Embodiments according to the present invention comprised RFID tags comprised of components disposed on a flexible conformal substrate. The substrate may be substantially transparent or opaque and the components may be comprised of organic electronic components. Components and circuits may be manufactured using thin-film deposition processes or by deposition of metal-containing inks using inkjet technology. Exemplary use of an embodiment according to the present invention is as a component in an on-vehicle radio-frequency (RF) automated toll system.

The use of RFID technology continues to proliferate as the price-point of RFID transponders and interrogation systems decreases and the need for tracking technology increases. Currently, there are several different types of RF tags, which are usually classified by their power source. Generally, the three major types of RFID tags are purely passive, assisted passive, and active tags.
Purely passive tags have no battery or other type of internal or on-board power source to assist communications. All of its signaling circuitry must be driven using received signal power. Since received signal power is generally on the order of microwatts (μW), or less, a purely passive tag is especially difficult to interrogate over large distances. Because they have no internal power source subject to discharge, purely passive tags generally have an infinite theoretical lifetime of operation.
Assisted passive tags generally require much less power for communications than active tags. An assisted passive tag does not contain active RF components, but does use a small, low-energy power source to drive modulation circuitry. The most common form of assistance is generally from a small watch battery. An exemplary utilization of these RF tags are wireless toll collections on highways. Generally, assisted passive tags have a usable lifetime of 2-3 years.
Active tags use a battery or other on-board power source to drive radio frequency amplifiers as well as baseband and modulation circuitry. The usable range of active tags is generally much larger than a passive tag, although the lifetime of operation is significantly shortened without replenishment of the power supply.
The trade-off between the different types of tags is lifetime vs. range. The truly passive tag should have the lowest reliable range, but the longest usable lifetime. An active tag, on the other hand, could have quite a large range but may only operate for several weeks due to a continuous draw on its on-board battery. Generally, the active tag is usually bulkier and more expensive than the purely passive tag.
It is to be appreciated that all types of RF tags are distinguished from radio beacons, which are transmitters that are always "on" and require no interrogation to extract their information. In contrast to beacons, RF tags are meant for long-lasting, low-powered information exchange.
In many instances, RF tags are bulky and inflexible and have difficulty conforming to surfaces that are not flat. In some instances, they may block a line of sight or prevent the viewing of information or details that lie underneath the RF tag. What is needed are RF tags that overcame challenges found in the art, some of which are described above.

Thin flexible radio frequency identification tags and subsystems thereof


An identification system includes several sheets formed of digital paper each having a unique identifier on a writing surface thereof. Each digital paper may have a form printed on the writing surface. Data representing the form and the location thereof relative to the writing surface is stored in a computer. A digital pen connectable to the computer is compatible with the digital paper for recording pen strokes made by the digital pen and the location of the pen strokes relative to the writing surface. The digital pen includes an ink dispensing tip for marking the writing surface according to the pen strokes. The computer is connectable to the digital pen for retrieving and storing the data representing the pen strokes for each sheet. Upon completion of a form, the computer compares the data representing the pen strokes with the form data and determines the user input to the form.

There has been a need to develop a system and method to better identify and verify a transaction or other type of event. The event might include, for example, filling out a ballot or other type of document such as, for example, business forms, employment applications, purchase orders, government forms, tax forms, medical forms and documents, laboratory forms, survey forms and school papers.
With respect to ballots, for example, many devices recently have been proposed for casting ballots electronically. For example, U.S. patent application Publication No. U.S. 2003/0173404 A1 published Sep. 18, 2003 discloses a method for reading ballots including reading/imaging each ballot transported on a transport path. Each ballot is read/imaged for orientation indicia, jurisdiction information, and voting selections. The disclosed method requires optically scanning each ballot following the completion of the ballot by a voter.
A voter feedback and receipt system is disclosed in U.S. patent application Publication No. U.S. 2002/0161628 A1 published Oct. 31, 2002. The system includes voter verification of an interpretation of a voter's ballot by a ballot counting device, electronic recording of the verified ballot, and providing a receipt of the verified ballot and votes cast. This system also requires optical scanning of each ballot following completion of the ballot by a voter.
U.S. patent application Publication No. U.S. 2003/0006282 A1 published Jan. 9, 2003 discloses a system and method for electronic voting wherein a voter makes voting selections on a touch screen display. After the voting selections are complete, a voter verifiable paper ballot is printed and an electronic ballot is saved on the system. If the voter is not satisfied with the voting selections reflected on the paper ballot, the paper ballot and the electronic ballot may be discarded and the voter provided a new ballot. This system does not provide a paper ballot that can be utilized in a recount.
Notable disadvantages of the above-identified prior art voting systems are that either an original paper ballot is not used such that there is no original record of the ballots as cast that can be used for a recount, or the system requires optical scanning of each paper ballot and interpreting of the scanned data. The process of scanning each paper ballot cast is a time consuming and expensive step that also inherently includes the possibility of scanning errors which can lead to voter frustration or distrust of the system, especially in close elections.
International patent publication number WO/03/042931 of Lee et al. (hereinafter referred to as "Lee") discloses an apparatus and method for recording and counting votes. The Lee apparatus includes a writing implement having a writing tip, means for electronically sensing the position of the writing tip relative to a datum position, and means for electronically interpreting the position of the writing tip sensed by the sensing means so as to provide an electronic indication of a mark applied to a voting paper with the writing implement during use.
The Lee apparatus and method provides both a paper ballot and an electronic image thereof; however, Lee does not include means for identifying each of the paper ballots. Nothing is provided to identify one paper ballot from another. The apparatus includes means for including a voter identification number with the electronic data recorded from each paper ballot. However, nothing is provided to correlate the original paper ballot with the electronic data received from the digital pen that is recorded from each ballot. Thus, in a recount of the original ballots, there is no way to correlate the recounted totals with the electronically stored images of the ballots and tabulated results.
Based on the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide a verification and identification system that improves upon, or overcomes the problems and drawbacks associated with prior art verification and identification systems. It is also a more general object of the present invention to provide a unique identifier system for use with digital paper in any practical application.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


Provided herein are methods and systems for the analysis of biomarkers, and methods of providing diagnoses and/or prognoses therewith. In particular, methods and systems for performing biomarker ratio imaging microscopy (BRIM) are provided, as well as methods of using BRIM for the analysis of biomarker pairs (e.g., CD44/CD24, N-cadherin/E-cadherin, CD74/CD59, etc.) diagnosis and/or prognosis of cancer (e.g., ductal carcinoma in situ).

Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) of the breast is the most common type of non-invasive breast cancer. In DCIS, epithelial cells proliferate within ducts, which are surrounded by a double layer of myoepithelial cells and basement membranes. Although it is believed that DCIS lesions become invasive breast cancer, this has not been proven, nor has the fraction of DCIS cases progressing to invasive cancer been established. The introduction of mammography led to a sharp increase in the number of DCIS cases. This increase, however, was not accompanied by a commensurate reduction in the number of advanced breast cancer patients. Several studies indicate that patients with insignificant disease are being treated (refs. 1-5; incorporated by reference in their entireties), which indicates the existence of both non-aggressive and aggressive forms of DCIS. It is not possible to stratify DCIS lesions according to aggressiveness, using existing techniques, with a precision sufficient to provide prognostic insight in patient care.

The Regents of the University of Michigan


There is disclosed a herbicidal composition comprising as active ingredients a herbicidally effective amount of (a) an iminothiazoline compound of the formula: ##STR1## wherein R.sup.1 is halogen, halo(C.sub.1 -C.sub.2)alkyl, halo(C.sub.1 -C.sub.2)alkoxy or halo(C.sub.1 -C.sub.2)alkylthio; R.sup.2 is C.sub.1 -c.sub.2 alkyl, chroline, bromine or iodine; R.sup.3 is C.sub.1 -C.sub.6 alkyl, C.sub.3 -C.sub.6 cycloalkyl, C.sub.3 -C.sub.6 cycloalkoxy or C.sub.1 -C.sub.6 alkoxy, all of which are optionally substituted with at least one substituent selected from halogen, C.sub.1 -C.sub.2 alkyl and C.sub.1 -C.sub.2 alkoxy; R.sup.4 is hydrogen or halogen; and (b) at least one of herbicidal triazine compounds, herbicidal uracil compounds, herbicidal urea compounds, herbicidal dinitro aniline compounds, norflurazon, dimethazon, imazaquin and imazethapyr. Also disclosed is a method for controlling undesired weeds by use of the herbicidal composition.

A great number of chemical substances having a herbicidal activity have been used for herbicidal agents to exterminate or control the vegetation of undesired weeds in agricultural and non-agricultural fields. However, there are many kinds of weeds and their growth extends over a long period of time, so that most of the conventional herbicidal agents have an effect only on the specific kinds of weeds. Accordingly, there is a great demand on herbicidal agents capable of exerting a strong herbicidal activity against a wide variety of weeds without any material phytotoxicity to crop plants.
By the way, no-till cultivation has recently been developed for saving labor work, extending a cultivation period and preventing loss in weight of soil. For this reason, there also is a great demand on herbicidal agents capable of exerting a distinct herbicidal activity in foliar treatment, maintaining a prolonged herbicidal efficacy in soil treatment and showing a prominent selectivity between crop plants and weeds.


