A dental implant assembly (20) including a core body (40, 140, 240, 340, 440) for engaging a tooth-replicating device (52). The core body (40, 140, 240, 340, 440) is disposed in an anchor body (24, 124, 224, 424), and a screw cap body (58) is disposed about the outer attachment surface (30, 130, 230, 430) of the anchor body (24, 124, 224, 424). The screw cap body (58) engages the bone (22) of a person to support the dental implant assembly (20) and holds the core body (40, 140, 240, 340, 440) and the anchor body (24, 124, 224, 424) together.

1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates to a dental implant assembly that can be attached to a bone of a person.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Dental implants of numerous and varying designs have existed for many years. Many prior art dental implants include tooth-replicating devices that are attached inside a patient's mouth to replace lost teeth and to restore natural dental function. Force distributing dental implants were designed to improve the durability and life of implants by allowing the tooth-replicating device to move relative to the anchor, which is engaged with the patient's bone.
Such a force distributing dental implant assembly is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,954,505, issued on Sep. 21, 1999, in the name of one of the inventors herein. The force distributing assembly of the '505 patent includes an anchor body having an anchor pocket and an outer attachment surface for engaging the bone. The assembly also includes a core body disposed in the anchor pocket for engaging a tooth-replicating device. The core body and the anchor body are held together by a threaded fixation means engaging the inner wall of the anchor pocket.

Force distributing dental implant assembly


Compositions containing a prostaglandin agent and a vasoconstrictor agent for ophthalmic applications are provided as well as methods of treating ophthalmic diseases using the same. In certain embodiments, the compositions and methods are useful for treating glaucoma without causing conjunctival hyperemia.

Based on its etiology, glaucoma can be classified into primary and secondary glaucoma. Primary glaucoma, also known as congenital glaucoma, can occur in the absence of other ocular conditions and its underlying causes are not known. However, it is known that increased intraocular pressure (IOP) observed in primary glaucoma is due to the obstruction of aqueous humor flow out of the eye. Secondary glaucoma results from another pre-existing ocular disease such as, uveitis, an intraocular tumor, enlarged cataract, central retinal vein occlusion, trauma to the eye, operative procedures and intraocular hemorrhage. Generally, any interference with the outward flow of aqueous humor from the posterior chamber into the anterior chamber and subsequently, into the canal of Schlemm can lead to secondary glaucoma.
Considering all types of glaucoma together, this ocular disorder occurs in about 2% of all persons over the age of 40. Unfortunately, glaucoma can be asymptomatic for years before progressing to a rapid loss of vision. In cases where surgery is not indicated, topical β-adrenoreceptor antagonists (or β-blockers) have traditionally been the drugs of choice for treating glaucoma. Further, certain prostaglandins and their analogues have been recommended for use in glaucoma management. For example, the prostaglandin analogue bimatoprost (Lumigan®) given at a dose of 0.03%, once daily, is a highly efficacious intraocular pressure (IOP) lowering drug. It has a very high systemic safety margin in studies conducted in laboratory animals. However, bimatoprost as well as many other topical anti-glaucoma medications produce conjunctival hyperemia as a side effect. Conjunctival hyperemia (or "red eye") refers to vasodilatation of the conjunctival blood vessels. The vasodilatation of the conjunctival blood vessels results in increased blood supply to the vessels or even rupture of the vessels, which causes redness of the eye, reduced visual acuity, severe ocular pain, and photophobia (light sensitivity).
The present invention solves these as well as other problems in the art by, inter alia, providing compositions of sub-therapeutic concentrations of a vasoconstrictor agent (e.g., a beta adrenergic antagonist) in combination with a pharmaceutically effective amount of a prostaglandin agent (e.g., is defined to include prostaglandins, prostaglandin analogs, prostaglandin derivatives or prostamides such as bimatoprost) and methods of using such compositions to treat ophthalmic diseases without causing conjunctival hyperemia.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Prostaglandin and vasoconstrictor pharmaceutical compositions and methods of use


Methods and apparatus for reliable transmission of a calling subscriber number (“A-numbery”) received at a Gateway Mobile Switching Center (“GMSC”) of a home Public Land Mobile Network (“PLMN”) along with an incoming call towards a roaming destination subscriber are disclosed. A GSM network entity, an UMTS network entity, and/or an Inter-Working Function is selected and interrogated by a GSM and/or UMTS MAP operation to retrieve a routing number, and to further reach the roaming subscriber and set up the call. The interrogation of the entity includes extracting the previously received A-number at the interrogating network entity, including the A-number in the interrogating GSM/UMTS MAP operation at the interrogating network entity, and forwarding the interrogation and the A-number with the interrogating GSM/UMTS MAP operation to the interrogated entity.

The present invention pertains to the technical field of methods and apparatus to be used for presentation of calling subscriber number identification in mobile networks when calls pass through other intermediate networks, and particularly to the technical field of methods and apparatus aimed to avoid that said calling subscriber number identification is lost due to the lack of means in said intermediate networks for transferring such identification data.
The present invention provides the necessary steps and means to transfer said calling subscriber number identification data through a network enabling such a transmission, like the mobile network, and by protocol means separate from the call.
Most of the currently existing mobile networks make use of the Integrated Services Digital Network (hereinafter referred to as ISDN) and its corresponding ISDN User Part protocol (hereinafter abbreviated as ISUP) to switch and transfer calls, both internally within the mobile network and externally to or from other networks. In this respect, particular ISDN numbers identify individual subscribers of an ISDN-based network. Moreover, some mobile networks like the Global System Mobile network (generally known and hereinafter referred to as GSM) and the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (generally known and hereinafter referred to as UMTS) identify their own subscribers by a Mobile Subscriber ISDN Number (generally known and hereinafter referred to as MSISDN).
Nowadays, UMTS is considered the third generation (hereinafter abbreviated as 3G) of mobile systems to which the current second generation (hereinafter abbreviated as 2G) of mobile systems is converging. An appropriate example of a 2G mobile system is the above mentioned GSM. Still another example of 2G mobile systems is the Pan-American mobile system based on the Interim Standard number 41 (generally known and hereinafter referred to as IS-41). Both GSM and IS-41 based networks are evolving towards the UMTS network. Nevertheless, these and other mobile systems of different generations should still co-exist and communicate each other. Still another 3G mobile network is the Pan-American system based on Code Division Multiple Access (generally known and hereinafter referred to as CDMA2000) to which 2G Pan-American mobile systems are also evolving.
In a similar manner as UMTS and CDMA2000 inherit most of the features and services already existing in the 2G mobile systems, the latter had inherited services from ISDN. For instance, ISDN supports several Supplementary Services related to the presentation of ISDN numbers, which were already included in mobile systems like GSM or IS-41 based systems, and which will still be supported by UMTS and CDMA2000, and other systems. Examples of these ISDN supplementary Services supported also in such mobile networks are commented below:                i) Calling Line Identification Presentation (hereinafter referred to as CLIP) is a supplementary service that provides the ability of indicating the ISDN number of the calling line, namely the calling subscriber, with possible additional sub-address information to the called party. It is also named Calling Number Identification Presentation (CNIP) under some standards.        ii) Calling Line Identification Restriction (hereinafter referred to as CLIR) is a supplementary service that precludes the presentation of the calling line identification if the calling user has an arrangement to inhibit such a presentation of his or her number to the called party.        iii) Connected Line Identification Presentation (hereinafter referred to as COLP) is a supplementary service that provides the ability to the calling party to present the connected party's ISDN number, namely the called or connected subscriber.        iv) Connected Line Identification Restriction (hereinafter referred to as COLR) is a supplementary service offered to the called party to restrict the presentation of the connected line, namely the called subscriber or another forwarded-to number, to the calling party.
When invoking the CLIP supplementary service, the information to be transferred by ISUP to the destination end side is provided by the originating end user in the SETUP message and sent as part of the basic call procedures. In the case when the calling user provides no information, the network shall provide the default number associated with the user access in the originating local exchange. This calling number is transferred through the ISUP network to the destination end side and provided to the called user at call set-up.
In addition to this call-establishment related signalling through ISUP, mobile specific signalling is exchanged between different mobile network entities to appropriately route the call to or from the area where the mobile subscriber is currently roaming. In this respect, the standard signalling messages and message parameters involved in said specific mobile signalling are described in the Mobile Application Part (hereinafter referred to as MAP) specification 29.002 v3.4.0 issued by the 3GPP Technical Specification Group Core Network (hereinafter said specification is referred to as 3GPP TS 29.002).

Method and apparatus for presentation of calling subscriber number in mobile networks


The technology disclosed relates to high utilization of donor material in a writing process using Laser-Induced Forward Transfer. Specifically, the technology relates to reusing, or recycling, unused donor material by recoating target substrates with donor material after a writing process is performed with the target substrate. Further, the technology relates to target substrates including a pattern of discrete separated dots to be individually ejected from the target substrate using LIFT.

