Novel CARD-3, CARD-4L, CARD-4S, CARD-4Y, CARD-4Z, and murine CARD-4L polypeptides, proteins, and nucleic acid molecules are disclosed. In addition to isolated CARD-3, CARD-4L, CARD-4S, CARD-4Y, CARD-4Z, and murine CARD-4L proteins, and the invention further provides CARD-3, CARD-4L, CARD-4S, CARD-4Y, CARD-4Z, and murine CARD-4L fusion proteins, antigenic peptides and anti-CARD-3, anti-CARD-4L and anti-CARD-4S, anti-CARD-4Y, anti-CARD-4Z, and anti-murine CARD-4L antibodies. The invention also provides CARD-3, CARD-4L, CARD-4S, CARD-4Y, CARD-4Z, and murine CARD-4L nucleic acid molecules, recombinant expression vectors containing a nucleic acid molecule of the invention, host cells into which the expression vectors have been introduced and non-human transgenic animals in which a CARD-3, CARD-4L, CARD-4S, CARD-4Y, CARD-4Z, and murine CARD-4L gene has been introduced or disrupted. The invention further provides CARD-3 and CARD-4 target proteins that bind to CARD-3 or CARD-4 and allelic variants of human CARD-4. Diagnostic, screening and therapeutic methods utilizing compositions of the invention are also provided.

In multicellular organisms, homeostasis is maintained by balancing the rate of cell proliferation against the rate of cell death. Cell proliferation is influenced by numerous growth factors and the expression of proto-oncogenes, which typically encourage progression through the cell cycle. In contrast, numerous events, including the expression of tumor suppressor genes, can lead to an arrest of cellular proliferation.
In differentiated cells, a particular type of cell death called apoptosis occurs when an internal suicide program is activated. This program can be initiated by a variety of external signals as well as signals that are generated within the cell in response to, for example, genetic damage. For many years, the magnitude of apoptotic cell death was not appreciated because the dying cells are quickly eliminated by phagocytes, without an inflammatory response.
The mechanisms that mediate apoptosis have been intensively studied. These mechanisms involve the activation of endogenous proteases, loss of mitochondrial function, and structural changes such as disruption of the cytoskeleton, cell shrinkage, membrane blebbing and nuclear condensation due to degradation of DNA. The various signals that trigger apoptosis are thought to bring about these events by converging on a common cell death pathway that is regulated by the expression of genes that are highly conserved from worms, such as C. elegans, to humans. In fact, invertebrate model systems have been invaluable tools in identifying and characterizing the genes that control apoptosis. Through the study of invertebrates and more evolved animals, numerous genes that are associated with cell death have been identified, but the way in which their products interact to execute the apoptotic program is poorly understood.
Caspases, a class of proteins central to the apoptotic program, are cysteine protease having specificity for aspartate at the substrate cleavage site. These proteases are primarily responsible for the degradation of cellular proteins that lead to the morphological changes seen in cells undergoing apoptosis. For example, one of the caspases identified in humans was previously known as the interleukin-1α (IL-1α) converging enzyme (ICE), a cysteine protease responsible for the processing of pro-IL-1α to the active cytokine. Overexpression of ICE in Rat-1 fibroblasts induces apoptosis (Miura et al., Cell 75:653, 1993).
Many caspases and proteins that interact with caspases possess domains of about 60 amino acids called a caspase recruitment domain (CARD). Hofmann et al. (TIBS 22:155, 1997) and others have postulated that certain apoptotic proteins bind to each other via their CARDs and that different subtypes of CARDs may confer binding specificity, regulating the activity of various caspases, for example.
The functional significance of CARDs have been demonstrated in recent publications. Duan et al. (Nature 385:86, 1997) showed that deleting the CARD at the N-terminus of RAIDD, a newly identified protein involved in apoptosis, abolished the ability of RAIDD to bind to caspases. In addition, Li et al. (Cell 91:479, 1997) showed that the N-terminal 97 amino acids of apoptotic protease activating factor-1 (Apaf-1) was sufficient to confer caspase-9-binding ability. Inohara et al. (J. Biol. Chem. 273:12296–12300, 1998) showed that Apaf-1can bind several other caspases as caspase-4 and caspase-8. Apaf-1can interact with caspases via CARD-CARD interaction (Li et al., supra, Hu et al., PNAS, 95:4386–4391, 1998).
Nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) is a transcription factor expressed in many cell types and which activates homologous or heterologous genes that have κB sites in their promoters. Quiescent NF-κB resides in the cytoplasm as a heterodimer between proteins referred to as p50 and p65 and is complexed with the regulatory protein IκB. NF-κB binding to IκB causes NF-κB to remain in the cytoplasm. At least two dozen stimuli that activate NF-κB are known (New England Journal of Medicine 336:1066, 1997) and they include cytokines, protein kinase C activators, oxidants, viruses, and immune system stimuli. NF-κB activating stimuli activate specific IkB kinases that phosphorylate IκB leading to its degradation. Once liberated from IκB, NF-κB translocates to the nucleus and activates genes with κB sites in their promoters. How all of these NF-κB activating stimuli act is unknown at the present time and it is presumed that novel NF-κB pathway components are involved. NF-κB and the NF-κB pathway has been implicated in mediating chronic inflammation in inflammatory diseases such as asthma, ulcerative colitis, rheumatoid arthritis (New England Journal of Medicine 336:1066, 1997) and inhibiting NF-κB or NF-κB pathways may be an effective way of treating these diseases. NF-κB and the NF-κB pathway has also been implicated in atherosclerosis (American Journal of Cardiology 75:18C, 1995), especially in mediating fatty streak formation, and inhibiting NF-κB or NF-κB pathways may be an effective therapy for atherosclerosis.

Molecules of the card-related protein family and uses thereof


A dual speed manual stand mixer. The mixer has a bowl with a cover fixed to the bowl. The cover includes a ring selectively mounting to the rim of the bowl, and a turntable mounted for rotation within the ring. Multiple whisks extend downward from the turntable into and within the bowl. Gearing is provided to cause both rotation of the turntable, as well as rotation of each individual whisk. A transmission is also provided to selectively connect a manual crank arm in one of two possible limit positions. The gearing ratios differ between these two position to thus drive the turntable and whisk rotation at two different speeds.

The present invention relates in general to food or similar mixers. In particular, to a food mixer powered by hand.
The preparation of various doughs, batters, creams, etc. requires the combining of two or more ingredients. While plain stirring of ingredients in a bowl is sometimes used, it is more preferred to employ one or more rotating beaters or whisks which are inserted within and move through the ingredients while rotating. These are typically broken into two categories: hand mixers, and stand mixers. With hand mixers the user moves the beaters within the bowl and determines the area being mixed. With stand mixers the bowl is fixed and the beaters move within the bowl following a path determined by the mechanism employed. Both type of mixers may be further subdivided into either powered (typically by an electric motor) or manual (hand-powered).


