Disclosed are methods and systems of retaining instant message content related to usage of one or more instant message applications subject to obligations of retention. A user request to access the one or more instant message applications results in requesting a instant message master log on credential from the user and mapping the IM master log on credential of the user with instant message application specific log on credentials of the user associated with at least one of the IM applications to give a centralized and controlled access to the user who may be subject to obligations for retention of IM communications. An IM session of at least one of the one or more instant message applications may also be opened according to IM application settings rules associated with the IM master log on of the user. The IM communication generated during the session is stored based on the instant message retention rule associated with the IM master log on of the user.

Instant messaging (IMs) have become an increasingly popular method of communication in the business world. IM is a method of real-time communication based on typed text that is typically transmitted via computers connected over a network such as the Internet. Some typical examples of IM applications include Instant Messenger® by AOL® Corporation, Yahoo Messenger® by Yahoo® Corporation, and Windows® Messenger by Microsoft® Corporation. This type of real-time communication has the benefit of being efficient and easy to use. The amount of data that instant message (IM) applications create every year is staggering—more than five billion messages a day aggregating to 750 GB, or 274 terabytes a year.
IMs are free-form, and when a user closes an IM dialogue box, at the end of a conversation, the content generally disappears without being stored for later retrieval. However, with the advent of e-discovery, and amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP), many electronically stored documents including IMs have become subject to discovery in litigation. The IMs pose a particularly unique challenge to the litigation world. Content in IM communication is becoming increasingly relevant for litigation. Accordingly, this type of electronic information has to be taken into account during legal discovery process. In fact, some industries are creating regulatory rulings that mandate which communications must be stored and for how long. For example, the financial services industry has been recently directed to retain all communications with clients for a period of three years. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Rule 17a-4 outlines which records must be preserved by certain exchange members, brokers, and dealers. The SEC has expanded this rule to include new communication technologies such as e-mail, the internet, and IMs. Efficient mechanisms are needed to allow consideration of IMs for document retention management and e-discovery processes in order to comply with discovery requests in litigation.
One of the technological barriers for the litigator is that business users typically use a number of different types of IM applications and each IM application has a different setting for archiving conversations, which presents a challenge for uniformly complying with e-discovery process. Currently there is no method and system to provide a solution to the above listed challenges.

Retention management for instant messages


A musical waveshape processing system for an electronic musical instrument in which time-division time slots are set corresponding to a plurality of channels for producing notes selected on keyboards of the electronic musical instrument and the notes are each produced by repeatedly calculating the musical waveshape amplitude value of each channel in each time-division time slot. A musical waveshape calculator is provided which calculates the musical waveshape amplitude value as f(t)=at.sup.2 +bt+c based on waveshape data a, b and c and address information t. A multiplier is provided by which the value of an envelope synchronized with the time-division time slot is multiplied by the waveshape data a, b and c. A tone control circuit is provided which counts time-division multiplex signals of the ON-OFF state of a tone selection switch with a counter every frame of the time-division multiplexing and compares the count values of two successive frames to detect a change in the state of the tone selection switch from non-coincidence between the both count value, thereby controlling the musical waveshape.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a musical waveshape processing system for an electronic musical instrument in which time-division time slots are set corresponding to a plurality of channels and the musical waveshape amplitude value of each channel is repeatedly calculated to produce a note.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, there have been proposed a variety of electronic musical instruments employing digital techniques. Such electronic musical instruments are excellent in that a musical waveshape, an envelope waveshape and a frequency can be controlled easily at will, as compared with conventional electronic musical instruments using analog techniques. A digital circuit is suitable for fabrication as an integrated circuit, and hence provides for enhanced reliability and suited for reduction of the circuit scale. In the abovesaid electronic musical instruments, however, note producing channels are provided for the reduction of the circuit scale, the number of keys which can be simultaneously depressed for producing notes is limited to 10 to 15 but, in general, musical waveshape memories equal to (the number of tone systems).times.(the number of channels) are required for producing notes separately for respective tone systems, for example, flute, string, reed and like ones. However, the provision of some dozens of musical waveshape memories imposes a severe limitation on the reduction of the circuit scale. Recently, a peculiar digital organ has been proposed in which a waveshape amplitude value is calculated by inverse Fourier transformation in a time-divided time t.sub.x. The time t.sub.x is subdivided into 16 time slots and, in the respective time slots, first to sixteenth harmonics are calculated. With this method, the circuit structure used is much simplified as compared with the abovesaid method but it is necessary to raise the time-division frequency for further division of the time slot in each channel to the number of harmonics (for instance, 16). Accordingly, processing for the time-division frequency is complicated. The present inventors have found that since the above problem basically arises from the calculation method, if the calculation method using a function, which had already been proposed by the present applicants, is employed, processing can be achieved at a lower time-division frequency only by providing time-division time slots corresponding to a plurality of channels because the time slots need not be further divided, and that since a note can be produced directly be carrying out the musical waveshape calculation and envelope addition in synchronism with each of the time-division slots corresponding to the channels, the musical waveshape memory part can be simplified.


Questionnaires are scanned for answers(marks) handmarked thereon by defining areas of interest which can be expanded in an area of interest pixel map. An unmarked questionnaire is initialized by scanning to create a pixel map of an original image area, with any printed objects or text on the page being selected as alignment and reference points, rather than requiring timing marks and special registration marks. Areas of interest are defined answer area locations with their original pixel data stored in an initial database. Questionnaire pages are scanned for new answer images thereon by aligning both the page and the individual answer areas, and comparing the scanned page with the stored, unmarked page pixel map, thereby removing the pre-printed area from the newly scanned area to detect any new answers.

1. Field of The Invention
The present invention relates to questionnaire forms and scanning systems employed with such forms and, more particularly, to a method and system for detecting marks on questionnaires.
2. Background Art
Questionnaires for testing, surveys and other purposes have been extensively used with optical mark scanning systems which have been developed to read and detect marks or the absence of marks made in designated response areas. One known system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,937,439 to Wanninger et al wherein the survey form has a series of preprinted timing marks, located along one edge of the form, and preprinted quality assurance marks located in a predetermined relationship with the timing track for triggering the system to scan the response areas and for alignment of the response areas for printing and scanning.
In the Wanninger system as well as other known opticaI scanner systems, the accurate detection of the response areas depends largely upon the ability of the system to detect the timing marks and the accuracy in turning on the optical scanner beam at the precise locations of such response areas. Generally, these systems detect each timing mark and scan each line associated with the timing mark on a real time basis. As a result, errors in locating the response areas are caused by mechanical tolerances in the page feed mechanisms, page skew and the operation of the optical scanner. As pointed out by Wanninger, if the response areas are not printed in relatively exact alignment with the corresponding timing mark, the optical mark reading scanner may interpret the edge of a response area as a positive response or answer mark, rather than as a guide for the user filling in data or an answer mark. Such patentee creates a customized survey form with custom text printed on the form such that only the user is permitted to position the response areas about a series of locations or dots that make up a grid pattern that is aligned in a specified relation with the preprinted timing marks. The computer that operates the scanner utilizes the position data for all the response areas, including the special timing and alignment marks. Such prior art system requires the timing and alignment marks for accuracy in locating the response areas, and also is dependent on the accuracy of the scanners that utilize the response area position data in order to correctly scan the response areas. It is, therefore, desirable to have a scanning system and questionnaire therefor which do not depend on preprinted timing marks and registration marks activating a scanner for accurately locating the answer response area on a real time basis.
Also, in a Cloze type test system adapted for optical scanning and disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,547,161, distractor words, forming a part of an answer, are printed at predetermined locations on a page, and programmably controlled optical scanner apparatus determines which distractor words are to be deleted from the text. Such distractor words are marked by the examinee with a printing device that generates a mark having a different reflectivity than the text. The system requires row marks along the page margin to provide synchronizing signals to enable the scanner apparatus to locate and identify the rows which are being scanned.

Questionnaire scanning system employing expandable answer mark areas for efficient scanning and mark detection


A storage control apparatus is coupled to a central processing unit (CPU) and a storage unit to control input/output of data between the CPU and the storage unit. The storage control apparatus has at least two processors coupled to the CPU and the storage unit, a cashe memory (CM) unit for temporarily storing data of the storage unit, a shared memory (SM) unit for storing information concerning control of the CM unit and the storage unit, and a selector coupled to the at least two processors, the CM unit and the SM unit through access paths to selectively apply access requests from the at least two processors to the CM unit and the SM unit.

