A method for transmitting a message includes a communication adapter receiving, from a transmitting device, a request to send the message. The method further includes modifying a maximum transfer unit (MTU) to obtain a modified MTU, transmitting, from the communication adapter to a receiving system, a first sub-unit of the message using the modified MTU, iteratively increasing the MTU for transmitting intermediate sub-units of the message until an MTU limit is reached, and transmitting, to the receiving system, the intermediate sub-units of the message. The intermediate sub-units are transmitted after the first sub-unit and before a second sub-unit. The method further includes transmitting, from the communication adapter to the receiving system, the second sub-unit to the receiving system using a full path MTU.

Computer communications systems often transfer data in a unit. In order to achieve increased bandwidth, larger messages may be divided into sub-units called maximum transfer units ("MTUs"). Specifically, message is sent from a sending host to a sending network interface directly connected to the host. As the message is received on the sending network interface, the message is stored on the sending network interface. The message is sent in the MTUs from the sending network interface to a receiving network interface via a network. As the MTUs of the message are received on the receiving network interface, the MTUs are stored. Once the entire message is received on the receiving network interface, the entire message is transmitted to the receiving host. After the entire message is transmitted to the receiving host, the receiving network interface sends a notification to the host that the message arrived. This method may be referred to as a store and forward protocol because each component must store the message before the component can forward the message. The store and forward protocol may be used because of difference between the speed of an input/output (I/O) bus between the network interface and the host and the speed of the network. An additional or alternative reason for using the store and forward protocol is that the MTU may be different between the I/O bus and the network.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and system for requester virtual cut through


A method, a network base station, and a user communication device for transmitting data on an orthogonal frequency-division multiple access system are disclosed. A network base station may have a common antenna set to transmit on a subcarrier via a first effective channel able to be constructed based on at least one common reference symbol. The network base station may have a dedicated antenna set to transmit on a subcarrier via a second effective channel able to be estimated based on at least one dedicated reference symbol. The user equipment may demodulate a data transmission using the at least one common reference symbol and the at least one dedicated reference symbol.

The Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is developing a Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard using a physical layer based on globally applicable Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA). In Release-8 specification of LTE, an LTE base station, referred to as an enhanced Node-B (eNB), may use an array of four antennas to broadcast a signal to a piece of user equipment.
A user communication device, or user equipment (UE), may rely on a pilot or reference symbol (RS) sent from the transmitter for channel estimation, subsequent data demodulation, and link quality measurement for reporting. The link quality measurements for feedback may include such spatial parameters as rank, or the number of data streams sent on the same resources; precoding matrix index (PMI); and coding parameters, such as a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) or a channel quality indicator (CQI). Further, the link quality measurements may be reported on a periodic or aperiodic basis, as instructed by an eNB, in one of the supported feedback modes. The reports may include wideband or subband frequency selective information of the parameters.

Employing cell-specific and user entity-specific reference symbols in an orthogonal frequency-division multiple access


A valved needle assembly including a needle hub provided to a proximal end side of a hollow needle, and a valve member incorporated therein for blocking communication with the hollow needle. A protrusion protrudes from a distal end side toward a proximal end side inside the needle hub and the valve member blocks the proximal end side of the protrusion inside the needle hub. A central valve part of the valve member having a slit moves toward the protrusion such that the slit is opened and placed in communication by the protrusion. The central valve part includes a distal end tubular part and a proximal end tubular part extending from its outer circumferential portion toward the distal end side and the proximal end side respectively.

Conventionally, a valved needle assembly has been used for performing blood collection, blood transfusion, infusion, etc. on a patient. In such a valved needle assembly, a needle hub is provided on the proximal end side of the hollow needle so that a connector, a luer, or the like can be connected.
In addition, a valve member that blocks communication with the hollow needle is incorporated inside the needle hub, so as not to open the needle hole of the hollow needle to the atmosphere through the needle hub with no connector, luer, or the like connected. That is, the valve member is configured to prevent blood leakage when the needle assembly is stuck into the blood vessel of the patient, for example.
Meanwhile, such a valved needle assembly has a known structure as described in, for example, European Patent No. EP 0414997 (Patent Document 1).


A number of orthopaedic surgical instruments are also disclosed. A method, apparatus, and system for fabricating such instruments are also disclosed.

Joint arthroplasty is a well-known surgical procedure by which a diseased and/or damaged natural joint is replaced by a prosthetic joint. A typical knee prosthesis includes a tibial tray, a femoral component, a polymer insert or bearing positioned between the tibial tray and the femoral component, and, in some cases, a polymer patella button. To facilitate the replacement of the natural joint with the knee prosthesis, orthopaedic surgeons use a variety of orthopaedic surgical instruments such as, for example, cutting blocks, drill guides, milling guides, and other surgical instruments. Typically, the orthopaedic surgical instruments are generic with respect to the patient such that the same orthopaedic surgical instrument may be used on a number of different patients during similar orthopaedic surgical procedures.

Patient-customizable device and system for performing an orthopaedic surgical procedure


In one embodiment, a method to detect and remove fibers comprises identifying blocked nozzles in a grouping of nozzles within a printhead, and triggering a fiber removal event if it is determined that a plurality of adjacent nozzles are blocked.

Printing may be achieved by a broad variety of methods. One method is to utilize a nozzle-carrying printhead, whereby the nozzles eject drops of ink onto a media to form images on the media. Nozzles in a printhead can become faulty for a number of reasons, including being blocked by dried ink, media fibers and other debris. Faulty nozzles in a printhead may negatively impact the quality and the speed of printing.
The same part numbers designate the same or similar parts throughout the figures.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


The present invention describes the development of a end-capped bipyridine compound having formula A and the zinc complex having formula B. The assay having formula 1 can be used to estimate and quantify the amount of zinc ions by monitoring the fluorescence changes. The assay with formula 1 can be use to image and detect Zn2+ ions in MCF7 cell lines. The zinc complex of formula 2 and 4 can be used as a fluorescent sensor for cyanide anions using analyte replacement protocol. The assay with formula 2 is selective only to cyanide anions even in the presence of other competing anions. The assay with formula 3 having bright green solid state emission is used for the preparation of formula 4. The orange fluorescent powder of assay with formula 4 is used for the selective detection of CN− ions in aqueous solution.

Detection and estimation of anions have received considerable attention for their important roles in biological, industrial, and environmental processes. In particular, cyanide is a highly toxic anion for living system. However, cyanide is widely used for industrial applications, which releases cyanide into the environment as a toxic contaminant. The World Health Organization (WHO) has set the maximum contaminant level (MCL) of cyanide in drinking water to be 1.9 μM (0.04 ppm) and a greater content can have acute effects. This is of paramount importance particularly after the accidental cyanide spill in Romania in the year 2000 which is considered to be one of the worst disasters in Europe since Chernobyl. The detection of CN− is also important since many plants and fruits are known to contain cyanides. Most of the reported probes are colorimetric or fluorescence dosimeters (indicators), useful for the one time detection of the analyte. References may be made to: a) Guidelines for Drinking-Water Quality, World Health Organization: Geneva, 1996; b) Ullman's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry, Wiley-VCH: New York, 1999; c) G. C. Miller, C. A. Pritsos, Cyanide: Social Industrial and Economic Aspects; Proceedings of the TMS Annual Meeting, 2001 pp 73-81; d) R. Koenig, Science, 2000, 287, 1737; e) A. W. Hayes, Principles and Methods of Toxicology, 5th ed. Taylor and Francis, Boca Raton, Fla.
The main disadvantages which have prevented the practical application of molecular probes for the detection of metals ions especially, potentially dangerous anions such as cyanide, in aqueous media at normal conditions are;
1) that the detection requires professional laboratory type operations, such as precise transfer of solutions, usage of sophisticated instrumental techniques etc., making it less useful to people who do not have any scientific background.
2) the low sensitivity and selectivity of the probes towards cyanide anions for an instrument free observation. For example, a probe which can distinguish analyte binding by color change or fluorescence change with naked eye.
3) compatibility of the probe in aqueous conditions and at the same time it should interact with cyanide anions in solution. An ideal fluorophore must have comparatively good quantum yield under aqueous conditions.
4) The fourth and significant one is the difficulty in reprocessing and thereby multiple use of the probe.

End-capped bipyridine compound, process for preparation thereof and process for selective detection of cyanide anions therewith

Council of Scientific & Industrial Research


Tubular objects having two or more concentric layers that have different properties are joined to one another during their manufacture primarily by compressive and friction forces generated by shrinkage during sintering and possibly mechanical interlocking. It is not necessary for the concentric tubes to display adhesive-, chemical- or sinter-bonding to each other in order to achieve a strong bond. This facilitates joining of dissimilar materials, such as ceramics and metals.

