Systems and methods allow small businesses and other buyers to aggregate their purchases to obtain volume discounts from suppliers. The systems are especially beneficial to small businesses that may be unable to obtain any discounted price on their own. The systems reduce transaction costs, improve efficiencies, increases revenue, and provides a more accurate process to buyers and suppliers. The systems are preferably operated by an entity that already has relationships with many of the small businesses and other buyers and possibly with one or more of the suppliers. The operating entity enjoys the reduced prices and other buyer benefits and may additionally receive rebates or extra discounts from the suppliers. The operating entity also can generate goodwill with its existing customers, retain those customers, and acquire new customers.

A seller of goods or services often has different prices that it offers to buyers, depending upon who the buyer is and the quantity of items being purchased. For example, for a buyer that purchases large quantities of an item, the seller is often willing to reduce the price per unit, and thus the profit per item, because of the large order. Thus, a company that purchases large quantities of items, such as office supplies, will expect to receive some discounted price. On the other hand, businesses that order small quantities of items do not have the purchasing power to demand any discounted price. These businesses therefore are forced to pay full price for those items.
Because of these volume discounts, many of the larger corporations are able to obtain reduced rates for the goods and services that they purchase during the ordinary course of business. For example, a large company such as BellSouth may not only automatically receive a discounted price but may be able to receive bids from competing sellers and negotiate an optimal price for the items. In fact, many large businesses enter into supply contracts with various sellers, such as sellers of office supplies. While large businesses may enjoy volume discounts, small businesses are typically unable to obtain anything other than the standard price. Often, these small businesses by themselves, do not purchase sufficient quantities of items for the seller to offer any discount.
Even though orders from small businesses may comprise the bulk of a company's business, much of the efforts by a seller are directed to the large businesses. A seller can more easily focus its efforts on selling its goods and services to a limited number of large businesses than it can with a multitude of smaller businesses. In other words, a seller has a certain amount of time and money that it can devote toward marketing its goods and services directly with other businesses and, given the potential for supplying large quantities of items over an extended period of time, the seller directs its attention to the larger customers. The sellers simply do not have the resources to market themselves directly with every small business in its area.
A need therefore exists for systems and methods that provide greater purchasing power to small businesses. A need furthermore exists for systems and methods that increase the effectiveness of a seller's marketing efforts to small businesses.

Small business service buying club systems and methods


A package includes a device die having a substrate. A molding compound contacts a sidewall of the substrate. A metal pad is over the substrate. A passivation layer has a portion covering an edge portion of the metal pad. A metal pillar is over and contacting the metal pad. A dielectric layer is over the passivation layer. A package material formed of a molding compound or a polymer is over the dielectric layer. The dielectric layer includes a bottom portion between the passivation layer and the package material, and a sidewall portion between a sidewall of the metal pillar and a sidewall of the package material. A polymer layer is over the package material, the molding compound, and the metal pillar. A post-passivation interconnect (PPI) extends into the polymer layer. A solder ball is over the PPI, and is electrically coupled to the metal pad through the PPI.

With the evolving of semiconductor technologies, semiconductor dies are becoming increasingly smaller. More functions, however, need to be integrated into the semiconductor dies. Accordingly, the semiconductor dies need to have increasingly greater numbers of I/O pads packaged into smaller areas, and the density of the I/O pads rises quickly. As a result, the packaging of the semiconductor dies becomes more difficult, and adversely affecting the yield.
Package technologies can be divided into two categories. One category is typically referred to as wafer level package (WLP), wherein the dies on a wafer are packaged before they are sawed. The WLP technology has some advantageous features, such as a greater throughput and a lower cost. Further, less underfill or molding compound is needed. However, the WLP technology suffers from drawbacks. The conventional WLP can only be fan-in type packages, in which the I/O pads of each die are limited to a region directly over the surface of the respective die. With the limited areas of the dies, the number of the I/O pads is limited due to the limitation of the pitch of the I/O pads. If the pitch of the pads is to be decreased, solder bridges may occur. Additionally, under the fixed ball-size requirement, solder balls must have a certain size, which in turn limits the number of solder balls that can be packed on the surface of a die.
In the other category of packaging, dies are sawed from wafers before they are packaged onto other wafers, and only "known-good-dies" are packaged. An advantageous feature of this packaging technology is the possibility of forming fan-out chip packages, which means the I/O pads on a die can be redistributed to a greater area than the die itself, and hence the number of I/O pads packed on the surfaces of the dies can be increased.
The formation of fan-out WLP faces challenges. For example, the formation of the fan-out WLP involves various materials whose characteristics have significant difference. Accordingly, the adhesion strength at the interfaces of these materials needs to be improved. The moisture isolation of the fan-out WLP needs to be improved. Furthermore, the inter-diffusion and out-gassing between the materials involved in the fan-out WLP need to be controlled.

Interconnect structure for wafer level package

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.


A splice tray for accommodating optical fibers comprises a body with a plurality of splice holders at fixed locations thereon, the body having fiber access points at which fiber can enter and leave the body. Fiber paths are provided on the body leading from the access points to and from each splice holder, and each holder is adapted to receive and hold a splice reinforcer within which a fiber splice is present. The length of fiber is accommodated on either side of the splice. An adapter is used with a clip-on power meter to take readings of the transmissivity of fibers stored on storage leaves mounted on the tray body.

This invention relates to a splice tray for accommodating optical fibers.
Where optical fibers have to be connected to one another, a splicing technique is used. The splices have to be stored carefully and with an ample supply of fibre on either side of the splice so that the splice can, if necessary, be remade. Since fibers are normally routed in fibre bundles, it is normal for a large number of fibers to be spliced in the same physical location.
It is therefore conventional to provide a splice tray in which the splice and an associated fibre can be accommodated.
It is always desirable to reduce the volume needed for storing multiple splices, provided that this can be done without comprising the requirements of safe storage and subsequent access.

Slice tray with an adaptor having windows


A card rack is provided for removably housing two types of circuit packs in respective first and second portions, e.g., upper and lower portions of the card rack. The card rack includes connectors for interconnecting components on the circuit packs with one another and to input and output cables. The input cables are connected only to circuit packs of one type which are disposed only in one, e.g., the lower, portion of the card rack. The upper card rack portion overhangs the lower card rack portion for, in combination with sides of the card rack, forming a recessed space through which the input cables are routed to the lower portion circuit packs. The passage of the cables through the recessed space isolates the cables from becoming entangled with traffic passing in front of the card rack and thereby avoids the need for a separate door enclosing the front portion of the card rack. Preferably, the various circuit packs are relatively dimensioned for disposing innermost ends of the circuit packs in a common vertical plane for simplifying both the construction of the card rack and the arrangement used for interconnecting the various circuit packs.

In various applications involving complex electrical and/or optical equipment, such as large computers and telephone exchanges, there exists a need for interconnecting a large number of signal carrying "lines", e.g., metal wires or optical fibers, and for processing the signals being conveyed. Also, flexibility is required for readily changing the system architecture in response to changing needs, e.g., relocation and/or changing service requirements of subscribers to a telephone system.
For accommodating these requirements, "card racks" (or "card cages") have evolved. Such card racks comprise a relatively large enclosure including racks or shelves for removably receiving "cards", i.e., printed circuit boards known as "circuit packs". Each circuit pack includes a plurality of signal processing components mounted on a rigid plate including conductive paths for interconnecting the components to one another and to various connectors also mounted on the rigid plate. The circuit packs are removably mounted, generally in side-by-side relationship, within the card rack by sliding edges of the rigid plates along grooves within support walls of the card rack. Connectors at the leading ends of the rigid plates mate with connectors fixedly mounted within the card rack.
For ease of insertion and removal of the circuit packs (for changing the system configuration), the circuit packs are fully accessible at a front surface of the card rack. Signal carrying lines disposed within cables are connected to various ones of the circuit packs at the card rack front surface, and the cables project forwardly from the card rack front surface before being led away through various cable conduits or channels.
A problem, and particularly in large rooms containing many side-by-side disposed card racks, is that the forwardly projecting cables at the front surfaces of the card racks are subject to being snared by or entangled with traffic passing in front of the card racks, e.g., attendants and equipment carrying carts. One common solution is to provide hinged front doors for enclosing both the front surfaces of the card racks and the portions of the cables projecting immediately forwardly thereof.
The use of hinged front doors, however, presents a new set of problems in that the doors add complexity and expense to the card racks; add delays in obtaining access to the card racks; and inevitably provide dangerous obstacles to traffic passing in front of the card racks.


A preservative solution for low temperature preservation of animal or human organs and animal or plant tissues or cells contains D-allose. For the human kidney, cells derived from animals or humans, or human or animal sperm and/or ovum and/or fermented ovum, the preservation is conducted at from −5 to 20° C. For cells derived from animals or humans, or human or animal sperm and/or ovum and/or fermented ovum, the preservation is conducted at a temperature at which to start freezing to −196° C. A method for the low temperature preservation of an animal or human organ and an animal or plant tissue or cell at a low temperature comprises (a) refluxing or immersing a preservative solution containing D-allose and the organ or the tissue or mixing the cell therewith, and (b) cooling the organ, the tissue or the cell to a low temperature of from −5 to 20° C.

