A constant false alarm rate (CFAR) circuit uses three windows for calculating mean level thresholds. In addition to a lead window and a lag window each separated from a cell of interest by a predetermined number of cells, a straddle window is used which includes the cell of interest. Each of the lead, lag and straddle windows are subjected to editing to remove three adjacent cells including the cell with the highest power level. The remaining cells are used to calculate a mean level threshold for each of the three windows. The largest of the three mean level thresholds is used, unless it is derived from the straddle window and it is significantly larger than the largest of the mean level thresholds derived from the lead and lag windows. In addition, use of the mean level threshold derived from the straddle window may be excluded for range cells associated with one or more range and azimuth.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to digital radar systems and, more particularly, to providing a low, constant false alarm rate in such a radar system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Radar systems used for air traffic control, as well as those used for other purposes, receive echo signals from many sources, including ground clutter, such as trees, buildings, mountains, etc., birds and rainstorms, for example, as well as aircraft. Many different types of processing are applied to received radar signals to identify aircraft, which are termed targets, and ignore other echo signals. Different techniques are used to eliminate different types of unwanted echo signals. As an example of a technique for eliminating echo signals from birds, see U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/267,091, incorporated herein by reference. One of the techniques that is used to eliminate many types of unwanted echo signals is Doppler filtering. A received radar signal may be separated into several different Doppler bands representing the strength of return at various velocities toward or away from the radiating source of the radar signals.
Typically, after Doppler filtering, the received signals in each of the Doppler bands is processed by a constant false alarm rate (CFAR) circuit to remove echo signals which are unlikely to be a target. The received signals are separated into range cells, each cell corresponding to a different distance from the radiating source. The range cells are edited to remove saturated echo signals, i.e., the power of the received signal in the range cell is above the limit of the receiver. In addition, range cells containing echo signals from another pulsed radiating source are excluded from further consideration. These range cells are identifiable due to the use of a different pulse repetition sequence by other radiating sources.
The remaining range cells are supplied to a conventional CFAR circuit. As illustrated on line A of FIG. 1, a group of cells (L), e.g., cells 14-25, received before a cell of interest (I), e.g., cell 27 form a lag window. The lag window is typically separated from the cell of interest I by at least one cell, termed a guard cell (G), e.g., cell 26. Similarly, a group of cells (D), e.g., cells 29-40, received after the cell of interest I form a lead window and are separated from the cell of interest I by another guard cell (G), e.g., cell 28.
In the CFAR circuit each of the lead and lag windows typically undergo processing to eliminate three range cells, the range cell with the highest power level and two range cells in the window which are closest thereto to enable detection of two aircraft spaced closely in range, i.e., within one window. For example, if range cell 20 has the highest power level of any of the range cells 14-25, range cells 19-21 will be edited out and the power levels of the remaining range cells 14-18 and 22-25 will be summed to produce a power sum. Similarly, if cell 25 has the highest power level of cells 14-25, cells 14-22 will be summed to produce a power sum. A mean level adjustment value is added to the power sum to produce a mean level threshold for the lag window. A mean level threshold is produced in a similar manner for the lead window containing cells 29-40.
In a conventional CFAR circuit, the greater of the mean level thresholds calculated for the lead and lag windows is compared with the power level of the cell of interest I. If the power level of the cell of interest I is greater than the mean level threshold, a target is identified as existing in the cell of interest I. Subsequently, cell 28 which had been a guard cell G, will become the cell of interest I, the windows will shift one cell to the right and the process will be repeated for the new cell of interest I.
The two-window range-averaging CFAR ordinarily provides a satisfactory false alarm rate. However, turbulent areas at the edges of severe storms and severe weather cells in the center of larger storm systems, as well as near saturating ground clutter, can cause undesirable false alarms. An example of echo signals from a localized turbulent area in a severe storm is illustrated on line B of FIG. 1. When the cell of interest I is at the center of the turbulent area, the cell of interest I and guard cells G, i.e., cells 26-28, are automatically excluded and the editing of high power level cells will exclude cells 25 and 29 in the lag and lead windows, respectively, and the two cells closest thereto, i.e., cells 23 and 24 in the lag window and cells 30 and 31 in the lead window. As a result, the mean level thresholds of the lead and lag windows will use only the range cells in cells 32-40 and 14-22, respectively, which do not contain saturation or interference, as described above. As a result, a false target likely will be generated for the cell of interest I.

Constant false alarm rate with low probability of false alarms


Thermally stable, sulfur-resistant catalysts for the conversion of exhaust gases from internal combustion engines includes an inert, rigid support substrate, e.g., a cellular monolith, coated with a layer of porouse material, the porous material containing alumina, at least one rare earth oxide, and a spinel type compound having a specific surface of at least 50 m.sup.2 /g, and the support substrate having an effective amount of a catalytically active phase impregnated onto the porous coating thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a novel catalyst for the treatment of exhaust gases from internal combustion engines, and to a process for the production thereof.
This invention especially relates to a catalyst support of the monolithic type, the inert and rigid substrate of which is coated with a layer of a porous material, as well as to the catalyst produced by impregnation of such support with catalytically active elements.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the catalytic treatment of vehicular exhaust gases emanating from internal combustion engines, the catalytic converters are typically charged with monolithic catalysts. These catalysts comprise a rigid and inert support upon which a layer of a porous material, such as for example alumina, is deposited, said layer in turn being impregnated with a catalytically active phase. A process for the preparation of such a catalyst and, in particular, of a monolithic support coated with a porous material is described in EP No. 73,703. This process makes it possible to deposit a layer of a porous material, e.g., alumina, onto a monolithic metallic or refractory ceramic substrate.
This process also provides for the partial replacement of alumina with other metallic oxides.
It is also known to this art that the rare earth oxides and, in particular, cerium oxide, when added to the alumina constituting the porous coating, improve the thermal stability and efficiency of the catalyst. These effects are of significant importance in the treatment of the exhaust gases from internal combustion engines, during which the catalysts are heated to elevated temperatures.
Monolithic catalyst supports, the porous coating of which is a metallic aluminate having a spinel structure, such as a magnesium aluminate, have also been proposed to this art. However, these coatings, which have adequate thermal stability, display the major disadvantage of possessing a very low specific surface. Thus, only a small amount of catalytically active elements can be deposited onto the coated supports, and this appreciably reduces the life of the catalyst.
The catalysts heretofore known to this art have the disadvantage of being highly sensitive to the presence of sulfur or sulfur compounds in the exhaust gas. In fact, sulfur serves as a poison and effectively reduces the useful life of such catalysts.

Catalyst supports/catalysts for the treatment of vehicular exhaust gases


A system for documenting a state of a building, comprising a first measuring system to determine actual data of the building, and at least one server having a memory for storing a digital model of the building, the server providing the digital model to the first measuring system and providing a blockchain of blocks, each block comprising a timestamp, hash data of a previous block and change data related to changes of the model, wherein a current block comprises current change data related to a latest change and task data related to tasks to be performed at the building hat have to be met. The first measuring system is adapted to interpret the task data, perform a measuring task, generate measurement data obtained by performing the measuring task, and to generate a new block of the blockchain, wherein the server is adapted to verify an admissibility of the new block.

In the art of general construction work such as building construction and civil engineering, important key factors are planning, progress observation, documentation and appropriate accounting. In many instances, those aspects are getting more and more complex and dynamic, in particular due to the many parties involved, fluctuating human and/or objective resources, increased complexity of tasks and the end results, tighter schedules, increased costs of human resources, etc. Work that was formerly planned and overseen by a single manager is nowadays too complex for a single person and a splitting between multiple people often miscarries at the thereby uprising interfaces.
Therefore, it has been tried to expand automation and computerization in this technical field by using building information models (BIM). In the art of building construction, the documents EP 2 629 210, JP 5489310, CN 103886139, US 2014/268064 or US 2014/192159 provide examples of so-called BIM-System approaches.
In the patent application EP18155182.1, a system referred to as "Edge Client" (EC) is described that provides extensible IoT edge solution, process automation, secure edge connectivity and dynamically changeable workflows. It can be used together with a system and data integration software such as "EdgeFrontier" (EF) of Intergraph. Some integration tools that can be used with EC are disclosed in documents EP 3 156 898 A1, US 2008/0005287 A1, US 2008/0010631 A1 or U.S. Pat. No. 7,735,060 B2.
Blockchain technology originally has been developed as a way to provide a publicly transparent and decentralized record to track and store digital currency transactions in a publicly verifiable secure manner to prevent tampering or revision of the record. Blockchain technology has since been expanded to provide decentralized public ledgers also in other areas. Known BIM management systems and data model management systems with distributed contributors working on a central and shared model lack the immutability of blockchain data.