A fluidized-bed classifier has a vessel defining a space divided into an upper fluidized-bed chamber and a lower gas chamber by a perforated dispersion plate having the shape of a funnel. Rising currents of a gas, such as air, are blown through the dispersion plate into the upper fluidized-bed chamber to produce a fluidized bed of a particulate material over the dispersion plate. The lower gas chamber is divided into a first gas chamber and a second gas chamber by a partition plate. The gas is supplied into the first air chamber so that rising gas currents of a velocity necessary for fluidizing coarse particles contained in the particulate material fed into the vessel are blown from the first air chamber through the dispersion plate into the fluidized-bed chamber. The gas is supplied into the second air chamber so that rising gas currents of a velocity lower than the velocity of the rising gas currents blown from the first air chamber into the fluidized-bed chamber are blown into the fluidized-bed chamber so that coarse particles contained in the particulate material are not fluidized and does not flow together with fine particles into a fine particle discharge chute.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fluidized-bed classifier for classifying a particulate material pre-ground by a roller mill for grinding cement clinker or the like by particle size.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 5 shows the constitution of a cement clinker pre-grinding system disclosed in JP-A No. 7-108187. A fluidized-bed classifier 1 separates coarse particles from the material pre-ground by a roller mill through the agency of a fluidized bed, and returns the separated coarse particles to the roller mill 2 for regrinding. The fine particles separated from the particulate material by the fluidized-bed classifier 1 is fed to a tube mill 4 for further pulverization. The ground material pulverized by the tube mill 4 is conveyed upward by a bucket elevator 5 into a separator 6. The separator 6 separates fine particles from the ground material and delivers the fine particles as a product. Since the material fed to the tube mill 4 is obtained by separating coarse particles from the pre-ground material produced by the roller mill 2, the tube mill 4 may be provided with balls of a relatively small diameter and thereby the energy demand of the cement clinker pre-grinding system can be reduced. The roller mill 2 is replenished with cement clinker fed from the material hopper 7, and the cement clinker fed from the material hopper 7 is ground together with the coarse particles returned to the roller mill 2 from the fluidized-bed classifier 1.
FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the fluidized-bed classifier 1 included in the cement clinker pre-grinding system of FIG. 5. The internal space of a vessel 10 is partitioned into an upper fluidized-bed chamber 12 and a lower air chamber 13 by a perforated dispersion plate 11. Air is supplied through an air inlet 14 into the air chamber 13, and the air is discharged from the fluidized-bed chamber 12 through an air discharge duct 15. The vessel 10 is provided with a material feed chute 16 opening into the fluidized-bed chamber 12. A pre-ground material, such as cement clinker, is supplied through the material feed chute 16 into the fluidized-bed chamber 12, and then the pre-ground material is fluidized in the fluidized-bed chamber 12 by currents of air supplied into the air chamber 13 and blown through the perforations of the dispersion plate 11. The dispersion plate 11 is inclined at an inclination a so as to slope down from a side wall of the vessel 10 on the side of the material feed chute 16 toward a discharge side wall of the same. An upper chute 17 and a lower chute 18 are joined to an upper portion and a lower portion, respectively, of the discharge side wall of the vessel 10. The pre-ground material fed through the material feed chute inlet 16 is fluidized by current of air blown through the perforations of the dispersion plate 11 and flows along the inclined dispersion plate 11 toward the discharge side wall. Fine particles of the material are fluidized and flow upward in the fluidized bed into the upper chute 17, while coarse particles of the material are not fluidized at all, or even though they are fluidized they do not come up to the surface and slide along the inclined dispersion plate 11 into the lower chute 18. Accordingly, it is expected that fine particles are discharged through the upper chute 17 and coarse particles are discharged through the lower chute 18.
This known fluidized-bed classifier 1 shown in FIG. 6 is unable to separate fine particles and coarse particles satisfactorily from each other, because both the upper chute 17 and the lower chute 18 through which fine particles and coarse particles are discharged, respectively, from the vessel 10 are joined to the upper and the lower portion, respectively, of the discharge side wall of the vessel 10. Consequently, fine particles containing some coarse particles are discharged through the upper chute 17 into the tube mill 4 (FIG. 5), and hence the tube mill 4 needs balls of a diameter large enough to crush large particles mixed in small particles. The material has a very wide range of particle size distribution of ten-odd millimeters to several micrometers. Therefore, if such a material is to be fluidized to separate fine particles of particle sizes below several millimeters from the material, coarse particles of particle sizes greater than an upper limit particle size need to be fluidized and hence coarse particles having particle sizes greater than the upper limit particle size are included in fine particles discharged through the upper chute 17.
Since the dispersion plate 11 is a single, inclined, perforated plate, the difference in height between one end of the dispersion plate 11 on the side of material feed chute 16 and the other end of the same on the side of the upper chute 17 and the lower chute 18 is large if the fluidized-bed classifier 1 has a large size. Since the height of the upper stratification of the fluidized bed formed over the dispersion plate 11 is fixed, the difference in thickness between a portion of the fluidized bed on the side of the material feed chute 16 and a portion on the side of the upper chute 17 and the lower chute 18 is very large. Accordingly, it has been difficult to construct the fluidized-bed classifier 1 in a large size.


A packaging container for displaying and housing products that is aesthetically pleasing, effective and safe to open. The packaging container may include a substantially tear-resistant housing that encloses a tray that is preferably made from a paper material. The tray is substantially opaque to display graphics and/or to prevent viewing of the contents. The tray is preferably seamless such that it may not be opened without scissors, a knife or the like and, when opened, such opening is readily apparent. A second tray may also be used to create a dual-sided tray for housing the products, wherein the second tray may be substantially opaque or substantially transparent. An insert card may be used within the housing to reinforce the container and may be contained by fold-over edges of the housing.

Heretofore, it has been well known to use clamshell packaging for labeling and housing various products. Clamshells are generally comprised of a housing and a chamber for storing products and may be reusable or permanently sealed. Permanently sealed clamshells are generally formed from a clear plastic housing that is sealed together through radio frequency (RF), sonic vibrations or electrical resistance. As the housing is generally made from clear plastic, inserts made of cardboard and other materials are often inserted into the clamshell packaging to describe or label the goods. Furthermore, products within the packaging may be further packaged to enhance the overall appearance of the package.
While permanently sealed clamshells offer increased protection from pilfering, there are several drawbacks associated with the use of such clamshells. In particular, the processes for inserting an insert and for sealing the clamshell together are generally expensive and time consuming. Moreover, in order to hold the larger quantities of products in the "institutional" or "value" packages normally sold in warehouse clubs and the like, and/or to make such packages harder to shoplift, such large all-plastic clamshells tend to take up a greater amount of shelf space than necessary, use up more packaging material than necessary to make the package, and result in a greater amount of wasted packaging material. It is also common for the products to be further packaged inside the clamshell packaging, thereby requiring additional material, incurring additional cost and creating a larger overall package.
Such sealed all-plastic clamshells also tend to be harder to open by the consumer (after purchase) than other sorts of packaging. Additionally, such plastic packaging is typically rigid, whereby a knife or scissors being used to open the package by penetrating the plastic clamshell can bounce or slip off the package and cut or otherwise wound the user or someone situated adjacent the user. When cut open, the plastic housing often has sharp edges that can pose a risk to the user and/or young children. Furthermore, the plastic housing of the known packaging are not biodegradable or environment-friendly.
Another common type of container incorporates an opaque box to store goods or products so that they are not visible to the consumers or others. Such boxes are typically made from a cardboard or heavy stock paper having sides comprised of flaps. In order to seal the boxes, the flaps of the box are adhered to one another. The box is, therefore, opened by pulling one flap apart from the other flaps of the box. While these boxes may, in many respects, work, problems have arisen with respect to their use. In particular, because of the way that the boxes are opened and closed, the edges of the flaps are not perfectly flush with the box. Accordingly, the edges may be torn and/or inadvertently opened if the packaging is contacted against a sharp surface or other object. Having opened or partially opened boxes may result in additional costs and expenses to the storeowner or seller because consumers are less likely to buy goods that appear to have been tampered with or damaged. Many cartons are also housed in a clear plastic clamshell to inhibit theft, which results in a higher cost per piece and a larger package (thus more shelf space).
Additionally, because these boxes may be readily opened by opening a flap along their exposed seams, the products are susceptible to pilfering and such pilfering is not always immediately detectable. The potential problem with pilfering of products, such as razorblades, has forced many stores to remove the products from the general store shelves and instead place such products behind the counters. Accordingly, both the customers and employees are inconvenienced by the fact that the products must be specifically requested by the customers and retrieved by an employee in order to purchase them.
Therefore, there is a need to produce a packaging container that allows for a retailer to describe or label the product, while being aesthetically pleasing, economical, easy to manufacture and sized to take up a minimum amount of shelf space.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Packaging container with criss-cross grain pattern having product holding chambers and method for making the same


A bidirectional overspeed device is provided for an elevator system having an elevator car for travel within a hoistway along a guiderail. The elevator includes a governor rope running from a governor sheave at the top of the hoistway to a tension sheave at the bottom of the hoistway, and a bidirectional overspeed device. The bidirectional overspeed device comprises a bidirectional governor, a first safety brake, a second safety brake and a bidirectional linkage apparatus. In the event of an overspeed condition in either direction, the bidirectional governor clutches the governor rope, thereby operating the bidirectional linkage apparatus which connects the governor rope to the safety. Depending on the direction of the car travel, the linkage apparatus is either pulled upward or downward. Consequently, either the first or second safety is engaged and the elevator car is stopped.

An elevator comprises an elevator car and a counterweight attached to each other by a series of ropes. The ropes extend up the hoistway from the elevator car to the machine room of the elevator. In the machine room, the ropes wrap around a sheave attached to an elevator drive and return down the hoistway, to the counterweight.
For safety reasons, elevators are generally required to have an overspeed governor and safeties. A typical overspeed governor often includes a governor rope extending the length of the hoistway, attached to a governor sheave and tensioner. The governor rope is fixed to the elevator car by a linkage extending from the rope to a pair of safeties attached to the car. Because of the fixed relationship, any distance traveled by the car causes the rope to travel a like amount.
In this type of arrangement, if the downward velocity of the elevator exceeds a predetermined limit, i.e., an overspeed condition, a centrifugal flyweight assembly driven by the governor sheave swings outwardly, tripping a switch thereby removing power to the elevator drive and brake. If the downward elevator speed continues to increase, the flyweight assembly swings outwardly still further and operates a governor brake. The governor brake applies a frictional drag force to the governor rope, thereby actuating the safeties attached to the elevator car. The safeties act on a pair of guiderails and the car is consequently brought to a stop safely. U.S. Pat. No. 3,327,811 to Mastroberte discloses such an arrangement.
This style overspeed governor, although effective, protects against overspeed conditions only when the elevator car is descending. In the event of a brake failure or a drive gear failure in a geared machine, for example, a heavier counterweight will cause a lighter elevator car to accelerate upwardly. The unidirectional limitation of this style governor renders it powerless to stop an upwardly accelerating car. In recent years, elevator codes have changed and now require an overspeed device capable of stopping the elevator in both the upward and downward direction. Therefore, what is needed is an overspeed device capable of stopping the elevator in both the upward and downward direction.


