A tag apparatus for attachment to a bag, such as a golf bag, which includes a first flat generally rectangular-shaped body formed of a rigid plastic material and having, on both its front side and back side, a contiguous raised ridge along its perimeter; a plurality of horizontally disposed raised ridges positioned in an approximately parallel fashion with respect to one another in a spaced sequential fashion and extending from one longitudinal edge to the other longitudinal edge; and an aperture surrounded by a continuous raised ridge. This first flat body is removably insertable into a U-shaped envelope formed by the front and back panels of a second flat transparent body. The front and back panels are joined at one common end edge and are not connected along their longitudinal edges nor at their other end edges. During the insertion of the first flat body, the front and back panels are forced apart and their tendency to return to the more relaxed configuration resiliently retains the first flat body within the U-shaped envelope. The front and back panels each have an aperture positioned such that when the first body is resiliently retained in the U-shaped envelope, the apertures of the front and back panels register with the aperture of the first flat body to allow an elongated strap or cord to be passed through the first flat body and the second flat transparent body.

The present invention relates to a tag apparatus for attachment to a bag, and more particularly to a tag apparatus for attachment to a golf bag.
Prior to the instant invention, there have been efforts made to attach accessories to golf bags. Most of these accessories have taken the form of accessory holders to golf bags or on the body of the person. Examples of this type of accessory holders are illustrated in Pommenville, U.S. Pat. No. 4,830,248; Schwein, U.S. Pat. No. 4,746,045; Kline, U.S. Pat. No. 4,699,303; Darnell, U.S. Pat. No. 4,361,934; Blastic, U.S. Pat. No. 4,157,152; Kline, U.S. Pat. No. 4,449,310. The devices as illustrated in the aforesaid patents, which represent the best prior art known to applicant relative to the subject invention, fails to provide an apparatus which provides a function that is practical for the purpose intended for the present invention.
U.S. Pat No. 4,830,248 describes a device which is attachable to a golf bag and which holds golf accessory articles, such as a score card, pencil, golf tees and the like in a secure but removable position for convenient access to the user.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,746,045 discloses a golf score card and pencil holder formed of rigid transparent plastic and of generally rectangular-shaped configuration for use by a golfer. A transparent envelope is clamped against the clamping surface of the golf score card holder. The score card is positioned between the panels of the envelope for ready examination by a user. The envelope and score card are readily removed from the holder by a user for entry of the golfer's score.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,699,303 discusses a golf article retaining device adapted to be removably attached to a supporting surface. This golf article retaining device retains a variety of different sized golf score cards and a receptacle for receiving and retaining a marking implement which is useful in releasably holding golf score cards, golf marking pencils and golf tees. The device is adapted to be easily and positively mounted to a supporting surface on a golf bag or on a golfer's belt in position so that easy access is obtainable to the golf score card, marking device and tees being releasably held on the device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,361,934 describes a golf score card and pencil holder which includes a main body portion in the form of a tag provided with a loop and an elongated cord laced through holes provided in the main body portion.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,157,152 describes a golf score card and pencil holder upon which a score card and a writing implement are conveniently supported so a player can easily keep track of his score, and the holder being readily attachable to a top of a golf bag that one carries.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,449,310 describes a golf clip including a member of spring-like material which is adapted to be resiliently removably mounted in a support structure. The member is designed to resiliently and removably hold a golf score card and has a receptacle for receiving and removably retaining a scoring implement.
None of the above-discussed references discloses a tag apparatus for attachment to a bag which comprises a first flat rectangular-shaped body formed of a rigid plastic material which has a series or plurality of horizontally disposed raised ridges extending from one longitudinal edge to another and positioned in an approximately parallel fashion with respect to one another in a spaced sequential fashion from one edge toward the other end edge, wherein the ridges define a series of generally rectangular-shaped spaces in which adhesive labels containing readable printed instructions can be secured within each generally rectangular-shaped space.
These references also do not teach inserting such a label-containing flat rectangular-shaped body composed of a rigid plastic material into an envelope defined by a second transparent generally flat rectangular-shaped body comprising front and back panels which are integrally joined at one end and are not connected at the opposite end nor along their longitudinal edges, and wherein the panels of the second flat transparent body are displaced during the insertion of the first flat body such that tendency of the panels to return to the more relaxed configuration, together with the assistance of contraction lips present on a T-shaped head positioned at one end of the first flat body which grip the open ends of the front and back transparent panels, resiliently retains the first flat body.
Furthermore, these references also do not teach the insertion of such a label-containing first flat rectangular-shaped body into an envelope defined by a second transparent generally flat rectangular-shaped body wherein the front and back panels are in a frictional and watertight and/or airtight contact with the ridges of the first flat body and through which the labels adhesively secured in the first flat body are readable.
As will be described in more detail hereinafter, applicant has developed such a unique tag apparatus which is attachable to a bag.
The tag apparatus of the present invention contains, on both sides of the tag, a series of readable printed instructions intended to provide a novice player of a game, such as golf, with basic instructions during the course of the game. These instructions relate to the basic fundamentals of swing technique, including stance and grip of the golf club, head position, and follow-through. These instructions may take the form of pre-printed directions or handwritten personal reminders on adhesive labels located on the tag apparatus itself, and are easily readable by an examination of the tag. Where handwritten instructions are used, these individually-tailored instructions may be personal notes written by the golf player himself as reminders of basic fundamentals of swing technique, as well as reminders of any general flaws or personal weaknesses present in the player's game, so that he might avoid or correct them. These pre-printed instructions or handwritten personal reminders may relate to the full game or the short game, i.e., the portion of the golf game when the golf ball is on the green such as for the putt shot, chip shot, and golf pitch shot. A sand shot is also included in the short game. Accordingly, if the player discovers that his game is off or he is putting poorly, he may consult the instructions contained on the tag and correct what he is doing wrong.
Such individually tailored reminders need not be permanently affixed to the tag, but can be changed or replaced according to the present needs or demands of the player. If it is desired, for the sake of convenience, the front side of the tag apparatus may contain instructions relating to the full game, i.e., where a full swing is used, and the back side of the tag may contain instructions relating to the short game, i.e., where less than a full swing is used. Furthermore, a combination of generic pre-printed instructions and individually tailored handwritten instructions may be used.
The instructions are positioned in a lateral, sequential fashion on both sides of the tag and are protected from the damaging contacts with the elements of the outside environment such as air, water, dust, and wind by a covering of transparent plastic on both sides of the tag.


A controller for a dialog manager, the dialog manager being configured to receive a representation of an input utterance from a user and control the flow of conversation with the user. The controller is configured to implement a parameterized policy for defining the behavior of a dialog manager. The parameterized policy is configured to operate with an ontology-independent parameter as an input. The controller has a processor for parameterizing an end user ontology such that the parameterized policy can define the behavior of a dialog manager for the end user ontology. The processor is configured to define a slot of the end user ontology in terms of at least one of the ontology-independent parameters such that it is suitable for being used as an input to the parameterized policy.

Spoken dialogue systems are intended to verbally interact with humans and are becoming increasingly prevalent, in particular in mobile applications and wearable speech interface devices.
Spoken dialogue systems generally comprise a number of components to, for example, convert a human user's speech into text, identify and collate semantic information, control the flow of the conversation in order to acquire the necessary information to complete the task, generate the necessary text and synthesize speech. Dialogue managers are often responsible for the state and flow of the conversation between the spoken dialogue system and the user.
A dialogue manager is traditionally tailored to work in a specific domain. The domain will generally be specific to the type and purpose of the spoken dialogue system, for example a system to provide the user with a number of restaurants which match certain criteria, or a system to identify a suitable laptop for a buyer.
The domain will often have a domain-specific ontology which comprises the types, properties and interrelationships of the entities specific to that domain. In many task-oriented spoken dialogue systems the ontology will specify a plurality of slots to be filled with one (or multiple) of a plurality of possible values. The dialogue manager will generally comprise a policy designed to control the flow of the conversation to fill slots with a value in order to complete the task.
In order to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of a spoken dialogue system, the policy will be optimised for the domain and ontology with which it operates. This is often done using data-driven policy adaptation processes, e.g. using the spoken dialogue system with a user or a simulated user and adapting the policy to increase at least one of the success rate or average reward over a value for an unadapted policy. This is a time consuming and expensive process. Moreover, in many cases a basic (e.g. rule-based) working SDS will be required before the data collection procedure can be started. Developing the initial system for a new domain requires a significant amount of human expertise.
As the ontology is generally domain-dependent, a policy optimised for a first domain is traditionally not compatible with, or not optimised for, a second domain. This means that a policy must be optimised for every domain independently. This can be an expensive and time consuming exercise and means an optimised dialogue manager cannot be provided for a domain without first spending a significant amount of time and money optimising it to the specific ontology of that domain.

Device and method for a spoken dialogue system


A universal joint comprising a first band, a second band, and a third band. The three bands are cylindrical bands coaxial with one another with respect to a common axis. The first band and the second band are separated by a first slot, and the second band and the third band are separated by a second slot. Two connection points, which are diametrically opposed, assure the connection of the first band and of the second band. Two other connection points, which are diametrically opposed, assure the connection of the second band and of the third band. The two connection points between the first band and the second band are offset by substantially 90° in rotation about the common axis with respect to the two connection points between the second band and the third band.

