A method for forming a Data Matrix Code or like two dimensional code on a beverage can tab uses a laser having a focal ratio of between 40 and 70 to produce spots having an average diameter of between 200 and 400 microns. The code is smaller than 6 mm by 6 mm, at least 12 modules by 12 modules, and smaller than 21 modules by 21 modules, thereby providing sufficient quantity of unique codes for use with commercial beverage can quantities. Preferably each module is formed by one laser spot. Alternatively, nine spots may be used to form a module.

Two piece metal beverage cans include a can body on which a can end is attached by a seam. Commercial two piece beverage cans are formed by a drawing and ironing process that forms the body sidewall integral with the base. Three piece metal cans include a cylindrical body, each end of which has a can end attached by a seam.
Two piece beverage cans are produced in vast quantities for beverages and foods use; three piece beverage cans are produced in vast quantities for food uses. Accordingly, the components of the cans must be produced at high speeds.
Conventional beverage cans and many easy open food cans have pull tabs. Pull tabs are formed from metal sheet in a tab press. Because of the quantities required, conventional tab presses form multiple tabs at once in lanes of two, three, or four tabs.
Typically, a pre-lacquered sheet of aluminum is fed from a coil into a shell press to form the can end shells. A pre-lacquered strip of aluminum is fed from a coil into a tab press to form the pull tabs. The shells and pull tabs are combined in a conversion press to form the unseamed can end.
Decoration of can ends, especially pull tabs, is known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,105,806 discloses laser etching or removal of portions of a coating on a pull tab. U.S. Pat. No. 6,498,318 acknowledges difficulties in marking metal cans and discloses ablating metal pull tab stock.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,187,221 discloses marking on a can end and tab of a two dimensional code by applying a laser to the coated substrate to change an appearance of at least a portion of a photonically active component substantially without burning, etching, or ablating the lacquer, thereby forming an image. Preferably, a CO2 laser is employed that has a beam width that is less than approximately 50 microns, more preferably no more than approximately 30 microns, more preferably no more than approximately 10 microns, and preferably approximately 5 microns. Accordingly the image may be formed by dots that have a dimension of less than approximately 50 microns, preferably no more than approximately 30 microns, more preferably no more than approximately 10 microns, and preferably approximately 5 microns. Accordingly the image may be formed by dots that have a dimension of less than approximately 50 microns.
JP 2011 020701 (Taguchi) discloses marking on a flap that is separated from the structural portion of the tab by fold lines. After marking is applied to the flap, it is folded over the structural portion of the tab to form a cover.
QR codes are the most frequently used code type for applications that are read by smartphone scanning software. Conventional QR codes take in excess of 200 ms to write by conventional laser marking.
The inventors are aware of a commercial, conventional system for laser etching pull tabs that includes a CO2 laser that often operates at about 100 W. Each lane of a tab press has its own laser such that the tab press can operate at about 700 tabs per minute with a laser having a resolution or dimension of approximately 100 microns. Typically, a dark colored lacquer is removed by the laser to expose bare aluminum in the form of a simple logo or a few characters. The limitation on the process speed is also a limitation on the amount of decoration.
Laser marking of coatings is employed for flexible and card packaging for various marking applications. Typically, a thermally active pigment is loaded into a transparent or light colored lacquer, and a CO2 laser induces a color change. For example, a laser may be applied to a white lacquer label to display black text. Laser marking systems of this type are available from Sun Chemical, under the trade name Sunlase and employ a 100 micron YAG laser.
Conventional laser application to tab or other metal can substrates usually require a very high beam intensity and thus the use of high powered fibre lasers, for example 20 W or 40 W with a small focal length, for example 180 mm in order to etch a coating or metal substrate. As a result, the laser markings usually have characteristic dimensions of much less than 200 microns, typically only 50 to 150 microns.

Marking tabs with a two dimensional code


A surface acoustic wave device includes a surface acoustic wave resonator. The surface acoustic wave resonator includes comb-like electrodes and reflection electrodes provided on both sides of the comb-like electrodes, and each of the reflection electrodes has at least two different pitches. It is thus possible to suppress the ripple components.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to a surface acoustic wave device having a surface acoustic wave resonator, and more particularly, to a configuration of the surface acoustic wave (hereinafter referred to as SAW) device having a pair of reflection electrodes provided on both sides of a pair of comb-like electrodes.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, wireless devices such as mobile telephones have increasingly been downsized, more advanced and more sophisticated. A high frequency circuit of the wireless device includes a filter of the SAW resonator. The filter is a ladder-type filter or a multimode type filter. The ladder-type filter has a structure in which multiple surface acoustic wave filters are connected in a ladder structure. The multimode type filter includes, for example, a double mode SAW (DMS) filter.
FIG. 1 shows a normal single-port SAW resonator described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 6-338756 (hereinafter referred to as Document 1) and Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 10-215145 (hereinafter referred to as Document 2). The SAW resonator includes a pair of comb-like electrodes 10 provided on a piezoelectric substrate. The comb-like electrodes 10, which are alternately interleaved on the piezoelectric substrate, are known as interdigital transducer (IDT). Each of the comb-like electrodes includes a bus bar and electrode fingers that extend from the bus bar in the same direction. A wavelength of the IDT 10 is decided by pitch (period) λIDT between the electrode fingers that extend from the same bus bar. The IDT 10 has a single pitch IDT. A pair of reflection electrodes 12 and 14 are provided on both sides of the IDT 10. The reflection electrodes 12 and 14 shown in FIG. 1 are referred to as a grating-type electrode, and the electrode fingers extending from one bus bar are connected to the other bus bar. Pitches λa and λb of the reflection electrodes 12 and 14 correspond to the periods between the alternate electrode fingers. The reflection electrode 12 has the pitch λa and the reflection electrode 14 has the pitch λb. Here, λa is equal to λb.
The conventional SAW resonators described in Documents 1 and 2; however, have a problem in that resonance characteristics include a ripple component. FIG. 2 is a graph illustrating the resonance characteristics of the SAW resonator shown in FIG. 1. Referring to FIG. 2, the horizontal axis denotes frequency (MHz), and the vertical axis denotes attenuation (dB). As shown in FIG. 2, the curve showing the resonance characteristics includes multiple peaks, namely, the ripple component. FIG. 3 shows filter characteristics in the case where the filter is composed of the above-mentioned multiple SAW resonators. Referring to FIG. 3, multiple ripple components are included in a passband. In this manner, it is hard to form a flat passband with the conventional filter.


