A system and method for producing an ozone-containing disinfecting cloud includes an enclosure. A pair of atomizing nozzles are affixed to the enclosure in substantially directly opposed relation. Each nozzle produces a spray of ozonated water from compressed gas, ozone, and water and are positioned to direct the sprays toward each other to form a cloud comprising droplets having a size distribution. A portion of the cloud that comprises droplets having a size less than a predetermined limit is expelled from the enclosure. Droplets having a size greater than the predetermined limit remain in the enclosure. The expelled cloud has been found to have a pH lower than a pH of the remaining droplets. The cloud so produced can be used to disinfect an area by directing the cloud to the area desired to be disinfected, which can comprise a surface and/or a space.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention is directed to disinfection systems and methods, and, more particularly, to such disinfection systems and methods that produce and utilize a mist comprising ozone and other reaction products.
2. Related Art
Ozone is an unstable molecule consisting of three oxygen atoms. An ozone molecule will naturally decay to a single oxygen atom and an oxygen molecule containing two oxygen atoms. If the single oxygen atom does not come into contact with another single oxygen atom and merge with it to form an oxygen molecule, the single oxygen atom will oxidize any inorganic molecule that it comes into contact with and any organic molecule that is susceptible to oxidation that it comes into contact with.
Ozone's half-life in air due to thermal decay at room temperature is about three days; in clean water, the half-life is about 30 min. In practical applications, however, the half-life is much less because of wall effects, humidity, organic loading, and catalytic reactions. Because it is unstable, with a short half-life, ozone must be generated where it is to be used. Ozone may be generated by exposing dry oxygen or a dry gas containing oxygen, such as air, to ultraviolet light, or a high voltage electric field that is corona discharging at the surface of the conductors.
Exposing a surface that is contaminated with one or more biological contaminants, such as bacteria, virus, fungus, fungus spores, yeast, and/or other microorganisms, to ozone will disinfect the surface. Likewise, exposing a confined gas, such as air, that contains biological contaminants to ozone will disinfect the gas. This is because ozone, upon coming into contact with a biological contaminant, initially oxidizes the sheath of the biological contaminant, thereby inactivating it. If the oxidization process continues to completion, the ozone will typically convert the biological contaminant to essentially harmless byproducts, such as water and carbon dioxide. This is an advantageous method for sterilizing a surface or a gas because the process is simple and the end products of the oxidization, water and carbon dioxide, and the end product of the ozone decay, molecular oxygen, are harmless.
The principal difficulties with using ozone to disinfect a surface or a gas are: (1) only weak concentrations of ozone may be achieved in a practical application of ozone to a surface or a volume of gas because of ozone's short half-life in practical applications, and (2) ozone is injurious to humans at the concentrations required to disinfect a surface or a gas. The consequences of the foregoing are that in order to disinfect a surface or a gas with ozone: (a) the surface or the gas to be disinfected must be in an enclosed space, which means the disinfection process must be a batch process, not a continuous process, (b) the disinfection process will require significant time, (c) unprotected humans may not be present in the enclosed space during the disinfection process, and (d) the gases venting from the enclosed space during the disinfection process and at the end of the process must be passed through a catalytic converter or some other means that removes any residual ozone in the exhaust gas.
According to an article titled "Demonstration of a Hermetic Airborne Ozone Disinfection System Studies on E. coli" published in the March/April 2003 issue of the American Industrial Hygiene Association, a six-log (base 10) reduction in a microbial population (the common definition of sterilization) can be achieved by exposing a microbial population to 1 to 3 parts per million of ozone for four hours. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has set the Public Health Air Standard limit for exposure to 0.1 parts per million of ozone at eight hours and to 15 minutes for exposure to 0.3 parts per million of ozone. Because of the foregoing limitations, it has not been practical to disinfect a surface or a gas with ozone.
Ozone is slightly soluble in water, and, when dissolved in water, will quickly decompose to form the free radicals hydroxide (OH.) and hydrogen dioxide (HO2.) which in turn form hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Hoigne described the hydroxyl free radical chemistry as having three steps: initiation, propagation, and termination. In initiation, free radicals are produced by ozone decomposition. In propagation, oxygen and water are made into free radicals by the initiating radical. In termination, the free radicals are absorbed, and the reaction stops. The propagation chemistry is very complex and hard to measure and is modified by changes in the water chemistry and the gas chemistry. The initiation chemistry is more straightforward, and scientists agree that the chemistry is:O3+OH−→O2.−+HO2.  1.which indicates the formation of a superoxide radical and a hydroperoxyl radical from ozone;HO2.→O2.−+H+,pKa=4.8  2.which indicates the formation of a superoxide radical. Together, it is obvious that the initiation reactions consume hydroxyl ions and produce protons, a pH-lowering chemistry. If a droplet of ozone and water dropped in pH, it would indirectly indicate that the hydroxyl free radical chemistry had been initiated.
There may be other reactions and reaction end products from putting ozone into water solution, depending on the pH of the water and whether other chemicals are present in the water. Both hydroxide and hydrogen dioxide are strong oxidizers, and each will oxidize any inorganic molecule and any organic molecule that is susceptible to oxidation with which it comes into contact. This is one reason ozone is increasingly being used by public water supply systems as a disinfectant, and also a reason ozonated water is increasing being used as a disinfectant wash for foods, such as fruits, vegetables, and poultry. 21 Code of Federal Regulations 173, Part D, Subsection 173.368 states that ozone may safely be used for the treatment, storage, and processing of foods, including meat and poultry.
The chemistry of ozone-initiated free radicals is very complex. Ozone-initiated free radicals are Nature's way of cleaning up the upper atmosphere (above visible clouds). Ultraviolet (uv) light from the sun converts oxygen into ozone. The ozone is dissolved in <1 μm water droplets along with volatile pollutants. The surface tension of a droplet increases the pressure inside the droplet (P=(272 dyn/cm)/droplet radius). A 1-μm diameter droplet has an internal pressure at sea level of ˜70 psia; a 0.5-μm diameter droplet has an internal pressure of 140 psia. At these very high pressures, the light-induced ozone is converted into a variety of free radicals that clean the atmosphere.
The term "ozonated water" is used herein to refer to water containing the end products of the chemical reaction of ozone with water. The composition of the end products will vary depending on several factors, principally the pH of the water and whether the water contains other dissolved chemical compounds.
If ozone were highly soluble in water, one could easily disinfect a surface by simply dissolving ozone into water to a sufficiently high concentration, allowing the ozone to react with the water to form hydroxide, hydrogen dioxide, and other free radical reaction products and then spraying or swabbing the ozonated water onto the surface and one could disinfect a gas by simply spraying the ozonated water into the gas as a fine mist. The ozonated water, if allowed to wet the biological contaminants on the surface or floating in the gas for a sufficiently long time, will first oxidize the outer surface of the contaminants, thereby killing the biological contaminants, and, if the biological contaminates are exposed to the ozonated water for a sufficiently long time, the ozonated water will eventually oxidize the biological contaminants, thereby eliminating them.
Because ozone is not readily soluble in water, however, simply bubbling ozone through a water column will not result in sufficient ozone being absorbed into the water to produce hydroxide and hydrogen dioxide and other free radical reaction end products at a sufficient concentration for disinfection purposes other than the disinfection of the water itself.
One of the present inventors has described a three-fluid nozzle that uses compressed air as a motive force, a low pressure side stream of ozone gas, and a thin film of water to make fine droplets (Resch et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,076,748 and 5,337,962, both of which are incorporated hereinto by reference). The '748 patent teaches that the water is stretched into ribbons, the ribbons increasing the solubility of ozone in the water, with the ribbons then fragmenting into droplets. There is considerable droplet size distribution, with the number median diameter about 3 μm. The mass median diameter is an order of magnitude larger, indicating the presence of very large particles in the distribution.
Another of the present inventors has disclosed a method of making very small bubbles in water (Bettle, U.S. Pat. No. 5,772,886). The '886 patent teaches that impinging a contained gas/liquid stream against another contained gas/liquid stream at combined velocities greater than 7 ft/sec fractionates the bubbles to less than 1 μm. Extremely small bubbles do not float out of the surrounding water.
It has been reported by Cho ("Disinfection of Water Containing Natural Organic Matter by Using Ozone-initiated Radical Reactions" (Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 2003 April; 2284-2291) that the CT (concentration*time) "value of hydroxyl radicals for a two-log reduction of B. subtilis was estimated to be about 2.4×104 times smaller than that of ozone and was 106 and 105 times lower than those of free chlorine and chlorine dioxide, respectively." Thus Cho teaches that hydroxyl radicals are many orders of magnitude faster disinfectants than ozone, chlorine, and chlorine dioxide.
Owing to a well-known need to disinfect a plurality of areas of the environment, it would therefore be advantageous to provide a high-concentration composition comprising free radicals for disinfection purposes, and a method of making same. It would also be advantageous to provide such a composition in a mist form, and preferably in a form that does not substantially wet contacted surfaces.

