In a wireless communication system, radio resources are dynamically assigned among a plurality of intercoupled base stations based upon historical loading to reduce both localized and system interference. A plurality of loading intervals are first determined that span a loading interval sequence. The loading intervals may correspond to time based periods such as fifteen-minute, thirty-minute, hour or other time intervals. The loading interval sequence may correspond to a weekday, a weekend day or such other loading period within which loading resembles a pattern. Based upon estimated loading for the loading interval, a number of channels required to service load for the loading interval are made to meet a minimal service level is determined. An initial assignment of channels among the cells/sectors of the base stations of the wireless communication system is then made to satisfy localized radio interference criteria. Such an assignment will typically be made to preclude local reuse of channels. Then, the assignments are reconsidered from the standpoint of system interference and the channels are reassigned to minimize system interference. In reassigning channels among the cells/sectors, radio propagation and, cell/sector proximity are considered so as to most accurately predict performance when the assignments are implemented. Once the channel assignments have been determined for the loading interval sequence(s), the wireless communication system is operated according to the channel assignments.

1. Technical Field
The invention relates generally to wireless communication systems; and more particularly to a wireless communication system and an associated method of operation in which radio resources are dynamically allocated to reduce system interference within the wireless communication system.
2. Related art
A wireless communication system is generally known in the art to service wireless communications with wireless mobile units operating within a respective service area. The construction of a wireless communication system typically includes a plurality of base stations dispersed throughout the service area. The base stations couple to base station controllers, with each base station controller serving a plurality of base stations. Each base station controller couples to a mobile switching center that also couples to the public switched telephone network and to other mobile switching centers. When being serviced, the mobile units establish wireless communications with one or more of the base stations.
The wireless communication system operates within an allocated frequency band. The allocated frequency band is subdivided into a plurality of channels with each channel occupying a respective bandwidth of the frequency band. Each of the base stations is allocated at least one channel in which all communications with proximate mobile units are carried. In most wireless communication systems, each base station supports a plurality of sectors, with each sector allocated at least one channel. Allocation of channels is performed so that the base stations can adequately service each of the mobile units operating in their proximity.
The capacity of prior wireless communication systems was fixed. Base stations and the supporting infrastructure was initially installed and channels were assigned to service a projected loading across the systems. As loading increased, additional base stations were installed and/or additional channels were allocated to existing base stations to service the additional load. Such initial allocations and subsequent additional allocations for each cell/sector were made to serve a peak loading interval for the respective cell/sector.
However, loading patterns do not correspond to the fixed capacity of prior wireless communication systems. As is known, loading across any wireless communication system varies significantly by time of day and day of week with such loading patterns not being proportional across the system. Some portions of the system are more heavily loaded during working hours, some during evening hours, some during commuting hours and some over the weekend. Thus, because resources within the wireless communication system are deployed to meet the greatest loading period for each base station/sector within the wireless communication system, substantial resources remain unused during most loading periods. These allocated resources are extremely expensive and, when not fully used to service calls, generate no revenue for the service provider. Further, when additional channels are allocated, system interference is increased. Thus, it has been advantageous for most operators of wireless communication systems to deploy minimal resources that provide a minimal acceptable service quality during most time periods but unacceptable service quality during peak loading periods.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a wireless communication system and method of operation that manages resources to assign resources when capacity is needed, does not assign the resources when they are not needed, and manages such assignments to minimize interference within the system to maximize grade of service.

Dynamic radio resource allocation in a wireless communication system


Projection optical systems are provided for use in an exposure apparatus that have a numerical aperture greater than 0.63, a reduced field curvature of pupil at the aperture stop and are able to maintain imaging performance. Further, the present invention avoids degradation in the imaging performance when the numerical aperture is changed.

As the resolution for integrated circuit patterns increases, higher performance is being demanded of projection optical systems that are used to project an image from a reticle or mask onto a semiconductor wafer or substrate. In current projection optical systems, in order to meet such demands, the resolving power of the projection optical system can conceivably be improved by increasing the numerical aperture (NA) of the projection optical system. In addition, such optical systems are normally double telecentric to avoid magnification errors and have the capability to vary the numerical aperture to obtain the appropriate conditions for imaging the integrated circuit patterns.
Referring to FIG. 1A, one problem associated with current projection optical systems is the existence of a certain amount of field curvature of pupil at the pupil location. This occurs because a mechanical aperture stop is in a plane, and when the numerical aperture is changed, phenomena such as asymmetrical vignetting occurs. As seen in FIG. 1A, a projection optical system may be broken down into two parts, one part on a first object side of the aperture stop having a first Petzval sum (ptz(1)), and another part on a second object side of the aperture stop having a second Petzval sum (ptz(2)). Referring to FIG. 1B, when the NA is decreased, asymmetrical vignetting occurs, resulting in a degradation of the imaging performance of the projection optical system. Phenomena such as asymmetrical vignetting cause degradation in the imaging performance of the projection optical system as a whole. Due to the current resolution limits required in projection optical systems, these degradations could be ignored. However, as systems seek to improve resolution and utilize projection optical systems having a higher NA (e.g., NA>0.63), field curvature of pupil at the aperture stop and other asymmetrical phenomena present a much more serious problem and cannot be ignored.
Therefore, what is needed are projection optical systems having high numerical apertures and minimum field curvature of pupil in the aperture stop plane.

Projection optical system and exposure apparatus


A method for detecting and handling skew and spillover in in-memory hash join operations. To improve the detection of skew and spillover in parallel processing systems, a Poisson distribution of unique hash values to Units of Parallelism (UoPs) is employed to determine the number of rows per UoP and in turn, the potential of spillover at a UoP. Hash join plan options can be selected or adjusted to reduce the likelihood of spillover.

A database is a collection of stored data that is logically related and that is accessible by one or more users or applications. A popular type of database is the relational database management system (RDBMS), which includes relational tables, also referred to as relations, made up of rows and columns (also referred to as tuples and attributes). Each row represents an occurrence of an entity defined by a table, with an entity being a person, place, thing, or other object about which the table contains information. Within large corporations or organizations, a database system known as an enterprises data warehouse, may contain close to a petabyte of critical data, organized into hundreds of tables, used by many thousands of persons, performing tasks across all business or organization functions. To perform essential functions, it must operate efficiently and reliably every second of every day.
In-memory processing capabilities have recently been implemented within database systems, where data is stored and processed in CPU memory, offering much faster processing times than systems and applications limited to processing data in non-volatile or persistent storages, e.g., Hard Disk Drives (HDDs), Solid State Disk Drives (SSDs), and Flash memory.
Within relational database systems, a join operation is executed to combine records from two or more tables. A hash join is one form of join well suited to in-memory processing. In a hash join, one or both tables to be joined are fit completely inside CPU memory, with the smaller table being built as a hash table in memory, and potential matching rows from the second table are searched against the hash table.
An uneven distribution of data within a database system, referred to a skew, can result in significant performance impairments to database system operations. For example, in a hash join, a single value with a large number of occurrences will cause a long chain in the hash table. Another value with few occurrences, but with a hash value such that it hashes to the previous large value in the hash table will degrade join performance for probe table rows that match the value with few occurrences.
In massively parallel processing (MPP) systems, dealing with data skew in parallel joins is critical to the performance of many applications. An MPP system is a collection of units of computations working together on a single problem. The units of computations are called units of parallelism (UoPs).
The most effective and the most common mechanism for distributing rows in an MPP system is a hash-distribution technique. In this technique, the unit of parallelism in which the data must be stored, i.e., the target, is chosen based on the hash of the data value. This means all rows with the same data value go to the same target unit of parallelism. Different data values, but with the same hash value, will also end up in the same unit of parallelism. In a large system, with a large number of rows, this technique leads to a very even and uniform distribution of rows to all the units of parallelism.
A query in an MPP system is only as fast as the slowest unit of computation. Data skew creates more data in a single unit of computation. This requires one unit of parallelism to perform more work thereby making it slower than the other units.
There are two problems with skew in an MPP system. One is detecting skew and another is handling it for specific database operators. Described below is an improved technique for detecting and handling skew, particularly in hash join operations.

Skew detection and handling in a parallel processing relational database system


A method for preparing a negative electrode material of a lithium ion battery is provided. In the method, a solvent-thermal reaction of a graphite material and a modifier precursor in an organic solvent is conducted to form a reaction product. And then, the reaction product is dried. Next, a heat treatment is applied to the dried reaction product to obtain the negative electrode material. The negative electrode material prepared by the method has improved cycle stability and high current performance.

