An apparatus and method for the production of nanotubes, fullerene and their derivatives where, in an environment where an inert gas flows at or below atmospheric pressure, a high frequency electromagnetic field is generated and a pure or doped graphite element is subjected to the electromagnetic field and heated to vaporization to form a plasma.

Since their recent discover and because of their unique structures and peculiar chemical-physical properties, carbon nanotubes, fullerene and their derivatives have been object of many studies and researches that demonstrated their profitable and innovative applications in many fields.
The main applications of these new nanomaterials could be: realization of structural materials with unique mechanical characteristics; production of nano-metric devices (nano-motor, nano-transistor, etc.); as additive for polymers; production of Field Emission Device, (flat panels for high resolution electronic displays); as "vehicles" for pharmaceutically active molecules; as hydrogen storage media to be used in fuel cells technology.
Nevertheless, nowadays many of these applications remain at the stage of preliminary studies or prototypes due to the lack of sufficient quantity of raw materials (nanotubes, fullerene and their derivative) having costs compatible for the development of these applications on an industrial scale. Furthermore, really the lack or the excessive cost of these materials represent a further obstacle to the research for other new applications.
During the last years, multi wall nanotubes (MWNT) or single wall nanotubes (SWNT), fullerene and their derivatives were and are produced utilizing several methods, among those the most important surely are that ones that have been demonstrated, really or in perspective, to be able to supply large amount of product at limited costs.
All the methods used until now may be divided in two categories, depending on the characteristics of the precursory material utilized.
The first category includes all the methods where the precursory material is constituted by a solid carbon-based material (graphite rods or carbon powder); the second category includes all the methods where the precursory material are in liquid or gas phase.
For all the methods pertaining to the first category, it is necessary to reach high temperatures (>3600 K) to vaporize the precursory material, which may be achieved in various ways. In the case of solid precursory material, as graphite rod, the main methods used may be resume as follow:    vaporization by arc discharge;    vaporization by laser ablation;    vaporization by concentration of solar energy;    vaporization by induction heating;    vaporization by direct current flow;    vaporization by sputtering;    vaporization by electronic beam bombardment.
The method of vaporization by inductive coupled plasma is used only in the case where the solid precursory material is constituted by carbon powders.
In the second category, i.e. comprehensive all the methods based on the decomposition of a precursory material (containing carbon) in liquid or gas phase (hydrocarbon, alcohol, ferrocene, etc.) it is possible to arrange the following ones:    methods of thermal decomposition of a precursory material in gas or vapour phase in presence of catalysts at low temperature (450–800° C.), or at high temperature (800–1200° C.), inside a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) reactor;    method for chemical vapor deposition enhanced by radio frequency plasma (PE-CVD);    method for chemical vapor deposition enhanced by microwave plasma (MP-CVD);    method named HIPco, i.e. a process in gas phase at high pressure with carbon monoxide as precursory material;    flame combustion method.
In spite of the many production methods above mentioned, only some of them are currently used for productions of considerable amounts for commercial purpose as well.
Therefore, at the present time, the prevalent production methods suitable for an effective commercialization of nanotubes, fullerene and their derivatives, are those listed as follow.
Pertaining to the first category, i.e. the methods that use solid precursory material, the arc discharge method is up to day the most common and spread, due to its intrinsic simplicity and to its low cost for the assembly of a production device.
By means of this method it is possible to produce nanotubes, fullerene and their derivatives. Thanks to this method, mainly devoted to research aims, many small enterprises arose for producing and commercializing: nanotubes SWNT (quite small with diameters from 0.6 to about 2 nm) and nanotubes MWNT (small with internal diameters from 0.6÷3 nm to about 20 nm of external diameter), fullerene and their derivatives.
The nanotubes produced in this manner are generally of good quality, with few structural defects and the MWNT are produced without the aid of catalysts.
Nevertheless, the arc discharge method presents two heavy limiting factors from the productivity point of view: i) it is not a continuous production method; ii) it is not a scalable method; in fact, with discharge currents over around 150A the production yield of the device decrease quickly, since the plasma jet speed becomes too high and, consequently, the time of permanence for the carbon clusters in the high temperature plasma is too short.
It is still possible to realize considerable productions by this method, not increasing the electric power of a single device, but arranging multiple devices in battery. In any case, the amount of solid material that it is possible to vaporize in a optimized device results generally less than 10 gr./h.
Pertaining to the methods classified in the second category, those starting from liquid or gas phase precursory material, and for the production of fullerene only, the method of low pressure flame combustion (method used by the companies Frontier Carbon Corporation—JP and Nano-C—USA) prevails over all the competitors for both productivity and yield. The CVD methods produce mostly MWNT with considerable dimensions (external diameters more than tens nano-meter).
Even if it has not yet begun the commercialization of products, Toray company—JP declared the development a new method based on catalytic decomposition of hydrocarbons on dispersed metallic particles in zeolytes for the synthesis of DWNT with external diameters between 1 and 3 nm.
The HIPco method is until now the only one (besides arc discharge method) able to produce SWNT in considerable quantity for selling, as well as research aims.
CNRI-Mitsui company—JP has recently announced a new CVD process for the production of SWNT named Alcohol Catalytic Chemical Vapour Deposition.
However, on the basis of which above described, it is clear that a new system for producing nanotubes, fullerene and their derivatives-flexible, able to be set up in a simple way only by changing the precursory material and the process parameters, with low plant and running costs, with a continuous automated production, with production yield largely higher than those possible with arc-discharge method, is of great interest. Such a new production system could be surely attractive for all that would autonomously produce many carbon-based nano-materials. By this innovative method it would be possible to realize little, distributed plants with costs truly competitive in respect to plants, e.g. as required for CVD methods, committed to production of a specific product and requiring very large scale industrial structures and considerable investments for their realization.

Device and method for production of carbon nanotubes, fullerene and their derivatives


A waste disposal device including a sensing mechanism for delaying the rotation of a cartridge. The waste disposal device comprises a container defining a waste chamber for receiving encapsulated waste in a flexible tubing. The rotatable cartridge contains the flexible tubing. A lid is coupled to the device and is capable of moving between an open and closed position on the container. A rotation mechanism is operatively configured to engage the rotatable cartridge. A sensing mechanism is arranged to allow for delay in rotation of the cartridge until the lid assumes the closed position so that the waste is encapsulated in the flexible tubing after the closing of the lid, and after the subsequent twisting of the flexible tubing about the waste material caused by the rotation of the cartridge.

In households having an infant or very young child wearing disposable diapers, a diaper pail is usually placed in the bathroom or nursery for the receipt and disposal of soiled diapers.
One prior art construction of a diaper pail comprises a large garbage can-like container which receives a plastic bag. The bag is inserted into the interior of the container, with the upper portion thereof being folded over a top rim of the container to maintain the bag in engagement therewith. A cover member is attached to the container and is movable between a closed position in which the cover member is situated over the top rim of the container to cover the open end of the bag, and an open position in which the open end of the bag is uncovered and thereby enables the placement of a soiled diaper into the bag. A foot pedal is provided and coupled to the cover member to enable the cover member to be moved from the closed position to the open position by depressing the foot pedal.
Another prior art diaper pail is sold under the trademark "Diaper Genie". Diaper pails of the Diaper Genie™ type are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,869,049 (Richards et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 5,590,512 (Richards et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 5,813,200 (Jacoby et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 6,128,890 (Firth) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,170,240 (Jacoby et al.).
The diaper pails shown in these patents generally comprise a container formed with an internal ring-shaped flange. A tubular core or cartridge rests on the flange and houses a continuous length of flexible, substantially non-resilient plastic tubing. A twist rim is rotatably coupled to the cartridge such that rotation of the twist rim causes twisting of the tubing. Means are provided to hold a diaper stationary when the twist rim rotates to twist the tubing and seal an end of the diaper to form a twisted closure. A cover is removably attached to the container and includes a lid. To prepare the diaper pail for use, the cover is removed, an end of the tubing is removed from the cartridge and pulled upward and tied into a knot. The knotted end is then placed into the container over an annular flange to form a waste insertion reservoir or chamber bounded by the tubing. The cover is re-attached to the container and the diaper pail is ready for use. In use, a soiled diaper is inserted into the waste insertion reservoir bounded by the tubing and the twist rim is then manually rotated as the diaper is held stationary to cause the diaper to be encapsulated in the tubing by the formation of a twist in the tubing above the diaper. Rotation of the twist rim also causes an additional amount of tubing to be removed from the cartridge and be pushed into the waste insertion reservoir to prepare it for a subsequent insertion of a diaper. The subsequent insertion of another diaper into the waste insertion reservoir causes the previously encapsulated diaper to pass into the hollow interior of the container. A series of connected, closed and encapsulated waste packages is created and the encapsulation process can be continued until the tubing is exhausted or the container is full. When the container is full but tubing remains, the uppermost package is severed above its upper twisted closure, the severed end of the tubing is tied into a knot and an access door pivotally connected to the bottom end of the container is opened for the removal of the packages.
A major inconvenience of diaper pails of the "Diaper Genie"™ type is that it is necessary to manually tie both ends of the tubing to use the diaper pail. That is, initially, upon insertion of a new cartridge, an end of the tubing is removed from the cartridge and must be tied into a knot, the knotted end then being pushed into the container to form the waste insertion chamber. Thereafter, when the container is fall but tubing remains in the cartridge, the tubing is severed at a location above the upper twisted closure of the uppermost encapsulated waste package and the severed end of the tubing must be tied into a knot to prevent the series of waste packages from unwinding. The free end of the tubing remaining in the cartridge is again tied into a knot and pushed into the container to enable another series of encapsulated waste packages to be formed.
The necessary, multiple tyings of the tubing is bothersome and moreover, when the knots are not made sufficiently strong, unpleasant odors emanating from the waste packages can escape through the knots.
Another problem with diaper pails of the "Diaper Genie"™ type is that cutting the tubing is difficult and requires the use of a manually operable cutting instrument. This cutting instrument does not enable easy cutting of the tubing.
Yet another problem with diaper pails of the "Diaper Genie"™ type is that the series of waste packages are removed from the diaper pail through an access door pivotally connected to the bottom end of the container. The series of waste packages has been found to be difficult to handle during transfer to a waste receptacle such as a trash bag. Cleaning of the device is also difficult.
Still another problem with known diaper pails and other waste pails is that the person inserting a diaper or other waste material (such as medical waste) into the pail may not remember to rotate the twist rim after insertion of a soiled diaper or other waste. In this case, the waste is not encapsulated by the tubing and malodorous vapors or other potentially hazardous contaminants can escape from the pail. Although this would not prevent future use of the pail as the twist rim could be rotated before the next insertion of waste, it would likely result in the release of odors or other potentially hazardous contaminants. A waste pail which provides for automatic formation of a twist above a waste item after insertion of the waste into the pail is therefore desirable.
Another problem with known diaper and waste pails is that because the diaper or waste pail comes into contact with the series of waste packages, it is liable to become dirty and cleaning of the pail is cumbersome as the access door must be opened, the pail turned over and then the inside surfaces cleaned. A diaper or waste pail which affords easier cleaning for the surfaces which come into contact with the series of waste packages is therefore desirable.

