A flat radiating cable in which conductive layers are not adhered to a dielectric core. Each of the conductive layers comprises a resilient material which resists kinking and is capable of longitudinal translation with respect to the core and/or the other conductive layer.

The present invention relates generally to the field of radiating cables and more specifically to a flat, flexible radiating cable used as a transmitting and/or receiving antenna.
Radiating or xe2x80x9cleakyxe2x80x9d cables are well known in the art of radio transceivers. Flat radiating cables are also known. They are an alternative to coaxial radiating cables and especially well suited for certain applications where a low profile is desirable. Further, they are generally inexpensive to manufacture do to their simple construction.
Examples of flat radiating cables are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,800,634 to Grieg et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 6,081,728 to Stein et al. These prior art flat radiating cables all suffer from a common weakness. Such cables generally include a flexible dielectric core laminated between and adhered to two conductive layers, such as the flat cable 50 shown in FIG. 1.
A typical material which is used for the conductive layers is a metallic foil, such as copper. However, as illustrated in FIG. 2, when the cable 50 is flexed, kinks 52 may develop in the foil. This kinking effect is due, at least in part, to the differences in longitudinal compressibility between the various materials employed in the cable 50. Such kinks 52 have the adverse effect of significantly limiting the frequency response of the cable 50 at higher frequencies.
There is an increasing use of higher frequency transmission, such as in wireless data transmission. Thus, it would be desirable to provide a flat radiating cable for high frequency radio transmission and/or reception that is not prone to the frequency limiting kinks described above.
According to the present invention, a radiating cable is provided. The cable comprises a first layer comprising conductive material, a second layer comprising conductive material, and a dielectric layer being positioned between and adjacent to both the first layer and the second layer. At least one of the first layer and the second layer comprises a resilient material. Further, at least one of the first layer, the second layer, and the dielectric layer is movable relative to the other layers.


We provide methods for influencing the presentation of image information displayed on a display device of a piece of information technology equipment using a transformation of an image including performing a first transformation according to a control motion performed by the user; and triggering a transformation; providing a field on the display device such that the field at the conclusion of the control motion remains activatable for at least a defined or definable period, and performing an additional transformation that is identical to the first transformation each time the field is activated by the user.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments relate to methods for influencing the presentation of image information displayed on a display device of a piece of information technology equipment. Embodiments may also relate to a computer program product for a respective control device of a piece of information technology equipment that executes these methods, a data carrier with a computer program product stored on it and a piece of information technology equipment with a control device that is designed for the execution of the aforementioned methods. Finally, embodiments relate to the use of a control device for controlling the display device of a piece of information technology equipment.
2. Background of the Related Art
Information technology equipment in terms of the present invention includes, for example, desktop computers, laptops or notebooks as well as mobile phones, in particular so-called Smartphones, tablet computers, MP3 players, portable video or DVD players, etc. Increasingly, such information technology equipment, referred to in short as IT equipment below, features a so-called touchscreen, that is, a display device that is touch-sensitive and can therefore be used by a user for controlling the display device. Increasingly so-called swipe motions or swipe gestures are used and serve as control motions. Such swipe gestures are, for example, vertical scrolling through lists or horizontal scrolling between different views in an image gallery, for example. The swipe gestures are often motions of the hand or finger of the user of such equipment. Since such equipment has only display devices of a limited size, it is not easy to guarantee the precision of such swipe gestures. Thus, each swipe gesture performed allows only for a certain amount of scrolling in order to achieve a certain minimum precision level for the procedure. Then scrolling must begin anew by interrupting or ending the swipe gesture and returning the respective finger to the starting point to repeat the swipe gesture.
Thus, to carry out several swipe gestures, a relatively long path must be covered by the finger that executes the swipe gesture with a big portion of the covered path being useless because it only serves to return the finger to the starting point of the swipe gesture. Such long paths also increase the time required to perform such swipe gestures.
It is further known to take the speed of the swipe gestures into account in order to accelerate scrolling in longer lists. However, this decreases the accuracy of the scrolling process because stopping it cannot be influenced directly.
It is also known to provide a separate scrollbar as an alternative for scrolling. However, the disadvantage of this is that space is lost for the actual objective, namely the presentation of information, due to the obviously limited area on the display device.

Method for controlling an image on a display

Abstract: The invention furthermore relates to a corresponding piece of information technology equipment.


Width of a space for receiving staples of a magazine is greater than length of the staples and is less than the sum of the length of the staples to ½ of the diameter of the staples, preferably ⅓ thereof or less. The magazine is formed as half split bodies on either side of a rail along the length thereof, a convex positioning part is provided on one of the half split bodies, a concavity for engaging with the positioning convexity is formed on the other half split body, support holes for engaging with positioning parts are formed in the half split bodies, a locking part for holding engagement with the other half split body is provided on said one of the half split bodies, and a to-be-locked part for engaging with the locking part is formed on the other half split body.

A conventional medical stapler as illustrated in FIGS. 4 through 6 disclosed in Patent Document 1 is well known. FIG. 4 shows orthogonal views of a medical stapler, where 4(a) is a top view, 4(b) is a lateral cross-sectional view, and 4(c) is a front view. FIGS. 5(a) to 5(c) are diagrams describing a sequence for forming a staple. FIG. 6 illustrates staples stored in the magazine, where 6(a) is a side view and 6(b) is a cross-sectional view cut along the line I-I of 6(a). A summary thereof will be described below.
A medical stapler 10′ illustrated in FIG. 4 is constituted by a housing 1, a lever 2, which is rotatably attached to the housing 1, and a magazine 4, which is attached to the housing 1 in a detachable manner and houses multiple staples 3. The magazine 4 includes a rail 5, which is fixed within the magazine 4, an anvil 5a, which is formed by making an edge of the rail 5 thin and bending it, a ram 6, which is arranged in a movable manner to and back from the edge of the anvil 5a, and a biasing member 7, which biases the ram 6 in a direction away from the edge of the anvil 5a. The rail 5 has a convex structure having a high center and a base part on either side, where a predetermined number of staples 3 are aligned so as to straddle the convexity of the rail 5, and both legs of the staples 3 are placed on the base part on either side of the rail 5. These staples 3 are biased toward the anvil 5a on the edge of the rail 5 by an elastic member 8.
The housing 1 and the lever 2 are made of synthetic resin, such as ABS resin, and formed into shapes in consideration of gripping ease and user-friendliness.
The magazine 4 is formed as a separate body from the housing 1, where the lever 2 and the housing 1 are attached thereto to complete the medical stapler 10′. The magazine 4 is molded integrally using transparent ABS resin, allowing external confirmation of remaining number of the staples stored therewithin.
The staples 3 are stored within a receiving space in the magazine 4 where a predetermined number are lined up, and then placed on the rail 5. The staples 3 are formed by bending a rounded, stainless-steel wire rod into a u-shape, and as shown in FIG. 5(a), are formed having pointed legs 3a so as to reduce resistance when both end portions pierce through a living organism. A portion connecting both of the legs 3a and 3a is referred to as a crown 3b, which is a portion that is bent when suturing the living organism. Moreover, each of the staples 3 is stored with the legs 3a tilting in the advancing direction and the crown 3b tilting in the retreating direction, as shown in FIG. 6(a). The stapler may be downsized by tilting them in this manner at a tilt angle α of 45 to 60 degrees.
Note that length of the crown 3b of the stapler 3 is referred to as staple width, herein.
FIG. 5 are diagrams describing a sequence for forming the staple 3 in order to suture a wound. The stapler 10′ is mainly used for suturing a wound on a body surface. When the edge of the stapler 10′ is placed on the diseased portion, and the lever 2 shown in FIG. 4(b) is rotated in direction a by application of force, the ram 6 is driven to the lever 2 and lowered, where the edges of the ram 6 finally touch the crown 3b of the staple 3 as shown in FIG. 5(a). When the ram 6 continues to be lowered even further, the crown 3b is bent in a curved shape, as shown in FIG. 5(b). The legs 3a pierce through the skin at this time. When the ram 6 is lowered even further, as shown in FIG. 5(c), the crown 6 is bent at a right angle at both ends of the anvil 5a, the legs 3a become parallel to the anvil 5a in the living tissue beneath the wound, and the staple 3 is bent into a quadrangle, thereby completing a single suture. At this time, only the central portion of the crown 3b appears above the skin, and the other three sides of the quadrangle are buried in the living tissue. Width of the anvil 5a corresponds to the lateral dimension of the quadrangle formed when the staple 3 is formed.
When eliminating the force applied on the lever 2, the lever 2 is rotated in direction b of FIG. 4(b) due to energization force of the bias member 7, the ram 6 is raised, and then returned to the initial position. Repeating the above operation feeds the staples 3 one after another and suturing is repeated.
FIG. 6 illustrates the staples 3 stored in the magazine 4, where 6(a) is a side view and 6(b) is a cross-sectional view cut along the line I-I of 6(a).
A predetermined number of the staples 3 are lined up on the rail 5, pushed by the elastic member 8, and pushed out toward the anvil 5a. Moreover, as described above, the staples 3 in the drawing is slanted at a tilt angle α of 45 to 60 degrees so that the legs 3a tilt in the advancing direction but the crown 3b tilts in the retreating direction. As shown in FIG. 6(b), a staple receiving space 9 of the magazine 4 has width defined by walls 4a and 4b on the left and right sides in the advancing direction, and top and bottom defined by a roof 4c and top surface of the bases of the rail 5. If there is no gap in the vertical direction between the roof and the staples 3 and the width (lateral) direction, the staples 3 cannot progress within the receiving space 9, and the stapler is thus unusable.
Therefore, an appropriate gap is reserved in the width direction and the vertical direction, assuring movement of the staples 3. However, the staples 3 are made by bending round bars, each of the staples 3 are detached, and thereby multiple staples are not lightly connected as are staples for stationary usage. Accordingly, each of the staples 3 is arranged on the bases of the rail 5 and therefore cannot be moved therebelow; however, it is movable above and to the left and right. As a result, there is the following problem in the case where a gap between the left and right walls 4a and 4b is to large. That is, when adjacent staples 3 shift to the left and right, and if the elastic member 8 is then pressed, the staples 3 are pushed and moved toward the left and right walls 4a and 4b orthogonal to the advancing direction, and thrust against the walls 4a and 4b, stuck in without being able to move (which is referred to as "jamming"), and thereby the medical stapler 10 becoming unusable.
Moreover, the staples 3 have a tilt at an angle α within the receiving space 9, as described before; however, when progression is not smooth, the staples 3 rise up and the tilt angle α increases. As a result, the front edges of the sharp legs 3a catch onto the surface of the rail 5, leading to jamming of the staples.
Patent Document 2 proposes relative twisting of a pair of legs of a stapler to provide stable supply of staples. Twisting allows control of the twisted state, allowing smooth supply of staples. However, this configuration does not resolve the problem of jamming of staples due to a gap within the receiving space, and problem of jamming of staples due to catching.
Furthermore, the conventional magazine 4 has an integral structure resulting from injection molding of synthetic resin, formation of space for storing the ram 6 and the biasing member 7 is necessary, and it has a complex form. Therefore, there are problems of a complex metal structure and high manufacturing cost of the magazine.