Authenticity verification of a digital model


A method for producing a decorative panel wall paper and the like out of a flat piece of creaseable material wherein the piece is first creased along a multitude of crease lines to form a relatively flat production blank configured with a topography having peak portions and valley portions formed by regions of the piece between various ones of the crease lines, comprising the step of either spraying a sprayable pigment onto at least one side of the piece in an oblique direction so that the sprayable pigment impinges and is retained on windward sides of the peak portions with valley portions and leeward sides of the peak portions being shielded from the sprayable pigment, or immersing the piece into a fluid dip to coat the surface portions with a film operative to alter the appearance thereof and thereafter forming a relatively flat production blank. The production blank may then be adhered to a support surface by interfacing the back surface of the blank and the support surface with an adhesive material and by flattening the blank into a substantially planar configuration.

The use of various coverings for surfaces in the human habitat have long been used both for protective and decorative purposes. For example, walls and ceilings have been traditionally protected and decorated by plaster, paint, tapestries, paneling, wallpaper, metal sheeting and tile, to name a few. On the other hand, floors have typically been covered by ceramic tiles, vinyl and plastic tiles and sheets, linoleum, carpet, parquet and wood slats, again, to name a few. Work stations, such as countertops, and even articles of furniture, such as tables, have been covered by ceramic or stone materials, metal sheets, thermoformed plastic sheets, paneling, veneer and the like.
As a result of the desirability of various finishes for such surfaces, there is a constant demand for new decorative coverings. Interior designers and others involved in selecting surface coverings typically seek out "new looks" to incorporate in the overall aesthetic presentation of living and work spaces. The present invention is directed to the production of unique decorative coverings which, according to the methodologies of the present invention may be constructed as "one of a kind" coverings or which may be fabricated as a master pattern reproducible in a variety of surface covering media.

Decorative coverings and production methods therefore


Roughly described, a computer system uses a behavior-driven algorithm that is better able to find optimum solutions to a problem by balancing the use of fitness and novelty measures in evolutionary optimization. In competition among candidate individuals, a domination estimate between a pair of individuals is determined by both their fitness estimate difference and their behavior difference relative to one another. An increase in the fitness estimate difference of one individual of the pair over the other increases the domination estimate of the first individual. An increase in the behavior distance between the pair of individuals decreases the domination estimate of both of the individuals. Individuals with a higher domination estimate are more likely to survive competitions among the candidate individuals.

In many environments, a large amount of data can be or has been collected which records experience over time within the environment. For example, a healthcare environment may record clinical data, diagnoses and treatment regimens for a large number of patients, as well as outcomes. A business environment may record customer information such as who they are and what they do, and their browsing and purchasing histories. A computer security environment may record a large number of software code examples that have been found to be malicious. Despite the large quantities of such data, or perhaps because of it, deriving useful knowledge from such data stores can be a daunting task.
The process of extracting patterns from such data sets is known as data mining. Many techniques have been applied to the problem, but the present discussion concerns a class of techniques known as genetic algorithms. Genetic algorithms have been applied to all of the above-mentioned environments.
Evolutionary algorithms, which are supersets of Genetic Algorithms, are good at traversing chaotic search spaces. According to Koza, J. R., "Genetic Programming: On the Programming of Computers by Means of Natural Selection," MIT Press (1992), incorporated by reference herein, an evolutionary algorithm can be used to evolve complete programs in declarative notation. The basic elements of an evolutionary algorithm are an environment, a model for a genotype (referred to herein as an "individual"), a fitness function, and a procreation function. An environment may be a model of any problem statement. An individual may be defined by a set of rules governing its behavior within the environment. A rule may be a list of conditions followed by an action to be performed in the environment. A fitness function may be defined by the degree to which an evolving rule set is successfully negotiating the environment. A fitness function is thus used for evaluating the fitness of each individual in the environment. A procreation function generates new individuals by mixing rules among the fittest parent individuals. In each generation, a new population of individuals is created.
At the start of the evolutionary process, individuals constituting the initial population are created randomly, by putting together the building blocks, or alphabets, that form an individual. In genetic programming, the alphabets are a set of conditions and actions making up rules governing the behavior of the individual within the environment. Once a population is established, it is evaluated using the fitness function. Individuals with the highest fitness are then used to create the next generation in a process called procreation. Through procreation, rules of parent individuals are mixed, and sometimes mutated (i.e., a random change is made in a rule) to create a new rule set. This new rule set is then assigned to a child individual that will be a member of the new generation. In some incarnations, known as elitist methods, the fittest members of the previous generation, called elitists, are also preserved into the next generation.
A common problem with evolutionary algorithms is that of premature convergence: after some number of evaluations the population converges to local optima and no further improvements are made no matter how much longer the algorithm is run. In one of a number of solutions to this problem, known as the Age-Layered Population Structure (ALPS), an individual's age is used to restrict competition and breeding between individuals in the population. In the parlance of ALPS, "age" is a measure of the number of times that an individual's genetic material has survived a generation (i.e., the number of times it has been preserved due to being selected into the elitist pool).
When using genetic algorithms to mine a large database, it may not be practical to test each individual against the entire database. The system therefore rarely if ever knows the true fitness of any individual. Rather, it knows only an estimate of the true fitness, based on the particular subset of data samples on which it has actually been tested. The fitness estimate itself, therefore, varies over time as the individual is tested on an increasing number of samples.
In a data mining environment with multiple solution landscapes, the evolutionary data mining system might generate some stepping stone individuals. Stepping stone individuals are individuals that do not necessarily have a high fitness estimate, but can have one or more critical parts of a future optimal individual. Despite their potential value, there is always a risk that before the stepping stone individual can be effectively utilized during procreation to create better individuals, they may get displaced by some other individuals that do not have the stepping stone individuals' critical parts but have marginally better fitness estimate. Considering only the fitness estimates of individuals during the evolution cannot ensure a diverse set of patterns or emergence of new patterns.
For example, in a healthcare embodiment, an individual diagnosing low blood pressure will have a lower fitness score than individuals diagnosing high blood pressure when tested on a subset of high blood pressure data samples. Therefore, if high blood pressure data samples are used for testing early in the testing process, there is a possibility that the competition module may prematurely discard the individual diagnosing low blood pressure from the candidate individual pool based on its low fitness score.
Novelty search has shown promise in evolutionary data mining system by collecting diverse stepping stones. Novelty search ranks individuals based on how different one individual is from other individuals. A novelty estimate of an individual is estimated in the space of behaviors, i.e., vectors containing semantic information about how an individual achieves its performance when it is evaluated. However, novelty search can become increasingly unfocused in an environment where a large number of possible behaviors can exist.
Therefore, a behavior-driven search is desired that promotes individual diversity without the search becoming unfocused in a large, complex data mining environment. It is in this kind of environment that embodiments of the present invention reside.

Behavior dominated search in evolutionary search systems

Cognizant Technology Solutions U.S. Corporation


An apparatus may comprise a tool capable of holding a part during curing of the part, and a passive temperature control system. The passive temperature control system may have a phase change material selected as having a phase change temperature that may be capable of controlling heat generated by the part during curing of the part held by the tool.