Waste disposal device including a sensing mechanism for delaying the rotation of a cartridge


A method is disclosed for stabilizing a physiologically active peptide in a process of preparing a powder containing the physiologically active peptide by drying an aqueous liquid containing the physiologically active peptide, wherein the method comprises adding to the aqueous liquid at least one compound selected from the group consisting of a nonionic surfactant, a water-soluble, nonionic, organic binder, hydrogenated lecithin, and mannitol.

Administration of pharmaceutical products containing a physiologically active peptide have been made, so far, by injection. In this context, lyophilization has exclusively been employed in the preparation of such pharmaceutical compositions. Thus, for such pharmaceutical compositions, studies addressed to the stabilization of their active components, physiologically active peptides, have so far been focused on either the long-term storage stability of the physiologically active peptides in a dry state pharmaceutical compositions of the final products, or the storage stability of the physiologically active peptides in liquids which are prepared by dissolving the peptide-containing dry compositions. For example, stabilization of calcitonin solutions is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Nos. H07-179364, H07-188060 and H07-188061, and stabilization of lyophilized growth hormone products is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Nos. H10-504531, H10-511965 and H10-507183.
The reason why injection has been the sole way for administering physiologically active peptides is that, when they are, orally administered, physiologically active peptides are digested in the gastrointestinal tract. A practically applicable new route for administration, if established, would provide a great benefit to patients. Above all, in the case of active peptides requiring lifelong administration such as growth hormone and insulin, the conventional way of administration of injection has been giving patients inconvenience and pain. For these physiologically active peptides, therefore, establishment of a route of administration other than injection has been longed for by the patients.
On the other hand, those pharmaceutical compositions for systemic administration of a drug are under investigation that are intended either for transpulmonary absorption of a pharmacologically active ingredient by inhalation (referred to as an "inhalant composition" in the present specification) or for absorption of such an ingredient through the nasal mucous membrane by intranasal application, i.e. compositions for transnasal administration, as compositions utilizing other, new administration routes than those relied on by conventional pharmaceutical compositions such as injections, oral preparations, suppositories and the like. Inhalant compositions and compositions for transnasal administration are not directly injected into the body, but they are applied onto the surface of mucous membranes which are exposed to the air such as membranes of the respiratory tract. Therefore, their standards for microbiological quality control are not so strict as those for injections. Thus, they may be produced not only by a lyophilization apparatus but also by a fluid-bed granulation apparatus, a spray drying apparatus, or a spray-freeze drying apparatus. Concerning stabilization of active peptides in production steps of pharmaceutical compositions using a fluid-bed granulation apparatus, a spray drying apparatus, or a spray-freeze drying apparatus, it is reported that stabilization is attained by addition of an inhibitor of Maillard reaction (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H10-505591). However, it is preferable, if possible, that stabilization of a given active peptide in a production process should be achieved by means of approved pharmaceutical additives which are highly safe and have been used for years. This is because such an additive would allow to expect higher safety with regard to the final pharmaceutical product obtained. It is also required that the absorption and transferal to the blood of an physiologically active peptide is attained in sufficient efficiency.
The present invention has as its objectives to provide a method to improve stability of a physiologically active peptide in a process of producing a powder by drying an aqueous liquid containing the physiologically active peptide, as well as to provide a physiologically active peptide-containing powder produced by the method.
The present invention has as its further objectives to provide a physiologically active peptide-containing powder especially suited for absorption of the physiologically active peptide by inhalation, and to provide an inhalant composition.

Powder containing physiologically active peptide


A method of presenting media content is disclosed. A plurality of assets is received at a mobile device comprising a display and an orientation sensor. The plurality of assets comprises a first video asset associated with a first aspect ratio, and a second video asset associated with a second aspect ratio, different from the first aspect ratio. A desired aspect ratio is determined based on an output of the orientation sensor. In accordance with a determination that the desired aspect ratio is closer to the first aspect ratio than to the second aspect ratio, the first video asset is selected. In accordance with a determination that the desired aspect ratio is closer to the second aspect ratio than to the first aspect ratio, the second video asset is selected. The selected video is presented at the desired aspect ratio via the display.

With the growth of video-capable mobile devices, such as smartphones, tablets, and wearable devices, users' media viewing habits have gradually shifted out of the living room, and into the outside world—into every corner and crevice where these devices can be used. Similarly, this shift has displaced the traditional television set—a bulky screen designed to be mounted semi-permanently in a single place, such as on a wall or on a flat surface—in favor of small, portable screens that can be viewed in virtually any position, and in virtually any orientation.
Such mobile devices place new demands on video content. One such demand relates to the aspect ratio (e.g., the ratio of a display width to a display height) of the video content. Under desired viewing conditions, a native aspect ratio of a video asset (e.g., a source file containing video content) matches the aspect ratio of the display on which the video asset is presented. For example, when viewing a video asset on a display having a 16:9 aspect ratio, it is desirable that the video asset itself have a 16:9 aspect ratio. If the video asset has an aspect ratio that differs from the aspect ratio of the display, one of two conventional solutions can be used to format the video asset for the display: either the video asset can be cropped to fit the display (e.g., via "pan and scan" techniques); or the video asset can be "letterboxed" by adding dummy content (e.g., black bars) to fill the regions of the display unoccupied by the video asset. Neither solution is desirable: cropping the video asset results in the cropped content being unviewable on the display (which can affect the viewer's understanding or appreciation of the video asset); and letterboxing the video asset results in regions of the display being effectively unused (which can impair visibility, especially on mobile devices with limited display space).
A preferred solution is to anticipate the aspect ratio of the display on which video content will be viewed, and to provide to the display a video asset that matches that aspect ratio. But this approach is frustrated by mobile device displays that change aspect ratios as the user changes the orientation of the device. For instance, a display may be in a "portrait" mode (e.g., in which the aspect ratio is less than unity) when a device is held upright, but may shift to a "landscape" mode (e.g., in which the aspect ratio is greater than unity) when the device is rotated 90 degrees to the left or the right. A solution is needed for seamlessly switching between aspect ratios of video content without resorting to cropping or letterboxing techniques.
Further, users of mobile devices demand that video content be data-efficient: that is, that the video content respect the limited data storage capacity of many mobile devices, and the cost and overhead of downloading large files on consumer data plans; and that it accommodate the high latency, low bandwidth network conditions in which mobile devices may operate. The present disclosure describes such one or more solutions, which improve on conventional approaches by providing a data-efficient mechanism for quickly and seamlessly changing an aspect ratio of video content on a mobile device display.


A method for transmitting data from a transmitter to a receiver in an ad hoc large scale directional network includes the followings steps. A first training sequence is sent by a transmitter in an ad hoc directional network. The first training sequence is received by a receiver in the ad hoc directional network. The receiver determines a first apparent direction from which the first training sequence is sent. The receiver sends a second training sequence to the transmitter. The transmitter determines a second apparent direction from which the second training sequence is sent. The transmitter directs a signal with the first training sequence to the receiver. The transmitter sends the signal with the first training sequence to the receiver. The receiver receives the first training sequence. The receiver is directed to the first apparent direction to receive the signal.