The present invention relates to a universal joint having a simplified structure, i.e., having a reduced number of constituent parts and without frictional relative movement.
A universal joint is a mechanical component which makes it possible to connect two elements such as shafts or tubes which may move relative to one another.
A universal joint has a first axis which is aligned between the two elements. The universal joint assures two rotations, of which the axes are perpendicular to one another and perpendicular to the first axis.
A universal joint is formed from a multiplicity of parts that are movable relative to one another, which makes the joint bulky and generally heavy and also costly to produce.

Universal joint with simplified structure


A process for oligomerizing isobutene comprises contacting a feedstock comprising isobutene with a catalyst comprising a MCM-22 family molecular sieve under conditions effective to oligomerize the isobutene, wherein said conditions including a temperature from about 45° C. to less than 140° C. The isobutene may be a component of a hydrocarbon feedstock containing at least one additional C4 alkene. In certain aspects, isobutene oligomers are separated from a first effluent of the oligomerization to produce a second effluent comprising at least one n-butene. The second effluent can be contacted with an alkylation catalyst to produce sec-butylbenzene.

The selective oligomerization of isobutene is an important chemical reaction, particularly where the isobutene is contained in a refinery C4 hydrocarbon stream, such as Raffinate-1 and Raffinate-2.
For example, C4 linear olefins are an attractive feedstock for producing octenes with zeolite catalysts because, among other reasons, the resulting octenes have triple branching of less than about 5 wt %. However, when isobutene is present in significant quantities (>10 wt %) in the oligomerization feedstock, such as with Raffinate-1, the amount of triple-branched octenes increases to a level which is unacceptable for some end uses such as certain plasticizers. In the past, this problem was generally addressed by selectively reacting the isobutene with methanol to produce methyl t-butyl ether (MTBE). However, with the phase-out of MTBE because of environmental concerns, this reaction is no longer an attractive method of removing isobutene. As a result, interest has focused on selective dimerization of the isobutene to produce octenes useful as, for example, gasoline octane enhancers and as feedstocks for producing C9 aldehydes and/or alcohols.
Another use for the selective oligomerization of isobutene is in the purification of C4 olefin streams used in the alkylation of benzene to produce sec-butylbenzene, an important precursor in the production of phenol. Thus, even when present at only low levels (<5 wt %) in a C4 olefin stream, such as Raffinate-2, isobutene reacts with benzene to produce tert-butylbenzene. However, tert-butylbenzene is difficult to separate from sec-butylbenzene by distillation since the boiling points of the two butylbenzene isomers are very similar, 169° C. for tert-butylbenzene as compared with 173° C. for sec-butylbenzene. Moreover, tert-butylbenzene is known to be an inhibitor to the oxidation of sec-butylbenzene to the corresponding hydroperoxide, which is the first step in the conversion of sec-butylbenzene to phenol and methyl ethyl ketone.
One example of a process for the dimerization of isobutene is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,914,166, in which a C4 olefinic feedstock containing isobutene and n-butene(s) is contacted with dealuminated zeolite beta under conditions including a temperature below 50° C. effective to allow selective dimerization of isobutene to trimethylpentene(s). However, although this process appears to be highly selective for isobutene conversion, the catalyst is found to age rapidly at the conditions employed.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,274,783 discloses a process for the concurrent dimerization and hydrogenation of isobutene in a single distillation column reactor containing both a dimerization catalyst, such as a zeolite or an acidic cation exchange resin, and a hydrogenation catalyst, such as a Group VIII metal deposited on a carrier or support. There is no indication that the process would selectively dimerize isobutene in a mixed C4 olefin feed.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,500,999 discloses a process for the production of hydrocarbons with a high octane number starting from hydrocarbon cuts containing isobutene by means of selective dimerization with acid catalysts, wherein the dimerization reaction is carried out in a tubular reactor using a feed containing isobutene in quantities of less than 20% by weight and with a molar ratio of linear olefins/isobutene greater than 3, preferably operating at a reaction temperature ranging from 30 to 120° C., at a pressure of less than 5 MPa and at feed space velocities of less than 60 hr−1. Suitable acid catalysts are said to include phosphoric acid supported on a solid carrier, a cationic acid exchange resin, a liquid acid, a sulfonic acid derivative, a silico-alumina, a mixed oxide, a zeolite or a fluorinated or chlorinated alumina.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,112,711 discloses a process for oligomerizing alkenes having from 3 to 6 carbon atoms, including isobutene, in the presence of a catalyst containing a zeolite of the MFS structure type. The process is carried out at a temperature comprised between 125 and 175° C. when the feedstock contains only alkenes with 3 carbon atoms and between 140 and 240° C. when the feedstock contains at least one alkene with 4 or more carbon atoms
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0213576, published Sep. 13, 2007, discloses a process for the dimerization of isobutene at a temperature in excess of 240° C. in the presence of a multi-dimensional molecular sieve catalyst containing at least one 10 or 12 ring channel, such as ZSM-57, ZSM-5, FAU, Beta, ZSM-12, mordenite, MCM-22 family zeolites, and mixtures thereof to produce a product low in triple-branched octenes.
K. Hauge et al in Catalysis Today, Vol. 100 (2005) pp. 463-466 reported on the oligomerization of pure isobutene over solid acid catalysts at 40° C. and 10 bar pressure and 60 WHSV. The zeolite solid acid catalysts (ZSM-5, beta, and Y) had high initial activity, but the activity dropped drastically over the course of 2 hours. This was attributed to "the production of high molecular weight oligomers inside the zeolite pores." The macroreticular acidic resin Amberlyst 15, in contrast, showed activity that leveled out after about 2 hours.
According to the present invention, it has now been found that, when operated at low temperature, molecular sieves of the MCM-22 family are selective and stable catalysts for the oligomerization of isobutene in the presence of other C4 alkenes. Although the reason for this result is not understood, it is believed that the presence of the active acid sites in pockets on the external surface of the zeolite crystal in MCM-22 molecular sieves allows the reaction products to quickly desorb, thereby avoiding the production of high molecular weight oligomers inside the zeolite pores as reported by K. Hauge et al in Catalysis Today, Vol. 100.


Oxygen is supplied to a pediatric patient through a plaything coupled to an oxygen source. Oxygen is dispensed through the plaything through one or more oxygen ports which allow the patient to interact with the plaything while maintaining a flow of oxygen near the mouth and nose of the patient for maximum oxygen transfer.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates in general to oxygenation devices and, more particularly, to a pediatric oxygenation device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
To an EMS (emergency medical service) provider, the most gratifying accomplishment is saving the life of a child or pediatric patient. In both adult and pediatric emergency situations, it is important to provide a high concentration of oxygen to the patient. The single most important element to the body, for both adults and children, is oxygen. For adult patients, oxygenation is accomplished by applying a mask over the nose and mouth of the patient. Oxygen from an oxygen tank is supplied to the mask through a tube, such that the patient breaths pure oxygen. Pediatric patients, however, can be significantly more difficult to oxygenate than adult patients.
With pediatric patients, early and efficient oxygenation is more critical than with adults. Smaller airways prevent children from moving as much oxygen as adults, as well as make them more susceptible for choking on foreign objects. Further, children have smaller lung volumes, fewer and smaller alveoli (which are more susceptible to collapse) and lower hemoglobin levels, and hence less oxygen carrying capacity, The inability to move sufficient quantities of oxygen can be critical when the patient is sick or injured.
Smaller blood volume in a child further increases the difficulty of reoxygenating a pediatric patient once he or she becomes hypoxic. Not only is there less blood volume, but there is proportionately less hemoglobin to carry oxygen. Therefore, once a child becomes low on oxygen, a significant period of time is necessary to return their oxygen state to a normal level.
With the metabolic rate of kids being twice that of adults, their normal rate of oxygen consumption is much greater. Considering that the pediatric patient in an emergency situation is typically traumatized by illness or injury, the metabolic rate increases even more, as does the patient""s heart rate, causing an extreme demand for oxygen. Consequently, hypoxia occurs much quicker in children than it does in adults and it takes children longer to recover.
Unfortunately, administering oxygen to pediatric patients can be much more difficult than with adults. Children are easily intimidated by an emergency medical setting. Children are taught from an early age that strangers are bad and to stay away from strangers. So when strangers try to give aid to children, their apprehension is a very normal, conditioned response.
Additionally, some young children are unable to communicate and some older children do not have sufficient communication skills to communicate easily. Therefore, it is often difficult to determine their problem.
Because of a pediatric patient""s intimidation and his or her inability to quickly and effectively communicate with the emergency medical personnel, the administration of oxygen can be extremely difficult. Oxygenation using a mask, as is done with adults, is difficult because the natural instinct of many children is to fight against anything being placed over their breathing passages. This is particularly true in the emergency medical situation where the mask and oxygenation equipment is very strange to children. Accordingly, it is likely that a child will struggle with EMS personnel if a mask is placed on or near their face. Therefore, EMS personnel often hold the mask in the general vicinity of the pediatric patient""s face, but children will still turn away from the mask and become aggravated. Struggling increases the need for oxygen, while decreasing the ability to receive oxygen from the mask. As the child becomes more upset, the demand for oxygen increases and the patient""s consumption of oxygen increases, causing the child to become more hypoxic, possibly to a degree greater than before oxygen was administered.
A number of devices have been designed to administer oxygen or other gases to infants in non-emergency settings using a bottle nipple or pacifier. Such devices are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,669,461 to Battaglia, U.S. Pat. No. 4,520,809 to de Greef and U.S. Pat. No. 5,375,593 to Press. These devices are not useful in emergency settings for a number of reasons. First, the attraction to a bottle nipple or pacifier is not universal, even in infants. Some infants, particularly breast fed infants, will turn away from a bottle nipple. Second, those infants who are attracted to a bottle nipple or a pacifier will want to put the object in their mouths and suck on the nipple, thereby eliminating the mouth as a source for receiving oxygen. Breathing oxygen solely through the nose can significantly decrease the volume of oxygen received by the patient. Third, a nipple is generally not attractive to older pediatric patients, who will resist, refuse, or have no interest in the nipple.
Therefore, there is a need in the industry for a device for administering oxygen to a pediatric patient in an emergency situation which efficiently supplies oxygen and calms the patient.
An oxygenation device is shaped as a plaything. A connector on the plaything couples to an oxygen source for supplying oxygen. At least one outlet is coupled to the connector, such that oxygen from said oxygen source is dispersed in the area of the plaything so that a patient holding the plaything will receive a high concentration of oxygen.
The present invention provides significant advantages over the prior art. First, it delivers oxygen to a pediatric patient without adding to stress. Second, it may actually reduce stress in the patient. Third, it can deliver oxygen over a wide area, allowing the patient to interact with the plaything in a natural manner while maintaining a direct flow of oxygen to the patient""s mouth and nose regions. Fourth, the oxygenation device can be inexpensively made. Fifth, different designs can be used to appeal to a wide range of pediatric patients.