Disinfection methods for surfaces and enclosed spaces


Provided is a hydrogen occlusion alloy suitable for a negative electrode material of a closed type nickel hydride secondary cell in which the increase of gas pressure in the cell during overcharging is prevented and self discharge in the open circuit state would be effectively inhibited, being represented by the following compositional formula: ANiaCobMncXd wherein A is a misch metal containing not more than 60% by weight of Ce, X is at least one element selected from the group consisting of Al, CU, Mo and Zn, and a, b, c and d are numbers satisfying the following relations: 0.4 <b<2.0, 0.ltoreq.c<0.2, 0.1<d<2.0, and 4.55<a+b+c+d<4.80.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hydrogen occlusion alloy for electrical cells which is used as a negative electrode material in closed type nickel hydride secondary cells, more particularly to a hydrogen occlusion alloy for electrical cells which contributes to reduction of the gas pressure in the cells upon overcharge thereof and prevention of self discharge of the cells in the open state.
2. Prior Art
Development of nickel hydride secondary cells is being realized as electric power sources for various portable electronic instruments.
The nickel hydride secondary cells operate using hydrogen as negative electrode active material and comprise a positive electrode comprising an active material, Ni(OH).sub.2 powder, supported on a collector and a negative electrode comprising a hydrogen occlusion alloy powder reversibly occluding and releasing hydrogen electrochemically and supported on a collector, wherein the positive and negative electrodes are contained together with an alkaline electrolyte and a separator interposed therebetween in a packaging vessel which also functions as a negative electrode terminal, the packaging vessel being closed with a cover or lid which also functions as a positive electrode terminal.
In the closed nickel hydride secondary cells, the charging and discharging reaction in the negative electrode is represented by the following equation: EQU M+aH.sub.2 O+ae.sup.- MHa+aOH.sup.- ( 1)
wherein M denotes a hydrogen occlusion alloy. Thus, upon charging the hydrogen occlusion alloy occludes atomic hydrogen produced from the water constituting the alkaline electrolyte by electrochemical reduction, while upon discharging the occluded hydrogen is electrochemically released by oxidation to water.
Various hydrogen occlusion alloys having such a function are known and those alloys represented by the following formula:
AB.sub.5
wherein A denotes a misch metal and B denotes such an element as Ni, Co, Mn or Al are widely used.
On the other hand, the charging and discharging reaction in said positive electrode is represented by the following equation: EQU Ni(OH).sub.2 +OH.sup.- NiOOH+H.sub.2 O+e.sup.- ( 2)
Thus, upon charging Ni(OH).sub.2 is electrochemically oxidized to NiOOH (nickel oxyhydroxide) and upon discharging the reverse reaction takes place.
In the closed nickel hydride secondary cells, the capacity of the negative electrode should be designed to be larger than that of the positive electrode for the following reasons.
Upon overcharging, oxygen is generated from the positive electrode prior to the generation of hydrogen from the negative electrode. And the generated oxygen should be absorbed by the negative electrode based on the reaction represented by the following equation: EQU O.sub.2+2 H.sub.2 O+4e.sup.- .fwdarw.4OH.sup.- ( 3)
or the following equation: ##EQU1## whereby the gas pressure in the cell should be prevented from excessively raising.
Recently, as portable electronic instruments have rapidly been popularized, there is a strong need for further higher capacities of nickel hydride secondary cells as electric power sources.
As measures to meet such a need, the amount of Ni(OH).sub.2 or hydrogen occlusion alloy to be supported on the collector may be as large as possible so as to increase the capacity of the positive and/or negative electrode, or an active material having a high capacity per unit volume may be used.
However, such measures have already been done approximately to the maximum extent and it would be difficult to realize further higher capacities by these measures.
As other measures the gas pressure in the cell during overcharging may be reduced, since if the gas pressure in the cell is low the excess capacity of the negative electrode required to prevent the generation of hydrogen during overcharging can be reduced.
In such cases, hydrogen occlusion alloys as mentioned below are preferred as those constituting the negative electrode.
First of all, the hydrogen occlusion alloy should have a high activity and a low overpotential upon charging for the following reasons. Since most of gaseous materials in the cell upon overcharging is hydrogen gas generated from the negative electrode the use of a negative electrode comprising a hydrogen occlusion alloy with a low overpotential could prevent the leakage of hydrogen upon charging resulting in prevention of increase of the gas pressure.
To reduce the overpotential of a hydrogen occlusion alloy, it is preferred that the effective surface area for the charging reaction is large.
In general, such an effective surface area can be realized by pulverizing the powder of a hydrogen occlusion alloy used. However, it is not preferable to use pulverized powder from the first step in the production of negative electrodes The pulverized powder may be inactivated by oxidation of the surface thereof may not necessarily have an increased effective surface area for the charging reaction.
Therefore, when a hydrogen occlusion alloy having an increased surface area for the charging reaction is used, it is preferred that the hydrogen occlusion alloy is pulverized in the charging and discharging process of the cell and a new active surface is generated upon the pulverization.
A hydrogen occlusion alloy will have a property of being pulverized by the occlusion and release of hydrogen. Generally, however, pulverization will proceed fully only when hydrogen is occluded to the maximum extent of the hydrogen occlusion capacity of the hydrogen occlusion alloy followed by release thereof
However, since the capacity of the negative electrode is larger than that of the positive electrode, a hydrogen occlusion alloy constituting the negative electrode of a closed nickel hydride secondary cell, can not occlude hydrogen to the maximum extent of the hydrogen occlusion capacity. Therefor the amount of hydrogen occluded during the charging of the cell will be at a low level far below the maximum value.
Thus, the pulverization of the hydrogen occlusion alloy will not proceed fully in the charging and discharging process and the newly formed active effective surface area will not be satisfactory.
Japanese Patent Application Laying Open No 2-277737 proposes a hydrogen occlusion alloy having the following composition: EQU ANiaCobMnc (5)
wherein A is a rare earth element including La, 2.5.ltoreq.a.ltoreq.3.5, 0.4.ltoreq.b.ltoreq.1.5, 0.2.ltoreq.c.ltoreq.1.0, and a+b+c is 3.85 to 4.78, inclusive; or EQU ANiaCobMncXd (6)
wherein A is a rare earth element including La, X is at least one element selected from the group consisting of Fe, Mo, W, B, Al, Si and Sn, 2.5.ltoreq.a.ltoreq.3.5, 0.4.ltoreq.b.ltoreq.1.5 0.2.ltoreq.c.ltoreq.1.0, 0<d.ltoreq.0.3, and a+b+c+d is 3.85 to 4.78, inclusive.
These hydrogen occlusion alloys belong to the aforementioned AB.sub.5 type wherein the compositional ratio of the element A to the element B is non-stoichiometric. They have a property of being pulverized even when they occlude only a small amount of hydrogen.
Indeed, the hydrogen occlusion alloys represented by the formulae (5) and (6) will be pulverized even by occlusion of a small amount of hydrogen.
It would be therefore expected that the active surface area for the charging reaction could be increased and the increase of the gas pressure in the cell upon overcharging could be prevented. However, the raise of the gas pressure is not so significantly prevented in the actual cases.
Furthermore, when a cell is allowed to stand in the open circuit state, self discharge of the cell strongly proceeds causing a problem of reducing the discharge properties.

Hydrogen occlusion alloys for electrical cells


An apparatus for determining the stiffness of mail pieces includes a bar or similar deflector for contacting a mail piece conveyed past the bar by a conveyor system, and vibrates when in contact with a passing mail piece, either due to the impact of the mail piece or by the action of a device which causes the deflector to vibrate before the mail piece hits it. A sensor measures a parameter indicative of change in the vibrations of the deflector and generates a signal indicative of the measured parameter. A processor, e.g. programmable controller or circuit, receives the signal from the sensor and determines a stiffness value for the mail piece based on decay in vibrations of the deflector caused by contact with the mail piece.

Postal services utilize specialized equipment to transport, scan, sort and process tens of millions of envelopes and other flat pieces of mail on a daily basis. These automated systems and machines necessarily utilize specialized equipment designed to transport, scan, process and sort envelopes and other flat pieces of mail. To insure reliable operation of these machines, mail pieces having physical properties incompatible with automated processing equipment must be separated from the mail stream at the earliest opportunity. In particular, mail pieces that are too stiff or rigid to be transported must be diverted from automated processing lines to avoid jamming the machines and/or being destroyed during processing.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,096,743 issued Aug. 29, 2006 to Vogel, discloses an device for measuring the flexural rigidity in the longitudinal direction of flat items of mail a conveying path. The apparatus includes a sensor for detecting the edges of the items of mail and signaling a control device when a mail item reaches a selected bearing point. A deflection apparatus moves into the conveying path under the control of the control device to bend the mail item. The magnitude of the deflection of the mail item and the magnitude of the deflection force are measured to determine the flexural rigidity of the mail item.
Reisig, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,032,517, issued Mar. 7, 2000, discloses an arrangement for measuring the rigidity of flat items by means of elastic conveying belts that extend through a curved section of a conveying path. A rigidity sensor is provided for measuring the deflection of the conveying belts caused by the item passing through the curved section, and a thickness sensor is used to determine the thickness of the item. An evaluation device is provided for determining the rigidity of an item passing through from the values obtained by the thickness and rigidity sensors.
Redford U.S. Patent Application 20040245158, Dec. 9, 2004, describes a method and apparatus for stiffness and thickness detection in mail sorting systems by conveying a singulated stream of flat mail pieces one at a time though a test curve upstream from the sharpest curve of the mail processing machine, the test curve including an angled section at which each mail piece tends to bend, determining the thickness of each mail piece, determining the stiffness of each mail piece by measuring deflection of one of the belts of the test curve as an end portion of the mail piece is passing through the angled section, which deflection is in excess of deflection caused by the thickness of the mail piece as it passes between the belts, and diverting a mail piece out of the mail processing machine before it reaches the sharpest curve of the mail processing machine if predetermined stiffness and thickness criteria are exceeded by the thickness and stiffness of the mail piece. The angled section defines an angle less severe than the sharpest curve, whereby a mail piece that would likely jam the mail processing machine at the sharpest curve can pass through the test curve without jamming.
The foregoing devices require bending the mail pieces by transporting the mail pieces through a curved path. This in turn requires moving parts such as conveyors and rollers as well as space in which to install the devices. Elimination of these parts would simplify and reduce the size or length of the processing line. Ideally, a stiffness detector for use in an high speed automated mail processing line will process the mail without damaging individual mail pieces, have a small footprint, a minimum number of moving parts and will be capable of meeting the throughput requires of the line.