Clinical transplantation therapy of human organs such as the lung, heart, liver, kidney and pancreas has been already practiced and conducted routinely. However, a problem of lack of donors for patients waiting for transplantation who have increased year by year has become serious, and a time to wait till operation has been extended. Even though donors of organ transplantation appear, long-term preservation or supply system of blood or the like has not been currently established well.
Especially in the organ transplantation, the low temperature preservation is mainly conducted, and a time limit of preservation is approximately 4 to 24 hours. Accordingly, urgent establishment of preservation and revival techniques has been in demand. Actually, in the low temperature preservation and revival of the heart extracted from a rat, a rabbit or a baboon using University of Wisconsin Solution (UW solution), the time limit is 6 to 18 hours. In the successful transplantation of the rat's heart by preservation with a combination of this UW solution and a perfluorocarbon medium, the time limit is 24 hours (all of five rats) to 48 hours (four of five rats). The reason is that when the extracted heart is exposed to a low temperature of 4° C. or ischemic disorder, a cell membrane is damaged and thus tissue cells cannot be revived.
When an organ of a patient is seriously damaged and recovery is not expected by ordinary treatment, organ transplantation is conducted which is therapy by transplanting an organ of a donor in a recipient. A donor includes a living person and a dead person, and a dead donor includes a dead person by heart death and a dead person by cerebral death. Under the existing law ("Law regarding Organ Transplantation" effective on Oct. 16, 1997), a declaration of intention of a donor himself is required for organ extraction in both cases. In Japan with life and death thought based on Buddhism thought, donors who make a declaration of intention as an organ donor before death are quite few, and the number of donors is overwhelmingly small in comparison with the number of recipients.
When an organ is extracted from a living body or a donor is dead, its viability is rapidly lost. When an organ poor in viability is transplanted, it is destroyed within a body of a recipient without exhibiting the predetermined function despite good histocompatibility of the organ. Accordingly, apart from the problem of the histocompatibility, it is no exaggeration to say that whether or not organ transplantation is successful depends on how a time that lapses from extraction of an organ to transplantation thereof can be shortened. Since donors are now very few, there is a rare case that a donor resides near a recipient. Therefore, in a site of organ transplantation, an information on donors has been often exchanged usually, or a time that lapses from extraction of an organ to transplantation thereof has been shortened as much as possible by transporting an extracted organ via a helicopter or a jet. However, it is quite clear that such a method depending on a transportation time is limited. For overcoming this limitation, diverse preservative agents for low temperature preservation of organs have been contrived.
As an organ preservative agent which has been put to practical use, an EuroCollins solution comprising glucose and various electrolytes and a UW solution comprising an impermeable component, an oncotic pressure component, an energy metabolism acceleration component and hormone have been well known. It has been said that the EuroCollins solution is effective for the kidney having high viability, while an effect of protection for tissues and cells other than the kidney is not satisfactory. Further, it has been said that the UW solution has defects that it is unstable as a pharmaceutical preparation and has to be preserved at a low temperature after formulation.
As an organ preservative agent free from such detects, Patent Document 1 proposes an organ preservative agent comprising trehalose, hydroxyethyl starch and various electrolytes, and Patent Documents 2 to 4 propose an organ preservative agent comprising potassium L-ascorbic acid DL-α-tocopherol phosphoric acid diester (hereinafter abbreviated as "EPC-K") as a synthetic substance. However, the former organ preservative agent involves problems that since the molecular weight and the degree of substitution of the hydroxyethyl starch as a synthetic substance have to be adjusted to quite limited ranges, it is difficult to formulate the pharmaceutical preparation and maintain homeostasis. Since EPC-K used in the latter organ preservative agent is low in solubility in water and has various pharmacological activities, the mixing amount of EPC-K has to be decreased or the use of the agent itself has to be abandoned sometimes for reasons of recipients.
Patent Document 1: gazette of JP-A-6-40801
Patent Document 2: gazette of JP-A-6-166624
Patent Document 3: gazette of JP-A-7-215801
Patent Document 4: gazette of JP-A-7-330501

Preservative solution for cells, tissues and organs containing rare sugar and preservative method thereof

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY CORPORATION KAGAWA UNIVERSITY


This invention relates to Lipid Microparticles consisting of lipids enriched in amphiphilic components, which promote the incorporation of peptides and/or protein, process for obtaining them as well as use thereof. A cryogenic micronization manufacturing process for their preparation is also disclosed.

Microspheres are an example of a drug delivery system that has been evaluated extensively in several therapeutic fields. They are essentially solid particles with 1 to 500 μm in diameter which can both target their drug cargo by physical trapping in blood vessels (chemoembolisation) and sustain the action of a therapeutic agent through controlled release. Microspheres can be made from a broad range of materials, including proteins, polysaccharides, polyesters and lipids by a variety of different techniques (emulsification, heat stabilisation, coacervation and phase inversion technology). Microspheres are monolithic structures, solid throughout, and distinguishable from more fluid and flexible vesicular systems such as liposomes. They are normally 1-500 μm in diameter and fall between granules (>100 μm) and microparticles (<1 μm). They distinguish from microcapsules for their internal structure, being a homogeneous matrix rather than a vesicular form. Microspheres can be produced from a number of different biocompatible biodegradable materials such as protein (albumin and gelatin) (Biopharm. Drug. Dispos. (1985) 6 pp. 91-104 and Intern. J. Pharm. (1987) 35 pp. 177-179), polyesters (glycolide and lactide) (J. Microencap. (1986) 3 pp. 181-193 and Drug Dev. Ind. Pharm. (1990) 16 pp. 2353-2367), polysaccharides (starch, ethyl cellulose, alginate and chitosan) (Drug Dev. Ind. Pharm. (1996) 22 pp. 457-463 and J. Contrl. Rel. (1997) 43 pp. 65-74), ion exchange resins (J. Contrl. Rel. (1989) 8 pp. 251-257) and lipids (Adv. Drug Deliv. Rev. (1996) 20 pp. 209-219).
Until now, many approaches have been developed to form microspheres whilst simultaneously encapsulating the drug, including such diverse techniques as:
                chemical stabilisation (Biopharm. Drug. Dispos. (1985) 6 pp. 91-104);        heat stabilisation (Experientia (1983) 39 pp. 913-916);        multiple emulsion solvent evaporation (J. Contr. Rel. (1994) 28 pp. 121-129);        multiple emulsion solvent extraction (J. Contr. Rel. (1997) 43 pp. 261-272);        coacervation (Cancer Res. (1993) 53 pp. 5841-5844);        phase inversion nanoencapsulation (PIN) (Nature (1997) 386 pp. 410-414);        spray drying (Pharm. Sci. (1997) 86 pp. 603-607).
Occasionally a drug is added to or complexed onto microspheres after particle formation. Selection of the matrix material and method of preparation are critical in defining overall performance.
The choice will depend on several factors:                size of microspheres required;        inherent properties of the drug, for example, aqueous solubility and stability;        surface characteristics of particles, such as permeability and charge;        degree of biodegradability and biocompatibility;        drug release profile desired.The rate with which the drug is released from microspheres is dependent on three main factors:        solubility of the encapsulated drug and diffusion processes;        rate of particle erosion and biodegradation;        interaction between the drug and the particle matrix leading to immobilisation.Polymeric microparticle are usually prepared by techniques such as single/double emulsion-solvent evaporation, coacervation and spray drying.
These techniques however show some drawbacks: in the solvent evaporation method, high quantity of chlorinated organic solvents are normally used and controlled operative conditions can be rarely achieved; moreover in the case of peptide and proteins the solvents used can denature the structure and lead to a loss of potency. In the O/W single and double emulsion it has been also reported that the accumulation of amphiphilic molecules (i.e. proteins) at organic/aqueous interface layer could cause drug aggregation and precipitation. (Pharmaceuticals Dosage Forms: Disperse systems 2nd Edition. Marcel Dekker Inc. (1998) pp. 163-193).
Spray-drying is a technique in which the polymer and the drug, solubilized or suspended in a medium, are atomized through a nozzle in a chamber where the solvent is forced to evaporate by the effect of a relatively high temperature and the microparticles are collected in powder form at the end of the process. By such evaporation technique the matrices obtained are normally quite porous, leading to a poor drug encapsulation within the matrix resulting in a fast release and in a large initial burst effect. Moreover the air/liquid interface formed during the preparation enhance molecule aggregation (especially for proteins) at the surface. (Mumenthaler M. et al. Pharm. Res. 11 (1994), No. 1).
Therefore the cryogenic micronization can be envisioned as alternative manufacturing method for obtaining microparticles of lipid material, that could lead to remarkable advantages, both in terms of peptide/protein stability and in terms of reducing the burst effect. Moreover, drug release profile can be modulated by obtaining a defined physical state of the lipid, having said lipids various crystalline states (such as polymorphic states).
In the examined prior art, some examples of lipid microparticles have already been described for industrial application in the field of drug release. W. Steber et al. (American Cyanamid Corporation, EP 257368) describe a microsphere composition, containing from 30 to 95% of fats or waxes and about 2 to 70% of a biologically active substance, where the lipid component contains a glyceril tristerate content from 55 to 79%. M. W. Fountain et al. from The Liposome Company, U.S. Pat. No. 4,610,868) claim lipid matrix carriers comprising a hydrophobic compound, an amphipathic compound and a bioactive agent, combined in the form of globular structure, having a diameter from 500 nm to 100 μm. Said carrier is obtained by emulsifying the components and injecting the emulsion into an organic solvent. H. Augart (Warner Lambert Company, U.S. Pat. No. 4,483,847) described a composition for the delivery of drugs, comprising both high and low melting lipids, that after melting, mixing and cooling are granulated for the production of tablets. P. Orsolini et al., (Debiopharm, U.S. Pat. No. 5,192,741) describe a process comprising a cryogenic grinding step, for preparing a pharmaceutical composition containing polylactide, copolymer of lactic and glycolic acid and peptides. Microparticles are obtained by dissolving/dispersing said polymers and the bioactive agent into an organic solvent, removing the solvent while shaping the solid residue.
It is therefore an objective of the present invention to provide lipid microparticles with sustained release and especially a low "burst effect".

