A notching apparatus to be used in a tube cutting machine comprising a notching arm having a notching blade holder at the end thereof, a clamping plate and a notching blade having an irregularly shaped peripheral edge comprising three recesses and a cutting edge on the inside of each recess. The notching blade holder has two pins extending outwardly thereof for insertion through two of the three recesses of the notching blade in order to hold the notching blade firmly in place. A plurality of fasteners secure the clamping plate to the notching blade holder with the notching blade resting in a cutout portion of the clamping plate and held securely against rotation by the two pins.

Historically, one of the difficulties encountered when severing tubing has been that the severing knife deforms the tube by inwardly deflecting the tube wall at the location of severance. In order to minimize or avoid this dimpling or deformation, tube severing machines have been designed which first notch the tube along a shallow groove in the exterior of the tube wall in a direction transverse to the tube axis just prior to the entry of a severing blade. The severing blade severs the tube wall completely with one powerful downward stroke, the severing blade first contacting the tube in the notched portion of the tube wall. By notching the tube wall before severing the tube wall in a guillotine-type cutting operation, there is less tendency for the tube to be dimpled or disfigured at the location of severance. The notch formed by a notching apparatus in the plane of severance reduces or eliminates the tendency of the tube wall to collapse upon entry of the severing blade. One advantage of this "double-cut operation" involving notching before severing is that no further operations are needed to restore the tube end to a round configuration such as would be necessary if the severance caused deformation of the tube end.
Several patents disclose machines which perform this "double cut operation". Such machines typically comprise a notching apparatus and a severing apparatus. The notching apparatus is often interconnected with an upper platen of a die set by way of a mechanical cam and cam follower such that the descent of the upper platen toward the lower platen causes the notching blade holder to travel in a direction transverse to the tube axis. Both thrust and pull across motions are known. An example of a mechanism which utilizes both the pull across and thrust motions for the notching apparatus us U.S. Pat. No. 4,646,601 which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Attached to the upper platen of such machines is a severing blade which is fixedly secured to the upper platen and moves vertically downwardly in a swift stroke to sever the tube in the vertical plane in which the tube has been notched. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,938,415; 4,109,555; 4,108,029; and 5,088,365 all disclose a tube severing apparatus which utilizes this double cut operation.
Various blade configurations have evolved, some of which include hook portions such as is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,993,298. Other notching blades such as the notching blade disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,796,498 have two cutting points that are staggered one below the other so that as the notching blade comes across the tube, the higher notching point notches a shallow first cut in the tube wall and immediately thereafter a second deeper cutting point notches a deeper cut in the inner tube wall. Other notching blades have multiple cutting surfaces or points so that the same blade may be slightly rotated to present a new cutting area when the first cutting area becomes dull and ineffective. U.S. Pat. No. 4,646,601 discloses such a notching blade which is triangular in configuration and may be rotated 120.degree. in order to present a new cutting surface used to notch the tube prior to severance. Utilizing blades which have multiple cutting edges enables a user to simply loosen the notching blade apparatus and rotate the notching blade so as to expose a new cutting surface or edge rather than replacing a notching blade once it is worn and needs to be replaced. Therefore, a blade with multiple cutting edges which simply may be rotated in order to expose a sharp cutting edge may be used for more repetitions than blades with simply one cutting edge and, thus, reduces the number of blades required for a predetermined number of repetitions. Because the notching blade does not have to be replaced as often, substantial time may be saved increasing the time the machine can be operational, thus increasing production. Substantial time and cost savings are the result.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,646,601 discloses a notching blade having multiple cutting surfaces which is held in place by one screw which passes through the blade and into a recess in a notching blade holder. As the notching operation is repeated over and over again, the notching blade may tend to move slightly, thus adversely effecting the integrity of the notch to be cut in the tube. A notching blade which is not securely held in a fixed position on a notching arm may result in inaccurate non-uniform notches across tubes and the stress caused by the mis-alignment of the notching blade with the notching blade holder may eventually cause the notching blade to shear or break.
Therefore, it has been one objective of the present invention to provide a notching blade holder which is capable of securely fastening an indexable notching blade in the notching blade holder.
It has been a further objective of the present invention to provide an indexable notching blade configured so as to be securely fastenable in a notching blade holder in order to increase the life span of the notching blade.
It has been a further objective of the present invention to provide a uniquely shaped notching blade which is specifically adapted to be mounted in a notching blade holder and secured against movement by a plurality of pins extending outwardly from the notching blade holder.

Notching apparatus and blade for tube severing machine


A chemical sensor couples a material that changes temperature in response to a chemical condition with an oscillator. The oscillator is coupled to the material to detect the change in temperature in the material so that the frequency of the oscillator changes in correspondence with the change in temperature as an indication of the chemical condition.

Microelectronic chemical sensors are desirable for a variety of Naval and commercial applications since they present a small-size, light-weight and low cost alternative to conventional chemical sensors. Chemical sensors are used in a variety of applications that include shipboard and ashore effluent control, littoral warfare, intelligence gathering and manning reduction, as well as a variety of bio-medical applications. Furthermore, if sensors can be made using microelectronics fabrication, they can potentially take advantage of monolithic integration of multiple sensors with associated discrimination, amplification and logic circuitry.


The present invention provides a plasma display device for displaying a high quality image, and its driving method, with which the production cost and power consumption may be reduced and write errors may be suppressed. In the driving method, the length of the erase period D2 is T0+160 μsec, based on the number of sustain pulses being greater than or equal to 25 and less than 50 in the discharge sustain period C2. The length is set by a T1 setting unit according to the information on the number of the sustain pulses sent from a preprocessor in a driving unit, and a T1 table stored in a T1 table storage unit. The T1 setting unit sets T1=160 μsec referring to an extension time period T1 corresponding to the number of sustain pulses that is greater than or equal to 25 and less than 50 in the T1 table.

In recent years, development for display panels such as cathode ray tubes, liquid crystal displays, and plasma display panels (hereinafter referred to as PDPs) has been aggressively pursued, as the demand for large-sized and high-definition display devices like hi-vision displays becomes increasingly larger.
Among various kinds of display panels, the PDPs are the most appropriate in order to make a thinner and larger display, and a 60-inch PDP has already been developed. AC surface discharge PDPs are the current main stream because this type is the most appropriate in order to make a thinner and larger display.
An AC PDP has such a structure that a front panel and a back panel face each other with barrier ribs therebetween, and a discharge gas mainly composed of a rare gas is enclosed in a discharge space between the two panels.
The front panel is such that scanning electrodes and sustaining electrodes are disposed in stripes on a main surface of a front substrate, and a dielectric layer made of lead-based glass and the like and a protecting layer made of MgO are layered in an order over the scanning and sustaining electrodes.
The back panel is such that data electrodes are disposed in stripes on a main surface of a back substrate, and a dielectric layer made of lead-based glass and the like is layered on the data electrodes. Further, plural lines of barrier ribs are disposed on the dielectric layer in parallel with the data electrodes, and phosphor layers, each being either red (R), green (G), or blue (B), are each disposed on walls of each gap enclosed by the dielectric layer and two adjacent barrier ribs.
In the AC PDP, each discharge cell corresponds to a part in the discharge space where the scanning and sustaining electrodes on the front panel and the data electrodes on the back panel cross with an overpass.
A plasma display device comprises the above described AC PDP and a driving circuit for driving the PDP.
In such a plasma display device, each discharge cell can only display two scales by either emitting light or not emitting light. Therefore, the AC plasma display device generally adopts an intra-field time division grayscale display method in order to display an image in grayscale. The intra-field time division grayscale display method is to display a grayscale image by dividing a field (16.6 msec) into plural subfields so as to divide light emission time into time slots. A field is a time unit for display.
Further, each subfield includes an initialization period, a write period, a discharge sustain period, and an erase period. An image is displayed by driving the PDP through each subfield including these periods.
However, the plasma display device having the above structure and adopting the above driving method is susceptible to charge errors where wall charge is not accumulated on surfaces of the phosphor layers or a surface of the protecting layer over the scanning electrodes, and instead, discharged out in the discharge space. This kind of charge errors in the write period leads to write errors and becomes one cause of deterioration of image qualities.
The above described write errors can be suppressed to an extent, by setting a write pulse voltage during the write period high. However, this is not a desirable solution because making the write pulse voltage high requires an IC having a high voltage resistance, or increases power consumption of an entire plasma display device.

