In relation to wireless communication, a communications apparatus suitable for installation into a vehicle provides a user-driven communication capability in a vehicle communications system. The apparatus includes means providing a wide-area communication capability, at least one antenna interface for conveying signals to and/or from at least one antenna providing wide-area communication, at least one power input configured to receive operating power for the apparatus from a vehicle and at least one digital communication interface for providing connectivity to a master unit of the vehicle.

Various communication capabilities are becoming more and more popular also in a car, automotive, motor cycle, environment both in work and free time usage. The most common existing communication capability is the ability to receive radio transmission in a car. The car is provided with an antenna, which has been placed in such a location that it is able to receive radio transmissions. The antenna is cabled to a car radio which processes signals received via the antenna. Relating to cellular communications, although it is possible to use a normal mobile phone in a car, most car manufacturers nowadays offer also an integrated mobile communication solution in their cars. In the integrated solutions, the car comprises the necessary components that are needed for cellular communications. In this solution, all the user needs to do is to insert his user identity module into the integrated system. The integrated system typically uses a dedicated antenna which is located, for example, on the roof of the car. The antenna is cabled to a centralized unit near a dashboard of the car, and the centralized unit comprises the remaining components needed for cellular communications.
In order to receive a radio frequency (RF) signal properly in most conditions, an antenna receiving the RF signal need to be located outside the car chassis. If the antenna is inside the car chassis, the received RF signals are significantly attenuated or otherwise interfered. The car chassis attenuation to the RF signals may be significant and this attenuation depends at least on signal and fading signal directions, antenna locations, antenna directivity, objects and material properties in signal path, operational signals frequency, etc. Furthermore, the longer the antenna cable is, the higher is the attenuation resulting from the cable. Additionally, attenuation may be related to antenna cable quality and quality of connectors, quality of joint between connectors, quality of joint between connectors and cable. The reception quality is also impacted by signal to noise and signal to interference ratios. Furthermore, reasonably good quality RF cables and connectors are usually also expensive.
Furthermore, in an automotive environment already rather short cables and connectors may be affected by noise sources and interferences sources so that reception quality may degrade by a detectable amount. For example, a user may detect a reduced net coverage or reduced data throughput.
Inspecting RF frequency related interferences and interfered system may be a difficult problem to solve in a distributed architecture, especially when a root cause may be an unsuccessful assembly during manufacturing. The same which applies between an antenna and RF components following the antenna applies also to RF signals' quality and attenuation between active/passive RF components/RF transceiver. Active RF components may also need additional controls and a power source with cabling for a designed operation. Furthermore, signals between an RF transceiver and a cellular transceiver baseband module may be impacted by interferences and signal attenuation thus degrading communication system performance. Similarly, if RF signals are to be sent with an antenna located inside the car chassis, coverage of the RF signals decreases significantly due to attenuation.
Cabling in a car is easiest to make when manufacturing the car. The cabling and other special purpose sensitive technology and electricity, however, needs to be transparent for the owner of the car. Thus, when manufacturing a car and installing, for example, a radio antenna and an antenna for cellular communications, a significant amount of cabling needs to be done and a number of different modules and other components are needed. Installation also takes time. Later on, when an installed module or other component is malfunctioning and/or is being interfered, maintenance costs due to various electrical parts, skilled workmanship, needed testers etc. may be significant for finding and replacing the malfunctioning module, component, cable or connector.
Furthermore, in the automotive industry, various parts of a vehicle need to be made available for a long time as spare parts. Sometimes two separate parts need to also be type approved together, especially radio related parts. This may lead to a situation that a new part may not be functional with an older part, for example due to an emission spectrum or interoperability, and thus it would be necessary to replace both parts if one them is to be replaced. Technology and new requirements, relating to, for example, taxation or road taxes, may require modularity and upgradability from systems in a car during its lifetime, which may be quite long in automotive cases. This also generates various requirements for parts of a vehicle.
It would be beneficial to solve or at least alleviate the above drawbacks.

Wireless communication apparatus and method


Disclosed in the embodiments of the present invention are an information transmission method and apparatus, the method comprising: a terminal receives indication information sent by a network device, the indication information being used for the terminal to determine an uplink area in a time unit in which an uplink shared channel is transmitted; the terminal sends the uplink shared channel in the uplink area; hence, the terminal receives the indication information sent by the network device and determines transmission resources for the uplink shared channel on the basis of the indication information, thus ensuring correct transmission of the uplink shared channel.

As there is an evolving demand for mobile communication services, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the 3rd Generation Partner Project (3GPP), and other organizations have come to conduct their researches on new wireless communication systems, e.g., a 5G system. The new wireless communication systems can support a number of coexisting types of services, e.g., an Ultra-Reliable and Low-Latency Communication (URLLC) service, an enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) service, a massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC) service, etc., and there may be a varying amount of traffic of the same service.
Seven Time Division Duplex (TDD) uplink-downlink (UL-DL) configurations are defined for the TDD mode in the existing Long Term Evolution (LTE) system as depicted in Table 1.
TABLE 1UL-DL configurationsConfigurationSub-frame No.No.01234567890DSUUUDSUUU1DSUUDDSUUD2DSUDDDSUDD3DSUUUDDDDD4DSUUDDDDDD5DSUDDDDDDD6DSUUUDSUUD
In the LTE TDD system, each 10 ms radio frame includes two 5 ms half-frames, and each half-frame includes five sub-frames with a length of 1 ms. Sub-frames in a radio frame can be categorized into downlink, uplink, and special sub-frames. Each special sub-frame includes a Downlink Pilot Time Slot (DwPTS), a Guard Period (GP), and an Uplink Pilot Time Slot (UpPTS). Each half-frame includes at least one downlink sub-frame, at least one uplink sub-frame, and at most one special sub-frame.
In the LTE system, uplink and downlink resources are allocated as defined in the TDD frame structure above, so an LTE cell can be only configured with one TDD frame structure, and thus only a fixed uplink and downlink resource allocation can be supported, and notified via system information broadcasted in the cell, so the uplink and downlink resource allocation remains constant.
Moreover in the LTE system, a GP shall be arranged between uplink and downlink resources to avoid interference between the uplink and the downlink in the same cell, and to switch from the downlink to the uplink. The GP only exists in a special sub-frame in each TDD uplink-downlink configuration above, and the length of the GP depends upon a special sub-frame configuration corresponding to a length allocation of a DwPTS, an UpPTS, and a GP in the special sub-frame. The special sub-frame configuration is also notified via system information broadcasted in a cell, so the special sub-frame configuration also remains constant.
In summary, it is highly desirable in the art to provide a method for transmitting information so as to support information transmission of different types of services, and a flexible amount of traffic.

Information transmission method and apparatus

DATANG MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT CO., LTD.


Sustained release compositions containing a physiologically active substance or its salt, hydroxynaphthoic acid or its salt and a lactic acid-glycolic polymer or its salt, wherein the product of the weight-average molecular weight of the lactic acid-glycolic acid polymer by the amount (μmol) of the terminal carboxyl group per unit mass (g) of the lactic acid-glycolic acid polymer is from 1,200,000 to 3,000,000 (inclusive); and their production; medicaments containing these sustained release compositions, etc.

JP-A-7-97334 discloses a sustained release formulation consisting of a physiologically active peptide or its salt and a biodegradable polymer having a terminal free carboxyl group as well as a method for producing the same.
Each of GB2209937, GB2234169, GB2234896, GB2257909 and EP626170A2 discloses a composition comprising as a base a biodegradable polymer containing a water-insoluble salt such as a pamoate of a peptide or a protein prepared separately as well as a method for producing the same.
WO95/15767 discloses an embonate (pamoate) of cetrorelix (LH-RH antagonist) and a method for producing the same, and describes that this pamoate, even when enclosed in a biodegradable polymer, exhibits the peptide-releasing performance equivalent to the pamoate which exists independently.

Sustained release compositions, process for producing the same and use thereof


A disc drive device includes a rotational assembly which is adapted to mount a disc thereon and is rotatably driven by a motor. The rotational assembly is rotatably supported on a support assembly by a radial hydrodynamic fluid bearing and a thrust bearing. An axial load is applied to the thrust bearing by a magnetic attractive force of up to 30N and is greater than a dead weight of the rotational assembly.

