A tank unit having a flow rate adjusting mechanism, an electromagnetic valve, a mixer, etc. is disposed in the center of the body of the united type-beverage dispenser, and BIB units having BIBs, peristaltic pumps, nozzles, etc. are disposed on both sides of the tank unit. When the BIBs are removed out of the BIB units, the space for adjusting the flow rate adjusting mechanism and the electromagnetic valve are provided on both side of them, so that the adjustment work for them can be conducted without removing the side plate or top plate of the body.

Conventional united type-beverage dispensers have a BIB unit on one side and a tank unit on the opposite side. The raw materials for neutral beverages such as oolong, juice and the like are accommodated in the respective BIBs. Each BIB unit supplies each of the neutral beverages to consumers by delivering an adequate amount of the respective raw materials from BIBS through a nozzle into a cup by a peristaltic pump and diluting the raw material delivered in the cup with an adequate amount of water delivered from another nozzle.
On the other hand, a tank in the tank unit accommodates a strong or weak carbonic acid syrup. The tank unit supplies a syrup beverage to consumers by supplying an adequate amount of the syrup from the tank through a flow regulator and an electromagnetic valve into a mixer and mixing the syrup supplied into the mixer with an adequate amount of diluting water to produce a diluted syrup beverage and delivering the diluted syrup beverage into a cup.
The BIB is a raw material-filled bag accommodated in a box and is improved in the portability, handling quality, chargeableness into the dispenser and the like. For example, two BIBs are juxtaposed within a refrigerator and are connected through tubes to peristaltic pumps, respectively, and the peristaltic pumps are connected through tubes to nozzles, respectively. On the other hand, the tank unit, for example, has two juxtaposed tanks which have different syrups accommodated therein, respectively, and to each of which the flow regulator and electromagnetic valve are connected through a tube. The flow regulator and electromagnetic valve are juxtaposed among the BIB and the side plate and top plate of the body.
In the united type-beverage dispenser like this, when the neutral or syrup drink is demanded by operating a switch disposed on the switch operation section, the neutral beverage raw material and the diluting water, or the syrup beverage are supplied into the cup from the corresponding nozzles.
However, according to the conventional united type-beverage dispenser, the flow regulator and electromagnetic valve of the tank unit are juxtaposed between the BIB and the side plate of the body, so that it is difficult to adjust the flow regulator and electromagnetic valve disposed close to the side plate of the body even through the BTB was removed. It is therefore required to adjust them by removing the top plate or side plate. Also, in order to sell two kinds of neutral beverages simultaneously, a relatively large table for placing two cups under the two nozzles is required, the downsizing of the entire tank unit can not be realized even through the downsizing of the STB unit was attempted. Further, when the nozzles for the neutral beverage and syrup beverage are centralized to dispose them in the center of the body, the tube downstream from the pump of the outer BIB unit becomes longer and thus, it is undesirable sanitarily. In addition, the arm of the peristaltic pump for the BIB unit is obstructive to the adjacent BIB unit in the opening and closing operations of the arm and thus, the narrowing of the intervals cannot be obtained thereby hindering the downsizing of the entire BIB unit.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an united type-beverage dispenser in which a flow adjusting mechanism, an electromagnetic valve, and the like for a tank unit can be adjusted only by taking the BIBs out of a refrigerator without removing a top plate or side plate from the body of the dispenser.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an united type-beverage dispenser in which in the case where a plurality of BIB beverages are sold simultaneously, a plurality of cups can be juxtaposed on the table of the dispenser even though the BIB, a selling pump, and the like were downsized.
It is the other object of the present invention to provide an united type-beverage dispenser in which a neutral beverage and a syrup beverage can be provided from the centralized nozzles disposed in the center of the body and a lengthy tube downstream from a selling pump for the BIB unit is not required thereby enabling to provide a highly improved sanitized beverage dispenser.
It is the other object of the present invention to provide an united type-beverage dispenser in which the space for opening and closing of an arm to hold the tube can be secured even though the selling pump such as a peristaltic pump and the like was downsized, and the downsizing of the selling pump as well as the BIB can be promoted.


A hydrophilic coating on a polymeric substrate is prepared by subjecting at least one hydrophilic vinyl monomer to radiation-induced graft polymerization on an activated substrate surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for the production of hydrophilic coatings on polymeric substrates which are bonded chemically to the surfaces of substrates. The invention furthermore relates to objects with surfaces coated in this way and to their use for industrial, medical or bioengineering purposes.
2. Description of the Background
Polymers (or plastics) with a hydrophilic surface produced by a special treatment have various advantages over non-treated polymers which usually have a hydrophobic surface, depending on the intended use. The higher surface energy has the effect of better wettability with water, aqueous solutions or dispersions and with other liquids of high surface tension. An improved wettability achieved by subsequent hydrophilization, is beneficial or even necessary, for example, if a surface of a plastic is to be dyed or printed with polar dyestuffs or if surfaces of plastics are to be bonded to one another with the aid of a polar adhesive. Fibers and textile fabrics or wovens of polymers also require good wettability for sizing, finishing and dyeing.
Hydrophilization is also of importance for polymeric materials which are used in aqueous systems. Thus, industrial membranes, for example, those used for the desalination of sea water, must be readily wettable in order to be able to display their separating action in full. The surfaces of pipes of plastic or chemical apparatuses must be readily wettable if good heat exchange with the surroundings and/or, in the case of pipes, good flow is required. A good wettability is also of advantage for beds of polymer particles, for example ion exchange resins, and bulk porous layers, for example dialysis membranes, through which material flows. Gas bubbles which settle on the liquid-side surfaces of pipes, hoses or containers of plastic are also undesirable, because they inhibit functioning since the surfaces cannot be wetted adequately by the liquid.
Hydrophilized surfaces of plastic are indispensable for many medical or bioengineering applications, because they are very readily compatible with blood, tissue fluids or other liquids with sensitive biological constituents, in contrast to the standard plastics which are usually hydrophobic by nature, Examples of such applications are blood plasma containers, dialysis hoses, catheters, contact lenses and the like.
The hydrophilization of polymeric substrates can be effected by a single-stage or multistage physical and/or chemical treatment. All known treatment processes have as their objective the provision of hydrophilic groups, such as hydroxyl, carboxyl or also keto groups, on the surface of the polymeric substrate. This can be achieved by processes in which the hydrophilic groups are formed from peripheral layers of the polymer itself. Alternatively or additionally, layers of hydrophilic compounds can be applied to the surface, which may have been treated beforehand, and, if they are vinyl monomers, they can be polymerized.
The single-stage treatment processes which produce the desired hydrophilic groups from the polymer itself include flaming techniques (D. Briggs et al, J. Mater. Sci. 14. 1979, 1344) and corona treatments (J. M. Lane et al, Progress in Organic Coatings 21, 1993, 269-284). However, the hydrophilicity produced as a result of these treatings is often unstable and degrades within hours or days. Plasma processes which produce the hydrophilic groups from the polymer itself in one stage have also been disclosed. According to W. Mohl, Kunststoffe 81 (1981), 7, polyethylene or polypropylene is treated with low pressure plasma and is then more suitable for the production of composite materials. J. F. Friedrich et al in GAK June 1994, Volume 47, 382-388 similarly describe a plasma pretreatment of polymers, for example polyolefins, as a result of which they can be bonded more easily with polyurethanes. Plasma processes produce satisfactory results if the substrates are bonded soon after the treatment. Stabilization of the hydrophilic properties is possible by further reaction, for example with hydrophilic monomers. As a result chemically bonded hydrophilic, optionally bulky groups, which cannot migrate to the inside, are produced on the surface. In addition, plasma processes often lead to erosion of the surface which make the surface rough. This is often undesirable, for example if the objective of the hydrophilization is to reduce the coefficient of friction on contact with water. Roughening of the surface impairs the tribological properties thereof and counteracts this objective.
As a result of a single-stage oxidative treatment with chromium (VI) acid, hydrophilic groups form on the surface of polypropylene from the layers close to the surface (Kang-Wook Lee et al, in Macromolecules 1988, 21, 309-313). Chromium (VI) compounds are avoided where possible in industry, because they are carcinogenic and are not permitted to be discharged into the environment.
In a number of other known processes, the hydrophilic groups are introduced by coating with a hydrophilic coating agent. A distinction can be made here between processes with and without pretreatment of the surfaces of the polymeric substrate, for example, by means of laser, plasma or the like (the initial cleaning of the surface with a solvent, envisaged for almost all the relevant processes, is not rated as a pretreatment).
One coating process without pretreatment of the substrate is the grafting of polypropylene with 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA), which has been described by S. R. Shukla et al in J. Appl. Poly. Sci., Volume 51, 1567-74 (1994). If the polymerization is initiated with UV radiation, the additional use of methanol as a solvent, which is toxicologically unacceptable and pollutes the waste water, is required. If the polymerization is initiated by uranyl nitrate or cerium ammonium nitrate, the heavy metals uranium and cerium must be prevented from entering the waste water.
Coating processes without pretreatment of the substrate also include the procedure disclosed by B. D. Ratner et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,002,794, in which hydrophilic substances, such as polyethylene glycol or 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA), are deposited on metallic or silicatic surfaces or surfaces of plastic by means of plasma. Hydrophilic monomers, such as HEMA, polymerize spontaneously here under the influence of free radicals formed by the plasma. H. Mirzadeh et al, Biomaterials, 1995, Volume 4, No. 8, 641-648, mention the grafting of acrylamide or HEMA onto a specific polymer, i.e. vulcanized ethylene/propylene rubber, with the aid of a pulsed Co.sub.2 laser. According to S. Edge et al, Polymer Bulletin 27 (1992), 441-445, poly(ether imides) are hydrophilized by photochemical grafting of HEMA from the vapor phase without pretreatment of the surface, using a mercury vapor lamp as the source of radiation. Moreover, according to B. Jansen et al, J. Polymer Sci., Polymer Symposium 66 (1979), 465-473, a specific polyurethane, Tuftan 410 from B. F. Goodrich, can be grafted with HEMA under irradiation with gamma rays from cobalt-60. One disadvantage of this process is the expensive radiation protection measures which it requires.
It remains to be seen whether, in the processes mentioned in the preceding paragraph, the radiation and the plasma effect only polymerization of the monomers or at the same time also activate the surface of the polymeric substrate. The latter is probably the case, since on the one hand, as mentioned above, the hydrophilizing action of the plasma and of the corona treatments on surfaces of plastic is known. At any rate, the radiation and the plasma have such a high energy that the hydrophilic monomers and the resulting polymer are attacked. H. Yasuda accordingly refers, in J. Poly. Sci.: Macromolecular Review, Volume 16, 199-293 (1981), to the undefined and uncontrollable chemistry of plasma polymerization. That molecules are destroyed here can be demonstrated in the coating of surfaces with HEMA by the fact that analysis by ESCA (electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis), according to H. Morra et al, J. Biomed. Mat. Res., 29, 39-45, 1995, gives lower values for oxygen than would be expected from the composition of HEMA and which are also actually found in HEMA polymerized in the customary manner, i.e. by means of free radicals. This may be irrelevant for some applications. However, for medical and bioengineering applications, a layer of intact HEMA is highly desirable, because, as already mentioned, such layers are very readily compatible with the sensitive constituents of the liquids handled in these applications.
However, processes have also been disclosed in which coating with polymerizable monomers is preceded by an activating radiation treatment which modifies the surface of the plastic. Activation and coating of the surface are thus done at separate times. P. Gatenholm et al, Poly. Mater. Sci., 1992, 66, 445-6 describe the hydrophilization of films and microporous membranes of polypropylene by treatment with ozone and subsequent coating with HEMA, polymerization of which is induced by dissociation of the hydroperoxide groups formed on the surface. A disadvantage of this process is that ozone, in a relatively high concentration, destroys the polymer. Finally, H. Thelen et al in Fresenius, J. Anal. Chem. 1995, 353, 290-296 describe a hydrophilizing treatment of polyether sulfones in which the substrate is first treated with nitrogen plasma in the presence of small amounts of oxygen and then coated with HEMK. The process is laborious because the polyether sulfone membrane must be extracted before the coating and, as is also the case in the process of Gatenholm et al, oxygen, which inhibits the polymerization, must be carefully excluded from the HERA solution. Furthermore, the concentration of hydroperoxide groups on the surface and, therefore, the grafting density are difficult to control in the two processes mentioned. A need, therefore, continues to exist for a more effective means of providing a polymeric substrate with a hydrophilic coating.

