The invention pertains to a process of removing phosphorus-containing impurities from an olefin stream using a sorbent comprising a metal. The olefin stream preferably comprises primarily olefins having at least 6 carbon atoms.

The invention pertains to a process of removing contaminants from olefin feedstocks using a sorbent comprising a metal. The contaminants removed preferably are phosphorus-containing compounds, most preferably organophosphines and/or organophosphine oxides. Preferred olefin feedstocks are made by oligomerizing ethylene to linear olefins having from about 6 to about 36 carbon atoms, preferably from about 11 to about 20 carbon atoms, and most preferably from about 14 to about 18 carbon atoms.
Depending upon the method of their production, olefin feedstocks may comprise a variety of impurities. Impurities found in olefins that are produced by oligomerization of ethylene units include phosphorus-containing impurities, including but not necessarily limited to organophosphines and organophosphine oxides. These phosphorus-containing compounds are largely removed from many olefin streams during the process of distillation to separate various xe2x80x9ccutsxe2x80x9d of olefins. Unfortunately, the organophosphines and organophosphine oxides found in C14-C18 streams tend to co-distill with the C14-C18 in the product, making it difficult, if not impossible to remove these phosphine impurities by simple distillation.
C6-C36 olefins have utility in the fields of paper and pulp processing, drilling fluids, and machine or metal working oils. Alcohols of such olefins have commercial importance in a variety of applications, including detergents, soaps, surfactants, and freeze point depressants in lubricating oils. These alcohols are produced by a number of commercial processes, such as by oxo or hydroformylation of long chain olefins. In many of these applications, the olefin feedstocks are treated using acid catalysts.
Unfortunately, any phosphorus-containing compounds in these olefin feedstocks will negatively affect acid catalysts. The phosphorus-containing moieties are basic in nature and will neutralize the active acid sites of the catalyst, which lowers catalyst activity and performance. The organophosphine moeities may even cause the olefins to oligomerize into undesirable forms.
Methods are needed to reduce the phosphorus-content of olefin feedstocks.
The present invention provides a method for purifying an olefin feed comprising a content of phosphorus-containing compounds. The method comprises contacting the olefin feed with a sorbent comprising a metal under conditions and for a time effective to reduce the content of phosphorus-containing compounds, producing a purified olefin feed.
The present invention provides a process and sorbents which efficiently and effectively reduce the content of phosphorus-containing compounds in olefin streams. In a preferred embodiment, the content is reduced to about 1 ppm or less, preferably about 0.5 ppm or less, most preferably to about 0.1 ppm or less. Given sufficient run time, the sorbents reduce the content of phosphorus-containing compounds in the olefin stream to parts per billion (ppb) levels.
The invention may be used to treat substantially any olefin stream. Preferred olefin streams are linear olefin streams made by oligomerizing ethylene. Some of the known processes for oligomerizing ethylene use organophosphorus compounds that result in phosphorus as a contaminant in the resulting olefin stream. A preferred commercially available olefin feed for the treatment of the present invention is the product marketed in the United States by Shell Chemical Company under the trademark NEODENE(copyright). In a preferred embodiment, the olefin feedstock is treated before exposure to an acid catalyst, or before exposure to other conditions which would be adversely affected by the basic nature of phosphorus-containing contaminants.
In a most preferred embodiment, the olefin stream is the feedstock for the skeletal isomerization catalyst used in the method described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,849,960, which has been incorporated herein by reference. The olefins used in the feed to this skeletal isomerization catalyst are mono-olefins having at least 6 carbon atoms, preferably having from about 11 to about 20 carbon atoms, and most preferably having from about 14 to about 18 carbon atoms.
In general, the olefins in the feed to the skeletal isomerization catalyst are predominately linear. While the olefin feed can contain some branched olefins, the olefin feed processed for skeletal isomerization preferably contains greater than about 50 percent, more preferably greater than about 70 percent, and most preferably greater than about 80 mole percent or more of linear olefin molecules.
The olefin feed to the skeletal isomerization catalyst does not consist of 100% olefins, and usually contains a distribution of mono-olefins having different carbon lengths, with at least 50 wt. % of the olefins being within the stated carbon chain range or digit, however specified. Preferably, the olefin feed will contain greater than 70 wt. %, more preferably about 80 wt. % or more of mono-olefins in a specified carbon number range, the remainder of the product being olefins of other carbon number or carbon structure, diolefins, paraffins, aromatics, and other impurities resulting from the synthesis process. The location of the double bond is not limited. The olefin feed composition may comprise alpha olefins, internal olefins, or a mixture thereof.
The sorbent of the present invention comprises a suitable metal, preferably comprising metal oxide, on a suitable support. Preferred metals are transition metals, including but not necessarily limited to those selected from Groups 3-12 of the Periodic Table of the Elements. When the Periodic Table of the Elements is referred to herein, the source of the Periodic Table is: F. Cotton et al. Advanced Inorganic Chemistry (5th Ed. 1988). Suitable metals include, but are not necessarily limited to Sc, V, Cr, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Zr, Nb, Mn, Ag and combinations thereof. Preferred metals are Fe, Co, Ni, Mn, Ag and Cu. In a preferred embodiment, the metal is silver or copper, preferably in the form of oxides. The sorbent suitably comprises from about 0.1 wt. % to about 50 wt. % of the metal oxide of the foregoing metals, preferably copper. Preferably, the sorbent comprises from about 1 wt. % to about 20 wt. %, more preferably from about 5 wt. % to about 15 wt. %, and most preferably from about 8 wt. % to about 10 wt. % of the metal oxide.
The metal oxide resides on a suitable support material. Although the surface area of the support is not a critical feature, the surface area preferably is at least about 10 m2/g in order to provide sufficient contact between the sorbent and the olefin stream. In a preferred embodiment, the support has a surface area of from about 100 m2/g to about 900 m2/g. Acidic supports are more advantageous than basic supports. Suitable support materials are acidic or neutral, most preferably acidic. Suitable support materials include, but are not necessarily limited to alumina, silica, molecular sieves, such as zeolites, activated carbon, aluminosilicate clays, amorphous silicoaluminas, and the like. Where the support material surface is porous, the pores preferably are sufficiently large to permit entry of bulky phosphorus containing compounds in the feed. A most preferred support material for copper is an acidic or neutral alumina. A most preferred support material for silver is X-zeolite. A commercially available sorbent that is suitable for use in the present invention is SELEXSORB AS(trademark), which is commercially available from Alcoa Industrial Chemicals.
It is preferred for the particles of supported sorbent to be as small as possible; however, if the size of the particles is too small, the pressure drop through the bed becomes too large. Very small particles also are difficult to retain in the sorbent bed. SELEXSORB AS(trademark) is purchased in the form of xe2x85x9 inch spheres, and may be used in the process as purchased. However, spheres are not the most efficient particle shape for purposes of maximizing particle surface to volume ratio. Because of this, if SELEXSORB AS(trademark) is used as the sorbent, it is preferred to grind or otherwise reduce the xe2x85x9 inch spheres into the smallest particles possible without inducing an undue pressure drop or loss of sorbent from the sorbent bed. The particles may have substantially any form, including but not necessarily limited to spherical form, tablet form, cylindrical form, multi-lobed cylindrical forms, and their corresponding hollow counterparts. In a preferred embodiment, the particles have a diameter of from about 50 mesh to about 6 mm, preferably about 0.8 mm ({fraction (1/32)} inch) to about 1.6 mm ({fraction (1/16)} inch), most preferably about 0.8 mm. The length of the particles is not critical, with suitable lengths including, but not necessarily limited to less than about 10 mm, preferably from about 3 mm to about 5 mm.
In a preferred embodiment, the support material is an alumina extrudate which is extruded as a paste using an acidic or neutral alumina powder. The xe2x80x9cpastexe2x80x9d is extruded or otherwise molded into a multilobed cylindrical form. The resulting material preferably is dried at temperatures of at least about 100xc2x0 C. and calcined at about 500xc2x0 C. or more in the presence of flowing air in a muffle furnace or purged high temperature air drier or rotary calciner. The copper oxide may be deposited onto the support using any suitable technique, including but not necessarily limited to ion exchange, co-mulling, or impregnation. A preferred technique is pore volume impregnation using a solution of a copper salt, such as copper nitrate, copper carbonate, or other suitable salts. Although the following illustration uses a copper nitrate solution, the use of other Cu salt solutions may produce a more uniform Cu loading. Copper nitrate is very soluble in water, and tends to wick out of the pores during drying. The result may be more CuO on the outside of the pellets, although smaller pellets are less prone to this effect.
Persons of ordinary skill in the art have the knowledge required to calculate how to incorporate a given wt % of CuO or other material onto a sorbent using the foregoing techniques. For example, where 100 g of an alumina has a water pore volume of 83 ml, the following is a formula by which a sorbent containing 9 wt. % CuO is formed:   [            (              9                          xe2x80x83                                              g            .                          xe2x80x83                                    CuO                    /          100                                  xe2x80x83                                  g          .                      xe2x80x83                              final                                  xe2x80x83                        sorbent            )        xc3x97          (              1                          xe2x80x83                        mole                          xe2x80x83                                  CuO          /          79.54                                  xe2x80x83                                  g          .                    )        xc3x97          xe2x80x83                  [              1                          xe2x80x83                        mole                          xe2x80x83                        Cu                          xe2x80x83                                                            (                              NO                3                            )                        2                    ·          2.5                                  xe2x80x83                                  H          2                                  O          /          mole                                  xe2x80x83                        CuO            ]        xc3x97          (              232.59                          xe2x80x83                                  g          .                      xe2x80x83                              Cu                                  xe2x80x83                                                            (                              NO                3                            )                        2                    ·          2.5                                  xe2x80x83                                  H          2                                  O          /          mole                                  xe2x80x83                        Cu                          xe2x80x83                                                            (                              NO                3                            )                        2                    ·          2.5                                  xe2x80x83                                  H          2                        O            )        ]
In other words, it requires 0.26 g. Cu(NO3)2.2.5 H2O per g., of final sorbent to form a 9 wt. % CuO on alumina sorbent where the water pore volume is 83 ml of water per 100 g. of copper oxide on alumina.
In order to prepare the 9 wt. % CuO on alumina, the pores of 91 g. of the alumina are filled with a solution containing 26 g. (0.26 g. of Cu(NO3)2.2.5 H2O/g. sorbentxc3x97100 g.) copper nitrate salt dissolved in 75.5 ml. of water to incipient wetness. Slightly more or less liquid solution may be added until the catalyst is uniformly filled with solution. In the case of Cu salts, the color of the filled pellets is light blue and the unfilled pellets remain white. The sorbent is dried in an oven at a temperature sufficient to boil water from the pores without fracturing the sorbentxe2x80x94about 121xc2x0 C. (250xc2x0 F.)xe2x80x94for from about 4 to about 8 hours. Then, the temperature is ramped to about 482xc2x0 C. (900xc2x0 F.) to decompose the nitrate salt to CuO on the support. Prior to use, the sorbent is stripped with nitrogen in order to avoid contaminating the olefin feed with oxygen.
Preferably, the olefin feedstock is contacted in the liquid phase in a reaction zone with the sorbent of the present invention at effective process conditions to reduce the content of phosphorus-containing compounds in the feedstock, i.e., an effective temperature, pressure, and LHSV (Liquid Hourly Space Velocity). A preferred embodiment of a reactor system for the process is an upflow or downflow fixed bed reactor. An upflow reactor is preferred for better wetting of the sorbent bed. The temperature employed may vary. Although not limited to a particular temperature, best results will be obtained if the process is conducted at temperatures of from about 0xc2x0 C. to about 100xc2x0 C., preferably from about 10xc2x0 C. to about 50xc2x0 C. The pressures may vary over a range including but not limited to autogeneous pressures and pressures in the range of from about 0.01 MPa to about 50 MPa. A preferred pressure is in the range of from about 0.1 MPa to about 10 MPa. Pressures outside of the stated ranges may be used and are not excluded from the scope of the invention.
The feedstock may flow at a wide range of liquid hourly space velocities (LHSV), defined as liquid feed per hour per volume of sorbent. The LHSV is calculated as follows:             Volume of olefin containing feed              Volume of sorbent        xc3x97      1    hr
The lower the LHSV, the greater will be the reduction in content of phosphorus-containing compounds in the feedstock. The LHSV generally is from about 0.01 hrxe2x88x921 to about 10 hrxe2x88x921, preferably from about 0.1 hrxe2x88x921 to about 1 hrxe2x88x921.
The process is continued for a period of time sufficient to achieve a desired reduction in the content of phosphorus-containing compounds in the olefin stream. The content of phosphorus-containing compounds preferably is reduced to about 1 ppm or less, most preferably to about 0.1 ppm or less. The reaction cycle time may vary from tenths of seconds to a number of hours. The reaction cycle time is largely determined by the reaction temperature, the pressure, the sorbent selected, the liquid hourly space velocity, and the desired reduction in content of phosphorus containing compounds.
At some point, the sorbent becomes saturated, and must be regenerated. SELEXSORB AS(trademark) has an absorptive capacity of about 0.6 grams of phosphorus per gram of sorbent. The sorbent may be regenerated by exposing the sorbent to an oxygen-containing atmosphere at a temperature of from about 200xc2x0 C. to about 550xc2x0 C., preferably from about 450xc2x0 C. to about 600xc2x0 C. Suitable oxygen containing atmospheres include, but are not necessarily limited to air, oxygen gas, and a combination of oxygen gas with nitrogen gas. A preferred gas is a commercially available combination comprising about 1% oxygen, with the remainder being nitrogen. After exposure to these increased temperatures for a period of time of from about 0.5 hour to about 100 hours, the bed is cooled to at least about 100xc2x0 C., and preferably to about 25xc2x0 C., or ambient temperature, in order to avoid overheating upon reuse. The cooled bed is purged with nitrogen or air before reuse in the process. Ten regeneration cycles under these conditions have been shown to produce no loss in sorbent capacity. Some slight loss in sorbent capacity was seen beginning after about 10 regeneration cycles.
Typical olefin feedstocks comprise from about 100 ppm to about 2000 ppm dienes that tend to lower the efficiency of skeletal isomerization catalysts. In a preferred embodiment, the support of the present invention, preferably is a sorbent which sorbs dienes present in initial olefin streams. In a preferred embodiment, the alumina support for copper oxide performs this function. The dienes are sorbed onto the alumina prior to skeletal isomerization. The dienes also may be removed by sorption from the skeletally isomerized product.
C6 to C33 olefins have a variety of uses, including but not necessarily limited to uses in paper processing, drilling fluids, and machine or metal working. In a preferred embodiment, the olefin feedstock is converted to branched primary alcohols in the process described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,849,960, incorporated herein by reference. Most preferably, the olefin feedstock is treated before the olefins are fed to a skeletal isomerization catalyst, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,849,960. A preferred skeletal isomerization catalyst for use in conjunction with the present invention is a hydrogen ferrierite catalyst, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,510,306, incorporated herein by reference.
In a preferred embodiment, the skeletally isomerized olefins are converted to any of a broad range of surfactants, including nonionic, anionic, cationic, and amphoteric surfactants, with a degree of branching of at least 1.0. The skeletally isomerized olefins serve as a surfactant intermediate. Specifically, the skeletally isomerized olefins serve as the hydrophobic moiety of the surfactant molecule, while the moiety added to the olefin during the conversion process serves as the hydrophile.