Heretofore, disc drive devices have been constructed e.g. as shown in FIG. 1. Such a disc drive unit is typically used for a spindle motor.
More specifically, the disc drive device has a rotational assembly 10 on which a disc (not shown) can be mounted, a shaft 1 on which the rotational assembly 10 is rotatably supported by means of two ball bearings 23, and a base 7 to which the lower end of the shaft 1 is secured The rotational assembly 10 and the disc mounted thereon are rotatably driven by a motor M which is disposed between the base 7 and the rotational assembly 10. The motor M has a rotor 8 secured to the rotational assembly 10, and a stator 9 secured to the base 7 with the rotor 8 and stator 9 radially opposed to each other.
The rotational assembly 10 comprises a hub in tie case of the spindle motor.
With the magnetic disc units, however, due to the development of high recording densities, it is desirable that the deviation of non-repetitive runout (NRRO) in the disc drive device used in the magnetic disc units be small. The term "non-repetitive runout" is also referred to as "non-repeatable runout".
With the conventional disc drive device, as shown in FIG. 1, the deviation of non-repetitive runout (NRRO) needs to be small with the ball bearings 23. However, since the ball bearings 23 have vibration due to rolling of the balls and vibration due to errors in the shape of the bearing members, even with improved manufacturing accuracy, it is difficult to keep the deviation of non-repetable runout below a specified value.
FIG. 2 shows another example of the conventional disc drive devices, that is a spindle motor, which uses hydrodynamic fluid bearings with small deviation of non-repetitive runout, for both a radial bearing and a thrust bearing. In this example, the rotational assembly includes a shaft 1 and a hub 40.
A sleeve 6 is fitted into the base 7 to which the motor M is mounted, and provided with a cylindrical bole, the inner peripheral surface of which is formed with a radial bearing face 6a. The radial bearing face 6a of the sleeve 6 and the outer peripheral surface of the shaft 1 cooperate to form a radial hydrodynamic fluid bearing. On the other hand, the lower end face 1a of the shaft 1 and the upper surface 58a of the thrust bearing 58 cooperate to form a thrust hydrodynamic fluid bearing to support the thrust load.
Although such hydrodynamic fluid bearings make small the deviation of non-repetitive runout, there is a drawback that the shaft 1 with the hub 40 can easily come off the sleeve 6 if it receives shock or load from outside in the direction where the shaft comes off Therefore, in the example of FIG. 2, a stopper 60 is mounted to the hub 40 in an interference relation with a flanged portion 6b of the sleeve 6. However, it is troublesome to provide such a stopper 60. And during transportation, the stopper 60 sometimes bumps the axially opposing flange portion 6b of the sleeve 6 causing abrasion debris.

Rotational assembly for disc drive device having small runout and reduced axial displacement


A transverse optical transmission probe having a probe body and a probe tip. The probe use optical fibers to both transmit radiation from an instrument to the probe tip and to return the sample affected radiation to the instrument. The fibers are in parallel and contained in the probe body. The probe tip includes two optical elements that protrude into the sample and are configured to define a sample gap so that incident radiation pass through the sample in a direction transverse to the axis to the probe and eventually reaches the receiving fiber. Each of the optical elements may be formed from a single piece of material or may be a composite formed by adhering two or more pieces of material together. One or more lensed surfaces may be used to cause the end of the transmitting fiber to be imaged on the end of the receiving fiber.

Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to probes for spectroscopic measuring devices and, more particularly, to a transverse optical transmission probe.
Description of the Related Art
A variety of sampling devices are currently available for use in optical spectroscopy (primarily near-infrared and UV-visible). These generally use optical fibers to couple to an appropriate instrument. They fall into the following categories and suffer from the noted problems:                1 Single pass transmission probes. An example is the Axiom Analytical FPT-850. These probes provide high performance but involve numerous manufacturing steps and hence do not meet the low cost requirement of our invention.        2. Double pass transflectance probes. These probes are somewhat less expensive to produce than the single pass probes but have significant performance limitations. In particular, the sample gap needs to be one half of the desired pathlength thereby restricting sample flow.        3. Transmission cells. Commercial transmission cells are generally too costly for our current requirements. One could envision a less expensive cell. But it would be difficult to provide the serviceability required for the envisioned application with a transmission cell form factor.
There remains a need, therefore, for a transverse optical transmission probe that is compatible with water based samples, is capable of being produced at very low cost in substantial volume, has a relatively small sample gap but not so small that it causes sample retention in the sample gap and restricts sample flow; and is suitable for easy service and replacement in the field.


A method and a system for accurately calculating the timing margin in a clock and data recovery system (CDR) is provided that utilizes a singular path environment of hardware. The method entails adding an amount of jitter within the CDR to change the receiver phase. The amount of jitter is incrementally increased until a threshold level of bit errors occur. Based on the amount of jitter needed to cause the threshold level of bit errors, timing margin can be calculated.

In some high speed data links, digital data streams are sent from one communications node to another without an accompanying clock signal. Clock and Data Recovery (CDR) circuits are therefore utilized to recover data and timing information from a received signal. Typically, the CDR will extract a clock from the received signal, predict the location of the center of an "eye" diagram and sample data from the predicted center of the eye. Accordingly, there is a need to measure the timing margin of the CDR so that a manufacture or user, can characterize the performance of the CDR, and its effect on bit error rate (BER).
If the CDR is not functioning accurately, it leads to increased bit errors during data recovery because the data is not being sampled in the center of the eye. It is important for an end-user utilizing a particular CDR to know how well the CDR functions in terms of accuracy, and its timing margin before the CDR fails. For example, in a 5 GHz transmission system, the data or an eye may be 200 picoseconds wide and the CDR should be sampling in the middle. However, if the CDR samples off-center, then the probability of bit errors due to noise, etc., increases the farther the CDR samples from the center of the eye diagram. Timing margin characterizes how close to the center of the eye the data is being sampled. If the CDR is well centered, the system should be able to withstand a move of the phase (i.e. sampling time) to the left or the right from center, and still function with acceptable BER, indicating that the system has a good timing margin.
In a typical approach to measuring timing margin, a main detector operates in a primary data path, and a second detector is utilized in a secondary data path, which is operating in parallel with the primary data path. The main detector recovers data and the second detector is utilized to estimate the timing margin. Essentially, data is recovered from the first data path by sampling the data at the center of the eye (or as close to it as can be achieved). A second data path having the second detector simultaneously samples the same data. However, a phase offset is deliberately added to the sampling time of the second detector so as to sampling performed offset from the center of the eye diagram, relative to the first detector. After receiving the results of the first path and the second path, the user is able to compare the sampled results and determine the phase offset that results in an unacceptable BER, which then defines the timing margin. A disadvantage of this approach is the need for two separate data paths and the requisite duplicate hardware. Another typical approach entails the use of one path for clock recovery and another path for data recovery. The similar disadvantage for this approach is the need for at least partially duplicate hardware in such a system.
What is needed is an apparatus and method for measuring timing margin that does not require duplicate hardware.
The present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The drawing in which an element first appears is typically indicated by the leftmost digit(s) in the corresponding reference number.

Apparatus and method to measure timing margin in clock and data recovery system utilizing a jitter stressor


Provided are pro-substrates useful in assays of living cells. The pro-substrates can be used to detect the presence or absence of enzymes, such as luciferase, in living cells. The pro-substrates can be coelenterazine derivatives or analogs.

Reporter molecules are routinely used to monitor molecular events in the fields of biology, biochemistry, immunology, cell biology and molecular biology. For example, reporter molecules are employed in assays where the levels of the reporter molecule are due to transcription from a specific promoter linked to the reporter molecule. Reporter molecule assays can be used to study biological processes including gene expression, receptor activity, transcription factors, intracellular signaling, mRNA processing, and protein folding. Analysis of reporter molecules that are typically used in such assays includes detection of radioactive isotopes, enzyme activity, fluorescence, or luminescence.
Luminescence in biological assays typically involves the activity of a luminogenic protein. Luminogenic proteins that are useful in assay systems include, but are not limited to, Renilla luciferase, Oplophorus luciferase, Vargula (Cypridina) luciferase, Gaussia luciferase, and aequorin. In a luminescent reaction, the interaction of a luminogenic protein with an appropriate molecule, referred to as a luminophore, produces light as one of the reaction products. The quantity of light produced in the reaction can be measured. This measurement may be used qualitatively to determine if a certain substance or target of interest is or is not present in a sample. This measurement also may be used quantitatively to calculate the concentration of luminogenic protein, luminophore, and/or substance or target of interest in the reaction.
Luminescent reactions can be used to detect very small quantities of a particular analyte, the substance being identified and measured in an assay. For example, luminescent reactions can be used to detect and quantify proteases, lipases, phosphatases, peroxidases, glycosidases, various metabolites such as ATP or NADH, and reporter molecules. Luminescent reactions can also be used to detect and quantify analytes through binding interactions, such as those mediated by antibodies and nucleotide probes. Another application of luminescent reactions is bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET), which can determine if two molecules are capable of binding to each other or are co-localized in a cell. Typically, luminescent reactions can be used to detect an analyte present in a sample at less than about 1×10−16 moles, often less than 1×10−19 moles.
Coelenterazines are reporter molecules known to luminesce when acted on by a wide variety of bioluminescent proteins such as marine luciferases. Examples of such marine luciferases include Renilla luciferase, Aequorin, Gaussia luciferase, and Oplophorus luciferase.

Pro-substrates for live cell applications


The present invention is to provide a backscattered light amplification device, an optical pulse test apparatus, a backscattered light amplification method, and an optical pulse test method for amplifying a desired propagation mode of Rayleigh backscattered light with a desired gain by stimulated Raman scattering in a fiber under test having the plurality of propagation modes. The backscattered light amplification device according to the present invention is configured to control individually power, incident timing, and pulse width of a pump pulse for each propagation mode when the pump pulse is incident in a plurality of propagation modes after the probe pulse is input to the fiber under test in any propagation mode.