Hydrophilic coating of surfaces of polymeric substrates


One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates performing exception-free arithmetic operations within a computer system. During execution of a computer program, the system receives an instruction to perform an arithmetic operation that involves manipulating floating-point values. If the arithmetic operation manipulates a floating-point value representing {+0}, the arithmetic operation is performed in a manner consistent with {+0} representing a set containing a single value “−0”, wherein “−0” is the limit of a sequence of values that approaches zero only from above. Similarly, if the arithmetic operation manipulates a floating-point value representing {−0}, the arithmetic operation is performed in a manner consistent with {−0} representing a set containing a single value “+0”, wherein “+0” is the limit of a sequence of values that approaches zero only from below.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to mechanisms for performing arithmetic operations within computer systems. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and an apparatus that facilitates performing exception-free arithmetic within a computer system.
2. Related Art
Rapid advances in computing technology make it possible to perform trillions of computational operations each second. This tremendous computational speed makes it practical to perform computationally intensive tasks as diverse as predicting the weather and optimizing the design of an aircraft engine. Such computational tasks are typically performed using machine-representable floating-point numbers to approximate values of real numbers. (For example, see the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standard 754 for binary floating-point numbers.)
In spite of their limitations, floating-point numbers are generally used to perform most computational tasks.
One limitation is that machine-representable floating-point numbers have a fixed-size word length, which limits their accuracy. Note that a floating-point number is typically encoded using a 32, 64 or 128-bit binary number, which means that there are only 232, 264 or 2128 possible symbols that can be used to specify a floating-point number. Hence, most real number values can only be approximated with a corresponding floating-point number. This creates estimation errors that can be magnified through even a few computations, thereby adversely affecting the accuracy of a computation.
A related limitation is that floating-point numbers contain no information about their accuracy. Most measured data values include some amount of error that arises from the measurement process itself. This error can often be quantified as an accuracy parameter, which can subsequently be used to determine the accuracy of a computation. However, floating-point numbers are not designed to keep track of accuracy information, whether from input data measurement errors or machine rounding errors. Hence, it is not possible to determine the accuracy of a computation by merely examining the floating-point number that results from the computation.
Interval arithmetic has been developed to solve the above-described problems. Interval arithmetic represents numbers as intervals specified by a first (left) endpoint and a second (right) endpoint. For example, the interval [a, b], where a<b, is a closed, bounded subset of the real numbers, R, which includes a and b as well as all real numbers between a and b. Arithmetic operations on interval operands (interval arithmetic) are defined so that interval results always contain the entire set of possible values. The result is a mathematical system for rigorously bounding numerical errors from all sources, including measurement data errors, machine rounding errors and their interactions. (Note that the first endpoint normally contains the "infimum", which is the largest number that is less than or equal to each of a given set of real numbers. Similarly, the second endpoint normally contains the "supremum", which is the smallest number that is greater than or equal to each of the given set of real numbers. Also note that the infimum and the supremum can be represented by floating point numbers.)
Unfortunately, certain arithmetic operations involving interval endpoints and other non-interval arithmetic operations produce undefined results. For example, any real number, x≠0, divided by zero produces an undefined result, which typically generates a run-time exception during execution of a computer program. Providing code and/or circuitry to deal with these run-time exceptions can significantly complicate the design of computer systems. Moreover, the undefined results typically cause programs to fail or produce undefined results.
Hence, what is needed is a method and an apparatus that facilitates performing arithmetic operations without generating run-time exceptions.

Method and apparatus for facilitating exception-free arithmetic in a computer system


A pharmaceutical preparation comprising a growth hormone and asparagine as additive or buffering substance shows a very high stability against deamidation, oxidation and cleavage of peptide bonds. The stability of the product allows for the storing and shipment thereof in a lyophilized state or in the form of a dissolved or re-dissolved preparation at ambient temperature.

