The present invention relates to a magnetic refrigerator comprising separated hot and cold heat exchange units wherein a heat transfer fluid that exchanges a heat with a magnetic heat exchange unit having the magnetocaloric material pieces arranged to have a gap therebetween separately circulates through a solenoid valve.

The present invention relates to a magnetic refrigerator comprising separated hot and cold heat exchange units wherein a heat transfer fluid that exchanges a heat with a magnetic heat exchange unit having the magnetocaloric material pieces arranged to have a gap therebetween separately circulates through a solenoid valve.
A conventional magnetic refrigerator is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,668,560. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, in accordance with the conventional magnetic refrigerator, while a heat transfer fluid 17 entering into a cold side inlet port 22 through a cold side inlet port pipe 21 flows to a hot side outlet port 34, the heat transfer fluid 17 absorbs a heat generated by a magnetocaloric effect of a magnetocaloric material 12 having a magnetic field applied thereto and exits to a hot side outlet port pipe 33 through a hot side outlet port ports 34 to cool the magnetocaloric material 12. A hot side sequentially passes the hot side outlet port pipe 33, a valve 71, a pump 60, and a hot heat exchanger 62 and flows into a magnetic heat exchange compartment 13. In a hot side inlet port pipe 31, the hot side is divided into the hot side inlet port pipe 31 and a cold side outlet port 23, and meets a cold side at a cold side outlet port pipe 24 and proceed to a valve 74. When the hot side moves from a hot side inlet port 32 to the cold side outlet port pipe 24, the hot side is cooled by passing the magnetocaloric material 12 already cooled by the hot side. The cold side that has passed through the valve 74 passes a cold heat exchanger 63 and flows to pipes 83 and 21 to repeat a cycle (a detailed description is omitted. See U.S. Pat. No. 6,668,560 for omitted reference numerals).
As described above, since the conventional magnetic refrigerator comprises twelve magnetic heat exchange compartments, four valves 71, 72, 73 and 74 and more than 24 pipes, it is difficult to manufacture the conventional magnetic refrigerator.
Moreover, since a single heat transfer fluid is circulated to serve as the hot side and the cold side simultaneously, that is, since the hot side enters at the hot side inlet port 32 to pass the cold magnetocaloric material (See FIG. 2) and cooled into the cold side to exit through the cold side outlet pipe 24, a efficiency of a heat exchange is degraded. It is known from this fact that when the heat transfer fluid having a temperature lower than that of the hot side entering the hot side inlet port 32 enters the hot side inlet port 32 and passes the cooled caloric material, the heat transfer fluid having a temperature lower at the cold side outlet pipe 24 may be flown out to improve the efficiency of the heat exchange.
In addition, since amount of the heat transfer fluid passing through the hot side cannot be controlled, a heat of the magnetocaloric material cannot be cooled promptly, thereby degrading the efficiency of the heat exchange.
On the other hand, since a fine mesh is used at the outlet port in order to prevent a problem that the magnetocaloric material of a power type is lost by the heat transfer fluid (coolant), the coolant cannot be circulated smoothly.
Moreover, since the coolant continues to pass the magnetocaloric material at the same spot, a smooth heat exchange is difficult.
In addition, a gadolinium having a microscopic size may be lost when the coolant enters or exits the magnetic heat exchange unit.


A controller controls exchange of data between a plurality of storage units based on transfer rates of the storage units and a fixed rate. If at least one of the transfer rates of a transfer-source storage unit and a transfer-destination storage unit are different than the fixed rate, the controller accumulates a certain amount of data, and outputs accumulated data to the transfer-destination storage unit at the transfer rate of the transfer-destination storage unit so that data is transferred from the transfer-source storage unit to the transfer-destination storage unit at apparently at the fixed rate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to data storage and data transfer techniques, and particularly relates to a storage apparatus and a data transfer method capable of using storages at different transfer rates in a network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, there has been a remarkable development in information technologies relating to computers and communications, and vast amounts of data are being handled. To store vast amounts of data, such storages as a plurality of hard disk devices or magnetic tape devices are used while being connected to one another. A system called storage area network (SAN) is constituted by connecting these storages to a server or the like so as to be able to efficiently store and manage vast amounts of data.
In the SAN, data is transferred at transfer rate in gigabits according to a protocol such as Fiber Channel Protocol (FCP). Examples of the topology of the SAN include a fiber channel-arbitrated loop (FC-AL) with which the storages are connected into a loop. All the storages in the loop need to have the same transfer rate. It is, therefore, impossible to add a hard disk device having a transfer rate of, for example, 2 gigabits per second (Gbps) into a loop of hard disk devices each having a transfer rate of 4 Gbps.
One possible approach to solve the disadvantage is to add only a hard disk device having a transfer rate of 4 Gbps to the loop of hard disk devices having the transfer rate of 4 Gbps. Another possible approach is to reduce the transfer rate of the hard disk devices in the loop from 4 Gbps to 2 Gbps before adding the hard disk device having a transfer rate of 2 Gbps. However, with the former approach, the degree of freedom of selection is small because of the restriction on the transfer rate of the hard disk device that can be added. With the latter approach, throughput is reduced due to the reduction in transfer rates of all the hard disk devices.
The following technique is described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-348464. A plurality of storages at different transfer rates is mixed in one loop by using a predetermined circuit that shapes signals passing in the loop to make frequencies of the signals on a communication path coincident with one another.
However, various processes such as a process for comparing phases of the signals are required to shape the signals in the loop, which disadvantageously increases the size of the circuit. That is, the storages having different transfer rates transmit or receive signals at different frequencies because of disparity in transfer rate. To make the different frequencies coincident, it is necessary to calculate a phase difference among the signals transmitted and received by the respective storages, and to reduce this difference to be close to zero. As a result, the signal shaping requires many circuits such as a phase comparator and an oscillator, and increases the size of the entire circuit.
Moreover, the signal shaping requires some processing time. Due to this, if a storage having a different transfer rate is added into the loop, a time lag is generated before the entire loop is actually operable.