Process for treating a body of steel to promote its adherence to a composition which includes at least a rubber, containing the following points:. a body at least the surface of which is of stainless steel is used, this steel containing at least 0.02% and at most 0.2% carbon, at least 3% and at most 20% nickel, at least 12% and at most 28% chromium, the sum of the nickel and the chromium being at least equal to 20% and at most equal to 35%, all of these percentage values being by weight; the structure of the steel includes at least 20% by volume of martensite and is without austenite or it comprises less than 80% thereof by volume; PA1 the surface of the body is activated and then treated with at least one starting silane so that it is covered with a film constituted only, or substantially only, of one or more silanes, in such a manner that this surface treated in this way can be placed directly in contact with the composition.. Articles comprising a rubber composition and a metal body which has been treated in accordance with the process of the invention, such articles being for instance tires.

The present invention relates to processes which permit adherence between metal bodies and rubber, these metal bodies being in particular reinforcements used to reinforce rubber articles which may, for instance, be various manufactured articles such as tubes, plies, belts or tires, the metal reinforcements being, for instance, wires, assemblies of wires, or bead rings.
The invention also relates to the articles obtained by these processes.
The invention relates, very particularly, to the case in which the metal bodies are of stainless steel.
It is known to incorporate metal compounds, in particularly cobalt compounds, into rubber compositions in order to favor the adherence of the metal reinforcements to rubber. Such compounds are described, for instance, in French A-2 198 830, and U.S. Pat. No. 2,912,355.
This technique has the following drawbacks:
the metal compounds extensively modify the working properties and the performance of the vulcanized compositions, in particular the resistance to thermal and thermo-oxidizing aging is substantially altered; furthermore, the incorporating of these compounds in the compositions is costly and the metals of these compounds may at times be scarce; PA1 the adherence can, in general, be obtained only on copper, zinc, brass or bronze surfaces, so that it is necessary to effect a coating with these metals or alloys on the metal reinforcement when the latter is of a different constitution, for instance when it consists of steel, which is very commonly used for the reinforcements; such a metal coating is difficult to effect on stainless steel surfaces, since it is then generally necessary to apply a sub-coat, for instance of nickel, before effecting this coating; PA1 the adherence performances of the reinforcements obtained are at times insufficient and one can note, in particular, poor adhesion at high temperatures, degradation over the course of time and/or with respect to corrosion, in particular corrosion in the presence of water. PA1 a body is used at least the surface of which is of stainless steel, this steel containing at least 0.02% and at most 0.2% carbon, at least 3% and at most 20% nickel, at least 12% and at most 28% chromium, the sum of the nickel and chromium being at least equal to 20% and at most equal to 35%, all these percentage values being by weight; the structure of the steel comprises at least 20% by volume martensite and is without austenite or it comprises less than 80% thereof by volume; PA1 the surface of the body is activated and then treated with at least one starting silane so that it is covered with a film constituted only, or substantially only, of one or more silanes, in such a way that this surface treated in this manner can be placed directly in contact with the composition. PA1 I.sub.int =(L.sub.mh .times.I.sub.max)/P in which: PA1 I.sub.int =the integrated intensity of the peak PA1 L.sub.mh =the width at mid-height of the peak (in degrees) PA1 I.sub.max =the intensity of the peak (in counts per second) PA1 P=the measurement pitch of the peak (0.05 degrees). PA1 Gamma austenite: face centered cubic .alpha.' martensite: body centered cubic or body centered tetragonal .star-solid. martensite: hexagonal. PA1 in which: PA1 % of .alpha.' martensite=I.sub..alpha.' /I.sub.t PA1 % of .di-elect cons. martensite=I.sub..di-elect cons. /I.sub.t PA1 total % of martensite=(I.sub..alpha.' +I.sub..di-elect cons.)/I.sub.t PA1 % of gamma austenite=I.sub.gamma /I.sub.t PA1 with:
It is known to use coatings of brass formed by an electrolytic or chemical deposit of copper and zinc, this brass which has diffused well permitting a bonding to compositions which contain low concentrations of cobalt compound or which may even be without such compounds. These coatings have the drawback of being more difficult to produce than the aforesaid coatings and the bonding thus obtained is of poor resistance to thermal aging or thermo-oxidizing aging, for instance in the presence of water.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,441,946 and French A-2 320 974 describe a process for adhering steel to a rubber composition by applying a silane to the surface of the steel before placing it in contact with the composition. Stainless steels are not mentioned in those documents.

Process for treating a body of stainless steel so as to promote its adherence to a rubber composition


A system including apparatus and methods for sanitizing or otherwise reducing biologics present on thermal therapeutic treatment wraps used for treating athletes after workouts or games, physical therapy patients after injury, and hospital patients after surgery is disclosed. The system includes a storage cabinet with an internal conveyor system that exposes each wrap to periodic sanitization or other biologic reduction means, such as ultraviolet light. This prevents growth of bacteria and mold. In some embodiments, warm air is blown into the storage cabinet to assist with drying the wraps.

Thermal contrast therapy has risen in popularity in recent years. Application of thermal contrast therapy typically involves application of cycles of heat and cooling combined with compression to a localized site on a patient. Of course the close contact and interaction with a human or other mammalian patient introduces bacteria onto a surface of a device used for application of the thermal contrast therapy. In addition, one popular application of thermal contrast therapy includes patients that are athletes. The athletes will often sweat and introduce moisture onto the thermal contrast therapy device. The moisture is conducive to growth of bacteria and mold on the thermal contrast device, on indeed any thermal therapeutic device.
In order to address the exposure of a patient to bacteria and mold or other biological contaminant, cleaning and/or sterilization of a device, such as a thermal contrast wrap, used to administer the thermal contrast therapy are needed.
Applicant has previously submitted U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/867,238, entitled Accelerated Transition Thermal Contrast Therapy Device (the "'238 Application"), which is directed to thermal therapy treatment wraps that address these issues. The contents of the '238 Application are incorporated by reference and relied upon in the present disclosure.
The wraps disclosed in the '238 Application, along with many general thermal therapeutic medical wraps, may be exposed to mold and bacterial growth. Athletic trainers, physical therapists, and doctors commonly apply flexible, plastic, water-cooled, or heated wraps to areas of a patient's body to treat muscles, tendons, and ligaments after strenuous exercise, injury, or surgery. Often, these wraps are reused many times, even by multiple different patients. While the wraps are stored between uses, gray mold and bacteria may have an opportunity to grow and thrive on the wraps' fertile plastic surfaces, which is undesirable.

Sanitary storage of thermal therapeutic wraps


Systems, methods, and computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for compressing and decompressing electronic messages in message threads. In one aspect, a method is performed by a system the includes one or more data processing devices. The method includes receiving an outgoing electronic message, determining that the outgoing electronic message is a follow-up message in an electronic message thread, determining, by the system, textual content in the electronic message thread that is available to the decompressing device, determining a correspondence between symbols or groups of symbols in the textual content that is available to the decompressing device and code words in accordance with a coding scheme, compressing the outgoing electronic message using the determined correspondence between the symbols or groups of symbols and the code words, and transmitting the compressed outgoing electronic message.

