There is disclosed a method of manufacturing a synthesis gas comprising reacting hydrocarbons with water vapor in a reformer to produce a synthesis gas containing hydrogen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, recovering carbon dioxide from combustion exhaust gas which has been discharged from the reformer by a carbon dioxide recovery apparatus provided with a carbon dioxide absorption tower and with a carbon dioxide-absorbing liquid regenerating tower, and feeding the carbon dioxide thus recovered, as a component of raw gas, to the upstream side and/or the downstream side of the reformer. The hot synthesis gas produced in the reformer is utilized as a heat source for regenerating a carbon dioxide-absorbing liquid in the carbon dioxide-absorbing liquid regenerating tower of the carbon dioxide recovery apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of manufacturing a synthesis gas to be employed in the manufacture of methanol, in the manufacture of gasoline by means of GTL (Gas to Liquid) process, or in the manufacture of dimethyl ether, and also relates to a method of manufacturing methanol.
2. Description of the Related Art
A synthesis gas comprising hydrogen (H2) and carbon monoxide (CO) is employed as a raw material for synthesizing methanol for example.
This synthesis gas is conventionally manufactured by a method wherein a gaseous hydrocarbon or a vaporized liquid hydrocarbon is allowed to react, by making use of a reformer, with water vapor in the presence of a nickel catalyst at a temperature ranging from 800 to 1000xc2x0 C. to produce the synthesis gas. This synthesis gas comprises, as main components, hydrogen (H2), carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO2).
In the meantime, Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAT Publication No. 1-180841 discloses one example of the method of manufacturing such a synthesis gas, wherein carbon dioxide existing in a combustion exhaust gas discharged from a reformer is recovered by a carbon dioxide recovery apparatus provided with a carbon dioxide absorption tower and with a carbon dioxide-absorbing liquid regenerating tower, and the carbon dioxide thus recovered is fed to the upstream side of the reformer and/or the downstream side of the reformer to obtain a synthesis gas having a desired molar ratio of H2/CO which is suitable for the synthesis of methanol.
However, as the quantity of carbon dioxide to be recovered by the carbon dioxide recovery apparatus is increased in the conventional method of manufacturing methanol, the quantity of heat required to be used in the carbon dioxide recovery apparatus is caused to increase correspondingly, thus inviting a shortage of heating sources and hence increasing the manufacturing cost of methanol.
An object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a synthesis gas having a suitable molar ratio of H2/(CO+CO2) for the synthesis of methanol, wherein the waste heat of hot synthesis gas produced in a reformer is effectively utilized as a heat source for a carbon dioxide recovery apparatus, thereby making it possible to cope with any increase in heat quantity to be used in the carbon dioxide recovery apparatus.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing methanol, which is capable of producing a synthesis gas having a suitable molar ratio of H2/(CO+CO2) for the synthesis of methanol, and also capable of effectively utilizing the waste heat of hot synthesis gas produced in a reformer gas a heat source for a carbon dioxide recovery apparatus as well as a heat source for a distillation apparatus, thereby making it possible to minimize the consumption of energy.
According to the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing a synthesis gas comprising: reacting hydrocarbons with water vapor (steam) in a reformer to produce a synthesis gas containing hydrogen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide; recovering carbon dioxide from combustion exhaust gas which has been discharged from the reformer by a carbon dioxide recovery apparatus provided with a carbon dioxide absorption tower and with a carbon dioxide-absorbing liquid regenerating tower; and feeding the carbon dioxide thus recovered, as a component of raw gas, to the upstream side and/or the downstream side of the reformer;
wherein the hot synthesis gas produced in the reformer is utilized as a heat source for regenerating a carbon dioxide-absorbing liquid in the carbon dioxide-absorbing liquid regenerating tower of the carbon dioxide recovery apparatus.
According to the present invention, there is also provided a method of manufacturing methanol comprising:
reacting hydrocarbons with water vapor (steam) in a reformer to thereby produce a synthesis gas containing hydrogen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide;
recovering carbon dioxide from combustion exhaust gas which has been discharged from the reformer by a carbon dioxide-recovering device provided with a carbon dioxide absorption tower and with a carbon dioxide-absorbing liquid regenerating tower;
feeding the carbon dioxide thus recovered, as a component of raw gas, to the upstream side and/or the downstream side of the reformer;
producing a crude methanol by introducing the synthesis gas into a methanol-synthesizing reactor; and
distilling the crude methanol by making use of a distillation apparatus to produce a refined methanol;
wherein the hot synthesis gas produced in the reformer is utilized as a heat source for regenerating a carbon dioxide-absorbing liquid in the carbon dioxide-absorbing liquid regenerating tower, and
the hot synthesis gas produced in the reformer is utilized as a heat source for the distillation apparatus.
It is preferable, in the method of manufacturing methanol according to the present invention, that the hot synthesis is permitted to pass through a heat exchanger of the carbon dioxide-absorbing liquid regenerating tower and through a heat exchanger of the distillation apparatus, thereby enabling the hot synthesis gas to undergo the heat exchange thereof. In particular, it is preferable that the distillation apparatus is provided with a first, a second and a third distillation towers each provided with a heat exchanger, thereby enabling the hot synthesis gas from the reformer to pass successively through the heat exchanger of the second distillation tower, the heat exchanger of the carbon dioxide-absorbing liquid regenerating tower, the heat exchanger of the third distillation tower, and the heat exchanger of the first distillation tower, thus enabling the hot synthesis gas to successively undergo the heat exchange thereof.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out hereinafter.

Method for manufacturing synthesis gas and method for manufacturing methanol


A printing apparatus includes: a printer head that prints, in accordance with a movement of the printing apparatus by a user within a printing region of a printing medium, a print-target image on the printing medium; a plurality of sensors each capable of sensing a displacement of the printing apparatus; and a processor that determines, based on the displacement sensed by the sensor, a position of the printing apparatus relative to the printing region, and switches, among the plurality of sensors, a sensing state of a sensor that is sensing the displacement and a sensing state of a sensor that is not sensing the displacement, in accordance with the determined position of the printing apparatus.

National Publication No. 2004-508218 discloses a handheld-type printing apparatus that allows a user to manually scan to execute printing. This handheld-type printing apparatus includes two positional sensors that operate in conjunction with a printer head. The positional sensors measure, in real time, where the handheld-type printing apparatus is positioned in a printing process. According to such a handheld-type printing apparatus, by providing a plurality of positional sensors, detection of a change in the position of the printing apparatus and of a change in the angle is enabled.

Printing apparatus, printing method and non-transitory storage medium


Pulling rolls (13) for glass ribbons (11) and methods for manufacturing such rolls are provided. The rolls include a shaft (17), a plurality of heat-resistant discs (15) mounted on the shaft in face-to-face contact, and a pair of fittings (25 or 25,31) affixed to the shaft which apply an axial compressive force to the discs. The magnitude of the axial compressive force is adjusted so that the portions (27) of the roll surface (33) which contact the glass ribbon during use have a Shore D hardness at room temperature of between 30 and 55. The rolls achieve a long service life without applying excessive force to the glass ribbon or generating high levels of particulate contamination.

Pulling rolls are used in the manufacture of sheet glass to apply tension to the ribbon of glass from which the sheets are formed and thus control the nominal sheet thickness. For example, in the overflow downdraw fusion process (see Dockerty, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,338,696 and 3,682,609), pulling rolls are placed downstream of the tip or root of the fusion pipe and are used to adjust the rate at which the formed ribbon of glass leaves the pipe and thus determine the nominal thickness of the finished sheet.
Pulling rolls are preferably designed to contact the glass ribbon at its outer edges, specifically, in regions just inboard of the thickened beads which exist at the very edges of the ribbon. A preferred construction for such rolls employs discs of a heat resistant material, which are mounted on a driven shaft. Examples of this construction can be found in Moore, U.S. Pat. No. 3,334,010, Asaumi et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,533,581, and Hart et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,989,170.
A successful pulling roll needs to meet a number of conflicting criteria. First, the roll needs to be able to withstand the high temperatures associated with newly formed glass for substantial periods of time. The longer a roll can last in such an environment the better, since roll replacement reduces the amount of finished glass a given machine can produce and thus increases the ultimate cost of the glass.
Second, the roll must be able to produce enough pulling force to control the glass' thickness. In order not to damage the central portion of the ribbon that becomes the usable finished glass, the roll can only contact the ribbon over a limited area at its edges. Thus, the required pulling forces must be generated using only this area. However, the forces applied to the glass cannot be too large since this can create surface damage which can propagate into the usable central portion of the ribbon. Accordingly, the roll must achieve a balance between applying too little and too much force to the edge regions of the glass.
Third, the pulling roll must not give off excessive amounts of particles which can adhere to the glass and form surface defects (known as "onclusions"). For glass that is to be used in such demanding applications as substrates for flat panel displays, onclusions must be kept to very low levels since each onclusion will typically represent a defective region of the finished product (e.g., one or more defective pixels). Because of the hot environment in which pulling rolls operate, finding materials which can apply sufficient pulling forces to a glass ribbon and yet not give off particles when hot is a difficult challenge.
The existing pulling rolls have not been able to fully satisfy these competing criteria of long life, controlled force application, and low contamination. The present invention addresses these shortcomings in the art and provides improved pulling rolls which achieve higher levels of performance than existing pulling rolls.

