Thus, the drive can be turned off in a blocking operation. The ratchet, viewed in the kinematic chain from the drive motor to the actuating element, is engaged to the drive for blocking in front of the actuating element but not on the actuating element.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a motor vehicle door lock, and more specifically to a motor vehicle door lock with latching elements such as a latch and ratchet with a lock mechanism. The lock mechanism has a drive with a drive motor and an actuating element and the ratchet able to be raised by the drive. Also, this invention relates generally to a drive for a motor vehicle door lock with at least one displaceable operating element such as a ratchet.
2. Description of Related Art
A motor located in motor vehicle door locks can be utilized to perform an opening assist function (i.e., a lifting of the ratchet) and a central interlock function. For implementation of these functions triggered by a motor, a drive, a drive motor and an actuating element are employed. An displaceable operating element, assigned to each respective function, can be actuated. For example, in the case of the opening assist function, the displaceable operating element is the ratchet of the motor vehicle door lock.
In order to minimize the cost of circuitry associated with the control of the motion of the drive while ensuring low fault susceptibility, the aforementioned drive is increasingly employed in a blocking operation. This is shown, for example, by the motor vehicle door lock in U.S. Pat. No. 5,938,253 which corresponds to published European Patent Application EP 0 811 101 B1. Here, the actuating element of the drive has a driver journal, which in an actuating process, presses a ratchet into a raised position. Towards the end of the actuating process, the driver journal engages the ratchet so that the drive motor is blocked. As a result, the motor current rises measurably and the drive motor is turned off after a predetermined delay time.
One problem with the known motor vehicle door lock is that the blocking of the drive is associated with an unwanted striking noise. Furthermore, the application of a comparatively high torque to the actuating element leads to a higher possibility of jamming during aforementioned blocking operation.


A pair of eyeglasses comprises a frame, a lens unit fixed in the frame, and two temples pivotally connected to the frame. Each temple includes a pivoting arm pivotally connected to the frame and a flexible clipping arm integrally formed on the pivoting arm. The pivoting arm has a thru-hole. The clipping arm has a positioning pillar, a fixing portion integrally extended from one end of the positioning pillar, and an adjusting pad integrally extended from another end of the positioning pillar. The positioning pillar couples the thru-hole of the pivoting arm, the fixing portion is fixed on the outer surface of the pivoting arm, and the adjusting pad is arranged proximate to the inner surface of the pivoting arm. The adjusting pad is twistable with respect to the pivoting arm inside 60 degrees.

1. Field of the Invention
The instant disclosure relates to a pair of eyeglasses; in particular, to a pair of eyeglasses and a temple thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
A pair of conventional eyeglasses includes a lens unit and two temples respectively installed on two opposite sides of the lens unit. Each temple has a pivoting portion pivotally connected to the lens unit and a wearing portion opposite to the pivoting portion. However, when the user wears the pair of conventional eyeglasses, the pair of conventional eyeglasses is easily separated from the user due to the movement of the user (e.g., jogging).
To achieve the abovementioned improvement, the inventors strive via industrial experience and academic research to present the instant disclosure, which can provide additional improvement as mentioned above.


In some embodiments, provided are methods and circuits to control the power efficiency of a transceiver or a transmitter in a scalable I/O link (a link whose bandwidth and power can be adjusted to meet changing performance demands).

The present invention relates generally to a digital link such as a differential bit link, which may be part of a multi-bit link between two chips. In particular, it relates to methods and circuits for supplying power to one or more transmitters in a link.
FIG. 1 generally shows a conventional transceiver with a transmitter (Tx) 102 and receiver (Rx) 104 coupled to a channel 101 to be linked with a corresponding transceiver at the other side of the channel, e.g., on a different chip. The receiver 104 comprises both current mode logic (CML) and CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) signal conditioning logic, as does the transmitter 102. The transmitter 102 also has a current mode output driver circuit to drive a transmitted signal over the channel 101. A global Vcc supply 103 supplies the CMOS and CML circuits (including the output driver) with their supply voltages.
A global CML IBias supply 107 provides the CML signal-conditioning logic with a current bias signal (ILBias), and a current bias source 105 for the driver in the transmitter provides to the driver a current bias signal (IDBias). The driver bias signal primarily affects the output swing of the transmitter, while the voltage supply (Vcc) and CML bias current (ILBias) primarily affect the data rate capabilities for the transmitter and receiver.
With power consumption continuing to be an important consideration, new approaches to providing these supplies and/or bias signals may be desired.


The safety in robotic operations is enhanced and the floor space in a factory or the like is effectively utilized. A virtual safety barrier 50 including the trajectory of movement of a work or tool 7 mounted on a wrist 5 of a robot 1 in operation is defined in a memory. At least two three-dimensional spatial regions S (S1 to S3) including a part of the robot including the work or tool are defined. Predicted positions of the defined three-dimensional spatial regions obtained by trajectory calculations are matched with the virtual safety barrier 50, and if the predicted position of any one of the defined three-dimensional spatial regions based on trajectory calculations is included in the virtual safety barrier 50, a control is effected to stop the movement of the robot arms 3 and 4.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a robot movement limiting method and apparatus, and to a robot apparatus equipped with the robot movement limiting apparatus.
2. Background Art
Robots, particularly those for industrial purposes, are widely used in automobile manufacturing factories and elsewhere. When the robots are operated, a robot arm and its wrist (together with a work or tools attached to the wrist) are instructed by a preset program stored in a control device to move along predetermined trajectories, such that they do not interfere with peripheral devices or travel wasteful distances. Further, a safety barrier is usually put up outside the aforementioned trajectories with a necessary margin such that no harm is ever inflicted to the operator, for example, by the movement of the arm or wrist of the robot.
The range of movement of a robot is also often controlled by a computer. For example, Patent Document 1 (JP Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 64-16395) discloses an industrial-robot control apparatus adapted to determine if the calculated transportation position of the arm tip (three-dimensional coordinate position of the robot) is included in a preset movement-prohibited region, at predetermined periods. If it is determined that the calculated position is within the preset range, the movement of the robot is ceased. Patent Document 2 (JP Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 8-108383) discloses a control apparatus whereby, in a robot equipped with an arm having a wrist joint, an envelope sphere is obtained that is created when the object that is being held is rotated about the wrist joint. Then, the presence or absence of contact with an obstacle as the envelope sphere is moved is determined and, if it is determined that a contact is probable, a new path is determined that would not result in the envelope sphere coming into contact with the obstacle.
By using the control methods disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2, the robot can be provided with alerting information before the work or tool mounted at the arm tip actually comes into the preset movement-prohibited region (obstacles), so that the robot can be operated more safely. These methods can protect the operator from harm or effectively prevent the incidence of the arm tip colliding with peripheral equipment when, particularly, the arm travels along trajectories other than those preset by the program, such as when the robot is being taught or upon program modification, or due to disturbance or noise.
Patent Document 1: JP Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 64-16395 A (1989)
Patent Document 2: JP Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 8-108383 A (1996)

