Methods for providing broad spectrum photo protection to skin using antioxidants that provide UVA protection to skin are described. The methods include topically applying a cosmetic composition comprising: (a) at least one antioxidant having an Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) of at least 10,000 μmol TE/g and a Hydroxyl Radical Absorbance Capacity (HORAC) of at least 2,600 μmol GAE/g; (b) at least one organic UV filter; and (c) a cosmetically acceptable carrier; wherein the cosmetic composition provides an increase in UVAPPD PF of at least 30% relative to an otherwise identical cosmetic composition without the antioxidant(s) of (a). The disclosure also relates to the cosmetic compositions useful in the described methods.

Most individuals are exposed to large amounts of ultraviolet (UV) radiation throughout their lifetimes due primarily to sunlight exposure. Sunlight includes two types of UV rays: long wave ultraviolet A (UVA) and short wave ultraviolet B (UVB), both of which can damage skin. UVA rays account for up to 95 percent of the UV radiation reaching the Earth's surface. Although they are less intense than UVB rays, UVA rays are 30 to 50 times more prevalent. They are present with relatively equal intensity during all daylight hours throughout the year, and can penetrate clouds and glass.
UVA rays penetrate the skin more deeply than UVB rays and have long been known to play a major part in skin aging and wrinkling (photo-aging), but until recently scientists believed that UVA rays did not cause significant damage to the epidermis (outermost skin layer) where most skin cancers occur. Studies over the past two decades, however, show that UVA radiation damages skin cells called keratinocytes in the basal layer of the epidermis.
Both UVA and UVB radiation contribute to skin damage that accelerates the appearance of aging, for example, loss of skin elasticity and the appearance of wrinkles. This process is commonly referred to as photo-aging. As skin ages, the outer skin layer (epidermis) thins, even though the number of cells remain largely unchanged. The number of pigment-containing cells (melanocytes), however, decreases. Therefore, the skin appears pale and translucent. Large pigmented spots (age spots, liver spots, or lentigos) may appear in sun-exposed areas. Changes in the connective tissue reduce the skin's strength and elasticity, which becomes more noticeable in sun-exposed areas (solar elastosis). Elastosis produces the leathery, weather-beaten appearance common to farmers, sailors, and others who spend a large amount of time outdoors.
Due to the need for protection from both UVA and UVB radiation, sunscreen products designated as "broad spectrum sunscreens" have been developed. Sunscreen products that are labeled as "broad spectrum" provide protection from both UVA and UVB radiation; and in the United States these products must meet specific requirements set by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The number of known UVA filters and especially FDA approved UVA filters is small and therefore products are limited in what UVA filters can be used to provide broad spectrum protection.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Methods for boosting UVA photo-protection using antioxidants


An input assisting apparatus that is detachable from an electronic apparatus including a touch sensor panel including a plurality of first input areas assigned with input information includes: a main body having a first surface and a second surface, the first surface facing the touch sensor panel when the input assisting apparatus is attached to the electronic apparatus, the second surface being on an opposite side of the first surface; one or more elastically-deformable bulge portions that respectively correspond to one or more first input areas of the plurality of first input areas of the touch sensor panel and are provided to bulge from the second surface of the main body; and opening portions that are provided to the one or more bulge portions and expose at least a part of the one or more first input areas corresponding to the one or more bulge portions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an input assisting apparatus that is detachably provided to an electronic apparatus including a touch sensor panel and the electronic apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, electronic apparatuses such as cellular phones and portable audio-visual apparatuses each including a touch sensor panel that detects positional information designated by a finger or the like of a user and generates input data from the user in accordance with the positional information have been provided. The user carries out an input operation by pressing an input area of the touch sensor panel. The input area of the touch sensor panel does not have irregularities like normal button-type operation keys, and therefore the user cannot obtain a natural operational feeling that is obtained when the user operates button-type operation keys.
In this regard, an input assisting apparatus for assisting the input operation made by the user with respect to the input area of the touch sensor panel is proposed (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2001-117721 (paragraphs [0007] to [0009], FIG. 2); hereinafter, referred to as Patent Document 1). According to Patent Document 1, a thin plate-like input assisting apparatus having an opening portion corresponding to an input area is installed on a surface of a touch sensor panel. A user presses the input area of the touch sensor panel that is exposed from the opening portion of the input assisting apparatus by a finger or the like and carries out an input operation. In the input operation, the user can tactually distinguish the input area of the touch sensor panel that is exposed from the opening portion from a surface of the input assisting apparatus, with the result that operability is improved.

Input assisting apparatus and electronic apparatus


Technologies for secure native code invocation include a computing device having an operating system and a firmware environment. The operating system executes a firmware method in an operating system context using a virtual machine. In response to invoking the firmware method, the operating system invokes a callback to a bridge driver in the operating system context. In response to the callback, the bridge driver invokes a firmware runtime service in the operating system context. The firmware environment executes a native code handler in the operating system context in response to invoking the firmware runtime service. The native code handler may be executed in a de-privileged container. The firmware method may process results data stored in a firmware mailbox by the native code handler, which may include accessing a hardware resource using a firmware operation region.

Computing devices typically include firmware responsible for hardware initialization, low-level hardware management, and managing the boot process. The main platform firmware responsible for booting the computing device may be implemented according to the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface ("UEFI") specification, which has several versions published by the UEFI Forum. The UEFI specification specifies an interface between the firmware of the computing device and the operating system of the computing device. In addition to performing traditional boot and initialization tasks, such drivers and applications may perform other tasks, such as diagnostic, maintenance, or management tasks. Typical computing devices also support the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI), which provides standardized, flexible mechanisms for device discovery, operating system configuration and power management (OSPM), thermal management, and other platform management tasks. Recent versions of the ACPI specification have also been published by the UEFI Forum.
Certain processors provide a special operating mode called system management mode ("SMM") for handling certain interrupts generated by hardware components of the computer platform, called system management interrupts ("SMIs"). Upon detecting an SMI, such a processor suspends execution by saving its current state and then entering SMM. Once in SMM, the processor executes SMI handler code. Such SMI handler code may perform tasks such as error handling, power management, device hot plug management, or other platform management tasks. Upon completion, the SMI handler code executes a resume instruction (e.g., "RSM"), causing the processor to reload its saved state and resume execution in the previous operating mode. Receiving the SMI, entering SMM, and the operation of the SMI handler are thus transparent to other code executing on the processor, including operating system code and/or platform firmware.

Technologies for secure and efficient native code invocation for firmware services


A method of making bread is provided. The method includes a thermally treated dough making process of forming a thermally heated dough, a dough mixing process of mixing the thermally treated dough of the thermally treated dough making process with wheat flour, dried yeast, refined sugar, refined salt, whole milk powder, bread improver, processed butter, milk, egg, and water to form a dough mixture, and stirring the dough mixture, a deep-freezing process of dividing the dough mixture into equal-sized dough pieces and deep-freezing the divided dough pieces, a thawing process of thawing the deep-frozen dough pieces, a fermentation process of fermenting the thawed dough pieces, and a baking process of heating the fermented dough pieces.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to bread and, more particularly, to a method of making bread using warm dough.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, white breads are box-shaped breads and may be classified into English breads made in the shape of a mountain peak by allowing the top thereof to rise, and American breads having a flat top made by baking dough placed in a bread pan with a closed cover.
The breads may also be classified into lean breads to which little sugar, milk or oil are added, and rich breads to which lots of sugar, milk and oil are added. The lean breads are used to make toast, and the rich breads are used to make sandwiches and are also called American breads.
Conventionally, the breads are made by a so-called straight method. According to the straight method, bread is made by placing raw ingredients in a mixer to be mixed all at once. The straight method includes:
1. mixing raw ingredients to form a dough, immediately dividing the dough into dough pieces, and freezing the divided dough pieces;
2. thawing the frozen dough at low temperature and then further thawing the resulting dough at room temperature until the temperature of the dough reaches about 18° C.;
3. dividing the thawed dough to fit a bread pan, rolling out the resulting dough, and ripening the resulting dough at room temperature;
4. placing the ripened dough in the pan to be fermented; and
5. baking the fermented dough.
However, the bread made by the conventional straight method has problems in that the activity and fermenting power of yeast deteriorate, which adversely affects the taste, flavor, and texture, and speeds up the aging process through which aerated bread becomes hard and stiff.


An electromagnetic pressure-regulating valve includes a housing comprising a first, a second and a third port, a valve seat, a valve closure member, an electromagnetic drive, and a biasing device. The electromagnetic drive comprises a coil wound on a coil carrier, an armature, a core, and an electromagnetic return-path device. The armature moves between a first and second end position and acts on the valve closure member. The biasing device is configured so that, when a current does not flow, the armature, and thereby the valve closure member, is positioned in a fail-safe setting on the valve seat so that a connection from the third port to each of the first and second ports is closed. The valve seat is connected via a fluid channel to the first and second ports. The armature is steplessly adjustable between the first and second end positions in every setting.

