A seat operating device comprising: an operation member; a first clutch member that is connected to an adjusting mechanism, and in which is formed a first cut-out portion that opens outwardly in a rotation radial direction of the first clutch member; a second clutch member that is connected to another adjusting mechanism, and in which is formed a second cut-out portion that opens outwardly in a rotation radial direction of the second clutch member; and a switching member having a first engaging portion and a second engaging portion that are positioned at mutually opposite sides across a rotational center. When the switching member is positioned at one end of a range of movement of the switching member, the first engaging portion engages with the first cut-out portion, and, when the switching member is positioned at another end of the range of movement, the second engaging portion engages with the second cut-out portion.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a seat operating device for operating adjusting mechanisms provided at a vehicle seat, and to a vehicle seat.
2. Related Art
A seat adjusting device disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 4758779 includes: an operation lever to which operational force is applied due to operation of a seated person; a lifter plate for transmitting operational force of the operation lever to a height adjusting mechanism of a seat cushion; a reclining plate for transmitting operational force of the operation lever to an angle adjusting mechanism of a seat back; and a switching mechanism able to selectively transmit operational force of the operation lever to the lifter plate to the reclining plate.
The aforementioned switching mechanism is structured so as to, in accordance with the operation of a switching knob that is mounted to the operation lever, switch between a first engaged state in which a switching pin engages with an engaging groove of the lifter plate, and a second engaged state in which the switching pin engages with an engaging groove of the reclining plate. Due thereto, two adjusting mechanisms can be operated selectively by one operation lever.


Keratin fibers are colored by an agent comprising a coupler which is a m-phenylenediamine derivative of the formula (I)

The present invention relates to agents for coloring keratin fibers which comprise special m-phenylenediamine derivatives, to a method of coloring hair using these agents, and to some of these m-phenylenediamine derivatives themselves and intermediates which are formed during the preparation of these compounds.
For the coloring of keratin fibers, in particular human hair, so-called oxidation colorants play a preferred role due to their intense colors and good fastness properties. Such colorants comprise oxidation dye precursors, so-called developer components and coupler components. The developer components form the actual dyes under the influence of oxidizing agents or of atmospheric oxygen with one another or with coupling with one or more coupler components.
The developer components used are usually primary aromatic amines with a further free or substituted hydroxyl or amino group located in the para or ortho position, diaminopyridine derivatives, heterocyclic hydrazones, 4-aminopyrazolone derivatives, and 2,4,5,6-tetraminopyrimidine and derivatives thereof.
Examples of developer components include, but are not limited to, p-phenylenediamine, p-tolylenediamine, 2,4,5,6-tetraminopyrimidine, p-aminophenol, N,N-bis(2-hydroxyethyl)-p-phenylenediamine, 2-(2,5-diaminophenyl)ethanol, 2-(2,5-diaminophenoxy)ethanol, 1-phenyl-3-carboxamido-4-aminpyrazol-5-one, 4-amino-3-methylphenol, 2-aminomethyl-4-aminophenol, 2-hydroxy-4,5,6-triaminopyrimidine, 2,4-dihydroxy-5,6-diaminopyrimidine, 2,5,6-triamino-4-hydroxypyrimidine and 1,3-N,N′-bis(2-hydroxyethyl)-N,N′-bis(4-aminophenyl)diaminopropan-2-ol.
Typical coupler components include, but are not limited to, m-phenylenediamine derivatives, naphthols, resorcinol and resorcinol derivatives, pyrazolones and m-aminophenols. Suitable coupler substances are, in particular, 1-naphthol, 1,5-, 2,7- and 1,7-dihydroxynaphthalene, 5-amino-2-methylphenol, m-aminophenol, resorcinol, resorcinol monomethyl ether, m-phenylenediamine, 1-phenyl-3-methylpyrazol-5-one, 2,4-dichloro-3-aminophenol, 1,3-bis(2,4-diaminophenoxy)propane, 2-chlororesorcinol, 4-chlororesorcinol, 2-chloro-6-methyl-3-aminophenol, 2-methylresorcinol, 5-methylresorcinol and 2-methyl-4-chloro-5-aminophenol.
Good oxidation dye precursors should firstly satisfy the following prerequisites: during oxidative coupling, they must form the desired shades in an adequate intensity and fastness. They must also have a good ability to attach to the fibers and particularly for human hair there should be no notable differences between stressed and freshly grown hair (equalizing ability). They should be resistant to light, heat, perspiration, rubbing and the effect of chemical reducing agents, e.g. permanent waving liquids. Finally, if used as hair colorants, they should not color the scalp excessively, and in particular they should be acceptable from a toxicological and dermatological point of view. In addition, it should be possible to readily remove the coloration achieved from the hair again by bleaching if it does not correspond to the individual wishes of the individual person and is to be reversed.
Using a developer component or a special coupler/developer combination on its own it is generally not possible to obtain a shade which looks natural on the hair. In practice, therefore, use is usually made of combinations of different developer and/or coupler components. There is therefore a continuing need for novel improved dye components which are also unproblematic from a toxicological and dermatological point of view.
It was therefore one object of the present invention to develop novel coupler components which satisfy the requirements placed on oxidation dye precursors, especially with regard to the toxicological and dermatological properties, and permit colorations in a broad color spectrum with good fastness properties.

Abstract: wherein R1 is a C1–C4 alkyl group or a C1–C4 monohydroxyalkyl group; R2 is a methyl or an ethyl group; each of R3 and R4 is independently a branched or unbranched C2–C6 hydroxyalkyl group; and a cosmetically acceptable carrier. These couplers exhibit improved toxicological and dermatological properties and permit hair colorations in a broad color spectrum with good fastness properties.

Henkel Kommanditgesellschaft auf Aktien (Henkel KGaA)


An electronic alarm is disclosed for use in a moving vehicle which generates ultrasonic sound for preventing animals from moving into the path of the vehicle. The device includes a simplified driver circuit for generating electrical impulses in the form of square waves having constant peak-to-peak voltages. The driver generates the square waves with periodic, sequentially increasing wave frequencies followed by sequentially decreasing wave frequencies. A coupling transformer converts the square waves into electrical sine wave voltages having high peak-to-peak voltages to cause a piezo-electric transducer to emit intense, ultrasonic sounds of periodically increasing frequencies followed by periodically decreasing frequencies simulating the warble effect of a siren without excessive heating and premature failure of the transducer. The ultrasonic warble effect confuses the animal to prevent inadvertent movement by the animal into the oncoming vehicle's path without injury to the animal.

There are countless instances where animals have wandered into spaces or areas occupied by humans or vice versa with devastating consequences to the animal or to the human. It should suffice to simply reflect on the number of animal carcasses littering highways as a result of the animal running or darting into the path of a moving vehicle. This is perhaps the most common example and it is this problem to which the present invention principally relates. However, there are other applications. Hunters and campers can be intruded upon by animals wandering into their tents or campsites. In an urban setting, postmen and metermen traditionally encounter threatening animals in their work. Still further, farmers and ranchers have need to set aside certain areas where unwanted animal intrusion does not occur.
The prior art has recognized this problem and certain devices have been produced which relate generally to the subject matter of the present invention. It is known that animals, or at least many animals, can detect ultrasonic sound waves and use the ultrasonic sound waves to detect the source of the sound. Conceptually this is illustrated in FIG. 1 by an object 1 emitting an ultrasonic sound wave designated by reference numeral 2 at a given frequency which animal 3 hears. Ultrasound wave 2 includes waves 2a and 2b which reflect or bounce off stationary objects such as trees 4a and 4b and are reflected as shown to the ears of animal 3. Animal 3 is believed to discern the time lag resulting from the increased reflective distances of waves 2a, 2b to locate the position of object 1.
Utilizing this concept, mechanical devices have been proposed which generate ultrasonic sounds which vary in frequency. Because the ultrasonic sounds vary in frequency or alternatively stated, vary in wave length, the animal is believed to try to locate the sound by attempting to discern the time lag resulting from non-existent reflective waves, which "time lag" results from the varying frequencies of the ultrasonic sounds emitted by the mechanical device. The animal thus becomes confused while it tries to spatially reconstruct the position from which the sound emanates. Tests have shown that the animal is dispersed or leaves the vicinity from which the sound emanates because it is confused. In any event, the animal does not inadvertently move towards the sound. Significantly, the animal is not injured by the ultrasonic sound waves nor is its hearing impaired.
One mechanical device operating on this principle is currently available under the brand name of DAZZLER. The device is mechanical and adapted for hand-held applications, specifically one in which a postman or a meterman would use the device to ward off a dog attack. However, the ability of any mechanical device to generate consistent, repeatable sounds in an intense manner is limited. The durability of any mechanical device is questionable. Significantly, devices which mechanically produce sound waves have inherent limitations in their ability to precisely produce closely controlled sound waves. As of the date of this application, tests are still being conducted on such devices including that of the present invention. It is possible that close control of the wavelenths of the ultrasonic wave becomes much more critical in an application where a moving object, i.e., an automobile, is involved than that involving a standing or slow-moving object.