Method and apparatus for limiting the movement of a robot, and a robot equipped with said apparatus


A method for producing continuous and discontinuous fiber metal matrix composites (CFMMC). The method uses aerosolization of finely divided metal powders in a controlled atmosphere which prevents explosions to coat the fibers and then the metal coated fibers are consolidated to form the CFMMC. The composites are useful as heat sinks for electrical components and in applications where a structural reinforced metal matrix composite is needed.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for the preparation of metal matrix fiber composites. In particular, the present invention relates to a method which produces metal powders uniformly coated on fibers as a result of aerosolization of the powders and then consolidation of the powder on the fibers to form the matrix.
(2) Description of Related Art
Fabricating metal matrix composites with fiber tows surrounded by the metal matrix has always presented difficulties to materials producers. Unlike the viscous polymers, liquid metals have a viscosity similar to water. (Mortensen, A., et al, Journal of Metals, 30 (1986)). If the fiber can be wetted by the matrix material, a liquid-infiltration technique could be a first choice because of simplicity and continuity. If the fiber is not wetted by the metal, a suitable fiber coating or matrix alloying addition had to be found to facilitate wetting. In either case, interfacial reaction between the metal and the fiber is hard to control due to overexposure to molten metal. Uneven fiber distribution in the metal matrix is also an unsolved problem. The problems encountered with liquid phase processes are 1) porosity from solidification shrinkage (opening voids between the fibers), 2) low fiber volume fraction, 3) interface reaction degradation, and 4) uneven distribution of fibers. Most of the problems arise from the difficulty in wetting the fiber with the liquid metal.
The problems are reduced with squeeze casting into a mold with a preform of fibers (Bader, M. G., et al., Composites Science and Technology 23 287-301 (1985); and Kohara, S., et al., Composites '86: Recent Advances in Japan and the United States, eds. K. Kawata, S. Umekawa and A. Kobayashi, (Proceedings of Japan--U.S. CCM-III, Tokyo, 491-496 (1986)). However the problems increase as the fiber diameter decreases. Alloy additions can reduce the wetting contact angle with the fibers; however, they also cause more interface reactions, which usually degrades the bond or the integrity of the fiber (Mortensen, A., et al., Journal of Metals, p. 30 (March 1986)). Other methods, such as electroplating, spraying, chemical vapor deposition and physical vapor deposition, could produce high quality composites, but the methods are time consuming and expensive. Plasma spraying coats fibers with a liquid metal, which can later be arranged in a desirable way, can be accomplished but only with large (140 .mu.m) diameter plasma sprayed fibers. Furthermore, these known techniques are generally not suitable for commercial large-scale or continuous processing.
Powdered metal processing with fibers eliminates or reduces the interface wetting/reaction problem with liquid processing. The metal is sintered and forms around the fiber in the solid state. The kinetics for interface reactions are much slower in powder methods. The two major problems of this strategy are 1) fiber damage may occur under the pressure needed for consolidation (Erich, D. L., Int. J. Powder Metallurgy, 23 45-54 (1987) , and 2) high fiber volume fractions are not possible, if large or agglomerated powder particles are present, since they cause the fibers to bunch up (Shimizu, J., et al., Metal & Ceramic Matrix Composites: Processing Modeling & Mechanical Behavior, eds. R. B. Bhagat, A. H. Clauer, P. Kumar and A. M. Ritter, (TMS/AIME Warrendale Pa.) 31-38 (1990)).
Fibers can be manually arranged between layers of foil and hot pressed. There are a limited number of foil compositions available and the volume fraction of fibers is often small, and the fiber diameters are large (Mortensen, A., et al., Journal of Metals, p. 30 (March 1986)). These processes often provide dramatically better properties than predicted by continuum models of discontinuous fibers, since dislocations generated near the interface deflect cracks and change matrix properties near the interface, due to strains from thermal expansion mismatch (Erich, D. L., Int. J. Powder Metallurgy, 23 45-54 (1987); and Arsenault, R. J., Mat. Sci. and Eng. 64 171-181 (1984)).
A continuous fiber-reinforced polymer matrix composite method was originally developed by Drzal et al (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,042,122, 5,042,111, 5,123,373, 5,128,199, and 5,310,582). In the Drzal et al method, an unsized carbon fiber tow goes through different chambers to make a prepreg tape of a polymer matrix composite. A fiber tow is driven by a motor from a fiber spool to pass above a speaker. The sound waves coming off the speaker spread the fibers apart. The spread fibers are held in position by ten stainless steel shafts spaced one inch apart and placed on the top of the speaker. After spreading, the fibers pass through an optional pre-treatment chamber to modify the fiber surface or to apply a thin coating of binder material to improve adhesion with the matrix. Then, the fibers enter an impregnation chamber, called aerosolizer, where small polymer particles (about 10 microns in diameter) are suspended by the effect of a vibrating rubber membrane placed on top of a speaker, which works as a bed of polymer powders. The powders are attached to the fibers by an electrostatic force generated from the static charges held by the fine polymer particles. After coating with polymer particles, the fibers pass through the oven chamber for about 15 seconds. The particles are heated by convection and radiation until sintering occurs between adjacent particles to form a thin film. The impregnated fibers are then cooled and wound on a take up drum. After a run, the resulting prepreg tape is cut into pieces to a desired length and are laid-up in a rectangular stainless steel mold for hot pressing according to a pressure-temperature-time profile. A sheet of continuous fiber-reinforced polymer matrix composite material is thus formed and is evaluated. The problem is to provide a continuous fiber metal matrix composite (CFMMC).
Finely divided metal powders are explosive in an atmosphere containing any oxygen and thus the aerosolization of powders in air has not been considered to be useful as a method for coating fibers. Serious problems are created by the use of aerosolized powders which have not been solved by the prior art.

