The felling head is operatively installed at the front end of a tractor vehicle, and used for debrushing a brush covered terrain. It comprises a rigid framework, from which downwardly depends a pair of flat, spaced-apart elongated skates that slidingly rest on the ground and support the framework over ground. A pair of discoid saw blades are rotatably supported by the frame, with a ground clearance of a few inches relative to the plane of the skates. The framework is hingedly attached to the tractor vehicle by of a pair of linked parallel parallelograms forced into a common pivotal displacement, each having four rigid bars hingedly attached to one another so as to form a parallelogram configuration. A pair of hydraulic cylinders act on the parallelograms and on the frame, so as to allow vertical linear movement of the frame and a distinct vertical pivotal movement thereof. Thus, when the tractor vehicle pushes the felling head over an uneven ground surface, the elongated skates will be forced under the load of the framework to flatly engage the ground surface, and concurrently the saw blades will be forced to remain parallel to the ground surface with a ground clearance. The felling head further comprises a vertical pivotal axle, to horizontally pivot the saw blades. Outwardly frontwardly divergent arms are provided to convergently bias incoming brush towards the central saw blades.

Debrushing felling heads are used in many circumstances, for removing brush on a brush covered terrain. The felling head is usually installed on a tractor vehicle, and controlled by the vehicle driver.
A first common application of the debrushing felling heads is in tree plantations, e.g. pine or cedar plantations. The tree rows therein are laterally spaced from one another by about six feet, and the brush will often reach between one foot and four feet in height, and in the latter case can become higher than the growing trees themselves. Of course, this is highly undesirable, since it then hampers significantly the growth of the trees due to the lack of sun light reaching the trees. The motorized debrushing vehicle is destined to be driven between the tree rows to cut down the undesirable brush which grows there.
Usually, manual means are used for removing the brush located between the trees of a same row, where the debrushing vehicle could not reach without damaging or killing the trees, and thus the finishing job is accomplished by hand once the main debrushing operation is done between the rows by the vehicle.
Debrushing is also accomplished in remote locations, such as along highways or power line paths to maintain the right-of-way in these locations, at regular spaced-apart time intervals. A debrushing vehicle can then become very useful, since in such large areas, manual debrushing is out of the question, being too time-consuming.
It is known in the debrushing industry to use debrushing or felling heads installed on tractor vehicles to accomplish this task. These debrushing heads are often equipped with a rotatable circular saw blade which depends from a frame installed at the front end of the tractor vehicle and which is movable relative thereto due to a boom and arm assembly holding the blade. Thus, by selectively moving the blade transversely across the brush, debrushing of the terrain can be accomplished.
Such a brush cutter is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,769,977 issued in 1988 to D. E. Milbourn. The brush cutter workhead is installed at the frontward free end of an arm pivotally hinged upon a boom, the latter being hingedly secured to the tractor vehicle. Hydraulic cylinders control the movement and position of the workhead at all times. The workhead comprises inter alia a circular saw blade, the rotating axis of which can be oriented in a rather wide range of angles to allow horizontal, vertical or inclined cutting paths through the brush. However, this workhead cannot be moved sideways relative to the tractor vehicle. Moreover, the operator has to continuously move the workhead to compensate for uneven ground surfaces when debrushing larger areas, to prevent the saw blade from being damaged by engaging the earth, rocks or other natural ground materials with its cutting edge. Although the shroud provided around the blade has walls which project downwardly under the saw blade level, these thin walls are likely to cut through the ground under the weight of the workhead and the force applied thereon by the hydraulic system if forced against the ground, thus effectively allowing the saw blade to reach the ground level and be damaged during use.
This last disadvantage has been partly solved in U.S. Pat. No. 4,468,917 issued in 1984 to P.-G. Mellgren. The brush cleaning apparatus shown in this patent has a frontwardly projecting workhead equipped with a rotatable circular saw blade, supported at the frontward free end of a work arm. The debrushing device of Mellgren also comprises a very large frame installed over and around the tractor vehicle, and pivoted at the approximate center of gravity thereof for vertical displacement of the saw blade. A rounded skid hub downwardly depends under the saw blade axis, to prevent accidental ground engagement of the blade by a sliding engagement of the hub on the ground surface during the tractor vehicle course. This is true for an even flat ground surface.
However, due to the fact that the rounded semi-spherical hub has a single contact point on the ground, if the ground under the blade becomes suddenly uneven or inclined, the blade may be allowed to accidentally engage the ground and damage itself. Indeed, the single ground-contact point hub does not compensate ground sloping, but only height differences of the ground under the blade, upon sliding displacement of the hub over ground.
The Mellgren patent further provides horizontal pivot means linking the work arm assembly to the tractor vehicle, to allow horizontal pivotal displacement of the workhead, so as to confer a moderately wide access range to the saw blade. This is an improvement, when compared to the previously mentioned Milbourn patent.
The Mellgren patent discloses a single saw blade, as with the Milbourn patent.
Canadian patent No. 1,135,599 issued in 1982 to J. Denis shows a pair of circular saw blades installed in side-by-side configuration, and a cover for preventing high velocity airborne projectiles issuing from the blades to endanger the immediate environment around the rotating blades. The two saw blades rotate in opposite directions, so as to draw the brush between them and then accomplish a shearing effect thereon, combined with the cutting properties of each blade. The blades rotational axes are slightly longitudinally offset relative to the direction of travel of the vehicle, so as to allow them to be slightly inwardly offset towards one another. A radial play has to exist between the two coplanar blades, to prevent them from highly undesirable mutual contact during use, and the longitudinal and inward offsets allow the blades to prevent a brush plant or tree from being engaged, along a line parallel to the direction of travel, between the two blades and remain at least partly uncut, due to this play. However, this offset of the blades may result in an unstable engagement of the blades upon larger trees, due to the unequal engagement of the two blades on the tree.
The Denis patent moreover requires the controller to adjust the vertical height of the saw blades relative to the ground continuously, to prevent ground engagement thereof, as with the Milbourn patent.


A disc device according to the present disclosure includes a plurality of magazines each having a tray that stores a plurality of discs, a plurality of disc drives that performs recording or reproducing of information on or from a disc, respectively, a picker that draws out the magazine tray from one magazine selected from the plurality of magazines and that conveys the magazine tray to a position near the plurality of disc drives, and a disc separating and supplying device that, at the position near the disc drives, holds the plurality of discs stored in the magazine tray, that separates at least one disc from the held plurality of discs, and that supplies the separated disc to the disc drive.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a disc device that takes out a disc (a disc-like information recording medium such as a CD or a DVD) stored in a magazine and conveys the disc to an arbitrary disc drive.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, as a disc device of this type, a device disclosed in Patent Document 1 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2011-204311) is known, for example. The disc device disclosed in Patent Document 1 includes a magazine that stores a plurality of magazine trays that stores one disc, and a plurality of disc drives. The disc device disclosed in Patent Document 1 is configured such that: an arbitrary magazine tray is drawn out from the magazine; a disc stored in the drawn out tray is suctioned and held by a suction pad; and the disc is placed on the tray of an arbitrary disc drive.

Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.


Method for measuring a workpiece, comprising the method steps of: providing a workpiece, wherein the workpiece has a surface with a surface structure; predefining a geometric measured variable of the workpiece, wherein the geometric measured variable is a diameter of the workpiece and wherein the geometric measured variable and a nominal-actual deviation of the geometric measured variable are defined in a reference plane; predefining a measuring path; tactile sensing of measured values on the workpiece by bringing a measuring probe into contact with the surface of the workpiece and the measuring probe scans the workpiece in contact with the surface along the predetermined measuring path; computational determination of the geometric measured variable and the nominal-actual deviation of the geometric measured variable from the measured values within the reference plane; wherein the predefined measuring path lies at least partially outside the reference plane.

Workpieces are measured to meet specified quality requirements. The method mentioned above is used to determine a nominal-actual deviation of a diameter of a workpiece. The measured nominal-actual deviation can be compared with respect to compliance with a specified tolerance.
When measuring the diameter, the surface structure of the workpiece surface can lead to the measurement result being falsified. If the surface structure has e.g. grooves, scores, furrows or the like, the measuring probe may be guided in the valleys or depressions of these grooves, scores, furrows or the like when traversing the measuring path, so that a diameter is measured incorrectly.
For example, a surface structure of a circular-cylindrical shaft section may describe a spiral groove that winds around a central axis of the circular-cylindrical shaft section due to a previous turning operation. During the measurement of the outer diameter of this circular-cylindrical shaft section, the measuring probe with its sensing ball or probe tip may run inside this groove, so that only the "valley" of the surface structure, i.e. only the minimum outer diameter is detected, but not the actual outer diameter. In other words, as far as one compares such a spiral groove of the surface structure in a highly magnified form with an external thread, in the worst case only the core diameter of such a thread would therefore be measured, but not the nominal diameter, since the measuring probe is guided between the thread flanks during the measurement.