Lithium ion batteries are widely used in portable electronic products such as mobile phones, laptop computers and cameras. Moreover, now, the lithium-ion batteries are also used in hybrid power automobiles. The lithium-ion batteries with high energy are expected to be used for providing electrical power to the electric automobiles. Currently, graphitized carbon negative electrode materials are conventional materials used in the most commercialized lithium-ion batteries because the graphitized carbon negative electrode materials have advantages of low cost and easy control of synthesis processes. However, Carbon negative materials used in the lithium-ion batteries can react during a charging process to form lithium carbides. Due to the instability of the carbon negative materials in an aqueous electrolyte, a conventional lithium-ion battery including a carbon negative material generally employs an organic electrolyte such as a carbonate electrolyte. Thus, during a charging-discharging process, a portion of a reaction product of the organic electrolyte and the carbon negative material covering the surface of the carbon negative material can form a solid-electrolyte interface (SEI) or an interface protective layer (membrane). When the solid-electrolyte interface is relatively dense, the organic electrolyte and the carbon negative material can be effectively isolated, thereby avoiding the further reaction of the organic electrolyte and the carbon negative material. The generation of the solid-electrolyte interface is related to not only the carbon negative material but also the electrolyte (Electrochimica Acta 55 (2010) 6332-6341. In the charging-discharging process, in particular in the charging-discharging process with high output characteristics and at high current, the structure degradation of the carbon (graphite) negative material will occur and the carbon negative material will react with the electrolyte, thereby decreasing the discharge capacity and deteriorating of the cycle performance.
A surface treatment is an effective method to improve the performance of the graphite negative material. The surface treatment is generally to coat the graphite negative material with metal or metal oxide, which is disclosed detailedly by Yuping Wu in his book of Lithium-ion battery—Application and Practic. The surface-modification of the electrode material by the surface treatment plays a positive role. For example, (1) the ion-conductor can be formed on the electrode surface, which contributes to the surface charge transfer; (2) the electrode surface chemical properties can be improved, thereby enhancing the performance of the lithium-ion battery; (3) the surface-modified electrode material can be as the HF removing agent, so as to reduce the acidity of the non-aqueous electrolyte and inhibit the dissolution of metal ions in the positive electrode material; (4) the surface-modified electrode material can has a physical protection layer to prevent a side reaction of the electrode material and the nonaqueous electrolyte. Chinese Patent No. CN 02125138.X discloses a method for preparing a negative active material for a lithium rechargeable battery. The method includes the steps of coating a carbon source with a coating liquid and drying the carbon source, and so on. The coating liquid includes a solute of a coating element source and a solvent of a mixture of an organic solvent and water. Chinese Patent No. CN 200310107365.6 discloses a method for surface-modifying a graphite negative material of a lithium-ion secondary battery by forming oxide film. In the method, graphite powders are immersed into a saturated lithium hydroxide solution containing ethanol to obtain a mixture, and then the mixture is filtered and dried at room temperature under CO2 atmosphere. In the above surface treatment methods, a solid electrolyte interface layer is usually formed on the surface of the graphite negative material. However, the solid electrolyte interface layer can not improve the interlayer structure of the graphite negative material to increase the migration rate of the lithium ions between the graphite layers.

Method for preparing negative electrode material of lithium ion battery


An in-vehicle multiple cursor system properly provides information necessary for a user in case that the number of wirelessly connected portable devices increases to thereby cause lack of a memory space for drawing. A cursor operation for requesting a drawing occurs in a portable device. An in-vehicle navigation system thereby makes a determination as to whether or not a segmental memory space assigned to the portable device in a memory space of a drawing memory device has at least a predetermined data volume. When the determination is affirmed, necessary drawing data are read out from a resource database and forwarded to a drawing memory device of the portable device to be developed therein. A screen window is then displayed in a display unit of the portable device based on the developed drawing data.

Patent document 1 describes an information display system, which establishes individual communication lines with multiple portable devices at the same time to aggregate multiple corresponding cursor operations in a single display unit.                Patent document 1: JP-A-2005-038110
In such a display system aggregating multiple cursor operations in a signal display unit, a memory space for drawing may be assigned in a drawing memory device to each portable device when a communication line is established. When a cursor operation for requesting drawing occurs in the portable device, drawing data necessary for the drawing may be developed in the assigned memory space. Thus a screen window may be displayed in the display unit based on the developed drawing data.
Since a memory space of the drawing memory device is limited in the system, increase of the number of portable devices wireless connected with the system may cause lack of the memory space to thereby disable a requested screen window from appearing in the display unit.

Multiple cursor system and method for vehicle


A method for producing prick test single use sterile vials for use in a prick test is provided. The method comprises providing at least one allergen source including therewithin allergen extract, providing a plurality of single dose vials, connecting a tube to the at least one allergen source, connecting a metering device to the tube, drawing by the tube an amount of the allergen extract from one of the at least one allergen source, receiving the amount of allergen extract at the metering device, and dispensing by the metering device a volume of allergen extract into one of the plurality of single dose vials.

Immunotherapy (IT) is recognized as one of the most curative treatment for allergies. By exposing the immune system to slowly increasing concentrations of immunomodulators such as an allergen or antigen, it will eventually stabilize and regain control the portion that is hypersensitive to the allergen or antigen. In general, immunotherapy is the "treatment of disease by inducing, enhancing, or suppressing an immune response." Immunotherapies designed to elicit or amplify an immune response are classified as activation immunotherapies, while immunotherapies that reduce or suppress are classified as suppression immunotherapies. The active agents of immunotherapy are collectively called immunomodulators. They are a diverse array of recombinant, synthetic and natural preparations, often cytokines.
Immunotherapy involved in the treatment of allergies is a type of suppression immunotherapy, often termed desensitization or hypo-sensitization. This is compared with allergy treatments such as antihistamines or corticosteroids which treat only the symptoms of allergic disease. Immunotherapy is the only available treatment that can modify the natural course of the allergies, by reducing sensitivity to the immunomodulators such as antigens or allergens. An antigen and an allergen can both cause one's immune system to respond. An allergen is an antigen, but not all antigens are allergens. An antigen is any substance that is capable of causing one's immune system to produce antibodies. They are typically organic, or living, produced proteins. An allergen is any antigen that causes an allergic reaction. A non-allergen antigen could be a bacteria, virus, parasite, or fungus that causes an infection. This could also be something else that causes antibody immune system response, like toxins, chemicals, tissue cells involved in transplants or blood cells from a blood transfusion. An allergen is an environmentally produced substance that causes an allergic reaction, although the substance may not be harmful. Allergens cause no reactions in some individuals, while possibly causing a hypersensitive reaction in others. Common allergens include such things as pollen, plants, smoke, feathers, perfumes, dust mites, toxic mold, food, drugs, animal dander, and insect bites and stings.
The exact mechanisms of how IT works are not fully understood, but they involve shifting a patient's immune response from a predominantly "allergic" T-lymphocyte response to a "non-allergic" T-lymphocyte response.
Current accepted processes for performing allergy immunotherapy include injecting immunomodulator matter in the form of antigen material into patient subjects. This is referred to as subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT), requiring a patient to visit a doctor's office for weekly injections. It is very expensive and time-consuming. A second technique, sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT), involves the application of allergy extracts (antigens), and allergens placed into a pill form and swallowed by the patient or disposed in "allergy drops" which are placed under the tongue for the allergens/antigens to be absorbed into the oral mucosa. Transdermal patches may have been used without much success and mostly were used for patch testing to see if a patient reacts to various chemicals or allergens.
Of the people who start traditional subcutaneous injected immunotherapy (SCIT), 90% fail to complete their therapy due to needle fatigue and not being able to see a doctor in their office once or more per week for several years. Further, doctors charge for every one of those visits. Further, doctors trained to give injections for allergies are concentrated in high population and upper middle class places. People in rural areas and people who do not live in upper middle class areas cannot get to an allergist for shots. Consider an inner city kid having to ride public transportation and pay a high copay just to get a high risk injection if an alternative therapy were available!
Allergies are also linked to depression and suicide and are among the top ten reasons for missed work and lost productivity. Lastly, allergies and asthma result in billions of dollars in lost productivity and healthcare costs among the 90% of allergy patients that either never get immunotherapy or fail immunotherapy delivered under its current administration methods.
Skin allergy testing is a method for medical diagnosis of allergies that attempts to provoke a small, controlled, allergic response. A microscopic amount of allergen is introduced to a patient's skin by various means. One of these is a prick test wherein an allergen is introduced by pricking the skin with a needle to introduce a small amount of allergen into the epithelial layer of the skin. Similar tests include the scratch test that involves a deep dermic scratch made with the blunt bottom of a lancet, an intra-dermic test involving a tiny quantity of allergen injected under the dermis with a hypodermic syringe, a scrap test involving a superficial scrape performed with the help of the bevel of a needle to remove the superficial layer of the epidermis and a patch test wherein a patch is applied to the skin, the patch containing a small amount of allergen.
In the prick test, a small amount of purified allergen is generally pricked onto the skin surface, usually the forearm. This test is usually done in order to identify allergies caused by such things as pet dander, dust, pollen, foods or dust mites. The skin prick test involves first placing a small amount of substances that may be causing the symptoms on the skin, most often on the forearm or upper arm back. Some of the prick test kits that are available are utilized to maximize the number of tests that can be performed with a given amount of allergen. Thus, a 5 mL bottle of allergen can provide up to 1800 tests. Typically, a number of wells formed in a tray are each filled with an allergen, for example with about 0.125 mL of extract. The tip of a pick or lancet is dipped into the small amount of extract disposed in the bottom of the well and then a particular site is pricked on an individual. In some cases multiple pricks are mounted in or on a frame to provide for multiple well associations, such that a series of six or seven wells in a line in the tray can be simultaneously accessed so that a number of different allergens can be applied to an individual's skin simultaneously. There are even larger arrays of picks that can be dipped into the wells for treating a large area with more different allergens at the same time. After use, the wells are typically sealed by inserting a prick into the well.
One of the issues involved in prick testing is that the allergen must be removed from a sterile bottle with a syringe to fill each well. The sterile bottle containing the allergen typically has some type of injection stopper, typically rubber, through which the hypodermic needle is inserted to extract the allergen. Once the hypodermic needle is inserted through the injection stopper, the sterile barrier is broken. The allergen is disposed into the well and the pick disposed therein multiple times. There is not necessarily any sterilization procedure between applying the allergen to the skin of an individual and then disposing the pick back into the well to seal that well. Thus, once the allergen is extracted from the 5 mL bottle, the first use of the allergen is the only sterile use. Thereafter, application thereof of the allergen up to 1800 times can potentially result in issues.

