Methods and systems for detecting off-topic essays are described that do not require training using human-scored essays. The methods can detect different types of off-topic essays, such as unexpected topic essays and bad faith essays. Unexpected topic essays are essays that address an incorrect topic. Bad faith essays address no topic. The methods can use content vector analysis to determine the similarity between the essay and one or more prompts. If the essay prompt with which an essay is associated is among the most similar to the essay, the essay is on-topic. Otherwise, the essay is considered to be an unexpected topic essay. Similarly, if the essay is sufficiently dissimilar to all essay prompts, the essay is considered to be a bad faith essay.

Much work has been performed in the area of text document classification. For example, e-mail sorting has been proposed in Sahami, Dumais, Heckerman & Horvitz, "A Bayesian Approach to Filtering Junk E-Mail," Learning for Text Categorization: Papers from the 1988 Workshop, AAAI Technical Report WS-98-05 (1998) and Cohen, Carvalho & Mitchell, "Learning to Classify Email into 'Speech Acts,'" EMNLP 2004, each of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
Text-document classification is also performed by Internet-based search engines, such as are described in Joachims, "Optimizing Search Engines Using Clickthrough Data," Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (2002) and McCallum, Nigam, Rennie & Seymore, "Building Domain-Specific Search Engines with Machine Learning Techniques," AAAI-99 Spring Symposium, each of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
Other work teaches the classification of news articles, such as Allan, Carbonell, Doddington, Yamron & Yang, "Topic Detection and Tracking Pilot Study: Final Report," Proceedings of the Broadcast News Transcription and Understanding Workshop, pp 194-218 (1998) and Billsus & Pazzani, "A Hybrid User Model for News Story Classification," Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on User Modeling (UM '99), Banff Canada (Jun. 20-24, 1999), each of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
Moreover, information in medical reports can be classified by text documentation classifiers, such as those taught by Hripcsak, Friedman, Alderson, DuMouchel, Johnson & Clayton, "Unlocking Clinical Data from Narrative Reports: A Study of Natural Language Processing," Ann Intern Med 122(9): 681-88 (1995); and Wilcox & Hripcsak, "The Role of Domain Knowledge in Automating Medical Text Report Classification," Journal of the American Medical Information Association 10:330-38 (2003), each of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
In addition, research has been performed in the area of automated essay scoring, such as by Page, "The Imminence of Grading Essays by Computer," Phi Delta Kappan 48:238-43 (1966); Burstein et al., "Automated Scoring Using a Hybrid Feature Identification Technique," Proceedings of 36th Annual Meeting of the Association of Computational Linguistics, pp 206-10 (1998); Foltz, Kintsch & Landauer, "The Measurement of Text Coherence Using Latent Semantic Analysis," Discourse Processes 25(2-3): 285-307 (1998); Larkey, "Automatic Essay Grading Using Text Categorization Techniques," Proceedings of the 21st ACM-SIGIR Conference on Research and Development in Information Retrieval, pp 90-95 (1998); and Elliott, "Intellimetric: From Here to Validity," in Shermis & Berstein, eds., "Automated Essay Scoring: A Cross-Disciplinary Perspective" (2003), each of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
In the area of automated essay evaluation and scoring, systems have been developed that perform one or more natural language processing (NLP) methods. For example, a first NLP method includes a scoring application that extracts linguistic features from an essay and uses a statistical model of how these features are related to overall writing quality in order to assign a ranking or score to the essay. A second NLP method includes an error evaluation application that evaluates errors in grammar, usage and mechanics, identifies an essay's discourse structure, and recognizes undesirable stylistic features.
Additional NLP methods can provide feedback to essay writers regarding whether an essay appears to be off-topic. In this context, an off-topic essay is an essay that pertains to a different subject than other essays in a training corpus, as determined by word usage. Such methods presently require the analysis of a significant number of essays that are written to a particular test question (topic) and have been previously scored by a human reader to be used for training purposes.
One such method for determining if an essay is off-topic requires computing two values determined based on the vocabulary used in an essay. In the method, a "z-score" is calculated for each essay for each of two variables: a) a relationship between the words in the essay response and the words in a set of training essays written in response to the essay question to which the essay responds, and b) a relationship between the words in the essay response and the words in the text of the essay question. A z-score value indicates an essay's relationship to the mean and standard deviation values of a particular variable based on a training corpus of human-scored essay data from which off-topic essays are excluded. A z-score value is computed using the mean value and the corresponding standard deviation for the maximum cosine value or the prompt cosine value based on the human-scored training essays for a particular test question. The formula for computing a z-score for a particular essay is equal to
            value      -      mean              std      .                                dev      .        .In order to identify off-topic essays, z-scores are computed for: a) the maximum cosine value, which is the highest cosine value among all cosines between an essay and all human-scored training essays, and b) the essay question cosine value, which is the cosine value between an essay and the text of the essay question. When a z-score exceeds a pre-defined threshold, the essay is likely to be anomalous (i.e., off-topic), since the threshold is typically set to a value representing an acceptable distance from the mean.
The accuracy of such an approach can be determined by examining the false positive rate and the false negative rate. The false positive rate is the percentage of appropriately written, on-topic essays that have been incorrectly identified as off-topic. The false negative rate is the percentage of off-topic essays not identified as off-topic. Typically, it is preferable to have a lower false positive rate so that a student is not incorrectly admonished for writing an off-topic essay.
For a particular essay set, the false positive rate using this method is approximately 5%, and the false negative rate is approximately 37%, when the z-scores of both the maximum cosine and essay question cosine measures exceed the thresholds. For bad faith essays, the average false negative rate is approximately 26%. A false positive rate is meaningless since the essays are not written to any essay topic.
Such a method requiring a training corpus is particularly limiting where users of the method, such as teachers providing essay questions to students, require the ability to spontaneously generate new topics for their students. Another case where a training corpus is limiting occurs in the case where content developers periodically desire to add new topics to a system embodying such methods. In either case, if a significant number of essays are to be scored, it would be preferable to automatically determine whether each essay is directed to the particular topic question.
None of the above methods include a method for automatically evaluating whether an essay is off-topic without utilizing a training corpus of essays on a particular topic.
The present invention is directed to solving one or more of the above-listed problems.

Method and system for detecting off-topic essays without topic-specific training


A wireless communication terminal, which performs wireless communication with base stations using each of a first communication method and a second communication method and enables to in an idle state with both methods, having a measurement section that measures quality of a signal transmitted from the base station, a handoff determination section that determines handoff in an idle state with the second communication method based on quality of signals transmitted from a connected base station and another base station, and a control section that changes a criterion of the determination of the handoff in the idle state with the second communication method in accordance with a state of the first communication method.

A dual-type wireless communication terminal has been known as a wireless communication terminal capable of performing communication by switching between two communication systems.
Patent Document 1: JP-A-H9-172675
Of the above dual-type wireless communication terminals, a wireless communication terminal, which can measure a wireless communication status of one communication method during communication using another communication method and monitor an incoming call, is especially called a hybrid type.
In relation to the hybrid-type wireless communication terminal, a hybrid-type wireless communication terminal using a cdma2000 1× system which is mainly designed for voice communication and a 1×EVDO system which is specifically designed for data communication suspends the data communication of the 1×EVDO system at predetermined intervals (e.g., 5.12 seconds) and then switches an antenna and a radio section to the cdma2000 1× to perform system monitoring with the cdma2000 1×, in order to monitor an incoming call of the cdma2000 1× during the data communication with the 1×EVDO. When the system monitoring has been completed, the antenna and the radio section are again switched to the 1×EVDO, thereby resuming the data communication with the 1×EVDO. In the case that the wireless communication terminal is located in an area where is in the vicinity of a boundary between service areas by a plurality of base stations as cdma2000 1× system (the case that quantities of signals received from the plurality of base stations (C/I values) contend with each other), the cdma2000 1×, thereby performing the system monitoring with the cdma2000 1×. At this time, when the idle handoff of the cdma2000 1× system has been detected and the idle handoff is continuously detected even after the idle handoff processing, the antenna and the radio section of the wireless communication terminal are still occupied with the cdma2000 1× system. Therefore, after a given period of time has elapsed while the occupation is maintained, the wireless communication terminal as the 1×EVDO system determines that radio wave is lost (see FIG. 4). For this reason, during data communication of the 1×EVDO, the data communication of the 1×EVDO system is disconnected as a result of repetition of the idle handoff in the cdma2000 1× system, although the state of radio wave of the 1×EVDO system is good.

Wireless communication terminal and handoff judgment method


A VSC converter has each current valve of a phase leg formed by a plurality of units of semiconductor elements and rectifying members, located on top of each other forming at least one stack. The phase leg is constructed according to the flat cable principle with the phase leg formed by such stacks arranged side by side in pairs at small distances (d) running back and forth. A cooling plate of electrically conducting material is arranged between each unit in the stacks.

