An approach for graphically representing tags in a networked computing environment is provided. In a typical embodiment, a frequency of use of each of a set of tags contained in at least one computer storage medium of the networked computing environment will be determined. A set of relationships between the set of tags will be identified, and each of the set of tags will be displayed within a set of objects of a graphical (e.g., Venn) diagram according to the frequency. The set of relationships between the set of tags may determine an amount of overlap of the set of objects. The set of tags and/or graphical objects may be formatted to graphically represent attributes such as: topics corresponding to the set of tags, groupings of the topics corresponding to the set of tags, trends related to the set of tags, an importance of the set of tags, etc.

The networked computing environment (e.g., cloud computing environment) is an enhancement to the predecessor grid environment, whereby multiple grids and other computation resources may be further enhanced by one or more additional abstraction layers (e.g., a cloud layer), thus making disparate devices appear to an end-consumer as a single pool of seamless resources. These resources may include such things as physical or logical computing engines, servers and devices, device memory, and storage devices, among others.
In such environments, various terms and/or phrases (e.g., tags) may be used to describe and/or electronically discuss certain topics. In many cases, topics may have a certain layer of overlap and, hence, some common underlying content. However, challenges may exist in making such overlay/relationships between tags and content readily apparent to an end user. As such, important relationships between sets of content may go un-noticed or un-leveraged.

Graphically representing tags in a networked computing environment


An image recording apparatus including: a first conveying path for guiding a recording medium in a conveying direction; a recording portion configured to record an image on the recording medium guided by the first conveying path; a tray provided below the recording portion so as to accommodate the recording medium; a supplying roller configured to supply the recording medium accommodated by the tray to the first conveying path; a first arm provided above the tray, wherein the supplying roller is provided on a distal end of the first arm; a first frame configured to support the recording portion; and a second frame provided separately from the first frame and configured to support the first arm.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus configured to convey a recording medium through a convey path and record an image on the recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is conventionally known an image recording apparatus including a sheet-supply portion configured to pick up a recording sheet accommodated in a tray and supply the recording sheet to a convey path. For example, the sheet-supply portion includes a sheet-supply roller, an arm, and a shaft. The sheet-supply roller is rotatably provided on a distal end portion of the arm. The shaft is provided on a basal end portion of the arm, and the arm is pivotable about the shaft. The arm is urged by its own weight or an elastic force of, e.g., a spring so as to be pivoted toward a tray. Where the sheet-supply roller is rotated in a state in which the sheet-supply roller is held in pressing contact with an uppermost one of the recording sheets on the tray, the recording sheet is supplied into the convey path by a frictional force between a roller face of the sheet-supply roller and the recording sheet.
Here, the shaft provided on the basal portion of the arm is normally mounted on a frame of the image recording apparatus. For example, there is a multi-function device (MFD) configured such that a sheet-supply roller is rotatably supported on a distal end of an arm, the arm is provided pivotably about a shaft, and the shaft is supported by an upper unit as a frame of the MFD.


A large coherent two-dimensional (2D) spatial filter array (SFA), 30 by 30 or larger, is produced by coupling a 2D planar lightwave circuit (PLC) array with a pair of lenslet arrays at the input and output side. The 2D PLC array is produced by stacking a plurality of chips, each chip with a plural number of straight PLC waveguides. A pupil array is coated onto the focal plane of the lenslet array. The PLC waveguides are produced by deposition of a plural number of silica layers on the silicon wafer, followed by photolithography and reactive ion etching (RIE) processes. A plural number of mode filters are included in the silica-on-silicon waveguide such that the PLC waveguide is transparent to the fundamental mode but higher order modes are attenuated by 40 dB or more.

The present invention relates to the art of optics. In particular, the present invention relates to optical spatial filter arrays.
Prior art spatial filter arrays, which are all based on fiber arrays or fiber bundles, include single-mode fiber arrays, photonic crystal fiber arrays, and large mode field diameter (MFD) fiber arrays that are placed inside a single large triangle groove, or 2D array of double-sided micro-fabricated silicon V grooves.
Prior art technologies are based on fiber arrays, which are problematic due to alignment difficulties with the input/output microlens arrays. The assembly and alignment process has been the big stumbling block for the fiber arrays, which makes it difficult to impossible to accomplish the actual fabrication of large arrays. For example, University of Florida fabricated a 42-channel fiber array by placing 42 single-mode fibers in double-sided silicon V-grooves [1. J. Ge, D. et al., "Development of an Extremely Coherent Single Diode Fiber Bundle Array for High Contrast Imaging of Extrasolar Planets with Visible Terrestrial Planet Finder," SPIE 5491 New Frontiers in Stellar Interferometry, pp. 628-635, 2004.]; Jet Propulsion Laboratory fabricated a 28-channel fiber array by placing 28 large mode fibers inside a triangle area surrounded by three prisms [2. D. T. Liu, et al., "Design and Fabrication of a Coherent Array of Single Mode Optical Fibers for the Nulling Coronagraph," SPIE Tech Inst for Detect of Exoplanets, pp. 217-228, 2003.]. Fiberguide developed 2D fiber arrays comprising ˜200 single mode fibers, but the 2D fiber arrays have problems to align with microlens arrays. Current fiber array technologies cannot produce 30×30 or larger coherent SFAs.
Visually, referring to FIG. 1, systems developed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratories (JPL) 100 are based upon a triangle gap surrounded by three prisms. About 28 singlemode fibers were placed inside the equilateral triangle area [2. D. T. Liu, et al., "Design and Fabrication of a Coherent Array of Single Mode Optical Fibers for the Nulling Coronagraph," SPIE Tech Inst. for Detect. of Exoplanets, pp. 217-228, 2003]
And, also visually, referring to FIG. 2, systems developed at the University of Florida and at Penn State University 200 are based upon 2-D array of double-sided micro-fabricated silicon V grooves. Each single-mode fiber was placed in a silicon V-groove [1. J. Ge, D. et al., "Development of an Extremely Coherent Single Diode Fiber Bundle Array for High Contrast Imaging of Extrasolar Planets with Visible Terrestrial Planet Finder," SPIE 5491 New Frontiers in Stellar Interferometry, pp. 628-635, 2004]

Two-dimensional planar lightwave circuit integrated spatial filter array and method of use thereof


A medical guide wire which can have both slidability and operability and can be easily manufactured is provided. A medical guide wire includes a long flexible wire body, and a wire-like material structure including a wire-like material arranged on the surface of the wire body, in which the wire-like material structure is thermally fused onto the wire body.

Medical guide wires have been used for safely and reliably inserting catheters into cardio-vascular systems or bile ducts. Such a medical guide wire is inserted into a blood vessel or a bile duct, with its distal end projected from the distal end of a catheter, is moved forward in the blood vessel or the like by rotating and pushing or pulling a hand grip portion outside a body, and is inserted into an area near a target portion together with the catheter. In this state, the catheter is moved along the medical guide wire so that its distal end is guided to the area near the target portion. The medical guide wire is thus required to be of high quality to have high flexibility, high slidability in the blood vessel or the like and the catheter, and high operability in the hand grip portion.
A medical guide wire disclosed in Patent Document 1 is known which is for meeting the required quality. The outer periphery of the medical guide wire in Patent Document 1 is divided into three zones differing in lubricity: a high lubricity zone in the outer periphery of a distal end portion including a tip, a low lubricity zone in the outer periphery of a rear end having a certain length including a hand grip portion, and an intermediate lubricity zone in the outer periphery of an intermediate portion between the high lubricity zone and the low lubricity zone. The high lubricity zone includes a lubricating film of a hydrophilic polymer (polyvinylpyrrolidone) having a film thickness of 18 to 20 microns. The intermediate lubricity zone includes a lubricating film of a dilute hydrophilic polymer (polyvinylpyrrolidone) having a film thickness of 5 to 10 microns. The low lubricity zone includes a lubricating film of fluororesin (PTFE).


An array substrate and a display device are disclosed. The array substrate includes a display region including a first display region and an optical device arranging region. The first display region at least partly surrounds the optical device arranging region. The array substrate further includes a base substrate; an optical device, a shielding structure and a signal line arranged on the base substrate. The optical device and the shielding structure are located in the optical device arranging region, the optical device has an opening for receiving light, and orthographic projections of the opening and the shielding structure on the base substrate have no overlap. The shielding structure extends in a first direction, the signal line extends in a second direction, the first direction intersects with the second direction, the shielding structure includes at least two subsections, and the signal line is correspondingly arranged in a gap between two adjacent subsections.

The liquid crystal display is a kind of non-self light-emitting device, and thus backlight is required to implement the display function by using the backlight source provided by the backlight module.
The display panel in the liquid crystal display generally has a display region and a frame region surrounding the display region. A fingerprint identification device and other optical devices may be arranged in the frame region. Due to the larger volume of the fingerprint identification device, the area of the frame region occupied by the fingerprint identification device is larger, causing a greater limitation in implementing the high screen-to-body ratio and implementing the narrow frame design.
Thus, how to increase the screen-to-body ratio of the display panel and implement the narrow frame design which urgently needs to be solved.

XIAMEN TIANMA MICRO-ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.


A device for use in television and motion picture industries lifts and re-positions a track on which camera dolly or crane is located. The device includes a first bar member of a substantially elongated shape comprising a hinge, a first caster wheel assembly, and a first track hook which is positioned at one end of the first bar member. A second bar member of a substantially elongated shape shorter than the first bar member is pivotably attached to the first bar member via the hinge such that when in a closed position the first and second bar members form a substantially straight line. The second bar member further comprises a second caster wheel assembly and a second track hook which is positioned at one end of the second bar member, this one end of the second bar member being at an opposite location than the other end of the first bar member along the substantially straight line. When each track hook is positioned under each rail of the track and downward force is applied to the first bar member, the first and second bar members form the substantially straight line thereby lifting the track off the ground. The track and a camera dolly can then be rolled on wheels to a new location quickly and effortlessly.

