The heat sink fan for cooling a heat generating device as disclosed in the present invention is provided with a heat sink that is to be directly mounted on the heat generating device to thereby absorb or disperse the heat generated by the heat generating device, and a housing that is detachably engaged to the heat sink and equipped with a fan, which in turn creates air flow to forcibly cool the heat sink. The housing has a top wall portion and a pair of side wall portions extending vartically downwardly from both sides of this top wall portion, the side wall portions being disposed at both sides of the heat sink and provided with an engaging element at which tip an engaging projection is formed. The housing may be detachably coupled with the heat sink the engaging projection being permitted to engage a retaining means formed on a circuit board on which the heat sink or the heat generating device is mounted.

The present invention relates to heat sink fans for cooling heat generating devices, and more particularly pertains to heat sink fans for cooling semiconductor devices such as microprocessors.
A heat sink fan for cooling a heat generating device such as a semiconductor device is disclosed in, for example U.S. Pat. No. 5,484,013. As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,484,013, the conventional heat sink fan includes a heat sink that is to be mounted on a heat generating device and a housing that is to be detachably coupled to the heat sink. A fan attached to the housing forcibly cools the heat sink by air flow generated by the fan.
FIG. 10 illustrates an example of a conventional heat sink fan. In general, in order to facilitate engagement of a housing 302 with a heat sink 304 as well as to facilitate coupling of the housing 302 with the heat sink 304, a heat sink fan 300 for cooling a semiconductor device such as a microprocessor is configured such that the housing 302 can be attached to and detached from the heat sink 304 with the housing 302 being rotated relative to the heat sink 304 about an axis extending vertically. In addition, the housing 302 and the heat sink 304 are provided with first and second interlocking means 306a and 306b for detachably retaining the housing 302 and the heat sink 304 relatively at position. The first interlocking means 306a comprises, for example, a combination of a flange 307 and a pawl 308 that disengageably engages the flange 307 and that can move relative to the flange 307. For example, the flange 307 is provided on the housing 302, and the pawl 308 on the heat sink 304, respectively. Furthermore, the second interlocking means 306b comprises a combination of a projection 310 and a depression 312 which disengageably engage each other. For example, the projection 310 is provided on the housing 302, and the depression 312 on the heat sink 304, respectively.
In such a conventional heat sink fan 300, when the housing 302 is turned in a predetermined direction relative to the heat sink 304 with the flange 307 of the first interlocking means 306a engaging the pawl 308, the projection 310 of the second interlocking means 306b is brought into engagement with the depression 312 to detachably couple the housing 302 with the heat sink 304. When the housing 302 is turned in the opposite direction from the coupled position, relative to the heat sink 304, the projection 310 of the second interlocking means 306b disengages from the depression 312, followed by disengagement of the flange 307 of the first interlocking means 306a from the pawl 308, so that the housing 302 is separated from the heat sink 304.
However, as the engagement structure as mentioned above is constructed such that the housing and the heat sink are relatively rotated, it can be applied to a case where a heat generating device is square in shape, whereas it is not suited to a case, by for example, when such a heat generating device is rectangular, (the housing and the heat sink will also be rectangular correspondingly). Consequently, it is desired to have an engagement structure that is applicable irrespective of the geometry or shape of a heat generating device.
Further, U.S. Pat. No. 5,484,013 discloses a heat sink fan in which the housing and the heat sink are to be coupled with each other with the housing being moved to the heat sink in the direction perpendicular to the plate of the heat sink. However, this heat sink fan has a complex structure for disengageably engaging the heat sink with the housing.
Still furthermore, U.S. Pat. No. 5,615,998 discloses a heat sink fan having a coupling structure that disengageably engages each other without rotating the housing relative to the heat sink. In this type of heat sink fan, however, the geometry and detaching structure of the heat sink and the housing are also complicate. Such a complicate structure will be a factor of increasing costs of molds and correspondingly raising production costs.


When it is determined that a rotor is initially in a stationary state, a current vector is applied to a coil by a vector control method so as to rotate the rotor in a forward direction from a present position of the rotor regardless of a predetermined start position of the rotor. Therefore, a motor can be stably started with less power consumption and noise/vibration.

A synchronous motor is a motor of which the speed can be controlled based on a frequency applied from a motor control unit. Generally, a synchronous motor is started after aligning a rotor of the synchronous motor. Then, the rotor speed of the synchronous motor is increased by gradually increasing a control frequency.
FIG. 10 illustrates coordinates system for explaining a method of aligning a motor rotor.
Referring to FIG. 10, U, V, and W denote axes passing through centers of stator coils of a motor; d denotes an axis defined in a main flux direction that varies with a rotor of the motor; and q denotes an axis angled 90 degrees in electric angle from the d-axis in a forward direction. N an S denote the positions of N and S poles of magnets of the rotor, respectively. It is configured such that when a current is applied in the direction of the d-axis, the motor stops, and when a current is applied in the direction of the q-axis, the motor rotates. In the above, the UVW coordinate system is a stationary coordinate system, and the d-q coordinate system is a rotating coordinate system.
In the above-defined coordinate systems, when it is intended to forcibly align the motor rotor before starting the motor, an alignment current can be applied as a current vector defined in the d-axis direction. For example, a pulse current vector is applied a plurality of times in the direction of the d-axis.
A load can be applied to an object connected to a rotation shaft of the motor, or the object can be in motion. For example, a fan of an outdoor unit of an air conditioner can be rotated by a wind. In this case, a fan driving motor connected to the fan is started in a state where the fan is already rotated in a forward or reverse direction.
Thus, in this case, the fan may wobble or vibrate when an alignment current is momentarily applied in the d-axis direction. Furthermore, due to the rotational inertia of the fan, if the alignment current is not correspondingly great, a rotor of the fan driving motor is not aligned to an initial position. Moreover, due to the increase of the alignment current, power consumption increases.

Motor, apparatus for controlling motor, and method for starting motor


Systems and processes for accessing data from a graph database are described. The system receives a request comprising time-based information. Time-based information of the request is compared with a first time interval, which is associated with at least one node of a graph. The node of the graph is matched based on the time-based information being at least partially within the first time interval. The system returns a result comprising an indicator of the node of the graph, wherein the node of the graph is associated with an entity, and the node of the graph includes an attribute of the entity.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates to data storage and retrieval, and, in one particular example, to time-based and relationship-based data storage and retrieval.
2. Related Art
Traditional approaches for managing time-based data use relational database systems. Relational databases often store data using related tables and use primary keys and foreign keys to capture associations. These relational databases provide a sliding window for highly normalized data. Normalization may be used to organize the data into a set of related tables to capture associations. As part of normalization, redundant data may be removed from the database and tables may be optimized to store only related data. As tables in the database grow, the sliding window technique is used to remove the oldest records from tables in the database. These removed records are either archived or deleted.


The present invention is directed to multireactivity polymercaptans, star-shaped copolymers and methods of preparing wherein the polymer comprises a polyvalent mercaptan core and three or more polymeric arms which extend radially from the core. The polyvalent mercaptan core comprises three or more thiol groups, wherein at least two of the thiol groups are of different reactivities, such that the core is of differential reactivity. These multifunctional thiols, which will be referred to as cores of differential reactivity, act as chain transfer agents in a free radical polymerization process.

Star-branched polymers, also known as radial polymers, are characterized by having three or more polymeric arms emanating from a central core. These polymers can be prepared by various polymerization procedures such as anionic, cationic, and free radical mechanisms. The stars are usually formed by using either multifunctional initiators, multifunctional chain transfer agents, or multifunctional coupling agents. The star-branched polymers have unique properties including: narrow molecular weight distributions; low viscosities at low molecular weights or in solution due to their compact structures; high viscosities at high molecular weights due to extensive entanglements.
Heteroarm star polymers have been prepared using free radical methods involving partially capping a polythiol, typically by acetylation, grafting from the uncapped SH groups, removing the blocking group by hydrolysis, and then grafting the second monomer off of the liberated SH groups. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,399,642 and 5,492,965.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,679,762 discloses the preparation of heteroarm star copolymers by free radical polymerization using sequential addition of monomers. This process relies solely upon the order of addition of monomers for its selectivity.
The present invention improves over the methods of the prior art by using chain transfer agents containing thiol groups with multiple reactivities. Thus, the selectivity is controlled by both the order of addition of the monomers and the composition of the polymercaptan core. Hence, greater control over the blockiness of the heteroarm star results.

Multireactivity polymercaptans, star polymers and methods of preparation

National Starch & Chemical Investment Holding Corporation


A through via inductor or transformer in a high-resistance substrate in an electronic package. In one embodiment, the package comprises a target inductor which includes a through-via formed in the substrate through which a signal passes and a tuner inductor which includes a through-via formed in the substrate such that the through-via has an independent signal passing therethrough. The direction of the signal passing through the tuner inductor can be independently controlled to adjust the total inductance of the target inductor. In another embodiment, a transformer can comprise a primary loop and a secondary loop, each of which includes a plurality of through-vias that are coupled to a plurality of conductive traces. The primary loop forms a first continuous conductive path and the secondary loop forms a second continuous conductive path. A signal passing through the primary loop can induce a signal in the secondary loop such that the induced signal is dependent on the transformer ratio.

