An offset and screen combination printing method for IMD (In-Mold Decoration) hot press and injection molding application includes the steps of (1) primary offset printing; (2) color pattern offset printing; (3) third offset printing; (4) screen printing; (5) baking; (6) shape rolling; and (7) injection-molding.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing technology and, more particularly, to an offset and screen combination printing method for IMD (In-Mold Decoration) hot press and injection molding application.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional IMD (In-Mold Decoration) printing methods include screen-printing, spray-printing, and direct injection-molding. Few IMD printing providers accept the method of screen-printing because the printing speed of the method of screen-printing is slow (about 2000 runs per hour), and not suitable for rapid output. The method of spray-printing is complicated. After the application of each color of paint and before the application of a nest color of paint, the workpiece must be dried by baking or with the radiation of a UV lamp. The method of direct injection-molding is the most popularly accepted printing method. According to this direct injection-molding printing method, the desired color pigment is added to the material before IMD hot pressing and injection molding. However, because only one single color is provided each time, this method cannot produce a versatile color pattern.
The present invention has been accomplished to provide an offset and screen combination printing for IMD (In-Mold Decoration) hot press and injection molding application, which eliminates the drawbacks of the prior art printing methods. According to the present invention, the combination printing method comprises the steps of (1) primary offset printing; (2) color pattern offset printing; (3) third offset printing; (4) screen printing; (5) baking; (6) shape rolling; and (7) injection-molding. By means of the performance of the aforesaid steps and the application of specially prepared compound ink, rapid printing output with versatile printing pattern is achieved.

Offset and screen combination printing method


A process of producing a polyester or copolyester, wherein at least one cyclic lactone of the following formula (I): ##STR1##. wherein n is an integer of 1-4 provided that n is not 2 when only one cyclic lactone is used, is polymerized under a pressure of at least 200 MPa in the absence of any catalyst or in the presence of a metal-free polyesterification catalyst.

This invention relates to a process for the production of a polyester and to a novel copolyester obtained by the process.
It is known to produce a polyester by ring-opening polymerization of .epsilon.-caprolactone using ethylene glycol as a polymerization initiator. One problem of this method is that the molecular weight of the polyester is only about 5,000. Use of an organometallic catalyst has led to a success in obtaining a polyester having a high molecular weight of 100,000 or more. In order to use the polyester thus obtained for application as a biodegradable polymer, it is important to remove the catalyst completely so that the polyester is free of the catalyst.
A method has been proposed to use boron trifluoride diethyl etherate as a catalyst for the production of a copolyester of .beta.-propiolactone and .gamma.-butyrolactone (Urakawa et al, Polymer Preprints, Japan 42, 3721(1993)). This method, however, has a problem because the number average molecular weight of the copolyester is only 840-4,250 and because the amount of .gamma.-butyrolactone in the copolyester is 56 mole % at maximum.

Aliphatic polyester and process for the production thereof

Secretary of Agency of Industrial Science and Technology


An apparatus for carrying a target object having a plurality of surfaces, within a pulsed light sterilization chamber including a treatment zone within which pulsed sterilizing light is emitted, comprises: a transmissive carrier within the treatment zone detachably coupled to the target object, the transmissive carrier having a transmissivity of at least about 10% to light within the 250 to 350 nm wavelength range; and moving means coupled to the transmissive carrier for moving the target object on the transmissive carrier through the treatment zone, the plurality of surfaces of the target object being sterilized by the pulsed sterilizing light in the treatment zone. A system for sterilizing a target object having a plurality of sides, comprises: a pulsed light sterilization chamber comprising a treatment zone and means for emitting pulsed sterilizing light within the treatment zone; a moving means; and a transmissive carrier within the treatment zone detachably coupled to the target object, and coupled to the moving means which moves the target object on the transmissive carrier through the treatment zone, the plurality of sides of the target object being sterilized by the pulsed sterilizing light through the treatment zone.

The present invention relates to sterilization of products, and more particularly to sterilization of products using pulsed, short duration, polychromatic, incoherent light. Even more particularly, the present invention relates to sterilization of products wherein a transmissive carrier is employed to transport the product through a treatment zone thereby permitting complete sterilization of the product by avoiding shadowing of the pulsed polychromatic incoherent light.
The present invention addresses the particular need which exists for improved methods and apparatus for efficiently sterilizing or reducing the microbiological burden on the surfaces of or throughout the volume of anything requiring sterilization. Examples of surfaces and volumes of products needing sterilization include surfaces of solids and/or solids within liquid products, surfaces or volumes of food stuffs, surfaces or volumes of containers for food stuffs, surfaces of medical devices, surfaces of packages, and volumes of liquids.
By way of example, any varieties of foods (such as fresh fish) and medical products, have a relatively limited storage time before being subject to microbial and/or enzymatic spoilage, which limits the distribution and marketing. Further in the case of medical products, in particular, microbial deactivation must be achieved to medically acceptable sterility levels. Improved methods and apparatus suitable for extending the shelf life of perishable foods, medical devices and any other products requiring sterilization are therefore desirable.
Improved methods and apparatus for reducing or eliminating biological activity without degradation or other undesirable secondary effects on the product is also desirable.
An improved apparatus and method for sterilization of non-food products such as medical devices, is particularly desirable for research apparatus such as chemical reagents, plates, and test tubes which must be sterile to be used in unlimited medical or research procedures.
The-photo biological effects of light, including visible light (380-780 nm), near ultraviolet light (300-380 nm) and far ultraviolet light (190-300 nm), have been studied for many years, for example, as reported in Jagger, J., xe2x80x9cIntroduction to Research in Ultraviolet Photo Biologyxe2x80x9d, Prentice Hall, Inc., 1967, and efforts have been made to employ light for sterilization.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,034,235 (hereinafter the ""235 patent, issued Jul. 23, 1991 to Dunn, et al.) incorporated herein by reference, teaches utilizing intense, short duration pulses of UV-rich polychromatic, incoherent light in order to sterilize a surface of a food product.
Problematically, the use of pulsed light for sterilization of a product surface (typically meaning an exterior solid surface thickness to about 0.1 mm) is only as effective as the ability of the pulsed light to penetrate through any obstructions to the surfaces or volumes to be sterilized, that is, all areas to be treated must be fully contacted by the sterilizing levels of light.
This means, for example, that if the target object is a fluid, a fluid having a higher degree of transparency to a broad range of wavelengths, such as water and air, the target object will be more effectively treated by a given level of light than a more opaque fluid such as wine or sugar solution. A more opaque fluid solution would require either a smaller treating volume or a higher level of light, both of which reduce efficiency and in the later case, risk damage to the target object by the sterilizing level of light. Similarly, if the target object is a solid object or material, such as a food product or medical device, the solid object must be contacted by the pulsed light sufficiently, on all surfaces, to be sterilized, without shadowing of any such surfaces.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,871,559 (hereinafter the ""559 patent, issued Oct. 3, 1989 to Dunn et al.), incorporated herein by reference, teaches that certain solid materials such as cut, sliced or particulate foods (e.g., dried vegetables) may be treated in a fluid suspension medium in order to avoid shadowing effects. However, this method obviously is limited, in its usefulness, to those products that may be processed and suspended in fluid.
With respect to solid objects such as a container being treated by pulsed light, the ""559 patent teaches that such an object may be treated by rotating or turning the object during a multiple exposure treatment involving a series of light pulses; or by letting the object freely fall through a treatment zone surrounded by flashlamps so that substantially the entire surface of the product is subjected to simultaneous treatment.
The ""559 patent also teaches that the solid object or material may be packaged in a transparent wrapping material prior to the pulsed light treatment to reduce the shadowing effect as compared to a more opaque wrapping material used around the solid object.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,489,442 (hereinafter the ""442 patent, issued Feb. 6, 1996 to Dunn, et. al.), incorporated herein by reference, similarly teaches methods for treatment of solid objects. In particular, the ""442 patent describes the use of rollers or shakers to rotate the product between two or more flashes, or that the product may be rotated manually.
Unfortunately, these prior art methods of rotating the solid product or material, (such as a container or wrapped package), while sterilizing, can be ineffective unless a large number of pulses are used while the solid product is moving within the treatment area (or treatment zone) to allow all of its surfaces to be exposed to the sterilizing light. Meanwhile, some of the sterilizing light will be wasted on opaque surfaces shadowing the product to be sterilized. Consequently, a lesser throughput capacity results and cost, energy and time parameters are increased.
Thus, it is desirable to have a method and apparatus for transporting a solid product through a treatment zone of a sterilization chamber without the need for product manipulation within the zone or for multiple treatment exposures, such that a higher throughput capacity is thereby achieved, while decreasing the cost, time and energy required for the sterilization.
The present invention advantageously addresses the above and other needs by providing a method and apparatus for sterilizing a product with pulsed light while avoiding shadowing of the pulsed light upon the product being sterilized.
U.S. application Ser. No. 09/326,168, filed Jun. 4, 1999 of Clark, et al., for PARAMETRIC CONTROL IN PULSED LIGHT STERILIZATION, U.S. application Ser. No. 08/846,102 of Clark, et al., for PARAMETRIC CONTROL IN PULSED LIGHT STERILIZATION, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,925,885, and U.S. application Ser. No. 08/651,275, of Clark, et al., for STERILIZATION OF PACKAGES AND THEIR CONTENTS USING HIGH-INTENSITY, SHORT-DURATION PULSES OF INCOHERENT, POLYCHROMATIC LIGHT IN A BROAD SPECTRUM, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,786,598, are all incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention advantageously addresses the needs above as well as other needs by providing an apparatus for transporting a target object within a pulsed light sterilization chamber via a transmissive carrier which allows for sterilization of the target object without obstruction or shadowing by the transmissive carrier. The present invention also provides for a system for sterilizing the target object using such transmissive carrier to transport the target object through the system.
One embodiment of the invention is characterized as an apparatus for carrying a target object having a surface, within a pulsed light sterilization chamber within which pulsed sterilizing light is emitted. The apparatus comprises: a transmissive carrier within the treatment zone, the transmissive carrier engaging the target object, the transmissive carrier having a transmissivity of at least about 10% between 250 and 350 nm wavelength; and moving means coupled to the transmissive carrier for moving the target object by moving the transmissive carrier through the treatment zone, the surface being sterilized by the pulsed sterilizing light, at least a portion of the pulsed sterilizing light passing through the transmissive carrier before reaching the target object.
In another embodiment, the invention may be characterized as a system for sterilizing a target object having a surface. The system comprises: a pulsed light sterilization chamber comprising a treatment zone and means for emitting pulsed sterilizing light within the treatment zone; a moving means; and a transmissive carrier within the treatment zone, the transmissive carrier engaging the target object, and being coupled to the moving means, the moving means moving the target object by moving the transmissive carrier through the treatment zone such that the surface of the target object is sterilized by the pulsed light in the treatment zone, at least a portion of the pulsed light passing through the transmissive carrier before reaching the target object.

