A portion of the one valve rod which extends outward is pivotally supported, the valve shaft cylindrical portion which is connected to the valve rod shaft supporting portion is made of material different from that of the valve body, a slanting surface is formed between the inner peripheral surface and the outer peripheral surface of the sheet ring, an angle and a width formed by the slanting surface and the outer peripheral side surface are the greatest at a position intersecting with the valve shaft at right angles and are the smallest at a position of the valve shaft, a central portion of an inner peripheral surface of the valve body is allowed to project inward to form an engaging projection, the sheet ring is brought into contact with the inner peripheral surface of the valve body under pressure in the opposite sides of the recess groove, the cylindrical bush whose one end is closed is mounted to the other valve rod which pivotally supports the valve element, and the other valve rod is sealed.

A wafer type butterfly valve which is sandwiched and mounted between flanges of a pipe to open and close a pipeline is conventionally known. Such butterfly valves are generally used for controlling fluid which is supplied to a plant equipment in various industrial fields.
As such a butterfly valve, there is a proposed structure in which in order to prevent condensation from being caused on a valve shaft cylindrical portion or an actuator which are opposed to atmosphere due to a temperature difference between atmospheric air and fluid which flows through a pipe, the valve shaft cylindrical portion is made of heat insulator (e.g., synthetic resin) which is different from material of the valve body so that a temperature of the fluid flowing through the valve body is not transmitted to the valve shaft cylindrical portion or the actuator, thereby preventing condensation from being cause. When the valve body and the valve shaft cylindrical portion are made of different materials, a joining structure therebetween is important. A disk-like valve element is disposed in the valve body. In order to drive and rotate the valve element, a valve rod outwardly extends in the valve shaft cylindrical portion. The valve rod is connected to the actuator which is mounted to an outer end of the valve shaft cylindrical portion. Since a torsional stress is applied to the coupled portion between the valve body and the valve shaft cylinder, a strong connecting structure is required. Japanese Patent No. 3026251 discloses one example of the butterfly valve which prevents the condensation. In the butterfly valve disclosed in this publication, connection grooves and connection legs which allow connecting portions of the valve body and the valve shaft to fit to each other are disposed around the valve shaft cylindrical portion at distances from one another, the connection grooves and the connection legs are engaged with each other to ensure the strength against the torsional stress, they are connected to each other using screws to prevent the connection legs from coming out from the connection grooves but they can be separated from each other. In such a structure, however, when the connection leg is fitted into the connection groove, if there is a gap therebetween, a rattle is generated, which may damage the connection groove and the connection leg. Therefore, precise machinability is required, and a plurality of connection grooves and connection legs must be provided around the valve shaft cylindrical portion at equal distances from one another, and the costs adversely increase.
The valve body comprises a valve body made of rigid material such as metal which passes through a cylindrical flow passage, a disk-like valve element which is rotatably pivotally supported by a valve rod in the valve body, and a sheet ring made of elastic material. The sheet ring is interposed between an inner peripheral surface of the valve body and the valve element. An outer peripheral surface of the valve element is brought into contact with and disengagement from an inner peripheral surface of the sheet ring to open and close the flow passage. The sheet ring of the butterfly valve is made of elastic material. When the valve is closed, the sheet ring is brought into contact with and engagement in the inner peripheral surface of the sheet ring under pressure, thereby securing sealing ability, and when the valve is closed, a great repulsion is generated by pressure-contact between the sheet ring and the valve element, and the rotation torque of the valve element is increased. There is a tendency that the sheet ring is fallen off from the valve body by a suction force caused by fluid or by a dragging force caused by pressure-contact with the valve element. In order to prevent the sheet ring from falling off from the valve body, there is a proposed structure in which opposite side surfaces of the sheet ring are fitted to a peripheral side surface of the valve body, the outer peripheral surface of the sheet ring is mounted to the inner peripheral surface of the valve body with a necessary compression margin to exhibit elastically fastening force. Japanese Patent No. 3188680 proposed a structure in which a projecting stripe is provided on a central portion of the outer peripheral surface of the sheet ring, the projecting stripe is fitted into a recess formed in a central portion of an inner peripheral surface of the valve body, thereby preventing the sheet ring from moving. In any of the structures, however, the sheet ring is strongly mounted so that the inner peripheral surface of the valve body does not move. When the valve is closed, elastic repulsion force of the sheet ring when the valve element comes into contact with the inner peripheral surface of the sheet ring becomes great, the rotation torque of the valve element is increased, and it is difficult to open and close the valve.
Further, the valve rod which rotatably pivotally supports the valve element is pivotally supported by a valve rod shaft supporting portion and is extended outward in a radial direction of the valve body. An actuator is connected to an outer end of one of the valve rods such that the actuator can drive and rotate. The other valve rod is sealed by a lid body mounted to an outer end of the valve rod shaft supporting portion and is shaft-sealed. One example of the shaft seal apparatus is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-181203. According to the shaft seal apparatus disclosed in this publication, a bush is interposed between the valve rod and a valve rod shaft supporting portion of the valve body, and it is necessary to dispose an O-ring between the bush and the valve rod shaft supporting portion and the valve rod to seal therebetween, the sealing structure becomes complicated, it is necessary to fasten a lid body which seals an outer end of the valve rod shaft supporting portion using screws, which is troublesome and inconvenient.
Further, an actuator is connected to one of the valve rods which rotatably and pivotally supports the valve element to drive and rotate the valve rod. A manual gear type actuator is generally and widely employed as this actuator. According to this manual gear type actuator, a worm gear mechanism in which a worm wheel and a worm are meshed with each other is incorporated in a gear box, a valve rod is connected to the worm wheel, a manual handle is connected to the worm, and the valve element is rotated and driven manually. This manual gear type actuator is disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3090420. A gear box of the conventional manual gear type actuator disclosed in this publication is usually a metal molded product such as an aluminum die casting. The gear box is filled with lubricant which lubricates a worm gear incorporated in the gear box. A stopper comprises a screw for aligning a valve element to a fully opened position and a fully closed position to stop worm wheel in a angle of 90 degree rotation range, so that the stopper position is adjusted. However, in order to effectively utilize a building in recent years, the gear box is disposed in a room where a normal work is carried out without providing a machine room underground in many cases, and there is a problem that a floor or a wall surface in the room is contaminated by grease leaking from the gear box. Further, since the adjusting screw is used, a structure of the gear box is complicated, and there is also a problem that condensation is caused on an outer surface.
Problems that this Invention is to Solve
First object of this invention is to precisely joint a valve body and a valve shaft cylindrical portion which are made of different materials such as metal and synthetic resin using relatively easily machining operation, thereby exhibiting sufficient strength against a torsional stress, and to prevent the valve body and the valve shaft cylindrical portion from falling off from each other using a simple structure.
Second object of the invention is to mount the sheet ring to the inner peripheral surface of the valve body with sufficiently great elastic fastening force, and to stably mount the sheet ring, and to reduce a rotation torque of the valve element.
Third object of the invention is to reliably seal a shaft seal of a valve rod which rotatably and pivotally support the valve element with a simple structure.
