A tunable optical cavity constructed from a fixed mirror and a movable mirror. The fixed mirror is attached to a substrate having a first electrically conducting surface. A support member having the moveable mirror supported thereon and having a second electrically conducting surface, is suspended above the substrate. A circuit applies an electrical potential between the first and second electrically conducting surfaces thereby adjusting the distance between the fixed and movable mirrors. The fixed mirror and the moveable mirror are positioned such that the mirrors form the opposite ends of the optical cavity. The distance between the fixed mirror and the moveable mirror is a function of the applied electrical potential. The support member has physical dimensions that are chosen such that the amplitude of thermally induced vibrations in the support member are less than 0.01 percent of the wavelength of the resonating light. The support member is preferably a thin film membrane having the moveable mirror attached thereto and having openings communicating between the top and bottom surfaces of the membrane. The openings are located so as to reduce the vibration amplitude of the moveable mirror at any mechanical resonances of the membrane. The openings occupy less than 90% of the surface area of the membrane.

The present invention relates to optical filters, and more particularly, to tunable Fabry-Perot optical resonators, filters and lasers constructed therefrom.
Tunable optical resonators are utilized in optical communication systems and in the construction of lasers. Optical filters and lasers based on Fabry-Perot resonators can be constructed using microelectromechanical machining (MEM) techniques, and hence, can, in principle, provide an economically attractive tunable filter or tunable laser. In such devices, a Fabry-Perot resonator cavity is formed between two mirrors. One of these mirrors is flat and located on a semiconductor substrate. The other mirror may be curved and is suspended on a number of micro-mechanical cantilevers. Application of a tuning voltage between the cantilevers and the substrate causes the suspended mirror to move towards the fixed mirror on the substrate, thereby reducing the spacing between the two mirrors of the Fabry-Perot resonator. Since the filter""s bandpass frequency is determined by the mirror spacing, a reduction in spacing between the two mirrors causes the resonant optical frequency of the cavity to increase. The shift in the resonant frequency enables the device to be used directly as a tunable bandpass filter. If an optically-pumped or electrically-pumped optical gain medium (active region) is placed in the cavity, the device becomes a tunable laser, with the lasing wavelength controlled by the resonant frequency of the Fabry-Perot cavity.
Prior art MEM Fabry-Perot filters exhibit a significant amount of noise, which limits the usefulness of these devices. The noise results from mechanical vibrations in the mirror connected to the cantilevers. This noise causes variations in the spacing between the mirrors, which in turn, causes the resonant frequency and amplitude of the light emitted from the filter to exhibit a corresponding noise spectrum. The noise broadening of the resonant frequency can double the width of the passband response of a filter and can substantially increase the linewidth of a laser constructed from such a filter, thereby making the filter or laser unsuitable for many applications.
Broadly, it is the object of the present invention to provide an improved MEM Fabry-Perot resonator.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a MEM Fabry-Perot resonator that has reduced noise.
These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of the invention and the accompanying drawings.
The present invention is a tunable optical cavity constructed from a fixed mirror and a movable mirror. The fixed mirror is attached to a substrate having a first electrically conducting surface. A support member having the moveable mirror supported thereon and having a second electrically conducting surface, is suspended above the substrate. A circuit applies an electrical potential between the first and second electrically conducting surfaces thereby adjusting the distance between the fixed and movable mirrors. The fixed mirror and the moveable mirror are positioned such that the mirrors form the opposite ends of the optical cavity. The distance between the fixed mirror and the moveable mirror is a function of the applied electrical potential. The support member has physical dimensions that are chosen such that the amplitude of thermally induced vibrations in the support member are less than 0.01 percent of the wavelength of the resonating light. The support member is preferably a thin film membrane having the moveable mirror attached thereto and having openings communicating between the top and bottom surfaces of the membrane. The openings are located so as to reduce the vibration amplitude of the moveable mirror at any mechanical resonances of the membrane. The openings occupy less than 90% of the surface area of the membrane.

Tunable fabry-perot filters and lasers with reduced frequency noise


Disclosed are methods and apparatus for remotely measuring radiation levels. Such are particularly useful for measuring relatively high levels or dosages of radiation being administered in radiation therapy. They are also useful for more general radiation level measurements where remote sensing from the remaining portions of the apparatus is desirable. The apparatus uses a beam generator, such as a laser beam, to provide a stimulating beam. The stimulating beam is preferably of wavelengths shorter than 6 microns, or more advantageously less than 2 microns. The stimulating beam is used to stimulate a remote luminescent sensor mounted in a probe which emits stored luminescent energy resulting from exposure of the sensor to ionizing radiation. The stimulating beam is communicated to the remote luminescent sensor via transmissive fiber which also preferably serves to return the emission from the luminescent sensor. The stimulating beam is advantageously split by a beam splitter to create a detector beam which is measured for power during a reading period during which the luminescent phosphor is read. The detected power is preferably used to control the beam generator to thus produce desired beam power during the reading period. The luminescent emission from the remote sensor is communicated to a suitable emission detector, preferably after filtering or other selective treatment to better isolate the luminescent emission.

There are a number of situations where radiation dose information is preferably measured remotely. For example, in the treatment of cancers and other diseases where exposure to radiation is used to kill malignant or otherwise used to treat various types of diseased tissue, it is currently impossible for the radiologists to known precisely how much radiation is being administered to the tissue being treated. The radiologist typically sets the desired radiation level on the radiation generating equipment and then treats the tissues in a localized manner for a specified period of time. The approach achieves acceptable results in many cases but has been found to vary significantly in the amount of applied radiation dose. Accordingly, there remains a strong need for in vivo radiation dosimetry equipment which can provide accurate and reliable information as to the radiation dose actually received in the tissue being treated.
There are also many industrial applications where radiation dosage or levels are preferably measured for various reasons. In and around nuclear power plants there are portions of equipment and facilities where radiation levels are sufficiently high that minimal or no exposure of personnel is allowable without protective gear. In other applications radiation levels are so high that no personnel exposure is acceptable under any condition. In many of such applications it is desirable to have measurements of radiation levels on a routine basis.
High levels of radiation are also typically derogatory to radiation measuring equipment and are often of such significance that the radiation measuring equipment cannot function accurately or reliably in the environment where radiation levels are to be measured. Accordingly, there is a continuing need for improved radiation dose measuring systems capable of remotely measuring the dosages or levels of radiation present. Such radiation measurement systems also are preferably provided with relatively small replaceable sensor assemblies which are of minimum effect on the systems being monitored.


