A tool is designed to arrange a plurality of rolling columns and is formed of a housing, a pushing member, and a bottom board. The housing is provided with an interior for housing a plurality of rolling columns, and in the bottom thereof with a plurality of outlets for dropping the rolling columns. The outlets are so arranged as to be corresponding in angle and position to the rolling columns. The pushing member is movably disposed in the bottom of the housing such that the pushing member is capable of moving back and forth between a first position and a second position. The pushing member has a plurality of pushing ports corresponding in location to the outlets at the time when the pushing member is located at the first position. The bottom board is located under the pushing member and is provided with a plurality of through holes corresponding in location to the pushing ports at the time when the pushing member is located at the second position. As the pushing member is located at the first position, the rolling columns are dropped into the pushing ports. When the pushing member is moved to locate at the second position, the rolling columns are aligned with the through holes via which the rolling columns are discharged on the track on which the rolling columns swivel at various directions because of the arrangement of the through holes.

The present invention relates generally to a device for arranging rolling column, and more particularly to a tool for arranging a plurality of rolling columns in one time.
The rolling ball or column is used as a medium to facilitate the displacing and the sliding of the mechanical structures. In action, the periphery of the rolling column serves as a linear support capable of providing a greater support as compared with a point support of the rolling ball. For this reason, the rolling column is relatively suitable for use in the mechanical structures calling for a greater support. However, it is technically more difficult to install the rolling column because of the directionality of the rolling column. For example, the conventional way of installing in a V-shaped track a plurality of rolling columns different in directionality involves the use of a manual clamp to install the rolling columns in the predetermined locations, or a mechanical arm to install the rolling columns in the predetermined locations. This conventional way is defective in design in that it is incapable of installing two or more rolling columns at the same time, and it is therefore time-consuming and inefficient.
It is therefore the primary objective of the present invention to provide a tool capable of installing a plurality of rolling columns in the predetermined positions at the same time.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide a tool capable of installing in the predetermined positions a plurality of rolling columns different from one another in directionality.
The tool of the present invention comprises a housing, a pushing member, and a bottom board. The housing is provided with an interior for accommodating a plurality of rolling columns, and in the bottom thereof with a plurality of outlets for discharging the rolling columns. The outlets are so arranged as to be corresponding in angle and position to the rolling columns. The pushing member is movably disposed in the bottom of the housing such that the pushing member is capable of moving back and forth between a first position and a second position. The pushing member has a plurality of pushing ports, which are corresponding in location to the outlets at the time when the pushing member is located at the first position. The bottom board is located under the pushing member and is provided with a plurality of through holes, which are corresponding in location to the pushing ports at the time when the pushing member is located at the second position. As the pushing member is located at the first position, the rolling columns are discharged into the pushing ports. As the pushing member is moved to locate at the second position, the rolling columns are aligned with the through holes via which the rolling columns are discharged such that the rolling columns are disposed on the track, and that the rolling columns swivel at different angles because of the arrangement of the through holes.

Tool for arranging a plurality of rolling columns


Provided is a system for regulating temperature change of semiconductor components within a converter. The system includes a temperature regulator in communication with at least one semiconductor within the converter and a power source, the temperature regulator comprising a controller. Also included is a peak detector in communication with at least one of the semiconductors and configured to identify a maximum temperature of each semiconductor when the semiconductor conducts high current.

Renewable energy, harvested from natural phenomena such as sunlight and wind, has replaced conventional fuels in areas of energy service and power generation. Electrical power devices, such as semiconductors, convert energy obtained from renewable energy sources, such as solar power and wind power, from dc or variable frequency ac to utility (grid) frequency. Conversion is generally achieved by switching a plurality of semiconductors on and off at high frequency to synthesize sine wave voltages via pulse width modulation (PWM) techniques.
Three-terminal semiconductors, such as insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBTs), metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs), and thyristors are commonly used as switching devices in electrical applications. MOSFETs, used primarily in low voltage applications, may increase the current rating of a switch by placing several devices in parallel. Thyristors, used primarily in high voltage applications, require a finite time delay after the current in the thyristor has extinguished before the anode can again be positively biased and retain the thyristor in the off-state. IGBTs combine the performance in the on-state in high voltage devices with high impedance, thus making it a popular choice in power generation applications.
Transitioning each IGBT from the on-state to the off-state and vice versa results in heat production, as power is dissipated within each IGBT during switching events. The higher the current being switched on or off, the more losses, therefore the more heat. As current increases, the conduction losses within each IGBT also increase. Just as the power from renewable energy sources can often vary throughout a day, so can losses dissipated in the IGBTs. Therefore, the temperature of the IGBTs vary with changes in the output of the renewable energy sources. The thermal cycling, which may occur over minutes or hours, can result in mechanical stress and increased rates of IGBT failure over time due to material fatigue.
The life of an IGBT can be reduced due to thermal cycles. Thermal cycles, specifically in the baseplate and the bond wire of the switch, among others factors, results in device fatigue. Extreme changes between high and low temperatures decrease IGBT life more than small changes between high and low temperatures.
Power within alternating current (AC) system is equal to the product of voltage, current, and power factor. Apparent power can be classified as two components, one in phase with the voltage (real power) and the other 90 degrees out of phase with the voltage (reactive power). Real power delivered to a grid is primarily a function of how much power the renewable energy source produces (e.g., proportional to wind speed of the wind or strength of the sun). Reactive power is delivered to control voltage to meet energy storage requirements for system reliability (e.g., of inductances and capacitances in transmission lines, motors, and other devices).
Prior attempts to increase fatigue tolerance within semiconductors are known in the art. For example, many conventional approaches include variations of altering the surfaces of the semiconductor to prolong the life of the device. This approach, however, does not prevent cracks from expanding to critical sizes, for example, which can ultimately lead to fractures.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Life of a semiconductor by reducing temperature changes therein via reactive power

GE ENERGY POWER CONVERSION TECHNOLOGY Limited


The invention relates to a process for preparing terpolymer polyblends having high gloss and ductility in formed articles, wherein, rubber particles in an aqueous latex are reacted with an alkenyl aromatic, alkenyl nitrile and alkyl acrylate monomer formulation such that said rubber particles become grafted with at least a portion of said monomers while said monomers form a matrix terpolymer phase of said monomers followed by separating said matrix phase terpolymer and said grafted rubber particles from said latex as a terpolymer polyblend. The invention also relates to a composition of said process.

It is known to graft diene rubber particles in an aqueous latex with alkenyl aromatic and alkenyl nitrile monomers to form conventional ABS polyblends.
Such polyblends have used grafted rubber particles ranging from about 0.01 to 0.25 microns to obtain high gloss in formed articles. Polyblends having these small particles have not had high levels of toughness or high elongation at fail. U.S. Pat. No. 3,509,237 has taught that these deficiencies can be overcome by adding up to 30% by weight of grafted large rubber particles, based on total grafted rubber content of polyblend. Said particles having a size of about 0.8 to 2.0 microns or larger.
The use of small and large grafted rubber particles or broad distributions of grafted rubber particles does improve toughness, however, gloss is lowered in proportion to the amounts of large particles used to gain toughness.
It has now been discovered that small diene rubber particles contained in an aqueous latex can be grafted with a particular monomer formulation of alkenyl aromatic, alkenyl nitrile and alkyl acrylate monomers, having 1 to 20% by weight of said alkyl acrylate monomer, to form a terpolymer polyblend having high gloss and toughness. Rubber particles in the range of about 0.01 to 0.50 microns, preferably about 0.1 to 0.25 microns, can be used in the polyblend insuring high gloss in formed articles.

Process for terpolymer polyblends having high gloss and ductility


A hay-type crop harvester has a chassis supported on the ground on wheels and normally displaceable along the ground in a predetermined travel direction. A crop cutter is mounted ahead of the wheels on the chassis and extends transversely substantially the full width of the chassis so as to cut a swath of crop and pass it backward. A central crop conditioner is provided on the chassis between the wheels thereof and two outer crop conditioners are each provided on a respective side of the chassis to respective sides of the wheels. An auger provided with oppositely directed screwthread formations at each of the conditioners transports the crop laterally so that after being cut in a single wide swath it is subdivided into three portions each of which is fed to a respective conditioner. Thereafter the portions may be laid down in windrows between and outside the wheels of the harvester.