The present invention is related to a lifting device. More specifically, the present invention is related to a device, used in television and motion picture industries, for lifting and re-positioning a track on which camera dolly or crane is located.
Camera dollies and cranes are widely used in television and motion picture industries during a production sequence. It is well known that a camera dolly has a moveable arm for supporting a camera. The camera dolly also contains wheels to enable its operators or grips to quickly transport the camera to a new location in a filming sequence.
Typically it is desirable to eliminate or minimize any camera vibration during a shooting sequence in order to avoid lowering an image quality. To this end, the camera dolly is generally equipped with wide pneumatic tires designed to absorb slight surface imperfections. When the surface, however, is quite bumpy and irregular, a track typically comprising pair of rails is assembled on the ground to allow the camera dolly to roll thereon. The track, as used on a film set, smoothes out many surface imperfections, thereby providing substantially vibration-free shooting conditions for camera operators.
Although the track creates fairly smooth surface for shooting scenes thereby eliminating the vibration and shaking of the camera, it is disadvantageous in another aspect. In particular, the track requires typically laborious re-positioning if the camera has to be in a spot that is not along the track path. Even though tracks can be made curvilinear, it is clear that the movement of the camera dolly is nevertheless limited to the track path.
Moving the track is a very labor-intensive process that requires removing the camera dolly with its camera, re-positioning the track, and then placing the camera dolly back onto the track. Alternatively, the track can be moved without removing the camera dolly, but this requires significant physical effort. In either case, valuable time is expended in this labor and time-consuming process.
A need therefore exists for a device that addresses the above concerns and solves this long-felt need of easily and quickly re-positioning a track used in television and motion picture industries.

Device for lifting and re-positioning a track used in television and motion picture industries


An apparatus installed in a molten metal plating line includes a blade pressed against a roll dipped in a molten metal plating bath, in which a metal strip travels. The apparatus removes substances deposited on a surface of the roll. The apparatus also includes an arm for supporting the blade, and a screw member disposed above the plating bath so as to traverse it and moving along an axis of the roll in the bath for removing substances deposited on the roll in the molten metal plating bath. Floats and/or weights are mounted on the arm so as to adjust a press force of the blade applied to the roll in the molten metal plating bath. A method for preventing the occurrence of dents on a molten-metal-plated steel strip using the apparatus is also disclosed.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to apparatus for removing substances deposited on rolls in molten metal plating baths. This invention also relates to methods for preventing the occurrence of dents formed on molten metal plated metal strips.
2. Description of Related Art
In a continuous molten zinc plating line for galvanizing a traveling steel strip (also called steel sheet) by continuously dipping the strip in a molten zinc plating bath, molten zinc deposited on surfaces of the steel strip having been pulled up from the molten zinc plating bath is usually wiped by blowing gas (called wiping gas) against the surface of the steel strip through gas blowing nozzles called wiping nozzles in order to adjust the amount of the molten zinc deposited on surfaces of the steel strip. For this purpose, the steel strip is dipped in the molten zinc plating bath (hereinafter, referred to as a plating bath) obliquely downward and is pulled upward from the plating bath by changing the traveling direction of the steel strip to a vertical direction. The traveling direction of the steel strip is ordinarily changed by a rotary body (roll) called a sink roll dipped in the plating bath.
A large amount of foreign substances called dross are ordinarily produced in the plating bath by the precipitation and oxidation of Znxe2x80x94Fe alloy, Znxe2x80x94Al alloy and the like, and deposited on surfaces of the sink roll. Then, when the dross has grown to a certain size, it comes into contact with the steel strip traveling on the sink roll and causes defects of dents on surfaces of the steel strip.
In particular, while alloyed-molten-zinc-plated steel sheet has recently been used as steel sheet for automobiles in a large quantity, automobile manufacturers require more severe quality for steel sheet and even a minute defect on the plated steel sheet is not permitted. Accordingly, the defects of dents caused by the deposition of dross on the surface of the sink roll are a very serious problem to steel sheet suppliers.
Countermeasures for this problem have been studied. For example, a technology for thermal spraying ceramic, on which it is difficult to deposit dross, onto the surface of the sink roll has been proposed. However, the dross deposited on the surface of the sink roll cannot be perfectly prevented by this technology.
Thus, a method for mechanically removing foreign substances on the surface of the sink roll has been developed and is in practical use. Specifically, the method removes foreign substances by scraping them away by pressing a blade, which has a length entirely covering the surface of a sink roll in its axial direction, against the surface of the sink roll.
The blade must be in uniform contact with the entire surface of the sink roll in its axial direction in the conventional technology, which is very difficult to achieve, and the surface of the sink roll has not yet been put in a satisfactory contact state. In particular, the blade has such a defect that it is worn by use, which makes it more difficult for the blade to be in uniform contact with the surface of the sink roll. Further, when the blade is unevenly worn, the overall blade must be replaced to ensure uniform contact of the blade, from which the problem arises that the cost of the blade is increased.
To cope with the above problem, the applicant previously proposed a method for scraping away deposited substances by moving a narrow blade along the axis of a sink roll in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 61-133369. At that time, the applicant also proposed to control the press force of a drive unit (composed of a worm gear, a worm wheel, a screw shaft and the like) for moving the blade forward and backward with respect to the surface of the sink roll, so as to adjust the press force to a proper value by mounting a sensor (torque sensor) for measuring the press force on the blade in order to uniformly press the blade against the sink roll. The reason that the press force is measured is that the sink roll is not generally rotated by a motor and rotated by a steel strip that travels in contact with the sink roll. Thus, an excessively large press force stops the sink roll and operation cannot be smoothly carried out.
However, this technology requires a torque sensor and the blade drive unit, which makes the apparatus more complex and expensive than desired. Further, a problem also arises that a press force controller must be installed just above a molten zinc plating bath. The technology has the disadvantage that the press force controller needs to be exposed to a very bad environment and the adjustment, maintenance and inspection of the press force becomes difficult because the above-mentioned gas wiping nozzle for adjusting the amount of plated molten zinc deposited on a steel strip, and the like are disposed in the vicinity of the press force controller and the molten metal plated on the steel strip is partly scattered by the gas used for the wiping nozzle.
In view of the above-described circumstances, it is an object of this invention to provide an apparatus for removing substances deposited on a roll in a molten metal plating bath. The apparatus is installed in a molten metal plating line. The apparatus can provide a simple structure, is less expensive, fails less often, and is excellent in maintainability. This invention also provides a method for preventing the occurrence of dents on a molten-metal-plated steel strip.
According to a first aspect of this invention, the apparatus includes a blade disposed to be pressed against a roll dipped in a molten metal plating bath, in which a metal strip travels. The blade scrapes away substances deposited on the surface of the roll. The apparatus also includes an arm for supporting the blade, and a screw member disposed above the plating bath, so as to traverse it and movable along the axis of the roll in the bath for removing substances deposited on the roll in the molten metal plating bath. Floats are mounted on the arm for adjusting the press force of the blade applied to the roll in the bath.
It is preferable that weights be mounted on the arm for adjusting the press force of the blade applied to the roll in the molten metal plating bath.
It is preferable that the width of the blade be from about one-tenth to about one-fourth of the barrel length of the roll.
It is preferable that the roll in the molten metal plating bath be a sink roll.
It is preferable that the molten metal is zinc containing aluminum and the metal strip is a steel strip.
According to a second aspect of this invention, there is provided a method for preventing the occurrence of dents on a molten-metal-plated metal strip when the metal strip travels and is continuously dipped into a molten metal plating bath and then pulled upward from the bath so that molten metal is plated on the surface of the metal strip. The method includes mounting the apparatus of the first aspect of the invention for removing substances deposited on the surface of a roll in the molten metal plating bath, and plating the metal strip by removing the substances deposited on the surface of the roll in the molten metal plating bath.
According to this invention, substances deposited on the surface of the roll (a support roll for preventing the vibration of the metal strip in addition to the sink roll) in the molten metal plating bath can be stably removed without problems, while a plating operation is carried out. As a result, dents conventionally produced on the metal strip having been plated can be reduced. Further, the effect that equipment cost is less expensive can be obtained because the apparatus is not complex in structure as compared with the structure of a conventional apparatus.

Sink roll blade apparatus used in continuous molten metal plating apparatus and method for preventing occurrence of dents


