A method of determining unauthorized user access requests in a data processing system, the method comprising the steps of accessing a record of role managed authorizations and a record of manually assigned authorizations, receiving a record of user authorization requests from a plurality of data processing systems, and comparing the record of user authorization requests to the record of role managed authorizations and to the record of manually assigned authorizations to identify any unauthorized authorizations.

In complex computing and data processing systems, authorization of access to components within a system is of a paramount importance. For example, a database system that maintains employee records for a company will manage authorization of access to the records with a list of users who are authorized to access the stored data. Individual users may have different authorization levels managed by the list, such that some users have access to only part of the data stored by the database system.
Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) is a very good model for managing users and their authorizations. In the RBAC model, authorizations are granted and revoked based on the specific roles with which a user is associated. The authorization to user assignment is expressed by policies that define the set of authorizations granted by membership to a role. FIG. 1 shows schematically the relationship between User, Role, Policy and Authorization. A user will be associated with one or more roles (based upon the user's assigned responsibilities), and each role has a policy defined that gives one or more authorizations in relation to one or more systems which the user can access.
Current systems that provide functionality to support RBAC on multiple platforms (such as IBM Tivoli Identity Manager—ITIM) support two methods of administration: RBAC and manual assignment of individual authorizations. The RBAC model is advantageous because it ties authorizations to the roles the user performs in a business context, using a set of policies. The manual model is advantageous because it is very flexible, and allows fine grained control on a per-user basis. In real world implementations, the data processing system aims to implement a fully RBAC model but often a combination of RBAC and the manual model is required to allow the full set of authorizations to be assigned to users. FIG. 2 shows schematically how authorizations are generated for a user, where RBAC authorizations are granted and revoked based on role membership, and individual authorizations are managed by a human administrator.
When authorizations are applied to a target system (i.e. the end system is informed that user x has an authorization with respect to that system) there is no way to tell how the original assignment to the user was made (it can be assigned either by role, individually or both). This occurs because most systems are not prepared for a management layer and have fixed data models for the authorization data (i.e. they have a single field for groups on the user account). The management systems of today adopt the data model from the targets systems and therefore use a single field for authorization data (typically groups).
Support for individual authorizations can be achieved by creating a role for each authorization but this approach has a major drawback in the number of roles in the system. If the RBAC system manages large systems then the number of roles can easily exceed 20,000, and this makes management difficult. Individual authorizations are managed by a human administrator.

International Business Machines Corporation


A semiconductor device having a moisture barrier comprises a semiconductor substrate, a plurality of bonding pads arranged along at least one side of the semiconductor substrate, and an insulating film provided between at least one side of the semiconductor substrate and the bonding pads opposite to that side, and provided with means for preventing incursion of moisture, thereby to prevent moisture from being absorbed from the chip side surface. Further, there is also disclosed a method of manufacturing such a semiconductor device, which comprises the steps of forming an insulating film on a semiconductor wafer, forming a plurality of bonding pads arranged along dicing lines of the semiconductor wafer, and forming a contact hole or a via hole in the insulating film, and forming at the same time, a groove structure so that it is arranged between the dicing lines and the plurality of bonding pads.

This invention relates to a semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing the same, and more particularly to a technology to improve moisture resistance of a semiconductor device.
In semiconductor devices, aluminum wiring is frequently used at present. However, aluminum wiring is apt to become extremely corroded. Such wiring corrosion is simply called corrosion, and is a the very serious problem from a viewpoint of reliability of the semiconductor integrated circuit device. One of the causes of corrosion of aluminum wiring is moisture. By incursion of moisture, the moisture resistance of the semiconductor device is deteriorated. Particularly, in so called plastic packages molded by plastic resin, adhesion between the plastic resin and metal such as copper serving as a lead is poor. As a result, it is difficult to completely prevent moisture diffusion from the lead portion on the package side surface. Further, the plastic resin itself is somewhat has hygroscopic property.
For this reason, as a measure for improving moisture resistance of the semiconductor chip, passivation film (surface protective film) is conventionally used. For such a passivation film, a layered product comprised of a silicon nitride film (Si.sub.3 N.sub.4), or Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 /PSG film, etc. is used. This passivation film can advantageously protect moisture incursion from the upper direction of the semiconductor chip . Meanwhile, in the process for manufacturing semiconductor devices, after a passivation film is formed on the entire surface of the wafer, the wafer is subjected to dicing. Thus, chips are quarried. In this case, however, since the side surface of the chip having a cutting plane is not covered by the passivation film, incursion of moisture from the chip side surface constitutes a great problem. Namely, moisture comes into contact with BPSG film or PSG used as an insulating film to produce phosphoric acid. This phosphoric acid corrodes aluminum wiring, etc.
As stated above, the conventional semiconductor devices have the problem that aluminum wirings and/or elements in the chip would be corroded by incursion of moisture from the side surface where there is a cutting plane of a semiconductor chip formed by dicing a semiconductor wafer, disadvantageously resulting in an unsatisfactory operation.

Semiconductor device having a moisture barrier around periphery of device


A low-cost water and wastewater treatment system having several embodiments achieves efficient contaminant removal in an environmentally "friendly" manner. The technology couples biological and passive chemical unit processes, and relies largely on pH changes to remove contaminants. A first embodiment focuses on a sequential two-unit treatment process consisting of a submersed aquatic vegetation (SAV) cell followed by a limerock (LR) bed. A second embodiment merges the two sequential treatments into one compartment where the LR bed is coincident with the SAV unit. A third embodiment describes the replacement of the SAV unit with a periphyton raceway unit, which is then followed sequentially by a LR bed. All three embodiments contain control elements for determining when and how much recycle within and flow between the treatment systems should occur, and if and when chemical addition should be performed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the removal of metals, nitrogen, phosphorus, oxygen-demanding substances, and certain classes of synthetic organic compounds from municipal, industrial, urban, and agricultural wastewaters and runoff. In addition, the invention has application to the treatment of surface and ground waters.
2. Description of Related Art
Chemicals such as iron and aluminum salts frequently are used to coagulate and remove phosphorus and other contaminants from wastewaters and runoff. One drawback of chemical treatment technologies, besides the expense, is that most of them contribute toxic residual components (e.g., aluminum, caustic pH, and a potential for sulfide production) either to the treated wastewater or to the residual sludge/backwash. Chemical treatment systems also require operator control and maintenance, coagulant aids, pH stabilization, the use of hazardous chemicals, and sludge/backwash residuals disposal, all factors that are expensive and require energy supplements and process control capability. The cumulative effect of these requirements is that the systems are reliable only when they are designed, constructed, maintained, and operated by skilled personnel. For instance, in the case of phosphorus, there are instances when the target 50 ppb total phosphorus (TP) concentration in treated agricultural drainage waters has not been met with chemical-intensive techniques, even with intensive oversight (Anderson et al., 1992).
Wetlands, artificial (constructed) or natural, are commonly used as a less expensive and more passive vehicle than conventional technology for treating many types of wastewaters, such as domestic sewage, urban and agricultural runoff, industrial and mining wastes. Wetlands can support and provide the necessary biogeochemical processes needed for the transformation, reduction, and immobilization of primary, secondary, and trace pollutants (including xenobiotics and heavy metals). The passive nature of wetland treatment technologies makes them cost effective compared to more traditional engineered wastewater treatment systems.
One drawback to wetland treatment systems is their requirement for large areas of land, approximately 10-100 times as much land area as a conventional treatment plant, or, in terms of capacity, 5-40 acres per 10.sup.6 gallons of wastewater treated per day. Another serious drawback in existing wetland wastewater treatment technologies has been the poor removal performance of some contaminants, such as total phosphorus (Dierberg and Brezonik, 1983; Richardson, 1985). Long-term TP removal in wetlands underlain by organic soils such as in the Everglades relies on peat accumulation, which occurs at a rate of approximately 1 g P/m.sup.2 year. Although this is an extremely slow process, given enough wetland area, concentrations of TP in sugarcane field drainage water can be reduced to less than 50 ppb (Abtew et al., 1995).
Limerock beds or filters have been used less frequently for removing contaminants from surface and wastewaters than have wetlands. Whereas physical (e.g., settling, filtration) and biological (e.g., oxidation, nitrification, denitrification) processes dominate in attenuating contaminants in wetlands, chemical processes (e.g., adsorption, surface complexation, surface precipitation) predominate in the removal of contaminants on the surfaces of limerock.
To date, most of the applications of limerock for contaminant removal in waste streams have been experimental, often producing lackluster results. This is because of the moderate pH typically found for waters in equilibrium with calcium carbonate; pH values of phosphorus-laden waters are frequently lower than 8.0 due to the respiratory activities of microbiota and the adsorption/precipitation reactions, both of which produce hydrogen ions. It has been found that the efficacy of contaminant removal mediated by limerock increases with pH from a value of approximately 8.0, below which the process is minimally effective.