An interlocking modular pallet apparatus and method of construction which includes plastic modular platform sections aligned in a two-by-two arrangement with interlocking flanges between the adjoining surfaces of the platform sections. A plurality of leg structures extend down from the lower surface of the platform sections. A center conical support structure with a locking lip or tab is formed by the adjoinment of the platform sections. A band or ring of durable material, e.g. metal, is placed onto the conical structure to draw and lock together, via the locking tab and ring, the adjoining platform sections. A series of upper and lower frictional, rubberized pads are aligned and interlocked through the lattice holes along the perimeter of the pallet lattice.

The general utility of pallets is well known for its use as a loading platform for storage and movement of products in quantity. Pallets provide a stable base for a manufacturer or distributor of a product to stack items thereon allowing for ease of movement by use of a forklift or pallet jack. Pallets are constructed from wood, metal, or plastic, and designed to be placed under materials that are to be shipped or stored, providing a clearance underneath for placement of a forklift or pallet jack.
Pallets are reusable requiring that they be durable in construction, lightweight, and stackable. Ideally, the pallet should occupy a minimum amount of space, both vertically and horizontally. The durability of a pallet is dependent on the type of material used for construction. Pallets constructed of wood will provide years of service if not exposed to harsh conditions that could cause rotting, or unusual loading situations which could cause collapse of the wood frame or wood components. Wood pallets are in constant need of repair wherein a damaged pallet slat is replaced with a new slat by either nailing or stapling to the base frame. A problem with wooden pallets is that wood is a porous material. When used in the food industry, wood can harbor bacterial growth which may contaminate food products. Relatedly, insects and other pests can burrow into the wood and be transported into and infest a previously uncontaminated storage area. Such pests can continue to reproduce and thrive in the wooden structure of the pallet.
Additionally, the porosity of the wood allows for absorption of water. Should the pallet freeze, it can be easily cracked when loaded, even when supporting lightweight products. Should a pallet absorb water, the weight of the pallet can cause difficulties in moving the pallet, and/or injuries to an individual manually moving the pallet. Moreover, splintering from the wood requires an individual who handles the pallet to wear gloves, and otherwise take precautions to prevent from injuring himself during relocation of the pallet.
Wooden pallets also have a significant disadvantage in that they do not interlock or readily stack. Accordingly, should a number of wooden pallets be placed on top of each other, the possibility exists for the pallets to tip over. The is particularly true when any of the pallets within the stack slips away from a squarely stacked position above the underlying pallet.
An alternative to wooden pallets includes metal pallets, such as those formed by aluminum. Metal pallets are known for their durability under normal circumstances. However, aluminum pallets are expensive to manufacture and once damaged, cannot be readily repaired. Should any interim damage occur such as breach of a weldment, the pallet could have a catastrophic failure under a loaded condition. This could cause injury to operating personnel or damage to the materials positioned on the pallet.
Yet another material used for the construction of pallets is plastic. Plastic is capable of being sterilized, and is impervious to most environmental conditions. However, a plastic pallet is even more difficult to repair than metal. Should a portion of the pallet become damaged, the entire pallet is destroyed. The cost of such replacement makes the use of plastic pallets, as a direct replacement for wood pallets, cost prohibitive. Despite their superior strength over wood pallets, plastic pallets still cannot withstand unusually forceful abuse, such as when a forklift or semi-truck runs over a portion of the pallet. Such forces may cause the plastic pallet to crack, whereas a wood pallet may only need a section replaced.
Accordingly, what is lacking in the art is a lightweight, re-usable plastic pallet comprised of component parts that allow for modular construction and related ease of component replacement.

Interlocking modular pallet apparatus and method of construction


Novel bone screw and plate assemblies including locking confirmation mechanisms are provided. In certain cases, a locking confirmation mechanism is operably attached to the plate, and comprises a toggling arm having an upper portion, a mid-portion and a lower portion. When a bone screw is positioned in a plate in an unlocked configuration, the locking confirmation mechanism assumes a first position. When the bone screw is positioned in the plate in a locked configuration, this causes the locking confirmation mechanism to pivot and assume a second position. The locking confirmation mechanism thus provides a convenient visual and/or tactile means to assess when the screw is in a locked configuration.

Bone screw and plate assemblies are commonly used in spinal surgery to assist in stabilizing bone members. Stabilizing bone plates can extend across one or more vertebral bodies and can include one or more holes for receiving bone screws. Once the bone screws are received in the plates, the bone screws are put into a locked configuration. To confirm that the bone screws are received and/or locked in the plates, it is helpful to provide a surgeon with some kind of visual, audible or tactile feedback.
Thus, there remains a need for improved confirmation mechanisms for confirming that a bone screw is properly locked in a plate.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Locking confirmation mechanism for a bone screw and plate assembly


A method of electrophoretic movement of liquid droplets/gas bubbles through a liquid crystal utilizes a direct (DC) or alternating (AC) electric field that is applied along the liquid crystal director (for liquid crystals with a positive dielectric anisotropy) or perpendicular to the director (for liquid crystals with a negative dielectric anisotropy). A perpendicular or tilted orientation of the liquid crystal molecules at the surface of the liquid droplet/gas bubble causes distortions, such that the fore-aft (or left-right) symmetry of the liquid droplet/gas bubble is broken. The asymmetric orientation of the liquid crystal around the liquid droplet/gas bubble allows both charged and neutral particles to be transported, even when the liquid droplets/gas bubbles themselves are perfectly symmetric (spherical).

Electrophoresis is the motion of charged dispersed particles relative to a fluid in a uniform electric field, and is typically used to separate macromolecules (e.g. DNA and proteins), to assemble colloidal structures, and to transport particles in nano-fluidic and micro-fluidic devices and displays. For example, electrophoresis is utilized to transport particles in micro-fluidic displays, such as that used by the KINDLE™ electronic reader, and other electrophoretic or e-ink displays. Typically, the fluid, such as water, utilized as the electrophoretic medium is isotropic, whereby the electrophoretic velocity of a dispersed particle in the fluid is directly proportional to the applied electric field. Because of this linear dependence, only a direct current (DC) electric field can be used to drive the particles through the fluid. However, the use of an alternating current (AC) electric field to drive the particles through the fluid is more desirable, as it prevents electrolysis, i.e., electrochemical reactions near the electrodes resulting in degradation of the medium. Furthermore, the use of AC electric fields to drive the particles allows one to create steady flows of particles, as the AC field avoids accumulation of the electric charges near the electrodes screening the electric field. Furthermore, the direction of electrophoretic motion of the particles in an isotropic fluid, such as water, is typically parallel or antiparallel to the applied electric field, which makes it difficult to design three-dimensional trajectories of the particles. To move the particle in a direction that is not collinear with the direction of electric field, one needs to design the shape or to modify the surface properties of particles.
Therefore, there is a need for a method of moving particles by electric field in which the driving force can be an AC field and in which the trajectory of the particle can follow a predetermined 3D pathway. In addition, there is a need for a method of moving particles, such as liquid droplets or gas bubbles, by electrophoresis in a liquid crystal using direct current (DC) or alternating current (AC) electric fields. Moreover, there is a need for a method of moving particles, such as liquid droplets and gas bubbles, through a nematic liquid crystal (LC), whereby the electrophoretic velocity is proportional to the square of the applied voltage, allowing the particles to be moved by an AC electric field. In addition, there is a need for a method of moving particles, such as liquid droplets and gas bubbles, by electrophoresis through a liquid crystal upon application of an AC electric field, such that the liquid crystal orientation around the particle is distorted, so as to break the fore-aft or right-left symmetry of the liquid crystal surrounding the particle. Furthermore, there is a need for a method of moving particles, such as liquid droplets and gas bubbles, by electrophoresis through a liquid crystal, such that the direction of electrophoretic motion of the particle is controlled by three factors: the direction of the electric field, the shape of the particle in conjunction with the local orientation of the liquid crystal around the particle, and an orientationally ordered nematic liquid crystal far from the particle, so as to allow three-dimensional control of trajectories of moving particles to be constructed.