A company may implement automated workflows for convenience of users or to reduce support costs. For example, allowing a user to change an address using an automated workflow may be faster or less expensive than with a human agent. In some instances, a first communications session may be started between a first user and a second user. During the first communications session, one or more communications may be processed to select an intent of the first user and a value of an information item communicated by the first user. An automated workflow may be selected to continue assisting the first user, and the first user may be transferred to a second communications session with the automated workflow. The automated workflow may be initialized with the value of the information item that was provided during the first communications session so that the first user does not need to repeat information.

Conversations between entities (e.g., people, automated response systems, and/or combinations of these) may occur in a variety of circumstances, such as customer support sessions between a customer of a company and a customer service representative who is assisting the customer. Conversations may occur over different types of channels. For example, some conversations may occur over a text channel where the participants in the conversation exchange messages in the form of text, and some conversations may occur over a voice channel where the participants in the conversation speak to each by transmitting audio signals.
In some instances, it may be desired to switch between a type of channel (e.g., from a voice channel to a text channel) or between various conversing entities (e.g., a person and/or an automated conversation entity). Presently known systems suffer from a number of drawbacks when switching between conversation channels and/or participants. For example, delays and/or interruptions may occur during transitions, such as: where the conversing entity determines that a channel or entity switch has occurred and spends time determining the new correct channel or entity; where a conversing entity utilizes an incorrect channel (e.g., missing the switch, and/or switching to the wrong channel); and/or where a conversing entity misses a message that must be repeated and/or leads to a miscommunication (e.g., where the channel has switched but the conversing entity is not aware of the switch). Additionally or alternatively, changes in the channel and/or participants may lead to more difficult or erroneous communications—for example where previous communications are not readily accessible in the new channel format; where some history of the communications is lost, forgotten, or omitted; and/or where changes in the new channel (e.g., communication conventions, addresses, etc.) lead to a delay in providing a new message, understanding a previous message, and/or providing a sub-optimal message for the new channel.


A coupler for a faucet is disclosed which couples a first waterway component and a second waterway component, the coupler being an overmold component.

The present invention relates generally to a connection between a first waterway component and a second waterway component and, more particularly, to an overmold coupler which secures the first waterway component to the second waterway component in a faucet assembly.
Faucets are generally controlled by either a single handle which utilizes a mixing valve to proportion the flow of hot and cold water to a delivery spout, or dual-handles which utilize two individual valves to control the flow of hot and cold water. The valve bodies which house the respective valves are each typically connected to an upstream waterway through a conventional mechanical connection, such as mating threads. Further, each valve body is typically connected to a downstream waterway by brazing the valve bodies to the downstream waterway. In other examples the valve bodies and the downstream waterway are cast as a single component. Brazing requires additional time, assembly, and inspection. One of the problems with a brazing connection is that undesirable materials, such as harmful metals may be communicated from the brazing material into the water passing through the connection. Additionally, brazing requires a etching operation to be performed subsequent to the brazing operation.
In a exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a faucet for connection to a water supply having a hot water supply and a cold water supply is provided. The faucet comprising: a hot water inlet member having a hot water fluid inlet adapted to be coupled to the hot water supply, a hot water fluid outlet, and an internal waterway connecting the hot water fluid inlet to the hot water fluid outlet; a cold water inlet member having a cold water fluid inlet adapted to be coupled to the cold water supply, a cold water fluid outlet and an internal waterway connecting the cold water fluid inlet to the cold water fluid outlet; a waterway component having a first fluid inlet, a second fluid inlet, a fluid outlet and an internal waterway connecting the first fluid inlet, the second fluid inlet, and the fluid outlet; at least one coupler configured to maintain the position of the hot water inlet member relative to the waterway component and to maintain the position of the cold water inlet member relative to the waterway component, the at least one coupler being an overmold of at least a first portion of the hot water inlet member, a first portion of the cold water inlet member, and a first portion of the waterway component, the at least one coupler coupling the hot water inlet member and the waterway component such that the internal waterway of the hot water inlet member is in fluid communication with the internal waterway of the waterway component and coupling the cold water inlet member and the waterway component such that the internal waterway of the cold water inlet member is in fluid communication with the internal waterway of the waterway component. In an example, the at least one coupler includes a first overmold coupler which couples the hot water inlet member to the waterway component and a second overmold coupler which couples the cold water inlet member to the waterway component. In another example, the at least one coupler includes a first overmold coupler which couples the hot water inlet member to the waterway component and the cold water inlet member to the waterway component. In a variation the faucet further comprises a hot water upstream waterway coupled to the hot water inlet member, the hot water upstream waterway being positioned downstream from the hot water supply and upstream to the hot water inlet member, wherein the first overmold coupler further couples the hot water inlet member to the hot water upstream waterway. In another variation, the faucet further comprises a cold water upstream waterway coupled to the cold water inlet member, the cold water upstream waterway being positioned downstream from the cold water supply and upstream to the cold water inlet member, wherein the first overmold coupler further couples the cold water inlet member to the cold water upstream waterway. In a further example, the faucet further comprises a first user input device configured to control a flow rate of hot water exiting the fluid outlet of the hot water inlet member, the first user input device being positioned above the at least one coupler, and a second user input device configured to control a flow rate of cold water exiting the fluid outlet of the cold water inlet member, the second user input device being positioned above the at least one coupler.
In another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a faucet is provided. The faucet comprising: a first waterway component of the faucet having an internal waterway; a second waterway component of the faucet having an internal waterway, the second component being positioned such that the internal waterway of the second waterway component is in fluid communication with the internal waterway of the first waterway component; a valve positioned within the first waterway component to control the flow rate of fluid through the first waterway component; a user input device coupled to the valve; and a coupler configured to maintain the position of the second waterway component relative to the first waterway component, the coupler being an overmold of at least a first portion of the first waterway component and a first portion of the second waterway component, wherein the coupler is spaced apart from the fluid being communicated by the internal waterways of the first waterway component and the second waterway component and wherein the user input device is external relative to the coupler. In an example, the coupler is made of a glass reinforced polypropylene. In another example, a seal is positioned between the first waterway component and the second waterway component. In a further example, the first waterway component and the second waterway component are housed in an escutcheon and the first user input device extends above the escutcheon.
In an exemplary method of the present invention, a method of assembling a faucet is provided. The method comprising the steps of: providing a first waterway component of the faucet having an internal waterway and a second waterway component of the faucet having an internal waterway; positioning the first waterway component and the second waterway component in a mold such that a fluid outlet of the internal waterway of the first waterway component is generally positioned proximate to a fluid inlet of the second waterway component; and molding a coupler over at least a portion of the first waterway component and at least a portion of the second waterway component, wherein the internal waterway of the first waterway component and the internal waterway of the second waterway component are in fluid communication and the coupler is spaced apart from the internal waterway of the first waterway component and the second waterway component. In an example, the method further comprises the step of positioning a valve within the first waterway component, the valve being configured to control the flow rate of fluid through the internal waterway of the first waterway component, the valve being positioned within the first waterway component prior to the step of molding a coupler. In one variation, the method further comprising the steps of: placing an escutcheon over the coupler; and coupling a first user input device to the valve, the first user input device being located above the escutcheon.
Additional features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of the illustrative embodiment exemplifying the best mode of carrying out the invention as presently perceived.


