A unitary switch assembly comprising a seat switch component with a normally-open seat switch that closes under the weight of a person in the driver""s seat of a vehicle, and a thermistor component with a thermistor having a permanent electrical connection to the seat switch, enabling the seat switch and thermistor components to be handled as a unit.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a unitary seat switch assembly having current overload protection.
2. Prior Art
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,487,451, 3,704,352 and 3,860,773 to John G. Fontaine and U.S. Pat. No. 4,572,319 to William G. Fontaine show various embodiments of a vehicle seat switch positioned in the driver""s seat of a motor vehicle, such as a car, truck, or golf cart, to be closed by the weight of a person on the driver""s seat and to open automatically when the person leaves the seat. The seat switch may control vehicle brakes, the emergency or parking brake, seat belts, headlights, windshield wipers, or other vehicle components.
Thermistors have been used heretofore for various purposes. The thermistor is a polymeric switch device with a positive temperature coefficient; its resistance increases greatly in response to an overtemperature or overcurrent condition, such as might be caused by a short circuit in some part of the circuit in which the thermistor is connected. In this respect the thermistor can be said to act like a fuse, but it differs from a conventional fuse in that it resets automatically (i.e., resumes its normal low resistance state) when the circuit is de-energized.
The present invention is directed to a novel and advantageous unitary combination of a seat switch and a thermistor that provides overload protection for the electrically operated vehicle component or components controlled by the seat switch and enables a service technician to identify and replace or repair of the faulty device that caused the overload without having to remove the seat switch and thermistor unit from the driver""s seat unless it is determined that the fault is in the seat switch.
Further objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of a presently preferred embodiment thereof, with reference to the accompanying drawings.


A weather strip capable of broadening a visual field from the inside of a car and comprising a retainer fixed to an opening edge of a body, the retainer being open downward and having a reverse U-shape in cross section and a weather strip body composed of a hollow seal portion which elastically contacts a door glass wherein the weather strip body is engaged with and stuck to the inner surface of the retainer by way of a double coated tape.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a weather strip for sealing a gap between an opening edge of a body and a door glass of a car, particularly of a hard top car.
2. Prior Art
A conventional weather strip will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. Denoted at 18 is an inside of a car and 19 is an outside of the car.
The weather strip comprises a weather strip body 80 composed of a base portion 82 and a hollow seal portion 81 which elastically contacts a door glass 20 and is integrally formed with the base portion 82 and a retainer 61 which is fastened to the opening edge 10 by a machine screw 63 wherein the base portion 82 is engaged with the retainer 61. Denoted at 62 is a trim fitting metal which protrudes from the outer tip end of the retainer 61 and 90 is an outer trim which is attached to the trim fitting metal 62.
However, there is such a problem in the conventional weather strip that the weather strip body 80 is attached to the opening edge portion 10 by way of a seat portion such as the retainer 61 and the base portion 82 of the weather strip body 80 etc. and this seat portion occupies large space, whereby the height from the lower end of the weather strip body 80 to the opening end 10 is extended, namely, the width Y of the weather strip body 80 is enlarged which narrows a visual field from the inside of the car 18.


An IOP control device for implantation in an eye of a patient is disclosed, including a housing with an entrance port and an exit port, a membrane anchored within the housing in a manner forming a flow control chamber on a first side of the membrane and a fluid flow passageway on a second opposing side of the membrane, and a position sensor system. The flow control chamber is arranged to contain a gas creating a flow control chamber pressure, and the membrane is configured to affect flow through the fluid flow passageway from the entrance port to the exit port by deflecting in response to changes in the flow control chamber pressure. The position sensor system includes a first conductive portion and a second conductive portion positioned to selectively contact the first conductive portion to indicate the position of the membrane relative to the fluid flow passageway.

The present disclosure relates generally to valves and associated systems and methods. In some instances, embodiments of the present disclosure are configured to be part of an IOP control system for use in ophthalmic treatments.
Glaucoma, a group of eye diseases affecting the retina and optic nerve, is one of the leading causes of blindness worldwide. Most forms of glaucoma result when the intraocular pressure (IOP) increases to pressures above normal for prolonged periods of time. IOP can increase due to high resistance to the drainage of the aqueous humor relative to its production. Left untreated, an elevated IOP causes irreversible damage to the optic nerve and retinal fibers resulting in a progressive, permanent loss of vision.
FIG. 1 is a diagram of the front portion of an eye that helps to explain the processes of glaucoma. In FIG. 1, representations of the lens 110, cornea 120, iris 130, ciliary body 140, trabecular meshwork 150, and Schlemm's canal 160 are pictured. Anatomically, the anterior segment of the eye includes the structures that cause elevated IOP which may lead to glaucoma. Aqueous humor fluid is produced by the ciliary body 140 that lies beneath the iris 130 and adjacent to the lens 110 in the anterior segment of the eye. This aqueous humor washes over the lens 110 and iris 130 and flows to the drainage system located in the angle of the anterior chamber 170. The angle of the anterior chamber 170, which extends circumferentially around the eye, contains structures that allow the aqueous humor to drain. The trabecular meshwork 150 is commonly implicated in glaucoma. The trabecular meshwork 150 extends circumferentially around the anterior chamber. The trabecular meshwork 150 seems to act as a filter, limiting the outflow of aqueous humor and providing a back pressure that directly relates to IOP. Schlemm's canal 160 is located beyond the trabecular meshwork 150. Schlemm's canal 160 is fluidically coupled to collector channels (not shown) allowing aqueous humor to flow out of the anterior chamber. The two arrows in the anterior segment of FIG. 1 show the flow of aqueous humor from the ciliary bodies 140, over the lens 110, over the iris 130, through the trabecular meshwork 150, and into Schlemm's canal 160 and its collector channels.
One method of treating glaucoma includes implanting a drainage device in a patient's eye. The drainage device allows fluid to flow from the anterior chamber of the eye to a drainage site, relieving pressure in the eye and thus lowering IOP. In order to provide consistency and accuracy in fluid flow through the drainage device, it may be important to monitor the open and closed condition of the drainage device to maximize the efficiency of the device and to limit changes and degradation that may occur in the drainage device over time.
The system and methods disclosed herein overcome one or more of the deficiencies of the prior art.


A switching power converter is configured to control switching noise by implementing a plurality of pulse width modulation modes of operation. The peak current in each pulse width modulation mode of operation is controlled so that an output power for the switching power converter is continuous with regard to transitions between the pulse width modulation modes.

The explosive growth in mobile electronic device usage such as smartphones and tablets creates an increasing need in the art for compact and efficient switching power converters so that users may recharge these devices. Flyback switching power converters are typically provided with mobile devices as their transformers provides safe isolation from AC household current and high efficiency. In a flyback switching power converter, a power switch cycles on and off to transfer power to a load through a transformer. A flyback switching power converter will thus produce switching noise that depends upon the frequency of the power switch cycling.
The resulting switching noise may interfere with the touchscreen operation in the powered smartphone or tablet. In that regard, a touchscreen may be driven with a sensing signal having a certain frequency such as 300 KHz. If the flyback switching noise is within the same frequency band used for the touchscreen sensing signal, the touchscreen operation may have interference from the switching noise. Modern high-sensitivity touchscreens are particularly susceptible to such interference. For example, touchscreens have been developed such that users may interact with the touchscreens even while wearing gloves. This increased sensitivity for touchscreens heightens their sensitivity to flyback switching power converter switching noise. Given this sensitivity, it is conventional for a touchscreen controller to monitor the noise across potential frequency bands for the sensing signal so that the sensing signal frequency may be chosen accordingly. For example, a flyback switching power converter may operate at a certain switching frequency such as 80 KHz. The resulting switching noise will then be centered not only around 80 KHz but also at harmonics of the power switch cycling frequency such as 160 KHz, 240 KHz, 320 KHz, and so on. The touchscreen controller may then choose 300 KHz for its signal sensing frequency as the noise will be relatively light in between the 240 KHz and 320 KHz harmonics.
If the power switch cycling were then fixed such as at 80 KHz, a touchscreen controller could readily avoid switching noise. But a flyback switching power converter must also meet certain load efficiency standards. To satisfy the required efficiency at a low load such as at 10% of maximum power, it is conventional for a flyback switching power converter controller to transition out of a fixed frequency pulse-width-modulation (PWM) mode used for higher load states to a pulse frequency modulation mode (PFM) in which the pulse width is fixed but the pulse frequency is reduced as the load drops. For example, the switching frequency of the PFM mode may vary from some maximum frequency such as 80 KHz to a much lower frequency such as 100 Hz. The resulting wideband operation makes it difficult for the touchscreen controller to find a noise-free band for driving its sensing signal.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for improved switching power converters that maintain efficiency while reducing switching noise.

Frequency hopping for reducing switching noise in a switching power converter


A graphics or image rendering system, such as a map image rendering system, receives image data from an image database, such as a map database, in the form of vector data having image features defined as sets of vertex data. The vertex data includes location data as well as an attribute reference that references a lookup table, in the form of a texture map, which is sent to or generated in the image rendering system. The attribute reference is then used by an image shader, such as a vertex shader, to determine the specific values for a plurality of vertex attributes or properties, as stored in the look up table. The image rendering system thus processes the vector data in a manner that allows for minimal data to be sent to the image rendering system from the image database as this system enables multiple vertex properties to be specified by a single attribute reference for each vertex data point.

