A handheld citrus juicer includes first and second arms with respective inner and outer ends. The inner ends of the arms are pivotally connected such that the outer ends are manually movable relative to each other on an arc centered on a pivot axis. The arms include respective gripping portions adapted to be gripped by an associated user with one hand to squeeze the arms toward each other. The first arm includes a rotatable element connected thereto and selectively manually rotatable by the associated user about a rotational axis. The second arm includes a bowl connected thereto, the bowl aligned with the rotatable element when the first and second arms are moved toward each other. The rotatable element and the bowl are adapted to engage and extract juice from an associated cut-half of citrus fruit located between the rotatable element and the bowl. The rotatable element can be a reamer or a cup.

Devices for extracting juice from a cut-half of a lime, lemon, or other citrus fruit are well-known and come in a wide variety of configurations. In a most basic form, a bowl includes reamer that is fixed in position and projects upwardly from a central region of the bowl. A user manually grasps the exterior skin or rind of the cut-half of fruit and engages the pulp or flesh of the fruit with the reamer with a pressing, grinding, and rotating operation such that juice is extracted from the fruit and collects in the bowl. In another variation, the bowl is omitted and the reamer is hand-held, and the user engages the reamer with the pulp of the fruit over a separate bowl or other container to collect the juice. In both cases, the devices do not provide any mechanical advantage to the user, and the operation of the reamer is uneven and inconsistent, with less than all of the available juice being extracted.
In another variety of juicer, the cut-half of fruit is crushed between a fixed (non-rotating) reamer and a cup-shaped member that engages the outer rind of the fruit and urges the pulp of the fruit into engagement with the reamer. In one version of such a device, the reamer and cup-shaped member are connected to respective arms or jaws that are pivotally connected to each other, and the user grips handles of the respective jaws with one or two hands and squeezes the jaws together to complete the fruit crushing operation. Such hand-held citrus crushing devices have been found to be ineffective and inefficient in extracting juice due to the inability of users to sufficiently crush the fruit and due to the unidirectional nature of the crushing operation without any rotating of the fruit or reamer relative to each other. In other version of such a device, the device is countertop mounted and includes a lever or rotating handle that is moved by the user to move the respective jaws together, in which case a linkage can be provided between the lever/handle and the jaws to provide a mechanical advantage. Such counter-top devices more completely crush the fruit, but still suffer from the lack of a structure for providing relative rotation between the reamer and the fruit. These counter-top devices are also too large and expensive for home use, and are difficult to clean.
Other citrus juicing devices include an electrically powered motor that drives a rotating reamer that is located above or otherwise adjacent a container that collects the extracted juice. A user manually presses the pulp of the cut-half of fruit into engagement with the motor-driven rotating reamer while the extracted juice is collected in the container. A primary disadvantage of these devices is that they are more expensive to purchase, require electrical power to operate, are more difficult to clean, and do not fit in a standard home drawer or are otherwise bulky to store when not in use.
In light of the foregoing, a need has been identified for a hand-held manual (non-electrically powered) citrus juicing device or "juicer" for extracting juice from a cut-half of a lemon, lime, or other citrus fruit in an effective and efficient manner, while still being easy to clean and convenient to store.

Handheld citrus juicer with rotating element


In fluid machines frequently gaps between movable and stationary structural parts have been sealed off. Frequently so-called labyrinth packings are used, whereby sealing strips brush against the opposite structural part. To this end, a brush layer is configured as a porous coating that can be detached from the opposite structural part. The inventive system can be advantageously used in virtually any fluid machines.

In machines for treating and processing flowing, liquid and/or gaseous media, gaps between movable and stationary components are often to be sealed off from the flowing medium. This also applies in particular to turbines to which steam is admitted, in which a gap is sealed off between a rotor and a casing surrounding the latter in order to block the path of the steam past blade rings. The quality of these seals has a considerable effect on the efficiency of these machines, thus in particular also in the case of steam turbines.
Sealing strips arranged axially one behind the other—also called labyrinth seals—are normally used for this purpose in steam turbine construction. These seals are characterized by sealing strips which are arranged transversely to the flow and which virtually completely close a gap which is usually several millimeters wide. In this case, it is accepted that the sealing strips sometimes graze the component opposite them during transient processes and become slightly worn themselves at the same time. Such labyrinth seals are used in turbine construction both at blading and as piston and shaft seals.
A special form of these seals which has the same effect is a honeycomb seal. This seal, on one side of the gap, usually on the side fixed to the casing, has a structure which reproduces a honeycomb and on whose open surface a leakage flow is prevented by a multiplicity of small vortices in chambers formed by the honeycomb structure. A flow resistance produced as a result prevents a free flow in the passage defined by the honeycomb-like structure on one side.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,177,004 discloses a turbine in which a gap between a turbine blade and a ring enclosing the latter in the circumferential direction and suspended in a casing is to be sealed off. This arrangement is designed in such a way that the turbine blade itself occasionally grazes the ring enclosing it. In order to avoid impending damage in this case, the ring is coated with a material which causes no wear on the turbine blade.
However, both in the known labyrinth seals and in the arrangement according to U.S. Pat. No. 4,177,004, contact between the surfaces of the components moving along one another occurs only very rarely. This is because the components involved are at such a large distance from one another that contact actually takes place only occasionally during extremely transient states. On the other hand, the result of this is that—apart from the rare moments of the contact between the components—there is a gap through which a proportion of a working medium, which proportion is not to be disregarded, flows past the turbine blade without being utilized.


The present invention provides a method and apparatus to restore the operating system of a personal internet communicator (PIC) to a “known good” operational state in the event of a catastrophic failure. In an embodiment of the invention, the hard drive of the personal internet communicator is organized in three partitions: 1) a partition for the operating system and related files; 2) a user data partition; and 3) a “restore” partition. The restore partition is hidden by modifying the type of partition that can be detected by the user or any operating system. Upon a catastrophic failure, the system can be returned to an operational state by performing a sector-by-sector restoration to copy an image of the operating system and related system files back to the operating system partition. In various embodiments of the invention, the PIC system state is continuously monitored by a “registry sniffing” routine that maintains a file containing data corresponding to the system state of the PIC. Subsequent to copying the operating system to the OS partition, as discussed above, the system state parameter file is used to modify the operating system to place the PIC in the configuration that existed prior to the catastrophic failure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of information processing systems. In one aspect, the present invention relates to a system and method for providing a resilient system partition that can be used to recover system software to restore the operating condition of an information processing system, such as a personal internet communicator.
2. Description of the Related Art
Computer systems have attained widespread use for providing information management capability to many segments of today's society. A personal computer system can usually be defined as a microcomputer that includes a system unit having a system processor and associated volatile and non-volatile memory, a display monitor, a keyboard, a fixed disk storage device, an optional removable storage device and an optional printer. These personal computer systems are information processing systems which are designed primarily to give independent computing power to a single user (or a group of users in the case of personal computers which serve as computer server systems) and are inexpensively priced for purchase by individuals or small businesses.
In recent years, there has been significant growth in the use of the personal computers to exchange information over the Internet. This exchange of information is based on a client/server model with the user's personal computer operating as the client to access data stored on a plurality of Internet servers. Some Internet service providers provide a computer to a user as part of a contractual relationship to provide Internet service. Many customers are relatively unfamiliar with technical aspects of computers and, therefore, it is possible that they will inadvertently corrupt the operating system or download a software file that corrupts the operating system.
Consequently, a significant need exists for preserving the integrity of the operating system and the applications stored on computers, such as those used as personal Internet communicators (PICs) over a communication network provided by an Internet service provider. In particular, there is a need for a method and apparatus that makes it possible to rapidly restore the operating system of a PIC to a "known good" operational state. Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional systems will become apparent to one of skill in the art after reviewing the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings and detailed description which follow.

Resilient system partition for personal internet communicator


Compositions of matter including a cloth base comprising one or more not fully carbon fibers woven together, where at least a portion of the not fully carbon fibers of the cloth base are carbonized and comprise graphene petals thereon. The not fully carbon fibers may be selected from a variety of materials including cellulose fibers such as hemp, linen, and/or cotton, and may also or alternatively include synthetic fibers such as polyester, Kevlar, and/or Rayon. A method for producing such a carbonized conductive fiber-based cloth is also provided, the method including carbonizing a cloth base comprising not fully carbon fibers in a plasma stream of a plasma process and growing graphene petals integrally on the carbonized cloth using the same plasma process.

Carbon nano-structures and metal nano-structures are finding applications in a number of areas today. These are especially so where conductivity and electrical sensitivity are primary concerns. Carbon nano-petals are opening up use for these graphene based sheets in supercapacitor (also referred to as an ultracapacitor) manufacture and also in high capacity battery applications. One limitation to their use is the cost of the substrate material that is used for the growth of these petals
Conventionally, conductive copper and nickel sheets and carbon cloth are used as a substrate to grow graphene, metalized, or otherwise surface-functionalized nano-petals for applications where a conductive sheet with large surface area is necessary. However, copper and nickel are prohibitively expensive to use as substrate materials and carbon cloth is difficult to manufacture inexpensively. Accordingly, these conventional substrate materials are relatively high in cost, which is prohibitive to the commercial application of these substrates. Since the applications where these conductive materials are used are cost sensitive, a low cost material with higher surface area is needed for use in such applications.

