The present invention includes a high performance communications cable for transmission media that includes core support-separators which define clearance channels to maintain spacing between transmission media or transmission media pairs. The core support-separator can be either interior to a cable jacket or be employed singularly without the benefit of a jacket and extends along the longitudinal length of the communications cable. The core support-separator has a central region that may include flap-tops along the radial edge that are available for partial or complete sealing of the clearance channels during manufacturing operations. The central region may also include a hollow center portion and include various geometric shapes to provide proper spacing between conductors. Each of the defined clearance channels allow for disposal therein of metal conductors and/or optical fibers.

Many communication systems utilize high performance cables normally having four pairs or more that typically consist of two twisted pairs transmitting data and two receiving data as well as the possibility of four or more pairs multiplexing in both directions. A twisted pair is a pair of conductors twisted about each oilier. A transmitting twisted pair and a receiving twisted pair often form a subgroup in a cable having four twisted pairs. High-speed data communications media in current usage includes pairs of wire twisted together to form a balanced transmission line. Optical fiber cables may include such twisted pairs or replace them altogether with optical transmission media (fiber optics).
When twisted pairs are closely placed, such as in a communications cable, electrical energy may be transferred from one pair of a cable to another. Energy transferred between conductor pairs is undesirable and referred to as crosstalk. The Telecommunications Industry Association and Electronics Industry Association have defined standards for crosstalk, including TIA/EIA-568A. The International Electrotechnical Commission has also defined standards for data communication cable crosstalk, including ISO/IEC 11801. One high-performance standard for 100 MHz cable is ISO/IEC 11801, Category 5. Additionally, more stringent standards are being implemented for higher frequency cables including Category 6 and Category 7, which includes frequencies of 200 and 600 MHz, respectively. Industry standards cable specifications and known commercially available products are listed in Table 1.
TABLE 1INDUSTRY STANDARD CABLE SPECIFICATIONSANIXTERANIXTERTIA CAT 6XP6XP7ALL DATA ATDRAFT 10R3.00XPR3.00XP100 MHzTIA CAT 5e11/15/0111/0011/00MAX TEST 100 MHz 250 MHz 250 MHz 350 MHzFREQUENCYATTENTUATION22.0 db19.8 db21.7 db19.7 dbPOWER SUM32.3 db42.3 db34.3 db44.3 dbNEXTACR13.3 db24.5 dbPOWER SUM10.3 db22.5 db12.6 db23.6 dbACRPOWER SUM20.8 db24.8 db23.8 db25.8 dbELFEXTRETURN LOSS20.1 db20.1 db21.5 db22.5 db
TABLE 2CLASSES OF REACTION TO FIRE PERFORMANCEFOR POWER, CONTROL AND COMMUNICATIONCABLES(*)ClassTest method(s)Classification criteria(1)Additional classificationACEN ISO 1716PCS ≦ 2.0 MJ.kg−1(2)BCEN 50266-2-x(3)FS ≦ 2.0 m; andSmoke production(5) and Flaming AndTHR1200s ≦ 30 MJ; anddroplets/particles(7);Peak RHR ≦ 60 kW; andAcidity/Corrosivity(8)FIGRA ≦ 150 W.s−1EN 50265-2-1H ≦ 425 mmCCEN 50266-2-y(4)FS ≦ 2.0 m; andSmoke production(6) and Flaming AndTHR600s ≦ 15 MJ; anddroplets/particles(7);Peak RHR ≦ 60 kW; andAcidity/Corrosivity(8)FIGRA ≦ 150 W.s−1EN 50265-2-1H ≦ 425 mmDCEN 50266-2-y(4)FS ≦ 2.5 m; andSmoke production(6) and Flaming AndTHR600s ≦ 35 MJ; anddroplets/particles(7);Peak RHR ≦ 200 kW; andAcidity/Corrosivity(8)FIGRA ≦ 250 W.s−1EN 50265-2-1H ≦ 425 mmECEN 50265-2-1H ≦ 425 mmFlaming droplets/particles(7);Acidity/Corrosivity(8)FCNo performance determined(1)Symbols used: PCS—gross calorific potential; FS—flame spread; THR—total heat release, RHR—rate of heat release; FIGRA—fire growth rate; TSP—total smoke production; SPR—smoke production rate; H—flame spread.(2)Mineral insulated cables without a polymeric sheath, as defined in HD 50 386, are deemed to satisfy the Class AC requirement without the need for testing.(3)EN 50266-2-4 modified on the basis of FIPEC scenario 2 and to include heat release and smoke measurements.(4)EN 50266-2-4 modified to include heat release and smoke measurements.(5)EN 50266-2-x: s1 = TSP ≦ 100 m2 and Peak SPR ≦ 0.25 m2/s; s2 = TSP ≦ 200 m2 and Peak SPR ≦ 0.5 m2/s; s3 = not s1 or s2.(6)EN 50266-2-y: s1 = TSP ≦ 50 m2 and Peak SPR ≦ 0.25 m2/s; s2 = TSP ≦ 100 m2 and Peak SPR ≦ 0.5 m2/s; s3 = not s1 or s2.(7)EN 50265-2-1 (mod.): d0 = No flaming droplets/particles; d1 = No flaming droplets/particles persisting longer than x s; d2 = not d0 or d1.(8)EN 50267-2-3: a1 = conductivity < 2.5 μS/mm and pH > 4.3; a2 = conductivity < 10 μS/mm and pH > 4.3; a3 = not a1 or a2. No declaration = No Performance Determined.(*)This Classification table applies to power, control and communication cables designed for use in buildings and other civil engineering works, with a voltage rating up to 1000 V for alternating current and 1500 V for direct current. It does not cover control and power circuits covered under the Machinery Directive 98/37/EC or lifts Directive 95/16/EC
In conventional cable, each twisted pair of conductors for a cable has a specified distance between twists along the longitudinal direction. That distance is referred to as the pair lay. When adjacent twisted pairs have the same pair lay and/or twist direction, they tend to lie within a cable more closely spaced than when they have different pair lays and/or twist direction. Such close spacing increases the amount of undesirable cross-talk that occurs. Therefore, in many conventional cables, each twisted pair within the cable has a unique pair lay in order to increase the spacing between pairs and thereby to reduce the cross-talk between twisted pairs of a cable. Twist direction may also be varied. Along with varying pair lays and twist directions, individual solid metal or woven metal air shields can be used to electro-magnetically isolate pairs from each other or isolate the pairs from the cable jacket.
Shielded cable, although exhibiting better cross-talk isolation, is more difficult, time consuming and costly to manufacture, install, and terminate. Individually shielded pairs must generally be terminated using special tools, devices and techniques adapted for the job, also increasing cost and difficulty.
One popular cable type meeting the above specifications is Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) cable. Because it does not include shielded pairs, UTP is preferred by installers and others associated with wiring building premises, as it is easily installed and terminated. However, UTP fails to achieve superior cross-talk isolation such as required by the evolving higher frequency standards for data and other state of the art transmission cable systems, even when varying pair lays are used.
Some cables have used supports in connection with twisted pairs. These cables, however, suggest using a standard "X", or "+" shaped support, hereinafter both referred to as the "X" support. Protrusions may extend from the standard "X" support. The protrusions of these prior inventions have exhibited substantially parallel sides.
The document, U.S. Pat. No. 3,819,443, hereby incorporated by reference, describes a shielding member comprising laminated strips of metal and plastics material that are cut, bent, and assembled together to define radial branches on said member. It also describes a cable including a set of conductors arranged in pairs, said shielding member and an insulative outer sheath around the set of conductors. In this cable the shielding member with the radial branches compartmentalizes the interior of the cable. The various pairs of the cable are therefore separated from each other, but each is only partially shielded, which is not so effective as shielding around each pair and is not always satisfactory.
The solution to the problem of twisted pairs lying too closely together within a cable is embodied in three U.S. Pat. No. 6,150,612 to Prestolite, U.S. Pat. No. 5,952,615 to Filotex, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,969,295 to CommScope incorporated by reference herein, as well as an earlier similar design of a cable manufactured by Belden Wire & Cable Company as product number 1711A. The prongs or splines in the Belden cable provide superior crush resistance to the protrusions of the standard "X" support. The superior crush resistance better preserves the geometry of the pairs relatives to each other and of the pairs relative to the other parts of the cables such as the shield. In addition, the prongs or splines in this invention preferably have a pointed or slightly rounded apex top which easily accommodates an overall shield. These cables include four or more twisted pair media radially disposed about a "+"-shaped core. Each twisted pair nests between two fins of the "+"-shaped core, being separated from adjacent twisted pairs by the core. This helps reduce and stabilize crosstalk between the twisted pair media. U.S. Pat. No. 5,789,711 to Belden describes a "star" separator that accomplishes much of what has been described above and is also herein incorporated by reference.
However, these core types can add substantial cost to the cable, as well as excess material mass which forms a potential fire hazard, as explained below, while achieving a crosstalk reduction of typically 3 dB or more. This crosstalk value is based on a cable comprised of a fluorinated ethylene-propylene (FEP) conductors with PVC jackets as well as cables constructed of FEP jackets with FEP insulated conductors. Cables where no separation between pairs exist will exhibit smaller cross-talk values. When pairs are allowed to shift based on "free space" within the confines of the cable jacket, the fact that the pairs may "float" within a free space can reduce overall attenuation values due to the ability to use a larger conductor to maintain 100 ohm impedance. The trade-off with allowing the pairs to float is that the pair of conductors tend to separate slightly and randomly. This undesirable separation contributes to increased structural return loss (SRL) and more variation in impedance. One method to overcome this undesirable trait is to twist the conductor pairs with a very tight lay. This method has been proven impractical because such tight lays are expensive and greatly limits the cable manufacturer's throughput and overall production yield. An improvement included by the present invention to structural return loss and improved attenuation is to provide grooves within channels for conductor pairs such that the pairs are fixedly adhered to the walls of these grooves or at least forced within a confined space to prevent floating simply by geometric configuration. This configuration is both described herewithin and referenced in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/939,375, filed Aug. 25, 2001. A "rifling" or "ladder-like" separator design also contributes to improved attenuation, power sum NEXT (near end cross talk), power sum ACR (attenuation cross-talk ratio) and ELFEXT (equal level far end cross-talk) by providing for better control of spacing of the pairs, adding more air-space, and allowing for "pair-twinning" at different lengths. Additional benefits include reduction of the overall material mass required for conventional spacers, which contributes to flame and smoke reduction.