An ad hoc network is a self-configuring network of mobile nodes connected by wireless links—the union of which form an arbitrary topology. The nodes are free to move randomly and organize themselves arbitrarily; thus, the network's wireless topology may change rapidly and unpredictably. Ad hoc networks comprise mobile nodes that communicate via multihop wireless channels, which are usually deployed in unattended environments. The ability to construct and operate an ad hoc network without the need of any wired infrastructure (e.g., base stations, routers, and the like) makes ad hoc networks a promising candidate for military, disaster relief, and law enforcement applications.
There has been a rapidly growing interest in the use of directional antennas in ad hoc networks. Such antennas have the ability to concentrate radiated power towards the intended direction of transmission or reception, thereby reducing the amount of radiated power necessary to reach a node. As a result, the energy efficiency of ad hoc network protocols may be greatly improved. For example, in military applications, directional networking provides important capabilities that may afford the warfighter better communications facilities in specific operational scenarios. These capabilities may include improved data rates, reduced observability, greater spectral reuse, and better immunity to intentional and unintentional interference. Directional networking has emerged as a key technology for realizing the next generation Anti-Jam (AJ), low probability of intercept/low probability of detection (LPI/LPD), and bandwidth efficient communication systems suitable for ad hoc network applications. Directional networking may be critical to enabling network-centric applications for the Future Combat System (FCS) and Warfighter Information Network—Tactical (WIN-T).
To realize an efficient ad hoc directional communication system that is able to provide the aforementioned benefits, the conventional approach is based on directional protocols that point steerable directional antennas such as phased array antennas (PAA) and the like. This conventional approach has been the focus of most near-term efforts including, for example, FCS and Networked Data Link (NDL).
Using the conventional approach, however, directional networks are frequently limited in size and often require additional information on node locations due to the difficulty of locating and tracking network nodes through a narrow aperture.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide an ad hoc large scale directional network, in which a node may receive data from one or more nodes without a priori knowledge of the transmitter direction.


Provided in the embodiments of the present invention are a method for configuring a neighboring base station and a micro base station, realizing that the micro base station detects information of at least one macro base station nearby and sends the information of the macro base station to a core network device, so that the core network device queries information of other base station(s) adjacent to the macro base station, and sends the information of the other base station(s) to the micro base station to enable the micro base station to configure the other base station(s) as neighboring base station(s) of the micro base station, thus solving the technical problem of a call drop of a terminal during a cell handover caused as the micro base station does not configure the neighboring base station(s).

A micro base station is a micro-type base station. The micro base station integrates with a downlink receiver, so the micro base station can search macro base stations nearby and automatically configure these macro base stations as its own neighboring base stations. After the micro base station configures its own neighboring base stations and when a User Equipment (User Equipment, UE) is switched from the micro base station to a macro base station, a drop is avoided, so the micro base station configures the neighboring base stations thereof to enable the UE to be switched from the micro base station to the macro base station.
The process that the micro base station configures the macro base stations nearby as its own neighboring base stations is as follows: the micro base station detects the signal intensity of each macro base station nearby, selects a plurality of macro base stations with better signal quality, acquires information, such as Public Land Mobile Network Identities (PLMN ID), Cell Identities (ID), Location Area Identities (LAI) and the like, of the macro base stations by parsing Broadcast Channel (BCH) information of these macro base stations, and configures the macro base stations as the neighboring base stations according to the information. After the micro base station configures the information, if a UE leaves a cell covered by the micro base station, the UE can be automatically switched to a cell covered by a neighboring base station, so that the continuity of service is ensured.
However, the micro base station is often arranged in a weak coverage area of the macro base stations. For example, the micro base station is arranged in a room where signals of macro base stations can not be detected. As shown in FIG. 1, the micro base station is installed indoors close to a window, wherein the window is adjacent to the macro base station A, and a door is adjacent to the macro base station B. The micro base station can detect the macro base station A and configure the macro base station A as a neighboring base station, but can not detect the macro base station B. When a user holding a UE walks from the coverage area of the micro base station to the coverage area of the macro base station B, because the micro base station does not configure the B as the neighboring base station, a call drop is caused.

Method for configuring a neighboring base station and micro base station


An apparatus and a method for its use for plating pin grid array packaging modules, with a fixture capable of simultaneously holding a plurality of said pin grid array modules such that three-dimensional bottom surface metallurgy (BSM) is sealingly protected during plating of top surface metallurgy (TSM).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an apparatus and a method for plating pin grid array (PGA) packaging modules and, more particularly, relates to an apparatus and method for plating a plurality of pin grid array packaging modules at the same time using a fixture that protects and seals the pinned surfaces of the packaging modules during a plating operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Pin grid array (PGA) packaging modules, such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,516,416, are commonly used as integrated circuit chip carriers. These PGA packaging modules generally are ceramic packaging modules with cavity die attach and gold wire bonding with PGA contacts. However, another type of ceramic PGA package is a C4 (flipchip) package in which the chip is solder joined directly to the C4 pads (microsockets) on the top surface metallurgy (TSM). Alumina is frequently the ceramic material chosen while molybdenum or tungsten is commonly used in an alumina ceramic substrate as metallic conductors. These PGA packaging modules can include solderable or pluggable type packages. In the manufacturing of PGA packaging modules, after a conventional nickel plating of Mo or W surface features is first performed, pins are brazed onto the I/O pads with Cu-Ag or Ag as the typical brazing material.
In the context of such C4 (flipchip) packages, a need arises for selective plating of the TSM as the C4 pads only require a thin layer of gold, e.g., approximately 300 .ANG., while the pins require about 1 .mu.m of gold. While Au-Sn type pins are known which would eliminate the need for such selective plating, KOVAR type pins that are electrolytically plated with nickel and gold layers are currently favored as they are considerably less expensive pin constructions.
As a consequence, selective plating has become necessary in which the top surface metallurgy (TSM) is immersion gold (Au) plated in one operation, while bottom surface metallurgy (BSM) of the PGA package module is electrolytically plated with nickel and gold layers in separate steps. The TSM is immersion gold plated in the C4 (flipchip) packages because C4 pads are not always connected to the pins where electrical contact is made during electrolytic plating. However, since electrolytic nickel and gold adheres poorly to diffused immersion gold, the industry has tried to eliminate the electroless immersion gold plating film from the pins. As one approach, packaging companies have immersion gold plated both the TSM and the BSM without attempting to protect the BSM during the immersion gold plating process. Thereafter, the TSM is protected while the immersion gold is etched off the pins. The drawback with this approach is that the need for stripping off the gold from the pins in this manner before the nickel and gold electroplating of the pins increases the fabrication cycle time and costs.
Nonetheless, the resort to such stripping of the electroless immersion gold off the pins is not surprising because of several difficulties in masking off BSM during immersion gold plating of TSM. First, because immersion gold plating of the TSM must be performed post braze, the BSM is already a three-dimensional structure at this stage of the process, and it is not a simple task by any means to mask off the three-dimensional array of pins. That is, the backside sealing of PGA packaging modules is complicated due to the sealing area available on the backside of the PGA substrate being limited to a very small area at the peripheral edge while protection must be ensured for the three-dimensional features of the pins themselves. Secondly, the electroless immersion gold bath process is generally performed in an immersion bath of potassium gold cyanide solution at approximately 80.degree. C., and these bath conditions will preclude use of many common masking materials and plating tapes used in the semiconductor industry. Thirdly, the limited space available between the I/O pad center and the substrate edge in many current PGA package modules makes it challenging to provide a fixture which can hold the package in a way that ensures BSM sealing/protection without interfering with TSM gold plating operation. For example, 50 mm.times.50 mm PGA package modules may have an edge of substrate to center of I/O pad spacing of 1.907 mm while 44 mm.times.44 mm PGA package modules may have a substrate edge-to-pad center spacing of only 1.365 mm.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,522,975 (Andricacos et al.) teaches an electroplating workpiece fixture used for electroplating a workpiece having a flat bottom side. Due to the large surface area available on the flat backside of the workpiece, an o-ring is disposed in a complementary groove formed in a holder plateau to seal the flat backside while a vacuum is drawn at a vacuum port located in the holder plateau within the perimeter of the o-ring for drawing the backside of the workpiece against the seal while the opposite front surface of the workpiece is electroplated. While the workpiece is said to take any conventional form requiring uniform plating thickness thereon such as recording heads, packaging modules, or integrated circuits typically used in electronic devices or computers, the flat holder plateau and o-ring seal arrangement would only be structurally compatible with substrates having relatively flat backsides, not three-dimensional backsides such as those encountered in PGA packaging modules. In a somewhat similar vein, U.S. Pat. No. 5,228,966 (Murata) teaches a gilding apparatus including a vacuum chuck used for holding a flat surface of a semiconductor substrate and electrolytically plating the opposite face of the single workpiece.

Apparatus and method for plating pin grid array packaging modules

International Business Machines Corporation


A high temperature shift process using an iron oxide-containing catalyst wherein the feed gas is contacted with an iron-free, copper-containing, catalyst at an inlet temperature in the range 280-370xc2x0 C. before contact with the iron oxide-containing catalyst in order to effect some shift reaction and thus avoid conditions conducive to over-reduction of the iron oxide containing catalyst.