Compositions of matter and methods of producing a carbonized cloth for growth of graphene nano-petals


A system and method for an active Q-switched fiber laser cavity may include a pump source for emitting a laser beam at a wavelength along an optical path including an active optical medium. A modulation device may be configured to introduce tunable losses into the optical path. The tunable losses may be achieved through modulation of the transmissivity of an optical element within the optical path, the modulation of said optical element being performed over (i) a first period of time in which a cavity Q curve increases from a first percentage value to a second percentage value of a maximum Q value and (ii) a second period of time in which the cavity Q curve increases from a third percentage value to a fourth percentage value of the maximum Q value. The cavity Q curve may non-linearly and smoothly transition between (i) the first and second percentage values and (ii) the third and fourth percentage values.

Lasers are used in a wide variety of systems, including laser marking systems that mark parts or products with markings or embossing. Such parts may include bolts, screws, product parts, or any other metal or nonmetal object, as understood in the art. To perform laser marking, lasers output high amounts of directed energy at particular wavelengths. Laser marking refers to a process of leaving marks on an object. Marking may include such methods as laser engraving, chemical/molecular alteration, charting, foaming, melting, and more. Laser marking can be applied in a number of industries, such as, but not limited to, metalworking, medical, automotive, electronics, wood, acrylic, leather, packaging, and more. Laser marking may be accomplished through a variety of technologies, such as FIBER, DPSS, and GAS lasers. One of ordinary skill in the art can appreciate that laser marking may be accomplished through other means.
For high-power lasers to be optimally used in commercial applications, there is a need to reduce signal structures typically observed in optical pulses emitted by high-power Q-switched all-fiber laser based on Yb-doped active fibers that cause laser output inefficiency. The optical pulses produced by this class of lasers are affected by amplitude modulation that can be detrimental for the overall laser efficiency. Strong amplitude modulations also introduce an unwanted variability in the optical output of different, yet nominally equivalent, laser systems. In fact, the characteristics of the modulation of the output is determined by a combination of different laser components, such as the active fiber absorption/emission properties, cavity length, cavity losses, and dynamics of the laser cavity Q-switching time.
All-fiber laser systems are often used in industrial applications with respect to their free-space counterpart because of a convenient alignment-free production process based on fusion splicing, robustness against environmental perturbations, and limited maintenance needs. However, cavity length of all-fiberized laser systems is typically longer than systems implementing free-space optical components. Therefore, laser cavities in the order of 4 m total length are typical for Q-switched lasers based on double-clad Yb-doped fibers pumped by state-of-the-art diode lasers emitting laser light in a 910-920 nm band. This laser cavity configuration is typically used in industrial laser systems for marking and machining applications. Cavity lengths of 4 m lead to photon round-trip times in the order of TRT=40 ns, and typical pulse lengths of 50 ns-200 ns at pulse repetition rates of 10 kHz-200 kHz.
The fingerprint of the cavity length is imprinted in laser output in the form of intensity modulation with frequency ωRT=2π/TRT. The amplitude of the modulation (i) depends on the cavity parameters, (ii) can be comparable to the pulse amplitude itself, and (iii) may lead to a complete splitting of the laser pulses under certain conditions. A strong modulation of laser output pulses has a direct impact on industrial applications, such as marking or engraving. While the total energy of the pulses is typically only slightly affected by this phenomenon, except when strong nonlinearities are triggered as further described herein, the pulse peak power may substantially change when a strong amplitude modulation is superimposed to the pulse envelope. If a maximum of the modulation corresponds to the center of the pulse, then the peak power is increased, otherwise the peak power is decreased. If the modulation is particularly strong, or if the laser is a operated close to the power-density threshold of non-linear effects, such as Raman scattering, stimulated Brillouin scattering, self-phase modulation, etc., a fluctuation of the peak power may substantially change the spectral characteristics of the laser output and reduce the overall efficiency of the laser.
To avoid the shortcomings of existing laser marking systems with regard to amplitude modulation being superimposed on laser pulses, conservative solutions are typically adopted. The most common strategy is to limit the total cavity gain by, for example, limited pumping, short active fiber absorption length, and high cavity losses (e.g., increase of the end-cavity transmissivity). These conservative methods reduce the amplitude of the pulse modulation, but also the total amount of the emitted energy-per-pulse.
In high power, compact systems, such as those used for laser marking, the conservative solutions described above have a negative impact on the final application. Hence, there is a need to solve the problem of inefficiencies of laser marking lasers due to amplitude modulation on laser pulses. Moreover, there is a need to reduce variability of output parameters of fiber lasers and reduce non-linear optical effects in fiber laser systems.

Modulation suppression in fiber lasers and associated devices


A bacterial-assisted heap leach process is employed for the solubilization of a metal from a refractory ore containing fines and/or clay wherein at least a portion of the metal is solubilized by the bacterial oxidation of sulfides and the concomitant or sequential dissolution of the metal into a leaching solution. For some metals, the leaching solution has a pH of greater than about 9. The improvement in the process includes the application of an aqueous solution of acrylamide polymer to the ore in an amount effective to agglomerate the fines and/or clay prior to heap formation. The acrylamide polymer has a molecular weight of at least 500,000 and is comprised of from about 0 to about 100 mole percent of (meth)acrylamide mer units and from about 0 to 100 mole percent of N-sulfoalkyl(meth)acrylamide mer units. The acrylamide polymer is preferably applied to the ore as an aqueous solution formed at least in part by recycled bio solution.

Some metals are recovered from their mined ores by the use of aqueous solutions to leach or dissolve the desired metal from such ore. The aqueous solution used for a given metal contains some chemical agent that converts the metal to a soluble form. For instance, gold and silver may be recovered from a gold-containing and silver-containing ores by leaching such ores with an aqueous solution of cyanide (routinely but not necessarily sodium cyanide) to form gold cyanide and silver cyanide, or complexes thereof. Such species are soluble in water or at least in the aqueous leaching solution at the concentrations sufficient for pregnant liquors. Gold and silver in mined ores are typically in their elemental states. As another example, base metals such as copper (typically as copper oxide) and nickel, which generally are not found in their elemental states in ores, are leached from ore with dilute sulfuric acid solution, which dissolves the metal as the sulfate (SO.sub.4.sup.-) form.
After leaching, the desired metal is recovered from the leaching solution, which is referred to as the "pregnant liquor" when it contains the solubilized metal. For instance, an aqueous solution that contains gold cyanide may be directly treated with zinc dust whereby zinc is oxidized to zinc cyanide, and the gold of the gold cyanide is reduced to elemental gold. Other methods are used for other metals.
At the time the pregnant liquor is processed to release the metal, such liquor has of course been separated from the undesirable, and generally undissolved, ore constituents, known as "mud", "mud refuse", or "gangue", or as "tailings" when spent in the sense of being substantially depleted of the desired metal value.
One method of leaching generally is called "heap leaching". In a heap leaching method, the ore is placed in an immense stack or heap, which heap is then leached by percolating the leaching solutions from the top of the heap down, and collecting the effluent (the pregnant solution from which the desired metal is recovered) from the bottom. Heap leaching is a commercially viable method of extracting the desired metal from low grade ores.
There exist large deposits of refractory ores that are not amenable to conventional leaching. The metal, such as gold, may be physically entrapped in a matrix of sulfide metals, such as iron pyrite and arsenopyrite. The matrix is not penetrated by cyanide solution and thus a cyanide solution alone cannot extract and dissolve the gold from such ore. The metal may also itself be chemically bound within a sulfide matrix, such as when base metals are in a sulfide form, and as such cannot be leached with sulfuric acid.
One method being explored commercially is the bacterial or biological oxidation or digestion of the sulfide material to sulfates. Such "bio oxidation" will break down a sulfide matrix, freeing the elemental gold and thus allowing contact of the gold with the dissolving solution. Such bio oxidation will also oxidize base metals sulfide(s), which then can be solubilized in sulfuric acid.
When bacterial digestion of ore is used in a heap leaching method, the ore, after heaping, is treated with the bio solution, which is applied to the top of the heap by sprinkling and allowed to percolate or seep down through the heap and therein attack the sulfide matrix. The treatment with the bio solution is continued until the practical limits of sulfide matrix oxidation are met. Then the leaching with the metal solubilizing solution may begin. This mining process is referred to as bacterial heap leaching or bacteria-assisted heap leaching.
The conditions of the bio oxidation step may be, however, extremely different from those of the metal leaching. The bio oxidation is conducted under extremely acidic conditions, while the cyanide solution leaching of gold or silver is, for safety reasons, conducted using extremely alkaline conditions. The bio oxidation releases ferric ions, and thus the bio solution as used commercially has a very high iron content, in contrast to precious metal leaching solutions, which have extremely low iron contents because iron hydrous oxide is removed by precipitiation in the high pH environments thereof. Some base metal leaching solutions, such as copper, do have high ferric ion concentrations, for instance of the order of 5 grams of ferric ion per liter of solution, but the aqueous solution used to apply the agglomeration aid would not normally have a high iron concentration.
The ore heap must remain permeable to the treating solutions, and to the air, during both the bacterial oxidation and the leaching of the metal. Channelling, blinding, ponding, slumping and other consequences will occur if heap permeability is lost, or diminished, or lost in portions of the heap, and such consequences will at minimum decrease the efficiency of the bacterial heap leaching process.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,875,935, Gross et al., October 1989, discloses a method for extracting copper by heap leaching which includes agglomerating the fines prior to heap formation using as the agglomerating agent an anionic polyacrylamide. Such polymer contains at least 5 mole percent of carboxylate or sulfonate groups, and has a molecular weight of at least 100,000. U.S. Pat. No. 5,100,631, Gross, March 1992, discloses a method for extracting gold and silver by heap leaching which includes agglomerating the fines prior to heap formation using as the agglomerating agent a water-soluble vinyl polymer having a molecular weight of at least 500,000, used alone or in conjunction with inorganic co-agglomerating agents such as cement. Such polymers include acrylamide copolymers having from 5 to 95 wt. percent of acrylamide and the comonomers can be sulfonate-containing and carboxylate-containing materials. U.S. Pat. No. 5,077,021 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,077,022, both Polizzotti, Dec. 31, 1991, disclose the use of a high molecular weight anionic polyacrylamide, a copolymer of acrylic acid and acrylamide, alone, or together with cement, to agglomerate ore prior to heap leaching with cyanide solution. U.S. Pat. No. 4,961,777, Perez et al., Oct. 9, 1990, discloses for refractory ores the incorporation of hypochlorites into the ore agglomerates as they are formed, whereby the hypochlorites act on the refractory components, such as sulfidic matter, as an oxidative pretreatment, in a heap leaching method. The agglomeration aid employed is Portland and/or gypsum cement.
It is an object of the present invention to provide for a bacterial-assisted heap leach process an agglomerating aid treatment that forms a strong agglomerate of the heaped ore, reduces channeling of the percolated solution(s), reduces blinding and ponding (wherein the heap becomes so impermeable to the solution(s) to be percolated that such solution(s) collects on the top of the heap), and provides enduring agglomeration despite the extreme conditions and requirements encountered in a bacterial heap leaching process. These and other objects of the present invention are described in more detail below.