The present invention relates to an apparatus for managing an APK file in the Android platform in order to forestall an executable file in an APK file from being analyzed by reverse engineering or decompiling that comprises a file reader that reads an original .dex file in the APK file, a file modifier that modifies the original .dex file the file reader has read and stores the modified .dex file in a readable folder in the APK file, a file creator that accesses the folder to read and restore the original .dex file, creates a temporary .dex file that is can be loaded onto memory and adds the temporary .dex file to the APK file in order to create a protected APK file and a file executer that reads from the folder and restores, if the Android platform requests the protected APK file to be executed, the modified original .dex file by executing the temporary .dex file and loads the restored original .dex file onto memory in order to execute the protected APK file.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to managing an APK file on the Android platform and, more specifically, to an apparatus and a method for managing an APK file in the Android platform in order to forestall an executable file in an APK file from being analyzed by reverse engineering or decompiling.
Background Art
As supply of diverse mobile devices such as smartphone has been skyrocketing, damage is reported in rapid succession caused by malicious applications that intend to an illegal access to a variety of personal information stored in those devices. It is relatively easy to decompile the executable file of an application, which accounts for one of reasons of such malicious applications. A technique to forestall the application decompiling is, inter alia, code obfuscation.
Decompiling is a technique to extract the original source code, which existed prior to compiling, from the machine language or assembler that has already compiled. Since, in many cases, machine language does not correspond to the source code of its high-level language, it is very difficult to decompile. There is DeDe (Delphi decompiler) to decompile Delphi while there are various decompilers including Jasmine, Jad, Mocha, etc., for Java.
Especially, Java creates, when compiled, an executable file that has class as its extension and JVM (Java virtual machine) interprets the executable file while, in Android, Dalvik VM (Dalvik virtual machine) decompresses an APK (Android application package) file and a .dex is used as an executable file.
An APK file that is, in general, on the basis of the ZIP file format and has a structure described in Table 1.
TABLE 1FilenameDescriptionAndroidManifest.xmlDefines the entire structure of APK executablefiles and specifies classes that set additionalpermissions or that use additional functions.Classes.dex.Stores executable code of the Android platform.META-INFFolder containing authorized key values.ResImages and layouts related to graphics.LibSO(Shared object) library that does not useDalvik.When compiled, Java source code is converted a bytecode that Dalvik VM can interpret and saved as classes.dex.
FIGS. 1 through 3 illustrate a procedure example that a classes.dex is decompiled to a .java file by an existing decompiling technique, wherein the .dex file is converted to a .class file then decompiled to a .java file. In other words, a .dex file is decompiled, as illustrated in FIG. 1, to a .class file that is described in FIG. 2. Related source code that has been extracted from the executable file can be identified as in FIG. 3 by decompiling the .class file by mans of JD, a general decompiler for Java thereafter. Accordingly, Android is vulnerable to decompiling in that it uses Dalvik that is a language similar to Java.
Various decompiling tools, for example dex2jar, have recently been developed maladapting the vulnerability, which requires code obfuscation techniques to forestall such decompiling activities. Conventional code obfuscation techniques include DEX analysis prohibition techniques that add code that simply disrupts .dex file analyses or anti-decompiling techniques. A code addition method has, however, demerits in that it may allow reverse engineering or decompiling upon removing the code out of the corresponding .dex file.

Apparatus and method for managing APK file in an android platform


To provide for both top and bottom heating of baked goods in a portable table-top baking oven, a bottom part (2, 2') is closed off by a removable cover (3, 3') which is essentially dome-shaped, and made of unglazed heat-resistant stoneware. The space beneath this cover defines a baking space. The cover is formed with introduction openings 4, 4', preferably three or four, uniformly positioned about the lower circumference and open at the bottom. The cover is seated on the bottom part which, in one embodiment, retains fuel-supplied heaters, for example three, positioned circumferentially around the outer circumference of the bottom part, heat being distributed through an apertured heat distribution plate 7 beneath a carrier plate (10) for the goods to be baked, and around the outside through a gap (16) between the carrier plate and the dome-shaped cover and into the baking space of the dome-shaped cover; in another embodiment (FIGS. 6, 7), one or two electrical heating elements (25, 33) are located, respectively, within the baking space beneath the dome-shaped cover and underneath the carrier plate. Baked goods placed on the carrier plate, for example by an introduction ladle (18) thus are heated uniformly from the top and the bottom, with heat being applied to the bottom of the baked goods through the carrier plate (10) which is made of highly heat conductive material, for example aluminum.

When making baked goods, for example pizza, or the like, it is desirable to have a well-balanced relationship between heat applied to the goods to be baked from the top, as well as from the bottom. This ensures uniform baking of the dough, and hence a uniformly baked final product. In home-use baking ovens, particularly in table-top units of this kind, a problem arises in that the baking heat distribution within the oven frequently is non-uniform, resulting in non-uniform heating of the dough. Thus, for example when baking pizza, either the upper side or the bottom side of the dough remains too moist, and not sufficiently crisp; or, if there is excessive heat on one side, the dough may burn.

Table-top baking oven, particularly for pizza, or the like


An apparatus and method for forming an interconnect through an opening or on an insulation layer with the coefficient of thermal expansion of the interconnect adjusted to reduce the thermal stress between the interconnect and the insulation layer is described incorporating the steps of forming a solid solution of a binary alloy including germanium and aluminum or a ternary alloy including aluminum, germanium and a third element, for example silicon, and forming a precipitate from the solid solution at a reduced temperature with respect to the temperature of forming the solid solution whereby the volume of the precipitate including germanium and the remaining solid solution is larger than the volume of the original solid solution.

In VLSI technology, multi-levels of metallization on silicon are used to increase the circuit density. Each layer of conducting lines are isolated by dielectric, for example, fused quartz, silicon dioxide or polymer layers, and the conducting lines on separate layers are interconnected by vias or studs. The composite structure must experience temperature excursion due to processing integration. Because of the difference in the thermal expansion coefficient between the interconnect metal, typically aluminum or aluminum-silicon, or aluminum-copper alloys, and the dielectric, thermal stress is induced. The thermal stress is a driving force for the low yield and low reliability of the device structure. The thermal stress can cause rupture, cracking or voiding by metal creep or deformation and results in electrical failures of opens and shorts.
One example of thermal stress would be a composite of aluminum lines on fused quartz first annealed at 400.degree. C., and then cooled to 85.degree. C. 400.degree. C. is a typical processing temperature that the interconnect metallization may experience and 85.degree. C. is a typical operating temperature of the interconnect metallization in the field. Since 400.degree. C. is a relatively high temperature for atomic motion to occur in aluminum, the aluminum is relaxed and free of stress. The aluminum upon cooling, wants to shrink and is prevented from shrinking by the fused quartz, therefore, the aluminum after cooling is under tension. Since pure aluminum and fused quartz have respectively linear thermal expansion coefficient of 25.times.10.sup.-6 /.degree.C., and 0.5.times.10.sup.-6 /.degree.C., the linear thermal strain between a temperature excursion of 400.degree. C. to 85.degree. C. is expressed in equation 1. ##EQU1## In equation 1, l is the total length of the metallization, .delta.l is the change in length of the metallization, .DELTA..alpha. is the difference of the thermal expansion coefficient for the two materials, and .DELTA.T is the temperature excursion in degrees Celsius.
In a metal solid, provided that shear motion by dislocation slip can occur, the elastic limit is about 0.2% strain, i.e., beyond that plastic deformation takes place.
In a publication by S. K. Groothuis, "Stress related failures causing open metallization", Rome Air Development Center Technical Report, RADC-TR-88-8 (1988), it was reported that VLSI metallization failures occur due to thermal stress between aluminum and SiO.sub.2.
In certain semiconductor devices manufactured by a major manufacturer, void formation in aluminum studs was a prime reliability problem. In FIG. 1A, a cross-sectional view of a mis-aligned aluminum stud 10 on a contact 12 is shown-formed in opening 11 of fused quartz 18. Contact 12 is in ohmic contact with semiconductor region 22 in substrate 24 which may be, for example, silicon. Metallization layer 21 may be of titanium and is formed in opening 11 over a portion of contact 12 and insulation layer 23 of silicon nitride. Layer 23 is formed over layer 25 of silicon dioxide, which in turn is formed over substrate 24. A layer 28 of chronium is formed above layer 21 in opening 11. Due to the mis-alignment, a narrow neck 14 is formed above the contact 12 neighboring the mouse hole 15. Under thermal stress a void 16 can grow across narrow neck 14 resulting in an open 17. The strain in the stud 10 is large due the fact that it is surrounded by quartz 18 which functions as an insulator. While improvement of the alignment of stud 10 to contact 12 will increase device lifetime, the key failures is due to the thermal stress in the metallization interconnects, for example, stud 10 and aluminum metallization lead 20. There is therefore a recognized need to reduce the thermal stress by providing a better match of the thermal expansion coefficient of the dielectric and the interconnect metallization.
Certain alloys have been formulated for the electrical industry which have various selected thermal expansion coefficients, for example, KOVAR, a trademark of Westinghouse Electric Corp., and INVAR, a trademark of Imphy S.A., French company.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,877,147 which issued Mar. 10, 1959 to C. D. Thurmond, a description is given of alloyed connections to semiconductor bodies which contain, as a minor ingredient, the same basic semiconductor material as the body.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,222,630 which issued on Dec. 7, 1965 to L. V. Gorman, aluminum-germanium alloys in the eutectic range for use as contact materials to semiconductor materials is described. A semiconductor body may have a contact material comprising an alloy containing 52-56% by weight germanium with the remainder aluminum. A gold lead wire may be pressed against the contact material causing the gold lead wire to alloy with the germanium in the contact material.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,620,837 which issued on Nov. 16, 1971 to J. Leff et al., a method is described for improving the reliability of aluminum and/or aluminum alloy lands on semiconductor integrated circuits by vapor depositing aluminum or an aluminum alloy onto a semiconductor substrate which is at a temperature between 320.degree. and 570.degree. C. The total thickness of the deposited aluminum or aluminum alloy is between 5,000 and 25,000. .ANG..
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,925,808 which issued on Dec. 9, 1975 to P. Rai-Choudhury, a silicon semiconductor device and, in particular, a high power silicon semiconductor device is described with stress-free electrodes. An electrode is formed at at least one major surface of a silicon body of a given impurity region with a solder material selected from the group consisting of aluminum, aluminum-silicon alloy, aluminum-geranium alloy, and germanium doped to>about 1.times.10.sup.19 atoms/cm.sup.3 therethrough. The solder material is contacted with a degenerate silicon electrode having an impurity concentration therethrough>about 1.times.10.sup.19 atoms/cm.sup.3 and preferably>1.times.10.sup.20 atoms/cm.sup.3. By this arrangement, the silicon body can be mounted on and bonded to the electrode forming an ohmic contact without short circuiting the device. The assembly is heated preferably to a temperature greater than 675.degree. C. in a hydrogen atmosphere to alloy the electrode to the silicon body through a solder layer formed from the solder material. Preferably, the solder material is a silicon eutectic alloy, e.g., aluminum-11.7% by weight silicon, so that the silicon of the solder layer is obtained primarily from the solder material.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,672,740 which issued on Jun. 16, 1987 to K. Shirai et al., a semiconductor device is described having contact windows between an aluminum or aluminum-alloy wiring layer and a diffused region in the semiconductor substrate. The contacts are formed by using a barrier film of a refractory metal silicide, for example molybdenum silicide, between the wiring layer and the diffused region. The wiring layer may be an aluminum-silicon alloy (1% silicon) deposited to a thickness of approximately 1 .mu.m.