Method for electrophoresis in liquid crystals


The present invention relates to a system and method for providing services for mobile users based on location information. A plurality of devices is defined to form a group of devices. A first location information is determined, said first information associating with the location of at least one of the devices in the group. Second location information is also determined, said second information associating with the location of a station of the mobile user. The first and second information is processed to generate third information, said third information being based on the location of the station relative to the location of at least one device of the group. Third information is transported in a communication system after the transportation is triggered by a predefined condition.

A mobile user equipment and thus the user thereof can be positioned by various different techniques. For example, substantially accurate geographical location information that associates with a user equipment can be obtained based on the known satellite based GPS (Global Positioning System). More accurate location information can be obtained through a differential GPS. Another possibility is to use a location service that associates with a cellular telecommunications system for the provision of the location information.
In the latter the cells or similar geographically limited radio access entities and associated controllers of the communication system can be utilised to produce at least a rough location information estimate concerning the current location of the mobile user equipment or station, as the cellular telecommunications system is aware of the cell or service area with which the user equipment currently associates. The cellular system may be provided with location measurement units that provide more accurate data concerning the location of a mobile user equipment within the service area of the cellular system. It is also possible to conclude geographical location when the mobile user equipment is located within the coverage area of a visited or "foreign" network. The visited network may be made capable of transmitting the location of the mobile user equipment back to the home network, e.g. to support location services or for the purposes of routing and charging.
The location data that is provided by means of the elements of the cellular system may be processed in a specific location service node that is implemented either within the cellular system or connected thereto. The location data may also be processed in the user equipment that is provided with appropriate processing capacity. The location service facility provided by the communication system may serve different clients via an appropriate interface. The location information may be used for various purposes, such as for location of a mobile telephone that has made an emergency call, for locating vehicles or given mobile subscribers and so on.
However, the inventors have found that while the clients may receive information concerning the location of a mobile user, the mobile user himself may wish to receive services that utilise information provided by the location services and thus there is a need for new type of services that are based on location information.


An optical device includes a primary nanowire having a predetermined characteristic that affects an optical property of the primary nanowire. At least one secondary nanowire abuts the primary nanowire at a non-zero angle. The secondary nanowire(s) have another predetermined characteristic that affects an optical property of the secondary nanowire(s). A junction is formed between the primary and secondary nanowires. The device is configured to cause a portion of a light beam of a predetermined wavelength or range of wavelengths traveling through one of the primary nanowire or the secondary nanowire(s) to enter another of the secondary nanowire(s) or the primary nanowire.

The present disclosure relates generally to optical device(s) and method(s) for making the same.
Since the inception of semiconductor technology, a consistent trend has been toward the development of smaller device dimensions and higher device densities. As a result, nanotechnology has seen explosive growth and generated considerable interest. Nanotechnology is centered on the fabrication and application of nano-scale structures, or structures having dimensions that are often 5 to 100 times smaller than conventional semiconductor structures. Nanowires are included in the category of nano-scale structures.
Nanowires are wire-like structures having at least one linear dimension (e.g., diameter) ranging from about 3 nm to about 200 nm. Nanowires are suitable for use in a variety of applications, including functioning as conventional wires for interconnection applications or as semiconductor devices. Nanowires are also the building blocks of many potential optical nano-scale devices, such as light emitting diodes (LEDs), nanowire-based fiber optic devices, optical sensors, and display screens, to name a few. Manual assembly may be particularly problematic when forming such optical nano-scale devices.

Optical device and method of making the same

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A network element for a packet-switched network has a plurality of network ports for exchanging synchronization messages with further network elements, a local clock, a timestamp generation module associated to each network port for triggering generation of a timestamp, and a synchronization control module selectively configurable in a first operating mode and a second operating mode as a function of a configuration signal. When the synchronization control module is configured in the first operating mode, it is adapted to adjust an offset of the local clock as a function of the timestamps of the synchronization messages received through the slave port. When the synchronization control module is configured in the second operating mode, it is adapted to compute a residence time of a synchronization message in the network element as a function of the timestamps obtained at the time of receiving and sending the synchronization message.

For various applications with demanding synchronization constraints, for example the synchronization of base stations of a mobile network, methods for the distribution of a reference time and/or a reference frequency on the packet-switching networks are being developed. For example, a Network Time Protocol (NTP) work group of the IETF is developing an upgrade to the NTP protocol initially specified in RFC 1305. The Precision Time Protocol (PTP) of the IEEE has been revised with this in mind. The ITU-T has defined a physical layer technology for the distribution of a reference frequency on an Ethernet network, called Synchronous Ethernet and described in the specifications G.8261, G.8262 and G.8264.5.
The IEEE 1588V2 protocol or Precision Time Protocol release 2 (PTPV2) is being studied for supporting the distribution of time and frequency in the context of stringent applications such as mobile networks. Accuracy requirements in wireless networks are about 50 ppb for frequency and about one microsecond for time. In the context of Packet-Switched Networks (PSNs) and Time distribution, the performance of the IEEE 1588V2 protocol is mainly limited by the packet jitter and the communication path delay asymmetry, both often referred to as "network noise". The former is related to Packet Delay Variations (PDVs). The latter is the result of the difference between the communication delay of one PTPV2 message in one direction (e.g. from Master to Slave) as compared to the delay of a related PTPV2 message with the same sequence number in the opposite direction (e.g. from Slave to Master).
PTPV2 performance is very dependent on the PSN background traffic level, which is unpredictable. In order to remove/control these dependencies, Transparent Clock (TC) and Boundary Clocks—(BC) hardware support have been introduced in the PTPV2 standard.
In "Time and phase Sync noise budget in G.8271", Stefano Ruffini, ITU-Drafts, 2010, every node of a network has a Boundary Clock and/or a Transparent Clock.
"Synchronization in next-generation mobile backhaul networks" by A. Magee, IEEE Communications magazine vol. 48, no. 10, 2010 describes a network comprising a grandmaster clock, intermediate nodes in which are placed boundary and transparent clocks and ordinary clocks. It is recommended that all intermediate nodes can work in either a boundary clock or transparent clock to overcome the effects of packet delay variation.
"Synchronizing PTPv1 and PVPv2 clients with one common time source" by H. Gerstung, International IEEE Symposium on Precision clock Synchronization for Measurement, Control and Communication, 2008 describes a Hirschmann MICE-20 Industrial Ethernet Switch which comprises two units: one in boundary clock mode with two IEEE 1588-2002 modules and one with two IEEE 1588-2008 modules which can be configured to operate in boundary clock mode or 1-step and 2-step transparent clock mode.

Network element for a packet-switched network


A method of dynamically controlling use of a shared computing resource by a set of virtual-computing sessions of a client computing device includes state identification operations on per-virtual-channel event data to identify activity states of virtual channels of the sessions, performing a resource allocation operation on activity state data including (i) accumulating activity state data for all virtual channels of each session to produce per-session activity values, and (ii) using the per-session activity values to generate resource usage control signals representing a target pattern of use of the shared computing resource by the sessions based on their activity values. An enforcement operation uses the resource usage control signals to establish the target pattern of use of the shared resource of the sessions.

The present invention is related to the field of distributed computing, more particularly to distributed computing in which a client computing device interacts with a server computer via a set of virtual-computing sessions, such as employed for virtual desktops, virtualized applications, etc. Even more particularly, the invention is directed to the allocation of physical resources, such as limited network bandwidth, in such distributed computing systems.

Activity-based resource allocation among virtual-computing sessions


Event correlation may include identifying a feature set for each log file of a plurality of log files, and extracting the feature set for each event of a plurality of events in each log file of the plurality of log files. Event correlation may further include determining a plurality of trace event pairs linkage strength values for an event from a first log file of the plurality of log files and a plurality of events from a second log file of the plurality of log files. The trace event pairs linkage strength values may represent an overlap of the feature set for the event from the first log file and the feature set for each of the plurality of events from the second log file.

Enterprise environments typically generate log files to record a variety of activities. Sifting through the log file data sources to find errors and anomalies can be a daunting task, for example, due to the extensive volume of such log files. Log content analytics (LCA) is the application of analytics and semantic technologies to consume and analyze heterogeneous computer-generated log files to discover and extract relevant insights in a rationalized and structured form.