Solid-state electrochemical devices are normally cells that include two porous electrodes, the anode and the cathode, and a dense solid electrolyte membrane disposed between the electrodes. In the case of a typical solid oxide fuel cell, for example, the anode is exposed to fuel and the cathode is exposed to an oxidant in separate closed systems to avoid any mixing of the fuel and oxidants.
The electrolyte membrane is normally composed of a ceramic oxygen ion conductor in solid oxide fuel cell applications. In other implementations, such as gas separation devices, the solid membrane may be composed of a mixed ionic electronic conducting material ("MIEC"). The porous anode may be a layer of a ceramic, a metal or a ceramic-metal composite ("cermet") that is in contact with the electrolyte membrane on the fuel side of the cell. The porous cathode is typically a layer of a mixed ionically and electronically-conductive (MIEC) metal oxide or a mixture of an electronically conductive metal oxide (or MIEC metal oxide) and an ionically conductive metal oxide.
Solid oxide fuel cells normally operate at temperatures between about 650° C. and about 1000° C. to maximize the ionic conductivity of the electrolyte membrane. At appropriate temperatures, the oxygen ions easily migrate through the crystal lattice of the electrolyte.
Since each fuel cell generates a relatively small voltage, several fuel cells may be associated to increase the power output of the system. Such arrays or stacks generally have a tubular or planar design. Planar designs typically have a planar anode-electrolyte-cathode deposited on a conductive interconnect and stacked in series. However, planar designs are generally recognized as having significant safety and reliability concerns due to the complexity of sealing of the units and manifolding a planar stack. Tubular designs utilizing long porous support tubes with electrodes and electrolyte layers disposed on the support tube reduce the number of seals that are required in the system. Fuel or oxidants are directed through the channels in the tube or around the exterior of the tube.
The manufacture of concentric tubular structures with multiple layers that display varying properties to accomplish such tubular fuel cell designs is routine, especially in the field of high temperature electrochemical devices. Bonding between the layers is typically achieved through chemical or sinter bonding. This limits the types of materials that can be bonded to one another. For example, a ceramic layer and metal layer generally will not bond to each other easily by chemical or sintering means. Additionally, the desirable opportunity to inspect the outside of an internal concentric layer before applying an external concentric layer is not available in conventional manufacturing schemes where all of the layers are produced as a single green body and subsequently co-sintered.
Thus, improved techniques for joining concentric tubular structures suitable for use in devices operating at high temperatures are needed.

The Regents of the University of California


An oxygenation apparatus for introducing a flow of oxygen gas molecules into a carrier liquid in a one-pass operation comprises a receiving chamber for receiving carrier liquid, a contacting chamber for allowing the oxygen gas molecules to thoroughly contact the carrier liquid, and a separating partition located between the receiving chamber and the contacting chamber so as to preclude the return of oxygenated carrier liquid from the contacting chamber to the receiving chamber. There is an inlet for introducing oxygen gas molecules at a pressure slightly above the ambient surrounding air pressure into the apparatus, which terminates in an end portion having a gas introduction orifice. The gas introduction orifice is located in fluid communication with the receiving chamber, and causes a jet of oxygen gas molecules to be emitted therefrom. There is a spray orifice located in the separating partition, positioned to allow carrier liquid to be sprayed into the contacting chamber by the jet of oxygen gas molecules. A passageway has is located so the carrier liquid can pass from the receiving chamber to the space between the gas introduction orifice and the spray orifice, allowing oxygenated carrier liquid to exit from the contacting chamber. The oxygen gas includes molecules in the diatomic form (O.sub.2), and molecules in at least one of either the triatomic form (O.sub.3) and the monatomic form (.sup.1 O.sub.2). When the oxygen gas molecules are introduced into the apparatus, they force the carrier liquid in the space between the gas introduction orifice and the spray orifice to be sprayed through the spray orifice into the contacting chamber so that no bubbles are formed.

Oxygen is an allotropic element, with the most common form of the gas being the di-atomic form (O.sub.2). Ozone (O.sub.3) and singlet oxygen (.sup.1 O.sub.2) are other forms of the gas that occur naturally and that can be created artificially. Ozone is the triatomic form of oxygen and is relatively unstable. One method of creating ozone is to expose O.sub.2 gas (pure medical oxygen) to laser light having a wave length of about 180 to 187 nm. Other methods of forming ozone are well known. Singlet oxygen is the monatomic form of oxygen and is highly unstable. One method of creating singlet oxygen is to expose ozone to ultra-violet light of a wavelength of 253.7 nm. It is also known to expose a mixture of oxygen gas containing ozone and singlet oxygen to visible light of a wavelength of between about 500 and 800 nm to further induce the formation of singlet oxygen. Other methods of forming singlet oxygen are well known.
The benefits of ozone gas molecules (O.sub.3) and singlet oxygen gas molecules (.sup.1 O.sub.2) are well known in the medical community for treatment of blood and human tissue in order to fight disease or other pathogens, or at least to ameliorate the effects thereof. Many diseases have been shown to be positively effected through the administration of ozone and singlet oxygen. Ozone has been found to kill cancer cells, to be effective against various viruses and fungi, and to inactivate a wide variety of bacteria including Pseudomonas Aeruginosa, Staphylococcus Aureus and Mycobacterium Tuberculosis. Ozone has also been found to have disruptive effects on malignant tumour cells. The administration of ozone is also known to have beneficial effects to a person's health in general by way of stimulating oxygen metabolism. Studies of the effects of singlet oxygen indicate similar or even more dramatic effects. It has also been shown that the administration of ozone and singlet oxygen to a healthy person, through direct inhalation, can help prevent various diseases, such as those discussed above.
One very important use of ozone and singlet oxygen is in the sterilization treatment of blood for blood that is being removed from a donor and administered to a recipient. Through the use of ozone and singlet oxygen, it is possible to deactivate a variety of potential viral contaminants of blood, including HIV-1 and Hepatitis.
It is known to introduce ozone and singlet oxygen directly to diseased tissue. Alternatively, the ozone and singlet oxygen may first be introduced to a carrier liquid such as USP water or blood, and then the carrier liquid may be introduced to the diseased tissue or injected into a person's bloodstream, as appropriate. In order to treat a person having a given disease, an alequot of blood is drawn from the person, the alequot is treated, and is then injected back into the person. Units of blood used for transfusion are each separately treated and subsequently used as necessary.
The introduction of ozone and singlet oxygen gas molecules to a person's blood, or even to USP water, is a problematic process. It is desirable to have the gas molecules introduced as quickly as possible to the carrier liquid in order to minimize time and expense. However, quick introduction of these gas molecules through the use of prior art technology can readily cause a formation of bubbles, which is undesirable, and also can lead to haemolysis--the destruction of the cell walls of the red blood cells and the subsequent loss of haemoglobin therefrom.
What is not known is how to properly and effectively introduce required quantities of ozone or singlet oxygen into a liquid carrier in an efficient manner, so that a reasonably high volume alequot of blood can be treated in a relatively short period of time, with causing bubbling and potentially causing haemolysis of blood.

Oxygenation apparatus for oxygenating a carrier liquid by spraying


An optical circulator outputs an optical signal entered through its port A from its port B. A fiber collimator makes the optical signal spread out from the port B of the optical circulator into a collimated beam and applies it to a beam splitter. The beam splitter is disposed at an angle of 45xc2x0 to the optical axis. Around of the beam splitter, total reflection mirrors are disposed in three directions per angle of 90xc2x0 except for the direction in which the fiber collimator is disposed. The distance between the total reflection mirrors and the beam splitter is adjustable.

This application claims priority of Japanese Patent application number 2000-396619, filed Dec. 27, 2000.
This invention relates to a dispersion compensator and more specifically to a dispersion compensator to compensate group velocity dispersion and dispersion slopes in optical communications.
Currently, the research of large capacity optical communication networks using wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) transmission systems has been eagerly performed according to the plan to use them as infrastructures for supporting the future information-oriented society. At the same time, dispersion compensating devices to greatly improve the performance of the optical networks have become extremely important. They are also researched and examined.
As one of conventional dispersion compensators, a configuration to combine an optical circulator and a dispersion compensating fiber is well known. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,701,188, 5,715,265 and 5,974,206, and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. Heisei 8-316912 (i.e. U.S. Pat. No. 6,055,081).
A dispersion compensating fiber is a fiber having a chromatic dispersion value of a sign reverse to that of an optical transmission fiber and preferably its dispersion slope inclines reversely to that of the optical transmission fiber. The dispersion compensating fiber also can be composed of a fiber that forms a chirped grating. Although the optical circulator is generally used as a means to separate input light and output light, other configurations such as to use Y branch waveguide (See Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2000-235170) and to use a 3 dB optical coupler (see Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. Heisei 11-331075) are also known. To broaden a band, a configuration to connect a plurality of the above-described basic configurations as a multistage type has been proposed.
When an optical fiber grating is practically to be applied to optical communications, its length needs to be one meter or more. It is difficult to form such a long grating in an optical fiber all at once. Accordingly, it is necessary to form gratings separately on a plurality of areas. However, this method requires high production costs.
In the conventional configuration to use a Y branch waveguide instead of an optical circulator, to keep the phase relation between two branched light waves is too difficult to realize.
In the conventional configuration to use an optical coupler instead of an optical circulator, it is difficult to realize a predetermined phase relation between the two light waves that are branched and fed back.
A dispersion compensator comprises a first optical path pair having a first and a second optical paths, a second optical path pair having a third and a fourth optical paths, an optical coupler connecting to one end of the first, second, third, and fourth optical paths to split the light from the first optical path pair to the third and fourth optical paths and the light from the second optical path pair to the first and second optical paths, an optical signal input/output device to input the optical signal into the first optical path through the other end of the first optical path and to output the light output from the other end of the first optical path, and three mirrors respectively disposed on the other end of the second, third, and fourth optical paths. With this configuration, the chromatic dispersion can be compensated with a compact configuration.
For example, the optical coupler is composed of a beam splitter and the first, second, third, and fourth optical paths consisting of an open optical system respectively. Preferably, at least two out of the three mirrors are slidable in the direction of respective optical axis. With this configuration, the wavelength characteristics of the dispersion compensation can be controlled.
The optical coupler also can include a directional optical coupler. In this case, the first, second, third, and fourth optical paths consist of an optical waveguide respectively. With this configuration, a compact and stable dispersion compensator is realized. Preferably, means to control optical lengths of at least two of the first, second, third, and fourth light paths should be disposed. With this configuration, the wavelength characteristics of the dispersion compensation can be controlled.
By using an optical coupler which optical branching ratio depends on a wavelength, the wavelength characteristics of group velocity dispersion can be controlled.