Prick test single use sterile vial and method


A method and apparatus of this invention changes a frequency at which a control circuit (signal processing circuit) operates in accordance with an operational load of a circuit. More specifically, a pager comprises a signal processing circuit for detecting a first signal sequence within received signals by comparing the received signals with codes originated in the pager and for identifying a second signal sequence received in association with the first signal sequence within the received signals, the signal processing circuit being supplied with a first clock signal having a first frequency when the signal processing circuit detects the first signal sequence and being supplied with a second clock signal having a second frequency when the signal processing circuit identifies the second signal sequence. Still, the frequency applied to the signal processing circuit may be changed in accordance with the operational load of the circuit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a signal processing unit for use in electronic equipment and, specifically, relates to a signal processing unit for use in a radio telecommunication apparatus such as a pager, a cordless telephone, or a mobile telephone.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, a new type of a paging system has been developed in which a base station transmits message information, and any called one of the pager receivers subscribed to this system displays the message information. The paging signal used in this system is schematically shown in FIG. 9. As is illustrated in this figure, each frame of the paging signal is time-divided into n groups. Further, each group is time-divided into one synchronization or preamble word and m calling words. Each calling word is formed of an identification (ID) code and a message code.
To call a selected pager receiver, a caller dials a telephone numbers assigned to the pager receiver, thus reaching the base station. Then, the caller sends message information to the base station. The base station generates the ID code assigned to the selected pager receiver and the message code corresponding to the message information, and inserts these codes into one of vacant calling words of that group of the paging signal to which the selected pager receiver belongs. Then, the base station transmits the paging signal.
As is illustrated in FIG. 10, each pager receiver comprises an antenna 1, a receiver circuit 10, a control circuit 4, and ID ROM 5, a drive circuit 6, a loudspeaker 7, an LCD (Liquid-Crystal Display) 8, and a clock generator 9,. The receiver circuit 10 has a radio circuit 2 and a demodulation circuit 3. In operation, the antenna 1 catches the paging signal which the base station has transmitted. The signal is supplied to the receiver circuit 10. In the circuit 10, the radio circuit 2 receives the paging signal, and the demodulation circuit 3 demodulates the paging signal. The demodulated signal is output from the receiver circuit 10 to the control circuit 4.
The control circuit 4 has, for example, a microcomputer (CPU). The CPU is driven by a clock signal having a frequency of, for example, 480 KHz, generated from the clock generator 9. The control circuit 4 collates the ID code inserted in the demodulated paging signal, with the ID code stored in the ID ROM 5 and assigned to the pager receiver. If the ID codes are identical, the control circuit 4 determines that the pager receiver has been called. Then, the control circuit 4 supplies a drive signal to the drive circuit 6. The circuit 6 drives the loudspeaker 7, and the loudspeaker 7 generates a beep sound, telling the user of the pager receiver that his receiver is being called. When the ID codes are found to be identical, the message code is supplied from the receiver circuit 10 to the control circuit 4. The circuit 10 corrects error bits, if any, of the message code, and then demodulates the message code into the original message information. The control circuit 4 outputs this message information to the LCD 8, which displays the message information.
Generally, a method known as "battery saving technique" is adopted in each pager receiver to save power so as to lengthen the lifetime of the battery loaded in the pager receiver. More precisely, the control circuit 4 controls the power-source unit including the battery such that power is supplied from the battery to the receiver circuit 10 only while the antenna 1 is receiving group signals which is transmitted for a group of pagers including the pager. No power is supplied to the circuit 10 while any other groups are transmitted. Since n groups form the frame, the power consumed in the circuit 10 is about 1/n of the power which is required if power is supplied to the circuit 10 all the time. Even under the battery saving technique, control circuit 4 is continuously powered and driven by a clock signal.
In a prior art pager, a frequency of the clock signal is set to be so high that error correction operations are properly performed against the received message signal accompanied by an error connection code. The high frequency art which the control circuit 4 is continuously driven causes considerable power consumption. This is because the power is consumed greater in a microprocessor device constituting the control circuit 4 as the frequency at which the microprocessor device is driven increases.


The console selects one radiographing order information item from the radiographing order information list stored in the storing section. A step is taken to determine whether or not the one selected radiographing order information item has a predetermined relationship with the other radiographing order information, and the permission of additional selection is granted only to the radiographing order information having a predetermined relationship.