Removal of phosphorus-containing compounds from an olefin feedstock


A power-converter controller is provided in a wind turbine generator which is interconnected to a utility grid and in which a generator generates electrical power by rotation of a rotor having blades. The power-converter controller includes a voltage sensor that measures a generator terminal voltage, resonance-component extracting sections that extract an electrical resonance component generated due to the interconnection from a measurement result measured by the voltage sensor, and a control section and a control section that control a current that flows to the utility grid so as to suppress the resonance component, on the basis of the resonance component extracted by the resonance-component extracting sections. Accordingly, the power-converter controller can more effectively suppress the resonance generated due to the interconnection of the wind turbine generator to the utility grid.

Transmission of power from a wind turbine generator to a utility grid is generally AC power transmission. However, an increase in the length of a power transmission line to the utility grid will increase the inductive reactance, thus limiting the power that can be transmitted.
Thus, a series capacitor is sometimes connected to the power transmission line to decrease (offset or compensate for) the inductive reactance. Connection of the series capacitor to the power transmission line increases the transmissible power. However, since the inductive reactance of the wind turbine generator and the power transmission line forms a serial resonant circuit, a resonance phenomenon occurs depending on the grid configuration and the state of the load, which can damage electrical equipment connected to the grid.
Thus, the following methods have been proposed as countermeasures to be taken when resonance occurs.
A bypass filter (blocking filter) is connected in parallel to the series capacitor connected in series to the power transmission line. A compensating unit that operates actively, such as a thyristor-controlled series capacitor (TCSC), is installed at a current collecting point, such as a substation.
The above two methods need a filter having a capacity corresponding to the power transmission capacity or the amount of power generated by the plant and a compensating unit, thus causing the problem of increasing the cost.
On the other hand, PTL 1 discloses a method for actively suppressing the amplitude of a resonance component under excitation control whereby a resonance component is detected from a current, and a current in a rotor winding of a generator provided in a wind turbine generator is controlled using a power converter. Since the method disclosed in PTL 1 uses existing facilities of the wind turbine generator, an increase in cost for suppressing the resonance component can be reduced.