In electronic packaging, two-dimensional inductors and transformers can be integrated in a top metal layer of the back-end-of-the-line (BEOL) of the package. The inductor or transformer occupies a large area (e.g., 300×300 μm2) in the metal layer, and the inductor has a small inductance value and the transformer has a low efficiency. In addition, the inductor or transformer can have a significant impact on mutual inductance on the package. This impact is due to current passing through the inductor or transformer in a direction parallel to the top and bottom surfaces of the substrate. Thus, the area beneath the inductor or transformer is unoccupied and cannot be used for an active device such as a transistor.
The inductor or transformer also has values that cannot be changed or varied. In other words, the inductance value of the two-dimensional inductor is set during fabrication and cannot be programmed or changed after implementation. Similarly, the two-dimensional transformer cannot be programmed after implementation. Therefore, the package has limited performance and efficiency.
Another drawback to this type of electronic package is when the substrate is made of silicon. The silicon substrate can have losses therein due to eddy currents. In addition, the resonant frequency is low in the silicon substrate.
Because of the disadvantages of the prior art, it would be desirable to provide an electronic package that includes an inductor or transformer that occupies less space and can be programmed to different values based on need after implementation. In addition, it would be desirable for the inductor or transformer to be three-dimensional in which the current passes substantially vertically therethrough to limit the impact of mutual inductance on the rest of the package. The package can also overcome other drawbacks found in the prior art when the substrate is formed of a high-resistance material.

Through via inductor or transformer in a high-resistance substrate with programmability


In an RF source, a digital waveform synthesizer comprises a computational module to synchronously determine a desired periodic function, f(θ), within a first bandwidth portion, to which computational result there is combined an injected digital noise increment in an adjustable range of bounded amplitude, specifically selected to average over discontinuities of the DAC transfer characteristic. The combination is effected after passing the injected noise increment through a programmable digital filter forming a composite tuning word having a total bandwidth at a selected Nyquist zone and thence passing the composite tuning word through a truncation component to a DAC. The programmable digital filter is constructed to displace the spectral distribution of the injected noise increment to a portion of the total bandwidth remote from the first bandwidth portion.

In modern NMR instruments, nuclear spins are choreographed through application of RF pulses characterized by precision frequency, amplitude, phase, and inter-pulse delay interval as orchestrated by the pulse programmer, a functional block of software and communicating hardware. NMR measurement techniques are effectuated by RF pulse sequences, including sequences wherein the RF phase may be offset in different pulses. Successive pulses are specified in phase and duration with precise inter-pulse delays. Control of RF phase is achieved in one representative example of prior art as shown in FIG. 1 wherein the four phases of a period of a square wave are selectable from quadrant selector 110 from four sub-clocks 101-104, which track a master clock 100. Three DACs are required: DAC 112 having a 2 bit range, defines the quadrant, and the two DACs 114 and 116 (each typically 13 or 14 bit range), establish the vector component magnitudes in the selected quadrant. The vector sum of the outputs of DACs 114 and 116 is obtained with hybrid splitter 117 and combiners 118a, 118b and 118c to obtain the synthesized waveform. The multiple DACS of this phase synthesizer are burdensome for the assembly process, requiring careful attention to matching of correlative DACs. A transient problem may be encountered across the quadrant boundaries where phase transition continuity between quadrants is limited by the finite width phase step. Phase selective apparatus of this type has been incorporated in NMR apparatus supplied by Varian, Inc., Palo Alto, Calif. Prior art of the genre of FIG. 1 contains a multiplicity of components grouped to execute the functions of quadrant selection and RF amplitude selection within the selected quadrant.
In recent years, direct digital synthesis (DDR) has matured as a means for producing a desired analog waveform from a digital representation presented in the form of a sequence of digital words representing frequency, amplitude and phase information ("tuning words") in accurate timed relationship as defined by a precise system clock. A central component for DDR apparatus is the digital to analog converter (DAC) which accepts a digital input and produces analog output. The quantization characteristic of the digital representation and the intrinsic nature of the input circuits will be reflected in the analog output without remediation of these patterns.
Physically recurrent waveforms are properly identified with a phase variable. The tuning word sequence should be regarded as containing sufficient information to fully describe amplitude, phase and spectral properties of the recurring periodic function. Discrete selection of the value of the phase variable is employed in NMR for a variety of purposes, such as detailed examination of intra-molecular couplings, as well as for the gross cancellation of phase dependent artifact in cyclic acquisitions. Phase has physical presence in NMR phenomena through the precession of nuclear spins about the polarizing (z direction) magnetic field. When a nuclear spin is tipped, e.g., the spin projection on the x-y plane is established, and the precessing component in the x-y (transverse) plane defines instantaneous phase in terms of a spatial coordinate. The NMR apparatus independently establishes a reference phase within the instrument in order that the manipulation of nuclear spins may be selected accurately with respect to the reference phase. Phase selection (or synthesis) defines a modulation envelope of selected duration and phase for the resonant RF pulse applied to a sample under study via NMR.
Direct digitally synthesized waveforms are now common in many digitally based instruments. Such synthesized waveforms are subject to anomalies such as phase errors, amplitude errors, and spurious frequency components. Errors originate from integral and differential non-linearities associated with digital to analog conversion (DAC) apparatus, and separately as an artifact of quantization. Rise and fall time, jitter and the like may contribute as well to undesirable performance. A contributing source of the quantization artifact derives from truncation of a mathematical element to accommodate the width of the tuning word as supplied to the DAC. The DAC itself contributes to a quantization error, because of its finite digital width, thereby constraining the dynamic range and precision of converted information. Discontinuities arising from the quantized signal, as processed by the digital-to-analog conversion are an obvious source of anomalous fourier components. It is known in the art to substantially ameliorate the latter in conversion from digital to analog representation by injecting a controlled amplitude increment of noise into the digital representation. This noise is typically of the order of the amplitude of the least significant bit (lsb) of the DAC. The practice is known as "dither" and can be generalized as an act of first perturbing a precise signal, followed by an averaging (or equivalent) operation on the now perturbed signal. The practice is discussed by many authorities, representative of which is the review of Vanderkooy and Lipshitz, J. (Audio Eng. Soc., v.32, No.3, 1984). It is known in prior art to combine noise perturbation, e.g., dither, with the phase angle coordinate, θ, or the function, f(θ). One specific example of prior art is suggested in "A Technical Tutorial on Digital Signal Synthesis", p.93, (Analog Devices, Inc, 1994). In that reference, the noise increment is combined specifically with the phase coordinate. Limitation of injected noise to the phase coordinate is recognized in the present work to (theoretically) preserve the maximum dynamic range of the DAC when injected noise becomes appreciable, e.g., significantly larger than the least significant bit unit. Injection of non-band limited noise into the phase angle coordinate at increasing levels beyond the lsb unit of magnitude results in increasing noise in the recurrent (converted) waveform.
It should be observed that prior art has consistently emphasized amplitude fidelity in the synthesized signal with respect to the digital representation of the waveform. The phrase "phase synthesis" in the present work is intended to refer to the selection of an initial phase angle θ0 together with the evolving variable θi, (phase angle) continuing over the duration of an RF pulse derived from gating of the converted wave train.
It is known in other prior art to interpose a high pass filter between a noise generator and a tuning word (of the signal to be synthesized) in order to provide a source of filtered dither for DAC precision enhancement while minimizing the effect of introduced noise in the passband of the converted analog signal. The dither is further provided with means for noise amplitude adjustment to average over discontinuities introduced into the DAC transfer function in order to maintain linearity within specified limits. The provision therein for noise amplitude adjustment over an interval of at least as much as 23328 bits of an (effective) 16 bit DAC. Such maximum achievable dither amplitude is far in excess of the averaging interval required for the purpose of ameliorating intentionally introduced transfer function discontinuities. See Data Sheet, MB86060, 16 Bit Interpolating Digital to Analog Converter, Fujitsu Microelectronics. As a result of the choice of filtering in this particular prior art, the signal is restricted to the first Nyquist zone. The present work employs a more flexible digital filter to permit operation to occur in a selected, higher Nyquist zone. Consequently, a requirement for up-conversion of a first Nyquist zone filtered signal is obviated with clear savings in components.
In another specific instance of a dither enhanced DAC, it has been desired to remove the effect of the added noise in the DAC output through the artifice of a cancellation procedure. The digital signal (comprising a sequence of tuning words) is concurrently applied to one input of each of two combiners. A second input of each of the combiners receives the injected noise as a random or pseudo-random word which is presented in opposite sign to the respective combiners. Each combiner output communicates with a respective DAC and the analog outputs of the respective DACs are again combined to effect cancellation of noise artifact in these two sub-channels (U.S. Pat. No. 6,522,176). While this represents a technically elegant approach, it is apparent that the plurality of DACs increases the cost of production, not only in the cost of the second DAC, but also in the requirement for stable identical fidelity of the DACs to a common specification. Any departure from identical conversion performance simply introduces additional noise to the analog signal following the conversion operation.

