Here is disclosed an overtape-sealed comprising a paper tube, having longitudinally opposite open ends one and/or both of which is covered and sealed with a twofold overtape wherein the overtape is bonded to the paper tube with adhesive having penetrated the outermost layer of the paper tube so that a release resistance established between the overtape and the outermost layer of the paper tube is higher than a release resistance of an inner layer not penetrated by said adhesive with respect to said outermost layer and thereby unsealing of the paper bag can occur along a boundary between the outermost layer and the inner layer or along the inner layer itself of the paper bag in proximity of said boundary.. Here is also disclosed an overtape-sealed bag wherein the paper tube is a gusset paper tube and wherein a pair of mutually opposed outer surface sections of each gusset are bonded to each other with use of adhesive over an area thereof to be covered by the overtape while the corresponding inner surface sections of each gusset are not bonded to the inner surfaces of the paper tube's respective major walls so as to provide shock absorbing means.

The present invention relates to an overtape-sealed paper bag used as a heavy-duty paper shipping bag.
The machine-sewed heavy-duty paper shipping bag (referred to hereinafter simply as "sewn bottom bag") of prior art comprises a paper tube having opposite open ends covered with respective twofold tapes and sealed by machine-sewing said tapes integrally with the paper tube itself. In view of its high economical efficiency, it has conventionally been considered as unavoidably allowable drawback that such machine-sewed bag is more or less moisture absorbable and prone to rupture. However, a recent tendency to require strict quality guarantee of the content has made such moisture absorbability and bag rupture a problem to be solved and accordingly this problem has presently been solved by overtaping the open ends of the paper tube so as to cover stitching-thread as well as sewing perforations.
For the machine-sewed bag of well known art, the side down posture drop test from a height of 1.2 m indicated that the bag ruptures along the sewed lines, i.e., opposite sides on an average after twice of such drop test.
The machine-sewed bag of prior art which has been overtaped as mentioned above certainly reduces the moisture absorbability and possibility of bag rupture but a readiness for unsealing, one of the most important conveniences to be provided by the machine-sewed bag is thereby vitiated and use of the overtape necessarily increases the cost of the bag. In the case of a moistureproof stitched bag which contains therein a separate bag made of synthetic resin film, the bottom of the inner tube must be heat sealed above the level at which the outer tube will be machine-sewed, since the inner and outer tubes are simultaneously manufactured. This results in a corresponding tube loss (at least 60 mm collectively at top and bottom open ends). Even so far as only the outer tube is concerned, machine-sewing treatment requires margins of approximately 15 mm at top and bottom open ends, respectively. Accordingly, a length of the paper tube for the outer bag must be substantially increased relative to a filling capacity and no material reduction can be achieved.
Furthermore, a paper bag having its bottom open end covered and sealed with a twofold bottom sealing paper is disclosed by Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 1975-3608 whose main object is to provide improved sealing at its bottom open end, not to provide readiness for unsealing.
A paper bag having its bottom open end covered and sealed with a twofold bottom sealing paper sheet which contains, in turn, a tear strip extending horizontally is also known from, for example, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 1969-7819; Japanese Utility Model Disclosure Gazette No. 1979-106911; and Japanese Utility Model Disclosure Gazette No. 1989-20451. However, a readiness for unsealing depends on a cutting resistance and cutting of the bottom sealing paper sheet and so unsealing of the bag by pulling the tear strip contained therein can not be smoothly done.
As the well known construction closely related to the heavy-duty paper shipping bag of the invention, a bag made of synthetic resin woven fabric having its bottom open end covered and sealed with a twofold synthetic resin tape by use of hot melt adhesive which has a melting point lower than that of said synthetic resin is disclosed by Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 1969-15573. However, such bag of prior art has been found to be extremely poor in its readiness for unsealing.
A similar bag which is made of synthetic resin and has its bottom open end sealed with a twofold synthetic resin tape is disclosed by Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 1966-18387 and Japanese Utility Model Disclosure Gazette No. 1972-8523. However, both of these well known bags have been also found to be very poor in their readiness for unsealing.


An apron conveyor having a chain formed by a plurality of elongated links. Each link has a forward end pivotally connected to a rearward end of an adjacent link. An apron member is fixed to each link. Each apron member includes a base plate having a front end portion on one apron member overlapping a rear end portion of an adjacent apron member. The front end portion has a bottom concave surface generated about a pivot axis defined at the forward end of the respective link. The rear end portion includes a rear damlike wall which projects outwardly from the base wall and terminates in a free end adapted for sliding movement along the adjacent concave surface. The rear end portion also includes a front damlike wall projecting outwardly from the base all and terminating in a free end which is disposed for sliding movement along the same concave surface.

In an apron conveyor in which powdery or granular material is conveyed along an upwardly inclined path, it is necessary to provide means for preventing the conveyed material from coming out through the gap between the overlapping front and rear end portions of adjacent aprons. Such a means is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 101308/1986, as shown in FIGS. 2(a), 2(b) and 2(c) hereof.
Namely, an apron E is mounted to each link 1a, 1b, . . . of a conveyor chain 1 and comprises bottom plates E1, E2 . . . and outwardly projecting side plates S1, S1, S2, S2 . . . Each link 1a, 1b . . . is pivotably connected with adjacent links by means of connecting pins P. The overlapping front end portion of the bottom plates E1, E2 . . . is formed of a trapezoidal shape so as to have a flat top 2, a proximal end leg 3 and a free end leg 4. On the other hand, the overlapping rear end portion of the bottom plate includes a circular wall 5 which is complimentary to the movement locus of the free end 4' of the end leg 4 as generated about the pivot axis defined by the connecting pin P, a recess 6 adjacent to and above said circular wall 5, and an upright free end 7.
When the links 1a and 1b are straight as shown in FIG. 2(a) with no bending angle about the connecting pin P on a conveying path having an angle of inclination .alpha., the forward end 4' of the front overlapping end portion of the apron's bottom plate E2 is in contact with the forward end of the circular wall 5 of the forward apron E1. Thus, downward entering of the conveyed material from the forward apron E1 into the space 8 formed by the respective overlapping end portions of the forward and rearward aprons as mentioned above may be prevented. And when the links 1a and 1b make an angle .beta. as shown in FIG. 2(b), the forward end 4' of the front overlapping end portion of the bottom plate E2 is adapted to make a sliding contact with the outer surface of the circular wall 5 about the connecting pin P until it reaches the other end of the circular wall 5; and accordingly, no gap may be created between the forward end 4' and the circular wall 5 which many allow the conveyed material to enter thereinto. Should a small amount of the material enter the space 8, it will be held in the recess 6 and is incapable of going over the upright free end 7.
As the bending angle increases to .gamma. as shown in FIG. 2(c) so that the forward link 1a becomes substantially horizontal, the forward end 4' of the overlapping end portion of the bottom plate E2 is separated from the circular wall 5 and the space 8 is opened. However, since the forward bottom plate E1 is almost horizontal, there is no fear that the conveyed material enters the space 8 from the forward bottom plate E1. And as the forward link 1a further advances so as to incline downward, the material which may have accumulated in the space 8 may be discharged onto the forward bottom plate E1.
In the aforementioned prior art, the forward end 4' formed in the front overlapping end portion of the bottom plate is forced to make a sliding contact with the circular wall 5 formed in the rear end portion of the adjacent bottom plate, thus jamming the material in the gap as the relative bending of the links takes place, which causes wear of the sliding portions. This can cause the gap between the forward end 4' and the circular wall 5 to become larger, which in turn makes it easy for a larger amount of material to pass through the gap. Therefore, complete prevention of leakage of the conveyed material is not possible by the above-mentioned prior art.
Accordingly, this invention relates to an apron-type conveyor which is believed to significantly improve upon and overcome the deficiencies of the prior art conveyor.

Structure of overlapping portions in apron conveyor


The present invention relates to power supplies, methods of installing power supplies, power distribution systems and methods of installing power distribution systems. More particularly, one embodiment of the present invention relates to a power distribution system for receiving AC current from an AC current source and for distributing DC current inside of a computer case.

