A gasket for a disk drive system that seals the connector port for the actuator flex cable to the disk drive housing which is designed to also provide electrical ground contact from the disk drive housing to the actuator flex cable ground lead. In accordance with the new gasket disclosed herein, grounding of the actuator flex cable ground lead to the disk drive housing is accomplished without need of additional fasteners, or additional process steps in assembly of the disk drive.

1. Field of the Invention This invention relates in general to disk drives, and in particular to a gasket frame for grounding an actuator flex cable and method of using the same, wherein the actuator flex cable gasket grounds the actuator flex cable to the disk drive casting.
2. Description of Related Art
Moving magnetic storage devices, especially magnetic disk drives, are the memory devices of choice. This is due to their expanded non-volatile memory storage capability combined with a relatively low cost.
Magnetic disk drives are information storage devices which utilize at least one rotatable magnetic media disk having concentric data tracks defined for storing data, a magnetic recording head or transducer for reading data from and/or writing data to the various data tracks, a slider for supporting the transducer in proximity to the data tracks typically in a flying mode above the storage media, a suspension assembly for resiliently supporting the slider and the transducer over the data tracks, and a positioning actuator coupled to the transducer/slider/suspension combination for moving the transducer across the media to the desired data track and maintaining the transducer over the data track center line during a read or a write operation. The transducer is attached to or is formed integrally with the slider which supports the transducer above the data surface of the storage disk by a cushion of air, referred to as an air-bearing, generated by the rotating disk.
Alternatively, the transducer may operate in contact with the surface of the disk. Thus, the suspension provides desired slider loading and dimensional stability between the slider and an actuator arm which couples the transducer/slider/suspension assembly to the actuator. The actuator positions the transducer over the correct track according to the data desired on a read operation or to the correct track for placement of the data during a write operation. The actuator is controlled to position the transducer over the desired data track by shifting the combination assembly across the surface of the disk in a direction generally transverse to the data tracks. The actuator may include a single arm extending from a pivot point, or alternatively a plurality of arms arranged in a comb-like fashion extending from a pivot point. A rotary voice coil motor (vcm) is attached to the rear portion of the actuator arm or arms to power movement of the actuator over the disks.
The vcm located at the rear portion of the actuator arm is comprised of a top plate spaced above a bottom plate with a magnet or pair of magnets therebetween. The vcm further includes an electrically conductive coil disposed within the rearward extension of the actuator arm and between the top and bottom plates, while overlying the magnet in a plane parallel to the magnet. In operation, current passes through the coil and interacts with the magnetic field of the magnet so as to rotate the actuator arm around its pivot and thus positioning the transducer as desired.
The magnetic media disk or disks in the disk drive are mounted to a spindle. The spindle is attached to a spindle motor which rotates the spindle and the disks to provide read/write access to the various portions on the concentric tracks on the disks.
One or more electrical conductors extend over the suspension assembly to electrically connect the read/write transducer to a read/write chip on the actuator arm. A multiline flexible printed circuit cable (actuator flex cable) provides the electrical contact between the read/write chip and the disk drive electronics which are mounted outside the disk drive housing. Inside the disk drive housing, the actuator flex cable connects to an electrical connector pin assembly, which in turn, through an opening or connector port in the housing, connects to the external electronics. An electrical ground line is one of the electrical connections on the actuator flex cable. This ground line provides a good electrical connection between the read/write chip electrical ground and the disk drive housing. Electrical grounding is increasingly important in disk drive systems to decrease electrical noise affecting the data signal and to minimize electrostatic charge buildup which can result in damage to the read/write transducer.
When considering methods to connect the electronics inside the disk drive housing with the external disk drive electronics, it must be considered that disk drive systems are very sensitive to particulate and chemical contamination which can adversely affect the mechanical reliability. To protect the system from contamination, disk drive housings are generally sealed to isolate the interior of the disk drive from the outside environment. The actuator flex cable connecting the read/write chip and the disk drive electronics is electrically connected to a sealed connector pin assembly which is mounted at the connector port with a suitable gasket seal interface to the disk drive housing. On the inside of the disk drive housing, grounding of the actuator flex cable at the connector port is very important to improve signal-to-noise ratio during use of the drive and to protect the electronics and read/write transducer from electrostatic damage during assembly and handling.
In the prior art, electrical connection of the actuator flex cable ground line to the disk drive housing is made with a variety of mechanical connectors such a screws, springs, pins or other fastening devices. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,541,787 assigned to Jabbari et al., grounding of the actuator flex cable to the disk drive housing by means of screws is described. A second example is the IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, Vol. 38, No. 02, February 1995, describing a spring soldered to the actuator flex cable ground which contacts the disk drive housing when the drive is assembled. The disadvantages of the prior art methods for providing actuator flex cable grounding are the need for extra components, the added assembly steps required and the risk of introducing contamination inside the disk drive housing.
It therefore can be seen that there is a need for an apparatus and a method for grounding the actuator flex cable to the disk drive housing which provides a reliable electrical ground contact with no additional parts or assembly steps and no sources of additional particulate contamination.

Gasket frame for grounding an actuator flex cable in a disc drive

International Business Machines Corporation


A substrate design to improve chip package reliability is provided. The chip package includes a substrate having a ceramic layer formed in a recess. A die is attached to the substrate on the ceramic layer. The substrate may be attached to a printed circuit board. The substrate may be fabricated by forming a recess in a substrate, such as a multi-layer substrate formed of organic dielectric materials. A ceramic layer is then affixed to the substrate in the recess. A die may be attached to the ceramic layer and the substrate may be attached to a printed circuit board.

Generally, semiconductor chips used in electronic devices comprise a semiconductor die mounted on a carrier or a substrate. The semiconductor die is manufactured using standard semiconductor fabrication processes and has a series of bond pads that are used to make electrical contact to the integrated circuit formed therein. The die is placed on a carrier or substrate that has electrical leads formed therein to correspond to the bond pads of the die. Solder balls are typically used to attached the die to the substrate. The die and the carrier may be enclosed to protect the die from the environment.
The die and the substrate to which the die is mounted, however, frequently exhibit different coefficients of thermal expansion. For example, dies are commonly fabricated from silicon, which has a coefficient of thermal expansion between about 2.8 and 3.0. On the other hand, the substrates, typically made of organic dielectric materials and metal lines, have a coefficient of thermal expansion between 17.0 and 20.0. Thus, as the die and substrate are heated and cooled through normal use, the substrate expands and contracts at a much greater rate than the die. This difference in the expansion and contraction may induce serious sheer stress at the joint between the substrate and the die during temperature cycling, thereby causing the bump joints to crack. This is particularly true for high lead bumps.
One attempt at mitigating this effect involved eliminating the use of solder bumps. Rather, the substrate layers are built directly upon the die. These attempts, however, may adversely affect the yield of the die. In particular the yield of the die is tied to the yield of the substrate. Thus, if the substrate fails for any reason, the die must also be discarded.
Thus, what is needed is a method of attaching a die to a substrate to achieve a connection point that is less susceptible to the stress resulting from differing coefficients of thermal expansion.

Substrate design to improve chip package reliability

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.


Disclosed is a system, method, and program for displaying data on a display monitor under control of a computer. A first portion of a field of data and a graphical element indicating that there is a second portion of the field of data are displayed within a display area of a page, such as an HTML page. The page is enabled to selectively present the first and second portions of the field of data in response to user input.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method, system, and program for presenting data in a limited display area and, in particular displaying only a portion of the data for a field of data and a graphical element indicating that there is a second portion of the displayed data which may be displayed in response to user input.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the prior art, many programs and Internet web sites display information using hover text to conserve screen display real estate. One prior art use of hover text in application programs is to display information on a control button or icon. FIG. 1 illustrates a use of hover text 2 to display information on the operation of the "Reload" button. This information is static information provided for particular icons and control buttons on the page. Another prior art use of hover text is to display the entire content in a display area if the display area is not large enough to display all the content. Typically, the display area crops the content to display only that part of the content that fits into the display area. If a user moves a mouse over the display area, then the display area will display in a hover text box the entire content of the display area. The use of hover text is implemented in standard page description languages such as the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). HTML provides an alternate text command that allows the display of text over an image. Details of HTML are described in the publication "HTML 4.0 Specification," W3C Recommendation, revised Apr. 24, 1998 (Copyright World Wide Web Consortium 1998), which publication is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Another prior art example of the use of hover text is in the Microsoft Windows NT and 95/98** operating systems. These operating systems display a task bar that displays buttons for each open application that includes the application title. If the title would extend beyond the width of the application button, then the operating system displays the application title truncated to fit into the button. If the user passes a graphical pointer over the displayed application button, then the entire application title will be displayed in hover text over the application button.
Although the above uses of hover text to display data in fixed length content areas are well known, it would be desirable to utilize the hover text feature to further improve displaying of data in fixed length content areas.

Method, system, and program for presenting data in a limited display area

International Business Machines Corporation


An outgoing e-mail manager inserts headers into outgoing e-mail messages originating from at least one source on a computer. Each header includes data concerning the source of the e-mail. An e-mail header manager monitors an e-mail stream, and reads headers inserted into e-mail messages. The e-mail header manager applies a security policy to e-mail messages, responsive to the contents of the inserted headers.