Fourth object of this invention is to solve problems concerning leakage of grease, generation of condensation and complication of a structure which are found in the manual gear type actuator.
Means for Solving the Problems
The present invention provides a butterfly valve in which a cylindrical flow passage is formed in the valve body such as to penetrate the valve body, a sheet ring made of elastic sealing material is mounted in the valve body, a disk-like valve element which comes into contact with and separates from the sheet ring is rotatably and pivotally supported by the sheet ring, a valve rod shaft supporting portion is formed in a radial direction of the valve body, the valve rod shaft supporting portion pivotally supports valve rods which pivotally support the valve element, an actuator is connected to an outer end of one of the valve rods, thereby driving and rotating the valve element, wherein a portion of the one valve rod which extends outward is pivotally supported, the valve shaft cylindrical portion which is connected to the valve rod shaft supporting portion is made of material different from that of the valve body, the ends of the valve shaft cylindrical portion and the valve rod shaft supporting portion are formed into rectangular cylindrical recess and projection which are fitted to each other, a fitting projection and a fitting groove which fit to fitting surfaces of the valve shaft cylindrical portion and the valve rod shaft supporting portion are formed, a connection pin is driven into the fitting portions of the valve shaft cylindrical portion and the valve rod shaft supporting portion and they are connected to each other in a falling-out preventing state. Preferably, the valve body is molded using aluminum die cast, the valve shaft cylindrical portion is molded using synthetic resin having insulative properties, iron-based casting or metal material which is different from that of the valve body. A thickness of an inner surface angle portion of the recess with which an angle portion of the projection comes into contact upon reception of torsional stress from the actuator is made thick, the fitting projection and the fitting groove are located near this thick angle portion.
A compression margin of the sheet ring with respect to an inner peripheral surface of the valve body is set such that the compression margin is small at a central portion of the sheet ring and the compression margin is great at opposite sides of the sheet ring so that the sheet ring is held by the inner peripheral surface of the valve body by an elastic fastening force at the opposite sides, the central portion of the sheet ring with which the valve element comes into contact under pressure is allowed to move slightly together with the valve element, and a movable torque of the valve element is reduced. Preferably, a slanting surface is formed between the inner peripheral surface and the outer peripheral surface of the sheet ring, an angle and a width formed by the slanting surface and the outer peripheral side surface are the greatest at a position intersecting with the valve shaft at right angles and are the smallest at a position of the valve shaft. A central portion of an inner peripheral surface of the valve body is allowed to project inward to form an engaging projection, a recess groove into which the engaging projection is formed in the outer peripheral surface of the sheet ring, and the sheet ring is held by engaging the engaging projection and recess groove with each other. A slanting surface is formed between the inner peripheral surface and the outer peripheral surface of the sheet ring, an angle and a width formed by the slanting surface and the outer peripheral side surface are the greatest at a position intersecting with the valve shaft at right angles and are the smallest at a position of the valve shaft.
Further, a cylindrical bush whose one end is closed is inserted into the other valve rod, an inner end of the bush is brought into contact with the sheet ring under pressure to seal the valve rod, and outer end of the bush is supported in a falling-out preventing state by means of a pin which is driven into the valve rod shaft supporting portion. Preferably, an O-ring is interposed between the bush and the valve rod shaft supporting portion to seal a gap therebetween, and a knob is formed on an outer end of the bush for taking out the bush.
Further, the actuator comprises a coupled body of upper and lower gear boxes in which a manually driven worm gear mechanism is integrally incorporated in the gear box, both the upper and lower gear boxes are molded products made of synthetic resin, a stopper portion which limits a rotation range of the worm gear mechanism is integrally formed in the gear box, one connection peripheries of the upper and lower gear boxes are formed with upper standing walls to which the other peripheries are fitted, the upper standing wall is provided at its outer side with a sealing projection.
Further, the invention provides a butterfly valve in which a cylindrical flow passage is formed in the valve body such as to penetrate the valve body, a sheet ring made of elastic sealing material is mounted in the valve body, a disk-like valve element which comes into contact with and separates from the sheet ring is rotatably and pivotally supported by the sheet ring, a valve rod shaft supporting portion is formed in a radial direction of the valve body, the valve rod shaft supporting portion pivotally supports valve rods which pivotally support the valve element, an actuator is connected to an outer end of one of the valve rods, thereby driving and rotating the valve element, wherein a portion of the one valve rod which extends outward is pivotally supported, the valve shaft cylindrical portion which is connected to the valve rod shaft supporting portion is made of material different from that of the valve body, ends of the valve shaft cylindrical portion and the valve rod shaft supporting portion are formed into rectangular cylindrical recess and projection which are fitted to each other, a fitting projection and a fitting groove which fit to fitting surfaces of the valve shaft cylindrical portion and the valve rod shaft supporting portion are formed, a thickness of an inner surface angle portion of the recess with which an angle portion of the projection comes into contact upon reception of torsional stress from the actuator is made thick, the fitting projection and the fitting groove are located near this thick angle portion, a connection pin is driven into the fitting portions of the valve shaft cylindrical portion and the valve rod shaft supporting portion and they are connected to each other in a falling-out preventing state, the valve body is molded using aluminum die cast, and the valve shaft cylindrical portion is molded using synthetic resin having insulative properties, a slanting surface is formed between the inner peripheral surface and the outer peripheral surface of the sheet ring, an angle and a width formed by the slanting surface and the outer peripheral side surface are the greatest at a position intersecting with the valve shaft at right angles and are the smallest at a position of the valve shaft, a central portion of an inner peripheral surface of the valve body is allowed to project inward to form an engaging projection, a recess groove into which the engaging projection is formed in the outer peripheral surface of the sheet ring, the sheet ring is brought into contact with the inner peripheral surface of the valve body under pressure in the opposite sides of the recess groove, the cylindrical bush whose one end is closed is mounted to the other valve rod which pivotally supports the valve element, and the other valve rod is sealed.
Effect of the Invention
According to the present invention, the valve body and the valve shaft cylindrical portion are made of different materials, they are connected with each other with sufficient strength against the torsional stress, and it is possible to reliably prevent the valve from being damaged by the torsional stress and to prevent rattle from being generated. The falling-out in the axial direction can also be prevented reliably, and it is possible to provide an extremely excellent connection structure between the valve body and the valve shaft cylindrical portion made of different materials.
It is possible to mount the sheet ring to the inner peripheral surface of the valve body with sufficiently great elastic fastening force, and to stably mount the sheet ring. A rotation torque of the valve element can be reduced.
Further, the shaft seal of the valve rod can be achieved with a simple structure in which the bush is inserted into the valve rod and is fixed using a pin. It becomes easy to automate the shaft seal of the valve rod.
Further, since the upper and lower gear boxes are molded using synthetic resin, the size precision is enhanced, the stopper can be integrally formed. Since opening adjusting means by means of a screw is not required, the entire structure can be simplified, and the costs can be reduced. Since synthetic resin having insulative properties is used, it is possible to effectively prevent condensation. It is easy to obtain a greaseless structure using resin having higher lubrication ability. This greaseless structure can solve the problem of contamination of a room floor and a wall surface caused by leakage of grease, and this structure is extremely beneficial.