The subject matter discussed in this section should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in this section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in this section or associated with the subject matter provided as background should not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in this section merely represents different approaches, which in and of themselves may also correspond to implementations of the claimed technology.
This application relates to material deposition using Laser-Induced Forward Transfer, also referred to as LIFT. LIFT is an industrial process of ejecting a patch of material from a donor sheet to an acceptor workpiece. The transferred material can be in the form of a thin layer, a thick layer, a paste, a viscoelastic, or a liquid layer. The transfer does not depend on chemistry so any chemical compound can be transferred. The transferred donor material can be a single film, a complex film like an OLED stack, or a functional material like a layer of organic materials, including living cells. The film can be transferred as a melted drop, a pellet, a round patch or a complex shape ("decal"). A solid material can liquefy due to heating or due to its rheological properties and return to solid after impact with the workpiece. The impact energy can be high enough to give good contact and sticking to the acceptor surface. One application is to deposit metal for electric conductors, e.g. for repair of circuits. Another application is jetting of "rheological material", which are not solid and have a complex viscosity, e.g. pastes loaded with ceramic powder, metal particles or nanomaterials. Another application is jetting of biological substances, from reactants in diagnostic screen to living cells for building of two- and three-dimensional tissues and grafts.
A principal of LIFT is that it is an additive process where material is transferred only where needed and therefore LIFT can save expensive materials in contrast to a blanket coating on a workpiece wherein portions of the blanket coating are etched away or otherwise removed where the coating is not needed. LIFT is also a fast and simple one-step process for creating a coating or a pattern, and is finished immediately after the transfer with no need for pre-coating of the workpiece or resist processing. LIFT is therefore very suitable to direct writing in fields like printed electronics, especially roll-to-roll processing, making of printing plates, sign making, and security printing.
LIFT may have similar applications as inkjet, however due to the flexible nature of LIFT it allows printing of many more materials: viscous, hard, dry, granular, and layered. The possible range of shot sizes is very wide from 1 micron in diameter and a thickness of 0.1 micron to several nanoliters in volume. This is a larger range than can be done by ink jetting. In particular LIFT can shoot smaller shots than an inkjet system. The term laser jetting is used herein as synonymous to LIFT.
Despite the benefits of LIFT, it has not reached widespread use in industry. One reason is current LIFT technology is a slow process where the donor sheet has to be physically moved relative to the workpiece. If, for reasons of efficient use of donor material, the donor sheet needs to move relative to the stage such movements may take 30-100 milliseconds. Other issues relate to holding the small gap between the donor and the acceptor constant for large workpieces.
It is the purpose of this application to devise methods to make the process more industrial by providing architectures with high writing speed and high precision and for easy adaption to different process conditions. Throughput is improved by reduced overhead and by using an uninterrupted feeding of donor to the writing head also for sticky, liquid, or perishable donor material. Methods are disclosed to combine continuous feeding of donor instead of step-wise movement and for efficient use of donor material. Printing speed and precision and process flexibility is improved by donor sheets design.

Recurring process for laser induced forward transfer and high throughput and recycling of donor material by the reuse of a plurality of target substrate plates or forward transfer of a pattern of discrete donor dots


A system and method are provided for the efficient entry and display of ground taxi routes on an electronic airport map display. The system may include a touchscreen entry device, a display device, a computer, a map database, a vehicle position sensor and a transmitter/receiver. The system may be configured to check the ground taxi entries to ensure that each successive segment is contiguous with the last or next segment, and any gaps or discontinuities in the displayed taxi instructions may be annunciated. An intelligent display of next possible segments may be incorporated into the system.

As the air travel system becomes saturated, airports are becoming more and more congested. At the busiest airports, it is not uncommon to have 50 or more aircraft taxiing to and from multiple active runways using complex routes involving many different taxiways. System capacity is at or near saturation even during good weather conditions. Ground taxi can add over one hour to travel time for any particular flight. Efficient, flexible and adaptive ground operations are essential to enhancing air travel performance. This is especially true during poor weather conditions. As visibility drops, the number of aircraft that can operate at a given airport decreases rapidly and those aircraft still operating must slow down so as not to miss a turn or a hold short point, or taxi across an active runway without clearance.
A variety of methods are currently in use for aircrews to navigate on the ground. Most of these methods involve receiving verbal instructions from air traffic control, writing them down and interpreting those instructions by looking at a paper map of the airport. To effectively use such methods, the pilot must direct attention from outside the aircraft to inside the aircraft, and simultaneously transition from verbal instructions to a visual interpretation of those instructions while looking at a paper airport diagram. During low visibility, the aircrew loses their ability to use forward and peripheral vision because ground references and other airport traffic become harder to see, forcing the aircrew to concentrate their attention outside the aircraft to ensure safe operations. Recently, some devices have enabled aircrews to electronically display and orient the airport map and even show the aircraft position on the map; however, entry and display of taxi route information could be enhanced. The invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems or disadvantages associated with the prior art.

Method and system for entering and displaying ground taxi instructions


A structure of the present invention includes a base plate and a formation unit. The formation unit is bonded and fixed to and retained on the base plate by a first adhesive. The first adhesive is disposed at least in the vicinities of end portions of a peripheral edge of a bonding surface of the formation unit.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a structure, a method of manufacturing the structure, and a liquid droplet discharge apparatus, and more particularly to a structure such as an inkjet recording head configured by as a result of a recording head unit that discharges ink droplets from nozzles to record an image on a recording medium being retained on a base plate, a method of manufacturing the structure, and a liquid droplet discharge apparatus applied to an inkjet recording apparatus or the like disposed with a structure comprising an inkjet recording head.
2. Related Art
In conventional partial width array (PWA) inkjet recording apparatus that reciprocally scan a head, there has been a limit on increasing the number of nozzles because when the number of nozzles is increased for high-speed printing, the mass of the head also increases and the burden on the head scanning mechanism becomes larger. Further, this becomes disadvantageous for increasing speed because an excessive scanning distance arises when inverting reciprocal scanning.
As a method of addressing these issues, a non-scanning type full width array (FWA) inkjet line head corresponding to the width of the recording medium is already known where numerous nozzles are disposed at a pitch that is the same as the resolution in the width direction of-the-recording medium. Yet when a line head disposed with numerous nozzles is manufactured as an integral head, there are problems in that the yield drops and expensive manufacturing equipment such as a large diameter silicon process apparatus, for example, becomes necessary.
Thus, technology has been disclosed where plural head units having a relatively small number of nozzles are connected in a line to increase the length of the head.
This technology has a system where the element base plate, which has the lowest yield of the constituent parts, is divided into units and manufactured, so that it becomes necessary to mutually position/fix the adjacent units with high precision.
When, for example, the recording head units are positioned/fixed to a long base plate using an adhesive or positioned/fixed to a spacer member configured such that it is attachable to and detachable from a long base plate, productivity becomes an issue when a room temperature-curing adhesive is used because it takes a long time for the curing. Positional displacement, which occurs due to differences in thermal expansion, becomes an issue when a thermosetting adhesive is used because the coefficients of thermal expansion of the constituent members are different.
In contrast, when a light-curing adhesive is used, the amount of time required for curing can be shortened over that of a room temperature-curing adhesive, and positional displacement resulting from differences in the thermal expansion of the constituent members occurring during high-temperature heating such as encountered with a thermosetting adhesive is also suppressed. Thus, a light-curing adhesive is suited to a structure configured as a result of bonding/fixing such a unit to a base plate or a spacer member. Further, in order to achieve more high-precision positioning/fixing using a light-curing adhesive, it becomes important to reduce as much as possible temperature rise and temperature fluctuation accompanying light irradiation and to suppress stress resulting from contraction when the adhesive is cured.
However, particularly in a line head where plural recording head units having nozzles formed in a matrix are positioned/fixed and arranged with high precision, sometimes units having a special planar shape (a substantially parallelogram shape) are used as a matter of convenience, such as in terms of the volume occupied by the line head portion in relation to apparatus size and the nozzle arrangement. In the case of such units having a special shape, there is a demand for improvement because sometimes the effect of heat at the time of light irradiation causes the amount of displacement of the unit portions (nozzles) to change depending on the irradiation position and irradiation energy.
Further, in the case of a line head where plural recording head units are arranged, it is preferable to surface-bond the recording head units and the base plate or spacer member retaining the recording head units in order to obtain high bonding strength at the bonding/fixing portions between the base plate or spacer member and the recording head units. However, because it is necessary to align the nozzle surfaces of the recording head units, a large gap must be disposed in the bonding/fixing portions such that it can absorb the height tolerance (variations in height between the recording head units) of the recording head units using the nozzle surfaces as a reference. For this reason, the amount of adhesive in this gap increases, it becomes easier for positional displacement and slanting of the recording head units resulting from contraction when the adhesive is cured and for variations in the displacement amounts between the recording head units to occur, which become a problem in terms of positioning/fixing the plural recording head units with high precision.