The present invention provides methods of inhibiting metastasis of a tumor and methods of treating a tumor using a combination of an inhibitor of the activation of nuclear factor NF-κB and a cancer chemotherapeutic agent. In one embodiment of the present invention, combination of curcumin and paclitaxel (taxol) can be used to treat and inhibit metastasis of breast tumor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of cancer treatment. More specifically, the present invention relates to the unexpected synergistic effects of nuclear transcription factor NF-κB inhibitors and anti-neoplastic agents in the treatment of cancer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Every year breast cancer is diagnosed in 910,000 women worldwide, and 376,000 women die from the disease (1). Most of these cases are in industrialized countries with 180,000 in North America and 220,000 in Europe. The highest reported rates of breast cancer incidence are for white or Hawaiian women in the United States and the rates in Africa and Asia are significantly lower (1). Immigrants from low-risk to high-risk regions experience rates of breast cancer incidence approaching those of the host country, suggesting lifestyle is the major contributor to the development of the disease. Only 5% of the cases have been assigned to inherited mutations in genes such as BRCA1 and BRCA2, while diet and environment may be responsible for as many as 50% of breast cancers (2).
Although the precise nature of the lifestyle risk factors causative for breast cancer are unknown, some of the known ones are age, race, ethnicity, hormones, and dietary factors (3, 4). Epidemiological and animal studies have shown that different microchemicals present in the diet could be effective agents for the prevention of cancer incidence and mortality (2, 5–6).
The induction of most cancers, for example breast cancer, is a multistep process initiated with DNA damage and followed by alteration of different signaling pathways. Usually, at the initial stages, breast cancer is hormone-dependent, relying on natural steroids. In later stages, however, growth of breast cancer becomes hormone-independent (7). Approximately 40% of the patients diagnosed with breast cancer have disease that has regional or distant metastases and, at present, there is no efficient curative therapy for breast cancer patients with advanced metastatic disease.
Paclitaxel (taxol), derived from the Pacific yew tree, is the first taxane used in clinical practice, and has shown a significant amount of anti-tumor activity in patients with breast cancer, ovarian cancer, head and neck cancer, non-small-cell lung cancer and sarcoma (8, 9). Taxanes represent a new class of antitumor agents that exert their action by promoting tubulin polymerization and microtubule assembly. Paclitaxel has been shown to induce in vitro apoptosis in various breast tumor cell lines and the degree of apoptosis inversely correlates with expression of HER2 in these cell lines (10, 11). How paclitaxel induces apoptosis is not fully understood (12), but a number of apoptosis-associated genes that either suppress, activate or mediate apoptosis are affected by paclitaxel. Tyrosine phosphorylation (13), microtubule assembly (14), bcl-2 phosphorylation (15), bcl-xl (16), p21, and p53 (17) have been implicated.
In addition to activating the apoptosis pathway, paclitaxel also simultaneously activates the anti-apoptotic pathway through induction of NF-κB in macrophages (18), ovarian cells (19), lung cancer cells (20), and breast tumor cells (21). The NF-κB activation by paclitaxel leads to the expression of various genes including interleukin-8 (19, 20), IL-1, and TNF (22). Expression of IL-8 can either enhance growth as in the case of melanoma (23), or promote angiogenesis as in the case of human lung carcinoma (24). Several groups have shown that NF-κB activation could lead to suppression of apoptosis (25–28). Paclitaxel-induced apoptosis in leukemia cells is suppressed by the activation of NFκB (28). NF-κB has been shown to directly activate the expression of bcl-xl (29), and bcl-xl over-expression has been shown to suppress paclitaxel-induced apoptosis. Paclitaxel is also known to activate JNK and AP-1, which could contribute to its anti-apoptotic pathway (30).
NF-κB plays an essential role in the development and progression of breast cancer. Animal studies suggest the presence of constitutively active NF-κB at an early stage during neoplastic transformation of mammary cells (31). NF-κB inhibits apoptosis in mouse mammary epithelia (32) and selective activation of NF-κB subunits have been found in human breast cancer cell lines and patient samples (33, 34). An inverse correlation between the levels of NF-κB activation and estrogen receptor expression has been reported (35) and inhibition of NF-κB in breast cancer cells induces spontaneous apoptosis (32, 34). Paclitaxel-induced sensitivity of breast cancer cell lines was enhanced by an NF-κB inhibitor, parthenolide (36, 37). The Mullerian inhibiting substance was also found to inhibit breast cancer growth through NF-κB mediated pathway (38). Furthermore, the transactivation function of NF-κB is negatively regulated by IκBβ1 in breast cancer cell lines (37). Lastly, overexpression of HER2/neu can activate NF-κB through the activation of Akt pathway and block apoptosis (39). All these reports together suggest that NF-κB may play an important role in breast cancer.
Curcumin (diferuloylmethane), a non-nutritive food chemical present in turmeric (Curcuma longa), has been found to be pharmacologically safe as indicated by consumption of curcumin as a dietary spice for centuries at doses up to 100 mg/day (40). Curcumin has been shown to block tumor initiation induced by benzo [a] pyrene and 7, 12 dimethylbenz [a] anthracene (41) and to suppress phorbol ester-induced tumor promotion (42, 43). Curcumin was found to suppress carcinogenesis of skin (43–47), forestomach (48, 49), colon (50–52), and liver (53) in mice. Curcumin has also been shown to suppress mammary carcinogenesis (54–56). Curcumin exhibits a number of characteristics that indicate curcumin would have potent chemopreventive activity. These characteristics are set forth below.
Curcumin Exhibits Antiproliferative Effects Against Tumor Cells
Curcumin has been shown to inhibit the proliferation of a wide variety of tumor cells including B cell and T cell leukemia (57–60), colon carcinoma (61), and epidermoid carcinoma (62). It has also been shown to suppress the proliferation of various breast carcinoma cell lines in culture (63–65). Growth of the breast tumor cell lines BT20, SKBR3, MCF-7, T47D, and ZR75-1 were completely inhibited by curcumin as indicated by MTT dye uptake, thymidine incorporation, and clonogenic assay (63). Curcumin can overcome adriamycin resistance in MCF-7 cells (63). Recently, curcumin was shown to activate caspase-8 which leads to cleavage of BID, thus resulting in sequential release of mitochondrial cytochrome C and activation of caspase-9 and caspase-3 (66).
Curcumin Downregulates the Activity of EGFR and Expression of HER2/neu
Effects on HER2/neu and EGFR may represent one possible mechanism by which curcumin suppresses the growth of breast cancer cells. Almost 30% of the breast cancer cases have been shown to overexpress the HER2/neu protooncogene (67), and both HER2 and EGF receptors stimulate proliferation of breast cancer cells. Overexpression of these two proteins correlates with progression of human breast cancer and poor patient prognosis (67). Curcumin has been shown to downregulate the activity of EGFR (62, 68) and HER2/neu (69) and to deplete the cells of HER2/neu protein (69). Additionally, curcumin can downregulate bcl-2 expression, which may contribute to its antiproliferative activity (70).
Curcumin Downregulates the Activation of Nuclear Factor-κB
Curcumin may also operate through NF-κB. NF-κB is a nuclear transcription factor required for the expression of genes involved in cell proliferation, cell invasion, metastasis, angiogenesis, and resistance to chemotherapy (71). This factor is activated in response to inflammatory stimuli, carcinogens, tumor promoters, and hypoxia which is frequently encountered in tumor cells (72). Activated NF-κB suppresses apoptosis in a wide variety of tumor cells (25–27), and it has been implicated in chemoresistance (25). Cells that overexpress NF-κB are resistant to paclitaxel-induced apoptosis (28). Furthermore, the constitutively active form of NF-κB has been reported in human breast cancer cell lines in culture (35), carcinogen-induced mouse mammary tumors (73), and biopsies from patients with breast cancer (33). Various tumor promoters, including phorbol ester, TNF and H2O2 activate NF-κB and that curcumin downregulates the activation (74). Subsequently, others showed that curcumin-induced downregulation of NF-κB is mediated through suppression of IκBα kinase activation (75, 76).
Curcumin Downregulates the Activation of AP-1 and c-jun Kinase
AP-1 is another transcription factor that has been closely linked with proliferation and transformation of tumor cells (77). The activation of AP-1 requires the phosphorylation of c-jun through activation of stress-activated kinase c-jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) (78). The activation of JNK is also involved in cellular transformation (79). Curcumin has been shown to inhibit the activation of AP-1 induced by tumor promoters (80) and JNK activation induced by carcinogens (81).
Curcumin Suppresses the Induction of Adhesion Molecules
The expression of various cell surface adhesion molecules such as ICAM-1, VCAM-1 and ELAM-1 on endothelial cells are absolutely critical for tumor metastasis (82). The expression of these molecules is in part regulated by nuclear factor NF-κB (83). Treatment of endothelial cells with curcumin blocks the cell surface expression of adhesion molecules and this accompanies the suppression of tumor cell adhesion to endothelial cells (84). Downregulation of these adhesion molecules is mediated through the downregulation of NF-κB activation (84).
Curcumin Downregulates Cox2 Expression
Overexpression of cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 has been shown to be associated with a wide variety of cancers, including colon (85), lung (86), and breast (87) cancers. The role of COX2 in suppression of apoptosis and tumor cell proliferation has been demonstrated (88). Furthermore, celebrex, a specific inhibitor of COX2, has been shown to suppress mammary carcinogenesis in animals (89). Several groups have shown that curcumin downregulates the expression of COX2 protein in different tumor cells (76, 90), most likely through the downregulation of NF-κB activation (76), which is needed for COX2 expression.
Curcumin Inhibits Angiogenesis
For most solid tumors, including breast cancer, angiogenesis (blood vessel formation) is essential for tumor growth and metastasis (91). The precise mechanism that leads to angiogenesis is not fully understood, but growth factors that cause proliferation of endothelial cells have been shown to play a critical role in this process. Curcumin has been shown to suppress the proliferation of human vascular endothelial cells in vitro (92) and abrogate FGF-2-induced angiogenic response in vivo (93), thus suggesting curcumin is also an antiangiogenic factor. Indeed curcumin has been shown to suppress angiogenesis in vivo (94).
Curcumin Suppresses the Expression of Matrix Metalloprotease (MMP)-9 and Inducible Nitric Oxide Oxidase (Inos)
MMP-9 is one of the proteases that has been shown to be regulated by NF-κB activation (96), and curcumin has been shown to suppress its expression (96). Curcumin has also been demonstrated to downregulate iNOS expression, also regulated by NF-κB and involved in tumor metastasis (97). All these observations suggest that curcumin must have anti-metastatic activity. Indeed, there is a report suggesting that curcumin can inhibit tumor metastasis (98).
Curcumin Downregulates Cyclin D1 Expression
Cyclin D1, a component subunit of cyclin-dependent kinase (Cdk)-4 and Cdk6, is rate limiting in progression of cells through the first gap (G1) phase of the cell cycle. Aberrant overexpression of cyclin D1 is associated with breast cancer formation, with cyclin D1 mRNA overexpressed in 70–100% of breast cancer cell lines and the majority of breast cancers (99). Targeted overexpression of cyclin D1 induced mammary adenocarcinoma (100), and transgenic mice lacking both cyclin D1 alleles failed to develop normal mammary glands (101). Furthermore cyclin D1 is required for transformation by activated HER2/neu (102). Antisense to cyclin D1 has been shown to induce apoptosis (103). Thus cyclin D1 downregulation has been suggested as one of the target for the treatment of breast cancer. Retinoic acid, a chemopreventive agent, has been shown to diminish cyclin D1 protein but not the mRNA through post-translational regulation (104). Expression of cyclin D1 is also regulated through NF-κB (105). Recent studies indicate that curcumin can rapidly downregulate the expression of cyclin D1 at the transcriptional and post-transcriptional level, and this may contribute to the antiproliferative effects of curcumin against various cell types.
The prior art is deficient in clinical strategies that augment the therapeutic efficacy of existing antineoplastic agents against cancer with a NF-κB-blocking chemopreventive agent. The present invention fulfills this long standing need and desire in the art by demonstrating the efficacy of a combination therapy approach involving an NF-κB blocker such as curcumin.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Synergistic effects of nuclear transcription factor NF-κB inhibitors and anti-neoplastic agents


The presently claimed invention provides an accurate, fast, and cost effective method for determining the additive concentrations of at least two inhibitors simultaneously in an electroplating bath by using different electrical load conditions. The method of the present invention is able to determine additive concentrations of different inhibitors effectively during on-line feedback control for adjusting the amount of additives in the electroplating bath to maintain the additive concentrations within pre-defined limits during device production.