In building designs, many precautions are taken to resist the spread of flame and the generation of and spread of smoke throughout a building in case of an outbreak of fire. Clearly, the cable is designed to protect against loss of life and also minimize the costs of a fire due to the destruction of electrical and other equipment. Therefore, wires and cables for building installations are required to comply with the various flammability requirements of the National Electrical Code (NEC) in the U.S. as well as International Electrotechnical Commission (EIC) and/or the Canadian Electrical Code (CEC).
Cables intended for installation in the air handling spaces (i.e. plenums, ducts, etc.) of buildings are specifically required by NEC/CEC/IEC to pass the flame test specified by Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL), UL-910, or its Canadian Standards Association (CSA) equivalent, the FT6. The UL-910 and the FT6 represent the top of the fire rating hierarchy established by the NEC and CEC respectively. Also important are the UL 1666 Riser test and the IEC 60332-3C and D flammability criteria. Cables possessing these ratings, generically known as "plenum" or "plenum rated" or "riser" or "riser rated", may be substituted for cables having a lower rating (i.e. CMR, CM, CMX, FT4, FTI or their equivalents), while lower rated cables may not be used where plenum or riser rated cables are required.
Cables conforming to NEC/CEC/IEC requirements are characterized as possessing superior resistance to ignitability, greater resistant to contribute to flame spread and generate lower levels of smoke during fires than cables having lower fire ratings. Often these properties can be anticipated by the use of measuring a Limiting Oxygen Index (LOI) for specific materials used to construct the cable. Conventional designs of data grade telecommunication cable for installations in plenum chambers have a low smoke generating jacket material, e.g. of a specially filled PVC formulation or a fluoropolymer material, surrounding a core of twisted conductor pairs, each conductor individually insulated with a fluorinated insulation layer. Cable produced as described above satisfies recognized plenum test requirements such as the "peak smoke" and "average smoke" requirements of the Underwriters Laboratories, Inc., UL910 Steiner tunnel test and/or Canadian Standards Association CSA-FT6 (Plenum Flame Test) while also achieving desired electrical performance in accordance with EIA/TIA-568A for high frequency signal transmission.
While the above described conventional cable, including the Belden 1711A cable design, due in part to their use of fluorinated polymers, meets all of the above design criteria, the use of fluorinated polymers is extremely expensive and may account for up to 60% of the cost of a cable designed for plenum usage. A solid core of these communications cables contributes a large volume of fuel to a potential cable fire. Forming the core of a fire resistant material, such as with FEP (fluorinated ethylene-propylene), is very costly due to the volume of material used in the core, but it should help reduce flame spread over the 20 minute test period. Reducing the mass of material by redesigning the core and separators within the core is another method of reducing fuel and thereby reducing smoke generation and flame spread. For the commercial market in Europe, low smoke fire retardant polyolefin materials have been developed that will pass the EN (European Norm) 502666-Z-X Class B relative to flame spread, total heat release, related heat release, and fire growth rate. Prior to this inventive development, standard cable constructions requiring the use of the aforementioned expensive fluorinated polymers, such as FEP, would be needed to pass this rigorous test. Using low smoke fire retardant polyolefins for specially designed separators used in cables that meet the more stringent electrical requirements for Categories 6 and 7 and also pass the new norm for flammability and smoke generation is a further subject of this invention.
Solid flame retardant/smoke suppressed polyolefins may also be used in connection with fluorinated polymers. Commercially available solid flame retardant/smoke suppressed polyolefin compounds all possess dielectric properties inferior to that of FEP and similar fluorinated polymers. In addition, they also exhibit inferior resistance to burning and generally produce more smoke than FEP under burning conditions. A combination of the two different polymer types can reduce costs while minimally sacrificing physio-chemical properties. An additional method that has been used to improve both electrical and flammability properties includes the irradiation of certain polymers that lend themselves to crosslinking. Certain polyolefins are currently in development that have proven capable of replacing fluoropolymers for passing these same stringent smoke and flammability tests for cable separators, also known as "cross-webs". Additional advantages with the polyolefins are reduction in cost and toxicity effects as measured during and after combustion.
A high performance communications data cable utilizing twisted pair technology must meet exacting specification with regard to data speed, electrical,as well as flammability and smoke characteristics. The electrical characteristics include specifically the ability to control impedance, near-end cross-talk (NEXT), ACR (attenuation cross-talk ratio) and shield transfer impedance. A method used for twisted pair data cables that has been tried to meet the electrical characteristics, such as controlled NEXT, is by utilizing individually shielded twisted pairs (ISTP). These shields insulate each pair from NEXT. Data cables have also used very complex lay techniques to cancel E and B (electric and magnetic fields) to control NEXT. In addition, previously manufactured data cables have been designed to meet ACR requirements by utilizing very low dielectric constant insulation materials. Use of the above techniques to control electrical characteristics have inherent problems that have lead to various cable methods and designs to overcome these problems.
Recently, the development of "high-end" electrical properties for Category 6 and 7 cables has increased the need to determine and include power sum NEXT (near end crosstalk) and power sum ELFEXT (equal level far end crosstalk) considerations along with attenuation, impedance, and ACR values. These developments have necessitated the development of more highly evolved separators that can provide offsetting of the electrical conductor pairs so that the lessor performing electrical pairs can be further separated from other pairs within the overall cable construction.
Recent and proposed cable standards are increasing cable maximum frequencies from 100–200 MHz to 250–700 Mhz. The maximum upper frequency of a cable is that frequency at which the ACR (attenuation/cross-talk ratio) is essentially equal to 1. Since attenuation increases with frequency and cross-talk decreases with frequency, the cable designer must be innovative in designing a cable with sufficiently high cross-talk. This is especially true since many conventional design concepts, fillers, and spacers may not provide sufficient cross-talk at the higher frequencies.
Current separator designs must also meet the UL 910 flame and smoke criteria using both fluorinated and non-fluorinated jackets as well as fluorinated and non-fluorinated insulation materials for the conductors of these cable constructions. In Europe, the trend continues to be use of halogen free insulation for all components, which also must meet stringent flammability regulations.
Individual shielding is costly and complex to process. Individual shielding is highly susceptible to geometric instability during processing and use. In addition, the ground plane of individual shields, 360° in ISTP's—individually shielded twisted pairs is also an expensive process. Lay techniques and the associated multi-shaped anvils of the present invention to achieve such lay geometries are also complex, costly and susceptible to instability during processing and use. Another problem with many data cables is their susceptibility to deformation during manufacture and use. Deformation of the cable geometry, such as the shield, also potentially severely reduces the electrical and optical consistency.
Optical fiber cables exhibits a separate set of needs that include weight reduction (of the overall cable), optical functionality without change in optical properties and mechanical integrity to prevent damage to glass fibers. For multi-media cable, i.e. cable that contains both metal conductors and optical fibers, the set of criteria is often incompatible. The use of the present invention, however, renders these often divergent set of criteria compatible. Specifically, optical fibers must have sufficient volume in which the buffering and jacketing plenum materials (FEP and the like) covering the inner glass fibers can expand and contract over a broad temperature range without restriction, for example −40 C. to 80 C. experienced during shipping. It has been shown by Grune, et. al., among others, that cyclical compression and expansion directly contacting the buffered glass fiber causes excess attenuation light loss (as measured in dB) in the glass fiber. The design of the present invention allows for designation and placement of optical fibers in clearance channels provided by the support-separator, having multi-anvil shaped profiles. It would also be possible to place both glass fiber and metal conductors in the same designated clearance channel if such a design is required. In either case the forced spacing and separation from the cable jacket (or absence of a cable jacket) would eliminate the undesirable set of cyclical forces that cause excess attenuation light loss. In addition, fragile optical fibers are susceptible to mechanical damage without crush resistant members (in addition to conventional jacketing). The present invention also addresses this problem.
The need to improve the cable and cable separator design, reduce costs, and improve both flammability and electrical properties continues to exist.

High performance support-separator for communications cables


Methods and compositions for cementing applications. In one embodiment, the present invention provides a method of cementing comprising the steps of: providing a cement composition that comprises: a polyelectrolyte and/or an alkenoic acid first monomer; a filler; and a crosslinking agent; placing the cement composition in a desired location; and allowing the cement composition to set therein.