Such pressure-regulating valves have previously been described. These pressure-regulating valves are particularly needed for the flexible control of a wastegate. It is known that internal combustion engines and turbochargers are not ideal partners. The air flow of the intake air is proportional to an increase in rotational speed. In turbochargers, the relation is entirely different. The air flow here does not increase proportionally, but quadratic with respect to the rotational speed of the turbocharger. To prevent an excessive boost pressure from damaging or destroying the engine at high rotational speeds, a bypass is provided in the turbine housing, which is called a wastegate. The wastegate basically has two end positions: closed and open. In the closed position of the wastegate, the combination of the engine and the turbocharger shows the same behavior as the system without the wastegate. In the interest of protecting the engine from destruction due to an excessive boost pressure at excessive rotational speeds, the wastegate is opened so that the turbocharger can be bypassed and the boost pressure can be lowered. However, since, in particular with gasoline engines, different load conditions require different boost pressures in the characteristic map ranges of the engine in order to ensure optimum combustion, a flexible control of the wastegate is required for various rotational speeds. There is therefore a large operation range of the wastegate between the two end positions mentioned depending on the rotational speed and the engine power. For example, a rotatable flap may be arranged in the wastegate which has to be controlled. Since the installation space in the area of the turbocharger is very hot, pneumatic drives with low temperature sensitivity are in particular used. An actuator of the flap situated in the wastegate is correspondingly configured as a pressure-controlled pressure actuator. A spring arranged in the pressure actuator maintains the flap in the closed position when in a non-energized state.
A pressure-control is required for a variable control of the actuator which, when an excessive boost pressure prevails, opens the flap in the wastegate against the bias force of the spring arranged in the actuator. Such pressure-regulating valves are often configured as electromagnetic pressure-regulating valves having a first port at which the boost pressure of the turbocharger prevails, a second port connected with the pressure-controlled component, for example, the pressure actuator, and a third port often connected to the atmosphere and therefore being at atmospheric pressure. Due to the set of characteristic curves of the internal combustion engine stored in the engine control, a boost pressure is defined for each load condition and range of rotational speed, which, based on the current boost pressure, exists at the second port as a mixed pressure composed of the boost pressure and atmospheric pressure. The level of this mixed pressure at the second port can in particular be influenced by the switching frequency and the modulation of the electromagnetic drive. Switching frequencies of up to 35 Hz are currently common with known pressure-regulating valves. In this case, 35 so-called time slots exist in one second, wherein, depending on the pulse width modulation used, a time slot can be kept open or closed for different lengths of time. With a duty cycle of 100%, a time slot is caused to assume the open position over the entire period so that the current boost pressure of the turbocharger prevails at the second port.
A higher switching frequency of about 300 Hz is desired to allow for an even more precise boost pressure regulation in the interest of optimizing the combustion process and of thereby lowering the fuel consumption and the emission values. Although such a switching frequency could be achieved with the electromagnetic drives used, the known pres sure-regulating valves are, in particular, not designed therefore, these valves having two valve seats, i.e., a first valve seat for interrupting the connection between the third port and the first and second ports, and a second valve seat for interrupting the connection between the boost pressure port and the second and third port. Such a high frequency would have too negative an influence on the oscillation behavior of these known pressure-regulating valves and would compromise the service life of the valve.

Electromagnetic pressure-regulating valve for controlling pressure-controlled components in motor vehicles


An impulse suppression apparatus and method applied in an OFDM system for suppressing the impulse noise of a first time-domain signal are disclosed. The impulse suppression apparatus includes a noise blanker for generating a second time-domain signal through blanking the noise of the first time-domain signal, wherein each absolute value of the second time-domain signal is not greater than a predetermined value, a first Fourier transform unit for performing a Fourier transform on the second time-domain signal to generate a frequency-domain signal, an equalizing module for generating an equalized signal by equalizing each sub-carrier signal of the frequency-domain signal, a decision unit for generating a decision signal according to the equalized signal, and a compensation module for computing the difference between the equalized signal and the decision signal and for generating the output signal through calibrating the equalized signal according to the difference.

The invention relates to an impulse suppression apparatus and a related method, and more particularly, to an impulse suppression apparatus and a related method utilizing a decision-aided reconstruction procedure.
Generally, the radio frequency communication systems suffer more interferences, such as atmospheric interference and jamming, than the wired transmission communication systems. Some interferences appear as Gaussian model, and some interferences generated by electrical self-starters, power lines, or high-current switches, are called impulse noises. Since the impulse, the short for impulse noise, contains a lot of power in a short time interval, the influence of the impulse on a received signal is greater than other kinds of noise on the received signal. As a result, it is an important issue to receivers to detect and suppress the impulse noises.
Take the radio frequency communication systems for transmitting audio and video data as an example, such as a Digital Video Broadcasting-Terrestrial (DVB-T) system. Since the impulse contains high power, the audio-output equipments suffering the impulse may generate a popping noise, and the image output equipment suffering the impulse may show a distorted image on its screen. It goes without saying that the popping noise and distorted image make the end users feel uncomfortable. Therefore, when designing the DVB-T system, the system designer would rather sacrifice some signal quality to suppress the impulse than hope the end users being tolerant on the popping noise and the distorted image. A common method for suppressing impulse noise is comparing the absolute value of the receive signal with a threshold value. If the absolute value of the receive signal is greater than the threshold value at a time point, the system determines the received signal is influenced by an impulse at the time point and sets the value of the received signal at the time point to be zero. Please refer to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the operation of a related art impulse suppressing method. As shown in FIG. 1, the input signal is a digital signal, and corresponds to different values at different sampling time, where the absolute value of the input signal represents the magnitude of the input signal at a sampling time. The solid line denotes the actual magnitude of the input signal, and the dotted line represents the magnitude of an impulse noise. At the sampling time tb, the magnitude of the input signal is "3", and the input signal suffers the impulse noise, whose magnitude is "6". Therefore the detected magnitude of the input signal at the sampling time tb is "9". If the threshold value mentioned above is "8", the receiver determines the input signal is influenced by an impulse noise at sampling time tb, and sets the value of output signal at the sampling time tb to be "0". In the same manner, the receiver also sets the values of the output signal at the sampling time ta, tc, td to be zero. Although the impulse noises at the sampling time ta, tb, tc, td are suppressed, the actual value of the input signal at the sampling time ta, tb, tc, td are suppressed too. For example, at the sampling time tb, the magnitude of the impulse noise is "6", and the actual magnitude of the input signal is "3". As the value of the output signal is set to be zero, both of the magnitude of the impulse noise and the magnitude of the input signal are suppressed. As a result, the procedure mentioned above distorts the data transmitted via the input signal.
In some application, the users will not be aware the distortion because of the limitation of human sense organs. For example, regarding the image transmission system, the audience will not be aware the difference of a pixel. Hence, if the input signal is distorted at a few sampling times the audience will not be aware. This phenomenon also happens in audio data transmission system. However, as the quality of the audio and video equipments raise, required quality of image and sound increases. In summary, although the related art method can suppress the impulse noise obviously, the quality of the received signal is reduced accordingly. As a result, the related art method cannot present the transmitted audio and video data correctly.

Impulse suppression apparatus applied in OFDM system and related method thereof


An inlet cannula is provided for supplying a fluid from a human vessel to a fluid pump, the inlet cannula formed as a hollow structure suitable for conveying the fluid and a surface of the inlet cannula has an ingrowth zone and an inlet zone separated from each other by a tear-off edge extending in the circumferential direction of the inlet cannula, wherein a first tangent to the inlet zone on the tear-off edge has an angle to a longitudinal axis of the inlet cannula of >0° and <180°, and wherein a surface roughness in the ingrowth zone is greater than a surface roughness in the inlet zone, and wherein along the flow direction the ingrowth zone is concave, convex, or not curved and the inlet zone is convexly curved, and wherein the tear-off edge forms a curvature transition between the ingrowth zone and the inlet zone.

In the prior art, inlet cannulas for heart pumps are known, which guide blood from a ventricle into a blood pump. Along the outer surfaces, the inlet cannulas, in general, include a structured region having increased surface roughness. The structuring is intended to allow the inlet cannula to grow into the ventricle wall. Inlet cannulas are generally polished in the region of the inlet opening, so that the surface roughness is minimal there. This, in turn, is to allow for a uniform and uninhibited flow of blood into the inlet cannula. Nonetheless, the inlet cannulas known from the prior art have a design that carries a high risk of thrombus formation due to disturbance of the blood flow at the inlet of the inlet cannula. The known inlet cannulas furthermore carry the risk of thrombi from the ventricle reaching the inlet cannula, and then also the blood pump, and clogging it.


The present invention describes a method and a computer program product for finding an impact of a change on a computer generated code. The method includes the generation of a dependency graph for the computer generated code. The dependency graph includes a plurality of nodes that are connected logically by one or more edges. The method enables an expert to assign nodal weights to the nodes, based on their importance. The method also enables the expert to assign edge weights and distribution ratios, based on the criticality of the relationship between the nodes and their distance from the root node. Thereafter, the impact of the change is found by implementing a spreading activation technique on the dependency graph. The output gathered after the activation represents the impact of the change on the computer generated code.