Contaminants are removed from impure propylene oxide by fractionating in a first column to remove overhead essentially all of the pentenes and pentanes and most of the oxygen-containing impurities to provide a partially purified first propylene oxide bottoms fraction, extractively distilling the first bottoms fraction in a second extractive column using a C.sub.2 to C.sub.6 alkylene glycol extractive distillation agent to form a second overhead fraction comprising propylene oxide, hexenes, hexanes, water, residual quantities of pentenes and pentanes and oxygen-containing impurities, extractively distilling the second overhead fraction in a third column using a C.sub.6 to C.sub.10 alkane hydrocarbon extractive distillation agent to form a third bottoms fraction comprising the extractive distillation agent, propylene oxide, hexenes, hexanes, residual quantities of pentenes and pentanes and water, and extractively distilling said third bottoms fraction in a fourth column using a C.sub.6 to C.sub.10 alkane hydrocarbon extractive distillation agent to form a fourth overhead fraction consisting essentially of propylene oxide.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the plural stage purification of propylene oxide. More particularly, this invention relates to a plural stage distillation process for removing contaminating quantities of impurities from propylene oxide. Still more particularly, this invention relates to a plural stage distillation process for the purification of impure propylene oxide contaminated with impurities including water, propylene, propane, acetaldehyde, methyl formate, propionaldehyde, hexenes, acetone, hexanes, methanol, t-butyl alcohol, pentanes, pentenes, isopropyl alcohol and t-butyl formate.
Contaminating quantities of hexenes, hexanes, pentenes, pentanes, water and oxygen-containing impurities are removed from impure propylene oxide by fractionating the impure propylene oxide in a first distillation column to provide a first overhead fraction comprising hydrocarbons, including essentially all of the pentenes and pentanes and most of the oxygen-containing impurities boiling above propylene oxide and a partially purified first propylene oxide bottoms fraction comprising propylene oxide, hexenes, hexanes, and only residual quantities of pentenes and pentanes, extractively distilling the first propylene oxide bottoms fraction in a second extractive distillation column in the presence of a C.sub.2 to C.sub.6 alkylene glycol extractive distillation agent to form a second overhead fraction comprising propylene oxide, hexenes, hexanes, water, methanol, residual quantities of pentenes and pentanes and oxygen-containing impurities boiling above propylene oxide, and a second bottoms fraction comprising the extractive distillation agent, water, methanol and oxygen-containing impurities boiling below propylene oxide, extractively distilling the second overhead fraction in a third extractive distillation column in the presence of a C.sub.7 to C.sub.10 alkane hydrocarbon extractive distillation agent to form a third overhead fraction comprising propylene oxide and the hydrocarbon extractive distillation agent enriched with oxygen-containing impurities boiling above propylene oxide and water and a third bottoms fraction comprising the hexanes, residual quantities of other hydrocarbons and oxygen impurities and water, and extractively distilling said third bottoms fraction in a fourth extractive distillation column in the presence of a C.sub.7 to C.sub.10 alkane hydrocarbon extractive distillation agent to form a fourth fraction consisting essentially of propylene oxide and a fourth bottoms fraction comprising the extractive distillation agent, hexenes and hexanes.
2. Prior Art
It is known to use alkane hydrocarbons containing 6 to 18 carbon atoms as extractive distillation agents in the purification of propylene oxide. See, for example, Binning et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,338,800, Jubin U.S. Pat. No. 3,464,897, Jubin U.S. Pat. No. 3,607,669 and Schmidt U.S. Pat. No. 3,843,488. Jubin U.S. Pat. No. 3,464,897 shows that an alkane such as octane is effective for the removal of 6 carbon atom alkane impurities such as 2-methyl pentane, 4-methyl pentene-1, 2-methyl pentene-1 and 2-methyl pentene-2. Schmidt U.S. Pat. No. 3,843,488 shows that alkanes containing from 8 to 20 carbon atoms, and preferably from 8 to 10 carbon atoms, such as n-octane, is effective for removing hydrocarbon impurities containing 5 to 7 hydrocarbons from propylene oxide.
It is also known to use alkylene glycols containing from 2 to 6 carbon atoms as extractive distillation agents in the purification of propylene oxide. See, for example, Washall U.S. Pat. No. 3,578,568, Kageyama et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,838,020, Shih et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,000,825, Marquis et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,139,622, and Marquis et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,160,587. Thus, Washall U.S. Pat. No. 3,578,568 discloses the use of ethylene glycol and propylene glycol as extractive agents for the purification of propylene oxide. Kageyama et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,838,020 discloses the use of butylene glycols for this purpose. Shih et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,000,825 discloses the use of glycols containing 2 to 4 carbon atoms such as ethylene glycol, propane diol, butane diol, etc. Marquis et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,139,622 discloses the use of triethylene glycol as an extractive distillation agent and Marquis et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,160,587 discloses the use of dipropylene glycol as an extractive distillation agent.
The use of plural stage distillation for the purification of propylene oxide has also been proposed.
Schmidt U.S. Pat. No. 3,881,996 discloses a plural stage process for the purification of propylene oxide including a first fractionation wherein light impurities such as acetaldehyde are removed overhead followed by a second distillation step wherein heavy impurities such as propion-aldehyde are removed in order to provide a second distillate fraction which is then extractively distilled in the presence of octane in a third distillation zone to provide pure propylene oxide and to remove alkane hydrocarbon impurities such as C.sub.6 carbon atom impurities from the propylene oxide. Schmidt et al. teach that it is important to use the proper sequence of distillation steps and that, for example, removal of heavy impurities such as propionaldehyde before the removal of light impurities such as acetaldehyde will lead to adverse results.
Shih U.S. Pat. No. 5,133,839 discloses a plural stage process for the purification of propylene oxide utilizing a conventional distillation zone which preferably contains two distillation columns, as in Schmidt U.S. Pat. No. 3,881,996, followed by extractive distillation of the parts of purified propylene oxide in two sequential extractive distillation columns using either isoctane or a lower alkylene glycol as the extractive distillation agent and removing lighter impurities in the first of the extractive distillation columns and heavier impurities from the second of the extractive distillation columns.
Meyer et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,971,661 discloses a plural stage process for the purification of propylene oxide, but different extractive distillation agents such as water and acetone are used.

Staged purification of contaminated propylene oxide


An apparatus and method for synchronous communications using a serial data stream employs a housing with a controller and a back plane. The housing accepts one or more modules for interconnection with the back plane. The back plane distributes power to the modules and provides a communication link from the controller to each module. Each communication link includes a data out line, a data in line and a clock line, where each clock line is derived from one clock source.

Modular instrumentation permits cost effective configuration of instrumentation according to specific needs and applications. There are different types of systems that provide modular instrumentation including VXI, PCI and numerous proprietary systems. Modular instrumentation typically is made up of a card cage housing and back plane with a controller. Instrumentation modules fit into the housing, interconnect with the back plane, and communicate with the controller.
In certain situations, it is desirable that modules be synchronized with each other so that operations performed in one module may be related to operations performed in another module. Such synchronization provides significant additional capability in the system as a whole. In some cases, however, tight synchronization is achieved at the expense of galvanic isolation between modules. Isolation is desirable because energy from one module can couple into another resulting in compromised performance and erroneous or improper operating behaviors.
There is a need, therefore, for a modular instrumentation system with modules that are galvanically isolated from each other while still having intermodule synchronization capability.

Communications system for implementation of synchronous, multichannel, galvanically isolated instrumentation devices


A system and method for an electronic cruise control used to supplement electronic control units or vehicles for enhanced or additional cruise control integration. The electronic cruise control is designed to be updated easily by the end user or system to adjust the speed of a vehicle such as a motorcycle whereby the electronic cruise system sends a control signal to rotate an existing throttle to maintain the motorcycle's speed whereby the throttle grip position will always reference the speed of the motorcycle.

In modern day vehicles, such as motorcycles, which use handlebars for steering, the speed of the vehicle is controlled by a mounted rotatable accelerator sleeve unit that is fastened to the right end of the handlebar which is usually wrapped with a rubber, metal, or plastic grip. This rotatable accelerator sleeve, which is commonly called a throttle, is directly coupled to the vehicle's throttle housing or switch housing or simply a bracket mounted to the handlebar, which transfers the rotation of the sleeve into either one or more throttle cables or an electronic sensor. Thus, by rotating the accelerator sleeve, the engine in the vehicle will either accelerate, maintain or decelerate the speed of the vehicle, depending on the direction of the rotation.
During normal riding circumstances, for convenience and safety purposes, the throttle is typically designed using a biased return spring to rotate the throttle back to its resting position, which may maintain the vehicle's engine idle and prevent the vehicle from accelerating. Accordingly, various vehicles have been proposed with cruise control functionalities for maintaining a constant speed using electronic cruise. However, current electronic cruise control set speeds cannot be reset up and down by the operator's input through the rotatable accelerator sleeve but is typically reset through other ancillary means. Thus exists the need for a device that lets the control system and operator to adjust the set speed of the motorcycle at all times when cruise control is active, thus allowing the operator the ability to tactilely know the required throttle position in reference to any given speed while using their electronic cruise control, just like they do when riding without the electronic cruise control activated.

System and method for adjustable motorcycle throttle lock cruise control


An inkjet recording ink including at least a pigment, fine resin particles, a water soluble organic solvent, and water, wherein a polymer chain is grafted onto a surface of the pigment, and the polymer chain is composed of at least one monomer unit, which is selected from the monomers represented by the following Chemical Formulas (1) to (4): Chemical Formula (1) where R1 represents H or CH3, and “n” represents the number of carbon atoms; Chemical Formula (2) where R2 and R3 each represent H or CH3, and “m” represents the number of units repeated; Chemical Formula (3) where R4 and R5 each represent H or CH3, and “p” is the number of units repeated; and Chemical Formula (4) where R6 and R7 each represent H or CH3, and “k” and “l” each represent the number of units repeated.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an inkjet recording ink, an ink cartridge which contains the inkjet recording ink, an inkjet recording apparatus in which the ink cartridge is mounted, and a recorded matter which is printed with the ink.
2. Background Art
An inkjet recording ink (hereinafter referred to simply as an "ink") in which a pigment is used as a colorant (color material) is well known, as well as a method of using a resin as a binder so as to improve the fixing ability of the pigment on a recording medium.
For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses an ink which contains a fine resin particle as a component for fixing the pigment. However, when such a conventional ink is used in a recording apparatus and the ink adhering to the nozzle plate dries, the ink disadvantageously forms a film and the film is fixed to the nozzle plate. Although, in order to solve this problem, some work has been carried out based on, among others, a minimum temperature of the resin at which films are formed, no work has been carried out which focuses on improvements of a pigment.
Meanwhile, although a pigment surface of which a polymer chain is grafted on is known (see Patent Literature 2 and the like), no work has been carried out which further investigates the polymer-chain grafted pigment in connection with the fixation of the pigment to the nozzle plate.

