A method for generating a prediction of a latency of a transaction processing system includes: sampling a first plurality of messages from a database that stores data indicative of messages previously processed by the transaction processing system including a characteristic and a processing time of each previously processed message; generating latency tables based upon the characteristics and the processing times of the sampled first plurality of messages; determining a characteristic of each of a second plurality of messages being processed by the transaction processing system; selecting, for each of the second plurality of messages, a latency table from the plurality of latency tables based upon the respective determined characteristic; simulating a processing time for each of the second plurality of messages based upon the respective selected latency table; and generating a latency prediction for the transaction processing system based upon the simulated processing times for the second plurality of messages.

A match engine is a key component of a financial instrument trading system, such as a futures exchange, such as the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. (CME). The match engine is a transaction processing system that processes a high volume, e.g., millions, of contracts or trades in one day. The contracts or trades are typically submitted in messages communicated to and from market participant computers. Exchange match engine systems may be subject to variable messaging loads due to variable market messaging activity. Performance of a match engine depends to a certain extent on the magnitude of the messaging load and the work needed to process that message at any given time. An exchange match engine may process large numbers of messages during times of high volume messaging activity. With limited processing capacity, high messaging volumes may increase the response time or latency experienced by market participants. Exchanges and market participants seek to minimize response time, or latency, for order submissions and confirmations.
In addition to the high volume, e.g., millions, of orders matched by a match engine per day, a match engine may receive a large volume of undesirable messages that are submitted primarily to test or gain information about the match engine's latency. For example, traders may submit low-risk orders that are useful for the traders not only because of the contained order, but because the processing time provides an indication of the current match engine response times. For example, instead of submitting a full order, a trader may submit a small lot order to observe the current match engine response time. If the response time is acceptable to the trader, then the trader may submit the full order. This practice places unnecessary strain on the match engine by having to process the frequent and small orders, such as small low risk orders.
A trader may desire to assess current response times for many reasons. For example, a market participant may be trading in several markets at one time, and may require a response in a certain amount of time from one market so that the market participant can then decide whether to take a certain position in a different market. Depending on the overall market activity and current performance of the match engine, a trader may submit an order and observe a response in 100 microseconds. At another time, the trader might observe a response in 1 millisecond. This difference and uncertainty may present a risk of missing an opportunity to complete a trade strategy in a second market. Or, the difference and uncertainty in response time may indicate a low probability that an order would be filled at a desired price even in the same market. Thus, uncertain response times may deter traders from trading in the same or different, secondary markets.
If the match engine is experiencing high latency, there is no guarantee that a submitted order will be processed before the market drastically changes. Without accurate and timely information about the response time of a match engine, market participants assume a risk while orders are in-flight, and not yet serviced by the match engine. Sending extra, low risk messages may exacerbate the problem, because the match engine must process the additional messages that have little true trading value, and must provide additional data back to market participants. If the match engine could provide real time or near real time response time data to market participants, the overall efficiency and data throughput of the match engine and the financial trading system would improve.
"Futures" is a term used to designate contracts for the purchase or sale of financial instruments or physical commodities for future delivery or cash settlement on a commodity futures exchange. A futures contract is a legally binding agreement to buy or sell a commodity at a specified price at a predetermined future time. An option contract is the right, but not the obligation, to sell or buy the underlying instrument (in this case, a futures contract) at a specified price within a specified time. The commodity to be delivered in fulfillment of the contract, or alternatively the commodity for which the cash market price shall determine the final settlement price of the futures contract, is known as the contract's underlying reference or "underlier." The terms and conditions of each futures contract are standardized as to the specification of the contract's underlying reference commodity, the quality of such commodity, quantity, delivery date, and means of contract settlement. Cash settlement is a method of settling a futures contract whereby the parties effect final settlement when the contract expires by paying/receiving the loss/gain related to the contract in cash, rather than by effecting physical sale and purchase of the underlying reference commodity at a price determined by the futures contract, price.
Typically, an exchange provides for a centralized "clearing house" through which trades made must be confirmed, matched, and settled each day until offset or delivered. The clearing house is an adjunct to an exchange, and may be an operating division of an exchange, which is responsible for settling trading accounts, clearing trades, collecting and maintaining performance bond funds, regulating delivery, and reporting trading data. The essential role of the clearing house is to mitigate credit risk. Clearing is the procedure through which the clearing house becomes buyer to each seller of a futures contract, and seller to each buyer, also referred to as a novation, and assumes responsibility for protecting buyers and sellers from financial loss due to breach of contract, by assuring performance on each contract. A clearing member is a firm qualified to clear trades through the clearing house.
Current financial instrument trading systems allow traders to submit orders and receive confirmations, market data, and other information electronically via electronic messages exchanged using a network. Electronic trading systems ideally attempt to offer a more efficient, fair and balanced market where market prices reflect a true consensus of the value of traded products among the market participants, where the intentional or unintentional influence of any one market participant is minimized if not eliminated, and where unfair or inequitable advantages with respect to information access are minimized if not eliminated.
Electronic marketplaces attempt to achieve these goals by using electronic messages to communicate actions and related data of the electronic marketplace between market participants, clearing firms, clearing houses, and other parties. The messages can be received using an electronic trading system, wherein an action associated with the messages may be executed. For example, the message may contain information relating to an order to buy or sell a product in a particular electronic marketplace, and the action associated with the message may indicate that the order is to be placed in the electronic marketplace such that other orders which were previously placed may potentially be matched to the order of the received message. In this way the electronic marketplace may conduct market activities through electronic systems with minimized face-to-face interaction as was previously required in pit based trading systems.

Systems and methods for calculating a latency of a transaction processing system


A container compression device and a method for associating a beverage container with the container compression device is provided, wherein the container compression device is configurable between an extended configuration and a compressed configuration, container compression device including a first handle portion, wherein the first handle portion includes a plurality of first handle portion linking members pivotably associated with the first handle portion. The container compression device also includes a second handle portion, wherein the second handle portion includes a plurality of second handle portion linking members pivotably associated with the second handle portion. Additionally, the plurality of second handle portion linking members are rotatably connected to the plurality of first handle portion linking members via at least one releasable locking device, wherein the at least one releasable locking device is configurable between an engaged configuration and a disengaged configuration.

Carbonated beverages and the like are well known and have been in existence in one form or another for over several hundred years. For example, beer is the oldest, most widely consumed carbonated alcoholic beverage and dates back to over one thousand years. Carbonation occurs when carbon dioxide is dissolved in a liquid, such as water or some other aqueous solution (i.e. soda) and can occur as a result of both forced and natural processes. For instance, carbon dioxide can be forcefully and artificially dissolved under pressure into a liquid or carbon dioxide can dissolve into a liquid due to naturally occurring processes, such as through fermentation. In either case, dissolving carbon dioxide into a beverage can have a beneficial effect on the presentation and flavor of the beverage. In many consumer beverages such as soda, carbonation is used to give a 'crisp' presentation and a flavor 'bite' to the drink by interacting with dilute carbonic or phosphoric acids. And as such, many modern soft drinks, such as soda, wine coolers, sparking waters, etc., contain some measure of carbonation.
However, as is known if a carbonated liquid is not maintained within a controlled sealed environment the carbon dioxide within the liquid will escape via a process referred to as effervescence. This effervescence typically manifests itself as foam or fizz that is caused from the release of gas from the liquid and eventually results in a beverage which has an un-carbonated or 'flat' presentation. This is undesirable because this 'flat' presentation typically results in a detrimentally modified flavor profile as experienced by the consumer. This problem is addressed incidentally because the FDA requires that manufacturers of carbonated beverages store, ship and sell the carbonated beverages in containers that are sealed to be air tight. Accordingly, the carbonated beverages will maintain their freshness or effervescence until the container is opened and the seal is broken. Referring to FIG. 1A, one such beverage container 100, in this case a plastic bottle, is illustrated and shows a carbonated beverage 102 contained within the container 100 such that the beverage 102 is at a predetermined level L1. This allows for a small space 106 to separate the beverage 102 from the top of the container 100. During packaging once the beverage has been dispensed into the container 100, the container 100 is sealed using a sealing device 108, in this case a threaded bottle cap. Referring to FIG. 1B, as the carbonated beverage 102 sits within the sealed container 100, carbon dioxide 110 is released into the small space 106 via effervescence and fills up the volume V1 of the space 106 until the pressure within the container 100 reaches a level where effervescence from the beverage 102 can no longer occur. Typically, the volume V1 of the space 106 between the top of the beverage 102 and the top of the container 100 is sized such that only a small amount of carbon dioxide can be released from the beverage before the pressure within the container 100 reaches an equilibrium with the carbon dioxide in the beverage and effervescence can no longer occur. At this point, the carbonated beverage will maintain its effervescence without the beverage going 'flat'.
Unfortunately however, once a consumer opens the container 100 the pressure within the container 100 is released and effervescence once again begins to occur. Referring to FIG. 1C, each time the consumer removes some of the beverage 102 from the container 100 and reseals the container 100, the space 106 between the top of the new level L2 of the beverage 102 and the top of the container 100 is filled up with carbon dioxide 110 via effervescence from the beverage 102. This creates a condition where the space 106 between the top of the beverage 102 and the top of the container 100 continually increases in volume. And as this new volume V2 increases in size, so too does the amount of carbon dioxide released from the beverage 102, in order to achieve a pressure equilibrium within the container 100. Thus, the amount of carbon dioxide 110 within the beverage 102 eventually becomes depleted resulting in a 'flat' beverage. This is undesirable because most consumers don't enjoy a 'flat' beverage which results in any remaining beverage 102 being disposed of as waste.
One way to prevent carbonated beverages from becoming 'flat' is by keeping the volume V2 of the space 106 between the top of the beverage 102 and the top of the container 100 to a minimum (for example, V2=V1) so that the above discussed equilibrium with the container 100 can be achieved with a minimal amount of effervescence. Up until about 35 years ago, this was impractical because carbonated beverage containers 102 were constructed of glass or metal. However, with the advent of deformable plastic beverage containers, several devices have been introduced to help solve this problem. Unfortunately, these devices are complicated, cumbersome, difficult to use and don't achieve the desired result.