A process for the hydrogenation of chlorosilanes. The process comprises contacting a chlorosilane with aluminum and a hydrogen source selected from a group consisting of hydrogen gas and gaseous hydrogen chloride in the presence of a catalyst. The catalyst is selected from a group consisting of copper and copper compounds, tin and tin compounds, zinc and zinc compounds, and mixtures thereof.

The present invention is a process for the hydrogenation of chlorosilanes. The process comprises contacting a chlorosilane with aluminum and a hydrogen source selected from a group consisting of hydrogen gas and gaseous hydrogen chloride in the presence of a catalyst. The catalyst is selected from a group consisting of copper and copper compounds, tin and tin compounds, zinc and zinc compounds, and mixtures thereof.
Industrially significant methods for producing hydrosilanes involve, for example, the reaction of a halosilane with a metal hydride in the presence of a solvent as described in Kirk and Othmer, Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology; The Interscience Group, New York, N.Y, Vol. 12, p. 368, 1978. The preferred metal hydride reagents are LiAlH.sub.4 and NaAlH.sub.4. The reaction is reported to proceed quantatively at low system pressure and temperature. However, metal hydride reagents offer significant processing disadvantages. First, they are highly reactive and may oxidize exothermically to release explosive concentrations of hydrogen gas. Because of this, hydrogenation reactions with these reagents are typically carried out in solvents. The use of solvents presents a second disadvantage in that the solvent must be separated from the product. If solvents are not used, the metal may be stabilized by replacing a portion of the metal hydride ligands with bulky organic substituents. While this eliminates the solvent, it necessarily reduces the equivalent hydrogenation potential for the metal hydrides.
Non-metal hydride, non-solvent systems for hydrogenating halosilanes have also been reported. Hurd, U.S. Pat. No. 2,406,605, issued Aug. 27, 1946, disclosed the reaction of certain halosilanes with hydrogen or a hydrogen halide at an elevated temperature with a metal selected from a group consisting of aluminum, magnesium, and zinc. At temperatures of 400.degree. C. to 500.degree. C. and atmospheric pressure, Hurd determined that SiCl.sub.4 and MeSiCl.sub.3 could be reacted to SiHCl.sub.3 and MeHSiCl.sub.2 respectively. Hurd reported that the reaction of Me.sub.2 SiCl.sub.2 was generally unsuccessful, even at 500.degree. C.
Hatcher, U.S. Pat. No. 2,458,703, issued Jan. 11, 1949, reported a method of hydrogenating halosilanes using silicon as a chloride acceptor in a continuous high-pressure system. Hatcher reported that the silicon could reduce a halosilane in a hydrogen atmosphere when AlCl.sub.3 or AlBr.sub.3 was present.
Wagner et al., U.S. Pat. No. 2,595,620, issued May 6, 1952, reported that silicon could be used to reduce a chlorosilane with hydrogen at temperatures above about 400.degree. C. and the AlCl.sub.2 or AlBr.sub.3 required by Hatcher, supra, was not necessary.
Muetterties, U.S. Pat. No. 3,057,686, issued Oct. 9, 1962, reported a hydrogenation process where a halosilane was reacted with hydrogen and activated aluminum metal at superatmospheric pressure. Muetterties described the activated aluminum as a metal having an essentially oxygen free surface. The groups of compositions suitable for activating the aluminum as described by Muetterties were (1) metal hydrides, (2) mixtures of iodine and an alkyl halide in which the halogen has an atomic number of at least 17, and (3) trialkyl aluminum compounds.
Jenkner, U.S. Pat. No. 3,100,788, issued Aug. 13, 1963, reported a process for hydrogenation of halosilanes with hydrogen gas using sodium metal as the halogen receptor.
The present invention is a process for the hydrogenation of chlorosilane by a hydrogen source selected from a group consisting of hydrogen gas and gaseous hydrogen chloride. The process uses aluminum as the halogen receptor. The process does not require a solvent and can be run at near atmospheric pressure. The process employs a catalyst selected from a group consisting of copper and copper compounds, tin and tin compounds, zinc and zinc compounds, and mixtures thereof. Under the described process conditions, the catalyst provides for increased formation of silicon hydrogen bonds and increased chlorosilane conversion, when compared to the use of aluminum without catalyst. The catalyst also allows the process to be run at a lower temperature than that used for similar uncatalyzed processes.
Hydrosilanes prepared by the present process are useful intermediates in the formation, for example, of silicone polymers, elastomers, and resins.

Process for hydrogenation of chlorosilane


An apparatus and corresponding method (10) for reencoding an input image already encoded in some format in order to provide a possibly more suitable encoding, based on whether the input image is determined by the system to be a graphic image (i.e. an artificial image) or a natural image (i.e. for example photographs of real world objects). The invention uses a decision function (f) having some predetermined parameters (α,β,λ) that are constant or are changed only occasionally so as to refine their values, and also uses some inputs (c,r,d) that correlate in some way with the naturalness of an image and are determined by analyzing the input image using several analyzer modules (11a 11b 11c). The value of the decision function (f) is compared to a threshold, or two various thresholds in a table (12c) of thresholds versus predetermined formats, to decide on what format to use to reencode the image.

A digital image in uncompressed form comprises an array of image pixels or picture elements. Each pixel, in turn, is represented by a certain number of bits, which carry information about the brightness (luminance) and/or color (chrominance) of the pixel. Different schemes exist for representing the luminance and/or chrominance of pixels in a digital image. Commonly, a so-called YUV color model is used. The luminance, or Y, component represents the luminance of the pixel, while the color of the pixel is represented by two chrominance or color difference components, labeled U and V. Other color models, such as RGB (Red, Green, Blue) color models, which are based on components representing the three primary colors of light, are also commonly used.
Many systems can encode images, producing a compressed version of the image (for storing the image on a storage media or for communicating the image to another system) in a variety of compressed formats. Each format possesses different intrinsic characteristics, which suit it to particular types of images. For example, two common formats currently in use are GIF (Graphic Interchange Format) and JPEG (Joint Photographic Expert Group) format. GIF is well suited to storing computer-generated graphics, which may contain rasterized text, regions of solid color, and sharp lines. By contrast, the JPEG format is well suited to encoding natural scenes or real world objects, such as provided by photographs of real world scenes or real world objects.
In compression according to the baseline mode of the JPEG standard, an image to be coded/encoded is first divided into an array of non-overlapping square blocks, each block comprising, for example, an 8×8 array of image pixels. In the case of the JPEG baseline, a two-dimensional Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) is then applied independently to each of the image blocks. This has the effect of converting the image data from the pixel value domain to the spatial frequency domain and to produce a corresponding set of coefficient values, each of which is a weighting factor for a basis function of the two-dimensional DCT. The coefficient values thus produced are quantized and then coded in a lossless manner using entropy coding to further reduce the amount of data (i.e. number of bits) required for their representation. According to the JPEG baseline, the entropy coder employs only Huffman coding to produce a compressed bit-stream, although in other modes arithmetic coding may alternatively be used. Finally, data describing image and coding parameters (e.g. type of compression, quantization and coding tables, image size, etc.) is embedded in the bit-stream produced by the entropy encoder. Embedding the data about the coding is necessary because the JPEG standard comprises four alternative coding modes and places few constraints on the quantization and coding tables that can be used, and so for a JPEG compressed bit-stream to be communicated to a receiving platform and for the image to be reconstructed without any ambiguity by the receiving platform, the receiving platform must know which of the different coding modes was used.
The size of a JPEG file does not depend upon the number of colors in the image provided by the file; rather it depends on the frequency composition of the image, i.e. whether the image includes slow, subtle changes (such as background tones), which have a low frequency, or sharper edge-like changes, which have a high frequency. For example, a photograph of the sky would not have a large high frequency component because it is mostly solid blue. A photograph of a tree would have much more high frequency component because of the edges of the leaves. A graphic (artificial) image often has very sharp edges and thus lots of high frequency component. JPEG is designed to favor low frequency and eliminate most high frequency, because in natural images, the human eye cannot detect high frequency very well. As a result, sharp edges tend to become blurred when a GIF image is encoded as JPEG. Because low frequency components are favored, a photograph of the sky will have a smaller JPEG file size than a photograph of a tree, even if both files might represent the same number of pixels. Additionally, the JPEG file size depends upon the number of pixels in the original image. The relationship, assuming frequency content is static, is proportional. Thus if two images have the same frequency content and one has half as many pixels, the output file size for the one will be half that for the other.
GIF on the other hand does not depend at all upon the frequency content. It depends upon two things: the number of colors in the image, and the "pattern" in which those colors are arranged. Specifically, GIF looks for patterns in the sequence of palette indexes which correspond to the colors of each pixel in the image, stores the patterns in a dictionary, and encodes these patterns rather than the individual indexes. Because of this, GIF is called a dictionary-based scheme. (The term "index" as used here refers to the so-called "palette index" used in GIF, unless otherwise stated. In GIF, the palette index operates in conjunction with a lookup table of colors, called the palette; the palette index for a pixel is used to look up in the palette what color to use for the pixel, i.e. what RGB value to use for the pixel. The palette index serves to indicate characteristics of an image at a particular location in the image, i.e. for a particular pixel of the image.)
With this approach to encoding an image, the size of a GIF image depends largely upon how many indexes are represented by one pattern in the dictionary, and how many times an encountered pattern is found to occur in the dictionary. If there is a large solid region, and one dictionary element can represent many pixels, the compression will be very efficient. By contrast, if there is no real pattern in the image and each dictionary entry can only represent one or two pixels, the compression will not save very much. Since natural images contain varying tones, there are no dominant patterns for such images and so GIF compression is not usually efficient for natural images. In essence, the size of a GIF image depends partly upon the number of colors, and also upon how those colors are arranged in the image.
So, if a GIF image of a natural scene is re-encoded as JPEG, the file size will almost always decrease, and if a GIF image of an artificial scene is re-encoded as JPEG, the file size will often increase unless somehow constrained from doing so. Similarly, if a JPEG image of a natural scene is re-encoded as a GIF, the file size will increase unless it is somehow constrained from doing so. In the final permutation, when an arbitrary JPEG image of an artificial scene is to be re-encoded as a GIF file, the file size cannot be predicted because much depends upon the quality of the initially encoded JPEG image (e.g. how blurred it has become).
Thus, encoding an image in a format less suited to the type of image (natural vs. graphic) can produce undesirable results. For example, encoding a photograph as a GIF image may result in a grainy image having a much larger file size than would be the case if JPEG format were used. Some systems are designed to handle one particular type of image (e.g. digital cameras are designed to store photographs of real world scenes or real world objects) so the choice of which encoding format to use can be reliably predetermined. Other systems, such as personal computers, allow an end user to decide on an encoding format for an image. Still other systems must handle a variety of image types in situations where user input to decide what format to use is either undesirable or impractical. For example, a system that processes a sequence of image types, and is expected to quickly decide on which format to use, is preferably an automated system rather than one that relies on input from an end user, since an end user might take too long to decide or might not be able to be relied on to make the best decision in a high enough percentage of cases. An example of such a system in which the decision is preferably automated is an image conversion server, which is a system that accepts incoming images and converts various properties (resolution, size and bytes, and other properties) to meet predetermined target requirements. Because the content of incoming images may vary widely, and because many images need to be processed quickly, an automated method of selecting the appropriate encoding format is desirable.
So what is needed is an automated system for choosing, from among a predetermined set of formats, a suitable format for encoding or re-encoding an image, an automated system that preferably is able to process a sequence of images so as to determine a suitable encoding format for each in a time acceptable for real world applications.