An acoustic compressor is disclosed for generating a high pressure acoustic waveform within a chamber containing a working medium. The compressor comprises an actuator body solidly mounted to the chamber with a vibrating armature spring-mounted within. The chamber and actuator body are resiliently mounted so as to be vibratable. Owing to reaction forces, vibration of the armature causes vibration of the chamber which generates an acoustic waveform in the medium. By matching the resonant frequency of the armature to the acoustic resonant frequency of the chamber and driving the armature at that frequency, extremely high pressures within the chamber may be obtained.

Recently, there has developed great interest in compressors which lack traditional moving parts. Such compressors are particularly suitable for application in refrigeration systems which use non-ozone depleting refrigerants as the working medium. One type of such compressor is the so-called acoustic compressor whereby a standing acoustic wave is generated in a chamber, containing the working medium. The pressure variations caused by the acoustic wave are then utilized to pump, and therefore compress, the medium. Acoustic compressors are described in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 5,020,977 issued to Lucas, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
In the acoustic compressors described in the aforementioned '977 patent, the acoustic waveform is generated by a flexible diaphragm mounted at one end of the chamber containing the working medium and driven by an electromagnetic actuator. The arrangement is thus similar to a conventional loudspeaker. The frequency at which the diaphragm is driven is chosen in accordance with the physical properties of the working medium and the geometry of the chamber so that a standing wave (i.e., one having stationary nodes and antinodes) is produced within the chamber. That is, the diaphragm is driven at a frequency corresponding to one of the normal modes of the system so that a condition of resonance is achieved within the chamber.
Obviously, it is advantageous in a refrigeration system for the acoustic compressor to generate pressures as high as possible in order to compress the refrigerant. At a given driving frequency, the only way to increase the pressure amplitude of the acoustic waveform is to increase the amplitude of the diaphragm's back and forth excursion. Such an increase is severely constrained, however, by the physical characteristics o both the flexible diaphragm and the electromagnetic actuator which permit only a limited range of motion at a given frequency. Furthermore, a flexible diaphragm can only withstand a limited amount of pressure before it physically fails.


A standard car jack's front wheels are supported by a carriage having a cradle to secure the front wheels therein. The carriage has a caster-type wheel at each end. The carriage has a leg extending rearward and having a third caster-type wheel mounted on it to create a triangular support platform for the jack. The jack's rear caster-type wheels remain on the ground. A lifting brace fits onto the pedestal of the jack. An all terrain vehicle (ATV) can be lifted and rotated by one person, thereby facilitating the parking of several ATV's sideways in the bed of a pickup or on a trailer.

The standard automobile floor jack has a rectangular frame supporting a front axle. The axle supports a pair of wheels which provide a range of rolling motion on the forward and rearward directions. The rear of the frame has a left and a right brace each of which supports a caster type wheel to provide a range of motion of 360.degree. for the rear of the frame. However, if the front of the frame needs to be moved sidewards, then the front wheels must be slid sidewards. Such a sidewards motion requires overcoming the static friction of the wheels against the ground surface. The existence of a grate or a gravel or a rough surface would prohibit the sidewards motion of the front end of the frame. The user would have to push the front end sidewards if he could. But if the front end was located under the automobile, then pushing sidewards on the front end could be impossible. The user could try to jerk the entire frame back and forth to reach the desired location for the front end. If a user wishes to load multiple all terrain vehicles sideways in the bed of a pickup, then sliding the front wheels of the floor jack dolly is necessary. A better solution is needed.
The present invention provides a simple chassis for the front end of the jack to rest on. The chassis has a pair of caster type wheels as well as a rear leg which has a caster type wheel. The user can hold the jack handle and easily move the front of the jack in a 360.degree. range of motion using the chassis caster type wheels. A special brace can support an all terrain vehicle. Thus, rotating an all terrain vehicle in the bed of a pickup can be done by one person.


The invention relates to a method and a device for the production of portions from at least one continuous strand of a food product, in particular for the production of meatballs. The machine comprises: an extrusion device which can deliver a continuous strand in a vertical direction, and a portioning device that includes at least one cutting system. The cutting system comprises cutting elements (30) which can be moved transversely to the vertical direction between an open position, in which the strand passes between the cutting elements, and a closed position for cutting the strand and forming portions of the food product. In addition, each cutting system comprises ejection means (5) for ejecting the forming portions downwards from the cutting elements. The ejection means include at least one lower channel (5, 105) that is fluidly connected to a compressed fluid such that compressed fluid can be injected into the lower channel when the lower channel is in a closed position. The lower channel is formed in a body of the corresponding cutting element.

The present invention relates to a method and device for the production of portions from at least one continuous strand of a food product, in particular for the production of meatballs, comprising a particular cutting system.
The prior art includes, in particular through the patent document EP 360 446, a machine for the production of spherical portions or balls, comprising an extrusion device comprising an extrusion head continuously delivering a continuous strand in a vertical direction, a portioning device comprising a cutting system, said cutting system comprising cutting elements suitable for being moved transversally to said vertical direction between an open position wherein the strand passes between said cutting elements and a closed position for cutting the strand and forming portions of the food product, and a retrieval device arranged below the portioning device for retrieving the portions.
The cutting system is of the diaphragm type, the cutting elements are mounted circumferentially in sliding contact with each other. The extrusion head is fixedly mounted above the cutting system, the latter being moved vertically according to a to-and-fro movement in order to cut the continuously fed strand. The retrieval device is in the form of an endless conveyor belt suitable for conveying trays in a feed direction, said conveyor being suitable for moving transversally to said feed direction in order to automatically position the balls in the trays. The cut balls drop gravitationally into the trays. The food product may tend to adhere to the cutting elements. The drop height may thus vary from one ball to another. The ball may further adhere to a cutting element, be deflected to the side thereby when the cutting position returns to the open position. These drop height variations and these adhesion phenomena, which vary according to the size of the portions and the nature of the food product, limit the production rate and do not guarantee precise positioning of the balls in the trays.
The aim of the present invention is that of providing a solution intended to remedy the abovementioned drawbacks, suitable for the production of portions from a strand at high production rates, while enabling automatic packaging of the portions in trays.

Method and machine for the production of portions, including means for ejecting said portions


An axial mounting of a rack-and-pinion steering system takes transverse forces and, at the same time, permits a defined resilience of the rack mounting in the transverse direction of the vehicle for affecting steering behavior of the vehicle and, in particular, permitting desired understeer during cornering. Mountings of this kind are particularly applicable to passenger vehicles in which the track rods are arranged behind the steered axle in the direction of travel. The rack-and-pinion steering system is mounted by two bearings arranged upright and at a relatively great distance from one another at the ends of the steering gear casing. The bearing bodies are either V-shaped or Y-shaped as viewed in longitudinal section. One upper and one lower bearing body together with damping elements are in each case arranged symmetrically and in alignment with one another in the top and bottom parts respectively of the bearing guide, with the smaller end faces of the V-shaped or Y-shaped bearing bodies facing one another. The upright arrangement of the bearing bodies with damping elements subjects the damping elements axially to compressive stress and also to shear stress. A desired stiffness and spring hardness in the vertical and longitudinal directions of the vehicle are thereby achieved.