Networked computers are vulnerable to malicious computer code attacks, such as worms, viruses and Trojan horses. As used herein, "malicious computer code" is any code that enters a computer without an authorized user's knowledge and/or without an authorized user's consent.
More specifically, e-mail worms are a growing plague on today's Internet users. As evidenced by the success of recent worms such as MyDoom, current solutions do not always adequately contain such threats.
Much current anti-malicious code software scans executable images looking for known malicious code signatures. Many users of security software do not keep up to date with respect to their anti-malicious code product and its signatures. In any case, signatures do not exist for newly released worms until they have been identified and analyzed. Therefore, even the subset of security software subscribers who are up to date with respect to their anti-malicious code product and its signatures would benefit from technology that protects them during the period between threat appearance and signature delivery.
What is needed are methods, systems and computer readable media that provide protection from malicious code from its onset through and beyond the production of traditional signatures for anti-malicious code products. Additionally, it would be desirable for the methods, systems and computer readable media to identify worm originating source processes, and to generate network scalable warnings thereof.

Using inserted e-mail headers to enforce a security policy


A system for tracing a simulation design involves an encoded assertion asserting a value of a node of the simulation design at a point in a simulation, a fanin cone detection facility configured to obtain a fanin cone for the encoded assertion, a waveform trace facility configured to obtain waveform data including a history of signal values for the node, and a simulation toolkit configured to obtain node data using the fanin cone and the waveform data.

Modern high performance electronic circuitry has an ever-increasing number of circuit elements and an ever-rising clock frequency. As circuitry performance continues to increase, the result has been a larger number of circuits switching at faster rates. After a circuit prototype is initially manufactured and failure modes are uncovered, determining failure mechanisms is time intensive due to the increased circuit complexity. Circuit failures may be the result of logic errors or poor manufacturability of a circuit element. In both cases, simulation of the circuit helps to confirm or refute the existence of a logic error and verify the correctness of the design.
Simulation may occur at low levels of abstraction, e.g., at a "switch-level." Switch-level simulations typically include active circuit elements (e.g., transistors) and passive circuit elements (e.g., resistors, capacitors, and inductors). CPU simulation also may occur at a higher level of abstraction, e.g., a "behavioral level." Behavioral level simulations typically use a hardware description language (HDL) that determines the functionality of a single circuit element or group of circuit elements. Examples of typical behavioral level simulation languages are Very High Speed Integrated Circuit HDL (VHDL) and Verilog. Using Verilog, for example, electronic circuitry is described as a set of modules, each of which is part of a design of a circuit, circuits, or a device. Modules can represent elements of hardware ranging from simple gates to complete systems.
Designers may use assertions to detect design errors and verify design correctness during simulations. An assertion is an expression written in a computer language (in HDL, for example), which asserts that at a certain time during the simulation, a certain signal (or combination of signals) in the design equals a certain value or values. For example, an assertion included in a design may assert that value of an output of a particular gate is equal to "1" at 1000 seconds into the simulation (or at a particular cycle of the simulation, e.g., the 500th cycle of the simulation). If the assertion fails, i.e., if the value of an output of the gate is not equal to "1" at 1000 seconds into the simulation, then the simulator in which the simulation is executing may stop, or display a warning, or perform some other appropriate action.
FIG. 1 shows a system for using assertions to detect design errors during a simulation. The system includes a design (20), a compiler (22), a simulation image (24), assertions (26), a connectivity database (28), a simulator (30), a simulation toolkit (32), a waveform trace (34), and node data (36). The design, (e.g., Verilog modules) (20), is compiled by the compiler (22), which generates the simulation image (24), including the assertions (26). The connectivity database (28), also generated by the compiler (22), is typically made available to a designer conducting the simulation via the simulation toolkit (32).
The simulation image (24) is typically a binary executable file including instructions for performing the simulation on a simulator (30). The assertions (26) are a set of instructions (typically written in a high-level computer programming language) asserting the value of circuit elements of the design (20) at particular points in the simulation. For example, the assertions (26) may include an instruction to the simulator (30) to assert that the output of a particular AND gate is equal to "1" 1000 seconds after the start of the simulation. A simulation toolkit (32) is software used by a designer to control the simulation. The simulation toolkit (32) typically includes software to control the other parts of the system, and to obtain and present sufficient data to allow the designer to control the simulation and later debug errors in the design that are uncovered during the simulation. As such, the simulation toolkit (32) may include appropriate Command Line Interface (CLI) and Graphical User Interface (GUI) tools.
The connectivity database (28) provides a connectivity description for the circuit elements of the design (20). The connectivity description describes how the circuit elements are connected to each other. For example, the connectivity database (28) provides a connectivity description describing connections to other circuit elements for the previously mentioned AND gate. For example, the connectivity database (28) describes the AND gate as having two inputs, each of which is a signal driven by a particular circuit element (such as a another gate, etc.), where each circuit element has other inputs. Thus, a circuit element of the design (20) may be represented as a node in a graph, with inputs and outputs of the node represented as edges connecting to other nodes of the design (20).
If an assertion is associated with a particular node, then each set of drivers (e.g., each circuit element providing signal inputs into the node) may be represented as a tree structure called a fanin cone. The root of the fanin cone is the node associated with the assertion. FIG. 2 shows a fanin cone (40) for an assertion (42), which has two drivers, node 1 (44), and node 2 (46). Node 1 (44) has three drivers, node 3 (48), node 4 (50), and node 5 (52). Because node 3 (48), node 4 (50), and node 5 (52) do not have drivers, node 3 (48), node 4 (50), and node 5 (52) are considered primary inputs, and are leaf nodes of the fanin cone (40). Likewise, node 2 (46) has two drivers, node 6 (54) and node 7 (56), which are primary inputs.
Referring back to FIG. 1, during the simulation, the designer uses the simulation toolkit (32) to determine which nodes are drivers of a failed assertion. The designer uses the node data (36) from the waveform trace (34) to determine the cause of the assertion failure. However, the waveform trace (34) includes waveforms (signals) for each of the multiple nodes of the design, which may include thousands of nodes. In order to minimize the amount of node data that the designer uses to debug the assertion failure, the designer may obtain a fanin cone for the particular assertion associated with the assertion failure. Thus, the simulation toolkit may include software for tracing the fanin cone for a failed assertion (using, for example, well-established graph theory algorithms). Next, the designer may obtain minimal node data by selecting only those waveforms from the waveform trace (34) that pertain to the fanin cone.
FIGS. 3 and 4 show a flowchart of operations for a simulation using the system shown in FIG. 1 to verify a design. A first operation is obtaining the design and assertions for the design (Step 80). Then, the assertions are inserted into the design (Step 82). The design is compiled using a compiler to generate a simulation image (Step 84). Compiling the design also generates the connectivity database. The simulation image then is loaded onto a simulator and executed on the simulator (Step 86). During execution, the simulator checks for failed assertions (Step 88), and a determination is made whether an assertion has failed (90).
If an assertion has not failed, the simulation image continues to execute on the simulator (Step 86). Otherwise, as shown in FIG. 4, if an assertion has failed, the simulation is halted (Step 92). Once the simulation is halted, node data for the design is obtained (Step 94). The node data is used to determine the cause of the assertion failure. The node data may include specific values of signals on nodes at particular points of the simulation prior to the failure of the assertion. In order to reduce the number of nodes for which node data is obtained, the designer may use the connectivity database to obtain a fanin cone for the assertion(s) that failed. Thus, the designer may avoid obtaining unnecessary node data (i.e., obtaining node data for nodes that are not drivers for the nodes associated with the assertion that failed).
Once node data is obtained, the designer analyzes the node data to debug the failed assertion (Step 96). For example, the designer may determine that a particular gate associated with a node in the fanin cone is faulty, which caused an unexpected signal value, resulting in the failed assertion. In other cases, the designer may not be able to determine the cause of the failed assertion. For example, the node data obtained by the designer may be incorrect.
A determination is made as to whether the cause of the assertion failure is found (Step 98). If the cause of the assertion failure is found, the design is corrected and recompiled using the simulation toolkit, taking into consideration the cause of the assertion failure (Step 100). Then, a determination is made as to whether the assertions require modification (Step 102). If the assertions require modification, the designer modifies the assertions (Step 104).
Once the assertions are modified (or if modification is not required), a determination is made as to whether the simulation has completed (Step 106). If the simulation has not completed, Step 82 is performed; otherwise, the simulation ends.
Referring back to Step 98 of FIG. 4, if the cause of assertion failure is not found, then the designer modifies the assertions (Step 104), and if the simulation is determined to not be complete (Step 106), the assertion is inserted into the design (typically, by hard coding the modifications to the assertions within the simulation image) (Step 82). The design with the modified assertion is then compiled to generate the simulation image (Step 84). Next, the simulation is restarted and executed on the simulator (Step 86).
If, while the design is being executed on the simulator, the designer wishes to modify the assertions prior to discovering a failure, the designer may use the simulation toolkit to halt the simulation, obtain new assertions (Step 80), insert the new assertions into the design (Step 82), and recompile the design to generate another simulation image (Step 84), which is then loaded onto the simulator once more and executed (Step 86).

