A shuttle type recording apparatus having a plural recording heads spaced apart on a common carriage that is mounted to scan over an entire recording area for recording, respectively, in each of plural divided recording areas of the entire recording area. A rail element is mounted on the carriage and extends along the direction of scanning. A drive element is arranged to drive the carriage via the rail element, and a connection portion for transferring driving forces from the drive element to the rail element is provided in the region of the central part of the recording area.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a serial scanning type recording apparatus which produces a high quality image on a recording medium, such as a paper sheet, by means of a moveable recording carriage which faces and scans across the surface of a recording medium. More specifically, this invention relates to a shuttle type recording apparatus in which plural recording heads are mounted in spaced apart relation on a moveable recording carriage and which permits recording at high speed and with high accuracy. This invention is especially advantageous for the recording of images by the transfer of a color agent onto a recording medium based on image data; and it is suitable still more in connection with ink jet recording wherein a liquid recording ink is discharged as a color agent onto a recording medium. This invention, moreover, may be used for recording on many different recording media, for example, paper, cloth, leather, nontextile materials, overhead projector films and metal. One specific application for this invention is in a business machine such as a printer, a copy machine or a facsimile machine, as well as a manufacturing machine such as a textile printing machine.
2. Description of the Related Art
Serial scanning type recording devices which record by causing a recording head to scan across the surface of a recording medium while transferring an image to the recording medium have been widely used. Such devices are less costly than devices which record by means of a stationary recording head which extends over the whole width of a recording area.
A number of different serial scanning type recording devices, in which a color agent is transferred to a recording material, have been put into practice or proposed. These include devices in which a color agent is made to appear by the application of heat from a thermal head onto special thermal sensitive paper or by application of light onto a special light sensitive paper.
Moreover, devices which record by transferring a color agent from a recording head onto recording medium by a recording head, have been put into practice or have been proposed. These include impact recording devices which transfer ink onto a recording medium by impacting, with printing wires, an ink ribbon which has been soaked with liquid ink as a color agent. These color agent transfer devices also include thermal melt devices which record by application of heat from a thermal head onto an ink ribbon which contains a solid color agent. Heat sublimation transfer devices and ink jet devices which record by discharging liquid record ink onto a recording medium are also known.
Recently, color agent transfer recording devices have become widely used for recording onto plain paper. In particular, ink jet type recording devices are finding increasing use; and are expected to be used even more widely in the future in connection with printers, copy machines and other business machines because of their low noise, low running cost, ease of miniaturization, the possibility of plain paper recording, the ease of colorizing and so on.
Since the above described serial scanning type recording devices use a recording head which is mounted on a moveable carriage, a problem arises in that the recording speed is low.
Some of the techniques that have been proposed or put into practice in order to improve the recording speed of a serial scanning type image recording apparatus include: decreasing the number of scans by providing a wider recording head; shortening the scanning time by increasing the scanning frequency; and recording by bidirectional scanning. However, each of these techniques has disadvantages.
For example, a wider recording head is expensive to manufacture; and a wide recording head requires an expensive, high storage capacity print buffer. Also, where the device uses heat to effect a color agent transfer, some means must be provided to prevent deterioration of record quality and damage to the recording head from the high temperature used in the process. Further, in ink jet recording, where the recording head does not touch the recording medium, some means must be provided to prevent deterioration of recording quality which is caused by rolling or cockling of the recording medium as it becomes permeated with liquid ink.
When the scanning speed of the carriage is increased in order to increase recording speed, the carriage drive load is increased and a larger drive source is required.
Devices which use heat to transfer a color agent transfer onto a recording medium require some means to prevent deterioration of recording quality and damage to the recording head due to the high temperature of the recording head itself. In addition, ink jet recording devices which use liquid ink experience ink vibration within the recording head during ink discharge; and this causes deterioration of the recording quality.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 50-81437,U.S. Pat. No. 4,272,771, discloses methods and apparatus for increasing the recording speed of a serial scanning type image recording apparatus. As disclosed in that publication, a dot matrix high speed impact printer is provided with a plurality of printing heads which operate simultaneously to print each line of print. Also, in order to eliminate the delay caused by carriage return, the printing heads operate irrespectively of the direction in which the printing heads move. The dot matrix high speed impact printer disclosed in the above mentioned publication produces a "half step dotted" pattern row, which provides a significantly improved print quality. Also, the printer described in that publication uses a simple and highly reliable mechanical drive apparatus to move the printing head assembly accurately and rapidly.
The method and apparatus disclosed in the above mentioned publication permits simultaneous printing on both the left half and the right half of a printing line. In this case separate left side and right side printing head assemblies are supported on the same carriage mechanism. This arrangement allows printing to be carried out at almost double speed. The printing speed can be increased even more by providing more than two printing head assemblies and by operating the printing heads in both directions of movement. The above mentioned publication also discloses an arrangement for precise control of the movement and positioning of the printing head assembly. According to this arrangement a thin board is installed on the printer body and a light detector is installed on the printer head assembly. The thin board has transparent narrow slits arranged at roughly equal intervals therealong. Each slit corresponds to a row of print; and the slits have a length equal to about one half of the length of a print line.
The printing head carriage in the above described device is driven via a closed loop timing belt which in turn is driven by a motor. This arrangement provides adequate printing accuracy where a pixel density matrix of about 9.times.7 is to be used. However, where high resolution and high speed are needed, a problem arises due to expansion and contraction of the timing belt due to load variations on the belt as the printing head carriage is driven at different speeds. This problem is especially severe where several recording heads are mounted on the same carriage. This is because the additional heads, and the additional ink that must be supplied to these heads, increases the overall weight of the carriage; and consequently increases the load on the belt as scanning speed varies. Also, where the recording apparatus uses a recording head with a plural recording elements which are operated according to a time division sequence, the resulting variation in scanning speed causes a drastic effect on image quality. This is especially severe in ink jet recording apparatus which use a liquid ink and a recording head which does not touch the recording medium.
A further problem which occurs in the use of ink jet recording devices with plural recording heads is that some of the ink which is projected from ink discharge orifices on the printing head rebounds from the recording medium in the form of a mist and accumulates back on the recording head in the vicinity of the discharge orifices. As a result, ink jet recording systems generally require a recovery means to remove this accumulation. One technique that has been adopted is to provide a wiper blade of an elastic material, such as gum, to wipe the surface of the discharge orifice and remove this ink accumulation. Also, to prevent ink within the discharge nozzle of a recording head from evaporating and drying, a cap is arranged to cover the recording head during non-recording intervals. In addition, a suction pump may be provided in connection with the cap to maintain the flow of ink during non-recording intervals so that it does not experience an increase in viscosity. The suction pump may be arranged so as to recover the extra ink.
In some ink jet recording devices, which operate on an on-demand basis, not all of the several discharge orifices are in use at the same time; and some of the orifices may not be use for a considerable length of time, particularly in the case of color recording devices where one color may used for only a small portion of the printing. Also, in a plural head color recording device, one recording head may not be used for a long period of time, depending on the recording instructions and data supplied to it. Now, when the carriage scans or stops in a position where the surface of the ink discharge orifice is not capped, the ink within and surrounding the orifice begins to dry and causes a deterioration in the quality of the subsequently recorded image. In order to prevent this phenomenon in an ink jet recording device, an arrangement is provided to cause a discharge of ink at some predetermined location and time which is unrelated to the actual recording. This kind of ink discharge action is called a preliminary discharge. By maintaining the discharge of ink from within the discharge orifice, fresh ink is always available for recording and high quality recording can be maintained. In order to keep the preliminary discharge ink from scattering and dirtying the recording material and the inside of a recording apparatus, the preliminary discharge is generally arranged to occur within the cap while it covers the head at a preliminary discharge position of the head. The provision of means for maintaining the cleanliness of plural recording heads in ink jet recording devices severely complicates the construction of the heads.


A method for embedding additional information into a video movie without substantially having an influence on the compression efficiency of the video movie and also without substantially causing degradation of the picture quality. Particularly, the method of the present invention involves specifying at least one embedding region in the frame of the video movie for embedding information, and determining a type of interframe prediction of the embedding region in correspondence with information to be embedded by referring to an embedding rule where a content of data to be embedded is caused to correspond to the type of interframe prediction of the embedding region. It is desirable that the frame in which the embedding region exists is a bidirectionally predictive-coded frame.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a data hiding method for hiding message data into media data and a data extracting method for extracting hidden data.
2. Prior Art
With the development of multimedia society, large quantities of digital video and audio information have been circulated on internet systems or as CD-ROM software. For digital video and audio information, anybody can easily create a perfect copy without degradation, so the illegal use and the protection of the copyright are becoming problematic. In order to prevent a third party from illegally copying media data such as video and audio data, the technique of hiding additional information, such as the signature of a creator (author), into original media data is becoming the focus of attention. When digital video data or other similar data is illegally copied, it can be known whether or not the copy is an illegal one by confirming the signature hidden in the copy and specifying the source. A hiding technique such as this is called data hiding. FIG. 1 shows a half-tone image obtained when digital data is displayed on a display. In the media data of FIG. 1(a) which is a digital image, messages, such as a nurse, a river, kindergarten pupil, and birds, have been hidden as shown in FIG. 1(b). Media data is obtained by segmenting an image (obtained, for example, from a photograph) into very fine parts and numerically expressing brightness and a hue for each part. At that time, the original numerical value of the image is slightly changed intentionally. If there is a small change in the numerical value, there will be almost no disturbance in the image and humans will not sense the disturbance. If this nature is skillfully utilized, entirely different information (message data) can be hidden in original video. This message data may be any information, for example, lattice patterns, rulers, or signatures of video creators. The message data hidden in media data can be extracted by processing it with a special program. Therefore, based on the extracted message data, it can be checked whether the media data has been altered.
Incidentally, the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) is well known as one of the methods of compression for motion images (video data). In the case where some additional information is put into an MPEG video bitstream, a method of hiding additional information into a user data field has generally been employed. In such a method, however, the field can be easily separated from the media data, so there is the problem that the detection and removal of additional hidden information are easy.