Sequential biological-chemical water treatment system


This invention is directed to methods of treating inorganic surfaces with aqueous compositions including ionic organosilicon compounds. Surprisingly, it has been found that the application of water soluble ionic organosilicon compounds, which until the present invention have only been used in small quantities to solubilize silanes, to inorganic surfaces provides the treated surface with an excellent hydrophobic property. The present invention exclusively utilizes ionic organosilicon compounds as the main or sole component for imparting water repellency upon surface treatment of inorganic substrates. The methods of the present invention comprise the application of ionic organosilicon compounds to inorganic surfaces whereby imparting water resistance to the substrate. After application, a treated surface may be characterized as having a long term water repellant property.

This invention relates to methods of water proofing inorganic surfaces with an aqueous solution containing an ionic organosilicon compound. Additionally, the present invention is directed to an inorganic surface treated with an aqueous solution containing an ionic organosilicon compound such that a water resistant film covers the inorganic surface.
Water resistance is an important issue in many types of construction including masonry and concrete. Resistance to water is of great importance since moisture absorption and its movement in these types of materials cause or contributes to problems such as expansion, shrinkage, cracking, staining, mildew, lowered resistance to freezing and thawing, chemical attack, corrosion of reinforcing steel, and damage to structures from settling. Due to these problems, various techniques have been used to render these types of surfaces water resistant including surface treatment of structures with water repellents. Water repellents that have been used in the past include oils, waxes, soaps, and resins. These repellants have been applied to surfaces by brush, roller, air spray, or airless spray techniques. One type of water repellent that has been used is organosilicon compounds. These compounds in organic solvents have been found to be useful for providing water resistance to brick, concrete, stucco, or terrazo surfaces.
As discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,073,195, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference, application of organosilicon compounds to surfaces for water proofing is well known in the art. The use of organosilicones such as alkyltrialkoxy compounds for imparting water resistance has been known for at least 30 years. Traditionally, application of these compounds was carried out in flammable solvents such as ethanol, methanol and various liquid hydrocarbons. During application, volatile organic compounds (VOC) were heavily emitted. Due to these problems, significant efforts were employed to formulate a nonflammable composition for imparting water resistance to masonry and concrete surfaces. The first approach attempted included various water emulsions containing organosilicon compounds. However, these formulations failed to provide water resistance comparable to the solvent based compositions. In recognition of the shortcomings associated with the water emulsion formulation, formulations were developed to make alkyltrialkoxy silanes water soluble. Formulations of this type utilize water soluble amino and quaternary ammonium organosilanes along with alkyltrialkoxysilanes of the traditional formulations. The intent of these formulations was to exploit the soluble organosilanes to solubilize the alkyltrialkoxysilanes, which provided the water repellant characteristic.
In addition to water resistance, numerous types of construction materials benefit from treatment with an antimicrobial agent. Antimicrobial agents are chemical compositions that prevent microbial contamination and deterioration of materials. Possibly the most prevalent group of antimicrobials is quaternary ammonium compounds. The use of low level (1% or lower) quaternary ammonium silanes as antimicrobial agents is well known and taught in a wide variety of United States patents including U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,560,385; 3,794,736; and 3,814,739. Due to their antimicrobial qualities, their application is beneficial for a variety of surfaces, substrates, instruments and applications. Examples of such uses are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,730,701; 3,794,736; 3,860,709; 4,282,366; 4,504,541; 4,615,937; 4,692,374; 4,408,996; and 4,414,268; the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. Application of an aqueous solution containing a quaternary ammonium silane is discussed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,921,701 and 5,169,625.
Relevant to the present invention are U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,209,775, 5,421,866, 5,695,551, CA 2,115,622 and JP 3,159,975. These patents are directed to water dispersible or water emulsion water repellent compositions of silicon compounds. The compositions disclosed in these patents contain (1) alkylalkoxy silane or siloxanes; (2) a water soluble silane; and (3) either aminosilane or quaternary ammonium silane. The role of soluble silane, aminosilane or ionic quaternary ammonium silane, in these compositions is to stabilize the alkylalkoxysilane, siloxane, or other water insoluble polymers in water.
The use of hydrophobic water insoluble silanes as water repellents in various organic solvents such as alcohols and hydrocarbons has been traditionally preferred due to their superior performance. However, the principal limitations of these solvent type compositions include their inherent toxicity and flammability. While providing an ecological improvement over solvent based treatments, the existing organosiloxane emulsions and water dispersible silanes or siloxanes do not compare well with existing solvent-base silanes, silane/siloxanes combinations or siloxanes in terms of stability, penetration depth, and the beading effect of the treated substrate. Additionally, the use of surfactants may cause rewetting of the surface.
Therefore, there remains a need for an aqueous water proofing treatment capable of providing at least equally efficient water resistance as treatments utilizing solvent based compositions. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method of treating surfaces with an aqueous solution; wherein the treated surface exhibits water resistance at least equal to that provided by solvent based treatments. Additionally, it is an object of this invention to provide the following three highly desired requirements for providing long term hydrophobicity on inorganic substrates: (1) application of a safer and environmentally acceptable aqueous solution, (2) imparting molecular level hydrophobicity and (3) reactivity with a substrate to provide long term performance.

Methods of treating surfaces with ionic organosilicon compositions


A method, an apparatus, and a system for a location update are provided. When detecting that a location update needs to be performed in a first mobile communication network, a request message including instruction information is sent to a mobile management device in the first mobile communication network, so that the mobile management device in the first mobile communication network sends a request message to a mobile management device in a second mobile communication network when executing the location update, so as to trigger the mobile management device in the second mobile communication network to reset a periodic update timer, which implements that a location update of a single-card dual-standby user equipment is synchronously performed in the first mobile communication network and in the second mobile communication network.

With the development of mobile communications technologies, based on the second-generation (2G) mobile communication network and the third-generation (3G) mobile communication network, a mobile communication network with higher and higher transmission rate, such as, a fourth-generation (4G) mobile communication network, is widely applied increasingly. However, in a process of developing the high-speed mobile communication network such as the 4G mobile communication network, limited by various conditions, the existing low-speed mobile communication network cannot be completely upgraded to a new high-speed mobile communication network in a short time. Therefore, the foregoing high-speed mobile communication networks coexist with the existing low-speed mobile communication networks for a long time. Because a single-card dual-standby user equipment (UE) resides in two mobile communication networks, the single-card dual-standby user equipment needs to execute, in the two mobile communication networks, a location update caused by a location change and a location update caused by timeout of a periodic update timer.
However, in a period after the location update caused by the location change is executed in one mobile communication network, the single-card dual-standby user equipment may also need to execute, in the other mobile communication network, the location update caused by the timeout of the periodic update timer. In this way, the single-card dual-standby user equipment is continually activated to execute the location update, resulting in unnecessary electric energy loss of the single-card dual-standby user equipment.

Method, apparatus, and system for location update


This nonvolatile semiconductor memory device comprises a memory cell array including a plurality of bit lines, a plurality of word lines intersecting the plurality of bit lines, and memory cells provided at intersections of the plurality of bit lines and the plurality of word lines, and further comprises a control unit for controlling a voltage applied to the bit lines and word lines. The memory cell includes a variable resistance element and a rectifier element. The control unit provides a first potential difference to a selected memory cell via a selected bit line and a selected word line, and then provides a second potential difference to the selected memory cell via the selected bit line and the selected word line, the second potential difference being for erasing a residual charge.

In recent years, resistance varying memory has been receiving attention as a successor candidate of flash memory. Resistance varying memory usually has a cross-point type structure configured having memory cells arranged in a matrix at intersections of a plurality of bit lines and a plurality of word lines intersecting these bit lines, the memory cell comprising a variable resistance element and a rectifier element.
In such a cross-point type resistance varying memory, the rectifier element is provided to suppress a current flowing in an unselected memory cell. A residual charge occurs in such a rectifier element. This residual charge sometimes causes a malfunction, lowering of operation speed, or the like.

Nonvolatile semiconductor memory device and control method thereof


The present application provides a method for measuring coking propensity of a fossil fuel, comprising mixing an iron powder with a fossil fuel, wherein the iron powder has an average particle size of less than or equal to 100 μm; reacting the iron powder with the fossil fuel at a temperature and a pressure sufficient to allow coking for a period of time; separating a supernatant and a solid product after said coking; and analyzing the solid product for carbon content, wherein the carbon content is proportional to the coking propensity. There is also provided is a method for measuring effectiveness of a coking inhibitor.

