A small-sized stepping motor provided with can-type stator yokes and one flat-type stator yoke, all of which are injection molded of a composite powder (i.e., a mixture of a metal powder of a soft magnetic material, a powder of a thermoplastic synthetic resin). The injection molded stator yokes have a considerably large specific electrical resistance, and the stepping motor is free from various disadvantages resulting from a small specific electric resistance.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a small-sized stepping motor adapted for office automation instruments.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As shown in FIG. 5, a conventional permanent-magnet (PM) type two-phase stepping motor is constructed of: a pair of can-type stator yokes 11, 11; a pair of flat-type stator yokes 12, 12; a pair of coils 13, 13; and, a rotor 4.
The conventional stator yokes are produced under a press working process of a material or sheet metal. In case of the flat-type stator yoke, as shown in FIG. 4, the stator yoke is produced through sequentially: a disk-blanking step (a) in which a disk blank is punched out of a sheet metal; a deep-drawing step (b) of the disk blank; a tooth-blanking step (c) of the thus deep-drawn disk blank; and a tooth-bending step (d) of the thus bent tooth of the deep-drawn disk blank. In production of the can-type stator yoke, similar sequential four steps may be used.
Problems to be solved by the present invention will be now described.
In a conventional method for producing the stator yoke of the small-sized stepping motor under the press working process, since the toothed portion of the stator yoke has a small size, press-working tools for producing such toothed portion are also small in size. Consequently, such press-working tools tend to break when they are subjected to a mechanical impact produced in the blanking operation. The thus damaged tools impair the product's or stator yoke's quality and result in poor product yields.
In addition, in the press working process, the material for the stator yoke must be a thin sheet metal subjected to severe thickness restrictions. Further, in a small-sized stepping motor, the stator yokes including toothed portions are subjected to severe shape restrictions.
Furthermore, in the press working process, it is necessary for the conventional stepping motor to produce two pieces of the stator yoke regardless of its type (i.e., regardless of the can-type or the flat-type), as shown in FIG. 5 with the reference numerals 12, 13.
In addition, the conventional stepping motor (the stator yokes of which are produced under the press working process and are low in specific electrical resistance) has a large in current loss due to such low specific electrical resistance, and, therefore due to the resultant eddy current produced in the stator yoke under the influence of a magnetic flux for driving the motor.
Particularly, the greater speed the motor obtains, the more energy loss the motor produces due to the eddy current. As a result, the percentage of input electric power effectively converted into a form of kinetic energy of the motor decreases, so that the conventional stepping motor suffers from poor torque at high speed.
In addition, since such eddy current is eventually converted into heat, the conventional small-sized motor (which is poor in available heat-radiation area) suffers from a high temperature in operation. Such high temperature adversely affects the conventional stepping motor in reliability.
Consequently, in the conventional small-sized stepping motor, in order to solve this poor-reliability problem due to the high temperature, the motor has its coil coated with an insulating film excellent in heat resistance. However, such insulating film is expensive, and, therefore increases the manufacturing cost of the product.
As described above, the conventional stepping motor (the stator yoke of which is constructed of the sheet metal) is disadvantageous in that: the specific electrical resistance of the stator yoke is low, which prevents the motor from accomplishing its high operation speed and its down sizing.


The present invention relates to a method of isolating and culturing mesenchymal stem cells using umbilical cord blood that is most ideal for cell therapy. The method comprises adding an anti-coagulant to umbilical cord blood having a volume of more than 45 ml per unit, which is obtained within 24 hours after parturition; diluting the resulting mixture of the anti-coagulant and umbilical cord blood with an αMEM (alpha-minimum essential medium), followed by centrifugation to harvest monocytes; and subjecting the obtained monocytes into suspension culture in the αMEM containing Stem Cell Factor, GM-CSF (granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor), G-CSF (granulocyte colony-stimulating factor), IL-3 (interleukin-3) and IL-6 (interleukin-6).

Mesenchymal stem cells refer to primitive cells that are able to differentiate into bone, cartilage, adipose, nerve and muscle, for example, and are known as being contained in a large amount in bone marrow. In fact, mesenchymal stem cells are presently isolated from bone marrow and then studied for certain purposes or widely used in clinical trials for a variety of diseases.
Although it is easy to obtain mesenchymal stem cells from bone marrow, there are difficulty in acquisition of the bone marrow and further, difficulty to solve problems associated with an immunological rejection reaction occurring when implanting stem cells to others, at present.
Meanwhile, umbilical cord blood is relatively easy to obtain compared with bone marrow, and also, where great numbers of umbilical cord blood units are secured, it is possible to employ umbilical cord blood stem cells that are identical with or most similar to histocompatibility genes of patients and thereby it is possible to solve problems associated with immunological rejection. However, it is relatively difficult to obtain mesenchymal stem cells from umbilical cord blood, as compared to bone marrow and thereby there is difficulty in study and clinical applications.
Conventionally, as a method for isolating very minute amounts of mesenchymal stem cells contained in umbilical cord blood, there has been largely used a method involving separating a leucocyte layer using a density gradient centrifugation method and then culturing cells. However, it is likely to lose cells in the course of a density gradient centrifugation process, thus making it more difficult to culture mesenchymal stem cells that are present in umbilical cord blood in very minute amounts.
As conventional methods of isolating and culturing mesenchymal stem cells, reference may be made to U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,197,985 and 5,486,359, which disclose a method for proliferating mesenchymal stem cells in isolating and purifying mesenchymal stem cells from human bone marrow and cultivating them. That is, U.S. Pat. No. 5,197,985 is directed to a method for inducing human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells to differentiate into bone-forming cells, comprising: providing human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells that have been isolated, purified and culturally expanded from a bone marrow specimen by adding the bone marrow specimen to a medium which contains factors which stimulate mesenchymal cell growth without differentiation and allows, when cultured, for selective adherence of only the mesenchymal stem cells to a substrate surface; applying the isolated, purified and culturally expanded human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells to a porous carrier; and, implanting the porous carrier containing the culturally expanded human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells into an environment containing factors necessary for differentiating the human mesenchymal stem cells into bone cells, wherein said porous carrier comprises hydroxyapatite and tricalcium phosphate and wherein said medium is comprised of BGJb medium with fetal bovine serum (FBS) or is comprised of F-12 Nutrient Mixture. Further, U.S. Pat. No. 5,486,359 discloses isolated human mesenchymal stem cells which can differentiate into cells of more than one tissue type (for example, bone, cartilage, muscle or marrow stroma), a method for isolating, purifying and culturally expanding human mesenchymal stem cells, and characterization of and uses, particularly research reagent, diagnostic and therapeutical uses for such cells. In this patent, mesenchymal stem cells are derived from bone marrow and cultured in BGJb medium containing fetal bovine serum.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method of isolating and culturing mesenchymal stem cell derived from umbilical cord blood


