There is provided a phosphor down converting element based on fluoropolymer resin and a method for fabricating the same. There is further provided a method for using said phosphor down converting element to generate white light from a radiation source. The method for fabricating phosphor down converting element includes preparing an appropriate phosphor powder mixture that is capable of absorbing a first band of wavelengths and emitting a second band of wavelengths being greater in length than the first bands, incorporating the phosphor powder mixture into or on a phosphor carrier element comprising a fluoropolymer material, and molding the phosphor down converting elements into useful shapes. Fluoropolymers are the most chemically inert of all plastics, can withstand both extremely high and low temperatures, and show a resistance to weavering and UV degradation, making fluoropolymers optimal for use as a phosphor carrier.

The present embodiments relate to a down converting element based on organic fluoropolymer material. It finds particular application in conjunction with solid state light emitting devices, and will be described with particular reference thereto. However, it is to be appreciated that the present exemplary embodiment is also amenable to other like applications.
Light emitting diodes (LEDs) are well known solid-state, or semi-conductor devices that can generate light having a peak wavelength in a specific region of the visible spectrum. More recently developed LEDs emit blue to ultraviolet (UV) light.
Recently, techniques have been developed for converting the light emitted from LEDs to useful light for illumination purposes. In one technique, the LED is coated or covered with a phosphor layer. A phosphor is a luminescent material that absorbs radiation energy in a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum and emits energy in another portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Phosphors of one important class are crystalline inorganic compounds of very high chemical purity and of controlled composition to which small quantities of other elements (called "activators") have been added to convert them into efficient fluorescent materials. With the right combination of activators and inorganic compounds, the color of the emission can be controlled. Most useful and well-known phosphors emit radiation in the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum in response to excitation by electromagnetic radiation outside the visible range.
By interposing a phosphor excited by the radiation generated by the LED, light of a different wavelength, e.g., in the visible range of the spectrum, may be generated. Colored LEDs are often used in toys, indicator lights and other devices. Continuous performance improvements have enabled new applications for LEDs of saturated colors in traffic lights, exit signs, store signs, and the like.
In addition to colored LEDs, a combination of LED generated light and phosphor generated light may be used to produce white light. The most popular white LEDs include blue emitting GaInN chips. The blue emitting chips are coated with a phosphor that converts some of the blue radiation to a complementary color, e.g. a yellowish emission. Together, the blue and yellowish radiation produces a white light. There are also white LEDs that utilize a near UV emitting chip and a phosphor blend including red, green and blue-emitting phosphors designed to convert the UV radiation to visible light.
For mechanical integrity, phosphor powders are typically integrated into or coated onto a transparent substrate. Desirably, such substrates should have greater than 90% transparency for the 254-750 spectral region and long term stability (mechanical, thermal and photochemical) under exposure of UV radiation at elevated temperatures. Very few materials satisfy the above requirements to be suitable substrates for the phosphor powder. Therefore, identification of practical, non-fragile, UV and thermal resistant materials for the phosphor carrier in solid state lighting (SSL) applications and phosphor down converting improvement is necessary.
A well-known PMMA plastic (acrylic) has very low upper service temperature ˜90 C and cannot practically be employed for outdoor applications. Some silicones may be considered as suitable materials; however they do not possess sufficient mechanical rigidity. Various types of glasses fit the requirements and are used as phosphor carriers for design and manufacture light sources in lighting industry and can also be incorporated into solid state lighting devices, but glass is often too fragile for most applications. For example, U.S. Patent Application (Pub. No. US 2005/0274967 A1) proposed utilizing inorganic materials like glass as a phosphor down converting material carrier; however glass fragility is an essential disadvantage to this approach.
Therefore, it would be desirable to develop a down converting element that can be effectively used in phosphor down converting applications that is practical, non-fragile and resistant to ultraviolet degradation.

Phosphor down converting element for an LED package and fabrication method


The disclosure is generally related to an apparatus is configured to mount an optical device to a phone and align the optical device with the camera of the phone. The apparatus includes a first body having an arcuate shape, the first body having an inner side, an outer side, a top, a bottom, a first end, and a second end. The bottom includes a first recess and a second recess positioned within the first recess. The apparatus includes a second body connected to the inner side of the first body. The second body is movable inwards and outwards with respect to the inner side of the first body. The apparatus includes a strap connected to the first body to connect an optical device. The apparatus includes a magnet positioned within the second recess. The magnet connects the apparatus to a ferrous element connected to the back of phone.

Individuals in the outdoor industry have experiences that are far beyond that of the average person. Often, it may be difficult to convey the beauty of nature's creations and instances to someone who is not familiar to these remote and undisturbed locations. Luckily, modern technological advancements in the form of smart phones and smaller portable camera systems such as GoPro and the like have somewhat helped bridge the gap of explaining scenarios and capturing moments for people to bring back to share. Sometimes, high-end optics help these individuals witness these moments in minute detail, and traditionally it is difficult to line up camera-like equipment to capture these moments with magnifying optics due to the critical alignment of camera lens to eyepiece, specific eye relief, and portability. Other disadvantages may exist.

Optics attachment apparatus, systems, and methods


A method of preventing a rollover situation for an articulated vehicle, specifically in relation to the forward vehicle section of the articulated vehicle, is disclosed. A corresponding control unit and a computer program for such an articulated vehicle is also disclosed.

In the field of heavy vehicles, working machines in the form of articulated vehicles are often used at construction sites or the like. The articulated vehicle comprises a tractor unit at which an operator cabin is provided, and a trailer unit provided with a dump body for loading material to be transported. The dump body is connected to a frame unit of the trailer and can be raised and lowered by tilting the dump body in relation to the frame unit, which most often is executed by use of hydraulic tilting cylinders such that the material in the dump body can be unloaded to a position rearward of the articulated vehicle.
Furthermore, the tractor unit and the trailer unit of the articulated vehicle are often pivotally connected to each other by a joint arrangement allowing mutual rotation of the tractor unit and the trailer unit around a geometric axis having a horizontal component in the longitudinal direction of the articulated vehicle. Hereby, the articulated vehicle is able to manage the rough terrain that is often associated to construction sites.
However, during some especially unbeneficial situations when utilizing an articulated vehicle, such as e.g. during unloading of material from the dump body and the weight of the load in the dump body is too heavy and/or a large amount of material or a large and heavy stone gets stuck in the dump body, there is a risk that the center of gravity of the machine is displaced rearwards during the unloading operation such that the tractor unit will be raised above the ground. In these relatively extreme and rare situations, when the wheels of the tractor unit are thus raised above the ground such that no connection is present between the wheels and the ground, and the tractor unit is pivotally connected to the trailer unit around an horizontal axis, the tractor unit may rotate and tip over such that the cabin may land on the ground.
WO2016085369 provides an interesting approach to solving such a situation by rotatably fixating ("locking") the tractor unit to the trailer unit of the articulated vehicle in case an upcoming rollover situation is detected. Thus, a safer working environment for the operator positioned in the operator cabin of the tractor unit may be provided, since the tractor unit/cabin may be refrained from "tipping over".
Even though the solution presented in WO2016085369 provides great improvements to the safety of the operator, the present inventor has identified further possibilities to enhancing the safety for the operator, thus further limiting the risks with operating an articulated vehicle at e.g. a construction site or the like.

Method and control unit for preventing a rollover situation of an articulated vehicle


A method for forming neuromuscular junctions includes forming functional neuromuscular junctions between motoneurons and muscle cells by co-culturing one or more human motoneurons and one or more human muscle cells in a substantially serum-free medium. A synthetic mammalian neuromuscular junction includes a human motoneuron functionally linked to a human muscle cell in a substantially serum-free medium. An artificial substrate may be used to support the one or more neuromuscular junctions.