This application is a divisional application of U.S. application Ser. No. 12/330,850, filed Dec. 9, 2008.
1. Field:
The present disclosure relates generally to manufacturing and, in particular, to a method and apparatus for manufacturing parts. Still more particularly, the present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for manufacturing parts in which exothermic reactions may be present.
2. Background:
Aircraft are being designed and manufactured with greater and greater percentages of composite materials. Some aircraft may have more than fifty percent of their primary structure made from composite materials. Composite materials may be used in aircraft to decrease the weight of the aircraft. This decreased weight may improve performance features, such as payload capacities and fuel efficiencies. Further, composite materials may provide longer service life for various components in an aircraft.
Composite materials are strong, light-weight materials, created by combining two or more dissimilar components. For example, without limitation, a composite may include fibers and resins. The resin may be in the form of a substrate or matrix. The fiber may form a reinforcement for the substrate. For example, without limitation, the fibers may take the form of a woven cloth or a uni-directionally oriented ply of fibers. The fibers and resins may be combined and cured to form the composite material.
Further, by using composite materials, portions of an aircraft may be created in larger pieces or sections. For example, without limitation, a fuselage in an aircraft may be created in cylindrical sections that may be put together to form the fuselage of the aircraft. Other examples include, for example, without limitation, wing sections joined to form a wing or stabilizer sections joined to form a stabilizer.
In manufacturing composite parts from composite materials, the composite materials may be cured to form the composite parts. In curing composite materials, processes may be present that involve exothermic reactions.
Under certain conditions, these reactions may become unstable and/or uncontrolled when heat from the reaction is generated faster than the heat can be dissipated to the surroundings. In these types of situations, the temperature of the process rises in a manner that may be undesirable.
For example, without limitation, if the curing process should be performed at around 350 or 355 degrees, some exothermic reactions during the curing process may cause the temperature to exceed an allowable tolerance. The tolerance may be plus or minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit. It is undesirable for the temperature to exceed the upper limit for a curing process. If the temperature during the curing process exceeds the upper limit or tolerance, the particular composite part may be rejected.
This type of exothermic reaction is currently controlled in a number of different ways. For example, without limitation, the heating rate may be slowed to slow the reaction and allow greater time for the heat to dissipate. This type of process, however, may extend the cure cycle by many hours. As a result, equipment used to cure composite parts may be unavailable for long periods of time, therefore reducing the throughput and/or increasing the cost to manufacture composite parts.
Another solution may include inserting a dwell segment into the cure cycle at an intermediate temperature to allow the exothermic reaction to occur at a lower temperature, such that the effect is not undesirable to the part. One drawback of this type of process is that inserting a dwell segment is often not allowed under the procedures and specifications for manufacturing composite parts. Heat sinks also may be used with a tool to control heat flow or absorb excess heat. Heat sinks, however, typically are capable of absorbing excess heat but are seldom used because the heat sinks also slow heating rates needed for the curing process.
The part may be cured multiple times in which the thickness of the part may be increased in stages, such that the temperature tolerance is not exceeded. Curing a part multiple times, however, may require a bond line of adhesive within the structure. This bond line may have undesirable properties.
Thus, it would be advantageous to have a method and apparatus that addresses one or more of the issues discussed above.

Controlling temperature in exothermic reactions with a phase change material


A phase change memory may be made using an isolation diode in the form of a Schottky diode between a memory cell and a word line. The use of Schottky diode isolation devices may make the memory more scaleable in some embodiments.

This invention relates generally to electronic memories and particularly to electronic memories that use phase change material.
Phase change materials may exhibit at least two different states. The states may be called the amorphous and crystalline states. Transitions between these states may be selectively initiated. The states may be distinguished because the amorphous state generally exhibits higher resistivity than the crystalline state. The amorphous state involves a more disordered atomic structure. Generally any phase change material may be utilized. In some embodiments, however, thin-film chalcogenide alloy materials may be particularly suitable.
The phase change may be induced reversibly. Therefore, the memory may change from the amorphous to the crystalline state and may revert back to the amorphous state thereafter, or vice versa, in response to temperature changes. In effect, each memory cell may be thought of as a programmable resistor, which reversibly changes between higher and lower resistance states. The phase change may be induced by resistive heating.
Because of the high potential storage capacity of phase change memories, and for other reasons, it would be desirable to make phase change memories with as many memory storage locations as possible per unit of area. One issue with existing phase change memories is that an isolation diode may be between the memory cell itself and the word line. The isolation diode is typically a p-n junction diode. The use of a p-n junction may limit the scalability of the overall memory array inter alia because the p-n junction may not be very vertically scaleable.
Thus, there is a need for better ways to isolate phase change memory elements.


The invention is a system and method for quickly cloning a backup (file system) volume. Present volume cloning methods are based on creating copies of individual save sets written to a backup volume. However, this requires the steps of reading data blocks to cull the backed up data, stored as data chunks, from the chunk headers that separate and describe each data chunk, then writing the data chunks to new media. As a result, cloning a backup volume is time consuming and tedious. The invention applies the features and benefits of advanced file system devices (“AFTDs”) to volume cloning. AFTDs store data as streams, rather than chunks, since AFTDs store data on disk media rather than on tape with tape blocks. As such, data stored on AFTDs are not separated by chunk headers. Instead, an AFTD contains a single volume label file that identifies the AFTD volume. The invention is a system and method for cloning backup volumes stored on AFTDs. Because data on AFTDs does not require separating data chunks from chunk headers, data may be quickly streamed and written from a source AFTD to a destination AFTD. The invention thereby creates a mirror image of the source device more quickly than cloning a tape volume.

Backup storage media such as tape or disk are often replicated for retention and security purposes. It is well-known that storage media is subject to corruption, deterioration or loss. Therefore, rather than rely on a single copy of the backed up data, or "volume," on the storage media, another copy of the backup volume is often created and stored in a secure remote location. One process for creating a copy of the original backup volume is called replication or cloning. For example, the original backup volume may be replicated to create a clone of the original "source" backup volume on another "destination" storage media. At present, tapes are the most prevalent media used for storing backup volumes because of their perceived low cost and stability. However, cloning tape backup media is a slow and resource-intensive process due to the way backup data is written to tape. The cloning process is also slow for file system devices that store backup data on disk, but emulate tape backup.
A. Backup to Tape and File System Devices
The backup process typically includes a backup and recovery application ("BURA") server connected over a network to a number of backup clients, such as desktop computers, servers or networked storage devices. One will appreciate that a BURA software application that manages the backup and recovery process may reside on a dedicated BURA server. During the backup process, the BURA software application may create and write one or more databases to the storage media. For example, the BURA may create a volume header file, or "volume label," that describes the data volume written to the storage media. In order to keep track of the backup media itself, the BURA may create and store a media database with information describing the storage media itself, whether it is tape or disk, how the data is organized on the media, and/or whether the storage media is an original source backup volume or a clone. This media database may be stored on the dedicated BURA server.
During the backup process, data will be transmitted from backup clients to the BURA server as save sets. A save set may comprise the file system and file system data from a single backup client. Save sets are temporarily stored in one or more memory buffers in the BURA server before being written to the storage media. Since save sets may be quite large, it may be packaged or segmented into one or more data "chunks" by the BURA. Without this segmentation, a network may be overwhelmed by the amount of data transfer. Transmitting save sets as chunks helps manage network traffic.
Once a save set has been divided into chunks, these chunks are transmitted over the network to the BURA server. Chunks from different save sets may reach the BURA server at different times. In order to keep track of each chunk, the BURA will associate the chunk with information that identifies the chunk's corresponding save set. This information may be written to the BURA's media database. The information may also be written as a "chunk header" that typically precedes its respective chunk on the storage media. As a result, chunks are separated on the storage media by respective chunk headers.
FIG. 1 illustrates how a portion, or "tape block" 101, may appear after backup to tape storage media. As shown in FIG. 1, chunk data from different save sets may be written to the same tape block 101. Block header 105 may contain metadata about all the data in its tape block. Chunk header 111 may describe the physical location, save set information and other information about chunk data 115. Similarly, chunk header 121 may describe the physical location, save set information and other information about chunk data 125. Chunk data 115 and chunk data 125 may originate from different save sets, but they are each separated by their respective chunk header.
Disk media, such as a file system or file type device, is becoming more favorable over tape media. Disk media can store more data and be read faster than tape. Nevertheless, backup to disk media often follows the same save set chunking, buffering and recording steps used during backup to tape. As a result, the backup data on a file system device may resemble or may appear to resemble data backed up to tape. The file system device will contain backup data as blocks organized as chunks that are separated by chunk headers. As will be discussed further below, the problems with cloning file system device backups are similar to the problems with cloning tape backups.
B. Cloning Tape and/or File System Device Volumes
As previously discussed, the purpose of replicating or cloning backup storage media is to create an exact copy of all of the data on the storage media, also known as the "volume." However, cloning a tape storage volume is not a trivial process. Cloning data that is organized by chunks and chunk headers requires reading each chunk header to determine information about its respective chunk, extracting the chunk data, then recording the chunk data with a new chunk header onto the new "destination" backup device. The new chunk header will contain information about the physical location of the chunk on the destination backup device. In addition, the media database on the BURA server that stores information for the destination backup device may require updating. As a result, cloning tape media is tedious, slow, and akin to a complete recovery and write process.
Disk media, particularly file system devices used to store backed up file systems, also suffer from the same problems. Even though a disk does not require data organization by chunks and chunk headers, most backup processes emulate this method because of the legacy software used to manage the backup process. Also, users are familiar with the way data is organized on tapes, and therefore adopt this organization even though it may not be the most efficient use of disk media.
Since the BURA is the only software application designed to manage recovery operations, cloning tapes may divert its resources away from its usual tasks of backing up data. As a further result, since the new backup volume will necessarily have different chunk header information for each respective chunk, the data on the destination backup volume will not be a true clone of the data on the source backup volume. These slight discrepancies increase the propensity of error, which defeats the purpose of the cloning process.
What is therefore needed is an improved way to clone data, particularly backup data volumes.