Container compression device and a method for implementing same


The disclosure provides new methods for preparing nitrogen-containing amphiphiles and their use in the preparation of liposomes and other lipid-containing carriers of pharmaceutical substances, including nucleic acids used in gene therapy.

Liposomes are one of a number of lipid-based materials used as biological carriers and have been used effectively as carriers in a number of pharmaceutical and other biological situations, particularly to introduce drugs, radiotherapeutic agents, enzymes, viruses, transcriptional factors and other cellular vectors into a variety of cultured cell lines and animals. Successful clinical trials have examined the effectiveness of liposome-mediated drug delivery for targeting liposome-entrapped drugs to specific tissues and specific cell types. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,264,618 describes a number of techniques for using lipid carriers, including the preparation of liposomes and pharmaceutical compositions and the use of such compositions in clinical situations, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes. While the basic methodology for using liposome-mediated vectors is well developed, improvements in the materials used in the methods, both in terms of biocompatibility and in terms of effectiveness of the carrier process, are still desirable.
In particular, the expression of exogenous genes in humans and/or various commercially important animals will ultimately permit the prevention and/or cure of many important human diseases and the development of animals with commercially important characteristics. Genes are high molecular weight, polyanionic molecules for which carrier-mediated delivery usually is required for DNA transfection of cells either in vitro or in vivo. Therefore, it is of interest to develop lipid transfection vectors which will enhance both the delivery and the ultimate expression of the cloned gene in a tissue or cell of interest. Since in some instances a treatment regimen will involve repeated administration of a gene (or other pharmaceutical product), it also is of interest that the lipid carriers be nontoxic to the host, even after repeated administration.
Amphiphilic imidazolinium derivatives, such as 1-acyloxyethyl-2-alkyl(alkenyl)-3-hydroxyethylimidazolinium derivatives, and methods for their preparation and their use as cationic amphiphiles have been described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,705,655 and 5,830,878, the disclosures of each are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes. These cationic amphiphiles form complexes with nucleic acids and other biological compounds, and their nucleic acid complexes are capable of transforming mammalian cells. Due to the success of these derivatives, what is needed are improved methods for preparing and purifying these compounds. These methods need to be scalable and capable of routinely producing highly pure compounds.

Methods for the preparation of amphillic nitrogen containing imidazolinium derivative compounds


A door or other entryway component of synthetic resin composite construction and closely resembling the appearance of stained real wood. Skin portions of doors and other structures have a surface layer of clear gel coat resin molded to include the texture of a wood grain surface. A subsurface layer adjacent the clear gel coat layer is of pigmented gel coat resin. A structural support layer of the skin is of reinforced resin. Skins of a door or similar article are mounted on frames, and dense micro porous resin foam is provided between the skins to form a solid structure such as a door. Moldings retaining glass panels in openings defined in the door or similar structure are attached to the skins by adhesively fastening the moldings to the skins. Fasteners mounted in the moldings so that there are no plugged holes in the exterior surfaces of the moldings are used to locate the moldings properly with respect to the skins by inserting the fasteners into predrilled holes in the skins. The assembled doors and other structures can be finished by staining and coating with a finish system such as a urethane varnish to provide an appearance closely resembling real wood.

The present invention is related to articles of composite construction including reinforced synthetic resins, and in particular relates to such articles finished to resemble the appearance of real wood.
Real wood, finished by staining and provision of a protective coating such as natural or synthetic lacquer, varnish, or resin finishes, has a pleasing appearance and a substantial and solid feel. Many species of wood having a desirable appearance, however, such as most hardwoods, are expensive and require considerable amounts of skilled labor and time for production of finished articles. The appearance of wood with a bright finish, that is, a finish exposing the color and texture of the wood grain, is particularly desirable for exterior doors and entryway structures, although they may be quite expensive to construct of real wood.
While the appearance of wood is very pleasing for entryways and other exterior features of building, wood is susceptible to damage caused by weather and insect pests, which can destroy the wood or damage its finish. Frequent and often costly maintenance is thus required to prevent rapid deterioration of the appearance of real wood with a bright finish exposed to the weather.
As a more economical substitute, then, entryway doors and numerous other products for which the appearance of wood is desirable have recently been made of composite construction including outer layers of fiber-reinforced synthetic resins prepared to resemble wood. The appearance of such previously available imitation wood products, however, has at best failed to match the attractiveness of well-made structures of actual wood with a bright finish.
While some products of plastics and composite construction have been molded to include surface texture resembling the grain of wood, the appearance of depth that is so attractive in real wood has previously not been possible to reproduce in the finish of such articles. For example, Mrozinski U.S. Pat. No. 5,399,373 discloses production of imitations of natural wood by molding a resin-based gel coat to include a surface shape closely copying the surface grain texture of real wood. For this layer Mrozinski teaches the use of a pigmented gel coat material whose color is related to the color of the wood being imitated. Mrozinski""s process also requires the use of artists"" oil colors or similar pigments to fill the surface texture to imitate the appearance of real wood. The use of such artists"" oils, however, requires considerable skill and time, and still results in an appearance somewhat lacking in realism.
Doors and other entryway components frequently include panels surrounded and supported by moldings attached to larger frame members. Such panels, particularly glass panels of doors and entryway sidelights, have to be supported securely with respect to the surrounding frames. The weight of large multi-layered glass panels, particularly when they include decorative panes assembled in metal caming, can be significant. Moldings used to attach such glass panels to frame structures must therefore be held securely in the required locations on a door or other frame structures.
While adhesives are the primary mechanism for interconnecting the parts of synthetic resin composite structures, fasteners extending through the moldings have also been required in previously known doors and other structures of composite construction in order to ensure that heavy glass panels are held securely enough. The holes through the moldings where such fasteners have been installed have then had to be plugged and finished to match the surrounding surfaces of the moldings, requiring significant time and skill.
What is desired, then, is an improved composite construction including synthetic resin surface portions that can be finished to provide an attractive pleasing appearance closely resembling finished natural wood, while avoiding the disadvantages of natural wood. It is also desired to be able to secure moldings to the skins or other components of a door or other structure of composite construction without having to use fasteners that extend through the moldings to their exterior surfaces.
The present invention provides an answer to the above-stated need for a product of composite construction having an appearance closely imitating real wood, by providing a structure for the exterior skin of a product of composite materials incorporating synthetic plastics that when finished has the appearance of real wood, and by providing a method for making such products.
As first aspect of the invention, an article manufactured of composite materials and having an appearance closely resembling real wood includes an outer layer of a transparent resin-based gel coat material whose outer surface is molded to incorporate in detail the grain shape of the surface of bare real wood. A subsurface layer adjacent to the surface layer of transparent gel coat material is of pigmented resin-based gel coat material of a color related to or resembling the color of unfinished wood of the type whose surface shape is represented. Beneath the subsurface layer is a structural supporting layer which may be of a suitable synthetic resin, reinforced as by glass or other fibers.
When an appropriate finish, such as a wood stain and a protective coating such as laquer, varnish, urethane, or another suitable synthetic resin, is applied to the outer surface of the outer layer of clear gel coat material, the resulting appearance of such a structure according to the invention has a remarkable resemblance to real wood with a similar stain and protective finish. An article constructed according to the invention and provided with such a finish presents an appearance of depth closely resembling the appearance of real wood with a similar type of finish.
In one preferred embodiment of this aspect of the invention the outer layer of transparent gel coat is substantially completely clear and colorless.
In one preferred embodiment of this aspect of the invention the outer layer of transparent gel coat has an average thickness in the range of about 0.012 to 0.020 inch, while the subsurface layer of pigmented gel resin has an average thickness in the range of about 0.003-0.010 inch.
A second major aspect of the present invention is the method of manufacturing an article of composite structure by providing a first skin sheet including an outer layer of transparent gel resin molded to incorporate a surface shape imitating the grain of real wood; providing a second skin sheet, fastening the skin sheets to opposite faces of a frame structure; filling the cavity defined between the skin sheets and within the frame structure with a structural synthetic resin foam adhering to the frame structure and the skin sheets; curing the resin foam and thereby forming a substantially rigid core structure interconnecting the skin sheets and frame; and applying a protective finish coating to the outer surface of the outer layer of at least the first skin sheet.
A third aspect of the present invention is the provision of an article of composite construction resembling an article of real wood and including fasteners fixedly mounted in moldings and used to locate the moldings precisely with respect to an article of composite construction without the use of fasteners extending entirely through such moldings so that unsightly plugs and difficult finish work are not needed.
The foregoing and other objectives, features, and advantages of the invention will be more readily understood upon consideration of the following detailed description of the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Articles of composite structure having appearance of wood