A primary color lamp comprises a glass envelope with a krypton arc doped with metal halides. A cesium bromide or cesium iodide solution is included with lithium iodide (LiI) to produce red light, thallium iodide (TlI) to produce green light and indium iodide (InI) to produce blue light. The solution controls the vapor pressures of the lithium iodide (LiI), thallium iodide (TlI) and indium iodide (InI) and allows them to be balanced for light amplitude output. No mercury is used in order to eliminate a corresponding yellow light output and the filter complications that result in a system that operates on the primary colors.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to metal halide lamps and more specifically to trichrominance lamps for use with twisted nematic subtractive light valves as are common in display systems such as projection television and computer monitor systems.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Display systems that use broad band light sources and red, green, and blue primary color filters so the individual colors can be modulated, are very inefficient. A better situation is for all the lamp power to be concentrated into three narrow bands at the primary colors. Filtering then wastes very little of the lamp's efficiency.
William H. Lake describes a selective spectral output metal halide lamp in U.S. Pat. No. 3,840,767, issued Oct. 8, 1974. Such lamp uses mercury, as is the norm in the prior art. A high pressure metal halide vapor arc lamp provides light concentrated in selected spectral bands for photochemical and reprographic applications. To produce light in the blue, green, and red bands, the lamp uses zinc iodide (ZnI.sub.2) as a buffer species whose radiation is largely suppressed. The emitter species include lithium iodide (LiI), thallium iodide (TlI) and gallium iodide (GaI.sub.3), and a small amount of mercury (Hg) that serves as a secondary buffer species.
Twisted nematic subtractive color light valves designed for primary color metal halide lamp illumination conventionally use notch polarizers rather than dichroic dye polarizers to select the red, green and blue peaks. Such primary color metal halide lamps render a substantially broader color gamut than is typical for miniature color displays. The broader color gamut is due to the enhanced spectral power distribution of the prime color lamp, wherein narrower primary color peaks, and a superior contrast and sharper polarization bands pass through the notch polarizers. The primary color lamps were designed to operate at 105 watts or one third the power of the existing xenon lamp. One third the power because the primary color metal halide lamp would produce the trichrominance spectral power distribution without filtering.
The use of mercury in metal halide lamps is ubiquitous. Mercury produces such a high vapor pressure compared to its alternatives, it is irresistible because its use results in high voltage operation, well behaved warm up characteristics and well behaved arc performance. But the mercury itself produces a strong yellow spectra band that requires filtering out in primary color projection systems. Thus, a primary color lamp that is intended to simplify filtering spoils its own principle advantages when it includes mercury. The prior art appears to be devoid of metal halide lamps that avoid the use of mercury.

Trichrominance metal halide lamp for use with twisted nematic subtractive color light valves


An optimized output voltage circuit and technique obtainable without trimming is set forth. A voltage reference circuit and method devoid of trim resistors comprising a high gain amplifier, a plurality of bandgap resistors, and at least a plurality of bipolar devices interconnected across circuitry in a predetermined configuration having emitter areas greater than traditional emitter areas of traditional bipolar devices is set forth.

Often, a voltage regulator is designed to incorporate a trimming scheme at the internal voltage reference circuit and/or at its output circuit. These traditional designs are sought for various applications including supplying a reference voltage for an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), providing a voltage reference circuit permitting a user to select a voltage internally generated by the circuit, or applying a different externally generated voltage through the integrated circuit pins. A trimming scheme is typically desired to trim the internally generated voltage to ensure that it is within the planned or designed voltage tolerance. Trimming may be necessary in these traditional designs as often typical variations arising during fabrication can result in certain of the fabricated integrated circuits (i.e., ICs, wafers, fabricated circuits, etc.) to have performance attributes which generate inaccurate voltage levels in operation. The resulting trimming may involve 2, 3, or more pins on the circuit to correct the voltage inaccuracy by receiving an external voltage source, providing an output for the internally generated voltage, and receiving trimming voltages used to trim the internally generated reference, for instance.
Various trimming techniques are known in the art such and include laser-trimming, digital potentiometers, using either resistors fabricated alongside active devices on an integrated-circuit die or trimmable discrete devices, and implementing a rejustor. Other trimming schemes may include flash memory based programmable logic approaches that require dedicated footprint or area of the integrated circuit. Further, programmable logic trimming techniques further require an accurately programmed logic to ensure trimming is limited to the necessary limits. However, common to each of these traditional techniques is added production burdens on resources of time, cost and/or pins of an integrated circuit, the latter of which is often at a premium in modern designs.
Unfortunately, each of these traditional techniques also typically requires extensive testing at the wafer level which accounts for a substantial portion of the product development cost of a wafer fabrication process.
FIG. 1 sets forth a simplified depiction of a bandgap circuit known as a Brokaw bandgap cell (without any start-up circuit) 100 which is typically implemented in low dropout (LDO) and switch-mode regulators. The Brokaw cell is a bandgap voltage reference circuit based on the addition of two voltages having equal and opposite temperature coefficients (TC). The first voltage is a base-emitter voltage of a forward biased bipolar transistor. In a typical Brokaw cell (i.e., bandgap cell or circuit), the first voltage has a negative TC of about −2.2 mV/C and is usually denoted as a Complementary to Absolute Temperature (CTAT) voltage. The second voltage, which is a Proportional to Absolute Temperature (PTAT) voltage, is formed by amplifying the voltage difference of two forward biased base-emitter junctions of bipolar transistors operating at different current densities. In general, bandgap circuits, and in particular the Brokaw bandgap cells, are well known in the art and understood that the bandgap circuit produces a voltage, VBG, at 199, to a first order, which is temperature and supply independent and approximately equal to the silicon bandgap voltage of 1.2 Volts.
The cell of FIG. 1 uses MOS devices in high gain differential amplifiers (M9 and M10) (130 and 140, respectively), which contribute to higher mismatches and higher offsets for the circuit. These higher mismatches and higher offsets result in higher levels of inaccuracy in the bandgap circuit. When the bandgap reference is inaccurate, the output voltage of the regulators are also inaccurate, and thereby require trimming of the bandgap voltage and typically the output voltage (i.e., output voltage of circuit) as well.
The bandgap voltage accuracy in circuits similar to the traditional circuit of FIG. 1 is dependent upon the offset voltages of the bipolar devices (Q1 and Q2) (110 and 120, respectively) and metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect (MOSFET) (M9 and M10) (130 and 140, respectively) devices. The predominant sources of offset error in the bipolar devices in these circuits include base width, base doping level, collector doping level and mismatches in effective emitter area. For metal-oxide semiconductor (MOS) type devices, the predominant sources of offset error are threshold voltage mismatch and the ratio of the effective channel width W over effective channel length L (W/L) for a given layout area (WL). Similarly, in yet other typical circuits involving modern BiCMOS process, the offsets in MOS devices are typically one order of magnitude higher than bipolar devices (where BiCMOS, also termed as BiMOS, refers to the integration of bipolar junction transistors and CMOS technology into a single device).
The bandgap circuit of FIG. 1 is therefore recognized to require resistor trimming in an attempt to improve bandgap voltage accuracy of the circuit. To improve upon the bandgap voltage inaccuracies arising with the traditional bandgap circuit, typically, resistor blocks or a plurality of resistors, reside at R1 and R2 (150 and 160, respectively). In combination with these resistors R1 and R2 (150, 160), often referred to as "trim resistors," is typically associated a plurality of diodes (not shown) in circuit connectivity. Each diode of the plurality is directly associated through circuit connectivity with a particular resistor in the resistor block (150, 160). In certain testing situations, one or more of these diodes, for traditional bandgap circuits, are shorted or "zapped" in a predetermined manner in order to thereby short an associated resistor in response to determination that the bandgap voltage of the circuit is inaccurate. When the associated resistor is shorted, the resulting bandgap voltage is reassessed with the shorted resistor and the bandgap voltage inaccuracy is lessened. This process is typically iteratively repeated for each circuit being assessed, often resulting in a plurality of resistors being shorted and the entire process per circuit becoming a lengthy, involved and expensive process.
FIG. 2 shows the variation of bandgap voltage (VBG) over temperature 200 for a traditional bandgap cell, like the Brokaw cell of FIG. 1. From FIG. 2, the VBG varies 6 mV over the temperature range of −40° C. to 125° C. along 210. As is understood by those skilled in the art, additional bandgap voltage accuracies often result in traditional circuits from heat related effects on associated electronic circuitry.
As continues to be understood in the art, the necessity of trimming bandgap cells remains a costly and time-consuming effort. Accordingly, it is desired to eliminate the need for bandgap circuit trimming, reduce testing time, and lessen associated expenses, while improving the bandgap voltage accuracy of bandgap type produced circuits. It is also desired to mitigate heat effects in related circuitry so as to reduce bandgap voltage inaccuracies. The present invention, in accordance with its various implementations herein, addresses such needs.

No-trim low-dropout (LDO) and switch-mode voltage regulator circuit and technique


A method of computer operating system data management comprising the steps of: (a) associating data management information with data input to a process (300); and (b) regulating operating system operations involving the data according to the data management information is provided (310). A computing platform (1) for operating system data management is also provided. Furthermore, a computer program including instructions configured to enable operating system data management, an operating system, and an operating system data management method and apparatus arranged to identify data having data management information associated therewith when that data is read into a memory space are provided.