System and method for fast volume cloning


A device, e.g., multi-functional scanner (MFS), for handling a paper holder (folder) having an upper cover and a lower cover, the MFS including a control circuit, a platform configured to receive the paper holder, and a lifting mechanism comprising an adhesive member. The adhesive member is configured to removably attach to the upper cover of the paper holder. The lifting mechanism is configured to flip the upper cover of the paper holder open when the adhesive member is attached to the upper cover. The lifting mechanism is configured to detach from the paper holder and return to its original position away from the paper holder after the upper cover is flipped open. Also provided are methods of automatically opening a paper holder and processing (e.g., scanning, printing) the documents contained inside.

An electrophotographic image forming apparatus using an intermediate transfer method in order to print a scanned image from a document is widely known. When documents need to be scanned from inside a physical folder or binder, the documents first need to be manually removed from the folder or binder and then placed onto the transfer or processing unit of the apparatus. This is a timely, tedious, insecure, and error prone process, particularly when involving large volumes of documents and/or sensitive documents.
The present disclosure has been made in light of the above problems associated with the manual process. The present disclosure, for example, automates the process so that a document can be printed or scanned without having to manually remove the document from the folder or binder.

Scanning system and method with file folder apparatus


A locator for a crimping tool is provided with a grip element accommodating an electrical connector for each pair of dies. The grip elements(s) is (are) carried by a carrier block means which is rectilinearily movable between a stand-by position, in which with the aid of a lever and a slanting track the grip element(s) is (are) located in the area between the open jaws of the crimping tool (10), and a rest position, in which they are located completely outside this area.

A known locator device, enabling to set two different positions, is described in Assignee's European patent application No. 125 708. The object of the present invention is in particular to provide a locator for small crimpable contacts, including plugin tabs and socket parts. By "small crimpable contact" is a connector understood which has a size usual e.g. in the low current and/or telecommunications field.
It is an object of the invention to provide a locator (for only one position) which has simple construction, and in which the connector is stably retained in the desired crimping position and--considering its small dimensions--also in a very precise manner.
This object is achieved with a locator having the features according to the enclosed claim 1, preferred further development being indicated in the subclaims.


An optical writing unit includes in a housing a light source projecting a light beam, a deflector to deflect the light beam projected from the light source, a focusing lens, and a lens adjusting device. The focusing lens is long in a main scanning direction and focuses the light beam onto a scan target. The lens adjusting device rotates the focusing lens about a substantially center portion thereof as a rotation fulcrum on a plane perpendicular to an optical path of the light beam so as to adjust the position of the light beam illuminating the scan target. The focusing lens has an asymmetric cross-section relative to a center line of the focusing lens in a direction of the optical path in a sub-scanning plane perpendicular to the main scanning direction, and the center of gravity of the focusing lens is offset from the center line toward the rotation fulcrum.

1. Field of the Invention
Exemplary aspects of the present invention generally relate to an image forming apparatus, such as a copier, a facsimile machine, a printer, or a multi-functional system including a combination thereof, and more particularly, to an optical writing unit that forms an electrostatic latent image on an image bearing member and an image forming apparatus including the optical writing unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Related-art image forming apparatuses, such as copiers, facsimile machines, printers, or multifunction printers having at least one of copying, printing, scanning, and facsimile capabilities, typically form an image on a recording medium according to image data. Thus, for example, a charger uniformly charges a surface of an image bearing member (which may, for example, be a photoconductive drum); an optical writing unit projects a light beam onto the charged surface of the image bearing member to form an electrostatic latent image on the image bearing member according to the image data; a developing device supplies toner to the electrostatic latent image formed on the image bearing member to render the electrostatic latent image visible as a toner image; the toner image is directly transferred from the image bearing member onto a recording medium or is indirectly transferred from the image bearing member onto a recording medium via an intermediate transfer member; a cleaning device then cleans the surface of the image carrier after the toner image is transferred from the image carrier onto the recording medium; finally, a fixing device applies heat and pressure to the recording medium bearing the unfixed toner image to fix the unfixed toner image on the recording medium, thus forming the image on the recording medium.
Tandem-type image forming apparatuses are known for forming a multi-color image. Generally, such tandem-type image forming apparatuses are equipped with an optical writing unit that illuminates and scans a plurality of photosensitive members serving as latent image bearing members for different colors arranged in tandem with light beams based on image information. Accordingly, latent images are formed on the surface of the photosensitive members. The latent images are developed with respective colors of development agents such as toner into toner images or visible images. Subsequently, the toner images are transferred onto a transfer member such that they are superimposed one atop the other, thereby forming a composite toner image on the transfer member.
The transfer member may be a belt-type transfer member and a recording medium that directly contacts the photosensitive drums. When using a belt as an intermediate transfer member (hereinafter referred to simply as an intermediate transfer belt), the latent images formed on the photosensitive members are transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt such that they are superimposed one atop the other, forming a composite toner image on the intermediate transfer belt in a process known as a primary transfer process. Subsequently, the composite toner image is secondarily transferred onto a recording medium in a process known as a secondary transfer process.
After the composite toner image is transferred onto the recording medium, the composite toner image is fused and pressed onto the recording medium so that the composite toner image is fixed thereon. After the image is fixed on the recording medium, the recording medium is discharged outside the image forming apparatus.
There is demand for a low-priced and compact image forming apparatus while it provides high imaging quality. In order to achieve high imaging quality, generally, misalignment of toner images, also known as color drift, needs to be prevented by adjusting the position of the light beams projected from the optical writing unit relative to the surface of the photosensitive members. Adjustment of the light beams on the photosensitive drums involves adjustment of the orientation of a long-length lens (such as a toroidal lens) mounted in the optical writing unit.
In a known approach, a color drift detector is provided in the image forming apparatus to detect color drift of images, and in accordance with a detection result, a motor in the optical writing unit is driven to physically change the orientation of the long-length lens, hence adjusting the position of the light beams arriving at the surface of the photosensitive drums. Instead of using the motor, the alignment of the long-length lens may be changed manually.
In another approach for adjustment of the orientation of the long-length lens, the orientation of the long-length lens such a deflecting mirror is adjusted using a jig during manufacture and then fixed to the optical writing unit. In this approach, an additional device for adjustment is not required, thereby providing a low-priced and compact image forming apparatus. However, once color drift occurs, the orientation of the long-length lens or the mirror is difficult to adjust, resulting in degradation of imaging quality.
Alternatively, the image may be corrected using software controlled by a controller and electric control.
In recent years, with the advancement of molding technology for resins, the lens used in the optical writing unit can have a relatively complicated lens surface. Furthermore, in order to shorten a lead time for the molding process, the lens is becoming thinner and smaller. Such a lens can satisfy various performance, but is easily deformed by an external force, resulting in degradation of a beam diameter on the photosensitive members.
If the lens is fixed to the optical writing unit, the desired performance can be achieved reliably. However, when changing the orientation of the lens to correct the beam position on the photosensitive members to correct color drift, the lens gets deformed undesirably, worsening the beam diameter.
To address such a difficulty, upon adjustment of the long-length lens, a contact point of the long-length lens is moved by an adjustment motor, and a spring member such as a leaf spring presses the long-length lens against the contact point to enable the lens to follow the contact point. In another technique, a holder is attached to the long-length lens for reinforcement, and the long-length lens is moved together with the holder.
Although advantageous, if the spring member such as the leaf spring has strong elasticity, the long-length lens that focuses the light beam deflected by the deflector onto a scan target is deformed, and/or the pressure of the spring member exceeds the drive force of the adjustment motor, preventing the light beam from striking a desired position of the photosensitive members and achieving a desired performance. For this reason, the elastic member presses the lens with a minimum required pressure.
There is a drawback in such a optical writing unit in that the contact point and the support point of the focusing lens and a housing of the optical writing unit are easily moved by vibrations, shock, and heat during transportation.
In view of the above, there is thus an unsolved need for an optical writing unit capable of preventing displacement of a lens due to shock and heat while allowing easy adjustment of color drift.

Optical writing unit and image forming apparatus including same


A camera control system capable of controlling a plurality of cameras determines whether or not the camera to be controlled is controllable. The display state of an interface is used for performing a camera operation is changed in accordance with a result of this determination.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a camera control system and, more particularly, to a camera control system which can select an arbitrary one of a plurality of cameras and can remotely control the selected camera.
2. Related Background Art
Conventionally, a so-called multi-location TV conference is attained by a closed system in which a video camera that operates according to predetermined specifications is set in a specific conference room and is controlled from another conference room at a remote place. However, such a system is expensive and has not become very popular.
In recent years, along with the advance of information networks, a system that allows communications by retrieving image information from a remote place into its own terminal such as a personal computer has become popular. In such system connection via a network, intercommunications among multiple points can be easily realized, and the above-mentioned TV conference becomes more realistic.
The above-mentioned system attains connections of various video cameras to the network by adopting a standardized format. However, few systems anticipate connections of video cameras that can attain panning, tilting, and the like. Furthermore, no system that can control such video cameras via a network is available.