Aluminum-germanium alloys for VLSI metallization

International Business Machines Corporation


An apparatus for use in a well comprises a structure having at least a first portion formed of a first material, and a detector to detect a signal associated with a component located either within or beyond the structure. The first material has a property that reduces attenuation of the signal.

Various components are provided into a well to complete the well. Such components include casing, tubing strings, control lines, sensors, control devices, valves, packers, mandrels and so forth. Once such components are installed, a perforating operation is typically performed to extend perforations through tubings and/or casing and into the surrounding formation. The perforations enable the communication of fluids between the surrounding formation and the wellbore.
To perform a perforating operation, a perforating gun is lowered into the well to a target depth. However, prior to firing the perforating gun, a well operator has to first ensure that the perforating gun will not fire in a direction that would destroy downhole components such as control lines, sensors, control devices, tubing strings, and so forth. Conventionally, various orientation techniques have been employed to identify a direction of perforation for the perforating gun that would not destroy downhole components.
One technique that has been employed is to use detection tools that emit an electromagnetic field and that can detect distortion in the magnetic field induced by a target component (such as a tubing string, control line, sensor, a mass positioned at a predetermined location, and so forth). The distortion can be used to determine the location of the target component. However, if a ferromagnetic layer (such as the layer of a steel casing or steel tubing) is provided between the target component and the detector tool, or beyond the target component and the detector tool, then the ferromagnetic layer can potentially interfere with accurate detection of the location of the target component based on detecting distortion caused by the target component.
The inability to accurately detect the location of a downhole component may result in destruction of the component if a perforating gun is inadvertently fired in the direction of such component. Usually, it is quite expensive to replace the destroyed component, since completion hardware must be removed from a well to perform replacement or repair operations.

Apparatus and method to detect a signal associated with a component


A video signal processing apparatus able to obtain a suitable still image from a squeezed video signal, including a converting unit configured to judge whether or not a video signal has been squeezed based on an input video signal and aspect information indicating the aspect ratio of the video signal and to inverse-squeeze it to the designated video signal when judging that it was squeezed as a result of the judgment to convert it to a video signal of a still image of a prescribed image size and a still image recording and/or reproduction unit configured to record the video signal of the still image converted by the converting unit.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a video signal processing apparatus for processing video signals having for example a plurality of different aspect ratios.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is known a video signal recording and/or reproduction apparatus such as a video tape recorder for recording and reproducing a video signal obtained by capturing (taking) an image of a subject to and from a magnetic tape or other recording medium (refer to for example Japanese Patent No. 3,158,649).
Also, there is known an apparatus having a plurality of image capturing modes for obtaining images of different aspect ratios, for example, the 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios.
General apparatuses record a moving picture captured in an image capturing mode having for example an aspect ratio of 4:3 on a magnetic tape or other recording medium in the form of a video signal of an image size of the aspect ratio of 4:3 as it is and record a moving picture captured in an image capturing mode having an aspect ratio of 16:9 on a recording medium in the form of a video signal having the same image size as that explained above by compressing it in a horizontal direction, that is, "squeezing" it.
However, if reproducing a squeezed moving picture and recording a still image of a desired timing on a recording medium, the above apparatus records the still image as squeezed, that is, a vertically long still image compressed in the horizontal direction, on the recording medium. For this reason, an apparatus improving on the above-explained point has been demanded.


An oil recovery process utilizes one or more membranes to remove silica and/or oil from produced water. In one method, the process includes separating oil from produced water and precipitating silica. The produced water having the precipitated silica is directed to a membrane, such as a ceramic membrane, which removes the precipitated silica from the produced water. In some cases, residual oil is present and is also removed by the membrane.

Conventional oil recovery involves drilling a well and pumping a mixture of oil and water from the well. Oil is separated from the water, and the water is usually injected into a sub-surface formation. Conventional recovery works well for low viscosity oil. However, conventional oil recovery processes do not work well for higher viscosity, or heavy oil.
Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) processes employ thermal methods to improve the recovery of heavy oils from sub-surface reservoirs. The injection of steam into heavy oil bearing formations is a widely practiced EOR method. Typically, several tons of steam are required for each ton of oil recovered. Steam heats the oil in the reservoir, which reduces the viscosity of the oil and allows the oil to flow to a collection well. Steam condenses and mixes with the oil, to form an oil-water mixture. The mixture of oil and water is pumped to the surface. Oil is separated from the water by conventional processes employed in conventional oil recovery operations to form produced water.
For economic and environmental reasons it is desirable to recycle the produced water. This is accomplished by treating the produced water, producing a feedwater, and directing the treated feedwater to a steam generator or boiler and producing steam. The complete water cycle includes the steps of:                injecting the steam into an oil bearing formation,        condensing the steam to heat the oil whereupon the condensed steam mixes with the oil to form an oil-water mixture,        collecting the oil-water mixture in a well,        pumping the oil-water mixture to the surface,        separating the oil from the oil-water mixture to form produced water,        treating the produced water to form feedwater for steam generation equipment, and        converting the feedwater into steam having a quality of approximately 70% to 100% for injecting into the oil bearing formation.
Steam generation equipment can take various forms that generally include either once through steam generators (OTSG) or boilers of various types. However, treating the produced water to form a relatively pure feedwater for steam generation is challenging. In particular, treating the produced water to retard or prevent silica scaling in purification equipment, such as evaporators, and in steam generation equipment is difficult.
Various approaches have addressed silica scaling. It is known that chemically treating water to precipitate silica will reduce the silica concentration to a level that is suitable for use in producing steam using Once Through Steam Generators (OTSG). This process is generally referred to as Warm Lime Softening followed by Ion Exchange. Silica precipitates as very fine crystals that are usually only several microns in size. These fine silica crystals are difficult to economically remove by conventional mechanical separation devices such as deep bed filters, centrifuges, hydrocyclones, and gravity settlers. Another method is to trap the silica precipitates in a magnesium hydroxide and/or calcium carbonate sludge that is created by addition of lime, magnesium oxide, and soda ash. This process has the disadvantage, however, of requiring large quantities of chemicals and producing large quantities of waste sludge. When used in this method, gravity settlers are sensitive to variations in feed chemistry and are easily upset, creating problems for downstream equipment.
It is also known to chemically treat the produced water and subject chemically-treated produced water to an evaporation process that produces a distillate which becomes feedwater to an OTSG or boiler. In particular, it is known to use an evaporator and mechanical vapor compressor to produce the distillate. In this particular approach, the pH of the produced water fed to the evaporator is raised to maintain the solubility of silica. This prevents silica based scales from fouling the evaporator heat transfer surfaces. However, there are drawbacks and disadvantages to this approach as well. The addition of caustic to raise the pH represents a significant operating cost. Mechanical vapor compression evaporators recover typically approximately 95% of the water from the de-oiled produced water. The remaining 5% yields a concentrate stream that is difficult to process. The pH is usually higher than 12, which makes the concentrate stream extremely hazardous. Any attempt to neutralize the stream causes the precipitation of silica solids which are very difficult to separate from the aqueous solution. The neutralization process is also known to release hazardous gases, such as hydrogen sulfide. These systems consequently tend to be expensive to operate and costly to maintain.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Process for recovering heavy oil utilizing one or more membranes


The present invention is directed to a composition, and a process employing same, for descaling, cleaning and inhibiting the corrosion of process equipment made of steel by including an inhibitory effective amount of acridine orange in the composition.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a cleaning, descaling and corrosion inhibiting composition and a process for employing same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Equipment used in power plants, chemical and petrochemical plants, paper mills, sugar mills, pipelines, air conditioners in large buildings and many other industrial environments are subject to the formation of scale, either by circulating water or by process compounds. This includes all types of heat exchangers, boilers, vessels, piping and other equipment. Precipated solids reduce the heat transfer efficiency and oftentimes cause tube failure due to overheating which may result in plugging or fouling of the equipment. To prevent interference with industrial processes, cleaning of the metal surfaces of the equipment employed therein is required. The water-formed precipitates are generally inorganic in nature, especially precipitates formed in hot closed systems, for example, in steam generators or heat exchangers. Common deposits which are found include iron oxides (magnetite and hematite), sulfides, alkaline earth carbonates, sulfates, and silicates.
Hydrochloric acid is widely used for the chemical cleaning of structural steel from which heat transfer and piping systems are fabricated. Hydrochloric acid forms soluble products which serve to dissolve calcium or magnesium carbonates. Hydrochloric acid, does not, however, dissolve sulfates or silicates. Therefore, other chemicals must be mixed or incorporated with the hydrochloric acid. It is also well known that hydrochloric acid is highly corrosive. In addition, if copper salts are present in the scale, they will dissolve and reprecipitate on iron surfaces causing severe localized corrosion.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a non-toxic, industrial descaling and cleaning composition which is effective in removing scales and oxides from the surfaces of the process equipment used in various industries while avoiding corrosion to the equipment.

Descaling and corrosion inhibiting method


A readily portable golf training aid consisting of six flexible segments and a number of intermediate eyelets can be anchored to the ground (e.g. with golf tees) to provide a fixed and visible reference that any player can use for a shot made with any club. This device provides a consistent framework for building a "muscle memory" of desired hip and shoulder rotations that is important to learning the game of golf.