Bacterial-assisted heap leaching of ores


Fatty acids having excellent color and color stability can be obtained by a combination procedure of a contacting step of a crude fatty acid with a reducing metal, and a distillation step.

(1) Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to a method of purifying fatty acids in order to obtain fatty acids having excellent color and color stability.
(2) Description of the Prior Art:
There are generally known, as a method of purifying fatty acids, adsorption method using activated clay or active carbon, and further methods using polycarboxylic acid (Japanese Patent Laid Open Application No. 4,277/72), boric acid (U.S. Pat. No. 2,862,943), sulfuric acid (U.S. Pat. No. 3,489,779), boron trifluoride (U.S. Pat. No. 2,583,028), amino compound (U.S. Pat. No. 3,471,536), formaldehyde (U.S. Pat. No. 3,066,160), a combination system of an alkaline substance, hypophosphorous acid and boric acid (Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 16,506/71) and a combination system of organic amine and phenolic compound (Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 46,205/77 and No. 7,408/78). In these methods, a part of the coloring substances contained in fatty acid can be removed, but sufficiently light-colored fatty acid can not be obtained, and further impurities, which color due to heat, oxidation or acidic or basic reagent, can not be completely removed. Therefore, the fatty acids purified by the above described methods often color during storage and further the derivatives of the fatty acid often color. Moreover, some of the above described reagents are dangerous or poisonous.
The inventor has made various investigations for developing a method of purifying fatty acids, which is free from the drawbacks of the above described conventional methods, and found out a purification method having a high purification efficiency which can be carried out by the use of a safe and substantially non-toxic reagent.


A device (10) that detects and reports the presence of an acute cardiac ischemic condition in a patient includes sensing electrodes (12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, and 30) placed on a patient for acquiring multiple (e.g., twelve) lead ECG data from the patient. The device evaluates the acquired ECG data by analyzing global features derived from the ECG data. Global features include projection coefficients calculated from projecting a concatenated vector of representative heartbeat data onto sets of basis vectors that define an acute cardiac ischemic ECG subspace and a non-ischemic ECG subspace. A classifier evaluates the global features to determine whether an acute cardiac ischemic condition is detected. In a further embodiment of the invention, one or more classifiers evaluate local features, such as local morphological features and patient clinical information, in addition to the global features to determine whether an acute cardiac ischemic condition is detected. The device (10) may be configured with an adjustable sensitivity/specificity operating point. The result of the evaluation is reported to the user of the device.

A variety of physiological processes are electrically mediated and produce associated electrical signals. For example, the sinoatrial node in a human heart generates an electrical pulse that triggers the remainder of a heartbeat in a normally functioning heart. This pulse propagates through the heart's normal conduction pathways producing electrical signals that can be observed on the surface of a patient's body. Monitoring and analysis of such electrical signals have proved beneficial in evaluating the function of a patient's heart, including the detection of conditions associated with acute cardiac ischemia.
Monitoring of a patient's cardiac electrical activity is conventionally performed using a 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) system that includes a monitor and ten electrodes attached to a patient. A conventional 12-lead ECG system monitors the voltages sensed by the ten electrodes and generates twelve combinations of these voltages to produce the "leads" required by the 12-lead ECG system. Of the ten electrodes in a 12-lead ECG system, four are "limb" electrodes typically placed on or near each of a patient's four limbs, and six are "precordial" electrodes positioned on the patient's chest over the heart. As an electrical impulse propagates through the heart, the monitor repetitively measures the voltages sensed by the electrodes. Although the electrodes collectively monitor the same heartbeats, the electrodes sense different voltages due to their placement with respect to the patient's heart. A time sequence of monitored voltages is used to produce ECG lead data. An ECG monitor typically plots this data to provide graphical waveforms representing the heart's electrical activity for each lead being monitored.
An example of an ECG waveform is shown in FIG. 1. For purposes of analysis, an ECG waveform produced over a time interval corresponding to one cardiac cycle or "heartbeat" is divided into a number of waves. The portion of a waveform representing depolarization of the atrial muscle fibers is referred to as the "P" wave. Depolarization of the ventricular muscle fibers is collectively represented by the "Q," "R," and "S" waves of the waveform. The portion of the waveform representing repolarization of the ventricular muscle fibers is known as the "T" wave. Between heartbeats, an ECG waveform returns to an "isopotential" line. FIG. 1 also illustrates selected fiducial points labeled "q", "j", "t1", and "t2". Fiducial points define the boundaries of selected features and are used in measuring characteristics of an ECG waveform, such as the start and end of a heartbeat and the elevation of the ST portion of a heartbeat. The "q" point shown in FIG. 1 represents the start of the Q wave, the "j" point represents the end of the QRS complex, the "t1" point represents the start of the T wave, and the "t2" point represents the end of the T wave.
As noted, an analysis of a patient's ECG may assist in detecting acute cardiac ischemia in the patient. As a matter of background, acute cardiac ischemia is a condition that arises from chronic or sudden onset of deprivation of blood, and hence oxygen, to muscles of the heart. If an ischemic condition is severe or prolonged, it can result in irreversible death or damage to myocardial cells (i.e., an infarction). A chronic cardiac ischemic condition, angina, is typically caused by narrowing of the coronary arteries due to spasms of the wall muscles or partial blockage by plaques. A sudden cardiac ischemic condition may be caused by a clot blocking the passage of blood in the coronary arteries. Symptoms of a cardiac ischemic event may include chest pain and pain radiating through the extremities, but not all such events present these symptoms. Current medical intervention for severe acute ischemic events includes the administration of a class of drugs called thrombolytics that dissolve clots in the occluded coronary artery, and emergent PTCA, a medical procedure that opens the artery by inflating a balloon inside the clot to make a passage for circulation.
The amount of damage done to a heart by an ischemic event depends, in part, on the amount of time that lapses before treatment is provided. Therefore, ECG data should be evaluated as early as possible so that functional changes associated with cardiac ischemia can be detected and reported as early as possible. With early detection of acute cardiac ischemia, appropriate treatment can take place as early as possible and, thereby, maximize the preservation of myocardium. The American Heart Association recommends that a patient with suspected acute cardiac ischemia be evaluated by a physician using a 12-lead ECG within ten minutes of arrival at a hospital emergency department. Unfortunately, outside of a hospital, highly trained medical personnel are not always available to meet a patient's immediate needs. Quite often, a first responding caregiver to a patient in the field may not be competent in evaluating ECG waveforms to detect acute cardiac ischemic events. A need, therefore, exists for a device that not only obtains ECG data, but also quickly evaluates and automatically produces a preliminary diagnosis that an acute cardiac ischemic condition has been detected.
Traditionally, acute cardiac ischemic conditions are detected by a physician's visual evaluation of 12-lead ECG waveforms. A physician typically selects one or more leads in the 12-lead ECG and makes an initial assessment by comparing selected features of the patient's ECG waveforms to equivalent features of other persons' ECG waveforms that are representative of various abnormal conditions. A physician may also look at the patient's ECG waveforms over time and evaluate any changes in waveform shape. A number of waveform features have been identified as useful in diagnosing acute cardiac ischemic conditions. Customarily, a physician observes the extent to which the ST portion of a waveform exceeds the isopotential line (i.e., the ST elevation) and uses this information to determine if an acute ischemic event has occurred. Nevertheless, because of the subtleties involved in evaluating ECG waveforms, even highly trained individuals often fail to correctly diagnose an acute cardiac ischemic event when evaluating an ECG using traditional features alone. More subtle, globally distributed ECG features remain undetected. A deed, therefore, exists for more accurate ways of detecting and reporting acute cardiac ischemic events.
In recent years, there have been efforts to develop enhanced ECG waveform interpretation based on computer analysis. Conventional computer processes used for ECG waveform analysis are based on heuristics derived from the experience of expert physicians. Such processes implement rules that attempt to simulate an expert physician's reasoning but perform no better than the expert. In practice, many such processes perform more poorly than human expert evaluation.
Furthermore, when a conventional heuristic process is used, it is difficult to choose an optimal operating point for the device in terms of sensitivity (i.e., detecting true positives) and specificity (i.e., avoiding false positives). A device tuned to be more sensitive is typically less specific, while a device tuned to be more specific is typically less sensitive. A typical sensitivity/specificity tradeoff is illustrated by a receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve, an example of which is shown in FIG. 15. Using a conventional heuristic process, it is difficult to make the sensitivity/specificity tradeoff explicit; thus, the selection of an operating point on the ROC curve is often made in a suboptimal, ad hoc manner. As such, there is a need for an apparatus and method that can provide better performance in terms of sensitivity and specificity and further provide for selecting a sensitivity/specificity tradeoff in a more systematic way.
The present invention provides a method and apparatus having such features, as well as addressing other shortcomings in the prior art.