This specification relates to compression of data communication, in particular, the compression and decompression of electronic mail and other electronic messages that are in message threads.
An electronic message thread (also referred to as an "electronic conversation") is a series of electronic mail or other electronic messages. After an initial electronic message has been composed and distributed to one or more recipients, subsequent follow-up electronic messages in the thread are composed in response and generally concern related subject matter. The follow-up electronic messages can be, e.g., reply messages or forwarded messages. The electronic messages in electronic message threads have designated recipients. For example, the electronic messages may be addressed, e.g., to the composer of the initial message, to another recipient of the initial message, to a new recipient, or to combinations of such recipients. Electronic mail (i.e., e-mail) messages, chat messages, instant messaging messages, posts to asymmetric social networks, and other electronic messages with designated recipients can all form electronic message threads.
Data compression reduces the number of bits or other information-bearing units that are needed to encode information. Data compression generally relies on a defined coding scheme—the logic of which is used to both compress a source and decompress the compressed version. A coding scheme can be used to encode symbols or groups of symbols in a source (e.g., letters or other characters in an electronic message) as relatively shorter code words that are later decoded to return the source symbols or groups of symbols.
In some instances, the correspondence between the symbols or groups of symbols and the code words is determined based on how often symbols or groups of symbols appear or are estimated to appear in the source that is to be compressed. Estimates of how often the symbols or groups of symbols appear can be obtained from "seed dictionaries" such as, e.g., an English language dictionary for an English language message, a German dictionary for an German language message, news articles in a corresponding language, or the like. Such seed dictionaries thus provide an estimate of the frequency of symbols and groups of symbols in the source document to which a coding scheme is applied.
If a particular electronic message includes a single symbol or a series of symbols that occurs relatively often, representing those symbol(s) by a relatively shorter code word reduces the length of that particular message. However, the correspondence between code words and symbols or groups of symbols will generally be different when a different message is compressed. This is akin to the use of the word "refrain" in musical lyrics, where the characters and words that form the refrain are different in different songs. In other words, the characters and words represented by the word "refrain" are chosen in light of each individual song's content so that the lyrics can be compressed. With more common source symbols or groups of symbols in each particular message coded using shorter code words and less common source symbols or groups of symbols coded using longer code words, the extent of compression of each particular message is increased.
Huffman coding is a coding scheme that uses a specific logic for choosing the correspondence between code words and the symbols or groups of symbols they represent based on how often symbols or groups of symbols appear in a seed dictionary. The code words chosen by Huffman coding have different lengths and are assigned to represent symbols or groups of symbols based on the probability that the seed dictionary symbols or groups of symbols occur or are estimated to occur in the seed dictionary. Huffman coding is described, e.g., in the article entitled "A Method for the Construction of Minimum-Redundancy Codes." David A. Huffman, Proceedings of the I.R.E., September 1952, pp. 1098-1102. Other coding schemes, such as arithmetic coding and LZW coding, also determine the correspondence between the seed dictionary symbols or groups of symbols and the code words based on how often symbols or groups of symbols appear or are estimated to appear in a seed dictionary.
Huffman coding and other coding schemes yield a prefix code (also known as a "prefix-free code"). A prefix code is a code in which none of the valid code words are a prefix of any other valid code word. A message encoded using a prefix code can be transmitted as a sequence of concatenated code words without markers to frame the words in the message. A recipient can decode the message by repeatedly finding and removing prefixes that form the valid code words.

Compressing and decompressing electronic messages in message threads


A method of managing requests in a multi-node system. A first request associated with a location in a memory address space is sent to a first node. A second request associated with the same location in the same location in the memory address space is received before a response is received from the first node to the first request. If the received second request had been received from the first node, a retry message is sent to the first node requesting resending of the second request.

Embodiments of the present invention relate to a computer system having a multi-node computer architecture. In particular, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for managing memory related requests in a multi-node architecture such that there is no starvation of requests from a subset of nodes and every request from a node gets a chance to eventually complete.
Computer systems may contain multiple processors that may work together to perform a task. For example, a computer system may contain four processors that may share system resources (e.g., input devices or memory devices) and may perform parallel processing. The processors may send messages to each other, may send messages to system resources, and may send and receive messages from the system resources. For example, such messages may include requests for information that is stored at a location in a memory device or a request to store information in a location of a memory device.
In many computer systems, the set of data currently being used by a microprocessor may be copied from a system memory device such as a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) into a relatively smaller but faster cache memory device such as a static random access memory (SRAM). The cache memory device is usually private to each processor such that only one processor can read or write to it. In such systems, a cache is said to be xe2x80x9ccoherentxe2x80x9d if the information resident in the cache reflects a consistent view of the information in all the private cache memory devices and the DRAM memory. Cache xe2x80x9csnoopingxe2x80x9d is a technique used to detect the state of a memory location in private cache memory devices on a memory access that might cause a cache coherency problem. In a multi-processor system, the messages sent between processors may include cache snooping messages.
A processor may be said to encounter a xe2x80x9clivelockxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cstarvationxe2x80x9d situation when a coherency event generated by a processor is unable to complete for an indefinite amount of time even after repeated attempts, because another event from the same processor or another processor prevents it from making forward progress. If the sending of requests from processors in a multi-processor system and servicing of the requests at the responding agent is not managed properly, then some of the requests may be starved by the responding agent and a livelock situation may occur. For example, a first processor may be accessing a memory location, and at the same time the second processor may be also accessing the same memory location. If the memory agent can satisfy only one request to a memory location at a time and must ask all other requests to the same location to be reissued, then it is possible that the request from the first processor never completes because the same memory location is being accessed again and again by the second processor. In this case, requests from the second processor cause starvation of the request from the first processor, therefore causing a livelock at the first processor.

Method and apparatus for preventing starvation in a multi-node architecture


Methods are detailed for online fraud prevention. In one approach state information of a first and a second device is monitored, both of which are associated with one user. During a multi-factor authentication procedure which utilizes at least one of the first and the second devices for authorizing a transaction by an Internet domain, a security server participates in a supplemental security procedure which is conditional on the monitored state information. In another approach the second device receives a message that is ostensibly related to multi-factor authorization by an Internet domain, and in response sends a query about state information of the first device. Based on the response to the query that indicates the state information, the second device performs a supplemental security procedure.

Two-factor authentication (TFA) is commonly used to authenticate transactions done via electronic computers. Basic authentication is the process of a requesting entity presenting some evidence of its identity to a second entity. Two-factor authentication decrease the probability that the requestor is presenting false evidence of its identity by requiring two different types of evidence, or factors, from among a finite list of pre-approved factors. Traditional two-factor authentication requires the requester to present two of three possible factors: something the user knows (such as personal identification number PIN or password); something the user has (such as an automated teller machine ATM card or a registered mobile phone); and something the user is (such as a fingerprint or retina image).
Consider a common example of two-factor authentication. A bank customer visits an ATM hosted by a bank at which he does not hold an account and presents his physical ATM card (something the user has, a possession factor) and thereafter enters his PIN at the keypad (something the user knows, a knowledge factor). To dispense cash the ATM requires both of these factors to match the user's records at the user's own bank, and absent that the two-factor authentication will fail.
Two-factor authentication is common but a given multi-factor authentication procedure can require more than two different factors before allowing a transaction to proceed. The number of factors considered in the authentication is important because it implies (but does not guarantee) a higher probability that the bearer of the identity evidence in the computer/virtual realm indeed holds that identity in real life.
One category of TFA tools transforms the mobile phone of the personal computer (PC) user into a token device, commonly using a short messaging service (SMS) message exchange or an interactive telephone call or some other exchange enabled by an application that is downloaded to the user's smartphone. If the user enters his/her personal identifying information at the PC (knowledge factor), the user's mobile phone can serve as the possession factor of the two-factor authentication, so long as there is a message exchange and the user's mobile phone is pre-registered with the Internet domain on which the transaction is taking place.
Banking and other financial entities utilize two-factor (or more generically multi-factor) authentication commonly now that Internet-based banking has become ubiquitous. But online banking transactions are subject to attack by criminals using malware, of which several types have been identified that attack the PC and/or the mobile device.
Any authentication process which utilizes an insecure out-of-band method such as an email data link or a phone voice or data link, or which fails to provide mutual-authentication, is inherently vulnerable to a man-in-the-middle (MIM) attack. In a MIM attack, the fraudster is actually interacting with the legitimate website and the victim is interacting with the fraudster's counterfeit website. A victim who is lured to a fraudulent website then triggers the attack by entering his/her normal login credentials at the counterfeit website which appears legitimate. The counterfeit website then transmits these stolen credentials to the legitimate website using scripts or other protocols and for example the legitimate website then initiates a telephone call to the victim as part of its two-factor authentication. Believing the website to be legitimate, the victim uses his own mobile phone to complete the authentication, not realizing that doing so permits the fraudster to complete entry into the victim's account on that occasion.
Adding an additional biometric factor to the authentication is possible but is an expensive option; at least in the short term is not a practical solution to counter this growing malware threat by installing a finger imaging reader or retina scanner at every ATM along with the underlying databases needed to render them effective. What is needed in the art is a way to diminish these opportunities for malware to hijack a multi-factor authentication procedure without requiring vast upgrades to existing infrastructure.


The mounting for a roller shaft in the frame of a conveyor is designed to reduce the vibration of the shaft and the sound produced during conveyor operation. In several embodiments, the end of the shaft is provided with a taper, and a spring which is internal to the roller is used to bias the taper into the mounting hole. The resulting tight fit of the taper in the hole greatly reduces the vibration energy of the shaft. In another embodiment, a bushing separates the shaft and the hole and is designed to grip the shaft as it is pressed into place in the hole.

A conveyor roller is mounted on a shaft which traditionally is hexagonal in cross-section. The simplest method of mounting a roller shaft to a conveyor frame is to form a mounting aperture such as a slot or a hexagonal hole in the frame which will receive the shaft. It is also traditional to position the hex shaft in the mounting aperture with the points of the shaft facing up and down, although it is known that in some constructions the points of the shaft face side-to-side.
The shaft is generally loose in the mounting aperture and vibration of the roller causes the shaft to bounce, causing noise and wear on both the shaft and the aperture. Over time, the wear from shaft vibration results in enlargement of the mounting aperture, creating an even looser fit between the shaft and the frame and generating even more noise. Eventually, the shaft vibration causes the frame to cut through the roller shaft, resulting in the roller dropping out of the frame.
It would accordingly be desirable to modify the mounting of a roller shaft in a conveyor frame to minimize the vibration of the shaft in the frame and thereby lessen the noise which is produced and the wear which occurs on both the shaft and the frame.