The present invention provides a device for training a golfer to take a consistent stance when lining up a golf shot. Notable among the prior art in this area are the patents to Henry, to Blanchard, to Medders, and to Goubaux that are discussed below.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,478,422 Blanchard teaches a "figure-four" arrangement of cord segments that defines an aiming line from the golfer to a target. Blanchard's aiming line is also a toe-line along which the golfer's feet are placed. Blanchard's graduated cord is readily portable, and uses clips on the cord at various positions to indicate proper toe and golf ball positions for each club. Blanchard provides no assistance to a golfer who needs to learn how to build consistent hip and shoulder rotations into a stroke.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,718,674 Henry teaches a frame that helps a golfer set his or her feet along a toe-line or bar that is parallel to a separate aiming line or bar. Since Henry's aiming line is spaced apart from the toe-line it is likely to be more visible to the golfer than is Blanchard's. Henry's frame, which is comprised of numerous rigid segments, is of marginal portability and provides no guidance to the user in learning proper and consistent hip and shoulder rotations.
In published French patent application 2,382,907, Goubaux provides an inflatable frame structure that uses a combination of mirrors to aid in training a golfer to take a repeatable stance in order to build muscle memory. His teaching is directed at getting the golfer to maintain a fixed head and foot position and to move his or her hands and club-head in a single plane. Goubaux provides no teaching about hip and shoulder rotations.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,920,248 Medders teaches a training device consisting of three straps. Two of the straps are sewn together into the shape of a capital T and the third strap is attached with a D ring at the top of the T. The strap that is the crossbar of the T is used as an aiming line, and the angle that the third strap makes with this aiming line is adjustable so that the golfer can intentionally slice or hook the ball by swinging his club's head along the third strap.


A composition including a melt blend of at least one thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) and at least one non-crosslinked elastomer and optionally at least one catalyst for catalyzing chain extension and/or crosslinking and/or coupling reactions of the at least one non-crosslinked elastomer. Further, a method for producing a polymer composition, to a shaped article including a substrate layer composed of the composition, to a method producing a shaped article, and to a method for covering a roof using the shaped articles.

Waterproofing membranes are used in the construction industry to seal bases, underground surfaces or roofing structures against water penetration.
State-of-the art waterproofing membranes are typically multilayer systems comprising a polymer-based barrier layer to provide watertightness. Typical polymers used in the barrier layer include thermoplastics such as plasticized polyvinylchloride (p-PVC), thermoplastic elastomers (TPE), and elastomers such as ethylene-propylene diene monomer (EPDM). Thermoplastic elastomer is a group of materials, which have both thermoplastic and elastic properties. A typical thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) is a blend of a thermoplastic polymer and an elastomer component. The components of the TPE can be formed as a reactor blend, in which case the thermoplastic polymer and the elastomer are simultaneously produced in a single reactor vessel using different catalysts, or as a physical blend, wherein the components are separately produced and melt-blended using high-shear mixing technique. TPE's can also be provided as single polymer component materials composed of semi-crystalline block copolymers containing phase separated hard (crystalline) and soft (amorphous) segments.
Thermoplastic olefins (TPO), also known as olefinic thermoplastic elastomers (TPE-O), are thermoplastic elastomers based solely on olefinic components. Typical TPOs contain a plastic olefin, such as polypropylene or polyethylene, as the thermoplastic component and an olefin copolymer elastomer (OCE), such as ethylene propylene rubber (EPR) or EPDM, as the elastomer component. TPO compositions based on a physical blend or reactor blend of a propylene homopolymer or random copolymer having at least 95 wt.-% propylene content with an alpha-olefin comonomer, and an EPR or EPDM comprised in the blend in an amount of less than 20 wt.-%, can also be characterized as impact-modified polypropylenes. TPOs based on copolymers of ethylene or propylene with another alpha-olefin, such as butene or octene as comonomer, are also known as polyolefin elastomers (POE).
Especially in roofing applications, the waterproofing membrane should be able to conform with various application specific requirements. First of all, the membrane should have high enough mechanical strength in order to resist the shearing forces applied on it, for example caused by wind loads. In addition, the membrane should have high flexibility to enable easy installation on surface of roofing substrates, especially in corner and edge areas. Finally, the material of the membrane should be weldable in order to enable adhering of adjacent membranes by heat-welding. Waterproofing membranes based on crosslinked EPDM are very flexible and resistant to weathering but they are not heat-weldable due to the chemically crosslinked structure. Consequently, seams between EPDM membranes have to be sealed using welding tapes produced from different materials than the membrane such as uncrosslinked EPDM or bonded with special adhesives developed for the crosslinked EPDM materials. Membranes composed of thermoplastic olefins (TPO) are heat-weldable and less expensive than EPDM-membranes but they are also more rigid which decreases their suitability for roofing applications. Membranes based on plasticized PVC are more flexible than TPO-based membranes but they also contain environmentally harmful plasticizers and heavy metal additives such as flame retardants that may restrict their use in some applications.
In order to obtain a flexible heat-weldable waterproofing membrane, multilayer membrane systems have been suggested, such as combining an EPDM-based core layer with top and bottom layers based on TPO-materials to obtain a heat-weldable EPDM-membrane. Another approach has been to increase the proportion of the elastomer component in a TPO-material to obtain a membrane with reduced flexural modulus. However, increasing the proportion of the elastomer component, such as EPM or EPDM over 20 wt.-%, tends to render such blends tacky, which usually prevents processing such compositions by conventional processing techniques such as injection molding.
The increased tackiness also contributes to a phenomenon known as blocking, which is referred as adhesion force between adjacent layers, which have been pressed together. In case of TPE layers, the adhesion force between two layers typically results from van der Waals forces between amorphous regions of the polymeric materials. The blocking complicates various post-processing steps such as cutting, welding, stacking, and unwinding from a roll. Organic and inorganic antiblocking agents are typically used to decrease the blocking of thin polyolefin films. The tackiness can also be reduced by crosslinking at least part of the elastomer component of the TPE-material. Such modified TPEs can be obtained by melt-blending a statically or dynamically crosslinked elastomer component with a plastic component. TPEs containing a dynamically vulcanized (crosslinked) elastomer component are also known as thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPV, TPE-v).
"Dynamic vulcanization" refers to a process in which a rubber component is selectively vulcanized during mixing of a blend comprising a technologically compatible rubber and plastic component while minimally affecting the plastic component. Vulcanization of the rubber component is not initiated before a well-mixed polymer blend is formed and the intensive mixing is continued during the vulcanization step. State-of-the-Art commercially available TPVs typically consist of a plastic matrix that is filled with micrometer size fully crosslinked rubber particles. TPV's are said to combine the elastomeric properties obtained with the dispersed crosslinked rubber phase with the fabricability of thermoplastics materials.
The State of the Art TPV's are mostly used for producing shaped articles by means of molding methods, such as by injection molding, extrusion molding, calender molding, and blow molding. These types of shaped articles are used, for example, in automotive industry as interior materials. In production of articles by molding methods, the melt processability of the material related to low melt viscosity and high fluidity is of high importance. Good melt processability is typically obtained with a phase morphology, in which the crosslinked rubber phase exists as dispersed particles in a continuous plastic matrix. The melt processability can also be improved by adding processing oils to the TPV compositions. Examples of TPVs developed for use in molding processes are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 7,276,559 B2 and US 2006/0100347 A1. The State-of-the Art TPVs, however, can only be produced with relatively high costs. The production process requires the use of extruders with high torque motors since the viscosity of the mixed blend is rapidly increased as the crosslinking degree of the rubber phase increases. Significant amount of mechanical energy has to be introduced to the blend in order obtain a homogeneously mixed blend, in which the crosslinked rubber particles are dispersed throughout the plastic matrix. Furthermore, the State-of-the-Art TPVs are less flexible than for example plasticized PVC and, therefore, these materials are not very suitable for use in roofing membranes.
There is thus a need for a new polymer material for use in waterproofing and roofing membranes, which is at least as flexible as plasticized PVC, has the heat-weldability of TPO-materials, low-blocking behavior, and which furthermore can be produced with lower costs than State-of-the-Art TPV-materials.

Polymer composition with improved mechanical properties


A method for depositing material layers on a workpiece made of a material which contains a titanium aluminide includes the steps of: preparing the workpiece; heating the workpiece in a localized region by induction to a predefined preheating temperature; and depositing an additive, preferably in powder form, on the heated surface of the workpiece by build-up welding, in particular laser build-up welding, plasma build-up welding, micro-plasma build-up welding, TIG build-up welding or micro-TIG build-up welding; the additive including a titanium aluminide.

Materials made of titanium aluminides (TiAl) are considered to be unsuitable for fusion welding and, therefore, also as unsuitable for build-up welding.
German Patent Publication DE 60 2006 000 955 T2 describes a method for repairing turbine blades made of, for example, Ti17 or RA6V by laser powder build-up welding, where a powder material which is of the same kind, but not necessarily identical, and which has a grain size of preferably between 30 and 100 μm is delivered through a nozzle that is concentric with the laser beam.
A method for fabricating articles by deposition of successive layers is known from German Patent Publication DE 39 42 051 A1. The method is exemplified for complete build-up or repair of a compressor blade. In this process, a substrate is surface-melted by a laser beam in an inert gas atmosphere, and a preheated powder is fed laterally to the melted region using an inert carrier gas and incorporated by fusion. After solidification of the melt, the process is repeated to deposit the next layer. The layer thickness is, for example, 0.38 mm, and Ti-6Al-4V (also known as RA6V) is mentioned as a material for the substrate and the powder.
However, the difficulties in build-up welding of titanium aluminides persist. Due to the high melting temperature of TiAl, it is difficult to suitably control the temperature profile and to manage the thermal stresses in the component. This problem occurs in particular, but not exclusively, in repair and hardfacing processes where only a localized region of a component is thermally affected. It is particularly difficult to perform build-up welding near abrupt, in particular acute-angle changes in the contour of, for example, notches and the like. Examples include Z-notches of turbine blades, where a flank of the notch is hardfaced near the notch radius so that it will be able to resist the high mechanical stresses. Information on the function and an exemplary shape of a Z-notch on a rotor blade tip shroud of a turbine stage can be found, for example, in German Patent Publication DE 10 2008 037 521 A1.
United States Patent Publication US 2005/0067064 A1 describes a laser build-up welding method for depositing a steel powder alone or a mixture thereof with TiC—, TIN- or WC powder on a steel substrate. The process is a two-stage process where first the powder material is placed in a layer having a thickness of 0.08″ and a width of 0.2″ and is then incorporated by fusion using a laser beam. A similar method for coating a substrate of an aluminum alloy with a TiC powder alone or in a mixture with Si and/or Cu is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,732,778.