Electrodeposition is a frequently-used method to deposit different conductive metals into vias for forming electrical connections. Electroplating baths for electrodeposition of metal are typically aqueous solutions comprising metal salts, ionic electrolytes, and myriad additives like accelerators (brighteners), suppressors levelers, etc. The additives play key roles in electrodeposition since inappropriate species or concentrations may lead to voids, insufficient filling, and non-uniform deposit, and such defects can generate adverse effects to the devices, leading to great loss during mass production. For example, FIG. 1A-B show a via with poor filling quality at inappropriate leveler concentration, and another via with good filing quality at appropriate leveler concentration respectively.
As electrodeposition is commonly used for fabrication of electronic components and devices, reliable operation of electroplating baths in a manufacturing process need employ suitable analytical methods for determining the appropriate concentrations of the additives. These analytical methods are often used to determine the concentrations of species in the bath during operation, so as to provide on-line feedback control, and adjust the amount of additive for maintaining concentrations within pre-determined limits as shown in FIG. 2.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,572,753 provides a method for analysis of three organic additives in an acid copper plating bath. Cyclic voltammetric stripping (CVS) methods are used to measure the concentrations of the suppressor and anti-suppressor based on the effects of these additives on the copper electrodeposition rate. The method uses measurements of the copper electrodeposition rate to determine the concentration of the leveler additive. The other two additives are included in the measurement solution at concentrations determined to provide the optimum compromise between minimal interference, high sensitivity and good reproducibility for the leveler analysis. Nevertheless, the method provides only a single analysis for leveler.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,808,611 discloses an electro-analytical method for determining the concentration of an organic additive in an acidic or basic metal plating bath using an organic chemical analyzer. The method includes preparing a supporting-electrolyte solution, preparing a testing solution including the supporting-electrolyte solution and a standard solution, measuring an electrochemical response of the supporting-electrolyte solution using the organic chemical analyzer, and implementing an electro-analytical technique to determine the concentration of the organic additive in the plating bath from the electrochemical response measurements. However, the method provides merely a single analysis for leveler.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,186,326 discloses a method for measuring the concentrations of a suppressor additive and an anti-suppressor additive in a plating bath for electrodeposition of a metal. Suppressor and anti-suppressor additives in an acid copper sulfate plating bath are analyzed by the cyclic voltammetric stripping method without cleaning or rinsing the cell between the two analyses. The suppressor analysis is performed first and the suppressor concentration in the resulting measurement solution is adjusted to a predetermined value corresponding to full suppression. This fully-suppressed solution is then used as the background electrolyte for the anti-suppressor analysis. However, the method provides only a sequential analysis for suppressor and accelerator.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,384,535 provides a method for determining the quantity of both brightener and leveler in a metal plating bath. The method is able to improve the reproducibility of measuring brighteners and levelers in electroplating baths. Nevertheless, the method provides just an integrated analysis for accelerator and leveler.
In actual mass production, two or more inhibitors such as a leveler and suppressor are frequently employed simultaneously in recipes for acquiring good via filling quality. However, the abovementioned methods fail to provide an integrated analysis for two or more inhibitors simultaneously. The problem raised here is that the sum of concentrations of at least two inhibitors is not equivalent to the measured concentration since the inhibitors provide other inhibiting effects when different inhibitors are mixed in a plating solution. For example, according to the prior art, when simply considering the equivalent concentration of two inhibitors by the sum of concentrations of each inhibitors, such calculation fails to provide the same results as the measured inhibitor concentration during the mass production, thereby leading to error occurred as shown in Table 1:
TABLE 1Actual SMeas. SSampleconcentration concentrationError18 ml/L11.5 ml/L43.91%25 ml/L6.59 ml/L38.13%
As shown in Table 1, the error generated can be as large as to be 43%. Such shortcoming makes manufacturer incapable of maintaining the appropriate additive concentration during the mass production, thereby substantially lowering the yield of products.
Therefore, there is an unmet need to provide an accurate, fast, and cost effective method for determining the concentrations of at least two inhibitors simultaneously in an electroplating bath during on-line feedback control for appropriate adjustment of the amount of additives in the bath to maintain the additive concentrations within pre-defined limits during device production.

Method of analyzing at least two inhibitors simultaneously in a plating bath

Hong Kong Science Park, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong

Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute Company Limited


A method and device for communicating ARQ feedback in wireless communication networks. An ARQ block whose transmission is in progress is determined upon occurrence of an event at a receiving device. ARQ feedback is generated that indicates the ARQ blocks whose transmission is in progress. Further, the ARQ feedback is sent to a device transmitting the ARQ feedback.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a field of wireless communication, and more particularly, to communicating Automatic Repeat reQuest (ARQ) feedback in wireless communication networks.
2. Description of the Related Art
Typically, in a wireless communication network, ARQ blocks are exchanged between a mobile station and a base station using ARQ protocol at a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer. The ARQ blocks are exchanged between the mobile station and the base station to provide various types of services such as voice service, packet data service, etc.
In normal ARQ operation, a transmitter transmits one or more ARQ blocks to a receiver. In a DownLink (DL) connection, the base station acts as a transmitter and the mobile station acts as a receiver, whereas in an UpLink (UL) connection, the mobile station acts as a transmitter and the base station acts as a receiver. Each ARQ block is identified by a Sequence Number (SN). Typically, whenever an ARQ block is received, the receiver marks the ARQ block as successfully received. If the receiver receives an ARQ block with SN=x before receiving the ARQ block with SN=x−1, the receiver starts an ARQ error detection timer for the ARQ block with the SN=x−1. If the ARQ block with SN=x−1 is not correctly received before expiration of the ARQ error detection timer, the receiver marks the ARQ block with SN=x−1 as failed.
Accordingly, the receiver sends an ARQ feedback indicating a status of the ARQ blocks. For example, the receiver sends positive acknowledgement (ACK) feedback if an ARQ block is successfully received and negative acknowledgement (NACK) feedback if reception of an ARQ block has failed. The ACK and NACK are indicated in an ARQ feedback information element of the ARQ feedback. The receiver sends the ARQ feedback upon receiving an ARQ feedback poll from the transmitter. The transmitter sends the ARQ feedback poll requesting the ARQ feedback after transmitting a predetermined number of ARQ blocks or a predetermined number of bytes of data in multiple ARQ blocks. Also, the receiver sends the ARQ feedback when the receiver fails to receive the ARQ block, or the receiver receives a ARQ discard message from the transmitter or before purging an ARQ block.
Both the transmitter and receiver maintain a status window that is updated based on the ARQ feedback and the received ARQ blocks, respectively. The status window in the transmitter includes a first pointer and a second pointer. The first pointer points to the ARQ block with a lowest sequence number that has been transmitted but not yet positively acknowledged by the receiver. The second pointer points to the ARQ block, which is to be transmitted next by the transmitter.
Similarly, the status window in the receiver includes a first pointer and a second pointer. The first pointer points to the ARQ block with the lowest sequence number which has not yet received correctly by the receiver. The second pointer is the sequence number of a highest ARQ block that is received by the receiver plus one.
When the receiver receives the ARQ feedback poll when the ARQ error detection timer is running for the ARQ block with SN=x, the receiver cannot send the ARQ feedback for ARQ blocks with a sequence number greater than SN=x, even if successfully received, until the ARQ error detection timer expires. As a result, a significant delay is caused in sending the ARQ feedback associated with successfully received/failed ARQ blocks, and the transmitter cannot free up memory space occupied by the successfully received ARQ blocks or retransmit the failed ARQ blocks.
Further, upon transmitting the ARQ feedback poll, if the ARQ feedback is not received by the transmitter before expiration of the ARQ feedback poll retry timer, the transmitter may retry sending an ARQ feedback poll to the receiver. The ARQ feedback poll retry timer is usually set to a longer period than the ARQ error detection timer in order to receive the delayed ARQ feedback upon expiration of the ARQ error detection timer and before expiration of the ARQ feedback poll retry timer. This may increase a significant delay already caused due to the problem described above, thereby resulting in a further delayed retransmission of the ARQ feedback poll and hence, delayed ARQ feedback.

Apparatus and method of communicating automatic repeat request (ARQ) feedback in a wireless communication network


A pre-terminated distribution module is provided with a set of multicore fiber (MCF) connector adapters at its front end and a set of multifiber MCF connector adapters at a second end. The MCF connector adapters and multifiber MCF connector adapters are connected to each other within the module housing by means of an MCF fanout. The MCF connector adapters are configured to provide core-aligned connection for MCF jumper cables that are plugged into the front end of the module. The MCF jumper cables are configured to provide connectivity to an array of optical devices. The multifiber connector adapters are configured to provide core-aligned connectivity for multifiber MCF cables that are plugged into the back end of the module. The multifiber cables are configured to provide connectivity between the module and a trunk (backbone) cable. Further described are pre-terminated trunk (backbone) cables and pre-terminated fiber optic jumper cables (i.e., patchcords).