Roller shaft mounting for sound and motion control


A character box extracting unit extracts a line forming a character box. Then, the character box intersection calculating unit calculates the intersection of the character box with a character pattern. An intersection corresponding unit associates intersections with each other based on the directional property of character lines, distance between the character lines, etc. An in-box character extracting unit extracts a virtual image according to the association information between the intersections. A character size evaluating unit obtains from an optional character string an average character size of a character including the virtual image, and extracts a true character pattern by removing a redundant virtual image based on the average character size. A character structure analyzing and evaluating unit obtains from a prepared table a true image corresponding to the virtual image and extracts a true character pattern, thereby correctly extracting the pattern from the image in which the line crosses the pattern.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pattern extracting device, and more specifically to a pattern extracting device for extracting a pattern from a combination of various patterns such as straight lines, characters, drawings, etc. by retrieving characters and symbols stored not only in a hand-written character recognizing device but also in a printed character recognizing device and a figure recognizing device, and by separating a line from an object, drawings from characters, etc.
That is, the present invention relates to, for example, a pattern extracting device for extracting a pattern such as a character, figure, etc. from the touching character box, line, etc. stored in the hand-written character recognizing device, for example, an optical character reader, etc.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, hand-written character recognizing devices have been demanded as hand-written character input/output devices. To correctly recognize an individual character in such hand-written character recognizing devices, it is important to correctly retrieve the character as a preprocess for recognizing the character.
Characters are recognized in a document in which character positions, areas, etc. are initially specified in a list, table, etc. In such a document, boxes are initially printed to indicate the positions of letters not in drop-out color but in non-drop-out color such as the same color as that of the letters or deep color. As a result, in a document printed in non-drop-out color, characters can be automatically recognized at a high recognition rate only if they are written neatly so that they are contained wi the specified area of input characters identified by black-frame boxes. However, if they are written on or over the specified areas or touching the lines identifying input character positions, then the recognition rate is considerably lowered.
Therefore, to improve the recognition rate, only the characters, drawings, symbols, etc. should be extracted from the characters touching the lines, boxes, etc. for correct retrieval in list, table, etc. where character positions are identified by non-drop-out color.
The Applicant of the present invention disclosed the first image extracting system shown in FIG. 1 in Tokugan-hei 5-103257 filed with the Patent Office of Japan. The input pattern to be processed in this system is a binary image corrected to remove extreme obliqueness, turn, etc., and preprocessed to remove noises, low spots, etc. Thus, the character boxes are removed from, for example, the lists and tables with deep-color character boxes based on the input pattern. For example, a plurality of one-row character boxes are provided. Some of the boxes are not defined for size, position, or obliqueness. When characters are hand-written to these boxes, only the boxes can be removed even if the characters are touching the boxes or partially overlap the lines.
As shown in FIG. 1, the first image extracting system comprises a link pattern extracting unit 1, a line detecting unit 2, a straight line detecting unit 3, a box detecting unit 4, and a box separating unit 5. The link pattern extracting unit 1 extracts a link pattern in which picture elements are connected from an input pattern comprising a straight-line portion comprising boxes, lines, etc., and graphics, characters, or symbols. The line detecting unit 2 contains a fine-line process and detects a broken line or a part of a straight line for predetermined length in a link pattern. The straight line detecting unit 3 detects a long straight line by integrating the obtained broken lines or a part of the straight line. The box detecting unit 4 extracts a straight line forming part of a character box by recognizing, for example, the space between the obtained straight lines. The box separating unit 5 obtains the intersection of the extracted straight lines, divides the character box into a plurality of smaller character boxes each containing a single character according to the intersection information, and calculates the thinness of the line forming the smaller character boxes. Then, the character box is separated from the link pattern based on the thinness of the line forming the character box.
When the character box to be removed from the input pattern is a box other than the above described character box, such character box extracting methods as those disclosed by Tokukai-sho 62-212888, Tokukai-hei 3-126186, are also proposed. In these character box extracting methods, the format information relating to the position, size, etc. and other information about obliqueness are input and stored as listing data. The character boxes are removed based on the stored information.
In addition to the first image extracting system, the Applicant of the present invention also disclosed the second image extracting system in Tokukai-hei 6-309498 filed with the Patent Office of Japan to extract only characters from those touching character boxes.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the entire configuration of this system.
In FIG. 2, a character box extracting unit 11 extracts only the character box from the binary image of the characters touching their character box (line-touching characters), and removes the character box.
In this process, the line-touching portion of a line forming part of the line-touching character indicates a low spot, thereby showing broken lines in the line forming part of the character.
For example, the binary image of "3" linked by the label 1 shown in FIG. 3A is divided into 3 broken lines forming part of the character as a result of the extraction and removal of a character box 21 as shown in FIG. 3B. The 3 broken lines are assigned the labels 1, 2, and 3. The binary image of "7" linked by the label 1 shown in FIG. 4A is divided into 3 broken lines forming part of the character as a result of the extraction and removal of a character box 23 as shown in FIG. 4B. The 3 broken lines are assigned the labels 1, 2, and 3.
An interpolating unit 12 interpolates necessary elements after evaluating the geometrical structure, for example, the direction of and clearance between the lines which form part of a character and are assigned labels.
Thus, the binary image of "3" broken at its line-touching portion as shown in FIG. 3B can be supplemented, thereby completing the character "3" with label 1 as shown in FIG. 3C. The binary image of "7" broken at its line-touching portion as shown in FIG. 4B is supplemented. However, the necessary elements are interpolated only between the lines with labels 1 and 2 as shown in FIG. 4C, but not between the lines with labels 1 and 3. As a result, the character "7" remains divided as two broken lines with labels 1 and 2 as shown in FIG. 4C.
A re-interpolating unit 13 interpolates necessary elements into the broken lines forming part of a character when the character has a line just touching in parallel to the line forming the character box. In this process, the line-touching character is preliminarily extracted according to the linkage based on the labels assigned to the line-touching character, detects the coincidence of the pattern interpolated by the interpolating unit 12 with the above described linkage of the line-touching character, and re-interpolates the necessary line touching in parallel to the line forming the character box.
Thus, the binary image "7" divided into the two broken lines with labels 1 and 2 as shown in FIG. 4C can be completed into the character shown in FIG. 4D.
As a result, the line-touching character can be reconstructed by the interpolating unit 12 or re-interpolating unit 13 after removing the character box.
The supplemented and re-supplemented patterns output respectively by the interpolating unit 12 and re-interpolating unit 13 are input to a recognizing unit 14. The recognizing unit 14 contains a plurality of character category dictionaries, compares the supplemented or re-supplemented pattern with each of the category dictionaries, and outputs the code of the character category indicating the smallest difference from the supplemented or re-supplemented pattern. That is, in the example shown in FIG. 4, it is recognized that the pattern shown in FIG. 4C belongs to the character category of "". Likewise, it is recognized that the pattern shown in FIG. 4D belongs to the character category of "7". Then, it is determined that "7" indicates smaller difference, the character is finally recognized as "7", and the character code of 7 is output.
However, the first image extracting system disclosed by the present invention has the following problem, and therefore should be further improved. The first problem is that a character box cannot be successfully extracted when the character box is not to contain a single character or to contain a row of characters, that is, when the character box is designed for listings or in a free format. The second problem is that the line detecting unit 2 contains a fine-line process unit for performing a fine-line process, thereby taking a long process time. Furthermore, the fine-line process impairs the linearity of an original image. Therefore, if a fine-line process is performed on the original image of "6" partially overlapping the line forming the character box as shown in FIG. 5A, the output pattern indicates a combination of curves as shown in FIG. 5B. Since the character box cannot be detected as a straight line, it cannot be correctly extracted. The third problem is that a character box cannot be extracted when a character touches a plurality of adjacent lines forming the character box because, upon detection of broken lines, the character box is not recognized as a single-character box or a block-of-character box and the subsequent processes are aborted. The fourth problem is that a character box may not be correctly extracted after failing in searching for the character box if the search does not start at the correct start point because a partial pattern of the original image of the character box is traced to extract the character box.
The fourth problem is described below by referring to the example shown in FIG. 6. A partial pattern can be searched for downward. If the downward search has reached the bottom, then the search is made in the left or right direction by, for example, a predetermined number of picture elements corresponding to the thinness of the line forming the character box. Therefore, when the search starts at point A, the search is made in a good condition as shown in FIG. 26 by an arrow 26. However, if the search starts at point B, the search for a partial pattern cannot be made downward. Even if the search is then made in the left or right direction by the predetermined number of picture elements, the search cannot be successful using an arrow 27 shown in FIG. 6 because the partial pattern does not exist at the lower area. As a result, the character box cannot be extracted if the search starts at B.
In the character box extracting method disclosed by the publication of the above described Tokukai-sho 62-212888 and Tokukai-hei 3-126186, a character box can be extracted even if it is a block-of-character box in a table format. However, since the format information such as the position, size, obliqueness, etc. can be preliminarily entered and stored as listing data, the method has the problem that it is subject to have influences of the uneven surface made by the character box or of a slight obliqueness. Therefore, a character box slightly off a predetermined position can be recognized as a character and cannot be extracted as a character box. Otherwise, a character may be extracted as a part of the character box. Furthermore, since the user is required to enter the information for all character boxes in the listings, the entry process takes a long time and charges the user with a heavy load.
The above described second image extracting system has the following problems.
In this method, as described above, the recognizing unit 14 compares a supplemented pattern or a re-supplemented pattern with standard patterns entered in various types of character category dictionaries and outputs, as a recognition result, a character code indicating the smallest difference. In this example, the interpolating unit 12 or re-interpolating unit 13 respectively interpolates or re-interpolates necessary elements into the line-touching character. In fortunate cases, the broken lines forming part of a character can be supplemented based on the portion touching the character box. In unfortunate cases, however, the broken lines cannot be supplemented. FIG. 7 shows such examples.
As shown in FIG. 7A, the lower line of the character pattern "2" touches a character box 29 and the line-touching portion is almost completely on the character box 29. In this case, the character box extracting unit 11 removes the character box 29 as shown in FIG. 7B, and the character pattern of "2" is divided into the partial patterns with labels 1 and 2. Then, the interpolating unit 12 links the two partial patterns to make the pattern with label 1 as shown in FIG. 7C. Since the lower line forming the character "2" is not supplemented, there is the possibility that the recognizing unit 14 can recognize the pattern shown in FIG. 7C mistakenly as "7", but not "2".
If a part of the line-touching character is not written over line of the character box, but completely on the line, then the line-touching portion cannot be supplemented by the interpolating unit 12 or re-interpolating unit 13. As a result, it is almost impossible for the recognizing unit 14 to correctly recognize the line-touching character.
Therefore, for example, the optical character reading device of Tokukai-hei 3-122786 filed with the Patent Office of Japan has disclosed the system of recognizing a line-touching character using the dictionary by storing the partial patterns for a line-touching character or a character written over the character box after removing the character box. However, since a great number of the touching states can be assumed between a character and its character box, all the partial patterns for all characters cannot be stored. Improving the recognition rate refers to an increasing cost with the storage capacity for the dictionaries becoming extremely large. Furthermore, the improvement of the recognition rate is limited because the number of stored partial patterns is limited. With the increasing number of the partial patterns stored in the dictionaries, the access time to the dictionaries also increases, thereby lowering the recognition speed.
The optical character reading device of Tokukai-hei 6-62044 filed with the Patent Office of Japan has disclosed the system of recognizing a character by removing an underlined area or a character box area and comparing the character pattern with the binary pattern information about the standard characters in each character category stored in the dictionary. In this method, as shown by the examples in FIGS. 7A and 7B, a character cannot be correctly recognized if the line-touching portion is removed and the remaining character pattern is similar to another character category. In this system, the underlined area or character box area is removed when characters are recognized, but the portion of the character written over the character box is not supplemented. Therefore, if a character partially overlaps its character box, the recognition rate is lowered.