Coke is the solid carbonaceous material that can be made in many ways, including the destructive distillation of low-ash, low-sulfur bituminous coal, from cracking petroleum or from pyrolysis of biomass. Coke has many commercial uses and applications, the largest of which is as a fuel. However, it can also be undesired, fouling lines and clogging systems.
The coking behavior of a refinery hydrocarbon stream can be difficult to predict. First of all, coking is a subtle process, occurring very slowly after large amounts of hydrocarbon are exposed to heated metal. It is difficult to achieve a laboratory method to simply and accurately predict the coking reaction that will occur. Secondly, there are few good ways to rank the effectiveness of coking inhibitors. The reactions are slow, chemical amounts are low, and the affected metal surface areas are small. For example, Conradson carbon residue (CCR) measurements can indicate coking potential, but is time-consuming. Other instrumental monitoring methods for the coke lay-down reaction can also be used, but these tend to be expensive. To overcome the inherent limitations of prior techniques, either the reaction times or the sample sizes have to be large, thereby compensating for the relatively small reaction zone.
Although difficult, predicting coking behavior and inhibition are growing more important. The lighter grades of crude oil produce the best yields of fuel products, but as the world's reserves of light and medium oil are depleted, oil refineries increasingly need to process heavy oil and bitumen, using more complex and expensive methods to produce the products required. Because heavier crude oils have too much carbon and not enough hydrogen, coking is a more serious issue for heavy crude oils than it is for light crude oils. Refining generally involves removing carbon from or adding hydrogen to the molecules, and using fluid catalytic cracking to convert longer, more complex molecules to shorter, simpler ones for fuels.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,294,387 describes a method for determining corrosiveness of naphthenic acid in a fluid, including providing a fluid containing naphthenic acid; providing iron powder having a surface area of at least about 0.01 m2/g; contacting the fluid and the powder for a period of time so as to provide a portion of the iron dissolved in the fluid; and measuring iron concentration of the fluid containing the dissolved iron, so to measure corrosion potential for the naphthenic acid over time. However, to our knowledge iron powder has never been used to assess coking potential before.
What is needed in the art is a one pot, simple, inexpensive and reliable method of predicting coking behavior or assessing coke inhibitors.


A monolithic power integrated circuit fabricated on a semiconductor die includes a control circuit and a first output high voltage field-effect transistor (HVFET) having source and drain segments substantially equal to a first length. A second output HVFET has source and drain segments substantially equal to a second length. At least one of the first and second output HVFETs is coupled to the control circuit. It is emphasized that this abstract is provided to comply with the rules requiring an abstract that will allow a searcher or other reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.

Power integrated circuits (PICs) find application in an increasingly wide variety of electronic devices. Typically,. PlCs comprise one or more high-voltage field effect transistors (HVFETs) having a device structure such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,207,994 ("the '994 patent"), which is herein incorporated by reference. Each of the devices disclosed in the '994 patent has a source region and a drain region separated by an intermediate region. A gate structure is disposed over a thin oxide layer over the metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) channel of the device. In the on state, a voltage is applied to the gate to cause a conduction channel to form between the source and drain regions, thereby allowing current to flow through the device. In the off state, the voltage on the gate is sufficiently low such that no conduction channel is formed in the substrate, and thus no current flow occurs. In this condition, high voltage is supported between the drain and source regions.
Most power integrated circuits (ICs) contain one or more output HVFETs that control current flow through one or more external loads. By way of example, FIG. 7 of the '994 patent discloses an HVFET structure with interdigitated source and drain regions that is commonly utilized as an output transistor in many types of power devices. In the design of a particular PIC, these elongated source/drain segments may be replicated to increase the current handling capability of the power device.
FIG. 1 shows a typical prior art PIC fabricated on a semiconductor die 10 having an aspect ratio defined as the ratio of the length (L) to the width (W). Included on semiconductor die 10 is a control circuit 11 that is utilized to control on/off switching of an output HVFET 12. In PIC designs, it is customary to utilize a single standardized control circuit design coupled to a variety of HVFET layouts of differing sizes (e.g., number of segments) to create a family of devices with similar functionality, but with differing current handling capability. For example a family of PICs, each with differing current handling capabilities, may be created by increasing the number of parallel segments of HVFET 12. According to this traditional approach, PICs with larger current handling capability have a larger width (W) to accommodate more source/drain segments, but the same length (L). In other words, in prior art PIC designs, the length of the output HVFET 12 is substantially constant, and equal to the length of control circuit 11. PIC devices with more current handling capability have more segments added in parallel, which increases the width of the semiconductor die.
To achieve maximum utilization of the package space that houses semiconductor die 10, control circuit 11 is usually designed with a length that is much larger than its width. In a typical PIC product family the smallest device is designed to be long and narrow (i.e., large aspect ratio), with larger devices having an increased width dimension due to the added number of HVFET segments (i.e., smaller aspect ratio). That is, the aspect ratio of larger devices decreases as more segments are added.
Aspect ratio is a critical parameter in the design of a monolithic PIC. A PIC fabricated on a semiconductor die having a very large or very small aspect ratio often suffers from mechanical stress caused by the molding compound used to bond the die to the package. This stress can adversely change the electrical properties of the PIC circuitry. A semiconductor die having a length that is substantially equal to its width (i.e., aspect ratio=1) minimizes stress and permits more efficient wire routing of the control circuit. The difficulty, however, is that HVFET 12 is required to have elongated segments in order to achieve a specific current handling capability. The package also has maximum cavity size. Thus, while it is desirable to manufacture a PIC on a semiconductor die having a substantially square shape, the need to provide a product family with a range of current handling capabilities which fits within a package cavity size has constrained the dimensions of control circuit 11 and semiconductor die 10.
The solution of the prior art has been to provide a control circuit that has a relatively narrow width and a much larger length that is substantially equal to the maximum package cavity size. For example, in FIG. 1 the length of control circuit 11 is about four times its width. However, this causes inefficiencies in control circuit wiring. Another significant shortcoming of this prior art approach is that PIC devices with small HVFETs (fewer segments) suffer from package stress problems caused by high semiconductor die aspect ratio.
Thus, there is an unsatisfied need for an improved monolithic PIC design that overcomes the problems of poor control circuit area efficiency and high PIC aspect ratio.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method of forming an integrated circuit with multi-length power transistor segments


Process for the preparation of dimethyl ether product by catalytic conversion of synthesis gas to dimethyl ether comprising contacting a stream of synthesis gas comprising carbon dioxide with one or more catalysts active in the formation of methanol and the dehydration of methanol to dimethyl ether to form a product mixture comprising the components dimethyl ether, methanol, carbon dioxide and unconverted synthesis gas, washing the product mixture comprising carbon dioxide and unconverted synthesis gas in a scrubbing zone with a liquid solvent being rich in potassium carbonate or amine and thereby selectively absorbing carbon dioxide in the liquid solvent, subjecting the thus treated product mixture to a distillation step to separate methanol and water from dimethyl ether and unconverted synthesis gas stream with a reduced content of carbon dioxide and separating the unconverted synthesis gas from the dimethyl ether product.

The process of the invention concerns purification of dimethyl ether being produced from carbon oxides and hydrogen containing synthesis gas.
The conversion of synthesis gas to dimethyl ether is carried out in one or more reactors, in which synthesis gas is catalytically converted to methanol shown in equation (1) and dimethyl ether as shown in equation (2). The shift reaction also takes place and is shown in equation (3).CO+2H2→CH3OH  (1)2CH3OH→CH3OCH3+H2O  (2)CO+H2O→CO2+H2  (3)
Maximum conversion of synthesis gas is obtained when dimethyl ether is prepared at a stoichiometric ratio between hydrogen and carbon monoxide equal to one. At ratios above or below one less dimethyl ether is prepared. At maximum conversion (H2/CO≈1) the overall reaction takes place essentially according to equation (4):3H2+3CO→CH3OCH3+CO2  (4)
Carbon dioxide is soluble in dimethyl ether, and in order to obtain the dimethyl ether product with a required purity it is necessary to remove the carbon dioxide formed. Additionally, when carbon dioxide is removed the composition of the unconverted synthesis gas, which is recycled to the dimethyl ether synthesis reactor, is close to that of the make up synthesis gas used to prepare dimethyl ether, which is an additional advantage. Removal of carbon dioxide from the dimethyl ether product downstream the synthesis reactor can become very costly.
Three basic processes for disposing off carbon dioxide are known. In the first process dimethyl ether is synthesized according to reactions (1) to (3) above. A mixed effluent stream comprising unreacted synthesis gas together with any carbon dioxide present is then separated from the dimethyl ether product, which also contains some unreacted methanol. The separated synthesis gas and carbon dioxide stream is recycled to the synthesis gas process stream entering the reactor. This process may conveniently be applied in a hydrogen rich synthesis gas having for instance a ratio between hydrogen and carbon monoxide above 5.
In the second known process a mixed effluent stream comprising unreacted synthesis gas together with carbon dioxide is separated from the dimethyl ether product. However, carbon dioxide is then subsequently separated from the synthesis gas. This can be done by washing this stream with for instance a suitable amine compound such as methyl diethanol amine, MDEA. The synthesis gas stream which is free of carbon dioxide is then recycled to the synthesis gas process stream entering the reactor. The carbon dioxide obtained may be employed in other processes for instance in the preparation of synthesis gas from natural gas by autothermal carbon dioxide reforming.
In the third known process only synthesis gas is separated from the dimethyl ether product and carbon dioxide. The dimethyl ether product thus contains both methanol and carbon dioxide. The separated synthesis gas is recycled to the synthesis gas process stream entering the reactor.
Various solvents are known in the prior art for removing carbon dioxide from mixtures with synthesis gas. The choice of solvent is dependent on the ability to dissolve dimethyl ether and carbon dioxide and the ideal solvent should have a high solubility for carbon dioxide and a low volatility.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,908,963 discloses a process for the preparation of dimethyl ether from synthesis gas in which synthesis gas is separated from dimethyl ether product and recycled to the synthesis gas process stream entering the dimethyl ether synthesis loop. The presence of excess methanol in the dimethyl ether product is the focus of the disclosed process and the removal of carbon dioxide is not addressed.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,458,856 discloses a one-step catalytic conversion process for dimethyl ether preparation. After catalytic conversion of synthesis gas to dimethyl ether the effluent from the reactor is separated into a vapour mixture comprising dimethyl ether, carbon dioxide and unconverted synthesis gas. The vapour mixture is scrubbed using a scrubbing solvent to remove dimethyl ether and carbon dioxide from unconverted synthesis gas. The scrubbing solvent comprises a mixture of dimethyl ether and methanol. The unconverted synthesis gas is recycled to the dimethyl reactor.
This reference also discloses prior art in which scrubbing solvents such as methanol, water, methanol/water mixtures, dimethyl ether or ethanol are used.
Dimethyl ether is a good solvent for carbon dioxide but is very volatile, whereas methanol is a poorer solvent for carbon dioxide than dimethyl ether but has the advantage of being less volatile. A process for preparing dimethyl ether from synthesis gas which makes use of a solvent having high solubility for carbon dioxide and simultaneously low volatility is therefore desirable.