Hay-type crops, normally forage plants that are dried out before being collected and either stored or eaten, are typically cut and then left in the field to dry for a predetermined amount of time before they are picked up and baled, prepared for silage, or otherwise treated. Such a harvester normally has a chassis adapted to travel along the ground in a predetermined direction and provided with a crop cutter extending transversely to this direction and serving to cut a swath in the crop. After cutting, the crop is laid in the field normally in windrows extending in the direction of travel of the harvester.
The standard system has the cutter mounted on the front of a self-powered chassis. Provided on this chassis between the wheels thereof is a crop conditioner, normally a pair of horizontally extending rollers between which the crop passes, and the chassis is further provided with a transverse conveyor that displaces that crop lying outside and in front of the wheels to between the wheels. After passing through the conditioner the crop is formed into a single windrow that lies between the wheels of the chassis.
The disadvantage with this system is that the single windrow is relatively tall, especially when the machine has a large overall width. Thus the crop in this windrow will be relatively compact, so that subsequent spreading and tedding will be necessary for drying it out. Furthermore as all of the crop must pass through the conditioner that can have a maximum length equal to the distance between the vehicle wheels, the conditioning is often inadequate. Furthermore the subsequent step of spreading or tedding the crop further adds to the cost of the operation.
Another device is known from German patent publication No. 1,942,733. This has a cutter and a transfer conveyor mounted on the machine. Between the wheels of the machine is the conditioner which is provided above a cover plate on whose end is provided a pivotal deflecting plate. For the deflecting plate there is provided on the chassis above the ground a strewer which is formed of two counterrotating and overlapping strewing disks. The cut crop from the cutter is pushed together by the conveyor to a width equal to the distance between the wheels of the vehicle and fed to the conditioner. The conditioner in turn draws the crop obliquely upwardly against the cover plate, thence is conducted to the deflecting plate. Thereafter it falls on to the underlying spreader which lays the crop on the field in a windrow wider than the distance between the rear wheels of the vehicle. Accordingly these rear wheels will ride over the crop, pressing some into the ground, knocking some grain loose, and generally damaging the crop. Even with this arrangement, however, the crop is still formed into a relatively thick windrow that takes considerable drying time and often requires subsequent spreading or tedding.
Another arrangement is known from German patent publication No. 1,632,846 which comprises a tractor and two cutters provided on the front of the tractor next to each other. These cutters are supported on a frame which rides on the ground. In this arrangement the crop is thrown to the right and left next to the tractor in two windrows. The disadvantage of this system is that it is very expensive, necessitating two separate cutting and conveying arrangements. Furthermore, the crop between the two cutters is frequently lost, and even so the two windrows formed by the device still are relatively thick and require considerable drying time.


Disclosed is an anisotropic conductive film which exhibits a conductivity in the thickness direction thereof by pressurizing the film in the thickness direction, the film including: an adhesive; and conductive particles dispersed in the adhesive; wherein the adhesive is a thermosetting or photosetting adhesive containing as a main component at least one kind selected from a group consisting of (a) a polymer obtained by acetalation of a polyvinyl alcohol, (b) a compound containing an allyl group, (c) a monomer containing an acryloxy group or methacryloxy group, and (d) a polymer obtained by polymerization of one or more selected from a group consisting of an acrylic monomer and a methacrylic monomer.

The present invention relates to an anisotropic conductive film capable of exhibiting a conductivity only in the thickness direction thereof, which is used to be interposed between opposed circuits for connecting the circuits to each other through conductive particles contained in the film and also adhesively bonding them to each other by pressurizing and heating the film interposed therebetween.
An anisotropic conductive film is used to be formed between various terminals for adhesively bonding and also electrically connecting the terminals to each other. For example, it is used for connection of a FPC (Flexible Printed Circuit) and TAB (Taped Automated Bonding) to ITO terminals formed on a glass substrate of a liquid crystal panel.
In general, an anisotropic conductive film is characterized in that conductive particles are dispersed in an adhesive mainly containing an epoxy or phenol based resin and a hardener. As the adhesive, a one-component thermosetting type has been mainly used for the sake of convenience in use. Various attempts have been made to increase an adhesive strength of an anisotropic conductive film in order to obtain a stable reliability in connection even under a high temperature/high humidity environment.
The conventional anisotropic conductive film using an epoxy or phenol based resin, however, has a drawback in terms of low adhesive strength, poor workability and low heat/humidity resistance.


In one embodiment, a target bandwidth, a lower boundary constraint on bandwidth, and an upper boundary constraint on cost are configured on a path computation device. The device may then compute a set of paths that is within the lower bandwidth boundary and upper cost boundary constraints. If the set of paths contains one or more paths, the device may select a path having a bandwidth value that is closest to the target bandwidth. However if the set of paths contains no paths, the device may search amongst paths that violate either the maximum cost or minimum bandwidth limits, selecting the path closest to the violated constraint (e.g., whose combined violation is minimized). Also, a weighting factor may be configured to establish the relative importance for a cost violation in comparison to a bandwidth violation.

Computation of paths within a computer network, e.g., for tunnels through the network, is generally performed in either an unconstrained or a constrained manner. For unconstrained path computation, such as according to a Shortest Path First (SPF) algorithm, a path computation device (e.g., router) may determine a shortest path (e.g., based on a path metric, such as cost) between a source node ("source") and one or more destination nodes ("destinations") using any available link in the computer network. When performing constrained path computation, such as a Constrained SPF (CSPF), on the other hand, the device may determine a shortest path between the source and destination using only links in the network that meet one or more configured constraints. Notably, constraints may be configured for any number of attributes, such as a minimum bandwidth value of a link, a maximum latency, maximum cost, etc. For example, tunnels such as Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) Traffic Engineering (TE) Label Switched Paths (LSPs) may be computed using CSPF, as will be understood by those skilled in the art.
One problem associated with CSPF path computation is that the configured constraints are "hard" constraints, such that any link that does not meet the constraints (e.g., that has less bandwidth than the minimum bandwidth, higher latency than the maximum latency, etc.) is removed from a set of links used for the shortest path computation. In particular, this may result in a high path cost in order to meet the constraints (e.g., minimum bandwidth) where only high cost links remain that meet the constraints. Often, this high cost path may be used even though a substantially lower cost path may have been found by "relaxing" the constraints, i.e., configuring less stringent constraints. That is, conventional CSPF uses hard/static constraints, and does not allow for a "tradeoff" to be considered between constraints (e.g., relaxing one attribute constraint that results in another attribute having a more favorable value).
For instance, assume a system administrator requests computation for a 100 megabits per second (Mbps) tunnel from a source to a destination (i.e., a minimum bandwidth constraint of 100 Mbps). By performing a CSPF computation, it may be determined that a shortest path has a cost of "200". Conversely, had the bandwidth constraint been reduced (relaxed) to 90 Mbps, the cost may have also been reduced, e.g., significantly, such as to a shortest path having a cost of "100". In other words, a tradeoff exists where meeting one attribute/constraint, e.g., bandwidth, may result in other unsatisfactory attribute values, such as high cost, high delay, high jitter, etc., while meeting a lesser (relaxed) constraint (e.g., 10% lower bandwidth) may result in more favorable attribute values (e.g., 50% lower cost). There is generally no known efficient manner to determine whether relaxation of certain attribute constraints might produce more favorable values for other attributes and, thus, this determination is generally not performed. Although the administrator may manually attempt different constraint values, such an attempt is not efficient to determine a substantially optimal tradeoff between attributes.
In addition, a worst case result of using hard constraints for CSPF is where no satisfactory paths are found from the source to the destination(s) (e.g., no paths meet the 100 Mbps constraint above). In that worst case, the path computation fails and, if desired, a new set of configured (hard) constraints that has been relaxed may be manually configured by the system administrator for a new CSPF computation, e.g., until a satisfactory path is found. However, such configuration is inefficient and cumbersome, and is difficult to guarantee an optimal path solution (e.g., where constraints become more relaxed than need be), particularly where constraints are manually relaxed.

Relaxed constrained shortest path first (R-CSPF)


A computer implemented method for recognizing facial expressions by applying feature learning and feature engineering to face images. The method includes conducting feature learning on a face image comprising feeding the face image into a first convolution neural network to obtain a first decision, conducting feature engineering on a face image, comprising the steps of automatically detecting facial landmarks in the face image, transforming the facial features into a two-dimensional matrix, and feeding the two-dimensional matrix into a second convolution neural network to obtain a second decision, computing a hybrid decision based on the first decision and the second decision, and recognizing a facial expression in the face image in accordance to the hybrid decision.

Digital images can be stored in user's computers and viewed on electronic display devices. The proliferation of mobile devices has enabled users to take pictures, share photos, and post photos online. Digital images can be uploaded to and stored at a central network location. Users can store, organize, edit, enhance, and share digital images using web browsers or mobile applications. Users can also design and personalize image products such as image prints, photo books, photo calendars, photo greeting cards, holiday cards, photo stationeries, photo mugs, and photo T-shirts, which incorporate users' digital images.
Handling a large number of digital images has become a challenge and an obstacle to the utilizations of images. As mobile phones and digital cameras have made photo taking very convenient, people often snap many pictures of the same scene at each moment especially if it is a special occasion. These pictures tend to be similar to each other, comprising people having similar facial expressions. The current image software usually display all the captured images on devices, which can be overwhelming for viewing, editing, and using in product design or electronic sharing. Users have to carefully compare these similar photos, remove most of them, and keep one or a few for display for each set of people at each scene. Picking photos with the best facial expressions may require examining the photos at higher image magnifications. As a result, selecting photos is often the most time consuming task for creating personalized image products.
Furthermore, in professional photo shooting at schools, sports events, churches, or studios etc., a photographer often takes a series of photos of one or more persons, and then manually picks the photo having the best facial expression(s) (e.g. smiles) for printing. In case a satisfactory photo is not found, the photographer may need to retake the photos or even reschedule the photo-shooting event.
There is therefore a need for an automated method to accurately recognize facial expressions in digital images. There is also a need to help photographers and others to determine quickly if a group of recently taken photos includes at least one photo that meets pre-defined quality criteria. In addition to image selection and photo-product designs, facial expression recognition also has applications in photo posting and sharing, medicine, entertainment, law, and marketing.