The present invention relates to a radiation image detecting apparatus for generating radiation image data by detecting radiation represented by X-rays, a control apparatus for controlling this radiation image detecting apparatus, a plurality of control apparatuses for receiving radiation image data generated by detecting a radiation by the radiation image detecting apparatus, a management apparatus for managing the plurality of control apparatuses, and a radiation image radiographing system using the radiation image detecting apparatus, control apparatus or management apparatus, and mobile information terminal apparatus.
In the field of medical diagnosis, a CR (Computed Radiography) system capable of handling a radiation image as digital data is put into commercial use. This CR system is made up of a reading apparatus for reading radiation image data by scanning the phosphor plate incorporated in the CR cassette through excitation light, and a control apparatus (also referred to as a console) for obtaining radiation image data read by this reading apparatus, wherein these two component apparatuses are connected with each other. The CR cassette exposed to radiation in a radiographing room is read by the reading apparatus, and the obtained radiation image data is transmitted to the control apparatus and is displayed, whereby the radiographing technician is allowed to make sure whether the optimum radiation image data has been obtained or not.
A large-scale CR system wherein a plurality of reading apparatuses and a plurality of control apparatuses are connected over the network has been proposed in recent years for use in a medical institution equipped with a plurality of radiographing rooms (Patent Document 1). In the large-scale CR system as described in this Patent Document 1, there are a plurality of patients to be radiographed at one time, and a plurality of radiographing technicians in charge of radiographing operation. This may cause confusion of radiation image data among different patients. To prevent this confusion, the instruction information known under the name of radiographing order information incorporating the patient information (e.g., patient name and age) and radiographing information (e.g., radiographing date, radiographing region and radiographing direction) is prepared in advance, and this radiographing order information is correlated with the cassette ID (identification information) for identification of CR cassette, whereby this information is registered. Thus, if one piece of radiographing order information is correlated with one CR cassette, the radiation image data obtained by reading the CR cassette with the reading apparatus is correlated with the radiographing order information based on the cassette ID of the CR cassette, whereby confusion of radiation image data can be prevented.
To permit radiographing of a patient who cannot be moved to the X-ray room due to serious cases and others, a traveling type irradiation apparatus for a doctor's round has been implemented. As a method having been proposed (e.g., Patent Document 2), effective radiographing operation at the site of visit can be ensured by carrying a mobile information terminal apparatus (PDA (Personal Digital Assistance)), together with this irradiation apparatus for a doctor's round. Generally, in the method of radiographing by a doctor making a round with the PDA, the radiographing order information for planned radiographing at the site visited by the doctor is transmitted from a control apparatus to the PDA so that this radiographing order information is stored in the PDA. After that, this PDA, the irradiation apparatus for doctor's round and the CR cassettes in the number corresponding to the number of radiographing operations are carried to the site visited by the doctor. At the site visited by the doctor, radiographing order information for radiographing operation is displayed on the PDA, and the CR cassette barcode (cassette ID) is read by the barcode reader mounted on the PDA, whereby correlation is established between the displayed radiographing order information and the cassette ID. After that, according to the radiographing order information, the irradiation apparatus for doctor's rounds is operated so that the radiation images are stored in the CR cassette. This CR cassette is read by the reading apparatus and the radiation image data having been obtained is transmitted to the control apparatus. Further, the correlation between the radiographing order information and cassette ID stored in the PDA is transmitted to the control apparatus wherein the correlation is established between the radiographing order information and radiation image data. As described above, if the PDA is brought to the site visited by the doctor, the radiographing order information is verified at the site visited by the doctor. After that, correlation is established between this radiographing order information and CR cassette for performing the radiographing. This arrangement eliminates the possibility of radiation image data being confused.
A proposal has been made of an FPD (Flat Panel Detector) apparatus as a radiation image detecting apparatus wherein this FPD apparatus incorporates the radiation detecting elements in a two-dimensional array on the substrate instead of the aforementioned CR cassette, and is capable of outputting the electric signal in response to the radiation dose applied to this radiation detecting element (e.g., Patent Document 3). Use of this FPD apparatus eliminates the need of using a reading apparatus that reads the radiation image by exposure to the excitation light, and directly gets the radiation image. This arrangement simplifies the system as compared to the case of using the CR cassette. This ensures more effective radiographing operation. Further, data of plural radiation images can be stored by the storing section incorporated in the FPD apparatus, and plural radiographing operations can be performed continuously in one time, with the result that radiographing efficiency is enhanced.
Because of such conveniences of the FPD apparatus, the FPD apparatus is anticipated to be applied to also the aforementioned large-scale CR system in future, as described in the Patent Document 2. Particularly in the radiographing by a doctor making a round, a plurality of radiographing operations are commonly performed in one round, use of an FPD apparatus eliminates the need of carrying the cassettes in the number corresponding to several radiographing operations to the site visited by the doctor, with the result that easy and convenient radiographing operations can be performed.
However, although the FPD apparatus offers an advantage of storing data of plural radiation images in one operation, it involves a higher possibility of causing an error in the correlation between the radiographing order information and radiation image data, and diagnosis may be carried out without the doctor becoming conscious of this error. To be more specific, if data of plural radiation images is stored in one FPD apparatus, even if plural radiographing order information for data of plural radiation images and the identification information of the FPD apparatus are registered correlated with each other in advance, the incorrect correlation will be established between radiation image data and radiographing order information when the order of performing radiographing operations have been replaced.
Further, in the radiographing operation by a doctor making a round of visits using the aforementioned PDA, if the FPD apparatus is used instead of CR cassette, incorrect correlation may be established between the radiographing order information and radiation image data. Further, diagnosis may be carried out without the doctor becoming conscious of this error.
For example, when radiographing operations are performed using one FDA apparatus in one radiographing operation during doctor's round, plural radiographing order information for the planned radiographing operation is stored in the PDA, and the correlation is established between the plural radiographing order information stored in the PDA and one FPD apparatus. Then radiographing operation is performed according to the order number included in radiographing order information, starting with the lowest numbers. Thus, radiation image data corresponding to plural radiographing operations is stored in one FPD apparatus. Data of plural radiation images stored in the FPD apparatus, and information about correlation between radiographing order information stored in the PDA and FPD apparatus are transmitted to the control apparatus. After that, correlation is established between the radiographing order information and radiation image data by the control apparatus based on the order number and radiographing sequential order.
However, for example, if the order of radiographing operations is replaced to suit the convenience of a patient or doctor, incorrect correlation will be established between radiation image data and radiographing order information in the control apparatus. In this case, if the plural radiation image data is of a plurality of patients wherein the radiographing regions are identical to each other (or similar to each other), radiation image data cannot be identified and it is difficult to find an error in correlation. This makes it difficult to establish correct correlation between the radiation image data and radiographing order information, and will hence lead to a serious medical error.    [Patent Document 1] Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-159476    [Patent Document 2] Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-147910    [Patent Document 3] Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-122304

Radiation image radiographing system, control apparatus, radiation image detecting apparatus and management apparatus


A support rod for curtains and the like has telescoping sections the ends of which are threaded for being screwed onto respective receivers mountable on facing walls in axial alignment. The receivers are fixed to the walls by fasteners which are concealed within the bore of at least one of the rod section or its mating receiver. A decorative flange may be mounted between each receiver and its respective rod section.

The present invention is directed to the mounting of rods between facing walls. Such rods are commonly used in living rooms for hanging decorative curtains and draperies, in bath rooms for hanging shower curtains, and in closets for hanging clothing. Such rods of sufficient strength may also be mounted in hallways and alcoves for use in exercise, e.g., chinning rods.
More specifically the present invention provides a secure mounting of the opposite ends of an adjustable rod between opposing walls while maintaining an aesthetically pleasing appearance.
It is know in the art to mount rods between walls for hanging various articles. Tension rods employ two telescoping sections of a rod which are urged axially apart by one or more springs. A device for securing the rod to the walls may be mounted on the ends of the rod, e.g., a rubber pad or a suction cup. Because such rods must rely wholly on friction between their ends and the adjacent walls, they are generally secure enough to support only very light loads.
For greater strength, it is known to support each end of a rod within a seat within a central opening of a flange which is mounted on a wall by multiple screws disposed on the circumference of the flange. It is also known to mount on a wall, beams or blocks which are apertured or notched to receive the end of a rod. The appearance of such mounts with screw or nailed heads visible in an unattractive flange, beam or block can be an eyesore. Moreover, such mounting schemes generally require that the rod be of fixed length carefully cut to the right size as the ends of a telescoping adjustable rod are subject to being withdrawn from their seats, thereby causing the rod to fall to the floor.


A stand for woodwind musical instruments features an annular base member, an annular revolvable support member, bearing means rotatably supporting the support member on the base member, and a plurality of musical instrument support pegs vertically mounted on the support member and arranged in a circle having a center coincident with the axis of rotation of the support member and preferably positioned closer to the axis of rotation than the bearing means, some, at least, of the pegs being configured at the base and top portions thereof to conform, respectively, to the shape of the bell and the bore of the instrument supported thereby.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to rotatable stands for holding musical instruments.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Musicians who play woodwind instruments in a crowded area such as a night club or in an orchestra pit in a theater, frequently play a number of instruments such as a clarinet, an oboe, a saxophone, the English horn, a flute, an alto flute, and a piccolo. This has presented a problem as to how to dispose the several instruments alongside the musician for ready access. While stands have been provided for holding the instruments in position to be picked up and played by the musician one after another as dictated by the score of the musical composition being performed, the previous stands have not been convenient to use, nor have they been safe. With such stands it is easy to knock the instruments off the stands in a crowded, tight, often dark area, such as an orchestra pit. Specifically, in moving from one musical instrument to another during a performance, a musician has had to reach over the instruments on the stand in returning to the stand the instrument that has just been played and also in picking up the instrument that is to be played next. This has required the musician to exercise great care to avoid knocking down all of the instruments and damaging them.
Proposals made in the prior art for holding musical instruments are disclosed in the following U.S. patents:
U.S. Pat. No. 1,888,927--A. S. Lang--Issued Nov. 22, 1932 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 1,900,718--A. S. Lang--Issued Mar. 7, 1932 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 2,559,739--S. H. Sherman--Issued July 10, 1951 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,203,298--J. N. Sumrall--Issued Aug. 31, 1965 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,036,462--E. A. Sheftel--Issued July 19, 1977 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,145,950--F. Glantz--Issued Mar. 27, 1979
The Lang patents disclose a combined carrying case and holder for musical instruments, the holder accommodating but two instruments, a saxophone and a clarinet. Similarly, the Sumrall patent discloses a combined carrying case and holder, the holder accommodating but two clarinets although storage space for several reeds is also provided. The holder of the Sherman patent is for musical instrument accessories such as horn mutes and maracas and comprises several wire arms and loops, the holder being attachable to the post of a music rack. The Sheftel patent shows a rack for holding a plurality of musical instruments and the Glantz patent discloses another non-rotatable rack with the individual instruments arranged in a circle.
Thus, there exists a need for a musical instrument stand that will accommodate a number of different woodwind musical instruments that are played by musicians, a stand that is more convenient for use by musicians as they move quickly from one instrument to another during a performance, and that supports the instruments in stable manner while preventing damaging thereof.


An apparatus and method are disclosed for analysing a process. An exemplary method includes: generating a process template; and determining a probabilistic model specifying the process template. The method can include use of task nodes for tasks of the process; observables nodes for observables that may be caused by performance of the tasks; and a background activities node, wherein observables may further be caused by background activities of the background node. The method can include use of task nodes for tasks of the process; observables nodes for observables that may be caused by performance of the tasks; and a background activities node, observables may further be caused by background activities of the background node. The method can include measuring values of an observable corresponding to one of the observables nodes; and updating a probabilistic estimate of the process state using the measured values.

It is known to analyse, monitor and detect processes. One scenario where this is performed is when the process comprises a military enemy or terrorist group making preparations for an attack. In such a situation, the party performing the analysis of the process is different to the party implementing the process. By virtue of the nature of the process, the party performing the analysis is not able to fully observe or detect all elements of the process, for example due to other activities not forming part of the process being observed as well as activities that are part of the process. As such, the process may be considered as being partially observable, and executed in a cluttered, environment. Also, the party performing the analysis may not know all the intended steps or elements of the process or their timings. Also, the party performing the analysis may not know whether the process to be analysed is actually underway.
The present inventor has realised it would be desirable to provide a process of process analysis which tends to accommodate or alleviate one or more of the following aspects: (i) the process being partially observable, (ii) the process being performed in a cluttered, environment; (iii) incomplete knowledge of the process being analysed; and (iv) incomplete knowledge of if/when the process to be analysed may start.