Method for producing pulling rods for use in manufacturing sheet glass


An apparatus for honing workpieces such as the midspans of jet aircraft engine blades is provided. The apparatus includes a flexibly mounted honing stone which will seat itself on the flat surface of the workpiece to be treated. To provide the necessary flexibility, the honing stone is mounted to a support in such a manner that it is pivotable about at least two axes. It may also be moved in a direction which is substantially orthogonal to the two axes. This latter feature allows the stone to move downwardly as the surface of the work piece is honed. It also allows the honing stone to be moved entirely off the work piece and into a storage position. The apparatus further includes a support which is specifically designed for holding an aircraft blade in a position such that the wear surfaces of the midspans of such blades are in a substantially horizontal plane. Two clamping assemblies are provided for clamping the root and one of the midspans of a blade.

1. The field of the invention relates to honing machines.
2. Brief description of the prior art.
Blades for jet engines and the like typically include a root, a helically shaped airfoil extending from the root, and projections known as midspans extending substantially perpendicular from the airfoil. The midspans, also sometimes referred to as snubbers or clappers, support the airfoil when the engine is in operation. The blades are usually made from a titanium alloy. The roots are coated with a relatively soft material which functions as a gasket when the roots are mounted to a rotor. In contrast, the mating flat edges of the midspans which are exposed to wear are coated with a relatively hard coating. This hard, wear coating is relatively coarse until worn down through use.
In order to avoid the break-in period necessary for smoothing the coated wear surfaces of the midspans, grinding has been suggested as a possible treatment. Grinding, however is an expensive process which requires a high level of skill on the part of the operator. Since the blades are difficult to align, the grinding of each midspan would be a special job requiring individualized treatment. More importantly, grinding tends to produce microcracks which can propagate into the blade. Such cracks are very difficult to detect without specialized inspection methods.

Method and apparatus for honing aircraft blades

Tool & Engineering, Div. of Wickes Companies, Inc.


A method for preparing tool paths for use in a computer numerically controlled machine whereby the appearance of undesirable horizontal tool marks are minimized, comprised of identifying a surface texture and resolving the surface texture into at least one contour and identifying an underlying relief. A tool path is then prepared which is suitable for use in a computer numerically controlled machine wherein the tool path moves in accordance with the at least one contour of the identified surface texture while simultaneously carving the underlying relief.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is in the field of tool path creation for computer controlled cutting operations. Particularly the invention relates to creating tool paths which minimize the appearance of undesirable tool marks and articles of manufacture created using the novel tool paths.
2. Summary of the Prior Art
Conventional CNC (computer numeric control) manufacturing refers to the use of a type of computerized industrial tool in which the motion of a cutting tool is dictated by computerized commands. The type of CNC used for carving is generally known as a CNC router and consists of a table with a moving gantry on which a moving router or spindle is mounted. The spindle or router carves a target surface with differently sized and shaped router bits.
One use for CNC routers is producing a textured panel for use on a wall inside a building. Several companies now produce carved, textured panels for ornamental purposes with CNC machinery. These textured panels are used to cover entire walls or parts of walls, the fronts of reception desks, as cabinet and entry doors and for other decorative purposes. The material used for them is often MDF (medium density fiberboard) but it can also be natural wood, plastics or other materials.
Textured panels are mostly produced by passing a large round-end (also known as a ball-nose) router bit over the surface in specific paths to carve the textures as quickly as possible. In some cases straight or v-shaped bits are used. Currently available textured panel designs almost entirely consist of abstract texture but also include some line patterns which are representational of flowers or scrollwork. These representational patterns are created in the manner of line drawings with the router bits carving simple lines into the surface at a uniform height.
Another category of relief carving exists besides the carving of textures, bas relief. Bas relief sculpture is found on classical carved furniture, older building facades or the surfaces of coins where faces of American Presidents and other notables or buildings or birds and animals are sculpturally represented. This type of carving is differentiated from that used to create contemporary textured panels whose designs consist of a myriad of completely abstract textures or textures suggesting patterns like the surface of flowing water or a brick wall. Textured panels as they exist today do not normally represent actual objects such as leaves or fruit or the forms of classical ornament but if they do, these textures take the form of simple line drawings milled at constant depth. The primary reason is that the CNC production of representations of actual objects with conventional techniques results in undesirable tool marks and requires a very large amount of machine time in order to prevent the need for secondary processing.
CNC machinery is fully capable of producing traditional complex bas-relief carving with fine detail, however the process requires that smaller router bits are passed many times (often over 100 passes per linear inch) over each section of the carving to achieve acceptable results. Carvings such as these are offered today by many makers of carved ornament such as Enkeboll Designs. It would be considered desirable to offer more defined carved motifs, yet because of the high levels of production time required complex sculpted reliefs such as these or any other type of representative reliefs are not offered by the makers of textured panels.
Additionally in carving of representative reliefs where small bits are used and the machine may make 100 passes per inch the router bit leaves slightly visible marks in the form of grooves and peaks on the underlying relief. These grooves and peaks are known as tool marks. The grooves and peaks in conventional CNC operation are perfectly parallel to each other. If small enough the marks are accepted and generally meet industry and consumer standards but they are often sanded away since they impart a machine-made look to the carvings. The tool marks are considered undesirable and would generally be avoided if a technique were available to carve finely detailed or representative work without them.
Additionally, in general, a larger diameter bit can cut a relief with less passes, however a larger diameter tool will leave larger tool marks if each pass is stepped over a large distance, as results when cutting with less passes. Thus, even though a larger tool can perform a cutting operation quicker, because of the undesirable effects of larger tool marks which result with currently used tool path creation methods, CNC carving remains a slow process.
One way to decrease required carving time it to increase the material removed with each pass of a cutter being operated along a given contour of a tool path. A basic concept of carving into materials with CNC machinery is to never put so much load on your cutting tool that it breaks. Conventionally the rule has been to never carve down deeper than the diameter of the bit on one pass. So when carving at a maximum depth of 1″ with a ¼″ diameter cutting tool a tool path is constructed which directs the cutting tool to cut away ¼″ of material from all deeper areas, then another pass of ¼″ and then another. Only then may the final pattern of tool paths be run which will carve the final surface without ever making a cut deeper than ¼″. This process may involve several different sized and shaped bits and takes a large amount of machine time but it is the conventional approach to CNC carving. The staggered depth of cut described above increases the time required to carve a given relief.
There is a need in the art for a method of tool path creation for CNC machines which enables an operator to remove material from a target surface quicker and with reduced appearance of tool marks oriented so that they create a regular machine made appearance.

Method for minimizing the appearance of undesirable tool marks during CNC operations


A fiber optic cable splice assembly includes: a first fiber optic cable having a first optical fiber with an exposed first exposed splice region, a first ribbon portion adjacent the first optical fiber and a first jacket; a second fiber optic cable having a second optical fiber with an exposed second splice region, a second ribbon portion adjacent the second optical fiber and a second jacket, the second optical fiber fusion-spliced to the first optical fiber; a splice protector that overlies the first and second exposed splice regions; and a first fiber boot attached to the splice protector that overlies the first ribbon portion.

As shown in FIG. 1, a multi-fiber fusion spliced cable may have five distinct segments: a first cable portion 102, a first fiber ribbon portion 104 (in which the jacket of the cable is stripped away), a fusion splice (which is shown in FIG. 1 as being encompassed by a splice protector 106), a second fiber ribbon portion 108 (again, in which the jacket of the cable is stripped away), and a second cable portion 110. A fusion splice is typically protected by a splice protector (like the splice protector 106) which is commonly a rigid sleeve that is formed to prevent bends from occurring near the vulnerable bare fiber and splice area. The splice protector 106 is typically formed of a heat-shrinkable material; once the fusion splice is completed, the splice protector 106 is slid into place and heat is applied, which shrinks the slice protector 106 onto the fusion splice to provide protection thereto.
Typically, the first and second ribbon portions 104, 108 may also benefit from a protective covering. In some cases, large splice trays are used to protect these ribbon portions.
It may be desirable to improve upon methods and devices offering sufficient protection for each segment of a multi-fiber fusion spliced cable while minimizing or reducing the size of the protected cable and, at the same time, offering maximum flexibility for routing the cable. In addition, extra protection may be desired due to outdoor field installation conditions (in some cases provided by a large housing). Therefore, a method and/or system that protects a fusion spliced cable from damage and/or kinking while also providing enough flexibility for routing may be desirable.


A semiconductor memory device is configured to have a first memory cell array having a plurality of blocks (cell arrays corresponded to one I/O bit), each block having a plurality of columns and being corresponding respectively to one of data terminals, wherein the blocks being arranged side by side in the column-wise direction, and a second memory cell array configured similarly to the first memory cell array, and is also configured to assign addresses while classifying the even-number-th memory blocks in the first memory cell array and the odd-number-th memory blocks in the second memory cell array into a first set, whereas the odd-number-th memory blocks in the first memory cell array and the even-number-th memory blocks in the second memory cell array into a second set, so as to output data from every other block in each memory cell array upon being accessed with a certain address.