Digital waveform synthesizer for NMR phase control


An integral communication device and method for controlling the integral communication device are provided for expanding the communication capability of a mobile terminal. An integral communication device of the present invention includes a plurality of communication modules that operate with different communication standards, a connector having terminals for electrical connection to a mobile terminal, a switch for switching the terminals of the connector between the communication modules, and a device controller for controlling the switch to establish electric links to the communication modules individually.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile communication terminal. More particularly, the present invention relates to an integral communication device for expanding communication capability of a mobile terminal and a method for controlling the integral communication device that is capable of controlling operations of multiple communication modules constituting the integral communication device efficiently.
2. Description of the Related Art
Earlier mobile terminals had a large and heavy design in order to stabilize the battery and other internal components. However, the bulk of these terminals was so great as to make it nearly unsuitable to call them "portable." With the advance of semiconductor and battery technologies, mobile terminals have become slim and compact in design.
With improvements in their portability and the diversification of available applications, the use of mobile devices increased dramatically. The popularity of mobile communication terminals (including mobile phones) is further increasing due to the increased number of subscription services that are available for providing various useful functions as well as the mobile communication functionality of such terminals.
As the demand and availability of useful functions are increasing, users are also demanding external connection interfaces to support the various functions. Accordingly, most of recently manufactured mobile devices are provided with at least one external connection interface. For example, a mobile terminal is provided with a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port for supporting connection to a USB-enabled storage medium so as to overcome the limit of internal storage capacity. Moreover, most of the recently manufactured mobile terminals provide at least one of various communication interfaces for establishing a wireless or wired connection link with an external device.
Also, as the kinds of peripheral devices of the mobile terminal are diversified, it has been required for the mobile terminal to support simultaneous connections to multiple peripheral devices. However, because the mobile terminal is limited in size, there is not enough area to provide multiple connection interfaces. Accordingly, there is a need to develop a multiple devices connection mechanism and control method for establishing simultaneous connections to multiple devices and managing the multiple connections efficiently.

Integral communication device and control method thereof


Disclosed are a winding method and structure for stator coils in which each stator coil is wound in series around a plurality of ones of coil bobbins fitted onto each stator tooth, whereby the number of coil end portions coming out from the stator coils is reduced, thereby achieving an improvement in terms of operational efficiency and reliability. In the winding method and structure for the stator coils, each stator coil is wound continuously and in series around a plurality of ones of the coil bobbins to form a series winding stator coil body, with a pair of coil ending portions coming from the ends of the series winding stator coil body.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a winding method and structure for stator coils and, more particularly to a novel improvement according to which each stator coil is wound in series around a plurality of ones of the coil bobbins provided on the stator teeth body to form coil end portions at both ends, whereby it is possible to achieve a reduction in the number of coil end portions coming out from the stator coils and an improvement in operational efficiency in soldering or the like and in quality.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIGS. 4 through 8 show a conventional winding method and structure for a stator coil of this type.
Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, numeral 1 indicates a stator teeth body which has a ring-like general configuration and a plurality of (nine) stator teeth 2 and which is formed through lamination in the axial direction, a cylindrical coil bobbin 4 with a stator coil 3 wound thereon being fitted onto each stator tooth 2.
As shown in FIG. 6, the stator teeth body 1 whose stator teeth 2 are equipped with the coil bobbins 4 is forced into the interior of an inner wall 5a of a cylindrical stator yoke 5, and the stator teeth body 1 and the cylindrical stator yoke 5 constitute a stator 10.
In the outer periphery of the cylindrical stator yoke 5, there is provided a ring-like printed board 11 constructed as shown in FIG. 8, and, in the outer edge of this ring-like printed board 11, there are formed eighteen terminal patterns 1A through 18A.
Pairs of coil end portions 3a and 3b constituting the coil ends of the stator coils 3 wound around the bobbins 4 are respectively soldered to the terminal patterns 1A through 18A.
Thus, by predetermined connection patterns 20, 21, 22, and 23, the terminal patterns 1A through 18A are constructed for driving in the three phases of U-phase, V-phase, and W-phase.
The conventional winding method and structure for a stator coil, constructed as described above, have the following problem.
Since the stator coils wound around the coil bobbins are independent of each other, it is necessary to solder the eighteen in total of coil end portions to the terminal patterns of the printed board, with the result that the soldering operation requires a lot of manpower and cost.
The present invention has been made with a view toward solving the above-mentioned problem. It is particularly an object of the present invention to provide a winding method and structure for a stator coil in which a stator coil is wound in series around a plurality of coil bobbins of the coil bobbins provided on the stator teeth body to form coil end portions at both ends, whereby it is possible to achieve a reduction in the number of coil end portion lead-outs of the stator coil and an improvement in operability in soldering or the like and in quality.
According to the present invention, there is provided a stator coil winding method in which coil bobbins having stator coils are provided on a stator teeth body formed in a ring-like general configuration and having a plurality of outwardly protruding stator teeth and in which the stator teeth body is mounted to a cylindrical stator yoke, characterized in that each stator coil is wound continuously and in series around a plurality of coil bobbins of the coil bobbins to form a series winding stator coil body, and the series winding stator coil body has at its ends a pair of coil end portions. Also, the stator coil winding method has such a structure that: each series winding stator coil body is formed by three coil bobbins; three such series winding stator coil bodies are provided; and each stator coil is wound around the three coil bobbins of each series winding stator coil body, with the coil bobbins being penetrated by and arranged at intervals on an elongated bar-like winding frame jig. Also, according to the present invention, in the stator coil winding structure in which coil bobbins having stator coils are provided on a stator teeth body formed in a ring-like general configuration and having a plurality of outwardly protruding stator teeth and in which the stator teeth body is mounted to a cylindrical stator yoke, the structure is characterized in that a series winding stator coil body formed by winding stator coils around a plurality of coil bobbins of the coil bobbins in series and continuously is provided, and a plurality of such series winding stator coil bodies are provided on the stator teeth body.

Winding method and structure for stator coils


Geo-biological processes are designed to treat wastewater generated in animal feed lots when washing away feces, urine and other materials or in municipal wastewater systems. The present processes are focused on recovering a nutrient load in the wastewater for use as fertilizer and corresponding to separate mostly purified water for reuse. Alternate embodiments are algae and microbe based processes. The processes can be used individually or in various permutations.

In animal feed lots it is typically desirable to clean or wash the areas where animals are housed and kept, for example to wash away feces, urine and other materials. When water is used to clean the areas, wastewater or waste liquid is generated. The waste liquid generated carries suspended solids, ammonia and nitrogen compounds and a nutrient load. Ideally the solids and nutrients can be separated from the water for use as fertilizer and ideally the water can be purified or clarified for reuse, for example in a future cleaning process. Commonly, the waste liquid from the feed lot is initially processed, for example in a settling tank, and a portion of the nutrient load may be recovered; however, a significant amount of the suspended solids and nutrient load remains in the waste liquid.
It is desirable to improve the removal of the suspended solids and nutrient load to increase the fertilizer yield and the purification/clarification of the remaining water. It is also desirable to improve the capture of ammonia and nitrogen compounds. Waste from municipalities is also typically carried via water as waste liquid, requiring treatment of municipal wastewater to remove pollutants from the water. It is desirable to improve the removal of suspended solids and clean the water for re-use or for re-entry into natural waterways.


A bonding wire conductively connected to a pipe having a pipe body and a conductive tab mounted to the pipe and having a hole therein, the bonding wire being in the form of a braided conductive cable provided with a connector at each of its ends, the bonding wire being tightly wound around the pipe body and the ends both passing through the hole in the connector such that the ends of the bonding wire extend away from the pipe body after passing through the hole, while a portion of the bonding wire between the end portions is wrapped tightly around the pipe body; the bonding wire held under tension around the pipe body by a crimp around the two end portions where they pass through the hole.

Components in aircraft such as piping e.g. fuel pipes are often made of conductive materials. In electrical environments or in lightning storms, there is a risk of a build-up of static electricity on one component in comparison to another component to which it is connected—e.g. one fuel pipe section relative to another. Particularly in fuel lines, sparking due to this build-up of static can be extremely dangerous. In the case of a lightning strike, there is a need to avoid current flow between pipes. Conventionally, a so-called bonding lead or wire is electrically connected between the components to prevent static build-up. Bonding leads are usually made of highly conductive material to discharge electricity.
Bonding leads or wires, also known as grounding leads or wires, are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,400,749, 8,562,027 and 5,973,903.
In current systems, electrical bonding wires are provided with eyelets or rings at their ends. The fuel pipes are usually composite tubes or pipes and the bonding wires are attached by winding them around the pipe under layers of composite material. The composite material is then cured to hold the wires in place. The crimped eyelets at the ends are bolted to earthing rings provided on the pipe. A resin compound is then applied all over the connection to protect and secure it. This procedure is unwieldy and results in a bulky, unattractive pipe appearance. The additional composite layers wrapped around to secure the leads also add to the size and weight of the pipe, which is clearly undesirable in aircraft.
There is a need for an improved bonding wire solution that is easier to install and provides a neater and more professional appearance to the bonded pipe.