An airbag constructing technology is provided that is useful for improving the protection of a driver upon the occurrence of a vehicle accident, and related techniques. The airbag apparatus to be mounted on an automotive two-wheeler has an airbag which is inflated in a driver-protecting area formed in front of the driver upon the occurrence of a front vehicle collision. This airbag has a tether connecting inner wall surfaces facing each other of the airbag. Inflation of the vehicle rear side wall of the airbag toward the driver is regulated via the tether. Inflation of the vehicle front side wall of the airbag toward the front vehicle is allowed. This tether is prepared by sewing first to third tether component pieces to each other sewn to the inner wall surface of the airbag.

Various techniques for ensuring the safety of a driver by mounting an airbag apparatus on a vehicle such as a motorcycle are conventionally known. For example, a technology is known in which an airbag housed in a case attached to a vehicle body frame is unfolded and inflated by an expanding gas upon a front collision of an automotive two-wheeler, thereby restraining the driver (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-137777). This technology presents the possibility, in terms of a motorcycle, of ensuring a large protecting area provided by the airbag by connecting walls spaced apart from each other forward and backward of the airbag within the airbag by means of a tether. Furthermore, there is an increasing demand to improve driver protection by developing efficient driver-restraint configurations by means of airbags deployed upon the occurrence of an accident.

Airbag apparatus, motorcycle equipped with airbag apparatus and manufacturing method of airbag apparatus


Concrete machine which is mainly composed of a chassis and of caterpillar drives, upon which the chassis is provided via arms, which arms can be adjusted in height, characterized in that the concrete machine is provided with a system for adjusting the chassis in height in relation to the arms.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a concrete machine, more particularly a concrete machine which is provided with a height adjustment and which preferably can be equipped with different tools for producing ditches, sidewalks, concrete paths or the like.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Such a concrete machine which is mainly composed of a caterpillar drive provided with several supporting arms supporting a chassis is already known.
In this known concrete machine, the caterpillar drive is provided with means, for example a hydraulic piston, which makes it possible to move the above-mentioned supporting arms vertically or almost vertically.
The chassis of the known concrete machine is further provided with means which make it possible to fix an aforesaid tool on a side of the chassis or under the chassis.
A disadvantage of this known concrete machine is that, in order to adjust the tool in height, the entire chassis always has to be adjusted together with the above-mentioned arms.
This is disadvantageous in that the center of gravity of the concrete machine will be situated relatively high, when a tool is used which is relatively high itself or when there is a large difference in level between the working area and the driving area of the caterpillar drives, which results in a reduced stability of the concrete machine, so that, when constructing a road or the like, the finish of the road surface will be poor.
Another disadvantage is that the adjustment in height of the chassis is limited and in that the arms which support the chassis cannot be lowered under the level of the caterpillar drives, as a result of which , in order to work a surface situated under the level of the caterpillar drive, for example when working in ditches, the tool concerned must have a relatively large height, as it must bridge the distance between the chassis and the working area.
This is disadvantageous in that different tools must be provided having the same function but with a different height, so that not only a lot of tools will have to be acquired, but as a result of which, in many cases, the number of tools also forms a major disadvantage for the mobility of the concrete machine between for example different construction sites.


Trichloroacetic and dichloroacetic acid are dehalogenated to give monochloroacetic acid by electrolyzing aqueous solutions of these acids in divided electrolysis cells using carbon cathodes; the aqueous electrolytic solutions also contain one or more metal salts having a hydrogen overvoltage of at least 0.4 volt (at a current density of at least 4000 A/m.sup.2) and specific ammonium and/or phosphonium salts.. In this process, there is an extremely small evolution of hydrogen at the cathode, even at a very low concentration of the polychlorinated acetic acid, without the high selectivity of conversion of the electrolysis being impaired in continuous operation.

Monochloroacetic acid and its derivatives are important intermediates in industrial organic synthesis. They are used for the preparation of adhesives, plant protection agents and pharmaceutical products. The preparation of monochloroacetic acid by chlorinating acetic acid always involves the formation of dichloroacetic and trichloroacetic acid. As well as catalytic hydrogenation of dichloroacetic and trichloroacetic acid to give monochloroacetic acid, electrochemical dehalogenation is also available for the removal of dichloroacetic and trichloroacetic acid from the mixture of products (EP-B 0,241,685).
The last-mentioned dehalogenation is carried out using graphite cathodes in the presence of small amounts of metal salts having a hydrogen overvoltage of at least 0.4 volts (at a current density of 4000 amps/m.sup.2), and is preferably carried out in aqueous acid electrolytes.
This process has a high selectivity of conversion, since, at low concentrations of the dichloroacetic and trichloroacetic acid to be partially dehalogenated, thermodynamically favored reduction of protons to hydrogen takes place at the cathode. Although an undesirable dehalogenation of the monochloroacetic acid is avoided in this manner, the dichloroacetic acid and the trichloroacetic acid are dehalogenated at only a poor current efficiency. This process is not suitable for dehalogenation down to a very low concentration level of dichloroacetic and trichloroacetic acid, since an increasingly larger fraction of the electrical charge is consumed for the reduction of protons to hydrogen. Dehalogenation to give monochloroacetic acid in an economical manner at a low concentration of dichloroacetic and trichloroacetic acid has, therefore, hitherto only been possible to an inadequate extent (comparison example).
It was, therefore, an object to dehalogenate dichloroacetic and trichloroacetic acid selectively; that is to say not completely--at a very high degree of conversion.
It is known then from EP-A 0,280,120 that complete dechlorination of 3,3-dichloro-2-fluoroacrylic acid takes place in the presence of protonated dimethylaniline, particularly if the dechlorination is carried out batchwise.
Nekrasov et al. have investigated the dehalogenation of trichloroacetic acid and monochloroacetic acid in the presence of a tetramethylammonium or tetraethylammonium salt in an aprotic electrolyte (Nekrasov et al., Elektrokhimiya 1988, 24, 560-563). The effects observed by them do not, however, indicate in any way that ammonium salts would be able to inhibit the abovementioned undesirable reduction of protons to hydrogen in an aqueous electrolyte.
It has now been found, surprisingly, that it is possible to dehalogenate dichloroacetic and trichloroacetic acid to give monochloroacetic acid at a very high degree of conversion continuously or discontinuously in divided electrolytic cells, if electrolysis is carried out in aqueous solutions in which quaternary ammonium and/or phosphonium salts are dissolved, as well as metal salts having a hydrogen overvoltage of at least 0.4 volt (at a current density of 4000 A/m.sup.2).

Partial electrolytic dehalogenation of dichloroacetic and trichloroacetic acid and electrolysis solution


In an image-reader, the first counter is configured to count a first count value based on a first clock. The second counter is configured to count a second count value based on a second clock. The first reading unit is configured to read a first surface of a document sheet based on the first count value. The second reading unit is configured to read a second surface of the document sheet based on the second count value. The second surface is opposite surface of the first surface. When the first count value reaches a prescribed first value, both the first counter value and the second count value are reset.

A conventional image-reader known in the art is provided with a first image-reading unit and a second image-reading unit disposed on a path along which a document sheet is conveyed. The first image-reading unit is provided for one surface of the document sheet, and the second image-reading unit for the other surface of the document sheet, whereby the first and second image-reading unit can simultaneously read both surfaces of a document sheet conveyed along the conveying path.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-359721 proposes an image-reader that has a first image-reading unit and a second image-reading unit and controls the first image-reading unit based on the cycle count of a clock signal inputted into the first image-reading unit and controls the second image-reading unit based on the cycle count of a clock signal inputted into the second image-reading unit. The proposed image-reader also attempts to decrease the difference in read times between the first and second image-reading units by comparing each of their clock cycle counts with predetermined reference values.


