An energy guiding chain for guiding hoses, cables or the like has numerous chain links (2), connected to one another in articulated fashion. Each chain link has opposing straps (3) with inside and outside lateral surfaces as well as narrow surfaces perpendicular to the lateral surfaces and essentially parallel to the longitudinal direction of the chain. At least some of the chain links have at least one cross-member (4a, 4b) connecting the opposing straps. The articulated joint includes joint elements (8) which extend between adjacent straps. The joint elements are elastically deformable in the bending direction of the chain links (1), and extend at least partially, preferably entirely, between the inside and outside lateral surfaces of the straps (3). The joint elements (8) can be located in laterally open recesses in the straps. In this manner, the energy guiding chain can travel to form a lower strand (7), a deflection zone (6) and an upper strand (5).

The invention relates to an energy guiding chain for guiding hoses, cables or the like that has numerous chain links, where adjacent chain links are connected to one another in articulated fashion, where the chain links have opposing straps with inside and outside lateral surfaces as well as narrow surfaces perpendicular thereto and essentially parallel to the longitudinal direction of the chain, at least some of the chain links have at least one cross-member connecting the straps, the articulated joint between adjacent chain links is located between the narrow surfaces of the straps, and the energy guiding chain can travel, forming a lower strand, a deflection zone and an upper strand.
Various generic energy guiding chains are known, in which adjacent straps have lateral overlapping areas provided with joint pins and corresponding recesses in order to assemble the articulated joint. The articulated joint is located half-way up the straps. An energy guiding chain of this kind is known, for example, from EP 0 803 032 B1. Although energy guiding chains of this kind have proven to be very effective in principle, they have the disadvantage that the articulated joints made of joint pins and corresponding recesses are subject to wear due to frictional forces. This wear leads to a certain need for repair and servicing of the energy guiding chain and, furthermore, is undesirable in certain fields of application, such as food production or the production of devices under clean-room conditions, such as semiconductor products.
Cable guiding devices are further known from EP 0 789 167 A1, for example, where the chain links are connected to one another in articulated fashion by a long, flexible strip, so that the cable guiding device can travel in virtually abrasion-free fashion. Because the long strip is mounted on the cross-members connecting the straps of a chain link, the articulated joints of the chain links are located at the lower end of the straps. Consequently, the neutral fibre of the cable guiding devicexe2x80x94which does not change in length when the energy guiding chain bends, in contrast to the areas spaced apart at the height of the articulated jointsxe2x80x94is also located at the lower end of the chain straps. However, this is a disadvantage in various applications.
Consequently, an object of the invention is to provide an energy guiding chain that has articulated joints located between the narrow surfaces of the chain straps, allows low-wear, abrasion-free travel, and is simple and inexpensive to manufacture.
According to the invention, the object is solved by an energy guiding chain, in which the articulated joints include joint elements that are elastically deformable in the bending direction of the chain links and designed as separate components, where the joint elements extend at least partially between the inside and outside lateral surfaces of the straps. During pivoting motion, the elastically deformable joint element exerts elastic restoring forces on the two adjacent chain links, preferably through the entire pivoting angle. When the energy guiding chain is in an extended position, the joint element preferably extends straight in the longitudinal direction.
Due to the design of the energy guiding chain according to the invention, it is possible for the chain to travel without abrasion, where the position of the joint element on the straps, its dimensions and, in particular, the material it is made of can be optimally adapted to respective requirements, regardless of the design of the straps. For example, the straps and the joint elements can be made of different materials, particularly different plastic materials. The joint elements can be made of a material with high long-term flexural strength, notch resistance and/or suitable elasticity. The elastic properties of the joint element are preferably selected such that the joint element remains in the elastic range under every expected bending load and exerts elastic restoring forces on the straps connected by it in the event of deformation. The material of the straps can ensure particularly high dimensional stability (against tension, torsion and/or compression forces) and high flexural strength of the straps, and also of the chain links in general. In particular, the material can display low sliding friction, which is advantageous in energy guiding chains in which the upper strand slides on the lower strand when the energy guiding chain travels.
Because the straps and joint elements are designed as separate parts according to the invention, the straps can be designed to absorb virtually all compression and tension forces acting on the energy guiding chain in the longitudinal direction, while the function of the joint elements is exclusively limited to the formation of articulated joints subject to no significant load caused by compression or tension forces.
The joint element preferably extends entirely between the inside and outside lateral surfaces of the straps. The width of the joint elements can be exactly equal to the width of the straps at the height of the joint elements, thus avoiding areas of the joint elements projecting beyond the sides of the straps.
The chain links can each have an upper and lower cross-member, which close off the space between opposing straps from the outside, where one of the cross-members can also be designed as a split cross-member. In the design according to the invention, it is also possible when using engaging stops, for example, to provided only every second or third (etc.) chain link with cross-members. The cross-member connecting opposing straps can be integrally molded on the straps or mounted in detachable fashion, particularly by means of a suitable snap connection or other mounting elements. At least one of the cross-members is preferably of rigid design and mounted rigidly on the opposing straps.
When the energy guiding chain is in a straight position for assembly, the joint element is preferably located at a vertical distance between the upper and lower cross-members, if present, or between the mounting elements for cross-members, and at a vertical distance from the cross-members, particularly at a point near the middle of the strap height that is at least one-quarter of the strap height away from the lower edge of the straps. In particular, the joint element can be positioned half-way up the straps. In this way, the chain links can be arranged symmetrically relative to the neutral fiber of the energy guiding chain, where the neutral fiber does not undergo any change in length when the chain moves from a straight to a curved position. This is advantageous for various applications, because the lines guided inside are subjected to a more uniform load during bending motion of the energy guiding chain.
The chain links preferably have means for damping the noise caused by operation of the stops. The noise damping means are preferably designed as brakes arranged in the region of the stops and/or the corresponding stop surfaces. In particular, the noise damping means can be arranged in the pockets of the corresponding straps that accommodate the stops. The stop surfaces, which simultaneously delimit the pockets on the front sides of the straps and can therefore be of web-like design, can be of elastic design, for example by selecting a suitable material or material thickness, where the material of the stop surfaces can have a higher modulus of elasticity than the material of the adjacent strap areas. Alternatively and/or additionally, the stops themselves can be of elastic design, for example at least partially made of a material of elevated elasticity. Separate damping elements, such as damping strips made of a noise-damping material, can also be provided on the stops and/or corresponding stop surfaces, preferably inside the pockets accommodating the stops. The stops and the corresponding stop surfaces can additionally or alternatively be designed such that a first partial area of a stop comes into contact with a first partial area of the corresponding stop surface at a first point in time, and a second partial area of the stop comes into contact with a second partial area of the stop surface at a later point in time, so that at the end of the contacting process, the entire active surface of the stop is in contact with the corresponding stop surface.
The joint elements are particularly preferably designed as spring elements that exert elastic restoring forces on the adjacent chain links when the chain links are bent out of the straight position of the energy guiding chain. This has a noise damping effect when the energy guiding chain is in motion. The elastic restoring forces preferably cause return motion of the chain links through their entire pivoting angle. The restoring forces can be so high that return motion of the chain links occurs automatically all the way into the limit position of the chain links when the energy guiding chain is straight. This can apply to an empty energy guiding chain, as well as to one containing at least one guided element, such as a hose, a line or the like, or to a maximally loaded energy guiding chain.
The joint elements can be of various designs. They can have a changing cross-section and/or areas of different material thickness between the mounting areas. The cross-section and/or material thickness preferably increase away from the mounting areas and can reach a maximum in the central region of the joint element. The cross-section and/or material thickness can also be constant in a first section starting at the respective mounting area, and then vary starting at a distance from the mounting area, particularly in that the cross-section and/or material thickness increase or have an area of less material, such as a constriction or inside cavity. The change in cross-section and/or material thickness preferably occurs in the primary plane of the associated chain straps. A change in cross-section can particularly be achieved by a vertical and/or lateral offset of an area of the joint element. An area of less material can be provided with a constant or changing cross-section in the respective area of the joint element, where the cross-section can increase or decrease. For example, an inside cavity can be provided in conjunction with a constant or changing cross-section of the joint element. A closed or open cavity, particularly one that is open on the side in assembly position, can also be provided, which can correspond to a split in the material that forms different strands with a constant overall material thickness. The individual strands can be of different shape, such as straight or curved, and display indentations and/or protrusions, where any combinations are possible. The change in cross-section and/or material thickness can be continuous or incremental. The travelling characteristics of the energy guiding chain can be defined by different designs of the joint elements, e.g. the force required to bend the straps, the change in this force as the pivoting angle changes, or the noise damping characteristics of the joint elements, which can be based on the exertion of restoring forces during bending. This is of particular importance in the case of exchangeable joint elements.
If the joint element is designed as a spring element, each chain link can be provided with contact surfaces that lie against the joint element through the entire pivoting angle, thereby absorbing the elastic restoring forces acting on the chain links during elastic deformation of the joint element due to the bending of the chain links. The joint element is preferably arranged between the contact surfaces in a press fit. The contact surfaces of the straps, and the corresponding surfaces of the joint element, preferably have plane surfaces, whose surface normals are parallel to the inside and outside lateral surfaces of the straps and perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the energy guiding chain when it is in straight position.
The joint element can be designed as a plate-like component, meaning also a strip-shaped component. In this case, the joint element has essentially flat top and bottom sides, which face the top and bottom sides of the straps. Areas of the straps preferably contact the top and/or bottom side of the flat areas of the joint elements. However, the joint elements can also have other suitable cross-sections.
On the other hand, the joint element can also be designed as a component that is curved in the plane parallel to the inside and outside lateral surfaces of the straps, so that it generates preliminary tension in a bending direction when inserted in the straps in the straight, longitudinal position.