Plasma display panel display and its driving method

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A constant velocity joint includes an outer joint member, an inner joint member, torque transmitting ball assemblies guided in pairs of tracks, and a cage having windows for receiving the ball assemblies and cage webs defined between the windows. Each ball assembly comprises a slide shaft having lugs at the ends, a roller shaft rotatably and slidably disposed on the slide shaft, and a first and second annular sub-rollers rotatably disposed on the roller shaft. Each of cage webs includes web grooves formed radially at the circumferential faces, engaging the lugs of the slide shaft, thereby allowing a limited radial movement of the ball assembly relative to the cage window, and transmitting any axial force to and from the ball assembly. The ball assemblies reduce the friction loss and wear of constant velocity joints by providing the sub-rollers that roll independently on the inner or outer tracks.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the ball type constant velocity joints. In particular, the invention relates to a ball assembly in the form of a sphere divided up into a plurality of rollers (rolling elements) and a common shaft that holds the rollers. The purpose of the invention is to reduce the friction loss and wear of the constant velocity joints.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Universal joints (Cardan joint or Hooke joint) have been used for transmitting a driving torque and spin motion from one propeller shaft to another at an arbitrary articulation (joint) angle between the two shafts. Universal joints comprise a cross-shaped spider as a torque-transmitting member, and two Y-shaped end yokes each at end of the shafts. Universal joints lack the constant-velocity characteristic, because the spider is not positioned on a homokinetic plane (bisecting angle plane or constant velocity plane) when the joint is at a non-zero articulation angle. As a result, universal joints suffer from a torsional vibration problem that aggravates as the articulation angle increases.
Constant velocity joints solve this problem by offering a virtually zero variation of the spin speed across the input and output shafts. Most of the constant velocity joints use a plurality of torque-transmitting balls that are solid steel spheres. The types of the constant velocity joints that use torque-transmitting balls are the Rzeppa joint [U.S. Pat. No. 2,046,584 filed July 1924 by A. H. Rzeppa], the undercut free joint [U.S. Pat. No. 3,879,960, filed July 1975 by H. Welschof et al], the cross groove joint [U.S. Pat. No. 2,322,570 filed June 1943 by A. Y. Dodge], and the double offset joint [U.S. Pat. No. 1,975,758 filed October 1934 by B. K. Stuber]. Any type of constant velocity joint comprises the inner race (inner joint part), outer race (outer joint part), ball cage (retainer) and the balls. The outer race usually forms a bell-shaped member that comprises a shaft, a base, an aperture and outer ball grooves (tracks) that are machined on its bore surface. The inner race forms a hub that comprises a shaft and inner ball grooves that are machined on its outer surface. The ball cage is positioned between the outer race and the inner race, and comprises circumferentially distributed cage windows (pockets) that hold the balls in the central plane of the ball cage. The inner and outer groove pairs form a special kinematic arrangement that steers (drives) the balls to the homokinetic plane.
But constant velocity joints suffer from five distinct disadvantages: 1) they lose some amount of power to sliding friction; 2) the frictional heat could produce high temperature; 3) this high temperature limits the permissible operating speeds and loads; 4) the friction decreases the durability and life of the joints; and 5) the friction, when coupled with a certain operating condition, could lead to a binding (friction lock) problem. See for example, "Universal Joint and Driveshaft Design Manual," The Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc. 400 Commonwealth Drive, Warrendale, Pa. 15096, ISBN 0-89883-007-9, 1979, pp. 100; and Philip J. Mazziotti, "Dynamic Characteristics of Truck Driveline Systems," The Eleventh L. Ray Buckendale Lecture, The Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc., SP 262, pp. 21.
From the viewpoint of kinematics, the balls of a constant velocity joint cannot have a true rolling condition, because the grooves are not concentric but generally intersect to each other. From the viewpoint of dynamics, each ball is steered (located) to the bisecting plane by the combined action of the inner groove, the outer groove and the cage window. This means that there are at least three contact points on a ball, when a constant velocity joint is spinning under the torque load: the ball to inner groove contact, the ball to outer groove contact, and the ball to cage window contact. Obviously, the ball cannot retain a true rolling condition at all three contact points at the same time. Therefore, some or all of the contact points on a ball cannot but undergo a sliding contact or friction.
Previous attempts by others to reduce the friction problem of constant velocity joints have employed special lubricant. These attempts, however, have not proven to completely solve the friction problem, because such measure can only reduce the friction coefficient value.

Multi-roller ball for constant velocity joints


Human serum albumin obtained by gene manipulation techniques can be purified by a combination of specified steps in which a culture supernatant obtained from a human serum albumin-producing host is subjected to ultrafiltration, heat treatment, acid treatment and another ultrafiltration, followed by subsequent treatments with a cation exchanger, a hydrophobic chromatography carrier and an anion exchanger, and by salting-out to thereby obtain a pure form of human serum albumin which contains substantially no proteinous and polysaccharide contaminants, which is formulated into a pharmaceutical preparation. The thus obtained human serum albumin can further be purified by treating recombinant human serum albumin with a hydrophobic chromatography carrier at pH of 2 to 5 and a salt concentration of 0.4 to 1 and exposing the carrier to a pH of 6 to 8 and a salt concentration of 0.01 to 0.3 M, or treating the culture supernatant with boric acid or a salt thereof at pH 8 to 11 for 1 to 10 hours and recovering the supernatant. This process makes it possible to effeciently purify recombinant human serum albumin and to provide substantially pure human serum albumin which does not contain producer host-related substances and other contaminants and is sufficiently free from coloration.

Albumin, especially human serum albumin (HSA), is an important protein of the circulatory system. The protein is produced in the liver and has a major role in maintaining normal osmotic pressure of body fluids, such as blood. It also serves as a carrier of various molecules.
HSA is administered under various clinical conditions. For example, in the case of shock or burn injury, it is necessary, in general, to administer HSA frequently to restore blood volume and to alleviate other injury-related symptoms. Patients suffering from hypoproteinemia and fetal erythroblastosis sometimes require HSA treatment.
In other words, a common indication for HSA administration is a loss of body fluids, such as during a surgical procedure, shock, burn injury or hypoproteinemia which causes edema.
Currently, HSA is produced mainly as a fractionated product of collected blood. Such a production process, however, has disadvantages in that it is not economical and the supply of blood is sporadic. In addition, collected blood sometimes contains undesirable substances, such as hepatitis virus. In consequence, it is profitable to develop a material which can be used as an HSA substitute.
Recent advances in recombinant DNA techniques have rendered possible microbial production of various types of useful polypeptides, and, as a result, a number of mammalian polypeptides already have been produced in various microorganisms. With regard to HSA, establishing techniques for the large scale production of HSA by recombinant methods and subsequent high grade purification also is in progress.
Techniques for the isolation and purification of HSA from plasma have been studied from various points of view and put into practical use. For example, the ethanol fractionation method of E. J. Cohn et al., PEG fractionation method, ammonium sulfate fractionation method and the like are well known methods. In addition to those methods, several purification processes recently have been developed, such as, for example, a process in which an anion exchanger treatment and a heat treatment at 60.degree. C. for 10 hours are employed in combination (JP-A-2-191226 corresponding to EP-A-367220) and a process in which an anion exchanger treatment, a cation exchanger treatment and a heat treatment at 60.degree. C. for 10 hours are employed in combination (JP-A-3-17123 corresponding to EP-A-428758). (The term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application".)
However, in the case of producing HSA by means of gene manipulation techniques, it is highly probable that an HSA preparation of interest will be contaminated by certain coloring components which are contained in the raw materials or secreted by a microorganism during culturing of the host microorganism or are introduced during purification of the resulting HSA, and that those contaminants bind to HSA to cause coloring of the HSA itself. What is more, such contaminants cannot be removed sufficiently by means of any prior art process for the purification of plasma-derived HSA.

Recombinant human serum albumin, process for producing the same and pharmaceutical preparation containing the same


Parasitic loads on a vehicular battery are evaluated based on an estimated reduction in the state of charge of the battery over the course of an engine-off state.

The electrical storage battery on a motorized vehicle has historically been a crucial component, the battery being used not only as a source of energy for cranking the vehicle's engine during a startup, but also as a ballast for storing electrical energy, in conjunction with the charging system and voltage regulation circuitry during vehicle operation. The electrical storage battery is sometimes referred to as the Starting-Lighting-Ignition ("SLI") battery. The on-board SLI battery has to have adequate state of charge for starting the vehicle's engine, in the variety of environmental conditions in which the vehicle is to be operated, including a wide range of temperature extremes.
In modern versions of motorized vehicles, the SLI battery serves the additional function of supplying electrical currents to various systems other than the vehicle's starter motor during start-up. Such systems may include vehicle security systems, which periodically "wake up", or are called to wake up by the vehicle's operator. Other such systems include keyless remote wireless access devices. In addition, electronic control systems ("ECS") for engine and accessory management during operation rely on an electrical system featuring an SLI battery. Thus, an SLI battery is desirously of high reliability to ensure proper and complete vehicle design functionality. Hence, failure of the SLI battery may manifest itself in several symptoms, including a vehicle no-start situation.
Battery "parasitic load" is the electrical load presented on a vehicle when the ignition key is in the off position, which load may be constant or intermittent. Excessive parasitic load can drain an SLI battery to a low state of charge ("SOC") which can prevent the vehicle from being started at a later point in time. Furthermore, a relatively low SOC can be harmful to SLI battery life, especially for batteries which are not designed to tolerate repeated deep charge cyclings. This may be most pronounced in modem vehicles as the number of on-board computer modules which need to wake up periodically during ignition-off situation are increased.
Conditions of excessive parasitic load may in some instances be difficult to detect, since parasitic loads occur during the ignition-off period, and equipment intended to measure parasitic load itself can cause some charge drainage. Excessive parasitic load can also be caused by intermittent unknown faults, including irregularities in module wake up, which can be triggered by specific conditions that may not be readily replicated at-will during an after-the-fact diagnostic attempt. Accordingly, the root cause of excessive parasitic load encountered by an operator in the field may be difficult to reproduce during a service procedure.