A method and apparatus that provides for the replacement of a first microprocessor with a second microprocessor in a microcomputer system. The method and apparatus allow the second microprocessor to utilize a Numeric Processor Extension (NPX) installed in the microcomputer system. This is accomplished by monitoring control signals, detecting unique error conditions, queuing NPX opcodes and operands when overlap conditions exist, transmitting queued NPX opcodes and operands and translating bus cycles between the microprocessor and the microcomputer system motherboard.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of microcomputer systems, in particular, this invention relates to the replacement of a microprocessor in a microcomputer system having a processor extension.
2. Description of the Related Art
In microcomputer systems, it is often desirable to increase system performance in order to increase the speed in which tasks are completed. A first known technique for increasing the performance of a microcomputer system is by replacing a microprocessor contained in the microcomputer system with a different microprocessor that provides such increased performance. Replacement of microprocessors is desirable because it is a cost effective in that other components in the microcomputer system are typically retained (e.g. the RAM memory, external disks, etc.). A second known technique for increasing the performance of a microcomputer system is through the use of processor extensions. Processor extensions are special purpose processing components, e.g. a math co-processor, that perform a predefined set of operations at processing speeds significantly greater than that of general purpose microprocessors. Processor extensions receive operation codes and operands from a general purpose microprocessor, perform the desired operation and return the results to the general purpose microprocessor. All of this may occur while the general purpose microprocessor is performing some other task.
Mathematical operations are a common predefined set of operations implemented on a processor extension, and are referred to as a Numeric Processor Extension (NPX). Such NPX devices include the Intel.RTM. 80287 and 80287XL Numeric co-processors available from the Intel Corporation of Santa Clara, Calif. The 80287 and 80287XL are designed for use with the Intel 80286 line of general purpose microprocessors. The 80287 and 80287XL differ in that the 80287XL has a greater number of numeric operations it may perform. Otherwise, a computer system design utilizing either device would be identical.
Typically, an NPX is designed to operate closely with a particular microprocessor. Operate closely refers to design aspects of both the microprocessor and the NPX which would facilitate fast communication and coordination between the two components. This would include dedicated I/O ports as well as dedicated handshaking lines on the respective components. In the case of the aforementioned 80287 and 80287XL, the microprocessor that they operate closely with is the Intel 80286.
It is common for different microprocessors to have different methods and techniques for coordinating operations and communicating with an NPX. This occurs because a standard interface does not exist between a microprocessor and NPX. This creates additional requirements for replacing a first microprocessor with a second microprocessor. Typically, in such a replacement, the NPX would also have to be replaced.
Known microprocessor devices are members of "families" of such devices. A microprocessor family, for example the 80286 "family" of microprocessors, contains function and performance characteristics that are substantially similar. Differences lie in chip packaging and/or operational specifications. Other differences include CPU clock rates or the size of the address path. The 80286 family of microprocessors are described as 16-bit microprocessors because they have 16-bit internal architectures and are designed for microcomputer systems with 16-bit wide data paths.
The Intel.RTM. 80386 family of microprocessors have 32- bit internal architectures, but individual members may be used with microcomputer systems that have varying sized data paths. A member of the 80386 family that is designed for use in microcomputer systems with 32-bit wide data paths is the 80386DX.TM.. Alternatively, the 80386SX.TM. has a 32-bit internal architecture but is designed to be used with microcomputer systems that have a 16-bit data path. The 80386 family of microprocessors is distinguishable from the 80286 in that the 80386 family has: a greatly increased addressing range; the ability to accommodate operands with a greater number of bits and may perform operations at a greater speed. The Intel 80286 and 80386 family of microprocessors are described in detail in the publication Microprocessors, order No. 230843-007 available from the Intel Corporation of Santa Clara, Calif.
Known microcomputer systems that utilize an 80286 or compatible microprocessor and have 16-bit data paths are the IBM PC/AT and PS/2.RTM.; models 25-286, 50, 50-Z, 60, and 30-286 (hereinafter qualifying PS/2 systems); all available from the IBM Corporation of Armonk, N.Y., or PC/AT or PS/2 compatible systems. Technical specifications concerning the PC/AT and PS/2 system design are available from the IBM Corporation. In the aforementioned microcomputer systems, the use of the 80287 or 80287XL as a numerics processor extension is optional. The user of the microcomputer system would optionally install the 80287 or 80287XL if the application software that they used required or would benefit from it. In such systems, a chip socket is provided for electrical coupling of the processor extension.
Coupling an 80386DXTM.TM. a PC/AT or compatible microcomputer system is known in the art. The Intel Corporation offers a product under the name InBoard.TM., which provides for the replacement of the 80286 with 80386DX. With the InBoard, an 80386DX is coupled to a Printed Circuit Board (PCB). The PCB contains it's own RAM memory, processor extension socket for an 80387 Numeric Co-processor, and other support circuitry. The InBoard is coupled to the PC/AT microcomputer system through one of a plurality of I/O slots on the PC/AT microcomputer system motherboard. A ribbon cable with an 80286 socket compatible plug, is used to electrically couple the PCB with the 80286 socket. Detailed technical information about the InBoard product is available from the Intel Corporation.
The InBoard design does not make use of processor extensions or all of the RAM memory that currently exist on the PC/AT motherboard. As a result, these components are unneeded. This results in increased costs and wasted assets. The increased costs are in requiring the purchase of new RAM memory and an 80387 NPX. The wasted assets are the unneeded RAM memory and processor extension (i.e. on 80287 or 80287XL).
Coupling an 80386DX to a PC/AT or compatible microcomputer system using the InBoard design requires much support circuitry because of the inherent architectural differences between the 80386DX and the 80286 families. Such difference include the additional addressing and data lines in the 80386DX. Additionally, since the InBoard design requires an I/O slot on the PC/AT system, it's use is limited to systems with an available I/O slot. The InBoard design is further limited in that it cannot be used-in non-PC/AT compatible systems.
Utilizing an 80386DX Microprocessor with an 80287 Numeric co-processor is described in general in the above referenced publication Microprocessors. However, it is important to note that the description in the reference is directed to the 80386DX microprocessor and not the 80386SX microprocessor. An important distinction between an 80386DX and and 80386SX is that the 80386DX microprocessor has the ability to recognize the 80287 as an NPX and thus communicate with 80287 in a compatible manner. Further, the interface described in the publication assumes that the microcomputer system is being designed specifically for the 80386DX, i.e. it is not intended to be a design for an interface module to an existing microcomputer system. The reference fails to contemplate utilizing a 80386SX replacing a 80286 in a Microcomputer system with an 80287 installed.
As described above, the 80386SX is designed to operate in microcomputer systems with 16-bit data paths. Thus, in order to gain the benefits of the 80386 family of microprocessors in a currently existing microcomputer system, it would be desirable to replace the 80286 microprocessor in an IBM PC/AT, PS/2 qualifying or compatible microcomputer systems, with an 80386SX. Although the 80286 and the 80386SX can both be utilized on a microcomputer system with 16-bit wide data paths, the two differ in many other respects. These differences include pin configurations, internal cycle times, exception handing, and operation with NPX devices.
It is an object of the present invention to provide for replacement of an 80286 with an 80386SX in a PC/AT, PS/2 qualifying or compatible system when an 80287 or 80287XL has been optionally installed. Further, it is an object of this invention to provide such a method that does not require an I/O slot on the PC/AT or compatible system. The objects of the invention are desirable because it would reduce the consumer cost of obtaining functionality and performance increases of the 80386 line of microprocessors as well as extend the useful life of PC/AT or PS/2 and compatible microcomputer systems.

Method and apparatus for replacement of an original microprocessor with a replacement microprocessor in a computer system having a numeric processor extension


The present invention relates to a cell for generating sterilized water in which lead wires having cathode and anode are alternately wound on a body in the horizontal direction, the cell is disposed in plural in the vertical direction to the flow of water by a given distance so that a plasma reaction is generated between both lead wires wound on the cell in the linear direction along the lead wires thereby increasing reaction efficiency per surface area of the cell. The cell comprises a body of a square shape including a pair of vertical frames in which a plurality of first and second grooves having a different depth are alternately formed correspondingly to each other, wherein the body has a plurality of support frames disposed between a pair of vertical frames in a lattice shapes, anode and cathode electrode poles respectively inserted into the pair of the vertical frames, a first lead wire wound on the plurality of the first grooves with one side being brought into contact with the anode electrode pole, and a second lead wire wound on the plurality of the second grooves in parallel with the first lead wire with one side being brought into contact with the cathode electrode pole.

Generally, an apparatus for generating sterilized water is adapted to sterilize industrial wastewater, sewage, water for a swimming pool, water for a cooling tower and the like by generating ozone or active oxygen.
In the conventional apparatus for generating sterilized water, active oxygen and ozone bubble are generated through a cell for discharge which is wound in a mesh shape so that anode and cathode lead wires intersect each other, as disclosed in Korean Patent Registration No. 199509.
In this mesh type cell, however, an explosion reaction is generated at the intersection of the anode and cathode platinum lead wires in order to generate ozone bubble. Accordingly, there is a problem in that the lead wires are cut due to excessive current during the reaction. Further, a portion from which ozone bubble is generated is limited to the intersection of both lead wires. Therefore, there is a problem in that efficiency is low compared to a case where lots of platinum lead wires are used.

Cell for generating disinfection water and system using the same


A wrist unit is provided for allowing the diver to view the breathing parameters that are determined. The breathing parameters are determined by a tank processor via sensors that are disposed on the breathing tank of the diver. These are transmitted to the display unit on the wrist of the diver via a wireless communication link. An inertia switch is provided in the wrist unit, the wrist unit having a watertight housing. The inertia switch is responsive to impacts in the form of tapping on the housing or of rotation of the wrist. When the wrist is rotated, the inertia switch will generate impulses that can be counted and, after a predetermined number, generate a control signal. The control signal controls the on/off function of the wrist unit and also allows switching between alternate displays.

Although sport diving can be fun, exciting, and physically demanding, there are a variety of potential hazards that must be avoided. In particular, sport diving can be exceedingly dangerous if the diver becomes disoriented or light-headed. Thus, it is desirable for a diver to be able to monitor the rate at which he is consuming air. This task is complicated because the amount of air a diver actually breathes varies with depth even though the diver's breathing rate remains unchanged. For example, if a diver consumes 20 psi per minute while breathing at a normal rate on the surface, he will consume 80 psi per minute if breathing at the same rate at a depth of 99 feet. Thus, for a diver to easily monitor his breathing rate, it is essential that the rate at which he is consuming air be normalized to eliminate the variable of depth.
There are several dive computers available today that display conventional dive parameters such as the amount of air pressure remaining in the user's compressed-air tank, the depth of the user and in some instances the temperature of the surrounding water. Although display of these dive parameters provides the user with a "snap-shot" of his current conditions, they do not allow the user to monitor his rate of air consumption.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a dive computer that calculates and displays the user's breathing parameter, which is indicative of the rate at which air pressure in the user's compressed-air tank is decreasing normalized with respect to the depth of the user. Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for calculating the user's breathing parameter.
A diver's breathing parameter is essentially a measure of his breathing efficiency. The more a person dives, the more efficient his breathing should become. Thus, another object of the present invention is to provide a dive computer that stores the diver's breathing parameter in memory for later retrieval so that a diver can track his progress from dive to dive.
Since a diver will not normally stop breathing or suddenly triple his breathing rate, his breathing parameter will not normally go to either an extremely low or high level, and will not normally undergo rapid changes. Thus, a diver's breathing parameter provides an indication of whether the diver is unduly stressed or in trouble and an indication of whether the diver's equipment, including the dive computer itself, is operating correctly. Accordingly, another object of the present invention is to provide a dive computer that provides a visible warning and sounds an audible alarm when the diver's breathing parameter either undergoes a rapid change or reaches an extremely low or high level.