Electronic alarm for avoiding collision with animals in a non-destructive manner


A method and apparatus for session release in a communication system supporting Internet Protocol (IP) communications. In one embodiment, when the MS has lost a bearer connection (i.e., PPP session), the notification is provided by a Packet Data Service Node (PDSN) to the serving Session control Manager (SCM) via IP multicast. If two PPP sessions are active for a given IP communication, and one PPP session is not lost, the PDSN associated with the active PPP session sends a correction message to ignore any notification message sent by the other PDSN. In an alternate embodiment, the Authentication Authorization Accounting (AAA) server uses start and stop accounting requests, received from PDSNs, to determine when to notify the serving SCM to terminate an IP communication.

There is an increasing demand for multiple services provided in a common communication system. Often these systems include a wireless portion, wherein information is transmitted via an air interface, and a data infrastructure, such as a wireline system using an Internet Protocol, referred to as IP. There is a need to support voice and other low-latency communications in combination with data services. For example, Voice over IP (VoIP) services may be offered over a wireless communication system configured with an IP data transmission system. As traditional wireless communication systems are designed for voice communications, the extension to support IP services introduces many challenges. Wireless communication systems are generally designed to handle lost signals, such as the loss of a connection incurred during the movement of a wireless device. Traditionally, IP communication systems have not had these considerations. As the wireless and IP communication systems coordinate, each must adapt to the specific requirements and problems of the other. Specifically, there is a need for a method of interfacing the two systems, and notifying the IP portion on loss of a communication path, referred to as a bearer connection. There is further a need to provide an indication of a loss of bearer connection to other participant(s) to an IP type communication, in particular, to a VoIP call. Similarly, there is a need for an efficient and accurate method and apparatus for releasing an Internet Protocol (IP) communication session.

Method and apparatus for session release in a communication system


Techniques are provided that can extend the efficiency of a switching regulator further into the low current region by making use of the available knowledge on predictable load variations and voltage ripple tolerance across different states, providing improved efficiency and reducing total current consumption. The load current requirement in low power states is provided using switch mode rather than linear regulation, the switch mode operation being controlled by a mode dependent control circuit so as to minimize the energy cost of the switching operation in each mode and thus obtain improved efficiency from the power source.

The increase in both the performance and portability of electronic devices creates challenges in that the underlying integrated circuits (ICs) require greater amounts of power to provide a greater degree of functionality and accuracy, while the physical dimensions of the devices are progressively reduced to improve portability.
Voltage regulators are a particular type of circuit that is necessary for the functionality of portable electronic devices. They are used to convert a supply voltage from one value to a different value, typically from a high voltage to a lower voltage. A voltage regulator may be used to convert an input supply voltage to an operating voltage that is applicable to, or more efficient for, a particular circuit. In some cases, voltage regulators may be used to provide current to a load at a stable voltage, despite a varying supply voltage, such as from a battery. In other cases, both of these functions may be important. For example, the battery voltage in a typical mobile phone is nominally 3.6 volts, but varies considerably as the battery discharges. Some of the integrated circuits within a mobile phone are designed to operate at voltages as low as 1.1 volts, to minimize power consumption. Voltage regulators are generally required to provide a constant output voltage regardless of whether the input voltage or the load current varies. Regulation is achieved by sensing the output voltage and adjusting the energy supplied to the output circuit in response to departures from the target voltage. In a linear regulator this adjustment takes place continuously, but in a switching regulator energy is supplied in discrete pulses which may vary in frequency and duration.
Switch mode conversion operates by transferring pulses of energy from a voltage source to storage elements such as inductors or capacitors, and redistributing that energy in such a way that the required voltage or current is delivered to the load with minimal losses. This is accomplished with control and switching circuitry that regulates the rate at which energy is transferred to the output. The duty cycle, that is, the ratio of on/off time, of the switching circuitry controls the amount of energy available at the load.
In a modern battery powered device, the output current required to supply a microprocessor IC might vary from around one ampere when the device is performing a processor-intensive task, such as processing high-quality graphics, to around 200 microamperes when the device is in a sleep mode. In sleep modes, the device's processor may be doing nothing more than waking up occasionally to perform housekeeping activities or respond to user input. Since the battery life of portable devices is critically important to customers, improving that battery life is important to device designers. The efficiency of switching regulators is generally best at moderate to high output currents (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,994,885), and falls off at lower output currents due to current in the control and switching circuitry, which at low output currents consumes a higher percentage of the total output power. To this end, the typical prior art solution adopted is to combine a switching regulator, for use when the required load current is high, with a linear regulator, for use when the load current is low (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,880,456 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,990,119).
A linear regulator includes an active pass device, such as a field-effect transistor or bipolar transistor. Effectively, the pass device is controlled, using feedback from the regulator output, to act as a variable resistance, so that the output voltage is maintained at a desired level, regardless of variation in the load current or in the input supply voltage. Those skilled in the art are aware that linear regulators become less efficient as the difference between input and output voltage increases, because of the resistive voltage drop across the pass device (see Aivaka White Paper WP1: "Linear or LDO Regulators & Step-Down Switching Regulators").
Both types of regulator require a finite time to respond to changes in the load current, and to this end one or more capacitors are connected across the regulated output to store a reservoir of charge which can supply the short term current requirements of the load. This means that the output voltage will depart from the nominal voltage when the supply current or the load current changes. Product design ensures that under normal operation the voltage ripple is sufficiently small that functionality is not degraded.
In a switching regulator one or more inductive elements may additionally be used to store energy for supply to the output. When the output current is high, the inductive elements maintain the output current in between consecutive switching pulses. If the stored energy in the inductive elements does not drop to zero between pulses this is termed "continuous mode", and typically includes the region of maximum conversion efficiency. When the switching regulator operates at low currents, the on-time or the frequency of energy pulses may be reduced to match the rate of energy supply to the output demand. If the current becomes low enough the energy in the inductive components is allowed to drop to zero between switching pulses ("discontinuous mode"). During the off period between energy pulses the output voltage is maintained by the external capacitance. The control circuit normally remains active so that it can respond to increased current demand when it occurs but constant energy losses in the control circuit mean that conversion efficiency in the discontinuous mode falls off as the output current is reduced.
The invention described herein provides techniques for products with sleep modes which, by making use of the available knowledge on predictable load variations and voltage ripple tolerance across different states, reduce the energy requirement of the control circuitry of a switching regulator. This extends the efficiency of a switching regulator further into the low current region, providing improved efficiency in lower power states when compared to a linear regulator, such that the need for a linear regulator nay be removed.

Voltage regulator with fast and slow switching control


A shuttle for logistics includes a vehicle body, a supercapacitor, a straight wheel, a straight motor, a transverse wheel, a transverse motor, a synchronous belt, a position sensor, a charging contact, a lifting motor, a lifting frame, a second synchronous belt, an encoder, a PLC controller, a lifting cam, a lifting position sensor, a telescopic fork, a finger, a telescopic fork position sensor, a telescopic fork motor, an antenna, and a controller. A bottom of the vehicle body is provided with the straight wheel and the transverse wheel, and a level of the straight wheel is lower than that of the transverse wheel. The straight motor and the transverse motor are arranged on the vehicle body, respectively. The straight motor is linked to the straight wheel, and the transverse motor is linked to the transverse wheel. The supercapacitor is arranged on the vehicle body.

Shuttle is used for storing, loading and unloading of goods. For example, the shuttle may be used to carry goods packaged by logistics-specific containers, cartons, etc., meanwhile, the shuttle may be used to move goods in or out of various horizontal levels of storage racking, and may also be used for cargo consolidation or goods sorting. Currently, most of the shuttles work by using a motor driven by electric power, hence, how to ensure effective battery life of the shuttle is a big issue. A part of the existing shuttles are charged by a manual charging method, when the shuttle runs out of power, the shuttle is charged through a plug and charger cable manually. Such charging mode has low efficiency, and is time and labor consuming; at the same time, automatic carrying and precise action are difficult to achieve due to moving and carrying mode thereof, the structure is complex, and the size is relatively large.


An improved method of amplifying nucleic acids comprising the use of four discrete temperature steps in a thermocyclic amplification reaction, as well as, a method of detecting large nucleic acid insertions or deletions such as those that occur from gene duplication or deletion.