A vehicle washing installation includes at least one side washing brush which is mounted on a crossbar of the vehicle washing installation by a suspension to be rotatable about first and second pivot axes. The suspension has a first actuator for pivoting the side washing brush about the first pivot axis. The problem of providing a vehicle washing installation which, with little constructional outlay, permits a good washing result even in the case of inclined side surfaces and rear surfaces of the vehicle and the inclined transitions between said surfaces is addressed in that the suspension has a second actuator for pivoting the side washing brush about the second pivot axis, and by a method with the steps of: detecting and/or determining the inclination of a first vehicle surface running transversely with respect to the longitudinal direction; pivoting the side washing brush from a basic position about the second pivot axis in a manner corresponding to the inclination of the first vehicle surface; and moving the side washing brush along the first vehicle surface.

A known problem during the washing of vehicles, in particular cars, in vehicle washing installations is to satisfactorily clean the frequently greatly inclined and curved side surfaces. This problem has first of all been solved by the fact that the vertically hanging, rotatable side washing brushes provided for this purpose have been suspended in a freely oscillating manner.
For example, DE 1 936 889 discloses a device for washing the side surfaces of a vehicle with side washing brushes suspended cardanically at the upper end of the washing brush axis in a manner oscillating freely to all sides. When the washing brush is brought up to the vehicle, the side washing brush can therefore nestle against the inclined side surfaces of the vehicle and clean said side surfaces. A disadvantage here is that the washing brush presses with its weight against the side surfaces, which undesirably heavily loads side surfaces that have a more pronounced inclination.
In order to reduce this resting of the washing brushes against the side surfaces, it is known from the prior art to incline the rotation axes of the side washing brushes actively transversely with respect to the longitudinal direction and to hold them in the inclined position in order to minimize the forces produced by the weight of the side washing brush against the side surfaces. Solutions of this type are known from DE 298 14 758 U1, DE 196 20 684 B4, JP 08-332 921 A and JP 03 079 455 A.
However, these embodiments have the disadvantage that they are suitable exclusively for adapting the side brushes to inclined side surfaces. To an increasing degree, however, specifically in the case of vehicles with a fastback, the side surfaces and the rear surfaces have an ever greater inclination. With the known devices, the side surfaces are indeed adequately cleaned by the inclined side washing brushes, and the oblique rear surfaces can be cleaned by the horizontal roof washing brush which runs transversely with respect to the longitudinal direction. However, the cleaning result is unsatisfactory specifically in the transition regions of the oblique rear surface to the oblique side surfaces.
In order to improve this, DE 10 2007 056 701 B3 proposes attaching an individual washing brush to a long extension arm which is pivotable over the vehicle in a horizontal plane. At the free end of the extension arm, a hanging washing brush is then suspended in a manner oscillating freely at an angle of 30° to 60° on a joint arrangement. By this means, although the oblique transition regions are readily cleaned, there is also the problem here that, in the case of more pronounced inclinations, the washing brush presses with its weight against the vehicle side and rear surfaces. Furthermore, with this free suspension, the washing brush begins to slightly swing and then executes undesired pivoting movements which cause a deterioration in the cleaning result and additionally load the vehicle. In order to prevent this, the pivoting movement can be provided by dampers for the joint connection and/or the washing brush.
A corresponding configuration is disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 5,715,558 with washing brushes suspended in a freely oscillating manner at free ends of two pivot arms. The pivoting movement is also damped there by dampers, and therefore the rotating washing brushes cannot pivot wildly to and fro when they are brought up to the vehicle.
These embodiments are complicated in design, and the pivot arm and its pivot joints have to be of very sturdy design in order to be able to absorb the high forces occurring because of the rotation and pivoting movement of the washing brush.

Vehicle washing installation and method for the operation thereof


A screen generation method of an energy management system according to the present disclosure may include performing system visualization modeling indicating a connection relationship between monitoring facilities in a power system to generate a first screen; generating a file containing information on a connection relationship between facilities used during the first screen generation; and generating a second screen for monitoring facilities during the real-time operation using the generated file.

1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to an energy management system, and more particularly, to an energy management system capable of avoiding engineering overlap between a system visualization modeling tool and a graphic editor to enhance the efficiency of engineering, and a method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
The database of an energy management system may be divided into three types such as an off-line database, a real-time integrated database and a history database.
The off-line database may be used for the change operation (addition, deletion, change) of an electric power system model, and engineered using an off-line database editor and a system visualization modeling tool.
The engineered off-line database as described above may be uploaded to a real-time integrated database to be used for the real-time operation of an energy management system.
At this time, a screen for the real-time operation should be engineered using a graphic editor for the real-time operation.
The graphic editor as a tool for engineering the screen used for real-time operation may engineer (create) the screen using a real-time integrated database, and the resultant output may be used to monitor or control during the real-time operation.
At this time, an off-line database editor for engineering the off-line database and a graphic editor for engineering the real-time integrated database will be described below.
The off-line database editor as a tool for engineering an off-line database among the databases of the energy management system includes the data of monitoring facilities in a power system on the off-line database.
At this time, the off-line database editor may include a system visualization modeling tool to input a connection relationship between facilities, and the system visualization modeling tool provides an environment capable of configuring a connection relationship between facilities in a graphic format to reduce human error in the connection relationship between facilities when inputting data during the course of general text editing. Furthermore, when storing a connection relationship between facilities, the off-line database editor may examine if there is any unregistered facility or if there is any double-connected facility to reduce the engineer's error.
The graphic editor is a tool for engineering a monitoring screen during the real-time operation of an energy management system. There are various kinds of monitor screens, but the engineering of a system single line diagram screen among them is engineered by arranging objects, and configuring (in other words "setting") the characteristics of the objects using a real-time integrated database converted from an off-line database.
Furthermore, for the single line diagram screen, there exist a lot of screens for each region and capacity, and thus a lot of effort is required for engineering one by one, and there exists an overlapping region with engineering in the system visualization modeling tool.
In other words, in the related art, the operation of configuring an off-line database and the operation of configuring a real-time integrated database are separately carried out from each other.
At this time, though there exists an overlapping region between the operation of configuring an off-line database and the operation of configuring a real-time integrated database, the engineering is carried out without taking it into consideration, thereby causing a problem in which a lot of time and effort is consumed.

Energy management system and a screen generation method thereof


In one aspect, a cradle system for supporting a load, the cradle system comprising a first arm with a first carriage assembly axially adjustable therealong and a second arm, opposite the first arm, with a second carriage assembly axially adjustable therealong. An actuator is associated with the first and second carriage assemblies and configured such that actuation of the actuator causes the first and second carriage assemblies to move axially in opposite directions. In another aspect, a cable support system comprising a support column and one or more tethers supported by the support column and configurable so that at least one tether is configured to move its supported cable in the same or opposite direction as the test head moves at a rate that is a constant multiplied by the test heads rate of motion where the constant may be greater than, equal to, or less than one.

The present invention relates to a testing device, and more particularly, to a cradle and cable handler for a test head manipulator.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,931,048 to Slocum, which is included for all of its teachings by reference, describes a test head positioner or manipulator that includes a cradle (FIG. 6 of '048) for holding a test head. Mechanisms within this cradle allow the test head to be moved in directions (defined in FIG. 2 of '048) In-Out, Nod Up-Down, and Theta Left-Right. (Nod motion may also be referred to as pitch or tumble elsewhere in the literature and herein. Theta motion may sometimes be referred to as yaw motion elsewhere in the literature and herein.) Each of the two sides of the test head is coupled to one of two cradle arms. A motorized actuator is provided in each of the two cradle arms to move that arm's test head coupling linearly along the arm. If the two actuators move their respective coupling in the same direction, In-Out motion is achieved. If the two actuators move their respective couplings in opposite directions, Theta Left-Right motions are achieved. The motor driven actuators include clutch mechanisms. With the clutches disengaged, a relatively small external force may be applied to move the test head slightly with respect to the cradle. This provides compliance to enable a test head dock to finely position the test head with respect to a test peripheral such as a package handler or wafer prober. This is a relatively complex and expensive solution in that it requires electromagnetic components and a controller to coordinate the motions of the two actuators. The '048 patent also identifies that the handling of the cable that connects the test head to a mainframe is difficult and complicates smooth positioning of the test head. As cables become increasingly large and awkward due to the inclusion of more conductors, air ducts for cooling, and hoses and tubing for conveying liquid coolants, this problem has grown increasingly difficult.

Cradle and cable handler for a test head manipulator


An inflatable life-saving swimming garment for a swimmer that comprises an inflatable part for floating the swimmer while being in distress and for creating, when inflated, volume difference between upper body part and lower body part of the swimmer. The garment includes an inflating system that consists of a gas tank with compressed gas for inflating, whenever required, the inflatable part; a controllable valve connecting between the air tank and the inflatable part, for allowing, whenever required, the compressed gas to inflate the inflatable part; a controller for analyzing the swimmer's status underwater and opening the valve after the swimmer has been in an actual or impending distress for a predetermined time; and a battery for supplying power for the operation of the controller and the valve.