The growth hormones from man and from the common domestic animals are proteins of approximately 191 amino acids, synthesized and secreted from the anterior lope of the pituitary gland. Human growth hormone consists of 191 amino acids.
Growth hormone is a key hormone involved in the regulation of not only somatic growth, but also in the regulation of metabolism of proteins, carbohydrates and lipids. The major effect of growth hormone is to promote growth.
The organ systems affected by growth hormone include the skeleton, connective tissue, muscles, and viscera such as liver, intestine, and kidneys.
Until the development of the recombinant technology and the cloning of the growth hormone gene now giving rise to production of e.g. human growth hormone (hGH) and Met-hGH in industrial scale, human growth hormone could only be obtained by extraction from the pituitary glands of human cadavers. The very limited supplies of growth hormone restricted the use thereof to longitudinal growth promotion in childhood and puberty for treatment of dwarfism, even though it has been proposed for inter alia treatment of short stature (due to growth hormone deficiency, normal short stature and Turner syndrome), growth hormone deficiency in adults, infertility, treatment of burns, wound healing, dystrophy, bone knitting, osteoporosis, diffuse gastric bleeding, and pseudoarthrosis.
Furthermore, growth hormone has been proposed for increasing the rate of growth of domestic animals or for decreasing the proportion of fat in animals to be slaughtered for human consumption.
Pharmaceutical preparations of growth hormone tend to be unstable. Degradation products such as deamidated or sulfoxydated products and dimer or polymer forms are generated --especially in solutions of growth hormone.
The predominant degradation reactions of hGH are 1) deamidation by direct hydrolysis or via a cyclic succinimide intermediate to form various amounts of L-asp-hGH, L-iso-asp-hGH, D-asp-hGH, and D-iso-asp-hGH (Y.-C. J. Wang and M. A. Hanson, Parenteral Formulations of Proteins and Peptides: Stability and Stabilizers, J. Parenteral Science and Technology 42 (Suppl.) (1988) 53-525; M. C. Manning, K. Patel, R. T. Borchardt, Stability of Protein Pharmaceuticals, Pharmaceutical Research 6 (11) (1989) 903-918; and B. A. Johnson, J. M. Shirokawa, W. S. Hancock, M. W. Spellman, L. J. Basa and D. W. Asward, J.Biol.Chem. 264, 1462-71 (1989)), 2) oxidation of the methionine residues in positions 14 and 125 (L. C. Teh et al., J. Biol. Chem., 262, 785-794 (1987); G. W. Becker et al., Biotech. Appl. Biochem., 10, 326-337 (1988); R. A. Houghten et al., Arch. Biochem. Biophys., 178, 350-355 (1977); R. M. Riggin et al., Anal. Biochem., 167, 199-209 (1987); P. Gellerfors et al., Acta Paediatr. Scand (suppl), 370, 93-100 (1990); and M. J. Kaufman, Pharm. Res., 7 (3) 289-292 (1990)), and 3) cleavage of peptide bonds.
Deamidation especially takes place at the Asn in position 149.
hGH is rather easily oxidized in positions 14 and 125, especially in solution (4-8).
The oxidation of hGH in solution forming sulfoxides is normally due to the oxygen dissolved in the preparation. The solubility of oxygen in distilled water is about 200 .mu.M (9). As the concentration of hGH in a preparation comprising 4IU/ml is 1.3 mg/ml corresponding to 60 nM hGH, oxygen will, at normal storing conditions, be present in an excess of about 3000 times the stoichiometric amount for oxidation of hGH. It is not feasible to try to solve the problem by degassing of buffers before tapping and packing the preparations.
At present, it is not believed that these degradation products should have toxic or altered biological activity or receptor binding properties, but there is indication to the effect that the conformation stability of the sulfoxides is reduced as compared to native hGH.
For the development of a stable, dissolved preparation comprising hGH it is of importance to know the rate of formation of sulfoxides as well as means to control the oxidation.
The kinetics of degradation depend on temperature, pH and various additives or adjuvants in the hGH formulation.
Due to the instability, growth hormone is, at present, lyophilized and stored in the lyophilized form at 4.degree. C. until it is reconstituted for use in order to minimize the degradation.
The lyophilized pharmaceutical preparations comprising hGH are, at present, reconstituted by the patient and then stored as a solution during the use for a period of up to 14 days at 4.degree. C., during which some degradation will take place.
Furthermore, the process of reconstitution of the lyophilized growth hormone tends to provide difficulties for the patient.
Thus, it is at present preferred to reconstitute the growth hormone as late as possible before use and to store and ship the preparation in a lyophilized state. The chain from the manufacturer to the pharmacy is apt for handling the preparations at a controlled low temperature of e.g. 4.degree. C. which allows for a long shelf life of up to two years.
However, the extended use of pen systems for self-medication and the expanded field of use calls for a preparation which is stable for a sufficient long time with the end user under conditions where "sufficient" cooling is not always available.
Preferably, a preparation should be stable with the end user in a lyophilized state for about one month and additionally for one month in a reconstituted state in a pen device for the intended period of use of a cartridge.
Thus, there is a need for more stable preparations of growth hormone being stable in a lyophilized state at a relative high temperature for a period and additionally for a period of use at a relatively high temperature in solution. Such stabilization is of very great importance when moving the administration of the growth hormone from clinics to the homes of the individuals to be treated where optimal storage may not be available as indicated above.
Furthermore, the shift in pattern of administration of growth hormone to the use of pen devices calls for a stable dissolved preparation comprising growth hormone in order to facilitate the handling to be performed by the patient. A stable dissolved preparation comprising growth hormone may be produced ready to use in the form of cartridges fitting into the pen device used by the patient who may then avoid the reconstitution of the preparation and, hence, will not have to be in the possession of a lyophilized preparation, a suitable vehicle for reconstitution as well as the necessary skill and sterile equipment for sterile reconstitution of the preparation.
For safety reasons it will also be desirable to avoid the reconstitution of a lyophilized preparation just before the use of the preparation.
Furthermore, it would also be an advantage to avoid the lyophilization step in the production of growth hormone preparations. Lyophilization is a time consuming and costly process and is also often a "bottleneck" in the production due to the limited capacity of the freeze drier.
Thus, there is a need to reduce the rate of the degradation processes in order to allow for dissolved hGH preparations being stable during shelf life and during the period of use of up to one month.
Prior attempts to stabilize hGH has not fully succeeded in preventing the formation of dimer. The problems associated with dimer formation is e.g noted in Becker, G. W., Biotechnology and Applied Biochemistry 9, 478 (1987).
International Patent Publication No. WO 89/09614 and Australian Patent Application No. 30771/89 disclose a stable pharmaceutical formulation containing human growth hormone, glycine, and mannitol. Such a preparation shows improved stability during normal processing and storage in a lyophilized state as well as in the period of use after the reconstitution.
Published European Patent Application No. 303 746 discloses that animal growth hormone may stabilized with various stabilizers to give decreased formation of insolubles and preservation of the soluble activity in aqueous environments, such stabilizers including certain polyols, amino acids, polymers of amino acids having a charged side group at physiological pH, and choline salts. Polyols are selected from the group consisting of non-reducing sugars, sugar alcohols, sugar acids, pentaerythritol, lactose, water-soluble dextrans and Ficoll; amino acids are selected from the group consisting of glycine, sarcosine, lysine or salts thereof, serine, arginine or salts thereof, betaine, N,N,-dimethyl-glycine, aspartic acid or salts thereof, glutamic acid or salts thereof; a polymer of an amino acid having a charged side group at physiological pH may be selected from polylysine, polyaspartic acid, polyglutamic acid, polyarginine, polyhistidine, polyornithine and salts thereof; and choline derivatives are selected from the group consisting of choline chloride, choline dihydrogen citrate, choline bitartrate, choline bicarbonate, tricholine citrate, choline ascorbate, choline borate, choline gluconate, choline phosphate, di(choline)sulphate and dicholine mucate.


The present invention relates to tie-coat compositions for fouling-release paint systems. The invention provides a method of coating a substrate with a coating composition comprising at least two types of functional polysiloxane compounds selected from epoxy-functional polysiloxanes, amino-functional polysiloxanes, and particular adhesion promoting agents of the polysiloxane type. The present invention also provides a substrate coated with such a composition and a composition particularly useful for said method. The binder phase may also comprise constituents of epoxy paint compositions, e.g. epoxy resins and amine curing agents. The compositions are particularly relevant in combination with diorganopolysiloxane-based fouling-release coatings and anticorrosive epoxy primer coatings.

Aquatic structures, in particular immersed marine structures that come in contact with water, especially sea water, have a tendency to become fouled by marine organisms. Fouling release paint systems are abundantly used for such structures, e.g. ships, buoys, watercraft structures, etc. in order to suppress settlement of such marine organisms. Fouling-release coating systems for steel structures typically include three principal layers, namely an epoxy-based anticorrosive layer applied to the steel substrate, a fouling-release layer which typically comprises a polysiloxane-based matrix, and an intermediate layer, often referred to as a "tie-coat", for establishing strong bonding between the otherwise incompatible epoxy-based anticorrosive layer and the polysiloxane-based fouling release layer.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,978,704 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,996,112 (Rhône Poulenc Chemie) disclose organosiloxane compositions comprising 100 parts by weight of an α,ω-dihydroxydiorganopolysiloxane polymer, 0.5-20 parts by weight of a cross-linking agent, 0.1-10 parts by weight of a bonding agent comprising an aminoorganosilicon compound having at least one amino functional group and an organosilicon compound having at least one epoxy functional group, 2-250 parts by weight of inorganic filler material, and 0.0004-3 parts by weight of a metal catalyst. The compositions are useful for the coating of marine surfaces, e.g. a ship's hull or a net.
EP 1 013 727 A1, U.S. Pat. No. 6,391,464 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,110,536 (General Electric Co.) disclose an epoxy-silicone adhesive paint as a tie-coat for a fouling-release coating. The paint comprises 80-85% by weight of an epoxy resin paint, and 15-20% by weight of a silicone adhesive promoter. The silicone adhesive promoter comprises a volatile hydrocarbon solvent, a partially condensed organosilicate, a solubilized metallic catalyst, and an aminoalkyltrialkoxy-silane.
GB 2 300 370 A1 (General Electric Co.) discloses an article having a fouling-release layer on top of an adhesion promoting layer. The adhesion promoting layer comprises an anticorrosive material (typically an epoxy-functionalized base material (e.g. an epoxy resin) combined with a curing catalyst) and a bonding agent. The bonding agent may be (i) a moisture curable grafted copolymer comprising a polydialkylsiloxane and at least one ethylenically unsaturated monomer, (ii) an aminofunctionalized polysiloxane fluid, or (iii) an α,ω-diaminofunctionalized polysiloxane fluid.
WO 99/33927 (International Coatings Ltd.) discloses a process for inhibiting fouling. The process includes the formation of a coating comprising a film-forming polymer carrying unreacted curable silicon-containing functional groups providing latent reactivity, and subsequently applying a layer comprising a curable polymeric fouling-inhibiting material and bonding the applied layer to the said coating by a condensation curing reaction involving the unreacted functional groups thereon.
JP 03-258876-A discloses a tie-coat composition comprising the reaction product of an epoxy resin and a dimethylpolysiloxane, and a hardener. The hardener should have an active hydrogen and is selected from polyamines, polyamides, aminosilane coupling agents, phenol resins, alkyd resins, melamine resins and polyurethane resins. The ratio between the epoxy equivalent number of the reaction product and the active hydrogen equivalent number of the hardener should be in the range of 100:50 to 100:200.
EP 0 521 983 discloses a primer composition comprising (A) (i) a primary amine-functional silane, or (ii) the reaction product of a primary amine-functional silane and an epoxy-functional silane, or (iii) the reaction product of a primary amine-functional silane and an α,ω-dihydroxypolydimethylsiloxane oil, (B) a chlorinated polyolefln, and (C) a room-temperature-curable polydiorganosiloxane.
In view of the above, there is still a need for improved or at least alternative tie-coat compositions for fouling-release coating systems.