Wind turbine generator control system and method that suppresses an electrical resonance component


A rolling truck consisting of a metal container on whose bottom are provided castors and at least one brake gear, where the bottom has a contact area between the castors on the opposite sides for placing the rolling truck on a conveyor belt. A transponder is arranged on the bottom of the rolling truck, and the transponder is mounted on a plastic spacer at a distance from the bottom of the rolling truck, and outside the contact area of the bottom of the rolling truck. This reduces the distance between the transponder and the floor where the antenna of an RF reader is installed, and thus reduces the size and power required for the transponder.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a rolling truck equipped with a transponder for easy identification.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Rolling trucks serve as transport containers and are commonly known as "catering trolleys". They are useful for serving food and beverages to passengers on airplanes. The rolling trucks have a sturdy design and have a container to accommodate the provisions. Normally, the entire container is constructed out of metal, especially the bottom of the container. Castors are located on the front and rear of the bottom side to make it easier to move the rolling truck. Furthermore, the rolling trucks are equipped with a brake gear to lock the castors in place and prevent the container from rolling. The brake gear is engaged when foods or beverages are removed from the container and given to a passenger.
Known rolling trucks have a transponder located at the bottom of the rolling truck. The transponder is equipped with a memory device capable of receiving and transmitting data. The memory holds data assigned to the respective rolling truck and is used in identifying the trucks. The transponder usually does not have its own power source. Instead, it receives the power required for operation from the high-frequency field of a reader as soon as the transponder enters the area of influence of this reader.
When an airplane lands at an airport with rolling trucks, the rolling trucks are unloaded from the airplane, cleaned, washed, and inspected. The inspection determines whether the respective rolling truck can be reused directly, or if repair work will be necessary.
If the rolling truck passes the inspection, the washed rolling truck is transferred to a collecting zone where it is filled with new provisions. If the rolling truck fails the inspection, it is sent to a repair area for repairs. After being repaired, the rolling truck is sent to the collecting zone. In the event repairs are no longer possible, the rolling truck will be put out of service as scrap.
The process thus described can be explained with respect to transponders assigned to each rolling truck. At those places where the rolling trucks enter or leave the areas or zones described above, a coil or inductor of a reader is provided in the floor to act as an antenna. When a rolling truck passes over the reader, a wireless data exchange takes place automatically between the transponder and the reader. It is therefore possible to detect the respective location of each transponder using a centrally located system that is connected to all of the readers. If a rolling truck is being repaired, the type of repair can be entered into the transponders memory. This makes it possible to ascertain, at any point in time, how often a given rolling truck has been repaired and what specific types of repairs have been involved. Analysis of the corresponding data also makes it possible to determine which areas of the rolling trucks are particularly likely to need repairs and consequently where improvements are needed.
If a rolling truck is lost, it is possible, with the help of the system described here, to ascertain the most recent location of the transponder. In addition to the possibilities described, there are many other cases which make it advantageous to use a transponder on a rolling truck.
When a transponder and a reader are used, it is important to keep the distance between the antenna of the reader and the transponder to a minimum, so that enough energy is transmitted to the transponder coil, and data sent by the transponder can be received. With the known rolling trucks, the transponder is located in the floor of the metal container, and the distance between the bottom of the container and the floor is determined by the castors on the rolling truck. The distance is approximately 10 cm.
The outside dimensions of a transponder are determined mainly by the coil used for the inductive transmission. The coil size therefore limits the amount of miniaturization possible. In addition, the bottom of the rolling truck is typically made out of metal. A metal floor greatly reduces the transmitting and receiving power of the transponder due to the absorption of some of the HF energy.
In order to ensure reliable transmission of data between the reader and transponder, due to the above factors, comparatively large transponders with large coils are necessary. The typical dimensions of a transponder housing are approximately 10 mm high, 27 mm wide, and 67 mm long.
The following should be taken into account with regard to the arrangement of the transponder on the bottom of the rolling truck. When the rolling trucks are automatically washed or transferred to the collecting zone, or filled with new provisions, the rolling trucks are placed on conveyor belts which convey the rolling trucks to the individual stations. The bottom of the rolling truck is then in direct contact with the conveyor belt. The area in which the bottom of the rolling truck contacts the conveyor belt is known as the contact area. This contact area must be absolutely smooth, as it is subject to stresses due to the conveyor belt and the weight of the rolling truck. With the known rolling trucks, the transponder is embedded inside the contact area in a recess in the bottom surface of the truck to provide a smooth surface, and to protect the transponder.
One disadvantage of the known rolling trucks is that the transponder must have a large coil because of the comparatively great distance from the floor and the reader in the floor. This not only increases the dimensions on the whole, but also increases the price of the transponder. One result of the large dimensions of the transponder is that the transponder must be arranged inside the contact area.
Additional costs are incurred because the transponder is located in the contact area of the bottom of the rolling truck. First the bottom of the truck must be specially designed in this area to protect the transponder from the conveyor belt. Finally, the power of the reader must also be high because of the predetermined distance between the transponder and the antenna of the reader installed in the floor.


A method of controlling entry of a block of data is used with a high-speed cache which is shared by a plurality of independently-operating computer systems in a multi-system data sharing complex. Each computer system has access both to the high-speed cache and to lower-speed, upper-level storage for obtaining and storing data. Management logic in the high-speed cache assures that the block of data entered into the cache will not be overwritten by an earlier version of the block of data obtained from the upper-level storage.

The invention concerns caching data in a cache serving a multi-system data sharing complex. In particular, the invention concerns the caching of a data page by one database system into the shared cache in view of the possibility that another system could be trying to cache a later copy of the same page. This invention concerns the technique to detect such a condition and to bar entry of the non-updated page into the shared cache.
In a database system wherein a plurality of independently-operating computer systems share data, global locking is required to maintain coherency of data in the different systems. A. J. van de Goor, in COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN, Addison Wesley, 1989, discusses the data coherency problem as one in which sharing data among a proliferation of processors raises the possibility that multiple, inconsistent copies of data may exist because of multiple paths to the data and because of opportunities to locally modify the data.
Solutions to the data coherency problem have been proposed. All are based essentially on the existence of a global lock on data retrieved from a central location. Assuming pagination of data, one computer system of a multi-computer system which shares data stored on a disk acquires a global lock on a page of data and obtains and updates the page. The lock signifies to the other computer systems that the page has been acquired for updating. Prior to releasing the lock on the page, the computer system holding the lock writes the page to the disk, after which it generates and sends a message to the other computer systems to invalidate any copies of the page which may be held in their local cache. The lock on the page is not released until acknowledgement is received from every other computer system having access to the page. This solution is described in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 4,399,504, which is assigned to the assignee of this patent application, and which is incorporated herein by reference. A commercial product available from the assignee of this application and which incorporates this solution is the IMS/VS (information management system/virtual storage) system with the data sharing feature.
The prior art global locking system provides great advantage in maintaining data coherency. However, the overhead penalties inherent in it include the requirement for performing an I/O (input/output) procedure when a page is updated and undertaking message exchange after the I/O procedure in order to notify the other systems and release the lock.
When used in a non-data-shared single system case, the prior art IBM (International Business Machines) IMS/VS product still incurs extra overhead in maintaining data coherency (consistency) between transactions by implementing a commit policy requiring each transaction which updates data to write the modified data, together with log records, to storage before the transaction is fully committed. This requires one I/O procedure per page for each modifying transaction, which increases overhead costs.
In contrast, the IBM DB2 in the single system, non-data-sharing case follows a policy which does not require an I/O process to write an updated page back to storage in order to commit a transaction. If the protocol described above is used in the IBM DB2 product in a data-sharing situation where a plurality of computer systems access one or more data storage sites, the performance could degrade significantly because of the required write back to storage and message delay. In this regard, see C. J. Date's discussion of concurrency at pages 593-595 in Vol. I of AN INTRODUCTION TO DATABASE SYSTEMS, Addison-Wessley, 1986.
In a multi-computer, data-sharing system which includes multiple levels of storage, it is contemplated that a first level of storage would consist of one or more direct access storage devices (DASD's) which are shared by independently-operating computer systems. Typical nomenclature for hierarchally-arranged storage systems classify DASD and other such storage facilities as "secondary" storage. In this regard, secondary storage includes all facilities from which data must be moved to "primary" storage before it can be directly referenced by a central processing unit (CPU). See Detiel, OPERATING SYSTEMS, Second Edition, 1990, by Addison Wesley, page 30. It is further contemplated that caching techniques would be useful to provide a high-speed, frequently-accessed storage for shared data. For various reasons, data would be entered into the shared cache by the database systems after acquisition from DASD's. In this regard, a shared cache would be included in a primary level of storage for a multi-computer, data-sharing system.
In such a structure, a potential hazard would exist if one computer system obtained a block of data from DASD for the purpose of caching it after the same block of data had been obtained, modified by another computer system and cached, but not yet returned to DASD. In this situation, the outdated block obtained from DASD is referred to as a "down-level" version of the updated block in cache. The challenge is to prevent the overwriting of the updated block by the down-level version without incurring the expense of locking the DASD version.
Typically, global locking protocols are used by a database system to serialize access to the record of interest in the data sharing case. The inventors contemplate that they would still be used. Also typically, there would be global locking on the page to serialize updates to the page from different database systems. The avoidance of serialization described in this invention is for inserting a down level page from the secondary storage into the shared cache by different database systems.

Non-blocking serialization for caching data in a shared cache

International Business Machines Corporation


This invention is directed to a catalyst that comprises (i) an acidic solid oxide component comprising an oxide of a Group IVB metal modified with an anion or oxyanion of a Group VIB metal, and (ii) a Group IB metal or metal oxide component. This catalyst may be used, for example, to isomerize paraffins.