Storage apparatus and data transfer method


Aminoglycosides such as aminoglycoside antibiotics are detected and separated by non-immunoaffinity binding to an immobilized binding protein which is preferably lysozyme or .alpha.-lactalbumin. Aminoglycosides are detected in a biological sample such as milk or a fermentation broth by contacting the sample with the binding protein immobilized on a solid carrier such as particles of carboxylated latex to bind the aminoglycosides to the binding protein, adding a label that binds to the aminoglycosides and measuring the label. In another embodiment, the binding protein containing bound aminoglycosides is separated from the sample, the aminoglycosides are removed from the binding protein, a label is added to the aminoglycosides and the label is measured. Aminoglycosides are removed from a sample by passing the sample through a bioreactor containing the binding protein immobilized on a solid carrier to bind the aminoglycosides to the binding protein and recovering the sample free of aminoglycosides. The immobilized binding protein with bound aminoglycosides may be removed from the bioreactor and the aminoglycosides eluted from the binding protein.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a non-immunoaffinity binding method for the detection and assay of aminoglycoside antibiotics in foods of animal origin using lysozyme and .alpha.-lactalbumin as the binding proteins. It also relates to the purification of aminoglycosides from biological fluids such as fermentation broths and to the purification of biological fluids such as milk.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The aminoglycoside antibiotics consist of a group of related antibiotics containing aminosugar residues. The primary effect of the aminoglycoside antibiotics is the inhibition of protein synthesis (Wilhelm et al, Biochem. Vol. 17, 1149-1153, 1978; Wilhelm et al, Biochem., Vol. 17, 1143-1149, 1978). Some of these antibiotics have been approved as a feed additive to control parasitic, respiratory and enteric infections in farm animals. Therefore, rapid methods are needed to screen for the presence of trace levels of these class of antibiotics in biological fluids and tissues. Hygromycin B inhibits the growth of microorganisms and mammalian cells and is used to control parasitic, respiratory and enteric infections in poultry and swine. Residues from hygromycin B may occur in tissues and fluids of farm animals designated for human consumption. Spectinomycin hydrochloride is allowed for treatment and control of bacterial enteritis in swine and in the prevention and control of losses due to chronic respiratory disease associated with M. gallisepticum (PPLO) in poultry. The tolerance for spectinomycin residue is 0.1 ppm in the uncooked edible tissues of chickens. Neomycin residues in eggs are quite stable to normal egg preparation procedures. Frying eggs causes little or no loss of activity, poaching results in a 25% loss, and soft boiling and hard boiling causes little or no loss of activity. Antibiotics administered to dairy cattle whether applied by infusion, injection or oral means, sometimes enters the milk supply. This presence of antibiotics in milk, at the consumer level, can cause allergic reactions, affect starter cultures, or create environments favorable for resistant bacteria (Bishop et al, IN: Standard Methods for the Examination of Dairy Products, 347-395, 1992, 16th Edition, R. T. Marshall, ED., American Public Health Association, Washington, D.C.).
Rapid methods are needed to screen for the presence of trace levels of specific antibiotics or a class of antibiotics in biological fluids and tissues. Enzyme immunoassay techniques have been used only to a limited extent for detection of veterinary drugs due to the lack of sensitivity needed for detection at tolerance or safe levels. The high specificity of immunoassays also limits the number of compounds that can be analyzed compared to a broad spectrum detection obtainable using microbial inhibition assays. Production of antibodies with desired specificities and affinities is time consuming. There are various methods for detection of aminoglycoside antibiotics in biological fluids. Yao et al (J. Antibiotics (TOKYO), Vol.37 (11), 1462-1468, 1984) report a technique useful in the identification, quantification, and screening of aminoglycosides using a heterogeneous microplate enzyme immunoassay with a sensitivity of 10 pg/ml (1 pg/assay) toward gentamicin. Aminoglycoside antibiotics, such as sisomicin, forimicin B, seldomycin, tobramycin, kanamycin A, kanamycin B, spectinomycin, apramycin, hygromycin B, butirosin, streptomycin, paromomycin, validamycin A, sorbistin B, streptothricin, and neomycin A; in fermentation broths were detected by the method. Purified gentamicin antibody is coated onto the surface of wells of a microtiter plate and incubated with gentamicin-alkaline phosphatase conjugate. The amount of enzyme bound to the antibody was quantified by measuring the change in absorbance at 410 nm after the addition of the substrate, p-nitrophenyphosphate. Competitive assay performed by incubating the antibody and enzyme conjugate with various aminoglycosides showed that the antibody probe cross-reacted with all aminoglycosides tested, except neomycins B and C. No cross-reaction was detected with non-aminoglycoside antibiotics.
The analysis of spectinomycin in foods includes chromatographic methods utilizing ion pair solid phase extraction, HPLC separation followed by post column derivatization and fluorescent detection of its 2-naphthalenesulfonyl chloride (NSCl) derivatives. The sensitivity of the liquid chromatographic method is 4 ng per sample load (Tsuji et al, J. Chromatography, Vol. 333, 365-380, 1985). A high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method is reported for detection in turkey plasma at 1.42 ppm (Burton et al, J. of Chromatography, Vol. 571, 209-216,1991) and in swine, chicken, and calf plasma at 50 ppm (Haagsma et al, J. Chromatography, Biomedical Applications, Vol. 615, 289-295, 1993). The tolerance level for spectinomycin residue is 100 ppb in uncooked edible tissues in chickens. The use of Bacillus stearothermophilus and a 65.degree. C. incubation yielded a rapid assay with a sensitivity of 0.2 micrograms per gram of egg (Katz et al, J. Assoc. Off. Anal. Chem., Vol. 61(5), 1103-1106, 1978). The official method for detection of spectinomycin is a microbial turbidimetric assay with an LDL (lowest detectable level) of 2.8 ppm in all tissues of all species (NADA 47-244, New Animal and Drug Application, Upjohn Company, Kalamazoo, Michigan). The analytical range for this assay is 24 to 37.5 ppm. Therefore, a rapid method with higher sensitivity than the microbiological turbidimetric assay is needed to rapidly screen for the presence of spectinomycin at ppb levels.
There are various methods for purification of aminoglycosides from biological fluids. U.S. Pat. No. 4,729,951 (Fereczy et al) discloses a detection and quantification method for determining the presence of aminoglycosides in fermentation broth using thin-layer chromatography. The antibiotic composition is determined by using silica gel as adsorbent and a 1:1:1 mixture of ethanol, methyl-ethyl ketone, and 25 percent aqueous ammonium hydroxide as developing solvent. 0.1 to 0.5 .mu.g/ml portions of the aminoglycoside solution is spotted onto the plates. After drying, a medium containing Bacillus subtilis is layered over the surface of the plate which is subsequently incubated at 37.degree. C. for 16 hours. The size of the inhibition zones is measured and compared to a standard.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,482,707 (Sakakibara et al) discloses a purification method for saccharocin, an aminoglycoside antibiotic, produced by a fermentation process. Culture broth is adjusted to acidic pH, neutralized, and filtered to obtain a filtrate. The active principles are adsorbed on an ion-exchange resin after passing the culture filtrate through a column of the same. The active principles are eluted by 1N aqueous ammonia, and the eluate is concentrated. After adjusting the pH, the concentrate is passed through a column of CM-sephadex C-25 (NH.sub.4.sup.+ type) to adsorb the active principles, and the column is eluted with 0.03N aqueous ammonia.
While there are various methods for detecting aminoglycoside antibiotics in the animals, there still remains a need in the art for a rapid, cost effective detection method. Furthermore, there still remains a need in the art for a rapid, cost effective method for purifying aminoglycosides. Finally, there remains a need in the art for a rapid method for the removal of aminoglycosides from biological fluids such as milk. The present invention is different from prior art methods and provides for a non-immunoaffinity chromatography method for detecting, purifying, and removing aminoglycosides from biological materials.

Detection and separation of aminoglycosides by binding to immobilized lysozyme or .alpha.-lactalbumin

The United States of America, as represented by the Secretary of Agriculture


A converting line includes a rewinding machine for winding web material into a log. For time points during a time period of the log wind cycle, predictive information representative of a log to be wound is generated and stored in a memory of a control of the rewinding machine. An image capture device is enabled to capture a plurality of images of the log being wound in the winding nest at the plurality of corresponding time points during the time period. Log image capture information is generated based upon the plurality of captured images and corresponding time points during the time period. The log image capture information is compared with the generated predictive log image information to determine a difference in log image. Revised predictive log image information is generated based at least in part upon a difference in the log image capture information relative to predictive log image information.

Disclosed in more detail below is a method and an apparatus for assessing the formation of a log being wound on a surface, hybrid, or center winder, and other methods and apparatus for converting line controls based upon such assessments of log formation.
As will become evident from the discussion that follows, the systems and methods described herein allow converting machinery to be less complex to operate, reduce new converting line commissioning time, simplify product changeovers, maximize uptime, and reduce cost. The systems and methods described herein seek to limit the effects of variability in winding processes, thereby allowing for optimizing up-time and minimizing operator intervention while increasing processing speeds. The systems and methods disclosed herein allow for accurately determining events in the log wind cycle that are in part caused by winding speed, changing web conditions, parent roll condition, and other upstream processes.
Conventionally, these variabilities are manually handled by operators of the equipment. Oftentimes, on the fly adjustments are made as the operator observes the process, or pre-programmed adjustments are made based on assumed criteria and visual observation. For instance, excessive vibration of a log during winding is visible to the naked eye only when it has reached a relatively high level of amplitude and most likely after the log has already started to lose some of its desired properties (loss of caliper or bulk, distortion of embossed pattern) and waste is generated. The result is that the operator often takes conservative action to avoid process or quality issues, for instance, by operating the rewinder line at "safe speed" which is significantly lower (down to 30% lower) than the rated or desired speed for a specific product application with obvious consequences on machine productivity and finished log specifications (e.g., diameter, caliper, etc.). The concern may be heightened when winding low firmness logs that are especially susceptible to vibration such as bathroom tissue (BRT) or household towel (HHT). Processing speeds for such low firmness product applications is often limited to reduce the onset of unacceptable conditions in the winding log. Generally, these methods all detract from overall machine efficiency because they either require operator time and intervention, or the adjustments are based on general assumptions, which may be inapplicable for a particular condition or root cause.
Using the systems and methods described herein, data indicative of log formation, for instance, log position, log geometry, log displacement, and log vibration may be captured for enhanced converting line performance, production, and/or material utilization. The disclosure, which may be applicable to either surface, hybrid, or center winders, describes the use of high speed image capturing equipment to sense log formation vis-à-vis log position, geometry, displacement, and vibration during the wind process to provide more accurate feedback, and adaptive and predictive controls and machine learning strategies that may reduce operator intervention and other inefficiencies.


A casing that can be compatible with plural types of substrates and a method for mounting a substrate to a casing are provided. The casing includes, in the inside of the casing, a substrate support portion and a substrate support body. The substrate support portion has a first support portion that can support a first substrate at a first substrate support position in the casing. The substrate support body has a second support portion that can support a second substrate at the first substrate support position.

Conventionally, as a method for attaching a substrate to a casing, there is one that has the substrate mounted to a support base inside the casing. As a configuration of such a casing, for example, there is one disclosed in PTL 1. There is also one that supports a substrate by coupling a connector and a terminal. As a configuration of the above casing, for example, there is one disclosed in PTL 2.

Casing and method for mounting substrate to casing


A mobile terminal having a camera function includes a camera unit for capturing an image of a subject, and an image-capture control calculation unit that controls an image-capturing operation performed by the camera unit and that also calculates a movement speed of the subject that is being captured by the camera unit. Then, when the camera unit is performing continuous image capture, the image-capture control calculation unit dynamically changes and controls an image-capture time interval at the time of continuous image capture in accordance with a movement speed of the subject.