A Compressing Capacitively Coupled Transimpedance Amplifier (CCTIA) circuit (10) has an amplifier (AMP) with a variable capacitance feedback network (C1, C2, C3, Q1, Q2) coupled between a current receiving amplifier input node and an amplifier output node. The output node outputs a voltage in response to a received current. The variable capacitance feedback network is responsive to the output voltage for establishing one of a plurality of different transimpedance values for the circuit such that the circuit exhibits a greatest transimpedance value for an input current having a magnitude below a threshold magnitude, and a lesser transimpedance value for an input current having a magnitude equal to or above the threshold magnitude.

Many radiation detectors, such as a Focal Plane Array (FPA) of infra-red (IR) radiation detectors, output a current that must be amplified prior to signal processing. The Capacitive Transimpedance Amplifier (CTIA) is one conventional circuit that is often used for this purpose. By example, reference can be had to U.S. Pat. No. 4,786,831, entitled "Integrating Capacitively Coupled Transimpedance Amplifier", by Arthur L. Morse, Steven D. Gaalema, Ingrid M. Keimel, and Mary J. Hewitt, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional CTIA configuration. A capacitor (C1) and a reset switch (SW) are connected in the feedback path of a high gain inverting amplifier (AMP) that provides charge buffering for an input current. The input current acts to debias the input of the CTIA. The amplifier drives the output node as a function of the input debias multiplied by the amplifier gain. This causes charge to be transferred from the input node to the capacitor C1.
In most such charge integration and charge amplification applications any noise that is present in the input charge signal is proportional to the square root of the input charge signal. The signal-to-noise ratio is therefore the least at the smallest input signal levels. However, linear charge integration and charge amplification circuits that are designed to accommodate the maximum input signal levels have difficulty in meeting the low noise requirements of the smallest input signals.

Capacitive transimpedance amplifier having dynamic compression


A vehicle radar system (2) for detecting the surroundings, includes a circuit board (4), with a substrate layer (14) having an upper face (14a) and a lower face (14b), a strip conductor (22) applied onto the upper face (14a) so as to surround a shielding region (20), a shielding housing (6) that covers the shielding region (20) and that extends along and is connected to the strip conductor (22) in an electrically conductive manner, and at least one wave guide (28) arranged in the substrate layer. The wave guide (28) has a laterally delimiting wave guide wall (28c) as well as upper and lower wave guide surfaces (28a, 28b), wherein the upper wave guide surface (28a) is a section of the strip conductor (22).

Radar systems are found for example in both guided and autonomous vehicles, building machinery or manufacturing plants. In particular in a vehicle guided by a driver, radar systems establish values of specific environment parameters, for example a distance from said vehicle to another object, whereby, for example, the decision made by the driver can be supported or said driver can be notified of safety risks. In particular, radar systems for measuring intervals are becoming more frequently used, for example as a parking aid or as collision warning systems in vehicles. Such radar systems which have HF electronics with corresponding HF components, for example HF transmitters and receivers as well as suitable antennae, are operated in particular in the high-frequency range (HF range). Frequently, there are also further radar systems as well as in particular further electronic systems, the functionality of which is impaired by interfering signals emitted by the HF components. In order, additionally, to guarantee a functionality of possible other systems and comply with corresponding EMC standards it is therefore necessary to shield such components in particular from other systems which emit an interfering signal.
For this it is possible to provide a number of circuit boards having HF components with a shielding housing in such a way that said HF components are arranged in a space defined by said shielding housing and the side of the circuit board facing the shielding housing, also called circuit board upper face. In particular, this helps define a shielding region on said circuit board. Said shielding housing is typically made from an electrically conductive material. Additionally, on the side of said circuit board facing away from the shielding housing, also called circuit board lower face, there is frequently formed a shielding in such a way that said HF components are surrounded, substantially completely, by an electrically conductive material.
However, in the case, for example, of a radar system, it is necessary to provide an HF signal as a useful signal for an antenna outside of said shielding region. However, an additional opening in said shielding housing drastically degrades its shielding properties. To prevent such a degradation, said useful signal can be routed beneath said shielding housing by means of a so-called strip transmission line. The disadvantage here is that, in order to design said strip transmission line, a conductor must be developed inside the circuit board substrate, as a result of which in actual fact a multilayer system is present, i.e. two substrate layers arranged one on top of the other are required, with a line arranged between these layers. Additionally, microstrips are frequently used within said shielding housing which are simpler to produce and are more space-saving than strip transmission lines, as a result of this a junction from microstrip to strip transmission line is required. However, such a junction creates disadvantageous reflection losses, i.e. a reduction of said signal.
Alternatively, said useful signal can also be guided from the uppermost layer which has said HF components via throughplatings onto a second substrate layer arranged beneath said circuit board upper face and routed beneath said shielding housing by means of a microstrip. In other words, said useful signal can be routed beneath said shielding housing by means of a microstrip developed on a lower substrate layer. However, a junction between the different substrate layers is needed to do this. Also, such a junction is disadvantageously lossy. Furthermore, it is disadvantageous that both alternatives are correspondingly costly due to the multilayer system required. Because an HF substrate which is typically more costly in comparison with conventional circuit board substrates is used to develop layers which conduct HF signals, both alternatives are also correspondingly cost-intensive.

Vehicle radar system for detecting the surroundings


The present invention relates to a rubber stock comprising. (A) based on 100 parts by weight of rubber (1) from about 5 to about 15 weight percent of a trans 1,4-polybutadiene rubber wherein at least 65 percent of its butadiene repeat units are a trans 1,4-isomeric structure; and (2) from about 50 to about 95 weight percent of cis 1,4-polyisoprene, and (3) from about 0 to about 30 weight percent of the rubber selected from the group consisting of styrene-butadiene rubber, medium vinyl polybutadiene rubber wherein from about 40 to about 60 percent of its butadiene repeat units are a 1,2-vinyl isomeric structure and a cis 1,4-polybutadiene rubber wherein at least 90 percent of its butadiene repeat units are a cis 1,4-isomeric structure; (B) from about 0.1 to about 10 phr of a methylene acceptor; and (C) from about 0.1 to about 10 phr of a methylene donor.

Many rubber articles, principally automobile tires, hoses, belts and the like are known as composites and are reinforced with fibers or wires. In all such instances, the fiber or wire must be firmly bonded to the rubber.
A frequent problem in making a rubber composite is maintaining good adhesion between the rubber and the reinforcement. A conventional method in promoting the adhesion between the rubber and the reinforcement is to pretreat the reinforcing fiber with a mixture of a rubber latex and a phenol-formaldehyde condensation product wherein the phenol is almost always resorcinol. This is the so-called "RFL" (resorcinol- formaldehyde-latex) method. An alternative method of promoting such adhesion is to generate the resin in-situ (in the vulcanized rubber/textile matrix) by compounding a phenol-formaldehyde condensation product (hereinafter referred to as the "in-situ method"). The components of the condensation product consist of a methylene acceptor and a methylene donor. The most common methylene donors include N-(substituted oxymethyl) melamine, hexamethylene tetramine or hexamethoxy methyl melamine. A common methylene acceptor is a dihydroxy benzene compound such as resorcinol. The in-situ method has been found to be fairly effective where the reinforcing material is steel wire since pretreatment of the wire with the RFL system has been observed as being largely ineffective. Unfortunately, the products using the in-situ method has still fallen short of the demands of the consumer.
The purpose of the present invention is to further improve the adhesion between the fiber or wire reinforcement and its rubber environment to satisfy this shortcoming in the existing technology.

Rubber stock containing high trans polybutadiene


A quick change knife blade assembly, for use in conjunction with a tape roll dispensing cartridge assembly of a case sealing machine, comprises a knife blade mounted upon a knife blade mounting plate. A pin plate is fixedly connected to mounting pins passing through the knife blade, and springs are interposed between the pin plate and the mounting plate so as to normally bias the pin plate to a position at which the mounting pins prevent the removal of the knife blade from the mounting plate. When the pin plate is depressed against the biasing forces of the springs, the mounting pins are moved so as to permit the knife blade to be removed from the mounting plate.