Method and apparatus for selecting a format in which to re-encode a quantized image


A catalyst for polymerizing an olefin which consists essentially of a product obtained by contacting (A) a metallocene-type transition metal compound, (B) at least one member selected from the group consisting of clay, clay minerals, ion exchanging layered compounds, diatomaceous earth, silicates and zeolites, and (C) an organic aluminum compound.

For the production of an olefin polymer by polymerizing an olefin in the presence of a catalyst, a method has been proposed wherein a catalyst comprising (1) metallocene and (2) aluminoxane is employed (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications No. 019309/1983 and No. 167307/1990). According to the polymerization method using such a catalyst, the polymerization activities per transition metal are very high as compared with a method of using a conventional Ziegler-Natta catalyst comprising a titanium compound or a vanadium compound and an organic aluminum compound, and it is thereby possible to obtain a polymer having a narrow molecular weight distribution. However, in order to obtain adequate polymerization activities by means of such a catalyst, a large amount of aluminoxane is required, and the polymerization activities per aluminum are low, such being uneconomical. Besides, it is necessary to remove the catalyst residue from the formed polymer.
On the other hand, a method has been proposed wherein polymerization of an olefin is conducted by means of a catalyst having one or both of the above transition metal compound and the aluminoxane carried on an inorganic oxide such as silica or alumina (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications Nos. 108610/1986, 135408/1985, 296008/1986, 74412/1991 and No. 74415/1991).
Further, a method has been proposed wherein polymerization of an olefin is conducted by means of a catalyst having one or both of the above transition metal compound and an organic aluminum compound carried on an inorganic oxide such as silica or alumina or on an organic material (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications Nos. 101303/1989, 207303/1989, 234709/1991 and 234710/1991 and Japanese PCT Publication No. 501869/1991).
However, by these methods, the polymerization activities per aluminum are still inadequate, and the amount of the catalyst residue in the product is not negligible.

Catalyst for polymerizing an olefin and method for producing an olefin polymer


An organic electroluminescence device includes: a cathode; an anode; and an organic thin-film layer including at least one layer and provided between the cathode and the anode. At least one layer of the organic thin-film layer includes: an organic-electroluminescence-device material represented by any one of the following formulae (1), (2) and (3); and at least one phosphorescent material, in which the organic-electroluminescence-device material may have a substituent. A or Ar may be substituted by a phenyl group or a naphthyl group.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an organic electroluminescence device (hereinafter abbreviated as organic EL device as needed) and a material for the organic electroluminescence device. In particular, the present invention relates to an organic electroluminescence device including a red emitting layer and a material used for the organic electroluminescence device.
2. Description of Related Art
An organic EL device, which includes an organic thin-film layer (in which an emitting layer is included) between an anode and a cathode, has been known to emit light using exciton energy generated by a recombination of holes and electrons that have been injected into the emitting layer (e.g., see document 1: US2002/0182441, document 2: WO2005/112519, document 3: JP-A-2003-142267, document 4: WO2007/046658, document 5: JP-A-2006-151966, document 6: JP-A-2005-8588, document 7: JP-A-2005-19219, document 8: JP-A-2005-197262, document 9: JP-A-2004-75567, document 10: US2008/0224603, document 11: JP-A-2004-281390, document 12: JP-A-2006-045503, document 13: WO2009/008215, document 14: WO2009/008205, document 15: WO2002/20693, document 16: JP-A-2001-250690, document 17: JP-A-2001-244075, document 18: JP-A-2001-257074, and document 19: JP-A-10-189248).
Such an organic EL device, which has the advantages as a self-emitting device, is expected to serve as an emitting device excellent in luminous efficiency, image quality, power consumption and thin design.
An example of a further improvement to be made in an organic EL device is an improvement in luminous efficiency.
In this respect, in order to enhance internal quantum efficiency, developments have been made on an emitting material (phosphorescent material) that emits light using triplet excitons. In recent years, there has been a report on a phosphorescent organic EL device.
Since the internal quantum efficiency can be enhanced up to 75% or more (up to approximately 100% in theory) by forming the emitting layer (phosphorescent-emitting layer) from such a phosphorescent material, an organic EL device having high efficiency and consuming less power can be obtained.
In forming the emitting layer, a doping method, according to which an emitting material (dopant) is doped to a host material, has been known as a usable method.
The emitting layer formed by the doping method can efficiently generate excitons from electric charges injected into the host material. With the exciton energy generated by the excitons being transferred to the dopant, the dopant can emit light with high efficiency.
In order to intermolecularly transfer the energy from the host material to the phosphorescent dopant, triplet energy EgH of the host material is required to be larger than triplet energy EgD of the phosphorescent dopant.
A known representative example of a material having effectively-large triplet energy has been CBP (4,4′-bis(N-carbazolyl)biphenyl). See, for instance, the document 1.
By using such CBP as the host material, energy can be transferred to a phosphorescent dopant for emitting light of a predetermined emitting wavelength (e.g., green, red), by which an organic EL device of high efficiency can be obtained.
Alternatively, the document 2 discloses a technique according to which a fused-ring derivative containing a nitrogen-containing ring such as carbazole is used as the host material for a red-phosphorescent-emitting layer.
On the other hand, a variety of host materials (fluorescent hosts) for fluorescent dopants that generate fluorescent emission are known. Various proposals have been made on a host material capable of, with a combination of a fluorescent dopant, providing a fluorescent-emitting layer excellent in luminous efficiency and lifetime.
However, although a fluorescent host has larger excited singlet energy Eg(S) than a fluorescent dopant, such a fluorescent host does not necessarily have larger triplet energy Eg(T). Accordingly, it is not successful to simply apply the fluorescent host to the host material (phosphorescent host) for a phosphorescent-emitting layer.
A well-known example of such a fluorescent host is an anthracene derivative.
However, triplet energy Eg(T) of an anthracene derivative is relatively small (approximately 1.9 eV). Thus, energy cannot be reliably transferred to a phosphorescent dopant for emitting light having a wavelength in a visible light range of 520 nm to 720 nm. In addition, excited triplet energy cannot be trapped within the emitting layer.
Accordingly, an anthracene derivative is not suitable for the phosphorescent host.
Further, derivatives such as a perylene derivative, a pyrene derivative and a naphthacene derivative are not preferable phosphorescent hosts for the same reason above.
Alternatively, an exemplary arrangement in which an aromatic hydrocarbon compound is used as the phosphorescent host has been known (the document 3). In the arrangement disclosed in the document 3, a compound in which two aromatic groups are bonded as substituents to a benzene central skeleton in meta positions is used as the phosphorescent host.
The documents 4 to 9 disclose organic EL devices in which various aromatic hydrocarbon compounds are used.
Further, the document 10 exemplifies compounds in which fused aromatic hydrocarbon rings are arranged at right and left substituent positions of 2,7-naphthalene rings.
The document 11 exemplifies compounds in which phenanthroline rings (nitrogen-containing heterocycles) are arranged at right and left substituent positions of 2,7-naphthalene rings.
The document 12 exemplifies compounds in which aromatic substituent groups of which essential skeletons are anthracene rings are arranged at right and left substituent positions of 2,7-naphthalene rings.
Moreover, the documents 13 and 14 disclose compounds having a structure in which four aromatic hydrocarbon rings are continuously coupled to one another and organic EL devices in which the compounds are used. Such an aromatic hydrocarbon compound is structured so that: the aromatic hydrocarbon ring at one terminal end is a fused polycyclic aromatic ring; the aromatic hydrocarbon ring adjoined and coupled to that aromatic hydrocarbon ring is a divalent benzene ring having a meta bonding; and the remaining two rings are fused aromatic rings. The documents further disclose that a device of which emitting layer uses both the aromatic hydrocarbon compound and a red-phosphorescent complex exhibits relatively high efficiency and relatively long device lifetime.
Further, fluoranthene compounds related to this invention and organic EL devices in which the fluoranthene compounds are used are also disclosed in the documents 15 to 19.
However, when applied with CBP as the host material, the organic EL device disclosed in the document 1 exhibits much higher luminous efficiency due to phosphorescent emission on one hand, but exhibits such a short lifetime as to be practically unusable on the other hand. Such a problem is considered to be attributed to considerable degradation of molecules by holes due to not-high oxidation stability that the molecular structure of CBP exhibits.
Although the organic EL device disclosed in the document 2 exhibits improvement in the luminous efficiency and lifetime, the improved luminous efficiency and lifetime may not be always sufficient for practical application.
The aromatic hydrocarbon compound disclosed in the document 3 is molecularly structured such that the molecules extend from the benzene central skeleton in a manner symmetrical relative to the benzene central skeleton. Therefore, an emitting layer applied with the aromatic hydrocarbon compound tends to be easily crystallized. Accordingly, an organic EL device in which the aromatic hydrocarbon compound disclosed in the document 3 is used may require higher driving voltage.
The documents 4 to 9 are totally silent on the effectivity of the aromatic hydrocarbon compounds used in organic EL devices as the phosphorescent hosts.
In the organic EL devices disclosed in the documents 10 to 14, which require relatively high driving voltage, lifetime of the devices may not be sufficiently prolonged.
Further, the documents 15 to 19 are totally silent on structures in which the fluoranthene compounds and phosphorescent materials are used together in organic EL devices.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Organic electroluminescence device and material for organic electroluminescence device