Neuromuscular junction ("NMJ") formation is a complex process that depends on many variables. Unfortunately, current techniques for producing NMJs suffer from one or more drawbacks which hinder their reproducibility and utility.
For centuries, animals and animal-derived tissues have been the major tools for understanding biological systems, human diseases, developing therapeutic strategies and screening drugs. However, translating animal data to clinical applications has been problematic, leading to fewer drugs being approved and an increasing cost in the drug discovery process (58). While some functional in vitro systems composed of human cells has been reported for liver (59), skin (60, 61) and cardiomyocytes (62, 63), no system composed of human cells has been reported for neuronal systems. Systems based on functional NMJs are of particular interest due to the fact that NMJs represents a synapse-based model that would be clinically applicable to spinal cord injury and motoneuron-related diseases such as Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ("ALS") (64), spinal muscle atrophy (65) and muscular dystrophy (66). An in vitro (1) co-culture system composed of human motoneurons and skeletal muscle would be useful for studies ranging from understanding NMJ synaptogenesis, target generation for NMJ related diseases, screening therapeutic candidates and conducting drug toxicology evaluation. The advantages of human-based in vitro systems compared to in vivo systems reside in that they are much simpler and therefore easy to manipulate any factors, to dissect the mechanisms or pathways and to analyze the results.
One technique for forming NMJs in vitro to use a motoneuron ("MN")-muscle cell co-culture. MN-muscle co-cultures have been described in Xenopus (1, 2), chick (3-5), mouse (6, 7) and rat (8, 9), as well as in cross-species investigations between mouse MN-chick muscle (7, 10), human stem cell-derived MNs-myotubes from C2C12 cells (11). One drawback to these in vitro MN-muscle co-culture systems is that they use serum containing media and a biological substrate (3-5, 8, 9). Since the serum containing medium contains many unknown components and because of the technical difficulties in creating reproducible biological substrates, these examples have led to undesired culture variability, making it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to ascertain the minimum factors required for recreating or maintaining the NMJ in vitro.
Due to the variability inherent with serum containing media (12), serum-free NMJ formation systems have been developed. NMJ formation in serum-free systems has been demonstrated using rat cells (13). Also, cross species NMJ formation between human MN and rat muscle (14) has been demonstrated. These in vitro systems comprised of animal-derived components have provided the scientific community with readily available models for understanding NMJ synaptogenesis and NMJ-related diseases, however, in order to understand NMJ formation in all human cells, the results from these systems must be extrapolated, which can be disadvantageous for clinical applications among others.
A major hurdle in building in vitro biological systems using human components is limitations related to tissue source. However, recent developments in stem cell biology provide an avenue to, not only have an unlimited supply of human cells for tissues, but also to provide genetic diversity in the systems. Cloned human skeletal muscle satellite cells have been used for studying NMJs in vitro by combining them with rat spinal explants or dissociated MN in serum-containing systems (15-19). MNs derived from human embryonic stem cells ("hESC") (11) and human fetal spinal cord stem cells ("hSCSC") (20) have been studied. NMJ formation has been (2) demonstrated between hESCs and C2C12 cells in a serum based system (11), as well as between hSCSCs and rat myotubes derived from embryonic skeletal muscles in a defined serum-free system (14). However, no human based in vitro NMJ system, in which both MNs and myotubes were derived from stem cells presently exists. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a human based system for NMJ formation that does not suffer from one or more of the above described drawbacks.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Synthetic mammalian neuromuscular junction and method of screening for a candidate drug thereon

University of Central Florida Research Foundation


To improve power efficiency of a light-emitting element for white emission even when light in a wavelength range of low luminosity is utilized. As a light-emitting element for white emission, three light-emitting layers are stacked. In such a light-emitting element, the three light-emitting layers are included between a light-transmitting electrode and a light-reflecting electrode, and light emitted from each light-emitting layer is reflected on the light-reflecting electrode and is transmitted through the light-transmitting electrode. In addition, the light-emitting layer closer to the light-reflecting electrode has a shorter optical path length. Thus, the position of each light-emitting layer is limited depending on the distance from the light-reflective electrode, and the optical path length of each light-emitting layer is adjusted; therefore the light-emitting element with high power efficiency can be provided.

In recent years, research and development have been actively conducted on light-emitting elements utilizing electroluminescence. In a basic structure of the light-emitting element utilizing electroluminescence, a layer containing a light-emitting substance (hereinafter, the layer is referred to as a "light-emitting layer") is sandwiched between a pair of electrodes. By applying voltage between the electrodes of the light-emitting element, light can be emitted from the light-emitting substance.
Among light-emitting elements utilizing electroluminescence, a light-emitting element in which an organic compound is used as a light-emitting substance can be formed by stacking thin films. Thus, the thickness and weight of the light-emitting element can be reduced and the area thereof can be easily made larger. For that reason, the light-emitting element is expected to be used for an area light source. Further, the light-emitting element is expected to exhibit emission efficiency higher than that of an incandescent lamp or a fluorescent lamp, and thus has attracted attentions as a light-emitting element suitable for lighting devices.
The light-emitting element can emit light with a variety of colors depending on the kind of light-emitting substance. In particular, in consideration of application to a lighting device, a light-emitting element which can emit white light or light of color close to white with high efficiency has been expected.
As a light-emitting element which can emit white light, for example, a white light-emitting element in which a plurality of light-emitting units having emission peaks in the red, green, and blue wavelength ranges are stacked has been proposed (e.g., Patent Document 1). In addition, a white light-emitting element in which two light-emitting layers having emission peaks in the wavelength ranges of complementary colors (e.g., blue and yellow) are stacked has been proposed (e.g., Patent Document 2).

Light-emitting device and lighting device

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


In a typical embodiment, a parallel processor is provided that includes:

Cloud computing, wireless base stations, smartphones, video, medical imaging, advanced computer graphics and many other applications are computation-intensive and often require multi-core (and/or multi-processor) solutions to match system-required high-processing throughput.
Therefore size efficient multi-core architectures are highly desirable to reduce solution cost and power consumption. Available multi-core solutions are currently based on duplicating (repetition) serial processors in order to meet system processing throughput requirements. These implementation methods are typically memory-size inefficient and have larger-than-needed processing units.

Flexible hardware programmable scalable parallel processor

Abstract: A plurality of parallel processing units that are interconnected to provide a flexible hardware programmable, scalable and re-configurable parallel processor that executes different functions in a parallel processor space domain instead of a processor (serial processor) time domain. Each parallel processing unit includes a flexible processing engine with its inputs and outputs connected to MDDP-RAM blocks. The MDDP-RAM blocks provide the processing engine with different channels' data and coefficients. The processing engine and the MDDP-RAM blocks are controlled by a system processor (or other control scheme hardware) via the parameter blocks to enable high hardware flexibility and software programmability.


In a non-reciprocal circuit element, first to third center conductors intersect one another in an insulated state around a microwave magnetic body, and first ends of the first to third center conductors define first to third ports. A first capacitance element is connected to the first center conductor in parallel and a second capacitance element is connected to the second center conductor in parallel, and the other ends of the first to third center conductors are connected to one another and are grounded via a first inductance element and a third capacitance element that are connected in series. A second inductance element is connected to one end of the center conductor in parallel, and the other end of the second inductance element is grounded. A fourth capacitance element is connected to a connection point between the one end of the center conductor and the second inductance element, and the other end of the fourth capacitance element is connected to a third terminal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to non-reciprocal circuit elements, and particularly relates to non-reciprocal circuit elements such as isolators, circulators, and the like preferably for use in microwave bands.
2. Description of the Related Art
Non-reciprocal circuit elements such as isolators, circulators, and the like have conventionally had characteristics in which signals are transmitted only in a predetermined specific direction, and are not transmitted in the reverse direction. Using such characteristics, an isolator, for example, is used as a sending circuit portion in a mobile communication device such as a cellular phone or the like.
The elements disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Registration Application Publication No. 6-013203 and Japanese Examined Utility Model Registration Application Publication No. 2-018561 are known as three-terminal type circulators, which is one type of non-reciprocal circuit element. As shown in FIG. 2, which corresponds to Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Registration Application Publication No. 6-013203, and in FIG. 5, which corresponds to Japanese Examined Utility Model Registration Application Publication No. 2-018561, the isolation characteristics of the element are monophasic. However, there are cases, depending on the circuit in which the circulator, the isolator, or the like is used, in which flat isolation characteristics are desired, and thus there is a problem in that this type of circulators, isolators, or the like cannot be used in such cases.
For example, in a wireless communication apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 11, a circulator S is provided between a noise canceler NC and an antenna ANT. The circulator S cancels out noise in a reception band by setting the phases of a signal inputted from the antenna ANT and a signal outputted from the noise canceler NC to be inverted by 180° relative to each other. The amplitude characteristics of the noise canceler NC are almost flat, and thus a similar degree of flatness is required in the isolation characteristics of the circulator S as well.
Meanwhile, in an RF circuit 150 of a cellular phone shown in FIG. 12, an isolator I is provided between a power amp PA and a duplexer DPX. A signal outputted from the power amp PA is partially inputted to a gain control circuit AGC via a capacitor C, and an output voltage is monitored. In the case where there is a high amount of reflection from the antenna ANT, the isolator I has isolation characteristics that are low and not flat, and the frequency characteristics are high, the magnitude of power outputted from the power amp PA cannot be accurately detected. Furthermore, the gain control circuit AGC will not operate accurately, and the output of the power amp PA cannot be controlled accurately as a result. Accordingly, flat isolation characteristics are desired in this case as well.


An active device array substrate including a substrate, a plurality of semiconductor patterns, a gate insulator layer, a first patterned conductive layer, a dielectric layer, a plurality of transparent electrodes, a passivation layer, and a second patterned conductive layer is provided. The semiconductor patterns are disposed on the substrate. The gate insulator layer is disposed on the substrate to cover the semiconductor patterns. The first patterned conductive layer disposed on the gate insulator layer includes a plurality of scan lines, a plurality of gate electrodes disposed on each semiconductor pattern and connected with the scan lines, and a plurality of common electrodes disposed between the scan lines. The dielectric layer is disposed on the gate insulator layer to cover the first patterned conductive layer. The transparent electrodes are disposed on the dielectric layer. The passivation layer is disposed on parts of the dielectric layer to expose the transparent electrodes.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display panel and a method for fabricating the same and, more particularly, relates to an active device array substrate and a method for fabricating the same.
2. Description of Related Art
Along with the widespread use of liquid crystal displays (LCD), requirements for better display performance of LCDs in many electronic products are gradually increased. For example, liquid crystal displays are required not only to provide satisfactory display effect indoors, but also to maintain favorable image quality in bright light environment. Hence, how to maintain sharp display quality of liquid crystal displays in bright light environment has become one of the major trends in LCD development. Based on the above reasons, a transflective LCD has been provided. Generally speaking, a transflective LCD mainly consists of an active device array substrate, a color filter substrate, and a liquid crystal layer.
A transflective LCD displays images by simultaneously using a back light source and an external light source. Furthermore, a pixel unit of the active device array substrate is divided into a transparent region and a reflective region. A transparent electrode disposed on the transparent region allows the back light source to pass through, and a reflective electrode disposed on the reflective region is adapted to reflecting the external light source.
More specifically, the processes for fabricating the active device array substrate in a conventional transflective LCD are usually more complicated in order to achieve better display quality. The times of performing photolithography and etching processes directly influence the costs and time consumed in fabricating the whole active device array substrate. Hence, manufacturers in this field all try to develop a fabricating method which requires fewer times of photolithography and etching processes. To increase throughput and reduce production costs, it is necessary to improve the conventional processes for fabricating the active device array substrates of transflective LCDs.