Digital maps are found in and may be displayed by a wide variety of devices, including mobile phones, car navigation systems, hand-held GPS units, computers, and many websites. Although digital maps are easy to view and to use from an end-user's perspective, creating a digital map is a difficult task and can be a time-consuming process. In particular, every digital map begins with storing, in a map database, a set of raw data corresponding to millions of streets and intersections and other features to be displayed as part of a map. The raw map data that is stored in the map database and that is used to generate digital map images is derived from a variety of sources, with each source typically providing different amounts and types of information. This map data must therefore be compiled and stored in the map database before being accessed by map display or map rendering applications and hardware.
There are, of course, different manners of digitally rendering map images (referred to as digital map images) based on map data stored in a map database. One method of rendering a map image is to store map images within the map database as sets of raster or pixelated images made up of numerous pixel data points, with each pixel data point including properties defining how a particular pixel in an image is to be displayed on an electronic display device. While this type of map data is relatively easy to create and store, the map rendering technique using this data typically requires a large amount of storage space for comprehensive digital map images, and it is difficult to manipulate the digital map images as displayed on a display device in very many useful manners.
Another, more flexible methodology of rendering images uses what is traditionally called vector image data. Vector image data is typically used in high-resolution and fast-moving imaging systems, such as those associated with gaming systems, and in particular three-dimensional gaming systems. Generally speaking, vector image data (or vector data) includes data that defines specific image objects or elements (also referred to as primitives) to be displayed as part of an image via an image display device. In the context of a map image, such image elements or primitives may be, for example, individual roads, text labels, areas, text boxes, buildings, points of interest markers, terrain features, bike paths, map or street labels, etc. Each image element is generally made up or drawn as a set of one or more triangles (of different sizes, shapes, colors, fill patterns, etc.), with each triangle including three vertices interconnected by lines. Thus, for any particular image element, the image database stores a set of vertex data points, with each vertex data point defining a particular vertex of one of the triangles making up the image element. Generally speaking, each vertex data point includes data pertaining to a two-dimensional or a three-dimensional position of the vertex (in an X, Y or and X, Y, Z coordinate system, for example) and various vertex attributes defining properties of the vertex, such as color properties, fill properties, line width properties for lines emanating from the vertex, etc.
During the image rendering process, the vertices defined for various image elements of an image to be rendered are provided to and are processed in one or more image shaders which operate in conjunction with a graphics processing unit (GPU), such as a graphics card or a rasterizer, to produce a two-dimensional image on a display screen. Generally speaking, an image shader is a set of software instructions used primarily to calculate rendering effects on graphics hardware with a high degree of flexibility. Image shaders are well known in the art and various types of image shaders are available in various application programming interfaces (APIs) provided by, for example, OpenGL and Direct3D, to define special shading functions. Basically, image shaders are simple programs in a high level programming language that describe or determine the traits of either a vertex or a pixel. Vertex shaders, for example, define the traits (e.g., position, texture coordinates, colors, etc.) of a vertex, while pixel or fragment shaders define the traits (color, z-depth and alpha value) of a pixel. A vertex shader is called for each vertex in an image element or primitive so that, for each vertex input into the vertex shader, the vertex shader produces one (updated) vertex output. Each vertex output by the vertex shader is then rendered as a series of pixels onto a block of memory that will eventually be sent to a display screen.
As a more particular example of image shader technology, Direct3D and OpenGL graphic libraries use three basic types of shaders including vertex shaders, geometry shaders, and pixel or fragment shaders. Vertex shaders are run once for each vertex given to the graphics processor. As noted above, the purpose of a vertex shader is to transform a position of a vertex in a virtual space to the two-dimensional coordinate at which it appears on the display screen (as well as a depth value for the z-buffer of the graphics processor). Vertex shaders can manipulate properties such as position, color, and texture coordinates, but cannot create new vertices. The output of the vertex shader is provided to the next stage in the processing pipeline, which is either a geometry shader if present or the rasterizer. Geometry shaders can add and remove vertices from a mesh of vertices and can be used to generate image geometry procedurally or to add volumetric detail to existing images that would be too costly to process on a central processing unit (CPU). If geometry shaders are being used, the output is then sent to the rasterizer. Pixel shaders, which are also known as fragment shaders, calculate the color and light properties of individual pixels in an image. The input to this stage comes from the rasterizer, and the fragment shaders operate to fill in the pixel values of the polygons being sent through the graphics pipeline. Fragment shaders are typically used for scene lighting and related effects such as color toning. There is not a one-to-one relationship between calls to the fragment shader and pixels on the screen as fragment shaders are often called many times per pixel because they are called for every image element or object that is in the corresponding space, even if that image object is occluded. However, if the occluding object is drawn first, the occluded pixels of other objects will generally not be processed in the fragment shader.
The use of vector graphics can be particularly advantageous in a mobile map system in which image data is sent from a centralized map database via a communications network (such as the Internet, a wireless network, etc.) to one or more mobile or remote devices for display. In particular, vector data, once sent to the receiving device, may be more easily scaled and manipulated (e.g., rotated, etc.) than pixelated raster image data. However, the processing of vector data is typically much more time consuming and processor intensive on the image rendering system that receives the data. Moreover, using vector image data that provides a higher level of detail or information to be displayed in a map leads to a higher amount of vector data or vertices that need to be sent to the map rendering system from the map database that stores this information, which can result in higher bandwidth requirements or downloading time in some cases.
Unfortunately, there are certain image processing actions, such as changing colors, fill properties, line widths, etc. of image objects or elements on a displayed map image that require the downloading of new vector data (with the new properties or vertex attributes) from the map database or from the application or system creating the vector data points. As a result, it may be relatively time consuming to simply change style properties of rendered images, such as the colors or fill patterns of image elements (such as roads, for example), the line widths used to display image element outlines, text, etc., because doing so means that new vector data, with the new vertex attributes defining these new properties, must be sent to the rendering engine from the map database or other application. As a result, it is still relatively difficult to change or modify vector images created using vector data to perform simple visual modifications of features within the images themselves at the image rendering device, such as changing properties of map elements like line widths, color properties, etc.

Image shader using style attribute references


A service building (10) having a base assembly (20) formed with a perimeter support portion (21) and a floor portion (22). The perimeter support portion (21) utilizes weight bearing side rails (23) with one or more transverse, weight supporting beam means (35) extending between at least one pair of opposite side rails (23). Decking sheets (30), insulating mats (44) and sump pans (48) are supported from the side rails (23) and beam means (35). Wall panel assemblies (60) are secured to the perimeter support portion (21) by sill connector assemblies (78). Post assemblies (105, 135 and 165) between the wall panel assemblies (60) secure adjacent wall panel assemblies together. A roof (not shown) may be secured to the service building (10) using connector assemblies substantially identical with the post assemblies. The walls of the service building (10) may include doors (15) which are formed from door panel assemblies (213) surrounded by a perimeter mullion assembly (210) to be mounted within a door jamb assembly (215). The walls of the service building (10) may also include one or more apertures (16) which may be circumscribed by several framing members (266, 268 or 269) which may be secured to the wall panel assemblies (60) and/or the post assemblies (105, 135 or 165).

Service buildings are structures for enclosing air handling units such as fans and air conditioners, and service buildings are normally erected on, or in proximity to, a main building, such as a factory, in which the air is to be used or distributed. Service buildings are generally located on the roof of the main building or at ground level adjacent the main building, and such structures are normally constructed on site by first erecting a frame and then securing the walls and roof to the frame.
Although such structures are often made from standard components, such as 4.times.8 foot sheets of plywood, composite board, or other sheet-like panels, it is, nevertheless, generally necessary to cut some components to size on site. Accordingly, hammers, saws, and other construction tools, must be transported to the construction site. It should also be appreciated that when one utilizes components of standard, off-the-shelf dimensions, and when on-site fitting is to be minimized, the design of the resulting structure is severely limited.
The prior art construction and use of composite wall panels is perhaps best exemplified by the disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 3,310,926. The frame members for use with such wall panels are normally extruded from a metallic substance such as aluminum to provide a light weight, yet strong, frame that will impart structural integrity to the resulting panel. The facing, or skin, of such panels is also a preferably light weight material, such as a plastic sheeting material or a thin gauge metallic substance (in this situation, as well, aluminum may be satisfactorily employed). The frame members have historically been fastened together by suitable means such as rivets, bolts or other mechanical fasteners, and the facing materials have historically been secured to the frame members by an adhesive. The interior, or core, of each panel is usually filled with thermal, as well as sound, insulating materials. Typical core filler materials are polystyrene, or other plastic foams, fiberglass layers and even phenolic impregnated paper honeycomb sheets. In fact, virtually any type of core filler may be employed, so long as it provides the desired insulating qualities. Such panels may be sufficiently rigid to provide structural integrity to the walls constructed therefrom, and yet they are sufficiently light in weight that they can be manually manipulated with relative ease to facilitate the assembly and erection of walls in a building structure.
As is well known to the prior art, such panels may be erected upwardly of sill members supported from a foundation, roof or other relatively flat surface with considerable facility. Such sill members typically extend upwardly a sufficient extent so as to lie above the level of any water that would normally be expected to collect in proximity thereto. Doors, windows or other openings may be included, as desired or required. Even though such panels are frequently employed to erect structures that are preferably windowless, the panels are often required to be provided with openings to accommodate filters, duct work, louvers or the like. Such panels are sufficiently air tight that they preclude the circulation of air therethrough, and the core material can be selected to prevent excess thermal conduction or radiation through the panels themselves.
The prior art arrangements generally required some skill to cut and erect at least the framing members, on site, and such arrangements are, therefore, more labor intensive, and thus more expensive, than desirable.