The present invention relates to methods and compositions for cementing applications. More particularly, the present invention relates to polyalkenoate cement compositions comprising soluble crosslinking agents, and methods of using such compositions in cementing applications.
Cements are commonly utilized in a number of different applications including structural (e.g., in the construction of buildings and roads), medical applications (e.g., dental and bone), and energy (e.g., subterranean well completion and remedial operations). The primary components of typical cement compositions include a hydraulic cement, water, rock, and sand. The undesirable attributes of these typical cement compositions include poor flexibility, low tensile strength, and the inability to effectively control hardening time.
Conventional polyalkenoate cement compositions generally include: water, a polyelectrolyte, and a partially soluble acid-degradable glass, which acts as both a crosslinking agent and a filler. The mechanism of crosslinking, and therefore hardening, in these compositions is dependent on the dissolution of the partially soluble acid-degradable glass. Thus, it is difficult to control the rate of hardening. In addition, large quantities of expensive acid-degradable glass often are required in these compositions. Supplementing with a non-soluble filler generally is not desirable as it would reduce the amount of active components in the composition.
In some applications, successful placement of a cement composition in a desired location requires controlling the setting time of the cement composition. However, to develop sufficient strength for an application, it is preferable for the setting time to be relatively quick. These competing factors must be balanced to provide a cement composition with sufficient mechanical properties, while also ensuring that the cement composition is able to be successfully placed in a desired location. Thus, the ability to control the setting characteristics of a cement composition is desirable. Moreover, the cement composition must have enhanced mechanical properties to sustain the stressful conditions that may be encountered in a particular application. For instance, the cement composition should develop high bond strength after setting and should also have sufficient mechanical properties, including but not limited to, elasticity, flexibility, compressibility, and ductility, to resist cracking and/or shattering as a result of any stressful conditions.
Hydraulic cement compositions are commonly utilized in construction and subterranean applications. Examples of common subterranean applications include, but are not limited to, subterranean well completion and remedial operations. For instance, hydraulic cement compositions are used in primary cementing operations whereby pipe strings such as casings and liners are cemented in well bores. In performing primary cementing, hydraulic cement compositions are pumped into the annular space between the walls of a well bore and the exterior surface of the pipe string disposed therein. To ensure that the annular space is completely filled, oftentimes a cement slurry is pumped into the annular space until it circulates to the surface. The cement composition is then permitted to set in the annular space, thereby forming an annular sheath of hardened substantially impermeable cement. The hardened cement substantially supports and positions the pipe string in the well bore and bonds the exterior surfaces of the pipe string to the walls of the well bore. Hydraulic cement compositions are also used in remedial cementing operations, such as, plugging highly permeable zones or fractures in well bores, plugging cracks and holes in pipe strings, and the like.

Polyalkenoate cement compositions and methods of use in cementing applications

Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma


Disclosed is a friction stir welding method for welding two members to be welded which differ in physical properties and/or mechanical properties by abutting the two members to each other, inserting a pin portion of a rotary tool having the pin portion and a shoulder portion to the abutment surfaces of the two members, and moving the rotary tool along the abutment surfaces. The pin portion is inserted to only one of the members, the pin portion is not inserted to the other of the members but only the shoulder portion is set in contact with the other of the members, and, while this condition is maintained, the rotary tool is moved. With this method, only the member on the side where the pin is inserted can be made to undergo plastic flow attendant on a friction stir action. The metal in plastic flow is pressed against the opposite member at an elevated temperature and high pressure, whereby diffusion of atoms is caused in the vicinity of the abutment surfaces, and the members are welded.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a friction stir welding method for welding by use of a rotary tool having a pin portion and a shoulder portion. In addition, the present invention relates to a welded component part obtained by the friction stir welding method.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The friction stir welding method is a method wherein a pin portion of a rotary tool made of a material harder than members to be welded is inserted between abutment surfaces of the members to be welded, and frictional heat and plastic flow are caused at the abutment surfaces by rotation and movement of the rotary tool, thereby welding the members. One example of the friction stir welding method is described in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 11-10368 (1999). Since the members to be welded can be welded at a temperature equal to the melting point or below thereof by the friction stir welding, this technique has the effects that strain after welding is little, the surfaces of the members remain aesthetically good, and so on.
The friction stir welding method is suitable for welding members which are the same or similar in physical properties or mechanical properties. However, where the members to be welded are conspicuously different in physical properties, for example, melting point or density, or where the members to be welded are conspicuously different in mechanical properties, the friction stir welding method results in that a defective weld is liable to be generated and a sound weld is difficult to obtain.

Friction stir welding method and component part welded by the method


A frame includes a mounting assembly having a plurality of mounting members connected to or integrally formed with each other. The frame also includes first and second leg assemblies pivotally connected with the mounting assembly at first and second sides of the mounting assembly, respectively. The first and second leg assemblies are foldable into an interior defined by the mounting assembly and, when folded, are substantially on the same plane as the mounting assembly. The frame further includes one or more supporting assemblies to help stabilize the first and second leg assemblies and support the mounting assembly when the frame is unfolded. Thus, the frame is compact when folded and stable when in use.

Foldable tables are more and more popular these days. A typical foldable table usually includes a foldable frame to support a table panel. However, many existing foldable frames are not very stable when in use. To help stabilize the frames, some existing foldable frames include additional supporting structures. However, with additional supporting structures, it is usually difficult to fold the legs onto the table panel and thus often leave some spaces between the folded legs and the table panel. As such, when folded, the frames and tables are not compact and take up unnecessary spaces. Consequently, the frames and tables are not convenient for storage and transportation.
Given the current state of the art, there remains a need for frames that address the abovementioned issues.
The information disclosed in this Background section is provided for an understanding of the general background of the invention and is not an acknowledgement or suggestion that this information forms part of the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.


Aspects of the present disclosure include methods, apparatus, and systems for configuring a security camera including establishing a first connection between the dongle and the security camera through a communication port of the dongle, establishing a second connection with a mobile device, transmitting a request to the mobile device via the second connection, receiving, in response to the request, a configuration credential from the mobile device via the second connection, wherein the configuration credential is provided by the mobile device without disclosing the configuration credential to an operator of the mobile device, transmitting, via the first connection, the configuration credential to the security camera, receiving, in response to providing the configuration credential, a video stream from the security camera via the first connection, and transmitting, via the second connection, the video stream to the mobile device.

Security camera buyers, installers, and users may desire cameras that feature ease of installation and security, but still offer dynamic user customizations. Allowing full camera configuration accessible via a network connection may not provide the flexibility in system connections, configurations, and support for certain types of systems, but may introduce security threats such as malicious programs applications, interception of video, spoofing, and/or other threats.
Therefore, it may be desirable to manually install and configure the security cameras prior to connecting the security cameras to the network. However, at installation, a standard TV monitor maybe be connected to the cameras output to align where the camera is pointing and make image adjustments. It may be inconvenient to connect each camera to the standard TV monitor during installation and/or alignment.
Further, manual configuration of the security cameras may require the network administrator to provide configuration credentials, e.g., logins/passwords, digital keys, or other credentials to control access, to the installers to gain access the security cameras. However, providing the configuration credentials to the installers may pose a security risk because the installers may misplace the credentials, inadvertently or deliberately share the credentials with unauthorized personnel, and/or use the credentials without authorization from the network administrator and/or owner of the security cameras.


A system and method for permitting a user to submit a payment electronically, which includes a network and an electronic device in communication. The electronic device is operated by the user to submit an electronic payment request. A first server in communication with the network receives the request and in response communicates an encryption key and process to the electronic device. The electronic device encrypts the financial information with the encryption key and process and communicates encrypted financial information to the first server. A second server is in communication with the first server at least some of the time via an Internet connection. If there is Internet connectivity, the first server communicates the encrypted financial information to the second server. If there is no Internet connectivity and the payment amount is less than a predefined amount, the first server communicates to the electronic device that the payment has been accepted.

Travel frequently results in interruptions in online access. For example, online access during travel by ground transportation may be interrupted when passing through tunnels or past other signal obstructions. Electronic device usage on commercial passenger aircraft is typically restricted during takeoff and landings. Hence, it is possible that a passenger may be partway through completion of an online purchase, when flight crew commands all electronic devices to be turned off, interrupting an electronic payment request.
While Internet access is increasingly common during commercial passenger flights, online access during flight is still subject to interruptions. Transoceanic flights for instance, maintain Internet access via satellite. As an aircraft passes from one satellite coverage area to another, there is typically a transition period before online access can be re-established via the new satellite. Accordingly, a request for an electronic payment submitted during the transition period cannot be verified until online access is restored.
Some airlines provide online access via ground based cellular towers for overland flights. However, interruptions may still occur while traveling over remote areas lacking cellular coverage.
In addition, there may be weather interruptions. Rain or dense water vapor may attenuate signals, making reception and/or transmission impossible. Electrical charge buildup and discharge may create electromagnetic interference that also causes interruptions in online access. Lightning strikes may cause computing devices to reboot, fuses to burn out or breakers to trip, also causing interruptions in online access before a request for an electronic payment can be fully submitted.
The present invention addresses the effects of delayed authorization for an electronic payment request due to interruption in online access.