Active device array substrate, electro-optical apparatus and method for fabricating the same


A method and apparatus for coordinating a master/follower device arrangement in a virtual reality (VR) environment is disclosed. A head mounted display (HMD) includes a transceiver, a display, and a processor coupled to the transceiver and display. The processor is configured to control the transceiver to receive, from at least one other HMD, data related to a field of view (FOV) of the at least one other HMD in a virtual reality (VR) environment. The processor is further configured to generate, using the data related to the FOV of the at least one other HMD, an FOV of the HMD in the VR environment.

Virtual reality headsets are increasingly common, and in many environments, it may be desirable to be able to share the virtual reality experience with others. However, the virtual reality environment created by virtual reality headsets is isolated, and it can be difficult to share an immersive virtual reality experience with others.


A contactless type optical device includes an image photographing module configured to photograph a subject, the image photographing module including a photographing lens forming an image of light that is scattered from the subject and is incident on the photographing lens; an illuminator configured to radiate illumination light, the illuminator being disposed within a predetermined distance from the image photographing module; a first lens configured to reduce an incidence angle of the illumination light traveling from the illuminator; and a second lens having a first surface to which the illumination light passing through the first lens is incident to be transmitted, and a second surface to which the subject's scattered light scattered from the subject is incident to be transmitted. The photographing lens is disposed such that the subject's scattered light passing through the second lens is incident on the photographing lens.

Generally, a contact type digital optical device (or contact type image acquisition device) uses a method of correcting an image based on a PPI (Pixels per inch) of a subject's image obtained from a contact surface so as to achieve the PPI of a uniform image.
However, since a contactless type optical device (or contactless type image acquisition device) is configured such that a subject to be photographed is not fixed, the PPI of a photographed image is changed depending on a distance (or photographing distance) between the subject and the contactless type optical device. Further, the contactless type optical device undergoes a change in shade of the acquired subject's image depending on the position of an illumination.
Therefore, there is a need for a contactless type optical device (or contactless type image acquisition device) that has little change in shade of the subject's image while acquiring the image of the subject having a uniform PPI regardless of a distance from the subject.


There is herein described a process and apparatus for partial oxidation of hydrocarbons. More particularly, there is described a process and an isothermal reactor apparatus for the partial oxidation of methane which comprises a heat transfer surface, a porous catalytic membrane and wherein heat is dissipated and/or removed through the heat transfer surface.

There are three main technologies that are used for the production of syngas from methane and they are steam reforming, autothermal reforming and partial oxidation (catalytic and non-catalytic). The most commonly used are autothermal and steam reforming or a combination of the two. Both these technologies require a large proportion of steam to be included with the methane feed to prevent coke formation and reforming catalyst deactivation. In order to achieve high energy efficiency the large amount of sensible and latent heat contained within the steam must be recovered and recycled to the process.
Non-catalytic partial oxidation does not require the high levels of steam but the very high process temperatures (>1200 deg C.) create energy efficiency challenges of their own.
One more recent, non-commercial technology is the catalytic partial oxidation of methane using rhodium catalysts. Rhodium has been found to be highly selective in the oxidation with minimal coke formation allowing the partial oxidation process to be run at much lower temperatures. The process doesn't require steam to operate, although small quantities (10 vol % of the methane feed) are frequently described as a means of increasing the hydrogen to carbon monoxide ratio in the resultant syngas.
The simplicity of the system, with little or no steam, a lower temperature of operation and a highly active catalyst promises a compact and efficient process that is capable of operating efficiently without extensive steam recycles. However, the processes described in the literature prior to U.S. Pat. No. 7,641,888 Gobina, utilise a pre-mixed feed well within the explosive limits of the gases to produce a selective reaction. U.S. Pat. No. 7,641,888 is incorporated herein by reference. This presents significant safety problems particularly in operation and preheating of the respective feeds. The safety of the reaction relies on the gas velocities being maintained at a sufficiently high speed that flash back to the inlet point does not occur.
With the invention of a two chamber reactor separated by a porous, catalytic, membrane with mixing and reaction taking place simultaneously within the reactor the safety of the system was greatly improved.
However, there is another problem that is found within a fixed bed partial oxidation reactor that is described in the literature but not referred to in U.S. Pat. No. 7,641,888. That is the problem of catalyst overheating. It has since been found that a similar problem can also occur within the two chamber porous membrane reactor described. The steps to mitigate this problem within a multitubular reactor are the subject of this patent.
The partial oxidation of methane is a very rapid reaction that takes place at temperatures in excess of 600 deg C. Typically, when performed using a fixed bed of catalyst with a pre-mixed feed comprising methane and oxygen (gas molar ratio of 2:1) the feed is preheated to at least 400 deg C. such that good selectivity to carbon monoxide is achieved. The temperature of the gases passing over the catalyst rapidly rises and under adiabatic conditions (no heat loss) the product gases leaving the reactor can be in excess of 900 deg C. It is also beneficial if the reaction can be performed at elevated pressure since most of the processes that utilise syngas to form another chemical do so at raised pressure and the costs of compressing the component feed streams (comprising methane and oxygen) is less than compressing the resultant syngas. This is principally as a result of the increase in gas volumes that accompany the reaction. The partial oxidation of methane as described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,641,888 is found to have similar characteristics in that it is most beneficially carried out at elevated temperature and pressure.
The drawback of performing the partial oxidation reaction in a simple adiabatic reactor is that there is no control on the temperature of the fluids within the reactor and so there is less flexibility to operate the reactor at a temperature that is most beneficial for maintaining a long catalyst life. With a typical long contact time reactor this is a straightforward problem to solve by an engineer skilled in the art. Placing the catalyst pellets within the tube of a shell and tube type reactor or using a tube cooled reactors are both possibilities. A further possibility useful in lower temperature reactor is to operate the reaction in the liquid phase where the heat capacity of the liquid is able to absorb the heat of reaction.
Where a reaction such as the partial oxidation of methane requires a short contact time at high temperature, typically using a very shallow catalyst bed of pellets or gauze, then the removal of heat is more problematic. Unusual solutions can be found such as in the silver catalysed methanol to formaldehyde reactor where good thermal contact between enlarged, sintered catalyst pellets allows conduction of the heat of reaction to the front of the bed, which then acts as a feed pre-heater producing an essentially isothermal catalyst bed within an adiabatic reactor.
In the operation of a fixed bed catalyst with pre-mixed feed for the oxidation of methane to syngas there are safety issues that are associated with operating in an explosive regime. These problems are exacerbated if heat exchange function is required within the reactor. Some have sought to counteract this by stage wise addition of oxygen to the feed methane requiring a complex series of fixed beds and gas distributors (as described in Conoco U.S. Pat. No. 7,261,751 which is incorporated herein by reference) and this allows for removal of some of the reaction heat between catalyst beds as the material contains little or no oxygen as it passes through the heat exchanger. However, this is a complex and expensive solution.
A problem, found with rhodium partial oxidation catalysts in a fixed bed arrangement, is that despite the high selectivity that is achievable with this form of catalyst very high catalyst surface temperatures can form that far exceed the adiabatic reaction temperature.
One option to reduce the catalyst surface temperatures within the reactor is to operate the catalyst with a turbulent gas in contact with the catalyst. This is the subject of the present invention.
The slow partial oxidation of methane with oxygen is known to be a strongly exothermic reaction followed by an endothermic reaction. After this initial discovery it was discovered that the reaction would still take place at very much higher gas hourly space velocities (GHSV). The fast partial oxidation of methane with oxygen using a fixed bed of rhodium on alumina was thought to be effectively isothermal, although there is still some debate on this. Published work has shown that the reaction pathway still involves high heat release in the initial part of the catalyst bed and endothermic reactions later (e.g. Basini, Aasberg-Petersen, Guarinoni, Ostberg, Catalysis Today 64 (2001), 9-20, which is incorporated herein by reference). Some have attributed this rise in surface temperature to the superadiabatic effect that is related to the higher diffusion rates of H2 and H in combustion processes, others have suggested it is a consequence of competing kinetics. However, a satisfactory way of managing the heat profile of the catalyst bed has not been found.
We also refer to WO 2004/098750, which is incorporated herein by reference, which relates to a membrane and a method of preparing the membrane, said membrane being used in a process to produce hydrogen gas via a partial oxidation of methane.
It is an object of at least one aspect of the present invention to obviate or mitigate at least one or more of the aforementioned problems.
It is a further object of at least one aspect of the present invention to provide an improved process and apparatus for partial oxidation of methane.
It is a further object of at least one aspect of the present invention to provide an improved process and apparatus for partial oxidation of methane which enables catalyst in the reaction zone to be cooled and thereby overcome the problem of a reaction catalyst overheating.
It is a yet further object of at least one aspect of the present invention to provide an improved process and apparatus for partial oxidation of methane which allows higher temperatures to be used which increases the thermal efficiency of the process and which also allows higher pressures of operation.