Pattern extracting device and method to extract a pattern from a combination and variety of patterns


A piezoelectric device including: a first electrode layer provided so as to overlie a substrate; a second electrode layer disposed so as to face the first electrode layer; and a piezoelectric layer disposed between the first electrode layer and the second electrode layer. The first electrode layer has a conductive layer and a barrier layer. The barrier layer is provided between the conductive layer and the piezoelectric layer so as to prevent the conductive layer from contacting the piezoelectric layer.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a piezoelectric device, a piezoelectric actuator, a droplet ejecting head, and a droplet ejecting apparatus.
2. Related Art
In a technical field in which a thin piezoelectric device is capable of being produced and being driven at high speed, a piezoelectric actuator and an ink jet recording head are known, which are capable of being manufactured by a thin film technique. For example, JP-A-2000-326503 discloses an ink jet recording head that is capable of being manufactured by the thin film technique.
The ink jet recording head disclosed in JP-A-2000-326503 has a configuration in which a piezoelectric layer covers an upper surface and a side surface of a lower electrode of a piezoelectric device. Furthermore, in order to suppress oxidization of the lower electrode during a formation process of the piezoelectric layer, Pt is used as a material of the lower electrode.
In cases where an easily oxidizable material is used for the lower electrode, the lower electrode is oxidized during the formation process of the piezoelectric layer to cause volume expansion. Therefore, such a material may cause disadvantages such as separation of the lower electrode and generation of cracks. Accordingly, the material to be used for the lower electrode has been selected from limited types of materials.

Piezoelectric device, piezoelectric actuator, droplet ejecting head, and droplet ejecting apparatus


A remotely adjustable remotely power gastric band system may include a control device, an implant electronic device, and an implantable gastric band. The control device may telemetrically power and communicate with the implant electronic device, which may be used for adjusting the diameter of the implantable gastric band. The implant electronic device may store the gastric band adjustment history records of a patient and regulate the power received from the control device. To improve transmission efficiency, the implant electronic device may adopt a double modulation scheme for communicating with the control device. Furthermore, the implant electronic device may detect and resolve motor blockage issues related to the implantable gastric band.

Adjustable gastric banding apparatus have provided an effective and substantially less invasive alternative to gastric bypass surgery and other conventional surgical weight loss procedures. Despite the positive outcomes of invasive weight loss procedures, such as gastric bypass surgery, it has been recognized that sustained weight loss can be achieved through a laparoscopically-placed gastric band, for example, the LAP-BAND® (Allergan, Inc., Irvine, Calif.) gastric band or the LAP-BAND AP® (Allergan, Inc., Irvine, Calif.) gastric band. Generally, gastric bands are placed about the cardia, or upper portion, of a patient's stomach forming a stoma that restricts the passage of food into a lower portion of the stomach. When the stoma is of an appropriate size that is restricted by a gastric band, food held in the upper portion of the stomach provides a feeling of satiety or fullness that discourages overeating. Unlike gastric bypass procedures, the gastric band apparatus are reversible and require no permanent modification to the gastrointestinal tract.
Over time, a stoma created by a gastric band may need adjustment in order to maintain an appropriate size, which is neither too restrictive nor too passive. Some non-invasive procedures for adjustment of gastric bands without the use of a hypodermic needle have been proposed. For example, a remotely adjustable gastric band is a medical device which allows a healthcare worker to adjust a gastric band without requiring hypodermic needles to connect to an implanted, subcutaneous access port. A handheld controller can be used to send radio frequency waves for powering and communicating with the implanted device. The implanted device can tighten or relax the gastric band as requested by the healthcare worker via the handheld controller.
Birk, et al., U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2010-0010291, and Birk, et al., U.S. Ser. No. 12/705,245, which are commonly-assigned and co-pending with the present application, are incorporated herein in their entirety by this specific reference. Both of these applications disclose certain approaches to implantable systems that may be relevant.
Some mechanically adjustable implantable devices have a disadvantage of becoming inoperable if the adjustment mechanism fails. Furthermore, because the motor and the driving mechanisms are located near the restricting band itself, they are more subject to strain and damage from the implantation process. Therefore, it is desirable to develop a remotely adjustable gastric band where the motor is separated from the restricting band to reduce the strain from the implantation process such that the risk of damage during implantation is decreased.
Thus, there continues to remain a need for more effective implantable motor systems for use with adjustable gastric bands, particularly such implantable motor systems with increased and more efficient motoring capability.