A technique for checking a logic design for compliance with a set of design rules in a computer-aided logic design system. An initial logic design is provided in computer-readable form in a logic design file. A set of design rules expressing permitted and prohibited structural and functional logic device relationships is provided as a portion of a logic design simulation system capable of synthesizing the initial design into a simulated network list. The initial design is checked against the various design rules incorporated into the set, and any violation of the design rules by the initial logic design is visibly displayed to the user. In one mode of operation, a list of user selectable optional rules is visibly displayed. A hierarchy of levels of design compliance is also displayed for user selection. For some design rules, a comparison can be made with the synthesized version of the initial logic design in order to spot design rule violations introduced by the synthesis process.

The present invention relates generally to tools for computer-aided software engineering. More specifically, the present invention relates to a software-implemented tool for assisting in the design of logic circuits having interconnected circuit elements, the invention providing a technique for checking a user's design against a set of design rules.
Computer design tools are known for assisting circuit designers in the laying out and simulation testing of logic circuitry. One such software base system is that system sold under the trademark MAX-PLUS available from Altera Corporation of San Jose, Calif. Typically, the designer uses such a system to initially design and subsequently test the operation of the design using computer simulation techniques. With reference to FIG. 1, a typical computer logic simulation technique proceeds by initially providing a logic design in the form of a schematic or netlist stored in a file 10 and converting the netlist by means of a logic compiler 12 into a simulator logic netlist 14 that is used by a logic simulator 15. In use, a set of simulation input vectors 16 is also provided to the logic simulator, which reads the simulator logic netlist, along with the simulator input vectors and "simulates" the operation of the logic design by propagating logic levels through the logic primitives in order to generate a set of output vectors 18, which are the simulated outputs of the logic design. This process has been found to be exceedingly useful in the field of logic design, particularly for complex circuits intended for physical implementation in erasable programmable logic devices (EPLDs) and mask programmable logic devices (MPLDs). Recently, with volume applications of circuits, the trend has been to either initially design the logic circuitry with MPLD implementation in mind, or to convert an original design intended for implementation in EPLD form to a functionally identical design intended for implementation in an MPLD form. Typically, a given user's design must conform to a set of design rules governing permitted and prohibited structural and functional configurations, in order for the design to be useful and reliable. Failure to comply with one or a few of the design rules, while not necessarily fatal to the operation of a circuit, can introduce operational uncertainties under special conditions, sometimes with a cumulative effect leading to a partially inoperative or, in extreme cases, a totally inoperative circuit design. While the logic simulation process is intended to reveal erroneous or inconsistent responses to stimulation by the test input vectors, such a result is only obtained after an often lengthy and time consuming simulation of the original design.

Design verification method for programmable logic design


The present invention is an image based oxygen saturation measuring device and method thereof. The method comprises steps of providing a plurality of red lights and a plurality of infrared lights arranged uniformly in an interlocked fashion and turned on alternatively; controlling the plurality of red lights and infrared lights to irradiate onto a selected skin area of a testee to have a red light turn-on period and an infrared light turn-on period; receiving a reflected version of the plurality of red lights and infrared lights from the selected skin area, respectively; and analyzing one reflected red light and one infrared light to acquire an oxygen saturation index for each of the coordination points. By means of the present invention, the measurement of oxygen saturation may be much exempted from effects brought from exterior interference and poor blood circulation, and may achieve a large measurement area in a single time.

Technical Field
The present invention is related to an oxygen saturation technique, and particularly to an oxygen saturation measuring device and method.
Related Art
Oxygen concentration, also named as oxygen saturation, is crucial to human body health, some oxygen saturation measuring techniques are accordingly set forth, whereby achieving the purpose of disease prevention and monitoring.
An oximeter is a medical instrument measuring an oxygen containing amount in hemoglobin in human body. Dislike the measurement of blood collection/sampling, the oximeter does the measuring job based on non-invaded optical modulation mechanism, in which two optical beams having respective wavelengths which may be absorbed by oxyhemoglobin and deoxyhemoglobin in human body are provided for measurement. After the two optical beams transmit on a selected skin area with blood vessel below, a concentration of the oxyhemoglobin and deoxyhemoglobin may be measured respectively according to a variation from the incident light to the transmitted light.
The subject portion of the human body for the measurement may be a finger, a lobe, and a thigh. The transmitted light may be used as a basis for determining the oxygen saturation is because the intensity of incident light may be affected by the concentration of oxyhemoglobin and deoxyhemoglobin. Thereafter, the photoelectric conversion technique is used to acquire respective electric type signals of the oxyhemoglobin and deoxyhemoglobin. By means of computation conducted in the microprocessor, oxygen saturation equations defined previously in the microprocessor may calculate the oxygen saturation value.
Generally, the red light and infrared light are taken as the two light sources for measurement, and their wavelengths are 660 nm and 940 nm. In addition, the prior such device only uses a point light source for a single point of the skin for measurement. However, if the testee has a weak distal blood circulation, the obtained oxygen saturation information cannot exactly reflect the test's general oxygen saturation, and may not acquire the oxygen saturation information of other portions of the skin at one time. To obtain the oxygen saturation information for a specific area of the skin, the oximeter has to be used several times. However, one time of such measurement may only be conducted for a single point of the skin.
Typically, such prior device uses the transmitted light as the basis for determination of the output light intensity of the red light and infrared light. However, the transmitted light based measurement of oxygen saturation is apt to be affected by the lower blood amount, different skin colors, and irregular heart pulse. Therefore, the accuracy of such measurement needs to be promoted and verified. There has been a technique of determining the oxygen saturation by receiving a reflected red light and infrared light as the output lights, but the measured scope is still limited to a single point.
In view of the above, the prior oximeter still has to be improved to further satisfy the use of oxygen saturation measurement, and the present invention discloses accordingly an image oxygen saturation measurement device and method, whereby enhancing convenience and accuracy of the currently available such device.