Telematics-based method and system of battery parasitic load validation for a vehicle fleet


A method, system and program product for classifying data elements into different levels of a business hierarchy. The method includes identifying data elements to be classified into one or more levels of a business hierarchy, selecting a first logic decision tree for evaluating the data elements identified for classification into the hierarchy and executing the first tree for recursively evaluating each data element identified until the first tree has been traversed. Further, the method includes dynamically creating configurable anchor point classifications for the data elements evaluated through the first tree and assigning a respective anchor point classification to each data element evaluated, such that, a respective anchor point classification assigned to a data element evaluated links the data element to a lowest level of the hierarchy, and where the anchor point classification conveys classification information as to each higher level of the hierarchy that the data element belongs to.

A foundational concept in Information Warehouses and reporting against such warehouses is the concept of reporting hierarchies. An example of a reporting hierarchy would be a geography hierarchy. For example, city belongs to a county, a county to a state, a state to a country, a country to a continent, a continent to a hemisphere. A portion of a business might use this particular hierarchy. However, a similar geography hierarchy could also include the fact that a country belongs to a sales region, a sales region belongs to a marketing area, and a marketing area belongs to a sales geography. These combinations are endless and can change based on the business function that is doing the reporting. There are other hierarchy types, like organizations or commodities (product types). There are certain common concepts to hierarchies and then there are unique differences in hierarchies. Aggregating data from many corporations in one information warehouse requires supporting many hierarchy types (commodity, geography, organization, etc), and requires supporting the unique hierarchy needs of any corporation for a given hierarchy. The hierarchies could have different numbers of levels based on the corporation and the hierarchy type, and each level could have a different label and a different meaning. As such, there is a need to provide new ways to facilitate hierarchical reporting or summarizing of data across a business or corporation.

System, method and program product for classifying data elements into different levels of a business hierarchy

International Business Machines Corporation


A robot cleaner capable of moving in diverse directions and enhancing cleaning efficiency by increasing frictional force between a pad and a floor includes two or more driving units. Each of the driving units includes plural motors, a first subframe connected to at least any one of the motors and configured to rotate by receiving rotational force from the motor, a rotating plate assembly mounted to the first subframe and configured to be slanted with respect to a floor by rotation of the first subframe and to rotate clockwise or counterclockwise by receiving rotational force from another motor, and a pad provided at the rotating plate assembly and configured to contact the floor. When the rotating plate assembly is slanted with respect to the floor, nonuniform frictional force is generated between the pad and the floor, through which the robot cleaner travels.

1. Field
One or more embodiments relate to a robot cleaner capable of moving in diverse directions and enhancing cleaning efficiency by increasing frictional force between a pad and a floor.
2. Description of the Related Art
A robot cleaner is an appliance utilizing an automatic travel function to clean a room or the like by vacuuming foreign materials, such as dust, from a floor of a room without user intervention. The robot cleaner detects a distance to an obstacle, such as furniture, office supplies, walls or the like, present in a zone to be cleaned using a distance sensor, and changes traveling directions by selectively driving a left-wheel motor and a right-wheel motor to perform cleaning of the zone to be cleaned.
Besides robot cleaners capable of vacuuming foreign materials, such as dust, from a floor, robot cleaners capable of wiping floors have been developed recently. A conventional robot cleaner includes pads provided at a bottom thereof and wipes a floor by traveling with the pads closely contacting the floor. The conventional robot cleaner travels using a moving unit which is provided separately from a cleaning unit.


Acidic treatment fluids used in industrial and/or subterranean operations, and more particularly, acidic treatment fluids comprising clarified xanthan gelling agents, and methods of use in industrial and/or subterranean operations, are provided. In one embodiment, the acidic treatment fluids comprise an aqueous base fluid, an acid, and a gelling agent comprising clarified xanthan.

The present invention relates to acidic treatment fluids used in industrial and/or subterranean operations, and more particularly, to acidic treatment fluids comprising clarified xanthan gelling agents, and methods of use in industrial and/or subterranean operations.
Acidizing and fracturing procedures using acidic treatment fluids are commonly carried out in subterranean well formations to accomplish a number of purposes including, but not limited to, to facilitate the recovery of desirable hydrocarbons from the formation. As used herein, the term "treatment fluid" refers to any fluid that may be used in a subterranean application in conjunction with a desired function and/or for a desired purpose. The term "treatment fluid" does not imply any particular action by the fluid or any component thereof.
One commonly used aqueous acidic treatment fluid comprises hydrochloric acid. Other commonly used acids for acidic treatment fluids include hydrofluoric acid, acetic acid, formic acid, citric acid, ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid ("EDTA"), glycolic acid, sulfamic acid, and derivatives or combinations thereof.
Acidic treatment fluids are used in various subterranean operations. For example, formation acidizing or "acidizing" is a method for, among other purposes, increasing the flow of desirable hydrocarbons from a subterranean formation. In a matrix acidizing procedure, an aqueous acidic treatment fluid is introduced into a subterranean formation via a well bore therein under pressure so that the acidic treatment fluid flows into the pore spaces of the formation and reacts with (e.g., dissolves) the acid-soluble materials therein. As a result, the pore spaces of that portion of the formation are enlarged, and the permeability of the formation may increase. The flow of hydrocarbons from the formation therefore may be increased because of the increase in formation conductivity caused, inter alia, by dissolution of the formation material. In fracture acidizing procedures, one or more fractures are produced in the formation(s) and an acidic treatment fluid is introduced into the fracture(s) to etch flow channels therein. Acidic treatment fluids also may be used to clean out well bores to facilitate the flow of desirable hydrocarbons. Other acidic treatment fluids may be used in diversion processes and well bore clean-out processes. A specific example is filter cake removal.
To increase the viscosity of an aqueous acidic treatment fluid, a suitable gelling agent may be included in the treatment fluid (often referred to as "gelling" the fluid). Gelling an aqueous acidic treatment fluid may be useful, among other purposes, to prevent the acid from becoming prematurely spent and inactive. Additionally, gelling an aqueous acidic treatment fluid may enable the development of wider fractures so that the gelled acidic treatment fluid may delay the interaction of the acid with an acid soluble component in the well bore or the formation. Moreover, gelling an aqueous acidic treatment fluid may permit better fluid loss control.
Acidic treatment fluids used in subterranean operations are predominantly water-based fluids that comprise gelling agents that may increase their viscosities. These gelling agents are usually biopolymers or synthetic polymers that, when hydrated and at a sufficient concentration, are capable of forming a more viscous fluid. Common gelling agents include polysaccharides (such as xanthan), synthetic polymers (such as polyacrylamide), and surfactant gel systems.
Acidic treatment fluids comprising xanthan generally have sufficient viscosity for lower temperature operations. At elevated temperatures (e.g., those above about 120° F. to about 150° F.), however, the viscosity of such xanthan treatment fluids sometimes is diminished. Consequently, xanthan may not be a suitable gelling agent for acidic treatment fluids when those fluids are used in subterranean formations that comprise elevated temperatures. Other gelling agents such as synthetic gelling agents (e.g., polyacrylamides) have been used in subterranean formations at these elevated temperatures, but often they are difficult to disperse and usually require considerable mixing or agitation to develop full viscosity. Additionally, most conventional gelling agents, including guar and some synthetic polymers, may form acid-insoluble residues. Surfactant gel systems also have been used in subterranean formations at these temperatures, but such systems can be expensive, can be sensitive to impurities, and may require hydrocarbon breakers.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Acidic treatment fluids comprising xanthan and associated methods


A siren unit including control means for controlling activation of a siren loudspeaker (8) at a selected frequency based on a frequency control signal, and input means for providing the frequency control signal to the control means. The input means further provides a volume control signal and a duration control signal. The siren loudspeaker (8) is activated in response to a trigger signal received by the input means which may be a plurality of predetermined data bits. The siren loudspeaker (8) can be activated on the basis of a data communications packet received and provided by the input means. The siren loudspeaker (8) is also activated when the data communications packet is not received.

The present invention relates to a siren or alarm unit, and in particular a siren or alarm unit which can be used with vehicle security systems.
Vehicle security systems may include sirens which are activated by the system when an alarm condition occurs, such as unauthorised or forced entry to a vehicle. The units which drive the siren are normally configured to generate a predetermined siren signal of a set volume and duration. The frequency of activation of the siren may also be set, and in some instances the frequency is varied during the period of activation in accordance with a set frequency or sound pattern.
Rigid setting of the frequency, volume and duration is disadvantageous as regional authorities have established different detailed specifications which place controls of the frequency, volume and duration for use of vehicle sirens. For example, an authority may specify maximum and minimum frequencies which can be used, or limits on the predominate frequency, for any vehicle siren signals generated. This means that different siren units have to be manufactured for each region, country or state depending on the authority's requirements. These requirements or regulations then need to be taken into account to ensure the correct siren unit is installed in a vehicle, and attention paid to the likely region, country or state in which the vehicle will be used. This still, of course, does not overcome the problem of a vehicle owner breaching a local authority's regulations when the vehicle's siren is activated in another region, country or state from that which it is normally driven in.