Method and apparatus for detecting a condition associated with acute cardiac ischemia


A hydraulic press for simultaneously forming a plurality of pastry crusts under pressure in individual pans. The pans are loaded into a carrier tray, each pan is filled with a pre-portioned quantity of dough and the tray is placed between the upper and lower dies of the hydraulic press. Alignment elements formed on the hydraulic press and the carrier tray align the pans with the dies as the press closes. The resulting pastry crusts are formed with a uniform thickness throughout the crust. If desired and when the dies are so fabricated, crusts with different thicknesses at the bottom, side wall and flange of the crust can be formed. Pressure forming crusts eliminates the need for handling scrap dough which is usually trimmed and recovered in rolled or sheeted crust production.

This invention is concerned with an apparatus for the high volume, scrapless production of pie, tart, quiche and similar crusts in individual pans. It is particularly concerned with such an apparatus using a hydraulic press having multi-head crust forming dies.
An object of this invention is a multi-head pastry crust press in which the dough is loaded in pre-portioned quantities into individual crust pans which are placed in a precision dimensioned carrier tray so that the individual pans of dough do not have to be rehandled during crust formation, baking, filling and other operations to minimize labor costs.
An object of this invention is a precision dimensioned carrier tray for individual dough pans, which carrier tray becomes an integral part of the multi-head forming press to insure precision alignment of the individual dough pans with the dies thereby preventing pressure deformation of incorrectly supported individual crust pans.
Another object of this invention is a multi-head hydraulic press using a carrier tray which automatically aligns the individual crust pans with the dies.
Other objects of the invention will be found in the following specification, claims and drawings.

Multiple die pastry crust press and crust pan handling arrangement


The present invention provides a flexible flat cable. The flexible flat cable including: a first flexible flat cable and a second flexible flat cable, wherein: an end of the first flexible flat cable is connected with a first terminal; an another end of the first flexible flat cable is provided with a plurality of first pads; an end of the second flexible flat cable is connected with a second terminal; an another end of the second flexible flat cable is provided with a plurality of second pads connected with the plurality of first pads in one-to-one correspondence. The flexible flat cable according to the exemplary embodiments of the present invention can improve versatility, reusability and repairability of the flexible flat cable.

The FFC (Flexible Flat Cable) is widely applied to connections between various hardware devices, between a mobile device and a main board, and between printed circuit boards (PCB) due to its advantages in the freedom in choosing numbers of wires and spacings there-between, the easy-to-connect features and the low cost, in order to perform transmissions of various types of data and signals.
A TFT-LCD (Thin Film Transistor Liquid Crystal Display) is currently one of the main products for flat panel display, and has become an important display platform in modern information technology (IT) and video solutions. A process of driving the TFT-LCD is mainly as follows: an R/G/B compression signal, a control signal and electric power are transmitted from a system main board to a C-Board (Control Board), and are processed by using a TCON (Timing Controller) chip on the C-Board, and are transmitted through the FFC to a PCB1 and a PCB2 for further processing, and are then transmitted to a display region through an S-COF (Source-Chip on Film) and a G-COF (Gate-Chip on Film), so as to allow the LCD to obtain the required power and various signals. In the process of driving the TFT-LCD, the FFC can be utilized in transmissions of the power and the various signals to meet the requirements of thinning tendency, high reliability and easy connection.
FIG. 1 shows the structure of a traditional FFC. The traditional FFC includes a substrate, and a terminal 1 and a terminal 2 on both ends of the substrate. The non-conducting substrate includes a plurality of conductive metal wires. Pins of both ends of the conductive metal wire are connected accordingly with the terminal 1 and the terminal 2. The terminal 1 and the terminal 2 are connected with two connectors respectively in order to achieve transmissions of signals and data between hardware (e.g. two PCBs) to which the two connectors are connected.
Wherein the shapes of the terminal 1 and the terminal 2 must match with the structures of the corresponding connectors, and if either one of the terminal 1 and the terminal 2 mismatches with the structure of the corresponding connector, the entire FFC should be replaced. On the other hand, an external force or great force is often required to connect the terminal to the connector, wherein the mechanisms are connected through engaging, and if the above procedures are repeated for some times, the terminals may quickly wear out, and will be easily damaged. Even if only one terminal is damaged, the entire FFC should be replaced, hence causing a waste of the FFC.

Shenzhen China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd


A system for controlling a brushless DC motor which can minimize a torque ripple of a motor, thus reducing minute vibrations of the motor and loading devices and increasing efficiency. The system includes a current command generator for producing a current command signal by multiplying a wave form of the current command signal in correspondence to position information by the desired size of the current command signal; a current controller for controlling actual current in the motor to follow the current command signal produced from the current command generator, in response to a feedback error control signal having proportion, integral, and differential elements, and producing a signal for turning ON/OFF following the current command; and an inverter circuit for controlling switching elements to be turned ON/OFF by the signal produced from the current controller, and the desired amount of current to be applied to three-phase coils by a power supply unit. The proportional element is implemented by a sawtooth comparator; and dead time is selectively introduced to take advantage of the inertia of the motor.