Hybrid deep learning method for recognizing facial expressions


The invention features purified nucleic acid encoding a novel internal ribosome entry site (IRES) sequence from the X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis (XIAP) gene. The invention also features methods for using the XIAP IRES to increase cap-independent translation of polypeptide coding sequences linked to the XIAP IRES, and methods for isolating compounds that modulate cap-independent translation.

Programmed cell death plays a critical role in regulating cell turnover during embryogenesis, metamorphosis, tissue homeostasis, viral infections, and cancer. Previously, we identified and cloned three mammalian genes encoding inhibitor of apoptosis proteins (IAPs): HIAP1, HIAP2, and XIAP (Farahani, R., et al, Genomics, 42:514-8, 1997; Liston, P., ct al., Genomics, 46:495-503, 1997a; Liston, P., et al., Nature, 379:349-53, 1996). While the IAP genes were initially discovered in baculoviruses, their homologues have since been identified in other viruses, insects, birds, and mammals, suggesting a common evolutionary origin.
X-linked IAP (XIAP) is a member of the mammalian IAP gene family. The anti-apoptotic function of XIAP is executed, at least in part, by inhibition of caspase-3 and caspase-7, two principal effectors of apoptosis. Interestingly, XIAP mRNAs are present in all human and murine fetal and adult tissues examined.
Most eukaryotic mRNAs are translated primarily by ribosome scanning. First, the 40S ribosomal subunit with its associated initiation factors binds to the 5'7-methylguanosine (m.sup.7 G)-cap structure of the mRNA to be translated. The complex then scans in the 3' direction until an initiation codon in a favorable context is encountered, at which point protein translation is initiated. According to this model, the presence of a 5' untranslated region (UTR) with strong secondary structure and numerous initiation codons would present a significant obstacle, leading to inefficient translation by ribosome scanning. Ribosome reinitiation, shunting, and internal ribosome binding are secondary mechanisms of translation initiation that alleviate the requirement for ribosome scanning and allow translation to proceed in a cap-independent manner.
Internal ribosome entry site (IRES) elements, which were first identified in picornaviruses, are considered the paradigm for cap-independent translation. The 5' UTRs of all picornaviruses are long and mediate translational initiation by directly recruiting and binding ribosomes, thereby circumventing the initial cap-binding step.
Although IRES elements are frequently found in viral mRNAs, they are rarely found in non-viral mRNAs. To date, the non-viral mRNAs shown to contain functional IRES elements in their respective 5' UTRs include those encoding immunoglobulin heavy chain binding protein (BiP) (Macejak, D. G., et al. Nature, 35390-4, 1991); Drosophila Antennapedia (Oh, S. K., et al., Genes Dev, 6:1643-53, 1992) and Ultrabithorax (Ye, X., et al., Mol. Cell Biol., 17:1714-21, 1997); fibroblast growth factor 2 (Vagner, S., et al., Mol. Cell Biol., 15:35-44, 1995); initiation factor eIF4G (Gan, et al., J. Biol. Chem., 273:5006-12, 1998); proto-oncogene c-myc (Nanbru, et al., J. Biol. Chem., 272:32061-6, 1995; Stoneley, M., Oncogene, 16:423-8, 1998); and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) (Stein, I., et al., Mol. Cell Biol., 18:3112-9, 1998).
Cellular IRES elements have no obvious sequence or structural similarity to picomavirus IRES sequences, or to each other. Moreover, the mechanism for the regulation of IRES-directed translation is not understood. An understanding of the mechanism by which IRES elements direct cap-independent translation of cellular mRNAs and characterization of novel IRES sequences will provide new approaches for regulating the intracellular levels of both endogenously- and exogenously-encoded proteins.


A mobility assessment detects abnormalities in motion using a stagger algorithm. The detected abnormalities are compared to known norms for a particular test to determine if the abnormalities are normal or not. The comparison can be made for abnormalities associated with different diseases and illnesses to classify whether or not the condition exists and its phase. The results may be used to generate a treatment regime.

It is recognised in the medical community that assessment of the movement of a subject, generally referred to as mobility, may be us as an indicator of medical conditions, and a lack of mobility carries an attendant risk of falling. It is also well known that the population of the world is ageing, and for people over the age of 65 falling is one of the serious problems, which causes injury, reduced quality of life and often death in seniors. The medical costs to the senior, the senior's family, and to public and private health care systems from these falls is devastating. Assessing the mobility and thereby the risk of falling is a significant tool for the prevention of falls and for the determination of the implementation of procedures, practices, and aids to improve mobility, activity and a better quality of life for the ageing seniors.
Vicky Scott, British Columbia Injury Research & Prevention Unit, Ministry of Health, Office for Injury Prevention, Victoria BC, Canada, et al., in 2008 published results of an exhaustive review of published studies that test the validity and reliability of fall-risk assessment tools, titled "Multi-factorial and functional mobility assessment tools for fall risk among older adults in community, home-support, long-term and acute-care settings". The results indicated some 38 such different tools were considered, all of which show moderate to good validity and reliability. However, an ongoing study by Gabriele Meyer, University of Hamburg, Unit of Health Science and Education, Hamburg, Germany, et al., in 2005 to evaluate the clinical efficacy and consequences of different fall risk assessment strategies with 54 nursing home clusters, including 1080 residents, states that only three tools have been repeatedly evaluated in geriatric populations: the Tinetti Test, the Mobility Interaction Fall Chart and the Downton Index.
Many patents have taught methods and instrumented apparatuses related to measuring parameters for mobility, stability and walking, and devising systems to aid, correct and rehabilitate movement of subjects as related to their risk of falling. Nashner, in 1997 U.S. Pat. No. 5,623,944 and again in 2000 U.S. Pat. No. 6,010,465, teaches the use of mechanical treadmills instrumented with sensors connected to computers to measure a subject's walking gait. Sol, in 2001 U.S. Pat. No. 6,231,527, teaches the use of mechanical treadmills instrumented with sensors, plus the addition of several video cameras and mirrors, producing data related to weight-bearing forces on a subject's feet while walking in instrumented shoes as a method for analyzing walking difficulties and determining orthotic solutions. Adrezin, in 1996 U.S. Pat. No. 5,511,571, teaches using mechanical walking aids such as walkers, canes or crutches wherein the actual aids are themselves instrumented with sensors to measure force loads in those aids from which to measure the gait of a walking subject.
Many patents have taught methods and instrumented subjects related to measuring parameters for a subject's body mobility, stability and walking, and devising systems to aid, correct and rehabilitate movement of those subjects as related to their risk of falling. Ng, in 1998 U.S. Pat. No. 5,807,283, teaches use of a magnetic sensor strapped to the leg of a subject, plus additional instrumentation strapped to the subject's other leg or to a specialized shoe worn by the subject, from which data are transmitted to receiving and analysis systems to measure the speed and gait of the subject. Weir, in 1998 U.S. Pat. No. 5,831,937, teaches the use of a transponder worn about the middle of the subject's centre of mass, which transmits infrared and ultrasound pulses to receiver and computer systems, from which data gait, speed, cadence, step time and step length are determined for assessment of gait pathologies. Allum, in 1999 U.S. Pat. No. 5,919,149, teaches use of angular velocity transducers attached to the upper body of a subject, to detect the movement not of a subject's feet but of the subject's body swaying in angular position and velocity, plus specialized eyewear, from which data an operator may interpret balance or gait disorders. Amimian, in 2006 U.S. Pat. No. 7,141,026, teaches a similar body movement method as does Allum, but in particular uses a gyroscope sensor attached to the trunk of a subject for the measurement of the postural transitional speed and direction of the movement from which an operator can determine the time duration of postural transitions for actions like standing and rising from sitting, related to risk of falling.
Many patents have taught methods and instrumented subjects related to measuring parameters of a subject's feet movement relating to the subject's walking gait. Takiguchi, in 2007 U.S. Pat. No. 7,172,563, teaches using a microphone attached to a subject's body for picking up low frequency sounds from their feet, and an analyzer of the sounds transmitted through the subject's body while walking, from which gait characteristics of that specific subject can be determined. Hubbard, in 2002 U.S. Pat. No. 6,360,597, teaches the use of force-sensing sensors installed in a shoe insert worn by a subject, from which sensor electrical output data are analyzed for analysis of gait of a walking subject. Haselhurst, in 2007 U.S. Pat. No. 7,191,644, teaches the use of a pressure sensor and personal annunciator system installed in a shoe insole worn by a subject having difficulty walking, with which the system can tell the subject when the foot is contacting the floor, as a gait assistive device. Au, in 1989 U.S. Pat. No. 4,813,436, teaches the use of pressure sensors installed in the shoes or in shoe inserts worn by a subject, for measuring the subject's gait while walking, plus the use of video signals from two video cameras recording the motion of the subject who is wearing strategically placed visible markers such as on knees, elbows, and hips such that these data, along with the gait measurements, are presented to a practitioner to judge the subject's walking gait and, by overlaying these data on the video and gait of a "normal" subject, allows comparisons to be made.
The problem with all of the above methods is that they are invasive to the subject, are conducted in artificial testing environments, and that they present only data which subsequently require a skilled practitioner to interpret these data and draw conclusions as to the mobility of the subject, and in some cases to estimate the subject's risk of falling. To obtain an objective assessment, current fall risk testing systems and methods often use a 0-1 or 0-1-2 number scoring scale on each of 10 to 20 motion movements of a subject as assessed by an observer. These scores are totalled for a sum total number that describes an average risk of falling wherein a higher score indicates a lower risk of falling. For example, if in 20 movements, say, a subject scores 2 on each of 19 movements and 0 on one for a total score of 38, this result would normally be considered a low probability of falling.
Where the subject is an aged person or persons living in a senior's residence, home, long-term care or hospital environment the risk of falling is high. It is well known that these subjects are highly vulnerable to falling and that such falls often are devastating to the subject, their families and the providers of accommodations and care for them. The known techniques for assessing such risks do not lend themselves to such an environment where a large population has to be monitored on a continuous basis.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a system, method and apparatus in which the above disadvantages are obviated or mitigated.