This invention relates to hydrogen and in particular to the production of a hydrogen-containing gas stream from a carbonaceous feedstock. Such processes are well known and involve the steam reforming of a hydrocarbon feedstock, e.g. natural gas, or of a hydrocarbon derivative e.g. methanol, or the partial oxidation, using an oxygen-containing gas, e.g. substantially pure oxygen, air, or oxygen-enriched or oxygen-depleted air, of a hydrocarbon, or hydrocarbon derivative, feedstock or of a solid carbonaceous feedstock such as coal. Such gas generation processes produce a gas stream at a relatively high temperature, normally above 700xc2x0 C., containing hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and steam, and usually also some carbon dioxide. The gas stream will normally contain some methane together with any inert gases, e.g. nitrogen, that were present in the reactants.
In order to increase the hydrogen content of the gas stream it is well known to subject the gas stream to the shift reaction
CO+H2Oxe2x86x92CO2+H2
by passage of the gas through a bed of a suitable catalyst.
The forward shift reaction equilibrium is favoured by low temperatures. However since the reaction is exothermic, unless steps are taken such as cooling the gas while in the catalyst bed, the temperature rise occurring if the feed contains a substantial amount of carbon monoxide is often such that low outlet temperatures can not achieved and/or the catalysts effective at low outlet temperatures are rapidly de-activated. For this reason the shift reaction is often carried out in two stages; the first stage (high temperature shift) employing a catalyst comprising iron oxide, e.g. an iron oxide/chromia catalyst, and, after some form of inter-bed cooling, the second stage (low temperature shift) employing a copper-containing catalyst.
In use, the iron oxide in the high temperature shift catalyst may be reduced to a state wherein the catalyst tends to catalyse the Fischer-Tropsch reaction forming hydrocarbons. Reduction of the iron oxide to such a state is thus desirably avoided. We have found that for high temperature shift using conventional iron oxide/chromia catalysts and conventional high temperature shift exit temperatures, e.g. in the range of about 350-500xc2x0 C., the risk of hydrocarbon formation depends upon the molar ratio of carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide and the proportion of steam in the shift inlet gas. The risk of hydrocarbon formation increases as the carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide ratio increases: however provided sufficient steam is present, the risk may be minimised.
The gasification stage used to produce the shift inlet gas is normally operated at a pressure in the range 5 to 50 bar abs., and in particular in the range 10 to 40 bar abs. The temperature at which the gasification stage is effected will normally be in the range 700 to 1200xc2x0 C., particularly 750 to 1100xc2x0 C.
The carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide molar ratio and the proportion of steam will depend on the conditions employed in the gasification stage, i.e. the reforming or partial oxidation stage. Increasing the outlet temperature, increasing the pressure, and/or decreasing the steam to feedstock carbon ratio (i.e. moles of steam per g atom of feedstock carbon) employed in the gasification stage, all tend to increase the risk of hydrocarbon formation in the shift stage.
Generally to minimise risk of formation of hydrocarbons in a subsequent high temperature shift stage employing an iron oxide catalyst, it has generally been necessary to employ a gas mixture containing a substantial amount of steam (so that the steam to dry gas molar ratio is greater than about 0.5) and/or to employ gasification conditions such that the molar ratio of carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide in the gas stream is limited to no more than about 1.9.
Where the gasification process involves steam reforming, it is possible to operate with a sufficient excess of steam that such problems are avoided. However the generation of such an excess of steam is not energy efficient and, in the interests of economy, it is desirable to operate steam reforming processes at low steam to carbon ratios so that the reformed gas stream fed to the shift stage has a relatively low steam to dry gas molar ratio, particularly below 0.6. Indeed practical steam reforming processes generally give gas compositions having a steam to dry gas molar ratio in the range 0.2 to 0.6. Likewise, with partial oxidation processes, the carbon monoxide content of the gas stream is generally at a level at which hydrocarbon formation would present a problem. While these difficulties can be overcome by the injection of steam prior to the shift reaction, the amount of such injected steam is desirably minimised in the interests of economy. For each mole of carbon monoxide converted in the shift reaction a mole of steam is required but the amount of steam required to avoid the risk of hydrocarbon formation is generally much greater than that required simply to have a steam to carbon monoxide molar ratio of at least 1.0.
It has been proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,030,440 to overcome these problems by employing a preliminary shift stage at a temperature above 550xc2x0 C. using an iron-free catalyst such as a calcium aluminate support impregnated with palladium.
We have devised an alternative process wherein the preliminary shift stage is effected at a lower temperature, thus enabling a greater amount of heat recovery to be effected before the shift stage.
It has been proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,861,745 to reduce the risk of hydrocarbon formation by including a small proportion of copper in the iron oxide-containing high temperature shift catalyst. However it has been found in practice that this is only partially effective: thus the presence of copper in the iron oxide-containing catalyst merely retards the rate at which the latter is reduced to a state in which the formation of hydrocarbons is catalysed.
In the present invention, the risk of hydrocarbon formation is decreased by contacting the gas stream with an iron-free, copper-containing, catalyst prior to contacting the gas with the iron-containing catalyst.
Accordingly the present invention provides a shift process wherein a gas stream containing carbon monoxide and steam is contacted with an iron oxide-containing catalyst, characterised in that, prior to contact with the iron oxide-containing catalyst, the gas stream is contacted with an iron-free, copper-containing, catalyst at an inlet temperature in the range 280-370xc2x0 C.
Iron-free, copper-containing, catalysts are normally employed for the so-called xe2x80x9clow-temperaturexe2x80x9d shift reaction which often follows a stage of high temperature shift reaction. Normally catalysts containing a substantial proportion of copper are not employed at temperatures above about 300xc2x0 C. as the copper tends to sinter and so the catalyst loses activity. However, in the present invention, although some sintering and loss of activity will inevitably occur, the copper-containing catalyst is not required to effect shift to near equilibrium but only to effect some degree of shifting to modify the carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide ratio so that the problem of undue reduction of the subsequent iron oxide-containing catalyst and consequent Fischer-Tropsch reactions is avoided. Furthermore, although the inlet temperature to the preliminary shift stage is relatively low for a high temperature shift reaction, it is high for a shift reaction employing a catalyst containing a substantial proportion of copper, and this relatively high inlet temperature compensates for the loss of activity of the copper catalyst.
Copper-containing catalysts that may be employed include any of those well known for the methanol synthesis or the low temperature shift reaction. Typically the catalyst comprises the product of reducing pellets formed from a calcined composition of co-precipitated copper, zinc and aluminium and/or chromium compounds, e.g. oxides, hydroxides or basic carbonates. Often such catalysts contain more than 20% by weight of copper. Other components such as magnesium or manganese compounds may be incorporated. In a preferred system however, the copper-containing catalyst is the product of reducing a catalyst precursor comprising copper compounds supported on a material such as alumina or a calcium aluminate cement. Such a precursor may be produced by impregnating the support with a solution of a thermally decomposable copper compound, and optionally other components such as zinc, magnesium, aluminium and/or chromium compounds, followed by calcination of the impregnated support to decompose the copper compound, and possibly other components, to the oxidic state. Alternatively the support material may be coated with a slurry of precipitated, thermally decomposable, copper compounds, and possibly other components as aforesaid, dried, and then calcined to convert the thermally decomposable compounds to the oxidic form. Preferably such catalysts, after reduction, contain 3 to 15% by weight of copper. The use of such catalysts made by impregnating or coating a support is advantageous where the copper-containing catalyst is employed as a preliminary catalyst bed in the same vessel as the conventional iron oxide-containing high temperature shift catalyst. The catalyst may be in the form of a random packed bed of pellets of the support, which may be a macroporous foam as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,810,685, or monolithic, e.g. a honeycomb or a macroporous foam as aforesaid, to which the catalytic material has been applied, for example by impregnation or coating. The use of a macroporous foam as a support may be advantageous in certain cases as will be described hereinafter. One method of forming suitable impregnated catalysts involves impregnating a transition alumina support with an ammoniacal copper carbonate complex followed by heating to decompose that complex.
It is generally necessary to employ the process gas, e.g. from steam reforming, as the gas used to effect reduction of iron oxide-containing high temperature shift catalyst precursors to the active state as hydrogen in an inert diluent is liable to result in over-reduction of the iron oxide-containing catalyst precursor. However, with conventional pelleted copper-containing shift or methanol synthesis catalysts, the use of process gas for the reduction stage is liable to result in overheating of the copper-containing catalyst. By the use of a catalyst having a relatively small proportion of copper on a support, the support acts as a heat sink to minimise the risk of overheating, thus enabling reduction to be effected with the process gas in the same vessel as the high temperature shift catalyst. Alternatively, where it is desired to employ a catalyst containing a higher proportion of copper, for example above 15% by weight, the catalyst may be pre-reduced and passivated, for example by the process described in our EP 0 748 255 wherein a mixture of oxygen and carbon dioxide is employed to effect passivation.
The high temperature shift catalysts that may be employed include the iron oxide/chromia compositions normally employed for the shift reaction and may themselves contain a small proportion of copper. An example of a suitable high temperature shift catalyst is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,656,566. Suitable catalysts preferably have an iron oxide content (expressed as Fe2O3) of 60 to 95% by weight. Preferably the iron to chromium atomic ratio in the precursor is in the range 6 to 20, particularly 8 to 12. The precursor may contain oxides of other metals, e.g. aluminium, manganese, or, especially, as mentioned above, copper. Particularly preferred precursors have an iron to copper atomic ratio of 10:1 to 100:1. Such additional oxides may be introduced by coprecipitation of suitable metal compounds that decompose upon heating to the oxides with the iron and chromium compounds. Alternatively, or additionally, such additional oxides may be incorporated by effecting the precipitation of the iron and chromium compounds in the presence of the desired additional oxides or compounds that decompose to the oxides upon heating. Alternatively, such oxides, or compounds that decompose thereto upon heating, may be added to the precipitated iron and chromium compounds before calcination and shaping into the desired pellets. Alternatively, the precipitated iron and chromium compounds, before or after calcination and forming the shaped pellets, may be impregnated with a solution of compounds that decompose upon heating to the desired additional oxides.
As indicated above, the inlet temperature to the preliminary shift stage should be in the range 280-370xc2x0 C. Preferably it is in the range 280-350xc2x0 C., particularly 300-330xc2x0 C. As the shift reaction is exothermic, the temperature of the gas leaving the iron-free, copper-containing, preliminary shift catalyst will be somewhat higher than the shift inlet temperature. As a rule of thumb, the temperature rise for the gas compositions often encountered is about 10xc2x0 C. for each 1% by volume of carbon monoxide in the gas mixture (on a dry gas basis) converted. In order to minimise the risk of hydrocarbon formation, it is generally necessary for the iron-free, copper-containing, catalyst to effect shifting of 5 to 15% of the carbon monoxide present in the shift inlet gas. The temperature rise will generally be less than about 50xc2x0 C. and usually below 30xc2x0 C.
Following the preliminary shift reaction, the gas mixture then undergoes the shift reaction over the iron oxide-containing high temperature shift catalyst. Although the inlet temperature to the iron-free, copper-containing, catalyst may be lower than is usually employed for high temperature shift catalysts, the exothermic reaction occurring over the iron-free, copper-containing, catalyst increases the temperature to a level at which the conventional iron oxide-containing shift catalyst is active. If, as is usual, the high temperature shift reaction over the iron oxide-containing catalyst is effected adiabatically, the temperature and carbon monoxide content of the gas leaving the high temperature shift reaction will depend on the composition of the shift inlet gas and how closely the shift equilibrium is approached. However the carbon monoxide content of the gas leaving the high temperature shift reaction is typically in the range 2-5% by volume (on a dry basis) and the outlet temperature will in the range 350-500xc2x0 C. If desired, the shifted gas can be cooled and subjected to low temperature shift, e.g. at an outlet temperature in the range 200-280xc2x0 C., using conventional low temperature shift catalysts.
Since the iron-free, copper-containing, preliminary shift catalyst can effect a significant amount of shift reaction, the volume of iron oxide-containing high temperature shift catalyst employed can be decreased. Typically up to 10% of the volume of iron oxide-containing high temperature shift catalyst may be replaced by the iron-free, copper-containing catalyst. Preferably the amount of iron-free, copper-containing, catalyst employed is 3-5% by volume of the iron oxide-containing catalyst. Conventional iron oxide-containing high temperature shift catalysts are usually operated at a wet gas space velocity in the range 2500 to 5000 hxe2x88x921, although some modern, highly active, iron oxide-containing, high temperature shift catalysts have been operated at higher wet gas space velocities, e.g. up to about 7500 hxe2x88x921. Operation at an overall wet gas space velocity of 5000 hxe2x88x921 but with replacement of 5% by volume of the conventional, iron oxide-containing, high temperature shift catalyst by an iron-free, copper-containing, catalyst in accordance with the present invention means that the iron-free, copper-containing, catalyst is operating at a wet gas space velocity of 100000 hxe2x88x921. Preferably the iron-free, copper-containing, catalyst is operated at a wet gas space velocity of at least 20000 hxe2x88x921, particularly at least 50000 hxe2x88x921. It will be appreciated that the volume of the iron-free copper-containing catalyst that is required will depend, inter alia, on the amount of copper in a given volume of catalyst and the accessibility of that copper to the process gas. Preferably the amount of iron-free copper-containing catalyst employed is such that the wet gas flow rate is in the range 250-3000 liters (at NTP) of wet gas per g of copper in the catalyst per hour.
In many processes, e.g. where the shift reaction follows production of a crude gas by steam reforming and/or partial oxidation, heat is recovered from the process gas prior to the shift stage. This heat recovery often involves steam raising in a boiler. Such boilers are prone to failure and leakage with the result that boiler solids, e.g. silicates and phosphates, are carried with the process gas into the shift reactor. Deposition of such solids on the shift catalyst results in blinding of the catalyst resulting in loss of activity and an increase in the pressure drop encountered by the process gas as it passes through the shift catalyst. By employing the iron-free, copper-containing, catalyst as a coated or impregnated macroporous foam, such boiler solids may tend to be trapped by the foam and hence obviate such pressure drop problems.
The invention is illustrated by the following examples.