For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-307876 (PTL 1) discloses an ID card creation system in which a face image in which the eyes are not closed is selected from a plurality of face images that are obtained by continuously capturing the face of a person whose image is to be photographed, and is thus capable of creating an ID card with an optimum face image in which the eyes are not closed. The ID card creation system described in this PTL 1 is configured to include image-capturing means, a recording medium, a control device, and card creation means. The image-capturing means continuously captures an image of the upper part of the body including the face of the subject for each relevant subject so as to obtain a plurality of pieces of face image information. The recording medium stores the plurality of pieces of face image information of the relevant subjects, which are obtained by the image-capturing means. The control device selects, for each subject, the face image with the most satisfactory eyes open state from among the plurality of pieces of face image data read from the recording medium. The card creation means creates an employee certificate on the basis of the face image data selected by the control device.
Furthermore, International Publication 08/087914 Pamphlet (PTL 2) discloses an image capturing apparatus that is capable of easily searching for a main image representing continuously captured images from among the plurality of continuously captured images obtained by performing continuous image capture. This image capturing apparatus is configured to include continuous image-capturing means, recording means, and main image selection means. The continuous image-capturing means continuously captures a plurality of images at a predetermined time interval that is determined by continuous image capture conditions that are preset by an image-capturing person. The recording means records image data corresponding to a plurality of captured images that are captured by the continuous image-capturing means as one image file on a recording medium. The main image selection means selects one main image from among the plurality of captured images recorded as one image file on a recording medium. Furthermore, the image capturing apparatus disclosed in PTL 2 is configured to be able to detect the amount of motion of a subject at the time of image capture and select, as a main image, the captured image with the smallest detected amount of motion of the subject. Furthermore, the image capturing apparatus disclosed in PTL 2 is configured in such a manner that whether or not a subject has his/her eyes closed is detected by recognizing the face of the subject when image capture is performed, and a captured image in which the eyes are closed is prohibited from being selected as a main image.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Image capturing apparatus and control program product with speed detection features


A process for preparing intermetallic nanoparticles of two or more metals is provided. In particular, the process includes the steps: a) dispersing nanoparticles of a first metal in a solvent to prepare a first metal solution, b) forming a reaction mixture with the first metal solution and a reducing agent, c) heating the reaction mixture to a reaction temperature; and d) adding a second metal solution containing a salt of a second metal to the reaction mixture. During this process, intermetallic nanoparticles, which contain a compound with the first and second metals are formed. The intermetallic nanoparticles with uniform size and a narrow size distribution is also provided. An electrochemical device such as a battery with the intermetallic nanoparticles is also provided.

Intermetallic nanoparticles are desired for various applications because they may exhibit useful properties such as high thermal conductivity, high heat capacity, high electrical conductivity, etc. Typically, intermetallic nanoparticles are prepared by attrition milling of the bulk intermetallic compound or co-precipitation techniques that may require processing at high temperatures. In addition, the nanoparticles that are prepared by milling are not uniform and exhibit a large variation in size.
Since their first commercialization in the 1990s, rechargeable lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries have served as major power sources for a wide range of electronic products. In recent years, an increase in global energy demand, rising and fluctuating crude oil prices, and environmental concerns have led to an increase in demand for Li-ion batteries. In particular, Li-ion battery technology is being developed for applications in electric vehicles (EVs), hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). For such applications, improved Li-ion battery anodes from intermetallic nanomaterials providing high energy density and high power capacity are desired.


A manhole cover comprises a base and a cover. The base has a first inner rim provided with a first bevel while the cover has a second outer rim provided with a second bevel. When the base is joined with the cover, the first bevel of the base and the second bevel of the cover are caused to make contact with each other such that the base is joined with the cover in an airtight and watertight manner. The first bevel of the base and the second bevel of the cover are of such construction that they enable the cover to be lifted easily to set apart from the base.

A manhole is an opening, often with a cover, through which a person can enter a sewer, conduit, tank, underground tunnel, etc. for a repair work or an inspection.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a conventional manhole cover comprises an annular base 1 and a cover 2 so dimensioned to fit into the annular base 1, which is provided with an annular groove 3 serving to receive therein a flange 4 of the cover 2. With a view to facilitating the removal of the cover 2 from the base 1, the furrow width of the annular groove 3 is greater than the thickness of the flange 4. In other words, the manhole cover 2 is not received in the annular base 1 in a watertight manner. As a result, the annular groove 3 can be easily inundated with the water, which can not be easily drained and which causes the corrosion of the manhole and even the. flooding of the facilities located under the manhole.


A system includes a gasification vessel configured to receive a fuel and an oxidizer. The system also includes a gasifier disposed in the gasification vessel. The gasifier is configured to partially oxidize the fuel and the oxidizer to generate a syngas. The system further includes a convective syngas cooler configured to cool the syngas via heat exchange with a coolant. The convective syngas cooler is disposed in an interior of the gasification vessel.

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to gasification systems and, more particularly, to systems for cooling syngas.
Gasifiers convert carbonaceous materials into a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, referred to as synthesis gas or syngas. For example, an integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plant includes one or more gasifiers that react a feedstock at a high temperature with oxygen and/or steam to produce syngas. The syngas may be used for power generation, chemical production, or any other suitable application. Prior to use, the syngas may be cooled in a syngas cooler and treated in a gas treatment system.


A process for producing low-cost furnace atmospheres suitable for annealing and heat treating ferrous and non-ferrous metals and alloys, brazing metals and ceramics, sealing glass to metals, and sintering non-ferrous metal and ceramic powders from non-cryogenically produced nitrogen containing from 0.05 to 5.0% residual oxygen is presented. The disclosed process involves 1) mixing non-cryogenically produced nitrogen with a predetermined amount of dissociated ammonia, 2) passing the mixture through a low-pressure drop catalytic reactor, 3) converting the residual oxygen to an acceptable form such as moisture and reducing the residual oxygen level to below about 10 ppm, and 4) using the resultant gaseous mixture for annealing and heat treating ferrous and non-ferrous metals and alloys, brazing metals and ceramics, sealing glass to metals, and sintering non-ferrous metal and ceramic powders. The key feature of the disclosed process involves the use of a novel low-pressure drop catalytic reactor for converting residual oxygen with dissociated ammonia to moisture.

Nitrogen-based atmospheres have been routinely used by the heat treating industry both in batch and continuous furnaces since the mid 1970s. Because of the low dew point and virtual absence of oxygen, nitrogen-based atmospheres do not exhibit oxidizing and decarburizing properties and are therefore suitable for a variety of heat treating operations. More specifically, a mixture of nitrogen and hydrogen has been extensively used for annealing of low to high carbon and alloy steels, annealing of ferrous and non-ferrous metals and alloys such as carbon steel, copper, copper alloys, gold alloys, and sintering metal and ceramic powders. A mixture of nitrogen and a hydrocarbon gas such as methane and propane has gained wide acceptance for neutral hardening and decarburized-free annealing of medium to high carbon steels. A mixture of nitrogen and methanol has been developed and used for carburizing low to medium carbon steels. Finally, a mixture of nitrogen, hydrogen, and/or moisture has been used for brazing metals and sealing glass to metals.
A portion of nitrogen used by the heat treating industry is produced by distillation of air in large cryogenic plants.
Likewise, a portion of hydrogen used by the heat treating industry is produced by either partial oxidation or steam reforming of natural gas. Both nitrogen and hydrogen produced by these techniques are generally expensive. Additionally, the nitrogen-hydrogen atmospheres prepared by blending these gases are also expensive. To reduce the overall cost, a large number of heat treaters have been producing nitrogen-hydrogen atmospheres by decomposing (or cracking) ammonia in ammonia dissociators.
Ammonia dissociators generally decompose ammonia into a mixture of nitrogen and hydrogen over a bed of nickel, iron, or nickel/iron catalyst supported on a ceramic material. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,598,538, 3,379,507, and 4,179,407 describe ammonia dissociators in detail. The catalyst promotes the following ammonia dissociation reaction: EQU 2NH.sub.3 =N.sub.2 +3H.sub.2
This reaction is endothermic and requires heating of the catalyst bed to a temperature ranging from 600.degree. C. to 950.degree. C. from an outside source. The operating pressure of the process generally ranges from 2 psig to 10 psig with a space velocity used for the dissociation reaction generally varying from 500 to 5,000 Nm.sup.3 /h product gas per m.sup.3 of the catalyst. The product gas generally contains a mixture of 25%, nitrogen and 75% hydrogen with some ppm of residual ammonia. The content of unconverted ammonia in the product gas can vary from 30 ppm to 500 ppm depending on the operating temperature, pressure, and space velocity. Furthermore, the amount of unconverted ammonia in the product gas is generally known to increase with an increase in the operating pressure. Therefore, heat treaters generally prefer to operate ammonia dissociators at low pressures (below about 8 psig) to minimize the amount of unconverted ammonia in the product gas.
The concentration of hydrogen in nitrogen-hydrogen atmospheres required for the majority of heat treating operations generally varies from about 0.2 to about 25%. Since cryogenically produced nitrogen is cheaper than nitrogen-hydrogen atmosphere produced by dissociating ammonia, heat treaters normally blend cryogenically produced nitrogen with dissociated ammonia product gas to reduce overall atmosphere cost and to produce nitrogen-hydrogen atmosphere with the desired composition. However, these heat treaters are still experiencing the dilemma of high nitrogen-hydrogen atmosphere cost, thus, it is becoming increasingly difficult for them to compete effectively in world markets.
Since the concentration of nitrogen in nitrogen-hydrogen atmospheres varies from about 75%, to 99.8%, it is conceivable to reduce the overall cost of nitrogen-hydrogen atmospheres by replacing cryogenically produced nitrogen with low-cost nitrogen produced by non-cryogenic air separation techniques such as pressure swing adsorption and selective permeation (membrane). The non-cryogenically produced nitrogen costs less to produce, however, it contains from 0.05 to 5.0%, residual oxygen, making a direct substitution of cryogenically produced nitrogen with non-cryogenically produced nitrogen difficult, if not impossible, for certain applications.
Furnace atmospheres suitable for heat treating applications have been generated from non-cryogenically produced nitrogen by removing residual oxygen or converting it to an acceptable form in external catalytic units prior to feeding the atmospheres into the furnace. Such atmosphere generation methods have been described in detail in French publication numbers 2,639,249 and 2,639,251 dated Nov. 24, 1988 and Australian patent application numbers AU45561/89 and AU45562/89 dated Nov. 24, 1988. These methods require use of external units packed with precious metal catalysts such as palladium and platinum supported on ceramic balls or pellets. These external catalytic units can in principle be used to convert residual oxygen present in non-cryogenically produced nitrogen with dissociated ammonia to moisture and produce nitrogen-hydrogen atmospheres suitable for heat treatment. These reactors, however, result in considerable pressure drop, making it difficult, if not impossible, to mix low-pressure dissociated ammonia stream with non-cryogenically produced nitrogen and flow the mixture through them. Therefore, heat treaters have not considered using dissociated ammonia for deoxygenating non-cryogenically produced nitrogen and producing nitrogen-hydrogen atmospheres suitable for heat treatment.
Based upon the above discussion, it is clear that there is a need to switch from cryogenically produced nitrogen to non-cryogenically produced nitrogen for reducing the overall cost of nitrogen-hydrogen atmospheres for heat treaters that are generating nitrogen-hydrogen atmospheres using ammonia dissociators.