Mounting areas of the joint element can contact the two adjacent side straps, which absorb tension forces acting in the longitudinal direction of the energy guiding chain. To this end, the joint element can be mounted on the adjacent straps by means of a force, form and/or bonded fit. The tension-absorbing mounting of the joint elements on the straps can be such that it is only geared to low tension forces, e.g. to facilitate assembly of the energy guiding chain. To this end, the mounting areas of the joint elements can display top or bottom-side projections, preferably on the free ends facing away from the elastically deformable areas, which can extend over the entire width of the joint elements. Additional tension-absorbing means can be provided if necessary to absorb higher tension forces.
The respective joint element can be designed for the articulated connection of exactly two adjacent chain links in the longitudinal direction of the energy guiding chain. The joint element can also connect several chain links to one another in articulated fashion and, for this purpose, extend over the length of a number of chain links, such as three to ten or more chain links. As a result, several consecutive joint elements can be provided in the longitudinal direction of the energy guiding chain, each of which connects chain links to one another in articulated fashion in only one section of the energy guiding chain. Consequently, if a joint element needs to be replaced, only one section of the energy guiding chain needs to be disassembled, instead of the entire chain. If appropriate, the joint elements can also extend over the entire length of the energy guiding chain. If each joint element connects more than two chain links, connecting areas having a width smaller than that of the straps and/or the elastically deformable areas of the joint elements, can be provided between the mounting areas of the joint elements by which the joint elements are connected to the two adjacent chain links. As a result, the joint elements extending over several straps can be handled as a single piece. The connecting areas can be arranged in the cross-sectional area of the straps and be flush with the outside of the chain links. In this context, the areas of the straps located above and below the joint elements can be connected by a web, so that the straps are designed as a single piece.
The joint elements are preferably located in recesses in the chain straps. The recesses are preferably open on the end facing the adjacent strap that is connected by the respective joint element. Additionally or alternatively, and regardless of the length of the joint elements, the recesses in the chain straps that accommodate the joint elements can be open on the lateral surfaces facing towards or away from the inside of the energy guiding chain, so that the joint elements can be inserted into the recesses and mounted in the straps in a direction that is transverse, preferably perpendicular, to the primary plane or the lateral surfaces of the straps.
By means of a force, form and/or bonded connection to the straps, the joint element can be prevented from disconnection from the straps perpendicular to the primary plane of the straps and/or from rotating transverse to the straps, particularly if the joint element is arranged in a laterally open recess in the straps.
It is preferable for at least one of two adjacent straps, preferably both, to have recesses on the face end associated with the adjacent strap at the height of the joint element, which are open at the face end and through which the joint element extends. Based at least on the straight position of the energy guiding chain, the recess extends on the side of the joint elements facing the bending direction of the links, preferably on both sides of the joint elements. This play enables the joint element to bend in the manner of a leaf spring, where the central region of the elastically deformable area of the joint element has a slight vertical offset relative to the two adjacent straps during pivoting motion. This results in smoother, less noisy rolling motion of the energy guiding chain.
At the height of the pivoting axis of adjacent straps relative to one another, preferably at the height of the straps and/or in the longitudinal direction of the energy guiding chain, the recess preferably extends from the join element over more than half, or more than twice the thickness of the joint element, e.g. over roughly three to five times the thickness of the joint element or more. The recess formed by the two, facing recesses of adjacent straps can be circular, elliptical or some other shape. The longitudinal extension of the recess can be 20 to 60%, preferably 35 to 45%, e.g. approx. 40% of the length of the joint element or of the distance of the form-fit connecting means securing the joint element to the straps. The recess advantageously extends from the joint element over only part of the strap height and ends at a distance from the top or bottom edge of the strap.
Adjacent straps preferably have interacting means that absorb compression and/or tension forces acting on the energy guiding chain. This relieves the compression and/or tension forces acting on the connecting areas between the joint elements and the straps. The means that absorb the compression and/or tension forces are preferably designed as corresponding projections and undercuts in the form of recesses in the adjacent straps. The projections are preferably arranged on the inner or outer sides of the straps and extend laterally from these towards the inside of the energy guiding chain or in the opposite direction. The recesses for accommodating the projections are limited in the longitudinal direction of the chain by an abutment for the projections that absorbs compression and/or tension forces, so that tension and/or compression forces can be absorbed in the longitudinal direction of the chain. The recess can be closed around part or all of its circumference. The corresponding areas of adjacent straps that absorb tension and/or compression forces can also be designed as corresponding stops that limit the pivoting angle of adjacent chain links relative to one another.
The straps advantageously have overlapping areas that extend in the direction of the adjacent straps and also reach around the sides of the straps. The overlapping areas are preferably provided on each strap, above and below the joint elements. In this context, the overlapping areas can extend from a central region of the straps relative to the longitudinal direction of the chain, whose wall thickness is greater than the wall thickness of the overlapping areas. The overlapping areas considerably increase the lateral stability of the energy guiding chain.
The overlapping areas of a given strap, which are associated with an adjacent strap and located above and below the joint element, are preferably separated from one another by a cut-out opposite the central region of the strap, where the cut-out extends over the entire width of the strap. The cut-out is preferably also at the height of the respective joint element and can have the form of a segment of a circle in reference to a circle that is drawn through the center point of the joint element and lies in the primary plane of the strap. As a result, the length of the strap, and thus also its weight, can be reduced substantially. Preferably, the overlapping areas essentially extend only over the pivoting angle of the straps plus the wall thickness of projections or their corresponding contact areas, which limit the pivoting angle or act as means that absorb tension and/or compression forces. These areas are preferably of web-like design and extend perpendicular to the pivot direction of the straps.
In addition, the overlapping areas, which face an adjacent strap and are located above and below the joint element, are preferably located on different sides of the straps, i.e. on the outside and inside lateral surfaces, or on different sides of the central primary plane of the straps. This also includes arrangements in which the overlapping areas are at a lateral distance from the outermost or innermost areas of the straps, e.g. any thicker areas. The overlapping areas thus display a lateral offset relative to one another. In this context, the corresponding overlapping areas of adjacent straps preferably lie laterally opposite to only one overlapping area of the respectively adjacent strap. This substantially increases the lateral stability of the energy guiding chain. In particular, at least one or both of the overlapping areas defined above can be provided with projections on the side facing the corresponding overlapping area of the adjacent strap, which can be designed as stops or means to relieve or absorb tension or compression forces, for example, without be restricted to this, so that, for assembly purposes, adjacent straps can be tilted or twisted about their longitudinal axes and brought into contact with one another at the face ends, and subsequently rotated about their longitudinal axes, in order to bring the overlapping areas, which are opposite one another in reference to the central primary plane, into lateral contact with one another, whereby the projections engage. This arrangement provides the energy guiding chain with particularly high torsional stability.
The overlapping areas facing an adjacent strap can, however, also be located on the same side of the central strap plane, as in conventional chains with links.
The overlapping areas, which are each arranged on the outside or inside of the strap, can be positioned diametrically opposite each other, so that one of the overlapping areas is located above, and another below the articulated joint.
The arrangement and geometry of the overlapping areas can be varied in many ways. In a particularly advantageous design, the straps are provided with at least two overlapping areas, which have free face ends that face the respectively adjacent strap and are at different angles W1, W2 to a direction R, which is perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the chain and lies in the primary strap plane. In this context, the face ends are preferably essentially perpendicular to the pivot direction of adjacent chain links. The overlapping areas with face ends at different angles are preferably associated with only one adjacent strap. Each strap can have four overlapping areas, each of which faces an adjacent strap, where the face ends of three or less of the overlapping areas are perpendicular, or essentially perpendicular, to the longitudinal direction of the chain and the face end of at least one or more of the overlapping areas is at an angle to the longitudinal direction of the chain. The angle of the face end to the direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the chain can be approximately 15 to 60xc2x0, preferably about 30xc2x0. In particular, two different types of overlapping areas can be provided on one strap, each of which is at a different angle from the perpendicular defined above. All overlapping areas can extend over the same pivoting angle, which essentially corresponds to the maximum pivoting angle of adjacent chain links relative to one another.
Adjacent straps are preferably provided with at least one projection, which is covered by an area of the adjacent strap with only little or no play, this preventing the vertical displacement of the straps relative to one another. The degree of play is preferably designed such that the areas are guided on one another during pivot motion of the chain links without making contact, in order to prevent abrasion. When a force is exerted on the straps that causes the vertical displacement of the straps relative to one another, the covered areas of adjacent straps engage, thereby limiting the vertical displacement. The areas of adjacent straps preferably cover one another over the entire pivoting angle, so that the vertical displacement of straps relative to one another is prevented over the entire pivoting angle. The degree of play can be reduced to zero in at least one or both limit positions of the chain links. The projections that prevent vertical displacement can simultaneously function as stops. They can be provided on the overlapping areas or on the central area of the straps and project from the side of the straps towards the inside or outside, or extend in the primary plane of the straps. The projections can be provided in the region of the top edge of the straps, adjacent to the joint elements, or in some other suitable place.
Furthermore, adjacent straps are preferably provided with interacting stops that limit the pivoting angle of the straps in both limit positions. The stops can be designed as projections extending in the primary plane of the straps and projecting in the longitudinal direction of the energy guiding chain from the central strap area, on which overlapping areas can be integrally molded. The stops can also follow on laterally from the overlapping areas. Of course, other suitable stops can also be provided.
The stops are preferably located immediately adjacent to the joint elements, so that the stops come into contact with each other at only a low angular velocity, this enabling the energy guiding chain to travel with low noise generation. The stops are preferably provided directly around the outside of recesses that surround the respective joint element with play, in order to facilitate bending of the joint element. The stops are preferably provided on the side of the central areas of the straps facing the inside of the energy guiding chain and can display a common lateral surface with the adjacent overlapping area. Thus, the wall thickness of the stop roughly corresponds to half the wall thickness of same central area.
The straps of a chain link can be designed in the manner of cranked straps, which can be mirror-symmetrical. The energy guiding chain can also be constructed of opposing strap strands consisting of alternating inside and outside straps, or in some other suitable way, e.g. with forked straps.