Inkjet recording ink, ink cartridge, inkjet recording apparatus, and ink recorded matter


A test method of pressing a touch panel includes driving at least one pressing element such that a bottom surface of the at least one pressing element presses on a top surface of the touch panel. Pressing forces and corresponding pressing strokes are recorded while the touch panel is continuously pressed. The recorded pressing forces and the pressing strokes are converted into a test curve diagram, according to which a first turning point is determined at which the corresponding pressing force represents a force when the pressed touch panel contacts a test platform.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a pressing test method, and more particularly to a test method of pressing a touch panel to obtain characteristic parameters of the touch panel being pressed.
2. Description of Related Art
Touch screens, as input/output devices that adopt sensing technology and display technology, have been widely employed in electronic devices such as portable or hand-held electronic devices.
A capacitor-based touch panel is a commonly used touch panel that utilizes a capacitive coupling effect to detect touch position. Specifically, capacitance corresponding to the touch position changes, and is thus detected, when a finger touches a surface of the touch panel.
A manufactured touch panel needs to be passed through a variety of tests before being delivered to a user. Among the tests, a pressing test is used to determine a pressing force and a corresponding pressing stroke when the touch panel makes contact with a test platform. In a conventional scheme, a touch panel under test is pressed until a bottom surface of the touch panel makes contact with a pressure-sensitive paper or red ink positioned below the touch panel. Test personnel decide that the touch panel has contacted the test platform when the pressure-sensitive paper changes color or the bottom surface of the touch panel is stained with red ink.
As the conventional test method requires observation by test personnel, test results vary with respect to different test personnel. Moreover, as the quality of the pressure-sensitive paper varies, test accuracy cannot be reliably predicted. A need has thus arisen to propose an objective and effective test method for accurately obtaining characteristic parameters of a touch panel being pressed.


Systems and methods are provided to generate an attack surface for a protected entity. The method an include receiving identifying information associated with the protected entity; scanning one or more third parties to identify a host associated with the protected entity; determining that the host resolves to a webpage; resolving the webpage; extracting a uniform resource locator (URL) from the resolved webpage; determining, based on at least one rule, that the URL is associated with the protected entity; and generating the attack surface for the protected entity, the attack surface comprising the URL.

A typical first step for cybersecurity protection processes on behalf of an entity is to perform inventory of the entity's assets that need to be protected. An entity's assets serve as potential points susceptible to cyberattacks, such as by entering data to or extracting data from an environment. Therefore, entities are incentivized to inform cybersecurity platforms of their assets so that sufficient protection is possible. This can be referred to as defining the entity's "attack surface" or "digital footprint." Current cybersecurity platforms typically either perform asset discovery to discover technical assets, such as servers, routers, etc. or they protect personnel-based assets, such as social media accounts. In addition, many entities are encouraged to minimize an attack surface as a basic security measure.


An oral pouch product has no seams or fewer seams than conventional pouch products. The pouch includes a seamless or single seam tube of a hosiery web material. An elastomeric thread is placed inside the tubular enclosure. One end of the tube is sealed and connected to one end of the elastomeric thread. A filling material, in one example including tobacco products or other plant materials, is also placed inside the tubular enclosure. The second end of the tubular enclosure is then fixed and connected to a stretched end of the elastomeric thread. The thread and attached ends of the enclosure are then sheared away and simultaneously released so that the ends of the tube are drawn inside the tubular space of the tubular enclosure.

"Dipping" snuff is the original method of using smokeless tobacco. A user inserts his thumb and forefinger into a can of snuff, pinches the desired amount, and then places it between his lower front cheek and gum. The snuff is in direct contact with the gum and lip tissues. Because of the size of its particles and its moisture content, when squeezed between the cheek and gum, a pinch of snuff molds into a given shape and generally stays together in that shape during use only resulting in a small number of single particles traveling on their own elsewhere in the mouth. Best practice is to not leave the dip in one place during use as this will cause irritation, but instead to frequently move the dip to different areas of the mouth between the lower and upper gums and lips.
Another smokeless tobacco, snuss, is more powder-like. It is pulverized and generally has a lower moisture content than snuff, so it does not mold well in the mouth and travels about. When the "dipping" method is used with snuss, which is common in Europe, it is often placed between the upper lip and gum, which is different from the usual North American tradition of placing it between the lower lip and gum. A mess is created because the snuss will not remain just between the cheek and gum; it travels uncontrollably throughout the mouth.
Snuss and snuff tobacco products are often packaged in single-serving, fibrous, "pouches" made from a "tea bag" cellulose fiber type material. These "pouches" retain 100% of the snuff or snuss inside of the pouch keeping the tobacco from contacting the oral tissue directly and keeping the tobacco from traveling about in the mouth. The tea-bag pouch generally reduces mouth irritation since it keeps the tobacco product from directly contacting any oral tissue, yet allowing the saliva to leach into the pouch and mix with the tobacco to create "juice" which then leaches out of the pouch and travels over the tongue to the enjoyment of its user. Unlike a plain dip of snuff, a pouch allows its user to remove the pouch from the mouth and have no residual particles remaining in the oral cavity. A snuff dipper has to rinse the mouth with a liquid after removing the dip or generate excessive saliva to wash the remaining loose particles of snuff from the mouth by expectorating. A pouch can be removed, stored and then re-used later. A dip of snuff is generally a one-time use and then is discarded.
The very commonly used "tea bag" type pouch requires its user to generate a sufficient amount of saliva to dampen the pouch so that the saliva can then be wicked through the fibrous material. Once the "tea bag" is fully saturated, the tobacco inside then absorbs saliva through a wicking process until saturated. Once the tobacco is dampened with saliva, the pouch is then squeezed between the lip and gum, so that tobacco juice is excreted and the chemicals therein are absorbed by the gum and lip tissue. When a snuff filled pouch is used, often excess saliva is generated causing the user to expectorate. When a snuss filled pouch is used, the user is less likely to desire to expectorate because of the differences of the chemical makeup of snuss versus snuff and their respective effects on the salivary glands.
The tea bag material is paper-like and is not very flexible. It is difficult for the user to alter its shape. It also has a sealed flap at either end and often has a seam along its long side. These seams are created by overlapping two pieces of the tea bag material and sealing them. These seals create edges and an additional layer of material that requires more saliva to dampen and can be uncomfortable to the user. With these three seams (two on the ends and one along the side) a significant chance exists, and often occurs, for seam failure. When any one seam fails, the snuff or snuss filling leaves the pouch and enters the mouth floating freely about to the dismay of the user. The longer a pouch is used the higher the likelihood that the cellulose material itself fails. After only 15 minutes of use it is common for a pouch to rupture. A pouch failure results in its user very inconveniently having to abandon the pouch and rinse or spit out all of the loose snuff or snuss from the mouth. Discretion is highly valued by smokeless tobacco users. Eliminating pouch failure could be a commercial advantage over the conventional fibrous pouch.
Since the tea bag material must first be dampened by the user before the tobacco juice can be enjoyed, the flow of saliva in and out of the pouch is much slower than with a dip. It also takes much longer for nicotine from the tobacco inside of the pouch to create a sensation in its user than with a dip of snuff which is in direct contact with oral tissues. The lack of elasticity of the pouch does not allow the user to form it to fit the particular part of the oral cavity desired.
The tobacco inside of the pouch becomes compressed as it hydrates during use from the outside surface slowly towards the center. The tobacco in the center of the pouch is the last portion to be hydrated. Since the tea bag pouch is relatively inflexible, the user cannot reshape and compress the tobacco so that all of the tobacco reaches the same moisture content quickly. The tobacco within a pouch does not move around easily within the pouch. It generally stays in its same form throughout use. Once the tobacco has hydrated to the user's desire, its releases its flavors and chemicals. After these flavors and chemicals are released, the tobacco has to be squeezed even more and moved about in the mouth to get all of the flavors and chemicals out of the tobacco. After a period of use, most of the flavors and chemicals have leached out and the tobacco is no longer of use to the user.
A snuff user has the freedom to form and squeeze the pouchless dip of snuff throughout the dipping process so that approaching 100% of the tobacco is hydrated quickly and that nearly all of the flavors, nicotine and other chemicals are excreted immediately into the user's mouth. In moving a dip about in the mouth with the tongue, it is flipped, turned and folded over and upon itself while between the lower lip and gum. This "dipping" action quickly exposes all of the dip, not just its outer surfaces to the oral tissues. The rate of nicotine absorption into the bloodstream is significantly faster with a dip than with a pouch.
Once dampened, the tea bag pouch becomes very slippery with a coefficient of friction less than that of the adjacent gum and lip tissue resulting in the pouch uncontrollably "swimming" easily around between the lip and gum. The surface of a packed dip of snuff between the cheek and gum has a lower coefficient of friction than a pouch and will remain in a specific location between the cheek and gum considerably easier and longer than with a pouch. Due to this lower coefficient of friction and to the textured surface of a dip of snuff, a dip "sticks" via molecular adhesion somewhat to the tissue it adjoins where the user of a pouch has to put forth additional efforts in contracting the lip to maintain a certain position. For instance, a snuff user can typically cough or sneeze and have the dip remain fully intact and in place. However, coughing or sneezing will frequently dislodge a pouch out of the oral cavity to the dismay of the user and often the surprise of unknowing bystanders.
Discretion is often a critical element of smokeless tobacco usage. It is one of many benefits of using smokeless versus smoking tobacco and is often the most important difference between the two. The use of tobacco has been demonized in modern culture and is often frowned upon. Discretion is very difficult to achieve for smokers. With an oral embodiment that does not bulge the lip, however, a dip or pouch remains fully enclosed and concealed in the mouth and out of any view of bystanders and coworkers. It will hopefully stay in place during unexpected sneezes and coughs ensuring absolute confidentiality of the user's usage which is of critical importance in many business and social situations where the user's reputation is at stake.