In an image forming apparatus, in the case where a time necessary for a developer bearing member to rotate from a measurement position where an attracting unit attracts the toner on the developer bearing member to a developing position at which an electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive member is developed by a toner on the developer bearing member is represented by a time Tqcm, a time necessary for the photosensitive member to rotate from an exposure position at which an exposure unit exposes the photosensitive member to the developing position is represented by a time Tetd, and a time necessary for a control unit to control an exposing condition based on a charge amount measured by a measuring unit is represented by a time Tp, the attracting unit is disposed so that Tqcm≧Tedt+Tp holds true.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to image forming apparatuses that control image forming conditions based on a result of detecting a charge amount of toner.
2. Description of the Related Art
An electrophotographic image forming apparatus forms an electrostatic latent image upon a photosensitive member based on an image of a document read by a reader, transferred from an external PC, or the like, and forms a toner image by developing the electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive member using toner in a developer. The image forming apparatus controls the density of the toner image by controlling image forming conditions such as an exposure amount of laser light emitted from an exposure apparatus for forming the electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive member, a developing bias for developing the electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive member, a charging potential for charging the photosensitive member, and so on. However, a charge amount of the toner in the developer changes when the toner in the developer is consumed and the developer is refilled with new toner during the formation of many toner images. The charge amount of the toner in the developer also changes in response to changes in the temperature, humidity, and so on within the developer. It is desirable to control the image forming conditions in accordance with the charge amount of the toner in the developer in order to control the density, color, and so on of the toner image in a precise manner.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,006,897 discloses an apparatus including a probe that recovers a small amount of toner from a magnetic brush roller in a developer and measures a charge amount of the toner in the developer based on a mass of the toner recovered by the probe and a change in the amount of electric charge on the magnetic brush roller. According to U.S. Pat. No. 5,006,897, first, the probe, which includes a piezoelectric crystal resonator and an electrode, is caused to attract toner located upon the magnetic brush roller of the developer, and the piezoelectric crystal resonator is then caused to vibrate. A mass M of the toner that adheres to the probe is then calculated based on a difference between a vibration frequency when the toner adheres to the probe and a vibration frequency when no toner adheres to the probe. Furthermore, because toner moves from the magnetic brush roller to the probe, an amount of electric charge Q of the toner adhering to the probe can be found by measuring a change in the amount of electric charge on the magnetic brush roller. The charge amount of the toner in the developer can then be detected based on the mass M and the amount of electric charge Q of the toner adhering to the probe.
However, according to U.S. Pat. No. 5,006,897, the probe is caused to attract toner remaining on the magnetic brush roller after the electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive member has been developed (called "residual toner" hereinafter), and the charge amount of the residual toner is then detected. In other words, according to U.S. Pat. No. 5,006,897, the charge amount of the toner adhering to the photosensitive member is different from the charge amount of the residual toner detected by the probe, and thus there is a problem in that the image forming conditions for forming a toner image at a desired density cannot be set in a precise manner. According to U.S. Pat. No. 5,006,897, even if, for example, the charge amount of the toner has changed drastically, the toner image will be formed based on image forming conditions set before the change in the charge amount of the toner. It is further possible that the charge amount of the residual toner on the magnetic brush roller after the toner has been caused to adhere to the electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive member will have a different value than the charge amount of the toner caused to adhere to the photosensitive member.
FIG. 4 illustrates differences in the amounts of toner adhering to an electrostatic latent image upon a photosensitive member in the case where there are different charge amounts for the toner. The following will describe a case in which the image forming conditions are set based on the charge amount of the toner detected at a predetermined timing. Accordingly, in the following descriptions, a target value for the charge amount is equal to the charge amount of the toner detected at a predetermined timing. Furthermore, in the following descriptions, the amount of toner adhering to the electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive member in the case where the charge amount of the toner is the target value corresponds to a target amount of the toner, at which an image can be formed at a desired density. In the case where the charge amount of the toner used for developing is greater than the target value, the amount of toner adhering to the electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive member will be lower than the target amount. An image that is lighter than the desired density will be formed as a result. On the other hand, in the case where the charge amount of the toner used for developing is lower than the target value, the amount of toner adhering to the electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive member will be greater than the target amount. An image that is darker than the desired density will be formed as a result. Note that in FIG. 4, the vertical axis represents a surface potential of the photosensitive member, Vl represents a light potential (a potential at a region of the photosensitive member that has been exposed), Vcont represents a developing contrast potential difference, Vdev represents a developing bias, Vd represents a dark potential (a potential at a region of the photosensitive member that has not been exposed), and Vback represents a potential difference between the dark potential and the developing bias.


An electromagnetic fuel injector for use in an internal combustion engine has a center pole piece with an axially extending bore which slidingly accepts an adjusting pin therein. The adjusting pin has a first end portion for engagement with the armature return spring of the injector. Axial translation of the adjusting pin, relative to the center pole piece will vary the compression on the spring, the seating load on the armature valve and, as such, the dynamic flow characteristic of the injector. The adjusting pin further has means for engaging the center pole piece to rotate the piece which is threadingly engaged within the injector housing. Rotation of the threaded piece relative to the housing varies the armature/valve travel and, as such, the static flow characteristic of the injector.

Various types of electromagnetic fuel injectors are used in the fuel injection systems of internal combustion engines. Such injectors, as well as other solenoid controlled valve structures, have been used which have incorporated therein a solenoid armature that is located between the pole piece of the solenoid and a fixed valve seat whereby the armature operates as a valve member. Examples of such electromagnetic fuel injectors or solenoid controlled valve structures are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,515,129 issued May 7, 1985 to Stettner and 4,572,436 issued Feb. 25, 1986 to Stettner et. al. The above identified patents show arrangements in which an armature/valve is biased to a normally closed position against a fixed valve seat by a spring member. The armature/valve is operable between a seated, sealing position against the valve seat and an open position against a pole piece of the solenoid for controlling flow through a flow passage in the valve seat.
It is desirable to precisely control the flow of fuel through the valve seat, and thus the injector, in order to meet performance requirements, as well as, emissions regulations for internal combustion engines. It is also desirable that, for a given application, all injectors will meter equivalent quantities of fuel to the engine cylinders upon application of a predetermined electrical input. As such, the injector flow curve must be adjusted to meet a given set of nominal flow requirements. In general the injector is a linear device that will meter fuel on a per-pulse basis which is proportional to the input. The specific relationship between pulse-width and fuel delivered is dependent upon the static flow of the injector, which is typically controlled through armature stroke, and dynamic response or flow, which is typically controlled through armature spring load. Setting the static and dynamic flow requirements in injectors has presented the manufacturer with concerns of contamination, durability and accuracy since calibration normally occurs during assembly, requiring further handling subsequent to flow adjustment.