Process for producing furnace atmospheres by deoxygenating non-cryogenically generated nitrogen with dissociated ammonia


Windows of the first type and windows of the second type are identified within a frame using energy associated with each short window within the frame. The short windows of the first type and the short windows of the second type are then grouped into two preliminary groups based on the window type of each short window. Further, if the number of short windows in any of the two preliminary groups exceeds a threshold number, the short windows in this large preliminary group are further grouped into at least two more groups.

The standardized body, Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG), discloses conventional data compression methods in their standards such as, for example, the MPEG-2 advanced audio coding (AAC) standard (see ISO/IEC 13818-7) and the MPEG-4 AAC standard (see ISO/IEC 14496-3). These standards are collectively referred to herein as the MPEG standard.
An audio encoder defined by the MPEG standard receives an audio signal, converts it through a modified discrete cosine transform (MDCT) operation into frequency spectral data, and determines optimal scale factors for quanitizing the frequency spectral data using a rate-distortion control mechanism. The audio encoder further quantizes the frequency spectral data using the optimal scale factors, groups the resulting quantized spectral coefficients into scalefactor bands, and then subjects the grouped quantized coefficients to Huffman encoding.
According to the MPEG standard, MDCT is performed on the audio signal in such a way that adjacent transformation ranges are overlapped by 50% along the time axis to suppress distortion developing at a boundary portion between adjacent transformation ranges. In addition, the audio signal is mapped into the frequency domain using either a long transformation range (defined by a long window) or short transformation ranges (each defined by a short window). The long window includes 2048 samples and the short window includes 256 samples. The number of MDCT coefficients generated from the long window is 1024, and the number of MDCT coefficients generated from each short window is 128. Generally, for a steady portion in which variation in signal waveform is insignificant, the long window type needs to be used. For an attack portion in which variation in signal waveform is violent, the short window type needs to be used. Which thereof is used is important. If the long window type is used for a transient signal, noise called pre-echo develops preceding an attack portion. When the short window type is used for a steady signal, suitable bit allocation is not performed due to lack of resolution in the frequency domain, the coding efficiency decreases, and noise develops, too. Such drawbacks are especially noticeable for a low-frequency sound.
According to the method proposed by the MPEG standard, the determination of the window type for a frame of spectral data begins with performing Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) on the time-domain audio data and calculating FFT coefficients. The FFT coefficients are then used to calculate the audio signal intensity for each scalefactor band within the frame. Also psychoacoustic modeling is used to determine an allowable distortion level for the frame. The allowable distortion level indicates the maximum amount of noise that can be injected into the spectral data without becoming audible. Based on the allowable distortion level and the audio signal intensity of each scalefactor band within the frame, perceptual entropy is computed. If the perceptual entropy is larger than a predetermined constant, the short window type is used for the frame. Otherwise, a long window type is used for the frame.
The above method of making a window type decision takes a large amount of computation. In addition, the resultant value of the perceptual entropy can be high if the signal strength is high whether the signal is transient or steady. That is, a frame may be assigned a short window type even if the frame is not in the transition. As discussed above, this will cause a decrease in the coding efficiency and the development of noise.
Further, if a decision is made to use a short window type, 8 successive blocks (short windows) of MDCT coefficients are generated. To reduce the amount of side information associated with short windows, the short windows may be grouped. Each group includes one or more successive short windows, the scalefactor for which is the same. However, when grouping is not performed appropriately, an increase in the number of codes or degradation of the sound quality occur. When the number of groups is too large with respect to the number of short windows, the scalefactors which otherwise can be coded in common will be coded repeatedly, and, thereby, the coding efficiency decreases. When the number of groups is too small with respect to the number of short windows, common scalefactors are used even when variation of the audio signal is violent. As a result, the sound quality is degraded. The MPEG standard does not provide any specific methods for grouping short windows.

Method for grouping short windows in audio encoding


A cooling device (1) for cooling an electrical component (4), in particular a laser diode, including                a base body (2) with at least one outer face (20) and at least one integrated cooling channel (5), in particular a micro-cooling channel,        a connecting surface (21) on the outer face (20) of the base body (2) for connecting the electrical component (4) to the base body (2) and        a first stabilising layer (11),wherein the first stabilising layer (11) and the connecting surface (21) are arranged at least partially one above the other along a primary direction (P), andwherein the first stabilising layer (11) is offset relative to the outer face (20) towards the interior of the base body (2) by a distance (A) along a direction parallel to the primary direction (P).

The present invention concerns a cooling device for cooling an electric or electronic component, in particular a laser diode, and a method of manufacturing a cooling device.
Such cooling devices are known, for example, from JP 2016 115 767 A and are primarily intended to counteract heat development of the electrical component during operation. An essential component of such cooling devices is a base body in which one or more cooling channels are integrated and on the outside of which the electrical component, e.g. a laser diode, can be attached to a connecting or mounting surface. Since the laser diode and the base body are typically made of different materials, they exhibit different coefficients of thermal expansion in a corresponding manner. As a result, mechanical stress can occur in the boundary area between the laser diode and the base body, which can lead to a deformation of the laser diode, or the base body can deform, so that the laser diode is also deformed. As a result of this deformation, a so-called "smile" effect occurs, in which the individual emitters of a laser diode bar arranged next to each other emit light at different heights. The result of this "smile" effect is an increased effort in focusing the light emitted by the individual emitters.
In order to ensure the desired straightness of the individual emitters in a laser diode bar, the state of the art knows stabilising layers or intermediate layers between the component and the base body, so-called submounts, which are attached to the outside of the base body to adjust the expansion coefficients and support the laser diode as sockets. As can be seen from JP 2016 115 767 A, it is also common practice that in addition to the stabilising layer on the connecting surface, a further stabilising layer is provided on the base body, which is located on the side of the base body opposite the connecting surface. This solution, however, means that laser diode manufacturers first have to implement the stabilising layers in a complex way, and then in a further step they have to attach the laser diode to the heat sink.

Cooling device for cooling an electrical component and method for producing a cooling device


A fastener system for placing screws into bone or tissue structure during a medical procedure is disclosed. The fastener system comprises a drive shaft and driver tip that securely and removeably interlocks with the fastener head and drives the fastener into the surgical site, then disengages the fastener and withdraws. The fastener system comprises a multi-chamber cartridge, which can be either reloadable or a pre-loaded disposable one-use unit. Each chamber holds a fastener using one or more of several alignment systems. Example of alignment systems are cantilevers with springs, spring-clips, or molded features within the chamber to hold the fastener in place until the driver tip engages the fastener head. The fastener head also can latch onto the driver tip. As an example, the fastener head can have hooks that lock into a ridge on the driver, and disengage when the driver tip withdraws.