A zoom antenna includes an ordinary pyramidal horn antenna with either a coaxial or waveguide feed and two parallel plate waveguide lenses (commonly referred to as “metal plate lenses”) positioned with their optical axes collinear with the boresight of the pyramidal horn antenna and aligned with their plates parallel to the electric field vector. The zoom antenna outputs a collimated microwave beam having a diameter varied by translation of the lenses along boresight relative to each other and relative to the phase center of the horn antenna. The zoom antenna can be rotated to vary the azimuth and elevation angles of the collimated microwave beam produced therefrom, to thereby aim the beam in any direction.

It is often desirable to guide radiated energy from a narrowband high power microwave source into a collimated microwave beam radiation pattern of variable diameter which can be directed to desired azimuth and elevation angles for ground or space-based applications. For the purposes of target location, a wide antenna beam is useful for acquiring a target quickly; however, the accuracy in determining a target's position is relatively low. Zoom capability enables an operator to focus in on the target once it is acquired by continuously decreasing the diameter of the collimated microwave beam and reacquiring the target to more accurately determine its position. What is needed are high-power capabilities for zoom antennas that can greatly increase the effective range of a high power microwave source and provide variable control over an area being illuminated at large distances and in a desired direction.
Some prior "zoom" antennas use reflectors to radiate conical antenna patterns, and broaden the beam by de-focusing it. These are not true zoom antennas and have a limited range due to rapid divergence of the beam. An antenna system consisting of confocal reflectors that creates a collimated microwave (or "pencil") beam radiation pattern is proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,825,063, issued to Roy Spencer in 1958; however, the diameter of the pencil beam cannot be varied. Another drawback to the system described in the '063 patent is feed-blockage, which is a common drawback to many reflector antennas. Another zoom antenna concept proposing the use of reflectors and a multi-beam feed is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,938,162, issued to Richard Schmidt in 1976. However, the aforementioned system requires precise synchronization of the multiple beams, which is very difficult to achieve. According to the description in the '162 patent, the radiation pattern produced by this system was "severely distorted" and "unusable as a multibeam antenna." The system also requires splitting the source energy into multiple beams and then recombining them, which makes this system very inefficient and therefore greatly reduces its effective range.
True zoom antennas that can produce a collimated beam with a variable diameter using reflectors are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,414,646, issued to Howard Luh in 2002, and also in the '162 patent. The concept proposed in the '162 patent consists of two parabolic reflectors with telescoping sections to vary their respective focal lengths. Zoom capability is achieved by incorporating telescoping sections into the reflectors to vary the respective shapes of the parabolic reflectors and thereby vary their focal lengths, and then repositioning the reflectors relative to each other to make them again confocal in order to achieve a collimated beam radiation pattern with a new diameter. These systems nonetheless encounter feed blockage problems and require high precision manufacturing given their required reflective properties.
What is needed in the art is a high power microwave zoom antenna that is accurate and can provide true zoom capability, yet is less costly to manufacturer and easier to implement than current microwave antenna systems.

Microwave zoom antenna using metal plate lenses

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AS REPRESENTED BY THE SECRETARY OF THE AIR FORCE


A power amplifier comprising a GaN-based high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) device, wherein a power added efficiency (PAE) of the power amplifier is greater than 32% at P1DB during operation of the power amplifier between 26.5 GHz and 30.5 GHz.

Electronic devices formed in lower bandgap semiconductor materials such as silicon and gallium arsenide have found wide application in lower power and (in the case of silicon) lower frequency applications. These semiconductor materials may be less well suited for higher power and/or high frequency applications, however, because of their relatively small bandgaps (e.g., 1.12 eV for silicon and 1.42 eV for gallium arsenide at room temperature) and/or relatively small breakdown voltages.
For high power, high temperature, and/or high frequency applications, devices formed in wide bandgap semiconductor materials such as silicon carbide (2.996 eV bandgap for alpha silicon carbide at room temperature) and the Group III nitrides (e.g., 3.36 eV bandgap for gallium nitride at room temperature) are often used. These materials, typically, have higher electric field breakdown strengths and higher electron saturation velocities as compared to gallium arsenide and silicon.
A device of particular interest for high power and/or high frequency applications is the High Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMT). HEMT devices may offer operational advantages in a number of applications. In operation, a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) is formed in a HEMT device at the heterojunction of two semiconductor materials with different bandgap energies, where the smaller bandgap material has a higher electron affinity. The 2DEG is an accumulation layer in the smaller bandgap material and can contain a very high sheet electron concentration. Additionally, electrons that originate in the wider-bandgap semiconductor material transfer to the 2DEG layer, allowing a high electron mobility due to reduced ionized impurity scattering. This combination of high carrier concentration and high carrier mobility can give the HEMT a very large transconductance and may provide a strong performance advantage over metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) for high-frequency applications.
High electron mobility transistors fabricated in Group III-nitride based material systems have the potential to generate large amounts of radio frequency (RF) power because of the combination of material characteristics that includes the aforementioned high breakdown fields, wide bandgaps, large conduction band offset, and/or high saturated electron drift velocity.
Thus, HEMT device may be advantageously utilized in a power amplifier (PA). Power amplifiers, including power amplifiers utilizing HEMT devices, often experience a trade-off between output power and bandwidth. Internal inefficiencies, such as parasitic capacitances, can impact the switching speed of the device. Smaller transistor geometries can achieve higher operating frequencies, but the smaller dimensions may result in reduced current (and power) capacity.
Improving operating characteristics of the amplifier may be assist in efficiently using the bandwidth that is available. For example, the linearity of the power amplifier may be useful in preserving the integrity of the complex modulation formats that are sometimes used to achieve high data rates. For example, some modulation schemes may rely on the receiver being able to differentiate variations in the signal's amplitude, and linearity in a power amplifier is useful in preserving the amplitude variation in the signal. If the transmitted signal is distorted, for example, by gain compression of the power amplifier at a particular output power, then the receiver may have difficulty decoding information that is based on the amplitude portion of the modulation.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

High electron mobility transistors and power amplifiers including said transistors having improved performance and reliability


A compact, continuous-flow synthesis device for the production of dimeric hydrocarbon species by reacting unsaturated hydrocarbons such as alkenes and alkynes with atomic hydrogen or free radicals generated by the dissociation of molecular hydrogen or organics such as alkanes. The dissociation is carried out in a module either by the electric discharge between a pair of parallel, annular, flat disc, high-voltage electrodes or by the radiation between a pair of parallel, toroidal ultraviolet lamps. The reactant to be dissociated flows radially inward from the module periphery between the pair of electrodes or the pair of ultraviolet lamps, and reaches the axis of the annulus or torus in the dissociated state. Unsaturated hydrocarbons in the dispersed phase injected vertically down this axis react with the dissociated species in a collision chamber surrounding the dissociation module to form residual free radicals. Cooling the residual free radicals then converts them to condensed dimeric products in a collection basin adjacent to the collision chamber. Many dimeric species, such as 2,2,3,3-tetramethylbutane, can be produced from different starting materials. The device also generates dimeric products from the reaction of free radicals alone in the absence of unsaturated hydrocarbons.

In the synthesis of dimeric species from the reaction of unsaturated hydrocarbons with hydrogen atoms or free radicals there are needed a supply of hydrogen atoms or free radicals and a reactor in which the reactants are properly combined.
Hydrogen atoms and free radicals can be created by the dissociation of molecular hydrogen and of suitable organic molecules. An example of an electromagnetic dissociation step is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,374,288 granted to Robert L. Scragg for Electromagnetic Process and Apparatus for Making Methanol, issued Feb. 15, 1983. Here, molecular oxygen is passed between high-voltage plates thus creating an electrostatic field with sufficient heat generation to dissociate oxygen molecules into oxygen atoms. The latter are then combined with methane to produce methanol.
The state of a substance may be altered by means of a high-temperature arc discharge as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,720,598 granted to William A. Thompson for Cryogenic Arc Furnace and Method of Forming Materials, issued Mar. 13, 1973. Here, high-voltage capacitor plates are caused by mechanical shock to approach each other to bring about a high-temperature arc discharge across the substance of interest. The arc discharge vaporizes the substance which can then be rapidly quenched to an altered state. This type of process is not considered useful for dissociating the molecules used in the production of dimeric hydrocarbon species.
These prior art devices are commendable and show a creative spirit for their times. The inventors and their inventions have contributed remarkably to the technology involved. However, these prior art structures do not include those combined elements of the instant invention that provide greater facility of use and ingenious arrangement of components and that make the instant invention the high culmination in the art.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a compact, continuous-flow synthesis device in which unsaturated hydrocarbons are combined with atomic hydrogen or free radicals to produce dimeric species.
An additional object is to provide a synthesis device wherein the unsaturated hydrocarbons may be introduced in the liquid or gas phase.
Another object is to provide a synthesis device wherein free radicals react to form dimeric species in the absence of unsaturated hydrocarbons.
Still another object is to provide a synthesis device with temperature control of the reactants and of the reaction products to optimize the production of dimeric species.

Device for the synthesis of dimeric species

McBay, legal representative; by Ronald Patrick William


A method, system, and apparatus for assigning resources to a wireless communication device that experienced a call drop. A RAN may receive an origination request from a mobile station and make a first determination that within a predetermined amount of time prior to receiving the origination request the mobile station experienced a call drop. Responsive to making the first determination, the RAN may make a second determination that the RAN should allocate a first extent of resources to the mobile station rather than allocating a second extent of resources to the mobile station. The first extent of resources may be less than the second extent of resources. Responsive to making the second determination, the RAN may allocate the first extent of resources to the mobile station in response to the origination request rather than allocating the second extent of resources to the mobile station in response to the origination request.