The present invention relates to a multiprocessor system having a shared memory unit and more particularly to a multi-processor type storage control apparatus.
In recent storage systems, a system of the type having multi-processor architecture has been employed principally with the aim of obtaining higher performance.
For example, in a prior art shown in "HITAC H8538-C3 type disc control apparatus", p5, 1985, the apparatus has storage directors each of which controls data transfer between a central processing unit (CPU) and a storage unit, and a cache memory that temporally stores data of the storage units. The two or more storage directors are connected to the cache memory and each of the storage directors has an access path to the cache memory. Such an arrangement is called "star connection". There are processors running micro programs that control data transmission and related hardware in the storage director. The apparatus also has a shared memory which stores information, such as cache and disc management data, with-which the processors work consistently. The storage directors and the shared memory are connected in a similar manner to the cache memory through different access paths.
On the other hand, in another prior art shown in "HITAC A6591 type disc control apparatus", p4, 1997, the control apparatus has a plurality of processors on the host side, a plurality of processors on the storage unit side, a cache memory unit and a shared memory unit. Each of the processors is coupled to the shared memory unit through a control bus and each of the processors is coupled to the cache memory unit through a data bus.
In the above prior arts, the shared memory unit has a dual structure of shared memory sections with the aim of securing the reliability, so that even when one of the shared memory sections is blocked, normal operation of the system can be ensured. In the conventional system, for the purpose of maintaining the dual state of the shared memory unit, a method is employed in which when write access to the shared memory unit occurs, circuits of both the shared memory sections receive the access and at the same time, update a designated address.
On the other hand, in the former prior art, such control as above is not carried out and when there occurs updating, addresses on both the shared memory sections are updated sequentially in accordance with a program operated by the processor.

Multi-processor type storage control apparatus for performing access control through selector


An internal combustion engine of the open cycle type in which a porous, heat retaining regenerative member is placed in a cylinder head between the reciprocal piston and the intake and exhaust valve thereof. The regenerator member is heated to high temperatures during the exhaust cycle of the engine and preheats a fresh charge of air during the compression stroke of the engine so that, when the compressed air charge is mixed and ignited with a fuel charge, the engine's efficiency will be increased and the engine may operate at a lower compression ratio, thereby reducing heat loss to the engine. In one embodiment, the piston has means for releasably coupling the regenerator member therewith for movement with the piston during two of the strokes of the cycle of operation of the engine, the coupling and uncoupling being a function of the position of the piston in the cylinder. In a second embodiment the engine is of a low profile, side valve engine in which the regenerator member is stationary relative to the cylinder and provided with a reciprocal dam to control the air charge flow through the regenerator.

Internal combustion engines of conventional design are generally inefficient inasmuch as heat generated during ignition is lost to the engine block and exhaust. Moreover, relatively large amounts of emission polutants are exhausted from such engines because of inefficient burning of the hydrocarbons in the fuel injected into the cylinders thereof. Attempts have been made in the past to increase the efficiencies of engines of this type and such attempts have not been entirely satisfactory because of design restrictions or other mechanical drawbacks which limit the compression ratios and reduction of polluting exhaust gases.
Prior U.S. Pat. Nos. relating to attempts to improve efficiencies of internal combustion engines are as follows: 555,087; 1,327,384; 3,648,676; 3,923,011 and 4,092,967.
Because of the continued desire on the part of industry to increase efficiencies of internal combustion engines, a need has arisen to provide an engine of this type which overcomes the drawbacks and failures mentioned above with respect to conventional engines of this type.

