A method and structure for assembling field erected cooling. A first cell or cell portion is assembled at the opposite end of the cooling basin from its final location and used as a scaffold from which the rest of the structure is assembled. This first “assembly” section is fitted with temporary walkways, safety railings and enclosed ladders and workers assemble each new section of the cooling tower frame from the scaffold affixed to the first section. After assembly of each section or bay of the cooling tower frame is completed, the assembly section is advanced away from the newly constructed section to make room for the assembly of a new section. To advance the assembly section, movable lifts are positioned under the bottom transverse beams of the section.

The frame assembly of large multi-cell field erected cooling towers is a complex, labor-intensive, repetitive and potentially dangerous process. While sizes and relative dimensions vary widely, large scale field erected cooling towers often consist of as many as eight or more units or "cells," and a typical cell can be 40 or more feet in height, 60 or more feet in length, and 60 or more feet in width. Each cell is typically composed of 4 to 10 component sections or "bays," which can be longitudinal or transverse. FIG. 1 shows (on the bottom) a nearly finished cooling tower having eight cells, totaling nearly 500 feet in length. At the top of FIG. 1, an unfinished cooling tower of equivalent size is shown in the frame assembly stage.
Frame assembly is generally carried out in one of two ways. According to a first "stick" assembly process, each individual piece of the frame is moved into place, one at a time, either by hand, or with assistance with a crane or lift, and sequentially bolted or otherwise fixed to adjacent pieces. As the frame rises into the air, workers climb up, down, and through already assembled portions of the frame to place and bolt new pieces. Hence, beginning from bottom to top, and from one side to the other, the frame is assembled manually, one piece at a time. For safety, workers use safety harnesses attached to already-assembled portions of the frame, and the harnesses need to be detached and moved to a different part of the frame and the assembly progresses.
According to a different assembly process, sequential two dimensional sections of the frame are assembled on the ground, then lifted into place with a crane or other lift, one at a time, and fixed to adjacent sections with transverse members. While this process reduces the time workers spend in the height of the structure placing and connecting the elements that contribute to the height of the structure, the workers must still move in and among the structure at various heights connecting each two dimensional section or "face" to the next.

Method and apparatus for assembling field erected cooling tower frame


A semiconductor storage device includes a controller including a data direct memory access (DDMA) controller. The controller receives a plurality of read commands segmented into data transfer descriptors associated with data tags from a host device and directs a plurality of the data transfer descriptors to the DDMA controller. The DDMA controller pre-fetches one or more descriptors from the host device associated with one or more of the plurality of data tags, a first data tag having an associated number of descriptors corresponding to contiguous blocks of memory. The DDMA controller determines if the associated number of descriptors satisfies a threshold, and, if it does not, moves the first data tag to a first list, when at a head of the first list moves the first data tag to a second list, and when at a head of the second list, transmits the data associated with the first data tag.

The performance of a semiconductor storage device, such as a solid state drive (SSD), is greatly impacted by the speed of processing read commands. To increase read command processing speed and limit latency, some systems use a system of pre-fetching descriptors for data tags received from a host and storing them in the local RAM until the described data is processed. Read commands received from a host can be described by Physical Region Page (PRP) format request, or can be in the form of a Scatter Gather List (SGL). The SGL allows more flexibility in describing the location of data to transfer, but allows the use of any number of descriptors to describe the data transfer.
In most cases, a SGL data descriptor format used by a host describes a data transfer using a small number of descriptors, but in some cases, an SGL format command includes a large number of descriptors associated with the transfer. In such cases, systems which use pre-fetching of descriptors quickly use up all available local memory space attempting to pre-fetch and store the descriptors associated with the atypically large number of SGL data descriptors for a data tag. Further, the processing of the atypical SGL takes much longer than processing of typical, short data descriptors. Processing the atypical SGL data descriptors blocks the processing of the typical data tags described by a small number of descriptors and causes inefficient use of the buffers and memory of the device, slowing down the overall transfer rate.
Accordingly, there is an unmet need to design systems capable of efficiently processing data in a scatter gather list.

Method of out of order processing of scatter gather lists


A method and system for the determination of toner usage in proportion to image-feature density, with independent estimation of each color toner module consumption. The system accurately accounts for image-wise color interactions due to color occlusion that may effect the actual amount of toner used by multiple color modules. The method includes a toner replenishment flow control process that responds to the toner consumption/depletion in the developer material (e.g., toner and carrier) as determined by one or more estimation modules, and thus maintains a stable and constant toner/carrier concentration ratio.

This invention relates generally to a printing method and system and, more particularly, to a method and system of performing feed-forward toner consumption estimation to manage replenishment of toners during printing.
Maintaining stable toner concentration levels is important for maintaining image quality in a printing environment. More specifically, dispensing too little toner because of low toner concentration levels may create areas in a printed image that appear faded, while too much toner may saturate a region in a printed image.
In monochrome (i.e., black and white) printing environments, feedback control systems have been used to regulate toner concentration levels during printing in an attempt to maintain acceptable levels of printed image quality. Typically, these feedback control systems use sensors to measure toner concentration levels in small patches developed during inter-document zones. When the feedback indicates that the toner concentrations levels are too low to maintain an acceptable printed image quality, the toner is mixed with a carrier in the mixing sump until a desired mixture and level is reached.
Although these prior systems work, they have had some problems. One of the problems is the limited sampling period during the inter-document zones which does not provide adequate feedback information about toner concentration levels. As a result, toner concentration levels may actually be too low or too high, but the erroneous condition may not be corrected early enough because of the inaccurate detection and feedback. Another problem is the large lag or delay time between recognizing the need to replenish until the time the toner can be replenished to return the toner concentration level to a nominal state. In fact, in high speed printing systems, sole reliance on a feedback sensor and control system has proven to be marginally stable or unstable in maintaining toner concentration at an acceptably narrow range when many high-density images, demanding considerable toner consumption, are printed. As a result, image quality may suffer until the toner can be replenished.
In color xerography, maintaining stable and accurate toner concentration levels may be more imperative for achieving consistent printed image quality. Poor color balance in printed images may result if toner concentration levels are not maintained at appropriate levels during printing. Further, particularly for image-on-image (xe2x80x9cIOIxe2x80x9d) xerographic color printers, but not limited thereto, the adverse effects caused by improper toner concentration levels are compounded by the IOI interactions of different color separations in the printed images.
Thus, in high speed printing environments, for example, a need exists for metering toner in proportion to image density to anticipate toner consumption in real time to avoid the delays and errors noted above. Furthermore, obtaining a reasonably accurate signal for each color separation in a IOI color printer, for example, would require corrections for interactions between color separations.
A method for managing replenishment of toners in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention includes determining a quantity of image units for each of one or more colors in a printed image, adjusting each of the quantity of image units based upon one or more color relationships among the one or more colors, and replenishing one or more of the toners when the adjusted quantity of image units for the one or more of the toners indicates a need for replenishment.
A system for managing replenishment of toners in accordance with the present invention includes a quantizing system, an adjustment system, and a replenishment system. The quantizing system determines a quantity of image units for each of one or more colors in a printed image. The adjustment system adjusts each of the quantity of image units based upon one or more color relationships among the one or more colors. The replenishment system replenishes one or more of the toners when the adjusted quantity of image units for the one or more of the toners indicates a need for replenishment.
The present invention provides a number of advantages, including enabling the accumulation of high-definition contone image data at very high data rates and accounting for and correcting color-image interactions and image-wise occlusions during pixel estimation. In addition, the present invention enables toner concentration levels to be maintained at desired levels during color xerography while improving overall image quality.

Method and system for managing replenishment of toners


A gear pump exhibiting improved efficiency over a broader range of fluid viscosity and pump speed includes a compression zone defined between each of a pair of pump gears and internal walls of a gear chamber, wherein the compression zones have a non-uniform thickness along a longitudinal direction of the gears. The geometry of the compression zones provides a mechanism whereby the drag of the viscous fluid which is induced by the rotation of the pump gears carries the viscous fluid through a progressively narrower gap in the direction of rotation ending in a final smooth pinch-off at the start of the seal zone. The geometry of the compression zone maximizes the drag and pressurization of the viscous fluid being pumped into the teeth of the gears, thereby assisting in the complete filling of the teeth. The result is improved fill efficiency over a broader range of pump speeds and over a broader range of fluid viscosity.