Lipid microparticles by cryogenic micronization


Ball bats and methods of making the same are disclosed whereby the handle and barrel members are separate structural components, and whereby the handle member is of sufficient length to extend through the hollow barrel member. The handle member is connected to the barrel member at its proximal and distal ends by proximal and distal connectors. The connection between the handle member at the proximal end of the barrel member is by means of an elastomeric proximal connector. The connection between the handle member and the distal end of the barrel member is accomplished by means of a rigid distal connector. The rigid connection of the handle member's distal end to the distal end of the barrel member and the elastomeric (flexible) connection between the handle member and the proximal end of the barrel thereby allows the handle member to flex substantially across its entire length during ball impact.

The design and construction of non-wood bats has predominately been focussed on aluminum alloys and, to a lesser extent, composite materials such as graphite and glass fibers in an epoxy resin matrix. Historically, these conventional bats have been formed of a one-piece construction wherein the handle and the barrel are formed as a unitary (one-piece) structure, with the handle knob and barrel end cap being attached as separate structural components.
Performance of bats is primarily measured in terms of the speed at which the ball rebounds from the barrel. Over the years, bat manufacturers have made design changes to increase ball speed thus improving the performance of the bat. The principal way that ball speed has been increased is by thinning the wall in the barrel of the bat to increase the spring or trampoline effect when the ball impacts the barrel. An increase in ball speed could be obtained by modifying the barrel's circumferential flexibility due to the stiff transition between the barrel's tapered proximal end and the relatively thick-walled handle. As a result, design efforts to increase bat performance has focused on thinning the wall of the barrel to produce the desired spring effect noted previously.
The challenge to making one-piece thin wall aluminum bats is to have high performance and good durability. Persistent significant problems of barrel denting have occurred for high performance bats having relatively thin-walled barrels. Bat manufacturers have attempted to solve such problem by careful selection of aluminum alloys, but such attempts have not met with complete success.
Bats constructed of composite materials, such as graphite, fiberglass and/or aramid fiber-reinforced epoxy resins, have not met with much commercial success. In this regard, the designers of composite bats have followed the same design objectives to produce thin walled flexible barrel bats as described above. The impact strength of composite materials is much less than that for aluminum and aluminum alloys and thus it has been difficult to match the barrel flex of aluminum without breakage. As a result, composite material bats have been produced with a stiffer barrel which lacks the performance characteristics of the aluminum bats having flexible thin-walled barrels.
Recently, a two-piece bat construction has been proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,593,158 to Filice et al (the entire content of which is incorporated expressly by reference herein). According to this prior proposal, the handle and barrel are separate structural components having conforming taper segments with an elastomeric isolation union disposed therebetween. This elastomeric isolation union provides the only connection between the handle and the barrel and is said to reduce shock transmitted from the handle to the hands of a user when a ball is hit with the bat. The handle member on these types of bats is short in length and increases in diameter to facilitate connection to the larger diameter barrel member. This limited length and increase in diameter of the handle section minimizes the flexural response of the handle.


A processor is provided having a common supply rail, and one or more processor cores, where the one or more processor cores share the common supply rail. Each processor core(s) includes a core dIPC value output and a core throttling signal input, and a chip power management logic, which has at least one input for inputting the core dIPC value, a threshold register for a dIPC threshold value, a chip dIPC register for a current global dIPC value, at least one chip dIPC history register for a historic global dIPC value, a subtractor providing an absolute difference of an average historic global dIPC derived from the historic global dIPC value and the current global dIPC value, a magnitude comparator providing a throttling signal when the absolute difference is above the dIPC threshold value, and at least one output for outputting a core throttling signal to the processor core(s).

The embodiment of the invention relates generally to reducing power grid noise in a processor and particularly to reducing power grid noise in a processor while minimizing performance loss.
In high performance processors, or other integrated circuits (ICs), to increase the processing performance of the processor, the processor chip design typically includes one or more of one or more processor cores and one or more pipelines connecting the processor cores. In addition, in a high performance system, processor system designs often include multiple chips sharing a common supply rail of a power distribution network providing a supply voltage. As the number of processor cores on a same chip or across multiple chips, all sharing a common supply rail, increases, the number of circuits that switch per clock cycle also increases.
In a processor there is noise generated by circuit switching activity at each clock cycle by nodes, busses, and other circuit components sharing a common supply rail. One result of noise generated by circuit switching activity, also referred to as power grid noise or di/dt noise, is that a sudden increase in noise will induce a droop in the supply voltage to the common supply rail of the power distribution network. A sudden, large droop in the supply voltage slows down the circuit response and therefore could cause timing errors on the logical circuit.
To reduce the noise generated by circuit switching activity, a processor may include decoupling capacitors positioned near the switching circuits of the processor cores, where the decoupling capacitors act as a charge reservoir and help reduce noise on the power distribution network as circuit switching activity increases. The supply voltage droop ΔV induced by an increase in circuit switching activity at the chip level is proportional to ΔI*square root(L/C), where ΔI is the increase in current required by chip level switching circuits on the common supply rail, L is the inductance from the chip level circuits to printed-circuit-board or package level, and C is the summed, chip level capacitance of the circuits on the common supply rail. Since many cores can be activated simultaneously, one limitation of implementing decoupling capacitors to reduce noise is in the case where there is a sudden burst of activity on one or more processor cores, increasing the current, and because ΔI is directly proportional to the number of cores on the common supply rail, the sudden increase in ΔI outweighs the noise reduction by the charge reservoirs of the decoupling capacitors, triggering a voltage droop.
To address this problem US 2014/0157277 A1 proposes a method for managing a processor comprising monitoring for an increase in logical operation activity from a low level to a high level during a sampling window across a plurality of cores sharing a common supply rail of the processor, responsive to the processor detecting the increase in logical operation activity from the low level to the high level during the sampling window, limiting the logical operations executed on the plurality of cores during a lower activity period to a level of logical operations set between the low level and a medium level, where the medium level is an amount between the low level and the high level; responsive to the lower activity period ending, gradually decreasing the limit on the logical operations executed on the plurality of cores to resume normal operations. The known method may not detect all logical operation activities which may lead to a voltage droop.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


A method and apparatus is employed to create a mixture having a desired composition. A raw material is separated in a pair of density separators into constituent parts. Those parts are then recombined in a desired fashion using a pair of splitters to create an intermediate mixture and delivered to a third density separator. The third density separator processes the intermediate mixture to create a final mixture having the desired composition.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for sorting mixtures of materials into constituent parts and then recombining the constituent parts into mixtures of a desired ratio. In its simplest form, the apparatus of the present invention uses two or more density separators, a separate control valve associated with each density separator, a separate differential pressure sensor associated with each density separator and at least two splitters, all operated under program control, to first divide a mixture of minerals into constituent parts and then use the constituent parts to create an end product of a predetermined composition. The program used to control the equipment can, of course, be altered to change the composition of the end product.
II. Description of the Related Art
It is well known in the construction arts that the nature and durability of various construction materials which incorporate sand or other granular mineral materials vary based upon the particle size distribution of the granular material used. Thus, various techniques have been employed in the prior art to treat raw sand and other granular materials, the constituent parts of which are of an unknown and non-uniform size, to obtain at least one end product which meets the desired specification. The same techniques have been employed with other particulate materials. Prior art techniques often incorporate the use of one or more density separators which divide a source material into a relatively coarse underflow fraction and a relatively fine overflow fraction. The density separators typically include equipment, such as a valve, for varying the size of the material as required by varying the flow rate of the underflow fraction in relation to the pulp density within the density separator. By using a density separator to separate the raw material into two constituent parts, stockpiles of the constituent parts can be created.
To meet the specification requirements for a particular mixture, a desired blend of the two constituent products can be created. In the prior art, this has typically been done by storing the constituent parts separately in bins and then drawing from the bins whatever relative weights of materials are required for the desired blending. This technique suffers from several disadvantages. First is the cost of the weigh scales and the bins. Second is the space required for such equipment and storage of the constituent parts. Third is the lack of uniformity of blending produced with such equipment due to unpredictable flow rates and non-uniform moisture content of the raw materials used.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,085,912 which issued on Jun. 11, 2000 to Earl L. Hacking, Jr. and Thomas A. Swaninger discloses a system that solves many of the problems outlined in the prior art. The invention disclosed in the '912 patent is directed to an apparatus for separating a first mixture of substantially granular materials into its constituent parts and then remixing constituent parts to achieve a second mixture having a desired composition. This apparatus includes a first density separator which divides the first mixture into first and second flow streams. The first flow stream consists of a first material having a first controlled density or size. Likewise, the second flow stream consists of a second material having a second controlled density and size less than the first controlled density or size. This apparatus also includes a control valve for regulating the exit of the first flow stream from the density separator and for controlling the division of the first mixture into first and second flow streams by the first density separator. A first sensor is also provided. This sensor generates an electrical signal indicative of the rate at which material within the first flow stream is exiting the density separator. The system also includes a second sensor which provides a signal indicative of the pulp density of the material within the first density separator. A splitter is associated with the first flow stream exiting the density separator for controlling the delivery of the material in that flow stream. A controller is also provided to respond in real time to signals provided by the sensors to automatically control the control valve and the splitter to produce an ingredient having a desired composition. The patent goes on to explain how ingredients created using this technique can be recombined to make desired products.
FIG. 1 of the '912 patent specifically shows how a pair of such density separators and splitters can be used in conjunction with other equipment to create at least six different constituent products.
The present invention represents an improvement over what is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,085,912. It provides greater flexibility in combining materials to achieve the precise end product desired without, at the same time, creating numerous other less desirable end products. Thus, the present invention improves on the efficiency achieved by the system shown in the '912 patent and also reduces the space required to produce a desired product.