The invention relates to a transition element (5) formed of an elongated profile, having at its lower surface two first longitudinally-extending adhesive strips, each first strip being adhesive on its surface opposite to the profile, wherein each first strip is obtained by longitudinal folding of a sheet having a second strip glued against the profile.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to threshold bars and other floor and wall covering transition elements.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
Threshold bars are elements fixed to the floor of residential, office, or industrial premises, at the junction of two floors of different natures or of different levels. A threshold bar has both a functional and an aesthetic purpose. It protects adjacent floor edges and masks their irregularities while defining a clear and straight separation line.
Other transition elements are used between the limit of a floor and a wall, also for functional and/or aesthetic reasons. For example, with wood flooring, it is desirable to leave a gap between the limit of the floor and the wall, to avoid expansion problems. The transition edging hides the gap and protects the edge of the floor.
Transition elements are also used against walls, for example, in the form of baseboards or beading for separating wall coverings.
FIG. 1 is a perspective cross-section view of part of a known threshold bar 2, called a threshold bar with guide rail, in position on a floor 11 on which floor coverings of different heights, respectively 12 and 13, for example, a fitted carpet and a tile, are deposited. Threshold bar 2 has a slightly convex visible upper portion, that may itself be painted or totally or partially covered with a material to give it any desired appearance. The lower portion of bar 2 comprises protruding ribs 21 and 22 defining, together and with lower portion 23 of bar 2, a longitudinal guide rail 24. Head 31 of a nail 32 may be inserted into this guide rail. This nail is intended to be driven into a hole formed in floor 11 into which a bushing 33 may or may not have been previously introduced.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a nail 3 illustrating a nail head shape particularly well adapted to guide rail 24 of bar 2. Head 31 has the shape of a half-cylinder perpendicular to a shank 32 of the nail and flattened on the side opposite to this shank. Half-cylinder 31 forms a slider capable of being slid in guide rail 24. Such a slightly elongated shape of sliders 31 enables a rotation of the nail head and thus of shank 32 of nail 3 to be avoided in a plane comprising the longitudinal guide rail axis. Thus, the shanks cannot lean in the guide rail during the driving-in phase. In the example of FIG. 3, nail 3 is a plastic "nail plug" provided with anti-wrenching fins 33, intended to be directly driven into a hole made in the floor.
The system of FIGS. 1 and 2 has the advantage of being easy to fit. Indeed, it is sufficient to prepare aligned holes in the floor without it being necessary to have precise intervals between them. A number of nails 3 corresponding to the number of holes are placed in the guide rail, after which the nails are installed by sliding them to be aligned with the corresponding holes, and the bar is pressed down, driving in the nails. This driving-in may be simply performed by stepping on the bar.
In the example of FIGS. 1 and 2, lower guide rail portion 23 is preferably V-shaped with a bearing edge 25 (FIG. 1) substantially bearing on the center of the planar upper surface of head 31 of nail 3. Further, the space between the opposite lips of ribs 21 and 22 is greater than the diameter of shank 32 of nail 3. Thus, once the nail has been placed in position, and until it has been fully driven in, the threshold bar may rotate slightly around the nail heads, the rotation axis corresponding to bearing edge 25. This enables a positioning and fixing for different heights of the interval between floor coverings 12 and 13. As shown in FIG. 1, the internal walls of ribs 21 and 22 have, towards their extremities, a shape complementary to the curve of slider 31. The angle of the V defining bearing edge 25 is preferably selected so that, when the threshold bar is positioned in an extreme of inclination, there is a simultaneous bearing of the nail shank against one of the lips of ribs 21, 22 and of the upper half of the nail head against one of the sides of the V.
A threshold bar such as illustrated in FIG. 1 is described in European patent 0588734 of the applicant.
Other threshold bars with guide rails are known, which define, in their lower surface, a guide rail adapted for the head of a screw-nail or nail plug. For example, the nail heads may have any desired cylindrical shape, for example, with a circular cross-section. Similarly, in a simple embodiment, the nail shanks may be threaded.
A structure inverse to that of FIG. 1 may also be contemplated, in which the bottom 23 of the guide rail is substantially planar and wherein it is the head 31 of the nail that has a convex V shape, the edge of the V defining an axis of rotation.
Drilling into the floor or the wall on which the transition element is to be fixed is not always possible or desired. Adhesive transition elements are then used on the surface of the covering.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of part of another threshold bar, called a glued threshold bar. Threshold bar 4 is, like threshold bar 2 of FIG. 1, intended to mask the separation line between two floor coverings 13 and 12 (for example, of unequal height). The external aspect of threshold bar 4 is similar to that of threshold bar 2 and thus comprises a slightly convex visible upper portion, which may itself be painted or covered with a material to give it any desired appearance. Threshold bar 4 is fixed by gluing. To achieve this, two fillets 41 and 42 of glue are pre-positioned on the lower surface of bar 4 close to the longitudinal edges thereof. Before fitting, these fillets are generally protected by a peel-off paper strip which is removed by the user to apply the threshold bar.
A disadvantage of glue fillets is that they generate an extra thickness which adversely affects the appearance. Further, as time goes by and with the passing of people, glue fillets tend to flow, which generates a shift of the threshold bar or a cohesive failure of the adhesive.
Solutions comprising the application of a double-sided adhesive under a threshold bar for its fixing are also known. Such a solution is however only applicable to planar threshold bars. Indeed, such an adhesive strip does not adhere if it is placed under a threshold bar of variable height, for example, convex. Accordingly, it cannot be used for bars capable of adapting to floor coverings of variable or unequal height.
It would be desirable to be able to simply and reliably glue a convex threshold bar, possibly with a level adjustment.
Document GB-A-2425785 describes a profile system for joining together the edges of adjacent panels. This system comprises a rear component part supporting an intermediate connecting member and a front component part having an intermediate connecting member cooperating with that of the rear part. Two surfaces of the front part comprise adhesive strips.


A solution of an alcohol stable emulsion or microemulsion containing an organopolysiloxane is made by polymerizing a cyclic siloxane in an aqueous medium containing the cyclic siloxane, a nonionic surfactant, an ionic surfactant, and a catalyst, until an organopolysiloxane of desired molecular weight is obtained; adding a silicone polyether to the emulsion or microemulsion and mixing the silicone polyether and the emulsion or microemulsion to form a blend; and adding the blend of silicone polyether and emulsion or microemulsion to aqueous alcohol. It is beneficial to cool the blend to below 20.degree.-25.degree. C. before adding it to aqueous alcohol. It is also beneficial to mix the silicone polyether and the emulsion or microemulsion without application of mechanically induced shear.

This invention is directed to a method of making an emulsion or microemulsion that is stable in the presence of an alcohol.
Thus, when silicone copolyethers are added to silicone-in-water emulsions or microemulsions, stability in the presence of lower alkyl alcohols is the result. Such stability is useful in applications in arenas including personal care, household care, and automotive care, as well as in applications in the coating industry.
Silicone emulsions are not generally stable in the presence of an alcohol. In fact, alcohols such as methanol, ethanol, and isopropanol are used to separate emulsions into two phases in order to analyze their contents.
While European Application 459500 published Dec. 4, 1991, makes reference to the preparation of emulsions and microemulsions in the presence of an alcohol, the European Application fails to teach the combination of an alcohol with a silicone polyether. In fact, silicone polyethers are not even mentioned as being a component in the European Application.

Method of making alcohol stable emulsions ABD microemulsions


A system and a method for a supply-chain hardware integrity for electronics defense (SHIELD) dielet embedded over a component of a device, a radio frequency identification (RFID) probe system coupled to the SHIELD dielet, and a secure server system communicating with the RFID probe system that can enable security services is provided. Embodiments include a multi-function SHIELD software defined, hardware enabled security system that provides hardware identity, anti-tamper, encryption key generation and management, trusted platform module services, and cryptographic software security services for a device.