Various mechanisms for supplying power (e.g., to a computer system or other electrical device) have been proposed. Examples include the mechanisms described in the following patent documents.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,532,907 relates to a power bus that connects a matrix of power supplies to a circuit board in a computer system. The power bus is substantially planar and attached to the circuit board so that the power bus and circuit board are parallel to one another. This parallel relationship is said to decrease the amount of space utilized by the circuit board in the computer system. The circuit board also has connectors for delivering power directly to a load which is said to increase the efficiency of power delivery.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,852,544 relates to a computer assembly containing an internal power supply that powers both peripherals located within the housing of a computer and peripherals located external to the housing of the computer. The above is accomplished by using a bracket designed to use only internal supply voltage, without the use of an adapter, to connect a computer system to external peripheral devices. The bracket is attached to an expansion slot of a computer housing and is made up of a first connecting part and a second connecting part. The second connecting part is electrically connected to the first connecting part, whereby said bracket is capable of using internal supply voltage of the computer system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,875,101 relates to a multi-layer power bus (18) that includes input tabs (24) and three legs (32, 34, and 36) and that connects a matrix of power supplies to a circuit board (12) in a computer system. The power bus (18) is substantially planar and attached to the circuit board (12) so that the power bus (18) and circuit board (12) are parallel to one another. This parallel relationship is said to decrease the amount of space utilized by the circuit board (12) in the computer system. The circuit board (12) also has connectors for delivering power directly to tabs (72, 74) on circuit board (12) which is said to increase the efficiency of power delivery. Each connector (44) includes a U-shaped spring housing (48) located within a hollow shield (52) and is joined to one of the power bus voltage layers by a braided copper cable (46).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,880,932 relates to a modular power supply to be used in a personal computer or other similar device. The preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a base assembly, a power supply housing, a power supply, and a fan assembly. The base assembly provides a foundation for the modular power supply and includes a terminal board attached thereto and a system common quick-disconnect embedded therein which serves as a central junction for the distribution of power to the various electrical components. The power supply housing provides a protective structure for the power supply contained therein. The fan assembly provides cooling for the power supply and is mounted on the outside of the power supply housing. The power supply is electrically connected to the system common quick disconnect which in turn feeds the terminal board attached to the base assembly, the fan assembly, and any other components located within the base assembly. The terminal board provides access to power for peripheral components such as logic cards, I/O boards, and the like. The use of multiple quick-disconnect electrical connectors allows components such as the power supply and fans to be replaced without detaching the components which are normally "hard wired" to the power supply.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,038,126 relates to an electrical power supply assembly including a base member, a cover member connected to the base member to confine a space, at least one partitioning plate disposed between the base and cover members to divide the space into a plurality of side-by-side adjacent compartments, a plurality of rails disposed on the base and cover members and the partitioning plate, a plurality of electrical power supply units slidably disposed inside the space and having slide members held slidably by the rails, a rear cover attached to the base and cover members, an electrical circuit board mounted on the rear cover and electrically connected to the power supply units, and an electrical control box disposed outwardly of the space and connected to the base and cover members and the rear cover.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,129,598 relates to a power supply system with a modularized and integrated cable interface configuration for providing power from an external power source to a plurality of subsystems in a personal computer. The power supply system includes a power cable for connecting the power supply system to the external power source. The power supply system further includes an output (O/P) cable having a first end and second end, the O/P cable including a plurality of cable groups wherein each of the cable groups including a subsystem plug module on the first end for connecting to a corresponding PC subsystems. The power supply system further includes an integrated PC receptive module for providing an interface with the O/P cable. The O/P cable further including an integrated O/P cable plug module on the second end for plugging the O/P cable into the integrated receptive module, wherein the integrated O/P plug module being in electric connection to each of the cable groups. The O/P cable of the power supply system may be conveniently removed and separately designed and manufactured for connection to different types of the personal computers. In another preferred embodiment, the integrated PC receptive module is a standardized module suitable for providing power to many different types for the PC subsystems by utilizing different designs and combinations of the O/P cable groups.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,327,157 relates to a two-piece bus bar which electrically couples a printed circuit board to a power supply. The power supply is mounted to a chassis. A power supply bus bar extends from the power supply, defining a power supply bus bar plane. A first printed circuit board is mounted to the chassis and oriented in a plane that is not parallel with the power supply bus bar plane. A first printed circuit board bus bar extends from the first printed circuit board. At least one of the power supply bus bar or the first printed circuit board bus bar includes a bend that creates a parallel relationship between a mating portion of the power supply bus bar and a mating portion of the first printed circuit board bus bar. A first fastener couples the mating portions of the bus bars together. A second printed circuit board may be mounted to the chassis and oriented in a plane at right angles with the power supply bus bar plane. A second printed circuit board bus bar extends from the second printed circuit board and includes a 90-degree bend and a 180-degree bend such that a mating portion of the second printed circuit board bus bar is parallel with the power supply bus bar plane. A resilient conductive member having a convex surface is disposed within a channel formed in one of the bus bars to enhance electrical contact between the bus bars. Shock and short-circuit hazards are reduced with a removable insulating shield.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,336,828 relates to an automatic power docking mechanism for establishing a power connection between a computer electronic subsystem and a power distribution board within a computer chassis. In one embodiment, the power docking mechanism includes power pads electrically coupled to a power distribution board and a housing with slotted openings secured over the power pads. The housing's slotted openings are configured to receive power bus bars from a computer subsystem and hold the bus bars in contact with the power pads.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,535,377 relates to a power distribution unit (PDU) for supplying power to at least one electrical device (APP1-APP12). The PDU comprises at least one distribution point (P) for the power supply, and at least one female outlet (J1-J12) on its accessible side. The outlet is adapted to receive a male connector of a cable of an electrical device (APP1-APP12). The point (P) is electrically connected by a respective electrical cable to at least one manually resettable circuit breaker (BRK1-BKR6). The at least one circuit breaker comprises a respective push button (POU1-POU6) for resetting the circuit breaker. The circuit breaker (BRK1-BRK6) is connected by a respective electrical cable to the at least one female outlet (J1-J12). The circuit breaker (BRK1-BRK6) is located inside the unit and at least one reset mechanism capable of resetting the at least one circuit breaker is provided. Several circuit breakers may be supported in line and the reset mechanism is capable of resetting all of the circuit breakers simultaneously. The push button may be responsive to the condition of the circuit breaker with an end extending beyond the wall for the distribution power unit so as to provide a visual indication that an electrical failure has occurred in one of the electrical devices.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,677,687 relates to a system for distributing power in a compact peripheral component interconnect (CPCI) computer architecture. A CPCI computer architecture comprises a plurality of CPCI systems each having respective backplanes. The backplanes further have respective local power rails providing power for a corresponding one of the plurality of CPCI systems. The power distribution system provides power to the backplanes, and comprises a common power rail connected to each one of the local power rails of the backplanes. A plurality of power supplies is connected to the common power rail of the power distribution system. Power taken from any one of the plurality of power supplies is available to any one of the backplanes.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,744,628 relates to a multi-directional power distribution unit (PDU) which provides flexibility in the configuration of a computer system, disk drive array or other enclosure. The power distribution unit may be installed in one orientation for a power feed having a first configuration (e.g., from the front of the enclosure), and may be installed in a second orientation for a power feed in a second configuration (e.g., from the rear of the enclosure). In either orientation, a set of external power connectors couples to one or more external power feeds. Depending on the orientation, either a first or second internal connector will interface with the system or enclosure (e.g., a midplane, a power supply). The PDU may include circuitry for filtering electrical power and may also include a heat sink.
U.S. Patent Publication No. U.S. 2003121689 relates to systems and method for installing computer equipment and power distribution equipment in facilities. In one aspect, the invention provides a power distribution rack, and uninterruptible power supply rack and a plurality of equipment racks. A plurality of power cables are run from the power distribution rack to each of the plurality of equipment racks using power cable tracks located on the roofs of the equipment racks. A plurality of data cables run between the plurality of equipment racks using data cable tracks located on the roofs of the equipment racks. The power cable tracks and data cable tracks are designed to be installed on the roofs of the equipment racks without the need for tools.
U.S. Patent Publication No. U.S. 2004000815 relates to a modular power distribution system for distributing power within an equipment rack. A control unit is mounted within the rack having a power input connected to a power source and a converter for converting the input power to a power supply for the rack equipment. The control unit includes a housing and power outlets are provided for electrical connection to the control unit and distributing the converted power supply to the equipment. One or more extension bars are mounted within the rack adjacent a corner support of the rack. The extension bar includes a power inlet and is connected via an electrical conductor to one of the power outlets of the control unit. The extension bar includes a number of power outlets (such as up to or more than 8) adapted for electrical connection to power supply lines (cords or hardwiring) from the rack equipment.
PCT Patent Publication No. WO02075886 relates to a system and method for installing computer equipment and power distribution equipment in facilities. In one aspect, the invention provides a power distribution rack (210A, 210B), and uninterruptible power supply rack (208A, 208B) and a plurality of equipment racks (214). A plurality of power cables (290A-290D) are run from the power distribution rack (210A, 210B) to each of the plurality of equipment racks (214) using power cable tracks (282A-282E) located on the roofs of the equipment racks (214).
Among those benefits and improvements that have been disclosed, other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying figures. The figures constitute a part of this specification and include illustrative embodiments of the present invention and illustrate various objects and features thereof.