Studies designed to determine the sequence of the human genome, as well as studies designed to compare human genomic sequences, have elicited information regarding polymorphisms of such sequences. A wide variety of polymorphisms in the human genome have previously been described. The various types of human genetic polymorphisms include single base substitutions, insertions, or deletions; variable numbers of tandem repeats; deletions of all or a large part of a gene; gene amplifications; and chromosomal rearrangements.
Cytochrome P450 (CYP) is a family, or group, of genes in the human genome that encode enzymes several of which facilitate the metabolism of various drugs. One of these genes, CYP2D6, plays a role in the metabolism of a large number of drugs, including several products used to treat psychiatric and cardiovascular disorders. Not surprisingly therefore, some variants of CYP2D6 have been found, at least in part, to alter an individual's ability to metabolize drugs.
While some CYP2D6 polymorphisms have little effect on an individual's ability to metabolize drugs, others have a significant effect. For example, a variant known as CYP2D6 star five (CYP2D6*5, hereinafter *5) comprises a deletion of most of the CYP2D6 gene. *5 is one of several CYP2D6 variants that can contribute to a poor metabolizer phenotype, characteristic of persons having an at least impaired ability to metabolize certain classes of drugs. A possible consequence of the poor metabolizer phenotype is that drugs, normally metabolized by CYP2D6, may build up to toxic concentrations in poor metabolizer individuals. Alternatively, a drug requiring activation by CYP2D6 protein may not be efficacious in persons having the poor metabolizer phenotype. Other variants that can contribute to a poor metabolizer phenotype include a single nucleotide substitution (CYP2D6 star 4 or CYP2D6*4, herenafter *4) and two single nucleotide deletions (CYP2D6 star 3 or CYP2D6*3 hereinafter *3; and CYP2D6 star 6 or CYP2D6*6 hereinafter *6).
On the other hand, some individuals carry multiple copies of the CYP2D6 gene (variously referred to as "an amplification" of the CYP2D6 gene or CYP2D6×2, hereinafter ×2) in their genomes. Individuals with this variant may have an increased ability to metabolize certain classes of drugs and therefore normal doses of these drugs are cleared from the body quite quickly and have little chance to achieve the desired effect. Other variants of CYP2D6 including CYP2D6 star 2 (CYP2D6*2 hereinafter *2), a single nucleotide substitution, and CYP2D6 star 9 (CYP2D6*9 hereinafter *9), a three nucleotide deletion, have not been demonstrated to have any affect on an individual's ability to metabolize drugs. Hence, there are various and different types of CYP2D6 variants that may or may not impair drug metabolism in humans.
Many different methods have been proposed to detect variants such as those mentioned above. Unfortunately, however, different detection methodologies have previously appeared necessary to detect different types of variants. While nucleic acid amplification based assays for single nucleotide polymorphisms have used technology that is amenable to automation, amplification based assays for detecting larger variations such as large deletions or insertions are not readily amenable to automation. For example, "allele specific PCR" is described in European Patent Application 463 395 and is a method for detecting single nucleotide polymorphisms. Allele specific PCR based assays can be performed using methodologies that are relatively easy to automate. On the other hand, "long PCR" has been employed to detect large insertions or deletions of nucleic acid sequences, particularly *5 and ×2 (Johansson I., Lundqvist E., Dahl M. L., and Ingelman-Sundberg, Pharmacogenomics, 6, 351–355 (1996). While amplification products from allele specific PCR and long PCR can be detected on gels, long PCR products are somewhat limited to gel detection. Accordingly, current methodologies require the use of gels to detect certain types of mutations.
It is well known, however, that running gels is time consuming and therefore expensive. Moreover, there is no single platform that enables the detection of, for example, single base polymorphisms and large deletions using a single format that is readily amenable to automation. Accordingly, there is a need for means to detect amplification products from multiple and different types of polymorphisms on a single automated platform.

Amplification based polymorphism detection


An LGA socket assembly comprising individual sockets cells, the methods of fabricating and assembling the socket cells into a socket assembly. In an embodiment of the invention, each socket cell comprises an insulative body and a wire. The insulative body is formed around the wire. A first portion of the wire extends from the top surface of the insulative body to form contact tip. A second portion of the wire extends from the bottom surface of the insulative body to form contact paddle. Socket cells are aligned to form a socket assembly.

1. Field
The present invention relates to integrated circuit component second level (package-to-board) interconnection. More specifically, the invention relates to an Land Grid Array (LGA) socket with smaller contact pitch as compared to known LGA sockets, and the method of fabricating and assembling the socket.
2. Discussion of Related Art
A component socket is employed to couple an integrated circuit package to a circuit board. Pin Grid Array (PGA) and Land Grid Array (LGA) packages require a component socket to be connected to a circuit board because PGA and LGA packages do not have solder balls at the bottom of the package to be soldered to a circuit board directly.
FIG. 1A shows the top view of a known LGA socket housing 100. Socket housing 100 includes contact carrier 121. FIG. 1B shows a perspective view of contact carrier 121 having a plurality of pockets 126. Pockets 126 house electrically conductive contacts 124. The upper portion of contact 124 connects with the lands of LGA package while the bottom portion of contact 124 is soldered to solder ball 128. Walls 122 of contact carrier 121 provide structural support to contacts 124 and prevent contacts 124 from touching each other. FIG. 1C illustrates the top view of four adjacent pockets 126 defined by walls 122 of contact carrier 121 (contacts 124 are not shown here). Walls 122 are illustrated to assume wall thickness 146. Contacts 124 housed within pockets 126 of pocket width 144 would define socket pitch 142.
As semiconductor devices are designed to pack more transistors in the silicon and more than one silicon chip on the package, the number of second level interconnects of the integrated circuit package grows tremendously. Package interconnect pitch reduction is required to avoid substantial increase in package size. However, historically, interconnect and socket pitches reductions have progressed slower than the increase of the number of interconnects. Pitch reduction of known LGA sockets, among other factors, is limited by walls 122 of contact carrier 121 and the void space consumed by pockets 126 of contact carrier 121.

Land grid array (LGA) socket with cells and method of fabrication and assembly


A process for painting the surface of a glass sheet, and the products produced thereby. The process comprises applying a layer of a metal-containing ceramic paint to the surface of the glass sheet, heating and forming the glass sheet to fuse the metal-containing ceramic paint layer to the surface of the glass sheet, and applying a layer of organic paint over the layer of metal-containing ceramic paint.

It is known to use ceramic paints to coat at least a portion of the surface of a glass sheet, to form an opaque border around the peripheral marginal surface thereof, for the preparation of an automotive vehicle windshield, sidelite, or backlite. Such a concealment band is applied to the inner surface of the glass sheet (the side of the glass sheet nearest the vehicle occupants) to protect the ceramic paint layer from the corrosive and erosive effects of the atmosphere exterior of the vehicle. The need to protect such a painted surface from the corrosive effects of atmospheric gases and vapors is particularly great where the ceramic paint contains a metal powder.
Metal powders are used extensively in modern ceramic paints due to their ability to prevent sticking of the paint to a forming die during a glass sheet press bending operation and their ability to prevent the formation of surface defects during a gas hearth glass sheet forming operation. Thus, virtually all modern motor vehicle glazings having a concealment band around the periphery thereof employ a ceramic paint layer on the interior surface of the glass.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,684,389 and 5,090,983, both to Boaz, disclose metal-containing ceramic paints useful for forming a concealment band on an automotive glazing. Such a concealment band is only applied to the interior surface of the glass sheet due to its susceptibility to the corrosive and erosive effects of the atmosphere exterior of the vehicle.
Modern styling changes have resulted in a desire to place concealment bands on the exterior surfaces of automotive glazings. Ceramic paints containing metal powders are superior to conventional ceramic paints, due to their ability to prevent sticking and defects during glass sheet forming operations. The use of metal containing ceramic paints results in increased glazing productivity and painted surface quality. However, the addition of metal powders also results in a particularly unsuitable exterior paint.
Organic paints, which provide superior durability and aesthetic quality, will not stick to a glass surface, and so likewise cannot be used to form a concealment band on the exterior surface of an automotive glazing.
It would be desirable to develop a process for painting at least a portion of the exterior surface of a glass sheet, which painted surface would be durable, resistant to atmospheric gases and vapors, and aesthetically pleasing.

Glass sheets having painted exterior surfaces


Methods of pyrolytically producing carbons comprising graphene sheets at temperatures below 800° C. are disclosed. The graphene sheets, which are not substantially stacked, are formed by templating on hexagonal metal oxides, for example. Extensive stacking of the graphene sheets, which would lead to formation of graphite, is avoided at the low temperatures employed. Also provided are methods of producing heavily nitrogen doped graphene comprising carbons. Methods of using graphene and heavily nitrogen doped graphene are also disclosed.

Graphene comprising powders can be used, for example, in electrodes of supercapacitors, fuel cells and batteries, as lubricants, coatings that selectively reflect or absorb electromagnetic radiation, gas separation membranes, catalysts and packings of separation e.g. distillation columns, and adsorption of water, carbon dioxide, and other gases. While their advantageous properties are well known, their method of production, e.g. by exfoliating graphite, precluded their extensive use.

Low-temperature pyrolysis of organic acid salts providing graphene rich carbons

Board of Regents, The University of Texas System


A coil tube and conduit system for feeding into a well has the coiled tube form an annular space closed at its top and herein a relatively dense liquid while the conduit is provided with buoyancy means so that within that coiled tube the conduit can be buoyed up by the confining liquid and hence the weight of the conduit relieved.