International Business Machines Corporation


A method for determining procurement for parts (P) in a production system having constraints comprising at least one of constrained resources (r.sub.i) and known maximum demands (d.sub.j). The method comprises two steps. Step 1 includes constructing a production planning decision space comprising independent sets of hyperplanes defined by decision variables (q.sub.j) corresponding to product quantities for products (j). The constructing step subsumes steps of expressing a potential usage of part (p) as a linear combination of production quantities (q.sub.j) based on bill of material usage rules; limiting the production quantities (q.sub.j) so that each is less than or equal to the maximum demand quantity (d.sub.j); and limiting the production quantities (q.sub.i) so that the usage of each resource (r) is based on bill of material and bill of capacity usage rates less than or equal to the availability of that resource. For each part p, the second step includes locating a region in the decision space corresponding to a high level of usage of part (p).

In today's competitive marketplace, customer satisfaction is one key for business success. To this end, many manufacturing companies are undergoing re-engineering processes as they search for ways to provide high quality, low cost, and just-in-time service. Achieving such manufacturing excellence requires many interrelated activities, such as supply-chain management, logistics modeling, production planning, scheduling, control, and breakthroughs or improvements in technology.
Part procurement and inventory control also play an important role in the manufacturing process. For example, a shortage of parts can disrupt production schedules, lower serviceability, cause product shortages, or lead to customer dissatisfaction. Excessive inventory, on the other hand, can not only increase manufacturing, storage and transportation costs, but also hurt a market value of a product. Accordingly, a strategy is needed which can maintain an optimal balance between part procurement and inventory control, thus allowing a company to maximize its serviceability (or responsiveness to demand variation) with minimum inventory.

Method for part procurement in a production system with constrained resources


An image sensor an image sensor includes an image sensing element which converts incident light into an analogue signal, a voltage generator which includes a variable resistor circuit and which generates a ramping voltage, where a slope of the ramping voltage is variable and corresponds a resistance value of the variable resistor circuit, a converter which converts a voltage of the analogue signal into a digital signal using the ramping voltage generated by the voltage generator, and a controller which controls the resistance value of the variable resistance circuit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to image sensors and, more particularly, the present invention relates to image sensors with a function of amending a ramping slope.
A claim of priority is made to Korean Patent Application 2005-37223 filed on May 3, 2005, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
Photodiodes are used in image sensors to transform optical signals into electrical analog signals. In order to display the output of the photodiodes (i.e., images) on display devices such as, for example, LCD monitors, it is generally necessary to convert the analogue signals into digital signals. Analogue-to-digital converters (ADC) are utilized for this purpose.
The resolution of an ADC generally correlates to the number of binary bits contained in the digital output. More bits in the digital output means greater sampling of the analogue input.
Various types of ADCs are used to obtain digital signals from analogue signals, including, for example, parallel-comparing ADCs, integral ADCs, staircase ADCs, tracking ADCs, and so on.
Integrating ADCs (also known as ramp-compare ADCs) in particular are used to transform analogue signals into digital signals with high precision. Generally, an integrating ADC includes a ramp voltage generator, a comparator, and a counter. During each sampling period, a ramp voltage from the generator is continuously compared by the comparator with an analogue input signal, and the counter outputs a digital value indicative of the time period expended for the ramp voltage to equal or exceed that analogue input voltage.
FIG. 1 is a graph showing the input-output pattern of a conventional analogue-digital converter (ADC) which includes a single slope integrating ADC circuit. In FIG. 1, the vertical axis represents the digital binary output value (i.e., the counter value) of the ADC, while the horizontal axis represents the analog input voltage of the ADC, i.e., the analog voltage supplied from a photodiode. By way of example, FIG. 1 shows the input-output pattern of a 10-bit ADC.
In FIG. 1, plot 2 depicts the "normal" input-output pattern corresponding to a desired design target. Plot 1 depicts a defective input-output pattern having a slope which is greater than that of plot 2, and plot 3 depicts a defective input-output pattern having a slope which is smaller than that of plot 2. The defective input-output patterns depicted by plots 1 and 3 may result from differing resistance values of resistors forming a ramping voltage generator of the ADC. This variance in resistor values generally results from process variations (e.g., implantation variations) inevitably encountered during manufacture of semiconductor devices. While defective input-output pattern characteristics of the ADCs can be improved with improvements in fabrication techniques, it is generally not possible to completely eliminate all process variations which might impact ADC input-output patterns.