A superacid is a known class of acidic material that has an acid strength, measured by Hammett acidity function H.sub.0, greater than that of 100% H.sub.2 SO.sub.4, which has an H.sub.0 value of -12. A superacid, therefore, has an H.sub.0 value of less than -12 or an acid strength greater than -12. Superacids are useful for reactions that are generally catalyzed by strong acid, such as paraffin isomerization.
M. Hino and K. Arata describe the synthesis of a solid superacid having an acid strength of up to H.sub.0 .ltoreq.-16.04 by exposing hydroxides or oxides of Fe, Ti, Zr and Hf, prior to crystallization, to sulfate ions, followed by calcination in air at over 500.degree. C. in J. Chem. Soc., Chem. Commun., 1148 (1979). K. Arata and M. Hino also describe the synthesis of a solid superacid having an acid strength of H.sub.0 .ltoreq.-14.52 by impregnating Zr(OH).sub.4 or amorphous ZrO.sub.2 with aqueous ammonium metatungstate, followed by calcining in air at 800.degree. to 850.degree. C. in J. Chem. Soc., Chem. Commun., 1259 (1988) and in "Synthesis of Solid Superacid of Tungsten Oxide Supported on Zirconia and Its Catalytic Action", Proceedings 9th International Congress on Catalysis, Volume 4, pages 1727-1734 (1988).
The superacid described by K. Arata and M. Hino in "Synthesis of Solid Superacid of Tungsten Oxide Supported on Zirconia and Its Catalytic Action" is particularly useful as a catalyst in the isomerization of butane to isobutane and of pentane to isopentane. However, in order to obtain maximum catalytic activity, K. Arata and M. Hino report calcination temperatures of from 800.degree. to 850.degree. C. for the tungsten-modified zirconia catalyst.
Soled et al describe, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,113,034, a solid acid catalyst having an H.sub.0 value ranging from -14.5 to about -16.5, comprising a sulfate or tungstate-modified Group IVB oxide, which is useful to dimerize C.sub.3 or C.sub.4 containing feedstreams. A calcination temperature range for the tungstate-modified zirconia catalyst of 450.degree. to 800.degree. C. is given. Specifically, the Examples use an initial calcination temperature of 600.degree. C., followed by a calcination temperature of 800.degree. C. prior to charging.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,198,403 (Brand et al, herinafter Brand) discloses a catalyst for the selective reduction of nitrous oxide with ammonia which contains, in addition to titanium oxide as component A, at least one oxide of tungsten, silicon, boron, aluminum, phosphorus, zerconium, barium, yttrium, lanthanum, cerium as component B1 and at least one oxide of vanadium, niobium, molybdenum, iron and copper as B2, with an atomic ratio between the elements of components A and B from 1:0.001 up to 1. The catalyst of Brand requires the presence of titanium oxides, presumably because it is effective in the reduction of nitrous oxides. Reduction of nitrous oxides is the intended purpose of Brand. The catalysts of the instant invention do not contain titanium and are not drawn to nitrous oxide reduction.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,918,041 (Hollstein et al, hereinafter Hollstein) is directed to a sulfated calcined solid catalyst. The catalysts of the instant invention are not sulfated. Group VI B metals such as tungsten are employed in the superacid, rather than Group VI A metals such as sulfur. Group VI B metals are preferred in the instant invention due to their stability and ease in regeneration.
The generation of acid activity in solid oxide catalysts in general, and in the tungsten-modified zirconia catalyst specifically, requires calcination of the catalyst at temperatures of about 800.degree. C. This extreme temperature, however, causes significant loss of catalyst surface area. For example, K. Arata and M. Hino report surface areas of 35.3 and 29.5 m.sup.2 /g for catalysts calcined at 800.degree. and 900.degree. C. in "Synthesis of Solid Superacid of Tungsten Oxide Supported on Zirconia and Its Catalytic Action". By contrast, the surface areas for catalysts calcined at 600.degree. and 700.degree. C. are reported as 44.2 and 38.5 m.sup.2 /g. Hence, it is clear that as the calcination temperature is increased, the surface area of the catalyst is decreased. Further, the extreme calcination temperature required to generate acid activity results in a more difficult manufacturing process.

Catalyst having an acidic solid oxide component and a group IB metal or metal oxide component


In order to produce a cleaning device for cleaning a workpiece including a suction apparatus for sucking out impurities from an interior of the work piece wherein the suction apparatus has a particularly large suction effect, it is proposed that the suction apparatus at least one vacuum tank, at least one evacuation device for evacuating the vacuum tank, at least one ventilation line for connecting the vacuum tank to the workpiece and at least one blocking device for blocking off the connection between the vacuum tank and the workpiece.

Known industrial suction systems have a suction power within the range of approximately 15,000 Pa to approximately 35,000 Pa. The suction power of this industrial suction system is too small for reliably removing impurities from the cavities of workpieces especially workpieces such as have been subjected to a machining process.

Cleaning device and method for cleaning a workpiece


The invention relates to a new class of compounds able to inhibit with high affinity and selectivity the 5-HT7 receptor and having the following formula IV:

Serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) elicits a multitude of physiological effects through the interaction with at least fourteen receptors that have been grouped on the basis of molecular, pharmacological, and functional criteria into seven discrete families (5-HT1-7) [1]. The 5-HT7 receptor was identified starting from 1993 by the application of targeted molecular biology techniques. It has been described in various species and remains the last 5-HT receptor to be discovered. The 5-HT7 receptor has been localized in discrete areas of the brain and in the periphery. Within the central nervous system this receptor has been detected in high levels in the thalamus, hippocampus, and hypothalamus (especially within the suprachiasmatic nucleus, SCN) [2]. Much information is available on the pathophysiological role of 5-HT7 receptor in the central nervous system. The availability of the selective 5-HT7 antagonist SB-269970 and of 5-HT7-knockout mice has allowed relevant insight into the role of 5-HT7 receptors in depression. As an example, pharmacological blockade of 5-HT7 receptor or inactivation of the receptor gene leads to an antidepressant-like behavioral profile in rodent models of depression (forced swim test and tail suspension test) [3]. Recently, it has been suggested that the atypical antipsychotic drug amisulpride exerts its antidepressant action through blockade of 5-HT7 receptors [4]. It should also be noted that the atypical antipsychotic aripiprazole has high affinity for the 5-HT7 receptor [5,6] and it is successfully used to augment the effect of traditional antidepressants [7]. These findings further support the potential of 5-HT7 receptor antagonists to yield a novel class of antidepressant drugs. The recent availability of selective agonists such as AS-19 and E-55888 is opening up new scenarios on the therapeutic actions of 5-HT7 receptor activation. It has been demonstrated that behavioral antinoception can be achieved by systemic administration of AS-19 or E-55888 [8]. Also, AS-19 has served to demonstrate the involvement of 5-HT7 receptor in memory formation [9]. In addition, it has been found that the stimulation of cultured striatal neurons with the mixed 5-HT1A/7 agonist, 8-OH-DPAT, induced a marked neurite outgrowth. This effect was specifically triggered by 5-HT7 receptor activation, because it was blocked by application of SB-269970 [10]. These data supported the crucial role of this receptor in the modulation of neuronal morphology, as also observed in mouse hippocampal neurons following 5-HT7 receptor activation [11].
The international application WO2008146064A1 disclosed some benzofuran compounds that bind 5-hydroxy triptamine-7 receptor for use in the treatment or prevention of disorders of central nervous system and/or cardiovascular disorders.
The compounds reported in the state of the art with high affinity for the 5-HT7 receptor suffer from the lack of selectivity over a range of 5-HT receptors. Also, the most potent 5-HT7 ligands proposed to date are not sufficiently metabolically stable. This precludes the use of such compounds as in vivo tools for studying the function of 5-HT7 receptor and as drugs. Moreover, to date no positron emission tomography tracer is available to visualize 5-HT7 receptor in either central nervous system or periphery.

I-arylpiperazinic ligands of 5-HT7 receptor and use thereof

Abstract: wherein W is O;    K, L, M and Q is CH or nitrogen;    R1 is hydrogen;    R2 is hydrogen; and    Ar is an aromatic ring with the following formula:

Abstract: wherein X, Y and Z is CH; and R3 is a five- or six-membered ring selected from the group consisting of:

UNIVERSITA' DEGLI STUDI DI BARI “ALDO MORO”