Surgical reconstruction of hard tissue, such as the placement of prosthetics, the repositioning and attachment of fractured bones and the addition of metallic support plates to repaired bone typically require the placement of fasteners, which may be adhesives, mechanical devices, or combinations thereof. In many instances the fastening system includes screws, which may have special thread and head designs adapted for the particular application or the placement system. These screws are often very small in size and therefore difficult to handle, position and thread into the underlying structure and can easily be dropped into the surgical cavity if they are being manually manipulated.
Systems comprise manual screw drivers or, more recently, cordless, battery powered drivers, to transmit a rotational driving force to screws, which may have specialized heads to match the driver tips. Because a typical procedure may require placement of numerous screws (20-60) the powered drivers are now preferred. A typical power driver is a reusable pencil grip instrument with a replaceable, single use, sterile, disposable battery pack. However, hospital personnel must still perform the tedious task of attaching each screw to the tip of the screwdriver or into a retaining structure on the tip and then handing it to the surgeon or manually loading a feeding system adapted to place the screw in front of the driver tip. The screw head has a recessed structure, such as a slot or a recessed geometric structure for example, cruciform, Phillips, square, hexagonal or exalobe shaped holes, for torque transmission from a matching structure on the tip of the driver. For torque transmission and to limit the tip from disengaging from the structure in the screw head the tolerances of the fit between the tip and the screw head construction are minitnal and in some instances tapered to provide secure engagement (U.S. Pat. No. 4,269,246 to Larson et al.)
There are numerous publications and patents which show devices that relate to the field of the invention. They are directed to the placement of, or automatic delivery of, fasteners to a particular location and systems for driving the fasteners. The following are merely representative of the art; there are others which are primarily repetitive of those discussed herein. Many are for industrial applications and can not meet the needs of a surgeon for use in an enclosed, sterile environment and do not lend themselves to automatic one hand operation. Systems for delivering a fastener to the operative, rotating tip of a screw driver include:    a) Non-Banded Delivery—U.S. Pat. No. 3,946,926 to Willis is an example of a pneumatic or strictly mechanical delivery of fasteners from a hopper. U.S. Pat. No. 4,408,877 to Lindmo et al. appears to cover loose screws fed along a track disposed in front of the screwdriver tip.    b) Stacked Fasteners—U.S. Pat. No. 5,590,574 to Lide is an example of a system that provides a linear arrangement of fasteners stacked head to tail inside the screwdriver.    c) Vertical Band—There are numerous patents to systems in which the fastener (nail or screw) lies across the face of a band and are attached to the band by notches or loops extending from the surface of the band. Alternatively the band may have a thickness so that the fastener can be inserted in a hole which extends through the band from one edge to a parallel opposite edge, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,758,768, 5,622,024, 5,469,767, and 4,930,630 to Habermehl as well as numerous other Habermehl patents. However, they all appear to use a band which attaches to the side of the fastener and which places the band in a plane coextensive with the axis of the screwdriver.    d) Horizontal Band—There are numerous patents that are directed to systems in which the screw is placed through a hole in the surface of the band with the band resting somewhere along the length of the shank of the screw or just below the head of the screw. These include US Patents to Chen (U.S. Pat. No. 5,522,687), Dohi (U.S. Pat. No. 5,544,746), Hon (U.S. Pat. No. 5,509,768), Huang (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,931,298, 5,803,691, 5,788,445, 5,779,420), Lejdegard (U.S. Pat. No. 4,018,334), Lin (U.S. Pat. No. 5,775,514), and Shinjo (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,984,096 and 6,761,268) all of which show various band designs which include extensions created from or formed below the surface of the band designed to grip the shaft of the screw.
Other patents are directed to the surgical fasteners and the design of the head of the fastener and drivers constructed to work with these fasteners or hold the fastener during the placement procedure. None of these patents include automatic delivery of the fasteners.
These prior devices do not provide the ease of operation and the ability to continuously and rapidly place numerous screws into the bone structure while minimizing the risk of loss of the screws during the procedure and the amount of time necessary to prepare the tool and the fasteners for use in the surgical procedure. These deficiencies were addressed in applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 7,406,899, incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.

Multi-chamber automatic feed medical screwdriver


A bit-line of a resistive memory cell includes a reference branch including a reference resistor having a predetermined value and a cell branch including an adjustable memory resistor having a variable value. The reference branch generates a reference current based on the predetermined value of the reference resistor and the cell branch generates a cell branch current based on a selected value of the adjustable memory resistor. A sense amplifier has a first input coupled to the reference branch and a second input coupled to the cell branch. A first pre-charge transistor is coupled to a first pre-charge voltage and the cell branch. The first pre-charge transistor is configured to pre-charge the cell branch to the first pre-charge voltage prior to a read operation.

Current emerging memory read operations convert a resistance state stored in a bit-cell into one or more current signals on a cell current branch. A conventional current sense amplifier includes two-stage amplification. The first stage includes two branches, a reference branch and cell branch. The reference branch generates a reference current (Iref) and a reference voltage (Vref) input for a sense amplifier. The cell branch generates a cell current (Icell) and includes an adjustable resistor RRAM. The current difference between the cell current and the reference current generates a voltage signal (Vdi) second input of the sense amplifier. If Vdi is greater than Vref, a logic "1" is read during the read operation. If Vdi is less than Vref, a logic "0" is read during the read operation.
Because Vdi is pulled down from VDD to a final stabilized level for a logic "1", the conventional current sense amplifier requires a substantial (>10 nanoseconds) stabilization time to settle the current signal to a reference level. After the current signal is settled, the sense amplifier compares Vdi and Vref to generate a logic output. The stabilization time needed in conventional current sense amplifiers prevents read operations from being performed at high-speeds (such as <10 nanoseconds). Further, conventional current sense amplifiers produce a high spike current during a read operation.

Fast sense amplifier with bit-line pre-charging

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.


A cooling device for providing cooling capability of adjacent structures comprises a hollow chamber, an inlet and a chamber outlet, wherein the inlet, the chamber and the chamber outlet are configured such that fluid flow may enter via the inlet, pass through the chamber, and exit via the chamber outlet. The chamber is divided into a distribution chamber and a cooling chamber by a partitioning member, wherein the inlet is fluidly connected to the distribution chamber and the chamber outlet is fluidly connected to the cooling chamber. The partitioning member comprises at least a first and a second constriction passage, wherein the first constriction passage has a first predefined cross sectional flow area and the second constriction passage has a second predefined cross sectional flow area. The sizes of the predefined at least first and second cross sectional flow areas of the at least first and second constriction passages are controllable, whereby the distribution of fluid flow from the distribution chamber to the cooling chamber via the respective constriction passage is controllable.

The increased use of electronically steerable antennas, generally referred to as AESAs (Active Electronically Scanned Arrays), involves new challenges e.g. in terms of cooling of e.g. circuit boards. The often complex design of AESAs has the effect that the availability of cooling fluid is restricted and that the flow rates often are relatively low. This combined with the fact that AESA constructions generally comprises high power components with significant power flows, whereby significant and concentrated heat is developed, makes cooling problematic.
The compact design may also be a problem due to that the cooling conduits may be narrow and comprise numerous sharp turns. This in turn may be problematic if deposits or residues in, or formed by, the cooling fluid gets stuck in the cooling conduits or restrict the flow of cooling fluid in any other way.
Another aspect that has to be considered is that ESA installations often are required to manage that the orientation of the ESA installation changes rapidly. This is particularly important for aircraft applications wherein the application, at least for shorter periods of time, may even be turned upside down. A problem that may arise due to rapid changes of orientation is that air pockets may be formed whereby locally the cooling capability may be completely lost, which in turn might result in function failure.
Thus, there is room for further improvements.

Cooling device with evenly distributed and directed cooling effect for high heat flux and deaeration functionality


A structure includes a substrate, an isolation structure over the substrate, a fin extending from the substrate and adjacent to the isolation structure, two source/drain (S/D) features over the fin, channel layers suspended over the substrate and connecting the S/D features, a first gate structure wrapping around each of the channel layers in the stack, two outer spacers disposed on two opposing sidewalls of the first gate structure that are on outer surfaces of the stack, inner spacers disposed between the S/D features and the channel layers, and a gate-end dielectric feature over the isolation structure and directly contacting an end of the gate structure. The gate-end dielectric feature includes a first material of a dielectric constant that is higher than dielectric constants of materials included in the outer spacers and the inner spacers.