Apparatus and method for sorting and recombining minerals into a desired mixture


A percussion instrument and its method of construction. The percussion instrument has an annular body with an open top and an open bottom. The annular body has multiple sections that include a first section and an opposite second section. The first and second sections join together at bending regions that are located at opposite sides of the annular body. A striking membrane is stretched taut over the open top of the annular body. An adjustment mechanism is provided that is used to selectively bend the annular body within the bending regions. Depending upon what direction the annular body is bent, the tautness of the striking membrane is either increased or decreased. This selectively alters the tone of the sound produced by the drum.

1. Field of the Invention
In general, the present invention relates to percussion instruments, such as drums and tambourines, that have a striking membrane pulled taut over an annular support. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems and methods used to selectively adjust the tautness of a striking membrane, therein enabling the tone of the percussion instrument to be adjusted.
2. Prior Art Description
The drum is one of the earliest instruments invented and has been in existence for thousands of years. A drum consists of a striking membrane that is pulled taut over a resonance chamber. When the impact membrane is struck, it vibrates and creates a low frequency tone. The tone of a drum depends upon the area of the drum, the materials used to make the drum and the tautness of the striking membrane that is pulled taut to create the drum.
Originally, drums were made by pulling a section of hide taut over a hallowed log or gourd. The hide was pulled taut by the use of strings or cords that were attached to the portions of the hide that overhung the sides of the drum. As the hide stretched, the hide was made taut by tightening the binding cords.
In modern drums, the striking membrane of a drum is usually a thin film of a synthetic material. Although synthetic striking membranes creep far less than do natural membranes, such as leather, modern synthetic striking membranes do stretch over time. Furthermore, modern synthetic striking membranes may also become less taut because of changes in temperature or humidity that cause the drum itself to expand or contract. It is for these reasons that most professional grade percussion instruments, such as drums, tambourines, and bongos contain some mechanism for tightening or loosening the striking membrane.
Most often, the striking membrane is attached to a percussion instrument using a clamping ring. The clamping ring is attached to a plurality of biasing bolts. As the biasing bolts are tightened, the clamping ring stretches the striking membrane, thereby making it more taut.
The use of a clamping ring with multiple adjustment bolts adds significantly to the cost required to manufacture a percussion instrument. Consequently, such adjustment mechanisms tend to only be used on high-end percussion instruments, such as those used by professional musicians. Low-end percussion instruments, such as those used by schools and amateurs, typically do not have the ability to be adjusted in tone by loosening or tightening the striking membrane of the instrument.
A need therefore exists for a simple, low cost device that enables the striking membrane of a percussion instrument to be selectively adjusted. In this manner, the ability to selectively alter the tautness and tone of a striking membrane can be provided to inexpensive percussion instruments. This need is met by the present invention as described and claimed below.

Selectively tunable percussion instrument


Provided is a method of manufacturing an evaporator for a loop heat pipe system including a condenser, a vapor transport line, and a liquid transport line, and more particularly, to a method of manufacturing an evaporator for a loop heat pipe system which provides a simple manufacturing process capable of improving a contact state between a sintered wick and a heating plate.

Electronic parts such as CPUs or semiconductor chips used for various electronic devices such as computers generate a large amount of heat during operation. Such electronic devices are usually designed to operate at room temperature. Accordingly, when heat generated during the operation of an electronic device is not effectively cooled down, the performance of the electronic device is severely deteriorated and, in some cases, the electronic device itself may be damaged.
As a method of cooling down heat generated by various electronic parts, many approaches have been developed such as a heat conduction method using a heat sink, a method of using natural convection or radiation of air, a force convection method using a fan, a method using circulation of liquid, or a submerged cooling method.
However, as nowadays many released electronic products are made slim, an installation distance between electronic parts generating heat during operation is continuously decreased so that heat is not appropriately cooled down. Also, since the heat load of electronic parts has continuously increased due to the high integration and high performance of the electronic parts, the above-described cooling methods are not able to effectively cool down the electronic parts.
As a new technology to solve the above problems, a phase change heat transport system which can cool down an electronic part having a high heat load density per unit has been introduced. A thermosyphon system and a cylindrical heat pipe system are examples of the phase change heat transport system.
According to the thermosyphon system, cooling is achieved using a natural circulation method via a liquid-vapor phase change and a specific gravity difference of working fluid. In a conventional cylindrical heat pipe, cooling is obtained by circulating the working fluid using a capillary pumping force generated by a sintered wick installed in an interior wall of a pipe.
However, in the thermosyphon system, a condenser section must be located higher than an evaporator section. Although this problem is less severe in the case of the heat pipe of the thermosyphon system, a heat transport ability of the heat pipe is quite deteriorated when the condenser section is located lower than the evaporator section in the field of gravity. Accordingly, since there is a limitation in the positional relationship between the constituent elements in the above two systems, this limitation prevents electronic devices employing the above cooling systems from being made slim.
Also, since vapor and liquid flow in opposite directions in a linear pipe of the thermosyphon or the cylindrical heat pipe, the vapor and the liquid may be mixed in the middle of the pipe. Another problem is that the mixture may make the amount of heat actually transported less than that that can be ideally transported.
A loop heat pipe (LHP) system has been suggested as an ideal heat transport system which can solve these problems, that is, the positional limitation and the mixture between the vapor and liquid. The LHP system is a sort of a capillary pumped loop heat pipe (CLP) technology developed by the NASA, U.S.A., to cool down a large amount of heat generated from communications equipment or electronic equipment used for artificial satellites.
Korean Patent No. 671041 entitled "Loop Heat Pipe" discloses a technology about a compact loop heat pipe system. FIG. 1 illustrates a loop heat pipe system 110 according to this conventional technology. The conventional loop heat pipe system 110 includes a condenser 112, an evaporator 114, a vapor line 116, and a liquid line 118, which form a loop. The vapor line 116 and the liquid line 118 are connected between the condenser 112 and the evaporator 114. In the loop heat pipe system 110, a sintered wick 120 is installed only in the evaporator 114 unlike the conventional linear heat pipe of FIG. 1.
In the present specification, the loop heat pipe is referred to as a loop heat pipe system and both terms have the same meaning. Also, the evaporator and the condenser, respectively, have the same meanings as the evaporator section and the condenser section.
The loop heat pipe system 110 operates in the following manner. Heat is applied to a heating plate 122 which is the bottom portion of the evaporator 114 in which the sintered wick 120 is inserted. At that point the sintered wick 120 is saturated with the liquid phase of working fluid due because the heat transported to the sintered wick 120 contacting the heat plate 122. And the applied heat vaporizes the working fluid so that the phase of the working fluid is changed to a vapor state. The vapor is moved toward the condenser 112 along the vapor line 116 connected to a side of the evaporator 114. As the vapor passes through the condenser 112, heat is dissipated externally so that the vapor is liquefied. The liquefied working fluid is moved toward the evaporator 114 along the liquid line 118 at a side of the condenser 112. The above-described process is repeated so that the heat source can be cooled down.
In the evaporation of the working fluid permeated in the sintered wick 120, referring to FIG. 3 that is a cross-sectional view taken along line III-III of FIG. 2 and FIG. 4 showing the sintered wick 120 of FIG. 2 rotated by 180° for the convenience of explanation, a surface 126 of the sintered wick 120 facing the heating plate 122 includes a contact surface 126b contacting the heating plate 122 and a plurality of micro-channels 126a working as a passage of the generated vapor. Accordingly, the sintered wick 120 receives heat via the contact surface 126b contacting the heating plate 120 so that the received heat makes the working fluid permeated in the sintered wick 120 evaporate. The generated vapor is moved toward the condenser 112 along the vapor line 116 connected to a side of the evaporating portion 114 through the micro-channels 126a formed in the surface 126 facing the sintered wick 120.
On the other hand, the performance of an evaporator taking heat from a heat source like an electronic part is determined according to how well the heat transported from the heat source to a heating plate is transported to a sintered wick. In this connection, contact conductance is a factor directly affecting the heat transport between the heat source and the heating plate.
The contact conductance is related to the thermal resistance generated when a metal has a surface contact with another metal and heat transport occurs between the metals. The contact conductance is proportional to the contact area between the two metals. That is, as the contact area increases, the contact conductance increases, and as the contact conductance increases, heat transport is generated further.
However, in a method of manufacturing an evaporator employed in the conventional loop heat pipe system, since the sintered wick having the channels that are the passage of vapor is separately manufactured and then coupled to the heating plate, the manufacturing process is complicated and the state of a coupling surface is not satisfactory. Prior to a description about disadvantages, the conventional method of coupling the sintered wick to the heating plate includes a simple pressing method and a metal coupling method.
According to the simple pressing method, a contact portion of a previously manufactured metal sintered wick is processed/non-processed and a predetermined load is applied to the contact portion so that the sintered wick and the heating plate contact each other and are coupled to each other. In the metal coupling method, metal powder is previously sintered to form a sintered wick and a plurality of channels that are the passage of vapor are formed. After the sintered wick with the channels contacts the heating plate, the sintered wick and the heating plate are sintered again so that metallic coupling is formed between the sintered wick and the heating plate.
On the other hand, in the metal coupling method used for a conventional cylindrical heat pipe with sintered wick, when metal powder is sintered, an auxiliary jig is used to allow the metal powder to contact a heating boundary surface. Then, the metal powder is sintered and coupled to an inner wall of a metal pipe. For a cylindrical heat pipe, since a vapor generation position is not a boundary surface between metal and the sintered wick, but a surface of the sintered wick, a separate vapor passage is not needed so that a method of directly installing metal power on a metal pipe and sintering the metal powder may be used.
However, in order to manufacture the conventional evaporator used for a loop heat pipe system, since the sintered wick with the vapor passage is coupled to the heating plate and vapor is generated from the boundary surface between the sintered wick and the heating plate, the method of directly installing the metal powder to the heating plate and sintering the metal power as in the above-described cylindrical heat pipe cannot be used. Rather, a metal coupling method in which the vapor passage must be formed in a surface of the sintered wick, the side surface is installed on a metal heating plate, and the sintered wick is sintered needs to be used.
Consequently, in order to manufacture the conventional evaporator used for a loop heat pipe system, metal powder is sintered and the channels are formed in the sintered metal powder. Then, the sintered wick with the channels is coupled to the heating plate in the simple pressing method or metal coupling method. Accordingly, a manufacturing process is complicated and a manufacturing cost is high. In particular, since the coupling between the heating plate and the sintered wick is not satisfactory, a value of contact conductance is lowered so that heat transport is not effectively and sufficiently performed. Also, according to the metal coupling method of primarily sintering the metal powder as sintered wick first and then sintering the sintered wick again), changes in the shape, size, porosity, and permeability of the sintered wick due to the fact that the contraction rate of the sintered wick cannot be avoided.
Also, according to the conventional method of manufacturing an evaporator for a loop heat pipe system, the manufactured evaporator has a relatively low contact conductance value as the contact area between the sintered wick and the heating plate is reduced by the existence of the vapor passage (the micro-channels). That is, referring to FIG. 3 showing a cross-section in which the heating plate 122 and the sintered wick 120 having the vapor passage (the micro-channels 126a) are coupled to each other, viewed in a direction making 90° with the direction of the cross section of FIG. 2, the size of the contact surface 126b where the sintered wick 120 and the heating plate 122 contact each other is reduced by the vapor passage so that the amount of heat cannot be sufficiently transported.