Access Control Lists (ACLs) are used to describe the permitted actions (permissions) on protected network computer system resources or objects associated with an client or user identity. An identity may be an individual user or group of users. The actions are used to represent the different access methods available on a particular projected object or resource. A new action grouping mechanism is provided which tags each action with an action group name. The grouping of actions facilitates a larger permission set to be defined in an ACL, whereas action permission indicators can be reused for unique action definitions within various action groups. This effectively extends the finite total number of permissions available within a security system, allows a more descriptive and extensible permission mechanism in an Access Control List, as well as aiding in the simplification of management and definition of security policies.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the arts of securing access to resources (objects) on networked server computers for use by authenticated client computers, and especially to methods and systems which allow for extensions to and grouping of permitted actions to protected objects.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many organizations now value the public Internet and private intranets as effective and vital mediums for global communication. Electronic commerce has rapidly become an essential component of many business marketing strategies. Educational institutions rely on the Internet for long-distance learning. On-line services allow individuals to send electronic mail and to tap the Web's vast encyclopedia of resources. Traditional applications, such as TELNET and POP3, still prevail as important network services.
Businesses want to use the Internet as a global commercial and distribution vehicle, but have been hindered by the lack of proven security policy mechanisms and management systems. A mixture of dissimilar hardware and software usually impacts a network in the following ways:                (a) no centralized control of security for applications;        (b) no unified resource location naming convention;        (c) no common support for high availability of applications; and        (d) no common support for scalable growth.
New business models require organizations to expose their information resources to a previously unthought of degree. These businesses need to know that they can securely control access to those resources.
Managing security policy and users access rights across distributed networks has proven difficult for Information Technology (IT) managers, especially since individual application and system vendors implement authorization in their own proprietary fashion.
In most computer resource security systems, authorization processes are distinct from authentication processes. Authentication, which is typically performed first, ensures that the individual (or client process) is who he or she claims to be, but determines nothing about his or her specific rights to perform operations on a protected computer resource. Part of the typical authentication process involves the acquisition of a "credential" that describes the identity of the client.
Following authentication, an authorization process determines whether an authenticated user has the right to perform a specific operation on a specific resource in a secure domain. Authorization decisions are typically made based on the user's credentials.
Companies realize that developing new authorization services for each enterprise application is an expensive process that leads to a difficult-to-manage infrastructure. A centralized authorization service that is accessed by developers via a standardized API greatly speeds the time to market, and reduces the total cost of ownership of an application or a system.
In network security parlance, there are several terms commonly in use. For better understanding of the present invention, a definition of some of these terms is presented. A "Secure Domain" is a group of users, systems, and resources that share common services and usually function with a common purpose. An "Access Control List (ACL) policies" are the security mechanisms that provide users the permissions to perform specific operations, or actions on protected resources. "Authentication" is the process of identifying any individual attempting to login to a secure domain, resulting in the generation of user credentials. "Authorization" is the process performed for determining whether an individual user has the right to perform an operation on a protected resource. "Credentials" are detailed information, acquired or generated during authentication, describing the user and other security-related identity attributes. "Protected Object Policy" ("POP") refers to the security mechanism that dictates special conditions for accessing a protected resource after a successful ACL policy check. A user "registry" is the datasource (LDAP, DCE, or Domino) that maintains account information for users and groups of users who are allowed to participate (use) in the secure domain.
Many of the security management systems use a finite set of permission indicators, such as alphabetic characters, within entries in the policy database or repository to indicate a user's or user group's rights to access and use a protected object to which the policy is attached. This finite set of permission indicators sets a finite limit as to how many protected objects may be controlled using the syntax of the system's policy repository.
Finite limitations of the number of policy permissions in an ACL entry are undesirable facets of a network security management system, which complicates and limits the ability of a security administrator to effectively implement and manage a security plan. Therefore, there is a need in the art for a method to extend the finite number of ACL permissions for security policy management systems.
Further, certain types of actions can be categorized into logical groupings, such as actions commonly needed by Java applications, or actions commonly needed by local administrators. In order to allow more effective management of actions by such categorization, there exists a need in the art for a system and method to define sets of actions into action groups.

International Business Machines Corporation


System, method, and computer program product to perform an operation, comprising receiving job information for a stream computing application, the job information comprising a plurality of processing elements configured to process streaming data tuples according to an execution path defined by a operator graph, deploying a first set of processing elements of the plurality of processing elements to one or more compute nodes, initializing a subset of the first set of processing elements, executing the stream computing application on the first set of processing elements, and, responsive to receiving a predefined number of data tuples to be processed by an additional processing element of the plurality of processing elements when executing the stream computing application, deploying the additional processing element to the one or more compute nodes, and initializing the additional processing element.

The present disclosure relates to computer software, and more specifically, to computer software to provide lazy initialization of an operator graph in a stream computing application.
Stream computing applications may consist of streams of data flowing through elements of processing that form an operator (or flow) graph. Operator graphs may be instantiated when a job (or application) is submitted. As part of the instantiation, initialization of the operator graph may also occur. The instantiation of a complete operator graph allocates all resources associated with the operator graph, even if parts of the operator graph are ultimately never used by the stream computing application. For example, some parts of a operator graph only receive tuples in exceptional cases, or when a certain input stream is present. Therefore, parts of a operator graph are typically instantiated and wait for data that never arrives, or does not arrive for hours or days.
Stream computing applications may process real-time data and often operate under conditions of data overload. Furthermore, stream computing applications may run continuously, i.e., they are submitted and process real-time data for months or even years without being restarted. Therefore it is beneficial to conserve resources when possible in order to allow the stream computing application to process the real-time data it is ingesting.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Lazy initialization of operator graph in a stream computing application


Disclosed is a mobile terminal. The mobile terminal includes a display unit and a controller configured to display a watch object on the display unit, the watch object including at least one of a plurality of schedule information or a plurality of applications. The controller is configured to, when a first region of the watch object is touched or when a current time reaches a time corresponding to the first region, display schedule information or a corresponding application screen related to the first region of the watch object or the time corresponding to the first region, and, when a second region of the watch object is touched or when a current time reaches a time corresponding to the second region, display schedule information or a corresponding application screen related to the second region of the watch object or the time corresponding to the second region. In this way, user convenience may be enhanced.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile terminal and, more particularly, to a mobile terminal which is capable of improving user convenience.
2. Description of the Related Art
A mobile terminal is a portable device that is portable and has one or more of, for example, a function of performing voice and video calls, a function of inputting and outputting information, and a function of storing data. Owing to diversified functions thereof, mobile terminals have complex functions such as, for example, capture of still images or moving images, playback of music files or video files, gaming, broadcast reception, wireless Internet, and message transmission and reception and are implemented in a multimedia player form. These mobile terminals in the form of a multimedia player have been applied in various ways in terms of hardware or software in order to implement such complex functions.


A hearing aid system (400) including a hearing aid (412) and an external device (413), wherein the hearing aid (412) includes a network adapted to provide a desired processed output, wherein a multitude of weights determines the processing of the network and wherein the values of the multitude of weights are determined by the external device (413).

Generally a hearing aid system according to the invention is understood as meaning any device which provides an output signal that can be perceived as an acoustic signal by a user or contributes to providing such an output signal, and which has means which are customized to compensate for an individual hearing loss of the user or contribute to compensating for the hearing loss of the user. They are, in particular, hearing aids which can be worn on the body or by the ear, in particular on or in the ear, and which can be fully or partially implanted. However, some devices whose main aim is not to compensate for a hearing loss, may also be regarded as hearing aid systems, for example consumer electronic devices (televisions, hi-fi systems, mobile phones, MP3 players etc.) provided they have, however, measures for compensating for an individual hearing loss.
Within the present context a traditional hearing aid can be understood as a small, battery-powered, microelectronic device designed to be worn behind or in the human ear by a hearing-impaired user. Prior to use, the hearing aid is adjusted by a hearing aid fitter according to a prescription. The prescription is based on a hearing test, resulting in a so-called audiogram, of the performance of the hearing-impaired user's unaided hearing. The prescription is developed to reach a setting where the hearing aid will alleviate a hearing loss by amplifying sound at frequencies in those parts of the audible frequency range where the user suffers a hearing deficit. A hearing aid comprises one or more microphones, a battery, a microelectronic circuit comprising a signal processor, and an acoustic output transducer. The signal processor is preferably a digital signal processor. The hearing aid is enclosed in a casing suitable for fitting behind or in a human ear.
Within the present context a hearing aid system may comprise a single hearing aid (a so called monaural hearing aid system) or comprise two hearing aids, one for each ear of the hearing aid user (a so called binaural hearing aid system). Furthermore, the hearing aid system may comprise an external device, such as a smart phone having software applications adapted to interact with other devices of the hearing aid system. Thus within the present context the term "hearing aid system device" may denote a hearing aid or an external device.
The mechanical design has developed into a number of general categories. As the name suggests, Behind-The-Ear (BTE) hearing aids are worn behind the ear. To be more precise, an electronics unit comprising a housing containing the major electronics parts thereof is worn behind the ear. An earpiece for emitting sound to the hearing aid user is worn in the ear, e.g. in the concha or the ear canal. In a traditional BTE hearing aid, a sound tube is used to convey sound from the output transducer, which in hearing aid terminology is normally referred to as the receiver, located in the housing of the electronics unit and to the ear canal. In some modern types of hearing aids, a conducting member comprising electrical conductors conveys an electric signal from the housing and to a receiver placed in the earpiece in the ear. Such hearing aids are commonly referred to as Receiver-In-The-Ear (RITE) hearing aids. In a specific type of RITE hearing aids the receiver is placed inside the ear canal. This category is sometimes referred to as Receiver-In-Canal (RIC) hearing aids.
In-The-Ear (ITE) hearing aids are designed for arrangement in the ear, normally in the funnel-shaped outer part of the ear canal. In a specific type of ITE hearing aids the hearing aid is placed substantially inside the ear canal. This category is sometimes referred to as Completely-In-Canal (CIC) hearing aids. This type of hearing aid requires an especially compact design in order to allow it to be arranged in the ear canal, while accommodating the components necessary for operation of the hearing aid.
Hearing loss of a hearing impaired person is quite often frequency-dependent. This means that the hearing loss of the person varies depending on the frequency. Therefore, when compensating for hearing losses, it can be advantageous to utilize frequency-dependent amplification. Hearing aids therefore often provide to split an input sound signal received by an input transducer of the hearing aid, into various frequency intervals, also called frequency bands, which are independently processed. In this way, it is possible to adjust the input sound signal of each frequency band individually to account for the hearing loss in respective frequency bands. The frequency dependent adjustment is normally done by implementing a band split filter and compressors for each of the frequency bands, so-called band split compressors, which may be summarised to a multi-band compressor. In this way, it is possible to adjust the gain individually in each frequency band depending on the hearing loss as well as the input level of the input sound signal in a specific frequency range. For example, a band split compressor may provide a higher gain for a soft sound than for a loud sound in its frequency band.
The filter banks used in such multi-band compressors are well known within the art of hearing aids, but are nevertheless based on a number of tradeoffs. Most of these tradeoffs deal with the frequency resolution as will be further described below.
There are some very clear advantages of having a high resolution filter bank. The higher the frequency resolution, the better individual periodic components can be distinguished from each other. This gives a much finer signal analysis and enables more advanced signal processing. Especially noise reduction and speech enhancement schemes may benefit from a higher frequency resolution.
However, a filter bank with a high frequency resolution generally introduces a correspondingly long delay, which for most people will have a detrimental effect on the perceived sound quality.
It has therefore been suggested to reduce the delay incurred by filter banks, such as Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) and Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filter banks by: applying a time-varying filter with a response that corresponds to the desired frequency dependent gains that were otherwise to be applied to the frequency bands provided by the filter banks. However, this solution still requires that the frequency dependent gains are calculated in an analysis part of the system, and in case the analysis part comprises filter banks, then the determined frequency dependent gains will be delayed relative to the signal that the gains are to be applied to using the time-varying filter. Furthermore, the time-varying filter in itself will inherently introduce a delay although this delay is generally significantly shorter than the delay introduced by the filter banks. It has furthermore been suggested in the art to minimize the delay introduced by the time-varying filter by implementing the time-varying filter as minimum-phase. However, this solution only reduces the delay of the time-varying filter, without paying attention to the delay that may be introduced by other components in the hearing aid.
Furthermore it may be difficult to implement, in a hearing aid, the filter synthetization methods required for realizing hearing aid signal processing solutions, including digital time-varying filters, due to the limited processing resources in contemporary hearing aid.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,721,783, by Anderson discloses a system with an earpiece and an external device, wherein sounds from the environment are picked up by a microphone in the earpiece and sent with other information over a two-way wireless link to the external device, where the audio signals are enhanced according to the user's needs before transmission over the wireless link to the earpiece. Signal processing is performed in the external device rather than the earpiece to take advantage of relaxed size and power constraints.
However, the system of Anderson is disadvantageous with respect to the delay introduced by the wireless transmission back and forth between the earpiece and the external device.
It is therefore a feature of the present invention to provide a method of operating a hearing aid system that provides improved low delay signal processing.
It is another feature of the present invention to provide a hearing aid system adapted to provide such a method of operating a hearing aid system.