The present invention relates to a VSC converter (Voltage Source converter) for converting direct voltage into alternating voltage or alternating voltage into direct voltage, and which has at least one phase leg with two valves connected in series, each having at least one turn-off type semiconductor element, and one rectifying member connected anti-parallel therewith. A point on the phase leg between the valves is connected to a phase of a direct or alternating voltage network, and the opposite ends of the phase leg are each connected to a pole conductor of a direct voltage network.
Such a VSC converter connecting a direct voltage network with an alternating voltage network bas recently become known through the thesis "PWM and control of two and three level High Power Voltage Source Converters" by Anders Lindberg, Kungliga Tekniska Hogskolan, Stockholm, 1995. In this thesis, a plant for transmitting electric power through a direct voltage network for High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) utilizing such a converter is described. Before issuance of the thesis, plants for transmitting electric power through a direct voltage network for High Voltage Direct Current were based upon the use of a line-commutated CSC (Current Source Converter) converter in stations for power transmission. VSC (Voltage Source Converter) converters for forced commutation have now instead become an alternative since the development of IGBTs (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor=bipolar transistor having an insulated gate) for high voltage applications. IGBTs are connected in series to form valves of converters since they may be easily turned on and turned off simultaneously. This type of transmission of electric power between a direct voltage network for High Voltage Direct Current, which is voltage-stiff therethrough, and alternating voltage networks, offers several important advantages with respect to the use of line-commutated CSCs in HVDC. The consumption of active and reactive power may thus be independently controlled and there is no risk of commutation failures in the converter, and thereby no risk of transmission of commutation failures between different HVDC links, which may take place in a line-commutated CSC. Furthermore, along with other advantages, there now exists the possibility to feed a weak alternating voltage network or a network without generation capabilities of its own, i.e., a dead alternating voltage network.
The invention is not restricted to the above-described application, but the converter may just as well be intended for conversion of direct voltage into direct voltage in a DC/DC converter, in which only one phase is present. The word "network" is also to be given wide scope. However, the problem of the invention will now be illuminated for this application, although the problem is common to all conceivable applications falling within the scope of the invention.
The use of a VSC converter instead of a current-stiff CSC converter presents a totally new problem, which will now be explained with reference to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 shows a VSC converter 1 having three phase legs 2, 3, 4 with two current valves 5-10, each comprising at least one semiconductor element of a turn-off type, such as an IGBT 11, and a rectifying member in the form of a diode 12 connected anti-parallel therewith. The phase legs are connected to phase 13, 14, 15 of a three-phase alternating voltage network 16. The opposite ends of the converter are connected to a direct voltage network 17 having a positive pole conductor 18 and a negative pole conductor 19. Thus, the converter is formed by a so-called 6-pulse bridge.
If one now considers, for example, the phase 15 and assume that the semiconductor element of the current valve 10 is turned on, and a current flows from the alternating voltage network through this semiconductor element 11 and to the direct voltage network, a turning off of the semiconductor element 11 of the current valve 10 will cause the current to continue from the phase 15 in the direction towards the direct voltage network, but now through the diode of the current valve 7. This is called commutation.
The commutation times are short, and comparatively large time derivative current occurs, which makes it desirable to lower the inductance in the commutation circuit as far as possible, i.e., the inductance i the phase leg, the line connected between the two poles of the direct voltage network and capacitors. This is to avoid unnecessarily high overvoltages and thereby losses at commutations.

Voltage converter having a commutation circuit with reduced inductance


Provided is a method of correcting a time misalignment between envelope and phase components in a transmitting apparatus which separates envelope and phase components of a signal, processes them, and then recombines them to transmit the recombined signal. For this, in a method of correcting a time misalignment between envelope and phase components according to an embodiment of the present invention, a time misalignment is corrected by applying a time delay to at least one of envelope and phase components in digital and analog signal processing operations, or applying a time delay to an envelope or phase component by a pre-processing operation.

The present invention disclosed herein relates to a wireless communication system, and more particularly, to a method of correcting a time misalignment between envelope and phase components of a signal.
Modern wireless communication systems use complex modulation schemes to obtain higher data transmission rates within limited frequency resources. Owing to this, a transmission signal has a high peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) that is a hostile condition for a power amplifier (PA) to obtain high efficiency. Also, since a today's base station tends to be miniaturized, a request for a PA structure of high efficiency is increased.
An envelope elimination and restoration (EER) structure is one of the highly efficient PA structures, and, in order to obtain high efficiency, has a structure of separating envelope and phase components of a signal, processing them respectively, and recombining them. Typically, an EER structure means a Kahn structure, but all structures, such as an improved Kahn structure or a digital polar modulator structure, separating envelope and phase components and processing can be considered as the EER structure. Among the EER structure, a structure applying a delta-sigma modulator (DSM) to an envelope component is called as an envelope delta-sigma modulator (EDSM) structure.
For any EER structure, a time misalignment of the envelope and phase components is directly connected to signal quality degradation. Since it is highly possible that the time misalignment of the envelope and phase components occur while they are separately processed, it is necessary to correct this time misalignment.

Method of correcting time misalignment between envelope and phase components

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


The present invention is directed to an immune complex composition, and a method of using that complex to enhance an in viva immune response against a preselected target antigen. The immune complexes of the present invention comprise a monoclonal antibody specific for binding to complement receptor (CR2) site on B lymphocytes linked to a target antigen. As shown in FIG. SA-SD immune complexes bound to monkey B cells are removed in concert with loss of CR2. FIGS. SA and SB demonstrate the % A1488 HB135 and % APhCy CD21 positive cells, out of the doubly positive FE CD20/PerCF CD45 population over time, after injection of A1488 labeled HB135 (an anti-CR2 antibody, administration indicated by first arrow) followed by injection of rabbit anti-mouse IgG (administration indicated by the second arrow). FIGS. SC and SD are plots of the molecules of equivalent soluble fluorochome (MESF) values for these populations.

Studies by several groups, initiated more than 30 years ago, revealed that immune complexes infused into animals are either rapidly phagocytosed by macrophages in the spleen and/or liver, or taken up by resident, but not antigen specific, B cells in the spleen and then later transferred to follicular dendritic cells (FDC). (Humphrey and Frank, Immunology, 13, 87-100 (1967); Brown et al., Immunology, 24, 955-968 (1973); Papamichail et al., Scandanavian Journal of Immunolgy, 4, 343-347 (1975); Klaus, Immunology, 34, 643-652 (1978); Humphrey et al., European Journal of Immunology, 14, 859-864, 1984; Heinen et al., European Journal of Immunolgy, 16, 167-172 (1986); van der Berg et al., European Journal of Immunolgy 22, 957-962 (1992)).
One component involved in the clearance of the infused immune complexes is the complement receptor 1 (CR1), present on primate erythrocytes. Research on the properties of CR1 has revealed that under a variety of conditions immune complexes (IC) comprising an antibody and antigen can be bound to this receptor either via complement opsonization or by the use of cross-linked complexes comprising monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) specific for CR1 itself (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,879,679 and 5,487,890, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein). Moreover, both in vivo and in vitro experiments have demonstrated that immune complexes bound to erythrocytes in either fashion are effectively transferred to acceptor macrophages in a reaction mediated by Fc receptors ("the transfer reaction"). During the transfer reaction CR1 is proteolyzed off of the erythrocytes, and then the entire immune complex and CR1 is internalized and destroyed by the acceptor macrophage. The key steps in the reaction include binding of the Fc regions of the antibodies in the immune complexes to Fc receptors on the macrophage, and then cleavage of CR1 by proteases associated with the macrophage, thus allowing the released immune complexes to be internalized by the macrophage.
These properties of primate erythrocyte CR1 have allowed the development of an invention comprising cross-linked mAb complexes for targeting circulating pathogens in the bloodstream. In particular, the cross-linked mAb complexes contain a mAb specific for erythrocyte CR1 cross linked with a mAb specific for a circulating pathogen. Pathogens present in the bloodstream become bound to such complexes upon administration of the complex to a patient, and the complexes themselves become bound to erythrocytes resulting in facilitated clearance of the pathogen via acceptor macrophages in the liver and spleen. The pathogen is then taken up by these acceptor cells and phagocytosed and destroyed, but the erythrocytes remain intact and are returned to the circulation.
Primate erythrocyte CR1 is similar in structure to complement receptor 2 protein (CR2), present on primate and non-primate B lymphocytes (B-cell). Both CR1 and CR2 are type I membrane-associated glycoproteins that are constructed with multiple copies of the short consensus repeat (SCR) folding motif, which is found in many complement control proteins. Both receptors have three separate domains: a cytoplasmic region, a transmembrane portion, and the main part of the protein, the extracytoplasmic domain, composed almost exclusively of multiple copies of the SCR.
Erythrocyte CR1 and B cell CR2 are both reduced in diseases, and in accordance with the present invention this is believed to result from the loss of the respective proteins during immune complex processing due to the transfer reaction. The immune complexes when bound to erythrocytes or B cells contain antigens, multiple copies of IgG, and either C3b when they are bound to erythrocytes, or C3dg or C3bi when they are bound to B cells. The fact that the complexes contain IgG allows them to interact with Fc receptors on the acceptor macrophages. Although the mechanism for antigen transfer from B cells to follicular dendritic cells (FDC) was never elucidated, it requires an intact complement system which promotes C3dg opsonization of the immune complexes.
As described in the present application, applicants have discovered that substrates bound to human B cells are capable of undergoing a CR2 mediated transfer reaction. This observation led to the present application, directed to bispecific reagents comprising a mAb specific for CR2 linked either directly or indirectly to a target antigen. The target antigen can be selected from any antigenic non-immunological component of a compound, cell or organism that one desires to effectively raise an immune response against or eliminate from the body of a vertebrate species. The bispecific antibody complexes of the present invention can be used to either present a particular antigen to a host organism's immune system, and thus induce a prophylactic immune response, or the bispecific antibody complex can be used to treat a pathogenic infection.
The bispecific antibody complexes of the present invention and their use in the present invention follows the natural mechanism for handling of immune complexed antigens which occurs in the body of warm-blooded vertebrates. In the natural process, complement labels the immune complex with C3dg, the immune complexes are then bound to B cell CR2, and finally transferred to FDC or macrophages. In the present invention, the monoclonal antibody specific for CR2 serves as a surrogate for C3dg and therefore insures efficient binding of substrates to B cell CR2, as well as later transfer of the antigen to the FDC. Under these conditions complement is not even required to achieve localization of the antigen to the FDC. The natural pathway is mediated by a reaction of highly variable efficiency: C3dg opsonization of immune complexed antigens. The present invention removes this uncertainty in antigen targeting, as the anti-CR2 mAb works far more effectively.