A dispenser for sheet materials includes a top portion, a bottom portion, and a restraining member preventing the top and bottom portion from separating. The top portion and the bottom portion can telescope to vary the dispenser's overall height. In one embodiment, by designing a dispenser having bottom sidewalls and top sidewalls of approximately the same length, problems with access to the exposed sheet or excessive manipulation to change the dispenser's height can be avoided. In another embodiment, by designing the dispenser such that the height of the dispenser can automatically reduce as the sheet material is depleted or where the height can be adjusted by simply pushing down on the dispenser's top makes the dispenser convenient to use.

Sheet materials, such as tissue paper and wet wipes, are often interfolded into stacks or clips and placed into a dispenser such that upon removal of one sheet, a subsequent sheet is partially dispensed having an exposed portion that extends from the dispenser's opening. This method of "pop-up" sheet dispensing is convenient for many applications, since the next sheet is readily presented for quick access. However, the pop-up sheet dispensing feature can become unreliable as the height of the dispenser increases and/or the stack height of the remaining sheets decreases. When this occurs, the partially dispensed sheet can "fall-back" into the dispenser's interior where it is inconvenient to reach. Frequently, the dispensing opening's design prohibits easy access to the substrate to restart the pop-up dispensing feature. In facial tissue dispensers, the opening and the poly window used to hold the popped-up sheet in position can be damaged or destroyed when reaching into the dispenser to retrieve the fallen sheet. The damage can cause additional incidences of fall-back to occur and prevent the substrate from staying in position ready to dispense.
Various dispensers have been designed to solve this problem. Some dispensers use biasing springs to lift the sheet material towards the opening, movable bottoms that lift the sheet material, or other methods to force the clip against the dispensing opening to ensure more reliable dispensing. While such methods can reduce the incidence of dispensing failures due to fall-back, the dispensers tend to be expensive or require inconvenient manipulation of the dispenser during use to prevent fall-back from occurring. Also, some executions have an additional opening into the bottom or sides of the dispenser for sheet removal as the sheets are depleted that, can be negatively perceived by people using the dispenser as unsanitary. In general, people would prefer not to adjust or manipulate the dispenser during use. They merely want to dispense a sheet reliably from the start until all the sheets have been dispensed without having to adjust the dispenser.
A collapsible box for facial tissue is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,224,633 entitled Collapsible Box for Facial Tissues issued to Allen on Dec. 21, 1965. The upper part of the box has several perforated tear away portions or strips to reduce the overall height of the dispenser. In order to reduce the height of this dispenser, the upper part of the box must be torn away while the lower tray is progressively located closer to the top of the box. This can help reduce the incidence of fall-back; however, such a dispenser is not convenient to use. Excessive manipulation is required to progressively move the lower tray in a series of small steps because the lower tray has a relatively short sidewall as compared to the much longer sidewall on the upper portion that is torn away each time the lower tray is moved.
Another dispenser for stacked sheets is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,349,959 entitled Box for Dispensing Stacked Sheets issued to Watkins on Oct. 31, 1967. In this dispenser, the cover section of the dispenser with the dispensing opening can be removed and pushed down into the bottom section as the stack of sheets is depleted. This can help reduce the incidence of fall-back; however, the cover has a relatively short sidewall as compared to the sidewall of the bottom section. As a result, when the stack is nearly depleted the sheets are dispensed from within the confines of the bottom section since the longer bottom sidewall extends significantly above the cover. This reduces access to the popped-up sheet since it can no longer be reached or grabbed from the side, but instead must be grabbed only from the top by reaching into the bottom section. Furthermore, this dispenser can trap dirt, dust, or lint in the bottom section since the bottom sidewall extends significantly above the cover as the cover drops into the bottom section creating a cavity that can trap debris.
Therefore, what is needed is an economical dispenser that reduces the incidence of fall-back and also avoids the problems with prior dispensers. Also what is needed, is a dispenser that is either self adjusting or that can be adjusted with a minimum of manipulation.


A method for protecting a service account includes: configuring association information for a service account of a user in a Personal Communication Profile (PCP) of the user at a network side; authenticating the association information when the user logs on an application server with the service account through User Equipment (UE); allowing the user to log on the application server if the authentication succeeds. Embodiments of the present invention also disclose systems, PCP storage apparatuses and application servers for protecting the service account. In embodiments of the present invention, besides protecting the service account by a static password, the user can implement an enhanced protection for the service account without receiving the dynamic password through a short message, which dramatically reduces the time delay for the user to log-on the application server. Further, the user needs not purchase the password card additionally. Therefore, the competitiveness of the application server is improved.

At present, industry chain mode of the Internet has gradually stepped into an age that applications are the great from the past age when access and attention are the great. Content providers have gradually occupied a core status in the whole industry chain. Along with various applications provided by the content providers, many problems are also brought out. For example, phenomena such as Trojan horse and stealing of service account seriously affect normal operation of the network game. In order to restrict the phenomena, network game providers provide various methods. However, the various methods make it inconvenience for the normal operation of the network game. As revealed by investigation, more than 65% of users have the experience of being stolen of the service account registered at an application server. The security problem of the service account becomes a nightmare to both the network game operators and the users.
Currently, there are mainly two methods for protecting the service account of the user: a first method of mobile phone protection and a second method of dynamic authentication.
In the first method, when the user logs on the application server, the application server generates a dynamic password and sends the dynamic password to the mobile phone of the user through a Short Message Service (SMS) gateway of a network operator according to a mobile phone number registered by the user. After receiving the dynamic password, the user logs on the application server using the dynamic password together with a static password (Personal Identification Number, PIN). In the first method, since nobody except for the user can obtain the dynamic password, an illegal user cannot log on the application server by stealing the password of the user.
The second method involves two devices to implement authentication of the user. One is an authentication server for authenticating identity of the user. The other is a password card for generating a dynamic password for the user. The authentication server and the password card have been installed with the same password generation software and an identification code uniquely identifying the user. When the user gets the password card, the identification code is loaded to the password card. Simultaneously, the identification code is installed in a user information table in a database of the application server. The user also has a PIN remembered by his/her own. When the user logs on the application server and enters the PIN, the password card generates a dynamic password uniquely corresponding to the password card every minute, which is unpredictable. The password card sends the service account, the PIN and the dynamic password to the application server. The application server determines the legality and authenticity of the user according to the dynamic password. Since the dynamic password is generated by the password card dynamically, nobody except for the legal user can obtain the password card and generate the correct dynamic password. Therefore, the dynamic password is immune from being peeked and wiretapped. Accordingly, the second method may avoid re-sending attack and is of high security and convenience.
In the two methods for protecting the service account of the user, the first method has a relatively high limitation to the service account. The dynamic password is required to be sent to the user via short message each time, and then the user enters the password received from the short message. It has a high time delay and wastes radio resources. In the second method, the protection is limited to the service account of a single service provider. Furthermore, when using the service, the user needs to buy an additional hardware, which baffles the competition of the application.

Method, system and apparatus for protecting service account


A safety syringe comprises a barrel having a projection in a rear end thereof, a needle holder for mount of a needle, the needle holder having a dragged portion, a stopper movable in the barrel, the stopper having a drag portion adapted for engaging into the dragged portion of the needle holder and a plunger connector, a plunger for moving the stopper in the barrel having a stopper connector engaged with the plunger connector of the stopper. When pulled backwards to the end after injection, the plunger connector of the stopper is forced onto the projection of the barrel and disengaged from the plunger, enabling the plunger to be removed from said barrel.

The present invention relates to hypodermic syringes, and more particularly to a safety syringe, which enables the plunger to be easily separated from the stopper after injection.
In a safety syringe, the plunger has a front end terminating in a stopper, which has an arrowhead-like front tip adapted for hooking in the needle holder, for enabling the needle holder and the needle to be pulled backwards with the plunger and received inside the barrel after injection.
However, it is difficult to separate the plunger from the barrel after the needle holder and the needle have been received inside the barrel. When separating the plunger from the barrel after injection, the user has to break the plunger.
The present invention has been accomplished to provide a safety syringe, which eliminate the aforesaid drawback.
It is one object of the present invention to provide a safety syringe, which enables the plunger to be conveniently separated from the barrel after the service of the safety syringe.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a safety syringe, which is practical in use.
To achieve these objects of the present invention, the safety syringe comprises a barrel having a projection in a rear end thereof, a needle holder for holding a needle in a front end of the barrel, the needle holder having a dragged portion, a stopper movable in the barrel, the stopper having a drag portion adapted for engaging into the dragged portion of the needle holder and a plunger connector, and a plunger for moving the stopper in the barrel having a stopper connector engaged into the plunger connector of the stopper. When pulled backwards to the end after injection, the plunger connector of the stopper is forced onto the projection of the barrel and disengaged from the plunger, enabling the plunger to be removed from barrel.