The electronics industry has experienced an ever-increasing demand for smaller and faster electronic devices that are simultaneously able to support a greater number of increasingly complex and sophisticated functions. To meet these demands, there is a continuing trend in the integrated circuit (IC) industry to manufacture low-cost, high-performance, and low-power ICs. Thus far, these goals have been achieved in large part by reducing IC dimensions (for example, minimum IC feature size), thereby improving production efficiency and lowering associated costs. However, such scaling has also increased complexity of the IC manufacturing processes. Thus, realizing continued advances in IC devices and their performance requires similar advances in IC manufacturing processes and technology.
Recently, multi-gate devices have been introduced to improve gate control. Multi-gate devices have been observed to increase gate-channel coupling, reduce OFF-state current, and/or reduce short-channel effects (SCEs). One such multi-gate device is the gate-all around (GAA) device, which includes a gate structure that extends around a channel region to provide access to the channel region on multiple sides. GAA devices enable aggressive scaling down of IC technologies, maintaining gate control and mitigating SCEs, while seamlessly integrating with conventional IC manufacturing processes. As GAA devices continue to scale, challenges have arisen when fabricating a GAA device. Such challenges include short circuits between source/drain contact and gates and between adjacent gate ends due to insufficient gate isolation, long-term reliability issues associated with metal diffusion from metal gates and source/drain contacts, increased stray capacitance between gates and source/drain, among others. Accordingly, although existing GAA devices and methods for fabricating such have been generally adequate for their intended purposes, they have not been entirely satisfactory in all respects.

Gate-all-around devices with optimized gate spacers and gate end dielectric

TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.


Phase change ink additives are disclosed which comprise quaternary ammonium salts that are extremely useful in producing phase change inks with increased specific conductance. Higher specific conductance is necessary for reliable functioning of electronic type ink level sensing systems used in phase change ink jet printers. Phase change inks may also be encoded for type by virtue of their specific conductance.

This invention relates generally to phase change inks and more particularly to additives and the use of additive modified phase change inks in electronic level sensing systems and to the use of additives to encode phase change ink type into the ink composition.
In general, phase change inks are solid at room temperature but exist in the liquid phase at the elevated temperature of an ink jet printer device. At the liquid phase operating temperature droplets of liquid ink are ejected from the printing device and, when the ink droplets contact the surface of a wide variety of printing media, quickly solidify to form a predetermined pattern of solidified ink drops.
Phase change ink is desirable since it remains in a solid phase at room temperature, during shipping, and during long term storage. Also, the problems associated with nozzle clogging due to ink evaporation are essentially eliminated with phase change ink, thereby improving the reliability of ink jet printing. Furthermore, since the ink droplets solidify immediately upon contact with the substrate, migration of the ink along the printing medium is prevented and dot quality is improved.
One of the disadvantages of phase change ink is that it takes time to heat the solid ink to the melting point and then to the higher ink jet operating temperature. U.S. Pat. No. 5,386,224 to Deur et. al. for "Level Sensing Probe System for an Ink Jet Printer" dealt with this problem in an ink level sensing system for an ink jet printer by incorporating the volume of melted ink in the reservoir into an electrical circuit where the volume of melted ink acts as a variable resistor. In this level sensing system high conductance (low resistance) corresponds to a reservoir filled with ink and low conductance (high resistance) corresponds to a reservoir half or less filled with ink. By monitoring the system's conductance, a low ink level can be detected, and the operator alerted, before the reservoir runs dry. If the reservoir does become empty the print head will require re-priming in addition to refilling with an additional loss of operational time and consumption of ink by purging. Difficulties are encountered using this level sensing circuit with many of the embodiments of phase change ink because the class of materials suitable for phase change ink uses natural and synthetic waxes and various resins to obtain the desired transparency, melting point, and microcrystallinity. A characteristic of this class of materials is that they are nonpolar and, as such, do not solvate ions very well, if at all. This microscopic characteristic of the molecules is manifested in the bulk material as low specific conductance, or in other words, they are electrical insulators. The aforementioned level sensing circuit works because of metal ions or amine complexes in the inks.
The use of polymeric colorants in phase change inks present another problem because the trace of specific conductance contributed by impurities is often too small to be interpreted correctly by the electronics. This could result in the operator continuing to be prompted to add ink despite the reservoir already being filled with ink. Eventually the reservoir overflows and the print head and/or the printer is ruined.
These problems are solved by the present invention by providing a means of adjusting upwardly the specific conductance of phase change ink by means of a very small concentration of a specific conductance additive.

Phase change ink additive for improved electronic level sensing reliability and type encoding


A plug deflector includes a body having a first end and a second end opposite the first end, a tool receptacle provided at the first end and defining an internal bore having a first coupling mechanism defined on the internal bore, at least one plug provided at the second end, and a deflector surface provided at an intermediate location between the first and second ends. A system includes a Y-block positioned within a multi-lateral wellbore at a junction of a first wellbore and a second wellbore extending from the first wellbore, the Y-block having a first leg fluidly coupled to the first wellbore and a second leg fluidly coupled to the second wellbore, and a plug deflector coupled to the Y-block.

A multi-lateral wellbore system includes at least one lateral wellbore drilled off a main wellbore for the purpose of exploration or extraction of natural resources, such as hydrocarbons. Lateral wellbores are drilled from the main wellbore to target multiple hydrocarbon-bearing zones for purposes of producing oil and gas from subsurface formations. Various downhole tools may be inserted into the main wellbore and/or the lateral wellbore to extract the hydrocarbons from the wellbore and/or to maintain the wellbore during production.
It is frequently required to isolate either the main wellbore or one of the lateral wellbores of a multi-lateral wellbore system while performing operations in other areas of the multi-lateral wellbore system. While isolating one of the main wellbore or lateral wellbores, it may also be required to deflect tools/equipment into the non-isolated portions of the main or lateral wellbores to perform downhole operations therein.

Plug deflector for isolating a wellbore of a multi-lateral wellbore system


The present invention discloses a method and system for obtaining access information in a Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service (MBMS). The method includes the following steps: during an eMBMS session, a broadcast/multicast service center (BM-SC) configures access information in one or more MBMS session signaling, and sends the MBMS session signaling to an MBMS gateway within a service area of the BM-SC; wherein the access information at least includes radio access technology type information. The present invention also discloses a method and system for charging in an MBMS. The methods and systems of the present invention can take the access information including the radio access technology type as the basis of charging, supply communication operators with a charging manner of distinguishing radio access technology types, and adopt different rates corresponding to the MBMS service areas of different radio access technology types, and thus charging can be further detailed.