Igus Spritzgussteile fxc3xcr die Industrie GmbH


A method for identifying the source of vermiculite insulation in situ using a portable spectrometer with a light-emitting contact probe and a personal computer. Identification is accomplished using NIR reflectance spectroscopy and absorption band depth ratios to differentiate between vermiculite sources and to test for the presence of amphibole, talc, or serpentine contaminants in vermiculite insulation.

The present invention relates in general to a method for classifying the source of insulation and, in particular, to a method for determining the source of expanded vermiculite insulation used in attics and walls.
There are approximately 1 million homes in the United States that have expanded vermiculite attic insulation (U.S. EPA, 1985). Prior to 1990, there were four sources that produced most of the vermiculite ore used for attic insulation. Three of these are located in the United States in Enoree, S.C.; Louisa, Va.; and Libby, Mont. The fourth is located in Palabora, South Africa. Most of the vermiculite used for attic insulation originated from the Rainy Creek Igneous Complex near Libby, Mont., where fibrous amphiboles were a common mineral contaminant. Ore from the Libby mine supplied up to 80% of the world's vermiculite. The Libby mine closed in 1990.
Over the last decade, health studies in the town of Libby (Peipins et al., 2003; McDonald et al., 2004) and at expansion plants throughout the United States that processed ore from this location revealed a high rate of asbestos-related lung disease among people exposed to the fibrous amphibole potentially contained in the vermiculite insulation. Vermiculite from other commercial sources in the United States and South Africa apparently do not contain fibrous amphibole in significant quantities. There will be a growing demand for vermiculite insulation inspections and source identification as the public becomes aware of the potential health issues posed by exposure to fibrous amphiboles during home improvements or maintenance in areas insulated with vermiculite ore from the Libby mine, or of the liabilities of owning property containing this vermiculite.

Spectral method for determining the source of expanded vermiculite insulation in attics and walls

The United States of America, as represented by the Secretary of the Department of the Interior


Displaying at least one categorized message based on a percentage includes retrieving a number of messages, categorizing at least one message from the number of messages into at least one category to create categorized messages, identifying a percentage, the percentage representing a portion of a display utilized for displaying the at least one category associated with the categorized messages, determining, based on the percentage, at least one of the categorized messages to present in the portion of the display, and presenting, in the portion of the display, the at least one of the categorized messages.

The present invention relates to displaying at least one categorized message, and more specifically to displaying at least one categorized messages based on a percentage.
Networks include a number of servers such as mail servers. The mail servers store information for users. The information may be messages such as electronic mail (email). The messages may include text, data, images, digital media, or combinations thereof. The users may retrieve, via a user device, the messages from the mail server. Further, the user device displays the messages retrieved from the mail server to the user via a display.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

International Business Machines Corporation


One embodiment provides a method for detecting aspiration in a clinical analyzer, including: acquiring, from a sensor, pressure measurement data; transforming the pressure measurement data into frequency domain data; generating a clean version of the frequency domain data by attenuating, using a filter, unwanted frequencies; comparing the cleaned version of the frequency domain data to one or more predetermined data points; and determining, based on the comparison, if an aspiration was properly performed. Other aspects are described and claimed herein.

Clinical testing is a very precise process. Thus, any disturbance in the results or testing process may greatly impact the results of the solutions being tested. Because of this inherent delicacy, monitoring of the testing process is vital to ensure the most accurate results. Additionally, because of the precise nature of clinical testing, the variances and tolerances are extremely low. These tight constraints can make it difficult to determine when an abnormality actually occurs.
For example, determining the quality of a metered sample or reagent transfer during the testing process is an important function of a clinical diagnostic instrument. Some of the typical failure modes that would be desirable to detect include: probe clogs, insufficient sample, and reagent present in the liquid vessel. Currently, a common method used for determining the quality of an aspiration test is monitoring the pressure in the aspiration system during an event (e.g., the system shown in FIG. 1 comprising a pump 101, tubing 102, a pressure transducer 103, a probe 104, and a liquid vessel 105). Using this method, it is possible to analyze any current pressure and make a determination of the quality of the aspiration/dispense. However, as aspiration volume decreases, and if a liquid (such as water) is used as a working fluid to couple the pump to the probe, the pressure signal becomes increasingly difficult to analyze due to the lower amplitude signal resulting from lower aspiration speeds and/or aspiration time. This is due to noise masking the information contained in the measurement.
Thus, there is a need for a more precise and accurate method of determining the pressure of the system.

Short aspiration detection in a clinical analyzer


A process for the ozonolysis of an alkane may comprise combining an alkane and ozone in a liquid phase medium comprising CO2 under conditions sufficient to oxidize the alkane to produce one or more non-combustion products. The liquid phase medium may be free of a super acid.

The direct and economically viable conversion of methane to liquid products has been a grand challenge for several decades. Various direct conversion techniques such as oxidative coupling using oxygen (Zavyalova, U., et al. (2011). "Statistical analysis of past catalytic data on oxidative methane coupling for new insights into the composition of high-performance catalysts." Chem Cat Chem 3: 1935-1947.) or sulfur (Zhu, Q., et al. (2013). "Sulfur as a selective 'soft' oxidant for catalytic methane conversion probed by experiment and theory." Nature chemistry 5: 104-109), non-oxidative coupling to yield hydrocarbons and hydrogen (Nahreen, S., et al. (2016). "Catalytic upgrading of methane to higher hydrocarbon in a non-oxidative chemical conversion." Energy & Fuels: acs.energyfuels.5b02583), dehydroaromatization (Spivey, J. J. et al. (2014). "Catalytic aromatization of methane." Chemical Society Reviews 43: 792-803), cross coupling with other hydrocarbons (Lunsford, J. H. (1995). "The Catalytic Oxidative Coupling of Methane." Angewandte Chemie International Edition in English 34: 970-980), partial oxidation to oxygenates, halogenation (Olah, G. A., et al. (1985). Journal of the American Chemical Society 107: 7097-7105) and sulfonation (Mukhopadhyay, S. et al. (2003). "Direct sulfonation of methane to methanesulfonic acid with SO2 using Ca salts as promoters." Journal of the American Chemical Society 125: 4406-4407) have been investigated in industry and academia. Despite creative advances in various catalytic methods to convert methane to liquid products, almost all the reported concepts suffer from low product yields and/or safety concerns that prevent their practical viability. The only industrial methane conversion process involves an indirect route wherein the methane is first converted to synthesis gas followed by the catalytic conversion of synthesis gas to liquid fuels or chemical precursors. However, the cost of producing syngas is relatively high and must be reduced for the process to compete with those that currently make the same products from petroleum crude.