Method for manufacturing evaporator for loop heat pipe system

Sungkyunkwan University Foundation for Corporate Collaboration


Disclosed herein are genetically modified microorganisms and related methods for enhanced utilization of oligosaccharides and improved productivity of compounds derived from the metabolism of the oligosaccharides. The microorganisms described herein have altered activities of plasma membrane ATPase protein (PMA1) and/or one or more extracellular glucose sensors, namely, sucrose non-fermenting protein (SNF3), restores glucose transport protein (RGT2), and G protein-coupled receptor 1 protein (GPR1). These genetic modifications provide the microorganisms an increased ability to utilize an oligosaccharide to produce a compound of interest, particularly, tagatose, 2′-fucosyllactose, and psicose. Methods of culturing the microorganisms in the presence of such oligosaccharides to produce the products of interest are also provided.

Oligosaccharides are low molecular weight carbohydrates, containing sugar moieties with a degree of polymerization (DP) between 2 and 10. Oligosaccharides may be obtained from natural sources and may also be synthesized. Some microorganisms naturally consume oligosaccharides and utilize oligosaccharides as their energy sources. Various natural sources of oligosaccharides include milk, honey, sugarcane juice, rye, barley, wheat, soybean, lentils, mustard, fruits, and vegetables such as onion, asparagus, sugar beet, artichoke, chicory, leek, garlic, banana, yacon, tomato, and bamboo shoots. Common oligosaccharide manufacturing methods include hydrolysis of polysaccharides, chemical, and enzymatic polymerization from disaccharide or monosaccharide substrates. Acid, alkali, and enzymatic hydrolysis of polysaccharides generates oligosaccharides of desired structure and functional properties. In general, enzymatic methods are preferred for oligosaccharide synthesis due to their high selectivity and yields, and environmental-friendly nature. Other oligosaccharides may be engineered by introducing exogenous genes to enable oligosaccharides consumption.
Functional oligosaccharides have emerged as valuable components of food and dietary supplements. Their resistance to digestion and fermentation by colonic microbes has given oligosaccharides a nutritional edge. Apart from implications as dietary fibers, sweeteners, and humectants, they are hailed as prebiotics. Their beneficial effects extend from anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, anti-hypertensive, and anti-allergic to anti-cancer, neuroprotective, and improvement of the skin barrier function and hydration. The rising popularity of bioactive oligosaccharides has accelerated the search for their generation from new, sustainable sources.
Oligosaccharides are frequently used as a carbon source or feedstock to fuel the fermentation or other metabolic processes in genetically modified microorganisms used to produce desired products. However, the efficiency of this process is limited by the genetically modified microorganism's ability to efficiently utilize the carbon source provided. In addition, all natural and conventional genetically engineered oligosaccharide utilization systems lose energy during transport of the oligosaccharides into the microorganisms or during cleavage of the oligosaccharides. This loss of energy reduces the efficiency of the microorganism's production of chemicals, which in turn increases the cost and time of production. Therefore, compositions and methods for optimizing a microorganism's utilization of oligosaccharides to reduce the time and expense of producing chemicals is desired.

Engineered microorganisms for enhanced use of oligosaccharides


A method for real time control of lighting system includes the steps of: providing a computer, a SCM (2), a digital-to-analog converter (3), and at least one power amplifier (41, 42, 43) connected to the digital-to-analog converter, each of the at least one power amplifiers connects with a lamp; receiving light control data inputted by a user; transmitting the light control data to the SCM; processing the light control data received by the SCM, and generating digital signals by the SCM; transmitting the digital signals to the digital-to-analog converter; converting the digital signals into an analog signals by the digital-to-analog converter, and transmitting the analog signals to the at least one power amplifier; and amplifying the analog signals and controlling the corresponding lamp connected to the at least one power amplifier. A system for real time control of the lighting system is also provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, generally, to systems and methods for real time control of lighting system.
2. Description of Related Art
Currently, lighting control is mostly done by manually operating a controller. The effect of the lighting control may be influenced by the following factors: Stability of brightness, controlling speed, and light interference between lamps. Manual control involves human judgment and reflexes and this results in instability of brightness and slow reactive control of the lamps.
Accordingly, what is needed is a system and method for real time control of lighting system, which can control the brightness of lamps in real time.

System and method for real time control of lighting system

Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (ShenZhen) Co., Ltd.


Through substrate vias (TSVs) are provided after substantially all high temperature operations needed to form a device region (26) of a first thickness (27) proximate the front surface (23) of a substrate wafer (20, 20′) by: (i) from the front surface (23), forming comparatively shallow vias (30, 30′) of a first aspect ratio containing first conductors (36, 36′) extending preferably through the first thickness (27) but not through the initial wafer (20) thickness (21), (ii) removing material (22″) from the rear surface (22) to form a modified wafer (20′) of smaller final thickness (21′) with a new rear surface (22′), and (iii) forming from the new rear surface (22′), much deeper vias (40, 40′) of second aspect ratios beneath the device region (26) with second conductors (56, 56′) therein contacting the first conductors (36, 36′), thereby providing front-to-back interconnections without substantially impacting wafer robustness during manufacturing and device region area. Both aspect ratios are desirably about ≦40, usefully ≦10 and preferably ≦5.