A system for connecting a building device to a server includes a building network device including a processing circuit configured to receive one or more point identifier values from the building device via a building network. Each of the one or more point identifier values identifies a data point of the building device. The processing circuit is configured to receive one or more rules for generating a communication model for the building device from one or more memory devices. The processing circuit is configured to generate the communication model for the building device based on the received one or more point identifier values and the received one or more rules, receive, via the building network, data for the data points from the building device, and send, via the second network, the received data for the data points to corresponding data points on the server based on the communication model.

The present disclosure relates generally to a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a network device for network communication.
In a building, an HVAC system can operate to control an environmental condition of the building. The HVAC system can include multiple pieces of building equipment that can operate to control the environmental conditions. These pieces of building equipment may operate based on settings received via a network and can collect data of the building and provide the data to other building devices. The settings or collected data may be referred to as "point data" and may be specific data points for control set points, measured environmental conditions, etc. The point data can be communicated among the various pieces of building equipment via a network. For example, a controller could collect temperature data points for a particular zone based on a temperature sensor measuring the temperature data point. The point data can be communicated via various building specific networks e.g., building automation and control network (BACnet) protocols can be implemented on each of the pieces of building equipment enabling the communication of point data.

Building network device for generating communication models for connecting building devices to a network


A method for producing high-density, translucent, scintillator ceramics by way of a pressure-less sintering carried out at an elevated temperature. According to the method, particles of a MOS composition are prepared using a specific wet milling method whereby being reduced, in particular, to a particle size of less than 10 μm. The particles are compacted to form compacted bodies with green densities of up to 50% and higher. The sintering may be carried out under specific sintering parameters.

Scintillator ceramics or bodies are used for identifying high-energy radiation such as X-rays, gamma rays and electron beams. These bodies contain a luminescent material which absorbs the high-energy radiation and converts it into visible light. The luminescent radiation produced thereby is electronically detected and evaluated using light-sensitive systems such as photodiodes or photomultipliers.
For highly sensitive radiation detectors such as are required, for example, in X-ray computer tomography, scintillator ceramics made from pigment powders of the rare earth oxysulfides are known which obey the generic formula(M1-xLnx)2O2S
These are therefore metal oxysulfides (MOS) which have been doped with specific rare earth elements (Ln). In the generic formula, M stands for Y, La and/or Gd and Ln for an element from the group Eu, Ce, Pr, Tb, Yb, Dy, Sm and/or Ho.
For a high light yield when converting the high-energy radiation, the scintillator ceramic must be optically translucent to transparent in order to ensure high transmittance of the luminescent radiation. A high quantum efficiency is additionally required for the conversion. An excessively high afterglow is undesirable.
A high degree of transparency of the scintillator body can only be achieved with a high-density ceramic having an extremely low residual porosity. Optimum transmission of the luminescent radiation is adversely affected not only by crystal anisotropy of the optical refractive index but also by secondary phase inclusions as well as grain boundaries and, in particular, voids.
To produce an optimum scintillator ceramic, a metal oxysulfide powder of the appropriate (required) composition must be transformed into a compacted powder body which is then densified by sintering at elevated temperatures to form a ceramic that is as void-free as possible. As the metal oxysulfides chemically decompose at high temperatures, the sintering result cannot be sufficiently optimized by simply increasing the sintering temperature. This disadvantage can be largely compensated by applying mechanical pressure during the sintering process.
Corresponding pressure sintering technologies are used for producing high-transparency scintillator ceramics from metal oxysulfides. DE 36 29 180 A1 and DE 37 02 357 C2 describe the production of scintillator bodies wherein hot isostatic pressing is used during the sintering process. The operations involved here are very complex and the procurement costs for the apparatus required are also relatively high.
By considerably increasing the specific surface area of the starting powder from <1 m2/g to >10 m2/g, it has been possible to increase the sintering activity in the powder body to the point that expensive hot isostatic pressing has been able to be replaced by less expensive uniaxial pressing. The individual process conditions involved are described in DE 42 24 931 C2. Because of the way in which the metal oxysulfide powders used are produced, the particles of these more sinter active powders consist of a large number of primary particles which form stable, hard and porous agglomerates or aggregates with particle sizes of between 30 and 85 μm. This results primarily in relatively low and inhomogeneous bulk densities, i.e. density gradients occur in the powder body so that pressure-assisted sintering is required.
A disadvantage common to sintering assisted by hot isostatic pressing and sintering assisted by hot uniaxial pressing is that for economic reasons it is only possible to produce comparatively large ceramic blocks which then have to be split up into smaller components by means of expensive and time-consuming cutting and sawing operations. This can result in considerable material losses of up to 50% of the original material.
The existing manufacturing processes for scintillator ceramics therefore require high capital investment for the machinery required and involve considerable process costs.

Method for producing a scintillator ceramic


A cartridge heater, wherein the terminal lead pins which project from the terminal end of the heater at the outer surface of the electrical insulating end plug, are substantially reduced in length and provided with at least one flat planar surface on what was originally the cylindrical surface of each lead pin. The terminal ends of the external flexible lead wires are then fused to the flat surfaces on each of the lead pins by means of brazing, soldering or welding. An end adapter unit having two longitudinal bores is then threaded up over the two flexible lead wires until the outer casing, which encloses an electrical insulating core having the two circular bores for the flexible wires, is telescoped over the terminal end of the cannister which encloses the cartridge heater. The two bores within the end adapter are of a dimension sufficient not only to encompass the diameter of the flexible lead wire within each bore, but also of a diameter sufficient to enclose the fused end of the flexible lead wire and the foreshortened length of each lead pin. When the end adapter has been mounted on the outside surface of the cannister of the heating element, compressive force is applied by a conventional means, such as swaging, in order to compress the outer surface of the end adapter casing until its diameter is substantially equal to the diameter of the cannister of the electrical heater.

The present invention relates to electrical resistance heaters. More particularly, the present invention relates to an electrical cartridge heater assembly having improved electrical connection for the external lead wires.
Cartridge heaters typically comprise an electrical resistance element which is helically coiled on an insulating core. A metal cartridge or cannister that is coaxial with the coil and the core is radially spaced from the coil. The space between the cannister and the coil is filled with a mineral insulating material which has an optimum combination of a low electrical conductivity and a high thermal conductivity. In conventional cartridge heaters the mineral insulating material is typically a particulate material, such as a granular or powdered magnesium oxide, which is confined within the cannister by an insulating end plug.
Electrical power is delivered to the heater through a pair of conductors which are contained within longitudinal bores in the insulating core and are electrically connected to the resistance element. The conductors terminate in external lead pins which extend from the core outwardly through the end plug of the electrical heater. The end terminals of the helically coiled resistance element extend into the longitudinal bores in the core where they are held in electrical contact with the conductors. Opposite ends of the helically coiled resistance element are connected to different conductors so that the electrical power can be supplied to the coil. The lead pins which extend from the outer end of the conductors are conventionally solid as opposed to being of stranded wire in order to minimize surface area and thereby avoid the detrimental affects of surface oxidation. The use of solid conductors with terminating solid lead pins also makes the cartridge heater assembly reasonably rigid and provides for easy centering of the internal elements so that the assembly can be more easily fabricated.
In typical cartridge heaters, each lead pin extends outwardly from the terminal end of the heater with the outward extension of the lead pin being adapted to be electrically connected to an external lead, which is typically a flexible lead wire. Because the lead pins are generally lengthy, the electrical connections between the lead pins and the external lead wires are typically enclosed in an extension which occupies a relatively large amount of space at the end of the heater, thereby adding to the unheated length of the cartridge heater assembly. Such cartridge heater assemblies having a large unheated length on the terminal end are exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 3,839,623 to Portmann; U.S. Pat. No. 4,287,502 to Nickmeyer; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,622,455 to Schwarzkopf.
This additional unheated length is undesirable because it acts as a heat sink, causes an uneven heat flux and temperature distribution along the length of the heater, reduces the wattage output of the heater in those applications where the length of the heater is limited, and prevents use of the heater in certain applications where space limitations are tight.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,346,287 to Desloge, the inventor seeks to avoid the disadvantages of the prior art by providing the connections between the heater lead pins and the flexible external lead wires internally within the insulating end plug of the cartridge heater. In order to accomplish this, the lead pin and the insulating end plug are drilled out to provide cylindrical bores into which the terminal ends of the lead wires are inserted for a lapped connection. The primary problem with this concept is that it requires high precision drilling in order to provide a concave surface in each lead pin, which is, of course, expensive. Moreover, the inventor discloses numerous embodiments wherein he does, in fact, add additional enclosures and extensions over the terminal connection of the lead pins and the external lead wires, which thus defeats his original purpose of eliminating the additional unheated length to the cartridge heater.
With this then being the state of the art, it is an object of the present invention to provide an electrical heater assembly having secure terminal connections between the heater lead pins and the terminal ends of the external lead wires.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such secured connections within an end assembly which minimizes the amount of unheated length which is added to the terminal end of the electrical heater assembly.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide the foregoing objects without the additional expense of high precision machine operations.
These and other objects of the present invention, as well as the advantages thereof, will become more clear from the disclosure which follows.