Apparatus for detecting move instructions in which only registers are involved. The apparatus generates signals to disable the inclusion of any SIB byte, displacement bytes and immediate bytes from the instruction length when a move instruction which only requires processor registers is encountered. The apparatus uses the generated signals for instruction length calculation and instruction prefetch pointer generation.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to computer processors and, more particularly, to methods and apparatus for allowing a computer processor to process instructions written for older processors which would normally generate an error response in the newer processor.
2. History of the Prior Art
The most prevalent design of personal computers at the present time is based on the microprocessors manufactured by Intel Corporation including the 8086, 8088, 80286, i386.TM., and i486.TM. microprocessors (hereinafter referred to as the Intel microprocessors).
The Intel microprocessors have a relatively involved memory architecture. This structure grew because of the constant attempt to allow later microprocessor models to run programs designed for the earlier microprocessors while, at the same time, increasing the amount of memory and the speed of operation of the later microprocessors.
Because of the need to make each more advanced Intel microprocessor run the instructions which may be run on older Intel microprocessors, the instruction set for the Intel microprocessors has become quite complicated. Instructions are of variable length and can be from one to fifteen bytes. An instruction may consist of several fields. The instruction fields may include up to four bytes of prefix information, one byte of opcode, zero or one byte of ModR/M information, one byte of scale/index/base (SIB) information, up to four bytes of displacement information, and up to four bytes of immediate information. All of the fields other than the opcode are optional; thus, an instruction of the minimum length is a one byte instruction which contains only the opcode defining a particular operation. The details of the individual elements of instructions running on the presently most advanced of the Intel microprocessors are described in i486 Microprocessor, Programmer's Reference Manual, published by Osborne McGraw-Hill, 1990, pp. 26-1 et seq.
Many of the instructions which run on the more modern Intel microprocessors will not run on earlier Intel microprocessors. For example, the SIB byte is present only in thirty-two bit instructions and, consequently, has an effect only with i386 and later Intel microprocessors which are capable of using these instructions. On the other hand, it has been discovered that certain programs written for earlier processors contain instructions which may be interpreted by the more advanced processors in a manner which causes incorrect operation of the more advanced processors. It is desirable that the more advanced processors be capable of running these programs. It is therefore desirable to correct the invalid results produced in later Intel microprocessors by various instructions in programs designed for earlier Intel microprocessors.

Apparatus and method for modifying instruction length decoding in a computer processor


A power converter is disclosed that includes an active valley fill (AVF) capacitor that is actively switched to provide current to a load during a portion of an alternating current (AC) input cycle. The current supplied to the load includes some current supplied by the AC input and some current supplied by the AVF capacitor. Circuitry is configured to regulate the amount of current flowing through the load, including controlling the amount of current supplied by the AVF capacitor. The duty cycle on the AVF capacitor can be adjusted to shape the AC input current waveform.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a voltage halving passive valley fill (PVF) circuit 100. PVF circuit 100 includes a full wave rectifier (FWR) 102 (e.g., diodes DBR1-DBR4), diodes D1-D3, fill capacitors C2, C4, C5 and resistor R1. In AC powered systems that drive DC loads or require DC supply, PVF circuit 100 can provide power to a load when the rectified AC input voltage approaches zero. PVF capacitors C2, C4, C5 are charged in series and discharged in parallel due to diodes D1-D3. During discharge, the fill capacitors provide half of the peak AC input voltage to the load.
FIG. 2 is a plot illustrating the rectified AC input voltage, which is output from FWR 102. Each cycle of the rectified AC input voltage is twice the frequency of the AC input voltage. Each cycle of the rectified AC input voltage arbitrarily starts at the beginning of time period A and ends at the end of time period A′. For discussion purposes, a cycle of the rectified AC input voltage is assumed to start at the beginning of time period B and end at the end of the next time period A.
FIG. 3 is a plot of output voltage of PVF circuit 100. PVF capacitors C2, C4, C5 charge to the peak input voltage. Because of diodes DBR1-DBR4 in FWR 102, when the rectified AC input voltage falls below one half of the peak voltage, the combined voltage on PVF capacitors C2, C4, C5, is larger than the AC input voltage and PVF capacitors C2, C4, C5 supply current to the load. The combined voltage of PVF capacitors C2, C4, C5 falls as the load draws current. Thus, the rectified AC input voltage surpasses the combined voltage on PVF capacitors C2, C4, C5 before the end of time period A.
FIG. 4 is a plot of PVF capacitor current. The current in PVF capacitors C2, C4, C5 is shown in FIG. 4. Line 402 illustrates the resistor limiting the inrush current into PVF capacitors C2, C4, C5 and line 400 illustrates a low resistor value R. During time period A, and most of time period A′, PVF capacitors C2, C4, C5 supply current to the load. During the end of time periods A, B and B′, the AC input supplies current to the load and current to charge PVF capacitors C2, C4, C5. Because PVF capacitors C2, C4, C5 are coupled in series when charging the recharge of PVF capacitors C2, C5, C5 occurs when the rectified AC input voltage is near, but prior to, the peak AC input voltage. Because PVF capacitors C2, C4, C5 are coupled in parallel during discharge, PVF capacitors C2, C4, C5 supply current to the load when the rectified AC input voltage falls below half of peak AC input voltage.
The current from the AC input is the sum of the current supplied to the load during time periods B and B′ plus the current to charge PVF capacitors C2, C4, C5. For approximately one third of the cycle of the AC input voltage (A and most of A′), the AC input sees no load and the load at the output is supplied by PVF capacitors C2, C4, C5.
FIG. 5 is a plot of actual AC current (I_ac) versus ideal AC current. For the DC current load (I_load), the actual AC current is a rather rough approximation of the ideal AC current, where "ideal" means having a higher power factor near 1.0. This is for a constant current load, meaning the output power is not constant. For a constant load power, the I_load becomes much worse (worse PF) because the current must increase near the valley to compensate for the decreasing supply voltage, as shown in FIG. 6.
FIGS. 7A and 7B are plots illustrating an input voltage waveform of PVF circuit 100 with a resistive load and resistor current limiting. One can observe from FIGS. 7A and 7B, that PVF circuit 100 is limited in its ability to provide a good power factor. The current from the AC input is zero when PVF capacitors C2, C4, C5 are conducting. Although the shape of the PVF voltage and current waveforms look better with a resistive load, there is no current drawn from the resistive load for roughly one third of the cycle and there is a current spike near the middle of the cycle to charge the PVF capacitors.
FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a two-stage power factor correction (PFC) converter 200. Two-stage converter 800 is a conventional solution to the power factor problem described above. First stage 802 of converter 800 includes inductor L1, diode D1, capacitor C1, resistors Ra, Rb, transistor N2 and integrated circuit IC1. Second stage 804 includes the remaining components in FIG. 8 in conjunction with IC1. The power factor correction provided by two-stage converter 800 is good but the extra inductor L1 and the associated losses and costs are not desired.

Active valley fill power factor correction


The present invention is related to novel polymorph of Fexofenadine and Fexofenadine hydrochloride of formula 1 and process of preparation thereof. The present invention is also directed to provide pure novel polymorphs of Fexofenadine and its hydrochloride by a simple process which is cost effective, commercially viable and environment friendly.

Chemically fexofenadine hydrochloride is 4-[4-[4-(hydroxydiphenylmethyl)-1-piperidinyl]-1-hydroxybutyl]-α,α-dimethylbenzene acetic acid hydrochloride. It is also known as terfenadine carboxylic acid metabolite. It is represented by Formula 1.