Assessment of medical conditions by determining mobility


A toner for developing an electrostatic image comprises a binder resin and a dimer of a diarylguanidine type compound. The dimer is represented by the general formula (I) below: ##STR1## wherein R.sup.1, R.sup.2, R.sup.3, R.sup.4, R.sup.5, R.sup.6, R.sup.1 a, R.sup.2 a, R.sup.3 a, R.sup.4 a, R.sup.5 a, and R.sup.6 a are respectively a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group, an amino group, an alkoxy group, or an aryl group which may have a substituent, and may be the same or different from each other; adjacent groups may be linked together to form a ring; and A is a linking group.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a novel toner containing a dimer of a diarylguanidine type compound for developing an electrostatic image in image formation in electronic photography, electrostatic recording, electrostatic printing, and the like.
The present invention relates also to a novel diarylguanidine type compound.
Various methods of electronic photography have been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,297,691, and Japanese Patent Publication No. 42-23910 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 3,666,363), and Japanese Patent Publication No. 43-24748.
Image developing methods for electronic photography are classified roughly into dry developing methods and wet developing methods. The former is subdivided into methods employing a two-component developing agent and methods employing a one-component developing agent.
As toners for dry developing methods, used, fine powdery materials have been used comprising a dye and/or a pigment dispersed in a natural or synthetic resin. For example, as a one-component developing agent, a powdery toner of finely pulverized binder resin, such as polystyrene, in a size of approximately from 1 to 30 .mu.m in which a coloring agent is dispersed are used. For the magnetic toners, powdery magnetic materials such as magnetite are used. In the case of two-component developing agents, the toner is usually used in combination with a particulate carrier such as glass beads, powdery iron, powdery ferrite or the like.
The toner needs to be charged positively or negatively corresponding to the polarity of the electrostastic latent image to be developed.
For the purpose of giving an electric charge to a toner, triboelectric chargeability of the resin component of the toner may be utilized. In this method, however, the developed image is liable to be fogged because of low chargeability of the toner, giving unsharpened images. In order to impart the desired triboelectric chargeability to the toner, a substance for donating electric chargeability, called a charge-controlling agent, is added thereto.
Charge-controlling agents known in the art include compounds such as nigrosine dyes, azine type dyes, copper phthalocyanine pigments, quaternary ammonium salts, and polymers having a quaternary ammonium salt in a side chain for positive triboelectric charging.
Since some of these charge-controlling agents are liable to contaminate sleeves and carriers, the toner employing such an agent causes deterioration of its triboelectric chargeability and decrease of the image density with repetitive copying. Some kinds of the charge-controlling agents have insufficient triboelectric chargeability and are liable to be affected by temperature and/or humidity, causing fluctuation of the image density depending on change in the surrounding conditions. Some kinds of charge-controlling agents are poorly dispersible in the resin, so that the toner employing such an agent is liable to cause non-uniformity of triboelectric charge quantity between the toner particles, causing fogging. Some kinds of charge-controlling agents are poor in storage stability and may sometimes deteriorate the triboelectric chargeability during a long term storage. Further, some kinds of charge-controlling agents have color, so that they can hardly be used for color toners.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,663,263 describes a toner containing a guanidine derivative. The guanidine derivatives specifically mentioned in this U.S. patent are monomers, which are good positive charge-controlling agents but still have a room for improvement. Some known guanidine derivatives, for example, are found to contaminate toner supporters (e.g., a carrier and a sleeve) when the toner is pulverized to a size of about 3/4 or smaller of usual toner size (e.g., 13 .mu.m), causing gradual lowering of image density. Furthermore, conventional guanidine derivatives can hardly be used with binder resins of high acid value depending on conditions because of the reactivity of the derivatives with acids.

Toner containing a dimer of diarylguanidine type compound for developing electrostatic image


[Object] To cause presentation layout control of a content to be performed with ease.

From the past, there has been proposed an IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) delivery system that uses a network such as the Internet (see, for example, Patent Document 1). As a flow of standardization of Internet streaming such as IPTV, standardization of a system to be applied to VoD (Video On Demand System) streaming by HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) streaming and live streaming is being performed.
In particular, DASH (Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP) that performs standardization based on ISO/IEC/MPEG is attracting attention. DASH acquires and reproduces streaming data based on a metafile called MPD (Media Presentation Description) and an address (URL) of chunk media data (media data such as Audio/Video/Subtitle) described in the metafile.
In an MPD format, attributes can be described using an element called Representation for each stream of audio, video, and the like. For example, for each of a plurality of video streams having different rates, the rates are described using different Representations. On a client side, an optimal stream can be selected according to a state of a network environment the client is put in while referring to the rate values.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2011-193058

Transmission apparatus, metafile transmission method, reception apparatus, and reception processing method

Abstract: [Solving Means] A metafile is received by a reception section. The metafile includes acquisition information used for a client terminal to acquire a predetermined number of data streams of a content that can be delivered by a delivery server via a network. The metafile also includes reference information for referencing a file including presentation control information for performing presentation control of the content or the presentation control information for performing presentation control of the content. A processing section carries out processing based on the received metafile.


A seat assembly includes a back portion that is mounted for rotational movement about a seat back axis between a first seat position and a second seat position. The seat assembly also includes an armrest mounted for rotational movement about an armrest axis relative to the back portion between a stowed position and a use position. The seat back axis is coaxial with the armrest axis.

This invention relates to a movable seat back that includes a movable armrest. More specifically, this invention relates to pivotable seat back that includes a pivotable armrest.
Many vehicles include seats having one or more armrests for the comfort of passengers. For example, a vehicular bench seat may include a center armrest for shared use by passengers on either side. Many of such armrests are able to be moved between a use position and a stowed position. Typically, an armrest may be moved between the two positions by pivoting it relative to the seat. Thus, the center armrest on the bench seat may be positioned in the use position, where it is available for use by two adjacent passengers, or it may be located in the stowed position, where the armrest is nested in a seat back so that a third passenger may occupy the center of the bench seat.
Many vehicles have cargo areas, such as trunks or beds, located behind the passenger seats. In some vehicles, the passenger seats may be moved in order to create a larger cargo floor and allow larger items to be transported within the vehicle. A seat back of rear passenger seats may be able to be moved from an upright position, where the seat is available to be occupied by the passenger, to a folded position, where a rear surface of the seat back provides a cargo pass-through or an extended cargo floor. The seat back in these types of seats may be moved by pivoting it relative to the seat base.
In some vehicles, both the armrest is movable and the seat back is movable. For example, the bench seat can include a center seat portion with a pivotable armrest, and the center portion may also be folded down to provide a pass-through to a trunk of the vehicle. When the armrest is in the use position, it is desirable that the armrest be at a position relative to the seat that is convenient and comfortable for the passengers. Additionally, some jurisdictions may have specifications that limit the location of the armrest relative to the seat. The particular position which is most desirable may vary depending on the dimensions of the armrest. However, when both the seat back and the armrest include mechanisms to allow them to pivot, the relative positions of their hinge mechanisms can limit the positioning of the armrest in the use position without additional modifications to the armrest. It would be advantageous to have an improved structure for connecting a pivotable armrest to a pivotable seat back.

Pivotable seat back with coaxial pivotable armrest


A shifting arrangement for an automatic transmission has a selector lever guided in a shifting channel by which various transmission gears can be preselected. The forward gears can be shifted by hand by a manual gear selecting device. The gear selecting device is arranged on the selector lever or is constructed, for example, as a steering column switch. An electronic control unit controls the automatic as well as the manual gear selection.