Power distribution system for a personal computer


A pulse-compression, MTI, doppler-radar system for determining target velty information from a single, frequency-coded uncompressed target-return pulse includes a coded modulator, two pulse compressors, and a phase-comparison processor. The coded modulator generates for transmission an uncompressed pulse with the first and second halves of the pulse coded with the even and odd harmonic sidebands of a pulse repetition frequency, respectively. The first and second halves of the pulse returning from the target are pulse compressed simultaneously by the two pulse compressors. The phase comparison processor then determines the phase difference between the compressed pulses to obtain the target velocity information.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention involves a pulse-compression, MTI, doppler-radar system for determining target velocity information from a single, frequency-coded uncompressed transmitted pulse. More specifically, the first and second halves of the uncompressed pulse (hereinafter target-return pulse), coded with even and odd harmonic sidebands of a pulse repetition center frequency, respectively, are pulse-compressed simultaneously and the phase difference therebetween compared to determine target velocity information.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional moving-target indicators require that a radar or sonar transmit several sequential pulses of the same frequency to obtain target velocity information. It would be desirable to obtain such information from one pulse since this would allow the radar frequency to be changed on every pulse and thereby avoid jamming.
To solve this problem, phase-coded matched filters for pulse-compression, MTI, doppler-radar systems have been proposed that would act as doppler-filter banks yielding relatively coarse target velocity information on a single echo pulse. The theory for such a system is described in "Radar Signals", Cook and Bernfield, Academic Press, 1967, pp. 287-293. Such a system may determine between which pair of target blind speeds a target velocity may lie, but cannot specifically determine the exact target velocity.
This system is improved upon by copending Navy Case No. 60,003, U.S. application Ser. No. 700,925 entitled "Phase-coded Monopulse MTI" which describes a pulse-compression, MTI, doppler-radar system for determining target velocity information from a single, phase-coded uncompressed transmitted pulse. The system includes a pulse-compression filter consisting of at least two pulse compressors and a phase-comparison processor. The pulse compressors simultaneously pulse-compress separate portions of the single, phase-coded target-return pulse. The phase-comparison processor then determines the phase difference between the compressed pulses to obtain the target velocity information. This system determines target velocity from one target return pulse, but does not optimize the rejection of distributed clutter. More specifically, in a phase-coded system distributed clutter from the entire uncompressed pulse length contributes to pulse compressor sidelobes. This means that for a pulse compression ratio of N, there must be N phase-coded segments in the uncompressed pulse and N processing channels (i.e., time delay and weighter) to achieve good distributed clutter rejection.
What is needed is a pulse compression, MTI, doppler-radar system which will determine target velocity information from a single target-return pulse but will provide better rejection of distributed clutter and require fewer coded segments in the uncompressed pulse. As a result, fewer processing channels will be needed and equipment requirements will be simplified.

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


The invention relates to the formulation of pharmaceutical compositions of etanercept. The invention also relates to methods of removing buffer and of formulating pharmaceutical compositions of etanercept.

Formulation of a protein drug can present many challenges for the pharmaceutical scientist. A formulation must be found that stabilizes the protein drug and makes it resistant to degradation by proteolysis, aggregation, misfolding, etc. Especially for engineered proteins that differ in substantial respects to known proteins, finding appropriate stability conditions can he challenging. It is also desirable to have the protein drug be in a format that is convenient for the patient. Desired properties include stability at ambient and refrigerated temperatures; suitability for long term storage, appropriate dosing times and volumes; and minimization of discomfort upon administration.
Etanercept is a dimeric fusion protein consisting of the extracellular ligand-binding portion of the human 75 kilodalton (p75) tumor necrosis factor receptor (TNFR) linked to the Fc portion of human IgG1. The Fe component of etanercept contains the CH2 domain, the CH3 domain and hinge region, but not the CH1 domain of IgG1. When expressed in mammalian cells, it forms a homodimeric complex with two domains of the TNF receptor. Thus, it is an artificial protein that is different from both antibodies and soluble TNF receptors, and therefore subject to different degradation pathways than either. Etanercept is commercially available as ENBREL® (Amgen Inc., Thousand Oaks, Calif.) and is approved to treat moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis, moderately to severely active polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) in patients ages two and older, chronic moderate to severe plaque psoriasis (PsO) in adults, psoriatic arthritis (PsA) in adults, and active ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Etanercept was first available in a lyophilized formulation to be reconstituted immediately before injection.
Upon reconstitution of the lyophilized product with water for injection, the formulation is 10 mM Tris HCl, 4% mannitol, 1% sucrose, pH 7.4 at about 25 mg/ mL. However, this formulation is not stable for storage. It was discovered that a liquid formulation of etanercept could be achieved using arginine to stabilize the protein (see U.S. Pat. No. 7,648,702). An exemplary liquid formulation consists of 50 mg/mL etanercept, 25 mM phosphate buffer, 25 mM L-arginine hydrochloride, 100 mM NaCl, 1% Sucrose at pH 6.3 in water.

Pharmaceutical formulations and methods of making the same


The device for triturating and extracting juice or pulp from food produce is used in particular in the food preserves industry for triturating and subsequently separating the juice or pulp from fruit or vegetables, in particular in a cold-working process. The device comprises a refiner of known type provided with a rotating shaft having blades rotating internally of a sieve contained in an external casing; a triturator group receives a produce to be processed from an infeeder archimedes screw and introduces the produce into the refiner; the triturator group comprises a fixed cylindrical cage, fixed to a casing of the archimedes screw and also fixed to the external casing of the refiner, is arranged coaxially to these machines, and exhibits apertures and a cutting group which rotates with the refiner and which is provided with frontally-acting cutters, and which is arranged internally of the cylindrical cage with the cutters facing the archimedes screw and being provided with radial blades arranged downstream of the cutters.