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of fiber optics, and in particular to applications for multicore optical fiber cables and connectors.
Background Art
The growing need for high-speed applications in the structured cabling market continues to spawn interest in optical fiber distribution systems. Legacy copper patching systems continue to be replaced by fiber-optic systems, as bandwidth demands increase. In data centers, central offices, and other structured cabling applications, fiber-optic patch panels are being widely deployed to facilitate connections between switches, servers, storage devices and office space.
In structured cabling systems, it is very desirable to provide fiber distribution frames with increased connector-port density. As used herein, the term "density" refers to the number of locations, per unit volume or unit area, for providing connections on a distribution frame.
A distribution frame is typically configured to include multiple shelves of a specified size. The term "rack unit" (abbreviated simply as "U") refers to a height of 1.75 inches. Thus, a shelf height of 7 inches corresponds to a rack unit height of 4U. The density of a shelf can thus be quantified as the number of optical paths, or channels, per rack unit (e.g., 36 channels/U).
In order to reduce the effective area that a patching system utilizes in a facility, suppliers of fiber optic cables and connectivity have taken steps to reduce the size of the fiber optic connectors. For instance, LC connectors, which are 50% smaller than SC connectors, have become prevalent in the market place. Simply converting to LC connectors, from SC, immediately provides a two-fold increase in patching density.
Pre-terminated modular cassette patching products are available for use in structured cabling applications. A typical cassette provides a plurality of simplex connector adapters (i.e., sockets) at its front end and one or more multifiber connector adapters (e.g., MPO-type) at its back end. The front and back adapters are connected to each other within the cassette housing, by fiber optic fanouts.
These cassette systems allow a user to create a passive network link with minimal fiber optic expertise. An installer loads a cassette onto a termination shelf within a vertical rack cabinet. A multifiber-MPO-terminated trunk (backbone) cable is then plugged into an adapter at the rear of the cassette. An optical transceiver can then be connected into the network by plugging one end of a patchcord into transceiver socket, and plugging the other end of the patchcord into an adapter at the front of the cassette. An optical link can be completed by performing the same steps at the other end of the trunk cable.
Modular cassettes are commonly installed in a side-by-side configuration on a termination shelf. If a 1U panel has a terminal shelf configured to receive three side-by-side modular cassettes, each housing 24 LC connectors, the port density is 72 channels/U (i.e., 24×3).
A significant improvement in density has been achieved by increasing the number of conventional pre-terminated modules that can be installed into a panel or shelf. For example, by using a 24-port LC module with low-profile latches, it is possible to install four modules into a 19″ horizontal 1U panel, instead of only three. The channel density thus increases from 72 channels/U (i.e., 24×3) to 96 channels/U (i.e., 24×4), a 33⅓ percent increase.
Although the increases in density achieved by increasing the number of modules is noteworthy, it does not, in itself, fully address the rising demand for increased densities, lower power consumption, faster transmission rates, and the like. Jamming more components into a confined space, reducing connector size, and other such approaches make assembly, installation and handling more challenging. A solution is needed that does not adversely affect fiber management.

UltraHigh-density fiber distribution components


A combustion apparatus has a fuel feed unit, a blower for supplying combustion air, a mixing unit of fuel and combustion air, a first catalyst provided downstream of the mixing unit, a first heat receiving unit adjacent to the first catalyst, a second catalyst with a large geometrical surface area than that of the first catalyst provided downstream in the flow direction of the first catalyst, an electric heater for heating the catalyst provided downstream of the second catalyst, an air permeable insulator provided downstream of the electric heater, and a second heat receiving unit provided downstream of the air permeable insulator, wherein power is supplied to the electric heater when starting combustion to heat the second catalyst over the reaction temperature of catalyst, a mixed gas of fuel and air is fed to start catalytic combustion of second catalyst, the downstream portion in flow direction of the first catalyst is heated over the reaction temperature of catalyst by the combustion heat of the second catalyst, and combustion is started by the first catalyst.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a combustion apparatus used in heater, water heater, air conditioner or the like, using combustion heat as heat source.
2. Related Art of the Invention
When a catalytic combustion apparatus is operated at a same combustion load factor (combustion amount per unit volume of combustion chamber) as in a flame combustion apparatus, the catalyst temperature exceeds 1200.degree. C., and the heat resistant life of the catalyst is extremely shortened. As means for solving this problem of combustion load factor, for example, as shown in an embodiment of Japanese Patent Application No. 7-316888 in FIG. 1, a combustion system is composed of a first catalytic combustion unit 1 having a heat exchange type, and a second catalytic combustion unit 2 having a honeycomb catalyst provided downstream of the first catalytic combustion unit 1. The fuel is mainly burned in the first catalytic combustion unit 1, and a flame is not formed at its downstream. The first catalytic combustion unit 1 makes use of high heat transfer property of catalytic combustion, and is a heat exchange type catalytic combustion unit having a catalyst 4 provided in a heat receiving fin 3. The water in a cooling route 6 is heated to be warm water in the first catalytic combustion unit and waste heat recovery unit 7. Since the heat receiving fin 3 for heat exchange is directly covered with the catalyst 4, the heat transfer speed of the heat generated in the catalyst to the heat receiving fin is high, so that a combustion system integrated with heat exchanger of small size and high efficiency is realized.
To start combustion in this system, the catalyst must be preheated over the reaction temperature. As this combustion starting method, a method of forming a flame before start of catalytic combustion, and a method of preheating the first catalytic combustion unit 1 second catalytic combustion unit 2 before start of catalytic combustion by electric heater 5 have been proposed.
Such conventional systems, however, involve three problems as explained below.
1. Concerning start of combustion, a method of heating the catalyst to activation temperature by an electric heater, and then feeding fuel is disclosed as a prior art. In this prior art, the electric heater heats all of first catalyst, heat exchanger of first catalyst, and second catalyst, and therefore a large electric power was required for heating the catalyst. A method of preheating by flame is also disclosed, and although the required electric power is small in this method, NOx is contained in the exhaust generated by the flame.
2. Concerning the structure of the heat exchanger of the first catalytic combustion chamber, in the prior art, the heat exchanger fin of the first catalyst projects from the periphery into the center, and therefore the temperature of the first catalyst is not uniform. As a result, the reaction quantity is not same between the center and periphery of the first catalyst, and it leads to various problems such as deterioration of center of the first catalyst due to elevation of temperature, increase of nonreacted amount due to decline of temperature in the periphery, and reaction of the nonreacted portion of the periphery with the periphery of the second catalyst not having heat receiving portion to deteriorate by causing abnormal high temperature.
3. Concerning combustion adjusting width, in the prior art, when the first catalyst drops in temperature to stop reaction when the combustion amount is extremely small, combustion cannot be started again at this point. Hence, the TDR was not sufficiently wide.
In other conventional heating apparatus, in electric heating, when a large current is generated, the cost of the equipment and the running expense increase, whereas, in combustion heating, a large amount of heat can be generated economically, but there are problems of smell of exhaust, in particular, release of smell when igniting, and instability of combustion in small combustion region. Moreover, in the equipment combining combustion and electric heater, the problem of exhaust of combustion is not solved.

Matsushita Electric Industrial, Co. Ltd.


A stack type mobile terminal for enabling the user to easily add only a necessary option cabinet from among different types of option cabinets eliminating the need for electric connection of the user is provided.

In recent years, a revolver type mobile terminal including a main body cabinet having a telephone function, a single option cabinet stacked on the rear of the main body cabinet as a function section is hidden, and a shaft along the stack direction of the main body cabinet and the option cabinet, wherein the main body cabinet and the option cabinet rotate relatively on the shaft, whereby the function section of the option cabinet can be exposed, has been proposed.
In this kind of mobile terminal, the option cabinet is rotated, whereby the function section is exposed, so that a new area for adding the function section can be provided. Accordingly, for example, it is also made possible to install a full keyboard, etc., and the mobile terminal is provided with still more multiple functions and the convenience of the mobile terminal is improved.    Non-patent document 1: au design project, "Konseputo moderu ichiran," "Apollo (2002)," KDDI, [search on Aug. 17, 2004], Internet URL: http:www.au.kddi.com/au_design_project/models/

Abstract: A stack type mobile terminal 100 includes a main body cabinet 110 functioning as a telephone, a plurality of option cabinets 120 stacked on the rear of the main body cabinet 110, a rotation supporting point shaft in the stack direction, provided in the option cabinet 120 for the main body cabinet 110 and the option cabinet 120 to relatively rotate, rotation supporting point holes into which the rotation supporting point shaft is inserted, and a contact mechanism for electrically connecting the cabinets when the main body cabinet 110 and the option cabinet 120 or the option cabinets 120 are positioned at a predetermined relative angle, wherein the main body cabinet 110 and the option cabinet 120 relatively rotate, whereby the function section of the option cabinet 120 can be exposed. It is made possible to stack different types of option cabinets 120 on the rear of the main body cabinet 110 selectively as many as desired.


A partially tied surgical knot is disclosed. It has a proximal loop, first loop, plurality of knot loops, and a core loop received in a common loop core formed by the knot loops. The partially tied knot can be readily converted into a non-slip knot to provide enhanced suture knot security. The technique for deployment ensures the user that the conversion will be performed consistently each time, therefore providing a consistent knot security for multiple applications. Also disclosed is an assembly which features the partially tied knot in combination with a core tube to facilitate the conversion of the partially tied knot into the fully tied knot.