Regenerative reciprocating open cycle internal combustion engine


Pattern forming and transferring processes using radiation sensitive materials based upon mixtures of polyoxometalates and organic compounds. The processes involve establishing a layer of such radiation sensitve material on one or more layers of underlying materials. A pattern is formed in the layer of radiation sensitive material by exposing selected areas of the layer to radiation. The pattern may then be transferred into the underlying layers of material. Methods for developing patterns in layers of radiation sensitive materials, so as to hinder leaching of etch resistant substances included in the radiation sensitive materials, are also provided.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to radiation sensitive materials and their use in pattern forming and transferring processes. More particularly, it relates to use of radiation sensitive materials based upon mixtures of polyoxometalates and organic compounds.
2. Description of the Related Art
Radiation sensitive materials, i.e. materials which change properties when exposed to some form of radiation, have many industrial applications. For example, such materials are typically used to make photographic and x-ray imaging film. Such film typically consists of a layer of radiation sensitive material deposited on a transparent sheet of substrate. A pattern or image may be formed in the film by exposing regions of the radiation sensitive layer to varying doses of radiation.
Radiation sensitive materials that have certain characteristics can be used in pattern transfer processes, wherein a pattern or image is first formed in a layer of the radiation sensitive material, and then the pattern is transferred to a second material. This type of technique is used, for example, in microlithography, photoengraving, and the manufacture of masters for optical recording.
With the increasing importance of computer technology in society over recent years, microlithographic techniques for making integrated circuits on semiconductor chips have received a great deal of attention. In microlithographic processes, radiation sensitive materials are used as resists in masking patterns to be etched into an underlying layer on or in a silicon wafer. In such processes, a layer of radiation sensitive material is typically coated on the wafer. A pattern is formed in this layer by exposing selected areas of the layer to radiation, e.g. ultraviolet light. Exposure to such radiation acts to alter the radiation sensitive material in such a way that either the exposed or unexposed areas of the photoresist layer can be removed (i.e. developed), e.g. with a solvent or gas plasma with or without an electric field. Thus, windows can be opened in the radiation sensitive layer to expose selected areas of the underlying silicon substrate. Subsequently, the exposed areas of the silicon substrate can be etched, while the remaining areas of the radiation sensitive layer act to resist the etch process and thus protect the underlying areas of substrate. This effectively transfers the pattern which was formed in the radiation sensitive material to the silicon substrate.
In such a process, since the developed layer of radiation sensitive material resists the etch process during the pattern transfer step, it is commonly called a "resist". If ultraviolet (UV) or visible light is used to expose the etch resistant material, that material is typically referred to as a "photoresist".
Radiation patterns are typically projected onto an unexposed resist layer through a mask or reticle. One way is to place the mask over the layer, some areas of the mask being radiation attenuating and others being transparent. Radiation can then be directed through the mask to the resist layer, and the resist areas underlying the transparent regions of the mask will be exposed. In this technique, the pattern on the resist layer will be the same size as on the mask. The mask may be placed directly onto the resist layer, a technique called contact lithography, but the more frequently used technique is to provide a small gap between the mask and the resist layer. The latter technique, commonly referred to as proximity lithography, minimizes damage to the mask since physical contact with the resist layer is avoided.
The image formed in the resist layer can be reduced in size by using projection lithography. Problems can arise in connection with this technique if the thickness of the resist layer approaches the depth of focus of the equipment used. For example, if the resist layer required to protect existing topography on a substrate is about 1 micron, and the depth of focus is about 1 micron, the plane of focus must be precisely located in the middle of the resist layer, or the pattern projected into the upper or lower thickness of the resist layer may be out of focus, resulting in a blurred pattern.
To address this problem, bilayer resist systems are sometimes used. In this type of system, a first layer, often called a "planarizing layer" since it is used to planarize existing topography on the substrate, is coated onto the wafer. Then, a film of radiation sensitive material is coated onto the planarizing layer. The pattern is then projected onto the photosensitive layer and developed. The planarizing layer is then etched, followed by etching the wafer.
The continuing trend in the manufacture of semiconductor devices is toward smaller and smaller device sizes, allowing a higher density of devices (e.g. resistors, transistors, capacitors) on a single chip. Currently, the minimum line width used in production microlithography is around 0.8 micron. The minimum feature size that can be achieved in photolithography is often limited by exposing wavelength. Within the next decade, minimum feature sizes of less than 0.5 micron have been projected to become the norm. Existing near UV exposure systems have typically been unable to provide the resolution needed to print these size features. As a result, there is great interest in exposure sources having shorter wavelength and which can be implemented into practical exposure tools. Recognized as the most promising of these are the deep UV excimer laser (KrF operating at 248 nm), x-ray (synchrotron generated with wavelength approximately 10 angstroms), and electron beam (e-beam) sources. Ion beams may also be a viable alternative.
Because of their shorter wavelength, the x-ray and e-beam tools are in principle capable of considerably higher resolution. The resolution of excimer laser-based lithographic tools is also adequate for most applications and the capital costs associated with those systems are potentially lower. It is believed that all three technologies will play an increasing role in the manufacture of semiconductor devices.
Along with the need for higher resolution exposure tools, there is a need for photoresist materials that are suitable for the shorter wavelengths. Current resists often show poor sensitivity or unacceptably high absorbance. Thus, there is interest in devising new classes of photoresists.
Most of the microlithographic resist technology of the U.S. today is organic polymer based. A major advantage of organic over most inorganic resists is that they can be dissolved in solvents and spun on wafers to form defect-free films. This advantage in industrial applications usually outweighs the superior resolution, contrast, resistance to reactive ion etching (RIE), defocus tolerance, and over/under exposure tolerance of the sputtered, or evaporated Ag.sub.2 Se/Ge.sub.0.15 Se.sub.0.85 inorganic resists.
Recently, researchers at Hitachi have developed a purely inorganic photoresist based on peroxopolyniobotungstic acid chemistry (T. Kudo, et al., J. Electrochem. Soc. Vol. 134, at 2607 (1987)). Using the resist in a bilayer scheme, they reported resolving 0.3 micron features reliably. The resist was reported to show deep UV, x-ray, and e-beam sensitivity. However, the peroxopolyniobotungstic acid resist has been found to be slower by about a factor of five than state-of-the art organic resists. The specific D.sub.0.5 values are 150 mJ/cm.sup.2 for deep UV light; 10 microcoulombs/cm.sup.2 for 30 kV e-beam exposure; and 120 mJ/cm.sup.2 for x-rays (MoL). Speed of exposure is, however, important, because of the high capital investment in exposure tools. Thus, the relatively low sensitivity is a significant disadvantage.
Several characteristics are important in relation to how well a material will perform as a photoresist in microlithography:
First, the material should be soluble in a suitable solvent, so that it can be spin-coated onto a substrate to form a film of uniform thickness. Spin-coating is the predominant industrial method for applying layers of photoresist materials on silicon and other wafers in process. Environmentally safe and economical solvents are of course preferred.
Second, the solution of the resist should be of such consistency that upon spin-coating onto a substrate, the film will be substantially defect-free, without pinholes or other irregularities, and be of substantially uniform thickness.
Third, the resist should provide sufficiently high resolution so that a well-defined pattern having small features can be formed in the film by irradiation followed by developing.
Fourth, sensitivity (i.e. the dose of radiation required for exposure) of the material to radiation is an important feature. The material should have high sensitivity so that it can be exposed quickly and economically.
Fifth, it should maintain the pattern in a well-defined manner upon developing (i.e. removal of exposed or unexposed areas) of the pattern in the photoresist layer. Preferably, the developing process used should involve only environmentally safe and economical developers.
Sixth, it should provide resistance to etching processes, particularly anisotropic etching processes, so that the pattern in the photoresist film can be precisely transferred to the underlying substrate.
Next, the photoresist material should have the ability to be easily stripped after transfer of the pattern to underlying layers.
Other characteristics which may be important involve stability and repair. The resist solution should preferably have adequate shelf life, and the image formed in the film should be stable after exposure. Also, the film should be relatively easy to remove at all processing stages in case of error in processing.
There is a continuing need to develop improved photoresist materials and systems which exhibit these and other characteristics. Improved radiation sensitive materials and processes would also be useful in other contexts which involve transferring patterns or images from one medium to another. It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide materials and pattern transfer processes which exhibit at least some of these characteristics, and address at least some of the shortcomings experienced by prior art systems.
As indicated above, the invention disclosed herein relates to radiation sensitive materials based upon mixtures of organic compounds and polyoxometalates. The term "polyoxometalate" refers to materials containing polyoxoanions, and is used herein to include both isopolyoxoanions and heteropolyoxoanions, and derivatives of these materials. (Herein the term "isopolyoxoanion" is used synonymously with "isopolyanion" and "heteropolyoxoanion" synonymously with "heteropolyanion". Also, when the term "polyoxometalate" is used herein, it should be understood that such material may be provided in either salt or acid forms, the salt or acid providing isopolyoxoanions or heteropolyoxoanions in solution.
Isopoly and heteropolyoxoanions can be represented by the general formulas:
______________________________________ [M.sub.m O.sub.n ].sup.p- isopolyanion [A.sub.a M.sub.m O.sub.n ].sup.q- a .ltoreq. m heteropolyanion ______________________________________
Where M, called the addenda or peripheral atoms or simply the metal atoms, can come from one or more of the following metals: tungsten, molybdenum, vanadium, niobium, or tantalum. These atoms are generally in their higher oxidation states when they form polyoxometalates. The atoms A are called the heteroatoms and can come from almost any group of the periodic table.
By way of background, the molecular structures of polyoxometalates are generally based on distorted octahedra that combine by sharing corners, edges, or faces. The octahedra have the general formula [MO.sub.6 ].sup.R- and have the metal in their interior, with the oxygens in the corners of the octahedra. When they are combined, four or five of the oxygens in a single octahedron in effect act as bridges between metal atoms of different octahedra. The remaining two or one oxygens of each octahedron are not bridging oxygens. These oxygens are bonded with single metal atoms forming short M--O bonds. These are multiple bonds because of significant pi bonding between metal d orbitals and oxygen p orbitals of suitable symmetry. These are called external oxygens since they are oriented toward the exterior of the anion. In general, these oxygens are not basic and cannot form oxygen bridges. As a result of this, the polyoxoanion structures that form are closed, and so the polymerization does not extend indefinitely. This allows the formation of well characterized polyoxoanions.
Polyoxometalates with structures based not on octahedra but on other polyhedra such as square pyramids exist, but are relatively rare (e.g. [V.sub.18 O.sub.42 ].sup.12-). But even in these cases, external oxygens must generally be present to prevent further polymerization. In addition, there must generally not be more stable alternate structures with fewer atoms, because the polyoxoanions based on other polyhedra would decompose into these.
There seem to be two basic characteristics that limit the elements that can form polyoxometalates. First the metals that form polyoxometalates should have the correct size (cationic radius) in order to be six coordinated and so to exist in an octahedral oxide environment. In addition, they should be able to form pi bonds with the external oxygens, so they should be good p-pi acceptors. These are the properties that make the metals tungsten, molybdenum, niobium, vanadium, and tantalum in their higher oxidation states capable of forming polyoxometalates. Other elements may not have these properties sufficiently to form discrete and stable polyoxometalates.
The known structures of polyoxometalates are numerous, but some of them are more common since they are more stable in aqueous solution. Generally, when a simple salt, e.g. Na.sub.2 WO.sub.4 is dissolved in aqueous solution, a series of hydrolytic processes begin which lead to the formation of different isopoly- or heteropolyoxoanions, depending on the acidity of the solution, the presence of other species and their relative concentrations, the total ionic strength, and the processing conditions.
The most common isopolyoxoanions of W in aqueous solution are the following: [W.sub.7 O.sub.24 ].sup.6-, [W.sub.12 O.sub.42 H.sub.2 ].sup.10-, [W.sub.12 O.sub.42 ].sup.10-, [W.sub.10 O.sub.32 ].sup.4-, and [(H.sub.2)W.sub.12 O.sub.40 ].sup.6-, (although the last example can also be considered a heteropolyoxoanion with H as the heteroatom.) These are easily converted from one into the other by for example, changing the acidity of the solution. Other isopolyoxoanions may be more common in non-aqueous media (e.g. [W.sub.6 O.sub.19 ].sup.2-).
Many elements can act as heteroatoms in the formation of heteropolyoxoanions. As a result, the number of possible heteropolyoxoanions is in general much greater than in the case of isopolyanions. Nevertheless, there are some heteropolyoxoanion structures that are more common and stable. These are usually the more symmetric structures. One example is the Keggin structure in which there is a ratio of 1:12 between the heteroatom and the metal atoms. Polyoxometalates having this structure are formed with molybdenum and tungsten. There are related structures which are also considered fairly stable, e.g. structures in which a different metal replaces some of the metal atoms, such as replacing some tungsten atoms with vanadium atoms as in [PVW.sub.11 O.sub.40 ].sup.4-.
In the Keggin structure the heteroatom is generally located in the center of the polyanion. It is tetrahedrally coordinated. Examples of elements that are able to act as heteroatoms in Keggin structures are P, Si, B, Fe, and Co. Changing the heteroatom can cause subtle changes in the polyoxoanion. For example, exchanging P for Si changes the charge of the anion, shifts the absorption maximum in the UV, and shifts the half-wave reduction potential. However, basic chemical properties, such as the ability to photooxidize organic compounds, are similar.
Other heteroatoms may not be compatible with Keggin type structures. For example, Mo forms a Keggin structure with P as heteratom [PMo.sub.12 O.sub.40 ].sup.3-, but forms a quite different structure with Ce as the heteroatom [CeMo.sub.12 O.sub.42 ].sup.8-. This last structure is different even though it has the same ratio (1:12) of hetero- to metal atoms. The octahedra that combine to form the Keggin structure contain only one non-bridging (external) oxygen whereas the octahedra which combine to give [CeMo.sub.12 O.sub.42 ].sup.8- contain two external oxygens.
The same heteroatom can also form more than one heteropolyoxoanion with the same metal. For example, in the case of P and W, anions are known with P:W ratios of 2:5, 1:9, 1:11, 1:12, 2:17, 2:18, 2:19, and 2:21. Some of them are very closely related; for example, [PW.sub.12 O.sub.40 ].sup.3- and [PW.sub.11 O.sub.39 ].sup.7- can be converted from one to the other by changing the acidity of the solution as in the case of the isopolytungstates.
As can be seen, many structures are possible, but in almost every case there are common characteristics that make the polyoxometalates a well defined class of chemical compounds with comparable chemical properties. The same is true for their derivatives, that is, there can be partial substitution either of the bridging oxygens with for example peroxo groups, or of the metal with other metals, e.g., replacing some of the Mo with Ti. In this last example, the new metal (Ti) can be found with even an organic ligand (e.g. n--C.sub.5 H.sub.5) in the place of an external oxygen. The whole polyoxometalate can also act as a ligand of another metal, for example [Mn.sup.IV (Nb.sub.6 O.sub.19).sub.2 ].sup.12-. These compounds are also treated as polyoxometalates herein, since they still contain polyhedra of metals (e.g. W, Mo, Nb, Ta, and V) with oxygens as bridging or external atoms.
The present invention relates to the photochemistry of polyoxometalates with organic compounds. This photochemistry has been studied systematically for the last 10-12 years and is well known in the literature. These studies have shown that a series of polyoxometalates can be photoreduced in the presence of a variety of organic compounds. Polyoxometalates that have been studied extensively include 1:12 and 2:18 heteropolymolybdates and the corresponding heteropolytungstates, mixed heteropolyanions such as [PMo.sub.10 V.sub.2 O.sub.40 ].sup.5- and [PW.sub.10 V.sub.2 O.sub.40 ].sup.5-, and isopolyoxoanions such as [W.sub.10 O.sub.32 ].sup.4-, [Mo.sub.7 O.sub.24 ].sup.6-, and [V.sub.10 O.sub.28 ].sup.6-. These compounds have mainly been studied because of their utility in photocatalytic oxidation of organics, and photoproduction of hydrogen.