Therapeutic uses of complement receptor 2

University of Virginia Patent Foundation


A starting contour is defined surrounding around an elementary object delimited by a natural contour in a video image. On the basis of the starting contour, an original active contour is defined, formed by a set of nodes distributed on this starting contour, each node being formed by a point belonging to this starting contour and by an elastic energy function representative of the distance separating this node from a neighbouring node. With regards to a set of reference values representative of the contour of this object, the active contour is subjected to a convergent deformation under a blocking condition, by displacing at least one of the nodes of the original active contour toward the natural contour of the elementary object to generate a current active contour iteratively subjected to this convergent deformation.

The invention relates to a method for segmenting a video image based on elementary objects.
At present, it is completely impossible to reproduce the functioning of the human visual and cognitive system using procedures for segmenting video images based on elementary objects emanating from computer-based vision processes. Specifically, the resulting image obtained by virtue of the implementation of the aforesaid processes is under-segmented or over-segmented. In neither case do these procedures allow automatic reproduction of the ideal segmentation carried out by a human operator.
Nevertheless, numerous applications have recourse to segmentation, which, in order to appear ideal, ought to be robust, fast, discriminating and nonspecific to a particular field of application. More particularly, the automatic following or calculation, with a view to the acquisition and tracking, of the trace of an object over time in a succession of video images remains a completely open problem, all the more so when the object may deform via complex transformations over time, natural or artificial transformations such as "morphing".
Among the image segmentation procedures proposed hitherto, several families are customarily distinguished.
A first family corresponds to the conventional segmentation procedures based on filtering, mathematical morphology, region growth, partition of color histograms, Markov procedures. These automatic procedures are applied to an image but the results obtained depend strongly on the particular content of the image and are sensitive to the texture of the image. They do not allow segmentation of the image based on elementary objects in so far as it is difficult to retrieve the contours of an object of interest. The images are over-segmented and the contours detected do not all form a closed list, substantially guaranteeing the integrity of the contour of the object of interest and the segmentation of the latter. The scatter in the results is large between the various procedures and the results are not very robust, two very similar images possibly culminating in a very different segmentation and vice versa one and the same image possibly culminating in a very different segmentation with two procedures.
A second family groups together procedures based on mathematical morphology and which try to remedy the problems and the drawbacks of the procedures of the first family using processes based on a tree structure, a binary partition tree making it possible to characterize the content of the images. Such a tree structure describing the spatial organization of the image is obtained by iteratively merging neighboring regions according to a homogeneity criterion until a single region is obtained. The tree is constructed by preserving the trace of merged regions at each iteration of the process. This procedure offers the possibility of manually marking regions of interest on the original image and of retrieving nodes corresponding to this marking from the partition tree. The drawbacks of the procedures of this family reside in the fact that the entire image is segmented, that it is necessary to have prior knowledge of the number of regions constituting the object, and that the contours of the object which are obtained are not accurate enough or are not the right ones. Specifically, it often happens that the object of interest straddles several regions, the contours of the object, in such a case, therefore not corresponding to the contours of these regions.
A third family groups together statistical procedures based on Markov fields. These procedures carry out a tagging of the regions of the image according to a criterion to be maximized. They can take account of a wide set of a priori information about the image and are particularly suited to satellite images composed of textured and juxtaposed zones.
A fourth family relates to active contour procedures also designated snake. In this type of procedure, described in the article entitled "Snake: Active Contour Models", published by M KASS, A. WITKIN and D. TERZOPOULOS in the International Journal of Computer Vision, vol. 1, pp. 321-332, 1998, the principle consists in iteratively deforming an initial curve until it hugs the content of the object, by minimizing an energy functional.
This energy is composed of two terms:                the internal energy of the contour, which energy depends on the intrinsic or geometrical properties of the active contour, such as length, curvature, etc. This internal energy term allows a contraction of the active contour around the object and causes a displacement of the latter's nodes in a direction which locally minimizes the energy;        the energy external to the contour, which energy corresponds to a term bound to the data. This external energy term is generally linked with the contours present in an image and slows down the contraction of the active contour around these contours present.
It is noted in particular that this family of procedures involves a priori knowledge of the contours present in the image, something which, of itself, can be achieved only by virtue of a priori analysis of the image.
A fifth family of procedures corresponds to a development of the procedure of the previous family, in which development, as far as the external forces applied to the active contour are concerned, the model behaves like a balloon inflating under the effect of the aforesaid forces and stops when it encounters marked or predefined contours. Thus, the active contour can overstep contours which are not very marked. Other developments have proposed the use of deformable geometric active contours. These developments use level sets allowing automatic management of the changes of topology of the active contour. However, the procedures of the aforesaid family necessarily require an initialization which is close to the final solution, that is to say to the natural contour of the object, in order to obtain good convergence of the algorithm.
A sixth family of procedures is based on the definition of regions of the image, by prior estimation of these regions and of the background of the image. The curve of the evolution of the active contour is generally defined by deriving a criterion in the distributions sense. This criterion depends on constraints relating to two sets: the background of the image and the objects in motion. The evolution curve can comprise the following three terms:                a term bound to the data;        a hyperbolic term, allowing adaptation to the shape of the objects, and        a parabolic term stabilizing the solution by smoothing the contours.
The direction of motion of the active contour varies over time, allowing the active contour to dilate or, conversely, to contract at certain nodes. However, these procedures require a labeling of the background of the image and the execution time remains too large, of the order of several minutes, for dynamic applications to moving objects of video images.
As far as the procedures for following objects in the image are concerned, also known as tracking procedures, various families of procedures are currently proposed.
A first family calls upon a meshing technique. According to a first procedure of this family, a hierarchical meshing structure successively estimates the dominant motion of the object, then the latter's internal motions. A hierarchy of meshes is generated from the mask of the object defining a polygonal envelope of this object. Before commencing the hierarchical cycle of motion estimation, an affine global model initializing the coarse mesh of the hierarchy is estimated. This estimation is then propagated to the finest levels where a global estimation is carried out. It sometimes happens that a node strays from the natural contour of the object and attaches itself to the background of the scene, dragging its neighboring nodes with it. This dragging process is linked to a temporal accumulation of errors of positioning of the nodes, since only the initial segmentation is available during optimization. To remedy the aforesaid dragging process, a solution has been proposed which consists in furthermore injecting a procedure much like the active contours procedure. Active contours are generated from the finest mesh of the hierarchization cycle and they evolve over the contours emanating from the segmented current image. These active contours are injected after the first estimation of the motion so as to constrain the vertices of the edges of the mesh to reposition themselves on the outer contours of the object. This solution has not however, been adopted, since the mesh structure is then very complex to use.
A second family calls upon the implementation of active contours, according to the procedures described above. The active contour obtained on the current image is propagated from one image to the next and deforms so as to hug the contours of the object of interest on the successive images. Motion constraints can be added during the minimization of the energy functional.
These procedures can furthermore combine procedures for estimating parameters based on optical flow or based on a model of motion, such as translation, affine transformation, perspective, bilinear deformation or the like, and active contour procedures, with the aim of making object tracking or following more robust. In a specific example, the object following procedure combines an active contour procedure and an analysis of the motion based on regions of the image. The motion of the object is detected by a motion-based segmentation algorithm. An active contour model is then used with the aim of following and segmenting the object. Thereafter, the motion of the region defined inside the active contour is then estimated by a multi-resolution approach based on an affine model. A Kalman filter is used to predict the position of the aforesaid region and hence to initialize the active contour in the next image.
A third family of procedures calls upon techniques based on tag maps, which utilize the image partitioning processes, or tag maps over the pixels of an image. In a first procedure, a technique combining information regarding motion and spatial organization over the images has been proposed with the aim of following an object. The current image is partitioned by a mathematical morphology procedure and the resulting image is compensated by the motion vectors estimated coarsely by a block matching algorithm. The spatial homogeneity of the regions or markers is verified thereafter. These procedures have the limitations of conventional active contour procedures, in particular slowness of convergence.
A second procedure is based on the technique of Markov fields. This procedure comprises a procedure for segmenting an image into regions which are homogeneous in the motion sense by statistical tagging. The partition is obtained according to a criterion of intensity, color and texture.
A third procedure carries out a spatial segmentation of the image into homogeneous regions and tracking is carried out by a back-projection procedure. This involves determining the mask of the object of interest on the current image. Each region of the segmented current image is then back-projected according to the motion onto the previous segmented image. The back-projected regions belonging to the mask of the object then form the new mask of the object on the current image. These procedures have the drawback of yielding rather inaccurate object contours. Specifically, holes or artefacts appear, because of the use of an initial segmentation of the image.