An optical pulse test method (herein, also referred to as an optical time domain reflectometer; OTDR) is well known as a test technique for an optical fiber. The OTDR indicates a method and a device that makes pulsed test light incident on a fiber under test (hereinafter, referred to as FUT) and acquires distribution data (OTDR waveform) based on intensity and round trip time of backscattered light of Rayleigh scattered light derived from a test light pulse propagating in an optical fiber and Fresnel reflection light. Such a technique can be used to detect an abnormal position at which breakage or increase in loss of the optical fiber occurs and to specify the position.
In Non-Patent Literature 1, a first higher-order mode (LP11 mode) of backscattered light is extracted using a wavelength region in which a general single-mode fiber (hereinafter, referred to as SMF) operates in two modes, and a technique (1-μm-band mode-detection OTDR) is disclosed which detects an optical fiber bending with higher sensitivity than a general-purpose OTDR. Furthermore, Non-Patent Literature 2 discloses a method of measuring both a fundamental mode (LP01 mode) and LP11 mode of backscattered light in a 1-μm-band mode-detection OTDR, evaluating the ratio of loss occurring in the modes, and identifying factors of the loss occurring in the optical fiber.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Backscattering optical amplification device, optical pulse testing device, backscattering optical amplification method and optical pulse testing method

NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION


To attach a strip of cloth provided with a zip-fastener component to each of two trouser foreparts, the edge of the trouser forepart is folded over before being joined to the strip of cloth. The trouser forepart with the folded-over edge and the strip of cloth are positioned relative to one another in a position which they occupy after being sewn together. Subsequently, this sewing takes place in a clamping fixture in a single sewing operation. The purpose of this measure is to attach the strip of cloth and zip-fastener component to a trouser forepart with the minimum possible effort.

It is known practice from the publication of Pfaff Industriemaschinen GmbH entitled "PFAFF 200-04 Special Service" to sew together the associated strip of cloth on a left trouser forepart, the so-called left fly lining, and the associated area of the trouser forepart. The sewn-on strip of cloth is then folded over and the associated zip-fastener half, i.e. the left zip-fastener component, is sewn on. This strip of cloth is subsequently folded over again and the left joining seam is produced between the strip of cloth and the trouser forepart. Also, the sewing of the right strip of cloth having the right zip-fastener component, i.e. the associated zip-fastener half, on to the right trouser forepart takes place in several work cycles.
It is known practice from U.S. Pat. No. 4,534,067 to manufacture trouser flies in such a manner that an additional strip of cloth is also cut in one piece with each of the two trouser foreparts in the fly area and is then folded over and sewn together with the trouser forepart. In addition, a zip-fastener half, i.e. a zip-fastener component, is also sewn on. In the case of the left trouser forepart the outer edge is pressed inwards so that a four-layered design is formed in this case which is then stitched.

Method of attaching a strip of cloth with a zip-fastener component to a trouser forepart


A method and system provide a magnetic transducer having an air-bearing surface (ABS). The magnetic transducer includes a main pole and at least one coil for energizing the main pole. The main pole includes a first portion and a second portion. The first portion includes a pole tip and at least one side surface. The pole tip has an ABS facing surface at the ABS. The first portion has a first flare angle between the ABS and a side surface. The second portion is on the first portion and recessed from the ABS. The second portion has a second flare angle greater than the first flare angle. The first portion is wider in a cross track direction than the second portion.

FIGS. 1A and 1B depict side and plan views of a conventional magnetic recording head 10. The magnetic recording head 10 may be a perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) head. The conventional magnetic recording head 10 includes a read transducer 12 and a write transducer 20. The conventional read transducer 12 includes shields 14 and 18 and sensor 16. The read sensor 16 is typically a giant magnetoresistive (GMR) sensor or tunneling magnetoresistive (TMR) sensor. The write transducer 20 includes a first, or return, pole 22, coils 24 and 32, back gap 26, auxiliary poles 28, main pole 30 and shield 344. As can be seen in the plan view, the write pole 30 pole has a flare angle, a. The flare angle is typically on the order of forty-five degrees or less. Although not shown, the main pole 30 may have leading and/or trailing edge bevels. In such cases, the main pole 30 is shortest in the down track direction at the ABS.
Although the conventional magnetic recording head 10 functions, there are drawbacks. In particular, the conventional magnetic recording head 10 may not perform sufficiently at higher recording densities. For example, the write field provided by the main pole 30 and the reverse overwrite may not meet desired standards. Accordingly, what is needed is a system and method for improving the performance of a magnetic recording head.

Magnetic recording writer having a main pole with multiple flare angles


Compounds of Formula (I), their preparation and use in preventing or treating bacterial infections are disclosed.

Emergence of bacterial resistance to known antibacterial agents is becoming a major challenge in treating bacterial infections. One way forward to treat bacterial infections, and especially those caused by resistant bacteria, is to develop newer antibacterial agents that can overcome the bacterial resistance. Coates et al. (Br. J. Pharmacol. 2007; 152(8), 1147-1154.) have reviewed novel approaches to developing new antibiotics. However, the development of new antibacterial agents is a challenging task. For example, Gwynn et al. (Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 2010, 1213: 5-19) have reviewed the challenges in discovery of antibacterial agents.
Another approach to overcome the bacterial resistance to known antibacterial agents is to target the bacterial mechanisms, which helps it acquiring and maintaining the resistance. For example, several bacteria are known to produce enzymes (beta-lactamase enzymes) that hydrolyze the beta-lactam ring in a typical beta-lactam antibacterial agent. Once the beta-lactam ring is hydrolyzed, the antibacterial agents become ineffective against those bacteria. Bacteria are known to produce several types of beta-lactamase enzymes. Depending on their amino-acid sequence homologies, the beta-lactamase enzymes are broadly classified into four classes: A, B, C and D (Ambler R. P., Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lon., B289, 321-331, 1980). Beta-lactamase enzymes belonging to classes A, C and D use serine as the active site to facilitate catalysis, whereas those belonging to class B contain one or more metal ions (e.g. zinc ions) at the active site to facilitate the beta-lactam cleavage.
Several compounds, generally known as beta-lactamase inhibitors, are capable of inhibiting activity of one or more beta-lactamase enzymes, thereby restoring the efficacy of conventional beta-lactam antibacterial agents. Typical examples of beta-lactamase inhibitors include sulbactam, tazobactam and clavulanic acid. Drawz et al. (Clinical Microbiology Reviews, Jan. 2010, Volume 23(1), p. 160-201) have reviewed the subject of beta-lactamase inhibition. U.S. Pat. No. 7,112,592 discloses several heterocyclic compounds and their use as antibacterial agents.
The inventors have surprisingly discovered nitrogen containing compounds that are useful in preventing or treating bacterial infections

Nitrogen containing compounds and their use

Bandra-Kurla Complex, Bandra East, Mumbai


An automatic slack adjuster operating to effect reduction of slack present in a vehicle brake system upon brake release incorporates a member cooperating with a slack adjusting rotor to determine a reference position for the rotor and to return the rotor to such reference position at the completion of each brake operational cycle.

It is known to provide an automatic slack adjuster for operably connecting a brake operator to a cam shaft forming part of a vehicle brake system of the type including a housing; a worm gear mounted by the housing for rotation with the cam shaft about a first axis; a worm shaft mounted by the housing to rotate about a second axis perpendicular to the first axis and for displacement axially of the second axis, wherein the worm shaft has opposite ends and a worm arranged intermediate such ends for engagement with the worm gear; a rotor and a coupling each mounted coaxially to rotate relative to one end of the worm shaft; a clevis for connecting the housing to the brake operator for rotating the housing in opposite directions about the first axis as the vehicle brakes are applied and released; a link for connecting the clevis to the rotor for rotating the rotor in opposite directions about the second axis as the vehicle brakes are applied and released; a one way clutch tending to couple the coupling for rotation with the rotor when the rotor is rotated in one direction and tending to uncouple the coupling from rotation with the rotor when the rotor is rotated in an opposite direction; a slip device for releasably connecting the worm shaft for rotation with the coupling; and a spring tending to bias the worm shaft axially to rotatably connect the worm shaft to the coupling via the slip device, while permitting oppositely directed axial movement of the worm shaft to rotationally disconnect the worm shaft from the coupling upon a given axial loading of the worm shaft by the cam shaft.
Slack adjusters of the type generally described above are of two general types, namely, a first type wherein slack adjustments are effected during brake application, as disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,380,276, and a second type wherein slack adjusters are effected during brake release, as disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. No. 3,351,163.


[Problem] To provide a agitation/defoaming method and device with which both of uniformity in dispersion of object to be processed and reduction of air bubbles can be achieved with high precision.

An agitation/defoaming device, for agitating/defoaming an object to be processed by revolving and rotating (spinning) a container containing the object, is known.
Such a agitation/defoaming device revolves the container so as to defoam the object, and rotates (spins) the container so as to agitate the object.
In the other words, the centrifugal force of the orbital motion (revolution) makes the object be pressed against the inside surface of the container so that air bubbles internally existing in the object move to the surface of the object and the object is defoamed, or the object in the surface portion rises along the inside wall surface of the container and a thin layer of the object is formed so that the air bubble whose size is larger than the thickness of the layer bursts and the object is defoamed.
Subsequently, the container is rotated (spun) using the device, and the spin motion makes the object be spirally flowed to agitate the object. Consequently, it is important for the agitation/defoaming device to achieve both agitating and defoaming effects.
Patent Literature 1 discloses a agitation/defoaming device, which includes an orbital drive motor and a spin drive motor and are used to agitate and defoam object contained in a container by controlling each of orbital and spin motions independently.
Patent Literature 2 discloses a technology for improving a defoaming effect by superimposing a cyclic variation component on the orbital motion and by changing the ratio of rotation to revolution (rotational frequency ratio of spin motion vs orbital motion).
Patent Literature 3 discloses a technology for improving a agitation/defoaming performance by reversing the orbital motion and the spin motion.
Patent Literature 4 discloses a technology for enhancing a defoaming effect by performing a agitation/defoaming treatment under reduced pressure.