Isothermal reactor for partial oxidation of methane


Disclosed are various embodiments for improving user interface rendering performance. A network page is received from one or more servers, where the network page includes code that renders a graphical placeholder for a user interface component. The code that renders the graphical placeholder for the user interface component is executed. Code that renders an updated view of the user interface component is received from the server(s) in response to a scrolling action or a viewport manipulation bringing the graphical placeholder for the user interface component into view. The code that renders the updated view of the user interface component is executed.

Network pages, such as web pages, often contain dynamic user interface components that are rendered by client-side code that is executed by the browser application. Such client-side code may comprise code such as Java applets, ActiveX controls, Flash, Java Script, JScript, VBScript, and other forms of client-side code. Such client-side code may be embedded within the network pages or may be in code libraries that are downloaded by way of separate application-level network connections.


A content management system provides versioning capability that can either be controlled by the client application or be transparent thereto. Control of document versions depends on the root and child component attributes that are defined by the hierarchical structure of the document. When a document is updated, the present system performs any or all of the following scenarios as desired by the user: replace the existing attribute values stored in the root component instance for a specified document; replace the existing attribute values stored in a specified child component instance for the specified document; add a new child component instance into the hierarchical structure for the specified document; or delete an existing child component instance from the hierarchical structure for the specified document.

When creating and editing a document, users may make revisions to update the document or document content. The content management system can create a new version of the document after it has been revised. Older versions of the document can be either saved or deleted when the user creates a new version. However, each save or delete interaction with the server must be managed by the user or the client application.
For many document types, there may be a requirement to retain the previous versions of the document. For other document types, a predetermined number of the latest versions must be maintained. In conventional content-management systems, the client application must explicitly request the creation of a new version of a document (also interchangeably referred to herein as an item). When a user updates the document, the client application must first specify the document identification, or itemID, to be updated, and then indicate whether to replace the existing version of the document or to create a new version for this updated document. Thus, the user or the client application must make the decision on every transaction type for updating a document. Consequently, the user must make a decision whether to save old versions every time a document is edited or revised. However, the user can easily lose track of the changes and revisions.
There is therefore a still unsatisfied need for a content management system that automatically manages document versioning for users and client applications.

System and method for item versioning in a content mangement system

International Business Machines Corporation


Oligonucleotide sequences are provided coding for T-cell-specific antigen receptors or fragments thereof. The oligonucleotide sequences can be used as probes for detecting helper and cytotoxic T-cells, preparing and isolating DNA sequences encoding for the receptor polypeptide, and in constructions for expression of receptor polypeptides or fragments thereof. In addition, processing signals from the receptor subunits can be employed in conjunction with modified wild type oligonucleotide sequences or non-wild type oligonucleotide sequences.. TM86 was deposited at the A.T.C.C. on Mar. 1, 1984 and given Accession No. 40099. TT11 was deposited at the A.T.C.C. on Oct. 22, 1984 and given Accession No. 40141.

1. Field of the Invention
The hematopoietic system is extraordinarily complex, which is not surprising in view of the central role blood cells play in the maintenance and survival of the host. One aspect of great importance is the manner in which the host protects itself from various pathogens. Two families of cells play a salient role in protecting the host, B-cells and T-cells. The mystery of how the B-cells are able to produce an extraordinary variety of immunoglobulins has been explained to a substantial degree. The germline DNA is now known to undergo rearrangements, so as to join various exons together to produce a variable region which is then joined to differing constant regions as the B-cell matures. The mechanism by which the DNA undergoes the rearrangement and the subsequent transcript is spliced to produce a messenger RNA coding for a specific immunoglobulin has been an exciting adventure demonstrating the potency of the tools afforded by the developments in molecular biology. Another class of cells important to the immune system of the host is the T-cells. These cells differ from the B-cells in that they do not secrete immunoglobulins, although they appear to have a similar range of antigenic specificities. Particularly, helper T-cells, which are involved in stimulating B-cell proliferation, can have specificity analogous to that of B-cells, with the additional requirement that they must also recognize self-major histocompatability determinants simultaneously.
The specificity of T-cells can find application in a wide variety of situations. If one could modify a helper T-cell by introducing a foreign receptor site, one could change the response of the host to a foreign antigen. Furthermore, in many situations, it may be of interest to determine whether a cell is a helper T-cell or other type of cell. In addition, one has the opportunity to determine monoclonality in the host, which can be useful in the diagnosis of T-cell leukemias. Also, having DNA sequences which encode for portions of the T-cell antigen-specific receptor would allow for constructions involving the combination of native T-cell sequences with foreign sequences to produce novel proteins which could act as receptors. Also, antisera and monoclonal antibodies could be generated against specific parts of the protein, using either synthetic peptides or producing the protein in an expression vector. By employing hybridization with DNA sequences, subsets of T-cells may be determined as well as genetic differences and defects.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The second domain of HLA-DC has been shown to be homologous to immunoglobulin. Auffray et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA (1982) 79:6337-6341. The sequence about the intrachain disulfide bond in the immunoglobulin variable region is discussed by Kabat et al., in Sequences of Immunological Interest, U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Washington, D.C. (1983). Cross-reactivity between B-cell anti-idiotypic antisera and T-cells is reported by Eichmann and Rajewsky, Eur. J. Immunol. (1975) 5:661-666; Binz and Wigzell, J. Exp. Med. (1975) 142:197-211, and Augustin et al., in Regulatory T Lymphocyte (eds. Pernis and Vogel) 171-184, Academic Press, N.Y., 1980. Lack of nucleotide sequence similarity between T-cell specific genes and immunoglobulin coding genes is reported by Kronenberg et al., J. Exp. Med. (1980) 152:1745-1761 and Kronenberg et al., ibid. (1983) 158:210-227, among others. Murine T-cell specific proteins are reported by Kappler et al., Cell (1983) 34:727-737 and McIntyre and Allison, ibid. (1983) 34:739-746. Allison et al., J. Immunol. (1982) 129:2293-2300; Haskins et al., J. Exp. Med. (1983) 157:1149-1169; Meuer et al., Nature (1983) 303:808-810 and Samuelson et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA (1983) 801:6972-6976 report the immunoprecipitation from T-cells of a disulfide linked heterodimer composed of two distinct glycoproteins of 37-50 kd in size. McIntyre and Allison, supra (1983) and Acuto et al., Cell (1983) 34:717-726 report that the heterodimer appears to have variable and constant portions by peptide map analyses. Heber-Katz et al., J. Exp. Med. (1982) 155:1086-1099 and Hedrick et al., Cell (1982) 30:141-152 report the production of MHC-restricted T-helper hybridomas, which disclosure is incorporated herein by reference. Davis et al., in B and T Cell Tumors, UCLA Symposium Vol. 24 (eds. Vitteta and Fox) 215-220, Academic Press, N.Y. 1982, report that T and B lymphocytes differ by a very small fraction of their gene expression.
Saito, Nature (1984) 309:757-762, reports a T-cell-specific cDNA clone which is rearranged in cytotoxic T-cell DNAs and has variable, constant and joining region homologous elements. Siu et al., Cell (1984) 37:393-401 and Kavaler et al., Nature (1984) 310 421-423, report the presence of diversity elements in the .beta.-chain. The .alpha.-chain of T-cell receptor molecules has been reported to be as diverse as the .beta.-chain (Kappler et al., Cell (1983) 35:295-302).

T-cell receptor specific for antigen polypeptides and related polynucleotides


An analysis and/or measuring device includes means for extracting, in the gaseous form, hydrocarbons contained in a liquid fluid, means for transporting said extracted gases, and means intended for analysis and measurement on these extracted gases. The transport means include a tubular line having an inner tube made from at least one of the following plastics or from mixtures thereof: fluoropolymers, such as PTFE, fluoroelastomers, such as THV, and Ketone polymer type elastomers, such as PEEK.

Various documents, notably document U.S. Pat. No. 5,090,256, describe methods of extracting gaseous constituents contained in drilling fluids so as to detect the presence of said constituents in the reservoir rocks crossed through. The measuring principle consists in continuously taking a certain volume of drilling fluid in order to <<degas>> it in a suitable device. The gases extracted from the fluid sample are then transported to a measuring cab located at a distance from the wellhead. The transport line is generally a tube that is several ten meters long. The transported gases are then analysed by chromatography in the cab.
In order to increase the quantification precision and to extend the possibility of carrying out measurements on hydrocarbons, tests have shown that conventional devices are not efficient enough, in particular for hydrocarbon-containing constituents above C4.
The object of the present invention is to provide an analysis device and method allowing to prevent or at least to limit retention, adsorption and absorption phenomena that lead to erroneous qualitative analysis results and make quantification difficult or even impossible, thus causing analysis delay phenomena that can lead to interpretation errors concerning the zones crossed by the borehole. Furthermore, these adsorption and absorption effects can be followed by non-quantifiable salting-out phenomena that make correlation of the measurements performed difficult according to the borehole depth.