Disclosed are novel .alpha.-(2-hydroxyphenyl) nitrone compounds and pharmaceutical compositions containing such compounds. The disclosed compositions are useful as therapeutics for inflammation-related conditions in mammals, such as arthritis, and as analytical reagents for detecting free radicals.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to novel .alpha.-(2-hydroxyphenyl) nitrone compounds and their use as therapeutic agents for the treatment of inflammation-related conditions in mammals, such as arthritis, and as analytical reagents for detecting free radicals.
2. State of the Art
Arthritis and related inflammatory disease conditions occur in more than 100 different forms, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA), osteoarthritis (OA), ankylosing spondylitis and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Most forms of arthritis are characterized by some type of chronic inflammation. For example, RA typically involves chronic inflammation of the lining of the joints and/or the internal organs. Such chronic inflammation generally causes pain and swelling in the joints of those afflicted and may result in damage to cartilage, bone, tendons, ligaments and the like, ultimately leading to deformity and disability.
Prostaglandins have long been known to be involved in the inflammation process. Accordingly, a number of inhibitors of prostaglandin synthesis have been developed for the treatment of arthritis and related inflammatory disease conditions. Such non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) typically prevent the production of prostaglandins by inhibiting enzymes in the human arachidonic acid/prostaglandin pathway, including the enzyme cycloxygenase (COX). The enzyme COX is known to exist in two forms. COX-1 is a constitutive form of the enzyme found in most tissues and organs. Among other properties, COX-1 produces relatively small amounts of prostoglandins necessary for maintaining the integrity of the gastrointestinal tract. COX-2, on the other hand, is an inducible form of the enzyme associated with the increased production of prostoglandins during inflammatory conditions. Since many NSAIDS inhibit both forms of COX, they interfere with prostaglandin-regulated processes not associated with the inflammation process. As a result, many NSAIDS cause severe side effects, such as stomach ulcers and renal damage, which limit their effectiveness as therapeutics.
Accordingly, a need exists for novel classes of therapeutic compounds which effectively treat arthritis and other inflammation-related conditions without producing undesired side effects.

.alpha.-(2-hydroxyphenyl) nitrone compounds, pharmaceutical compositions containing the same and methods for treating inflammation


Techniques are described for fulfilling a request for services in a federated peering environment. Embodiments receive an advertisement of offered services from each of a plurality of service providers. Such an advertisement may specify a list of offered services and pricing information for the services. A request for one or more services is received from a client at a first service provider. Embodiments determine a second service provider from the plurality of service providers to peer with to dynamically create a federation of peers for fulfilling the service request, based on the received advertisements of offered services and the requested services. Embodiments then peer with at least the determined second service provider to dynamically create a peered federation and fulfill the service request through the created federation of peers.

A computer network is a geographically distributed collection of interconnected communication links and segments for transporting data between nodes (e.g., computers). Many types of network segments are available, with the types ranging from local area networks (LANs) to wide area networks (WANs). LANs typically connect personal computers and workstations over dedicated, private communications links located in the same general physical location, such as a building or a campus. WANs, on the other hand, typically connect large numbers of geographically dispersed nodes over long-distance communications links, such as common carrier lines. The Internet is an example of a WAN that connects disparate networks throughout the world, providing global communication between nodes on various networks. The nodes typically communicate over the network by exchanging discrete frames or packets of data according to predefined protocols, such as the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP).
Computer networks may be further interconnected by an intermediate network node, such as a router, having a plurality of ports that may be coupled to the networks. To interconnect geographically dispersed computer networks and/or provide Internet connectivity, many organizations rely on the infrastructure and facilities of one or more Service Providers (SPs), such as an Internet service provider (ISP). ISPs typically manage backbone networks that are configured to provide high-speed connections to e.g., the Internet.
A client may enter into a service level agreement (SLA) with a SP in order to establish which services and what level of service are provided by the SP, as well as the price the client pays for each service. Often different SPs employ different pricing schemes for their services. For example, some SPs charge clients on a flat-rate basis where each client pays a fixed fee per billing period regardless of how much of the SP's service the client uses. Other SPs may charge clients using a tiered pricing scheme that is dependent upon the amount of the service utilized by the client.
At times, a client may request a service from a SP that the SP does not or cannot offer. For instance, a client could request a content caching service from a first SP that the first SP does not offer. For example, the first SP may not offer the content caching service because it does not have sufficient computing resources to offer the service, or the first SP may not offer the service because its computing resources are already occupied providing services for other clients. In such a situation, the first SP may negotiate an arrangement with a second SP capable of providing the content caching service to provide the client with the requested service. Currently, such a negotiation is a manual process which can take days or even weeks to complete. However, such a manual process may be unacceptable to a client who wishes to make use of the requested service within a shorter timeframe.

Real time service advertisement for billing and revenue settlement in a federated model


The present invention relates to a method for preparing a foamed thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer product, comprising the steps of: 1) coating a binder: coating the binder on the surfaces of expandable thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer particles; 2) curing and molding: adding the product obtained from step 1) to a mold and then placing it in a vulcanizing machine for curing and molding; and 3) cooling and setting: cooling the mold after the molding in step 2) to obtain the product of the present invention. By means of pre-coating the binder on the surfaces of expanded thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer particles according to the present invention, the weight of the binder can be reduced, and the properties of the expanded thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer particles can be utilized to the maximum extent.

A foamed polymeric material has a polymer matrix within which a large number of cellular structures generated physically or chemically. Since the unique cellular structures of the foamed material offer a series of excellent properties, such as low density, thermal insulation, sound insulation, high specific strength, and buffering capacity, it can be widely used in the fields of packaging industry, industry, agriculture, transportation industry, military industry, aerospace industry, daily necessities, etc. Commonly used foamed materials include polyurethane (PU)-based flexible and rigid foamed plastics, polystyrene (PS)-based foamed plastics, polyethylene (PE)-based foamed plastics, polypropylene (PP)-based foamed plastics, foamed ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA), etc. Isocyanate tends to remain in the polyurethane-based foamed plastics during the foaming process, which is harmful to the human body; and the foamed material cannot be recycled. Polystyrene-based foamed plastic products are difficult to degrade and are prone to incur the "white pollution" problem. The UN Environment Organization has decided to stop using PS-based foamed plastic products. Polyethylene-based foamed plastics have poor temperature resistance and are not suitable for applications at a high temperature. Foamed EVA is processed by a mould foaming process, and there are well-established equipments for this process. However, the long-term use of foamed EVA can result in serious loss of elasticity, and the process of preparation is not environmentally friendly.
Thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer (TPU) materials have a wide range of hardness, excellent wear resistance, mechanical strength, water resistance, oil resistance, chemical resistance, and mycete resistance, are environmentally friendly, and can be recycled. Expanded thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer particles have excellent resilience, shape diversity, and low density in addition to the excellent properties of the thermoplastic polyurethane matrix, and can be used over a wide temperature range. Based on the above advantages, TPU foamed materials have a broad application prospect in many industrial fields (e.g., automotive industry, and packaging materials) and the field of daily necessities (e.g., shoe materials, pillows, and mattresses).
CN103371564A discloses a method for producing midsole and insole articles using an expanded thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer particle (E-TPU) material. The articles are processed in a steam-molding apparatus, in which the expanded thermoplastic polyurethane particles are sintered and molded by steam in a specially designed mold. However, such a production equipment is associated with a complicated process, a high equipment cost, a complicated mold design and a low yield, severely limiting the promotion and application of this material. Therefore, the development of a foamed thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer material suitable for a general-purpose mould foaming equipment and a method for preparing the same has become a goal of many companies and research institutions.

Method for preparing foamed thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer product


An integrated circuit module and technique for forming the same are disclosed. The module includes a plurality of integrated circuit layers having beveled vertical edges along a portion thereof. The layers are connected to a contact board disposed orthogonal to the layers and also having a beveled first surface formed to receive and support the integrated circuit layers.