Service building and the structural components thereof


A new and distinct cultivar of Calibrachoa plant named ‘Balcabmiss’, characterized by its medium purple and dark greyish-purple colored flowers having a yellow coloration forming a central star pattern, medium green-colored foliage, and moderately vigorous, mounded-trailing growth habit, is disclosed.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Calibrachoa plant botanically known as Calibrachoa x hybrida and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name 'Balcabmiss'.
The new cultivar originated in a controlled breeding program in Guadalupe, Calif. during May 2019. The objective of the breeding program was the development of Calibrachoa cultivars with attractive novelty flower coloration, and a moderately vigorous, mounded-trailing growth habit.
The new Calibrachoa cultivar is the result of cross-pollination. The female (seed) parent of the new cultivar is Conga Light Pink Star 'Balconglipar', not patented, characterized by its dark red-purple and light pink colored flowers having a light yellow coloration forming a central star pattern, medium green colored foliage, low growth vigor, and compact-mounded growth habit. The male (pollen) parent of the new cultivar CABARET Good Night Kiss 'Balcabooni', U.S. Plant Pat. No. 31,573, characterized by its red-purple colored flowers having a black-colored center with an irregular central yellow-colored star pattern; medium green-colored foliage, and moderately vigorous, mounded-trailing growth habit. The new cultivar was selected as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the above stated cross-pollination during September 2019 in a controlled environment in Arroyo Grande, Calif.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal stem cuttings since September 2019 in Arroyo Grande, Calif. and West Chicago, Ill. has demonstrated that the new cultivar reproduces true-to-type with all of the characteristics, as herein described, firmly fixed and retained through successive generations of such asexual propagation.


An AC-AC converter system includes transformer arrangements and HVDC converter units on primary and secondary sides of the system, respectively. The system exhibits first and second three-phase AC networks, and the converter units are interconnected via a DC connection. By integrating at least part of two transformer arrangements in one transformer unit, a cost efficient transformer configuration can be achieved.

The advantages of HVDC components have been commercially exploited since 1954 when the first HVDC transmission was commissioned, the so-called HVDC Classic. Mercury-arc valves were eventually replaced with high power thyristors and DC transmissions have reached several GW, over +1-800 kV, and distances around 1000 kilometers. In 1997, a new breed of HVDC converter stations and HVDC transmissions were introduced, the so-called HVDC Light.
HVDC converter bridges and lines or cables can be arranged into a number of configurations for effective utilization. In a Back-to-Back configuration two HVDC converters are connected more or less directly to each other on the DC side, with the purpose of e.g. interconnecting two asynchronous AC power networks, or to regulate the flow of power in an AC power network. Back-to-back DC links are used in for example Japan, Brazil and Argentina for interconnections between power system networks of different frequencies (50 and 60 Hz).
The integral part of an HVDC power converter is the valve or valve arm. It may be non-controllable if constructed from one or more power diodes in series or controllable if constructed from one or more thyristors in series. FIG. 1a schematically shows the electric circuit network for a conventional six-pulse converter unit 5. The standard bridge or converter valve group 10 in HVDC Classic is defined as a double-way connection comprising six valves 20 or valve arms which are connected to one or more physical transformer units 30 as illustrated in FIG. 1a. Electric power flowing between the HVDC valve group and the AC system is three phase. When electric power flows into the DC valve group from the AC system then it is considered a rectifier. If power flows from the DC valve group into the AC system, it is an inverter. Each valve consists of many series connected thyristors in thyristor modules. FIG. 1a represents the electric circuit network depiction for the six pulse valve group configuration. FIG. 1b is the graphical symbol of a 6 pulse converter unit.
Today nearly all HVDC power converters with thyristor valves are assembled in a converter bridge of twelve pulse configuration. FIG. 2a demonstrates a twelve pulse converter with two three phase converter transformers 31, 32 with one DC side winding as an ungrounded star connection 31 and the other a delta configuration 32. Consequently the AC voltages applied to each six pulse valve group 10 which make up the twelve pulse valve group 40 have a phase difference of 30 degrees which is utilized to cancel the AC side 5th and 7th harmonic currents and DC side 6th harmonic voltage, thus resulting in a significant saving in harmonic filters. FIG. 2a also shows the outline 50 around each of the three groups of four valves in a single vertical stack. These are known as "quadrivalves" and are assembled as one valve structure by stacking four valves in series. Since the voltage rating of thyristors is several kV, a 500 kV quadrivalve may have hundreds of individual thyristors connected in series groups of valve or thyristor modules. FIG. 2b is the graphical symbol of a 12 pulse converter unit.
FIG. 3 is a scheme over a conventional back-to-back 12 pulse AC-AC converter, comprising an AC inlet 50a, an AC outlet 50b, two 12-pulse HVDC converter units 40 which are assumed to be arranged in a back-to-back configuration. The converter units are controlled by a control unit (not shown). Each converter unit comprises two six-pulse valve groups in series according to FIG. 2a. The inlet valve groups being connected to the AC inlet via separate inlet transformers 30a, and the outlet valve groups being connected to the AC outlet via separate outlet transformers 30b.
The converter transformers of a 12-pulse HVDC converter setup which together form a transformer arrangement can take different configurations, see FIGS. 4a-d. The configurations shown therein comprise one single 12-pulse group, which is used as a basic building block for HVDC converter systems. The 12-pulse group can be applied from neutral to pole (single-pole configurations), with two 12-pulse groups to poles of different voltage polarity (bipolar configurations) or with the neutral point in the middle of the converter with mid-point grounding, leading to a six-pulse group between neutral and pole. The transformers used in the different configurations are three-phase three-winding transformers (FIG. 4a), three-phase two-winding transformers (FIG. 4b), single-phase three-winding transformers (FIG. 4c), and single-phase two-winding transformers (FIG. 4d).
HVDC systems are expensive that there is a desire to be able to choose the most cost efficient HVDC transformer configuration for a given HVDC system topology, taking into consideration the need of spare HVDC transformers.

HVDC converter system with transformer functions or arrangements integrated into a single transformer unit


A hood bumper is provided and includes a first end including a body defining a longitudinal axis and a surface having an angular edge oriented along the longitudinal axis, a second end opposite the first end and including a skirt portion and a bumper portion protruding from a longitudinal end of the skirt portion in a protrusion direction defined along the longitudinal axis and an intermediate section interposed between the first and second ends. The intermediate section includes reverse-drive helical threading.

Front hood bumpers are disposed in a front end of a vehicle and have upper portions or surfaces that contact a front hood when the front hood is closed. The front hood bumpers are used to controllably adjust hood travel limits during closure of a front hood of a vehicle. The hood bumpers can also be used to control the upward force applied to the hood during closure events to prevent undesirable noise and vibration.
Normally, the front hood bumpers are fastened to the front end of the vehicle by being screwed into placed in the top-down direction. This means that the front hood bumpers need to have an upper end that is tool engageable. However, configuring the front hood bumpers to be tool engageable leads to the front hood bumpers being configured more for utility and less for appearance, which can be undesirable considering the visibility of the front hood bumpers when the hood is opened.

Reverse-drive elastomeric helical-thread hood bumper


A semiconductor component includes a base die and a secondary die stacked on and bonded to the base die. The base die includes conductive vias which form an internal signal transmission system for the component, and allow the circuit side of the secondary die to be bonded to the back side of the base die. The component also includes an array of terminal contacts on the circuit side of the base die in electrical communication with the conductive vias. The component can also include an encapsulant on the back side of the base die, which substantially encapsulates the secondary die, and a polymer layer on the circuit side of the base die which functions as a protective layer, a rigidifying member and a stencil for forming the terminal contacts. A method for fabricating the component includes the step of bonding singulated secondary dice to base dice on a base wafer, or bonding a secondary wafer to the base wafer, or bonding singulated secondary dice to singulated base dice.

Semiconductor manufacturers have developed components, such as packages and BGA devices, which contain multiple semiconductor dice. For example, systems in a package (SIP) include multiple dice having different configurations, such as a memory, a processing, or an application specific configuration. The multiple dice provide increased integration, security and performance in a component.
One aspect of these multi-dice components is that they typically have a relatively large peripheral outline and thickness. For example, conventional systems in a package have two or more dice spread out on a common substrate. These components are typically larger than conventional plastic semiconductor packages. It would be desirable to be able to fabricate semiconductor components, such as packages and BGA devices, with multiple dice, but also with a chip scale outline and thickness.
At the same time, components need a reliable and efficient internal signal transmission system, and a high input/output capability. One aspect of conventional chip scale components, such as chip scale packages (CSP), is that they are difficult to manufacture with the reliability required in the industry. For example, some chip scale components include relatively complicated signal transmission systems, such as beam leads and wire conductors. These signal transmission systems are difficult to manufacture, and are prone to failure, particularly at the high pin counts required for demanding electronics applications. It would be desirable for a multi-dice component to have a reliable signal transmission system capable of volume manufacture.
The present invention is directed to a multi-dice component having a chip scale outline, an integrated internal signal transmission system, and a high input-output capability. In addition, the present invention is directed to wafer level methods for fabricating multi-dice, chip scale components.