This invention relates to a surgical knot made from a suture filament. In particular, the invention relates to a partially tied surgical knot which is particularly adapted for deployment into a fully tied knot during minimally invasive surgical procedures where access to the surgical site is limited.
A mainstay of surgical practice has been and will continue to be the formation and placement of surgical knots from suture filament to fasten tissue during an operative procedure. Numerous surgical knots have been developed over an appreciable period of time, and the art of forming and tying knots for surgical applications is a critical skill which a surgeon must possess to perform an operation safely and efficiently. Accordingly, the art is extensively developed. See, for example, Tissue Approximation in Endoscopic Surgery, Alfred Cuschieri, Zoltan Szabo, Times Mirror International Publishers, 1995, which describes numerous surgical knots made from suture filament to facilitate the approximation of tissue during surgery.
The art of surgical knots is also well represented in the patent literature. U.S. Pat. No. 2,012,776 discloses a surgical instrument for facilitating the placement of various forms of slip knots made from surgical filament. The inventor named on the '776 patent, H. A. Roeder, developed the "Roeder Knot" which is a surgical knot which is frequently used in practice today. More recently, U.S. Pat. No. 5,573,286 discloses a surgical knot of suture strand particularly adapted for orthopedic applications. The preferred embodiment described in the '286 patent is directed to tying the knot to a bone.
Early on, it was recognized that the deployment and placement of surgical knots within a remotely accessible surgical site could be difficult, cumbersome and often unreliable. Accordingly, instrumentation was developed to facilitate the placement of knots in remote locations. Cleverly, a pre-tied knotted loop of suture was often used to reduce the number of steps required to form the tightened knot. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,566,625 and 3,090,386 describe surgical devices which are adapted to support a pre-tied knotted loop of suture for suturing or ligating tissue, particularly during procedures where the tissue desired to be manipulated is difficult to access.
More recently, instrumentation has been developed for facilitating the placement of knots particularly during minimally invasive surgical procedures. In particular, U.S. Pat. No. 5,320,629 discloses the formation of a pre-tied knotted loop of suture, and the placement of the pre-tied knotted loop on a surgical device for facilitating the tightening of the loop to approximate tissue during endoscopic surgical procedures. German Patent No. 912619 also discloses a device similar to that disclosed in the '629 patent.
Although the art of surgical knots is well developed, and surgical devices for facilitating the placement of fully tightened knots from a pre-tied knotted loop of suture have also been developed for application at remote surgical sites, there are problems which still need to be addressed. In particular, in those surgical procedures where access to the site is limited, for example during minimally invasive procedures such as endoscopic surgical procedures, the knots which are deployed are routinely slip knots which have poor knot security. If knot security is poor, then the approximated tissue may not be held for a sufficient period of time to promote adequate wound healing. Additionally, during minimally invasive procedures, the pre-tied knotted loops of suture which have been described in the prior art devices can be difficult to efficiently tighten for final deployment.
Therefore, in minimally invasive surgical procedures where access to the surgical site is limited, what is needed is a partially tied surgical knot formed from a suture strand which will yield enhanced suture knot security when the knot is fully formed. The partially tied knot should be relatively simple in construction. It should be easy to form the tightened knot from the partially tied knot, which characteristically is in the form of a pre-tied knotted loop of suture. The formation of the knot from the pre-tied knotted loop of suture should provide a consistently strong knot security each time the knot is placed to enable even an inexperienced surgeon to confidently and efficiently place a secure suture knot. Additionally, the surgical knot should not only have enhanced suture knot security when formed, but also long term security to maintain tissue in its approximated state for a sufficient period of time to promote adequate wound healing. Finally, it would be ideal if the amount of tension which must be applied to the suture strand when the pre-tied knotted loop of suture is tightened is kept sufficiently low so that the suture does not break when the knot is deployed.


An oxide control system (apparatus and process) for use in a continuous casting mold for controlling, directing and managing the flow of metal oxides which develop on the molten metal surface within the oxide dam. This invention discloses a new oxide dam which provides predetermined outlets which control and manage the flow of metal oxides to locations within the mold cavity and resulting castpart where oxides are acceptable, yet directing the metal oxides away from locations where the oxides are unacceptable on the resulting castpart.

Metal ingots, billets and other castparts may be formed by a casting process which utilizes a vertically oriented mold situated above a large casting pit beneath the floor level of the metal casting facility, although this invention may also be utilized in horizontal molds. The lower component of the vertical casting mold is a starting block. When the casting process begins, the starting blocks are in their upward-most position and in the molds. As molten metal is poured into the mold bore or cavity and cooled (typically by water), the starting block is slowly lowered at a pre-determined rate by a hydraulic cylinder or other device. As the starting block is lowered, solidified metal or aluminum emerges from the bottom of the mold and ingots, rounds or billets of various geometries are formed, which may also be referred to herein as castparts.
While the invention applies to the casting of metals in general, including without limitation, aluminum, brass, lead, zinc, magnesium, copper, steel, etc., the examples given and preferred embodiment disclosed may be directed to aluminum, and therefore the term aluminum or molten metal may be used throughout for consistency even though the invention applies more generally to metals.
While there are numerous ways to achieve and configure a vertical casting arrangement, FIG. 1 illustrates one example. In FIG. 1, the vertical casting of aluminum generally occurs beneath the elevation level of the factory floor in a casting pit. Directly beneath the casting pit floor 101a is a caisson 103, in which the hydraulic cylinder barrel 102 for the hydraulic cylinder is placed.
As shown in FIG. 1, the components of the lower portion of a typical vertical aluminum casting apparatus, shown within a casting pit 101 and a caisson 103, are a hydraulic cylinder barrel 102, a ram 106, a mounting base housing 105, a platen 107 and a base with starting heads 108 (also referred to as a starting block base), all shown at elevations below the casting facility floor 104.
The mounting base housing 105 is mounted to the floor 101a of the casting pit 101, below which is the caisson 103. The caisson 103 is defined by its side walls 103b and its floor 103a.
A typical mold table assembly 110 is also shown in FIG. 1, which can be tilted as shown by hydraulic cylinder 111 pushing mold table tilt arm 110a such that it pivots about point 112 and thereby raises and rotates the main casting frame assembly, as shown in FIG. 1. There are also mold table carriages which allow the mold table assemblies to be moved to and from the casting position above the casting pit.
FIG. 1 further shows the platen 107 and starting block base 108 partially descended into the casting pit 101 with castpart 113 (which may be an ingot or a billet) being partially formed. Castpart 113 is on the starting block base 108, which may include a starting head or bottom block, which usually (but not always) sits on the starting block base 108, all of which is known in the art and need not therefore be shown or described in greater detail. While the term starting block base is used for item 108, it should be noted that the terms bottom block base and starting head base are also used in the industry to refer to item 108.
While the starting block base 108 in FIG. 1 only shows one starting block 108 and pedestal, there are typically several starting blocks mounted on each starting block base, which simultaneously cast billets or ingots, as the starting block base is lowered during the casting process.
When hydraulic fluid is introduced into the hydraulic cylinder at sufficient pressure, the ram 106, and consequently the starting block base 108, are raised to the desired start elevation for the casting process, which is when the starting blocks are within the mold table assembly 110.
The lowering of the starting block base 108 is accomplished by metering the hydraulic fluid from the cylinder at a pre-determined rate, thereby lowering the ram 106 and consequently the starting block base at a pre-determined and controlled rate. The mold is controllably cooled during the process to assist in the solidification of the emerging ingots or billets, typically using water cooling means. Although the use of a hydraulic cylinder is referred to herein, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that there are other mechanisms and ways which may be utilized to lower the platen.
There are numerous mold and casting technologies that fit into mold tables, and no one in particular is required to practice the various embodiments of this invention, since they are known by those of ordinary skill in the art.
The upper side of the typical mold table operatively connects to, or interacts with, the metal distribution system. The typical mold table also operatively connects to the molds which it houses.
When metal is cast using a continuous cast vertical mold, the molten metal is cooled in the mold and continuously emerges from the lower end of the mold as the starting block base is lowered. The emerging billet, ingot or other configuration is intended to be sufficiently solidified such that it maintains its desired profile, In some casting technologies, there may be an air gap between the emerging solidified metal and the permeable ring wall, while in others there may be direct contact. Below that, there is also a mold air cavity between the emerging solidified metal and the lower portion of the mold and related equipment.
Once casting is complete, the castparts, are removed from the bottom block or starting head.
The casting process is initiated by the introduction of molten metal into the mold cavity and the solidification of the molten metal through the mold cavity occurs by the application of a cooling fluid such as water. The cooling fluid is applied around the perimeter of the mold cavity and in the process, causes the walls of the mold cavity to cool. As the mold cavity wall is cooled the molten metal adjacent to the wall generally solidifies and shrinkage occurs around the solidifying surface of the castpart. The shrinkage of the castpart then causes the solidifying castpart to shrink back away from the cooler mold wall, resulting in some re-melting of solidifying surface of the castpart and expansion back to the mold wall. This solidification process occurs and the resulting castpart emerges out of the mold cavity with a solidified outer surface or skin and the inner core of the castpart is still in its molten state. A continuous supply of cooling fluid is applied to the perimeter of the solidifying castpart emerging from the mold cavity.
At or above the entrance or inlet to the mold, molten metal is delivered by the trough distribution system and provided at a location above the mold inlet. It is generally desirable to monitor, control and maintain the molten metal entering the mold cavity to control the quality and safety of the cast. This may require or include a molten metal surface level sensor which senses the exact surface level of the molten metal to optimize its position relative to the mold.
During the molding process for aluminum and various alloys, certain oxides form on the exposed surface of the molten metal during the casting process. It is undesirable to have oxides form on certain primary areas of the exterior surface of the castpart as it can initiate cracking in the castpart or affect the quality of the castpart for downstream manufacturing and rolling operations on that castpart. For example, larger castparts referred to as ingots would be generally rectangular in shape and would have two larger flat surfaces which would be referred to as the rolling surfaces. When a large ingot is rolled, the rolling surfaces are placed to interface with and between large rollers and through repetitious rolling operations a relatively thick ingot is reduced down to a thickness which may for example be used to manufacture aluminum cans.
It is very desirable in producing castparts destined for certain operations such as rolling, that the oxides be minimized or eliminated on certain critical surfaces of the castpart, such as the rolling surfaces. For an ingot destined to be rolled, it is acceptable to have some level of oxides on the end portions of the cross-section of the ingot because those oxides do not have the as much impact on the rolling surface casting cracking or downstream rolling operations. However, if the oxides are allowed to travel to the rolling surface, the castpart quality will be negatively affected.
This has been a well-known problem in the industry for a long time, and in order to prevent the oxides on the surface of the molten metal from traveling to the rolling surfaces or other surfaces where it is important to minimize the oxides, typical prior art devices utilize what are referred to as dams or oxide barriers. These dams or oxide barriers are generally rectangular, elliptical or circular shaped rings which present a barrier that starts below the surface of the molten metal and extends upward above the surface so that the oxides that are forming on the surface cannot travel or flow to a surface of the castpart. In prior art dams, the oxides buildup relatively quickly within the interior of the dams or oxide barriers and thereby create an elevated surface above the actual molten metal level.
While the dams or oxide barriers do reduce or prevent oxide from traveling or flowing to the protected surfaces they build up oxides within the dam or barrier, the molten metal level sensor detects the varying oxide level above the true molten metal level and is not then able to maintain the molten metal surface at the desired or necessary level relative to the mold to optimize the casting. If for example, the oxide buildup is two to four millimeters above the surface of the molten metal the sensor control system consequently maintains the molten metal level two to four millimeters below its intended location. Unintended and negative consequences may occur. These consequences may include lower quality casting or a condition referred to in the industry as a bleed out condition which may result in molten metal escaping into the casting area and casting pit.
While in some prior art the molten metal surface level sensor has been moved to a location to sense metal outside of the oxide barrier or dam, this is not as desirable for multiple reasons, such as incomplete oxide retention, and especially in certain applications.
It is therefore desirable and an object of this invention to more effectively and accurately control the level of molten metal in continuous cast molds by controlling, managing and routing the oxides forming on the surface of the molten metal, while maintaining sufficiently accurate molten metal surface area sensing and monitoring.
It is therefore an object of some embodiments of this invention to provide a system for more effectively and accurately controlling the level of molten metal in continuous cast molds by controlling, managing and routing the oxides forming on the surface of the molten metal.
Other objects, features, and advantages of this invention will appear from the specification, claims, and accompanying drawings which form a part hereof. In carrying out the objects of this invention, it is to be understood that its essential features are susceptible to change in design and structural arrangement, arrangement with only one practical and preferred embodiment being illustrated in the accompanying drawings, as required.