Gear pumps are used for conveyance of highly viscous fluid, such as polymer melts. For example, gear pumps are typically used for conveying a viscous polymer melt from a vessel, such as a devolatilizer, to another unit operation, such as a pelletizer. In most cases, the highly viscous polymer melt enters the pump inlet under the influence of gravity with essentially no positive pressure. Known gear pumps are susceptible to a number of difficulties in their operation. In particular, for any given pump geometry, known gear pumps are extremely limited with respect to the range of viscosity of fluids that they can handle. Generally, as fluid viscosity increases, the throughput rate of the gear pump decreases, often resulting in a production bottleneck. Also, in general, as gear pump speed (RPM) increases, pump throughput initially increases, but eventually reaches a plateau level, wherein further increases in pump speed do not result in any significant increase in throughput and can lead to a production bottleneck. Heretofore it has generally not been possible to effectively overcome a production bottleneck of this type once the plateau level of the pump speed verses pump throughput has been reached without replacing the existing pump with a larger pump. However, the devolatilizer is typically specially configured to be coupled to a gear pump of a particular size, and it is not generally possible to switch to a larger capacity gear pump of conventional design without also replacing or significantly modifying the devolatilizer. Accordingly, it would be highly desirable to provide a gear pump which operates more efficiently to eliminate such production bottlenecks without requiring replacement or significant modification of the devolatilizer.
Various attempts have been made to design gear pumps which are capable of operating efficiently over a wider range of fluid viscosity and over a wider range of pump speeds. These efforts have focused primarily on pump geometry, particularly at the inlet side of the pump. However, the known pump designs have not been entirely satisfactory and further improvements are desirable.

High efficiency gear pump for pumping highly viscous fluids


An image filing apparatus and method for receiving as multivalue data an image corresponding to a document, converting the data to binary image data and storing the binary image data. According to the features of the present invention, pixels of that portion of an input image corresponding to a particular color are extracted, and luminance data expressing monochromatic binary image data and binary image data designating colored portions are stored in different planes. Not only black pixels but also pixels expressed in a particular color such as red are described in the plane for the luminance data. Pixels having a particular color to be expressed in "red" such as red characters are extracted and recorded as "1" in another particular color plane, for example, in R-plane different from the luminance plane. The R-plane is recorded with binary image data; only pixels written in "red" are expressed as "1" there and other pixels as "0". When outputted, the pixels in which the contents of the luminance plane are "1" and the contents of the R-plane are "0" are displayed in black and the pixels in which the contents of the R-plane are "1" are displayed in red.

Conventionally, in an apparatus which handles a color image as digital data, the image is handled as three kinds of pieces of multivalue data (hereinafter, the respective components are referred to as R, G and B and the respective color data components are written as R-, G- and B-pieces of data) of three primary colors including red, green and blue to which the color of the image is decomposed. For example, in a color copying machine, input R-, G- and B-pieces of multivalue image data are intactly used and outputted. If a binarizing process is required to output the data to a printer, R-, G- and B-pieces of multivalue data are binarized independently for each color and then outputted.
An example in which such highly functionalized processing is used is, for example, disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open JP-A-63-174472 and JP-A-64-51583.
JP-A-63-174472 discloses a color image processing device which calculates luminance information on the basis of three components R, G and B and switches the binarizing process in accordance with the resulting value of the luminance information. JP-A-64-51583 discloses an electronic filing device which decomposes an color image into four colors yellow, magenta, cyan and black, which are then binarized and stored. When image information is decomposed into four colors yellow, magenta, cyan and black, and only information on the black is outputted, colored image portions fail. Display of an intermediate color, for example, of a color photograph is not contemplated. Since a color image is greatly influenced by the characteristic of the output unit with reference to color tone and saturation, the data temporarily stored should be corrected when outputted. In order to correct these data, the image should be handled as multivalue data. Therefore, a system which binarizes and stores a color image such as in the conventional techniques is not applicable to color images the reproduction of the color tone of which is required.
In many cases, color documents contain an image which includes a small-region color image and a layer monochromatic region. Especially, in a monochromatic document with a red stamp or the like, the color information has a meaning only in that it has color, and it is not so important to reproduce the color accurately. Therefore, it is not efficient to store all the R-, G- and B-pieces of data.
Also in a color document which includes a color photograph in addition to characters, the monochromatic character region is larger than the photograph region in many cases.
Therefore, image processing systems which handle documents are required to have a high efficiency of encoding monochromatic images and characters even if the systems are color image processing systems which handle color images.
Encoding R, G and B individually is high in redundancy and low in encoding efficiency. Therefore, it is not suitable for electronic filing systems which store many pieces of document image data and facsimile devices which are required to send document images at low data transfer speed.
Systems which intactly store and output R-, G- and B-pieces of multivalue data handle a large amount of data, so that they are not suitable for the above devices. That portion of an image represented in a monochromatic manner is hereinafter referred to as a monochromatic region.
In TVs, VTRs or the like, techniques are widely used in which R-, G- and B-pieces of color image data are converted to luminance information and two kinds of pieces of chrominance data, the results are then subjected to orthogonal conversion, and the resulting coefficients are encoded and stored. This encoding system only handles luminance information in the monochromatic region which has no chrominance information. Therefore, this system has high encoding efficiency for images which include a larger monochromatic region.
Japanese patent Laid-Open JP-A-63-9282 shows an example in which such encoding system is used also for documents.
However, the data encoding system which uses luminance/chrominance conversion has been devised for devices which originally handle natural images such as, for example, TVs.
Therefore, these system are suitable for handling images in which the density changes slowly, but raise the following problems when they handle document images which contain image portions such as characters which greatly change in density:
(a) Since line figures such as characters change greatly in density, the encoding efficiency greatly decrease; PA0 (b) If the compression efficiency by encoding is increased, irreversible encoding results. PA0 (c) The data cannot be directly outputted from a device which handles a document as a binary image such as a facsimile device or an electronic filing system; and PA0 (d) Compatibility with conventional monochromatic electronic filing devices is impaired.
Therefore, if data transfer is made by the medium of raster image data, for example, in a facsimile device, the data changes sequentially each time it is converted and hence transferred;
As techniques for extracting a particular color, a two-color document reader is known which extracts from the input image a portion having a strong Particular color component determined for each device and outputs it on printing paper with color toner, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open JP-A-62-230165. This extracting system optically reads the color component and its corrected color component predetermined by the device and determines whether the portion to be handled has a set color or not, from the difference between the sum of the determined color component and the corrected color component. In this system, the central wavelength of the hue to be extracted is determined by the characteristic of the optical filter, etc.
As image data storage which handle color images, various devices are known which handles a stationary color image. Many of devices of this type use a discrete cosine conversion as an encoding system for image data.

Image filing apparatus and method for thereby encoding and storing various documents


An apparatus is described for pulling the pilot bearing from a flywheel or the like comprising a support member having a pair of spaced-apart bolt members threadably mounted therein. The support member has a central opening formed therein between the bolt members which receives a pair of pivotally mounted first and second jaw members having bearing engaging portions at one end thereof. The jaw members are extended through the central opening in the pilot bearing and then locked into position by means of a smaller bolt extending through the jaw members to limit the pivotal movement thereof. Threadable rotation of the first and second bolt members causes the jaw members to pull the pilot bearing from the flywheel.

This invention relates to a bearing puller and more particularly to a pilot bearing puller.
Many types of bearing pullers have been previously described but the vast majority of the same are extremely large and rather difficult to use. The presently available bearing pullers may not be conveniently used to pull the pilot bearings from a flywheel or the like due to the size and construction thereof.
Therefore, it is a principal object of the invention to provide an improved pilot bearing puller.
A still further object of the invention is to provide a pilot bearing puller which may be used to pull the pilot bearing from a flywheel without removing the flywheel from the engine.
A still further object of the invention is to provide a pilot bearing puller including means for locking a pair of jaw members into position.
A still further object of the invention is to provide a pilot bearing puller which may be used to pull different sized bearings from flywheels or the like.
A still further object of the invention is to provide a pilot bearing puller which is economical of manufacture, durable in use and convenient to use.
These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.