The present disclosure relates to a sealing device (10) for a container. The sealing device comprises a housing (12) housing an integrated circuit (14). A locking member (16) is slidably attached to the housing (12) and includes an electrical conductor (19) embedded therein. The electrical conductor (19) and the integrated circuit (14) form an RFID circuit when the locking member (16) is in a locking position. The electrical connection between the electrical conductor (19) and the integrated circuit (14) is broken when the locking member (16) is cut or forcibly removed from the housing (12) and cannot be re-established. In this manner, a manipulation of the sealing device (10) can be reliably prevented.

Generally, seals are used as part of a security system to determine whether, for example, a freight container has been tampered with, i.e., whether there has been unauthorized entry into the container through its doors. Seals can be effective only if users properly select, store, account for, apply, document and attend to the seals prior to use and in use.
There are many different types of sealing devices that are used in applications such as, for example, a security seal for postal bags, security boxes, doors, containers, etc. The sealing devices are usually identified using various methods using, for example, a bar code, an engraved serial number, or RFID tags. However, the means of identification usually provide no direct evidence of tampering with the sealing device other than by visually recognizing that tampering has occurred.
WO 2006/046157 A1 discloses a security sealing device comprising a sealing element, an integrated circuit and an antenna connected to the integrated circuit. The integrated circuit and the antenna form an RFID circuit. The sealing element is conductive and forms part of the antenna. Therefore, when an attempt is made to separate the sealing element from a housing of the sealing device, the RFID circuit is broken, and it is no longer possible to send a response when reading by an external device such as an RFID reader is performed. However, there may be cases where, for example, the sealing element can be re-connected after being separated from a corresponding connector without leaving an obvious visible or electronic proof that tampering has occurred.
US 2011/0279236 A1 discloses another sealing device including a housing and a closure member having a first and a second end. At least one of the first and second ends is removably attached to the housing. The housing has means for checking the integrity of the closure member and a first transponder for transmitting information on the status of the sealing device. The sealing device further includes a second transponder associated with at least one of the first and second ends of the closure member and comprising a second identity. The sealing device further includes a transponder reader associated with the first transponder and arranged for reading the second identity of the second transponder. The first transponder is configured to receive the second identity from the transponder reader and transmit the second identity.
US 2007/0139196 A1 discloses a seal device with a seal body and an attachment device for the captive attachment of the seal body to an object to be sealed. One end of the attachment device is connected in a single piece with the seal body.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,097,253 relates to a security device having a control box containing an electronic system and a communications loop over which the system transmits a signal.
US 2002/0171550 A1 discloses a tag device wherein a wire has a base end fixed to a tag body and a forward end connected to the tag body. The wire is provided at its forward end with a lock pin.
The present disclosure is directed, at least in part, to improving or overcoming one or more aspects of prior systems.


The invention provides compositions and methods for repeatable directed endonucleases (RDEs) and methods for repeatedly, and specifically cleaving DNA offset from the RDE's DNA recognition sequence on the target nucleic acid rather than within the DNA recognition sequence. Conservation of the recognition sequence of the target nucleic acid enables for re-localization of an RDE back to the DNA recognition sequence for further cleavage. The RDEs and methods of the invention are useful in applications including, but not limited to, recording data into a genome, timing the order of biochemical pathway events, efficient genome engineering and encoding lagged cellular death.

Directed endonucleases localize on a specific DNA recognition sequence where they cleave one of both strands of DNA to create a single-strand break (SSB) or double-strand break (DSB). Examples of directed endonucleases include Zinc Finger Nucleases (ZFNs), Transcription Activator Like Effector Nucleases (TALENs), and proteins, like Cas9, associated with Clustered Regularly Interspaced Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR). Zinc Fingers and Transcription Activator Like Effectors are proteins with peptide sequences designed for binding to its corresponding DNA recognition sequence. The native repair pathways of such breaks in cells as well as identification and engineering of more efficient directed endonucleases have allowed recent art to advance the field of genome engineering and synthetic biology.
Recently the prior art has provided new artificial combinations of directed endonucleases fused to less specific nuclease domains (Tsai et al. (2014) Nature Biotechnology; doi:10.1038/nbt.2908; Guilinger et al., Nature Biotechnology (2014) doi:10.1038/nbt.2909; Sun and Zhao (2014) Mol. BioSyst., 10:446; Minczuk et al., Nucleic Acids Research, 2008, 36:3926-3938; Ramirez et al., Nucleic Acids Research, 2012, doi.1093/nar/gks179.
It would be desirable to use existing and new directed endonuclease variants and directed endonuclease fusion proteins for use in designing and using self-repeating and highly specific, sequence dependent changes to a targeted region of DNA.

Directed endonucleases for repeatable nucleic acid cleavage


A female connector including: a cylindrical core member having a luer taper on a distal inner surface thereof and a tube bonding portion formed on a proximal end inner surface and being formed with a flange at a distal extremity thereof; a cylindrical housing having a male screw formed on an outer surface thereof and mounted to an outer periphery of the core member without being fixed, and a stopper fixed at a position apart from the flange of the core member, wherein the distance (L1) between the flange and the stopper is larger than the length (L2) of the housing in the axial direction when a male connector is connected to the female connector.

The present invention relates to a female connector to be provided at an end of a medical tube which is used for guiding, or introducing, a fluid and includes various tubes for blood circuits, or blood-supply or infusion tubes, and various catheter tubes. More specifically, the invention relates to a female connector in which a risk of inadvertent disconnection after being connected to a male connector is reduced.
A female connector provided on a medical tube for guiding a fluid is capable of connecting to a male connector provided on another tube or on an instrument. The female connector is formed with a specified female luer taper on an inner surface thereof, and with a specified male screw on an outer surface thereof. On the other hand, the male connector has a concentric dual cylindrical shape and is formed with a specified male luer taper on an outer surface of an inner cylinder, and with a specified female screw on an inner surface of an outer cylinder. Liquid-tightness or air-tightness of a connected portion between the female connector and the male connector is ensured by screwing the male screw of the female connector to the female screw of the male connector and by fitting the female luer taper of the female connector to the male luer taper of the male connector.
In the related art, when the female connector is connected to the male connector, the female connector is inserted onto the male connector while being screwed. Consequently, a tube connected to the female connector is twisted and its usability is impaired, and sometimes the female connector is disconnected from the male connector with the force of the twisted tube returning to its straight form. There is also a problem that when a load is exerted on the wings, which are provided for facilitating a tightening operation, in the direction of loosening the screw, liquid-tightness or air-tightness at the connected portion between the female connector and the male connector is immediately impaired.
As a measure for solving the twisting problem of the tube, female connectors which are divided into two parts, a core member and a housing member which are rotatable with respect to each other are already disclosed (European Patent No.0775501 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.313896/1999). With these female connectors, the twisting problem of the tube when the female connector is connected to the male connector is solved, and the risk of disconnection between both connectors due to the force of the twisted tube tending to restore straightness can be reduced.
However, with the female connectors of the prior art, in order to fit a recess on a housing and a projection on a core member to prevent disconnecting of the tube in an axial direction, the hardness of the core member must be selected. In order to do so, it is necessary to carefully select a material in order to form a core member which coheres to the male luer taper.
In addition, in order to establish a female connector having such a structure that the tube is not disconnected in the axial direction, a processing step to moderately soften the core member by heating during manufacturing is necessary. However, setting of conditions so that the core member is softened and deformed and the original shape of the core member is restored after being inserted into a housing is extremely difficult.
In the structure described above, the problem that liquid-tightness or air-tightness is impaired when a load which acts to loosen the screwing is exerted on the wings provided on the housing is not solved, and it is insufficient as a measure for preventing the tube from being disconnected.


Various embodiments of the present technology enable growth of a-axis oriented barium titanate (BTO) films by inserting a relaxed strain control layer having a larger lattice constant than the c-axis of BTO and a similar thermal expansion mismatch. As a result, in-plane tensile stress causes BTO to grow with its ferroelectric polarization in-plane. Some embodiments allow for BTO films to immediately be grown on silicon with a-axis orientation, and without the need to create thick layers for relaxation. Using various embodiments of the present technology, the BTO can be grown in-plane with minimal dislocation density that is confined to the interface region.

Ferroelectric materials can be used in a variety of devices to provide a polarization that can be reoriented by the application of an electric field. A polarization that is entirely out-of-plane or in-plane is often desirable depending on the particular device or application. For example, electro-optic applications involving transmission of light through the thin film stack, as well as applications involving the transmission of light through waveguides made from either of a BaTiO3 or an Si/BaTiO3 heterostructure require that the ferroelectric polarization of BaTiO3 be in the plane of the film. The ferroelectric polarization allows for the easy application of an electric field to the BaTiO3 by simply patterning top electrodes without the need to create vias or trenches. One particular application is an electro-optic modulator.
In the absence of external stimuli such as stress or electric field, ferroelectric thin films are preferably polarized in the plane of the film as compared to being polarized normal to the surface. In the material BaTiO3 ("BTO"), this is referred to as a-axis orientation, which is where the long crystal axis is laying flat parallel to the film surface. When grown on Si, which imposes a compressive in-plane strain, traditional techniques for growing a-axis oriented BTO on Si has usually involved growing at least ˜100 nanometers (nm) of BTO for a sufficient portion of the film to become a-axis oriented. These known growth techniques are usually relatively slow and require substantial time to fabricate a-axis oriented BTO on Si heterostructures. As such, techniques are needed to maximize the volume fraction of the a-axis oriented films in order to speed up the fabrication process.