The present invention relates to a mounting of a rack-and-pinion steering system for motor vehicles and, more particularly to a mounting for passenger motor vehicles in which the track rods are arranged behind the axle in the direction of travel and in which a defined resilience of the rack mounting in the transverse direction of the vehicle is of particular importance to the behavior of the steering system.
The simplest form of a rack-and-pinion steering system of a motor vehicle is fastened by rigid bolting to frame or body parts, such as the front cross-member or the front bulkhead. In order to take vibrations and shocks transmitted via the wheels and wheel suspensions, elastic mountings for the rack-and-pinion steering system are used.
According to REIMPELL, Fahrwerktechnik-Lenkung, [translated: Running-gear technology--steering], Vogel-Verlag, 1984, mounting arrangements are known in which the rack-and-pinion steering system is elastically connected to the vehicle frame by a tubular damping rubber. A spacer tube integrated into the damping rubber prevents compression of the rubber body and also limits axial compressive stresses.
In, another known form, the casing of the rack-and-pinion steering system is almost completely surrounded by an elastomer body which is screwed into nonpositive engagement with the vehicle frame by fastening clips which engage therearound. The thick-walled elastomer body permits movements of the rack-and-pinion steering system in all three main spatial directions. This resilience of the steering system is however, undesirable, particularly in the longitudinal or travel direction of the vehicle and in a vertical direction because it leads to instability of the vehicle.
In addition, this known configuration involves considerable space requirements and, particularly in passenger motor vehicles, leads to design problems in the arrangement of the steering gear in the available region between the engine/gearbox unit and the stabilizer, taking into account the necessary ground clearance of the vehicle. Furthermore, an undesirable slewing or torsion movement of the rack-and-pinion steering system about its longitudinal axis is not completely prevented by the positive clip connection.
DE 37 04 412 shows a steering gear fastening having a plurality of shaped elastomer bodies which consist of a single part or two parts. The bodies are arranged in the longitudinal direction of the rack-and-pinion steering system. The identically shaped, homogeneous elastomer bodies enable only transverse forces to be absorbed. Similarly, a wheel suspension for steerable front wheels of a motor vehicle shown in DE 31 18 177 has a plurality of spaced shaped rubber parts which are arranged on the cross strut of the steering gear.
In DE 24 21 498, a U-shaped elastomer body is described and, with the aid of a peripheral tension band, permits slight axial movability of the rack-and-pinion steering system. This arrangement does not, however, permit automated installation of the completed rack-and-pinion steering system on the vehicle.
EP 0 351 146 shows a rack mounting which consists of a plurality of "silentblocs" in the form of hollow cylinders. This embodiment permits only slight resilience in the transverse direction of the vehicle, and thus does not allow the deflection of the mounted rack-and-pinion steering system which is necessary for under-steer of the vehicle.
EP 0 107 781 describes a plurality of asymmetrically () shaped multipart elastomer mounting bodies for the elastic mounting of a rack-and-pinion steering system. The spring elements subjected to compressive or shear stresses have a substantially annular shape. The elastomer parts, which together form a movable bearing and a fixed bearing, are connected to the vehicle body by holding straps gripping around, them. This mounting arrangement requires considerable space and does not permit automated installation on the complete assembly on the vehicle.
DE 34 25 730 shows a wheel suspension for a rear axle carrying steerable wheels and has a total of four asymmetrically arranged profiled rubber bodies spaced apart from one another. Two mountings arranged horizontally in the direction of travel serve to take longitudinal forces, while the two silentblocs arranged transversely to them take the resultant transverse forces acting on the co-steering rear axle. This known construction, which is expensive with respect to design and installation techniques, likewise does not permit automated final installation of the completed vehicle steering system.
An object of the present invention is to provide a mounting for a rack-and-pinion steering system which, through a tautly seated steering system, ensures stable guiding of the vehicle in the travel direction to prevent the dreaded "wandering" of the vehicle.
Transversely to the direction of travel, that is in the longitudinal direction of the rack-and-pinion steering system, limited elasticity of the mounting construction is required, in order to ensure the desired understeer of the vehicle during cornering. In addition, when the track rods are inclined in relation to the axis of the rack during deflection and rebound movements, the suspension of the rack-and-pinion steering system should intercept obliquely directed forces such that tilting of the rack about the vehicle longitudinal axis and also twisting about its own axis are largely avoided. Moreover, the rack-and-pinion steering system of the present invention is now installable automatically on the vehicle from below.
The object of the present invention has been achieved by providing that the two bearing guides arranged upright in longitudinal and transverse directions of the motor vehicle and spaced apart in the longitudinal direction of the steering gear and connected to a casing of the steering gear. In the bearing guide, two bearing bodies tapering towards the center of the respective bearing guide are aligned with one another in a mirror image arrangement. The bearing bodies have through-holes in a longitudinal direction of the bearing guide, and a damping element is arranged on the outer periphery of the bearing body. A wall thickness of the damping element in the longitudinal direction of the motor vehicle is greater than a wall thickness in the transverse direction of the motor vehicle. An inner wall of the bearing guide is shaped in accordance with an external contour of the bearing bodies with damping elements, and opposing bearing bodies, with the associated damping elements, are clamped axially together with a defined initial stress when installed in the bearing guide.
The rack-and-pinion steering system is mounted by two bearings which are arranged upright and at a relatively great distance from one another at the ends of the steering gear casing. The two bearings consist essentially of the bearing holder which is joined to the steering gear and of two bearing bodies having damping elements. The bearing bodies are V-shaped or Y-shaped in longitudinal section and have axial through holes for the passage of the clamp bolts. One upper and one lower bearing body together with damping elements are arranged symmetrically and in alignment with one another in the top and bottom pares respectively of the bearing guide. The smaller end faces of the V-shaped or Y-shaped bearing bodies face one another.
Through the upright arrangement of the bearing bodies with their damping elements, the latter are subjected axially to compressive stress and at the same time also to shear stress. Thus, the desired great stiffness and spring hardness in the vertical direction and also in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle are achieved.
The softness of the bearings in the transverse direction of the vehicle is achieved through the fact that the damping elements of the bearings are provided on their periphery, in the longitudinal direction of the steering gear, with depressions or flats on one side or diametrically opposite on both sides. A damping element flattened on both sides in the transverse direction of the vehicle is shown in FIG. 2 where the bearing gap on both sides in the transverse direction of the vehicle in the static state can be clearly seen. During cornering, this configuration permits soft deflection of the rack-and-pinion steering system. With correspondingly great forces the damping element makes contact over its entire surface with the inner wall of the bearing guide and is automatically centered by the bearing guide. Because of the greater spring hardness, further swinging-out of the rack-and-pinion steering system in the transverse direction of the vehicle is prevented.
Flattening of the damping element on one side is likewise shown solely by way of example in FIGS. 7 and 8. Using, on both sides, this kind of damping element, which has outwardly directed flats, in both the bearings brings about an initially steeper rise of the characteristic line of the spring force in the transverse direction of the vehicle. After a short spring travel, the lifting-off of the unloaded side produces a flat pattern of spring force over the spring travel, with a nearly linear rise.
This spring characteristic at first causes around the middle position a better stability of the vehicle and gives the driver the impression of driving with steering stability. Only when transverse forces become greater does the soft spring characteristic of the damping elements then occur, thus permitting the desired understeer of the vehicle. The V-shaped or Y-shaped configuration of the bearings offers the further advantage that obliquely directed supporting forces, which act on the steering gear via the track rods, are more effectively introduced.
Effective supporting of the rack-and-pinion steering system against tilting about the longitudinal axis of the vehicle is achieved through a large support base, in that in an advantageous embodiment the two bearings are arranged at a correspondingly great distance from one another on one longitudinal side of the rack casing.
In order to automate the installation of the rack-and-pinion steering system on the vehicle, the steering system is mounted on a mounting member, which in a preferred embodiment is in the form of a substantially C-shaped, beaded metal sheet. The mounting member receives the entire unit and is brought from below against the vehicle body. The bearings are taken to mounting holes in a cross-member and then bolted to the latter. This mounting bolting achieves at the same time the desired axial initial stress of the one-piece elastomer bodies which are preferably used damping elements for the two bearings in order to adjust the desired bearing hardnesses of the latter.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the bearing body is in the form of a truncated cone which is provided with a through hole and has a V-shape in longitudinal section. Through the mirror-image arrangement of two V-shaped bearing bodies aligned with one another, whose smaller end faces lie opposite one another, extremely small overall heights of the bearings can be achieved. In addition, because of their simple shape the bearing bodies are easy to produce in terms of the manufacturing technology involved.
In another aspect of the present invention, the bearing body is in the form of a truncated cone which is provided with a through hole and has a Y-shape in longitudinal section and which is provided with a hollow cylindrical extension on its smaller end face. The mirror-image arrangement of two Y-shaped bearing bodies lying with their smaller end faces aligned opposite one another offers the advantage that obliquely directed reaction forces on the steering gear, which forces occur in particular in the event of a large angle of lock (cornering, manoeuvering), can be dependably absorbed.
In an advantageous embodiment of the present invention, the damping element is in the form of a one-piece elastomer body which can be produced in a simple manner and is joined to the bearing body by elastic initial stress. Alternatively, the damping element is vulcanized to the bearing body.
In a currently preferred embodiment, the damping element is shaped to form on its periphery or end face a sealing lip which, in the installed state, is applied with a positive fit to the bearing guide and forms a dustproof covering for the bearing interior.
In order to ensure great bearing stability of the rack-and-pinion steering system in relation to tilting movements transversely to the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, the two bearings are arranged at the outer-most end points of the steering gear casing. When the steering gear casing is constructed in the form of a pressure diecasting, the bearing guides can in a simple manner be integrated into the wall of the casing.
To ensure automated installation of the steering system use is made of a mounting member which receives the preassembled rack-and-pinion steering system and, in an advantageous development is at the same time configured to protect the steering system against thrown-up stones and as underclearance protection.
It is particularly advantageous that the solution provided by the present invention makes possible achievement of a defined spring characteristic of the steering arrangement in the x-, y- and z-directions. This is accomplished through the different configuration of the bearing bodies and damping elements in conjunction with the adjustable initial stress of the spring system in the installation of the unit.
In addition, the arrangement of the present invention offers the advantage that, particularly on the rebound of the vehicle or with a large lock angle, the geometrically defined position of the steering gear relative to the other elements of the steering arrangement is retained. This results from the greater spring hardness in the x- and y-directions which prevents deflection of the rack-and-pinion steering system, whereas in the y-direction a defined deflection can occur. Because of the arrangement selected, however, torsion of the rack-and-pinion steering system about the y-axis is impossible.