Tie-coat composition comprising at least two types of functional polysiloxane compounds and a method for using the same for establishing a coating on a substrate


Systems and methods for presenting force information related to a provisional is disclosed. A user interface may be provided for presenting objects on a display related to a knee joint, the user interface including a representation of an area of the knee joint for presentment on the display and a force center indicator for presentment on the display. The user interface providing an indication of when a position of the force center indicator corresponds to a desired position of the force center indicator.

The present disclosure relates generally to orthopedic devices and in particular to orthopedic devices including sensors and a user interface of a computing device associated with the orthopedic device.
In a knee replacement procedure, a provisional device may be inserted in the joint to assist in determining the size of tibia implant to use. A height of the provisional device may be increased with shims.
In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a user interface generated with a computing device by instructions stored on at least one computer-readable medium is provided. The user interface presenting on a display objects related to a knee joint. At least one of the objects being based on data from a plurality of sensors which are located between the femur and the tibia. The user interface comprising a representation of an area of the knee joint for presentment on the display; and a force center indicator for presentment on the display. The user interface providing an indication of when a position of the force center indicator corresponds to a desired position of the force center indicator. The position of the force center indicator being determined by an electronic controller of the computing device based on data from the plurality of sensors.
In another exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a user interface generated with a computing device by instructions stored on at least one computer-readable medium is provided. The user interface presenting objects on a display related to a knee joint. At least one of the objects being based on data from a plurality of sensors which are located between the femur and the tibia and supported by a device having a posterior ridge. The user interface comprising a representation of an area of the knee joint for presentment on the display; and at least one indicator for presentment on the display, the at least one indicator indicating a force level on the posterior ridge of the device. The force level on the posterior ridge being determined by an electronic controller of the computing device based on data from the plurality of sensors.
In yet another exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a user interface generated with a computing device by instructions stored on at least one computer-readable medium is provided. The user interface presenting objects on a display related to a knee joint. At least one of the objects being based on data from a plurality of sensors which are located between the femur and the tibia. The user interface comprising a representation of an area of the knee joint for presentment on the display; an overall force center indicator for presentment on the display relative to the representation; a medial force center indicator for presentment on the display relative to the representation; and a lateral force center indicator for presentment on the display relative to the representation, a position of the overall force center indicator, a position of the medial force center indicator, and a position of the lateral force center indicator being determined by an electronic controller of the computing device based on data from the plurality of sensors.
In still another exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a user interface generated with a computing device by instructions stored on at least one computer-readable medium is provided. The user interface presenting objects on a display related to a knee joint. At least one of the objects being based on data from a plurality of sensors which are located between the femur and the tibia. The user interface comprising a representation of an area of the knee joint for presentment on the display; and at least one indicator for presentment on the display, the at least one indicator indicating a force level on a post of the device which is received in a recess in one of the femur and the tibia, the force level on the post being determined by an electronic controller of the computing device based on data from the plurality of sensors.
In a further exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a user interface generated with a computing device by instructions stored on at least one computer-readable medium is provided. The user interface presenting objects on a display related to a knee joint. At least one of the objects being based on data from a plurality of sensors which are located between the femur and the tibia. The user interface comprising a representation of an area of the knee joint for presentment on the display; a force center indicator for presentment on the display; and a spread force indicator for presentment on the display. The spread force indicator providing an indication of a spread of the forces across the area of the knee joint. The position of the force center indicator and the spread force indicator being determined by an electronic controller of the computing device based on data from the plurality of sensors.
In a yet further exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a user interface generated with a computing device by instructions stored on at least one computer-readable medium is provided. The user interface presenting objects on a display related to a knee joint. At least one of the objects being based on data from a plurality of sensors which are located between the femur and the tibia. The user interface comprising a representation of an area of the knee joint for presentment on the display; and a force center indicator for presentment on the display. The user interface providing an indication of a first position of the force center indicator when the knee joint is in a first position and of a second position of the force center indicator when the knee joint is in a second position. The first position of the force center indicator and the second position of the force center indicator being determined by an electronic controller of the computing device based on data from the plurality of sensors.
In a still further exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a user interface generated with a computing device by instructions stored on at least one computer-readable medium is provided. The user interface for presenting objects on a display related to a knee joint. At least one of the objects being based on data from a plurality of sensors which are located between the femur and the tibia. The user interface comprising a representation of an area of the knee joint for presentment on the display; and a force center indicator for presentment on the display. The user interface providing an indication of a first position of the force center indicator when the knee joint is in a first position and of a second position of the force center indicator when the knee joint is in the first position. The first position of the force center indicator corresponding to a first environment for the knee joint and the second position of the force center indicator corresponding to a second environment of the knee joint. The first position of the force center indicator and the second position of the force center indicator being determined by an electronic controller of the computing device based on data from the plurality of sensors.
In a yet still further exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a system for evaluating a knee joint is provided. The system comprising a provisional selected from a plurality of provisionals, the provisional including a plurality of sensors which are located between the femur and the tibia when the provisional is positioned in the knee joint; and a computing system including a display. The computing system executes a processing sequence to identify the provisional and presents a user interface on the display to provide an indication of the force experienced by the plurality of sensors.
In still yet another exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a user interface generated with a computing device by instructions stored on at least one computer-readable medium is provided. The user interface presenting objects on a display related to a simulation of a knee joint. The user interface comprising at least one input to specify force readings across an area of the knee joint; and a force center indicator for presentment on the display. The user interface providing an indication of a position of the force center indicator relative to a desired position of the force center indicator, the position of the force center indicator being determined by an electronic controller of the computing device based on the specified force readings across the area of the knee joint.
In still a further exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a user interface generated with a computing device by instructions stored on at least one computer-readable medium is provided. The user interface presenting objects on a display related to a simulation of a knee joint. The user interface comprising at least one input to specify simulation force readings across an area of the knee joint, each force reading corresponding to a respective sensor of a provisional; and at least one visual indicator for presentment on the display, the at least one visual indicator providing a visual cue of the force experienced by the provisional based on the simulation force readings.
In yet still another exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a method of analyzing forces on a provisional placed in a knee joint is provided. The method comprising the steps of receiving from the provisional information related to the provisional, the provisional including a plurality of sensors, the information related to the provisional including at least one of identifying information for the provisional, location information of the plurality of sensors of the provisional, and a visual representation of the provisional; electronically receiving from the provisional information related to a force experienced by the plurality of sensors of the provisional; and determining at least one measure of the force experienced by the provisional from the information related to the force experienced by the plurality of sensors.
Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views. Although the drawings represent embodiments of various features and components according to the present disclosure, the drawings are not necessarily to scale and certain features may be exaggerated in order to better illustrate and explain the present disclosure. The exemplification set out herein illustrates embodiments of the invention, and such exemplifications are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention in any manner.

User interface related to a surgical provisional


A system for controlling the operation of an air distribution fan and the operation of a motorized outside air damper of an air conditioning system, having heating and/or cooling and/or humidifying and/or dehumidifying operating modes. The system includes a fan recycling control for periodically energizing and de-energizing an air distribution fan in an air conditioning system in order to operate the air distribution fan for a first selectable time period after a second selectable time period from the end of the last operation of the air distribution fan. The last operation of the air distribution fan could have been due to the heating or cooling or humidifying or dehumidifying or constant fan modes of the air conditioning system, or due to fan operation initiated by the fan recycling control. The system includes an outside air damper recycling control that can open a motorized outside air damper, for the purpose of drawing in ventilation air, each time the air distribution fan operates, and for as long as the air distribution fan continued to operate, can cycle, periodically close then open, the outside air damper based on selectable time periods since it was last opened or closed, respectively. The outside air damper recycling control can de-energize the motorized outside air damper at the end of each operation of the air distribution fan.