Method of operating a hearing aid system and a hearing aid system


Embodiments disclosed herein include dissolvable and intentionally degradable objects that are useful for hydraulic fracking operations. Such objects are at least in part manufactured using materials that are soluble in certain fluids including water. The dissolvable and intentionally degradable fracking objects can be manufactured from one or more materials, including composite materials. In one embodiment, dissolvable fracking objects are manufactured from ceramic materials that are soluble in fluids such as water. Such dissolvable fracking objects include fracking balls and plugs. These fracking balls and plugs are arranged to seal a well for a predetermined period of time and dissolve over that predetermined period of time until the well is no longer sealed. In another embodiment, tools generally useful in fracking operations are manufactured to have desirable elastomeric properties. Such tools can be manufactured from a combination of materials that are soluble in fluids and generally dispersible in fluids.

Hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") is an established technique in the oil and gas industry useful in increasing the flow of natural gas, petroleum, and other hydrocarbons from subsurface reservoirs into wellbores drilled from the surface to access such reservoirs. Such techniques are commonly referred to as "well stimulation" techniques. Essentially, fracking involves using pressurized fluids to fracture rock formations to free hydrocarbon deposits held within such rock formations. Hydraulic fracturing often involves an isolated detonation to perforate the well casing and surrounding geological strata in a targeted zone within the wellbore followed by high-pressure injection of hydraulic fracking fluid ("fracking fluid") into the perforated area to create or expand fissures in the rock formations through which natural gas and petroleum are released. Fracking can be performed in multiple stages along the length of a wellbore. In order to accomplish such multiple fracking stage operations, hydraulic fracking plug and balls (i.e., "fracking balls" or "fracking plugs") are used to isolate targeted zones in vertical, deviated, and/or horizontal wells to facilitate well stimulation operations. A fracking plug is a tool that is inserted into a well to provide physical structure to the well shaft. The fracking plug includes an internal passage, to provide for fluid flow through the fracking plug, and a fracking ball seat to engage with a fracking ball to seal the well shaft. Once the fracking plug is inserted into the well shaft, the fracking ball is lowered into the shaft until it engages the seat and seals the shaft.
In one example, a well stimulation operation using a fracking ball and perforation techniques generally begins by using a drilling rig to drill a wellbore and set a cemented or uncemented steel casing into a drilled wellbore. The drilling rig is removed, and a wireline truck is used to detonate an explosive charge to perforate rock formations adjacent to the bottom of the well. Fracking fluid is pumped into the perforations to create or expand fissures in the rock strata. The wireline truck then sets a fracking plug, with a seat, and a solid fracking ball in the well to temporarily seal off the fractured section so that the next section of the wellbore can undergo the same process, i.e., perforation and stimulation. The placement of a fracking ball resting on a fracking plug seat creates an impingement in the well that prevents fluid conduction through the fracking tooling passageway. The process is repeated along the horizontal length of the wellbore. Once the well stimulation processes are completed along the length of the wellbore, the fracking balls must be physically removed or structurally deconstructed to allow collection of the released natural gas and/or petroleum. Such processes are generally completed by known methods such as drilling or milling each fracking ball from its fixed plug seat or backpressure suction or backpressure release after fracturing hold pressure is complete with a surface level mechanic ball catcher used to ensnare the released fracking ball.
The requirement for physically removing or structurally deconstructing the fracking ball adds an expensive and problematic step to the fracking process. The novel dissolvable fracking objects disclosed herein eliminate this step and contribute to a less expensive and more consistent fracking process.
Looking beyond standard prior art fracking balls and plugs, generally, prior art tools for use in the oil and gas industry are designed to be degradable. Such tools can serve a number of functions to facilitate temporary isolation of specific sections of a wellbore for well stimulation operations including controlled detonation and high-pressure injection of fracking fluids to fracture surrounding geological strata. The prior art degradable tools can be removed without intervention such as retrieval or drilling using surface-based well completion equipment, but such prior art tools have substantial limitations. The prior art degradable tools are generally fabricated from degradable aluminum, zinc, and magnesium alloys and water degradable polymers such as PVA, PLA and PGA polymer type materials. However, these degradable materials do not generally have the physical properties of an elastomeric rubber and thus, cannot be used to form elastomeric seals that are needed to temporarily seal wellbores and other systems against fluid flow. Thus, these prior art degradable tools have limited efficacy.
Elastomeric sealing compounds that dissolve and degrade at rates similar to those of degradable structure alloys (such as Tervalloy™) are stable for a period of time during well stimulation operations at low temperatures and degrade at high shut-in or flow back temperatures to reduce or eliminate any residual debris. Biodegradable polymers and films have been developed from a water dispersible polymer. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,296,914 describes a water sensitive film that includes polyethylene oxide, ethylene oxide, propylene-oxide copolymers, poly methyl acrylic acid, poly vinyl alcohol, poly vinyl methyl ether, polyvinyl pyrrolidone, vinyl acetate, copolymers, methyl cellulose, ethyl cellulose, hydroxypropyl cellulose, and hydroxy cellulose. Such polymers are generally not thermoplastic and are not moldable. Thus, they cannot be readily processed using conventional molding equipment. Further, these elastomers are not overly elastic and are limited in use and scope when considered for sealing applications.
In response to these and other problems with prior art elastomeric sealing compounds, attempts have been made to form water-shrinkable materials from elastomeric and water dispersible polymers. One such elastomer is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,641,562 whereby an elastomer contains polyethylene oxide with a molecular weight of 200,000 and an ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer. While such elastomers are shrinkable, they do not dissolve or disintegrate in water so as to facilitate removal by backflush of fracking fluids. Furthermore, the elastomers are not sufficiently elastic.
An elastomeric biodegradable film described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,338,508 is a water-sensitive film containing an olefinic elastomer that is both elastic and water-sensitive (e.g. water-soluble, water dispersible, etc.) in that it loses its integrity over time in the presence of water. To achieve these dual attributes, the film contains an olefinic elastomer and a water-soluble polymer. While these polymers are normally chemically incompatible due to their different polarities, this patent discloses that phase separation can be minimized by selectively controlling certain aspects of the elastomer such as the nature of the polyolefins, water solubility, and other elastomer components, the relative amount of elastomer components, etc. For example, certain water-soluble polymers possessing low molecular weight and viscosity can be selected to enhance melt characteristics comparable to nonpolar polyolefins. While this permits dissolvable characteristics, these systems cannot impart the essential structural strength and sealing properties required for various applications.
Therefore, in view of the current state of elastomeric materials for use in fracking operations, there is a need for a material with elastomeric characteristics that dissolves and degrades at rates similar to those of degradable structure alloys (such as Tervalloy™), which are stable for a period of operation under lower temperature during pumping operations, and which degrade at high shut-in or flow back temperature to reduce or eliminate any residual debris of the elastomeric materials in the wellbore. Disclosed herein are two phase composite materials to address these needs. The two phase composite includes an elastomeric phase with materials that are dispersible in fluids, such as water, and a soluble phase with materials that are dissolvable in fluids, such as water. Additionally, these composite materials utilize structures that are permeable and allow fluids, such as water, to pass through to control the dispersion and dissolving of materials in fluids.