A structure of a boiler, of the type in which pulverized fuel is burnt within a square barrel-shaped furnace having a vertical axis, is improved so that ignitability is improved and the amount of NO.sub.x produced is decreased. Burners for injecting pulverized fuel-air mixtures are disposed at the central portions of respective edges in a horizontal cross-section of a furnace wall and are inclined downwardly with respect to a horizontal plane. Also, under air nozzles for feeding air are disposed under the respective burners.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to improvements in boilers for electric utility or industrial use, furnaces for chemical industry, and the like which make use of pulverized solid fuel.
2. Description of the Prior Art
At first, one example of a boiler furnace in the prior art which makes use of pulverized coal as fuel, will be described with reference to FIG. 6 showing a vertical cross-section view, and FIG. 7 showing a horizontal cross-section view taken along line VII--VII in FIG. 6. In these figures, reference numeral 01 designates a furnace main body, numeral 02 designates burner main bodies, numeral 03 designates fuel nozzles, numeral 04 designates air nozzles for a main burner, numeral 05 designates pulverized coal transport pipes, numeral 06 designates combustion air lines, numeral 07 designates a coal pulverizer, numeral 08 designates a blower, numeral 09 designates pulverized coal-air mixture, numeral 10 designates combustion air, numeral 11 designates coal, numeral 12 designates conveying air, numeral 13 designates a furnace inner space or inner chamber, numeral 14 designates pulverized coal flames, numeral 15 designates main burner air lines, numeral 16 designates additional air lines, numeral 17 designates air for main burners, numeral 18 designates additional air, and numeral 19 designates additional air nozzles.
The above-described furnace main body 01 is formed in a square barrel-shape having a vertical axis, and as shown in FIG. 7, it is provided with burner main bodies 02 at corner portions in a horizontal cross-section of a furnace wall. Each burner main body 02 is provided with a plurality of (three in the illustrated example) assemblies each consisting of a fuel nozzle 03 and air nozzles 04 assembled above and below the fuel nozzle 03, as aligned vertically, and these fuel nozzles 03 and air nozzles 04 are all directed horizontally towards the inner space of the furnace.
Coal 11 fed to a coal pulverizer 07 is finely pulverized and mixed with conveying air (hot air) 12 which is fed simultaneously, to form pulverized coal-air mixture 09, and then the mixture sent to the burner main body 02 through pulverized coal transport pipes 05. The pulverized coal-air mixture sent to the burner main body 02 is injected to the furnace inner space 13 via the fuel nozzles 03. On the other hand, combustion air 10 is fed through combustion air lines 06 by a blower 08, then it is branched into main burner air 17 and additional air 18, and they are respectively injected to the furnace inner space 13 through air nozzles 04 provided in the burner main bodies 02 and through additional air nozzles 19 provided above the burner main bodies 02.
The pulverized coal-air mixture 09 injected to the furnace inner space 03 is ignited by an ignition source not shown, and burns while forming pulverized coal flames 13. In the pulverized coal flames 14, the pulverized coal burns, in the proximity of an ignition point, as reacting with oxygen supplied by the conveying air 12 forming the pulverized coal-air mixture 09 together with the pulverized coal as well as a part (in the proximity of the ignition point) of the main burner air 17, and thereafter in a main combustion zone, combustion is continued by oxygen in the remainder of the main burner air 17.
In a heretofore known boiler, since a total amount of the conveying air 12 and the main burner air 17 is made less than an amount corresponding to a stoichiometric ratio with respect to the pulverized coal injected through the fuel nozzles 03 for the purpose of suppressing production of nitrogen oxides (hereinafter abbreviated as NO.sub.x) the furnace inner space 13 from the portion of the burner main bodies 02 up to the additional air nozzles 19 is held under a reducing atmosphere condition. Accordingly, the combustion gas produced by combustion of the pulverized coal-air mixture 09 would rise through the furnace inner space 13 initially in an incomplete combustion state, and the combustion is completed by the additional air 18 injected through the additional air nozzles 19.
Also, in the heretofore known boiler, a mixing ratio of conveying air to pulverized coal in the pulverized coal-air mixture 09 was mostly chosen in the range of 2:1 to 4:1 in weight proportion generally in view of practical use of the coal pulverizer 07. That is, the pulverized coal-air mixture 09 was subjected to combustion at a mixing ratio of [conveying air]/[pulverized coal] (hereinafter abbreviated as A/C)=2-4.
Now let us consider the problems involved in the heretofore known boilers.
[1] Generally, ignitability of the pulverized coal flames 14 is improved when the following conditions are fulfilled.
1) An amount of volatile constituent in pulverized coal is high, and a fuel ratio (fixed carbon/volatile constituent) is low; PA1 2) A heat flow flux reaching a burner opening is large; PA1 3) An A/C ratio of the pulverized coal-air mixture 09 is close to 1; and PA1 4) An injection speed of the pulverized coal-air mixture 09 is slow. Accordingly, boilers satisfying the above-mentioned conditions as much as possible are considered to be favorable.
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing one example of results of practical measurements of the distribution of a heat flow flux coming from a furnace inner space 13 and reaching a furnace wall with respect to a real boiler, and FIG. 9 is a diagram showing one example of results of experiments conducted in connection with the relations between a flame propagation speed of pulverized coal and an A/C ratio of pulverized coal-air mixture. According to these diagrams, a heat flow flux coming from a furnace inner space 13 and reaching the furnace wall becomes maximum at the central portion of the furnace wall, and a flame propagation speed of pulverized coal becomes maximum at A/C.apprxeq.1 of the pulverized coal-air mixture.
Since coal having a low amount of volatile constituent and a high fuel ratio does not fulfil the condition 1) above, it is desirable to fulfil the other conditions 2), 3) and 4). However, in the heretofore known boiler, since the burner main bodies 02 were provided at the respective corner portions of the furnace main body 01 as shown in FIG. 7, a heat flow flux reaching the burner portion was small as shown in FIG. 8. On the other hand, in the case of employing coal having poor ignitability due to a low volatile constituent content, it is necessary to improve the ignitability by making the A/C ratio of the pulverized coal-air mixture 09 fed to the burner main body 02 close to 1 (See FIG. 9), but in the heretofore known boiler the A/C ratio was generally 2 to 4 due to restriction in practical use of the coal pulverizer 07, and it could not be made close to 1. In addition, although the pulverized coal-air mixture 09 becomes ready to be ignited as its injection speed is slowed down in view of the relation to a flame propagation speed, as it is injected horizontally in the case of the boiler in the prior art, if the injection speed is too slow, pulverized coal in the pulverized coal-air mixture 09 would hang down and would accumulate at the fuel nozzle 03. Therefore, the injection speed cannot be made lower than a predetermined speed.
As described above, the boilers in the prior art had a shortcoming in that it was difficult to ignite coal having a low volatile constituent content or a high fuel ratio. [2] With regard to combustion in a boiler, it is a well-known fact that an amount of production of NO.sub.x is in an inversely proportional relation to an amount of charging of additional air 18. However, in the heretofore known boiler system, since there is a problem with ignitability in the case of coal having a low volatile constituent content or a high fuel ratio, the amount of charging of the additional air 18 cannot be made large, therefore, there was a limit as to the reduction of NO.sub.x.

Apparatus for use in burning pulverized fuel


An automatic transmission includes a planetary gear system which are coaxially mounted on an intermediate shaft having a first end supported by an input shaft and a second end supported by an output shaft. For example, the planetary gear system includes three planetary gear sets which are all mounted on the intermediate shaft, and an engaging device group includes a combination of first and second clutches and a first brake which are all placed around the input shaft, and a combination of second and third brakes which are placed around the planetary gear sets. The three planetary gear sets are tightly arranged, leaving little or no intervening spaces, between both ends of the intermediate shaft. No clutches and brakes are interposed among the planetary gear sets. Therefore, it is possible to decrease the length of the intermediate shaft, and to reduce gear noises by improving the flexural rigidity of the intermediate shaft.

The present invention relates to an automatic transmission.
One conventional automatic transmission (Toyota A340E) includes input and output shafts aligned in a line, and an intermediate shaft both ends of which are supported by the input and output shafts, respectively. This transmission further includes one planetary gear set mounted on the input shaft, two other planetary gear sets mounted on the output shaft, and a group of clutches and brakes which are distributed over the input, intermediate and output shafts. In this transmission, each of the input and output shafts is supported like a cantilever because one shaft end is occupied by one or more planetary gear sets, and not supported. This transmission, therefore, includes a center support wall supporting the intermediate shaft. Furthermore, the clutches and brakes are arranged axially. These features increase the axial length of the automatic transmission, and tend to increase gear noises by decreasing the flexural rigidities of the input and output shafts.


A container may have a base, a sidewall connected to the base, a bell connected to the sidewall, and a finish connected to the bell. The base may have strap ribs to resist deformation of the base. The sidewall may have recessed columns to resist bending, leaning, crumbling, and/or stretching. The strap ribs and recessed columns may vertically line up along a central axis of the container to communicate forces on the container vertically along the container to continuously resist deformation in the base and the sidewall.