Transport device for analyzing hydrocarbon-containing constituents


The present disclosure describes methods of differentiating cardiomyocyte progenitor cells and mature cardiomyocyte cells from pluripotent stem cells. The methods may include differentiating pluripotent stems cells on a substrate including (i) laminin-511 or 521 and (ii) laminin 221. The mature cardiomyocyte cells produced by the method may form a human heart muscle cell line for use in regenerative cardiology.

The present disclosure relates to methods for generating cardiomyocyte progenitors and cardiomyocytes from pluripotent stem cells using laminin substrates. It finds particular application in the differentiation of cardiomyocytes from pluripotent stem cells using (1) laminin-521 or laminin-511 and (2) laminin-221. The method allows for a controllable generation of cardiomyocyte progenitor cells and differentiated cardiomyocytes for various applications including regenerative cardiology and testing for drug effects and cardiotoxicity.
A stem cell is an undifferentiated cell from which specialized cells are subsequently derived. Examples of stem cells in the human body include pluripotent stem cells, embryonic stem cells, adult stem cells, fetal stem cells, and amniotic stem cells. Embryonic stem cells possess extensive self-renewal capacity and pluripotency with the potential to differentiate into cells of all three germ layers. Also, induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells generated from differentiated cells with the help of specific transcription factors are also pluripotent.
Totipotency refers to a cell that has the ability to differentiate into any cell in the body, including extraembryonic tissue. Pluripotency refers to a cell that has the potential to differentiate into cells of all three germ layers. Pluripotent cells however cannot form extraembryonic tissue, as a totipotent cell can. Multipotency refers to a cell that can differentiate into cells of limited lineage. For example, a hematopoietic stem cell can differentiate into several types of blood cells, but cannot differentiate into a brain cell.
The process by which a stem cell changes into a more specialized cell is referred to as differentiation. For example, some differentiated cells include heart cardiomyocyte cells, which are derived from pluripotent human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). The process by which a specialized cell reverts back to a higher degree of potency (i.e. to an earlier developmental stage) is referred to as dedifferentiation. In particular, cells in a cell culture can lose properties they originally had, such as protein expression or shape, after undergoing the dedifferentiation process. A differentiated cardiomyocyte cell, for example, may loose its cellular phenotype, specialized characteristics, or ability to be transplanted to the heart region after the dedifferentiation process.
Cell therapy based regenerative medicine using differentiated cells holds promise as a treatment for a variety of tissue injuries. Examples of potential disease targets for cell therapy include cardiac injuries (e.g. myocardial infarction), type I diabetes (destruction of insulin producing beta cells) and Parkinson's disease (lack of dopamine producing neurons). A prerequisite for generating cells for such therapy is a possibility to differentiate the cells to specific cell types with defined reproducible protocols and obtain large quantities of human cells with stable differentiated cellular phenotypes that are suitable for transplantation to the site of injury.
There is also an urgent need for new, innovative and human-predictive cell assays within the global pharmaceutical industry since drug discovery issues, such as toxicity and lack of efficacy, are leading causes for drug failure/attrition during the pre-clinical as well as clinical stage. Currently used cell systems are not sufficient due to a number of limitations. One significant limitation is that differentiated cells often dedifferentiate in in vitro cell cultures. Moreover, many human primary cell types needed for drug discovery, like cardiomyocytes and neuronal cells, are for various reasons almost inaccessible.

Differentiation of pluripotent stem cells and cardiac progenitor cells into striated cardiomyocyte fibers using laminins LN-511, LN-521 and LN-221


A refrigerant receiver/drier having an inner cup-shaped shell received over a standpipe and filled with desiccant beads which are retained by a closure plate fitted over the standpipe. Louvered flow openings are formed in the bottom of the cup and the closure plate with a layer of filter material disposed adjacent the openings. The subassembly thus formed is then secured to a header or base; and, an outer shell received thereover and secured to the header by weldment. The standpipe is press-fitted into the header outlet.

The present invention relates to drying, filtering, and collecting liquid refrigerant in the high pressure side of a liquid vapor recirculating refrigeration system. Typically, in such systems, a device is interposed in the refrigerant line between the condenser and the thermal expansion valve or capillary tube for the purpose of removing moisture and foreign matter which could cause freezing and/or blocking of the flow upon expansion through the valve or capillary.
Heretofore, in providing receiver/driers for automotive air conditioning systems, it has been the practice to employ desiccant beads on the order of 1/16 inch (1.6 mm) diameter in a container such that the refrigerant flows through the desiccant beads into a collecting chamber and then is discharged from the collecting chamber by flow through a standpipe. The construction of the receiver/drier, which is typically formed in a cylindrical configuration of metal material has proven to be troublesome. Where it is desired to provide a filtering function in addition to the drying function, it has been required to provide filtering media adjacent the ports in the desiccant container in order to filter all of the liquid refrigerant passing through the desiccant container in order to filter all of the liquid refrigerant passing through the desiccant material. Because of the relatively high pressures on the order of 350 psi (2415 KPa), substantial forces are created across the desiccant and filter material, which has resulted in blockage of the flow openings in the desiccant container, and also increased weight due to the additional material required in the desiccant container to withstand such forces.
The additional forces created by the large pressure drop across the filter material has rendered to construction, assembly, and attachment of the desiccant container to the header or attachment plate a problem area in mass production. It has also been desired to find a way or means of containing the desiccant during assembly in a manner which prevents the beads from spilling from the container during the assembly operations.


A flow passage structure is provided with a fluid flow passage that includes a plurality of straight flow passages, a first return bend that connects the downstream end of the straight flow passage through which a fluid flows from a second end surface toward a first end surface among the plurality of straight flow passages to the upstream end of the straight flow passage which is disposed at the downstream side of the straight flow passage and is adjacent to the straight flow passage, and a second return bend that connects the downstream end of the straight flow passage through which the fluid flows from the first end surface toward the second end surface among the plurality of straight flow passages to the upstream end of the straight flow passage which is disposed at the downstream side of the straight flow passage and is adjacent to the straight flow passage.

Hitherto, a flow passage structure has been known as a structure for mixing plural fluids so as to cause an interaction therebetween. The flow passage structure is used in, for example, a reaction device that obtains a desired reaction product by causing a chemical reaction between fluids as the interaction of plural reactant fluids. An example of the flow passage structure is disclosed in Patent Document 1 below.
Patent Document 1 below discloses the reaction device that uses a flow passage structure having plural circulation paths formed therein. Each circulation path includes a first introduction path into which a first reactant fluid is introduced, a second introduction path into which a second reactant fluid is introduced, a merging path which is connected to both downstream sides of both introduction paths and merges and mixes reactant fluids flowing through the respective introduction paths, and a reaction path which is connected to the downstream side of the merging path and causes a reaction between the reactants included in the fluids while circulating the fluids merged in the merging path. The flow passage structure is formed by laminating plural plates. The first introduction path and the second introduction path are formed in a front surface of one plate, and the reaction path is formed in a rear surface of the plate. The merging path connects the ends opposite to the reactant introduction sides of the first introduction path and the second introduction path and penetrates the plate from the front surface toward the rear surface so as to connect the ends to the end of the reaction path. Further, the reaction path is formed in a tortuous shape of which the flow passage length increases in order to promote the reaction between the reactants by increasing the merged reactant staying time. Specifically, the reaction path has a shape which is formed by alternately connecting a portion formed in the rear surface of the plate and extending toward one side of the plate in the width direction and a portion extending toward the opposite side to the one side at the downstream side of the portion.
However, in the flow passage structure of the related art, since the reaction path is formed in the above-described shape, it is difficult to clean the inside of the reaction path. Specifically, in a case where the reaction path is formed in the above-described shape, even when a cleaning unit is inserted from one end of the reaction path into the reaction path, the cleaning unit may not easily reach the deep inner portion thereof. For this reason, for example, when precipitate or foreign substance blocks the inside of the reaction path, the precipitate or foreign substance may not be easily removed. In this way, in the above-described flow passage structure, there are problems in which the inside of the reaction path may not be sufficiently cleaned and a considerable time is spent for cleaning operation.

Flow passage structure and flow passage structure manufacturing method


A seamed flexible belt having a substrate and a seam having interlocking seam members, wherein the interlocking seam members are held together by an adhesive having polyamide and an optional electrically conductive filler, for use in electrostatographic, contact electrostatic, digital and other like printing machines.

