1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the field of information handling system manufacture, use, and distribution, and more particularly to a system and method for configuration of information handling systems as mobile information technology systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Increases in the capabilities of information handling systems and networking technologies has led to an increasing reliance by businesses and other enterprises on information handling systems to perform a variety of tasks. Often, information handling system servers are placed in a building or room that has specialized power and cooling equipment to help ensure a compatible environment for the systems. As examples of specialized power needs, a concentration of information handling systems often consume a considerable amount of power, typically require a steady and reliable power supply and typically have backup power sources in the event that a main power source is interrupted. As examples of specialized cooling needs, a concentration of information handling systems often produces a considerable amount of heat as a byproduct of their operation and typically has dedicated cooling systems to remove the heat. Often, enterprise information technology specialists employ an over-kill approach when purchasing and installing infrastructure for an information handling system data center. For example, cooling systems typically are purchased and installed that have excess cooling capacity to provide a margin of error. Extra cooling capacity also provides infrastructure to accommodate growth in the number of systems that it supports. Similarly, information handling system data center rooms are often built with unused space so that additional information handling systems may be added over time. Typically, as enterprise information handling system needs grow, enterprises add and replace existing systems; thus, maneuvering room is generally needed within a data center room to service existing systems of the data center. Data centers face considerable infrastructure costs if existing cooling, power and space in a data center become inadequate to handle enterprise information processing needs.
A recent industry trend seeks to simplify the set up and operation of a data center by installing all or most of the elements of the data center in one or more mobile modules, such as shipping containers. Two examples of such systems are the BLACK BOX manufactured by SUN MICROSYSTEMS and the ICE CUBE manufactured by RACKABLE SYSTEMS. Information handling systems are installed in a shipping container along with cooling, power and networking infrastructure. The shipping containers conform to standards designed for shipping freight through intermodal transportation infrastructure, such as ISO standards. For example, a typical shipping container has a length of forty feet, a width of eight feet and a height of nine feet and six inches. Five common ISO standard shipping container lengths are twenty, forty, forty-five, forty-eight and fifty-three feet, although a variety of other sizes may also be used. The shipping container is shipped as normal freight so that, when the shipping container arrives at its destination, the information handling systems are ready to operate within the container. Although shipping container solutions provide the enterprise with improved flexibility in setting up a data center building by essentially providing the building, i.e., the shipping container, with the information handling systems, existing shipping container solutions continue to share the problems faced by conventional data centers with respect to power consumption and cooling. One type of shipping container solution attempts to include cooling, power and networking infrastructure with the information handling systems in a common shipping container. Such solutions face difficulty in manufacture due to the variety of different types of components that are assembled, and difficulty in deployment since a module generally must include cooling resources for a variety of different climates. U.S. Pat. No. 7,278,273 describes cooling modules that are shipping containers having HVAC equipment and that are separate from a shipping container that has information handling systems; however, air movers for moving cold air are included with the information handling system shipping container, with each air mover providing air to an isolated portion of information handling systems. The addition of the air movers with the information handling systems tends to reduce the space available for information handling systems and to increase the complexity of assembly of the shipping module.


The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has recently launched a new plan to convert the present healthcare information infrastructure to a nationwide, electronic network for healthcare information. Currently, only thirteen percent of hospitals nationwide have electronic systems, and only 14 to 28 percent of other physicians maintain electronic systems.
Electronic healthcare systems provide many challenges. For example, oftentimes, physicians and hospitals use computer systems for billing, while they use manual filing systems for tracking medical records. Therefore, information can be lost, mislaid, or inputted incorrectly for billing purposes. Recently, different software systems, such as CareRevolution by Electronic Healthcare Systems, have provided single point-of-care products that provide one database for both billing and medical information.
Nevertheless, medical and billing information must still be transferred from the patients to the physicians manually. Further, with patients moving and increased traveling, often the patient may not have all his medical information in one place and/or on hand when he needs medical attention. While current healthcare systems allow information to be maintained and held by the healthcare provider, it is desirable for such information to be portable and held with the patent instead.
Having the proper patient medical history has been shown to improve medical care and reduce medical errors. Further, improvements in health information technology have been estimated to produce savings of up to ten percent. Therefore, there is a need for a portable device for healthcare information.


The present invention relates to a rotary pipe and fixed channel auger with intermediate outer supporting elements.
As is known there are at present used several industrial open conveying systems of the belt, roller, bucket, truck, chain type, which are affected by noise and difficult maintenance problems, in addition to having a comparatively high installation cost.
Comparatively noiseless conveying systems, which do not cause any alterations of the materials, are the so-called closed systems, including the augers, or Archimedean screws, including a helical surface which turns inside a pipe which may be integral therewith or be separated therefrom.
They are conventionally used in several systems for conveying solid materials, either in a granular or liquid condition, or for mixing different materials.
Also known is an auger sorter, in which the auger is fixed and has a vertical axis.
In this device, the auger operates as a slightly slanted fixed channel, for discharging at a low speed loose materials and the like.
The conveying augers usually comprise two different types of assemblies: the first includes the spiral which is separated from the perimetrical pipe and is called, perhaps not properly, auger; the second has its full or partial spiral affixed within the rotary pipe and is usually called "rotary tube".
The industrial type of auger is mainly used for horizontal conveyance.
Rarely it is also used for conveying materials on slight slopes, these materials consisting of loose solid materials or dense liquids. For conveying granular solid materials there are conventionally used vertical augers.
The conveying device is loaded at any set region of the path, and it is likewise unloaded, by opening the bottom of the channel. The drive is provided by a longitudinal central shaft, of hollow construction, usually made of steel and supported by supporting elements spaced from one another by 2.5-3.5 m.
Several types of spirals are used and, more specifically, an iron sheet spiral, a ribbon or belt spiral, a blade spiral including a plurality of blades operating as the blade elements of a propeller, and allowing the advancing speed of the material to be changed by changing the angles of the blades, as well as a fixed-spiral auger made of a manganese steel alloy for conveying materials having high abrading properties.
Only by using comparatively great diameter shafts it has been possible to make great length of augers, having a length of up to 50 m; the diameter of the shaft being increased from 140 to 300 mm and that of the outer channel from 400 to 630 mm, the supporting elements being spaced by 7-8 up to a maximum of 10 m and, for greater spacings, several series arranged augers must be provided.
These prior auger devices, however, are affected by great problems: in fact, the volumetric mass of material which can be conveyed, that is the conveying capability of the auger is greatly reduced, the power required for driving the auger increasing proportionately to the resistances to the movements and, simultaneously, the device has a poor reliability and requires frequently maintenance operations.
Independently from its size, the spiral is interrupted at each supporting elements, with consequent great difficulties from the conveyance standpoint, and with the possibility of jams, as powder or paste materials are conveyed.
Moreover, the intermediate supporting elements are subjected to a high corrosion and, because of friction, the temperature can excessively increase so as to cause fires or explosions, whereas some types of chemical products tend to cure under high temperatures, so as to cause the above mentioned jams.
In order to reduce the maintenance difficulties, prior auger devices include a half-cut bearing element, which can be opened in order to access the support member without disassembling the auger and, usually, several augers are series arranged with consequent greater costs for the motors, electric controls and so on.