Plastic containers have been used as a replacement for glass or metal containers in the packaging of beverages for several decades. The most common plastic used in making beverage containers today is polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Containers made of PET are transparent, thin-walled, and have the ability to maintain their shape by withstanding the force exerted on the walls of the container by their contents. PET resins are also reasonably priced and easy to process. PET bottles are generally made by a process that includes the blow-molding of plastic preforms which have been made by injection molding of the PET resin.
Advantages of plastic packaging include lighter weight and decreased breakage as compared to glass, and lower costs overall when taking both production and transportation into account. Although plastic packaging is lighter in weight than glass, there is still great interest in creating the lightest possible plastic packaging so as to maximize the cost savings in both transportation and manufacturing by making and using containers that contain less plastic, while still exhibiting good mechanical properties.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A cutting apparatus suitable for creating tunnels and subterranean roadways includes independently pivoting supports that each carry a respective independently pivoting arm and a rotatable cutting head. Each cutting head via the supports and arms, is configured to slew laterally outward in a sideways direction and to pivot in a vertical upward and downward direction. The supports and arms are mounted on a linear moving sled carried by a main frame.

A variety of different types of excavation machines have been developed for cutting drifts, tunnels, subterranean roadways and the like in which a rotatable head is mounted on an arm that is in turn movably mounted at a main frame so as to create a desired tunnel cross sectional profile. WO2012/156841, WO 2012/156842, WO 2010/050872, WO 2012/156884, WO2011/093777, DE 20 2111 050 143 U1. All described apparatus for mill cutting of rock and minerals in which a rotating cutting head forced into contact with the rock face as supported by a movable arm. In particular, WO 2012/156884 describes the cutting end of the machine in which the rotatable heads are capable of being raised and lowered vertically and deflecting in the lateral sideways direction by a small angle in an attempt to try enhance the cutting action.
WO 2014/090589 describes a machine for digging roadways tunnels and the like in which a plurality of cutting heads are movable to dig into the rock face via a pivoting arcuate cutting path. US 2003/0230925 describes a rock excavator having a cutter head mounting a plurality of annular disc cutters suitable to operate in an undercutting mode.
It has been observed that during the slewing operation of the at least one arm, significant torque needs to be transmitted in particular when operating in undercutting mode. Mechanisms which allow for high torque transmission however entail the drawback of very low transmission speeds, thus limiting the overall mine development progress.
Furthermore, it has been observed that due to specific geophysical attributes of the mining sites at different locations, the mining equipment, in particular rock cutting apparatus, needs to be specifically customized in order to ideally cope with the working environment. It has been found in conventional systems that the design and modification of existing mining equipment for adapting the equipment to the regional environment is time consuming and costly.
Furthermore, it has been observed that conventional cutting machines are not optimised to cut hard rock having a strength typically beyond 120 MPa whilst creating a tunnel or subterranean cavity safely and reliably of desired cross sectional configuration. Accordingly, what is required is a cutting machine that addresses these problems.


While providing the control such that the air excess ratio falls within the stoichiometric range, if the throttle opening degree control means determines that a value of the torque is smaller than A [Nm], the throttle opening degree control means provides a first control of controlling the opening degree of the intake throttle valve such that the output shaft rotates at a constant first rotation number. If the throttle opening degree control means determines that the value of the torque is larger than A [Nm], the throttle opening degree control means provides a second control of controlling the opening degree of the intake throttle valve such that the rotation number of the output shaft becomes larger.

Conventional gas engines include a gas engine described in JP 2013-92082 A (Patent Document 1). This gas engine is capable of a stoichiometric operation in which an air-fuel mixture is combusted at a value near a theoretical air fuel ratio with a higher rate of a fuel gas. The gas engine enables the stoichiometric operation so as to facilitate generation of a higher torque so that a high output is easily achieved.
On the other hand, it is conventionally known that a so-called knocking tends to occur in a high torque region of a gas engine. Therefore, it is known that a gas engine performing the stoichiometric operation is disposed with a knock detecting means detecting a sign of knocking. If the knock detecting means detects a sign of knocking, the knocking is avoided by retarding an ignition timing etc. In this way, while the high output can easily be achieved, the knocking is avoided to prevent abnormal combustion for protection against a piston damage etc.
However, the conventional gas engine avoids a knocking on the premise of the detection of a sign of the knocking and cannot avoid the sign of the knocking itself. This leads to a problem that the knocking occurring subsequently to a sign of the knocking cannot properly be avoided.


In some embodiments, an automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS) for storing workpieces includes a main body, a robotic arm mechanism and at least one first station. The workpiece comprises a first container configured to hold at least one article. The main body includes at least one side wall configured to confine a storage space for the workpieces in at least one first direction parallel to a floor. The robotic arm mechanism is configured to reach the storage space, the storage space being further confined by the robotic arm mechanism in at least one second direction opposite to the at least one first direction. The at least one first station is configured with at least one first accessing port located within the storage space, and configured for the ASRS to perform a routine for a process flow.

In manufacturing of a product, the product is processed at many work stations or processing machines. These work stations are usually clustered into process bays. Interbay or Intrabay conveying of work-in-process (WIP) parts or semi-finished products typically involve the use of an automatic guided vehicle (AGV) system, a rail guided vehicle (RGV) system, an overhead transport (OHT) system, and/or human labor. Stockers are usually installed in between process bays or within process bays to, for example, provide a buffering space for the WIP parts between work stations. AGVs, RGVs, OHT vehicles and/or human labor are used to transport the WIP parts between work stations and a stocker. However, waiting time for the AGVs, RGVs, OHT vehicles and/or human labor to pick up or drop off WIP parts at the stocker can be affected by poorly coordinated scheduling of the vehicles and a robotic arm mechanism of the stocker and by traffic condition on a route to or from the stocker and so on and can cause undesirable delays that affect a throughput of the product.
Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements.

Automating storage, retrieval, and routine for process flow

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd.


An apparatus is adapted to detect particles within a fluid. The apparatus includes first and second electrodes within a housing. The first and second electrodes form a "V" shaped recess. A magnet is positioned within the housing to attract ferrous particles into the recess. The resistance between the first and second electrodes is measured as an indication of particles within the fluid.

Mechanical systems (engines, transmissions) utilize a lubricant (oil) to dissipate heat within the system and to reduce wear on system components. However, due to the nature of the systems, wear does occur, resulting in the presence of metallic flakes or particles in the oil.
Due to the normal wear and to the natural breakdown of the oil, the oil in such systems must be changed periodically. This is typically done on a time or usage basis, for example, every 90 days or 2000 hours of use. The metal particles may be a result of this normal wear, but may also be an indication of abnormal wear or a more serious problem. For example, if the gears within a transmission are not meshing properly, the resulting wear creates abnormal amounts of metal particles within the lubricant. Under normal maintenance procedures, the metal particles would be present in the lubricant for an extended period of time. If this condition is not identified and the appropriate repairs completed, more expensive repairs, including the replacement of major system components, may result.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,323,843 issued Apr. 6, 1982 to Ian N. Batham discloses an apparatus for detecting ferrous contamination in a fluid. A similar device is available from the Komatsu Dresser Company of Peoria, IL under the name Metalert. As shown in, FIG. 1, the apparatus 100 of Batham includes a magnet 102 having north (N) and south (S) poles and first and second electrodes 104,106. The electrodes 104,106 are parallel to the plane formed by the magnet poles, N,S. A spacer 108 electrically isolates the two electrodes 104,106 from each other.
In operation, the electrodes 104,106 and the spacer 108 form a plug which is inserted into a container containing fluid. Ferrous particles are attracted into contact with the two electrodes 104,106 by the magnetic field generated by the magnet 102. The resistance between the two electrodes is measured as an indication of the particles.
There are however several inherent problems with the Batham design. For instance, the sensor design does not protect the particles already attracted to the sensor from currents within the oil. Therefore, particles are continually being "swept" away by the currents. The result is a "noisy" or unstable sensor output. Furthermore, the sensor design does not allow for detecting non-ferrous electrically conductive particles. In some systems, certain system components consist of nonferrous metals, for example, aluminum, brass or bronze. Since the Batham design relies solely on the magnet to attract particles, these types of harmful particles would not be detected.
Furthermore, magnetic particles are more strongly attracted to the top surface of the bottom electrode 104 because it is closer to the magnet. In order for the resistance across the electrodes to change, the particles must "pile up" in order to bridge the gap.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,462,715, issued Sep. 16 1944 to James C. Booth discloses a sensor having two magnetic members connected to a plug. The magnetic members face each other and extend away from the plug into the fluid. This arrangement also has several limitations. First, as in the Batham design, the particles trapped within the sensor may be "swept" away by currents within the fluid. Secondly, since particles are in direct contact with the magnetic members, the particles are not so easily removed for cleaning when the oil is changed.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems, as set forth above.

Conductive particle sensor using a magnet


The present invention relates to a new process for the synthesis of 17β-hydroxy-des-A-androst-9,10-en-5-one, the compound of the following formula (1), which can be used as an intermediate in the synthesis of retroprogesterones.