A multimedia broadcast/multicast service in a mobile communication network is a service mode in which a path of service data is established in the existing radio communication network by multicast or broadcast technology to achieve a service mode of distributing a service from one point to multiple points. A Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service (MBMS) and evolved MBMS (eMBMS) defined in the radio communication standard organizations of 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) are such services. For a radio communication network defined by 3GPP, so far, the defined radio access technologies related to the MBMS and the eMBMS include a Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN) and an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN).
Take the eMBMS for example, network architecture of a multimedia broadcast/multicast service mode defined by 3GPP is shown as FIG. 1. Wherein, a Broadcast/Multicast Service Center (BM-SC) is a service data source from which all the data are sent to other network nodes. An MBMS Gateway (MBMS GW) is a service data gateway for a core network of mobile communication; it is responsible for receiving all the MBMS data from service network elements and further transmitting them to the subsequent network nodes, which is called "transmitting to the downlink nodes" according to positions in the network diagram.
In order to establish the whole service path, before sending data, it is necessary to send relative signaling to all nodes in the downlink path from the service source to notify all nodes of the session identifier identifying the multicast address information of the service, addresses of all downlink nodes, Quality of Service (QoS), initiation time and a service area and other information. This signaling is defined as MBMS session starting signaling at present. Signaling at the end of service is MBMS session ending signaling used for releasing the path.
Information in the signaling is configured in the BM-SC (or a network management system). The BM-SC obtains these information and forms parameters of the session signaling when sends the signaling.
Please refer to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 for definitions of session starting signaling and session ending signaling.
The eMBMS is taken for example in both FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 to describe methods for sending session starting messages and session ending messages.
As shown in FIG. 2, the existing eMBMS session starting procedure includes the following steps:
step 201: a BM-SC sends an MBMS session starting request message to each MBMS GW;
the MBMS session starting request message can include session parameters and address parameters. Wherein, the session parameters include QoS, an MBMS service area list, an MBMS session identifier, estimated session duration and a destination network indicator (MBMS xG indicator) and so on; the address parameters include a downlink node address list (including address of the MBMS GW and a downlink node list of the MBMS GW) and so on;
step 202: the MBMS GW saves parameter information included in the message and returns a session starting response message to the BM-SC;
step 203: the MBMS GW sends an MBMS session starting request message to an MME (Mobility Management Entity);
step 204: the MME saves the information included in the message and sends the session starting request message to an E-UTRAN;
step 205: the E-UTRAN determines whether there is any cell belong to the service area and returns a session starting response message;
step 206: After receiving all session starting response messages from the E-UTRAN side, the MME sends the session starting response messages to the MBMS GW;
when a data acquisition function of a Charging Data Recorder (CDR) is activated by the MBMS GW, after receiving the session starting response messages, the MBMS GW sends a charging start request message (e.g. ACR[Start]) to the network elements related to the charging;
step 207: Reserving radio resources and establishing service paths, and sending data.
As shown in FIG. 3, the existing eMBMS session ending procedure includes the following steps:
step 301: the BM-SC sends an MBMS session ending request message to the MBMS GW; the message includes a session identifier, a service identifier and a downlink node list and so on; the MBMS GW returns a session ending response message to the BM-SC and releases information related to the service and saved by itself;
step 302: the MBMS GW transmits an MBMS session ending request message to an MME that has received the session starting message before, the MME returns a session ending response message and releases information that is related to the service and saved by itself;
when the data acquisition function of the CDR is activated by the MBMS GW, after receiving the session ending response messages, the MBMS GW sends a charging stop request message (e.g. ACR[Stop]) to a Charging Data Function (CDF);
303: the MME transmits the MBMS session ending request message to the E-UTRAN, and the E-UTRAN returns a session ending response message;
304: radio resources are released.
Distribution of multimedia broadcast/multicast service is limited to a certain area range and expressed by conception of Service Area (SA). Each SA is expressed by a series of Service Area Identifiers (SA ID) and each SA ID defines a series of radio cells (e.g. cell ID), therefore the position range of one specific SA is substantially corresponding to radio cells. One multimedia broadcast/multicast service can have one or more SAs to define the range.
Due to limit of the SA, from service source to downlink paths of radio access devices (such as, base station) in multimedia broadcast/multicast service are also definite. Therefore, for one SA, addresses of all downlink nodes are also definite. It should be noted that it is a heavy burden for signaling to send so many downlink node addresses as the number of radio access devices is huge. Therefore, the final level of downlink node address is an address of the upper level of radio access device instead of the address of the radio access device. The upper level of radio access device broadcasts the session signaling to all the connected radio access devices, if the radio access device does not belong to this SA, the radio access device returns an error message; when it belongs to this SA, the radio access device returns a path establish success message.
Generally, area ranges of SAs are configured in radio access devices, that is, which cells of radio devices belong to which the SA is achieved by configuration of radio access devices. The BM-SC has no need to know in which cell one service is to be played specifically, it only needs to know the corresponding SA or SA list; therefore, the BM-SC has to configure corresponding SA for each service. And it also needs to configure the address list of all downlink nodes.
After introduction of the E-UTRAN, there is another type for radio access technology. Different radio access technology type means different radio transmission quality and further provides different service transmission capacity and user experience. Compared with the UTRAN and earlier GRPS/EDGE Radio Access Network (GERAN), the E-UTRAN has greater bandwidth and higher data transmission stability and adapts to higher movement speed; during early stage of construction, it can be used in access points to relieve the network congestion. In this way, different radio access technologies can be corresponding to different multimedia broadcast/multicast services or to a same service to achieve different service effects. A problem whether the radio access technology can be used as a distinguishing option of charging is caused.
Past MBMS charging of GPRS includes content-based charging and bearing-based charging. For bearing-based charging, charging vectors at present are time and flow of each service; and the charging unit is mainly in the BM-SC, namely, the service source. A Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN) and a Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN) also achieve the collection of some charging vectors.
The eMBMS based on IP has two modes, i.e. broadcast mode and enhanced broadcast mode, but it has no multicast mode for users. Establishment of data path (namely, establishment of bearing) employs IP multicast protocol. The MBMS GW as a logic entity is introduced in the eMBMS; the MBMS GW can be used independently or arranged in the MB-SC or jointly arranged with a Serving Gateway (SGW)/Packet Data Network Gateway (PGW). Bearing-based charging is mainly completed on the network elements of mobile core network such as the MBMS GW; when receiving the relevant charging trigger events (such as, a MBMS session starting response message or a time interval message), the MBMS GW sends a charging request message including a service type, a service identifier, a service area, time, a flow and other information to the relevant entities of charging network gateway, such as CDF.
Corresponding to the change of eMBMS network architecture, content-based charging has little change, but bearing-based charging has great change along with change of the network architecture. The prior art is disadvantaged in that the current MBMS services can be sent to different Radio Access Technology Types (RAT Types) such as the UTRAN and the E-UTRAN, different radio access technology types can provide different access capacities for MBMS services, therefore the MBMS services can have different effects due to different radio access technology typed, even some MBMS services only can be accessed under radio access technology type with higher access capacity, thus the demand for distinguishing radio access technology types in terms of application and charging of services (including charging users and service providers) is arisen. However, the current MBMS charging and application solution fails to propose any method for distinguishing radio access technology types. Besides, radio access technologies as well as corresponding relationships between radio access technologies and related service areas and downlink nodes are also not described in the related technical specifications.
Introduction of the E-UTRAN also makes cells have some changes. Cells of the E-UTRAN are different from cells of the UTRAN in terms of number, which makes service area SA have UTRAN and E-UTRAN attributes. That is, the attribute of radio access technology of the SA can be determined due to whether the cell list contained in SA belongs to the UTRAN or the E-UTRAN or both the UTRAN and the E-UTRAN. At present, there is no configuration about radio access attribute of the SA in respect of configuration of the SA.

Method and system for obtaining access information and charging in multimedia broadcast/multicast service


An apparatus for monitoring an animal in a stall comprises a sound sensing device arranged to sense sounds in the vicinity of the animal. A control unit is adapted to control an animal related action device, such as an attachment means for automatically attaching teatcups to the teats of an animal, such that it performs an action in a predetermined manner in response to said sensed sound.

Automatic milking of animals is disclosed in EP-A-91 892. The automatic milking takes place in one or more combined feeding and milking stalls provided in a barn in which the animals are allowed to walk about freely and find their way individually to the stalls for feeding, drinking and milking. The animals are automatically identified in each stall and fed with the aid of a computer connected to the identification and feeding means used. By means of the computer, in which facts concerning each animal, when she was last milked, etc are stored, automatic milking is initiated. The stall also comprises retaining gates which are automatically closed to retain the animal during milking and opened to let the animal leave the stall.
Traditionally, animals are milked twice a day. Because of high labour costs it was not interesting to increase the number of milkings per day as long as milking was performed manually. It is however recognised that milking an animal three to four times a day has proven to be less detrimental to her, since the udder is not filled to its maximum between each milking. Such a milking procedure also corresponds more closely to the behaviour of the calves and therefore results in healthier animals. As a side effect, however, it is possible to increase the total milk production from one animal by 15-25%. By means of automatic milking machines it is not only possible, but would also be economically interesting to milk the animals more often than twice a day, since the labour cost is no longer critical. In this case it is rather the high investment cost which is a limiting factor.
DE-C-3 702 465 discloses a system for automatic milking and feeding of animals.
A problem of prior art automatic milking systems is their lack of reliable equipment for monitoring the animal in the stall, in order to enable immediate actions to take place in case disturbances of any kind should occur.

Apparatus and method for monitoring animals


An electrical connector has an insulative housing and a plurality of terminals. The insulative housing has a base and a tongue. The terminals are mounted in the insulative housing by an insert-molding process. Each terminal has first and second positioning tabs formed transversely on the terminal and embedded into the tongue to prevent the terminal from inadvertently moving relative to the insulative housing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector, and more particularly to an electrical connector that has an insulative housing and terminals with variation of width so that the terminals are held securely in the insulative housing.
2. Description of Related Art
Electrical connectors are used widely in or on electronic devices such as cellular phones and laptops. For instance, communication between laptops and peripherals are through electrical connectors.
One of common electrical connectors, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,438,590, is the low-voltage-differential-signaling (LVDS) connector that is mounted in electronic devices and is capable of transmitting high and low voltage signals. Conventional LVDS connectors have an insulative housing, a plurality of terminals and two metal shells. The terminals are mounted securely in the insulative housing by an insert-molding process. The metal shells cover the insulative housing to shields the insulative housing and improve the structural strength of the LVDS connector.
However, the terminals of the conventional LVDS connector are not held stably by the insulative housing and easily loosen, move or fall out of the insulative housing after times of the LVDS connector engaged with and disengaged from a mating connector.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides an electrical connector to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.