Image based oxygen saturation measuring device and method thereof


A system and method for database management for providing support for long-term storage and retrieval of objects created by application programs written at least in part in object-oriented programming languages consists of a plurality of software modules. These modules provide data definition language translation, object management, object translation, and persistent object storage service. Such system implements an object fault capability to reduce the number of interactions between the application, the database management system, and the database.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to database management systems and more particularly to a system and method providing support for long-term storage and retrieval of objects created by application programs written in object-oriented programming languages.
2. Description of Related Art
Many new computer software applications, such as Computer-Aided Design and Manufacturing, Computer-Aided Software Engineering, multimedia and hypermedia information systems, and Artificial Intelligence Expert systems, have data models that are much more complex than previous system, both in content and interobject relationships. Object-oriented languages provide the application developer the mechanism to create and manipulate the data models inherent in these applications. Database systems provide long term storage of the data created by these applications. However, existing languages and databases are insufficient to develop these applications because existing object-oriented languages do not provide direct support for long-term storage and sharing of objects, existing commercial database systems (hierarchical, network, and relational) do not support the necessary complex object-oriented data models, and existing database systems require an application developer to use different languages and modeling paradigms when building applications.
There have been various research and commercial efforts aimed at developing OODBs. These OODBs vary in type of data model employed, application program interaction, object access method, method of persistent object store, etc. Examples of these current OODBs, and their weaknesses, will now be considered.
Iris (Hewlett Packard) and GemStone (Servio Corporation) are representative OODBs employing new proprietary object-oriented data models, while Vbase (Ontologic), Orion (Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation), and DOME (Dome Software Corporation) are examples of OODBs incorporating proprietary extensions to existing programming language data models. In these types of OODBs, application developers are required to learn a new proprietary data model in order to effectively use the OODB. Since their data model is new, using it often results in a loss of productivity as application developers learn the new language. In Orion, instances of user-defined classes cannot be stored in the database unless they have been derived from Orion-defined classes. In addition, GemStone and Orion do not allow for an instance of their classes to be transient; that is, every object created in a GemStone- or Orion-based application will be stored in the database unless it is specifically deleted. Another problem with developing a new data model is that it requires application developers to rely on a single source of application development tools, such as language compilers, object libraries, and program debuggers, which limits widespread acceptance of these OODBs.
POSTGRES (University of Berkeley) is an example of an OODB employing another type of data model, that of a proprietary extension to an existing relational database. POSTGRES is a combination of an extended relational and object-oriented database. Objects are created using relational table descriptions, while functions to manipulate the objects are created using the POSTQUEL query language as well as conventional languages (C and LISP). In addition, if the application developer wishes to add indices over user-defined types, they must write and register with POSTGRES functions to perform the various comparison operations between two objects of the same user defined type. Since the latter mode of creating functions requires the application developers to map between the POSTGRES and C/LISP data models, which can be error prone and distracting from the task of developing the application system, this strategy does nothing to alleviate the burdensome requirement to use different languages and modeling paradigms when building applications. This problem of mapping between the object-oriented and relational data models was discussed in-depth in the Intermedia OOPSLA '87 conference paper.
Ontos (Ontologic) and Object Store (Object Design) are representative of OODBs employing the last type of data model, namely the use of an existing programming language data model (e.g., using the C++ programming language data model for writing software programs and interacting with the database). Both systems, however, require the use of a proprietary language compiler to add additional code (Ontos) or translate new and non-standard C++ language constructs (Object Store). As with the first two types of OODBs, this approach requires application developers to rely on a single source of application development tools, which also limits widespread acceptance of these OODBs.
In addition to problems inherent with the type of data models selected, difficulties occur when an application program interacts with an OODB. In the Iris OODB, application developers define object types and develop functions to manipulate the objects using the proprietary Iris language. Iris provides an interactive interface where requests can be made to retrieve or manipulate Iris objects. The requests are evaluated by performing relational queries (since the objects are stored in relational tables) and the result is returned as an Iris expression, not as object values or references. Iris provides an embedded object SQL interface, a C language interface (which is not object-oriented), and allows the application developer to register foreign functions written in existing (possibly non-object-oriented) programming languages. These approaches require the application developer to map the Iris objects into data structures accessible by the programming language, reintroducing the problems discussed above.
Similarly, the developers of the GemStone OODB also defined a new language, OPAL, which the application developer uses to define object types and functions to manipulate the objects. GemStone provides an interactive development environment for developing OPAL objects and functions. GemStone also provides a mechanism for existing programming languages (C and Smalltalk) to interact with GemStone. However, unless the applications developer uses only the OPAL language, two data models and languages must be used to interact with the database, mapping the OPAL objects into structures accessible by the programming language, and thereby resulting in the problems associated discussed previously.
The Vbase OODB requires two separate languages, TDL to define object types, and COP (an extension to the C programming language) to develop application programs. Although application developers do not need to map objects between the data model and the programming language, they must still use two languages during the development of their programs, with the attendant problems considered above. A further restriction of this system includes the failure to provide access to the database from other programming languages.
Although the Orion OODB developers used an existing programming language, Common Lisp, for their data model, they developed several proprietary extensions to the language. As with Vbase, there is no need to map between the data model and programming language with the Orion OODB. However, this approach requires the use of a proprietary language translator.
The developers of POSTGRES, on the other hand, expect most application developers to write programs that interact with the database primarily using the POSTGRES query language, POSTQUEL. Navigation between objects is possible; however, a query must be issued to perform the navigation instead of accessing the referenced object directly. Application developers can define and implement their own functions including programming language statements, POSTQUEL query statements, and/or calls to POSTGRES' internal functions. Thus, application developers may have to deal with two or more data models to build their application systems. Such requirement fails to alleviate the problems considered above.
The Ontos approach provides an interface from the C++ language to the database. However, the amount of interaction between the program and Ontos is much higher than is reasonable or necessary due to the requirement of specialized functions that must be provided by the application developer (e.g., object construction, translation, storage/retrieval, etc.). This burdens the application developer with more work that could have been performed by the database system. Object Store also provides an interface from the C++ language to the database. However, the interface is accomplished by redefining the semantics of or adding new C++ language constructs, thereby requiring the use of Object Design's proprietary C++ language translator, which limits widespread acceptance of their system.
Access to an object in an OODB is performed by manipulating the object using predefined functions, using an explicit query, or by coding explicit references in a programming language.
In the Iris OODB, application developers call functions to retrieve or change values in the object. A program cannot receive a reference to an object which could be passed to other functions. In the GemStone, Vbase, and Orion OODBs, individual objects can be accessed and passed to functions to retrieve or assign values.
In the POSTGRES database, application developers perform queries to retrieve or change values in the object (actually, relational tuples). POSTGRES allows a foreign function to access an object, but as stated above, it must be mapped from the relational data model to the data model of the foreign function's programming language.
Although most OODBs allow the application developer to explicitly retrieve an object from the database (Iris and POSTGRES do not), they do not allow the application developer to specify when objects related to the original object should be retrieved. For example, application developers can access objects in Ontos using one of two modes. In the first mode, an object is explicitly retrieved and referenced objects are implicitly retrieved using an object fault capability. In the other mode, one or more related objects can be explicitly retrieved, but the application must continually check to see if a referenced object is already in memory, and then explicitly retrieve it if is not. This requires the application developer to employ two completely different models of accessing persistent objects in the same program, which can easily cause errors in the program by the inadvertent and natural use of one mode where the other mode should have been used.
The approach taken by Object Store is quite different from the above OODBs with regard to object access. Object Store's model is more like a persistent memory (an extension of virtual memory computer operating system) than an OODB. Object Design chose to completely reimplement the virtual memory management functions of the C++ programming language and the UNIX (TM) operating system. Whenever a persistent object is created or retrieved from the database, it is installed in a portion of primary memory controlled by Object Design. Thus, references to the object are, in essence, monitored by Object Design's software. If the object is not currently in primary memory, it will be retrieved from the database and installed in primary memory. This style of memory management requires that any class or class library requiring persistence must be written using this memory management scheme, or perform no dynamic memory management thereby resulting in one version of the library for persistent usage and one version for transient usage. Although this approach improves the object storage and retrieval performance, it is inherently dependent on the underlying computer operating system and memory architecture, and thus not portable to other computer systems.
Therefore, these approaches either limit how an application program can access an object, or require additional work in order for the program to access an object.
Most OODBs (except for Iris and DOME) have developed their persistent object storage facility utilizing an existing file management system. They had to develop new implementations of the disk storage structures and management, concurrency control, transaction management, communication, and storage management subsystems. This approach increases the complexity of the overall database system software.
The Iris and DOME OODBs, on the other hand, use existing commercial Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMS) to store their objects. Although the Iris OODB uses Hewlett Packard's relational database HP-SQL, it does not use the SQL interface to that database, restricting access to the objects to the available Iris functions, Iris interactive browser, C language interface, and embedded Iris SQL. Although Iris allows the application developer to define how objects are to be stored, the use of Hewlett Packard's RDBMS imposes a limit on the size of an object. The DOME OODB, which uses Oracle Corporation's Oracle RDBMS, and the POSTGRES system, which has its own relational storage system, decomposes objects into one or more entries in one or more relational tables. This approach requires a relational join whenever more than one attribute value from an object is retrieved. Relational join operations are computationally expensive.
In the GemStone and Object Store OODBs, the unit of concurrency control is not an object but a secondary memory segment, or page. This approach can improve the performance of secondary memory reads and writes, but results in having the storage facility read, write, and lock more data than may be necessary. In addition, this restricts the amount of concurrent access to objects since the OODB system, and not the application developer, chooses the unit of concurrency control.
Most of the OODBs allow related objects to be clustered together in the persistent object storage. GemStone and Orion only allow clustering controls to be specified when the entire database is defined. Vbase and Ontos allow runtime specification of clustering controls to store one persistent object as close as possible to another persistent object. Object Store also allows runtime specification of clustering controls to store statically allocated objects in a specific database and dynamically allocated objects in a specific database or as close as possible to another persistent object. This requires the application developer to treat similar objects with different models of clustering, which can cause errors in the program by the inadvertent use of one mode where the other mode should have been used. These systems indicate that such clustering specifications are purely hints which the system may ignore. These clustering hints may require rebuilding of the database if they are changed, thereby restricting the ability of the application developers to tune the database's performance by altering the physical grouping of objects. Furthermore, the systems based on relational storage, such as Iris, POSTGRES, and DOME, do not allow user-defined clustering of objects.