Specifically though not exclusively the invention is usefully applied in the food preserves industry for chopping and subsequently separating the juice or pulp of fruit and vegetables from the skins and peels, seeds and other waste present in the product. The invention particularly relates to cold-processing operations.
Devices of this type have been well-known in the prior art for some time (for example such as the device described in European Patent EP 721744 belonging to the same applicant), and an infeeding archimedes screw, also of known type, into which the produce to be processed is introduced. The produce is sent by the screw to a triturator group which performs a first cutting operation, whence the triturate is introduced into the refiner where the pulp or juice extraction process is completed, i.e. the refinement process is concluded.
The machines described can be separated one from another and connected with conduits for transport of the product from one to another, or they can be connected coaxially one to another so as to have a continuous flow of product from the archimedes screw to the refiner. This latter solution, which enables a considerable time saving between the first cut of the produce and the completion of the refining process, is what the present invention concerns.
The use of a chopping group in combination with a refiner is adopted when hard or large-size produce is processed cold, or with a brief pre-cooking operation only; the produce is, for example, apples, pears or the like; these are first chopped and the triturate is introduced into the refiner which transforms it into a purxc3xa9e of pulp and juice which is sent on for further processing. This is due to the fact that these types of produce are not directly treatable with acceptable results by normal refiners.
In known devices the product is pushed, generally by an archimedes screw, internally of the triturator, which carries out a first cutting operation to reduce the produce into small pieces; subsequently, thanks to the axial pushing action of the archimedes screw, the product is forced to pass through a sieve which further reduces the size of the pieces of produce which are then sent on to the refiner. Other parts of the produce apart from the pulp are chopped down into small pieces, for example seeds, stalks etc., and the product arriving from the refiner often contains these crushed xe2x80x9cextraneous materialsxe2x80x9d which can jeopardise the quality of the finished product.
Other drawbacks of known devices are represented by the low productivity of the triturators and the difficulty in regulating them, necessary when changing type of product processed, which is generally obtained by changing the rotation speed of the cutters, which also leads to a change in the operating mode of the refiner.
The main aim of the present invention is to obviate the above-mentioned drawbacks in the prior art by providing a device, having high productivity levels, which reduces to a minimum the breaking-up of produce elements other than pulp. An advantage of the invention is that it allows easy and rapid regulation of the triturator, which if so desired can be independent of the refiner operation. A further advantage of the invention is that necessary cleaning and maintenance operations can be carried out simply and rapidly.
The device for triturating and extracting juice or pulp from food produce is used in particular in the food preserves industry for triturating and subsequently separating the juice or pulp from fruit or vegetables, in particular in a cold-working process. The device comprises a refiner of known type provided with a rotating shaft having blades rotating internally of a sieve contained in an external casing; a triturator group receives a produce to be processed from an infeeder archimedes screw and introduces the produce into the refiner; the triturator group comprises a fixed cylindrical cage, fixed to a casing of the archimedes screw and also fixed to the external casing of the refiner, is arranged coaxially to these machines, and exhibits apertures and a cutting group which rotates with the refiner and which is provided with frontally-acting cutters, and which is arranged internally of the cylindrical cage with the cutters facing the archimedes screw and being provided with radial blades arranged downstream of the cutters.

Device for triturating and extracting the juice or pulp from food products


The invention provides a fungal cell, such as a yeast cell, capable of growing in co-cultivation with Propionibacterium. Also provided are methods of producing such cells and fermentation processes using the fungal cell of the invention and Propionibacterium in co-cultivation. Such co-cultivation significantly reduces the chemical oxygen demand load of the waste fermentation broth.

Waste streams with a high organic chemical oxygen demand (COD) are an ecological burden that has to be dealt with accordingly. These waste streams can be by-products of different industries such as dairy, fruit and vegetable or sugar processing industries. An example is whey that is produced by the dairy industry as a by-product resulting from cheese making. This process results in high volumes of whey (sweet or sour) that have a high COD but on the other hand cannot be easily/economically utilised otherwise, due to the low relatively low content of useful dry content, e.g. milk protein and lactose.
Depending on the process of cheese manufacture the COD value of leftover whey can range from 35,000 mg O2/L to 100,000 mg O2/L. The main contributor of the high organic load is lactose, which can represent up to 90% of the COD value. In the case of sour whey the presence of lactic acid even increases this problem. Lactose also represents about 75% of the whey dry matter and as such can be exploited by processes utilizing microorganisms. Several solutions of whey utilisation have been studied, such as bioethanol and biogas production, extraction of lactose or proteins, production of organic acids or biomass, but there is still a need of an economical way of whey utilisation.
WO 2011/140649 describes the utilization of whey by a mixed culture of lactic acid bacteria and yeast for the production of edible biomass. The process can successfully decrease the COD load of whey, but the final product has little commercial value.
Whey can be used for the cultivation of bacteria from the genus Propionibacterium sp., belonging to the order of Actinomycetales (Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology (1st Edition, 1986)). Propionibacterium sp. are known producers of valuable products such as organic acids (propionic and acetic acid), vitamin B12 and bifidogenic compounds. While Propionibacterium sp. can be successfully cultivated on whey they cannot lower the COD load satisfactorily as they produce organic acids which accumulate in the fermented (spent) whey and contribute significantly toward the final COD load. In the following, the terms "Propionibacterium sp." and "propionibacterium" are used interchangably.
Co-cultures of Propionibacterium sp. and other bacteria are known to be able to decrease the COD load of the spent medium (Miyano et al., 2000), but such processes have the disadvantage of not being food grade and as such being exempt from being used inside food processing plants.
The metabolites produced by Propionibacterium sp. are known to inhibit the growth of other microorganisms, especially fungi, and their use in food-spoilage prevention is well known. U.S. Pat. No. 5,260,061 describes the application of Propionibacterium sp. metabolites for food applications to inhibit the growth of yeast. WO 2008/030089 describes co-cultivation of Propionibacterium sp. with yeast for the purpose of obtaining good flavour/aroma characteristics in the cheese making process. In this case, Propionibacterium sp. was used to control and finally inhibit the growth of yeast in the mixed culture as the yeast cell applied was not tolerant to growth-inhibiting substances from Propionibacterium sp.
In view of the above stated prior art, it is an object of the invention to provide novel bioprocesses for producing valuable biotechnological products from sweet or sour whey where the final spent fermentation media exhibit a relatively low COD. Another object of the invention is to provide fungal cells useful in processes of the invention.

Co-cultivation of propionibacterium and yeast


A method for preparing a modified beta-stucco from calcined natural rock gypsum that includes preparing a solution of liquid diethylene-triamine-pentaacetic acid in water, applying the solution onto beta-stucco while hot from the calciner, forming a wetted beta-stucco, and allowing the wetted stucco to dry and heal, forming the modified beta-stucco.