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in this section are not prior art to the claims and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
It is increasingly common for people to use client-side devices to communicate via a radio access network (RAN) with other devices, whether those devices are directly connected to the same RAN or to another network (such as another RAN or a transport network, as examples) to which that RAN directly or indirectly provides access. In a typical arrangement, a base station of a RAN may radiate to define a wireless coverage area in which mobile stations (such as cell phones, tablet computers, tracking devices, embedded wireless modules, and other wirelessly equipped communication devices) can operate. In turn, each base station is typically coupled with one or more transport networks, such as the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and/or the Internet for instance. With this arrangement, a mobile station operating within a coverage area of a base station can engage in air-interface communication with the base station and can thereby communicate via the base station with various remote network entities or with other mobile stations.
In practice, communications over the air-interface between a base station and a mobile station are structured in accordance with a particular air-interface protocol or "radio access technology," with communications from the base station to mobile stations defining a "forward link" (or downlink) and communications from the mobile stations to the base station defining a "reverse link" (or uplink). Numerous such protocols are well known in the art, and others may be developed in the future. Examples of existing protocols include CDMA (e.g., 1×RTT, 1× Advanced, 1×EV-DO), LTE, WiMAX, iDEN, TDMA, AMPS, GSM, GPRS, UMTS, EDGE, microwave, satellite, MMDS, Wi-Fi (e.g., IEEE 802.11), and Bluetooth. Each protocol may define its own procedures for initiation of calls, handoff between coverage areas, and functions related to air-interface communication.
Within the context of a RAN, the term "base station" is sometimes used to describe simply a device known as a base transceiver station (BTS), which contains the hardware, antennas, and so forth that actually conduct the over-the-air portion of the communication with the mobile station on behalf of the RAN. At times, however, the term "base station" is used to refer to a combination of (i) one or more BTSs and (ii) a device known as a base station controller (BSC) (or radio network controller (RNC)), which controls the BTS(s) and connects it (them) to the rest of the network. Further, a base station may encompass functions of one or more other RAN entities as well.
In a typical scenario, a mobile station registers with a RAN via a particular BTS, and then operates in what is known as "idle mode" on a carrier frequency in a coverage area provided by that BTS. If another telephone, computer, or other communication device attempts to contact the mobile station, the RAN will typically send the mobile station a page message via at least that particular BTS. The mobile station may respond by requesting and establishing communication on what is known as an air-interface traffic channel (or simply a traffic channel), and proceed to conduct the relevant communication. In other instances, the mobile station may itself originate a communication, in which case the mobile station sends the RAN an origination request in order to request and establish communication on a traffic channel to conduct the relevant communication. In either scenario, after the RAN has established a radio link and allocated a traffic channel for use by the mobile station, the mobile station is said to be operating in what is known as an active/connected mode.
If a mobile station loses communication with the network when the mobile station is engaged in a call in the active/connected mode, the mobile station may experience a call drop. This may happen, for example, if the mobile station is active/connected in a single coverage area and loses communication with the base station serving that coverage area, or if the mobile station is active/connected in multiple coverage areas at once and loses communication with the one or more base stations serving those coverage areas. In practice, when a mobile station experiences a call drop, the mobile station may responsively scan for coverage once again and a user of the mobile station may manually re-originate the call. Alternatively, some air-interface protocols include a call recovery feature that facilitates reconnecting communications automatically without manual intervention from a user when a mobile station experiences a call drop.

Assigning radio resources to a wireless communication device that experienced a call drop


A method and apparatus to simultaneously measure the diffraction resolution and mosaic spread of macromolecular crystals, are described. The method includes minimizing contributions of an x-ray beam to any reflection angular widths in the crystal, rapidly measuring multi reflection profiles in the crystal over a wide resolution range, evaluating and deconvoluting the Lorentz effect and beam contributions, and determining the direction in which the crystal is most perfect.