Life-saving swimming garments are designed to decrease the number of drowning cases amongst children while swimming in the open sea or in swimming-pools. Swimming in the open sea requires overcoming safety problems, such as powerful drift currents and swirls, which are risky even for a skilled swimmer.
During the swimming season, swimming areas in the sea and swimming-pools are enormously crowded, and therefore, the ability of lifeguards to notice an emergency situation is limited, particularly in case of a drowning child who is not a skilled swimmer. It requires only a few seconds for a small child to disappear underwater without any attention paid by the adults in the vicinity, and especially the attention of the lifeguard who has to notice any exceptional or emergency situation. Also, toddlers, who have been left unsupervised in a bath for few moments, can lose their balance, while sitting, and drown, even though it is very shallow water.
Several approaches to overcome drowning problems use buoyant clothing, e.g., inflatable arm bands, annular flotation members, etc. All these inflatable devices generally limit the mobility of a young swimmer so that he cannot enjoy the swimming activity. Therefore, inflatable devices are usually not worn by the children who have developed some swimming skills.
Those swimming skills are often not sufficient to function in panic situations or at momentary lapsing of the swimmer's capabilities. Moreover, in most cases, toddlers or babies take off the inflatable device or refuse to put it on.
JP 2,241,890 discloses a floating device for rescuing a drowning person. The floating device is a necklace-shaped float tube that fits, before inflation, onto the neck of the swimmer. The necklace-shaped float tube is attached to a miniature sealed sack by means of an air pipe. The sealed sack contains miniature timer, an electronic circuit and an air bottle. The air bottle comprises a valve which is located in the air bottle stopper. The valve is connected to the electronic circuit which is attached to the miniature timer by wiring. A water-sensor that floats on the water surface is connected to the electronic circuit, by a wire. When the swimmer is drowning, the water-sensor wire is forced against the water-sensor which is sunk down and activates the miniature timer. The miniature timer is adjusted by the swimmer to a threshold underwater time. When the threshold time lapses, a signal is sent to the electrical circuit which, in turn, sends a command to the valve to open. After the valve is opened, the air from the bottle flows to the float tube through the air pipe, and inflates it. Thus, the inflated float tube floats to the swimmer up above the water surface level for breathing. However, there are some drawbacks associated with this device. When a child is playing in the sea or in a swimming-pool where the water is shallow, the danger of drowning still exists. In this case, the floating/rescuing device may be useless when a child is lying unconscious at the bottom of shallow swimming-pool or sea. The floating device may not inflate because the water-sensor is not deep enough to create the appropriate force between the water-sensor and the sealed sack, which is needed to operate the miniature timer. On the other hand, a child who is a more skilled swimmer wants to dive more than a few centimeters below the water surface level without restrictive devices. Using the device described hereinabove, restricts the swimmer to stay close to the water surface level. Thus, false alarms may be caused.
An additional drawback of such devices is their arrangement/structure. Swimming or paddling within an aquatic environment should be safe and comfortable feeling This floating device, when inflated, may apply pressure on the neck and may cause blood flow and breathing problems. Furthermore, the device's components are attached to the float tube by an air pipe and a wire that hang freely from the neck, thereby interrupting swimming.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an inflatable life-saving swimming garment for children and toddlers which overcomes the problems associated with the prior art.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an inflatable life-saving swimming garment for children and toddlers which is operable automatically in an actual emergency situation.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an inflatable life-saving swimming garment for children, which is instantly operable when the child is in distress.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide an inflatable life-saving swimming garment for children and toddlers which floats them up with the head directed upward.
It is another advantage of the present invention to provide an inflatable life-saving swimming garment for children and toddlers that is reliable.
Additional objects and advantages of the present invention shall become clear as the description proceeds.


Embodiments of the present disclosure can include systems, methods, and non-transitory computer program products for using color space encoded images to perform image-based information broadcasting. In certain aspects, the information broadcasting can include using the encoded images to broadcast information to multiple devices within view of the encoded images. Embodiments can also include broadcasting information independent of network availability. In certain aspects, a public display having a camera can register or capture a color space encoded image from a remote device, where the encoded image encodes a request for information from a user. The public display can send the encoded image to be decoded, and receive the decoded request for information. The public display can encode an encoded image representing a response, and display the encoded image representing a response for decoding by the user.

With smartphones and tablets having become widely deployed as well as 3G and Wi-Fi based access to Internet, data capture technologies work as an interface between databases and user devices. Example data capture technologies include bar codes, QR codes, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and Near Field Communication (NFC). Most of these technologies are used as either a visible or an invisible tag to connect these databases and user devices. The introduction of cloud storage adds extended use of data exchange between data storage and end user devices.
Many households include many different devices simultaneously connected to Wi-Fi access points. This ubiquitous Wi-Fi usage increases electromagnetic fields around the home environment. Despite the usefulness of Wi-Fi, long term consequences for the human body and general health are not clear.
End user devices such as smartphones and tablets are frequently equipped with photo and/or video cameras. These cameras can be used for capturing information presented in different visual forms. The other data capture technologies descried earlier, including bar codes and especially two dimensional (2D) bar codes such as QR codes, have attracted the attention of many researchers and companies due to the potential for inexpensive operation.
Bar codes have been used for mobile applications to deliver a multitude of different mobile services over mobile phones and other mobile communication or computing devices. Such applications range from providing Uniform Resource Locator (URL) information to link a mobile device to the Internet, through to using a bar code as a form of e-ticket for airlines or event admissions. Hence, there is an ever growing demand for higher capacity bar codes, suited for robust application on mobile devices. Traditional approaches to higher capacity bar codes include: (i) using a colored symbol set and (ii) increasing the size of the bar code. There are known limitations for either approach, especially related to mobile devices with compromised, low resolution cameras. The traditional data capacity of 1D and 2D bar codes is severely limited. This severely limited data capacity constrains possible applications of 1D and 2D bar codes, and their primary task is simply linking camera phones to designated Web sites. Additional tasks may then be performed based on the Web site. This operation again is based on using of Wi-Fi or 3G connectivity.
The maximum data capacity of 2D bar codes has been improving over the recent years, resulting in the introduction of newer applications.
Presently, the use of color-based bar code and other symbolic encoding in color space technologies using mobile devices such as camera mobile phones has been limited by the physical size of the actual bar code symbol in relation to the information encoded within, and also by the image capturing mechanism on mobile devices to discriminate or resolve effectively a greater multitude of colors, especially under varied lighting conditions by an inexperienced, lay user. Another limiting factor has been color fidelity of hard copy output devices, such as color printers, in reproducing the true colors of such color based bar code or symbol sets in a color space.
While bar codes can be used to provide 2D encoded data, they have not been used to provide real storage devices and media.

Information broadcast using color space encoded image


There is provided an optical pickup apparatus in which the collimator lens cannot be scratched before the support base for the objective lens actuator is fixed, and further dust can hardly come in and be deposited to result in contaminating the collimator lens and thereby degrading the performance for recording and/or reproduction. A pair of movement limiting walls 11 and 11 for limiting the horizontal movement of a support base 3 for an objective lens actuator 2 are formed on the upper surface of a base chassis 1 as contact prevention means for preventing the support base 3 from coming into contact with a collimator lens 5 before the support base 3 is fixed. The movement limiting walls 11 and 11 prevent the support base 3 from coming into contact with and scratching the collimator lens 5. Each movement limiting wall 11 has a wall length equal to or greater than the diameter of the collimator lens 5 to serve as a dust prevention wall, whereby dust can hardly come in and be deposited to result in contaminating the collimator lens 5 and thereby degrading the performance for recording and/or reproduction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to optical pickup apparatuses to be mounted on an optical disk apparatus and, in particular, to an optical pickup apparatus improved so that the collimator lens is not scratched.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional optical pickup apparatuses to be mounted on an optical disk apparatus have a structure in which a laser diode, a grating, a polarizing beam splitter or a half mirror, a raising mirror, and a light detector, etc., are installed on the lower surface (first surface) of a base chassis, while a collimator lens is installed in a hole in the base chassis above the raising mirror in such a manner as to be exposed at the upper surface (second surface) of the base chassis, and a support base for an objective lens actuator is fixed to the upper surface of the base chassis.
It will be appreciated that such optical pickup apparatuses should be assembled in such a manner as not to scratch the collimator lens or other optical components.
Meanwhile, there has been proposed an optical pickup apparatus in which the allowable displacement of an objective lens holder in the tracking direction is limited by erecting a pair of stopper walls on the upper surface of a base chassis and inserting the pair of stopper walls into through holes in a support base for an objective lens actuator when mounting the support base on the base chassis to arrange the pair of stopper walls on either side of the objective lens holder (refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-319342).
There has also been proposed an objective lens positioning mechanism in which an actuator base is positioned tiltably in all directions against an optical body by providing a spherical or conical convex portion on either one of the optical body and the actuator base and fitting the convex portion into a circular recessed portion or hole provided in the other one of the optical body and the actuator base (refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 8-161756).
However, in such conventional optical pickup apparatuses as mentioned above, since the collimator lens is exposed at the upper surface of the base chassis and the objective lens actuator is movable horizontally on the upper surface of the base chassis until positioned and fixed adhesively to the base chassis, the support base for the objective lens actuator may come into contact with the collimator lens that is exposed at the upper surface of the base chassis to scratch the collimator lens. Alternatively, even in optical pickup apparatuses assembled without scratching the collimator lens, there is a possibility that dust comes in through the clearance between the support base and the base chassis in the vicinity of the collimator lens to be deposited on the collimator lens over time, resulting in contaminating the collimator lens to degrade the performance for recording and/or reproduction.
These problems cannot be solved easily even by employing such a technique as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-319342, which intends to limit the allowable displacement of the objective lens holder in the tracking direction by erecting a pair of stopper walls on the upper surface of the base chassis and not at all intend to prevent scratching the collimator lens, or cannot be solved even by employing such a technique as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 8-161756, in which the actuator base is positioned tiltably in all directions against the optical body.