Method for segmenting a video image into elementary objects

Gula Consulting Limited Liability Company


Methods of removing free oxygen from a hydrocarbon stream are described. A hydrocarbon stream containing free oxygen is contacted with an adsorbent comprising a metal in a reduced state. The free oxygen in the hydrocarbon stream reacts with the metal in the reduced state to form oxidized metal and a reduced oxygen hydrocarbon stream. Syngas is made from a portion of the reduced oxygen hydrocarbon stream. A regeneration gas stream comprising a mixture of the syngas and another portion of the reduced oxygen hydrocarbon stream is contacted with the oxidized metal to reduce the oxidized metal to form the metal in the reduced state.

Natural gas generally refers to light gaseous hydrocarbons, and especially comprising methane. Natural gas also contains hydrocarbons such as ethane, propane, butanes, and the like, along with inert components, such as nitrogen, argon, and carbon dioxide. Natural gas is recovered from underground reservoirs, and is commonly used as an energy source for heating and power generation. Typically, natural gas is recovered at high pressure, processed, and fed into a gas pipeline under pressure.
As gas wells age and their natural pressure drops, oxygen infiltration becomes more of a problem. It is well known that oxygen contamination of natural gas used for regeneration of the molecular sieve drying unit can lead to damage of the molecular sieves through combustion of residual heavy hydrocarbon. Oxygen can easily be removed from natural gas using a transition metal based adsorbent, such as a copper based adsorbent. Reduced copper can decrease the oxygen concentration to very low levels at ambient temperature.
The copper based adsorbent is regenerable provided a suitable reducing gas can be obtained. Unfortunately, most natural gas facilities do not have a stream capable of reducing CuO at temperatures below 287.8° C. (550° F.), the maximum temperature usually available in natural gas plants.
Therefore, there is a need for processes for treating natural gas to remove oxygen at the lower temperatures available in natural gas processing plants.

Method for providing oxygen free regeneration gas for natural gas dryers


The present invention is directed to novel polypeptides and to nucleic acid molecules encoding those polypeptides. Also provided herein are vectors and host cells comprising those nucleic acid sequences, chimeric polypeptide molecules comprising the polypeptides of the present invention fused to heterologous polypeptide sequences, antibodies which bind to the polypeptides of the present invention and to methods for producing the polypeptides of the present invention.

Extracellular proteins play important roles in, among other things, the formation, differentiation and maintenance of multicellular organisms. The fate of many individual cells, e.g., proliferation, migration, differentiation, or interaction with other cells, is typically governed by information received from other cells and/or the immediate environment. This information is often transmitted by secreted polypeptides (for instance, mitogenic factors, survival factors, cytotoxic factors, differentiation factors, neuropeptides, and hormones) which are, in turn, received and interpreted by diverse cell receptors or membrane-bound proteins. These secreted polypeptides or signaling molecules normally pass through the cellular secretory pathway to reach their site of action in the extracellular environment.
Secreted proteins have various industrial applications, including as pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, biosensors and bioreactors. Most protein drugs available at present, such as thrombolytic agents, interferons, interleukins, erythropoietins, colony stimulating factors, and various other cytokines, are secretory proteins. Their receptors, which are membrane proteins, also have potential as therapeutic or diagnostic agents. Efforts are being undertaken by both industry and academia to identify new, native secreted proteins. Many efforts are focused on the screening of mammalian recombinant DNA libraries to identify the coding sequences for novel secreted proteins. Examples of screening methods and techniques are described in the literature [see, for example, Klein et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 93:7108-7113 (1996); U.S. Pat. No. 5,536,637)].
Membrane-bound proteins and receptors can play important roles in, among other things, the formation, differentiation and maintenance of multicellular organisms. The fate of many individual cells, e.g., proliferation, migration, differentiation, or interaction with other cells, is typically governed by information received from other cells and/or the immediate environment. This information is often transmitted by secreted polypeptides (for instance, mitogenic factors, survival factors, cytotoxic factors, differentiation factors, neuropeptides, and hormones) which are, in turn, received and interpreted by diverse cell receptors or membrane-bound proteins. Such membrane-bound proteins and cell receptors include, but are not limited to, cytokine receptors, receptor kinases, receptor phosphatases, receptors involved in cell-cell interactions, and cellular adhesin molecules like selectins and integrins. For instance, transduction of signals that regulate cell growth and differentiation is regulated in part by phosphorylation of various cellular proteins. Protein tyrosine kinases, enzymes that catalyze that process, can also act as growth factor receptors. Examples include fibroblast growth factor receptor and nerve growth factor receptor.
Membrane-bound proteins and receptor molecules have various industrial applications, including as pharmaceutical and diagnostic agents. Receptor immunoadhesins, for instance, can be employed as therapeutic agents to block receptor-ligand interactions. The membrane-bound proteins can also be employed for screening of potential peptide or small molecule inhibitors of the relevant receptor/ligand interaction.
Efforts are being undertaken by both industry and academia to identify new, native receptor or membrane-bound proteins. Many efforts are focused on the screening of mammalian recombinant DNA libraries to identify the coding sequences for novel receptor or membrane-bound proteins.
PRO246
The cell surface protein HCAR is a membrane-bound protein that acts as a receptor for subgroup C of the adenoviruses and subgroup B of the coxsackieviruses. Thus, HCAR may provide a means for mediating viral infection of cells in that the presence of the HCAR receptor on the cellular surface provides a binding site for viral particles, thereby facilitating viral infection.
In light of the physiological importance of membrane-bound proteins and specficially those which serve a cell surface receptor for viruses, efforts are currently being undertaken by both industry and academia to identify new, native membrane-bound receptor proteins. Many of these efforts are focused on the screening of mammalian recombinant DNA libraries to identify the coding sequences for novel receptor proteins. We herein describe a novel membrane-bound polypeptide (designated herein as PRO246) having homology to the cell surface protein HCAR and to various tumor antigens including A33 and carcinoembryonic antigen, wherein this polypeptide may be a novel cell surface virus receptor or tumor antigen.


A networked database includes the automatic creation of follow-on data sets from initial data sets. A dialogue routine is implemented for initiating a dialogue-type communication that includes inputting and confirming data required for creating the follow-on data sets. The database is provided with a plurality of data sets and is capable of generating and displaying a list of data sets according to user-defined criteria. For a data set in the generated list that allows for the automatic creation of a follow-on data set, a related, configurable, user-activated control element is displayed. Upon user-activation, the control element, generates a control signal for initiating the automatic creation of the follow-on data set based on data derived from the selected data set and/or any data set associated with the selected data set. The newly created follow-on data set is then associated with the selected data set.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the distributed handling of associated data sets in a computer network. More specifically, the invention relates to creating one or more follow-on data sets for an initial data set.
2. Description of Related Art
Modern database related processes, i.e., processes that are based on repeatedly accessing one or more databases, commonly involve transitions between multiple processing stages. Transitions from one processing stage to another are often accompanied by the generation of data specific for a particular transition and indicative of the current processing stage (i.e., the processing stage from which the transition is occurring). Conventionally, the transition from one processing stage to another is initiated by dialogue-type communications during which data required for creating a particular follow-on data set is input, verified and confirmed.
As an example of such database-related processes, consider the computer-assisted procurement of goods and services or the computer-assisted manufacturing of complex machinery. During a procurement process, data pertaining to different processing stages, like purchase requisition, goods ordering, goods receiving and invoicing, are successively generated and have to be successively stored. Hence, individual data sets associated with the individual processing stages will have to be handled as the procurement process proceeds.
Due to the very nature of processes of the above type, generation of a data set during a particular processing stage usually requires the evaluation of data sets that have been generated earlier during one or more preceding processing stages. Thus, from the point of view of an initial data set that has been created during an earlier processing stage, in later processing stages follow-on data sets somehow associated with the initial data set are generated.
Since complex database related processes necessitate the interaction of a plurality of users, software mechanisms handling the generation, storage and manipulation of process-related data sets usually run on distributed components of a computer network. This requirement implies that individual data sets can be accessed from different network components at different processing stages.
When a user is accessing or manipulating a particular data set, this data set will usually be locked for other users to ensure a high data integrity. This means that the other users will experience an access delay, which depending on the specific situation can last from a few seconds to several hours. Such access delays are particularly disruptive in scenarios of the above type where follow-on data sets have to be created from an initial data set. The reason for this is that the access delays may additionally prevent a smooth transition to from one processing stage to another processing stage.
Although annoying, access delays and consecutive processing stage transition delays might be tolerated in scenarios that involve only a few collaborative users, a few processing stages and/or a small number of processes running in parallel. In such scenarios mutual communication between the few users, for example, by telephone or via e-mail can resolve potential conflicts and ensure a smooth and rapid transition from one processing stage to another. However, with increasing numbers of collaborative users, increasing numbers of parallel processes and/or increasing process stage complexity, such conventional conflict resolution mechanisms can no longer be employed.
Consequently, what is needed is efficient handling of associated data sets stored within one or more databases to enable automatic and standardized processing of large amounts of the associated data sets for accelerated creation of follow-on data sets.