Board of Regents, The University of Texas System


As a result of investigating the optimum conditions of methods for immobilizing proteins that interact with sugar chains onto a substrate, it was revealed that coating the surface of a slide glass with GTMS enables immobilization at a higher S/N ratio than conventionally possible. Moreover, by using a substrate to which a rubber with a number of holes was affixed to form a number of reaction vessels, and further by spotting lectins onto the substrate and washing with PBST, the weak interactions between sugar chains and lectins were successfully detected with improved sensitivity. In addition, by introducing an evanescent excitation-type scanner, it became possible to detect the interactions between lectins and sugar chains without washing away the probe solution.

Proteins are major players carrying out vital functions in the body, and in order to systematically exert their functions in the cellular society, post-translational modifications such as sugar chain modifications play a very important role. Nearly all proteins in the body undergo sugar chain modifications. Recently, there has been a string of reports revealing that sugar chains added to proteins play important roles in various life phenomena such as viral infections, protozoan parasitism and infections, toxin binding, hormone binding, fertilization, development and differentiation, protein stability, cancer cell metastasis and apoptosis.
To analyze the function of a sugar chain, it is first essential to analyze the sugar chain's structure. The importance of methods for analyzing sugar chain structure is predicted to increase in the future. However, since analyses of sugar chain structures require considerable time, labor, and experience, instead of aiming to completely determine structures based on conventional techniques, the development of systems capable of extracting the characteristics of a diversity of sugar chain structures, and mutually distinguishing these structures with greater ease, speed, sensitivity and accuracy, has been expected.
Microarray is a generic term for an apparatus onto which various types of immobilized samples, such as DNAs and proteins, are immobilized on a solid phase carrier (glass, membrane, or silicon chip) in the form of high density spots; microarrays can detect the presence or absence of molecules (hereinafter referred to as probes) that specifically bind to the various sample spots immobilized onto the carrier. The probe molecules used are typically fluorescently labeled, and after reacting a probe solution with an array surface, probe molecules that have bound to each sample spot can be quantitatively analyzed by observation using a fluorescence detection scanner. Since the development of a DNA microarray by Affimetrix Corp. in the U.S., microarrays have been used in an extremely wide range of research fields and have brought various new findings to the human race.
If, when studying the structural and functional information of sugar chains, which are called the third life chain, it were possible to use a microarray for the rapid and highly sensitive large-scale analysis of the interactions between sugar chains and the proteins that interact with sugar chains (sugar-binding proteins, for example lectins, etc), then this could conceivably become an extremely useful tool, applicable over a wide range of applications, from basic research to medical diagnoses and industrial applications.
Compared to the typical dissociation constants and such of antigen-antibody reactions (Kd=10−8 or less), the binding between sugar chains and proteins that interact with sugar chains is known to generally be a weak interaction, with dissociation constants (Kd) frequently 10−6 M or more. In addition, the interactions between sugar chains and proteins that interact with sugar chains are known to consist of relatively rapid dissociation-association reactions. As a result, the equilibrium tends to shift towards dissociation due to washing procedures and such, as compared to typical protein-protein interactions or interactions between complementary nucleotide fragments. For example, when purifying lectins with a glycoprotein-immobilized column and such, the lectins are frequently observed to run off the column during the washing procedure, when their binding is weak.
In typical microarray technology using a conventional slide glass, a probe solution is contacted with an immobilized sample and a binding reaction takes place, then the probe solution is washed away, and moisture adhering to the slide glass is completely removed using a jet of gas or a centrifuge, followed by imaging using a microarray scanner. This is because a typical microarray reader cannot examine fluorescence on a slide glass on which there is moisture adhered. Since the dissociation rate constant is sufficiently small for strong binding interactions, such as those between complementary nucleotide fragments and antigen-antibody reactions, the dissociation reaction of probe molecules is not thought to proceed easily, even when the probe solution is removed at a stage prior to scanning. However, when examining interactions with a large dissociation constant, i.e. the weak interactions generally seen between sugar chains and proteins that interact with sugar chains, a dissociation reaction proceeds between these sugar chains and proteins upon removal of the probe solution and the washing procedure, making it difficult to obtain accurate data on interactions under conditions of equilibrium. Consequently, this procedure of washing the probe solution presents a significant problem when accurately analyzing data on the interactions between sugar chains and proteins that interact with sugar chains under conditions of equilibrium in a microarray.
DNA microarrays are currently in a wide range of use. Future application of protein microarrays is expected in basic research fields involving the elucidation and such of the functions of proteins, which are the transcription products of DNA, in the body, and in application fields involving diagnoses, evaluation, and such based on quantitative and qualitative protein changes. Active studies are also being conducted throughout the world in the field of research. However, the development and popularization of protein microarrays is currently far behind that of DNA microarrays. One of the reasons for this, as pointed out early on by numerous researchers, is that it is technically very difficult to immobilize protein samples with various differing properties at a constant rate, while maintaining their activity.
Examples of methods for immobilizing proteins on an array comprise a method developed very early on, in which proteins are physically adsorbed onto a membrane, as exemplified by PVDF membranes (Non-Patent Document 1). Although there are reports that activity is maintained to a certain extent for some proteins such as transcription factors, this is generally not the case. In addition, array density was limited when immobilizing proteins onto a membrane. Although research has progressed towards the immobilization of proteins onto solid surfaces such as metal and glass to achieve higher densities, proteins are generally easily denatured by contact with a solid surface such as metal or glass. Consequently, dedicated research and development have been conducted on immobilization methods that use some linker to crosslink the solid surfaces and proteins.
An example of a method for reducing the problem of protein denaturation involves a method in which a polyacrylamide pad 10 μm to 100 μm thick is attached onto a slide glass, followed by the spotting of proteins (Non-Patent Documents 2 and 3). In this case, since the proteins are immobilized in a three-dimensional space, a quantitative improvement of 100 times or more can be expected compared to methods of immobilization onto a two-dimensional surface. In addition, there is also a method in which proteins are immobilized in a porous polyacrylamide gel via their amino groups (Non-Patent Document 4). However, these methods have not been popularized since they are costly and require the production of special slide glasses. In addition, depending on the detection method, a thick layer of immobilized proteins may not be preferable.
One method for immobilizing proteins onto a solid phase, which is now being most actively investigated, is a method by which proteins are expressed with some tag attached thereto, and this tag is used to immobilize the protein onto a solid carrier. This method is said to improve the effective ligand concentration of the proteins, and to theoretically allow alignment of protein orientation. Examples of such methods comprise a method for using oligohistidine tags to immobilize proteins onto a substrate whose surface is modified with a nickel complex (Non-Patent Document 5), and a method for immobilizing via avidin-biotin (Patent Document 1).
These methods are considered to be effective in terms of immobilizing proteins while retaining their activity or enabling a uniform immobilization rate. However, it is expensive and labor-intensive to add a tag at the genetic level to all proteins for which immobilization onto a microarray is being attempted, and to then express these proteins in Escherichia coli, a cell-free system or such, and purify them. Thus, at the present time, these methods are difficult for ordinary researchers to use easily and in a form that flexibly responds to individual needs.
In contrast, methods that utilize protein functional groups to immobilize proteins onto a solid phase carrier can characteristically immobilize proteins extracted from nature as is, or commercially available protein samples as is, for use in microarrays. Examples of methods for immobilizing proteins onto a solid phase carrier via protein amino groups comprise methods in which proteins are immobilized via active ester groups bound to the solid phase surface, and methods in which proteins are immobilized via epoxy groups arranged on the solid phase surface (Non-Patent Document 6). Methods for immobilizing proteins via their amino groups are simple, however, they also enable easy immobilization of commercially available proteins, biological extracts and components, recombinant proteins without specific tags, and such. Therefore, individual users are able to freely select a protein that suits their purpose, and to rapidly and inexpensively optimize this protein for use in a microarray that suits the purpose. Examples of disadvantages in the methods in which proteins are immobilized via amino groups include the fact that the number of lysine residues in a protein differs for each protein, and there is a possibility of inactivating the protein depending on the location of the lysine group used for immobilization.    [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-520104    [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Kokai Publication No. (JP-A) H08-201383 (unexamined, published Japanese patent application)    [Patent Document 3] Japanese Patent Kohyo Publication No. (JP-A) 2002-544485 (unexamined    Japanese national phase publication corresponding to a non-Japanese international publication)    [Non-Patent Document 1] L. J. Holt, K. Bussow, G. Walter, I. M. Tomlinson, Nucleic Acids Res., 15, E72, 2000    [Non-Patent Document 2] D. Guschin, G Yershov, A. Zaslaysky, A. Gemmell, V. Shick, D. Proudnikov, P. Arenkov, A. Mirzabekov, Anal. Biochem., 250, 203-211, 1997    [Non-Patent Document 3] A. Lueking, M. Horn, H. Eickhoff, K. Bussow, H. Lehrach, G Walter, Anal. Biochem., 270, 103-111, 1999    [Non-Patent Document 4] P. Mitchell, Nat. Biotechnol., 20, 225-229, 2002    [Non-Patent Document 5] H. Zhu, M. Bilgin, R. Bangham, D. Hall, A. Casamayor, P. Bertone, N. Lan, R. Jansen, S. Bidlingmaier, T. Houfek, T. Mitchell, P. Miller, R. A. Dean, M. Gerstein, M. Snyder, Science, 293, 2101-2105, 2001    [Non-Patent Document 6] H. Zhu, J. F. Klemic, S. Chang, P. Bertone, A. Casamayor, K. G. Klemic, D. Smith, M. Gerstein, M. A. Reed, M. Snyder, Nat. Genetics. 26, 283-289, 2000