The invention provides compositions and methods for regulating thermogenesis and muscle inflammation through modulation of Metrnl and/or Metrn activity and/or expression. Also provided are methods for preventing or treating metabolic disorders and muscle inflammation disorders in a subject through modulation of Metrnl and/or Metrn activity and/or expression. Further provided are methods for identifying compounds that are capable of treating metabolic disorders and muscle inflammation disorders by modulating Metrnl and/or Metrn activity and/or expression.

Muscle-secreted hormones (e.g., myokines) have been hypothesized to exist and exert autocrine, paracrine, or endocrine effects since skeletal muscle comprises the largest organ in the human body and exercise involving skeletal muscle contraction is known to have major metabolic and immunological effects (Pedersen (2010) J. Exp. Biol. 214:337-346). Despite decades of research focused on identifying myokines that can mimic the benefits of skeletal muscle-induced metabolic changes in organs such as adipose tissue and the immune system, very few such myokines have been discovered (Boström et al. (2012) Nature 481:463-468; Pedersen and Febbraio (2008) Physiol. Rev. 88:1379-1406). Exacerbating the paucity of known myokines having such beneficial therapeutic effects, the clinical need for such agents has never been greater.
For example, metabolic disorders comprise a collection of health disorders that increase the risk of morbidity and loss of quality of life afflicting greater than 50 million people in the United States. Such metabolic disorders, including diabetes, obesity, including central obesity (disproportionate fat tissue in and around the abdomen), atherogenic dyslipidemia (including a family of blood fat disorders, e.g., high triglycerides, low HDL cholesterol, and high LDL cholesterol that can foster plaque buildups in the vascular system, including artery walls), high blood pressure (130/85 mmHg or higher), insulin resistance or glucose intolerance (the inability to properly use insulin or blood sugar), a chronic prothrombotic state (e.g., characterized by high fibrinogen or plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 levels in the blood), and a chronic proinflammatory state (e.g., characterized by higher than normal levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein in the blood), are increasing in prevalence among the U.S. population.
Similarly, many myopathies are associated with inflammation of muscle (e.g., skeletal muscle) and are relatively prevalent among the general U.S. population. For example, Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) affects 1 in 3,500 male births. Muscular dystrophies in general are a group of clinically and genetically heterogeneous myopathies characterized by progressive degenerative changes in the skeletal muscles. This group of genetically distinct disorders shares clinical and pathological characteristics but varies in severity, inheritance pattern, and molecular defects. For example, DMD is caused by mutations or deletions in the dystrophin gene (chromosome Xp21) leading to its reduction at the mRNA level and absence at the protein level. This loss of dystrophin causes a fragility of the muscle membrane resulting in repeated rounds of muscle fiber necrosis and regeneration associated with chronic inflammation, as well as progressive replacement of the muscle fibers by fibrosis and fat in the later stages of the disease. Studies in animal models and in DMD subjects seem to suggest that the immune system could also contribute to the lesions observed in the skeletal muscles. An increased inflammation has been described in dystrophin-deficient muscles, and it has been shown that the in vivo depletion of CD8+ T cells in the mdx mouse (the murine natural model of DMD) or the impairment of T cell cytotoxicity by the removal of perforin attenuates the disease. It has also been shown that irradiation of prenecrotic mdx mice improves or delays the pathological symptoms, presumably due to a decrease in the number of immune cells that can invade and kill the muscle. Finally, adoptive transfer of mdx immune cells in combination with muscle extracts resulted in muscle pathology in health murine recipients.
Thus, despite decades of scientific research, few effective myokine therapies have emerged to treat metabolic disorders and inflammatory disorders. Accordingly, there is a great need to identify molecular regulators of metabolic disorders and inflammatory-associated myopathy disorders, including the generation of diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic agents to effectively control such disorders in subjects.

Compositions and methods for regulating thermogenesis and muscle inflammation using metrnl and metrn


The invention relates to a citrus fruit juice extractor which can be used to cut citrus fruits into at least two parts, extract the juice therefrom and discharge the peel following juicing. The juice extractor consists of a juice extractor element coupled in a hollow housing having openings in the sides thereof, a cutting element connected above the extractor element, and press means located above the hollow housing.

Traditional juicers are instruments or tools that were designed to extract juice of citrus fruits, such as oranges, lemons, grapefruit, etc. The traditional way is carried out by simple steps that include cutting the fruit and then pressing the halves of it by hand on very simple manual juicers (plastic material, glass, metal, etc.), such as the known ones "fruit citrus juicers", as well as the use of more complex electric juicers to perform the operation by squeezing the fruit in a more or less automatic way.
This type of juicers is usually used in homes or for semi-commercial use in small juice businesses.
However, because the consumption of citrus fruits has been increasing every day, for example, for sale in shopping centers, restaurants and many bars and hotels to produce juice (fresh juice), automatic or semi-automatic machines began to be manufactured, which have a channel where citrus are placed and progressively progressing to a section of cut and squeezed according to customer orders.
Currently, there is a wide variety of citrus juicers. There are large ones such as the one developed by the company "FMC Technologies" protected by several U.S. patents, such as the U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,426,107B1; 6,568,319B2; 6,912,951 B2; 6,923,112B2, 7,421,945B2; 7,487,721B2, among others.
The operating principle of the FMC juicer is based on feeding the fruit to the juicer through a belt conveyor and is automatically positioned on a lower cup. A stainless steel blade located at the top, cuts a circle of bark on top of the citrus to allow separation of the crust from the interior portions of the fruit. In the lower part, another blade cuts a portion of bark to allow access of a cylinder to sift into the interior of the fruit. An upper cup moves down causing a pressure on the citrus so that the upper and lower blades begin to cut the upper and lower ends of the fruit. The design of the cups allows the fruit is perfectly subject, preventing breakage, and get a uniform extraction throughout the process. A pre-shaping cylinder separates the internal elements of the fruit according to their size: the juice and the pulp will pass through the holes of the pre-shaping cylinder and will be deposited in a juice reservoir, while the membranes and seeds will be discharged by a lower tube.
Once the extraction is finished, the interior portions of the citrus that are located inside the sifting cylinder and a tube moves upward, pressing the contents of the sifting cylinder, which causes the juice and pulp to pass through the sieve holes and into the juice collecting tank.
Another type of citrus fruit juicing machine is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 7,493,851 assigned to the company Zumex. Said squeezing machine is of a small size, of the type that uses sets of rotating male-female drums characterized by having one sole female drum and one sole male drum with an automatically positioning blade and a retaining pendulum-turning device. These characteristics avoid having to incorporate a second set of drums into the machine since the remaining half fruit is turned after the cut into the following upper cavity of the female drum. Its principle of operation is quite simple and is based on splitting the fruit in half and passing the halves between two rotating cylinders that press the fruit and extract the juice. The male and female drums with a perfect synchronization, extract the juice from the pulp of the fruit, which has previously been cut in two halves by means of the blade located in the upper compartment of the machine.
Both extractors present a very good efficiency for the ranges of recommended fruit sizes. However, losses in the yields of juice and essential oil can occur due to the breakage of the fruits when the pieces that are fed to a certain cup are too large or small. This problem is reduced by the selection by calibrating the size of the fruit suitable before extraction.
Another disadvantage is that the machines are large and occupy a larger storage space, as well as the high cost of the same,
A further disadvantage of large juice extractors is that, due to the large number of pieces, it requires a greater cleaning to keep it in a healthy and hygienic condition.
Another type of machine for extracting juices is described in the U.S. Pat. No. 8,261,659 assigned to Carlos Mendes Neto, which generally refers to a fruit juice extraction device comprising two pairs of opposing peeler cups, for peeling fruits, which compress the fruit to obtain the juice, and particularly to features of the paired peeler cups that are effective at relatively higher production rates and/or with relatively smaller fruit.
As described above, most machines for the zumo or juice extraction are operated in an automatic or semi-automatic way, where the fruit is crushed or cut causing in some cases that the juice has a bitter taste, which is not pleasant for the consumer.
Therefore, the present invention relates to a citrus fruit juicer apparatus of the type comprising: a hollow housing having an open upper section and a lower exit section, said hollow housing including at least one opening or window for each one of its sides. A squeezer device coupled to the internal part of said hollow housing, the squeezer device having at least two trapezoidal sunken sections, each sunken section having an open top and a front section, the trapezoidal sunken sections being placed in an opposite relation to one another in the central part of the squeezing device, the front part of each trapezoidal sunken section being coincident with each opening of the hollow housing; the sunken trapezoidal sections including a plurality of slots to allow the passage of the citrus juice to be squeezed. At least one cutting blade placed transversely in the open upper section of the hollow housing, the blades being coupled above the squeezing device for reception and cutting of the citrus fruits. And, a pressing mechanism, which is placed, separately, above the hollow housing, said pressing mechanism including at least two pressing ladles which are located in an axial alignment with respect to each of the trapezoidal sunken sections of the squeezer device, the pressing mechanism being operable with a forward or backward movement so that once a citrus has been placed on the blades, the mechanism has a forward movement and the pressing ladles press the citrus on the cutting blades for cutting the citrus in parts and continue to enter each of the trapezoidal sunken sections of the squeezing device, said pressing ladles, during the forward movement press the cut sections of the citrus against the trapezoidal sunken sections, passing the citrus juice squeezed through the plurality of slots of the squeezed device and eject it to the lower section of the hollow housing; and, during its backward movement, separate the pressing mechanism and ladles from the hollow housing to allow the feeding of another citrus on the blades in the upper part of the hollow housing.


