A method of replacing fluid in an automotive system requires interconnecting a radiator fill port of the radiator with a first external tank through a closed control valve, disconnecting an upper hose from an upper radiator port and reconnecting the upper hose to a second external tank containing a replacement fluid. The system is sealed so that fluids are constrained for movement only within and between the engine, radiator and external tanks through the various hoses. When a pressure differential is applied within the system, fluid is forced from the automotive system into the first external tank, while automatically refilling the automotive system with the replacement fluid from the second external tank.

1. Incorporation by Reference
Applicant(s) hereby incorporate herein by reference, any and all U.S. patents and U.S. patent applications cited or referred to in this application.
2. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to methods for replacement of fluids in systems and more particularly the replacement of coolant fluids in an automotive type engine cooling system.
3. Description of Related Art
The following art defines the present state of this field:
Babish et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,109,703 describes an internal combustion engine cooling system that is flushed by: (a) providing a controlled pressurized flow of flushing liquid and entrained gas bubbles, (b) and passing said flow alternately through (i) the radiator in a reverse direction, (ii) the engine coolant passages in a reverse direction, (iii) the radiator in a forward direction, (iv) the engine coolant passages in a forward direction.
Cassia, U.S. Pat. No. 5,103,878 describes a flush cap for a vehicle cooling system wherein the flush cap has an inlet through which fresh water enters and an outlet through which dirty coolant leaves. The method employs the flush cap to flush the cooling system of the vehicle. The radiator cap can be adapted to drain a radiator using a hose attached to the outlet of the cap.
Akazawa, U.S. Pat. No. 5,615,716 describes an engine coolant changing apparatus for changing an engine coolant such as LLC (long-life coolant) in an engine coolant path containing a radiator, comprising coolant storing means possessing a pressure action port and a liquid inlet and outlet, detaching mechanism to be attached or detached to or from a filler port of a radiator, communicating device for communicating between the liquid inlet and outlet and the detaching device, and pressure action device for applying a negative pressure to the pressure action port to overheat the coolant to a low temperature by driving an engine when discharging the coolant from an engine coolant system, and applying a positive pressure to the pressure action port when feeding a fresh liquid, so that the coolant can be changed promptly in a short time, without requiring manipulation of radiator drain cock or jack-up of the vehicle.
Turcotte et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,649,574 describes a removal and refill apparatus for use in removing and/or refilling coolant in an automotive cooling system. The automotive cooling system typically includes a radiator, overflow bottle, engine, water pump, and heater core elements. A method for utilizing the coolant removal and refill apparatus utilizing vacuum and pressure is described for use with the removal and refill apparatus.
Fletcher, Jr. et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,845,684 describes a clean and easy-to-use, portable upright apparatus, and a method for its use, which can be used to flush and fill the radiator and coolant systems of motorized vehicles in approximately 15 minutes, the apparatus comprising a self-priming pump, a waste collection tank, a tank for holding new or recycled coolant, a filter assembly, and a wheeled support structure for conveniently and efficiently housing the pump, tanks, filter assembly, and the several hoses needed to perform the flush and fill procedure. Applications may include, but are not limited to, flushing coolant from automobile radiators and refilling them with new or recycled coolant.
Clark, II, U.S. Pat. No. 6,073,666 describes a portable automated fluid collecting and dispensing unit (10) for the collection of used fluid and for the delivery of new fluid to a fluid utilizing device, such as motor (44). The device (10) includes a tank arrangement (12) having a used fluid tank (14) for collecting and storing used fluid and a new fluid tank (16) for storing and delivering new fluid. The new and used fluid tanks (14 and 16) are dedicated to contain only more particular fluid. A cart (16) carries the tank arrangement (12), and has load cells (26) for determining changes in weight of the tank arrangement (12) and any used fluid and new fluid contained therein. A display (58) indicates any said change in weight of said tank arrangement (12) and any fluid contained therein. The system can also include a stationary primary system (120) for use in recharging the portable device (10), without any intervening cleaning of the device.
Rome et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,213,175 describes a method and apparatus, for servicing engine cooling systems, including a service inlet, a vacuum pump, a two-way solenoid interposed between the vacuum pump and the service inlet, a service outlet, a disposal hose, a new fluid tank, a pressure pump interposed between the service outlet and the new fluid tank, a three-way solenoid interposed between the service outlet and the two-way solenoid, a low-level trigger mechanism, a flow control relief valve and other elements to enhance various modes of operation. The apparatus is capable of performing various operations, including closed-loop fluid cycle, fluid vacuum, fluid top-off, fluid exchange and fluid flow control.
Klamm, U.S. Pat. No. 6,345,215 describes an apparatus for adding coolant to a cooling system of a motor vehicle including a cap with a resilient sleeve that expands against the inside wall of a radiator filler neck to provide an air-tight connection. A valve attached to the cap controls the flow of air and coolant through the cap. A gauge on the cap indicates the pressure inside the radiator. A venturi assembly connected to the valve provides a source of vacuum for evacuating air from the cooling system. Thereafter, coolant is drawn through the cap by the vacuum created in the system.
Awad, U.S. Pat. No. 6,523,580 describes an apparatus comprising a wheeled cart, and mounted on the wheeled cart a plurality of containers placed in adjacent upright attitudes. A support framework engages the wheeled cart and further provides a support framework engaging an operator's panel with operator's controls. A suction developing device, pressure developing device, conduit switching device, and conduit manifolding device, are enabled for acting together to apply vacuum and pressure exertion on fluids for driving such fluids between the containers and an automotive radiator through a system of conduits.
Awad, U.S. Pat. No. 6,604,557 describes a method of replacing radiator fluid in an automotive radiator including providing two gas tight containers, a fluid conducting hose with a gas tight nozzle fitted into a radiator fill pipe nipple. The method further includes the steps of filling one of the containers with a fresh radiator fluid, drawing a high vacuum on a second one of the containers, drawing spent radiator fluid into the second one of the containers using only suction from the container, thereby leaving the automotive radiator under a partial vacuum and then drawing the fresh radiator fluid, from the first one of the containers, into the radiator using only suction from the partial vacuum in the radiator. A radiator flush step may also be applied following the same method, using two additional containers, one with initial high vacuum and the other containing flush fluid.
Gayet, EP 1013908 describes a coolant fluid replacement device for an automobile, utilizing an open loop distribution circuit within the coolant loop during the replacement of the used coolant. The coolant loop comprises a radiator that includes an inlet from the engine and an outlet to the engine. During the coolant replacement process, the device is connected between the coolant pumps of the vehicle system. The new fluid is stored in a first reservoir. As the new fluid is pumped into the system, the old fluid is forced out into a second reservoir.
Our prior art search with abstracts described above teaches the use of pumps for providing the force necessary to move used fluids from automotive systems and to replace them with new fluids. However, the present invention in one embodiment uses a vacuum technique to enable fluids to be exchanged in a continuous process where used fluids are drained while new fluids are inserted into the system to replace the used fluids, and in a further embodiment, the fluids are exchanged using either internal or external pumps. The present invention provides further related advantages as described in the following summary.

Methods for replacing engine system cooling fluids with a continuous flow


Carbon dioxide gas collected from combustion exhaust gas or the like is transported in a liquefied gas state on the sea by means of ships up to a marine float installation provided with a throw-in pipe reaching to the deep sea, and then the liquefied carbon dioxide is thrown into the deep sea through the throw-in pipe.