Gypsum is also known as calcium sulfate dihydrate, terra alba or landplaster. Calcined gypsum is obtained by removing part of the water associated with the gypsum crystal. Synonymous terms for calcined gypsum are Plaster of Paris, stucco, calcium sulfate half-hydrate and calcium sulfate hemihydrate. Calcined gypsum, stucco and hemihydrate are the most commonly used terms, and they are used interchangeably in this application. When gypsum is mined, the natural rock is found in the dihydrate form, having about two water molecules associated with each molecule of calcium sulfate. In order to produce the stucco form, the gypsum can be calcined to drive off some of the water of hydration represented by the following equation:CaSO4.2H2O→CaSO4.1/2H2O+3/2H2O
Calcium sulfate hemihydrate is obtained by calcination to remove the associated water molecules. The hemihydrate is produced in at least two crystal forms. Alpha-calcined gypsum is made by a slurry process or a lump rock process whereby the calcium sulfate dihydrate is calcined under pressure. The alpha-calcined gypsum forms less acicular crystals than beta-calcined gypsum, allowing the crystals to pack tightly together, making a denser and stronger plaster. The crystal morphology of alpha hemihydrate allows water to flow easily between the crystals, requiring less water to form a flowable slurry. More elongated irregular shaped crystals are characteristic of the beta-hemihydrate, which is obtained by calcining gypsum at atmospheric pressure. This crystal structure results in a less dense product because the crystals are more loosely packed. The beta form also requires more water to fluidize the calcined gypsum. If the calcining of the dihydrate is performed at ambient pressure, the beta form is obtained and the cost is relatively low compared to the alpha-calcined gypsum.
Synthetic gypsum, which is a byproduct of flue gas desulfurization processes from power plants, is also useful. Flue gas that includes sulfur dioxide is wet scrubbed with lime or limestone. Calcium from the lime combines with the sulfur dioxide to form calcium sulfite.CaCO3+SO2→CaSO3+CO2 Via forced oxidation, the calcium sulfite is converted to calcium sulfate.
            CaSO      3        +          2                    H        2                  O        +                  1        2                          O        2              →                    CaSO        4            ·      2                  H      2            O  Synthetic gypsum is converted to a hemihydrate by calcination, described above.
A number of useful gypsum products can be made by mixing the calcium sulfate hemihydrate with water and shaping the resulting product slurry into the desired shape. The product slurry is permitted to set by allowing the calcium sulfate hemihydrate to react with sufficient water to convert the hemihydrate into a matrix of interlocking dihydrate crystals. As the matrix forms, the product slurry becomes firm and holds the desired shape. Excess water must then be removed from the product by drying.
Set accelerators and set retarders (collectively known as "set modifiers") are used in gypsum product compositions to allow control of the set time. If the set time is too long, contractors spend time waiting for the composition to set before they can move on to the next step of the project. When gypsum sets too quickly, the composition hardens before it is properly finished. In such cases, the surface may not be as smooth as desired or the product may not have been "worked" enough to produce a good finish.
Dry mixtures of calcium sulfate hemihydrate with additives are pre-blended and produced for the convenience of contractors and others who may not have knowledge of the need for additives or the amounts of additives that would be useful. The dry mixtures are designed to be mixed with water to produce a high quality composition that is easy to use. One example of a setting mixture is one that produces a flooring slurry when combined with water, such as LEVELROCK® gypsum flooring material.
Set accelerators are utilized to hasten setting of the slurry. Retarders are added to setting mixtures to increase the working time of the slurry. The working time, also known as the open time, is the time that the slurry is pliable and can be shaped into a desired configuration. In the flooring slurry, a target working time is one that is sufficiently long to allow the technician to adequately level the floor. Without a set retarder, a calcium sulfate hemihydrate (stucco) slurry has a working time that is often insufficient for professional finishers to produce a satisfactory floor. The set retarders extend the working time, depending on the composition being used, and where and how the slurry is being applied, so that the finisher has the time to work the slurry to make a high quality floor.
Conventionally, proteinaceous retarders, such as SUMA retarder, and non-proteinaceous retarders, such as cream of tartar (potassium bitartrate), sodium citrate and diethylene-triamine-pentacetic acid, are utilized in flooring and other gypsum-based setting compositions to provide set control. Suma retarder, commercially available as a dry powder additive, has disadvantages associated with its use, but no suitable replacement has been available. For example, SUMA has a strong and offensive odor. It is proteinaceous, and sourced from hair and hooves of various animals, such as horses. SUMA also has undesirable ageing characteristics. There is a long-standing need in the industry for a suitable replacement for this dry set retarder.
DTPAs are also well known as good set retarders, but the dry powdered forms have been found to be ineffective. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,661,161 to Jacacki ("Jacacki") teaches the addition of a liquid form of diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid ("DTPA"). There is a need for a dry or powder component useful in setting mixtures that utilizes a DTPA as the set retarder that could be a suitable replacement for proteinaceous set retarders, such as SUMA. There is also a related need to improve the efficacy of liquid DTPA as a suitable set retarder.
There is also a need for a setting mixture that has good compressive strength. For example, gypsum products must be able to grip fasteners that penetrate the product or hold up to the pressures to which a floor is subjected.
Further there is a need for a setting mixture that requires less water to form a flowable slurry. Water is not always conveniently available at a job site. Use of reduced amounts of water also reduces the drying time of the product. Where the product is dried in an oven or kiln, the amount of fuel needed to dry the product can be reduced, realizing a savings in fuel cost.

Method of modifying beta stucco using diethylene-triamine-pentaacetic acid


A stranded canted coil spring for electrical contact between adjoining elements is disclosed. The spring is formed from a stranded wire having coils that define a toroid.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The invention generally relates to canted coil springs and, in particular, to a system, method and apparatus for a stranded canted coil spring for electrical and mechanical contact between adjoining elements.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventional canted coil springs are well established for providing electrical contact and mechanical retention in various industrial configurations, such as rod-and-cylinder applications. These springs are used to pass an AC or DC electrical current through the spring between metallic components. The spring comprises a single wire that is wound into a canted coil or advanced pitch spring. Canted coil springs may be used to apply radial loads or axial loads between mating components.
Current state of the art single strand canted coil springs in electrical service have limitations of high deflected loads and resultant high linear friction, when larger diameter wires are used to conduct moderate to high electrical current densities. In addition and depending on the application and materials selected, these springs can have electrical and thermal conductivity restrictions that necessitate redundant components to meet all performance requirements for some installations. Thus, additional improvements in canted coil spring designs would be desirable for expanding their performance capabilities in alternative applications.

System, method and apparatus for stranded canted coil spring

Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Corporation


Single stage tracking actuator apparatus for an optical or magneto-optical disk drive system in which a read/write head is suspended by parallel flexures between mutually isolated magnetic circuits disposed on opposite sides of the head, one of the magnetic circuits being nested in the span between the parallel flexures. The flexure suspension provides friction-free translatable motion of the head in the longitudinal direction parallel to a radial line relative to the information storage disk. An electromagnetic coil provided with tracking actuator signals is formed about the head axially concentric with and transverse to the longitudinal center line of the head and is centrally positioned on the head between the points at which the free ends of the flexures are attached to the ends of the head. The end turn segments of the coil are disposed transversely of magnetic flux lines in elongated air gaps formed in the magnetic circuits to provide the driving force for the actuator. The friction-free suspension permits the actuator to perform both the track seek and the tracking modes of operation.