1. Field of The Invention
The present invention relates generally to a system for controlling a brushless DC motor, and more particularly, to a system capable of minimizing a torque ripple.
2. Description of Related Art
Various kinds of motors are used as driving devices for industrial electrical devices, such as a video tape recorder or a color printer, for example, and automatic machinery and tools, such as a robot, a numerical control machine, and the like. Demand for such motors is rapidly increasing because of automation.
Motors are broadly classified as DC motors and AC motors. DC motors are generally used because they are easily controlled. However, a disadvantage of the DC motor is the necessity for replacing brushes periodically. Although an AC motor does not require brushes, it is difficult to control. Thus, it has not been used for industrial products of high accuracy. However, because control technique for the AC motor are greatly advanced due to the development of microprocessor and other electronic techniques, the AC motor is replacing the DC motor.
Specifically, brushless DC motors and synchronous AC motors are generally used in highly accurate servomechanisms. The brushless DC motor is advantageous in that production costs are low. However, because brushless DC motors are difficult to control, they have been generally used for automatic machinery and tools, and industrial electrical devices which do not require micro-precision accuracy.
First, the operating principle of the brushless DC motor is described with reference to FIG. 1. Construction of a three-phase brushless DC motor is similar to that of a synchronous AC motor. A rotor 13 consists of a permanent magnet having P pole pairs (one pair being shown). Coils 11 are wound in a stator iron core 12, and three-phase current is supplied through the coils 11.
When the rotor 13 of the permanent magnet is rotating at a speed D, a magnetic flux is generated. The magnetic flux cuts current flowing through the coils 11 of the stator, thereby generating a torque between the stator iron core 12 and the rotor 13 according to Ampere's Law (F=I.times.B). Arrows illustrated in the rotor 13 of FIG. 1 indicate the directions of the magnetic flux.
Secondly, a dynamic equation of the brushless DC motor is derived based upon the following assumptions of a three-phase brushless DC motor.
1) The motor operates in a linear area and a the hysteresis loss may be ignored.
2) A slit between the rotor and the stator is uniform compared to the radius of the rotor.
3) Mutual inductances among each phase are constant regardless of the position of the rotor.
Since phase voltage of the motor is the sum of the amount of voltage drop caused by resistance and a time derivative of the amount of magnetic flux interlinkage, an equation of the phase voltage can be expressed as follows: ##EQU1##
where V.sub.k is the input voltage to the phase, i.sub.k is the phase current, r.sub.k is phase resistance and .lambda..sub.k is the magnetic flux.
The interlinked magnetic flux of one phase is classified into a magnetic flux produced by current flowing in the phase, a magnetic flux interlinked by current of the other phase and a magnetic flux interlinked by the rotor of the permanent magnet, and the motor is operated in the linear area (Assumption 1). The magnetic flux .lambda..sub.k can be obtained as follows; ##EQU2##
where L.sub.jk is a mutual inductance between phases j and k, L.sub.kk is a self-inductance, and .lambda..sub.mk is the interlinkage number of the magnetic flux between the rotor and a phase, k.
If the equation (2) is substituted into the equation (1), ##EQU3##
where .theta. is a position of the rotor.
The last term in the right-hand side of the equation (3) corresponds to the reverse electromotive force of the motor, and is the speed of the rotor multiplied by a position .theta. derivative of the interlinkage number of the magnetic flux interlinked by the rotor on the stator. Accordingly, most of voltage applied to the motor is cancelled by the reverse electromotive force, which has a large value at high speed, such that it is difficult to obtain current of a predetermined flow and thereby a desired torque can not be obtained.
The following may be defined according to condition (3). ##EQU4##
The position .theta. derivative of the interlinkage number of the magnetic flux interlinked by the rotor on the stator is a characteristic function of the motor, and since phases have phase differences by 2/3.pi. from one another, the following definitions may be obtained. ##EQU5##
Since three phases are connected in a Y line, the total of the current of the three phases becomes zero. EQU i.sub.1 +i.sub.2 +i.sub.3 =0 (6)
According to the conditions, (3), (4), (5) and (6), a following equation (7) may be obtained. ##EQU6##
The equation (7) can be expressed for the three phases as follows; ##EQU7##
A coenergy relationship is introduced to calculate the torque generated by one phase. ##EQU8##
Referring to equation (10), the torque generated by one phase is the characteristic function g(.theta.) of the motor multiplied by the phase current. Since the entire torque T is the total of T.sub.1, T.sub.2 and T.sub.3, an equation (11) may be obtained according to equations (5) and (10). EQU T=T.sub.1 +T.sub.2 +T.sub.3 =g(.theta.)i.sub.1 +g(.theta.-2/3.pi.)i.sub.2 +g(.theta.+2/3.pi.)i.sub.3 ( 11)
g(.theta.) in the equation (11) is the characteristic function, and may have a trapezoidal wave form or a sinusoidal wave form or a quasi-sinusoidal wave form. Accordingly, the user should obtain a suitable current command according to the wave form of g(.theta.) to generate the desired torque, and make the actual current follow a current command by adjusting the phase voltage since the actual current is controlled by a dynamic equation shown in the equation (8). Referring to the equation (11), the torque is expressed by the function of .theta., and also the current command should be the function of .theta. to obtain the torque free of .theta..
The dynamic equation for a mechanical part is expressed as the following equation (12), and J corresponds to a moment of intertia of the motor and B to a frictional coefficient of the motor. EQU Jd.omega./dt+B=T-T.sub.L .omega. (12)
Third, a mathematical model of the brushless DC motor based on the equations (8) and (11) is shown in FIG. 2.
Fourth, a method for controlling the torque of the conventional brushless DC motor--derivation of the current command for minimizing the torque ripple--is as follows.
The dynamic equation of the brushless DC motor is as follows: ##EQU9##
Referring to the equation (16), the torque is the function of .theta. as well as of the current. Since the term of g(.theta.) is the characteristic function of the motor, the phase current should be controlled to generate the desired torque.
To make the phase current directly proportional to the current, as in the conventional DC motor, the user should obtain the current command which makes the torque free of .theta. under the assumption that the actual current perfectly follows the current command according to the operation of a current controller.
An equation (17) obtains the current command, which makes the torque proportional to the current as follows: i.sub.M *(t) is a torque command produced from the speed controller, f.sub.k (.theta.) is a wave form of the current command which makes the torque free of .theta., that is, without a ripple. EQU i.sub.1 *(i.sub.M *,.theta.)=i.sub.M *(t)f.sub.1 (.theta.) EQU i.sub.2 *(i.sub.M *,.theta.)=i.sub.M *(t)f.sub.2 (.theta.) EQU i.sub.3 *(i.sub.M *,.theta.)=i.sub.M *(t)f.sub.3 (.theta.) (17)
Torque may be obtained by substituting the equation (17) into the equation (16) if the phase current governed by the equations (13), (14) and (15) perfectly follows the current command expressed in the equation (17) according to the operation of the current controller. EQU T(i.sub.M *,.theta.)=i.sub.M *[f.sub.1 (.theta.)g(.theta.)+f.sub.2 (.theta.)g(.theta.-2/3.pi.) +f.sub.3 (.theta.)g(.theta.+2/3.pi.)](18)
If the equation (19) is satisfied, the torque ripple .theta. does not exist since the torque is proportional to the current, and the torque is the function of only i.sub.M *. EQU f.sub.1 (.theta.)g(.theta.)+f.sub.2 (.theta.)g(.theta.-2/3.pi.)+f.sub.3 (.theta.)g(.theta.+2/3.pi.)]=k (19)
Then, f.sub.k (.theta.), satisfying the equation (19) for the g(.theta.), will be obtained. If the g(.theta.) has the trapezoidal wave form, it has a similar area to a linear area. When the current command is zero in the linear area and constant in a constant area, the torque ripple does not exist. ##STR1##
Lastly, f.sub.k (.theta.) satisfying the equation (19) may expressed as an equation (21), and have a spherical wave as shown in FIGS. 3A-3C. ##STR2##
Then, EQU f.sub.1 (.theta.)g(.theta.)+f.sub.2 (.theta.)g(.theta.-2/3.pi.)+f.sub.3 (.theta.)g(.theta.+2/3.pi.)]=2M (22)
When the actual current perfectly follows the current command of the spherical wave, as a result, the torque is made to be proportionate to i.sub.M *(t). EQU T=2Mi.sub.M *(t) (23)
A Korean Examined Application No. 93-4030 entitled "A Method For Improving A Torque Ripple Of A Brushless DC Motor" published on May 19, 1994, proposes overcoming the torque ripple of a brushless DC motor.
In the above publication a method for driving the linear voltage which allows a slight tilt at a point of turning ON/OFF, is proposed. The above-identified disclosure proposes to overcome the problems and disadvantages of a conventional method for driving a constant current, so that optimal current may flow to improve the torque ripple. This is carried out by controlling an electrothermosensitive angle and the tilt at the time of turning ON/OFF, namely, a slew rate of an active amplifier in an inverter terminal to maximize an average torque as much as possible after minimizing the current in the method for driving linear voltage and rotating a torque pulsating exponent to a minimum.
However, the above publication is for minimizing the harmonics of the output current, and the relationship between the output current and an output torque is not clearly disclosed.
Since the output torque is a multiplication of the reverse electromotive force and the output current, the ripple is not removed even though the harmonics of the output current is reduced. A certain restriction needs to be made to the wave form of the reverse electromotive force to remove the ripple.
In addition, in the above-identified publication, the method which controls the slew rate of the amplifier in the inverter terminal to apply the current command is approximate. A more exact method for controlling current is required.
A conventional circuit for controlling the torque and inverter is illustrated in FIG. 4.
Referring to FIGS. 5A-5C, current of iM*, -iM* flows in two phases at every range of .pi./6, and current does not flow in the third phase. Accordingly, it is preferable for current among each line to flow in the amount of iM* uniformly.
For example, the current between each line from phase a, to phase between 0 and .pi./6, is made to be i.sub.M *. The current command in the phase c, is zero, and it is preferable to modify a winding rather than to control the current command in the phase c.
Each unit in a torque control circuit and an inverter circuit has the following role.
1) A derotator circulates current of one phase among three phases according to the position of the rotor.
2) An error amplifier amplifies a current error signal.
3) A PWM amplifier converts the amplified error signal into a pulse width modulation signal.
4) A rotator supplies BUS voltage and -BUS voltage between each line of two phases to be controlled by the PWM signal, and breaks down the wire of the third phase.
5) A commutation logic receives information about position of the rotor and selects two phases to be controlled.
A high gain controller is used as the current controller, and FIG. 7 is a block diagram generally illustrating the system for controlling the brushless DC motor including the position and speed controllers.
A transfer function between i.sub.1 *, i.sub.1 will be gained as follows when the reverse electromotive force g(.theta.).omega. is ignored. ##EQU10##
Then, a bandwidth of a control loop becomes (R+K)/L. However, since the current command i.sub.1 * has the spherical wave form and has an infinite frequency component, K should be infinite in order that i.sub.1 follows i.sub.1 *. However, an infinite K is impossible. The actual current is shown in FIGS. 6A-6D, and the torque ripple is produced six times for each rotation due to the current control error.
Since the reverse electromotive force g(.theta.).omega. becomes greater and the voltage offset by input voltage v.sub.1 for controlling current is applied to the motor, the efficiency of controlling the current is reduced and the frequency of torque ripple becomes high when the motor is rotated at a high speed.
Since the torque ripple is produced six times for each rotation, it can be expanded in Fourier series as shown in the following equation (25). ##EQU11##
Since the frequency of the ripple becomes high and is filtered in a low pass filter, by inertia of the motor when rotated at a high speed, the problem is minor. However, since the frequency of the ripple is represented as a speed ripple, there is a problem in that the speed control is not exact when the motor is rotated at a low-speed.
Since the current command is a spherical wave, a discontinuous function, the actual current does not closely follow the command. Thus, the torque ripple is produced in the conventional torque controlling method.
In light of the foregoing, there is a need to provide a system for controlling a brushless DC motor that overcomes the problems and disadvantages of the conventional devices.