The present invention generally relates to a method to measure the physical characteristics of crystals, and, in particular, to a method and apparatus which simultaneously measures the diffraction resolution and mosaic spread of macromolecular crystals.
The use of reflective mosaicity has been used since 1981 (Shaikevitch et al., 1981) as an indicator of macro-molecular crystal perfection. Subsequently, synchrotron radiation was used to minimize the geometric and spectral contributions of the X-ray source to the experimental data (Colapietro et al., 1992; Helliwell, 1988). Mosaicity analysis of chicken egg-white lysozyme, apocrustacyanin C1 and thaumatin crystals established a physical basis for the improvements seen in some microgravity-grown samples. In these samples, a reduction in the mosaic spread produced a corresponding increase in the signal-to-noise ratio of the reflection (Ng et al., 1997; Snell et al., 1995, 1997). The minimum mosaicities recorded were 0.005xc2x0 for lysozyme, 0.030xc2x0 for apocrustacyanin C1, and 0.018xc2x0 for thaumatin measured at the full-width at half-maximum (FWHM). These values were obtained by deconvoluting the spectral and geometric contributions of the X-ray beam from the recorded rocking width, which allowed a quantitative comparison between samples (Colapietro et al., 1992) independent of the instrument measuring them.
Successful measurement of mosaicity requires that the geometric and spectral parameters of the instrumentation do not mask the crystal characteristics. Synchrotron radiation is a useful tool for these studies, as it can provide a highly parallel and (when a suitable monochromator is used) a highly monochromatic beam (Helliwell, 1992; Margaritondo 1995). Specially configured in house x-ray sources could also be used.
Previous efforts have been devoted to reflections recorded individually with a scintillation counter mounted in the equatorial (vertical) plane by rotating the crystal about the horizontal axis which minimized the Lorentz effect and eliminated the contribution from the horizontal beam divergence of the synchrotron beam (Colapietro et al., 1992; Fourme et al., 1995; Helliwell, 1998; Ng et al. 1997; Snell et al., 1995). An algorithm and software for mosaic spread analysis using data from an area detector was developed in 1998 (Ferrer et al., 1998).
There is still a need for a method to accurately measure the physical characteristics of crystals where the measuring instrument itself does not mask the measurements being made.
There is a particular need for a method to simultaneously measure the diffraction resolution, mosaicity, and intensity data of macromolecular crystals.
The present invention addresses these needs. Typical measurements of macromolecular crystal mosaicity are dominated by the characteristics of the X-ray beam and, as a result, the mosaicity value given during data processing can be an artifact of the instrumentation rather than the sample. The present invention is an improved method for mosaic spread analysis which uses superfine "PHgr"-slicing data collection, unfocused monochromatic radiation, and a suitable fast readout area detector, such as a charge-coupled device (CCD) X-ray area detector.
According to the invention, a fast readout area detector is used to rapidly record many reflections simultaneously. Suitable available protein crystallography software is used to assign indices which identify each reflection and to obtain standard crystallographic statistics, such as l/"sgr"(l) and diffraction resolution. Because the data are not all on the equatorial plane, horizontal divergence is a contributor to the recorded rocking width in addition to the vertical divergence and spectral spread contributions present in other methods. These effects are deconvoluted from the data so that the true crystal mosaicity is evaluated. The fast readout area detector makes the superfine "PHgr"-slicing technique efficient and practical. The development of the crystal-quality evaluation method and the deconvolution of the beam divergence, spectral divergence and Lorentz effects from the measured rocking widths of the reflections are described herein. It is to be understood that the crystal rotations used in super fine "PHgr" slicing can range from less than about 0.0001xc2x0 to greater than about 1xc2x0, and that all such measurements are within the scope of the present invention. The processing is also described, along with examples of the technique using single crystals of manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD), insulin and lysozyme.
The present invention provides a method to physically characterize crystals by simultaneously measuring the diffraction resolution and mosaic spread of macromolecular crystals. The contributions of the X-ray beam to the reflection angular widths are minimized by using a highly parallel, highly monochromatic X-ray source. Many, tens to thousands, of reflection profiles over a wide resolution range are rapidly measured using an area detector (e.g. charge-coupled device (CCD)) in combination with superfine "PHgr"-slice data collection. The Lorentz effect and beam contributions are evaluated and deconvoluted from the recorded data. For example, from 1xc2x0 of superfine "PHgr"-slice data collected on a crystal of manganese superoxide dismutase, the mosaicities of 260 reflections were measured. The average mosaicity was 0.0101xc2x0 (s.d. 0.0035xc2x0) measured as the full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) and range from 0.0011 to 0.0188xc2x0. Each reflection profile was individually fitted with two Gaussian profiles, with the first Gaussian contributing 55% (s.d. 9%) and the second contributing 35% (s.d. 9%) of the reflection. On average, the deconvoluted width of the first Gaussian was 0.0054xc2x0 (s.d. 0.0015xc2x0) and the second was 0.0061xc2x0 (s.d. 0.0023xc2x0). The mosaicity of the crystal was anisotropic, with FWHM values of 0.0068, 0.0140xc2x0 and 0.0046xc2x0 along the a, b and c axes, respectively. The anisotropic mosaicity analysis indicates that the crystal is most perfect in the direction that corresponds to the favored growth direction of the crystal.
Methods according to this aspect of the present invention can be used, for example, to inspect a crystal""s structure and its perfection. This method is of particular benefit in studying practical techniques of sample preparation for structural crystallography and for the use of crystals as a device rather than merely as a step to a structural solution.
In particular, the present invention relates to a method to simultaneously measure diffraction resolution and mosaic spread of a macromolecular crystal including the steps of (a) minimizing contributions of an x-ray beam to any reflection angular widths in the crystal by using a highly parallel, highly monochromatic x-ray source; (b) rapidly measuring multiple reflection profiles in the crystal over a wide resolution range using a suitable fast readout area detector in combination with superfine oscillation "PHgr"-slicing imaging data collection; and (c) evaluating and deconvoluting the Lorenz effect and beam contributions from the recorded data.
In certain aspects, the method further includes the step of: (d) determining the direction in which the crystal is most imperfect.
In still further aspects, the method further includes the step of: (e) measuring accurate intensities through file slicing, deconvolution and profile fitting.
The superfine oscillating "PHgr" slice data can be collected on a crystal where from about 0.0001xc2x0 to about 1xc2x0 of the super fine oscillation data is collected and where multiple reflection profiles are measured as the full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) or as the full width at quarter maximum (FWQM). Each reflection profile is fitted with at least one mathematical function that fits the recorded data. Preferably, the mathematical function is at least one Gaussian profile, is at least one Lorentzian profile, or other mathematical function.
Also the fast readout area detector is composed of a charge coupled device(s).
Mosaicity is determined from the measured reflection widths using formula   η  =                              "LeftBracketingBar"                      ϕ            R                    "RightBracketingBar"                -                              (                                          L                2                                                          xe2x80x83                                                          ζ                2                                                          xe2x80x83                                                          γ                v                2                                      )                                1            2                                                (                      L            /            d                    )                                  xe2x80x83                        cos                          xe2x80x83                                  θ          hkl                                xe2x80x83                  (                        δ                                xe2x80x83                              λ                λ            )                  xe2x80x83            tan              xe2x80x83                          θ        hkl            .
In a preferred aspect, the diffraction data are processed by (a) indexing and integrating the 1xc2x0 oscillation images using MOSFLM and scaling of data with suitable software to provide statistics on crystal quality, including the agreement between symmetry-related reflections Rsym and the signal-to-noise ratio l/"sgr"(l); (b) using an orientation matrix to integrate the coarse oscillation image that corresponds with the superfine "PHgr"-sliced images; (c) obtaining a reflection profile from the crystal by integrating the super fine "PHgr"-sliced data; (d) removing random radiation events from the diffraction data; (e) locating the "PHgr" position of the maximum value of the reflection; (f) calculating the width of the reflection as full width half-minimum (FWHM) and full-width at quarter-miminum (FWQM) and true crystal mosaicity xcex7; and (g) fitting one or more mathematical functions that fit the data to all the reflection profiles.
In a preferred aspect, the accurate positioning of the maximum of the reflection allows for the increased accuracy in orientation matrix resulting in more accurate cell parameters.
Step (g) preferably comprises fitting the at least one mathematical function to the reflection profile wherein lmax/lbkg is greater than some arbitrary value (e.g. lmax/lbkg greater than 1-10). The mathematical function preferably is at least one Guassian profile or at least one Lorentzian profile. Also a suitable signal-to-noise ratio can be used to filter out noise.
The reflection list includes indices for each reflection along with its detector coordinates for each reflection along with its detector coordinates for each reflection and the estimated error for each reflection. In a preferred aspect, 0.001xc2x0 images are integrated at the reflection coordinate positions for reflections with a desired signal-to-noise ratio.
Further, in step (g) two Gaussian functions can be used. The initial Guassians are placed as follows before a fitting algorithm is employed. One Guassian function is placed at the maximum and the second Gaussian function is placed at the FWQM value to the right or left of the maximum by comparing the ratio of FWHM to FMQM for each side with that of a perfect Guassian.
The quality of the crystal is quantitatively analyzed by examining the reflection profiles recorded near a vertical equatorial axis. The relative contributions of domain misalignment and volume are distinguished from a variation of d spacing within a domain by analyzing mosaicity as a function of resolution. Then, angular separation between multiple peaks are used to measure misalignment of discrete domains. Thereafter, an anisotropic xcex7 calculation is applied to each individual mathematical function that were fit to the data profiles and then the measured mosaicity is used to identify types of imperfections existing with the crystal.
In another aspect, the present invention relates to a method for comparing different samples of crystals using symmetry related reflections obtained by using the methods described above.
In the methods described above, the Gaussian profile (s) is fit to the recorded data and deconvoluted using   η  =                              "LeftBracketingBar"                      ϕ            R                    "RightBracketingBar"                -                              (                                          L                2                                                          xe2x80x83                                                          ζ                2                                                          xe2x80x83                                                          γ                v                2                                      )                                1            2                                                (                      L            /            d                    )                                  xe2x80x83                        cos                          xe2x80x83                                  θ          hkl                                xe2x80x83                  (                        δ                                xe2x80x83                              λ                λ            )                  xe2x80x83            tan              xe2x80x83                          θ        hkl            .
Further, a Fourier deconvolution can be used to remove inaccuracies in any broad reflection, and then the mathematical functions are fit to the data profile. The formula F({overscore (xcfx89)})=G({overscore (xcfx89)})/I({overscore (xcfx89)}) can be applied where F({overscore (xcfx89)}),G({overscore (xcfx89)}), and I({overscore (xcfx89)}) are the Fourier transforms of the true sample profile, the measured profile and the instrument function, respectively.

Method for measurement of physical characteristics of crystals


The present invention relates to the discovery of the role of Wnt1 in multiple cardiovascular processes, including cardiac repair, angiogenesis, and stimulation of endothelial progenitor cells. This discovery provides methods of using Wnt1 to treat cardiovascular disorders and injuries.

Heart disease is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity and an emerging public health problem in the developing world (Hunt et al., J. Am. Cell. Cardiol. 46:1116 (2005)). Acute injury to the heart commonly occurs following occlusion of a culprit blood vessel with subsequent death of dependent cardiac muscle. The mammalian heart heals by scar formation and the inability of the mammalian heart to regenerate cardiac muscle coupled with a predominantly fibrotic response to acute cardiac injury remains a fundamental biological problem to the therapy of heart disease.
The Wnt signaling system, comprising 19 lipophilic proteins in mammals (Gordon et al., J. Biol. Chem. 281:22429 (2006)), plays a critical role in wound repair and regeneration in simple systems such as planaria and hydra (Gurley et al., Science 319:323 (2008); Petersen et al., Science 319:327 (2008)). Wnts are developmentally important for cardiogenesis (Eisenberg et al., Dev. Biol. 293:305 (2006)) and Wnt antagonists exert anti-apoptotic effects on cardiac myocytes as well as affect scarring (Kobayashi et al., Nature Cell Biol. 11:46 (2009); Mirotsou et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 104:1643 (2007)); however the precise physiological role of Wnts following acute cardiac injury remains unexplored.
Peripheral vascular disease affects 10-15% of the population in the US above the age of 65 years (Becker et al., J. Vasc. Interv. Radiol. 13:7 (2002)), and is a debilitating condition caused by atherosclerotic narrowing and restriction of arterial blood flow to the extremities. Chronic vascular insufficiency induces skin, muscle, and nerve damage and severely reduces functionality of the limbs. New blood vessel formation in the adult has been traditionally thought to arise from proliferation of existing blood vessels (angiogenesis) (Conway et al., Cardiovasc. Res. 49:507 (2001)) but a large body of literature suggests that de novo formation of blood vessels from endothelial progenitor cells (vasculogenesis) occurs in post natal life (Asahara et al., EMBO J. 18:3964 (1999); Takahashi et al., Nature Med. 5:434 (1999); Tepper et al., Blood (2004)).
Human endothelial progenitor cells (hEPCs) are known to participate in neovascularization of ischemic tissues (Asahara et al., EMBO J. 18:3964 (1999)). Patients with vascular disease have decreased number as well as function of EPCs but molecular strategies to enhance human EPC function remain unclear (Takahashi et al., Nature Med. 5:434 (1999)). Genes playing a critical role during development and organogenesis can exert therapeutic effects on postnatal organ dysfunction (Tepper et al., Blood (2004); Vasa et al., Circ. Res. 89:e1 (2001)). The Wnt signaling system plays a critical role in organogenesis, as well as postnatal processes such as carcinogenesis and wound repair (Nusse et al., Cell 31:99 (1982)).
The present invention addresses previous shortcomings in the art by disclosing the role of Wnt1 in both cardiac repair and angiogenesis in ischemic tissue. This discovery provides methods for treating cardiovascular disorders and injuries, including enhancing cardiac repair and increasing blood flow in ischemic tissues.