Coiled or continuous reel tubing has been used in the oil industry for the last 20-30 years. The fact that a continuous single tube is used provides several advantages when entering a live oil or gas well which could have anything up to 7,000 psi well head pressure. This means the well does not have to be killed, (i.e. a heavy fluid does not have to be pumped down the production tubing to control the oil or gas producing zone by the effect of its greater hydrostatic pressure). Continuous tubing has the advantage of also being able to pass through the tubing through which the oil and/or gas is being produced, not disturbing the tubing in place.
Since its introduction, the uses and applications for coiled tubing have grown immensely, and now, rather than just being used to circulate various fluids in a well bore, it is not uncommon for coiled tubing to be used for conveying various hydraulically powered tools and more recently electrically powered tools on its end into the well. This has resulted in conventional electrical wire-line logging cables or small hydraulic conduits being inserted into the inside of the reel of tubing so that these more sophisticated tools can be used and services can be performed.
A disadvantage which has resulted from this practice is the capstan effect of the smaller diameter wire-line or hydraulic tube tending to be pulled very tightly to the inner surface of the continuous reel of tubing. When considering the effect this has on the geometry, it will be appreciated that the wire-line or small hydraulic conductor will have a slightly smaller pitch circle diameter to that of the larger reeled tubing. The consequence of this is that for each complete 360 degrees of a turn the wire-line or hydraulic tube will be slightly shorter in length than the larger reeled tubing, so if this is added up over its total length of 12,000 ft (3657 m) or usually longer the difference in lengths could be as much as 200 ft (61 in).
This problem has been recognized due to the operational problems encountered. Either one end of the wire-line or hydraulic tube has been pulled out of its connection, or else the reeled tubing itself develops a low frequency wave form caused by the tension in the conduit inside the reeled tubing, which prevents the reeled tubing from being lowered any deeper into the well without the risk of damaging it.
Also the effect of increasing the weight of the conduit and for conduits having a certain length has resulted in the conduit being prone to stretching or creep when installed in the well in particular when it is considered that the conduit is intended to remain in position for a relatively long period of time for production of the well. The type of conduit for which stretching is a problem depends upon the weight per unit length of the conduit, the material of the conduit and the expected working life of the conduit. Stretching and slippage of the conduit is frequently a serious problem.

Conduit and continuous coiled tubing system


An outer housing (10) includes a receptacle (12) projecting forward, and a connection space (14) is formed at a back end part of the receptacle (12). An inner housing (20) holding terminal fittings (50) is inserted into the receptacle (12) to be assembled with the outer housing (10) while being fitted in the connection space (14). Ribs (28a) to (28g) for preventing relative displacements of the inner housing (20) in directions intersecting with an assembling direction with respect to the receptacle (12) by coming into sliding contact with the inner circumferential surface of the receptacle (12) are formed on the outer circumferential surface of the inner housing (20).

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 7,001,215 discloses a connector constructed by combining an inner housing and an outer housing. Parts of male terminal fittings behind tabs are accommodated in terminal accommodating chambers formed in the inner housing, and the tabs project forward from the inner housing. A receptacle projects forward on the outer housing and a connection space is formed at a back end of the receptacle. The inner housing is inserted into the receptacle from the front and is fit into the connection space. The tabs are surrounded and protected by the receptacle when the inner and outer housings are assembled.
The inner housing of the above-described connector is smaller than the receptacle if the number of the terminals is small, and hence the connection space at the back side of the receptacle can be formed smaller than the receptacle. In this case, a large clearance is defined between the outer peripheral surface of the inner housing and the inner peripheral surface of the receptacle when the inner and outer housings are assembled. The connection space, into which the inner housing is fit, is difficult to see from the front due to its position at a back end of an injection nozzle. As a result, the inner housing may not be able to be fit successfully into the connection space.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,182,652 discloses a connector constructed so that terminal fittings are inserted into a housing from behind and are retained by a retainer mounted in the housing. The retainer is assembled in a direction orthogonal to an inserting direction of the terminal fittings into the housing. The retainer can be held at a partial locking position for permitting insertion of the terminal fittings and a full locking position for engaging and retaining the terminal fittings.
The terminal fittings are inserted in the connector of this type with the retainer held at the partial locking position. Thus, the retainer is held at the partial locking position while transporting the connector to a terminal fitting insertion site.
The retainer of the above-described connector is pushed deeply into the housing for movement from the partial locking position to the full locking position. There is a likelihood that the outer surface of the retainer will be pushed by another connector or the like during transportation to the terminal fitting insertion site and hence the retainer may be pushed prematurely to the full locking position. As a result, an extra operation is required for returning the retainer to the partial locking position before the insertion of the terminal fittings is necessary.
The invention was developed in view of the above situation, and an object thereof is to improve the operability of the connector.


Combining speech with existing text wireless Short Message Service (SMS) to create a multimodal SMS service. A user of standard SMS text service is provided with a link within each message that allows adding or retrieval of a voice message associated with an SMS text message. A speech server in the wireless network may be used for recognition of voice commands, rendering of text into speech, and recording or playing back voice recordings. The messages may be retrieved or sent using any wireless handset. Additional services that may be used include message lists, prerecorded messages, integration with voicemail systems, image and video messages, cross-functional applications with Multimedia Messaging Services (MMS) and Enhanced Message Services (EMS), and extensions of the combination of voice with text SMS to other computing devices such as PDAs and PCs.

In addition to the usual wireless telephony that cellular telephones provide, such devices are also widely used for sending short text messages (under the name Short Message Services or SMS) between wireless users.
More recently new devices and supporting network services are being introduced that allow more general class of messages to be sent between wireless devices, where the messages include voice, still images, and even moving images. Standards have been introduced for such services including Multimedia Message Services (MMS) and Enhanced Message Services (EMS).
However, as attractive as such new services are to users and wireless network providers, they require new and expensive wireless devices, of which few have been deployed to customers, as well as extensive additional network capabilities. Further, these new services do not inter-operate with existing SMS services in a seamless manner.
In view of the foregoing discussion there is a need for a system that can overcome the drawbacks of these new services and provide comparable advanced capabilities using only the inexpensive devices and networks currently available to support standard text SMS and that seamlessly inter-operate with SMS services.
Further, the disclosure herein is not limited to wireless phones but will also work with wireline phones with SMS capabilities and services over such wireline devices.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Techniques for combining voice with wireless text short message services


Computerized systems, methods, and graphical user interfaces are provided to facilitate communication between physician offices and reference laboratories. A reference laboratory content manager provides a centralized conduit for interfacing clients placing orders for reference laboratory testing and reference laboratories performing testing. The reference laboratory content manager leverages centralized mapping across organizations by managing associations for procedures between reference laboratory aliases and client aliases. The centralized mapping enables the reference laboratory content manager to manage updates from reference laboratories and facilitate clients wishing to modify utilization of reference laboratories.

Clinical reference laboratory testing plays a key role in many facets of the healthcare process. Many of the decisions made by healthcare providers regarding patient care, from initial diagnosis through treatment and ultimate prognosis, are dictated by reference laboratory testing. For example, approximately 80% of all diagnoses are associated with a reference laboratory test. Given the crucial and prevalent role of clinical reference laboratory testing in the medical arena, it is imperative that the reference laboratory testing process provide results to healthcare providers in a timely and efficient manner.
While reference laboratory testing may sometimes be performed at the point-of-care, such as at a physician office or hospital, in many cases, the reference laboratory located at the same facility as the point-of-care may not be capable of performing a type of test required or the point-of-care location may not maintain a reference laboratory. In such cases, physical specimens collected from patients must be sent to a distant reference laboratory for testing. Currently, requesting clinical reference laboratory testing from distant reference laboratories and disseminating results are often part of a manual process, which is tedious, inefficient, and error prone. For example, in the context of a physician office requesting reference laboratory testing for a patient, it is often difficult for the physician office to determine an appropriate reference laboratory to perform the testing. Typically, the physician office will maintain information, such as the testing capabilities for each of a number of reference laboratories and records indicating the insurance each reference laboratory accepts. Accordingly, personnel at the physician office must manually review the information and determine an appropriate reference laboratory.
This approach is prone to errors, such as a physical specimen being sent to a reference laboratory that is incapable of performing the test requested and/or that does not accept the patient's insurance. In some cases, requests for reference laboratory testing may be ambiguous or incomplete from the perspective of the reference laboratory performing the testing. For example, if a reference laboratory receives a request to perform testing for hepatitis, the reference laboratory doesn't have sufficient information to know the specific type of hepatitis for which to test. Accordingly, the reference laboratory may perform the incorrect test. Alternatively, the reference laboratory may be required to contact the requesting party (e.g., by telephone) for clarification.
Further, current reporting and tracking of reference laboratory testing results is often not a seamless process. Results reporting is frequently a manual process, such as through mailing, faxing, emailing, or phoning results to the appropriate healthcare provider, providing opportunities for the miscommunication of results. If a healthcare provider does not receive results in a timely manner, the provider typically must call the reference laboratory to determine the status of the results. In cases in which the patient's results need to be reviewed and used for care at multiple healthcare providers, it is typically the burden of the patient to carry the results from institution to institution.
Currently, some larger reference laboratories provide proprietary software and/or hardware for entering orders for reference laboratory testing and for accessing results. In addition, some electronic medical record systems may interface with reference laboratories for order entry and result viewing. However, the software and/or hardware provided by each reference laboratory is specific to that particular reference laboratory. Likewise, for electronic medical record systems, individual interfaces are required for each reference laboratory.
Because individual interfaces are required for each reference laboratory, alias maps must be created for each reference laboratory. The alias maps provide an interface between how the physician office codes a particular test and how each reference laboratory codes the same test. Additional mapping must be provided to ensure a physician office receives the results it expects for the particular test. Attributes associated with each test provide guidance for the physician office acquiring a specimen. There is often variance between these attributes among reference laboratories even for the same test. Typically, a physician office utilizes a minimum of twenty to thirty reference laboratories to satisfy the needs of patients, insurance companies, and testing requirements. Unfortunately, reference laboratories frequently change the codes associated with a given test or type of measurement. Generally, reference laboratories send out code changes once a week, often in excess of two hundred changes a month. Each time a physician office receives the changes from each reference laboratory, a manual process is required to see how many of the code changes affect the physician office receiving the code changes. As a result, many physician offices simply resort to utilizing paper. Even when the physician offices employ an electronic means to interface with the laboratory software and/or hardware, the effort to maintain an accurate alias map for each reference laboratory is time consuming and costly because there is no centralized mapping that can be leveraged between organizations. Exacerbating this problem further is that it is equally time consuming and costly to change reference laboratories should the need arise because new alias maps need to be created each time a physician office changes or adds a reference laboratory.