Semiconductor component having plate, stacked dice and conductive vias


A burst phase correcting circuit includes a first all-pass filter which receives a chrominance sign inputted from a terminal. A phase reference signal from an oscillator is applied to a first phase-comparator together with an output signal from the first all-pass filter, after the same is phase-shifted by 90 degrees by a first phase-shifter. A signal according to a phase difference of the both signals is outputted from the first phase-comparator and applied to the first all-pass filter via a first low-pass filter and a capacitor. Therefore, in the first all-pass filter, a delay time is varied in accordance with the phase difference between the chrominance signal and the phase reference signal. Therefore, a jitter component of the chrominance signal can be removed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a burst phase correcting circuit. More specifically, the present invention relates to a burst phase correcting circuit which performs correction of a phase of a chrominance signal on the basis of a phase reference signal in a video tape recorder, video disk player, television receiver and etc.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a video tape recorder, video disk player and etc., a hue jitter due to instability of a servo circuit or the like occurs. In order to remove such a jitter component, a phase of a color burst included in a reproduced chrominance signal may be corrected. One example of such a kind of burst phase correcting circuit is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laying-Open No. 2-19096 [H04N 9/83] laid-open on Jan. 23, 1990. In this prior art shown in FIG. 1, a chrominance signal is inputted to a terminal 1, and the chrominance signal is applied to an automatic phase control circuit 2. In the automatic phase control circuit 2, a phase of the chrominance signal is controlled on the basis of a horizontal synchronization signal H.sub.sync and a reference frequency signal f.sub.ref from an oscillator 4. An output from the automatic phase control circuit 2 is withdrawn at a terminal 9 through a phase adjustment circuit 3.
On the other hand, an output signal of the automatic phase control circuit 2 is also applied to one input of a phase-comparator 6 included in a control signal generating circuit 5, and the above described reference frequency signal f.sub.ref is applied to the other input of the phase-comparator 6. Accordingly, the phase-comparator 6 compares phases of the two signals with each other, and outputs a pulse having a width according to a phase difference of the both signals so as to apply to a low-pass filter 8 via a gate 7 which is controlled by the horizontal synchronization signal H.sub.sync. Therefore, a control signal having a level according to the phase difference of the both signals is outputted from the low-pass filter 8 and applied to the aforementioned phase adjustment circuit 3.
In the phase adjustment circuit 3, the phase of the chrominance signal outputted from the automatic phase control circuit 2 is further finely adjusted in accordance with the control signal. Therefore, at the terminal 9, a chrominance signal having a phase which is controlled by the automatic phase control circuit 2 and further finely adjusted by the phase adjustment circuit 3 is outputted. Therefore, even if a jitter component is included in the reproduced chrominance signal, the jitter component can be removed.
Since the above described prior art is a feed forward system, it is necessary to provide a level adjustment circuit (not shown) between the low-pass filter 8 and the phase adjustment circuit 3, for example, and to produce a control signal which is coincident with a characteristic of a control signal level-phase of the phase adjustment circuit 3 on the basis of an output of the low-pass filter 8. Such a kind of level adjustment circuit is complex and high cost.
Therefore, it can be considered that in the prior art shown in FIG. 1, a circuit of a feed-back system in which an output of the phase adjustment circuit 3 is applied to the one input of the phase-comparator 6 instead of the output of the automatic phase control circuit 2 is constructed. If the circuit is a feed-back system, the above described level adjustment circuit becomes unnecessary, and therefore, the circuit becomes simple and low cost.
However, in a case where a circuit of a feed-back system is constructed by applying the above described modification to the prior art shown in FIG. 1, it takes a long time until a phase of the chrominance signal becomes to be synchronized. That is, a pull-in time becomes long. Then, in order to make the pull-in time short, a large direct current component must be fed-back. However, in such a case, a phase-locked loop becomes unstable and, in an extreme case, the prior art becomes not to function as a phase correcting circuit.


This invention provides methods of treating defective skeletal muscle function during heart failure and methods for identifying compounds useful in such treatments.

Throughout this application, various publications are referenced in parentheses by author and year. Full citations for these references may be found at the end of the specification immediately preceding the claims. The disclosures of these publications in their entireties are hereby incorporated by reference into this application to more fully describe the state of the art to which this invention pertains.
The contraction of striated muscle is initiated when calcium (Ca2+) is released from tubules within the muscle cell known as the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR). Calcium release channels, called ryanodine receptors (RyR), on the SR are required for excitation-contraction (EC) coupling. The type 2 ryanodine receptor (RyR2) is found in the heart, while the type 1 ryanodine receptor (RyR1) is found in skeletal muscle. The RyR1 receptor is a tetramer comprised of four 565,000 dalton RyR1 polypeptides and four 12,000 dalton FK-506 binding proteins (FKBP12). FKBP12s are regulatory subunits that stabilize RyR channel function (Brillantes et al., 1994) and facilitate coupled gating between neighboring RyR channels (Marx et al., 1998); the latter are packed into dense arrays in specialized SR regions that release intracellular stores of Ca2+, thereby triggering muscle contraction. In addition to FKBP12, the RyR1 macromolecular complex also includes the catalytic and regulatory subunits of PKA, and the phosphatase PP1 (Marx et al., 2001).
One FKBP12 molecule is bound to each RyR1 subunit. Dissociation of FKBP12 significantly alters the biophysical properties of the channels, resulting in the appearance of subconductance states, and increased open probability (Po) of the channels (Brillantes et al., 1994; Gaburjakova et al., 2001). In addition, dissociation of FKBP12 from RyR1 channels inhibits coupled gating resulting in channels that gate stochastically rather than as an ensemble (Marx et al., 1998). Coupled gating of arrays of RyR channels is thought to be important for efficient EC coupling that regulates muscle contraction (Marx et al., 1998). FKBPs are cis-trans peptidyl-prolyl isomerases that are widely expressed and subserve a variety of cellular functions (Marks, 1996). FKBP12s are tightly bound to and regulate the function of the skeletal (RyR1) (Brillantes et al., 1994; Jayaraman et al., 1992) and cardiac (RyR2) (Kaftan et al., 1996) muscle Ca2+ release channels, as well as a related intracellular Ca2+ release channel known as the type 1 inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate receptor (IP3R1) (Cameron et al., 1997), and the type I transforming growth factor β (TGFβ) receptor (TβRI) (Chen et al., 1997).
Heart failure (HF) is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity world-wide. The disease is characterized by a progressive decrease of contractile function of the heart that leads to hypoperfusion of critical organs. Moreover, many patients with moderate degrees of cardiac dysfunction have substantial impairment of exercise capacity that cannot be explained solely by the extent of their HF (Harrington and Coats, 1997; Minotti et al., 1991; Sullivan and Hawthorne, 1995; Wilson, 1995). This has led to the hypothesis that a primary skeletal muscle defect exists in patients with HF in addition to a primary cardiac muscle defect (Minotti et al., 1991).
The majority of HF patients experience a progressive deterioration of quality-of-life due to their significantly reduced exercise tolerance. In the more severe cases of HF (New York Heart Association class IV), the 2-year mortality rate is over 50% (Braunwald, 1992). Patients and animal models of HF are characterized by a maladaptive response that includes chronic hyperadrenergic stimulation (Bristow et al., 1982). The pathogenic significance of chronic hyperadrenergic stimulation in HF is supported by therapeutic strategies that decrease β-adrenergic stimulation and left ventricular myocardial wall stress and potently reverse ventricular remodeling (Barbone et al., 2001; Bristow et al., 1996).
Chronic β-adrenergic stimulation during HF is associated with cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) hyperphosphorylation of cardiac RyR2 receptors (Marx et al., 2000). The consequent defective function of RyR2, manifested as an SR Ca2+ leak through the PKA-hyperphosphorylated channel, has been proposed as a contributing factor to depressed contractile function and arrhythmogenesis in HF (Marks et al., 2002; Marx et al., 2000). Consistent with this hypothesis, PKA hyperphosphorylation of RyR2 in failing hearts has been demonstrated in vivo in both animal models and in patients with HF undergoing cardiac transplantation (Antos et al., 2001; Marx et al., 2000; Ono et al., 2000; Reiken et al., 2001; Semsarian et al., 2002; Yano et al., 2000).
Using animal models of HF, depressed contractile function, including accelerated fatigue development, has been demonstrated in both skeletal muscle (Lunde et al., 2001; Lunde et al., 2002; Perreault et al., 1993) and diaphragmatic muscle (MacFarlane et al., 2000). In these studies, a defect in Ca2+ signaling was proposed, but the molecular mechanism underlying impaired skeletal muscle function in HF has hitherto not been elucidated.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York


According to one embodiment, a method for access configuration in a wireless network includes acquiring authentication information of a digital device and information needed to access an Access Point (AP) of the digital device, from a Radio Frequency IDentifier (RFID) tag, and accessing the AP.

Demand for services related to sharing media content between a smart phone and a digital device has increased due to the proliferation of smart digital devices, such as smart phones and smart televisions (TVs). To share the media content, communication between the smart phone and the digital device is usually provided through a wireless network, such as a wireless Local Area Network (LAN). Communication in this manner is typically provided via access over the wireless network through an Access Point (AP). Setup of the connection between the smart phone and the digital device, in many cases, can seem cumbersome and complicated to a general user.
AP setup and Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) setup used to establish the wireless LAN environment can be difficult for the general user. In the access configuration, a terminal such as smart phone activates a WiFi function and then searches for a nearby AP. Upon detecting the AP, the terminal accesses the AP using a Service Set IDentifier (SSID) of the AP. When the access to the AP requires a password the user needs to know and properly input the password.
In view of current technological trends seeking more intuitive and simplified interfaces, such an access configuration process may be cumbersome.