Systems and methods for integrating a-axis oriented barium titanate thin films on silicon (001) via strain control

Board of Regents, The University of Texas System


A filling station for watering cans comprises a water tank with a closable lid. A float valve mechanism is attached to the inside of the tank, and is connected to a water line or hose. In use, the filing station is placed in a garden area, with the hose running between the float valve and a house water spigot. Subsequently, the spigot is turned on (and is left on), supplying water to the float valve. The float valve allows water into the tank until the tank is full. For watering, the cover is opened, exposing the water and a dipping area, which is dimensioned to accommodate a conventional watering can. Then, the watering can is dipped into the water until full, and is used to water plants. When the water level in the tank falls below a certain level, the float valve automatically activates to refill the tank.

In watering plants around the home, several systems and/or methods are commonly used. These include dedicated watering lines (e.g., drip irrigation), area distribution devices (e.g., sprinklers), moveable hoses, and watering cans.
Drip irrigation and similar systems typically comprise a network of permanently stationed hoses which run from a house water supply (hose bib or spigot) to a number of plants. Because the hoses are typically cut to specific lengths, they are not amenable to being moved around to different plants after installation. Accordingly, this method is mainly appropriate for permanent or non-seasonal plants. Moreover, installation costs can be significant.
In the case of area distribution systems, one or more permanent or moveable sprinklers are attached to or set against the ground, and are supplied water via a portable hose or an underground, dedicated water line. In use, water is uniformly sprayed over a large area. This method is suitable for watering ground cover (such as grass), but is ill-suited for watering discreet plants. This is because: (i) water may be applied to areas where it is not needed; (ii) an increased amount of water is lost due to evaporation; (iii) most of the water is not applied to the root area of the plants; and (iv) a significant percentage of water is applied to plant foliage, which can lead to sunburn and similar problems.
Because sprinklers and drip systems have limited, specific uses, most gardeners utilize portable hoses and/or watering cans to water plants in the garden. In the case of the former, a hose is dragged sequentially from plant to plant. While functional, this method is ill-suited for those who cannot easily move a hose, heavy by itself and even more so filled with water, from plant to plant. Moreover, unless some sort of shutoff valve is used, water is wasted when moving between plants. Additionally, the gardener is at the mercy of the supply-line pressure, i.e., he or she has to spend a significant amount of time at each plant waiting for the appropriate amount of water to be discharged from the hose.
In the case of the latter, watering cans are small containers, typically having some sort of handle and water discharge spout, that can be filled with water and easily moved from plant to plant for watering. Watering cans are quite effective for applying water accurately, speed of application, and portability. However, they have to be frequently refilled, which can lead to certain problems. For example, if a hose is used for refilling, the refilling process can take quite a bit of time. Additionally, if a rain barrel is used as the water source (rain barrels are large barrels or other containers, located under a house's gutter downspouts, that collect rain water for later use), it is necessary to make a number of back-and-forth trips from the garden or plant area to the rain barrel. Moreover, without significant, frequent rainfall, rain barrels run out of stored water quite quickly. Furthermore, if a watering container is too large or awkward to fit into the barrel, the barrel's lower drain valve has to be used, which is typically very slow (low pressure).
Accordingly, a primary object of the present invention is to provide a method and system that allows for the quick refilling of watering cans, in close proximity to a garden area, and that is largely independent of supply-line water pressure.


A liquid crystal display (LCD) panel including an active device array substrate, an opposite substrate and a liquid crystal layer is provided. The active device array substrate includes a substrate, a plurality of scan lines, a plurality of data lines, and a plurality of pixel units. The scan lines, the data lines and the pixel units are disposed on the substrate. Each of the pixel units is electrically connected to one of the scan lines and one of the data lines correspondingly and crosses over two sides of the corresponding scan line. The opposite substrate includes a plurality of alignment protrusions. The alignment protrusions are located over the scan lines. Besides, the liquid crystal layer is disposed between the opposite substrate and the active device array substrate. The above-mentioned liquid crystal display panel has higher aperture ratio.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel, and more particularly to an LCD panel with high aperture ratio.
2. Description of Related Art
Nowadays, the performance requirements the market demands of the LCD are such as high contrast ratio, no gray scale inversion, little color shift, high luminance, high color vividness, high color saturation, quick response and wide viewing angle. Currently, several types of display devices can meet the requirement of wide viewing angles, such as the twisted nematic (TN) LCD along with a wide viewing film, the in-plane switching (IPS) LCD, the fringe field switching (FFS) LCD, and multi-domain vertical alignment (MVA) LCD. A description of the conventional MVA LCD panel is provided as follows.
Most of the conventional MVA LCD panel utilizes alignment protrusions and the alignment slits of pixel electrodes to arrange liquid crystal molecules as multi-domain so that the effect of wide viewing angle is achieved. Yet, the tilt of the liquid crystal molecules located at the periphery of the alignment protrusions is difficult to control due to an electric field from the scan line and thereby resulting in the light leakage. Hence, a black matrix having light-shielding function is needed to be disposed so as to prevent the display quality of the LCD panel from being deteriorated.


Dynamic web page generation is optimized by reducing the processing overhead required to parse the web page HTML code for tokens and insert dynamic content. Using the invention, an HTML file for a dynamic web page need be read and parsed only once throughout the life of the server. A software object parses the HTML, decomposes the page into constituent pieces and saves them to data structures as byte streams, which are cached, along with the software object, rendering multiple disk accesses unnecessary when the page is reconstituted. For subsequent requests, the dynamic page is created from the cached version, which is shareable across users and across requests. The optimization reduces server resource usage for dynamic page generation to near zero. The invention is also applicable to other documents combining static and dynamic content that require composition tools for editing.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to processing of electronic documents. More particularly the invention relates to a method of optimizing generation of web pages having dynamic content.
2. Description of Related Technology
Today's Internet websites must deliver an ever-increasing amount of dynamic web page content. Dynamic web page generation is the process whereby a server computer creates HTML "on the fly" to send to a client computer (a Web browser). Dynamic web pages differ from static web pages in that the content of a dynamic web page can only be determined the moment a page request is received by the server computer. While a static web page might display a biography of Abraham Lincoln, content which can be created once and not changed anymore, such a web page and methodology would not be suitable for a web page which displayed the current price of oranges at five local supermarkets. The latter case requires that the server computer utilize dynamic information and compose that information into a web page to send to a client computer.
A common practice employed to aid in the creation of dynamic web pages is the use of HTML containing "tokens", or "tokenized HTML". A tokenized HTML file contains some never-changing static information, for example a page heading with the word "Welcome" in it, but also contains some dynamic or "live" areas; for example, an area after "Welcome" where the user's name is to be dynamically placed. This will allow each user to see a Web page that is customized for them. When Sally visits this web page she'll be greeted with a page title that says "Welcome Sally", and when Joe visits this web page it will be titled, "Welcome Joe". One of the major advantages of using tokens as placeholders for dynamic content is that they are extremely unobtrusive, allowing technical personnel such as programmers to make sure that dynamic content is placed in certain areas of the page without the necessity of embedding complicated source code in the HTML, which may be very confusing and distracting to someone such as a graphic designer, who is tasked with maximizing the page's aesthetic appeal.
To serve up dynamic web pages, a web server typically creates a dynamic page by loading up a static HTML page with a "token" or "placeholder" in the area where the user's name went. The tokens are of a known form;, for example, "@UserName@," so that they may be searched for quickly and uniquely. The server searches the page looking for the tokens that refer to dynamic content, e.g. "@UserName@." Once the token has been located, the server replaces its text with the dynamically discovered text, e.g "Sally." Replacing a token involves storing all of the text leading up to the token and concatenating it with the dynamic content and all of the text following the token. It must do this for each request it receives (each dynamic page that each user asks for).
Various methods of creating documents with varying content have been proposed. For example, J. Cooper, M. San Soucie, Method of generating document using tables storing pointers and indexes, U.S. Pat. No. 4,996, 662 (Feb. 26, 1991) describe a document processing system having a system architecture that includes a control structure providing supervisory routines for controlling supervisory functions of the system and document manipulation routines for operating upon the documents.
R. Smith, D. Ting, J. Boer, M. Mendelssohn, Document management and production system, U.S. Pat. No. 5,181,162 (Jan. 19, 1993) disclose an object-oriented document management and production system in which documents are represented as collections of logical components that may be combined and physically mapped onto a page-by-page layout.
D. Dodge, S. Follett, A. Grecco, J. Tillman, Method and apparatus for document production using common document database, U.S. Pat. No. 5,655,130 (Aug. 5, 1997) describe a system and method for producing a variety of documents from a common document database. In the described system, source documents are decomposed into encapsulated data elements, in which a data element includes the actual content along with classifying data about the content. The encapsulated data elements are saved to a database, and can be later reassembled to form variation specific documents.
All of the systems described above involve the decomposition of source documents into smaller components, storing the document components in a database and reassembling the document components to form different variations of the source document, or completely new documents. While these systems facilitate the building of variation specific documents such as software documentation, and other engineering documents, they only involve combining and recombining static elements in various ways. The disclosed systems don't provide any way of generating a document "on the fly" that incorporates dynamically discovered information. Furthermore, none of the systems described concern themselves with optimizing the process of incorporating dynamic information into an online document by reducing the required computer resource usage.
Various other methods have been proposed for creating dynamic content in pages for delivery to a client over the Internet on the World-Wide Web (WWW). For example, JAVA SERVER PAGES from Sun Microsystems, Inc. of Menlo Park Calif. or ACTIVE SERVER PAGES from Microsoft Corporation of Redmond Wash. create all of the page content by having the page's Java or C++ server code write all of the page content to the client browser (the output stream). The major drawback of these solutions is that the server code and the page design (the HTML) are both contained in the same HTML file making it extremely difficult for non-programmers (e.g. graphic artists) to use popular page design tools to modify the content on these pages
The primary task of Internet Web server computers is to deliver content (Web pages) to client computers (Web browsers). These server computers are expected to perform these operations extremely rapidly because they are being besieged by, potentially, thousands and thousands of client requests per second. For this reason web developers attempt to reduce bottlenecks in the server software so that the server is performing up to its maximum capacity. The problem, then, arrives when many tokens in many dynamic pages need to be repeatedly replaced with dynamic content. Though the example in the preceding paragraph only contained a single token, the reality is that dynamic Web pages are normally far more complex than in this example, and might have 20 or more tokens.
Without any optimization, on each request, the server would have to re-read the base HTML file from disk, search and replace all occurrences of each token, and then write the newly created content stream to the client's return stream. The problem with this approach is that it is extremely time consuming. Even if the file is read from disk only once (i.e. it's cached) the act of replacing all occurrences of all tokens in the file is a very slow and very costly operation. It is so slow that it would likely be the primary bottleneck in the server software. Additionally, buying more hardware, bandwidth, etc. will not solve this problem because no matter how many machines were running concurrently, on each client request each web server would have to re-read and re-replace the page's content.
There exists, therefore, a need in the art for a way to reduce the processing overhead required to parse the HTML code of a web page that requires the incorporation of dynamic content in order to locate areas, identified by tokens, wherein the dynamic contented is to be inserted, and replacing the tokens with the dynamic content.