Managing updates from reference laboratories


The present invention provides minimalist bZIP proteins having a basic region derived from bHLH proteins fused to a leucine zipper dimerization domain derived from bZIP proteins and methods and uses thereof in the treatment of cancer. The present invention also provides pharmaceutical compositions for treating cancer.

Nature's use of the protein α-helix for specific DNA recognition is ubiquitous and maximally utilized by the basic region/leucine zipper motif (bZIP), which comprises a pair of short α-helices that recognize the DNA major groove with sequence-specificity and high affinity (Struhl, K., Trends Biochem. Sci. 1989, 14, 137-140; Landschulz, W. H. et al., Science 1988, 240, 1759-1764). Crystal structures of the bZIP domain of GCN4 bound to two different DNA sites (König, P. and Richmond, T. J., J. Mol. Biol. 1993, 233, 139-154; Ellenberger, T. E. et al., Cell 1992, 71, 1223-1237; Keller, W. et al., J. Mol. Biol. 1995, 254, 657-667) and the Jun-Fos heterodimer bZIP-DNA crystal (Glover, J. N. M. and Harrison, S. C., Nature 1995, 373, 257-261) show that a continuous α-helix of ˜60 amino acids provides the basic-region interface for binding to specific DNA sites, as well as the leucine zipper coiled-coil dimerization structure. Remarkably, these crystal structures also demonstrate astonishing conservation of protein backbone structure across species between the two yeast GCN4 and avian Jun-Fos structures.
Myc, Max, and Mad Proteins
The basic-region/helix-loop-helix (bHLH) motif, including the subvariant basic-region/helix-loop-helix/leucine-zipper (bHLHZ) motif, is very similar to the bZIP in that a dimer of α-helices binds specific sites in the DNA major groove; protein dimerization is effected by the helix-loop-helix, a tetramer of α-helices in the bHLH, or by the helix-loop-helix/leucine-zipper in the bHLHZ, in which dimerization is mediated by both the tetrameric HLH and adjacent leucine zipper (compare structures in FIG. 1) (Murre, C. Cell, 1989, 56, 777-783). The bHLH comprises bHLH proteins as well as subfamily variants: the bHLHZ (such as Max and USF), and the bHLH/PAS (such as AhR and Arnt), where the PAS domain assists in efficient protein dimerization. Unlike the leucine zipper, the PAS structure is unknown. The PAS has been found in the Per, Arnt, and Sim proteins—hence, "PAS"—as well as AhR and HIF-1α (Gradin, K., et al., Mol. Cell. Biol. 1996, 16, 5221-5231). The PAS domain comprises 200-300 amino acids and contains characteristic repeats termed the "A" and "B" domains.
Like bZIP proteins, the bHLH protein family also regulates transcription. In particular, the Myc, Max, and Mad transcription factor network comprises widely expressed bHLHZ proteins critical for control of normal cell proliferation and differentiation (Amati, B. and Land, H., Curr. Opin. Gene. Dev. 1994, 4, 102-108; Orian, A. et al., Genes Dev., 2003, 17, 1101-1114). Myc is proto-oncogenic; deregulated overexpression of myc genes leads to malignant transformation, and myc genes are suspected of being among the most frequently affected in human tumors and disease (Nesbit, C. D. et al., Oncogene 1999, 18, 3004-3016) including Burkitt's lymphoma (Taub, R. et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 1982, 79, 7837-7841; Dalla-Favera, R. et al., M., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 1982, 79, 7824-7827), neuroblastomas (Schwab, M. et al., Nature 1984, 308, 288-291), and small cell lung cancers (Nau, M. M. et al., Nature 1985, 318, 69-73).
In contrast, Max is a stable, constitutively expressed dimerization partner that heterodimerizes with Myc, Mad, and Mxi, thereby controlling their DNA-binding and gene-regulatory activities (Amati, B. and Land, H., Curr. Opin. Gene. Dev. 1994, 4, 102-108; Orian, A. et al., Genes Dev., 2003, 17, 1101-1114). Myc-Max is a transcriptional activator that binds the Enhancer box (E-box) sequence 5′-CACGTG (Blackwood, E. M. et al., Science 1991, 251, 1211-1217; Blackwell, T. K. et al., Mol. Cell. Biol. 1993, 13, 5216-5224). Myc does not homodimerize in vivo or at physiological concentrations, so its activity is mediated by heterodimerization with Max. In contrast Max can homodimerize, although it preferentially heterodimerizes; Max homodimers can bind the E-box, albeit with lower affinities than that of the heterodimers (Blackwood, E. M. et al., Science 1991, 251, 1211-1217). Several promoters contain the E-box sequence 5′-CACGTG, including that for p53 tumor suppressor (Reisman, D. et al., Cell Growth Differ. 1993, 4, 57-65). Mad-Max (Amati, B. et al., Cell 1993, 72, 233-245) and the related Mxi-Max (Zervos, A. S. et al., Cell 1993, 72, 223-232) are transcriptional repressors that antagonize Myc-Max by competing for the same E-box sequence.
The Max network is highly conserved in vertebrates and mammals and ubiquitous; in Drosophila, for instance, a conservative estimate is that Max network proteins interact with approximately 2000 genes (Orian, A. et al., Genes Dev., 2003, 17, 1101-1114). The transactivation domain mediating the gene-regulatory activities of the Myc-Max heterodimer lies in the amino-terminal region of Myc; Max's role is to allow Myc to bind DNA, thereby mediating its cellular activities (Amati, B. and Land, H., Curr. Opin. Gene. Dev. 1994, 4, 102-108). Therefore, mutant proteins that interfere with Myc-Max recognition of the E-box site may also interfere with Myc's disease-promoting activities.
AhR and Arnt Proteins
Not only interesting from a protein-design perspective, the AhR-Arnt system is notable for its possible role in disease pathways. The AhR, also known as the dioxin receptor, mediates signal transduction (Fisher, J. M., et al., Mol. Carcinogen. 1989, 1, 216-221) by dioxins and related polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, including benzo[a]yrenes found in cigarette smoke and smog, heterocyclic amines in cooked meat, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). In analogy to the glucocorticoid receptor, the latent AhR is found associated with heat-shock protein hsp90 in the cytosol (Cadepond, F. et al., J. Biol. Chem. 1991, 266, 5834-5841.). Ligand binding induces nuclear translocation of the AhR (Pollenz, R. S. et al., Mol. Pharmacol. 1995, 45, 428-438), release of hsp90, and dimerization with the nuclear protein Arnt (Reyes, H. et al., Science 1992, 256, 1193-1195); this activated complex (Whitelaw, M. et al., Mol. Cell. Biol. 1993, 13, 2504-2514; Cuthill, S., et al., Mol. Cell. Biol. 1991, 11, 401-411) then binds specific xenobiotic response elements (XRE sites) and activates gene transcription (Wu, L. and Whitlock, J. P. Nucl. Acid. Res. 1993, 21, 119-125; Fujisawa-Sehara, A. et al., Nucl. Acid. Res. 1987, 15, 4179-4191). The endogenous ligand, if any, for the dioxin receptor has yet to be discovered. During evolution, plant flavones and later, certain combustion products like dioxin, appear to have appropriated the AhR for stimulating their own metabolism.
AhR and Arnt are bHLH/PAS proteins; they differ from most other bHLH transcription factors in that AhR-Arnt dimerization occurs only in the presence of ligand. The PAS domain is remote from the basic region, and importantly, it does not affect DNA binding, as it is purely necessary for dimerization and ligand binding; Poellinger and coworkers found that the minimal bHLH domains of AhR and Arnt are solely capable of recognition of XRE sites and dimerization (Pongratz, I., et al., Mol. Cell. Biol. 1998, 18, 4079-4088).
Previous work has shown that within the bZIP family, basic regions and leucine zippers from different proteins can be exchanged with no resulting change in α-helical structure or DNA-binding function (Agre, P. et al., Science 1989, 246, 922-926; Lajmi, A. R. et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2000, 122, 5638-5639; Sellers, J. W. et al., Nature 1989, 341, 74-76). Likewise, the bHLH/bHLHZ is well conserved structurally and essentially identical among bHLH/bHLHZ family members (Nair, S. K. and Burley, S. K., Cell 2003, 112, 193-205). Protein-DNA crystal structures for bHLH proteins MyoD (Ma, P. C et al., Cell 1994, 77, 451-459) and E47 (Ellenberger, T. et al., Genes Dev. 1994, 8, 970-980), and bHLHZ proteins Max (Ferre-D'Amare, A. R. et al., Nature 1993, 363, 38-45; Brownlie, P. et al., Structure 1997, 5, 509-520) and USF (Ferre-D'Amare, A. R. et al., EMBO J. 1994, 13, 180-189) show closely related structures and DNA-binding functions. Exchange of basic regions and dimerization elements in the bHLHZ family also yields native-like proteins: Prochownik and coworkers showed that the Max basic region could be fused to the USF HLHZ domain to generate hybrids that could homodimerize and bind the E-box (Yin, X. et al., Oncogene 1998, 16, 2629-2637).
The crystal structures of bZIP and bHLH demonstrate that although they are distinct protein structural families, they share the most similarity in comparison to other families of DNA-binding proteins: in particular, the α-helix DNA recognition element is highly conserved in the two families (König, P. and Richmond, T. J., J. Mol. Biol. 1993, 233, 139-154; Ellenberger, T. E. et al., Cell 1992, 71, 1223-1237; Keller, W. et al., J. Mol. Biol. 1995, 254, 657-667; Glover, J. N. M. and Harrison, S. C., Nature 1995, 373, 257-26; Ma, P. C et al., Cell 1994, 77, 451-459; Ellenberger, T. et al., Genes Dev. 1994, 8, 970-980; Ferre-D'Amare, A. R. et al., Nature 1993, 363, 38-45; Brownlie, P. et al., Structure 1997, 5, 509-520; Ferre-D'Amare, A. R. et al., EMBO J. 1994, 13, 180-189). In contrast, there are differences in the hinge angles which govern positioning of the basic regions in the major grooves between bZIP and bHLH. Additionally, the dimerization element in the bHLH is more complicated than the smaller, simpler leucine zipper.
No simple code exists for protein-DNA recognition, and this fact has made design of sequence-specific DNA-binding proteins a major challenge.