Ozone-facilitated selective oxidation of alkanes in liquid carbon dioxide


A light-emitting diode (LED) tube is applied to a lamp holder with a ballast, and has a lighting module, a first control module and a second control module connected to two ends of the lighting module, and a harmonic elimination module connected to the first and second control modules and parallelly connected to the lighting module. Each of the first control module and the second control module has a simulation circuit unit and a rectification unit. Each of the simulation circuit units and the harmonic elimination module has a switching element. The first and second control modules adjust electrical signals from the ballast, and the harmonic elimination module eliminates harmonic waves generated by the ballast so that the lighting module is compatible with the ballast and is lit. Accordingly, the LED tube can be directly mounted on a fluorescent lamp holder with the lamp holder intact.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light-emitting diode (LED) tube, and more particularly to an LED tube capable of being directly mounted on a fluorescent lamp holder with a ballast.
2. Description of the Related Art
Fluorescent lamps have long been prevailing lighting devices, which provide uniform, stable and wide-angle lighting. Each conventional fluorescent lamp has a ballast mounted on a fluorescent lamp holder. The ballast converts an external power into a high-frequency and high-voltage power to light up a fluorescent tube and continuously supplies a stable current to the fluorescent tube after the fluorescent tube is lit. However, the conventional fluorescent tubes have life cycles considerably short and roughly lasting from 3,000 hours to 4,000 hours, and have relatively low power factors, resulting in the issue of relatively high power consumption.
As a result, lighting industry and academia dedicate their time and effort to expand lighting applications with LED because of the advantages of LED in high efficiency, low power consumption, high reliability, fast response time and low failure rate. Lighting applications using LED have gradually migrated from initial directional indicators, such as status indicator lights, traffic lights or the like, to indoor lighting to replace existing fluorescent lamps as a latest trend of LED development.
LED lights differ from conventional fluorescent lights in structural and circuit design. Hence, LED tubes fail to be directly mounted on conventional fluorescent lamp holders. If LED tubes are intended for use in indoor lighting, original fluorescent lights must be totally removed and replaced by lamp holders dedicated to the LED tubes. Such necessity not only costs more time, effort and expenditure but also limits the market acceptance of LED lights.


It is an object of the present invention to provide a thermoplastic resin coloring agent having excellent dispersibility, transparency, ultraviolet blocking properties, etc., and a thermoplastic resin composition employing same, and it is another object of the present invention to provide a thermoplastic resin molding having excellent dispersibility, transparency, ultraviolet blocking properties, stretchability, and surface smoothness.

Since thermoplastic resins have excellent heat resistance and weatherability and are inexpensive in terms of cost, they are used for various types of moldings such as films and hollow moldings. In particular, the use of condensation type thermoplastic resins such as polyester resins, styrene resins, polycarbonate resins, and acrylic resins in food packaging, cosmetics packaging, etc. instead of glass bottles has been increasing because of advantageous properties such as transparency, design versatility, and light weight.
Glass bottles for beer, liquor, etc. have a brownish hue. For coloring polyester resin bottles, while taking into consideration leaching into products and heat resistance, an α-ferric oxide having an average particle size of 0.1 μm or less, known as particulate iron oxide, is generally used (ref. Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 5-81623). In particular, for stability of the contents, it is necessary for beer containers to provide at least 96% blocking in a ultraviolet region of 420 nm or less and more than 70% blocking in a visible region in the vicinity of 550 nm, and gas barrier properties are also necessary. That is, in terms of light transmittance, unless it is less than 4% in the ultraviolet region of 420 nm or less and no greater than 30% in the visible region in the vicinity of 550 nm, there is a problem in terms of protecting the contents. However, the above-mentioned α-ferric oxide has a problem with aggregation, etc. during a production process, and the dispersibility is bad and inadequate.
Furthermore, although a technique employing α-ferric oxide particles, which are relatively resistant to aggregation, has been disclosed (ref. Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 8-59398), it is difficult to satisfy the above-mentioned properties.
Moreover, there is the problem that thermoplastic resin moldings in general have poor gas barrier properties, and contents are degraded. As means for solving this, there is a technique of coating a molding with a carbon film (ref. Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Nos. 8-53116 and 2000-309324), and although the gas barrier properties are sufficient, the blocking of ultraviolet rays is inadequate. Furthermore, the particulate iron oxide disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 5-81623 has high thermal aggregability, the pigment aggregates during a molding process, the transparency deteriorates, the appearance is degraded by the formation of aggregations, and the gas barrier properties are inadequate due to the formation of voids around the particulate iron oxide.

Colorant for thermoplastic resin and uses thereof

Abstract: The present invention relates to a thermoplastic resin coloring agent containing a surface-treated α-ferric oxide (A) formed by coating a non-acicular α-ferric oxide having an average particle size of 0.01 to 0.06 μm and an aspect ratio of 0.2 to 1.0 with a polyhydric alcohol and an organopolysiloxane, and an oxycarboxylic acid metal salt (B1) as a dispersing agent (B) and, moreover, to the thermoplastic resin coloring agent further containing a methine-based dye (C). The present invention also relates to a thermoplastic resin composition and a molding obtained using the thermoplastic resin coloring agent. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a molding obtained by coating the molding with a carbon film.


A pressure regulator suitable for use as a breathing demand valve in self-contained breathing equipment comprising a first chamber incorporating an inlet port having an inlet valve therein, preferably in the form of a poppet valve and biased so as to seal of the inlet port, and separated from a second chamber by a diaphragm. The diaphragm co-operates with the end of a stem extending from the poppet valve member of the inlet valve such that, upon inhalation by the user, the diaphragm is deflected towards the inlet valve and exerts a force on the poppet valve stem sufficient to open the poppet valve and, upon exhalation by the user, the diaphragm is deflected away form the inlet valve so that the diaphragm no longer contacts the end of the poppet valve stem and the inlet valve closes. A baffle plate is positioned in between the diaphragm and inlet valve so as to prevent, when the inlet valve is open, a portion of the pressurized fluid flow from impinging upon the underside of the diaphragm and tending to close the inlet valve. Optionally, the end of the diaphragm may incorporate an exhaust port to ambient, which, when the inlet valve is opened, is sealed by the end of the poppet valve stem sealably engaging with a valve seat around the exhaust port.

1. Field of the Invention
THIS INVENTION RELATES to a pressure regulator, particularly suitable for use as a breathing demand valve system, in, for example, diving, rescue, escape and resuscitation equipment.
There are many cases in which the need to breathe depends upon a source of air, or other breathable gas, stored at a high pressure in a cylinder or bottle. The specific storage pressures of such gases varies according to the nature of the gas and the particular application but, as a general rule, the stored gas pressure may vary between 1,800 psi (1.2xc3x97107 Pa) and 4,500 psi (3.1xc3x97107 Pa). In order to bring the stored gas pressure to a useable level, a high pressure regulator is usually mounted on the cylinder to provide an output (set) pressure of the order of 60-105 psi (4.1xc3x97105-7.2xc3x97105 Pa), dependant upon the application and the particular manufacturer""s design. The medium level output from the high pressure, or first stage, unit is applied to some form of breathing valve system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Such a breathing valve system, or demand valve, may be provided with a diaphragm, which typically actuates some form of inlet valve to allow flow of the medium level gas pressure, supplied from the high pressure regulator, to the mouth of the user. The inlet valve in many established designs is an unbalanced poppet valve, which is held closed against the supply pressure through the action of a light spring and is opened by deflection of the diaphragm acting against the spring. Conventionally, in order to obtain power gain from this design form, a long lever is employed to operate the inlet valve, transmitting the thrust due to the deflection of the diaphragm. Known variations include manual adjustment of the valve aperture and/or opening pressure, to suit different operating requirements or conditions.
A disadvantage of the lever actuating design described above is that, due to inevitable manufacturing tolerance variations in the various components, some selective assembly and adjustments are necessary in order to tune the function of the valve unit so as to be within acceptable performance limits.
GB 2298026 discloses an alternative arrangement for a breathing valve system, in which the inlet valve is in a pressure balanced module. The module incorporates an inlet poppet valve which is as nearly perfectly balanced as is reasonable under good quality manufacturing tolerances and conditions, so that the poppet valve can be opened directly by the thrust due to the deflection of a suitably sized diaphragm, without the need for any form of lever arrangement.
In the arrangement of GB 2298026, in order to actuate the opening of the inlet valve directly, the diaphragm is positioned opposite, and faces, the inlet valve such that, upon deflection, the diaphragm is urged against the stem of the inlet poppet valve so as to move the stem axially and consequently open the valve. Accordingly, when the valve is in an open position, a portion of the pressurised fluid flow through the valve impinges upon the underside of the diaphragm, tending to deflect the diaphragm in a direction away from the end of the poppet valve stem and thus tending to close the inlet valve, so that there is a negative feedback effect. For certain applications such as, for example, diving, there is a requirement for a relatively high maximum inhalation gas flow, with a predetermined inhalation suction, such that the negative feedback effect described above is considerable, and a point may be reached whereby no matter how much suction force is applied to the diaphragm, virtually no change in the mass gas flow delivered to the user can take place. This is because the higher the gas flow through the inlet valve, the greater the reaction force on the diaphragm tending to close of the inlet valve and reduce the mass gas flow.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a demand valve system which mitigates the self-limiting pressure problem described above
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a pressure regulator suitable for use as a breathing demand valve in various self-contained breathing apparatus, comprising a first chamber having an inlet port, the inlet port being connectable to the outlet of a pressurised fluid supply, an inlet valve being positioned within the inlet port and biased so as to seal the first chamber from the pressurised fluid supply, wherein the opening of the inlet valve can be actuated by the thrust due to the deflection of a diaphragm positioned so as to separate the first chamber from a second chamber, a baffle plate positioned in between the diaphragm and inlet port reducing negative feedback to the flow rate through the first chamber by preventing a portion of the pressurised fluid flow released through the open inlet valve from impinging upon, and consequently deflecting, the diaphragm in a direction tending to close the inlet valve.
For low pressure valve applications, it is known to provide breathing valve systems which employ a convoluted diaphragm. The active part of the diaphragm can be made relatively thin and flexible, making for a sensitive diaphragm which is essential for an accurate, low pressure demand valve. The use of a convoluted diaphragm has the additional advantage that, unlike a flat-type diaphragm, the effective area of a convoluted diaphragm is readily calculable, and is constant throughout its working range of movement. This feature provides functional predictability, which is essential for low pressure regulator applications.
A problem in the use of diaphragms in any breathing demand valve application, and particularly where sensitive diaphragms are used, such as convoluted diaphragms, is that of providing a means of clamping and sealing the peripheral sealing flange of the diaphragm, without subjecting the diaphragm to the effects of stress displacement likely to cause material distortion within the diaphragm body.
Conventionally, the sealing flange is merely clamped between two surfaces. In a known development, one or both of the clamping surfaces may be provided with a series of annular grooves, into which flows some of the elastomeric material which forms the flange region of the diaphragm. The flow of material into these grooves serves to grip the flange region of the diaphragm and increases the degree of sealing around the periphery of the diaphragm. However, the grooves only take up a proportion of the elastomeric flow in the flange region of the diaphragm and the remainder of the flow of elastomeric material, caused by the clamping, is into the main body of the diaphragm, which may distort the body of the diaphragm and compromise the sensitivity in the response of the diaphragm.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a demand valve system employing a diaphragm, means being provided to clamp the diaphragm while providing a substantial reduction in the transferral of the effects of stress displacement into the diaphragm, and consequent material distortion therein.
According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a pressure regulator suitable for use as a breathing demand valve in various self-contained breathing apparatus, comprising a primary chamber and a convoluted diaphragm, the diaphragm being mounted within the primary chamber so as to provide a fluid tight seal around the diaphragm rim, while isolating the convoluted section of the diaphragm from distortion effects due to rim clamping or sealing forces.