Throughout this application various publications are referred to by partial citations within parenthesis. Full citations for these publications may be found at the end of the specification immediately preceding the claims. The disclosures of these publications, in their entireties, are hereby incorporated by reference into this application in order to more fully describe the state of the art to which the invention pertains.
Neuroregulators comprise a diverse group of natural products that subserve or modulate communication in the nervous system. They include, but are not limited to, neuropeptides, amino acids, biogenic amines, lipids and lipid metabolites, and other metabolic byproducts. Many of these neuroregulator substances interact with specific cell surface receptors which transduce signals from the outside to the inside of the cell. G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) represent a major class of cell surface receptors with which many neurotransmitters interact to mediate their effects. GPCRs are characterized by seven membrane-spanning domains and are coupled to their effectors via G-proteins linking receptor activation with intracellular biochemical sequelae such as stimulation of adenylyl cyclase. This application describes the identification of two GPCRs, SNORF62 and SNORF72, as receptors for neuromedin U (NMU) neuropeptides.
Neuropeptides are synthesized and released from neurons to mediate their effects on cells within the nervous system or on peripheral targets. NMU-25 and NMU-8 are bioactive peptides originally isolated from porcine spinal cord (Minamino, N. et al. 1985a and 1985b). NMU-8 corresponds to the C-terminus of porcine NMU-25 preceded by Arg-Arg residues and may therefore be generated by enzymatic cleavage. NMU homologues have been identified in many species including human (25 amino acids) and rat (23 amino acids).
The amino acid sequence for human NMU-25 is as follows:                F R V D E E F Q S P F A S Q S R G Y F L F R P R N—NH2 (SEQ ID NO: 5).
The amino acid sequence for porcine NMU-25 is as follows:                F K V D E E F Q G P I V S Q N R R Y F L F R P R N—NH2 (SEQ ID NO: 6).
The amino acid sequence for rat NMU-23 is as follows:                Y K V N E-Y Q G P-V A P S G G F F L F R P R N—NH2
(SEQ ID NO: 7)(—indicates gaps in rat NMU-23 sequence to demonstrate optimum alignment).
The amino acid sequence for NMU-8 is Y F L F R P R N—NH2 (SEQ ID NO: 8). All of the preceding sequences were taken from Nandha and Bloom 1993 and Austin, et al. 1995.
Interestingly, the 8 carboxy-terminal residues of human NMU-25 are identical to those in porcine, rabbit and guinea pig NMU and differ only by one residue from the C-terminus of frog, rat, dog and chicken NMU (Austin et al. 1995). C-terminal NMU peptides (8–9 amino acids) have also been identified in guinea pig, chicken and dog tissue extracts (Minamino et al. 1985a and 1985b, Domin et al. 1989, O'Harte et al. 1991). Indeed, the region of rat NMU-23 critical for smooth muscle contractile activity was found to reside between residues 17–22 (C-terminal region) (Hashimoto et al. 1991, Sakura et al. 1991). However, other groups have demonstrated the necessity of the amidated C-terminal asparagine (Asn23) for activity as well (Nandha and Bloom 1993). Full length NMU is approximately 3-fold more potent than NMU-8 in smooth muscle contraction assays suggesting that the N-terminal region of the peptide also contributes to the activity (Nandha and Bloom, 1993). Several residues in the middle region of the peptide are conserved between species including Glu5, Gln8 and Pro10 supporting the functional importance of this region of the peptide (Nandha and Bloom, 1993). The C-terminus of NMU shares some homology with rat pancreatic polypeptide (PP): Leu-X-Arg-Pro-Arg-X-amide and contains a terminal asparaginamide also present in vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) (Nandha and Bloom 1993). However, the structure of NMU is unrelated to the other neuromedin peptides isolated by Minamino et al. (1985a,b).
A profound effect of NMU has been observed in rats on the in vivo release of stress-related modulators from the anterior pituitary and adrenal glands (reviewed in Malendowicz and Markowska 1994). Following a single subcutaneous injection of NMU-8 (6 μg/100 g body weight), adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) blood concentrations are elevated transiently (3–12 hours) and plasma corticosterone levels remain elevated for 24 hours (Malendowicz et al., 1993). In addition, the stress-evoked rise in corticosterone was absent in rats treated for 6 days with NMU-8 (Malendowicz et al. 1994a). Since corticosterone exerts both mineralocorticoid and glucocorticoid effects, regulation of its release by NMU ligands would be expected to modulate fluid homeostasis, ionic balance and metabolism. Although the mechanisms that mediate these effects remain unclear, identification of NMU-like immunoreactivity in nerve fibers in the rat hypothalamic paraventricular and supraoptic nuclei suggest a potential role for NMU in the hypothalamic regulation of pituitary function (Steel et al. 1988).
The corticosterone releasing effects of NMU may be mediated in part by direct effects on the adrenal gland. In rat adrenal gland slices, NMU-8 markedly increased basal corticosterone and pregnenolone steroid secretion (Malendowicz et al. 1994a and 1994b). These effects require the presence of adrenal medulla suggesting that NMU-8 acts on medullary chromaffin cells which may stimulate cells of the cortex through a paracrine mechanism. On the other hand, rat NMU-23 directly decreased basal corticosterone secretion from isolated rat inner adrenocortical cells (in the absence of medullary cells) while NMU-8 was without effect (Malendowicz and Nussdorfer 1993). This discrepancy between NMU-23 and NMU-8 effects on adrenal cortical cells suggests that the NMU receptor in these cells differs from that responsible for smooth muscle contraction. Repeated NMU-8 administration also decreased adrenal weight and the number of cells in the zona reticularis, further suggesting a stimulatory role for NMU on adrenal gland (Malendowicz et al. 1994a). NMU ligands may therefore be useful for directly regulating secretion from the adrenal gland.
Although NMU-like immunoreactivity has not been demonstrated within the adrenal gland or circulating in plasma, corticotrophs within the anterior lobe of rat and human pituitary gland contain high levels of NMU-like immunoreactivity (Steel et al. 1988) suggesting a possible hormonal role for NMU. Co-release of NMU with other bioactive peptides is likely to occur since NMU was observed by electron microscopy to be present in the same secretory granules as ACTH and galanin (Cimini et al. 1993).
Furthermore, both ACTH and NMU are present in human pituitary corticotropinomas as well as in ACTH expressing tumors from a variety of other tissue sources (Steel et al. 1988). Supporting a potential hormonal role of NMU, is the identification of a small population of NMU positive parafollicular C-cells in rat thyroid gland (Domin et al. 1990 and Lo et al. 1992).
Activities of this peptide also include a hypertensive effect when given intravenously to rats at a high dose (1 nmole; Gardiner et al. 1990). However, at a lower dose (0.1 nmole), NMU caused potent constrictor effects on the superior mesenteric vascular bed reducing mesenteric blood flow without changing systemic blood pressure. The NMU-induced reduction in mesenteric blood flow was also demonstrated in dog (Sumi et al. 1987). In addition, a slight increase in blood flow to the pancreas was measured in these experiments. Such actions suggest the involvement of NMU in the regulation of blood flow to the digestive tract and subsequent effects on digestion.
NMU was originally isolated based on its potent uterine contractile activity in vitro and has contractile activity on other smooth muscle preparations including chicken crop (Minamino, N. et al. 1985a, 1985b). Isolated muscle strips from the dome of the human urinary bladder were also contracted by NMU (Maggi et al. 1990) suggesting a role for this peptide in urinary control. NMU-like immunoreactivity has been identified in high levels in the rat genito-urinary systems including vas deferens, prostate, fallopian tube, urethra, vagina, ovary and uterus (reviewed in Nandha and Bloom 1993). Smooth muscle contractile or other hormonal effects of NMU in these tissues may regulate urinary control and/or reproductive functions.
Along with many other neuropeptides, NMU is present in nerves throughout the gastrointestinal tract (reviewed in Nandha and Bloom 1993). NMU stimulates contraction of isolated longitudinal muscle of human ileum (Maggi et al. 1990) and rat stomach circular muscle (Benito-Orfila et al. 1991) suggesting a role for NMU in gastric emptying and intestinal motility. Interestingly, porcine jejunum (Brown and Quito 1988) and guinea pig small intestine (Minamino et al. 1985b) are not contracted by NMU indicating species differences in gut regulation by this peptide. However, ion transport is modulated by NMU-8 in isolated porcine jejunal mucosa (Brown and Quito 1988). NMU-like immunoreactivity in the intestine has been localized to both the submucosal and myenteric ganglion cells (Ballesta et al. 1988) consistent with the observed effects on contractility, blood flow and absorptive/secretory functions (Ballesta et al. 1988).
Although higher concentrations of NMU are found in the periphery than in the central nervous system (CNS), immunocytochemical analysis demonstrated the presence of NMU in nerve fibers in many CNS regions with concentrations in discrete functional systems (Honzawa et al. 1987, Ballesta et al. 1988 and reviewed in Domin et al. 1987). For example, NMU-like immunoreactivity was identified in all of the cranial nuclei associated with somato-motor function (Ballesta et al. 1988). Several structures associated with sensory processing are also rich in NMU containing fibers including spinal cord (dorsal horn>ventral horn), trigeminal sensory nuclei, vestibular nuclei and other nuclei associated with descending spinal pathways (Honzawa et al. 1987). This localization suggests a role for NMU in perception and processing of sensory stimuli including pain.
Three cerebellar nuclei (nucleus medialis, interpostitus and lateralis) also demonstrated NMU-like immunoreactivity, consistent with the potential importance of NMU in sensory processing. Neuronal cell bodies containing NMU-like immunoreactivity have been identified in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus, an area identified as important for the regulation of food intake and neuroendocrine control.
Relatively high levels of NMU-like immunoreactivity were also detected in the nucleus accumbens (Domin et al. 1987), an area where dopaminergic transmission is involved in reward and reinforcement of learned behaviors. The presence of NMU in another area important in dopaminergic transmission, the substantia nigra, (Domin et al. 1987) suggests a role for NMU in the modulation of dopaminergic actions in movement control as well. NMU-like immunoreactivity is also found in the hippocampus, amygdala and other portions of the limbic system suggesting a role for NMU ligands in affective disorders, psychosis and cognition.
G-protein coupled receptors (GPCR's) activated by this peptide and related analogues were postulated to exist based on binding of [125I]rat NMU in rat uterus membranes (Nandha K. A. et al. 1993). The binding is saturable and of high affinity (Kd=0.35 nM, maximal binding capacity (Bmax)=580 fmol/mg protein). This affinity corresponds to the EC50 of contractile activity in this tissue, 0.2 nM, consistent with the involvement of this binding site in NMU-induced uterine contraction. The GTP analogue, GTPγS, inhibited binding of [125I]rat NMU-23 suggesting that the binding site is a GPCR. In addition, chemical cross-linking identified the binding protein as having an apparent Mr of 48,500 which is consistent with the expected size of a GPCR protein.
Nandha et al. (1994) also identified [125I]rat NMU-23 binding sites in rat uterus tissue slices and in the indusium griseum by autoradiography.