The present invention relates a shifting arrangement for an automatic transmission of a motor vehicle controlled by an electronic control unit, having a selector lever. The movement of the selector lever in a shifting channel causes coherent transmission gears to be preselected.
From the German Patent Document DE 38 07 881, a shifting arrangement is known for a power-shiftable transmission for a selectively automatic or manual shifting in a motor vehicle. In this case, the shifting arrangement comprises a selector lever guided in an H-shaped gate. One of the two shifting channels arranged in the longitudinal direction of the motor vehicle has the selector lever positions P, R, N, D, 3, 2, 1 which are customary for an automatic transmission, while, in the shifting channel that is in parallel to it, by movement the selector lever, an upward shifting by one gear can take place in the driving direction, and a downward shifting by one gear can take place against the driving direction.
It is an object of the present invention to improve a shifting arrangement of the above-described type so that the transmission can be shifted more easily and in a manner that increases the driving safety.
These and other objects are achieved in the present invention which provides a shifting arrangement for an automatic transmission of a motor vehicle controlled by an electronic control unit, comprising a shifting channel, a selector lever and a manual gear selecting device. The selector lever is in the shifting channel and is movable in the shifting channel to preselect different transmission gears. The selector lever is movement in the shifting channel into at least one of two positions in which a manual gear selecting device can trigger shifting commands. The manual gear selecting device is coupled to the electronic control unit which triggers shifting commands for shifting forward gears of the transmission.
This shifting arrangement permits the selective automatic or manual shifting of a power-shiftable transmission with a selector lever which is guided in only one shifting channel. The forward gears, which in the earlier-described German Patent Document DE 38 07 881 are shifted in a second shifting channel by movement of the selector lever, are instead shifted by a manual gear selecting device according to the present invention.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, this gear selecting device is formed by a rocker switch arranged on the selector lever which transmits shifting commands to an electronic control unit only if the selector lever, in a shifting channel enlarged by the M-position (=Manual), was brought into this M-position. As a basis for the upshifting or downshifting by one gear in the M-position, the gear which is present and automatically selected when the selector lever is moved out of the D-position (=Drive), is taken into the M-position.
In a variant of this embodiment, the shifting channel only has the conventional positions P (=Parking), R (= Reverse), N (=Neutral) and D. In the D-position of the selector lever, the automatic gear selection is suppressed by a switch which is constructed as a push button and is arranged on the selector lever, and by means of the rocker switch, a shifting command can be triggered for an upshift or downshift.
In a second embodiment of the invention, the manual gear selecting device is constructed as a steering column switch and is arranged on the steering column holding the steering wheel of the motor vehicle. In this embodiment, the shifting channel of the selector lever has either the positions P, R, N, D, M or the positions P, R, N, D. In one embodiment, manual shifting commands are possible only in the M-position of the selector lever by means of the swivelling of the steering column switch.
Another embodiment of the present invention permits the triggering of manual shifting commands in the D-position of the selector lever after an axial displacement of the steering column switch, while the automatic gear selection remains suppressed. This suppressing is canceled by a second axial displacement of the steering column switch, and a manual gear selection is not possible.
A second variant of this embodiment gives shifting commands of the steering column switch in the D-position of the selector lever priority over the automatic gear selection so that a first-time axial displacements of the switch is not necessary. A one-time axial displacement of the switch after the triggering of manual displacement commands again permits the automatic gear selection.
An advantage of this second embodiment is the transferring of the manual gear selecting device into the proximity of the steering wheel and thus into the direct reach of the driver. This increases the driving safety because both hands may remain on the steering wheel and a possibly required eye contact with the selector lever is superfluous.
According to a third embodiment of the invention, the shifting channel of the selector lever is placed on the steering column, and the manual gear selecting device is integrated in the selector lever. In this case, the shifting channel has the positions P, R, N, D, M or the positions P, R, N, D. In the M-position, manual shifting commands are triggered by movement of the selector lever transversely to the shifting channel.
The variant of this embodiment requires no M-position, but permits a manual gear selection in the D-position after a first-time axial displacement of the selector lever. The return to the automatic gear selection is triggered by a second axial displacement.
A second variant of this embodiment gives priority to manual commands by displacement of the selector lever in the D-position so that the automatic gear selection is suppressed. A return to the automatic gear selection is possible by means of a one-time axial displacement of the selector lever.
All embodiments of the invention have a simplified operation in common. The shift gate with only one shifting channel which is known in conventional automatic transmissions was kept so that the swivelling of the selector lever into a second shifting channel is not required.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Shifting arrangement for an automatic transmission

Dr. Ing. h.c.F. Porsche Aktiengesellschaft


An electrical connector includes a terminal module including an insulating housing, a plurality of terminals and a shielding plate. The insulating housing defines a base and a mating tongue extending from the base, the mating tongue defines opposite mating surfaces, a front face and opposite side faces connecting with the mating surfaces and the front face. The terminals include contacting sections exposed upon the mating surfaces and leg sections out of the base. The shielding plate is embedded in the insulating housing and includes a main portion disposed between the mating surfaces and two thickened side portions, the side portions enclose opposite side faces of the mating tongue and each provides a side latch at an outer side face thereof. The side portions extend forward to the front face of the mating tongue and rearward to the base.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector with an improved shielding plate and the improve shell.
2. Description of Related Art
CN Patent Issued No. 203859275U disclose a USB Type C connector which includes a first terminal module, a second terminal module and a shielding plate sandwiched between the first and second terminal modules to electrically isolate the first and second terminals. The shielding plate forms a cutting surface at lateral sides thereof which are defined as side latches. The shielding plate has a thickness less than 0.02 mm. It is believed that the side latches of the shielding plate will scrap a pair of plug latches of a mating connector. Moreover, the plug latch will wear the insulating mating tongue fitly surrounding the terminals and the shielding plate.
In view of the above, an improved electrical connector is desired to overcome the problems mentioned above.

Electrical connector with improved shielding plate


Disclosed herein is sustained-release formulations of tramadol comprising tramadol saccharinate coated with at least one sustained-release coating. The sustained release formulations may also contain tramadol in non-sustained release form, and other pharmaceutically acceptable excipients. Also disclosed are methods of preparation of and methods of treatment using the inventive formulations.