Vaccines of preferential administration via mucous membranes, for the control of viral diseases generated by infectious agents that use heparan sulfate (HS) as a cellular receptor consisting of an immunogenic formulation for veterinary use, comprising an antigen whose cellular receptor is heparan sulfate (HS), a vehicle for oral, intranasal or parenteral administration, wherein said vehicle corresponds to D-glucosamine and functionalized N-acetyl-D-glucosamine biopolymers, with sulfur atoms, and/or functionalized chitosan biopolymer, with sulfur atoms, and where the antigen is microencapsulated by said types of functionalized biopolymers.

It is common knowledge that increased veterinary emergencies worldwide is linked to increased mobility of people, goods and animals, changes in farming systems and climate, in addition to the weakening of many health services livestock. Both in developed countries and the developing countries, sometimes no disease outbreaks have been detected by the central veterinary authorities for days or even months, which has enabled them to spread without restraint. The results have been unnecessary production losses, and outbreaks of disease outbreaks and increasing campaigns for effective disease control and eradication of the same difficulty. These trends indicate that timely warning is one of the weakest links in the systems of disease surveillance at the national, regional and international levels.
In many developing countries, systems for disease surveillance are passive and rely mostly on that report of outbreaks of disease, rather than actively monitor the situation of the same, and there is very little coordination between field veterinary services and those laboratory. Vaccines and antibiotics have been used to control infectious diseases for many years. However, antibiotics and vaccines are not always effective, often due to methods of administration. Clearly, antibiotics and vaccines cannot replace biosecurity programs, but for some diseases are needed and reduce the spread of the disease when appropriately and timely used.
It is known that in livestock, agriculture and animal husbandry industry, there are many attempts to provide vaccines to reduce disease affecting animals. Some of these vaccines are used for the control of diseases generated by infectious agents using heparan sulfate (HS) as cell receptor, where HS is a glycosaminoglycan (GAG) that can be attached to proteins forming proteoglycans (HSPG's), the which is present in all cells, both on the surface and at the level of extracellular matrix (ECM). According to the specific set of modified disaccharides HS binding sites for a variety of specific ligands are defined. In the prior art, can be found related to the role of HSPG's both infections caused by bacteria or viruses, among which may be mentioned, Garcia et al papers, J. Med Microb Diagn 2014, 3: 4. Zhu Wu and Yang et al, Biomed Environ Sci, 2011, 24 (1). 81-87. However, most of these vaccines are administered parenterally presenting several disadvantages, which are explained below. An alternative to meet the demands related to control generated by infectious agents, which has been widely explored is the development of oral vaccines for livestock, agricultural and animal husbandry industry as this administration route allows among other things diseases more effective vaccines and reduce indirect costs associated with parenteral vaccination, such as time, labor and infrastructure, induction of the inflammatory response and inclusion of foreign bodies at the site of injection as well as related stress management animal. In turn, oral vaccines, potentially mixed with food or drink water represent a technological improvement in the delivery of the antigen, since, in addition to overcoming the problems associated with handling the same, facilitate strengthening the antigen when the animal immunity is below the threshold protective (Bucarey, Sergio et al. 2009).
Oral immunization has been an ideal vaccination strategy, as it has several advantages, among which we can mention the elimination of pain associated with an injection needle. Furthermore, oral vaccines offer important benefits, including safer administration since they allow to avoid risks associated with the use of hypodermic needles. The most immediate advantages relate to the ease of use and application.
Additionally, oral vaccines allow to avoid some difficulties arise when vaccines parenteral, such as granuloma formation at the injection site via used. These granulomas often affect the quality of the meat, so a vaccine to prevent this serious complication greatly valued in the related field of application. Furthermore, a vaccine of oral administration avoids the complications associated as a possible break of the injection needle during the vaccination process, deformation of the needle after successive uses which prevents a homogeneous vaccination in cattle (usual in this area parenteral vaccination with hypodermic syringes automatic pistol), disease transmission by contaminated needles, costs associated with livestock handling errors in the vaccination procedure, such as involuntary autoinoculation operator, and stress animal. The deposit of foreign bodies in the animal's flesh, caused with this type of vaccine also produces the consequent diminution of the quality of the meat of the vaccinated animal and associated economic losses.
From the immunological point of view, oral immunization has the ability to induce protective immunity in the area of a mucosa, via natural pathogen infection. This immunity is more difficult to achieve by immunizing parenterally. Furthermore, an oral vaccine has the advantage of being effective in containing the spread of infection and induce humoral and cellular immunity.
Despite the useful and promising is the use of an oral vaccine, only some of these vaccines have been developed and have managed to reach the market. The main cause of the above, relates to the active agents generally pharmaceuticals pose a significant problem when passing through the digestive system of an animal, that is, are completely inactivated or gradual. This is because the active compound, which corresponds to the antigen in the case of a vaccine as herein proposed, is degraded during transit along the digestive tract. The stomach of an animal is an extraordinarily inhospitable environment for these active compounds, since it has an extremely low pH (pH=1-2) and proteolytic enzymes whose function denature and degrade proteins. Product of the above, the antigen is modified before contact immuno sensitive cells associated lymphoid tissue to a mucosa (MALT). To solve the above problems, a transient change in the pH of the stomach, neutralization of gastric enzymes and/or stimulation of the immune response mucosal necessary. Another way to solve this problem is to provide a vehicle for oral administration to protect the antigen during transit through the stomach, however, to date most have been unsuccessful attempts used and have not been successful commercially. Additionally, one should consider that, in general protection vehicles tested and/or tested that are able to withstand the passage through the digestive tract have an inefficient release in MALT. Furthermore, there is also a tendency for the MALT of inducing immunological tolerance, because the antigen is denatured before contact with the "therapeutic target", where this corresponds to associated lymphoid tissue lining of the intestine (Peyer's patches). This implies the need to increase the number of doses and antigen concentration to exert the effect desired immunity, with a corresponding increase in costs. A better understanding of the operation and regulation of the mucosal immune system, along with the development of nanotechnological systems efficient release would address the problems mentioned and resolve the difficulties generated by the denaturation and release of antigen, and additionally, create a platform for generating oral mucosal vaccines which could be used for various types of persistent pathogens in livestock and veterinary industry in general.
Importantly, in recent years, encapsulating antigens and active compounds in micro particles using natural polymers such as chitosan and/or alginate or synthetic polymers have generated a solution to the problem present in oral vaccines, allowing develop an oral immunization format economically and effectively. This is because the use of microparticles (MPs) biopolymer protects the antigen from degradation (enzymatic and acid) and retains the biological activity along the digestive tract, which also allows it to be more efficiently endocytosed by M cells of Peyer's patches. Once the microencapsulated antigen is captured and processed by dendritic cells and resident macrophages, presentation and lymphocyte activation occurs, resulting in a humoral immune response and/or efficient cell in terms of intensity and duration respect immunity conferred by the antigen unencapsulated.
In the state of the art, it is known that chitosan is one of the most abundant biopolymer in nature after cellulose. Chitosan, poly β-(1,4)-2-amido-2-deoxy-D-glucopiranosal is a deacetylated chitin derivative, formed by N-acetylglucosamine units (GlcNAc). This biopolymer is obtained from the alkaline deacetylation of chitin and is a natural and linear cationic copolymer consisting of D-glucosamine units deacetylated and N-acetyl-D-glucosamine randomly distributed. Furthermore, chitosan has properties such as safety (LD50>16 g/Kg), biocompatibility, is biodegradable and is biostimulant. Naturally occurs in the class Zygomycetes fungi, algae Chlorella, insect cuticle, cell walls of some plants, annelids and exoskeleton of crustaceans and molluscs.
It is also known that chitosan can be obtained industrially at low cost, also presenting other characteristics, such as antimicrobial activity, mucoadsortiva capacity and ability to open tight intercellular junctions (tight junctions). These qualities, coupled with the ability to bind proteins and macromolecules reversibly, have made it an excellent candidate for the development of oral vaccines and delivery systems controlled drug.
Another property of chitosan is its versatile ability to be modified by functionalization reactions with chemical groups such as thiols (SH), sulfates (SO42−), sulfonates (SO3−), phosphate (PO43−), etc. In the prior art, you can be found related modified chitosan documents, such as U.S. Pat. No. 8,778,384, which discloses a microencapsulation method of oral vaccines, with emphasis on aquatic species, based on chitosan functionalized with methyl groups (−CH3), dimethyls (−(CH3)2), trimetilos —(CH3)3 and carboxymethyl (—(OCH2COO−)) so enhance mucoadhesiveness. In the state of art you can also be found in documents using chitosan oral vaccines, such as WO 2003/086454 which discloses oral vaccines comprising chitosan microparticles loaded with antigenic material of an infectious agent causing a respiratory disease in mammals or poultry to combat infectious respiratory diseases. The scientific publication "Microparticles Chitosan loaded With yeast-derived PCV2 virus-like particles elicit antigen-specific cellular immune response in mice after oral administration" (Bucarey, Sergio et al. 2014), discloses that chitosan particles are used both as a carrier and mucosal adjuvant for particle delivery "virus-like" (VLPs) derived from PCV2 virus yeast as an oral vaccine, in order to overcome the problems associated with parenteral administration.
While oral or mucosal vaccines are disclosed in these documents, none of them solves the technical problem of the invention proposed here, while working to protect the antigen in the digestive tract, as in the case of WO 2003/086454, but they fail to obtain a controlled delivery vehicle, based on a biomimetic model for a specific antigen, as achieved with the present invention improving the efficiency and quality of vaccine surprisingly.
Finally include chitosan has been functionalized with various groups, however, functionalization through sulfur groups (—SR), containing the element sulfur (S), so far not been made and used with a biomimetic concept in treatment of diseases generated by viruses cell receptor using the HS. Use of PMs based polymer functionalized with structural similarity to a cellular receptor could generate a great interest in the pharmaceutical industry because chitosan functionalized thus may allow improved mucoadhesive (given by a high affinity for mucin), a higher permeability, stability and greater control over the release of antigens and drugs to mucosal level. Also, other biopolymers comprising units D-glucosamine and/or N-acetyl-D-glucosamine such as chitin with structural similarity to heparan sulfate, and functionalized sulfur atoms, also may permit improved mucoadhesive, and a higher permeability, stability and greater control over the release of antigens and drugs and greater control over the release of antigens and drugs to mucosal level.
According to the above, the present application aims to provide a pharmaceutical product intended to solve the problems described in the prior art related to administration parenterally, by vaccination mucosal based on a biomimetic model, orally administered or intranasal, allowing deliver the antigen or active compound in a controlled manner without being degraded during transit along the digestive tract. Notwithstanding the above, the vaccine may also be administered parenterally.