System and method for database management supporting object-oriented programming


A navigation system includes: a control unit configured to generate a feed hierarchy for prioritizing a trustworthiness of an interest feed based on a feed characteristic; determine a discrepancy by comparing the interest feed with the interest list, a feed record, or a combination thereof; determine a feed authorization based on the feed characteristic, the feed hierarchy, an entry category, or a combination thereof for manipulating the interest list; generate an update to the interest list based on the discrepancy, the feed hierarchy, and the feed authorization; and confirm the update to the interest list based on a navigation behavior at an interest location associated with the update as determined by a location unit coupled to the control unit.

Modern portable consumer and industrial electronics, especially client devices such as navigation systems, cellular phones, portable digital assistants, and combination devices, are providing increasing levels of functionality to support modern life including location-based information services. Research and development in the existing technologies can take myriad directions.
As users become more empowered with the growth of mobile location based service devices, new and old paradigms begin to take advantage of this new device space. There are many technological solutions to take advantage of this new device location opportunity. One existing approach is to provide information concerning points of interest (POIs) along with navigation information.
However, the high rate of turnover among today's businesses often present challenges with respect to information gathering concerning such businesses. Thus, a need still remains for a navigation system with a feed prioritization mechanism. In view of the ever-increasing commercial competitive pressures, along with growing consumer expectations and the diminishing opportunities for meaningful product differentiation in the marketplace, it is increasingly critical that answers be found to these problems. Additionally, the need to reduce costs, improve efficiencies and performance, and meet competitive pressures adds an even greater urgency to the critical necessity for finding answers to these problems.
Solutions to these problems have been long sought but prior developments have not taught or suggested any solutions and, thus, solutions to these problems have long eluded those skilled in the art.

Navigation system with feed prioritization mechanism and method of operation thereof


The present invention relates to novel sequences for use in diagnosis and treatment of carcinomas, especially breast cancers. In addition, the present invention describes the use of novel compositions for use in screening methods. The invention provides compositions and methods associated with altered expression of PRLR in cancer.

Oncogenes are genes that can cause cancer. Carcinogenesis can occur by a wide variety of mechanisms, including infection of cells by viruses containing oncogenes, activation of protooncogenes in the host genome, and mutations of protooncogenes and tumor suppressor genes. There are a number of viruses known to be involved in human cancer as well as in animal cancer. Of particular interest here are viruses that do not contain oncogenes themselves; these are slow-transforming retroviruses. They induce tumors by integrating into the host genome and affecting neighboring protooncogenes in a variety of ways, including promoter insertion, enhancer insertion, and/or truncation of a protooncogene or tumor suppressor gene. The analysis of sequences at or near the insertion sites led to the identification of a number of new protooncogenes.
With respect to lymphoma and leukemia, murine leukemia retrovirus (MuLV), such as SL3-3 or Akv, is a potent inducer of tumors when inoculated into susceptible newborn mice, or when carried in the germline. A number of sequences have been identified as relevant in the induction of lymphoma and leukemia by analyzing the insertion sites; see Sorensen et al., J. of Virology 74:2161 (2000); Hansen et al., Genome Res. 10(2):237-43 (2000); Sorensen et al., J. Virology 70:4063 (1996); Sorensen et al. J. Virology 67:7118 (1993); Joosten et al., Virology 268:308 (2000); and Li et al., Nature Genetics 23:348 (1999); all of which are expressly incorporated by reference herein.
Breast cancer is one of the most significant diseases that affects women. At the current rate, American women have a 1 in 8 risk of developing breast cancer by age 95 (American Cancer Society, 1992). Treatment of breast cancer at later stages is often futile and disfiguring, making early detection a high priority in medical management of the disease.
PRLR is a prolactin receptor. The PRLR is a member of a larger family, known as the cytokine class-1 receptor superfamily, which currently has more than 20 different members. PRLRs are widely distributed throughout the body. A number of disease states, including the growth of different forms of cancer as well as various autoimmune diseases, appear to be related to an overproduction of PRL, which may act in an endocrine, autocrine, or paracrine manner, or via an increased sensitivity to the hormone.
The first step in the mechanism of action of PRL is the binding to a cell surface receptor. The PRLR contains no intrinsic tyrosine kinase cytoplasmic domain but associates with a cytoplasmic tyrosine kinase, JAK2. Dimerization of the receptor induces tyrosine phosphorylation and activation of the JAK kinase followed by phosphorylation of the receptor. Other receptor-associated kinases of the Src family have also been shown to be activated by PRL. One pathway of signaling involves phosphorylation of cytoplasmic Stat proteins, which themselves dimerize and translocate to nucleus and bind to specific promoter elements on PRL-responsive genes. In addition, the Ras/Raf/MAP kinase pathway is also activated by PRL and may be involved in the proliferative effects of the hormone.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide sequences involved in cancer and in particular in oncogenesis and breast cancer.