Process and apparatus for applying layers of material to a workpiece made of tiAl


An antenna system comprises a parasitic element, which is an electrically tuned structural element, installed between antennas to reduce or eliminate antenna-to-antenna coupled electromagnetic interference by emitting destructive interference in the direction from one antenna to another antenna. The antenna system comprises a first antenna operating at a first wavelength, a second antenna operating at a second wavelength, and a parasitic element located between the first antenna and the second antenna for reducing the amplitude of signals from the first antenna that would otherwise create electromagnetic interference in a receiver connected to the second antenna. The parasitic element is typically spaced from the first antenna by a distance substantially equal to one quarter of the first wavelength. The parasitic element generally has a height that is greater than the height of the first antenna.

In recent years, wireless communications systems have become common and the number of different types of communications systems has greatly increased. This is particularly true for commercial and military aircraft. In addition to communications systems, other types of wireless systems such as navigation and surveillance systems are common. Wireless systems require antennas to operate. Since the number of wireless systems has greatly increased there has been a corresponding increase in the number of antennas. Where a large number of antennas are required to be used in a small area, such as on a vehicle, problems with electromagnetic interference (EMI) can result.
New communications, navigation, and surveillance avionics systems are rapidly being added to aircraft. In commercial and general aviation aircraft, for example, high speed and large bandwidth communications systems that provide internet access and satellite television are being added. The trend in both military and commercial aircraft to add more communications and avionics systems is expected to continue, which in turn will likely cause an increase in the number of antennas. Given the limited external surface area of aircraft, as well as the aerodynamic considerations, a larger number of antennas necessarily means the antennas must be mounted closer together.
This increasing density of the antenna suite makes it more difficult to maintain inter-system electromagnetic compatibility. Antenna-to-antenna coupled EMI becomes an increasingly difficult issue. On some aircraft, for example, simultaneous operation of multiple avionics systems is currently not achievable because of EMI. This density of the antenna suite also makes it more difficult to successfully implement the traditional techniques for reducing EMI to more manageable levels.
Prior techniques for reducing or eliminating antenna-to-antenna coupled EMI include physically separating the antennas by a distance that ensures adequate space loss, installing radio frequency (RF) filters, frequency management, or installing interference blanking systems. As the density of the aircraft antenna suite continues to increase, selecting antenna locations that provide adequate space loss may not be possible. In addition, traditional RF filter solutions are typically not applicable for the in-band interference condition, while filter performance for out-of-band interference applications may not provide enough attenuation in the stop-band, or the transition band roll-off characteristic may not provide the required attenuation. Moreover, frequency management techniques limit the flexibility of system operations and may not be an acceptable alternative from the user's perspective, while interference blanking systems are inherently complex and do not provide for simultaneous multiple system operations. The blanking systems may also be cost prohibitive. As more communications and avionics systems are added to aircraft, maintaining inter-system compatibility using other traditional techniques for reducing EMI may become cost prohibitive. In addition, the density of the antenna suite may increase to the point where the traditional techniques for reducing EMI are simply not capable of preventing antenna-to-antenna coupled EMI.
While the problem of antenna-to-antenna coupled EMI is particularly acute on aircraft, this problem exists on other types of vehicles as well as stationary structures having dense antenna suites. Therefore it would be desirable to have an improved antenna system whereby antenna-to-antenna coupled EMI is reduced or eliminated.