Apparatus for the preparation of metal matrix fiber composites

Board of Trustees operating Michigan State University


A method and an apparatus of determining geometrical dimensions of a motor vehicle wheel (rim/tyre assembly) 1 by contact-less sensing, wherein the wheel is fixed on wheel receiving means 8 of a tyre changer, that at least one planar light beam 3 is emitted on to the wheel or at least a part of the wheel, wherein the light beam reflected at the impingement area is detected, and wherein the directions of the emitted and reflected light beams are evaluated for determining the shape and/or position of the respective impingement area 4 on the wheel 1.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,918 discloses a structured light scanning system that determines structural features of a vehicle wheel by analysing the reflected light from a stripe where a planar light beam impinges the body of the vehicle wheel.
US 2004/0165180 A1 discloses a method and an apparatus for determining the geometrical dimensions of a vehicle wheel or of parts thereof wherein an image is acquired by a camera system to facilitate vehicle wheel service procedures. The vehicle wheel may be fixed to a wheel balancer or a tyre changer.
The problem of the present invention is to provide a method and an apparatus of the kind set forth in the opening part of this specification, in which the geometrical dimensions of a vehicle wheel at least one part of a vehicle wheel are reliably determined.

Method and apparatus for determining geometrical dimensions of a vehicle wheel


A toner for developing a static latent image is disclosed. The colored resin particle contains a resin and a colorant, and the colored resin particle contains at least two kinds of compound each represented by the following Formula, and total amount is from 1 to 1,000 ppm by weight,

The static latent image developing method represented by an electrophotographic method is widely applied as method forming means such as a printer, a copy machine and a facsimile machine.
Because the method is a highly accomplished method by which a high quality image can be stably obtained at a high speed. However, some problems are remained.
For example, in usual toner produced by a crushing method, the materials dispersed in the toner are not uniformly distributed at the broken surface and the surface properties of each toner particles are difficultly made the same. Therefore, fluctuation of toner transfer in the transfer process tens to be occurred so as to lower the color reproducibility in a color image.
The toner for developing static latent image is required to reduce the particle diameter for raising the image quality. Recently, the toner produced by a polymerization method is actively developed as the method for producing the toner having a small particle diameter. Examples of such the method include a method for producing a toner particle having an irregular shape by salting, coagulation or adhering by fusion of a resin particle and a colorant particle, and a method by which a radical polymerizable monomer and a colorant are dispersed in an aqueous medium so as to form a liquid droplet having the designated toner diameter and subjected to suspension polymerization.
The toner particle having a spherical shape and uniform surface property can be produced by the suspension polymerization method. Therefore, the uniformity of the toner particles is raised but the adhesiveness to the image carrier is made higher since the shape of the toner is sphere. Accordingly the transfer ability of the toner particle is lowered.
A non-spherical particle produced by a method is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication Open to Public Inspection, hereinafter referred to as JP O.P.I. Publication, No. 11-194540, in which a resin particle is prepared by polymerized in an aqueous medium containing a surfactant and treated by a coagulating agent in a concentration more than the critical coagulation concentration of the resin particle and a water-miscible organic solvent.
In the foregoing technology, a toner excellent in high uniformity of the shape and the charging amount and high sharpness of the image can be obtained by the use of two- or three-valent metal salt. However, the craft point of the surfactant is raised by the presence of the two- or three-valent metal salt so as to form a precipitation difficultly soluble in water. The precipitation is remained in a state of adhered to the toner particle and tends to cause lowering of the fine line reproducibility and spreading of the character image.

Toner for developing static latent image, method for producing toner for developing static latent image

Abstract: wherein, R is an aliphatic hydrocarbon group having from 6 to 22 carbon atoms, M is a monovalent metal atom or an ammonium