A coated duct fabric for wire wound flexible ducts that is constructed from woven fabric having flat filament fill yarns and spun warp yarns woven in a 1/1 plain box weave.

In flexible ducts, a coated fabric or film is secured to a helical wire. The coated fabric can be secured by adhesives, crimping or sewing. The ducts are typically used to exhaust gases and vapors from a confined working area, i.e. the holds of ships, below ground electrical conduits, etc. The ducts should be flexible, extendable, collapsible, gas impermeable, fire resistant, abrasion resistant, lightweight and have strength in the fill (longitudinal) direction of the duct.
The fabric customarily used for duct material is a woven or non-woven material which is saturated and/or coated. The fabrics that are particularly useful for this purpose are square woven, oxford or duck.
To achieve the aforementioned properties for a flexible duct, the primary emphasis has been on varying the coatings that are applied to the fabric; such as applying coatings on both sides, modifying the chemical/physical characteristics of the coatings, applying multiple coatings at differing viscosities, etc.
Of the aforementioned desirable properties, the present invention results in specific improvements in increasing the strength of the duct in the fill direction, reducing the weight of the duct and minimizing the pin holes (gas impermeable) in the duct material. The advantages are achieved by the use of a particular fabric weave.
Broadly, flat fill yarns are used in simple weaves with spun warp yarns. The flat fill yarns are much larger in denier than the warp yarns so fewer of them can be used yet strength is increased in the filled direction which is more critical and improves the finish duct durability. Although there are fewer larger denier yarns, because they lay flat they reduce the interstices in the fabric thereby both enabling less coating to cover more completely and reducing the number of pin holes. Further, the fill yarns are less expensive to process so the fabric cost is also reduced.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, a duct fabric comprises a woven fabric having flat filament fill yarns and spun warp yarns woven in a 1/1 plain box weave.


A base structure of a communication module comprising a left and a right base part symmetrically arranged and connecting mutually, wherein two engaging grooves are provided respectively at the bottom of the left base part and at the top of the right base part, and comprising two mutually symmetrically and conversely arranged connecting pin sets formed from multiple bent and grouped metallic wire conductors, two inclined connecting pin sets are respectively provided on the front ends of the grouped metallic wire conductors to contact plug pins, a horizontal middle section and a vertical section of each group of metallic wire conductors is enveloped thereover respectively with a horizontal and a vertical plate made of insulating material. The vertical plates are inserted respectively into the engaging grooves; in this way, the communication module can be fast assembled.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a base structure for a communication module, and especially to an improved base structure for a communication module in a stacked connector inserted with RJ-45 network-line plugs to get an effect of fast assembling the communication module.
2. Description of the Prior Art
RJ-45 network-lines are used in a large amount presently for data transmitting. Two ends of each RJ-45 network-line are provided each with a plug having multiple pins (generally 8 pins); the plug can be inserted into a connector for data transmitting.
In the structure of a connector, one or multiple communication modules are assembled on a seat and then the modules and the seat are covered with a metallic housing for shielding. As to the structure of each of the communication modules, basically a wave filtering coil is provided in an insulation base; the insulation base is provided at the front side of it with multiple inclined and elastic connecting pins. In composing the connector, these connecting pins are extended into holes matched respectively with plugs of the RJ-45 network-lines by shape on the seat, and can be contacted with the pins on the inserted plugs to thereby get electric conductive connection.
By the fact that data transmitting has been more and more required from day to day, stacked connectors have been designed and developed. In order to save space, a communication module in a stacked connector has two sets of connecting pins arranged at an upper and a lower position at the front side of an insulation base to be inserted into holes of a seat. The holes of the seat are in the shapes for insertion of an upper and a lower plug, pins on the two plugs are respectively contacted and electrically connected with the two sets of connecting pins for data transmitting.
FIG. 1 shows the interior structure of a conventional communication module in a stacked connector, wherein a wave filtering coil is provided in a space 911 sealed by a circuit board for getting functions of wave filtering and insulating abnormal voltage to protect the communication module from damage. In the conventional structure of the communication module, two side pin boards 908 with arciform pins 910 to be contacted with the pins of an RJ-45 network-line plug are respectively inserted into two engaging grooves 904 of two protruding boards 902, the arciform pins 910 protrude respectively out of two slots 905, the side pin boards 908 and the engaging grooves 904 are very small structures for assembling in comparison with human fingers, assembling for them is very difficult and time consumptive.
Moreover, two lower pin boards (not shown) is mounted in two sets of lower receiving recesses 906 of a main body (divided into two parts 901), this renders the structure unstable and subjected to separating.


The invention provides an apparatus and a method to dissipate heat generated in a LED mounted lighting fixture, comprising an active heat sink with a plurality of integral vents into such active heat sink, wherein the plurality of vents have only two openings, a first opening and a second opening, wherein the active sink is characterized by an induced local air convection current, induced by heat generated at a LED junction in the LED mounted lighting fixture.

Light emitting diodes or solid-state lighting are replacing incandescent bulbs, compact fluorescent lamp (CFL), High Pressure Sodium Vapor Lamp, Metal Halide Lamp and Halogens as a source of illumination for various indoor and outdoor applications worldwide. According to a study, by U.S. Department of Energy published in Pittsburgh LED Street Light Research Project, use of LED (light-emitting diodes) lighting can reduce energy consumption by one-quarter, saving $120 billion in energy costs and diverting 246 million metric tons of carbon emissions in US alone.
However, management of the performance and life of LEDs is the major hurdle for successful and economical implementation of LED/SSL based lighting fixtures. Life and performance of any LED/SSL based device is critically associated with the heat generated during the operation of the LED. According to a study published in Pittsburgh LED Street Light Research Project it is estimated that about 70% to 80% of power consumed is converted to heat and only 20% to 30% is converted to visible light. Another paper published by authors N. Naredranet. al., having title"Long-term performance of White LED's and systems" discloses that the drive current and the ambient temperature surrounding the LED also affect the performance of LED device. Thus, making the use of the LED lighting systems, more apt for colder regions where the ambient temperature of the surrounding is lower, helping LED to perform better and have a higher rated life.
Moreover, the performance of LED lighting systems is affected by high operating temperatures. The high operating temperature degrades the performance of the LED lighting systems and also hampers the rated life. Empirical data has shown that LED lighting systems may have lifetimes up to50,000 hours while at room temperature; however, operation at close to 90 degree Celsius may reduce the LED life to less than 7,000 hours. Thus, effective management of the heat generated by the LEDs is critical technical problem.
Another factor affecting the successful and commercial implementation of the LEDs is the cost of the LED based lighting systems. The cost for LED based lighting system has two major components, the cost of LEDs, and the cost of material used as Heat Sink. With the pace at which the research is being made on LEDs and their manufacturing process, it is evident that the manufacturing cost for LEDs would reduce drastically over the time. Thereby, the quantum of metal used as heat sink would govern the affordability for a LED/SSL based lighting system. The amount of material used (especially cost of metal) shall dominate the cost of entire lighting apparatus.
Thus, the effective dissipation of heat for per gram of metal used to prepare a lighting fixture remains a long felt need of the society.
One of the prior art known to us that addresses the problem related to heat management in LED based lighting apparatus is discussed below:
US 2008007953 application filed by Keller Berndet. al. discusses the issue of heat management for solid-state lighting to improve the life and performance. The disclosure teaches the use of heat sink having at least partially porous structure. Keller Bernd et. al. further teaches that the pores in the material should interconnect with each other to facilitate an effective convective heat exchange with the ambient air.

Apparatus and method for management of heat in a LED mounted lighting fixture


A substrate processing apparatus includes a substrate rotator that holds and rotates a substrate including a film of a metal formed on a surface thereof, a first supply that supplies a first processing liquid containing a chelating agent and a solvent toward the substrate, a second supply that supplies a second processing liquid containing water toward the substrate, and a controller that controls the substrate rotator, the first supply, and the second supply. While rotating the substrate by the substrate rotator, the controller supplies the first processing liquid toward the substrate by the first supply to generate a complex containing the metal and the chelating agent, and after the generation of the complex, supplies the second processing liquid toward the substrate by the second supply to dissolve the complex in the second processing liquid.

In a semiconductor manufacturing process, an etching method has been known in which a part of a metal film formed on a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer is removed by supplying an etching liquid which contains a chelating agent and has a pH of 7 or more to the metal film (see, e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2018-181984).

Substrate processing apparatus, substrate processing method, and chemical liquid


In one embodiment, a method includes receiving a request to perform a task using a special character. The method further includes receiving from a user an indication specifying an interpretation of the special character and storing the indication. The method further includes interpreting the special character using the indication, and performing the task using the interpreted special character.

A computer program may utilize user input in the form of written characters such as letters, numbers, or other symbols to provide searching functionality. In certain instances, particular characters may be assigned functional meanings by the computer program in order to assist the program in performing its function. For example, a computer search engine may designate particular characters as operators (e.g., wild cards or space holders) which may be employed by a user in conjunction with partially or fully formed search terms to define the parameters of a search. Oftentimes, the results of such a search are largely defined by the functional meaning of the characters employed.