The present invention is directed to transfer members useful in electrostatographic, including digital printing apparatuses. In specific embodiments, the present invention is directed to seamed belts, and more specifically, to endless flexible seamed belts wherein an image can be transferred at the seam of the belt with little or no print defects caused by the seam. In embodiments, the present invention relates to xerographic component Imageable seamed belts comprising an adhesive formed between mutually mating elements of a seam, wherein the adhesive comprises a polymer, optionally with electrically conductive filler dispersed or contained therein. In a particularly preferred embodiment, the polymer is a polyamide. Preferably, the filler, if present, is an electrically conductive filler such as a carbon filler, a metal oxide filler, a polymer filler, a charge-transporting molecule, or a mixture thereof. The present invention further provides, in embodiments, a belt having a seam with increased strength because the adhesive is crosslinked. However, the belt is still flexible enough to withstand 180° crease without cracking. The present invention, in embodiments, also provides a belt having a seam in which the height differential between the seam and the rest of the belt is virtually nil. The belt, in embodiments, allows for image transfer at the seam, which cannot be accomplished with known seamed belts. Image transfer is accomplished partly because the present seam possesses the desired conductivity and release properties required for sufficient transfer. The present invention also provides, in embodiments, a ripple-free seam. Further, in embodiments, the seam can be rapidly cured at relatively low temperatures. In addition, the seam, in embodiments, is resistant to alcohol and organic solvents. Moreover, in embodiments, there is no tenting in the seam area. The seam, in embodiments, can withstand repeated electrical transfer cycles and remain functional. In embodiments, the adhesive withstands temperature transients between 25 and 130° C., and is resistant to ambient changes in relative humidity. The seam is virtually to totally invisible to the xerographic imaging process.
In a typical electrostatographic reproducing apparatus such as an electrophotographic imaging system using a photosensitive member, a light image of an original to be copied is recorded in the form of an electrostatic latent image upon a photosensitive member and the latent image is subsequently rendered visible by the application of a developer mixture. One type of developer used in such printing machines is a liquid developer comprising a liquid carrier having toner particles dispersed therein. Generally, the toner is made up of resin and a suitable colorant such as a dye or pigment. Conventional charge director compounds may also be present. The liquid developer material is brought into contact with the electrostatic latent image and the colored toner particles are deposited thereon in image configuration.
In a more typical electrostatic reproducing apparatus, the developer consists of polymeric coated magnetic carrier beads and thermoplastic toner particles of opposite triboelectric polarity with respect to the carrier beads. This is the dry xerographic process.
The developed toner image recorded on the imaging member is transferred to an image receiving substrate such as paper via a transfer member. The toner particles may be transferred by heat and/or pressure to a transfer member, or more commonly, the toner image particles may be electrostatically transferred to the transfer member by means of an electrical potential between the imaging member and the transfer member. After the toner has been transferred to the transfer member, it is then transferred to the image receiving substrate, for example by contacting the substrate with the toner image on the transfer member electrostatically or under heat and/or pressure.
Transfer members enable high throughput at modest process speeds. In four-color photocopier or printer systems, the transfer member also improves registration of the final color toner image. In such systems, the four component colors of cyan, yellow, magenta and black may be synchronously developed onto one or more imaging members and transferred in registration onto a transfer member at a transfer station.
In electrostatographic printing and photocopy machines in which the toner image is transferred from the transfer member to the image receiving substrate, it is desired that the transfer of the toner particles from the transfer member to the image receiving substrate be substantially 100 percent. Less than complete transfer to the image receiving substrate results in image degradation and low resolution. Complete transfer is particularly desirable when the imaging process involves generating full color images since undesirable color deterioration in the final colors can occur when the color images are not completely transferred from the transfer member.
Thus, it is desirable that the transfer member surface has excellent release characteristics with respect to the toner particles. Conventional materials known in the art for use as transfer members often possess the strength, conformability and electrical conductivity necessary for use as transfer members, but can suffer from poor toner release characteristics, especially with respect to higher gloss image receiving substrates.
Polyimide substrate transfer imaging members are suitable for high performance applications because of their outstanding mechanical strength and thermal stability, in addition to their good resistance to a wide range of chemicals. However, the high cost of manufacturing unseamed polyimide belts has led to the introduction of a seamed belt. Even polyimides with the best mechanical and chemical properties often exhibit poor adhesion at the seam even when commercially available primers and adhesives are used.
In the electrostatic transfer applications, use of a seamed transfer polyimide member results in insufficient transfer in that the developed image occurring on the seam is not adequately transferred. This incomplete transfer is partially the result of the difference in seam height to the rest of the belt. A "bump" is formed at the seam, thereby hindering transfer and mechanical performance. The development of puzzle cut seams has increased the quality of transfer somewhat, by decreasing the seam height, thereby allowing smooth cycling. However, even with the improvements made with puzzle cut seams, quality imaging in the seamed area has not been obtainable at present due, in part, to contrast in transfer caused by differences in electrical and release properties of known seaming adhesives. Further, current adhesives do not provide sufficient bonding strength at the seam, resulting in short belt life. In addition, the seam must have the appropriate surface properties in order to allow for sufficient toner release at the seam.
Currently, puzzle cut and overlap seam adhesives consist of uv-curable epoxies and hot-melt adhesives. While these adhesives exhibit acceptable strengths at room temperature under tensile load, most undergo premature failure at elevated temperatures. Additionally, the existing adhesives have been found to perform poorly under some important dynamic test conditions. Because the adhesive seam is not Imageable, most machines do not develop images on the seam area, or non-seamed belts are used.
Improved seam adhesives such as polyamic acid adhesives, have proven to be strong. However, adhesives such as polyamic acid adhesives require long cure times at elevated temperatures (for example, 1 hour at 200° C.) with loss of water as the polyimide seam is formed. The resulting differential shrinkage causes ripples as the adhesive cures and the cured seams are not completely filled with adhesive. If one side of the puzzle cut seam is glued, tenting occurs. If both sides of the puzzle cut seam are treated with polyamic acid adhesive, ripples form. Such ripples in the seam cause uneven development and ultimately result in print defects, and a reduced belt life. Thus, adhesive alternatives to polyamic acid must be considered.
Therefore, it is desired to provide an adhesive system useful to seam puzzle cut seamed belts, wherein the height differential between the seam and the rest of the belt is virtually nil, and the occurrence of ripples and tenting in the seam is reduced or eliminated. It is further desirable to provide an adhesive that has a low temperature rapid cure in order to increase production of the belts at a reduced production cost. It is also desirable to provide an adhesive that is resistant to alcohol and organic solvents. Further, it is desired to provide an adhesive having electrical, mechanical and toner release characteristics that closely match those of the substrates. Also, it is desirable to provide an adhesive which is able to withstand transients in temperatures between 25 and 130° C., and which is resistant to humidity changes. In addition, it is desirable to provide a seam, which is Imageable; thereby reducing or eliminating the presence of print or copy defects. It is desirable to have a low temperature-curing adhesive to eliminate ripple and substrate defects due to differential shrinkage of the belt and adhesive. Moreover, it is desirable to provide an adhesive, which allows for a belt flexible enough to withstand 180° bend or crease without cracking, yet strong enough to withstand multiple cycling.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,549,193 relates to an endless flexible seamed belt comprising puzzle cut members, wherein at least one receptacle has a substantial depth in a portion of the belt material at the belt ends.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,721,032 discloses a puzzle cut seamed belt having a strength-enhancing strip.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,487,707 discloses a puzzle cut seamed belt having a bond between adjacent surfaces, wherein an ultraviolet cured adhesive is used to bond the adjacent surfaces.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,514,436 relates to a puzzle cut seamed belt having a mechanically invisible seam, which is substantially equivalent in performance to a seamless belt.

Imageable seamed belts having polyamide adhesive between interlocking seaming members


A capture command in the AV/C protocol of the IEEE 1394 standard is set as follows.

The IEEE 1394 standard defines the physical and electrical standard for connectors provided in various equipments which are interconnected. As the equipments having such interfaces conformable to the IEEE 1394 standard are physically connected, hot plug and play for automatically carrying out high-speed transmission/reception of digital data and connection setting between the equipments can be realized. The IEEE 1394 standard has become popular as the serial interface standard standardized in the industry.
The IEEE 1394 interface has also become popular as the interface for connecting AV equipments, as well as in the computer field. Specifically, in the case where an STB (set top box) for receiving satellite broadcast and displaying it on a television unit and a printer device for printing an image are connected with each other through the IEEE 1394 interface, the STB controls the printer device by using the FCP (function control protocol) and AV/C protocol. In this case, the STB and the printer device have the FCP and AV/C protocol mounted thereon and operate in accordance with the FCP command and AV/C command.
In an image printing system having a printer device which is connected through the conventional IEEE 1394 interface and has the FCP and AV/C protocol mounted thereon and a controller for controlling the printer device, when printing a static image, setting items defined by the operation mode (operation_mode_parameters) indicating information for carrying out print setting are designated by the controller and stored into an asynchronous packet, and printing is carried out by the printer device. In this case, the controller carries out print setting in accordance with a request from the user. Such print setting is proposed in "1394 TRADE ASSOCIATION TA Document XXXXXXX AV/C Printer Subunit Specification Version 1.0 Draft 0.5: 145."
Specifically, when printing by the printer device is controlled by the controller, the user sets information for setting the relation of an image and a print sheet in three stages of large, medium and small sizes (sizing), information for setting the printing direction of the print sheet (orientations), information for setting the printing position of the image (posx, posy), information indicating what number of times the same image should be printed within the print sheet (multiple_tiled), information indicating how many images should be printed on one page (number_of_pics), and information indicating how many copies should be printed (number_of_copies). The user stores these pieces of information into an asynchronous packet and transmits it to the printer device so as to carry out printing.
Meanwhile, in such controller and printer device, for example, if the information indicating how many images should be printed on one page is set so as to print four images on one page, four images contracted to 1/4 are allocated to the respective areas generated by quadrisecting one sheet, as shown in FIG. 1.
However, in such controller and printer device, in the case of printing a plurality of images on one page, printing cannot be made in such a manner that a blank area is partly provided. For example, in the case of printing four images on one page, it is not possible to provide a blank area for one image and allocate three images contracted to 1/4 in the respective areas, as shown in FIG. 2.
The present Applicant proposed the contents of the Japanese Patent Application No. H11-261279, which is the base of priority of the present application, to the IEEE 1394 Trade Association for standardization at suitable timing, and the contents of the proposal are made public as the following drafts by the IEEE 1394 Trade Association:
AV/C Printer Subunit Specification Version 1.0, Draft 0.97: 60 (2Q00 AVWG Off-Cycle Meeting on May 24–25, 2000); and
AV/C Printer Subunit Specification Version 1.0, Draft 0.7: 5 (1Q00 TA QM AV-WG on Jan. 18, 2000).