The present invention relates to the field of software design and maintenance. More specifically, the present invention relates to finding an impact of a change in a parameter of a software system by implementing a spreading activation technique.
In the software industry, large-scale software systems are used in various business-critical processes. Typically, such software systems have a long shelf life and require maintenance over time to incorporate required modifications or functionality upgrades to them.
Modifications made in a software system include changes in its design, software code specifications, implementing the software system, maintaining the performance of the software system, ensuring the operation of the software system in different environments and its evolution, and the like. Hence, it is necessary to identify the effect of such modifications on the software system. Based on the identified effect on the software system, a software developer or expert can estimate the associated cost and effort.
Impact analysis is a technique, which helps in finding the effect of modifications made in a set of program instructions in a software system. Impact analysis also helps to determine the schedules, effort and cost estimates entailed in the complete life cycle of the software system.
Various techniques are available for conducting impact analysis. Examples of such techniques include, but are not limited to, program-slicing techniques and transitive closure on call graphs. Program-slicing techniques such as static program slicing techniques and dynamic program slicing are used for software maintenance and debugging.
Static program-slicing techniques use a collection of program instructions in the code of the software system, to detect their effect on the given variables, or the effect of the given variables on a collection of program instructions in the code of the software system. The accuracy of such static program-slicing techniques to identify relevant variables depends on the accuracy in the identification of the collection of statements and the given variables. This makes such slicing techniques computationally expensive.
Dynamic program-slicing technique detects the effect of the implementation of a collection of program instructions in the software code of a system on the given variables, or that of the given variables on a collection of program instructions in the software code. The detection for dynamic program-slicing technique is based on execution path traces. These execution path traces are the program execution paths that correspond to the different inputs. Sometimes, especially in the case of complex systems, these inputs are not available. Hence, different test cases need to be developed for such complex systems, which make the dynamic program-slicing techniques not only computationally expensive.
The techniques mentioned above may have a possible impact on a software system due to a change in the code of the software system. However, these techniques do not quantify the impact of these changes. Typically, the application of these techniques on object-oriented systems is complex due to the number of dependencies between the parts of the software systems. Further, the techniques mentioned above fail to identify the relationships between the various parts of the software system, to calculate the impact effectively.
In light of the foregoing, there is a need for a method for effectively finding the impact of a change on a software system. Further, such a method should be able to identify inter-relationships between various parts of the software system.

Method for finding an impact on a computer generated code


Determination of transport phenomena properties in porous media is one major objective of core analysis studies in petrophysics, reservoir engineering, and groundwater hydrology. Porosity measurement may be considered as a key factor to identify the hydraulic performance of a low permeable porous medium (e.g. rock or concrete). Additionally, the rate of absorption under pressure depends on the permeability, which is related to the connectivity between the existing pores within the porous structure. An alternative Gas Expansion Induced Water Intrusion Porosimetry (GEIWIP) method and apparatus is useful to measure the total porosity and pore size distribution, using a gas/water intrusion apparatus for water tight materials.