System and method for indicating special characters to be interpreted literally


Disclosed is a density evolution algorithm based on a refined definition of node and edge densities for different parts of the code. In particular, density functions ƒV(1)(i) and ƒV(2)(i) of the output edges of the variable nodes with degree i within different codeword regions w1 and we, respectively, are defined and then calculated. Further, density functions ƒC(1)(j) and ƒC(2)(j) of the output edges for check nodes with degree j within codeword regions w1 and we, respectively, are defined and then calculated. Mixture density functions of output check edges connecting variable nodes in the first codeword region and the second codeword region are then calculated to determine an LDPC code design.

The present invention relates generally to wireless communications, and more particularly to low-density parity check code design.
In wireless communications, a transmitter typically transmits information to a receiver over a communication channel. Statistically, a communication channel can be defined as a triple consisting of an input alphabet, an output alphabet, and for each pair (i,o) of input and output elements of each alphabet, a transition probability p(i,o). The transition probability is the probability that the receiver receives the symbol o given that the transmitter transmitted symbol i over the channel.
Given a communication channel, there exists a number, called the capacity of the channel, such that reliable transmission is possible for rates arbitrarily close to the capacity, and reliable transmission is not possible for rates above the capacity.
In some circumstances, the distance separating the transmitter (i.e., source) and the receiver (i.e., destination) is large. Alternatively or additionally, the communication channel over which the source and destination communicate may be poor quality. As a result, interference may be introduced in the communications between the source and the destination, which can result in distortion of the message.
To reduce the effect of interference, the transmitter and receiver often transmit information over a communication channel using a coding scheme. The coding scheme provides redundancy so that the message can be detected (and decoded) by the receiver in the presence of interference.
The coding scheme uses codes, which are an ensemble (i.e., group) of vectors that are to be transmitted by the transmitter. The length of the vectors are assumed to be the same and is referred to as the block length of the code. If the number of vectors is K=2k, then every vector can be described with k bits. If the length of the vectors is n, then in n times use of the channel k bits have been transmitted. The code then has a rate of k/n bits per channel use, or k/n bpc.
Low-density parity check (LDPC) codes are a class of linear block codes that often approach the capacity of conventional single user communication channels. The name comes from the characteristic of their parity-check matrix, which contains only a few 1's in comparison to the amount of 0's. LDPC codes may use linear time complex algorithms for decoding.
In more detail, LDPC codes are linear codes obtained from sparse bipartite graphs. FIG. 1 shows a graph 100 of an LDPC code. The graph 100 has n left nodes (i.e., x1 to x10) (called message nodes) and m right nodes (called check nodes). The graph 100 gives rise to a linear code of block length n and dimension at least n−m in the following way: the m coordinates of the codewords are associated with the n message nodes. The codewords are those vectors (c1, . . . , cn) such that, for all check nodes, the sum of the neighboring positions among the message nodes is zero.
Thus, a binary LDPC code is a linear block code with a sparse binary parity-check matrix. This m×n parity check matrix can be represented by a bipartite graph (e.g., as shown in FIG. 1) with n variable nodes corresponding to columns (bits in the codeword) and m check nodes corresponding to rows (parity check equations). A one in a certain row and column of the parity check matrix denotes an edge between the respective check and variable node in the graph, whereas a zero indicates the absence of an edge.
An LDPC code ensemble is characterized by its variable and check degree distributions (or profiles) λ=└λ2 . . . λdv┘ and ρ=└ρ2 . . . ρdc┘, respectively, where λi(ρi) denotes the fraction of edges connected to a variable (check) node of degree i, and dv(dc) is the maximum number of edges connected to any variable (check) node. An equivalent representation of LDPC code profiles can use generating functions
            λ                    (        x        )              =                  ∑                  i          =          2                          d          v                                            λ          i                                  x                      i            -            1                                ,                      ρ                    (        x        )              =                  ∑                  i          =          2                          d          c                                            ρ          i                                              x                          i              -              1                                .
The design rate of an ensemble can be given in terms of λ(x) and ρ(x) by
  R  =            1      -              m        n              =          1      -                                    ∫            0            1                                                        ρ                                            (                x                )                                                                ⅆ              x                                                            ∫            0            1                                                        λ                                            (                x                )                                                                ⅆ              x
Even while using a coding scheme, a destination may not be able to detect the transmitted message because of interference. In this case, a relay node, such as another transmitter or receiver, may be used in a system to relay the information transmitted by the source to the destination. For example, a relay can receive Y1 and send out X1 based on Y1.
Some methods have been introduced for the purpose of performance prediction of code ensembles, such as density evolution (DE) and extrinsic-mutual-information-transfer (EXIT). The design of rate compatible LDPC codes employing the conventional density evolution algorithm, however, typically considers extra constraints on the code ensembles due to the specific structure of rate compatible codes.
LDPC codes are designed for half-duplex relay networks. While the structure of LDPC codes for half-duplex relay networks are in part similar to rate compatible code structures, current design methods based on Guassian approximation of density are typically not directly applicable to the problem of half-duplex relay channel code design because of a variation of receive signal to noise ratios (SNRs) in different sub-blocks of one codeword.
Therefore, there remains a need to design a LDPC code for a half-duplex relay channel that applies to the variation of SNRs in different sub-blocks of one codeword.

System and method for low-density parity check (LDPC) code design


Disclosed herein is a method for improving Input/Output (I/O) performance in a host system having multiple CPUs. Under this method, various interrupt affinity schemes are provided, which associate multiple processors, interrupts, and I/O channels for sending the interrupts, thereby allowing the interrupts to be almost evenly loaded among the multiple I/O channels and processors. Also, data locality (“warm cache”) can be achieved through the interrupt affinity schemes that associate each interrupt to its source processor, namely, the processor originating the I/O request that results in the interrupt.

Most data centers have bottleneck areas that impact application performance and service delivery to users. One of those bottlenecks could be poor I/O performance in a host or server, which usually results in increased response time and latency, as additional activity or application workload including transactions or file access is formed and queued. Particularly, in a host system having multiple processors, each processor can be executing multiple host applications, which frequently causes a large number of I/O commands from different processors to be serviced. In addition, the interrupts resulting from completion of those I/O commands need to be processed timely enough for each processor that has requested the I/O to be aware of the completions in order to proceed with its assigned applications. Without proper coordination, poor I/O performance in a multi-CPU system can cause significant time delay that would almost defeat the purpose of using multiple processors to expedite application or transaction processing.
Among existing multi-processor systems, there are various solutions to improve I/O performance, such as designating a particular processor out of the multiple processors for handling all interrupts arising from any I/O transactions. However, none of these solutions can achieve system-wide efficiency in minimizing time for processing interrupts in connection with I/O performance in multi-processor systems.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Enhanced I/O performance in a multi-processor system via interrupt affinity schemes


A method and a system are provided for improved mail networking. A call transfer condition is first detected. A call transfer condition occurs immediately before a call is transferred to a first mail messaging system (56). Communication then occurs between local call processor (20) and remote call processor (60). The system determines if a call transfer is supported by a common protocol of both the second mail messaging system (16 ) and the first mail messaging system (56). If a common protocol is supported, the call is transferred to local voice mail system (16). The user (12) then provides a message which is received by the second mail messaging system (16). This message is automatically forwarded to the first mail messaging system (56) at a later time.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to providing an improved mail networking scheme, and more particularly to a PBX (private branch exchange) or central office system facilitated mail networking system and method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Telephone messaging systems are common in both homes and the workplace. Currently, a user can call someone on another PBX (private branch exchange) via a public or a private network. With currently available systems, if the remote user (i.e., the user being called) does not answer or if the remote telephone is busy, the telephone call is forwarded to a remote voice mail system. This assumes that a remote voice mail system is present and functional. After listening to an outgoing announcement, the caller can leave a message for the called individual. When the remote voice mail system has a different user interface than that of the local voice mail system, the caller must listen to the whole outgoing announcement before the caller can start recording a message. Furthermore, a user/caller cannot edit, delete or otherwise control a recorded message when a different user interface is provided by the remote voice mail system.
Voice messaging (or voice mail) networking is a feature that enables users to record messages on their voice mail messaging systems for later delivery to users on other voice mail messaging systems. This is possible because the two voice mail messaging systems are connected via the voice messaging networking. Most voice mail systems can network with other voice mail systems by using the Audio Messaging Interchange Specification (AMIS) protocol which has been accepted by the voice mail industry. In the digital environment, x.400 can be used for digitized messaging. In addition, major vendors in the voice mail industry have developed their own proprietary voice mail networking protocols. To use the AMIS protocol, a user must have the message delivery telephone number for the remote voice mail system. Unfortunately the message delivery telephone number is usually unknown. Thus, to use voice messaging networking, users must know the message delivery telephone number of the voice mail system associated with the person they wish to call.
Voice mail networking is a cost saving feature that is underutilized because of lack of user understanding, lack of tariff information and/or lack of information about the corporate voice mail network. This underutilization results in higher communication costs.
As stated above, one drawback of current systems is that the user must know the message delivery number. In a private voice mail network, the message delivery number is usually entered into the system by a network administrator. In a public AMIS network or a x.400 network, the user has to address each message with the message delivery number of the remote messaging system. The developers of the AMIS protocol envisioned each person's business card containing their voice mail delivery number in addition to a regular telephone number. This vision never became a reality.
It is desirable to have a system which increases the utilization of the voice mail networking feature without burdening users with the need to know and enter the message delivery number or any other number (e.g., a networking access prefix number) of the remote voice mail system. This would result in reduced communication costs.