Rack-and-pinion steering system mounting


Computer instructions that operate to determine if one or more geometry pieces of a mechanical design are within a view boundary and automatically generate and order one or more identifiers corresponding to the geometry pieces within the view boundary, when executed, is disclosed. In one embodiment, the computer instructions are part of a mechanical design software application. In one embodiment, the mechanical design software application including the computer instructions are embodied in a distribution storage medium.

Most mechanical designs require a designer to create a drawing to identify geometry pieces that make up components of a mechanical design. An example of components of a mechanical design is a nut and bolt assembly where the nut and bolt make up the components of the assembly. Once a designer has completed the geometry pieces of an assembly, the designer creates a display, usually in the form of a drawing, identifying the individual components that make up the assembly. For the purposes of this application, the geometry pieces that make up the components of a mechanical design are solid CAD geometry pieces and shall be generically referred to as geometry pieces.
Generally, identifying individual geometry pieces of an assembly is labor intensive requiring creation of an identifier, usually in the form of an identity symbol and a leader from the geometry piece to the identity symbol, for each geometry piece in separate sequence of commands, multiple executions of the same commands, and a large number of key strokes. Thus, as the number of geometry pieces of an assembly increases, the time required to identify the geometry pieces increases. Moreover, once the identifiers have been created, a users has difficulty changing the position of the identifier because the ordering of the geometry pieces would have to be manually changed to remain consistent with the identifier position.
Thus, a more user friendly approach for creating identifiers and manipulating identifiers of geometry pieces of an assembly is desired. As will be described in more detail below, the present invention achieves these and other desirable objectives, which will be apparent from the disclosure to follow.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and apparatus for automatically displaying and manipulating identifiers of a mechanical design


A robot simulation device includes, a model generation unit which generates a three-dimensional wire-shaped member model from a plurality of mass points and a plurality of spring elements, a focus point setting unit which sets a plurality of focus points on the wire-shaped member model, a simulation unit which performs a simulation of the behavior of the wire-shaped member associated with the operation of the robot using the wire-shaped member model, and a display unit which displays focus point images, together with wire-shaped member images, using position data of the plurality of mass points and position data of the plurality of focus points which are obtained via the simulation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a robot simulation device which simulates the operation of a robot on which a wire-shaped member is arranged.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a robot on which a wire-shaped member is arranged, it sometimes happens that the wire-shaped member is subjected to torsion in association with the operation of the robot. In this regard, a device is conventionally known that is configured to calculate the torsion amount of a wire-shaped member based on the torsion due to rotation of the wire-shaped member at a first fixing point and a second fixing point where the wire-shaped member is fixed and the positional relationship between the first fixing point and the second fixing point (refer to Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2005-293331, for example). Further, such a device is known in the art that is configured to generate a simulation model of wire-shaped member from a plurality of mass points and springs connecting the mass points together and perform a simulation of the behavior of the wire-shaped member (refer to Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2013-35083, for example).
However, with the device disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2005-293331 referred to above, it is difficult to grasp the torsioned state at each part in the longitudinal direction of the wire-shaped member (e.g., the torsioned state at an intermediate point between the first fixing point and the second fixing point) since the torsion amount of the wire-shaped member is calculated in view of the first fixing point and the second fixing point. Further, the torsioned state of the wire-shaped member cannot be easily grasped merely by performing a simulation of the behavior of the wire-shaped member as in the device disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2013-35083 referred to above.


According to an embodiment, a semiconductor light emitting device is configured to emit light by energy relaxation of an electron between subbands of a plurality of quantum wells. The device includes an active layer and at least a pair of cladding layers. The active layer is provided in a stripe shape extending in a direction parallel to an emission direction of the light, and includes the plurality of quantum wells; and the active layer emits the light with a wavelength of 10 μm or more. Each of the cladding layers is provided both on and under the active layer respectively and have a lower refractive index than the active layer. At least one portion of the cladding layers contains a material having a different lattice constant from the active layer and has a lower optical absorption at a wavelength of the light than the other portion.

Semiconductor light emitting devices that emit light in the infrared region have a wide field of application such as environmental measurement. Among them, semiconductor light emitting devices that emit coherent light, such as a quantum cascade laser, are small and highly convenient, and enable high-accuracy measurement.
For example, a quantum cascade laser that emits infrared light with a wavelength of 4 to 10 μm includes an active layer including quantum wells in which GaInAs and AlInAs are alternately stacked, and has a structure in which an InP cladding layer surrounds the active layer.
On the other hand, in a wavelength region with wavelengths longer than 10 μm, there is light absorption due to lattice vibrations (phonons) of InP, and the InP cladding layer absorbs the light emitted from the active layer. Consequently, the light emitting efficiency decreases, and it is difficult to obtain a high-power quantum cascade laser. Thus, a high-power semiconductor light emitting device that emits light is required in the far-infrared region with wavelengths longer than 10 μm.