A safety seat with air enclosure mechanism for infants that permits its retrieval from a body of water with a significant amount of air to extend the breathing time of the enclosed child and prevent drowning. The seat includes a compartment for a flexible enclosure that can be readily deployed to temporarily enclose the seat assembly and infant completely for their easy retrieval from dangerous conditions. A spring loaded roller or winding mechanism keeps one end attached while the other end is open and stretchable to cover the infant and the seat assembly. The spring loaded winding mechanism keeps the enclosure tense to facilitate its deployment by a user.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a safety seat, and more particularly, to a safety seat with a releasable air trapping enclosure that permits an infant user to breathe for a few minutes.
2. Description of the Related Art
Several designs for a safety seat have been designed in the past. None of them, however, includes an enclosure that can be readily released to cover a child to entrap within the enclosure a sufficient amount of air. This permits a child to inhale air several times before the air becomes vitiated and delays the entry of water in his/her lungs while attempting retrieval from a body of water.
Applicant believes that the closest reference corresponds to U.S. patent publication No. 2006/0087161 (Filgueiras) of Apr. 27, 2006. However, it differs from the present invention because even though a safety bag system is disclosed, it lacks the winding mechanism that permits a user to pull the bag maintaining sufficient tension to permit the user to enclose the child. One end of the bag is kept tied to the winding mechanism. The positioning of the stretchable member 45 in the present invention also obviates several problems and saves precious seconds in the deployment of the device. Prior to the present invention, the applicant had problems with the deployment of the bag. Also, after the child is removed from the body of water, the present invention retracts the bag inside, helping the user to liberate the child from possible suffocation.
One of the related prior art references is U.S. Pat. No. 4,502,157 for a protective enclosure having self-contained air supply. However, the enclosure is not water tight nor designed to entrap a significant amount of air to temporarily extend the breathing time of a user in a body of water. Much less does it suggest its use in conjunction with an infant seat to permit the enclosure of the seat assembly and the infant for their ready retrieval from a dangerous condition while giving the infant precious extra minutes to breathe.
Other references describing the closest subject matter provide for a number of more or less complicated features that fail to solve the problem in an efficient and economical way. None of these references suggest the novel features of the present invention.


A stacked alignment mark. The stacked alignment mark comprises a first alignment mark and a second alignment mark. The first alignment mark is located in a first film layer, wherein the first alignment mark is composed of a plurality of conductive wires. The second alignment mark is located in a second film layer under the first film layer. The first alignment mark is located in a first region corresponding to a second region in which the second alignment mark is located. Moreover, the second alignment mark at least contains a third region directly under a space between each two adjacent first conductive wires.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a method for manufacturing thereof. More particularly, the present invention relates to a stacked alignment mark and the method for forming thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
Photolithography is a crucial process for the process for manufacturing the semiconductor device. In the conventional process for manufacturing a device, depending on the manufacturing complexity of a device, it is necessary to perform the photolithography for about 10 to 18 times. In order to correctly transfer the patterns on the photo mask onto the wafer, before the exposure process of each photolithography process is performed, it is necessary to perform an alignment process for aligning the film layer to each other so that the improper pattern transfer will not happen.
Typically, the alignment mark is formed on the wafer for forming scattering site or diffraction edge during the alignment process. Hence, while a light source is provided to illuminate the wafer, the diffraction patterns caused by the light beam passing by the alignment mark are reflectively projected onto the alignment sensor or onto the first-order diffraction interferometer alignment system.
However, in the semiconductor process, there exist some problems in aligning the film layers to each other. For example, while aligning an alignment mark of a dielectric film layer over a substrate, since there is another dielectric film layer located under the alignment mark, a portion of the light passing through the alignment mark also pass through the lower dielectric film layer. Therefore, the reflect beam doest not reflect to the alignment sensor. Hence, the alignment result is poor. That is, the misalignment happens so that the alignment accuracy between the film layers is affected.

Stacked alignment mark and method for manufacturing thereof


A method and apparatus for monitoring update activity, particularly in the form of write requests, to a data storage facility, over at least one cycle to identify any write operation or update that occurs to that data storage facility on a track-by-track basis. At the end of each cycle a list of changed tracks is stored in a data set. After information has been accumulated by a collector application, a reporter application manipulates the data to obtain information concerning the track changes and to estimate communication path requirements.

1. Field of the Invention
This application generally relates to data storage facilities used in data processing networks and more specifically to the analysis of operations of multiple redundant data storage facilities interconnected by a communications path.
2. Description of Related Art
The above-referenced U.S. Pat. No. 6,209,002 discloses a data storage facility for transferring data from a data altering apparatus, such as a production data processing site to a remote data receiving site. The data storage facility includes a first data store for recording each change in the data generated by the data altering apparatus. A register set records each change on a track-by-track basis. A second data store has first and second operating modes. During a first operating mode the second data store becomes a mirror of the first data store. During a second operating mode the second data store ceases to act as a mirror and becomes a source for a transfer of data to the remote data receiving site. Only information that has been altered, i.e., specific tracks that have been altered, are transferred during successive operations in the second operating mode. Commands from the local production site initiate the transfers between the first and second operating modes.
One of the advantages of the foregoing system relates to the required characteristics or a communications path between the remote site and the data receiving site. That is, it is expected that the required bandwidth of that communications path will be significantly less than the required bandwidth of the communications path between the local production site and an intermediate remote storage location. As will be apparent, if the bandwidth of this communications path decreases, the costs for the communications path will also decrease. However, the ultimate decrease will be dependent upon the time that can be allocated to the receipt of all changes at the remote data receiving site. Consequently it is desirable to provide some method of estimating, with some accuracy, the bandwidth requirements required for enabling all updates to transfer to the data receiving site within acceptable times. Conversely, it is desirable to provide some method of estimating the time required to transfer all updates to the data receiving site given an available bandwidth of the communications path. If such information is available, then it is possible to tailor the communications path to provide the desired performance at the least cost.
Stated differently, assume that a customer wishes to add the cascading feature described in the above-identified U.S. Pat. No. 6,209,002. It would be helpful to predict the communications path requirement in advance of installing the cascading feature to avoid overly long updating because the bandwidth is too low or to avoid extra charges because the bandwidth is too high.
It might seem that one of several utilities available in data processing networks might provide the information from which the performance/bandwidth could be predicted. For example, the MVS operating system includes a utility that records each I/O operation. However, that information does not distinguish read and write operations and does not provide any information with respect to logical volumes involved in any I/O requests. Symmetrix data storage facilities provided by the assignee of this invention can monitor read and write requests at a logical volume level, but they also do not provide sufficient information. Consequently, what is needed is a method and apparatus for enabling a system engineer or customer to predict, with reasonable accuracy, the rate at which data will transfer between a remote site and a data receiving site.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Program for monitoring update activity in a data storage facility


Disclosed herein is a polymeric composition. The polymeric composition includes: (A) a propylene-based polymer; (B) an ethylene/a-olefin polymer; (C) a block composite comprising: i) a propylene-based crystalline polymer; ii) an ethylene/a-olefin polymer; and iii) a block copolymer comprising a propylene-based crystalline block and an ethylene/a-olefin block. The polymeric composition provides improved heat seals when formed into film, film layer, or flexible containers such as retort pouch.

Plastic films find utility in a wide variety of packaging applications such bags, containers, cups, pouches, tubes, and trays. Laminates, single layer films, and multi-layer films having a heat-sealable layer are often used in "form, fill, and seal" (FFS) machines. FFS machines create a continuous stream of packages from the film, the packages capable of being closed by film-to-film seals.
Film-to-film heat seal closures are formed by placing the film between opposing heat seal jaws that apply pressure and also apply heat above the seal initiation temperature of the film. The heat seal closures made are often the strongest after the seal has cooled to ambient temperature. In order to increase production capacity, the packages are filled with product before the heat seal has time to completely cool. Thus, it is necessary for the heat seal closure to provide sufficient strength very rapidly without the need for cooling the package to ambient temperature. Otherwise, the heat seal closure will be compromised resulting in reject product, waste, and added expense.
Moreover, films used in retort packages need to form heat seals that can withstand elevated temperature required for sterilization. Retort packages are typically exposed to temperatures greater than 121° C., or greater than 130° C., for an extended period in order to sterilize the contents therein.
The art therefore recognizes the continuous need to develop improved films for FFS applications. In particular, a need exists for films having a low heat seal initiation temperature and a strong hot tack strength over a broad temperature range in order to increase production efficiency for packaging procedures, such as FFS procedures. A further need exists for films having high temperature seal strength in addition to the aforementioned film properties.

Polymeric composition and sealant layer with same


Environmentally stable biosensors are disclosed, which comprise a ligand binding domain from a thermophilic organism conjugated to donor and fluorescent moieties that permit detection and measurement of Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer upon ligand binding. Such biosensors demonstrate enhanced acid-, thermal- and chemical stability as compared to sensors constructed using protein domains from mesophilic organisms.