Memory cells in semiconductor memory device may cause soft error induced by radioactive ray. Most of the soft errors induced by radioactive ray, in the era of larger design rules, were found in a single bit. However, with recent shrinkage of the design rules, the soft error has become more likely to occur in a plurality of consecutive memory cells by a single shot of radioactive ray (neutron ray is particularly affective).
One general measure against the soft error is to correct errors, by externally adding ECC (Error Correcting Code) to the semiconductor memory device. The error correction is, however, difficult when errors occur at a plurality of data I/O terminals owned by the semiconductor memory device (multi-bit error), since scale of a circuit necessarily added a corrective function will be very large.
A conventional technique of suppressing the multi-bit error ever proposed is such as adopting a column configuration, and bringing physical position of the memory cells, accessible corresponding to the individual data I/O terminals in a single cycle, apart from each other. Other known techniques for DRAM circuit proposed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication Nos. 2000-268560 and 2008-217916, basically adopt physical structures similar to the column structure, so as to bring the physical position of the memory cells, accessible in a single cycle, apart from each other.
For example, in a semiconductor memory device configured to have a four-column structure as illustrated in FIG. 8A, one block is formed by a group of every single COL#0, COL#1, COL#2 and COL#3, and every block is corresponded to each of I/O terminals for data D0 to D2. Correspondent memory cells in the individual blocks are accessed in a single cycle. More specifically, in a single access with a certain address, every fourth memory cell (memory cells in every fourth low) is accessed. Accordingly, even if the soft error due to radioactive ray may occur in hatched cells in FIG. 8A, the error possibly occurs in a single cycle is a one-bit error, and may be coped with the one-bit ECC.
However, in the memory cells of the semiconductor memory device having been shrunk in size under more reduced design rules, the number of memory cells possibly causing the soft error by a single shot of radioactive ray may increase. For example, if the memory cells are shrunk in size as illustrated in FIG. 8B, the semiconductor memory device may cause the soft error in a larger number of memory cells as compared with the example illustrated in FIG. 8A, even under the same four-column configuration. If the soft error due to radioactive ray occurs in the hatched memory cells as illustrated in FIG. 8B, a two-bit error possibly occurs in a single cycle (when accessed by COL#0). Correction of the two-bit error needs a two-bit ECC, but this means a very large scale of additional circuit and makes the error correction difficult.
The two-bit error described in the above may be suppressed by configuring the semiconductor memory device to have, as illustrated in FIG. 8C, the number of columns in a single row exceeding the number of memory cells possibly causing the soft error by a single shot of radioactive ray. FIG. 8C illustrates an exemplary case where an eight-column configuration was adopted while keeping the size of the memory cells in FIG. 8B unchanged. In FIG. 8C, one block is configured by a group of every single COL#0, COL#1, COL#2, COL#3, COL#4, COL#5, COL#6 and COL#7, and every block is corresponded to each of I/O terminals for data D0 to D2. According to the configuration illustrated in FIG. 8C, the error possibly occur in a single cycle of access is a one-bit error, and may be coped with one-bit ECC.
However, a problem described below would arise by the increased number of columns, as exemplified in FIG. 8C. For an exemplary case where a large number of data I/O terminals are required such as in semiconductor memory devices used for high-performance processors, it becomes more difficult to provide a necessary number of data I/O terminals, since the number of data I/O terminals mountable in the same physical size of space in the column-wise direction decreases. An effort of configuring the semiconductor memory device so as to provide the necessary number of data I/O terminals will result in an enlarged circuit area. For example, comparing FIG. 8B with FIG. 8C, the number of data I/O terminals in FIG. 8C in the same physical size of space (lateral width) is found to be half of that in FIG. 8B. If the semiconductor memory device is configured to provide the required number of data I/O terminals as illustrated in FIG. 8C, the lateral width will be doubled from that illustrated in FIG. 8B, thereby the circuit area will increase, and access time will become slower as a consequence.


Described are adamantane derivatives defined according to the structure: ##STR1## wherein R.sub.1 is hydrogen or acetyl; R.sub.2 is hydrogen or methyl; and R.sub.3 is hydrogen or methylene (CH.sub.2) and wherein the dashed line represents a carbon-hydrogen single bond or a carbon-methylene double bond with the provisos that when R.sub.2 is methyl R.sub.1 and R.sub.3 are both hydrogen and when R.sub.2 is hydrogen, R.sub.3 is methylene and the dashed line is a carbon-methylene double bond and uses thereof in augmenting or enhancing the aroma of consumable materials selected from the group consisting of perfume compositions, colognes and perfumed articles.

The present invention relates to adamantane derivatives defined according to the generic structure: ##STR2## wherein R.sub.1 is hydrogen or acetyl; R.sub.2 is hydrogen or methyl; and R.sub.3 is hydrogen or methylene and the dashed line represents a carbon-hydrogen single bond or a carbon-methylene double bond with the provisos that when R.sub.2 is methyl, R.sub.1 and R.sub.3 are hydrogen and when R.sub.2 is hydrogen, R.sub.3 is methylene and the dashed line represents a carbon-methylene double bond and uses of such compounds in augmenting or enhancing the aroma of perfume compositions, perfumed articles and colognes.
There has been considerable work performed relating to substances which can be used to impart (modify, augment or enhance) fragrances too (or in) various consumable materials. Such substances are used to diminsh the use of expensive natural materials some of which may be in short supply and to provide more uniform properties in the finished product.
Woody, earthy, camphoraceous, phenolic, piney, balsamic and patchouli aromas with camphoraceous, armoise, animalic, woody and minty topnotes are particularly desirable in several types of perfume compositions, perfumed articles and colognes.
The use of tricyclic alcohol derivatives in perfumery for augmenting or enhancing the aromas of perfume compositions, perfumed articles and colognes is well known in the art. Thus, Inamoto, et al in U.S. Pat. No. 4,036,893 discloses the use in perfumery of the compound having the structure: ##STR3## Inamoto, et al in U.S. Pat. No. 4,169,958 also discloses the use of the tricyclic alcohol having the structure: ##STR4## in perfumery. Light, et al in U.S. Pat. No. 3,996,169 discloses the use of the compound having the structure: ##STR5## in perfumery. Inamoto, et al in U.S. Pat. No. 4,169,958 also discloses the use of the tricyclic alcohol having the structure: ##STR6## in perfumery. Light, et al in U.S. Pat. No. 3,996,169 discloses the use of the compound having the structure: ##STR7## in perfumery. Inamoto, et al in U.S. Pat. No. 4,036,892 discloses the use of the compound having the structure: ##STR8## and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,036,892 discloses the use in perfumery of the compound having the structure: ##STR9## The use in perfumery of the compound having the structure: ##STR10## is disclosed in Chemical Abstracts, Volume 109, 9, 1988, No. 6759v (abstract of Koltsa, et al, Zh.Obshch.Khim., 1987, 57 (11) 2620-9.
Light, et al in U.S. Pat. No. 4,439,354 discloses the genus of compounds defined according to the structure: ##STR11## for use in perfumery wherein R.sub.1 represents hydrogen, methyl or acetyl and R.sub.2, R.sub.3, R.sub.4 and R.sub.5 each represent hydrogen, methyl or ethyl.
Light, et al in U.S. Pat. No. 3,996,169 discloses the genus of compounds defined according to the structure: ##STR12## where one or more of the R groups represents hydrogen or methyl.
Adamantane derivatives and adamantane itself are known for use in augmenting or enhancing the aroma of perfume compositions, perfumed articles and colognes. Thus, the perfume use of compounds having the structures: ##STR13## is disclosed in Chemical Abstracts, Volume 71, No. 94695w (abstract of Netherlands Published Application No. 6715903, May 28, 1969). Japan Kokai 75/25742 Published on Mar. 18, 1975 and abstracted at Chem.Abstracts, Volume 84, No. 35214j and Japan Kokai Tokkyo Koho 78/145920 Published on Dec. 19, 1978 and abstracted at Chem.Abstracts, Volume 90, No. 142085p discloses the perfume use of adamantane itself having the structure: ##STR14##
Synthesis of various oxygen-substituted adamantane derivatives is well known in the prior art.
Mlinaric-Magerski and Magerski, J.Am.Soc., 1983, 105, pages 7389-7395 discloses the compound having the structure: ##STR15## at page 7390 and discloses the reaction sequence: at page 7389.
Hallden-Aberton, J.Org.Chem., Volume 46, No. 3, 1981, pages 538-546 discloses the reaction sequence: ##STR16## at pages 539 and 544.
Drivas & Mison, Tetrahedron Letters, Volume 22, 1981, at pages 641-644 discloses at page 643 the reaction sequence: ##STR17##
Kovalev, et al, Chem.Abstracts, Volume 109, 1988, No. 22553d (abstract of Zh.Org.Khim., 1987, 23(9), 1882-6 disclosed the compounds having the structure: ##STR18## and discloses the reaction sequence: ##STR19##
However, the adamantane derivatives of our invention have unexpected, unobvious and advantageous properties with respect to the compounds of the prior art. Nothing in the prior art explicitly or implicitly sets forth the adamantane derivatives of our invention or their uses.