The invention provides an optical communications system having a dual mode of operation. It includes a communications module having an optically active portion with a wide-angle view; a light collimator; and a connector connecting the communications module and the light collimator to permit the module and collimator to be selectively positioned in a collimated or non-collimated position. When it is the collimated position, the communications module is positioned at the focal point of the collimator, and when in a non-collimated position the communications module is positioned away from focal point of the collimator; so that the communications system has a narrow field of view when operated in the collimated position, and has a wide field of view when operated in the non-collimated position.

In order to secure increase flexibility, data processing systems have migrated to LAN (Local Area Network) communication systems so that individual computer workstations can be connected to data servers, printers, and other facilities. Up until recently, most of these LAN systems have been wired so that when a user wished to connect to the LAN the user must secure a physical or wired connection to the LAN in order to participate in communications on the LAN.
In order to secure a more flexible system to dispense with wiring and permit a flexible arrangement in which workstations or other devices (which we will collectively call nodes), could be added to or removed from wireless LANs were developed. The most convenient way that has been found to operate successfully is by means of light communication, particularly using infrared wavelengths of light, to communicate between the various nodes in an infrared LAN system.
As is well known in the art at the present time, each of the nodes in such a LAN system would have associated with it (and likely built into it) an infrared transceiver, typically complying with the IrDA Association standards. This transceiver typically achieves communications by using an LED (Light Emitting Diode as an infrared emitter). In accordance with the standards of the IrDA Association, the pattern of infrared light emitted is typically in the form of a cone of light of about 60° angle. This provides effective communication over a short range with relatively low sensitivity to the positioning of the direction of the transceiver, emitter or receiving device. However, as will be well recognized, the range of communications is limited by the amount of power which can be emitted by the emitter. As this light is spread out as it is emitted, the power density available at a given distance will follow the inverse square law. This limits the distance over which data transmission can occur as the power density will fall off beyond the density required for effective transmission when communicating nodes are separated by excessive distance.
If increased range is desired, the amount of light energy emitted by the LED could possibly be increased; however, this will be limited by the nature of the LED employed and by maximum safe limitations imposed by government or safety regulations to protect users from excessive exposure to infrared light
Alternatively, it is possible to extend the range of a transceiver by collimating or focusing the light to constrain it into a narrow beam. However devices which use light for communication are constrained by the requirement that each node of the system included in the LAN must be in the light path involved. This would typically preclude more than two devices from communicating using a collimated beam unless all devices or nodes in the LAN were lined up with the beam or a mirror system was used to reflect the beams used to the different nodes, all of which is unnecessarily complex for simple operation.
Accordingly, in order to achieve the advantages of both a divergent pattern of infrared light transmission which would permit significant flexibility in the arrangement of nodes in the LAN and also to make available the use of collimated light for longer distant communications it would be desirable to have a system or device which would be capable of operating in both of these modes presenting the capabilities of switching from a collimated to a non-collimated mode as required.
The present invention provides a simple, efficient system in which a transceiver is provided that has a dual mode of operation; collimated, and non-collimated.

Dual mode collimated communications transceiver


Enamel insulation is stripped from a wire 1 by abrading the enamel coating with a pressurized stream of particles such as baking power, sodium bicarbonate. The particles chip off the relatively brittle coating, while the softer underlying wire is not harmed. The wire 1 passes through a chamber 4 and nozzles 18 direct the particle stream onto the wire 1. The chamber is evacuated at an outlet 34 to draw waste particles from the chamber 4. In another embodiment, the particle stream itself is directed through an outlet at the opposite side of the wire to entrain the waste particles and exhaust them from the chamber.

When soldering wire having a low temperature enamel coating, the enamel insulation is burnt away by the molten solder, allowing an effective, electrically conducting joint to be made. However, high temperature enamel coatings are becoming more common, and these must be removed from the wire before soldering.
The commonly used prior art system for removing high temperature enamel is a sharp blade or edge, which scrapes away the enamel coating.
In DE-A-2846737 a wire is inserted into a channel and powder particles are blown along the channel to remove the coating. At the channel outlet, the wire casing is shielded or an air jet is used to direct the particles away from the wire.

Method and apparatus for stripping a coating from a wire

Pharisee House, Pharisee Green, Ongar Road


A reversible threaded fastener system which provides holding of a nut in a f ully conjoined state with respect to a bolt, yet the interrelationship therebetween is fully reversible and is accomplished without friction and without inelastic deformation. Included is a bolt having a threaded shank, a nut having a threaded bore for being threadably engaged on the threaded shank of the bolt, and a washer non-rotatably interfaced with the shank and provided with a plurality of radial washer waves. The washer is held in non-rotatable relation with respect to the bolt by the shank and the bore of the washer being mutually asymmetric. In a first preferred embodiment, the inner face of the nut is provided with a plurality of radial nut waves which correspond to the washer waves, and the washer is resiliently deformable. In a second preferred embodiment, the nut is provided with a plurality of radial nut waves which correspond to the washer waves, the washer is not resiliently deformable, and the nut is resiliently deformable. In a third preferred embodiment, the nut is provided with a plurality of radial nut waves which correspond to the washer waves, the washer is not resiliently deformable, the nut is not resiliently deformable, and the head of the bolt is resiliently deformable.

1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to threaded fastener systems, wherein threaded components thereof are mutually threadingly engaged. More particularly, the present invention relates to a threaded fastener system utilizing reversible deformity to provide potential energy well conjoinder of the threaded components thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Threaded fastener systems are well known in the art. The best example of threaded fastener systems is a bolt having a threaded shank and a nut having a central threaded bore which is threadably engageable on the threaded shank. It is a well known problem that in order to assure that the nut will not unthread in relation to the bolt, the nut must be tightly engaged on the threads of the bolt so that friction with respect to the threads and the face of the nut against a workpiece being fastened by the threaded fastener will hold the nut in place. Unfortunately, this tightening can compromise or deface the workpiece, and under vibratory conditions the nut may reverse thread, possibly leading to catastrophic failure of the connection.
It is known that a nut may be retained in a fully conjoined state with respect to a bolt by lock washers. Lock washers are of two major types, split washers and toothed washers. Lock washers retain a nut in a fully conjoined state by application of resilient axial force (that is, a force directed parallel to the shank axis of the bolt) which enhances the aforesaid friction engagement, and further provides inelastic deformation at the nut and the workpiece by operation of the edge of the split in split washers or of the teeth in toothed washers tending to dig thereinto. While lock washers have become very common, they still rely primarily on friction holding and the irreversibility of deformation results in scarring, which, itself, may be impermissible.
It is further known to retain a nut in a fully conjoined state with respect to a bolt by positive prevention of rotation. For example, a cotter pin may be placed through a hole in the shank at the outer face of the nut (by outer face is meant the face opposite the inner face which is in abutting contact with the workpiece). Further for example, an adhesive may be used to adhere the nut with respect to the bolt. These techniques are cumbersome, add weight or prevent easy disassembly.
Still further for example, the nut may be subjected to inelastic distortion of its threads while being threaded onto the shank, thereby essentially forcing the nut onto the bolt and inhibiting its reverse rotation.
In that the foregoing methodologies have short comings, what remains needed in the art is a structural arrangement which provides holding of a nut in a fully conjoined state with respect to a bolt, yet the interrelationship therebetween is fully reversible and is accomplished without inelastic deformation.


A method and apparatus for recording the information from the slidable sheet (5) of a RIM cassette (2). The information included on the sheet, used especially in X-ray photography, is read from the sheet surface drawn out of the cassette with the aid of a laser beam focused on it, after which the sheet is emptied of information with the aid of a powerful light and returned to the cassette. According to the invention, the reading is effected during the linear withdrawal of the slidable sheet (5) in the reading position (9) past which the sheet surface including the information is guided, and the removal of the information is effected during the linear return travel of the slidable sheet in the emptying position (10) past which the sheet surface travels while the sheet is being pushed back into the cassette (2). The movement of the slidable sheet (5) can be effected by a pulling device which consists of a slide (8) travelling on a rotatable shaft (7) and the movement of the slide is effected with the aid of ball bearings mounted against the shaft at a pitch angle. The reciprocating path of the slide (8) is preferably adjusted so that the slidable sheet (5) comes only partially out of the cassette (2) which thus continuously acts as a guide for the sheet.