High performance freeze-dried dynamic web page generation


Methods and systems configured to facilitate monitoring of multiple remote desktops in a user interface of a wireless device are provided. One example method includes maintaining image data representing a prior state of graphical displays of a plurality of graphical user interfaces associated with the remote desktops, in response to receiving a first request specifying first display information from the wireless device, preparing first update information for a first scaled image corresponding to content of a first graphical display, wherein the first scaled image contains image data defining a lower resolution version of a current state of a first graphical display out of the graphical displays, the scaled version is being sized according to the first display information received from the wireless device, and transmitting the prepared first update information to the wireless device to be displayed in the user interface.

Virtualization technologies are becoming ubiquitous in the marketplace. These technologies may provide a virtual hardware abstraction to guest operating systems, so that applications may run in a functionally isolated environment on a host computer. Virtualization allows multiple instances of a virtual machine to run on one or more physical host computers, so that these virtual machines may share the resources of the one or more physical host computers.
To manage or monitor the desktop operating systems associated with the multiple virtual machines, one convention approach is to utilize a wall of monitors. Not only is such an approach costly, but it is also likely to require significant physical space and power to operate. Another conventional approach is to display the desktops on a user interface of a computing device. Due to network bandwidth constraints, such an approach tends to be limited to displaying relatively static desktop images.

Monitoring multiple remote desktops on a wireless device


A method and apparatus for obtaining carbon fiber from carbon fiber waste (e.g., pre-preg and CFP waste). The method and apparatus selects, or is controlled to select, between using an oxygen free pyrolytic process to volatilize the epoxy resin or other matrix in which the fibers are held to liberate the fibers therefrom and, depending upon the type of pre-preg waste, using a reactor environment where the reactor atmosphere has about 1% to about 2% oxygen by volume. The reactor has a counterflow such that the carbon fibers are moved in one direction and the off gasses are moved in the opposite direction. A combination of steam at the reactor outlet and vacuum pressure at the reactor inlet create the counter flow.

In general, carbon fiber-reinforced plastics (also known synonymously as CFPs) in which a multiplicity of carbon fibers are embedded, preferably in a plurality of layers, as reinforcement in a matrix such as plastic can be referred to as fiber-plastic composites. Suitable polymer matrices can either be thermosets such as epoxy resins, acrylates and polyurethanes and thermoplastics such as acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS), polyamide (PA), polylactate (PLA), polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), polycarbonate (PC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyether ether ketone (PEEK) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC). However, it is also possible to embed carbon fibers in a matrix composed of ceramic (also referred to synonymously as ceramic fiber composites) in order to obtain thermally very stable components such a brake disks.
CFPs have a high strength and stiffness combined with a low weight and are preferably used in fields where high weight-specific strengths and stiffnesses are required. For example, CFPs are used in the aerospace industry, in the wind power industry, in vehicle construction or for sports equipment such as bicycle frames, speed skates, tennis rackets, sporting arrows and fishing rods. In building and construction, CFPs can be adhesively bonded in the form of lamellae on the surface of the component in order to reinforce constructions.
The strength and stiffness of materials or components produced from CFPs is generally, as in the case of other fiber-matrix composites, significantly higher in the fiber direction than transverse to the fiber direction. Thus, for example, the strength transverse to the carbon fibers can be lower than the strength of the matrix material used. In order to ensure a uniform strength and stiffness of the materials or components composed of CFPs in all directions in space, individual fiber layers are laid in various directions. For example, in the case of high-performance construction components, the fiber directions can be determined by means of computer calculations such as the classical laminate theory in order to achieve the prescribed strength and stiffness.
The primary carbon fibers (also referred to synonymously as virgin fibers) used in the production of CFPs are predominantly produced industrially from carbon-containing starting materials, in particular polyacrylonitrile (PAN), by stabilization reactions in air, subsequent pyrolysis in an inert atmosphere and subsequent graphitization. The stiffness and strength of the primary carbon fibers can be controlled in a targeted manner during the production process by means of the pre-tensioning and also the temperatures in the carbonization and graphitization, so that various fiber types are commercially available. Owing to their inexpensive production, HT fibers (high-tensile fibers) and IM fibers (intermediate modulus fibers) are predominantly used as primary carbon fibers. In order to improve the adhesion of the primary carbon fibers after graphitization, an oxidation of the surface of the primary carbon fibers can be carried out by means of an electrochemical treatment. In general, the primary carbon fibers are combined with a surface agent such as bonding agents and sizings (e.g., epoxy resin) and collected together to form rovings. These rovings are wound up onto conventional textile spindles in a last step.
Depending on the length of the primary carbon fibers used, various processes can be used for producing CFPs. CFP parts having long primary carbon fibers can generally be produced by means of resin injection processes (also referred to as resin transfer molding (RTM)). In a first step of the resin injection process, preforms which consist of one layer or a plurality of layers of woven primary carbon fibers in order to ensure constant strength and stiffness in all directions in space are produced. These preforms are, in a second step, admixed in a closed casting mold with a liquefied matrix composed of plastic and optionally hardener. After curing of the matrix and removal of excess edge material, the corresponding CFP components are obtained.
The production of CFPs having short primary carbon fibers, in particular chopped primary carbon fibers, is generally carried out by means of injection molding. For this purpose, the chopped primary carbon fibers are mixed batchwise with a liquefied matrix composed of plastic(s), extruded and subsequently processed by means of injection molding to give CFP components. However, the use of CFPs leads, in comparison with the use of similar components composed of light metals such as aluminum, magnesium and titanium, to considerably higher costs of the final product. This is related, in particular, to the complicated and costly production of primary carbon fibers from carbon-containing starting materials, in particular PAN. In addition, the worldwide consumption of primary carbon fibers for producing CFP components is increasing greatly, so that no significant reduction of the costs in the use of carbon fiber-reinforced plastics can be expected because of the high worldwide demand for primary carbon fibers.
Despite the high demand for primary carbon fibers, large quantities of primary carbon fibers which are unprocessed but have been pre-impregnated with an epoxy resin (referred to as pre-preg or pre-impregnated fibers), in which the resin has been cured or which have exceeded the storage date, are disposed of as CFP-containing scrap. Carbon fiber waste, as used herein, includes pre-preg and dry forms of carbon fiber that are to be recycled, in addition to CFP scrap.
In addition, a large amount of CFP-containing plastic scrap is created in the production of aircraft parts, wind turbine blades and also as a result of modeling molds, production scrap, prototypes, incorrect batches and "end-of-life" components. Disposal of all of this scrap is necessary.
However, the disposal of CFP-containing plastics scrap in landfills is uneconomical because of the valuable carbon fibers present therein. Furthermore, it can generally be expected that the CFP-containing plastics scrap remains unchanged over a long period of time because of its chemical inertness and cannot be degraded in landfills. In addition, unlimited disposal of CFP-containing scrap is not readily possible or even prohibited because of legal requirements in many European countries.
There is therefore a great demand for inexpensive and efficient pyrolysis plants and processes for recovering or recycling carbon fibers from CFP-containing scrap, in particular in the light of the worldwide demand for carbon fibers for the production of CFP components.
In the prior art, carbon fibers are recovered or recycled from CFP-containing material (CFP material) by means of either pyrolysis, mechanical grinding, solvolysis, microwaves, fluidized bed, or combustion. In pyrolysis, there is a thermal dissociation of organic compounds, in which large organic molecules are split into smaller organic molecules by means of high temperatures, for example in the range from 300 to 1000° C. In general, no oxygen is introduced during the pyrolysis. However, pyrolytic processes that use oxygen for carbon fiber recovery from CFP material have been proposed.
A pyrolysis plant is described in the document EP 0 636 428 A1. There, a protective gas furnace in which CFP-containing material is pyrolyzed under a protective gas atmosphere is used for carrying out the pyrolysis. However, the pyrolysis is carried out over a long period of time, as a result of which the recycling is uneconomical and is not suitable for the industrial scale. Furthermore, a complicated after-treatment of the recycled materials with further pyrolysis steps is provided in order to obtain carbon-containing shaped bodies.
Furthermore, circulation of the CFP material is not possible in the known pyrolysis plants using belt furnaces and the processes carried out therein for recovering carbon fibers from CFP material. There is therefore no mixing of the CFP material and accordingly also no uniform heating of all regions of the CFP material present on the conveyor belt. The result is considerable pyrolysis and resin residues on the surface of the recycled carbon fibers, which can have an adverse effect on incorporation into a polymer matrix.
Such a pyrolysis plant is described, for example, in the document DE 10 2008 002 846 B4 and in the patent family equivalent EP 2 282 879 A1. The pyrolysis of the polymer matrix is carried out in a pyrolysis plant which comprises a belt furnace, with the CFP-containing scrap firstly having to be presorted and subsequently comminuted to small sizes. In addition, it is necessary to carry out after-treatment of the recycled carbon fibers in order to avoid tangling of the recycled carbon fibers.
In addition, the document WO 2010/075952 A1 describes a pyrolysis plant that has a process chamber in the form of a belt furnace or rotary tube furnace. The process chamber has both heating sources in the form of hot air inlets and electric resistance heating elements and also microwave radiation sources, which is why a complicated apparatus is consequently necessary for carrying out the recycling.
Finally, the document EP 2 152 487 B1 describes a pyrolysis plant having a belt furnace, with the proportion of oxygen in the belt furnace being controlled in a targeted manner by means of control devices so that essentially a pyrolysis and no combustion or gasification of the polymer matrix occurs.
Furthermore, the above-mentioned pyrolysis plants and processes lead not only to the large amount of pyrolysis residues on the surface of the recycled carbon fibers but also to high costs for the recovery (recycling) of carbon fibers from CFP-containing scrap because of their complexity. In addition, the surfaces of CFP-containing scrap are not treated uniformly in the above-mentioned pyrolysis plants and processes because they lack the necessary mixing. The recycled carbon fibers also frequently display quality fluctuations.
In addition, the CFP-containing scrap has to be pretreated in a complicated and expensive fashion, in particular by means of mechanical and/or chemical processes, before recovery (recycling).
For this reason, the use of recycled carbon fibers in CFP components has hitherto been possible to only a limited extent because of the above-described disadvantages.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2016039118 describes the use of an indirectly heated rotary tube furnace having exit openings that is used for recovering (recycling) carbon fibers from carbon fiber-containing plastics. In this reference, an indirectly heated rotary tube furnace is used to precisely control the oxygen content within the indirectly heated rotary tube furnace. However, burning the CFP scrap to remove contaminants therefrom damages the carbon fiber, making it less suitable or even unsuitable for recycling. However, it is difficult to keep the amount of oxygen within a defined proportion. Therefore, alternative arrangements for recovery of carbon fiber from CFPs are sought.