Wnt1 for treatment of cardiovascular disorders and injuries

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill


A drawer-containing apparatus is disclosed which comprises a box-like housing to be fixed to a pigeon-hole or the like, an accommodating case held for forward and backward movement through a front opening of the housing, a biasing member for urging the accommodating case toward its protruded position, and a push-push locking member for, in general, locking the accommodating case at its retreated position in the housing against the biasing force of the biasing member, the push-push locking member releasing the accommodating case from the locking action thereof to allow opening motion of the accommodating case by the biasing force of the biasing member when an ordinary force for opening is exerted on the accommodating case; wherein, between the housing and the accommodating case, an unlockable safety lock mechanism is provided for preventing protrusion of the accommodating case due to release of the accommodating case from the locking action of the push-push locking member caused by an unforeseen accident.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a drawer-containing apparatus provided in a piece of furniture, a business machine or the like.
2. Discussion of Background
In a drawer-containing apparatus of this type, various measures have been taken to enable a case to be smoothly drawn from and pushed into a fixed housing. Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 199140/1988 discloses an example of such drawer-containing apparatus.
This drawer-containing apparatus comprises a box-like housing to be fixed, a case held for forward and backward movement through a front opening of the housing, a biasing means for urging the case toward its protruded position, and a push-push locking mechanism for locking the case in its retreated position in the housing against the biasing force of the biasing means. With respect to the push-push locking mechanism, when the front surface of the case is further pushed backwardly, the case is released from the locking action of the push-push locking mechanism and pushed to its open position by the biasing force of the biasing means.
The drawer-containing apparatus has an advantage in that, by virtue of the use of the push-push locking mechanism, operation for releasing the case from the locking action thereof is simple. On the other hand, however, the apparatus has a drawback in that when the apparatus is subjected to some shock due to earthquake, mischief of a child or the like, the case is likely to be released from the locking action of the locking mechanism, thereby causing protrusion of the case. Such unexpected protrusion of the case not only makes an obstacle but also impairs safety since one is likely to hit oneself against the protruded case, thereby leading to a decreased commercial value.


Processing patient information and other treatment plan information may require access to a patient profile and other third parties involved in the patient treatment plan. One example method includes selecting a treatment plan for a patient comprising a set of treatment information, linking an application identifier and a T-code identifier to the treatment plan, launching a treatment plan application, retrieving the set of treatment information, populating the treatment plan application with the set of treatment information, triggering a message dispatch in accordance with the treatment plan, the message dispatch including a query to a health related issue to determine a patient status and receiving a patient response to the message.

Conventionally, the approach to providing users with ongoing communications regarding a plan or other repetitive course of action may leave the majority of the work to the user. The smartphone and other personal computing devices are everywhere and are not being properly utilized when offering users with options for maintaining a course of treatment or a set of goals. The lack of action taken by the professional service provider and/or the user can lead to personal health problems and lost revenue for providers, insurers, etc., as well as the users.


Methods, systems, and products are disclosed for dynamically allocating communication lanes for a plurality of sockets in a point-to-point, serial I/O expansion subsystem of a computing system, the expansion subsystem including an switch that supports a maximum number of enabled communication lanes, each socket having a same form factor, each socket connected to the switch using a same predefined number of communication lanes, that include: identifying, during a boot process for the computing system, each of the sockets in which an adapter is installed; determining, for each installed adapter, a maximum link width for that adapter; and enabling, for each of the sockets in which an adapter is installed, a set of communication lanes for communications between the adapter installed in that socket and the expansion subsystem switch in dependence upon the maximum link width for each adapter and the maximum number of enabled communication lanes supported by the switch.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention is data processing, or, more specifically, methods, apparatus, and products for dynamically allocating communication lanes for a plurality of input/output ('I/O') adapter sockets in a point-to-point, serial I/O expansion subsystem of a computing system such as, for example, a PCI Express expansion subsystem.
2. Description of Related Art
A PCI Express ('PCIe') expansion subsystem is an implementation of the Peripheral Components Interconnect ('PCI') expansion subsystem according to the set of PCIe specifications promulgated by the PCI Special Interest Group ('PCI SIG'). A PCIe expansion subsystem uses existing PCI programming and software concepts, but is based on a different and much faster serial physical-layer communications protocol. The physical-layer consists not of a bus, but of a network of serial interconnections extending to each device from a switch. The switch provides point-to-point communications between devices connected to the switch. These devices may be I/O adapters or other switches. I/O adapters and switches operating according to the PCIe specifications are generally referred to as 'PCIe adapters' and 'PCIe switches' respectively, and any device, whether an I/O adapter or a switch, operating according to the PCIe specifications is generally referred to as 'PCIe device.'
A connection between any two PCIe devices is referred to as a 'link.' A link consists of a collection of one or more lanes used for data communications between devices. In a PCIe expansion subsystem, each lane is a set of two unidirectional low voltage differential signaling pairs of transmission pathways such as, for example, traces along a motherboard. Because transmitting data and receiving data are implemented using separate differential pairs, each lane allows for dual-simplex serial data communication of up to five gigabits of data per second.
All PCIe adapters must minimally support single-lane links. PCIe adapters may optionally support wider links composed of two, four, eight, twelve, sixteen, or thirty-two lanes by providing additional pins on the hardware interface of the device that plug into a PCIe adapter socket. A PCIe adapter socket is an I/O adapter socket manufactured according to the PCIe specifications and may physically support connections for one, two, four, eight, twelve, sixteen, or thirty-two lanes in a manner similar to PCIe adapters. A PCIe adapter may be physically inserted into any PCIe adapter socket that supports the same or a greater number of lanes as the lanes supported by the PCIe adapter. For example, a PCIe adapter physically supporting eight lanes may be installed in to a PCIe adapter socket physically supporting eight, twelve, sixteen, or thirty-two lanes. Such an eight lane PCIe adapter, however, cannot be physically installed in a one, two, or four lane PCIe adapter socket.
Although a PCIe adapter and the PCIe adapter socket into which the adapter is installed may physically support links with up to thirty-two lanes, a PCIe adapter may utilize fewer lanes for data communication than the maximum number of lanes physically supported by the adapter and the adapter socket. For example, a PCIe adapter may physically support eight lanes and be installed in a PCIe adapter socket physically supporting sixteen lanes. The eight lane PCIe adapter may, however, only utilize one, two, or four of those eight lanes it supports for data communications with other PCIe devices. The number of lanes actually utilized for the data communications link between two devices is typically the highest number of lanes mutually supported by the PCIe adapter and the other PCIe device.
The current chipsets implementing the PCIe switch that provides the point-to-point communications between devices support only a fixed number of communications lanes. Because different computing systems typically have different I/O adapter requirements, the manner in which a chipset allocates communications lanes among PCIe adapter sockets may vary from system to system. For example consider that the PCIe switch supports only seventeen communication lanes. In a workstation, these lanes provided by the PCIe switch are typically connected to two PCIe connectors: a sixteen lane connector and a one lane connector. Often, a high end video graphics adapter is installed in the sixteen lane PCIe connector and some other PCIe device is installed in the one lane PCIe connector. Such a configuration works well in computer systems where the performance of the video graphics adapter is most important. In other computing systems, however, other allocations of the seventeen physical lanes may be preferred. In a server system, for example, allocating the seventeen lanes to three or more PCIe connectors may be preferred to provide the server system with one connector for installing a video adapter and two or more connectors to provide redundant network adapters or redundant storage drive adapters. That is, in the server configuration, computer architects prefer to have more PCIe connectors connecting to the switch that provide redundancy over the workstation configuration that provides a single high-bandwidth PCIe connector. Although the same chipset is used to implement the seventeen lane PCIe switch in either the workstation or the server configuration, the number of PCIe connectors and the electrical connections between the connectors and the switch are different for the workstation configuration and the server configuration. Because of the contrasting requirements of these two configurations, these two configurations cannot currently be supported by the same motherboard configuration. Rather, two separate motherboards with two distinct configurations must be designed and manufactured to support both of the above configurations.

Dynamically allocating communication lanes for a plurality of input/output (‘I/O’) adapter sockets in a point-to-point, serial I/O expansion subsystem of a computing system

International Business Machines Corporation


Compositions and processes are disclosed for producing improved environmental protection, corrosion resistance and improved paint adhesion for metals e.g., ferrous, aluminum, or magnesium alloys, as well as other substrates upon contact. The compositions and processes comprise use of one or more Group IV-A metals, such as zirconium, in combination with one or more Group III-A metals, such as cerium, in an acidic solution with one or more oxyanions or other non-fluoanions to stabilize and solubilize the metals while fluorides are specifically excluded from the processes and compositions above certain levels. The processes can contain pretreatment stages that serve to activate a substrate surface and/or promote formation of mixed-metal oxide matrices through use of an oxygen donor. The compositions are at a pH below about 7.0 and are preferably in a range between about 1.0 and about 4.0. The coatings may contain surfactants, sequestering agents, or organic additives for improved corrosion protection and paint adhesion. The substrate may be treated by immersion, spray, fogging or rollcoat.