An optical pickup lens cleaning device for a double-sided disk player for recording desired signals on each side of the double-sided disk or reproducing the desired signals therefrom. The cleaning device includes an optical pickup assembly having first and second lateral rack gears, and a semi-circular rack gear connected to the corresponding ends of the first and second rack gears. The first and second rack gears are spaced at a predetermined distance so that the disk can be disposed therebetween and are disposed on a frame together with the semi-circular rack gear in a continuous manner. The optical pickup assembly is movable along the rack gears so as to be moveable from one side of the disk to the opposite side thereof. A lens cleaning mechanism is disposed at a center of an arc of the semi-circular rack for cleaning a lens to be mounted on a base of the optical pickup assembly when the assembly is moved from the one side of the disk to the opposite side. Therefore, the lens in the pickup assembly is automatically cleaned during normal operation without the need for a separate lens cleaning device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cleaning device for a double-sided disk player, and more particularly, to an optical pickup lens cleaning device for a double-sided disk player, which can automatically clean a lens mounted on an optical pickup assembly for recording signals or reproducing signals from opposite sides of a disk.
2. Background
Conventional double-sided disk players include an optical pickup assembly which is moveable along the radial direction of the disk and in a vertical to access the upper and lower sides of the disk. In this manner the optical pickup assembly can record signals on or reproduce signals from opposite sides of the disk.
Such a disk player is disclosed in, for example, Japanese utility model laid-open publication No. 63-49667. More specifically, this disk player includes a guide member having first and second linear guide rail portions and a U-shaped guide rail portion interconnected with the first and second guide rail portions, a rack gear continuously formed on an internal surface of the guide member, and a connecting gear engaged with the rack gear and driven by a motor mounted on the optical pickup assembly. Thus, the optical pickup assembly is movable from an upper side of the disk to the lower side of the disk along the guide member to record signals on or reproduce signals from the upper and lower sides of the disk.
In such a conventional double-sided disk player, an important concern is that foreign substances such as dust particles are likely to be disposed on the lens of the pickup assembly, thereby adversely effecting the efficiency of the lens undesirably.
For this reason, the conventional pickup assembly requires a device for cleaning the lens of the pickup assembly periodically to remove the foreign substances. Alternatively, it is necessary to employ a disk having a lens cleaner separately designed from the pickup assembly for cleaning the lens. Accordingly, with the conventional disk player, lens cleaning is a very complicated matter and elaborate components are likely to be damaged when cleaning the lens.

Optical pickup lens cleaning device for double-sided disk player


A method for recognizing text in graphical drawings includes creating a binarized representation of a drawing to form an electronic image of pixels. The image is discriminated between text regions and lines in the image by grouping pixels into blocks and comparing blocks with a predetermined format to identify text regions. The lines that remain in the text regions are removed to create text only regions. The text is recognized in the text only regions.