Abstract: The quantity of data to be transmitted (data_size), the number of pixels in the X-direction (image_size_x) and the number of pixels in the Y-direction (image_size_y) are all set to 0. The image type (image_format_specifier) is set to “Don't Care”.

Abstract: A printer device, having received such a capture command, makes a blank in the corresponding print area without printing the image and then prints the next image.


Disclosed herein are methods and systems for routing signaling traffic. One embodiment takes the form of a method that involves a networking device determining that a level of signaling traffic intended for a group of one or more destinations is greater than a threshold level, and responsive to the signaling traffic being greater than the threshold level, the networking device lowering a priority assigned to signaling traffic intended for the group of one or more destinations. The networking device may output the signaling traffic intended for the group of one or more destinations with the lowered priority.

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in this section are not prior art to the claims and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
A typical cellular wireless network includes a number of base stations that radiate to define wireless coverage areas, such as cells and cell sectors, in which wireless coverage devices (WCDs) such as cell phones, tablet computers, tracking devices, embedded wireless modules, mobile hotspots, and other wirelessly-equipped communication devices, can operate. Each base station may be coupled via a backhaul to a core network, which in turn provides connectivity with one or more transport networks such as the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and/or the Internet for instance. With this arrangement, a WCD operating in coverage of the network may engage in air interface communication with a base station and may thereby communicate via the base station with various remote network entities or with other WCDs served by the base station.
The cellular wireless network may operate in accordance with a particular air interface protocol or "radio access technology," with communications from the base stations to WCDs defining a downlink (or forward link) and communications from the WCDs to the base stations defining an uplink (or reverse link). Examples of existing air interface protocols include, without limitation, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) (e.g., 1xRTT and 1xEV-DO), Long Term Evolution (LTE), WiMAX, iDEN, TDMA, AMPS, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), GPRS, UMTS, EDGE, MMDS, WI-FI, and BLUETOOTH. The architecture of the cellular wireless network may vary depending on the protocol employed.
The backhaul that couples the base stations to the core network may include equipment, such as a backhaul router, which functions to distribute signaling data (e.g., paging and/or other control data) and/or bearer data between the base stations and a signaling entity of the core network. For instance, in a CDMA network, a backhaul router may distribute signaling and/or bearer data between base stations and a radio network controller (RNC) or base station controller (BSC). As another example, in an LTE network, a backhaul router may distribute signaling and/or bearer data between one or more base stations and a mobility management entity (MME). Other configurations are possible as well. The backhaul router may also perform other functions, such as supporting routing protocols.

Methods and systems for routing signaling traffic


The invention relates to a four-stroke internal combustion engine (10), especially for lawnmowers, comprising at least one cylinder for a reciprocating piston which acts via a connecting rod on a crankshaft (12) and at least one overhead camshaft (16) for driving overhead gas exchange valves and a transmission (60) between crankshaft (12) and camshaft (16) with a motion plane within a transmission chamber (70) which is perpendicular to the crankshaft axis (14). It is proposed that at least one camshaft bearing (91) for bearing the camshaft (16) is configured as a tunnel bearing, with preferably one bore (93) of a bearing block (92) of at least one camshaft bearing (91) comprising substantially at least one recess (94) corresponding to the shape of the cam. The internal combustion engine (10) is easy to make and comes with reliable lubrication for the engine.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a four-stroke internal combustion engine, especially for lawnmowers, comprising at least one cylinder for a reciprocating piston which acts via a connecting rod on a crankshaft and at least one overhead camshaft for driving overhead gas exchange valves and a transmission between crankshaft and camshaft with a motion plane within the transmission chamber which is perpendicular to the crankshaft axis.
2. The Prior Art
For the purpose of precise control of the valve opening times, overhead camshafts are increasingly used even in small driving engines such as lawnmowers for example, which means camshafts which are rotatably held in the cylinder head and are used for the direct or indirect actuation of the overhead intake and exhaust valves. A transmission between camshaft and crankshaft supplies the required driving power and simultaneously ensures the required synchronization of the camshaft rotation wit the crankshaft rotation. The working shaft driven by the engine generally has a vertical orientation in a number of areas of application of internal combustion engines. One example is the lawnmower with rotating blades. The vertical orientation is not kept in all cases however. Depending on the inclination of the base there is a respective inclination of the working shaft. In view of the simplest possible configuration and high efficiency by avoiding frictional losses, a direct coupling of the crankshaft of the driving engine with the working shaft by optional interposing of a simple spur gear is very advantageous. The crankshaft then also assumes a vertical orientation and, depending on the inclination of the base, an orientation more or less inclined towards the vertical.
The at least one "overhead" camshaft extends in such a configuration laterally and axially parallel to the camshaft axis. Continuous lubrication of the camshaft must be ensured in order to ensure reliable operation, especially under high operating temperatures and high speeds.
An internal combustion engine is known from DE 40 15 610 A1 in which an oil pump in the region of the lower bearing point of the crankshaft ensures a force-feed lubrication both of the especially stressed crankshaft con-rod bearing as well as the upper bearing point of the camshaft held in the cylinder head, therefore the overhead camshaft. The oil pump is connected for this purpose to a through port of the crankshaft, which both comprises an outlet towards the con-rod bearing as well as also converges in the region of the upper crankshaft end into cooling conduits of a hollow disk flywheel flanged on the crankshaft. The cooling conduits open into a cooling conduit within the hollow cylinder wall enclosing the piston, which cooling conduit extends parallel to the cylinder axis. Said cooling conduit comprises both passages which open into the crankshaft chamber as well as a passage to the upper camshaft. The oil emerging from this bearing can flow downwardly along the camshaft in order to both lubricate the camshafts as well as transmission between camshaft and crankshaft formed by a belt drive. The lower camshaft bearing can also thus be provided with sufficient lubricating oil. The back-flowing lubricating oil is collected in a separate, obviously lower-lying oil collecting container and is supplied to the oil pump again. The force-feed lubrication of this internal combustion engine requires a high constructional effort. The camshaft shown in DE 40 15 610 A1 is held at its ends, thus having a disadvantageous effect on the flexural strength of the camshaft.
An internal combustion engine with an overhead camshaft and vertically oriented crankshaft is known from EP 0 487 960 A1, in which the transmission formed by a belt drive lies at the upper end of the crankshaft and the camshaft. A force-feed lubrication is provided for the upper crankshaft bearing and the upper camshaft bearing. Oil dripping from the upper camshaft bearing lubricates both the cam surfaces as well as the lower camshaft bearing, from where it flows back to an oil storage annulus enclosing the crankshaft and receiving the oil pump. The transmission per se does not come into contact with the lubricating oil.
An internal combustion engine for a lawnmower is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,000,126 in which a camshaft is used which is not overhead but is held in the crankshaft chamber.
It is the object of the present invention to provide an internal combustion engine which has a simple configuration, can be assembled with the lowest possible effort and ensures a reliable lubrication of the camshaft held in a deflection-resistant way in the operating states that may occur.

Four-cycle combustion engine, particularly for lawnmowers


Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communication are described. In multi-user (MU) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless communications systems, a base station may perform signaling to indicate information related to ports assigned to one or more UEs. The base station may also signal information regarding ports shared with other UEs, which the UE may use when performing channel estimation. In some examples, the base station may signal a number of ports used per sub-band to the UE or a number of demodulation reference signal (DMRS) ports used by the UE. The base station may signal a sub-set of a total number of ports that are shared by other UEs overlapping with the resource allocation of the UE. The signaling may indicate a number of combs used by the base station in the resource allocation for the UE.