Distributed handling of associated data sets in a computer network


A method for detecting the presence of bacterial spores is described by measuring microbial metabolic activity over time. Spores are distinguished from vegetative cells and other microorganisms by detecting a burst of metabolic activity indicating germination of spores. This method may be used to detect bacterial spores in a commercial process system, such as a papermaking system within the time frame of a typical work shift.

Endospores are dormant, tough, non-reproductive structures produced by particular species of bacteria in the Firmicute phylum. Endospores, or spores, are produced when bacterial cells in their vegetative state are exposed to stress or lack of nutrients. Endospores have a very low metabolic rate and therefore cannot be detected by methods typically employed to rapidly detect vegetative bacterial cells. Further, spores are extremely difficult to kill because they evolved to survive harsh conditions such as UV, heat, disinfectants, desiccation, and starvation. Upon exposure to favorable conditions and nutrients, the spores germinate to produce vegetative cells.
Spore-producing bacteria are problematic because they cause illness in humans and animals, spoilage in food and beverages, and promote the perpetuation of biofilm. Spore-producing bacterial strains that are of particular concern are those in the Bacillus and Clostridium genera. Both are gram-positive, rod-shaped bacteria that include species that are harmful to humans. B. anthracis produces anthrax toxin and B. cereus causes food poisoning. C. botulinum causes botulism (also known as Botox), C. difficile causes diarrhea, C. perfringens causes food poisoning, and C. tetani causes tetanus. Bacillus cereus is one of the most problematic bacteria because it has been identified as possessing increased resistance to germicidal chemicals used to decontaminate environmental surfaces.
Bacillus cereus is frequently diagnosed as a cause of gastrointestinal disorders and has been suggested to be the cause of several food-borne illness outbreaks. Due to its rapid sporulating capacity, B. cereus easily survives in the environment. This bacterium can contaminate food directly and indirectly. B. cereus can contaminate raw milk directly via feces and soil, and can survive intestinal passage in cows and the pasteurization process. Indirect contamination can come from the presence of B. cereus spores in liquid and food packaging. Spores present in materials that come into direct contact with food can cause migration of spores into the food, resulting in spoilage.
Given the negative implications of these bacteria being ingested by humans, government agencies have set standards or guidelines intended to reduce the presence of spores. Current spore detection methods require 48 hours to complete. The most common way to test for bacterial spores is a plating technique. This two-day delay is impractical for many industries. In the case of product testing, a two-day delay requires an extraordinary amount of product to be quarantined until the testing results are complete. This is a problem, for example, in the paper or paperboard industry.
Likewise, when testing food and beverage processing equipment, the equipment is only taken down for cleaning periodically and, as a practical matter, cannot remain offline for two days. Hospitals cannot keep hospital rooms empty for two days while waiting for test results designed to identify the presence of spores on surfaces in a hospital room after a patient that has been infected with C. diff has been discharged. And it is not practical to hold quantities of food or water under quarantine, especially where the food may spoil while waiting or where the water or fluid continually changes (e.g., cooling tower water, beverages, milk during milk processing).
It is against this background that the present disclosure is made.

Method for the rapid detection of bacterial spores in an industrial process


A Class-G amplifier including a first and second driving transistor configured to receive an input voltage; a first supplying terminal connected to the first driving transistor to supply a first supplying voltage. The amplifier also comprises: a second supplying terminal connected to the second driving transistor to supply a second supplying voltage in absolute value higher than said first voltage; a first power transistor connected to the first driving transistor to form a first Sziklai pair structured to be activated by a first input voltage lower in absolute value than the first supplying voltage; a second power transistor connected to the second driving transistor to form a second Sziklai pair structured to be activated by an input signal comprised between the first supplying voltage and the second supplying voltage.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure refers to Class-G power amplifiers, and more particularly, to an output stage for Class-G power amplifiers. The present description further refers to an audio amplifier system.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Class-G power amplifiers are known, made of one or more output stages supplied with different voltages, the activation of which dynamically occurs, in conformity with the amplitude of the input signal.
In Class-G power amplifiers, the signal is amplified from the stage supplied to a voltage immediately greater than the instantaneous amplitude of the input signal itself, so as to minimize the voltage drop in the output stage, when it draws the load current.
A reduced power dissipation and a greater power efficiency are obtained in comparison with that of an amplifier working as a Class-B and/or Class-AB amplifier, in particular with signals with high crest factor, like audio signals, which extend around zero for most of the time, with few excursions at high level.
Some useful considerations regarding the performance of Class-G amplifiers are shown in following documents:
F. H. Raab—Average Efficiency of Class-G Power Amplifiers—IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, Vol. CE-32, No. 2, May 1986;
R. van der Zee, "High Efficiency Audio Power Amplifiers: Design and Practical Use" 1999 available Online at the address: www.ub.utwente.nl/webdocs/el/1/t000000d.pdf
The power stages of the Class-G amplifier are configured according to two basic topologies: the stacked (serial) topology and the shunt (parallel) topology.
Some examples of power stages for Class-G amplifiers, with stacked topology, are described in documents U.S. Pat. No. 3,961,280 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,772,606.
Some examples of power stages for Class-G amplifiers with shunt topology, are described in following documents:                D. H. Horrocks—Active filter power dissipation reduction using improved output stage—Digital and Analog Filters and Filtering Systems, IEE Colloquium on, 25 May 1990;        D. Self—Audio Power Amplifier Design Handbook—News, Chapter 10.
With reference to D. H. Horroks documents cited before, they describe one shunt-topology Class-G amplifier (FIG. 1(a)) and one with stacked topology (FIG. 1(b)), each having two BJT Class-B stages. In such document two symmetrical supplies are made: one first voltage having a lower value, ±VL, and one second voltage having a greater value, ±VH. The first Class-B stage has two transistors (Q1 and Q2) with a push-pull configurations, which are supplied by the lower voltages ±VL and the second Class-B stage is provided with other two transistors with a push-pull configuration (Q3 and Q4) supplied by the greater voltages ±VH.
During the operation of the amplifiers described in the article of D. H. Horroks when the amplitude of the input signal is lower than a ±VL value, the current to be supplied to a load is generated by those transistors (Q1 and Q2) which are supplied by the lower voltage ±VL. When the amplitude of the input signal further increases, the electric current at the load is supplied after a switching phase, by the transistors Q3 and Q4 supplied by the greater voltages ±VH. In particular, for the shunt topology the transistors Q1 and Q2 are turned off when the transistors Q3 and Q4 are in operation, whereas for the stacked topology, the transistors Q1 and Q2 remain powered and are isolated from lower supplies ±VL by means of diodes.
Class-G amplifiers of the known type have a problem which has limited their use in audio "high fidelity" applications: such problem being the distortion of the waveform at the switching among the various amplifier stages, also known as "switching noise".
Such switching noise is particularly present at high frequencies from the audio-band, as noted in document of T. Sampei at al.—Highest efficiency and super quality audio amplifier using MOS power fets in class G operation—IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, Vol. CE-24, No. 3, August 1978. Such document proposes the use of MOSFET-type power transistors.