Structure and liquid droplet discharge apparatus


A camera device includes an optics unit and a sensor unit releasably connectable to each other, and an electronic accessory releasably connectable to the optics unit by means of a threaded fitting associated with a rotation axis, wherein the optics unit comprises optics unit connectors, which in an assembled state of the camera device each is aligned and in contact with an associated electronic accessory connector of the electronic accessory thereby forming an electric connection between the electronic accessory and the sensor unit via the optics unit, wherein the optics unit connectors and the associated electronic accessory connectors form a first group consisting of at least one optics unit connector and associated electronic accessory connector arranged for power transfer and a second group consisting of at least one optics unit connector and associated electronic accessory connector arranged for signal transfer.

Modular cameras such as network cameras may be used in many different situations, both indoors and outdoors. The versatility of modular cameras has led to an increased demand for cost effective production of modular cameras. To meet this demand, it is desirable to reduce, not only the cost for the components of the modular cameras but also the costs associated with the assembly of modular cameras. It is also desirable to improve the functionalities of this type of cameras.
Further, modular cameras may be used in different environments and for different purposes. To obtain high quality images, accessories may be added to the camera unit of the modular camera, which can increase the bulkiness of the camera unit.
A modular camera normally comprises two separate parts; a camera unit and a main unit connected to the camera unit via a cable.
The camera unit may comprise a sensor unit and an optics unit releasable supported by the sensor unit. An image sensor may be arranged in the sensor unit. The camera unit may be quite small and have a length in the range of 10-50 mm and a diameter in the range of 10-50 mm.
The main unit may be arranged for image processing and network communication and may be placed separately from the sensor unit.
The camera unit of a modular camera thus comprises several components, and the assembly of the camera unit requires a plurality of steps which may be complicated, time consuming, and costly. Furthermore, the assembly requires high precision. Small deviations in the relative position of the components within the camera unit of the modular camera may for example lead to misalignment reducing the performance of the modular camera. Proper alignment of the optics unit in the sensor unit is especially critical as a small deviation may significantly reduce the image quality achieved by the modular camera.


A system that selectively couples one or more IC chips to card slots. The system contains a Z-bar switch which includes: a select input; a first IC port coupled to a first IC pin; a second IC port coupled to a second IC pin; a first card slot port coupled to a first card slot pin; and a second card slot port coupled to a second card slot pin. If the select input receives a first control pattern, the Z-bar switch is configured to: couple the first IC port to the first card slot port; and to couple the second IC port to the second card slot port. If the select input receives a second control pattern, the Z-bar switch is configured to: couple the first IC port to the second card slot port; leave the second IC port floating; and to leave the first card slot port floating.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to techniques for configuring a computer system. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for selectively switching ports from an integrated circuit (IC) device to card slots.
2. Related Art
Some computing platforms which include peripheral component interface express (PCI-E) expansion slots have the option (per slot) of supporting ×1, ×2, ×4, ×8 or ×16 wide interfaces, if a full-sized connector is used. Although a PCI-E slot is very flexible, it is not cost-effective to support ×16 ports on all card slots because the required pin count on a corresponding chipset to support this number of pins is excessive. Therefore, a subset of the number of possible pins on the IC chip (or chips) needs to be selected. For example, card slot configurations can include one ×16 port or two ×8 ports, or one ×8 port and two ×4 ports. This allows a number of different products to be built around one chipset. Any card slot port width can, in theory, be supported. However, the wire routes on the PC board fix the target application.
Previous techniques for solving this problem do not allow the end-user to configure the allocation of PCI-E slots. The options are limited by wire routes on the PC board and available pin-out of the integrated circuit chip. Note that each card slot pin is coupled to a corresponding IC pin.
Hence, what is needed is a method and an apparatus for switching IC ports to card slots without the problems described above.

Method and apparatus for selectively switching IC ports to card slots through the use of three switches per switch group


Compounds of Formula I or a stereoisomer, tautomer, prodrug or pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof are provided, which are useful for the treatment of hyperproliferative, pain and inflammatory diseases. Methods of using compounds of Formula I or a stereoisomer, tautomer, prodrug or pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, for in vitro, in situ, and in vivo diagnosis, prevention or treatment of such disorders in mammalian cells, or associated pathological conditions are disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to compounds that inhibit serine/threonine kinases and are useful for treating hyperproliferative and neoplastic diseases by inhibiting signal transduction pathways, which are commonly overactive or overexpressed in cancerous tissue. The present compounds are selective inhibitors of ERK (extracellular-signal regulated kinase). The present invention further relates to methods for treating cancer or hyperproliferative diseases with compounds of the present invention.
2. Description of the State of the Art
The processes involved in tumor growth, progression, and metastasis are mediated by signaling pathways that are activated in cancer cells. The ERK pathway plays a central role in regulating mammalian cell growth by relaying extracellular signals from ligand-bound cell surface receptor tyrosine kinase ("RTK's"), such as ErbB family, PDGF, FGF, and VEGF receptor tyrosine kinase. Activation of an RTK induces a cascade of phosphorylation events that begins with activation of Ras. Activation of Ras leads to the recruitment and activation of Raf, a serine-threonine kinase. Activated Raf then phosphorylates and activates MEK1/2, which then phosphorylates and activates ERK1/2. When activated, ERK1/2 phosphorylates several downstream targets involved in a multitude of cellular events, including cytoskeletal changes and transcriptional activation. The ERK/MAPK pathway is one of the most important for cell proliferation, and it is believed that the ERK/MAPK pathway is frequently activated in many tumors. Ras genes, which are upstream of ERK1/2, are mutated in several cancers, including colorectal, melanoma, breast and pancreatic tumors. The high Ras activity is accompanied by elevated ERK activity in many human tumors. In addition, mutations of BRAF, a serine-threonine kinase of the Raf family, are associated with increased kinase activity. Mutations in BRAF have been identified in melanomas (60%), thyroid cancers (greater than 40%) and colorectal cancers. These observations indicate that the ERK1/2 signaling pathway is an attractive pathway for anti-cancer therapies in a broad spectrum of human tumors (Kohno, M. and J. Pouyssegur. "Pharmacological inhibitors of the ERK signaling pathway: application as anticancer drugs." Prog. Cell Cycle Res. Vol. 5 (2003): pp. 219-224).
The ERK pathway has also been cited as a promising therapeutic target for the treatment of pain and inflammation (Ma, Weiya and Remi Quirion. "The ERK/MAPK pathway, as a target for the treatment of neuropathic pain." Expert Opin. Ther. Targets. 9(4) (2005): pp. 699-713; and Sommer, Claudia and Frank Birklein. "Resolvins and inflammatory pain." F1000 Medicine Reports. 3:19 (2011)).
Therefore, small-molecular inhibitors of ERK activity (i.e., ERK1 and/or ERK2 activity) would be useful for treating a broad spectrum of cancers, such as, for example, melanoma, pancreatic cancer, thyroid cancer, colorectal cancer, lung cancer, breast cancer, and ovarian cancer, as well as a treatment for pain and inflammation, such as arthritis, low back pain, inflammatory bowel disease, and rheumatism. Such a contribution is provided herein.


A mechanism for adjusting the resonance frequency of a dielectric resonator having TE.sub.01.delta. mode as its operation mode under the presence of the electromagnetic field including: a hole extending along the axis of the dielectric resonator; a tuning bar, made of a dielectric material of a low loss, having a male screw formed on the peripheral surface thereof; and a female screw, to engage the male screw, formed on the wall of the hole. The tuning bar is reciprocated in the hole with the tuning bar engaging the hole so as to adjust the resonance frequency.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mechanism for adjusting the resonance frequency of a dielectric resonator having TE.sub.01.delta. mode under the presence of electromagnetic field.
2. Description of the Related Arts
In recent years, dielectric resonators which oscillates in TE.sub.01.delta. mode are used in the local oscillator of a down-converter for converting a radio wave signal, transmitted from a satellite and received by an antenna, into a signal of a low frequency. An example of a conventional dielectric resonator of this kind is shown in FIG. 3.
The dielectric resonator 1 is cylindrical and made of a dielectric material having a high dielectric constant. The dielectric resonator 1 is adhered with resin or glass to a support 2 made of ceramic having a low dielectric constant. The dielectric resonator 1 and the support 2 are accommodated in a metal case 3 accommodating the local oscillator of the down-converter of a satellite broadcasting receiver not shown.
In addition to the function of supporting the dielectric resonator 1, the support 2 resonates the dielectric resonator 1 in TE.sub.01.delta. mode in the metal case 3 and adjusts the coupling between the dielectric resonator 1 and circuits (not shown) composing the oscillator of the down-converter.
The resonance frequency f.sub.0 of the dielectric resonator 1 is determined by parameters such as the relative dielectric constant (.epsilon..sub.r) of a dielectric material composing the dielectric resonator 1, the dimension thereof, the supporting position of the dielectric resonator 1 in the metal case 3, and the inner dimension of the metal case 3.
However, the parameters have deviations in manufacturing the oscillator of the down-converter for the satellite broadcasting receiver, and consequently, the resonance frequency f.sub.0 of the dielectric resonator 1 also has deviations.
The dielectric resonator 1 has the following construction for adjusting the resonance frequency f.sub.0 so that the resonance frequency f.sub.0 has a predetermined value.
That is, a through hole 4 is formed in the upper wall of the metal case 3 in opposition to the upper surface of the dielectric resonator 1 and a metal tuning screw 5 is inserted into the hole 4 as shown in FIG. 3. The resonance frequency f.sub.0 is adjusted to have a uniform value by changing the insertion amount (d) of the tuning screw 5 into the hole 4.
The conventional mechanism for adjusting the resonance frequency of the dielectric resonator has a problem that when the interval between the tuning screw 5 and the dielectric resonator 1 becomes small in inserting the tuning screw 5 toward the dielectric resonator 1, the tuning screw 5 approaches a region in which the intensity of the electric field enclosed in the dielectric resonator 1 and in the vicinity thereof in the metal case 3 is great. As a result, conductor loss increases and thus the unloaded Q(Qu) of the dielectric resonator 1 drops.