All publications and patent applications herein are incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each individual publication or patent application was specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference.
The publications discussed herein are provided solely for their disclosure prior to the filing date of the present application. Nothing herein is to be construed as an admission that the present invention is not entitled to antedate such publication by virtue of prior invention.
Hyperthermophilic organisms, i.e. organisms which thrive on temperatures around the boiling point of water (which may be significantly above 100° C. at high pressures), are found primarily in the depths of the ocean close to geothermal springs, but also occur in many other natural and artificial environments. Since these bacteria live in high temperature environments, their enzymes, which are essential to sustaining life processes such as digestion and respiration, must be able to function at such extreme temperature conditions. Enzymes in conunon mesophilic bacteria (i.e., organisms that can grow at intermediate temperatures compared to the upper and lower extremes for all organisms) typically fail at these high temperatures.
A number of organisms have been isolated from extreme environments. These organisms have been studied and certain useful compounds have been identified. For example, thermostable DNA polymerases have been obtained from Thermus aquaticus. Proteases have been isolated from thermophiles including T. aquaticus, Desulfurococcus species, Pyrococcus furiosus, Sulfolobus acidocaldarius, Thermococcus stetteri, Thermus thermophilus, and Pyrobaculum aerophilum. However, difficulties in culturing extremophiles have limited the number of these microbes which have been characterized as well as the number of useful compounds isolated therefrom (Brennan, Chemical and Engineering News, Oct. 14, 1996). The new practice of metagenome cloning may circumvent these culturing issues in the future (Rhee, J. K. et al. "New thermophilic and thermostable esterase with sequence similarity to the hormone-sensitive lipase family, cloned from a metagenomic library", Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 71 (2): 817-825).
Stetter, et al. identified microorganisms from the hot springs of Vulcano Island, Italy, that flourish at temperatures exceeding 100° C. (Stetter, K. O. "Microbial Life in Hyperthermal Environments," ASM News 61:285-290, 1995; Stetter, K. O., Fiala, G., Huber, R. And Segerer, A. "Hyperthermophilic Microorganisms," FEMS Microbiol. Rev. 75:117-124, 1990). While thermophilic organisms that grow optimally at 60° C. have been known for many years, the hyperthermophilic (or extremely thermophilic) microorganisms belong to a new evolutionary class called Archaea (Woese, C. R., Kandler, O. and Wheelis, M. L. "Towards a Natural System of Organisms: Proposal for the Domains Archaea, Bacteria, and Eucarya," Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 87:4576-4579, 1990). The Archaea are believed to have originated over a billion years ago during the epoch when the Earth was cooling. Consequently their evolutionary development was set in motion within the environment of hot springs and deep sea hydrothermal vents. One member of this new group is Pyrococcus furiosus.
Hyperthermophilic organisms such as Pyrococcus furiosus have evolved to survive at significantly elevated temperatures. To accomplish this, the bacterial proteins, particularly those expressed in the periplasmic space (where the contact with the environment is most felt), must be well-adapted to these conditions. Pyrococcus furiosus is an obligate heterotroph that can be grown on polymeric substrates including protein and starch at temperatures of up to about 103° C. Preparations containing proteolytic enzymes prepared from Pyrococcus furiosus have been previously described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,242,817 and 5,391,489. See also, for example, Blumentals, Ilse I., Robinson, Anne S., and Kelly, Robert M., "Characterization of Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate-Resistant Proteolytic Activity in the Hyperthermophilic Archaebacterium Pyrococcus furiosus." Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 56, 7:1992-1998, (1990); Eggen, Rik, Geerling, Ans, Watts, Jennifer and de Vos, Willem M., "Characterization of pyrolysin, a hyperthermoactive serine protease from the archaebacterium Pyrococcus furiosus." FEMS Microbiology Letters, 71:17-20 (1990); Voorhorst, Wilfried G. B., Eggen, Rik I. L., Geerling, Ans C. M., Platteeuw, Christ, Siezen, Roland J., de Vos, Willem M., "Isolation and Characterization of the Hyperthermostable Serine Protease, Pyrolysin, and Its Gene from the Hyperthermophilic Archaeon Pyrococcus furiosus." Journal of Biological Chemistry, 271, 34: 20426-20431 (1996).
In the past several years, there have been several thermophilic eukaryotic organisms discovered as well, e.g. the Pompeii worm Alvinella pompejana, which thrives in a temperature gradient of 20-80° C., in a very low pH and high heavy metal environment. Another thermo-acidophilic species, Alicyclobacillus acidocaldarius, has evolved to live at elevated temperatures and extremely low pH. For this reason, it is thought that proteins from this organism (particularly periplasmic proteins, exposed to the full brunt of extreme environmental conditions) should be able to function as sensors in such environments, which might be seen locally in such parts of the cell as the vacuole.
Concurrent to the discovery of the ever increasing number of hyperthernophilic species in recent years, in vivo measurement of ions and metabolites by using Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) has been successfully used. For instance, the FRET technology has been used to measure calcium concentration changes, by fusing CFP, YFP, and a recognition domain consisting of calmodulin and the M13 peptide (Zhang, J., Campbell, R. E., Ting, A. Y., and Tsien, R. Y. (2002a) Creating new fluorescent probes for cell biology. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 3, 906-918; Zhang, J., Campbell, R. E., Ting, A. Y., and Tsien, R. Y. (2002b) Creating new fluorescent probes for cell biology. Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 3, 906-918). Binding of calcium to calmodulin causes global structural rearrangement of the chimera resulting in a change in FRET intensity as mediated by the donor and acceptor fluorescent moieties. Recently a number of bacterial periplasmic binding proteins, which undergo a Venus flytrap-like closure of two lobes upon substrate binding, have been successfully used as the scaffold for metabolite nanosensors (Fehr, M., Frommer, W. B., and Lalonde, S. (2002) Visualization of maltose uptake in living yeast cells by fluorescent nanosensors. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U S A 99, 9846-9851; Fehr, M., Lalonde, S., Lager, I., Wolff, M. W., and Frommer, W. B. (2003) In vivo imaging of the dynamics of glucose uptake in the cytosol of COS-7 cells by fluorescent nanosensors. J. Biol. Chem. 278, 19127-19133; Lager, I., Fehr, M., Frommer, W. B., and Lalonde, S. (2003) Development of a fluorescent nanosensor for ribose. FEBS Lett 553, 85-89).
Although FRET biosensors have proved to be indispensable tools in the study of metabolite levels in the living organisms, the construction of the biosensors with mesophilic ligand binding proteins has its limits. One of the limits is that the ligand binding proteins may become destabilized once mutations are introduced into the protein via protein engineering, e.g. to alter ligand-binding specificity or improve the sensor signal. For instance, a putative lactate-binding protein Lac.G2 (Looger et al., Nature, 423 (6936): 185-190) was constructed by mutation of FLIP-mglB.Ec, and although it showed evidence of lactate binding, it was significantly destabilized, as evidenced by the temperature-dependent decrease in FRET signal. It is therefore necessary to develop environmentally stable biosensors with improved thermo-, chemo-, and acido-stablity, which may provide more robust scaffolds for protein engineering.
Therefore, a need exists for improved environmentally stable biosensors which can be easily produced.

Environmentally stable sensors and methods of using the same


A system for certifying correctly accounted postage payment, the system includes an input for entering transactional mail run data and a data processor coupled to the input. Documents to be certified are fed along a document feed path, and certain parameters for the documents are determined. A printer under the control of the data processor, then places a certification imprint upon the documents after necessary accounting is done.

This invention relates to data processing systems for automatically correcting and accounting for improperly applied postage in short paid mail. Short paid mail constitutes a major problem in postal delivery systems. Short paid mail is mail that does not have sufficient postage to cover the cost of shipping under current laws and regulations. This can be, for example, due to the fact that the mail was posted for presort discount and there were insufficient mail pieces in a particular zip to qualify. Alternatively the mail may have been posted for a weight limit discount, and may exceed the weight limit. Short paid mail is identified by the postal service as part of their acceptance procedure. However, the acceptance procedure varies from postal service to postal service and is extremely costly. For example there are mail pieces which are posted with 171/2 cents taking advantage of presort and truly should be posted at 25 cents. The cost to the postal service of getting the differential far exceeds the money actually recovered. The purpose for the collection activity, however, is to ensure that short paid mail does not become habitual on the part of the user.
Short paid mail i s corrected by either returning it to the sender where more postage is added or by sending it on to the recipient for payment by the recipient. Both arrangements are costly to the postal service and also are not very effective.
It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for correctly and automatically calculating the proper postage on a mailing based on appropriate guidelines, and certifying said mail piece as correct.
Methods and apparatus for centralizing the processing of accounting and payment functions on a transactional basis are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,713,761, issued Dec. 15, 1987 and assigned to the assignee of the present application describes such a system. In such systems, accounts are maintained by means of appropriate input information, such as a bill of lading or a manifest. Manifest systems are microcomputer based systems which input various pieces of information and from which ultimate rates may be posted in accordance with previously defined rate tables stored in data bases or the like. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 5,005,124, relates to shared service concepts wherein certain postal functions are performed by the user.