Optical pickup apparatus with protected collimator lens


Carrier comprised of a hard magnetic core, the pores thereof containing polymer, and thereover s coating.

This invention is generally directed to developer compositions, and more specifically, the present invention relates to developer compositions with certain carriers. In embodiments of the present invention the carrier particles can be prepared by insitu processes and which carriers are comprised of a suitable core, such as a metallic core, or a metal oxide core, and preferably a hard magnetic porous metallic core or porous metal oxide core with a polymer contained in a number of the pores, that is for example from about 70 to about 90 percent of the pores, or all the pores that is about 100 percent of the pores, and wherein each of the pores is filled with polymer, for example from about 50 to about 100 percent, and preferably from about 90 to about 100 percent, and processes thereof. The carriers of the present invention may be mixed with toner of resin, colorant, and optional toner additives to provide developers that can be selected for the development of images in electrostatographic, especially xerographic imaging systems, and digital systems.
Insitu refers for example, to the polymerization being accomplished inside the carrier pores and at the surfaces of core particles; porous refers for example, to a foam-like structure, or a core that contains a plurality of pores. By hard magnetic is meant for example that the core comprises a hard magnetic material having a magnetic coercivity greater than about 200 for example about 300 to about 6,000 gauss.
Hard magnetic refers for example, generally to a core with permanent magnetic characteristics, that is the carrier possesses magnetic characteristics in the presence and in the absence of a magnet, and possesses a coercivity greater than about 200 gauss; and soft magnetic refers for example, to a carrier core that possesses magnetic characteristics in the present of a magnet and does not possess magnetic characteristics in the absence of a magnet.
The carrier, and the polymerization process to synthesize carrier of the present invention overcomes, or minimizes a number of disadvantages of the prior art. Furthermore, the polymerization process of the present invention enables the synthesis of hard magnetic carriers with wide ranges of triboelectric charging values, and various conductivities, and provides a small size carrier of for example, from about 25 to about 55 microns in volume average diameter as determined by a Coulter Counter. Further, when resin coated carrier particles are prepared by the polymerization, especially polymerization process of the present invention, the majority, that is, over 90 percent of the coating materials, such as polymer, or polymers are fused to the carrier surface thereby reducing the number of toner impaction sites on the carrier material. Additionally, there can be achieved with the carriers and processes of the present invention, independent of one another, desirable triboelectric charging characteristics and conductivity values; that is, for example the triboelectric charging parameter is not primarily dependent on the carrier coating weight as is believed to be the situation with the process of U.S. Pat. No. 4,233,387 wherein an increase in coating weight on the carrier particles may function to also permit an increase in the triboelectric charging characteristics. Specifically, therefore, with the carrier compositions and process of the present invention there can be formulated developers with selected triboelectric charging characteristics and/or conductivity values in a number of different combinations.


A computer system comprises: a forwarding node(s) that processes a packet received from any other apparatus based on a packet handling operation; a communication control server that controls the packet handling operation stored in the forwarding node(s); and a physical server(s) on which a virtual server operates, wherein the communication control server stores a topology of a communication network including the forwarding node(s) and the physical server(s) and an operating status of a virtual server(s) connected to the communication network, requests resuming an operation of a virtual server(s) in a suspended state upon occurrence of a communication request to the suspended virtual server(s), and sets a communication path for forwarding a packet for the communication request in the forwarding node(s), based on a location at which the suspended virtual server(s) is connected to the communication network after resumption of the operation.

In recent years, server virtualization that utilizes a virtualization technology is widely used. By utilizing a virtualization technology, the costs related to constructing and operating an infrastructure can be reduced since physical resources such as CPU (Central Processing Unit) and memory can be effectively utilized.
As a service that utilizes a virtualization technology, there is the VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting service that rents virtual servers instead of physical servers. Compared to a rental service of physical servers, the VPS hosting service can provide services at low rates by utilizing the cost reduction effect due to virtualization.
When there is no load, the resources to be used can be further reduced by temporarily suspending the virtual server. For instance, in a case where the virtual server is a Web server, a state without any load is one in which there is no HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) communication to the virtual server. When the virtual server is suspended, the memory used by the virtual server is released after its contents are written to a disk. Further, the virtual server stops consuming the CPU resources. Therefore, temporarily suspending the virtual server increases the physical resources available to a physical server that has been running the virtual server. Further, increasing the number of virtual servers suspended reduces the number of physical servers needed to operate a system and it becomes possible to reduce costs required for bringing in and operating the system.
As a related technology, Patent Literature (PTL) 1 describes a technology that freezes a job being executed by giving a freezing instruction to a virtual server executing the job and that has the virtual server resume executing the frozen job by giving a resume instruction to the frozen virtual server. Further, Patent Literature 2 describes a technology that realizes migration of a virtual machine (virtual server) based on OpenFlow (refer to Non Patent Literatures (NPLs) 1 and 2).    PTL 1:    WO2007/108062A1    PTL 2:    Japanese Patent Kokai Publication No. JP2011-070549A    NPL 1:    N. McKeown, et al., "OpenFlow: Enabling Innovation in Campus Networks," Mar. 14, 2008, [online], [searched on May 21, 2012], the Internet, <URL:http://www.openflow.org/documents/openflow-wp-latest.pdf>.    NPL 2:    "OpenFlow Switch Specification, Version 1.1.0 Implemented (Wire Protocol 0×02)," Feb. 28, 2011, [online], [searched on May 21, 2012], the Internet, <URL:http://www.openflow.org/documents/openflow-spec-v1.1.0.pdf>.

Computer system, communication control server, communication control method, and program


Provided is a configuration that makes up for a lack of tensile rigidity and a lack of collision properties at the same time. [Solution] An automotive exterior panel according to the present invention: an exterior material 110; and a reinforcing member 120 that is in contact along an automobile inside surface of the exterior material 110 and of which a second moment of area in a direction orthogonal to the exterior material is less than or equal to 15,000 mm4 in a cross section orthogonal to a longitudinal direction of the 10 reinforcing member. By this configuration, the second moment of area in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the reinforcing member 120 is made less than or equal to 15,000 mm4, and hence a lack of tensile rigidity can be made up for at the same time.

Thus far, Patent Literature 1 below has described a technology that assumes the provision of a reinforcing member of an outer sheet of an automotive body that can achieve a weight reduction of the component itself and has a high effect of improvement in the surface rigidity of the outer sheet of the car body, for example.


Procedure for detecting the sealing state of a fuel cell stack in which, as soon as the fuel cell stack is considered to be extinguished, the sum of the pressures in the anode circuit and in the cathode circuit equal to P1 is recorded. After an additional period of time of 180 seconds, the sum of the pressures in the anode circuit and in the cathode circuit equal to P2 is recorded. If P2 is less than P1, an alarm is triggered.

It is known that fuel cell stacks produce electrical energy directly via an electrochemical redox reaction using hydrogen (the fuel) and oxygen (the oxidant) without passing via a mechanical energy conversion step. This technology seems promising, especially for motor vehicle applications. A fuel cell stack comprises in general the series combination of unitary elements each consisting essentially of an anode and a cathode separated by a polymeric membrane allowing ions to pass from the anode to the cathode.
It is very important to have a precise evaluation of the sealing state of the fuel cell, that is to say the sealing of the gas circuit at the anode (fuel gas circuit) and the sealing of the oxidant gas circuit (gas circuit at the cathode). This is because a gas leak will inevitably disturb the operation of the fuel cell stack and pollute the environment thereof, in particular if this is a fuel gas leak. As a consequence, the fuel cell stack may suffer a loss of power, a reduction in efficiency or premature ageing, and the operating conditions, for safe operation, may even be compromised.
Patent application WO 2003/061046 discloses an extinction procedure for a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell operating with air as oxidant gas. The procedure disclosed consists in maintaining the pressure difference between the anode and the cathode below an acceptable level. To do so, the air feed is maintained during extinction and the air pressure is controlled so as to follow the drop in pressure on the hydrogen side. However, maintaining the air feed risks causing a hydrogen starvation, which for stack survival is quite worrying. Moreover, the above document teaches no means for observing the sealing state of a fuel cell stack.