Image sensor including variable ramping slope and method


A motor rotor is provided. The motor rotor includes a plurality of magnetic members circumferentially disposed on a peripheral wall surface of a turning axle of the motor rotor, and both end surfaces of the turning axle are coupled with fastening members respectively; each of the magnetic members has a first fastening portion formed at each of its two ends; and the fastening member is provided with a plurality of second fastening portions corresponding in position to the first fastening portions, such that each of the magnetic members are firmly fixed in position to the turning axle.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to a motor rotor, and more specifically, to a motor rotor that adopts magnetic force.
2. Description of Related Art
Motors convert electric energy to mechanic energy, thereby providing output rotational motions; and in addition to directly providing rotational motions, output rotational mechanic energy can also work with various mechanisms and then convert into linear motions or vibratile motions.
A motor that provides rotational motion consists of motor and stator, wherein the stator is a portion for fixing and providing ambient magnetic field, while the rotor is a portion that is rotatable in response to the magnetic field. A common rotor comprises a turning axle and a plurality of magnetic members, e.g. permanent magnets, wherein the turning axle is made of a plurality of magnetically permeable elements, e.g. stacked silicon steel sheets, and the magnetic members are circumferentially disposed on the peripheral wall surface of the turning axle.
Taking permanent magnets as an example, glue is commonly applied to between the turning axle and the permanent magnets, e.g. resin glue, for fixing in position the permanent magnets to the turning axle. However, since permanent magnets are fixed in position to the turning axle by means of gluing, the permanent magnets are likely to fall off as a result of the effects of external usage surroundings and/or pressure. Once the permanent magnets fall off, the motor rotor will definitely be incapable of rotating normally, and even worse, the permanent magnets may be stuck in the stator.
Common factors of external surroundings that cause the foresaid falling-off of permanent magnets include, but are not limited to, temperature and humidity. Where ambient temperature at which the motor works changes dramatically, e.g., in the frigid zone, where temperature is below zero, since coefficients of thermal expansion of permanent magnet and silicon steel sheet are different, delamination is likely to happen due to difference in size variation; in addition, when motor usage surroundings humidity is changing dramatically, e.g. under water or in a humid area, since silicon steel sheet is likely getting rusty and accumulating rust, and the rust is pushing away the glue layer (solidified glue) and eventually causing delamination. Although the aforesaid effects of the factors of external surroundings are not attributable to the quality of the motor, as a matter of fact, the aforesaid effects indeed directly shorten the life of the motor; therefore, it is an urgent issue in the motor industry as to how to overcome the drawback of a shortened life span of motors caused by external surroundings factors.
In order to overcome the drawback of a short life span of motors caused by the gluing technique, the prior art is cited herein, including Taiwanese Patent No. 595072, Taiwanese Patent No. 579131, Taiwanese Patent No. 412100, Taiwanese Patent No. M302825, and Patent No. M312835, etc.
In general, manufacturers adopt designs of assembly to assemble a turning axle and permanent magnets. The most common adopted designs of assembly is characterized by forming a plurality of equidistantly spaced coupling slots on the peripheral wall surface of a turning axle, and each of the coupling slots is coupled with a corresponding permanent magnet. However, since silicon steel sheets and permanent magnets are made by different fabrication techniques, their fabrication precision are of different levels, thereby causing a great deal of variations in assembly combinations. The variations in assembly combinations frequently further cause the fragile permanent magnets to crack while coupling with the coupling slots in the assembly process, thereby leading to poor yield in the assembly process.
Taiwanese Patent No. 412100 disclosed a motor rotor, wherein a turning axle is formed by stacking a plurality of silicon steel sheets, and then a plurality of equidistantly spaced fixing slots are disposed on a peripheral wall surface of the turning axle. Each of the fixing slots receives a fastening bolt, and any two neighboring fastening bolts are coupled with a permanent magnet within the two neighboring fastening slots; and each end of the turning axle is disposed with an end cover plate for fixing in position the permanent magnets and the fastening bolts to the turning axle, thereby preventing the permanent magnets and the fastening bolts from falling off either end of the turning axle.
In the foresaid patent, in order to engage the permanent magnets to the turning axle, two additional fastening bolts are disposed for each of the permanent magnets; and in order to correct a matching error related to fabrication precision, two additional end cover plates are further provided; thereby not only increasing cost of assembly elements and assembly process and stockpile, but also reducing the yield greatly. In addition, since stamping precision level of forming fixing slots on silicon steel sheets is at least double compared with fabrication precision level of permanent magnets, assembly precision is unlikely to be controlled well, and clearance fit or interference fit commonly happens to assembly relation. In case of interference fit, a penetrating fastening bolt pushes and impacts the permanent magnet and thereby directly cracks and damages the permanent magnet, thereby seriously affecting the yield and keeping production costs high.
According to the Taiwanese Patent No. 595072, a motor rotor is provided, wherein the motor rotor comprises a turning axle, a plurality of permanent magnets, and inserting small teeth; the turning axle is wholly made of silicon steel instead of stacking a plurality of silicon steel sheets as shown in structure design of prior art; a plurality of coupling bumps equidistantly spaced apart from one another are circumferentially formed on the peripheral wall surface of the turning axle, and each of the permanent magnets is correspondingly disposed between the two neighboring coupling bumps circumferentially formed on the peripheral wall surface of the turning axle, and then correspondingly inserting an inserting small tooth with a corresponding coupling groove into each of the coupling bumps, thereby holding and fixing in position each of the permanent magnets by two neighboring inserting small teeth.
However, each of the foresaid inserting small teeth must be fabricated according to size and shape of the permanent magnets. Moreover, each of the coupling grooves must be fabricated in accordance with shape and size of each of the coupling bumps, and obviously demanding higher fabrication technique and precision level. Besides, a great deal of the inserting small teeth are required, not only increasing costs of elements, assembly, and stockpile, but also leading to poor fixation. The inserting small teeth must tightly contact with the permanent magnets to ensure effective fixation. However, fabrication precision errors continue and end up with a cumulative count. Therefore, the permanent magnets are susceptible to vibration and looseness which are even more severe in the presence of the abovementioned external surrounding factors or pressure.
Taiwanese Patent No. 579131 disclosed a coupling fixing motor rotor comprising: coupling grooves formed inside exiting magnetic grooves of magnetically permeable elements of a turning axle; a coupling flange formed on an inner rim of an opening end of each of the coupling grooves; auxiliary positioning elements corresponding in shape to the magnetically permeable element and adapted for coupling and hooking up to each other, wherein the auxiliary positioning elements are long enough to couple and hook up with only one end of the permanent magnets but are absent from the magnetic grooves nor disposed between the permanent magnets.
However, the prior art entails tapering the permanent magnets functioning as magnetic members such that the permanent magnets can be pressed down and fixed in position to each of the coupling grooves, thereby allowing stress to focus on end of the permanent magnet; but for those permanent magnets made from micro particles by powder metallurgy, when stress is concentrated on end, it is likely to cause the end to crack, thereby ruining fixing effect; in addition, when the technique is adopted, a grinding wheel is commonly applied for sharpening ends of the permanent magnets, it is unlikely to obtain a preferable matching level between the permanent magnets and the coupling grooves, thereby leading to poor fixing effect and further decreasing the yield of motor rotors.
Taiwanese Patent No. M302825 disclosed a permanent magnet rotor structure, wherein dovetail tenons are formed on bottom surface of permanent magnets, and corresponding dovetail mortises are formed on a peripheral wall surface of a turning axle for correspondingly coupling with the permanent magnets; however, the patent here has same drawback shown in the claims of Taiwanese Patent No. 579131, which incapable of providing preferable fixing effect, and it is obviously more difficult in achieving the fabrication technique and precision demand.
A magnetic fixing device for motor is disclosed according to Taiwanese Patent No. M312835, wherein permanent magnets are held between two hollow pressing rings, one of the two hollow pressing rings has a plurality of protruding posts formed on its ring surface and equidistantly spaced apart from one another, the protruding posts each comprise two coupling portions on both lateral surfaces respectively and a fixing hole between the two coupling portions, and the other hollow pressing ring comprises axial fixing holes; also each of the permanent magnets has coupling portions on both lateral sides corresponding in position to the coupling portions for correspondingly coupling to between two neighboring protruding posts, and a plurality of fastening elements, e.g. screws, are applied separately to correspondingly run through each of the fixing holes, thereby fixing in position and integrating the hollow pressing rings to one entity, and fixing in position and clipping the permanent magnets between the two hollow pressing rings.
However, screws are applied to the prior art, and screws are likely to be magnetically permeable and consequently affect magnetic fields; besides, applying screws needs tool, and a great deal of amount of screws needed for assembly, thereby costing more time and energy and consequent inconvenience in fabrication process. Besides, eight screws are required according to the prior art, and in order to balance center of gravity, screws applied in assembly must be of same weight, and likewise corresponding nut applied; therefore, choosing of elements is very critical, and even inside a same batch, commonly there are elements of different weight; also a specific technique and procedure must be adopted for purpose of selecting proper elements, thereby increasing fabrication time and cost; moreover, motor rotor must keep rotational motions alive while operating, and the continuous rotational motions and vibrations together are very likely to loosen up the screws, consequently causing displacement of the permanent magnets and affecting usage life spans of motor and motor rotor.
Furthermore, the prior art disclosed a permanent magnet functioning as a magnetic member, between two neighboring posts, in other words, only applicable to motor rotors that have permanent magnets equidistantly spaced apart from one another, but not applicable to motor rotors that have permanent magnets coupled to one another, for instance, motor rotor shown by FIG. 1 in the specification of Taiwanese Patent No. 484766, thereby limiting application scope of the prior art.
In view of the abovementioned drawbacks of the prior art, it is a highly urgent issue in the industry as to how to provide a technique for fabricating motor rotor, which is capable of ensuring fixing effect, reducing elements of assembly, simplifying structure, providing easy assembly process, preventing usage life spans of motor and motor rotor from being affected by external surroundings factors, preventing magnetic members from cracking, and also enhancing the yield.