Remotely powered remotely adjustable gastric band system


The invention provides an apparatus and method for time delaying different polarization components of a signal relative to one another, comprising a polarization signal splitter which splits first and second polarization components of an input signal into a first component signal and a second component signal such that said first component signal propagates along a first path and the second component signal propagates along a second path, wherein said first component signal reaches a location relative to when said second component reaches said location at times differing by a delayed time, and use of the apparatus in a communication system. The apparatus may be used for quantum cryptography, to convert a sender's polarization-qubit signal into a signal appropriate for channels and receivers based on phase-encoded schemes.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the fields of optical and electromagnetic communications and cryptography.
2. Description of the Background
Sender-receiver units for communication decode information at the sender end based upon expected encoding format at the receiver end. Methods for encoding information use the polarization of an optical signal and the phase between time-separated components of an optical signal, respectively. Quantum cryptography is disclosed in C. H. Bennett and G. Brassard, "Quantum Cryptography: Public Key distribution and coin tossing," in Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Computers, Systems, and Signal Processing, IEEE, pp.175-9 (1984), and referred to herein as "BB84." BB84 premises a protocol named quantum key distribution, which employs two sets of quantum states with two members in each set. The two members of each set are orthogonal to one another, but the members of one set are not orthogonal to the members of the other set.
The methods of encoding information mentioned above translate into two basic categories of effective orthogonal states, polarization and phase, that have been developed for establishing a quantum key by transmitting optical qubits through free space, optical fibers, or other media. Qubit is the name for the encoded quantum degree of freedom, here polarization or phase. In the polarization category, weak optical signals, ideally single photon states, are sent from the sender Alice to the receiver Bob [C. H. Bennett and G. Brassard, IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin 28, 3153 (1985)]. A sufficient choice for the four polarization directions might be the set of right and left circularly polarized light fields plus the set of linearly polarized light fields making angles ±45′ with respect to the horizontal and vertical. (Note that optical polarizations in uniform media are normally defined with respect to the propagation direction of the light and the plane perpendicular to that direction. The horizontal and vertical directions lie in that perpendicular plane.) These four polarization vectors can be written in a compact form in terms of a phase difference between horizontal and vertical polarization directions,
  h  ⊥and
      𝓋    ⊥    ,as
                    ɛ        r                          (        θ        )              =                  h        ⊥            +                        ⅇ                      i                                                                          θ                                            𝓋          r                      ,where θ=−π/2, π/2, 0, and π for right circular, left circular, 45° linear, and −45° linear polarizations, respectively. Thus, the information in a polarization-based signal is uniquely given by this phase θ. In quantum cryptography, Alice makes a random choice of the polarization of her signal, while Bob selects a polarization basis at random for detection. The process allows for the distillation of a secure quantum key. Crucially, Alice and Bob have devices designed to send and process only the quantum information contained in the polarization of the light signals.
In the phase category of quantum key distribution, Alice encodes the quantum information in the random phase of a signal she sends to Bob [C. Bennett, PTO/US5307410; P. D. Townsend, J. G. Rarity, and P. R. Tapster, Elect Lett 29, 1291 (1993); A. Ekert et al., "Quantum Cryptography", in D. Bouwmeester, A. Ekert, A. Zeilinger, The Physics of Quantum Information, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, p. 32 (2000)]. Using an interferometer with unequal path lengths and an input field pulse envelope E˜f (t) in time, Alice creates an outgoing electromagnetic field signal of the form E(t)˜(f(t−r)+etθf(t))/√{square root over (2)}, where θ is the relative phase difference between outgoing field pulses that is imposed by an (active) phase modulator in one of the interferometer paths, and τ is the time delay of one of the interferometer paths relative to the other. The input field polarization here is not specified since it contains no information. Here, all of the information is contained in the imposed phase θ. To implement BB84, the active but random choice among the phases 0, π, and ±π/2 by Alice here is analogous to the choice of four polarization directions in the polarization-based scheme above. In the phase-encoding case, Bob's measurement consists of imposing a phase 0 or π/2 randomly on the signal at his receiver end in his own interferometer. Constructive and destructive interference of the combined phases imposed by Alice and Bob allow a secret quantum bit to be established. Again, Alice and Bob have devices designed to send and process the quantum information only as phase-encoded signals.
The quantum cryptography work of Chiangga and coworkers used 853 nm optical pulses of approximately 10 ns duration at a 2 MHz repetition rate to encode, send, and receive polarization qubits. See S. Chiangga et al., Appl Phys B 69 (1999).
K. J. Blow, R. Loudon, and S. J. Phoenix, Phys Rev A 42, 4102 (1990) describes propagation of a single photon, that is an eigenstate of the number operator with eigenvalue N=1 for the longitudinal modes in quantum optics.
W. Tittel, G. Ribordy, and N. Gisin, "Quantum Cryptography", Physics World 3, 41 (1998) describes a phase-encoded quantum cryptography scheme.
P. Townsend, PTO/US5953421, discloses two schematics. One assumes a polarization-based sender and receiver. The other schematic assumes a phase-based sender and receiver.
S. Chiannga et al., Appl Phys B 69 (1999) discloses use of expensive devices for phase modulators or active phase manipulation in order to generate polarization qubits.
C. Santori et al., Phys Rev Lett 86, 1502 (2001) discloses that triggered true single photon sources may emit photons along only a particular polarization direction.
PCT publication WO 9744936, naming Townsend as inventor, discloses a phase-based quantum cryptography scheme.
W. Tittel, G. Ribordy, and N. Gisin, Quantum Cryptography, Physics World 3, 41 (1998) discloses how to avoid instability of separated interferometers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,768,378 to Townsend discloses employing quantum cryptography in a passive network environment.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,028,935 to Rarity et al. discloses a passive quantum cryptographic detector set-up.
The teachings of N. Gisin et al., http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/quant-ph/0101098, are hereby incorporated by reference.
The present inventors realized that polarization signals coupled to a transmission channel may require active stabilization control owing to polarization rotations through optical elements, birefringence, polarization mode dispersion, and thermal and mechanical fluctuations.
The present inventors realized that a sender may want to create deterministic or random polarization-based signals, while the receiver may want to receive a phase-encoded signal. The present invention provides this capability by allowing polarization-based signals to be converted into phase-encoded signals for transmission and/or reception. By assuming a polarization-based signal is what is input into a system of the present invention, the system also eliminates the active phase modulation required for phase-based senders.


A fluid dispenser device having a dispenser member, such as a pump or a valve, that is mounted on a fluid reservoir and that is actuated by a dispenser head that includes a spray orifice. The device further having a visual indicator that is movable between an indicating position and a non-indicating position, the visual indicator being moved into their non-indicating position at the start of each actuation of the dispenser member, and being moved from the non-indicating position towards the indicating position by the fluid, while it is being dispensed.

In fluid dispenser devices that use dispenser members such as pumps or valves for performing the dispensing, the fluid dispensed is generally finely sprayed in the form of a spray. For medical devices of the type for dispensing medication nasally, the dose of fluid dispensed may be small, and the fluid may be dispensed in the form of a spray that is particularly fine. The user then cannot always tell whether the fluid has been effectively dispensed. Various dose-counting systems exist for informing the user about the number of doses that have been dispensed or that remain to be dispensed from the dispenser device. However, such counters or indicators are generally actuated in mechanical manner while the device is being actuated, and they thus represent device actuations, rather than the effective dispensing of fluid through the dispenser orifice. In the event of a malfunction, a dose may be counted without being effectively dispensed to the user. Documents WO 2008/077623 and WO 00/51672 describe prior-art devices.


Disclosed herein are system, method, and computer program product embodiments for simulating users for testing websites using a trained model. Simulating users involves training a model to generate realistic synthetic clickstreams that emulate actual clickstreams. Synthetic clickstreams may include simulated mouse actions and keystrokes and the results of the testing may be used to improve the design and functioning of the tested website.

User testing is an important tool for designing and implementing websites. Where a well-designed website may be user-friendly and enhances click-through rates and other desired user actions, a poorly-designed website may impose unnecessary interface obstacles that hinder a user's ability to navigate and use that website. Even a single percentage difference in click-through traffic on a popular website could result in a dramatic increase (or decrease) in revenue generation activity on that website. Accordingly, an important aspect of designing a website is using user testing to determine the optimal placement and organization of elements on the website to maximize the number of desired user actions (e.g., transactions, click-throughs, conversions) for that website.
In the drawings, like reference numbers generally indicate identical or similar elements. Additionally, generally, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the drawing in which the reference number first appears.