Class-G amplifier and audio system employing the amplifier


A method is used in using spatial diversity with secrets. A spatially diverse presentation is presented. A reaction of a user to the spatially diverse presentation is received and analyzed. The analysis is used as a basis for helping to determine whether the user has knowledge of a secret.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to using spatial diversity with secrets.
2. Description of Related Art
Spatial audio is sound processed to give the listener the impression of a sound source within a multi-dimensional environment. Spatial audio presents a more realistic experience when listening to recorded sound compared to conventional stereo because stereo only varies across one axis, usually the x (horizontal) axis. Spatial audio may vary across two or more axes (e.g., x, y and/or z).
The principle of spatial audio is simple: if the sound waves arriving at a listener's eardrums are identical to those of a real audio source at a particular position, the listener will perceive that sound as coming from a source at that particular position. Because people only have two ears, only two channels of sound are needed to create this effect, and the spatial sound can be presented, for example, over ordinary two-channel headphones.
Stereopsis is the process by which the visual perception of depth is obtained by viewing two slightly different projections of an image. Stereoscopic systems provide the sensation of a three-dimensional ("3D" or "3-D") image by presenting a first two-dimensional image to the right eye of the viewer and a second, slightly different two-dimensional image to the left eye of the viewer. The first and second images can be taken from two points of view that are approximately the spacing between the viewer's right and left eyes. The viewer's visual perception then perceives the horizontal disparity between the first image presented to the right eye and the second image presented to the left eye as a 3D image. (In at least some cases, to achieve the full 3D effect, specialized stereoscopic eyeglasses that can control delivery of the images to each eye must be worn.) Thus, the isolated images observed by each eye are able to "trick" the brain, which perceives the dual images as a single image with 3D qualities.
FIGS. 4-6 illustrate an example configuration of a 3D display. FIG. 4 shows a layout of pixels of a liquid crystal device (a liquid crystal display (LCD)) of a standard type. An LCD is used in a color display and configured of pixels of red, green and blue represented by R, G and B, respectively. With reference to the figure, the pixels are arranged in columns Col0 to Col5 formed of red, green and blue pixels arranged vertically. Of the pixels, the leftmost column Col0 displays the leftmost strip of an image displayed by the liquid crystal device and the right-hand column Col1 displays the next column of the image, . . . , and so on.
FIG. 5 shows a display used to provide a 3D stereoscopic representation. With reference to the figure, the 3D display includes a liquid crystal display device 101 (including a polarization plate) acting as a spatial optical modulator adjusting light from a backlight 102 in accordance with content of an image to be displayed. A parallactic optical system cooperates with liquid crystal display device 101 to form a viewing window. FIG. 5 shows a configuration of a 3D, automatic, stereoscopic display of a front parallax barrier type having a parallax barrier 103 as a parallactic optical system. Parallax barrier 103 includes a plurality of slits extending vertically and laterally equally spaced and also arranged in parallel. Each slit is located at a center of a pair of columns of pixels of a color and that of pixels of a different color. For example in FIG. 5 a slit 104 is located at a center of a blue pixel column 105 and a green pixel column 106.
To ensure that right and left viewing windows are properly arranged, right and left image data are supplied by the method shown in FIG. 6 to liquid crystal display device 101 of the FIG. 5 type. In FIG. 6, color image data of a leftmost strip of a left image is displayed by a red, green and blue pixel column Col0 LEFT. Likewise, color data of a leftmost strip of a view for the right eye is displayed by a pixel column Col0 RIGHT. The FIG. 6 arrangement ensures that right and left views' image data are sent to appropriate right and left viewing windows. This arrangement also ensures that three pixel colors R, G, B are all used to display each view strip.
Thus in the FIG. 6 layout, as compared with the FIG. 4 layout, the leftmost column's red and blue pixels display a left view's image data while the same column's green pixel displays a right view's image data. In the right-hand column, red and blue pixels display the right view's image data while a green pixel displays the left view's image data. Thus if a liquid crystal display device of a standard type shown in FIGS. 4-6 is used, it is necessary to "exchange" a green component between RGB pixel columns to interlace right and left views' image data. It is a matter of course that for some display settings, red or green component may be exchanged.
The use of portable electronic devices and telecommunication devices has increased rapidly in recent years, and many such devices are equipped with 3D displays, and also motion sensors. In an object instrumented by a motion or position sensor (also referred to as detector), the sensor may be used to convert movements of a user carrying the object into movements of a point in a plane. Such an object can thus be designated generically by the term "pointer". The user normally holds the pointer in his hand, although other modes of carriage may easily be envisaged depending on the applications. The movements of the pointer in space comprise rotations and translations. They can be measured by sensors of various types: image sensors can measure rotations and translations at one and the same time by comparison of successive images and geometric transformations; a magnetometer, an accelerometer or a single-axis gyrometer can measure a rotation about said axis; a combination of magnetometers, accelerometers and/or of gyrometers can measure the translations and rotations about several axes; a combination of sensors of the previous types improve measurement accuracy, redundancy allowing determination of confidence intervals; the combination can comprise one or more cameras and several magnetometric, accelerometric and/or gyrometric sensors. Another rotation sensor, insensitive to accelerations, may be a brightness sensor. If it is a photoelectric cell, it is known that the amount of light received by said cell is proportional to its light receiving area and to the cosine of the angle of inclination of the rays with its normal. The light source may be the sun, or some other quasi-pointlike source, bulb type, situated far enough away for its emission rays to be considered parallel to one another over the whole of the volume of the gestural experience.
More and more smartphones (such as Apple's iPhone) are incorporating motion and position sensors such as accelerometers for step counters, user interface control, and switching between portrait and landscape modes.
A large number of services such as email, shopping, banking, unified communications, legal, or investing services require subscribers of the services to enter a user name (also called user ID) and/or a password to access said services. This process is called authentication. Typically, entry of the user name and/or password is performed using a user interface of a client device, such as a smartphone with web capabilities.


One or more methods and systems of improving the performance of consecutive data stores into a cache memory are presented. In one embodiment, the method comprises writing data into a data array associated with at least a first store instruction while accessing a tag in a tag array associated with at least a second store instruction. In one embodiment, the method of processing consecutive data stores into a cache memory comprises updating a first data in a cache memory while concurrently looking up or identifying a second data in the cache memory. In one embodiment, a system for improving the execution of data store instructions of a CPU comprises a pipelined buffer using a minimal number of data entries, a data array used for updating data associated with a first store instruction, and a tag array used for looking up data associated with a second store instruction.

Central processing units (CPUs) or control processors execute two types of instructions to access the memory. A load instruction fetches data from a memory location and puts it into CPUs registers, and a store instruction puts the data located in a register into memory. When data is stored in a cache memory, two steps are usually performed. Typically, these two steps incur a number of processor clock cycles when updating data in the cache memory. The first step involves looking up a tag within a tag array of the cache memory to see if the corresponding data is currently stored in the cache, while the second step involves writing new data (or updating data) into a data array (or cache line) of the cache that is identified by the tag. Unfortunately, the writing of new data into cache cannot be accomplished while a tag is being identified.
When performing multiple consecutive data stores, a conventional approach is to implement a storage buffer which holds a number of entries to be stored into a data array of the cache memory. If a data store instruction generates a hit of the cache memory, the data is put aside into the storage buffer, often termed a store buffer, in which the data is subsequently written into the data array. Often, the store buffer will become completely full, necessitating a removal of a data entry in the store buffer before a subsequent store instruction may be accommodated. For example, a store buffer may clear its buffer by writing one or more entries into the data array of a cache memory in order for it to accept additional data from new data store instructions. In this instance, the typical CPUs pipeline is not held up during a store instruction as long as there is an available store entry within the store buffer.
In many cases, however, a number of consecutive data store instructions may completely fill the store buffer. Should the next CPU cycle generate an instruction that is not a load or store instruction, any outstanding entries in the store buffer may be cleared by sequentially writing into the cache. Unfortunately, clearing the store buffer may require a number of CPU cycles to complete. As a consequence, the performance of a conventional pipelined processor may be significantly reduced when a number of consecutive data stores are performed.
There are other disadvantages when using a store buffer approach. The number of entries of the store buffer is usually limited to between 4 to 8 data entries in order to save space. In addition, store buffers with a large number of entries may take a longer time to access. Increasingly larger store buffers may hold more data; however, the benefit is at the expense of manufacturing cost. As a result of limiting the size of the store buffer to a size less than optimum, a number of additional "penalty" CPU cycles are needed to clear data from the buffer when the number of consecutive store instructions exceeds the capacity (e.g. number of entries) of the store buffer.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems with some aspects of the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.

System for supporting unlimited consecutive data stores into a cache memory


A method for restarting a motor of a submersible pump after a power interruption is disclosed. The system first detects when the power is turned back on to the system. A control means then samples signals sent back from the unpowered motor and determines the frequency and phase sequence of the signals. The speed and direction of operation of the motor are then determined from the determined frequency and phase sequence. A first pulse width modulation waveform is then applied to the motor matching the determined speed and direction of the motor. Finally, the output frequency of the waveform can be adjusted to adjust the speed and direction of operation of the motor until the motor reaches a desired speed and direction of operation.

In the production of oil, a well is drilled down to an oil bearing strata. At the bottom of the well, a motor/pump assembly is installed to pump the oil to the surface of the earth from the pool that gathers at the bottom of the well. FIG. 1 illustrates a typical oil well assembly. A well 10 is drilled into the earth perhaps thousands offeet down to an oil bearing strata. A motor 14 which drives a pump 16 are lowered to the bottom of the well. The motor 14 is electrically connected by a cable 22 to a drive system 20, typically located outside the well, which provides drive signals to the motor 14. The drive signals control the operation of the motor 14 which in turn controls the operations of the pump 16. When the motor 14 is turned on, the motor turns the pump 16 so that oil is drawn out of the bottom of the well and up the pipe 18 to the surface creating a positive flow 24.
One concern in the oil industry is the amount of time an oil well is not operating because of a physical or mechanical problem. The downtime of the pump reduces the production capability of the well. One source of downtime occurs when there is a power interruption to the system caused by a power outage, blown circuit breaker, controlled stop or the like. When a power interruption occurs, the drive system loses control of the motor because control signals can no longer be sent to the motor. Even though the motor is now unpowered, the motor and pump will continue to operate for at least a certain period of time depending on how fast the motor was turning at the time the power was interrupted. The speed of the motor will slowly decrease until the motor and pump come to a complete stop.
One problem unique to oil well applications and submersible pumps is that when the pump stops there is a column of oil, for example 4000 feet tall, resting on top of the pump. The column of oil will begin falling back to the bottom of the well due to gravity. As the oil falls back, the oil exerts pressure on the pump causing the pump to work in the opposite direction, i.e. a negative flow. In turn, the pump will cause the motor to rotate in an opposite direction and at varying speeds as the entire column of oil falls to the bottom of the well. As a result, when the power to the motor is interrupted, the motor will operate at different speeds and even in different directions depending on the length of the power interruption.
Since a motor can be damaged or a circuit will be tripped in the drive system if the motor receives an initial drive signal which is different from the actual speed and direction of operation of the motor, oil well operators have to wait until they are certain that the entire column of oil as fall back to the bottom of the well and the motor has come to a complete stop before they can send drive signals to restart the motor after the power interruption is over. This creates a tremendous amount of downtime regardless of how long the power interruption lasts.
Thus, there is a need for a control system which is capable of automatically restarting a motor of a submersible pump after a power interruption without having to wait for the motor to come to a complete stop.
Automatic restart programs are known for other applications, such as devices which include a driveable centrifuge. A centrifuge is used to separate solids in liquid samples by spinning the sample around a circle at high speeds. When the power is cut off to the motor in the centrifuge, the momentum and weight of the centrifuge will keep the samples spinning at decreasing speeds until the centrifuge comes to a complete stop due to friction and other forces. One known control system can restart the motor after the power is turned back on by first determining the actual speed of the unpowered motor and applying drive signals to the motor that match the actual speed of the motor. This is performed by analyzing the back EMF signals produced by the motor's residual magnetism created by the unpowered spinning motion of the motor. Once the speed of the motor has been determined, the matching drive signals are sent to the motor to regain control of the centrifuge and additional control signals can be applied to change the centrifuge's speed to a desired level. Thus, the operator does not have to wait for the centrifuge to come to a complete stop before restarting the motor after a power interruption.