Use of adamantane derivatives in augmenting or enhancing the aroma of consumable materials


A new variety of mango tree (Mangifera indica), ‘K69’ is disclosed; distinguished by production of heavy and consistent crops with large, rounded fruit averaging 1,650 g.; purpure dark, smooth to slightly undulating waxy skin, resembling a large plum with apricot aroma, peach accents and coconut and mandarin hints. Mature fruit has a striking oxblood to chrysanthemum red peel color confluent over nearly the whole surface; immature fruits are beetroot purple with an ashen, waxy sheen. Orange buff flesh, firm and melting without fiber. Flavor is sweet, rich with peach, mandarin, and coconut accents and 17.0°±1 brix. The new tree has large leaves, is vigorous and upright in growth habit with potential for commercial use and its fruit is desirable for processing due to size and quality. Leaves, bloom, and fruit have good disease tolerance. Postharvest handling rated as good but reaction to hot water treatment is unknown.

The present invention comprises a new and distinct variety of mango tree, botanically known as Mangifera indica, and hereinafter referred to by the variety name 'K69'.
'K69' is a new variety of mango tree discovered as a seedling that was derived from open pollination of what was discovered as an improved seedling selection of mango tree named 'Kent' (unpatented) and was selected for remarkable qualities when compared with 'Kent'. Selection of the new variety was made on Jun. 5, 2018, at a private mango farm in the Redlands farming district of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, the United States of America and was made based on improved characteristics including disease resistance, brighter color and, large size fruit with good quality for consumption as fresh fruit and for processing. Asexual propagation of the new variety by grafting using cuttings was first performed in July 2018 using mature mango trees as topworking graft rootstock 6 years old. The propagation was done at a private mango farm in the Redlands fanning district of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, the United States of America.
The new 'K69' variety is distinguished by the production of heavy and consistent crops of fruit which are 1,650 g (58.2 oz) average weight, with a rounded base with a shallow cavity and smooth surface. The mature fruit has a red dark skin that resembles a large plum. The mature fruit has a striking oxblood to chrysanthemum red peel color confluent over nearly the whole surface. Immature fruits are purple with an ashen, waxy skin. Ripe fruit has an apricot aroma with accents of peach with a hint of coconut and mandarin. The flesh is orange, firm and without fiber. The flavor is rich and sweet and resembles a combination of peach, mandarin, and coconut with a brix of 17.0°±1. The fruit of the new 'K69' has potential for processing due its large size and quality. The tree is vigorous and upright in growth habit with large leaves. Trees in South Florida reach a height of 2.5 m (8.2 ft), a spread of 2.5 m (8.2 ft)—but with annual pruning they can be kept smaller. The leaves, bloom and fruit have good disease tolerance. Postharvest handling rated as good but reaction to hot water treatment is unknown. It has a flatted monembryonic seed with a weight average of 70 g. (2.5 oz), and 15.6 cm (6.14 in) long, 13.5 cm (5.31 in) wide and 1.01 cm (0.4 in) thick.
The new 'K69' tree has been asexually propagated via grafting using cuttings and has been found to retain its distinctive characteristics through asexual propagations.
Plant Breeder's Rights for this variety have not been applied for. The new variety 'K69' has not been made publicly available or sold anywhere in the world more than one year prior to the effective filing date of this application.


Novel systems and methods for remotely detecting at least one constituent of a gas via infrared detection are provided. A system includes at least one extended source of broadband infrared radiation and a spectrally sensitive receiver positioned remotely from the source. The source and the receiver are oriented such that a surface of the source is in the field of view of the receiver. The source includes a heating component thermally coupled to the surface, and the heating component is configured to heat the surface to a temperature above ambient temperature. The receiver is operable to collect spectral infrared absorption data representative of a gas present between the source and the receiver. The invention advantageously overcomes significant difficulties associated with active infrared detection techniques known in the art, and provides an infrared detection technique with a much greater sensitivity than passive infrared detection techniques known in the art.

The present invention relates to systems and methods for remotely detecting at least one constituent of a gas via infrared detection. A system provided in accordance with the invention comprises at least one source of broadband infrared radiation and a spectrally sensitive receiver positioned remotely from the source. The source preferably features a surface having dimensions at least as large as the receiver's field of view at the distance separating the receiver and the source, and the source and the receiver are oriented such that the surface of the source is in the field of view of the receiver. The source includes a heating component thermally coupled to the surface, and the heating component is configured to heat the surface substantially uniformly to a temperature above ambient temperature. The receiver is operable to collect spectral infrared absorption data representative of a gas present between the source and the receiver. The system of the invention advantageously overcomes significant difficulties associated with active infrared detection techniques known in the art, and provides an infrared detection technique with a much greater sensitivity than passive infrared detection techniques known in the art.
As a background to the invention, much renewed emphasis has been placed in recent years on measuring trace gas constituents of the atmosphere, and researchers continually attempt to develop more sensitive methods to assess the state of the environment. Most countries now regulate or restrict atmospheric pollution and many have dedicated agencies (such as the EPA in the United States) to monitor gas-phase pollution levels. Hence, great emphasis is being given to developing reliable, near real-time sensor systems to monitor changes of industrial effluents. A variety of techniques have been described in the literature for using a Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectrometer for remote detection of a gas. Remote sensing with FTIRs roughly falls into two rather broad categories, namely, systems that are "active" in nature versus those that are "passive" in nature.
In an active system, the distinguishing characteristic is that there is an active source of infrared (IR) radiation, i.e., an artificial bright source of IR light, which is focused and collimated to provide a high-energy TR beam. Examples of active sources described in the literature include, for example, an SiC glow bar or a Nichrome wire element powered by a low-voltage high current DC source. The radiation is collimated using a telescope, and the beam is projected across the desired area and focused onto an IR detection system. In an alternative active method, called a monostatic setup, the source and detecting spectrometer stand together. The propagated IR beam is focused upon a remote retroreflector in a manner whereby the beam is reflected back to the receiver. The monostatic case is complicated by the fact that the returned beam must be precisely received by the receiver port in order to be focused onto the detector. In either case, active systems confer the advantage that the infrared detector sees a very large temperature difference between the background and the target gas plume (i.e., there is a hot active IR source). Typical sources may operate near 1350 Kelvin (K), and for measurements made near the earth's surface, ambient temperatures are near 275±40 K, thus providing a temperature contrast between sample and background of about 1000 K.
Although active FTIR spectroscopy offers excellent sensitivity, the logistics of trying to align the sender and receiver telescopes poses a serious problem. Successful employment of the active mode requires careful co-alignment of the IR sender and receiver telescopes, typically to better than 5 arc-sec. For a typical telescope clear aperture of about 25 cm (i.e., about 10 inches) and typical separations of 50 to 500 meters, it is extremely difficult to align the optical paths of the sender and receiver telescopes using commonly available mechanical means. Moreover, detection is only accomplished over the path defined by the set-up, and is not easy to readjust by angular sweeps because the sender and receiver telescope bores must not only be parallel, but must be co-axial as well, which can be difficult to achieve and maintain, usually requiring radio communication. Monitoring even a slightly different path requires a new alignment, which is cumbersome, requires remote communications, and is typically very time consuming, often requiring several hours. The analogy has been made that it is similar to "two rifles trying to shoot each other down the barrel," e.g. requiring alignment to better than 1 arc-min and approaching 2 to 5 arc-sec.
Maintaining both position and orientation is crucial in an active FTIR remote sensing system because an FTIR detector registers only the time-dependent modulation of intensity. As a consequence, even small arbitrary intensity fluctuations while recording the interferogram result in bogus features in the spectrum obtained from the FT algorithm. The active monostatic configuration combines the sender and receiver as a single bore-sighted unit with a retroreflector used to return the IR beam to the sender, alleviating many of the field alignment difficulties; however, sighting to the retroreflector within its FOV can still be formidable and the method presents other challenges for good signal recovery. Since the IR light does not emanate from a point source, the divergence of the beam can be a limiting factor since twice the nominal distance is covered, and the divergences of the outgoing and return beams seriously limit the radiation-gathering ability. At large separations the retro aperture(s) must be large to reduce their contribution to overall beam divergence. Finally, the outgoing and return beams also need to be separated; the simplest duplexing method is by a beam splitter, meaning that at best 25% of the light gathered from the source is seen by the detector. The divergence and reflective losses typically mean that less than about 10% of the gathered light is seen by the detector.
The alternative to the active IR detection method is passive FTIR spectroscopy for standoff detection of chemical signatures. The main advantage of the passive technique is that it has only a receiver optic and spectral sensor. There is no active source, which eases many logistical and operational requirements. The technique uses the ambient thermal radiation of the earth as the source of infrared light. If a gas cloud is at a temperature that is colder than the background temperature, an absorption signature is seen (provided the gas has an IR absorption spectrum, as most do). Should the gas temperature be greater than the background temperature, the chemical signature will be seen in emission mode. The passive configuration is sensitive for near real-time analysis because the detector (typically, a liquid N2-cooled semiconductor at 77 K) is colder than the surroundings and is thus capable of detecting the incoming IR radiation. That is to say, since the detector is at about 80 K, and the earth is typically near 300 K, there may exist a difference in the radiometric output of the cloud and its background, and the detector is cold enough to register this difference. When the "on-plume" signature is seen in emission mode, the cloud is at a temperature hotter than the background temperature, and the chemical signature peaks are upward going, typically atop a broad spectral background due to the instrumental response. To remove the background and improve the sensitivity of the technique, an "off-plume" spectrum is normally recorded, and this is subtracted from the "on-plume" spectrum. This can be done simultaneously at the level of the interferogram providing more sensitive differencing. Ideally, the difference spectrum has a simple flat background with only the signature peaks visible. Should the background temperature be greater than the plume temperature, the same signatures are seen in absorption mode. Clearly, the temperature difference plays a crucial role in the nature of the signal and its sensitive recovery.
In either absorption or emission, however, the greatest limitation of the passive technique is usually the lack of significant thermal contrast between the plume and its background. Even when plume and background are at the same temperature it is theoretically possible to still measure the plume if its emissivity is significantly different from that of the background, because there is still a difference in radiance; however, in practice, the difference in emissivity of the background and foreground are similar in scale, so spectral brightness differences are hard to exploit. For passive FTIR there are some circumstances in which one can anticipate a large ΔT for passive sensing. For example, a stack emission could be known to be at a very high temperature, such as about 200° C., in relation to an ambient background. In many cases, however, this cannot be guaranteed, or stack-release temperatures can be highly variable, or possibly even intentionally changed. In such cases, it would be very advantageous to be able to guarantee a minimal thermal contrast that is as large as possible.
Most FTIR work exploits a narrow portion of the thermal IR spectral region. For example, passive remote sensing techniques are generally limited to the long-wave infrared (LWIR) atmospheric window in the 1300 to 700 cm−1 (7 to 14 μm) range. The CO2 band at 667 cm−1 and many water rotational lines generally obscure the region below 700 cm−1, while the water bending band centered at 1604 cm−1 obscures much of the region from 1300 to 1900 cm−1, thus leaving only a 700 to 1300 cm−1 window for passive studies. Spectral information in the mid-IR is also useful, especially for monitoring CO and acid halides, but has very low ambient flux making passive detection of the molecules much less sensitive. Although passive FTIRs can monitor a wide diversity of compounds in the thermal IR (LWIR) atmospheric window, and therefore are a natural choice for air quality testing, they are not sensitive to acid halides and some light IR active gases such as NO or CO which are emitted by many exhaust stacks.
In view of the above background, it is apparent that there is a continuing need for further developments in the field of remote gas sensing using infrared detection. In particular, there is a need for further advancement in the development of techniques that are easy to use and provide a sensitivity that is capable of providing useful information to an operator. The present invention addresses these needs, and further provides related advantages.