Antenna system with parasitic element and associated method


The present invention relates to novel uridine esters of the general formula

Fatty Acids:
Carboxylic acids occur in many molecular forms. At first it must be recalled that if the majority of the fatty acids found in lipids are monocarboxylic acids, some of the fatty acids are dicarboxylic and constitute important metabolic products of the previous ones.
To describe precisely the structure of a fatty acid molecule, one must give the length of the carbon chain (number of carbon atoms), the number of double bonds and also the exact position of these double bonds. This will define the biological reactivity of the fatty acid molecule.
Most fatty acids are straight-chain compounds with in most cases an even number of carbon atoms. Chain-lengths range from 2 to 80 carbon atoms, but commonly from 12 up to 24. With a chain length from 2 to 4 carbon atoms they are called short-chain, from 6 to 10 they are called medium-chain and 12 up to 24 they are called long-chain fatty acids. Their physical and biological properties are related to this partition in 3 classes.
Fatty acids can be further subdivided into well-defined families according to their structure:                a) Saturated fatty acids        b) Monoenoic fatty acids        c) Polyenoic fatty acids                    methylene interrupted            polymethylene interrupted                            conjugated                isolated                                                d) Mono- and multibranched fatty acids        e) Ring containing fatty acids                    cyclopropane acids            furanoid acids            epoxy acids            lipoic acid                        f) Acetylenic fatty acids        g) Hydroxy fatty acids        h) Sulfur containing fatty acids        i) Dicarboxylic acids        j) Fatty acid amides        k) Keto fatty acids.
The simplest fatty acids are referred to as saturated fatty acids. They have no unsaturated linkages and cannot be altered by hydrogenation or halogenation. When double bonds are present, fatty acids are said unsaturated, monounsaturated (MUFA) if only one double bond is present and polyunsaturated (PUFA) if they have two or more double bonds generally separated by a single methylene group (methylene-interrupted unsaturation).
To describe these unsaturated fatty acids, two ways are offered:
The chemist's terminology:
The carbon atoms are counted from the carboxyl group which put the emphasis on the double bond closest to this group. As an example: 18:2 Δ9,12-octadecadienoic acid or cis-9, cis-12-octadecadienoic acid, the trivial name: linoleic acid. The double bonds have usually a Z (cis) configuration but can have also a E (trans) configuration.
The biochemist's and physiologist's terminology:
The double bonds are counted from the methyl group determining the metabolic family, noted by n-x (n being the total number of carbon atoms, x the position of the last double bond). The other double bonds are deduced from the first one by adding 3 (this is the most frequent structure, non-conjugated fatty acids, but sometimes by adding 2, these double bonds are said conjugated).
Thus linoleic acid (cf. FIG. 1a) or cis-9, cis-12-octadecadienoic acid is also named in the shorthand nomenclature 18:2 (n-6). This compound has 18 carbon atoms, 2 double bonds and 6 carbon atoms from the last double bond to the terminal methyl group. In the old literature it was designated 18:2ω6. 18−6=12, 12−3=9 hence D9,12.
Saturated fatty acids have commonly straight chains and even carbon number (n=4−30). They have the general formula: CH3(CH2)nCOOH. Table 1 summarizes some saturated acids and their corresponding trivial names.
TABLE 1Most common saturated fatty acidsShorthandSystematic nameTrivial namedesignationButanoic acidButyric acid 4:0Hexanoic acidCaproic acid 6:0Octanoic acidCaprylic acid 8:0Decanoic acidCapric acid10:0Dodecanoic acidLauric acid12:0Tetradecanoic acidMyristic acid14:0Hexadecanoic acidPalmitic acid16:0Heptadecanoic acidMargaric acid17:0Octadecanoic acidStearic acid18:0Eicosanoic acidArachidic acid20:0Docosanoic acidBehenic acid22:0Tetracosanoic acidLignoceric acid24:0
Monoenoic fatty acids are monounsaturated normal fatty acids which are widespread in the living world where they occur mostly as their cis-isomers. They have the general structure CH3(CH2)xCH═CH(CH2)yCOOH. They can have the unique double bond in a number of different positions, but the most common are of the n-9 series, as oleic acid from olive oil (cis-9-octadecenoic acid) and from quite all seed oils. Some important monoenoic acids are listed below:
TABLE 2Monoenoic fatty acidsSystematic nameTrivial nameShorthand designationcis-9-tetradecenoic acidMyristoleic acid14:1(n-5)cis-9-hexadecenoic acidPalmitoleic acid16:1(n-7)cis-6-octadecenoic acidPetroselinic acid18:1(n-12)cis-9-octadecenoic acidOleic acid18:1(n-9)cis-11-octadecenoic acidVaccenic acid18:1(n-7)cis-9-eicosenoic acidGadoleic acid20:1(n-11)cis-11-eicosenoic acidGondoic acid20:1(n-9)cis-13-docosenoic acidErucic acid22:1(n-9)cis-15-tetracosenoic acidNervonic acid24:1(n-9)
Oleic acid is probably the most common fatty acid (60-70% in olive oil). Several positional isomers of oleic acid exist with the cis double bond in the (n-12) or (n-7) position but trans-isomers are known: Elaidic acid (t9-octadecenoic acid) and t-vaccenic acid (t11-octadecenoic acid) are found in the rumen and in lipids of ruminant animals.
An unusual trans fatty acid, t3-hexadecenoic acid (trans-16:1 n-13), occurs in eukaryotic photosynthetic membranes from higher plants and green algae.
Polyenoic fatty acids are also called polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). These fatty acids have 2 or more cis double bonds which are most frequently separated from each other by a single methylene group (methylene-interrupted polyenes). Linoleic acid is a typical member of this group. Some other polyunsaturated fatty acids undergo a migration of one of their double bonds which are not again methylene-interrupted and are known as conjugated fatty acids. Some unusual fatty acids do have not the regular structure with a methylene group between two double bonds, but are polymethylene-interrupted polyenes. They are found in certain classes of plants, marine invertebrates and insects. Brominated long-chain fatty acids have been isolated from phospholipids of primitive marine animals such as sponges.
The most important polyenoic fatty acids can be grouped into 2 series with a common structural feature: CH3(CH2)xCH═CH— with x=4 for the (n-6) series and with x=1 for the (n-3) series. Eicosapentaenoic acid is a common polyene of the (n-3) series having the double bonds in the 5, 8, 11, 14, and 17 positions. Table 3 summarizes the most common polyenoic fatty acids.
TABLE 3The most common polyenoic fatty acids are listed below:ShorthandSystematic nameTrivial namedesignation9,12-octadecadienoic acidLinoleic acid18:2(n-6)6,9,12-octadecatrienoic acidγ-Linolenic acid18:3(n-6)8,11,14-eicosatrienoic acidDihomo-γ-linolenic20:3(n-6)acid5,8,11,14-eicosatetraenoic acidArachidonic acid20:4(n-6)7,10,13,16-docosatetraenoic acid—22:4(n-6)4,7,10,13,16-docosapentaenoic acid—22:5(n-6)9,12,15-octadecatrienoic acidα-Linolenic acid18:3(n-3)6,9,12,15-octadecatetraenoic acidStearidonic acid18:4(n-3)8,11,14,17-eicosatetraenoic acid—20:4(n-3)5,8,11,14,17-eicosapentaenoic acidEPA20:5(n-3)7,10,13,16,19-docosapentaenoic acidDPA22:5(n-3)4,7,10,13,16,19-docosahexaenoicDHA22:6(n-3)acid5,8,11-eicosatrienoic acidMead acid20:3(n-9)
The most common polyene acids are octadecatrienoic acids (7 species are known). Eleostearic acid (9c11t13t) is found in tong oil and had an industrial importance, calendic acid (8t10t12c) is found in Calendula officinalis and catalpic acid (9c11t13c) is found in Catalpa ovata.
Recently, novel polyene fatty acids with different chain lengths and varying unsaturation were described: 16:5, 18:4, 20:5, 20:6, and unexpectedly 22:7. All these species have in common 4 conjugated all-cis double bonds as in 18:4 with their position in 6, 8, 10, and 12, the novel conjugated docosaheptadecanoic acid having its double bonds in 4, 7, 9, 11, 13, 16, and 19, it was named stellaheptaenoic acid.
Among the unsaturated polymethylene-interrupted fatty acids found in the plant kingdom those with a cis-5 ethylenic bond are present in various sources. The three most frequent fatty acids with that structure are taxoleic acid (all-cis-5,9-18:2), pinolenic acid (all-cis-5,9,12-18:3) which is found in seeds of conifers, Teucrium and also in tall oil, and sciadonic acid (all-cis-5,11,14-20:3). These fatty acids are present in seed oil at levels from about 1% up to 25%. Similar species with 4 double bonds are also described.
Some isoprenoid fat acids are known. In this group, the most interesting is retinoic acid (cf. FIG. 1a) which derives from retinol and has important functions in cell regulation.
Mono- and multibranched fatty acids, preferably monomethyl branched fatty acids are found in animal and microbial lipids, e.g. mycobacteria. As for hydrocarbons, they have generally either an iso- or an anteiso-structure. For instance, 14-methyl pentadecanoic acid (isopalmitic acid) is of the iso-series and 13-methyl pentadecanoic acid is of the corresponding anteiso-series. Further examples for branched fatty acids are pristanic acid and phytanic acid as shown in FIG. 1a.
Some fatty acids contain either in the chain a cyclopropane ring (present in bacterial lipids) or a cyclopropene ring (present in some seed oils), or at the end of the chain a cyclopentene ring (seed oils). Among cyclopropane acids, lactobacillic acid (11,12-methyleneoctadecanoic acid) is found mainly in gram-negative bacteriae. Another cyclopropane fatty acid (9,10-methylenehexadecanoic acid) was recently shown to be present in phospholipids of heart and liver mitochondria.
Cyclopropene acids are found in Malvales seed oils, and Baobab, Kapok and Mowrah seed oils. Among cyclopentenyl acids, Chaulmoogric acid is found in chaulmoogra oil from seeds of Flacourtiaceae (Hydnocarpus), which was used in folk medicine for treatment of leprosy.
Epoxy acids are present in a number of seed oils. The natural species are all C18 compounds, saturated on unsaturated. For example, 9,10-epoxystearic and 9,10-epoxyoctadec-12-enoic (coronaric acid) acids are found in sunflower seeds (Chrysanthemum).
Lipoic acid (cf. FIG. 1b) was first considered as a microbial growth factor but it was found not only in yeast but also in beef liver from which it was first isolated in pure form. Lipoic acid was named also thioctic acid or 1,2-dithiolane-3-pentanoic acid. After its absorption, this acid is reduced enzymatically by NADH or NADPH to dihydrolipoic acid (or 6,8-dithiane octanoic acid) in various tissues.
First shown necessary for bacteria, lipoic acid was demonstrated to be a coenzyme in the glycine cleavage system and in the dehydrogenase complex. Now, lipoic acid is considered as an efficient antioxidant since with its reduced form it constitutes a redox couple via modulation of NADH/NAD ratio. Consequently, lipoic acid has gained a special interest as a therapeutic agent. It can scavenge hydroxyl and peroxyl radicals but also chelates transition metals. It is also considered that lipoic acid is perhaps the most powerful of all the antioxidants, it may offer an efficient protection against many heart diseases, it is currently used to relieve the complications of diabetes.
Acetylenic fatty acids, also known as ethynoic acids, include fatty acids which contain a triple bond and eventually one or two double bonds. For instance, tariric acid (6-octadecynoic acid) was found in tariri seeds from Picramnia sow, a plant indigenous to Guatemala. Table 4 shows further examples of acetylenic fatty acids.
TABLE 4Acetylenic fatty acidsSystematic nameTrivial name6-octadecynoic acidTariric acidt11-octadecen-9-ynoic acidSantalbic or Ximenynic acid9-octadecynoic acidStearolic acid6-octadecen-9-ynoic acid6,9-octadecenynoic acidt10-heptadecen-8-ynoic acidPyrulic acid9-octadecen-12-ynoic acidCrepenynic acidt7,t11-octadecadiene-9-ynoic acidHeisteric acidt8,t10-octadecadiene-12-ynoic acid—5,8,11,14-eicosatetraynoic acidETYA
In hydroxy fatty acids the hydroxyl group may occur at various positions in the carbon chain which can be saturated or monoenoic. Some polyhydroxy fatty acids are known, which are most frequently produced by lipoxygenase activities. 2-Hydroxy acids (or α-hydroxy acids) are found in plants (chain from 12 up to 24 carbon atoms) and in animal wool waxes, skin lipids and specialized tissues, mainly in brain. 2-Hydroxytetracosanoic acid (cerebronic acid) and 2-hydroxy-15-tetracosenoic acid (hydroxynervonic acid) are constituents of the ceramide part of cerebrosides and 3-hydroxy acids (or β-hydroxy acids) occur in some bacterial lipids. Further examples are ricinoleic acid (12-hydroxy-9-octadecenoic acid) which characterizes castor bean oil and lesquerolic acid, the C20 homologue of ricinoleic acid (14-hydroxy-11-eicosenoic acid).
Although the dicarboxylic acids do not occur in appreciable amounts as components of animal or vegetal lipids, they are in general important metabolic products of fatty acids since they originate from them by oxidation. They have the general type formula: HOOC—(CH2)n—COOH. Short-chain dicarboxylic acids are of great importance in the general metabolism and up to n=3 they cannot be considered as lipids since their water solubility is important. The simplest of these intermediates is oxalic acid (n=0), the others are malonic (n=1), succinic (n=2) and glutaric (n=3) acids. The other lipid members of the group found in natural products or from synthesis have a "n" value from 4 up to 21. Examples thereof are: adipic acid (n=4), pimelic acid (n=5), suberic acid (n=6), azelaic acid (n=7), sebacic acid (n=8), brassylic acid (n=11), and thapsic acid (n=14).
Ribose and Deoxyribose:
Ribose and deoxyribose are pentoses. Ribose is also called ribofuranose because of the structural relationship to furane. The only structural difference between ribose and deoxyribose is the loss of an hydroxy group in position 2′C of the heterocyclic ring. FIG. 2 shows the structures of ribose and deoxyribose.
Nucleosides and Nucleotides:
These are compounds in which a purine or pyrimidine base is covalently bound to a sugar. If the base is bound to ribose the result is a ribonucleoside (base+sugar=nucleoside), and if bound to deoxyribose then the nucleoside is deoxyribonucleoside. In deoxyribose the OH-group on 2′C is replaced with hydrogen so becomes deoxy.
The bonding between the base and the sugar involves 1′C OH-group of the sugar, and the N9 nitrogen of a purine or N1 of a pyrimidine in an N-beta-glycosidic linkage. The nucleosides containing deoxyribose possess the same type of glycosidic linkage.
FIG. 2 shows the three purine bases uracil, cytosine, and thymine.
TABLE 5NomenclatureRibonucleotide-5-BaseRibonucleosidemonophosphateAdenineAdenosine (A)AMPGuanineGuanosine (G)GMPUracilUridine (U)UMPCytosineCytidine (C)CMPThymineThymidine (T)TMPDeoxyRibonucleotide-5-BaseDeoxyRibonucleosidemonophosphateAdenineDeoxyadenosine (dA)dAMPGuanineDeoxyguanosine (dG)dGMPUracilDeoxyuridine (dU)dUMPCytosineDeoxycytidine (dC)dCMPThymineDeoxythymidine (dT)dTMP
In order to distinguish the numbering of the sugar ring and numbering of the bases the sugar numbers are primed, e.g. 3′ 5′. Thus, 5′ refers to 5′C of the sugar ring.
These are phosphate esters of the nucleosides and they are fairly strong acids. The phosphoric acid is always esterified to the sugar group (base+sugar+phosphate=nucleotide). The phosphoric acid could be located on the 2′, 3′ or 5′C of the sugar residue. However natural ribonucleotides and deoxyribonucleotides have the phosphoric acid on the 5′C position.
The phosphoric acid can undergo further phosphorylation to produce diphosphates and triphosphates, e.g. ADP and ATP. So for each nucleotide monophosphate there is also a nucleotide diphosphate and a nucleotide triphosphate. The di and tri nucleotides do not occur in DNA or RNA only the monophosphate nucleotides. The di and triphosphate nucleotides do occur naturally, and play very important roles in many aspects of biochemical metabolism.
Object of the present invention is to provide novel compounds and novel drug combinations which can be used for prophylaxis and/or treatment of a variety of diseases and disorders comprising diabetes mellitus Type I and Type II, inflammation, cancer, necrosis, gastric ulcers, neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease), neuropathic diseases, neuropathic pain and polyneuropathy, peripheral and/or central nerve diseases, degradation of the peripheral and/or central nerve system, heavy metal poisoning, ishemic diseases and ishemic heart disease, liver diseases and dysfunction of liver, allergies, cardiovascular diseases, Chlamydia pneumoniae, and retroviral infections (HIV, AIDS), together with methods for said treatment and pharmaceutical compositions used within said methods.
This object is solved by the disclosure of the independent claims. Further advantageous features, aspects and details of the invention are evident from the dependent claims, the description, the examples and the figures of the present application.