The Old School House Church Hill, Akeley


Provided is a magnetic material sputtering target produced from a sintered compact having a B content of 17 at % or more and 40 at % or less, and remainder being one or more elements selected from Co and Fe, wherein the target includes a B-rich phase and a B-poor phase, and a number of the B-rich phases in which a maximum inscribed circle having a diameter of 15 μm or more can be drawn is one or less. The B-rich phase is finely dispersed in the magnetic material sputtering target of the present invention, and the machinability of the target is consequently improved. Moreover, significant effects are yielded in that the generation of particles is inhibited and the yield in the production of thin films is improved when the target is used for sputtering with a magnetron sputtering equipment comprising a DC power supply.

The present invention relates to a magnetic material sputtering target, which contains boron (B) and is produced based on a powder sintering method; and particularly relates to a magnetic material target, in which the boron (B)-rich phase in the target is finely dispersed, and which reduces the generation of particles during sputtering, and is free from problems of mechanical properties such as cracks and useful for depositing films used in magnetic heads, magnetic resistance elements (MRAM) and the like, as well as to the production method thereof.
A tunnel magnetic resistance film having a high magnetoresistance effect is being used in magnetic heads and MRAMs, and magnetic substances including boron (B) are being used in the material that is used in the layer configuring these films. For example, known are compositions based on Co, Fe and boron such as Co—B, Fe—B, and Fe—Co—B, or compositions in which Al, Cu, Mn, Ni and the like are added thereto.
Generally speaking, when the composition of a B-containing magnetic substance of the tunnel magnetic resistance film is, for instance, Fe—Co—B, such film is produced by sputtering a Fe—Co—B sputtering target.
Since this kind of magnetic material sputtering target contains a large amount of B, in particular when the B composition ratio exceeds 10% and becomes high, an extremely brittle Fe boride phase of Fe2B or FeB, or a Co boride phase is formed. Consequently, with a sputtering target produced based on the melting method, the ingot would crack or become fractured, and it was difficult to obtain a sputtering target from such an ingot.
There is a method for producing a predetermined sputtering target by strictly managing the production process (refer to Patent Document 1), and this method yields a major advantage in that gas components such as oxygen can be reduced, but the difficulty of the production process cannot be denied.
Here, while there are various types of sputtering equipment, in the deposition of the foregoing magnetic substance film, a magnetron sputtering equipment comprising a DC power supply is widely used due to its high productivity. The sputtering method is a method in which a substrate as a positive electrode and a target as a negative electrode are placed opposite each other, and a high voltage is applied between the substrate and the target in an inert gas atmosphere to generate an electric field.
Hereat, the inert gas becomes ionized to form plasma made from electrons and positive ions. When the positive ions in the plasma collide with the surface of the target (negative electrode), the atoms configuring the target are ejected, and the ejected atoms become adhered onto the facing substrate surface to form a film. The sputtering method uses the principle that, through a sequence of these operations, the material configuring the target is deposited as a film on the substrate.
In light of the above, several prior patents have been proposed. For example, Patent Document 2 proposes: an Fe—Co—B-based alloy target material, wherein the diameter of the maximum inscribed circle that can be drawn in an area with no boride phase in a cross-sectional micro structure is 30 μm or less; and the said Fe—Co—B-based alloy target material, wherein the composition formula based on atomic ratio is (FeXCo100-X)100-YBY, 5≤X≤95, 5≤Y≤30.
The object of Patent Document 2 is to realize low magnetic permeability of the Fe—Co—B-based alloy target material for depositing a soft-magnetic film that is used in a perpendicular magnetic recording medium or a TMR element, and to provide an Fe—Co—B-based alloy target material that yields favorable sputtering characteristics. Nevertheless, in the foregoing case, there are drawbacks in that Patent Document 2 is inferior in terms of refinement and dispersibility of the boride phase, and characteristics as a sintered compact target are insufficient.
Moreover, Patent Document 3 discloses a soft-magnetic FeCo-based target material in which the atomic ratio of Fe:Co is 10:90 to 70:30 in the FeCo-based alloy. Patent Document 3 additionally discloses a soft-magnetic magnetic FeCo target material containing Al and/or Cr in an amount of 0.2 to 5.0 at %. Patent Document 3 further proposes an FeCo soft-magnetic target material additionally containing one or more types of B, Nb, Zr, Ta, Hf, Ti, and V in an amount of 30 at % or less.
Nevertheless, in the foregoing case, while Patent Document 3 describes that the sintering method or the casting method may be applied, Patent Document 3 makes no reference to the problem of the boride phase, and does not offer any solution to solve such problem.    [Patent Document 1] WO 2011/070860    [Patent Document 2] JP 2004-346423 A    [Patent Document 3] JP 2008-121071 A

Magnetic material sputtering target and method for producing same


An apparatus includes at least one electron beam generator for generating accelerated electrons with which bulk material particles are impingeable during free fall. The electron beam generator has an annular design in which the electrons are emitted and accelerated by an annular cathode. The electrons exit from an electron outlet window in the direction of the ring axis. The annular electron beam generator is arranged in such a way that the ring axis of the electron beam generator is oriented perpendicular to, or at an angle of up to 45° from the horizontal. The apparatus may further include a device for separating bulk material particles arranged above the annular electron beam generator, the bottom wall of said device having at least one opening out of which the bulk material particles fall and, from there, fall through the ring which is formed by the electron beam generator.