The present invention relates to forms of administration of tramadol, retarded by a coating, which contain the active substance tramadol as tramadol saccharinate, optionally together with other auxiliary substances.
The very readily water-soluble tramadol hydrochloridexe2x80x94(1RS,2RS)-2-[(dimethylamino)methyl]-1-(3-methoxyphenyl)cyclohexanol hydrochloridexe2x80x94is often used for the control of intense and moderately intense pain.
The administration of tramadol hydrochloride in the form of sustained-release preparations represents a therapeutic improvement for this active substance. Even for this active substance with its relatively short half-life in the organism, retardation makes it possible to provide a preparation with a long-lasting action and also, through more constant blood levels, to reduce side effects and improve the patients"" observance of the dosage instructions.
The active substance tramadol hydrochloride can be retarded e.g. by the application of sustained-release film coatings to pharmaceutical forms containing tramadol hydrochloride. However, retardation of this active substance with the aid of film coatings is relatively expensive because film coatings from aqueous coating systems for very readily water-soluble active substances of this kind frequently constitute an inadequate diffusion barrier and the permeability of these film coatings for tramadol hydrochloride usually changes during storage (P. B. O""Donnell, J. W. McGinity, xe2x80x9cMechanical Properties of Polymeric Films, Prepared from Aqueous Polymeric Dispersions in Aqueous Polymeric Coatings for Pharmaceutical Dosage Formsxe2x80x9d, Drugs and the Pharmaceutical Science, vol. 79, ed. J. W. McGinity, Marcel Decker, New York, Basle, Hong Kong 1997).
The manufacture of these retarded tramadol hydrochloride preparations therefore requires relatively expensive coating processes with multilayer films or time-consuming tempering processes, as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,645,858, 5,580,578, 5,681,585 or U.S. Pat. No. 5,472,712, in K. Bauer, xe2x80x9cCoated Pharmaceutical Dosage Formsxe2x80x9d, Medpharm Scientific Publishers, Stuttgart 1998, B. Sutter, Thesis, University of Dxc3xcsseldorf, 1987, or in F. N. Christensen, Proceed. Intern. Symp. Contr. Rel. Bioact. Mater. 17, 124, 1990. If such coatings are applied from organic solvents, the associated environmental and solvent residue problems further increase the gcost of retarding tramadol hydrochloride.
The object of the invention was therefore to provide a form of administration, or a pharmaceutical formulation, of the active substance tramadol, retarded with the aid of a coating, whose active substance release profile immediately after preparation is stable on storage without the need for laborious and expensive coating processes or time-consuming and hence cost-intensive tempering processes.
According to the invention, this object is achieved by the preparation of forms of administration, provided with a sustained-release coating, which contain the active substance tramadol as tramadol saccharinate, optionally together with other pharmaceutically acceptable auxiliary substances or excipients.
Surprisingly, the active substance release profile of the retarded forms of administration according to the invention immediately after preparation is stable on storage without the sustained-release coating having to undergo tempering after the conventional drying.
To prepare the tramadol saccharinate, tramadolxe2x80x94(1RS,2RS)-2-[(dimethylamino)methyl]-1-(3-methoxyphenyl)cyclohexanolxe2x80x94and/or at least one appropriate, preferably water-soluble salt are reacted with saccharin and/or at least one, preferably water-soluble saccharin salt. The tramadol salt used is preferably tramadol hydrochloride and the saccharin salt used is preferably the sodium, potassium, calcium or ammonium salt and particularly preferably the sodium salt.
The tramadol saccharinate can also be formed in situ during the preparation of the forms of administration.
In terms of the present invention, in situ formation means that a readily water-soluble salt of tramadol is mixed with a water-soluble salt of saccharin, moistened and granulated several times, optionally extruded and/or formulated under some other energy input, preferably under pressure and/or with the application of heat.
For the in situ formation of tramadol saccharinate, the tramadol can be used as a water-soluble, pharmaceutically acceptable salt, preferably as tramadol hydrochloride, and the water-soluble, pharmaceutically acceptable salt of saccharin used is preferably the sodium, potassium, calcium or ammonium salt and particularly preferably the sodium salt.
The forms of administration according to the invention, provided with a sustained-release coating film, are preferentially suitable for oral administration.
In one preferred embodiment of the present invention, the forms of administration according to the invention are tablets, capsules or suspensions.
In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the forms of administration according to the invention are multiparticulate, preferably in the form of microtablets, microcapsules, micropellets, granules, active substance crystals or pellets, optionally filled into capsules or compressed to tablets, or in a hydrophilic or lipophilic liquid, preferably as a homogeneous suspension, and particularly preferably in the form of juices or oral dispersions. If the forms of administration according to the invention are granules or pellets, they can preferably have a size in the range 0.1 to 3 mm and particularly preferably in the range 0.5 to 2 mm.
If the forms of administration according to the invention are microtablets, they can preferably have a diameter in the range 0.5 to 5 mm, particularly preferably in the range 1 to 3 mm and very particularly preferably in the range 1 to 2 mm.
If the forms of administration according to the invention are active substance crystals, microparticles, micropellets or microcapsules, they can preferably have a diameter in the range 10 xcexcm to 1 mm, particularly preferably in the range 15 xcexcm to 0.5 mm and very particularly preferably in the range 30 xcexcm to 200 xcexcm.
Depending on the embodiment, the forms of administration according to the invention can also contain, as additional constituents, the conventional auxiliary substances known to those skilled in the art.
If the forms of administration according to the invention are tablets or microtablets, they can preferably contain, as additional auxiliary substances, microcrystalline cellulose, cellulose ethers, lactose, starch and starch derivatives, sugar alcohols, calcium hydrogenphosphate and the conventional binders, flow regulators, lubricants and optionally disintegrants known to those skilled in the art.
If the forms of administration according to the invention are pellets, granules or micropellets, they can preferably contain, as additional auxiliary substances, microcrystalline cellulose, cellulose ethers, lactose, starch and starch derivatives, sugar alcohols, calcium hydrogenphosphate, fatty alcohols, glycerol esters or fatty acid esters.
If the forms of administration according to the invention are microcapsules or microparticles, they can contain the conventional auxiliary substances known to those skilled in the art, depending on the type of production process.
The various forms of administration according to the invention can be produced by different methods known to those skilled in the art.
If the form of administration according to the invention is tablets, they can be produced for example by the compression of granules produced by means of moist, dry or hot-melt granulation, or by direct tableting of the tramadol saccharinate, optionally with additional auxiliary substances. The tablets can also be produced by the compression of coated pellets, active substance crystals, microparticles or microcapsules.
The pellet form of administration according to the invention can be produced by extrusion and spheronization, by cumulative pelleting or by direct pelleting in a high-speed mixer or in a rotary fluidized bed. It is particularly preferred to produce the pellets by the extrusion of moist masses and subsequent spheronization.
Microcapsules are produced by conventional microencapsulation processes, e.g. by spray drying, spray congelation or coacervation.
In one preferred embodiment of the forms of administration according to the invention, the sustained-release coating film is preferably based on a water-insoluble, optionally modified, natural and/or synthetic polymer, on a natural, semisynthetic or synthetic wax, on a fat or fatty alcohol, or on a mixture of at least two of the above-mentioned components.
The water-insoluble polymers used to produce a sustained-release coating are preferably poly(meth)acrylates, particularly preferably poly(C1-4)alkyl (meth)acrylates, poly(C1-4)dialkylamino(C1-4)alkyl (meth)acrylates and/or copolymers thereof, and very particularly preferably copolymers of ethyl acrylate and methyl methacrylate with a monomer molar ratio of 2:1 (Eudragit NE30D(copyright)), copolymers of ethyl acrylate, methyl methacrylate and trimethylammonium ethyl methacrylate-chloride with a monomer molar ratio of 1:2:0.1 (Eudragit RS(copyright)), copolymers of ethyl acrylate, methyl methacrylate and trimethylammonium ethyl methacrylate-chloride with a monomer molar ratio of 1:2:0.2 (Eudragit RL(copyright)), or a mixture of at least two of the above-mentioned copolymers. These coating materials are commercially available as 30 wt. % aqueous latex dispersions, i.e. as Eudragit RS30D(copyright), Eudragit NE30D(copyright) or Eudragit RL30D(copyright), and are preferably also used as such for coating purposes.
Other preferred water-insoluble polymers which can be used to produce the sustained-release coating of the forms of administration according to the invention are polyvinyl acetates, optionally in combination with additional auxiliary substances. They are commercially available as an aqueous dispersion containing 27 wt. % of polyvinyl acetate, 2.5 wt. % of povidone and 0.3 wt. % of sodium laurylsulfate (Kollicoat SR 30 D(copyright)).
In another preferred embodiment, the sustained-release coatings of the forms of administration according to the invention are based on water-insoluble cellulose derivatives, preferably alkyl celluloses, e.g. ethyl cellulose, or cellulose esters, e.g. cellulose acetate. The ethyl cellulose or cellulose acetate coatings are preferably applied from aqueous pseudolatex dispersion. Aqueous ethyl cellulose pseudolatex dispersions are commercially available as 30 wt. % dispersions (Aquacoat(copyright)) or as 25 wt. % dispersions (Surelease(copyright)).
As natural, semisynthetic or synthetic waxes, fats or fatty alcohols, the sustained-release coating of the forms of administration according to the invention can preferably be based on carnauba wax, beeswax, glycerol monostearate, glycerol monobehenate (Compritol ATO888(copyright)), glycerol ditripalmitostearate (Precirol ATO5(copyright)), microcrystalline wax, cetyl alcohol, cetylstearyl alcohol or a mixture of at least two of these components.
If the sustained-release coating is based on a water-insoluble, optionally modified, natural and/or synthetic polymer, the coating dispersion or solution can contain, in addition to the appropriate polymer, a conventional, physiologically acceptable plasticizer known to those skilled in the art, in order to lower the required minimum film temperature.
Examples of suitable plasticizers are lipophilic diesters of a C6-C40 aliphatic or aromatic dicarboxylic acid and a C1-C8 aliphatic alcohol, e.g. dibutyl phthalate, diethyl phthalate, dibutyl sebacate or diethyl sebacate, hydrophilic or lipophilic citric acid esters, e.g. triethyl citrate, tributyl citrate, acetyltributyl citrate or acetyltriethyl citrate, polyethylene glycols, propylene glycol, glycerol esters, e.g. triacetin, Myvacet(copyright) (acetylated mono- and diglycerides, C23H44O5 to C25H47O7), medium-chain triglycerides Miglyol(copyright)), oleic acid or mixtures of at least two of said plasticizers.
Aqueous dispersions of Eudragit RS(copyright) and optionally Eudragit RL(copyright) preferably contain triethyl citrate.
The sustained-release coating of the form of administration according to the invention preferably contains the plasticizer(s) in amounts of 5 to 50 wt. %, particularly preferably 10 to 40 wt. % and very particularly preferably 10 to 30 wt. %, based on the amount of polymer(s) used. In individual cases, for example for cellulose acetate, it is also possible to use larger amounts of plasticizers, preferably of up to 110 wt. %.
The sustained-release coating can also contain other conventional auxiliary substances known to those skilled in the art, e.g. lubricants, preferably talcum or glycerol monostearate, coloured pigments, preferably iron oxides or titanium dioxide, or surfactants, e.g. Tween 80(copyright).
The tramadol release profile obtained immediately after production of the form of administration according to the invention can be adjusted by the conventional methods known to those skilled in the art, e.g. by means of the thickness of the coating or by the use of additional auxiliary substances as constituents of the coating. Examples of suitable auxiliary substances are hydrophilic or pH-dependent pore-forming agents such as sodium carboxymethyl cellulose, cellulose acetate-phthalate, hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose acetate-succinate, lactose, polyethylene glycol or mannitol, or water-soluble polymers such as polyvinylpyrrolidone or water-soluble celluloses, preferably hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose or hydroxypropyl cellulose.
To further enhance the retardation, the sustained-release coating can also contain insoluble or lipophilic auxiliary substances such as alkylated silicon dioxide, which is marketed e.g. as Aerosil R972(copyright), or magnesium stearate.
The forms of administration according to the invention for the release of tramadol saccharinate can additionally have an enteric coating which dissolves as a function of pH. Because of this coating, the forms of administration according to the invention can pass through the stomach undissolved and the tramadol saccharinate is only released in the intestinal tract. The enteric coating preferably dissolves at a pH of between 5 and 7.5.
The enteric coating is preferably based on methacrylic acid/methyl methacrylate copolymers with a monomer molar ratio of 1:1 (Eudragit L(copyright)), methacrylic acid/methyl methacrylate copolymers with a monomer molar ratio of 1:2 (Eudragit S(copyright)), methacrylic acid/ethyl acrylate copolymers with a monomer molar ratio of 1:1 (Eudragit L30D-55(copyright)), methacrylic acid/methyl acrylate/methyl methacrylate copolymers with a monomer molar ratio of 7:3:1 (Eudragit FS(copyright)), shellac, hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose acetate-succinates, cellulose acetate-phthalates or a mixture of at least two of these components, which can optionally also be used in combination with the above-mentioned water-insoluble poly(meth)acrylates, preferably in combination with Eudragit NE30D(copyright) and/or Eudragit RL(copyright) and/or Eudragit RS(copyright).
The coatings of the form of administration according to the invention can be applied by the conventional processes known to those skilled in the art which are suitable for the particular coating, e.g. by the spraying of solutions, dispersions or suspensions, by the hot-melt process or by the powder application process. The solutions, dispersions or suspensions can be used in the form of aqueous or organic solutions or dispersions, preferably aqueous dispersions. Organic solvents which can be used are alcohols, for example ethanol or isopropanol, ketones, e.g. acetone, esters, for example ethyl acetate, and chlorinated hydrocarbons, e.g. dichloromethane, preference being given to alcohols and ketones. It is also possible to use mixtures of at least two of the above-mentioned solvents.
These processes are known from the state of the art, e.g. H. Sucker, Georg Thieme Verlag, 1991, pages 347 et seq. They are introduced here by way of reference and thus form part of the disclosure.
If the forms of administration according to the invention are multiparticulate, the sustained-release coating is preferably applied in such a way that, after preparation, the multiparticulate forms containing the tramadol saccharinate are coated with the appropriate polymers and optionally other auxiliary substances from aqueous and/or organic media, preferably from aqueous media, by the fluidized bed process, and the coating is preferably dried simultaneously at conventional temperatures in the fluidized bed without subsequently being tempered. In the case of poly(meth)acrylate coatings, the coating is preferably dried at an air inlet temperature in the range 30 to 50xc2x0 C. and particularly preferably in the range 35 to 45xc2x0 C.
In the case of coatings based on cellulose, e.g. ethyl cellulose or cellulose acetate, drying preferably takes place at a temperature in the range 50 to 80xc2x0 C. and particularly preferably in the range 55 to 65xc2x0 C.
Wax coatings can be applied by hot-melt coating in a fluidized bed and, after coating, cooled to complete the solidification at temperatures below the appropriate melting range. Wax coatings can also be applied by spraying solutions thereof in organic solvents.
For further modification of the active substance release profile, the sustained-release forms of administration according to the invention can also contain tramadol saccharinate in a sustained-release matrix, preferably as a uniform distribution.
Matrix materials which can be used are physiologically compatible, hydrophilic materials known to those skilled in the art. The hydrophilic matrix materials used are preferably polymers and particularly preferably cellulose ethers, cellulose esters and/or acrylic resins. The matrix materials used are very particularly preferably ethyl cellulose, hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose, hydroxypropyl cellulose, hydroxymethyl cellulose, poly(meth)acrylic acid and/or derivatives thereof such as their salts, amides or esters.
Other preferred matrix materials are those consisting of hydrophobic materials such as hydrophobic polymers, waxes, fats, long-chain fatty acids, fatty alcohols or corresponding esters or ethers, or mixtures thereof. The hydrophobic materials used are particularly preferably C12-C30 fatty acid mono- or diglycerides and/or C12-C30 fatty alcohols and/or waxes, or mixtures thereof.
It is also possible to use mixtures of the above-mentioned hydrophilic and hydrophobic materials as the sustained-release matrix material.
The sustained-release matrix can be prepared by the conventional methods known to those skilled in the art.
In another preferred embodiment, the forms of administration according to the invention contain the active substance tramadol not only in its retarded form but also in its non-retarded form, e.g. as tramadol hydrochloride. By combination with the immediately released active substance, a high initial dose can be achieved for the rapid alleviation of pain. The slow release from the retarded form then prevents the analgesic effect from diminishing.
The amount of tramadol to be administered to the patient varies e.g. as a function of the patient""s weight, the indication and the degree of severity of the pain or disease. The amount of tramadol to be administered, and its release, are preferably adjusted so that it has to be taken at most twice a day and preferably only once a day.
If taken once a day, the forms of administration according to the invention preferably contain 10 to 1200 mg, particularly preferably 20 to 1000 mg and very particularly preferably 100 to 800 mg of tramadol.
If taken twice a day, the forms of administration according to the invention preferably contain 5 to 600 mg, particularly preferably 10 to 500 mg and very particularly preferably 50 to 400 mg of tramadol.
The forms of administration according to the invention can preferably be used for the control of pain or for the treatment of urinary incontinence, coughs, inflammatory reactions, allergic reactions, depression, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, gastritis, diarrhoea, cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, mental illness or epilepsy, and particularly preferably for the control of pain or for the treatment of urinary incontinence or coughs.
The forms of administration according to the invention have the advantage that, immediately after preparation, their active substance release profile is stable on storage without the need for tempering, which normally follows drying, or for an expensive coating process. This makes it possible to reduce the production time and hence also the costs of producing the forms of administration according to the invention.
Furthermore, the release of the active substance tramadol from the forms of administration according to the invention, provided with a sustained-release coating applied from an aqueous medium, is surprisingly retarded far more than from the forms of administration, provided with a sustained-release coating of identical composition, which contain the active substance tramadol as tramadol hydrochloride. Application of the sustained-release coating film from an aqueous medium has the further advantage that the expensive recovery or organic solvents is not necessary and that the forms of administration according to the invention no longer contain solvent residues.
A further feature of the forms of administration according to the invention is that the release of the active substance tramadol therefrom is not affected by varying the release conditions within the conventional framework, e.g. by means of the ion concentrations of the buffers, the presence of surface-active substances or the application of different mechanical stresses.
The release profiles of the forms of administration according to the invention were determined as follows:
The form of administration according to the invention was tested in a cage apparatus or in a paddle stirrer, as described in the European Pharmacopoeia, at a release medium temperature of 37xc2x10.5xc2x0 C. and a speed of rotation of 100 rpm or 50 rpm in the case of the paddle stirrer, for 2 hours, in 600 ml of artificial gastric juice at pH 1.2. The form of administration was then tested for a further 8 hours in 900 ml of artificial intestinal juice at pH 7.2. The amount of tramadol saccharinate released at any given time was determined by HPLC. The values shown have been averaged over 3 samples in each case.
The invention is illustrated below with the aid of Examples 1 to 11. These illustrations are given solely by way of example and do not limit the general spirit of the invention.