Agitation/defoaming method and agitation/defoaming device

Abstract: [Solution] Provided is a agitation/defoaming method for producing orbital and spin motions of a container containing object to be processed by a device provided with orbital and spin drive motors that can independently control the velocities of the orbital and spin motions. Both defoaming and agitating treatments with high precision can be achieved by respectively performing a reverse rotation superimposition processing, wherein the rotational frequency of the spin drive motor is obtained by superimposing the first rotational frequency in a direction opposite to the direction of the orbital motion on the frequency of the orbital motion, and a same rotation superimposition processing, wherein the rotational frequency of the spin drive motor is obtained by superimposing the second rotational frequency in the same direction as the direction of the orbital motion on the frequency of the orbital motion, at least once.


Low-Density Parity-Check (LDPC) codes offer error correction at rates approaching the link channel capacity and reliable and efficient information transfer over bandwidth or return-channel constrained links with data-corrupting noise present. LDPC codes also offer error correction performance approaching channel capacity exponentially fast in terms of the code length, linear processing complexity, and parallelism that scales with the code length. They also offer challenges relating to the decoding complexity of the binary error-correction codes themselves and error floors limiting achievable bit-error rates. A new Relaxed Half-Stochastic (RHS) decoding algorithm is presented that reduces decoding complexity for high decoding throughput applications. The RHS algorithm uses an approach based on stochastic decoding algorithms but differs significantly from the conventional approaches of LDPC decoder implementation. The RHS algorithm also leads to a randomized decoding technique called redecoding that addresses the error floor limitation.

Low-Density Parity-Check (LDPC) codes are a type of linear error-correcting codes that are part of the family of linear block codes, which transform a message consisting of a sequence of information symbols of an alphabet into a fixed length sequence of encoding symbols. With linear block codes the input message length is less than the number of encoding symbols thereby providing redundancy allowing for detection and correction of errors. LDPC codes were originally invented by Gallager, see "Low Density Parity-Check Codes" (Monograph, M.I.T. Press, 1963), but little attention was devoted to them at the time, primarily because the required decoding complexity was too high for the processing resources that were available. In 1993, the introduction of turbo codes by Berrou, Glavieux and Thitimajshima, see "Near Shannon Limit Error-correcting Coding and Decoding: Turbo-codes" (Proc. IEEE Intl. Comm. Conf., pp 1064-1070, 1993), spurred interest for codes that could achieve error correction at rates approaching the channel capacity of the link they were applied upon. In the intervening 30 years semiconductor devices had gone from expensive Small Scale Integrated Circuits with tens to hundreds of transistors to consumer electronics such as Intel's fifth-generation microarchitecture, the P5 or Pentium, with 3 million transistors. LDPC codes were rediscovered by MacKay in the mid-1990s, see D. J. C. MacKay et al in "Near Shannon Limit Performance of Low Density Parity Check Codes" (Electronics Letters, vol. 32, pp. 1645-1646, August 1996).
LDPC codes are interesting mainly for two reasons. First, they offer an error correction performance that approaches the channel capacity exponentially fast in terms of the code length. Second, the decoding process has linear complexity and a high degree of parallelism that scales with the code length. LDPC codes are capacity approaching codes, meaning that practical constructions exist that allow transmitting information at a signal-to-noise ratio that is very close to the theoretical minimum, known as the Shannon limit. Using iterative belief propagation techniques, LDPC codes can be decoded in time linearly to their block length, a factor particularly beneficial as data rates in communication systems continue to increase.
LDPC codes, therefore, are finding increasing use in applications where reliable and highly efficient information transfer is desired. Although implementation of LDPC codes has lagged that of other codes, notably turbo codes, they are increasingly becoming the standard for error-correction in applications including, but not limited to:                Digital Video Broadcasting-Satellite-Second Generation (DVB-S2) standard;        Forward Error Correction (FEC) within the ITU-T G.hn home network standard providing data rates up to 1 Gb/s over power lines, phone lines and coaxial cables;        IEEE 802.16e WiMAX;        IEEE 802.16n WiFi; and        IEEE 802.3an (10GBase-T Ethernet on CAT6 cables, which operates at 10 Gb/s).
Of significant importance for such applications, which address high-speed applications in essentially consumer markets, is the ability to implement economically and technically viable decoder circuits, since typically the implementation of the encoder is much less complex. By viable we mean one where the circuits have small die area, and hence low manufacturing cost, efficient power performance, and good processing performance in terms of throughput and latency, yet preserves the error-correction capability of the code.
The design of practical decoding algorithms does not focus so much on the coding gain offered by one code compared to another, but rather on the performance of a given algorithm on a given code. The aim is to optimize error-correction performance versus cost on the widest possible range of codes. Accordingly, throughout the following specification, cost is assessed at the algorithm level, and hence in general terms. Definitive comparisons of the performance/cost ratios of different algorithms can only be made based on actual circuit implementations, but algorithmic efficiencies in component count, speed etc may be implied as offering financial benefit.
At present amongst the challenges related to the decoding of LDPC codes are the decoding complexity of binary error-correction codes themselves and error floors. Decoding complexity for example means that today the codes chosen for IEEE 802.16e WiMAX and IEEE 802.3an Ethernet standards perform roughly 3 dB away from capacity, in part due to the cost of decoding circuits. Accordingly, reducing decoder cost using improved algorithms therefore permits increased efficiency of channel use in such applications.
The phenomenon of error floors refers to the fact that LDPC codes can loose error-correction efficiency when the target error rate is very low. This problem is sometimes studied at the level of the code design, but given that the behavior is influenced by the choice of decoding algorithm and by implementation constraints, it is also possible to address this issue at the algorithm level.
According to embodiments of the invention a new decoding algorithm for LDPC codes is presented that reduces decoding complexity for applications that require high decoding throughput. This algorithm, called the Relaxed Half-Stochastic (RHS) algorithm, uses an approach based on stochastic decoding algorithms, which differs significantly from the conventional approaches of LDPC decoder implementation. Additionally, the RHS algorithm has led, according to other embodiments of the invention, to the invention of a randomized technique called redecoding for addressing the error floor issue. This is the first time, to the inventors knowledge, that such an approach has been taken for reducing error floors, and simulations have shown the error floor can be moved down by several orders of magnitude.
Accordingly, the invention addresses the issues of decoding complexity in high-speed communication systems, thereby allowing reduced cost for implemented decoder circuits, and error floor reduction, thereby allowing improved link performance.

The Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning/McGill University


A process for the absorbing of a hot, dry gas stream of sulfur trioxide (SO.sub.3) in a stream of strong sulfuric acid. The process includes the steps of passing the hot, dry gas stream of SO.sub.3 into a sulfuric acid absorption tower above a packed bed held within the tower and below a liquid collection floor. A stream of strong sulfuric acid is introduced into the tower above the packed bed and allowed to pass cocurrently downwardly through the packed bed with the stream of SO.sub.3, thereby allowing the SO.sub.3 to be absorbed in the stream of strong sulfuric acid. The resulting concentrated sulfuric acid passes through a packing support into a lower plenum and the spent gas is fed upwardly through a gas conduit to an upper plenum located above the liquid collection floor and from there through a mist eliminator.