In recent years a need has arisen for coating compositions that will function to replace chromates in metal treatment. This is due to the detrimental health and environmental impact that has been determined to be associated with chromium compounds. There is also a need for a coating that is formed from an aqueous solution with no organic solvents used. This eliminates the disposal and emission considerations involved in producing zirconates and other metal oxide-containing coatings from sol-gel applications, while providing a broad-spectrum replacement for chromates.
There are believed to be several mechanisms by which chromates provide protection to an underlying substrate. While the complete source of the protection has not been fully elucidated, there has been considerable research to identify each aspect of the chromate mechanistic model. In Corrosion Science, 34 (1), 41 (1993), Kendig, Davenport and Isaacs used XANES to demonstrate variable valence states of chromium in chromate coatings. This revealed both the +3 and +6 oxidation states. The chromium in both states is present as oxides. The +3 state forms a stable "long-range" oxypolymer and the chromium remaining in the +6 state, which is trapped in the film, has limited long-range structure.
The protection would then come from at least two mechanistic aspects. One is the physical aspect of protection provided by the stable +3 oxide matrix. A secondary protective source is the +6 chromate in the film. The trapped reservoir of +6 chromate is in some way available to heal the film in some fashion once corrosive attack begins. Many chromate-free chemical conversion coatings for metal surfaces are known to the art. These are designed to render a metal surface "passive" (or less "reactive" in a corrosive environment), leaving the underlying metal protected from the environment. Coatings of this type that produce a corrosion resistant outer layer on the base metal or its oxide often simultaneously produce a surface with improved paint adhesion. Conversion coatings may be applied by a no-rinse process, in which the substrate surface is treated by dipping, spraying, or roll coating. The coatings may also be applied in one or more stages that are subsequently rinsed with water to remove undesirable contaminants.
Several metal and metaloid elements will form a continuous three-dimensional polymeric metal- or metaloid-oxide matrix from aqueous solutions. Chromium shares this characteristic along with silicon and other elements. The Group IV-A elements continue to be attractive candidates for chromate replacement technologies as they share the virtue of being relatively innocuous environmentally and have common valences of +4, facilitating the formation of three dimensional amorphous coatings.
Chromate-free conversion coatings are generally based on chemical mixtures that in some fashion will react with the substrate surface and bind to it to form protective layers. The layer or layers may yield protection through galvanic effects or through simply providing a physical barrier to the surrounding environment.
Many of these conversion coatings have been based on Group IV-A metals such as titanium, zirconium and hafnium, a source of fluoride and a mineral acid for pH adjustment. Fluoride has typically been considered to be necessary to maintain the Group IV-A and other metals in solution as a complex fluorides. The fluoride may also serve to keep dissolved substrate metal ions (such as aluminum) in solution.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,338,140 to Reghi discloses a coating for improved corrosion resistance with solutions containing zirconium, fluoride and tannin compounds at pH values from 1.5 to 3.5. Optionally, the coating may contain phosphate ions.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,470,853 to Das is related to a coating composition comprised of zirconium, fluoride, tannin, phosphate, and zinc in the pH range of 2.3 to 2.95. According to Das, it is important that approximately 10 atomic percent of zirconium-zirconium oxide be present in the coating to obtain "TR-4" corrosion resistance. It was shown that coatings of higher zirconium oxide content produced excellent corrosion resistance. Compositions which gave higher zirconium oxide on the surface were preferred in the disclosures.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,462,842 to Uchiyama and U.S. Pat. No. 5,380,374 to Tomlinson disclose zirconium treatments in solutions containing fluorides which are followed by treatment with silicate solutions. This combination is suggested to form zirconate and syloxyl linkages (--O--Zr--O--Si--O--Si-- . . . ), yielding a coating with improved corrosion resistance over the zirconium treatment alone. Coatings of this type give excellent corrosion protection but very poor paint adhesion.
The compositions and processes of Uchiyama are useful in producing hydrophilic surfaces. The compositions of Tomlinson purportedly do the same when subsequently treated per Uchiyama. The compositions of Tomlinson are high in Group II-A metals, which somewhat improve the latent corrosion protection of the fluoro-Group IV-A coating formed. The drawback is that the solubility of Group II-A components is limited, therefore the opportunity to formulate stable concentrates may not be possible.
Additionally, coating compositions high in the Group II-A elements tend to generate considerable scaling as described by Reghi in U.S. Pat. No. 4,338,140. While an incremental improvement in paint adhesion may be afforded by Group II-A metal inclusion in some aspect of the present invention, they may actually inhibit formation of the continuous amorphous metal oxide matrices in some cases.
In Reghi and in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,380,374 and 5,441,580 to Tomlinson, Group I-A and Group II-A elements probably incorporate as "discrete," non-bonded cations, perhaps providing some space-charge stabilization to balance discrete anions in the coatings. But these compositions likely provide little if any long-range structure.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,863,706 to Wada discloses a process for producing sols and gels of zirconium and a process for producing zirconia. The processes described include reactions to produce basic boratozirconium and basic boratozirconium chloride sols. These were purportedly used in producing boratozirconium and boratozirconium chloride gels. Further described is a method for producing zirconia from the gels at relatively low temperature. The essential components include a boron compound along with a polyvalent metal, zirconium and chloride.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,397,390 to Gorecki discloses an adhesion promoting rinse containing zirconium in combination with one or more organosilanes and fluoride. The compositions are used to rinse surfaces after they have been treated in a phosphating bath. The zirconium ion concentration is selected to maintain pH in a broad range as the silanes deposit on the substrate to promote paint adhesion and improve corrosion resistance. Organosilanes are necessary components of the disclosed compositions. Additionally, in preparing the compositions, Gorecki indicates that whenever zirconium-containing salts such as zirconium basic carbonate, zirconium hydroxychloride and zirconium oxychloride are used as a source (of zirconium) the salts must be dissolved in 50% hydrofluoric acid in order to effect dissolution. Gorecki does not indicate a necessity to dissolve the fluorozirconate salts mentioned in his disclosure. This demonstrates that fluoride is a necessary component of the disclosed compositions as it is included as part of the fluorozirconate salts or from hydrofluoric acid.
Brit. Pat. 1,504,494 to Matsushima describes a process for treating metal surfaces using zirconium at a pH above 10.0. A zirconate coating is formed but the pH of the solution is maintained above the present invention.
In pending U.S. patent application by Tomlinson, compositions with fluoride to Group IV-A metal at a molar ratio of less than or equal to two to one and zero to one are disclosed. Although the compositions are effective in providing corrosion resistance to many substrates (such as, for example, low copper aluminum alloys such as type 3003) protection from pitting corrosion on high-copper 2024 aluminum is still only on a par (depending on the activator and conditioners used) to what is seen for most chromates.
One avenue of research into protecting the copper bearing aluminum alloys has been to provide compositions that contain azole derivatives to complex any copper that dissolves during corrosive attack. This can happen through various cells that can be established at copper inclusions at the surface of these alloys. U.S. Pat. No. 5,128,065 to Hollander discloses this type of chemistry. The azoles of this type and some of those disclosed by Cha in U.S. Pat. No. 5,156,769 show some promise.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,969,152 to Mclotik discloses compositions containing rare-earth metals for improving corrosion resistance and paint adhesion to treated substrates. Generally, cerium was used in acidic systems. The aqueous compositions were effective at concentrations of 0.000001 molar and higher. Several acid-soluble transition metals were also used in the compositions and were particularly effective for sealing phosphated metals. No reference is made to the use of Group IV-A metals in low-fluoride compositions.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,359,347 to Da Fonte discloses compositions containing oxidizing agents, iron and cobalt. Additionally, cerium may be added to "activate" the bath, which, unless otherwise stated, is not analogous to the "activation language" used to describe surface activation herein. Group IV-A metals are not required in the compositions.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,192,374 to Kindler discloses compositions that form hydroxides and oxides in the pores of boehmited aluminum. The compositions were shown to be effective in improving properties of the aluminum hydrate formed by exposure to high temperature water. The present invention will also improve this type of layer with much less severe processing conditions being required to obtain the desired properties. The disclosure does demonstrate that a subsequent treatment with silicate may be useful as a seal. While benefits of adding metals such as lithium, aluminum and sodium are claimed, the Group IV-A metals are not shown.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,194,138 to Mansfeld claims non-halide compositions containing cerium, which would exclude fluoride. Although there are purported benefits to using a molybdenum treatment, the resulting systems will suffer from the absence of the amorphous polymeric Group IV-A matrix, which provides a stable physical barrier.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,209,788 to McMillen discloses compositions containing various amino compounds used in conjunction with either Group III-A or Group IV-A transition metal compounds. Group IV-A metals combined with the amino compounds and various organics are claimed for passivating phosphated surfaces. Although McMillen discloses use of the individual groups, there is no suggestion of the two metal groups exhibiting a synergistic complement with respect to each other.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,322,560 to DePue discloses combinations of rare-earth metals with Group IV-A metals in a matrix which produces a "slightly water-soluble" (no more than 0.001 moles per liter) time release corrosion inhibitor. The compositions are alkaline and applied to aluminum flake pigments. It appears the components are mixed in such a fashion that they react with each other along with additional ingredients, notably silicon salts such as sodium metasilicate. Combination of Group III-A with Group IV-A metals in an acidic, low fluoride, aqueous medium where they enjoy a high level solubility is not evident. The coatings produced by these alkaline compositions appear to be sol-gel type analogues.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,525,560 to Yamazaki discloses compositions to produce stabilized zirconia ceramics using Group III-A oxides. Temperatures for producing zirconia-based Group III-A stabilized ceramics are typically above 500.degree. C.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,362,335 to Rungta discloses cerium incorporation into an aluminum oxide surface. This is similar to use of various metals, such as nickel and certain Group III-A metals, for sealing anodized aluminum. The low fluoride Group IV-A coatings of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/723,464 are also effective in sealing anodized aluminum.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,399,210 to Miller discloses the combination of cerium chloride with potassium permanganate alone or in combination with strontium chloride. Additionally, silanes may be added to improve properties of the coating. The coatings produced are mixed hydroxides and oxides.
The prior art approaches fail to address the need for environmentally sound coatings which can be used in a broad-spectrum of applications. Typically, coatings which have been developed to replace chromates do so in select applications, such as the use of silicates for unpainted air conditioning evaporators or silane treatments to enhance paint adhesion on substrates such as automotive air conditioning condensers.
There are many organic systems which can be used for improving corrosion resistance, but these typically involve use of solvents, rendering compositions which have VOC impact on the environment. It can be seen from the foregoing that the compositions of the prior art have not used Group IV-A metals combined with rare-earth metals in an aqueous, non-organic solvent system that excludes high levels of fluoride specifically. Additionally, the prior art does not show formation and attachment of Group IV-A gels, incorporating rare-earth elements, from acidic aqueous solution without using organic solvents. Sol-gels are macromolecular units rather than discrete atoms or molecular units and are typically prepared from metal-alkoxy precursors in solvent-based solutions that are unstable in water.
In addition, many health and environmental benefits of eliminating or reducing fluoride have been addressed in systems based on chemistries other than those of the Group IV-A metals used with Group III-A metals. Examples are described in UK Pat. Application 2,084,614 by Higgins.
In view of the foregoing, it can be seen that there exists a need for an improved "complete-spectrum" coating which can be used in a number of applications, and which is also environmentally sound and has a low impact in the workplace. This is currently a particularly strong need in aerospace and other applications where high-copper aluminum is used in large quantities due to its strength characteristics. The present invention provides such a coating.
Additionally, there is a need for compositions which render a surface highly resistant to corrosion and simultaneously provide a hydrophilic paint base. Hydrophilic Group IV-A/silicate coatings give excellent corrosion resistance but are generally unacceptable as a paint base. Hydrophobic, low fluoride Group IV-A coatings provide excellent corrosion resistance and paint adhesion, but they develop a hydrophobic surface which is detrimental to efficient heat exchange in applications such as for evaporators in automotive air conditioning units. They are ideal as paint bases for condensers in automotive air conditioning units, which are typically painted black for aesthetic and protective purposes.
Automotive air conditioning condensers and evaporators are typically produced in one plant. Therefore, a single coating for each is desirable to save on floor space and capital equipment costs. This is one need the present invention addresses as the coatings produced can have formulants balanced such that each criterion can be met to the degree individual manufacturers specify.
From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that there exists a need for broad-spectrum coating systems which are aqueous, promote paint adhesion and environmental resistance simultaneously. Additionally, it is desirable that such systems be balanced with regard to their hydrophilic to hydrophobic nature. In this way, systems can be designed to make available a "single-package" product for coating a number of products with differing performance requirements in a single facility. It is further desirous that the coatings impart superior corrosion protection to metal substrates.
It is an object of the present invention to provide such compositions, as well as processes for coating substrates that incorporate said compositions. These and other objects and advantages of the present invention, as well as additional inventive features, will be apparent from the description of the invention provided herein.