Objects and tools for use in hydraulic fracturing and methods of manufacturing same


An apparatus for supporting and cooling an electronic device and methods of using the apparatus. The apparatus can include a housing for a cooling system and a support cradle for receiving the electronic device and engaging the electronic device with the cooling system.

Heat generated by electronic devices can degrade their performance and, in some cases, cause irreparable damage to the devices. Some electronic equipment, such as laptop computers, have internal cooling systems that attempt to reduce the problems associated with heat generation. These internal cooling systems do not adequately solve the problem of heat generation with such electronic devices. Accordingly, improvements systems and methods for cooling electronic devices are desirable.

Apparatus for supporting and cooling an electronic device


The fuel injection nozzle (10) includes a nozzle tip (16) that is formed in the shape of a substantially symmetrical double-sided wing having a leading edge (40) for facing the oncomning air stream passing through the air inlet manifold of an internal combustion engine. The arcuate walls (46 and 48) of the nozzle tip diverge on opposite sides of the cord line (44), and the internal conduit (22) guides the liquid nitrous oxide to move through the nose (50) of the nozzle tip and impinge with the flow of fuel moving through the adjacent internal conduit (24). A zone of low pressure is induced by the air movement (42) passing about the wing-shaped nozzle tip at a position behind the leading edge (40) of the nozzle tip, and the nitrous oxide tends to change states from liquid to gas as it emerges from the internal conduit (22) and moves through the exit port (52). This displaces the area where the nitrous oxide changes state from liquid to gas, so as to reduce the likelihood of forming frost and ice on the surfaces of the nozzle.

In order to provide more power with an internal combustion engine, without changing any of its integral components, such as cam shafts, cylinder heads, pistons, etc., it is possible to supply a larger volume of oxygen-bearing air and fuel at the proper ratio to the cylinders. The induction of this larger volume of oxygen/fuel mixture produces more power because on each cycle of the engine, more oxygen and fuel is available to be burned, which is a direct relationship to the power output generated by the engine.
This can be done in several ways, such as by using turbo-chargers and blowers to increase the inlet pressure of the fuel/air mixture delivered to the combustion cylinders, or by injecting nitrous oxide into the inlet manifold so as to increase the amount of oxygen delivered to the combustion cylinders. Both turbos and blowers induce a mixture of fuel and atmospheric air to move at higher pressure to the cylinders. The least costly of these three procedures is the use of nitrous oxide injection.
A typical nitrous oxide system induces both fuel and oxygen-rich nitrous oxide into the engine at a desired ratio to produce increased power without damage to any of the components of the engine. The nitrous oxide is injected with the fuel into the inlet manifold in order to supply the oxygen that is required to complete the combustion of the fuel in the combustion cylinders. However, if this ratio is not balanced correctly, two things can result. First, if the mixture of nitrous oxide and fuel is too rich (too much fuel compared to the nitrous oxide), complete combustion will not occur of the fuel and optimal power of the engine will not be produced. Second, if the mixture is too lean (too little fuel compared to the nitrous oxide), the combustion will produce too much heat and there is a likelihood of damage to the engine.
The ratio of the fuel to the nitrous oxide is controlled by limiting the size of the orifice in the supply lines of both the fuel and the nitrous oxide leading to the injection nozzle, and by controlling the pressure of both the fuel and the nitrous oxide delivered to the injection nozzle.
The practice of using nozzles in various configurations in fuel supply systems for engines as generally described above is well known in the art. However, there are problems associated with the prior art nozzle configurations. First, nitrous oxide usually is supplied at a high pressure, up to 1,000 psig in a liquid state. When the nitrous oxide is moved through its nozzle, the pressure of the nitrous oxide reduces radically from very high pressure to below atmospheric pressure, and the nitrous oxide changes state from liquid to gas. This results in a radical absorption of heat, and the nozzle structure tends to assume a temperature lower than the level of freezing for water, and the moisture carried in the stream of air past the nozzle tends to condense and freeze on the nozzle. This results in an accumulation of frost and ice on and about the nozzle which has the potential of blocking the outlet ports of both the fuel and the nitrous oxide, together with changing the pattern of flow of the fuel and nitrous oxide through the nozzle ports. Obviously, this has the potential of changing the degree of atomization of the fuel, and of changing the volume, direction and velocity of flow of both the nitrous oxide and fuel into the manifold, all of which can change the performance of the internal combustion engine.
Thus, it would be desirable to maintain the nitrous oxide in its liquid state, preferably at a substantially constant temperature, as the nitrous oxide flows through the nozzle and into the air inlet manifold, with the nitrous oxide being permitted to change from its liquid state to its gaseous state as it emerges from the nozzle opening and moves into the stream of air flowing through the manifold. This tends to cause the nitrous oxide to change state as and after it emerges from the nozzle and as it enters the air stream. Further, it is desirable to inject the fuel, such as gasoline, directly into the stream of nitrous oxide as it changes state so that the natural turbulence and temperature change caused by the change of state of the nitrous oxide functions to assist in the atomization of the fuel, resulting in increased fuel mixing in the air stream as well as resulting in better ignition of the fuel in the combustion chambers.
Further, it is desirable to form a zone of low pressure about the nozzle tip, where the nitrous oxide emerges from the nozzle, so as to tend to draw the nitrous oxide into the zone of low pressure and away from the nozzle as the nitrous oxide emerges from the nozzle and changes from liquid to gas. This tends to displace the effects of the radical change of temperature of the nitrous oxide, so that it is displaced from the nozzle and has less tendency to reduce the temperature of the nozzle itself, resulting in less likelihood of frost accumulating on the nozzle and of the flow from the nozzle becoming blocked. Further, the low pressure at the nozzle tip tends to help atomize the fuel injected into the zone of low pressure.


A fixing element of plastic is provided which includes a foot part for insertion into an oblong hole of a carrier plate. The foot part includes of a head corresponding to the edge of the oblong hole and of a shaft adapted to the width of the oblong hole. The fixing element can be locked in the oblong hole after the insertion of the head by a quarter turn under elastic deformation of the shaft. The shaft includes a middle strut connecting the head to the fixing element. The strut has the width of the oblong hole. A shank is formed on each of the two edges of the middle strut at a right angle and in opposite directions. The shank is elastically bent towards the middle strut during the screwing in of the shaft through the edge of the oblong hole and after a quarter turn returns to its original position due to the elastic return force of the plastic and prevents a rotation in the opposite direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to fixing elements consisting of plastic with a foot part for insertion into an oblong hole of a carrier plate. The foot part consists of a head corresponding to the edge of the oblong hole and of a shaft adapted to the width of the oblong hole. The fixing element can be locked in the oblong hole after the insertion of the head by a quarter turn under elastic deformation of the shaft. The shaft includes a middle strut connecting the head to the fixing element. The strut has the width of the oblong hole. A shank is formed on each of the two edges of the middle strut at a right angle and in opposite directions in such a manner that they are elastically bent towards the middle strut during the screwing in of the shaft through the edge of the oblong hole and after a quarter turn they return to their original position as a consequence of the elastic return force of the plastic and thus prevent a rotation in the opposite direction.
2. Description of Related Art
Such fixing elements are known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,981,405. The design of the fixing element with two shanks formed on a shaft at a right angle and in opposite directions opposes a certain resistance to a turning of the fixing elements opposite the direction of screwing. The fixing element advantageously reduces the risk of an unintentional loosening of the fixing element.
Other fixing elements with formed on shanks are known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,375,879 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,705,442.
DE 1 181 007 describes a fixing element of this type designed as a screw and nut in which the nut shaft that can be inserted into the oblong hole has a width corresponding to the width of the oblong hole and has stop faces running parallel to the screw axis. These stop faces work together with corresponding faces in the oblong hole so that a rotation of the nut is prevented when the screw is tightened. This nut can be readily slackened back again after the screw has been loosened and then can be withdrawn through the oblong hole.
Furthermore, there are fixing elements with a foot part of the above-cited type comparable to the nut and provided with a similarly designed shaft. However, since this foot part is not screwed down, there is the danger that the fixing element can become loose again by an unintended rotary movement.
One advantage of the present fixing element is that it is distinguished by an especially firm seat in the carrier plate.
The present invention is advantageous because it provides for a fixing element with a head having pressing ramps on its two outer ends that extend during screwing in over the edge of the oblong hole and other shanks formed on the free ends of the shanks.
The present invention is also advantageous because it provides for a fixing element having a head with pressing ramps on its two outer ends that extend during screwing in over the edge of the oblong hole and a countershank formed in the opposite direction on each of the two edges of the middle strut.
The providing of the pressing ramps and of the other shanks and countershanks results in an especially firm seat since the fixing element is firmly connected to a carrier plate by the pressing ramps after rotation in the direction of screwing in. Also, an especially great resistance is provided to prevent to an undesired rotation of the fixing elements counter to the direction of screwing in by the other shanks and countershanks.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be readily appreciated, as the same becomes better understood after reading the subsequent description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Fixing element for inserting into a longitudinal cavity of a carrier plate


A control valve is provided, in particular for metering in a fluid for a delivery pump which is arranged downstream. The control valve has a flow channel, an axially movable valve needle, and a valve element which can be loaded by the valve needle in an opening direction and is arranged in the flow channel. If the valve element is actuated in the opening direction by the valve needle, the fluid can flow back through the flow channel at least temporarily counter to the opening direction of the valve element. Upstream of the valve element as viewed in the backflow direction, the flow channel has a fluidically active shield which keeps the backflow at least partially free of a face of the valve element.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a control valve for metering a fluid for a delivery pump.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Control valves, particularly for metering a fluid for a downstream delivery pump, are known on the market. For instance, they are used in common rail fuel systems of motor vehicles as a quantity control valve, for controlling the fuel flow fed into the common rail from a high-pressure delivery pump. Such quantity control valves can be embodied as electromagnetic control valves, in which an electromagnet and a spring act on a valve element of the control valve. See German Patent Disclosure DE 198 34 121 A1, for example.