1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to a method and a system for throwing carbon dioxide collected from combustion exhaust gas or the like into the deep sea.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The problem of warming up of the earth due to increase of a carbon dioxide gas concentration in the atmosphere has been being discussed over the world, and as one of countermeasures for this problem, there is an idea that the increase of a carbon dioxide gas concentration in the atmosphere is suppressed by industrially collecting carbon dioxide from combustion exhaust gas or the like and throwing it into the deep sea.
This idea is based on the fact that while the sea water in the surface layer of the ocean is held in contact with the atmosphere and is closely related to the atmosphere because of existence of its movement such as waves, tides and the like, since movement of the sea water in the portion deeper than about 100 m is very little and its communication with the sea water in the surface layer is little, it is presumed that if collected carbon dioxide is appropriately thrown into the deep sea, the carbon dioxide would not come out into the atmosphere over a long period or substantially semipermanently. Also, the idea is based on the fact that carbon dioxide of the amount several tens times as much as that in the atmosphere is present in a resolved state in the deep sea water, and so the influence in the event that the artificially thrown carbon oxide is added to this resolved carbon dioxide, is presumed to be faint.
FIG. 4 is a general conceptional view showing one example of the prior art method in which carbon dioxide is transported on the sea by means of ships and is then thrown into the deep sea.
In a heat power station 1, combustion exhaust gas containing carbon dioxide gas is generated from a boiler, and after carbon dioxide gas has been separated and collected from the exhaust gas it is solidified in a carbon dioxide gas collecting and processing apparatus 2. In other words, solid carbon dioxide (commonly called "dry ice") is produced. The temperature of this solid carbon dioxide is about -78.degree. C. under the atmospheric pressure as shown in FIG. 2, and it is temporarily stored in a solid carbon dioxide storage warehouse 3. Then, the solid carbon dioxide is loaded on a solid carbon dioxide transport ship 4, and is transported on the sea up to a predetermined sea region, where it is thrown down out of the ship. The specific gravity of the thrown solid carbon dioxide is about 1.5, and so it sinks due to its own gravity and reaches to the deep sea. The transport ship 4 returns to the original quay after throwing, and it performs transportation and throwing of solid carbon dioxide repeatedly.
FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing a process of producing solid carbon dioxide from carbon dioxide gas. Carbon dioxide gas 11 is compressed at 12 by means of a compressor and thereafter it is cooled and condensed at 13 into liquefied carbon dioxide 14. If this is subjected to adiabatic expansion at 15 by making it spout from a nozzle, about 30-60% of the liquefied carbon dioxide would evaporate, but the remaining liquefied carbon dioxide would become snowflake-shaped solid carbon dioxide 17 due to removal of the evaporation heat, and this is press-molded at 18 into solid carbon dioxide (commonly called "dry ice").
However, the throwing of carbon dioxide into the deep sea in the prior art as explained above, has the following shortcomings:
1. In the case of solidifying collected carbon dioxide, as compared to the case of liquefying it, the installation becomes expensive, and a lot of power for operating the installation becomes necessary. Furthermore, regarding the loading work onto a ship and the like, handling of solid carbon dioxide is troublesome as compared to the case of liquefied carbon dioxide.
2. Solid carbon dioxide thrown down out of a ship would evaporate furiously due to contact with the sea water, and a part of the evaporated carbon dioxide would escape into the atmosphere. In other words, there is a loss of carbon dioxide in the midway of throwing into the deep sea. PA1 3. There is an evaporation loss of carbon dioxide during a loading work onto a ship and during transportation, and furthermore, there is a fear that throwing down into a sea region other than a contemplated throwing sea region may be executed easily against the contemplated schedule. Therefore, and also as a result of the shortcomings described in the preceding two numbered paragraphs, it was difficult to precisely know when, where and by what amount throwing into the deep sea of carbon dioxide was executed. PA1 1. The state of carbon dioxide to be loaded on a ship is a liquefied state, and there is no need to solidify carbon dioxide. In addition, the state of carbon dioxide upon a work of loading on a ship is also a liquefied state which can be easily handled. PA1 2. As the carbon dioxide to be thrown into the deep sea passes through a throw-in pipe until it reaches to the deep sea, it would be never lost in the midway. PA1 3. An evaporation loss of carbon dioxide during the work of loading on a ship and during transportation on the sea is not present, and the route for throwing liquefied carbon dioxide into the deep sea is limited to within the deep sea throw-in pipe.

Method and system for throwing carbon dioxide into the deep sea


A universal oil fitting may include a body and an orifice. The body may include a first end, a second end, a first outer portion and a second outer portion. The first outer portion may include external threads and may extend longitudinally between the first end and the second outer portion. The orifice may extend longitudinally through the body and may include a first portion having a first inner diameter and a second portion having a threaded second inner diameter. The first portion may extend longitudinally between the first end of the outer body and the second portion.

This section provides background information related to the present disclosure and is not necessarily prior art.
A climate control system such as, for example, a refrigeration system, a heat pump system, or an air conditioning system, includes one or more compressors circulating a working fluid through a fluid circuit. Each compressor may include an oil sump containing oil to lubricate and cool various components within the compressor. A shell of the compressor may include an opening in fluid communication with the oil sump. A valve may be fluidly connected to the opening and may be movable between open and closed positions to selectively allow oil to be added or extracted from the oil sump.
In a multiple compressor system, the oil sumps of two or more of the compressors may be in fluid communication with each other via an oil equalization conduit. Oil may be transferred between the compressors through the oil equalization conduit to equalize oil levels in the respective oil sump of each compressor, thereby ensuring that an oil level in any one compressor does not fall below a predetermined level. The oil equalization conduit may be fluidly coupled with the opening in the shell in one of a variety of ways such as brazing the conduit directly to a fitting or connecting the conduit to the fitting via an intermediate connector, for example.


A back-end application computer server may access a potential metadata entries data store containing a set of potential metadata entries, each entry including at least a data element name and a data element definition. A metadata collection system may be executed to automatically populate a metadata template based on the set of potential metadata entries. The system may update entries in the metadata template using a translation tool and validate the updated entries in the metadata template to ensure that required data elements are present. The system may also certify the validated entries load the set of certified metadata entries, including the certified data element names and certified data element definitions, into an enterprise metadata repository data store. Electronic messages may be exchanged to support at least one interactive user interface display associated with certification of the metadata template.

In some cases, an enterprise may want to maintain a repository of information to be used by members of the enterprise. For example, the repository might include definitions, rules, business logic, and/or other types of metadata that may be used throughout the enterprise (e.g., as documents and/or software applications are created by the enterprise). Moreover, the enterprise might be interested in maintaining a level of consistency for information within the metadata repository. For example, a particular name might always refer to a specific definition and also be associated with a pre-defined set of potential values (e.g., the phrase "employee status" might always mean the current work status of a person and might only be allowed to have values of "currently employed," "new hire," "former employee," "temp worker," and "on leave"). To help ensure such consistency, members of the enterprise may access the metadata repository, such as by accessing a "Wiki" like dictionary or database of technical definitions. Creating these types of definitions, however, in a reliable and consistent way, however, can be a difficult, time consuming, and error-prone process, especially when there is a significant amount of information in the metadata repository (e.g., tens of thousands of different definitions might be included) and/or when many different members may be uploading information into the repository.
It would therefore be desirable to provide systems and methods to automatically facilitate a process of uploading information into a metadata repository in a way that results in an accurate and efficient collection of data and that allows flexibility and effectiveness when entering and/or reviewing the data.

System for uploading information into a metadata repository


The present invention is a decoy with a head that rapidly rotates on a vertical axis, creating attention-attracting movement. The powered rotation is both clockwise and counterclockwise, with an arc of rotation in each direction less than 360 degrees, so that the head does not make full rotations about its axis.

Since live waterfowl decoys were outlawed more than 75 years ago, inventors have worked to replicate the appearance of live birds with inanimate decoys. Efforts to create decoy movement have been the subject of many patents. Early efforts resulted in relatively ineffective decoy movements, like the slow head rotation of the decoy device described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,185,013 (Bonetti, 1939). In the following decades various decoys were developed with heads that could be manually rotated, or that wobbled or swiveled in response to wind movement. None of these approaches applied a powered rotation actuator to cause deliberate, energized and controlled rotation of a decoy head. Other decoy efforts have focused on ever increasing uses of energy to create vigorous movement to the decoys (such as decoys with spinning wings) or vigorous agitation of the water around the decoys. Unfortunately these vigorous motion approaches require significant electrical power and often create a level of noise and artificial movement that is unnatural and unpleasant in the natural waterfowl hunting setting. A rapid full rotation device is not desirable in a head movement application since full (360 degree) rotation of the head is unrealistic and somewhat disturbing.
Furthermore, the most problematic situation is one in which there is little or no wind, and therefore little or no decoy movement. This is a situation where the artificial drone of a mechanical/electrical device is most disturbing. This is also a situation where the present is most useful.
With eyes on the sides of their head, waterfowl lack binocular vision. They compensate by moving their heads rapidly from side to side, continuously getting images from both eyes. In a calm setting of ducks sitting on the water, these rapid head movements are surprisingly visible. The primary object of this invention is to provide beneficial decoy movement for these light or no wind situations, with limited noise and limited power consumption. The desired movement simulates the frequent and rapid side to side head movement that is typical of live ducks. These movements add sufficient movement to be noticeable, but not overpowering like a loud, rapidly spinning mechanical decoy wing. To be realistic these movements must be rotational—not merely "bobbing" of a pivoting head—and should at least sometimes occur with rapid rotational speed.


A method for permitting the secure handling of data between two remote stations firstly involves the generation of an encrypted decryption key which is based on a fingerprint information signal from a user of a first station, a fingerprint information signal from a user of a second station, and a key representing function derived from a random key. The encrypted decryption key is of the type with the property that when it is written to a spatial light modulator (SLM) of an optical correlator, the output of the correlator is similar when input with either one of the fingerprint information signals. The encrypted key is then stored at both stations. Thereafter a message encrypted with the key may be decrypted at either station by retrieving the encrypted key, writing the encrypted key to a filter of an optical correlator, inputting one of the fingerprint information signals to the correlator in order to allow recovery of the decryption key, and applying the decryption key to the encrypted message.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention provides a method for permitting the secure passing of data between two remote stations.
2. Background of the Invention
While use of the internet has increased rapidly, concerns for the privacy and security of data transferred over the internet have remained. The present invention seeks to provide a method for permitting the secure handling of data between remote stations, such as remote computers hooked to the internet.

Method for secure data transmission between remote stations


The present disclosure provides a High-Purity Germanium (HPGe) detector, comprising: a HPGe single crystal having an intrinsic region exposed surface; a first electrode and a second electrode connected to a first contact electrode and a second contact electrode of the HPGe single crystal respectively; and a conductive guard ring arranged in the intrinsic region exposed surface around the first electrode to separate the intrinsic region exposed surface into an inner region and an outer region. A leakage current derived from the intrinsic region exposed surface of the HPGe detector can be separated from the current of the HPGe detector by the conductive guard ring provided in the surface, thereby suppressing the interference of the surface leakage current.