System and method for permitting a user to submit a payment electronically


A bulkhead employs a substantially spherical dome having a periphery and an apex with an axis perpendicular to the dome at the apex. A first plurality of straps emanate from a periphery of the dome on geodesics defined by a first pair of virtual poles beyond the periphery of the dome. A second plurality of straps emanate from the periphery of the dome on second geodesics defined by a second pair of virtual poles beyond the periphery of the dome, wherein any overlap on an individual strap in the first plurality of straps is singular to only one individual strap in the second plurality of straps.

1. Field
Embodiments of the disclosure relate generally to the composite structures and more particularly to a composite layup employing perpendicular geodesic arrangement for tear straps and stiffeners on spherical or near-spherical composite pressure bulkheads with each strap having only a single overlap with one other strap.
2. Background
Bulkheads in composite structures such as aircraft fuselages and other aerospace structures may provide a web for pressure integrity with tear straps and stiffeners to provide required structural strength and damage resistance. Many bulkheads are curved and employ partial spherical or near spherical shape of the web. As shown in a prior art example in FIG. 1, straps and stiffeners 2 are typically arranged extending from a peripheral circumference 4 to a central apex 6 of a bulkhead 8. As the straps and stiffeners ascend toward the apex 6 they begin to geometrically merge and begin to overlap, or are terminated, as exemplified at points 9, to avoid overlapping. For structural continuity, certain straps must overlap at the apex 6 resulting in multiple layer overlaps at the apex. The need to terminate straps to avoid overlap requires complex termination designs and overlapping of multiple straps, particularly at the apex, creates undesirable thickness or buildup in the structure.
It is therefore desirable to provide a structural arrangement of tear straps and stiffeners for bulkhead designs to eliminate termination requirements and avoid multiple overlaps.

Natural-path tearstraps and stiffeners for spherical composite pressure bulkheads


A scanner (40) is disclosed which includes a source of coherent light (12), a radial holographic deflector (16), a F.theta. lens (62), which images a scanned spot onto an image plane (18). The F.theta. lens (62) is comprised of a decentered aspheric mirror (64) and a diffractive--refractive toroidal lens (66). The apparatus is relatively insensitive to variations in the wavelength of the source of coherent light.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to holographic scanners in general, and specifically to a holographic scanner which is relatively insensitive to small variations in wavelength.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Scanners may be used to either write to a media, or read from a media. When writing to a media, information is imposed on the beam prior to the creation of successive sweeps of the beam. Scanners may also be used for reading, in which case the beam impinging on the target has a constant intensity and the light reflected or transmitted by the target being read is monitored to create a signal representative of the information on the scanned target.
Rotating scanners, called polygons, include a device having a plurality of planar mirrors disposed uniformly around a cylinder. The planes of the mirrors are parallel to the axis of the cylinder, and the radii through the centers of the mirrors are at uniform angular spacing around the axis. A motor rotates the device at a high speed and a stationary beam of light is directed at the device which reflects the incident beam and creates successive sweeps of the reflected light beam across an image plane, each along the same linear path.
Holographic scanners use a diffractive surface instead of a reflective surface for deflecting the beam. Such diffractive devices may include a disc of light-transmissive or reflective material, called a holographic deflector having a plurality of identical facets, each of which contains a diffraction grating. The lines of the grating on the holographic deflector may be perpendicular to a radius bisecting the facet, or they may be parallel to such a radius. The two types of gratings are called tangential and radial, respectively.
Holographic laser scanners are known to be relatively insensitive to a wobble of the deflector substrate because they utilize the physical process of diffraction to deflect a laser beam rather than using reflection from a mirrored surface, as is the case with polygon type laser scanners. The mirrored surfaces in polygon scanners double angular errors, such as deflector wobble, and facet to facet perpendicularity errors. Holographic deflectors, on the other hand, reduce the magnitude of angular deflection in the output beam. These holographic deflectors typically use planar gratings to scan the laser beam across the image plane.
Prior art holographic scanner rely on the use of wavelength stabilized laser sources to maintain high precision spot placement while scanning. This is due to the fact that a high spatial frequency grating is used to deflect the laser with a grating pitch which is typically 0.51 to 2.01 .mu.m. These gratings are wavelength dispersive, and small variations in wavelength cause substantial variations in the output beam's deflection angle. In the page direction a variation in laser source wavelength causes a vertical displacement of the scan line, while in the scan direction, the spot location is directly dependent on the laser wavelength as well as the deflector rotation angle. Laser wavelength changes cause horizontal spot position errors, which increase as a function of deflected scan angle. Thus the farther the spot is from the center of scan, the larger the error.
Semiconductor lasers used in light scanning apparatus, or raster output scanners, provide a compact and low cost light source and a capability for high speed direct modulation of the laser. However, when the semiconductor lasers are current modulated for information processing, their emission wavelength changes depending on the laser chip temperature and the operating current. In prior art holographic scanners using a semiconductor laser, the position of the scanning beam varies as a function of the light source wavelength, and changes both in the scan direction and in the cross scan or page direction, producing artifacts.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,753,503 discloses a laser scanning system using a rotating linear diffraction grating and a semiconductor laser light source. This patent teaches a method of minimizing the beam position error due to wavelength changes by using a stationary compensating grating. The compensating grating is placed parallel to the rotating grating and has a grating spatial frequency identical to the rotating grating. (Identical spatial frequency means the pitch of the grating on the stationary device is the same as the pitch of the grating on the holographic deflector.) This arrangement provides complete correction of beam position error at the center of scan, partial correction toward the end of the scan in the cross scan or page direction, but no correction for the scan line length changes.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,810,046 describes a light beam scanning apparatus using a linear grating rotating hologram with a stationary post hologram to compensate for beam position shift due to the wavelength shift of the semiconductor light source. This scheme reduces the position error in the cross scan direction to within plus or minus 2 .mu.m for plus or minus 0.3 nm shift in wavelength compared to an uncompensated error of plus or minus 900 .mu.m. In the line scan direction the position error is reduced to 5 .mu.m for a 0.3 nm wavelength shift.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,505,537 describes a light scanning apparatus which uses a linear rotating grating and spherical and cylindrical refractive optics to minimize beam position error caused by changes in wavelength of the light source. The optical system is designed to maintain the scanning surface to be optically conjugated by using geometric optics with the grating surface. This scheme reduces the beam position error to 5 .mu.ms for 0.3 nm in the page direction due to a shift in wavelength, but provides no correction in the scan line direction.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,182,659 describes a light scanning system which uses a pre-scan and post-scan holograms along with a multifaceted rotating grating. This arrangement has the same limited performance as the previously mentioned patents.


In accordance with the present invention, a power conductor rail structure is provided using a multi-metallic construction. The composite rail of the invention includes an asymmetrical steel portion having a top flange thickness greater than that of the bottom flange in a generally I-shaped configuration with spaced apertures along the length of the web. Aluminum cladding is cast onto both sides of the web with a cold rolled high conductivity layer, such as copper disposed between the aluminum and steel on either side of the web and having holes corresponding in size and shape to the apertures of the web. The aluminum cladding extends through the web apertures producing a multi-metallic sandwich construction. The high conductivity layers provide a mechanical bond between the steel and aluminum and reduces transfer resistance and increasing overall conductivity. In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the top flange is formed with openings with the aluminum cladding filling the openings so that the aluminum cladding forms part of the electrical contact surface, in one embodiment by additionally forming a continuous, longitudinally extending, aluminum filled groove in the contact surface of the rail.