The following relates generally to wireless communications, and more specifically to multiple user port loading indication.
Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of such multiple-access systems include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, and orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, (e.g., a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, or a New Radio (NR) system). A wireless multiple-access communications system may include a number of base stations or access network nodes, each simultaneously supporting communication for multiple communication devices, which may be otherwise known as user equipment (UE).
A base station may communicate with multiple UEs simultaneously using multi-user (MU) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communications. When communicating with multiple UEs, a base station may allocate one or more ports to each UE. Each port may be associated with a different reference signal sequence (e.g., a different demodulation reference signal (DMRS) pattern), which may be used for channel estimation. A UE, however, may not be informed of the number of ports assigned to other UEs in a given set of resources and may therefore blindly decode or perform channel estimation for all possible ports. This process may increase complexity at the UE, which may lead to latency and other performance issues.


A communication resource allocator of a trunking communication system may more efficiently handle service requests during extremely busy times in the following manner. While receiving service requests from communication units, the communication resource allocator determines whether it can process the service request within a predetermined period of time. If the communication resource allocator cannot process the service request within a predetermined period it generates a global system busy which indicates that the communication resource allocator cannot individually process or acknowledge additional service requests. Having generated the global system busy signal, the communication resource allocator transmits it to the plurality of communication units. The communication units process the global system busy signal such that they will not transmit nonpriority service requests during the duration of the global system busy signal. While the global system busy signal is active, the communication resource allocator processes received service requests and any service request having a priority service level until the processing time of the non priority service request is at least a portion of the predetermined period of time.

Trunking communication systems are known to comprise a plurality of communication units, a limited number of communication resources that are transceived via a predetermined number of repeaters, or base stations, and a communication resource allocator that allocates a limited number of communication resources among the plurality of communication units. The communication resources may comprise a TDM bus, a carrier frequency, a pair of carrier frequencies, or any RF transmission means. Of the communication resources, one is selected as the control channel to transceive operational data between the communication resource allocator and the communication units. The communication units, which may be portable radios and/or mobile radios, are arranged into talk groups by commonality of use. For example, a talk group may comprise communications that are operated by a police department while another talk group comprises communication units operated by a fire department.
In a typically trunking communication system, the communication units transmit service request to the communication resource allocator. The service request may comprise requesting allocation of a communication resource, a change in the communication units parameters, etc. The communication allocator receives these service requests and responds to them typically in a first in first out fashion. As each service request is received, it is either processed or placed in a service request waiting queue within the communication resource allocator. When the trunking communication system is very busy, the communication resource allocator may be processing service requests at a maximum rate and yet the service request queue becomes full. Under these circumstances, service requests that are transmitted after the service request queue is full are ignored. Therefore, a need exists for a method that will allow the communication resource allocator to substantially respond to all service requests.

Method for more efficient service request processing


A method for repairing damaged fins in a labyrinth seal without the use of welding or metallurgical bonding by removing a section of the shaft containing the damaged fins, and providing a sleeve with replacement fins.

The invention relates to repair of a labyrinth seal, particularly in a fan rotor in gas turbine engines wherein the seal is formed on a shaft that rotates in relation to another moving or stationary runner surface.
The air seal comprises the fan rotor with labyrinth seal fins, which rotates, and a concentric shaft known as the seal runner which is stationary. Frequently, a bearing contained in a bearing compartment supports the motion of the two shafts. The bearing compartment contains oil lubricant which must be contained within the compartment. The oil must be confined to the bearing chamber by using a seal. In this instance the oil is retained in the bearing chamber by using an air pressurized labyrinth seal.
A labyrinth seal is useful in sealing an air-oil interface in gas turbine engines. If the seal fins are damaged or incorrectly manufactured, however, the sealing of the bearing compartment may be jeopardized and result in oil leakage. If the oil leakage is excessive, the fan rotor will have to be replaced and scrapped. This is expensive and wasteful. Alternatively, the seal may be repaired by removing and replacing only the damaged fins. Challenges in repairing the damaged fins include the limited line of sight access of the fins within the fan rotor, the structural integrity of the fan rotor and the precision of the labyrinth seal dimensions.
Existing repair methods use weld repair build-up and subsequent re-machining of the fins to the required dimensions, however this approach presents several drawbacks. Accordingly, there is room for improvement.


Bone replacement material to be used by being packed into a bone defective part, wherein the bone replacement material consists essentially of a calcium phosphate based compound and is formed into a pellet and satisfies both of the following conditions (I) and (II): (I) porosity is equal to or less than 75%; and (II) collapsing strength is equal to or more than 15 Mpa. The pellet has a roughly polyhedral shape and is defined by a plurality of surfaces including a pair of opposite, non-parallel surfaces and a surface adjoining to the pair of opposite, non-parallel surfaces, one of the opposite, non-parallel surfaces being inclined at a predetermined angle with respect to the other of the opposite, non-parallel surfaces. The one of the opposite, non-parallel surfaces is non-adjoined with the other of the opposite, non-parallel surfaces in the pellet. The other of the opposite, non-parallel surfaces is perpendicular to the surface adjoining to the pair of opposite, non-parallel surfaces.

Collapse of a vertebral body as a result of external injuries (trauma) or osteoporosis is referred to as a vertebral body compression fracture. In the method that is known for the treatment of this kind of fracture, the collapsed vertebral body is repaired by filling the inside thereof with a filler (such as a bone replacement material) through a vertebral arch using a transpedicular technique.
In this treatment method, a collapsed vertebral body is first returned to a substantially original shape, that is, a collapsed vertebral body is reduced, whereby a cavity (a born defective part) is created therein. A filler such as a bone replacement material is then packed into the cavity to repair the vertebral body, or a filler is packed into the cavity to push a fragile spongy bone aside so that the inside of the collapsed vertebral body is reinforced.
Conventionally, in such a treatment method, the inside of the collapsed vertebral body is filled with a granular bone replacement material by directly packing it from an opening formed in the collapsed vertebral body (see JP-A No. 2003-169811, for example).
However, it is troublesome to fill the inside of the collapsed vertebral body with a large amount of the granules of the bone replacement material each having an irregular shape. Further, in the case where the inside of the collapsed vertebral body is filled with a granular bone replacement material using a cylindrical member, a hollow passage of the cylindrical member is likely to be clogged with the bone replacement material due to its irregular shape, so that there is a case that it is difficult to smoothly perform such a filling operation. Furthermore, in the case where the conventional bone replacement material (comprised of granules having irregular shapes) is used, the granules of the bone replacement material introduced into the cavity of the vertebral body is likely to remain near the vicinity of an opening of the distal end of the cylindrical member, thus it is difficult to fill the cavity with a sufficient amount of the bone replacement material. Furthermore, even when the cavity is filled with a large amount of the bone replacement material, it is difficult to increase the filling ratio sufficiently due to the presence of many gaps among the granules. Moreover, each granule of the granular bone replacement material has an irregular shape as described above, and thus some of the granules are formed with protrusions on their surfaces. Such granules are likely to be broken when a load is applied thereto, so that the volume of the vertebral body is decreased. As a result, it is difficult to keep the result of the operation over a long period of time.
Further, in addition to the above method, there is another method which uses a bone replacement material (bone cement) that has fluidity when it is introduced into a vertebral body but will be hardened in the vertebral body. However, when such a material is used, there is a risk that the material will flow out from the vertebral body to thereby damage adjacent nerves or block blood flow, thus problems still remain in its safeness.


Method and system for analyzing and processing information on one or more aircraft flight paths, using a four-dimensional coordinate system including three Cartesian or equivalent coordinates (x, y, z) and a fourth coordinate δ that corresponds to a distance estimated along a reference flight path to a nearest reference path location corresponding to a present location of the aircraft. Use of the coordinate δ, rather than elapsed time t, avoids coupling of along-track error into aircraft altitude and reduces effects of errors on an aircraft landing site. Along-track, cross-track and/or altitude errors are estimated and compared with a permitted error bounding space surrounding the reference flight path.

Use of a four-dimensional description of an aircraft trajectory, involving three Cartesian coordinates (x, y, z) and elapsed time t, was proposed in 1972 by H. Erzberger and T. Pecsvaradi ("4D Guidance System Design With Application To STOL Air Traffic Control", 13th Joint Automatic Control Confer., Stanford, Calif. Aug. 16-18, 1972, pp. 445-442) and has been considered by many other workers since then. One potential problem with use of (flight) time as a fourth coordinate is that an along-track error couples into aircraft altitude. In this approach, when an elapsed time specified by flight plan coordinates is reached or exceeded, an aircraft may be required to land many miles short of, or many miles beyond, its destination. Alternatively, failure of an air traffic management (ATM) ground computer could abruptly deposit responsibility for safe separation of aircraft proceeding along the same general route onto human air traffic controllers (ATCs). One ultimate goal of an automated ATM system is to remove, or minimize reliance on, ATCs from active participation in maintenance of separation between aircraft.
What is needed is a method and system for specification of an aircraft trajectory in terms of coordinates that (1) allow use of higher capacity of traffic in a given volume of airspace, (2) define bounds on allowable along-track, cross-track and vertical errors, and (3) compensate for deviations from a time schedule so that an aircraft is not required to fly with unrealistic velocity or unrealistic angle parameters and is not required to execute a landing procedure at a location that is spaced far apart from a destination location. The approach should allow for in-flight changes in flight parameters to take account of a changed environment.

Trajectory specification for high capacity air traffic control

The United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)