Oxide control system for a continuous casting molten metal mold


Certain embodiments of the present invention provide an improved system and method for image file header configuration. Certain embodiments of the method include retrieving one or more criterion for configuration of an image orientation parameter, configuring the image orientation parameter based on the one or more criterion, obtaining image data, and storing the image data in an image file. The image file has a header portion including the image orientation parameter. In an embodiment, the image orientation parameter may be modified from a default configuration. The one or more criterion may include user preference, modality restriction, system preference, and/or rule, for example. The method may further include saving the image file with the configured image orientation parameter. Additionally, the method may include displaying an image according to the configured image orientation parameter. The image may be automatically oriented for display based on the configured image orientation parameter.

The present invention generally relates to image file header definition. In particular, the present invention relates to a system and method for defining parameters, such as image orientation, in an image file header.
Healthcare environments, such as hospitals or clinics, include clinical information systems, such as hospital information systems (HIS), radiology information systems (RIS), clinical information systems (CIS), and cardiovascular information systems (CVIS), and storage systems, such as picture archiving and communication systems (PACS), library information systems (LIS), and electronic medical records (EMR). Information stored may include patient medical histories, imaging data, test results, diagnosis information, management information, and/or scheduling information, for example. The information may be centrally stored or divided among a plurality of locations. Healthcare practitioners may desire to access patient information or other information at various points in a healthcare workflow. For example, during surgery, medical personnel may access patient information, such as images of a patient's anatomy, that are stored in a medical information system. Alternatively, medical personnel may enter new information, such as history, diagnostic, or treatment information, into a medical information system during an ongoing medical procedure.
Current medical information storage and management systems store and/or process large amounts of data. Additionally, medical data being processed and/or stored by medical information storage and management systems changes frequently. The large volume of data places a heavy burden on the systems processing and/or storing the data. Thus, a system and method for increased flexibility and improved processing of medical data would be highly desirable.
Many vendors in the medical imaging industry have established a communication standard to allow medical image data to be transmitted and processed by a plurality of disparate systems. One common standard is the Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) protocol. DICOM is a standard for image and information transmission. DICOM relates to the transfer of electronic data, such as medical images and associated data, between medical diagnostic and imaging systems. The DICOM protocol may be employed in communication between medical devices and image archives, such as PACS.
The DICOM standard enumerates a command set, data formats, interface specifications, communication protocols, and command syntax. However, the DICOM standard does not specify details of implementation. DICOM sets forth Information Objects (types of data, such as computerized tomography, magnetic resonance, x-ray, ultrasound, etc.), Service Classes (actions with data, such as send, receive, print, etc.), and data transmission protocols. The Service Class User (SCU) protocol governs use of the DICOM service. The Service Class Provider (SCP) protocol governs the provider of the DICOM service. DICOM application services provide the ability to transfer images and image related data between DICOM applications. A DICOM service-object pair (SOP) is used to push and/or pull information between DICOM applications.
The DICOM protocol, such as the DICOM 3.0 protocol, is the standard digital communication protocol in radiology, cardiology and other medical imaging disciplines. The DICOM data model is organized in roughly three levels: a study level, a series level and an image level. For example, a series may be a group of images and a study may be a group of series. On a storage device, a study may include one or more image files. The image files include information related to the study and series of specific image(s).
A single DICOM file includes a preamble, a header and image data, for example. The preamble identifies the file as a DICOM file. The preamble is typically followed by characters "DICM" indicating that the file is a DICOM file. A DICOM header may include information such as patient name, scan type, image dimensions, file version, transfer syntax, etc. Information in the DICOM header may be organized into one or more groups, for example. DICOM image data may include two-dimensional or three-dimensional image data, for example. In an embodiment, DICOM image data may be compressed or encapsulated to reduce file size. DICOM image data may be compressed using image compression formats, such as JPEG or TIFF image compression, other compression scheme, for example.
A DICOM image file header may include information regarding image dimensions and may include additional information regarding the image data, for example. Image dimension information may include a number of frames, rows, and/or columns of image data, for example. Image dimension information may also include image resolution information, for example.
When images are sent from a digital radiology (Digital RAD) system, for example, a digital X-ray (DX) image type uses a number of parameters to be provided in the image header. Parameters included in the header are values that are designated in the DICOM standard as type 1, 2, or 3. Type 1 parameters are to be included in the header (patient name, etc.) and have a value. Type 2 parameters are included in the header, but the value may be blank. Type 3 parameters are optional to provide in the header (SID, Dose, etc.).
For a DX Image Object type, patient orientation (0020,0020) is a type 1 DICOM parameter, for example. That is, the patient orientation parameter must be present in the header and must have a value associated with the parameter. The patient orientation parameter value designates an orientation of a patient as an image is viewed on a display from left to right and top to bottom. Typical values for the orientation parameter are AF (indicating patient anterior, patient foot), AP (indicating patient anterior, patient posterior) (as displayed on the monitor), etc. For fixed radiology systems, a user typically defines the patient orientation prior to X-ray exposures (similar process also used for MR, CT systems). Detector orientation in a fixed system is a constant, as the detector is typically fixed to a wall, floor, table, etc. For a portable detector, both the patient and the detector orientation may be changed, so requesting the user to set the orientation parameter prior to exposure is both prone to error and difficult to implement during a procedure involving mobile systems.
Thus, there is a need for a system and method for improved configuration of DICOM header parameters, such as image orientation.

System and method for definition of DICOM header values


A method and computing system for receiving an indication of a first photo being uploaded to a web-based resource. A first capture date is determined for the first photo. A first object is associated with the first photo. The first object is positioned within a graphical representation of a calendar based, at least in part, upon the first capture date.

Included within the Google+ social network is the ability to upload photographs to the social network for storage and sharing. For example, the Google+ social network allows users to automatically upload photographs as they are taken with a digital camera (included within a cell phone) to private photo albums included within the Google+ social network so that they may be shared at a later date.
Unfortunately, when uploading photographs to social networks, they are often uploaded in batches, in which hundreds of photographs are simultaneously uploaded to the social network and placed into a common album. This may make it very difficult to locate specific photographs at a later date, as there is no temporal aspect to the upload.