Synthetic clickstream testing using a neural network


An execution multiplicity control system is provided which measures a load distribution over service objects for each case when one type of service requests are inputted into a distributed object system; calculates an effect index for when the execution multiplicity of each of the service objects is varied, based on the load distribution; measures, for each type of the service requests, the number of service requests actually inputted, to acquire a request distribution; calculates and stores a total effect index for when the execution multiplicity of each of the service objects is varied, based on the effect index and the request distribution; and controls the execution multiplicity of the service objects by applying a method of controlling the execution multiplicity of the service objects in descending order of the respective total effect indices calculated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an execution multiplicity control system dynamically controlling the execution multiplicity of a plurality of service objects in a distributed object system implemented by the objects.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, systems utilizing networks such as the Internet and intranets have rapidly prevailed. With this prevalence, the load on the information processing apparatuses constituting these systems has become increased. Thus, in centers such as system centers and data centers of companies, improvement of the service response speed by distributing the load to a plurality of resources is demanded. Furthermore, mechanisms are demanded that realize optimization of the load balance at the low-cost and within limited hardware resources and software resources while improving the efficiency of use of the resources.
As a technique for executing such load distribution, for example, in the Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. 07-93238, a technique is disclosed, in which objects executing a same process are arranged in a plurality of server machines and processing requests from clients are distributed to the objects. In the technique described in the Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. 07-93238, a metric string is transmitted to each of the server machines and the responses to the string are analyzed when a service request from a client is processed. Thereby, the load status of the server machines is measured and the server machine with the lowest load is determined. Thereby, a server for processing the service request from the client is dynamically determined and the service request is transferred to the server machine having been determined for processing.
In the Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. 2000-172654, a technique is disclosed, in which a service object is duplicated into a server machine with low load and a processing request from a client is transferred to the duplicated service object. In the technique described in the Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. 2000-172654, it is not that a plurality of objects offering a same service are arranged in advance, but a duplicate of a server object is dynamically produced during the operation of a server program and the duplicated object is transferred to another computer having a low CPU utilization and is caused to run on the computer. Then, for a remote method invocation from the client computer, the duplicated object is made to perform remote method invocation.
By the way, among the recent systems, a system (hereinafter, referred to as "distributed object system") has a configuration in which a plurality of service objects are sequentially invoked where, for example, a service object invoked directly by a client apparatus invokes another service object during its process.
Here, in order to realize load distribution in a distributed object system, it can be considered to configure so as to simply increase the execution multiplicity of the service object, for example, when the load on a service object invoked directly from a client is increased. However, in this case, when factors for load increase of a first service object exist in another service object executed subsequent thereto, load balancing effect corresponding to the resource consumption cannot be expected. Furthermore, specific service objects consume the resources intensively. Thereby the load balance of the whole system cannot be maintained.
As another method for realizing load balancing in a distributed object system, a method can be considered, in which a series of other service objects than a service object invoked directly by a client, that are executed following the service object invoked by the client, are multiplexed together. However, in this case, service objects that do not need to be multiplexed would be multiplexed and resources may be consumed wastefully in the case of this method as well.
Furthermore, as another method for realizing the load balancing, a method can be considered, in which load is measured for each of the combinations of adjacent service objects in a series of service objects and load distribution is carried out respectively for each of the combinations. However, when the amount of resources for multiplexing is limited, multiplexing may not be executed for the portion that essentially needs to be multiplexed in this method.

Execution multiplicity control system, and method and program for controlling the same


A polyarylene sulfide resin composition obtained by melt-mixing a mixture comprising resin components comprising as main resins. (A) a polyarylene sulfide resin and PA0 (B) a polyorganopsiloxane graft copolymer obtained by graft-polymerizing one or more kinds of vinyl monomer containing at least an epoxy group-containing vinyl monomer onto a compound rubber in which a polyorganosiloxane rubber and a polyalkyl (meth)acrylate rubber have been inseparably united with each other. The composition of the present invention, whether it contains a filler or not, is excellent in compatibility between the polyarylene sulfide resin and polyorganosiloxane graft copolymer. If this composition is extrusion-molded or injection-molded under the common molding conditions, it keeps its original dispersed and mixed condition without showing a phase separation. Consequently, this composition has an excellent performance that impact resistance also has been given to the polyarylene sulfide resin without largely injuring excellent properties inherent to the resin. Particularly, this composition is very little deteriorated in impact strength when it is put in wet heat conditions under pressure, and therefore it is usable in such conditions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a polyarylene sulfide resin composition excellent in impact strength and heat resistance.
2. Description of the prior Art
Various polyarylene sulfide resin compositions are proposed as a composition in which the impact resistance of a polyarylene sulfide resin has been improved. For example, EP-A2-0142825 discloses a composition obtained by blending the resin with a silicone rubber, ethylene/acrylic rubber, EP rubber, EPDM and butyl acrylate rubber. Japanese Patent Application Kokai No. 63-27559 discloses a composition obtained by blending the resin with a graft acrylic rubber, and EP-A2-0367219 discloses a composition obtained by blending the resin with a graft silicone rubber obtained by graft-polymerizing an epoxy group-containing vinyl monomer onto a polyorganosiloxane polymer.
However, the composition proposed in EP-A2-0142825 and Japanese Patent Application Kokai No. 63-27559 have a problem that compatibility between the polyarylene sulfide resin and any one of the above rubbers is extremely so poor that it is difficult to improve the impact strength of the resin without doing great damage to the heat resistance and mechanical properties inherent to the polyarylene sulfide resin. Also, the composition proposed in EP-A2-0367219, although it is relatively good among these compositions, has a problem that improvement of the impact strength is still insufficient and molded products of the composition are poor in surface appearance. This composition further has a problem that when it is put in wet heat conditions under pressure, its impact strength becomes remarkably poor.


A muscle conditioning or muscle assessment apparatus comprises a load bearing component incorporating a proximal portion for engagement with at least part of a user's body, and a distal portion for securing said component to a fores applying apparatus or an operator; and a transducer located between said proximal and distal portions; said transducer being configured to derive signals representative of the tensile and/or compression forces applied to said load bearing component; wherein said apparatus further comprises means for determining one or more characteristics of position and/or displacement of said load bearing component; said apparatus being configured to output signals representative of said force and the direction of said force.

Exercise harnesses are well known in the art. However, these often present the following drawbacks:                If used by untrained operators a high proportion of injuries are likely to result; so harness straps can be misplaced, the forces applied can be disproportional, the level of applied force may be excessive;        There is little or no electronic feedback indicative of the level of applied load, let alone any scope for adjustment of the applied load; and        Prior art systems fail to provide assessments of the scientific detail required for improved analysis and rehabilitation programmes.
The invention seeks to overcome at least some of these drawbacks whilst offering solutions to further technical problems which can be deduced from the aspects and description which now follow. The invention seeks to provide solutions for muscle conditioning or muscle assessment in both tension and compression modes.

Muscle conditioning /muscle assessment apparatus, systems, methods and/or computer software


The present invention addresses the problem of providing producing processes for garnet precursor microparticles (a precursor for microparticles of garnet structure) and microparticles of garnet structure. One of the processing processes comprises mixing ions of at least two elements with a basic substances that contain the at least two elements. The thin-film fluid is formed between at least two processing surfaces which are approachably and separably arranged facing each other with at least one of the processing surfaces rotating relative to the other. In the processing process, the precipitated microparticles are garnet precursor microparticles, and the molar ratio between the at least two elements in the garnet precursor microparticles is regulated by controlling the pH of the thin-film fluid after the mixing. Microparticles of garnet structure can be obtained by subjecting the garnet precursor microparticles to heat treatment. Specifically, the yttrium/aluminum molar ratio of yttrium-aluminum-garnet (YAG) precursor microparticles is regulated by controlling the pH of the thin-film fluid after the mixing, YAG being an example of the crystal of garnet structure.

An yttrium aluminum garnet (hereinafter, YAG) is an oxide generally shown by a composition formula of Y3Al5O12, and is a material used as a raw material of a laser oscillation device, a decoration goods, a high temperature material, a material for various detective devices, an alternative material for sapphire, a transparent ceramic material, and so forth. Materials having part or all of yttrium or aluminum therein replaced with other elements as well as those containing a dope element have been reported; and thus, these are very useful industrially. However, emission characteristic such as fluorescence characteristics and other characteristics such as strength, heat resistance, corrosion resistance, and transparency, change with molar ratios of the constituent elements of YAG; and thus, a YAG microparticle having the molar ratios thereof controlled is required.
As to the producing method of the YAG microparticle, several methods have been developed which include: a conventional method, as shown in Patent Document 1, in which yttrium oxide and aluminum oxide, optionally together with a sintering adjuvant, are crushed and mixed by a ball mill or the like, and then, after the mixture is subjected to a solid phase reaction at high temperature for a prescribed time, it is crushed again by a ball mill or the like to pulverize; and a conventional method, as shown in Patent Document 2 and Patent Document 3, in which an acidic solution which contains an yttrium ion and an aluminum ion is neutralized by a basic substance such as sodium hydroxide to co-precipitate an yttrium compound and an aluminum compound, and then the obtained co-precipitates are subjected to heat treatment to synthesize YAG. However, in these conventional methods, not only producing of the YAG microparticle, especially those having the size of 1 μm or less, has been extremely difficult, but also it has been very difficult to make the molar ratios of the constituent elements in the YAG microparticle homogeneous. In the conventional technology described in Patent Document 2, as it is described therein, besides a problem that there occurs contamination of impurities derived from a ball mill and the like when pulverization is carried out by using a pulverization method which mainly uses a ball mill that uses a ball or the like as a crushing medium, there have been a problem such as the one in which intended various characteristics including fluorescence characteristics of the obtained YAG microparticle cannot be expressed readily due to a physical impact given to the crystal thereof.
Applicant of the present invention provided a method for producing a ceramic microparticle as shown in Patent Document 4; however, in it, specific methods for producing neither a YAG precursor microparticle nor a YAG microparticle, with the molar ratios of the constituent elements in these microparticles being controlled, have been disclosed. Therefore, methods of producing a YAG precursor microparticle and a YAG microparticle, with the molar ratios of the constituent elements in these microparticles being controlled, have been eagerly wanted. In addition, including the YAG precursor microparticle and the YAG microparticle, methods for producing a precursor of a microparticle having a garnet structure and a microparticle having a garnet structure, with the molar ratios of the constituent elements in these microparticles being controlled, have been eagerly wanted.

Methods for producing garnet precursor microparticles and microparticles having garnet structure