Safety syringe of easy to pull out the plunger


A method and apparatus for geophysical exploration wherein a seismic wave is passed through a bore hole so at to sequentially detonate a plurality of explosive charges disposed within said bore hole at spaced intervals. A preselected seismic wave magnitude represented by a stored voltage is compared with signals generated by electro-acoustic sensors associated with each charge. When the magnitude of a seismic wave in the bore hole equals the preselected magnitude, a voltage stored on a capacitor discharges into a detonator. Means are provided for varying the stored voltage representing the preselected magnitude from the surface of the bore hole and for detonating any unexploded charges which may after the initial seismic wave passes through the bore hole. A firing circuit is armed substantially simultaneously with the initiation of the seismic wave in the bore hole. The firing circuit is armed for only approximately 0.1 to 0.5 seconds thereby preventing late detonation which destroys seismic data. The circuit may thereafter be rearmed to detonate any remaining unexploded charges in the bore hole.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods and apparatus of geophysical exploration and more particularly to such methods and apparatus wherein a plurality of explosive charges located at spaced intervals within a bore hole are sequentially detonated.
2. Description of the Related Art
In one method of seismic exploration, explosive charges are detonated in an underground formation and a recording of the pressure waves generated in the formation is made. Those knowledgeable in the interpretation of such pressure wave recordings can deduce information about the formation such as whether structures capable of trapping oil or gas are present.
One technique used for generating such pressure waves involves drilling a bore hole and distributing explosive charges at spaced intervals therein. The explosive charges are caused to detonate sequentially down the bore hole thereby creating a pressure wave which travels down the bore hole and which is reinforced by each successive explosion.
There are several known methods and apparatus for causing such sequential detonation of charges in a bore hole. In one such method and apparatus, each charge in the bore hole, except for the uppermost charge, is associated with a detonating circuit which includes a capacitor, an electro-acoustic sensor which generates a voltage in response to a pressure wave and a timer.
In operation, each of the detonating circuits is connected in parallel to a pair of wires which extend to the surface of the bore hole. Each capacitor is charged by applying a direct current voltage to the wires at the surface. The uppermost charge in the bore hole is detonated by a blaster in a conventional manner. The pressure wave so created strikes each sensor which in turn activates the associated timer. When a preselected timing period has passed, a circuit connection is made which causes the capacitor to discharge into the detonator thereby exploding the charge.
It would be desirable to provide a method and apparatus for sequentially detonating a plurality of charges in a bore hole in which the sensitivity of the sensor and its associated circuitry is adjustable. Premature detonation of the charges in response to background noise such as nearby drilling, transportation or construction may occur if the sensor and associated firing circuit is too sensitive. It would also be desirable to provide a pre-firing indication that the sensor will cause the detonator to explode in response to background noise. In the prior art, the only way the operator has of knowing whether or not background noise will cause premature detonation is to install the charges, detonators and related firing circuits in a bore hole, charge the capacitors in each detonating circuit and see whether or not one or more of the charges explodes. Such premature detonation prevents proper operation of the system, i.e., interferes with or prevents creation of a downwardly-directed pressure wave which is reinforced by successive explosions in the bore hole.
It would also be desirable to provide such a method and apparatus which is armed only very briefly just prior to explosion of the top charge in the bore hole in order to further minimize the possibility of premature detonation.
Sometimes, a pressure wave generated by a charge detonated at the top of the bore hole travels to the bottom thereof without detonating each of the charges distributed in the bore hole. Pressure waves generated by detonation of the distributed charges can cause detonation of the unexploded charges two to three seconds after the initial pressure wave. Such late explosions destroy the value of the seismic recordings and are thus undesirable. It would be advantageous for the firing circuits to be armed for a predetermined time which would typically fall between the 0.1 and 0.5 second range. Thus, in the event that a charge is not exploded by the initial pressure wave, subsequent pressure waves generated by reflections and/or detonation of distributed charges do not cause late detonation of unexploded charges.
Still, it may be undesirable to leave unexploded charges in the ground. Thus, it would be advantageous for any unexploded charges remaining in the ground to be first disarmed as described above to permit seismic recording without late detonation and, after completion of the seismic recording, to be rearmed and detonated so as not to leave unexploded charges in the ground.
In the event of equipment problems or unexpected sources of noise, such as nearby air or ground traffic, it would be desirable to remove the capacitor charging voltage of the surface without risk of charge detonation. When the prior art capacitor charging voltage is removed, the operator is left with a string of charges in the bore hole prepared to fire in response to a pressure wave.
As mentioned, prior art methods and apparatus include a pair of wires to which a direct current voltage is applied at the surface for charging the capacitor in each detonating circuit. It is important that the correct polarity voltage is applied to the wires to avoid premature detonation or damage to the circuit components which could leave a string of live charges in the hole without means for detonating them. It would thus be desirable if the voltage could be applied at the surface and the detonating circuits could be connected to the charging wires without regard for polarity.

Method and apparatus for detonation of distributed charges


An enamel flow coating process and apparatus is arranged as a four arm Ferris wheel like apparatus which is mounted over a bathtub like tank which holds enamel slip. Coils of steel tubing formed into heat exchangers are mounted to the arms of the wheel to rotate and to pivot. The wheel is rotated between four stations. In the first station, a coil is loaded onto the wheel. In a second station the coil is pivoted into the tank of enamel slip, where it is coated, and withdrawn by operation of a pivoting bracket. The coated coils are rotated through third and fourth stations where the coating solidifies, and the coated heat exchanger is removed, and replaced with an uncoated one in the first station. After leaving the wheel, the heat exchanger is fired and installed in a water storage tank.

The present invention relates to methods of applying water resistant coatings to a heat exchanger coil in general, and in particular to methods of applying porcelain ceramic coatings to mild steel heat exchanger tubes, and the equipment for effecting such coatings.
Hot water is used domestically for bathing, cleaning and heating, and commercially for similar purposes. In domestic and commercial water heating, water is normally heated in a water tank with a central flue extending upwardly from a combustion chamber located beneath the water tank. The water in the tank is heated through thermal conduction from the tank bottom and the central flue. There are, however, many circumstances in which it is desirable to heat water indirectly in a storage tank. For example heat from a boiler which heats recirculating water for domestic or commercial space heating, can be used to heat water in a so called indirect-fired water heater. In an indirect-fired water heater or storage tank, a heat exchanging coil is positioned within the water tank and hot water from the boiler or other source is circulated through the heat exchanging coil. Another source of heat for domestic hot water is that of a solar thermal system which stores heat gathered from the sun. These systems also require water storage tanks which can be heated indirectly by means of a heat exchange coil. Geothermal systems also require storage of heat recovered from geothermal reservoirs, and thus make use of water storage tanks with heat exchanging coils.
Domestic hot water appliances are typically manufactured from mild steel and are protected from potable water—which may contain dissolved oxygen—by a glass or enamel coating. The coating is applied as a slip i.e., a water and ceramic slurry, which is dried and then fired to form a glass coating which protects the metal of the tank from corrosion and oxidation. Secondary protection is often provided by sacrificial anodes of, for example, magnesium.
A coating is typically applied to heat exchanger coils by spraying the coil. This method, however, involves considerable labor, results in over spraying of the coating, and lacks uniformity in the applied coating. What is needed is an automated system to uniformly coat water storage heat exchanging coils which minimizes cost and waste.

Enamel flow coating process and apparatus


A method and a device for controlling operational sequences, particularly in a vehicle, at least one sensor having a connection unit being connected via a bus system to at least one control unit for controlling the operational sequences, the control unit likewise having a connection unit, and sensor information being transmitted to the control unit. The control unit reads in and/or processes the sensor information at specifiable synchronization points. A trigger signal is transmitted by the control unit via the bus system to the sensor in such a way with an allowance that the sensor information is available in a manner that it is able to be read in and/or processed exactly at the synchronization point for the control unit.