System for controlling a brushless DC motor


The present invention generally relates to a substrate transferring system. Particularly, the present invention relates to apparatus and method to effectively remove the chemical fume, vapor and other byproducts generated during a polishing process. One embodiment of the present invention provides an apparatus for polishing a substrate comprising a platen having a polishing surface configured to polish the substrate by contacting the substrate while moving relatively to the substrate, a polishing head configured to support the substrate and position the substrate to be in contact with the polishing surface during polishing, a solution nozzle configured to dispense a polishing solution on the polishing surface, and an exhaust assembly configured to remove fume, vapor and other byproducts generated during polishing.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate to apparatus and method for polishing semiconductor substrates.
2. Description of the Related Art
Sub-micron multi-level metallization is one of the key technologies for the next generation of ultra large-scale integration (ULSI). The multilevel interconnects that lie at the heart of this technology require planarization of interconnect features formed in high aspect ratio apertures, including contacts, vias, trenches and other features.
Planarization is generally performed using Chemical Mechanical Polishing (CMP) and/or Electro-Chemical Mechanical Deposition (ECMP). A planarization method typically requires that a substrate be mounted in a carrier head, with the surface to be polished exposed. The substrate supported by the carrier head is then placed against a rotating polishing pad. The carrier head holding the substrate may also rotate, to provide additional motion between the substrate and the polishing pad surface. A polishing solution is usually supplied to the rotating polishing surface to assist the planarization process.
During polishing process, chemical fume, vapor from the polishing solution, and other byproducts may generate and diffuse around the platen, polishing head and other devices impairing system cleanness, introducing defects and cross contamination among platens and substrates.
Conventional polishing system generally have a top exhaust or a bottom exhaust for the entire system, usually comprising at least several platens, several polishing heads, one or more load cups, one or more platen conditioners. The chemical fume, vapor and other byproducts generally need to travel across the system before entering the exhaust. As a result, a portion of chemical fume, vapor, and other byproducts would condense and remain on surfaces of the system. The condensed matter usually dries on the surfaces affecting the appearance. Moreover, dried polishing solution becomes flaky and causes defects in the substrate during processing.
Therefore, there is a need for apparatus and method to effectively remove the chemical fume, vapor, and other byproducts generated during a polishing process.

Platen exhaust for chemical mechanical polishing system


A speaker identification/verification system comprises at least one feature extractor for extracting a plurality of audio features from speaker voice data, a plurality of speaker-specific subsystems, and a decision module. Each of the speaker-specific subsystem comprises: a neural network configured to generate an estimate of the plurality of extracted audio features based on the plurality of extracted audio features, and an error module. Each of the plurality of neural networks is associated with one of a plurality of speakers, and the one speaker associated with each of the plurality of neural networks is different for all neural networks. The error module is configured to estimate an error based on the plurality of extracted audio features and the estimate of the plurality of extracted audio features generated by the associated neural network. The neural networks are speaker-specific auto-encoders trained for one user and therefore calibrated on that particular user's speech. As a result, that speaker-specific neural network is highly tuned for the particular user and out of tune for all other users. Thus, the error associated with the speaker-specific neural network is relatively small and useful for purposes of identification or verification.

Speaker recognition consists of two major tasks: speaker identification and speaker verification. Speaker identification and verification have gained significant interest in speech technology and continue to grow. In speaker identification, the goal is to find the closest speaker in a data set to the unknown speaker. In speaker verification, an unknown speaker asserts an identity, and the task is to verify if this assertion is true whether the unknown speaker is in the data. This essentially comes down to comparing two speech data and deciding if they are spoken by the same speaker.
Recently, considerable progress has been made on speaker recognition using deep learning systems. In most of these systems, speaker recognition is performed by constructing a single neural network encoding data from multiple speakers. Output of the neural network is either the probability of correct authentication or direct classification of a specific user. The accuracy of the system depends of the size of the training data set of a specific user and how many users are in the data set (more data improve the performance of the system). These systems, however, are very large and must be trained on all speaker data and therefore re-trained when adding a new speaker. As a result, these prior art systems are relatively slow and difficult to update with new speakers. There is therefore a need for a new system that can be trained, implemented, and altered very quickly and easily.

Speaker recognition using deep learning neural network


A stable concentrated dust control composition comprises a mixture of crude tall oil and vegetable oil emulsified in water. The dust control composition is completely organic, non-corrosive, non-flammable, non-toxic, ecologically safe, readily dilutable with water, safe to use, easy to apply to a desired surface and environmentally responsible. The water soluble formula may be designed to penetrate into the surfaces to bind with surface materials to create a dust free durable surface safe to motorists. The composition suspresses dust, so it is unable to be picked up and be carried away by wind and water, therefore preventing soil erosion and damage to field crops. The composition also reduces airborne dust that carries disease causing pollutants that are transported to distant communities.