Methods and systems for remote detection of gases


Systems, methods, and computer readable media for an adaptive block allocation mechanism are disclosed. According to one aspect, a method for allocating slices of storage in a storage medium based on scores is disclosed. The method occurs at a storage processor for controlling access to a storage medium divided into a plurality of logical slices of storage. The method includes determining one or more scores associated with one or more slices. Determining one or more scores includes combining plural dissimilar characteristics of the slice into a single value. The method further includes receiving a slice allocation request, and in response to the slice allocation request, selecting a slice for allocation using the scores.

Storage systems may include one or more disk arrays. Disk arrays may use a variety of storage devices with various characteristics for providing storage. Each storage array may logically operate as a unified storage device. While such organization generally allows for a homogenous view of the storage devices, it is sometime useful to organize the various storage devices into tiers or classes of storage. A tier is generally delineated by differences in at least one of the four following attributes: price, performance, capacity and function. For example, tier 1 storage devices may be comprised of storage media that is very reliable and very fast, such as flash memory. Tier 2 storage devices may be comprised of storage media that is slower than tier 1 media but very reliable (e.g., a hard disk). For example, tier 2 storage devices may include high performance disks such as 15,000 RPM Fibre Channel (FC) Disks. Tier 3 storage devices may be comprised of comparatively slower and cheaper storage media than either tier 1 or tier 2, such as 7200 RPM serial ATA (SATA) disks, Storage system may also include one or more storage array processors (SPs) for handling both requests for allocation and input/output (I/O) requests. An SP is the controller for and primary interface to a storage array.
Storage arrays are typically used to provide storage space for one or more computer file systems, databases, applications, and the like. For this and other reasons, it is common for storage arrays to be structured into logical partitions of storage space, called logical units (also referred to herein as LUs or LUNs). For example, at LUN creation time, storage system may allocate storage space of various storage devices in disk array to be presented as a volume for use by a server system. This allows a unified storage array to appear as a collection of separate file systems, network drives, and/or volumes.
Recognizing the fact that more storage space may be provisioned than may actually be used at first, the concept of a sparsely populated or "thin" logical unit (TLU) was developed. Unlike the more traditional "fat" or fully allocated logical unit (FLU), which is created by provisioning and allocating a certain amount of storage area, a TLU is provisioned at creation but is not allocated any storage media until the storage is actually needed. For example, storage media space may be allocated to the TLU upon receipt of an I/O write request from a requesting entity, referred to herein as a "host". Upon receipt of the write request from the host, the SP may then determine whether there is enough space already allocated to the TLU to store the data being written, and if not, allocate to the TLU additional storage space (e.g., a logical portion or slice of free space).
While thin logical units provide distinct advantages over fully allocated logical units (i.e., where the entire storage space requested is actually allocated and reserved for the exclusive use of the requesting entity at LUN creation time), the manner in which the slices are allocated across storage media can have an enormous impact on the performance of the storage system. In particular, traditional block allocation mechanisms generally allocate storage using naïve approaches that do not account for a variety of factors that may affect storage performance. For example, naïve approaches may include a round-robin approach which attempts to allocate space evenly from each storage device and a most-space available approach which allocates space from a storage device with the most space available. Such approaches, however, are not very effective if there are discrepancies between storage devices in the system, especially if such discrepancies become greater as space is allocated. For example, a most-space available approach in a tiered storage system can result in a relatively high percentage of storage space being allocated from a slow storage device with a huge capacity, such as large capacity SATA disks, while faster storage devices (e.g., an enterprise flash drive (EFD)) may go under-utilized or ill-utilized.
Accordingly, in order to avoid potential pitfalls that are inherent in naïve approaches to allocation, there exists a need for an efficient approach to allocation that uses a plurality of factors. Specifically, there exists a need for methods, systems, and computer readable medium for an adaptive block allocation mechanism.

Systems, methods, and computer readable media for an adaptative block allocation mechanism


The invention relates to a HLA-B27 Fc open conformer or a HLA-B27 Fc fusion protein for use in the treatment or prevention of cancer. The Fc open conformer comprises or consists of a first and a second monomer, and each monomer comprises a HLA-B27 chain. The Fc fusion protein further comprises a protein stabilizing polypeptide sequence and optionally an amino acid linker. Further aspects of the invention provide combination medicaments comprising the HLA-B27 Fc open conformer and immune checkpoint inhibitors.

Human leukocyte antigens (HLA) belong to the classical major histocompatibility complex (MHC) protein family. The HLA complex helps the immune system distinguish the body's own proteins from proteins made by foreign invaders such as viruses and bacteria. Humans have three main MHC class I genes, known as HLA-A, HLA-B, and HLA-C. HLA genes have many possible variations, allowing each person's immune system to react to a wide range of foreign invaders. Some HLA genes have hundreds of identified versions (alleles), each of which is given a particular number (such as HLA-B27). Closely related alleles are categorized together; for example, at least 40 very similar alleles are subtypes of HLA-B27. These subtypes are designated as HLA-B*2701 to HLA-B*2743.
Classical MHC-I molecules (designated HLA-I in humans) are trimeric structures comprising a membrane-bound heavy chain with three extracellular domains (a1, a2 and a3) that associates non-covalently with β2-microglobulin (β2m) and a small peptide. HLA I heavy chains may exist in a form not associated to β2-microglobulin or peptide. These forms are referred to as open conformers.
As all other HLA molecules, HLA-B27's principle function is to present cell-derived peptides to CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs), as part of the adaptive immune response. Under normal physiological conditions, HLA-B27 molecules form heterotrimeric complexes that consist of B27 heavy chains, β2-microglobulin and peptides, which are derived from self-proteins, viruses or bacteria. In this respect, HLA-B27 resembles all other class I HLA alleles. However, HLA-B27 may also be present in cells as free-heavy chains lacking β2m-microglobulin and peptide, also referred to as HLA-B27 open conformers. Furthermore, HLA-B27 open conformer biochemical properties may also induce formation of β2m-free heavy chain homodimers through a disulphide bond formation of cysteine at position 67 (Cys 67) and position 164 (Cys 164) (Antoniou et al., JBC, 2003, 279, 8895-8902). B27 open conformers formation is not altered by the presence of peptide, therefore B27 open conformers molecules may exist bound to peptide, or without it.
B27 open conformers have been associated with the development of spondyloarthritis (SpA) in +HLA-B27 patients. Possession of HLA-B27 is strongly associated with development of spondyloarthritides, a group of related diseases including ankylosing spondylitis (AS), psoriatic arthritis, enteropathic arthritis in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), reactive arthritis after specific gastrointestinal and urogenital infections and juvenile SpA, the most recognized being AS.
The demonstration of cell surface expression of B27 open conformers led to the proposal that immunoregulatory leucocyte receptors might specifically interact with B27 open conformers. How the interaction of B27 open conformers with immunoregulatory receptors leads to AS remains undetermined.
A variety of immunoregulatory receptors can recognize B27 open conformers (in addition to the T-cell receptor (TCR)). These include the killer immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs) and leucocyte immunoglobulin-like receptors (LILRs), which are expressed on many types of leucocytes, including NK cells, NKT cells, monocytes, macrophages, DCs and T cells.
Cancer is a group of diseases characterized by abnormal cells of the body undergoing uncontrolled and destructive growth. Cancer cells can spread around the body and metastasize to form tumors; this growth pattern is called malignant.