The invention generally relates to power conductor rails used for electrical rail transportation systems such as metro transit rail vehicles, people movers, heavy rail commuters and the like.
Electrically powered rail vehicles have long been used for mass transit systems. Electric rail systems typically employ a three-rail configuration, the rail system having two running rails to support the vehicle and a third rail to conduct the necessary electrical power. In early electric rail systems, all three rails were made of standard steel, each rail being identical in configuration. In the late 1960's, metro transit authorities and supporting manufacturing companies began experimenting with different rail structures for third rails in an effort to reduce electrical resistance and reduce weight for ease of handling and installation.
One of the first improvements was the use of an aluminum cladded rail whereby prefabricated extruded aluminum sections were bolted or clamped onto each side of a conventional steel rail web. An electrical conductor rail having non-ferrous metal extrusions secured to both sides of the steel web of the rail using bolts is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,730,310. In this structure, the aluminum cladding was preselected and secured to the steel rail web in the field by the installation personnel. Although this structure improved the electrical conductivity over prior art solid steel rails, the rail suffers inherent problems associated with the bolted construction including corrosion, electrical hot spikes, and excessive voltage loss. Bolted-on aluminum cladding structures also suffer from high weight, due to the amount of aluminum needed to provide enhanced conductivity, and high power loss due to transfer resistance between the steel rail member and the separate aluminum bar components.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,730,310 to Spiringer also discloses coating the mating surfaces of the steel beam and extrusion with an oxide inhibiting compound. The oxide inhibiting compound reduces oxidation at the mating surfaces and promotes a short term electrically conductive bond between the steel beam and the extrusion. It has been found, however, that the oxide inhibiting compound evaporates and degrades in a relatively short time. Applicant has found such compounds to be ineffective after 2 years of full exposure to the outside environment of heat, cold and humidity which is far less than the twenty five year life expectancy of the rails.
Transfer resistance, also referred to as gap resistance, is directly proportional to the contact or bond between adjoining metals in the rail structure. With bolted-on aluminum rail structures, gap resistance can be significant due to surface imperfections of the steel web, surface irregularities in the extruded aluminum bars, abrasions, nicks or dents in the aluminum caused by handling before and during installation and corrosion or contaminants positioned between the mating metals. High gap resistance between the joining metals liberally encourages electrolytic corrosion in most ambient environments, especially in high humidity environments. As a result of this increased transfer resistance, corrosion and wear, bolted-on aluminum rail structures have a higher replacement cycle than cast or fused rails.
Alternative structures and concepts have been developed by the rail manufacturing industry in the continuing effort to enhance conductivity, minimize power and voltage losses, and ultimately save energy and cost for power conductor rail systems. Conductor rails having an aluminum body with a stainless steel cap to enhance durability were developed in the 1960's. In these rail structures, the aluminum rail body is extruded then capped with steel along the upper flange contact surface to provide extended wear along the contact path where the electrical contact shoe rides along the conductor rail. The cap is secured to the aluminum with mechanical fasteners. Such a capped rail structure is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,836,394. Aluminum rails using mechanically bonded stainless steel caps to provide an electrical contact surface are, however, highly disadvantageous because of manufacturing cost and technical deficiencies. Capped aluminum rail structures are nearly four times as expensive per rail foot as a conventional steel rail and nearly twice the cost of composite steel/aluminum rails using prefabricated aluminum extrusion bars bolted or clamped to the steel rail web.
In either the bolted aluminum bar structure or the capped aluminum structure, securing the two metal structures together by mechanical fasteners and the like is undesirable due to the inherent gaps or pockets between the contact surfaces of the joining metals caused by surface imperfections as previously discussed. Furthermore, differential thermal expansion of the metallic components further compromises the metallic contact between the metals and can loosen the mechanical fastening devices employed. Once the fasteners loosen, corrosion is further accelerated by moisture access to and enlargement of the physical junction between the metals. Additionally, extruded aluminum members stress when bent to conform to curved steel rail sections. This stress strains bolted connections.
Processes have been developed to produce steel and aluminum cast composite rails having unified construction to reduce or largely eliminate resistance between the mating steel and aluminum materials and resolve other problems associated with bolted-together composite rails. These so-called "bimetal" rails, and manufacturing processes for making the same, have been developed to combine a ferrous metal, such as steel, with a more conductive metal such as aluminum during the manufacturing process to benefit from the advantages offered from each individual metal and produce a unified construction. U.S. Pat. No. 3,544,737 teaches a bimetal rail and process for making the same wherein aluminum is continuously cast about a steel rail web having preformed apertures to enhance the joining of aluminum and steel and the resultant overall conductivity of the composite rail.
Despite these alternative rail designs, the industry supplying conductor rails still strives to produce a power conductor rail structure which offers minimal electrical resistance while providing the necessary strength and durability to minimize maintenance costs. A typical standard measurement of resistance used in the conductive rail industry is ohms per one thousand feet of connected conductor rail (ohms/1,000 ft.). Typically, unit resistances in conventional conductor rails vary between 0.012 ohms/1,000 feet to 0.002 ohms/1,000 feet. A range of 0.004-0.005 ohms/1,000 ft. is common in existing rail systems using the 150 pounds/yard "New York Rail" employed since the early 1900's in the northeastern United States. The relatively high electrical unit resistance and low efficiency of the "New York Rail" and other conventional rail structures results in a tremendous waste of energy and financial resources. Conventional rail structures commonly provide only a 70% to 75% effective voltage, nearly 30% of the applied voltage is lost due to the high internal resistance of conventional rail structures and other components.
It is, therefore, desirable to have a power rail structure which provides the maximum conductivity and lowest weight per foot of rail while minimizing corrosion, transfer resistance and wear along the surface of engagement with the electrical contact shoe to thereby enhance electrical efficiency and minimize exchange and replacement of rail due to physical maintenance.


The present invention provides a non-corrective spectacle lens which is a molded plastic lens used by a person having normal eyesight, or a polarizing lens constituted by the molded plastic lens and a polarizing film integrally superposed on the molded plastic lens. In order to moderately reduce the movement of the muscle necessary for focus adjustment, the non-corrective spectacle lens has a spherical power S within the range of −1.0 D≤S<−0.1 D, where D is diopter as a unit of the spherical power S.

Generally, prescription plastic spectacle lenses (i.e., plastic lenses having a power) used for eyesight correction are manufactured by cutting or polishing the back surface of a semi-finished lens material to a predetermined curve. Normal lenses for myopia are polished to a spherical power of −1.5 D (diopters: the unit of the spherical power) or less, and lenses for presbyopia are polished to a spherical power of +1.5 D or more, thereby making them stable lenses having high accuracy (see the below-identified Patent Document 1).
On the other hand, non-corrective (non-prescription) spectacle lenses, i.e., lenses having no power and not used for eyesight correction have a spherical power of 0 D or close to 0 D. Such non-corrective plastic lenses are used for spectacles worn mainly by users having normal eyesight of about 0.7 to 1.2 vision (unit used in Japan), as fashion items, to protect users' eyes from particles in the air, or as polarizing glasses or sunglasses.
Polarizing glasses are capable of alleviating glare caused by the diffuse reflection of sunlight from e.g., a water surface or a snow surface, and alleviating reflected light causing a shadow to appear on the windshield of, e.g. an automobile. Polarizing glasses use lenses having a film-like polarizing element retained inside or on the surface of the lens, or having the polarizing element integrally superposed on the surface of the lens using a printing technique.


A method of testing field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) includes the step of configuring programmable logic blocks of the FPGAs for completing a built-in self-test. This is followed by the steps of initiating the built-in self-test, generating test patterns with the programmable logic blocks and analyzing a resulting response to produce a pass/fail indication with the programmable logic blocks. More specifically, the configuring step includes establishing a first group of programmable logic blocks as test pattern generators and output response analyzers and a second group of programmable logic blocks as blocks under test. The blocks under test are then repeatedly recongifured in order to completely test each block under test in all possible modes of operation. The programming of the first and second groups of programmable logic blocks is then reversed and the testing of each new block under test is then completed.

A field programmable gate array (FPGA) is a type of integrated circuit consisting of an array of programmable logic blocks interconnected by programmable routing resources and programmable I/O cells. Programming of these logic blocks, routing resources and I/O cells is selectively completed to make the necessary interconnections that establish a configuration thereof to provide desired system operation/function for a particular circuit application.
Of course, it is desirable to complete diagnostic testing of all types of integrated circuits including FPGAs in order to check the functionality of the various programmable logic blocks, routing resources and I/O cells of the FPGAs. Since FPGAs are programmable, however, the diagnostic testing thereof is complicated by the need to cover all possible modes of operation and even many non-classical fault models (faults effecting the programmable interconnect network, delay faults, etc.).
In past diagnostic testing approaches, special test transistors and circuits have been added to each FPGA integrated circuit. These additional test transistors and circuits increase the complexity and space requirements or "area overhead" of the FPGAs. In fact, the size of the FPGAs is typically increased between 10-30% in order to accommodate the built-in test circuitry and significant delay penalties in the operating speed of the FPGAs result.
It should further be noted that in current state of the art testing procedures, tests are generated manually by configuring the FPGAs into several application circuits. The FPGAs so configured are then exercised with test vectors developed specifically for each application circuit. Since these circuits all share the same set of faults, FPGAs are rejected even if a fault is detected in only one of their circuits.
While this is an effective testing procedure, it does suffer from a number of drawbacks. For example, since all the application circuits must be simulated to complete testing for stuck-at faults, fault simulation in accordance with this procedure is very expensive. Additionally, the tests require a significant amount of time to complete and relatively sophisticated and expensive automatic test equipment (ATE) must be utilized.
Further, it should be appreciated that the FPGA manufacturing tests presently utilized are not reusable for board and system-level testing. Hence, additional developmental effort is required in order to complete a testing procedure at the system-level. The state of the art approach to system-level testing of FPGAs focuses upon the development of off-line system diagnostic routines to test the FPGAs in the system mode of operation. The development of these routines is costly and time consuming. This, of course, is another significant drawback to state of the art FPGA diagnostic testing.
A need is therefore identified for an improved approach for completing diagnostic testing of FPGAs.