During the operation of carton or case sealing machines, numerous cartons or cases will be sealed by means of one or more tape roll dispensing cartridge assemblies which not only dispense the carton or case sealing tapes and apply the same to the carton or case, but in addition, comprise knife blade assemblies for cutting or severing the sealing tape at predetermined times during the carton or case sealing operational cycle so as to conclude the carton or case sealing operation. It can therefore be appreciated that after numerous cartons or cases have in fact been sealed, various component parts of the tape roll dispensing cartridge assemblies, such as, for example, the knife blades or cutting members, will begin to wear and will accordingly need to be replaced. Conventionally, such replacement procedures have been performed by maintenance personnel in view of the fact that special tools have been required in order to remove the knife blade assemblies of the tape roll dispensing cartridge assemblies from the remaining structural components of the tape roll dispensing cartridge assemblies, and that the same tools would then be required to exchange or replace the worn knife blade assemblies with new knife blade assemblies. Accordingly, when, for example, the knife blade assemblies need to be replaced, not only is it expensive to employ such maintenance personnel, but just as importantly, such procedures are inordinately time-consuming in that it usually takes a considerable amount of time for the maintenance personnel to arrive and replace the knife blade assemblies, during which time the carton or case sealing production line needs to be stopped and effectively shut down. This obviously results in a loss of valuable production or carton or case flow-through time which adds to the operative expenses of the overall carton or case sealing manufacturing operations.
A need therefore exists in the art for a new and improved knife blade assembly for use in conjunction with a tape roll dispensing cartridge assembly of a carton or case sealing machine wherein the knife blade or cutting member can be quickly replaced or exchanged by means of operator personnel, in lieu of maintenance personnel, as a result of simple manual manipulations of particular structural components of the knife blade assembly without the need for any special tools.

Quick change knife blade assembly for a tape roll dispensing cartridge assembly of a case sealing machine


A recovery and collection assembly for an atomized material inhalation device is provided. The recovery and collection assembly includes an outer tubular housing and an input tube. The outer tubular housing includes a sidewall defining an outer chamber, an upper end piece attached to an upper end of the sidewall, and a lower end piece attached to a lower end of the sidewall. The lower end piece has at least one air flow opening allowing fluid communication between an interior of the outer chamber and an atmosphere surrounding the outer tubular housing. The input tube extends through the lower end piece and has a first end in fluid communication with the atomized material inhalation device. The input tube also has a second end disposed in an upper half of the outer chamber and in fluid communication with the outer chamber and defines an inner chamber.

Related art nebulizers, or other aerosol medication delivery apparatuses, provide a constant flow of atomized materials during normal operation. However, the user of a nebulizer can only take in the atomized materials during inhalation. During the user's exhalation, the related art nebulizers continue to provide atomized materials, but these materials are lost to the atmosphere when they are not inhaled by the user.
For example, during a normal respiration cycle, about 50% of the time may be spent inhaling and about 50% of the time may be spent exhaling. Depending on the material being provided in the related art nebulizers, this material lost to the atmosphere can represent a significant waste of material and money. For example, some medications provided via related art nebulizers can cost upwards of $250 per dose and a patient may be on a treatment protocol receiving multiple doses each day, over a course of months or years. If up to 50% of the medicine is being lost when every dose is being administered, thousands of dollars of wasted medicine may be lost to the atmosphere each year.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Material recovery and capture device for atomized material delivery apparatuses


Each independent repeater network may be associated with a respective network weight and a respective group identifier. When two repeater networks with the same group identifier merge, configuration may flow from the network with a higher network weight to the network with a lower network weight. When two repeater networks with different group identifiers merge, configuration may flow from the connecting host interface of a repeater of one of the networks to the connecting client interface of a repeater of the other network. In cases of simultaneous connection between two networks, group identifier change may take precedence over configuration update caused by the merging of the two networks.

Unless otherwise indicated herein, approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims listed below and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
In general, when multiple un-configured repeaters with a common group identifier (group ID) boot up at the same time, the repeaters will connect amongst themselves to form several independent networks. The repeaters of an independent network share the same service set identifier (SSID), pairwise master key (PMK) and channel(s), and the several independent networks will operate on different SSIDs, PMKs and channels. When two of such independent networks merge, there needs to be a mechanism to transfer configuration of one network to the other network.
In the context of dual-band repeaters, since two client (CLI) interfaces are available on each repeater, a single repeater can connect to two different repeaters and accept configurations from those two different repeaters. FIG. 10 shows dual-band repeaters D1, D2 and D3, each of which having two host interfaces for communications over two frequency bands (labeled as "A2" and "A5" in FIG. 10) as well as two client interfaces for communications over the two frequency bands (labeled as "C2" and "C5" in FIG. 10). For example, interfaces A2 and A5 may be host interfaces in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequency bands, respectively, and interfaces C2 and C5 may be client interfaces in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequency bands, respectively. In FIG. 10, even though repeater D1 and repeater D3 are not directly connected to each other, their configurations should be the same as they are part of the same network. There needs to be a mechanism for repeater D2 to decide which direction in which configuration flow or transfer is to happen (e.g., whether configuration transfer should be from repeater D2 to repeater D1 or from repeater D2 to repeater D3).
Moreover, if multiple networks with different group IDs exist within a range, such multiple networks will not merge and share configurations automatically. However, if merging of two of such networks is required, there needs to be a mechanism to allow connection between the two networks without considering the different group IDs. There also needs to be a mechanism for the two networks to determine in which direction configuration is to flow or be transferred from one of the two networks to the other network.

Method for network merging and configuration sharing and associated apparatus


A drive device includes: a base member having, on a surface, an operation base part made up of one or more operation recesses; and a movable member disposed to be opposed to the base member and having, on the opposing surface, operation projections to be inserted into the operation recesses. A shape memory alloy member is interposed between the base member and the movable member, and the movable member is moved so as to be separated away from the base member in response to the contraction of the shape memory alloy member when energized. The drive device includes a spring which is supported by the base member and bias the movable member so as to be separated away from the base member.

A drive device for performing a driving operation with the help of the property of a shape memory alloy is conventionally known (for example, see Patent Literature 1). Here, the property allows the alloy to contract when heated to a temperature equal to or greater than a certain temperature (operation temperature) by energization even if the alloy has been subjected to force and distorted.
This drive device includes: an insulating base member having an operation base part made up of one or more operation recesses on the upper surface; and a movable member which is opposed to the base member and has, on the opposing surface, operation projections to be inserted into the operation recesses. Between the opposing surfaces, a shape memory alloy material which is contracted by heat generated when energized is disposed while being curved to fit into the operation recesses of the base member.
Furthermore, the drive device includes biasing means for biasing the movable member toward the base member and is configured such that when de-energized, the movable member is pushed against the base member and the movable member is thereby overlapped with the base member. This is followed by the operation projections being brought into contact with the shape memory alloy material.
Then, when the shape memory alloy line is energized so as to be heated from that state to a temperature equal to or greater than a certain temperature, the super-elasticity causes the shape memory alloy line to be contracted and the movable member to be relatively moved when pushed by the shape memory alloy material so as to be separated away from the base member.
On the other hand, when the shape memory alloy line is de-energized and the temperature of the shape memory alloy line is lowered to a temperature equal to or less than a certain temperature, the movable member is returned to the original position when the movable member is pushed by the biasing means toward the base member. This is followed by each shape memory alloy line being returned to a curved shape (the shape when de-energized).


A cable protection and guide device in which wear damage in mounting portions of a mounting bracket is avoided and the mounting bracket is reliably and strongly mounted so that the cable is smoothly protected and guided. The mounting operation of the bracket is easy. A cable protection and guide device includes a mounting bracket having a mounting hole which surrounds and accommodates a tap bolt. A threaded portion 162 of the tap bolt includes a metallic bush 170 and the length H1 of the metallic bush 170 in a bolt inserting direction is shorter than the length H2 of the mounting hole 143 in a bolt inserting direction.

A conventional cable or the like protection and guide device such as the cable/hose protection and guide chain 500 is known. A mounting bracket 540 made of a synthetic resin is connected to mounting fixed ends and mounting movable ends of a number of connected pairs of right and left synthetic resin link plates. The plates include mounting holes 543 which surround and accommodate a tap bolt 560, inserted metallic bush 570, and mounting brackets screwed by tap bolts through the mounting hole 543, a fixing member and a movable member. See, Patent Reference 1, German Patent Specification No. 43I3082.


This invention is an improved boat hull design for stable operation as a planing-type hull in a wide range of water conditions. The hull is comprised of a substantially V-shaped central hull portion and a pair of adjacent side floats, one on each side of the central hull. The inner walls of the side floats are substantially vertical, and the floats are stepped upwardly at approximately midships, such that the rear portion of the side floats is substantially horizontal, or parallel to the plane of the water surface. At least one pair of flat surfaces are formed along the bottom portion of the hull positioned at the intersection of lowermost strakes and steps formed on each side of the hull, so as to provide substantially improved stability and attitude when running at high speed on rough water. A dihedral tunnel is formed by the concavely-curved surfaces of the central hull in combination with the inner walls of the side floats. The inner walls extend rearward beyond the steps to approximately 3 feet forward of the stern or transom, becoming "traps" that contain hydrodynamic forces helping to provide lift under the hull.