Minimalist bZIP proteins and uses thereof


An acoustic structure includes a plate and at least one acoustic scatterer having a resonant frequency and coupled to a side of the plate. The at least one acoustic scatterer has an opening, a first channel and a second channel. The first channel has a first channel open end and a first channel terminal end with the first channel open end being in fluid communication with the opening. The second channel has a second channel open end and a second channel terminal end with the second channel open end being in fluid communication with the opening. The first channel terminal end and the second channel terminal end are separate from one another.

The background description provided is to generally present the context of the disclosure. Work of the inventors, to the extent it may be described in this background section, and aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present technology.
Low-frequency noise issues are a common issue in a variety of different environments. There are several different solutions for managing low-frequency noises, but many have drawbacks. For example, conventional porous sound absorbing materials are only efficient for high frequency noise reduction due to its high impedance nature. The sound transmission through porous materials is high if the material microstructure has a large porosity.
In the automotive industry, the low-frequency noise has been a long-standing issue for passenger comfort. However, the sound isolation performance is limited by the so-called "mass-law". The "mass-law" states that doubling the mass per unit area increases the sound transmission loss ("STL") by six decibels. Similarly, doubling the frequency increases the STL by six decibels. This effect makes it difficult to isolate low frequency sound using lightweight materials. In order to achieve high STL, one may either reflect or absorb the sound energy. However, achieving high absorption and high STL at the same time is also difficult, because high absorption usually requires impedance matching, which leads to high transmission.

Acoustic structure for sound absorption and improved sound transmission loss

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.


Maxwellian view and modulation control options for the scanning laser ophthalmoscope allow knowing, maintaining and systematically varying the entrance location of the Maxwellian view used for imaging or functional testing of a particular retinal test location. The scanning laser ophthalmoscope simultaneously images for subsequent digital image processing the anterior and posterior segment of the eye by using a second Newtonian imaging device or by repositioning the entrance location of the Maxwellian view in such way that vignetting of the anatomical pupil occurs. In the second method, the fixation target is systematically moved within the visible border of the anatomical pupil in order to use another entrance location of the Maxwellian view for a given retinal test location. The main advantages are simplicity of utility and the fact that the scanning laser ophthalmoscope no longer has to move in order to select or maintain a particular entrance location of the Maxwellian view for a given retinal test location.

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates in general to methods for examining the eye and specifically to the use of an electro-optical ophthalmoscope for imaging and psychophysical applications.
2. Description of Prior Art
The related U.S. Pat. No. 5,568,208, "Modified scanning laser ophthalmoscope for psychophysical applications", issued Oct. 22, 1996, discloses a scanning laser ophthalmoscope that is modified in order to know and control an important variable in psychophysical testing of the eye with the scanning laser ophthalmoscope, i.e. the entrance location of the Maxwellian view illumination or pivot point of the illuminating system of the scanning laser ophthalmoscope. For some psychophysical applications both the retinal location that is being tested and the entrance location of the Maxwellian view in the eye used for this testing have to be known, maintained or systematically varied according to an algorithmic design. In the prior art, this entrance location is determined with the help of a second imaging device that is attached to the scanning laser ophthalmoscope in a fixed position. A beamsplitter is usually employed to obtain a better frontal observation of the anterior segment of the eye. To acquire reference video images of the anterior segment prior to actual testing with this second imaging device, it is sufficient to focus on the iris, for example when the pivot point of the Maxwellian view, seen as a low intensity backscatter, is also in focus in different places on the anterior surface of the lens and iris. A harrier filter attached to the second imaging device and a wide angle third wavelength external light source facilitate the acquisition of reference images that contain supplementary anterior segment fiducial landmarks including Purkinje images of the light source, but do not contain any spurious reflexes from the scanning laser ophthalmoscope illuminating sources during testing. A two-dimensional normalized gray scale correlation or equivalent algorithm localizes unambiguously selected fiducial landmarks in the continuous stream of video images of the anterior segment of the eye, and calculates any displacement of the anterior segment relative to the pivot point of the Maxwellian view. Furthermore, a feedback loop, steering the positioning motors of the scanning laser ophthalmoscope, can then keep the pivot point of the Maxwellian view in the desired location within the anatomical pupil of the eye. This utility is highly beneficial. For example, when performing automated microperimetry on an extended area of the retina with the scanning laser ophthalmoscope, the pivot point of the Maxwellian view can be stabilized within the confines of the anatomical pupil, increasing the efficiency of the algorithms involved. Another psychophysical application that needs to know, maintain and systematically vary the entrance location of the Maxwellian view illumination is the measurement of Stiles-Crawford parameters or photopigment concentration for a specific retinal location. Two important limitations exist when reducing to practice the utility to control simultaneously the entrance location of the Maxwellian view and the retinal location being tested. First, variations in pupil size cannot be measured easily. These variations can also influence the efficiency and reliability of the two dimensional gray-scale correlation algorithms or their equivalent, since a change in pupil diameter is likely to change the aspect and position of some fiducial landmarks in the images of the anterior segment of the eye as well. Second, in order to adjust, maintain or systematically vary the entrance location of the Maxwellian view, it is necessary to move the scanning laser ophthalmoscope and subject relative to each other. This necessity increases the complexity of the equipment.


An object of the present invention is to provide an inorganic phosphor, particularly, an oxynitride phosphor containing alkaline earths which has a higher luminance than that of conventional sialon phosphors activated with a rare earth, and is chemically stable.

Phosphors are used for a vacuum fluorescent display (VFD), a field emission display (FED or SED), a plasma display panel (PDP), a cathode ray tube (CRT), a white light-emitting diode (LED), and the like. In all these applications, it is necessary to provide energy for exciting the phosphors in order to cause emission from the phosphors. The phosphors are excited by an excitation source having a high energy, such as a vacuum ultraviolet ray, an ultraviolet ray, an electron beam, or a blue light to emit a visible light.
However, as a result of exposure of the phosphors to the above excitation source, there arises a problem of decrease of luminance of the phosphors due to a long term use and hence a phosphor exhibiting no decrease of luminance has been desired. Therefore, a sialon phosphor has been proposed as a phosphor exhibiting little decrease of luminance instead of conventional silicate phosphors, phosphate phosphors, aluminate phosphors, sulfide phosphors, and the like.
The sialon phosphor is produced by the production process outlined below. First, silicon nitride (Si3N4), aluminum nitride (AlN), calcium carbonate (CaCO3), and europium oxide (Eu2O3) are mixed in a predetermined molar ratio and the mixture is held at 1700° C. for 1 hour in nitrogen at 1 atmosphere (0.1 MPa) and is baked by a hot pressing process to produce the phosphor (See e.g., Patent Document 1).
The α-sialon activated with Eu ion obtained by the process is reported to be a phosphor which is excited by a blue light of 450 to 500 nm to emit a yellow light of 550 to 600 nm. However, in the applications of a white LED and a plasma display using an ultraviolet LED as an excitation source, phosphors emitting lights exhibiting not only yellow color but also orange color and red color have been desired. Moreover, in a white LED using a blue LED as an excitation source, phosphors emitting lights exhibiting orange color and red color have been desired in order to improve color-rendering properties.
As a phosphor emitting a light of red color, an inorganic substance (Ba2-xEuxSi5N8: x=0.14 to 1.16) obtained by activating a Ba2Si5N8 crystal with Eu has been reported in an academic literature before application of the present invention (See, e.g., Non-Patent Document 1).
Furthermore, in Chapter 2 of an academic literature "On new rare-earth doped M-Si—Al—O—N materials" (see, e.g., Non-Patent Document 2), a phosphor using a ternary nitride of an alkali metal and silicon having various compositions, MxSiyNz (M=Ca, Sr, Ba, Zn; x, y, and z represent various values) as a host has been reported.
Similarly, MxSiyNz:Eu (M=Ca, Sr, Ba, Zn; z=⅔x+ 4/3y) has been reported in Patent Document 2.
As another sialon, nitride or oxynitride phosphors, in Patent Documents 3 and 4 phosphors using MSi3N5, M2Si4N7, M4Si6N11, M9Si11N23, M16Si15O6N32, M13Si18Al12O18N36, MSi5Al2ON9, and M3Si5AlON10 (wherein M represents Ba, Ca, Sr or a rare earth element) as host crystals, which are activated with Eu or Ce, have been described. Among them, phosphors emitting a light of red color have been also reported. Moreover, LED lighting units using these phosphors are known.
Among them, there are known SrSiAL2O3N2:Eu2+ and Sr2Si4AlON7:Eu2+ as EuaSrbSicAldOeNf-based chemical compounds. Furthermore, Patent Document 5 has described a phosphor wherein an Sr2Si5N8 or SrSi7N10 crystal is activated with Ce.
Furthermore in Patent Document 6, there is a description of LxMyN(2/3x+4/3y):Z (L is a divalent element such as Ca, Sr, or Ba, M is a tetravalent element such as Si or Ge, Z is an activator such as Eu) phosphor and it describes that addition of a minute amount of Al exhibits an effect of suppressing afterglow. Moreover, a slightly reddish warm color white emitting apparatus is known, wherein the phosphor and a blue LED are combined.
Furthermore, Patent Document 7 describes phosphors constituted by various combinations of L Element, M Element, and Z Element as LxMyN(2/3x+4/3y);Z phosphors. Patent Document 8 describes a wide range of combinations regarding an L-M-N:Eu,Z system but there is not shown an effect of improving emission properties in the cases where a specific composition or crystal phase is used as a host.
In the representative phosphors in Patent Documents 2 to 8 mentioned above, phosphors using various different crystal phases as host crystals have been reported. The phosphors emitting a light of red color are also known but emitting luminance of red color is not sufficient by excitation with a blue visible light. Moreover, they are chemically unstable in some composition and thus their durability is problematic. Further, metal or nitride such as Ca or Sr is used as a starting material, so that it is necessary to mix powders in an outside air cutoff state, thus posing a problem in terms of productivity.