Methods for analyzing interactions between proteins and sugar chains

National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology


A system and method for automated activation of a radio, or content receiver, used to receive subscription radio services such as XM or Sirius radio. A wireless communications device with a short range data link wirelessly communicates with the content receiver to control the content receiver and receive a unique identification code from the content receiver. The wireless communications device also has its own unique identification code. The wireless communications device transmits an activation request message over a long range wireless communications link to a control station. The activation request message contains the receivers unique identification code and the communications device's own unique identification code. The control station maintains a database of valid identification codes that is used to authenticate the request. If the control station receives a valid request, an activation signal is sent to the receiver to allow operation of the receiver.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to controlling and activating satellite media service receivers and more specifically to controllers combining wireless control of satellite media service receivers with transmission of service activation requests for the controlled satellite media service receiver.
2. Description of Related Art
Advances in technology have caused advances in subscription radio services that provide radio services to radio receivers, referred to herein as a subscription receivers, that require activation prior to operation. An example of such a subscription radio service is Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service (SDARS), including system operated by Sirius Satellite Radio, Incorporated and XM Satellite Radio Holdings, Incorporated. In the example of SDARS, a specialized subscription receiver is purchased and the user pays a monthly subscription fee to maintain activation of the subscription receiver and to thereby be able to receive the programming available through the subscription radio service. These radios are commonly mounted in motor vehicles, homes, offices and other places where audio entertainment is desired.
In order for a user to enjoy subscription radio services in more than one location or installation, the user has limited choices. The user can utilize a portable subscription receiver that can be carried and mounted at the various locations, often using a specialized mounting base or other installation to facilitate use and movement of the portable subscription receiver among the multiple locations. Carrying this portable subscription receiver can be inconvenient for the user. Another option is to purchase and activate a separate subscription receiver for each location. Although a user may be willing to purchase multiple receivers, the user may not want to pay the recurring subscription charge required to keep all of the radios activated. A user owning multiple subscription receivers will also be required to configure each of these subscription receivers with his or her preferences, such as preset channels, favorite songs, volume settings, and the like. This can be time consuming and discourages a user from changing these configuration items. Further, the configuration of the user preferences programmed into each of the multiple receivers may become different from one another, such as having different preset channels and the like, as the user changes these on one subscription receiver and not the others. This can lead to confusion and frustration for the user who will not be sure of which received channel corresponds to the various channel preset selections of each subscription receiver.
Therefore a need exists to overcome the problems with the prior art as discussed above.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Wireless satellite digital audio radio service (SDARS) head unit with portable subscription and cell phone abilities


A relatively nonvolatile, high molecular weight oil soluble corrosion inhibitor carrier produced by adding at least 40 parts by weight of elemental sulfur per 100 parts by weight dialkyl disulfide oil to an amine activated dialkyl disulfide oil which exhibits corrosion inhibition on its own and in combination with conventional oil based corrosion inhibitor additives. Such a carrier is particularly useful in sustaining a liquid film forming phase at bottomhole conditions for high temperature, high pressure gas wells wherein essentially no petroleum condensate phase exists.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved corrosion inhibitor system and a method for using this corrosion inhibitor in gas wells. More specifically, it is concerned with an amine activated alkyl polysulfide oil optionally containing an oil-soluble corrosion inhibitor which is capable of maintaining a protective film at high temperature, high pressure bottomhole conditions in the absence of a petroleum condensate phase.
2. Description of Prior Art
The utilization of chemical corrosion inhibitors to protect metal surfaces in various stages of oil and gas production has long been recognized as a necessary feature of oil and gas production. During the past half century multitudes of chemical corrosion systems and methods of using them have been developed and have led to a vast number of patents and technical literature references. Thus, today, corrosion engineering is considered an integral part of the planning and operation of virtually every stage of oil and gas production.
With ever increasing world energy demands and the advent of international fuel shortages, the oil and gas industry has been forced to drill deeper and deeper into more hostile environments in search of the critically needed fuel. As a result, certain high temperature, high pressure deep horizon gas fields have been discovered throughout the world, which present a severe challenge to contemporary corrosion technology when one attempts to produce large volumes of natural gas from these fields.
The gas wells of particular interest in the present invention are characterized by a combination of properties that lead to corrosion rates many fold higher than experienced in other gas fields. First and foremost, the gas wells are completed at great depths which in many cases exceed 20,000 feet. Consequently, the gas wells are categorically high temperature, high pressure wells. As a general rule of thumb at bottomhole temperatures in excess of 250.degree. F. and bottomhole pressures of the order of about 4,000 psi, one can anticipate severe corrosion. As these bottomhole temperatures and pressures increase, the problem becomes even more pronounced such that at about 400.degree. F. and pressures in excess of 5,000 psi, the use of many corrosion inhibiting systems and methods is virtually prohibited. The gas wells of interest in the present invention are of this nature.
Furthermore, the particular gas wells of interest are dry wells in the sense that no liquid petroleum phase exists at the bottomhole conditions. Thus no protective oil film will be present to coat the casing and to act as a corrosion inhibitor carrier. In fact, since no condensate phase exists at these bottomhole conditions, injection of oil-soluble inhibitors in a petroleum condensate carrier will be ineffective because of premature vaporization of the carrier before reaching the bottom of the well.
To further complicate the lack of a petroleum condensate phase at the bottomhole conditions, the gas wells of interest will have an aqueous or brine phase present, and this, in combination with acid gases such as hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide or the like, create an extremely corrosive environment. With gas production in terms of tens of millions of standard cubic feet per day, the possibility of maintaining an oil condensate phase at bottomhole conditions is for all pragmatic purposes ruled out.
In an article entitled "Deep Wells--A Corrosion Engineering Challenge," by R. N. Tuttle and T. W. Hamby, presented at the International Corrosion Forum, Apr. 14-18, 1975, held at Toronto, Ontario, it was acknowledged that recent emphasis of deep high temperature, high pressure horizons as potential gas producers and the associated hostile environments encountered presents a severe challenge to contemporary technology. In the article it was pointed out that bottomhole temperatures as high as 550.degree. F. have been encountered in south Texas, and bottomhole pressures exceeding 22,000 psi are present in Mississippi. It was also pointed out that tubing failure caused by corrosion in deep wells has been experienced in as little as eight months in the Lacq Field in France, Germany, Austria, and also Mississippi. The Thomasville-Piney Woods Field near Jackson, Miss., is exemplified as involving gas wells that fit the above description and have severe corrosion problems. The False River field in Louisiana is believed to contain gas wells that would have bottomhole conditions characteristics of the present invention. The article concludes with an admission that a new corrosion inhibiting system to cover flowing conditions in the range of 18,000 to 20,000 psi and 380.degree. to 450.degree. F. is needed for completion of anticipated future wells in south Texas and Mississippi.

Method and composition for inhibiting corrosion in high temperature, high pressure gas wells


In a braking apparatus, a forcing device forces a movable portion in a direction that places a friction member in contact with a rotating body. A braking force releasing device displaces the movable portion in a direction in which the friction member separates from the rotating body in opposition to the forcing device. A buffering member is disposed between a fixed portion and the movable portion, and is made of a flexible material. A deforming device deforms the buffering member by pressing the buffering member in a direction that is perpendicular to the direction of displacement of the movable portion.

In electromagnetic braking apparatuses of conventional elevator hoisting machines, a plurality of insertion apertures are disposed on a surface of a fixed core that faces an armature. A rubber buffering member that reduces operating noise of the armature is inserted into each of the insertion apertures. The buffering members protrude from the insertion apertures (see Patent Literature 1, for example).
In electromagnetic braking apparatuses such as that described above, one problem has been that operating noise of the armature increases when the buffering members deteriorate. Deterioration worsens at high temperatures, for example, making the rubber buffering members smaller and harder. As a result thereof, reaction forces from the buffering members become lower than at first, giving rise to situations such as operating noise being increased, etc.
In answer to that, methods in which quality of operating noise is maintained by replacing the buffering members are also conceivable, but dismantling of the electromagnetic braking apparatuses may be difficult, depending on the construction or installed state of the electromagnetic braking apparatus, making it difficult to replace the buffering members.
On the other hand, compression-spring-type electromagnetic braking apparatuses have also been proposed that include mechanisms that push the buffering members directly in an axial direction using screws, etc. (see Patent Literature 2, for example).