Currently radio frequency identification (RFID) chips are typically affixed to or embedded in products or goods that are portable, and RFID probes are available to communicate with the RFID chips. However, none of currently available RFID probes is designed to be permanently installed on a host system and connected to a network to continuously communicate with an RFID chip, and none of the RFID probes is designed to use the RFID chip to provide security services for host systems such as electronic devices. The system and method of the disclosed invention advances the state-of-art of the prior art which is a supply chain hardware integrity for electronics defense (SHIELD) dielet which is designed to provide hardware identity services for anti-counterfeiting and asset tracking. The design concept of the SHIELD dielet is to perform authentication communicating with a central database of a secure server system, which contains a unique, immutable shared-secret cipher key provisioned to the dielet at the time of manufacture. By utilizing cryptographic primitives of the SHIELD dielet, the system and method of the disclosed invention improves on the prior art by providing services such as: assured software distribution for integrity and resilience services, high-assurance quantum-resistant symmetric encryption key exchange and management service for data confidentiality, high-assurance over-the-network device identity and authentication services, host system anti-tamper integrity services, trusted platform module (TPM) security services, and other software-defined capabilities developed now or in the future.
For software updating and patch distribution services, currently software distribution channels are conditional on the integrity of vendors' distribution models, but the vast number of vendors and shortage of trained engineers to secure them leaves a huge and highly vulnerable attack surface. Many threat actors have successfully evaded the outdated security controls in place today in the software supply chain. Examples include the STUXNET worm which evaded detection by using forged Microsoft code signing certificates which exploited the vulnerability of the MD5 hashing algorithm used to create the certificates, which had already been deprecated by NIST but which was still in use on the Microsoft Certificate Authority servers, demonstrating that even the most advanced and trusted software vendors are vulnerable to attack by sophisticated threat actors. Another example is the Xcode Ghost exploit where the Apple iOS app development environment was modified to implant malware in apps compiled by unwitting developers and submitted to the App Store, again utilizing forged signing certificates to evade detection. Currently there is no universal standard or method for assurance of software update distribution services that customers can rely on other than untrustworthy tools, methods and distribution channels used by software vendors.
Blockchain is an emerging technology that could improve the integrity of software distribution, industry experts such as Gartner say that "Blockchain provides greater levels of security . . . and offers unquestionable provenance of anything conveyed over the network." However, there are no solutions in use at the current time that utilize it for software distribution.
For encryption key exchange services, Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) are cryptographic protocols that provide communications security over a computer network using asymmetric public/private key pairs provided by a Public Key Infrastructure (PM). Both SSL and TLS suffer from various key management vulnerabilities described in RFC 5246: "The system is only as strong as the weakest key exchange and authentication algorithm supported, and only trustworthy cryptographic functions should be used. Short public keys and anonymous servers should be used with great caution. Implementations and users must be careful when deciding which certificates and certificate authorities are acceptable; a dishonest certificate authority can do tremendous damage." Also, with the imminent availability of quantum computing, asymmetric key encryption is at risk due to the ability of quantum computers to quickly discover the private key for any entity's public key, which threatens to make asymmetric cryptography and the entire PM infrastructure untrustworthy.
Currently there is an inability by system owners/operators to securely manage encryption keys to provide confidentiality of data transmitted over untrusted networks. Most current solutions depend on software solutions such as public key infrastructure (PM), which is nearing the end of its useful life with the impending availability of quantum computing which can rapidly factor the large prime number key-pairs that asymmetric-key cryptography depends on. High-assurance symmetric key encryption solutions designed to protect government sensitive or classified data are available such as the FORTEZZA card system, but they are expensive to procure, install and maintain, and because they depend on maintaining the secrecy of the shared keys they are labor intensive for securely handling the keying material. Newer hardware crypto key systems approved by NSA exist such as the MV product line, but they are also expensive and labor intensive to operate and maintain.
For network device authentication, most but not all modern mobile devices have a universal device identification (UDID), compliant with standards such as the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) that can uniquely fingerprint the device and provide remote device authentication. However, non-mobile network authentication solutions are limited by the absence of a UDID in most general purpose computing devices. In 1999 Intel began embedding a unique processor serial number (PU) into their new class of Pentium III CPU chips during the manufacturing process, but due to an outcry from consumers and governments over privacy issues Intel eventually removed it. Consequently, there is no reliable hardware-enforced method to uniquely identify the majority of network connected computing devices being manufactured or used today.
Hardware and software integrity services are vulnerable to tampering by threat actors, and for all but the most expensive hardware based anti-tamper protections, threat actors with physical access to computing devices can steal or exploit technologies that protect critical technology (CT) and critical program information (CPI) in a number of ways such as removing and replacing non-volatile storage media like hard drives with ones containing compromised software, installing network interface cards (NIC) that have implants designed to eavesdrop on network traffic, and implanting malware in the system BIOS and peripheral component firmware that cannot be detected by commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) anti-virus software.
Certain Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chips and firmware manufactured by vendors including ST Microelectronics and Intel have been found to have side-channel timing attack flaws that allow threat actors to defeat the cryptographic protections provided by these vulnerable TPMs. These hardware flaws likely cannot be mitigated entirely by merely installing software patches, but require replacement of the flawed hardware in order to fully mitigate these vulnerabilities.
What is needed is a hardware-enforced technology that can produce unclonable unique and immutable cryptographic keys to deliver mathematically verifiable identity and authentication of a device over the network. What is needed is a hardware-enforced technology that can produce unclonable unique cryptographic keys that can be used to calculate unique cryptographic hashes of software received over the network that mathematically bind it to the hardware's unique identity to prove receipt by adding it to a public blockchain ledger. What is needed is a hardware-enforced technology that can produce unclonable cryptographic shared-secret key-generation keys that can be used to calculate symmetric encryption keys and exchange them securely to provide quantum-immune encryption of network communications. What is needed is a hardware-enforced technology that can produce unclonable unique cryptographic keys that can be used to calculate unique cryptographic hashes to fingerprint software, firmware, hardware and other elements of a computing device to provide detection and protection from being tampered with, stolen or replaced. What is needed is a hardware-enforced technology that can provide high-assurance security services equivalent to those provided by Trusted Platform Modules (TPMs), but is not subject to the hardware vulnerabilities of legacy solutions and can be used to replace flawed TPMs.

System and method for providing security services with multi-function supply chain hardware integrity for electronics defense (SHIELD)


Direct arrivals from walkaway vertical seismic profiling or VSP survey data are used to derive Green's functions representing the seismic wave amplitude and travel time information required to extrapolate the vertical seismic profiling survey data from individual wellbore receivers to the individual source locations. The derived Green's functions are employed in a convolution process with upcoming primary wavefields from the VSP survey data for other surface locations. The derived Green's functions are also used in a correlation process with downgoing wavefields from the VSP survey data to extend lateral coverage of the VSP image. The sets of VSP-CMP gathers so formed are then processed to obtain information about the subsurface formations.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to vertical seismic profiling (also known as VSP) data processing for analysis of subsurface formation structure, and in particular to computerized processing to generate vertical seismic profiling-common image gathers (also known as VSP-CMP) by wavefield extrapolation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Vertical seismic profiling has been used for detailed reservoir characterization. Vertical seismic profiling is based on seismic measurements from seismic sensors or geophones located in wellbores in response to seismic energy transmitted by sources from planned locations located on the surface. In vertical seismic profiling, the sensors in the wellbore are placed more closely than is the practice when surface seismic surveys are performed, with sensors at the earth's surface. Due to the closer sensor spacing in vertical seismic profiling, greater resolution detail is made available in the seismic data in order to analyze and characterize the reservoir.
However, so far as is known, the pre-stack elastic inversion and time-domain imaging methodologies available for vertical seismic profiling survey data have not been as fully developed as those available for surface seismic survey data. Consequently, the full extent of information present in vertical seismic profiling data has not been made available for analysis and evaluation of subsurface structure and formations.

Vertical seismic profiling-common midpoint gathers (VSP-CMP) by wavefield extrapolation


The present invention provides a method for forming an interconnect on a semiconductor substrate 100. The method includes forming an opening 230 over an inner surface of the opening 130, the depositing forming a reentrant profile near a top portion of the opening 130. A portion of barrier 230 is etched, which removes at least a portion of the barrier 230 to reduce the reentrant profile. The etching also removes at least a portion of the barrier 230 layer at the bottom of the opening 130.