The present invention relates to integrated circuit modules and, more particularly to integrated circuit modules suitable for supporting arrays of infrared detector elements in a space environment.
Infrared detector modules are used for a variety of purposes including space surveillance. In view of the stringent environmental and performance demands of such systems, as well as space limitations relating to launch and orbit, substantial needs have developed to miniaturize the modules while retaining high performance and high reliability of operation.
For example, in order to provide accurate resolution of infrared imaging it may be necessary to space infrared detector elements by 4 mils or less. It is also desirable to provide some form of focal plane processing in order to limit the need to communicate raw data to remote processors. Consequently, there has developed a need to provide an improved module structure which not only satisfies the dense connectivity problems but also permits on-focal plane processing of the raw input signals.
A variety of contructions have been proposed for integrated circuit modules. One such structure is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,703,170 issued to Charles E. Schmitz and assigned to the common assignee. One area of difficulty with respect to such modules concerns the physical means for connecting the infrared detector array, bonded to a buffer or contact board or interface device to the module supporting the processing circuitry. Common techniques for such effecting such physical and electrical connections include the formation of indium bumps on the surface of the detector interface device which abut against conductive regions formed on vertical edge surfaces of the module layers. The indium bumps of the interface device and the edge surfaces of the module are typically held in place by an insulating adhesive material. In such a structure the individual layers are not supported by the structure of the detector interface device or by the shape or structure of the module layers. Such a construction has several drawbacks. It not only requires tedious alignment of the detector interface device and the module, but it also requires that the entire detector interface device/module interface be encased in adhesive as a means to connect the module to the detector interface device. Thus, individual module layers cannot be selectively removed from the module. The fabrication of such a module typically proceeds by forming a rigid multilayer module first before connecting the module to the detector interface device.
As a practical matter, there is the difficulty of spacing the layers to match the spacing of the detector elements, which is the same as that of the interface device or contact board, and to make readily electrical contact between the stacked layers and the contact board. Further, the extreme thinness of the module layers and the dense processing requirements result in a predictable number of defects which frequently cannot be identified until the module layers are connected to the detector interface device. However, because the module layers are permanently connected, defects with respect to any particular layer typically result in discarding the entire module.
Accordingly, there exists a need for developing an alternate arrangement for connecting module layers with the detector interface device that renders the physical and electrical connections more reliable, less tedious, and facilitates selective replacement of individual layers even after the module is formed and connected to the detector interface device.


A process for the production of an article for the cladding of floors or walls, comprising the steps of, in a mold: a) optionally applying a gel coat layer, based on a first curing polymer resin, on the inside of the mold in order to obtain a coated mold, and b) introducing into the core of the mold or into the core of the coated mold from step a) a filling composition which is based on a second curing polymer resin supplemented with at least one mineral filler, wherein core contains at least 5% wt and at most 20% wt of curing polymer resin, relative to the dry amount of filling composition, and the filling composition contains only one single initiator in a concentration of 0.5% wt to 5.0% wt relative to the amount of curing polymer resin in the filling composition.

It is known to apply protection elements such as plinths and bumpers/fenders in the places where walls and floors merge into one another. These elements may mechanically protect the bottom part of the walls, and indirectly the walls above them, against knocks and bumps by trolleys, carts, forklifts, pallet trucks, pump trucks or pallet trucks, also known as trans pallet trucks, or also by mobile equipment or furniture, such as serving trolleys or hospital beds. Especially the corners of passages are very vulnerable, and in those locations such protection is therefore very important.
The more traditional plinths, usually made of wood, plastic or light metal, cannot be used in many environments because they are not providing sufficient sturdiness and/or wear resistance, easily deform, do not comply with the hygiene requirements associated with the function of the building in which they are used, or do not show the appropriate aesthetic look.
Firmer shock plinths may be made of concrete, but this material is relatively brittle and crumbles easily, usually has a certain porosity and is not water repellent, whereby these shock plinths are also from a hygienic point of view undesirable.
For this reason, such concrete bumpers/fenders are often provided with a metal coating on the outside, at least partially, but preferably over the entire visible surface. Stainless steel is often used in this context, because it confers a more hygienic and aesthetic view and also maintains this for a long time period. To improve the adhesion of the steel outer layer to the concrete, the metal coating may for a better anchoring be shaped so that it grips around the concrete core and/or an edge thereof may be incorporated into the concrete core. German Patent Specification DE 4340953 C1 describes such an embodiment, wherein a filling part consisting of polystyrene foam is used to decrease the weight of the product. To improve the adhesion of the steel outer layer to the concrete, the metal layer may also be glued. Such plinths are amongst others described in Belgian Patent Specification BE 1017613 A6. This additional metal coating is, however, cumbersome to apply.
DE 2619058 A1 describes a similar embodiment with a core of polyurethane (PU) foam. This foam may be given an appropriate firmness and elasticity to support the outer metal layer, to protect it against deformation upon impact, and even to provide it with a certain cushioning and flexibility.
This additional metal coating represents in all described applications a significant additional cost in terms of materials and requires additional steps in the manufacturing process.
In addition, the lap joints of the plinths, i.e. the sides where two consecutive plinths approach each other, still remain in most of these models uncovered, so that they are still pretty roughly and imprecisely finished. When installing the bumpers/fenders, this leads to wider joints, which is undesirable because dirt more readily settles in those locations and because they require more material for being filled.
Plinths on the basis of less brittle materials than concrete have also been developed. The core of such plinths may use plastics as a binding agent, preferably supplemented with one or more filling materials. The binding agents are preferably polymeric resins which cure by cross-linking, so that they form a solid three-dimensional molecular structure. In this way they offer a good adhesion to the filling materials, and a solid structure. Preferably, these resins are also water-repellent, so that the plinths may also comply with some of the hygienic requirements.
EP 848120 A1 discloses a solid plinth formed from a composite material consisting of silicon particles coated with a polyester binder, to which a dye may be added. A disadvantage of this embodiment is that a smooth outer surface is difficult to achieve because of the particles in the mass. If a high gloss, good colouring, and/or other additional properties are to be given to the plinths by additives, then high amounts of these additives are necessary to achieve the desired result in this embodiment. The properties of the core and of the surface may also not be influenced independently of each other.
At the outer sides which are intended for remaining visible, these plinths, therefore, may be further provided with an upper layer. This layer may also consist of plastic, because of good chemical and water repellent properties, and which may be given a certain decorative effect by way of a pigment. In order to increase the wear resistance of the plinths, a very strong cross-linking polymeric resin is preferably also used for the top layer, so that ultimately a surface with high hardness is obtained.
NL 1006957 describes a bumper/fender which is produced by first laying a prefabricated fibre-reinforced synthetic resin profile in a pre-formed mold, or by making therein a top layer of a fibre reinforced coating. This top layer is made of a food-safe coating consisting of polyester resin mixed and filled up with fibres and/or glass fleece, produced to meet a particular impact strength. After the production of the top layer, the mold is filled with a composition consisting of very fine gravel parts, or other filling materials, and a polyester resin or other synthetic resin. Also accessories such as inside and outside corners and end pieces are described. NL 1006957 is not concerned with the compatibility between the binders of the top layer and of the core, nor with the adhesion between the core and the top layer of the bumper/fender.
DE 3145334 A1 describes a stairs step which is produced by applying on a glass plate a thin layer of a mixture on the basis of a resin "Feinschichtharz Nr. 325", which at 20° C. ambient temperature has a gelation time of eight to twelve minutes, within which time the layer must have been applied. About 20 minutes, at the latest two hours, after the application of the thin layer on the glass, into the mold is poured the material for the filling layer, which is based on a polyester resin, and which is subsequently allowed to polymerize. The filling layer comprises 5 kg of polyester resin plus 1 liter (0.909 kg) of styrene as the curing resin components, together with 9 liter (9.9 kg) of quartz powder and 1 liter (1.3 kg) of quartz sand. This filling layer is thus comprising 33.83% wt or curing polymer relative to the dry amount of filling composition. The inventor has also found that the adhesion between the core and the top layer of DE 3145334 A1 may be further improved.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,346,050 discloses a polymer bonded concrete having low binder levels, which is proposed as the construction material for precast panels for fascia panels for buildings and for wall cladding. The concrete object may be given a plastic-like finish by applying a coating of pigmented resin in the mold prior to casting of the concrete. The polymer concrete comprises at most 3.5% wt of polyester resin plus styrene. Half or more of the polymer concrete in U.S. Pat. No. 4,346,050 consisted of round quartz aggregates in the range of at least ⅛″ (3.18 mm) up to ½″ (12.7 mm) or even up to 1″ (25.4 mm). The average particle sizes of the round quartz aggregates used were thus 8 mm or higher. The inventor has reworked the product disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,346,050 and found that the low curing resin content makes the composition very difficult to process, has insufficiently low shrinkage such that the product is difficult to demold, and leads to a product that is too brittle for the shock plinth main application of the present disclosure. In addition, the surfaces of the obtained product have an unacceptably high roughness. They do not meet the tight dimensional tolerances required for a low seam connection between adjacent plinths and a low seam adherence to the wall. Neither do the products meet the quality and aesthetic requirements imposed by the food industry.
It is also not obvious how such plinths having both a core and a top layer on the basis of synthetic material may be produced in a simple way. It is important in this respect that the top layer is attached as tight as possible to the material of the core. And from an aesthetic point of view, it is also desirable to obtain very smooth outer surfaces. In addition, the upper layer with its high hardness also raises a problem of high brittleness, so that at the moment of mounting, wherein at times a pry bar must be used due to the weight of the element to be installed, there is a risk that flakes of the upper layer desquamate whereby the aesthetic effect is lost. The brittleness of both the upper layer and the core raises furthermore an additional problem that at unequal shrinkage of coating and core cracking may arise, making the product as such no longer useful and often must be disposed of as waste.
Thus, there remains a need for a simple process for the production of such cladding elements, wherein the top layer has a good adhesion with the core of the element, as well as to plinths or other cladding elements of which the plastic top layer and/or the core is less brittle than what so far is known in the art.
WO 2014/1149889 A1 discloses a method for the production of a plinth wherein a stainless steel mold is first polished with a release agent which is additionally polished. Into the polished mold is then applied a gel coat layer containing a polyester gel coat and an initiator, and the coated mold is stored during 20 minutes at 20° C. to partially cure the gel coat layer, after which the mold is filled with a filling composition containing a solid mixture of quartz grains, silica sand and dolomite powder mixed in a 79/21 weight ratio with an unsaturated polyester resin binder further comprising 2% of Andonox KP-LE from Syrgis Performance Initiators AB (SE) as hardener plus 2% of Accelerator NL-49P from Akzo Nobel Polymer Chemicals BV (NL). The Andonox KP-LE hardener or catalyst comprises a mixture of two curing agents, i.e. methyl ethyl ketone peroxide as the faster and cumyl hydroperoxide as the slower, in dimethyl phthalate as carrier. The core was filled, vibrated and allowed to further react and cure by storage during about 2 hours, before the plinth product could be removed from the mold.
There remains a problem of reducing the curing time of the final product. Other problems that may be addressed are the high quantity of resin that is used in the art to make the filling composition for the core, the reuse of the molds, the adhesion of gelcoat layer and core, and the risk for deformation during the curing of the final product.