Braking apparatus, elevator hoisting machine that uses same, and buffering reaction force adjusting method for a braking apparatus


Provided in one example is an article. The article includes a substrate. The article includes a first layer disposed over at least a portion of the substrate, the first layer comprising a reflector. The article includes a second layer disposed over at least a portion of the first layer, the second layer comprising an electrode. The article includes a third layer disposed over at least a portion of the second layer, the third layer comprising a polymer and a light source. The article includes a fourth layer disposed over at least a portion of the third layer, the fourth layer comprising a diffusor. The article includes a fifth layer disposed over at least a portion of the fourth layer, the fifth layer comprising at least one of a photochromic material and a thermochromic material.

Watches and other wearable electronic devices have begun to offer functionalities beyond simple display of the time. For example, some watches have incorporated keyboards and offer the ability to store and retrieve information such as addresses and phone numbers. In some instances, a wearable electronic device may contain a processor and act as a portable computing device.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


The present invention discloses a pharmaceutical composition for treating cancer, comprising: (1) a herbal composition generated from Astragali membranaceus radix, Cinnamomi cortex, Paeonia alba radix, Jujubae fructus, and Zingiberis rhizoma or an extract of the above mixed herbal medicine; (2) one or more chemotherapeutic compounds. The present invention also discloses use of the above pharmaceutical composition in the preparation of medicament for treating human cancer and in the preparation of medicament for reducing side effects of chemotherapeutic compounds in human body. The pharmaceutical composition of the present invention can reduce chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathic side effects such as limb paresthesia, pain, cold skin, formication, powerlessness and the like, increase tolerance dosages of anticancer drugs, and enhance efficacy of anticancer drugs.

In recent years, cancer has become the second leading cause of death after cardiovascular disease[1]. The treatments used for cancer mainly include surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and chemotherapy has become an important and essential strategy for cancer therapy by effecting different stages of tumor cell proliferation. However, several chemotherapeutic drugs are neurotoxic and can lead to chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN), a nerve disorder that can cause weakness, numbness, tingling and pain. CIPN is a major dose-limiting adverse effect of many anticancer drugs such as platinum salts (cisplatin, carboplatin and oxaliplatin), spindle poisons (taxanes and vinca alkaloids), bortezomib and thalidomide, and a potential reason to terminate or suspend chemotherapy, in some cases leading to disease progression[2-5]. For patients with CIPN symptoms, dose reduction or cessation of chemotherapy is not an effective solution, contrarily, it will make it difficult to manage cancer treatment, but not necessarily eliminate the neurotoxicity.
Up to date, the pathogenesis of CIPN has not been fully elucidated. It has been reported that the mechanism of peripheral neuropathy induced by taxol may be related to that axonal microtubule-associated protein makes axonal transport impaired[6]. Oxaliplatin-induced peripheral neuropathy may be caused by the chelation of calcium which can interfere with sodium ions-gated channels. According to the clinical research carried out by the National Cancer Institute and the World Health Organization, 15% of cancer patients treated with oxaliplatin suffered neurotoxicity at a cumulative dose of 780 to 850 mg/m2, while the risk increased to 50% at cumulative dose of 1170 mg/m2[7]. The body of the experimental evidence suggests that dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons are the main target of platinum drug-induced CIPN[8, 9]. Oxaliplatin acts on the DRG, leading to the damage of the cell bodies[10, 11], alterations in nuclearus morphology[12], selective atrophy of subpopulation of neurons[13], and degeneration of peripheral nerve axons[14]. The severity of damage and degeneration of DRG depend on doses and schedule of oxaliplatin administration. Pathologic changes in peripheral nerves are slighter than that of DRG. The phenomenon of axonal degeneration can only be seen for a few times, and the structure of myelin is basically normal. It has been reported that oxaliplatin can significantly reduce the volume of nucleolus of DRG neuron in mouse, and slow down the nerve conduction velocity[15]. The mechanism underlying oxaliplatin-induced chronic neurotoxicity is that oxaliplatin inhibits the synthesis of rRNA and protein in the nucleolus of neuronal cell bodies, resulting in morphological change and damage of sensory neurons[16].
Since CIPN seriously affects the efficacy of chemotherapy, the researchers throughout the world are actively looking for effective drugs and methods for treating and preventing oxaliplatin-indued peripheral neurotoxicity. Based on the mechanism of oxaliplatin-induced neurotoxicity, a series of methods have been proposed for CIPN control, but the results are unsatisfactory. Carbamazepine, a Na+ channel blocker, has been used in clinical studies for preventing the neurotoxicity of oxaliplatin. However, its preventive activity is shadowed in doubt because of its significant individual differences in plasma concentrations and adverse reactions including dizziness, somnolence, ataxia and others[17]. Amifostine, a preventive protector for the nephrotoxicity of cisplatin, is effective for treating oxaliplatin-induced peripheral neuropathy, but its cost is higher than the cost of chemotherapy per se. Clinical studies also indicated that gabapentin, calcium/magnesium salts, GSH, N-acetylcysteine and other drugs are effective for oxaliplatin-induced neurotoxicity, but their efficacy needs to be confirmed in the large-scale, randomized, and double-controlled experiments[18-20].
Oxaliplatin-induced neuropathy has a great impact on the quality of life of cancer patients. There are no curative conventional treatments, so further options have to be investigated. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is a system of healing that is thousands of years old. It has long been proven successful treatment for chronic diseases and has also played an important role in the provision of health care in China. Based on clinical manifestation, CIPN belongs to the category of "arthralgia" in Chinese medicine. Its etiology and pathogenesis can be viewed in traditional Chinese medicine as qi and blood stagnation, damp accumulation, or kidney yin/yang deficiency. According to the principle in traditional Chinese medicine, i.e. the diagnosis and treatment should be made based on an overall analysis of the illness and the patient's condition, reinforcing Qi and nourishing Yin, as well as promoting blood circulation and removing obstruction in vessels, are major treatment methods for CIPN. Hence, taking the advantages of traditional Chinese medicine fully, there is a great potential to develop medicines that are effective, safe and cheap for preventing and treating CIPN from natural medicine resource, providing an adjuvant or alternative treatment to conventional treatment.

Pharmaceutical composition for treating cancer and use thereof

Jiangsu Province Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine


A vertical field effect transistor includes a first source/drain region formed on or in a substrate. A tapered fin is formed a vertical device channel and has a first end portion attached to the first source/drain region. A second source/drain region is formed on a second end portion of the tapered fin. A gate structure surrounds the tapered fin.

Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to semiconductor processing, and more particularly to devices and methods for forming a tapered vertical channel for a vertical transistor device.
Description of the Related Art
Vertical transistors are an attractive option for technology scaling, especially for 5 nm technologies and beyond. Concerns include variations in gate length, spacer thickness, and extension doping profiles due to integration challenges posed by a vertical orientation of the transistor.

Tapered vertical FET having III-V channel

International Business Machines Corporation


Systems and methods for identifying translation pairs from web pages are provided. One disclosed method includes receiving monolingual web page data of a source language, and processing the web page data by detecting the occurrence of a predefined pattern in the web page data, and extracting a plurality of translation pair candidates. Each of the translation pair candidates may include a source language string and target language string. The method may further include determining whether each translation pair candidate is a valid transliteration. The method may also include, for each translation pair that is determined not to be a valid transliteration, determining whether each translation pair candidate is a valid translation. The method may further include adding each translation pair that is determined to be a valid translation or transliteration to a dictionary.

Bilingual dictionaries are valuable for many applications such as machine translation, cross language information retrieval, and information exchange in electronic commerce. However, current techniques for making bilingual dictionaries require manual input, review, and editing of dictionary entries, which is expensive and time consuming. In addition, dictionaries constructed in this manner cannot be updated in a timely manner as new words appear.
One prior approach to dictionary construction uses an automated translation model that is learned from parallel web documents available via the Internet, i.e., web documents for which exact translations exist in a first language and a second language. The model exploits the common organization of the parallel translations to extract translation pairs from the translated documents, which are used to form a dictionary.
One drawback to such an approach is that it relies upon web documents for which multiple translations are available. Since such documents comprise only a small percentage of the total number of documents available on the Internet, it is difficult to build large, comprehensive dictionaries from this small number of translated documents.

Mining bilingual dictionaries from monolingual web pages


The multi-user Internet access and security system which automates the management of the favorites category of bookmarks and also provides a password protection capability for all of the bookmarks that are stored by the computer system for each of the users of the computer system. In particular, the favorites category of bookmarks for each user is cache managed with the infrequently used bookmarks being cataloged as xe2x80x9cexpiredxe2x80x9d and then migrated to a xe2x80x9cformer favoritesxe2x80x9d category where they remain until the user deletes them or the system optionally automatically deletes them after a further predetermined period of inactivity. In this manner, the user can populate the favorites feature of the bookmarks, but does not have to further address the usefulness of these stored bookmarks, since the computer system automatically manages the cleanup of former favorite bookmarks. The present multi-user Internet access and security system also provides password protection of the individual user""s bookmarks to prevent the other users from accessing the user""s bookmarks. This is advantageous when the bookmarks are provisioned with login and password data to automate the user""s access to a particular WEB site. This capability is especially relevant where the login and password script varies for the plurality of bookmarks that are stored for a particular user. The user then does not have to remember the various access scripts, since they are programmed into the computer system. The user, having already been password admitted, simply clicks on the desired bookmark and the computer system automatically access the identified Internet WEB site without the need for further user input.