Protective coatings for metals and other surfaces


An oil pickup device is provided which is adapted to replace the standard oil pump cover plate and pickup tube typically utilized for use with a conventional oil pump for an internal combustion engine. The oil pickup device comprises an oil pump mounting section having a front wall which complimentarily conforms with the mating surfaces of the pump housing to provide an oil seal and for segregating the discharge chamber of the oil pump, and an oil pickup section for extending into the oil contained in the engine supply reservoir formed within a conventional oil pan to provide a continuous supply of oil to the oil pump. The oil pickup device further includes an oil filter or screen positioned between the oil pump mounting section and the oil pickup section for filtering inlet oil to prevent particulate matter, such as dirt or metal shavings, from entering into the oil pump. In operation, oil is continuously picked up from the oil supply reservoir through an opening in the oil pickup section by suction produced by the oil pump and is directed through the oil pickup section and the oil pump mounting section and into the suction chamber of the oil pump.

This invention relates to an oil pump pickup device for use with an internal combustion engine, and more particularly, to an oil pump pickup device for use with an internal combustion engine such as used in an automobile for racing and which is effective for maintaining a sufficient supply of oil under various driving conditions.
Internal combustion engines, such as used in automobiles for racing, utilize an oil pump for continuously pumping oil from an engine oil supply reservoir formed within an oil pan, through an oil circulating system to lubricate the various parts of the engine, and for discharging the oil back into the oil reservoir. The oil pump is typically a conventional gear-type pump comprising a cast iron housing having a suction or inlet chamber, a discharge or outlet chamber, an oil intake in flow communication with the suction chamber, an oil discharge in flow communication with the discharge chamber, and a flange for mounting the pump onto the engine structure.
The oil pump pickup device used in automobiles for racing, as well as many passenger automobiles, for delivering oil from the engine oil supply reservoir to the suction chamber of the oil pump housing typically comprises a cantilevered oil tube having an upper end fixedly secured to the oil intake of the oil pump housing by bolts, and a lower end having a substantially horizontal extension with an inlet therein which extends into the oil contained within the engine oil supply reservoir. A screen or filter is typically provided across the oil inlet for eliminating air bubbles in the oil and for preventing particulate matter, such as dirt or metal shavings, from entering into the oil pump.
During operation, oil is continuously picked up from the oil supply reservoir through the oil inlet in the horizontal extension of the oil pump pickup tube and delivered to the oil pump inlet. One problem, however, commonly associated with oil pump pickup tubes is that the connection between the oil pump housing and the upper end of the oil pump pickup tube often breaks thereby resulting in a loss of oil circulation which can endanger the engine. Attempts have been made to solve this breaking problem by welding the steel pickup tube to the cast iron pump housing. Unfortunately however, because of the difficulty of welding steel to cast iron, this solution has not been totally successful, particularly for high r.p.m. engines such as used for racing. Accordingly, it has become common practice to periodically remove and replace the pickup tubes. This procedure, however, is both relatively time consuming and expensive and does not ensure that the connection between the pickup tube and the oil pump inlet will not break during periods of high stress.
Another problem commonly associated with oil pump pickup tubes typically used with internal combustion engines for automobiles is preventing the aspiration of air under all vehicle operating conditions. For example, when the automobile is stationary, the oil in the reservoir seeks the lowest level within the reservoir which is normally the oil sump portion of it. When the automobile is being driven through curves, or over inclines or descents, or during forward acceleration or breaking, the oil tends to shift and may result in the intake of the pickup tube not being sufficiently covered by oil to prevent air from entering the oil pump causing oil starvation which may result in damage to the engine.
Various devices have been developed to prevent the aspiration of air under the described conditions. Unfortunately however, such devices are often relatively expensive to manufacture or are not easily installed in a conventional automotive oil circulation system.
Accordingly, a need exists for an oil pickup device for use with an oil pump for an internal combustion engine which is relatively inexpensive to manufacture, can be easily installed in a conventional automotive oil circulation system, will not break during operation, and which will prevent or reduce the aspiration of air during various driving conditions.

Oil pump pickup device for use with an internal combustion engine


The present invention is a method and apparatus for treating water and other liquids by removing minerals in solution and entrained gases. The entrained gases are forced into the atmosphere, while the minerals are returned to agglomerated solids for ease in removal using settling or filtration. The opposed vortex nozzle unit of the present invention collides a pair of fluid streams in a manner that the bonds holding the gases and minerals in the water are broken, thus, allowing the gases to escape and the minerals to agglomerate. The vortex nozzle tubes of the present invention are provided with slots which remove a small portion of the fluid streams as they flow through the nozzle tubes. The removed water is returned at a location beyond the impingement point of the two streams in order to enhance the removal of gases and agglomeration of minerals in solution.