The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Composite materials, in particular panels used in aeronautical applications, proximate to the engines, are intended for operation at temperatures below a maximum threshold. These panels, whether forming one single layer or used in a sandwich structure comprising a central core such as honeycomb covered with two external skins or face sheets, include unique mechanical characteristics and a reduced mass, and may take various shapes.
However, subsequent to thermal events comprising an increase of temperature above a maximum threshold, and depending on the exposure times, some damage to the materials of the panels may occur, which may reduce the structural strength characteristics. Thus, it is desirable to be able to characterize the level of the material damage during maintenance operations in order to increase safety.
In order to carry out inspection on these composite materials, it is known to apply a primary paint over the surface, in particular a polyurethane paint, which will undergo color transformations during thermal events.
A first known method for damage assessment consists in visually studying the discoloration of the primary paint in order to deduce therefrom some level of evolution of the material. This method gives a qualitative indication, but does not allow for an accurate quantitative measurement of the damage.
Another known non-destructive method, in particular presented by the documents EP-A1-2343531 and US-A1-20110001047, performs an analysis of the discoloration of a primary paint by a technique based on infrared spectrometry.
In particular, the second mentioned document presents the following method: after having carried out a calibration model, infrared radiation is emitted on a point of the surface of the material to be analyzed; then, the diffused reflection spectrum of this surface is measured; and by considering on this spectrum a criterion which is compared to the calibration model, a history of the thermal or chemical aspects of the coating is assessed, in order to deduce therefrom a condition of the composite material supporting it.
Nonetheless, this method is complex to carry out, and the obtained results highly depend on the implementation of the primary paint. In particular, thickness variations of the coating layer, of its polymerization cycle, of the number of deposited layers or of the surface condition, will disturb the infrared reflection. The results as well as the conclusions related to the damage to the material are not accurate.
Other known non-destructive methods for assessing the damage to the materials use in particular ultrasonic or thermographic conventional techniques which allow in particular detecting detachments between the layers of the materials. Thus, it is possible, for example, to control the detachment between the skin and the core of a panel comprising a sandwich structure. Nonetheless, this method does not allow assessing the condition of the material by itself.


Facsimile (or fax) technology is one of the most widely used forms of communication between companies and individuals. Notwithstanding the continuous growth of the popularity of email communications, the fax still holds a strong position as a reliable means of communication. It is presently estimated that more companies in the world have a fax number than an email address.
Among the advantages of fax communications are immediate delivery of documents, ability to transmit graphical documents, interoperability of fax devices throughout the world, improved security over email, and easy to use.
Traditional fax technology utilizes Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), also called Global Switched Telephone Network (GSTN), to transfer data between fax devices. Traditional fax devices comply with a variety of protocols, among which are: T.4—“Standardization of Group 3 Facsimile Apparatus for Document Transmission”, ITU-T (CCITT), July 1996; T.6—“Facsimile Coding Schemes and Coding Control Functions for Group 4 Facsimile Apparatus”, ITU-T (CCITT), November 1988; and T.30—“Procedures for Document Facsimile Transmission in the General Switched Telephone Network”, ITU-T (CCITT), July 1996; all are hereby incorporated in their entirety by reference.
Internet Fax (I-Fax) is a term used to describe extensions of the traditional fax technology that allow the use of the Internet for fax transmission. Examples of I-Fax are fax-over-IP and fax-through-email. Among the standards recommended for use in I-Fax are: T.37—“Procedures for the transfer of facsimile data via store-and-forward on the Internet”, ITU-T (CCITT), June 1998; T.38—“Procedures for real-time Group 3 facsimile communication over IP networks”, ITU-T (CCITT), 1998; F.185—“Internet facsimile: Guidelines for the support of the communication of facsimile documents”, ITU-T (CCITT), 1998; RFC 2301—“File Format for Internet Fax”, IETF, March 1998; RFC 2302—“Tag Image File Format (TIFF)—image/tiff MIME Sub-type Registration”, IETF, March 1998; RFC 3191—“Minimal GSTN address format in Internet Mail”, IETF, October 2001 (obsoletes RFC 2303, March 1998; updates RFC 2846, June 2000); RFC 3192—“Minimal FAX address format in Internet Mail”, IETF, October 2001 (obsoletes RFC 2304, March 1998; updates RFC 2846, June 2000); RFC 3965—“A Simple Mode of Facsimile Using Internet Mail”, IETF, December 2004 (obsoletes RFC 2305, March 1998); RFC 2306—“Tag Image File Format (TIFF)-F Profile for Facsimile”, IETF, March 1998; RFC 2542—“Terminology and Goals for Internet Fax”, IETF, March 1999; and RFC 3297—“Content Negotiation for Messaging Services based on Email”, IETF, July 2002; all are hereby incorporated in their entirety by reference.
Advanced capabilities of Internet Fax, such as color fax transmissions, are described, inter alia, in RFC 2531—“Content Feature Schema for Internet Fax”, IETF, March 1999 and RFC 2532—“Extended Facsimile Using Internet Mail”, IETF, March 1999; all are hereby incorporated in their entirety by reference.
In a conventional fax-through-email system, a fax service provider receives a fax transmission over the PSTN, converts the received fax transmission to a computer-readable file, e.g. TIFF or PDF (Portable Document Format), and forwards the file to the intended fax recipient via email. If a user sends a fax, the user provides document(s) to be faxed to the fax service provider via email, website, or software. The documents typically are computer-readable files. The fax service provider converts the document(s) to a faxable format (typically 1-bit black and white images), and transmits them to the recipient over the PSTN.
Presently, the majority of fax devices only support transmission of 1-bit black and white (monochrome) images. Thus, black and white faxes constitute the vast majority of all faxes transmitted. If the user's files to be faxed contain colors or shades of gray (hereinafter, the term color includes shades of gray), the colors will be typically converted to 1-bit black and white for compatibility with the majority of fax devices. At present, colors are either converted to black or dithered. Dithering is a method of simulating colors by producing black dots/pixels to represent brightness of the original color (similar to halftoning in newspaper photographs). Dithering will transform light colors to fewer dots with larger distances between them. The darker colors will be represented by more dots positioned closer to each other (additionally the size of the dots may be increased).
Various algorithms have been developed to produce a dithered image that more closely resembles the original image. Among them are error diffusion (dispersion, distribution) algorithms, which dither the image by diffusing the quantization error of a pixel to its neighboring pixels (e.g. the Floyd-Steinberg dithering algorithm).
Various colors with the same or similar brightness may look the same after dithering. Referring to FIG. 1, three elements of document A having various colors (represented by different line patterns) may look virtually undistinguishable after dithering in document B. Similarly, a fax document with a colored text on a colored background may become unreadable if the brightness of the text color is similar to the brightness of the background color (FIGS. 6 and 7).
Therefore, new methods, apparatus, software, and systems are needed to provide document optimization prior to their conversion to black and white. Additionally, new methods, apparatus, software, and systems are needed to provide document optimization for use in fax technology.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for electrically processing image information such as an image file or a facsimile apparatus, and more particularly to such image processing apparatus adapted for processing image information in compressed form, for example image information stored or transmitted in the run-length encoded form using the modified Huffman (M-H) codes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It has been proposed to read an original image photoelectrically to generate electric image signals, and to transmit such signals to a printer or a file, or to a distant printer apparatus through a transmission line. In the case of such image signal transmission among plural units, satisfactory synchronization is indispensable between the transmitting and receiving units. However, satisfactory image signal transmission cannot be expected by mere synchronization if the signal processing speed is different between the different units.
Accordingly, there has been considered adjustment the speed or timing of transmission by providing at least either one of the transmitting and receiving units, for example a reader and a printer, with a buffer memory and storing the image signals to be transmitted in such buffer memory.
Such a buffer memory requires a certain margin in memory capacity in order to ensure satisfactory synchronization. However an increase in the memory capacity is inevitably limited as it leads to an increase in the cost.
Also in the case that a compression process is involved in the image data handling, the quantity of data after compression varies significantly, so that the number of pages that can be stored in a memory fluctuates according to the case. At the transmission of compressed image data, certain other signals such as timing signals are transmitted simultaneously, and the storage of such other signals into the aforementioned memory gives rise to waste of the memory capacity.


1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an oil pressure booster, and more particularly to an improvement of an oil pressure booster which is used in a fork lift, a truck, an automobile, or the like vehicle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An oil pressure booster of the prior art, which is used for instance in a fork lift, comprises a throttle valve formed of a spool to be driven by a brake pedal, which throttle valve throttles the passage of operating oil flow being delivered upon depression of the brake pedal for generating an oil pressure upstream thereof, a control valve formed of the aforesaid spool, a return path valve formed of said spool and normally communicating a boost chamber to a drain port therethrough, and a power piston operatively related to said spool. The aforesaid oil pressure is applied to the boost chamber through said control valve for moving the power piston in the direction of depressing the brake pedal so as to follow the movement of the spool. The oil pressure booster of the prior art has a shortcoming in that its operating characteristics with an unoperated power steering connected thereto (open characteristics) is widely different from its operating characteristics at the time when the power steering connected thereto is in operation (closed characteristics). Thus, when the power steering is not operated while the oil pressure booster is operated, if the power steering is put into operation for shifting the open characteristics to the closed characteristics, with a certain depressing force applied to the brake pedal (which relates to a boost chamber pressure), the oil pressure delivered to the boost chamber under the closed characteristics is considerably higher than that under the open characteristics, whereby the pressure difference under the two characteristics tends to push up the brake pedal (to be referred to as "oil pressure interference"), which push up cause a discomfort to the driver.