Retroprogesterones are a class of steroids with hormonal activity used in the therapy and treatment of female genital tract dysfunctions and in pregnancy.
The parent compound of the family is retroprogesterone, a compound having a 4-ring steroid structure of the type shown in the following figure:
wherein the spatial orientation of the hydrogen atoms at positions 8 and 9 is beta while that of methyl at position 10 is alpha; this structure differs from that of progesterone, having the configuration referred to as "natural" shown in the following figure, in the opposite orientation of the hydrogen atom at position 9 (alpha) and the methyl one at position 10 (beta).

Retroprogesterones useful in the therapeutic field are for example dydrogesterone and trengestone, having the following structural formulas:

Dydrogesterone has proven effective in treating various conditions associated with a deficiency of progesterone, including infertility due to luteal insufficiency, miscarriage (threatened or recurrent), menstrual disorders, premenstrual syndrome and endometriosis, while trengestone has been employed for the treatment of disorders related to the menstrual cycle.
An intermediate useful in the synthesis of retroprogesterones is the compound of the following formula (1), whose chemical name is 17β-hydroxy-des-A-androst-9,10-en-5-one:
described in J. Org. Chem, 32, 3008 (1967); the use of the compound as a synthesis precursor of retroprogesterones is reported in J. Org. Chem, 33 (9), 1968.
Compound (1) can be synthesized according to the recipes given in J. Org. Chem, 32, 3008 (1967) starting from the bicyclic intermediate (2) with a series of chemical reactions leading to the racemic mixture of compound (1):

Such a racemic mixture cannot be used as such for the preparation of retroprogesterones since it is a mixture of the two optical antipodes.
In the cited article, the authors also report that compound (1) had been previously obtained in the "optically active" form by chemical degradation of testosterone acetate. This method has only scientific value, as it allowed to obtain the optically pure product for the first time but it is not applicable to an industrial production of steroids: in fact, testosterone acetate (4 ring backbone) should be synthesized and the first ring (3 ring backbone) should be degraded and then rebuilt.
The preparation of the compound of formula (1) in optically active form is described in Tetrahedron vol. 24, pp. 2039-2046, 1968; according to the method described, starting from the racemic intermediate (3) and resolving the optical antipodes in the course of the synthesis with brucine salts, compound (1) in optically pure form is obtained:

Although this synthesis is applicable for the preparation of retroprogesterones, it has the drawback of starting from a racemic reagent; the resolution of a racemate, even in the ideal case of quantitative separation yield, leads to a maximum of 50% yield.
In J MED CHEM 1985, 28, 1796-1803, scheme (I), compounds of general structure (5) are prepared in order to study them and verify their potential pharmacological activity. According to the teachings of the article, these compounds can be prepared starting from precursor (4):

In turn, the compounds of general formula (4) can be prepared, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,413,314, by total synthesis according to scheme:

This route of synthesis, however, also has the problem that one of the steps (U.S. Pat. No. 3,413,314, column 2, step d) consists in the separation of the optical antipodes by salification with a chiral amine, with consequent loss of at least half of the starting material.
It is the object of the present invention to provide an improved synthesis route for the preparation of 17β-hydroxy-des-A-androst-9,10-en-5-one, in particular simpler than the prior art processes and industrially applicable.

Process for the preparation of 17β-hydroxy-des-A-androst-9,10-en-5-one


An inflation for a teat cup assembly which reduces the capacity of the inflation to twist radially during the installation process. The inflation has an elongated flexible portion adapted to receive the teat of an animal to be milked and comprises a first end formed with an opening into the interior of said elongated portion which is adapted to receive said teat and which sealingly engages a first open end of a hollow elongated teat cup upon vacuum being applied to the inside of said cup; a middle portion adapted to be received in the second end of the elongated teat cup, said middle portion being formed with a plurality of peripheral flat sections thereon, said flat sections being receivable in a correspondingly shaped opening in the second end of the teat cup, said middle portion being sealingly engaged in the opening in said second end upon vacuum being applied to the inside of said cup; the inflation having a second end adapted to extend from the teat cup and be connected to the vacuum line of a milking machine.

This invention concerns improvements in or relating to milking apparatus, in particular, the invention is concerned with improvements in or relating to inflations, used in milking machine claw assemblies, which attach to the udder of a cow.
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that a milking machine teat cup claw assembly is composed of four teat cup assemblies, connected via a "claw" to a pulsing mechanism and to the vacuum milk flow line of a milking machine.
A teat assembly is made up a rigid outer teat cup having two open ends in which is positioned a inflation, the inflation usually being made from synthetic rubber.
For the efficient milking of a cow, without risking damage to the teat or udder, the inflation must flex smoothly, and in the manner in which it has been designed. In this way the milking operation is able to extract the maximum amount of milk from the cow without distressing the animal.
The inflations are consumable items, in that they require replacement at regular intervals of time. In some areas, replacement each year is required, and in others, more frequent replacement occurs. If undue wear occurs on the inflation or other deleterious factors apply, then replacement at shorter than usual intervals of time becomes necessary.
Because the inflation must seal against the teat cup at both ends, referred to as the bottom and the top ends, of the cup, to allow the pulsed vacuum applied to the cup of change the shape of the inflation, it is, by necessity, a tight fit at each end of the cup. Removal and replacement of inflations in teat cups, or, installation of inflations in the first instance, requires some effort and produces difficulties in many cases.
It is not uncommon in using milking machine apparatus to find that one or more of the four teat cup assemblies in a claw assembly does not milk satisfactorily. That is to say, it does not extract milk efficiently from the animal being milked. It has been found that this is often attributable to incorrect fitting of the inflation in the cup, due to the difficulties mentioned above, or, the lack of care shown when inserting the inflation into the cup at installation or replacement.
It has been found that what happens is the end of the inflation at the top of the teat cup is twisted radially with respect to that part of the inflation at the bottom end of the teat cup. It is believed that this occurs in the final positioning of the inflation into a sealing contact with the ends of the teat cup. The torsional resilience of the inflation is not sufficient to unwind the radial twisting, once the inflation is fully fitted in the cup. As a result, the milking operation is conducted with the inflation operating with a twist, causing it not to expand and contract as designed, or as desired, for efficient milking. It is believed that premature wearing of the inflation may also occur when it is operated in that condition.
This problem is difficult to identify where the cup itself is not transparent, which is the usual one. This is because it is not possible to inspect the inflation within the cup, once it has been inserted. While a number of solutions to the problem of twisted inflation have been proposed, these suggested solutions are ineffective when inflations are replaced under poor light, or in the dark, as may be the case in milking sheds. In an event, these attempts to solve the problem still rely entirely upon the operator separately checking the alignment of each end of the inflation after it has been inserted in the cup.


Disclosed herein are compositions and methods for styling hair comprising at least two latex polymers, wherein at least one latex polymer is a film-forming polymer; at least one aminofunctional silicone; at least one amphoteric surfactant; at least one alkylpolyglucoside; at least one anionic thickening agent; and water; wherein the at least two latex polymers are present in a combined amount ranging from about 0.1% to about 30% by weight, relative to the weight of the composition.

Compositions for styling the hair are known, such as, for example, hair spray compositions, hair gels and mousses, hair volumizing compositions, hair smoothing creams, lotions, serums, oils, clays, etc. The goals of many hair styling compositions include holding or fixing the hair in a particular shape, imparting or increasing volume of the hair, smoothing the hair, and/or decreasing or eliminating the appearance of frizz.
Drawbacks associated with current products for styling the hair include that the product can be sticky or tacky and/or can produce a film that imparts a sticky or tacky feel. Moreover, hair styled with current products can be stiff and/or "crunchy" in that the film is hard and brittle resulting in a crunching feel or sound when the hair is touched, which is undesirable for most consumers.
Current products for styling the hair typically include water-soluble film-forming polymers. Depending on the chemical make-up of these polymers, they may be either soluble in water, or they may be water insoluble polymers which are made water soluble via various chemical modifications, such as neutralization. Solutions comprising these polymers tend to be viscous, and often as the concentration of the polymer increases, its viscosity rapidly increases. In styling applications, as the solvent evaporates, the polymer solution becomes thicker on the hair surface, resulting in a sticky or tacky film. These products also tend to exhibit problems with product spreadability, hair manageability, and humidity resistance, which is especially a problem in hot and humid environments.
Particularly, while previous compositions comprising latex polymers may provide clean properties to the hair given its anionic nature, the clean properties can translate into difficult application and/or distribution of the product, quick absorption, dryness, and/or possibly static in the hair. The presence of film formers can also leave the hair with a stiff, crunchy, and/or sticky feel. Often, traditional silicones may be used to overcome the brittleness and stiffness caused by the film, however this tends to make the hair feel greasy and oily. Alternative conditioning agents, such as non-ionic silicones and humectants, can actually plasticize the film produced by the product, thus affecting its high humidity curl retention, and creating build up, which weighs down the hair.
It has now been surprisingly and unexpectedly discovered that combining at least two latex polymers, wherein at least one latex polymer is a film-forming polymer, with at least one aminofunctional silicone, at least one amphoteric surfactant, at least one alkylpolyglucoside, at least one anionic thickening agent, produces a composition that exhibits excellent conditioning properties in wet and dry stages of hair while maintaining desirable care benefits and styling and shaping properties. Such compositions can allow for a clean, natural, and/or "invisible" feel; a lack of stickiness; frizz control; high humidity resistance; curl and/or wave definition; and styling hold with or without the use of heat. Some compositions may be useful in hair-styling applications wherein styling benefits such as natural look, curling or straightening, and/or styling hold are imparted to hair.