1. Field of the Invention
This disclosure relates to a method for extracting text information and, more particularly, to search documents and drawings for text characters mixed with graphics.
2. Description of the Related Art
Effective and automated creation of hypermedia have recently received immense focus due to the high demand for hypermedia applications generated as a result of the huge and growing popularity of the World Wide Web (WWW). Unfortunately, the creation of hypermedia to date continues to be a laborious, manually intensive job and in particular the task of referencing content in drawing images to other media. In a majority of cases, the hypermedia authors have to locate anchored information units (AIU's) or hotspots (areas or keywords of particular significance) which are then appropriately hyperlinked to relevant information. In an electronic document the user can retrieve associated detailed information by mouse clicking on these hotspots as the system interprets the associated hyperlinks and fetches the corresponding information.
Extraction of AIUs is of enormous importance for the generation of hypermedia documents. However, achieving this goal is nontrivial from raster images. This is particularly true in the case of scanned in images of engineering documents which primarily consist of line drawings of mechanical parts with small runs of text indicating the part or group number. Scanned-in mechanical drawings have machine parts that are labeled by text strings. These text strings point to the relevant machine parts. One way to create an index for the machine parts would be to point on the associated text. Obviously, the areas of interest to the hypermedia author and to the end user are those text strings that identify the part numbers or other related document information. This is also important within the scope of making drawings more content referable in electronic documents.
What makes this problem challenging is the indistinguishability of text from polylines which constitute the underlying line drawings. This also partially explains the paucity of reliable products that can undertake the above-mentioned task. While developing a general fit-for-all algorithm that would work for all kinds of line-drawing images is almost impossible, solutions can be achieved by making use of underlying structures of the concerned documents.
Currently, most available methods cannot be used reliably for drawing images. They can primarily be categorized as follows: (a) raster-to-vector converters and (b) traditional OCR methods mainly used for text documents. Due to the similarity between text and polylines, extraction of text from line drawings is a very difficult task. While the raster to vector converters treat the whole image as consisting of line drawings only, the OCR software packages presume the whole image is text. In the first case text is converted to line drawings, in the second case line drawings are attempted to be interpreted as text. While the first category of products is clearly irrelevant within the present context, the second category leaves the task of culling out the relevant material from all the "junk" that it produces as a result of misreading line drawings as text.
Several prior art software packages fall within this category. While they can both accomplish some preprocessing like image despeckeling and enhancement, proper interpretation of text within the context of line drawing images needs the user to manually outline the text regions, which is tedious and time consuming.
Therefore, a need exists for an automated method to locate keywords in engineering drawings and documents to create proper AIUs for cross-referencing in hypermedia documents. Most of the suggested prior art methods do not optimally use the underlying geometry and domain-specific knowledge to achieve the task of text separation. It is desirable for the above-mentioned method to make use of the geometry and length of the text strings that are to be identified in order to localize them. These localized regions are then analyzed using an OCR software to extract the exact text content. Further, the method must be amenable to user manipulation and input to adapt to the variability of the class of documents under consideration. The friendly user interface should also allow corrections at different stages of the procedure.

Method of searching and extracting text information from drawings


An apparatus for dispersing mist in a predetermined area includes means for obtaining water from a water source and means for dispersing the water as mist. A connecting means connects the obtaining means to the dispersing means. Upon the obtaining means obtaining water, water is provided through the connecting means for dispersing by the dispersing means thereby providing a cooling mist therefrom.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an apparatus for dispersing fluid and, more specifically, to a system and apparatus for encompassing an area with a higher degree of atomized moisture whereby humidity is increased to provide comfort using the existing hydrosphere to supply the fluid. The fluid is preferably water and the apparatus includes means for acquiring water from the hydrosphere. The acquired water is filtered and pumped through dispersal means thereby creating a misting effect. The dispersal means are selectively connectable and configurable to form any desired shape and size.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are other misting device designed for outdoor use. Typical of these is U.S. Pat. No. 5,330,104 issued to Marcus on Jul. 19, 1994.
Another patent was issued to Nelson on Mar. 25, 1997 as U.S. Pat. No. 5,613,371. Yet another U.S. Pat. No. 5,628,273 was issued to Crouse, II on May 13, 1997 and still yet another was issued on Jan. 18, 2000 to Ducey as U.S. Pat. No. 6,015,099.
Another patent was issued to Edwards on Jul. 4, 2000 as U.S. Pat. No. 6,081,944. Yet another U.S. Pat. No. 6,158,669 was issued to Louis on Dec. 12, 2000. Another was issued to Edwards on Jan. 23, 2001 as U.S. Pat. No. 6,175,969 and still yet another was issued on Jul. 24, 2001 to Key as U.S. Pat. No. 6,236,826.
Another patent was issued to Palestrant on Nov. 13, 2001 as U.S. Pat. No. 6,315,219. Yet another U.S. Pat. No. 6,325,362 was issued to Massey et al. on Dec. 4, 2001. Another was issued to Louis on Dec. 10, 1998 as W.O. Patent No. WO 98/54952 and still yet another was issued on Feb. 22, 2001 to Louis as W.O. Patent No. WO 01/12339.

Selectively configurable misting apparatus


In a pipe joint structure, a second screw thread formed on an outer circumference end of a joint member is screwed deep into a first screw thread formed on an inner circumference of a cylindrical joint fitting member whose axial end is bonded to a common rail body so that a second flat surface at an axial end of the joint member is pressed against a first flat surface on an outer circumference of the common rail body to form a fluid tight sealing surface therebetween in a state that a fluid passage opened to the second flat surface communicates with a through-hole opened to the first flat surface. Accordingly, even if a position of the joint fitting member to the common rail body is slightly shifted, fluid tight sealing between the first and second flat surfaces is assured.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pipe joint structure or a method of assembling main parts of the pipe joint structure in which a distribution pipe is joined to a vessel for accumulating fluid, in particular, applicable to a pipe joint structure including a vessel for accumulating high pressure fluid such as a common rail body in a common rail type fuel injection system.
2. Description of Related Art
It is known that a pipe joint structure in which a distribution pipe (such as a distribution pipe for a high pressure pump or a distribution pipe for an injector) is joined to a common rail body J1 for accumulating high pressure fuel, as shown in FIGS. 14 to 16 wherein analogous structures are depicted and labeled with common reference characters. In the pipe joint structure shown in FIGS. 14 to 16, the common rail body J1 is provided with a conical shaped pressure receiving seat J2. A conical portion J4 formed at an axial end of a distribution pipe J3 (refer to FIG. 14 and FIG. 16) or a conical portion J6 formed at an axial end of a distribution pipe extension cylinder J5 (refer to FIG. 15) is pressed against the pressure receiving seat J2 of the common rail body J1. A contact surface between the pressure receiving seat J2 and the conical portion J4 or J6 constitutes a fluid tight sealing surface J7.
A cylindrical screw threaded joint fitting J8 is fixed by welding to the common rail body J1. A distributor pipe screw fastening nut J11, which is assembled in advance to the distribution pipe J3, is screwed on to a threaded surface J10 of the screw threaded joint fitting J8 in a state that the distributor pipe screw fastening nut J11 abuts against a step portion J9 at a back of the conical portion J4. By fastening the distributor pipe screw fastening nut J11 into the threaded surface J10 of the screw threaded joint fitting J8, the conical portion J4 of the distribution pipe J3 (or the conical portion J6 of the distribution pipe extension cylinder J5) is strongly pressed against the pressure receiving seat J2 of the common rail body J1 to form a main body sealing surface J7.
In the structure mentioned above, if a mounting position of the screw threaded joint fitting J8 to the common rail body J1 is shifted, it becomes very difficult to form the main body sealing surface J7 since the conical portion J4 or J6 does not coincide accurately with the pressure receiving seat J2. Accordingly, in the conventional structure, the screw threaded joint fitting J8 has to be mounted on the common rail body J1 with higher dimensional accuracy. To satisfy this requirement, dimensions of parts constituting the common rail body J1 and the screw threaded joint fitting J8 have to be highly accurate and it is necessary to use expensive welding technology such as laser welding technology, which results in higher manufacturing cost.
Further, it is preferable that the common rail body J1 is made of material having higher hardness such as middle or high carbon steel since the common rail body J1 has to endure extremely high pressure. However, though the middle or high carbon steel can be bonded by resistance welding which is not expensive, they can not be bonded by the laser welding whose welding accuracy is high. If low carbon steel is used for the common rail body J1, the laser welding is usable. However, a body size of the common rail body J1 has to be enlarged to ensure high pressure endurance.
Furthermore, in the conventional structure in which distribution pipe J3 or distribution pipe extension cylinder J5 is inserted and positioned inside screw threaded joint fitting J8, the larger size of distributor pipe screw fastening nut J11 is required. This may cause inconvenience for installation to a vehicle. If a smaller size (for example, thread size M12) of distributor pipe screw fastening nut J11 is used for easier installation, thinner wall thickness of screw threaded joint fitting J8 is required, which may cause insufficient strength of screw threaded joint fitting J8.

Pipe joint structure and method of assembling same


A system for removing selenium from a solid feed stream includes a selenium dissolver configured to selectively dissolve elemental selenium from the solid feed stream and to produce a selenium rich solution and a crystallizer coupled to the selenium dissolver and configured to receive the selenium rich solution from the dissolver, to add an acid to the selenium rich solution, to remove purified selenium from the selenium rich solution, and to remove sulfur dioxide from the selenium rich solution.

The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to feed streams and, more particularly, a system for removing selenium from a feed stream.
There are several regions in the United States (e.g., the southwestern United States including New Mexico, Southern California, and parts of Texas) and throughout the world that experience shortages in potable water supplies due, in part, to the arid climate of these geographic locales. As water supplies are limited, innovative irrigation techniques for farm lands, parks, golf courses, and may be used. One method for obtaining an alternative source of potable water uses desalination systems to produce the potable water.
The desalination process may involve the removal of salts from seawater, agricultural run-off water, and/or brackish ground water brines to produce potable water. Desalination may use an assortment of filtration methods, such as nanofiltration and reverse osmosis, to separate the raw stream into a desalinated water stream and a brine stream. The brine streams may contain various salts and other materials left over after the desalination process, which may result in environmental issues associated with the disposal of the desalination brine.
One such impurity may be selenium. The EPA National Ambient Water Quality criteria adopted by most western states have a 5 part per billion (ppb) limit for protection of aquatic wildlife. In addition, field studies indicate that 2 ppb selenium may impact endangered aquatic species due to bio-accumulation in aquatic food chains. Certain selenium removal techniques use bioreactors and/or hydrometallurgical purification methods. In certain systems, filter cakes with high elemental selenium content may be disposed of. The filter cakes may re-oxidize and leach into rivers and streams over a period of time. Such systems may be unsuitable for selenium removal since the selenium can enter the aquatic food chains. In other systems, hydrometallurgical purification methods are used to produce industrial grade selenium for sale. The hydrometallurgical purification methods are large scale processes that use high heat and a large amount of energy, and produce selenium containing waste water streams. As such, hydrometallurgical purification methods may not be economically or environmentally feasible for desalination facilities. Therefore, energy-efficient and innovative selenium removal systems that remove selenium from feed streams may be beneficial.