Electrophoresis is a well-known technique for separating macromolecules. In electrophoretic applications, molecules in a sample to be tested are migrated in a medium across which a voltage potential is applied. Oftentimes, the sample is propagated through a gel which acts as a sieving matrix to help retard and separate the individual molecules as they migrate.
One application of gel electrophoresis is in DNA sequencing. Prior to electrophoresis analysis, the DNA sample is prepared using well-known methods. The result is a solution of DNA fragments of all possible lengths corresponding to the same total sequential order, with each fragment terminated with a tag label corresponding to the identity of the given terminal base.
The separation process employs a capillary tube filled with conductive gel. To introduce the sample, one end of the tube is placed into the DNA reaction vial. After a small amount of sample enters the capillary end, both capillary ends are then placed in separate buffer solutions. A voltage potential is then applied across the capillary tube. The voltage drop causes the DNA sample to migrate from one end of the capillary to the other. Differences in the migration rates of the DNA fragments cause the sample to separate into bands of similar-length fragments. As the bands traverse the capillary tube, the bands are typically read at some point along the capillary tube using one of several detection techniques.
Usually, multiple DNA preparation reactions are performed in a commercially available microtitre tray having many separate low-volume wells, each holding on the order of 200-1000 micro-liters. The microtitre trays come in standard sizes. In the biotech industry, the currently preferred microtitre tray has a rectangular array comprising of 8 rows and 12 columns of wells. The centers of adjacent wells found in a single row are separated by approximately 0.9 cm, although this figure may vary by one or two tenths of a millimeter. The same holds for the spacing between adjacent wells in a single column. The rectangular array of 96 wells has a footprint within an area less than 7.5 cm.times.11 cm.
Miniaturization has allowed more wells to be accommodated in a single microtitre tray having the same footprint. New trays having four times the density of wells within the same footprint have already been introduced and are fast becoming the industry standard. Thus, these new trays have 16 rows and 24 columns with an inter-well spacing of approximately 0.45 cm.
It is not uncommon to analyze several thousand DNA samples for a given DNA sequencing project. Needless, to say, it is time consuming to employ a single capillary tube for several thousand runs.
Prior art devices have suggested means for analyzing DNA bands in multiple capillaries simultaneously. Such a device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,498,324 to Yeung et al, whose contents are incorporated by reference in their entirety. This reference teaches a means for detecting the DNA bands as they are separated in multiple capillary tubes which are positioned parallel to another. However, in such an arrangement, each capillary tube is filled with gel and a sample is introduced into each capillary tube.
The arrangement described above takes a considerable amount of time to fill each capillary tube with gel. It also takes considerable effort to introduce a reaction sample into one end of each of the tubes reproducibly and reliably.
It is also not uncommon that one uses the same capillary tube for several consecutive sample runs. This, obviously risks cross-contamination of samples, which is a further disadvantage in certain prior art arrangements.


Certain embodiments of the present invention generally relate to a contact configured to deflect across a defined vertical range while electrically connecting a circuit board to a processor.
Many large electronic devices, such as computers, use sockets to connect different electronic components. For example, pin grid array (PGA) sockets are used to electrically connect electronic packages, such as processors, to printed circuit boards. PGA sockets facilitate electrical communication between a large number of pins on the processor and contacts on the circuit board. PGA sockets may utilize a cover that is slidably movable on a base between open and closed positions. The sliding movement may be actuated, for example, by a lever. The cover has a hole array configured to match a pin array on the processor. Similarly, the base has an array of pin receiving chambers configured to accept the pin array of the processor. The processor is mated to the socket by first placing the processor such that its pins slide into the holes of the cover. With the cover in the open position, the processor pins pass through the holes of the cover into the pin receiving chambers of the base, but are not electrically connected to the pin receiving chambers of the base.
When the cover is slid to the closed position, the processor pins electrically connect to contacts in the pin receiving chambers in the base. The contacts have fingers that flexible receive the processor pins therebetween. This PGA base and cover arrangement, however, requires use of a mechanism, such as a lever assembly, thereby introducing excess parts and manufacturing cost. The PGA base and cover arrangement also requires additional space for the contacts as the fingers on the contacts must flex outward away from each other to receive the processor pins. These drawbacks are especially troublesome in applications where space is at a premium, such as on motherboards for desktop and laptop computers.
Consequently, land grid array (LGA) sockets have been developed which require only vertical compression to allow a processor and circuit board to electrically communicate. The LGA sockets do not require the lever mechanism, and can be used in applications with more stringent space requirements. LGA sockets, however, require a vertical compression force to be continuously applied to the processor to maintain proper communication between the processor and the circuit board.
One LGA socket has been proposed in an application, entitled “Surface Mount Technology Land Grid Array Socket,” filed on Aug. 5, 2002, and afforded Ser. No. 10/212,414. FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate the above-noted electrical system 10 including a surface mount land grid array (LGA) socket 11. The electrical system 10 also includes a circuit board 12 to which the socket 11 is mounted and a processor 18 mounted to the socket 11. The socket 11 includes a frame 14, a housing 16 (see FIG. 2), and bias spring arms 20. The frame 14 includes an array of holes 86 therein that hold socket contacts in a pattern that corresponds to a pattern of contacts provided on the bottom of the processor 18. The bias spring arms 20 locate and position the processor 18 with respect to the socket 11 such that the processor contacts align and engage socket contacts to facilitate electrical communication between the processor 18 and the circuit board 12. When the housing 16 is positioned in the frame 14 and the processor 18 is positioned on the housing 16, the processor and socket contacts are placed under a desired vertical load between the circuit board and the processor.
However, existing LGA socket contacts have experienced certain limitations, such as an unduly limited range of deflection. More specifically, after the processor is positioned on top of the socket contact, the processor applies a normal vertical force that deflects the socket contact between first and second contact positions. The range of deflection determines certain tolerances of the individual components, such as the socket, processor, and circuit board. Conventional LGA socket contacts have an unduly limited range of deflection which places undesirably narrow limits on the component tolerances. Additionally, conventional socket contacts may not return to their unbiased first position upon removal of the processor while affording the desired deflection range.
A need exists for an LGA socket contact that addresses the above noted problems and others experienced heretofore.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to fishing lure storage boxes.
2. Description of Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,185,952 to Bruce teaches a box with a display panel having a plurality of tracks, each track holding one or more clips, each clip comprising two resilient bifurcated legs having a hook receiving cavity between them. The hooks of adjacent lures stored in Bruce's box may become entangled unless a precisely positioned clip is provided for each hook.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,958,730 Bunten provides an elastic retainer holding one hook of a multi-hooked lure to the top of a lure drawer. A second hook is retained by a fixed rod adjacent the bottom of the lure drawer.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,240,222 Covington discloses a modular, multi-compartmented tackle box having various means (e.g., a transverse rod, a channel filled with a resilient foam, or a pierceable board) for suspending a lure by one hook. Covington's tackle box, if jostled, may be found to contain entangled lures.
Malmquist, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,608,459, teaches a tackle box comprising a plurality of separate lure storage compartments, each compartment lined with cork and having a bifurcated body extending across it near the top of the compartment. A lure is stored in Malmquist's box by inserting the shank of its tail hook into the bifurcating slot and suspending the lure from the tail hook, the tines of which are embedded in the cork. Fabrication of the individual compartments in Malmquist's box is time consuming and expensive.
Baumgartner, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,268,920, teaches a flexible band for mounting about the crown of a hat, the band having a plurality of safety-pin-like retainers spaced apart along its length. A fishing fly may be attached to each of Baumgartner's retainers by threading one leg of the retainer through the eyelet of the fly hook and then pushing that leg into a clamped position. Baumgartner's apparatus relies on the spacing between retainers being greater than twice the length of a lure in order to keep adjacent lures from becoming entangled. Although this may be satisfactory for relatively small dry flies, the use of Baumgartner's system for larger spinning or baitcasting lures would result either in entangled lures, or in apparatus having a severely restricted carrying capacity.
Nelson, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,364,807, teaches a lure storage box having a slotted platform. The hooks of stored lures extend downward through the slots into a separate chamber. Lures are held in position by rubber band stretched across the top of them. Nelson's apparatus involves components having complex shapes that are difficult to fabricate, and requires awkward hand motions by the fisherman who wishes to disengage a lure from the box.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,065,234 Martinez teaches a fly box having a plurality of rigid rods extending across the surface of a resilient rubber sheet. A fly to be stored has its hook threaded carefully between a rod and the springy rubber sheet and is thereby held in a fixed position. Martinez's box is difficult to use without occasionally sticking the point of a hook into the rubber, which tears the rubber and diminishes its utility as a springy retainer.
Schweigert, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,164,259 discloses storage apparatus for fishing flies, in which the curved portion of each fly's hook is draped over a rigid rod. Adjacent flies are separated by small metal tabs, and the flies are held on the rod by a single spring. Schweigert's apparatus is not suitable for the storage of multi-hooked lures, as those hooks not draped about the rod would become entangled.
Figley, in U.S. Pat. No. 1,482,678, teaches a dry fly book in which each fly hook is retained intermediate two leaf spring elements. Figley's apparatus, like that of Schweigert and others, is not suitable for use with multi-hooked lures.
Madsen, in U.S. Pat. No. 1,076,898, teaches a storage box for skeins of yarn and the like. Madsen provides metallic spring fingers pinching the yarn against fixed projections extending inward from a wall of the box.