Information storage systems that use an optical beam to sense certain physical conditions on the surface of a storage medium representing bits of stored data are well known to have very high density information storage capacities. In order to take useful advantage of these high storage capacities, it is desirable that these systems be provided with head positioning drives, i.e. tracking actuators, that are capable of very fast seek times to position the focused optical beam on a desired data track selected by the host computer out of many thousands of such tracks. In this seek mode of operation, the head mass must be moved rapidly through optimally determined acceleration and deceleration profiles between beginning and ending track locations that could be adjacent to each other or several thousand tracks apart. Additionally, once the desired track has been reached, the head must be precisely controlled in a tracking mode of operation during which the beam is maintained in centered registry with the track, which is typically less than a micron in width, as data is being read or written. It is an object of the present invention to provide a tracking actuator for an optical or magneto-optical system that is not only capable of providing the level of tracking mode performance required by optical drives but also provides track seek (access) time performance that is at least comparable to, and in some cases better than, existing high capacity magnetic drives such as conventionally known Winchester and Bernoulli drives.
Various forms of tracking actuators are known to provide reasonably fast access time and good tracking control in magnetic disk drives of the aforementioned type. In a typical arrangement, the carriage for the read/write heads is mounted with ball bearing rollers on a pair of tracks, or races, and the carriage is driven by a stepper motor or voice coil motor to translate the head linearly in a radial direction over the data tracks formed on the surface of the recording disk. This arrangement has the advantage of providing a true linear tracking axis but has the disadvantage of imposing roller bearing irregularities that are not compatible with the extremely small, precise motions that are encountered in optical drives. U.S. Pat. Re. No. 32,285 is an example of a voice coil driven actuator utilized in a roller/race carriage type of hard disk drive system that employs a pair of separate voice coil motors positioned symmetrically on opposite sides of the carriage. Although not expressly mentioned in the patent, it is typical for the rollers to be mounted with ball bearings to eliminate friction. While satisfactory for magnetic drives, ball bearings suffer from fretting corrosion when subjected to the sort of micro-fine vibratory motion encountered in optical drives. Fretting corrosion occurs when the vibratory motion drives lubricant out from between the ball and race leaving a metal-to-metal contact during the period of vibratory motion.
The specification of the patent suggests in the introductory portion that s single drive coil somehow wrapped around the carriage could also be employed as an alternative to the pair of coils, however no embodiment of this type is disclosed, nor is it readily apparent from the disclosure how such an embodiment would be constructed. However, taking into account the pair of coils that are disclosed, it is apparent that a substantial amount of unused wire, i.e. portions of the coil not involved in developing the required motive forces, would be required to span the carriage space between the dual magnetic circuits on either side of the carriage. This unused wire is detrimental since it represents dead weight in the moving mass that undesirably increases the power consumption needed to achieve desired operating performance.
Moreover, purely magnetic information storage systems generally have tracking requirements that are not as precise or stringent as those found in the case of optical and magneto-optical storage system. Because of the extremely small track-to-track spacing found on optical and magneto-optical disks, on the order of 1.6 microns, information storage systems that use optical beams to scan recorded information on such narrow data tracks conventionally employ a two stage positioning arrangement. The first stage, or seek mode of operation, may typically involve a first drive apparatus, either stepper motor or voice coil, to move the entire mass of the head to rapidly position the beam in the vicinity of the desired track in as short an access time as is possible. In the second stage, or tracking mode of operation, a separate drive apparatus, usually another voice coil moved into coarse position over the tracks by the first actuator stage, is used to control the lateral positioning of just the beam objective lens to complete the positioning of the beam and to maintain the beam centered on the data track during read and/or write operation. In general, the reason for employing a separate tracking actuator for the objective lens, is the difficulty that conventional head positioning means have in achieving the required high frequency response for proper tracking error correction, as opposed to the seek mode of operation, particularly in compact, cost sensitive applications. U.S. Pat. No. 4,607,913 discloses a linear tracking actuator of the general type disclosed in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. Re. No. 32,285 but adapted for use with an optical read/write system. In this disclosure, an axially movable beam objective lens is mounted by flexures to a carriage between a pair of sleeves riding on guide rods. The sleeves are made of tetra-flouroethylene to reduce friction. A pair of drive coils are wrapped around the sleeves and have their outer turn segments disposed in longitudinal air gaps formed by elongated magnets in parallel with the associated guide rods. The objective lens for this system is carried in a separate mount spanning the parallel guide rails and is attached to the main carriage by the elongated flexures. A separate pair of radial drive coils are provided for the objective lens to provide additional drive force in proportion to the ratio of masses of the objective mount to the main carriage so that the flexures do not have to be relied on to convey the radial driving force from the carriage to the objective mount. This complex arrangement requires, among other things, that the magnets be extended to cover two sets of actuator coils.
In an effort to address problems of the nature described above, an early form of erasable magneto-optical disk drive was developed at Philips Research Laboratories in Hamburg, West Germany and which was reported in the Dec. 29, 1982 issue of "Electronics" magazine at page 45. In this arrangement, a Faraday effect optical light source and sensor assembly was mounted on the end of a bifurcated arm extending over a magneto-optical disk from a rectangular frame suspended by a pair of parallel flexure springs for friction-free movement of the arm and head along a tracking axis over the surface of the disk. This apparatus was a single stage actuator in that both the track seek and tracking modes of operation were accomplished with a single drive. The driving force for this apparatus was provided by a voice coil motor arrangement with the voice coil mounted on the frame spaced away from the light source head and with the plane of the coil turns oriented parallel to the tracking axis.
Although both of this voice coil, flexure mounted design proved to be operative for its intended purpose of eliminating the problems associated with track mounted designs, it did not prove to be satisfactory for commercial application. This actuator employed a beam source and detector cantilevered out beyond the flexure mount and required a separate, relatively large focus actuator to carry the tracking actuator flexure mount which added undesirable mass to the system. As such, this drive proved unsatisfactory to meet stringent performance requirements associated with competitive high capacity drive systems, and was not suitable for compact, low cost personal computer applications.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a tracking actuator drive system for an optical or magneto-optical disk information storage system that avoids the drawbacks and disadvantages of prior actuator drive systems.
It is a further object to provide a tracking actuator drive system that lends itself to compact design for use in a half height format useful in personal computers.
It is yet a further object to provide a tracking actuator drive system that provides rapid seek times comparable to seek times of existing high performance Bernoulli and Winchester magnetic disk drives.
It is still a further an object to provide a single stage tracking actuator for an optical or magneto-optical disk drive system with relatively low mass that does not require a separate tracking actuator for the objective lens to maintain the optical sensing beam centered on the data track during read/write operation.

Single stage tracking actuator apparatus for optical beam information storage drive system


A base station apparatus, which allocates uplink radio resources to a terminal apparatus, checks whether or not first frequency resources reserved for transmission of control information in the radio resources are used, and allocates at least a part of the first frequency resources to transmission of user data if it is checked that the at least a part of the first frequency resources are not used.

In a cellular communication system such as a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, various control signals are transmitted in order to control communication between base station apparatus and terminal apparatuses. For example, a check response signal, which indicates whether or not data transmitted through a downlink from the base station apparatus to a terminal apparatus has been normally received, is transmitted as an uplink control signal from the terminal apparatus to the base station apparatuses. Also, the terminal apparatuses may transmit a CQI (Channel Quality Indicator) report indicating a channel state in a downlink, as an uplink control signal to the base station apparatus at a fixed period.
Such an uplink control signal is called a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), and a predetermined amount of frequency resources in an uplink frequency band is reserved to transmit the PUCCH. Meanwhile, thus securing frequency resources for the control signal in advance may cause inconvenience. Patent Document 1 describes that it is conceivable that the frequency resources for the control signal may become insufficient due to a large number of terminal apparatuses transmitting the control signal. Patent Document 1 then describes that, to address this problem, resources for a control channel for some terminal apparatuses are taken up, and the resources that are thus taken up are allocated to other terminal apparatuses.

Base station apparatus capable of effectively using uplink resources, method for controlling the same, and computer-readable storage medium


An extendible structure which includes an elongated extendible member having elasticity, and a storage part that serves to store the extendible member by winding it up, wherein a tip end of the extendible member can be extended from the storage part in a one-dimensional manner, so that an extendible part thus extended becomes a hollow tubular structure. The extendible member is composed of three divided extendible members so that the extendible part of the hollow tubular structure is divided into three parts, and the individual divided extendible members are constructed such that their tip end portions are joined with one another, and at the same time, their base end portions are wound around individual storage parts, respectively, independently from each other. Surface fasteners are each provided on a side of each of the divided extendible members.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an extendible or deployable structure which is used by being extended or deployed in outer space, such as, for example, an antenna of an artificial satellite.
2. Description of Related Art
As a conventional extendible or deployable structure, there has been known a structure called an STEM (Storable Tubular Extendible Member) as described in a first patent document, for example.
This extendible structure is constructed to include an elongated extendible member having elasticity, and a storage part that serves to store the extendible member by winding it up, wherein a tip end of the extendible member can be extended from the storage part in a one-dimensional manner, so that an extendible part thus extended becomes a hollow tubular structure.
In this first patent document, by previously forming the transverse cross-sectional shape (i.e., the cross section in a direction orthogonal to an extending direction) of a sheet of elongate extendible member into a circular shape, winding it around the storage part while elastically deforming it into a flat shape, and pulling out the tip end portion thereof from the storage part, the cross-sectional shape of the extendible member is caused to elastically return to the circular shape, whereby the extendible part is made into the hollow tubular structure. Hereinafter, such a structure using a sheet of extendible member is referred to as a Uni-STEM structure.


In a method and a computer-readable storage medium for creating a simulation environment for a simulation system of a medical imaging device by a server unit, as well as a server unit and a simulation system for implementing such a method, after reading in an event protocol of the medical imaging device, a determination of a software configuration of the medical imaging device takes place with the use of the event protocol and a determination of a memory image that corresponds to the software configuration of the medical imaging device. The determined memory image can be transferred to the simulation system and the read-in event protocol transferred to the simulation system.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for creating a simulation environment for a simulation system of a medical imaging device via a server unit, as well as a corresponding electronically readable data storage medium and a server unit and simulation system.
Description of the Prior Art
Medical imaging devices for displaying examination objects are in widespread use in clinical applications.
Medical imaging devices are complex systems, during the operation of which various incidents or faults, also referred to below as events, may sometimes occur. In order to analyze these events, it is usual for the creation of a fault protocol to be triggered by the user and the event is mapped within a simulation environment.