The present invention relates to a method and a device for controlling operational sequences, particularly in a vehicle, at least one sensor being connected to at least one control unit for controlling the operational sequences, and sensor information being transmitted to the control unit.
Today, vehicle sensors, particularly the sensors in the exhaust-gas branch such as lambda sensors and hot-film air-mass meters, are generally connected in a conventional manner via a cable harness to a control unit, particularly the engine control unit. Appropriate hardware lines are available for the signals and voltage supplies.
However, smart sensor technology having bus capability is discussed in the article by Heintz and Zabler xe2x80x9cEinsatzmxc3x6glichkeiten und Zukunftschancen intelligenter Sensoren im Kraftfahrzeugxe2x80x9d (xe2x80x9cUse Possibilities and Future Chances of Intelligent Sensors in the Motor Vehiclexe2x80x9d) from the BOSCH Technical Reports 1990, issue 52, pp. 30 through 41, which corresponds to the German version of the lecture at the SAE Conference in Detroit in March 1989. In the vehicle concepts in that context, multiple measurements of quantities are carried out, which are needed by electronic systems in the motor vehicle. By adding electronic components, the corresponding sensors are provided with signal preprocessing and given bus capability, i.e. are made multiply utilizable. A bus concept thereby results in which intelligent sensors having electronics locally are connected to at least one control unit.
In order to couple sensors to a control unit with the aid of a bus system, particularly a CAN bus system, diverse time conditions are observed, particularly in the case of real-time-critical applications, for example, for sensors of the exhaust branch in connection with the engine control unit. Such an optimal or optimized synchronization of the sensor suite with the control device, i.e. the control unit, is the subject matter of the present invention.
The present invention is based on a method for controlling operational sequences, particularly in a vehicle, at least one sensor having a connection unit being connected via a bus system to at least one control unit for controlling the operational sequences, the control unit likewise having a connection unit, and sensor information being transmitted to the control unit, the control unit reading in and/or processing the sensor information at specifiable synchronization points, the control unit advantageously transmitting a trigger signal via the bus system to the sensor in such a way with an allowance that the sensor information is available at the synchronization point for the control unit in a manner that it is able to be read in and/or processed. Consequently, as a basic prerequisite for the description of a sensor bus, particularly for the exhaust branch, the sensors and control unit are expediently synchronized such that the sensor information is transmitted to the control unit, i.e. is present at the control unit, just when the control unit should also read in and/or process the control information. By using a trigger signal via the bus system, the cabling expenditure, reduced by the sensor connection, can be reduced even further, since it is advantageously possible to dispense with an additional hardware trigger line, bringing with it great potential for cost savings.
If the sensor expediently contains a processing unit which preprocesses the sensor information, the allowance is advantageously predefined and/or adapted according to the time for preprocessing the sensor information.
The allowance, according to the present invention, of the trigger signal with respect to the synchronization point can advantageously ensure high topicality of the sensor information.
In one advantageous refinement, the allowance can be predefined and/or adapted in a variable manner, as a function of at least one performance quantity stemming from at least one operational sequence, in particular as a function of the engine speed. Thus, the dynamic influence of specific performance quantities assignable to operational sequences, particularly the engine speed, is advantageously taken into consideration.
The allowance is advantageously predefined and/or adapted as a function of at least one of the following influences:
a transmission time of the trigger signal from the processing unit of the control unit to its connection unit with the bus system;
a transmission time or waiting time up to the termination of a bus message already transmitted via the bus system, until the trigger signal or the sensor information can be transmitted;
a transmission time of the trigger signal itself via the bus system;
a transmission time of the trigger signal from the connection unit of the sensor to the processing unit of the sensor;
a processing time until the processing unit in the sensor has finished processing the sensor information and/or
a transmission time of the sensor information from the sensor to the control unit, which includes the transmission time from the processing unit to the connection unit of the sensor and the transmission time from the connection unit of the sensor via the bus system to the connection unit of the control unit, as well as the transmission time from the connection unit of the control unit to the processing unit of the control unit.
The allowance is advantageously determined in the form of a time quantity as a time allowance, or in one advantageous refinement in the form of an angle quantity as an angle allowance. In this context, a time allowance and an angle allowance, respectively, can be converted into one another. This conversion of the time allowance into an angle allowance, taking into account the angular velocity, has the advantage that the performance quantity, particularly the engine speed, is calculated only at the synchronization point, since the instantaneous angle, especially the crankshaft angle, is available, for example, at an engine control unit, and therefore the trigger signal can be transmitted as a function of this angle information. Due to the restriction of the calculation of the performance quantity, particularly the engine speed, to the synchronization points which is thereby possible, considerable computing power and computing time can be saved in the control unit.
To ensure the topicality of the software trigger signal, a high priority, particularly the highest priority within the framework of transmission via the bus system is assigned to the software trigger signal. The sensor information is also advantageously transmitted with high priority.
In one advantageous refinement, the sensor information and the trigger signal are transmitted in a line-less manner between the connection unit of the at least one sensor and the connection unit of the control unit; in this advantageous embodiment, the connection units are designed as transmitter/receiver units of a line-less bus system, particularly a radio bus system. This advantageously permits even greater savings on line links.

Method and device for controlling operational sequences


A bladeset for a hair clipper includes blade teeth configured to guide hair strands toward a cutting zone and to retain hair strands in the cutting zone. By more effectively guiding and retaining the hair strands into the cutting zone, more complete hair cutting may be achieved. Another feature of the present self-cutting hair trimmer is a housing configured to provide a cutting line associated with a generally elongate handle, which in turn provides a bladeset angle of attack substantially perpendicular to hair to be cut on all parts of a self-user's head or a subject's head when the present trimmer is held by a user in either hand.

Electric hair trimmers or clippers (interchangeable here) are commonly used by stylists, barbers, or individuals for styling the hair of others. However, it is known to provide an electric hair clipping device designed specifically for self-cutting. One such self-cutting electric hair trimmer (see, e.g., commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,118,863, to Sandy, issued Oct. 10, 1978, and incorporated by reference herein) is somewhat effective for non-skilled hair trimming and thinning, e.g., between professional haircuts. An important feature of the '863 patent is the provision of a moving blade with teeth extending past the relatively shorter teeth of the fixed or stationary blade. One benefit of such an arrangement is that the longer moving blade teeth help to move and randomly cut the hair, creating a general thinning rather than cutting a uniform swath through the hair, as would a more conventional clipper. However, such a trimmer presents at least two related problems.
The '863 patent features a bladeset with moving teeth shaped to guide relatively small amounts of hair into a cutting zone formed by an overlap between the moving teeth and shorter stationary teeth. Generally, the depth of this cutting zone is on the order of two to three perpendicular diameters of a human hair. If two hairs are "stacked" in the cutting zone, with one hair in the part nearest to a root of either of the stationary and moving teeth, and one hair adjacent to it but farther from the teeth roots and protruding from the cutting zone, the protruding hair may be nicked, or may be cut only partially through. This nicked or partially cut hair may sever and fall off several days after the trim, an undesirable result, and in some cases misleading the user that hair is being lost.
Further, at least some typical conventional hair trimmers are shaped to be held in a way that is inconvenient for self-cutting. More specifically, the trimmers are shaped so that they are difficult to hold such that the angle of attack (the angle made by the plane of the cutting zone and the hair strands to be cut) of the bladeset is substantially perpendicular to the hairs to be cut, such as the hairs on the back of a self-user's head. When the angle of attack is substantially not perpendicular, the hairs enter the cutting zone at an oblique angle. This not only exacerbates the problem of "stacked" hairs in the cutting zone described above, but presents a situation in which the elongated cross-section of a single hair at an oblique angle to the cutting zone may exceed the cutting zone depth, leading to the same nicking or partial cutting described above.
In instances when the user attempts to cut the back of his head at the appropriate angle of attack, the wrist must be angled sharply or "cocked" to one side. This resulting position, known as ulnar deviation, is a biochemical deviation that may cause pain, discomfort, or even tendonitis, especially when the position is held for extended periods.
Such ergonomic considerations are also an issue when one person cuts another person's hair. At least some conventional hair trimmers are shaped to be held in a way that is inconvenient for cutting other's hair. This is especially the case for users with limited hand and/or arm mobility, such as sufferers from arthritis or injuries to the hand and/or arm.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved self-cutting hair trimmer which reduces the amount of nicking and/or partial cutting of hair caused by conventional self-cutting hair trimmers. There is also a need to provide for the more effective guiding of hairs into or retaining of hairs in a cutting zone of a bladeset of a hair trimmer. There is still another need for a hair trimmer holdable by a self-user or hair stylist such that the bladeset angle of attack is substantially perpendicular to the hair to be cut on all areas of the head, without causing discomfort to the user when holding the trimmer for self-cutting, or by the stylist when cutting the hair of another.

Hair trimmer for use in self-cutting or on others


Discontiguous storage locations are prefetched by a prefetch instruction. Addresses of the discontiguous storage locations are provided by a list directly or indirectly specified by a parameter of the prefetch instruction, along with metadata and information about the list entries. Fetching of corresponding data blocks to cache lines is initiated. A processor may enter transactional execution mode and memory instructions of a program may be executed using the prefetched data blocks.

This disclosure relates generally to execution of instructions by a computer, and more specifically to execution of instructions in a transactional execution environment.
The number of central processing unit (CPU) cores on a chip and the number of CPU cores connected to a shared memory continues to grow significantly to support growing workload capacity demand. The increasing number of CPUs cooperating to process the same workloads puts a significant burden on software scalability; for example, shared queues or data-structures protected by traditional semaphores become hot spots and lead to sub-linear n-way scaling curves. Traditionally this has been countered by implementing finer-grained locking in software, and with lower latency/higher bandwidth interconnects in hardware. Implementing fine-grained locking to improve software scalability can be very complicated and error-prone, and at today's CPU frequencies, the latencies of hardware interconnects are limited by the physical dimension of the chips and systems, and by the speed of light.
Implementations of hardware Transactional Memory (HTM, or in this discussion, simply TM) have been introduced, wherein a group of instructions—called a transaction—operate in an atomic manner on a data structure in memory, as viewed by other central processing units (CPUs) and the I/O subsystem (atomic operation is also known as "block concurrent" or "serialized" in other literature). The transaction executes optimistically without obtaining a lock, but may need to abort and retry the transaction execution if an operation, of the executing transaction, on a memory location conflicts with another operation on the same memory location. Previously, software transactional memory implementations have been proposed to support software Transactional Memory (TM). However, hardware TM can provide improved performance aspects and ease of use over software TM.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2013/0024625 A1, titled "Prefetching Tracks Using Multiple Caches", filed May 24, 2012, incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, includes a computer program product, sequential access storage device, and a method for managing data in a sequential access storage device receiving read requests and write requests from a system with respect to tracks stored in a sequential access storage medium. A prefetch request indicates prefetch tracks in the sequential access storage medium to read from the sequential access storage medium. The accessed prefetch tracks are cached in a non-volatile storage device integrated with the sequential access storage device, wherein the non-volatile storage device is a faster access device than the sequential access storage medium. A read request is received for the prefetch tracks following the caching of the prefetch tracks, wherein the prefetch request is designated to be processed at a lower priority than the read request with respect to the sequential access storage medium. The prefetch tracks are returned from the non-volatile storage device to the read request.
According to U.S. Pat. No. 8,364,902 B2, titled "Microprocessor With Repeat Prefetch Indirect Instruction", filed Oct. 15, 2009, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, a microprocessor includes an instruction decoder for decoding a repeat prefetch indirect instruction that includes address operands used to calculate an address of a first entry in a prefetch table having a plurality of entries, each including a prefetch address. The repeat prefetch indirect instruction also includes a count specifying a number of cache lines to be prefetched. The memory address of each of the cache lines is specified by the prefetch address in one of the entries in the prefetch table. A count register, initially loaded with the count specified in the prefetch instruction, stores a remaining count of the cache lines to be prefetched. Control logic fetches the prefetch addresses of the cache lines from the table into the microprocessor and prefetches the cache lines from the system memory into a cache memory of the microprocessor using the count register and the prefetch addresses fetched from the table.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Prefetching of discontiguous storage locations in anticipation of transactional execution