1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure generally relates to the field of semiconductor radiation detectors, and more particularly, to High-Purity Germanium (HPGe) detectors.
2. Description of the Related Art
With continuous development of the semiconductor manufacturing technology, a single crystal of HPGe with a large volume and good performance has been produced successfully such that HPGe detectors possess good energy resolution and relatively high detection efficiency. The HPGe detector may be used for, for example, measuring Gamma-rays, X-rays, detecting dark matter, radiation imaging techniques and the like. It has been applied widely in applications such as decay scheme research, internal conversion coefficient measurement, neutral reaction, short lifetime neutral measurement, activation analysis, neutral fuel research, mines detection, fine structure research of atomic nucleus, dark matter detection and the like.
Noise from the detector itself is one of the crucial factors restricting the energy resolution of the HPGe detector. The noise is mainly derived from the reverse leakage current and directly affects the energy resolution and sensitivity of the detector. In addition, detection of the reverse leakage current is an easy method for identifying process and determining the quality of products. Generally, a good HPGe detector should have the reserve leakage current less than 10 pA. However, it is not easy to reduce the reverse leakage current into this level; therefore, many researchers for detectors do a great deal of work on reduction of the reverse leakage current.
The reverse leakage current has three sources, i.e., bulk leakage current, diffusion leakage current and surface leakage current.
The bulk leakage current is current caused by electrons and holes generated by thermal activation. As the HPGe single crystal has a small energy band gap, in order to improve the resolution, HPGe detectors may be cooled into a temperature range from 70K to 100K in practice. Within the temperature range, the bulk leakage current may be negligible. The diffusion leakage current is current caused by doping contact. In case that minority of carriers has a very long lifetime, the diffusion current will not change as the reverse voltage varies, and thus may also be negligible. The surface leakage current is current related to a surface state of HPGe single crystal after packaging process and is generated at a surface layer. Typically, the surface leakage current is increased as the reverse voltage increases. Thus, the surface leakage current cannot be neglected, and is the main source of the leakage current of the detectors.
In the prior arts of reducing the surface leakage current of the detectors, the most direct and most important scheme is a surface cleaning method, in which a great deal of complex procedures are used to clean an ideal surface to keep the surface in a state of high resistance strictly. However, even if the strictest cleaning has been done in advance, as the crystal lattice terminates at the crystal surface, each germanium atom in the outmost layer of the surface will have one unmated electron, i.e., have an unsaturated bond. Due to these unsaturated bonds, the practical crystal surface often may be formed with a tiny oxidation film or may adsorb other atoms or molecules thereon, which makes the surface configuration complicated. In accordance with research, the clean surface without adsorbing any atoms or molecules will be remained in a short time even in high vacuum, and after a few hours, the surface will be formed with a single layer of atoms thereon. Besides the surface state caused by the above surface dangling bond, the surface states caused due to factors such as crystal defects or adsorption of various charged particles are also present in the surface. Factors such as the adsorbed various particles, mobile ions, fixed charges and traps in the oxidation layer of the surface may cause the reduction of the surface resistance of HPGe semiconductors, thus an electrical field is generated in the surface layer. These factors will adversely influence the features on the surface of the semiconductor significantly, in particular increase the surface leakage current, resulting in resolution reduction and dummy signals.
Another technology for reducing the surface leakage current of the detectors is surface passivation technology, i.e., a layer of passivation film having a function of blocking charged particles, such as amorphous germanium film, germanium oxide film or germanium dioxide film, is deposited on the clean HPGe semiconductor surface. The passivation technology has a positive effect on controlling the surface leakage current.


An information technology (IT) equipment positioning system comprises a plurality of wireless transponders distributed in multiple locations in the data center and a controller. The controller is adapted to operate the transponders using triangulation to identify and detect positioning according to three-dimensional coordinates for wireless-tagged IT equipment located in the data center.

Resource management involves awareness and monitoring of resources in a dynamic environment. Location is one component of awareness.
A data center may be considered a collection of many types of resources, often highly valuable resources. Data center resources are not limited simply to various types of electronic equipment, but also data and information resources which can potentially have a value exceeding that of the physical assets.
Data center personnel address a growing challenge in management of multiple systems and other information technology equipment in a large data center. Information technology (IT) equipment may be redeployed or physically moved without the knowledge of data center management personnel, presenting difficulty in locating the equipment for repair and upgrade. Difficulties are especially prevalent for data centers in remote offices and unmanned sites.

Information technology (IT) equipment positioning system

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


Coverage of a chromogenic reaction product over a substrate is improved by incorporating a color developer in the substrate and coating the substrate with a color former to form a colored reaction product.

Sunlight is normally divided into infrared energy, visible light, and ultraviolet light. Infrared energy consists of wavelength above 760 nanometers. Visible light is defined as radiation between 400 and 760 nanometers. Ultraviolet lights consists of radiation below 400 nanometers. Infrared energy is our main source of warmth. Sunlight supplies energy necessary for photosynthesis in the living plants. In fact, it is essential for all living things on earth.
In leisure time, some people like to bask in the sun to get a healthy looking tan. Many people like to enjoy months of uninhibited sunshine by participating in other outdoor activities. However, research has found that increased exposure to ultraviolet rays from the sun causes skin cancer, cataracts in human eyes, sunburn, skin wrinkling, possible immune system damage, and leathery skin. It also causes cacti to shrivel, cattle and sheep to develop conjunctivitis, eucalyptus trees to turn yellow, frog population to decline, and fish population to decrease. Humans are among the living beings most vulnerable to the constant shower of ultraviolet radiation. Unprotected by scales or feathers, we face a rising threat of illness related to sunlight exposure. The new health hazard is challenging our desire to spend time outdoors. The causes of skin cancer have been on the rise steadily for the last 20 years and has become one of the leading causes of death today. One in six Americans might develop skin cancer in their lifetime because sun damage to the skin is cumulative.
Hovering six to 25 miles above the earth, the stratospheric ozone layer is our natural sunscreen, protecting us from some of the sun's harmful rays. Atmospheric scientists at National Aeronautics and Space Administration have used satellites to study the depletion of ozone in the upper atmosphere. There is evidence that a severe depletion of the ozone layer has occurred over the Antarctic, resulting in an ozone hole of about 9 million square miles in 1994 (about 2.5 times the size of the United States of America). The hole in the ozone layer is caused by chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) which are commonly used as refrigerant and propellant in aerosol sprays. The CFCs undergo a series of chemical reactions in the atmosphere, leading to the production of chlorine monoxide which eats up ozone. Levels of ozone destroying chlorine monoxide in Antarctic are extremely high by August, carving a hole in the ozone shield that filters out damaging ultraviolet radiation in the sunlight. As the wind whips around the globe, the ozone layer becomes thinner at most latitudes. During the last decade, the annual dose of harmful ultraviolet light striking the northern hemisphere rose by about five percent, according to the United Nations Report.
The sun gives off ultraviolet light. The International Commission on Illumination further subdivides the portion of the spectrum into UV-A, UV-B and UV-C rays.
UV-A rays have the longest wavelength of 400 to 315 nanometers and penetrate the skin the deepest. UV-A light is also the most difficult one to screen out, although ozone and clouds do screen some of it out. It goes right through the ozone layer. Many sunscreens do not protect against it very well. It is just as strong at 9 am as at noon.
UV-B rays are in the wavelength region of 315 to 280 nanometers. Although some of them are screened out by ozone and clouds, many of them do reach the earth to harm us. UV-B light is responsible for wrinkling, breaking down the elastic tissue and collagen, and sunburn. UV-B light is probably 100 times more carcinogenic than UV-A light. It causes three types of skin cancer--basal cell cancer, squamous cell cancer, and melanoma. Skin cancers have skyrocketed in the last 20 years, coinciding with our increased outdoor activities and the depletion of the ozone layer. UV-B light is probably the culprit for the tough leathery look of human skin. However, when the ozone layer is thick enough to function properly, it shields us from most UV-B rays.
UV-C rays are the shortest, having a wavelength of 280 to 100 nanometers, and are actually the most dangerous among all ultraviolet rays, but do not reach the earth.
The National Weather Service, urged by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Centers for Disease Control, and the American Cancer Society, has begun a new index of UV radiation on a trial basis to warn people against overexposure to the sun. The index based on atmospheric changes has a scale of from 0 to 15. The higher the number, the higher the risk to skin cancer and the faster that outdoor enthusiast will burn. To predict the Ultraviolet Potential Index, the National Weather Service uses satellites and ground equipment to compute the UV levels through a combination of readings from forecasted cloud cover, temperatures, and local ozone amounts. The more ozone present at a location, the less radiation will reach the earth's surface at that area. A rating of 7 means that fair-skinned people should stay out of the sun or risk high UV exposure.
The new Ultraviolet Potential Index measures potential exposure in five levels as follows, according to the National Weather Service and the American Cancer Society:
0 to 2: Minimal risk of ultraviolet radiation; could be in sun unprotected for more than an hour without skin burning. PA1 3 to 4: Low risk; could be in the sun unprotected for 30 minutes to an hour. PA1 5 to 6: Moderate risk; could be in sun unprotected for 20 to 30 minutes. PA1 7 to 9: High risk of skin damage at 13 minutes. PA1 10 to 15: Very high risk of skin damage occurs at less than 13 minutes.
As of July 1994, only 85 cities in the United States were given the predicted Ultraviolet Potential Index on a trial basis. It would be very difficult to include all parts of the nation. These predicted index numbers can serve as general guidelines only. The local cloud cover might move away or become thick because weather conditions are unpredictable. Thus, there is a need for a device to warn outdoor enthusiasts against overexposure to the sunlight anywhere.
To reduce the ultraviolet radiation exposure, it is advisable to apply sunscreen, having a Sun Protection Factor (SPF) of at least 15 and above, on the skin. The sunscreen contains ultraviolet light absorbers which remove part or most harmful ultraviolet rays, depending upon the amount of the absorbers in the sunscreen. By applying the sunscreen on the skin, one might mistakenly believe that the skin will not be damaged by the ultraviolet light. In fact, the sunscreen does not completely block all UV-A and UV-B rays in the sunlight. UV radiation cannot be seen, felt, or smelled.
Various devices have been proposed for monitoring exposure to ultraviolet radiation, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,985,632; 5,117,116; 4,308,459; 4,130,760; and 3,787,687. However, previous suggestions have various drawbacks including use of cumbersome mechanical devices, use of carcinogenic compounds for indicating exposure by color indication, or the like.