This invention relates to the bookmark function that is part of the standard Internet Browser equipped computer system and, in particular, to a multi-user Internet access and security system that enables a plurality of users to share the bookmarks capability of the Internet Browser on a single computer system without compromising the security of each user""s bookmark domain space.
It is a problem in the field of computer systems to enable a plurality of users to share a computer system without compromising the privacy of each user""s files, such as the bookmarks function that is part of the standard Internet Browser equipped computer system. In particular, the present implementation of the bookmark function is overworked and under equipped. Existing computer systems enable the user to organize bookmarks by categories or labels that are selected by the user. For multiple users who share the same computer system, all of the bookmarks not otherwise password protected are both known and available to all users. Thus, most bookmarks are not private or provided with any security. This limitation is also problematic when the bookmarks are provisioned with login and password data to automate the user""s access to a particular WEB site. Thereby, all users can access such an Internet Web site. This is especially relevant where the login and password script varies for the plurality of bookmarks that are stored for a particular user. The user then does not have to remember the various access scripts, since they are programmed into the computer system. The plurality of required scripts makes it attractive to provision the bookmarks with login and password scripts in such a configuration, the user simply clicks on the desired bookmark and the computer system automatically access the identified Internet WEB site without the need for further user input. Therefore, typically all bookmarks are both known and available to all users of the computer system, which is a problem.
Another bookmark capability is xe2x80x9cfavoritesxe2x80x9d which comprises a list of internet WEB sites populated by the user. These favorites entries are indicative of the past Internet WEB site accesses of the user and consist of the URL of the particular WEB site. The favorites list is a static listing in the presently available bookmarks features and the entries remain therein in perpetuity or until the user manually deletes the entry. The present utility of the bookmark in the favorites category, as evidenced by frequency of use, is never addressed in the existing systems.
The above-described problems are solved and a technical advance achieved by the present multi-user Internet access and security system which automates the management of the favorites category of bookmarks and also provides a password protection capability for all of the bookmarks that are stored by the computer system for each of the users of the computer system. In particular, the favorites category of bookmarks for each user is cache managed with the infrequently used bookmarks being cataloged as xe2x80x9cexpiredxe2x80x9d and then migrated to a xe2x80x9cformer favoritesxe2x80x9d category where they remain until the user deletes them or the system optionally automatically deletes them after a further predetermined period of inactivity. In this manner, the user can populate the favorites feature of the bookmarks, but does not have to further address the usefulness of these stored bookmarks, since the computer system automatically manages the cleanup of former favorite bookmarks.
The present multi-user Internet access and security system also provides password protection of the individual user""s bookmarks to prevent the other users from viewing or accessing the user""s bookmarks. This is advantageous when the bookmarks are provisioned with login and password data to automate the user""s access to a particular WEB site. This capability is especially relevant where the login and password script varies for the plurality of bookmarks that are stored for a particular user. The user then does not have to remember the various access scripts, since they are programmed into the computer system. The user, once password admitted, simply clicks on the desired bookmark and the computer system automatically access the identified Internet WEB site without the need for further user input.

Multi-user internet access and security system


A ring network system using peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) is disclosed. The ring network system includes N PCIe bridges. Each of the N PCIe bridges is connected to an individual server and includes a first port and a second port. The second port of an ith PCIe bridge of the N PCIe bridges is connected to the first port of an ((i mod N)+1)th PCIe bridge of the N PCIe bridges. Each of the N PCIe bridges includes an address mapping chip. The address mapping chip of each of the N PCIe bridges configurably maps to a system address of each of at least portion of N servers connected by the N PCIe bridges and configurably maps to an address of each of at least portion of the N PCIe bridges for setting up a mapping relationship between the N PCIe bridges.

Nowadays, a plenty of communication standards are used for communicating, accessing data or exchanging information in systems or servers. One of the communication standards is peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe), which is used widely. PCIe is an interface mainly configured to connect a plurality of PCIe devices in a server. In a structure using PCIe, a control end (master) is connected to a plurality of PCIe devices (slaves), and the control end (master) controls those PCIe devices (slaves). However, since a server has only a single PCIe system in general, it is hard to connect a plurality of servers together. Therefore, it is not that easy for a plurality of servers to access or exchange information with each other, so that resources sharing between the servers may not be easily achieved.

Ring network system using peripheral component interconnect express and setting method thereof

INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE


The invention provides a low friction gas seal between moving and stationary parts in the exhaust nozzle of a gas turbine engine. Such seal is in the form of a roller mounted on a pair of pivot arms to the movable member, which roller rides on the stationary part in sealing engagement therewith. The roller is preferably mounted behind a heat shield in rubbing (and sealing) engagement therewith. The roller has an outer tube of soft ceramic fabric for high temperature resistance and good sealing attributes. Such roller seal provides good sealing, e.g. between a convergent or divergent flap edge and the adjacent wall of an engine exhaust nozzle or between other moving and stationary parts.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a low friction seal between relatively moving parts particularly where there is a considerable pressure differential across such seal.
2. Prior Art
Zones of high pressure differential, particularly in gas turbine engines often require an effective gas seal to maintain such differential. This requirement has posed a challenge where a gas seal has been required between a moving part and a stationery part. For example, attempts have been made to provide a gas seal in an exhaust nozzle of a gas turbine engine between convergent and divergent flaps and the engine wall adjacent thereto. This is because on the inside of such flaps are hot core gasses at, e.g., 3,000.degree. F. and 80 psi while on the outside of such flaps, is cooling air at, eg. 600.degree. F. and 88 psi.
Prior art gas seals employed for sealing a moving part to a static part, e.g. a wall, have employed sliding metal-on-metal parts which have high friction, high wear rates and high leakage. The stiffness of the these seals prevent them from adjusting to surface irregularities and small deflections. Hence the high leakage.
An example of the above prior art gas friction seal is shown in FIG. 1 wherein convergent or divergent flap 10 (of a gas turbine engine) moving in proximity with housing wall 12, employs a metal strip seal 14, which slides or skids in friction contact with the wall 12. As noted above, such prior art seal is subject to high friction, wear and leakage.
Other attempts have been made to provide a gas seal between moving and stationary parts in the prior art. See for examples, U.S. Pat. No. 5,014,917 to Sirocky et al (1991). This reference discloses, per FIG. 1, a seal element 10 which is a friction seal in sliding engagement with a side wall, which can cause wear and abrasion of the seal element and/or side wall and consequent leakage problems therebetween. Accordingly there is a need and market for a gas seal between moving and stationary parts or surfaces, that obviates the above prior art shortcomings.
There has now been discovered a gas seal between moving and stationary parts or surfaces that is effective in high temperature, large delta pressure environments.

Low friction seal between relatively moving parts

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force


A system for detecting the dimensions and geometry of a native valve annulus for trans-catheter valve implantation includes a compliant balloon and a shaft within the balloon. One or more drive electrodes may be affixed to a surface of the balloon, and one or more sense electrodes may be affixed to the shaft. After insertion of the balloon into the native valve annulus, the drive electrodes may be energized with a predetermined voltage. Using a trained statistical model and the voltages measured at the sense electrodes, initial estimates of the cross-section of the valve annulus may be obtained. The initial estimates may then be provided to an optimization model of the valve annulus to obtain a highly accurate prediction of the cross-section of the valve annulus.

Trans-catheter aortic valve replacement ("TAVR") has been shown to improve the survival rate in high risk patients for whom surgical heart valve replacement is not an option. However, the long-term clinical success of a TAVR or any trans-catheter aortic valve implantation ("TAVI") procedure is dependent on accurate deployment, anchoring and acceptable valve performance, both acutely and chronically. This requires maximum reduction or potential elimination of the risks associated with paravalvular (PV) aortic regurgitation (AR). An additional factor that contributes to the problem of selecting a proper valve size is the eccentricity/elliptical nature of the cross-section of the native valve annulus.
There are a number of ways in which the valve annulus may be sized. Current techniques include imaging techniques such as trans-thoracic echocardiogram (TTE), trans-esophageal echocardiogram (TEE), and angiography. However, these imaging methods are not standardized and may yield different results depending on the view obtained of the annulus with the annulus' elliptic shape contributing to the uncertainty. Although valve-sizing using 3D computed tomographic (CT) imaging has been observed to result in less PV AR, this technique is expensive and requires independent patient preparation/assessment prior to the implantation or valvuloplasty procedure and also poses the risk of exposure to harmful radiation. Thus, there is a clinical need for an alternative option for TAVI sizing that is cost effective.
In addition, alterations to the valve annulus following a balloon valvuloplasty procedure can make it difficult to correctly size the annulus, even with current imaging techniques. For example, it is expected that a valve's annulus dimensions are altered after a balloon valvuloplasty procedure, intended to open up the diseased native valve. However, some imaging techniques, like CT, are performed pre-procedurally and do not provide the altered dimensions of the annulus after this procedure has been performed.

System and method for assessing dimensions and eccentricity of valve annulus for trans-catheter valve implantation

St. Jude Medical, Cardiology Division, Inc.