Process for the production of an article for the cladding of floors or walls


A light source unit includes an LED mount bar and a set of LEDs. The LED mount bar has an inside channel that is located at a center portion of the LED mount bar, and outside channels that are located at outside portions of the LED mount bar, respectively. The set of LEDs is disposed in the inside channel and the outside channels. The set of LEDs is ranked into a plurality of chromaticity regions within a predetermined chromaticity range in a chromaticity coordinate system and ranked into a plurality of luminous flux ranges according to a luminous flux value of the LEDs, respectively. The inside channel including a plurality of first LEDs from a subset of the set of LEDs. The subset of LEDs is ranked in a predetermined chromaticity region of the chromaticity regions and ranked in a predetermined luminous flux range of the luminous flux ranges.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a light source unit. More specifically, the present invention relates to a light source unit for a surface-emitting device
2. Background Information
With LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) employed in a light source unit for a surface-emitting device, individual differences in a production stage cause variation in chromaticity or luminous flux. In the case of a liquid crystal display module, such variation reaches a level at which a difference in contrast or color is clearly discernible by observing the display. Therefore, during manufacturing of a surface-emitting device with a built-in light source unit that uses LEDs as a light source, a ranking is applied to the large number of LEDs by using the chromaticity coordinates of a chromaticity diagram (xy chromaticity diagram in the CIE color system) from the International Commission on Illumination. A ranking is also applied in accordance with luminous flux values in the same manner for luminous flux (lm).
Conventionally, the LED chromaticity (CIE), luminous flux (lm), and forward voltage (Vf) specifications are finely restricted in order to make the emission color variation or the luminance of a surface-emitting device as uniform as possible. A light source unit in which a large number of LEDs having varying chromaticity or luminous flux are mixed together (mixing) is also sometimes used as a measure for making the emission color variation or the luminance as uniform as possible. In this approach, a mixing method is employed whereby LEDs having different chromaticity, luminous flux, and forward voltage specifications are aligned in alternating fashion.
A measure has been proposed for increasing the utilization rate of supplied LEDs having variation in the manufacture of a backlight (e.g., a surface-emitting device) for a liquid crystal module (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Publication No. 2008-147563, for example). Various researches have also been conducted for reducing variation in emission color (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Publication Nos. 2009-158903 and 2001-222242, for example).


A vertical sliding enclosure for a bathtub, including three vertically slidable glass panel assemblies, wherein each assembly contains a slidable glass panel attached by the left and right glass connectors serving as the transverse position limiters which limit the panel in the transverse movement, a pair of left and right housings having the respective longitudinal tracks for the panel in the vertical movement, and room for a counterbalancing weight system containing left and right pulleys and weight combination so that a weight of the glass panel can be balanced. The enclosure provides a sufficient height for a user to access the bathtub when the three panels are raised to their maximum heights. When in their lowered position, the three panels prevent shower water from entering the bathroom floor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to the field of enclosures for bathtub/shower combinations which enable the bathtub/shower to be enclosed so that when a person takes a shower, water will not flow onto the bathroom floor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Bathtub closures are known in the market of consumer products. U.S. Pat. No. 3,955,239 discloses a bathtub closure means including two identical rectangular panels, wherein the longitudinal sides of each panel are aligned in a horizontal direction, and the transverse sides of the panel are aligned in a vertical direction. The panels are vertically slidable and counterbalanced, so that the panels can be moved to an elevated position to permit a person to enter the bathtub and then retracted to a lowered position to enable a person to take a shower. This product could not support heavy glass and could only support aluminum framed lightweight acrylic panels.
However, a major setback of the design in U.S. Pat. No. 3,955,239 is that it does not enable the panels to be raised to a height which is sufficient to make the users feel comfortable to enter and exit the bathtub when the two panels are raised to their maximum allowed heights. Such restricted access inhibits a feeling of openness while entering and exiting the bathtub.
Therefore, there is a significant need to provide an enclosure having improved mechanisms including the vertically slidable panels and counterbalanced devices to significantly improve the function of the enclosure, thereby providing sufficient open height to enable a user to easily enter and exit the bathtub.

Vertically sliding enclosure containing three-slidable glass panel assemblies for bathtub/shower combinations