International Business Machines Corporation


Provided is an electron beam irradiation apparatus including: an aligner configured to perform an alignment of an electron beam by deflecting the electron beam; a deflector having a plurality of electrodes and configured to deflect the electron beam after passing through the aligner; and an adjuster configured to adjust deflection caused by the aligner, wherein the adjuster is configured to perform, on each of the plurality of electrodes, detecting an image of the electron beam by applying a test voltage to one of the plurality of electrodes and applying a reference voltage to the other electrodes, determine a position shift of the electron beam based on each position of the image of the electron beam corresponding to each electrode, and adjust deflection of the aligner so as to cancel the position shift of the electron beam.

An alignment of an electron beam needs to be performed for an electron beam inspection apparatus that irradiates an electron beam to a sample through a deflector and an electron beam irradiation apparatus used in a scanning electron microscope (SEM). To perform the alignment, an ammeter is connected to each of a plurality of electrodes in a deflector, how much current flows in each electrode is measured, and a profile is generated.
However, ammeters, the number of which corresponds to that of the electrodes in the deflector, need to be connected, so there is a problem that an adjustment cost increases and time and effort are required.
Therefore, it is desired to provide an electron beam irradiation apparatus where an alignment of an electron beam can be easily performed and a simple electron beam alignment method of an electron beam irradiation apparatus.

Electron beam irradiation apparatus and electron beam alignment method


3-carboxy quinoline derivatives, which are useful as YAK3 inhibitors are described herein. The described invention also includes methods of making such 3-carboxy quinoline derivatives as well as methods of using the same in the treatment of diseases mediated by inappropriate YAK3 activity.

The present invention relates to 3-carboxy quinoline derivatives, compositions and medicaments containing the same, as well as processes for the preparation and use of such compounds, compositions and medicaments. Such 3-carboxy quinoline derivatives are useful in the treatment of diseases associated with inappropriate YAK3 activity.
The YAK family of serine/threonine protein kinases, represent a novel family of dual specificity protein kinases with unique structural, enzymatic, and probably functional features (Becker and Joost (1999) Prog. Nucl. Acid Res. 62, 1-17). Four members of the YAK family have been identified by large scale screening of human cDNA libraries using a yeast YAK1 sequence, and have been termed h (human)Yak1, 2, 3, and 4. (See U.S. Pat. No. 5,972,606 (hYAK1), U.S. Pat. No. 6,001,623 (hYAK2), and U.S. Pat. No. 5,965,420 (hYAK3)) In the yeast S. cerevisiae YAK1 functions as a negative regulator of cell growth (Garrett, S., Menold, M. M., and Broach, J. (1991) Mol. Cell Biol. 11, 4045-4051). Deletion of the three PKA genes (tpk1, tpk2, and tpk3) in yeast causes cell cycle arrest at G1 while this growth defect is alleviated by removal of the YAK1 gene (Garrett, S., and Broach, J. (1989) Gene Dev. 3, 1336-1348). Recent data indicates that yYAK1 expression is controlled by two transcription factors MSN2/4 which are negatively regulated by PKA, thus yYAK1 acts downstream of PKA (Smith, A., Ward, M. P. and Garrett, S. (1998) EMBO J. 17, 3556-3564). While the means by which yYAK1 inhibits cell growth is still not known, overexpression of yYAK1 suppresses cell cycle arrest in late mitotic mutants (cdc15, cdc5, dbf2, and tem1) defective in anaphase-promoting complex (APC) (Jaspersen, S. L Charles, J. F., Tinker-Kulberg, R. L., and Morgan, D. O. (1998) Mol. Biol. of the Cell. 9, 2803-2817). Recent work in Dictyostelium has uncovered a yYAK1 homolog which is required for the transition from growth to development giving support to the involvement of this family of kinases in cell growth (Souza, G. M., Lu, S. and Kuspa, A. (1998) Development 125,
Northern analysis was carried out to determine the distribution of hYAK3 mRNA in human tissues. Membranes containing mRNA from multiple human tissues (Clontech #7760-1, #7759-1, and #7768-1) were hybridized to an hYAK3 probe and washed under high stringency conditions as directed. Hybridized mRNA was visualized by exposing the membranes to X-ray film. One major transcript at ˜2.5 kb was present in testis, and transcripts of 2.5, 8 and 10 kb were present in bone and fetal liver. The transcripts were not visible in any other tissues; however, dot blot analysis using a Human Master blot (Clontech #7770-1) indicated that hYAK3 is expressed in other tissues including skeletal muscle.
Investigations with primary cells and hematopoietic cell lines from both human and mouse indicate that cells of the erythroid lineage may predominantly account for the elevated hYAK3 expression. These data suggest that hYAK3 may have a lineage-specific function. In cell lines, hYAK3 is present at higher levels in cells with an erythroid phenotype than other hematopoietic lineages, including myeloid, monocytic and lymphoid cell lines. This profile is completely distinct from hYAK1, which has been observed only at low constitutive levels in hematopoietic cells and tissues. EPO-treatment of human bone marrow in vitro leads to induction and sustained expression of hYAK3 message and hYAK3 protein. Splenocytes from mice made anemic by phenylhydrazine treatment become enriched in erythroid progenitors and exhibit increased expression of hYAK3. Increases in both message and protein accompany induction of erythroid differentiation in UT7-EPO cells.
In yeast, yYAK is a negative regulator of growth via the cell cycle. Consequently, we would anticipate that hYAK3 participates in cell cycle control, and/or commitment to differentiation. We predict that an antagonist of hYAK3 would have a positive effect on cell growth. Our data indicates that it also may be involved in terminal differentiation and growth arrest in hematopoietic cells, especially in the erythroid lineage.
The present inventors have discovered novel 3-carboxy quinoline compounds, which are inhibitors of YAK3 activity. Such 3-carboxy quinoline derivatives are useful in the treatment of disorders associated with inappropriate YAK3 activity, especially diseases of the hematopoietic systems, including anemias due to renal insufficiency or to chronic disease, such as autoimmunity or cancer and drug-induced anemias, polycythemia, myelodysplastic syndrome, aplastic anemia and myelosuppression; cytopenia; neurodegeneration; and also for controlling male fertility, especially for the purpose of achieving contraception.


A mechanical device includes a housing, a transparent spacer member, a magnet, and an image capturing device. The housing has an internal space in which a machine component immersed in oil is housed. The spacer member is disposed in an opening of the housing. The magnet is supported by the spacer member. The image capturing device captures the internal space of the housing via the spacer member.

A working vehicle driven by a wheel includes an engine, a drive shaft rotated by driving force generated by the engine, and an axle device coupled to the drive shaft. The axle device has an axle housing, a differential, a transmission shaft, and an axle shaft. The differential is housed in an internal space of the axle housing, and is coupled to the drive shaft. Rotating force of the drive shaft is transmitted to the transmission shaft via the differential. Rotating force of the transmission shaft is transmitted to the axle shaft. A machine component of the axle device housed in the internal space of the axle housing is immersed in oil. The wheel of the working vehicle is driven by the rotation of the axle shaft.
The axle device has a sliding portion such as a gear or a bearing. A machine component of the sliding portion is deteriorated due to wear. Therefore, an overhaul of the axle device is performed, and maintenance work of the machine component or replacement work of the machine component is performed.
The overhaul of the axle device is preferable to be performed at appropriate timing. If the overhaul is frequently performed even when the machine component of the axle device is not deteriorated, an operation rate of the working vehicle decreases and cost for the overhaul increases. On the other hand, if the overhaul of the axle device is not performed, progress of wear in the machine component of the axle device or breakage of the component occurs and thus, life of the machine component exhausts before the overhaul is performed. Therefore, it is desirable that the overhaul of the axle device be performed at appropriate timing immediately before the life of the component exhausts while the frequency of the overhaul is suppressed.
Patent Literature 1 discloses a technique for diagnosing a failure of a hydraulic cylinder based on a magnetic body attracted by a magnet.