Method and apparatus for generating minimal node data and dynamic assertions for a simulation


An inclined conveyor for transporting shopping carts between an upper floor and a lower floor. The inclined conveyor includes a continuous conveyor assembly having a conveyor belt including a plurality of spaced drive lugs that engage a shopping cart. The moving conveyor belt transports the shopping cart between the upper and lower floors. The inclined conveyor includes a jam detector that interrupts operation of the conveyor upon detection of a jam along the conveyor. The inclined conveyor further includes sensors that prevent operation of the conveyor assembly if a person is present at either the unloading end or loading end of the conveyor assembly. At least one cart arrester is positioned along the length of the inclined conveyor to prevent uncontrolled descent of a shopping cart along the length of the inclined conveyor.

The present invention relates to a tow conveyor for moving shopping carts between two different floors of a building. More specifically, the present invention relates to an inclined shopping cart conveyor that can be positioned adjacent to a people-moving escalator such that the shopping cart conveyor moves the shopping carts between two different floors of a building to coincide with the movement of the shoppers.
Currently, most large department stores occupy single floor buildings that include many different product departments and thus have a footprint that covers tens of thousands of square feet. In these large department stores, shoppers typically use shopping carts to carry selected merchandise throughout the store while the shopper continues to select merchandise from the various departments within the store. Since a shopper may be selecting a large number of items having substantial weight, shopping carts are essential in the current department store environment.
Large department stores are most often located in suburban areas where enough land is available to build a store large enough to include all of the merchandise to be offered by the retailer. Thus, many large department store chains have been unable to open stores in large, populated urban areas due to the unavailability of large blocks of single floor retail space. However, in these same urban areas there are often a number of multi-floor vacant buildings that would be large enough to accommodate the floor space required by the department store. Department stores are unable to utilize these multi-floor buildings due to the inability of the department store to transport shopping carts between the various floors of a multi-level store. Although elevators can move shopping carts between he various floors of a multi-floor store, elevators are unable to handle the large number of consumers typically found in one of the large chains of department stores.
Therefore, a need clearly exists for a method of moving shopping carts between various floors of a multi-level department store. Further, a need exists for a system for moving shopping carts along with or simultaneously with the movement of a shopper between the same floors of a department store.
The present invention relates to an inclined tow conveyor for transporting loaded or unloaded shopping carts between floors of a building. The inclined conveyor of the present invention is constructed to be positioned and used along side a conventional, people-moving escalator such that shopping carts can be loaded onto the inclined shopping cart conveyor and transported along side the shopper who is using the shopping cart.
The inclined shopping cart conveyor of the present invention extends between a loading end and an unloading end. When the inclined conveyor is configured to be an upwardly moving conveyor, a shopping cart is received at the loading end on a lower floor. The shopping cart is received by a continuous conveyor assembly that engages a front portion of the shopping cart and transports the shopping cart upward along the inclined conveyor to the unloading end on an upper floor.
The inclined shopping cart conveyor includes a front wheel track and a rear wheel track that guide the front and rear wheels, respectively, of the shopping cart along the inclined conveyor as a result of the engagement of the shopping cart with the continuous conveyor assembly. The continuous conveyor assembly includes a continuous conveyor belt having a series of spaced drive lugs. Each of the spaced drive lugs positively engages a portion of an engagement bracket mounted near the front end of the shopping cart. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the engagement bracket includes a generally horizontal cross bar that contacts one of the drive lugs mounted to the conveyor belt. Upon reaching the upper floor, the shopping cart is discharged from the inclined conveyor and can be retrieved by the shopper.
The inclined shopping cart conveyor of the present invention preferably includes an infrared or heat sensor mounted above the loading end of the inclined conveyor. The infrared sensor is positioned to detect whether a person has passed beneath an entry arch positioned at the loading end of the conveyor. The infrared sensor is coupled to a control unit that terminates the movement of the conveyor belt upon detection of a person. In this manner, the control unit of the inclined conveyor prevents operation of the conveyor when a person is too close to the moving conveyor belt.
The inclined conveyor further includes a pair of spaced photoelectric sensors positioned near both the loading end and the unloading end of the inclined conveyor. The photoelectric sensors are each coupled to the control unit of the inclined conveyor. The photoelectric sensors are spaced from each other by a large enough distance such that a shopping cart does not simultaneously break the through beams generated by a pair of spaced sensors. Thus, during normal operation when only a shopping cart is being loaded onto the inclined conveyor, the photoelectric sensors will permit continued operation of the inclined conveyor. However, if both photoelectric sensors are tripped at the same time, the control unit will interrupt operation of the inclined conveyor. Again, the photoelectric sensors prevent operation of the inclined conveyor when a person is present at either the loading end or the unloading end of the inclined conveyor.
The inclined conveyor of the present invention includes a jam detector that senses when one of the shopping carts is jammed along the length of the inclined conveyor. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the jam detector includes a pair of metallic conductor strips that extend along the length of the inclined conveyor and are positioned slightly above the moving conveyor belt. One of the metallic conductor strips receives an electric charge and both of the conductor strips are connected to the control unit of the inclined conveyor. When a jam occurs along the length of the inclined conveyor, a metallic cross bar attached to the front end of the cart completes an electrical connection between the spaced metallic conductor strips. The contact between the shopping cart and the metallic conductor strips is sensed by the control unit. Upon sensing a jam, the control unit initially terminates operation of the drive motor that is moving the conveyor belt. Preferably, the control unit then reverses the direction of operation of the drive motor in an attempt to clear the jam along a length of the inclined conveyor. If the jam is cleared, the conveyor resumes normal operation. However, if the jam is not cleared, the control unit suspends operation and must be manually reset.
The upwardly moving inclined conveyor includes a plurality of cart arresters positioned along the length of the conveyor. Each of the cart arresters is operable to prevent the uninhibited downward movement of a shopping cart should the shopping cart become disengaged from the conveyor belt. Each of the cart arresters includes a spring-biased stopping arm that allows the cart to move freely in the upward direction, while preventing the uninhibited movement in the downward direction.
The downwardly moving inclined conveyor also includes a plurality of spaced cart arresters. In the downwardly moving conveyor, each of the cart arresters includes a stopping arm that extends into the path of travel of the shopping cart. Upon detecting a cart moving at the proper speed, the control unit of the inclined conveyor retracts a solenoid to pull the stopping arm inward and out of the path of the shopping cart. However, if the control unit does not activate the solenoid, the stopping arm prevents the downward movement of the shopping cart. Thus, the control unit must positively activate the solenoid in order to allow the shopping cart to move past the cart arrester.
Various other features, objects and advantages of the invention will be made apparent from the following description taken together with the drawings.


An atomizer and an electronic cigarette having same include an atomizing sleeve with a liquid storage chamber formed therein; a mouthpiece is disposed at a top end of the atomizing sleeve; an air passage pipe is disposed at a center of the atomizing sleeve; a supporter with two ends opened is disposed at a bottom end of the air passage pipe; a hollow heating element is disposed in the supporter longitudinally; a side wall of the supporter has at least one liquid inlet hole communicated with the liquid storage chamber and configured for allowing radial infiltration of the tobacco liquid to the heating element; a sealing component is disposed between the heating element and the supporter to encircle the heating element and configured for avoiding leakage of the tobacco liquid along a longitudinal direction of the heating element.

In terms of the traditional cigarettes, the smoking smog contains tens of carcinogens during the tobacco cigarettes are combusted, for example tars etc. may endanger people's health. Moreover, the smoking smog is diffused throughout the air to form a secondhand smoke, inhaled by the people around to endanger their health. Therefore, most public areas prohibit smoking cigarettes explicitly, to satisfy some smokers' needs, the electronic cigarettes appeared.
Currently, the existing atomizer generally includes an atomizing sleeve and an atomizing core disposed inside the atomizing sleeve. The atomizing sleeve stores the tobacco liquid, the atomizing core is given the electricity to generate heat for heating the tobacco liquid to generate an aerosol for users' inhaling. The atomizing core generally includes a supporter, a porous ceramic body disposed inside the supporter, a heating wire disposed inside the porous ceramic body. In the prior art, there is a liquid storage cotton disposed between the supporter and the porous ceramic body. The liquid storage cotton conveys the tobacco liquid outside the supporter to the porous ceramic body on the hand, and is used for sealing, avoiding the tobacco liquid to leak out from clearance between the supporter and the porous ceramic body on the other hand.
Inventors in the present application find that the rate of conveying tobacco liquid by capillarity of the liquid storage cotton is slow that can't satisfy the user's need for big volume of aerosol, on the other hand, after the porous ceramic body is heated for a long time, the temperature of the porous ceramic body gets higher and higher, the liquid storage cotton clinging to the porous ceramic body will generate some eco-unfriendly materials due to the high temperature.
Therefore, it is a trend to cancel the liquid storage cotton, but a problem of sealing between the supporter and the porous ceramic body has to be solved.

Atomizer and electronic cigarette having same

Shenzhen First Union Technology Co., Ltd.