Method for testing field programmable gate arrays

University of Kentucky Research Foundation


A heating apparatus of an electromagnetic inductive heat generating type using a magnetic flux shield member, the heating apparatus including a coil for generating a magnetic flux, a roller member for generating heat by the magnetic flux from the coil, and heating a material to be heated, the magnetic flux shield member for shielding the magnetic flux from the coil to the roller member to thereby vary the generated heat distribution of the roller member, and a guide member provided in non-contact with the roller member for guiding the movement of the magnetic flux shield member to a predetermined magnetic flux suppressing position, thereby realizing an improvement in the faulty operation of the magnetic flux shield member.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates, for example, in an image forming apparatus, to a heating apparatus suitable for use as an image heating apparatus for fixing an unfixed image formed and borne on a recording material, and particularly to a heating apparatus of an electromagnetic (magnetic) induction heating type.
2. Description of Related Art
Description will hereinafter be made with an image heating and fixing apparatus in an image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic copying machine, a printer or a facsimile apparatus taken as an example.
The image heating and fixing apparatus in the image forming apparatus is an apparatus in which an unfixed toner image formed on the surface of a recording material by a direct process or an indirect (transfer) process is heated and fixed as a permanently secured image on the surface of the recording material in the image forming portion of the image forming portion by suitable image forming process means such as electrophotography, electrostatic recording or magnetic flux recording by the use of a toner (visualizing agent) comprising heat-soluble resin or the like.
There has heretofore been an electromagnetic inductive heating process as the heating process of such an image heating and fixing apparatus. This is an apparatus which uses an electromagnetic inductive heat generating member as a heating member, and causes a magnetic field to act on the electromagnetic inductive heat generating member by magnetic field generating means to thereby impact heat to the recording material as a heated material by joule heat generation based on an eddy current generated in the electromagnetic induction heat generating member, and heat and fix an unfixed toner image on the surface of the recording material.
In Japanese Patent Publication (Koukoku) No. 5-9027 B, there is disclosed an apparatus of a heat roller type in which a fixing roller of a ferromagnetic material is electromagnetically induction-heated, and this apparatus enables a heat generating position to be near to a fixing nip portion, and achieves a fixing process higher in efficiency than an apparatus of a heat roller type using a halogen lamp as a heat source.
This apparatus, however, in great in the heat capacity of the fixing roller and has therefore suffered from the problem that to raise the temperature of the fixing nip portion by limited electric power, great electric power is required.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-166966, there is disclosed a fixing apparatus of an electromagnetic inductive heating type using a film-shaped fixing roller reduced in heat capacity.
In the film-shaped fixing roller reduced in heat capacity, however, a heat flow in the longitudinal direction thereof (the lengthwise direction of the fixing nip portion thereof) is impeded and therefore, when a recording material of a small size is passed, an excess temperature rise in a non-paper passing portion (temperature rise of the non-paper passing portion) occurs, and this has given rise to the problem that the life of film or a pressure roller is reduced. This problem of the temperature rise of the non-paper passing portion also holds true in the case of an apparatus of a film heating type.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-74009, there is disclosed a heating apparatus characterized by magnetic flux adjusting means for varying the density distribution of an acting magnetic flux with respect to the lengthwise direction of a fixing roller (film). By this fixing apparatus of an electromagnetic inductive heating type, there has been shown a method of solving the temperature rise of the non-paper of solving the temperature rise of the non-paper passing portion. Also, there is disclosed means for moving the magnetic flux adjusting means by predetermined driving means such as a motor or a solenoid, and effecting the adjustment of the magnetic flux of the non-paper passing portion of the fixing roller (film).
Also, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 09-171889, it is disclosed to movably provide a magnetic flux shield plate on the inner surface of the cylindrical film guide member of fixing film.
An image forming apparatus using a heating apparatus of the well-known electromagnetic inductive heating type as a fixing apparatus as described above suffers from the following problems.
Magnetic field generating means generates an alternating magnetic flux by an alternating current supplied thereto. In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-74009, magnetic field generating means and magnetic flux shield means are disposed so as to have a clearance therebetween. This has led to the problem that when this alternating magnetic flux acts on the magnetic flux shield means, a repulsive force is born between the magnetic flux shield means and the magnetic field generating means, and the magnetic flux shield means is vibrated to thereby produce a periodic vibration sound.
Also, in a construction wherein the magnetic flux shield means is moved in the interior of the fixing film as in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-74009 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 09-171889, the magnetic flux shield means is provided in such a manner as to be along the inner surface of a pressure member (film holder) brought into contact with the fixing film, and this has led to the problem that a fixing pressure force is applied to the holder, whereby the holder is deformed, thus giving rise to the faulty operation of the magnetic flux shield means. This faulty operation of the shield means in turn has led to the problem that the generated heat distribution of an induction heat generating member in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction of a material to be heated cannot be appropriately controlled and the abnormal temperature rise of the non-paper passing portion is caused. Also, a fixing pressure member (holder) slides in contact with the film and therefore, there has been a problem from the viewpoint of durability.

Heating apparatus and image heating apparatus


An archery bow stand includes first and second legs having first and second connecting portions for engaging archery bow structure, and first and second support portions extending from the connecting portions for supporting the archery bow. The first and second legs are identical in construction and pivotally connected together. The first and second connecting portions together forming a hollow interior within which a biasing member is located to alternatively bias the legs toward the closed position and the open position. A pivot joint creates an internal gap so that the internal biasing member can travel across the pivot joint when the bow stand is opened and closed. Resilient overmolding on the legs protect the bow against damage when supported by the bow stand. Arcuate projections on each leg can be grasped by a user to facilitate opening and closing of the bow stand with one hand.

This invention relates generally to the field of archery, and more particularly to an archery bow stand for supporting a bow on the ground or other surface.
The necessity of being able to support an archery bow while at an archery range or during hunting has long been recognized. Prior archery bow stands widely vary in function and design, with the ultimate purpose of freeing the archer's hands while resting or when engaged in other activities where the archery bow is not needed. One particular type of bow stand that has grown in popularity is a scissor-type configuration where two arms are pivoted together, with one end of each arms functioning as the ground support and the opposite end of each arm serving to clamp around the limb of a bow. A tension spring extends between the arms and, because of its position with respect to the pivot point of the arms, positively holds the bow stand in an open position with the spring located below the pivot point, and positively holds the bow stand in a closed position with the spring shifted to a location above the pivot point as the arms are rotated. The exposed spring on these types of bow stands can be problematic, both to the user, and the user's equipment, which may be exposed to being pinched or scratched. Moreover, such bow stands are relatively low in cost and therefore do not provide protection for the surfaces with which they come in contact with, such as the limb of a bow. Since bow limbs operate under very high tensile and compression stresses, damage to the limbs caused by archery equipment, such as the scissor-type bow stand, can be problematic and eventually lead to degradation in bow performance and potentially compromise the safety of the archer when repeated damage occurs over time.
It would therefore be desirous to provide a bow stand that overcomes one or more disadvantages of the prior art.


The present invention provides a method of producing a long-chain prenyl diphosphate synthase (in particular decaprenyl diphosphate synthase and solanesyl diphosphate synthase) using a gene and a protein which are required for enabling or enhancing the activity expression of a eukaryote-derived long-chain prenyl diphosphate synthase as well as a method of efficiently producing a coenzyme Q having a long-chain isoprenoid in its side chain (in particular coenzyme Q9 or coenzyme Q10) using a microorganism. The present invention relates to a DNA having a base sequence shown under SEQ ID NO:1, 3 or 5 and a DNA sequence derived from the above base sequence by deletion, addition, insertion and/or substitution of one to several bases thereof, and coding for a protein enabling (functioning) or enhancing the activity expression of a eukaryote-derived long-chain prenyl diphosphate synthase in a host microorganism.

"Isoprenoids" is a generic name for a variety of compounds, including sterols, carotinoids and terpenes, among others. Among them, there is a group of prenyl diphosphate compounds containing a coenzyme Q side chain, and the synthesis thereof depends on the polymerization-like condensation reaction of isopentenyl diphosphate, which is an isoprene unit containing 5 carbon atoms, as catalyzed by a prenyl diphosphate synthase.
The respective prenyl diphosphate synthases are roughly classified into 4 groups.
The short chain (3 or 4 isoprene units) prenyl diphosphate synthases are known to perform their catalytic function in the form of homodimers. Examples of such are farnesyl diphosphate synthase (Eberthardt, N. L. (1975), J. Biol. Chem., 250, 863-866) and geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthase (Sagami, H. (1994), J. Biol. Chem., 269, 20561-20566).
The medium chain (6 or 7 isoprene units) prenyl diphosphate synthases are known to be heterodimeric enzymes composed of two proteins each independently having no catalytic activity. Examples are hexaprenyl diphosphate synthase (Fujii, H. (1982), J. Biol. Chem., 257, 14610), and heptaprenyl diphosphate synthase (Takahashi, I. (1980), J. Biol. Chem., 255, 4539).
Further, as for the long-chain (8 to 10 isoprene units) prenyl diphosphate synthases, it is reported that prokaryote-derived such enzymes are undissociable homodimers and are activated by a polyprenyl diphosphate carrier protein (Ohnuma, S. (1991), J. Biol. Chem., 266, 23706-23713). At present, however, there is no report available about eukaryotes-derived long-chain prenyl diphosphate synthases.
Coenzymes Q are composed of a quinone skeleton and an isoprenoid side chain and occur widely in a variety of living things, from microorganisms, such as bacteria and yeasts, to higher animals and plants. In prokaryotes, they occur in the plasma membrane and function as electron acceptors for cell membrane stabilization and for periplasmic membrane protein disulfide bond formation. In eukaryotes, they occur in the mitochondrial membrane and/or cytoplasmic membrane, and serve as essential factors in the electron transfer system in the mitochondrial respiratory chain and in the oxidative phosphorylation, function as antioxidants and contribute to the stabilization of biomembranes.
Coenzymes Q having an isoprenoid side chain resulting from condensation of 8 to 10 isoprene units, among others, have attracted attention as materials of health foods and the like. Among them, coenzyme Q10 comprising 10 isoprene units is intrinsic in humans and is therefore very useful and is in use as a heart medicine.
Commercially, this coenzyme Q10 is produced, for example, by isolating coenzymes Q from a plant, such as tobacco, and synthetically modifying the side chain length thereof.
It is also known that coenzyme Q10 is produced by a wide variety of organisms, from microorganisms, such as bacteria and yeasts, to higher animals and plants, and the method comprising cultivating a microorganism and extracting this substance from cells thereof is thought to be one of the most efficient methods of production thereof and, actually, is in use in commercial production thereof. However, such methods cannot be said to be satisfactory in productivity since, for example, the yield is poor and/or the procedure is complicated.
Attempts have also been made to isolate genes involved in biosynthesis of coenzyme Q10, amplify the genes by means of the recombinant DNA technology and utilizing them in increasing the production of coenzyme Q10. In living organisms, coenzyme Q10 is produced via a multistage complicated reaction process in which a number of enzymes are involved. The biosynthetic pathway therefor in prokaryotes differs in part from that in eukaryotes. Basically, however, the pathway comprises three main steps, namely the step of the synthesis of decaprenyl diphosphate to serve as the source of the decaprenyl side chain of coenzyme Q10, the step of the synthesis of parahydroxybenzoic acid to serve as the source of the quinone ring, and the step of the coupling of these two compounds, followed by successive substituent conversion to complete coenzyme Q10. Among the reactions involved, the reactions involved in decaprenyl diphosphate synthase, which are said to determine the rate of the whole biosynthetic reaction process and which determine the length of the side chain of coenzyme Q10, are considered to be the most important reactions.
For efficient production of coenzyme Q10, it is considered effective to isolate the decaprenyl diphosphate synthase gene, which is the key gene in the biosynthesis in question, and utilize the same for causing a production increase. Thus, so far, decaprenyl diphosphate synthase genes have been isolated from several microbial species, such as Schizosaccharomyces pombe (JP-A-09-173076) and Gluconobacter suboxydans (JP-A-10-57072) and studied for their use in coenzyme Q10 production. As for the host microorganism for this coenzyme Q10 production, it is desirable to use prokaryotes, such as Escherichia coli, from the viewpoint of productivity, safety, recombinant system preparation, and so on.
As for the decaprenyl diphosphate synthase gene sources, it is also possible to utilize eukaryotes in which coenzyme Q10 is produced in relatively large amounts. Thus, for example, fungi are strong candidates. However, when a eukaryote-derived decaprenyl diphosphate synthase gene was introduced by recombination into those microorganisms which belong to the prokaryotes, for example Escherichia coli, coenzyme Q10 was not produced or was produced only in unsatisfactory amounts. It is thought that this is due to an insufficient level of expression of the long-chain prenyl diphosphate synthase. Therefore, the development of a method of causing efficient expression, in prokaryotes, of a eukaryote-derived decaprenyl diphosphate synthase gene serving in relatively abundant coenzyme Qio production has been desired.