The field of the invention is sulfuric acid production processes and the invention relates more particularly to SO.sub.3 absorption towers, either inter-absorption towers or final absorption towers.
The classic concept of an SO.sub.3 absorption tower is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,013,638. A stream of sulfuric acid having a strength from 97% to 99.5% is fed onto an upper surface of a packing of quartz and drips downwardly through the packing. A stream of SO.sub.3 is caused to enter the base of the tower below the packing and move counter currently upwardly through the packing, thereby being absorbed by the sulfuric acid moving downwardly. This same process with many improvements continues today. In the Von Girsewald, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 2,071,598, concentrated sulfuric acid and SO.sub.3 are introduced into the top of a series of tubes and trickle downwardly as a counter current flow of a coolant is moved upwardly along the exterior of the tubes.
In the Detweiler U.S. Pat. No. 3,454,360 shows a basic single absorption sulfuric acid plant where acid is introduced into the top of an absorber and SO.sub.3 is introduced into the bottom.
The Dorr, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,368,183 utilizes a venturi where it is contacted with cocurrent sulfuric acid. The acid exiting the venturi is passed into a succeeding absorption stage through a packed layer and finally into a final counter current absorption tower.
The Cameron U.S. Pat. No. 4,654,205 shows an SO.sub.3 absorption process where acid is introduced into a mid-point of a packed bed and SO.sub.3 gas is passed upwardly from the bottom of the bed in a counter current manner.
The Peng U.S. Pat. No. 5,683,670 shows a sulfuric acid process which includes a counter current absorption tower.
The use of sulfuric acid continues to increase with increased population. The majority of sulfuric acid is used in the production of fertilizers for agricultural uses and as more and more fertilizers are required, more and more sulfuric acid is needed. The majority of sulfuric acid plants built today are large size plants producing between 1,000 and 2,000 tons per day. Typically, they are designed with three towers: A drying tower, an inter-absorption tower and a final absorption tower. The inter-absorption and final absorption towers are practically identical in construction. Both towers have heat exchangers, brink mist eliminators and candles installed in the upper section above the packing to remove essentially all acid mist particles. Typically, all three towers are packed with ceramic packing about 13' in depth. The packing beds are supported by ceramic bars resting on acid-proof brick piers. All sulfuric acid contact method processes start at the drying tower. Single absorption plants have only two towers, a drying tower and an absorption tower, and double contact double absorption plants have three towers, a drying tower, an inter-absorption tower and a final absorption tower. The drying tower has an input stream of air which is contacted with strong 98.5% sulfuric acid which is highly hygroscopic and removes essentially all moisture from the air. The moisture from the air tends to lower the strength of the circulating acid and to raise the acid level in the tower. Both tendencies are controlled by transferring acid to and from the drying tower so that the required acid strength as well as the required acid level are maintained as is the temperature. In the double contact double absorption process the first absorbing tower is an interpass tower which absorbs SO.sub.3 produced in a converter. The SO.sub.3 is absorbed in strong sulfuric acid (98.5%) to produce more sulfuric acid. In the absorption tower, the small amount of water (1.5%) present in the circulating acid causes the SO.sub.3 to react and become H.sub.2 SO.sub.4. SO.sub.2 is not absorbed in the circulating acid and is vented to the atmosphere in the case of a single absorption plant. In the case of a double absorption/double contact plant, the SO.sub.2 is returned to the converter after the first absorption tower to be converted to SO.sub.3 before the last pass which is performed through the final absorption tower. In this manner, most of the residual SO.sub.2 which wasn't oxidized to SO.sub.3 in the converter prior to the first absorption tower is now converted to SO.sub.3. The second and final charge of SO.sub.3 is then absorbed in the final absorption tower. The remaining gas, which is essentially SO.sub.3 free, is vented to the atmosphere. This vented gas still contains small amounts of SO.sub.2 which was not converted to SO.sub.3 in the converter and possible traces of SO.sub.3 which escape unconverted from the final acid tower. Environmental regulations are very strict and limit the amount of SO.sub.2 per ton of production that can be released to the atmosphere. This legal limitation obliges the producers to spend money for additional scrubbers or, alternatively, to try to improve the operation of the tower by using different packing materials, venturi scrubbers and the like, to comply with the law.
The problem of cleaning the exit gas is a serious one and is compounded by the increased demand for sulfuric acid. Most sulfuric acid plant production can be increased by 100-200 tons per day above the plant's original design capacity. Attempts to further increase production cause the conventional tower to be flooded which is unacceptable.
Inter-absorption and final absorption towers have a significant back pressure which is mainly caused by the counter current flow of the downwardly moving acid and the upwardly moving gas. This counter current flow also creates a significant amount of mist since the upwardly moving gas can carry the mist upwardly out of the packed bed. This creates the expensive use of large mist eliminators and the back pressure also consumes a great deal of energy. There is, thus, a need for a sulfuric acid process which reduces the amount of mist produced, and which reduces back pressure.

Multi-pass cocurrent flow sulfuric acid tower process


A fuel filter includes features adapted to collect and drain static electrical charges occasioned by the passage of fuel therethrough. The filter includes a two-piece plastic housing having an end cap and a cylindrical portion with an end defining inlet and outlet fittings. The filter element is cylindrical and includes an outer perforated metal shell, an intermediate pleated paper filter and an inner perforated metal shell. Both metal shells are secured and electrically coupled to an electrically conductive end cap. The electrically conductive end cap is electrically and mechanically connected to a conductive, circular spring. The spring engages a ground pin which extends through the cylindrical portion of the housing and may be connected to a suitable ground to drain off static electrical charges generated by fuel flowing through the filter. The other end of the filter element is either embedded in the housing end cap or, in an alternate embodiment, a smaller end cap which is received in the housing end cap.

The invention relates to a fuel filter assembly having electrically conductive features and more particularly to a fuel filter assembly having an electrically conductive spring which electrically connects electrically conductive filter components disposed within a housing with a conductive pin extending through the housing.
For many years, fuel filters in motor vehicles comprised a filter element disposed within a metallic housing at a convenient location in the fuel line, often times in the engine compartment. While hoses to and from the housing were generally rubber and thus non-conductive, the housing was metal and was secured to a component or panel of the automobile and was thus grounded. Accordingly, any electrostatic charge generated by passage of fuel through the filtration element was readily and safely grounded through the filter housing to the motor vehicle body.
The constant study of vehicle weight directed to weight reduction as well as continuing development of plastics and polymers has affected the fuel delivery and filtration systems of vehicles as it has nearly every vehicle system and component. Rather than metal, filter housings are now frequently fabricated of a fuel tolerant plastic such as nylon. Such a construction results in the filtration element being electrically insulated from the vehicle ground. An electrostatic discharge (ESD) may result as electrostatic charge in the filtration element increases as a result of fuel flow therethrough. Frequently, such discharges occur through the housing to the most proximate metallic vehicle body feature. Repeated discharge can result in leakage through the filter housing which is unacceptable.
In response to this problem, filtration devices have been developed which seek to eliminate electrostatic discharges and their consequences by providing a drainage path to ground which prevents build up of an electrostatic charge.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,187,179 discloses an electrically conducting spring in a swimming pool filter having a plurality of non-conductive filtration cartridges. The filtration cartridges are mounted upon a conductive end plate and a plurality of electrically conducting resilient leaf springs contact an outer conductive housing and drain static charges from the plate.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,999,108 teaches a fuel filtration device having a perforated metal cylinder with inner and outer filter elements. The cylinder is in contact with a wire in an end plate which communicates with a conductive mounting stud.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,382,351 discloses plating a filter housing, inside and out, with a conductive material such as chromium, nickel or copper by vacuum metalization or sputtering.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,584,987 teaches a fluid filter configuration in which a compression spring retains and biases a filter element toward one end of the housing.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,898,560 discloses a filter having a conductive housing with an electrically conductive member and means for converting laminar flow to turbulent flow.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,168,713 also discloses a filter assembly having a conductive path for draining an electrostatic charge to ground.
The foregoing six United States Patents are directed to the above-referenced difficulty and it is therefore apparent that fuel filtration devices directed to minimizing or eliminating the problem of electrostatic discharge are highly desirable.
A fuel filter includes features adapted to collect and drain static electrical charges occasioned by the passage of fuel therethrough. The filter includes a two-piece plastic housing having an end cap and a cylindrical portion with an end defining inlet and outlet fittings. The filter element is cylindrical and includes an outer perforated metal shell, an intermediate pleated paper filter and an inner perforated metal shell. Both metal shells are secured and electrically coupled to an electrically conductive end cap. The conductive end cap is electrically and mechanically connected to a conductive, circular spring. A portion of the spring engages a conductive pin which extends through the cylindrical portion of the housing and may be connected to a suitable ground to drain off static electrical charges generated by fuel flowing through the filter. The other end of the filter element is either embedded in the housing end cap or, in an alternate embodiment, a smaller end cap which is received in the housing end cap.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a fuel filter assembly intended to minimize electrostatic discharge.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a fuel filter assembly having a filtration element surrounded by inner and outer conductive elements.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a fuel filter assembly having a pleated paper filter surrounded by conductive metal elements.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a fuel filter assembly having conductive elements which cooperate with a conductive spring and pin to drain off electrostatic charges from fuel passing therethrough.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a fuel filter assembly and housing wherein a conductive metal surround, a conductive end cap, a conductive spring and a conductive pin define an electrical path to the exterior of the housing to drain off electrostatic charges resulting from fuel filtration.
Further objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent by reference to the following description of the preferred embodiment and appended drawings wherein like reference numbers refer to the same component, element or feature.

Fuel filter assembly having a conductive spring


A shelf positioning mechanism for sectional rack constructed particularly from vertical posts having spaced horizontal annular grooves and horizontal shelves mainly includes a positioning member fitted between a short sleeve provided at each corner of the shelf and a connecting member configured to attach to the vertical post at the annular groove. The positioning member has downward and outward inclined inner wall surface that applies a clamping force on a downward and outward inclined outer wall surface of the connecting member for the latter to securely attach to the vertical post, and has a straight outer wall surface to tightly bear against a straight inner wall surface of the short sleeve for the shelf to be selectively turned upside down when it is assembled to the vertical posts.