Implantable medical devices, such as intraluminally implantable stents and valves, are provided having certain preferred shapes. Preferably, a portion of the implantable medical device can define a sinus region having a preferred geometry. The sinus region can have one or more preferred geometric configurations described herein, for example to mitigate or prevent thrombosis within a body vessel. The medical device can include a valve means, such as one or more valve leaflets positioned within the sinus region. The implantable medical devices can be delivered from a catheter within a body vessel, and are preferably expandable from a compressed configuration to a radially expanded configuration. The implantable frames can be self-expanding or balloon expandable. Portions of the medical device, such as the implantable frame or a valve leaflet, are optionally coated with one or more bioactive materials.

Intraluminally implantable frames are being implanted in increasing numbers to treat a variety of conditions, and are coming into greater use in a variety of fields. Frames implanted in vessels, ducts or channels of the human body can form part of a valve to regulate fluid flow within a body lumen or as scaffolding to maintain the patency of the vessel, duct or channel lumen. Implantable frames can also support a valve or valve leaflets for regulating fluid flow within a body lumen or for dilating a body lumen. One or more flexible valve leaflets can be attached to an implantable frame to form a medical device useful as an artificial valve. A variety of other implantable prostheses, such as stents, grafts and the like, also comprise an implantable frame placed within the body to improve the function of a body lumen.
The venous system includes a series of valves that function to assist the flow of blood returning to the heart. These natural valves are particularly important in the lower extremities to prevent blood from pooling in the lower legs and feet during situations, such as standing or sitting, when the weight of the column of blood in the vein can act to prevent positive blood flow toward the heart. This condition, commonly known as chronic venous insufficiency, is primarily found in individuals in which gradual dilation of the veins, thrombotic events, or other conditions prevent the leaflets of the native valves from closing properly. The failure of native valves to properly close can worsen, leading to significant leakage of retrograde flow such that the valve can become incompetent. Chronic venous insufficiency is a condition in which the symptoms can progress from painful edema and unsightly spider or varicose veins to skin ulcerations. Elevation of the feet and compression stocking can relieve symptoms, but do not treat the underlying disease. Untreated, the disease can impact the ability of individuals to perform in the workplace or maintain their normal lifestyle.
One promising approach to treating venous valve insufficiency includes the implantation of self-expanding or radially-expandable artificial valves that can be placed using minimally invasive techniques. One common problem evident from early prosthetic valves is the formation of thrombus around the base of the leaflets, possibly due at least in part to blood pooling in that region. In a natural valve, the leaflets are typically located within a sinus or enlargement in the vein. The pockets formed between the leaflets and the walls of the sinus can create vortices of flowing blood that help flush the pocket and prevent blood from stagnating and causing thrombosis around the valve leaflets, which can interfere with the function of the valve. Stagnating blood may restrict oxygen from reaching the endothelium covering the valve cusps, leading to hypoxia of the tissues which may explain increased thrombus formation typical in that location. Expandable-frame valve prostheses are typically cylindrical in shape and lack an artificial sinus or pocket space that is sufficient for simulating these natural blood flow patterns.
What is needed is an intraluminally-placed medical device, such as an artificial valve or stent, that is configured to create more desirable flow patterns around a valve within a body, for instance to circulate the blood or bodily fluids and reduce the likelihood of stagnation and the potential clinical problems that may result. Implantable devices that have structural adaptations resulting in the formation of sinus regions within a body vessel can create beneficial fluid flow conditions such as more turbulent flow, increased velocity of flow, larger and/or more numerous vortices, other factors, or a combination of the above that can mitigate the incidence of thrombosis formation near the implantable medical device.

Artificial prostheses with preferred geometries


A method for producing a methane-rich gas from a heavy hydrocarbon feed, the method comprising the steps of introducing the heavy hydrocarbon stream to a catalytic reactor, the catalytic reactor comprising an activated catalyst, the activated catalyst comprising 20 wt % of nickel, 70 wt % of a cerium oxide component, and 10 wt % of a gadolinium oxide component; applying the heavy hydrocarbon stream to the activated catalyst; and producing the methane-rich gas over the activated catalyst, wherein the methane-rich gas is selected from the group consisting of methane, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and combinations of the same.

Energy is a growing global business, with rapid increases expected in transportation fuel consumption and in electricity production. Recent improvements to existing technology have added significant value to marginal resources of competing fuels or through more efficient conversion of oil-based fuel sources (for example, hybrids and diesel engines). Renewed interest in non-oil based hydrogen technologies represents a challenge to oil producers. But also, an opportunity for developing competitive petroleum-based conversion approaches and petroleum-based fuels to take advantage of a possible emerging change in customer and consumer preferences for energy products.
A well-established process in the petroleum industry for the production of hydrogen is the steam reforming process. The steam reforming process uses a nickel-based catalyst, which is highly sensitive to deactivation by sulfur poisoning and coke deposition. However, conventional processes require high amounts of nickel in the catalyst and higher temperatures in the reactors.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Ni—Ru—CgO based pre-reforming catalyst for liquid hydrocarbons


A gain flattening filter is provided to reduce volume and manufacturing cost of a gain flattened optical fiber amplifier, even when a required peak loss exceeds the limit of each dielectric thin film filter. The inventive gain flattening filter includes: a housing having a first opening and a second opening; a first ferrule disposed at one end of the housing, the first ferrule having an opening through which an input of an optical fiber is packaged; a second ferrule disposed at the other end of the housing, the second ferrule having an opening through which an output of the optical fiber is packaged; and, a plurality of thin film filters disposed in sequence between the first and second ferrules for flattening gain of optical signals passing therethrough.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical fiber amplifier and more particularly to a gain flattening filter used in a gain flattened optical fiber amplifier.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the recent increase in the quantity of data in geometrical progression requires expansion of the transmission band width of the wavelength division multiplexing optical communication system, it has been widely accepted now that the wavelength division multiplexing optical communication system must be equipped with a gain flattened optical fiber amplifier. A gain flattening filter employed in the gain flattened optical fiber amplifier may be constructed using either active elements or passive elements. Among these two, the utilization of passive elements is accepted more. As passive elements, optical fiber gratings or dielectric thin film filters are typically deployed. However, the gain flattening filters employing the optical fiber gratings are not reliable under variable environmental factors, such as temperature and moisture, thus dielectric thin film filters are a better choice to be used in the gain flattening filter.
According to the location of the gain flattening filter in the optical power amplifier, the gain flattening filters can be classified into two types: end filters and midway filters. An end filter is located at the rear end of the amplifying medium, while a midway filter is located at the middle portion of the amplifying element. The end filter has a drawback in that it tend to reduce as much gain of the optical fiber amplifier as its own insertion loss, while having an advantage in that it can be designed to limit the peak loss to within 5 dB. In contrast, the midway filter has an advantage in that it compensates for the basic insertion loss of the midway filter in the amplifying element, while having a disadvantage in that it requires a peak loss of at least 7 dB in the design process thereof. There is a limitation in utilizing the dielectric thin film filter as a midway filter as it is difficult to reach a peak loss of at least 6 dB due to the difficulty in its coating process.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view illustrating the configuration of a conventional gain flattened, optical fiber amplifier. FIG. 2 is a graphical illustration depicting a loss curve of a first or second gain flattening filter employed in the gain flattened optical fiber amplifier shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional optical fiber amplifier includes first to third isolators 110, 150, and 210, first and second pumping light sources 120 and 190, first and second wavelength selective couplers 130 and 200, first and second erbium-doped optical fibers 140 and 180, and first and second gain flattening filters 160 and 170.
In operation, the first isolator 110 allows an optical signal inputted to the optical fiber amplifier to pass intact through the first isolator 110, while intercepting a light inputted in a direction opposite to that of the optical signal—that is, a light inputted from the first wavelength selective coupler 130. The first wavelength selective coupler 130 combines the optical signal inputted from the first isolator 110 and a pumping light inputted from the first pumping light source 120, then outputs the combined optical signal to the first erbium-doped optical fiber 140. The first pumping light source 120 pumps the first erbium-doped optical fiber 140 by exciting erbium ions in the first erbium-doped optical fiber 140. A laser diode capable of outputting a pumping light may be utilized as the first pumping light source 120. The first erbium-doped optical fiber 140 is pumped by the pumping light inputted through the first wavelength selective coupler 130, then amplifies and outputs the optical signal inputted through the first wavelength selective coupler 130.
The second isolator 150 allows the optical signal inputted through the first erbium-doped optical fiber 140 to pass intact through the second isolator 150, while intercepting light inputted in a direction opposite to that of the optical signal. The first and second gain flattening filters 160 and 170 are midway filters and serve to sequentially flatten the gain of the optical signal inputted through the second isolator 150. Each of the first and second gain flattening filters 160 and 170 includes a dielectric thin film filter. Referring to FIG. 2, note that the peak loss is about 5 dB, as indicated by the loss curve of the first gain flattening filter 160 or the second gain flattening filter 170. As the gain flattened, optical fiber amplifier requires a peak loss of about 10 dB, the first and second gain flattening filters 160 and 170 each having a loss peak of 5 dB are connected in series with each other in the gain flattened optical fiber amplifier.
The second erbium-doped optical fiber 180 is pumped by a pumping light inputted through the second wavelength selective coupler 200, then amplifies and outputs the optical signal inputted from the second wavelength selective coupler 200. The second wavelength selective coupler 200 outputs the optical signal inputted from the second pumping light source 190 to the second erbium-doped optical fiber 180 and outputs the optical signal inputted from the second erbium-doped optical fiber 180 to the third isolator 210. The third isolator 210 allows the optical signal inputted through the second wavelength selective coupler 200 to pass intact through the third isolator 210, while intercepting a light inputted in a direction opposite to that of the optical signal.
As described above, in the case where the gain flattened optical fiber amplifier requires a peak loss exceeding the limit of each dielectric thin film filter, a plurality of gain flattening filters, each including a dielectric thin film filter, must be connected in series with each other in the conventional gain flattened, optical fiber amplifier, thereby increasing the volume and manufacturing cost of the entire gain flattened optical fiber amplifier.