As the display technology becomes increasingly mature, various displays have gradually developed. At present, liquid crystal displays (briefly known as LCDs) are more and more widely applied due to advantages such as little power consumption, miniaturization, light weight and thin thickness, and so on.
An existing liquid crystal comprises two polarizers having light transmitting axes perpendicular with each other and a liquid crystal panel located between the upper and lower polarizers. The principle of greyscale display is that the lower polarizer converts a natural light into linearly polarized light; the deflection status of liquid crystals is controlled by voltages so as to convert the linearly polarized light into elliptically polarized light, and the upper polarizer analyses polarization of the elliptically polarized light so as to realize different greyscale displays.


The present invention relates, generally, to the field of computing, and more particularly to call screening by applying data analytics to both digital footprint and social media.
Data analytics relates, typically, the discovery, interpretation, and communication of meaningful patterns in data areas rich with recorded information. Data analytics relies on an extensive use of computer skills, such as mathematics and statistics, combined with the use of descriptive techniques and predictive models to gain valuable knowledge from data analysis.
A digital footprint is typically a unique set of traceable digital activities, actions, contributions and communications that are manifested on the Internet or on computing devices.
Social media relate to computer-mediated technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, career interests and other forms of expression via virtual communities and networks of the computing devices.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to motor vehicles and in particular to a method for controlling cylinder deactivation.
2. Description of Related Art
Methods for controlling cylinder deactivation have been previously proposed. Bolander (U.S. patent number 2006/0130814) is directed to a method of regulating a displacement on demand (DOD) engine. The Bolander method teaches adjusting activation of a first cylinder to partially achieve the desired engine displacement and subsequently adjusting activation of a second cylinder to fully achieve the desired engine displacement. In other words, instead of activating multiple cylinders simultaneously, a first cylinder is activated, followed by a second cylinder being activated. During a first step before partial deactivation, the control device determines whether the displacement on demand system should be disabled. The displacement on demand system is disabled whenever the vehicle is in a situation where activation of the DOD system would be inappropriate. Such conditions include that the vehicle is in a transmission mode other than drive (i.e. park, reverse or low range). Other situations include the presence of engine controller faults, cold engine, improper voltage levels and improper fuel and/or oil pressure levels.
Foster (U.S. Pat. No. 6,904,752) is directed to an engine cylinder deactivation system that improves the performance of the exhaust emission control systems. The Foster design discloses a cylinder deactivation system to control temperature and air/fuel ratio of an exhaust gas feed-stream going into an after-treatment device. Foster teaches cylinder deactivation for controlling temperature of the exhaust gas continues as long as the operating point of the engine remains below a predetermined level, or the coolant temperature is below the operating range of 82-91 degrees C., or the exhaust gas temperature is below an optimal operating temperature of the after-treatment device, e.g. 250 degrees C. In other words, the Foster device uses a single threshold limit for the engine operating level, the coolant temperature and the exhaust gas temperature.
Donozo (U.S. Pat. No. 4,409,936) is directed to a split type internal combustion engine. In the Donozo design, the internal combustion engine comprises a first and second cylinder unit, each including at least one cylinder, a sensor means for providing a signal indicative of engine vibration and a control means for disabling the first cylinder unit when the engine load is below a predetermined value. The controller means is adapted to hold the first cylinder unit active, regardless of engine load conditions, when the engine vibration indicator signal exceeds a predetermined value indicating unstable engine operation. In the Dozono design, cylinder deactivation may occur during low load conditions any time the measured vibrations are below a particular threshold value. Dozono does not teach a method where cylinder deactivation is stopped for low load conditions based on engine speed.
Wakashiro (U.S. Pat. No. 6,943,460) is directed to a control device for a hybrid vehicle. The Wakashiro design teaches a method for determining if cylinder deactivation should be used and a separate method for determining if the engine is in a permitted cylinder deactivation operation zone. The factors used to determine if the engine is in a permitted cylinder deactivation zone are the temperature of the engine cooling water, the vehicle speed, the engine revolution rate, and the depression amount of the accelerator pedal. In each case, these factors are evaluated based on a single predetermined threshold. In other words, if each of these factors is determined to be above or below (depending on the factor) a predetermined threshold, the cylinder deactivation operation is prevented.
While the prior art makes use of several parameters in order to determine if cylinder deactivation should be stopped, there are shortcomings. The prior art teaches only threshold limits above which cylinder deactivation can continue and below which cylinder deactivation should be stopped. Also, the prior art does not teach the use of stop deactivation dependent on various parameters including engine speed, vehicle speed, transmission ratio, or engine load. There is a need in the art for a system and method that addresses these problems.


The invention relates to a protective suit for protection against harmful chemical and biological substances as classified in the preamble of claim 1.
Persons who, in the event of accidents involving harmful substances, work on site and therefore are exposed to these substances have to wear protective suits which stop the harmful substances from getting through to the skin or underwear.
The same is true of the military field when chemical or biological warfare agents are used.
From commercial practice there are known for this purpose two-part protective suits consisting of a jacket and a pair or trousers, each constructed of an outer and a liner into which a carbon-based layer has been introduced. The substances adsorb onto the carbon surface. However, it is disadvantageous in this connection that the carbon will take up a multiplicity of chemicals, including chemicals which are relatively harmless, such as, for example, exhaust gases, deodorants, insect repellents and the like, and hence will become saturated, and consequently pervious, over time. Another problem here is the protective effect against chemicals in the liquid state.
A protective effect, moreover, presupposes a certain layer thickness for the carbon, which not only creates an adverse thermal effect through a heat build-up for the wearer, but also makes the protective suit relatively cumbersome and heavy. In addition, it takes several minutes to put on the two-part protective suit and seal it, which likewise represents an appreciable disadvantage in the event of danger threatening.
The present invention therefore has for its object to provide a protective suit which is simpler to handle and safer in use.
According to the invention, this object is achieved by the features recited in the characterizing part of claim 1.
Instead of a bulky barrier layer of charcoal, the barrier layer which is used now is a membrane which is surrounded by a protective layer on both sides. The protective layer on the outside serves as a mechanical protector for the membrane and the inner protective layer also serves to increase the wear comfort. To this end, for example, the outer protective layer can be formed of breathable polyester. The inner protective layer can consist of polyamide which can be hydrophilicized in order that it may readily absorb perspiration and transport it to the outside. In an advantageous execution of the invention, the membrane is likewise configured to be breathable. A very useful membrane has been determined to be a cellulose-based material. Such a material is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,743,775 for example.
The configuration as an coverall facilitates and appreciably speeds the putting on of the suit, since distinctly fewer locations have to be sealed. A membrane, unlike a charcoal layer, can be selectively impervious to harmful substances, while being otherwise pervious. A cellulose-based membrane blocks off a multiplicity of harmful chemicals. Moreover, no saturation occurs and at the same time protection is also provided against chemicals in the liquid state or else as an aerosol and not just protection against gas.
The pressure difference on both sides of the membrane ensures that moisture is transported away from the body, so that there is no heat build-up for the person who is wearing the protective suit. In addition, the evaporation processes which take place ensure a cooling effect.
The execution of the protective suit as an coverall provides a suit which is complete in itself, it then merely being necessary to make connecting pieces to a protective mask and to gloves.
In a very advantageous execution of the invention, the coverall is provided with a hood which is integrated in and hence is integral with the coverall. The same applies to the integration of socks in the coverall. This shortens the time needed to put on the protective suit even more compared with known protective suits. In addition, integration of the hood and socks in the coverall also avoids dangerous spots with regard to imperviousness.
In a further very advantageous execution of the invention, the at least one zipper extends beyond the hood and the hood divides into a rear part and a front part when the zipper is in the open state and hence, in the open state, can be laid down on the back and on the chest. It is merely necessary to ensure that the zipper used is impervious to the harmful substances and is also correspondingly imperviously connected to the coverall. One possible zipper of this kind is described for example in German Utility Model DE 201 10 132.7.
Advantageous developments and executions of the protective suit according to the invention will be apparent from the remaining subclaims and from the illustrative embodiment described hereinbelow in principle with reference to the drawing, where


This invention relates to a sheet material bending angle detector and to an operation method of a press machine using the bending angle detector.


Battery and wall plug operated ozone generators are used to deodorize refrigerators, rooms, water, clothing, and other items.