Mechanism for adjusting resonance frequency of dielectric resonator


An antenna apparatus capable of receiving AM radio broadcasting and FM radio broadcasting and being realized at a low cost includes an FM antenna conductor for receiving FM broadcasting formed with a metal pipe with good conductivity, and an AM antenna conductor for receiving AM broadcasting housed in an internal space of the antenna conductor, so as to unify an AM antenna and an FM antenna with a simple structure. The FM antenna conductor also functions as an electrostatic shielding member for the AM antenna conductor, so that high-frequency noise from other equipment is prevented from being received at the AM antenna conductor as interference noise without raising the cost.

Audio equipment is normally includes a receiving function for receiving AM radio broadcasting and FM radio broadcasting. Among them, for example, some equipment supposed to be used indoors has a structure that a separated antenna for receiving AM/FM radio broadcasting can be installed.
Various antennas for receiving AM/FM radio broadcasting to be used for the above-mentioned audio equipment have been proposed. For example, as an antenna for receiving FM radio broadcasting, for example, a simplified antenna called as a feeder antenna or a wire antenna is well known. Moreover, as an antenna for receiving AM radio broadcasting, an antenna composed of a plastic or the like and a lead wire wound around the plastic or the like is known.
However, the FM simplified antenna mentioned above has a line portion, such as a feeder or a wire, of about 1–2 m in length.
Consequently, when such an FM simplified antenna is installed to be used in audio equipment, it in necessary to expand the line portion to arrange it. Hence, the FM simplified antenna mars the appearance of the room in which the antenna is installed.
Moreover, in a case where an AM antenna and an FM antenna are separately configured, their connection with equipment is troublesome, and the antennas are difficult to handle.
Accordingly, the following antenna has been proposed as an antenna for receiving AM/FM radio broadcasting. According to the disclosure, an AM antenna is formed by winding an antenna coil around a magnetic material rod made of a ferrite, for example, in the shape of a solenoid, and a loop antenna for FM is formed by winding an enamel wire in a shape of a quadrilateral. Then, the AM antenna is arranged in parallel with one side of the FM antenna, and the AM antenna and the FM antenna are formed to be one body by fixing the AM antenna to the FM antenna with a mold resin (Japanese Patent Application Publication (KOKAI) No. SHO 56-122204 (FIG. 3)).
However, because the AM/FM antenna disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication (KOKAI) No. SHO 56-122204 mentioned above needs to fix the AM antenna and the FM antenna with each other by means of the mold resin, a process for molding the AM antenna and the FM antenna is needed at the time of manufacturing the AM/FM antenna. Moreover, the mold resin is needed as an antenna material.
Consequently, the AM/FM antenna disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication (KOKAI) No. SHO 56-122204 (FIG. 3) is not good in manufacturing efficiency thereof, and entails large cost for realizing the antenna.
Accordingly, the present invention was made in view of the problems described above, and aims to provide an antenna apparatus composed of an AM antenna and an FM antenna united to be one body more efficiently in manufacturing cost or cost.


There is provided a bonding wire that improves bonding reliability of a ball bonded part and ball formability and is suitable for on-vehicle devices.

As a bonding wire for a semiconductor device which connects electrodes on a semiconductor device and external leads (hereinafter referred to as a "bonding wire"), a thin wire with a wire diameter of about 15 to 50 μm is mainly used today. For a bonding method with bonding wire, there is generally used a thermal compressive bonding technique with the aid of ultrasound, in which a general bonding device, a capillary tool used for bonding by passing a bonding wire therethrough, and the like are used. A bonding process of a bonding wire is carried out by heating and melting a tip of wire by arc heat input to form a ball through surface tension; crimp-bonding the ball part onto an electrode of the semiconductor device heated within a range of 150 to 300° C. (hereinafter referred to as "ball bonding"); forming a loop; and finally crimp-bonding a wire part onto an electrode of the external lead (hereinafter referred to as "wedge bonding"). For the electrode on the semiconductor device as an object to be bonded with the bonding wire, there is used an electrode structure in which a film of alloy mainly containing Al is formed on a Si substrate. For the electrode of the external lead, an electrode structure with Ag plating or Pd plating is used.
Although Au has been mainly used for a material of the bonding wire, a replacement of Au with Cu is being conducted mainly in LSI use. On the background of recent proliferation of electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles, needs for replacing Au with Cu are increasing also in on-vehicle device use.
In comparison to general electronic devices, on-vehicle devices are required to operate under a rigorous high-temperature and high-humidity environment. It is therefore required for on-vehicle devices to have an excellent bonding longevity of a ball bonded part (hereinafter referred to as a "bonding reliability"), and to enable a stable formation of ball with excellent sphericity (hereinafter referred to as a "ball formability") for achieving a stable bonding strength.
It is also required for on-vehicle devices to cope with a densification of mounting associated with high functionalization and miniaturization. With an increase in mounting density, a diameter of bonding wire becomes thinner and then an area that contributes to bonding at the time of wedge bonding decreases, which results in difficulty to achieve a bonding strength. Therefore, it is necessary to achieve a high bonding strength at a wedge bonded part, that is, to improve wedge bondability. There is also required a technique of deforming a ball to a true circular shape at the time of ball bonding, because a distance narrows between electrodes on a semiconductor device and it is thus concerned that a ball becomes in contact with an adjacent electrode to cause short circuit. Furthermore, when subjected to resin sealing, it is necessary to obtain a linearity of loop and to reduce variation in loop height in order to prevent adjacent wires from coming in contact with each other due to deformation of bonding wires caused by resin flow.
As for a Cu bonding wire, there has been proposed a wire using high-purity Cu (purity: 99.99 wt. % or more) (for example, Patent Literature 1). Cu has the drawback of being more susceptible to oxidation than Au and has problems in that bonding reliability, ball formability and wedge bondability are inferior. As a method for preventing surface oxidation of a Cu bonding wire, there has been proposed a structure in which a surface of Cu core material is coated with a metal such as Au, Ag, Pt, Pd, Ni, Co, Cr and Ti (Patent Literature 2). There has been also proposed a structure in which a surface of Cu core material is coated with Pd and a surface thereof is coated with Au, Ag, Cu or an alloy thereof (Patent Literature 3).

Abstract: The bonding wire for a semiconductor includes a Cu alloy core material, and a Pd coating layer formed on a surface of the Cu alloy core material, and is characterized in that the Cu alloy core material contains Ni, a concentration of Ni is 0.1 to 1.2 wt. % relative to the entire wire, and a thickness of the Pd coating layer is 0.015 to 0.150 μm.

NIPPON STEEL CHEMICAL & MATERIAL CO., LTD.


Disclosed is a method for identifying the molecular configuration of ganoderic acid A which comprises extracting ganoderic acid A from fruit bodies of Ganoderma lucidum, producing crystals of the ganoderic acid A, analyzing the crystals of the ganoderic acid A by X-ray structural analysis to obtain values of the three-dimensional coordinate of the crystals of the ganoderic acid A and using the values of the three-dimensional coordinate of the crystals of the ganoderic acid A obtained from the X-ray structural analysis as initial coordinates in the input to the calculation program of the B3LYP method included in the Gaussian 03 package software together with the 6-31G* basis set function of the density functional theory (DFT).

Ganoderma lucidum, a medicinal mushroom, belonging to the polyporaceae of aphyllophorales, is used in healthy food and medicine for more than 2000 years. In China and other Asian countries, Ganoderma lucidum is mainly used in preventing and treating various human diseases such as chronic bronchitis, hepatitis, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, cancer, and immune diseases. According to the research, Ganoderma lucidum contains polysaccharides which have proven to inhibit the growth of cancer cells; moreover, Ganoderma lucidum can produce many oxygenated triterpenes with various biological functions such as cytotoxicity to hepatoma cells, inhibition of histamine release, inhibition of cholesterol synthesis and absorption, stimulation of platelet aggregation, as well as inhibition of thrombin-induced platelet aggregation.
Ganoderic acid, one of the oxygenated triterpenes, possesses various biological functions so that it can be used in healthcare or treatment of disease, including protecting the heart against necrosis or damage, promoting nerve cell growth and differentiation.
However, there is a lack of searching in the molecular structure of ganoderic acid A extracted from Ganoderma lucidum. It is well known that molecular structure plays a significant role in chemical properties of molecules. For instance, a slight change in biomolecular structure may alter the characteristics of cells, even leading to uncontrolled cell growth and tumor formation. Thus, it is important to determine the molecular structure of ganoderic acid A.