One embodiment provides a method for generating a natural language resource using a parallel corpus, the method including: utilizing at least one processor to execute computer code that performs the steps of: receiving, from a parallel corpus, natural language text in a source language and a corresponding translation of the natural language text in a target language, wherein the natural language text in the source language comprises linguistic annotations; projecting the linguistic annotations from the source language natural language text to the target language natural language text; applying one or more filters to remove at least one projected linguistic annotation from the target language natural language text that results in at least one error; selecting at least one target language natural language text having substantially complete linguistic annotations; training a machine learning model using the selected at least one target language natural language text and annotations; and adding, using the trained machine learning model, linguistic annotations to at least one target language natural language text having incomplete linguistic annotations. Other aspects are described and claimed.

Linguistic annotations (e.g., semantic role labeling (SRL), etc.) has proven crucial to understanding natural languages. Semantic role labeling is the task of automatically labeling predicates and arguments in a sentence with shallow semantic labels. Analyzing sentences in the form of predicates and arguments provides a more stable semantic representation across syntactically different sentences, thereby enabling a range of NLP (natural language processing) tasks such as information extraction and question answering. Additionally, by annotating words and expressions with linguistic annotations supervised learning of statistical linguistic parsers is possible.
Previous projects and entities have spent considerable effort to manually annotate English corpora with linguistic annotations. Such annotations have enabled supervised learning of statistical linguistic parsers for English. However, because annotating is generally completed manually, the number of linguistic resources available is greatly reduced, and for most languages these linguistic resources do not exist.

Generation of a natural language resource using a parallel corpus


A method of transforming an input video image data onto a three-dimensional surface is disclosed which comprises the steps of defining the three-dimensional surface, providing mapping data for transforming the input video image data onto the surface, storing the input video image data in a first memory, transforming the input video image data stored in the first memory according to the mapping data so as to provide an output video image data, calculating first vectors representing, respectively, orientations taken by minute areas on the surface, calculating second vectors representing, respectively, directions from the minute areas toward a virtual light source disposed in a position, calculating weighting factors according to the first and second vectors, the weighting factors quantifying shading to be caused on the minutes areas by the virtual light source, and weighting the input video image data or the output video image data according to the weighting factors.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and system for transforming a two-dimensional original picture image into a three-dimensional picture image on a curved surface, and more particularly to the same suited for application to a special-effect apparatus for providing a television signal with special effects.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An apparatus for image transformation by means of data conversion of a planar original picture on quadrilateral paper with a character written therein as indicated in FIG. 1A into a three-dimensional picture image having a stereoscopic curved surface as indicated in FIG. 1B in which the paper appears to be rolled on a cylinder is known (refer to Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 58-219664/1983).
FIG. 2 indicates one example of such image transformation apparatus, wherein 1 denotes a host computer formed of a microcomputer and others, 2 denotes a bulk memory, and 3 denotes an input/output unit.
In the bulk memory 2, there are stored transformation programs and other programs prepared in advance such as the one described above for transforming a planar picture image into a three-dimensional picture image in which the planar picture image appears to be rolled on a cylinder. If a selection is made to read the mentioned program by the input/output unit 3, the host computer 1 reads out the same from the bulk memory 2, executes the program, provides necessary data for image transformation as described below, and stores the same in a buffer memory 4.
The process of the image transformation is executed such that the picture image is divided into a plurality of blocks and undergoes the image transformation process block by block. In the present example, the original image IM.sub.1 is divided into 64.times.96 blocks, each block being formed of 8.times.8 picture elements. The transformed image IM.sub.2, on the other hand, is constituted of 128.times.128 blocks, each block being formed of 4.times.6 picture elements. The transformed positions in three dimensional directions, namely, X, Y, and Z directions (Z direction represents the depth) are calculated according to the above mentioned program for a representative point of each of the blocks of the original image IM.sub.1 and the calculated results are stored in the buffer memory 4. Since, in the present case, the numbers of blocks before and after the transformation are different, the blocks after the transformation do not wholly correspond to the blocks of the input picture image. However, the picture image after the transformation can be determined by the prescription, as indicated in FIG. 1, to what position in the transformed image IM.sub.2 (to the position B.sub.2 in the case of FIG. 1) the representative point of the block B.sub.1 in the original image IM.sub.1 should be transformed.
The way in which the data of the picture image after the transformation are obtained is as described in the following.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory drawing of the image transformation process. The picture after the transformation of a central block surrounded by representative points a, b, c, and d of four blocks in the original picture image as indicated in FIG. 3A is given by representative points in the circumference of a representative point P as indicated in FIG. 3B. That is, the positions of the points a, b, c, and d after the transformation are first calculated to be the points A, B, C, and D as indicated in FIG. 3B. The position after the transformation of the point p is likewise determined to be the point P.
These points A, B, C, D, and P have three dimensional coordinates, whereby the type of curved surface is to be formed is determined. In the present case, the curved surface after the transformation is given by linear approximation in the vicinity of the representative point as described in the following.
That is, in the linear approximation of the surface including the point P, the orientation of this surface can be defined as a surface in parallel with the segment vector AC connecting the point A to the point C and the segment vector DB connecting the point D to the point B. Namely, the linearly approximated plane including the point P is defined by a unit vector PX in parallel with the vector AC and a unit vector PY in parallel with the vector DB. Thus, the entire transformed curved surface is adapted to be obtained by such linear approximation of a surface in the vicinity of each representative point. The values of the vectors PX and PY are obtained from the following: EQU PX=AC/4,PY=DB/4.
The buffer memory 4 is written in with data necessary for transformations such as those for applying the transformation to the representative point of each of the blocks in the original image IM.sub.1 and calculating the position thereof after the transformation as described above, the difference values, and so on.
These data from the buffer memory 4 are supplied to an image transformation circuit 5, and thus, input image data from a terminal 6 is transformed in accordance with the data from the buffer memory 4 and delivered to an output terminal 7.
In the present case, the image transformation circuit 5, using the data from the buffer memory 4, first designates the area to be transformed. That is, it first defines to what area B.sub.2 on the transformed image IM.sub.2 an area B.sub.1 on the original image IM.sub.1 in FIG. 1A should be transformed. According to the defined area, transformation from the area B.sub.1 of the original image data to the area B.sub.2 of the transformed image is executed. Namely, read addresses for reading out the original image data from an input buffer memory provided in the image transformation circuit 5 corresponding to all the picture elements within the area B.sub.2 to be processed are calculated, data are read out from the input buffer memory according to the above read addresses, and the read out data of the picture elements are written in an output buffer memory. These addresses in the output buffer memory in which the image data are written in are the very addresses of the positions after the transformation.
At this time, interpolation for a sample not located in the sampling position of the picture image is performed at the same time, and the interpolated data are also written in the output buffer memory.
To explain what has been described above in brief, the points on the original picture image IM.sub.1 corresponding to the 24 (4.times.6) picture elements of one block of the transformed picture image are first obtained in the image transformation circuit 5, according to which data are read out from the input buffer memory, and the read out sample data, or interpolated data obtained from a plurality of sample data, are written in the address positions after the transformation in the output buffer memory.
In the above case, since the point or read address on the original picture image corresponding to one a representative point of the 24 picture elements is obtained, the points on the original picture image corresponding to the other picture elements can be obtained by obtaining differences between the picture elements using differences from adjacent blocks and by successively adding these differences to the representative point. In other words, in this process, reverse transformation is applied to the transformed data of the picture image IM.sub.2 after the transformation so that the points of the picture elements on the original picture image IM.sub.1 corresponding to the picture elements on the picture image IM.sub.2 are found. If the same do not agree with the sampling point, the data corresponding to the point are obtained by interpolation based on the input picture image data of the circumferential sampling point.
In the described manner, transformation from a two-dimensional, planar picture image to a three-dimensional, solid picture image can be executed.
The above described image transformation apparatus is applied to a special effect apparatus for broadcasting, for example, for producing a special effect of the action of turning a page of a book.
Also, when applied to the output unit of a computer, it can express its output data on a three-dimensional curved surface and help the user in his intuitive understanding.
What is important in such apparatus, however, is how to produce a stereoscopic effect. When the contents of the picture image in the original picture is an irregular one, such as a description of nature, or has no movement therein, such as a still picture, the stereoscopic effect is frequently lost.
The reason why is because what is exhibited is merely a transformed image onto a three-dimensional surface of a two-dimensional picture as it is. In reality, however, shading constitutes an important factor in producing the stereoscopic effect.
There is also another problem in that the accuracy in the calculation cannot be made sufficiently high because the hardware structure to execute the calculation for all the blocks cannot be made sufficiently complex and larger. As a result, it becomes unavoidable that gaps are produced between adjoining parallelograms which are formed by the linear approximate transformation.
To solve this problem, it is first thought that, to provide a special purpose hardware structure having such a high calculating accuracy, produces no such gap. This solution has a difficulty in that the hardware structure will become too huge. In performing transformation of various images, it is not easy to establish suitable bit lengths according to the relative difficulty of the transformation, and it becomes much more difficult when a two-dimensional picture has to be mapped onto an especially complicated three-dimensional curved surface. Such difficulties may be overcome step by step, but it is a problem that a great improvement may not be attained.
As a second solution to the problem of production of the gaps, there is considered a method to pass the output result from the transforming calculation through a low pass filter so that the gaps may become less conspicuous. In this method, however, the frequency band of the output image signal is limited and, from the principle of this method, the transformed image output that is obtained with great effort with a predetermined calculating accuracy becomes blurred, and so, this method has a defect, in essence, in that it causes a deterioration in the quality of the image.

Method and system for image transformation