System and method for improved mail networking

Siemens Information and Communication Networks, Inc.


Disclosed herein are certain embodiments of a coding system and method that guarantee a pair of sync bits in a transcoded block will appear on the same physical lane. Embodiments may then use this property for data synchronization and to guarantee a bit transition in a certain amount of time on a physical lane. Embodiments of a coding system and process for configuring alignment marker blocks are also disclosed.

Users of computer networks today have witnessed an incredible increase in performance capabilities, including speed and integrity of data transfers. Ethernet comprises one type of computer network that offers many varieties in terms of capabilities, including high speed networks such as 40 Gigabit Ethernet (e.g., 40GbE) and 100 Gigabit Ethernet (e.g., 100GbE), among others. Such Ethernet networks support sending Ethernet frames at 40 and 100 gigabits per second over multiple 10 Gbit/s or 25 Gbit/s lanes. The 40/100 Gigabit Ethernet standards include a number of different Ethernet physical layer (PHY) specifications. With rapid growth of server, network, and internet traffic, higher data rates over backplanes and high density, low cost twinaxial copper cables are needed.


A surgical access device (10 or 10xe2x80x2) includes a frame defining an access port and a pair of flanges are carried on the lower surface of the frame. The flanges are pivotable between an insertion position, where their leading edges are optimally placed adjacent one another to assist in inserting the device in an incision, and a retracting position, where both flanges optimally urge upwardly against the internal surface of the patient""s tissue to seat the access port. A method of the invention involves making an incision at least as long as the leading edge of such a device and inserting the leading edge of the device into the incision. The flanges are moved laterally away from one another to expand the opening in the tissue and center the access port laterally within the opening.

The present invention provides an improved surgical access device of the type which is used to gain access to an internal cavity of a patient""s body. A preferred embodiment of the invention is useful both as an access port and as a tissue retractor.
Surgeons frequently need to gain access to patients"" body cavities to perform various procedures. One way to gain access to such a cavity is to perform invasive surgery where the cavity is opened fairly widely from the exterior to allow the surgeon ready access to the interior of the cavity. For example, in most traditional heart surgery, the patient""s sternum is split and the overlying tissue is cut back to allow the surgeon to place both hands inside the chest cavity.
Increasingly, however, less invasive techniques are being employed to permit access to body cavities. For example, endoscopic examinations are being used to explore body cavities without having to directly visually inspect them. Gall bladder surgery is also being done increasingly by gaining access to the abdominal cavity through smaller access ports through the abdominal wall rather than using more invasive approaches. (See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,375,588, issued to Yoon, the teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference.)
Increasingly, surgeons are gaining access to the thoracic cavity by passing surgical instruments into the cavity through the intercostal spaces between a patient""s ribs. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,613,937 (Garrison et al., the teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference) suggests a method of conducting closed-chest heart surgery by passing surgical implements through a number of ports positioned in the intercostal spaces. This patent shows one access cannula which provides an oblong opening which allows a surgeon to pass a replacement valve into the thoracic cavity for placement in the patient""s heart.
A wide variety of surgical retractors are also known in the art. Most surgical retractors are intended to allow a surgeon to forcibly urge tissue out of the way to enable unfettered access to the underlying anatomical structures. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,765,311 (Kulik et al., the teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference), shows a xe2x80x9cwound retractorxe2x80x9d which comprises a split tube. Each of the two tube halves are carried on holders which can be moved apart from one another to retract the tissue and provide access to the abdominal cavity. U.S. Pat. No. 1,157,202 (Bates) teaches a retractor which is used to retract the sides of an incision in the abdominal wall. This retractor includes four separate retractile elements which are arranged about an oval frame. The tissue can be pulled apart to expand the size of the opening of the incision by pulling the retractile elements away from one another.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,125,396 (Ray, the teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference), suggests a surgical retractor which comprises two separate arcuate blades. Each of these arcuate blades is carried by a separate ring. By turning these two rings with respect to one another, one can move the blades with respect to one another to open a generally cylindrical passageway through the patient""s tissue.
The present invention contemplates both a surgical access device and a method of gaining surgical access to a body cavity. In accordance with one embodiment, a surgical access device of the invention has a frame defining an access port and this frame has a lower surface. A first flange having an elongate leading edge is carried on the lower surface of the frame adjacent a first side of the access port. The first flange is pivotable between an insertion position and at least one retracting position. A second flange, which also has an elongate leading edge, is carried on the lower surface of the frame adjacent a second side of the access port, the first and second sides of the access port being opposite one another. Like the first flange, this second flange is being pivotable between an insertion position and at least one retracting position. Each of the first and second flanges are shaped so that when they are both in their insertion position, their leading edges are positioned immediately adjacent one another and together define an elongate, generally linear leading edge of the device which can be inserted into a single, elongate incision. This leading edge of the device is positioned below the access port. In a preferred arrangement, the first flange is attached to the lower surface of the frame by a first hinge and the second flange is attached to the lower surface of the frame by a second hinge, with the first and second hinges being parallel to one another and extending generally longitudinally along the lower surface of the frame.
An alternative embodiment of the invention also provides a surgical device for accessing a body cavity. This device includes a frame defining an access port, the frame having a lower surface. A first flange having an elongate leading edge is attached to the lower surface of the frame adjacent a first side of the access port via a first hinge and it is pivotable between an insertion position and at least one retracting position. A second flange having an elongate leading edge is attached to the lower surface of the frame adjacent a second side of the access port via a second hinge and is pivotable between an insertion position and at least one retracting position. The first and second sides of the access port are opposite one another and each of the first and second hinges extend generally longitudinally along the lower surface of the frame. These first and second flanges are shaped so that when they are both in their insertion position, their leading edges are positioned adjacent one another and together define a leading edge of the device which can be inserted into a single, elongate incision. Preferably, this leading edge of the device is positioned below the access port.
In accordance with another alternative embodiment of the invention, a surgical access device includes a frame defining an access port and this frame has a lower surface. The frame also includes a pair of laterally extending wings having a concave lower surface extending generally upwardly away from opposed first and second longitudinal sides of the access port. A first flange is carried on the lower surface of the frame adjacent the first side of the access port and is pivotable between an insertion position and at least one retracting position. A second flange is carried on the lower surface of the frame adjacent the second side of the access port and is also pivotable between an insertion position and at least one retracting position. When the first and second flanges are in their retracting positions, they are adapted to urge upwardly against an internal surface of a patient""s tissue to seat the access port below the tissue""s upper surface. In one preferred configuration, each of the first and second flanges has a concave outer face adapted to face the internal surface of the tissue and retain the tissue between the flange and the lower surface of the adjacent wing.
As noted above, the invention also contemplates a method of gaining surgical access to a body cavity. One such method includes providing a surgical implant comprising a frame defining an access port; a first flange carried on a lower surface of the frame and having an elongate leading edge; and a second flange carried on the lower surface of the frame and having an elongate leading edge, the second flange being adjacent a side of the access port opposite the first flange. The leading edges of the first and second flanges are desirably positioned immediately adjacent one another to together define an elongate, generally linear leading edge of the implant. The operator makes an elongate, generally linear incision through the patient""s tissue, with the incision being at least as long as leading edge of the implant. The leading edge of the implant can then be inserted into the incision and a length of each of the first and second flanges can be urged through the incision. The first and second flanges can be urged laterally away from one another, thereby simultaneously expanding the opening through the patient""s tissue defined by the incision and centering the access port laterally within the opening.
In one further embodiment, the method also employs a resilient membrane having an external portion. Prior to the insertion of the leading edge of the implant into the incision through the tissue, the external portion of the resilient membrane is positioned over the patient""s tissue surrounding the incision site. After the flanges have been urged through the incision, and preferably after the flanges are urged laterally away from one another, the implant is withdrawn from the opening, leaving the resilient membrane in place over the patient""s tissue.
Yet another alternative embodiment of the invention provides a surgical tool mounting system including a frame and an insert. This frame is adapted to be attached to a patient""s tissue adjacent an access port through which a surgeon may gain access to a body cavity. The insert has an articulative joint and a variable-position brace. The joint is adapted to hold a surgical tool for use by the surgeon while permitting the surgeon to articulate the surgical tool with respect to the brace and the frame. The brace is adapted to be mounted on the frame in a first vertical orientation wherein the joint is positioned at a lower position with respect to the access port and a second vertical orientation wherein the joint is positioned at an upper position with respect to the access port. The joint in its lower position permits a broad range of motion of the surgical tool within the body cavity. The joint in its lower position permits a range of motion of the surgical tool within the body cavity which is more narrow than the broad range of motion permitted in the lower position.
Still another embodiment of the invention provides a surgical device for permitting improved access to a body cavity. This device includes a frame, at least two flanges, and a lever. The frame defines an access port and has a lower surface and a lever fitting. Preferably, the frame has first and second laterally extending wings carried on opposed first and second longitudinal sides of the access port. A first flange is carried on the lower surface of the frame adjacent the first side of the access port and is pivotable between an insertion position and at least one retracting position. A second flange is carried on the lower surface of the frame adjacent the second side of the access port and is pivotable between an insertion position and at least one retracting position. When the first and second flanges are in their retracting positions, they are adapted to urge upwardly against an internal surface of a patient""s tissue and retain the patient""s tissue between the flange and the frame. The lever is attached to the lever fitting of the frame to permit an operator to turn the frame to lift the patient""s tissue retained between the first flange and the frame above the patient""s tissue retained between the second flange and the frame.