Use of HLA-B27 homodimers for cancer treatment


A drivetrain having an active torsional vibration damping and a method for carrying out the active torsional vibration damping, having an internal combustion engine being affected by torsional vibrations and having a crankshaft, a torsional vibration damper that is operatively connected to the crankshaft and has at least one operating point of low vibration isolation of the torsional vibrations and has a primary inertial mass associated with the crankshaft and an inertial mass associated with a gear input shaft of a gearbox, the inertial mass being rotatable relatively and limitedly with respect to the primary inertial mass against the action of a spring device. The drivetrain also includes an electric motor having a rotating mass operatively connected to the gearbox input shaft, and a control unit, the spring device being formed by linear springs, the rotating mass of the electric motor being designed as a secondary inertial mass.

Because of their operating principle of discontinuous combustion of fuel in the combustion spaces of cylinders or combustion chambers provided for that purpose, combustion engines have a non-uniform torque development through the angle of rotation of the crankshaft. The torsional vibrations, which occur as a result, are isolated in a well-known manner by torsional vibration dampers such as clutch plate dampers, divided flywheels and the like, and/or torsional vibration absorbers such as centrifugal force pendulums and the like. This vibration isolation occurs only partially. Remaining residual vibrations appear in resonance with natural frequencies of the power train, which result in negative sound behavior of the drivetrain and/or negatively affect the service life of the components used. To further improve the degree of isolation, the technical effort increases, so that the isolation devices to be utilized, such as torsional vibration dampers or torsional vibration absorbers, cannot always be implemented for reasons of construction space and/or cost. For example, in a torsional vibration damper, besides the utilized bow springs of a single damping stage, additional damping stages, an additional torsional vibration absorber matched to the torsional vibration damper and the like may become necessary. Furthermore, the driver may introduce impulses into the drivetrain, for example, with the respective changing of the position of the accelerator pedal, which can result in jerking or load reversal vibrations.
In addition to the combustion engine, hybrid drivetrains have an electric machine which drives the drivetrain completely or partially, recuperates in deceleration mode, and is able to start the combustion engine. An electric machine is known from German Patent No. 195 32 129 A1, which is intended to compensate for torsional vibrations of the combustion engine by switching on opposing torques by means of the electric machine, which are complementary to the peak torques of the combustion engine. The corresponding quantities of energy in the frequency range of the torsional vibrations to be stored temporarily in and recalled from the accumulator connected to the electric machine, such as a lead-acid battery, result in very high charging and discharging currents, which are harmful to the accumulator.

Hybrid drivetrain having active torsional vibration damping, and method for carrying out the active torsional damping


Heavy oils are advantageously preconditioned by heat soaking prior to hydrotreating with a dispersed metal catalyst to reduce coking in a two stage hydrotreating process. The effluent of a hydrotreating process is filtered to recover catalytically active coke which is recovered by backflushing and recycled to the feed stream. A mild solvent deasphalting step isolates metals in a reduced volume asphaltene fraction.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the hydrotreating of heavy hydrocarbon oil fractions to produce a product containing lighter hydrocarbon components with lower metals content.
2. Background of the Art
It is well known to hydrotreat heavy hydrocarbon oils such as petroleum residue to convert such heavy oils to lighter products and to remove contaminants such as metals, sulfur and nitrogen. Hydrotreating is generally performed in the presence of a catalyst. The reactor may contain the catalyst in a fixed or fluidized bed, or, alternatively, the catalyst may be dispersed in the heavy oil and fed along with the feedstock through a reactor which provides the appropriate residence time at a temperature necessary for the desired conversion.
Metal contaminants may deposit on the catalyst of a fixed bed and deactivate it after a period of time thereby requiring shutdown of the reactor and replacement or regeneration of the catalyst. For treatment of heavy oils containing a high content of contaminant metals a process based on dispersed catalyst may be preferred. The dispersed catalyst, which may be a metal organic compound, must be continuously added to the feed.
A difficulty in employing catalytic hydrotreating at moderate hydrogen pressure (i.e., less than about 2500 psig) is that efforts to achieve high conversion can result in the formation of excessive amounts of coke (i.e., greater than about 1 to 2 wt. %) which can deposit inside the reactor and impair continuous operation of the unit. Operating the reactor at lower temperatures (i.e., less than about 750.degree. F.) can reduce coking but achieves low conversion and requires very long residence times. Higher operating temperatures (i.e., greater than about 820.degree. F.) permit shorter residence times but yield too much coke at high conversion.
Crude petroleum oils, as well as the heavier hydrocarbon fractions derived therefrom, generally contain metallic contaminants which have an adverse effect on catalysts utilized in various processes to which the crude oil, or heavy hydrocarbon fraction thereof, is ultimately subjected. The most common metallic contaminants are nickel and vanadium, although other metals including iron, copper, etc., are often present. These metals occur in a variety of forms. They may exist as metal oxides or sulfides introduced into the crude oil as metallic scale or similar particles, or they may be present in the form of soluble salts of such metals. Usually, however, they exist in the form of stable organometallic compounds such as metal porphyrins and the various derivatives thereof. Although the metallic contaminants existing as oxide or sulfide scale may be removed, at least in part, by relatively simple filtering techniques, and the water-soluble salts are, at least in part, removable by washing and subsequent dehydration, a more severe treatment is required to remove the stable organometallic compounds, such as metal porphyrins, before the crude oil or heavy hydrocarbon fraction thereof is suitable for further processing. Notwithstanding that the concentration of these organometallic compounds is relatively small, for example, often less than about 10 ppm calculated as the elemental metal, subsequent processing techniques are adversely affected thereby. For example, when a hydrocarbon charge stock containing metals in excess of about 3.0 ppm is subjected to catalytic cracking, the metals become deposited upon the catalyst, altering the composition thereof to the extent that undesirable by-products are formed. That is to say, the composition of the catalyst composite, which is closely controlled with respect to the nature of the charge stock being processed and the quality and quantity of the product desired, is considerably changed as a result of the metal deposition thereon during the course of the cracking process. As a consequence, the liquid product recovery is reduced, and coke and hydrogen are formed in excessive amounts, the former producing relatively rapid catalyst deactivation. The presence of stable organometallic compounds, including metal porphyrins, adversely effects other processes including catalytic reforming, isomerization, hydrodealkylation, etc.
In addition, crude petroleum oils, and the heavier hydrocarbon fractions thereof, generally contain undesirable nitrogenous and sulfurous compounds which may be removed from the petroleum oil by hydrotreating wherein these compounds are converted respectively to ammonia and hydrogen sulfide which are readily separated from the system in a gaseous phase. However, reduction in the concentration of the stable organometallic compounds, to the extent that the crude oil or heavy hydrocarbon fraction thereof becomes suitable for further processing, is not as readily achieved.
The crude oils and other heavy hydrocarbon fractions generally contain considerable quantities of pentane-insoluble materials present in the form of a colloidal suspension or dispersion. These pentane-insoluble materials, described as asphaltenes, are a carbonaceous material considered as coke precursors having a tendency to become deposited as a gummy hydrocarbonaceous residue. The asphaltenes contain the bulk of the difficult to remove metal contaminants.

Resid hydrocracking using dispersed metal catalysts


A method for providing access to content using a global textsite platform (GTP), including receiving, from a user device associated with a device identifier, a first user message including a first navigation state identifier of a sequential plurality of navigation state identifiers, identifying a first text page of the textsite associated with the first navigation state identifier, and identifying a second text page associated with a first navigating keyword, where the second text page is navigable from the first text page. The method also includes determining a second navigation state identifier sequentially after the first navigation state identifier, associating the second text page with the second navigation state identifier, and storing the association. The method also includes generating a GTP message of the first text page, including the first navigating keyword modified by the second navigation state identifier, and sending the GTP message for display on the user device.

Today's mobile devices, such as smart phones, allow users to browse the Internet from any location to obtain information on demand. As long as a user is in an area with the proper telecommunication network and subscribes to a data plan, the user is provided with access to the Internet for web browsing to obtain information such as phone numbers for service provides, map out a particular destination location, and obtain information relevant to the user's current or next activity. However, there are often instances in which a user wishes to access only limited information for a quick answer to a question (e.g., what are the next available show times for a particular movie?). In this scenario, browsing the website for the movie theater or a service provider website that provides movie show times, such as Fandango, may be cumbersome on the mobile device. Specifically, loading all the graphics and advertisements associated with websites on a mobile device can take additional time. Alternatively, the entire website may provide too much data to navigate through when a user desires only a specific piece of information. In addition, for mobile device users who do not subscribe to a data plan for browsing the Internet, are in an area where the mobile device cannot connect to the proper telecommunication network, or do not have browsing capability on the mobile device, accessing such information on demand is not possible.
One solution to the aforementioned problem is for content publishers to provide information to users on mobile devices via text messaging, in particular those transmitted using Short Messaging Service (SMS). Due to the growth and penetration of SMS capable mobile devices, the content publishers and service providers have attempted to enable access to its content and products via SMS. To facilitate providing content via SMS, each content publisher and/or service provider is required to secure its own SMS codes per country or per geographic region. For example, Google™ has reserved code 466453 for the United States and code 9773300000 for India. Similarly, Facebook® has reserved code 32665 for the United States and code 9232232665 for India (Facebook® is a registered trademark of Facebook Inc., located in Palo Alto, Calif.). Once a local mobile code is provisioned by a local operator of that particular geographic region, a custom adapter is required to be developed to integrate with local operator APIs for sending and receiving SMS. Accordingly, the publisher must create such an adapter. The need for such an adapter often makes offering a company's content via SMS from multiple countries to mobile device users a barrier for a typical web content publisher or web-based service provider.