Various methods and the corresponding apparatuses are known in various embodiments—adapted to the bulk material to be treated—for impinging bulk material with accelerated electrons.
Thus an electron field having opposing velocity components of the electronics is generated in an evacuated chamber by opposing arrangement of two electron accelerators, through which electron field the bulk material is guided in free fall in an extended transparent stream (DD 291 702 A5). For the electron treatment, the bulk material is fed into the chamber via cellular wheel sluices and discharged again after the electron beam process. However, the disadvantage of such apparatuses is the high equipment expense for generating the electron field, since at least two electron accelerators are required, and the high expense of vacuum technology.
It is also known to generate an electron field having opposing velocity components such that the electron beam is diverted back to the particle stream by magnetic deflection after it has passed the bulk-material particles. Apparatuses of this type avoid the expense of a second electron accelerator. However, the disadvantage of this method consists in that, due to the relatively long path that the electron beam traverses in the process chamber, a substantially better vacuum is required, which requires an even greater equipment expense with respect to vacuum generation.
Methods and apparatuses are also known that work with two mutually opposing electron accelerators, wherein the electrons escape at atmospheric pressure via a beam-escape window (DE 44 34 767 C1). Here the bulk material is also guided in free fall through the electron field. In this solution the expense is omitted of the otherwise necessary evacuation of the process chamber. However, the disadvantage remains of the high equipment cost due to the required use of at least two electron accelerators.
It is furthermore known to impinge materials in powder form and materials in granular form with electrons at atmospheric pressure, wherein only one electron accelerator is sufficient for use and the to-be-irradiated particles are carried through the electron field in a gas stream (WO 98/43274 A1). The gas stream including the to-be-irradiated particles is guided through a rectangular channel, which is closed on one side with 25-μm-thick aluminum foil, through which the electrons penetrate after their discharge via a 13-μm-thick titanium window foil and pass the distance up to the radiating channel. Opposite the aluminum foil, the rectangular channel is formed by a flat plate made from a material of high atomic number. After penetrating the channel cross-section the electrons are backscattered from this plate to a certain component. The backscattered electrons have a velocity component opposing the original input direction of the electrons and make possible that the side of the particles facing away from original input direction of the electrons is also subjected to electron bombardment.
It is disadvantageous that the intensity of the irradiation by the backscattered electrons is significantly lower than the intensity of the irradiation by the electrons escaping directly from the beam escape window, which leads to an uneven irradiating of the individual particles. It is also disadvantageous that the gas velocity required for carrying the particles strongly increases with an increasing ratio of mass to the surface of the transported particles. Thus for large-grain bulk material—such as, e.g., wheat or corn—very high gas-flow velocities are required. At these high velocities the energy doses, transferable in the electron field are limited to very small—for numerous applications substantially too small—values. A further disadvantage of this known solution consists in that after escaping from the electron accelerator the electrons still must additionally penetrate the aluminum foil closing the rectangular channel before they encounter the to-be-treated particles. The electrons thereby suffer an additional undesired energy loss.
Finally in DE 199 42 142 A1 a device is disclosed wherein bulk material is guided in multiple free falls past an electron beam device and impinged with accelerated electrons. Due to the multiple traversals, in conjunction with a simultaneous mixing of the bulk material, the probability with this embodiment is very high that the particles of the bulk material are impinged on all sides by accelerated electrons. However the multiple traversals requires a large amount of time in the performing of the treatment process.

Apparatus for impinging bulk material with accelerated electrons

FRAUNHOFER-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FÖRDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN FORSCHUNG E.V.


The present disclosure relates to the use of a solid background layer in conjunction with a transparent display panel. In one such implementation, a layer that is switchable between opaque and transparent states is provided between the solid background layer and the transparent display panel. By switching the switchable layer between opaque and transparent states, visibility of the background layer through the transparent display panel may be controlled.

The present disclosure relates generally to displays for use in electronic devices and, more particularly, to the use of organic light emitting diode displays on electronic devices.
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
Organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) are solid-state semiconductor devices that convert electrical energy into light. Generally, OLEDs are fabricated by disposing one or more layers of organic thin films between two conductors or electrodes. When electrical current is applied to the electrodes, light is emitted from the organic layers. OLED technology may be used to fabricate ultra-thin displays that can generally operate at lower voltages than traditional display technologies, such as liquid crystal display (LCD) technologies in which light is separately generated and the color of the light modulated by an LCD panel placed between the light and the viewer. In addition, an OLED display may provide better contrast ratios, frame rate, color and/or power efficiency than a comparable LCD display.
However, these advantages of an OLED display may be reduced or absent when the OLED display is used to generate large amounts of white display area. In particular, because an OLED display is a light emissive (as opposed to light transmissive) technology, to display a white area, the OLED panel typically has to energize and emit light from a range of the various color channels present at each pixel of the OLED display. As a result, the display of white areas on an OLED display may be power intensive and relatively inefficient.
The relative power inefficiency in displaying white spaces using an OLED display may be particularly problematic in certain contexts. For example, certain applications, such as word processing, spreadsheet design and use, database design and use, e-mail, and other business or productivity applications, typically utilize dark or black alphanumeric characters on a white background, such as to simulate writing or printing on a sheet of paper. As a result, these applications may cause the display of large expanses of white background with relatively little area devoted to the non-white alphanumeric characters. Such applications, therefore, may make the use of OLED displays unsuitable or undesirably power intensive for battery powered and/or portable electronic devices, such as handheld devices.

Power efficient organic light emitting diode display


The present invention provides nucleic acid and amino acid sequence of the novel I-1 and I-2 polypeptides, which are associated with human inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Methods of diagnosing and treating inflammatory bowel disease using the IBD-associated I-1 and I-2 antigens also are provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to the fields of immunology, microbiology and inflammatory bowel disease and more specifically to the diagnosis and treatment of inflammatory bowel disease using microbial antigens.
2. Background Information
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is the collective term used to describe two gastrointestinal disorders of unknown etiology: Crohn""s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). The course and prognosis of IBD, which occurs world-wide and is reported to afflict as many as two million people, varies widely. Onset of IBD is predominantly in young adulthood with diarrhea, abdominal pain, and fever the three most common presenting symptoms. The diarrhea may range from mild to severe, and anemia and weight loss are additional common signs of IBD. Ten percent to fifteen percent of all patients with IBD will require surgery over a ten year period. In addition, patients with IBD are at increased risk for the development of intestinal cancer. Reports of an increased occurrence of psychological problems, including anxiety and depression, are perhaps not surprising symptoms of what is often a debilitating disease that strikes people in the prime of life.
Unfortunately, the available therapies for inflammatory bowel disease are few, and both diagnosis and treatment have been hampered by a lack of knowledge regarding the etiology of the disease. What is clear, however, is that a combination of genetic factors, exogenous triggers and endogenous microflora can contribute to the immune-mediated damage to the intestinal mucosa seen in inflammatory bowel disease. In Crohn""s disease, bacteria have been implicated in initiation and progression of the disease: the intestinal inflammation in Crohn""s disease is notable for its frequent responsiveness to antibiotics and susceptibility to bacterial fecal flow. Common intestinal colonists and novel pathogens have been implicated in Crohn""s by direct detection or by disease associated anti-microbial immune responses. Furthermore, in many genetically susceptible animal models of chronic colitis, lumenal micro-organisms are a necessary cofactor for disease; animals housed in a germ-free environment do not develop colitis. However, despite much direct and indirect evidence for a role for enteric microorganisms in Crohn""s disease, the pathogenic organisms and antigens contributing to the immune dysregulation seen in this disease have not been identified.
Current diagnostic assays for Crohn""s disease are unable to detect all patients with the disease. Thus, identification of novel microbial antigens associated with Crohn""s disease would provide reagents that can increase the sensitivity of current diagnostic assays. In addition, such microbial antigens can bear a disease related T-cell epitope and, as original or contributing inducers of the disease-related immune response, can be effective tolerogenic antigens for treating inflammatory bowel disease. Identification of IBD-associated microbial antigens also would facilitate isolation of the involved microbial species, paving the way for the discovery of new antibiotics or drugs for treating inflammatory bowel disease, such drugs ameliorating disease by eliminating the microbial inducers of disease.
Thus, there is a need for identification and isolation of microbial IBD-associated antigens for diagnosing and treating the many individuals suffering from inflammatory bowel disease. The present invention satisfies this need by providing the IBD-associated I-1 and I-2 microbial antigens. Related advantages are provided as well.
The present invention provides an isolated inflammatory bowel disease-associated I-2 polypeptide having substantially the same amino acid sequence as SEQ ID NO: 2. The invention also provides an isolated immunoreactive fragment of an I-2 polypeptide having substantially the same amino acid sequence as a portion of SEQ ID NO: 2. An isolated immunoreactive fragment of an I-2 polypeptide can have, for example, at least ten contiguous amino acids of SEQ ID NO: 2.
Also provided by the present invention is substantially purified antibody material that selectively binds an I-2 polypeptide having SEQ ID NO: 2. Such a substantially purified antibody material can be, for example, substantially purified polyclonal or monoclonal antibody material.
The invention further provides an isolated nucleic acid molecule having a nucleic acid sequence encoding substantially the same amino acid sequence as SEQ ID NO: 2. An isolated nucleic acid molecule of the invention can have, for example, the nucleic acid sequence SEQ ID NO: 1.
Also provided by the invention is a method of diagnosing inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in a subject. The method includes the steps of obtaining a sample from the subject; contacting the sample with an I-2 polypeptide, or immunoreactive fragment thereof, under conditions suitable to form a complex of the I-2 polypeptide, or the immunoreactive fragment thereof, and antibody to the I-2 polypeptide; and detecting the presence or absence of the complex, where the presence of the complex indicates that the subject has IBD. A method of the invention for diagnosing inflammatory bowel disease can be useful, for example, for diagnosing Crohn""s disease. In a method of the invention for diagnosing inflammatory bowel disease, the presence or absence of the complex can be detected, for example, with a detectable secondary antibody that has specificity for a class determining portion of the antibody to the I-2 polypeptide.
Further provided by the invention is a method of inducing tolerance in a patient with inflammatory bowel disease by administering an effective dose of an I-2 polypeptide, or tolerogenic fragment thereof, to the patient with IBD. The methods of the invention can be particularly useful for treating a patient having Crohn""s disease. In a method of the invention for inducing tolerance, the I-2 polypeptide to be administered can have, for example, the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2.
The invention also provides a composition including an I-2 polypeptide having substantially the same amino acid sequence as SEQ ID NO: 2, or tolerogenic fragment thereof, combined with a tolerogizing molecule. In a composition of the invention, the I-2 polypeptide can have, for example, the amino acid sequence SEQ ID NO: 2. A tolerogenic fragment useful in a composition of the invention can have, for example, at least ten contiguous amino acids of SEQ ID NO: 2.
The present invention also provides a method of identifying an agent useful in treating inflammatory bowel disease. The method includes the steps of obtaining a specimen of an enteric microbe from a patient with inflammatory bowel disease; isolating from the specimen a microbial species that includes a nucleic acid molecule encoding an I-2 polypeptide; contacting the microbial species with an agent; and assaying for reduced growth or viability of the microbial species as compared to the growth or viability in the absence of the agent, where the reduced growth or viability of the microbial species indicates that the agent is an agent useful in treating inflammatory bowel disease. A method of the invention can be useful, for example, for identifying an agent for treating Crohn""s disease. The methods of the invention can be particularly useful for screening agents which are antibiotics.
The invention additionally provides a method of identifying an agent useful in treating inflammatory bowel disease using a novel animal model. The method includes the steps of administering an I-2 polypeptide to a non-human animal, whereby one or more symptoms of IBD are exhibited; administering an agent to the non-human animal; and assaying the level of the one or more symptoms characteristic of IBD, where a reduction in the level of the one or more symptoms as compared to a control level indicates that the agent is an agent useful in treating IBD. The methods of the invention can be applied, for example, to identification of agents useful in treating Crohn""s disease. The I-2 polypeptide administered can have, for example, the amino acid sequence SEQ ID NO: 2. A non-human animal particularly useful in the methods of the invention can be, for example, a mouse deficient in Gai2, TCRA or IL-10.