Mechanical device, working vehicle, and deterioration state estimation system and deterioration state estimation method of machine component


Bed temperature in a circulating fluidized bed (CFB) reactor is controlled by varying a recirculation rate of particles collected by a secondary particle separator back to the CFB reactor. Particle storage means, sized to contain sufficient inventory required for bed inventory/temperature control due to fuel/sorbent variations and/or load changes, stores particles collected by the secondary particle separator. The storage means can be either directly below the secondary particle separator or at a remote location. Particles collected by the secondary particle separator rather than by the primary particle separator are preferred due to their smaller size and lower temperature. A bed temperature control system controls the recirculation rate of these particles back to the reactor. Level sensing devices are provided on the storage means. A solids storage level control system that interacts with the bed temperature control system controls the solids inventory in the storage means via a purge system.

CFB reactors or combustors used in the production of steam for industrial process requirements and/or electric power generation are well known in the art. FIGS. 1, 2, and 3 illustrate various known CFB designs. A CFB reactor or combustor, generally referred to as 1, is shown therein. Fuel 2 and sorbent 4 are supplied to a bottom portion of a reactor enclosure or furnace 6 contained within enclosure walls 8, which are normally fluid cooled tubes. Air 10 for combustion and fluidization is provided to a windbox 12 and enters the furnace 6 through apertures in a distribution plate 14. Flue gas containing entrained particles or solids 16 (reacting and non-reacting particles) flows upwardly through the furnace 6, releasing heat to the enclosure walls 8. In most designs, additional air is supplied to the furnace 6 via overfire air supply ducts 18. A bed drain purge 19 is also provided.
Both reacting and non-reacting solids are entrained in the flue gas within the furnace 6, and the upward gas flow carries these solids to an exit at an upper portion of the furnace 6. There, a portion of the solids are collected by a primary particle separator 20 and returned to a bottom portion of the furnace 6 at a controlled or non-controlled flow rate. The collection efficiency of the primary particle separator 20 is commonly not sufficient for the retention of particles in the furnace 6, as required for efficient performance and/or for the required reduction of the solids content in gases discharged to the atmosphere. For this reason additional particle separators are installed downstream of the primary particle separator 20.
Referring to FIG. 1, in one known CFB reactor arrangement a secondary particle separator 22 and its attendant solids recirculation means 24 are installed to collect and recycle particles passing the primary particle separator 20 as needed for efficient CFB operation. The gases and solids release heat to convection heating surfaces 26 located between the primary and secondary particle separators 20, 22, respectively. A final or tertiary particle separator 28 is provided downstream (with respect to the flow of flue gas and entrained particles 16) of the secondary particle separator 22 for final gas cleaning to meet particulate emission requirements. A purge system 30 may be employed to purge solids collected from the flue gas by the secondary particle separator 22.
In another arrangement, shown schematically in FIG. 2, the secondary particle separator 22 is the final particle separator. In this case, to improve the particle retention as needed for efficient CFB furnace 6 performance, the solids or particles collected by the secondary particle separator 22 may be partially recirculated through the recycle transport line 24 to a lower portion of the CFB reactor 6. A purge system 30 purges solids collected from the flue gas by the secondary particle separator 22.
When solids recirculation from the secondary particle separator 22 is needed for efficient unit operation, the rate of recirculation corresponds to the CFB system material balance with a given solids input flow and is a function of the physical characteristics of the solids and efficiencies of the primary and secondary particle separators 20, 22 respectively, and limits or targets imposed on the recirculation rate by one of the following: a) the capacity of the solids recirculation means 24; b) the maximum acceptable solids loading through the convection heating surface 26 downstream of the primary particle separator 20; c) the flow rate that provides the optimum CFB reactor performance (in terms of combustion efficiency, sorbent utilization, convection surface erosion, operating and/or maintenance cost of the solids recirculation system) and d) the low limit of the bed temperature in the CFB furnace 6.
When the solids recirculation rate from the secondary particle separator 22 is restricted as compared to that rate which would otherwise be obtained as determined by the material balance due to one of the limits described above, the excess of circulating solids is removed from the secondary particle separator 22 for disposal through the purge system 30, shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, to accommodate the recirculation rate limitation.
In known systems a minimal solids inventory is maintained in a secondary particle separator hopper 32 by controlling the purge rate through purge system 30. In these systems, an increase in the flow rate of solids recirculated from the secondary particle separator 22 to increase the solids inventory in the CFB reactor 1 can only be done slowly. The rate of the recirculated flow (and inventory) increase is dictated by the change of the secondary particle collector purge flow rate, which is reduced to zero when the recirculation flow starts to increase. In FIG. 1 systems, this purge flow rate is typically not more than 10% of the recirculation flow, and the rate of recirculation flow increase is insufficient for responsive reactor inventory control.
FIG. 3 schematically shows a known CFB reactor or boiler system of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,538,549 to Stromberg. In this system, the bed temperature in the CFB reactor furnace 6 is controlled by changing the inventory of circulating solids in the furnace 6 by regulating the circulation rate of solids collected by the primary particle separator 20 and stored in a primary particle storage hopper 34 placed underneath the primary particle separator 20. The mass of solids in primary particle storage hopper 34 is varied depending on CFB reactor control requirements. When more inventory is needed in the furnace 6 to reduce the bed temperature, the solids circulation rate through a standpipe and non-mechanical L-valve 36 connecting the primary particle storage hopper 34 with the bottom portion of the reactor enclosure or furnace 6, is increased. A part of the stored bed material is thus transferred to and becomes part of the furnace 6 inventory. When the CFB reactor inventory is to be decreased, the opposite action takes place which results in solids accumulating in the primary particle storage hopper 34.
In the CFB system shown in FIG. 3, the flow rate of solids recirculated from the secondary particle separator 22, is "uncontrolled but selfadjusting" (per Col. 7, lines 16-19 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,538,549) as determined by the material balance. However, operational experience with the CFB system reactor or boiler and control method of U.S. Pat. No. 4,538,549 has shown the following shortcomings:
a) transport of solids stored in the primary particle storage hopper 34 in the packed bed regime causes flowability problems due to the tendency of the particles in a packed bed to agglomerate at temperatures of about 1600.degree. F., which is typical for fluidized bed combustion applications; and PA0 b) the hot particle storage, transfer, and control means required to accomplish this control method represent a considerable cost and contribute to the complexity of the CFB design.
An improved CFB reactor has been suggested (U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/037,986, filed Mar. 25, 1993, assigned to The Babcock & Wilcox Company) in which solids are collected by an entirely internal primary particle separator which also returns particles collected thereby internally and directly to a bottom portion of the CFB reactor. This improved CFB reactor thus eliminates the need for any external recirculation means such as standpipes and L-valves, which considerably simplifies the CFB reactor arrangement and reduces its cost. A disadvantage of this concept as compared with that of U.S. Pat. No. 4,538,549 is that it does not provide for control of the bed temperature by controlling inventory of the circulating material in a CFB reactor via regulating the solids recirculation rate from the primary separator.
It is thus apparent that a need exists for a method and apparatus for controlling a bed temperature in a CFB reactor or combustor that does not rely upon controlled recirculation of particles collected by a primary particle separator.

Method and apparatus for controlling the bed temperature in a circulating fluidized bed reactor


A bumper holder may attach or clamp to a variety of types of personal watercraft (PWC) to provide a bumper. The bumper holder may be used to hold the PWC in place regardless whether the PWC is docked or in use. The bumper holder does not require being near a dock/pier or piling to be used. The bumper holder may have a clamp that may connect to a PWC. The clamp may be affixed to a first bar that may be attached to a second bar using a hinge portion. The second bar may include the bumper at the end opposite the hinge portion. The bumper holder may include a lock bar that may connect and secure a top portion of the first bar to the second bar. The first bar and the second bar may be telescopic and/or adjustable.

When PWC, including but not limited to, bass boats, pontoon boats, and/or kayaks, are being used for fishing or other water activities, the PWC is often secured to the dock/pier or a piling to provide stabilization. However, this can limit the user's flexibility to select where he/she fishes or conducts water activities, as it may be dictated by the location of the dock/pier and/or the piling.


A method and design of providing high temperature heat for an endothermic gasifier without combustion includes flowing a stream of a first hydrocarbon gas sequentially through an annular plenum and a cylindrical plenum while heating the gas using electrical resistance immersion heating elements. These heating elements may be heated by three phase electrical power, minimizing the number of electrical leads emerging from the top of the heating elements. This method and design reduces the risk of extremely hot syngas exiting the gasifier damaging downstream fittings.

One problem with gasification is poor conversion because the temperatures were simply not high enough to destroy the complex organic compounds and avoid soot and dioxin formation, even in situations where there is partial oxidation with oxygen or even air burning some of the feedstock to produce higher temperatures. Further, there may not be enough heat available in the gasification sections where the syngas was burned to provide heat for the endothermic gasifier to achieve the temperatures needed. As a result gasification has suffered from failed applications, poor economics and general criticism throughout the world as a being an "incinerator in disguise."
Various embodiments of the present invention provide improvements in the heating of gasifier sections that are novel and unobvious.

Electrically heated steam reforming reactor