Transmissive conveyor for use in pulsed light sterilization


A packet of an enzyme and/or enzyme producing bacteria is contained within the core of a roll of toilet tissue or similar paper product wound on a core. The packet has a cover that dissolves or disintegrates on contact with water and disperses its contents into the aqueous waste stream. The packet may contain a mixture of bacterial cultures that produce enzymes to attack the greasy or fatty components of the waste stream. An additional article such as a sample of a liquid or creme personal care product may also be contained within the tissue paper core.

The present invention relates to improvement of treatment of liquid wastes, and in more particularly concerned with pretreatment of an aqueous waste stream to help reduce the solid (i.e., insoluble in water) materials in the waste stream. The invention is more especially directed to a product and technique that permits the consumer, i.e., householder or commercial user of water and waste treatment, to facilitate the partial pre-treatment of solid, i.e., fatty or greasy materials in the waste stream.
Sewage treatment systems, which may be large municipal waste treatment systems or small, individual septic-tank systems, employ bacteria to help break down and neutralize the waste materials that are entrained in the waste water stream. Most of the reduction of solids in the waste stream is carried out by bacteria which digest these solids, especially proteinaceous matter and carbohydrate matter, by changing them into simpler compounds that can be easily dealt with. However, most of the bacteria used in waste water treatment are not particularly effective in digesting fatty materials, e.g., animal fat and grease. Consequently, these materials are only partially treated, and remain as a greasy residue known as sludge.
Enzymes are protein-based substances that act as catalysts to break up various organic molecules, which can include the sludge components. Enzymes are sometimes used in household drains as an additive treatment for clearing or unblocking the drain. The enzyme additive can be used in various plumbing systems, e.g., pipes, drains, toilets, septic tanks, etc.) to remove the sludge from the drain pipes and also to assist the septic tank bacteria.
Enzymes are consumed upon use, unlike bacteria which are living organisms that reproduce in the presence of waste water components. Consequently, the enzymes have to be replenished on a regular basis if they are used for neutralizing or converting sludge. However, there has not been any convenient and affordable technique proposed previously to allow the householder or commercial consumer to add any effective amount of sludge-reducing enzymes into the waste water drain system.

Paper roll and waste water enzyme treatment


A structure of a panel includes a peripheral portion and an intermediate portion integrally provided with the peripheral portion. At least the intermediate portion includes a curved surface having a substantially constant sum of the maximum curvature and the minimum curvature at all the points on a surface of the intermediate portion. Further, the peripheral portion is formed as the same curved surface as the curved surface of the intermediate portion, or a curved surface having a curvature different from the curvature of the curved surface of the intermediate portion so as to enhance the panel stiffness of the peripheral portion.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a structure of a panel. As used herein, the term "panel" means a flat or plate material having a smoothly curved surface throughout the material. For example, the panel may include an outside plate of a vehicle body or body such as a roof panel, a hood panel, a door outer panel, a quarter panel or a fender panel, and an inside plate of the body such as a floor pan, a dash panel, an upper back panel or a lower back panel. Further, the panel may include a panel of an instrument such as a fuel tank, and a non-metal panel such as a front windshield glass, a back window glass or a door glass of the vehicle. Moreover, the panel may include a roof and a window glass of a railway vehicle, and a window glass of a building.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For example, in a roof of a vehicle having a panel, the panel 10 is generally formed as including a curved surface provided with an intermediate portion 11 and a peripheral portion 12, the intermediate portion 11 having a curvature less than the curvature of the peripheral portion 12 as shown by the dotted line of FIG. 1. This is mainly based on demand for design.
As a special panel, there is provided a panel which is made of plastic so as to have a thickened intermediate portion and a thinned peripheral portion, a thickness of the panel gradually becoming thinner from the intermediate portion toward the peripheral portion (See Japanese Utility Model Public Disclosure (KOKAI) No. 61-177984).
In general, the thickness of the panel is determined depending upon the degree of deflection of the panel, i.e., panel stiffness at a time when applying , a predetermined load. However, in conventional panels, the thickness of the panel is determined on the basis of the intermediate portion having the smallest panel stiffness since the intermediate portion and the peripheral portion have each different panel stiffness due to the different curvature on the panel surface. As a result, the peripheral portion is provided with an excess thickness so that the panel becomes heavy excessively.
The panel stiffness of the intermediate portion may be increased by using the panel having the thickened intermediate portion and the thinned peripheral portion, the thickness thereof becoming thinner from the intermediate portion toward the peripheral portion as disclosed in the above-mentioned Japanese Utility Model Public Disclosure. However, the weight of the panel is increased correspondingly to the increased thickness of the intermediate portion. Further, when the panel is made of steel plate, glass or the like which is difficult to use injection molding or extrusion molding, the manufacture of the panel is complicated.


A curve tracing system and method of extracting a smooth curve from a plurality of image data points includes the steps of: partitioning the data points into a plurality of groups each defined by a center point, manipulating the center points into a sequential order, and re-partitioning the data points into a plurality of groups each defined by a center point with the condition that a curve passing through the center points must be smooth.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to curve tracing systems, and in particular to methods of extracting a smooth curve from noisy curve data.
2. Background Information
Noisy curves can be visually well defined but mathematically difficult to describe. Take FIG. 1 for example, the average person would not have any problem perceiving that it shows a curve that contains a peak and a valley. If a person were to trace the curve using a pen, they might typically use the following steps:                1. decide the general shape of the curve,        2. focus on a region and put the pen at the center of the region, and        3. move the pen smoothly to the center of the next region, and so forth until the curve was traced.
This task cannot be easily automated, on a computer for example, because machines cannot "see" like a human, whose perception involves integration of local and global features. For computer vision, this is currently an unsolved problem.
The, so called, fuzzy c-means (FCM) algorithm and several fuzzy c-shells clustering algorithms have been used successfully to extract circular, elliptical and rectangular curves or lines in noisy data using a computer. These techniques are well known, and work well where the curve or line is represented by a small number of parameters, for example a circle can be uniquely described by its center and radius. In the clustering algorithm, the center of the circle corresponds to the center of a cluster and the radius to the average distance between the data samples and the center.
However, known clustering algorithms are only effective in dealing with a small number of curve shapes. In the real world, most curves cannot be described accurately by a mathematical formula or by a reasonably small number of parameters. Therefore, the clustering methods cannot be used to extract many real world curves. Also, the known techniques are not very effective when used on unordered and noisy curve data.


The invention discloses a MIMO different-factor full-form model-free control method with parameter self-tuning. In view of the limitations of the existing MIMO full-form model-free control method with the same-factor structure, namely, at time k, different control inputs in the control input vector can only use the same values of penalty factor and step-size factors, the invention proposes a MIMO full-form model-free control method with the different-factor structure, namely, at time k, different control inputs in the control input vector can use different values of penalty factors and/or step-size factors, which can solve control problems of strongly nonlinear MIMO systems with different characteristics between control channels widely existing in complex plants. Meanwhile, parameter self-tuning is proposed to effectively address the problem of time-consuming and cost-consuming when tuning the penalty factors and/or step-size factors. Compared with the existing method, the inventive method has higher control accuracy, stronger stability and wider applicability.