Gain flattening filter and gain flattened optical fiber amplifier employing the same


An apparatus for enabling resiliency for cloud computing systems is provided. An apparatus includes a processor and a memory storing computer program code. The memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to perform actions. The actions include modifying a topology graph of a network architecture by mapping processes flows onto the topology graph and creating a resiliency graph based on the modified topology graph. The actions also include modifying the resiliency graph by translating at least one SLA into the resiliency graph and identifying overlaps and dependencies in the modified resiliency graph. Apparatus and computer readable instructions are also described.

This section is intended to provide a background or context. The description herein may include concepts that could be pursued, but are not necessarily ones that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, what is described in this section is not prior art to the description and claims in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Cloud computing allows the use of computing resources (such as hardware and software) over a network (such as the Internet for example). Using cloud computing, remote devices are allowed to access a user's data as well as to use software applications.
Information technology (IT) clouds may be implemented as virtualized data centers and enabled the creation, deployment, management and usability of new services. Distributed users, both individuals and businesses, can take advantage of the cloud services in order to provide automation and scalability. Additionally, many implementations may suffer from points of failure that could impact larger number of users.
What is needed is a technique to evaluate a cloud architecture and determine ways to provide improved resiliency.

System and method for graph based K-redundant resiliency for IT cloud


A controlled-release pharmaceutical composition for oral administration comprising a multitude of granules made by dissolving or dispersing a drug and a water-insoluble polymer in a molten carrier, solidifying the resultant material, and grinding the resultant solid into granules.

The use of controlled-release compositions (also known as slow-release, sustained-release, or extended-release) is well established in medicine. Controlled-release formulations have the advantage that the active drug is gradually released over a relatively long period so that the drug is maintained in the blood stream for a longer time and at a more uniform concentration than would otherwise be the case. This allows administration only once or ice daily for drugs that would otherwise have to be taken more frequently to maintain required blood levels.
Many different types of controlled-release oral dosage forms have been developed, but each has disadvantages which affect its suitability to a particular drug and therapeutic objective.
The prior art discloses many compositions which incorporate the drug into a water-insoluble matrix, from which the drug will be slowly released in gastrointestinal fluid.
In the process of British Patent No. 1021924, the drug is admixed with a sustained-release material to obtain a mixture which is subsequently pressed into tablets. The sustained release material is used in amounts of as much as 95%, which results in substantial cost for this material and also produces a tablet larger than otherwise required.
British Patent No. 1137379 discloses use of ethylcellulose as a water-insoluble binder. The ethylcellulose is dissolved in alcohol and the solution is mixed with the drug in a multistep process. The alcohol must be evaporated, and the process is complex and not economical.
U.S. Pat. No. 2809916 also discloses a formulation process using repeated steps of mixing a drug with a water-insoluble excipient, drying and granulating.
In other prior art compositions the drug is incorporated into a matrix that is water-soluble but dissolves away only slowly to release the drug. The use of hydrophilic polymers such as hydroxypropylmethylcellulose as sustained-release matrix materials is well-known.
For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3065143 and 4369112 disclose the use of hydrophilic gums, including hydroxypropylmethylcellulose, as carrier base materials in the preparation of sustained-release pharmaceutical tablets.
As aforesaid, controlled-release tablets can be made by incorporating the drug into a matrix that is either water-insoluble or slowly water-soluble. However, in either case there are difficulties in achieving a uniform rate of release.
If the matrix is water-insoluble, the drug tends to be initially released relatively rapidly as the drug near the surface leaches out, and the rate of drug release then gradually reduces.
If the matrix is water-soluble, the layer at the surface gradually dissolves to expose more drug, so that the rate of release is more uniform over time than with a water-insoluble matrix. However, compositions of this type tend to suffer from "food effect". That is to say, release rate tends to be higher when the tablet is taken with food then without. This is because, with food, the gastrointestinal motility is higher and the increased agitation causes the tablet to dissolve away more rapidly.
It is possible to obtain rates of release that are more consistent using a "multi-granular" composition, by which is meant a composition that is comprised of and disintegrates in gastrointestinal fluid into a multitude of smaller individual granules, pellets, beads or tablets, each of which is itself a controlled-release composition.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5286497 discloses controlled-release compositions of diltiazem hydrochloride which are comprised of a multitude of beads which are contained with a gelatin capsule. However, such compositions are difficult and expensive to produce.
Drugs with low solubility in water (by which is meant having a solubility of less than 0.1 percent by weight in water at 20.degree. C.) cause additional formulation problems due to their poor rate and extent of dissolution in aqueous media (including gastrointestinal fluids), which results in low absorption into systemic circulation after oral ingestion.
Examples of drugs with low solubility in water are some substituted dihydropyridine compounds, such as nifedipine, felodipine, nimodipine, isradipine, nitrendipine, nicardipine, niludipine, nisoldipine, and amlodipine. These compounds are classified as calcium antagonists, which are widely used for the treatment of cardiovascular disorders such as hypertension.
In order to make a controlled-release composition containing such a drug that will enable maximum absorption from the gastrointestinal tract, in addition to incorporating a feature to control the rate of release, it is necessary to incorporate in the composition a second feature that increases the solubility of the drug to enable it to dissolve in the gastrointestinal fluids.
Several ways to increase the solubility have been described in prior literature. One way is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4673564, wherein nicardipine is used in its amorphous form in order to obtain increased dissolution and absorption. U.K. I 456618 discloses improving the dissolution and absorption of nifedipine by preparation of a solid solution of nifedipine in polyethylene glycol in the presence of a surface active agent.
U.S. Pat. No. 4412986 discloses improving the dissolution and absorption of nifedipine by preparing a co-precipitate with a water-soluble polymer.
As aforesaid, in order to produce a controlled-release composition of a drug having low solubility in water, it is necessary to have one feature to increase the solubility and a second feature to slow down and control the rate of dissolution.
The prior art also discloses numerous compositions which include a feature of each type to achieve controlled-release of a drug having low solubility in water.
European patent application 0557-244-Al discloses compositions which contain nifedipine which has been micronized to small crystals to increase solubility, along with a hydrophilic gel-forming polymer to slow-down and control the rate of dissolution and absorption. A problem with the compositions disclosed in this patent is that the smallest size to which nifedipine can be micronized using conventional equipment is about 1 micron, and this particle size is still not small enough to enable full dissolution and absorption of the nifedipine. Moreover, unless the crystal size is carefully controlled-to be the same in every batch of tablets, release characteristics may vary from batch to batch. Another problem is that, as aforesaid, the use of a hydrophilic polymer as the agent to control rate of release causes the composition to be subject to a "food effect".
New Zealand patent application No. 270439 discloses a controlled-release tablet in which nifedipine is dissolved in a molten polyethylene glycol and which further incorporates a hydrophilic polymer. Again, the use of a hydrophilic polymer causes the composition to be subject to a "food effect".
U.S. Pat. No. 4765989 discloses a controlled-release formulation of nifedipine in the form of an osmotic device, which gives a reliable and uniform rate of release, but is relatively difficult and expensive to manufacture.
In view of the difficulties as aforesaid with prior art compositions, it is an object of the invention to enable production of a controlled-release composition which can be easily made, without the use of solvents that require evaporation in the process of manufacture, and, in particular, to enable such a composition for a drug having low solubility in water.


A method, apparatus, and computer-readable medium are provided for managing specific types of content in an electronic document. A user interface is provided for displaying a specific type of content in a predefined area of and electronic document. The user interface includes a content region for receiving the specific type of content and displaying the specific type of content within a predefined boundary. The user interface also includes a selection region for receiving a selection of content for insertion into the content region. The user interface validates the content received in the content region based on the specific type of content defined for the content region and based on a predefined content limit. The specific type of content received in the content region may be formatted according to a predetermined format and may also be bound to a data source external to the electronic document.