System for removing selenium from a feed stream


A power supply apparatus for a plasma arc utilizing equipment providing an output current nearly equal to an input current includes a first converter for converting an AC voltage to a DC voltage. The DC voltage is converted to a high frequency voltage by an inverter. The output of the inverter is converted through a second converter to a DC voltage which is applied between a torch and a workpiece. A current detector detects an output current flowing between the second converter and the workpiece. A voltage detector detects an output voltage between the torch and the workpiece. A multiplier multiplies the output current and the output voltage to provide a signal representative of an output power. A comparator compares the output power representative signal with a first preset value. A signal from the current detector is applied to an error amplifier when the output power representative signal is smaller than the first preset value, and, otherwise, the output power representative signal is applied to the error amplifier. The error amplifier controls the inverter such that the signal applied to the error amplifier can be equal to a second preset value set by a setting device.

Conventional power supply apparatus for plasma arc utilizing equipment, e.g. a plasma arc cutter or a plasma arc welder, typically has the following arrangement. A rectifier rectifies an AC voltage to generate a rectified voltage, which is converted into a high frequency voltage by a half-bridge inverter including capacitors and switching elements. The high frequency voltage is, then, voltage-transformed by a transformer. The transformed high frequency voltage is rectified by a second rectifier and, then, applied to a torch of the equipment and a workpiece to be wrought, so that arc is generated therebetween. A current detector detects current flowing between the torch and the workpiece during arcing, and provides a signal representative of the current. The current representative signal is applied to a control circuit for controlling the inverter. The control circuit controls switching elements of the inverter such that the current representative signal becomes equal to a signal representative of a preset current.
Such power supply apparatus has a low power factor because it employs a half-bridge inverter including capacitors. The power supply apparatus provides a high output voltage because it is controlled to provide a constant current, and, therefore, it provides a small output current relative to an input current applied thereto.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide power supply apparatus which can provide a large output current.

Power supply apparatus for plasma arc utilizing equipment

Sansha Electric Manufacturing Company, Limited


Methods, devices, systems, media, and receivers for processing GNSS signals are described. One aspect of the present disclosure provides a method for processing satellite signals of a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), the method comprising: receiving a first GNSS signal transmitted in a first GNSS operational band by a satellite of the GNSS and a second GNSS signal transmitted in a second GNSS operational band by the satellite; tracking the first GNSS signal; generating, from the tracking of the first GNSS signal, tracking parameters for the first GNSS signal; and decoding, at least based on the tracking parameters for the first GNSS signal, the second GNSS signal, wherein the first GNSS operational band is one of L1 band, L2 band or L5 band, and the second GNSS operational band is L6 band.

GNSS are becoming one of critical infrastructures of today's world. A GNSS satellite is capable of transmitting multiple types of GNSS signals, each of which is transmitted over a respective band. A GNSS receiver may be designed to receive two or more types of GNSS signals. Traditionally, the GNSS receiver may process the received two or more types of GNSS signals separately, especially during the acquisition, tracking and decoding stages. This requires a separate processing hardware/software/firmware for each type of received signals. A joint processing of two or more types of GNSS signals is thus desired.
A joint processing of a new type of GNSS signal and a conventional GNSS signal may be challenging. As an example, signals that are transmitted on L6 band are designed to adopt a Code Shift Keying (CSK) modulation scheme. The CSK modulation scheme is different from the modulation scheme used for conventional signals that are transmitted on L1, L2, or L5 band. A conventional design for acquisition, tracking and decoding of the conventional GNSS signal may not be applicable to CSK-modulated signals. There are no commercial CSK decoders based on GNSS receivers known yet.


The present invention relates to recombinant gelatins and compositions thereof, and methods of producing and using the same.

Gelatin is a derivative of collagen, a principal structural and connective protein in animals. Gelatin is derived from denaturation of collagen and contains polypeptide sequences having Gly-X-Y repeats, where X and Y are most often proline and hydroxyproline residues. These sequences contribute to triple helical structure and affect the gelling ability of gelatin polypeptides. Currently available gelatin is extracted through processing of animal hides and bones, typically from bovine and porcine sources. The biophysical properties of gelatin make it a versatile material, widely used in a variety of applications and industries. Gelatin is used, for example, in numerous pharmaceutical and medical, photographic, industrial, cosmetic, and food and beverage products and processes of manufacture. Gelatin is thus a commercially valuable and versatile product.
Manufacture of Gelatin
Gelatin is typically manufactured from naturally occurring collagen in bovine and porcine sources, in particular, from hides and bones. In some instances, gelatin can be extracted from, for example, piscine, chicken, or equine sources. Raw materials of typical gelatin production, such as bovine hides and bones, originate from animals subject to government-certified inspection and passed fit for human consumption. There is concern over the infectivity of this raw material, due to the presence of contaminating agents such as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), particularly bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), and scrapie, etc. (See, e.g., Rohwer, R. G. (1996), Dev Biol Stand 88:247-256.) Such issues are especially critical to gelatin used in pharmaceutical and medical applications.
Recently, concern about the safety of these materials, a significant portion of which are derived from bovine sources, has increased, causing various gelatin-containing products to become the focus of several regulatory measures to reduce the potential risk of transmission of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), linked to new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (nvCJD), a fatal neurological disease in humans. There is concern that purification steps currently used in the processing of extracting gelatin from animal tissues and bones may not be sufficient to remove the likelihood of infectivity due to contaminating SE-carrying tissue (i.e., brain tissue, etc.). U.S. and European manufacturers specify that raw material for gelatin to be included in animal or human food products or in pharmaceutical, medical, or cosmetic applications must not be obtained from a growing number of BSE countries. In addition, regulations specify that certain materials, e.g., bovine brain tissue, are not used in the production of gelatin.
Current production processes involve several purification and cleansing steps, and can require harsh and lengthy modes of extraction. The animal hides and bones are treated in a rendering process, and the extracted material is subjected to various chemical treatments, including prolonged exposure to highly acidic or alkaline solutions. Numerous purification steps can involve washing and filtration and various heat treatments. Acid demineralization and lime treatments are used to remove impurities such as non-collagenous proteins. Bones must be degreased. Additional washing and filtration steps, ion exchanges, and other chemical and sterilizing treatments are added to the process to further purify the material. Furthermore, contaminants and impurities can still remain after processing, and the resultant gelatin product must thus typically be clarified, purified, and often further concentrated before being ready for use.
Commercial gelatin is generally classified as type A or type B. These classifications reflect the pre-treatment extraction sources receive as part of the extraction process. Type A is generally derived from acid-processed materials, usually porcine hides, and type B is generally derived from alkaline- or lime-processed materials, usually bovine bones (ossein) and hides.
In extracting type A gelatin, the process generally involves subjecting fresh or frozen porcine hides to successive washings with water and treatments with dilute acids. The acid-treated skins are washed again and are then subject to repeated extraction steps in which they are treated with hot water, partially hydrolyzing the collagen present. The resultant extracts, dilute solutions of gelatin, are filtered and evaporated, and the resultant concentrates are allowed to cool or chilled to a gel. The gel is subsequently treated in drying tunnels, or by continuous dryers or other drying devices.
In the limed process, type B gelatin is derived from donor hides and skin trimmings washed and then treated with lime. The lime treatment can take as long as from one to three months, and is usually around sixty days. The limed hides are washed and treated with dilute acids. The hides are then hydrolyzed with hot water and the resulting extracts are processed as described above for the acid-treatment process.
Type B gelatin can also be processed from ossein sources. The hard bones are washed, degreased, and leached with successive treatments of dilute acids, such as hydrochloric acid. The acid treatment reacts with the mineral contents of bone, which are removed along with the acidic solution, leaving ossein, or demineralized bones. This organic bone matter, washed free of residual acid, is dried for storage or immediately limed. After liming, ossein is subsequently treated as described above for the production of gelatin from bovine hides. In all cases, after final filtering, demineralization, concentration, and drying steps, the resultant gelatin product is divided into batches, subjected to various physical, chemical, and bacteriological tests to determine grade and purity, and ground and blended according to commercial requirements. In both type A and B extraction processes, the resultant gelatin product typically comprises a mixture of gelatin molecules, in sizes of from a few thousand up to several hundred thousand Daltons.
Fish gelatin, classified as gelling or non-gelling types, and typically processed as Type A gelatin, is also used in certain commercial applications. Gelling types are usually derived from the skins of warm water fish, while non-gelling types are typically derived from cold water fish. Fish gelatins have widely varying amino acid compositions, and differ from animal gelatins in having typically lower proportions of proline and hydroxyproline residues. In contrast to animal gelatins, fish gelatins typically remain liquid at much lower temperatures, even at comparable average molecular weights. As with other animal gelatins, fish gelatin is extracted by treatment and subsequent hydrolyzation of fish skin. Again, as with animal extraction processes, the process of extracting fish gelatin results in a product that lacks homogeneity.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