In the fields of oil refining, petrochemical, chemical, pharmaceutical, food, paper, water treatment, thermal power, metallurgy, cement, rubber, machinery, and electrical industry, most of the controlled plants, such as reactors, distillation columns, machines, devices, equipment, production lines, workshops and factories, are essentially MIMO systems (multi-input multi-output systems). Realizing the control of MIMO systems with high accuracy, strong stability and wide applicability is of great significance to energy saving, consumption reduction, quality improvement and efficiency enhancement in industries. However, the control problems of MIMO systems, especially of those with strong nonlinearities, have always been a major challenge in the field of automatic control.
MIMO full-form model-free control method is one of the existing control methods for MIMO systems. MIMO full-form model-free control method is a data-driven control method, which is used to analyze and design the controller depending only on the online measured input data and output data instead of any mathematical model information of the MIMO controlled plant, and has good application prospects with concise implementation, low computational burden and strong robustness. The theoretical basis of MIMO full-form model-free control method is proposed by Hou and Jin in Model Free Adaptive Control: Theory and Applications (Science Press, Beijing, China, 2013, p. 116), the control scheme is given as follows:
      u              (      k      )        =            u                    (                  k          -          1                )              +                                        Φ                          Ly              +              1                        T                                          (            k            )                                            (                                                    ρ                                  Ly                  +                  1                                                                          e                                                  (                  k                  )                                                      -                                          ∑                                  p                  =                  1                                Ly                                                                            ρ                  p                                                                                Φ                    p                                                                          (                    k                    )                                                                  Δ                                                  y                                                        (                                          k                      -                      p                      +                      1                                        )                                                                                )                            λ        +                                                                        Φ                                  Ly                  +                  1                                                                          (                k                )                                                          2                      -                                        Φ                          Ly              +              1                        T                                          (            k            )                                                        ∑                          p              =                              Ly                +                2                                                    Ly              +              Lu                                                                    ρ              p                                                                  Φ                p                                                          (                k                )                                                  Δ                                                                                u                                            (                                  k                  +                  Ly                  -                  p                  +                  1                                )                                                                λ        +                                                                        Φ                                  Ly                  +                  1                                                                          (                k                )                                                          2
where u(k) is the control input vector at time k, u(k)=[u1(k), . . . , um(k)]T, m is the total number of control inputs (m is a positive integer greater than 1), Δu(k)=u(k)−u(k−1); e(k) is the error vector at time k, e(k)=[e1(k), . . . , en(k)]T, n is the total number of system outputs (n is a positive integer); Δy(k)=y(k)−y(k−1), y(k) is the actual system output vector at time k, y(k)=[y1(k), . . . , yn(k)]T; Φ(k) is the estimated value of pseudo partitioned Jacobian matrix for MIMO system at time k, Φp(k) is the p-th block of Φ(k) (p is a positive integer, 1≤p≤Ly+Lu), ∥ΦLy+1(k)∥ is the 2-norm of matrix ΦLy+1(k); λ is the penalty factor; ρ1, . . . , ρLy+Lu are the step-size factors; Ly is the control output length constant of linearization and Ly is a positive integer; Lu is the control input length constant of linearization and Lu is a positive integer.
The above-mentioned existing MIMO full-form model-free control method adopts the same-factor structure, namely, at time k, different control inputs u1(k), . . . , um(k) in the control input vector u(k) can only use the same value of penalty factor λ, the same value of step-size factor ρ1, . . . , and the same value of step-size factor ρLy+Lu. However, when applied to complex plants, such as strongly nonlinear MIMO systems with different characteristics between control channels, the existing MIMO full-form model-free control method with the same-factor structure is difficult to achieve ideal control performance, which restricts the popularization and application of MIMO full-form model-free control method.
Therefore, in order to break the bottleneck of the existing MIMO full-form model-free control method with the same-factor structure, the present invention proposes a method of MIMO different-factor full-form model-free control with parameter self-tuning.


A display panel and a terminal device including the same are provided. The display panel includes a touch screen configured to present display content, a supplementary light module that includes a light emitting element configured to provide supplementary light and a light guide element configured to guide the supplementary light to the touch screen, and a display substrate configured to form the display content. The display panel can increase brightness of the touch screen, so that users can see the display content on the display panel clearly even in a dim environment, which improves universality of reflective liquid crystal displays.

With popularization of terminal devices and development of liquid crystal display technology, in order to meet various needs of people in life and work, display panels of terminal devices are becoming more and more diversified. For example, the display panels may be liquid crystal displays (LCDs) or reflective liquid crystal displays (RLCDs). The reflective liquid crystal displays have higher requirements for light intensity of environment. When the reflective liquid crystal displays are in an environment with sufficient sunlight or strong lighting, screens of the reflective liquid crystal displays will be clearer and brighter, which can better satisfy people's viewing experience. When the reflective liquid crystal displays are in an environment where natural light or artificial auxiliary light is darker, the screens of the reflective liquid crystal displays are also darker, and it is difficult for users to comfortably see contents displayed on the screens. Since the reflective liquid crystal displays are highly dependent on ambient light, users must use the terminal devices with the reflective liquid crystal displays according to their environment. If the users are in a dim environment, it is difficult for the users to see the contents displayed on the screens clearly.


In a first aspect, the invention provides a diol latex composition comprising:. (a) latex polymer particles comprising a residue of an ethylenically unsaturated monomer, wherein the latex polymer particles have a size below 1000 mn; PA1 (b) a surfactant; and PA1 (c) a continuous liquid phase comprising a diol component, wherein the diol component comprises from 60 to 100% by weight of the continuous phase, PA1 (a) preparing a polymer colloid system comprising a first polymer dispersed in a liquid continuous phase; and PA1 (b) introducing the polymer colloid system into a condensation reaction medium prior to or during the condensation reaction, wherein the condensation reaction medium comprises (1) a diacid, di-isocyanate, dialkyl carbonate, diaryl carbonate, dihalo carbonate or a mixture thereof, wherein the liquid continuous phase, the condensation reaction medium or both comprises a diol component; and PA1 (c) polymerizing the diol component and component b(1), thereby forming a condensation polymer/first polymer matrix.. wherein the latex polymer particles are dispersed in the continuous phase. In a next aspect, the invention provides a method of making a condensation polymer/first polymer matrix comprising the steps of:

With regard to the first major embodiment of the present invention, latex polymers are utilized in a variety of products due to the unique features of their delivery system. Latex polymers, by nature, have lower viscosities than their solution counterparts. This lower viscosity allows for higher polymer concentrations to be delivered in an application without encountering the numerous problems associated with high viscosity fluids. The reason for the unique viscosity behavior of latex polymers results from the heterogeneity of the system. The fact that the latex polymers are dispersed, rather than dissolved, in a continuous low viscosity medium reduces the influence of the latex polymer on the viscosity of the media. Therefore, the continuous phase or solvent of the latex is the dominant component affecting the viscosity of the system.
Typically, the continuous phase of most commercial latexes is water. This is beneficial in that water has low toxicity and is not flammable. Water is a good choice when the continuous phase is to be used as a delivery system for the polymer. In some circumstances, however, water may be detrimental to the substrate, or it may be necessary to change the drying characteristics of the latex.
Solvents other than water may be used in the continuous phase. For example, the addition of diol solvents in minor amounts is known. JP 04335002 teaches the addition of alcohol(s) as an antifreeze agent for the production of vinyl ester emulsions at low temperatures. The amount of the diol solvent disclosed is below 50 wt. %. JP 63186703 teaches the addition of film forming agents and plasticizers in an amount up to 10 wt. % of the solid component to effect film formation properties of the resulting emulsion. JP06184217 teaches the addition of polyols and water-soluble inorganic salts to vinyl chloride suspension polymerizations to produce vinyl chloride polymers that have good powder fluidity. EP 255137 teaches the use of water soluble alcohol in a water/alcohol level of 100/0 to 50/50 for producing polyvinylester with a high degree of polymerization.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,779,969 describes the use of propylene diol or diethylene diol in amounts of 10-50 wt % of the emulsion. The ethylene diol is added to impart improved wetting properties to the emulsion.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,458,050 describes a process for the manufacture of polymer dispersions in diol chain extenders. The patent relates to the production of polymers which have low viscosity for the preparation of polyurethanes. The '050 patent does not teach compositions which result in stabilized latexes in diol solvents. The patent also teaches large amounts of polymeric stabilizers to produce the dispersion polymer.
JP 60040182 and JP 64001786 teach compositions for water-oil repellency for fabric treatment. The compositions are aimed at producing fluoropolymer emulsions in a mixture of diol solvents. Such fluoropolymers are not the subject of this invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,810,763 teaches suspension polymerization in an organic medium for the preparation of pressure sensitive adhesives. The compositions described in the '763 patent are specifically aimed at producing large particle size dispersions. This patent does not disclose compositions which size latexes having a particle size below 1000 nm. This reference also does not disclose emulsion polymerization.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,885,350 and 5,061,766 teach the dispersion polymerization of vinyl monomers in hydrophilic organic liquids. To produce the dispersion polymer, large amounts of polymeric dispersion stabilizers are taught.
Prior to the present invention, it had not been previously known to utilize 40%, more preferably 60% or greater, of diol, by weight of the continuous phase, in the continuous phase of a latex polymer. This amount of diol has been found in the invention herein to provide certain advantages in a latex composition, such as improved compatibility with a particular substrate, better drying characteristics of the latex, or it can be used in the second major embodiment of the invention (production of a condensation polymer/first polymer matrix).
With regard to the second major embodiment of the present invention, it is known to modify condensation polymers by blending the condensation polymer with another polymer in an extruder. For example, to improve the impact properties of a polyester, a low Tg elastomer is typically added to the polyester in a twin-screw extruder. Japan Kokai JP 02155944 describes compounds for moldings comprising physical blends of saturated polyester with polystyrene polymers containing 1-100 phr glycidylamido-grafted olefin polymers of glycidyl methacrylate-graft olefin polymers. Jpn. Kokai JP 02016145, JP 02024346, JP 01123854, JP 01153249 and JP 01163254 each teach the blending of aromatic polyesters with resins prepared by graft emulsion copolymerization. In each of these references, the size of the dispersed phase is said to be critical in obtaining good properties. However, this is an energy intensive process, sometimes resulting in an undesirable reduction in the physical properties of the polymer, in particular the molecular weight. Further, a blending step is required, which utilizes more resources and more time.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,652,306, 4,180,494 and 5,409,967 disclose compositions for impact modification of aromatic polyesters that involve blending an acrylic or polybutadiene/acrylic rubber powder with polylethylene terephthalate (PET). The acrylic rubber particles are prepared by typical core/shell emulsion polymerization and then harvested by spray drying the latex. The procedure for latex harvesting is outlined in U.S. Pat. No. 3,895,703.
The extrusion blending of an elastomer and a plastic is labor intensive and time consuming. Typically, polybutadiene or poly(butyl acrylate) are used as the low Tg (glass transition temperature) polymer to impact modify the polyester. These low Tg elastomers are difficult to handle and require that a second monomer, typically poly(methyl methacrylate) be utilized as a shell surrounding the low Tg polymer core so that the low Tg polymer may be handled. The core-shell polymer is isolated, dried and then added to the polyester in an extruder.
There exists a need for a process for producing a polymer blend by more economical methods. It would also be desirable be able to utilize both core shell and/or non core shell polymers in a process for producing a polymer blend, again, in an economical fashion. Further, it would be desirable to utilize novel polymer sources, for example glycolyzed polymers, for producing a polymer blend. Also, it would be desirable to utilize reinforcing agents, e.g., glass fibers, to improve the physical properties of the resulting polymer blends. Moreover, it would be desirable to modify the characteristics of the polymer blends of the present invention by utilizing a buffered system. Still further, it would be desirable to obtain thermoplastic elastomeric materials according to the present invention. Such needs have been satisifed by the present invention, which can achieve such polymer blends in a polymerization reactor, wherein the physical properties of the resulting condensation polymers are maintained or improved. Still further, latex polymer compositions of improved properties are also provided.

Diol latex compositions and modified condensation polymers


The present disclosure relates to a pre-5th-Generation (5G) or 5G communication system to be provided for supporting higher data rates Beyond 4th-Generation (4G) communication system such as Long Term Evolution (LTE). Embodiments of the present invention provide apparatus and method for allocating resources to transmit and receive vehicle service information in a vehicle communication system. According to an embodiment of the present invention, a base station includes a control unit for allocating a resource for a user equipment (UE) which provides a second service based on priorities of a used resource allocated for a first service and a requested resource for the second service among total preconfigured resource for a vehicle service, and a transmitter for transmitting the resource allocation information to the UE.

To meet the demand for wireless data traffic having increased since deployment of 4th generation (4G) communication systems, efforts have been made to develop an improved 5th generation (5G) or pre-5G communication system. Therefore, the 5G or pre-5G communication system is also called a 'Beyond 4G Network' or a 'Post Long Term Evolution (LTE) System'.
The 5G communication system is considered to be implemented in higher frequency (mmWave) bands, e.g., 60 GHz bands, so as to accomplish higher data rates. To decrease propagation loss of the radio waves and increase the transmission distance, the beamforming, massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), Full Dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antenna, an analog beam forming, large scale antenna techniques are discussed in 5G communication systems.
In addition, in 5G communication systems, development for system network improvement is under way based on advanced small cells, cloud Radio Access Networks (RANs), ultra-dense networks, device-to-device (D2D) communication, wireless backhaul, moving network, cooperative communication, Coordinated Multi-Points (CoMP), reception-end interference maycellation and the like.
In the 5G system, Hybrid frequency shift keying (FSK) and quadrature amplitude modulation (FQAM) and sliding window superposition coding (SWSC) as an advanced coding modulation (ACM), and filter bank multi carrier (FBMC), non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA), and sparse code multiple access (SCMA) as an advanced access technology have been developed.
In recent, communication technology is advancing to provide various services to users. For example, a vehicle communication system provides a vehicle service between a vehicle and a vehicle, between a vehicle and an infrastructure, between a vehicle and a pedestrian, between a vehicle and a driver, and between a vehicle and a passenger using a wireless communication technique. Such a vehicle service requires periodical transmission, low latency transmission, and high reliability transmission of vehicle service information.

Apparatus and method for allocating resource for vehicle service


An optical device such as an overlay panel for a LCD display, comprises an element of light-transmitting material having a surface configured to form a stepped Fresnel prismatic structure. The light-transmitting material itself or ribbed light refracting element, said element incorporates an array of graded refractive index features adapted to impart light dispersing of diffusing characteristics to the light-transmitting material. In an alternative arrangement, the element of light-transmitting material has a layer configured to form a stepped Fresnel-type surface and an additional layer incorporating such an array of graded refractive index features.

The present invention relates to a light diffusing sheet material having utility in various fields, including that of enhancing video displays, such as LCD displays.
In liquid crystal displays the bright image seen by the viewer is generated through the liquid cell either by light generated within the assembly by a back light or by the use of ambient light which is first transmitted through the cell and reflected at the rear of the cell, re-emerging through the cell to create a bright image. In this latter arrangement, due to the position of the viewer, the majority of light must be accepted off axis, preferably should not be further diffused on entering the display, and should preferably re-emerge on axis with some additional diffusion in order to provide an acceptable viewing cone. It is well known that Fresnel-like structures have the ability to redirect light; as circular arrangements of facets to create lenses, or as linear arrangements of facets to create off axis effects. Structures of these types have been proposed incorporating materials with light diffusing characteristics, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,911,529, where the diffusive effect is provided by a so-called bulk diffuser comprising small particles of a material of a first refractive index dispersed in a matrix material of a second refractive index. Such materials are described in, for example U.S. Pat. No. 4,983,016, EP-A-0464499 or EP-A-0843203. An important characteristic of such bulk diff-user materials is that the amount of diffusion taking place within a given composition is dependent on the thickness of material through which the light travels. As a result, light entering an assembly containing such material off axis becomes more diffuse and reduced in intensity than light which enters on axis.
According to the present invention there is provided an optical device comprising an element of light-transmitting material having a surface thereof configured to form a stepped, Fresnel-type light refracting element, such light transmitting material incorporating an array of integral graded refractive index structures adapted to impart light dispersing or diff-using characteristics to said light-transmitting sheet material or the element having a layer configured to form said stepped surface and an additional layer incorporating such an array of integral graded refractive index structures.
In certain instances, it may be desirable to render one surface of said element reflecting or partially reflecting by coating with a material with the necessary optical properties, such as a metal applied by deposition or sputtering.
The sheet material may comprise, for example, a photopolymer, in which the graded refractive index features are formed by exposure of a precursor of the material, (such as a monomer) to appropriate radiation in a predetermined pattern so as to produce localised variations of light intensity within the material and hence localised variations in degree of polymerisation and thus in refractive index. As another example, the material may be dichromated gelatine (DCG), in which the desired graded refractive index features are formed by exposure of the material itself to such a radiation pattern, to produce an equivalent effect. Such materials, correctly processed, possess the previously described desirable optical characteristics. The process techniques used may, for example include, those disclosed in EP-0294122 or EP-0801767 or U.S. Pat. No. 5,695,895 or GB-A-1499135. These types of diffusing materials may themselves have off axis or asymmetric characteristics, as described in EP 0768565, which can further enhance the off axis effects generated by the Fresnel structure. Methods of producing sheets of light diffusing material in which the light-diffusing characteristics are due to refractive index variations within the material are known and will not be discussed in greater detail here. These known methods, however, are directed to the production of either planar light-diffusing sheets or light-diffusing sheets having a surface configuration in the form of a plurality of convex domes, for example, adapted to enhance the diffusive characteristics of the material.