Porosity and permeability measurement are recognised as an important evaluation of structural materials such as concrete, as these parameters influence the structural and durability properties significantly. Permeable and porous structure of concrete may cause various durability problems and compromise its performance. During the hydration process, factors such as aggregates, interface between aggregates and cement paste, degree of hydration, consolidation, water-to-cementitious materials ratio, rheology, and curing conditions determine the volume of voids and their distribution within the hardened solid paste, which in turn defines the concrete porosity (Brown et al., 1993). Therefore, porosity data contributes to our understanding of the nature of concrete and impacts concrete strength, resistivity, applicability, and service life. The resistance of concrete to chemical attack and physical degradation is directly related to the permeability. The distribution of pores is associated with the potential transport processes of moisture and aggressive ions, which can cause alkali-silica expansion, sulfate attack, corrosion of embeded reinforcement, etc. (Roy et al., 1993).
A continuous network of pores encompasses different sizes from tiny pores in the cementitious matrix of concrete (i.e. order of magnitude of 1 nm), to large pores in the interfacial regions with aggregate (i.e. order of magnitude of 10 μm). The physical significance of pore size distribution (PSD) in concrete encompasses the "voids", as coarse pores, the "capillary pores", as the middle size pores, and the "gel pores", as the fine pores (Roy et al., 1993).
The intrinsic complication of pore size distributions has led a lot of studies to develop experimental approaches capable of quantifying such geometric properties of porous materials. Recently, Xiong et al. (2016) reviewed the experimental characterisations of pore network of porous media in transport phenomena. The reviewed methods included imaging techniques like X-ray computed micro-tomography (micro-CT), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), focused ion beams (FIB), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP), and gas adsorption. Other recent work includes CT scan of a concrete sample at a low cost by (du Plessis et al., 2016). The pore structure of cementitious materials was evaluated, using electrical impedance methods (Tang et al., 2016). The simple and inexpensive bleeding test was conducted on fresh concrete to obtain the permeability and bulk modulus (Ghourchian et al., 2016). As a limitation of their test, concrete was required to be fresh so that the self-weight bleeding rate could be measured. The fractality of pores was tested through MIP on cement paste (Gao et al., 2016). Their MIP results showed that the solid mass was the most probable fractal type. MIP was also used to characterize the micropore structures of the cement pastes, comprising ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBFS) (Choi et al., 2017). They indicated that the change in GGBFS ratio might cause different total porosity evolution in the cement paste at its early ages comparing to its later ages. Therefore, among other methods, MIP seems to be considered as a popular tool to evaluate the pore structure of cement paste and concrete in recent studies.
The MIP is a mathematical description of the distribution of pores with different sizes (Roy et al., 1993). Diamond and Dolch (1972) suggested a single lognormal distribution as a description of pores in concrete determined by MIP. A combination of three lognormal distributions, using a cumulative percentage of pore volume with respect to the total pore volume, has been applied to characterize the pore size distribution (Roy et al., 1993). The mercury intrusion measurement can be integrated with the Washburn model (Washburn, 1921a) to evaluate the diameter of cylindrical pores filled at each intrusion pressure. However, the Washburn model is only valid for a porous systems made up of cylindrical pores with specific diameters, all connected to the outer surface directly through pores with a larger diameter. Obviously, not all porous materials conform to such a model. Concrete, as a hydrated cement-based material, has been shown to have two main incompatibilities with the Washburn model: (i) pores were reported with the exhibition of a high degree of convolution (Wang and Diamond, 1994), and considerably fractal character (Wang, 1995), that can hardly be assumed to have a cylindrical shape; (ii) the interior pores were accessible to mercury indirectly through percolated chains of finer pores known as "ink-bottle" connected pores (Diamond, 2000). Windslow and Diamond (1969) indicated that the filling process of cement pastes during MIP was irrespective of the pore sizes, thus leading to inaccurate pore size distributions. More likely, in concrete, the existence of channels and micro-cracks may expose pores to mercury at relatively lower pressures (Diamond, 2000). Therefore, at each operating pressure, larger pores that are surrounded by finer pores, cannot be captured by the Washburn-based MIP test. Moreover, the equilibrium geometry of liquid-solid interfaces of mercury, a non-wetting fluid, and grain walls leads to a convex meniscus and an opposing capillary action, preventing mercury to penetrate into the pores (Herbert, 2006). This raises two main drawbacks of using mercury for porosimetry. First, due to the high surface tension of mercury, high levels of pressure are required to force the mercury into the void spaces. Second, only pores that are connected to the material outer surface will be penetrated. This may encourage the use of a wetting fluid for porosimetry, instead of mercury, to apply lower pressures and fill smaller pores that are not interconnected. Wang et al. (1997) introduced a permeability test on concrete samples using water. They measured the permeability by permeating water from top to bottom of the sample. The surface water drop was recorded once a day at a pressure head of about 300 mm. The permeability was reported along with the crack opening displacement in concrete (Wang et al., 1997). The total porosity of shale samples has been measured using the water immersion porosimetry (WIP) technique (Kuila et al., 2014). The samples were saturated with deionized water under a constant pressure of 13.7 MPa (2000 psi) for 24 h. They reported the benefit of using water instead of mercury in low permeable gas shale samples. Moreover, the capillary transport of water in mortars and concrete has been studied to observe the time dependency of capillary sorption of water (Martys and Ferraris, 1997). They suggested an empirical relationship to define the volume of water absorbed within a long time period of 10 to 20 days.
One of the most accurate and rapid techniques for the determination of porosity of rocks is the method of gas expansion (Washburn and Bunting, 1922). It has been used in many experimental studies such as Ernest (1926), Luffel et al. (1992), and Karastathis (2007). In this method, the gas at an initial pressure was allowed to expand and fill the pores within a short time period (i.e. 5-15 min). The pore volume was obtained by measuring the corresponding pressure drop from an initial value to the final state. The governing relationship between the pressure drop and the expanded volume was derived based on Boyle's law (Anovitz and Cole, 2015). However, porosity was the only transport parameter that could be measured with this method as no pressure-time history was recorded during the expansion process due to the fast penetration of gas. Additionally, Boyle's law is only valid when the expansion process is isothermal, where the system is in thermodynamic equilibrium. It is a challenge to maintain the equilibrium status during the gas expansion test as the gas penetration process is a fast process and deviates from thermodynamic equilibrium.
Pore size distribution of porous materials shows the volume of micro pores, meso pores, and macro pores which is an important description of the pore structure. In microporous (pore size up to 2 nm) and mesoporous (pore size 2 to 50 nm) materials, the fine pores (i.e. nano pores) have a significant contribution to the total porosity of the matrix. Pore structure characterization of these materials is mostly affected by the pore sizes ranged between 1 and 50 nm. Diamond (1970) reported the portion of pore sizes in the range of 10-200 nm in a clay type material, Macon, Georgia kaolinite, was 0.22 cm3/g out of 0.27 cm3/g of the total pores specific volume. Similar portions of nano pores were seen in the other types of clay such as Fithian illite, Clay Spur montmorillonite, and Garfield nontronite (Diamond, 1970).
An example of a micro-mesoporous material is a shale gas rock due to the existence of organic material and clays. In shale gas reservoirs, a major portion of the total porosity is distributed in nano pores (Clarkson et al., 2013). However, the natural fractures as a result of the tectonic stress and pore fluid pressure may increase the pore sizes in a shale gas rock. Therefore, a tailored analysis of the pore structure of shale gas rock requires a knowledge of all pores including the micro pores (Bustin et al., 2008). The fluid flow mechanisms and the hydraulic properties such as hydraulic conductivity and storativity of these types of rock (i.e. shaly rocks) highly depend on their pore size distribution (Clarkson, 2011). Cement-based materials are another example of micro-mesoporous materials in which finer pores have a larger density of pore volume than the larger pores. The pore sizes distribute from nano pores, known as gel pores (1-100 nm), to mesopores, known as capillary pores (100 nm-10 μm), and macro pores (10 μm -1 cm) (Gong et al., 2014). Different distributions of gel pores, capillary pores, and macro pores cause different physical properties in cement pastes, mortar, and concrete.
Many basic and comprehensive methods are developed and being used to study the pore size distributions in micro- mesoporous materials. As an example, the total porosity and pore size distribution of reference clays, naturally-occurring subsoils, and commercial clay samples were obtained using mercury porosimetry (Diamond, 1970). In this study, the minimum equivalent pore diameter was approximately 15 nm and the maximum was several hundred microns. The contact angle of mercury on montmorillonite, kaolinite, and illite were measured to be 139° and 147° for the rest of two, respectively. As mercury is a non-wetting fluid, its contact angle is greater than 90°. Thus, mercury would not intrude the pores of the matrix spontaneously, in turn, requires an external pressure to be applied to the pores. This physical principle was the basis of the mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) and applied by Ritter and Erich (1948), Winslow and Shapiro (1959) and many others. In this method, the minimum diameter d (m) of a cylindrical pore that can be intruded by mercury at the pressure P (Pa) was given by Washburn (1921b):
                    d        =                  -                                    4                            σ                                                                                cos                                                  (                  θ                  )                                                      P                                              (        A1        )            where
  σ        (          N              m        2              )  is the surface tension of mercury, and θ (°) is the contact angle.
Here, the contact angle depends on the material type and remains constant during the test. Generally, the size distribution that was detected by MIP measurement was between 2 nm to slightly larger than 50 nm as equivalent pore diameter (Clarkson et al., 2013). The pore size distribution in the cement-based materials was characterized in the range of 1 nm to 10 μm through MIP measurement. However, the larger pores in the range of 10 μm to 1 cm of cement-based materials structure were not detected by the MIP method (Gong et al., 2014). Willis et al. (1998) replaced the mercury with Wood's metal and characterized the pore size distribution. As of their results, the distribution was unable to capture the fine pores and exhibited larger pore sizes compared to MIP measurements.
MIP test can be performed on a clean and dry sample, whereas drying process may alter the porosity of the sample (Bustin et al., 2008). Gallé (2001) studied the effect of different drying processes (vacuum-drying, oven-drying at 60° C. and 105° C., and freeze-drying) on MIP results and concluded that oven-drying is not proper for MIP test as it triggers microstructure evolution and mechanical damages to the solid matrix.
Despite the constant contact angle, the capillary force may increase when the diameter of a pore decreases. This may occur when mercury meets the pore throat which may require a higher pressure to fill the pore throat. In ink-bottle connected pores, where the pore throat is connected to a larger pore, the capillary force decreases while mercury fills the large pore by the same pressure that was increased at the vicinity of the pore throat. According to this dilemma, the volume that is assigned to the fine pore diameter might be larger than reality. As a result, the pore volume of finer pores can be overestimated in MIP. In a comparison of the pore size distribution results obtained from MIP measurements and scanning electron microscope (SEM) method, the MIP results showed misallocated pore volumes (Diamond, 2000). Furthermore, the assumption of cylindrical pore geometry in MIP measurements causes an imperfect pore size distribution where the pore structure has high convolution. In addition, the size of the sample for mercury intrusion porosimetry is limited by the capacity of the intrusion readout system (Diamond, 1970).
The capillary condensation method (Chang, 2016; Rouquerol et al., 1999; Sarkisov and Monson, 2000; Tanaka et al., 2000) is another common approach to detect the pore size distribution. When vapour pressure in a capillary void is not zero, the vapour condenses to form a film of liquid, adhesive to the walls of the void, due to the van der Waals attraction force interactions between vapour phase molecules. If the vapour pressure increases, the condensation continues to reach the equilibrium vapour pressure which is less than saturation vapour pressure. In this method, the vapour pressure Pν, that causes the capillary condensation, was defined by the Kelvin equation (Gong et al., 2014):
                              ln                                (                                          P                v                                            P                S                                      )                          =                  -                                    4                            H                                                                                γ                                                                                V                m                                      DRT                                              (        A2        )            where PS is the saturation vapour pressure, D (m) the diameter of the capillary void,
      V    m          (                  m        3            mol        )  the molar volume of the liquid, T (K) the temperature, and R the molar gas constant. The minus sign in the right-hand side stands for the negative value of the radius of curvature for concave surfaces. The ratio
      P    v        P    S  is the measure of relative humidity. The capillary condensation causes sorption of an intrusion substance that may lead to the pore size distribution characterization in a porous material. In general, this method is able to detect mesopores up to the order of 100 nm. In the case of using nitrogen as intruded isotherm (Barrett et al., 1951), surface adsorption is the main phenomenon that measures the surface of the pores. Nitrogen sorption is free of external pressure and requires a temperature as low as 77 K. A multilayer adsorption model, known as BET theory, was developed using nitrogen sorption by considering the Kelvin equation in a cylindrical pore (Barrett et al., 1951). Brunauer et al. (1967) developed an empirical method to expand the BET model to be applied to any kind of pore geometry. Therefore, the nitrogen sorption method took advantage of the BET model to address the pore size distribution regardless of pores shape, however, it did not reflect the effect of capillary condensation as it was only based on surface adsorption (Daian, 1988). Furthermore, the PSD obtained from gas adsorption techniques incorporates several undesired physical phenomena leading to an improper analysis of adsorption data such as: the adsorbate phase transitions, monolayer formation in combined micro- and mesoporous materials, and the tensile strength effect (Groen et al., 2003).
Following the covered limitations of gas adsorption, water was used as the intrusion isotherm. According to the Kelvin equation, the relation between the vapour pressure of water and the curvature of water-vapour interface was provided (Fisher et al., 1981). It was investigated that the vapour of water condenses in channels of adequately small dimensions. In their study, it was verified that the Kelvin equation provides reliable results for meniscus radii as small as 4 nm at a humidity of 0.945 to 0.996. The thickness Dmen of capillary-condensed water within an unsaturated slit-shaped pore was given as follows (Fisher et al., 1981):
                              D          men                =                                            2                                                                                γ                                                                                V                m                                                    RT                                                                                ln                                                                                (                                                      P                    v                                    /                                      P                    S                                                  )                                              +                      2                                                                                Z              1                                -                                    2                              RT                                                                                ln                                                                                (                                                            P                      v                                        /                                          P                      S                                                        )                                                                                ∫                                  Z                  1                                                  0.5                                                                                D                    men                                                                                0.43                                                                                RT                                    Z                                                dZ                                                                        (        A3        )            where Z is the normal distance from the solid surface of the pore. The integral of
  RT  Zis the adsorption isotherm of water on a flat surface, where Z1 (nm) is equal to −0.43/ In (Pν/PS) (Fisher et al., 1981). The thicknesses of up to 200 nm of capillary-condensed water, obtained from their experiment, were in a good agreement with Eq. (A3).
Another example of an application of capillary-condensed water is water sorption that was studied by Baroghel-Bouny (2007). The water sorption and nitrogen sorption were shown to be agreeable at a relative humidity higher than 0.3 (Koronthalyova, 2011). The relationship between the water saturation and pore radius was provided by Coussy (2011). They used van Genuchten's equations (van Genuchten, 1980), which is an equation for predicting hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soils. The water adsorption isotherm was ascribed to the pore size distribution of cement-based materials using moisture chemical potential of water (Gong et al., 2014). Under thermodynamic equilibrium, that equals the chemical potential of water and its vapour. The shape of the adsorption isotherm curve was used to estimate the cumulative pore-size distribution of cement paste up to 100 nm. Then, the resultant PSD was combined with empirical pore size distribution functions, obtained from image analysis, for pores larger than 100 nm to generate a full range pore size distribution of a concrete or a mortar. Earlier, the water sorption was applied with the help of nitrogen sorption and mercury intrusion to determine the pore size distribution in cement mortar (Daian, 1988). It was claimed that the MIP shows an overestimation of the pores volume because of ink-bottle connected pores.
Even though there are studies to apply water to characterize pore size distribution, a uniquely practical approach, without the obligation of combining different methods to cover the full range of pores (i.e. gel pores, mesopores, and macro pores) of the concrete materials is still absent.
In view of the forgoing, there remains a need for improved and alternative approaches to porosimetric analysis of materials.