Carbon fiber recycling system and method of operation


A fuel control system for a staged combustion engine comprising, a fuel metering unit including a fuel metering valve having a fuel metering orifice the opening of which is varied to meter the flow of fuel through the metering valve in use, a fuel staging unit receiving fuel from the metering valve of the fuel metering unit and incorporating a staging valve for dividing the flow of fuel from the fuel metering unit to pilot burner and main burner output lines, a connection between a fuel pressure region of said fuel metering unit and a port of said staging valve, and, overthrust detection means causing said staging valve, in response to overthrust detection, to connect said port of said staging valve to low pressure, whereby to drain fuel under pressure from said pressure zone of said fuel metering unit to low pressure to limit or reduce the fuel supplied from the fuel metering unit to the fuel staging unit and thus to the engine in use.

In a staged combustion gas turbine engine, burners of the engine are divided into at least two groups which can, for convenience, be referred to as pilot burners and main burners. It is to be understood that the main burner group may comprise a number of main burner sub-groups, but this distinction is not of importance to the invention. Generally, while an engine is operative, fuel is supplied continuously to the pilot burners, but is supplied to the main burners only while the thrust and/or emission requirements imposed upon the engine require that the main burners are operative in addition to the pilot burners.
In the accompanying drawings FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic representation of a known arrangement of a fuel metering unit supplying metered fuel to a conventional fuel staging unit which in turn distributes the fuel to pilot burners and main burners of an engine. In FIG. 1 the fuel metering unit (FMU) 11 and the fuel staging unit (FSU) 12 are shown in broken line boundaries and output lines 13, 14 from the FSU are connected in use to the pilot burner manifold and the main burner manifold respectively of the associated gas turbine engine. Fuel from a reservoir is supplied at low pressure to the inlet of a fixed displacement pump, for example a gear pump 15, driven by the main shaft of the gas turbine engine so as to be operated, and thus produce an output, directly related to the speed of rotation of the engine shaft. The output of the pump 15 is supplied through conventional filtering into the FMU 11.
As will be well understood by those skilled in the art the following description of a conventional FMU and FSU is restricted to basic components of those units. In practice both the FMU and FSU may well incorporate additional components effecting refinements in the operation of the units.
High pressure fuel (HP) from the pump 15 is directed within the FMU 11 to the inlet of a fuel metering valve 16 which supplies metered fuel at pressure PX to the inlet of a pressure raising and shut-off valve (PRSOV) 17. The output of the PRSOV 17 is supplied through a line 18 to the FSU 12. Within the FMU 11 a pressure drop control and spill valve (PDSV) 19 senses the pressure drop across the metering valve 16 (HP-PX) and spills excess delivery flow from HP to LP in order to maintain a constant pressure drop across the metering orifice of the valve 16 as the metering orifice is opened and closed in use. The PRSOV 17 establishes a minimum fuel pressure in the FMU upstream of the PRSOV 17 below which the PRSOV 17 isolates the FMU from the FSU by preventing flow into the line 18. Furthermore, the PRSOV 17 can be operated in response to predetermined command signals to close irrespective of the fuel pressure upstream the PRSOV to isolate the FSU from the FMU and so shut-down the associated engine. FIG. 1 illustrates a normal shut-off servo valve (SOSV) 21 and a turbine overspeed shut-off servo valve (TOSSV) 22 associated with the PRSOV 17. The SOSV 21 receives shut-off signals from the conventional electronic engine control unit (EECU) (not shown) of the engine control system to cause the SOSV 21 to initiate closure of the PRSOV 17 when appropriate command signals are issued for example by the pilot. The TOSSV 22 on the other hand is usually independent of the EECU and receives its signals from a monitoring system monitoring the speed of rotation of the shaft of the engine and initiating closure of the PRSOV 17 to shut-down the engine when the monitored engine speed exceeds a predetermined safe value.
The position of the metering spool, and thus the flow number of the metering orifice, of the metering valve 16 is controlled by a metering valve servo valve (MVSV) 23 forming part of the metering valve 16 and receiving fuel demand signals from the EECU of the system and positioning the valve spool accordingly. A position sensor 24 conveniently in the form of a linear variable differential transformer (LVDT) monitors the position of the spool of the metering valve 16 and supplies spool position signals back to the EECU.
The FSU 12 receives fuel metered by the FMU 11 by way of the line 18 to the inlet of a staging valve (SV) 25. The staging valve 25 can divide the flow from the line 18 into a pilot burner flow and a main burner flow in the lines 13 and 14 respectively. The valve 25 incorporates a staging valve servo valve (SVSV) 26 and a sensor 27 in the form of an LVDT for controlling and monitoring the position of the spool of the staging valve 25 respectively. A pressure drop servo throttle valve (PDSTV) 28 is provided in the flow line 13 to the pilot burners and is open or closed to throttle the flow to the pilot burners in order to maintain a substantially constant pressure drop across the pilot burner flow orifice of the staging valve 25. The valve 25 is controlled by the EECU to divide the flow of fuel from the FMU to the FSU between the pilot burners and the main burners of the engine in a predetermined manner dependent upon the required engine operating conditions to minimise harmful emissions.
Aircraft gas turbine engines, irrespective of whether or not they have staged combustion, can experience an operating condition in which they produce more thrust than is required at that point in the operating cycle of the aircraft. A level of developed thrust in excess of the thrust commanded by the EECU is referred to as "overthrust" and can arise from a number of fault conditions, for example a fault in which the fuel metering valve is moved to a position in which it provides a fuel flow in excess of that commanded by the engine control unit in accordance with the required operating mode of the engine. When the aircraft is on the ground it is generally acceptable for an overthrust event to be terminated by the engine overspeed protection arrangement in which the excessive engine speed is detected and used to operate the TOSSV 22 to close the PRSOV 17 and thus isolate the FSU 12 and the burners from the fuel supply. Such an arrangement accommodates EECU or FMU failure resulting in excessive metering valve opening and shuts down the engine to prevent overthrust increasing to a dangerous extent.
During flight however the situation is somewhat more critical since an overthrust event in one engine of, for example, a twin engine aircraft could, if dealt with by engine shut-down, result in potentially dangerous aircraft yaw conditions. For example, consider a situation in which an aircraft is on final approach to a runway. If one of the two engines experiences an overthrust event the pilot will compensate for the yaw resulting from the overthrust, by use of the aircraft rudder. Should the engine overspeed protection system then operate to close the PRSOV 17 by means of the TOSSV 22 the overthrust will be substantially instantaneously replaced by zero thrust (and possibly engine "flame-out"), at a point when the rudder setting commanded by the pilot is completely opposite to that required to compensate for engine shut down. The aircraft could thus perform a violent, and potentially dangerous yaw manoeuvre in the opposite direction. Accordingly it is considered inappropriate for there to be an overthrust control which shuts the engine down, and clearly the engine speed must not be allowed to increase to a level at which the engine overspeed control will initiate engine shut-down.
Our co-pending United States Patent Application 2003/0019203 A1 discloses a fuel system for a non-staged combustion gas turbine engine in which an additional torque motor operated valve is incorporated into the fuel system, in association with the metering valve, to modify the operation of the metering valve in the event of detection, by the EECU, of an overthrust event.
The provision of overthrust protection in the fuel supply system of a staged combustion engine would necessitate the incorporation of a number of additional control components, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a fuel system for a staged combustion engine in which no additional control valve components are used.