Method for identifying the molecular configuration of ganoderic acid A from


An apparatus for removing recyclable or other selected items from a load of mixed trash. An identifier generating a non-visual identifying signal is secured to the item and is used in conjunction with sensor devices to locate the position of the item anywhere within the load of mixed trash, to control the movement of the load along a conveyor to an extracting device, to control the movement of the extracting device and the operation of the extracting device so as to remove the selected item from the load without human intervention and under automated control.

Many municipal programs, designed to separate recyclable materials from mixed municipal solid waste, especially the solid waste arising from residences, currently rely upon collection schemes in which a separate truck, on a separate route, must be sent out to collect the recyclables. This type of program to acquire the recyclables incurs significant extra costs over and above the normal refuse collection.
One current scheme for eliminating multiple collections involves separation and placement of recyclables by the resident into special containers which are usually the color blue. These containers can be for example, bags similar in construction to garbage bags. Containers which are selectively coded for such recycling will be collectively referred to hereinafter as "blue bags". The blue bags are usually set out on the curb alongside the regular garbage. The collection truck crew then places the blue bags containing the recyclables in the ordinary truck together with the regular garbage.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,100,005 to Noble teaches describes a method and apparatus for separating bags of recyclable materials from bags of ordinary trash by detecting bar codes placed on the bags of recyclable materials which are placed upon a conveyer belt along with the bags of ordinary trash. Noble however, relies on visually perceptable coding and identification means (i.e. bar codes) which are adequate for his application.
If however, recyclables (for example the "blue bags") are mixed together with ordinary trash to form larger loads of mixed trash, Noble's invention would be ineffective because his bags could be disposed anywhere within the three dimensional space of the load of mixed trash and thus not be detectable using sensors only sensitive to visually perceptable signals.
When a load of mixed trash (i.e. one in which recyclables and non-recyclables are mixed together) arrives at the transfer station or disposal site, the recyclables (for example the "blue bags") must be manually removed from the non-recyclable garbage. This method of manually separating the blue bags is labor intensive and therefore expensive. It also poses significant health risks to the worker who must manually sift through the garbage to separate the recyclables.
One object of the instant invention therefore, is to provide a method for separating recyclable materials from a load of mixed trash containing both recyclable and non-recyclable materials, in a quick and safe manner.
It is another object of the instant invention to provide an apparatus for separating recyclable materials from mixed trash in a substantially automated fashion and without the use of human labor.

Method and apparatus for extracting selected materials


A hinge mechanism has a fixed cheek-plate and a pivoting cheek-plate that can be prevented from moving relative to the fixed cheek-plate by toothed slugs under the control of a cam. Between the two cheek-plates, there is disposed a circular guide having radial gaps which receive the slugs and which hold them in a retracted position once they have become disengaged from the radial gaps. The circular guide can be prevented from moving relative to the pivoting cheek-plate by actuating a control plate which disengages the slugs from the gaps. The pivoting cheek-plate can thus turn freely in one direction and then in the opposite direction before locking again in its initial angular position once the radial gaps of the circular guide come back into register with the slugs.

Document EP-A-0 770 514 describes an example of such a hinge mechanism which is capable of remaining unlocked while the seat-back is being tilted down forwards, even after the control member has been released, e.g. to access the back seats of the vehicle if the mechanism in question is mounted on a front seat of a two-door motor vehicle. When the seat-back is subsequently raised, the mechanism automatically locks itself again when the peg comes into register with the corresponding gap in the circular guide.
The mechanism described in that document gives full satisfaction, but it nevertheless suffers from the drawback of always locking itself in the same angular position for the seat-back when it is raised after being tilted down forwards, with this happening regardless of the position into which the seat-back had previously been adjusted.
The user of the seat must therefore readjust the inclination of the seat-back each time it is raised after being tilted down forwards.
Document EP-A-0 694 434 also describes a hinge mechanism, said mechanism having toothed slugs and enabling the seat-back to be tilted down forwards and to lock itself automatically again in its previously-adjusted position. The toothed slugs of that mechanism which serve to adjust the inclination of the seat-back engage in a set of teeth which is itself movable relative to the second cheek-plate and which can be secured to the second cheek-plate by means of other toothed slugs.
Under such circumstances, the two cheek-plates are connected together via two stages of toothed slugs, thereby tending to reduce the mechanical strength of the hinge, or making it necessary to increase the weight and the cost of the hinge mechanism in order to obtain high mechanical strength.

Hinge mechanism for a vehicle seat, and a vehicle seat fitted with such a mechanism


A counting signal processing method for a fiber optic interferometric sensor including following steps is provided. An output intensity of the fiber optical interferometric sensor is converted into an electrical signal having the form V0+V1 cos ψ(t). Then, the number of times N1 that the maximum peak values are greater than a first counting level S1 and the number of times N2 that the minimum peak values are smaller than a second counting level S2 within a specific period of time TC are counted. When the value of N1, N2 or (N1+N2) is greater than a threshold counting number Cth, a detectable induced signal occurring in a sensing area is inferred. Then, whether the detectable induced signals are caused by an intruder or otherwise is judged through an alarm identification logic, and an alarm device is triggered to send out an alarm according to the result of the judgment.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a signal processing method for a fiber optic interferometric sensor. More particularly, the present invention relates to a counting signal processing method for a fiber optic interferometric sensor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Single mode fiber optic interferometric sensors such as the Mach-Zehnder interferometers, the Sagnac interferometers and the Michelson interferometers are very sensitive sensors that can be used to detect changes in a physical field such as acoustic pressure or temperature and produce phase signal. The two-arm fiber optic interferometric sensor, such as the Mach-Zehnder interferometer or the Michelson interferometer, uses a distributed feedback (DFB) laser with narrow linewidth (that is, larger coherence length) as the system light source to reduce the phase noise resulting from the optical path difference between the two fiber arms. The Sagnac interferometer uses a superluminescent diode with wide linewidth (that is, smaller coherence length) as the system light source to reduce the Rayleigh scattering noise resulting from the sensing fibers. The laser beam of the light source passing through a leading fiber is split by an optical coupler and transmits into the sensing fibers. When the laser beam passes through the sensing fiber with a length L, the optical phase delay is ψ=knL, where k is the optical wavenumber in vacuum, n is the refractive index of the fiber core.
The variation in the optical phase delay of the sensing fiber are caused by the strain and the refractive index change due to acoustic pressure. The two-arm fiber optic interferometric sensor uses the difference variations of the optical phase delay between the two sensing fiber arms, the Sagnac interferometer uses the difference variations of the optical phase delay of the clockwise and the counterclockwise directions of the sensing fiber, both can generate an output intensity containing the sensing phase signal. The output intensity of the interferometric sensor is converted to electrical output signal by an optical receiver.
In the conventional technique, the electrical output signal from the fiber optic interferometric sensor must be demodulated by a demodulation circuit so that sensed phase signal can be linearly demodulated. The most commonly used signal demodulation circuits include the active homodyne with DC phase tracking and the passive homodyne demodulation using phase generated carrier etc. These demodulation circuits of the fiber optic interferometric sensor not only increase the system complexity, but also cause a lot of constraints when operating. For example, some of the demodulations need to add PZT phase modulators to the fiber arms. When the sensing fiber arm has a phase modulator, a driving electrical signal is required. Therefore, the sensing terminal of the optical fiber sensing system can no longer be constructed using all passive elements and the optical fiber sensor can only be used in some specific environments. In addition, the signal demodulation circuits have a dynamic range and frequency band limitations. Therefore, when the sensed phase signal contain the large amplitude and the high frequency, the output signal of the demodulation circuit will encounter the saturation and the distortion.
In some specific applications, the demodulation circuit is only necessary to distinguish whether the sensing signal is large enough. In this situation, there is no need to perform complicated linear signal demodulation. For example, when the fiber optic interferometric sensor is applied to an anti-theft security system, the ability to detect the change in the sensed phase signal caused by an intruder is all that is required. There is no practical need for linearly demodulate the sensed phase signal. Furthermore, the transient sensing phase signal with large amplitude and high frequency is induced by an intrusion, hence, if the foregoing linear demodulation circuit is deployed, saturation or distortion problem will occur more frequently and the complexity of the fiber optic interferometric sensor will increase unnecessarily.

Counting signal processing method for fiber optic interferometric sensor


The present invention related to a media transfer system comprising a user terminal and a network storage device communicable over a network. The user terminal is adapted to provide a network address and a session ID identifying the network storage device to a mobile device. The network storage device is adapted to receive media data from a mobile device under the session ID. The user terminal is adapted to interrogate the network storage device and download any media data uploaded under the given session ID, provide a customisation interface to allow the user to customise a product with any downloaded media, and upload the customised product design to the network storage device.