Characterization of porous materials using gas expansion induced water intrusion porosimetry


The invention relates to a disc brake, especially for a utility vehicle, said disc brake comprising a caliper which is provided with a brake disc able to interact with brake linings and is fixed to a brake anchor plate in such a way that it can be axially displaced in relation to the brake disc. To this end, guiding struts on which the caliper is guided are fixed to the brake anchor plate, each guiding strut being enveloped by bellows fixed on both sides, in the region formed between the caliper and the brake anchor plate. The inventive disc brake is embodied in such a way that the peripheral head regions of the folds of the bellows facing the guiding strut have a peripheral contour deviating from the circumference of the guiding strut.

The present invention relates to a disc brake, in particular for a commercial vehicle having a brake caliper and a brake disc, which brake disc can be placed in active contact with brake pads. The caliper is fastened to a brake carrier so as to be axially displaceable relative to the brake disc, for which purpose guide pins are fixedly connected to the brake carrier. The brake caliper is guided on the guide pins, wherein each guide pin is enclosed, in the region formed between the brake caliper and the brake carrier, by a bellows which is fixed at both sides.
In disc brakes of the above-mentioned type, the brake caliper is connected to the brake carrier, which is connected to the vehicle, by way of fastening elements which have guide pins. Here, the guide pins engage at one side in the brake carrier, while at the other side, they are guided in sliding bearings of the brake caliper in such a way that an axial displacement of the brake caliper is possible on the positionally fixed brake carrier.
To protect the guide pins, in particular to prevent dirt accumulation, the associated guide pin is enclosed by a bellows in the respective region between the brake carrier and the brake caliper. On account, predominantly, of a lack of space, the bellows is dimensioned to be as small as possible, so that it bears closely against the guide pin, wherein the peripheral head regions of the folds which face toward the guide pin function practically as sealing lips, producing hermetically sealed-off chambers in each case as a result.
During a slow movement of the brake caliper, as occurs during re-adjustment of the brake carrier on account of wear, the quantity of air enclosed in the bellows is equalized corresponding to the change in volume by way of diffusion, that is to say air molecules permeate through the wall of the bellows in one or the other direction, so that no high pressure or vacuum results in the chambers which are formed. Here, the number of folds and their height are dependent on the working stroke which is to be performed by the disc brake.
When the brake caliper is displaced away from the brake carrier, the bellows adheres to the bar as a result of the vacuum which is produced, wherein the close-fitting peripheral head regions, which undesirably form sealing lips, of the folds which face toward the guide pin form vacuum chambers, which are independent of one another.
When the brake caliper is displaced in the opposite direction, that is to say toward the brake carrier, the vacuum formed in the first chamber which faces toward the brake caliper is reduced as a result of the displacement, wherein the fold is relieved of load and the bellows can fold together again in that region. The subsequent chambers, in contrast, remain adhered as a result of the vacuum, and are no longer folded. As a result, during the continued axial displacement of the brake caliper, the bellows is, so to speak, folded around and is pulled into the guide bore of the brake caliper, so that, in some circumstances, the bellows is damaged, which can lead to failure of the brake.
The present invention is, therefore, based on the object of further developing a disc brake of the above-mentioned type such that, using structurally simple means, function-related damage to the bellows is eliminated, and the operational reliability of the disc brake is improved overall.
This and other objects are achieved by providing a disc brake having a brake caliper and a brake disc, which brake disc can be placed in active contact with brake pads. The caliper is fastened to a brake carrier so as to be axially displaceable relative to the brake disc, for which purpose guide pins are fixedly connected to the brake carrier. The brake caliper is guided on the guide pins, wherein each guide pin is enclosed, in the region formed between the brake caliper and the brake carrier, by a bellows which is fixed at both sides. The peripheral head regions of those folds of the bellows, which face toward the guide pin, have a circumferential contour which is different to the circumference of the guide pin.
The modification to the bellows, which is additionally possible with little additional production expenditure, actively prevents the possibility of a vacuum, as a result of which the wall of the bellows would bear largely with its entire surface against the guide pin, not being produced in the separately formed chambers.
In addition, there is pressure equalization between the individual chambers, so that the bellows can permanently perform its intended function in an unrestricted fashion.
A displacement of the brake caliper in the direction of the brake carrier leads to a reduction of the vacuum not only in the first chamber, which is adjacent to the brake caliper, but rather in the entire space enclosed by the bellows. This ensures that the bellows folds uniformly in a functional manner, so that it is prevented from being damaged as described with regard to the prior art.
As a result of the circumferential contour of the head regions of the fold, which face toward the guide pin, being different from the preferably circular circumference of the guide pin, gap formation is partially obtained. As a result, a one-chamber system is practically formed with regard to pressure equalization and/or the exchange of air. This prevents the formation of sealing lips which bear against the guide pin in a continuous fashion.
According to an advantageous refinement of the invention, it is provided that the corresponding peripheral head region of each fold is provided with at least one knob, which bears against the guide pin and additionally spaces the folds apart from the guide pin while forming a gap. Here, pressure equalization is obtained by way of the gap which is formed.
The pressure equalization may also be obtained if, instead of the knob, which constitutes a positive formation, a comparable cut-out, which in contrast forms a negative formation, is provided in the head region of the respective fold. The cut-out provides a flow passage between two adjacent chambers.
If required, a plurality of knobs or cut-outs may also be provided more or less uniformly over the circumference.
Another circumferential contour, which is different from the circumferential contour of the guide pin, of the head regions of the folds is also templated, for example in the form of a polygon, in which the sides of the polygon bear against the guide pin, while the formed corner region provide the desired passage.
The same effect is obtained with an oval contouring, which likewise leads to gap formation relative to the round circular contour of the guide pin, specifically at two opposite end regions, wherein it is sufficient for the greatest dimension of the contour of the head region to be kept slightly larger than the smallest dimension, which is associated with the head region and by way of which the corresponding fold bears against the guide pin.
It is to be noted in any case that those head regions of the bellows which are associated with the guide pin do not bear completely against the outer face of the guide pin during deformation.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Disc brake, in particular for a commercial vehicle

Knorr-Bremse Systeme fuer Nutzfahrzeuge GmbH


An exhaust gas conversion system includes an oxide catalyst, a filter, a selective catalytic reduction catalyst and an ammonia supplying device. The filter has a honeycomb structural body including a honeycomb unit. The selective catalytic reduction catalyst has a honeycomb structural body including a honeycomb unit. The oxide catalyst, the filter and the selective catalytic reduction catalyst are sequentially arranged in a direction in which an exhaust gas flows. A ratio of an area of a cross section of the selective catalytic reduction catalyst perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the selective catalytic reduction catalyst with respect to an area of a cross section of the filter perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the filter is approximately 0.55 or more and approximately 0.90 or less. The area of the cross section of the filter is approximately 300 cm2 or more and approximately 1000 cm2 or less.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an exhaust gas conversion system and an exhaust gas conversion method.
2. Discussion of the Background
Conventionally, as one of the automotive exhaust gas converting systems, an SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction) system has been known in which NOx is reduced to nitrogen and water by using ammonia.
In the SCR system, zeolite is known as a material for absorbing ammonia.
In Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2000-303826, an exhaust gas conversion apparatus is disclosed. The exhaust gas conversion apparatus in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2000-303826, which includes an apparatus having an SCR catalyst for reducing NOx provided in a exhaust path of a diesel engine, a DOC (Diesel Oxidation Catalyst) and a DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter) serially provided in this order from an upstream side of the SCR catalyst, supplies and ejects ammonia from an exhaust path between the DPF and the SCR catalyst.
The contents of Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2000-303826 are incorporated herein.

Exhaust gas conversion system and exhaust gas conversion method


A separating agent for enantiomeric isomers has an enantiomerically active polymer compound supported thereon. The polymer compound has an exothermic peak before a decomposition temperature of the polymer compound supported is reached in a differential calorimetric curve obtained in a process of temperature elevation in differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) on the separating agent. Also, disclosed is a method of evaluating asymmetry recognition ability of a separating agent for enantiomeric isomers. The method includes performing the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) of a separating agent for enantiomeric isomers having supported thereon an enantiomerically active polymer compound to obtain a differential calorimetric curve in a process of temperature elevation therein, and observing presence or absence of an exothermic peak of the polymer compound in the differential calorimetric curve before a decomposition temperature of the supported polymer compound is reached. The evaluation method provides a simpler method for the evaluation of asymmetry recognition ability and thus provides a separating agent for enantiomeric isomers having higher ability of recognizing asymmetry.