The present invention relates to a dust control composition. More particularly, the present invention is directed to an environmentally friendly dust control composition which is applied to road surfaces.
Dust clouds cause poor visibility and dangerous driving conditions creating a safety hazard for drivers. Dust clouds also ultimately slow down production rates around mining complexes, industrial and construction sites. In addition, dust clouds cause allergies related to the respiratory tract resulting in animal and human health problems in communities. In order to minimize such eventualities, liquid compositions have been developed for controlling or settling dust on surfaces such as roadways. Such compositions have comprised agents such as motor oil, various ligno-sulfonates, waste petroleum oil, magnesium or calcium salt compositions and water.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,399,464 discloses a dust preventative composition comprising petroleum distillate, naphthenic acid, a sodium salt of a sulfonated higher alcohol, water and a germicide.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,399,465 discloses a dust preventative composition comprising a petroleum distillate oil, oleic acid and a metal naphthenate.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,417,992 discloses a dust control composition comprising a liquid dispersion of a highly branched water swellable polymer of acrylamide or an acrylamide-acrylic acid copolymer, cross-linked with a multifunctional unsaturated monomer containing more than one ethylenically unsaturated group.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,362,568 discloses an essentially petroleum distillate-free prime coat emulsion comprising asphalt cement, tall oil, tall oil fractions or mixtures thereof, a base and water.
EP Patent 0 270 199 discloses a composition for controlling dust migration comprising an emulsion of liquid asphalt, a ligno-sulfonic acid salt solution and water.
Russian Patent 1054399 discloses a road surface composition comprising tall pitch as an organic binder and tall oil to provide a dust control agent.
While these compositions provide varying degrees of dust control, they are not either generally effective since they are either easily washed away by rain due to lack of penetration or they contain polluting contaminants that leach into surface and ground water causing serious human health and environmental concerns.
There is therefore a need to develop an improved and effective dust control composition that is environmentally friendly as an alternative to prevalent market products and which effectively fosters a sustainable dust abatement practice.
In accordance with an aspect of the present invention there is provided a dust control composition which is completely organic, non-corrosive, nonflammable, non-toxic, ecologically safe, readily dilutable with water, safe to use, easy to apply to a desired surface and environmentally responsible. Preferably, the composition is applied to unpaved gravel road surfaces.
The composition according to an aspect of the present invention provides a dust-free, compact gravel surface which may resist erosion, weathering, spring breaks and frost heaves depending on the gravel composition. Furthermore, the dust control composition of the present invention is cost effective to make and use compared to current road dust abatement methods. The composition is easily sprayed onto desired surfaces and requires minimal re-application requirements under desirable weather conditions. The water-soluble formula may be designed to penetrate into surfaces to bind with surface materials to create a dust-free durable surface safe to motorists. The composition suppresses dust so it is unable to be picked up and be carried away by wind and water thereby preventing soil erosion and damage to field crops. The use of the composition also reduces airborne dust that carries disease causing pollutants that are transported to distant communities.
According to an aspect of the present invention, a stable dust control composition comprises:
a mixture of crude tall oil and vegetable oil emulsified in water.
According to an aspect of the present invention, a stable dust control composition comprises:
an oil mixture anywhere from about 5% to 95% crude tall oil and anywhere from about 5% to 95% vegetable oil, said oil mixture being emulsified in a range of ratios of from about 40:60 to about 25:75 oil mixture to water with up to about 4% to 6% by weight of the oil mixture of a base.
The composition can be further diluted with water as desired.
According to a further aspect of the present invention, a method for making a stable dust control composition comprises;
providing a mixture of anywhere from about 5% to 95% crude tall oil and anywhere from about 5% to 95% vegetable oil;
emulsifying said mixture in a range of ratios of from about 40:60 to about 25:75 with water using up to about 4% to 6% base by weight of the oil mixture to provide a stable emulsion.
The method may additionally comprise the step of further diluting the stable emulsion.
According to yet a further aspect of the present invention, a method for creating a dust-free, compact surface, comprises the steps of;
applying a mixture of anywhere from about 5% to 95% crude tall oil and anywhere from about 5% to 95% vegetable oil, emulsified in a range of ratios of from about 40:60 to about 25:75 oil mixture to water with up to about 4% to 6% by weight of the oil mixture of base to a desired surface; and upon field application,
allowing the mixture to cure.
The invention provides an effective and environmentally friendly dust control composition that can be applied onto a variety of soil or gravel surfaces to control dust as well as to compact and stabilize the top or base surface. The composition is a water-dilutable formula that binds with surface materials to create a dust-free surface that resists particulate emission from traffic and does not erode after curing. The formulation may be designed to provide most preferably a dust free compact surface.
The composition is designed to stabilize dust particles and create a longer-lasting dust free environment and thus reduces the number of reapplications. Annual maintenance applications of the composition to a surface actually improves the road surface. As such, use of the composition is cost-effective as it reduces the use of equipment and labor normally required to maintain a conventional dust control program through sustainability.
The dust control composition of the present invention comprises a blend of crude tall oil with a vegetable oil which is then emulsified in water using a base. Emulsification is most preferably carried out by saponifying, in part, the oil mixture to provide an emulsion of oil in water. It is appreciated that other techniques for emulsifying the oil in water are contemplated such as the use of a non-toxic surfactant. It has been surprisingly found that the vegetable oil enhances the penetration of the composition into the road surface. The resultant product is a concentrated emulsion that can be applied in concentrated or in a range of dilutions. The blend of crude tall oil with a vegetable oil is preferably at a ratio of about 80:20 tall oil to vegetable oil. Although it is appreciated that the ratio may favor lower or higher amounts of vegetable oil as determined by the application. The determining factors may vary greatly for the relative amounts of tall oil to vegetable oil. For the higher concentrations of tall oil, the amount of vegetable oil needed to ensure penetration of the tall oil into the particulate matter, for example, as applied to a road surface. On the other hand, there may be applications where one does not want the surface to harden up, so that considerably higher amounts of vegetable oil are used. For example, the higher levels of vegetable oil may be applied to gravel piles, sand piles, slag piles and the like to keep windblown dust to a minimum. In addition, applications of the composition which may involve areas where animals are grazing, the higher vegetable oil compositions are preferred. A typical composition emulsified in water may include anywhere from about 5% to 95% by weight of tall oil and the balance being anywhere from about 5% to 95% by weight of the vegetable oil. This results in tall oil to vegetable oil ratios which may range 5:95 up to 95:5.
The tall oil used in the composition of the present invention is a crude by-product from the Kraft paper-making process. Tall oil is made up of a range of C18 to C24 long chain fatty acids. The vegetable oil is a lighter oil and preferably contains C16 to C22 long chain fatty acids. A preferred example of a light oil includes canola oil such as crude canola oil. Mixing the vegetable oil with the crude tall oil ensures a deep penetration of the composition into the granular material of the road surface to minimize dust. The preferred agent for neutralizing or saponifying the oil in part is potassium hydroxide, but any strong base, such as sodium hydroxide, is suitable for use in the composition. This provides a concentrate which can be diluted further for application to the roads. Emulsifying the oil due to a partial saponification or neutralization of the oils allows for its dilution with water. The emulsified oil is mixed with water in range of ratios of from about 40:60 to about a 25:75 ratio. The amount of potassium hydroxide to neutralize in part the oils is preferably less than 10% by weight oil and most preferably provided in a range of about 3% to 10% by weight. One skilled in the art would readily comprehend that the extent of neutralization required to emulsify the oil in water is sufficient to form a stable oil in water emulsion without the production of excessive foaming.
As herein described, crude tall oil, a mixture of the resin and fatty acids, is produced as a chemical by-product of the Kraft pulping process and is preferred for use in the composition and method of the present invention. Briefly, in the Kraft pulping process, wood chips are fed into a digester and a xe2x80x9cwhitexe2x80x9d cooking liquor containing sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and sodium sulfide (Na2S) is added. The contents are then heated according to a predetermined schedule to complete the cooking reactions, wherein the resin acids and fatty acids are released from the wood chips. The resulting cooked pulp is separated from the residual cooking liquor, known as black liquor, in a brown stock washing process. The sodium salts of the resin acids and fatty acids, commonly referred to as tall oil soap or xe2x80x9cblack liquor soapxe2x80x9d, are suspended in the black liquor. The wood pulp is treated further in the papermaking process to produce papers of various grades.
One skilled in the art of making Kraft paper will recognize that there are various techniques for recovering tall oil soap from the Kraft black liquor. The separated tall oil soap is then normally acidulated with sulfuric acid to form crude tall oil, which can be refined by vacuum fractionation to form tall oil fatty acids and tall oil resin. In general, tall oil comprises about 30-35% fatty acids, about 35-60% resin and resin acids and about 5-10% unsaponifiables. One skilled in the art would also recognize that any method can be used to obtain crude tall oil for use in the composition and method of the present invention. It is also understood that any oil, having equivalent properties to crude tall oil, can be used in the composition and method of the present invention.
The preferred vegetable oil for use in the present invention is canola oil. Canola oil has the lowest level of saturated fatty acids of all vegetable oils. Canola contains a mixture of C12 to C22 fatty acids. Although canola oil is most preferred, it is understood by one skilled in the art that any vegetable oil of similar or equivalent fatty acid profile can also be used in the composition and method of the present invention. Suitable oils for use include but are not limited to corn, soybean, sunflower, olive, safflower, palm and coconut.
As previously mentioned, it is understood that any strong base is suitable for use in emulsifying the oil mixture. It is also understood that the selected emulsifier also acts to partially neutralize the tall oil/vegetable oil mixture. The extent of neutralization should be sufficient to provide the beneficial characteristics of the composition as applied to a desired road surface without excessive foaming.
The composition, as a concentrate, has a distinctive odor and light yellow color. It has a pH preferably of about 6-8, most preferably about 7-8, a specific gravity of about 1.0 and is non-volatile. The composition is stable at ambient conditions and has a typical viscosity of about 120 cp @70xc2x0 F.
The composition can be used on a wide variety of surfaces for the purposes of dust control and surface stabilization. Typical application rates are about 1.5 L of diluted product per square meter. The composition can be applied on gravel construction roads, gravel industrial roads, gravel pits, service roads, seismic roads, rural roads, access roads, driveways, gravel parking lots, storage lots, semi-permanent flooring, mine sites, drill sites and virtually any other desired surface. As used on gravel roads, application of the dust control composition of the present invention provides rapid control of respirable dust clouds. It provides excellent wetting and binding characteristics. As a preventative dust maintenance measure, it is cost effective both in the short and with long term usage. The composition penetrates and extends bonding into a surface, such as gravel, by providing cohesion, preventing sediment wash-out and increasing the load-bearing capacity of unpaved road surfaces. Furthermore, the composition as applied to a gravel bed for example, provides a reduction of aggregate loss, enhances conservation of native gravel, provides safety to motorists and delivers effective dust control.
As applied to a gravel road, it is recommended that the gravel road first be scarified to at least two inches and the loose gravel material should be well graded. The gravel surface should not have soft spots and frost boils as they tend to unevenly accumulate the product and reduce its effectiveness. Any such problem areas first require base stabilizing treatments. The gravel road surface should ideally be moist. The composition is best applied sprayed utilizing any type of spray arm as attached to a tanker truck. The optimum application temperature ranges from between about 70 to 80xc2x0 F. The warmer the gravel surface the faster the penetration. Typically, two spray applications are recommended for dust control.
The composition of the present invention is formulated as a dust suppressant product. Alternatively, the composition can be formulated to be used to provide extended bonding into a road surface in order to prevent sediment wash-out and to increase the load-bearing capacity of the road surface. In this manner, the composition is used to compact road surfaces and make them generally more durable and safe through improved visibility from dust clouds.
The composition is environmentally friendly. It is biodegradable and causes neither toxic leaching nor adversely affects vegetation, aquatic life or other living organisms. It does not deposit toxic residues in soils which is highly advantageous compared to waste petroleum oil based compositions or latex products commonly used in dust control.