Fexofenadine hydrochloride is useful as an antihistamine, and does not cause the adverse effects associated with the administration of terfenadine including abnormal heart rhythms in some patients with liver disease or patients who also take the antifungal drug ketoconazole or the antibiotic erythromycin.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,254,129 ("the '129 patent") entitled Piperidine Derivatives issued on Mar. 3, 1981. The '129 patent relates to substituted piperidine derivatives and methods of making and using them. The disclosed compounds, including fexofenadine and its pharmaceutically acceptable salts and individual optical isomers, are purported to be useful as antihistamines, antiallergy agents and bronchodilators.
The '129 patent discloses a process for the preparation of fexofenadine having a melting point of 195-197° C. The recrystallization process exemplified therein in Example 3, column 13, involves use of a mixture of solvents for preparation of fexofenadine.
WO 95/31437 discloses processes for preparing hydrated and anhydrous forms of piperidine derivatives, polymorphs and pseudomorphs thereof, which are useful as antihistamines, antiallergic agents and bronchodilators.
WO 95/31437 discloses the preparation of anhydrous forms of fexofenadine hydrochloride by subjecting the hydrated fexofenadine hydrochloride to an azeotropic distillation or to water minimizing recrystallization. In the invention described in this application, unlike the process described in WO 95/31437, hydrated Fexofenadine Hydrochloride is not converted to anhydrous Fexofenadine Hydrochloride, but instead Fexofenadine is converted to Form A of Fexofenadine and then to anhydrous Form X of Fexofenadine Hydrochloride. The novel anhydrous crystalline form of Fexofenadine Hydrochloride is obtained according to the present invention directly from the novel precursor i.e. Fexofenadine without generating a hydrated form. The starting material used Fexofenadine (Base) is different than described in WO 95/31437.
WO 00/71124A1 discloses amorphous fexofenadine hydrochloride process, its preparation and a composition containing it.
Fexofenadine obtained in the prior art processes, is a mixture of regioisomers of fexofenadine containing 33% of para isomer and 67% of meta isomer. These components are referred to as inseparable and it is also stated that it is not possible to obtain either of the regioisomers in substantially pure form. On the other hand, Fexofenadine prepared according to the process of this invention has a purity of >99.5%. In the novel crystalline Fexofenadine of this invention, the meta isomer of Fexofenadine is at a level of below 0.1%. Purity of fexofenadine is critical when it is used for the conversion to its hydrochloride salt since it is very difficult to remove any undesired impurities, including regioisomers, from the desired compound in last late processing stage. Removing the impurities increases the cost of production. Hence it is generally preferred that the HPLC purity of fexofenadine is greater than 99.5%.
Another beneficial aspect of the present invention is that, the fexofenadine hydrochloride is obtained in almost quantitative yield from the precursor i.e. fexofenadine. Almost quantitative yield means that the pure fexofenadine is converted to fexofenadine hydrochloride quantitatively (>92% yield of theory), with almost no yield loss, as the fexofenadine base itself is >99.5% pure as compared to fexofenadine prepared by the prior art processes.

Crystalline forms of fexofenadine and its hydrochloride


Disclosed is a wood composite material comprising: wood strands disposed in surface layers and one or more core layers, whereby an intermediate density divides the wood strands so that the two surface layers of strands are more dense than the intermediate density, and the one or more core layers of the strands are less dense than the intermediate density, and wherein the core layer contains at least about 70 wt % of the strands that are less dense than the intermediate density; and the surface layers contain at least about 70 wt % of the strands that are more dense than the intermediate density.

Wood is a common material used to construct doors and other architectural building elements. Even today, after the development of several new species of composite materials, wood remains one of the most widely-used structural materials because of its excellent strength and stiffness, pleasing aesthetics, good insulation properties and easy workability.
However, in recent years the cost of solid timber wood has increased dramatically as its supply shrinks due to the gradual depletion of old-growth and virgin forests. It is particularly expensive to manufacture doors from such material because typically less than half of harvested timber wood is converted to natural solid wood lumber, the remainder being discarded as scrap.
Accordingly, because of both the cost of high-grade timber wood as well as a heightened emphasis on conserving natural resources, wood-based alternatives to natural solid wood lumber have been developed that make more efficient use of harvested wood and reduce the amount of wood discarded as scrap. Plywood, particle board and oriented strand board ("OSB") are examples of wood-based composite alternatives to natural solid wood lumber that have replaced natural solid wood lumber in many structural applications in the last seventy-five years. These wood-based composites not only use the available supply of timber wood more efficiently, but they can also be formed from lower-grade wood species, and even from wood wastes.
However, decreasing wood supplies and lower wood quality are putting increasing stress on the quality of and raw material prices for OSB. Wood species often must be mixed in the process in order to have enough wood to make continuing supply of composite panels. If these species are of differing densities, there are problems with the mixing of them in the panel. For example, if a clump of one species or the other were to form in the panel due to inadequate mixing in the process, then the area of the clumped species would have a density that is either higher or lower than the overall average density of the panel. This could cause visual and structural problems with the panel since lower density clumped material may form a weak spot and high density clumped material may cause a stronger and harder area which may be harder to sand. Given the foregoing, there is a continuing need for a wood composite material that can address these inadequacies. Notably this wood composite material would have superior or comparable performance to solid wood lumber while being lighter (lower density) than conventional mixed-species OSB materials, have a more uniform appearance and more consistent physical properties. Additionally, this wood composite material would incorporate to some extent fibers harvested from lignocellulosic species that are faster growing than those species which are conventionally used for wood composite materials.
Examples of such faster growing lignocellulosic species include tree species from the genus Paulownia, as well as trees grown on managed (irrigation and fertilization) plantations. Examples of non-tree lignocellulosic materials include annual and perennial grasses such as wheat straw and the various species of bamboo. These can be grown and harvested very quickly after planting, and can give a more frequent harvest schedule than that of typical tree species. Additionally, these species would be mixed into a wood composite material in such a way that the strengths of the materials would be emphasized while the weaknesses of the materials would be minimized for the final product. Mixing a small amount of a superior material into a wood composite in this manner would serve to maximize the value of the superior material while at the same time conserving it, especially if the material was in short supply or was expensive to procure.

Wood composite material containing strands of differing densities


An apparatus and method combine visual addresses and electronic addresses for identification of electronic units. In which, the apparatus is one device per electronic unit. Each device comprises a circuit board encapsulated in a device enclosure, and the circuit board provides electronic identification for the electronic unit. The electronic identification of the electronic unit is communicated via bus pins attached to the circuit board to the electronic unit upon the bus pins being inserted into the electronic unit. A cabinet label is affixed to the device enclosure provides visual identification for the electronic unit.

Within the prior art, software systems are often touted as being flexible and easily adaptable. In general, this is only true for small software programs and controlling non-real time events. For large software systems controlling real time processes, such as telephone switching processes, these systems are not particularly flexible. The reason for this inflexibility is that the systems are quite large, each portion of the system is time critical, and reliability is of the utmost importance. It is commonplace for software that runs on a personal computer to use a message when it is necessary for the user to reboot the system or for the system to automatically reboot itself. However, in real time systems, such as telecommunication systems, the software must run unattended and maintain reliability through a variety of conditions. The process that is gone through to assure this reliability and speed of real time systems makes these systems expensive to develop and very prone to fatal errors if small changes are made within the software. In addition, real time systems of this type are developed over many years, beginning with a common base which advances with further development. It is not uncommon that the developers of the real time system are no longer employed or working on the systems. Consequently, the people that would be making the modifications are not aware of all of the considerations that were used to cause certain sections of the program to be written in a certain way.
In addition, a program written ten or fifteen years ago may now be utilized on modern hardware. The new hardware often will be packaged in a different manner than the hardware for which the software system was originally developed. The older hardware may well have had particular requirements that caused the software to be written in a certain way. However, new hardware and more importantly new packaging techniques have obsoleted the original hardware. The result is that the new hardware must still conform to what the software believes the hardware should appear to be. This is particularly true in the field of business telecommunication systems where the original systems of ten or fifteen years ago were placed in large cabinets that were well structured with respect to the card carriers, with each carrier having an unique physical address. As technology has developed, the original carriers have been downsized and are no longer mounted in cabinets; rather, the modules may be individually mounted on walls or placed in racks in random order. However, the software systems that are utilized to control this new hardware configuration still anticipates that it is like the original hardware design.
To overcome this problem, designers have used the physical address information to identify one module from another. Also, it is necessary to visually identify these different modules so that service personnel know which module is which. Unfortunately, prior art techniques identify the physical hardware address of a carrier or module through the use of dip switches or wire straps that are normally positioned on the back of the module or carrier; whereas, the visual identification of that module is placed on the front of the module. Interestingly enough, this separation of the physical address from the visual address causes a large number of problems in the field. In addition, the modules are interchangeable and are only uniquely specified by the cards that are placed in them, but the cards assume addresses based on the physical address of the module. The card will transmit these assumed addresses to the central controller. In turn, the central controller bases control messages sent to the cards on the assumed addresses.