Method for detecting the sealed state of a fuel cell

COMPAGNIE GENERALE DES ETABLISSEMENTS MICHELIN


Provided is an angular velocity sensor including a plurality of angular velocity detection units each outputting a different detection result, and including a common driving circuit to drive the angular velocity detection units. The angular velocity detection units of the angular velocity sensor of the present invention are configured to have different driving amplitudes when being driven by a driving signal at the same frequency.

Known angular velocity sensors (gyro) include: mechanical type sensors that use the precession of a rotating body; optical type sensors that use a change in timing to receive laser beams revolving in a rotating enclosure; and fluid type sensors that spray a sensing gas to a heated wire in an enclosure and detect variations of the amount of sprayed gas with the rotation of the enclosure via the temperature of the wire, for example.
Recently, there is a growing demand for angular velocity sensors in car navigation systems, vehicle's antiskid brake systems, and other systems to detect the orientation of a vehicle. Compared with the aforementioned types of sensors, inexpensive, light-weighted and compact vibration type angular velocity sensors are becoming a mainstream. The vibration type angular velocity sensors are configured to, when an angular velocity is exerted on an oscillator vibrating in a predetermined reference direction, detect a new vibration component (hereinafter referred to as "angular velocity vibration component") based on a Coriolis force in a detecting direction orthogonal to the reference vibration direction, and output angular velocity information based on the detected vibration component. The following Patent Literature 1 describes a tuning-fork type angular velocity sensor as an exemplary configuration of the vibration type angular velocity sensor.
In the antiskid brake system of a vehicle, a value (command value) of a steering angle sensor installed in a steering wheel is compared with an output value (measured value) of an angular velocity sensor incorporated in the antiskid brake system to determine whether the vehicle is skidding. Based on the determination result, the engine output and braking forces of the four wheels are controlled so as to stop skidding of the vehicle body.
A rollover detection system of a vehicle determines whether the vehicle is rolled over or not based on an output value (measured value) of an angular velocity sensor built in the system, and inflates an airbag and further stops the feeding of fuel based on the result, thus preventing a secondary accident.
Each of these systems has to measure an angular velocity in a different detection direction. For instance, the antiskid brake system of a vehicle has to detect the rotation around an axis that is orthogonal to the ground. Meanwhile, the rollover detection system has to detect the rotation around an axis that is horizontal to the ground.
The detection range also may vary from one system to another. For instance, in the case of the antiskid brake system, relatively slow turn is a major control target, and the angular velocity sensor for this system has a relatively narrow detection range and high resolution. Whereas, since the rollover detection system aims to detect rollover caused by an accident, the angular velocity sensor for this system has a wider detection range and relatively low resolution. In this way, angular velocity sensors have to have a different detection direction, a detection range and resolution for each system.
The following Patent Literature 2 discloses the configuration including two angular velocity detection units having a revolving weight, in which an output signal from each angular velocity detection unit is calculated, thus detecting angular velocities and accelerations in two-axis directions. The following Patent Literature 3 discloses the configuration to perform calibration so that each of a plurality of angular velocity detection elements detects a change in angular velocity of a predetermined range.


A diaper for adults includes a front waist region, a rear waist region and a crotch region extending therebetween, wherein side edge portions of the front and rear waist regions are detachably connected to each other so as to form a waist hole and a pair of leg holes, the side edge portions have a dimension of at least 150 mm as measured in a longitudinal direction, and a position correcting system to correct relative position of first and second fastening components when the first and second waist regions are connected to each other comprises at least one spacing zone defined between setting zones for tow or more fastening components into which the first fastening component is divided in the longitudinal direction.

The present invention generally relates to a diaper for adults.
In recent years, diapers for adults have been in brisk demand. When such diapers for adults are to be put on a wearer who is confined to bed, it has often been the case to use a diaper of pants-type adapted to be opened along transversely opposite lateral margins and to be reclosable along these lateral edges, for example, as disclosed in National Publication of Japanese Translated Version No. 2002-532147 (hereinafter referred to as "Reference").
The diaper disclosed in Reference includes a side panel extending transversely outward from an absorbent assembly in one of waist regions and a mechanical fastening component provided on the other waist region. The side panel is detachably and refastenably engaged with the associated mechanical fastening components from the inside so as to maintain the diaper in the pants-type.
In the case of the diaper disclosed in Reference, the opposite waist regions are refastenably connected together by means of the mechanical fastening component so as to maintain the diaper in the pants-type. However, the diaper disclosed in Reference relates to training pants for baby and necessarily has a size smaller than the diaper for adults. Accordingly, the technique disclosed in Reference can not be directly applied to the diaper for adults without causing various problems.
One of these problems lies in difficulty encountered by the user when the user tries to connect a waist region to the other waist region. While FIG. 2 of Reference illustrates vertically long fastening components, such vertically long fastening components will be too long to be properly engaged one with another over full length thereof in a single procedure. This may result in that the fastening components are not precisely put flat together and, for example, in the case of the mechanical fastener, a surface having a plurality of hooks may be exposed. The hooks exposed in this manner may irritate the wearer's skin, causing the wearer to experience a feeling of discomfort and/or may be caught by the wearer's garment, causing the mechanical fastener to be peeled off from the diaper. Particularly in the case of a surface fastener, the hook carrying sheet usually has a relatively high stiffness and skin irritation due thereto is correspondingly significant. Furthermore, if the hook carrying sheet and the loop carrying sheet are not precisely put flat together, it must be tried again to connect the waist regions to each other after the hook carrying sheet has been peeled off from the loop carrying sheet.


A method of communicating information from a sensor includes the step of modulating the emission of energy from an energy source in a manner that corresponds to information to be transmitted from the sensor through a transmissive section in the sensor housing. Energy from the energy source, which is within the housing of the sensor, also interacts with an analyte in a detectable manner. A sensor for detecting the presence of an analyte in an environment being tested includes a housing, an energy source within the housing, at least one detector within the housing adapted to detect interaction between energy emitted by the energy source and the analyte, a transmissive section in the housing through which energy emitted from the energy source can be transmitted; and a controller within the housing in operative connection with the energy source to modulate emission of energy from the energy source in a manner to communicate information through the transmissive section.

Infrared gas sensors use an infrared energy source to detect the presence of an analyte in an environment being tested. In general, the analyte absorbs infrared energy of a certain wavelength and this absorption can be quantified to determine the concentration of the analyte in the test environment. Several embodiments, of infrared fluid sensors or analyzers are discussed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,355,234, 4,598,201 and 4,902,896, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
An example of a commercially available infrared gas sensor is the ULTIMA® XIR Gas Monitor, available from Mine Safety Appliances Company of Pittsburgh, Pa. The operation of that sensor is discussed in detail in the ULTIMA X Series Gas Monitors Instruction Manual available from Mine Safety Appliances Company, Instrument Division, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
In general, the ULTIMA XIR Gas Monitor uses an electronically modulated source of infrared energy and two detectors that convert the infrared energy into electrical signals. The source of infrared energy emits light energy over a broad spectrum of wavelengths, including visible light. The light passes through two different wavelength filters. Each detector is sensitive to a different range of wavelengths in the infrared portion of the light spectrum. The source emission is directed through a window in the main enclosure into an open volume. A mirror at the end of this volume, protected by a second window, directs the energy back through the window in the main enclosure and onto the detectors. During operation of the sensor, the open volume is surrounded by a cap through which environmental gas can pass, but which protects the volume from exposure to wind and other environmental elements that might cause erroneous or erratic readings. The presence of an analyte gas in the open volume reduces the intensity of the source emission measured by the analytical detector but not the intensity of the source emission measured by the reference detector. In that regard, the reference detector measures infrared intensity at a wavelength outside of the analyte absorption range. A microprocessor monitors the ratio of the two signals and, in the case of a combustible gas, for example, correlates the ratio into a % Lower Explosion Limit (LEL) combustible reading.
Typically, infrared gas sensors are initially calibrated by the manufacturer. However, periodic recalibration of the sensor is often desirable. Under current practice, calibration techniques for infrared sensors require the use of an intelligent external calibration device. Such calibration devices typically communicate with a main monitor unit to which the infrared sensor is attached at the sensing location. The main monitor unit typically includes a user feedback display and appropriate communications circuitry (to communicate with a control center remote from the sensor as well as with an external calibration device) enclosed within a housing that is specifically designed for use in a hazardous location (for example, the housing and display unit window can form an explosion-proof enclosure in the case of a monitor for combustible hydrocarbons). For example, an ULTIMA X Calibrator or an ULTIMA X Controller is available for use with the ULTIMA XIR Gas Monitor. Those units are hand-held, battery-powered units, that allow one person, non-intrusive calibration of the ULTIMA XIR Gas Monitor without opening the monitor or sensor housings. Use of the ULTIMA X Calibrator and Controller is described in the ULTIMA/ULTIMA X Series Controller and Calibrator Instruction Manual, available from Mine Safety Appliances Company, Instrument Division, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
During calibration of a gas sensor, one or more sample or calibration gases having a known concentration of analyte gas (or a simulant gas) are preferably applied directly to the sensor. Typically a "zero" gas, having no analyte therein, is applied to the sensor during calibration. A "span" gas, having a known, non-zero analyte (or simulant) concentration, can also be applied during calibration. Often, the concentration of analyte (or simulant) in the span gas is approximately at the midrange of the overall concentration range of the sensor. In many cases, it is necessary to perform only a zero gas procedure in periodically calibrating an infrared gas sensor, as restoring the sensor's zero performance is typically sufficient to restore the sensor's span performance.
An intelligent calibrator such as the ULTIMA X Calibrator or the ULTIMA X Controller can communicate with the gas monitor/sensor (using, for example, infrared energy or radio frequency energy) to place the sensor in a calibration mode. Various inputs are provided on the calibrator to communicate any number of functions to the gas monitor to initiate, for example, a zero procedure, zero and span procedures, a network address change, a span value change etc. In general, such intelligent calibrators operate very well. However, relatively complicated electronics in both the calibrator and monitor are often required, resulting in substantial expense and operational complexity. Moreover, in the case of infrared sensors for point detection of combustible gas(es) the calibrator must be housed in an explosion-proof housing or be intrinsically safe, adding further expense.
It is thus desirable to develop alternative communication/calibration devices, systems and methods that are relatively inexpensive and easy to operate.