The present invention relates to new stable enteric coated pharmaceutical dosage forms for oral use containing Omeprazole or Lansoprazole, to a formulation and a method for the manufacture of such a dosage forms, and to a method of gastric acid pump inhibition and providing gastrointestinal cytoprotective benefit by using them.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,255,431 describes a compound 2-[2-(3,5-dimethyl-4-methoxy)-pyridyl methyl sulfinyl]-(5-methoxy)-benzimidazole (Omeprazole) or pharmaceutically acceptable salt or non-toxic acid addition salt as a therapeutic compound for mammals including man, suffering from gastric acid secretion disturbances.
Omeprazole, however is only stable in basic pH conditions and degrades rapidly in neutral or acid pH environment. For this reason the omeprazole oral dosage form must be protected, not only from the acidic inert ingredients used to make a dosage form but also from the acidic gastric fluid in order to intactly reach the absorption site in the small intestine.
A study [Drug Dev. Ind. Pharm. 21(8), 965 (1995)] showed the effect of pH on the stability of omeprazole solution. The pH-decomposition rate profile curve indicated that the maximum stability was at pH 11. Below pH 7.8 the decomposition was very fast.
A survey of the stability of Omeprazole products from 13 countries was reported [Drug Dev. Ind. Pharm. 22(12), 1173(1996)]. The results of this independent survey of the stability of omeprazole solid dosage forms (20 mg) show that product available in many countries worldwide exhibits a very wide range of stability characteristics. Only 18% of very wide range of stability characteristics. Only 18% of total products tested (34) were considered to demonstrate good physical and chemical stability over the course of the study.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,628,098 discloses that: Lansoprazole is a substituted benzimidazole 2-[[[3-methyl-4-(2,2,2-trifluroethoxy)-2-pyridyl]methyl ]sulfinyl]benzimidazole, a compound and a pharmacologically acceptable salt thereof that inhibits gastric acid secretion.
Lansoprazole is relatively stable when exposed to light. The compound degrades in aqueous solution, the rate of degradation increasing with decreasing pH.
It is well known in the pharmaceutical industry that an enteric coating technology is the most efficient means to protect acid unstable medication from the attack of the gastric fluid and can rapidly release the active drug in the proximal part of the gastrointestinal canal.
An enteric coated dosage form of omeprazole was reported in 1985 by Pilbrant and Cederberg (Scand. J. Gastroenterology 1985; 20 (supp. 108) p. 113–120). It was found later that the stability of this dosage form was not sufficient for a long term commercial purpose.
Because of the acidic property of the enteric coating polymer, the omeprazole or lansoprazole will degrade and diminish its therapeutic value by direct or indirect contact with it during or after the coating process, even in the presence of alkaline inert ingredients with the active drug in the core particles. enteric coating as the second layer to release the active drug in the colon.
WO number 85/03436 describes a technique to mix active drug with buffering components (i.e. sodium dihydrogen phosphate) to maintain a constant pH in a core for particular purposes. The core is coated with a layer which controls the diffusions.
All of these inventions when applied to omeprazole's or lansoprazole's case will not give either an adequate release of active drug or storage stability of such dosage form.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,786,505 teaches an art to make an oral pharmaceutical preparation comprising (1) a core consisting of omeprazole plus an alkaline reacting compound (2) an inert subcoating of core (3) an enteric coating of subcoated core and to use it in the treatment of gastrointestinal disease.
This technique requires a series of cumbersome and laborious pharmaceutical processes: 1) preparation of the core, which should be suitable for multilayer coating 2) Coating the core with one or more layers of an inert subcoating containing one or more alkaline substances 3) applying an outer enteric coating to the subcoated core 4) make the pharmaceutical preparation for therapeutical use.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,232,706 claims an oral pharmaceutical preparation of omeprazole or an alkali salt of omeprazole and a process for producing such preparation. The design principle of the preparation is basically similar to the U.S. Pat. No. 4,786.505. This preparation is comprised of: 1) a nucleus of active drug and first basic organic compound; 2) a first coating of nucleus containing at least a layer of a basic water soluble excipient and a second basic organic compound; and 3) a second coating formed by an enteric coating.
The major difference between U.S. Pat. No. 5,232,706 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,786,505 is the type of basic compound used; the former uses basic organic compound the later uses inorganic alkaline reaction compounds in core and in subcoating.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,385,739 relates to a stable formulation of Omeprazole microgranules containing a neutral core of sugar and starch coated with an active layer of drug and mannitol powder mixture with the aid of a solution of a binding agent in water plus ethanol. An additional protective layer of mannitol and sugar syrup is then applied prior to the final gastroprotection coating.
The art of coating a powder mixture containing an active ingredient onto the core of sugar and starch by using a binding solution is a rather difficult process to obtain uniform drug core granules.
In addition, two applications of aqueous solution involving the direct contact with Omeprazole, in the coating process, may effect the stability of this moisture-sensitive drug.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,399,700 teaches a method for stabilizing an acid unstable benzimidazole derivative, by forming an inclusion complex of Omeprazole with cyclodextrin.
This inclusion complex was synthesized in an aqueous alkaline solution at 40–°70° C. and then used to manufacture a tablet which is first coated by a water soluble substance and then with an enteric substance to form an enteric coated oral drug.
The safety of cyclodexrin for human oral dosage form needs to be clarified. Even if the acid stability and dissolution characterization of this inclusion complex has been well demonstrated in vitro, its behavior in vivo is not referenced in this patent.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,689,333 claims a pharmaceutical composition for preventing or treating digestive ulcers or gastritis which contains an effective amount of Lansoprazole or a pharmacologically acceptable salt thereof and pharmacologically acceptable carriers.
A study [Drug Dev. Ind. pharm. 18 (13), 1437 (1992)] reported that enteric granule formulations for Lansoprazole was established, however, it was difficult because some of the excipients needed for these formulations are incompatible with the drug. The alkaline stabilizers were then screened and the optimal pH stability of 9 was suggested in this paper.
A continued study from the above mentioned effort [Drug Dev. Ind. pharm. 20(9), 1661 (1994)] attempted to prepare more stable enteric granules without using these troublesome excipients by using a centrifugal fluid-bed granulator instead of an extruder-spheronizer. It was said that with this method more stable enteric granules could be obtained. The utilization of special sophisticated equipment to achieve the stable granules may suffer economical disadvantages.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,026,560 discloses spherical granules having a seed core coated with a binder and spraying powder containing lansoprazole as active drug, low substituted hydroxypropylcellulose and magnesium or calcium carbonate as alkaline agents. The powder coated core is further coated with spraying powder of low substituted hydroxypropylcellulose and then with enteric coating agent.
Technically, powder coating in pharmaceutical manufacturing brings forth issues such as content uniformity of the active on the seed core, laborious process attention and time consumption. It therefore tremendously increases the cost of the product.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,045,321 describes a pharmaceutical composition for coated tablets or granules, which is comprised of lansoprazole being in contact with at least one of the basic inorganic salts evenly. No protective and/or enteric coating is mentioned in the patent claim.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,093,132 is similar to the U.S. Pat. No. 5,045,321 but more specifically, describes an oral stabilized pharmaceutical composition for the inhibition of gastric acid secretion comprising of lansoprazole or its pharmaceutically acceptable salt in contact evenly with a basic inorganic salt stabilizing agent. It also mentions simply an enteric coating for the composition.
Enteric coated oral solid dosage forms have been in existence for a century. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,656,997 and 3,959,540 disclosed a coated gastric juice resistant capsules and process for the production thereof. Most commercially available products under this category are coated pellets or granule filled capsules and tablet dosage forms. The concept of an enteric coated capsule dosage for commercial purposes are relatively new. So far, only one prescription product—VIVOTIF BERNA™ (Berna Products, Co., Coral Gables, Fla.) is in the U.S.A. market.
The advantage of enteric coated capsules are duplex. In addition to the merit natures of enteric coating polymers, the problem involved and the need for extensive efforts in development and the preparation of enteric pellets or tablets can be avoided.
Historically, enteric coated hard shell capsules were manufactured with formaldehyde treatments. This technology results in a stability problem with this products. Since the successful introduction of a number of enteric polymeric materials, the technology of this coating becomes more popular and is increasingly used in the pharmaceutical industry. However, the use of organic solvents causes risks of air pollution and inflammability. With the advent and availability of aqueous enteric polymer dispersions, manufacturing of enteric coated dosage forms have acquired a great deal of attention. The modern coating equipment now offers to pharmaceutical manufacturers better conditions for the application of aqueous coatings.
The process of enteric coating for pharmaceutical dosage forms are not significantly different with other coating processes. Generally, the sample is first placed in the coating pan or in the fluid-bed chamber for fluidization, while a coating solution is then spraying through a gun according to the two operations: 1) spraying or wetting and 2) drying, which is repeated consecutively during the process.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A parking lock (1) of a transmission comprises a parking lock wheel (2) that is rotationally fixed relative to a shaft (25) and a locking ring (3) that is rotationally fixed relative to a housing (24), the locking ring (3) can be displaced axially into a positive locked connection with the parking lock wheel (2) by an engaging element (4) and can be released from the locked connection by a hydraulically actuated release element (6).

DE 38 25 286 A1 describes a parking lock of the generic type. This parking lock comprises a parking lock wheel seated on a transmission shaft, a locking ring, a parking lock linkage used as an engaging element and a conical spring used as a release element. The parking lock wheel is seated concentrically with the central axis of the transmission shaft while being fixed in axial i.e. longitudinal direction and also fixed against rotation relative to the transmission shaft but rotatable with the transmission shaft relative to a housing of the transmission about the central axis. The locking ring is arranged concentrically with the central axis of the transmission shaft for axial movement relative to the housing and the transmission shaft but is fixed against rotation relative to the housing. The locking ring in this case forms a positive support connection with a housing by means of a support gearing. The support gearing engages into a housing-mounted counter support gearing that guides the locking ring rotationally fixed but axially movable relative to the housing. The locking ring and the parking lock wheel can be connected to each other to form a locked connection whereby the parking lock of the vehicle is in engaged condition. In this prior art, a counter locking gearing is configured on the parking lock wheel to match a locking gearing of the locking ring. The locking gearings are oriented toward each other and can be engaged with and released from each other. At least for the engagement of the locking gearing into the counter locking gearing, the engaging element engages the locking ring and pushes it against the force of the release element axially in the direction of the parking lock wheel till the locking gears mesh positively with each other. In the parking position, the gearings are meshed positively with each other whereby the locking ring and the parking lock wheel together form the locked connection. In this condition, the parking lock wheel and, with it, the shaft is retained with the help of the counter locking gearing rotationally fast relative to the housing on the locking gearing because the locking ring is supported rotationally fast on the housing through the support gearing. The locked connection is released again when the release element has pushed back the locking ring axially and the locking gearings are thus separated from each other. The costs for manufacturing the individual parts of this parking lock and for mounting them in the transmission are relatively high.


The present invention relates to a novel method for preparing (5S)-4-[5-(3,5-di-chlorophenyl)-5-(trifluoromethyl)-4H-isoxazol-3-yl]-2-methyl-benzoic acid, which can preferably be used in the synthesis of (5S)-4-[5-(3,5-dichlorophenyl)-5-(trifluoro-methyl)-4H-isoxazol-3-yl]-N-[2-oxo-2-(2,2,2-trifluoroethylamino)ethyl]-2-methyl-benzamide.

(5RS)-4-[5-(3,5-dichlorophenyl)-5-(trifluoromethyl)-4H-isoxazol-3-yl]-N-[2-oxo-2-(2,2,2-trifluoroethylamino)ethyl]-2-methyl-benzamide (hereinafter referred to as fluralaner) is a synthetic insecticide which is represented by the following Formula (A).

Fluralaner is a systemic active ingredient agent that can be administered orally. The active ingredient is reported to antagonistically inhibit chloride channels via bonding to gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA) and/or glutamate receptors in the nervous system of several arthropods. Since fluralaner does not show an analogous bonding in the nervous systems of mammals, it is for example suitable for flea, mite and tick treatment in mammals, for example in dogs and cats.
Fluralaner is a racemate. The (S)-enantiomer is reported to be the eutomer substantially contributing to the antiparasitic activity of the active ingredient. In view thereof, the use of enantio-pure or enantio-enriched (S)-fluralaner is considered to be advantageous in comparison to racemic fluralaner.
(5RS)-4-[5-(3,5-dichlorophenyl)-5-(trifluoromethyl)-4H-isoxazol-3-yl]-2-methyl-benzoic acid (IOBA) is a key intermediate in the synthesis of fluralaner and said compound is represented by the following Formula (1)

Since enantio-pure or enantio-enriched (S)-fluralaner might be considered as advantageous as active ingredient, the isolation of an enantio-pure or enantio-enriched (5S)-4-[5-(3,5-dichlorophenyl)-5-(trifluoromethyl)-4H-isoxazol-3-yl]-2-methyl-benzoic acid (S-IOBA) would be desirable. (5S)-4-[5-(3,5-dichlorophenyl)-5-(trifluoromethyl)-4H-isoxazol-3-yl]-2-methyl-benzoic acid is represented by the following Formula (1a)