Since the advent of digital photography, and the rise in popularity of smart phones incorporating a digital camera, the number of photographs taken each year continues to increase. With this rise, the demand for photo prints, or other customisable products incorporating photos (such as t-shirts, mouse-mats, mugs, keyrings, posters, placemats, etc.) has also risen.
Systems and methods exist for transferring media (e.g. image data) for printing, either as photo prints or customised products. However, in order to transfer the desired image data to a user terminal for print ordering and/or product customisation, they often rely upon a direct network connection being established between the media source (e.g. a mobile device) and the kiosk (e.g. user terminal). Typically, such a communication channel is achieved through either a wired connection, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or memory card transfer. However it can often be difficult to achieve such a connection owing to conflicting operating systems, incompatible ports, and ever-changing communication protocols and standards.
Accordingly, there is a need to provide a media transfer system and a method of transferring media that makes it easier and more secure for a user to be able to retrieve media (i.e. image data) from a mobile device over a network.


The present invention provides a method of measuring the levels of BLyS/APRIL heterotrimers (HT) in a biological sample, in a preferred embodiment, in serum. The diagnostic assays are useful in predicting an individual's likelihood of developing or currently suffering from an autoimmune disease, such as SLE and for methods for treating an individual clinically diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. This diagnostic test serves to predict a patient's likelihood to respond to a specific drug treatment, in particular treatment with HT antagonists, either singly or in combination with other immune suppressive drugs.

Cellular interactions which occur during an immune response are regulated by members of several families of cell surface receptors, including the tumor necrosis factor receptor (TNFR) family. The TNFR family consists of a number of integral membrane glycoprotein receptors many of which, in conjunction with their respective ligands, regulate interactions between different hematopoietic cell lineages (Smith et al., The TNF Receptor Superfamily of Cellular and Viral Proteins: Activation, Costimulation and Death, 76:959-62, 1994; Cosman, Stem Cells 12:440-55, 1994). Three receptor members of this family are (1) BCMA, B Cell Maturation Antigen (Gras et al., Int. Immunol. 17:1093-106, 1995 and Hatzoglou et al., J. Immunol., 165: 1322-30, 2000); (2) TACI, transmembrane activator and CAML-interactor (von Bülow and Bram, Science 228:138-41, 1997 and WIPO Publication WO 98/39361)) and (3) BAFF-R, also known as BLyS/BLyS receptor 3 (BR3), (Thompson et al., Science, 293: 2108-11, 2001). These receptors are known to bind one or both TNF ligands—B Lymphocyte stimulator (BLyS also known as BLyS, TALL-1, ztnf4 and THANK) (see, e.g., Shu et al., J. Leukoc. Biol. 65: 680-683 (1999)) and a proliferation-inducing ligand (APRIL) (see, e.g., Hahne et al., J. Exp. Med. 188: 1185-1190 (1998)). Specifically, TACI and BCMA are known to bind both BLyS and APRIL and BAFF-R binds only BLyS.
A number of BLyS and/or APRIL antagonists have been developed in order to block the binding of the ligands to the receptor members of the family, in order to block results of this binding which include but should not be limited to B cell co-stimulation, plasmablast and plasma cell survival, Ig class switching, enhanced B-cell antigen presenting cell function, survival of malignant B cells, development of B-1 cell function, B cell development beyond the T-1 stage, and complete germinal centre formation. Some of these molecules can also bind to and block the effect of APRIL on B cells and other components of the immune system (Dillon et al. (2006) Nat. Rev. Drug Dis. 5, 235-246). Molecules that have been developed to affect B cell function by interfering with BLyS and/or APRIL binding include BLyS antibodies such as Lymphostat-B (Belimumab) (Baker et al, (2003) Arthritis Rheum, 48, 3253-3265 and WO 02/02641); receptor-extracellular domain/Fc domain fusions proteins such as TACI-Ig, including one particular embodiment, atacicept (U.S. Patent Application No. 20060034852), BAFF-R-Fc (WO 05/0000351), and BCMA-Ig or other fusion proteins utilizing receptor extracellular domains. A further class of BLyS and/or APRIL antagonists include other molecules relying on BLyS binding ability to block binding to its receptors such as AMG 623, receptor antibodies, and other molecules disclosed in WO 03/035846 and WO 02/16312.
One understudied aspect of this ligand/receptor family is the fact that these ligands appear to exist in vivo not only as homotrimers (which would be expected for TNF family ligands), but also as BLyS/APRIL heterotrimers (HT) of uncharacterized stoichiometry. Using an extremely small and heterogenous sample set (i.e., 15 patients with 6 different autoimmune disease diagnosies between them), the existence of elevated HT in sera as compared to healthy controls was reported by Roschke et al. (J. Immunol. 169:4314-4321, 2002). However, there has been no association of the presence of elevated HT with any particular autoimmune disease, an analysis necessary to apply such findings to specific disease treatment methods nor has this finding been presented beyond anecdotally, i.e., with statistical significance.
Thus, there remains a need in the art for investigation into the biological activity of HT and the development of an assay to compare the levels of native HT to those of homotrimeric BLyS and APRIL in autoimmune patients. Furthermore, this assay allows identification of expression patterns of HT so that statistical associations with autoimmune disease can be identified, such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Such information is important for identifying individuals who have a propensity toward developing such autoimmune diseases, are in an active disease state, and for identifying those that will respond favorably to BLyS and/or APRIL antagonist treatment of these diseases. The present invention addresses this need by providing HT levels associated with autoimmune diseases and providing diagnostic tests determining the presence of this expression pattern, namely increased HT levels in serum for those suffering from autoimmune disease such as SLE as compared to levels seen in healthy controls.

Levels of BLyS/APRIL heterotrimers in serum and use in diagnostic methods


A wide area paging service processing method for a radio paging system connected to a public switched telephone network and having a paging system capable of transmitting a radio paging signal. The wide area paging service processing method includes the steps of: requesting a wide area call processor of said paging system to process a wide area call when a call is received to the paging system through the public switched telephone network; reading a data base of a corresponding subscriber to thereby pack information of a wide area paging message when the wide area call process is requested; packing information of the wide area paging message to send a signal message in accordance with a class of the wide area service to a corresponding area paging system through a message transfer part; and performing wide area radio call for the corresponding pager subscriber after the wide area paging message is received in the corresponding area paging system and then a call frequency which should be synchronized in a moving area by a called pager subscriber is obtained.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wide area paging service processing for radio paging systems, and more particularly, to a wide area paging service processing radio system providing subscribers with paging service even when a radio pager subscriber moves into another area with a paging receiver.
2. Description of the Related Art
Under contemporary practice, radio paging receivers are provided with radio paging service only within a local area. In a conventional radio paging system, having conventional radio paging service processing operations within a local area, a subscriber of a public switched telephone network calls a pager terminal, and the call is connected from the public switched telephone network to a radio paging system. At this time, an incoming processor of the radio paging system connects to the call, and a telephone number translator receives a pager subscriber's telephone number and then translates it. Then, if the received telephone number is an intra-office subscriber's telephone number, the radio paging system connects the call to a pager terminal. The pager terminal then generates a signal indicating that the call connection is established, and requests a transmitter to perform a radio call after storing information to be displayed by the paging receiver. At this time, if the transmitter transmits a radio paging signal, a corresponding paging receiver is called. When the subscriber with the paging receiver is out of the corresponding range, however, he can not receive the radio call.
This type of conventional radio paging system can not provide reliable radio paging service to an area outside its corresponding designated local service area. Paging systems capable of transmitting and receiving pager calls outside a paging receivers local area are known as wide area paging systems. Known wide area paging systems are discussed in, among other sources, the following U.S. patents incorporated herein by reference: U.S. Pat. No. 4,875,039 by Andrew A. Andros, et al., entitled Paging System With Transmission Protocol Compatable With Analog And Digital Transmitters; U.S. Pat. No. 5,122,795 by Dean Cubley, et al., entitled Scanning Receiver For Nationwide Radio Paging System; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,357,561 by Gary W. Grube, entitled Communication Unit Control For Wide Area Communication Systems.

Wide area paging sevice processing method and apparatus of a radio paging system


There is provided an optical adaptor mounting metal fitting for mounting an optical adaptor through a panel without wobbling and an optical adaptor with the mounting metal fitting attached thereto. The optical adaptor mounting metal fitting includes a joining plate and a pair of facing side plates extending from either side of the joining plate nearly at a right angle, the side plates each have an elastic click engagement formed by cutting out and raising a middle part of the side plate so that a front end thereof closely faces the panel. A first side plate piece that is on a joining plate side of the elastic click engagement, and a second side plate piece that is on an opposite side of the elastic click engagement to the first side plate piece, and first elastic engagements each obliquely extend from a front end of the second side plate piece toward the joining plate and the optical adaptor.