An improved spar for offshore hydrocarbon recovery operations is disclosed having a vertically oriented elongated floating hull with a buoyant upper section and a ballasted lower section and an anchoring system connecting the hull to the ocean floor. The hull of the spar is provided with a vertically oriented, rotatable fairing whereby low drag VIV suppression protects the spar.

The present invention relates to a heave resistant, deepwater platform supporting structure known as a "spar." More particularly, the present invention relates to reducing the susceptibility of spars to vortex induced vibrations ("VIV").
Efforts to economically develop offshore oil and gas fields in ever deeper water create many unique engineering challenges. One of these challenges is providing a suitable surface accessible structure. Spars provide a promising answer for meeting these challenges. Spar designs provide a heave resistant, floating structure characterized by an elongated, vertically disposed hull. Most often this hull is cylindrical, buoyant at the top and with ballast at the base. The hull is anchored to the ocean floor through risers, tethers, and/or mooring lines.
Though resistant to heave, spars are not immune from the rigors of the offshore environment. The typical single column profile of the hull is particularly susceptible to VIV problems in the presence of a passing current. These currents cause vortexes to shed from the sides of the hull, inducing vibrations that can hinder normal drilling and/or production operations and lead to the failure of the anchoring members or other critical structural elements.
Helical strakes and shrouds have been used or proposed for such applications to reduce vortex induced vibrations. Strakes and shrouds can be made to be effective regardless of the orientation of the current to the marine element. But shrouds and shakes materially increase the drag on such large marine elements.
Thus, there is a clear need for a low drag, VIV reducing system suitable for deployment in protecting the hull of a spar type offshore structure.


A memory array has a first memory cell with a plurality of transistors connected so as to restore a data value to a node of the memory cell to an initial value following an event upsetting the initial value. A first portion of the plurality of transistors is in a first cell portion and a second portion of the plurality of transistors is in a second cell portion. A second memory cell has a third cell portion and a fourth cell portion. The third cell portion is between the first cell portion and the second cell portion and adjacent to each of the first cell portion and the second cell portion. In a particular embodiment, the memory cell is a single-event-upset (“SEU”) tolerant memory cell and the first and second cell portions are each a half cell of a sixteen transistor memory cell.

CMOS circuits are used in a variety of integrated circuit (IC) applications. A CMOS process can be used to fabricate many different sorts of functionality, such as memory, logic, and switching, and thus CMOS techniques are particularly desirable in applications where an IC includes several different types of functional blocks.
One family of ICs employing CMOS fabrication techniques are programmable logic devices (PLDs). PLDs are a well-known type of integrated circuit that can be programmed to perform specified logic functions. One type of PLD, the field programmable gate array (FPGA), typically includes an array of programmable tiles. These programmable tiles can include, for example, input/output blocks (IOBs), configurable logic blocks (CLBs), dedicated random access memory blocks (BRAM), multipliers, digital signal processing blocks (DSPs), processors, clock managers, delay lock loops (DLLs), and so forth.
Each programmable tile typically includes both programmable interconnect and programmable logic. The programmable interconnect typically includes a large number of interconnect lines of varying lengths interconnected by programmable interconnect points (PIPs). The programmable logic implements the logic of a user design using programmable elements that can include, for example, function generators, registers, arithmetic logic, and so forth.
The programmable interconnect and programmable logic are typically programmed by loading a stream of configuration data into internal configuration memory cells that define how the programmable elements are configured. The configuration data can be read from memory (e.g., from an external PROM) or written into the FPGA by an external device. The collective states of the individual memory cells then determine the function of the FPGA.
Another type of PLD is the Complex Programmable Logic Device (CPLD). A CPLD includes two or more "function blocks" connected together and to input/output (I/O) resources by an interconnect switch matrix. Each function block of the CPLD includes a two-level AND/OR structure similar to those used in Programmable Logic Arrays (PLAs) and Programmable Array Logic (PAL) devices. In some CPLDs, configuration data is stored on-chip in non-volatile memory. In other CPLDs, configuration data is stored on-chip in non-volatile memory, then downloaded to volatile memory as part of an initial configuration sequence.
For all of these PLDs, the functionality of the device is controlled by data bits provided to the device for that purpose. The data bits can be stored in volatile memory (e.g., static memory cells, as in FPGAs and some CPLDs), in non-volatile memory (e.g., FLASH memory, as in some CPLDs), or in any other type of memory cell.
Other PLDs are programmed by applying a processing layer, such as a metal layer, that programmably interconnects the various elements on the device. These PLDs are known as mask programmable devices. PLDs can also be implemented in other ways, e.g., using fuse or antifuse technology. The terms "PLD" and "programmable logic device" include but are not limited to these exemplary devices, as well as encompassing devices that are only partially programmable.
PLDs and other ICs that are specialized to be radiation tolerant are desirable for certain applications. Such ICs are often referred to as single event upset (SEU) tolerant ICs, heavy ion tolerant (HIT) ICs or radiation-hardened ICs. An SEU arises when a heavy ion or high-energy particle, such as an alpha particle or neutron, hits a memory cell, charging internal nodes of the memory cell that can change the memory state. For convenience of discussion, an SEU will be referred to as an "ion hit," whether it involves an ion or other high-energy particle causing the error.
Two basic approaches to improve SEU tolerance have been tried. One approach is commonly called "resistive hardening;" however, resistive hardening can significantly degrade latch performance. Another disadvantage arises if a standard CMOS fabrication has to be modified to accommodate a resistively hardened IC. It is highly desirable that SEU tolerant ICs be made using standard CMOS fabrication processes.
Another approach to improve SEU tolerance is commonly called "design hardening." Design hardening generally refers to laying out a memory cell or other circuit to improve recovery of data after ion hits. A general discussion of design hardening is found in the paper entitled Two CMOS Memory Cells Suitable for the Design of SEU-Tolerant VLSI Circuits, by Velazco et al., IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, Vol. 41, No. 6 (December 1994), the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes.
In design hardening, redundant storage bits are located apart from each other, maintaining a source of initial data after an SEU upsets one of the storage bits. Many variations are known, using sixteen-, fourteen- and twelve-transistor SEU tolerant memory cells.
FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram of a prior art sixteen-transistor SEU tolerant memory cell 150. As used herein, "sixteen-transistor memory cell" refers to the twelve storage devices N1, N2, N3, N4, N5, N6, N7, N8, P1, P2, P3, P4 and the four access devices T1, T2, T3, T4. Those of skill in the art of SEU resistant memory cells appreciate that the number of access devices is not always included in the transistor count or shown in a memory cell circuit diagram.
FIG. 9 of U.S. Pat. No. 6,573,773 B2 by Maki et al. ("Maki"), the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated in its entirety for all purposes, shows a radiation tolerant storage cell that is similar in operation to the memory cell 150 shown in FIG. 1, above. However, access transistors are not shown in FIG. 9 of Maki. The operation of the radiation tolerant storage cell of FIG. 9 described in Maki is substantially similar to the operation of the memory cell 150 of FIG. 1, above. Therefore, a detailed description of the operation of the memory cell 150 of FIG. 1 is omitted because the operation of the memory cell 150 will be familiar to those of skill in the art.
The memory cell circuit 150 has data terminals d, db ("data BAR"), output terminals Q, Qb, and internal nodes 152, 154 that store values QQb and QQ, respectively. A data value is a digital zero or digital one value, and the bar value is the opposite value. For example, if Q=1, then Qb=0. QQ saves a redundant value of Q, and QQb saves a redundant value of Qb. The values stored at the nodes are utilized in restoring the state of the memory cell if a node is upset by an SEU.
Since QQ has the same value of Q, and QQb has the same value of Qb, other nodes could be used for the outputs of the memory cell 150. For example, instead of Q and Qb being the nodes that are output, as shown in FIG. 1, the outputs could be nodes QQ and Qb, nodes Q and QQb, or nodes QQ and QQb. Furthermore, in a memory array having several similar memory cells defined in the silicon layer, some memory cells in the array may interface to other portions (circuits) of an IC through nodes Q and Qb, and other memory cells may interface to other portions or the IC through nodes QQ and Qb, for example.
Redundant data storage nodes are used for storing information. If data stored in one node is changed by an ion hit, the redundant node restores the other node to its initial value (state). This protects the data stored in the memory cell from ion hits as long as the data values stored in both of the redundant nodes are not simultaneously changed by an ion hit. It is desirable to physically separate redundant nodes to avoid both nodes from being affected by a single ion hit.
An ion hit creates charge in the silicon of the memory cell. This charge can upset the data value stored at a node by changing the voltage at that node. As the devices used in memory cells shrink, the amount of charge required to upset a stored data value also decreases. Charge is generated about a radius of the path of the ion. Although this charge radius depends on the energy of the ion, it is generally desirable to separate redundant nodes in SEU tolerant memory cells by at least one micron.
As the design technology decreases for IC production, a memory cell layout appropriate for a larger technology design dimension (e.g., 90 nm technology) might not provide adequate SEU tolerance when reduced to a smaller design dimension (e.g., 65 nm technology) product. For example, an SEU tolerant cell layout that provides sufficient spacing between redundant nodes in a 90 nm design might provide insufficient spacing when reduced to a 65 nm design.
Therefore, memory cells suitable for small geometry (small design technology) ICs that provide SEU tolerance is desirable.