The object of this invention is a method and apparatus for recording information from a slidable sheet of a reusable image media (RIM) cassette, in which the information on the sheet surface drawn out of the cassette is read with the aid of a beam directed on it and the sheet is emptied of information after the reading and returned to the cassette.
There are materials which have the ability to be tuned by the effects of radiation, such as x-ray, ultraviolet or gamma radiation directed on them. The absorbable radiation energy may include information which can be read with the aid of secondary radiation, such as a laser beam on the visible light region which is directed onto the material, by recovering the light emitted from the material and by converting it to an image. This RIM technique is based on x-ray photography in which radiation, conducted through the photographed object and modified by the absorption which occurs in the object, is focused on a layer of phosphor on the sheet which is to be excited. The phosphor layer records the information included in the beam and the sheet which is exposed in this way is read by a laser beam in order to form an image on a light multiplier or film.
It is possible to form the X-ray image directly with the aid of a reading head for the sheets connected to and in conjunction with the photographing device. On the other hand, it is possible to enclose the sheet in the cassette after the exposure and to carry out the reading later by a separate reading device. The latter technique, which the present invention relates to, is more flexible because the reading of the sheet enclosed in the cassette is not bound by time or place to the photographing procedure.
The reading of the sheet in the cassette has so far been effected in such a way that the sheet has been drawn out of the cassette onto a belt conveyor and the information on the sheet has been read in the reading position with the conveyor moving. In order to achieve a successful reading, the linear movement of the conveyor must be as smooth as possible. After the reading, the sheet has been emptied of information with the aid of a powerful light on the path of the conveyor in a subsequent emptying position. After the emptying the sheet has been returned to the cassette to wait for the next operation.

Method and apparatus for recording information from a slidable sheet of a rim cassette


The invention provides methods and compositions for improving the production of alumina trihydrate. The invention involves adding one or more cross-linked polysaccharides to a filter used to separate solids from liquid in the Bayer process. The one or more polysaccharides can be a cross-linked polysaccharide (such as cross-linked dextran or cross-linked dihydroxypropyl cellulose). The cross-linked polysaccharides can impart a number of advantages including greater flow rate and lower residual moisture in the resulting cake.

The invention relates to a method for improving the Bayer process for the production of alumina trihydrate and alumina from bauxite ore. The invention concerns the use of cross-linked polysaccharides, specifically cross-linked dextran or cross-linked dihydroxypropyl cellulose to improve the performance of the filtration processes within the Bayer process.
In the typical Bayer process for the production of alumina trihydrate, bauxite ore is pulverized, slurried with caustic solution, and then digested at elevated temperatures and pressures. The caustic solution dissolves oxides of aluminum, forming an aqueous sodium aluminate solution. The caustic-insoluble constituents of bauxite ore, along with insoluble materials precipitated within the digestion processes, are together commonly referred to as red mud. Within the Bayer process the red mud solids are then separated from the aqueous liquor phase containing the dissolved sodium aluminate. This separation typically involves concentrating the bulk of the solids through settling tanks with flocculation, followed by filtration of the clarified overflow liquor to remove any residual solids remaining in the clarified liquor.
The concentrated underflow of red mud solids that result from the settling process are typically subjected to a series of washing steps to extract the remaining liquor that is present within the concentrated slurry. After the washing steps, the washed, concentrated solids slurry may then be subjected to filtration to remove excess liquid, prior to disposal or re-use of the solids.
As indicated above, the aqueous sodium aluminate solution, which has had the bulk of the insoluble red mud solids removed in the settling process after digestion, is typically subjected to a filtration step to remove any remaining insoluble material. The liquor resulting from this filtration is essentially free of any insoluble red mud residue. It is then cooled and solid alumina trihydrate product is precipitated out of the solution. The precipitated trihydrate is then most often separated into size fractions; larger particles being collected for further processing as product, while smaller sized particles are collected and re-used in the precipitation step as seed crystals. Again, the separation of the solid trihydrate particles from the liquor can be achieved using a number of means including settling, flocculation and filtration. Both product sized particles and seed particles may be subjected to some form of filtration to achieve appropriate separation from the liquor, which is subsequently returned to the digestion step of the process and re-used.
As described at least in part, among other places, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,814,873, 6,033,579, 6,048,463, and US Published Patent Application 2008/0257827, the Bayer process is constantly evolving and the specific techniques employed in industry for the various steps of the process not only vary from plant to plant, but also are often held as trade secrets.
While plant designs and operations may differ substantially and additional filtration steps can and do occur in various areas within the process, there is typically a number of key filtration steps used to assist or enhance the separation of solids from the liquid phases in Bayer process plants. Such filtration steps include, but are not limited to:                (a) Red Mud Security filtration—Filtration of primary settler overflow slurry        (b) Alumina Trihydrate Product filtration—Filtration of slurry containing product size alumina trihydrate        (c) Alumina Trihydrate Seed filtration—Filtration of slurry containing seed size alumina trihydrate        (d) Mud Filtration—Filtration of washed red mud slurry
These filtration steps can include, but are not limited to, processes utilizing gravity, pressure, vacuum or a combination of these, as the underlying means of achieving filtration of the input slurry. Filtration steps may also involve washing of the filtered solids.
The operation and efficiency of each of the relevant filtration steps is a key factor in the effective operation of a Bayer process plant as a whole. As a result, there is a clear need and utility for methods to enhance and improve the filtration processes. Individual filtration processes may be enhanced by an improvement in the rate (throughput) of slurry through the filter and/or an improvement in the filtration efficiency (which may be considered as the quantity of liquid remaining with the solid material after filtration, as measured by residual liquor or moisture in the filtered solid cake). Such enhancements of the filtration processes are desirable across the range of filtration steps associated with the Bayer process.
The art described in this section is not intended to constitute an admission that any patent, publication or other information referred to herein is "prior art" with respect to this invention, unless specifically designated as such. In addition, this section should not be construed to mean that a search has been made or that no other pertinent information as defined in 37 CFR §1.56(a) exists.