The present invention relates to a shelf positioning mechanism for sectional rack, and more particularly to a shelf positioning mechanism that allows the same shelves of a sectional rack to be selectively turned upside down when they are assembled onto vertical posts of the sectional rack.
A sectional rack that can be assembled and erected without the need of any tool is most welcomed by consumers. Such sectional rack usually includes many metal tubes as its posts, and these posts are provided with a plurality of spaced annular grooves, making the posts looked like bamboo poles. The sectional rack also includes a plurality of horizontal shelves being assembled onto the posts by putting short sleeves provided at corners of each shelf around connecting members previously attached to the posts at the annular grooves. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,676,263; 5,303,645; 5,174,676; 4,991,725; 4,799,818; 4,595,107; 5,546,887; and 4,763,799 all disclose sectional racks using such bamboo pole-like tubes as the posts of the rack. Please refer to FIG. 1. The above-described conventional sectional rack includes vertical posts 10 with annular grooves 11 spaced on an outer wall thereof for engaging with ribs 21 provided on an inner wall surface of the connecting members 20, so that the connecting members 20 are attached to the posts 10 at the annular grooves 11. Each of the connecting members has varying outer diameters gradually increased from top to bottom. Each of the shelves 30 has a short sleeve 31 provided at each corner thereof (only two of four corners are shown in the drawing). The short sleeve 31 has varying inner diameters gradually increased from top to bottom corresponding to the varying outer diameters of the connecting members 20. When the shelf 30 is assembled onto the vertical posts 10, the short sleeves 31 are put around the connecting members 20 to tightly clamp the latter against the posts 10 at the annular grooves 11 and therefore hold the shelf 30 to the posts 10 at four corners.
The shelf 30 shown in FIG. 1 includes a plurality of horizontal metal wires 32 that together form a carrying surface at an open upper side of the shelf 30. The shelf 30 with the carrying surface formed at the open upper side thereof is referred to as a regular shelf, and things laid on the regular shelf 30 are completely visible. However, the sectional rack may also have shelves 30xe2x80x2 that include a plurality of horizontal metal wires 32xe2x80x2 forming a carrying surface at an enclosed lower side of the shelf 30xe2x80x2, as shown in FIG. 2. The shelf 30xe2x80x2 with the carrying surface formed at the enclosed lower side thereof is referred to as a reverse shelf, and things laid on the reverse shelf are protected from falling out of the shelf. The regular and the reverse shelves 30, 30xe2x80x2 have their respective advantages and are selected for use depending on users"" actual need and preference. However, it is troublesome but necessary for a sectional rack manufacturer to decide and produce the required numbers of the regular and the reverse shelves 30, 30xe2x80x2 for constructing a set of the above-described sectional rack according to a customer""s order.
It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a shelf positioning mechanism for sectional rack that enables the same one shelf to be used either as a regular or a reverse shelf when the shelf is assembled onto posts of the sectional rack.
To achieve the above and other objects, the shelf positioning mechanism for sectional rack according to the present invention mainly include a positioning member to be fitted between the short sleeve provided at each corner of the shelf and the connecting member configured to attach to the vertical post at the annular groove. The positioning member has downward and outward inclined inner wall surface that applies a clamping force on the downward and outward inclined outer wall surface of the connecting member, and has straight outer wall surface to tightly bear against a straight inner wall surface of the short sleeve. Therefore, the same shelf can be selectively turned upside down when it is assembled onto the vertical posts.
The positioning member is provided around a lower end with radially outward projected flanges, on which the short sleeve of the shelf is rested to ensure tight fitness of the straight inner wall surface of the short sleeve with the straight outer wall surface of the positioning member.
In a preferred embodiment, the positioning member includes two complementary parts that are closable to each other to form a hollow cylindrical member, such that when the positioning member is put around the connecting member and subjected to a resistance from the connecting member, it is slightly expanded to tightly bear against the inner wall surface of the short sleeve, causing the connecting member, the positioning member, and the short sleeve to form a sequentially and securely connected unit.

Shelf positioning mechanism for sectional rack


A nonvolatile memory device and method for fabricating the same are provided. The method for fabricating the nonvolatile memory device comprises providing a substrate. A tunnel insulating layer and a first conductive layer are formed in the substrate. A trench is formed through the first conductive layer and the tunnel insulating layer, wherein a portion of the substrate is exposed from the trench. A first insulating layer is formed in the trench. A second insulating layer is formed on sidewalls of the first insulating layer. A third insulating layer is conformably formed in the trench, covering the first insulating layer on a bottom portion of the trench and the second insulating layer on the sidewalls of the trench, wherein thickness of the third insulating layer on the sidewalls is thinner than that on the bottom of the trench. A control gate is formed on the third insulating layer in the trench.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a nonvolatile memory device and method for fabricating the same, and more particularly, relates to a control gate insulating layer of a nonvolatile memory device and method for fabricating the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A flash memory is a type of non-volatile memory. Generally speaking, a flash memory comprises two gates, the first gate is a floating gate for data storage and the second gate is a control gate for data input/output. The floating gate is placed under the control gate and "floats". Note that "floating", refers to isolating the floating gate and surrounding it with insulating materials for preventing charge loss. The control gate is connected to a word line (WL) for device control. One advantage of flash memories is block-by-block erasing. Flash memories are widely used in consumer electronic products, for example, digital cameras, digital videos, mobile phones, desktops, mobile audio players and personal digital assistants (PDA).
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional nonvolatile memory device 150. The conventional nonvolatile memory device 150 mainly comprises a common-used control gate 110 and a pair of floating gates having a first floating gate 104a and a second floating gate 104b. Inter-gate insulating layers 106a and 106b are located between the control gate 110 and the first floating gate 104a and the second floating gate 104b, respectively. A control gate insulating layer 108 is located between the control gate 110 and a substrate 100. The conventional control gate insulating layer 108 formed by, for example, thermal oxidation process usually has non-uniform thickness. For example, the central portion of the conventional control gate insulating layer has a thickness larger than a thickness of the marginal region of the control gate insulating layer. When a high voltage is applied to the control gate to program or erase data stored in the floating gate, a malfunction, for example, early breakdown, occurs at the thinner control gate insulating layer region, hindering electrical performances or device reliability.
Thus, a novel nonvolatile memory device with a uniform control gate insulating layer is needed.

Nonvolatile memory device and method for fabricating the same


Method and apparatus are disclosed for contacting users based on the completion of an online session, such as an Internet session. A user begins an online session by logging into an access provider, such as an Internet Service Provider. Upon completion of the online session, the access provider can store online session data that describes the online session. The online session data may include such information as the identity of the user (e.g., a phone number, an address, and so forth) and the time the online session ended. This online session data can be processed by a caller in order to identify users to call. The caller may be the access provider or a third party, such as a telemarketer. The online session data may be processed in various manners. The online session data may be compared to data of failed calls to identify users who could not be contacted before, but that may now available based on the completion of their online sessions. The online session data may be processed to identify users having online sessions that were completed within some time interval. The online session data can be processed in other ways.

Businesses often seek to contact residents at home by placing telephone calls. Credit card companies may contact existing account holders at home to solicit their interest in programs such as account insurance or balance transfers, or to solicit new card members. Video rental companies may contact residents at home regarding overdue movies. Polling companies may call large numbers of residents to conduct surveys and polls. Telemarketing companies may call large numbers of residents to solicit interest in various products and services.
However, the business making the phone calls often does not know whether the resident is home or not. The person making the call may get no answer or may get an answering machine. In most cases, the goal is a live conversation with a person, not to leave a message on an answering machine. The time and money spent on the unsuccessful phone call may be wasted. This is a significant problem.
Sometimes businesses make these calls in the evening around dinnertime. The hope is that the resident will be home at around this time. Unfortunately, many residents refuse to answer the phone during this period. This is also a significant problem.
Sometimes the resident is home but is occupied by an Internet session. Typically, the resident will not answer an incoming call during this period. If the resident has standard dial-in access to the Internet, the business will likely receive a busy signal. The resident does not answer because the line is occupied. Some residents may have multiple lines or an ISDN or ASDL connection that effectively gives them multiple lines. Such a resident may know that a call is incoming. However, the resident may not answer the incoming call because he/she is occupied by the Internet session.
The tendency of residents not to answer incoming calls during their Internet sessions is a significant obstacle for businesses attempting to contact these residents. The proliferation of home computers and Internet usage during recent years makes this an increasingly significant problem for these businesses.
It is also unlikely that a business knows that an unsuccessfully-contacted resident was at home, but was occupied with the Internet. Thus, the business does not know that a follow-up call later that day may be successful. Even if it is somehow known that a follow-up call is in order, the business does not know when to make the call. These are all significant problems.

Completion of internet session notification service


System(s) and method(s) are provided for implementing a set of interface components across a set of layers of an industrial environment, and for managing at least one interface component or at least one layer of the industrial environment. To implement an interface component in at least one layer in the set of layers, a specification that defines the interface component is acquired and, based at least on the specification, a service is generated. Execution of the service implements the interface component. The managing includes deploying or discovering the at least one interface component or the at least one layer of the industrial environment. The managing also includes indexing specific functional feature(s) of the at least one interface component and searching across the set of layers for one or more interface components that satisfy specific functional criteria. Moreover, the managing can include supplying metadata related to interface component(s) or layer(s).

Industrial control systems can employ complex mechanical, electronic, electro-mechanical, and/or robotic machinery to perform various automated mechanical and/or electrical functions. Examples of machinery include industrial motors, pumps, conveyors, escalators, drills, refrigeration systems, and so forth. An industrial control system can utilize one or more control devices to activate or deactivate the machinery and/or to determine an appropriate level of activation for the machinery (e.g., an amount of current to supply to a variable input motor). Additionally, the control devices can be associated with logical program code that determines an appropriate time, degree, manner, and other criteria for operation of the machinery. For example, the determination can be based on various circumstances, including an output of another device, a reading of an optical sensor, an electronic measurement, a movement, a number of rotations of a device, and so on.
The machinery can be controlled by at least one industrial controller, such as, for example, programmable logic controllers. The industrial controllers can also communicate with higher level computing systems or servers that aggregate data from the controllers and help to manage day-to-day activities of an enterprise. As systems have become more complex, however, communications and functional cooperation between components of the industrial automation system has become a challenge. For instance, when users purchase multiple products from one or more vendors, there is often limited interoperability and consistency between such products. Software and control engineers must then learn each product and how the components interact with each other. Limited product and component consistency suggest that techniques engineers learn for one product do not necessarily carry over to other implementations.
Often, integration of products in the industrial automation system is complex and difficult to manage. Process and control engineers cannot easily code and configure their respective components without concern for other system components, which may have different manufacturers and different platforms.
Another problem with integration of products is that process and control engineers focus on underlying technical details, including implementation and glue logic, rather than the application level concerns, for example process information. For instance, an engineer may decide to automate a manual section of their plant. The design may start at a high level but soon becomes a series of discussions regarding nonfunctional requirements e.g., distributed component object model (DCOM), transmission control protocol (TCP), transaction rates, and the like. While these nonfunctional requirements are important, the design of functional requirements is where the true value is to the designer or end user. Thus, the engineer would prefer to focus on functional requirements (equipment control, product flow control, and so forth) providing direct improvements in value rather than dealing with superfluous technology issues.
In another case, system design does not sufficiently enable trade-offs between overhead burden (memory footprint, CPU cycles, and so forth) and application coupling. For instance, processing load should be distributed across the system in accordance with system capabilities. Thus, if one part of the system is shut down, alternative processing capability should be in place to allow production to continue. For example, control and process engineers can initially design and install a control system suiting their immediate needs. Current solutions however do not facilitate a smooth and uncomplicated transition for the respective changes. Multiple technologies underneath many vendors' products complicate configuration and management of systems. This is also aggravated when third party systems are involved. Such complexity hinders the system's capacity to provide higher-level information and can reduce the ability to configure such systems.