The present invention relates to a separating agent for enantiomeric isomers, in particular, a separating agent used for separating enantiomeric isomers in liquid chromatography. More particularly, the present invention relates to a separating agent for enantiomeric isomers that can enantiomerically resolve a broad range of chiral compounds with high separation factors in the analysis of pharmaceuticals, foods, agricultural chemicals, fragrants and the like and a method of evaluating the ability of recognizing asymmetry of such a separating agent.
Many organic compounds have isomers that have the same physical and chemical properties, such as boiling point, melting point and solubility but show a difference in a physiological activity, i.e., enantiomeric isomers. This difference in physiological activity between the isomers is attributable to the following. In most cases, proteins and carbohydrates that compose a living body of a living organism are composed only of the one of enantiomeric isomers so that they show a difference in the manner of action to the other kinds of enantiomeric isomers, resulting in a difference in the physiological activity. This can be compared to a difference in easiness (difference in physiological activity) of wearing of a glove for left hand (i.e., a living organism as an enantiomerically active substance) between the right hand and the left hand (respective enantiomeric isomers that act).
In particular, in the field of pharmaceutical preparations, in many cases, there are significant differences in medical property and toxicity between the two enantiomeric isomers. Therefore, in the Guideline for the Production of Pharmaceuticals, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare describes a policy for making a sharp distinction between enantiomeric isomers saying xe2x80x9cwhen the drug of interest is a racemic modification, it is desirable to preliminarily study absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion kinetics of each enantiomeric isomer.xe2x80x9d
Since enantiomeric isomers have completely the same physical and chemical properties, such as boiling point, melting point, and solubility as previously stated, they cannot be analyzed by ordinary separation means. For this reason, extensive studies have been made on techniques for separating enantiomeric isomers that analyze a wide variety of enantiomeric isomers conveniently and with high precision. As a result, as an analytical technique that meets these requirements, an enantiomeric resolution method by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), in particular an enantiomeric resolution method by using a chiral column for HPLC has been developed. The chiral column referred to herein uses an asymmetry recognition agent itself or a chiral stationary phase composed of an asymmetry recognition agent supported on a suitable carrier.
For example, enantiomerically active poly (triphenylmethyl methacrylate) (cf., JP 57-150432 A), cellulose or amylose derivatives (Y. Okamoto, M. Kawashima and K. Hatada, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 106, 5357, 1984), ovomucoid, which is a protein (JP 63-307829 A) and the like have been developed.
It has been known that among many chiral stationary phases for HPLC, an enantiomeric resolution column having supported cellulose or amylose derivative on silica gel has high asymmetry recognition ability to an extremely wide variety of compounds. Furthermore, in recent years, studies on a liquid chromatographic fractionation method for fractionating enantiomerically active substances on an industrial scale including a chiral stationary phase for HPLC and a simulated moving bed method, which is a continuous liquid chromatographic fractionation method in combination have been developed (Pharm Tech. Japan, 12, 43 (1996)).
For example, enantiomerically active poly (triphenylmethyl methacrylate) (cf., JP 57-150432 A), cellulose or amylose derivatives (Y. Okamoto, M. Kawashima and K. Hatada, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 106, 5357, 1984), ovomucoid, which is a protein (JP 63-307829 A) and the like have been developed.
It has been known that among many chiral stationary phases for HPLC, an enantiomeric resolution column having supported cellulose or amylose derivative on silica gel has high asymmetry recognition ability to an extremely wide variety of compounds. Furthermore, in recent years, studies on a liquid chromatographic fractionation method for fractionating enantiomerically active substances on an industrial scale including a chiral stationary phase for HPLC and a simulated moving bed method, which is a continuous liquid chromatographic fractionation method in combination have been developed (Pharm Tech. Japan, 12, 43 (1996)).
In the case of chiral stationary phase for HPLC used as analysis means, complete separation of two enantiomeric isomer peaks in a short analysis time gives a full satisfaction. However, in order to further increase fractionation productivity, a liquid chromatographic fractionation method as production means has been required to not only completely separate a compound as a target of fractionation but also further separate two enantiomeric isomer peaks of the target compound; that is, a chiral stationary phase having a value of separation factor xcex1 as high as possible has been desired.
Under the circumstances, various contrivances have been made to more fully develop the asymmetry recognition ability of the chiral stationary phase including an enantiomerically active polymer compound such as, for example, a polysaccharide derivative as an asymmetry recognition agent to obtain a further increased value of separation factor xcex1. Under the present conditions, however, there are no evaluation methods for high asymmetry recognition ability other than those that use an HPLC measurement in reality. Accordingly, a simpler and easier method of evaluating asymmetry recognition ability has been demanded.
JP-A 2-289601 discloses a separating agent comprising a polysaccharide derivative having xe2x80x94COxe2x80x94NHR for OH.
The present invention has been achieved under the above-mentioned circumstances. That is, an object of the present invention is to provide a simpler and easier method of evaluating asymmetry recognition ability. Another object of the present invention is to provide a separating agent for enantiomeric isomers having higher asymmetry recognition ability by using the evaluation method.
As a result of extensive studies for achieving the above-mentioned objects, the inventors of the present invention have now found that those separating agents that cause polymer compounds which have been supported therein to exhibit exothermic peaks before the polymer compounds reach their decomposition temperatures in a differential thermal calorimetric curve obtained in a heat elevation process in differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) have high values of separation factors xcex1 of enantiomeric isomers, thereby achieving the present invention.
Therefore, the present invention provides a separating agent for enantiomeric isomers, comprising an enantiomerically active polymer compound supported thereon, wherein the polymer compound has an exothermic peak before a decomposition temperature of the polymer compound supported is reached in a differential calorimetric curve obtained in a process of temperature elevation in differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) on the separating agent.
It then provides a method of evaluating asymmetry recognition ability of a separating agent for enantiomeric isomers, comprising: performing a differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) of the separating agent for enantiomeric isomers having supported thereon an enantiomerically active polymer compound to obtain a differential calorimetric curve in a process of temperature elevation therein; and observing presence or absence of an exothermic peak of the polymer compound in the differential calorimetric curve before a decomposition temperature of the supported polymer compound is reached.
Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail by embodiments. However, the present invention is not limited thereto.
The enantiomerically active polymer compounds used in the present invention include polysaccharide derivatives, enantiomerically active polyamides, enantiomerically active polyesters, enantiomerically active polyamino acids, enantiomerically active polyethers, polymers having bound thereto enantiomerically active compounds, proteins, and modified proteins and complexes of these. In particular, polysaccharide derivatives or complexes thereof are suitably used.
The polysaccharide derivatives used in the present invention can be obtained by reacting a polysaccharide with a compound having a functional group that is reactive with the hydroxyl groups of the polysaccharide.
The polysaccharide may be any polysaccharide, being a synthetic or natural one or a modified natural one. The polysaccharide has preferably a high regularity in the manner of binding between saccharides. Examples of the polysaccharide include xcex2-1,4-glucan (cellulose), xcex1-1,4-glucan (amylose or amylopectin), xcex1-1,6-glucan (dextran), xcex2-1,6-glucan (pustulan), xcex2-1,3-glucan (for example, curdlan, schizophyllan, etc.), xcex1-1,3-glucan, xcex2-1,2-glucan (crown gall polysaccharide), xcex2-1,4-galactan, xcex2-1,4-mannan, xcex1-1,6-mannan, xcex2-1,2-fructan (inulin), xcex2-2,6-fructan (levan), xcex2-1,4-xylan, xcex2-1,3-xylan, xcex2-1,4-chitosan, xcex1-1,4-N-acetylchitosan (chitin), pullulan, agarose and alginic acid. Also, starches containing amylose are included therein. Among these polysaccharides, it is preferable to use cellulose, amylose, xcex2-1,4-xylan, xcex2-1,4-chitosan, chitin, xcex2-1,4-mannan, inulin, curdlan, etc. which can be easily obtained as highly pure polysaccharides, still preferably cellulose and amylose.
It is preferable that such a polysaccharide has a number-average degree of polymerization (i.e., the average number of pyranose or furanose rings per molecule) of at least 5, still preferably at least 10. From the viewpoint of handling properties, it is preferable that the number-average degree of polymerization thereof is not more than 1,000, though the upper limit thereof is not particularly defined.
The compounds having functional groups capable of reacting with the hydroxyl groups of the polysaccharide may be isocyanic acid derivatives, carboxylic acids, esters, acid halides, acid amides, halides, aldehydes, alcohols and any other compounds having leaving groups. As these compounds, use can be made of aliphatic, alicyclic, aromatic and heteroaromatic ones. Particularly preferable examples of the polysaccharide derivative to be used in the present invention include ester and carbamate derivatives of polysaccharides having at least 0.1 ester or urethane bond per glucose unit, more preferably ester and carbamate derivatives having an asymmetic center.
The enantiomerically active polymer compound is supported on the carrier preferably in an amount of from 1 to 100% by weight, more preferably from 5 to 60% by weight, and particularly preferably from 15 to 40% by weight, based on the carrier.
The carrier referred to herein includes organic porous substrates and inorganic porous ones, preferably inorganic porous ones. Appropriate examples of the organic porous substrates include polymers comprising polystyrene, polyacrylamide, polyacrylate, etc. Appropriate examples of the inorganic porous substrates include silica, alumina, magnesia, glass, kaolin, titanium oxide, silicates and hydroxyapatite. Silica gel may be cited as a particularly preferable carrier. The particle diameter of the silica gel is from 0.1 xcexcm to 10 mm, preferably from 1 xcexcm to 300 xcexcm, and more preferably from 5 xcexcm to 50 xcexcm and the average pore size thereof is from 10 angstroms to 100 xcexcm, preferably from 50 angstroms to 50,000 angstroms. When silica gel is employed as the carrier, it is preferable to preliminarily surface-coat the silica gel so as to exterminate the effects of the silanol remaining therein, though a non-surface-treated one may be used without any problem.
In the separating agent having supported thereon the enantiomerically active polymer compound of the present invention, the polymer compound may be applied and supported on the carrier through physical adsorption, or may be more firmly immobilized thereto by further forming chemical bonds. These chemical bonds may be formed by, for example, chemical bonds between the carrier and the coated polymer compound, chemical bonds between the polymer compound molecules on the carrier, chemical bonds formed by using a third component, or chemical bonds formed by reactions caused by irradiation of light, radiation such as xcex3-ray, or electromagnetic wave such as micro wave onto the polymer compound on the carrier, or by radical reactions. Furthermore, enantiomerically active polymer compounds as asymmetry recognition agents and enantiomerically inactive polymer compounds may be simultaneously supported on the carrier.
The separating agent for enantiomeric isomers of the present invention is characterized in that when differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) is performed, the polymer compound has an exothermic peak in a differential calorimetric curve obtained in a first heat elevation process before its decomposition temperature is reached; separating agents having such exothermic peaks can have higher asymmetry recognition ability.
It is preferred that DSC measurements are performed in a nitrogen atmosphere. The rate of heat elevation is not particularly limited. It is preferred to perform the DSC measurements at a rate of 0.5 to 100xc2x0 C./min, more preferably 5 to 50xc2x0 C./min. The temperatures at which the DSC measurements are started are not particularly limited. However, it is preferred that the measurements are started at lower temperature than room temperature.
In the DSC measurements, the separating agent containing the polymer compound of the invention, having the exothermic peak(s), may be considered to have an unstable structure in part or on a whole. The method of producing the separating agent containing the polymer compound of the invention is not in particular specified. Conditions of preparation that will influence formation of the unstable structure include, in general for example, heating of the polymer compound, rapid cooling, addition of a plasticizer or another additive and modification caused by introducing a bulky substituent into the polymer compound.
The separating agent of the invention can be obtained by dissolving an enantiomerically active polymer compound in a solvent to obtain a polymer dope, supporting it on a carrier and distilling the solvent out. After the distillation, the product may be heated and then cooled. The product is determined with a differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) to select a polymer compound having an exothermic peak before the decomposition temperature of the polymer compound supported has been reached in the differential calorimetric curve obtained in temperature elevation procedures with the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) on the separating agent. The supporting step may be carried out by mixing or coating. The distillation may be carried out by heating at a reduced pressure. The supporting step and the distillating step may be repeated.
The separating agent of the invention may be obtained with changed distillating period in time, which may depend on the selected solvent or the distillating temperature.
The solvent to use for supporting the enantiomerically active polymer compounds on the carrier includes any solvent for the used polysaccharide derivative, for example, ketone solvents, ester solvents, ether solvents, amide solvents, imide solvents, hydrocarbon solvents, acid solvents, amine solvents, halogenated solvents, alcohol solvents and nitrile solvents. A single or plural mixed solvents may be used.
The temperature for supporting the enantiomerically active polymer compound on the carrier may be 20xc2x0 C. to 80xc2x0 C.
The distilling period in time after having supported the enantiomerically active polymer compound on the carrier may depend on the solvent used for the supporting step.
The heating treatment may be carried out at any temperature that is not more than the decomposition temperature of the supported enantiomerically active polymer compound, for example preferably at 100xc2x0 C. or lower. The cooling step may be effected rapidly or slowly. The slow cooling may be carried out by allowing the product to stand at a room temperature after the heating. The rapid cooling may be carried out with ice bathing or in a liquid at 0xc2x0 C. or lower such as dry ice-ethanol, dry ice-methanol and liquid nitrogen.
The separating agent of the invention may be used in enantiomeric resolution for example, in chromatography such as gas chromatography, liquid chromatography, thin layer chromatography, super critical chromatography and capillary electrophoresis and then membrane separation. In particular it may be preferably used as a chiral immobilized (stationary) phase of the liquid chromatography. it may be also used for enantiomeric resolution by continuous-wise liquid chromatography such as the simulated moving bed.
A third additive may be used at the supporting step of the enantiomerically active polymer compound on the carrier, for example, any compound not bleeding out during separating use, preferably a polymer such as polystyrene, polycaprolactam, AS resin, poly-methyl methacrylate, polyacetal and polycarbonate.