The present invention is directed to an apparatus for elevating a cover for a meter enclosure that may be buried in the ground. The apparatus includes first and second coaxial, right circular cylinders, the first cylinder including a protruding member extending from its outer surface, with the second cylinder having a diameter greater than or equal to the diameter of the first cylinder and including a pair of spaced apart notches formed in the inner sidewall thereof. The first cylinder may be attached to the meter box, with the protruding member generally securing the apparatus to the enclosure and the enclosure cover may then be attached to the top of the second cylinder.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an apparatus for elevating the height of an enclosure cover, such as is commonly used to cover a utility meter housing. Further, this invention relates to an apparatus to assist the irrigation, landscaping and utility industries to maintain access to meters that are buried in the ground.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well known that many utility companies bury meters in the ground, such as in sod boxes in residential communities, in order to protect such meters from the environment as well as to enhance the aesthetic quality of such communities. However, when the ground that surrounds such meters is landscaped, including the placement of sod and the growing of grass proximal to the meter enclosures, the covers for such enclosures often end up beneath the grade level of the surface and may become tilted or cockeyed. The ground around such meters has a tendency to shift and deteriorate, also causing the meter enclosures to fall below grade level.
A somewhat similar problem exists in a related field, namely the paving industry, where manhole covers need to be raised when new pavement is laid, and various solutions to this problem accordingly have been proposed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,394,898 discloses a rectangular adjustable valve box cover having tapered side walls that may be stacked in order to accommodate different levels of street pavement. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,187,642 discloses a manhole extender ring system that includes a base ring to which additional extender rings may be attached in order to elevate a cast iron manhole cover, which system is held together by an adhesive material, such as caulking. Another such apparatus is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,976,568, which describes a device that includes a frame and a spacer ring that is clamped to the frame, such as by screws, in order to raise the level of the man hole cover when asphalt is layered on a road.
A study of such prior art devices readily leads one to the conclusion that many of such devices for the pavement industry are relatively complex, demand extremely heavy duty construction, or require the manufacture a plurality of different structures, which ultimately tend to increase the cost of such apparatus to the end user. Accordingly, there remains a great need in the art to provide an apparatus that will elevate a meter enclosure cover to grade level, which apparatus is not only of relatively simple construction, but also provides a durable and effective way of maintaining efficient access to such in ground meters.

Apparatus for elevating a meter enclosure cover


A cutting die head that can be set and/or reset without an external mechanism. To this end, the die head includes a die body including a plurality of radially adjustable blocks, each block having a cutter mounted thereon and a radially outwardly facing cam surface. A sleeve surrounds the die body and has an inner surface. The inner surface has a plurality of cam surfaces arranged to communicate with the cam surfaces of the blocks such that axial movement of the sleeve results in radial movement of the blocks. In one embodiment the sleeve is caused to move axially by fluid pressure.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to a cutting die head; specifically a cutting die head designed for use on a machine tool having a fixed or revolving spindle, wherein the cutting die head does not require an external resetting or setting means.
2. Description of the Related Art
Automatic cutting die heads with external trips and resets are known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 1,057,014, to O. A. Smith, describes a threading die for use with a stationary spindle that utilizes a lever extending from the die head as a resetting mechanism. Use of such an external lever greatly limits the potential use of the die head.
A cutting die head with an improved mechanism for tripping and resetting is described in U.S. Pat. No. 1,952,205, to W. J. Hogg. This device is described as a die head of simple construction having circular cutters or chasers. The die head utilizes an external mechanism such as a yoke, interacting with a grooved collar to trip and reset the die head. This improved mechanism eliminates the need for a fixed lever on the die head and allows for the die head to be used in rotating as well as stationary spindle applications. However, use of such an external mechanism still limits the die head to what machines it may be used on.


As a result of the inability to assign security in multiple applications at one time, there is an opportunity to tie the disparate security systems together. Security synchronization services is a method and apparatus that uses roles to provide a common administration experience for all applications that use it and fits better for new applications.

This Background is intended to provide the basic context of this patent application and it is not intended to describe a specific problem to be solved.
Today, users are faced with the task of setting up security in multiple applications, most of which have a different security infrastructure and administration experience. This task can be daunting and frustrating. As more applications are integrated, it will become increasingly important that users are provided a way to "hook all the applications up" so that the applications work as expected. It is unrealistic to expect administrators to manually set up, modify or remove security in every application for every user. It also is unrealistic to expect all applications to "snap" to a common security infrastructure as most popular the applications that are integrated are already mature applications with an established security infrastructure


An optical fiber is described in which the cladding is provided with a refractive index that increases in a radially outward direction. In particular embodiments the refractive index of the cladding increases monotonically from a low value to a value close to or higher than the refractive index of the core. Such a fiber can be formed that can be operated in an effective single mode manner or in multimode operation and which is very suitable for use in high-bit-rate communication systems.

The most effective way of increasing the transmission capacity of an optical fiber communication system is to use the extremely wide bandwidth of a single-mode fiber and to feed a large number of channels as is practicable into the fiber. As a consequence of this, the trend has been to extend the communication window from the C-Band to the L-Band and the S-Band so that the communication window covers a total range of about 200 nm.
However, a major obstacle to the development of ultra-wide-band dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) systems are non-linear effects, and in particular the Raman effect, which cannot be managed with dispersion. Non-Linear effects can cause distortion and crass-talk for example. A direct way to manage such non-linear effects is to use a single-mode fiber with a large effective core area, and therefore recently much work has been done on developing such fibers.
At the same time, there is an increasing interest in expanding the bandwidth of a multimode fiber to meet the demand for short-distance broadband applications, such as broadband Internet and local-area networks. For such applications, the very large core size of a multimode fiber proves to be important because it can ease the optical alignment and lower the fiber connection cost (and hence the system cost). Unfortunately the bandwidth of a conventional step-index multimode fiber, especially a large-core multimode fiber, is very limited and cannot meet future, demand. It is desirable to design a multimode fiber that has a very large core size yet provides a sufficiently large bandwidth.


An apparatus for charging a battery of an electric device that has a motor by not charging the battery before the electric device is used and a method of charging a battery of an electric device that has a motor by using the apparatus. The apparatus includes a load, a motor for driving the load, a battery that provides a power supply to the motor, a generator that converts a kinetic energy that is generated by the motor to an electric energy, and a control unit that senses an amount of the load of the load and, if the amount of the load is less than a reference value, charges the battery by a first charging mode by using the electric energy output from the generator.

1. Field of the Invention
the present invention relates to an apparatus for charging a battery of an electric device that has a motor by not charging the battery before the electric device is used, and to a method for charging a battery of an electric device that has a motor by using the apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electric devices with motors run on either a 220V AC supply or on batteries that produce electrical power to the motors. While AC supplies are being used to power these motors, however, batteries are deemed to be continuously discharged due to their power consumption. Accordingly, batteries need to be charged before use.

Apparatus and method for charging battery of electric device having motor


A glass substrate for a reflective mirror of a rear projection television (RPTV) which ensures display quality by quantitative control, and can reduce control cost and manufacture cost is provided. A reflective mirror 3 of the rear projection television (RPTV) includes a float glass plate (glass substrate) 1 formed to have a plate thickness of 3 mm by a float process, and a reflection enhancing film 2 constituted of aluminum (Al) formed on one surface 1a of the glass substrate 1 by a sputtering method. In the measurement condition of a cut-off value of 0.8 to 8 mm, the maximum amplitude of a filtered waviness curve is 0.1 μm or less, the maximum value of a viewability index value γ (=A/D3) in a range of spatial frequencies 2 to 500/mm by spectral analysis of the filtered waviness curve is 0.02 (/m2) or less, and an integral value of the viewability index value γ is 2.0 (/m3) or less.