Integrated circuits (ICs) are fabricated on wafers of a semiconductor material such as silicon. As many integrated circuit devices as possible are placed on the wafer to maximize the number of devices fabricated per wafer and reduce the cost per finished device.
The IC device contains semiconductor devices, such as transistors, capacitors and resistors, formed on the silicon substrate. The electrical connections used to hook up the semiconductor devices to form a working device are known in the art as "interconnects". Interconnects consist of metal lines formed in the plane of the substrate, and vias formed in the direction normal to the plane of the substrate. Several interconnect levels may be used in the IC, with highly integrated microprocessors using eight or more levels.
A special case of the via level is that level connecting the first metal level to the semiconductor devices. These vias are known as "contacts," and are formed by a process that is different than the vias between metal levels. Contacts are typically formed from tungsten, with certain layers lining the contact to getter contaminants, act as a barrier, and to form an ohmic contact to the semiconductor devices.
High quality contacts are essential to high device yield and reliability, but fabrication of these high quality contacts poses several technical challenges. For example, the contacts are designed to have a high ratio of the height to the diameter, known as the aspect ratio. High aspect ratio is a consequence of several constraints in the design of the IC. For example, it is desirable to achieve a high packing density of the contacts to enable high circuit density. This constrains the diameter of the contacts to be as small as possible. In addition, the dielectric separating the semiconductor devices from the first metal level must be thick enough to protect transistors from mobile metal ions. Moreover, the deepest contact is as deep as the sum of the thickness of the dielectric over the transistor and the height of the transistor gate over the semiconductor substrate. These constraints lead to contacts with aspect ratios large enough to present manufacturing challenges.
One such challenge is removing contaminants from the bottom of the contact hole before depositing one or more barrier layers into the hole. Contamination has the effect of increasing the contact resistance, Rc, of the contact and reducing device reliability. In conventional practice, the contamination is partially removed prior to deposition of one or more films by performing a presputter etch (PSE). The PSE is typically an argon plasma formed under conditions that favor the sputtering and ejection of material from the bottom of the contact hole. To some extent, however, the PSE also knocks dielectric material off the sidewall of the contact hole, which redeposits onto the bottom of the hole. Thus, there is a competition between removal of contamination from the bottom of the hole and redeposition of sidewall material. Proper design of the PSE process will minimize the net contamination at the bottom of the hole, but generally some contamination will remain, raising the contact resistance above the level that would otherwise be obtainable.
Another critical challenge is the ability to deposit continuous films into the contact hole. In conventional practice, a liner is deposited, followed by a barrier. The liner serves to getter contaminants and to promote adhesion of a barrier deposited over the liner. The liner films may be deposited using a physical deposition process such as Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) or Ionized Metal Plasma (IMP) deposition. Such processes preferentially deposit onto the top surface of the dielectric, and to a lesser extent at the bottom of the contact hole. However, the deposited film thins out particularly on the sidewalls of the contact hole. Moreover, the thickness of the liner material deposited at the bottom of the contact hole decreases as the aspect ratio increases, leading to a risk of reduced effectiveness in the gettering of contaminants at the bottom of the contact hole.
Similar issues are confronted in obtaining continuous barrier coverage of the contact sidewalls. For some choices of liner material, a continuous barrier is critical to producing high quality devices with high yield. An example is the use of Ti as the liner, which will react with the tungsten precursor, typically WF6, during contact formation if gaps in the barrier exist. This reaction results in yield-limiting defects and poor reliability.
Yet another critical manufacturing challenge is forming the contact plug without seams and voids. Contact seams can lead to increased contact resistance and decreased reliability. A tungsten CVD process is typically used to form the plug, and under appropriate conditions, seams and voids can form in the plug. These seams and voids will typically form when the contact hole has a reentrant profile, i.e., when the contact hole diameter increases with increasing depth of the hole, over at least a portion of the hole. Even if the contact sidewalls are not reentrant after the hole is formed, deposition of the liner can result in a shoulder of material at the top of the hole which results in the undesirable profile. The resolution of these manufacturing issues is critical to producing ICs with high yield to keep the manufacturing cost as low as possible.
Accordingly, what is needed is a method of forming contact liner and barrier layers which addresses the challenges outlined above.

Contact resistance reduction by new barrier stack process


A mobile phone connected to a tracking system detects the presence of a nearby tracking device. If the tracking device is detected for more than a threshold amount of time, the tracking system can instruct the mobile phone to generate a user notification prompting a user to claim ownership of the tracking device. After the user claims ownership of the tracking device, the mobile device provides the ownership claim to the tracking system which can associate the tracking device with that user's account in the tracking system, enabling the user to access features of the tracking device and tracking system reserved for owners of that tracking device.

This disclosure relates generally to tracking devices, and more specifically, to claiming ownership of tracking devices.
Electronic tracking devices track the location of people and/or objects. For example, a user can use GPS technology to track a device remotely and determine a location of a user of the device. In another example, a user can attach a tracking device to an important object, such as keys or a wallet, and use the features of the tracking device to more quickly locate the object, (e.g., if it becomes lost).
A tracking device can have multiple owners in its lifetime. For instance, a first owner of a tracking device may physically transfer the tracking device to a second owner. Accordingly, there is a need for to enable the second owner to claim ownership of the tracking device with a central tracking system associated with the tracking device.
The figures depict various embodiments of the present invention for purposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following discussion that alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles of the invention described herein.


Techniques for using open frame (E0) exposures for lithographic tool track/cluster monitoring are provided. In one aspect, a method for monitoring a lithographic process includes: performing open frame exposures E0 of at least one wafer coated with a photoresist using a photolithography tool; baking and developing the at least one wafer; performing a defect inspection of the at least one wafer to generate a haze map; grouping haze data from the haze map; and analyzing the haze data to identify a maximum E0 response dose E′.

In a photolithographic tool, a track system provides modules for performing the material-based steps of a photolithographic process such as coating a photoresist on a wafer, baking the photoresist, developing the photoresist, etc. The track system is typically linked to an exposure tool such as a scanner. The track system and linked scanner are oftentimes collectively referred to as a 'photolithography tool cluster' or simply 'cluster.'
In order to ensure the consistency and quality of the output from the tool, it is important to be able to monitor the track/cluster environment and track components. However, monitoring certain components of the track can be difficult and time consuming. For example, monitoring a hot plate can require hours of tool time and wiring of a calibration wafer through the tool. On tools with high levels of work-in-process (WIP) and lower throughput (such as extreme ultraviolet (EUV)), this downtime can cause a large interruption to the fab process for the monitoring time.
Thus, techniques for track/cluster monitoring with no added downtime or inspection equipment costs and minimal process dependency would be desirable.

Using E0 exposures for track/cluster monitoring


The present invention relates to novel thiourea derivatives as a modulator for vanilloid receptor (VR) and the pharmaceutical compositions containing the same. As diseases associated with the activity of vanilloid receptor, pain acute pain, chronic pain, neuropathic pain, post-operative pain, migraine, arthralgia, neuropathies, nerve injury, diabetic neuropathy, neurodegeneration, neurotic skin disorder, stroke, urinary bladder hypersensitiveness, irritable bowel syndrome, a respiratory disorder such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, irritation of skin, eye or mucous membrane, fervescence, stomach-duodenal ulcer, inflammatory bowel disease and inflammatory diseases can be enumerated. The present invention provides a pharmaceutical composition for prevention or treatment of these diseases.

As diseases associated with the activity of vanilloid receptor, pain, acute pain, chronic pain, neuropathic pain, post-operative pain, migraine, arthralgia, neuropathies, nerve injury, diabetic neuropathy, neurodegeneration, neurotic skin disorder, stroke, urinary bladder hypersensitiveness, irritable bowel syndrome, a respiratory disorder such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, irritation of skin, eye or mucous membrane, fervescence, stomach-duodenal ulcer, inflammatory bowel disease and inflammatory diseases can be enumerated. The present invention provides pharmaceutical compositions for prevention or treatment of these diseases. Yet, the diseases described above are only for enumeration, not to limit the scope of clinical application of vanilloid receptor modulator.
Capsaicin (8-methyl-N-vanillyl-6-nonenamide) is a main pungent component in hot peppers. Hot peppers have been used, for a long time, not only as a spice but also as traditional medicine in the treatment of gastric disorders and when applied locally, for the relief of pain and inflammation (Szallasi and Blumberg, 1999, Pharm, Rev. 51, pp 159-211). Capsaicin has a wide spectrum of biological actions, and not only exhibits effects on the cardiovascular and respiratory systems but also induces pain and irritancy on local application. Capsaicin, however, after such induction of pain, induces desensitization, both to capsaicin itself and also to other noxious stimuli to make the pain stopped. Based on this property, capsaicin and its analogues such as olvanil, nuvanil, DA-5018, SDZ-249482, resiniferatoxin are either used as analgesic agent, therapeutic agent for incontinentia urinae or skin disorder, or under development (Wriggleworth and Walpole, 1998, Drugs of the Future 23, pp 531-538).
Transmissions of mechanical, thermal and chemical noxious stimuli are mainly occurred by primary afferent nerve fibers of fine unmyelinated nerve (C-fiber) and thin myelinated nerve (A-fiber), and main reaction site of capsaicin and its analog called vanilloid is present at the nerve fiber transmitting the noxious stimuli. Capsaicin acts at the receptor existing on these neurons to induce potent stimuli by causing potent inflow of mono-and di-valent cations such as calcium and sodium, then exhibits potent analgesic effect by blocking the nervous function (Wood et al., 1988, J. Neurosci, 8, pp 3208-3220). Vanilloid receptor (VR-1) has been recently cloned and its existence becomes clear(Caterina et al., 1997, Nature 389, pp 816-824). It was clarified that this receptor transmits not only stimuli by capsaicin anlogues(vanilloid) but also various noxious stimuli such as proton and thermal stimuli (Tominaga et al., 1998, Neuron 21, pp 531-543). Based on this, it is considered that vanilloid receptor functions as a integrative modulator against various noxious stimuli and carries out critical role in transmissions of pain and noxious stimuli. Recently, knock-out mouse in which gene encoding for vanilloid receptor was deleted was prepared (Caterina et al., 2000, Science 288, pp 306-313; Davis et al., 2000, Nature 405, pp 183-187). Compared to normal mice, the mouse was found out to exhibit much reduced reaction to thermal stimuli and thermal pain, while exhibiting no difference in general behavior, reconfirming the importance of the receptor in transmission of noxious signal. However, except proton, no other endogenous ligand, not exogenous ligand such as capsaicin, actually involved in transmission of noxious stimuli at vanilloid receptor was known. It is considered that leucotriene metabolite represented by 12-hydroperoxyeicosatetraenoic acid (12-HPETE) (Hwang et al., 2000, PNAS 11, pp 6155-6160) and arachidonic acid derivatives such as anandamide (Zygmunt et al., 2000, Trends Pharmocol. Sci. 21, pp 43-44) act as the most likely endogenous ligand for the receptor and proton acts as a cofactor with receptor-stimulating activity, rather than as a direct ligand.
As such, a capsaicin-sensitive sensory nerve cell and a vanilloid receptor existing in the cell are distributed over the entire body and play basic function in transmission of noxious stimuli and pain, further act as crucial factor in expression of neurogenic inflammation, thereby to have close relation with the cause of neuropathies, nerve injury, stroke, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, urinary bladder hypersensitiveness, irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, fervescence, skin disorder and inflammatory disease. Lately, their correlation even with neuropathic disease is suggested (WO 99/00125). Recently, attention has focused to the role of afferent sensory nerve responding to capsaicin in gastrointestinal injury, and it was proposed that the afferent nerve might have a dual character that it exhibits protective action against gastric damage by improving gastric microcirculation through releasing peripheral neuropeptide such as CGRP (calcitonin gene-related peptide), while inducing gastric injury by stimulating sympathetic nervous system (Ren et al., 2000, Dig. Dis. Sci. 45, pp 830-836). It is determined that vanilloid receptor modulator has very high potential to be used for prevention or treatment of the said various diseases by modulating the activity of the vanilloid receptor conducting such varied functions.
As described above, there has been widely studied for clinical application of vanilloid receptor agonist, and it is understood that there is a possibility that the agonist derived from the present studies will be developed for clinical application. Though it may be, theoretically, anticipated that antagonist for this receptor would exhibit substantial degree of inhibitory action against pain and neurogenic inflammation, it was found out that the competitive antagonist for this receptor, capsazepine, almost the only one known until now, failed to exhibit significant analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects (Perkins and Campbell, 1992, Br. J. Pharmacol. 107, pp 329-333). Therefore, not much progress was made on this field. However, recently, there has been a report on significant results for analgesic action of capsazepine in animal studies (Kwak et al., 1998, Neurosci. 86, pp 619-626; Santos and calixto, 1997, Neurosci. Lett. 235, pp 73-76), in particular, the inventors of the present invention clearly demonstrated through animal studies the analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects of the strong vanilloid receptor antagonists which were identified through experiments in our laboratory, and based on this, strongly suggest the development potential of vanilloid receptor antagonist as an analgesic, anti-inflammatory and anti-ulcerous agent. Yet, though the vanilloid receptor antagonist or agonist derived from the present studies will mainly act based on the antagonistic or agonistic activity of itself, even a possibility that it could exhibit the pharmacological activity through transformation into agonist or antagonist via metabolism after absorption into body is not to be excluded.
The present invention is to provide novel compounds which are acted as a modulator for vanilloid receptor and exhibit excellent analgesic, anti-inflammatory and anti-ulcer effects, and pharmaceutical compositions containing the same.