Method and system for providing a stateful experience while accessing content using a global textsite platform


An electric power acquisition section acquires a power demand of a load. An assist control section determines that an assist condition is satisfied when the power demand exceeds a threshold value within a time slot for permitting electric power to be supplied to the load. When determining that the assist condition is satisfied, the assist control section presents a selection prompt to inquire whether or not to activate an assist operation for supplying the electric power from a power storage device, on an operation display device through a notification control section. If there is a response for requesting activation of the assist operation from the operation display device in response to the selection prompt, the assist operation is started. The assist condition is set in a storage unit by a condition setting section.

In general, in order to supply a customer with electric power, an electric power supplier sets an electricity rate for each customer based on a contract. For example, there is a contract in which a monthly maximum value of an amount of electric power per unit time (for example, 30 minutes) to be used by the customer is set as a maximum power demand and a unit price of the electricity rate is determined based on the maximum power demand. Further, depending on the electric power supplier, there is a contract in which a contract demand is set for each customer and a circuit breaker (current breaker) is activated when the electric power to be used by the customer exceeds the contract demand.
Meanwhile, social demands for energy saving, suppression of a peak of a power demand, and the like have been increasing in recent years. In particular, it is considered as a promising measure leading to reduction in environmental load to reduce the electric power to be purchased or received from the electric power supplier during a time slot in which demand for electric power increases, because high-output power plants can be reduced in number.
It is proposed to make use of a storage battery in order to prevent the unit price of the electricity rate from increasing or the circuit breaker from being activated in accordance with an increase in the power demand, and to satisfy the above-mentioned social demands. In other words, there is proposed a technology for reducing the received electric power by allowing the customer to use the storage battery and supplying the electric power from the storage battery when the power demand increases. The technology for supplying the electric power from the storage battery when there is an increase in the power demand requested by a load is known as "peak assist".
For example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2006-109621, there is disclosed a technology for adjusting received electric power by controlling charging and discharging of an electric power storage system installed at an electricity customer. In Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2006-109621, the received electric power is adjusted for the purpose of peak-cut for lowering the contract demand or peak-shift for reducing a usage of daytime electric power having a high unit price. Therefore, in the technology disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2006-109621, the received electric power is automatically adjusted based on a pattern set for a controller.
Incidentally, in the technology of the peak assist disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2006-109621, when the power demand at the load increases, the electric power is always supplied as long as there is room for the electric power (remaining amount) of the storage battery. This is because the customer principally aims at the peak-cut or the peak-shift.
On the other hand, from the viewpoint of achieving the reduction in the environmental load, instead of supplying the electric power from the storage battery whenever the power demand increases, it is desired to suppress the peak itself of the power demand of the customer. In other words, it is effective to reduce a frequency of peak assist by developing the customer's awareness of the suppression of the peak of the power demand. When the peak of the power demand is suppressed, a time period during which the electric power can be supplied from the storage battery is extended, and the life of the storage battery is also extended due to the reduction in the frequency of charging/discharging of the storage battery.
However, the technology disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2006-109621 is not configured to allow the customer to recognize whether or not the peak assist has been performed, and therefore has a problem in that the customer is not allowed to recognize when the power demand reaches a peak by using which load. Further, in the configuration disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2006-109621, a condition for performing the peak assist is fixed. Accordingly, the condition for performing the peak assist cannot be set so as to become proper for the customer. In other words, there is a problem in that it is not possible to enable the customer to get interested in the peak of the power demand.

Energy management device, energy management system, and program

Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.


An agricultural implement includes a first frame member and a second frame member pivotally connected to each other and an actuating assembly configured to rotate the second frame member. The actuating assembly includes a first link pivotally connected to the first frame member, a second link pivotally connected to the second frame member, and a third link attached to an actuator. Two of the first, second, and third links are pivotally connected by a connecting pin, which is received in a slot formed in the third one of the links. The actuating assembly is configured to prevent the pin from moving along the slot and to allow rotation of the second link relative to the third link, when the second frame member is arranged between a retracted position and an expanded position, and to allow the pin to move along the slot, when the second frame member is arranged in the expanded position.

To allow the implement to travel on a road, implements are transferred into a transport condition, in which their width in a lateral direction of the implement is small enough for road traffic and does not exceed a given limit. When arriving on the field, the implements are then transferred into a working condition, in which the at least one foldable frame member carrying at least one tool is arranged in an expanded position allowing the at least one tool to operate on the ground. While traveling across the field during operation, the at least one foldable frame member of the implement needs to follow the ground surface and, therefore, its pivotal connection must allow a certain vertical movement of the foldable frame member relative to the main frame. Suitable pivotal connections are for example disclosed in inter alia U.S. Pat. No. 4,050,523, US 2018/0049363 A1, WO 2013/057613 A1 or EP 0 443 338 B1.
To provide the foldable frame member with the required freedom to move in the vertical direction when in the working position, the pivotal connection must provide a certain degree of freedom. This, however, often results in the adverse effect of the foldable frame member tending to tip over from one side to the other when its center of gravity moves beyond the pivot axis in the lateral direction, thereby generating a shock on associated components of the implement every time the foldable frame member is folded in or folded out. Thus, additional means for absorbing said shock have to be provided or the pivotable hinge connection must be designed to avoid tipping over of the foldable frame member resulting in a more complex and expensive hinge assembly.

Locking linkage for folding agricultural implement


A method for fabricating a capacitor includes the formation of a self-aligned and essentially amorphous passivation edge web. The passivation edge web is formed in the course of a BST vapor phase deposition after prior etching of the lower metal electrode and of the barrier layer, the TEOS layer situated under the barrier layer being attacked by said etching. By means of targeted material redeposition on the side walls of the lower electrode and of the barrier layer, the passivation edge web is subsequently formed from this material deposition.

Field of the Invention
The present invention lies in the field of semiconductor technology and, more specifically, relates to a method for fabricating a capacitor.
In order to further increase the integration level in semiconductor modules, materials having a high dielectric constant (high-.epsilon.)or having ferroelectric properties will be used to an increased extent in the future. By using these materials, it is hoped that a higher storage density (charge/area) will be gained in comparison with the capacitor dielectrics (oxide/nitride/oxide) used heretofore. A preferred material having a high dielectric constant is barium strontium titanate (BST) for example. Examples of ferroelectric materials that ought to be mentioned in the context are strontium bismuth tantalate (SBT) and also lead zirconium titanate (PZT).
However, the process integration of these materials entails a series of problems. Particular difficulties are posed by the deposition. The materials used as capacitor dielectric (metal oxide layers in ceramic form) can, for example, be applied conformally to a semiconductor surface by means of CVD deposition processes. The metal oxide layers are thereby applied inter alia directly to a first electrode of a storage capacitor. The material used for that electrode must be resistant to oxygen, since the metal oxide layer is deposited in an oxidizing atmosphere. Platinum and ruthenium, among others, have proved to be suitable electrode materials. One disadvantage of these materials, however, is that they exhibit a high level of diffusion into silicon or form metal silicide layers with silicon. Those layers can have an irreversible influence on the method of operation of active components.
Therefore, it is usual for a so-called barrier layer to be arranged underneath the electrode materials. The barrier layer prevents the electrode materials from diffusing into the silicon situated underneath. Barrier layers of this type are composed of a titanium/titanium nitride combination, for example.
It is unfavorable, however, that these barrier layers are sensitive to oxidation and can easily oxidize in the course of the CVD deposition of the metal oxide layers. Particularly when titanium is used as a constituent part of the barrier layer, there is the risk, therefore, that the usually conductive barrier layer will become insulating as a result of the oxidation. It is thus no longer possible to make contact with the first (lower) electrode of the storage capacitor.
In order to prevent the oxidation of the barrier layer during the CVD deposition, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,883,781 and 5,943,547 (European patent application EP 0 739 030 A2), for example, propose the formation of lateral insulation webs around the patterned barrier layer. The insulation webs, which are composed of silicon nitride, are formed after the common etching of the lower electrode and also of the barrier layer by means of conformal deposition of a silicon nitride layer and anisotropic etching thereof. The silicon nitride layer thereby essentially remains in the lower region of the electrode, that is to say only in the region of the barrier layer.
Lateral insulation webs around the barrier layer are also proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,656,852. The insulation webs, which may be composed of silicon dioxide or silicon nitride are formed there prior to the deposition of the lower metal electrode.
A common feature of all of the prior art insulation webs is that they are formed from a conformally deposited insulation layer with subsequent anisotropic etching. The necessary etching step, in particular, may thereby attack the barrier layer and/or the electrode or one of these two layers may be contaminated by the insulation layer.
The contamination of the metal electrode, in particular, is disadvantageous since the material properties of the metal oxide layer to be applied to the metal electrode depend to a great extent on the quality of the interface between metal electrode and metal oxide layer.
By contrast, insulation webs formed in situ are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,554,844, in which a titanium nitride layer serving as a barrier is oxidized in its side regions prior to the deposition of the capacitor dielectric. Since the oxidation of the barrier layer progresses rapidly in particular with respect to the adjoining metal electrode, problems concerning the adhesion of the metal electrode on the barrier may arise.