IBD-associated microbial nucleic acid molecules

The Regents of the University of California


A silicon rubber composition containing a hydrocarbon extender oil, wherein the oil is a Fischer-Tropsch derived oil. A process to prepare a silicon rubber extender oil having a CN number as measured according to IEC 590 of between 15 and 30%, a kinematic viscosity at 40° C. of between 5 an 18 mm2/sec.

Process oils are used in silicon rubber compositions as a cheap extender oils to reduce formulation costs. Key requirements for process oils for this application are full silicon oil compatibility but also good UV stability and low volatility. Widely available extender oils used for this purpose are naphthenic oils and hydroprocessed paraffinic petroleum oils. Hydroprocessed paraffinic petroleum oils are preferred for this use.
A disadvantage of the use of hydroprocessed paraffinic petroleum oils is that although some oils show excellent UV stability they show reduced silicon oil compatibility at higher oil contents.
It would be useful to provide a silicon rubber composition wherein the content of extender oil can be increased while properties such as UV stability and volatility are not worsened as compared to when a hydroprocessed paraffinic petroleum derived oil is used because of their low volatility and good UV stability.
The invention is directed to a silicon rubber composition comprising a hydrocarbon extender oil, wherein the oil is a Fischer-Tropsch derived oil.
The invention is also directed to a process for making an extender oil.

Silicon rubber comprising an extender oil and process to prepare said extender oil


Indicating hierarchy diversion in a class diagram. A class inheritance structure for at least one parent class contained in computer program code can be identified to determine a class hierarchy corresponding to the parent class. For at least one child class in the class hierarchy that is a child of the parent class, a parent-child similarity value corresponding to a parent-child diversion of the child class from the parent class can be calculated via a processor. The class diagram can be generated. The class diagram can indicate at least the parent class, the child class and the parent-child similarity value. The class diagram can be presented.

Arrangements described herein relate to the Unified Modeling Language (UML) and, more particularly, class diagrams.
UML is a standardized general-purpose modeling language used in the development of object-oriented software. UML includes a set of graphic notation techniques to create visual models of object-oriented software systems. For a particular system, UML is used to generate a UML model and a set of UML diagrams of the system. The UML diagrams typically include a static view, which emphasizes the static structure of the system using objects, attributes, operations and relationships, and a dynamic view, which emphasizes the dynamic behavior of the system by showing collaborations among objects and changes to the internal states of the objects. The static view includes class diagrams and composite structure diagrams. Class diagrams, in particular, show the classes of a system, their interrelationships (including inheritance, aggregation, and association), and the operations and attributes of the classes. Class diagrams help software developers to understand the way the inheritance is implemented in the program code of a software system.


A N-channel lateral insulated-gate bipolar transistor includes a semiconductor substrate, a drift layer, a collector region, a channel layer, an emitter region, a gate insulation film, a gate electrode, a collector electrode, an emitter electrode. The collector region includes a high impurity concentration region having a high impurity concentration and a low impurity concentration region having a lower impurity concentration than the high impurity concentration region. The collector electrode is in ohmic contact with the high impurity concentration region and in schottky contact with the low impurity concentration region.

Monolithic inverter IC chips, in which integrated parts such as a lateral IGBT, a lateral diode, an analog circuit and a digital circuit are constructed on a SOI (Silicon on insulator) substrate, are developed and utilized. A performance of the inverter IC is mainly determined by the integrated lateral IGBT and the lateral diode. The important performance indexes of the lateral IGBT are a low on-state voltage and a high switching speed, and the important performance indexes of the lateral diode are also a low on-state voltage and a high switching speed. Specifically, it is necessary for the lateral IGBT to maintain the low on-state voltage and the high switching speed without controlling a lifetime, which is performed by irradiating an electron beam. Additionally, reducing a carrier concentration of an on-state by reducing an efficiency of hole injection to a collector is very important.
Conventionally, a double-layered collector region includes a large P-well region having a low impurity concentration and a small P+-type region having a high impurity concentration. The P-well region and the P+-type region are both in ohmic contact with a collector electrode so as to suppress a total amount of acceptor impurities in the collector region. Further, a N-type buffer layer that surrounds the low impurity concentration P-well region and the high impurity concentration P+-type region provides a donor-type impurity effect so that hole injection is restricted. Therefore, the efficiency of hole injection is reduced as shown in JP 3415441 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 6,133,607).
However, based on a study by inventors of the present invention, it is found that the double-layered structure of the collector region causes an increase in variation of on-state voltage in a case where a fall time tf is set to 0.3 μsec or less.
The low on-state voltage and the high switching speed are in a trade-off relationship. Therefore, basically the fall time decreases with the increasing on-state voltage. However, as shown in JP 3415441 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 6,133,607), the trade-off relationship between the low on-state voltage and the high switching speed no longer exits in a structure in which the double-layered collector region is in ohmic contact with the collector electrode. Further, the fall time can not be reduced by a sacrifice of the on-state voltage and the variation of the on-state voltage is increased. In the conventional IGBT, in which the collector electrode is in ohmic contact with the collector region, the fall time does not decrease stably with the increasing on-state voltage after the fall time is reduced to a certain level. Therefore, the switching speed can not be improved higher than a certain level. According to an analysis by inventors of the present invention, a surface of the P-well channel layer having a low impurity concentration is in an unstable contact with the collector electrode in a case where a surface impurity concentration of the P-well channel layer is set to, for example, 1×1017 cm−3 and the collector electrode is made of aluminum including 1% of silicon. The unstable contact between the surface of the P-well channel layer and the collector electrode causes the variation of the on-state voltage.

Lateral insulated-gate bipolar transistor


The system and method of the present invention advantageously enable controllable light extraction from optical fiber waveguides and offer highly configurable light signal guidance and control capabilities, as well as additional advantageous features associated with waveguides, by providing, in various exemplary embodiments thereof, a multitude of novel techniques by which the parameters relating to utilization of various light signals (such as direction of their emission, magnitude of the emission, physical surface area of the emission, etc.), can be readily controlled and configured as a matter of design choice. Additionally, the inventive system and method, in various exemplary embodiments thereof, also enable and facilitate selective configuration of, and/or control over, various characteristics of the light signals guided/controlled/extracted thereby, such as the signals' wavelength, polarization, intensity, amplitude, etc. To achieve the above-noted beneficial functions, the system and method of the present invention utilize a physical property of a standard, or a specialty, chiral optical fiber to scatter light signals entering the fiber in directions away from the fiber core (through the fiber cladding), to thereby advantageously enable selective and controllable extraction of light signals of a desired predetermined wavelength (or, optionally of a predetermined range of wavelengths) therefrom.

There is an ever-growing need in modern and cutting edge communication, display, lighting, and other applications, for various techniques and approaches for guiding, controlling, and emission of light signals. However, while solutions for simple emission of predetermined light signals from appropriately configured devices (such as LEDs, etc.), and for basic transport of light signals via conventional waveguides are in common use, the previously known solutions have very significant limitations both in the degree of control that can be exercised over the guidance and emission of light signals as well as in the level of control/configurability of the characteristics/properties of the light signals themselves.
Accordingly, it would be very advantageous to provide various novel techniques by which light signals could be guided and extracted (for redirection, for coupling to other devices/systems, for emission, or for other predefined purposes). It would also be useful to provide various solutions by which the parameters relating to utilization of various light signals (such as direction of their emission, magnitude of emission, physical area of the emission) can be readily controlled and configured as a matter of design choice. It would further be useful to provide various systems and methods to enable selective configuration of, and/or control over, various characteristics of guided/extracted light signals, such as their wavelength, polarization, intensity, amplitude, etc.