This invention relates to boat hulls generally, and more particularly to an improved planing-type hull for providing substantially improved stability and maneuverability in rough water.
Planing-type hulls are designed to move generally over the water rather than through it, as do displacement type hulls. Planing can be defined as that stage at which dynamic forces due to the motion of the hull through the water begin to make their influence felt.
May previously issued U.S. Pat. No. 3,996,869 disclosed and claimed a dihedral tunnel boat hull having side floats coextensive with a substantially V-shaped central hull. As disclosed in that patent, deep V hulls provide the softest riding hull in rough or choppy water. My earlier patented design was successful in overcoming many of the drawbacks of a deep V hull, primarily instability, through the use of a central V hull with side floats. These side floats had deeper drafts than the central hull. Once the desired speed is reached, the outer floats approach the desired planing motion. These side floats had outer hull surfaces which were stepped, while the inner surfaces were substantially vertical. A draft angle minimum of 3.degree. is essential to withdraw a manufactured part from a mold. My earlier design was successful in providing a softer, smoother ride over rough water at speeds in excess of 30 m.p.h., as well as providing greater load carrying capabilities.
However, my earlier dihedral boat hull did not achieve the degree of maneuverability in rough water that a true planing-type hull would have in smooth water. While maintaining substantial portions of the basic design as disclosed in my previously issued U.S. Pat. No. 3,996,869, additional changes were required to achieve the degree of stability and maneuverability possible with this improved bihedral tunnel boat hull design.


A method for placement of roller compacted concrete (RCC) on a sub-base to produce a concrete pavement, which has: (a) dosing a concrete or concrete ingredients and loading the concrete or concrete ingredients into a concrete transportation truck, (b) adding at least one pelletizing agent to the concrete and waiting from 3 to 15 minutes under constant mixing to produce a pelletized concrete and (c) discharging the pelletized concrete obtained in step (b) on the sub-base from the concrete transportation truck, rotating the drum of the concrete transportation truck.

Nowadays, traditional Roller Compacted Concrete (RCC), a zero-slump concrete used in pavements as an alternative to asphalt, is mixed in a central mix plant or using a continuous flow pug mill. RCC is required to have zero-slump since the concrete mixture needs to support a roller on its unhardened state. For effective consolidation, the concrete mixture needs to be dry enough to prevent sinking of the roller or vibratory equipment but plastic/wet enough to allow satisfactory distribution of the binder during the mixing and vibratory compaction operations. The zero-slump consistency is the adequate for this aim. RCC is normally placed using an asphalt paver (widely available, cost effective and versatile with respect to the size and width of the road to build) and/or a roller or only a roller once the RCC concrete has been distributed evenly to compact the concrete on the sub-base.
Pug mills have been around since early 1800s and are a piece of machinery used to grind and mix wet and dry materials, usually clay or asphalt, but also for RCC. It is a mobile equipment, erected on site. Generally, a pug mill consists of one or more containers and one or more rotating arms with blades or paddles attached to them. It acts as a blender, forming a smooth material that is easy to work with.
Pug mills are used from mid-size to high-volume applications. Typical pug mill capacities range from 100 m3 to over 400 m3 per hour.
Central mix plants are equipped with their own mixer. However, zero-slump concrete is very problematic to extract from the mixer and is more difficult to clean, since it causes more buildup and requires longer cleaning time. When using a central mix, transportation of RCC is done through means of a dump truck.
Both methods need special equipment (pug mills or dump trucks), not readily available for most ready-mix producers, representing a heavy investment.
Also, an extra disadvantage presented by the pug mill is that, since it is a continuous method, one has little or no control over the mix proportioning—dosage of fine and coarse aggregates as well as of sand, cement and water—, leading to homogeneity consistency problems, yielding to a product poor in consistency, with differential shrinkages, cracks formations on the placed concrete etc.
The continuous pug mill is not suitable for small applications, since the continuous pug mill is employed in high-volume applications, typically having a capacity ranging from 100 to over 400 m3/hr. These capacities are far too much compared to what is needed for small projects, making RCC a poor choice for such jobs. For smaller projects, the ideal method would be using conventional equipment employed for ready-mix, however drum mixer trucks are not appropriated due to impossibility to discharge conventional RCC from the chute, due to its zero-slump consistency. For smaller capacities/projects, there is the need for a new solution.
Pugs are usually associated with special concrete pavers (not RCC) that are huge and expensive equipments designed for large and long highways with multi lanes in order to absorb the costs of such equipment. Concrete pavers normally would not require any post-process rolling.
Traditional ready-mix equipment encompasses:                Wet mix plant, also called a central plant, where a concrete batch is made up by an operator before it is loaded into the truck. These plants have a mixer and offer producers more control over the quality and consistency of the concrete mix.        Dry mix plants are plants without a mixer, where the dry components of concrete are weighted and loaded separately into a mixer, normally the concrete truck. Water is then added and the final mix is made. Once the water is added, the mixer starts to rotate to maintain the material's liquid state until it is ready to be discharged into the truck.        Concrete trucks, also called in-transit mixers, are made to transport concrete to the jobsite while mixing it. They can be loaded in any of the mix plants mentioned above; they maintain the material's liquid state by turning the drum until delivery. The interior is fitted with a spiral blade which, in one rotational direction, pushes the concrete deeper into the drum (direction the drum rotates while transporting the concrete to the jobsite) and, turning on the other direction, discharges the concrete out of the drum. From there, the concrete can be unloaded by a chute or into a concrete pump.
But typical ready-mix equipment yields various problems and precludes their use for RCC nowadays:                Discharging of a zero-slump concrete from a wet mixing plant, also known as central plant, is difficult, promotes buildup of material in the equipment, therefore longer cleaning procedures are needed.        Dry mix plants (where the concrete truck is operating as a mixer) cannot be used directly since zero slump concrete could not be discharged from the concrete truck, making the downhill step of the pavement placing, including evenly distribution of the material and flattening with a roller, impossible.        Delivery of a no zero-slump concrete is not accepted for RCC; a zero slump concrete is needed to comply with the final product's characteristics—the concrete mixture needs to be dry enough to prevent sinking of the roller or vibratory equipment but plastic/wet enough to allow satisfactory distribution of the binder during the placement, including homogeneously distribution of the material and/or vibration and rolling.
Therefore, neither dry mix or wet mixing plants and related concrete transportation equipment can be used to successfully achieve RCC delivery.
However, the use of conventional ready mix production and transportation would be ideal in terms of production capacity (4 to 100 m3 per hour) for smaller or shorter roads than highways and multilane roadways. Those smaller projects would use the nominal plant capacity and could not use the huge production related to pug mill technology. Furthermore, pug mill has to work permanently (no stop and restart) since the stoppage will affect the consistency, homogeneity of the mix and consequently, the final product's quality.
The ideal method would pass by using traditional ready-mix equipment, but due to the zero-slump consistency, it is very difficult if not impossible to unload the material from the ready-mix trucks.
Furthermore, zero slump concrete would require more sophisticated equipment to homogeneously distribute the concrete on the sub-base before compaction, typically said distribution is done using a dedicated paver.
A paver is a piece of equipment used to lay asphalt or zero-slump concrete on the sub-base when a pavement, road, bridge, parking lot or other such infrastructure is being built. It lays the asphalt or concrete flat and provides minor compaction before the roller.
A roller is a vehicle that compacts asphalt or concrete, but also soil or gravel during the construction of infrastructure using those said materials.
Existing inventions describe methods wherein residual, unset concrete is transformed into granular materials that can be used as aggregates. No invention has so far disclosed a method to granulate liquid, fresh concrete and further use this concrete as RCC or any additional application other than recycled aggregates.
JP 3147832 describes a material for the treatment of residual concrete which allows the recycling of remained concrete. The aforementioned material is made of a super-absorbing polymer in powder or granular form preserved in a casing formed of water-soluble paper.
When the material is added into the mixer where the residual concrete is, the casing of water-soluble paper dissolves and the super-absorbing polymer gets in contact with the residual concrete. Through the rotation of the mixer, the super-absorbing polymer absorbs part of the water present in the residual concrete and swells, forming a gel which contains cement and other fine particles. This arrangement covers the aggregates and produces a granular material which can be discharged from the mixer and used as a roadbed filling material.
JP 2009126761 discloses a flocculating agent for agglomeration of surplus ready-mix concrete in a drum and preventing the fluidity of the ready-mix concrete. The flocculating agent for agglomeration of surplus ready-mix comprises a polymer absorber as a dispersant which is selected from the group consisting of polyacrylics, polyvinylalcohols, polysaccharides and proteins and capable of absorbing water in a dispersive medium, including organic solvents, a salt solution or the like.
WO2012084716 describes a method for producing aggregates from unset residual concrete using both flash setting accelerators, which include calcium aluminate hydrates forming compounds and sodium silicates, plus a super absorbent polymer, specifically cellulose, chitosan, collagen and other synthetic polymers. Both these ingredients are mixed directly in the truck mixer until granular materials are formed. When the flash setting accelerators mentioned in the invention are added to the concrete surplus, they react with the water to form calcium aluminate hydrates; the consumption of these water molecules causes the drying of the residual concrete and a sharp reduction of the workability. Then, the super-absorbent polymer absorbs additional water molecules and swell, forming a gel network structure which incorporates cement, the calcium aluminate hydrates crystals and the other fine components of the concrete, like sand and fillers, forming a granular material.
It can be easily understood that the combination of admixtures in this case aims at accelerating the set of the concrete to produce hardened aggregates in the shortest time possible. Therefore, the present invention proposes a unique and novel method to use conventional ready mix equipment to mix and to deliver concrete to manufacture roller compacted concrete roads, using an asphalt paver or motor grader or a roller or any combination of them.