Separating agent for enantiomeric isomers


New designs of optical devices, particularly for adding or dropping a selected wavelength or a group of wavelengths as well as multiplexing a plurality of signals into a multiplexed signal or demultiplexing a multiplexed signal into several signals are disclosed. According to one aspect of the present invention, an isolator core is built into the optical devices to stop a reflected signal from an optical file in the optical devices. As a result, the optical devices are amenable to small footprint, broad operating wavelength range, enhanced impact performance, lower cost, and easier manufacturing process.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention is generally related to the area of optical communications. More particularly, the invention is related to optical wavelength multiplexing and add/drop devices with high reflection channel isolation and the method for making the same.
2. The Background of Related Art
The future communication networks demand ever increasing bandwidths and flexibility to different communication protocols. Fiber optic networks are becoming increasingly popular for data transmission due to their high speed and high capacity capabilities. Wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) is an exemplary technology that puts data from different sources together on an optical fiber with each signal carried at the same time on its own separate light wavelength. Using the WDM system, many separate wavelengths or channels of data can be multiplexed into a light stream transmitted on a single optical fiber. To take the benefits and advantages offered by the WDM system, there require many sophisticated optical network elements.
Optical add/drop and multiplexer/demultiplexer devices are those elements often used in optical systems and networks. For example, an exchanging of data signals involves the exchanging of matching wavelengths from two different sources within an optical network. In other words, an add/drop device can be advantageously used for the multi-channel signal for dropping a wavelength while simultaneously adding a channel with a matching wavelength at the same network node. Likewise, for transmission through a single fiber, a plurality of channel signals are combined via a multiplexer to be a multiplexed signal that eventually separated or demultiplexed via a demultiplexer.
A fundamental element in add/drop devices and multiplexer/demultiplexer is what is called a three-port device. As the name suggests, a three-port device has three ports, each for a multi-channel signal, a dropped or added signal or a multi-channel signal without the dropped or added signal. FIG. 1A shows a typical design of a three-port add/drop device 100. The optical device 100 includes a common (C) port 102, a reflection (R) port 104, and a transmission (T) port 106. When the device 100 is used as a multiplexer (i.e., to add a signal at a selected wavelength λK to other signals at wavelengths other than the selected wavelength λK), the T-port 106 receives a light beam at the selected wavelength λK that is to be multiplexed into a group of beams at wavelengths λ1, λ2, . . . λN excluding the selected wavelength λK coupled in from the C-port 102. The R-port 104 subsequently produces a multiplexed signal including all wavelengths λ1, λ2, . . . λK, . . . λN.
Likewise, when the optical device 100 is used to demultiplex signals, the C-port 102 receives a group of signals with wavelengths λ1, λ2, . . . λK, . . . λN. The T-port 106 produces a signal with the selected wavelength λK while the R-port 104 subsequently produces a group of signals including all wavelengths λ1, λ2, . . . λN except for the selected wavelength λx. In general, the optical paths towards a R-port and a T-port are respectively referred to as R-channel and T-channel.
In most occasions, however, each of the ports may reflect a certain level of signal, referred to as a noise. This back reflection signal or noise can cause signal fluctuation. Thus an in-line isolator is usually inserted to eliminate this noise. FIG. 2A shows that an isolator is inserted before a group of signals with wavelengths λ1, λ2, . . . λK, . . . λN is connected to a signal C-port of a demultiplexer while FIG. 2B shows that an isolator is disposed after a group of signals with wavelengths λ1, λ2, . . . λK, . . . λN is multiplexed via a multiplexer. In either case, it is noticed that the isolator is a separate device. The combination of the isolator and a multiplexer or a demultiplexer causes some problems. One of the noticeable problems is a relatively large space required to accommodate these two individual parts. Another one is the complicated procedures involved to optically align these two parts, thus incurring additional labels and costs in real installations.
Accordingly, there is a great need for techniques for providing high isolation for the optical devices such that the errors or reflection noises are minimized, and at the same time. The devices so designed are amenable to small footprint, broad operating wavelength range, enhanced impact performance, lower cost, and easier manufacturing process.


A function parameter switching memory circuit for a peripheral device is provided. The peripheral device includes a function parameter switching memory circuit, a power management device and an optical sensor. The function parameter switching memory circuit includes a function parameter switching key and a simulation control circuit. The function parameter switching key generates and outputs a physical switch signal in response to a switching trigger action of a user. The simulation control circuit generates a virtual switch signal to the optical sensor. The simulation control circuit analyzes the physical switch signal to memorize a switched-and-set function parameter storage value. The simulation control circuit generates the virtual switch signal according to one of the physical switch signal and the switched-and-set function parameter storage value. The optical sensor performs a function parameter switching process according to the virtual switch signal.