Apparatus and method for configuring access in a wireless network


An operator work station defined by a wall having a support assembly for mounting a monitor within a housing within an opening in the wall, the support assembly enabling the monitor to have four degrees of freedom. The support assembly includes a counterbalanced horizontal bar slidably disposed in the opening parallel to the wall for enabling the monitor to be raised and lowered parallel to the wall. Bearings rigidly secured to the bar receive rods rigidly secured to a horizontal plate, the movement of which enables the monitor to be moved perpendicular to the wall. A shaped plate pivotally connected between the horizontal plate and the housing enables the monitor to rotate about a vertical axis. Such rotation is limited by posts rigidly secured to the bar which engage the sides of the shaped plate when the shaped plate is rotated with respect to the wall. A shutter pivotally mounted within the housing for rotation around a horizontal axis has upper and lower arc-shaped panels which frictionally engage the upper and lower plates of the housing to enable the monitor to rotate around the horizontal axis to adjust the tilt of the monitor.

This invention relates to a work station and, more particularly, to a work station which provides an operator with a comfortable work environment while providing viewing access to a video monitor mounted in a wall of the work station, which mounting mechanism affords the monitor up to four degrees of freedom to meet the ergonomic needs of the operator.
As the use of computers and computer monitors increases, it becomes increasingly necessary to provide the operators with private or semi-private work stations in which the operators are provided with a desk and a monitor used alone or in conjunction with a computer.
These types of work stations often involve modular units in order to locate as many operators as possible in a given office space to maximize space usage. However, with operators spending more and more time at work stations of the above type, their comfort is compromised due to inadequate ergonomics. For example, when a computer monitor is involved in the work station, most modular work station designs position the monitor on the operator's work surface, in direct alignment with the operator. However, when the operator wishes to engage in activities other than monitor viewing such as paper work, reading, etc., the space available for these activities is often inadequate. In addition, since the monitor is placed on the operator's work surface, he must usually tilt the screen upwardly for improving his viewing alignment, but upwardly tilting the screen causes glare from overhead lighting.
Moreover, current work station designs do not address the problems caused by variations in the individuals who are to use the work station. Specifically, the most effective orientation of a monitor varies with each individual's height, the height of his chair, his vision, etc., but current designs do not provide sufficient and easy realignment of equipment.
Other problems with conventional modular work stations are that they often cannot accommodate additional personnel, are not flexible enough to adapt to different environments and do not present a finished, professional appearance. Further, these conventional work stations are not designed to cover or house the clutter caused by the wiring and cables required for the computer, the monitor and other associated electronic equipment.

Operator work station having a monitor support assembly


A photoreceptor includes a multilayer blocking structure to reduce dark discharge of the surface voltage of the photoreceptor resulting from electron injection from an electrically conductive substrate. The multilayer blocking structure includes wide band gap semiconductor layers in alternating sequence with one or more narrow band gap blocking layers. A fabrication method of the photoreceptor includes transfer-doping of the narrow band gap blocking layers, which are deposited in alternating sequence with wide band gap semiconductor layers to form a blocking structure. Suppression of hole or electron injection can be obtained using the method.

Photoreceptors based on hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) are currently used in commercial xerographic photocopy machines and laser printers. A photoreceptor of this type has a surface that is charged by a corona discharge. Charge acceptance refers to the maximum charge that may be induced on the surface by corona discharge. An image of an item to be copied is projected onto the surface. Exposure of the photoreceptor to the image causes selective discharge of the surface caused by photoconductivity in the photoreceptor. An electrostatic image is thereby formed. The image is developed by attaching toner particles to the charged surface regions of the photoreceptor and then transferring the toner to paper or other suitable material where it is fused by heat or pressure to produce a permanent image.
The surface voltage of a photoreceptor is subject to discharge over time even in the absence of light. This is known as dark discharge. Thermal generation of bulk carriers, injection from the back contact and dielectric breakdown contribute to dark discharge. A low dark current facilitates the holding of the surface charge. High photoconductivity is desirable for allowing rapid discharge in the presence of light.
Referring to FIG. 1, a xerographic photoreceptor 10 includes a hydrogenated amorphous silicon photoconductor layer 12, a hydrogenated amorphous silicon nitride or silicon carbide surface/passivation layer 14, a dielectric blocking layer 16 and a metal (e.g. aluminum) substrate 18. The dielectric blocking layer 16 (e.g. p+a-Si:H) helps suppress injection from the back contact (i.e. the substrate 18). Light boron doping of the photoconductor layer 12 (p− a-SiH) reduces bulk thermal generation of carriers. The surface layer 14 helps reduce surface conduction and thereby prevents the blurring of the latent image. It also serves to protect the a-Si:H surface from scratching.

Photoreceptor with improved blocking layer

International Business Machines Corporation


A jaw crusher where the tension rod includes an electronically-controlled hydraulic pre-load and an automatically releasable pre-load whenever adjustments to the size of the material output are made, together with a remote visual indicator of the setting of the size of the material output.

In the past, rock crusher designers have endeavored to improve the ease of operating and adjustment of jaw-type rock crushers. While many improvements have been made to reduce the effort associated with adjusting such crushers, adjustment of such crushers often remains a non-trivial task. Most jaw-type crushers usually have a fixed jaw and a large heavy movable jaw known as a pitman which is driven by an eccentric shaft which causes the pitman to move along a non-circular path.
Typically, the bottom of the pitman is supported by a piece of metal called the toggle plate. It serves the purpose of allowing, within limits, the bottom of the pitman to move up and down with the motion of the eccentric shaft, as well as serve as an overload protection mechanism for the entire crusher. Should a piece of non-crushable material such as a steel loader tooth (sometimes called "tramp iron") enter the jaw of the crusher and be larger than the maximum allowed size for passing through the jaw (the output material size setting), it can't be crushed nor pass through the jaw. In this case, the toggle plate is designed to collapse and prevent further damage to the rest of the crusher.
Adjustment of the location of the toggle plate effectively adjusts the output material size setting. A common approach to adjusting the location of the toggle plate is to use a pair of reversed overlapping wedges which are hydraulically actuated so that when maximum overlap occurs, the output material size setting is at a minimum.
A tension rod is typically included to maintain contact between the pitman and the movable toggle plate in an effort to reduce wear on these components.
These tension rods have various types of construction. One type of tension rod used in the past has been a spring coupled to a threaded rod and nut combination. Adjustment of the nut can adjust the tension applied. Others have used hydraulic cylinders with an accumulator to essentially effectuate an adjustable "hydraulic spring." Other hybrid designs have used hydraulic or pneumatic power to maintain a constant pressure applied to a spring.
While these and other types of tension rods have improved the operation of a jaw crusher, they do have several drawbacks.
First of all, all types of spring-loaded tension rods generally make it more difficult to manipulate the overlapping wedges due to the high spring forces.
The hydraulic cylinder with an accumulator often results in leakage at the hydraulic seal owing to the very rapid movement of the tension rod.
The hybrid types of tension rods may require a manual release of the hydraulic pressure therein to reduce the pressure, thereby making it easier to manipulate the overlapping wedges.
Consequently, there exists a need for improved methods and systems for tensioning a toggle plate and a pitman in an efficient manner.

Jaw-type rock crusher with toggle plate tension bar


A fuel cell stack (2) of a fuel cell power plant (1) generates electric power using a fuel gas such as hydrogen supplied from a fuel gas supply device (3, 5, 5a), and an oxidant gas such as air supplied from an oxidant gas supply system (4). The fuel cell stack (2), fuel gas supply device (3, 5, 5a) and oxidant gas supply system (4) are housed in a casing (6). The casing (6) is provided with a ventilation fan (7). The concentration increase of the fuel gas in the casing (6) due to leaks is appropriately suppressed by the controller (10) controlling the operation of the fan (7) based on the power generation load of the fuel cell stack (2).

In a fuel cell power plant, a fuel gas such as hydrogen, is supplied to an anode of a fuel cell stack, an oxidant gas such as oxygen is supplied to a cathode, the fuel gas and oxidant gas cause an electrochemical reaction via an electrolyte membrane between the anode and cathode, and electrical energy is extracted. When the fuel cell stack and peripheral devices are housed in a casing, fuel gas which leaked from the fuel cell stack or peripheral devices may accumulate inside the casing, but it is not preferred from a safety viewpoint that inflammable fuel gas accumulates in the casing.
Tokkai Hei 8-31436 published by the Japanese Patent Office in 1996 discloses a ventilator for sweeping out gas from the inside of the casing. The ventilator comprises an electric fan for ventilation installed in the casing, an open/close type door, a sensor for detecting an inflammable gas concentration in the casing and a controller.
When the concentration of inflammable gas increases, the controller increases the fan rotation speed to increase the ventilation air volume.


A circuit comprising a first and a second sense transistor, a bitline and a complementary bitline, one or more first switches and one or more second switches. The first switches may be configured to couple the first sense transistor to the bitline and the second sense transistor to the complementary bitline. The second switches may be configured to couple the first sense transistor to the complementary bitline and the second sense transistor to the bitline. The first and second switches may be configured to provide voltage threshold matching between the first and second transistors.