Automotive restart control for submersible pump


The present invention provides a tank vent device for venting gas from a tank 10 comprising a gas inlet 107 for receiving gas from a vent outlet of the tank, a gas outlet 109 for discharging the gas received, and a pressure valve 70 connecting the gas inlet and gas outlet, wherein the pressure valve is connected to a control pressure input 108 and is controllable by control pressure supplied at the control pressure input, whereby, in use, the pressure valve is controlled by the control pressure to open and close so as to regulate the flow of gas between the gas inlet and the gas outlet. The present invention also provides a vent tank 10, methods of venting gas  and refueling an aircraft.

The present invention concerns the venting of gas from fuel tanks. In particular, it concerns venting fuel tanks of aircraft. Also particularly, but not exclusively, this invention concerns a tank vent device for venting gas from a tank. The invention also concerns a vent tank, a method of venting gas from a tank and a method of refuelling an aircraft including performing the method of venting gas.
It is important to vent a tank for two reasons. Firstly, a tank must be vented to enable the tank to be efficiently filled with fuel. If there is inadequate venting, the pressure build up in the tank is significant and can make it very difficult to put further fuel in the tank. Secondly, a pressure build up can result in a large positive pressure differential between the tank and the atmosphere. A negative pressure differential could also arise (depending on the atmospheric pressure). Any pressure differential puts undue strain on the tanks and can cause damage to them and their surrounding structure. This is especially important in relation to aircraft fuel tanks, as the fuel tanks are often located in the wings or tail and it is important to minimise and, preferably, entirely prevent, wing/tail damage.
Venting of aircraft tanks is normally performed by allowing gas to vent from the fuel tanks via a passive vent. The gas can be vented directly from the fuel tank itself or via a dedicated vent tank.
GB 2 321 639 A discloses a fuel vapour recovery system for an automotive vehicle. The system includes first and second vapour recovery canisters and a bypass flow element between the canisters. When the bypass flow element is open, vapour can pass directly through the bypass element to the second canister without first passing through the first canister. When the bypass flow element is closed, vapour must first pass through the first canister before reaching the second canister. The bypass flow element is opened when the pressure differential across the element is large enough to push a check valve open.
The vapour recovery system of GB 2 321 639 A can effectively contain the fuel vapour, that would otherwise be vented into the atmosphere as VOCs (volatile organic compounds) and cause air pollution. The fuel vapour can also be reused/recycled.
However, use of the vapour fuel recovery system of GB 2 321 639 A results in a vapour flow restriction (even when the bypass flow element is open). Therefore, the system causes pressure to build up in the fuel tank during refuel and therefore slows down the refuelling rate that can be achieved and puts undue strain on the tank. The system is also not suitable for use with jet fuel or for use on an aircraft.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,575,441 discloses a device for preventing fuel spillage and the venting of fuel vapour to the atmosphere. The device is attached to the outlet of a dump mast on a wing of a military aircraft during refuel. An adaptor assembly of the system is attached on one side to the outlet by a groove corresponding to the shape of the outlet walls. A standard fuel hose is attached to the opposite side of the adaptor assembly and feeds into a fuel container of a fuel truck. Suction is applied to the fuel hose in order to urge fuel and vapour out of the dump mast into the fuel container. However, the system disclosed contains no safety features that could prevent over or under pressure of the fuel tank or prevent the possibility of flame propagation via the fuel hose into the fuel tank. The system, however, does contain an alarm which can be used to show fuel flow problems or hose kinking. The alarm is controlled by sensors. Hence, electronics are used to control and provide warnings in relation to the vent system. This means that electrical power would be in close proximity to highly volatile fuel vapour, directly linked to the fuel tank. Failure of the safety system by an electrical short would give rise to a risk of fuel vapour ignition.
WO 2007/138366 discloses the use of a standard coupling (known as the API 1004 coupling) connected to an aircraft vent during refuel of the aircraft tanks. The coupling is connected back to a fuel tanker via a discharge line. The tanker collects the vapour and later transports it to a gas storage terminal. The gas can then be used for electricity production and supply. The coupling includes an "overpressure vent valve" which prevents the aircraft tank becoming overpressured by opening when the pressure in the aircraft tank increases too much. This coupling system is controlled solely based on the pressure in the aircraft tank. In other words, gas is extracted into the discharge line when the valve is open but not when it is closed. There is no independent control of the system. Furthermore, the system disclosed contains no safety features that could prevent the possibility of flame propagation via the discharge line into the aircraft tank.
The present invention seeks to mitigate the above-mentioned problems. Alternatively or additionally, the present invention seeks to provide an improved tank vent device, vent tank and method of venting gas from a tank.


A toy helicopter device is disclosed which is capable of a projected nose up ascent and a helicopter nose down descent. The device has a streamlined two dimensional main body comprising a nose, stem, and tail portion. The tail portion is hingedly connected to two helicopter blades arranged adjacent and partially overlapping each other. Resilient means located in the gap between the tail and helicopter blades can be adjusted to control helicopter blade deployment early or late during the catapult projection. At a selected rotational velocity from the catapult, the spinning toy helicopter deploys the helicopter blades to approximately right angles to the main body and the device continues to rotate slowly to the ground. The launch angle relative to the ground is not significant in determining a successful deployment.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to toys, more particularly to a toy helicopter adapted to be forcibly propelled into the air, and further adapted, at or before reaching its point of highest possible ascent to invert itself and rotate with its blades outspread during its return to the ground. Uniquely the present invention device requires no releaseable hold mechanism to assist in the deployment of the helicopter blades at the high point of its trajectory.
2. Description of Prior Art
Catapulted or projected aerial toys commonly are delicate to adjust, unsafe due to high mass, easy to break or bend, and usually require a large area in which to perform. Gliding toys are usually difficult for the lay person to adjust in order for their performance to create the enjoyment of predictable flight.
Toy helicopters offer the best possibility of inexpensive predictable flight provided a reliable control system causes the helicopter blades to deploy at the most favorable moment after the launch, which is usually made from the ground.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,044,819 discloses a "projectile" utilizing three helicopter blades to cause a slow descent but the blades necessarily have a curvature to match the cylindrical shape of the bomb or mortar projectile. Also the copter blade deployment method is immediate upon exposure to the high velocity airstream as the projectile leaves the aircraft from which it must be launched.
The U.S. Pat. No. 2,746,207 is a medium mass device promising to perform very closely to the claims of the present patent, however, the design is inverted, having the outside tip of the blades before launch at the forward part of the device and requiring a releaseable hold mechanism that complicates, adds mass, and reduces streamlining. Spinning about the projected flight axis during ascent is not a necessary part of the helicopter blade deployment function, in contrast, the present invention deploys its helicopter blades partially as a result of spin during the launch part of the flight.
The article disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,113,398 uses magnets and electromagnets that move in a tube as part of an intricate helicopter blade deployment mechanism, in contrast to the simple mechanism herein presented.
The projectile of U.S. Pat. No. 3,188,768 is a complicated high mass toy which consists of helicopter blades that serve as part of the elongated body of the three dimensional device.
The toy projectile in U.S. Pat. No. 3,691,674 has low mass and can ascend to a high altitude but the descent function is not as interesting as it is not required to transform into a second mode of flight and it spins about a horizontal axis instead of vertical axis as a true helicopter would. Also its rate of descent would necessarily be faster or less predictable.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,826,037 teaches a very complicated medium mass toy device using springs, latches, and delicate levers for the purpose of deployment of the helicopter blades. Axial spinning is not a necessary ingredient of its function.
The toy disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,903,801 is of medium mass, partially due to the design that calls for helicopter blades to be protected from the airstream on the ascent, and the addition of a "blow-out charge" that initiates deployment of the helicopter blades for descent.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,295,290 teaches a multistage device that initiates deployment with a chemical "thrust charge".
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,913,675 is a medium mass, up ascent and up descent device (i.e., it doesn't "nose over" at the apogee of its flight) utilizing a releasable hold mechanism for helicopter blade deployment.
All the toy helicopters heretofore known suffer from at least two of the identified disadvantages below:
a) lack of sufficient streamlining that would enable the launch of a low mass device to project it to a high enough altitude before copter deployment for the purpose of generating sufficient play value.
b) drawings imply materials used to be of wood, or dense plastic or metal causing high mass constructions which create a safety hazard for uncontrolled flying toys. High mass devices simply weigh more and can cause more severe personal injury or property damage during a misdirected launch.
(c) due to the utilization of aforementioned construction materials, higher manufacturing costs in the form of heavier more costly equipment to cut, mold, decorate, assemble and transport the final device are incurred.
d) cylindrical main bodies require the helicopter blades to be curved along their chord if external, otherwise they will interfere with the launch aerodynamics. Curved blades are usually more costly to manufacture than flat blades.
e) releaseable hold mechanisms on a toy of this size and scope demand delicate precise construction and adjustment. On a device that will occasionally impact an immovable object, such impact may damage the delicate release hold mechanism.
f) lack of adjustability of the timing of copter blade deployment during launch for the purpose of using the device in a limited air space such as in a back yard.
(g) many of the prior art devices are not rugged enough to sustain many flights due to the aforesaid selection of materials for construction in contrast to the present low mass invention. The high mass of most prior art causes high angular or rotational velocity during descent, sometimes in high wind, over a hardened abrasive surface such as asphalt, resulting in rapid degradation of several important parts including blade tips and release hold mechanism.
(h) through experimentation it has been found that the angle of the axis of the main body of the device during ascent relative to the angle of the motion or vectored angle of the center of mass of the main body if not aligned (non-aligned), can cause wobble and premature deployment of helicopter blades.