Methods to improve filtration for the Bayer process


An additive for drilling fluid used as both a sealing agent to prevent seepage loss and a shale stabilizing agent in subterranean wellbores. The additive includes ground bituminous coal having a selected particle size distribution wherein the bituminous coal is between 60% to 80% of the additive by weight. The additive also includes solvent extracted ground flaxmeal which is between 20% to 40% of the additive by weight.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an additive for drilling fluid shown to be effective as both a sealing agent to reduce seepage loss and a shale stabilizing agent in subterranean wellbores.
2. Prior Art
Drilling fluid or drilling "mud" is utilized during downhole drilling operations. The drilling fluid is pumped down from the surface to the drill tip location and then circulated back to the surface in a continuous operation. The drilling fluid helps lubricate and cool the drill bit during the drilling operation and also carries the drill cuttings to the surface.
Wellbore stability in the drilling of oil and gas wells has been studied for years. Despite numerous studies and many proposed solutions, maintaining a stable wellbore remains a problem. A literature survey showed numerous papers in 2013 alone devoted to this area.
Wellbore stability is particularly a problem when drilling shale. Shale is defined as "a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite." See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shale and Blatt, Harvey and Robert J. Tracy (1996) "Petrology: Igneous, Sedimentary and Metamorphic", 2nd ed., Freeman, pp. 281-292. According to Lal, Manohar (1999) "Shale Stability: Drilling Fluid Interaction and Shale Strength", Society of Petroleum Engineers 54356, 1999 SPE Latin American and Caribbean Petroleum Engineering Conference, Caracas, Venezuela, 21-23 Apr. 1999, "shales make up over 75% of the drilled formations and over 70% of the borehole problems are related to shale instability." The type and amount of clay in the shale are major causes of wellbore stability problems because clays can interact with the water in the drilling fluid.
Wellbore instability can occur for several reasons, some of which are listed below:
Changes in Mechanical Stress and Rock Strength.                During the drilling process, rock is removed and replaced by drilling fluid. This changes the mechanical forces acting on the remaining rock.
Differential Pressure Changes.                The column of fluid in the wellbore generates a pressure on the surrounding rock that can be greater or less than the pressure of the fluid inside the rock. The difference in pressure can cause fluid movement either into or out of the rock.
Osmotic Pressure Differences.                The water in the rock, both internal to the clays and in the pore spaces, will normally have a certain amount of salinity as measured by its water activity. If the drilling fluid has a significantly different salinity, water will tend to move into or out of the rock, depending on whether the drilling fluid is less saline (higher water activity) or more saline (lower water activity) than the formation water.
Changes in the Clay Structure from Ionic Substitution.                Various hydrated cations (sodium, potassium, calcium, and others) are sandwiched between the silicate layers in clays found in shale, holding the layers together by static charge. Because a potassium cation (K+) is more closely surrounded by its waters of hydration, the clay layers in a K+ containing clay will be more tightly held together. If this type of clay comes in contact with a fluid containing a large amount of sodium ion (Na+), the Na+ will become substituted for the K+, and the clay layers will be less tightly held together. Conversely, if a Na+ containing clay comes in contact with a fluid containing K+, the K+ will substitute for the Na+, and the clay structure will be strengthened. Too much K+ substitution can actually cause the clays to shrink and introduce fractures in the shale. See Horsrud, P. et al., "Interaction Between Shale and Water-Based Drilling Fluids: Laboratory Exposure Tests Give New Insight into Mechanisms and Field Consequences of KCl Contents", Society of Petroleum Engineers 48986, 1988 SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, New Orleans, La., 27-30 Sep. 1998.
Swelling of the Clays.                When the clays in shale absorb water, they tend to swell, increasing the hydraulic pressures in the system.
Fractures in the Shale.                Fractured shale and weak bedding planes facilitate the movement of fluid into the shale and allow more contact of drilling fluid with the clays.
Generally speaking, the major way to stabilize shale is to prevent or reduce the interaction of the water in the drilling fluid with the shale. Much of the fluid interaction is time-dependent. That is, the longer the shale is exposed to the drilling fluid, the more likely problems are to develop. Limiting shale exposure to water can be key to preventing wellbore failure.
One successful mechanism for limiting shale exposure to water is to use oil-based or synthetic drilling fluids containing organic low-polar fluids. Oil-based drilling fluids are generally water-in-oil emulsions with the water phase containing a salt such as calcium chloride. In drilling water-wet shales, capillary forces of oil-based muds prevent fluid invasion. See Lal, Manohar, ibid. In addition, the salt concentration in the water phase can be matched to the shale water activity to reduce or eliminate osmotic effects. Drilling fluid density can be adjusted to reduce differential pressures. Ionic substitution is prevented by the presence of the oil surrounding the water droplets of the emulsion. However, oil-based drilling fluids are expensive and may have environmental impacts and disposal problems that limit their use in some cases.
In water-based drilling fluids, because the water comes in direct contact with the shale, a variety of mechanisms have been attempted in order to limit the water interaction with the clays. Potassium chloride (KCl) is frequently used as a component. When used in moderate concentrations, the ionic substitution of K+ for Na+ in the clays can help strengthen the clays and delay hydration. The presence of KCl, sodium chloride (NaCl), or some other salt will also lower the water activity of the fluid, reducing the osmotic tendency of water to migrate into the shales.
Similarly, organic cationic amine compounds have been developed which displace the existing cations in the clay structure and exclude water molecules. See Gomez, Sandra and Patel, Arvind, "Shale Inhibition: What Works?", Society of Petroleum Engineers 164108, SPE International Symposium on Oilfield Chemistry, The Woodlands, Tex., 8-10 Apr. 2013. Polymeric amine shale inhibitors are longer versions of these amines with multiple cationic sites for binding. Their larger molecular size, however, prevents them from penetrating the clay layers as well as their smaller counterparts. Adsorption is primarily on the surface of the clay.
The use of poly-cationic materials to provide shale stabilization is not new. In the introduction of their paper, Williams and Underdown discuss using multisited cationic materials to more permanently stabilize shales. See Williams, Lewis H. and Underdown, David R., "New Polymer Offers Effective, Permanent Clay Stabilization Treatment", Society of Petroleum Engineers 8797, Journal of Petroleum Technology, July 1981, pp. 1211-1217. They reference partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (PHPA) (Scheuerman, Canadian Patent No. 972,346) Halliburton Services CLA-STA™ and flaxmeal as examples of these materials. See Anderson, D. B. and Edwards, C. D., "Fluid Development for Drilling Sloughing and Heaving Shales", Petroleum Engineer, September 1977, pp 105-118; Anderson, et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,142,595); and Lummus et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 3,723,311).
In their patent, Anderson et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,142,595) show the effectiveness of using flaxmeal in a KCl, polymer-viscosified drilling fluid system on maintaining shale integrity of several different shales after rolling 16 hours in the fluid. Several other materials were also tested, but found to be less effective than flaxmeal. In addition to rolling shale samples for 16 hours in the inhibitive fluid, the recovered shale was rolled for an additional 2 hours in fresh water. The flaxmeal/KCl combination was found to continue to protect the shale even after rolling in fresh water.
Plugging of pore holes is also a potential mechanism for reducing fluid migration into the wellbore. However, pores in shales are very small (3-100 nm) (see Lal, Manohar, ibid.) with average pore sizes in the 10 to 30 nm range (see Jung, Chang Min, et al., "High-Performance Water-Based Mud Using Nanoparticles for Shale Reservoirs", Society of Petroleum Engineers 168799, Unconventional Resources Technology Conference, Denver, Colo., 12-14 Aug. 2013). Among other rules for sizing particles for bridging, Hands et al. proposed that the D90 of the bridging particles should be equal to or less than the pore size of the rock (the size of 90% of the particles should be equal to or less than the pore size). See Hands et al., "Drill-In Fluid Reduces Formation Damage, Increases Production Rates", Oil and Gas Journal (July 1998). For reference, the particle size of bentonite and barite, commonly used in water-based muds, are in the 0.1 to 100 micron range (100-100,000 nm), much too large for effective filter cake formation or plugging. Jung et al. and others have suggested using nanoparticles in water-based fluids for this purpose. See Ji, L. et al., "Drilling Unconventional Shales with Innovative Water-Based Mud—Part I: Evaluation of Nanoparticles as Physical Shale Inhibitor", AADE-12-FTCE-50, AADE Fluid Technical Conference, Houston, 12-14 Apr. 2011.
On the other hand, fractures in shales are potentially much larger than the pore holes. Preventing fluid from entering such fractures is also important in delaying clay hydration and time-dependent shale instability. Ground materials such as uintaite (commonly known as Gilsonite) and sized calcium carbonate have been used for this purpose. Anderson et al. recommended the use of treated uintaite as a means of sealing off microfractures in the shale. See Anderson et al., ibid.
Pomerleau (U.S. Patent Publication No. 2010/0230164) addressed lost circulation, seepage loss, and fluid loss control. The patent describes the use of ground pumice, barium, dolomite, anthracite or a combination of these materials in drilling fluids. The patent covers a very broad range of particle sizes (between 100 and 4,000 microns) and an extremely wide range of concentrations (0.01 to 300 ppb). While the patent does advocate anthracite as one possible additive, it does not mention bituminous coal, which is softer than anthracite. Further, as will be described, the present invention has a much more restricted particle size range as well as concentration range.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, there remains a need to provide an additive for drilling fluids which will more effectively operate both as a shale stabilizing agent and a seepage loss agent in subterranean wellbores.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an additive for drilling fluids which would both prevent seepage loss and act as a shale stabilizing agent in subterranean wellbores.

Additive for drilling fluid used as a shale stabilizing agent in subterranean wellbores


A merchandise housing container for visibly accommodating merchandise includes an inner box having a first base portion, first, second, third and fourth sidewall portions, a lid portion and first and second securing portions. The first base portion, the first, second, third and fourth sidewall portions, the lid portion and the first and second securing portions are integrally formed of a single transparent plastic sheet. The first and second securing portions are provided so as to elastically contact two sides of the merchandise for restricting movement of the merchandise.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to merchandise housing containers. More specifically, the present invention relates to box-shaped merchandise housing containers for accommodating merchandise.
2. Background Information
In recent years, merchandise of many kinds is accommodated in box-shaped merchandise housing containers when displayed in stores. Conventional merchandise housing containers are box-shaped and are formed of a transparent sheet made of urethane resin or the like, for example. A merchandise housing container of this kind has a lid, provided separately from the container, that is placed on an upper face or a bottom face of the box so that the lid is able to be opened and closed to accommodate merchandise in the interior of the box. The transparent synthetic resin sheet of the merchandise housing container allows the accommodated merchandise to be visible from the exterior. Thus, consumers can view the merchandise without opening containers displayed in stores. By presenting the merchandise to consumers in this way, the display has a greater effect.
The accommodated merchandise in such a merchandise housing container is prone to being repositioned or damaged from an outside impact caused during shipment or storage. In view of this problem, it is conceivable to pack a cushioning material made of foamed polystyrene or paper around the merchandise in order to alleviate the outside impact. Packing such a cushioning material, however, may cause reduced visibility of the merchandise from the exterior even though the merchandise housing container is formed of a transparent synthetic resin sheet.
To resolve this problem, a known merchandise housing container has a configuration in which elastic transparent sheets are bonded to openings in the box and the lid so as to clasp and elastically support the merchandise between two transparent sheets. (See, for example, Japanese Publication No. H10-45171.) In this merchandise housing container, two transparent sheets clasp and elastically support the merchandise. Thus any impact from the outside is alleviated to protect the merchandise. At the same time, visibility of merchandise is ensured by the transparent sheets. However, the merchandise housing container requires four transparent sheets. That is, the merchandise housing container requires two transparent sheets for clasping the merchandise therebetween, one sheet for the box and one for the lid, which is separate from the box. Even if the box and the lid are formed integrally of a single transparent sheet, at least three transparent sheets are required. This necessitates extra manufacturing steps for processing transparent sheets and consequently, increases manufacturing cost.
One of the two transparent sheets used for clamping the merchandise is placed inside the opening of the lid and the other is placed inside the opening of the box. Accordingly, the merchandise is clasped between the two transparent sheets only when the lid is fixed on the box. When the lid is not firmly fixed to the box, the two transparent sheets are hindered from supporting the merchandise. Therefore, reliable protection of the merchandise is impeded.
In view of the above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that there exists a need for an improved merchandise housing container that visibly accommodates merchandise and keeps the manufacturing cost low while reliably protecting the merchandise.
This invention addresses this need in the art as well as other needs, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.