Vaccine treatment and control infectious against viral pathogens utilizing heparan sulfate (HS) as cellular receptor


A combustor includes a plurality of tubes arranged in a tube bundle and supported by at least one plate that extends radially within the combustor, wherein each tube includes an upstream end axially separated from a downstream end and provides fluid communication through the tube bundle. A flow conditioner extends upstream from the upstream end of one or more of the plurality of tubes, and a radial passage extends through the flow conditioner. A method for distributing fuel in a combustor including flowing a working fluid through a flow conditioner that extends from a tube that is configured in a tube bundle comprising a plurality of tubes and that is supported by at least one plate. The flow conditioner includes at least one radial passage to impart radial swirl to the working fluid. Flowing a fuel through an annular insert that is at least partially surrounded by the flow conditioner.

Gas turbines are widely used in commercial operations for power generation. Gas turbine combustors generally operate on a liquid and/or a gaseous fuel mixed with a compressed working fluid such as air. The flexibility to run a gas turbine on either fuel provides a great benefit to gas turbine operators.
It is widely known that the thermodynamic efficiency of a gas turbine increases as the operating temperature, namely the combustion gas temperature increases. It is also known that higher combustion gas temperatures may be attained by providing a rich fuel/air mixture in the combustion zone of a combustor. However, higher combustion temperatures resulting from a rich liquid or gaseous fuel/air mixture may significantly increase the generation of nitrogen oxide or NOx, which is an undesirable exhaust emission. In addition, the higher combustion temperatures may result in increased thermal stresses on the mechanical components within the combustor. NOx levels may be reduced by providing a lean fuel/air ratio for combustion or by injecting additives, such as water, into the combustor.
To provide a lean fuel/air mixture the fuel and air may be premixed prior to combustion. The premixing may take place in a dual-fuel combustor fuel nozzle, which may include multiple tubes configured in a tube bundle. As the gas turbine cycles through various operating modes, air flows through the tubes and the fuel is injected into the tubes for premixing with the air. A variety of dual-fuel nozzles exist which allow premixing of a liquid and/or gaseous fuel with a working fluid prior to combustion. However, an improved fuel nozzle and method for supplying fuel to a combustor that improves the uniformity of the fuel mixture would be useful.

Combustor and method for distributing fuel in the combustor


A foot and ankle strengthening device can include a wedge block formed of a resilient material. The wedge block can comprise a base surface that defines a base plane, and a top surface substantially opposite the base surface and including a plurality of raised bulges. The top surface can extend from a front side to a back side along a longitudinal axis and from a left side to a right side along a horizontal axis, and have a midpoint ridge arranged between the left and right side. The top surface can be sloped downwardly from the front side to the back side at the midpoint ridge and along the longitudinal axis and from the midpoint ridge to the left side and right side along the horizontal axis. The base surface can be configured to contact a ground surface to support the wedge block.

The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
Weakness of the foot musculature, specifically, the muscles of the arches and toes, has been correlated with the development of a wide range of foot/ankle injuries. For example, plantar fasciitis, which eventually afflicts more than 10% of the population, is associated with long-term deficits in toe strength. Further, toe weakness has been correlated with falls in the elderly. Research proves that older adults have toe strength declines of more than 28% and the subsequent toe weakness has been correlated with an increased risk of fall. Falls in the elderly are extremely common and the probability of a person over 70 years of age experiencing a fall is almost 40%.
Despite the fact that toe and arch weakness poses significant health risks, few exercise devices exist that specifically target these important muscles. Furthermore, the majority of exercise devices that do exist use a complex assortment of springs, elastic bands and/or hinges, making them difficult to use and expensive. Ease-of-use is particularly important for the elderly population, who may be at high risk for falls due to age-related toe weakness.


This device comprises a frame carrying means for conveying blanks according to a substantially plane path and two parallel shafts (10, 11), which are mounted so as to be rotatable on both sides of the plane of said path and comprising tool supports (19a, 19b, 20a, 20b) for inducing a shearing between the adjacent edges of a cutting line during their displacement, in order to break nicks on the cutting line. Each parallel shaft (10, 11) comprises at least one tool support (19a, 19b, 20a, 20b) for connecting the shearing tools to said respective shafts (10, 11) and means for angularly (10a, 11a) and longitudinally positioning these tool supports (19a, 19b, 20a, 20b) on said respective shafts (10, 11).