Layered interface in an industrial environment


A tool for screening unconventional reservoirs to determine the location of economically important accumulations of hydrocarbons early in a reservoir development process is described. Once the accumulations are identified, subsequent process such as drilling wells and producing hydrocarbons can begin.

Identifying the optimum geographic and stratigraphic target(s) for oil and gas exploration or development is a critical decision to be made. Drilling of wells is costly, often amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars for a reservoir, depending on the number and types of wells involved. Once wells are drilled, there is no flexibility in changing their surface or stratigraphic position later. The only possible alteration is to drill additional stratigraphic targets or recomplete existing wells, but the surface location will remain unchanged.
Typically, the selection process for locating wells utilizes available technology such as saturation applications, pressure distribution maps, isopach maps, rock quality maps, and so forth. There is an increased focus on quickly identifying the number and quality of potential horizontal target zones in unconventional plays. This processes to improve the quality of wells placement then leads to better decision making.
Assessing well placement is usually a two-step process. The first, and most challenging, step of the process is to identify "sweet spots" in a reservoir. Sweet spots are the most productive position for a horizontal well in terms of both stratigraphic space and map location. The second step includes the optimization formulation or method to be used.
Unconventional reservoirs continue to be a global strategic resource actively exploited by E&P companies. However, in unconventional reservoirs, sweet spot recognition is essential to reducing uncertainty, high-grading acreage, pinpointing the best drilling in the acreage, and improving field economics. Identifying such sweet spots require a detailed understanding of complex reservoir properties and how these properties influence the productivity of the wells. This involves large amounts of data, including stratigraphic horizons, faults, lithological properties, and organic content.
Thus, the most significant challenge for the subsurface screening of unconventional plays, including source rock, hybrid, and tight sand reservoirs, is the determination of the sweet spot. Traditional stratigraphic screening methodologies target the zone with the highest quality rock within a predefined geological formation. A hypothetical horizontal well bore is then centered around this point and the in-place hydrocarbon volumes are calculated using rock quality cutoffs. The hydrocarbon fluid properties are typically dealt with in a stochastic model later in the screening workflow. This method presents several problems:
A target zone principally centered around the highest rock quality may not equate to the stratigraphic sweet spot defined by maximum in-place volumes. The sweet spot will likely include any one zone of reservoir that is of very high quality, but may be more difficult to define when the range and distribution of the reservoir quality is highly variable, as is the case for some hybrid plays with thick and heterogeneous quality reservoir. During the screening process, it is difficult to determine whether a zone with several thin but high quality zones would be better than another with a thick zone of moderate quality rock. In all cases, determining the maximum in-place volume using traditional methods would require iterative forward modeling. The sweet spot should ideally be defined by the integral of in-place volumes across the height of the landing zone.                Only the single best target zone is immediately identified. For unconventional plays, there may be potential for multiple, stacked landing zone targets. For the purpose of exploration screening, any and all intervals that exceeds a user defined minimum in-place volume should be flagged for further investigation.        Excluding the hydrocarbon fluid properties from the stratigraphic sweet spot determination ignores a key risk for many unconventional plays. Certain plays or basins may require specific gas-oil-ratios, viscosity ranges, or working pressures to be economical. Though they do not typically supersede in-place volumes in priority, fluid properties are an important way to characterize potential resources.        Applying rock quality cutoffs (typically for porosity and water saturation) underestimates in-place volumes, especially for low quality rocks. This practice, though appropriate for conventional reservoirs, is commonly used to define a 'net' reservoir with respect to the gross interval. Due to the distributed nature of unconventional reservoirs and the improved completion techniques (e.g. fracture stimulation) being applied to the target zone, we believe it is more appropriate to include the low quality reservoir component in the in-place volumetric calculation and sweet spot identification.        Limiting the screening to pre-defined geological formations (or any other pre-defined zone) may prevent the sweet spot from being identified. Where the maximum in-place volumes straddle a boundary, the accumulation would be reported individually within two separate zones. Therefore, the sweet spot may be missed during the screening process.        The time-consuming iterative nature of the traditional volumetric workflow and the delayed incorporation of fluid properties slow down the screening process. When new logs, rock quality, or fluid properties are incorporated, new analyses and models must be run.
However, further improvements are needed. Even incremental improvements in technology can mean the difference between cost effective drilling and reserves that are unable to recover the economic costs of production. Thus, what is needed are quick and efficient methods of determining the sweet spot. Ideally, the methods can be applied early in the exploration and development phases and can be used with all unconventional plays.


A furniture construction system has a pair of spaced vertical stands(13) supporting a plurality of shelves(8). Each stand has a pair of spaced profile columns and a longitudinal groove(3) in opposed faces of the columns. Spaced pin holes(4) are in the bottoms of the grooves and a distance block is in the opposed longitudinal grooves at similar heights and each block has a pin(5) received within a pin hole. A supporting beam(7) is on each pair of blocks and has a sideward extension(15). Each shelf rests on a sideward extension and has a thickness equal to the distance between the upper surfaces of the beam and the sideward extension thereon.

Until the present a number of different such-like construction systems have been proposed. These on the one hand have the disadvantage that for mounting use is made of, from the outside clearly visible, esthetically unsightly metal parts and/or series of bore holes, as a result of which the mounted system is less suited to be applied for a true furniture function. On the other hand such systems consist of components connected to each other thus that an insufficient sturdy construction is achieved, which more in particular in the long run proves not to endure the normally occurring heavy stress. If the known system is used for books, a sufficiently sturdy mounted system can be realized only by additional means requiring a rather complicated and elaborate mounting.
Subsequently there is still demand for a simple and financially attractive system of a predominantly wooden furniture construction which is easy to mount and dismount, that is truly acceptable from an esthetic point of view as a piece of furniture thanks to the lack of visible unsightly metal parts and/or series of bore holes.


A tourniquet apparatus having an optical tourniquet interface for safe personalization, a safe transfer key and a pressure controller. The optical tourniquet interface communicates with the pressure controller and is operable for contactlessly reading and authenticating a machine-readable instrument symbol associated with a tourniquet cuff if it matches stored instrument authentication data and for contactlessly reading machine-readable personalization data associated with the cuff. The optical tourniquet interface presents a personalization parameter value if the machine-readable instrument symbol has been authenticated. The safe transfer key enables the user to selectively transfer the presented value of the personalization parameter to the pressure controller only if the pressure controller is inoperable. The pressure controller is releasably connectable to the tourniquet cuff and responsive to the transferred value of the personalization parameter. The pressure controller is operable for automatically controlling a level of pressure in the tourniquet cuff during a pressure control time period.