Sustained-release form of administration containing tramadol saccharinate


A stowing system with adjacent lockers comprising a portable device allowing to dialogue with a control and operating device associated with a group of lockers through the medium of a wireless preferably infrared radiation connection so as to enable a system-running person to perform particular functions the system being applicable in left-luggage locker appliances used in particular in railway stations and/or airport terminals.

The present invention relates to a stowing system with adjacent lockers usable in particular in railway stations or airports and enabling any user to deposit personal objects or private things such as luggage or parcels, packages or like cases into a selected locker and to withdraw these objects therefrom before the end of a determined period of engagement or occupation of the locker.
Such systems are generally provided with a computer device connected by wire transmission means to independent groups or cabinets of locker compartments located in a railway station or in an airport terminal and allowing a system managing or running staff to have an access to various services such as the locking of a locker compartment of a chosen group or set of locker compartments, to the cash statement associated with the group of lockers, to the visual display or detection of those lockers the allowed period of engagement or occupation of which has been exceeded and so on. This known system however does not always allow to accomplish some services or some functions desired by the system running person. For instance upon the disabling of a selected locker compartment by the system running person it may happen that the door of this locker has been left ajar or half-open thereby making this disabling impossible unless the system running person directly proceeds to the place of the group of lockers where the locker to be disabled is located, mechanically locks the door of the locker and returns to the working station where the computer device is located. Moreover the installation of the wire transmission connection between the computer device and various groups of lockers is relatively expensive.

Stowing system with adjacent lockers usable in particular in railway stations or airports


A ceramic soldering element, which is utilized in reflow soldering of electrical components that have a multitude of thermal legs, comprises a ceramic substrate, which is thermally conductive but electrically insulating, has a plurality of heating resistors disposed along an edge of the substrate, which edge forms a soldering edge and an arrangement consisting of metal layers on opposite surfaces of the substrate for applying electrical current to each of the heating resistors.

The present invention is directed to a ceramic soldering device for soldering with resistance heating, particular for the reflow soldering of electronic components that usually have a multitude of terminal legs.
As a rule, a defined force is exerted on the terminal legs of electronic components via a soldering device employed in the soldering equipment. The pressing of the soldering device and the heat transmission for the soldering process or, respectively, the production of the necessary heat usually occurs on the basis of the use of a soldering element. The standard embodiments are thereby executed so that the terminal legs of the electrical component are arranged side-by-side in a row and are pressed and heated by an edge or line-shaped soldering element, for example a U-shaped part having a long transverse web or bite portion. When the soldering element is of an electrically conductive material and the heat is generated by resistance heating in the soldering element, then there is a risk of damage to the electrical component due to the voltage drop-off or difference along the soldering element that will occur between the different terminal legs. The current generated in the component, as a result thereof, can have a disadvantageous consequence.
The notoriously utilized technique of reflow soldering with a soldering element has been improved for avoiding the above-described disadvantages. For example, work can be carried out with a low voltage in order to avoid a voltage difference between the individual electrical terminals of the component. The course of development embarked upon, however, has not favored this low-voltage technique, but has attempted to manage voltage drop-off or differences along the soldering element by utilizing different materials.
In detail, the reduction of the voltage differences or drop-off between various terminal legs of an electronic component during soldering can be reduced by the following measures, in addition to being reduced by the utilization of a low-voltage technique:
A. The material of the soldering element has a low ohmic resistance and the soldering element is divided into a plurality of soldering elements that are electrically connected in parallel. In this version, adequately large conductor cross sections can be utilized.
B. A second feature is that the soldering element can be manufactured of a sheet metal which is bent into a U-shape. The width of such a soldering element in the downward direction is limited by the thickness of the sheet metal and by the necessary bending radius. With this version, however, the voltage differences between different terminal legs can be eliminated by contacting a respective U-shaped soldering element to a terminal leg.
Developments that have taken the limited integration space of the soldering element into consideration have provided a coating with a ceramic for electrical installation of the soldering elements or devices at their contacting surfaces in the direction of the terminal legs. Simple coatings, however, harbor the risk that the ceramic layer will flake off, due to different coefficients of thermal expansion at the soldering element and at the ceramic layer.
European Published Patent Application 0 357 977, which claims priority from German Patent Application P 38 30 407, discloses a soldering element that comprises a ceramic strip or, respectively, a ceramic rod, which is glued into a channel of a soldering element. The contact between the terminal legs and the soldering element occurs via this ceramic strip. As a result of the low ohmic resistance of this soldering element, high electrical currents must flow through the soldering element in order to produce the necessary quantity of heat. This requires an involved switching and control technology which also requires an involved power supply. An extremely low-resistance connecting technique, further, is needed, given high currents. What is desirable here is the principle that the heat should arise in the soldering element and not at the electrical terminals of the soldering element. In order to exclude disadvantages in this respect to the greatest possible degree, planar ground and gold-plated contact surfaces are sometimes utilized at the expanded portions of the soldering element. An attempt has been made with temperature sensors in the form of thermal elements, which are additionally soldered on to monitor or control the temperature along the soldering element edge.
IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, Entitled "Self-Levelling Soldering Tool", Vol. 11, No. 8, January 1969, p. 1026, discloses a fully ceramic soldering element that has embedded resistant wires for generating heat. The mechanical holding occurs at the upper part of this ceramic element.