Thiourea derivatives and the pharmaceutical compositions containing the same


A material comprising a matrix or a buttress is impregnated with an adhesive initiator and is used with a surgical stapling device and an adhesive. The tissue and material are stapled together, and a knife in the surgical stapling device cuts the tissue and the material. The adhesive is applied across the cut and sets up or polymerizes to seals the cut when the adhesive contacts the adhesive initiator. The surgical stapling device can place the staples in a linear, arcuate, or circular array, and can anastomose luminal tissue. The methods of use can include stapling luminal tissue end to end, stapling two portions of material onto ether side of tissue, and stapling two portions of tissue onto a portion of material. Additionally, a portion of adhesive filed material can be stapled onto one side of portion of tissue and the adhesive initiator impregnated material can be stapled onto the other. Cutting the material and tissue provides a path for the adhesive across the cut, and catalyzes the adhesive from contact with the adhesive initiator.

Adhesives and sealants have been contemplated to supplement or replace staple based transaction devices for many years. The primary challenges in accomplishing this are control of getting the adhesive into the correct location at the correct time as well as preventing it from adhering the stapler itself to the treatment site. Adhesives have proven themselves as great short term bonding/sealing mechanisms. Staples on the other have proven themselves a very good long term tissue apposition mechanisms. Therefore the best of both worlds would be to use staples to fasten and adhesives in combination with adhesive initiators to seal the juncture of tissue or tissue cuts.
The primary challenge in the creation of a hybrid adhesive/staple deploying system is the positioning of the adhesive into only the areas of desired adhesion and controlling where the adhesive bonds to the area.
Closure Medical is conducting an FDA clinical trial using a cyanoacrylate adhesive as an internal vascular tissue sealant and internal surgical adhesive. Some adhesives such as the cyanoacrylates, stick well to tissue, but like metallic fasteners, the fastener itself can become a local barrier to tissue regrowth through the fastener. For internal body use of surgical adhesives, the adhesive is used sparingly, not on top of the wound as in external use, but actually in the cut areas of the wound. By minimizing the glue areas across the wound, the surgeon is assured of maximum areas of tissue regrowth and minimal areas of the adhesive barrier. As the tissue regrows together and heals, the adhesive areas within the wound are encapsulated with healed tissue. Thus, internal adhesives are ideal for short term needs to hold cut tissue together so that healing can occur, and can remain as a long term fastener to provide additional strength to the healed tissue. Additionally, the adhesives can be biocompatible, bioabsorbable, and/or flexible, inside the body.
Tissue fastening can be either short term or long term duration. Short term duration fasteners can include a bandage, tape, removable staples, removable suture, adhesives, or absorbable stitches that are meant to provide temporary support until natural healing can occur.
Longer duration fasteners must remain in or on the body, possibly for the life of the patient. Longer duration fasteners include biocompatible implantables such as suture, staples, clips, tacks, clamps, pins, and the like. These long duration fasteners could be inserted subcutaneously in a surgical procedure and, after the patient has healed, cannot be removed without additional surgery. Longer term fasteners can provide short term and long term reinforcement for high force loads that can be 200-400% of normal forces. These high force loads could be caused by violent vomiting, coughing, and, in some cases, chronic overeating. For chronic overeaters that have undergone bariatric surgery to create a small stomach pouch, it is highly likely that a patient will "overload" the new pouch by attempting to eat the same large portions of food imbibed before the surgery.
Adhesives have been used topically as a short term fastener for wound repair. Closure Medical has developed a 2-octyl cyanoacrylate compound with a long carbon chain (eight carbons) that is biocompatible, has good bonding strength, and has received FDA approval for topical use. For short duration topical wound closure, the edges of the wound are brought together and at least one layer of the adhesive is applied along the surface of the wound line to form a barrier that holds the wound edges together. The cyanoacrylate adhesive also acts as a microbial barrier, keeping bacteria out and is eventually removed. Cyanoacrylate adhesives are described in United States Application 20040190975 by Goodman et al. which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Closure Medical is conducting an FDA clinical trial using a cyanoacrylate adhesive as an internal vascular tissue sealant and internal surgical adhesive. Some adhesives such as the cyanoacrylates, stick well to tissue, but like metallic fasteners, the fastener itself can become a local barrier to tissue regrowth through the fastener. For internal body use of surgical adhesives, the adhesive is used sparingly, not on top of the wound as in external use, but actually in the cut areas of the wound. By minimizing the glue areas across the wound, the surgeon is assured of maximum areas of tissue regrowth and minimal areas of the adhesive barrier. As the tissue regrows together and heals, the adhesive areas within the wound are encapsulated with healed tissue. Thus, internal adhesives are ideal for short term needs to hold cut tissue together so that healing can occur, and can remain as a long term fastener to provide additional strength to the healed tissue. Additionally, the adhesives can be biocompatible, bioabsorbable, and/or flexible, inside the body.
Adhesives used to hold buttress materials to linear and circular surgical devices are known, such as that taught in U.S. Pat. No. 6,592,597 to Grant et al. entitled "Foam Buttress For Stapling Apparatus" as well as U.S. 2005/0228446 by D. Mooradian et al. entitled "Circular Stapler Buttress Combination", both of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
Consequently, a significant need exists for a surgical device that can staple and cut tissue, can simply and easily place an adhesive initiator at desired sites to attract and set an adhesive about a junction or cut line in the tissue, can prevent unwanted adhesive migration away from the desired adhesion areas, and can ensure a seal across the cut line or tissue junction.

Surgical fastening device with initiator impregnation of a matrix or buttress to improve adhesive application


This invention relates to an expandable motor home. The motor home of this invention has a lower body portion having a first floor, a front wall, a back wall and a pair of opposite side walls. The motor home also has an upper body portion having a movable upper segment and a lower segment that is connected to the lower body portion. The lower segment has a front wall, a back wall and a pair of opposite side walls. The upper segment has a front wall, a back wall, a pair of opposite side walls, and a roof. The upper segment is movable relative to the lower segment such that the upper segment has a raised and lowered position relative to the lower body portion. The motor home may have extendable rooms in the upper segment and lower segment defining separate living areas.

The interior space of a motor home is limited by size restrictions on vehicles which use public roads. In the past to provide more interior room expandable sides were used to widen the motor home when it was parked. During travel down public roads the sides are retracted to meet size limits for use on public roads. The interior space of a motor home could be nearly doubled if a second story could be affixed to the top of commonly available motor homes. A fixed second story is not a viable option for traveling due to size restrictions and limited vehicle height available due to bridges.