Data management is increasingly important as widespread access to public computer networks facilitates distribution of data. Distribution of data over public computer networks may be undesirable when the data in question comprises sensitive, confidential, copyright or other similar information.
A computer operating system can typically monitor input of data to a process or output of data by a process and apply appropriate management restrictions to these operations. Exemplary restrictions may prevent write operations to a public network, or to external memory devices for data having certain identifiable characteristics. However, manipulation of data within a process can not be monitored by the operating system. Such manipulation may modify the identifiable characteristics of data, and thus prevent the operating system from carrying out effective data management.
Particular problems arise when different types of data are assigned different levels of restriction, and processes involving data from different levels of restriction are run alongside one another. An operating system cannot guarantee that the different types of data have not been mixed. To maintain a desired level of restriction for the most restricted data in these circumstances, this level of restriction must be applied to all data involved in the processes. Consequently, data can only be upgraded to more restricted levels, leading to a system in which only highly trusted users/systems are allowed access to any data.
It is an aim of preferred embodiments of the present invention to overcome at least some of the problems associated with the prior art, whether identified herein, or otherwise.

Computer operating system data management


Lighting devices are taught for machine tools. The lighting devices may include one or more light emitters controlled by an electric circuit, which can be connected via one or more conductors to the inner circuit of an electric machine tool. The electric circuit may comprise at least one photometer and a controller that automatically controls the illumination level of the light emitters in response to the ambient light intensity detected by the photometer. The present invention also relates to machine tools comprising such lighting devices.

The present invention relates to electric tools having lighting devices, and in particular, to portable electric drills and screwdrivers having lighting devices. Such lighting devices permit the operator to illuminate the working area in accordance with ambient light levels. The present invention also relates to lighting devices that can be utilized, for example, in machine tools.
German Patent No. 3831344 discloses a portable drill having a lighting device comprising a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs), which are suitable to illuminate the working area. These LEDs are powered and controlled by the same electric power supply and motor control means of the machine tool.
However, when the ambient light intensity is high, the light from the lighting device may be too bright and may possibly stun the operator if the operator looks into the light. Further, if lighting device shines even though the ambient light intensity is already sufficient to light the work area, energy will be wasted, which is disadvantageous for battery powered tools.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention is to provide a lighting device that overcomes these problems and can be utilized in power tools, and in particular in portable drills and screwdrivers.
In one aspect of the present teachings, a power tool is taught that has a light adapted to illuminate a work area, an ambient light sensor and a controller adapted to change the intensity of the light based upon the ambient light conditions detected by the sensor. As a result, the controller can automatically turn the light on and off depending upon ambient light conditions. Further, the controller may also be adapted to adjust the intensity of the light based upon the ambient light conditions in an inversely proportional manner. Preferably, the light is supplied by light emitting diodes (LEDs).
The tool may further include circuits for improving the efficiency of the tool and to reduce the energy consumption of the tool. A delay circuit may be provided to delay turning off the light emitting diodes, so as to continue to illuminate the working area for a period of time after the motor of the power tool has stopped.
Due to its simplicity, the present teachings can be incorporated both into existing tools as well as into newly conceived power tools. Embodiments are taught that provide an advantageous shape for a printed circuit that holds the sensor and a printed circuit protection cap. In addition, a voltage limiting circuit is taught that permits the present teachings to be utilized with several different kinds of power tools, irrespective of the supply voltage.
Further advantages and features of the lighting device according to the present invention will be evident to those skilled in the art front the following detailed description of an embodiment thereof with reference to the attached drawings.


A method and apparatus are provided for reducing the recoil and muzzle climb from the discharge of a firearm. A hollow cylinder member having a front end with a restricted opening forming a gas chamber is attached to the muzzle end of a firearm and serves to rearwardly divert the highly pressurized gas produced from the combustion of gunpowder. The cylinder member is provided with rearwardly angled holes along both its top and bottom surface which act as jets to create a forward propulsive force from the expelled gas. This forward force counteracts and reduces the backward force of the firearm's recoil. By providing a greater ratio of top holes to bottom holes, thereby effecting a downward force greater than the upward force, muzzle climb can also be effectively reduced. The apparatus can be constructed for quick attachment to the muzzle of the firearm.

The present invention relates to the art of firearms and is concerned with the reduction of the attendant recoil and muzzle climb upon discharge of the firearm.
Firearms necessarily require that the shot, bullet, or projectile be discharged by means of an explosive, typically by the combustion of gunpowder. Such combustion produces gases which, when confined to the limited container of the barrel, are placed under great pressure. Their buildup and explosive release create the recoil of which the shooter is keenly aware. This recoil action can deliver a substantial jolt to the shoulder of the shooter, especially with some of the larger caliber rifles and lower gauge shotguns. This is a punishment that many people do not wish to endure and, consequently, are intimidated by the prospect of shooting firearms. The recoil and muzzle climb also disturb the shooter's aim for subsequent shots.
It would be desirable to reduce the recoil from a discharged firearm so that the intimidation factor is eliminated. More people could then participate in hunting or recreational marksmanship, and shooting skills could be improved by those already experienced because they will not anticipate the recoil jolt and muzzle climb which oftentimes affects their aim and concentration.
It would be further desirable to provide an attachment for reducing the recoil from discharged firearms which can be readily installed on the end of the barrel.

Apparatus for reducing recoil and muzzle climb from discharge of firearms


Door lock merchandising display apparatus, systems and methods are disclosed. An exemplary apparatus includes a support structure including first and second fixtures positioned in a merchandise display region. The fixtures are laterally and rotatably movable relative to the support structure. The apparatus includes merchandise modules that include door locks and are detachably coupled with respective fixtures. Interior and exterior portions of the door locks are displayed on respective sides of the modules. A customer can position the fixtures to selectably simultaneously display the interior and exterior portions of the door locks. The apparatus may also include a customer-accessible inventory storage region and a customer interaction unit configured to receive customer input associated with a particular type of door lock and provide an output to the customer identifying a location of the particular type of door lock in the inventory storage region.

The present application relates generally to retail sales displays and to interactive product displays and more particularly but not exclusively to displays for door locks. Product display of door locks presents a number of unique challenges. To be functional door locks must be installed in a door or a display structure or stand which simulates their installed state. Conventional merchandising displays include door locks installed in doors or in other display structures or stands which limit or impair comparisons of various locks by fixing them in place. Alternatives such as loose or unfixed displays which might permit comparison do not allow lock function to be meaningfully evaluated. Customers could benefit from the ability to evaluate and compare the aesthetic features of different door locks as well as their functionality, feel and tactile response. Customers also face the challenge of locating particular door locks in displays that may include a large number of different locks and determining the location of the saleable inventory of a desired lock. Conventional approaches to door lock product display have left these and other needs unfulfilled.


A mounting device and method for mounting a component is disclosed. The mounting device includes a component carrier and an adapter. The adapter is insertable into a guide of the component carrier. The method uses the mounting device to mount a component on the mounting device.