Electrosurgical instruments and associated methods are provided. An electrosurgical instrument may include one or more light emitters that comprise a light source in operative communication with a power supply supportably interconnected to a handle portion. The instrument may have a toggle member with one or more selectable positions that may selectively activate any of one or more operational states of an electrosurgical electrode comprising the instrument. The toggle member may selectively activate the light emitter(s) provided on the instrument alone and/or in conjunction with the activation of one or more operational state. The handle portion may include an elastomeric handle portion that extends continuously along the handle portion and over the toggle member to seal the handle portion.

Electrosurgery is a well-known surgical approach employed to reduce tissue damage and blood loss during operating room and outpatient procedures. In electrosurgery, tissue of a patient adjacent to an electrode conductor is excited by a high frequency electric current passing from the electrode conductor to the tissue of the patient. Depending upon the characteristics of the electrical current and method employed by a user, different electrosurgical operations may be performed with the electrosurgical instrument. For instance, an electrosurgical instrument may be used to cut, coagulate (coag), desiccate, or fulgurate tissue.
As with many surgical instruments, electrosurgical instruments may require the user to accurately and precisely guide the electrosurgical instrument when performing an electrosurgical operation. In this regard, consistent pressure and stability are necessary to realize accuracy when using the electrosurgical instrument. As such, an electrosurgical instrument may be of a size such that the electrosurgical instrument may be readily gripped by the user to accurately and precisely maneuver the electrosurgical instrument. For example, many electrosurgical instruments are similar in size and shape to a writing instrument.
The high frequency electrical current used to perform various electrosurgical operations may be generated by electrosurgical equipment (e.g., an electrosurgical generator). In turn, a signal cable may extend between the electrosurgical instrument and the electrosurgical equipment to facilitate electrical communication therebetween.
In this regard, when electrosurgical instruments rest on a surface (e.g., an operating room table, the patient, etc.) the instruments may be free to roll about a longitudinal axis of the electrosurgical instrument, which may result in inadvertent activation of the electrosurgical instrument. This increases the potential for injury to the user and/or patient and may result in damage to the electrosurgical instrument.
The signal cable extending from the electrosurgical instrument to the electrosurgical equipment may have a certain amount of elastic memory. This may cause the electrosurgical instrument to roll when disposed on a support surface such that a side load on one or more of the actuators may activate the electrosurgical instrument. Furthermore, if an electrosurgical instrument is to roll off a support surface and fall, the electrosurgical instrument may be damaged as a result of the fall.
Electrosurgical instruments may also have independent actuators to activate one or more operational states. These independent actuators may require a user to reposition one or more fingers with respect to the electrosurgical instrument to control the different actuators. This may result in inconsistent pressure, create movement, and reduce the stability of the electrosurgical instrument, thus leading to reduced accuracy.
Additional devices maybe employed during an electrosurgical operation. For instance, operating room lighting may allow a user to have an improved view of the surgical field. In this regard, lighting arrays may be provided in operating rooms or outpatient clinics to assist in illuminating the surgical field. Additionally or alternatively, bulky fiber-optic cable can also be used to illuminate the surgical field by being placed in or near the surgical field. Additional light emitters, such as headlamps and the like, worn by medical personnel may also be employed. However, in all these instances the light emitter is generally provided some distance away from the electrosurgical instrument, and/or away from the surgical field. As such, the surgical instrument and light emitters are separated and shadows may be cast on the surgical field by the user, the electrosurgical instrument, or other obstructions (e.g., table drapes, other devices utilized during surgery, user's hand, etc.). In short, known light emitters may fail to provide a sufficient amount of unobstructed light at the surgical field of interest.


A system and a method for accessing a data store as objects from an object application. The accessed data store could be either an object data store or a non-object (e.g. relational) data store. The system includes an object schema including meta data corresponding to a data store schema and an adapter abstraction layer. The adapter abstraction layer comprises a first adapter, and a second adapter. One embodiment of the system includes an object schema manager to create and maintain the object schema at run time. It comprises a dynamic, scalable, centrally managed, and secure method for accessing data stored in both object and non-object (e.g. relational) data stores, effecting a consistent interface to the data store regardless of its underlying structure, or a method of transport and level of security.

Systems for accessing data stores from object oriented languages have been used for many years. A frequent approach to accomplish access of data stores involves writing and embedding custom access code within an object application needing the access. This approach is generally limited to having the custom code access only a single relational table within a relational database or similar construct within any other data store (hereinafter collectively "data store"). Under the circumstances where a developer has control over the design and creation of a data store from its inception, it is possible to design and store meaningful information in a single table. Such design opportunities are usually rare, however.
Generally, the design goals of a properly normalized relational data store for example conflict with those of object application models. In most situations, the respective structures simply do not conveniently allow for mapping of the application object into a single relational table. This results in application objects which logically span multiple relational tables, and which require multiple translation modules in order to do useful work. Such an approach is both costly and unwieldy in terms of computing and development resources.
In those circumstances where the object can conveniently map to a single relational table, the general design philosophy prevailing in the programming industry is to embed access code in the application code itself. Because the current techniques involve the creation of custom code for each table being accessed, it is costly and time consuming to create and maintain such access applications. It means that either custom objects for access must be created for each object (such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,212,787), or that the access code be embedded in the object itself, which is a common technique used in the industry. In either case, separate database specific code must be embedded in an application object. Such code specific embedding affects data store portability and code maintenance as well as significantly impacts distribution/bug-fix issues.
The recent growth in popularity and acceptance of object oriented programming languages has required a more object-oriented view of data stores. There are many different types and kinds of data stores. The need to consistently view the data stores with objects is universal. Current systems are inflexible, inconsistent and inadequate to meet this need.
The common modeling technique of the current systems is to map the underlying non-object data types directly as objects, as opposed to a more logical view of the data which may span many physical data stores or data store objects. Viewing non-object entities directly as objects makes migration from object stores to non-object stores and back again difficult and inefficient.
Further difficulties are created by mapping tools that attempt to map objects to non-object data stores. The common technique in such mapping is to `generate` an object view which is then embedded in the object application code. Unfortunately any minor modification to the underlying non-object data store can break application code, thus creating a `brittle client`. As used in this application, brittle client refers to a situation where a client application breaks under minor changes to the data store's physical layout (i.e. data store schema), which require no `logical` changes in the object application logic, but which requires embedded access code to change in order to successfully use the object application. Another common approach of the prior art is to use another intermediate, or an `object store`, also commonly referred to as a gateway (see e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 5,542.078), where mapping occurs. While this is a workable solution for some, many companies do not need nor want the extra management and complexity of yet another data store system. The facilities provided for data management, integrity, and record locking are often duplicated in both systems unnecessarily, providing overly redundant and complex systems. Most gateways also suffer in various degrees from lack of portability, security, and scaling, as they have to route their requests through their data store to get to other data stores.
Regardless of the logical solutions previously applied, the current systems do not properly address all of the aspects of creation, maintenance, security, and management properly. Because extensive time is required to master both an advanced data store system (such as a relational data store) and an advanced object oriented programming language, the costs associated with projects involving both systems are often viewed as expensive investments for the entities needing the development. Generally, object oriented application developers are not very intimate with advanced data store (i.e., relational) theory and performance tuning. Having a centrally managed and controlled relational access system is essential for organizations concerned with the efficiency and mechanisms for accessing data stores. There is no prior art system providing a much needed mechanism to completely separate the skills necessary to program with objects, from those necessary to create and maintain data store schemas and access code.
Accordingly, there is a need to dynamically build the code for accessing the data store at runtime, based on the object and its attributes, as opposed to embedding the access code within the object. There is also a need to reduce the maintenance costs of keeping both object and data access code up to date and in sync with one another in all of the application code, as well as allowing application data objects to readily work with any underlying data store regardless of any differences in their access methods and access code. There is also a need for such an approach in light of the explosive growth in the volume of new applications currently being developed for environments such as the Internet, which applications need to be dynamic and easy to manage. There is a need for a generic object oriented mechanism to bridge various underlying data stores consistently, especially in a transparent, generic, centrally manageable, and secure way. The present invention fills those needs.