The present invention relates to an optical adaptor mounting metal fitting and an optical adaptor, and relates in particular to modifying the structure of an optical adaptor mounting metal fitting for preventing the optical adaptor mounted on a panel through a mounting hole from wobbling.
In the prior art, an optical connector as an optical communication component comprises a pair of SC or MU type plugs each holding an end of an optical fiber and an adaptor having a pair of plug mounting holes in which the pair of plugs can be fitted in a facing manner. Each plug has a ferrule in which the end of an optical fiber is inserted with the end faces of the ferrule and optical fiber being flush with each other.
With a pair of plugs being fitted in an adaptor, the end faces of the pair of ferrules abut each other optically connecting the end faces of the pair of optical fibers. Meanwhile, optical adaptors are mounted, for example, on and through an aluminum mounting panel a having a thickness of 1.6 mm, in a row or several rows. In such a case, a leaf spring mounting metal fitting is attached to the outer surface of the optical adaptor. Various forms of mounting metal fittings have been proposed for easier mounting of the optical adaptor in a mounting hole of the panel.
For example, the optical adaptor mounting metal fitting described in Japanese Utility Model Registration 3111711 is an optical adaptor mounting metal fitting attached to the outer surface of an optical adaptor for preventing the optical adaptor mounted on a panel through a mounting hole thereof from wobbling. This optical adaptor mounting metal fitting comprises a joining plate and a pair of facing side plates extending from either side of the joining plate neatly at a right angle and protruding from the joining plate at both ends in the longitudinal direction.
The side plates each comprise an outer frame and an elastic click engagement formed by cutting out and raising the middle part of the outer frame outward. The outer frame has a curved engagement formed integrally with it at the front end that faces the inner surface of the mounting hole of a panel to elastically engage with a part of the inner surface of the mounting hole.
When an optical adaptor with the optical adaptor mounting metal fitting of Japanese Utility Model Registration 3111711 thereto is mounted on a panel through a mounting hole thereof, the optical adaptor can be secured to the panel without wobbling by means of small elastic deformation of the curved engagement as long as the gaps between the right and left edges of the mounting hole and the right and left sidewalls of the optical adaptor are of the proper size.
However, in this optical adaptor mounting metal fitting, the curved engagement is integrally connected to the outer frame at the top and bottom ends and is smaller in length in the longitudinal direction. Therefore, the curved engagement has a significantly small elastic deformation capacity, yielding insufficient spring elasticity. Furthermore, the outer frame is in the form of a frame, which is difficult to be elastically deformed, yielding almost no spring elasticity.
For this reason, when the panel mounting hole has a small width and the gaps between the right and left inner surfaces of the mounting hole and the right and left sidewalls of the optical adaptor are small, the curved engagement of the mounting metal fitting is not elastically deformed to be flat and is then, not inserted in the mounting hole. Therefore, the optical adaptor cannot be mounted on the panel. When the gaps between the right and left inner surfaces of the mounting hole and the right and left sidewalls of the optical adaptor are large, the curved engagement is not elastically engaged with the inner surface of the mounting hole. Therefore, the optical adaptor is not secured to the panel without wobbling.

Optical adaptor mounting metal fittings and an optical adaptor


A method of tempering powdered metallurgical constructs, that includes first deoxygenating and dehydrating powdered metal compacts before tempering. During the process, the sintered compacts are first preheated to a temperature that desorbs water vapor and oxygen from interstitial spaces of the compact, while not accelerating the rate of oxidation of any metal component. Once deoxygenation and dehydration has been achieved, the compact is heated to a tempering temperature in a substantially oxygen and water vapor-free environment and is maintained at that temperature until tempering is complete. Substantially oxygen and water-vapor free environmental conditions are maintained while the tempered compacts are cooled, to avoid post-oxidation. The resultant tempered powdered metal devices have increased strength, ductility and better machinability than conventionally tempered constructs.

Powdered metal technology provides the opportunity to produce articles from mixtures of metals that could not otherwise be prepared by the traditional method of mixing molten metals together. To produce the powders, alloys or pure metals are first melted and the molten stream is atomized by water jets to produce irregularly-shaped metallic particles. Because of their irregular shape, particles of powdered metal have good compactability which facilitates their subsequent formation into finished articles.
Powdered metal is first compacted under high pressure into a shape that approximates the final product. The pressure causes the powdered particles to lock together mechanically, but the compacted product ("compact") retains significant porosity. To reduce porosity, the compact is further treated by heating in a process known as sintering, with or without the application of pressure. During sintering, a compact is subjected to sufficient heat that at least some part of the components of the powder enter into a liquid phase which fills the pores within the compact.
It has been recognized that when the powder was made by water atomization of a melt, it may have an undesirably high oxygen content. The presence of oxygen in combined form in the compact, or in the final product, has a deleterious effect resulting, for example, in inferior strength. U.S. Pat. No. 4,063,940 addresses the sintering of powdered metal compacts in a deoxygenated atmosphere to cause densification of the compact to at least 98% relative density. By deoxidizing the powder, higher sintering temperatures can be used, preferably in the range 1,050.degree.-1,200.degree. C., but below the solidus temperature of the alloy.
While the '940 patent addresses the issues of increased densification of powdered metal compacts, and more efficient deoxidization at higher temperatures, the patent does not address critical issues of ductility, strength and machinability of powdered metal products. Thus, for example, powdered metal products intended for precision applications must subsequently be machined to close tolerances for intended use. Because of the hardness of the sintered powdered metal products, machinability in terms of wear of the machine tool, becomes a significant factor. Moreover, for certain applications the product should retain a level of ductility that allows ordinary manipulation with minimal risk of breakage. Thus, for example, valve seat inserts for automotive applications that are fabricated through powdered metallurgical techniques must be precision machined and thereafter manipulated into position in an engine. From a production stand point, a reduction in machine tool wear would reduce the downtime associated with changing the cutting tool and allows better utilization of expensive capital equipment. Moreover, improved ductility would reduce the number of valve seats that must be rejected due to failures that arise from a lack of ductility.

Tempered powdered metallurgical construct and method


An axle of a vehicle includes an axle subframe, wherein the axle subframe has at least two longitudinal members oriented approximately in the vehicle longitudinal direction and at least one crossmember oriented at least approximately in the vehicle transverse direction. The axle subframe is attached to a body of the vehicle by at least one axle-subframe bearing, wherein the axle-subframe bearing is additionally supported on the body via a thrust arm. A drive unit is supported on the body and/or on the axle subframe via an assembly mounting. The drive unit is supported with the assembly mounting on the body of the vehicle via the thrust arm.