An indirect spot welding method is provided in which, in indirect spot welding, nuggets formed in a fused state can be stably obtained. In the indirect spot welding method, the welding time is divided into two time periods t1 and t2, where electrode force F1 and current C1 are applied in the first time period t1, and electrode force F2 lower than electrode force F1 and current C2 higher than current C1 are applied in the next time period t2.

In welding automobile bodies and automobile components, resistance spot welding, typically direct spot welding, has been conventionally used. Recently, for example, a series spot welding method and an indirect spot welding method have been used.
Characteristics of these three types of spot welding will be described with reference to FIG. 1.
All the three types of spot welding are the same in that at least two overlapping steel sheets are joined together by welding.
FIG. 1(a) illustrates a direct spot welding method. As illustrated, the direct spot welding is a method in which a point-like welded portion 5 is obtained, through use of resistance heat generated between two overlapping metal sheets 1 and 2, by allowing current to flow through the metal sheets 1 and 2 while applying pressure to a pair of electrodes 3 and 4 sandwiching the respective metal sheets 1 and 2 from above and below. The electrode 3 is provided with a force controlling system 6 and a current controller 8, and the electrode 4 is provided with a force controlling system 7 and the current controller 8. This mechanism makes it possible to control welding force and current.
A series spot welding method illustrated in FIG. 1(b) is a method in which point-like welded portions 15-1 and 15-2 are obtained by allowing current to flow through two overlapping metal sheets 11 and 12 while applying pressure to a pair of electrodes 13 and 14 at separate locations from the same side (in the same direction).
An indirect spot welding method illustrated in FIG. 1(c) is a method in which a point-like welded portion 25 is formed between two overlapping metal sheets 21 and 22 by holding an electrode 23 against the metal sheet 21 while applying pressure to the electrode 23, attaching a feeding point 24 to the other metal sheet 22 at a location remote from the electrode 23, and allowing current to flow between the electrode 23 and the feeding point 24.
Of the three welding methods described above, the direct spot welding method is used when there is enough room and it is possible to create an opening which allows the metal sheets to be sandwiched from above and below.
In actual welding, however, it is often difficult to make enough room and to sandwich the metal sheets from above and below in a closed cross-sectional structure. The series spot welding method or the indirect spot welding method is used in such cases.
However, when the series spot welding method or the indirect spot welding method is used in applications such as those described above, the overlapping metal sheets are pressed by an electrode from only one side, with the other side of the metal sheets being unsupported and hollow. Therefore, unlike in the case of the direct spot welding method where the metal sheets are sandwiched by electrodes on both sides, it is not possible to apply high welding force locally to a point directly below the electrode. Moreover, since the electrode sinks into the metal sheet in contact therewith during application of current, conditions of contact between the electrode and the metal sheet and between the metal sheets change. This results in an unstable current path between the overlapping metal sheets, and makes it difficult to form a fused junction.
As a solution to the problems described above, Patent Literature (PTL) 1 discloses a series spot welding method in which "to form nuggets at points of contact between overlapping metal sheets, steady-state current is applied after forming electrode nuggets by application of large current at an early stage of welding process". PTL 2 discloses another series spot welding method in which "sufficient welding strength can be obtained, without use of back electrodes, by forming seats one step higher than other portions, and pressing electrodes into contact with the respective seats such that the seats are compressed".
As for indirect spot welding, PTL 3 discloses a welding method which is also applicable to series spot welding. Specifically, PTL 3 discloses a welding method in which "during application of current in series spot welding or indirect spot welding, a time period during which current is kept high and a time period during which current is kept low are repeated alternately". PTL 3 also discloses a welding method in which "during alternate repetition of a time period during which current is kept high and a time period during which current is kept low, the level of current in time periods during which current is kept high is gradually increased".


A click mechanism in a fishing reel is adapted to produce a click sound on relative rotation between a shaft having a first member non-rotatably connected thereto, and a second member which is rotatably mounted on the shaft. The click mechanism comprises a snap-action click ring which is provided between the first member and the second member. First teeth are formed on the side of the first member facing the snap-action click ring. Second teeth are formed on the side of the second member facing the snap-action click ring. The snap-action click ring comprises a first resilient tongue and a second resilient tongue which extend in the same direction in the circumferential direction of the snap-action click ring but are outwardly bent in opposite directions in the axial direction thereof. The first resilient tongue engages the first teeth, and the second resilient tongue engages the second teeth.

The present invention relates to a click mechanism in a fishing reel.
A known fishing reel of the fixed-spool type has a shaft on the front end of which a line spool is rotatably mounted. The line spool has a cylindrical central portion on which a line is to be wound. The line spool has a front end flange and a rear end flange which are arranged on both sides of the central portion and extend radially outwards therefrom. A line spool brake mechanism for braking the rotation of the line spool on the shaft comprises friction washers which are pressed against each other by an adjustable force. The friction washers are pressed against each other by an adjusting knob which is rotatably mounted on the shaft. A washer which is non-rotatably mounted on the shaft has, on its side facing the adjusting knob, a projecting pin in the form of a rivet which carries a click spring. The click spring consists of a helical metal strip whose radially outer end is attached to the washer by means of the rivet and whose radially inner end engages teeth formed on the adjusting knob. When the adjusting knob is rotated relative to the shaft to set the force by which the friction washers are pressed against each other and thus to set the braking effect of the line spool brake mechanism, the click spring, by engaging the teeth of the adjusting knob, produces a click sound.
The click spring described above is complicated to mount, since it must be riveted on a washer.


A liquid electrophotographic (LEP) printing device that includes a photo-imaging plate (PIP) to receive a liquid printing fluid, the liquid printing fluid including a pigment incorporated into a resin, a charge conductor, and a carrier liquid, and a transfer roller to transfer the liquid printing fluid from the PIP to a fabric substrate while wet.

Liquid electrophotography printing (LEP) apparatus includes a number of binary ink developers that provide printing fluid such as liquid toner to fluid applicators. The fluid applicators provide charged liquid toner to a latent image on a photoconductive member to form fluid images. The photoconductive member transfers the fluid images onto an image transfer member and/or substrate.
Throughout the drawings, identical reference numbers designate similar, but not necessarily identical, elements. The figures are not necessarily to scale, and the size of some parts may be exaggerated to more clearly illustrate the example shown. Moreover, the drawings provide examples and/or implementations consistent with the description: however, the description is not limited to the examples and/or implementations provided in the drawings.

Liquid electrophotography printing on fabrics


The present invention relates to cells with altered cell cycle control. In particular, the present invention provides cells with altered cell cycle control and uses of such cells to identify metabolically active agents.

Diabetes presently affects over 30 million individuals in the United States and over 400 million individuals worldwide and is caused by an inability of beta cells in the pancreas to produce insulin in sufficient quantities to maintain blood glucose levels within a healthy range. Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) is the most prevalent form of the disease and is caused increased demand for insulin when glucose-disposing organs become insulin resistant. While T2DM frequently occurs as a consequence of obesity, not all obese individuals develop diabetes indicating that the failure of beta cells to functionally compensate for insulin resistance is a key determinant of the disease. Despite the widespread and growing prevalence of diabetes, the only present therapies for diabetes that directly target beta cell funding are limited to: (1) sulfonylureas and glinides drugs that induce insulin secretion independent of nutrient demand, which lead to hypoglycemia and progression of beta cell failure, and (2) glucagon like-peptide 1 (glp-1) agonists which require injection and act downstream of a G-protein coupled receptor to stimulate insulin release, and dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors (DPP4), agents which stabilize endogenous glp-1 and exert modest anti-hyperglycemic effects. A goal in diabetes drug discovery is to identify genes and proteins regulating the capacity to sustain beta cell function in insulin resistance and to target these therapeutically while also preventing hypoglycemia. Importantly, agents which act synergistically with the glp-1 drug class and DPP4 inhibitors would have the significant benefit of introducing a new class of agents to both augment insulin secretion and protect beta cell survival in diabetes without causing either weight gain or hypoglycemia, two major complications of diabetes treatments with sulfonylureas, glinides and other therapies (e.g. insulin). At the clinical level, dysregulation of circadian rhythms in shift work and sleep disruption are bona-fide risk factors for human T2DM, exacerbating insulin resistance and inhibiting beta cell compensation.
New methods for identifying and screening diabetes drugs are needed.

Compositions and methods for identifying metabolically active agents