System and method for accessing data stores as objects


In a filter cartridge for insertion in a housing for the removal of combustible substances from exhaust gases, with a regeneration of the charged filter material by combustion of the substances, the filter consists of a metallic fiber mat welded together so as to form a hollow cylinder which is disposed tightly on an electrically conductive lattice structure. The ends of the hollow filter cylinder are compressed and tightly held, by metal sleeves, in engagement with a cartridge head and a cartridge foot structure and they are welded together by an end face weld seam. Current is supplied to the filter cylinder by way of the cartridge head and foot structure for heating the filter cylinder directly so that the combustible substances collected on the inside of the filter cylinder are efficiently burnt.

The invention relates to a filter cartridge to be mounted in a housing for the removal of combustible substances from exhaust gases, wherein the charged filter materials are regenerated by combustion of the collected combustible substances. A filter disposed for example in the exhaust system of a Diesel engine which is charged with carbon and is itself electrically conductive is heated by an electric resistance heater to a temperature above the combustion temperature of the substances to be removed. The filter cartridge has a hollow cylindrical body of fiber material which body is closed at one end by an end plate and, at the other end, by an annular plate with an opening for the passage of gas. Electric energization is by way of the two end plates which are electrically conductive. At the end of the cartridge remote from the filter body of the filter cartridge, the current supply is arranged in the filter in the clean gas area and is electrically and thermally insulated from the housing.
The invention is concerned with the self-regeneration of soot filters in the exhaust gas system of Diesel engines. EP-OS 0 244 061 discloses a method of cleaning, that is, regenerating electrically conductive filter cartridges charged with combustible substances by combustion with the aid of electric ignition, wherein the electrically conductive filter material itself is directly resistance-heated above the combustion temperature of the substances to be removed. In this method, the filter cartridges are charged from the outside, which leads to heat losses during the combustion by radial heat radiation and consequently, to an unfavorable combustion process. The electric current is supplied, that is, the contacts for the initiation of the combustion process are disposed in this case on the outside of the filter cartridge in the area of the uncleaned exhaust gas. This results in an abnormally high corrosion of the contacts and, consequently, to a relatively short life of the filter.
Another filter cartridge is known from EP-A 0 454 346, wherein a ceramic filter element, which is to some degree electrically conductive is charged from the inside and is directly heated electrically. As a result of the low electric and thermal conductivity of the materials utilized the regeneration capability, however, is very limited. Consequently, only relatively small amounts of the substances deposited on the filter can be burnt.
Based on this state-of-the-art, it is the object of the present invention to provide a novel filter cartridge for the removal of combustible substances from exhaust gases with a regeneration of the charged filter cartridge by combustion with the aid of electric ignition, which is effective with optimal combustion particularly for the regeneration of soot filters in the exhaust system of Diesel engines. The cartridge should not have the disadvantages referred to above that is it should be reliable and require little energy for the electric ignition.

Filter cartridge for the removal of combustible substance from exhaust gases with regeneration


A prosthetic system for replacement of a portion of a hip bone including a plurality of acetabular components and a plurality of flange components. The prosthetic system also includes a plurality of pubis components. Each of the pubis components and each of the flange components are operable to connect to each of the acetabular components. Each of the pubis components define a clamping portion that is configured to attach to an opposed healthy pubis bone. An angle between the flange component and the pubis component varies among the acetabular components.

With reference to FIG. 1, a human pelvis is shown and generally indicated by reference numeral 10. The human pelvis 10 is comprised of a right and a left hemi-pelvis respectively indicated by reference numerals 12 and 14. The right and left hemi-pelvis 12 and 14 may also be referred to as a right and left hip bone 12 and 14, respectively. Mature hip bones 12 and 14 are each comprised of three principle bones fused together: An ilium 16, an ischium 18 and a pubis 20. The ilium 16 is the upper and the largest part of the pelvis and articulates on its inner aspect with a sacrum 22 at a sacroiliac joint 24. The ischium 18 is the more distal and posterior of the three principal bones of the pelvis 10 and may be commonly referred as a seat bone or a huckle bone. The pubis 20 is the more medial and anterior of the three principal bones of the pelvis 10 and may be commonly referred to as a share bone or a pubic bone.
The ilium 16, the ischium 18, and the pubis 20 are separated from each other by cartilage in young subjects (not shown) but are fused together as solid bone in a mature adult. The union of the ilium 16, the ischium 18, and the pubis 20 takes place, among other places, in and around a large cup-shaped articular cavity known as the acetabulum generally indicated by reference numeral 26. The acetabulum 26 is a hollow, cuplike portion of the hip bone 12 into which a head 28 of a femur 30 fits. The bone and muscle structure surrounding the head 28 of the femur 30 and the acetabulum 26 of the hip bone 12 allows for among other things the ability to walk. It will be appreciated that there are muscles and associated connective tissue that retain the head 28 of the femur 30 within the acetabulum 26 and also provide for flexing and motion of the femur 30 relative to the hip bone 12. It will also be appreciated that while reference is made to either the hip bone 12, the discussion hitherto and throughout is applicable to hip bone 14.
The sacrum 22 is a triangular-shaped bone lying between the fifth lumbar vertebra (partially shown) and the coccyx (partially shown), which can be commonly referred to as the tailbone. The sacrum 22 consists of five vertebrae fused together and it articulates on each side with the respective ilia 16 to form sacroiliac joints 24. The sacrum 22, as well of as the other bones of the pelvis 10, may become damaged due to injury, or various medical conditions such as cancer, osteoporosis or various medical trauma, and as such may have to be partially removed and/or replaced in whole.
With reference to FIG. 2, the various medical conditions as mentioned above may deprive a patient of the acetabulum 26 of the hip bone 12 thereby necessitating a prosthetic to be implanted in its place. It will be appreciated that damage to the hip bone 12 can range from loss of use of one of the acetabulums 26 all the way to complete loss of one or both of the hip bones 12 and 14. If presented with a complete loss of one of the hip bone 12, it will be appreciated that a prosthetic hip bone or hemi-pelvis must be constructed to not only connect to the head 28 of the femur 30 but also connect to the opposing pubis bone 20a and the sacrum 22. If the hip bone 12 is not a complete loss it will be appreciated that the hip bone replacement must connect to the remaining portions of the hip bone 12 to otherwise restore complete functionality to the pelvis 10.
Hip prosthetics require bone screws and/or bone fusing material to establish a suitable connection to the remaining and healthy portions of the hip bone. Hip prosthetics also require bolts or bone screws threaded through brackets to connect to the remaining healthy bone. The additional hardware adds cost and complexity. The brackets further require that a larger area of the remaining healthy bone be exposed.

Method and apparatus for constructing a modular acetabulum


A method for cutting by a traveling wire, wherein the wire traveling direction of the wire and/or the workpiece are/is inclined alternately in relation to one another into at least two different specific angular positions in the cutting direction, with the result that the effective cutting height (s) on the workpiece (2) becomes smaller than the entire workpiece height.

The present invention relates to a method for cutting by means of a traveling wire.
Wire electric discharge machines serve for the manufacture of blanking dies, punches, electrodes and extruding dies, but also for the manufacture of small to medium series and often in prototype construction.
Under optimal conditions, modern wire electric discharge machines (WEDM) attain cutting rates of 500 mm2/min in cold work steel. The cutting rate is dependent, inter alia, upon the workpiece height. Reference is made in this regard to the company publication "Experience" No. 23, Id. 027.158, of the company Agie SA, published in October 2003. A qualitative illustration of the cutting rate against the workpiece height will be gathered from the last page (back sheet) of this publication. This somewhat simplified graph starts with the workpiece height of 20 mm, but suggests that the cutting rate fall steeply with a low workpiece height. The illustration of the cutting rate shows a maximum at a workpiece height of approximately 50 mm. In the medium workpiece height range of about 30 to 100 mm, the cutting rate is very close to maximum. The cutting rate falls again with a greater workpiece height.
In WEDM, the dielectric is sprayed into the cutting gap at high pressure for the purpose of discharging the removed particles, specifically, selectively, via the lower wire guide head, the upper wire guide head or both. The width of the cutting gap corresponds to the wire diameter plus double the spark gap width plus wire oscillation, that is to say about 0.05 to 0.5 mm. The flushing liquid is routed directly into the cutting gap, although pressure loss is detectable in the case of a greater workpiece height. The higher the workpiece is, the more difficult the flushing conditions become.
In the case of very small workpiece heights, the conditions are exactly reversed. Gap flushing is highly effective. The contamination of the spark gap is comparatively low, although this is somewhat of a hindrance for a stable process.
The abovementioned characteristic is especially important in the case of low-conductive materials. A relatively good cutting rate can be achieved at small to medium workpiece heights. However, when the workpiece height is relatively large, advance is only very slow.