Air conditioning systems for residential buildings, having heating and/or cooling and/or humidifying and/or dehumidifying and/or air-cleaning modes, for conditioning air, normally operate the system air distribution fan only when the air conditioning system is operating to condition air. Alternatively, the air distribution fan of an air conditioning system can be operated constantly. However, such a constant running of the fan would constitute a waste of energy and power, and could cause moisture related problems in warm, humid climates.
In air conditioning systems, a heating and/or cooling and/or humidifying and/or dehumidifying and/or air-cleaning apparatus produces conditioned air. Normally, the conditioned air is distributed by a fan or blower through various ducts throughout an interior space in order to place the conditioned air at desirable locations. Generally, thermostats or humidistats are used to activate the conditioning apparatus. For example, when the air temperature within an interior space drops below a selected level, an air temperature sensor and switch in a thermostat can activate a heating apparatus and an air distribution fan. Likewise, when the air temperature within an interior space rises above a selected level, an air temperature sensor and switch in a thermostat can activate a cooling apparatus and an air distribution fan. Likewise, when the air humidity within an interior space drops below a selected level, an air humidity sensor and switch in a humidistat can activate a humidifying apparatus and an air distribution fan. Likewise, when the air humidity within an interior space rises above a selected level, an air humidity sensor and switch in a humidistat can activate a dehumidifying apparatus and an air distribution fan. The conditioning apparatus and air distribution fan are deactivated when the interior space temperature or humidity reaches the selected level. In some air conditioning systems, while in the heating mode, the air distribution fan may continue to run after the heating apparatus has been deactivated, usually until residual heat in the heating apparatus has been removed by the circulating air. Likewise, in some air conditioning systems, while in the cooling mode, the air distribution fan may continue to run after the cooling apparatus has been deactivated, usually for a preset delay time to continue to distribute cool air while the cooling apparatus is still cold. In warm, humid climates, this running of the air distribution fan immediately after the cooling/dehumidifying apparatus has been deactivated is counter-productive, in that, moisture on the wet cooling/dehumidifying apparatus is returned to the interior space by the circulating air. However, no known control systems exist having means to periodically operate the air distribution fan for a first selectable time period after a second selectable time period from the end of the last operation of the air distribution fan, that is, operate the fan dependent on the last operation of the fan.
Prior art related to the air distribution fan recycling control portion of the present invention is cited but was not found to overcome the problems cited above. See for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,882,383 to Boyd Jr. et al.; 3,454,078 to Elwart; 4,167,966 to Freeman; 4,267,967 to Beck et al.; 4,452,391 to Chow; 4,718,021 to Timblin; 4,773,587 to Lipman; 5,131,236 to Wruck et al.; 5,179,524 to Parker et al.; 5,325,286 to Weng et al.; and Japanese Patents 0095538 and 0008544. U.S. Pat. No. 4,838,482 to Vogelzang describes an air conditioning system with periodic fan operation. However, this device is limited to periodic cycling of the air distribution fan during periods when the activation of a heating or cooling apparatus has been locked out. Vogelzang '482 describes a fan cycle mode, selected on a thermostat, that energizes a switch that turns the fan on and off a "predetermined number of times each hour" such as "6" times per hour. When this fan cycle mode is selected, the heating or cooling modes cannot be activated, since the operation of the heating and cooling apparatus require non-cycling, constant, operation of the air distribution fan. If operation of the heating or cooling apparatus is desired, the fan cycling mode must be manually de-selected. The Vogelzang '482 fan cycling system is not dependent upon the last operation of the fan nor dependent on the last operation of the heating or cooling apparatus. In fact, Vogelzang '482 specifically claims that the fan cycling is "independent" of the operation of the heating or cooling apparatus. Whereas, prior U.S. Pat. No. 5,547,017 to Rudd, the same inventor of the subject invention, requires recycling of the air conditioning system air distribution fan "where the periodic ON/OFF control of the fan is dependent on the time since the last fan operation." A signal from the thermostat to operate the heating or cooling or constant fan modes will automatically interrupt the fan recycling. Rudd '017 can determine the selectable time delay based on the volume dimensions of the rooms and/or the number of occupants.
In air conditioning systems, an outside air duct connecting between the outside of an interior space and the return air side of an air distribution fan, for the purpose of drawing in ventilation air, is known. Often, motorized dampers are placed in the outside air duct to limit outside air entry to times when the air distribution fan is operating. Motorized outside air dampers are known and exist commercially. It is known to energize an outside air damper upon energizing an air distribution fan, and it is known to de-energize a damper upon de-energizing an air distribution fan. However, no known control systems exist to first open an outside air damper upon energizing an air distribution fan, then for as long as the fan continues to operate, to periodically close and open the outside air damper based on selectable time periods since the outside air damper was last opened or closed, respectively, then to close the outside air damper at the end of each operation of the air distribution fan. In this way, the subject invention would control the outside air damper position dependent on the operating time of the air distribution fan, and allow a limit to be placed on the amount of outside air to be drawn in when the air distribution fan is operating.
Standards enacted in 1989 by the American Society of Heating, Refigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) such as the ASHRAE 62-89 Standard now require 15 cubic feet per minute of outside air per person in residential dwellings, which can result in approximately 0.35 air changes per hour. The ASHRAE 62-89 Standard further includes a recommendation to limit the concentration of carbon dioxide to 1000 parts per million to control indoor air quality due to respiration.
The Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards set forth by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has enacted standards for manufactured homes that require fresh air ventilation systems. These ventilation systems must distribute outdoor air throughout the conditioned living space. Some ventilation systems require the installation of supply ducts separate from those of the air conditioning system, to distribute ventilation air. The separate ventilation supply ducts are potentially an unnecessary additional expense.

Air distribution fan and outside air damper recycling control


A graphical user interface element for modifying parameters of a graphing widget includes a first slider bar with a first slider control operable to adjust a first parameter of a graphing widget, and a second slider bar with a second slider control operable to adjust a second parameter of the graphing widget. The parameters may be modified to adjust the a graphical representation of data displayed by the graphing widget.

A graphical user interface (GUI) is an interface to a computer software application that takes advantage of graphical capabilities of computer systems. A GUI typically includes various elements that display information to and/or receive input from a user. GUI elements are sometimes referred to as widgets and may include custom user interface components or standard components such as, for example, scroll bars, push buttons, check boxes, radio buttons, and text panes. Most computer software applications available today provide GUIs to efficiently interact with users.
GUIs are particularly useful in displaying graphical representations of data. For example, a table of numbers may be displayed graphically using various techniques including bar charts, scatter plots, and line graphs. These graphical representations assist users in visualizing the data to more easily recognize trends and analyze patterns within the data. Because plotting and charting data is a recurring task in GUI design, graphing widgets have been created to provide an easy mechanism to incorporate graphing functionality into a software application.
In an enterprise application storing various business data, it may be desirable to present graphical displays of the data. A graphing widget may be used to create and display bar charts or any other chart corresponding to the business data. For example, a business that distributes bulk mailings may have extensive mailing lists stored in an enterprise application. To better understand customers on the mailing lists, it may be desirable to view graphical depictions of various data using a graphing widget. For example, the business data may include the birth date of each customer on the mailing lists. To better understand customer demographics, a user may view a bar graph of the birth dates with each year shown on the horizontal axis and the number of customers born in that year shown on the vertical axis. A graphing widget typically calculates a default scale for the bar graph based on the minimum and maximum values so that all of the data may be viewed on the graph at one time.
Sometimes the scale of a graph or chart makes the data difficult to analyze, particularly when there are great differences between values in a dimension of the graph or chart. Consider for example, a bar graph illustrating the number of customers within a given country. If 95% of the customers are from a single country, then a bar chart showing the countries versus the number of customers in each country would include one very large bar and possibly many smaller bars. In such a graph, the vertical scale typically is sized such that the large bar representing 95% of the customers will fit on the screen. The remaining bars in the bar graph are substantially smaller, making it difficult to view any variations between them. One remedy to this problem is to rescale the bar graph to increase the variations between bars in the graph. Graphing widgets may include a window that allows a user to adjust various display parameters including the horizontal and vertical scales, and the minimum and maximum values. By modifying the scales, minimums, and maximums, a user may optimize the visual graphical display to best illustrate various characteristics of the data.

Slider bar scaling in a graphical user interface


A data communication system includes an access point and a plurality of stations each for exchanging wireless data communication messages with the access point. At least some of the messages are in a format that includes at least one message header and a plurality of data units. Each of the data units includes a respective data unit header and a respective data frame. Each data unit header identifies a respective one of the stations as a recipient to receive the respective data frame of the data unit.