Provided herein is a headlamp assembly comprising a housing that encloses: a sensor that acquires data associated with a surrounding environment; a light source that illuminates a field of view comprising a portion of the surrounding environment; and one or more processors that analyze the acquired data and determine a direction, field of view, power, or an intensity of the illumination of the portion based on the analyzed data.

Headlamps on vehicles illuminate surroundings of a road so that drivers of the vehicles detect potential hazards and are aware of the surroundings. Types of headlights enclosed within the headlamps include halogen, xenon, high intensity discharge (HID), light emitting diode (LED), infrared, and laser. Settings of some headlights include high beam to provide extra light and illuminate a larger region, low beam or dipped lights that are directed forward and downwards to avoid excessive glare, daytime running lights which allow detection by other drivers on the road, and fog lights designed to penetrate through fog while avoiding reflection of light back to the driver. Headlamps in semi-autonomous or autonomous vehicles serve as the eyes of the vehicles.

Autonomous headlamp encapsulated with camera and artificial intelligence processor to adjust illumination


A hand tool with an angle adjusting mechanism includes a handle, a tool head, a controlling rod and an engaging member. The handle has a receiving groove defined at one end thereof, a transverse hole defined in one lateral side and a longitudinal hole defined in a bottom of the receiving groove. The tool head has a pivoting portion assembled in the receiving groove of the handle. The pivoting portion has a low of teeth defined at an outer periphery thereof. The controlling rod is disposed in the transverse hole of the handle. The engaging member has a post and an engaging head. The engaging head has an inner tooth part and two side teeth disposed at opposite sides of the inner tooth part. The inner tooth part and the side teeth form a substantially concave shape to engage with the teeth of the pivoting portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hand tool and more particularly to a hand tool with an angle adjusting mechanism, in which an angle between a handle and a head member pivoted on the handle is adjustable.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional hand tool with an angle adjusting mechanism comprises a handle, a tool head, a positioning assembly and a rotating member. The handle has a receiving space defined therein for received the positioning assembly and a threaded hole communicating with the receiving space for assembling with the rotating member. The positioning assembly comprises a spring and an abutting member. The spring abuts against a bottom of the receiving space and the abutting member with two ends. The abutting member is protruded from the receiving space with one end and engaged with the tool head resiliently. The rotating member has a positioning post extend from one end thereof. The positioning post of the rotating member screws into the threaded hole of the handle to adjust the abutting member to engage or disengage with the tool head. Therefore, an angle of the tool head relative to the handle could be adjusted.
However, the conventional hand tool with the angle adjusting mechanism has disadvantages as following: The abutting member is engaged with the tool head only one tooth so that the abutting member cannot secure the tool head steadily. In addition, the respective tooth of the tool head will be worn easily.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the disadvantages of the conventional hand tool.

Hand tool with an angle adjusting mechanism


A method for constricting a wall of a building includes the steps of providing a footing form to outline a horizontal dimension for the wall; pouring wall form ring material between opposing sides of the footing form and allowing the poured wall forming material to set to provide a wall base; attaching a first wall form of predetermined height to a side of the footing form to define a vertical dimension of the wall to be built; attaching a wall component structure to an inside surface of the first wall form at a desired location for the wall component on the wall; attaching a second wall form to an opposite side of the footing form a predetermined distance apart from the first wall form according to a desired width of the wall; pouring wall forming material between the first and second wall forms to form the wall, the wall forming material being poured around the wall component structure; and, allowing the wall forming material to set between the wall forms and around the wall component structure.

My previous U.S. Pat. No. 4,314,430 described a core building system for creating a wall structure for a house or building that included tying two wall forms together as a wall is formed by poring and filling concrete between the forms. That patent particularly taught the provision of a metal track unit secured on top of a preformed footing and having two outer tracks for receiving non-load bearing uprights for attaching wall components such as door and window forms, and an inner track for receiving a foam insulating layer. After the wall component forms are set into place, pan-type metal wall forms are placed on the outside of the two outer tracks and concrete is poured into the wall.
A limitation of this method was the fact that in order to secure window forms or door bucks or any other wall component on or in between the wall forms, both sides of the wall forms had to be set first. Moreover, after construction of the wall, lumber and the attendant carpentry was required to obtain a precise installation and setting of window frames and door bucks, often requiring techniques such as the placement of wedges and trim for making the window or door fit securely within the wall structure. This resulted in increased time and building costs. Furthermore, after a period of time, the constructed window frames and wood trim exhibited erosion from the moisture and weathering because of the lack of precision in the formation of the wall structure.
Thus, an improved method for constructing walls for a home or office building that is quick and results in a building having exact dimensions is highly desirable.
Moreover, a more precise method for constructing interior and exterior walls of a building that facilitates the quick and more precise installation of window frames, doors, electrical outlets, conduits and the like, within the walls would be highly desirable.
Furthermore, an improved method for constructing exterior walls of a building that facilitates the quick and more precise installation of window frames and door bucks, without the need for additional carpentry services after construction of the walls would be highly desirable.
It would also be highly desirable to provide a more precise method for constructing an exterior wall of a building that exhibits improved durability, increased weather resistance, and drastically reduces maintenance.

Wall construction apparatus and methodology


A process for preparing 3-alkoxy-5-alkylpyrazin-2-amines of the general formula: ##STR1## wherein R.sup.1 is a C.sub.1-4 -alkyl group or an aryl group and R.sup.2 is a C.sub.1-4 -alkoxy group or an aryloxy group, starting either from aminomalononitrile or from aminoacetonitrile.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a novel process for preparing 3-alkoxy-5-alkylpyrazin-2-amines starting either from aminomalononitrile or aminoacetonitrile and glyoxal oxime derivatives.
2. Background Art
3-Alkoxy-5-alkylpyrazin-2-amines are important intermediates for preparing pterine-6-carboxyaldehyde [E. C. Taylor and D. G. Dumas, J. Org. Chem., (1980), p. 2485].
British Patent No. 922,725 describes a process for preparing 3-methoxy-5-methylpyrazin-2-amine starting from 2-amino-3-chloro-5-methylpyrazine by reaction with sodium methoxide at 130.degree. C. A disadvantage of this process is the relatively long reaction time.

Process for preparing 3-alkoxy-5-alkypyrazin-2-amines


A device for simulating slip on vehicle test benches wherein a vehicle wheel which rolls on a movable testing surface of a test device such as a test roller or flat belt and performs the object of changing the frictional force between the wheel and the testing surface without necessarily having to change the coefficient of friction A lifting/lowering device changes the contact force FA of the wheel in a predeterminable way from the tire to an apparatus as the wheel rotates.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and a device for simulating slip on vehicle test benches in accordance with the equation FR=FA× the coefficient of friction C of a vehicle wheel rolling on a test device such as a test roller or flat belt.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to test antilock brake systems (ABS) on brakes, traction controllers on drive systems or electronic stability programs for preventing skidding, it is generally known to drive the respectively equipped vehicles over test routes. For this purpose there are slalom courses, circular courses, or oblique planes which can have various underlying surface coverings in different locations and the coefficient of friction can be partially reduced by water when necessary. It is thus possible, for example, to create different frictional conditions on the two sides of a vehicle and to generate slip between the tire and underlying surface on a drive side in a selective fashion. When such courses are driven, the vehicle may be caused to skid in a controlled fashion so that the effectiveness of the respective vehicle systems can be tested. However, such test journeys are dangerous for the driver and cannot be reproduced owing to the changing environmental conditions or the different performances of even the same drivers of different course paths so that these tests can only provide approximations for the further development of affected vehicle safety systems.
On vehicle test benches, for example, roller or flat belt test benches, it is possible to provide different surfaces with different coefficients of friction at the various wheels and water can be introduced between the tire and the test surface in order to reduce the coefficient of friction. For this purpose, the test bench devices must all be made corrosion-proof and complex feed systems and collecting systems for the water have to be provided. In order to change the basic conditions at the various wheels, it is necessary to reconfigure the entire test bench or replace the coatings of the testing surfaces. Another disadvantage is that the method in which the frictional force, which limits the maximum tractive force of a wheel, is changed by changing the coefficient of friction is difficult and cannot be set precisely and in addition only a static testing mode owing to the time delay when the surfaces dry.