An example of a dynamic random access memory voltage mismatch compensated sense amplifier can be found in IEEE JSSC, Vol. 25, No. 7, July 1993 "A High Speed, Small-Area-Threshold Voltage Mismatch Compensation Sense Amplifier for Gigabit-Scale DRAM Arrays", which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Such a conventional approach is suitable for Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) arrays, but not as desirable for Static Random Access Memory (SRAM) arrays. Another example of a dynamic random access memory voltage mismatch compensated sense amplifier can be found in "Threshold Difference Compensated Sense Amplifier", Shunichi Suzuki and Masaki Hirata, JSSC, Vol. SC-14, No. 6, December 1979 is also incorporated by reference in its entirety.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional uncompensated static random access memory sense amplifier circuit 10. Such an approach has one or more of the following disadvantages: (i) no mismatch compensation; (ii) the bitline delta (i.e., differential) required for sensing is 5*94(.DELTA.Vt)=60 mV for many current SRAM designs; and/or (iii) 60 mV corresponds to a 0.5 ns to 1 ns longer access time for many SRAM designs. The following equation defines the sense voltage in the conventional circuit: ##EQU1##
where n=5 for memories of devices 2MEG, 4MEG, 8MEG, n is the number of standard deviations (as defined in the field of statistics) which is required to achieve a certain manufacturing yield and is related to the number of placements of the circuit in question that exist on a given chip, typically 1,000-4,000. W and L are the channel length and width of the sense devices 16, 18 in FIG. 1. A.sub.VTD is a constant established by experiment/experience.
The circuit 10 generally comprises a transistor 12, a transistor 14, a transistor 16, a transistor 18 and a transistor 20. A bitline BL may be connected to the transistor 12. A bitline BLB may be connected to the transistor 14. The signal STROBE may be presented to a gate at the transistor 12, a gate at the transistor 14 and a gate at the transistor 20. The circuit 10 illustrates an example of a conventional SRAM sense amplifier approach and has the disadvantages mentioned.

Threshold voltage mismatch compensated sense amplifier for SRAM memory arrays


There is described an assay system for the assessment of unoccupied specific ligand binding sites on proteins in biological fluids. The assay is carried out with a multilayer assay element and is based on the principle of equilibrium distribution in which a ligand distributes itself between unoccupied sites on the proteins and the remainder of the element. The ligand can be labeled with a detectable moiety or it may be unlabeled and detected through the use of another detectable species. In one embodiment the assay format is utilized to estimate the number of sites on thyroxine binding globulin (TBG) which are not occupied by thyroxine (T4) or triiodothyronine (T3).

The present invention relates to assays for the assessment of unoccupied binding sites on proteins in biological fluids such as thyroxine binding proteins in serum or plasma samples.
Thyroxine (T4) is a hormone produced by the thyroid gland which is essential for growth and development. In blood more than 99% of the total T4 present is bound to serum proteins, mainly TBG. When assaying for T4 it is necessary to ascertain the total T4 content of the sample and how much free T4 is present as well. Uptake tests for thyroid function have been known for many years. Generally, this test, which is commonly referred to as a thyroid hormone binding assay, provides an assessment of the degree of unsaturation of the protein binding sites, primarily that of TBG, by thyroid hormones and is an indirect index of the patient's thyroid status. The tests typically involve the partitioning of labeled T3 or T4 conjugate between serum and a secondary binder which is a function of the binding sites on the thyroid binding proteins which are free of T4.
Many of these tests require a separation step to separate the secondary binder from TBG. The tests typically require the addition of an external reagent.
It is desirable to have an integral uptake test for thyroid function which does not require the addition of external reagents.


An RF coil assembly includes a plurality of RF source coils and an RF target coil separate from the plurality of RF source coils. A computer is programmed to acquire MR data of an imaging object from each of the plurality of RF source coils and to acquire MR data of the imaging object from the RF target coil. The computer is further programmed to calculate a set of weights based on a relationship between MR data acquired from each RF source coil and MR data acquired from the RF target coil and to reconstruct an image based on an application of the set of weights to at least a portion of the MR data acquired from each of the plurality of RF source coils.

The present invention relates generally to magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and, more particularly, to a flexible approach for sampling and reconstructing an image of an imaging volume with multiple receiver coils to accelerate data acquisition.
When a substance such as human tissue is subjected to a uniform magnetic field (polarizing field B0), the individual magnetic moments of the spins in the tissue attempt to align with this polarizing field, but precess about it in random order at their characteristic Larmor frequency. If the substance, or tissue, is subjected to a magnetic field (excitation field B1) which is in the x-y plane and which is near the Larmor frequency, the net aligned moment, or "longitudinal magnetization", MZ, may be rotated, or "tipped", into the x-y plane to produce a net transverse magnetic moment Mt. A signal is emitted by the excited spins after the excitation signal B1 is terminated and this signal may be received and processed to form an image.
When utilizing these signals to produce images, magnetic field gradients (Gx, Gy, and Gz) are employed. Typically, the region to be imaged is scanned by a sequence of measurement cycles in which these gradients vary according to the particular localization method being used. The resulting set of received NMR signals are digitized and processed to reconstruct the image using one of many well known reconstruction techniques.
One technique that has been developed to accelerate MR data acquisition is commonly referred to as "parallel imaging" or "partial parallel imaging". In parallel imaging, multiple receive coils acquire data from a region or volume of interest. Thus, parallel imaging is used to accelerate data acquisition in one or more dimensions by exploiting the spatial dependence of phased array coil sensitivity. Parallel imaging has been shown to be successful in reducing scan time, but also reducing image blurring and geometric distortions. Moreover, parallel imaging can be used to improve spatial or temporal resolution as well as increased volumetric coverage.
There are several types of parallel imaging (PI) reconstruction methods that have been developed to generate the final, unaliased image from accelerated data. These methods can generally be divided into two categories based on how they treat the reconstruction problem: 1) SENSE-based techniques (Sensitivity Encoding) estimate coil sensitivity profiles from low-resolution calibration images, which can then be used to unwrap aliased pixels in image space using a direct inversion algorithm; and 2) autocalibrating PI-based methods, such as GRAPPA (Generalized Auto-calibrating Partially Parallel Acquisition) and ARC (Autocalibrating Reconstruction for Cartesian sampling), that calculate reconstruction weights necessary to synthesize unacquired data directly from acquired data using an algorithm that does not require coil sensitivity estimates. The reconstruction weights for GRAPPA and ARC are calculated from a small amount of fully sampled calibration data that is typically embedded within the scan ("auto-calibration"), but can also be acquired before or after the scan. Thus, GRAPPA and ARC exploit receiver coil sensitivity variation to accelerate data acquisition and synthesize the missing data using pre-calculated calibration information obtained from the particular imaging setup. While both SENSE- and autocalibrating PI-based approaches have been successful, in practice, autocalibrating PI-based techniques have been shown to be preferred when accurate coil sensitivity estimates cannot be obtained, for example, in reduced FOV applications, and because they exhibit relatively benign image artifacts across a variety of applications.
However, a disadvantage of GRAPPA-based techniques is that they are computationally expensive because they are per-coil reconstructions. In conventional GRAPPA-based techniques, a complete dataset for each receiver coil is reconstructed from the accelerated data from that coil and the accelerated data from at least one other coil. The linear combination weights needed to perform the reconstruction are calculated during an initial training phase. The training phase is performed using a small amount of fully sampled calibration data that is acquired on each receiver coil either before, during, or after the accelerated scan. The reconstruction weights are determined by fitting the calibration data from all coils to the calibration data on a single coil in the group. This process is repeated for each coil in the group.
In other words, for GRAPPA-based techniques, each individual coil dataset is reconstructed using information from a plurality of coils. The multiple separate coil images can then be combined via a sum-of-squares reconstruction to create a final composite image. While performing a per-coil reconstruction eliminates the phase cancellation problems observed in implementations such as VD-AUTO-SMASH, it introduces a significant computation burden. Specifically, the computational expense of GRAPPA-based methods is proportional to Nc2, where Nc is the number of surface coils. Thus, the computation time scales exponentially as the number of coils increases.
It would therefore be desirable to have a system and method capable of retaining the image quality benefit of GRAPPA-based methods while reducing the computation requirement.

System and method of parallel imaging with calibration to a separate coil

Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford, Jr. University


A separation unit is provided for separating a web material having a web width along preformed lines of weakness. The separation unit includes at least a first shaft extending along a first longitudinal axis and at least a second shaft extending along a second longitudinal axis in parallel with the first shaft. The separation unit also includes at least one first protrusion element extending perpendicularly from the first shaft and being arranged to be rotatable about the first longitudinal axis, and at least one second protrusion element extending perpendicularly from the second shaft and being arranged to be rotatable about the second longitudinal axis. The separation unit further includes at least one contact element being arranged in biased abutment against at least one of the first and second protrusion elements in a direction perpendicular to the first or second longitudinal axis.