The present invention relates to wireless data communication networks.
Wireless data communication networks are widely used. For example, popular types of wireless local area network (WLAN) are based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard or its variations. Typical applications of 802.11 WLANs include office, enterprise and home data networks.
The 802.11 media access control (MAC) layer protocol uses a Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA) approach to provide random access to the network for all devices while reducing contention that results from overlapping transmissions by more than one device at a time. In CSMA/CA, a device that wishes to transmit a frame listens to the carrier frequency for a fixed interval to make sure the channel is idle, and then starts transmission. When the receiving device receives the frame, the receiving device sends back an acknowledgement frame to the sending device by following the same listen-before-transmission procedure. In addition, in some cases a round of messages consisting of RTS (request to send) and CTS (clear to send) may take place before data is actually exchanged.
The overheads occasioned by the 802.11 protocol are generally not large when the amount of data communicated in each data frame is substantial, as is usually the case in enterprise networks.
It has also been proposed to employ WLANs in industrial control applications to replace wired networks and connect field devices to industrial system controllers. Typically the number of field devices may be large, e.g., in the hundreds, and the typical size of each message may be small, say a frame size of 64 bytes. If the 802.11 protocol were applied without change to such applications, the overhead may be quite high, e.g., in excess of 80%, and it may not be possible to support the desired number of field devices.

High-density wireless local area network


A power transmission device includes a synchronous meshing mechanism, a braking mechanism, a shift mechanism, a parking gear, a parking mechanism, and a control unit. In the case where the shift mechanism is switched to a parking range, the control unit performs braking continuation processing for continuing the braking of the braking mechanism (step 4) regardless of a driver's braking operation, inhibits the rotation of the driven gear shaft by the parking mechanism, places a predetermined synchronous meshing mechanism in a connected state as a preparation for starting up the vehicle again, and then ends the braking continuation processing (step 5).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power transmission device including a plurality of gear trains which establish a plurality of variable speed stages and a meshing mechanism which fixes gears constituting the gear trains to a shaft.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there is known a power transmission device which includes a plurality of gear trains that establish a plurality of variable speed stages and a meshing mechanism that freely fixes gears constituting the gear trains to a shaft (for example, refer to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2013-174284).
Moreover, the power transmission device is generally provided with a parking mechanism which inhibits the rotation of an output shaft by locking a parking gear in the case of switching to a parking range by a driver's shift operation (for example, refer to Japanese Patent No. 4506097).
When a vehicle transitions to a parking state in response to a driver's shift operation, an engaging portion engages with a parking gear, thereby causing a locked state in which the rotation of an output shaft is inhibited. Moreover, generally, when switching to a parking range by a shift operation, the driver is required to continue to depress a brake pedal. After the completion of switching to the parking range, the driver takes his/her foot off the brake pedal.
At this time, the parking gear is locked. In the case of parking on an uphill road or the like, however, the braked drive wheels are released and a vehicle moves to descend the inclined surface by a clearance of the engagement until the parking is locked. Thereafter, the vehicle weight is applied to the output shaft, thereby generating a torsional torque.
Therefore, in the case where the driver wants to preshift to a forward stage or other gear in preparation for the next startup, a synchronous meshing mechanism may be affected by a torsional torque, which may inhibit a transition to a connected state.


This disclosure relates generally to systems and methods for characterizing a behavior of an anatomical structure. Tracking data can be generated by a tracking system to represent at least a location of at least one sensor in a three-dimensional tracking coordinate system over time. A motion model is generated to characterize the behavior of the anatomical structure over a plurality of time instances. For instance, the motion model includes at least one free parameter and a temporal parameter. Each free parameter estimating geometry of the anatomical structure derived from the tracking data, and the temporal parameter indexes the free parameter over the plurality of time instances. A visualization is generated to provide a sequence of graphical images based on the motion model to characterize behavior of the anatomical structure over time.

Understanding how a vascular structure, such as a blood vessel (e.g., artery and vein), behaves is of interest to medical staff (e.g., a surgeon). Various imaging methodologies can assess the behavior of the vascular structures. However, many existing imaging methodologies, such as X-Ray fluoroscopy, expose both patients and caregivers to ionizing radiation. Additionally, many existing imaging modalities are unable to adequately visualize, in real-time, behaviors exhibited by vascular and other structures, for example, intraprocedurally, without the use of contrast dyes. In many cases, the resulting images may provide poor visualizations and, therefore, be insufficient to provide actionable guidance, especially in the case of complex anatomy or advanced procedures.

Characterizing behavior of anatomical structures


A vibrating gyroscope has a mounting substrate carrying a vibrator. The mounting substrate is supported and fixed by a plurality of connecting members at a level above a circuit board. The supporting members also provide electrical connection between a wiring on the mounting substrate and a circuitry including an oscillation circuit and a detection circuit on the circuit board. Each connecting member has one end fixed to a point on the mounting substrate substantially in the middle of the path of propagation of vibration which is between supporting pins and which detours around a slit formed in the mounting substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vibrating gyroscope suitable for use, for example, in a navigation system which adequately guides a moving object upon detection of the position of the moving object through sensing rotation angular velocity, or in an anti-vibration system such as an anti-shaking device which adequately performs vibration suppression upon detection of rotational angular velocity caused by an externally given vibration such as shaking by a hand.
2. Description of the Related Art
Construction of a conventional vibrating gyroscope will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 1 shows a vibrating gyroscope 21 having a vibrator 2, a mounting substrate 3, supporting pins 4, a supporting plate 5, a circuit board 6, connecting members 7 and buffer members 8.
The vibrator 2 is made of a material capable of performing mechanical vibration such as a permanently elastic metallic material, e.g., elinvar, quartz, glass, ceramics or the like, and has a pillar-like configuration with a regular-triangular cross-section. As will be best seen from FIG. 2, piezoelectric elements 9 and 10 used for driving and detection are attached by, for example, bonding to two adjacent side faces of the vibrator 2. To the remainder of the three faces of the vibrator 2, a piezoelectric element 11 for feedback is attached also by, for example, bonding.
The mounting substrate 3 has a substantially rectangular form having an H-shaped slit 12 which is provided through the substrate 3. The mounting substrate 3 also has four supporting-pin receiving holes 13 formed therein at positions adjacent to the ends of the slit 12, and projection receiving holes 14 located adjacent to both sides of the slit 12.
The vibrator 2 is fixed on the mounting substrate 3 through the intermediary of the supporting pins 4 which are arranged in a pair. Each supporting pin 4 is made of a wire and has a substantially U-shaped configuration. The supporting pins are bonded at mid portions thereof to portions of the vibrator 2 near two nodes of the vibrator 2, with both ends thereof received and fixed in the supporting-pin receiving holes 13. In this state, the vibrator 2 and the piezoelectric elements 9 to 11 are connected by, for example, wire bonding to a wiring (not shown) laid on the mounting substrate 3.
The mounting substrate 3 carrying the vibrator 2 is disposed above the supporting plate 5. The supporting plate 5 has a substantially rectangular form and is provided with a pair of legs 5a at each longitudinal end thereof. The supporting plate 5 also has a pair of projections 5c corresponding to the projection receiving holes 14 formed in the mounting substrate 3 and each continuing from and to a pair of notches 5b. The legs 5a are orthogonally bent downward, while the projections 5c are orthogonally bent upward. The mounting substrate 3 is fixed to the supporting plate 5 so as to oppose the latter across a gap, with the projections 5c received in the projection receiving holes 14.
The circuit board 6 lies beneath the supporting plate 5, through the intermediary of a pair of buffer members 8. The circuit board 6 has an oscillation circuit (not shown) for applying a driving signal to the vibrator 2 and a detecting circuit (not shown) for detecting angular velocity at which the vibrator 2 oscillatorily rotates. Each buffer member 8 is formed from an elastic material such as TEFLON.RTM. polytetrafluoroethylene and has a pillar-like configuration. The buffer members 8 are placed between the respective pairs of legs 5a of the supporting plate 5 and the circuit board 6. The supporting plate 5 and the circuit board 6 are thus fixed together so as to face each other across a gap due to the interposition of the buffer members 8.
A plurality of connecting members 7 are formed by, for example, wire bonding. One end of each connecting member 7 is fixed to the portion of the wiring (not shown) on the mounting substrate 3 at a region near the supporting-pin receiving hole 13, while the other end of the connecting member 7 is connected to a wiring on the circuit board 6, whereby the piezoelectric elements 9 to 11 on the vibrator 2 are electrically connected to the oscillation circuit and the detection circuit.
A driving signal is supplied to the piezoelectric elements 9 and 10 by an oscillation circuit, so that the vibrator 2 vibrates under a bending mode in the direction perpendicular to the surface on which the piezoelectric element 9 is disposed or in the direction perpendicular to the surface on which the piezoelectric element 10 is disposed while the vibration of the vibrator 2 creates two nodes in the vicinity of the portion where the supporting pins 4 holds the vibrator 2. A rotation of the vibrator 2 about an axis 15 causes the direction of the vibration of the vibrator 2 to change to the direction which is perpendicular to the surface on which the piezoelectric element 11 is disposed. The difference between the output voltages from the piezoelectric elements 9 and 10 is detected in this state and based on the value of the difference, the angular velocity of rotation of the vibrator 2 is detected by the detection circuit.
During the vibration under a bending mode of the vibrator 2, the vibration may propagate from one of the two nodes to the other of the nodes via the supporting pins 4 and the mounting substrate 3. Such propagation may interfere with the original vibration of the vibrator 2 and reduce the amplitude of vibration of the vibrator 2. In the vibrating gyroscope 21, however, the slit 12 provides an enlarged path for propagation of vibration, thus suppressing the tendency that the vibration transmitted from the vibrator 2 is propagated from one to the other and vice versa of the pair of supporting pins 4. This eliminates the aforementioned problem of failing to obtain expected amplitude of vibration of the vibrator 2, thus suppressing degradation of performance of the vibrating gyroscope.
The vibrating gyroscope 21 has nevertheless a drawback in that there arises a still possibility to reduce the amplitude of the vibrator 2, which result in degradation of the characteristics of the vibrating gyroscope. According to investigations of the inventors of the present invention, this is because the vibration transmitted from the vibrator 2 to the supporting pin 4 is undesirably propagated to the circuit board 6 through the connecting members 7.
Furthermore, it is necessary to interpose the supporting plate 5 and the buffer members 8 between the mounting substrate 3 and the circuit board 6, requiring an increased number of steps of the assembly process.