Compositions and methods in cancer associated with altered expression of PRLR


A gripping aid to be mounted on a hand-held instrument, is provided that assures a dynamic tripod grasp. The gripping aid beneficially includes generally arched, oppositely extending thumb wrap-preventing rims.

Persons and in particular young children learning how to write, often grip hand held instruments used for writing, drawing and painting improperly. Absent instruction to the contrary, individuals will generally grasp a pencil in a manner that feels the most stable to him or her.
Beginning at age three and through adulthood, the most stable grasp that still allows precision and proper pencil pressure, is a dynamic tripod grasp. The dynamic tripod grasp requires separation of the radial and ulnar sides of the hand. The radial side of the hand, namely the thumb, index finger and middle finger, are generally referred to as the precision side of the hand. The ulnar side of the hand, namely the ring finger and little finger, are referred to as the power side of the hand.
To achieve a dynamic tripod grasp, the individual pinches the instrument between the distal pads of the index finger and thumb, and then rests the instrument on the lateral distal interphalangeal (DIP) joint of the middle finger. These three fingers together are the tripod. These three fingers supported by arches in the palm of the hand, utilize precise movements of rotation, flexion and extension to achieve the small movements needed for letter formation or other fine motor activities requiring accuracy. In addition, the space between the thumb and index finger, namely the web space, must be maintained in an open and circular manner to support the dynamic movements of the tripod fingers. The ulnar side of the hand stays in a flexed and quiet position so as to provide a stable base of support from which the tripod can move.
Many individuals develop improper grasping habits by gravitating towards seemingly more stable grasp patterns at the expense of precision. For example, a common improper grasp pattern is the thumb wrap grasp, in which the thumb overlaps the instrument. The result when using a pencil, is an inactive thumb that pulls in other muscles to compensate, and increased pencil pressure, decreased pencil control and increased hand fatigue when writing. Other common improper grasping patterns include hyperextension at the DIP joints of the thumb and index finger, which causes increased instrument pressure and a tight grasp, resulting in hand fatigue; power grasp in which the instrument is held in a fisted manner with the ulnar side of the hand toward the paper, resulting in decreased precision and increased instrument pressure; four-finger digital grasp in which all four finger pads touch a pencil on one side and the thumb pad opposes the fingers on the other side of the pencil, resulting in decreased pencil control and decreased pencil pressure; and internal rotation and adduction of the thumb, resulting in a closed web space, increased instrument pressure, increased hand fatigue and poor instrument control.
As a result of compensatory grasping patterns, learning how to write properly, legibly, neatly, efficiently, and with enough endurance to complete tasks within a typical time frame, is hindered. Furthermore, efficient use of other hand held instruments is impeded. In addition, thumb and finger joints can be subjected to unnecessary stress.
As exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 1,879,456 to Parsons, U.S. Pat. No. 4,526,547 to Rusk, U.S. Pat. No. 5,143,463 to Pozil et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,626,430 to Bistrack, U.S. Pat. No. 6,254,293 to Citrenbaum, and U.S. Des. Pat. No. 228,418, and Patent Application Publications 2002/0034411 to Rusk and 2003/0231917 to Geddes et al, and by the START RIGHT pencil grip, gripping aids, and in particular writing aids, that are mounted on hand held instruments are known. However, no prior art gripping aid is entirely satisfactory.
For example, the asymmetrical Pozil grip, which has an elongated body provided with three concave surface depressions to be grasped by the thumb, index finger and middle finger, and which is commercially made of soft rubber, does not adequately prevent thumb wrap, thumb internal rotation or index finger DIP joint hyperextension. Furthermore, it can be understood from col. 3, lines 51–57, of the Pozil et al patent, that the Pozil grip is intended to reduce dynamic finger movements and increase full hand and arm action. Although that result benefits an arthritic individual, it does not optimally benefit learning how to write properly.
Beneficially, the START RIGHT pencil grip includes a thumb wrap-preventing guard that extends from a proximal body end to a distal body end, and that is generally perpendicular to the throughbore at the distal body end. However, the START RIGHT pencil grip does not assure proper thumb and finger positioning.
There therefore continues to be a need for an improved gripping aid, and in particular a grip that assures proper positioning of the tripod fingers and keeps them in place. Beneficially, the gripping aid would assure fine motor control and dynamic movements of the tripod fingers. Moreover, it would be advantageous if the same gripping aid could be used by left handed and right handed users.


An aqueous silane composition for increasing the resistance to penetration by aqueous media of an absorbent substrate. The composition includes about 1.7 wt. % of an emulsion of an amino functional silicone having an amine content of about 70 mg KOH/gm; up to about 80 wt. % of a hydrolyzable silane; up to about 5 wt. % of an amino functional silane; and the balance water. The resulting composition is hydrolytically stable for a long period without requiring a separate buffering compound while, at the same time, may be prepared in much higher concentrations to reduce packaging and shipping costs.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to aqueous silane compositions and, more particularly, to aqueous silane compositions for use in making absorbent surfaces, such as masonry, water repellent.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Aqueous silane compositions have become important for making absorbent surfaces, such as masonry, water repellent. The following discussion is generally taken from U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,877,654 and 4,990,377 to Wilson. The entire disclosures of Wilson '654 and '377 are hereby incorporated by reference.
The utility of silanes, especially alkoxysilanes, as masonry water repellents is widely known. Compositions currently in use employ solutions of silanes in various organic solvents such as alcohol, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,772,065, to Seiler and U.S. Pat. No. 4,342,796, to Brown et al. or hydrocarbons, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,525,213 to Linn. Principal limitations of such solvent type compositions include the toxicity and the flammability of the solvents employed.
Aqueous silane compositions which are non-toxic and non-flammable have become important as effective masonry water repellent compositions. See, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,433,013, to Puhringer, 4,517,375 to Schmidt and 4,648,904 to DePasquale and U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,877,654 and 4,990,377 to Wilson. Such compositions can have an important drawback, however, in that the pH may tend to drift and then the silane reacts with water and hydrolyses. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,683,674 to Hatcher et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,175,159, to Raleigh. This reduces efficacy by reducing the content of active, water-repellent ingredient. Moreover, the pH of the system may shift when additives are included such as a biocide, which is commonly added to retard growth of fungi and the like.
Although the stability of the water-containing emulsions has been enhanced to some extent by refrigerating them, or the problem of reduced efficacy can be avoided by using the emulsions soon after preparation, both expedients are not cost-effective and may in some cases cause waterproofing contractors to go back to the above-mentioned solvent borne, non-aqueous compositions.
In some cases, the pH of the system has been adjusted to increase the rate of resin formation, see e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,552,910 to Deubzer et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,228,054, to Ona et al. Wilson, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,877,654 teaches that by selecting appropriate silanes (largely water insoluble) and appropriate emulsifiers, water-based, normally hydrolyzable silane emulsions may be prepared that are hydrolytically stable if the pH is maintained in a predetermined pH stable range, typically 6-8, with a buffering compound such as sodium bicarbonate. However, Wilson only teaches concentrations of less than about 60 percent and, in fact, his preferred compositions are about 40 percent. Significant savings in packaging and shipping could be obtained if the concentration could be increased since most of the current products are water which could easily be re-added at the site where the composition is being applied.
Thus, there remains a need for a new and improved aqueous silane compositions for use in making absorbent surfaces, such as masonry, water repellent which is hydrolytically stable for a long period without necessarily requiring a separate buffering compound while, at the same time, may be prepared in much higher concentrations to reduce packaging and shipping costs.

High concentration silane emulsions for rendering absorbent substrates water repellent