Compositions and methods for treating hair


An image segmentation method for performing image segmentation through a neural network implemented by an image segmentation apparatus is provided. The image segmentation method includes the steps outlined below. Previous CNN weight data is received by a current convolution neural network unit of the neural network, wherein the previous CNN weight data is generated by a previous convolution neural network unit of the neural network based on a previous image of video data corresponding to a previous time spot. A current image of the video data corresponding to a current time spot next to the previous time spot is received by the current convolution neural network unit. Convolution is performed according to the previous CNN weight data and the current image to generate a current image segmentation result by the current convolution neural network unit.

Field of Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to an image processing technology. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to an image segmentation method and an image segmentation apparatus.
Description of Related Art
Semantic image segmentation plays a crucial role in image understanding, allowing a computer to recognize objects in images. Recognition and delineation of objects is achieved through classification of each pixel in an image. Such processes have a wide range of applications in computer vision, in diverse and growing fields such as vehicle autonomy and medical imaging. However, current image segmentation technologies perform image segmentation respectively on different image frames of image data. As a result, the edges of the image segmentation result of the whole image data generated accordingly often have dithering phenomenon.
Accordingly, what is needed is an image segmentation method and an image segmentation apparatus to address the above issues.


Clostridium difficile disease involves a range of clinical presentations ranging from carrier status with other causes of symptoms to mild and self-limiting diarrhea to life-threatening pseudomembranous colitis and megacolon. Cases of C. difficile are treated differently depending on the presence and then the severity of disease. Patients that are carriers may not receive treatment with concern of causing the disease. Mild to moderate cases may be treated with metronidazole while severe and relapsing cases are often treated with vancomycin or fidaxomicin. Current molecular assays are highly sensitive for detecting toxigenic C. difficile and cannot rule out carrier status. Utilization of a biomarker panel that includes C. difficile antigen (GDH), toxins A and B, and fecal lactoferrin allows clinicians to differentiate between a carrier state and active state of C. difficile and allows for monitoring to evaluate the effectiveness of treatment.

Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) involves a range of clinical presentations including mild to self-limiting diarrhea to life-threatening pseudomembranous colitis and megacolon. Many healthy persons (e.g., infants) carry Clostridium difficile (C. difficile), and many patients become asymptomatic carriers after admission to the hospital. Most cases are diagnosed based on clinical evaluations, history of antibiotic use, and the presence of the organism and/or toxins A & B (i.e., TcdA and TcdB, respectively) in the stool. Enzyme-linked immunoassay (EIA) tests are the most frequently used test format for measuring toxin in the stool specimens, with tissue culture combined with specific neutralization being the gold standard for detecting stool toxin. More recently, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests are available for determining the presence of C. difficile toxin A and B genes (tcdA and tcdB) and these are used as standalone tests and in combination with the detection of glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) for ruling out C. difficile-negative patients. All of these assays are suitable for detecting the presence of C. difficile as an aid to diagnosis but do not provide information about the severity of disease or confirming that C. difficile actually is responsible for symptoms in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), other enteric infections and diarrhea causing agents like laxatives and antibiotics.
The presence and severity of the disease is an important factor for recommending a proper course of treatment. In general, patients with C. difficile disease often present with fever, have slightly raised white blood cells (leukocytosis), and experience mild abdominal pain. Carrier status includes those patients that are colonized with C. difficile but lack stool toxin and intestinal inflammation indicating that something else is causing the symptoms. Patients that are determined to be carriers may still be placed in isolation wards but wouldn't receive treatment for CDI. Determining carrier status is important when deciding on a course of treatment since antibiotics could actually disrupt the normal flora making the patient susceptible to C. difficile disease. In addition, a low level of cells as indicated by low levels of C. difficile GDH may further differentiate between patients that are infectious versus noninfectious and, thus, allowing discharge from isolation wards.
For patients with disease, mild cases respond well to stopping the inciting antibiotic while moderate to severe C. difficile disease cases often require antibiotic intervention. Currently, no single lab parameter is routinely used to stratify patients based on severity of C. difficile-associated disease (CDAD) for optimizing medical and/or surgical treatment. The relapse rate is about 20% of patients occurring within days to a month following the end of antibiotic treatment.

Clostridium difficile dehydrogenase and toxin as a biomarker for monitoring infection in patients with clostridium difficile disease and differentiating carrier state from active disease


A single service proxy for requesting services from multiple different service vendors with different communication protocols. In this way, a single communication protocol can be used by a service consuming entity to request various services, through the multiple vendor proxy, from various vendors, with the multiple vendor proxy converting the requests into the communication protocol (for example, syntax) appropriate for the vendor from whom the service is being requested on behalf of the service consuming entity.

The present invention relates generally to providing service oriented architecture computing services to consumers and more particularly to provision of such computing services from multiple vendors to a single service consumer entity.
Service oriented architecture computing services (herein sometimes referred to more simply as "services") are known. In the contexts of software architecture, service-orientation in computing and service-oriented software architecture, a service is a computing functionality (for example, a software functionality) or a set of computing functionalities. In common computing parlance, "service" also refers to the machine logic (for example, computer program code that provides the functionality(ies)—however, this document may sometimes refer to the machine logic that implements the functionality of a service as service code. For example, one example service is retrieval of specified information. Another example service is the execution of a set of operations. Typically, different clients reuse a given service in the context of many and various larger computing tasks. For example, a service that retrieves a record associated with a person's name from a large data base may be used in: (i) by a larger program that is used to authenticate the person's identity over a communication network; (ii) by a larger program used to implement a legal change to the person's name; and (iii) by a search engine. In this example, the same code to retrieve the individual's record does not have to be rewritten for all three programs.
Typically, usage of a given service by various clients (sometimes herein called "service consuming entities") is controlled by machine logic implemented policies. Typically, a service consuming entity is a set of computers belonging to a company. For example, a search engine company may own a large set of server computer devices that all use record-retrieving service mentioned in the previous paragraph.
Typically, a given client (that is, service consuming entity) is identified by a certain code. In many cases, a policy dictates the length of time that the given client may use (that is, access) a given service. The use of services typically requires data communications, storage of data, processing of data and the like. The mechanism to enable access by a client to the functionality of a service includes access of the service code and access to the service implementation hardware (that is, the computing hardware that provides the data communications associated with the service, the storage of data associated with the service, the hardware that stores data associated with use of the service, and the like). For example, access to a given service may be provided using a prescribed interface and may be exercised consistent with constraints and policies as specified by the service description.
Often several different services will be used in a larger business process. For example, if the business process is a customer order for goods, then constituent services may include: (i) "Create Order," (ii) "Fulfill Order," (iii) "Ship Order," (iv) "Invoice Order," and (v) "Cancel/Update Order."
A service-oriented architecture (SOA) is a style of software design where services are provided: (i) to the other components by application components, (ii) through a communication protocol, and (iii) over a network. Service-oriented architectures are typically independent of (that is, generic with respect to) vendors, products and technologies. In an SOA, a service is a discrete unit of functionality that can be accessed remotely and acted upon and updated independently, such as retrieving a credit card statement online. In an SOA, a service typically has four properties: (i) it logically represents a business activity with a specified outcome; (ii) it is self-contained; (iii) t is a black box for its consumers; and (iv) it may consist of other underlying services. Different services can be used in conjunction to provide the functionality of a large software application. Typically, service-oriented architecture is less about how to modularize an application, and more about how to compose an application by integrating distributed, separately-maintained and deployed software components. It is enabled by technologies and standards that make it easier for components to communicate and cooperate over a network, especially an IP (internet protocol) network.
Serverless computing is a cloud-computing execution model in which the cloud provider dynamically manages the allocation of machine resources. Pricing is typically based on the actual amount of resources consumed by an application, rather than on pre-purchased units of capacity. Serverless computing is a form of utility computing. Serverless computing still typically requires servers, hence the term "serverless" is a bit of a misnomer. The name "serverless computing" is used because the server management and capacity planning decisions are typically completely hidden from the developer or operator. When using a service, the consumer only depends on the proxy and sends requests to the proxy. Typically, in serverless computing, each vendor will have its own dedicated proxy, and communications with a given serverless proxy will be vendor specific in their form and format.
Serverless code can be used in conjunction with code deployed in traditional styles, such as microservices. Alternatively, applications can be written to be completely serverless and entirely avoid the use of provisioned servers.
The website called "Serverless Architectures" dated 22 May 2018 (and at the following URL address https://martinfowler.com/articles/serverless.html) states as follows: "Serverless architectures are application designs that incorporate third-party 'Backend as a Service' (BaaS) services and/or that include custom code run in managed, ephemeral containers on a 'Functions as a Service' (FaaS) platform."
Serverless architectures are known to move much behavior to the front end. When using a service, the consumer only depends on the proxy and sends requests to the proxy. "Serverless" architectures typically remove, or reduce, the need for the traditional "always on" server systems sitting behind an application. "Sitting behind" means underlying here, particularly the servers or other hardware to deploy or run an application.
The use of proxies in computing (herein sometimes referred to as "proxies" or "proxy servers") is known. A proxy server is used when a communication: (i) is sent from a source computing device over a communication network including a set of proxy computing device(s) and to a target computing device; (ii) the set of proxy computing device(s) do not reveal an identity of the target computing device (or user(s) associated therewith) to the source computing device; and (iii) the set proxy computing device(s) communicate the communication to the target computing device. Typically, the communication from the source to the target is responsive to a request from the target computing device to the source computing device, where: (i) the request also is communicated through the proxy; and (ii) the proxy prevents the source device from receiving an effective identification of the target.
In computer networks, a proxy server is a server (a computer system or an application) that typically acts as an intermediary for requests from clients seeking resources from other servers. Typically, a client connects to the proxy server, requesting some service, such as a file, connection, web page, or other resource available from a different server and the proxy server evaluates the request as a way to simplify and control its complexity. Proxies were invented to add structure and encapsulation to distributed systems. Today, most proxies are web proxies, facilitating access to content on the World Wide Web, providing anonymity and may be used to bypass IP address blocking. A proxy server may reside on the user's local computer, or at various points between the user's computer and destination servers on the Internet.
In some cases, a proxy can be right on the user's computer and not on an intermediate computer. Whether the proxy is in the user's computer, or in an intermediate computer, the IP address of the proxy is typically reachable in the user's LAN (local area network) (for example, 127.0.0.1 or localhost for the user's computer, and 126.96.36.199 for an intermediate computer).