A brake lever reach adjustment includes a bracket, a brake lever and a reach adjusting assembly. The bracket to be mounted to a handlebar has a cavity therein. The brake lever is pivotally connected to the bracket, and defines two opposite wings. The reach adjusting assembly is disposed in the cavity of the bracket. The reach adjusting assembly has a lead screw and a movable block mounted about the lead screw. Specifically, the movable block selectively supports one of the two wings or is positioned between the two wings to adjust a position of the brake lever relative to the handlebar.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bicycle brake lever, and more particularly, to a brake lever reach adjustment.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally, a bicycle brake lever is usually mounted on a bicycle handlebar for controlling a brake device. Typically, the distance between the brake lever and the handlebar, known as the reach, is fixed and is set to accommodate an average-sized hand. Accordingly, a fixed-reach lever may be positioned too far from the handlebar for a rider with smaller hands to comfortably reach.
A conventional reach-adjustable lever assembly is mounted to a handlebar for actuating one of a gear-change and braking device. The lever assembly includes a lever with a finger grip pivotally connected to a housing and a reach adjust mechanism. The reach adjust mechanism includes a cam and a cam actuator. The cam actuator is rotatably supported by one of the housing and the lever. The cam is threaded into the cam actuator and is configured to engage the other of the housing and the lever. The cam is movable upon rotation of the cam actuator to press the lever to position the finger grip relative to the handlebar.
The conventional reach-adjustable lever assembly is operated by means of bolt which is disposed on a back of the housing. However, the bolt of the conventional reach-adjustable lever assembly is exposed out of the housing, which causes the housing lack of aesthetic. Even though the bolt could be covered under a rubber hood to prevent the housing from being moisturized by rain or sweat, the rubber hood needs to be unwrapped once the bolt needs to be operated.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the disadvantages of the conventional reach adjustment of brake lever.


A method for creating a laminate floor, wherein a digital image is acquired and segmented into a plurality of sections, such that each section is sized to fit on a laminate flooring plank and contains a distinct portion of the digital image. A digital layout is created using all of the sections and the digital layout is printed. The printed digital layout is secured to a sheet of base material and the sheet of base material is divided into a plurality of flooring planks. The flooring planks are then assembled in a predetermined order and alignment to reproduce the digital image on the laminate floor.

Laminate flooring is an extremely durable and resilient flooring. It is typically manufactured in rectangular or square planks that contain a tongue and groove system on the edges of each plank. Multiple planks are then assembled and secured together, such as by gluing or snapping the tongue and groove joints, to cover a flooring area.
Laminate flooring is typically used because it is more durable, wear and stain resistant, and low maintenance than many other types of flooring such as hardwood floors, vinyl flooring, ceramic tiles, etc. For example, laminate flooring does not scratch, dent, wear, absorb liquids, or require refinishing or waxing like typical hardwood floors. In addition, laminate flooring does not scratch, dent, tear, wear, or require waxing like vinyl flooring. Finally, laminate flooring does not scratch, crack, require grouting, or require constant care like ceramic tile flooring. Best of all, typical laminate flooring can be designed to mimic the look of any other type of flooring while retaining its durability, wear and stain resistance, and low maintenance characteristics.
The most common use of laminate flooring is to recreate the look of hardwood flooring. To do this, photographs are taken of various pieces of wood (to reproduce the color and grain pattern of the particular wood). The photographs are then digitized, formatted, and enhanced to create digital images of wood grain that can be used on flooring planks. The digital images are not typically of contiguous portions of the wood grain but are random samples of the wood grain. This is done to more accurately mimic a real hardwood floor where the grain of each plank will not be contiguous with the grain of the piece next to it but will have its own unique grain pattern. The digital images are then printed on a substrate, typically paper, that can be used in the laminate flooring manufacturing process.
Typical laminate flooring planks are made from a base material, such as medium or high density fiber board, with a design surface, such as the printed image described above, on top of the base material, and a protective surface on top of the design surface. The three pieces are then laminated together to form the flooring planks. In addition to these three elements, some flooring may also include a backing surface underneath the base material to provide extra rigidity and warp protection and an impact layer between the base material and the design surface to provide shock absorption and dent protection.
To simplify the manufacturing of laminate flooring planks, manufacturers typically start with a large sheet of the base material, such as a 12′×4′ sheet of high density fiber board, rather than having the base material already machined into planks. Multiple images are then arranged into one large layout that will cover the entire sheet. Because the sheet will later be machined into individual planks, spaces are left in between each image where the sheet will be cut or machined so that portions of each image are not lost. The sheet of base material, the design surface, the protective surface, and any other layers that may be used, are then laminated together. Once the layers have been laminated, the sheet of flooring is cut into the individual planks and tongues/grooves are machined into the sides of the planks.
Although attempting to mimic hardwood flooring, unlike real hardwood flooring, laminate flooring does not use unique grain patterns for each and every plank. To do so would be inefficient, expensive, and extremely time consuming. Instead, flooring manufacturers will typically make a predetermined number of grain pattern images only. The idea then is to assemble the planks as randomly as possible (not placing identical grain patterns next to each other) to make the laminate floor look like a real hardwood floor.
Therefore, typical laminate flooring is only made where a predetermined number of identical planks can be reproduced and installed to replicate a random pattern. Because of this, individuals have a limited selection of flooring styles to choose from and are not able to customize or personalize their floors. Therefore, it would be advantageous to have laminate flooring that allows customization and not just random patterns. More particularly, it would be advantageous to have laminate flooring that when assembled would produce a custom image.


A flexible pipe with improved thermal protection in which a fluid is liable to flow under pressure and comprising at least one tightness sheath or tube of polymeric material, at least one reinforcement therein further comprises as thermal protection, a sheath of composite material comprising cork granules and a flexible metal tube which is disposed outside said sheath of composite material. Application notably to flexible pipes for oil installations.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a flexible pipe with improved thermal protection and, more particularly, to flexible pipes in which a fluid flows under high pressure, such as e.g. those used in shore-based and offshore installations for exploration and production of hydrocarbon deposits.
2. Description of the Prior Art
When such flexible pipes are installed in high fire risk areas, such as drilling platforms, or when they are connected to production, linking, control and/or safety means of parts of oil installations, deterioration due to sudden and/or sustained increase in ambient temperature can lead to very serious accidents for both staff and the other parts of the installation in the vicinity of the deteriorated flexible pipes.
Firstly, it should be noted that the diameters of flexible pipes concerned by this invention can vary between approximately 2.5 and 30 cm, and that the pressure circulating inside the flexible pipes can reach 1,000 bars and more.
Under these conditions, any leakage whatsoever of these flexible pipes, especially due to local outbreak of fire, can understandably entail severe consequences. It is for this reason that efforts have always been made to preserve the the event of a fire, in order to enable the rate of flow of the fluid to be maintained without leakage at working pressure until flow stoppage operations have been carried out, or for as long as it takes to bring the fire under control.
Though there are no specific standards in existence, it is recommended to proceed in such a way that the flexible pipes resist for 30 minutes when subjected to an ambient temperature of 700.degree. C.
The flexible pipes used in the above-mentioned applications, which are not in any way restrictive, generally comprise at least one tight sheath and at least one armour layer. The flexible pipes in question typically include at least one layer of reinforcement comprising metal wires, where the cross-section of the wires may take any shape. Flexible pipes often comprise two sheaths, an external sheath surrounding the reinforcement windings, and the other sheath being inside said armour layer, depending on the specific utilizations of said flexible pipes. Certain flexible pipes also comprise a third, intermediate, sheath disposed between two armour layers.
Furthermore, the flexible pipes in question are commonly fitted with an outer protection consisting of a metal strip wound into a low-pitch helix; the strip is e.g. comprised of an interlocking profiled strip. However, it is important to note that this strip was not at all for thermal protection purposes but was simply intended to protect the flexible pipe against surrounding mechanical attacks such as friction and/or crushing. Under these conditions, when the flexible pipe is subjected to the heat from a fire, the plastic sheath(s) have been observed to begin to melt. It is the external sheath that melts first, and then, due to heat conduction phenomena between the elements constituting the flexible pipe, since the heat conductivity of the metal wire windings is very high, it is the internal sheath which gradually softens. When it softens, the internal sheath, which is designed to act as a tightness barrier, is penetrated by extrusion, under the effects of the internal pressure of the fluid, through gaps in the reinforcement, to finally create a leak and enable the fluid to gush out of the pipe.
In the case of thermoplastic materials usually used to manufacture external and internal sheaths, the melting point is between 130.degree. C. and 200.degree. C. Admittedly, the metal strip delays the destruction and/or softening of the sheaths, but cannot prevent this occurring when the temperature is high.
In UK patent application No. 2,180,032, there is described a steel pipe fitted with a thermally insulating layer composed of a relatively thick layer of a mixture of cork and rubber granules. The steel pipe is intended for immersion in sea water and the purpose of the thermal layer is to reduce thermal dissipation towards peripheral layers of the fluid flowing in the steel pipe, in order to obtain, at exit of the steel pipe, a fluid at a suitable temperature.
This invention aims to improve the protection of flexible pipes in or near an area with a prevailingly high temperature liable to modify the mechanical and/or physical properties of at least certain component elements of said flexible pipes.

Flexible conduit with improved thermal protection comprising cork