Semiconductor light emitting device and method for manufacturing same


An improvement of the methanol carbonylation process for manufacturing acetic acid is disclosed. Specifically disclosed is a method for reducing the formation of alkyl iodides and C3-8 carboxylic acids by removing permanganate reducing compounds (“PRC's”) from the light phase of the condensed light ends overhead stream, including (a) distilling the light phase to yield a PRC enriched overhead stream; and (b) extracting the third overhead stream with water in at least two consecutive stages and separating therefrom one or more aqueous streams containing PRC″s.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an improved process for the removal of permanganate reducing compounds and alkyl iodides formed by the carbonylation of methanol in the presence of a Group VIII metal carbonylation catalyst. More specifically, this invention relates to an improved process for reducing and/or removing precursors of permanganate reducing compounds and alkyl iodides from intermediate streams during the formation of acetic acid by said carbonylation processes.
2. Technical Background
Among currently employed processes for synthesizing acetic acid, one of the most useful commercially is the catalyzed carbonylation of methanol with carbon monoxide as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,769,329 issued to Paulik et al. on Oct. 30, 1973. The carbonylation catalyst contains rhodium, either dissolved or otherwise dispersed in a liquid reaction medium or supported on an inert solid, along with a halogen-containing catalyst promoter as exemplified by methyl iodide. The rhodium can be introduced into the reaction system in any of many forms, and the exact nature of the rhodium moiety within the active catalyst complex is uncertain. Likewise, the nature of the halide promoter is not critical. The patentees disclose a very large number of suitable promoters, most of which are organic iodides. Most typically and usefully, the reaction is conducted by continuously bubbling carbon monoxide gas through a liquid reaction medium in which the catalyst is dissolved.
An improvement in the prior art process for the carbonylation of an alcohol to produce the carboxylic acid having one carbon atom more than the alcohol in the presence of a rhodium catalyst is disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,001,259, issued Mar. 19, 1991; U.S. Pat. No. 5,026,908, issued Jun. 25, 1991; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,144,068, issued Sep. 1, 1992; and European Patent No. EP 0 161 874 B2, published Jul. 1, 1992. As disclosed therein, acetic acid is produced from methanol in a reaction medium containing methyl acetate, methyl halide, especially methyl iodide, and rhodium present in a catalytically effective concentration. These patents disclose that catalyst stability and the productivity of the carbonylation reactor can be maintained at surprisingly high levels, even at very low water concentrations, i.e. 4 weight percent or less, in the reaction medium (despite the general industrial practice of maintaining approximately 14-15 wt % water) by maintaining in the reaction medium, along with a catalytically effective amount of rhodium and at least a finite concentration of water, a specified concentration of iodide ions over and above the iodide content which is present as methyl iodide or other organic iodide. The iodide ion is present as a simple salt, with lithium iodide being preferred. The patents teach that the concentration of methyl acetate and iodide salts are significant parameters in affecting the rate of carbonylation of methanol to produce acetic acid, especially at low reactor water concentrations. By using relatively high concentrations of the methyl acetate and iodide salt, one obtains a surprising degree of catalyst stability and reactor productivity even when the liquid reaction medium contains water in concentrations as low as about 0.1 wt %, so low that it can broadly be defined simply as "a finite concentration" of water. Furthermore, the reaction medium employed improves the stability of the rhodium catalyst, i.e. resistance to catalyst precipitation, especially during the product recovery steps of the process. In these steps, distillation for the purpose of recovering the acetic acid product tends to remove from the catalyst the carbon monoxide which in the environment maintained in the reaction vessel, is a ligand with stabilizing effect on the rhodium. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,001,259, 5,026,908 and 5,144,068 are herein incorporated by reference.
It has been found that although a low water carbonylation process for producing acetic acid reduces such by-products as carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and propionic acid, the amount of other impurities, present generally in trace amounts, is also increased, and the quality of acetic acid sometimes suffers when attempts are made to increase the production rate by improving catalysts, or modifying reaction conditions.
These trace impurities affect quality of acetic acid, especially when they are recirculated through the reaction process. The impurities that decrease the permanganate time of the acetic acid include carbonyl compounds and unsaturated carbonyl compounds. As used herein, the phrase "carbonyl" is intended to mean compounds that contain aldehyde or ketone functional groups, which compounds may or may not possess unsaturation. See Catalysis of Organic Reaction, 75, 369-380 (1998), for further discussion on impurities in a carbonylation process.
The present invention is directed to reducing and/or removing permanganate reducing compounds (PRC″s) such as acetaldehyde, acetone, methyl ethyl ketone, butyraldehyde, crotonaldehyde, 2-ethyl crotonaldehyde, and 2-ethyl butyraldehyde and the like, and the aldol condensation products thereof. The present invention also leads to reduction of propionic acid.
The carbonyl impurities described above, such as acetaldehyde, may react with iodide catalyst promoters to form multi-carbon alkyl iodides, e.g., ethyl iodide, propyl iodide, butyl iodide, pentyl iodide, hexyl iodide and the like. It is desirable to remove alkyl iodides from the reaction product because even small amounts of these impurities in the acetic acid product tend to poison the catalyst used in the production of vinyl acetate, the product most commonly produced from acetic acid. The present invention is thus also directed to removal of alkyl iodides, in particular C2-12 alkyl iodide compounds. Accordingly, because many impurities originate with acetaldehyde, it is a primary objective to remove acetaldehyde from the process so as to reduce the alkyl iodide content.
Conventional techniques to remove impurities include treating the acetic acid product with oxidizers, ozone, water, methanol, activated-carbon, amines, and the like, which treatment may or may not be combined with distillation of the acetic acid. The most typical purification treatment involves a series of distillations of the final product. It is also known, for example from U.S. Pat. No. 5,783,731, to remove carbonyl impurities from organic streams by treating the organic streams with an amine compound such as hydroxylamine, which reacts with the carbonyl compounds to form oximes, followed by distillation to separate the purified organic product from the oxime reaction products. However, the additional treatment of the final product adds cost to the process, and distillation of the treated acetic acid product can result in additional impurities being formed.
While it is possible to obtain acetic acid of relatively high purity, the acetic acid product formed by the low-water carbonylation process and purification treatment described above frequently remains somewhat deficient with respect to the permanganate time due to the presence of small proportions of residual impurities. Since a sufficient permanganate time is an important commercial test, which the acid product must meet to be suitable for many uses, the presence of impurities that decrease permanganate time is objectionable. Moreover, it is not economically or commercially feasible to remove minute quantities of these impurities from the acetic acid by distillation because some of the impurities have boiling points close to that of the acetic acid product.
It has thus become important to identify economically viable methods of removing impurities elsewhere in the carbonylation process without contaminating the final product or adding unnecessary costs. U.S. Pat. No. 5,756,836, incorporated herein by reference, discloses a method for manufacturing high purity acetic acid by adjusting the acetaldehyde concentration of the reaction solution below 1500 ppm. It is stated that by maintaining the acetaldehyde concentration below this threshold, it is possible to suppress the formation of impurities such that one need only distill the crude acetic acid product to obtain high purity acetic acid.
European Patent No. EP 0 487 284 B1, published Apr. 12, 1995, discloses that carbonyl impurities present in the acetic acid product generally concentrate in the overhead from the light ends column. Accordingly, the light ends column overhead is treated with an amine compound (such as hydroxylamine), which reacts with the carbonyl compounds to form oxime derivatives that can be separated from the remaining overhead by distillation, resulting in an acetic acid product with improved permanganate time.
European Patent Application No. EP 0 687 662 A2 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,625,095 describe a process for producing high purity acetic acid in which it is stated that an acetaldehyde concentration of 400 ppm or less is maintained in the reactor by using a single or multi-stage distillation process to remove acetaldehyde. Streams suggested for processing to remove acetaldehyde include a light phase containing primarily water, acetic acid and methyl acetate; a heavy phase containing primarily methyl iodide, methyl acetate and acetic acid; an overhead stream containing primarily methyl iodide and methyl acetate; or a recirculating stream formed by combining the light and heavy phase. These references do not identify which of these streams possesses the greatest concentration of acetaldehyde.
EP 0 687 662 A2 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,625,095 also disclose management of reaction conditions to control the formation of acetaldehyde in the reactor. Although it is stated that formation of by-products such as crotonaldehyde, 2-ethylcrotonaldehyde, and alkyl iodides is reduced by controlling the formation of acetaldehyde, it is also pointed out that management of reaction conditions as proposed increases the formation of propionic acid, an undesirable by-product.
More recently, it has been disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,143,930 and 6,339,171 that it is possible to significantly reduce the undesirable impurities in the acetic acid product by performing a multi-stage purification on the light ends column overhead. These patents disclose a purification process in which the light ends overhead is distilled twice, in each case taking the acetaldehyde overhead and returning a methyl iodide rich residuum to the reactor. The acetaldehyde-rich distillate is optionally extracted with water to remove the majority of the acetaldehyde for disposal, leaving a significantly lower acetaldehyde concentration in the raffinate that is recycled to the reactor. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,143,930 and 6,339,171 are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
While the above-described processes have been successful in removing carbonyl impurities from the carbonylation system and for the most part controlling acetaldehyde levels and permanganate time problems in the final acetic acid product, further improvements can still be made. Accordingly, there remains a need for alternative processes to improve the efficiency of acetaldehyde removal. The present invention provides one such alternative solution.

Removal of permanganate reducing compounds from methanol carbonylation process stream


A liquid crystal display device includes a frame, a linear light source, a liquid crystal cell, a light diffusing plate and a positioning mechanism. The light diffusing plate is disposed between the frame and the liquid crystal cell and has an optical processing region formed in a first direction from a first side portion of the light diffusing plate to a second side portion of the light diffusing plate. The positioning mechanism positions the light diffusing plate with respect to the frame with a middle portion of at least one of the first and second side portions of the light diffusing plate in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction being used as a reference to align the optical processing region of the light diffusing plate with the linear light source in the second direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a liquid crystal display device. More specifically, the present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device having an optical sheet with an optical processing region.
2. Background Information
A conventional liquid crystal display device includes a rear frame, a linear light source, a pair of lamp frames, a liquid crystal cell, a plurality of optical sheets and a bezel. The rear frame is made of sheet metal. The linear light source includes a plurality of slender fluorescent tubes. The lamp frames covers and hides both longitudinal ends of the linear light source. The lamp frames are attached to the rear frame. The liquid crystal cell is attached to the rear frame. The optical sheets are interposed between the rear frame and the liquid crystal cell. The optical sheets include a light diffusing plate. The liquid crystal cell and the optical sheets are fixed to the rear frame by the bezel.
With the liquid crystal display device, the light diffusing plate diffuses light emitted from the linear light source. The light diffusing plate serves to make the brightness more uniform on a display face of the liquid crystal cell. Optical processing regions in the form of a plurality of bands extend from one end to the other end of the light diffusing plate. The optical processing regions are formed by printed regions on just one side of the light diffusing plate. The light diffusion ratio in the optical processing regions is varied in a width direction of the optical processing regions.
With the conventional liquid crystal display device, processing for forming the printed regions on one side of the light diffusing plate (hereinafter referred to as "print processing") involves designating one side or one corner of the rectangular light diffusing plate as a reference position, and print processing positions are usually determined based on spacing calculated using the reference position as a starting point. Also, positioning of the light diffusing plate during the attachment of the light diffusing plate to the rear frame is carried out using an inner peripheral face of a peripheral wall of the rear frame as a reference.
However, the light diffusing plate is made of a plastic sheet or plate. Since the plate or sheet is thus made of plastic, temperature changes and other such thermal effects will cause the light diffusing plate to exhibit relatively large expansion and contraction. Therefore, the expansion and the contraction due to the thermal effects are taken into account, and the light diffusing plate is produced in a size that is slightly smaller than the rectangle inner face of the peripheral wall of the rear frame, so as to prevent deformation of the light diffusing plate.
Consequently, relatively large gaps inevitably end up being formed in longitudinal and lateral directions between the light diffusing plate and the inner peripheral face of the peripheral wall of the rear frame. As a result, the light diffusing plate becomes misaligned in the longitudinal direction (the width direction of the optical processing regions) and the lateral direction. Furthermore, the linear light source and the optical processing regions of the light diffusing plate deviate from correct positions. Moreover, variance tends to occur in the brightness of the display face of the liquid crystal cell. This problem is also caused by the effect of the nominal deviation found in each part.
Meanwhile, with another conventional liquid crystal display device, light from an edge lamp type of light source is emitted from a plane using a light guide plate, and the light is passed through an optical sheet (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Publication No. H11-84351, for example). The conventional liquid crystal display prevents strain deformation of the optical sheet or prevents an offset of the optical sheet by increasing the optical sheet placement accuracy in the liquid crystal display device. Furthermore, with another conventional liquid crystal display device, the brightness of a backlight becomes uneven if an optical sheet disposed in a small gap between a liquid crystal panel and a light guide plate is deformed in an undulating shape by thermal expansion. The conventional liquid crystal display device is conceived to prevent such brightness unevenness (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Publication No. 2003-43484, for example). Moreover, another conventional liquid crystal display device is conceived to prevent the leakage of light from a backlight (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Publication No. 2007-10818, for example).
The above-mentioned Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Publication Nos. H11-84351 and 2003-43484 suggest ways to increase the accuracy with which an optical sheet is attached in a liquid crystal display device. However, there is no mention at all of a positional relationship between the linear light source and the optical processing regions of the light diffusing plate included in the optical sheet, nor is there any discussion suggesting the positional relationship between these two.
In view of the above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that there exists a need for an improved liquid crystal display device. This invention addresses this need in the art as well as other needs, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.