Interleaved memory cell with single-event-upset tolerance


A fixing belt includes a base layer, an elastic layer made of an elastic material, and a release layer. The elastic layer includes a first elastic layer disposed on a side of the base layer, and a second elastic layer disposed on a side of the release layer. The second elastic layer has a lower hardness than that of the first elastic layer. A Universal hardness of the second elastic layer is 3 to 7 N/mm2. A thickness ratio of the second elastic layer to the elastic layer is 5 to 15%.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fixing belt, a fixing device, and an image forming apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
A fixing device employed in an image forming apparatus, such as a copier or a laser beam printer, generally brings a heated fixing belt into contact with recording media that bear unfixed toner images, thereby fixing toner images on the recording media. Then, the recording media bearing the fixed toner images are separated from the fixing belt. Such a fixing belt is, for example, an endless belt including a base layer, an elastic layer, and a release layer laminated in this order.
As such a fixing belt, a fixing belt including two or more elastic layers each having a different thermal conductivity is known from the viewpoint of image smoothness and energy saving (e.g., Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-084134 (hereinafter, "Patent Literature (PTL)" 1)). Also, as such a fixing belt, a fixing belt including two or more elastic layers each having a different heat-resistant temperature is known from the viewpoint of durability (e.g., Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-055470 (hereinafter, "PTL" 2).
A hardness of a fixing belt affects fixability of toner images and separability of recording media. More specifically, adhesion between a fixing belt and a recording medium generally lowers as the hardness of the fixing belt increases. As a result, fixability of toner images tends to lower as separability of recording media improves. The fixing belts described in PTLs 1 and 2 occasionally fail to achieve expected fixability and separability. Accordingly, an electrophotographic image forming apparatus including each of the fixing belts described in PTLs 1 and 2 occasionally fails to form images in a stable manner due to jams of recording media. In the specification, the term "toner image" refers to an aggregated state of a toner as an image.

Fixing belt, fixing device, and image forming apparatus


A multi-stage technique of establishing a plurality of secure strings of symbols is disclosed. In the first stage, the illustrative embodiment establishes a first-stage string of symbols with each other node. The first-stage strings are chosen from a first, small, key space, which means that they can be established more quickly than a highly secure key from a large key space. The advantage of the first-stage strings is that it enables the user to transmit secure messages more quickly than messages secured with highly secure strings. The disadvantage of the illustrative embodiment is that the first-stage strings are not as secure as strings from a larger key space. This disadvantage is mitigated, however, by the fact that the first-stage strings are only used for a short amount of time—until the second-stage strings are established in the second stage.

When two parties communicate via a telecommunications network, it is common for the parties:                i. to encrypt their messages so that they remain secret from eavesdroppers, and        ii. to authenticate the messages so that the receiver is confident who really sent the message.It is well known in the prior art how to encrypt and authenticate messages using one or more secure strings of symbols. There are many well-known ways of establishing secure strings, but the process of establishing secure strings in the prior art has disadvantages.

Staged establishment of secure strings of symbols


Chimeric molecules that contain at least one pathogen-detection domain and at least one effector domain, and their methods of use in preventing or treating a pathogen infection in a cell or organism are described. The pathogen-detection domain and effector domain of the chimeric molecules are domains not typically found in nature to be associated together. Agents are also described herein having at least one pathogen-interacting molecular structure and at least one effector-mediating molecular structure, the agent being one that is non-naturally-occurring in a cell. The methods of prevention and treatment described herein are effective for a broad spectrum of pathogens and exhibit little or no toxic side-effects. Assays for the detection of a pathogen, pathogen component, or product produced or induced by a pathogen, are also provided.

Many pathogens have the ability to evade the natural defenses of an infected host cell or organism. Consequently, the infected host develops the disease or disorder which is associated with that pathogen.
Treatments for pathogenic infections typically target a distinguishing feature or characteristic of a specific pathogen. For example, acyclovir targets the replication stage of herpesvirus infection, zidovudine/AZT targets the reverse transcriptase of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and various protease inhibitors target HIV protease. Generally, however, these therapies have many disadvantages, including limited usefulness for only a specific pathogen, ineffectiveness due to pathogen variation, and toxic side effects. In addition, many of these therapies tend to be slow to develop.
A need exists therefore, for the development of anti-pathogen therapies that are effective for a broad spectrum of pathogens and which overcome disadvantages of existing therapies.


A server cooling system includes a shell accommodated with a cooling liquid, a condensation module, a mechanical arm, a buffer bin and a control module. The server cooling system automatically takes out and places in a heating element, and avoids the gasified cooling liquid steam from leaking, improving the safety factor during operation, and reducing loss of the cooling liquid.

In the current server field, a heating element is generally cooled by using an air cooling system. However, in a large scale data center, only an air cooling system is already far from satisfying the requirement of a high heat-flow density server for heat dissipation. In recent years, a water cooling system having a remarkable effect is developed; the water cooling system can lead a refrigerant directly to a heat source, instead of indirect refrigeration like the air cooling system. Compared to the air cooling system, the heat transferred per unit of volume, namely the heat dissipation efficiency, is as high as 3500 times. Therefore, the water cooling system is input to the market for use from the initial stage the system is developed. The server tycoons such as HP, IBM and the like, and other companies focusing on data center technology all launched water cooling heat dissipation products early or late.
At present, the liquid cooled servers on the market mostly adopt the refrigerant water. However, the water containing impurities is a good conductor, and is easy to cause a circuit board to be short. Although the existing water cooling radiator manufacturers ensure that the products thereof are completely sealed and free of leakage, the water containing impurities is still a hidden danger all the time, which makes most server manufacturers step back to the technology.
One alternative solution is to use an insulating refrigerant to cool the server. According to the principle of phase change heat exchange, the latent heat of vaporization is taken away from the heat when the refrigerant is boiling. The latent heat of vaporization when the refrigerant boils is utilized to transfer heat. Since the latent heat of vaporization of a liquid is many times greater than specific heat, the cooling effect of the phase change heat exchange is much better than a water cooled server. However, once the situation that the cooling device has a poor sealing effect occurs to the liquid cooled server, the refrigerant steam is very easy to leak and lose, thus causing loss to the refrigerant and reducing the cooling capability of the liquid cooling system. Moreover, once the server immersed in a cylinder fails and requires to be maintained, a maintainer must open an upper cover plate, and take out the server immersed in the refrigerant before starting maintenance. In such a process, the refrigerant groove is opened, thus the refrigerant directly contacts the air; the process not only causes the volatilization and waste of the refrigerant, but also improves the chemical reagent concentration in closed space. Even if the refrigerant is harmless to environment and human body, a user will also feel worried.
For the problems in the related art, no effective solution is proposed at present.

DAWNING INFORMATION INDUSTRY (BEIJING) CO., LTD.


A method of making a one-way gas release valve for releasing gas pressure from within a coffee container comprises pre-oiling a relatively narrow dry strap of flexible material and laminating the pre-oiled dry strap between relatively wide ribbons of base and cover material with the dry strap overlying spaced vent patterns in the base material. Alternatively, the base material may be pre-oiled or both the base material and the dry strap may be pre-oiled. The dry strap and base may be made of PET and the cover may be made of mPET. Gas release valves are then die cut from the resulting web with each valve containing a vent pattern. Pre-oiling of the dry strap and/or the base can be accomplished through a roll metered process to insure that the oil is applied in precise amounts and with consistent thickness and coverage. Since the oil is applied during fabrication of the gas release valves, the vent patterns in the base can be configured to function also as a filter to prevent coffee grinds from migrating into the valve.