A printing cylinder has a first rotatable section having a central image area on the surface, and a first and second end. A first shell is disposed circumferentially about the first end, and a second shell is disposed circumferentially about the second end, the first and second shells having image areas on the surface and movable axially with respect to the central image area. Also provided is a printing press comprising a first sensor for detecting register marks, a second sensor for detecting fanout, and a rotatable cylinder with a first section axially adjustable with respect to a second section. A method for correcting fanout in a web printing press includes sensing register marks to provide overall circumferential and/or lateral register adjustments of a printing cylinder, sensing a section of the web other than the register marks to provide fanout information, and changing a lateral position of a first part of the printing cylinder with respect to a second part of the printing cylinder.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to web printing presses and more particularly to a method and device for minimizing the effects of web fanout.
2. Background Information
A lithographic web printing press prints typically prints four colors on a web of material such as paper. As the web passes through blanket cylinder of the printing units, it becomes moist, which can lead to an expansion of the web. The expansion of the web in the axial direction of the printing cylinders is known as web fanout. If fanout occurs, the print or images on the web thus expand slightly as the web passes the first printing unit. The second printing unit needs to be properly registered with respect to the web images or print, so that, for example, a second color is applied as desired over an image already printed by the first printing unit.
Because the image printed by the first printing unit is subjected to fanout, the second or subsequent printing units may not be properly registered, which can lead to misregister of the image.
For some printing applications, multi-plate plate cylinders are used. These plate cylinders have a plurality of axially-spaced printing plates. For proper register of each printing plate, the plates may be movable independently of one another.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,207,815 purports to disclose a two-plate plate cylinder. One plate fits on a large diameter portion and another plate fits on a tube rotatable and axially movable with respect to the large diameter portion. The tube is fastened to a stepped shaft. Helical gearing is provided to set the axial and circumferential register of the plates. This arrangement requires a complicated, double-diameter plate cylinder and complicated gearing, as well as only being applicable to a two-plate configuration.
The device of the ""815 patent also has the disadvantage that no sensors appear to be present to read the different sections of the web, e.g., the front and back of the web. The device also has the disadvantage that a complex helical gear mechanism controls the circumferential and lateral displacement of the shell, thus, the device is more difficult and time consuming to repair.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,383,393 purports to disclose a multicolor lithographic rotary press comprising a plurality of printing sections arranged along a traveling line of a paper web, a plurality of register adjusting means, a paper stretching means, and a plurality of width adjusting means. Each of the printing sections further includes at least one divided plate cylinder, each divided section of which is independently moved in the axial direction and/or circumferential direction. The device of the ""393 patent further discloses a register adjusting means mechanically connected to each of the divided plate cylinders in the printing sections, and includes an adjusting mechanism for actuating the divided sections in response to the control unit connected to a sensor for detecting the lines and images printed on the paper web by each of the printing sections.
The device of the ""393 patent has the disadvantage that multiple sensors are not present to read the web at differing places, thus, determination of fanout is hampered. Furthermore, the device does not have a third shell and thus, the ability to adjust to differing fanout widths of the web is limited. The device also possesses the disadvantage that in order to compensate for fanout, the device changes the width of the web rather than the displacement of the printing plates. The change in the width of the web may result in the process not working well for all paper types. Moreover, the web width adjusting device appears complicated.
An object of the present invention is to provide for a device and method for automatic adjustment of a web printing press by use of sensors to minimize the effects of fanout. An additional or alternative object is to provide a device and method for adjustment of a web printing press by use of a cylinder having one central portion and two axially movable shells on either side of the center portion.
The present invention provides a printing cylinder comprising:
at least one web fanout sensor for reading a web, the fanout sensor having an output;
a first rotatable section having a central image area on the surface, and a first and second end;
a first shell disposed circumferentially about the first end; and
a second shell disposed circumferentially about the second end, the first and second shells having image areas on the surface and being movable axially with respect to the central image area as a function of the web fanout sensor output.
With the first and second shells movable axially with respect to the central image area of the present invention, more precise adjustments can be made to the printing surface to minimize print defects caused by fanout of the web.
The central image area may carry one or two plates, and the shells one or two plates each.
Specifically, if web fanout is occurring, the first and second shells can be moved axially away from the central image area. While this movement will not perfectly correct the problems resulting from fanout, it can reduce the effects of fanout, especially for example when used with newspapers where a plurality of pages are positioned across the web.
Preferably, the at least one web fanout sensor includes two web fanout sensors on one surface of the web. The sensors preferably are located near edges of the web, but may be located in an unprinted area near the center of the shell.
At least one register sensor for proper overall registration of the printing cylinder preferably is also included. The at least one register sensor preferably includes two register sensors located in a center of the web, with a first register sensor on a first surface of the web and a second register sensor on a second surface of the web.
The central image area and the first and second shells may be laser-writeable. Laser writeable shells provides the advantage that a desired image can be changed without having to physically remove a portion of the shell, nor waiting for erasing and rewriting the image; thus, the press downtime can be reduced.
The central image area and the first and second shells each also may further comprise a gap to insert a printing plate. The gap has the advantage that a change to the desired image can be made by first removing the existing printing plate and then modifying and replacing the existing plate or adding a plate with a different image.
The present invention also provides a printing press comprising:
at least one first sensor for detecting register marks;
at least one second sensor for detecting fanout; and
a rotatable cylinder with a first section axially adjustable with respect to a second section.
With the first and second sensors, the amount of fanout can be automatically detected and the effects compensated for by axially adjusting the first and second sections. The adjustment provides the advantage of more efficient printing.
The first sensors preferably detect register marks printed by the central image area, and the sensor fanout marks printed by the shells.
The second sensors may comprise photocell detectors or video detectors. The photocell or video detectors may allow comparison of the location of one printed image to one that had been previously printed; thus, the amount of fanout can be detected without using marks on the web. However, the use of fanout marks on the web such as cross-hairs, is preferably.
The present invention further provides a method for correcting fanout in a web printing press comprising:
sensing register marks to provide overall circumferential and/or lateral register adjustments of a printing cylinder;
sensing a section of the web other than the register marks to provide fanout information; and
changing a lateral position of a first part of the printing cylinder with respect to a second part of the printing cylinder as function of the fanout information.
Preferably the first part is a shell and the second part an image area of a cylinder, the shells being moved axially.
The shells may be moved in a manner similar to that disclosed in co-owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/627,639, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.


This gas turbine arrangement has a gas turbine which can be divided into a high-pressure part and a basic part and has a compressor (1) and at least one energy exchanger (7). In addition, it has a combustion-chamber arrangement and a separate combustion chamber (18) connected upstream of the energy exchanger (7). The intention is to provide a gas turbine arrangement in which an increased efficiency is achieved by simple means and which can be regulated more simply. This is achieved by providing at least two combustion chambers (9, 10) for the combustion-chamber arrangement. The first (9) of the combustion chambers cooperates with the high-pressure part of the gas turbine arrangement. The second (10) of the combustion chambers cooperates, via the interposed energy exchanger (7) having the upstream combustion chamber (18), with the basic part.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gas turbine arrangement that includes at least one gas turbine, a compressor and a pressure wave machine acting as an energy exchanger. More particularly, the present invention relates to a gas turbine arrangement including a combustion chamber arrangement for improved operating efficiency and control.
2. Discussion of Background
A gas turbine arrangement having a compressor for the combustion air, a gas turbine, and a pressure wave machine acting as an energy exchanger is disclosed, for example, in EP-0 179 233 B1. In this gas turbine arrangement, an energy exchanger which brings combustion air precompressed in a low-pressure compressor to an even higher pressure level is connected upstream of the gas turbine. A separate combustion chamber is connected upstream of the energy exchanger, the said combustion chamber being operated with gas or oil as the fuel and its combustion air being branched off from a high-pressure conduit for the supercharged air at the higher pressure level downstream of the energy exchanger. The high-pressure conduit carries the main part of the supercharged air into a combustion chamber in which gas or oil is burnt together with this air to form driving gas at high pressure and high temperature, which is passed into a high-pressure part of the gas turbine and drives this part. The somewhat cooled and somewhat expanded gases which have released part of their energy in supercharging the combustion air in the energy exchanger, are passed, after their emergence, into a basic part of the gas turbine, where they are mixed with the driving gas expanded in the high-pressure part and, together with this driving gas, further drive the gas turbine.
In this gas turbine arrangement, the energy exchanger is operated at a comparatively low operating temperature. At higher operating temperatures, an additional increase in the efficiency of the arrangement would be possible.


A gas migration inhibitor which lyes on a surface of a material to inhibit the migration of gas from the material. This migration inhibitor has a specific gravity of less than a liquid in which it is placed, floating on a surface of such material within a container in which the liquid material is held, and is non porous so as to inhibit the escape of gas from the material, or the evaporation of the material.

The present invention is a device which may be placed within a container so as to float or lie on the surface of a material contained within a container to reduce or prevent the container which would normally result from contact by the material with the environment.
Many types of materials are stored within containers of all configurations. Liquids, colloidal substances, semi-solids, and solid materials are placed within containers. These containers are of many types and shapes. They include tanks, drums, bottles, jars, cans, and flasks.
Most containers are provided with a top, lid, cover, or other device which aids in containing the substance, but also aids in preventing the material from exposure to the atmosphere. However, as material is removed from the container, an air space results within the container. Air, or perhaps another gas in certain environments, enters the container, so as to interact within the material contained within the container. Each time the container is opened, the material is exposed to the atmosphere and the air or other gas which enters the container is renewed.
This exposure to the atmosphere as the container is opened, and the entry of air into the container, may have adverse effects on the contents of the container. If the material has a high vaporization rate, accelerated evaporation of the material may result from frequent opening of the container. If the material is a liquid in which a gas has been dissolved, for example, carbonated water, the gas, such as carbon dioxide, will tend to escape from the liquid into the environment. Other materials which are affected by oxidation or are otherwise affected by exposure from air or other environments resulting from exposure to frequent opening and closing of the container can be given as examples.