A computer-implemented method is presented herein. The method obtains a first content item from an online source, and then generates a characterizing signature of the first content item. The method continues by finding a previously-saved instance of the characterizing signature and retrieving data associated with a second content item (the second content item is characterized by the characterizing signature). The method continues by analyzing the data associated with the second content item, corresponding data associated with the first content item, and decision criteria. Thereafter, either the first content item or the second content item is identified as an original content item, based on the analyzing. The other content item can be flagged as an aggregated content item.

The Internet is a source of much useful information. However, the content of the internet is also polluted with spam data and duplicated content. Many useful websites represent the legitimate source of content such as news items, articles, comments, user posts, and the like. Social network and blog sites are also a rich source of online content. A blog is a discussion or collection of information published on the Internet, typically formatted as a series of discrete entries, called posts, usually displayed in reverse chronological order so that the most recent post appears first. Webcrawlers can obtain updated information from a blog through its Rich Site Summary (RSS) feed. An RSS feed normally includes summarized text, the publication date of a post and the name of the author. Thus, webcrawlers can analyze RSS data to characterize, index, and otherwise process blog site content (and other website content).
Marketing campaigns use information mined from the web (using, for example, a webcrawling system) to assist in meeting the needs of their customers. However, more than one-third of the content on the web is duplicated or copied content. Duplicate or near-duplicate posts are known as aggregated content, and such duplicate or near-duplicate content is often found on aggregator websites (or, simply, aggregators). Most aggregated content is generated automatically by stealing original content from legitimate sources (original sources or legitimate "republication" sources). In order to provide high quality content to end users, it is important to identify and eliminate aggregators and/or aggregated content when crawling the web.
Accordingly, it is desirable to have a computer implemented methodology for detecting the presence of aggregated online content. In addition, it is desirable to provide and maintain a system that is capable of dynamically responding to aggregated content in an efficient and effective manner. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Detection and handling of aggregated online content using decision criteria to compare similar or identical content items


A viscous fluid dispenser, includes a compressible body having a substantially tubular profile and comprising an interior fluid holding cavity and a head comprising a cap strurture operatively connected to an operative end of the compressible body and a nozzle communicatively connected through the cap structure to form a continuous off-center passage through the head from the interior fluid holding cavity to an exterior fluid expressing side. A fluid dispenser package includes a compressible having a substantially tubular profile with a cleft within the profile extending longitudinally to the body profile from a top end of the profile to a location intermediate along the profile to form a tapering cleft within the body profile; and a head comprising a cap structure and a nozzle communicatively connected through the cap to form a continuous passage through the head from an interior fitting side to an exterior fluid expressing side, wherein the head is removably stored at the body top end in a connection reversed to an operating connection with the nozzle cradled in the cleft within the tubular profile of the flexible body. A method of applying a viscous fluid to a target area includes positioning a compressible viscous fluid dispenser comprising an angled dispensing nozzle at an angle from a perpendicular of the dispenser to the target area and compressing the dispenser to express viscous fluid directly onto the target.

This application is a division of Whitney Ser. No. 11/042,105, filed Jan. 26, 2005, which is a division application of Ser. No. 10/207,786, filed Jul. 31, 2002, now Whitney U.S. Pat. No. 6,880,735.
The invention related to a dispenser for dispensing a viscous fluid, to a package and to a method to dispense a viscous fluid. More particularly, the invention relates to dispensing a room-temperature vulcanizable (RTV) silicone rubber composition and more particularly a one component room temperature vulcanizable silicone rubber composition.
A one component RTV composition can comprise a silanol end-stopped diorganopolysiloxane polymer having a viscosity varying anywhere from 500 to 500,000 centipose 25° C. where an organic group of the polymer is a monovalent hydracarbon radical such as methyl or phenyl. A one-part RTV polyorganosiloxane composition that cures at room temperature to form an elastomer is widely used as an elastic gasket or sealant, adhesive or coating agent in electrical, electronic and construction industries. The RTV composition can comprise the silanol terminated polyorganosiloxane and a cross-linking agent having more than two hodrolyzable groups per molecule. In a typical system, the crosslinking agent is methyltriacetoxy silane. When exposed to atmospheric moisture, the composition will begin to cure to form a skin in 10 to 20 minutes. The composition fully cures to a silicone elastomer in about 24 hours.
A one-part RTV composition can be formulated to have high temperature stability and weatherability characteristics. The composition can also be formulated to have enhanced resistance to oil swell. This composition is especially suitable as a gasketing composition or as a composition for formed-in placed gaskets, for example in automobiles.
In one application, an RTV composition can be used to seal sections of blocks or panels in construction, particularly in the construction of large buildings, such as high-rises. In construction, prefabricated sections or panels are brought together to a prescribed proximity that allows for expansion, contraction or for an expansion joint. Concrete blocks or panels are fabricated next to each other with a typical crevice. distance of anywhere from ¼″ to 1½″ or more in width. Accordingly, it is necessary to seal the block or panel joints with an elastomer to complete construction and to allow for expansion and contraction.
A block or panel sealing operation is carried out by inserting a filler material into the crevice and applying a sealant over the filler material. The sealant cures in place to form the seal. Several devices are known for applying sealant. For example, Santefort, U.S. Pat. No. 5,217,144 shows a collapsible tube to dispense highly viscous materials such as silicone gasket RTV composition. The tube is used as part of a dispenser that includes two engaging plates for squeezing the side of the tube to cause the tube contents to be expressed from an open end. The dispenser also includes two handles to be gripped by a workman in applying the RTV composition. Kruazona, U.S. Pat. No. 4,295,439 and Kruzaona, U.S. Pat. No. 4,295,439 show devices that include a roller structure for use with a tube to apply RTV composition.
Oftentimes, the crevice is situated at a difficult to access location or angel. For example, the crevice forming blocks or panels my be situated high on a building facade where it is dangerous to take a known caulk gun or dispensing device that has flaring parts or obstructing parts. Other construction features may limit or obstruct access to the crevice or the crevice forming panels themselves may be located with respect to one another in a manner that permits only a sharp angle access to the crevice. Oftentimes, a workman must hold on to a support while situating himself so that he can put down an accurate bed of sealant. However, known dispensers for viscous materials such as RTV gasket sealant are difficult to use and do not permit dispensing uniform narrow beads that are required to provide quick forming, complete seals of structures that are placed in awkward, hard to reach obstructed locations.
There is a need from an economical and inexpensive device for accurately applying a silicone RTV composition to seal a crevice. Also, there is a need for a collapsible tube dispenser that can be operated with only one hand for use in cramped or awkward locations so that a bead produced by expressed contents of the tube can be placed upon a target.

Polyorganosiloxane fluid dispenser and method


A system and methods for locating, categorizing, storing, and retrieving information. The system comprises a computer having a display; a keeper data structure; and software executable within the computer adapted to allow a user to associate a predetermined computer data file with a keeper selectively visible on the display. Keepers are created in response to data in a related keeper data structure and further comprise a tab section. A user retrieves a file associated with a selected visual image in the keeper.