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for treating water and other liquids by removing minerals in solution and entrained gases. The present invention allows the gases to escape into the atmosphere while agglomerating the solids for ease in removal as by settling and/or filtration.
Certain characteristics of water and other liquids containing entrained gases (e.g. CO.sub.2 and/or N.sub.2) and dissolved minerals (e.g. Ca and/or Fe) have been discussed in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,261,521. Further testing has revealed new information and uses for the basic apparatus disclosed therein. Although the apparatus of U.S. Pat. No. 4,261,521 may be used to disentrain gases and agglomerate solids of any fluid, for ease of understanding and disclosure, the fluid described will be water.
The molecular structure of water when in liquid form is an array of tetrahedrons made up of five individual H.sub.2 O molecules bonded together such that one H.sub.2 O molecule is positioned at each leg of the tetrahedron with a fifth positioned at its center. Additionally, impurities enter liquid water in the form of entrained gases and dissolved elemental minerals. That is, in addition to the individual H.sub.2 O molecules which make up liquid water, impurities such as gases and minerals also bond with the individual H.sub.2 O molecules to fashion part of the tetrahedral array. However, the bonds formed between the H.sub.2 O molecules, gases, and minerals throughout the array are the weak bonds developed from valence electron sharing. Thus, the operation of the nozzle arrangement disclosed in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,261,521 functions to break those weak bonds formed between the H.sub.2 O molecules, gases, and minerals when the water is relatively quiescent.
My U.S. Pat. No. 4,261,521 discloses and describes a pair of vortex nozzles which are similar in construction and operate to impart a rotation to water passing through them. The nozzles are positioned in an opposed relationship so that the water streams exiting the nozzles rotate in opposite directions. The nozzles further function to expel the oppositely rotating water streams at a high velocity and collide the two streams at approximately halfway between the nozzle outlets. That collision between the counter-rotating streams creates compression waves throughout the water which coupled with the high centrifugal velocity of the counter-rotating streams imparts a large amount of kinetic energy to the H.sub.2 O molecules, gases, and minerals. In addition, the compression waves produce a shearing action which aids in tearing apart the molecular structure of the liquid water. Thus, the compression waves and resulting increase of kinetic energy facilitate the breaking of the bonds between the individual water molecules, the water molecules and the entrained gases, and the water molecules and the dissolved minerals.
Specifically, the compression waves alternately compress and expand the H.sub.2 O molecules, entrained gases, and dissolved minerals, thereby, increasing their individual temperature. That increased temperature is reflected by increased electron energy and activity in the valence shells of the bonded H.sub.2 O molecules, gases, and minerals. Because the added heat has no release into the atmosphere, the temperature of the H.sub.2 O molecules, gases, and minerals continues to accumulate further increasing valence electron energy and activity. The accumulated heat/energy can only be dissipated through the release of the excited valence electrons. However, any release will break the bonds between the H.sub.2 O molecules, gases, or minerals sharing those valence electrons, and further cause the breaking of some of the bonds formed between the hydrogen and oxygen atoms comprising the H.sub.2 O molecules and the atoms comprising the gas molecules. Thus, at some point when sufficient heat has accumulated, valence electrons will be released to become free electrons, breaking the bonds formed between the H.sub.2 O molecules, gases, and minerals. The initial breaking of a few bonds weakens other bonds, which aided by the shearing force of the compressional waves facilitates the further release of valence electrons, thus, rending the tetrahedral array and breaking the liquid water into its constituent parts (i.e. H.sub.2 O molecules, hydrogen atoms, oxygen atoms, gas atoms, and minerals) and free electrons. The release of electrons is of extreme importance because it creates many ions, both positive and negative, in the water.
The above constituent parts, upon exiting the vortex nozzle arrangement, begin to recombine, however, because of the increased energy imparted to the system resulting in the free roaming electrons and water ionization, the tetrahedral array reforms without many of the gases being entrained or the minerals returning to solution.
First, many of the ionized gas atoms combine with other atoms or ionized atoms and free electrons to form gas molecules having increased energy and molecular movement. That increased energy and molecular movement provide the gas molecules with sufficient force to escape from the liquid water and return in their gaseous form to the atmosphere.
Second, the minerals agglomerate, thus, appearing in the liquid water as solids. The individual ionized elemental mineral atoms combine in sufficient numbers to form either a solid element or a solid compound depending upon the particular atoms involved.
Finally, because the entrained gases have been released into the atmosphere and the dissolved minerals have been agglomerated to return to their solid form, the hydrogen atoms, oxygen atoms, and remaining H.sub.2 O molecules reform the tetrahedral array developed in undisturbed water without any impurities. My U.S. Pat. No. 4,261,521, therefore, softens water by releasing entrained gases and agglomerating dissolved minerals.
Unfortunately, the agglomerated minerals are very fine, being on the order of one to ten microns, and settle very slowly which makes them difficult to remove from the liquid. Thus, if the agglomerated minerals are removed from the bottom of a reservoir using a technique such as suction, long holding times are required, or if filtration is employed, removal is difficult because of the small agglomerate size. Additionally, insufficient amounts of entrained gases are removed.
Hence, while my U.S. Pat. No. 4,261,521 has been effective in removing entrained gases and minerals in suspension, it is desirable to produce nozzles which remove even more entrained gases and minerals from solution and increase mineral agglomeration to enhance their removal by filtration or settling. My new invention is designed to accomplish that. While the primary focus of the invention is in the treatment of water primarily for human consumption, it should be understood that other liquids may be treated in like manner for various purposes, many of which were discussed in my earlier patents.


A cleaning device is provided to which an easily removable and replaceable cleaning element can be attached. The cleaning device comprises an applicator head having a top side and a bottom side and defining holes there through which are sufficient in size and number that cleaning liquid collecting on the top side readily flows through the applicator head The applicator head also includes a handle mount attached to the top side of said applicator head for pivotally attaching a handle and a plurality of spaced-apart hooks extending from the bottom side of said applicator head and placed around the peripheral edge of said holes, said hooks comprising a shaft with a bard extending from the end of said shaft said barb facing in and extending over the adjacent hole.

Various types of cleaning devices with removable, and replaceable cleaning elements, such as a sponge, mop, dusting pad or the like for use with or without liquid cleaning solutions have been suggested. These devices suggest use of solid plate like rectangular holders having an attachable handle and means for securing a cleaning element to the holder. The means for securing the cleaning element to the holder can be spikes or double hooks, adhesives or the like. Adhesive backed strips of Velcro™ hook fasteners have been adhered to the holder, as have such strips of hook fasteners attached with adhesive of mechanically. Such attached fasteners require frequent replacement. The holder can be formed of a molded plastic with the spikes or hooks molded with the rectangular holder. In these previous cleaning devices the holder is usually formed of a solid sheet of plastic material having a handle mount part on the top face for attaching as handle and the spikes or hooks extend from the bottom for holding the removable cleaning element.

Cleaning device for use with disposable cleaning elements


The invention includes systems, methods, computer program products, and combinations and sub-combinations thereof for enabling channels specific to a user's interest (as well as other objects) to be loaded on mobile devices (as well as other types of devices), and for users of mobile devices to operate with such channels on their mobile devices in an interactive manner while in an off-line mode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to mobile communications, and more particularly relates to technology for using interactive applications while on-line and off-line on mobile devices.
2. Related Art
A variety of mobile devices (such as personal data assistants, or PDAs) exist. Such mobile devices include ones based on the Palm operating environment and the Windows CE operating environment.
A variety of software applications for those mobile devices also exist. What does not exist is a mechanism that allows channels specific to a user's interest to be automatically loaded on mobile devices. Thus, what is needed is a system, method, and computer program product for enabling automatic loading of channels specific to a user's interest and for users of mobile devices to operate with such channels on their mobile devices in an interactive manner while in an off-line mode.

System, method, and computer program product for placement of channels on a mobile device


Methods and apparatus are provided for reducing echo from a received signal. A suppression gain is applied to an output of an echo canceler that has processed the received signal. The suppression gain includes a region of sloping attenuation about a decision point. The echo canceler optionally estimates an echo path and subtracts then estimate from the received signal. The suppression gain includes a non-zero lower bound, gmin, on a maximum attenuation applied by a suppressor, that is based on operating conditions of the echo canceler. The region of sloping attenuation applies a variable amount of attenuation that depends on the size of an output error ē(n) of the echo canceler relative to the received signal, x(n).

In many acoustic systems, such as traditional telephone systems and evolving voice-over-IP (VoIP) systems, it is desirable to minimize acoustic and electrical echoes. Typically, acoustic signals are first processed using echo cancellation techniques and then any residual echoes are processed using echo suppression techniques. For a detailed discussion of conventional echo control techniques, see, for example, M. M. Sondhi and D. A. Berkley entitled "Silencing Echoes On The Telephone Network," Proceedings of the IEEE, Vol. 68, No. 8, pages 948-963, August 1980.
For example, a media processor in a voice-over-IP network typically includes an echo controller, such as a software-based echo canceler-suppressor. The echo controller eliminates acoustic and electrical echo originating, for example, from endpoints and line trunks that communicate via time-domain multiplex (TDM) connections. The echo controller is engaged in a variety of call topologies in which there is a TDM-to-IP speech-signal conversion boundary. For example, in a call from an IP terminal to a TDM terminal within the same port network, a media processor engages an echo controller to control acoustic echo originating at the TDM terminal that would otherwise be perceived by the IP phone user. When present, this acoustic echo is caused by the loudspeaker-to-microphone coupling in the TDM phone's handset, headset or speakerphone.
While existing echo suppression techniques provide adequate performance for most applications, they suffer from a number of limitations, which if overcome, could further improve the reduction of echoes in acoustic systems. A need therefore exists for improved echo suppression techniques for use in the echo suppressor component of an echo controller. Another need exists for an echo controller that demonstrates an improved ability to respond to acoustic echo originating from, for example, TDM speakerphones not equipped with an acoustic echo canceler. A further need exists for an echo controller that improves acoustic-echo control performance in essentially all call scenarios, such as speakerphones, handsets, and headsets, and improves electrical-echo control performance in call connections involving a TDM trunk.

Method and apparatus for soft-response echo suppression