Bedding material including a first fabric section manufactured from performance fabric and having a first and second side; and, a second fabric section attached to the first side of the first fabric section. Additionally, a third fabric section can be attached to the second side of the first fabric section. The first fabric section can be attached to the second fabric section through a flatlock stitch. The first fabric section can include a first zone and a second zone wherein the first zone contains different performance properties from the second zone and the first zone can have thermal or moisture wicking properties.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to fabric systems, and more specifically to bed coverings constructed of high gauge circular knitted fabrics that accommodate and maintain optimum thermal conditions for sleep, which in turn can lead to faster sleep initiation and deeper, more restorative sleep.
2. Description of Related Art
Sleep problems in the United States are remarkably widespread, affecting roughly three out of four American adults, according to research by the National Sleep Foundation (NSF). Consequently, a great deal of attention has been paid to the circumstances surrounding poor sleep, along with strategies for how to improve it.
The implications are not merely academic. Sleep—not only the right amount of it but also the right quality—impacts not just day-to-day performance, but also "the overall quality of our lives," according to the NSF. Addressing the causes of poor quality sleep, therefore, has ramifications for millions.
Though many factors contribute to sleep quality, the sleep environment itself plays a critical role, and sleep researchers routinely highlight temperature as one of the most important components in creating an environment for optimal sleep. As advised by the University of Maryland Medical Center, "a cool (not cold) bedroom is often the most conducive to sleep." The National Sleep Foundation further notes that "temperatures above 75 degrees Fahrenheit and below 54 degrees will disrupt sleep," with 65 degrees being the ideal sleep temperature for most individuals, according to the NSF.
A lower environmental temperature is not the only thermal factor associated with improved sleep. Researchers have noted a nightly drop in body temperature among healthy, normal adults during sleep. This natural cycle, when inhibited or not functioning properly, can disrupt sleep and delay sleep onset, according to medical researchers at Cornell University. Conversely, the researchers noted, a rapid decline in body temperature not only accelerates sleep onset but also "may facilitate an entry into the deeper stages of sleep."
Therefore, maintaining an appropriately cool sleep environment and accommodating the body's natural tendency to cool itself at night should be a top priority for individuals interested in optimizing their sleep quality. Performance fabrics crafted into bedding applications would be uniquely capable of promoting cool, comfortable—and therefore better—sleep, as these advanced fabrics maximize breathability and heat transfer. Performance fabrics are made for a variety of end-use applications, and can provide multiple functional qualities, such as moisture management, UV protection, anti-microbial, thermo-regulation, and wind/water resistance.
There has been a long felt need in several industries to provide improved bedding to help individuals get better sleep. Such improved bedding would include beneficial wicking among other properties. For example, in marine, boating and recreational vehicle applications, bedding should resist moisture, fit odd-shaped mattresses and beds, and reduce mildew. Particularly with watercraft, there is a need to protect bedding, and specifically sheets, from moisture and mildew accumulation.
An additional problem with bedding, not just with marine and recreational vehicles, is the sticky, wet feeling that can occur when the bedding sheets are wet due to body sweat, environmental moisture, or other bodily fluids. In particular, when bedding is used during hot weather, or is continuously used for a long time by a person suffering from an illness, problems can arise in that the conventional bed sheet of cotton fiber or the like cannot sufficiently absorb the moisture. All of these issues lead to poor sleep.
To date, performance fabric bedding products are not known. There are width limitations in the manufacturing of high gauge circular knit fabrics, because the finished width of bedding fabrics are dictated by the machine used in its construction. At present, performance fabrics are manufactured with a maximum width of under 90 inches wide, given present manufacturing and technical limitations, along with the inability of alternate manufacturing processes to produce a fabric with identical performance attributes. Yet, normal bed sheet panels can be 102 by 91 inches or larger. Thus, performance fabrics cannot yet be used for bed sheets.
Some conventional solutions for the above issues that hinder a good night's sleep include U.S. Pat. No. 4,648,186, which discloses an absorbent wood pulp cellulose fiber that is provided in a variety of sizes and is placed under a mattress. The wood pulp is water absorbent and acts to capture moisture to prevent such moisture from being retained by the bedding or the bedding sheets. However, this proposed solution does not interact with the bedding or the bedding sheets, but merely acts as a sponge for moisture that is in proximity to the target bedding.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,092,088 discloses a sheet-like mat comprised of a mat cover, the inside of which is divided into a plurality of bag-like spaces, and a drying agent packed into a bag and contained in the bag-like spaces in such a manner that the drying agent cannot fall out of the bag-like spaces. A magnesium sulfate, a high polymer absorbent, a silica gel or the like can be used as the drying agent. As can be seen, this proposed solution to moisture in bedding is cumbersome and chemically-based.
In the athletic apparel industry, moisture wicking fabric has been used to construct athletic apparel. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,636,380 discloses a base fabric of CoolmaxQ high moisture evaporation fabric having one or more insulating panels of ThermaxB or ThermastatQ hollow core fiber fabric having moisture wicking capability and applied to the inner side of the garment for skin contact at selected areas of the body where muscle protection is desired. However, this application cannot be applied to bedding sheets due to the limitations of the size of the performance fabrics manufactured. Further, performance fabric such as this type cannot be easily stitched together as the denier is so fine that stitching this fabric results in the stitching simply falling apart.
Circular knitting is typically used for athletic apparel. The process includes circularly knitting yarns into fabrics. Circular knitting is a form of weft knitting where the knitting needles are organized into a circular knitting bed. A cylinder rotates and interacts with a cam to move the needles reciprocally for knitting action. The yarns to be knitted are fed from packages to a carrier plate that directs the yarn strands to the needles. The circular fabric emerges from the knitting needles in a tubular form through the center of the cylinder. This process is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,117,695. However, the machinery presently available for this method of manufacture can only produce a fabric with a maximum width of approximately 90 inches. Therefore, this process has not been known to manufacture sheets, since sheets can have dimensions of 91 inches by 102 inches or greater.
Further, the machinery that is used for bedding is very different than for athletic wear. For example, bedding manufacturing equipment is not equipped to sew flatlock stitching or to provide circular knitting. Bed sheets typically are knit using a process known as warp knitting, a process capable of producing finished fabrics in the widths required for bedding. This method, however, cannot be employed to produce high-quality performance fabrics. Warp knitting is not capable of reproducing these fabrics' fine tactile qualities nor their omni-direction stretch properties, for example.
Circular knitting must be employed to produce a performance fabric that retains these fabric's full range of benefits and advantages. However, in order to produce a fabric of the proper width for bedding applications, a circular knit machine of at least 48 inches in diameter would be necessary. Manufacturing limitations therefore preclude the construction of performance fabrics at proper widths for bedding. The industry is unsure if it could actually knit and then finish performance fabrics at these large sizes, even if the machinery were readily available.
Further, athletic sewing factories are typically not equipped to sew and handle large pieces of fabrics so that equipment limitations do not allow for the manufacture of bedding sheets.
What is needed, therefore, is a bedding system that utilizes performance fabrics and their beneficial properties, the design of which acknowledges and addresses limitations in the manufacture of these fabrics. It is to such a system that the present invention is primarily directed.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


Among others, techniques and systems are disclosed for analyzing security threats associated with software and computer vulnerabilities. Stakeholder values relevant for a software system are identified. The identified stakeholder values are quantified using a quantitative decision making approach to prioritize vulnerabilities of the software system. A structured attack graph is generated to include the quantified stakeholder values to define a scalable framework to evaluate attack scenarios. The structured attack graph includes two or more nodes. Based on the generated structured attack graph, structured attack paths are identified with each attack path representing each attack scenario.

This application relates to information systems, computers and software. In the past three decades, the information technology (IT) has changed and continues to change many aspects of the society. Applications based on computers and software have reshaped the technology landscapes and system capabilities in modern financial systems, communication systems, healthcare systems, military systems, aerospace systems, entertainment systems, and much more. As software becomes a key infrastructure in many domains, software security failure can cause severe damages and losses to system key stakeholders.
Vulnerabilities can be prioritized by static rankings recommended by authority organizations such Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT), National Institute of Standard Technology (NIST), Microsoft®, and Symantec®. However, these ratings are static and do not take the system stakeholder utilities into account. Measuring Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) security threats and prioritizing vulnerabilities efficiently can be difficult due to lack of effective metrics to measure stakeholder utilities, lack of firm historical data, and the complex and sensitive nature of security.

Value-adaptive security threat modeling and vulnerability ranking


A content unification system is described herein that aligns related content from various sources into one unified stream. The system leverages tagging (e.g., hashtags or other added metadata associated with content) to filter and connect related content across sites, formats, and sources. One component of the system is a user-friendly and customizable “dash board” view of the various topics, called a “tagboard”. Tagboards can be quickly and easily created by users and can be embedded on any website. Users can interact with various content sources such as blogs, forums, or services without leaving the tagboard they are viewing. The content unification system provides users the tools to make the web efficient, increase user interaction, and increase the signal to noise ratio. The system also allows site owners and publishers to monetize their traffic better by directing advertisements to their content in real time.

The Internet is filled with many types of content, including text, images, videos, audio, e-books, and so forth. These types of content may combine to make conversations and data exchanged between various users of the Internet. Content may comprise news articles, discussion boards, product sales information, e-commerce data, personal information, educational information, software as a service (SaaS) applications, and so forth. For example, a news website may include articles that use text, images, and videos to convey current information, while a discussion board may include text and graphical data associated with conversations between users.
Content may come from a variety of sources, including user-generated content, professionally generated content (e.g., from a news site editor), academic or other sources, corporate messaging, and so forth. User generated content may include text-based conversations between users on sites such as Facebook, Twitter, any message board, e-mail, and so on as well as graphical and other content created by users, such as photos posted to a social networking website, illustrations of problems posted to a question and answer site, and so forth.
Content often has some form of organization that is proprietary and native to a particular site. For example, a news site may publish articles in its own format that differs from that of other news sites. Such sites may include some common, standardized way of extracting information, such as Really Simple Syndication (RSS), XML/JSON feeds, and application programming interfaces (APIs), but such facilities often do not display content in the same form as the original and may miss information that is not deliberately exposed in this way. Other sites, such as Facebook, organize photos, biographical data, conversations in their own unique format, such as via a news feed, photo album viewing area, and so forth. Discussion boards may offer yet another format for organization and sharing information, such as hierarchical folders or topics, posts within each topic, and so forth. Each discussion board or site may use its own proprietary format, except where sites elect to leverage the same middleware discussion board software, though there are even many of those.
The Internet has grown exponentially creating an unmanageable and disconnected chaos of data and content. One important piece of this chaos is the discussion that goes on about various topics. These discussions are disconnected from each other by site location, type of discussion, and format. For example, an owner of a particular make and model of car with a problem may ask a question about the problem on any of hundreds of sites. Car enthusiast sites, general knowledge sites (e.g., Wikipedia, E-How, About.com, and so on), and others may all contain the information the owner is looking for or may contain the same question that the owner wants to ask. The owner's success in finding a satisfactory answer may depend on the amount of exposure the question receives which may depend on which site the owner happens to choose. The owner may opt to "broadcast" the question to many sites, hoping someone on one of them will provide a helpful answer. This situation makes it very difficult for users to engage in meaningful discussions because of the difficulty involved in keeping up with these various sources separately.
An interesting development is that users often self-classify their content by using tag or keywords as a means of a taxonomy to organize information. The introduction and adoption of the hashtag (words following a "#" symbol that indicate a classification given to content by the content author) on social media sites often provides a source of classification information embedded within content. Being placed on content by the content author as the content is being created, hashtags form a democratic, non-editorial method of content classification. Other users may also repost content of others and add additional hashtags as a method of flagging an important aspect of the content that the original author did not.