Surgical tourniquet systems are commonly used to stop the flow of arterial blood into a portion of a patient's limb, thus creating a clear, dry surgical field that facilitates the performance of a surgical procedure and improves outcomes. A typical surgical tourniquet system of the prior art includes a tourniquet cuff for encircling a patient's limb at a desired location, a tourniquet instrument, and flexible tubing connecting the cuff to the instrument. In some surgical tourniquet systems of the prior art, the tourniquet cuff includes inflatable bladder that is connected pneumatically to a tourniquet instrument via flexible tubing attached to one or two cuff ports. The tourniquet instrument includes a pressure controller operable for automatically controlling pressure near a reference pressure in the connected inflatable bladder during a pressure control time period. Many types of such pneumatic surgical tourniquet systems have been described in the prior art, such as those described by McEwen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,469,099, 4,479,494, 5,439,477 and by McEwen and Jameson in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,556,415 and 5,855,589.
Many studies published in the medical literature have shown that the safest tourniquet pressure is the lowest pressure that will stop the penetration of arterial blood past a specific cuff applied to a specific patient for the duration of that patient's surgery. Such studies have shown that higher tourniquet pressures are associated with higher risks of tourniquet-related injuries to the patient. Therefore, when a tourniquet is used in surgery, surgical staff generally try to use the lowest tourniquet pressure that in their judgment is safely possible.
It is well established in the medical literature that the optimal guideline for setting the pressure of a constant-pressure tourniquet is based on "Limb Occlusion Pressure" (LOP). LOP can be defined as the minimum pressure required, at a specific time in a specific tourniquet cuff applied to a specific patient's limb at a specific location, to stop the flow of arterial blood into the limb distal to the cuff. LOP is affected by variables including the patient's limb characteristics, characteristics of the selected tourniquet cuff, the technique of application of the cuff to the limb, physiologic characteristics of the patient including blood pressure and limb temperature, and other clinical factors (for example, the extent of any elevation of the limb during LOP measurement and the extent of any limb movement during LOP measurement).
The currently established guideline for setting tourniquet pressure based on LOP is that an additional safety margin of pressure is added to the measured LOP, in an effort to account for variations in physiologic characteristics and other changes that may be anticipated to occur normally over the duration of a surgical procedure.
LOP can be measured automatically using a distal flow sensor as described by McEwen in U.S. Pat. No. 7,479,154, or automatically using a dual-purpose cuff, as described by McEwen in U.S. Pat. No. 9,931,126.
Automatic measurement of LOP using a distal sensor, as described by McEwen in U.S. Pat. No. 7,479,154, utilizes a blood flow transducer that employs a photoplethysmographic principle to sense blood flow in the limb distal to the applied tourniquet cuff.
Automatic LOP measurement using a dual-purpose cuff has many advantages over the distal sensor method, as described in McEwen in U.S. Pat. No. 9,931,126. However, to obtain accurate and reliable LOP measurements, this method requires the use of a validated tourniquet cuff, suitable as both a sensor and an effector (dual-purpose). If a non-validated tourniquet cuff (not dual-purpose) is used, then the parameters for the LOP measurement may not be suitable, causing inaccurate LOP values that may result in bleed through or excessively high pressures applied, causing significant risk to the patient.
In addition, characteristics of the tourniquet cuff, such as cuff width and cuff length, whether the cuff is dual-port or dual-bladder, can be used to optimize the parameters for both the LOP measurement using a distal sensor or a dual-purpose cuff as described by McEwen in U.S. Pat. No. 7,479,154 and McEwen in U.S. Pat. No. 9,931,126, respectively; adjust the LOP safety margin; and change tourniquet settings, such as reducing the maximum reference pressure if the tourniquet cuff is a pediatric cuff.
Whether a cuff is a dual-purpose cuff or not, and the characteristics of a tourniquet cuff are examples of personalization parameters that are cuff-related that can be used to personalize and optimally configure the tourniquet instrument to increase patient safety. These personalization parameters may be entered manually into the instrument, which can be time consuming. Alternatively, as described in this invention, they may be read by the instrument automatically through an optical tourniquet interface.
Other personalization parameters that are not cuff-related may also be used. For instance, personalization parameters included in safety protocols can also be used to optimally configure the tourniquet instrument to increase patient safety by personalizing the tourniquet settings to the patient, the surgical procedure, or the surgeon. These personalization parameters as part of a safety protocol may include pressure and time settings, whether LOP measurement is required, LOP safety margin values, and maximum reference pressure. A user may select a safety protocol suitable for the patient, the surgical procedure, or the surgeon from a list of safety protocols to automatically configure the tourniquet settings.
In U.S. Pat. No. 9,931,126, McEwen et al. describe a surgical tourniquet system with a single channel for a single cuff. However, tourniquet systems are also commonly used with two channels for two cuffs or for a single cuff with two bladders. These multi-cuff or multi-bladder tourniquet systems are commonly used for surgeries involving intravenous regional anesthesia (IVRA) or bilateral procedures. In IVRA procedures, a dual-bladder cuff or a two-cuff system is used to retain an anesthetic agent after its introduction within a desired area. If the reference pressure levels or the inflation and deflation times of the dual-bladder cuff or a two-cuff system are not set properly, the anesthetic agent may enter the patient's circulatory system, causing serious injury or death. Tourniquet settings specifying the safe inflation and deflation times of the dual-bladder cuff or a two-cuff system can be specified in safety protocols.
In some surgical procedures, it is desirable to follow specific deflation sequences personalized to the patient, the surgical procedure or the surgeon. When a tourniquet cuff has been applied on a limb for a long duration, perioperative staff may deflate the tourniquet cuff for a short time period then re-inflate to allow limb reperfusion. A surgeon may desire a gradual stepped decrease in cuff pressure to control the release of toxins and metabolites. A procedure may also require the temporary reduction of pressure to check for bleeding at the surgical site. These deflation sequences can also be specified in safety protocols as another personalization parameter.
Safety protocols may be entered manually into the instrument, which can be time consuming. Alternatively, as described by this invention, safety protocol may be created through a remote device such as through an app on a mobile device then read by the instrument automatically through an optical tourniquet interface.
Since different tourniquet instruments may use different methods of determining LOP, and regulate pressure, due to hardware and/or software differences, personalization parameters described previously may be suitable for optimally configuring one type of tourniquet instrument but unsuitable or hazardous for another type of tourniquet instrument. For an example, personalization parameters intended for a single-port tourniquet instrument would not be suitable for a dual-port tourniquet instrument. Furthermore, configuring a tourniquet instrument by reading personalization parameters, such as those contained in a safety protocol, may be hazardous in certain situations, such as when the cuff is pressurized during a surgical procedure.
Therefore, there is a need for an apparatus and method to acquire personalization parameters to optimally configure a tourniquet instrument to increase patient safety by personalizing the tourniquet settings to the patient, the surgical procedure, or the surgeon, only if the personalization parameters are intended for the tourniquet instrument.
Some surgical tourniquet systems of the prior art include means for configuring the tourniquet instrument through cuff identification. McEwen in U.S. Pat. No. 6,682,547 describes a cuff identification method in which the tourniquet instrument detects cuff connectors having different colors that are indicative of the physical characteristics of the cuff, after the cuff and the instrument establishes pneumatic connection. This method has several limitations: (1) the color detection is performed at the cuff connector which is away from the instrument. Thus, the hardware used for detection is carried on the pneumatic tubing connected to the instrument and is more susceptible to damage as the pneumatic tubing may be dropped onto the floor, stepped on, or come in contact with liquids such as blood and cleaning solutions; (2) the number of detectable colored connectors are limited by their distances from each other in color space. The greater the number of different colored connectors there are, the closer they are to each other in color space, and the more likely it would be for false positives under different lighting conditions, or as the color degrades over time or due to cleaning chemicals. Therefore, the number of different cuffs that can be identified and the amount of data that can be contained in the colored connectors are limited; and (3) cuff detection requires physical contact between the cuff and the instrument through the connectors which may be hazardous if the cuff is sterile and must remain sterile.
Contactless cuff identification through RFID is described by McEwen in U.S. Pat. No. 9,931,126. However, RFID cuff identification has limitations: (1) RFID tags are susceptible to malfunction upon irradiation commonly used to sterilize tourniquet cuff assemblies; (2) misidentification may occur when more than one cuff with a different RFID tag is in close proximity to the RFID reader; and (3) RFID reader and RFID tags may incur a substantial increase in the cost of the instrument and/or the tourniquet cuff.
Other cuff identification apparatus and methods described or suggested in the prior art may have high risk of malfunction, be unreliable, add substantial cost, have limited number of cuffs that can be identified, and/or create legacy issues.

Optical tourniquet interface for safe personalization


An apparatus is provided and includes a hub, including first and second opposing faces, a first sidewall fixed at opposite ends thereof to the first and second opposing faces to define a first interior between the first and second opposing faces and a second sidewall fixed to one of the first and second opposing faces to define a second interior within the first interior, a first assembly, disposed within the second interior, to generate current from input mechanical energy and a second assembly, electrically coupled to the first assembly and disposed within the first interior, to generate mechanical energy from current associated with the current generated by the first assembly.

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to a concentric motor power generation and drive system.
In many vehicles and, in particular, hybrid vehicles, power transmission systems are used for converting mechanical energy generated in an engine into electrical energy that can either be stored or converted back to mechanical energy that can be employed for driving purposes. These power transmission systems often include a generator rotor, which is driven to rotate by a drive shaft that is rotatably coupled to an engine, and a generator stator, which converts the rotor rotation into electrical energy. This electrical energy is either stored by a battery or transmitted to a drive stator, which induces rotation of a drive rotor that is, in turn, coupled to, for example, vehicle wheels.
Typically, in conventional power transmission systems, the generator elements and the drive elements are not mounted together and may be, in fact, disposed at different parts of a particular vehicle. Thus, there is a need to separately mount these features in such a vehicle in relatively heavy and complex arrangements. This leads to the vehicle itself being relatively heavy and less fuel economical than it otherwise could be.

Concentric motor power generation and drive system


A shackle bow comprises a generally U-shaped body having a first end, a second end and aligned openings defined in the first and second ends. The body has a load bearing portion positioned between the first and second ends. The load bearing portion has a cross section comprising a bearing surface that curves through more than 180 degrees and an intersecting channel-shaped supporting surface. The channel-shaped supporting surface comprises opposing channel side portions extending from opposite sides of a channel base surface and a series of spaced apart ribs connecting the opposing channel side portions to each other.

Shackles are typically used to couple together rigging components and loads to allow for lifting and/or moving of the loads. For example, shackles are frequently used in coupling together load lifting ropes and slings. Conventional shackles may cause unnecessary wear in lifting ropes and slings, and in some cases, cause slings to become kinked. Particularly as wider slings made of synthetic materials become more widely used, there is a need for a new shackle design that addresses the problems with conventional shackles.