Method for placement of roller compacted concrete (RCC) on a sub-base to produce a concrete pavement


A catheter device for fixation to the human body comprises a catheter having a distal end and a proximal end, the distal end comprising one or more fins, the fins having an open position defining a large diameter and a closed position of small diameter. The catheter has a catheter body and a push tube sliding axially within the catheter body for manipulating the fins into the open and closed positions.

Body cavities are drained or fed with different types of tubes. Examples of such cavities include the urinary bladder cavity, the gastric or intestinal cavity and the post-operative cavity. Also, cystic ducts and gall bladder spaces and other such cavities are drained or fed with rigid or flexible tubes. The flexible tubes are made of biocompatible polymer materials such as silicone, polyethylene, etc. These tubes have an external part (out of the body or the organ) and an internal part. The external part of these tubes are exposed to accidental pulling forces which may cause the tube to dislodge out of the body.
Different methods of tube fixation to the body exist. External fixation (skin contact fixation) of the tube includes: fastening the tube to the skin with adhesive tapes and/or suturing the tube to the skin with surgical threads.
Internal fixation methods include:
balloon inflation of the tube tip to enlarge its diameter and increase its pull-out force resistance;
use of a catheter tip which flares outward to a large diameter by flexing of the catheter wall. Examples of such devices are known as Malleot or Petzer catheters. In those systems, fins which are normally flared open form the enlarged tip of the catheter. A constant force is required to press the flares concentrically to insert or remove the catheter.
The main advantage of the present balloon fixation system over the Malleot and Petzer catheters is the fact that the balloon catheter is inserted and removed in substantially the same low profile diameter whereas with the Malleot and Petzer catheters a substantial pull-out force is required to close the flare and enable catheter removal. During pull-out of the prior art catheters, the flares apply a radial and shearing force on the body tissue surrounding the tube which may cause unnecessary pain and trauma.
Another disadvantage of the Malleot and Petzer flared catheter fixation systems is the low fixation force of the tube within the body. This fixation force is limited because of the resulting desirably small pull-out force to remove the tube. This pull-out force, as mentioned, may cause trauma to the tissue.
The main disadvantage of the balloon fixation method is its relatively complicated insertion procedure requiring the need for a syringe to inflate the balloon. Also, the balloon""s large area of contact with the body tissue can cause substantial tissue irritability.
A means for remotely opening and closing flares in the body will allow for easy insertion and removal of a catheter with a flare-type fixation system. Also, remotely closing the flares, before removing the catheter, allow flares with high fixation forces to be used without causing any trauma to the tissue during removal.
The invention relates to a system for catheter fixation to a body by enlarging or reducing a catheter tip diameter during insertion to or removal from the body. More particularly, the invention also relates to a medical grade flexible polymer tube which is used mainly as a drainage tube but is not limited to drainage systems. It may also be used for urological intra-urethral sphincters, plugs or devices or may be used as urethral, ureteral, bronchial or esophageal catheters.
In another embodiment of the invention, the system is used for closing body organ holes such as atrio-ventricular septal defects, arterial punctures, gastric or intestinal leakage from a fistula, or any passage or hole to be obstructed.
The invention enables the enlargement (and reduction) of the catheter tip diameter when located in the body by an external manipulation thereby fixing the catheter in place. Another manipulation, external to the body or organ, is used to return the tip diameter to its original small diameter size prior to catheter removal.
The invention also relates to a catheter, tube or plug with a distal-end tip that is made up of one or more fins which can flare outwardly thereby increasing the diameter of the catheter tip and holding the catheter in position in the body.
The invention also relates to a push-tube which is used to force the fins to flare open.
The invention also relates to a system which selectively locks the fins in the stressed or flared-open position.
The invention also relates to equipment which aids in the installation of a catheter in the human body and its removal from the body.
All these embodiments will become clear in the detailed description of the invention and the attached figures.


A main object of the present disclosure is to provide an all-solid-state battery with an excellent capacity durability. The present disclosure achieve the object by providing an all-solid-state battery comprising: a cathode active material layer, an anode active material layer, and a solid electrolyte layer formed between the cathode active material layer and the anode active material layer; wherein at least one of the cathode active material layer and the anode active material layer contains a sulfide solid electrolyte and a conductive auxiliary material; the conductive auxiliary material includes a carbon material C1 having a carboxyl group on its surface; and a weight ratio of the carboxyl group to overall of the carbon material C1 is 8 weight % or more.

In accordance with a rapid spread of information relevant apparatuses and communication apparatuses such as a personal computer, a video camera and a portable telephone in recent years, the development of a battery to be used as a power source thereof has been emphasized. The development of a high-output and high-capacity battery for an electric automobile or a hybrid automobile has been advanced also in the automobile industry. A lithium battery has been presently noticed from the viewpoint of high energy density among various kinds of batteries.
Liquid electrolyte containing a flammable organic solvent is used for a presently commercialized lithium battery, so that the installation of a safety device for restraining temperature rise during a short circuit and the structure for preventing the short circuit are necessary therefor. On the contrary, a lithium battery, namely a battery all-solidified by replacing the liquid electrolyte with a solid electrolyte layer, is conceived to intend the simplification of the safety device and be excellent in production cost and productivity for the reason that the flammable organic solvent is not used in the battery.
In a lithium ion battery, in order to improve electron conductivity in an active material layer, a configuration known is to further include a conductive auxiliary material in addition to an active material. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a configuration of an anode active material layer, the configuration that includes, as an anode active material, at least one kind of a group consisting of a simple substance, an alloy, and a compound of a metal element, and a simple substance, an alloy, and a compound of a metalloid element, as well as a carbon material including oxygen of over 0.2 weight % as a conductive auxiliary material. Also, Patent Literature 1 discloses a technique to improve dispersibility of a carbon material to an anode active material layer by conducting an oxidization treatment to the carbon material. Also, for example, Patent Literature 2 discloses a technique to introduce a hydroxyl group, a carboxy group, and an ether bond to the surface of a conductive carbon by conducting a treatment such as a high oxidization treatment to the conductive carbon that is used as a conductive auxiliary material.


The present invention relates to a connector or cable between the fuel supply and the fuel cell that in addition to transporting fuel and electrical power can also communicate control signals between the fuel cell and the cartridge to instruct the fuel cartridge or the fuel cell or both to commence or cease the operation of one or more functions. Control signals can be electrical, fluidic/hydraulic and/or mechanical. The connector or cable may also transport electricity produced by the fuel cell to power an electronic device, and/or to the fuel cartridge to power a component(s) on the cartridge or to re-charge a battery. The connector or cable may have universal connectors that can attach to multiple fuel cells, fuel cartridges and electronic devices, even when manufactured by different manufacturers.

Some electronic devices have embedded fuel cell and embedded fuel cartridge(s); some electronic devices have embedded fuel cell and external fuel cartridge(s) that needs to be connected to the fuel cell. Modern electronic devices, such as mobile or smart phones, computer tablets, computer laptops and other consumer devices, have different electrical power demands. Fuel cells have varying electrical outputs and different demands for fuel pressure and flow rate. Fuel cartridges produce fuel cell fuels, such as hydrogen, butane and methanol, at different flow rates and pressures that may not be compatible with the fuel cells. Incorporating the fuel supply, which can be an exothermic hydrogen generator, the functional or balance of plant (BOP) components, and the fuel cell into an electronic component can cause thermal, mechanical electronic and fluidic challenges.
Embedding fuel cells within electronic devices and fueling these fuel cells with external fuel supplies are not fully developed and described in the scientific or patent literatures. Simple tubular connectors between the fuel supplies and the fuel cells are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,447,945 and US publication no. 2004/0076783. U.S. Pat. No. 8,613,297 B2 discloses the connection and disconnection at the valve interface between the fuel supplies and the fuel cell devices. However, the patent literature does not disclose safe removal of cartridges for remote locations, e.g., when the cartridges are not directly inserted to or into the fuel cell devices. The literatures also do not disclose how to handle the functional components that are necessary to the operations of the fuel cell or the fuel cartridge.
Additionally, power production from fuel cells vary depending on the type of fuel cells and the power demands by electronic devices also vary. Therefore, it is difficult to design on-board power systems that are compatible with these varieties.
Hence, there remains a need for a smart or multi-functional cable that can communicate fuel, electrical power and/or control signals among the fuel cartridge, fuel cell and/or electronic device.