Gathering and contributing content across diverse sources


The present invention provides an apparatus for photodynamic therapy and fluorescence detection, in which a combined light source is provided to illuminate an object body and a multispectral fluorescence-reflectance image is provided to reproduce various and complex spectral images for an object tissue, thus performing effective photodynamic therapy for various diseases both outside and inside of the body.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for photodynamic therapy and photodetection, and more particularly, to an apparatus for photodynamic therapy and fluorescence detection, in which a combined light source is provided to illuminate an object body and a multispectral fluorescence-reflectance image is provided to reproduce various and complex spectral images for an object tissue, thus performing effective photodynamic therapy for various diseases both outside and inside of the body.
2. Description of Related Art
These days, diagnostic and therapeutic methods using light are widely used in the treatment of various skin diseases such as acne, chloasma, dark spots, maculae, scars, wrinkles, malignant tumors, etc.
Phototherapy devices used for medical purposes typically include a therapeutic, light source and an optical cable using an optical fiber for delivering a light beam generated from the therapeutic light source to a treatment area of a patient.
In this case, as the light source various lamps such as a halogen lamp, a xenon lamp, a metal halide lamp, a mercury lamp, etc. can be used. Various types of optical fiber light source apparatuses based on these lamps have been developed. Also, various types of apparatuses, which can provide diagnostic images for the visible or near-infrared spectral regions using these light sources, have been developed.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,766,184 discloses a method and apparatus for generating multispectral images of tissue. The apparatus includes an illumination source configured to illuminate the tissue, a detector configured to detect radiation from the tissue, and an analysis unit configured to generate a plurality of multispectral images of the tissue. The multispectral images are used as a diagnostic tool for conditions such as cervical cancer detection and diagnosis. However, in this technique, a single color CCD camera is used as the detector, which can receive only multispectral images contained in the visible spectral range by three spectral channels, and a sensor for producing near-infrared images is not included in the apparatus. Moreover, as a non-coherent light source, only a single light source (pulsed xenon flashlight) is used. Radiation from lamps and laser sources is performed by two different light guides without a collimating optics.
Thus, the above-described U.S. Pat. No. 6,766,184 has problems in that it is impossible to obtain multispectral images by four spectral channels (R, G, B, and NIR) located in the visible and near-infrared spectral ranges at the same time, and further it is impossible to control the spectral configuration of the non-coherent light source in white light illumination.
Moreover, in the case where the apparatus is used as an endoscope, there are problems in that when the illumination is performed through the two difference light guides, one of the two light guides should use the passage of the endoscope so as to deliver two light beams, which makes it difficult to perform the operation and provides different illuminations to the field of view. Moreover, since the collimating optics is not employed, non-uniform illumination is given to the field of view in a colposcope.
Meanwhile, U.S. Patent Publication No. 20080051664 discloses an optical imaging method and apparatus for in-vivo and real-time imaging of bladder cancer and determination of tumor margins. This technique is designed for interior examination of a body using an endoscope. As a detector, an on-chip charge amplification CCD camera, a monochrome camera configured to detect near-infrared images, is used. Thus, to receive two images in various spectral ranges simultaneously, other components of a sensor are used. Therefore, there are problems in that it does not provide a color video for monitoring an object tissue in white light illumination and it is impossible to obtain multispectral images in the visible and near-infrared spectral ranges. Moreover, the apparatus is configured to illuminate the object tissue from lamp and laser light sources with the aid of other light guides. Thus, when the apparatus is used as an endoscope, the instrument channel of the endoscope should be used for the light source illumination through two different light guides, and this makes it difficult to perform the endoscope operation and provides non-uniform illumination to the field of view.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 20020035330 discloses a fluorescence endoscopy video system including a multimode light source that produces light for color and fluorescence imaging modes. However, this system does not include a combined light source that can simultaneously produce wavelengths having two or more differences determined by a user and having a wide spectral range and monochromatic light spectra for photodynamic therapy and/or multispectral fluorescence and reflectance light detection. Thus, it is impossible to excite two different kinds of fluorescent materials by optimum wavelength combination. Moreover, the system does not include an optical imaging system for stereoscopic viewing and projection with an additional optical lens on both sensors of a multispectral imaging system, and thus there is no possibility of recording images under white light and fluorescence at the same time. Furthermore, since the system does not include a movable beam splitter having a dichroic mirror, there is no possibility that the dichroic mirror may be moved out of the optical path. Thus, light loss occurs under operational conditions in which only a color image sensor is used. In addition, there is no means for performing the photodynamic therapy.
Meanwhile, U.S. Pat. No. 5,571,108 discloses a binocular stereo microscope including an observation optical system that enables a direct or optical observation of an object through a TV camera. However, since the camera is disposed in one of stereo paths behind a variable power optical system, only a small amount of illumination light detected by an objective lens of the microscope reaches the camera. Thus, the stereo microscope disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,571,108 has a problem in that a significant loss of optical signals emerging from the objective lens occurs.

Apparatus for photodynamic therapy and photodetection

Abstract: For this purpose, the present invention provides an apparatus for photodynamic therapy and photodetection, which provides illumination with light of various wavelengths and multispectral images, the apparatus including: an optical imaging system producing an image of an object tissue and transmitting the image to a naked eye or an imaging device; a combined light source including a plurality of coherent and non-coherent light sources and a light guide guiding incident light emitted from the light sources; a multispectral imaging system including at least one image sensor; and a computer system outputting an image of the object tissue to the outside. Thus, the apparatus for photodynamic therapy and photodetection of the present invention can effectively perform the photodynamic therapy and photodetection by means of the combined light source capable of irradiating light having various spectral components to an object tissue and the multispectral imaging system capable of obtaining images from several spectral portions for these various spectral ranges at the same time, thus improving the accuracy of diagnosis and efficiency of the photodynamic therapy.

Korea Electro Technology Researc Institute


A refrigerator comprises: a body having a storage chamber and a mechanical chamber; a base plate arranged in the mechanical chamber without a direct contact with the body, and having a compressor; a first supporting member coupled to the body and supporting the body; and a second supporting member installed at a bottom of the base plate and supporting the base plate. A load of the body and a load of components inside the mechanical chamber are individually supported, so that vibration generated from the compressor, etc. is prevented from being transmitted to the body.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly, to a refrigerator capable of preventing vibration of a mechanical chamber from being transmitted to a body.
2. Description of the Conventional Art
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a refrigerator in accordance with the conventional art comprises: a body 10 having a storage chamber (not shown) for storing refrigerating items or freezing items and a mechanical chamber 20 for arranging mechanical components such as a compressor 35, etc. therein; a door 30 hinge-connected to the body 10, for opening and closing the storage chamber; a covering plate 21 fixed to a lower portion of a rear side of the body 10 by a screw 23, for covering the mechanical chamber 20; and a base plate 31 integrally coupled to a lower side of the body 10, for supporting a load of the body 10 and a load of mechanical components such as the compressor, etc.
A control box 25 for controlling an operation of the refrigerator, a tray 27 for accommodating defrosted water generated by a defrosting operation of the refrigerator, etc. are provided in the mechanical chamber 20.
A suction pipe 39 for introducing a refrigerant and a discharge pipe 38 for discharging a compressed refrigerant are connected to the compressor 35. Also, a dryer 36 for removing moisture inside a pipe 34 is installed at the pipe 34 for connecting the compressor 35, a condenser (not shown), and an evaporator (not shown).
The base plate 31 is fixed to a lower side of the body 10 by a screw 32, a fixing member 37 for fixing the compressor 35 is installed at an upper side of the base plate 31, and a supporting roller 17 for movably supporting the body 10 is installed at a lower side of the base plate 31.
According to this, the base plate 31 provided with the supporting roller 17 supports not only a load of the body 10 but also a load of mechanical components including the compressor 35 inside the mechanical chamber 20 at a floor.
However, in the conventional refrigerator, since the base plate 31 is integrally fixed to the lower portion of the rear side of the body 10 by the screw 32 and supports not only a load of the body 10 but also a load of mechanical components including the compressor 35 inside the mechanical chamber 20 at a floor, vibration generated as the compressor 35 is operated is transmitted to the body 10 through the base plate 31 and the screw 32. According to this, components requiring comparatively less vibration can not be stored in the refrigerator.