A need continues to grow for more complex semiconductor (SC) devices and circuits able to operate at higher and higher frequencies and handle increasing amounts of power and have lower unit cost. Many of these requirements create conflicting demands on semiconductor device and integrated circuit (IC) design and manufacturing technology. For example, and not intended to be limiting, most SC devices and ICs are fabricated in and/or on substrate wafers, usually but not always single crystal SC wafers, which are then cut up ("singulated") into the individual devices or ICs. The manufacturing cost can be reduced by using larger and larger wafers, since more individual devices and ICs can be produced at the same time on larger wafers. However, to avoid undue wafer breakage, the wafer thickness must generally be increased as the wafer diameter is increased.
If only one surface of the SC die or IC is available for fabricating devices and connections, the desired degree of complexity may not be achievable with present day structures and fabrication techniques. Further, as operating speed, power handling and wafer thickness increase, efficient heat removal from the resulting device or IC becomes more and more difficult. Thus, there is a strong desire to provide electrically and thermally conductive connections between the front and rear surfaces of the devices or ICs and to minimize the device and/or IC substrate thickness, without compromising mechanical robustness of the wafers during manufacture.
It is known to use conductor filled vias through SC wafers as a means of providing electrical and thermal connections between the front and rear surfaces of the wafer and resulting individual devices and IC die. These conductor filled vias are referred to as "through-substrate-vias" or "through-semiconductor-vias" and abbreviated as "TSV" (singular) or "TSVs" (plural). However, the desire to use larger diameter and therefore thicker wafers for cost efficient manufacturing and at the same time to provide highly conductive TSVs for electrically and/or thermally coupling the front and rear faces of the wafer and resulting die are in conflict. The thicker the wafers, the more difficult it is to etch and fill narrow TSVs with conductors. However, if the vias are made larger, then greater wafer and die surface area must be devoted to such vias. In the prior art, thicker wafers have generally required larger area TSVs consuming greater device and IC surface area, thereby lowering the device and IC packing density on the wafer and increasing the device and IC manufacturing cost. Trying to use large diameter thin wafers so as to maintain the device area packing density reduces the mechanical stability of the wafers. It is well known that thin wafers break more easily during device and IC processing, thereby reducing the manufacturing yield and increasing the cost of the finished devices and ICs. Thus, a need continues to exist for improved SC device and IC structures and fabrication techniques that can provide minimal area TSVs for front-side-to-back-side interconnections and thin device or IC substrates for efficient heat removal, without significantly compromising mechanical stability of the wafers during manufacturing.


The present invention relates to a method for producing a cysteine-rich food material by maintaining a food material containing γ-glutamylcysteine at a ratio of at least 1 wt % to the solid content thereof at a temperature ranging from 50 to 120° C. and at a pH ranging from 1 to 7. This process is conducted in the absence of a sugar and in the presence of water. The present invention also relates to a method for producing a cysteine-rich food material by reacting the food material with a γ-glutamyl peptide hydrolase at a pH ranging from 3 to 9 and at a temperature ranging from 15 to 70° C. in the present of water. Further, the present invention relates to a method for producing a flavor-enhancing material for use in food, food products obtained by these processes, and yeast cells or extracts for use in food products.

Cysteine is used for the purpose of, e.g., flavor improvement of foods. The conventional methods of producing cysteine include proteolysis, semi-synthesis etc., and the methods being mainly used at present are proteolysis and semi-synthesis.
When cysteine is to be used for the above purpose, there is strong need for food materials with a high content of cysteine (i.e., cysteine-rich food materials), but such food materials with a high content of cysteine are hardly known heretofore.
Indeed, there may be mentioned, as an example of accumulating γ-glutamylcysteine within yeast cells, an article wherein γ-glutamylcysteine synthetase was excessively expressed by a genetic engineering procedure, whereby γ-glutamylcysteine was accumulated in a maximal amount of 2% based on the dried yeast cells (Ohtake et al., Bioscience and Industry, vol.50, No.10, pp.989–994 (1992)). It is to be noted, however, that those results were obtained by the use of a yeast accumulating γ-glutamylcysteine in a larger amount, i.e., a laboratory model yeast made by a genetic engineering procedure which usually never happens in nature. Nor is there described in the article any idea of utilizing the yeast as a material for foods.
Further, it is known that γ-glutamylcysteine or a yeast extract or the like containing γ-glutamylcysteine when added to foods enhances "kokumi" (thickness, mouthfulness and continuity) of the food. Further, it is known that food materials obtained by heating γ-glutamylcysteine or a yeast extract or the like containing γ-glutamylcysteine in the presence of a sugar are effective in improving the flavors of foods, as described in, e.g., JP-A 4-66069 and JP-A 4-91762.
More specifically, the former (JP-A 4-66069) describes: "As a result of extensive study to obtain a more preferable meat flavor seasoning, the inventors have found that high-quality roast meat flavor-like seasonings excellent in stability and free of the above-described unpleasant odors and unpleasant tastes derived from yeast can be obtained by adding sugars and, as necessary, amino acids to a yeast extract containing 2 to 20% by weight (solid content) of sulfur-containing compounds such as glutathione, cysteine, or glutamylcysteine" (at the beginning of the "Means to Solve the Problem" section of the patent document), and on the basis of the findings, the inventors had completed "A process for producing seasonings, which comprises adding sugars and, as necessary, amino acids to a yeast extract containing a certain amount (2 to 20% by weight of the extract) of sulfur-containing compounds such as glutathione, cysteine, or glutamyl-cysteine and then heating the mixture at a temperature of 70 to 180° C. for 10 to 180 minutes in the absence of fats and oils" (the "claims" section of the patent document).
Further, the latter (JP-A 4-91762) describes: "Although there are a wide variety of existing meat flavors, all of them have different qualities from natural roast flavors of meat and there has been a need for an agent imparting flavors more similar qualities to natural roast meat flavors" (the "Problem to Be Solved by the Invention" section of the patent document); and "As a result of research on a wide variety of flavors resulting from heat-browning various amino acids and sugars for the purpose of solving these drawbacks, it has been found that a flavor composition having excellent roast meat flavors which could not be achieved heretofore can be produced by adding sugars to γ-glutamylcysteine, then dissolving the mixture in water, and heat-reacting the solution at a temperature of 70 to 180° C. for 10 to 180 minutes, and the present invention has been thereby completed" (the "Means to Solve the Problem" section of the patent document); and discloses "A process for producing a flavor composition, which comprises adding a sugar to γ-glutamylcysteine and heating the mixture at a temperature of 70 to 180° C. for 10 to 180 minutes."
However, it has been noted that these flavor seasonings have the problem of burnt smells getting intensified with increased meat flavors.

Process for producing a flavor-enhancing material for foods


An incinerator for combustible or thermally-decomposable gases includes a device which insures that gas continues to flow through the incinerator in the event of failure of the scrubber fan connected to the outlet of the incinerator. When the scrubber fan fails, a solenoid-operated valve opens, and compressed gas from a tank flows through the valve into the main conduit of the incinerator. The compressed gas enters the main conduit through an air flow amplifier installed within the main conduit. The air flow amplifier magnifies the effect of the compressed gas, and creates a region of negative pressure which assures that toxic or hazardous gases do not remain in the incinerator, but instead continue to flow toward the scrubber fan, even after the fan has failed.

This invention relates to the field of incinerators. The invention is especially intended for incinerating hazardous gases, such as silane, which are vented from semiconductor manufacturing equipment.
Silane gas is a byproduct of the semiconductor manufacturing process. In the latter process, silane gas is generally made to flow, at or near atmospheric pressure, over silicon wafers for reaction with the silicon. Silane leaving the region of the wafers constitutes a safety hazard because it can ignite spontaneously upon contact with air.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,661,056 discloses an incinerator specifically intended for use in burning silane gas or other gases. This specification hereby incorporates by reference the disclosure of the latter patent. The incinerator described in the latter patent has a first pipe and a second pipe, the pipes being mutually perpendicular, and being welded or otherwise bonded to each other. A central section of the exterior wall of the first pipe is open to the second pipe, so that the two pipes are in fluid communication with each other. The first pipe also has an open end, into which air (or some other gas which supports combustion) flows. Silane gas (or some other gas which is to be combusted) enters the system through the second pipe.
In order to assure uniformity of the semiconductor manufacturing process, the silane gas is conveyed through the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus at low pressure. Thus, the silane gas entering the second pipe is still at low pressure. The air entering through the first pipe strikes a side wall of the second pipe, and establishes a turbulent, centrifugal swirling action which causes the air to mix with the silane, and to break oxide bubbles which may have formed around the silane. The swirling action promotes complete combustion of the silane gas. The air also provides a cooling medium for the gaseous products of combustion.
A spark plug provides additional control over the incineration process. The incinerated gases pass through the remainder of the first pipe, and enter a scrubber. A fan draws the gases out of the first pipe and towards the scrubber.
The apparatus described above has the following potential safety problem. If the scrubber fan fails, the air movement through the incinerator is reduced, and there is a risk that the toxic gases still in the incinerator may escape through its open end. One possible solution to this problem is to provide backup power for the scrubber fan, and to connect the process reactor to the fan, so that the reactor stops if the fan fails.
Clearly, the latter solution does not account for the gases which are still located in the process line. To some extent, the fan will continue to draw gases out of the incinerator even after power is lost, because the fan will continue to operate for a short time due to inertia. The effectiveness of the fan after loss of power depends on various factors such as fan capacity, the size and length of the main duct, the number of lines entering the duct, and the length of the conduit between the process reactor and the incinerator. Reliance on the inertia of the fan is obviously not a satisfactory solution, as there is no assurance that the decelerating fan will operate long enough to convey all remaining toxic gases to the scrubber.
The present invention provides an incinerator with an improved auxiliary evacuation system for removing toxic gases from the incinerator in the event of failure of the scrubber fan.

Incinerator with auxiliary gas evacuation system


There is disclosed a synchronous circuit having the function of generating a detecting signal to detect a serial input signal by a receiving stage, and capable of reducing erroneous data by generating a reset signal at every rising and falling edge of the serial input signal.