Modern word processors enable a user to readily create and insert various types of content (e.g., text, pictures, etc.) in an electronic document. In addition, modern word processors enable a user to conform individual types of content to a variety of formats. For example, text may be inserted in a document in paragraph form or as word fragments with different individual formatting properties (e.g., bold, italic, underline, font color, font size) or with no formatting at all. The freeform entry of content allowed by modern word processors, however, suffers from several drawbacks.
One drawback associated with content entry with many modern word processors is that it is often difficult for a user to readily insert, identify, and manipulate regions of the document or template which require different types of content (e.g., a specific fragment of text or a picture) in a document without either manually typing the content in or scanning another document, finding and manually selecting the location for the desired content, and then creating or moving the desired content from another location in the document to the desired location. Even if a predefined set of document fragments (i.e., content blobs) are available for insertion into the document, the document cannot express which pieces of content are valid in any specific location, other than by including static informational text which the user must read, understand, and voluntarily adhere to. Since conventional word processors do not label the locations where the different types of content (predefined or not) may be inserted in an electronic document, they do not permit a user to quickly identify the locations of interest for the insertion of specific content. In addition, conventional word processors do not easily enable associating data from external data sources with specific formatted content within an electronic document.
It is with respect to these considerations and others that the various embodiments of the present invention have been made.

Specific type content manager in an electronic document


A heat exchanger shell closure utilizing a tapered split ring is disclosed. The split ring of the invention has a tapered inner surface which fits into a corresponding tapered groove in a tube sheet barrel. A backup flange fits over the split ring, forcing the split ring into the deepest and forwardmost part of the groove, thereby preventing longitudinal movement of the split ring and the resulting movement and wear of a sealing ring which is held in place by the split ring as the heat exchanger undergoes load variations.

It has long been known that heat can be transferred from one fluid to another by means of mechanical heat exchanging devices. These devices place the fluids in thermal contact, while maintaining physical separation so that the fluids are not mixed. These heat exchanger devices often utilize one or more tubes which are surrounded by an enclosure which is usually referred to as a shell. One fluid is circulated through the tubes while the other fluid is circulated through the shell, where it is in contact with the outer surface of the tubes. Energy from the hotter of the two fluids is thereby allowed to pass through the walls of the tubes to the lower temperature fluid.
One particular type of heat exchanger called a hairpin heat exchanger 1 (see FIGS. 1a, 1b) typically utilizes a number of long straight tubes 2 (the "tubes") enclosed within a long shell enclosure 3 (the "shell pipe"). Each of the tubes is typically straight except for a U-shaped bend halfway along its length. The shell pipe typically comprises two straight, large-diameter tubes 5 connected at one end by a return end bonnet closure 6. Fluids flowing through the tubes and shell pipe thus flow along the length of their straight portions, then make a hairpin turn before returning along the length of their second straight portions. This characteristic shape gives hairpin heat exchangers their name.
At the non-U-shaped ends of the tubes and shell (hereinafter referred to simply as the ends), there are inlets and outlets which allow the fluids to flow into, through, and out of the tubes and shell. The shell usually has inlet 10 and outlet 11 ports which face perpendicularly away from the heat exchanger. The tubes 2, on the other hand, normally terminate at a bulkhead which is part of the tube sheet barrel 29. The open ends of the tubes face away from the shell pipe in a direction parallel to their straight portions 5. The end of the tube sheet barrel facing this direction will be referred to as the tube closure end (which is the end on the right side of FIG. 2). The open ends of the tubes are enclosed within a tube closure 15 which is essentially a manifold to the tubes.
In order to allow inspection and cleaning, hairpin heat exchangers normally have closures 16 on the ends of the shell pipe which can be removed to expose the tubes within. These closures must, of course, be designed to withstand the pressure of the fluid inside the shell without failing and leaking this fluid. The invention is directed to an improved end closure which reduces the wear on seals, withstands higher fluid pressures than prior art closures without failing, reduces movement of components in the closure, reduces the amount of materials required to fabricate the closure, increases the ease of assembling and disassembling the closure and increases safety for people working on the closure.
The prior art end shell closure is shown in FIG. 2. The shell 21 has a shell closure flange 23 at its end. The tube sheet barrel 29 has an outer diameter which is slightly less than the inner diameter of shell 21 at the closure flange 23 so that the end of the tube sheet barrel fits within the shell. The end of the tube sheet barrel facing the shell will be referred to as the shell closure end (which is the end on the left side of FIG. 2). The tube sheet barrel 29 has a groove 30 on its outer surface into which split ring 27 fits. A compression flange 25 fits over the tube sheet barrel 29 so that it is between shell closure flange 23 and split ring 27. A shell sealing ring 32 is placed around the tube sheet barrel 29 so that it is between shell closure flange 23 and compression ring 25. A bolt 24 fits through apertures in the shell closure flange 23, compression flange 25 and split ring 27. Nuts 26 are threaded onto bolt 24 and tightened so that shell closure flange 23 and split ring 27 are urged toward each other. As a result, shell sealing ring 32 is compressed between compression flange 25 and shell closure flange 23. Shell closure flange 23 typically has a beveled edge 22 which causes shell sealing ring 32 to be compressed against tube sheet barrel 29 as well.
The prior art shell closures suffers from a number of problems. Because groove 30 must be wide enough to allow split ring 27 to fit within the groove 30, split ring 27 is allowed to move to some extent along the length of the tube sheet barrel 29. This in turn allows compression flange 25 and shell sealing ring 32 to move along the length of the tube sheet barrel 29. Because the loads (fluid pressures) in heat exchangers which tend to force shell 21 and tube sheet barrel 29 apart are normally cyclic, there is normally some movement of sealing ring 32, compression flange 25 and split ring 27 during the operation of prior art heat exchangers. This movement causes wear on the shell sealing ring 39 which will fail more quickly than it would in the absence of such movement. Higher loads cause greater movement, so the load of the heat exchanger is limited because of this movement and the resulting increases in the wear and failure of the shell sealing ring.
Additionally, because ASME regulations require that split rings have a minimum width to meet safety standards, the split ring is typically very heavy (more than a hundred pounds per half of the ring). Assembly of the closure can therefore be awkward and it may require several people to assemble a closure which has such a prior art split ring. If one of these split ring halves is dropped, it can be very dangerous. Because the split ring is required by these safety regulations to have a minimum width, the tubes and other closure components have to be manufactured with their length increased by the width of the split ring. If the tubes or components utilize expensive materials, such as titanium, the increased cost of these components can significantly increase the overall cost of the heat exchanger.


The present invention provides a dynamic balancing ring for a cutter holder for balancing the cutter holder. The dynamic balancing ring includes a circle, plural fixing elements and an adjusting element. The plural fixing elements are used for fixing the circle on the cutter holder, and after the center-of-gravity position of the cutter holder is obtained by dynamic balance corrector, the adjusting element can be installed at a position on the circle corresponding to the center-of-gravity position, and through adjusting the adjusting element, the dynamic balance of the cutter holder can be corrected. For using the dynamic balancing ring for the cutter holder according to the present invention, it is convenient that the dynamic balancing ring can be directly installed on the cutter holder, which is needed to be corrected, without additional processing.

The traditional miller processes the cutter by utilizing a cutter carrier of a cutter holder, and one end of the cutter carrier has an arbor hole for fixing a cutter and the other end is fixed at a drive shaft, wherein the cutter carrier is driven by the drive shaft to rotate rapidly so that the cutter can drill, cut or grind the object. However, in the production process of the cutter carrier, because the cutter carrier is unbalanced owing to the standards (such as SK, BT, CAT, HSK) and types (such as lateral fixing type, face miller) of the cutter carrier itself and also the variation of the production accuracy and of the clamping precision of carrier, and the deformation caused by heat treatment, the two ends of the cutter carrier might have a core offset to cause an unbalance. If this unbalanced cutter carrier is used on the cutter holder, then the faster the rotation speed, the more obvious the vibration caused by the unbalanced centrifugation. In particular, the rotation speed of the modern miller can achieve tens of thousands of circles in one minute so that the unbalanced cutter carrier might cause a bigger vibration to make an error in the cutting of the object, to reduce the life time of the cutter, and more seriously, also to damage the drive shaft of the cutter holder. If it needs to buy a new carrier holder, the cost is proportion to the precision for manufacturing the cutter, and since the cutter and holder have different fabrication standards and manufacturing precision, the combination thereof might need to pay more attention to the balance correction therebetween. Furthermore, after a new cutter is clamped by a balanced holder, because the cutter always has a asymmetric shape and the holder might have other smaller components (such as bolt, clamping screw, bearing, collet etc.), each time a different cutter is used, a dynamic balance is needed.
For improving the defects described above, usually, the cutter carrier is firstly checked by a dynamic balance corrector to find the offset center of gravity thereof, and then, the problem caused by the unbalanced center of gravity of the cutter carrier will be corrected by the following methods of:
1. drilling one side of the cutter carrier which is closer to the center of gravity for reducing the weight at this side; 2. adding a mass on one side of the cutter carrier which is farther from the center gravity for balancing two sides of the carrier; and 3. mounting a movable protrusion on the carrier for adjusting the position of the gravity center slightly and then fixing the protrusion on the carrier after confirming a balance thereof so as to achieve a dynamic balance correction.
Although the methods above are workable, drilling is a destruction which might influence the using life of the cutter carrier and also may need a lot of accuracy as processing. As to the protrusion adjusting, although this method does not damage the carrier, the adjusting time becomes longer and the position thereof still might be moved as fixing the protrusion so that the balancing position must be found again, which actually takes a lot of time and is inconvenient. References can be found in R.O.C. Patent Publication Nos. 570853 and 538846.