Generally, a personal computer or a notebook computer is equipped with various peripheral devices such as input devices. For example, a mouse device is one of the common input devices. For complying with different operating environments or meeting different operating requirements during the operations, the mouse device is usually equipped with a design of allowing the user to switch various function parameters. For example, in some kinds of mouse devices, the dots per linear inch (DPI) value that represents the mouse resolution can be adjusted by the user. Consequently, the user can select the desired sensitivity of operating the mouse device.
For example, in the field of designing mouse devices, a commercially available optical sensor with the product number PAW3519 is provided with a function of allowing the user to self-switch the DPI value of the mouse device.
FIG. 1A is a schematic perspective view illustrating a conventional mouse device with a DPI switching function. FIG. 1B is a schematic circuit block diagram illustrating associated components of the mouse device of FIG. 1A for executing the DPI switching function.
As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, the mouse device 10 comprises a DPI switching key 11. When the DPI switching key 11 is manually triggered by the user, the DPI switching key 11 correspondingly generates a physical switch signal I11. The physical switch signal I11 is transmitted to the optical sensor 13 to notify the optical sensor 13 of performing a DPI switching process.
However, the conventional technology still has some drawbacks. For example, the optical sensor 13 with the function of allowing the user to self-switch the DPI value of the mouse device is implemented with a SoC type chip (e.g., the PAW3519 optical sensor chip). Consequently, the internal programs of the optical sensor 13 cannot be modified, and the optical sensor 13 cannot be connected with an external memory. In case that a power management device 12 is suffered from power interruption, the optical sensor 13 cannot memorize the DPI value that is switched-and-set by the user (i.e., the physical switch signal I11). Consequently, when the power management device 12 is started again, the internal default DPI value P of the optical sensor 13 is used again In other words, the use of the conventional moue device is not convenient to the user.
Moreover, during the process of transmitting the physical switch signal I11 to the optical sensor 13, if the optical sensor 13 is not ready to receive the data signals, some problems occur. For example, if the power management device 12 is started or restarted after power interruption and the optical sensor 13 is in a reset state, the physical switch signal I11 is possibly unable to be successfully received. Under this circumstance, the DPI value that is switched and set by the user (i.e., the physical switch signal I11) and the real DPI value of the optical sensor 13 during operation are inconsistent.
Moreover, according to the voltage level of an I/O pin of the optical sensor electrically connected with the DPI switching key 11, the optical sensor 13 recognizes that the DPI value is switched to a specified value. If the I/O pin is interfered by the external noise, the voltage level at the I/O pin is suffered from an unexpected voltage change. Moreover, if the amount of the voltage change reaches an unexpected DPI switching threshold that is set in the optical sensor 13, the optical sensor 13 may accidentally activate an internal DPI switching process. Consequently, a malfunction of the DPI switching process is possibly generated.
As mentioned above, the conventional technologies have many drawbacks. For example, the DPI value cannot be memorized, the DPI value that is switched and set by the user cannot be stored, the DPI value that is switched and set by the user and the real DPI value of the optical sensor are possibly inconsistent, or the DPI switching process is accidentally activated. For solving the above drawbacks of the conventional technologies, the present invention provides a function parameter (e.g., DPI) switching memory circuit and an operating method by using the structure of the existing optical sensor.

Function parameter switching memory circuit for peripheral device and operating method thereof


The invention is a toneable conduit that can transmit a signal and be readily detected by toning equipment. The conduit can be coupled with other conduit to provide extended lengths of conduit. The toneable conduit includes an elongate polymeric tube having a wall with an interior surface, an exterior surface, and a predetermined wall thickness. A channel preferably extends longitudinally within the wall of the elongate polymeric tube; a stabilizing rib extends longitudinally along the interior surface of the wall of the elongate polymeric tube and is located radially inward from the channel. A continuous wire is coincident with the channel in the elongate polymeric tube and preferably coated with a composition that prevents it from adhering to the polymer melt that forms the elongate polymeric tube. The present invention includes methods of making the toneable conduit and methods of coupling a first toneable conduit with a second toneable conduit.

Conduit is often buried to provide an underground path for cables such as coaxial cables and fiber optic cables. In particular, conduit is typically formed of a plastic material that protects the coaxial cables and fiber optic cables from the moisture and other hazards of the underground environment. The cable is typically installed in the conduit by pulling the cable through the conduit although the cable can be provided in the conduit when it is installed underground.
One issue with conduit is that it can be difficult to locate underground when it is either empty or it contains a non-metallic cable, such as a fiber optic cable. As a result, conduit has often been outfitted with a metallic or magnetic strip or wire that allows the conduit to be detected by metal detecting equipment on the ground surface. Although these types of detection devices are useful, they cannot always locate conduit that is buried deep underground (e.g. greater than 5 feet). As an alternative to these types of detection devices, toning equipment is commonly used that operates by transmitting a signal along a metallic wire or strip associated with the conduit and detecting the signal from the ground surface.
One conventional conduit construction that can be detected by conventional metal detection devices and even the toning devices discussed above includes an exterior rib that houses the metallic ribbon or wire. For example, Japanese published application JP 5-106765 describes an embodiment that includes an exterior rib including a conductive wire. Although these types of constructions have found use, it is difficult to couple this conduit with another conduit because the exterior rib prevents the connector from fitting flush onto the conduit. As a result, moisture can enter the conduit at the connection and can cause damage to the cable installed therein. In addition, the exterior rib can cause problems during installation in that the exterior rib and associated wire can be ripped off of the conduit if the conduit is being installed by directional boring or plowing methods.
Another conduit construction that is designed to be detected by metal detection devices includes a metallic ribbon or wire that is provided at intermittent lengths. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,092,558 describes such an embodiment wherein discrete lengths of a magnetic strip are spaced apart longitudinally along the conduit. U.S. Pat. No. 5,045,368 also describes a similar construction having markers at intervals along the length of the conduit. Although this type of conduit can be detected by the metal detection devices discussed above, it cannot be detected by conventional toning equipment because a signal cannot be transmitted along the conduit.
Alternatively, some conduit constructions use continuous lengths of strip or ribbon formed of metal or a magnetic material to allow the conduit to be detected by metal detecting equipment. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,051,034 and RE 34,701 describe this type of construction and use a ribbon of magnetic material to allow the conduit to be detected at three to five feet underground. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,006,086, 5,017,873 and 5,114,517 use a magnetic ribbon that is spirally wound around the exterior surface of the conduit. Although the strip or ribbon in these constructions can be detected by conventional metal detecting equipment, it does not have a suitable construction for transmitting a toning signal for extended distances and at the depths desired in the art.
As demonstrated above, there is a need in the art to provide a conduit that can be detected by toning equipment for extended distances and at the depths desired in the art. In addition, there is a need in the art to provide conduit that can be coupled to provide extended lengths of underground conduit that can be detected by toning equipment.

Toneable conduit and method of preparing same


A portable apparatus for visualizing or practicing a paint color, finish, technique, or texture includes a substrate having a primed first surface and a second surface having means for securing the substrate to a mounting surface, such as a wall. A method for visualizing and practicing a paint color, finish, technique, or texture includes the steps of (a) applying a paint color, finish, technique, or texture to a first surface of the substrate; (b) textually identifying onto the substrate the paint color, finish, technique, or texture applied thereto; (c) securing the substrate to a first portion of the mounting surface; (d) removing the substrate from the mounting surface; and (e) securing the substrate to a second portion of the mounting surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to visualizing and practicing finishes and, more particularly, to a portable apparatus for creating, practicing and visualizing paint colors, paint schemes, textures, other finishes, and application techniques that are intended for use on a wall or other application surfaces.
2. Description of Related Art
Currently, only limited options are available when a consumer, painter or decorator wants to determine and/or practice an appropriate paint color, finish or painting technique. For example, the individual may utilize sample paint chips from the paint manufacturer, which typically range in size from 1″×2″ to 2″×2″ and offer limited visual reference (as shown in prior art FIG. 1). Paint chips in and of themselves do not allow for effective comparison of techniques or finishes, and no practice palate is presently available to master paint techniques.
Alternatively, the individual may apply a proposed paint color, technique or finish on existing wall surfaces. For example, paint companies currently sell "trial size" paint bottles. However, no suitable practice palette is provided for use with the sample paints. Accordingly, the individual must mark up or destroy their existing wall surface to test the sample paint or texture. However, this requires remediation of the surface prior to final painting, once a paint or texture has finally been chosen. Additionally, an unsightly appearance is created during the testing of the sample paint. Use of this existing paint testing technique prevents portability of the suggested application for use in comparison alongside a selection of fabrics, furniture or other décor, either remote from the wall or in a showroom external to the home. Also, if the individual does not like the new color or technique, or if they are not successful in mastering a new technique, they are now committed to re-painting the wall to clean up the unsightly appearance.
A further option includes purchasing a cumbersome industry-sized gypsum board (e.g., dry wall) for application of test colors, techniques and finishes. Such a gypsum board is heavy, dirty, and has limited portability. Additionally, the gypsum board is required to be primed prior to use as an application surface. Still another option involves application to an entire wall or room and determination thereafter that the color, technique or finish is not the desired outcome. This requires reapplication, as well as incurring additional cost, effort and dissatisfaction for the individual.

Portable apparatus for visualizing and practicing wall finishes