A hologram exposure apparatus for and method of obtaining a hologram using a photoresist for an in-line type interferometer wherein a photoresist substrate is detachably mounted on a substrate rotating device. A concentric pattern of a hologram from a source of light is projected onto the photoresist on the substrate mounted on the substrate rotating device while rotating the substrate and moving a projecting device in a direction at right angles with the rotary shaft of the photoresist substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of obtaining a hologram using a photoresist used for an in-line type computer hologram interferometer (hereinafter simply referred to an interferometer), and to a hologram exposure apparatus.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An interferometer is quite often used for measuring optical surfaces of non-spherical shapes and for measuring known shapes maintaining high precision. In particular, an interferometer of the in-line type is used for measuring the optical surfaces of an axis-symmetrical lens and the shape of the metal mold surfaces for press-molding the lenses. In the interferometer of the in-line type, a reference light and a light from an object to be measured are coaxially arranged so that a pattern of the hologram describes concentric circles. When the object light has spherical waves, it is allowed to measure deep shapes compared to the pattern pitch of the hologram and the optical system becomes almost common to the reference light and the object light, making it possible to suppress error caused by the optical system. The hologram used for the in-line interferometer has heretofore been obtained by a method according to which a concentric pattern of the hologram is found by a computer and is drawn using an X-Y plotter followed by taking a picture thereof, or by a method according to which a photoresist is exposed using an electron beam drawing apparatus instead of using the X-Y plotter or taking a picture of it.
According to the method which uses the X-Y plotter and takes a picture, however, the concentric pattern of the hologram tends to develop distortion, coma and spherical aberration due to such factors as precision of the X-Y plotter, precision for setting at the time of taking a picture, illumination and exposure conditions, and processing conditions for developing. Moreover, the processing becomes complex. According to the method of using an electron beam drawing apparatus, on the other hand, the drawing precision is considerably high for a narrow range of drawing. When the drawing range is expanded, however, leakage of magnetic flux increases from the electromagnetic lens and an extended exposure time is required. Therefore, the drawing position drifts causing the drawing precision to decrease. If it is attempted to eliminate this defect, the apparatus becomes bulky and expensive. Generally, the electron beam drawing apparatus is expensive by its own nature and has a drawing range of a square having a side of about 5 mm, and is not suited for obtaining a hologram.

Method of obtaining hologram and an exposure apparatus


An airbag (10) has an inflatable chamber (301) defined by a main front panel (12) and a pair of side panels (24), (26). The airbag (10) has a vertically oriented recessed portion (20) on the main panel (12) located on a lower portion of an airbag (10), preferably vertically at or below a gas inlet passageway (30). The recessed portion (20) divides the airbag (10) into two lower lobe portions (40, 42) on each side of the recessed portion (20). Upon inflation an internal tether (50) is attached to the recessed portion (20) and is anchored at or adjacent to the gas inlet passageway (30) thereby limiting forward movement of the recessed portion (20) upon inflation. The airbag (10) is useful as a frontal airbag, particularly a passenger frontal airbag.

As shown in prior art FIG. 13, a conventional passenger side airbag 200 is inflated by an airbag inflator 280. The airbag 200 typically has a single inflatable chamber 330 inflated by gas from the inflator 280. The face portion or front panel 320 of the airbag 200 impacts the vehicle occupant 220 along the chest, shoulders and head. As the vehicle occupant's seated position at the time of airbag deployment deviates from the normal seated position by taking a position closer to the vehicle's instrument panel relative to the seat back 260 of the seat 240, the velocity at which the airbag impacts the vehicle occupant increases. If the vehicle occupant's body is on or near the cover of the airbag module at the time of airbag deployment, the level of interaction between the vehicle occupant and the airbag is elevated.
The use of such conventional passenger side airbags is known to create a risk of injury of small children and infants as well as out of position vehicle occupants. Regulations and standards have been established along with numerous safety tests to insure the deployment of an airbag can either avoid or minimize a risk of injury.
The most common solutions require the use of weight, size or location sensors that signal a processor to control the rate at which inflation gas is provided by the inflator dependent upon the size and the position of the gas is provided by the inflator dependent upon the size and the position of the vehicle occupant. These sensors are costly and very sophisticated and require a very high degree of reliability to insure they function over the life of a vehicle.
To date none of the systems commonly used can accommodate the deployment of an airbag towards an infant in an infant seat facing the rear of a vehicle in the front seat of a vehicle. Accordingly all vehicle manufacturers provide warnings against such an occurrence.
With reference to prior art FIG. 14, it has been proposed that an airbag 200a be formed with spaced apart lobes 340a, 340b, separated by a groove or space 360. When this airbag 200a is inflated, it will take the shape shown in which the space or groove 360 is positioned in front of the normally seated vehicle occupant 220, thereby avoiding contact with the vehicle occupant's head. The airbag-occupant loading is primarily between the lateral lobes 340a, 340b in relation to the right and left sides of the vehicle occupant's torso and the right and left shoulders of the vehicle occupant 220. The impact is lessened if the vehicle occupant 220 is out of position relative to the center of the seat 240 or the seat back 260 at the beginning of airbag deployment.
In the United States of America the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration test criteria of a 1 year old, a 3 year old, a 6 year old; a 105 pound female (5th percentile) are each considered sufficiently different to warrant separated criteria for airbag deployment beyond that of a normal size and weight adult vehicle occupant. Similarly, pregnant women have unique requirements to insure survivability of the infant they are carrying. These and other factors make the design and construction of such safety devices very complex while no other device other than the seatbelt is credited with saving more lives and minimizing the occurrence of serious injury.
It is a primary objective of the vehicle occupant safety restraints industry to provide vehicle occupant restraint devices with a maximum range of safety for the greatest number of potential uses at the highest possibility reliability while still being affordably priced. In science and engineering a constant truth is that "simplicity leads to reliability". The trend toward complex sensors and controls increases the number of components, which inherently leads to increasing the risk of a component malfunction that reduces the overall reliability. To avoid this problem engineers are forced to design in redundancy, which further drives up cost.

Airbag with a strategically placed recess


A poly(carbonate-co-ester) block copolymer is synthesized using synthetic strategies that can be incorporated into conventional melt facilities that are commonly used in the production of polycarbonate polymers. The polycarbonate block of the poly(carbonate-co-ester) copolymer is derived from a polycarbonate reaction mixture comprising an aromatic dihydroxy compound and a carbonic acid diester, such as bisphenol A and diphenyl carbonate, respectively. The second block of the copolymer is derived from a polyester prepolymer, the polyester prepolymer comprising a diol, diacid or diester, and at least one monomer that is selected to advantageously incorporate desired properties into the poly(carbonate-co-ester) copolymer. The polyester prepolymer is introduced to the polycarbonate reaction mixture to form the poly(carbonate-co-ester) copolymer. Properties of the copolymer can be altered by varying numerous conditions of the reaction.

The present invention relates to the production of poly(carbonate-co-ester) soft block copolymers by introducing synthetic steps into a process commonly used to synthesize polycarbonates, the melt transesterification method.
Block copolymers possess unique properties which allow for the modification of thermal, mechanical, and other such properties of a polymer that could not be achieved through the synthesis of other types of polymers, such as random copolymers. Poly(carbonate-co-ester) copolymers are known in the art as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,935,785 and are representative of soft-block copolymers. As compared to polycarbonate homopolymers of the same molecular weight, soft-block copolymers possess improved Theological properties that result in better replication of molded articles.
A variety of block copolycarbonates are known in the art and have been synthesized using the interfacial method, a process which undesirably requires the use of phosgene. Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) Pat. Application No. WO 00/26274 discloses the synthesis of block copolycarbonates using a previously-synthesized polyester intermediate with an organic dihydroxy compound and phosgene. Similarly, Japan Patent No. 63199735 discloses the preparation of polycarbonate copolymers by condensation of a prepolymer, which is obtained by a reacting styrene resin and a polycarbonate oligomer with an aromatic dihydroxy compound. The synthesis of these polycarbonate copolymers uses the interfacial method.
In addition, some low molecular weight diacid monomers are not easily incorporated. Several examples of copolyestercarbonate compositions containing adipic acid exist in the literature. See, for example, JP 61149901 (Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd., 1986), JP 19660527 (Asahi Chemical Industry Co., 1969), J. Polym. Sci., Polym. Chem. Ed. (1967), 5(4), 927-30. However, these copolymers have been made using adipoyl chloride in the interfacial process; a route which is not very viable commercially. Direct incorporation of diacids using the interfacial process is only possible using longer-chain diacids such as sebacic and dodecanoic acid (DDDA).
The invention discloses the production of a poly(carbonate-co-ester) block copolymer. The method for producing the poly(carbonate-co-ester) block comprises the steps of:
(a) creating a reaction mixture comprising an aromatic dihydroxy compound (e.g., bisphenol A (xe2x80x9cBPAxe2x80x9d), a carbonic acid diester (e.g., diphenyl carbonate (xe2x80x9cDPCxe2x80x9d), and a catalyst,
(b) mixing a polyester prepolymer with the reaction mixture, said polyester prepolymer comprising a diacid, diol or diester, and at least one monomer selected to incorporate the desired properties into the poly(carbonate-co-ester), and optionally pre-reacted with a carbonic acid diester to improve its incorporation and reaction,
(c) bringing the reaction mixture to thermal equilibrium in a melted state, wherein the reaction mixture under thermal equilibrium further comprises a volatile component and a polycarbonate polymer, and
(d) removing the volatile component from the reaction mixture to increase the molecular weight of the polycarbonate.
The method of the invention can be incorporated into conventional melt facilities used in the production of polycarbonates, thereby eliminating the need for phosgene and other solvents.

Production of poly(carbonate-co-ester) copolymers