Dynamic balancing ring for cutter holder


A greening structure comprising a plant-cultivatable planting portion on a water-reserving portion and laid on a pavement for forming a greening area. The greening structure further comprises post-shaped members provided substantially consecutively from a portion where an external force loaded on the planting portion is directly received, to the bottom of the water-reserving portion or to the pavement, so that the external force loaded on the planting portion is received on the pavement through the post-shaped members. The greening structure is excellent in the supporting strength and the stability to provide a satisfactory treading feel. The substantially consecutive post-shaped members include: first post-shaped members disposed upward from the bottom of the planting portion; and second post-shaped members disposed downward from the bottom of the planting portion.

In the prior art, an artificial ground of Patent Publication 1 (JP-A-2002-4482) is disclosed as the technique relating to the structure for supporting the external force to be loaded on the planting portion. This artificial ground is constructed by laying a moisture-preventing sheet on the surface of a concrete layer, by arranging pallets on the surface of the sheet, by protruding a plurality of pins upward from the upper faces of the pallets, by arraying the plural pins at a spacing for receiving the lower faces of the shoes of a person walking on the pallets, and by laying soil on the pallets substantially up to the height of the pins.
Another relating technique is directed to a planting mat to be laid on the artificial ground, as disclosed in Patent Publication 2 (JP-A-11-289876). This planting mat is made by erecting post-shaped members of such a height in a cell recessed to have an upper portion opened and formed to have a water supply port near the bottom as not to exceed the upper end portions of the side walls of the cell.
In Patent Publication 3 (JP-A-10-98950), there is disclosed as another relating technique a lawn root protector, which is made by welding pipe posts in a staggered arrangement to an upper plate, by forming holes between the pipe posts, by attaching enclosing plates upward at a height substantially equal to that of the pipe posts, to the four sides of the upper plate, and by disposing a grid-shaped base plate at the lower portion of the upper plate so as to support the upper plate.
A pot is disclosed in Patent Publication 4 (JP-A-2001-57817) as a technique relating to the construction, in which a water-reserving unit for reserving water below a planting unit filled with soil or the like for cultivating plants. This pot is provided with: a water-reserving pot member capable of reserving water; a planting pot member laid on the water-reserving pot member for the plants; water supply means made of cloth for supplying water stored in the water-reserving pot member into the planting pot member; and a support member for supporting the bottom portion of the pot member on at least the pot member and the water-reserving pot member.
In another relating technique of Patent Publication 5 (JP-UM-A-61-20140), there is disclosed a pot receiving dish, in which a protrusion is formed of a number of needles in the recess of the dish body for supporting the bottom of the pot.
In another relating technique of Patent Publication 6 (JP-A-2001-78582), there is disclosed a plant cultivating container relating to the construction, in which a water-reserving unit is disposed below a planting unit for plants for supporting an external force to be loaded on the planting unit. The plant-cultivating container disclosed is constructed of a bottom plate and a circumferential wall, and has its upper face opened. In this plant-cultivating container, a unit placing space is formed in an upper portion of the container, and a breeding material filled space is formed in the lower portion. A plurality of post-shaped members for supporting the unit material placed in the unit placing space are erected from the bottom plate, and legs are formed downward from the bottom plate. The plant-cultivating container is laid on a water-reserving bath tray.


A vehicle roof rack system for use on a roof of a vehicle which may include a moonroof the roof rack system includes first and second side rail members adapted to be mounted to the roof of the vehicle, the first and second side rail members each including a first channel located proximal a bottom side, a second channel located proximal a top side, a third channel extending substantially perpendicularly between the first and second channels, and a fourth channel extending substantially angularly between the first and second channels and a plurality of crossbows extending between the side rails and movable between a use position and a storage position at a plurality of locations along the side rails and also movable to channels in the rails located proximal the rear of the vehicle for storage of the rails and to provide an unobstructed view out the moonroof.

The present disclosure generally relates to vehicles and, more particularly, relates to a vehicle having a roof rack system capable of improving usability of the roof area.
Sport utility and crossover type vehicles, may have issues integrating functional and useful roof rack systems on the roof of the vehicle due to a variety of vehicle features, improvements and changes. Generally, it is known to provide a vehicle having a roof rack system including height-adjustable cross members. However, such systems lack utility and function for particular vehicles and, in particular, for certain sport and utility vehicles having a panoramic moonroof wherein at least a portion of the roof rack system blocks or impedes the use of the panoramic moonroof view and/or it lacks customization to provide a variety or roof rack configurations. Existing original equipment manufacturer roof rack or cargo carrier systems lack a quick methodology for the deployment, manipulation, and setting of the crossbows on the roof rack system. There long remains a significant need for an improved original equipment roof rack system that may be easier and better used with more modern vehicle architectures and systems including a panoramic moonroof.


A novel collagen mimic comprising a tripeptide unit having the formula (XaaFlpGly).sub.n, where Flp is 4(R)-fluoro-L-proline, is disclosed. The collagen mimic has increased stability relative to the collagen-related triple helices (ProProGly).sub.n and (ProHypGly).sub.n.

Collagen is the most abundant protein in vertebrates, occurring in virtually every tissue, including skin, tendon, bone, blood vessel, cartilage, ligament, and teeth. Collagen serves as the fundamental structural protein for vertebrate tissues. Collagen abnormalities are associated with a wide variety of human diseases, including arthritis, rheumatism, brittle bones, atherosclerosis, cirrhosis, and eye cataracts. Collagen is also critically important in wound healing. Increased understanding of the structure of collagen, and of how its structure affects its stability, facilitates the development of new treatments for collagen-related diseases and improved wound healing treatments.
Collagen is a fibrous protein that can exist in a variety of related forms. Mammals produce at least 17 distinct polypeptide chains that combine to form at least 10 variants of collagen. In each of these variants, the polypeptide chains of collagen are composed of approximately 300 repeats of the sequence X-Y-Gly, where X is often a proline (Pro) residue and Y is often a 4(R)-hydroxyproline (Hyp) residue. In connective tissue (such as bone, tendon, cartilage, ligament, skin, blood vessels, and teeth), individual collagen molecules are wound together in tight triple helices. These helices are organized into fibrils of great tensile strength, Jones & Miller, J. Mol. Biol., 218:209-219 (1991). Varying the arrangements and cross linking of the collagen fibrils enables vertebrates to support stress in one-dimension (tendons), two-dimensions (skin), or three-dimensions (cartilage).
In vertebrates, the collagen polypeptide is translated with the typical repeat motif being ProProGly. Subsequently, in vivo, the hydroxylation of Pro residues is performed enzymatically after collagen biosynthesis but before the chains begin to form a triple helix. Thus, hydroxylation could be important for both collagen folding and collagen stability. The hydroxyl group of Hyp residues has long been known to increase the thermal stability of triple-helical collagen, Berg and Prockop, Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm., 52:115-120 (1973). For example, the melting temperature of a triple helix of (ProHypGly).sub.10 chains is 58.degree. C., while that of a triple helix of (ProProGly).sub.10 chains is only 24.degree. C., Sakakibara et al., Biochem. Biophys. Acta, 303:198-202 (1973). In addition, the rate at which (ProHypGly).sub.10 chains fold into a triple helix is substantially greater than the corresponding rate for (ProProGly).sub.10 chains, Chopra and Ananthanarayanan, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 79:7180-7184 (1982). The molecular basis for these observed effects is, however, not clear.
Molecular modeling based on the structure of triple-helical collagen and conformational energy calculations suggest that hydrogen bonds cannot form between the hydroxyl group of Hyp residues and any main chain groups of any of the collagen molecules in the same triple helix, Okuyama et al., J. Mol. Biol., 152:247-443 (1981). Several models include the hypothesis that hydroxyproline increases the stability of collagen as a result a bridge of water molecules formed between the hydroxyl group and a main chain carbonyl group. For reviews of observations advancing this hypothesis, see: Suzuki et al., Int. J. Biol. Macromol., 2:54-56 (1980), and Nemethy, in Collagen, published by CRC press (1988), and the references cited therein.
However, there exists experimental evidence that is inconsistent with the bridging water molecule model. For example, the triple helices of (ProProGly).sub.10 and (ProHypCly).sub.10 were found to be stable in 1,2-propanediol, and Hyp residues conferred added stability in these anhydrous conditions, Engel et al., Biopolymers, 16:601-622 (1977), suggesting that water molecules do not play a part in the added stability of (ProHypcly).sub.10. In addition, heat capacity measurements are inconsistent with collagen having more than one bound water per six Gly-X-Y units, Hoeve and Kakivaya, J. Phys. Chem., 80:754-749 (1976). Accordingly, there exists no prior definitive demonstration of the mechanism by which the hydroxyproline residues stabilizes collagen triplexes.
A better understanding of how the structure of collagen contributes to its stability would facilitate the design of a collagen or collagen mimics having improved stability. A high stability collagen substitute could advance the development of improved wound healing treatments.
In recent years, there have been exciting developments in wound healing, including the development of tissue engineering and tissue welding. For example, autologous epidermal transplantation for the treatment of burns was a significant advance in tissue engineering. Tissue engineering has also led to the development of several types of artificial skin, some of which employ human collagen as a substrate. However, a major problem associated with this treatment is the fragility of these grafts during and after surgery.
Tissue welding is a wound healing technique in which a laser is used to thermally denature the collagen in the skin at the periphery of a wound. The wound is reannealed by permitting the renaturation of the collagen. In the case of large wounds, a "filler" or solder is required to effect reannealing of the wound. Various materials, including human albumin, have been used as solders for this purpose. A good solder is resilient and is non-immunogenic and should preferably be capable of interaction with native collagen in adjacent sites.
Collagen is also used for a variety of other medical purposes. For example, collagen is used in sutures which can be naturally degraded by the human body and thus do not have to be removed following recovery. A sometimes limiting factor in the design of collagen sutures is the strength of the collagen fibers. A collagen variant or mimic having a greater strength would aid in the usage of such collagen sutures by relieving this limitation.
What is needed in the art is a novel collagen having increased stability for use in artificial skin, as a solder in tissue welding, and as a general tool for use in the design of medical constituents.
Fluoroproline (Flp) was synthesized by Gottleib et al., Biochemistry, 4:11:2507-2513 (1965) in both R and S stereoisomers. Gottleib et al. claimed to have incorporated both isomers into collagen by a biosynthetic route, but that claim was later refuted by Takeuchi et al., Biochem. Biophys. Acta, 175:156-164 (1969), Takeuchi and Prockop, Biochem. Biophys. Acta, 175:142-155 (1969), and Uitto and Prockop, Arch. Biochem. Biophys., 181:293-299 (1977). Because Gottleib et al. used biosynthesis, to the extent that Flp was incorporated at all into the resulting collagen molecules, it would have been incorporated randomly into the polypeptide in place of some random proline residues. There is, of course, no codon specific for Flp. The Flp was also a racemic mixture of both stereoisomers further randomizing the nature of the proteins produced, if the Flp was incorporated at all, which is significantly in doubt. Others have studied the chemical properties of Flp without incorporating it into a larger polypeptide, Gerig and McLeod, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 98:3970-3975 (1976).