The invention relates to a mounting device for mounting a component on a component carrier and a method for mounting a component in this type of mounting device.
Components frequently pass through a number of processing stations before they obtain their final form. Most of the time, the components are positioned in the processing stations by means of component carriers on which the components are fixed in advance in a mounting device.
The applicant's German patent application DE 10 2007 020 957 A1 discloses for example a mounting device for mounting a turbine blade on a component carrier by means of an adhesive bond. The component carrier has a mounting surface designed with a contour that is close to a rotor blade on which a radiation-hardenable adhesive is applied over a large surface.
This known solution makes very secure fixation of the turbine blade possible, however, because of the contoured design of the mounting surface, the component carrier is only able to be used for components that have a similar rotor blade geometry. Furthermore, when releasing the turbine blades from the component carrier, the rotor blade may inadvertently be damaged, because it is adhered to the mounting surface over a large surface.
As a result, to compensate for geometric deviations between a mounting surface of a component carrier and a component surface, spacer elements such as strips or rectangular solids are frequently used, which are positioned between the component carrier and the component and also adhered. However, these spacer elements are difficult to position in the case of certain component geometries such as, for example, spherically shaped component surfaces. Furthermore, because of the spacer elements, it is not possible to adjust an optimum adhesive gap.
The object of the present invention is creating a mounting device and a method for mounting a component on a component carrier by means of an adhesive, which eliminates the aforementioned disadvantages, makes universal applicability possible with a plurality of component shapes, and in particular allows an optimum adjustment of an adhesive gap and a simple way to release the mounted component.
A mounting device according to the invention for mounting a component on a component carrier by means of an adhesive, e.g., a radiation-hardenable adhesive or a 2-component-based adhesive, has a plurality of adapters for positioning the component in relation to the component carrier, each of which is inserted into a respective guide of the component carrier and each of which has an adhesive surface for producing an adhesive bond with the component. The guided adapters allow geometric deviations between a mounting surface of the component carrier and an opposing component surface to be equalized so that it is always possible to adjust a locally optimum adhesive gap. The mounting surface no longer has to be designed so that its contour is close to the opposing component surface, thereby allowing the mounting device to be used with a plurality of components having different geometries. In this case, guidance of the adapters in the component carrier prevents the adapter from inadvertently displacing or shifting from its adjusted position. The adapters serve so to speak as individually controllable, moveable props or supports, which are located in stationary guides. The adapters are advantageously designed in a uniform manner so that they do not have to be allocated only to a specific borehole. Furthermore, uniformly designed adapters may be used to fix components having different contours.
The guides are preferably configured as through-boreholes, which extend through the component carrier from a front mounting surface to a rear carrier surface. This simplifies the insertion or the positioning of the adapters in particular. In doing so, the adapters can be moved continuously in the guides so that it is possible to mount components having a variety of geometries virtually independently of the progression of the mounting surface.
At the same time, however, this exemplary embodiment also permits use with components having a component surface whose contour is close to the mounting surface, because the adapters are able to be positioned in the guides in such a way that they terminate flush with it.
The adapters may have a cylindrical outer circumference and thereby a cup-like cross section for example. They preferably have an outside diameter which is smaller than an inside diameter of the guides or boreholes so that a crescent or annular gap is formed between the adapters and the borehole walls, which permits excess adhesive to be accommodated and thereby makes circumferential-side adhesion of the adapters to the component carrier possible.
However, the adapters may also each have a cylindrical body, which can be brought into abutment with the component surface so it seals. To supply the adhesive to the adhesive surface and to the respective borehole wall, these adapters have an appropriately designed internal channel system. It is possible to manufacture these types of adapters simply as plastic injection molded parts.
It is possible to release the component from the component carrier or eject the adapters so that the component is protected if at least one ejector element is provided that can be pressed against a rear face of the adapters. In doing so, reduced force can be used for ejection if, as in the case of one exemplary embodiment, a heating element is integrated into the ejector element by means of which the hardened adhesive can be weakened prior to ejection. The heating element may emit microwaves or UV radiation for example, or develop an appropriate magnetic field. Furthermore, the radiation required for release may be introduced into the adhesive gap by means of an external radiation source, e.g., by means of UV rays or a microwave transmitter.
Releasing the component from the component carrier or ejecting the adapters can be simplified considerably if the adapters are configured as disposable elements, which can be destroyed during ejection. By doing so, a cleaning of the adapters is eliminated in particular. However, the adapters may also be designed as reusable multi-use elements that are consequently not destroyed during the releasing process.
In the case of a method according to the invention for mounting a component on a component carrier by means of an adhesive, e.g., a radiation-hardenable adhesive or a 2-component-based adhesive, the component is first of all positioned in relation to the component carrier. Then a local adhesive gap is adjusted between a respective adapter inserted into a guide of the component carrier and the component. Then the adhesive is hardened to produce an adhesive bond. After the adhesive hardens, the component is firmly connected to the component carrier and may be processed appropriately. This method allows precise, secure and quick fixation of the component in relation to the component carrier, because it is possible to equalize geometric differences between a mounting surface of the component carrier and an opposing component surface by means of the adapters so that, despite the fact that the contours of the mounting surface and the component surface lack conformity, it is possible to fix the component in relation to or on the component carrier via a plurality of optimum adhesive gaps.
In the case of one exemplary embodiment, the adhesive is filled into the guides prior to insertion of the adapters into the guides. When inserting the respective adapter, the adhesive is distributed to the appropriate adhesive regions between the adapters and the component as well as between the adapters and the component carrier. In the case of another exemplary embodiment, the adhesive is applied on the front side to the adapters prior to insertion of the adapters into the boreholes. The adapters may be inserted fully automatically, partially automatically or manually.
In the case of another exemplary embodiment, the adhesive is distributed via an internal channel system of the adapters inserted into the guides, which allows the adhesive to be applied in an especially targeted and metered manner. In doing so, the respective adapter is preferably inserted in the borehole up to the component surface and forms a seal there to keep the adhesive from running. The adapter is supported laterally on the borehole wall and the adhesive supply is increased until the channel system has disposed an adequate amount of adhesive at the predetermined regions between the respective adapter and the component carrier as well as the adapter and the component. In the process, the supply of adhesive may take place continuously or discontinuously, e.g., a drop at a time.
The component is preferably released via break-away of the adapters by means of an ejector element, which engages on a rear face of the adapters. In the case of one exemplary embodiment, in order to reduce the ejection force, the adhesive may be weakened via a preferably integral heating element of the ejector element. In doing so, according to one exemplary embodiment, the adapters may be destroyed during ejection thereby eliminating corresponding cleaning measures for reusing the adapters. Ejection may take place fully automatically, partially automatically or manually.
Other advantageous exemplary embodiments of the present invention are the subject matter of additional dependent claims.
Preferred exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be explained in greater detail in the following.

Mounting device and method for mounting a component on a component carrier using an adhesive


The use of anionic surfactants in a liquid peroxygen bleaching composition disclosed, for reducing itching of the skin, after it has come in contact with said compositions.

Bleaching with peroxygen bleaches is well known in the art. Peroxygen bleaching finds a variety of applications, such as bleaching fabrics or, in the household, treating hard surfaces or carpets. A major drawback of liquid peroxygen bleaches is that they may bleach the skin of the person using the composition and whiten it, if they come in contact with the composition. This whitening is fully reversible, but it also causes temporary itching of the skin.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a liquid peroxygen bleach composition which is formulated so as to avoid this temporary itching phenomenon.
In response, it has now been found that the itching can be reduced by adding an effective amount of an anionic surfactant in said liquid peroxygen bleach composition.


The invention relates to a collimator (1) for defining a beam of energetic rays (2) which is emitted from an essentially punctiform radiation source (3) and is oriented onto an object (1) to be treated. The collimator is especially used for the stereotactic conformation radiotherapy of tumors. The collimator (1) is embodied in such a way that an irregular object (4) can be scanned by rays (2, 2′) which are defined by an opening in the collimator. The invention also relates to a program for controlling the collimator. In order to define the contours (29, 29′, 29″) of the objects (4) to be irradiated in a simple but highly accurate manner, especially with a precise definition of the irradiation fields, the collimator comprises a plurality of different sized openings (5, 5′ 5″). One of the openings (5, 5′, 5″) can be selectively displaced in a polydirectional manner on a strip (6) having a spherical surface, and the central axis (7) thereof is oriented towards the radiation source (3). The other collimator openings (5′, 5″) are shielded form the rays (2). A control system (9) acts on the drives (23, 24, 25) of a drive device (8) in such a way that large openings (5, 5′) are used to scan large irradiation surfaces (26) of the object to be treated (4), and small openings (5′, 5″) are used for precise definition at the edge of the irradiation surfaces (26) of the object to be treated (4), especially in the event of irregular contours (29, 29′, 29″).

The invention concerns a collimator for defining a beam of high energy radiation which is emitted from a substantially punctiform radiation source and directed onto an object to be treated for, in particular, stereotactic conformation radiation of tumors, wherein the collimator is designed to scan an irregular object to be treated with beams which are defined by a collimator opening.
Collimators are used for conform and high-dosed radiation of target volumes having complicated shapes. There are various conventional types of collimators which usually require large amounts of time and/or great technical effort to obtain high accuracy, in particular exact definition of the radiation fields.
Compensators are particularly time-consuming, since a shaped collimator must be produced for each surface to be irradiated, and the shaped collimators on the radiation devices must be changed when changing the individual irradiation directions.
To reduce this time, multi-leaf collimators are normally used. DE 199 05 823 C1 discloses an example of such a collimator. The shaping is thereby obtained using a plurality of collimator sheets (leafs), with each leaf having a motor, a path detector, and a control for the orientation of the front edge of the leaf in accordance with the path of the rays. This effort is required for a total of between 80 and 120 leaves, wherein the leaves must be adjusted for each surface to be irradiated and for generating different radiation intensities.

Collimator for high-energy radiation and program for controlling said collimator

Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum Stiftung des Offentlichen Rechts


Disclosed herein is a voltage control circuit for a dimmer and a dimming method. In accordance with an embodiment, the dimming method using a voltage control circuit for a dimmer includes the steps of determining whether a current voltage value input to a constant dimming range maintainer is equal to a preset minimum or maximum voltage value or exists between the minimum and maximum voltage values, and determining whether the current voltage value is greater than the maximum voltage value when the current voltage value isn't equal to the minimum or maximum voltage value or doesn't exist between the minimum and maximum voltage values. The method further includes the steps of updating the minimum voltage value to the current voltage value when the current voltage value isn't greater than the maximum voltage value, and updating the maximum voltage value to the current voltage value when the current voltage value is greater than the maximum voltage value.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a voltage control circuit for a dimmer, and more particularly, to a voltage control circuit for a dimmer that supplies a constant voltage to a lighting device regardless of a dimmer by adding a means for converting the voltage changed due to the dimmer into the constant voltage, and a dimming method using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A lighting device using a light emitting diode (LED) has advantages, such as long life and low power consumption, compared to existing lighting devices. However, the LED lighting device has a problem with compatibility with an existing dimmer installed according to characteristics of an incandescent. The dimmer is an apparatus that adjusts brightness of a lamp (for example, an incandescent or a halogen lamp) by varying AC input power. Since the driving range of the dimmer is diverse, it is needed to develop an LED lighting device that shows the same characteristics in all dimmers.
A problem in a conventional primary-side regulation (PSR) topology for lighting devices, as shown in FIG. 1, is that the range of a reference voltage Vref is changed according to the type of the dimmer. In the PSR topology, the brightness of an LED, that is, the light quantity is proportional to the size of the reference voltage Vref. From user's viewpoint, it means that the light quantity of the LED is changed whenever using different dimmers.