Multiple vendor services oriented architecture (SOA) service requesting proxy

International Business Machines Corporation


The number of registers allocated to each register window (module) is stored in the memory means. The registers, constituting each module are determined by the number allocated in the memory means. Namely, in accordance with individual procedures in the program, a working register used on that procedure is determined and the number of registers constituting the working register is determined.. In addition, memorization of the number of registers allocated to each register window in the memory means is automatically carried out on the basis of address information for a working register. Alternatively, memorization of the number of allocation is carried out on the basis of one of the instructions that the CPU can execute.

As the microprocessor in accordance with SPARC architecture, there are microprocessor systems using a register window structure. In these programs (using a procedure call many times) used in such systems, many windows are used.
Accordingly, in the case where the number of windows on the microprocessor chip is low, overhead by the overflow/underflow trap processing of the window becomes a great problem. In the SPARC architecture, 16 registers having a length of 32 bits are required in order to add one window. However, since the number of windows on the chip is restricted by the area occupied by the hardware, it is impossible to actually increase the number of windows. In this connection, in the SPARC, it is prescribed that the number of windows is six at the minimum and is 32 at the maximum.
Since the microprocessor of the background art is constructed as described above, the number of registers allotted or allocated to one window is fixed (hereinafter this will be called a fixing system). However, there are many instances where the number of registers actually used in the individual procedure calls is less than the number of allocation. The fact that the number of allocation is fixed is very redundant. For this reason, there cannot be employed, e.g., such a method for effectively utilizing the register to allot a register which is not used in a current window to another window with a present window thus to increase the number of windows.
As a technique to solve such a problem, a variable system, such that the number of registers allotted to one window is variable, is known.

Microprocessor with variable size register windowing


A golf club shaft formed by winding prepregs, made of reinforced fibers impregnated with a thermosetting resin, into layers and thermally curing the prepregs. The golf club shaft includes a 90-degree prepreg, a fiber direction of which is orthogonal to a longitudinal direction of the golf club shaft and which is provided on each of an inner layer side and an outer layer side, and the golf club shaft satisfies the following condition: 2.0≦D2/D1≦4.0, wherein D1 designates a thickness of the inner-layer-side 90-degree prepreg, and D2 designates a thickness of the outer-layer-side 90-degree prepreg.

Instead of golf club shafts made of steel, golf club shafts made of FRP (Fiber Reinforced Plastics) which are formed by winding prepregs, made of reinforced fibers (e.g., carbon fibers) impregnated with a thermosetting resin, into layers and thermally curing the same have been widely used.
FIG. 6 is a schematic perspective view illustrating a configuration example of a typical conventional golf club shaft 1. The golf club shaft 1 includes a compressive rigidity (crush rigidity) holding layer 2, a torsional rigidity holding layer 3 and a bending rigidity holding layer 4, in that order toward the outer layer side from the inner layer side. The compressive rigidity holding layer 2 is configured of a prepreg (90-degree (hoop) layer prepreg) whose fiber direction is orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the shaft, the torsional rigidity holding layer 3 is configured of a prepreg (biasing prepreg; prepreg of a 45-degree layer) whose fiber direction is inclined to the longitudinal direction of the shaft, and the bending rigidity holding layer 4 is configured of a prepreg (prepreg of a 0-degree layer) whose fiber direction is parallel to the longitudinal direction of the shaft. The compressive rigidity holding layer 2 is sometimes layered on top of the torsional rigidity holding layer 3. The prepregs configuring the compressive rigidity holding layer 2 and the bending rigidity holding layer 4 are usually referred to as UD (unidirectional) prepregs since the fibers thereof extend in a single direction. Furthermore, the torsional rigidity holding layer 3 usually includes a pair of UD prepregs (45-degree layers/biasing prepregs) whose fiber directions are symmetrical with respect to the longitudinal direction of the shaft (generally ±45° relative to the longitudinal direction); in addition, the applicant of the present invention has also developed the golf club shaft 1 in which a plain weave fabric (biaxial woven fabric) prepreg, a triaxial woven fabric prepreg and a tetra-axial woven fabric prepreg that are made by impregnating a plain weave fabric (biaxial woven fabric), a triaxial woven fabric and a tetra-axial woven fabric with a thermosetting resin, respectively, are incorporated in the torsional rigidity holding layer 3.
On the other hand, the trend in weight reduction of golf club shafts of recent years has been significant, and the applicant of the present invention has been promoting the development of ultra-lightweight golf club shafts having a total weight of 35 grams or less.
A simple manner of reducing the weight of a golf club shaft is to reduce the number of prepregs constituting the golf club shaft and to reduce the total weight by reducing the thickness and density of each prepreg. However, when it is attempted to achieve reduction in weight of a golf club shaft to the limit, e.g., a reduction to 35 grams or less, this attempt is always accompanied by the problem of reduction in the strength (especially bending strength and torsional strength) of the golf club shaft, thus increasing the possibility of the gold club shaft being damaged. In other words, in the technical field of golf club shafts, there is basically a trade-off relationship between the shaft weight reduction and shaft strength maintenance, and conventional golf club shafts are still incapable of meeting the demand for both shaft weight reduction and shaft strength maintenance.

Golf club shaft and golf club using the same


The invention relates to a cleaning apparatus comprising a cleaning device placed on a first side of the apparatus to perform a cleaning apparatus perpendicular to the general direction of advance of the apparatus. The apparatus could also include a second lateral cleaning device located on a side opposite the first side of the apparatus, to perform, simultaneously with the first cleaning device, the desired cleaning operation perpendicular to the general direction of advance of the apparatus, so as to be able to complete the entire cleaning operation without it being necessary for the apparatus to proceed along a wall.