A coal-mining machine uses a ground-penetrating radar based on a software-definable transmitter for launching pairs of widely separated and coherent continuous waves. Each pair is separated by a constant or variable different amount double-sideband suppressed carrier modulation such as 10 MHz, 20 MHz, and 30 MHz. Processing suppresses the larger first interface reflection and emphasizes the smaller second, third, etc. reflections. Processing determines the electrical parameter of the natural medium adjacent to the antenna. Deep reflections at 90-degrees and 270-degrees create maximum reflection and will be illuminated with modulation signal peaks. Quadrature detection, mixing, and down-conversion result in 0-degree and 180-degree reflections effectively dropping out in demodulation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to ground penetration radars, and more particularly sensors that help guide coal mining and directional drilling machinery.
2. Description of Related Art
The United States energy demands for coal and coal-bed methane are increasing faster than 1.8 percent per year. To meet this demand for energy, production will need to be increased by more than 46 percent by the year 2025. Although energy experts believe that coal is abundant, the facts are quite different. The rate at which the United States is depleting its reserves has been underestimated. In the Raton Coal Basin, the cavitation method of coal-bed methane production has spoiled more than one billion mineable tons of coal—about one year's United States coal production. Extracting five percent of the coal bed methane (CBM) British thermal units (BTU) using high-pressure cavitation spoils 95 percent of the coal BTUs. Elsewhere, the easy-to-mine coal reserves are nearing exhaustion. Future mining will be in thinner, deeper, more geologically complex coal seams and near abandoned mines. For the coal mining industry to keep up with energy demands, a quantum leap forward in mining technology will be needed.
The technical challenges facing future coal miners are significant and well known to mining personnel who have dedicated lifetimes to solving difficult production and safety issues. The National Mining Association (NMA) executives, in a technology road-mapping session sponsored by the United States Department of Energy's (DOE) Mine of the Future program, prioritized technology needed by the industry in future years. The top ten needed technologies included the following:
Coal-cutting-edge sensing for selective mining to minimize out-of-seam dilution and improve run-of-mine coal quality. The Quecreek event added the safety need to prevent mining into abandoned coal mines.
Coal seam beds are undulating geologic structures with complex gradational boundaries. Each ton of coal has one billion square feet of surface area in its matrix, and can entrain 100-1,000 cubic feet of methane. The depositional environment of a coal seam includes microbial processes that feature aerobic and anaerobic bacteria accumulation. The heavy metals are oxidized by the oxygen-rich environment of the upper flood plane and the soluble oxide contaminants are carried by river flow into the reducing environment of the delta-region swamp. The reducing environment (septic conditions) causes sedimentation of the heavy metals near the coal-seam boundary. Thin bounding layers are contaminated with mercury, sulfur, and ash. Leaving this contaminated layer behind improves coal quality and, in some mines, the thin layer is stronger than the weak roof rock. The layer prevents ventilation air from drying and subsequent spalling of the roof rock. The thin layer reduces the potential for a roof fall, especially along the margins of paleochannels. The contamination also decreases the gas flow permeability near the boundary.
Channel samples often confirm that gradational boundary and fire clay layers have high levels of mercury and other heavy metals that contaminate surface water discharged in the methane drilling and production process. Boundary detection requires that sensors be located near the cutting edges of buckets, blades, rotating drums, and bottom-hole assemblies. Real-time detection of mine voids at least twenty feet (6.1 meters) ahead of the coal cutting machine is needed. Because a mining depth of forty feet is common practice with remote-control continuous mining machines, ground-control safety requires roof bolting before mine personnel can advance into a newly developed entry. From an abandoned mine detection safety perspective, the look-ahead radar must be integrated into the cutting drum of a continuous mining machine. If the detection sensors are located far away from the cutting edges, feedback control systems on automated machines and gimbals fail to provide closed-loop control. Full machine automation becomes impracticable.
For void detection ahead of mining, the United States Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) requires horizontal directional drilling in mines operating near abandoned mining complexes. In-mine drilling slows down mining processes because it requires relocating and repositioning a drilling machine. The efficiency of longhole horizontal directional drilling to probe for abandoned mine boundaries increases if the borehole can be maintained within the coal bed. One solution is to adapt radar to find the abandoned mining complexes and operate the radar near the recently cut face. In-mine demonstrations of hand-held commercially available ground-penetrating radar (GPR) have conclusively demonstrated that abandoned mines can be detected.
Radars designed for installation near the cutting edge are not even a close cousin to GPR. Radar operated for this purpose requires intrinsically safe (IS) or flameproof certification from the MSHA Certification and Approval Center in Tridelphia, W. Va. Developing a product that achieves this certification requires a highly qualified design team understanding the technical requirements. The intrinsic safety design requirements are not taught in design engineering curricula. As an example of the time required to certify a complex electronic circuit, the engineering team must work with MSHA in an iterative design process that can involve more than a year to complete. The intrinsically safe battery protections approval cycle requires thirty-six months to complete. The radar must be designed to withstand exceedingly high g force of vibration and shock, while processing data in real time using fast, autonomous algorithms. Because the radar must be "trialed" under realistic mining and drilling conditions, the electronics design must accommodate software reprogramming while the machine in cutting coal or drilling in hydrocarbon reservoirs. This feature is called remote wireless programming while mining or drilling. The software design industry refers to this advanced concept as in-application programming (IAP). The radar must control the mining machine or gimbal in real time. The look-ahead radar design must include self-testing and redundant fail-safe detection.


A millimeter-wave radar has a radome or radar cover including a layer, the dielectric constant of which is a greater than that of the other portion without the layer, or including a magnetic loss layer in an appropriate position with respect to the antenna. The dielectric constant of the radome or radar cover can be made higher in a portion corresponding to the side of the antenna than in a portion corresponding to the front of the antenna.

The present invention relates to a millimeter wave-radar mounted on automobiles and a method of manufacturing the same.
A millimeter wave-radar for automatic guidance and collision avoidance of a vehicle radiates an electromagnetic wave of a millimeter band in a desired direction and receives a reflected wave from objects in front of the radar to detect possible obstacles.
Conventional millimeter wave-radars have a problem that sidelobes of radiated electromagnetic waves are reflected by objects surrounding a radar fixing portion, resulting in unwanted objects also being detected in addition to targeted objects. A conventional countermeasure to deal with this problem involves installing a metal plate or electromagnetic wave absorber on a plane of and around the transmission/reception antenna in an antenna unit so that it protrudes from the antenna surface, in order to reduce sidelobes, as shown in, for example, JP-A-10-126146.
In the conventional technique described above, however, since the metal plate or radio wave absorber mounted around the transmission/reception antennas are separated from a radome enclosing the antennas, the construction and manufacturing process of the radar itself are complex and the metal plate or radio wave absorber is required to have a sufficient strength. This increases the thickness and weight of the absorber itself.
Another problem is that the metal plate or radio wave absorber is often installed, along with a car-mounted radar, on such locations as will be exposed to wind and rain and thus are required to have an improved weatherability.
An object of this invention is to provide a millimeter-wave radar which is light in weight with an excellent weatherability, prevents unwanted reflection of sidelobes and has an excellent detection performance.

Millimeter wave-radar and method for manufacturing the same