Field-effect controlled transistors, such as MOSFETs (Metal Oxide Field-Effect Transistors) are widely used in automotive, industrial, or consumer electronic applications for driving loads, converting power, or the like. Such transistors, which are often referred to as power transistors, are available with different voltage blocking capabilities. The “voltage blocking capability” defines the maximum voltage level the transistor can withstand in an off-state (when switched off). The on-resistance RON of a power transistor is another relevant device parameter. The “on-resistance” is the electrical resistance of the power transistor between its load nodes (drain node and source node) in the on-state (when switched on). Typically, a power transistor includes a plurality of transistor cells that are connected in parallel. Basically, the more transistor cells the power transistor includes the lower is the on-resistance.
There is a need to reduce the on-resistance without increasing the size (the required chip area A) of the semiconductor body (semiconductor chip) in which active areas of the power transistor are integrated. There is therefore a need to reduce the size of the individual transistor cells.


Liquid processing apparatuses include a hollow-shaped bottom plate supporting a target semiconductor wafer (hereinafter referred to as a “wafer”), a rotary shaft fixedly connected to the bottom plate and rotated by a spin motor, a supply pipeline extended in the rotary shaft to supply a cleaning solution to the wafer supported on the bottom plate, and substrate lifting pins ascending to support the bottom of the wafer. One example of the liquid processing apparatuses is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 9-290197
In the liquid processing apparatuses, a cleaning solution, such as a chemical solution or a rinsing solution, that is used to clean wafers, may be attached to the substrate lifting pins via through holes. Accordingly, when the wafer is lifted by the substrate lifting pins and is delivered to a conveyor robot after the wafer is dried, the droplet of the cleaning solution attached to the substrate lifting pins may be attached to an opposite surface of the wafer.
If the cleaning solution is attached to the wafer as described above, not only watermarks may be formed on the wafer to which the droplet is attached, but also the humidity in a carrier for conveying the wafer may be increased, thereby causing the formation of watermarks on other wafers accommodated in the carrier.
Further, in the liquid processing apparatuses, a first path connected to an inert gas connection path and a second path connected to a cleaning solution connection path are installed inside a dual supply pipeline, and the front ends of the first path and the second path are positioned at the same height. Accordingly, the cleaning solution may flow into the first path.


Wireless communication systems have been widely deployed to provide various types of communication services such as voice or data. In general, a wireless communication system is a multiple access system that supports communication of multiple users by sharing available system resources (a bandwidth, transmission power, etc.) among them. For example, multiple access systems include a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) system, a Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) system, a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) system, an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) system, a Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) system, and a Multi-Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (MC-FDMA) system.
D2D communication is a communication scheme in which a direct link is established between User Equipments (UEs) and the UEs exchange voice and data directly with each other without intervention of an evolved Node B (eNB). D2D communication may cover UE-to-UE communication and peer-to-peer communication. In addition, D2D communication may find its applications in Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication and Machine Type Communication (MTC).
D2D communication is under consideration as a solution to the overhead of an eNB caused by rapidly increasing data traffic. For example, since devices exchange data directly with each other without intervention of an eNB by D2D communication, compared to legacy wireless communication, the overhead of a network may be reduced. Further, it is expected that with the introduction of D2D communication will reduce the power consumption of devices participating in D2D communication, increase data transmission rates, increase the accommodation capability of a network, distribute load, and extend cell coverage.


Generally speaking, individuals often provide items for sale via online auction systems. Conventional online auction systems may conduct an electronic auction of the item on behalf of a provider (e.g., a seller) of the item. For example, an online auction system may make the item available for bidding by members of the general public and facilitate provision of the item from the provider and a winning bidder.
Conventional online auction systems have various limitations and drawbacks. For example, an individual supplying an item for auction may be unable to identify other individuals who may want the item and notify them that the item is available via the online auction system. Similarly, an individual who is interested in acquiring a particular item or perusing potential items of interest that are relevant to the individual may have to search a conventional online auction system and possibly wade through irrelevant items to determine whether the particular item is available or otherwise find potential items of interest.
Further, conventional online auction systems do not provide enough control over the individuals who may participate in the auction. For example, while some online auction systems may allow the individual providing the item to block particular individuals from participating in the auction, they typically do not facilitate targeting potentially interested individuals to participate in the auction.
Conventional online auction systems suffer from these and other drawbacks.


The present invention relates generally to a memory array address decoder and more particularly to a memory array address decoder used by a dynamic random access memory device.
A typical DRAM memory device is comprised of a plurality of memory cells, each comprised of a transistor and a capacitor. Each memory cell stores one bit of data in the form of a voltage. A high voltage level (e.g., 3V) represents a logic “1”, whereas a low voltage level (e.g., 0V) represents a logic “0”. The DRAM may also include peripheral devices, such as drivers, sense amps, input/output devices, and power supplies, etc., that are used to identify memory cells, access the memory cells, and store information within and read information from the memory cells, among others.
The memory cells may be arranged in an array with each memory cell being connected to a wordline and a digitline. Each memory cell has a unique address. Typically, the DRAM's control logic receives commands (e.g., read, write, etc.) and address information from a memory system controller. The address information is decoded by row and column decoders and the specific memory cell for which the command is directed is identified and the command executed.
Most DRAMs have built-in redundancy. Thus, should a memory cell become inoperable, a redundant memory cell can be assigned to logically take its place. For DRAMs incorporating redundancy, address information is sent to a comparator circuit. If the address information corresponds to an inoperable memory cell, a match signal is generated which substitutes the memory address of a redundant cell for that of the inoperable memory cell. The generation of the match signal, however, limits the speed of the DRAM because the other circuitry within the device must wait for the match signal to be generated.
The address information supplied to the row and column decoders can be either “true and complement” or pre-decoded as is known in the art. Pre-decoded address lines, for example, may be formed by logically combining (i.e., using one or more AND logic gates) true and complement addresses. Pre-decoded addressing requires less power than true and complement addressing because fewer signals need to make transitions during address changes. Additionally, pre-decoded addressing has a higher efficiency than true and complement addressing because fewer transitions are required to decode the same number of addresses.
Typical prior art decoders are classified as static or dynamic. FIG. 8 is a schematic of a static column decoder 80 according to the prior art. The static column decoder 80 includes NOR gate 81, NAND gates 82 and 84, and inverters 83 and 85. Pre-decoded address signals CA345i<0> and CA67Ei<0> are input into NOR gate 81 (where the “i” indicates that the signal is active low). The output of NOR gate 81 is fed to an input of NAND gate 82 and to an input of NAND gate 84. The pre-decoded address signal CA012<1> is provided to another input of NAND gate 82, whereas the pre-decoded address signal CA012<0> is provided to another input of NAND gate 84. The output of NAND gate 82 is fed to the input of inverter 83, which outputs the column select signal CSEL<1>. The output of NAND gate 84 is fed to the input of inverter 85, which outputs the column select signal CSEL<0>.
The static column decoder 80, although simple to implement, has several deficiencies. First, different gate delays are created for each column select line because the static column decoder 80 uses CMOS gates. Although originally tolerable, the differing gate delays create problems for today's DRAMs which operate at increased speeds. Second, the static column decoder 80 requires that the turn-on period and turn-off period of a match signal, for example generated when the originally addressed cell is found to be inoperable, be equal (i.e., the rise and fall times of the match signal must be the same). Thus, the cycle time for a static column decoder 80 is adversely affected.
FIG. 9 is a schematic of a dynamic column decoder 90 according to the prior art. The dynamic column decoder 90 includes several p-mos transistors (M2, M4, M6), several n-mos transistors (M1, M3, M5, M7), and several inverters (91–96). Typically, the dynamic column decoder is operated by first applying a precharge signal to the gates of transistors M3 and M7, thus pulling nodes 98 and 99, respectively, to ground. The precharge signal is then removed from the gates of transistors M3 and M7. Inverter 91 is used to latch node 98 at ground (thus, preventing node 98 from floating when the precharge signal is removed from the gate of transistor M3). Likewise, inverter 94 is used to latch node 99 at ground (thus, preventing node 99 from floating when the precharge signal is removed from the gate of transistor M7).
After the precharge signal is removed, the pre-decoded address signals CA012i<1>, CA012i<0>, CA345i<0>, and CA67E<0> are applied to the dynamic column decoder 90. The state of each of the output signals CSEL<1> and CSEL<0> is dependent upon these pre-decoded signals as should be apparent to one skilled in the art.
One advantage of the dynamic column decoder 90 over the static column decoder 80 is that the dynamic column decoder has consistent gate delays. Thus, the column select output lines (i.e., signals CSEL<1> and CSEL<0>) have consistent on/off times. The dynamic column decoder 90, however, has several deficiencies. For example, the feedback inverters 91, 94 must be sized large enough to keep the nodes 98 and 99, respectively, from floating (i.e., must keep the nodes 98 and 99 at ground potential, set when the precharge signal goes active), but sized small enough to be easily overridden when the pre-decoded address signals CA012i, CA345i, and CA67E go active. Additionally, the pre-decoded address signals CA012i, CA345i, and CA67E cannot go active until the precharge signal goes inactive, else the pre-decoded address signals overlap and fight the precharge signal. If the precharge and pre-decoded address signals CA012i, CA345i, and CA67E overlap, the turn on timing of the dynamic column decoder is adversely affected. Thus, the precharge signal consumes a relatively large amount of the cycle time which is available for providing the column select signals.
Thus, there exists a need for an improved memory array decoder that has a consistent turn-on time, that can utilize a precharge signal without adversely affecting the cycle time, and which overcomes the other limitations inherent in prior art.