Method and simulation system for creating a simulation environment of a medical imaging device


Embodiments of computer-implemented systems and methods are described for listing on a marketplace an item, or batch-listing a plurality of items, previously stored on a mobile device. One example embodiment comprises receiving a request from the mobile device for a price estimate for the prospective sale of an item or a plurality of items and subsequently receiving a request to list the item or a plurality of items. The listing process may include receiving images of one or more items, receiving data associated with the one or more items, and using the data, listing the one or more items on the marketplace.

The approaches described in this section could be pursued, but are not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Mobile devices, which may be camera enabled (such as cellular telephones), have become very popular in recent years. A mobile device which may be camera enabled may be capable of communicating data (e.g., an image file) over wireless data networks.

Systems and methods for batch- listing items stored offline on a mobile device


A liquid crystal display (“LCD”) panel includes a display substrate, an opposite substrate and a liquid crystal layer. The display substrate includes a pixel electrode and a first cured layer. The first cured layer has various pretilt angles. The opposite substrate includes a common electrode and a second cured layer. The second cured layer has various pretilt angles. The liquid crystal layer includes a plurality of liquid crystal molecules pretilted at the various pretilt angles by the first and second cured layers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display ("LCD") panel and a method of manufacturing the liquid crystal display panel. More particularly, the present invention relates to an LCD panel for improving a side viewing angle and a method of manufacturing the liquid crystal display panel.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional liquid crystal display ("LCD") apparatus includes an LCD panel and a backlight assembly disposed under the LCD panel. The LCD panel displays images by controlling optical transmittance of liquid crystal molecules. The backlight assembly provides the LCD panel with light.
The LCD panel includes a display substrate having a pixel electrode, an opposite substrate having a common electrode, and a liquid crystal layer interposed between the display substrate and the opposite substrate.
The LCD apparatus displays the images by applying a voltage to the liquid crystal layer and controlling optical transmittance of the liquid crystal layer. In the LCD apparatus, light is transmitted only in a direction in which the light is not blocked by liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer, and thus the viewing angle of the LCD apparatus is relatively narrow. In order to widen the viewing angle, a patterned vertical alignment ("PVA") mode has been developed.
In the PVA mode, liquid crystal molecules are vertically aligned with respect to the two substrates, and a plurality of slit patterns are formed on the pixel electrode and the common electrode facing the pixel electrode to form a multi-domain structure in the pixel.
The PVA mode of the LCD panel has advantages such as high contrast ratio ("CR"), and a rubbing process is not required. However, a process of patterning the common electrode is necessary in the PVA mode.

Liquid crystal display panel and method of manufacturing the same


The brush section of a brush seal is protected from damages during installing work. It is constituted such that a brush seal unit has, at the free end of the brush section, at least one ablative plate section formed therewith and has a thin groove at the boundary between the brush section and the ablative plate section; and the ablative plate section is broken off before mounting the brush seal between two components.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a strip-like brush seal having a plurality of thin plates each of which is processed to have thin, cantilever beams at its one end and to a brush seal device, for sealing between a rotational shaft and a mating component movable relatively, for example in an aircraft and a gas turbine.
More particularly, the present invention relates to a technical field of a brush seal having thin beams that are protected from having scratches or damages.
2. Description of the Related Art
As shown in FIG. 8, there exists a brush seal device 100 as a prior art of the present invention.
FIG. 8 is a sectional view of a brush seal device 100 mounted between a rotational shaft 120 and a casing 110 through which the rotational shaft 120 passes. The casing 110 is a component of a steam turbine or gas turbine. The brush seal device 100 seals fluid by separating the casing 110 and the rotational shaft 120.
In FIG. 8, the brush seal device 100 is formed in a ring shape and attached to a channel section 112 of the casing 110. Main components of the brush seal device 100 are a brush seal 109, a back plate 102 and a retaining plate 103. In the brush seal 109, a number of bristles 101 are formed into a bundle, which is in turn arranged circumferentially in the form of a wall. The bristles 101 are welded together at their outer ends to form an attachment section 104. The free end face 105 as the other end of the brush seal 109 faces the rotational shaft 120.
The diameter of each bristle 101 used in general is 0.02 to 0.5 mm. However, its sealing ability is poor because the bristle 101 is linear. In order to overcome such a drawback the thickness of the bundle of bristles 101 must be increased and thus tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of bristles are necessarily used.
For such a brush seal 109 as described, countless number of these bristles 101 must be cut to has uniform length and then aligned circumferentially. it is therefore difficult to align them precisely. Further, it is also difficult to assemble with uniform accuracy in mass production. This causes defects.
An annular back plate 102 is disposed on one side face of the brush seal 109 with its side face 108 contacting the one side face of the brush seal 109 and bears the bristles 101 against the action of the sealed fluid pressure. A retaining plate 103 formed as a ring plate is disposed integrally on the other side face of the brush seal 109 to sandwich, in cooperation with the back plate 102, the brush seal 109 on its attachment section 104 side. The retaining ring 103 has a small thickness in its radial direction so that the brush seal 109 is exposed to allow to deform itself, corresponding to the contact of the rotational shaft 120 therewith.
The back plate 102, the attachment section 104 of the brush seal 109 and the retaining plate 103 are welded, with the attachment section 104 being located between the others, to form a connecting section 106. The welded components are thermally deformed due to different materials among them and then some rework will be required, resulting in the increase of processing cost.
FIG. 9 is a partial front view, showing a state that the brush seal 109 fits normally without oscillation of the rotational shaft 120, as shown by an actual line in FIG. 8. The bristles 101 fit and extend straight, while incline in the rotating direction with respect to the radial direction of the rotational shaft 120. Accordingly, after completion as a brush seal 109, the fitting surface of the free end 105 is precisely finished so as to fit the rotational shaft 120 normally, as shown FIG. 11, which is a perspective view of the brush seal 109, seen from the inner circumferential side thereof.
It is also difficult to process the free end 105 because the number of bristles in the form of a bundle is extremely large, such as several ten thousands and they are apt to deform. Furthermore, when the brush seal 109 having a finished free end 105 is, for example mounted, each bristle is deformed easily if it contacts or strikes any other parts. Such deformation will adversely affect on the sealing ability.
When the rotational shaft 120 contacts the free end 105 of the brush seal 109 as shown in FIG. 10, the brush seal 109 is pressed against the rotational shaft 120, while its tilt angle is increased. During this state, the contact of the brush seal 109 with the rotational shaft 120 will be facilitated if there is some defective deformation at the free end 105 of each bristle 101, resulting in its rapid wear.
In this state, as shown in FIG. 8, if the pressure of the sealed fluid is a high pressure P1, the differential pressure (P1-P2) between P1 and a low pressure P2 is increased and the sealing ability is worsened due to the deformation and wear on the free end 105.
In the brush seal 2 constituted as described, each bristle 101 is a thin wire and its free end 105 is therefore apt to deform. During fabrication of the brush seal 2, the free end 105 of the bristle may be deformed. Further, if it were not deformed during fabrication then the free end 105 might be bent when the brush seal 2 is installed on the casing 130.
Also, it is difficult to finish exactly the end face of the free end 105 of the brush seal 2 so as to fit the rotational shaft 120, resulting in the increase of processing cost.
Additionally, it is also difficult to weld the attachment section while the inner diameter formed by the end face of the free end 105 is made uniform. Because several ten thousands of bristles 101 are required to constitute a brush seal.
The present invention has been made in consideration of the problems as mentioned above, and technical problems of the invention are to allow to fabricate a brush seal unit without damages on the brush section of the brush seal and also allow to pile the brush seal units without damages and bent thereon.
Further technical problems of the present invention are to allow to provide a thin elastic wire capable of elastically deforming, corresponding to the contact of the brush seal with the rotational shaft and also allow to assemble the brush seal unit without damages on the brush section, even if thin wires are employed. Further yet technical problems are to improve the yield of material for fabricating the brush seals and to increase processing accuracy thereof.
Still other technical problems are to provide a brush seal with good ability of the brush seal to follow in response to the relative displacement between the brush seal and the outer circumference of the rotational shaft for improving the sealing ability and to improve the sealing ability of the contact or proximity between the brush seal and the rotational shaft.
The present invention has been made to solve the problems as mentioned above, and technical means for solving the problems are constituted as below.
A brush seal of first preferred embodiment according to the present invention is a brush seal mounted on one of two components that are relatively rotated, for sealing the clearance given between the two components, comprising: a plurality of the brush seal units, each having a strip-like brush section on the side facing the other component and having a base plate section on the side opposing the brush section side, the brush section being formed with thin beams each of which is between two slits, and the base plate section being fixed to the one component; the brush seal unit having, at the free end of the brush section, an ablative plate section integrally formed therewith and having a thin groove at the boundary between the brush section and the ablative plate section; wherein the ablative plate section is broken off at the groove before mounting the brush seal to be placed between the two components.
In the brush seal of the present invention, an ablative plate section is formed together with the free end of the brush section in the brush seal unit, thereby to allow to protect the brush section. In other words, a number of thin beams are prevented from bending if the brush section strikes and contacts other members.
Furthermore, a groove is formed at the root of the ablative plate section such that the thickness of its bottom wall is processed to be thin with half-etching process. Accordingly, the brush seal unit or the brush seal can be obtained by bending to break off the ablative plate section when the brush seal units are piled, or when the brush seal is installed on the rotor as a component.
Additionally, it is allowed to improve processing accuracy in the fabrication of the brush seals because they are made from a thin plate and also allowed to mount the brush seal extremely easily.