Passive RFID devices are disclosed that perform image recognition. The device includes an antenna, circuitry, and a camera. The antenna receives a radio frequency (RF) signal from a RFID reader. The circuitry stores image data for objects that is used for image recognition. To operate, the circuitry derives power from the RF signal. With the power derived from the RF signal, the camera captures an image. The circuitry then identifies an object in the captured image based on the image data for the objects, and outputs information for the identified object, such as to the RFID reader.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) refers to a process of transferring data over a Radio Frequency (RF) signal between a reader and a device that is attached to an item. RFID is commonly used for identifying and tracking items. For example, RFID devices may be attached to items in a warehouse so that inventory in the warehouse may be tracked. The RFID device, also referred to as a RFID tag, typically stores an identifier (ID) for an item in memory. The RFID device reads the item ID from the memory, and broadcasts a RF signal that includes the item ID (e.g., the item ID is modulated on the RF signal). An RFID reader receives the RF signal and interprets the item ID from the RF signal.
Most RFID devices include an antenna that receives and transmits RF signals, and an integrated circuit that stores data and processes the RF signals. Some RFID devices also include a battery, and are referred to as active devices. Other RFID devices do not include a battery, and are referred to as passive devices. In a passive RFID device, the power for the integrated circuit is supplied by a RF signal transmitted by the RFID reader. The antenna in the passive RFID device receives the RF signal from the RFID reader. The antenna has a coiled configuration which causes the RF signal to form an electromagnetic field in the antenna. The integrated circuit derives power from the electromagnetic field, which energizes the integrated circuit instead of a battery or some other power source. With the power supplied by the RF signal, the integrated circuit reads the data stored in memory, and modulates the stored data onto the RF signal. The antenna then transmits or reflects the modulated RF signal for reception by the RFID reader. The RFID reader senses the RF signal from the passive RFID device, and processes the data added to the RF signal.

Image recognition in passive RFID devices


A system includes a module to determine a dependency between at least one operating system and at least one application, an interface module to permit an independent selection of an operating system image and an application image, a service to stream a first portion of the application image, and to stream, on-demand, a second portion of the application image, and a memory to store at least one of the operating system image and the application image. The at least one application is compatible with the at least one operating system. Methods and machine-readable medium, and hardware apparatus are provided.

Network-based computing models have been gaining popularity in recent years as cost effective approaches to managing enterprise computing needs. Ranging from network-managed PCs, network computers, thin-clients, to server-centric clients, network-based computing is largely motivated by the need to reduce the cost of providing IT services (known as the Total Cost of Ownership, TCO) in networked computing environments. It is well known in the industry that the most expensive part of providing computing resources to end-users is not the cost of the computing hardware and software but the cost of on-going maintenance and management. See, Thin Client Benefits, Newburn Consulting (2002); Total Cost of Application Ownership, The Tolly Group Whitepaper (1999); TCO Analyst: A White Paper on GartnerGroup's Next Generation Total Cost of Ownership Methodology, GartnerConsulting (1997). According to these well known studies, network-based computing models can significantly reduce the TCO by centralizing the maintenance and management functions of IT services, thereby reducing the recurring cost of on-going maintenance and management.

System and method for on-demand delivery of operating system and/or applications


Discoloration and deformation of a resin case triggered by heat generation from a failed circuit component at the end of the life of an arc tube are prevented without increasing the cost and size. A lighting unit that lights a light source with an inverter while receiving electric power from an AC power supply, and that contains a lighting circuit that includes a plurality of circuit components inclusive of capacitors. Among the capacitors, all capacitors with an applied voltage of 50V or greater (C4, C5, C6, C7, C8, CD1 and CD2) are foil type film capacitors with exceptions of smoothing electrolytic capacitors (CD1 and CD2).

With the recent trend of energy conservation, a low-pressure mercury discharge lamp has been increasingly used in the field of illumination. The low-pressure mercury discharge lamp, represented herein by a compact fluorescent light bulb, has a higher lamp efficiency and longer rated life than an incandescent light bulb does.
The compact fluorescent light bulb is generally comprised of an arc tube, a lighting unit for lighting the arc tube with an inverter, and a resin case for holding the arc tube and storing the lighting unit (see Patent Reference 1 for examples).
[Patent Reference 1] Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 11-289776

Operating unit and lamp with component alignment for safe failure mode


A remote computer access facility uses two dedicated computers outside the firewall. To ensure security the system makes use of biometrics features and a one-time password mechanism on top of secure socket layer (SSL) to authenticate a user. The system also provides three layers of security levels for transmission. The first layer establishes an SSL connection, the second layer periodically asks for a one-time password (OTP), and the third layer uses any kind of conventional encryption. The combination of the biometric, OTP and encryption key forms a strong password. The system also uses a mechanism for secure file accesses within the organization based on the security privileges assigned to various users. Based on the user's access privileges, the server side software module sends the requested file in an encrypted form along with the key to decrypt that file—this key is encrypted by the user's strong password.

The present invention concerns a computer architecture that allows secure access to a server behind a firewall and in particular to a system that employs multiple computers outside of the firewall and a password scheme that includes a one-time password and has biometric features.
As computer hacking is quite common nowadays, it is very important to control access to a private network of computers (for example, the desktop computers in a company network)—to order to protect against the loss of sensitive data to external hackers. A firewall is a component or components designed to restrict access to a private network from the Internet.
There has been recently considerable interest to use biometrics features for authentication of computer users who communicate through a global information network such as the Internet as well as local area networks (see e.g., R. Jain et al. "Biometrics: Personal Identification in Networked Society" Kluwer Publishers, Boston, Mass., 1999). The biometrics features of an individual are unique and provide a very convenient method for personal identification. The term biometrics generally means any human characteristic that has the following desirable properties:                universality—every person should have the characteristic        uniqueness—no two persons should possess the same characteristic        permanence—the characteristic should not change with time        measurability—it should be possible to measure the characteristic in a quantitative manner.
There are many practical issues involved in developing an authentication scheme using biometrics. Some good pattern recognition algorithms should be developed and used to recognize the biometrics to a very high degree of accuracy (even under "noisy" conditions) and to within a reasonable computer processing time. Also, the biometrics should not be prone to easy tampering by hackers. There are also privacy and network security issues that are involved for developing an on-line biometrics-based authentication system.
The features that have been commonly used in developing automatic authentication systems are fingerprints, voice, iris, retina patterns, and face. Also, there are some other more unconventional biometrics such as body odors, gait, ear shape, etc. that have been used for developing methods for personal identification. There are several currently available systems for on-line fingerprint verification and on-line signature verification. A secure method for accessing files using fingerprints has been is described in copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/662,298 entitled SECURE SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ACCESSING FILES IN COMPUTERS USING FINGERPRINTS, which is incorporated herein by reference.
The use of fingerprints is the oldest biometrics-based method for identification purposes, predating the advent of computer technology. The technique has been widely used at least since 6000 B.C. It has been in use by police forces for centuries for the identification of criminals. Consequently, in some cultures there may be still some stigma attached to the recording of fingerprints of people who are not accused of any crime. Nonetheless, fingerprints are widely used. For example, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) routinely collects the fingerprints of all people applying for Permanent Residence ("Green Card") and keeps an extensive database of these fingerprints. With the introduction of more and more computer hardware, the identification method using fingerprints has become progressively more and more advanced and easier to use in an on-line environment. More recent biometric-based methods of identification, such as iris pattern recognition, retinal pattern recognition, voice recognition, etc., have similarly benefited from the advancing use of computers.
The idea of one time password mechanism is described in an article by L. Lamport entitled "Password Authentication with Insecure Communications," Communications of the ACM, vol. 24, No. 11, pp 770–772, 1981. It is designed to counter an attack based on eavesdropping of network connections to get login id and password. In order to use one time password mechanism the user first chooses a password and stores it in the authentication server. The server chooses a number n (something reasonably large) and recursively hashes the password n times (i.e. computes hashn(password) for some hash function) and stores the result in a database on the server along with the user id and the number n. The number n represents the number of one time password the user can use i.e., the number of log-in sessions the user can have with this password mechanism scheme. With each use the hash function is applied one less time, creating a respectively different password. If the user exceeds the n number of log-in sessions then, he or she needs to initialize again the one time password mechanism with the server.
One version of the one-time password scheme is called S/KEY and is described in RFC 1760 by N. Haller entitled "The S/Key One-Time Password System," 1995. Briefly, a one-time password mechanism operates as shown in FIG. 1.
The one-time password process begins with a table in the remote machine (authentication server) 102 that contains the log-in identifier, the number n and the value hashn(password). Next, a user logs into his or her local computer 100 using the password and log-in identifier and requests access to the remote server 102. The user's computer then sends an authentication request to the remote machine 102. After receiving the authentication request, the remote server 102 sends the value n with a request for the user's computer 100 to calculate the value hashn−1(password). The user's computer 100 calculates this value and sends it back to the remote server 102. When the remote server 102 receives hashn−1(password) it assigns the value to a local variable y and then calculates hash(y). This value should be the same as hashn(password). If hash(y) matches the stored value, hashn(password), then the server grants the user access, decrements n by 1 and stores the value hashn−1(password) in its database.