Many types of dispensers are available on the market today for web material provided with pre-formed weakening lines, such as perforation lines, dividing the web material into individual products for use, e.g., as towels or wipes. The dispensers may be adapted for dispensing web material initially provided in the form of a roll or in the form of a folded stack.
Automatic dispensers may be electronically manoeuvred, and store and advance the paper towels with different kinds of control devices, sensors and power sources available. In particular, touch-free dispensers may be used to automatically feed a towel to a user. Manual dispensers may rely only on the force submitted by a user, e.g. pulling the outermost towel of the web material, in order to advance paper towels to the user.
A dispenser for web material with preformed lines of weakness may be provided with a separation unit for separating a sheet of web material along a line of weakness from the web material in the dispenser. The separation unit may comprise a nip through which the web material is arranged to pass. A line of weakness of the web material may break within the nip or outside the nip as a user pulls on the leading portion of the web material.
However, to realize the dispenser as described above a number of problems must be solved, including separating the webs correctly along the lines of weakness, feeding the next portion of the web to be separated to the separation unit, and presenting the leading end of the web to the next user. Furthermore, separation shall be possible for different types of web materials and web materials having different lengths between the lines of weakness.
International PCT Patent Application Publication No. WO2014/065738 concerns a separation unit for separating a perforated web material along preformed lines of weakness. The separation unit has a width direction and comprises at least a first shaft having a longitudinal axis extending in said width direction and a web width extending in said width direction, and at least a second shaft having a longitudinal axis extending parallel with said longitudinal axis of said first shaft and a web width extending in said width direction. The longitudinal axis of said second shaft is positioned at a distance from said longitudinal axis of said first shaft, said distance extending in a direction perpendicular to said width direction. Each of said first and said second rollers is provided with at least one protrusion element extending perpendicularly from said axes, wherein each of said protrusion elements has a maximum width in said width direction, a maximum radial extension from said rotational axes, an inner portion adjacent to said rotational axes, and an outer portion remote from said rotational axes, wherein said outer portions of said protrusion elements on said first shaft are arranged in a staggered relationship with said outer portions of said protrusion elements on said second shaft such that the outer portions of said protrusion elements on said first shaft are partially overlapping with said outer portions of said protrusion elements on said second shaft with a radial overlap length, thus forming an undulating passage for a web material between said rollers.
By the separation unit of WO2014/065738, the lines of weakness of a web material will be broken as a result of the web material passing through the undulating passage. This type of separation unit is particularly useful when it is desired to accomplish separation of a web material comprising lines of weakness, while treating the web material leniently. Hence, dispensing of relatively soft and/or weak web materials may be enabled without risk of the dispensing damaging the web material. For example, using a separation unit as in WO 2014/065738, dispensing of web material may be performed by a user pulling the tail of the web material with a pull-out force in the range about 4-7 N.
In particular, the separation unit of WO2014/065738 has shown to be useful when dispensing web material comprising at least two webs, each web being divided into individual sheets by lines of weakness, where the two webs are arranged in relation to one another such that the lines of weakness of the first web and the lines of weakness of the second web are offset with respect to one another along the webs. For separating such a web, it is of importance that while the separation along a line of weakness of one of the webs is performed, the separation unit should not damage the web material of the other web, which is located adjacent the line of weakness to be separated.
A web material as described in the above may be provided in the form of a roll or in the form of a folded stack. International PCT Patent Application Publication No. WO2014/098669 discloses an example of such a web material.
Although the separation unit of WO2014/065738 may provide highly reliable separation along the weakening lines of web material, it has been found that for some web materials, the reliability of the separation may be even further improved. Thus, it would be desirable to provide a separation unit that addresses these and other deficiencies in the known art.

Separation unit and a dispenser comprising a separation unit


Mobile assembly for cutting wood includes a base supported by wheels, and a plurality of posts extending upwards from the base. A frame is removably coupled to a distal post and a proximal post. The frame configured to pivot relative to at least one of the distal and proximal posts when coupled thereto, the frame configured for positioning at different heights along the at least one of the distal and proximal posts. An arm is supported by the frame, the arm configured for sliding about, and parallel to, the frame. The arm includes a chainsaw attached to a distal region of the arm.

A typically followed method for cutting up a fallen tree is for a chainsaw operator to hold a chainsaw and cut the tree trunk or limb with the chainsaw while continuing to hold the chainsaw all the way through the cut. This requires the operator to continue to exert physical force while holding the turned-on chainsaw with both hands. Cutting with a chainsaw involves the risk of the chainsaw kicking back and injuring the chainsaw operator; similarly, when a fallen tree is being cut with a chainsaw if a portion of the fallen tree is on a slope or is raised off the ground, for example, there is the further risk of the tree rolling onto the foot of the chainsaw operator when the cut is completed.
Therefore, a need exists for an improved cutting technic that overcomes the above-noted limitations.


Apparatus for eliminating non-naturally occurring, subsurface, liquid toxic contaminants from soil, includes a fracturing assembly for pneumatically fracturing the soil, the fracturing assembly including a tubular probe which receives a pressurized gas, the probe including a soil penetrating portion adapted to be inserted in a well in the soil and an above soil portion in fluid communication with the soil penetrating portion, the soil penetrating portion including a tube which receives the pressurized gas, first and second packers connected with the tube for pressing against walls of the well so as to provide a sealed area in the well between the first and second packers, a nozzle position in the sealed area in fluid communication with the tube for supplying the pressurized gas into the soil, the nozzle including at least one orifice therein which fluidly connects the soil with the tubular probe and an adjustment assembly which permits relative movement between the first and second packers in response to soil movement during a soil fracturing operation; and a pressurized gas supply which supplies the pressurized gas to the above soil portion of the tubular probe such that the pressurized gas travels through the at least one orifice into the soil to produce a fractured soil formation; and a transformation assembly which transforms liquid toxic contaminants in the soil into a different state, such as a vapor state or non-toxic state to decontaminant the soil, after creation of the fractured soil formation.