Method of expressing long-chain prenyl diphosphate synthase


The present invention relates to a decorative lamp comprising a source of light and a shade of a translucent or semi-opaque porcelain material and its manufacturing method. The lamp further includes at least one decorative element of a material of greater opaqueness than that of the porcelain shade located on an inside interior surface of the shade to block the passage of light to reveal its form when the source of light is turned-on and not being visible to the naked eye.

Decorative and/or ornamental lamps are distinguishable from conventional lamps in that the shade of an ornamental lamp contains ornamental designs formed on the shade using e.g., decorative elements which may be integral to the shade, coated or laminated on the shade or pasted on the shade. Decals may be used as the decorative elements. Fabric shades are commercially available to form a decorative lamp that have prints or paintings on their surface with ornamental designs or decorations.
Other lamp shades are also known in the prior art which have decorative elements formed on the shade's surface visible to the eye independent of whether the lamp light source is on or off, i.e., whether the lamp light source is connected to a source of power or disconnected from the source of power. The orifices and orifice designs in the shade will be visible to the naked eye whether the lamp light is turned on or turned off. This is a common characteristic of all prior art decorative lamps in that the decorative elements or designs in the shade are visible to the naked eye independent of whether the lamp is on or off. In this regard the general appearance of all of the prior art decorative lamps do not substantially vary to the naked eye independent of whether the lamp is on or off.

Decorative lamp and method of manufacture


A torque-transmitting device comprises a torque converter arranged at least partially within a housing of the torque-transmitting device. The torque converter has a pump impeller, a turbine wheel, and a guide wheel. The guide wheel is connected to a stator shaft. An actuator is coupled to the stator shaft and is configured to exert a torque on the guide wheel via the stator shaft.

By means of a torque-transmitting device of this kind, which is sufficiently well known in the prior art, hydrodynamic power transmission is possible, with a fluid, in particular an oil, being accelerated toward the turbine wheel by the blades of the pump impeller. In this case, the pump impeller is driven by means of an input shaft, which is connected to a driving device. Here, the pump impeller and the turbine wheel have corresponding blades, at which the oil is accelerated or deflected. In the prior art, the guide wheel is usually connected in a fixed manner to the housing, and therefore relative motion between the two components is not possible. In this case, the working fluid can be supported on the blades of the guide wheel and thereby cause backpressure, giving rise to an increase in the torque at the blades of the turbine wheel. Thus, the torque at the turbine wheel is higher than the torque originally introduced by the driving device.
The prior art furthermore includes torque-transmitting devices in which a torsional damper is used in combination with power splitting, for example. U.S. Pat. No. 8,939,860 B2, for example, discloses a torque-transmitting device which has such a combination of a torsional damper and power splitting. Here, a vibration damping device is arranged within the housing of the torque converter, wherein power input via the lockup clutch, for example, is split by means of a planetary transmission. Owing to the arrangement of the vibration damping device within the torque converter or the housing of the torque converter, the vibration damping device is subject to the boundary conditions present within the housing of the torque converter. The vibration damping device is therefore subject to an absolute rotational speed and to the effects of centrifugal force. The vibration damping device is furthermore operated within the same medium which is present within the housing of the torque converter.


A lower-cost and more precise control methodology of regulating the output current of a Flyback converter from the primary side is provided. The methodology regulates the output current accurately in both continuous current mode (CCM) and discontinuous mode (DCM) and can be applied to most small, medium, and high power applications such as cell phone chargers, power management in desktop computers and networking equipment, and, generally, to a wide spectrum of power management applications. Two highly integrated semiconductor chips based on this control methodology are also described that require very few components to build a constant current Flyback converter.

With the aggressive growth of battery powered portable electronics, e.g., cell phones, the demand for lower cost, lighter weight and better efficiency battery chargers is very high. Historically, linear power supplies have been employed. However, despite being low in cost, they cannot generally outperform switching mode power supplies, which have lower weight and much higher efficiency. For many applications, the Flyback converter is often chosen from among different switching mode topologies to meet this demand due to its simplicity and good efficiency.
Over the years, various integrated circuit (IC) chips have been developed and used to build constant current Flyback power supplies. For example, FIG. 1 is an illustration of a prior art secondary side controlled constant output current Flyback converter. Such a converter comprises a transformer 201 (which has three windings), a secondary side resistor 301 (which represents the copper loss of transformer 201), a primary switch 105, a current sense resistor 106, a secondary rectifier 302, an output capacitor 303, an optical coupler 202, a second current sense resistor 305, a bias resistor 304, a current limit transistor 306, and a conventional Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) control IC 104. Resistor 101 and capacitor 102 provide the initial start-up energy for IC 104. A general characterization of basic concepts of operation will be described next. Once the Flyback converter is stable, IC 104 is powered by the auxiliary winding (with Na number of turns) of transformer 201 via rectifier 103. The output current is controlled by resistor 305 and transistor 306. Transistor 306 regulates the voltage across resistor 305 to a preset voltage VBE (e.g., 0.65V). The output current, therefore, is equal to VBE divided by the resistance of resistor 305. This circuit, however, is generally undesirable at least both because VBE and the output current vary with temperature and the voltage VBE causes significant power loss.
Some known approaches for primary feedback control of constant output current switching regulators teach the use of a reflected auxiliary winding voltage or current to control the primary inductor peak current. One known deficiency of such known methods is that the output current constant control is applicable only in discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) operation, thereby limiting the power capability of the power converter. For operation in continuous conduction mode (CCM), current industry solutions almost entirely rely exclusively on the use of an optocoupler as shown in FIG. 1. Typically, they will use the auxiliary current/voltage (e.g., via diode and RC filters) to control the peak primary current. When auxiliary current (i.e., the control current) decreases, the primary current is reduced. Some known techniques use auxiliary voltage to control primary current by essentially scaling the peak current (IPEAK) as proportional to a square root of the output voltage; i.e., SQRT(VOUT).
In view of the foregoing, what is needed is a relatively low-cost and effective control methodology of regulating the primary side output current of a Flyback converter. It would be desirable if at least some of the foregoing limitations of the prior art are overcome for operation in both continuous current mode (CCM) and discontinuous mode (DCM), preferably with a minimal number of IC chips (e.g., two IC chips). It is further desirable that the need for a secondary circuit and optical coupler are eliminated, and that the output current of a Flyback converter be largely insensitive to temperature variations.
Unless otherwise indicated illustrations in the figures are not necessarily drawn to scale.