1. Technical Field
An aspect of the present invention relates to a computer readable storage medium for a computer capable of displaying operational status information concerning a device such as a printer.
2. Related Art
A device driver, which is a computer program to be run on a personal computer (PC) to monitor and manipulate behaviors of a device (e.g., a printer) connected to the PC, is known. The device driver receives operational status and conditions of the device and displays information concerning the status through a display of the PC.


The present invention relates to a drive train cooling arrangement for motor vehicles, having a first cooling circuit and a second cooling circuit and having a pump arrangement, by means of which coolant can be fed to the first and the second cooling circuit.
The present invention furthermore relates to a method for operating a cooling arrangement of this kind. There is a known practice in drive trains of motor vehicles of feeding cooling or lubricating oil to subassemblies of a transmission, such as bearings and gearing, by way of injection lubrication. In this case, a pump is generally provided in the region of a transmission sump, and this pump can be driven by means of a drive motor such as an internal combustion engine, for example.
It is furthermore a known practice in the area of drive trains to cool wet multiplate clutches of the kind often used in dual clutch transmissions, for example. In this case, a separate pump is used and is generally likewise coupled to a crankshaft, building up a pump pressure continuously in operation.
To cool such friction clutches, use is generally made of an automatic transmission fluid of relatively low viscosity, whereas “hypoid” oil with a higher viscosity is used for lubrication in many transmissions.
Here, a volume flow of such a cooling or lubricating fluid is generally supplied via electromagnetically controlled valve arrangements. Valves of this kind generally contain spool valves, which make great demands as regards cleanliness during manufacture and assembly.
In the case of drive trains for motor vehicles which additionally have an electric motor as a drive motor (hybrid drive trains), it may also be necessary to cool the electric motor. For this purpose, another cooling arrangement is provided, and this is likewise generally operated with automatic transmission fluid. In this case, an electrically driven coolant pump is generally provided to supply the electric drive motor with coolant in order to allow a purely electric drive mode as well.


State-of-the-art magnetic field-based current sensors generally include a magnetic field sensor, an iron core, and an amplifier. The iron core surrounds an electrical conductor, preferably comprising copper for carrying the current to be measured, the current causing a magnetic field corresponding to the intensity of the current to be generated in the iron core. The magnetic field sensor is arranged in a gap in the iron core. Thus, the field lines of the magnetic field induced in the iron core by the current to be measured pass through the magnetic field sensor. The magnetic field sensor generates an electrical output signal generally proportional to be current to be measured, and this signal is amplified by an amplifier, such as an operational amplifier.
The iron core in conventional current sensors primarily provides two functions. First, the conducting of the magnetic field induced by the current to be measured through the magnetic field sensor, and second, the screening of the magnetic field sensor from extraneous electric and magnetic fields which are known to cause measurement error. However, the use of iron cores results in a sensor cost that is too expensive for many applications.
A known improved current sensor design disclosed in EP 1192473/WO 00/79291 dispenses with the iron core and thus its expense. According to the sensor design disclosed, the primary conductor which carries the current to be measured comprises an electrically conducting ferritic material generally mixed with an electrically conducting material (e.g. copper). The primary conductor at least partially surrounds the magnetic field sensor which assumes the functions of the iron core. The magnetic field sensor is centered near a notch in the primary conductor which serves to focus the magnetic flux lines from the primary current in the primary conductor that reaches the magnetic field sensor. The current sensor design disclosed in EP 1192473/WO 00/79291 generally has the disadvantage that the electromagnetic field associated with the current to be measured generates a magnetic field in the primary conductor, which can prevent precise measurement of the magnetic field associated with the current to be measured in the notch by adding another magnetic field component. The remanance of the primary conductor also causes non-linearity and magnetic saturation in the region of the notch which degrades the effect of the focussing notch. If only magnetic permeable material is used for the primary conductor (without copper or other electrical conductor), then a large cross-sectional area of this expensive material is generally needed because of its relatively high electrical resistivity.
Thus, although sensors disclosed in EP 1192473/WO 00/79291 having a primary conductor including magnetic permeable material mixed with electrically conducting material can provide good performance and a reduced cost compared to conventional iron core-based current sensors, in certain important applications more precise measurement of electric current is required. Precise measurement of electric current requires improved linearity (between the current to be measured flowing as primary current and the magnetic flux reaching the magnetic sensor) and reduced resistive impedance. Lower cost would also be helpful.
Some present current sensor applications include measurement of electric current include motor current control in frequency inverters, phase current control in servo-drives, overload protection for motors and power semiconductors, control of energy systems (e.g. wind energy), current control and monitoring in welding equipment, current regulation in switching mode power supplies, current control in uninterruptible power supplies, battery current diagnosis in motor vehicles, ground fault detection and laboratory test equipment. Some of these applications generally require precise current measurements.
Small sensor size is required in certain applications, such as those where current is measured directly on a printed circuit board. Moreover, low cost is also required in most automotive applications and other high volume applications. What is needed is a new current sensor design that provides improved sensor performance while also providing a low cost.


1. Field
The present disclosure relates to an adhesive tape with print that is affixed to an adherent and used, and an adhesive tape roll with print that uses the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are known adhesive tapes with print that are affixed to an adherent and used. These adhesive tapes include a tape base layer (resin film base), an adhesive layer, and a separation material (separation sheet), in that order, from the front surface side to the rear surface side in the thickness direction, and print formation is performed by transferring the ink of the ink ribbon to the front surface side. The ink ribbon used is a ribbon comprising a ribbon base layer and an ink layer that sticks to the front surface side of the adhesive tape. The user uses the adhesive tape of a preferred length by affixing it to a suitable adherent.
When the user affixes and uses the adhesive tape as described above, dirt and debris sometimes stick to the front surface, and it is contemplated that a separation layer could be provided on the front surface of the tape base layer to prevent this. Hence, such an adhesive tape may be conceivably generated as a roll wound around a predetermined axis, for example. In a case where a separation layer is thus provided, the adhesive tape includes a separation layer, a tape base layer, and an adhesive layer, in that order, and thus the adhesive layer in the roll is in contact with and adhered to the separation layer in the radial direction of the roll. Then, when the adhesive tape is fed out from the roll, the adhesive layer is sequentially peeled and separated from the separation layer, requiring consideration for improving the separability thereof as well. Furthermore, in a case of a structure that provides separability as described above, consideration must be made to improve the adhesion between the separation layer and ink ribbon in order to ensure favorable transferability at the time of transfer from the ink ribbon.
In the prior art described above, achieving an adhesive tape with optimum characteristics that is capable of maintaining separability at the time of feed-out from the roll, transferability from the ink ribbon, and antifouling properties when affixed and used as previously described was not taken into account.


Shoppers in retail stores typically use shopping carts or baskets owned by the store to hold their purchases as they travel through the store. Purchases are typically bagged at the check out counter and either reloaded into the cart or the bags themselves are carried out of the store by the shopper. Carrying the bags is cumbersome for the shopper and the number of bags that a shopper can carry is limited by the strength of his or her arms. With regard to using shopping carts outside of the store, such an arrangement does not work for city shoppers who walk to and from the store. In addition, even if the shopper drives to the store, and carries the groceries to his or her car with a store-owned cart, the store must go to the trouble of collecting the carts from the parking lot. In addition, the carts must be maintained, repaired and stored, which can add up to significant costs and take up valuable storage space.
Consumer-owned folding wire carts for use in shopping are known. The shopper brings the cart to the store, opens/unfolds it, and uses it to hold items during shopping. The shopper then uses the same cart after checkout to transport the purchases to his or her car or home. The disadvantage of such carts, however, is that they can be heavy due to the metal wire construction. In addition, they tend to feature a very utilitarian appearance. They also typically do not fold completely flat, and thus take up valuable space which is undesirable (especially when the shopper is an apartment dweller).
In view of the above, a need exists for a collapsible personal trolley that is inexpensive, lightweight, durable and attractive.