1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to a circuit for synchronizing a serial input signal with a clock signal, and more particularly to such a synchronous circuit for generating a detecting signal in response to the serial input signal to enhance the immunity from signal malfunctions that may occur, because the detecting period of the received signal is changed due to the change of the reference frequency, i.e. the change in the period or frequency of the clock signal according to the variation of the temperature or the ambient environment.
2. Related Art
A conventional circuit for synchronizing a serial input signal generates output signals synchronized with the initial rising of a serial in the serial input signal, or just in the case where the serial input signal itself rises.
A conventional circuit for synchronizing the serial input signal to output a synchronized serial input signal and detecting signal to detect the received input signal is shown in FIG. 1 and includes a synchronous circuit 1 for synchronizing a serial input signal P2 according to a clock signal P.sub.1 to provide a synchronized serial input signal P3. A reset circuit 2 outputs a reset signal P4 according to the output of the synchronous circuit 1. A frequency divider circuit 3 generates a detecting signal P5 by dividing the reference frequency of the clock signal P1 according to the reset signal P4 output from the reset circuit 2.
The synchronous circuit 1 receives the clock signal P.sub.1 and serial input signal P2. The synchronous circuit 1 synchronizes the serial input signal P2 with a rising edge of the clock signal P1, and outputs the serial input signal P3. The synchronized serial input signal P3 is input to the reset circuit 2 and the reset signal P4, synchronized with the initial rising edge of the synchronized serial signal P3, is output.
As shown in the waveform of FIG. 2(D), the reset signal P4 is still at high level. Reset signal P4 is supplied to the frequency divider circuit 3 to which the clock signal P1 is also input.
The frequency divider circuit 3 begins to operate when the rising edge of reset signal P4 is detected and divides the reference frequency of the clock signal P1 and then outputs the detecting signal P5 that is necessary for detecting the synchronized serial input signal P3.
The synchronized serial input signal P3 is output after being synchronized in the synchronous circuit 1 when the clock signal P1 and received serial input signal P2 are input to the synchronous circuit 1 as shown in FIGS. 2(A) and 2(B), and is synchronized at a rising edge of the signal, when the serial input signal P2 is input and the clock signal P1 is at a high level for the first time, and then output as shown in FIG. 2(,C).
The synchronized serial input signal P3 is input to the reset circuit 2, and the reset signal P4 is output as shown in FIG. 2(D). This reset signal P4 is synchronized at the initial rising edge of the synchronized serial input signal P3 and then supplied as a reset signal to the frequency divider circuit 3.
According to the operational waveforms of FIGS. 2(A)-2(B), showing the operation of the circuit of FIG. 1, an initial pulse of the first serial input signal P2 is used after being synchronized at the rising edge of the clock signal P1, and therefore the detecting signal P5 that is output by inputting the clock signal P1 and reset signal P4, when the reference frequency of the clock signal P1 changes in accordance with the ambient environment or other changing condition, changes according to the variation of the frequency of the clock signal P1.
Thus, if the synchronized serial input signal P3 was detected when the detecting signal P5 changes from being at a high level to a low level, the frequency of the detecting signal P5 would be changed according to the change in the frequency, and therefore, erroneous data different from the serial input signal is input to a receiving stage (not shown).
The following description relates to the case where the detecting signal P5 is output as shown in FIG. 2(F) in the case where the reference frequency of the clock signal P1 is changed by the variance of the ambient environment or temperature.
When the serial input signal P2 is input as shown in FIG. 2(B), "1110001" is output as the value of the received signal, from the detecting signal and the synchronized serial input signal, at the time of changing the detecting signal P5 from the high level to the low level unless there is a change in the detecting period. However, in the case where the detecting signal P5 that is output when the period of the clock signal P1 increases due to the change of the frequency is output as shown in FIG. 2(F), the value of the received signal becomes "1110011". That is because "0", the signal value output at the 6th filling edge after the detecting signal P5 is synchronized, is falsely recognized as a "1".
When the detecting signal P5 output by the frequency divider 3 is output as in the detecting signal P5 because the period of the reference frequency decreases, the value of the received signal detected from a receiving stage is "1110000", and in this case, "1", the value of the 7th falling edge b after synchronizing the detecting signal P5, is falsely recognized as a "0".
As described above, when the reference frequency is changed by the variation of the ambient environment and/or temperature, the period of the detecting signal changes, and as a predetermined time passes, the period thereof becomes delayed. Therefore a signal detected by the detecting signal is erroneous, as the period of the detecting signal increases continuously.
Such a case represents a fatal malfunction to a receiving device using a digital signal, and the variation of the ambient environment becomes a critical factor in designing circuits thereby setting a limit to the selection of the devices. Accordingly, the synchronizing and detecting circuits become complex and increase in size.
In an oscillating circuit using an inductor L or a capacitor C for generating the reference frequency signal, the oscillating frequency of the inductor L and capacitor C is easily changed by environmental conditions such as the temperature, humidity or air-pressure, or by long-time use. Therefore a phase-shift type oscillating circuit or a tuning type oscillating circuit cannot be used. A crystal oscillating circuit with high oscillating frequency stability must be used, which, however results in increased manufacturing costs.

Synchronous circuit for serial input signal


A board game is provided to have a board defining a plurality of pockets symmetrically situated around a periphery of the board and a plurality of depressions for accepting movable game pieces. A rotating shaft of an electric motor is positioned in the center of the board, the electric motor being powered by a battery and controlled by a switch. An outwardly extending arm is attached to rotate with the shaft. A horse figure is permanently attached to the rotating arm, the horse figure being configured to pass over the plurality of pockets. Atop the horse figure is positioned a cowboy figure separate from and removably connected to the horse figure. A plurality of bumps and ridges are positioned between the plurality of pockets and a center of the board for jostling contact with the arm and the connected horse figure and cowboy figure, causing random or semirandom detachment of the cowboy figure from the horse figure, with the cowboy figure falling into one of the plurality of pockets to determine movement of game pieces.

The present invention relates to game board devices for amusement. In particular the present invention relates to a game board device for moving a game controlling element that can randomly fall into a board cavity or pocket.
Mechanically operated games are popular with children because of the activity of the game pieces and the opportunity to interact and control the moving game pieces. One popular class of games includes board games having movement of playing pieces or elimination of players determined by roll of dice or other randomizing elements. These types of games are widely known and available, and have an enduring popularity with children.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,984,105 to Breslow includes a game board having a centrally situated variable speed motor. A toy motorcycle is tethered to the motor so that the motorcycle can rotate about the motor along a circular travel path. Playing pieces and obstacles can be placed in the travel path to allow performance of stunts, such as jumping or maneuvering to obtain game points. Although the toy motorcycle includes a human figure with a motorcycle helmet, the figure is not detachable, and is not intended to be separated from the motorcycle to control game flow or patterns.
Other board games are also known to have rotating elements for assisting in game play. As an example, Ferris, U.S. Pat. No. 4,244,568 describes a manually cranked toy bee that is capturable by toy frog mouths situated around the circular path of travel of the bee. Other examples include U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,257,045; 2,486,752; and 4,022,474, all of which rely on rotating elements to provide for random or semi-random game play.
The present invention provides a novel board game having manually or electrically powered elements for determining game play. The board game of the present invention includes a board defining a plurality of pockets and a movable mechanism having an outwardly extending arm and a holder attached to the arm. The holder is configured to pass over the plurality of pockets as the arm moves across the board. A detachable figure separate from and removably connected to the holder is positioned on the holder, and a game action is provided by a mechanism that may include bumps or ridges in the game board for jostling the holder to cause random or semirandom detachment of the figure from the holder. Upon detachment, the figure falls into one of the plurality of pockets to determine game play and movement of game pieces.
In preferred embodiments, the movable mechanism includes an electric motor that rotates a shaft, with the electric motor being powered by a replaceable battery. Typically, the plurality of pockets are symmetrically defined and evenly spaced along the periphery of the board. A plurality of bumps and ridges are defined to lie between the plurality of pockets and the electric motor, acting to jostle the holder, which typically is a horse figure constructed from plastic or wood. The detachable figure is a cowboy figure that can be seated or mounted upon the horse figure, but is not rigidly attached to the horse figure. After receiving multiple jostling impacts, the cowboy figure falls from the horse, and comes to rest in one of the pockets defined in the board.
In an alternative embodiment, the board game includes a board, a plurality of catchment devices positioned around the board, and a mechanism for moving an outwardly extending arm in a circle. A holding mechanism, such as a horse figure, is attached to the outwardly extending arm, and the holding mechanism is configured to pass over or adjacent to the plurality of pockets. Also provided is a detachable figure separate from and removably connected to the holding mechanism. The holding mechanism is jostled as the outwardly extending arm contacts bumps or ridges defined in the game board, causing random or semirandom detachment of the figure from the holding mechanism, with the figure falling into one of the plurality of catchment devices to determine game play.
Advantageously, the present invention enhances static board game play with the random or semi-random "bucking" action of the motor controlled horse figure. After some indeterminate amount of bucking, the cowboy figure falls into a pocket, the particular pocket into which the cowboy falls determining movement of game pieces. This provides a lively and enjoyable game for children that can be economically produced and distributed.
Other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will be apparent upon consideration of the accompanying drawings and detailed description of the invention.


A zoom optical system consists of a first lens group having negative refractive power, a second lens group having positive refractive power, and a rear lens group which are disposed in order from an object. The rear lens group comprises a last lens group and an F lens group in order from a side closest to an image. Lens groups forming the first lens group, the second lens group, and the rear lens group are configured in such a manner that, upon zooming, the respective lens groups move and a distance between the lens groups adjacent to each other changes. At least a part of the F lens group is configured to move upon focusing. Further, the following conditional expression is satisfied.−0.220<f1/fE<0.280where f1: a focal length of the first lens group, and                fE: a focal length of the last lens group

Conventionally, a zoom optical system suitable for a photographic camera, an electronic still camera, a video camera, and the like has been proposed (for example, see Patent literature 1). The conventional zoom optical system has a problem that an angle of view is narrow in a wide angle end state and a variation of aberration is large upon zooming.