Voltage control circuit for dimmer and dimming method using the same


Disclosed are apparatus, systems and methods for reducing displacement of a subsea conduit such as offshore hydrocarbon production pipeline, also referred to as pipeline walking or buckling, thus reducing the need for expensive pipeline anchoring or other mitigation solutions. A movement resistor adapted to be installed on a subsea conduit is provided having an inner portion adapted to receive and securely attach to a subsea conduit and at least one resistor portion adapted to resist induced forces. The at least one resistor portion includes a spring element therein. At least one movement resistor can be installed along the length of a subsea conduit.

Pipeline in offshore hydrocarbon production is installed on the seabed, often extending great distances. Hydrocarbon fluids carried by such pipelines can occur over a wide range of temperatures, e.g., between about 4° C. and about 200° C. Pipeline carrying such hydrocarbon fluids can experience thermal gradients across the pipeline during multiple production shut down and start up cycles resulting in expansion, contraction, and thermal cycling of the pipeline or conduit. This can result in pipeline buckling and movement, also referred to as "walking," which may induce overstrain and fatigue failures along the length of the pipeline at locations which are relatively vulnerable and prone to these failure mechanisms. Walking is a very costly problem, as the junction of the pipeline with elements of the production facility infrastructure, such as for example, the pipeline end termination (PLET) or other subsea equipment, can be overstressed, resulting in damage and even parting of the pipeline from the equipment. Such incidents often require that hydrocarbon production be shut down so that the pipeline system can be repaired. In order to prevent walking, expensive anchoring mitigation using large suction or driven piles and the like is often employed to hold the pipeline in place.
It would be desirable to have an economical solution to the aforementioned problems which would reduce the incidence of pipeline walking and buckling, and thus reduce the need for expensive pipeline anchoring or other mitigation solutions.

Conduit displacement mitigation apparatus including springs, methods and systems for use with subsea conduits


In accordance with the present invention there is provided a method for performing a glitch check in simulating a circuit. Current maximum and minimum values for optimization parameters of the circuit are determined. Next, a signal pulse characteristic for the circuit simulation is determined based on the maximum and minimum optimization parameters. A current averaged optimization parameter is determined from the current maximum and minimum optimization parameters. A prime criterion parameter is calculated based on the optimization parameters and the signal pulse characteristic value. If the prime criterion parameter converges into a specified range then measurement results from the circuit simulation are parsed and reported as final. If the prime criterion parameter does not converge, then the process continues by recalculating the optimization parameters until the prime criterion parameter converges.

The design of very large-scale integrated (VLSI) circuits using computer aided design (CAD) systems is a very time consuming and computationally intensive process. As the complexity of VLSI circuit design has increased, circuit designers have begun incorporating basic circuit building blocks into circuit designs so that the designers do not need to start from scratch for each design. This design approach is commonly referred to as an intellectual property (IP) based design approach and the basic circuit building blocks are referred to as IP blocks.
In accordance with system on chip (SOC) technology, a variety of circuit building blocks are incorporated onto a single integrated chip. Each of the building blocks performs a specific function of an electronic system. The IP building blocks include, but are not limited to, embedded memory, standard cell, I/O devices, analog and system interfaces, etc.
A timing model including many characterized timing parameters for each IP block that is to be incorporated into a system chip is required by the IC designers. Important timing parameters include setup time, hold time, access time, minimum pulse high and low time, and other I/O pin characteristics. Designers are interested in characterizing and optimizing timing characteristics associated with an IP block design.
There are two methods of IP block characterization and verification. The first method is based on 'full circuit' simulations. For deep submicron designs, a netlist size of layout-extracted IP blocks could be enormous with a large number of resistors and capacitors. It might be prohibitive to run numerous full circuit simulations with a high-accuracy circuit simulator. The other method is a characterization based on 'critical-path circuit' simulations. Instead of using a full circuit, a small detailed critical circuit including multiple critical paths is used of simulation. The 'critical-path circuits' are built either manually or by software tools for automation, accuracy and performance.
The simulation results observed during the characterization process are only at the pins of the full circuit or at ports of the 'critical-path circuit'. Reliability issues such as noise margin, glitch, and racing conditions that occur inside the circuit are normally ignored. Accordingly, the timing parameters generated by the simulation may be too optimistic and incorrect.
Furthermore, the circuit or subcircuit block is viewed as a black-box when the circuit simulation is performed. However, the simulations results observed at the pins cannot detect the above-mentioned reliability issues that can occur inside the circuit. The models based upon simulation and characterization results could be incorrect thereby causing yield and reliability problems.

Glitch and metastability checks using signal characteristics


Hyaluronic acid-retaining biopolymer is provided which exhibits low levels of protein adsorption and surface friction. The biopolymer is useful for incorporation in products, such as contact lenses, used in biological environments.

Reducing protein fouling on biomaterials is desired in a number of applications. For example, deposition of proteinaceous tear film components onto contact lens materials has been suggested to result in reduced visual performance [1], comfort [2,3], and in-eye wettability [4], as well as to produce inflammatory complications [5,6,7]. End of day dryness, potentially the result of the presence of a protein layer, has been reported as being experienced by between 25% and 30% of soft contact lens wearers [8], with 35% of patients permanently ceasing use of contact lenses due to complications associated with discomfort and dryness [9].
To alleviate these problems, lens companies have developed novel lens materials. One such material, recently introduced by CIBA Vision contains an internal wetting agent which is reported to be released throughout the day, providing a wetted layer. Another material, introduced by Johnson and Johnson Vision Care in Europe is reported to contain an internal wetting agent which is not released but which migrates to the surface of the material, again providing a continuously wetted surface that presumably has decreased protein adsorption.
Materials with a wetting agent have also been suggested to exhibit increased lubricity and have lower coefficients of friction than their unmodified counterparts. Lubricity is not only important for lens materials, but also in materials having other applications. For example, pacemaker leads must be coated with an insulating material, usually a silicone based polymer, for obvious reasons. However, when these materials are inserted, low surface friction between the material and the surrounding biological environment is critical. Similarly, intraocular lenses must pass through a small bore injector and therefore must have lubricious surfaces to minimize the potential for surgeon error on implantation.
It is desirable, thus, to develop a biomaterial having properties which alleviate at least one of the disadvantages of prior polymer-based biomaterials.


The present disclosure relates to a data communication method and system. The method includes: a first terminal continuously generating a communication carrier signal; sending by the first terminal a communication data signal carrying a data packet to be processed, beginning to record the first number of pulses when the first terminal completes sending the data packet to be processed; receiving by the second terminal the communication data signal, beginning to record the second number of pulses when the second terminal completes receiving the data packet to be processed, generating a response data packet sending, by the second terminal, the response data packet to the first terminal when detecting that the second number reaches a pulse number threshold N; and allowing, by the first terminal, to begin receiving the response data packet when detecting that the first number is within a threshold range.

The reading scheme of the existing contactless IC card reader performs data transmission based on communication protocols such as 14443 and 15693. According to the above protocols, a frame waiting time (FWT) exists after the reader sends instruction data, which indicates a maximum time range for the card reader to wait to receive response data from the card. That is, after the card reader sends an instruction to the card, the card reader waits to receive the response data from the card, and the card reader considers the returned data to be legal if the data is returned within the frame waiting time (FWT). According to the above communication protocols, if a third party intercepts the data sent by the card reader and returns the response data within the FWT time, the card reader will consider the source of the data to be reliable. Thus, the solution has security risks, such as being attacked by a third party and data being altered.


A sheet material feeding apparatus includes a feed-out device that brings the stacked sheet materials conveyed on a floor belt into contact with a pickup roller and feeds the sheet materials out in a direction crossing the conveying direction of the stacked sheet materials by rotation of the pickup roller, and an inclination correcting device provided in an upstream of the feed-out device in its sheet material feeding direction and including an upper roller located at a position higher than that of the pickup roller, that brings an upper side of the stacked sheet materials conveyed towards the feed-out device into contact with the upper roller to correct the inclination of the stacked sheet materials.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sheet material feeding apparatus that feeds a sheet material such as a postal matter.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a sheet material feeding apparatus of this kind, there is known a type in which sheet materials are placed in a standing position on a floor belt and they are conveyed to a feed-out unit as the floor belt runs. At the feed-out unit, sheet materials are fed out one by one as feed-out roller or feed-out belt rotates.
However, in some cases, stacked sheet materials are conveyed in an inclined state as relative to the feed-out unit as being affected so for one reason or another or the stacked sheet materials are already set in an inclined state on the floor belt before they are conveyed. In such cases, the sheet materials are not evenly brought into contact with the feed-out roller or feed-out belt, and thus an uneven contacting state is created. When the sheet materials are fed out in this state, such problems occur that sheets are skewed and continuous feeding out of sheets is interrupted.
As a solution to this, such a conventional technique was developed as disclosed in, for example, Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2002-68490, in which the floor belt is divided and a lever is provided to convey sheet materials while detecting the clearance between sheet materials (, which is roughly equivalent to the inclining state), to realize stable feeding out of the materials.
However, with the above-described method, a mechanism for operating the lever is necessary, which makes the structure of the device complicated, and there is such a drawback that sheet material may be damaged when the lever fails to function properly.