The subject matter of the invention is a device for diverting surge currents or transient overvoltages (1), with a switching stage (2) and a switching element (3). The switching stage (2) is so designed as to switch on the switching element (3) upon identification of an overvoltage or a surge current. The switching element (3) is a reversible semiconductor switching element, while the switch-on event is achieved by operating of the switching element (3) outside of the specified parameters.

1. Technical Field
The invention relates to a device for diverting surge currents or transient overvoltages and to the use of IGBTs as switching elements in a device for diverting surge currents or transient overvoltages.
Strong surge currents arise, e.g., in a direct lightning strike, due to induction caused by a lightning strike in the immediate environment, or upon starting a machine, or because of electrostatic charging.
These surge current create problems for a large number of electrical devices and appliances, which they may destroy.
2. Description of Related Art
Known devices for diverting surge currents or overvoltages are based on varistors and/or gaseous diverters and/or spark gaps, each in combination with a thermal separator. With respect to its function in a surge protector, each of these components has a different area of application, with corresponding advantages and disadvantages.
Depending on the purpose to which they are applied, these devices are also generally known as lightning strike diverters, overvoltage diverters, and overvoltage protectors, or (in English) surge protective devices (SPD).
The surge currents that arise during the different events are typically designated in relation to a characteristic form taken by the surge current. In testing and certification a distinction is made between a so-called 10/350 μs surge current (referred to below as 10/350 μs), which is characteristic for lightning current, and an 8/20 μs surge current (referred to below as 8/20 μs), which is characteristic for the other cases.
These surge current pulses are standardized and reproduced by way of example in FIGS. 1 and 2. In FIG. 2, the area beneath the curves provides a measure for the diverted energy.
Depending on their intended purpose, protective devices are tested using the appropriate test pulses and are divided into protective classes.
This division into classes or types permits a classification according to the surge current carrying capacity. Here type 1 diverters have a very high carrying capacity, and, in corresponding fashion, type 2 and 3 diverters have a lower carrying capacity.
In the known devices a strong diverted current can result in the destruction of the protective device.

Device for diverting surge currents or transient overvoltages


The forcing of the result or output of a rounder portion of a floating point processor occurs only in a fraction non-increment data path within the rounder and not in the fraction increment data path within the rounder. The fraction forcing is active on a corner case such as a disabled overflow exception. A disabled overflow exception may be detected by inspecting the normalized exponent. If a disabled overflow exception is detected, the round mode is selected to execute only in the non-increment data path thereby preventing the fraction increment data path from being selected.

The present invention relates generally to floating point processors, and, more particularly, to the forcing of corner cases in a rounder portion of a floating point processor.
A binary floating point processor ("BFP") includes a rounder that receives its input from the normalizer component of the BFP. As the normalizer shift amount is computed by a leading zero anticipator, the normalizer result is either correctly normalized or it may need a shift correction by one bit. When a corner case occurs such as, for example, a disabled overflow exception, the fraction or significand result of the rounder is forced or rounded to either infinity or the largest representable number ("Xmax") with the appropriate plus or minus sign. Whether infinity or Xmax needs to be forced depends on the sign of the fraction result and the current rounding mode. To force the fraction to infinity, the fraction may be forced to all zeros. To force the fraction to Xmax, the fraction may be forced to all ones.

Efficient forcing of corner cases in a floating point rounder

International Business Machines Corporation


Silver nanoclusters were synthesized by reducing silver nitrate with ethylene glycol at a certain temperature in the presence of zeolite. A one-pot procedure rendered uniform size distributions of quasi-spherical silver clusters synthesized on the surfaces of cubic-like zeolite.

Zeolites are very attractive host materials for developing nanocomposites due to their ability to selectively exchange and integrate transition metals, salts, charged and neutral species within their cages and interconnecting channels. Ion exchange research studies in zeolites started in the 1950s' when the formation of superlattices in these systems was reported. Since then, many research advances have been accomplished in the development and study of the properties of various metal ions in zeolite frameworks. Currently, silver zeolite materials have many applications in different areas such as catalysis, biological labeling, medicine, water treatment, antibacterial products, optoelectronics, and surface enhanced Raman scattering.
Aqueous ion exchange and molten salts have been the regular methods to introduce cationic species inside the cages of various types of zeolites. In addition, the physical and chemical properties of the host materials produced by those techniques have been controlled and improved by annealing under inert and reactive atmospheres. Manufacture of high quality silver zeolite implies long reactions times, usually over 20 hours, and a highly trained production workforce along with special facilities to handle high temperatures and very-low- vacuum systems. In order to overcome this technical scenario, a variant of the so-called "polyol" process is applied in which silver nitrate is reduced by ethylene glycol in the presence of a polymer cationic binder. The polyol method has proven to control shape, purity, and size distribution of metallic silver nanostructures. However, what is needed is a simple, cost-effective synthesis method for the production of silver nanoclusters.

Synthesis of silver nanoclusters on zeolite substrates


This application discloses an optical backplane system, which includes a first upper-level optical interconnection module, a first lower-level optical interconnection module, and a second lower-level optical interconnection module. The first upper-level optical interconnection module includes M1 first interfaces and N1 second interfaces in connection relationships. The first lower-level optical interconnection module includes L1 third interfaces and K1 fourth interfaces in connection relationships. The second lower-level optical interconnection module includes L2 third interfaces and K2 fourth interfaces in connection relationships. The first upper-level optical interconnection module is connected to one of the L1 third interfaces of the first lower-level optical interconnection module by using one of the N1 second interfaces. The first upper-level optical interconnection module is connected to one of the L2 third interfaces of the second lower-level optical interconnection module by using another one of the N1 second interfaces.

A backplane is an important component of a network switching device, and a main function is to implement cross-connection between a line processing unit and a switch fabric unit. The backplane may be classified into an optical backplane and an electrical backplane based on different used transmission mediums. For the two types of backplanes, the optical backplane can achieve a higher system capacity, and therefore is increasingly widely applied.
The optical backplane usually includes a bearing plate and a plurality of line processing unit slots disposed on the bearing plate. Each line processing unit slot is connected to the switch fabric unit by using a particular quantity of optical channels. If the optical backplane does not include a sufficient quantity of optical channels, the optical backplane needs to be replaced with a new optical backplane including more optical channels, or an entire cabinet needs to be replaced. In a replacement process, a device needs to be powered off, resulting in service interruption.

Optical backplane system, switching system, and switching system upgrade method