WO 2014/090918 A1 describes that the separation of a similar compound into the enantiomer can be performed by chiral column chromatography or by diastereomeric recrystallisation. More particularly, said document describes that a similar compound, racemic 3-methyl-5-[(5RS)-5-(3,4,5-trichlorophenyl)-5-(trifluoromethyl)-4H-isoxazol-3-yl]thiophene-2-carboxylic acid (IOTA), is treated with (R)-1-(4-methylphenyl)ethylamine in a ternary mixture of water, acetonitrile and 2-butanol to obtain a precipitate of the corresponding (S)-isoxazoline thiophene carbolic acid salt with, after washing, a chiral purity of over 95%, which can be enhanced to over 98% by a further recrystallisation step. This process however uses a ternary mixture of solvents for the crystallisation. Furthermore, in WO 2014/090918 A1, in case one wants to racemize the "by-product" (R)-isoxazoline thiophene carboxylic acid which has remained in said ternary mixture, one needs to change this ternary solvent mixture to another solvent mixture. In addition, it was found that treating racemic IOBA with (R)-1-(4-methylphenyl)ethylamine did not result in any precipitation of (S)-IOBA.
JP 05679102 describes that a process according to which a racemic isoxazoline benzoic acid derivative can be separated into its enantiomers, wherein the process is carried out in an organic solvent or a mixture thereof and an active basic compound is used. In particular, racemic (5RS)-4-[5-(3,5-dichlorophenyl)-5-(trifluoromethyl)-4H-isoxazol-3-yl]-2-methyl-benzoic acid and an optically active α-phenylethylamine were reacted in a mixture of toluene and ethyl acetate or just ethyl acetate to obtain a precipitate being the corresponding enantiomeric salt of (5S)-4-[5-(3,5-dichlorophenyl)-5-(trifluoromethyl)-4H-isoxazol-3-yl]-2-methyl-benzoic acid and (S)-α-phenylethylamine in a ratio of 1:1.
However there still exists a need for a new route of synthesis, i.e. for a method of preparing (5S)-4-[5-(3,5-dichlorophenyl)-5-(trifluoromethyl)-4H-isoxazol-3-yl]-2-methyl-benzoic acid, which can preferably be applied in a simple and effective manner.
Hence, it is an object of the present invention to overcome one or more of the drawbacks of the above-mentioned processes. In particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for preparing (5S)-4-[5-(3,5-dichlorophenyl)-5-(trifluoromethyl)-4H-isoxazol-3-yl]-2-methyl-benzoic acid with a high enantiomeric excess. Another object is to provide a method for preparing (5S)-4-[5-(3,5-dichlorophenyl)-5-(trifluoromethyl)-4H-isoxazol-3-yl]-2-methyl-benzoic acid with an advantageous high yield, in particular when used in a large-scale process. It is further an object of the present invention to provide a method for preparing (5S)-4-[5-(3,5-dichlorophenyl)-5-(trifluoromethyl)-4H-isoxazol-3-yl]-2-methyl-benzoic acid with a simple solvent system. It is furthermore an object of the present invention to provide a method for preparing (5S)-4-[5-(3,5-dichlorophenyl)-5-(trifluoromethyl)-4H-isoxazol-3-yl]-2-methyl-benzoic acid wherein the same solvent system as for the precipitation of (S)-IOBA can be used for the racemisation of (R)-IOBA.
The present invention has unexpectedly solved at least one of the above objectives by the provision of a new synthetic approach for preparing a compound according to Formula (1a).
Hence, the subject of the present invention is a method for preparing (5S)-4-[5-(3,5-dichlorophenyl)-5-(trifluoromethyl)-4H-isoxazol-3-yl]-2-methyl-benzoic acid according to Formula (1a)

from (5RS)-4-[5-(3,5-dichlorophenyl)-5-(trifluoromethyl)-4H-isoxazol-3-yl]-2-methyl-benzoic acid according to Formula (1)

comprising the steps of:    (i) reacting (5RS)-4-[5-(3,5-dichlorophenyl)-5-(trifluoromethyl)-4H-isoxazol-3-yl]-2-methyl-benzoic acid with a compound of Formula (2A), (2B) or (2C)
                wherein R is an alkyl with 1 or 2 carbon atoms,
                wherein X is Cl or Br,        in an organic solvent having a polarity ET(30) between 180 and 230 kJ/mol to form a precipitate and a supernatant solution            (ii) separating the precipitate from step (i) from the supernatant solution    (iii) treating the precipitate from step (ii) with acidic aqueous solution, and    (iv) separating (S)-4-[5-(3,5-dichlorophenyl)-5-(trifluoromethyl)-4H-isoxazol-3-yl]-2-methyl-benzoic acid from the acidic aqueous solution of step (iii).
It was unexpectedly found that the method of the present invention allows advantageous yields of the resulting compound with a high enantiomeric excess. Additionally, the method can be carried out without sophisticated equipment and the need of a chromatographic purification step is avoided.

Method for producing (5,S)-4-[5-(3,5-dichlorophenyl)-5-(trifluoromethyl)-4Hisoxazol-3-yl]-2-methyl-benzoic acid


A power-assisted winch includes a rotatable drum for receiving a line thereabout. The power-assisted winch further includes a trigger mechanism configured to be releasably engaged upon a force exerted on the line. The trigger mechanism selectively activates a power source providing power to the winch to assist with hauling the line when engaged.

Winches find widespread use in various applications. One important and widespread area of use of winches today is for pulling in lines attached to sails and anchors on sailing vessels and other boats. However, winches find various other applications including use on recreational vehicles and in industrial applications.
Conventional winches typically include a rotating drum that captures the line through friction in a desired direction. The rotating drum is commonly engaged using a manual crank that is attached to a spline and usually a means of gear reduction. More recently, electric and hydraulic power-assisted winches have been utilized to use electric or hydraulic motors instead of a manual crank to input torque to the rotating drum of the winch. These winches are commonly activated using an input control such as a button or switch. In some cases, these winches can be operated in the reverse direction, allowing sails to be trimmed at the push of a button. While the electric and hydraulic assisted winches provide assistance in pulling in and trimming sails without the manual crank used in conventional winches, they still require a user to operate a button or switch to engage the winch. While operation of the button or switch is not difficult, it still requires the user to free a hand from the line being pulled. This can become cumbersome when performing such sailing maneuvers as a tack or jibe where the user would have to switch from a winch on a starboard side of the sailing vessel to a winch on a port side of the sailing vessel or vise versa.
Thus, it would be desirable to operate a winch by pulling on the line in the desired direction without having to operate a manual crank or button. This would provide a more intuitive approach than the winches of prior art, especially during various sailing maneuvers.
Accordingly, it is further desirable to produce a power-assisted winch having a power source which activates when a pulling force is exerted on a line and deactivates when the pulling force is relaxed.


A diesel exhaust gas purification catalyst contains a substrate, and a catalyst layer formed on the substrate. The catalyst layer contains a carrier, a noble metal and/or an oxide thereof supported by the carrier, and a composite oxide of cerium and one or more Group III and/or Group IV elements. The diesel exhaust gas purification catalyst when in use is disposed on an upstream side of an exhaust gas stream with respect to a denitration catalyst.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for exhaust gas purification.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, exhaust gas regulations for automobiles and the like have been enforced. To cope with these regulations, various exhaust gas purification catalysts which are configured to efficiently remove hydrocarbons (HC), carbon monoxides (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and the like in exhaust gas have been developed (see, for example, Non-patent Document 1).
However, conventional exhaust gas purification catalysts may not achieve sufficient purification performance for exhaust gas such as NOx.

Diesel exhaust gas purification catalyst and diesel exhaust gas purification system


A method for detecting fatigue state of cog belt of wind power generator set is provided, including acquiring pitch angles satisfying preset condition, acquiring signal characteristic values corresponding to the pitch angles, selects from the pitch angles according to acquisition timing sequence of signal characteristic values pitch angles at which signal characteristic value changes, performing characteristic statistics on selected pitch angles to acquire characteristic statistic value and determining whether the cog belt is in fatigue state by comparing characteristic statistic value with predetermined threshold.

The wind power generator set can transfer wind energy into electric energy to generate electric power. When the set reaches a state of full capacity, pitch varying is required to achieve constant rotation speed control. In the pitch varying, a pitch varying system drives a cog belt via a pitch varying motor to drive a pitch varying bearing so as to change an angle of a blade to wind, and achieve the pitch varying.
The cog belt serves as a drive mechanism of the pitch varying system of the wind power generator set, and bears very serious fatigue load and alternating load under long term pitch varying requirement of the set. If the cog belt breaks or fails, the blade will be out of control, thereby threatening security of the set gravely. Therefore, the cog belt is required to be detected, so as to warn early about risks before the cog belt breaks or fails, ensuring secure operations of the set.

Method, apparatus and system for detecting fatigue state of cog belt of wind power generator set

BEIJING GOLDWIND SCIENCE & CREATION WINDPOWER EQUIPMENT CO., LTD.


Based on the traditional shimbari principle, new methods for precise positioning and support of shimbari rods utilizing a modular aluminum framing system have been developed. With these innovations, a wide range of three-dimensional works of art can be treated, including large-scale sculptures with complex contours and irregular surfaces. These methods and systems include easily adaptable shimbari clamping devices and pivot mounts developed by a team of conservators and an industrial designer-fabricator in the Department of Objects Conservation at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Asian Art Department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met) holds a significant collection of wooden polychrome sculptures and works of art decorated with Asian lacquer spanning from 300 BCE to the 21st century. The team of conservators in the Museum's Department of Objects Conservation has recently been expanded to focus on the conservation needs of this growing collection. The consolidation of delaminating and lifting decorative surfaces is a frequent component of conservation treatment. To create the clamping pressure these fragile surfaces require, the shimbari method has been most effective, but inefficient.