One-way gas release valves for maintaining freshness of coffee within a can or other container have long been available. These valves generally are configured to be adhered to the surface of a membrane end that seals the mouth of a coffee container until an end user desires to open the container. The valve covers a small vent hole formed in the membrane end. The valve allows gas pressure within the container to escape when it is higher than ambient pressure while preventing ingress of outside air when ambient pressure is higher than gas pressure within the container. Gas release valves can take on a variety of configurations, but one conventional gas release valve is generally square in shape and includes a base, typically formed of a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) polyester film, having a pressure sensitive adhesive on its bottom face for attachment to the membrane end of a coffee container. A central hole is punched through the base and the pressure sensitive adhesive layer and is sized to surround the small vent hole formed in the membrane end when the valve is applied. A dry strap, which also may be formed of PET film, is wider than the diameter of the hole but narrower than the valve body, and extends across the top surface of the base and covers the hole. A thin film of oil is disposed between the dry strap and the base. An adhesive layer, which may, for instance, be a double sided tape, covers the dry strap and the top surface of the base to secure the dry strap in place atop the hole. A barrier layer, which may be a metalized polyethylene terephthalate (mPET) film, is secured to the opposite side of the adhesive layer forming a cover and protective layer, and helping to bond the dry strap to the base.
In operation, when atmospheric pressure is greater than the gas pressure within the container, the force of the outside pressure urges the dry strap down against the opening in the base. This, in conjunction with the wetting forces provided by the oil film, seals off the opening and prevents air from entering the container through the opening. Gas pressure within the container may become greater than atmospheric pressure due, for instance, to off-gassing from the coffee within the container, a change in barometric pressure, or a change in altitude during shipment. When this occurs, the gas pressure within the container urges the dry strap away from the opening in the base and overcomes the wetting force of the oil, which allows excess gas in the container to flow along the dry strap to the edges of the valve, where it escapes to the atmosphere. In this way, gas pressure within the container is always maintained at or below atmospheric pressure and the container is sealed against ingress of outside air.
In order for the dry strap form a reliable seal around the hole in the base, a very thin film of oil, such as silicone oil, is deposited on the dry strap between the dry strap and the base. This thin film of oil creates a wetting force between the oil and the films of the base and the dry strap and has an inherent surface tension that helps to close and seal the valve when the pressure within the container equalizes with the atmospheric pressure. Traditionally, the oil is applied to the dry strap after the valve is fabricated in a semi-continuous process that involves indexing a long ribbon bearing thousands of valves and micro-spraying milligrams of oil into each valve through the hole in its base. While somewhat successful, this process has proven difficult to control precisely; because, among other things, of the inherent difficulty spraying the correct very small amount of oil into each valve (2.9 milligrams is difficult to control), timing and aligning the spray to the hole in the base, and achieving uniform lay down of oil across the entire dry strap. Variations in these factors lead to corresponding variations in the characteristics of the oil film and consequently in valve performance which, in some cases, can be unacceptable.
An additional and related problem with traditional gas release valves has been that the hole in the base of these valves must be large enough to allow for effective micro-spraying or other application of oil through the hole. However, when the valve is applied to the membrane end of a coffee container, this relatively large hole can allow coffee grinds that migrate through the vent hole in the membrane to become lodged between the dry strap and the base rendering the valve ineffective to seal out ambient air.
Accordingly, there exists an need for a method of making one-way gas release valves for coffee containers with membrane ends, and containers of other commodities, that insures precise application of a tiny volume of oil to each valve, uniform lay down of oil across the entire dry strap, and that eliminates the need to index, align, and apply small volumes of oil through the holes of valves. A further need exists for a one-way gas release valve that is immune to the migration of coffee grinds from a coffee container into the valve. It is to the provision of such a method and resulting valve that the present invention is primarily directed.


A method and a facility for wet-scrubbing sulfur dioxide to produce, for example, potassium thiosulfate or ammonium thiosulfate. The facility includes a multi-section vessel having multiple horizontally disposed stages where a preceding stage passes partially-scrubbed waste gas to a succeeding stage. Each stage has a scrubber mechanism to scrub waste gas with circulating fluid that successively reduces waste gas concentration before atmospheric discharge. The scrubber mechanism may include a packing to facilitate absorption of waste gas by the fluid, a sump disposed at the output of the stage to receive fluid as it drains from the packing, and a circulation pump to circulate fluid from the sump to its packing and to cascade at least a portion of the fluid back to a preceding stage. A portion of the fluid is extracted from the facility and reacted in a reaction vessel with a cation to produce ammonium thiosulfate or potassium thiosulfate.

This invention pertains to a wet scrubbing method and apparatus but, more specifically, to a horizontally disposed multistage crossflow scrubbing method and apparatus to scrub sulfur dioxide gas or other gases in order to produce, for example, a thiosulfate of potassium or ammonium, which is commonly used as a fertilizer.
Sulfur dioxide pollution may result from crude oil refining, fossil fuel burning, flue-gas desulfurization, mining, waste incineration, sulfur burning operations, cement plants, pulp & paper mills, smelters, glass plants, biomass fired facilities, sulfuric acid plants, Claus plants and many other activities. Deleterious effects of sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions are minimized by sulfur scrubbers before being discharged into the atmosphere. Typical SO2 scrubbers employ open spray towers that utilize liquid or slurry sprays, e.g., an aqueous bisulfite/sulfite solution, to initiate a first step in the desulfurization process in which sulfur dioxide gas is absorbed into or reacted with the liquid spray. A cation is typically added to the liquid for pH and reaction control. These towers employ a series of spray nozzles that spray incoming liquid against the direction of flow of the gas stream where the liquid falls into a sump and is continuously recirculated to the spray nozzles to increase absorption and/or reaction. The liquid in the sump may be siphoned off and reacted with other chemicals to produce a chemical byproduct such as thiosulfate of potassium or ammonium.
In a typical desulfurization plant, a liquid-to-gas, or L/G, ratio in the spray tower conventionally runs around 120 gallons per minute (gpm) liquid flow per 1,000 actual cubic feet per minute (acfm) gas, which ratio is dependent upon the scrubber type and the concentration of SO2 in the flue gas. Some of these scrubber towers may be equipped with a plastic or metal packing to enhance gas-liquid contact but this imposes certain constraints on plant operation and efficiency such as cooling requirements, scale removal and cleaning, flow restrictions and pressure drop, safety, maintenance and labor costs, etc.
Rather than using a conventional tower (or multistage tower) construction, however, the present invention is directed to a horizontally disposed multistage crossflow scrubbing method and apparatus that efficiently scrubs a gas stream. The gas stream may comprise sulfur dioxide, ammonia or other gas but this disclosure exemplifies the invention with SO2 gas. Exemplary prior art systems and methods include U.S. Pat. Nos. 10,472,238; 6,733,660; 4,408,593 and 4,170,546. As evident by the description below, horizontal scrubbing provides multiple advantages over a tower arrangement.

Crossflow scrubbing method and apparatus to produce a product such as potassium thiosulfate or ammonium thiosulfate


An apparatus for performing bus tracing with scalable bandwidth in a distributed memory symmetric multiprocesssor system is disclosed. The distributed memory symmetric multiprocessor system includes multiple processing units, each coupled to a memory module. Each of the processing units includes a memory controller and a bus trace macro (BTM) module. The memory controller is coupled to an interconnect for the symmetric multiprocessor system, and the BTM module is connected between the interconnect and the memory controller via two multiplexors. A subset of the BTM modules within the symmetric multiprocessor system is enabled for performing tracing operations such that address transactions on the interconnect are divided among the subset of the BTM modules to be selectively and separately intercepted by each BTM module within the subset of the BTM modules.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to system debugging in general, and, in particular, to a method and apparatus for performing interconnect tracing. Still more particularly, the present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for performing bus tracing in a data processing system having a distributed memory.
2. Description of the Related Art
As technology progresses, the amount of circuitry that needs to be integrated onto a single chip is ever increasing. Also, state of the art technologies now routinely allow for the packaging of multiple chips on a single module substrate. In addition, higher operating clock frequencies are utilized both inside chips and on interconnects between chips. While all of the above-mentioned advancements lead to systems with higher performance, they also present some very difficult problems during system development.
Typically, before a new system can be brought to market, the system must be tested in a laboratory environment in order find any logical and/or electrical defects that may exist in the hardware design of the system. The capturing of lengthy traces of interconnect (or bus) transactions is routinely required to isolate some of the defects. Also, extensive performance modeling and analysis are required during system development to fine tune design points such that the maximum possible performance can be achieved. The capturing of traces that represent typical instruction sequences used by many common applications, such as commercial database applications, is required as part of the performance modeling and analysis. Sometimes, those traces have to be very lengthy in order to adequately represent the target commercial applications.
Traditionally, the collection of traces has been performed by attaching several logic analyzers external to interconnects. The logic analyzers must be capable of sampling data at the same speed as the interconnects to which they are connected and must have very large memories to store lengthy traces. With the technological advances described above, the traditional method of collecting traces has become unworkable for several reasons. First, the speed of interconnects have increased to the point that most off-the-shelf logic analyzers are not fast enough for sampling data reliably, and those that can are prohibitively expensive. Second, even with logic analyzers that can perform at high speed, the increased loading on interconnects caused by the attached logic analyzers can degrade the integrity of the interconnects to a point that the interconnects cease to function at the desired frequency. Third, with the modern packaging technology, interconnects tend to be imbedded within a single chip and/or within a multichip module. Thus, even if the above-mentioned two problems can be overcome, it does no good when interconnects are not accessible externally.
One conventional method of (partially) solving the above-mentioned problems has been relying upon the integration of small memory arrays at various key locations on a chip to allow for the sampling of various interconnects internally. The problem with such method is that the memory arrays have to be very small in size, which means limited storage capacity, because of the cost of additional silicon areas. Even with the use of advanced data compression techniques, the storage capacity of those small memory arrays are still nowhere near the storage capacity that is considered to be useful for debugging complex sequences or collecting traces suitable for performance analysis.
Consequently, it would be desirable to provide a method and apparatus for collecting lengthy core instruction traces or interconnect traces without the use of externally attached logic analyzers or additional on-chip small memory arrays.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and apparatus for performing bus tracing with scalable bandwidth in a data processing system having a distributed memory

International Business Machines Corporation


A tree structure has a node associated with each category of a hierarchy of item categories. Child nodes of the tree are associated with sub-categories of the categories associated with parent nodes. Training data including received queries and indicators of a selected item category for each received query is combined with the tree structure by associating each query with the node corresponding to the selected category of the query. When a query is received, a classifier is applied to the nodes to generate a probability that the query is intended to match an item of the category associated with the node. The classifier is applied until the probability is below a threshold. One or more categories associated with the nodes that are closest to the intent of the received query are selected and indicators of items of those categories that match the received query are output.