Knowledge base management tools are similar to data-mining and search tools. Data mining focuses on so-called legacy data that is more transactional and financial in nature. For example, a massive database of sales figures can reveal trends or allow a user to "drill down" to specific territories, products, and customers. Search tools may ferret out information known to be possibly present, but do not necessarily reveal anything inherent in the data. Knowledge base management tools go a step further by enabling a user to collect and organize information, search for what the user needs, and share the user's findings with others.
In the art, most data provision services—i.e., search or data retrieval services—provide a set interface to their data. A user may only manipulate that interface in a manner dictated by the provider. For example, a user wishing to access services such as the LEXIS/NEXIS™ service which is provided by a division of Reed-Elsevier, Inc. or WESTLAW™ operated by the West Group may use software that resides at a user computer and that has access to data either resident on a CDROM, a hard drive local to the user computer's environment, or via a data communications network such as the Internet. Other users may access those services directly through the Internet. Many information sources do not provide a user level taxonomy at all, relying, if at all, on an Internet browser or other software to provide some user level utility to organize information, e.g. once data are accessed, storage of the data is limited by the browser or operating system to folders and searching within folders limited as well.
A problem that exists with these access methods is that the means and ability to categorize the data accessed is dictated by the provider. For example, WESTLAW uses its proprietary head notes taxonomy that WESTLAW alone maintains and creates. Educational services such as ERIC provide a rigid classification system.
For many users, these taxonomies are either inadequate because they are not tailorable to the user's specific needs or ignored because they represent a view of categorization with which the user is neither familiar nor inclined to learn or use. Moreover, given the level of current art searching methods, use of the provider supplied and imposed taxonomy is not as attractive for searching as it may have once been.
However, many users would benefit from an ability to categorize and organize data in a manner comfortable to that user, and perhaps to that user alone. Such capability will aid that user in accessing the data, extracting information relevant to that user from that data, and later retrieving that information rapidly and cost-effectively. A problem with such categorization is that such an ability may incur large support costs or be impracticably unwieldy.
As is known in the art, so called knowledge bases may comprise an indexed, searchable set of queries or frequently asked questions (FAQs) coupled with a search engine. Some methods proposed in the prior art deal with mining generalized sequential patterns from large databases of raw data, taking into account user specified constraints such as taxonomies. U.S. Pat. No. 5,742,811 issued to Agrawal, et al. for "METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MINING GENERALIZED SEQUENTIAL PATTERNS IN A LARGE DATABASE" is illustrative.
The prior art also has much written on queries of databases. U.S. Pat. No. 5,826,260 issued to Byrd, Jr., et al. for "INFORMATION RETRIEVAL SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DISPLAYING AND ORDERING INFORMATION BASED ON QUERY ELEMENT CONTRIBUTION" is illustrative and teaches an information retrieval system wherein a query issued by a user is analyzed by a query engine into query elements. After the query has been evaluated against the document collections, a resulting hit list is presented to the user, e.g., as a table. The presented hit list displays not only an overall rank of a document but also a contribution of each query element to the rank of the document. The user can reorder the hit list by prioritizing the contribution of individual query elements to override the overall rank and by assigning additional weight(s) to those contributions. However, the prior art has not adequately addressed using queries as a method of capturing, condensing, and presenting raw data or its summarization according to a user defined, user configurable taxonomy.
In addition, the prior art teaches methods of summarization of raw data. U.S. Pat. No. 5,918,240 issued to Kupiec, et al. for "AUTOMATIC METHOD OF EXTRACTING SUMMARIZATION USING FEATURE PROBABILITIES" is illustrative. Kupiec teaches a method of automatically generating document extracts that makes use of feature value probabilities generated from a statistical analysis of manually generated summaries to extract the same set of sentences an expert might. The method is based upon an iterative approach. However, Kupiec does not disclose and does not teach, suggest, or motivate towards use of a user tailorable taxonomy when doing its summarization or association of the generated summarization with one or more elements in the taxonomy.
Accordingly, there is a need for a user configurable interface comprising raw data, information summarized and derived from the raw data, and a user defined and maintained taxonomy to organize the information.
One area with there is such a need is in interfacing to the Internet or similar wide area communications network, generally accomplished using a browser. Every Internet browser currently has an ability to maintain a so-called "favorites" list. Generally these may be accessed via a drop-down menu item and may further take the appearance of a folder hierarchy as will be familiar to current personal computer operator systems. These "favorite" systems have numerous problems when in normal use. Several of these problems are shown here as exemplary.
First, they are constrained to hypertext meta-language (HTML) files and are not for general use, e.g. local non-HTML files. Second, they have no ability to be used as search constraints. Third, they have no ability to provide a view to a user of the content of the HTML file to which they refer. Fourth, they have no ability to cache an HTML file and/or compare the cached version with a current version of that file. Fifth, they have no ability to more-or-less simultaneously associate a file with a plurality of entries in the favorites list.
Additionally, some browsers now allow tabbed display pages, but these are merely a convenience to the user as each tabbed display page is merely a clone of any other tabbed display page and offers no inherent organizational benefit to accessing or otherwise organizing access to information, either locally or remotely or both.

System and method for locating, categorizing, storing, and retrieving information


An optical scanning apparatus includes a light source to generate a beam, a lens to transmit the beam generated from the light source, and a base member to which the lens is fixed, wherein the lens is fixed to the base member via a mount member having a same coefficient of thermal expansion as the lens. According to the present general inventive concept, an optical member, such as the lens, is not directly joined to the base member but is joined to the mount member having the same coefficient of thermal expansion as the optical member and is then coupled to the base member. Consequently, the optical member is stably coupled to the base member even when the temperature changes.

1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to an optical member coupling device, and, more particularly, to an optical member coupling device that is capable of stably maintaining the coupling state of an optical member, coupled to a coupling position by an adhesive, even when the optical member contracts or expands due to the temperature change, and an optical scanning apparatus including the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, an optical scanning apparatus is used in an electro-photographic image forming machine to scan a beam to a photoconductor, according to an image signal, such that an electrostatic latent image is formed on the photoconductor. The optical scanning apparatus includes a light source to generate a beam according to an image signal, a collimator lens that converts the beam, generated from the light source, into a beam parallel to an optical axis, i.e., a collimated beam, a cylindrical lens that converts the collimated beam into a beam parallel to a sub-scanning direction, i.e., a linear beam, a polygon mirror to deflect the linear beam within a specific angle range, and an F-theta lens that converges the beam, reflected by the polygon mirror, to the surface of a photoconductor. These components are mounted to a single base member to constitute a single module.
In order to precisely form an electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor according to an image signal, the optical members, such as the collimator lens, the cylindrical lens, the polygon mirror, and the F-theta lens, must be accurately and securely mounted to a housing. Also, the change in installation position of the optical members due to environmental factors, such as the temperature change, must be prevented.
Typically, the optical members may be coupled to the housing a coupling member, such as a screw, or an adhesive. The coupling method using the coupling member, such as a screw increases the number of components, with the result that the manufacturing costs of the optical scanning apparatus increases, and the weight of the optical scanning apparatus also increases.
A coupling method using an adhesive is described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-133073 (published Apr. 30, 2004), which provides an optical apparatus constructed in a structure in which a glass substrate is coupled using an adhesive.
In the described optical apparatus, four corners of a rectangular glass substrate are joined to a spacer by a high-elasticity adhesive, such that the glass substrate is coupled to the spacer, and a low-elasticity adhesive is applied to the edge of the glass substrate such that the glass substrate is joined to the spacer.
In the conventional optical apparatus, however, the coefficient of the thermal expansion of the glass substrate is different from that of the spacer, made of resin. Consequently, when the temperature changes, excessive thermal stress occurs at the interface between the glass substrate and the spacer, with the result that the glass substrate becomes separated from the spacer.

Optical member coupling device and optical scanning apparatus


A pixel electrode structure of a transflective liquid crystal display comprises a reflective electrode laid on a surface of the gate-insulating layer, a dielectric layer covering the reflective electrode, and a transmissive electrode on the dielectric layer and connected to the reflective electrode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to transflective liquid crystal displays (LCD), and particularly to pixel structures for transflective LCD.
2. Description of the Related Art
A transflective LCD conventionally operates to display images under light illumination coming from an external light source and a backlight embedded in the display system. The transflective display mode is advantageous because it has lower power consumption compared to transmissive displays.
FIG. 1 is a general schematic view of a pixel structure known in conventional transflective LCD panels. The conventional transflective LCD panel includes the assembly of rear and front substrates 100, 160, respectively made of transparent materials. Display is viewed from the side of the front substrate 160 while the backlight (not shown) is placed on the side of the rear substrate 100. A liquid crystal layer 150 is sandwiched between the rear substrate 100 and the front substrate 160 to modulate incoming light and thereby achieve image display.
The pixel electrode structure conventionally includes a reflective electrode 126 placed adjacent to a transmissive electrode 124. Both reflective electrode 126 and transmissive electrode 124 thereby respectively define a reflective area and a transmissive area. The reflective electrode 126 is composed of a reflective plate made of a metallic material having suitable reflectance, while the transmissive electrode 124 is conventionally made of a transparent conductive material such as indium-tin-oxide or indium-zinc-oxide.
In the transmissive area, light 182 coming from a backlight (not shown) travels through the transmissive electrode 124, and transmits via the liquid crystal layer 150 to emerge at the viewer side for displaying images. In the reflective area, light 184 comes from an external light source on the viewer side (not shown), travels through the liquid crystal 150, reflects on the reflective electrode 126, and travels again through the liquid crystal 150 to emerge at the viewer side.
One factor indicative of the LCD performance is its optical efficiency. The optical response depends upon the cell retardation of the liquid crystal, characterized by the product "dΔn", wherein d is the cell gap and Δn is the average birefringence of the liquid crystal within the cell gap. In the transmissive area, the optical retardation conventionally is optimal for dΔn˜(½)λ, while in the reflective area it is optimal for dΔn˜(¼)λ. One technical issue encountered in a conventional transflective LCD such as the one described in FIG. 1 is that the same cell retardation occurs in both reflective area and the transmissive area. No optimal optical performance therefore can be obtained in both reflective and transmissive areas of the conventional transflective LCD.
Therefore, there is presently a need for a transflective liquid crystal display that has improved optical characteristics in both reflective and transmissive areas.