Sensor having a communication device, sensor communication system and method of communicating information from a sensor


A system, method, and computer program product are provided for real-time HTML rendering of desktop applications. In operation, a system identifies one or more desktop based legacy system applications for transforming into one or more HTML based applications in real-time. The system queries user interface (UI) elements of the one or more desktop based legacy system applications. The system maps the UI elements of the one or more desktop based legacy system applications to HTML UI elements associated with the one or more HTML based applications. Additionally, the system opens a web-socket between the HTML UI elements and the UI elements associated with the one or more desktop based legacy system applications to transfer data and events based on user actions in the one or more HTML based applications and responses from the one or more desktop based legacy system applications.

A legacy system, in the context of computing, refers to an outdated computer system, programming language, or application software that is being used. Currently, there are many companies that rely on legacy system technologies, and even though it is strongly advisable for these companies to set a clear strategy to migrate from legacy system applications to modern development platforms, these companies still find it inefficient and risky to migrate from legacy system technology to modern technologies. This may be due to many reasons, including regression in functionality, security aspects, lost productivity, disruption to the business, costs, and other uncertainties. In addition, exposing legacy system screens to remote locations such as retail stores involves purchasing and implementing third party solutions for virtualization.
Today, there are various existing approaches to move away from legacy system technology. This includes performing a re-write, buying a new product, and tool based migration. Each of these approaches has its own risks, return on investment, cost, and learning curve.
There is thus a need for addressing these and/or other issues associated with the prior art.

System, method, and computer program for real-time HTML rendering of windows applications


Disclosed is an internal-combustion engine controller capable of improving emission characteristics at a start of an internal-combustion engine. When injection during an exhaust stroke is controlled in a port-injection engine, the engine controller ECU performs the first fuel injection during t1 to t2 according to a memory-based crank angle as illustrated in FIG. 12(b) at a fuel injection timing before determination of an actual stroke. Thus, the injected fuel has been introduced into a cylinder during the actual stroke. If fuel is not injected during t1N to t3N within the next exhaust stroke as denoted by the solid line, this causes misfire in the cylinder, so that the engine rotation at the start cannot be smooth. Thus, the ECU clears a finished fuel injection flag (F_INJ) at an incorrect crank angle storage determination timing (tJUD) as denoted by the dashed-dotted line, thereby capable of controlling the fuel injection.

Conventionally, techniques have been known that efficiently determine a cylinder at the time of starting an internal-combustion engine. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a technology including: monitoring a crank angle position even during stoppage of an internal-combustion engine; calculating, based on the result, a crank angle at the time of starting the internal-combustion engine; and determining a cylinder of which a fuel injection is performed. In addition, Patent Literature 1 discloses a technique including: a first determination unit which determines a cylinder based on information regarding a crank angle position at the time of stopping an internal-combustion engine; and a second determination unit which determines a cylinder by using a combination of different Hi/Low logic signals of a cam angle sensor (corresponding to a "TDC sensor" as described herein), whereby a fuel injection is controlled at the time of starting the internal-combustion engine. Then, when a mismatch occurs between the results of the cylinder determined by the first determination unit and the cylinder determined by the second determination unit and fuel has already been injected based on the cylinder determination by the first determination unit, an amount of subsequent fuel injection of the cylinder is compensated by subtraction.

Control device of internal combustion engine


Inhibition of protein kinases having one or more cysteine residues within the ATP binding site is effected by contacting the kinase, per se or in a cell or subject, with an inhibitory-effective amount of a compound having a heterocyclic core structure comprised of two or more fused rings containing at least one nitrogen ring atom, and an electrophilic substituent that is capable of reacting with a cysteine residue within the ATP binding site of a kinase.

Phosphorylation of serine, threonine, and tyrosine residues is a major mechanism for regulating protein function in eukaryotic cells. Protein kinases, the enzymes that catalyze these reactions, regulate all aspects of cell physiology and have thus emerged as therapeutic targets for a variety of human diseases. Small-molecule inhibitors of the Abelson tyrosine kinase (Abl) and the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), for example, have been developed into clinically useful anti-cancer drugs. In addition to providing potential drug leads, selective inhibitors promise to increase the understanding of the cellular roles of protein kinases, most of which are poorly understood. Nearly all kinase inhibitors target the highly conserved adenosine triphosphate (ATP) binding site. Because the ATP binding sites are structurally similar even in divergent kinase domains, the rational design of inhibitors that selectively target even a subset of the ˜500 human kinases is a daunting challenge.
One attribute that makes protein kinases attractive drug targets is their ATP-binding site, a deep, hydrophobic cleft at the interface of two conserved subdomains. Many small molecules have been discovered that bind to this site with high affinity. However, because the ATP-binding sites of all protein kinases are highly similar, it has been difficult to design selective inhibitors that specifically target one or a few of the 500 human protein kinases.
The Rsk serine/threonine protein kinases have critical functions in the Ras/MAP kinase signaling pathway, a pathway which is deregulated in many human cancers. Of the four Rsk isoforms (Rsk1-4), Rsk1 and Rsk2 are the best characterized. Rsk1 and Rsk2 are directly activated by the MAP kinases, ERK1 and ERK2. Known substrates of Rsk1,2 include transcription factors involved in cell growth and differentiation (e.g. CREB, c-fos, estrogen receptor) and apoptosis (NF-κB). Rsk1,2 have thus been implicated in transcriptional control downstream of Ras and ERK1,2.
Rsk1-4 are unusual protein kinases in that they have two kinase domains, the NTD (NH2-terminal domain) and the CTD (CO2H-terminal domain). All Rsk substrates that have been characterized thus far are phosphorylated by the NTD. Downstream signaling by the NTD requires at least three sequential phosphorylation events: (1) phosphorylation of the CTD activation loop (T573) by ERK1,2; (2) intramolecular phosphorylation of a linker region (S380) by the CTD, which creates a docking site for the kinase PDK1; (3) phosphorylation of the NTD activation loop (S221) by PDK1.

Selective serine/threonine kinase inhibitors

Abstract: Preferred compounds include certain pyrrolopyrimidines and oxindoles having such an electrophilic substituent and optionally an aromatic or heteroaromatic substituent that is capable of interacting with a threonine or smaller residue located in the gatekeeper position of the kinase.

Abstract: Kinases lacking such cysteine residues may be engineered or modified so that they are capable of being inhibited by such compounds by replacing a valine or other amino acid residue within the ATP binding site by a cysteine residue.

The Regents of the University of California


A case for holding a mobile device. The case comprises a case defining an interior compartment for receiving the mobile device therein; a rotatable platform connected with the case; a hand-strap connected with the platform for being held by a user; and a pullout stand connected with the platform.

Mobile devices exist which have a flat, relatively thin configuration. The thickness of the device is small in comparison to the length and width. Such devices may be referred to as tablet or slate-type devices due to the resemblance to their analogue, non-processor-based predecessors. One such device is the manufactured by Apple, Inc. of Cupertino, Calif.
These mobile devices are used for varying functionality in differing environments, e.g., the device may be used as a note-taker, a book reader, a personal life sharing device, a movie player, and general business functionalities such as e-mail, and document, spreadsheet, and presentation preparation. As a result of the broad range of uses to which such a mobile device may be put, users often need to hold the unit easily in their hands and also be able to position the device on a surface in order to display multimedia content.