Disclosed is an electromagnetic receiver assembly for marine electromagnetic surveying, the electromagnetic receiver assembly comprising an elongated housing and receiver electrodes mounted at separate points along the elongated housing. An embodiment may include an electromagnetic receive assembly that includes an elongated housing, wherein the elongated housing defines an interior chamber. The electromagnetic receiver assembly may further include receiver electrodes configured to be in contact with water when in operation, wherein the receiver electrodes are mounted at separate points along the elongated housing. The electromagnetic receiver assembly may further include sensor electronics disposed in the interior chamber and electrically coupled to the receiver electrodes. The electromagnetic receiver assembly may be configured for deployment on or near a bottom of a body of water.

The present invention relates generally to marine electromagnetic surveying. More particularly, in one or more embodiments, this invention relates to an electromagnetic receiver assembly for marine electromagnetic surveying, the electromagnetic receiver assembly comprising an elongated housing and receiver electrodes mounted at separate points along the elongated housing, and methods of use thereof.
Marine electromagnetic (EM) surveying is a geophysical surveying technique that uses EM energy to identify possible hydrocarbon-bearing rock formations below the bottom of a body of water, such as a lake or ocean. In some instances, an EM source is towed through the water over an area of interest in the Earth's subsurface. The EM source can emit an energy field into the body of water that interacts with the rock formations below the water bottom. Without limitation, a number of EM receiver assemblies positioned on or near the water bottom detect changes in the energy field due to the interaction with the rock formation and generate response signals that can be used to infer certain properties of the subsurface rock, such as structure, mineral composition and fluid content, thereby providing information useful in the recovery of hydrocarbons.
In conventional systems, the EM receiver assemblies may comprise a number of components, including a main body and EM sensors. The main body is typically a cube-like structure to which sensor electronics and an acoustic location system may be mounted. A ballast material (e.g., a concrete block) for deployment of the assembly onto the water bottom and a buoyant material for flotation may also be mounted to the main body. The EM sensors can include, for example, two, four, or more receiver electrodes mounted in the ends of long arms that can be attached to the main body. Drawbacks to these conventional EM receiver assemblies include the handling and logistics associated with deployment of the assemblies from a survey vessel. For example, due to space constraints associated with storing the EM receiver assemblies on the survey vessel, the EM survey systems may be limited to deployment of around 50 EM receiver assemblies. By way of further example, the arms as well as the ballast material are typically attached to the main body on the survey vessel when preparing for deployment, thus adding additional time and complexity to their deployment. With the ballast material attached, the bulky nature of the EM receiver assemblies adds to the difficulty in deploying them from the survey vessel. Recovery of the EM receiver assemblies after use may also be problematic as the equipment needed for recovery of the cube-like structure may add complexity to the EM survey system.
Accordingly, there is a need for improved receiver assemblies for marine EM surveying that can be more easily deployed and recovered than conventional receiver assemblies that have been used heretofore.

Electromagnetic receiver assembly for marine electromagnetic surveying


A computer-implemented method and system are provided for optimizing resource usage, wherein the resources include employees of an organization. The method includes collecting employee data including structured data and unstructured data through multiple input channels over at least one network and storing the employee data collected over the multiple input channels in at least one computer memory. The method further includes accessing the computer memory using at least one computer processor and executing instructions to perform multiple operations on the stored data. The operations include transforming the unstructured data into structured data and disambiguating the structured data. The operations additionally include applying rule sets to the transformed data and the structured data to derive a digital productivity footprint for each employee and analyzing the derived digital footprints to optimize resource usage.

Employers today typically provide employees with numerous corporate electronic devices to perform their job duties. For example, an employer may provide an employee with a laptop, smartphone, and access badge. Recent advancements in information technology ("IT") infrastructure have made it possible for employers to capture how employees use these devices, i.e., their "digital profile". Additionally, organizations typically provide employees with computers that run applications for monitoring employee activities. For example, an employer may compile records of when an employee logs into or out of his or her workstation, when and where an employee remotely logs into or out of the corporate VPN network, when and how often an employee sends e-mails, and the times and locations the employee uses his or her security badges to access a physical location.
Additionally, employers may have alternate methods of monitoring or logging employee activities. For example, employers may perform biometric authentication in order to allow employees to access resources, such as physical areas, systems, or devices.
Though the data recorded from an employee's digital devices captures the use of the device, the data may also be used to determine employee activities and evaluate employee productivity. However, businesses typically find it difficult to analyze the data from each source independently, because the data can occasionally be ambiguous, and therefore an unreliable indicator of employee activity or productivity. For example, using badge swipe data to calculate employee attendance suffers from multiple ambiguities. Badge swipes do not account for employees working remotely or employees hold building doors open for each other, or broken or malfunctioning badge readers. Additionally, computing activity cannot be determined solely based on login activity to an office computing system, as employees are frequently provided with remote access capabilities.
Further, businesses typically find it difficult to aggregate the data from the different data sources for performing advanced employee productivity analysis. Because the digital profile data originates from disparate sources and devices, the digital profile data is typically captured and maintained in different structures. In some cases, the data has no structure at all. For example, records of security badge use, web traffic, anti-virus logs, and firewall logs are typically maintained as textual audit logs created in different formats. Thus, businesses find it difficult to aggregate data from different sources because the multiple data sources are typically maintained in different structures, or lack structure altogether.
Furthermore, even when aggregated, without an effective analysis framework, the collective data is of little use. While businesses have used technology to enhance employee efficiency, no solutions are available that measure efficiency based on device use and develop a plan for reconfiguration of resources based on the measurement. Additional problems exist that may be remedied by embodiments of the invention.


A system, method, and apparatus for the rigid alignment of drill bits with ergonomic drill motors is disclosed. An adjustable nosepiece adapter is mounted to the ergonomic drill motor adjacent the drill bit chuck. The adapter has a split clamp portion on its distal end for receiving a pressure foot. A guide bushing fits in the proximal end of the pressure foot. A coil spring is located in the pressure foot and allows the guide bushing to telescope within the pressure foot. The drill bit extends through the guide bushing, pressure foot, and adapter and is secured to the chuck. The distal end of the guide bushing fits closely within a hole in a template that is secured to the workpiece to provide holes that are more accurately formed in the workpiece.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to the support and alignment of drill bits on drill motors and, in particular, to an improved system, method, and apparatus for the alignment of drill bits with nosepieces on ergonomic drill motors.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the manufacturing industry it is very common to form holes in workpieces to facilitate assembly of products. Holes are typically formed by using drilling equipment, such as hand-held drill motors, which are equipped with drill bits that are appropriate for the job. In some applications, a template or guide plate is used to assist drill operators in precisely locating the various positions of the holes to be drilled in the workpiece. For example, a guide plate may be complementary in shape and contoured to the workpiece to be drilled. A guide plate can have hundreds of alignment holes for the drill operator to use or "go by" to form drill holes in the workpiece. With the guide plate positioned directly adjacent or mounted to the workpiece, the drill operator pushes the rotating drill bit through each pre-formed hole in the guide plate to form the holes in the workpiece in their proper locations.
This process is somewhat prone to operator error. First, the drill bits are not always axially aligned at a proper angle of insertion (i.e., perpendicular to the surface of the workpiece) as the holes are formed. This error can lead to off-axis cylindrical holes being formed, and holes that are over bored in diameter as the drill operator tries to manually maintain axial alignment. Second, the depth of drill bit insertion can be improperly varied by drilling a hole that is too deep or too shallow in the workpiece, which can cause damage to underlying structure or render the hole inadequate for its intended purpose. Each of these errors can require extensive rework operations to repair the damage and increase waste.
In the prior art, drill bit alignment or "Sheridan" equipment is well known for facilitating more accurate hole drilling on large drilling equipment. Sheridan equipment attaches to the end of large drill motors to help maintain axial alignment of the drill bits and limit the depth of drill bit insertion. Other types of drill attachments are also known. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,665,173; 1,699,870; 2,376,432; 3,776,647; and 5,564,717. Unfortunately, none of these prior art designs are adjustable and have only a limited range of operation.
Moreover, Sheridan-type equipment is completely incompatible with modern ergonomic drilling equipment, which is much smaller and far more ergonomically efficient than any prior art designs. Furthermore, equipment manufacturers have been unable to overcome the alignment and depth penetration problems that are common to the industry. Drill operators have attempted to hold an ergonomic drill in one hand and a Sheridan-type tool in their other hand in an attempt to facilitate alignment and depth control of their drill bits. However, the holes drilled by this manually-intensive process are inconsistent at best and wear out drill bits at a rapid rate. Thus, it has been a long felt need in the industry to provide ergonomic drilling equipment with drill bit alignment and depth control of the holes formed in workpieces.

System, method, and apparatus for drill bit alignment and depth control with ergonomic drill motors