The present invention relates to a device for breaking nicks connecting two edges of a cutting line which is provided on blanks of cardboard before folding them, comprising a frame carrying means for conveying the blanks along a path substantially planar and two parallel shafts, rotatably mounted on both sides of the plane of the path, comprising tools for inducing a shearing between the edges adjacent to the cutting line, during their displacement, in order to break the nicks.
When cutting certain cardboard blanks to be folded according to folding lines, to form boxes in particular, it is often useful or even necessary, to maintain a connection between the adjacent edges of at least some cutting lines, in order to avoid that the blanks cling to one another. Generally, these are punctual connections between the edges of the cutting line and spaced from one another along the cutting line.
When introducing such blanks into a folder-gluer, these connections must be broken before performing the folding operations of these blanks.
A device has already been proposed, for example, in patent EP 0 680 821. This device is more particularly intended to break the fibers of cardboard which can accidentally remain in blanks from which the various panels are separated by simple cutting lines. Even if the reasons of the connections are involuntary here, the problem to be solved is, however, completely comparable with that evoked above.
The solution suggested by the above-mentioned document has a plurality of disadvantages, primarily related to its lack of flexibility, the tools for inducing the shearing in order to break uncut fibres being directly formed on the rotary shafts. Therefore, the change of the type of cardboard blanks requires the change of the two shafts, involving a significant disassembling operation of the device. Moreover, the swivel pins of these shafts on the frame being fixed, such a device can only be used for a same type of box, in this case cigarette packagings, so that this device is not usable to process cardboard blanks of substantially different sizes.
Another disadvantage, related to this solution of prior art, lies in the fact that the cardboard blanks must be spaced from one another with very precise spacings, or else, if the relative position of the tools and blanks varies, there will be a shift between the tools and the parts of the cardboard blanks to be worked, making it impossible to achieve the goal required and being likely to damage the cardboard blanks. However, the keeping of this precise spacing requires adjustment operations which are long and meticulous so that the productivity is limited, owing to the fact that the number of blanks processed per unit of length cannot be optimized.
The aim of the present invention is to meet, at least partly, the difficulties of the above-mentioned device.
To this end, this invention is directed to a device which comprises a frame, a conveyor supported by the frame for conveying cardboard blanks along a path that is substantially planar, first and second parallel shafts rotatably mounted to the frame and disposed on both sides of the substantially planar path of the blanks, first and second annular tool supports respectively disposed on the first and second shafts, a mechanism operative to move the tool supports both rotatively and linearly on the first and second shafts to position the tool supports both angularly and longitudinally on the respective shafts, first and second shearing tools respectively supported on the tool supports, whereby the shearing tools are rotatable with the respective shafts, and a drive mechanism for rotating the shafts and the tools thereon.
The design of this device allows a great flexibility of use and an adaptation to cardboard blanks of sizes likely to vary in significant proportions. This new design also facilitates the adjustment of the position of the tools, thus increases the productivity.
Numerous other particularities and significant advantages of this device will become evident from the following description and from the enclosed drawings which illustrate, schematically and by way of example, an embodiment of the device for breaking the nicks connecting two edges of a cutting line, object of the present invention.

Device for breaking nicks connecting two edges of a cutting line


The time slot management system is included in a digital time division multiple access system includes a main station MS and a plurality of substations U1/16 connected to each other via a tree network. The substations U1/16 send to the main station MS upstream information packets in time slots assigned to each of the former stations by the main station. Part of the time slots are reserved for management information and used by the substation to inform the main station about the bandwidth needed for the further transfer of the upstream information, According to this information the time slot management system allocates the time slots and informs the substations thereof. In this way a flexible and dynamic time slot allocation is provided.

Such a management system is already known in the art, e.g. from the article "Passive optical network for realtime use" by J. Tatsuo Koji et al, Proceedings of Globecom '85--New York, pp. 1,037-1,041. Therein a functional description is given of a management system controlling the transfer of information packets in a star network in which a plurality of user stations are connected via user links to a central star node. One of the user stations operates as main station, called Present Supervisory Control (PSVC) station and its link to the central star node may be considered as the above common link. The time slots used for upstream communication are allocated in a fixed way, i.e. without taking into account possible changes in the bandwidth required by the substations to send the upstream packets. Indeed, the main user station PSVC is able to send to the other user stations a frame header packet with time slots assigned to the latter stations and each of them detects the assigned time slot by counting the time slots until the counted number reaches its own previously assigned number. It should be noted that in the above star network information packets are transferred not only between the user stations and the main station, but also between the user stations themselves.


A wedge clamp assembly includes a body having a body cable gripping surface, and a slider having a slider cable gripping surface. The slider cable gripping surface faces the body cable gripping surface to grip a cable. A connector is formed in one of the body and the slider, and includes a slot for moving the slider between closed and locked positions and an end portion formed on the other of the body and the slider. The end portion is axially slidable and rotatable in the slot. A coupling between the body and the slider pivotally connects the slider for movement between the closed position and an open position.

Typically a clamp assembly is used to support the conductor from an overhead feed line to a residential or other structure. The clamp assembly is commonly provided with one of several designs of wire bail or small cable, which is used to attach to a hook or other means at or near the service mast. Conventional clamps are fashioned from pairs of locking wedges which clamp the conductor when tension is applied to the conductor.
To install these conventional devices, the operator must disassemble the two wedges, lay the conductor into the receptacle wedge component, and insert the pressure wedge component into the slots of the receptable wedge component. This operation requires holding each of the two components separately, while maintaining the conductor under tension, which is particularly difficult when working at a significant height above the ground.
All too often, one of the pieces of the wedge assembly is accidentally dropped, requiring a person on the ground to retrieve the part and throw it back up to the lineman on the pole.

Side opening, double enveloping wedge clamp


Disclosed is an electrophotographic photoreceptor including a conductive supporting body, a photosensitive layer and a protective layer. In the electrophotographic photoreceptor, at least the photosensitive layer and the protective layer are sequentially layered on the conductive supporting body, and the protective layer includes P-type semiconductor particles.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrophotographic photoreceptor, and specifically to an electrophotographic photoreceptor used in an image forming apparatus to which electrophotographic method applies.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, organic photoreceptors including organic photo conductive materials are widely used as electrophotographic photoreceptors. Organic photoreceptors have advantages that they are easy to develop materials corresponding to various types of lithography light sources including visible light to ultra violet light, that materials which do not cause environmental pollution can be selected to be used and that manufacturing cost is inexpensive comparing to inorganic photoreceptors.
On the other hand, because electrophotographic photoreceptors (hereinafter, also called a photoreceptor) directly receives electrical or mechanical external force due to electrification, exposure, development, transfer, cleaning and the like, it is expected that electrophotographic photoreceptors have durability so as to stably maintain electrification stability, electric potential retentivity and such like even when image forming is repeatedly performed.
Especially, with the trend of digitalization in the recent years, demand for high definition and high quality image, is increasing and small particle toners of polymerization method such as a solution suspension toner, emulsion aggregation toner and the like became the mainstream. Such small particle toner has great adhesion on the surface of a photoreceptor and residual toner such as residual toner from transfer attached to the surface of the photoreceptor cannot be removed sufficiently. In a cleaning method using a rubber blade, phenomenon such as "slip through of toner" where toner slips through the blade, "blade turning" where the blade turns over, so-called "blade squeaking" where the photoreceptor and the blade generate friction sound and the like are likely to occur. The blade needs to have great contacting pressure with respect to the photoreceptor in order to resolve the "slip through of toner". However, there is a problem that the durability becomes insufficient due to attrition of the surface of the organic photoreceptor by repeatedly using the photoreceptor. Further, photoreceptor is expected to have sufficient durability with respect, to degradation due to ozone and nitrogen oxide which are generated at the time of electrification.
In view of the above problems, there is suggested a technique to improve the mechanical strength of photoreceptors by providing protective layer (hereinafter, also called surface layer) on the surfaces of photoreceptors.
In particular, JP H11-288121 and JP 2009-69241 suggest techniques to manufacture a photoreceptor having high durability with respect to attrition and scars on the surface due to friction of a cleaning blade or the like by using a polymerizable compound generally called curable compound as the photoreceptor protective layer and by causing hardening reaction after applying such, polymerizable compound. Further, JP 2002-333733 suggests a technique to improve mechanical strength by dispersing inorganic fine particles such as silica on the protective layer.
In recent years, electrophotographic image forming apparatus has been rapidly expanding its use in the field of light printing, and greater durability and higher image quality is being demanded in electrophotographic photoreceptor. However, electrophotographic photoreceptor that fully satisfies the demand in terms of durability and image quality cannot be obtained in conventional techniques, and there has been increasing demands for techniques which will provide greater durability and higher image quality in electrophotographic photoreceptor.
However, because charge transport ability of such protective layer is poor, there is a problem that the photographic sensitivity characteristic as electrophotographic photoreceptor is to be degraded by being provided with the protective layer comparing to an electrophotographic photoreceptor without protective layer. In order to resolve this problem, the protective layer can have charge transport ability by including charge transport material in the protective layer. However, because, charge transport material of organic compound generally has a plasticizing effect, strength of the protective layer is degraded due to inclusion of charge transport material. In view of the above, there is disclosed a technique to give charge transport ability to the protective layer and to obtain a protective layer having great durability to attrition. For example, JP 2010-164646 discloses a technique regarding a protective layer made by using a radical polymerizable compound having charge transport ability, a radical polymerizable compound not having charge transport ability and a filler which is treated with a surface processing agent including polymerizable functional group and by causing hardening reaction thereof.

Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.


An integrated sensor processing cell device capable of transforming, reshaping, and modulating an original sensed image includes a sensing medium. At least one memory device stores weight bits. Multiplexers are associated with at least one of the memory devices. At least one transconductance amplifier is associated with at least one of the multiplexers. A multiple input logic gate, associated with at least one of the memory devices, is configured to store a signed pixel output derived from the sensing medium output.