Method of improving coverage of chromogenic reaction product


The invention consists of an endoluminal prosthesis adapted for placement at a bifurcation site within the body. The stent or stent-graft may be constructed to have segments of differing structural properties. A section of the stent-graft may be constructed to have a single-lumen tubular stent member covering a multilumen graft member. The stent-graft may comprise at least two modular components adapted for in situ assembly. An extended cylindrical interference fit may be used to seal the modular components.

Treatment or isolation of vascular aneurysms or of vessel walls which have been thickened by disease has traditionally been performed via surgical bypassing with vascular grafts. Shortcomings of this invasive procedure include the morbidity and mortality associated with major surgery, long patient recovery times, and the high incidence of repeat intervention needed due to limitations of the graft or of the procedure.
Minimally invasive alternatives involving stents or stent-grafts are generally known and widely used in certain types of treatments. Intralumenal stents, for example, are particularly useful for treatment of vascular or arterial occlusion or stenosis typically associated with vessels thickened by disease. Intralumenal stents function to mechanically hold these vessels open. In some instances, stents may be used subsequent to or as an adjunct to a balloon angioplasty procedure.
Stent-grafts, which include a graft layer either inside or outside of a stent structure, are particularly useful for the treatment of aneurysms. An aneurysm may be characterized as a sac formed by the dilatation of the wall or an artery, vein, or vessel. Typically the aneurysm is filled with fluid or clotted blood. The stent-graft provides a graft layer to reestablish a flow lumen through the aneurysm as well as a stent structure to support the graft and to resist occlusion or restenosis
Treatment of a bifurcation site afflicted with such defects as an occlusion, stenosis, or aneurysm is a particularly demanding application for either stents or stent-grafts. A bifurcation site is generally where a single lumen or artery (often called the trunk) splits into two lumen or arteries (often called branches), such as in a "Y" configuration. For example, one such bifurcation site is found within the human body at the location where the abdominal aortic artery branches into the left and right (or ipsalateral and contralateral) iliac arteries.
When a defect, such as an aneurysm, is located very close to the bifurcation of a trunk lumen into two branch lumens, treatment becomes especially difficult. One reason for this difficulty is because neither the trunk lumen nor either of the branch lumens provides a sufficient portion of healthy, lumen wall on both sides of the defect to which a straight section of single lumen stent or stent-graft can be secured. The stent or stent-graft must span the bifurcation site and yet allow undisturbed flow through each of the branch and trunk lumens.
What is required then is a stent or stent-graft which may be secured to each of the lumen wall a sufficient distance away from the defect and yet is capable of allowing undisturbed flow into each of the branch and trunk lumen. Such a configuration, at least after implantation, generally must have the same Y-shape as described for the bifurcation site. Prior to implantation, the stent or stent-graft may have a Y-shape or may have a modular construction which is assembled into the desired shape as it is implanted.
As we shall see, deployment of implants adapted to meet these needs is also problematic in that they must be deployed and secured in three different lumen which are impossible to access from a single direction. Further, to facilitate intralumenal delivery through a body's tortuous vasculature, the implant must be capable of being compressed into a very small diameter or profile.
Prior devices that deal with treatment at a bifurcation site within the body generally include grafts, stents, and stent-grafts in either a single-piece or modular configuration as described below.
The use of tubular grafts for treating defects at bifurcation sites has been known for some time. Bifurcated grafts have been disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,029,819 to Starks, U.S. Pat. No. 3,096,560 to Liebig, U.S. Pat. No. 3,142,067 to Liebig, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,805,301 to Liebig. These grafts are typically made of woven fabric or other synthetic material and, because they have no supporting stent structure, typically involve excising the defected segment and suturing the fabric graft in place using common surgical procedures.
A number of bifurcated graft implants have been developed which use some limited means of supporting the one-piece bifurcated graft structure. Typically such means also provide a way to hold the graft open and secure the graft to the lumen wall without the need for sutures so that the graft may be suitable for translumenal delivery via a remote site as opposed to the more invasive surgical grafting techniques as described above.
One such implant is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,562,596 to Kornberg. Kornberg discloses a bifurcated aortic graft constructed for intraluminal delivery through the femoral artery. The graft consists of a tubular graft material having a plurality of longitudinal supporting struts or stays equipped with hooks or barbs to facilitate attachment within the desired location of the damaged artery. The graft is equipped with a resilient top ring for snugging the upper end of the trunk portion against the aortic wall upon deployment. The graft has a trunk portion and two legs, one of which is shorter than the other. The graft is delivered in a compressed state through a first branch artery with the shorter leg folded against the longer. At some point, as the compressed implant is advance through the first branch artery, the shorter leg clears the bifurcation point and articulates into the luminal region of a second branch artery. The entire implant is then moved in the reverse direction to allow the shorter leg to progress down the second branch. The implant is then expanded to its final shape against the lumen walls by way of a balloon.
Instead of longitudinal struts, other devices have provided the necessary support and securing means for the graft material by employing sections of stent structure at selected locations along the graft. Typically, stent rings may be placed at the trunk and/or branch openings of the stent. Such stent rings are either self-expanding or require balloon expansion.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,489,295 to Piplani et al., for example, discloses a bifurcated graft having a main body and legs formed of a flexible surgically implantable material. Expandable spring attachments are secured to the main body adjacent to the trunk opening and also to one of the legs adjacent to the branch leg opening. Delivered compressed, these expandable spring attachments urge the 25 openings of the graft open upon deployment and serve as anchoring means for securing the graft to the vessel wall. Lumen wall engagement may be enhanced by the addition of barbs or hooks at the apices of the spring attachments.
Another device involving a single-piece bifurcated graft with limited supporting and securing means is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,360,443 and 5,522,880 both to Barone et al. Barone et al. disclose a tubular aortic graft for intraluminal delivery. The graft is secured by the expansion and deformation of a thin-walled tubular member. The thin walled tubular member has a first diameter for delivery. Upon the application of an expanding force from a balloon, the member has a second expanded and deformed diameter for securing the graft to the lumen wall.
As with all such one-piece devices, the delivery of the graft implant is complicated by the fact that each of the trunk and two legs of the graft must be positioned into their respective lumen and then secured into place. This requires the branch legs to be compressed together for delivery through one of the lumen and requires difficult maneuvering of the branch legs to get them unfolded and untwisted into place within their respective branch lumen. This type of delivery requires the graft sections to be highly flexible so that its components may be manipulated as required and requires a larger profile. This demand for high flexibility often results in unsupported graft sections that may be subject to kinking, folding, collapse or the like.
Bifurcated stent devices generally suffer from even greater delivery problems because they are even less compressible and less flexible than their unsupported graft counterparts discussed above. U.S. Pat. No. 4,994,071 to MacGregor, for example, discloses a single-piece bifurcated stent for insertion into a bifurcating vessel. The stent includes a trunk portion constructed from a series of generally parallel loops interconnected by a sequence of half-hitch connections which extend along its length. The parallel loops form a cylindrical lattice which define a flow passageway. Two smaller cylindrical lattices are similarly constructed and attached to the trunk portion to form the branch flow passageways. The stent is designed to be delivered in one piece, over two guidewires (one for each branch) from the direction of the trunk vessel.
Another bifurcated stent example is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,342,387 to Summers. Summers discloses a Y-shaped bifurcated stent comprising three coil sections (a major coil section and two minor coil sections), constructed of stent wire according to specific coil patterns and joined so as to form an unobstructed support for the trunk and branched vessels. To deploy the bifurcated stent, the stent is compressed around an inflarable bifurcated balloon. The compressed balloon/stent is delivered up one of the branch vessels until one of the minor coils is clear of the bifurcation juncture. Then the stent is backed down, positioning one of the minor coils in each of the branches. The stent is then expanded by the bifurcated "tri-wing" balloon and then the balloon is removed.
To alleviate these complicated delivery problems, some implant devices have used a modular approach. An example of a modular stent may be found in FR 2,678,508 A1. According to that disclosure, in order to provide continuity at junctions, in particular at vessel bifurcations, at least two helicoidal spring elements comprised of self locking coils are used. A first element is constructed to have a first coil diameter section corresponding to the diameter of the aortic artery and a second coil diameter section corresponding to one of the iliac arteries. A second element similarly has two sections, one of which corresponds to the diameter of the second iliac artery, the other equivalent to the diameter of the aortic section of the first element so that the corresponding coils of each element may be delivered separately and locked together in situ.
Another type of modular approach involves using two separate elongated tubes delivered through each of the branch lumen. The tubes, which may consist of a tubular graft element supported by unconnected stent segments, establish the required flow lumen in each of the branch arteries, and in the trunk lumen, are forced together in such a manner as to substantially seal around the periphery. Generally, the shape of the two tubes in the trunk lumen is that of two back-to-back, semi-circular "D" shapes. U.S. Pat. No. 5,507,769 to Marin et al and EP 0 551 179 A1 to Palmaz et al. disclose implants of the type which employ two separate tubes. Palmaz further discloses the use of an expandable tubular member which is secured to the trunk artery prior to delivery of the separate tubes. The purpose of this additional member is help secure the two tubes to the trunk lumen.
Still another type of modular stent-graft device is disclosed in WO 95/21592 (International Application number PCT/US95/01466). In that publication, there is disclosed a modular bifurcated stent or stent-graft comprising two separate modules for delivery in a compressed state and connected together in situ. A first module has a proximal part adapted to engage the trunk artery, then bifurcating into a first distal portion adapted to extend into one branched artery and a female receiving opening to be positioned near the other branched artery. A male proximal portion of a second module is connected to the female receiving opening. According to the disclosure, to ensure the two modules remain connected, it is preferred that the receiving opening has a frustoconical section and the second module has a mating male frustoconical section.
Further related modular stent-graft approaches may be found for example in EP 068 6 379 A2, EP 0 696 447 A2, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,562,724 to Vorwerk et al. While these modular devices tend to offer a measure of improved delivery, continuing problems may include a certain amount of leakage around the openings of the device, leakage at the modular connection, increased compressed profiles, and unoptimal flexibility, kink-resistance, and axial stiffness.
Further it is generally important for any stent or stent-graft to be accurately and quickly deployed so that it may be properly positioned at a desired treatment location. This is especially true with bifurcated devices using a modular approach because, when deployed, the connecting feature must be properly aligned rotationally over a branch artery.
From the foregoing discussion it is evident that it would be desirable to have a self-expanding stent-graft device possessing superior kink-resistance and flexibility to allow the device to follow the natural geometry of the vasculature and, at the same time, allow for sufficient axial stiffness to facilitate accurate placement, resist movement, and prevent leakage. It would be highly desirable to have such a stent or stent-graft device that also provides for a reduced compressed profile for delivery through the body's vasculature. It would be highly desirable for such a stent or stent-graft to have the capability to ensure axial and rotational alignment.