In a hydraulic excavator wherein a control valve unit having a plurality of control valves in a united form and an operation pattern switching valve for switching from one to another among combined patterns of operating valves and control valves are disposed side by side in front and rear positions respectively within a valve accommodating space formed between an upper frame base plate and a floor plate in an upper rotating body, the operation pattern switching valve is inclined forwardly downward in a state in which its upper surface side including an operating lever thereof faces an operation port being formed to the floor plate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a construction machine such as a hydraulic excavator equipped with an operation pattern switching valve.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is known a hydraulic excavator equipped with an operation pattern switching valve for selecting a combination pattern of both operating valve and control valve from among plural such combination patterns in accordance with the desire of an operator.
The switching valve is installed under a floor near the operator's feet sitting on an operator's seat. An upper frame of an upper rotating body is composed of a base plate and a floor plate disposed spacedly over the base plate. A small aperture called an operation port is formed in the floor plate and an operating lever is operated through the small aperture. Therefore, it is necessary to install the operating lever in a state permitting easy operation thereof from the operation port.
On an upper surface of the switching valve a switching position is indicated using a cast letter or a sticker. For confirming that position it is desirable that as wide an area as possible on the upper surface side be easily visible from the operation port.
However, a large control valve unit is installed in a valve accommodating space and occupies most of the same, including a unit base, port and accessory pipes, so that the switching valve is compelled to be disposed behind the control valve unit and is installed at an inner position below a seat frame.
In this case, since the switching valve is installed perpendicularly to the base plate, its upper surface side also lies in the inner position.
On the other hand, since it is necessary to ensure a support portion for supporting a rear end portion of a floor mat laid over the floor plate, the operation port is formed in a position spaced a suitable distance forward from the seat frame.
As a result, since the whole of the switching valve is positioned fairly rearwards of the operation port, the operator is required to insert his or her hand backward through the operation port in a forcibly bowed state while looking at the inner side and is then required to operate an operating lever projecting slightly from the operation port. Thus, there has been the problem that not only it is very difficult to operate the operating lever, but also the indication of the switching position is difficult to see and it is difficult to check the position.
There also has been the problem that water sprinkled over the switching valve when washing the machine body is apt to stagnate on the upper surface of the switching valve, especially on a sealing member and a mounted portion thereof, and hence rusting is apt to occur.
The following measures are proposed against such problems.
(i) Disposing the switching valve just under the operation port (ahead of the present position) in a state in which a part of the valve overlaps the upper surface of the control valve unit.
(ii) Disposing the switching valve in a state in which its upper portion projects to the upper surface side of the floor plate, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid Open No. 2002-227249.
(iii) Installing the switching valve horizontally in the transverse direction at the present position and forming an operation port in a side face of the upper frame.
However, in the case of a small-sized hydraulic excavator whose height is limited, it is impossible to expand the valve accommodating space upward and hence the proposal (i) is unadoptable.
According to the proposal (ii), not only it is necessary to use an additional part for covering the projecting portion of the operating pattern switching valve, but also the projecting portion is an obstacle to washing the machine body. Further, the space near the operator's feet is reduced. Thus, the proposal (ii) is not advisable.
The proposal (iii) is not practical because not only it becomes difficult for the operator to perform operations but also it is necessary to provide a special lid for opening and closing the operation port.
Since an underfloor space is formed also on the right side between the upper frame base plate and the floor plate, the control valve unit or the switching valve can be displaced to the said right-hand underfloor space. Also in this case, however, the switching valve is still compelled to be installed in an inner position of the underfloor space. For example, this is because a swing cylinder for swinging a working attachment right and left is installed in front the switching valve. Thus, such displacement of the switching valve is not a solution to the foregoing problems.

Kobelco Construction Machinery Co., Ltd.


Antisense oligonucleotides optionally stabilized with phosphorotioate residues or analogues, or modified in the whole sugar-phosphate backbone--complementary to the human urokinase receptor messenger RNA--are able to prevent invasiveness of neoplastic cells by inhibiting the overexpression of the receptor itself, directly responsible of the invasive phenotype. Said oligomers are useful as medicaments for the treatment of primary and secondary neoplasias as well as of other pathologies wherein the urokinase receptor gene overexpression is a pathogenic event.

The present invention relates to antisense oligonucleotides complementary to mRNA of urokinase human receptor and to pharmaceutical compositions containing them as the active ingredients.
Plasminogen activation is considered a central process in the regulation of pericellular proteolysis which occurs under both normal and pathological conditions, including cancer invasion, when tissue destruction and cell migration are required. Even though the roles of tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA) and urokinase-type plasminogen activator (u-PA) in in vivo neoplasias and in vitro transformed cells have not yet been elucidated, however, it is now well established that u-PA plays a paramount role in neoplastic cell transformation (Physiol. rev. 73(1): 161-195, 1993).
After secretion as a zymogen (pro-u-PA), the active form is obtained by cleavage at lysine 158 into two chains connected by a disulfide bridge. As a result of their interaction with a specific receptor (u-PAR) (Advances in Cancer Res. 57:273-328, 1991) which belongs to the glycosyl-phosphatidyl inositol-anchored proteins family (Exp. Cell. Res. 203:427-434, 1992), pro-u-PA and the active enzyme equilibrate between solution and the cell surface. (Pro)-u-PA binds to the receptor by a sequence framed within the amino-terminal fragment of the A chain thus exposing the B chain, which contains the catalytic site, to the extracellular milieu. On some cell lines, growing as monolayers in vitro, urokinase receptors are located at specific sites on the ventral side of the cell: the so-called focal contacts. Other components of the plasminogen activation system have been identified on the extra-cellular side of cell contacts and have been suggested to play a regulatory role in the modulation of cell-substratum adhesion and extra-cellular matrix destruction. In particular, the presence of u-PA at the main contact sites of the cell has been considered critical in determining the detachment of the cell from the substratum and progression within tissues. Using cell monolayers, it has been observed that the adhesion sites specifically concentrate u-Pa binding sites (Advances in Cancer Res. 57:273-328, 1991).
A number of evidences exist that the expression of urokinase receptor is a basical factor of the invasive characteristics of tumour cells. It has particularly been suggested that the contribution of u-PAR to the invasive phenotype may involve the increased plasmin production by receptor-bound u-PA (J. Biol. Chem. 266: 752-758, 1991). Some authors (Cancer Res. 53:3139-3117, 1993) reported that the overexpression of an exogenous cDNA coding for the u-PA binding site in a human osteosarcoma cell line induced the increase of cell migration in the matrigel test, in addition to increased laminin degradation. In another study (Proc. Natle. Acad, Sci. USA 90:5021-5025, 1993), it was shown that displacement of receptor bound u-PA by a mutant u-PA lacking enzymatic activity, caused the reduction of brain, lung and regional lymph nodes metastasis of prostate cancer cells PC-3. Still other authors (Br. J. Cancer 67:537-544, 1993) have shown that the matrigel invasion by the ovarian cancer cell lines HOC-1 was inhibited by peptides corresponding to the u-PA receptor binding fragment.
It is therefore evident that the u-PA/u-PAR system may be a target for drugs which, decreasing or blocking the invasive action of the cells, may be useful as anti-tumor and anti-metastatic agents.
It has been already shown, for instance, that antibodies against human u-PA prevent the metastasis formation in chicken embryonal lung of human carcinoma cells (Cell 35:611-619, 1983). The anti-messenger strategy has also been used against the u-PA gene in NIH 3T3 cells: in such a case, the selective block of the u-PA gene induced in the cells an alternative invasive mechanism based on the gene expression of another protease, cathepsin L (Cancer Res. 52:6682-6689, 1992).