Contamination of soil and ground water is presently one of the major environmental concerns in the United States and other industrial countries. Subsurface contamination has reached a level and extent at which it poses a serious threat to human health and the environment.
In recent years, a number of State and Federal Regulations have been developed to control and reduce subsurface contamination. Unfortunately, the technology available to clean-up the contamination sites is often not effective, and those that are effective, may be prohibitively expensive.
The ground water environment is generally divided into two major zones, (1) the unsaturated zone, also known as the "vadose zone" and (2) the saturated zone. The vadose zone extends from the ground surface down to the ground water table, while the saturated zone begins at the ground water table and extends to a further depth. The vadose zone may be further divided into additional subzones, but for purposes of the present invention, it will be considered as a single zone.
Since the vadose zone is the uppermost layer of the terrestrial environment, it contains the most important pathways for the toxic and hazardous chemicals to enter groundwater systems. As such, the removal of the toxic and hazardous chemicals in this zone is of paramount importance for all groundwater remediation.
The principal mechanisms that control the flow and transport of chemicals in the vadose soil zone are mass flow, liquid diffusion, and vapor diffusion. Further, treatment of the vadose zone is high priority in any ground water remediation action since transport of the contaminants from the unsaturated to the saturated zones occurs continuously by percolation and vapor transport. Studies have shown that it is less costly to remove volatile organic compounds (VOC) from the vadose zone than to pump and treat contaminated ground water. For this reason, technology is being developed for the in situ removal of VOC from the vadose zone. Such treatment technologies include vapor extraction, biodegradation, soil washing and thermal treatment.
Several factors influence volatilization from soil. Temperature is one of the major factors that must be taken into account. Volatilization increases significantly as temperature increases because of the increase in vapor density and thereby the increase of vapor diffusion. Chemical concentration increases will increase volatilization considering that the chemical's vapor density is not saturated. Decreasing water content increases the vapor diffusion and volatilization. Finally, the wind speed increases volatilization because it improves mixing with the atmosphere and can increase volatilization.
Specifically, vapor extraction is a process for the in situ removal of volatile organic compounds (VOC) by mechanically extracting soil gas from the vadose zone. Specifically, one or more vertically oriented perforated vent wells are installed in the contaminated zone in the ground, and air is forced to travel through the pore space in the soil, causing volatilization of the liquid and adsorbed volatile organic compounds. The extracted soil gas is then either vented to the atmosphere or into an emission control system, depending on the concentration.
Two major variations of the vapor extraction process have been demonstrated successfully, namely an in situ air stripping process and a vacuum extraction process.
In the in situ air stripping process, a series of interconnected air injector vents are supplied with forced air by an above ground blower and manifold system that forces the air into the soil through the perforated vent wells. A separate blower and manifold system is used to apply negative pressure to air extraction vents to withdraw the soil gas. The injection and extraction vents are located alternately within the array of vent wells on the site. To achieve a degree of flow containment, extraction vents are placed on the perimeter of the area being treated.
Although various tests have found the air stripping process to be effective in removal of VOC from the vadose zone, these tests have identified an important limitation to its use. Specifically, the system functions best with high permeable soil such as the loose, sandy soils present. It was therefore concluded by the testers that the process would be much less effective in tightly packed soils and in soils with a high clay content.
The second variation of the vapor extraction process is vacuum extraction. As with in situ air stripping, vacuum extraction provides at least one perforated vent well installed in the vadose soil zone. A vacuum pump is installed on the wells and induces a negative pressure gradient around the well to remove the VOC along with the soil gas. Various examples of usage thereof include leakage of carbon tetrachloride from an industrial tank farm into a clay-like residual soil in a karst area in Puerto Rico, and surface spillage of acetone and methylene chloride around underground storage tanks, in which a vacuum extraction system was used to reduce the contamination to an acceptable limit. Even though the soil at the sites consisted of mixed silts, sands and clays, the vacuum wells developed a radius of influence of up to 17 feet. High recovery rates have also been reported using vacuum extraction to withdraw gasoline and residual hydrocarbons from gravel backfill around leaking underground storage tanks.
A summary of the design considerations of vacuum extraction systems is provided in the article "Vacuum Extraction From Soil" by M. B. Bennedsen, Pollution Engineering, Feb. 1987, pages 66-68. In the article, it is concluded that vacuum extraction has been used successfully on soils in a range of permeability from 1.times.10.sup.-4 to 1.times.10.sup.-8 cm/sec. Other important design parameters include the depth to the water table, the air emission control and short circuiting of air from the ground surface. In order to control the latter, a cover is sometimes installed over the area.
As discussed above, biodegradation is another process which has effectively been used in the treatment of soils contaminated with hazardous organic compounds. Specifically, with biodegradation or bioremediation, the environmental conditions in the soil are altered to enhance microbial catabolism or to cometabolise the organic contaminant, thus transforming it into a simpler, non-toxic product. In most applications, indigenous microorganisms are utilized, although seeding of the soil with indigenous microorganisms has also been used where natural occurring organisms are unable to degrade the contaminants.
Microorganisms can be classified into three main categories, namely (1) aerobic, which grow only in the presence of oxygen, (2) anaerobic, which grow only in the absence of oxygen, and (3) facultative anaerobic, which can grow either in the absence or presence of oxygen. The biodegradation method which has been found most effective in treatment of the vadose soil zone has been the aerobic microbial process. With this process, oxygen and often nutrients are injected or infiltrated into the subsurface environment, using wells or a percolation process. For example, wells are drilled into the soil and nutrients for feeding the microbes are dropped down into the well, or microbes are seeded in the well. Thereafter, the microbes are blown outwardly by forced air or the like. A concise summary of the major factors which affect the rate of biodegradation in the vadose zone are described by R. L. Valentine et al in "Biotransformation" in Vadose Zone Modellino of Organic Pollutants, edited by Stephen Hern et al, Lewis Publishers, Inc. Mich., Chapter 9 (1986), and include: (1) pH, (2) temperature, (3) water content, (4) carbon content, (5) clay content, (6) oxygen, (7) nutrients, (8) the nature of the microbial population, (9) acclamation and (10) concentration.
A number of investigators have reported successful application of the in situ biodegradation process to treatment contaminated soils and have concluded that it is often cost effective and reduces site disruption. Some important limitations have also been identified, such as reaction kinetics, low substrate concentration and slow degradability of certain compounds.
R. Wetzel et al in "Demonstration of In Situ Biological Degradation of Contaminated Ground Water and Soils", Sixth National Conference on Management of Uncontrolled Hazardous Waste Sites, Washington, D.C. (1985) describe a demonstration at Kelly Air Force Base, Texas, to treat contaminants consisting of hydrocarbons, aromatics and halogenated organics. A major limiting factor of the remediation is cited as the low permeability of the fine-grained soil layers present at the site.
Further, V. Jhaveri et al describe in "Bioreclammation of Ground and Ground Water by In Situ Biodegradation" Case History, Sixth National Conference on Management of Uncontrolled Hazardous Waste Sites, Washington, D.C. (1985) report the bioreclammation of a site in New Jersey contaminated with methylene chloride, n-butyl alcohol, acetone and dimethylaniline. After three years of in situ aerobic biological treatment, the contaminant plume was reduced by 90%.
Still further, P. Yaniga et al in "Aquifer Restoration Via Accelerated In Situ Biodegradation of Organic Contaminants", Seventh National Conference on Management of Uncontrolled Hazardous Waste Sites, Washington, D.C. (1986), in describing the reclamation of an aquifer contaminated with benzene, toluene, and xylene using biodegradation, emphasize the importance of oxygenating the subsurface environment. It is reported therein that superior rates of biodegradation using hydrogen peroxide as an oxygen donor result in comparison with a more traditional technique of air sparging.
In the method of thermal treatment or thermal soil decontamination, a contaminated soil is heated to a temperature of 400.degree. C. to 700.degree. C., which is sufficient to evaporate or to pyrolize the organic contaminants. The gaseous products are then removed by convection. After dust removal from the gas stream, the organic products are completely destroyed in an after burner at temperatures as high as 1200.degree. C. Consequently, the residual soil is ready for reuse after reconditioning, such as remoisturing. However, this method is in general unsuited for the removal of inorganic contaminants because of low volatility. Further, some inorganic compounds such as complexed cyanides and the more volatile metals such as mercury will decompose to gaseous products or evaporate partially under these conditions.
Thermal soil decontamination methods may be divided into two categories, namely rotary kiln fired decontamination and in situ decontamination. In the rotary kiln method, the required heat is transferred by direct or indirect firing of the soil. The fluidized bed technique is generally employed in direct heating, whereas infrared radiation on a conveyor belt or using hot oil in an extruder type reactor has been used for indirect heating. The in situ method applies radio frequency techniques. A system of electrodes is implanted into the ground to heat the soil to a predetermined temperature to vaporize the contaminants which are then vented by convection.
Another thermal treatment system is the thermal desorption-UV photolysis process described by S. G. DeCicco in "Transportable Hybrid Thermal Treatment System", 24th AIChE/ASME National Heat Transfer Conference, Pittsburgh, Pa., pages 407-412 (1987).
Although the approach seems to be promising in soil decontamination, the difficulty lies in the basic understanding of transport phenomena and chemical processes associated with evaporization/pyrolysis of organic matter such as organochlorine compounds. However, more research is needed to model the thermal desorption of contaminants from soils under a wide variety of thermal conditions.
In general, the in situ approach is less expensive than the rotary kiln method, but the latter has proved more effective since the kiln agitation reduces the amount of contaminant trapped in the soil pores.
Paramount among the limitations of the above existing and emerging treatment technologies in the vadose zone is the permeability of the soil formation being treated. The efficiency of the aforementioned in situ treatment processes all decrease as the soil permeability decreases. For soils with low permeabilities the existing processes are largely ineffective. Low soil permeability may be caused by a number of factors, including high clay content, high soil density and high fluid viscosity. Therefore, the effectiveness of virtually all in situ treatment processes in the vadose zone can be enhanced by increasing the permeability of the soil formation.
Unrelated to the removal of hazardous and industrial waste, it is also known to provide hydraulic fracturing in the petroleum industry to enhance well production. See, for example, the book Hydraulic Fracturing by G. C. Howard et al, Millet the Printer, Dallas, Tex., 1970. This is also related to pressure grouting procedures used to increase soil strength and decrease permeability around various engineering works, such as dam foundations and tunnels, which also uses water or other liquid agents.
In hydraulic fracturing, a section of an oil well is sealed off with pressure packers, and water is then injected until the pressure is sufficient to initiate fracture of the surrounding rocks. Once a crack is formed in the rocks, it will continue to propagate as long as the water pressure is greater than the stress normal to the plane of fracture. However, this process has only been used for fracturing rocks.
The theory describing hydraulic fracturing was first set out by M. King Hubbert in "Mechanics of Hydraulic Fracturing" in Trans. Am. Inst. Min. Engrs., Volume 210, pages 153-168 (1957) in which various modes of failure are discussed. Advances have also been made by subsequent investigators, such as R. O. Kehle in "The Determination Of Tectonic Stresses Through Analysis of Hydraulic Well Fracturing", J. Geophys. Res., Volume 69, pages 259-273 (1964) and P. L. Bertrand in "Note Seur L'Equilibre Elastigue D'Un Milieu Indefini Perce D'Une Cavite Cylindrique Sous Pression", Annls. Ponts. Chauss., Volume 134, pages 473-522 (1964), who employ a stress concentration concept to analyze fracture conditions.

Method and apparatus for eliminating non-naturally occurring subsurface, liquid toxic contaminants from soil


A method of screening a plurality of fluids for an effectiveness in enhancing oil recovery comprises introducing a petroleum hydrocarbon into a plurality of separate fluid channels to saturate the fluid channels, each of the fluid channels having a porous structure configured to represent a condition of an earth formation; injecting a plurality of aqueous based fluids into the fluid channels; imaging the fluid channels to provide a plurality of images; analyzing the images to determine amounts of the petroleum hydrocarbon remain in the fluid channels after injection of the aqueous based fluids; and determining an effectiveness of the aqueous based fluids in forcing the petroleum hydrocarbon out of the fluid channels.

Crude oil recovery can include several stages. During the primary recovery stage, the natural pressure of the reservoir drives oil into the wellbore and up to the surface. As the reservoir pressure declines because of production, an artificial lift system is normally implemented. Production using artificial lift is also considered primary recovery. When primary recovery stage reaches its limit, water or gas can be injected to displace oil and drive it to a production wellbore during secondary or tertiary recovery.
During any stage of reservoir production, enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques can be used to increase the amount of crude oil that can be extracted from the reservoir. There are several techniques for EOR—chemical injection is one of them. Chemical techniques inject surfactants (surfactant flooding) to reduce the interfacial tension that prevents or inhibits oil droplets from moving through a reservoir or inject polymers that allow the oil present in the formation to more easily mobilize through the formation.
Chemical EOR requires optimization for maximum effect. The optimal selection of surfactants and/or polymers depends on reservoir crude oil chemistry, temperature, pressure, permeability, residual oil composition, fluid properties and the like. Traditional methods to evaluate the effectiveness of chemicals to enhance oil production include sand pack and core flood tests. While these methods are beneficial testing tools, they can be labor intensive and time consuming. Accordingly, the art would be receptive to alternative methods that are effective to rapidly screening chemicals to enhance oil recovery.

Utilizing microfluidics as a rapid screening technology for enhanced oil recovery