An image data processing apparatus including a scanner for individually reading first and second image information from first and second documents, a page memory for storing the first image information into its first memory area, a display device for displaying a first image corresponding to the first image information stored in the first memory area of the page memory, a keyboard or a mouse for defining a desired range to be substituted with a second image corresponding to the second image information, in the first image displayed on the display device, a CPU for determining a magnifying ratio of the second image suited to the desired range, according to the sizes of the desired range and the second image, an enlargement/reduction circuit for magnifying the second image in response to the magnifying ratio determined by the CPU and the CPU for further processing a storage of the second image information read by the scanner into a second memory area corresponding to the desired range in the first memory area, according to the magnifying ratio.

Recently, a document image filing apparatus has been put in practical use which reads image data, such as documents created in large quantities through two-dimensional scanning by a two-dimensional scanner, stores this read image data on an optical disc, retrieves and reads optional stored image data, and outputs them in a visible state through an output device, for instance, a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) display device or a printer using an interface.
When it is desirable to combine a reduced image of a document into an image of another document using such an apparatus, image data of one of the documents is read with a scanner and stored in a page memory which is an image memory, and is displayed on a CRT display device. Image data of the other document is read with the scanner, stored in the other region of the image memory, and is displayed on the CRT display device.
A designation is given to reduce the image of the other document at a desired reduction rate, and after executing the reduction process accordingly, the image stored in the region is updated to the reduced size and displayed on the CRT display device. Thereafter, a superimposition with the image of another document is designated. The reduced image stored in the other region is stored in the designated position is the first region according to the designation and then displayed on the CRT display device. Thus, edited images composed of the reduced image of one document superimposed on the image of another document are obtained.
However, such an apparatus has a defect in that the image editing operation is complicated, many image memory areas are needed, and image memory cannot be used efficiently.

Image data processing apparatus capable of composing one image from a plurality of images


A false contour reduction device reduces the occurrence of false contours on a display screen. The false contour reduction device includes a false contour occurrence pixel detection circuit, a specific color pixel detection circuit, and a false contour reduction processing circuit. The false contour occurrence pixel detection circuit detect at which pixels false contours will occur among the pixels in an image based on the input image signal. The detected pixels are false-contour-occurring pixels. The specific color pixel detection circuit detects pixels which have a specific color within a specific color range, among the false-contour-occurring pixels. The detected pixels are specific color false-contour-occurring pixels. The false contour reduction processing circuit performs a false contour reducing process on the specific color false-contour-occurring pixels.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a false contour reduction device, display device, false contour reduction method, and false contour reduction program.
2. Description of the Related Art
A display device receives an input image signal and displays an image in pixel units. As shown in FIG. 12A of the accompanying drawings, a display device sequentially scans the pixels in the following order: pixel Pi−4→pixel Pi−3→pixel Pi−2→pixel Pi−1→pixel Pi→pixel Pi+1→pixel Pi+2→pixel Pi+3, to display the image.
The display device expands an input image signal into a time series of subfields having different gradation levels (with different brightness weightings), that is, into a plurality of subfields with different emission durations, and selects a combination of light-emitting subfields within a single field of image according to the intended gradation, so that the display device can perform appropriate gradation representation of each pixel.
In FIG. 12A, one field is divided into eight subfields, from the first subfield to the eighth subfield.
When the display device displays a moving image, or when the display device displays a still image but an observer moves his line of vision as indicated by the arrow in FIG. 12A, unexpected gradation changes are perceived, as indicated in FIG. 12B. That is, false contours are observed.
This is because emission in each subfield is performed in order in a time series and therefore the image of each subfield is perceived as an afterimage by an observer, undifferentiated from the subfields of adjacent gradations in the time series and from the subfields of the next image field.
Such false contours occur especially prominently in places where the weighting of the subfields changes significantly.
An explanation of false contours is given in, for example, a book entitled "All About Plasma Display" Hiraki Uchiike and Shigeo Mikoshiba, Kabushiki Kaisha Kogyo Chosakai, May 1, 1997, pp. 164-165.
At places where false contours occur, the observer does not perceive the gradations originally intended. In the case of grayscales, the observer perceives this as gradation inversion. In the case of color display, the observer perceives completely different colors. Hence an image is experienced which is markedly degraded compared with the input image.
Thus, it is essential that false contours be reduced in display devices such as plasma displays which employ a subfield emission scheme for gradation representation.

False contour reduction device, display device, false contour reduction method, and false contour reduction program


Approaches to produce verification are addressed which may be suitably employed in conjunction with a low resolution image scanner. Features, such as lines, corners, text, texture, edges and the like are extracted and compared with features for an identified item or evaluated to determine if the features collectively are indicative of a produce item or a non-produce item.

In self-service checkout (SSCO), a common type of fraud is an item substitution fraud where a customer scans a lower priced item having a similar or the same weight. One existing SSCO system employs an NCR bi-optic 7878 hybrid scanner with a built in imaging module with a low-resolution gray scale camera.
In a different context, commercial demonstrations of camera based item recognition systems from a few vendors, such as Toshiba, Fujitsu and Evolution Robotics, have been made. The demonstrated systems have been mostly for recognizing the specific identities of produce and other product items at checkout. These systems have typically employed one or more high-resolution color cameras having a relatively high cost.

Produce and non-produce verification using hybrid scanner


There is provided a flexible printed circuit board. The flexible printed circuit board includes: a flexible insulation layer having a first surface and a second surface; a first land which is conductive and which is provided on the first surface of the flexible insulation layer; and a conductive member which is provided on the second surface of the flexible insulation layer. A recess is formed on the first land.

Field of the Invention
The present teaching relates to a flexible printed circuit board which can be electrically connected to a counterpart electrode reliably.
Description of the Related Art
For example, a strain gage measuring the strain or distortion of a structure is formed in one flexible printed circuit board (a first flexible printed circuit board) which is very thin. In order to extract or take out the output from the strain gage, another flexible printed circuit board (a second flexible printed circuit board) for transmitting a signal is joined to the first flexible printed circuit board with soldering so that the electrode of the first flexible printed circuit board is electrically connected to the counterpart electrode of the second flexible printed circuit board.
The technology for joining the electrode of the first flexible printed circuit board to the counterpart electrode of the second flexible printed circuit board with soldering is generally known and is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2006-303354 and Japanese Utility Model Publication No. H5-29178.


A display showing an imported story track, an authored story track, and a story-in-progress track. Each story contains one or more objects. The display also shows a large photo corresponding to a selected object in a story. Furthermore, the display also provides visual forms showing audio clips associated with the large photo displayed. The photo may have more than one associated audio clips. Control buttons are available to navigate among the three tracks and among the objects on each track. Other control buttons allow a user to record audio clips and to author new stories.

Photographs play a central role in many types of informal storytelling. One of the most common and enjoyable uses for photographs is to share stories about experiences, travels, friends and family. Almost everyone has experience with this form of storytelling, which ranges from the exchange of personal reminiscences to family and cultural histories. The World Wide Web can facilitate the sharing of such stories in digital form and has inspired a movement towards "digital storytelling." Stories in digital form are referred to herein as digital stories. Digital photographs have an advantage over print photographs in that users can search for and retrieve them both by their content (e.g., features such as color and texture) and by their metadata (e.g., user-supplied text annotations). Today, most digital stories are created by people with computer skills using special-purpose software for editing images and authoring Web pages. Furthermore, these digital stories are created on systems relying on graphical interfaces dependent on windows, or tables, and some type of pointing or cursor control device. Such systems are typically not portable and are complex to use. These features make these systems difficult to share. These systems also require significant training and are inadequate for mass consumer use.

Method and apparatus for storytelling with digital photographs