The invention relates mainly to a method and apparatus for cleaning floors.
It is known to make apparatuses for the automatic or semi-automatic cleaning of floors. These apparatuses must perform a complete sweeping or cleaning of the surface of the floor to be cleaned. An example of a particularly efficient apparatus is described in French Patent 86 17356. This apparatus, moving along the walls of the room to be cleaned, includes a cleaning device or devices that are deployed in a direction perpendicular to the general direction of advance of the apparatus. The sweeping or cleaning actions are initially performed while the apparatus is at rest. Thus, after the cleaning of a first strip of floor has been performed, the apparatus advances by a length that is less than the width of the cleaned strip of floor, and the operation of deploying the cleaning devices is then repeated.
However, this device exhibits many drawbacks. Furthermore, this prior art device is cylindrical and must be able to pass through the doors and the standard openings made in buildings to allow access therein. It is found, therefore, that its diameter and consequently its surface on the floor are very limited. Thus, its stability is precarious. Further, the wheels are of a small diameter and the motors generate a relating small amount of power. The apparatus, proceeding along both walls, must travel a considerable distance, thus lengthening the cleaning time.
In this prior art device, it is possible to limit the length of the deployment of a hose provided with a cleaning nozzle. Normally, this length of deployment is equal to half of the width of the room. Even in this case, there are surfaces, particularly at the corners of the room, that are cleaned several times, this successive cleaning lengthens cleaning time. Additionally, the distance of travel corresponds to the length of the four walls of the room, possibly increased by obstacles that the apparatus must negotiate, thereby resulting in a cleaning time of a typical room of approximately six minutes. The width of the nozzle is limited to half the diameter of the apparatus. The small diameter of the prior art would limit the width of the nozzle to approximately 26 cm. Therefore, the complete cleaning of a typical room would necessitate performing a large number of sweeps, a source of delay.
The prior art apparatus must proceed along the walls of the room, thereby creating a track in the floor caused by the wheels. Also, the rotation of the guiding wheel is always performed exactly at the same place, which risks causing wear or at the very least, marking of the carpets.

Apparatus and method for cleaning floors


An automatic document feeding apparatus for feeding a document to a flatbed scanner to conduct the scanning processes. The automatic document feeding apparatus includes an upper body, a lower body, a feeding path and at least a linkage set. The linkage set is able to uphold the upper body separated completely from the lower body. In this case, the spaces left between the upper body and the lower body is relatively wide for users to clear the jammed document. Further, the linkage set comprises plastic pad for providing stopping resistance to maintain said upper body at a certain distance above the lower body.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an automatic document feeding apparatus, especially a feeding apparatus having an improved separation mechanism utilized in the feeding path.
2. Background Description
Scanner devices have been broadly employed to the image processing industry. The scanners can generally be categorized to two types, which are sheet-fed scanners and flatbed scanners. However, if there are many documents containing mass papers to be necessarily scanned, it would be difficult to employ a flatbed scanner to do the job. In this case, an automatic document feeder (ADF) is utilized in a flatbed scanner. The ADF is able to feed papers one by one to the flatbed scanner.
As shown in FIG. 1, an automatic document feeder 1 has an upper body 11 and a lower body 13. A feeding path 10 is located between the upper body 11 and the lower body 13. Main rollers 16, 20 and the auxiliary rollers 14, 18 further move a document along the feeding path 10. The feeding path 10 is formed by an inner shell 102 and an outer shell 104. The feeding path further contains a scanning area 12 which is an opening formed in the bottom of the outer shell 104. By the main rollers 16, 20 and the auxiliary rollers 14, 18, the document 34 is moved along the feeding path 10. The document is therefore inputted from the entrance 24 to the feeding path 10, and then be outputted to the exit 26. The automatic document feeder is positioned on the flatbed scanner 40. The scanning area 12 is located exactly on the image reading device of the flatbed scanner 40. When the document 34 is passed through the scanning area 12, the flatbed scanner will scan the document 34.
In the real using environment, the document 34 is occasionally jammed in the feeding path 10. In this case, the automatic document feeder is able to be separated to two parts such as an upper body and a lower body, along the separation axle 28, in order to clear the jammed document. However, referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, if the jammed area is near the entrance 12 or the scanning area 12, it would be easier to remove the jammed document since there are lots spaces to clear the document. But if the jammed area is near the exit 26 or the separation axle 28, it would be very difficult to remove the jammed document since the space left there is tight.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an automatic document feeding apparatus for automatically feeding documents into the feeding path, which provides larger spaces for removing jammed documents in the feeding path.

Automatic document feeding apparatus having separation mechanism


The invention includes an automotive exhaust gas sensor including an inside belleville design, wherein a belleville spring is located inside a middle shell sub-assembly and below an upper insulator. The design provides for improved interior loading pressures with improved resiliency for a self-contained air reference source exhaust gas sensors.

A variety of automotive exhaust gas sensors are known. FIG. 1 illustrates a prior art sealed, watertight oxygen gas sensor 10 including electrical leads 12, 14, 16 connecting to a heating element 18, and to internal and external electrodes 20, 22 surrounding a conical-shaped electrolyte body 24 made of zirconia. The exhaust sensor housing includes a lower tubular louvered shell 26, a thicker middle shell 28 and an upper tubular shell 30. The conical-shaped electrolyte body and heater are held in position by a sub-assembly including an upper ceramic insulator through which a heating element passes. An annular finger 32 of the middle shell is crimped over a first shoulder 34 formed in the upper ceramic insulator to hold the electrolyte body and heater in position. A belleville washer 36 is positioned above the middle housing and located to be biased against a shoulder 38 formed in the upper tubular shell and a second shoulder 35 formed on the upper ceramic insulator body. During the operation of the oxygen sensor, the assembly undergoes thermal expansion and contraction. The belleville washer is positioned to provide a downward force on the upper ceramic insulator body and thus the heating element 18 and electrolyte body 24 to maintain their position and electrical contact within the sensor. The downward force of the belleville washer also maintains a tight seal by way of a lower annular gasket 37 positioned between a lower sloped shoulder 39 of the electrolyte body and a sloped shoulder 41 of the middle shell to provide a gastight seal.
However, this design illustrated in FIG. 1 is not optimal. When the annular finger 32 of the middle shell is crimped over the first shoulder 34 of the upper ceramic insulator, the crimped finger can bind the ceramic insulator so that the insulator moves with the expansion of the middle shell. However, since the ceramic insulator is stuck in the middle shell, the belleville washer 36 cannot transmit a sufficient force to maintain a seal on the lower gasket 37 between the lower sloped shoulder 39 of the electrolyte body and the lower sloped shoulder 41 of the middle shell. Thus, this design can result in exhaust gas entering the housing and contaminating the air reference gas for the sensing device. The exhaust gas entering through the lower seal results in displacement of reference oxygen and can result in a lower oxygen concentration on the wrong side (the side of the inner electrolyte body wall forming the conical-shaped cavity) of the electrolyte body thus resulting in a negative signal shift being produced by the oxygen sensor.
FIG. 2 illustrates a water resistant design in which the upper shell 50 is not hermetically welded to the middle shell 52, but is mechanically secured with a locking washer 54 located above a crimp finger 56 of the middle shell. The upper shell 50 is pushed downward over the locking washer. The locking washer 54 provides a friction fit and bends downward as the upper shell 50 is pushed down, but digs into the upper shell 50 when it is lifted upward. This type of sensor has a air reference that is open to the atmosphere. This design is much less sensitive to exhaust gas leakage into the air reference side of the sensing element because of the dilution of leaking exhaust gas by the atmosphere. This design utilizes a wave washer disk spring (shown in FIG. 3) 58 in the internal assembly. The assembly includes an upper ceramic insulator 60 having a upper sloped shoulder 59 and a flat lower shoulder 61. A hole is formed in the upper ceramic insulator for receiving a heating element 18. A terminal post 62 for the heating element extends through the electrolyte body and includes an outwardly extending annular flat 72. A gripper 63 is carried inside the terminal post. The conical-shaped electrolyte body 64 is surrounded by inner and outer electrodes 66, 68. The conical-shaped electrolyte body includes a lower sloped shoulder 76 which engages an annular lower gasket 70 resting on a lower sloped shoulder 78 of the middle shell. An open nipple of an upper gasket 74 extends into the open end of the conical-shaped electrolyte body and also includes an annular flat which rests against an upper shoulder of the electrolyte body. A wave washer spring 58 is positioned between an upper ceramic insulator 60 and the terminal post 62. An annular finger 56 of the middle shell is crimped over the upper ceramic insulator 60. The vented air reference chamber provides the sensor with a continuous source of reference oxygen and therefore this type of sensor is less sensitive to the problems associated with "watertight" oxygen sensors having internal exhaust leaks. Further, application of wave-type washers have shown limited resiliency and are only capable of exerting a load of about 200-300 lbs.
Thus, heretofore, there has been a need for a watertight, sealed automotive exhaust gas sensor which overcomes the deficiencies of the prior art.