Primary side constant output current controller


A program execution and operation right management system capable of providing flexible and sufficient protection uniformly even for the thread operation instructions among the threads sharing the same virtual address space and/or for individual memory region. In the system, operation right data indicating which thread can be operated by which thread among a plurality of threads are stored, and whether a thread operation with respect to one thread requested by another thread among a plurality of threads is allowed by the operation right data is judged. Then, the processor is allowed to carry out said thread operation with respect to that one thread by that another thread only when it is judged that said thread operation is allowed by the operation right data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for managing the execution of program executing threads as well as operation rights for the memory regions and/or threads in a computer. It is to be noted here that, in the following description, the thread or memory region operation refers to a manipulation of a thread or a memory region, and the operation right for a thread or a memory region refers to a right for manipulating the thread or the memory region.
2. Description of the Background Art
In recent years, due to the improvement of the microprocessor performance, it has become commonplace to use a plurality of small size computers connected by a network. As a result, the cooperative work among the computers connected by the network or their users become possible, and there arose a need for managing the operation rights strictly.
In addition, due to the advance of the object oriented techniques and the appearance of the new paradigm such as a server client model, it is becoming increasingly difficult to achieve sufficient performance by the conventional operation right management in units of memory devices or files.
In order to resolve these problems, there has been an attempt to design an operating system in which the memory devices such as memory elements, CD-ROMs, and hard-disk drives as well as all the other computer resources such as the display and the keyboard can be managed under the identical concept, using the technique such as that of the single virtual memory. In particular, the technique of the single virtual memory for arranging various resources on the identical virtual space is noteworthy. There is also a proposition for managing the operation rights in units of blocks by dividing this single virtual memory into a number of blocks. This unit of management is called a memory region, and it is used as a unit for managing operation rights for all kinds of memory devices.
On the other hand, due to the enhanced utilization range of the microprocessor, it is becoming necessary for the operating system (OS) to be capable of dealing with various application fields, so that the OS is required to take a flexible structure. In this regard, there has been a conventional scheme to use a plurality of OSs interchangeably according to the utilization purposes or the hardware types. There has also been a technique of the micro-kernelized OS in which the minimum indispensable functions alone are given to the micro-kernel while all the other functions are provided as the user programs external to the micro-kernel, so as to be able to cover the wide range of utilization purposes by a single OS. In this technique, it becomes possible to provide the OS functions of a plurality of conventional OSs on a single micro-kernel in forms of the user programs, so that it is possible to realize the OS in the flexible structure.
In such a micro-kernelized OS, a control unit called process or thread is usually employed as the control as the unit of program execution management. Each thread has processor register values and stacks independently, and executes the program when the OS allocates the processor to this thread. The OS releases the allocation of the processor to one thread and allocates the processor to another thread after a certain period or time, or when a hardware interruption occurs. Since each thread has independent register states, it can be virtually regarded as a parallel processing processor.
In this type of the OS, the computer resources are constituted in units of two concepts called memory regions and threads, and the management of the operation rights to these memory regions and threads is made according to the data in the form of ACL (Access Control List) which is attached to each of the memory regions and threads.
For example, for a case of manipulating the thread itself on such an OS, i.e., when the execution of the thread is to be stopped or re-started, or when the thread is to be extinguished forcefully, or else when the internal states of the thread such as its register values or the stacks are to be examined, the OS provides a group of thread operation instructions such that it is possible to operate on one thread from the other thread. Such a thread operation instruction is provided to the user programs as a means of system call.
When such thread operation instructions are provided, if every thread is allowed to issue any of these thread operation instructions freely, it is going to allow even an illegal operation as well, so that there is a need to provide some protection mechanism. For instance, it is necessary to provide a protection mechanism such that the forceful extinguishing of a thread is allowed only to such a thread which has a particular right.
In addition, in the case of a system such as the Mach operating system disclosed by R. Rashid, et al. in "Machine-Independent Virtual Memory Management for Paged Uniprocessor and Multiprocessor Architectures", CMU-CS-87140, Carnegie Mellon University, July 1987, in which a plurality of virtual spaces are provided and one program or data is arranged in each of these virtual spaces, the thread can move only within each virtual space, the identical protection is provided for all the threads present in the same virtual space, and the protection of the threads relies on the protection of the memory spaces. In this case, however, it has been impossible to protect each thread separately. Also, in a case of a system such as the single virtual space in which all the programs are arranged within one and the same address space while a plurality of threads are provided, the protection of the threads cannot simply rely on the protection of the memory spaces and there is a need to set up a special right from the OS.
One way to resolve this problem is to specify an owner of each resource such as a thread and the operation of the resource is allowed only to the resources owned by the same owner. This scheme is realized by "signal" in the UNIX operating system as a means of process manipulation for instance. However, in this scheme, the protection among the resources of the same owner lacks flexibility, and it is impossible to give the operation right to the resource of the different owner, or it is impossible to enable the resource operation from the resources of a plurality of different owners, so that the resource protection function for enabling the sufficiently flexible resource operation has been unavailable.
On the other hand, there has been an attempt to increase the flexibility such as the DCE in which the ACL for the file or the directory is attached with various data concerning the data addition or deletion right, the ACL changing right, etc., so as to enable the multifarious settings of operation rights for the data files. However, such an attempt still lacks the flexibility for enabling a plurality of owners to manage the ACL of the memory region for example.
In addition, as for the right to change the operation rights themselves with respect to the thread, it has only been possible to make a rather simple management in which it is permitted only to the owner of the thread, or to a special user called root. Similarly, as for the right to change the operation rights themselves with respect to the memory region, it has only been possible to make a rather simple management in which it is permitted only to the owner of the memory region, or to a special user called root.
Moreover, even if it becomes possible to describe the operation rights with respect to the threads or the memory regions as well as the rights to change these operation rights in a very flexible manner, there arises a problem that the management can be quite complicated in such a case as it is expected that the amount of data required for the protection of the threads or the memory regions increases considerably.
Thus, in the conventional resource management mechanism, the setting of the operation rights has been not sufficiently flexible, or the protection among the threads sharing the identical virtual address space has been either missing or severely restricted.

Program execution and operation right management system suitable for single virtual memory scheme


One embodiment of the present invention provides a slider including a slider body, a magnetic reader disposed on the slider body, a magnetic writer disposed on the slider body, and an electronic lapping guide disposed on the slider body. The slider also includes a first row of contact pads disposed on the slider body and coupled to the magnetic reader and the magnetic writer and a second row of contact pads disposed on the slider body and coupled to the electronic lapping guide. The electronic lapping guide may be electrically isolated from the magnetic reader and magnetic writer.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to manufacture of magnetic heads for data storage devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Modem computer systems typically include a mass storage device such as a hard disk drive. Each hard disk drive typically includes a hard disk (or in some cases, multiple hard disks) which spins underneath a slider. A read/write head (or in some cases, a plurality of read/write heads) may be mounted on the slider, and the slider may in turn be mounted on an arm which may be actuated with respect to the disk, allowing data stored in magnetic disk media of the disk to be accessed via the read/write head (e.g., by reading magnetically stored data from or writing data magnetically to the disk media).
In some cases, the slider may also include one or more electronic lapping guides (ELGs) and a heater. The one or more ELGs have a resistance that varies (increases) as material is removed during a lapping process and thus may be used to monitor lapping during slider manufacturing. In other words, an ELG may be formed on the slider surface and the ELG resistance may be monitored in an effort to smooth the surface of the slider and establish the final dimensions of the slider. In some cases, the heater (also referred to as a thermal flyheight modulation heater) may be used to more precisely control the height at which the read/write head flies over the hard disk. For example, by heating a portion of the slider, thermal expansion may cause the slider to move closer to the hard disk surface, thereby enabling a fine adjustment of the slider's fly height and providing the ability to increase the sensitivity of the read/write head with respect to the hard disk.
In order to access the elements mounted on the slider (the read head, the write head, the heater, and the one or more ELGs), a plurality of contact pads may be provided on the slider and connected to the elements. Some of the contact pads and slider elements may be used during operation of the hard disk drive, e.g., the contact pads for the read head, write head, and heater may be used to perform disk access operations. However, some of the contact pads and slider elements may only be used during manufacture of the hard disk drive (e.g., the contact pads for the one or more ELGs). In some cases, the contact pads and slider elements utilized during manufacture of the hard disk drive may undesirably interfere with the contact pads and the slider elements which are utilized during operation of the hard disk drive (e.g., by being inadvertently electrically activated, e.g., due to a short, during operation of the hard disk drive).
Accordingly, what is needed are improved sliders and methods for manufacturing and operating sliders which prevent the contact pads and slider elements utilized during manufacture of the hard disk drive from interfering with the contact pads and the slider elements which are utilized during operation of the hard disk drive.

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.V.


An artificial flower is made from a stack of juxtaposed, soft, flexible petal members having radially-extending petals, each having an enlarged head portion and a reduced neck portion. Each neck portion is twisted and maintained in a twisted state without the aid of stiffeners due to frictional engagement between adjacent head portions.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to the art of making artificial flowers, especially for use as decorations.
2. Description of Related Art
U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,568,859; 2,282,657 and 3,565,736 are examples of known techniques to make artificial flowers of soft, flexible sheet material such as paper or ribbon. To effect a more realistic simulation of a natural flower, it is desired to twist, kink and otherwise manipulate the flexible material. However, the flexible material does not readily maintain its shape after such manipulation. Hence, the art has turned to using stiffeners, such as bendable metal wire, with such sheet material. To prevent the wires from being seen, they are typically sewn or woven into the sheet material. The need persists for making a more realistic simulation of a natural flower from soft, flexible materials without the use of such bendable wires and analogous stiffeners which contribute significantly to the overall cost of the flower.

Artificial flower and method of making same