In some embodiments, data may be transferred from a first memory agent to a second memory agent in a first format having a first width, and at least a critical portion of the data maybe transferred from the second memory agent back to the first memory agent in a second format having a second width, where the critical portion is included in a first frame. The critical portion may include a cacheline mapped over a memory device rank. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

FIG. 1 illustrates a prior art memory system. A memory controller 10 and memory module 12 are connected by a memory channel 14 that provides signal lines for the transfer of data between the components. The system may include additional memory modules that may be connected to the controller through channel 14 or to the first module through another memory channel.
The memory controller 10, which may be an integral part of a processor, or part of a chipset 18 that supports a processor, controls the flow of memory data between the processor and memory devices 20 such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips located on the module. In a conventional system, the memory channel 14 is implemented with a bi-directional data bus in which write data is sent to the module over the same signal lines that read data is returned to the controller. Data that is transferred across the channel is typically grouped into frames that include an actual data payload as well as check codes that enable the system to verify data integrity.
In some systems, a memory channel may utilize unidirectional links rather than a bi-directional bus. For example, a memory controller may be connected to a memory module by an outbound path having unidirectional bit lines that transfer information such as write data, address information, control signals, etc., to the module, and an inbound path having unidirectional bit lines that transfer information to the controller. If there is more than one memory module, the controller and modules may be arranged in a ring configuration in which each component may only transmit data in one direction to one other component.

Memory transfer with early access to critical portion


A computing device determines a recommendation. A confidence matrix is computed using a predefined weight value. (A) A first parameter matrix is updated using the confidence matrix, a predefined response matrix, a first step-size parameter value, and a first direction matrix. The predefined response matrix includes a predefined response value by each user to each item and at least one matrix value for which a user has not provided a response to an item. (B) A second parameter matrix is updated using the confidence matrix, the predefined response matrix, a second step-size parameter value, and a second direction matrix. (C) An objective function value is updated based on the first and second parameter matrices. (D) The first and second parameter matrices are trained by repeating (A) through (C). The first and second parameter matrices output for use in predicting a recommended item for a requesting user.

As a popular approach to collaborative filtering, matrix factorization (MF) models an underlying response matrix as a product of two factor matrices, one for users and one for items. The MF model can be trained based on implicit feedback using an alternating weighted least squares (AWLS) method. The MF model updates the two factor matrices alternately, keeping one fixed while updating the other. An AWLS method is described by Yifan Hu, Yehuda Koren, and Chris Volinsky in their paper titled Collaborative Filtering for Implicit Feedback Datasets and published in the Proceedings from the IEEE International Conference on Data Mining (ICDM 08) by the IEEE CS Press on pages 263-272 in 2008 (the Hu paper). Although the AWLS method improves the learning objective aggressively in each iteration, the AWLS method suffers from high computational cost due to the necessity of inverting a separate matrix for each user and item.

Recommendation system with implicit feedback


An apparatus for removal of adhesive-backed objects attached to a liner with the objects and liner constituting a pad which includes a curved surface and a removal head. The curved surfaces preferably a drum, is adapted to receive the pad of the adhesive-backed objects for disposition around the drum with a radius sufficient to spread the individual objects of the pad apart. The removal head is positioned adjacent the drum for selectable engagement with the objects of the pad. The removal head includes at least one piston movable between a first position out of contact with the pad and a second position where the piston contacts the pad and applies a force thereto to securely maintain the position of the pad around the drum. The removal head further includes at least one gripper member positioned for engagement with an individual object of the pad. The gripper member is movable between a first position away from the drum and a second position adjacent an individual object attached to the liner. The gripper member moves from the first to the second position when the piston is applying a force against the pad. The gripper member is pivotable between an open and closed position to securely engage the individual object attached to the liner of the pad at which point the gripper member retracts radially away from the drum and removes the individual object from the liner of the pad with the piston holding the pad against the drum.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of manufacturing assembly and more particularly to an apparatus and method for removal of adhesive-backed objects attached to a liner.
2. Description of the Art
In numerous manufacturing applications, it is well known to attach adhesive-backed molded objects to a particular product for protective or separation purposes such as feet, stops, or spacers. One example of such a molded object product is the Bumpon.TM. protective product manufactured by the 3M Company. Typically, these molded objects are manufactured in a pad form, wherein each pad includes numerous molded objects adhesively secured to a liner with the molded objects formed in columns and rows on the pad. The user of the molded objects removes an individual molded object from the pad and then places the molded object onto the end product in the particular application, such as the chassis of electronic devices, cabinetry, etc. The typical technique for application of the molded object to an end product is to manually remove a molded object from the pad and then attach the molded object to the end product. This is a labor-intensive and time-consuming process and is tedious for the person manually removing the molded objects from the liner and then applying the molding object to the end product. Additionally, the person may encounter physical problems due to the repetitious nature of the process.
Attempts to automate the process of removing the molded objects from the pad face numerous obstacles. First, the molded objects are typically die-cut during manufacture to separate the individual objects from each other which often causes perforations in the liner of the pad. This results in the liner, typically made from a paper material, being quite susceptible to tearing as the molded objects are removed. Excessive liner tearing can make it difficult to position the pad and remove subsequent molded objects. Additionally, a typical application may require several molded objects to be applied to an end product during each machine cycle so that methods for removing an entire row of molded objects from the pad, such as by running the pad over a sharp corner to dislodge the molded objects from the liner, are not acceptable. Such methods are not able to remove a specified number of molded objects or retain the objects for subsequent placement onto the end product for a particular application.
What is needed is an automated process and apparatus for removing adhesive-backed objects attached to a liner which is capable of removing a specified number of objects from a particular row of the liner with minimal or no tearing of the liner. Such a process should further be capable of then removing remaining objects on the particular row in a controlled manner and then proceeding to the next row of the pad until all the molded objects on the pad are removed. Such a process would preferably provide for transportation of the molded objects for direct placement onto the end product or to a specified location for subsequent placement onto the end product.

Apparatus and method for removal of adhesive-backed objects attached to a liner

Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company


A system stochastically models events related to potential perils (e.g., hurricanes, terrorist attacks) using a weighted period event table. Both rare and likely events are captured in modeling with minimal computational overhead, allowing appropriate allocation of resources. Applications include disaster response, municipal planning, financial risk modeling and allocation.

Technical Field
The subject matter described herein generally relates to the field of predicting and managing catastrophic event impacts, and more specifically to modeling scenarios involving one or more catastrophic events and making decisions regarding mitigation accordingly.
Background Information
Numerous resources need to be deployed when disasters strike. Fire, police, National Guard and FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) resources all need to be allocated in a sensible manner. For some disasters, coordination among two or more national governments may be required. Likewise, businesses need to allocate their resources in a similar fashion. For instance, if a retail establishment has a regional warehouse, it will want to know which stores are likely to be damaged (so goods are not shipped there) as well as which are nearby to the impacted area but are not likely to be damaged (so that goods can be shipped there to be available in the damaged area after the disaster).
Perhaps the most direct example of such allocation of resources in the face of a catastrophic event comes from the insurance industry. In that industry, multiple layers of insurers have often-overlapping coverage, all with limits (e.g., caps) and other constraints. Further, catastrophic events, even if randomly distributed, are sometimes bunched so that exposure seems unusually high. In addition, some catastrophic events tend not to be independent but instead are tied together, e.g., (a) a weather pattern breeds multiple cyclonic events during a single season; (b) a large earthquake is accompanied by a tsunami and numerous aftershocks; (c) a terrorist attack is not isolated but is planned as one of several coordinated attacks.
In the past, governments, aid organizations and businesses have come up with documents outlining certain "rules of engagement" with respect to addressing the impact of such catastrophic events. For example, a state National Guard unit may have one plan for mobilization within the state's boundaries, but a more complex and limited manner of engagement for mobilization when a neighboring state seeks its assistance.
As such rules and agreements play out, however, the complexity becomes quite difficult to manage. For instance, there is widespread public commentary regarding the number of different law enforcement agencies with jurisdiction in Washington, DC. The FEMA website page http://www.fema.gov/about/offices/ncr/index.shtm explains that there is an entire Office of National Capital Region Coordination to oversee and manage the overlapping responsibilities of various authorities in the region who should be included in catastrophic planning.
In the private sector, various responsibilities for addressing damage due to catastrophic events are typically spelled out in contracts. Allocating risks and responsibilities related to such events is a difficult task, and accuracy in prediction of needs can be quite beneficial, for example in determining the amount and location of emergency supplies to warehouse in various locations.
It would be advantageous to such allocation tasks if there were a system and method that could accurately model disaster event scenarios in a manner that did not consume excessive computational resources.
The features and advantages described in the specification are not all inclusive and, in particular, many additional features and advantages will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the drawings, specification, and claims. Moreover, it should be noted that the language used in the specification has been principally selected for readability and instructional purposes, and may not have been selected to delineate or circumscribe the disclosed subject matter.
The figures depict various embodiments for purposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following discussion that alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles of the invention described herein.

Predicting and managing impacts from catastrophic events using weighted period event tables