Users typically search for items such as consumer products and other goods and services on the Internet. Users may submit their query by entering a query into a field of a search engine or a field provided by a merchant website. However, because of ambiguities inherent in language, the intent of the query, i.e. what the user was actually searching for, may not be clear based on the query.
For example, a user may provide the query "trimmer" to an online merchant. The query "trimmer" may apply to variety of product types such as hair trimmers, nail trimmers, beard trimmers, lawn trimmers, and hedge trimmers. Because users may become frustrated if provided with incorrect results, the intent of a query (e.g., such as a product category) may be determined before providing results based on the query.


Recombinant cells and methods therefor are contemplated that allow for rapid and high titer production of recombinant viruses, and especially replication deficient Ad5 virus. In some preferred aspects, the host cell is modified to produce an inhibitor that reduces or eliminates the expression of a therapeutic protein encoded in the virus, while in other aspects, the virus includes a gene that directly or indirectly reduces or eliminates the expression of a therapeutic protein encoded in the virus. Most preferably, shRNA encoded by the host cell will reduce or suppress expression of a payload gene encoded in the recombinant virus.

The background description includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the presently claimed invention, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
All publications herein are incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each individual publication or patent application were specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference. Where a definition or use of a term in an incorporated reference is inconsistent or contrary to the definition of that term provided herein, the definition of that term provided herein applies and the definition of that term in the reference does not apply.
Gene therapies using a virus as delivery system for a recombinant therapeutic protein, and protein production in mammalian cells have become more and more accepted in the art. While at least conceptually relatively simple, various difficulties have been encountered, and most of the problems were associated with the virus-host interaction.
For example, adenoviruses are well-characterized dsDNA viruses and often allow for the production of adenovirus particles that contain various transgenes for delivery to many cell types of interest. Adenovirus type 5 represents one of the best studied platforms in this regard, with numerous kits available in the commercial space to produce user-determined viruses. Adenovirus type 5 produced in this manner have been used in cell culture, animal, and even clinical trials, further supporting the familiarity of scientific and clinical practitioners with this system. Entry of the virus into the cell is thought to be mediated via the Coxsackie and Adenovirus receptor (CXADR). Therefore, cells or tissues failing to produce CXADR have limited use of the Adenovirus type 5 technology in such cells, and so prevent transduction of many clinically relevant cells and tissues, including stem cells and immune cells.
CXADR (Swiss-Prot Accession Number: P78310) is a type I membrane receptor and a member of the immunoglobulin superfamily (Science (1997) 275; 1320-1323). CXADR has an extracellular domain that is typically larger than 200 amino acids in size and is believed to be a component of the epithelial apical junction complex essential for the tight junction integrity (J Biol Chem (1999) 274; 10219-10226). CXADR can be overexpressed in host cells to so gain an entryway for the AD5 virus. While such recombinant cells are sensitive to Ad5 transfection, and possibly improved protein production, such systems will still suffer from various drawbacks. Most notably, where the virus is used as a therapeutic entity, generation of sufficient quantities of recombinant viruses (e.g., 1010-1012 viral particles) is often inconsistent and in some cases not even achievable.
Improvements in viral titers have, for example, been previously reported for some adeno-associated viruses by regulation of expression of REP and CAP proteins of an adeno-associated virus as was reported in U.S. Pat. No. 6,548,286, WO 98/46728, or US 2004/0043490. However, such systems will generally not translate to other viral systems due to the specificity of the REP and CAP proteins of the adeno-associated virus and life cycle of such virus. In another approach, where protein production in a production cell from a recombinant nucleic acid was driven from a recombinant gene expressed in a CHO cell, the cells were cultured in the presence of a synthetic siRNA to suppress expression of the recombinant protein, and later in the absence of the siRNA to allow for production of the desired recombinant protein as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,273,722. However, while such systems increase to at least some degree quantities of a desired recombinant protein, generation of high titers of recombinant viruses was neither contemplated nor even feasible in the described CHO cells.
Therefore, while numerous cell production systems and viral vectors are known in the art, there remains a need for systems and methods to produce high titers of recombinant viruses, and especially therapeutic viruses in a simple and effective manner.

Modified EC7 cells having low toxicity to viral production payloads


A method is disclosed to assign Priority to Processes based on Roles. The method calculates the process priority of the process using a scheduler running in the computer system, based on either a first weight of a first role, a second weight of a second role, or a calculated weight if both the first and second roles can unlock access to the process. The method then assigns a share of the computer system's time to the process, the share of time being based on the process priority calculated for the process.

Computer-based access controls can limit which users or processes may have access to a specific system resource and the type of access permitted. The access decisions in Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) are based on the roles that individual users have as part of an organization. Users take on assigned roles (such as system administrator, project manager, design engineer, or part-time employee, etc.) Access rights are grouped by role name, and the use of resources is restricted to individuals authorized to assume the associated role. For example, a system administrator can access user authentication data for an entire organization, whereas the role of a project manager can be limited to information associated with that particular project, and not to information associated with other projects.
A program or command that is actually running on the computer is referred to as a process. When a process is started on a system, the process uses a part of the available system resources. When more than one process is running, a scheduler that is built into the operating system gives each process its share of the computer's time, based on established priorities.
In Role Based Access Control (RBAC), what is needed is a way to control the priority of the running processes based on roles. For example, a system has two roles: "Security Administration" and "Backup Administration". A set of authorizations has been assigned to these roles. If there is a requirement to give more priority to the "Security Administration" role, i.e. more priority is to be given to the commands (processes) that a Security Administration executes on the system, then the "Backup Administration" role should be given a lesser priority than the "Security Administration" role. These priorities are required since "Security Administration" commands are considered more important and the person exercising that role needs more priority for his commands then a person exercising the "Backup Administration" role.
What is needed is a way to assign priority of a process in accordance with the role of the person accessing that process. In other words the priority of the process needs to be set based on the role that a user has, i.e. prioritize processes based on the roles with which they are associated. What is needed is a method to assign priority to processes based on roles.

Method to support role based prioritization of processes


A constant on-time converter has an input terminal, an output terminal, a feedback circuit, an operating circuit, a comparison circuit, a timer, a driving circuit and a switching circuit. The operating circuit is coupled to a compensation signal adjusted by a digital controller, and the compensation signal rises up to a predetermined amplitude when a feedback signal is less than a reference signal.

Constant on-time DC/DC converters are widely used in power conversion due to their excellent load transient response, high efficiency, simple configuration and small size. One example is the application in consumer electronics such as notebook, netbook, computer, and personal digital assistant ("PDA").
FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a traditional DC/DC converter. For constant on-time control, when output voltage of the converter is lower than a reference voltage, the converter is configured to provide power from input terminal to output terminal. As one example shown in FIG. 1, when output voltage is less than a reference voltage, a high-side switch S1 is turned on and a low-side switch S2 is turned off, then a current is supplied from input terminal VIN to output terminal VO. Output voltage is obtained at output terminal VO through an output filter comprising an inductor L and an output capacitor C. Output capacitor C comprises an ideal capacitor CO and an equivalent series resistance ("ESR").
FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 show waveforms illustrating signals of the converter shown in FIG. 1. The first waveform shows a driving signal 201/301 of high-side switch S1. The second waveform shows a voltage ripple 202/302 across the ESR of output capacitor C. The third waveform shows a voltage ripple 203/303 across the ideal capacitor CO of output capacitor C. And the last waveform shows an output voltage ripple 204/304. FIG. 2 shows waveforms when the resistance value of the ESR is relatively small. Voltage ripple 202 across the ESR is in phase with driving signal 201. The ideal capacitor CO has an integral effect and voltage ripple 203 across the ideal capacitor CO is 90 degree delayed to driving signal 201. Since the resistance value of the ESR is relatively small, voltage ripple 203 across the ideal capacitor CO plays a dominant role, and output voltage ripple 204 is determined by the ideal capacitor CO. Thereby output voltage ripple 204 is delayed to driving signal 201, and the system may be unstable as shown in FIG. 2. When the resistance value of the ESR is relatively large, voltage ripple 302 across the ESR plays a dominant role. As shown in FIG. 3, output voltage ripple 304 is about in phase with driving signal 301, and the system is stable. In summary, an equivalent series resistance with large resistance value is needed in the traditional constant on-time converter to stabilize the system.
Accordingly, a constant on-time converter with good stability is needed, especially when output capacitor with low ESR is used, e.g., ceramic capacitor.

Constant on-time converter with stabilizing operation and method thereof

Chengdu Monolithic Power Systems Co., Ltd.