Antimessenger oligonucleotide against urokinase receptor


A method for detecting theft of a vehicle, includes the following steps: detecting a vehicle movement by an inductive vehicle charging system, checking the authorization for a detected vehicle movement, and outputting a message signal if an unauthorized vehicle movement is detected. The checking of the authorization for a detected vehicle movement is started after the start of a vehicle charging process.

A large number of vehicles are stolen every day. Modern vehicle theft detection is based, among other things, on detecting an unauthorized movement of the vehicle, as occurs, for example, when the vehicle is towed in an unauthorized manner, or when the vehicle is started without the use of a vehicle-specific key.
A vehicle movement is detected using sensors. Due to existing technical limitations, they cannot detect all vehicle movements based on vehicle theft.
To check the plausibility of a vehicle movement, it is possible to use systems which as such are not provided for the purpose of detecting theft, for example tire pressure detection, as described in JP 2002 362 318 A, incorporated herein by reference.

Method for detecting the theft of a vehicle


A fault detecting apparatus and method for a network node of an optical transmission system receives a wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) optical signal which includes a group of optical channels. The network node includes an optical demultiplexer, optical switch, optical multiplexer, and an optical channel add/drop device. Supervisory optical signals having a different wavelength than the wavelengths of the group of optical channels are generated and spliced with each optical channel by the optical demultiplexer. The supervisory channel optical power is tapped off at various points in the network node, such as the output optical channels of the demultiplexer, dropped optical channel outputs, output optical channels from the optical switch, and the output WDM optical signal of the multiplexer. The supervisory channels are monitored by a wavemeter for bypass lightpaths and dropped lightpaths. Added optical channels are monitored by monitoring a portion of the signal power in the added lightpath of the added optical channel. If the wavemeter detects the absence of the supervisory signal, or the portion of the added optical channel, this indicates a fault condition and the network control is notified to effect correction of the fault.

All-optical networks, in which networks nodes are interconnected by single-mode optical fibers, often contain optical demultiplexers, optical switches, and optical multiplexers. Further, network nodes can be interconnected by counter-rotating rings, or in a mesh, ring, or bus topology. In the counter-rotating ring topology an increased network survivability to fiber failure can be achieved. The notion of counter-rotating ring is well-known in the art, and has been widely adopted in, for example, in the Fiber Data Distribution Interconnection (FDDI).
Multiple optical signals at different wavelengths can coexist in these fibers by using Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) techniques. A typical network node of a WDM system includes the functions of demultiplexing a traffic signal, switching channels of the traffic signal to add and drop local channels, and multiplexing the switched channels for transmission. The network node typically includes a controlling unit for operations and maintenance (O/M) functions, and an optical demultiplexer, an optical switch, and an optical multiplexer.
Each optical signal within the network node passes through a number of elements within the optical demultiplexers, optical switch, and optical multiplexers. The optical channel transmission path through these elements is called a lightpath. A failure of the lightpath can occur if an element within the node fails to operate correctly, or fails completely. The element causing the failure can be difficult to locate.

Fault detection for all-optical add-drop multiplexer

International Business Machines Corporation


A cushioning member with three interconnecting parts provides a full internal corner for contacting and protecting the external surfaces of an article during shipping and handling. The three interconnecting parts also provide a full external corner. Both full internal and external corners provide a rugged shipping and handling protector for an article (e.g., personal computer) to be shipped.

This invention relates to cushioning members such as those used for transporting articles (e.g., portable computers, etc.) which protect such articles during such transport and handling associated therewith.
For many years, cushioning members have been used to protect corners and surfaces of articles from damage encountered during shipping and handling. Examples are included below.
For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,946,874, Breth, et. al, a corner pad is shown which is used in packaging of fragile items contained in a rectangular carton. This pad is composed of three identically shaped resilient or yieldable pieces which, when assembled, provides a three-sided pad with both an open (not filled) internal and external corner for capturing the corner of the package containing a fragile material.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,994,433, Jenkins, et.al, there is described a four-piece corner pad with an interlocking self contained tab-and-slot structure that permits the corner pad to be set up without the need for any adhesives, tapes, pins, clips, or the like. This structure results only in a partially filled external corner.
Another example is U.S. Pat. No. 5,511,667, Carder, where a honeycomb protector is shown. This protector is composed of a four-piece, foldable, finger and notch assembly which results in a partially filled internal corner.
One more example, a corner protective module, is described by U.S. Pat. No. 3,334,798, Pezely Jr., et. al. This patent reveals a set of packaging modules, one embodiment of which is a corner protective module made of absorbing material having three identical interlocking tongue and groove portions, which when positioned about an article to be packaged forms a corner protector about the article, having an open external corner.
French Patent No. 2,538,351, describes a four-piece packaging corner protector with three walls, each wall being connected to each adjacent wall by a membrane which serves as a hinge permitting the three walls to be adjusted from a flat sheet into a corner protector. One of the walls has two parts, tenon and a mortice, for interlocking purposes.
A cushioning member that both minimizes the number of parts provided to assemble the member and which forms an assembly with a full internal corner (and external corner, if needed) for assuring maximum protection to the article being handled and shipped as defined herein below, has hitherto not been provided. To solve this problem, an improved cushioning member with a full internal corner (and external corner, if needed) utilizing a relatively few number of parts, has been developed. It is believed that such a cushioning member will constitute a significant advancement in the art.
It is, therefore, a primary object of this invention to provide a cushioning member that both minimizes the number of parts provided to assemble the member and which forms an assembly with a full internal corner (and external corner, if needed).
It is another object of this invention to provide cushioning members for maximum protection of an article during shipping and handling.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide cushioning members which are easily manufactured from a predetermined blank and composed of compressible material which allows for conformance of projections in cavities and for easy assembly requiring no adhesives, taping, or other means to hold the assembled parts together.
In accordance with one aspect of this invention, there is provided a cushioning member for engaging the external surfaces of an article having first, second and third interconnecting parts, wherein each interconnecting part is adapted for contacting a respective one external surface of the article. These parts are then connected together in such a manner so as to define a substantially full interior corner against which the article can be positioned in a substantially flush orientation.

International Business Machines Corporation


A host computer running a TCP connection transfers the connection to a TCP offload network interface device (NID) which performs certain network processes, thereby reducing the load on the host CPU. The NID later transfers the connection back to the host. The host and the NID maintain separate timestamp clocks which provide timestamp values for connections using the TCP Timestamp option. Synchronization of the host and NID timestamp clocks can be realized by transfer of a clock value. The NID or host receives the transferred TCP connection and the transferred clock value, and decides whether to update its own clock to equal the transferred clock value, the decision being guided by the requirement to never allow the timestamp clock to run backward. Acceleration of the timestamp clocks is prevented so that RTT measurements are accurate. Synchronization of the host and NID timestamp clocks improves performance and reduces erroneous connection drops.

Computer networks have become an essential part of modern life. The convenience and efficiency of providing information, communication or computational power to individuals at their personal computer or other end user device has led to rapid growth of network computing, including internet as well as intranet systems and applications. Computer Networks, Third Edition (1996) by Andrew S. Tanenbaum, which is incorporated by reference herein, describes computer networks in detail.
Most computer network communication uses a layered software architecture for moving information between host computers connected to the network. The layers help to segregate information into manageable pieces. The rules and conventions for each layer are called the protocol of that layer.
One widely implemented reference model of a layered architecture for network computer communication is called TCP/IP. TCP denotes Transport Control Protocol, and IP denotes Internet Protocol. TCP/IP is described in detail in TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 1: The Protocols (1994) by W. Richard Stevens and in TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 2: The Implementation (1995) by Gary R. Wright and W. Richard Stevens, both of which are incorporated by reference herein.
TCP transmits data over a TCP connection in packages called segments; each segment comprises many bytes of data plus a header of control information. To ensure reliable transmission of data, TCP must recover from data that is damaged, lost, duplicated, or delivered out of order by the internet communication system. TCP assigns a sequence number to each byte transmitted and uses that sequence number in various procedures that guarantee reliability.
When TCP sends a segment, it starts a timer and waits for the other end to acknowledge reception of the segment. If an acknowledgment is not received before the end of the timeout interval, the sender concludes that the segment was lost and retransmits the segment. If the lost segment later arrives at the receiver, it represents a duplicate of the retransmitted segment. Any such old duplicate segment must be identified and discarded or it will corrupt the data transmission.
A sender must know how long an interval to wait for an acknowledgment before concluding that a segment has timed out. The time required to send a segment and receive an acknowledgment, called the round-trip time (RTT), will be greater on a busy connection, so the sender must adjust its timeout interval to reflect changes in network traffic. TCP continually modifies the timeout interval using a statistical analysis of RTTs for segments transmitted recently.
TCP achieves faster rates of data transmission by sending multiple segments before waiting for an acknowledgement. Because segments are not acknowledged individually, the measurement of RTT is not very accurate. The TCP Timestamps option provides a means to achieve more accurate measurement of RTT. This option is described in RFC 1323 is incorporated by reference herein.
The TCP Timestamps option allows the sender to place a timestamp value in every segment. The receiver reflects this value in the acknowledgement, allowing the sender to calculate by a single subtract operation an accurate RTT for each segment. This is called the RTTM (Round-Trip Time Measurement) mechanism.
TCP is a symmetric protocol, allowing data to be sent at any time in either direction, and therefore timestamp echoing may occur in either direction. For simplicity and symmetry, RFC 1323 specifies that timestamps should always be sent and echoed in both directions. For efficiency, RFC 1323 combines the timestamp and timestamp reply fields into a single TCP Timestamps option field which is part of the header for a TCP segment. Use of the TCP Timestamp option is not mandatory; the hosts negotiate the use of the Timestamp option during establishment of the TCP connection.
The timestamp value to be sent in a Timestamps option is to be obtained from a (virtual) clock that RFC 1323 calls the "timestamp clock". The values of the timestamp clock must be at least approximately proportional to real time, in order to measure actual RTT.
In addition to allowing more accurate RTT calculations, the Timestamps option makes possible a simple mechanism to reject old duplicate segments. As noted above, old duplicate segments must be rejected so that they do not corrupt data transmission. The mechanism for identifying and rejecting old duplicate segments is called PAWS (Protect Against Wrapped. Sequence numbers) and is described in RFC 1323.
PAWS assumes that every received TCP segment (including data and acknowledgement segments) contains a timestamp whose values are monotone non-decreasing in time. The basic idea of PAWS is that a segment can be discarded as an old duplicate if it is received with a timestamp less than (ie earlier than) some timestamp recently received on the connection. In both the PAWS and the RTT mechanism, the "timestamps" are 32-bit unsigned integers in a modular 32-bit space. Thus, "less than" is defined the same way it is for TCP sequence numbers, and the same implementation techniques apply. If s and t are timestamp values, s<t if 0<(t−s)<2**31, computed in unsigned 32-bit arithmetic.
RTTM was specified in a symmetrical manner, so that sender timestamps are carried in both data and acknowledgement segments and are echoed in separate fields carried in returning acknowledgement or data segments. PAWS submits all incoming segments to the same test, and therefore protects against duplicate acknowledgement segments as well as data segments.
TCP connections demand significant processing power from a host computer. To reduce the processing load on a host, TCP connections may be offloaded to a network interface device (NID), such as a network interface card, a port that handles specific connections on a multiport card, or an auxiliary processor for a CPU. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,226,680, 6,434,620, 6,427,171 and 6,807,581, which are incorporated by reference herein, describe devices and methods for network communication wherein the host allocates some of the most common and time consuming network processes to the NID ("fast-path"), while retaining the ability to handle less time intensive and more varied processing on the host stack ("slow-path"). Commonly, multiple NIDs may be coupled to single host.
In a typical embodiment, the host initiates a TCP connection and then transfers the connection to the NID, which has specialized hardware to perform the data transfer portion of the TCP protocol. If the NID encounters a problem, or if the host decides to take control of the connection, the connection is transferred back to the host. After the host solves the problem or performs some other action concerning the connection, the host may then return the connection to the NID to continue the data transfer. A particular TCP connection may "migrate" back and forth several times between the host and the NID before data transfer is completed and the connection is closed.

TCP timestamp synchronization for network connections that are offloaded to network interface devices


A pressure-actuated shaft seal assembly and associated method for controlling the flow of fluid adjacent a rotatable shaft are provided. The seal assembly includes one or more seal members that can be adjusted between open and closed positions, for example, according to the rotational speed of the shaft. For example, the seal member can be configured to be adjusted according to a radial pressure differential in a fluid that varies with the rotational speed of the shaft. In addition, in the closed position, each seal member can contact a rotatable member connected to the shaft to form a seal with the rotatable member and prevent fluid from flowing through the assembly. Thus, the seal can be closed at low speeds of operation and opened at high speeds of operation, thereby reducing the heat and wear in the seal assembly while maintaining a sufficient seal during all speeds of operation.

1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to seal assemblies and, in particular, to a pressure-actuated seal assembly for controlling the flow of a fluid along a shaft.
2) Description of Related Art
Various applications require the formation of a seal along a shaft or other rotatable member. For example, turbopumps that are used in rocket engines typically include a turbine and a pump that are connected by a shaft. The turbine is rotated by the flow of a fluid, thereby rotating the pump, which pumps another fluid. In some cases, it is desirable or necessary to separately maintain the fluids in the turbine and the pump. For example, leakage of a liquid from the pump can energetically react with fluid that is being used to rotate the turbine.
One or more seals are provided between the turbine and pump to control the flow of fluids therebetween or to overboard drains located between the pump and turbine. However, due to the high rotational speed of the components of the turbopump, contact between the stationary seals and the rotating shaft can result in excessive wear of the seals as well as the generation of heat that can negatively affect the performance or safety of the turbopump. Thus, lift-off seals can be provided between the turbine and the pump, each lift-off seal being configured to adjust between open and closed positions. In the closed position, the lift-off seal is biased by a spring against a surface of the shaft. The spring can be overcome by a pressurized fluid, e.g., from the pump or from an external source, to move the lift-off seal away from the surface of the shaft to the open position. Thus, at low speeds of operation, when the pressure in the pump is low, the spring maintains the lift-off seal in the closed position to limit the flow of fluid from the pump. During higher speeds of operation, when the pressure in the pump is higher, the lift-off seal is adjusted to the open position. Typically, migration of the fluid from the pump is at least partially prevented during higher speeds of operation by a non-contacting sealing mechanism. For example, a slinger connected to the shaft can define blades that extend radially outward therefrom to rotate the fluid at the pump side of the seal. The rotation of the fluid forces the fluid radially outward beyond the lift-off seal to prevent the fluid from leaking through the space opened between the lift-off seal and the shaft.
While conventional seals do provide some degree of sealing between such components as the turbine and pump of a turbopump, there exists a need for an improved seal and method for controlling the flow of fluids along a shaft. In particular, the seal should maintain a high degree of sealing, while also limiting the heat and wear that results from contact between sealing members at high speed operation.


A helmet attachment includes a structure representing at least one of an animal feature, an insect feature, a historical helmet feature, mythical creature part, and a vehicle feature. The helmet attachment further includes an attachment mechanism for securing the structure to a surface of a helmet.

Because of safety concerns, individuals, especially children, are increasingly using protective helmets for activities such as, for example, skiing, roller blading, ice skating, and bicycling. Helmets, however, are only available in limited styles and colors. As a result, it is often difficult for parents to identify their children from others with similar helmets. Moreover, those wearing helmets may not be able to express their individuality with off-the-shelf helmets that are identical to many others in style and color.
Thus, there is a need to overcome these and other problems of the prior art and to provide helmet attachments that allow wearers to personalize their helmet without compromising the helmets structural integrity or adding excessive weight.


In a modulator-demodulator device, in the transmitter side an error control coding unit is provided for adding redundancy according to a predetermined procedure to a bit sequence to be transmitted from bit processing unit to code the bit sequence. A data sequence-to-coordinate transforming unit transforms the bit sequence from the error control coding unit into a coordinate of a signal point on a complex plane. A coordinate rotating unit rotates the transformed signal point coordinates based on the frame phase information from a frame phase generating unit. In the receiver side, a coordinate rotating unit applies the rotation in the reverse direction of that of the coordinate rotating unit of the transmitter side based on the frame phase information from the frame phase generating unit. A the second unit determines the maximum likelihood signal point by utilizing the redundancy added by the error control coding unit of the transmitter side and corrects the coordinate error of the received signal point. An unsynchronized frame state determining unit determines the unsynchronized frame state based on the distance between the decision point determined by the maximum likelihood signal point determining unit and the demodulated received signal point on the complex plane, whereby the synchronized frame state is quickly detected. In the modulator-demodulator device, an evaluation value is designated for each of the transition sequence of signals. In the receiver side, an error control signal decoding is carried out in the manner that the transition sequence of the maximum likelihood received signal is selected based on the updated evaluation value and the error in the demodulated signal is corrected, whereby the error in the data transmission is corrected.

Technical Field
The present invention relates to a modulator-demodulator (modem) device for a phase modem system, a quadrature amplitude modem system, and the like. The present invention relates particularly to a device capable of detecting an unsynchronized frame state in synchronization transmission in a modem device. The device according to the present invention is used, for example, for a modem in terminal devices for data communication.

Modulator-demodulator device capable of detecting an unsynchronized frame state


A non-volatile memory device includes an input/output terminal mixing section configured to couple data input/output terminals of the memory device to data input/output terminals of a page buffer in accordance with a user selection. A user data authenticating section is configured to transmit a control signal to the input/output terminal mixing section so that the input/output terminal mixing section couples the data input/output terminals of the memory device to the data input/output terminals of the page buffer in accordance with the user selection. A spare cell is configured to store the coupling configuration of the data input/output terminals of the memory device and the data input/output terminals of the page buffer in accordance with the user selection.

The present invention relates to a non-volatile memory device and method of encrypting data in the same. More particularly, the present invention relates to a non-volatile memory device having an apparatus for applying a specific encryption algorithm to data that is input to an input/output (IO) line and then storing the encrypted data, and a method of encrypting data in the same.
The demand has increased for a non-volatile memory device which electrically programs and erases data and does not need to refresh when periodically rewriting data. A non-volatile memory device is employed for storing multimedia data in various portable digital apparatuses such as a mobile telephone, an MP3 player, a digital camera, a PDA, etc. However, when the portable digital apparatus is lost or stolen, the data stored in the non-volatile memory device in the portable digital apparatus may be accessed by another person.

Non-volatile memory device and method of encrypting data in the same


A nitride-based semiconductor device includes a substrate, a first step portion formed on a main surface side of a first side end surface of the substrate, a second step portion formed on the main surface side of a second side end surface substantially parallel to the first side end surface on an opposite side of the first side end surface and a nitride-based semiconductor layer whose first side surface is a (000-1) plane starting from a first side wall of the first step portion and a second side surface starting from a second side wall of the second step portion on the main surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a nitride-based semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Background Art
In general, a light-emitting device made of a nitride-based material such as gallium nitride (GaN) has been put into practice as a 405 nm blue-violet semiconductor laser (LD) as a light source for recording/playback employed as a DVD system. A semiconductor laser device emitting blue or green light, employing a nitride-based material has been developed. Such a nitride-based semiconductor laser device is disclosed in each of Japanese Patent No. 2780618 and Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 11-224866, for example.
A manufacturing process for nitride-based semiconductor chip described in the aforementioned Japanese Patent No. 2780618 comprises steps of forming a pair of dividing grooves opposed to each other on an upper surface of a semiconductor layer and a lower surface of a sapphire substrate in a wafer in which a semiconductor material is stacked on the sapphire substrate, and a step of separating the wafer into chips by dividing the semiconductor layer and the sapphire substrate at portions of these pair of dividing grooves. The pair of dividing grooves are formed by etching or mechanical scribing such as diamond scribing.
A method of manufacturing a laser chip described in the aforementioned Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 11-224866 comprises a step of dividing a sapphire substrate while forming dividing grooves on a function film and the sapphire substrate by applying a CO2 laser to a wafer where the function film (semiconductor layer) is stacked on the sapphire substrate from a side of an upper surface of the sapphire substrate once or a plurality of times. The sapphire substrate is separated into chips by dividing portions formed with no dividing grooves utilizing thermal stress in laser application in addition to formation of the dividing grooves by the CO2 laser.
In a manufacturing process for the semiconductor chip disclosed in each of the aforementioned Japanese Patent No. 2780618 and Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 11-224866, however, defects are likely to be caused on the semiconductor layer when forming the dividing grooves because they are formed by etching, mechanically scribing or laser scribing the semiconductor layer which is formed on the substrate by crystal growth. In a case where the nitride-based semiconductor device is the light-emitting device, when the defects reach an emission layer constituting the semiconductor layer, luminous efficiency of the light-emitting device is disadvantageously reduced, and heat is excessively generated in the device following the reduction of the luminous efficiency. In a case where the nitride-based semiconductor device is an electronic device such as a field-effect transistor (FET), abnormal heat is disadvantageously generated due to the defects of the semiconductor layer. Thus, the nitride-based semiconductor device such as the light-emitting device or the electronic device is disadvantageously deteriorated and the life is disadvantageously reduced.

Nitride-based semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same


An articulated boat may include a pair of pontoons and a central cabin connected by pair of struts, each pair forming a parallelogram and one or more motors for changing the elevation between the central cabin and the pair of pontoons and for moving the boat through the water. The motors may be operated by remote control.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention is related to watercraft and particularly to powered catamarans.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional powered catamarans have significant visual and radar signatures, similar to monohull craft of a similar size.
What is needed is a watercraft configuration that provides enhanced abilities to limit their visual and radar signatures and to improve the utility of such vehicles in military, civilian and toy configurations.