Abstract: By baking a raw material mixture containing at least silicon nitride powder, M element containing inorganic substance, and A element containing inorganic substance at a temperature range of 1200° C. to 2200° C. in a nitrogen atmosphere, a phosphor comprising an inorganic composition containing at least M Element, A Element, silicon, oxygen, and nitrogen (wherein M Element is one or two or more elements selected from the group consisting of Mn, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, and Yb, A Element is one or two or more elements selected from the group consisting of Mg, Ca, Sr, and Ba) and containing at least crystal having the same crystal structure as that of A2Si5N8 and A element-containing crystal is obtained.

National Institute For Materials Science


A noise suppressing circuit in a digital portable telephone which adjusts a level of signals from a microphone through an analog-to-digital converter to suppress ambient noise. An encoder producers encoded signals from output signals of the noise suppressing circuit. By suppressing ambient noise in a transmitting side, the digital portable telephone is capable of preventing an awkward feeling to a person in a receiving side.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a radio transceiver and, more particularly, to a portable telephone of a digital mobile communication system.
2. Description of the Related Art
A portable telephone|, which permits communication at any time anywhere, is often used in a place where the ambient noise is great, such as in a car or train or on a railway platform. However, the speech encoding system used in digital portable telephones, because it is an encoding system optimizing speech signals, involves the problem that ambient noise included in decoded signals at a receiving side is different from that in wired telephone. Accordingly, a person using the portable telephone hears poor quality sound signals which are uncomfortable to the listener's audio perceptions.

Radio transceiver including noise suppressor


The device has a honeycomb rotor which is rotated and which supports an adsorbant. A seal divides the honeycomb rotor into a desorption zone and at least one other zone including an adsorption zone. The seal has a heat resistant/non flammable portion and an elastic seal portion. The heat resistant portion has a slot cut in a surface which contacts the honeycomb rotor. The elastic seal portion is formed outside of the desorption zone with respect to the heat resistant portion. Desorption air is substantially completely sealed within the desorption zone. The seal may allow for hot (perhaps 300° C.) desorption gas to be used with a rotation type gas adsorption concentration device.

Rotation type gas adsorption concentration devices may be used to concentrate VOC's in air, which VOC's are emitted from plants such as semiconductor plants, painting factories and paper printing plants. In plants like these, solvents are used which contain VOC's. For example, the solvent may be paint or ink solvent. In order to burn and oxidize the VOC's, the VOC's need to be condensed, perhaps to a concentration at which self-combustion is possible. Rotation type gas adsorption concentration devices are becoming a popular way to concentrate the VOC's in plants such as these. These gas adsorption concentration devices may use a honeycomb rotor that supports an adsorbent. In this case, the rotor is divided into at least an adsorption zone and a desorption zone. The air to be processed, which contains VOC's, is passed through the adsorption zone, where the VOC's are adsorbed. In order to desorb the VOC's that were adsorbed by the honeycomb rotor, hot desorption air is passed through the desorption zone. There is a need for a rotation type gas adsorption concentration device that can withstand the hot air necessary to desorb the high boiling point VOC's.

Gas adsorption concentration device, seal therefor and method of concentrating high boiling point VOCS using device


The present invention relates to a method of preparing thermal insulation expandable polystyrene particles and thermal insulation expandable polystyrene particles, and more particularly to a method of preparing thermal insulation expandable polystyrene particles which include preparing a mixture of expandable polystyrene particles and a thermal insulation material by mixing the expandable polystyrene particles and the thermal insulation material; preparing a mixture solution by dissolving chlorinated paraffin and at least one of a paraffin oil and a rubber resin in an organic solvent dissolving styrene; and softening a surface layer of the expandable polystyrene particles by spraying the mixture with the mixture solution, while stirring the mixture, and infiltrating the thermal insulation material, the chlorinated paraffin and the at least one of the paraffin oil and the rubber resin into the surface layer of the expandable polystyrene particles, and thermal insulation expandable polystyrene particles prepared by the same.

Styrofoam is widely used as an insulation material for buildings due to excellent productivity and thermal insulation, light weight and affordable price. However, according to environment-friendly policies for energy saving and low-carbon emission, styrofoam with improved thermal insulation property and flame retardancy is required both domestically and internationally. Improvement in thermal insulation of styrofoam may not only achieve energy saving and reduce density and thickness of styrofoam to involve a less amount of styrofoam, contributing to a decrease in manufacture costs, but also increase a living space. Accordingly, various attempts are made to enhance thermal insulation property of styrofoam, for example, 1) a method of preparing expandable polystyrene particles in which graphite or a material for enhancing thermal insulation property is dispersed by adding graphite or the material for enhancing thermal insulation property in polymerization of expandable polystyrene, 2) a method of preparing expandable polystyrene particles in which graphite or material for enhancing thermal insulation property is dispersed by thermally melting polystyrene and injecting and extruding graphite, the material for enhancing thermal insulation property and a foaming agent, and 3) a method of preparing expandable polystyrene particles which a material for enhancing thermal insulation property is infiltrated into and applied to by infiltrating and applying the material for enhancing thermal insulation property to a surface layer of the expandable polystyrene particles using an organic solvent.
However, the foregoing methods may achieve thermal insulation improving effects but involve complicated manufacture processes, lowered cost efficiency in equipment and manufacture costs and difficulty in obtaining satisfactory fusion property, compressive strength and flexural breaking load in molding.

Thermal insulation expandable polystyrene particles and method of preparing the same


A content bank for objects hosts all information regarding an object and serves as a proxy for that object. The content bank comprises at least one instance of a digital identity corresponding the object. Object identity modules or services are available through the digital identity instance. Via the content bank system, the digital identity instance receives object-related information from a source and targeted to a specific service. Conversely, the digital identity instance also serves to determine when object-related information should be provided to a third party by a given service, or when object-related information needs to be manipulated by one or more services. A multi-mode interface is available for third parties to communicate with the digital identity instance. In this manner, third parties are not only able to access data regarding an object, but are actually able to communicate with an object via the digital identity instance.