Shimbari systems for the stabilization of surfaces


Disclosed are methods of detecting a gastric reflux in the esophagus or in the throat of a subject. The basis of the method is the detection of the presence of pepsin or pepsinogen at higher than normal levels. Detection is preferably by an immunoassay technique.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the fields of Otolaryngology, Gastroenterology, Anesthesiology, Pulmonology and critical care medicine, and more particularly, the fields of detection and diagnosis of esophageal and extraesophageal gastric reflux (EEGR).
2. Description of Related Art
Gastric reflux, and especially EEGR, influences the development, duration and/or outcome of most major airway (i.e. the laryngopharynx, tracheobronchial tree and lung) diseases (Koufman 1991). It has also been suggested that EEGR is a causal factor of asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and laryngeal carcinogenesis (Baccino et al., 1988; Herbst et al., 1979; Paton et al., 1989; Morrison 1988; Ward and Hanson 1988; Koufman 1991).
Gastroesophageal reflux (GER) refers to the backflow of gastric contents into the esophagus. Some GER is normal; however, in individuals with excessive reflux, either in amount or in duration, GER causes significant suffering and tissue damage and is termed gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). GERD has a relatively broad spectrum of clinical manifestations but is essentially defined by the development of "peptic esophagitis" (esophageal inflammation, even ulceration, stricture, metaplasia, and neoplasia, as the result of excessive contact of the esophageal lining with gastric acid and pepsin, the principal digestive enzyme of the stomach).
It is estimated that 10% of all Americans have symptoms of heartburn and regurgitation daily and 30% have symptoms less frequently (Castell et al. 1987), but estimates of the number of Americans with reflux-related laryngeal, voice and airway disorders remains unknown, because people with EEGR often do not have esophagitis or heartburn (Koufman 1991). Thus, although it has been reported that two-thirds of patients with laryngeal and voice disorders have EEGR as either the primary causal agent or a significant etiological cofactor, the prevalence of these EEGR-related conditions remains unknown. It is estimated that EEGR may affect up to 50% of adult Americans over 40 years of age.
Yet the epidemiologies and natural histories of GERD remain incompletely understood because of a lack of sensitive and accurate diagnostic tools for detecting and distinguishing GERD from EEGR and other diseases of the esophagus, throat and airway. Gastroenterologists and otolaryngologists are currently forced to make diagnoses based on the principal clinical symptoms, e.g. heartburn for GERD and for hoarseness EEGR. However, less than half of all patients with EEGR into the laryngeal and pharyngeal regions (i.e. the throat), as documented by pH monitoring, complain of heartburn or regurgitation (Ossakow et al. 1987; Koufman et al 1988; Koufman 1991; Koufman 1993; Koufman 1996; Wiener et al. 1986; Wiener et al. 1987; Wiener et al. 1989). Thus, the principal difference in symptoms between EEGR and GERD patients appears to be that EEGR patients infrequently have heartburn, the primary symptom of esophagitis.
Patients with EEGR usually complain of throat symptoms such as hoarseness, a sensation of a lump in the throat,. chronic throat clearing, choking episodes, or throat pain, or sometimes pulmonary symptoms such as chronic cough and asthma (Ohman et al. 1983; Olson 1986; Wiener et al. 1986; Ossakow et al. 1987; Flores et al 1981). Esophagitis and heartburn usually occur in patients with supine nocturnal reflux but patients with EEGR generally experience upright daytime reflux (Koufman 1991; Wiener et al. 1989). In addition, patients with EEGR tend to have UES dysfunction, whereas typical esophagitis patients have predominantly lower esophageal sphincter (LES) dysfunction. Because the patterns and mechanisms of reflux in patients with EEGR appear to differ significantly from those of patients with GERD, patients with EEGR are frequently mis-diagnosed because they do not have esophagitis and its symptoms (Wiener et al. 1989; Koufnan 1991).
Several studies comparing symptoms, diagnostic data, and results of treatment of patients with EEGR with normal controls and with GERD (i.e. esophagitis) patients have been reported (Koufman 1991; Wiener et al. 1986; Ossakow, et al. 1987; Wiener, et al. 1989). Based upon the fact that similar diagnostic methods were used for all of these studies, a comparative profile of the two conditions, EEGR and GERD, is shown in Table 1. These composite profiles are derived from the GERD literature and the inventor's data.
TABLE 1 ______________________________________ Summary of the Differences Between EEGR and GERD Patients EEGR GERD ______________________________________ Symptoms Heartburn 350% 89% Hoarseness 85% 3% Globus cough etc. 64% 6% pH-Monitoring Total abnormal 79% 100% Upright 88% 46% Supine 45% 100% Pharyngeal 50% 0% Other Diagnostic Tests (Abnormal %) Esophagoscopy & Bx 27% 100% Barium swallow 38% 68% Bernstein Test 30% 89% Esophageal acid-clearance 7% 70% UES manometry 50% 0% H2-antagonist therapy Failure rates 35% 10% ______________________________________
Since patients with EEGR have predominantly upright, daytime reflux, while GERD patients appear to have supine, nocturnal reflux, it is not surprising that the esophageal acid clearance of patients with EEGR is almost always normal, while for esophagitis patients, it is almost always prolonged. These findings help explain why patients with EEGR do not have esophagitis. The total esophageal acid-contact time is normal in the EEGR group but not in the esophagitis group.
In addition to the lack of heartburn and esophagitis, patients with EEGR appear to have a very high rate of medical treatment failure with H2-receptor antagonists, regardless of dose. Koufman (1991) reported that the failure rate for patients with EEGR treated with ranitidine (in doses of 600 mg to 1,200 mg per day) was 38%. This rate of medical failure is more than double that of similarly treated GERD patients. The high rates of failure of treatment for EEGR with H2-antagonists may be due to three interrelated variables: (1) H2-antagonists reduce gastric acidity, but do not abolish it; (2) although it is generally accepted that pepsin activity is acid-activated, 70% of peptic activity still remains at a pH greater than pH 4.0 (Piper and Fenton 1965); and (3) it appears that the mucosa of the larynx is its sole protective barrier against peptic injury. If the mucosa is injured then ulceration, granulation and perichondritis may occur. This damage appears to be principally through exposure to pepsin in the refluxate (Koufman 1991; Little et al. 1985; Lillemoe et al. 1982; Hirschowitz 1991; Johnson and Harmon 1986; Samloff and Taggart 1987). Thus EEGR that affects the larynx could be termed "peptic laryngitis".
Reliable diagnostic tools for GERD, and in particular EEGR, have been sought for decades. Since the 1960s, pH-monitoring has been used to diagnose GER, because the acid in the refluxate is easily measured by pH monitoring. For this reason, double-probe pH monitoring was developed.
Double-probe pH monitoring is a technique which simultaneously measures the pH in the esophagus and throat by using a device that consists of dual pH sensors which are imbedded in a single catheter such that when placed in the throat and esophagus one probe is in the distal esophagus five centimeters above the LES and the other probe is in the hypopharynx behind the laryngeal inlet just above the UES. Patients are monitored for 24 hours. A precipitous drop below pH 4 in the pharyngeal probe which is immediately preceded by a comparable drop in pH in the esophageal probe is considered to be evidence of EEGR.
While this pH based assay appears to be the most sensitive and specific yet available for the diagnosis of EEGR, it has several disadvantages. Calculations of its sensitivity range from only 68% to 80% (Koufman 1991). Possibly because EEGR is an intermittent, "life-style-related" disease (Koufman 1991, 1996), a 24 hour monitoring period is not always sufficient to determine if a patient has been experiencing previous EEGR events or if future events may occur. This problem is exasperated by the nature of the assay, which detects hydrogen ions, a small molecule that does not persist in the throat. In addition, this technique is highly invasive, i.e. approximately 12% of otolaryngology patients either refuse or cannot tolerate the procedure. Furthermore, significant dietary modifications occur during the pH monitoring procedure, which may artificially suppress reflux, thus making a negative result questionable. And finally, the method is expensive and hence has limited availability.
Pepsin, considered to be acid-activated, has been ignored as a diagnostic marker of GERD and EEGR because acid (pH) is quite easy to measure compared to pepsin. But as patients with EEGR commonly do not have esophagitis, or heartburn, pH monitoring and other diagnostic assays, which test for esophagitis, are often falsely negative in these patients. Several immunoassays have been developed to measure the levels of pepsinogens I and II in serum and urine in order to evaluate their potential as diagnostic markers of either gastrointestinal ulcers or stomach cancer (Waldum et al., 1979; Axelsson et al., 1982; Huang et al., 1987; Huang et al., 1988). It is contemplated that pepsin may enter the blood serum through GERD induced lesions in the throat. However, changes in pepsin levels in either the blood serum or urine due to GERD have never been evaluated nor have they been contemplated for their use as diagnostic markers of GERD or EEGR.
There is an immediate need, therefore, for a noninvasive, accurate and less expensive diagnostic method which can be Used to diagnose EEGR and monitor the progress of treatments for a variety of disorders of the throat and esophagus that are EEGR and GERD related.