Liquid crystal display device having frame and light diffusing plate


A method to prepare a catheter locking formulation, comprising in a first step, dissolving trimethoprim in propylene glycol at a temperature greater than room temperature, and in a final step, adding absolute ethanol at about room temperature to a solution of trimethoprim, propylene glycol, EDTA Calcium Disodium Hydrate, phosphate buffered saline, and glycerin.

Central venous access is an important tool for the appropriate treatment and support of patients for many life-threatening diseases such as cancer and end-stage kidney failure. However, intravascular (IV) catheters put patients at risk for catheter occlusion as well as systemic infections. Despite routine flushing with heparin or saline, 41% of central venous catheters (CVCs) result in catheter occlusion, which markedly increases the risk of infection. These infections represent a significant problem among large sections of population, are responsible for high attributable mortality (12-25%) and morbidity, and are expensive to manage (estimated cost to the healthcare system is approximately $4.6 billion per year).
Therefore, there is a need for a product that can address both catheter occlusion and infections associated with indwelling medical devices (IMDs). All CVCs when not used for their intended function such as delivery of chemo- or bio-therapeutics, parenteral nutrition, or hemodialysis must be "locked" with a Catheter Lock Solution (CLS). The locking time depends on the primary use of the catheters and it can be as short as 1 hr at Intensive Care Units (ICUs) and to up to 10 days for outpatient oncology patients.
The primary function of CLS is to provide a physical barrier to the back flow of blood into the catheter thereby maintaining catheter patency. Prior art CLS formulations contain substances such as heparin or trisodium citrate intended to prevent blood clotting within the catheter. Prior art CLS formulations also contain other substances such as taurolidine, ethanol, gentamicin or other antibiotics to inhibit microbial growth in catheter lumens.
Both Gram positive and negative bacteria including drug-resistant pathogens, as well as clinical species of fungi, commonly colonize catheter lumens and form a drug resistant microbial biofilm. Microbial biofilms can shed microbial colonies into the bloodstream leading to infections and sepsis. Therefore, prevention of biofilm formation and eradication of existing biofilm is a necessary prerequisite of successful new CLS formulations.
In the past two decades the efficacy of various innovative CLS were tested in vitro and in vivo for prevention of catheter occlusion and Central Line Associated Blood Stream Infections (CLABSI). Unfortunately most, if not all, failed the expectations. For example, a lock solution containing 4% trisodium citrate and taurolidine, while it somewhat reduced CLABSI in a clinical study, significantly increased occlusion events by causing blood coagulation inside the catheter. Similar results were reported for another citrate-containing lock solution ZURAGEN.
Another problem with citrate and taurolidine-containing lock solutions such as TAUROLOCK is the low physical stability of nearly saturated solutions and tendency to form precipitation even at small temperature changes, as noted in a TAUROLOCK CE Mark package insert. Another example of failed attempt was to use 70% ethanol as CLS in a control clinical study in oncology patients. Seventy percent (70%) ethanol has demonstrated antimicrobial activity and anticoagulation activity, nevertheless, it failed in a study due to a very low density and viscosity of 70% ethanol and the resulting difficulty to install and maintain this experimental CLS within catheter lumens.
Another problem with prior art CLS formulations, including various combinations of antibiotics and heparin or citrate, is an inability to eradicate mature biofilm. While most of them have measurable MIC (minimum inhibitory concentration) against bacteria and can prevent biofilm formation, none has proven efficacy in eradicating bacterial and fungi biofilms. After CVC insertion, the lumens are covered rapidly by a thrombin layer, rich in host-derived proteins, that forms a conditioning film and promotes surface adherence of microbial colonizers. In addition, thrombin converts soluble fibrinogen into insoluble strands of fibrin, which acts as an accelerant for biofilm formation.
A CLS that is unable to eradicate such fibrin/biofilm will fail to significantly reduce both, CLABSI and occlusion events. Finally, antibiotics frequently used in prior art CLS formulations have low solubility and reduced activity against drug resistant pathogens. Therefore, in lock solutions those antibiotics are used at concentrations very close to their saturation points which limits the physical stability of final solutions, leads to precipitation, substandard concentration and may cause bacterial resistance.

Catheter locking formulation and method to prepare same


The invention is concerned with the 7R/7S-diastereoisomer mixture of the formula ##STR1## in pure form, essentially free of the corresponding (4R)-isomers. The invention also concerns the 2R/2S-diastereoisomer mixture of the formula ##STR2## in pure form which is useful as an intermediate for producing I. In addition, the invention concerns a process for obtaining I by subjecting II to isochromane ring closure. Odorant compositions containing I and the use of I as an odorant are also described.

The mixture of two racemates of the formula I', below, is commercially available. ##STR5## see S. Arctander, Perfume and Flavor Chemicals I, Montclair, N.J. 1969, item 1581. As is apparent from the structure of I', there are asymmetric carbon atoms at positions 4 and 7. Since the structure can be either in the R- or S- configuration at each of the asymmetric carbon atoms, there are four diastereoisomers corresponding to formula I' in the known commercially available mixture.