Apparatus and method for providing visual and hardware addressing information


A pair of disk-shaped annular flanges is made of material firmer than that of a hollow cylindrical-shaped roller portion. The roller portion has an outer peripheral surface in which the flanges are mounted at opposite ends thereof. On press-fitting a pair of bearings in the roller portion, the flanges are retained by means of bearing flanges. The outer peripheral surface of the roller portion has a pair of flange guides, at opposite ends thereof, for guiding the flanges. The flange guide has a longitudinal length shorter than thickness of the flange. An adhesive agent may be filled in a gap formed among an end surface of the roller portion, the disk-shaped annular flange, and the bearing.

This invention relates to a recording and/or reproducing device represented by DLT (digital linear tape) or LTO (linear tape open) and, in particular, to a guide roller for guiding a tape and a method of manufacturing it.
Recording and/or reproducing devices of the type described are developed for use in back-up ones of computer systems and various types of the recording and/or reproducing devices have been proposed in prior art. Such a recording and/or reproducing device serving as the LTO is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,322,014 issued to Robert Nemeth.
The recording and/or reproducing device may be also a tape drive in which a cartridge having a single reel (a supply reel) can be installed. The cartridge may be also called a cassette. The recording and/or reproducing device contains a take-up reel therein. When the cartridge is installed in the recording and/or reproducing device, a magnetic tape (which will be also referred to "tape" merely) is pulled out of the cartridge and then is wound by the take-up reel through a guide assembly. The guide assembly is for guiding the tape pulled out of the cartridge in a magnetic head. The guide assembly comprises a plurality of guide rollers each of which uses bearings. The magnetic head exchanges information between the tape and the magnetic head. In addition, the take-up reel is rotationally drivable by means of a real motor.
In the manner which is described above, provided in the tape drive, the guide roller is guiding the tape pulled out of the cartridge in the magnetic head. The guide roller is rotatably supported on a roller shaft mounted on a chassis of the tape drive. The roller shaft includes a shaft portion of a substantially solid cylindrical shape. Such a roller shaft is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,634,535 issued to Naoki Tatsumi et al.
More specifically, the guide roller includes a roller portion and a pair of bearings for rotatably supporting the roller portion on the shaft portion of the roller shaft. Such a guide roller is disclosed, for example, in United States Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0222327 A1. The guide roller is called a first conventional guide roller. The first conventional guide roller will later be described in detail in conjunction with FIGS. 1 through 4.
A different guide roller is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. Hei 9-22067 or JP-A 9-22067. In the different guide roller disclosed in JP-A 9-22067, a cylindrical-shaped roller portion and a pair of disk-shaped annular flanges are separately constituted and the pair of disk-shaped annular flanges is fitted in an outer surface of the cylindrical-shaped roller portion at opposite end sides. JP-A 9-22067 also discloses the guide roller in which each flange is made of material having hardness firmer than that of the roller portion. The guide roller is called a second conventional guide roller. The second conventional guide roller will also later be described in detail in conjunction with FIGS. 5 to 8.
Incidentally, in the tape drive, as methods of realizing a large capacity, the following methods are adopted: to increase head channels, to lengthen the tape by thinning a thickness of the tape to be used, to increase a transport rate by becoming fast a tape traveling speed, or the like. However, to thin the thickness of the tape and to increase the tape traveling speed are disadvantageous in that both edges of the tape mar the flanges of the guide roller. It results in adversely affect traveling of the tape.
In order to resolve such problems, it is carried out by coating, with a material having high hardness such as titanium, ceramics, DLC (diamond-like carbon), or the like, a surface of the roller portion in the first conventional guide roller or a surface of the flanges in the second conventional guide roller. However, to apply the above-mentioned particular coating to the surface is disadvantageous in that the guide roller increases in cost.
Particularly, in a case where the roller flanges are integrally formed in the roller portion as the first conventional guide roller, the particular coating further increases in cost because the coating is applied to all of the surface of the roller portion.
On the other hand, in order to resolve the above-mentioned problems, it may be considered that only the flanges are made of a material firmer than that of the roller portion in the second conventional guide roller. However, another problem may be encountered in making the flanges of the firm material. This is because the flanges crack on press-fitting the pair of flanges in a pair of outer peripheral step parts at the both ends of a roller outer peripheral surface of the roller portion. In order to resolve the problem on press-fitting the flanges, it may be considered that it is designed so that the diameter of the outer peripheral step part is substantially equal to the inner diameter of the flange and the pair of flanges is coupled by means of an adhesive agent with the outer peripheral step parts at both sides of the roller outer peripheral surface of the roller portion. However, with the structure of the second conventional guide roller, it is disadvantageous in that the adhesive agent leaks on the roller outer peripheral surface of the roller portion.

Guide roller including a pair of bearing having bearings flanges for retaining a pair of firm disk-shaped annular flanges


A land grid array (LGA) includes a base having a first surface and a second surface which is substantially parallel thereto. The base is formed with a plurality of apertures which open through the base, and a plurality of electrical connectors are mounted on the base. Specifically, the connectors are formed with a central portion, and each connector has one deflectable finger and one extension which project in opposite directions from this central portion. The central portion of the connector is embedded into the base to cantilever the finger and the extension into respective juxtaposed apertures. When not deflected, the finger of the connector projects outwardly from its aperture and beyond the first surface of the base, while the extension is formed with a solder point surface which is generally coplanar with the second surface of the base. In a plurality of apertures, one finger projects one way and another finger projects the other way. With this combination, the electrical contact tips of the fingers are arranged as two matrices, one over the first surface of the base and the other over the second surface. Thus, a plurality of circuits are established between the first surface of the array and the second surface.

Many electrical devices require connection with the electrical circuits of other electrical devices in order for them to function properly. Indeed, it is not uncommon for an electrical device to require simultaneous connection with a great many electrical circuits in other devices. To satisfy this requirement, connectors have been developed that can establish as many as seven or eight hundred different electrical circuits between electrical devices. Commonly used terms for such connectors include: "pin grid array" and "land grid array".
Typically, a grid array will include a generally flat base member, and will have a multitude of individual electrical connectors. For most applications, these connectors are mounted as an array on the base member and extend from both sides thereof to establish as many different electrical pathways through the base member of the array.
A commonly used component for the individual electrical connectors of a land grid array is a deformable, electrically conductive, wire mesh structure known as a "fuzz button". In addition to establishing an electrical pathway, an important attribute of these so-called fuzz buttons is that they are inherently resilient and flexible. This resilience and flexibility, however, can be both beneficial and detrimental to the performance of the land grid array.
On the one hand, resilience and flexibility in an electrical connector are desirable in that these qualities promote the proper engagement of an electrical connector with an electrical device. For instance, some relative movement between the connector and the device is beneficial for causing a "wiping" action which helps assure electrical contact between the device and the connector, and thereby establish the electrical pathway through the connector. Further, some flexibility between electrical components is advantageous in order to accommodate variations in the tolerances that are engineered into electrical devices. Although fuzz buttons are generally highly deformable, and easily accommodate tolerance variations, they can become misshaped with extended, repetitive use. Thus, they can give uneven contact pressures between the various electrical contact points. For the same reason, fuzz buttons are prone to loosing their registration with the contact points on the electrical connector to which they are mated. With either uneven contact pressures or lost registration, essential electrical circuits may not be established by the land grid array. To overcome these shortcomings, other electrical contact structures need to be considered.
Electrical contact fingers which are mounted on base members, and which are cantilevered therefrom, have certain structural attributes which are beneficial to an electrical connector. First, a cantilevered contact finger can be engineered to have a requisite flexibility. Second, the finger can be engineered to maintain structural integrity and dependability over a prolonged duty life. Further, when used within engineered limitations, solid fingers are minimally susceptible to becoming deformed or misshaped. Thus, they are able to effectively maintain their strength and their ability to be repetitively repositioned in register.
In addition to flexible connectors, it is also often desirable to have more solid and permanently established electrical contact points incorporated into a connector assembly. Soldering is a well known technique for establishing such contact points. However, in order to establish solder points where numerous such points must be simultaneously established, it is necessary to accurately register the solder points and to have them properly connected between other circuitry.
An important concern for electrical connectors involves the mechanical forces which are generated against the electrical components when they are electrically joined to each other via the connector. For the particular instance of a land grid array scheme where opposed flexible contact points is to be used to connect one electrical device with another, the forces which are required to establish and maintain the connection between electrical components can be considerable. Specifically, for land grid array schemes which use one cantilevered beam to establish electrical contact with one device and an opposed cantilevered beam to establish electrical contact with another device, when both beams are between the devices the forces which are respectively generated by the two beams will be additive. Consequently, the resultant force against each of the electrical components is the sum of the separate forces that are generated by the two individually deflected beams. For many applications, this resultant force may be too large. However, if one of these beams is replaced with a solder connection, which involves no interactive forces, the force of the replaced beam will be effectively eliminated. The resultant force on the electrical components will thereby be effectively halved.
In light of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a land grid array which will establish reliable electrical circuits, despite repeated use over a prolonged period of time. Another object of the present invention is to provide a land grid array connector which effectively maintains registration for a plethora of electrical circuits. Still another object of the present invention is to provide a land grid array connector which is adaptable for engagement with different types of electrical devices. Another object of the present invention is to provide a land grid array connector which incorporates both flexible contact pin connectors and fixed solder points in the same electrical connector assembly. It is also an object of the present invention to provide a land grid array connector which tends to minimize the resultant forces that are generated by the connector assembly against the electrical components it is interconnecting. Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a land grid array which is simple to use, relatively easy to manufacture and comparatively cost effective.