Case with integrated swivel hand-strap and pullout stand system


An igniter apparatus for igniting a tobacco-based product having a sensitized tip, comprising: a first portion having a first surface and a second portion having a second surface, at least one of the first and second surfaces being movable with respect to other surface, wherein at least a portion of the first and second surfaces are substantially parallel to one another; a channel at least partially formed between the first and second portions, the channel having at least one opening configured to receive the tobacco-based product as it is inserted therein; and an abrasive material coated on at least a portion of the channel, the abrasive material being configured to at least partially contact the tobacco-based product when the first and second surfaces are manually positioned a predetermined distance from one another.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and should not be construed as constituting prior art.
The production of tobacco-based products (cigarettes) has become a major industry with many consumers routinely purchasing and consuming these products. Tobacco products require an ignition source for the consumer to effectively smoke the tobacco-based contents. Consumers currently use many different methods for lighting these products. Gas lighters, electrical lighters, and matches are all commonly used as methods for igniting the tobacco within these products. The large consumer base for tobacco-based products has necessarily generated a large consumer base for the ignition sources as well.
There are several flaws in current ignition sources. The gas lighter is often made of plastic or metal and must maintain the appropriate amount of fuel to be effective. Gas lighters often do not maintain the appropriate flame when used in windy or rainy conditions. Once the fuel runs out, the lighter has to be either discarded or refilled. The gas lighter also requires significant vital resources to produce and to operate. Further, the use and disposal of the lighter creates significant negative impacts upon the environment.
Using a match as an ignition source for tobacco-based products has many undesirable effects as well. Matches are sensitive to the surrounding environment, and often cannot be used if the matches are wet or used in a windy area. The user is also limited to a set number of matches, and once the last match is used, the user will have no ignition means for lighting the tobacco-based products.
Electronic lighters can be very effective, and reusable, but usually require a bulky battery or frequent recharge to generate enough energy to ignite tobacco. The electronic lighters can also be adversely affected by water. Further, improper disposal of a portable electronic lighter can introduce harmful battery acid into the environment.
The users of tobacco based products are inconvenienced and potentially endangered by relying upon these separate ignition sources. Lighters and matches can be maintained in a relatively small compartment that can be easily lost or misplaced. Further, the misuse of these products is inherently dangerous for the consumer. Misused ignition sources frequently cause accidental fires. The propensity of matches and lighters to be misplaced significantly increases the chances that a minor will obtain and negligently misuse the product possibly resulting in severe harm.
Finally, tobacco-based products can be manufactured with a sensitized tip that allows ignition by striking against an abrasive material. This uniquely couples the ignition source to the tobacco itself. Past designs utilize strike pads on the side of a pack holding the tobacco-based product. Similar to lighting a match, the sensitized tip is dragged down the strike pad to create enough friction to ignite the tip. Lighting the tobacco-based product by striking it against the strike pad creates difficulties because the product can easily be broken when attempting to ignite the tip and the strike pad can lose the abrasive qualities necessary to ignite the tip.
What is needed is an improved design for facilitating the lighting of a tobacco-based product. The present application is intended to improve upon and resolve some of these known deficiencies of the art.

Lighting apparatus for tobacco-based products


A driver circuit may be configured to control a power switch. The driver circuit may comprise an output pin configured to deliver signals to a gate of the power switch to control an ON/OFF state of the power switch, and a comparator configured to compare a gate-to-source voltage of the power switch to a first threshold when the power switch is ON and to compare the gate-to-source voltage of the power switch to a second threshold when the power switch is OFF.

Field Effect Transistors (FETs) are often used as power switches to control the delivery of power to a load. Examples of FETs may include, but are not limited to, junction field-effect transistor (JFET), metal-oxide-semiconductor FET (MOSFET), dual-gate MOSFET, any other type of FET, or any combination of the same. Examples of MOSFETS may include, but are not limited to, PMOS, NMOS, DMOS, or any other type of MOSFET, or any combination of the same. MOSFETs may be formed in silicon, gallium nitride, silicon carbide, or other materials.
Power switches are typically controlled by a driver circuit via a modulation control signal, such as pulse width modulation (PWM), pulse frequency modulation (PFM), pulse duration modulation, pulse density modulation, or another type of modulation control signal. Modulation control signals can be applied to the gate of a power switch so as to control on/off switching of the power switch, and thereby control the average amount of power delivered through the power switch to a load. The on/off switching of the power switch effectively chops its power delivery up into discrete parts. The average value of voltage and/or current fed to a load can be controlled by turning the switch ON and OFF at a fast rate. The longer the switch is on compared to the off periods, the higher the total power supplied to the load.
In many applications, two different power switches are configured in a high-side and low-side configuration, and the ON-OFF switching of the two power switches is synchronized in order to deliver the desired power to a switch node positioned between the high-side and low-side switch. Moreover, in some systems, different sets of high-side and low-side switches may be used to control different phases of a multi-phase electrical motor.
It is often desirable to monitor operation of power switches in order to promote safety and identify potential fault conditions.

Gate-to-source monitoring of power switches during runtime


In a method for controlling the growth of microbes grown in a medium to high cell-densities by the fed-batch technology, a two-phase system, having a liquid phase (cultivation medium) and a solid or gel phase, the solid or gel phase provides a source of substrate-delivering polymer which is turned by an enzyme in a controlled way into a growth-limiting substrate or pH adjusting agent. Also described is a method for restricting the synthesis of growth-limiting metabolites and preventing oxygen-depletion in microbial cell cultures.

Shaken cultures are usually batch-cultures where all the components are added at the beginning of the cultivation. Too high substrate concentration, inadequate aeration, uncontrolled growth, synthesis of harmful metabolites (over-flow or anaerobic metabolisms), catabolite repression, and even substrate intoxication easily emerge in non-controlled shaken cultures. The biomass yield in shaken E. coli cultures is typically in the range of 1-2 g/l (dry weight), in microscale often much lower. With well-designed substrate feeding and pH control up to 50-fold higher biomass can be produced in commonly used conventional laboratories or industrial bioreactors. Control strategies (continuous monitoring and controlling) as applied in larger scale are not easily applicable in small shaken cultures. Setup of continuous monitoring and feeding is difficult to realize in the small scale. Non-controlled growth and insufficient aeration will fast bring oxygen-depletion. During oxygen limitation fermentation products (acetate, CO2, formic acid, lactic acid, ethanol, succinic acid) are formed in quantities which inhibit the growth of bacteria and impair recombinant protein processes. Some of these metabolites can be synthesized also under aerobic conditions, if glucose uptake and glycolysis are faster than the capacity of the citric acid cycle. During such over-flow metabolism acetyl-CoA is transformed into acetate which is secreted to the culture medium. Catabolic repression of respiration (Crabtree effect) can occur also during long-term exposure to high glucose concentrations even in aerobic conditions.
To avoid oxygen limitation, over-flow metabolism and the Crabtree effect, high-cell-density cultivations in bioreactors normally apply the fed-batch technology. In substrate-limited fed-batch cultivation the bacterial growth rate can be controlled with one limiting substrate (typically glucose which is used as the sole carbon source). Oxygen consumption increases relative to respiratory activity (substrate usage) and growth rate. Therefore, by suppressing growth of microbes by substrate-limitation also oxygen limitation can be avoided. However the majority of simple cultivations are done in shake flasks without monitoring or feeding possibilities. The applied cultivation method is usually batch-cultivation. The biomass yield typically remains low, and the quality of the so-produced culture is non-predictable and often poor. High-cell-densities are not achieved with the batch method because such cell densities would require so high initial consentration of nutrients that it would be toxic to the microbe.
Since measuring and feeding devices are not normally applicable for simple shaken cultures, alternative strategies have been developed. In medical therapies drugs are often supplied by slow release of a substrate over a long period of time. Drug delivery-like systems are rarely applied in microbial cultivations, as the substrates normally are small molecules such as glucose and ammonia, for which the release rate is difficult to control. With a "drug-delivery" like system Lübbe et al. (Appl Microbiol Biotechnol (1985) 22: 424-427) have supplied NH4Cl in Streptomyces clavuligerus cultivation and recently Jeude et al. (Biotechnol Bioeng (2006) Vol. 96, No. 3:433-443) have used silicone elastomer (polydimethylsiloxane) disks containing glucose to create fed-batch like conditions for cultivations (see also Büchs et al. WO 2006/119867 "Fermentation method and apparatus for its implementation") These disks can be added to cultivation vessels, but they are not integrated parts of them. However, relatively small amounts of glucose can be packed into such a matrix. Furthermore, the glucose release rate from such matrix is usually fastest in the beginning of cultivation, when the amount of microorganisms is lowest and the risk for over-flow metabolism is highest. This may explain, why such systems have not rapidly become popular in simple cultivations of the biotechnologically most important bacterial species, Escherichia coli.
Tyrell et al. (J. Bacteriol 75 (1958): 1-4; "Biphasic system for growing bacteria in concentrated culture") have presented a method to pack nutrients like yeast extract into a gel. This method however has no possibilities of controlling the release rate of nutrients, especially glucose-release from such a gel occurs extremely fast. Therefore it is not applicable for high-cell-density cultivation. This method never became popular, since nutrient-rich well-buffered complex cultivation media like super broth or terrific broth are easier to use and provide higher cell densities.
An interesting application for animal cell cultures has been presented by Green and James (U.S. Pat. No. 3,926,723 "Method of controllably releasing glucose to a cell culture medium" 1975). They used small amount of soluble starch as the carbon source for cells. The horse, pig or bovine serum used in cultivation medium provided enough catalytic activity to release gradually small amounts of glucose. Also added enzymes could be used instead of the serum enzymes. This approach used only 2 g/l of starch, which in theory would support max 1 g/l of biomass (cells). In human cell cultures no significant increase of cell number was obtained. It was not used for controlling or limiting culture growth rate, but instead it was only used to prevent accumulation of one growth-retarding compound, lactic acid. Thus the authors seem not to be aware of the fed-batch technology as a strategy for reaching high cell densities and with the low concentration of starch they used their method can not be regarded as a high-cell-density cultivation. For bacterial cultivations (e.g. for Escherichia coli) this approach will not work: complex cultivation media such as serum, yeast extract or peptones contain several components which can function as a carbon-source. Therefore growth control can not be obtained by limiting the concentration of one carbon source (e.g. glucose). In microbial fed-batch cultivations, chemically defined media and only one growth-limiting substrate are typically used at a time. Furthermore, as will be shown in accordance of the present invention, only small amounts of starch can remain soluble in the medium to provide enough glucose for high-cell-density microbial cultivations. For aerobically growing microbes the presence of high amounts of starch severely weakens the oxygen transfer capacity of the medium and thereby increases the risks of anaerobic metabolism. For this reason, an intelligent system to pack high amount of carbon source into culture vessels is required.
The slow-release approaches so far published are limited in 1) scalability, 2) the amount of the delivered substrate that can be packed to the system or 3) methods to accurately control the substrate-release. None of the above-described methods provide an integrated solution for all of these essential requirements for high-cell-density cultivation of microbes in simple shaken cultures. In methods based on enzymatic degradation of a substrate delivering polymer, high amounts of polymer must be loaded to the cultivation vessel without impairing the properties (e.g. oxygen transfer capacity) of the cultivation medium.