The invention relates to an axle of a vehicle. With respect to the prior art, reference is made by way of example to DE 4010378 C2.
It is known for an axle carrier of a vehicle to be attached via what are known as axle carrier bearings to the body of the vehicle. Axle carrier bearings are used both in the region of the front axle and of the rear axle between the vehicle body and the chassis. Therefore, said bearings are connecting elements in the transition between an axle carrier and the vehicle body. Loads and vibrations which act on the axle carrier and occur during driving operation are to be largely decoupled from the vehicle body with the aid of bearings of this type, in order to increase the driving comfort and to minimize the production of noise within the vehicle. The elastic elements which are usually provided within the axle carrier bearings and are arranged between a region which is connected to the vehicle body and a region which is connected to the axle are configured in different hardnesses in a manner which is dependent on the respective requirements, in order to influence the driving comfort and the noise development in a manner which is dependent on the desired driving properties.
A bearing of this type is usually configured as a rubber bearing. Here, a rubber bearing of this type usually comprises a core which lies in the interior and a sleeve which encloses said core and surrounds the core with a rubber-like material.
The axle carrier can thus be connected to the body of the vehicle by means of a screw in the core of the rubber bearing.
In order to uniformly absorb axially acting forces on the rubber bearing, it is known, for example, from DE 4010378 C2 for an additional axial supporting face to be arranged at the free end of the bearing. Therefore, an axial travel limiting means of the rubber part of the bearing is achieved firstly by way of bearing against the vehicle body and secondly by way of a supporting face or a stop plate at the exposed bearing end.
Furthermore, it is known for the connection of the axle carrier to the vehicle body to be of double-shear configuration, in order that loading of the screw of the bearing by way of transverse torques does not occur. To this end, for example, the stop plate is extended to form a thrust rod and is attached once again to the body of the vehicle.
A motor/transmission unit is usually arranged on an axle carrier, depending on whether it is a front or rear axle of a vehicle. Said motor/transmission unit is likewise attached via what are known as unit bearings to the axle carrier or to the vehicle body. The motor/transmission unit of a motor vehicle is usually called a propulsion unit. Here, the propulsion unit is mounted on the vehicle body elastically, for example via motor bearings, transmission bearings and torque supports. The unit bearings absorb the static load of the motor/transmission unit, and limit the maximum travels in the case of load changes or high torques. An attempt is made here, for example, to effectively suppress the introduction of solid-borne sound as a result of the motor and transmission excitation into the vehicle body, in order to design vibrations, the vibration comfort and the interior noise level to be comfortable for occupants of the vehicle over the entire rotational speed range of the motor.
All of said bearing arrangements have to attached during the mounting of the axle via certain bearing blocks or the like to the body of the vehicle. This procedure costs time, effort and a large number of individual parts.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide simple mounting for an axle (with a propulsion unit) of a vehicle.
The object is achieved by way of an axle with the features of the independent claim. Advantageous embodiments and developments are the contents of the dependent claims.
An axle of a vehicle is provided, which axle comprises an axle carrier, to which two wheel suspension systems (that is to say, a left-hand and a right-hand wheel suspension system as viewed in a plan view of the vehicle) are preferably fastened, and on which wheel control links are preferably supported or mounted in at least partially articulated manner.
Furthermore, an axle carrier of a motor vehicle is provided, which axle carrier comprises at least two longitudinal carriers which are oriented at least approximately in the vehicle longitudinal direction. Moreover, said axle carrier comprises at least one crossmember which connects the two longitudinal carriers. The crossmember with the longitudinal carriers together form at least approximately an H-shape, a U-shape or a rectangular shape, for example, in a plan view of the axle carrier.
Furthermore, it is provided that the axle carrier is supported by means of at least one axle carrier bearing on the body of the vehicle.
Here, the axle carrier is preferably supported on the body of the vehicle at least via two axle carrier bearings of this type, in particular at at least in each case one end of the longitudinal carriers.
Here, an axle carrier bearing of this type is preferably configured as a rubber bearing or hydraulic bearing. Here, a preferred rubber bearing comprises, in particular, a core which lies in the interior and a sleeve which encloses said core and surrounds the core with a rubber-like material.
Furthermore, it is preferably preferred that the bearing axis is oriented at least approximately in the vehicle vertical direction in the installed state of the axle carrier bearing.
Furthermore, it is provided that the axle carrier bearing is additionally supported via what is known as a thrust rod on the body of the vehicle. Here, a thrust rod of this type is arranged on the axle carrier bearing in such a way both that it is a stop in the axial direction of the bearing at the free end of the bearing, and what is known as a double-shear nature of the connection between the axle carrier and the vehicle body is established.
This is because the bearing bears as it were on its one end side against the vehicle body, whereas it is exposed on the other end side and does not have a stop. An axial stop is formed by way of the thrust rod which lies on said free end side of the bearing. As a result, the rubber element of the preferred rubber bearing can move only to a restricted extent in its axial movement relative to the core and the sleeve.
Here, the axle carrier bearing is preferably arranged in such a way that the axial direction or the direction of the longitudinal axis of the axial carrier bearing is oriented here at least approximately in the vehicle vertical direction.
By virtue of the fact that the thrust rod is additionally supported on the vehicle body, an abovementioned double-shear connection of the axle carrier to the vehicle body can be established via the bearing. Torque-induced loading of the core or a preferred screw of the axle carrier bearing can be reduced as a result. Accordingly, the thrust rod preferably comprises a seat, into which or through which the axle carrier bearing can be arranged. Here, the thrust rod is connected to the axle carrier bearing in such a way that it forms an axial stop at the one free end or the free end side or that side of the bearing which faces away from the vehicle body.
Furthermore, it is provided that a drive unit is supported via a unit bearing on the body of the vehicle. Here, the drive unit is supported on the axle carrier, in particular on a rear axle carrier, or is arranged or suspended thereon. A drive unit of this type is, in particular, an electric motor drive unit. As an alternative, however, a conventional internal combustion engine drive unit or an axle drive or an internal combustion engine is also conceivable.
Furthermore, it is provided that the drive unit is supported by way of the unit bearing via the thrust rod on the body of the vehicle. To this end, the thrust rod preferably comprises a further seat, in which the unit bearing can be arranged. The unit bearing is preferably pressed into said seat of the thrust rod.
Here, the axial direction of the longitudinal axis of the unit bearing is further preferably oriented at least approximately in the vehicle transverse direction in the installed state in the seat.
Here, in addition to the abovementioned double-shear nature and the stop of the axle carrier bearing, a thrust rod of this type therefore additionally forms a fastening or a bearing point of the propulsion unit. Additional bearing blocks for the attachment of the drive unit to the vehicle body can be advantageously dispensed with in this way. Furthermore, as a result, an additional mounting step is advantageously dispensed with, with the result that the propulsion unit can be mounted together with the axle carrier on the vehicle body.
Furthermore, it is preferably provided that the abovementioned thrust rod is connected in a non-positive manner to the body of the vehicle. Here, in particular, a screw connection comes into question.
Here, the axle carrier bearing is further preferably connected by way of a screw connection (which leads through the core of the bearing) via the thrust rod to the body of the vehicle.
Apart from the claims and from the description, said features and further features are also apparent from the drawings, it being possible for the individual features to be implemented in each case per se on their own or in multiples in the form of sub-combinations in the case of one embodiment of the invention, and to represent advantageous embodiments which are patentable per se and for which protection is claimed herein.

Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft


An object of the present invention is to provide a speedometer capable of distinctly indicating traveling speeds in a range of traveling speeds at which a vehicle travels in most of the time. A speedometer has a scale plate provided with a main speed scale of a substantially semicircular shape. The overall scale range of the main speed scale is divided by division points into four equal sections, and scale marks 5, 10, 15 and 45 mph are marked on the main speed scale at the division points, respectively. A low-speed range, i.e., a working speed range, of 0 to 15 mph extends in 3/4 of the overall scale range and the working speed range is graduated in quinary divisions of 5 mph. Therefore, speed indications in the low-speed range can accurately be read with an increase number of digits.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a speedometer for a vehicle which is provided with a scale plate suitable for practical uses.
2. Description of Background Art
A speedometer disclosed in JP-U No. 62-57165 is provided with a scale plate having an overall scale range divided into a first half scale range used as a low-speed scale range for indicating speeds in the range of 0 to 30 km/hr and a second half scale range used as a high-speed scale range for indicating speeds in the range of 30 to 90 km/hr. The second half scale range is graduated in divisions different from those in which the first half scale range is graduated.
If the scale ranges are graduated in different divisions in such a manner, the divisions in the low-speed scale range, which is often used during a practical operation of a vehicle, are greater than those in the high-speed scale range and the graduations of the low-speed range are easy to read.


A process for treating a body of water in which a bioreactor and a water eductor are located in a body of water such that the eductor is submerged beneath the body of water to a depth of at least about 3 feet. The water eductor produces a water flow at a rate of at least about 60 feet per minute; the water flow is substantially parallel to the surface of the body of water. Water is also passed through a bioreactor that contains a plurality of bio-suspension elements within an enclosure located above a screen in the enclosure.

This patent application describes certain improvements upon the technology disclosed in applicant's prior patents, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,231,766 and 6,022,476, the entire disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference into this specification.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,022,476 discloses and claims a method for removing selected biodegradable materials from a body of water.
The process of the instant application is similar to the process of U.S. Pat. No. 6,231,766, comprising the steps of: (a) disposing a plurality of bio-suspension elements within an enclosure which is at least partially submerged in a body of water, wherein a screen is disposed within said enclosure, wherein said bio-suspension elements provide surfaces for supporting the growth of at least five different biological microorganisms, and wherein said bio-suspension elements are disposed above said screen, (b) introducing said at least five different biological microorganisms into said enclosure along with said water (c) continuously agitating, aerating, and feeding said water into said enclosure at a rate of at least about 20 feet per minute, (d) forcing air through said screen, whereby treated water is produced, and (e) continuously removing said treated water from said enclosure at a rate of at least about 20 feet per minute.
In general, and as is disclosed, e.g., in U.S. Pat. No. 6,231,766, applicants' process involves removing selected biodegradable materials from water. In the first step of this process, there is disposed a plurality of bio-suspension elements within an enclosure, wherein a screen is disposed within said enclosure, wherein said bio-suspension elements provide surfaces for supporting the growth of at least five different biological microorganisms, and wherein said bio-suspension elements are disposed above said screen. In the second step of this process, there is introduced said at least five different biological microorganisms into said enclosure along with said water, wherein said water is continuously agitated, aerated and preferably fed into said enclosure at a rate of at least about 20 feet per minute. In the third step of the process, air is forced through said screen, whereby treated water is produced. Treated water is continuously removed from the enclosure, preferably at a rate of at least 20 feet per minute.
It is an object of this invention to provide an improved, more efficient process for treating a body of water.


Provided is a device for preventing information leakage including: a storage unit that stores message time, request source information, and request destination information in relation to each information requesting message; a unit that suspends a response message containing personal information in response messages in response to the information requesting messages, for a predetermined suspended time from a message time of the corresponding information requesting message; a unit that counts the number of information requesting messages transmitted from the same request source to the same destination and corresponding to the suspended response message on the basis of information stored in the storage unit; and a unit that, in the case where the counted number of the information requesting messages exceeds a predetermined threshold value, applies a protection process to the suspended response message so that the personal information contained in the suspended response message is not received by the request source.

In recent years, problems have arisen concerning unauthorized activities of acquiring personal information from WEB application systems through maliciously attacking vulnerability in WEB applications. To address these problems, proposal has been made of a system of detecting attack patterns to the WEB applications and blocking the attack using, for example, web application firewall (WAF) to prevent leakage of personal information.
Further, a technique of diagnosing vulnerable portions in the WEB application in advance is proposed to improve the security of the WEB application. For example, Patent Document 1 below proposes to identify an inspection item corresponding to a given parameter using a setting file indicating a correspondence between parameters to be inspected and inspection items when the parameter is given, thereby performing the inspection process in terms of vulnerability.

Device, method and program for preventing information leakage