Chiral fiber apparatus and method for controllable light extraction from optical waveguides


A dynamic name of a device within a network may be generated by accessing information related to the device; accessing information related to a remote, neighbor device; generating a dynamic name of the device based on the accessed information related to the device and the accessed information related to the remote, neighbor device; and storing the generated dynamic name of the device. Alternatively, a topology map of devices within a network may be generated where a central controller may access, from memory, a dynamic name of controlled devices, the dynamic name of the controlled devices including information related to remote, neighbor devices of the controlled devices. The topology map may include dynamic names of the controlled devices.

A network may include a large number of devices. From time to time, administrators may need to ascertain information regarding the specific devices within the network.
Devices may have stored thereon a name that may be configured by the manufacturer. The name may include limited information such as a serial number of the device. Thus, when an administrator tries to access information regarding the device, the name does not provide meaningful information to the administrator regarding where the device may be located within the network.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A method is provided for measuring an interfacial tension (σ) for liquid-liquid interfaces or surface tension for liquid-gas interfaces. The method is characterized in that the measurement is carried out by the penetrometry of an interface between two fluids of a sample in a pipe comprising at least one window made of a transparent material, using a rod moving at constant speed orthogonally to the interface, a profile of the interface being deformed by the penetration of the rod and a series of images of the profile being captured in real time by an image-capturing system during the deformation and the crossing of the interface. A device for implementing the method is also disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a method of measuring the surface or interface tension between two fluids and a device for implementing the method.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 37 CFR 1.98.
The tension measured is referred to as "surface tension" for a gas-liquid system and is referred to as "interface tension" for a liquid-liquid system.
The invention can be applied in numerous economic fields, for example for producing cosmetics, detergents, pharmaceutical or chemical products, measuring apparatus in public or private research laboratories, in higher education for practical work and in general terms in all sectors that require to define the fundamental properties of a liquid-liquid or liquid-gas interface, such as rigidity, visco-elasticity, deformability, etc.
Numerous techniques for measuring the interface tension between fluids are already known, such as for example:                measurements by visualisation (for example the hanging drop technique)        tensile force measurements by Wilhelmy plate or by Du Noüy ring on a plate        measurements based on Rayleigh instability such as the oscillating jet technique, or on the change in polarisation of the electromagnetic waves at the interface, this is the ellipsometry technique.
Some techniques are based on the Laplace equation for calculating the droplet volume and the maximum bubble pressure. These techniques use digitisation and computer processing such as the drop profile, the bubble profile and even the microfluid tool.
Unfortunately these techniques, through their use of a large sample of fluid and through the size of the devices, prevent measurement at high temperatures. Moreover, the liquid medium must often be transparent. In particular these techniques do not apply or are too imprecise in the case of viscous and/or elastic liquids.
To remedy these drawbacks, the invention proposes a novel microscopic technique of measuring surface or interface tension making it possible to measure this quantity with precision at high temperatures (above 50° C.) and aims it the following objectives:                rapidly measuring the interface and surface tension,        requiring very little fluid for making the measurement,        allowing heating of the microsystem for achieving high temperatures,        applying to an opaque and/or viscous liquid.
The objectives in use referred to above are highly advantageous for applications where liquids have high added values or have solid phases at ambient temperature (cosmetics, pharmaceutics, petrochemicals, etc.).

Method and device for measuring by penetrometry an interface or surface tension of an interface between two fluids


The present disclosure provides a conversion film configured on the electronic device. The conversion film includes a first regionalized polarizing film having at least two different polarization directions, a second regionalized polarizing film configured on the first regionalized polarizing film having at least one polarization direction, and an adhesive layer configured between the first regionalized polarizing film and the second regionalized polarizing film to bond the first regionalized polarizing film and the second regionalized polarizing film together. One of the polarization directions of the second regionalized polarizing film is same as one of the polarization directions of the first regionalized polarizing film.

With the diversification of the market, electronic device protective films attached on the cell phones, MP3 players, notebook computers, and other digital devices are no longer used only for protecting device screens and bodies from the wear and tear. The protective films also provide cosmetic and decorative functions by printing various patterns and colors on the protective films. Further, in order to meet the public demand, protective cases provide even more varieties, better workmanship, and more attractive patterns and colors.
The protective cases are made of various types of materials, including leather, silicon, cloth, hard plastic, soft plastic, velvet, and silk, etc. Personalized paintings on the protective cases may also serve the decoration purpose. However, the protective films and protective cases usually have a single static color pattern. A special film may be attached onto the protective films and protective cases to change the original color pattern. But replacing the protective cases for different color patterns is often costly, lack of a sense of interacting, and less attractive.
The disclosed conversion film, electronic device and fabrication method are directed to solve one or more problems in the art.

Conversion film, electronic device and fabrication methods thereof

XIAMEN TIANMA MICRO-ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.


A receiving apparatus includes a buffer configured to store packets of a first packet sequence made up of packets extracted from one transport stream that are common to packets of another transport stream and packets of a second packet sequence made up of common packets, a read control section configured to read the packets of the first packet sequence and the second packet sequence stored in the buffer after the passing of a predetermined time after synchronization is established between the packets of the first packet sequence and the packets of the second packet sequence, thereby reconstructing one transport stream from the first packet sequence and the second packet sequence, and an output section configured to output the reconstructed transport stream.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a receiving apparatus and method, a program, and a receiving method and, more particularly, to a receiving apparatus and method, a program, and a receiving system that are configured to prevent a period of time in which transport streams are not outputted.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a modulation scheme called OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) is in use for a digital signal transmission scheme. In this OFDM scheme, many orthogonal subcarriers are prepared in a transmission band and data is allocated to the amplitude and phase of each subcarrier, thereby executing digital modulation on the basis of PSK (Phase Shift Keying) or QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) on these subcarriers.
The OFDM scheme is often applied to the terrestrial digital broadcasting that is heavily affected by multipath interference. The terrestrial digital broadcasting based on the OFDM scheme includes the standards, such as DVB-T (Digital Video Broadcasting-Terrestrial) and ISDB-T (Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting-Terrestrial).
Meantime, DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting)-T.2 is being established by ETSI (European Telecommunication Standard Institute) as a next-generation terrestrial digital broadcasting that is disclosed in DVB BlueBook A122 Rev. 1, Frame structure channel coding and modulation for a second-generation digital terrestrial television broadcasting system (DVB-T2), Sep. 1, 2008, DVB home page, searched Aug. 5, 2009, URL http://www.dvb.org/technology/standards/, hereinafter referred to as Non-patent Document 1.

Receiving apparatus and method, program, and receiving system


Various embodiments herein each include at least one of systems, methods, software, and devices, such as product scanners (e.g., barcode scanners), that continuously adjust fraud-detection sensitivity levels of fraud-detection processes. Adjustments of fraud-detection sensitivity levels are made to maximize actual fraud detection while also minimizing false detections based on changing environmental, transaction, and customer and employee behavioral conditions and factors.

Retail shrink comes mostly from customer stealing, cashier sweet-hearting, and employee theft. Item substitution fraud occurring at Point-Of-Sale (POS) terminals, such as Self-Service Checkouts (SSCOs) and Cashier-Assisted Checkouts, is one of the key shrink issues. Perpetrators may commit the fraud in many ways such as by checking out an expensive item (e.g., a bottle of bourbon) as a cheap produce item (e.g., banana). For example, rather than scanning a barcode of an item, the item is placed on a scale, an item type is keyed in or otherwise selected such as bananas, and the item is priced at checkout by weight rather than by the product barcode. Data processing solutions have been implemented on computing devices at POS terminals to detect such possible occurrences of such item substitution fraud and other forms of fraud. However, a detection of possible occurrence of fraud is just that, a possible occurrence of fraud, as the detection is typically a probability of fraud rather than an absolute detection of fraud.
When a possibility of fraud occurrence is detected, a security event is typically triggered at the POS terminal of the occurrence. This may include one or more of locking the terminal until a monitoring employee is present, notification of a monitoring employee to watch the terminal closely, on-site or off-site review of video of the transaction, among other possible security events. Handling such security events can be time consuming and take personnel from performing other tasks and assisting other customers. As a detected possible occurrence of fraud is a probability and probability thresholds are used to determine when to declare a possible fraud occurrence, false detections are common. Such false detections can lead to wasted resource utilization investigating possible fraud occurrences, degradation of customer experiences, and employees learning to dismiss possible fraud notifications due to many false detections.
At the same time, a probability of fraud considered in view of a threshold may also lend such solutions to missed fraud detections. While an absolute detection of attempted fraud can be quite difficult, improvement of current fraud-detection solutions at POS terminals is desired.

Continuous shrink reduction system sensitivity adjustment