Although data indicate that the immune system is of major importance for cancer control, malignant tumours continue to grow and the efficacy of immunotherapy is rather poor with an objective remission rate of 15-30%. There can be several reasons for this apparent paradox:                Tumours avoid the recognition by the immune system by not expressing tumour associated antigens properly        Tumour associated antigens (often self antigens), which are too weak to elicit an adequate immune response        Induction of tolerance        Cancer related immunosuppression, which prevents an adequate immune response
These alternatives require completely different therapeutic strategies, either proper stimulation of the immune system or control of cancer related immunosuppressor mechanisms.
Immunosuppression in cancer is mainly characterized by: Reduced proliferative and cytotoxic capacity of lymphocytes, in particular tumour infiltrating lymphocytes, poor migration of inflammatory cells, reduced production and response to IL-2, difficulties to elicit an immune response by vaccination, also against other than tumour related antigens and pathological cytokine production. This dysregulation of the immune system results in poor immune mediated cancer control and a paraneoplastic syndrome (subfebrility, fatigue, anorexia, weight loss and deterioration of laboratory parameters).
Immunostimulatory therapeutic strategies using cytokines (e.g. interferons, interleukins) or vaccination, in order to enhance the immune mediated reactivity to the tumour, has been tried for several decades, but have so far had only very limited success. This indicates that immunostimulation in order to overcome a poor immune response in cancer patients might be suppressed by other so far unidentified mechanisms.
We have in two previous patent applications described two fundamental immunoregulatory mechanisms of relevance to all types of malignant tumours. In the first of these applications the importance of Fc-receptor modulation and ways to overcome this cancer related immunosuppression by modulating Fc-receptor cross-linking was demonstrated. In this patent application also proteolytic fragments of normally occurring proteins were demonstrated to induce pathological monokine production. In the second patent application some of these neo-structures were found to be integrin binding/blocking and their occurrence and immunoregulatory activity was further analysed by using monoclonal antibodies directed against albumin derived neo-structures. In the latter patent application also the occurrence and importance of auto-antibodies to these neo-structures is described.


It is already possible using artillery locating radar and other surveillance systems, for example, to determine rapidly and with high precision the location of an artillery gun that has opened fire. There is thus a good opportunity for an enemy to open effective counter-battery fire. The artillery has therefore more or less been forced to depart from its previously fairly stationary tactics in favour of significantly more mobile tactics involving rapid engagements in the form of short intensive fires followed by immediate redeployment to a pre-determined deployment site at a sufficiently safe distance from the previous one. These new tactics have resulted in an increased need for every gun to be self-propelled and capable of carrying at least a primary requirement of ammunition.
One must also assume that coming generations of artillery will use modular type propellant charges, that is, propellant charges consisting of a number of modular charges of different sizes, such as length and, to a certain extent, diameter, of different charge strength with primarily rigid combustible outer casings, and that are combinable in various ways to provide the desired muzzle velocities. At present this system of modular charges is called M(A)CS, that is, Modular (Artillery) Charge System. Moreover, as the next generation of artillery guns is expected to be equipped with armoured protection against battlefield fragments to an even greater extent than is normal today. Next generation loading systems will be required to operate very rapidly and be capable of stowing large quantities of propellant charges and of handling all the different types of propellant charges in the M(A)CS. The propellant charges must also be stowable in the least possible space. In addition, loading systems shall be robust and durable, and the propellant charge magazine shall be replenishable in a very short time, preferably from a vehicle equipped with an automatic resupply unit.


Today metal walls are used in a wide variety of buildings including both the residential and commercial buildings. Basically, a metal wall section includes a series of spaced apart metal studs that extend between an upper and lower tracks that ordinarily are secured to an underlying floor and an overhead support structure. In some cases, the upper track may be free floating. Typically secured to the sides of the studs is a wall covering such as gypsum board. Most metal walls are straight. However, in recent years it is noted that many architects and interior designers have started to use curved walls in particular locations in buildings. In some cases these curved walls may be used purely for aesthetic or design appeal. In other cases, they may serve utilitarian functions.
In straight metal walls, the upper and lower tracks typically comprise an elongated U-shaped metal channel. Such channels are, of course, not suited for curved wall constructions. Yet, in order to fabricate a curve wall, it is necessary to provide a support or a retaining structure that runs along the upper and lower ends of the studs that comprise the wall.
In the past, there have been attempts at providing flexible track designs. For example, reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 6,000,181 and the prior art discussed in this patent. U.S. Pat. No. 6,000,181 is expressly incorporated herein by reference. This patent discloses a multi-section track wherein the respective tracks are pivotally connected with respect to each other. However, this flexible or deformable track design includes an adjustable strap that is threaded through the upstanding stud tabs formed on each section. These straps make the flexible track complicated and expensive to manufacture. This complexity also can have an adverse affect on the ease of use of this flexible track.
Therefore, there has been and continues to be a need for a flexible or deformable track for a curved metal wall that is relatively simple in construction and which is easy to use.


The present invention relates to a video display device such as a TV receiver or a image processing apparatus such as a set-top box including a DVD player or a digital tuner, and more particularly to an image processing apparatus with a configuration in which the luminance distribution of an input video signal is detected for correcting the image quality.
A prior art technology for improving the contrast effect of a video displayed on a display device is disclosed, for example, in JP-A-2002-359754. The disclosed technology detects a luminance histogram from the input video signal and corrects the minimum value of the video signal according to the distribution amount of the minimum interval range in the luminance histogram for adjusting the gray scale near the black.


1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to network traffic analysis and in particular, to click fraud detection.
2. Description of the Related Art
Advertising is one of many ways to direct Internet traffic to a website. Advertisers or advertising sponsors typically purchase online advertising, such as sponsored links or sponsored ads, and pay for such advertising based on, for example, a block of advertising impressions, a per click basis, conversions, leads, actions, or the like. These online advertising services can be subjected to fraud.
Pay per click (PPC) advertising is an arrangement in which a publisher displays clickable links from an advertising sponsor in exchange for a charge per click. An advertising network acts as a middleman between these publishers and advertising sponsors. Typically, for each click on an advertisement (ad), the advertising sponsor pays an advertising fee to the advertising network, which in turn pays the publisher a share of this money. This revenue sharing system can be exploited for click fraud.
Relatively large advertising networks, such as Google's AdWords/AdSense and Yahoo! Search Marketing, can also be considered to be publishers (on their search engines and their various websites). This complex relationship can create a conflict of interest. For example, an advertising network would pay advertising fees to a publisher for undetected click fraud, but the advertising network would also collect advertising fees from an advertising sponsor. Typically, the advertising network charges more to the advertising sponsor than it pays out to publishers, so there is typically little incentive for the advertising network to detect fraudulent clicks.
Advertising networks can attempt to stop fraud, but determining which clicks are legitimate can be a difficult task. Advertising sponsors typically resist paying for fraudulent clicks. Publishers typically resent having to pay refunds for click fraud detected late.
Click fraud occurs in pay per click (PPC) online advertising when a person, automated script, computer program, or the like, imitates the clicks of a legitimate user of a web browser to generate an improper charge per click.
Those engaged in large scale fraud will often run scripts that simulate a human's clicks on ads in web pages. However, huge numbers of clicks appearing to come from just one, or a small number of computers, or a single geographic area, can look suspicious to an advertising network and to advertising sponsors.
Sophisticated scammers circumvent detection by clandestinely controlling relatively many computers with their own Internet connections running in disparate geographic locations. Often, scripts do not truly mimic human behavior, so scammers can turn to Trojan code or other malware to turn an unsuspecting person's machine into a zombie computer and use sporadic redirects or DNS-cache-poisoning to turn the user's actions into clicks on PPC advertisements. Such actions can generate revenue for the scammer, who may be paid by a beneficiary of click fraud.
An example of a conventional solution typically only detect click fraud in pre-defined advertising campaigns, and advertising sponsors are alerted to multiple page loads, or clickthroughs from identical Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. Present solutions can typically examine activity only on a URL by URL basis for the HTTP referrer resource, which can be cumbersome when many URLs are providing referrals to the referred-to website.


This invention relates to the field of computer systems. More particularly, a system and methods are provided for inlining across protection domain boundaries within a system virtual machine.
A system virtual machine (VM) executes instructions from a source or “virtual” instruction set architecture (vISA), such as the x86 ISA, on a “native” ISA (nISA), such as SPARC®, by interpretation or dynamic compilation. Use of a virtual machine thus allows one physical computing device to appear to host one or more virtual computers, which can execute a variety of operating systems and application software.
A VM awards a system designer great freedom in design within the nISA. In particular, in traditional non-virtual machine computer systems a processor executes instructions essentially one at a time, using only local knowledge of the current process. A VM, however, can apply optimizations across greater regions of a program, including inlining, whereby instructions from the target of a function call are compiled into, and optimized with, the source of the call. Currently, however, inlining can only be performed for function calls fully contained within the boundaries of one protection domain—a combination of privilege level and applicable address space.
However, many application workloads involve a wealth of system calls (e.g., calls from application code into the operating system), especially for input/output (I/O). For example, in some hypervisor-based systems (e.g., Xen®), I/O follows a complicated path from an application to the operating system's stub device driver via a system call, then via a hypercall to the real device driver running in another guest OS instance.
All these protection domain transitions (e.g., user to system to hypervisor to system) are expensive on conventional (non-system virtual machine) hardware. For example, in response to a trap or software interrupt from application code, among other operations some or all of the following actions occur: a processor's pipeline is flushed, control registers are modified, internal state (i.e., context) of the processor is reconfigured to raise the privilege level to supervisor mode from user mode, information about the user context is saved, and control is transferred to an appropriate service routine. Yet, abstractly, system calls/hypercalls are similar to function calls except that they call across a protection domain boundary.
Similarly, inlining cannot be performed when a call is made from a process executing in one ISA to a process executing in a different ISA. For example, a given VM may host guest operating systems that differ from each other in terms of their ISA (e.g. SPARC, x86), but which must cooperate as described above to share a real device driver. Not only do the protection domain boundaries present obstacles, but the difference in vISAs further frustrates efforts to inline calls between the guest operating systems.