As a substrate for a reflective mirror of a general rear projection television (RPTV), a float glass plate of a board thickness of 3 to 5 mm is used. The float glass plate has waves in the direction perpendicular to the flow direction of the float, and the wave continues in the direction of the flow of the float. More specifically, on the float glass plate, a streaked pattern (microscopic wavy irregularities) is formed in the direction parallel to the flow direction of the float. The microscopic wavy irregularity has an influence on the optical uniformity of the surface reflection. Therefore, when a number of irregularities are formed on a float glass plate, streaked unevenness (light and dark pattern) due to high and low intensities of light may be formed on the reflected image. An MTF method for determining whether or not a streaked light and dark pattern is formed on the reflected image of a float glass plate by quantitatively extracting the distortion of the reflected image and evaluating it, and the total visual inspection for determining whether or not all float glass plates reach the good item reference level by visually determining the reflected images which are actually projected are carried out. As the result of these evaluations, it has been found out that matching the flow direction of the float with the wide angle diffusion direction of the projection system brings about a good result in the visual inspection.
Thus, the display performance of rear projection televisions (RPTV) is maintained by carrying out total visual inspection of the reflected images actually projected after carrying out the draw line control which makes the wide angle diffusion direction of the projection system, namely, the long side direction of the float glass plate, and the flow direction of the float parallel to each other, for the float glass plates for use in the reflective mirrors of the rear projection televisions (RPTV).
Further, it is already disclosed that in the reflective mirror for use in a rear projection type display or the like, at least one surface of a glass substrate is polished so as to have a predetermined surface roughness (0.05 μm or less under the measurement condition of the cutoff value of 0.8 mm to 8 mm) (for example, see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2001-235798).
Meanwhile, as a glass substrate for use in a liquid crystal panel, a float glass plate of a plate thickness of 0.2 to 1.1 mm (±0.1 mm) is usually used. When a liquid crystal panel is manufactured by using the float glass plate as the glass substrate, color unevenness may occur to the liquid crystal panel due to the abovementioned wave. Therefore, in order that the liquid crystal panels reach the good item reference level, inspection of the quality of the glass substrates for use in the liquid crystal panels is carried out.
However, the abovementioned total visual inspection is generally carried out by making white display by placing a reflective mirror in the projection system of a rear projection television (RPTV) and by an inspector observing the light and dark patterns on the screen at a predetermined distance to make judgment of presence or absence of a streaked pattern, and therefore, the inspection depends on the visual acuity and memory of the inspector. Therefore, the good item reference level is likely to vary depending on daily change in the conditions, and the quality of the float glass plate cannot be quantified. Thus, it is necessary to set the good item reference level to be higher, and excessively high quality is brought about.
Further, in order to perform the total visual inspection, the number of the projection systems of rear projection televisions (RPTV) has to be increased in accordance with increase in the number of objects to be inspected. Therefore, the capital investment and human cost increase, and cost reduction by mass production cannot be carried out to result in cost increase.
Further, the draw line control needs to match the flow direction of the float glass plate with the long side direction of the float glass plate, and therefore, the degree of freedom of glass cutting decreases. As a result, yield reduces and cost increases as compared with the case in which the draw line control is not carried out.
Meanwhile, in the liquid crystal panels, color unevenness sometimes occurs even in the liquid crystal panels using the glass substrates determined to be within the standard in the index (for example, amplitude) of the quality inspection of the glass substrate used at present, or color unevenness does not sometimes occur even in the liquid crystal panels using the glass substrates which are determined as non-standard, and the index of the quality inspection and the good item reference level of the liquid crystal panel do not correspond to each other.
Therefore, in order to manufacture the liquid crystal panels at the good item reference level reliably, excessive polishing needs to be performed for the float glass plates, as a result of which, tact time becomes long, and cost increases.
The invention is made in view of the problems as above. An object of the invention is to provide a glass substrate for a reflective mirror, the reflective mirror including the glass substrate, a glass substrate for a liquid crystal panel and a liquid crystal panel including the glass substrate, which secure display quality by quantitative control and can reduce control cost and manufacturing cost.

Glass substrate for reflective mirror, reflective mirror including the glass substrate, glass substrate for liquid crystal panel, and liquid crystal panel including the glass substrate


The present invention provides aqueous viscoelastic compositions comprising a cleavable surfactant and possibly also an electrolyte. The cleavable surfactants useful in the present invention comprise at least one weak chemical bond, which is capable of being broken under appropriate conditions, to produce oil soluble and water soluble products typically having no interfacial properties and surface activity compared with the original surfactant molecule. Further, the rheological properties of the aqueous viscolelastic composition are usually altered upon cleavage of the cleavable surfactant generally resulting in the elimination of the viscofying, viscoelastic and surfactant properties of the composition. Aqueous viscoelastic compositions in accordance with the present invention are suitable for use in oil-field applications, particularly for hydraulic fracturing of subterranean formations. Thus, the present invention also relates to a wellbore service fluid and a method of fracturing a subterranean formation. The present invention also concerns novel cleavable surfactants.

Hydrocarbons such as oil, natural gas, etc. are obtained from a subterranean geologic formation (e.g. a "reservoir") by drilling a well that penetrates the hydrocarbon-bearing formation. This provides a partial flowpath for the hydrocarbon, typically oil, to reach the surface. In order for oil to be "produced", that is, travel from the formation to the wellbore (and ultimately to the surface), there must be a sufficiently unimpeded flowpath through the formation rock (e.g. sandstone, carbonates), which generally occurs when rock pores of sufficient size and number are present.
A common reason for a decline in oil production is "damage" to the formation, which plugs the rock pores and impedes the flow of oil. Often such damage can be attributed to a number of factors including, the methods and chemicals used in establishing the well, remedial operations performed on the well, or the formation being naturally "tight" (e.g. a low permeability formation), with pores sufficiently small that the oil migrates toward the wellbore only very slowly.
Generally, techniques used to increase the permeability of the formation are referred to as "stimulation". Stimulation of the formation can be performed by: (1) injecting chemicals into the wellbore to react with and/or dissolve damage; (2) injecting chemicals through the wellbore and into the formation to react with and/or dissolve small portions of the formation to create alternative flowpaths for the hydrocarbon; or (3) injecting chemicals through the wellbore and into the formation at pressures sufficient to fracture the formation, thereby creating a channel through which hydrocarbon can more readily flow from the formation and into the wellbore.
Hydraulic fracturing involves breaking or fracturing a portion of the surrounding strata of the formation, by injecting a specialised fluid into the wellbore directed at the face of the formation at pressures sufficient to initiate and extend a fracture in the formation. Typically, the process creates a fracture zone, that is, a zone in the formation having multiple fractures, through which hydrocarbon can more easily flow to the wellbore.
Typical fracturing treatments e.g. fluids, generally comprise at least three components; a carrier fluid (usually water or brine), a polymer, and a proppant. Many further comprise a crosslinker. Other compositions used as fracturing fluids include water with additives, and gelled oils. The purpose of these fracturing fluids is to firstly create and extend a fracture, and then once it is opened sufficiently, deliver proppant into the fracture via the carrier fluid, which keeps the fracture from closing once the pumping operation is completed.
Viscoelastic compositions have also been found to be usefully employed as fracturing fluids. Conveniently, use has been made of surfactants which when in an aqueous solution are capable of forming a viscoelastic composition for this purpose. Such surfactants are referred to herein for brevity and simplicity as "viscoelastic surfactants". The utility of fracturing fluids comprising viscoelastic surfactants has been attributed to the Theological properties of the fluid compositions, the stability of such fluids and their low residue content.
Conventional surfactants, specifically those which tend to form spherical micelles, are generally not capable of forming a viscoelastic composition, particularly an aqueous viscoelastic composition, and are thus not suitable for use in a hydraulic fracturing application. However, certain surfactants, specifically those which tend to form long rod-like or worm-like micelle structures, e.g. viscoelastic surfactants, are capable of forming an aqueous viscoelastic composition which is readily applicable in hydraulic fracturing. At a relatively low total concentration of a viscoelastic surfactant, typically in the range 1 to 10 wt %, these long rod-like or worm-like micelle structures overlap, forming an entangled network which is viscoelastic. Typically, these large micelle structures are readily destroyed by their interaction with formation fluids such as hydrocarbon fluids. When the micellar structures are broken by their interaction with the hydrocarbon fluid, a solution with low viscosity is formed. Thus, as the viscoelastic surfactant based fracturing fluid interacts with produced hydrocarbon fluids, a dramatic change in micellar structure (from rod-like or worm-like to spherical micelles) for instance causes a dramatic change in the rheological properties of the fracturing fluid (from a viscoelastic composition to an inviscid solution). It is this "responsive" fluid which facilitates easy removal and clean up of the fluid from the propped fracture so as to maximise hydrocarbon production.
The application of viscoelastic surfactants in both non-foamed and foamed fracturing fluids has been described in several patent specifications.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,258,137 relates to foam fluid compositions, which are described as stable over a range of temperatures, easily formulated and possessing good shear stability, and which comprise an aqueous liquid, a thickening amount of a viscoelastic surfactant e.g. including those represented by the following formula.
and a functionally effective amount of a surfactant which is capable of forming a foam.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,551,516 describes a hydraulic fracturing fluid comprising an aqueous base fluid e.g. water, a thickener selected from a specified group, an inorganic water soluble salt, at least one viscoelastic surfactant for suspending a proppant during placement, and a stabilising organic salt or C4 to C12 alcohol. The fracturing fluid is stated to find application in the fracturing treatment of high permeability subterranean formations.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,964,295 describes methods for, (i) reducing fracturing fluid loss into a relatively low permeability formation during fracturing, (ii) enhancing the cleanup of a fracturing fluid from a well and reducing the production of water from a subterranean formation, and (iii) reducing the equipment required to mix and pump fracturing fluids, by employing a fracturing fluid containing a viscoelastic surfactant. In a further described method, an aqueous viscoelastic surfactant based hydraulic fracturing fluid comprising an aqueous based thickener, a water soluble salt, and at least one amine or salt of an amine thickener, is used to fracture a formation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,979,557 relates to a method for acidizing a formation, and to a method for limiting the inflow of formation water during and after a well turn around, to maximise recovery of the hydrocarbons and fracturing fluid, the methods comprising a step of, selectively blocking the pore structure of the formation face in the water-bearing zone, but not in the hydrocarbon zone. In a preferred embodiment, the pore structure is blocked by a plug of viscous fluid, which comprises amongst other components, a viscoelastic surfactant which is capable of forming worm-like micelles in an aqueous environment.
A potential disadvantage associated with the use of the viscoelastic surfactants of the prior art, is the tendency of the individual viscoelastic surfactant molecules to form emulsions with the formation fluid (i.e. the hydrocarbon to be extracted) following fracturing. Emulsion droplets formed within the fracture or within the invaded matrix zones may produce a barrier to formation fluid flow which may limit fluid clean up and hydrocarbon production.