Zoom optical system, optical apparatus and method for manufacturing the zoom optical system


The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for processing sheet material, in particular papers of value such as bank notes, checks, etc., wherein different groups of sheet material are processed one after the other, the different groups of sheet material being separated for processing by separation means.

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for processing sheet material, in particular papers of value such as bank notes, checks, etc., wherein different groups of sheet material are processed one after the other, the different groups of sheet material being separated for processing by separation means.
In the processing of different groups of bank notes, the different groups of bank notes correspond to deposits by different depositors which are separated by means of separation cards. The separation cards are inserted between the different deposits to separate them. The separation cards can be disposed at the beginning, the end, or the beginning and end of the group of bank notes forming the particular deposit. The separation cards can contain information for example on the depositor and/or the deposit. Further, the separation cards are so designed as to be recognized automatically during processing by the sensors of the bank note processing machine. When a separation card is recognized, the bank note processing machine can enter the associated group of bank notes in the books for the corresponding deposit or corresponding depositor.
The known method has the disadvantage, however, that disturbances and faulty results repeatedly occur during processing of different groups of sheet material despite the design of the separation cards. It is especially problematic that jams or other operating disturbances can result in the bank notes being mixed, i.e. one or more bank notes of one deposit are mixed with bank notes of another deposit in the bank note processing machine. Since the boundaries between different deposits can only be recognized when a separation card is transported through the sensors and recognized, it is not readily possible to avoid mixing since at this time bank notes of the next deposit have normally already been singled and are located in the bank note processing machine. If a disturbance occurs at this time, the bank notes from the two different deposits can no longer be separated so that they cannot be clearly associated with the two different deposits.

Method and apparatus for processing sheet material

Abstract: In order to avoid mixing of sheet material, it is provided to restrain the singling of separation means and bank notes until release.


A New Guinea Impatiens plant named ‘Fisnics Sweor,’ particularly distinguished by the pale pink and orange-red, bi-color flowers, very dark green foliage, large, glossy leaves, about medium growth vigor, initially tight, later moderately tight, semi-spherical habit, and about mid season flowering.

The present invention comprises a New Guinea Impatiens, botanically known as Impatiens hawkeri and hereinafter referred to by the variety name 'Fisnics Sweor.'
'Fisnics Sweor' is a product of a planned breeding program. The new cultivar has light pink and orange-red, bi-colored flowers, very dark green foliage, and about medium sized plant habit.
'Fisnics Sweor' originated from a hybridization made in the summer of 2004 in a controlled breeding program in Hilllscheid, Germany. The female parent was an unpatented hybrid seedling identified as 'k04-4119-5' with red and pale pink, bi-color flower, dark green foliage, and compact plant habit.
The male parent of 'Fisnics Sweor' was an unpatented hybrid seedling identified as 'k04-4095-1' with orange-red and nearly white flower color, dark green foliage, and vigorous growth habit.
The resulting seeds were sown in November 2004, and 'Fisnics Sweor' was selected as one flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross in the spring of 2005 in a controlled environment in Moncarapacho, Portugal.
The first act of asexual reproduction of 'Fisnics Sweor' was accomplished when vegetative cuttings were taken from the initial selection in July 2005 in a controlled environment in Moncarapacho, Portugal.
Horticultural examination of plants grown from cuttings of the plant initiated in late February of 2006 in Hillscheid, Germany, and continuing thereafter, has demonstrated that the combination of characteristics as herein disclosed for 'Fisnics Sweor' are firmly fixed and are retained through successive generations of asexual reproduction.
'Fisnics Sweor' has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary significantly with variations in environment such as temperature, light intensity and day length.
Plant Breeder's Rights for this cultivar were applied for in Canada on Apr. 29, 2008 and in Switzerland on Mar. 20, 2008. 'Fisnics Sweor' has not been made publicly available more than one year prior to the filing of this application.


An electrical connector including a plurality of conductors, at least one male terminal electrically connected to at least one of the plurality of conductors, and at least one female terminal electrically connected to at least one of the plurality of conductors. At least one male terminal includes a cross-section defining at least one line contact. At least one female terminal is for electrical connection to at least one male terminal. At least one female terminal includes both a longitudinal split and an approximately circular cross-section.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and, more particularly, to an electrical connector for a motorcycle rectifier.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an electrical connector with two parts where one connector part has at least one male terminal and the other connector part has at least one female terminal, a common problem when electrically connecting the two parts is contact resistance between corresponding male and female terminals. If the connector is part of a relatively high current circuit, the effect of contact resistance between corresponding male and female terminals is amplified according to Ohm's Law, i.e., the voltage drop across the terminal pair is the current through the terminal pair multiplied by the contact resistance between the terminal pair, assuming the terminals' resistance are negligible. The higher current thereby produces a higher voltage drop across the terminal pair. Concurrently, high contact resistance can act as a current limiting device which limits current to the electrical load connected to the electrical connector. The effect of reduced voltage and/or current to the electrical load can limit the performance of the electrical load, shorten the useful life of the electrical load and/or render the electrical connector essentially non-functioning.
Additionally, the heat generated by the electrical connector according to the equation P=I2R (where P is the heat loss by the connector, I is the current through the connector and R is the contact resistance) can start a negative spiral which ultimately leads to a failure of the connector. For example, the heat generated by the current through the connector and the contact resistance can breakdown the insulation associated with the connector. The heat generated by the electrical connector can also degrade the contact between connector terminals by accelerating corrosion, oxidation, pitting, etc., of the terminals dependent on environmental factors, and connector design and composition.
The contact resistance between two terminals in a connector is proportional to the resistivity of the current carrying materials of the terminals and inversely proportional to the contact area between the terminals. From these relationships it is desirable therefore to have as large of an area of the terminals in mutual contact and also have the area of the terminals in mutual contact free from relatively high resistivity materials such as metal oxides.
A known connector terminal design includes a barrel shaped female terminal and a rod shaped male terminal, both with circular cross-sections. Ideally, the entire inside surface of the female barrel is in contact with the entire outside surface of the male rod; however, this ideal surface contact is never realistically achieved. According to known design principles and achievable, cost effective manufacturing tolerances, the male rod when inserted into the female barrel tends to arrive at a three point mutual contact which has a very small mutual contact area. Further, the three points in contact when the male terminal begins insertion into the female terminal are different than the three points in contact when the male terminal is fully inserted into the female terminal. Stated differently, the three point mutual contacts between the male and female terminals can wander around the circumferences of the corresponding terminals. The final surfaces in mutual contact after complete insertion of the male terminal therefore have been subjected to minimal, if any, frictional forces that would tend to scrape away higher resistivity material surface layers associated with the terminals, such as a metal oxide surface layer.
What is needed in the art is an electrical connector with male/female terminal pairs which provide consistently low contact resistance and which are reliable and cost effective to manufacture.


A drill chuck has a chuck body, a jaw holder element rotatable on the body and formed with a plurality of angularly spaced guides, and a sleeve element surrounding the holder element and body. Jaws in the guides can be shifted in the guides forward and together on rotation of the holder element in a tightening direction relative to the body and oppositely on rotation of the holder element relative to the body in an opposite loosening direction. Interengaging formations on the sleeve element and on the body limit relative angular movement of the sleeve element on the body between a pair of angularly offset end positions. An annular array of teeth rotationally fixed to the sleeve element can be engaged by a pawl angularly fixed on the holder element. A release ring rotatable the body rearward of the sleeve is rotationally coupled to one of the elements.

A self-tightening drill chuck has a chuck body, a tightening sleeve that can rotate coaxially to the chuck body, and a jaw holder supported on the chuck body in which jaws are guided in guide slots. The jaws can be adjusted by the jaw holder by a relative rotation between the chuck body and the tightening sleeve for tensioning and loosening. A locking device comprises an annular array of teeth coaxial with the chuck axis and a pawl that engages under the force of a spring into the gear ring and is supported on the jaw holder. This locking device locks the chuck body and the pawl against relative rotations for loosening the jaws when the pawl has engaged into the teeth but does not hinder relative rotation tightening. A stop formation on the jaw holder and a counterstop formation on the tightening sleeve limit relative rotation of the tightening sleeve relative to the jaw holder between a first rotational end position corresponding to the engaged state or locking position of the pawl and to a second rotational position corresponding to the disengaged state or a freeing position. A latch with a seat associated with the first rotational position and with another seat associated with the second rotational position is provided between the jaw holder and the tightening sleeve. This latch does not release rotation of the tightening sleeve relative to the jaw holder at least in the tightening direction until a predetermined tensioning force has been achieved.
Such a drill chuck is known from WO 2006/111114. It has the advantage of a simplified manipulation in comparison to earlier known self-tightening drill chucks since the user need merely grasp and rotate the tightening sleeve in order to achieve the tightening or loosening of the drill chuck as a function of the direction of rotation selected. However, it has turned out to be possible on account of the self-tightening property of the drill chuck in certain areas of application that the drill chuck can self tighten to such an extent that it can no longer be opened manually.