Method for controlling the growth of cell culture


An improved method and apparatus for powering an electric motor for starting an internal combustion engine in which the electric motor is in a 6 volt to 48 volt operating system, in which an auxiliary battery pack has a battery pack housing; at least one lithium-based rechargeable cell within the housing; associated means for receiving a radio transmitted signal; associated means for turning the rechargeable cell ON or OFF; and battery connections for connecting the auxiliary battery pack to a battery in a 6 volt to 48 volt operating system.

The invented IONIC permanent mounted "Emergency Start" is capable of jump starting a wide variety of vehicles powered by internal combustion engines, including cars, trucks, SUVs and boats with engine sizes up to 7.2 L (gas) and 4.0 L (diesel); as well as power sport vehicles, 4-cylinders, V6, V8 and V10 engines.
Vehicle and boat engine batteries are heavy, bulky, and have short cycle life, short calendar life, and low turn around efficiency. Ordinary lead-acid batteries also have a high internal impedance (resistance) that is greater in cold weather making it more difficult to start an IC engine in cold weather with less current available.


Methods of detecting or measuring the activity of polynucleotide kinase are disclosed as well as methods of detecting an analyte in an assay using polynucleotide kinase as a label on a member of a specific binding pair. The methods rely on the phosphorylation of an oligonucleotide followed by ligation of the oligonucleotide 5′-phosphate onto another template-bound oligonucleotide. The presence of the ligated product signals the presence of polynucleotide kinase. In preferred embodiments, phosphorylation of an oligonucleotide enables the consecutive ligation of a set of oligonucleotides. The oligonucleotides so ligated can be detectably labeled with, for example, other enzymes to provide highly sensitive detection methods.

PNK catalyzes the transfer of the γ-phosphate of ATP to the 5′-hydroxyl group of DNA, RNA, shorter oligonucleotides and nucleotide-3′-phosphates. Because of this activity it is widely used in molecular biological methods. The activity of PNK is measured for the purpose of assessing the quality of enzyme preparations. Typical methods utilize γ-32P ATP as the phosphate source and determine the amount of the radiolabel incorporated into the product by such means of thin layer chromatography followed by scintillation counting. Quantitative assays involving phosphorylation of polynucleotides or oligonucleotides followed by ligation and detection of ligated products have not been reported to the best of Applicant's knowledge.
Numerous enzyme-linked assay methods have been devised for the sensitive detection of a wide variety of analytes. Enzyme-linked methods are now widely used in the fields of immunoassay and DNA probe assays. The chief impetus behind the development of these methods is the improvement of sensitivity due to signal amplification afforded by the catalytic turnover of substrate to produce a detectable product. The most commonly used enzymes are alkaline phosphatase, β-galactosidase and horseradish peroxidase (L. J. Kricka, Ligand-Binder Assays, Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, 1985, Chapter 6, pp. 165–198; C. A. Dangler, Nucleic Acid Analysis, Wiley-Liss., New York, 1996, Chapter 3, pp. 47–66). PNK does not appear to have been used as a label in these types of assays.
The enzymatic ligation of pairs of oligonucleotides bound to a target nucleic acid is a widely used method, finding application in for example the ligase chain reaction (LCR), methods for circularizing nucleic acids and in hybridization assays where a capture oligonucleotide is linked to a signal oligonucleotide when hybridized to a target. It is generally thought that the oligonucleotides must each be of a minimum length to be ligated efficiently. Recent work has shown this minimum length to be about 6–8 bases (C. E. Pritchard and E. M. Southern, Nucl. Acids Res., 25, 3403–3407 (1997)). Typically, much longer nucleic acids are employed.
Applicant's U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,998,175, 6,001,614, 6,013,346 and 6,020,138, which are fully incorporated herein by reference, disclose methods for sequentially ligating a plurality of oligonucleotides onto a hybridized "primer" or anchor oligonucleotide in one step under conditions where only the anchoring oligonucleotide is stably hybridized. An advantage of this sequential multiple ligation technique is that many detectably labeled units are able to be added onto the product nucleic acid under highly controlled conditions. Ligation only occurs when the anchoring oligonucleotide is hybridized and all oligonucleotides are of the correct sequence to align in a contiguous manner on the template.

Methods of detecting polynucleotide kinase and its use as a label


There is provided a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device including a nonvolatile memory including forming an element isolation area surrounding an element area in a semiconductor substrate doped with a first type conductive impurity, forming a gate insulating film on the element area, forming selectively a cap film on the gate insulating film, burying selectively with a mask film surrounding the cap film on the gate insulating film, forming a tunnel window by removing selectively the cap film, forming an impurity diffusion layer in a surface region of the semiconductor substrate underneath the gate insulating film by introducing a second type conductive impurity using the mask film as a mask, removing the gate insulating film in the tunnel window, forming a tunnel insulating film in the tunnel window, forming a floating gate electrode film, an inter-gate electrode film, and a control gate electrode film on the tunnel insulating film, and forming a source-drain in the semiconductor substrate to interpose a surface region of the semiconductor substrate beneath the control gate electrode film by introducing the second type conductive impurity into the surface region using the control gate electrode film as a mask.

A NAND-type flash memory and a NOR-type flash memory have been widely used as a nonvolatile memory. As application of the nonvolatile memory has been expanded to an integrated circuit card in recent years, byte-type nonvolatile memory having capability of rewriting per byte has been much more important. For example, a nonvolatile memory cell which has two transistors, a memory cell transistor and a selection transistor, attracts attention.
In the case of the nonvolatile memory cell, a tunnel window surrounded by an insulating film is opened at the predetermined portion on a semiconductor substrate. A tunnel insulating film is formed in the tunnel window. An electron goes back and forth through the tunnel insulating film between a floating-gate electrode formed on the tunnel insulating film and an impurity diffusion layer in the semiconductor substrate. Rewriting of the data in the nonvolatile memory cell is performed by such an electron behavior.
From the viewpoint of miniaturization of the nonvolatile memory cell and control of effective voltage applied to the floating-gate electrode of the nonvolatile memory cell, a smaller size is required for area of the tunnel window.
In conventional technologies, lithography and dry etching etc. are used for forming smaller opening in a film, such as a resist film, formed on the semiconductor substrate. Moreover, after preparing an opening in a film, another film is formed on the side wall of the opening to narrow width of the opening.
However, the opening process for forming tunnel window has a limitation of lithography and dry etching etc. On the other hand, the side wall process for forming tunnel window has problems such as control of film thickness and uniformity in the cell characteristics of nonvolatile memory.

Method of manufacturing semiconductor device including nonvolatile memory


An apparatus for use with a sheet of rigid support material at a hole formed therein through a thickness of the sheet to provide an anchoring point at a proximal face of the sheet for anchoring an object thereto comprises a frame member supporting a face-engagement member for engaging a distal face of the sheet which is spaced from the proximal face by the thickness of the sheet, so as to resist removal from within the hole by the object anchored to the apparatus, and a buttress member also supported on the frame member for buttingly engaging a peripheral wall of the hole so as to resist movement transversely to a thickness direction of the sheet.

It is desirable to provide an apparatus which can be affixed to a sufficiently rigid support material to cooperate therewith to provide a fixedly located anchoring point to which an object can be connected. In one example, it is desirable to provide such an anchoring point on a sheet of ice for connecting a land vehicle which is stuck, so that the land vehicle can be rescued by interconnecting a tensionable member between the stuck vehicle and the anchoring point and reducing a length of the subsequently tensioned member therebetween to displace the vehicle towards the anchoring point and out from where it is stuck.

Anchor for attaching to a sheet of rigid support material at a hole formed therein and related method