The present invention relates to an integrated sensing and processing device. More specifically, the present invention relates to an architecture for the integrated realization of sensing and processing within a single device.
Currently, Cellular Neural Networks (CNN) build a paradigm based on a set of canonical differential- equations (Equations 1-3 below) that define a set of nonlinear dynamic interactions between cells in a (usually two dimensional) grid. There are several degrees of freedom in setting up these interactions in the form of feedback and feedforward weights (namely the values A and B in Equation 1) and the initial conditions of the states (x(t=0) in Equation 1) and the bias currents (I in Equation 3). CNN is in fact programmed by way of manipulating these values. The nonlinearity comes from the nonlinear nature of the function (xe2x80x98fxe2x80x99 in Equation 2). The function xe2x80x9cfxe2x80x9d can take on different shapes and characteristics. Programming a particular function is then delegated to finding the right combination of A, B, x(t=0), and I that yields the desired outcome or outputs (y) given a pattern of inputs (u). This type of programmability is quite flexible.
CNN is a hybrid of Cellular Automata and Neural Networks (hence the name Cellular Neural Networks) and it incorporates the best features of both concepts. Like Neural Networks, its continuous time feature allows real-time signal processing, and like Cellular Automata its local interconnection feature makes physical realization in VLSI possible. Its grid-like structure is suitable for the solution of a high-order system of first order nonlinear differential equations on-line and in real-time. In summary, CNN can be viewed as an analog nonlinear dynamic processor array. The basic unit of CNN is called a cell. Each cell receives Input from its immediate neighbors land itself via feedback), and also from external sources (e.g. the sensor array points and/or previous layers).
The canonical CNN equation summarizes these relationships:                                                         τ              ij                                                                                x                  .                                ij                                                          (                t                )                                              =                                    -                                                x                  ij                                                                  (                  t                  )                                                      +                                          ∑                                  kl                  ∈                                                            N                      r                                                                                (                      ij                      )                                                                                xe2x80x83                                                                          xe2x80x83                                                                            A                                      ij                    ,                    kl                                                                                (                                                                                y                        kl                                                                                (                        t                        )                                                              ,                                                                  y                        ij                                                                                (                        t                        )                                                                              )                                                      +                                          ∑                                  kl                  ∈                                                            N                      r                                                                                (                      ij                      )                                                                                xe2x80x83                                                                          xe2x80x83                                                                            B                                      ij                    ,                    kl                                                                                (                                                                                u                        kl                                                                                (                        t                        )                                                              ,                                                                  u                        ij                                                                                (                        t                        )                                                                              )                                                      +                          I              ij
                        and                            Equation                          xe2x80x83                        1                                          xe2x80x83                                              y            ij                    =                      f                                      (                              x                ij                            )                                                          Equation                          xe2x80x83                        2                                          xe2x80x83                                              I            ij                    =          I                                    Equation                          xe2x80x83                        3
where u represents the input, x represents the state, and y represents a nonlinear function of the state associated with a cell (or neuron), and A and B represent the cloning templates.
In a typical CNN, local connections between the neighbors (feedback weights, or the entries of the matrix A in Equation 1), along with connections form the sensory array (input weights, or entries of the matrix B in Equation 1) form the programmable cloning templates. Cloning templates to perform numerous types of visual processing tasks have been developed. Each template is specific to a particular application, e.g., a cloning template for edge detection or binocular stereo. Cellular neural networks are attractive in image processing because of their programmability: One needs to change only the template to perform a different iconic task.
Despite such flexibility, critical problems arise when one tries to implement CNN in electronic circuits. The CNN model described in Equations (1-3), however, is not suitable for direct VLSI implementation. In an integrated circuit implementation of the CNN model, the summation equation is a current based computation, as the circuit model in FIG. 1 suggests. By Kirchoff""s law, all currents coming into the node that defines the state of the cell (x) must add to zero. As the intrinsic resistance values (R) are very large and capacitance values are very small, little charge is required to maintain a particular voltage. This also means that the current required to alter the voltage value of the state is relatively very small. The values of the noise currents are of sufficient magnitude to make significant difference. When one adds to that the fact that the transistor characteristics can generally vary as much as 20% within the same chip substrate, it becomes clear that the (x) node is highly likely to charge up or down to a power rail. One remedy is adding significant capacitance to each node. This is not desirable at all since it requires precious VLSI real estate and furthermore increases the response time of the cell. The VLSI implementations of the current CNN models have not addressed this issue and as such, the current CNN model described in Equations (1-3) is not suitable for direct VLSI implementation.
An integrated sensing device comprising an array of sensor processor cells capable of being arranged into a detection array. Each sensor processor cell comprises a sensing medium; at least one transconductance amplifier configured for feedforward template multiplication; at least one transconductance amplifier configured for feedback template weights; a plurality of local dynamic memory cells; a data bus for data transfer; and a local logic unit. The array of sensor processor cells, by responding to data control signals, is capable of transforming, reshaping, and modulating the original sensed image into varied represenations which include (and extend) traditional spatial and temporal processing transformations.


Methods and apparatus are described for synchronizing a media presentation on a plurality of wireless transmit/receive units (WTRUs). A media session may be replicated from a first WTRU onto a second WTRU. The first WTRU may initiate a bookmark procedure to create a bookmark to obtain synchronized playout with the second WTRU. A suggested presentation offset in the bookmark may specify an offset in time from a bookmark created time to a bookmark presentation time at the first WTRU. The first WTRU may establish an Internet protocol (IP) multimedia subsystem (IMS) session with a packet switch stream (PSS) server. The media session may be replicated onto the second WTRU at a wall-clock time T, and the second WTRU may present an offset equal to T−bookmarkcreatedtime+bookmark offset−suggestedPresentationOffset from the beginning of a program in order to obtain synchronized media playout with the first WTRU.

The quality of multimedia streaming may be affected by several factors. One of them, for example, is the one-way delay of receiving the multimedia streams, whereby the delay for conversational audio/video applications and interactive applications may be less than 1 second, while the delay for non-interactive audio/video streaming applications may be less than 10 seconds.
Another example of a factor that affects the quality of multimedia streaming may be the synchronized presentation of multimedia streams. A human visual system may be tolerant to a small degree of skew in presenting audio and video streams, (e.g., less than 80 mseconds). Transporting audio and video streams over unreliable networks, such as wireless and the Internet, may introduce a variable delay in receiving audio and video packets. This delay variation may become significant if audio and video packets are sent over two different connections, as is the case for real-time transport protocol (RTP)/RTP control protocol (RTCP) streaming.
Lip synchronization may affect applications such as television (TV) video games and video conferencing applications. This may become a complex process if dealing with a multimedia presentation at two or more geographically distributed locations in a temporally synchronized manner, which is applicable to social multimedia streaming, (i.e., multi-device synchronization).

Method and apparatus for enabling multimedia synchronization


An object of the present invention is to provide a waterproof box capable of improving waterproof performance, and workability and space-saving. The washing water hits the lower face of the first waterproof part in the upper cover, and the upper cover is uplifted, at this time the tapered outer face and the inner face in the first waterproof part and are abutted and engaged to each other, causing the inlet of the small passage to close. Even if water infiltrates, the water infiltrates into the dead end to let the momentum thereof reduce. Further, the water infiltrates into the dead end let the momentum thereof reduce. The water its momentum have been reduced falls. Consequently, it is effective for enhancing waterproof performance to include the dead end.

An electric junction box installed in, e.g., an engine compartment of an automobile is provided with a connection processing component for a wire harness, an electric part of such a relay or fuse, or an electric component of such an electric control unit, which is therefore required to be kept away from water when traveling in the rain or washing the engine compartment with high-pressure. This requires the electric junction box to be configured waterproofed by letting the box main body accommodating such the above electric parts and a cover covering an upper opening of the box main body each have waterproof structures. The electric junction box thus serves as a waterproof box.
For a waterproof box, there are well-known a type of waterproof by filling a packing between a waterproof structure provided in the box main body and a waterproof structure provided in the cover (e.g., see PTL 1), and a type of waterproof by overlaying a waterproof structure of the cover on a waterproof structure of the box main body without a packing (e.g., see PTL 2).
With the type of waterproof using a packing, the packing between the waterproof structures is adapted to fill a clearance, which thus improves waterproof performance but poses a drawback of increase of parts count and cost incurred by the packing. Further, there is a drawback of not avoiding additional man-hour for filling of the packing. This has recently prompted a packing-less type waterproof.
With the packing-less-type waterproof, what is disclosed in the below PTL 2 is configured to be provided with a box main body with an upper opening and a cover covering the upper opening of the box main body. The waterproof box is designed to waterproof by overlaying waterproof structures to each other disposed at a seam portion of the box main body and the cover. Specifically, the waterproof structure of the box main body has a waterproof annular convex circumferentially arranged at a tip position of a side wall of the box main body, and that of the cover has a waterproof annular concave circumferentially arranged at a tip position of a side wall of the cover.
In the above-mentioned configuration and structure, the cover is arranged above the opening of the box main body, is then straightforwardly moved, and the waterproof structures are overlaid to each other, which thus makes the waterproof concave engage the waterproof convex. The box main body and the cover are also locked in a main body lock provided with the waterproof structure of the box main body by virtue of a U-shaped cover lock provided with the waterproof structure of the cover being latched, resulting in a locking state. The main body lock and the cover lock are arranged at least two positions of the sides (or back and forth) of the waterproof. The two positions are arranged separated from each other.