A thin film transistor and a simplified manufacturing method thereof, which results in enhanced charge mobility. The thin film transistor includes: a substrate; a gate electrode on said substrate; a gate insulating layer on said substrate and said gate electrode; a doped semiconductor layer, on the gate insulating layer, which is split into a first and second portion; a first metal layer on the first doped semiconductor portion; a second metal layer on the second doped semiconductor portion; and a top semiconductor layer in a gap formed by the first and second metal layer: the first doped semiconductor portion, the second doped semiconductor portion, and the insulating layer.

The present invention relates to a thin film transistor, and more particularly, to a thin film transistor and manufacturing method which can increase charge mobility by simplifying the manufacturing process and shortening the current path between the source and the drain.
In general, a thin film transistor is widely used for liquid crystal display devices or static random access memory (SRAM) devices.
Such a conventional thin film transistor will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIGS. 1A through 1D are cross-sectional views showing the prior art process of forming a thin film transistor according to a first technique, and FIGS. 2A through 2D are cross-sectional views showing the process of forming a thin film transistor according to a second prior art technique.
According to the first prior art technique of manufacturing a thin film transistor, as shown in FIG. 1A, a gate electrode 2 is formed on a glass substrate 1. A gate insulating layer 3, an amorphous silicon (a-Si) semiconductor layer 4 and an n.sup.+ -amorphous silicon (n.sup.+ -a-Si) semiconductor layer 5 are sequentially deposited over a gate electrode 2 on a glass substrate 1.
As shown in FIG. 1B, outer portions of the amorphous silicon semiconductor layer 4 and the n.sup.+ -amorphous silicon semiconductor layer 5 are selectively removed, such that layers 4 and 5 remain only in an active region.
As shown in FIG. 1C, after a metal layer is wholly deposited, the metal layer is patterned by a photolithography process to form a source electrode 6a and a drain electrode 6b.
As shown in FIG. 1D, the n.sup.+ -amorphous silicon semiconductor layer 5 is selectively etched using source electrode 6a and drain electrode 6b as masks to expose a channel region 8, and thereby complete the thin film transistor.
FIG. 1F is a simplified depiction of the sequence of layers in FIGS. 1C-1D. The sequence 60 is as follows: an amorphous silicon (a-Si) layer 66; an n-type amorphous silicon (n.sup.+ -a-Si) layer 64 on the a-Si layer 66; and a metal layer 62 on the n.sup.+ -a-Si layer 64. This sequence 60 of layers solved a problem in the art.
The problem solved by using the sequence 60 of layers in FIG. 1F is represented in FIG. 1E, again, by a simplified depiction of layers 50. The sequence of layers 50 was as follows: an amorphous silicon (a-Si) layer 56; and a metal layer 52 on the a-Si layer 56. The problem with the sequence of layers 50 was that a Schottky barrier 54 formed between the metal layer 52 and the a-Si layer 56, which greatly reduced the charge mobility in the transistor formed from this sequence of layers. Again, the prior art solved this problem by inserting an n.sup.+ -a-Si layer 64 between the metal layer 62 and the a-Si layer 66 as in FIG. 1F. In effect, the n.sup.+ -a-Si layer 64 acts as an ohmic contact layer.
However, in the manufacturing method of the thus-formed thin film transistor, because etching selectivities of the n.sup.+ -amorphous silicon semiconductor layer 5 and the amorphous silicon semiconductor layer 4 formed thereunder are small, it is difficult to etch precisely only the n.sup.+ -amorphous silicon semiconductor layer 5 using source electrode 6a and drain electrode 6b as masks. Thus, the n.sup.+ -amorphous silicon semiconductor layer 5 is likely to be left over, and the n.sup.+ -amorphous silicon semiconductor layer 5 and the amorphous silicon semiconductor layer 4 may be over-etched, which lowers the reliability of the device and increases the deterioration probability.
In other words, the prior art technique of FIG.s 1A-1D and 1F produced an active layer, i.e., the a-Si layer, whose thickness varied by .+-.10%. If this first technique were used to manufacture thin film transistors (TFTs) in a liquid crystal display (LCD), the quality of the LCD in which they were used was diminished. FIG. 1G depicts a plot of drain-source (I.sub.DS) currents for two transistors, both of which were manufactured by the first prior art technique and which exhibit variations in their respective active layer thicknesses. FIG. 1G shows the effect of the variations in active layer thickness. In particular, the drain source current 67 for transistor No. 1 is significantly different than the drain source current 68 for transistor No. 2. The result of these variations is that images on the LCD appear blurred. Because blurred images are unacceptable, a .+-.10% variation in active layer thicknesses is unacceptable, i.e., too many TFT arrays must be discarded due to the presence of these defects.
A second prior art manufacturing technique for solving such problems is shown in FIGS. 2A through 2D. In the second prior art technique of manufacturing a conventional thin film transistor, as shown in FIG. 2A, a gate electrode 2 is formed on a glass substrate 1 and a gate insulating layer 3 is formed on the glass substrate 1 and the gate electrode 2. Then, an amorphous silicon (a-Si) semiconductor layer 4 is deposited on the gate insulating layer 3 to form an active layer.
As shown in FIG. 2B, first an insulating layer (a silicon nitride layer) is wholly deposited, and then an unnecessary portion is removed by a photolithography process to form an etch stopper layer 7 on the portion of the active layer (a-Si) directly above the gate electrode 2.
As shown in FIG. 2C, an n.sup.+ -amorphous silicon (n.sup.+ -a-Si) semiconductor layer 5 is deposited on the amorphous silicon semiconductor layer 4 and the etch stopper layer 7.
As shown in FIG. 2D, first a metal layer is wholly deposited and then the metal layer is patterned in a photolithography process to form a source electrode 6a and a drain electrode 6b. The n.sup.+ -amorphous silicon semiconductor layer 5 is selectively etched using the source electrode 6a and the drain electrode 6b as masks to expose a channel region 8.
In the second prior art thin film transistor manufacturing technique acceptable active layer thickness variation is accomplished via etching the n.sup.+ -amorphous silicon semiconductor layer 5 in the channel region 8 by forming an etch stopper layer. However, because the etch stopper layer is separately formed, the overall manufacturing process becomes complex, i.e., more costly because more steps are involved.
Also, according to the first and second prior art thin film transistor manufacturing techniques, there is a limit on the degree to which the charge mobility can be improved due to the long current path (9 FIG. 3) between the source and the drain, i.e., due to the size of the channel region 8.
FIG. 3 shows the current path 9 according to the, prior art thin film transistor, in which the current path between the source and the drain is formed in the interface between a gate insulating layer 3 and an amorphous silicon semiconductor layer 4. The thicker the amorphous silicon semiconductor (a-Si) layer 4, the longer the current path 9. Also, a thick semiconductor layer 4 may result in an off-set phenomenon.

Thin film transistor and manufacturing method thereof


A system and method to one-click service status tracking and updates. In one embodiment, in response to activation of a mobile device, providing GPS location information of the mobile device; the mobile device registering with a server to identify a user of the mobile device with a service and a service provider of the service; and the mobile device providing to the user real-time status information related to the service. In one embodiment, at least one of the service provider and user are in transit. In one embodiment, the information received from the server includes one of the service provider ID and contact info for the user to contact the service provider directly. In one embodiment, the activation includes a single click of a feature on the mobile device.

When providing certain services in the field, it is often necessary for two parties to meet. For example, a taxi driver may need to meet its riders, or a limo driver may need to pick up a party at an airport. The better the available information is about the current location or the expected time of the meeting, the more efficient the service transaction and execution can be, thus saving time and money for both parties. Although location-based services have been available for some time, such services are typically oriented for single-party activities and are not very useful for providing services from one party to another party.
What is clearly needed is a system and method that allows any party in a transaction involving another party in motion to simply and quickly check the status of the transaction or service progress.

One-click service status tracking and updates