Abstract: wherein    R represents a carboxylic acid residue, preferably a fatty acid residue and R′ represents hydrogen or a hydroxy group, their use as pharmaceutically active agents against a variety of diseases, methods for the preparation of said uridine esters and pharmaceutical compositions containing at least one uridine ester as active ingredient. The present invention relates also to a drug combination comprising free fatty acids and/or fatty acid esters and uridine, deoxyuridine, uridine monophosphate and/or deoxyuridine monophosphate, and to the use of such a drug combination.


A method and system to resolve a cluster failure in a networked environment is described. The method can include: configuring the application program in a directory based distributed configuration repository on the first cluster; replicating the application program's configuration via the external directory to the second cluster; mirroring the application's data on a first mirrored volume to a second mirrored volume; detecting failure of the first cluster; activating the second mirrored volume at the second cluster; and restarting the application program on the second cluster.

A cluster of computers is a group of interconnected computers, which can present a unified system image. The computers in a cluster, which are known as the "cluster nodes", typically share a disk, a disk array, or another nonvolatile memory. Computers which are merely networked, such as computers on the Internet or on a local area network, are not a cluster because they necessarily appear to users as a collection of independent connected computers rather than a single computing system. "Users" may include both human users and application programs. Unless expressly indicated otherwise, "programs" includes computer programs, tasks, threads, processes, routines, and other interpreted or compiled computer software.
Although every node in a cluster might be the same type of computer, a major advantage of clusters is their support for heterogeneous nodes. One possible example is an interconnection of a graphics workstation, a diskless computer, a laptop, a symmetric multiprocessor, a new server, and an older version of the server. Advantages of heterogeneity are discussed below. To qualify as a cluster, the interconnected computers must present a unified interface. That is, it must be possible to run an application program on the cluster without requiring the application program to distribute itself between the nodes. This is accomplished in part by providing cluster system software which manages use of the nodes by application programs.
In addition, the cluster typically provides rapid peer to peer communication between nodes. Communication over a local area network is sometimes used, but faster interconnections are much preferred. Compared to a local area network, a cluster area network usually has a much lower latency and much higher bandwidth. In that respect, cluster area networks resemble a bus. But unlike a bus, a cluster interconnection can be plugged into computers without adding signal lines to a backplane or motherboard.
Clusters may improve performance in several ways. For instance, clusters may improve computing system availability. "Availability" refers to the availability of the overall cluster for use by application programs, as opposed to the status of individual cluster nodes. Of course, one way to improve cluster availability is to improve the reliability of the individual nodes.
However, at some point it becomes cost-effective to use less reliable nodes and replace nodes when they fail. A node failure should not interfere significantly with an application program unless every node fails; if it must degrade, then cluster performance should degrade gracefully. Clusters should also be flexible with respect to node addition, so that applications benefit when a node is restored or a new node is added. Ideally, the application should run faster when nodes are added, and it should not halt when a node crashes or is removed for maintenance or upgrades. Adaptation to changes in node presence provides benefits in the form of increased heterogeneity, improved scalability, and better access to upgrades. Heterogeneity allows special purpose computers such as digital signal processors, massively parallel processors, or graphics engines to be added to a cluster when their special abilities will most benefit a particular application, with the option of removing the special purpose node for later standalone use or use in another cluster. Heterogeneity allows clusters to be formed using presently owned or leased computers, thereby increasing cluster availability and reducing cost. Scalability allows cluster performance to be incrementally improved by adding new nodes as one's budget permits. The ability to add heterogeneous nodes also makes it possible to add improved hardware and software incrementally.

Cluster failover via distributed configuration repository


Homogeneous layers of articles are mixed in a conveying apparatus, and in accordance with a conveying method. A first conveying path originates at a first working station and terminates at a second working station. A second conveying path originates at the second working station. The first working station selectively moves successive homogeneous layers of articles from respective stacks to the first conveying path. The second working station receives the articles from the first conveying path and distributes the articles into selected ones of a plurality of vertical conveying and storage paths. The articles are supplied to the second conveying path from the vertical conveying and storage paths in a predetermined sequence. The predetermined sequence is established by defining control sequences for the moving, distributing and supplying performed in the work stations. The articles conveyed on the second conveying path can be arranged into groups related to the predetermined sequence.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of conveying articles for rearranging, and in particular, to methods and apparatus for mixing articles stacked in homogeneous layers on respective pallets.
2. Description of Related Art
A method and apparatus for rearranging articles palletized according to sorts, to form new groups of specific sort composition, is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,269,646. As taught and claimed therein, a system for handling articles of different types comprises: a plurality of depallitizing stations; means for removing a layer of articles from a pallet, said removing means associated with each of the plurality of depallitizing stations; a plurality of band conveying means, each of the plurality of conveying means comprising a plurality of conveying bands; a plurality of sort conveying means, each of the plurality of sort conveying means being parallel to one another; a plurality of sort stores, each of the plurality of sort stores being parallel to one another; at least one group-forming station; and, group conveying means for transporting articles from the sort conveying means to the at least one group-forming station; wherein each of the plurality of depallitizing stations has associated therewith one of said band conveying means, each band conveying means has associated therewith a subset of said plurality of sort conveying means, the band conveying means conveying an article removed from the pallet by the removing means to one of the plurality of sort conveying means in the associated subset, and each sort conveying means has associated therewith a sort store for temporarily holding articles. A corresponding method is also taught and claimed. A significant problem with the foregoing system can be appreciated from FIG. 1 or 2 thereof, and the text, namely that a separate path 20, 21, 22, etc., is required for each row of articles in the stacked layers, and that each separate path requires a separate vertical stacking rack. The vertical stacking rack must operate bidirectionally. The system is further characterized by a continuous conveying path, which at times, has parallel branches. The cost of having multiple palletizing stations and multiple stacking racks may be reasonable for the small lightweight articles contemplated, which in the example have a length of only 255 mm, but the cost for multiple stations capable of large and heavier articles is prohibitive. While the use of a single conveying path may seem to simplify the system, it actually places greater restraints on the relative operating speeds of the different work stations, complicating overall control. Moreover, the multiple parallel conveying paths are difficult to coordinate in timing and, together with the multiple palletizing stations and multiple stacking racks, use a lot of floor space.

Conveying system and method for mixing stacked articles


A valve activation assembly which mechanically collapses a collapsible member, such as a buckling pin, in response to both overpressure and underpressure conditions of a pressurized fluid. A retention member retains the valve member in a selected position with respect to the fluid, such as an open or closed position. A piston assembly is configured to mechanically collapse the collapsible member both when a fluidic pressure upon the piston assembly exceeds a first level, and when a fluidic pressure upon the piston assembly falls below a second level. Upon collapse of the collapsible member, the valve member releases the valve member, allowing the valve member to move to a different selected position (such as closed or open, respectively). A third piston member and a biasing member thereon can also be utilized. In some embodiments, a fluid is preferably held in compression between selected piston members.

Pressurized fluid systems are typically provided with pressure control and relief capabilities to reduce the possibility of injury to humans and damage to equipment in the event of an overpressure situation. Such pressure control systems often use a pressure responsive member such as a buckling pin that mechanically collapses when subjected to a large increase in fluid pressure. Failure of the pressure responsive member allows a valve assembly to operate to establish an appropriate overpressure path for the fluid, such as by establishing a bypass path for the fluid or by shutting down a flow of the fluid.
While such systems typically operate to provide protection from overpressure conditions, there are also applications where it is desirable to detect and abate underpressure conditions as well. For example, a rupture in a pressurized pipeline or similar network can result in a drop in system pressure as the fluid escapes to the external environment. In such a case it is desirable to activate a valve assembly to establish a secondary path for the fluid (such as an upstream shutoff valve which halts further flow of the fluid) until the rupture condition can be remediated.
There is therefore a continued need for improvements in the art to provide a pressure control system that operates when a pressure of a pressurized fluid falls outside a selected operating range, both above the range in an overpressure context as well as below the range in an underpressure context. It is to such improvements that preferred embodiments of the present invention are generally directed.

Valve activation assembly which mechanically collapses a collapsible member in response to both overpressure and underpressure conditions