Methods and compositions for the diagnosis of extraesophageal gastric reflux


A drinking water purification system includes a flat filter assembly which may be installed in relatively narrow spaces which would otherwise be wasted such as the space beside a kitchen cabinet and the basin of a kitchen sink, inside a freezer door or on a countertop. The filter assembly includes a housing, preferably U-shaped, having a plurality of transversely extending ribs, formed in the opposed side walls of the housing, which reinforce the housing and which cause a generally serpentine flow of water through the housing during operation of the filter. Protrusions preferably are formed in the housing in addition to the ribs to strengthen further the housing and to aid in preventing the formation of channels through the granulated filter medium contained within the housing. Internal or external quick connect couplers preferably connect the filter assembly to a source of untreated water and to a dispenser. An especially preferred external coupler includes an integral support element and devices for preventing water leakage when the filter assembly is disconnected from the coupler.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to water purification systems, and more particularly to domestic water purification systems employing modular filter assemblies utilizing granulated filtration media.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Purification of drinking water prior to domestic use is becoming increasingly important to many consumers. Water is usually purified to one extent or another by most municipalities prior to being supplied to consumers. Such municipal purification systems are, however, often inadequate and, in any event, are incapable of removing many contaminants which adversely affect the taste of drinking water and which are introduced into drinking water between the municipal purification site and the residences being serviced by the municipality. For example, chlorine, chlorine by-products, rust, or even lead are often present in city and/or residential water pipes and may be picked up by water as it flows through the pipes. In addition, rural residences often have no means of purifying drinking water prior to use.
These factors have given rise to an ever increasing demand for on-site water purification systems. Filtration systems employing granulated media including activated charcoal and/or other filtration media have gained increased acceptance in many domestic applications because they remove many contaminants not removable by fibrous filters. Domestic drinking water purification systems have, however, heretofore suffered from several drawbacks and disadvantages limiting their acceptability to many consumers.
For instance, many water purification systems are unacceptably bulky and are unsuitable for residences having limited countertop or cabinet space. This problem can be alleviated somewhat by employing a relatively thin filter which can be installed in unused spaces such as the one which is ordinarily located behind the kitchen faucet. One such filter assembly is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,116,502, which issued to Ferguson on May 26, 1992. Ferguson discloses a filter having a housing which is sufficiently narrow to be installed behind a kitchen faucet and which is connectable to the kitchen faucet.
The filter assembly disclosed by Ferguson suffers several drawbacks. The filter assembly has inlets and outlets which are located relatively remote from one another on top of the filter housing, and is thus relatively bulky. The filter housing, though narrower than some other such housings, is still relatively wide and is unsuitable for mounting in many locations, such as inside an appliance such as a refrigerator or a freezer. Ferguson's filter assembly also is difficult to fabricate and employs a solid filter medium which is not as well suited for removing contaminants from drinking water as are many granulated filter media.
A filter employing a granulated filter medium is proposed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,693,823, which issued to Matchett on Sep. 15, 1987. The granulated filter medium is contained in an annular filter housing having inwardly-facing ridges formed in the side walls thereof. The ridges are said to create a turbulence along the surfaces of the inner walls of the housing so as to prevent the formation of channels which, according to the patent disclosure, would otherwise occur if water were to be permitted to flow laminarly through the housing.
The ridged housing of the filter assembly disclosed by Matchett exhibits several drawbacks. The ridges are formed from relatively sharp angles and would thus appear to weaken the sides of the housings. The thus weakened side walls of the housing could bow outwardly under fluid pressure within the housing, thereby promoting the very channeling which the filter is designed to prevent. The ridges on opposed sides of the housing are also aligned with one another and thus do not produce serpentine fluid flow through the housing, thus further increasing the pressures within the filter and increasing the dangers of channeling. The filter assembly disclosed by Matchett is also relatively bulky and lacks any devices facilitating its coupling to a dispenser or to a source of untreated water. This filter assembly is also insufficiently strong to withstand the pressure of water flowing through the filter, and thus must be enclosed in a separate housing.

Water purification system employing modular flat filter assembly


A mechanical hair-removing device includes at least a vibrating part, drivers for providing a periodic alternative movement of the vibrating part and of a roller on which are located the hair-removing devices. The drivers of the hair-removing devices and the vibrating part are actuated simultaneously during a hair-removing session to cause a vibration of the hairy surface.

An object of this invention is a hair-removing device reducing, or even suppressing the pain experienced when removing the hairs, without the shortcomings mentioned above.
An object of the invention is also such a hair-removing device, with a compact shape.
The invention also relates to such a hair-removing device of simple execution and not requiring any other source of energy than that used to drive the hair-removing roller.
An another object of this invention is also a hair-removing method enabling to reduce the pain.

Painless mechanical hair-removing device and its related method


At least one of a hollow particle 14, a porous particle 24, and a solid particle 34 having the pores 18, 28, 38 on the surface thereof is subjected to plasma irradiation under a reduced pressure while changing plasma irradiation intensity and/or the degree of vacuum. After the plasma irradiation, at least one type of monomer is graft polymerized onto the surface of the plasma irradiated particle by contact between the at least one type of monomer and the particle so as to substantially fill the pores 18, 28, and 38 of the particle with grafted polymers 12 of the monomers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to functional particles and a preparing method thereof, and more particularly relates to a functional particle preparing method in which plasma irradiation intensity and/or the degree of vacuum are changed during plasma irradiation according to the size of each gap between particles to form grafted polymers having uniform graft lengths on the particles, and relates to a functional particle prepared by the functional particle preparing method. Further, the present invention relates to a plasma treatment method in which particles are fixed in a stacked form to which plasma is irradiated for uniform plasma treatment over the entire particles.
2. Description of the Related Art
The inventor of the present application and others suggest a separation membrane formed by plasma graft polymerization carried out on a fine porous membrane so as to substantially fill pores of the fine porous membrane with plasma-grafted polymers and a method for preparing the separation membrane.
For example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 3-98632 entitled "Separation Membrane and Separation Method", a separation membrane formed by plasma-graft polymerizing acrylic monomers on a fine porous membrane made of polyethylene of ultrahigh molecular weight having predetermined porosity and predetermined average pores so as to substantially fill pores of the fine porous membrane with acrylic graft polymers is disclosed. In particular, this separation membrane lends itself to application such as a separation membrane for organic solvent mixtures which separates an organic solvent having high compatibility with acrylic polymers from an organic solvent having low compatibility with the acrylic polymers. Here, it should be noted that the "plasma-graft polymerization" refers to a way in which a fine porous membrane is irradiated by plasma in an environment at a predetermined degree of vacuum and then the plasma treated fine porous membrane is soaked in a monomer solution to graft polymerize the monomers.
Further, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 4-334531 entitled "Separation membrane And Method", a separation membrane prepared by plasma-graft polymerization carried out on a polyethylene fine porous membrane using a plurality of different types of monomers which vary in solubility to substantially fill pores of the fine porous membrane with grafted polymers is disclosed. It is also described that by graft polymerizing a plurality of types of monomers, a mixture consisting of liquids which are of similar solubility can be appropriately separated.
Still further, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 5-31343 entitled "Separation Membrane, Preparing and separation Method of The Same", a separation membrane prepared by plasma-graft polymerizing nonaqueous monomers on a polyethylene fine porous membrane to substantially fill pores of the fine porous membrane with grafted polymers is disclosed.
In Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 5-237352 entitled "Separation Membrane And Separation", a separation membrane prepared by plasma-graft polymerizing acrylic monomers and cross-linked monomers on a polyethylene fine porous membrane to fill pores of the fine porous membrane with acrylic cross-linked graft polymers is disclosed.
Further, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 6-246141 entitled "Separating Membrane, Its Production And Separating Method" a separation membrane prepared by plasma-graft polymerizing acrylate monomers represented by CH2═CHOOR (R is an alkyl group having 10 or greater carbon numbers) on a polyester fine porous membrane to substantially fill pores of the fine porous membrane with grafted polymers of acrylate monomers is disclosed. By using acrylate monomers as a monomer to be filled in the pores, the obtained separation membrane can selectively permeate organic compounds contained in water so as to be separated from the water.
All of the above-described separation membranes and preparing methods provide a separation membrane in which pores of a fine porous membrane are filled with plasma-grafted polymers and a method for preparing the separation membrane. The plasma-grafted polymers filling the pores selectively separate organic compounds in a solution in response to an environment of the solution around the separation membrane.
In the prior art, when a plurality of particles are subjected to plasma irradiation, in order to uniformly apply plasma irradiation on the surfaces of the particles, the particles are placed on a rotating table to which plasma is gradually irradiated.
Accordingly, the technical concept of carrying out one-time plasma irradiation on a large quantity of particles for subsequent graft polymerization of monomers was not suggested in the prior art.
In recent years, there has been a growing interest in drug delivery systems. In particular, refinements are actively introduced into the drug delivery systems to achieve drug delivery which is programmed with respect to the quantity of release or drug delivery which is programmed with respect to the time of release, or to provide an improved drug delivery system in which drugs are distributed to a specific area. In such a drug delivery system, it is to be desired that particles are used to include a drug and the right quantity of the drug is provided to an appropriate area from the particle in response to an environment around the particles.

Functional particle and preparing/plasma-treating method of the same


Described are techniques for preventing movement of tuning pegs on a stringed instrument. Described is a device comprising an elongated body forming a sleeve opened at a first end thereof and having a slit formed therein. The body has a shape and dimensions in accordance with a shape and dimensions of a row of a plurality of tuning pegs of the stringed instrument so that the body is configured to enclose therein head portions of the plurality of tuning pegs. The slit is configured to have a length and width to extend around neck portions of the plurality of tuning pegs on the stringed instrument.

1. Technical Field
This application generally relates to musical instruments, and more particularly to stringed musical instruments.
2. Description of Related Art
Stringed instruments, such as those in the guitar family, may be tuned by varying the tension of strings through rotational movement of tuning pegs or keys connected to the strings. Once a stringed instrument has been tuned so that the tuning pegs have a desired setting, the instrument may be transported, stored in a soft-sided case, and the like. The tuning pegs or keys of the stringed instrument may be subjected to inadvertent movement subsequent to tuning causing an undesirable change to the previous tuning settings. Thus, it may be desirable to utilize a technique to prevent the foregoing unintentional modification of tuning settings of the stringed instrument.