Control valve, in particular for metering in a fluid for a delivery pump which is arranged downstream


This disclosure details electrified vehicles that are equipped with one or more attachment and sealing assemblies for securing a battery pack to the vehicle. An exemplary attachment and sealing assembly may establish a mid-span attachment point of the battery pack and may include a pass-through component, a fastener, and a seal. The fastener may be positioned relative to the pass-through component using either a bottom-up or top-down approach. The seal may radially seal between a portion of a battery pack enclosure assembly and the pass-through component.

The desire to reduce automotive fuel consumption and emissions has been well documented. Therefore, electrified vehicles are being developed that reduce or completely eliminate reliance on internal combustion engines. In general, electrified vehicles differ from conventional motor vehicles because they are selectively driven by one or more battery powered electric machines. Conventional motor vehicles, by contrast, rely exclusively on the internal combustion engine to propel the vehicle.
A traction battery pack typically powers the electric machines and other electrical loads of the electrified vehicle. The traction battery pack includes a plurality of energy storage devices, such as battery cells, that store energy for powering these electrical loads. The battery cells and various other battery components are typically packaged together inside an enclosure assembly. The enclosure assembly typically provides one or more attachment points for mounting the battery pack to the electrified vehicle.

Electrified vehicle battery pack to vehicle body attachment and sealing strategies


Methods, systems, and articles of manufacture for fulfilling a loan request of a business entity. Embodiments are utilized to identify or receive a loan request from the business entity, identify or create borrower and lender profiles, and match the loan request for the business entity using compatibility criteria included in or associated with the profiles. Certain profiles may be created using electronic data from financial management system, and such data can be verified by the financial management system. Borrower-lender compatibility results can be displayed to lenders or business entity for review. A single lender may commit to fund a loan, or respective lenders may commit to fund respective loan portions, which may be presented to the business entity.

Business entities, regardless of whether they are sole proprietorship(s), limited liability company(ies), limited liability partnership(s), S-corporation(s), or corporation(s) (hereinafter business entities or a business entity) regularly rely on various types of secured, unsecured, or demand loans for their daily operating needs due to various reasons. Lenders of all kinds are nonetheless particular about who they provide financing to. It is common for different lenders to have their respective set(s) of unique requirement(s), condition(s), covenant(s), policy(ies), or preference(s) (hereinafter criteria, compatibility criteria, a criterion, or a compatibility criterion) for their respective application, review, audit, underwriting, or financing grant processes (hereinafter loan process.) As a result, business often, if not always, have to go through an exhaustive search and loan process to identify the right lender, and such an exhaustive search and loan process often intervene with the operations of the businesses seeking financing.
For a small business, which commonly denotes a business entity that is privately owned and operated, with a small number of employees and relatively low volume of sales or a business entity, e.g., a business having fewer than 500 employees as recited by the U.S. Small Business Administration, presents greater risks in terms of financing for the lending institutions because of its relatively small size and uncertainties in its business and thus its ability to withstand economic changes. As a result, it is often more difficult for a small business entity to find and secure a loan to start, run, or grow its operations or to endure economic downturns or other hindrances such as natural or man-made disasters that adversely affect the operations of the small business.


A gamma camera quality test pattern having a substrate which is substantially transparent to gamma radiation, the substrate having four quadrants, each quadrant containing a set of spaced L-shaped grooves filled with a material that is essentially opaque to gamma radiation.

The present invention relates generally to a gamma camera quality test pattern. More specifically, the invention relates to a test pattern which requires only a single image acquisition to evaluate spatial resolution and linearity, thereby greatly reducing the time necessary to test gamma camera quality.
Other test patterns are known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,419,577 (Guth) discloses a test pattern device for a radiation detector which comprises a radiation transparent body member having internal mercury-filled communicating passages which define a calibrated radiation opaque test pattern. Unfortunately, the geometry and structure of this patented test pattern requires multiple image acquisitions to meet standard state test requirements.
Another test pattern is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,757,207 (Chappelow et al.). This pattern also requires multiple acquisitions to meet standard state test requirements.
What is needed, then, is a gamma camera quality test pattern which reduces the number of image acquisitions necessary to meet state requirements for testing of camera quality.

The Research Foundation of SUNY at Buffalo


In a multi-core semiconductor device, a data bus between CPUs or the like consumes a larger amount of power. By provision of a plurality of CPUs which transmit data by a backscattering method of a wireless signal, a router circuit which mediates data transmission and reception between the CPUs or the like, and a thread control circuit which has a thread scheduling function, a semiconductor device which consumes less power and has high arithmetic performance can be provided at low cost.

Currently, almost all central processing units (CPUs) included in semiconductor devices adopt an architecture called a stored-program system. In this stored-program system, instructions to be processed by a CPU and data necessary for the processing are stored in a memory, and the CPU performs processing by sequentially reading data from the memory. Therefore, for the semiconductor device having a CPU, techniques for increasing an operating frequency of CPU and increasing a memory access rate are employed in order to improve performance.
The semiconductor device can have higher arithmetic processing performance by increasing the operating frequency of the CPU. However, the amount of electric power consumed by the semiconductor device is increased in proportion to the operating frequency. In addition, an increase in operating frequency generally requires an increase in circuit size of the CPU. Thus, the CPU consumes more power as the operating frequency is increased. Therefore, there has been proposed a system for improving overall processing performance of a semiconductor device by providing a plurality of CPUs which consume less power due to suppressed circuit size and operating frequency and by distributing processes to all of the CPUs (for example, Reference 1: Japanese Published Patent Application No. 2006-268070). Such a system may be referred to as a multi-core system.
As the multi-core system, various structures and data processing methods have been proposed, such as a symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) system where CPUs are treated equally, an asymmetric multiprocessing (AMP) system where CPUs are treated unequally, a single instruction multiple data (SIMD) method in which plural pieces of data are processed with a single instruction, and a multiple instruction multiple data (MIMD) method in which plural pieces of data are processed with plural instructions. The multi-core system can reduce power consumption of each CPU.

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


A method for adhesively assembling milled wood products which comprises placing adjacent to the surfaces of the pieces to be joined a continuous, non-perforated metallic foil strip, which absorbs electromagnetic waves. The strip, which is contiguous with a heat activatable adhesive material, is positioned between the pieces and exposed to electromagnetic waves while the pieces are held together to form a bonded relationship between the pieces.

This disclosure relates to the assembly of a variety of milled wood products using an adhesive device that is activated by electromagnetic waves. The milled wood products include articles of relatively simple construction such as lattice panels, fencing, pallets, skids, crates, decks and docks, bird and dog houses, trellises, gazebos, patio benches and tables and the like.
The assembly of simple milled wood products is typically effected by employing mechanical fastening devices such as hand or power driven nails, staples, tacks and brads. However, these fastening devices have some disadvantages: the milled wood is frequently damaged by splitting if the metal fastener is too large or carelessly driven, and the fastener itself will occasionally "pop" loose in cold weather. In damp climates, of course, the fastener has a tendency to rust, staining the milled wood and, eventually, working free. Nail and staple heads can also protrude and thereby snag and damage cargo or handlers of cargo. If the wood is split, then the quality or integrity of the joint is compromised.
Adhesives have been developed which are safer to work with and produce attachments that are actually more secure than the mechanical fastening methods. However, the use of adhesives alone is not the final answer. Adhesives are messy and difficult to apply to "hidden" or inaccessible places. They can stain the material of the pieces to be assembled, and they are typically over-applied because it is difficult to control the proper amount to be used. Also, if the wood is wet, adhesives should not be used. It is apparent, then, that inventions are waiting to be made which address the placement of adhesive material in a neat, clean, safe and effective manner that can be used beneficially in the in the wood fabrication industry, and especially with regard to the fabrication of simple, low-cost, modest-profit items that must be constructed to specific quality standards as efficiently as possible.
Not surprisingly then, others have experimented with alternatives to traditional fastening devices for attaching construction materials to a work surface.

Method of adhesively assembling milled wood products