A sample having a plurality of probe molecules is illuminated with at least one beam of excitation light that is linearly polarized along a first axis, thereby effecting fluorescence emission in a plurality of spectral bands. The intensity of a first component of fluorescence emission that is polarized along the first axis, as well as the intensity of a second component of fluorescence emission that is polarized along an orthogonal second axis, is measured for each of said plurality of spectral bands. These measurements are represented as a measurement vector M. Since each probe emits some limited amount of light in the characteristic band of another probe, this results in cross-talk between probes. The measurement vector is therefore corrected using an instrument response matrix A, which is generated by measuring the flux output of control samples which each have only a single probe species. A flux vector S is calculated according to S=Axe2x88x921M, and the fluorescence polarization FP is calculated from the S values.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention is directed toward biochemical assays, more particularly toward assays using fluorescence polarization detection with two or more fluorescent labels in the experiment.
2. Description of the Related Art
Fluorescence polarization (FP) assays are becoming popular, since they are homogeneous and relatively safe, with no radioactive material. A good discussion is provided in the recent review article by John Owicki entitled xe2x80x9cFluorescence Polarization and Anisotropy in High Throughput Screening: Perspectives and Primerxe2x80x9d, published in the Journal of Biomolecular Screening, Volume 5, No. 5, pp 297-306 (2000).
The technique has at its core the detection of relative intensity of fluorescence emission in two orthogonal states of polarization. The labels are probe molecules (probes) which are excited with linearly polarized light and, depending on the molecular rotation rate and the excitation lifetime, their fluorescence emission is preferentially polarized along the axis of the excitation beam to a greater or lesser extent. If the molecular rotation time is long compared with the excited-state lifetime, the polarization of the emission is more highly polarized; if the rotation time is short, the emission is more nearly random in polarization. Since chemical binding or other reactions alter the molecular rotation time, they alter the FP value and so can be detected.
FP is defined by the equation
Pxe2x89xa1[I81 xe2x88x92I195 ]/[I∥
+Ixe2x8axa5]=[I81 /Ixe2x8axa5xe2x88x921]/
[I81 /Ixe2x8axa5+1]xe2x80x83xe2x80x83[1]
where I∥ and I195  are the intensities of fluorescence emission polarized in the same sense as the polarization light and polarized orthogonal to it, respectively. There is a related concept termed fluorescence anisotropy (FA), which normalizes according to total fluorescence emission I=I∥+2I└ and is defined by the equation
rxe2x89xa1[I∥xe2x88x92Ixe2x8axa5]/[I81
+2Ixe2x8axa5]=[I
∥/Ixe2x88x921]/[I∥/I∥
/I+2]xe2x80x83xe2x80x83[2]
One can convert between P and r using the equations
P=3r/(2+r)xe2x80x83xe2x80x83[3]
r=2P/(3xe2x88x92P)xe2x80x83xe2x80x83[4]
and in general, instrumentation or assays that provide a measurement of P will provide a measurement of r as shown in equations [3] and [4]; and vice versa. Similarly, instrumentation that provides an improved ability to measure one, will also provide an improved ability to measure the other. For simplicity, this specification refers to FP throughout, but is equally applicable to FA.
Measurements of FP are complicated by the presence of contaminant signals such as background fluorescence. These contribute fluorescence emissions with uncontrolled FP, shifting the measured FP. Optical filtering and other aspects of instrumental design are designed to minimize these signals. As reported by Owicki, post-processing by ratiometric corrections is a suitable way to correct these contaminants, since the contaminant is additive, rather than multiplicative, in nature.
There is at present no system or method for measuring an FP assay with multiple probes.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a system and method for performing multiple probe assays. It is another object to enable SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) detection and coexpression using FP methods.
It is a further object of the invention is to measure the fluorescence polarization of two or more probes using the instrument described in my pending application Ser. No. 09/395,661 entitled xe2x80x9cFluorescence Polarization Assay System and Methodxe2x80x9d, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference, together with suitable optical filters for the probes involved; and to attain the high accuracy and self-calibration feature described therein for multiple probes.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a method for measuring the fluorescence polarization of two or more probes using instruments of the prior art such as the LJL Analyst or Acquest.
Another aim of the invention is to provide methods for measuring the fluorescence polarization of two or more probes at once with high accuracy, utilizing instruments of the type described in my pending co-filed application entitled xe2x80x9cInstantaneous Dual Band Fluorescence Detection Systemsxe2x80x9d, application Ser. No. 09/793853, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
It is also a goal of the present invention to provide for self-calibration that yields accurate values of FP without need for a priori knowledge of the target FP values of the probes.
The invention resides in a system and method for measuring FP or FA for two or more probes in a single sample, even though they may have overlapping excitation spectra or emission spectra, or both.
The probes can be simultaneously excited by a single source, if desired. The instrument provides apparatus to separate the fluorescence emission flux according to its spectral band and quantify it. For example, this can consist of a filter wheel containing filters that preferentially transmit emission flux from each probe in turn; or a birefringent network and a double-refraction element that spatially separates light according to its wavelength band and captures multiple bands instantaneously. Other arrangements can also be used to achieve the goal of quantifying the flux in various emission bands and polarization states.
Alternatively, the probes can be excited separately through use of sequential excitation at various wavelength bands in turn. The fluorescence emission flux and polarization state is measured for each type of excitation.
The equipment and method are analogous whether the probes are differentially excited through choice of excitation band; or emit differentially into various emission bands. For simplicity a common nomenclature is used; in either case, a given spectral band is said to correspond to a given probe, whether it is an excitation band used to preferentially excite that probe, or an emission band in which that probe preferentially emits.
To measure N probes, a total of at least 2N pieces of data, and preferably 4N pieces of data are required, comprising the various combinations of excitation polarization state, emission polarization state, and spectral band. These measurements are the raw data from which one will calculate the FP of each probe. However, if one were to take the values obtained at the spectral band corresponding to a given probe, and plug them into the FP equations of the prior art, one would not obtain the desired result, namely an accurate value of FP for that probe. hen 4N pieces of data are taken, the measurement can be inherently self-calibrating, with no need for a priori knowledge about the FP properties of the probes being measured. Or, one may take a single full data set comprising 4N pieces of data, from which an instrumental calibration is derived; subsequent readings taken with a smaller set of 2N pieces of data can be processed to yield accurately calibrated values of FP. The process for taking an initial full set of measurements, deriving an instrumental calibration, then working with subsequent smaller sets of measurements to yield absolutely calibrated readings of FP/FA, is described in my pending co-filed application entitled xe2x80x9cAutomatic G-Factor Calibrationxe2x80x9d application Ser. No. 09/793856, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
The present invention provides, among other things, a method for determining an accurate value of FP for each probe from the various raw data measurements, in a way that correctly accounts for the complex multi-probe assay system, the cross-talk between probes, and the physical limitations of the instrument.
One can speak of cross-talk between probes, meaning the degree to which a given probe is detected when the instrument is seeking to measure a different probe (the target probe). This occurs because the probes fluoresce over broad wavelength ranges which overlap, even when they fluoresce most intensely in mutually exclusive ranges.
Mathematically, we write the instrument""s response to probe k when set to read probe j as ajk, and one can write the instrumental response function for all probes and instrumental settings as a matrix A populated with elements ajk. In such a matrix, the diagonal represents the response of the instrument to the target probes, while off-diagonal members represent cross-talk. For this reason, the A matrix is also called the cross-talk matrix for the probes and instrument involved. For two probes and two corresponding wavebands, this is a 2xc3x972 matrix, and the cross-talk is represented by the second diagonal. The degree of isolation between flux from the different probes is never perfect due to instrumental limitations. In the usual case where probes have partially overlapping spectra the separation is fundamentally limited by the spectral cross-talk between the probes.
The core of the invention is the quantification of FP for multiple probes through measurement of the cross-talk by means of the instrumental response matrix A, or an equivalent formalism, and the use of this cross-talk information to determine the contribution of each probe to the measured flux readings in each spectral band and polarization state. From these derived quantities, termed the probe contributions, one can accurately calculate the FP or FA for each of the probes.
The matrix A can be measured using control samples that contain only a single probe each. Indeed it is possible to characterize a set of four matrices {ahh, Ahv, Avh, Avv} for all possible excitation and emission polarization states, when the instrumental response is known to vary as a function of polarization. This can be caused by factors such as polarization-dependent transmission in dichroic mirror elements, which shifts the spectral response and thus alters the contents of matrix A. The set of matrices may then be used to derive accurate values of the probe contributions, and thus of FP, despite polarization-dependent cross-talk in the overall assay.
It is possible to use the invention to measure and correct for the relative exposure times or lamp fluctuations associated with each measurement in the raw data set, if desired. Through these aspects of the invention and others described in more detail below, a multiple-probe FP is achieved, with accurate quantification of FP for each probe despite spectral cross-talk, instrumental polarization sensitivities, and fluctuations in exposure or lamp brightness.
The various features of novelty which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of the disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages, and specific objects attained by its use, reference should be had to the drawings and descriptive matter in which there are illustrated and described preferred embodiments of the invention.

Multiple label fluorescence polarization assay system and method

Cambridge Research and Instrumentation, Inc.


It is disclosed a touch sensor (100,200,300,400,500,700) for sensing a user touch, comprising an electrically conductive structure (101) having an electrically conductive touch area (103) exposed to the environment; a first capacitor (115) having a first electrode (117) electrically connected with the conductive structure (101); a second capacitor (119) having a first electrode (121) connected to a second electrode (123) of the first capacitor (115); and a driver arrangement (125) connected to the first capacitor and the second capacitor and adapted to perform particular operation steps.

It may have become quite popular in recent years to integrate electronic tags, such as Near Field Communication (NFC) tags or Ultra High Frequency (UHF) tags, into electronic user devices, e.g. into electronic gaming devices. The conventional tag devices can only provide a previously defined response. Thereby, the operation of the conventional tag devices may not satisfy requirements in all situations.
US 2014/152610 discloses a capacitive position sensor system for determining the position of an object, wherein the object is positioned within a sensitive area of the capacitive position sensor system and changes the capacitance of capacitors being arranged underneath the object.
It has however been observed that the conventional systems do not satisfy all requirements regarding simplicity, reliability of operation, volume and costs.

Touch sensor that utilizes a touch area with a single conductive path


A method and a resulting device are provided for forming stack overlay and registration monitoring structures for FEOL layers including implant layers and for forming BEOL SEM overlay and registration monitoring structures including BEOL interconnections, respectively. Embodiments include forming an active monitoring structure having first and second edges separated by a first distance in an active layer on a semiconductor substrate; forming a poly monitoring structure having first and second edges separated by a second distance in a poly layer; and forming one or more contact monitoring structures in a contact layer, collectively exposing at least the first and second edges of each of the active and poly monitoring structures; wherein the active, poly, and contact monitoring structures are formed in an area which includes no IC patterns in the active, the poly, and the contact layers, respectively.

There is a demand for structures that can be evaluated by a critical dimension scanning electron microscope (CDSEM) (or even atomic force microscopy (AFM) to some extent) on a wafer and still be verified on the mask with today's mask metrology. However, this is only possible if the dimensions and the appearance of the structures are compatible with current CDSEM measurement approaches and if the relevant reference layer can be exposed and dimensions of the underlying layer can be assessed during the measurement of the current layer. Such evaluations are particularly problematic for interconnects due to limited visibility of buried layers. Currently, for 45 nm and below technology nodes there are micro-blossom targets or process control images (PCIs) for reticle registration measurement. However, micro-blossom targets cannot provide 2D registration measurements or provide the wafer CDSEM overly measurement and, at the same time, enable monitoring of interconnections.
A need therefore exists for methodology enabling 2D registration measurement or overlay reticle measurement and monitoring of interconnections and SEM overlay measurements and the devices used for such methodology.

Layout for reticle and wafer scanning electron microscope registration or overlay measurements