A pixel structure disposed on a substrate includes a gate, a patterned dielectric layer, a patterned semiconductor layer, a patterned metal layer, an overcoat layer and a transparent pixel electrode. The patterned dielectric layer and the gate covered thereby are disposed on the substrate. The patterned semiconductor layer on the patterned dielectric layer includes bumps and a channel above the gate. The patterned metal layer includes a source, a drain and a reflective pixel electrode connecting the drain. The source and the drain cover a portion of the channel. The reflective pixel electrode covers the bumps. The gate, the patterned dielectric layer, the patterned semiconductor layer and the patterned metal layer form a transistor on which the overcoat layer has a contact hole exposing a portion of the reflective pixel electrode. The transparent pixel electrode on the overcoat layer electrically connects the reflective pixel electrode through the contact hole.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pixel structure and a manufacturing method thereof, and particularly to a pixel structure having a reflective electrode and a manufacturing method thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
With the popularization of liquid crystal displays (LCDs), many portable electronic products, such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), or pocket PCs necessitate better display performance of the LCDs. The portable electronic products require not only a desired display effect indoors, but also a favorable image quality outdoors or in a high luminance environment.
Thus, how to maintain display quality in the high luminance environment has become one of the major trends in LCD development. In view of the foregoing, a transflective LCD has been developed according to the related art. The transflective LCD achieves the desired display effect both indoors and in a bright outdoor environment.
In a conventional transflective LCD, a pixel structure includes a reflective electrode adapted to reflect an external light, such that a reflective area is formed. In order to equalize the display effect achieved in the reflective area and in a transparent area having no reflective electrode, a padding layer is usually inserted under the reflective electrode, so as to form the transflective LCD having dual cell gap. In addition, a plurality of photoresist bumps is often disposed below the reflective electrode in the conventional pixel structure to improve the reflectivity of the reflective pixel electrode. However, the padding layer, the reflective electrode on the padding layer and the photoresist bumps are fabricated through a relatively complicated process and require more manufacturing costs. Based on the above, it is rather difficult to simplify the process of manufacturing the pixel structure of the transflective LCD while a reduced cost and a desirable quality of the pixel structure are ensured.

Pixel structure and manufacturing method thereof


Disclosed is a retainer bearing (1) for retaining a rotor shaft of an electric machine. Said retainer bearing (1) comprises an outer bearing ring (2) and an inner bearing ring (5). At least one gliding element (7) which is preloaded in a radial direction of the retainer bearing (10) is inserted between the outer bearing ring (2) and the inner bearing ring (5).

The invention relates to a retainer bearing for retaining a rotor shaft of an electric machine, wherein the retainer bearing has a bearing outer ring and a bearing inner ring. Furthermore, the invention relates to an electric machine, in particular a turbomachine, comprising at least one such retainer bearing. The electric machine has, in particular, magnetic bearings for bearing the rotor shaft for operation purposes.
Electric machines, in particular rotating electric motors and generators, require bearings for bearing the rotor shaft. Rolling bearings, such as ball bearings or roller bearings, are usually used for this purpose.
Such bearings are no longer advantageous for large electric machines, that is to say, for example, machines with a mass of more than one ton and a rated electrical power of more than 500 kW, in particular of a few megawatts. This applies, in particular, to electric machines which have a maximum rotation speed of more than 4000 rev/min, as is the case, for example, in compressors or pumps. The reason for this is wear of the rolling bearings which increases more than proportionately as the rotation speed of the electric machine increases. The result is regular replacement of the rolling bearings and stoppage of the electric machine and the system components connected to it.
A further disadvantage of the rolling bearings is that the rolling bearings have to be regularly oiled or lubricated. In nature protection or water protection areas, this means that electric machines with rolling bearings can be operated for the purpose of driving compressors, pumps or the like only under strict environmental conditions.
Active magnetic bearings are used instead of rolling bearings in order to solve the abovementioned problems. Such bearings avoid the disadvantages of rolling bearings, such as friction, poor damping and wear. On account of the continual advances in the field of computer and control engineering and power electronics, such active magnetic bearings are highly dynamic and very stable in terms of control. Contact-free, wear-free and stable bearing is possible at very high rotation speeds. A further advantage is that the rigidity and damping of the active magnetic bearing can be electronically adjusted. On account of lubrication which is otherwise required being dispensed with, active magnetic bearings are free of oil and grease and can therefore be used particularly in environmentally sensitive areas of use. An air gap in the range of from 0.1 mm to 0.5 mm is maintained between the magnetic bearing and the rotor shaft to be borne during operational use.
Since an active magnetic bearing may break down due to the system, retainer bearings can be provided, which retainer bearings can hold the rotor shaft when there is no magnetic bearing or generally when the electrical system is switched off. To this end, the retainer bearing has a slightly larger inside diameter compared to the diameter of the rotor shaft, and so the rotor shaft does not touch the retainer bearing in the case of magnetic bearing during operation. The retainer bearing is usually accommodated in the region of the respective end of the rotor shaft in the stator housing of the electric machine. If, in contrast, the rotor shaft is in the form of a hollow shaft, the outside diameter of the retainer bearing is slightly smaller than the inside diameter of the hollow shaft, and so the rotor shaft can retain the rotor shaft from inside.
When a magnetic bearing breaks down, the rotor shaft falls into the retainer bearing. This creates the risk of the rotor performing a so-called "backward whirl" and rolling away along the inner surface of the retainer bearing. In contrast to the rotationally synchronous rotor movement, in the case of which the deflection of the rotor is synchronous with the revolving unbalance excitation, the rotor passes through the orbit in the opposite direction to the rotation of the rotor with a very large amplitude in the case of the backward whirl. In this case, a rotationally synchronous proportion with a very much smaller amplitude superimposes itself, and so an elliptical orbit is produced. This results in very strong forces acting on the rotor and stator, which forces can destroy the machine in an extremely short time.
The risk of the backward whirl increases as the coefficient of sliding friction between the rotor shaft and the retainer bearing increases. The risk can be avoided by virtue of the use of rolling bearings on account of the very small coefficient of rolling friction.
However, rolling bearings are not suitable for retaining large and heavy rotors in the event of a breakdown since there is only one point of contact between the rolling bodies and bearing rings in the case of ball bearings and only one line contact, together with the resultant very high surface pressures, in the case of roller bearings. These high loads can damage the rolling bearings and block the bearing.
For this reason, dry friction bearings are currently used as retainer bearings for large and heavy rotors. In the case of dry friction bearings, there is frictional contact directly between the rotating rotor shaft and the friction layer of the dry friction bearing. It is possible to largely avoid a backward whirl by suitable material selection, for example by using special bronze alloys for the friction layer.
One disadvantage of this solution is that it leads to high surface pressures in the retainer bearing when the rotor shaft first strikes. The reason for this is the different diameter of the dry friction bearing and the rotor shaft. In addition, the simultaneously acting full friction speed occurs in the contact region. This extreme load leads to the friction surface, which primarily comprises a bronze alloy, melting and being deposited on the rotor shaft when the rotor shaft stops in the retainer bearing. This makes it necessary to mechanically rework the rotor shaft after the rotor shaft has stopped in the retainer bearing a few times. Furthermore, it is necessary to switch off the electric machine and the system components connected to it.

Retainer bearing for an electric machine, and electric machine comprising at least one such retainer bearing


A test fixture configured to attach to and apply a tensile force to a test specimen. The test fixture may include a first clevis section and a second clevis section that are each configured to be attached to the test specimen. Each of the first and second clevis sections may include a fixed block and a movable block. Connectors connect the clevis sections together and hold the test specimen. The first and second clevis sections may be moved apart to apply a force to the attached test specimen to test one or more properties of the test specimen.

A test fixture secures and aligns a test specimen during material property testing. The test fixture includes sections that are each attached to a test frame. The sections of the test fixture are also each secured to the test specimen. During testing, the test frame applies a force that separates the sections of the test fixture. This force is transferred from the test fixture to the test specimen. The results of the testing are used to determine one or more properties of the material and whether the material is adequate for its intended purpose.
The test specimens can be small samples of the material. The test specimen basically includes an elongated shape and can include various dimensions and sizes. The test fixture should securely attach to opposing portions of the test specimen. This prevents the test specimen from moving when the tensile force is transferred from the test fixture which could compromise the test results. This also provides for the force applied by the test frame to be accurately transferred to the test specimen and thus provide for accurate testing results. The test fixture should also attach to the test specimen to prevent the test specimen from tearing, curling, or buckling during the test.


A method and apparatus for meeting integration for scheduling and message application are disclosed. The method includes: inserting a reminder entry into an inbox of a messaging portion of an application, the reminder entry to indicate an upcoming occurrence of an event scheduled in a scheduling portion of the application; and persisting the reminder entry in the inbox for a predetermined amount of time including throughout a duration of the event. Other embodiments are also disclosed.

A variety of wireless data processing devices have been introduced over the past several years. These include wireless personal digital assistants ("PDAs") such as the Palm® VIIx handheld, cellular phones equipped with data processing capabilities (e.g., those which include wireless application protocol ("WAP") support), and, more recently, wireless messaging devices such as the Blackberry™ wireless pager developed by Research In Motion ("RIM™").
In implementing features into a wireless messaging device, many times the features are based on a current implementation of state of the art applications. However, in many cases, improvements can be made over the current state of the art implementation.
In current messaging and scheduling applications, such as Microsoft Outlook™ or Lotus Notes™, when a meeting or other event is to occur in the calendar, a pop-up reminder is delivered to the user of the application to inform them of an upcoming meeting or event. This reminder may show up at some pre-determined amount of time prior to the meeting or event. The user then may either dismiss the pop-up reminder or ask it to remind the user again at a later time (i.e., "snooze").
A problem with the pop-up reminder is that the user must immediately decide how to dispose of the reminder. Once the user makes their determination the reminder is gone. The only way to access the information associated with the reminder is to navigate to the calendar in the scheduling portion of the application and find the relevant meeting or event entry to determine any details the user seeks. On a wireless device, where screen real estate is at a premium, such cumbersome navigation can be time-consuming and inefficient.

Meeting integration for a messaging and scheduling application