It is common for entities (i.e., individuals or institutions) that are separately involved in the manufacturing, selling, utilizing and servicing of objects to separately possess information about such objects that may be of use to other entities. Conversely, entities that could benefit from access to certain types of object-related information routinely cannot obtain such information because it is in the possession of other entities with which they have no regular channel of communication. Entities are often required to go through time consuming and burdensome steps to obtain information about objects possessed by other entities.
The resulting inefficiencies are manifested in numerous ways. Companies that embed sensors in their equipment often do not have the capability to exploit that data for improved business results. For example, many industrial equipment manufacturers equip their products to provide Global Positioning System (GPS) data, but are typically unable to use such data in a meaningful way. As an extension of this problem, dynamic process interactions are often not conducted with the greatest possible efficiency. For example, underutilized truck fleets are a common occurrence because freight customers are often not aware of available cargo space.
In another scenario, a company's lack of knowledge about how customers use that company's products prevents that company from improving its product design and customer service. Further still, a lack of structured and aggregated information about certain types of objects can lead to further inefficiencies, e.g., lack of information about device status and usage can lead to faulty or redundant warranty claims.
As a particular example of these problems, consider that a bus manufacturer may possess information regarding a given bus' manufacturing history. The bus itself may contain information such as engine error codes, and the owner of the bus may possess warranty information and service contacts. In order to repair the bus, the owner of the bus may have to research warranty information and service contacts, and a service center may have to read error codes and contact the manufacturer for information about the product history. All of these steps increase the downtime of the bus and reduce the overall efficiency of the bus. Moreover, the bus manufacturer has an incomplete view of the bus and its use because the error codes and other usage data are not available to them, resulting in poor customer service and poor product design.
Recently, Microsoft Corporation announced its plans for its .NET My Services (formerly code-named "Hailstorm") web-based services. .NET My Services will provide a platform for unifying an individual's data across devices and making the data accessible to the user and to other services in a secure fashion. Organized around individual users, rather than the devices that such users may use, .NET My Services will function to deliver personally relevant information through the Internet to a user, to software running on the user's behalf, or to devices working for the user. In implementation, .NET My Services will rely on Microsoft's Passport service to provide user identification. The user controls access to and usage of information associated with his or her identity. As designed, .NET My Services platform uses an open access model thereby allowing use with any device, application or service, regardless of the underlying platform, operating system, object model, programming language or network provider. All .NET My Services are XML (Extensible Markup Language) Web services, which are based on the open industry standards of XML and SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol).
Also, the MIT Auto-ID Center provides a strategy for assigning unique identifiers to each object, or product, in existence. This strategy manifests itself in the form of Electronic Product Codes (EPCs) that can be assigned to give each object a unique identity. The EPC works with the Object Naming Service (ONS) and tells computer systems where to find information about any object that carries an EPC code. The ONS is based in part on the Internet's existing Domain Name System (DNS), which routes information to appropriate web sites. The ONS would allow computer systems to find a physical markup language (PML) file for each item with an EPC.
While it is anticipated that the .NET My Services platform will represent an advance in the management of data of individuals, it fails to address the management of object-related data. Furthermore, although EPCs will likely serve well to uniquely identity objects and relate them to a specific PML description of that object, they fail to offering object-centric services that allow objects to interact with the world. As objects become increasingly capable of generating their own data and requesting services, the need for such object-related information management will likewise increase. Therefore, a need exists for methods and systems that provide a central point for hosting and managing object-related information as well as receiving and distributing object-related information to and from a plurality of entities.


Disclosed is a mobile communication system and a method for capturing information of other mobile communication terminals, that can identify criminal who harmed a user of mobile communication terminal based on information of the criminal's mobile communication terminal by capturing information of other mobile communication terminals, located within a certain distance from the user's mobile communication terminal when the crime happened, according to the user's instructions in an emergency situation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile communication system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a mobile communication system and a method for capturing information of other mobile communication terminals, that can identify criminal who harmed a user of mobile communication terminal based on information of the criminal's mobile communication terminal by capturing information of other mobile communication terminals, located within a certain distance from the user's mobile communication terminal when the crime happened, according to the user's instructions in an emergency situation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, with the development of mobile communication industry, the use of mobile communication service becomes universalized, so most people carry a mobile communication terminal to use mobile communication services.
Nevertheless, if people who carry a mobile communication terminal faces emergency situations (e.g., all people has possibilities to be attacked by criminals in a lonely place) and there is no way to keep enough evidence of crime by using the mobile communication terminal, there is no use carrying the mobile communication terminal.
The present invention is provided to solve the problem, and the object of the present invention is to provide a mobile communication system and method for capturing information of other mobile communication terminals, that can obtain identification information of criminal who harmed a user of mobile communication terminal based on information of the criminal's mobile communication terminal by capturing information of other mobile communication terminals, located within a certain distance from the user's mobile communication terminal when the crime happened, according to the user's instructions in an emergency situation.

Mobile communication system and method for capturing information of other mobile communication terminals

Abstract: There is provided a mobile communication system for capturing information of other mobile communication terminals, comprising: a first mobile communication terminal for transmitting capture signal, location information and identification information; the second mobile communication terminals for transmitting location information and identification information of the second mobile communication terminals; and a base station for transmitting the GPS means driving signal to the second mobile communication terminals and capturing information of the second mobile communication terminals.


A tone setting device for an electronic musical instrument includes a tone signal generator for generating a tone signal by operating a plurality of tone setting switches, a detection circuit for detecting particular tone setting switches operated for a tone setting and a sequence of operations of the particular tone setting switches and an operation control device for controlling an operation of the detection circuit. The tone setting device makes a setting of any of a number of tones possible with minimum number of operations of the tone setting switches.

A tone setting in a conventional electronic musical instrument for adapting the latter to a specific instrument such as a piano or organ has been performed by either of two schemes shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, respectively. According to the first scheme shown in FIG. 5 which illustrates a portion of an electronic piano panel including a plurality of tone setting switches 1-1 to 1-8 and a corresponding, number of light emitting diodes 2-1 to 2-8, one of the setting switches which corresponds to a desired instrument, is turned on. When a tone of piano 1 is to be obtained, the switch 1-1 is turned on upon which the corresponding light emitting diode 2-1 is activated. Alternatively, when it is desired to obtain the tone of a harpsichord, the switch 1-6 is turned on. An output signal corresponding to a switch thus turned on is supplied to a tone generator (not shown) to produce a desired tone signal.
In the second scheme shown in FIG. 6, each of the tone setting switches 1-9 to 1-13 corresponding to different types of instrument is associated with a plurality of light emitting diodes 2-9 to 2-12 corresponding to individual instruments belonging to each instrument type. When the switch 1-9 is turned on once, the light emitting diode 2-9 is activated and a string instrument is set. In this case, a pulse is generated which is counted by a pulse counter which is reset every five counts and whose output is supplied to a tone generator. By depressing the switch 1-9 again, the light emitting diode 2-9 is extinguished and instead thereof light emitting diode 2-10 is lit, showing a setting of a flute tone, and the pulse counter supplies its output of two counts to the tone generator. Thereafter, when the switch 1-13 is depressed to turn it on, the light emitting diode 2-9 is lit, indicating a guiter set. In this case, an output is sent to the counter corresponding to the switch 1-9 to reset the latter and to a counter corresponding thereto to count one which is sent to the tone generator. That is, in FIG. 6, any of the switches 1-9 to 1-10 is depressed repeatingly until a desired tone in tones belonging to the depressed switch is set.
In either of the cases shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the operation of any switch or the number of operations of any switch, energization and deenergization of light emitting diodes and signal output to the tone generator can be processed by a micro processor.
The tone setting in such a conventional electronic musical instrument in which a plurality of switches together with light emitting diodes are arranged in a plane is satisfactory when the number of tones is limited. However, with the recent tendency of an increased number, say, one hundred, different tones, it becomes difficult to arrange a number of switches and associated light emitting diodes in a plane. For example, in the system shown in FIG. 5, in order to arrange 100 switches, a panel area therefor becomes very large providing no space for associated light emitting diodes. In order to realize 100 tones in the example shown in FIG. 6, it may be considered to provide 12 switches to each of which 8 light emitting diodes are allocated. In such a case, however, any one of the switches must be depressed 8 times when an immediately preceding tone is to be selected. This is not practical. Further, when the number of switches is to be reduced for some reason, the number of light emitting diodes for each switch must be increased, resulting in a further increase of depressing times of each switch.

Tone setting system for electronic musical instrument


The present invention relates to a steviol glycoside having the formula of (I)

The leaves of the perennial herb, Stevie rebaudiana Bert., accumulate quantities of intensely sweet compounds known as steviol glycosides. Whilst the biological function of these compounds is unclear, they have commercial significance as alternative high potency sweeteners.
These sweet steviol glycosides have functional and sensory properties that appear to be superior to those of many high potency sweeteners. In addition, studies suggest that stevioside can reduce blood glucose levels in Type II diabetics and can reduce blood pressure in mildly hypertensive patients.
Steviol glycosides accumulate in Stevia leaves where they may comprise from 10 to 20% of the leaf dry weight. Stevioside and rebaudioside A are both heat and pH stable and suitable for use in carbonated beverages and many other foods. Stevioside is between 110 and 270 times sweeter than sucrose, rebaudioside A between 150 and 320 times sweeter than sucrose. In addition, rebaudioside D is also a high-potency diterpene glycoside sweetener which accumulates in Stevia leaves. It may be about 200 times sweeter than sucrose. Rebaudioside M is a further high-potency diterpene glycoside sweetener. It is present in trace amounts in certain stevia variety leaves, but has been suggested to have a superior taste profile.
Steviol glycosides have traditionally been extracted from the Stevia plant. In Stevia, (−)-kaurenoic acid, an intermediate in gibberellic acid (GA) biosynthesis, is converted into the tetracyclic dipterepene steviol, which then proceeds through a multi-step glycosylation pathway to form the various steviol glycosides. However, yields may be variable and affected by agriculture and environmental conditions. Also, Stevia cultivation requires substantial land area, a long time prior to harvest, intensive labour and additional costs for the extraction and purification of the glycosides.
There is though a need for additional steviol glycosides having alternative and/or improved taste profiles since different steviol glycosides may be better suited to different applications.

Abstract: wherein at least 3 sugar moieties are present at positions R1 and at least three sugar moieties are present at position R2 and wherein the steviol glycoside comprises at least seven sugar moieties all of which are linked, directly or indirectly, to the steviol aglycon by β-linkages.