Architecture for secure remote access and transmission using a generalized password scheme with biometric features

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


An improved spark ignition system. Pressure on a piezoelectric element results in a voltage that, when discharged across a spark gap, causes dielectric breakdown in a fuel air mixture. Additional current to power combustion is supplied by a capacitor circuit. The ignition system increases the combustion rate and decreases emissions of NOx.

This invention pertains to ignition systems and, more particularly, to piezoelectric ignition systems in which a sustained spark is provided.
The reduction of atmospheric NOx is a high priority as it contributes significantly to urban smog and other unwanted pollution, i.e., acid rain. Despite ongoing research and development efforts to reduce the emissions of the oxides of nitrogen (NOx) from road surface vehicles, their engines still remain one of the largest producers of ozone forming pollutants in the world. Significant progress has been made to reduce the emissions from light trucks and passenger vehicles since the introduction of the Clean Air Act in 1990. However, even with today""s standards, the EPA predicts that these vehicles will produce more than 40% of the ozone-forming pollutants in major cities by the year 2030.
New regulations recently issued by the EPA call for a reduction in NOx produced by new passenger vehicles to 0.07 grams per mile by 2007. This implies a reduction in NOx of 856,000 tons per year by 2007. Most of the technologies that will be implemented to achieve this goal have been demonstrated during the National Low Emissions Vehicle (NLEV) program. Although most are still in the research phase, it is postulated that the demonstrated technologies will have enough maturity to fulfill these emission requirements. However, the new regulations apply only to new vehicles. The vast majority of vehicles on the road is older and thus not subject to these new reductions.
Thus, it is desired to have a method of reducing emissions that can easily be integrated into older vehicles.
The invention described here presents an alternative to the reduction of NOx that can easily be integrated into existing vehicles and will extend the controllability of new engines. The invention enables extension of the lean burn limit of gasoline, an increase in the burning rate of gasoline and recycled exhaust gas concentration, and a reduction of cycle by cycle variations in the cylinder. All these factors combine to reduce the mass of NOx per horsepower that the engine delivers. The technology can be incorporated into both new automobiles and current spark ignition engines.
In one aspect, the invention is an ignition circuit. The circuit comprises a piezoelectric element, a capacitor, and a spark gap connected in parallel. The piezoelectric element generates a voltage sufficient to produce a spark to cause dielectric breakdown in a fuel-air mixture in response to an increase in the pressure of said mixture, and the voltage of a charge stored on the capacitor is sufficient to traverse the spark gap after dielectric breakdown. The capacitor may be charged by a DC power source, which may comprise an AC power source and a bridge rectifier. The AC power source may provide 12V, and the source of DC power may further comprise a 1:40 transformer. The circuit may comprise a plurality of capacitors in parallel with one another, and the piezoelectric element may comprise a plurality of sub-elements that combine to generate a voltage equal to the sum of the voltages developed by each sub-element. The charge stored on the capacitor may be sufficient to sustain a spark generated by the voltage from the piezoelectric element. The circuit may further comprise a timing circuit in electrical communication with the piezoelectric element, wherein spark timing is determined using voltage information from the piezoelectric element.
In another aspect, the invention is a method of igniting a spark. The method may comprise exerting pressure on a piezoelectric element to generate a voltage, placing the piezoelectric element in electrical communication with a spark gap, wherein the voltage across the piezoelectric element is sufficient to cause a spark across a spark gap, and directing current from a capacitor to the spark gap, wherein the current has sufficient energy to traverse the spark gap. The energy of the spark resulting from the voltage supplied by the piezoelectric element may be sufficient to ignite a fuel-air mixture, and the step of exerting pressure may comprise compressing,the fuel-air mixture. The spark voltage supplied by the piezoelectric element may have a voltage at least a factor of 10, 50, 100, 1000, or 4000 greater than the spark voltage supplied by the capacitor.
In another aspect, the invention is a method of increasing energy delivery to a fuel-gas mixture. The method comprising causing dielectric breakdown in the fuel-gas mixture, thereby reducing impedance of the mixture and supplying current having a voltage sufficient to bridge a spark gap through the reduced impedance mixture.

Piezoelectric ignition device for increasing spark energy


A laparoscopic ligation clip applicator for automatically applying a plurality of ligation clips includes a handle assembly having an actuator, an elongated shaft connected to the handle assembly, and an actuating mechanism disposed within the shaft. The actuating mechanism includes a clamp for engaging a first piece of the ligation clip and a slidable driver for driving a second piece of the ligation clip relative to the first piece. The actuating mechanism also includes a hold for preventing rearward movement of the ligation clips, and an advancer for sequentially feeding the ligation clips. A slidable cam, operably connected to the handle assembly, actuates the clamp, the driver and the advancer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a medical instrument for use with one or more surgical ligation clips. More particularly, the invention is directed to a laparoscopic ligation clip applicator for assembling and clamping a two-piece ligation clip and for automatically feeding each of a plurality of ligation clips to be sequentially assembled and clamped.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are many types of known mechanical applicators for automatically feeding and sequentially closing each of a plurality of conventional ligation clips around a vessel (e.g., a vein, an artery, a cystic duct, and the like.) to be occluded. A conventional ligation clip is typically made of metal and is U-shaped with two extending legs that are bent inwardly by, for example, a known fulcrum type applicator having a scissors-like handle with movable jaws. The jaws close together to crimp the clip about the vessel. Such known applicators house a plurality of ligation clips and automatically feed the clips by using, for example, a biasing mechanism, to sequentially position the ligation clips to be crimped between the movable jaws. Other known ligation clip applicators include movably mounted crimping jaws, and feeding mechanisms for conventional ligation clips, that are actuated remotely through various trigger mechanisms. Such designs are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,576,166 (Montgomery, et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 4,662,373 (Montgomery, et al.) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,598,711 (Deniega), all assigned to the assignee of the present invention, and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,084,057 (Green, et al.) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,100,420 (Green, et al.), assigned to United States Surgical Corporation.
However, further improvements for applying surgical ligation clips are desirable, and in particular, an automatic ligation clip applicator is needed for use with unique two-piece ligation clips such as are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,590,937 and 5,306,283. Those ligation clips provide many advantages over known metal clips since they provide superior clamping strength and may be made of bioabsorbable non-metallic materials.

Automatic laparoscopic ligation clip applicator


A method for releasing a restraint device for a rider on a vehicle, the restraint device having a connecting element by which the rider is detachably connected to the vehicle, includes: ascertaining an inclination angle and/or a slope angle of the vehicle; ascertaining a rotational rate about a longitudinal axis of the vehicle and/or a transverse axis of the vehicle; comparing each ascertained rotational rate with an associated critical rotational rate which is a function of the inclination angle and/or the slope angle; and releasing the connecting element if the ascertained rotational rate is at least equal to the associated critical rotational rate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for releasing a restraint device for a rider on a vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
The number of motorcycles has risen sharply in the last several years, with approximately 33 million motorized two-wheelers being registered throughout Europe in 2008. At the same time, however, it is apparent that motorcycles are by far the most dangerous means of transportation. Although operators of motorized two-wheelers amount to just two percent of all road users, they constitute approximately 14 percent of the traffic fatalities counted in Europe. Motorcycle riders are exposed to a substantially higher risk in road traffic compared to automobile drivers. Among other things, this is due to the differing driving physics and the constantly unstable state of equilibrium, the particular physical and mental strain when riding a motorcycle, and the rider's restricted field of vision. At the same time, motorcycle riders are significantly more susceptible to weather conditions and other interfering factors such as poor road conditions or unforeseen traffic situations. Since there is no auto body, motorcycle riders are relatively vulnerable road users, despite protective clothing.
Published German patent application document DE 103 17 439 A1 discloses a motorcycle having a restraint device for motorcycles having a connecting element, via which the motorcycle rider is detachably connected to the motorcycle. When a rear-end collision occurs, the motorcycle rider is initially kept on the motorcycle by the connecting element during a first phase of the rear-end collision. The restraining force of the connecting element thus counteracts the inertial force of the motorcycle rider. The connecting element is situated in such a way that in the first phase, the motorcycle rider is moved relative to the motorcycle against the restraining force of the connecting element due to inertia. In the process, kinetic energy of the motorcycle rider is dissipated. The connecting element is then released without the involvement of the motorcycle rider.

Method for releasing a restraint device for a rider on a vehicle and a corresponding vehicle