A hydraulic control system of an automatic transmission that precisely control is operating hydraulic pressure supplied to a frictional element during shifting and can eliminate oil leak under a maximum operating hydraulic pressure. The hydraulic control system controls a hydraulic pressure generated by a hydraulic pump to from an operating hydraulic pressure for a frictional element selectively operating at each shift ratio. A hydraulic line is configured such that the operating hydraulic pressure of the frictional element is controlled by a pressure control valve and a switching valve that are controlled by a solenoid valve. An exhaust hydraulic line of the pressure control valve is connected to an exhaust hydraulic line of the switching valve such that the exhaust hydraulic line of the pressure control valve can be controlled by a switching of the switching valve.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hydraulic control system of an automatic transmission for vehicles. More particularly, the present invention relates to a hydraulic control system of an automatic transmission capable of more precise control of the operating hydraulic pressure supplied to frictional elements.
(b) Description of the Related Art
In an automatic transmission, a TCU (transmission control unit) controls a plurality of solenoid valves of a hydraulic control system based on various conditions, such as vehicle speed and opening of a throttle valve, so as to control the operating pressure supplied to a plurality of frictional elements (e.g. clutch and brake) that are applied to a gear train and selectively operate at a target shift ratio, and thereby automatically achieving a specific shift ratio. In such an automatic transmission, a clutch consisting of frictional elements must be supplied with a maximum hydraulic pressure corresponding to a torque load for a corresponding clutch under which slip can be prevented at a maximum input torque for each shift ratio. A precise hydraulic pressure control should be performed within a suitable range in order to achieve a smooth shift feel while performing an operating control or releasing control of a clutch.
In addition, the hydraulic pressure control range during shifting may be lower than a maximum pressure designed considering stall torque ratio of the torque converter. The minimum pressure may be 0 or a specific value for pre-fill characteristics. A pre-fill value of the minimum pressure may be realized by a pressure control valve or a regulating ball connected to an exhaust port of a hydraulic pressure control valve.
Thus, since the hydraulic pressure control range during shifting is relatively shorter compared to a range of the maximum pressure and the minimum pressure, the control range of the control pressure of a solenoid valve is limited. Also, the sensitivity of the clutch control pressure with respect to the change of a solenoid valve control pressure is reduced. Therefore, a difference in shift feel becomes great depending on the deviation of the control pressure of a solenoid valve.
In particular, in the case where there is a great difference in torque load between shift ratios in a multi-stage transmission, such as a six-speed transmission, there can be a problem in that the hydraulic pressure control range during shifting is very restrictively set as 20 to 30% of a maximum pressure. In order to solve such a problem, in the conventional control of operating pressure supplied to a frictional element, if a shift signal is generated by a TCU, a solenoid valve controls a solenoid supply pressure and supplies the controlled pressure to a pressure control valve. For such a control, the force from the maximum control pressure of the solenoid valve is set to be greater than the sum of the force of a maximum control pressure of a clutch and a spring elastic force.
However, in a case of controlling hydraulic pressure supplied to a frictional element, since an operating hydraulic pressure of the frictional element is controlled by a pressure control valve, having a narrow control pressure range, there can be a problem in that a precise hydraulic pressure control is difficult. In addition, since the solenoid valve control pressure directly controls the pressure control valve, a change of operating hydraulic pressure of a frictional element depending on control pressure deviation is relatively great. Accordingly, precise hydraulic pressure control is further complicated, and may not be possible. Also, in the case where there is a great difference in torque load between shift ratios in a multi-stage transmission, such as a six-speed transmission, the control range of a solenoid valve becomes narrow, so that a precise hydraulic pressure control is rendered even more difficult.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Hydraulic control system of automatic transmission for vehicle


A package comprising a container, a closure assembly which includes a tearing portion. The container includes a sidewall, a closed end and an end with an opening. The closure assembly includes a central panel covering the container opening and a circumferential edge secured to the container. The tearing portion allows the closure to be opened for access to the contents of the package.

This invention relates to an easily opened closure suitable for use with a container which includes a layer of plastic. The closure may be of a multi-layer construction or may include a layer of barrier material. If an all-plastic closure is used with an all-plastic container, the container and closure assembly is especially suitable for microwaving.
This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 07/534,200, which is herein incorporated by reference. Both applications are owned by the same assignee.
Microwavable containers are growing in popularity because they not only replace the storage function of the traditional can, but also enable the consumer to heat the contents in the container and to eat from the container.
In the prior art, closures for microwavable containers generally included both a double seamed metal lid and a plastic overcap. The metal lid is double seamed onto the all-plastic container and has a score line in the metal lid. To open the metal lid, the consumer has to pull hard enough to break the metal score line and in doing so often splatters the food from the container. Additionally, a residual rim of metal remains affixed to the top edge of the container after opening and removing the lid. The overcap is then snapped over the remaining rim and the container and overcap are placed in the microwave.
The residual metal rim of the prior art container is undesirable because it has a sharp edge, making it prone to cut the fingers of those using the containers, especially children for whom the microwavable containers are particularly convenient.
The residual metal also makes recycling the container more difficult. While it is theoretically possible to recycle such containers, there is presently no system which provides for recycling of mixed plastic and metal containers. Neither is there a widespread recycling service that collects such containers. By providing an all-plastic closure for use with an all-plastic container, both closure and container will be recyclable as plastic. There are a number of technologies which use such recycled plastic in an interior layer of a container. Additionally, the code requirements for such plastics and recycling centers for such plastics are generally established.
The prior art closure system also requires a large number of consumer steps for using the container: removing the overcap, opening the metal lid, replacing the overcap, placing the container in the microwave oven, heating the container and contents in the microwave oven, and removing the cap to gain access to the food.
The overcap of the prior art has a number of characteristics necessary so that it can be used with a microwavable container. The center panel of the overcap is raised well above the top of the metal lid. A number of holes are punched in the center of the lid, and the overcap is sized so that it fits tightly with the outside of the container.
These modifications are required because of the unique way in which the microwave oven heats food in containers. The food is generally filled to the top of a microwavable container, making the raised overcap necessary to accommodate expansion of the food caused by steam bubbles. The holes in the lid allow for steam venting. Microwave heating causes explosive boiling in the food which creates splattering and can be so violent as to physically move the container. This is a type of localized superheating which does not occur in conventional cooking where heating is by conduction. The conventional stovetop cooking causes a more uniform, gentle heating which is unlikely to produce explosions.
The overcap of the prior art must be tight-fitting to reduce the likelihood of explosions causing it to blow off of the container. However, this also makes removal of the lid more difficult, especially for elderly persons and young children.
Other types of prior art closures included thermoplastic material molded onto composite materials, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,456,146. However, such container assemblies do not address the problems involved with microwave heating an open container, as will be discussed later.
This invention solves these problems of the prior art microwavable containers and closures. While the closure and container are particularly beneficial for a package intended to be microwaved, the easy-open features are useful for a wide variety of food containers, including shelf stable foods; retortable packages; hot filled products, such as juice; or frozen foods, such as for juice concentrate. The container may be of a bowl shape, such as shown in the detailed embodiments herein, or of any other suitable shape, for example, a tapered cylinder.


The invention relates to a durable hydrophilic non-porous surface-modified polymer composition, to aqueous fluid channels based on said composition, to a microfluidic system comprising said channels, to a method for the production thereof and to a microfluidic chip or cells incorporating said composition.

The present invention relates to a surface-modified composition formed of moldable polymers possessing a lasting hydrophilic nature, to channels for aqueous fluids based on this composition, to a microfluidic system, such as a microfluidic chip, comprising these channels, to its process of manufacture and to a microfluidic chip incorporating said system.
Microfluidic systems, such as microfluidic chips, are composed in a known way of inert biocompatible substrates (i.e., substrates which can be used as cell culture support) on which networks of channels are formed and they are suitable in particular for localizing in a well-ordered way, on these substrates, the deposition of proteins originating from aqueous solutions. These microfluidic systems are of major importance in fields of activity such as the biomedical field, genetics, pharmacology, analytical chemistry, synthetic chemistry or combinatorial chemistry, due to the fact that they make it possible to reduce the measuring or validation times and the volumes of reagents necessary for analyses.
These microfluidic systems are conventionally composed of a flexible polymer, such as a crosslinked rubber composition based on a silicone rubber. Advantageously, a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is chosen as silicone rubber, essentially owing to the fact that it is a widespread, gas-permeable, inert and biocompatible elastomer and that it can be easily molded, making possible, at a low cost, satisfactory reproduction in a micromold of the microstructures intended to form fluidic channels on the micrometer or even nanometer scale. In addition, the transparency to visible light in the absence of autofluorescence phenomenon which characterizes PDMSs allows various methods of microscopic observation of cells within these microstructures.
However, a disadvantage of the PDMSs is that they exhibit a highly hydrophobic nature, which means that the walls of the channels of the microfluidic systems made of PDMS cannot be wetted by aqueous liquids. This is the reason why attempts have been made to develop methods for rendering PDMSs hydrophilic at the surface. It has been known for a long time that plasma surface treatments make it possible to confer a satisfactory hydrophilic state on PDMSs. Nevertheless, it turns out that this hydrophilic state is only short-lived, on account of it coming to an end in the open air after a few hours.
The paper by Papra A. et al. (Microfluidic Networks Made of Poly(dimethylsiloxane), Si and Au Coated with Polyethylene Glycol for Patterning Proteins onto Surfaces, American Chemical Society, Langmuir, 2001, 17, 4090-4095) presents a process designed to confer a longer-lasting hydrophilic nature on a microfluidic system which is, for example, based on a PDMS, this process consisting essentially (cf. page 4091):                in subjecting the surface of the microfluidic system to an oxygen plasma oxidation treatment for ten seconds,        in immersing the system thus treated for ten hours at ambient temperature in a solution of hydrochloric acid in an aqueous medium comprising a poly(ethylene glycol)di(triethoxysilane) with a weight-average molecular weight (Mw) of 3400 g/mol (hereinafter Si-PEG-Si), then        in washing the system obtained, in subjecting it to ultrasound treatments, then in drying it and in cleaning it,        in subjecting the system thus treated to oxidation for ten minutes by a solution based on aqueous hydrogen peroxide solution and on sulfuric acid,        in again washing the system thus oxidized and then in subjecting it to further ultrasound and drying treatments,        in again immersing the system obtained for 18 hours at ambient temperature in said Si-PEG-Si in solution in toluene and in the presence of hydrochloric acid, in order to obtain, by a grafting reaction of the Si-PEG-Si, a coating which adheres to the PDMS, then        in washing the system obtained and then in subjecting it to an ultrasound treatment, in order to remove ungrafted residues.
This paper indicates that the surface of the PDMS thus modified by grafting retains a hydrophilic nature for approximately three weeks.
It should be noted that the adhesion between the Si-PEG-Si and the PDMS which is obtained by the implementation of these oxidation and grafting stages is achieved by virtue of the formation of covalent bonds of siloxane type.
A major disadvantage of this process lies in its complexity and in the relatively long time which it takes to carry it out, in particular due to the use of solvents, and in the difficulty of commercially obtaining the abovementioned Si-PEG-Si polymer, the only one recommended for the grafting. This results in a relatively high manufacturing cost for this microfluidic system which is highly damaging to the possibilities of applying it industrially. It is necessary to have available processes which are simple, fast and inexpensive to implement in order to retain a low manufacturing cost, which is composed mainly of the production by molding of microfluidic systems with hydrophobic elastomers or thermoplastic polymers.

Composition formed of moldable polymers possessing a lasting hydrophilic nature, channels for aqueous fluids based on this composition, microfluidic system incorporating these channels and its process of manufacture

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

Association pour les Transferts de Technologie du Mans


A method, apparatus and article of manufacture is provided for automatic insertion of a compressed GOP offset table within a previously encoded MPEG video file, for frame accurate random access of each individual video frame in play-from-offset mode. The method creates a compressed GOP offset table having an entry for each GOP header of every video packet of the MPEG video file, and modifies the MPEG video file by inserting the compressed GOP offset table before the MPEG video file as at least one padding packet, thereby preserving the MPEG compliance and compressed audio/video data of the MPEG video file. The method further has a step for estimating a number of padding packets needed for the GOP offset table, thereby limiting the MPEG video file reading to a single read.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the compression, cataloging and viewing of full motion videos and, more particularly, to the processing of compressed video data.
2. Description of Related Art
The infrastructure and process required to create and operate a video archive in the digital domain are well known in the broadcast video industry. The archiving process generally begins by digitizing and compressing the analog video using MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 compression, then moving the compressed video file to a long term storage. To preserve the contribution quality of the video, broadcasters generally select a high compressed bitrate (i.e., 15–40 Mbps), which allows the original video to be recovered with relatively high fidelity in spite of the lossiness of the MPEG compression scheme.
The high bitrate of the compressed video, however, presents considerable problems to the broadcaster's local area network and computer workstation infrastructure, when the video must be distributed for viewing and post-production work. The high network bandwidth and the amount of time required to transfer the assets throughout the plant places an upper limit on the number of concurrent transfers and severely constrains productivity. In response to this bandwidth problem, broadcasters create an additional copy of the video at a much lower compressed bitrate (i.e., 1.5–4 Mbps). This low bitrate file, referred to as a 'proxy' or 'browse' file, enables users to quickly download the video or to view it directly on computer monitors by utilizing a streaming video server. To facilitate the viewing of video assets outside the local area network, a second proxy file is often encoded at a very low bitrate (56–1000 Kbps), for streaming over low speed terrestrial lines.
After ingestion of the video, the next step in the archiving process is to create an entry for the video in the video library catalog. This entry contains metadata, which is information pertinent to the video. The contents and format of a video catalog record, normally broadcaster unique, facilitate the search and retrieval of video clips within the broadcaster's video library. Presently, there are commercially available video catalog applications (catalogers) that will automatically extract from an MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 video file metadata, such as closed caption text and the text of the actual audio program, obtained via speech recognition technology. Catalogers further extract metadata from the video by performing scene change analysis and creating a bitmap of the first frame after each cut or major scene transition. These bitmaps, referred to individually as a 'thumbnail' or collectively as a storyboard, are considered essential metadata because they enable the end user to determine very quickly the video content. Absent the storyboard, the end user is forced to view the video or, at a minimum, fast forward through a video to find the desired video segment.
A common feature of video catalog applications is to allow the end user, when viewing the catalog record and metadata, to play the proxy file by double clicking on any thumbnail. The MPEG player, nested inside the application's window, begins to play the video from the timecode associated with the thumbnail. The player performs this function by sending to the streaming video server a play-from-offset request. A limitation of the MPEG syntax permits a video to be randomly accessed only at the Group of Pictures (GOP) header level. More specifically, in order to start playing randomly, within an MPEG file, the player must decode a pack header to obtain system timing, a system header to identify the audio and video streams, a sequence header to parse the video format, a sequence extension for further video format information, and a GOP header to begin decoding on an 'I' frame.
Unlike other block based compression algorithms, the frame size in MPEG is variable, so frames must be located by sequentially reading the file. To implement the play-from-offset capability, MPEG players commonly have to perform a rough calculation based on the multiplex bitrate. For example, to start playing at offset 00:00:10:15 (10 seconds, 15 frames) into an 8 Mbps video, the player will use the following formula:
      byte                          offset    =            (                        (                      bytes                                      /                                    second                    )                *        seconds            )        +          (                                    (                          bytes                                            /                                          second                        )                                (                          frames                                            /                                          second                        )                          *        number                                                  of                                                  frames            )      10,500,000=((8,000,000/8)*10)+(((8,000,000/8)/30)*15)
Since this formula is only an approximation, and the player has no knowledge of where the GOP boundaries are, the player will arbitrarily subtract a number of bytes from this result in order to ensure playing is begun prior to the target frame. This crude method is aesthetically unpleasing because up to 15 frames of corrupted video may be played out before the encoder is able to construct a full, error-free frame of video. Additionally, this formula assumes the video was compressed at a constant bitrate. If a variable bit rate compression scheme was used, there is no correlation between bitrate, file size and video duration.
Another conventional technique of implementing play-from-offset is for the video server to build an index file containing the offset of each GOP in the video. The player then passes the streaming server a time offset, and the server performs a table lookup to determine the file byte offset. The drawback of this method is that the server must build and manage an additional file for each video. If the video MPEG file is migrated to a near-line tape storage, both files must to written to and restored from tape. This also complicates the inter-server transfer of videos commonly performed to maintain load balancing or import video files from other content providers.
Yet another problem with a server-based implementation of play-from-offset occurs due to the fact that the user requested frame will most likely not coincide with a GOP boundary. The player has no knowledge of the starting frame timecode, so it cues on the first picture of the GOP and the end user is forced to single step to the intended frame. This behavior is not acceptable for the broadcast video industry. Non-linear video devices are expected to cue on the target frame with minimal delay.
Therefore, there is a need for a system and method for automatic insertion of a file index information within an existing MPEG video file, so that an MPEG player has a priori knowledge of GOP SMPTE timecodes and file offsets, for precise play-from-offset capability. This system and method should be able to perform without use of a separate index file, in a manner that ensures the MPEG video file will continue to be decodable, without error, by any compliant MPEG decoder engine.

System and method of processing MPEG streams for file index insertion

International Business Machines Corporation


In one embodiment, a supervisory service for a wireless network obtains frequency-time Doppler profile information for an endpoint node attached to a first access point in the wireless network. The supervisory service uses the frequency-time Doppler profile information for the endpoint node as input to a machine learning model. The machine learning model is trained to output an action for the endpoint node with respect to the wireless network. The supervisory service causes the action for the endpoint node with respect to the wireless network to be performed.

As wireless access points become increasingly ubiquitous, more and more access points are being deployed in industrial settings. Typically, this is done through the implementation of a wireless mesh, whereby access points relay communications between one another, in order to pass data to and from clients. This is in contrast to traditional enterprise wireless networks.
The environmental conditions in an industrial environment are constantly changing. This applies to a wide variety of use cases, ranging from open-pit mining, to container ports, and the like. For example, what could be perceived as perfect Line of Sight (LoS) between a node and an access point can suddenly change when there is heavy traffic of vehicles, movement of containers, etc. This can lead to a blocked LoS and sub-optimal radio frequency (RF) conditions in very tight quarters. Site surveys are also not of much help in highly dynamic and persistently traffic prone deployments. In such scenarios, nodes tend to just drop traffic suddenly, creating confusion among network administrators, who may mistake the blocked LoS issues with configuration or software-level problems.

Environment aware node redundancy and optimized roaming


A sweat absorber according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a first sweat absorber extended in a head circumferential direction and a second sweat absorber partially surrounding the first sweat absorber and formed of a different material having a different strechability, and the sweat absorber is highly stretchable, provides wearing comfort, improves sweat absorbing capability, is quick drying, and has antibacterial and deodorization functions, and provides a temperature control function to maintain a constant temperature.

In general, headwear includes a crown portion worn on a head of a wearer, a visor portion coupled to the crown portion and functioning as a visor, and a sweat absorber disposed at an interior circumference of the crown portion so as to prevent sweat produced from the head or forehead from flowing to the eyes or face of the wearer.
The sweat absorber directly contacts the skin and thus is closely related to sensitivity of the wearer. In particular, when the headwear is free-sized and thus both of the crown portion and the sweat absorber have elasticity, the sweat absorber is closely attached to the head, and accordingly, the function and importance of the sweat absorber are higher than with other styles of headwear.
The sweat absorber prevents sweat produced from the head or forehead during exercise from flowing to the face or eyes.
In addition, the sweat absorber reduces pressure applied to the head or forehead due to the hard sewing portion of the visor portion or the crown portion.
Although it is limited to a free-sized product, the sweat absorber may be elastically stretchable to make the elastic crown portion fit the head size of the wearer.
Thus, the sweat absorber of the free-sized headwear may not be able to fully satisfy the above-stated functions.
When the sweat absorber is formed of an only elastic band, elasticity may be improved and various expressions such as a logo or characters can be woven in the outer surface thereof, but impressions may be remained on the forehead of the wearer along the edge of the sweat absorber or the wearer may have uncomfortable feelings and sensations of compression on the forehead. Further, if the wearer wears on the hat for a long time, sweat may flow to the face or eyes of the wearer because the elastic band is formed of a single sheet.
When the sweat absorber is formed of an elastic band and a cover portion that surrounds the elastic band, impression and compression problems can be reduced such that the wearing comfort may be improved, but the headwear may not be applied to various-sized heads because elasticity is weakened.
In addition, characters or logos may be woven on the cover portion of the sweat absorber, but workability may be deteriorated and a loss may occur due to cutting.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.


A valve for vacuum lifting systems has a flow passage with a load end, a vacuum end, orifices at each end, and an air impermeable float member within the passage. The valve is positioned in the air flow path between a vacuum lifting pad and a vacuum pump, with its vacuum end in the direction of the pump and its load end in the direction of the pad. Activation of the vacuum pump creates an initial air flow which causes the float member to move at a determinable rate from a rest position at the load end toward the vacuum end. If the load end of the valve is open, activation of the pump causes the float member to form a vacuum seal with the interior wall of the flow passage at the vacuum end orifice. If the lifting pad is in operative contact with a suitable load surface, the length of the valve flow passage is such that on activation of the pump a vacuum seal will be formed between the load and the lifting pad before the float member reaches the vacuum end orifice. With multi-port lifting pads, valves of the invention function to prevent air flow through any vacuum port which is not in proper vacuum contact with the load surface. The load end orifice is configured to allow air flow from the flow passage through the orifice even when the float member is in its rest position, thereby allowing rapid release of vacuum from all ports at the completion of a lift.

1. Field of the Invention.
This invention relates to vacuum lifting systems. More particularly, the invention relates to an automatic sensing valve useful in multi-port vacuum pads for lifting operations involving loads of varying configurations and surface characteristics; in such use, the valve of my invention automatically blocks all ports except those ports resting on suitable surface areas, so that vacuum efficiency is maximized.
2. Description of the Prior Art.
Vacuum lifting systems are in common use as effective means to lift and/or position loads having "vacuum-friendly" surface characteristics--i.e. surfaces to which a vacuum pad will adhere under vacuum. Such systems normally include vacuum generating means such as a pump, often with an interconnected evacuated reservoir tank to sustain vacuum in the event of pump failure, one or more lifting pads so constructed as to form a vacuum seal with suitable load surfaces when vacuum is applied, and suitable vacuum conduit means, such as hoses, interconnecting the pad or pads with the vacuum pump. Each pad is suspended by one or more chains or the like from either a crane hook or a frame on which the vacuum pump is mounted, the frame in turn being suspended from a crane hook. In use each vacuum pad is lowered into position on the load surface, the vacuum pump is activated, and when a vacuum seal has been established between the pad and the load surface, the assembly is lifted. When the lifting operation is completed, the vacuum is released, either by means which simply allow atmospheric air to flow to the pad or, if more rapid release is desired, by means which actually blow air through the conduit and pad; in either event, when the vacuum is released, the pad and other parts of the assembly can be lifted away from the work.
As is known to those skilled in the art, the lifting capacity of a vacuum system is determined by several factors, including the capacity of the vacuum pump, number, size and configuration of vacuum pads, etc. The rate at which the design vacuum level is reached, which can be very important in high volume or high speed lifting operations, is determined by many of the same factors as capacity, but is also related to the rate of air flow permitted by the vacuum hoses, lifting pad orifices etc.; the higher the flow rate, the more rapidly design vacuum level can be reached. Vacuum pads of the prior art vary in size and shape (e.g. oval, square etc.) according to the type of load with which they are to be used. Additionally, most such pads have heretofore included a resilient sealing member around the periphery of their working surface--i.e. the surface facing the load surface--and a single orifice or port through which the working surface communicates with the hose to the vacuum pump.
New applications for vacuum lifting continue to arise as the effectiveness of the method is appreciated. One such application involves lifting in one operation a group of finished wooden floor boards or the like. In this situation a number of adjacent boards having typical widths of 2 to 3 inches and lengths of 8 to 12 feet are finished, e.g. by application of varnish, in one operation and emerge from the finishing equipment at one time, whereupon it is desired to lift the entire group as a unit and move them to a storage location. Although the finished surface of each such board is suitable for vacuum lifting, the unavoidable interstices between adjacent boards allows the flow of air, which prevents the formation of a vacuum seal if use is attempted of one of the above described prior art vacuum pads shaped to span the group of boards. Further compounding the problem is the fact that the group of boards to be lifted may vary in number and thus in combined width; hence, a prior art vacuum pad wide enough to span a particular number or width of boards will be unusable for lifting groups of fewer or narrower boards due to air leakage at the sides of the load.
Another lifting application where prior art vacuum pads cannot normally be used is one involving a load with varying surface characteristics, wherein some portions of the surface are suitable for forming a vacuum seal, while adjacent portions are not, for example because they contain depressions or holes.
One approach to overcoming problems such as those discussed has been to provide a vacuum pad in which the working face defines a plurality of spaced vacuum ports and a sealing member covering the entire working face includes holes corresponding to the ports, each port communicating with the vacuum hose through a manifold arrangement. In such prior art pads, a normally closed valve is mounted at each port and a sensing finger linked to the valve extends through the port and beyond the sealing member. If a sensing finger in a particular port is displaced by the load surface when the pad is brought in contact with the load, it causes the valve to open and thereby allows the vacuum pump to operate on that port with the intent of forming a vacuum seal at that part of the work surface.
Theoretically, with the just described multi-port vacuum pad, the vacuum pump will operate only on those ports in the working face where the sealing member is in contact with suitable load surface areas. However, two principal problems still exist with such a pad. First, the use and installation of the fingeroperated sensing valves adds significant expense and complexity to the pad. Second, the sensing fingers can be displaced by an isolated high point on the load surface or by the edge of a load adjacent to an open space; in either case, no seal is formed at such ports when the valve opens, and lifting either does not occur or is highly inefficient and unsafe because only a partially effective seal is formed between the vacuum pad and the load.


A method of synthesizing nondestructive examination data of a component that combines data sets acquired at least two different frequencies. At least one of the data sets is interpolated or extrapolated to the equivalent of data acquired at one of the other frequencies employing a third, reference set of eddy current inspection data that is acquired at each of the inspection frequencies being combined.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention pertains generally to eddy current data obtained from non-destructive examination of a component and more particularly, to a method of combining eddy current data obtained at two different scanning frequencies.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Nondestructive examination of components is carried out in a number of fields and is particularly important in the periodic inspection of steam generator tubing that form part of the primary circuit of a pressurized water reactor nuclear steam supply system. The integrity of the steam generator tubing in the primary circuit of a pressurized water nuclear reactor steam supply system is essential to assure that radioactive coolant from the reactor does not contaminate the secondary side circuit in which it is in heat transfer relationship to create steam to drive a turbine which in turn drives a generator to create electricity. A hot leg of the nuclear reactor primary coolant circuit is connected to one side of a hemispherical plenum on the underside of the steam generator. The hemispherical plenum is divided into two substantially equal parts and bounded on its upper side by a tube sheet. Heat exchanger tubes extend from one side of the hemispherical plenum through the tube sheet into the secondary side in a U-shaped design that terminates through the tube sheet to the other side of the hemispherical plenum. The other side of the hemispherical plenum is connected to a cold leg of the nuclear reactor primary coolant circuit. There are hundreds of tubes within the steam generator communicating between the hot side and the cold side of the plenum. To ensure the integrity of the tubes, periodically, during reactor outages, the plenum is accessed through manways and the tubes inspected. Eddy current probes are inserted into the tubes and the tube position and data read by the eddy current detectors are recorded to identify any flaws that may have developed in the tubes during the preceding service period between inspections. The eddy current data takes the form of signal patterns, which require a great deal of experience to interpret to identify the existence, type and extent of any flaws that may be present in the tubing. If flaws are detected that exceed a given criteria, the corresponding tubing is plugged and thus taken out of service to reduce the likelihood of failure during the forthcoming reactor operating cycle.
Obtaining eddy current data representative of the various kinds of flaws that are likely to be encountered under field conditions, among a background of scattering data and other noise encountered in the field, to train data analysts and test inspection techniques, is extremely difficult and expensive. However, such training is essential to being able to properly interpret eddy current data. Similarly, the testing of inspection techniques is necessary to understand the probability of detecting different types of flaws and the affect the sizing of a flaw has on the various discontinuity responses.
Accordingly, a need exists to acquire eddy current data representative of the detection of a number of different flaws that is suitable for training and qualifying analysts and testing inspection techniques. Desirably, such data should have substantially the same background, scatter and other noise as is encountered in the field.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,823,269 addresses this need by teaching a method for synthesizing eddy current data for this purpose. The steps of the method involve creating a specimen that simulates the component undergoing nondestructive examination with preselected flaws of interest. The specimen is then monitored by an eddy current probe to create a set of eddy current data representative of the flaws detected in the specimen. At least some of the eddy current data collected at a field site is combined with at least some of the eddy current data collected from the specimen to establish a combined data train that reflects the eddy current response to the selected flaws in a background representative of data collected at the field site. Preferably, the eddy current probes used to collect data at the field site and at the specimen are the same type and are operated at the same inspection frequencies and data sampling rates. Furthermore, the patent teaches that it is desirable that the field and specimen data sets are calibrated separately to substantially the same standard so that the signal level and orientation for a given flaw correspond. However, the patent reference recognizes in the real world there will be differences in monitoring conditions between the field data set and the data set obtained from the specimen and states that if there are differences in the inspection conditions, mathematical models can be used to interpolate one or the other of the responses if coil size or inspection frequencies are not identical.
Initially, simple linear combinations of the inspection results from two frequencies were used in an attempt to infer the response at an intermediate frequency. While this produces a result that approximates the desired response it was found that it lacked many of the subtleties present in the original data. It was determined that the shortcoming of the approach was a consequence of the frequency dependent field spread associated with the eddy current coil. This leads to a response being in the lower frequency data at locations where there was none at the higher frequency. A simple combination of the two responses is satisfactory where the two responses overlap but is inadequate where they do not.
Accordingly, a new method is desired that would enable the data union method to be employed with two or more data sets obtained at different frequencies.
Furthermore, such a method is desired that would enable the combination of different data sets obtained at different frequencies without the loss of any of the information in the original data sets.

Eddy current data interpolation/extrapolation


A liquid crystal display device 10 in accordance with the present invention includes a liquid crystal 11 and a lighting device 12, the liquid crystal panel 11 having a liquid crystal layer 50 provided between a pair of glass substrates 31, 41, the lighting device 12 supplying illumination light to the liquid crystal panel 11. The liquid crystal display device 10 is characterized in that a metal-halide containing region 60 is formed in a position in one of the pair of glass substrates 31, 41. The metal-halide containing region 60 contains a crystal of metal halide which exhibits photochromism in the light supplied from the lighting device 12. The position is capable of blocking light toward a luminance point defect occurrence portion X that becomes a cause of a luminance point defect. The one of the pair of glass substrates 31, 41 is disposed on the lighting device 12 side.

There is a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal device, which is such as follows: providing a switching element (for example, TFTs), pixel electrodes, etc. on one of a pair of glass substrates; providing a counter electrode etc. on the other one of the glass substrates and, thereafter, laminating the two glass substrates via a spacer; next, injecting liquid crystal into a space between the two glass substrates to form a liquid crystal layer and, thereafter, laminating polarizing plates onto surfaces of the two glass substrates to obtain a liquid crystal panel; finally, mounting a lighting device including, for example, a plurality of cold cathode tubes as a light source to the liquid crystal panel.
The above-explained process of manufacturing the liquid crystal device can include a step of detecting inferiority by operating various kinds of inspection at predetermined timings. For example, in the inspection after forming the liquid crystal layer, presence or absence of display inferiority is inspected by placing a pair of polarizing plates for inspection in a manner holding the two glass substrates therebetween, lighting a backlight for inspection, and driving the switching element.
In such an inspection step, if, for example, the liquid crystal layer has a foreign substance that has entered therein, the light strikes the foreign substance contained in the liquid crystal layer and is diffusely reflected so that the luminance point defect, which is luminant in spite that black is displayed, is detected. The luminance point defect extremely reduces the display quality and decreases the yield rate of manufacture.
To compensate such a luminance point defect, a method disclosed in, for example, Patent Document 1 is known. The method disclosed in Patent Document 1 is as follows: form a concavity process portion in a vicinity of a surface of a transparent substrate on the incident side located on an irradiation path of irradiation light that irradiates a pixel in which the luminance point defect has been occurred; and processing a side face and a bottom face of the concavity process portion into rough surfaces to form a light diffusing area.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 04-301617

Liquid crystal display device and manufacturing method thereof