Method and device for simulating slip on vehicle test benches


A heated view port for in-situ optical observation of a deposition chamber in a vessel under high vacuum application comprising a plurality of superimposed layers arranged in the shape of an annular band mounted around the view port substantially at the outer periphery thereof. The band includes a first layer of pyrolytic boron nitride, a second layer of pyrolytic graphite covering at least one surface of the pyrolytic boron nitride layer, an outer layer of pyrolytic boron nitride and two electrical contact terminals in contact with the pyrolytic graphite layer in an arrangement forming parallel resistive paths between the contact terminals. The terminal contacts are connected to an external source of electrical power.

Many processes are carried out under high and even ultra high vacuum conditions within a chamber of a vessel representing a rigid wall structure enclosing an interior space. To observe e.g. a deposition operation in the manufacture of semiconductor devices while the operation is being carried under high vacuum conditions at high temperature a view port is built into a flange assembly of the rigid wall structure to permit spectral observation, optical thermometry and optical reflectivity. The view port is composed of a glass composition or of sapphire depending upon the thermal and gaseous environment in the chamber and the degree of vacuum. Heating the view port is known to prevent condensation build up which obscures the optical clarity of the view port. Heretofore the view port was heated by means of a wire filament of preferably tantalum attached to the view port and to the power feed through of the vacuum apparatus. The joining of a wire filament as practiced in the prior art to cause heating of the view port is difficult, expensive and unreliable.

Heater for high vacuum optical view port

Board of Regents The University of Texas


A thermoplastic composition comprises A) 25 to 95 parts by weight of a first polycarbonate consisting essentially of i) 25 to 100 mole percent of a first carbonate unit comprising an alkyl-substituted bisphenol carbonate unit, ii) 0 to 75 mole percent of a second carbonate unit where the first and second carbonate units are not identical, and the sum of the mole percentages of the first and second carbonate units in the first polycarbonate is 100 mole percent; B) 5 to 75 parts by weight of a polyester-polycarbonate where the molar ratio of carbonate unit to arylate ester unit is 95:5 to 10:90; and C) 0 to 65 parts by weight of a second polycarbonate, where the first polycarbonate and second polycarbonate are not identical, and the sum of the parts by weight of the first polycarbonate, the polyester-polycarbonate, and the second polycarbonate is 100 parts by weight.

This disclosure relates to thermoplastic compositions having improved scratch resistance, methods of manufacture, and articles prepared from the thermoplastic composition.
Lightweight thermoplastic materials that have a glossy or semi-gloss finished appearance are useful materials of construction for all or part of durable articles, such as molded or thermoformed articles ranging from hand-held electronics devices such as cell phones to exterior components of automobiles. Polycarbonate-based materials, with their high surface gloss capability, high transparency, and excellent impact strength, are highly useful for such applications. Stabilized, weatherable polycarbonate compositions can be of use for applications in which the article may be exposed to outdoors conditions of light and moisture. The use of weatherable polycarbonates can also provide color stability and surface finish properties that may be desirable in the articles, particularly those for use in the outdoors. Weatherable thermoplastic compositions, however, may have lower ductility and decreased processability, in addition to a higher manufacturing cost, and can therefore be less desirable for use in some applications where high ductility and thermoformability are useful.
Durability and abrasion resistance are also useful properties for a lightweight thermoplastic, for applications in which the exterior surface of the article may be subject to physical contact by other objects. For such applications, articles that are prepared from polymers such as polycarbonates are expected to withstand abrasion, e.g., when exposed to abrasive materials such as steel wool and cleaning agents, sliding on a surface, dropping, slipping it inside a pocket, rubbing against other items such as coins, keys, or the like. Polymer compositions with scratch resistance are therefore desirable in articles requiring a durable surface finish and appearance.
Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for a polycarbonate-based thermoplastic that has both excellent gloss retention and improved scratch resistance. The thermoplastic composition should also have other physical properties, such as weatherability, impact strength, ductility, and thermal flow characteristics for manufacturability by injection molding, extruding, and/or thermoforming that are comparable to or better than existing polycarbonate-based thermoplastic compositions.

Polycarbonate composition having improved scratch resistance, and articles formed therefrom


The present invention provides a topical formulation and method of use where the formulation comprises macqui berry or a macqui berry extract containing anthocyanins having a very high oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC). The formulation provides the macqui berry in a stabilized form which includes a glucuronide or glycuronide, a photostabilizing agent, encapsulation, or light—and/or air-blocking packaging.

Skin is subject to abuse by many extrinsic (environmental) factors as well as intrinsic factors. A common extrinsic factor is exposure to ultraviolet radiation. Whether extrinsic or intrinsic, the abuse results in skin aging. Skin aging happens in two ways: (1) through the natural aging process which dermatologists call chronological aging (also known as chronoaging); and (2) through UV rays in sunlight accelerating the aging process which dermatologists call photoaging. Chronoaging results in thinning, loss of elasticity and general degradation of skin. As the skin naturally ages, there is a reduction in the cells and blood vessels that supply the skin. There is also a flattening of the dermal-epidermal junction which results in weaker mechanical resistance. As a consequence, older persons are more susceptive to blister formation in cases of mechanical traumas or disease processes (Oikarinen et al., Photodermatal. Photoimunmol. Photomed., 7:3-4 (1990)).
By contrast, photoaging, or premature aging, is a process in which the skin changes in appearance as a result of repeated exposure to sunlight. Typically, photoaging occurs in areas of habitual exposure, such as the scalp, face, ears, neck, chest, forearms and hands. The changes associated with photoaging include elastosis, atrophy, wrinkling, vascular changes (diffuse erythema, ecchymoses, and telangiectasias), pigmentary changes (lentigines, fleckles, and areas of hypo- and hyper-pigmentation), and the development of seborrheic keratosis, actinic keratosis, comedones and cysts.
Antioxidants are useful agents treating the skin from damage caused by chronoaging and photoaging. The most useful antioxidants are those that provide the highest capacity to absorb free radicals. The oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) is a measurement of this (Dreher F, Maibach H. Curr Probl Dermatol. 2001; 29:157-64.) Anthocyanins are a type of antioxidants that generally encompass a class of flavonoid compounds that are naturally occurring, water-soluble compounds, responsible for the red, purple, and blue colors of many fruits, vegetables, cereal grains, and flowers.
Most anthocyanins have a high ORAC rating compared to other antioxidants and make them particularly useful for their topical antioxidative properties. Additionally, anthocyanins are collagenase inhibitors, which helps in the prevention and reduction of wrinkles, increase in skin elasticity, etc., which are caused by a reduction in skin collagen.
For ripe berries, a rich source of anthocyanin antioxidants, there is generally a linear relationship between ORAC values and anthocyanin content. High ORAC ratings are generally defined as greater than 25 μmole of Trolox equivalents (TE)/g. In most fruits, ORAC values ranged from 7.8 to 33.7 μmole TE/g of fresh berries and the ORAC values of the leaves range from 69.7 to 182.2 μmole TE/g (Wang S Y, Lin H S., J Agric Food Chem. 2000 February; 48(2): 140-6.). Comparatively, a fruit with an ORAC value of 8 μmol TE/g of fresh berries will have an ORAC value of about 35 μmol TE/g of dried berries and an ORAC of 34 μmol TE/g of fresh berries corresponds with an ORAC of 162 μmol TE/g dried matter. Black raspberries have a very high ORAC of 77 μmole TE/g while boysenberries have an ORAC of 48 μmole TE/g, and red raspberries and blueberries have an ORAC of 24 and 23 μmole TE/g, respectively. (http://www.deckerfarm.com/antioxidants.html). Acai is another fruit having a high ORAC content (167 ORAC units/g according to Brunswick Laboratories). Other fruit having high ORAC values include pomegranate (33.1 μμμmole TE/g) and aronia berry (62 μμmole TE/g) as well as whole coffee fruit extract (6250 ORAC units per gram according to Brunswick Laboratories). The stage at which the plant is harvested affects the ORAC value. Blackberries have their highest ORAC values during the green stages, whereas red raspberries have their highest ORAC values when ripe. The ORAC may be obtained by using the method described by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (Prior and Cao, 83(4) J. AOAC INT. 950-6 (2000)). Additionally, testing for ORAC, H-ORAC, N-ORAC, S-ORAC, and ORAC-E (high throughput ORAC for oil-in-water emulsion) is available from Brunswick Laboratories (www.brunswicklabs.com).
Anthocyanins have been formulated in topical form. For example, U.S. Pat. Pub. 2004/0022818 provides a skin care composition comprising fruit particles. Red and blue fruits, as well as other fruits which contain anthocyanins are included in this composition. Similarly, U.S. Pub. 2003/0161897 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,361,786 provide a topical antimicrobial factor having fruit juice (cranberry, Aronia berry, blackberry, grape or blueberry) and polyvinylprolidinone. A topical oil-in-water emulsion containing a surfactant/emulsifier and a lipid, which may be an anthocyanin-containing berry extract, is provided by WO 98/05294. U.S. Pat. No. 5,011,855 provides a cosmetic composition having a-linolenic acid and an oil extracted from Ribes genus fruits.
However, there are problems associated with these and other uses of antioxidants in a topical formulation. Particularly, antioxidants are readily oxidized and lose their anti-oxidant capacity. Additionally, some of the oxidation products of antioxidants will have a deleterious effect; for example, vitamin C oxidizes to dehydroascorbate which is known to lead to the formation of advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs) and therefore increase the signs of aging skin.
Therefore, a topical formulation containing an antioxidant with a much higher ORAC and consequently greater anti-oxidant power is needed in combination with a formulation that protects the antioxidant from degradation and loss of the anti-oxidative power to be used in treating and protecting the skin.