High density multi-pin connector with solder points


A first reactive gas is introduced into a vacuum chamber and a plasma of the thus introduced reactive gas is produced. A second reactive gas is introduced into a radical generating chamber and is dissociated to generate radicals whose density and composition are well controlled. Then, the thus generated radicals are injected into the plasma generated within the vacuum chamber such that an amount of a desired kind of radicals within the plasma is selectively increased or decreased. In this manner, a thin film having an excellent property can be deposited on a substrate placed in the vacuum chamber. Alternatively, a surface of a substrate placed in the vacuum chamber can be processed precisely and selectively.

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a functional material thin film by introducing controlled radicals into a plasma, and also relates to a method of performing a plasma process for a functional material by a controlled plasma. The present invention also relates to a surface processing apparatus for processing a surface of a substrate by a controlled plasma. In the present specification, the term "surface processing apparatus" means both an apparatus for manufacturing a thin film on a surface of a substrate by a plasma chemical vapor deposition and an apparatus for processing or changing a surface condition of a substrate by a plasma etching.
Techniques for fabricating a functional material thin film and for working a functional material precisely have been widely used in manufacturing thin film electronic devices such as LSI, and would be indispensable technique for developing new materials or new devices, and performing a precision working for realizing integrated circuits. In the method of manufacturing thin films and the method of performing a precision process, a given reaction gas is introduced into a plasma to produce ions and radicals by decomposition or excitation of the introduced gas, and then the thus generated ions and radicals are reacted with a substrate having a surface to be processed. In this manner, a thin film is deposited on the surface of the substrate or the surface of the substrate is processed. In these methods, the radicals perform important role for realizing these processes.
In the formation of thin films of functional materials, production of new materials, precision process, radicals play an important role, and densities of radicals and compositions of radicals are determined in accordance with external conditions such as pressures of gases, kinds of gases, applied electric powers, sizes of process vessels and materials of process vessels.
Since radicals are neutral electrically, and thus its control is extremely difficult.
Therefore, by adjusting such external parameters, it is impossible to increase a density of given radicals in a plasma, said radicals playing an important role in the thin film formation and precision process. Furthermore, it is impossible to control precisely a density and a composition of desired radicals. Therefore, it is difficult to realize a remarkable improvement in the formation of thin films and precision process.
In the formation of thin films made of functional materials and precision process, a plurality kinds of gases are used and a plural kinds of radicals are produced by decomposition of these gases. In this case, production cross sections of these radicals have energy dependency, so that it is impossible to realize desired density and composition of radicals from a plurality of gases within an energy range of a plasma to be used.

Method of manufacturing thin film and method for performing precise working by radical control and apparatus for carrying out such methods


A screw for use concrete and hurricane applications includes a head end, a shank and a tapered end. A high thread begins on the tapered end, extends onto the shank and terminates at a first axial location along the shank, wherein the high thread defines a high peripheral edge, and at least a first helical portion of the high peripheral edge includes a plurality of notches and the first helical portion extends from on or proximate to the tapered end and substantially to the first axial location. A low thread begins on the tapered end, extends onto the shank and terminates substantially at the first axial location such that an axial length of the low thread is substantially the same as and contiguous with an axial length of the high thread. The low thread defines a low peripheral edge that is free of any notches.

A typical screw configuration includes an elongated shank that extends between a driving head of the screw and a pointed end of the screw. At least part of the shank is helically threaded. Concrete screws with a variety of configurations are known. However, improvements are continuously sought.
It would be desirable to provide a screw configuration that facilitates quick and effective installation with relatively low torque requirement and a resulting high resistance to pull-out after installation, particularly for concrete applications and resistance to hurricane forces.

Screw-type fastener for concrete and hurricane resistance applications


A method is presented of thermal decomposition to crack ethane and/or higher alkane hydrocarbon feed or the mixture of any of these hydrocarbons to break down into component elements or simpler constituents using heat from a hot metal agent from a chemical looping combustion process.

The cracking furnaces in commercial steam cracking processes are reaching the limits of efficiency. The yield and selectivity largely depends on the mechanism of heat transfer and how the hydrocarbon feedstock is brought in contact with the heat source. Cracking furnaces suffer from coke formation and deposition issues leading to productivity loss. As well, current steam cracking furnaces are large sources of greenhouse gases which are very expensive to capture from the flue gas.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,540,893 issued Jun. 2, 2009 to Liu and Zamansky, assigned to General Electric Company, described a system and method for producing synthesis gas including a regeneration zone. The regeneration zone included a first fluidized bed configured to receive an oxidant for producing a regenerated oxygen transfer material (OTM). The system further included a mixed reforming zone comprising a second fluidized bed configured to receive a first fuel and the regenerated OTM to produce a first reformate stream and a steam reforming zone comprising a third fluidized bed configured to receive the first reformate stream, a second fuel and steam to produce the synthesis gas. The regeneration zone, mixed reforming zone and steam-reforming zone were in fluid communication with each other. The temperature in the catalytic partial oxidation (CPO) mixed reforming zone was 700° C. to 1100° C. There was no third reactor to heat ethane to 900° C.
International Patent Application WO 2018/005456 filed Jun. 27, 2017 to Sofranko et al., assigned to Bio2Electric, LLC, described enhanced oxygen transfer agent systems and methods of use thereof. They described a method for producing olefins from a hydrocarbon feed including the step of contacting a hydrocarbon feed comprised of one or more alkanes with an oxygen transfer agent at a temperature of 350° C. to 1000° C. The oxygen transfer agent comprised an oxygen-donating chalcogen agent comprised of at least one of S, Se, or Te and a reducible metal oxide. The chalcogen had an oxidation state greater than +2. They also described a method for producing one or more olefins by partial combustion of a hydrocarbon feed including partially combusting a hydrocarbon feed comprised of one or more alkanes by contacting the hydrocarbon feed with an oxygen transfer agent comprising CaSO4 at a temperature of 350° C. to 1000° C. to produce one or more olefins comprising ethylene and coproducing water. This is an oxidative dehydrogenation (ODH) process using CaSO4 as the oxygen transfer agent in the moving bed type process.
US Patent Application 2012/0214106 by Sit et al., assigned to New York Blood Center, filed Oct. 13, 2011 (abandoned) describes a chemical looping combustion process for producing heat or steam or both from a hydrocarbon fuel. A metal oxide oxygen carrier is reduced from an initial oxidation state in a first reduction reaction with a hydrocarbon fuel to provide CO2, H2O, heat, and a reduced metal or metal oxide having a first reduced state, the first reduced state lower than the initial oxidation state, and then the reduced metal or metal oxide from the first reduced state is further reduced in a second reduction reaction with additional hydrocarbon fuel to provide CO2, H2O, heat, and a further reduced metal or metal oxide having a second reduced state, the second reduced state lower than the first reduced state. The further reduced metal or meal oxide was oxidized, substantially back to the initial oxidation state with air to produce N2, O2 and heat. This patent application does not describe a third reactor.
US Patent Application 2017/0313637 by Sofranko et al., provisionally filed on Sep. 24, 2014, assigned to Bio2Electric, LLC and North Carolina State University, described an oxygen transfer agent useful for the oxidative dehydrogenation of saturated hydrocarbons including at least one mixed oxide derived from manganese or compounds thereof, as well as a promoter, such as tungsten and/or phosphorous. The oxygen transfer agent may also include an alkali metal or compounds thereof, boron or compounds thereof, an oxide of an alkaline earth metal, and an oxide containing one or more of one or more of manganese, lithium, boron, and magnesium. A reactor was at least partially filled with the oxygen transfer agent in the form of a fixed or circulating bed and provided an unsaturated hydrocarbon product, such as ethylene and/or propylene. The oxygen transfer agent may be regenerated using oxygen.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,956,544 by Schammel et al., May 1, 2018, assigned to Siluria Technologies, Inc., described heterogeneous catalysts with optional dopants. The catalysts were useful in a variety of catalyst reactions, for example, the oxidative coupling of methane to C2+ hydrocarbons. The catalyst used lanthanide elements.
US Patent Application 2017/0210685 by Simanzhenkov et al., filed Oct. 8, 2015, assigned to NOVA Chemicals, described catalytically oxidatively dehydrogenating ethane to ethylene at high conversions and high selectivity in a circulating fluidized bed (CFB) reactor in the presence of oxygen in the feed in an amount above the flammability limit. The reactor had an attached regeneration reactor to regenerate the catalyst and cycle back to the CFB.

Thermal decomposition in chemical looping combustion


Malodour formation reducing compounds alpha-N-(3-Methyl-5-phenylpentanoxycarbonyl)-L-glutamine, alpha-N-(2-Methyl-5-phenylpentanoxycarbonyl)-L-glutamine, and alpha-N-(2,4-Dimethyl-4-phenylbutanoxycarbonyl)-L-glutamine, and their salts, compositions comprising such compounds, including cosmetic products, personal care products, and deodorant products, and methods forming such products and their use. The compounds are useful to reduce the formation of human malodour resulting from bacterial degradation of compounds naturally present in sweat, in particular axilliary malodour.

Disclosed are methods, compounds and compositions useful for the prevention or reduction of human malodour, in particular human axillary malodour.
It is known that fresh sweat is odourless and that odour is only formed upon contact of sweat with skin bacteria (for example bacteria of the genera of Staphylococcus and Corynebacteria), and it is believed that odourless molecules present in sweat are degraded by bacteria colonizing the axilla. It is generally accepted that highly unpleasant malodour is released from fresh sweat mainly by the Corynebacteria genus of bacteria.
It has been suggested to treat malodour by eliminating the bacteria that are causing it. Indeed, commercially-available deodorants often contain antibacterial compounds that inhibit the growth of skin microflora over a broad range of species. Antibacterial compounds currently used in deodorant products include, for example, the broad band antibacterial and antimicrobial Triclosan (2,4,4′-trichloro-2′hydroxy-diphenyl-ether). However, a draw-back to the use of antibacterials is the potential for disturbing the equilibrium of the skin's natural microflora.
Fatty acids are known to play a role in axillary malodour, and are characterised by a particularly unpleasant smell. Alpha-N-acyl-glutamine substrates have been shown to be the main precursors of axilla malodour and they are cleaved by the enzyme N-α-acyl-glutamine-aminoacylase to form unpleasantly smelling fatty acids (A. Natsch et al., Journal of Biological Chemistry 2003, 278(8), 5718-5727).
The applicants have identified specific inhibitors of the enzyme (WO 02/092024). Among many other compound groups, these include alpha-N-acyl-L-glutamines or carbamates of L-glutamine.
The malodour precursor compounds are substrates that may generally be described as derivatives of L-glutamine, in particular L-glutamine derivatives wherein the alpha-N atom of the L-glutamine residue is acylated with a residue of a malodorous compound, in particular a fatty acid residue, more particularly a short chain, branched fatty acid residue. One example of such a precursor compound that was isolated from human sweat has the structure:

Cleavage of this substrate at the alpha-N position releases the 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-hexanoic acid, itself having a pungent odour, which dehydrates to give 3-methyl-3-hexenoic acid which is another key malodour volatile in human sweat.
The AMRE enzyme may cleave substrates for a wide variety of different smelling and non-smelling acids and other compounds. In addition to amide bonds, it may cleave carbamate bonds at the alpha-N position thereby mediating the release of an alcohol, CO2 and L-glutamine.
The applicants now have found that malodour can be significantly reduced by certain alternative substrates that reduce the formation of unpleasantly-smelling cleavage products and instead produce cleavage products that are neutral or olfactorily pleasant.

Compounds and use to reduce the formation of malodour


A method and apparatus verify whether a pattern extracted from an image or a video frame is identical to an original pattern in an electronic device. The method includes extracting a pattern and converting the extracted pattern into a first pattern of a binarized grid type, verifying pixel information of the first pattern, and determining whether the first pattern is identical to an original pattern in consideration of a similar degree between the pixel information of the first pattern and pixel information of the original pattern.

Each of electronic devices, which has become necessities of modern people due to ease in carrying it, has been developed into each of multimedia devices which provides various services such as a voice and video communication service, an information input and output service, and a data transmission and reception service.
Recently, as copy and transmission technologies of the electronic devices have been sharply developed, a problem of an illegal copy of digital contents has been resurfaced.
In order to protect a copyright of digital data, there is a digital watermarking technology for inserting secret information such as copyright information into various digital data such as images or videos. That is, original source and information of digital data may be tracked by inserting pictures or texts into the digital data.
Therefore, it is needed to provide a method and apparatus for matching a watermark inserted into digital data with an original watermark to extract the watermark inserted into the digital data and certify ownership of the digital data.

Pattern matching method and electronic device therefor


An approach is provided for providing single sign-on for computation closures. A single sign-on management platform determines to create a single sign-on computation closure in response to an initiation of a single sign-on authentication session. The single sign-on management platform also determines one or more computation entities that are to execute at least one other computation closure under the single sign-on authentication session. The single sign-on management platform further causes, at least in part, a transfer of the single sign-on computation closure to the one or more computation entities.

Mobile devices with various methods of connectivity are now for many people becoming the primary gateway to the internet and also a major storage point for personal information. This is in addition to the normal range of personal computers and furthermore sensor devices plus internet based providers. Combining these devices together and lately the applications and the information stored by those applications is a major challenge of interoperability. This can be achieved through numerous, individual and personal information spaces in which persons, groups of persons, etc. can place, share, interact and manipulate (or program devices to automatically perform the planning, interaction and manipulation of) webs of information with their own locally agreed semantics without necessarily conforming to an unobtainable, global whole.
Furthermore, in addition to information, the information spaces may be combined with webs of shared and interactive computations or computation spaces so that the devices having connectivity to the computation spaces can have the information in the information space manipulated within the computation space environment and the results delivered to the device, rather than the whole process being performed locally in the device. It is noted that such computation spaces may consist of connectivity between devices, from devices to network infrastructure, to distributed information spaces so that computations can be executed where enough computational elements are available. These combined information spaces and computation spaces often referred to as computation clouds, are extensions of the 'Giant Global Graph' in which one can apply semantics and reasoning at a local level.
In one example, clouds are working spaces respectively embedded with distributed information and computation infrastructures spanned around computers, information appliances, processing devices and sensors that allow people to work efficiently through access to information and computations from computers or other devices. An information space or a computation space can be rendered by the computation devices physically presented as heterogeneous networks (wired and wireless). However, despite the fact that information and computation presented by the respective spaces can be distributed with different granularity, still there are challenges in certain example implementations to achieve scalable high context information processing within such heterogeneous environments. For example, in various implementations, due to distributed nature of the cloud, data, information, and computation elements (e.g., computation closures) are being exchanged among distributed devices within heterogeneous network environments wherein information with various levels of granularity and various structures is provided by and transmitted among various independent sources. In such environments, unique authentication and context validation for information, computation closures and computation entities at development time and at runtime, by unique signatures, throughout the distributed environment of the computation architecture is a very important issue.

Method and apparatus for providing single sign-on for computation closures