The invention relates to instruments for storing ions in more than one ion storage device and to the use of the storage bank thus created. The ion storage bank includes several storage cells configured as RF multipole rod systems, where the cells contain damping gas and are arranged in parallel. Each pair of pole rods is used jointly by two immediately adjacent storage cells such that the ions collected can be transported from one storage cell to the next by briefly applying DC or AC voltages to individual pairs of pole rods. The ions can thus be transported to storage cells in which they are fragmented or reactively modified, or from which they can be fed to other spectrometers. In particular, a circular arrangement of the storage cells on a virtual cylindrical surface makes it possible to accumulatively fill the storage cells with ions of specific fractions from temporally sequenced separation runs.

Most mass spectrometers in use today basically operate discontinuously; they deliver mass spectra at rates which nowadays are generally between one and a maximum of twenty mass spectra per second. If daughter or granddaughter ion spectra are measured, the scan rate sinks considerably. There are, as yet, no commercially available mass spectrometers which can record and deliver a hundred or more spectra per second. Time-of-flight mass spectrometers with orthogonal ion injection can operate with 5,000 to 15,000 individual spectra per second, which are digitized in transient recorders and added in real time; but, for reasons connected with the spectrum quality, dynamic range of measurement and reading speed, it is necessary to acquire and add together several hundred mass spectra before a mass spectrum can be read out of the digital memory of the transient recorder. Even today, it still takes at least five to ten milliseconds to read out the mass spectrum with its hundreds of thousands of values; if a hundred mass spectra were sampled per second the whole time would be taken up solely with the reading out. Since the trend is to higher digitization rates and thus to longer value sequences for a mass spectrum, no improvement is to be expected here.
Despite the discontinuous operation of most types of mass spectrometer (at least those with separate ion sources and mass analyzers), a mass spectrometer usually has an ion current somewhere between the ion source and mass analyzer which is more or less continuous, or, depending on the type of ion source, sometimes also pulsed. This ion stream is generally used to fill an ion storage device from which the ions are delivered to the discontinuously operating mass analyzer. If the mass spectrometer is connected to a separation unit such as a chromatograph, the ions from various substance peaks of the separation unit become mixed in this ion storage device to a greater or lesser extent, depending on the separation speed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,811,800 discloses a storage bank for ions which can temporarily store ions of consecutive substance peaks generated from the substance stream of a separating device, such as a liquid chromatograph, in order to feed the stored ions, time-matched, to a mass spectrometric analysis each time without them mixing further with ions of another substance peak. This makes it possible, to a certain extent, to temporally decouple an optimal mass spectrometric analytical method from the separation method. It is thus possible not only to subject the ions from a chromatographic substance peak to a mass spectrometric measurement but also, if it proves useful, to acquire daughter ion spectra of selected and subsequently fragmented parent ions, or also to acquire granddaughter ion spectra of selected daughter ions in order to carry out definite identification of the substance or to elucidate the primary structure. Then the analysis of the ions of the next substance peak begins.
The storage bank disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,811,800 cannot accumulate ions, however. It cannot store identical fractions of ions from consecutive separation runs in the same storage cells because the storage cells arranged in series can only be filled from the preceding storage cell, and thus do not permit a second filling with ions from the same type of fraction from a subsequent separation run.
The terms able to accumulate or accumulating shall mean that it should be possible to later add more selected ions to those collected earlier in the ion storage devices, and that other ion storage devices can also be filled in the meantime, with other ionic species, for example.
The ever increasing speed of separation methods creates a need for storage banks able to accumulate ions. It is thus to be expected that there will be separation methods on chips that carry out a complete electrophoretically assisted chromatographic separation run in only one second, but which separate only very little substance each time. Therefore the aim is to develop an accumulating fraction sampler to increase the dynamic range of measurement. The duration of the substance peaks may amount to only a few milliseconds.
Different ion species are separated even faster by their ion mobility in gas-filled drift regions. In this case, a single separation run takes only about 20 to 100 milliseconds, sometimes even less. The duration of the separated ion peaks also is in the order of only a few milliseconds or even less, especially with low-pressure drift regions.
As already explained above, there is, as yet, no mass spectrometer that can analytically follow ion peaks that are changing so rapidly, or which are so sensitive that they can manage with the small ion quantities in the peaks. For such fast separation methods it is therefore desirable to be able to collect identical ion fractions from consecutive separation runs accumulatively in a storage cell of a storage bank in order to feed the ions collected in this way to the analyzer in sufficient numbers and temporally decoupled.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,019,286 (K. Fuhrer et al.) describes a time-of-flight mass spectrometer with which extremely fast ion reaction processes can be followed. It uses a split detector that separates the long ion threads, which are injected into the pulser and which fly in a largely undisturbed formation through the flight tube region, into sections which can each be detected separately. Since the ion threads fly into the pulser in a few tens of microseconds, it is thus possible to use them to observe processes that change in time periods in the order of around ten microseconds. This time resolution is several orders of magnitude higher than the time resolution required for the separation methods used here, and so does not represent a solution to the problem.
Ion storage devices today generally take the form of RF multipole rod systems, in which the two phases of an RF voltage are alternately applied to the pole rods. A pseudopotential is created in the interior that constantly accelerates the ions towards the axis so that they execute oscillations around the potential minimum in the axis. If the rod system is charged with a collision or damping gas at a pressure of around 10−2 to 10+3 Pascal, the ion oscillations are quickly damped, depending on the pressure; the ions collect in a thermalized state in the axis of the rod system. The thermalization requires at least a hundred collisions with the molecules of the damping gas. At a pressure of 10−2 Pascal the damping takes around one millisecond; at a pressure of 10+2 Pascal the ions are damped in less than one microsecond. The ends of the rod systems are generally closed by diaphragms with DC potentials so that the ions are confined in the interior. It is also possible to close them with pseudopotentials generated by RF voltages across multi-electrode systems, in which case it is possible to store ions of both polarities without switching the voltages.
The term mass here refers to the charge-related mass or mass-to-charge ratio m/z, which is the only one of importance in mass spectrometry, and not simply to the physical mass m. The number z is the number of elementary charges, i.e. the number of excess electrons or protons which the ion possesses and which act externally as the ion charge. All mass spectrometers can measure only the mass-to-charge ratio m/z, not the physical mass m itself. The mass-to-charge ratio is the mass fraction per elementary ion charge. Analogously, the terms light and heavy ions refer to ions with low or high charge-to-mass ratios m/z respectively. The term mass spectrum relates to the mass-to-charge ratios m/z.
There is a need for a storage bank for ions.


An injection mold device includes: a stationary mold plate including a stationary mold body, a protrusion, and a sprue having a sprue open end; a movable mold plate formed with a first forming part; and a stripper plate including a stripper mold body, a recess, a second forming part, and a plurality of runners. When the stationary mold plate, the movable mold plate, and the stripper plate are assembled, the protrusion is received within the recess such that the sprue open end is in fluid communication with the runners, and the first forming part and the second forming part form a mold cavity.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an injection mold device, more particularly to an injection mold device including a stationary mold plate, a movable mold plate, and a stripper plate disposed between the stationary and movable mold plates.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional three-plate injection mold device 1 includes a stationary mold plate 11, a movable mold plate 12, and a stripper plate 13 disposed between the stationary mold plate 11 and the movable mold plate 12. The stationary mold plate 11 has a bottom surface 114 and includes a sprue 111 and a sprue open end 112 formed in the bottom surface 114. The stripper plate 13 has opposite top and bottom ends 1311, 1312, a plurality of first runners 131 formed in the top end 1311, and a first forming part 132 formed in the bottom end 1312. The stripper plate 13 further has a plurality of second runners 133 that extend downwardly from the first runners 131 and that are in fluid communication with the first runners 131 and the first forming part 132. The movable mold plate 12 has an upper surface 122 and a second forming part 121 formed in the upper surface 122.
When the stationary mold plate 11, the stripper plate 13, and the movable mold plate 12 are assembled (not shown), the first and second forming parts 132, 121 form a mold cavity. Melted plastic material is injected into the sprue 111, and flows through the first and second runners 131, 133, into the mold cavity. When the melted plastic material is cooled, the plastic material in the mold cavity is formed into a molded part, but those remaining in the sprue 111, and the first and second runners 131, 133 become plastic scrap or waste material.
Since each of the second runners 133 in the conventional three-plate injection mold device 1 substantially extends from the top end 1311 to the bottom end 1312 of the stripper plate 13, the length of each of the second runners 133 is substantially identical to a thickness of the stripper plate 13. Therefore, the length of the plastic scrap or waste produced in each second runner 133 is substantially as large as the thickness of the stripper plate 13 so that the amount of the plastic scrap or waste produced in the stripper plate 13 cannot be reduced, thereby increasing the manufacturing cost of products.

Silitek Electronic (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd.