A differential line driver with small common mode shift when going inactive. Two pairs of serially coupled switches diagonally switch when sending data. All switches close when the driver is disabled, the common mode output voltage being established by resistors serially disposed between the pairs of switches and the power source therefore.

1. Cross-Reference to Related Application
This application is related to a co-pending patent application titled "Differential Comparator With Differential Threshold for Local Area Networks or the Like", by F. J. Fernandez and R. H. Leonowich, Ser. No. 07/810,272, filed simultaneously with, and assigned to the same assignee, as this application.
2. Field of the Invention
Invention relates to line drivers in general and, more particularly, to integrated circuit balanced (differential) line drivers.
3. Description of the Prior Art
Many hard-wired digital communication systems use a twisted pair wires as the communication medium between nodes on a network. For example, CSMA/CD local area network systems (Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Carrier Detect, part of the IEEE 802.3 standard) may use the Attachment Unit Interface standard (using shielded wire pairs) to communicate between users on the network and a coaxial cable backbone. Similarly, 10BASE-T local area networks use unshielded wire pairs for communication between users.
Transmission on a wire pair is usually differential in nature to maximize the signal-to-noise ratio at the far end of the pair. What shape the signals "look like" when transmitted is usually contained by a template which is part of a standard. Using the above example for the Attachment Unit Interface (AUI) standard (part of the IEEE 802.3 standard), a pulse template, pulse diagram, test load, and other voltage limitations/specifications are furnished by a standards body. This information sets the performance limitations on a transmitted pulse. Because the test load is reactive and resistive, significant pulse over/undershoot and ringing can occur. The over/undershoot and ringing are usually considered undersirable and the standard places limits on them.
A widely used prior-art driver for AUI systems is shown in FIG. 3. The driver 30 provides a differential signal to test load 20 (as defined by the standard) through DC-blocking capacitors 18. The driver 30 has a pair of complementary driven conventional CMOS inverters 31, 32 (using exemplary inverter 33) powered between the power supply V.sub.CC and ground. In this instance, however, the power supply return for the drivers 31, 32 is through a variable current source 34 to ground. During data transmission, the inverters 31, 32 are complementary switched to produce the differential signal to load 20. Current source 34 provides more than enough current for inverters 31, 32 to drive the load 20. When the driver 30 is placed in the idle state, current source 34 is throttled back, reducing current flow through load 20. This is required because the AUI standard limits the amount of ringing that can occur when the driver 30 goes from active to idle with the inductive test load 20.
A byproduct of this driver design is a common mode shift that occurs when driver 30 goes idle. The common mode shift (DC) is coupled by capacitors 18 to the load 20 as a pulse. This pulse may exceed that allowed by the standard. Thus, an isolation transformer (not shown), disposed between capacitors 18 and load 20, may be required to meet the common mode shift limitations. Unfortunately transformers have inter-winding capacitance which may defeat the purpose of the transformer, requiring more elaborate compensation techniques (e.g., shunt capacitors to ground which may unacceptably lengthen the data pulse rise/fall times when the driver 30 is active).
Thus, it is desirable to provide a differential driver with less ringing and common mode shift difficulties than prior art drivers. Further, it is desirable to provide such a driver that more closely meets system standards without requiring costly, and potentially unreliable, transformers or other compensation techniques.

Balanced line driver for local area networks or the like


A flange (1) for optical flame observation in a gas turbine includes at least one bore for optical observation, in which bore there is arranged at least one pane (9, 10) for separating the flame-side space, which is in substantially direct communication with a combustion chamber in which the at least one flame that is to be monitored is arranged, from the outside space, from which the observation of the at least one flame can take place. In a flange (1) of this type, fogging of the at least one pane (9, 10) is made possible in a simple manner which can be guaranteed over a prolonged period of time by virtue of the fact that two panes (9, 10), which delimit a sealed intermediate space (22) in the bore for optical observation, are arranged one behind the other with respect to the optical axis (8), and that a device (24) for dehumidifying the sealed intermediate space (22) is includes.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flange for optical flame observation in a gas turbine. The flange comprises at least one bore for optical observation, in which bore there is arranged at least one pane for separating the flame-side space, which is in substantially direct communication with a combustion chamber in which the at least one flame that is to be monitored is arranged, from the outside space, from which the observation of the at least one flame can take place.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
For safety reasons, the flames in the combustion chamber of a gas turbine have to be observed and monitored. Inter alia in the case of annular combustion chambers, in which to a certain extent there is a single, encircling flame supplied by a plurality of burners arranged over the circumference of the circle, this monitoring and observation is carried out, for example, by at least one observation tube being passed through the housing of the gas turbine to the outer side of the gas turbine. The tube leads through cavities which are arranged in the housing and are used, for example, to supply cooling air, additional combustion air or to accommodate fuel supply lines, etc. The tube is usually open toward the combustion chamber, i.e. the pressure prevailing in the tube usually substantially corresponds to the pressure in the combustion chamber, and the temperature in the tube is likewise usually in the region of the temperature in the combustion chamber, although on account of weak convection in the tube a decreasing gradient is established toward the outer side of the gas turbine with respect to the temperature.
Observation means in the form of flame monitors with optical detectors, which allow automated and continuous observation and monitoring of the flame activity, are usually arranged on the outer side of the gas turbine. These observation means are arranged outside the gas turbine, i.e. substantially at room temperature and standard pressure, on the one hand in order not to apply excessive thermal and mechanical loads to these observation means, and on the other hand to make them easier to exchange and easier to carry out maintenance work on. In order accordingly to seal the tube with respect to the outer side, where substantially room temperature and standard pressure prevail, without at the same time impairing the optical path for observation, it is customary to provide at least one suitable pane, i.e. a pane which does not interfere with the optical path of flame observation, which pane is fitted either at the end of the observation tube or in a flange placed onto the observation tube. On account of the high temperature differences and pressure differences between the interior of the observation tube and the surroundings of the gas turbine, this pane has to satisfy high mechanical demands and has to be well sealed. For this purpose, it is customary for the at least one pane to be fitted into the flange, i.e. for example welded into the flange.


A method of manufacturing tubing suitable for use as a component of a medical device, such as a catheter body, and the real-time adjustment of characteristics of the tubing as it passes from one reel to another reel during manufacture. Thus, a length of tubing is manufactured that includes a plurality of segments of different flexibilities and the length of tubing is then cut into a plurality of sub-lengths of tubing that are suitable for use as a component of a medical device. In one embodiment, a method of manufacturing a length of catheter tubing comprises: extruding a base layer; overlaying a braided layer on the base layer; overlaying a sub-jacket layer over the braided layer; overlaying an outer jacket on the jacket sub-layer; and heating at least a portion the jacket sub-layer to change a characteristic of the length of catheter tubing.

Medical devices such as intravascular and intracardiac catheters are commonly used for a variety of medical procedures, such as in cardiovascular, neurologic, endoscopic, neurovascular, renal, and other applications. For example, these steerable devices may be used in minimally invasive procedures such as cardiac ablation, mapping, stent delivery, and imaging. In performing procedures such as these, it is often desirable, if not essential, that the catheter is sufficiently flexible, at least at the distal end, so the device can be steered through the patient's vasculature to the desired treatment location and properly positioned for treatment.
Manufacturing methods for tubing suitable for use as a component of a medical device, such as a catheter shaft or body, have improved over the years. Many types of tubing once required tedious hand assembly or time-intensive ram extrusion can now be produced using extrusion techniques that allow for multilayer extrusion of a device. However, although the manufacturing process is becoming more efficient, there are still several aspects of the production of catheter tubing and composite shafts that are inefficient and costly.
For example, many types of shafts are commonly produced using a discrete reflow and/or fusing method, in which a usable length of tubing for a catheter shaft, for example, less than six feet (such as around three feet), is processed at a time. As an example, a polymer tube is extruded and cut to a desired length, creating discrete polymer tubes. Each tube is then slid over a length of mandrel, and a reinforcement layer (for example, braided wire mesh or coiling) is overlaid onto each discrete tube. Then, another polymer tube is slid over the mandrel, first polymer tube, and reinforcement layer, and the whole assembly is heated in an oven to fuse the materials together under pressure of a compressive sleeve (such as a heat shrink layer) and create discrete lengths of catheter or sheath shaft. Undergoing each step for a discrete length of catheter or sheath is inefficient and adds increased labor requirements and operational costs while resulting in unit-to-unit-variability.
Additionally, it is often desired that the catheter shaft, and therefore the tubing, have varying flexural and/or torsional rigidities along its length. For example, a catheter body may have a distal portion that is less rigid than a proximal portion, or alternating segments of different rigidities, depending on the intended use of the medical device in which the catheter shaft is included. To create such a catheter shaft, individual segments are manufactured individually (or cut from a longer length of tubing having a uniform flexibility) and the segments are fused together or otherwise attached to each other to create the working length of tubing suitable for use as a catheter shaft. However, the joints at which the segments are attached to each other are prone to failure or breakage, even when complex joints or joints other than butt joints are used.

Method to adjust catheter body mechanical properties via selective cold crystallization in continuous processing


A system has a server with a processor, a storage medium and coded instructions executable on the processor causing the server to display a video game to a player operating a computer, the video game comprising a virtual world having objects with surfaces, movable in the space of the virtual world by the player, and one or more light sources, create and manage a voxel grid associated with the player, compute an occupancy value for individual ones of the cells of the grid, compute an illumination value for cells of the grid by consideration of position and direction of the light sources, the occupancy value of the cell, and illumination values of immediately adjacent cells in the voxel grid, and determine brightness for pixels in display of surfaces of objects in frames of the video game based on the illumination values of cells proximate to the surfaces of the objects.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is the technical area of displaying objects and landscapes in a virtual world, and pertains more particularly to managing lighting applied to the objects and landscape elements.
2. Description of Related Art
Virtual worlds, and processes and techniques for displaying objects and landscapes in such systems are well-known in the art. One example is the technical area of video games, which present dynamic renditions of characters (persons) often termed "avatars" in the art. Such dynamic video displays may be "first-person", in which the sequential development is from the perspective of an avatar, or third-person, in which various moving objects and avatars may be displayed from a narrative perspective. In any case game videos typically present avatars and other objects that dynamically move in the progressing display, and physics calculations may be heavily incorporated to control how avatars and other objects react with one another, to lend as much of a sense of reality to the action displayed as possible and practical. A further important point is the nature of video games, that is, that they are interactive with at least one player, and may be interactive with a plurality of players. A player in such a game is enabled to manipulate an avatar through input mechanisms, and may be enabled for other parameters and effects as well, such as changing interactivity between avatars or avatars and other objects in the game. A player may also be enabled to control other aspects of a game.
One effect that plays a crucial role in the sense of reality in video games and other applications of virtual worlds is the effect of lighting. In the real world, as observed through a person's visual sense, lighting effects are crucial to understanding events, progression of events, and an ability to understand and make decisions about the surroundings. The same is true for a user observing the scenes and developing action in a video game or other representation of virtual reality. It is highly desirable in the art that lighting effects be as real as possible.
In a virtual reality video presentation at the time of filing the present patent application there may be one or more avatars, a relatively large number of stationary objects, such as landscape elements, a relatively large number of moving or moveable objects, such as vehicles, weapons, and the like, and one or more light sources to be considered in an ongoing video display. And the light sources may be of differing types and strengths, and may be applied in different directions. A virtual reality game video differs markedly from a pre-recorded video in that there is player interaction in the game video that determines where and how objects and avatars will be presented in succeeding frames of the video. The video is dynamic. So avatars will move, objects may move, and light sources may move, change, or be switched on and off, or may be altered in direction, intensity and/or color.
In current art calculating lighting effects for objects in a video game with a number of objects and a number of different light sources of perhaps different types, such as point source, parallel or cone effect, and with different directions is a considerable challenge. Generally in current art the cost (magnitude of computation) is proportional to the number of lights per object, so overall cost in a general way may be considered as proportional to the number of lights multiplied by the number of objects to render according to the light intensity and direction.
methods have been developed to separate objects and light sources in a manner that the objects may be rendered and the lighting calculated for each as proportional to the number and intensity of the sources, but still in conventional art every frame, typically to be rendered thirty times per second, must be calculated from scratch for the lighting effects on every object.
The computing load for very busy videos, to keep them looking real, is a severe limitation to the number of objects and lighting variety that may be incorporated. What is clearly needed in the art is a new way to render lighting effects on objects in a dynamic video that has far less demand for computing power, but still renders very real effects.


Cells fixed with a fixative, reduced with a Schiff's base reducing agent and then dried in the presence of .alpha.-.alpha.-trehalose retain their light scatter and fluorescence properties and may be used, when rehydrated, as standards or controls in cellular analysis.

This invention relates to the use of dried cells which can be stored, rehydrated and used as controls or standards, and in particular, relates to the use of mammalian cells fixed with a fixative, reduced with a Schiff's base reducing agent and then freeze-dried in the presence of trehalose which when rehydrated retain their light scatter properties and labelling properties when labelled with cell markers such that they can be used as standards or controls in cellular analysis such as flow cytometry and other forms of image analysis.

Preservation of cells as controls or standards in cellular analysis


A tube holder has been invented for holding a spray tube for use with a nozzle of a spray can, the tube holder, in one aspect, having a ring stretchable or non-stretchable for encircling part of the spray can (e.g. body, nozzle, or nozzle projection) for mounting the tube holder to the spray can, an interconnection member having a first end and a second end, the first end connected to or formed integrally with the ring, and a holding member connected to or formed integrally with the second end of the interconnection member. In one embodiment the holding member is a ring (stretchable or non-stretchable) and in another embodiment the holding member is a body with at least one slit opening therethrough, the spray tube insertable through and removably holdable in the at least one slit opening. The present invention discloses a spray can with any such tube holder and with a hollow spray tube.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention is directed to spray or manual pump action containers with a nozzle into which a spray tube extender or spout is insertable; to a holder for such a spray tube; and to beverage containers with a drinking straw.
2. Description of Related Art
A wide variety of prior art spray containers, manual pump action containers, and aerosol-type spray cans have nozzles through which the container's contents is sprayed. With many of these containers, a hollow tube is provided which is insertable into the nozzle. Such tubes are used to focus a spray or to facilitate accurate direction of the spray to a specific part, area, or mechanism.
One common method of attaching a spray tube to a container is simply to use a piece of adhesive tape. Once the spray tube is released from the tape it is no longer connected to the container and is easily lost. For a person using a variety of containers with different contents and different size nozzles, it is important to have and use the correct spray tube for each container.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,058,783 discloses a spray container having a spray nozzle unit for outward discharge of fluid from the spray container that includes an elongated spray tube with a size and shape adapted for mounting onto the spray nozzle unit for guiding a spray of fluid discharged from the spray container and a spray tube support construction for use with the container that retains the spray tube adjacent the container. The support construction includes a support body and a holding element for holding the spray tube. A securing element affixes the support body to the spray container and a connected element affixes the holding element and the spray tube to the support body.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,823,445 discloses a clip for holding a spray tube on a spray can and a clip device that provides releasable retention of an accessory object to a primary object. The storage clip has a shaped clasp member having a jaw portion for secure engagement of a mounting strap, a body portion adjacent the jaw portion, a shoulder portion adjacent the body portion, and terminates in a tab portion adjacent the shoulder portion. The jaw, body, and shoulder portions are each configured to form an obtuse angle relative to its adjacent portion, and in the direction of said mounting strap, defining a void or cavity between the clasp member and the mounting strap. The terminating tab portion preferably forms an angle relative to the adjacent shoulder portion and away from the mounting strap, providing a manually engageable surface for lifting the clasp member away from the mounting strap.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,819,838 discloses a combined spray tube and support assembly for use with a spray container such as an aerosol can. The assembly has an elongated spray tube adapted for removable seating within a discharge port of a spray nozzle unit on the spray container. When separated from the spray nozzle unit, the spray tube is removably retained by a support member on the spray container or on a cap for the spray container. In one form, the support member has a vertically open support ring on the cap which cooperates with short outwardly projecting tabs near one end of the spray tube to support the spray tube alongside the spray container, with the tabs facilitating manipulation to seat the spray tube within the nozzle discharge port.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,544,783 discloses a clip-on device for removably holding a tube on an aerosol container, the device having a friction fit, flexible, circular clip-on portion to be attached to a side wall of said aerosol container, the clip-on portion extending substantially but not completely around the sidewall portion as a C-shaped clip, so the clip-on portion can snugly engage the side wall; and two integral brackets, removably receiving by friction fit a tube or straw, each bracket formed by a pair of curved legs unitarily formed in one piece with the clip-on portion, the curved legs spaced on the clip portion and having a bridging segment of the clip portion between them.
U.S. Design Pat. No. 324,824 discloses a combined vented closure for a container and a capped straw with a removable cap releasably held on a spout by an extended member with a ring that encircles the spout.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,512 discloses a sport bottle having a container for a liquid and a cover which seals to the container and which includes an aperture through which a straw extends outwardly from the cover to allow the user to drink from the container. A flexible handle element is secured to the cover and is disposed over the straw to allow the user to hold both the container and the straw. The handle element includes a cap for the straw so that the straw may be covered or closed when the sports bottle is not being used for drinking purposes. The cap prevents the liquid from sloshing out of the bottle and also prevents dirt, or the like, from entering through the straw and keeps the end of the straw or the portion of the straw which contacts the users lips, from accumulating dust, dirt, and the like.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,858,792 discloses a storage and dispensing unit with a container for product to be dispensed and a discharge conduit, a separate dispensing head with a part which is mountable on the container, and a pivotally mounted part including a push button and discharge applicator which has one end in communication with conduits formed internally of the push button so that when the push button is pivoted from a stored position to a dispensing position, the internal conduits of the push button are in communication with the discharge conduit of the container.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,328,069 discloses a beverage-container carrier and sipping assembly designed to replace the cap on a conventional bottle-type beverage container or to be directly attached to the circumferential edge of a sport bottle or an opened beverage can. The assembly has a dome shaped cover that has attached a carrying strap and a straw bore on its upper surface that accepts a drinking straw. The strap can be adjusted to an optimum length to hand carry the cover or to a length that allows the assembly to be placed around a person's neck or shoulders. In either case, the strap is attached to the container cover at points that correspond to the container shoulder or center-of-gravity. The container is comfortably balanced and supported when held by the strap. A vertically or horizontally oriented handle can be added to the cover to increase the assembly utility.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,048,709 discloses a straw-containing universal type cover assembly for a beverage container which includes a lid adapted to be snap fitted on an annular rim of the beverage container and is operative to simultaneously prevent spillage of and minimize decarbonation rates within the beverage once the container has been opened. The lid also includes a pull tab joined to the periphery thereof for both removing the lid from the beverage container and holding a straw in an upright position. The assembly further includes a multi-functional plug member attached to the straw by means of a flexible strap with a stem portion operative to be inserted into an opening in the lid in one orientation, with the lid opening being generally aligned with a sealed or previously sealed opening in the top of the beverage container. The plug member has an integral straw cap portion operative to fit in another orientation of the plug member over one end of the straw when the beverage container has been opened and the straw is not being used.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,445,033 discloses a container with a flexible drinking tube removably encircling the container within a flexible protective sheath.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,332,567 discloses a container with a groove or recess in which is removably positioned a drinking straw.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,018,635 discloses a fluid containment and access device for use with a beverage container having an upper, beaded rim and an opening for flow of the fluid contents from within the volume of the container includes a flexible lid, an integral straw and a vent with closure. The lid fits securely upon the top of the beverage container to form a fluid-tight seal. The straw has a first end extending above the lid and a second end that extends through the opening substantially to the bottom of the container. The vent closure is moveable between a first position to permit the flow of air into the container and a second position to prevent the flow of air into the beverage container.
There has long been a need for an effective spray tube holder that is simple in construction, easy to manipulate, and which, in certain aspects, can accommodate a variety of different tubes, different containers, and different container parts.


A hydrocyclone can be used for separating components of a fluid. The hydrocyclone can include a substantially open cylindrical vessel and a helical confined path connected upstream of the cylindrical vessel. The open vessel can include an open vessel inlet configured to introduce a fluid tangentially into the open vessel. The helical confined path can be connected to the open vessel at the open vessel inlet. One or more wash inlets can be used to introduce a wash fluid into the helical confined path and/or the open vessel. An overflow outlet and underflow outlet can be operatively attached to the open vessel for removal of the separated fluid components. Although a number of fluids can be effectively treated, de-sanding of bitumen slurries from oil sands can be readily achieved.

According to some estimates, oil sands, also known as tar sands or bituminous sands, may represent up to two-thirds of the world's petroleum. Oil sands resources are relatively untapped. Perhaps the largest reason for this is the difficulty of extracting bitumen from the sands. Mineable oil sand is found as an ore in the Fort McMurray region of Alberta, Canada, and elsewhere. This oil sand includes sand grains having viscous bitumen trapped between the grains. The bitumen can be liberated from the sand grains by slurrying the as-mined oil sand in water so that the bitumen flecks move into the aqueous phase for separation. For the past 40 years, bitumen in McMurray oil sand has been commercially recovered using the original Clark Hot Water Extraction process, along with a number of improvements. Karl Clark invented the original process at the University of Alberta and at the Alberta Research Council around 1930 and improved it for over 30 years before it was commercialized.
In general terms, the conventional hot water process involves mining oil sands by bucket wheel excavators or by draglines at a remote mine site. The mined oil sands are then conveyed, via conveyor belts, to a centrally located bitumen extraction plant. In some cases, the conveyance can be as long as several kilometers. Once at the bitumen extraction plant, the conveyed oil sands are conditioned. The conditioning process includes placing the oil sands in a conditioning tumbler along with steam, water, and caustic soda in an effort to disengage bitumen from the sand grains of the mined oil sands. Further, conditioning is intended to remove oversize material for later disposal. Conditioning forms a hot, aerated slurry for subsequent separation. The slurry can be diluted for additional processing, using hot water. The diluted slurry is then pumped into a primary separation vessel (PSV). The diluted hot slurry is then separated by flotation in the PSV. Separation produces three components: an aerated bitumen froth which rises to the top of the PSV; primary tailings, including water, sand, silt, and some residual bitumen, which settles to the bottom of the PSV; and a middlings stream of water, suspended clay, and suspended bitumen. The bitumen froth can be skimmed off as the primary bitumen product. The middlings stream can be pumped from the middle of the PSV to sub-aeration flotation cells to recover additional aerated bitumen froth, known as a secondary bitumen product. The primary tailings from the PSV, along with secondary tailings product from flotation cells are pumped to a tailings pond, usually adjacent to the extraction plant, for impounding. The tailings sand can be used to build dykes around the pond and to allow silt, clay, and residual bitumen to settle for a decade or more, thus forming non-compacting sludge layers at the bottom of the pond. Clarified water eventually rises to the top for reuse in the process.
The bitumen froth is treated to remove air. The deaerated bitumen froth is then diluted with naptha and centrifuged to produce a bitumen product suitable for upgrading. Centrifuging also creates centrifugal tailings that contain solids, water, residual bitumen, and naptha, which can be disposed of in the tailings ponds.
More than 40 years of research and many millions of dollars have been devoted to developing and improving the Clark process by several commercial oil sands operators, and by the Alberta government. Research has largely been focused on improving the process and overcoming some of the major pitfalls associated with the Clark process. Some of the major pitfalls are:                1. Major bitumen losses from the conditioning tumbler, from the PSV and from the subaeration cells.        2. Reaction of hot caustic soda with mined oil sands result in the formation of naphthenic acid detergents, which are extremely toxic to marine and animal life, and require strict and costly isolation of the tailings ponds from the environment for at least many decades.        3. Huge energy losses due to the need to heat massive amounts of mined oil sands and massive amounts of water to achieve the required separation, which energy is then discarded to the ponds.        4. Loss of massive amounts of water taken from water sources, such as the Athabasca river, for the extraction process and permanently impounded into the tailings ponds that can not be returned to the water sources on account of its toxicity. For example, to produce one barrel of oil requires over 2 barrels of water from the Athabasca River.        5. The cost of constructing and maintaining a large separation plant.        6. The cost of transporting mined oil sands from a remote mining location to a large central extraction plant by means of conveyors. Additionally, the conveyors can be problematic.        7. The cost of dilution centrifuging.        8. The cost of naphtha recovery.        9. The cost of maintaining and isolating huge tailings ponds.        10. The cost of preventing leakage of toxic liquids from the tailings ponds.        11. The cost of government fines when environmental laws are breached.        12. The eventual cost of remediation of mined out oil sands leases and returning these to the environment in a manner acceptable to both the Alberta and the Canadian government.        13. The environmental impact of the tailings ponds.
Some major improvements have been made that included lowering the separation temperature in the tumbler, the PSV, and the flotation cells. This reduced the energy costs to a degree but also required the use of larger tumblers and the addition of more air to enhance bitumen flotation. Another improvement eliminated the use of bucket wheel excavators, draglines and conveyor belts to replace these with large shovels and huge earth moving trucks, and then later to replace some of these trucks with a slurry pipeline to reduce the cost of transporting the ore from the mine site to the separation plant. Slurry pipelines eliminate the need for conditioning tumblers but require the use of oil sand crushers to prevent pipe blockage and require cyclo-feeders to aerate the oil sand slurry as it enters the slurry pipeline, and may also require costly compressed air injection into the pipeline. Other improvements included tailings oil recovery units to scavenge additional bitumen from the tailings, and naptha recovery units for processing the centrifugal tailings before these enter the tailings ponds.
More recent research is concentrating on reducing the separation temperature of the Clark process even further and on adding gypsum or flocculants to the sludge of the tailings ponds to compact the fines and release additional water. However, adding gypsum hardens the water and this can require softening of the water before it can be recycled to the extraction plant. Most of these improvements have served to increase the amount of bitumen recovered and reduce the amount of energy required, but have increased the complexity and size of the commercial oil sands plants.
One particular problem that has vexed commercial mined oil sands plants is the problem of fine tailings disposal. In the current commercial process, mined oil sands are mixed and stirred with hot water, air, and caustic soda to form a slurry that is subsequently diluted with cooler water and separated in large separation vessels. In these vessels, air bubbles attach to bitumen droplets of the diluted slurry and cause bitumen product to float to the top for removal as froth. Caustic soda serves to disperse the fines to reduce the viscosity of the diluted slurry and allows the aerated bitumen droplets to travel to the top of the separation vessels fast enough to achieve satisfactory bitumen recovery in a reasonable amount of time. Caustic soda serves to increase the pH of the slurry and thereby imparts electric charges to the fines, especially to the clay particles, to repel and disperse these particles and thereby reduce the viscosity of the diluted slurry. For most oil sands without caustic soda, the diluted slurry would be too viscous for effective bitumen recovery. It can be shown from theory or in the laboratory that for an average oil sand, it takes five to ten times as long to recover the same amount of bitumen if no caustic soda is added to the slurry. Such a long residence time would make commercial oil sands extraction much more expensive and impractical.
While caustic soda is beneficial as a viscosity breaker in the separation vessels for floating off bitumen, it is environmentally very detrimental. At the high water temperatures used during slurry production it reacts with naphthenic acids in the oil sands to produce detergents that are highly toxic. Not only are the tailings toxic, but also the tailings fines will not generally settle. Tailings ponds with a circumference as large as 20 kilometers are required at each large mined oil sands plant to contain the fine tailings. Coarse sand tailings are used to build huge and complex dyke structures around these ponds.
Due to the prior addition of caustic soda, the surfaces of the fine tailings particles are electrically charged, which in the ponds, causes the formation of very thick layers of microscopic card house structures that compact extremely slowly and take decades or centuries to dewater. Many millions of dollars per year have been and are being spent in an effort to maintain the tailings ponds and to find effective ways to dewater these tailings. Improved mined oil sands processes must be commercialized to overcome the environmental problems of the current plants. One such alternate method of oil sands extraction is the Kruyer Oleophilic Sieve process invented in 1975.
Like the Clark Hot Water process, the Kruyer Oleophilic Sieve process originated at the Alberta Research Council and a number of Canadian and U.S. patents were granted to Kruyer as he privately developed the process for over 30 years. The first Canadian patent of the Kruyer process was assigned to the Alberta Research Council and, and all subsequent patents remain the property of Kruyer. Unlike the Clark process, which relies on flotation of bitumen froth, the Kruyer process uses a revolving apertured oleophilic wall (trade marked as the Oleophilic Sieve) and passes the oil sand slurry to the wall to allow hydrophilic solids and water to pass through the wall apertures whilst capturing bitumen and associated oleophilic solids by adherence to the surfaces of the revolving oleophilic wall.
Along the revolving apertured oleophilic wall, there are one or more separation zones to remove hydrophilic solids and water and one or more recovery zones where the recovered bitumen and oleophilic solids are removed from the wall. This product is not an aerated froth but a viscous liquid bitumen.
A bitumen-agglomerating step normally is required to increase the bitumen particle size before the slurry passes to the apertured oleophilic wall for separation. Attention is drawn to the fact that in the Hot Water Extraction process the term "conditioning" is used to describe a process wherein oil sands are gently mixed with controlled amounts water in such a manner as to entrain air in the slurry to eventually create a bitumen froth product from the separation. The Oleophilic Sieve process also produces a slurry when processing mined oil sands but does not "condition" it. Air is not required, nor desired, in the Oleophilic Sieve process. As a result, the slurry produced for the Oleophilic Sieve, as well as the separation products, are different from those associated with the conventional Hot Water Extraction process. The Kruyer process was tested extensively and successfully implemented in a pilot plant with high grade mined oil sands (12 wt % bitumen), medium grade mined oil sands (10 wt % bitumen), low grade oil sands (6 wt % bitumen) and with sludge from commercial oil sands tailings ponds (down to 2% wt % bitumen), the latter at separation temperatures as low as 5° C. A large number of patents are on file for the Kruyer process in the Canadian and U.S. Patent Offices. These patents include: CA 2,033,742; CA 2,033,217; CA 1,334,584; CA 1,331,359; CA 1,144,498 and related U.S. Pat. No. 4,405,446; CA 1,141,319; CA 1,141,318; CA 1,132,473 and related U.S. Pat. No. 4,224,138; CA 1,288,058; CA 1,280,075; CA 1,269,064; CA 1,243,984 and related U.S. Pat. No. 4,511,461; CA 1,241,297; CA 1,167,792 and related U.S. Pat. No. 4,406,793; CA 1,162,899; CA 1,129,363 and related U.S. Pat. No. 4,236,995; and CA 1,085,760.
While in a pilot plant, the Kruyer process has yielded higher bitumen recoveries, used lower separation temperatures, was more energy efficient, required less water, did not produce toxic tailings, used smaller equipment, and was more movable than the Clark process. There were a number of drawbacks, though, to the Kruyer process.
One drawback to the Kruyer process is related to the art of scaling up. Scaling up a process from the pilot plant stage to a full size commercial plant normally uncovers certain engineering deficiencies of scale such as those identified below.
Commercial size apertured drums that may be used as revolving apertured oleophilic walls require very thick perforated steel walls to maintain structural integrity. Such thick walls increase retention of solids by the bitumen and may degrade the resulting bitumen product. Alternately, apertured mesh belts may be used as revolving apertured oleophilic walls. These have worked well in the pilot plant but after much use, have tended to unravel and fall apart. This problem will likely be exacerbated in a commercial plant running day and night. Rugged industrial conveyor belts are available. These are made from pre-punched serpentine strips of flat metal and then joined into a multitude of hinges by cross rods to form a rugged industrial conveyor belt. Other industrial metal conveyor belts are made from flattened coils of wire and then joined into a multitude of hinges by cross rods to form the belts. Both types of metal belts were tested and have stood up well in a pilot plant. However, it was difficult and energy intensive to remove most of the bitumen product in the recovery zone from the surfaces of the belts before these revolved back to the separation zone.
Bitumen agglomerating drums using oleophilic free bodies, in the form of heavy oleophilic balls that tumbled inside these drums worked very well in the pilot plant. However commercial size agglomerators using tumbling free bodies may require much energy and massive drum structures to contain a revolving bed of freely moving heavy oleophilic balls with adhering viscous cold bitumen to achieve the desired agglomeration of dispersed bitumen particles.
As such, improvements to methods and related equipment for recovery of bitumen from oil sands continue to be sought through ongoing research and development efforts.


A system and method to generate and deploy a customized cloud device application has been described. A platform broker analyzes a deployment information of a software service included in the customized cloud device application. Based on the analysis, the platform broker determines whether the software service is to be deployed at a cloud resource or devices. Based on the determination and a composition pattern, the platform broker sends a software service deployment request to a cloud broker and a device broker. Based on the software service deployment request, an instance of the software service is generated and the generated instance of the software service is deployed to one of the cloud resource or one or more devices. Finally, the generated instance of the customized cloud device application bound to the deployed instance of the software service is deployed to one of the one or more cloud resources and the device.

Cloud computing and robotics are two areas that have grown exponentially in the last decade. Cloud computing is a model to enable ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction. Robotics deal with the design, construction, operation, and use of machines, as well as the collaboration of the machines with computer system for control, feedback, and information processing related to machines.
Both, these technologies provide different advantages. Currently, cloud robotics is an emerging field that attempts to use cloud technologies for the field of robotics. A cloud robotics solution provider would require both cloud services and robotics (device) services for offering cloud robotics application to an end user and a platform that allows the solution provider to deploy the application to the cloud resource and/or the robot/device.
Therefore there is a need to provide a collaborative environment that allows the cloud robotics solution provider to easily generate a complex robotics application using re-usable cloud or device services provided by cloud and device application developers. Further, there is also a need to provide a collaborative environment that allows deployment and provisioning of the customized cloud device application to the cloud resource and/or devices that execute the customized cloud device application.

Generate deploy and provision a customized cloud device application using a software service and device store


A hydrosilylation method is provided. In this hydrosilylation method, silylation of the carbon atom other than the terminal carbon atom and generation of the by-product isomer by internal migration of the double bond are suppressed without sacrificing the hydrosilylation reactivity, even if an olefin compound having tertiary amine atom which can be a catalyst poison was used. In the hydrosilylation, an olefin compound having carbon-carbon unsaturated bond, and a compound having hydrogensilyl group are reacted in the presence of an acid amide compound, a nitrile compound and an aromatic hydroxyl compound, or an organoamine salt compound, by using catalytic action of platinum and/or its complex compound.

The hydrosilylation in which a compound having vinyl group and a compound having hydrogen atom bonded to the silicon atom are reacted in the presence of a platinum catalyst for addition of both compounds is a technology well known in the art for synthesis and modification of an organosilane or an organopolysiloxane and silylation of an organic compound or an organic high molecular weight molecule.
Production method of a compound having a hydrogencarbonoxysilyl group such as an alkoxysilyl group may be divided into the following two categories.

Hydrosilylation method, method for producing organosilicon compound, and organosilicon compound


A method for manufacturing a reinforced cementitious columnar structure including: providing a mold having a cavity which corresponds to a shape and size of the columnar structure; placing at least one nonwoven metal fiber mat around the periphery of the cavity; filling the cavity with a slurry of cementitious material containing aggregate having a particle size greater than the size of the interstitial voids of the fiber mat; curing the slurry of cementitious material; and removing the mold.

The present invention relates to methods for manufacturing columns and for reinforcing members in a metal fiber reinforced concrete sleeve. In one embodiment, the latter method may be used for repairing support members such as beams, struts, braces, etc., which have become fractured, cracked or otherwise weakened over a period of time. In another embodiment it may be used to secure vessels used to store hazardous waste.
Metal fiber reinforced cementitious composites have been described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,429,094 to Romualdi, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,986,885, 4,366,255 and 4,513,040 to Lankard, U.S. Pat. No. 4,617,219 to Schupak, U.S. Pat. No. 2,677,955 to Constantinesco, and commonly assigned copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/851,647, filed Mar. 16, 1992. U.S. Pat. No. 4,996,019 relates to a container for the storage of nuclear waste made from a concrete reinforced by metal fibers.
Concrete columns are commonly used as an upright support for superstructures such as highway overpasses, bridges and the like. These columns are typically constructed by filling a cylindrical form having a network of rebar mounted therein with a concrete composition, allowing the composition to cure, and removing the form.
Concrete support members such as beams, girders, struts, braces, etc. are employed to impart strength and stability to a large variety of structures. Over long periods of time, these support members are subjected to heavy loads, vibrations, pressures and stresses which cause the members to weaken and fracture or crack. It has been a general practice to replace these weakened supports with new members, particularly in areas where replacement is easily accomplished. In large structures such as buildings, bridges, highway ramps, etc., which use steel reinforced concrete as support members, the replacement of these members can be very time consuming and expensive. In view of modern day advancements in materials, attention is now being given to the repair of such support members rather than replacement.

Methods for manufacturing columnar structures


A two-pole generator rotor assembly (100) including a core (120) and a shaft for mounting the core (120). The shaft includes a pair of shaft end portions (117, 119), with each of the shaft end portions (117, 119) including an integrally formed axially extending retaining wedge portion (134) adapted to mount and retain the core (120) in the rotor assembly (100). The wedge retaining portions (134) include opposed surface portions arranged so as to define therebetween a slot for accommodating the core (120) when the shaft end portions (117, 119) are assembled so that the core (120) and shaft end portions (117, 119) form a rotor subassembly. An outer containment (114) is shrink fitted on the rotor subassembly. A tongue and groove connection (38a, 39) is provided between the respective retaining wedge portions (134) and associated shaft end portions (117, 119) so as to interlock the two end shaft portions (117, 119) together.

Generally two-pole generator rotors utilized in IDG's, APU's etc. are composed of a plurality of precision fitted parts which are bolted or welded together. While this technical approach is functionally satisfactory, a disadvantage of this approach resides in the fact that the total costs involved in producing the rotor as a result of the required precision fitting of the components as well as the necessary welding and bolting operations is relatively high. Conventionally, to accommodate a large number of turns in a field coil of a generator, wedge portions are provided which accommodate the field coil, with the wedges being generally hollowed out or configured to a coil profile which is somewhat rounded. This shaping requires complex parts for the retention of the end turns and high strength bolts are utilized to bolt shaft ends to the field coil pole piece and retain the separate field core accommodating wedges to the field pole pieces. Additionally, for a torque transmission, the oil accommodating canister surrounding the field coil is welded to the ends of the shaft after assembly and then finish ground to size.
A disadvantage of the conventional approach resides in the fact that the completed unit is, at best, difficult if not impossible to repair or service and, taking into account the manufacturing steps and processes, the unit is difficult and expensive to construct.
Furthermore, by virtue of the welding of the oil accommodating canister to the ends of the shafts, the conventional two-pole generator rotors are more or less somewhat disposable units since to repair or service such units, it is necessary to cut the welds so as to enable a removal of the oil accommodating canister which, as can readily be appreciated, is an expensive and time consuming process.
Typical examples of rotor constructions of the aforementioned type are disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,510,679, 4,562,641, 4,591,749, 4,757,603, 4,674,178, 4,625,135, 4,590,218, 4,591,749, 4,598,218 and 4,614,888. While each of these patents provide various approaches for constructions of rotors and/or rotor assemblies, each of the technical approaches suffer from one or more of the above noted disadvantages encountered in the prior art.
More particularly, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,591,749 an arrangement is proposed for securing magnets to a shaft disposed beneath such magnets, with the shaft extending axially and protruding from each end of a magnetic portion of the assembly. This approach utilizes a plastic cage creating pockets or cavities for enabling an emplacement of a plurality of magnets, with a cover being staked to the end of the cage to retain the magnets in place.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,625,135, an arrangement is provided for retaining magnets to a throughshaft by utilizing a shrink fit, with the functional significance lying in a provision of an arrangement for transferring the heat away from the magnets by utilizing a cast-in place aluminum heat sink which also functions to simplify installation of the magnets by providing pockets for accommodating such magnets.
The same is true with regard to U.S. Pat. No. 4,674,178 wherein several magnets are attached to a hub or shaft and retained in place by an encapsulation compound between the magnets and a fiber/resin matrix wrapped radially about the magnets. U.S. Pat. No. 4,757,603 proposes a sheet metal fabrication which spaces the individual magnets and retains the same with bent tabs, with the retention of the plurality of magnets being achieved by using an adhesive or a moldable matrix, and with the shaft being axially inserted through the assembly and retained by the molded matrix.
In aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,562,218, a sleeve is joined by welding, with the ends of the shaft being welded to a canister, and wedges being provided and bolted to the core, with the end shafts also being bolted to the core.
While aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,562,641 provides for a joining of end shafts to a rotor sleeve so as to achieve a rigid structure, the entire approach relates to a sequentially constructed rotor with the method of assembly of the end shafts being achieved by a plurality of fastening means such as bolts.

Rotor shaft with integral wedge retainers for core of a two-pole generator


The biofilter is used for the purification of a waste liquid using layers of filtering material, wherein the waste liquid moves downwardly by gravity while an O2-containing gas moves upwardly therein. The biofilter comprises a gas collector to capture at least a portion of the gas moving upwardly therein to mitigate the problem of biofilter clogging due to a microbial seal at the surface of the uppermost filtering layer.

The potential of filtration for the purification of waste liquids and waste gases in biofilters has been recognized due to its efficiency and low cost. Typically, an organic support in a biofilter directly retains or fixes different types of pollutants and can act as a support for various types of microorganisms capable of degrading the pollutants. The constituents of organic supports, lignin and organic acids in particular, possess numerous functional polar groups conferring them a good absorption capacity for organic molecules as well as transition metals.
One of the organic supports that are typically used is peat. Peat is a polar and highly porous material, in addition to being inexpensive and easy to use. It is capable of adsorbing many undesirable elements and reducing their level from the environment. It removes pollutants and microbial activity from waste liquids by adsorption and absorption reactions. Peat is also effective at removing suspended solids, nutrients, heavy metals, organic matter, oils, odors and bacteria.
Several designs of biofilters to treat domestic waste liquids have been developed in the past. They are usually composed of four layers, namely a bottom layer of coarse gravel, a layer of sand, a layer of peat and an upper layer of grass. The two bottom layers act as a support to retain the peat bed. These biofilters are generally used for the treatment of small volumes of waste liquids. A biofilter exhibiting higher filtering capacity for the purification of agricultural, municipal or industrial waste water is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,100,081 to Buelna and naming the same assignee as the present application. That biofilter makes use of a filtering media formed by a succession of layers including a filtering carrier material such as peat and a structural carrier material such as wood chips in a sufficient amount to prevent compaction of the filtering material and channels formation, whereby the waste water and an O2-containing gas can flow to perform pollutant degradation by microorganisms. More particularly, the media is characterized by increasing the filtration capacity in a direction of flow of the waste water to prevent clogging of the filtering material.
Some other prior art biofilters make use of inert granular filtering medias, such as the biological reactor adapted to purify sewage or water disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,997,568 to Vandervelde et al. That biological reactor includes an inverted conic, water impermeable chamber receiving at the apex thereof contaminated water or sewage that then flows upwardly and radially through layers of filtering media providing progressive treatment by reduced pore size and increased surface area as the flow proceed to the periphery. The layers of media are constructed and arranged to provide passive ambient air contact at an upper surface of the layers and to provide an extended residence time to the water or sewage being treated.
Another type of biological aerated filter using inert filtering media is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,800,709 to Smith. This filter is in the form of a treatment vessel including a high voidage, coarse granular media bed lying on a grid and located above a low voidage, fine granular media bed, which media beds are separated by an intermediate section containing a surplus treated water outlet for recycling and a washout collector. An O2-containing gas is supplied, which gas may flow upwards through all of the media beds, or be completely removed from the intermediate section to prevent O2 from the lower aerated media from passing to the upper flooded anoxic media bed.
Although biofilters have been used with success over the years, there is still a need to improve them and solve some of their drawbacks, especially for treatment of highly polluted liquids. For instance, low maintenance, non-backwash type biofilters currently in use are not designed to alleviate the formation of a compact microbial layer at the surface of the filtering material over long period of operation, typically more than one year. This microbial layer generally leads to the formation of a clogging layer on the filtering material inside the biofilter, thus promoting the formation of preferential gas pathways where aeration is used. This significantly lowers the life-span and efficiency of the biofilter.

Biofilter and method for filtering a waste liquid

Centre de Recherche industrielle du Quēbec


A three-step delay adjustment method for a "combine control signals" (CCS) block and related data delay blocks for a memory device (e.g., an asynchronous SRAM) is provided. The low complexity, easy delay tuning, balanced-delay CCS block is driven by slow slope control signals taken directly from the first stage (preferably not later than a weak inverter used in the hysteresis feedback portion) of stabilized trip point input buffers. The CCS block is able to generate global internal write pulses, appropriately timed with respect to circuits gating a data write to bitline access with an address transition detection (ATD) pulse, in order to provide stable, improved and balanced (between a plurality of control signals which can individually initiate and/or end a write in multiple distinct combinations) write parameter margins for the memory device. Additionally, intermediately generated signals in the CCS block are used for read-control, and a quarter-targeted data write bus enabling technique allows standby and transient current reduction in an improved trade-off with the chip enable access time for the memory device. Both the address set-up (T.sub.sa) and the address hold (T.sub.ha) margins are improved.

Fast CMOS static random access memories (SRAMs) have become increasingly important in computer systems which require high speed and low standby current. A write architecture block diagram for a conventional SRAM 10 is illustrated in FIG. 1. One of multiple input data signals (Data.sub.-- In.sub.-- Pad) from an input/output (I/O) pad 12 are applied to the memory device and received at data buffer circuitry 14. Data buffer circuitry 14 is part of a data input path for the memory device and may receive a TTL-compatible signal Data.sub.-- In.sub.-- Pad from I/O pad 12. Within the data buffer circuitry 14, the Data.sub.-- In.sub.-- Pad signal may be presented to a voltage level converter which converts the TTL signals to CMOS-compatible signals for use in the memory device. The data buffer circuitry 14, which may also contain delay circuits to adjust the timing of the data signal with respect to an internal write control signal, generates a Data.sub.-- In signal (generally, but not necessarily, a true and complement pair) which further propagates through an internal data input bus 16.
An Internal.sub.-- Write signal may be generated from the write enable (WE) and/or chip enable (CE) signals presented to the memory device 10. For example, using write control logic 18, signal Internal.sub.-- Write is developed from the WE and CE signals. Signal Internal.sub.-- Write is subsequently applied to the input of data write driver 20. A faster and/or wider internal write signal (or simply components of it, e.g., even WE and/or CE) may also gate the data input path at the data buffer 14 level (dashed line in FIG. 1).
At data write driver 20, signal Data.sub.-- In is combined with (e.g., gated by) signal Internal.sub.-- Write to produce internal write signals datawrt0 and datawrt1 which are logic complements during write operations. The internal write signals datawrt0 and datawrt1 are applied to the appropriate bitlines of memory device 10 through a data write bus 22 and a bitlihe interface to write data into selected individual memory cells.
For those memory devices which are organized into a number of groups of memory cells, each column (a-p) within a group of cells will have a corresponding bitline interface 24a-24p. The bitline interfaces 24a-24p are typically activated in response to group and column select signals Group/Column(O)-Group/Column(n), generated from address signals A.sub.o -A.sub.m (e.g., from a system address bus) by a group and column select logic block 26. Thus, bitline interface 24a corresponds to group and column select signal Group/Column(O), etc., and in general, bitline interface 20p corresponds to group and column select signal Group/Column(n). The individual memory cells of a column are selected by wordlines 28a-28r in the conventional fashion.
Portions of the read path circuitry for memory device 10 are also illustrated in FIG. 1. Bitline signals from a pair of bitlines BL and BL are received by sense amplifiers 30a-30l. In response to corresponding Group-Enable signals, the sense amplifiers 30a-30l generate signals Data.sub.-- Out which are provided to a global read data bus. In some cases, the global read data bus may be the same bus as the global write data bus 22. The Data.sub.-- Out signals on the global read data bus may be provided to further circuitry to generate the output signals which are provided to the I/O pads (e.g., I/O pad 12).
In general, SRAMs such as memory device 10 illustrated in FIG. 1 have been required to provide faster and faster access times to accommodate ever increasing processor and bus speeds. This has led to decreased write cycle times for memory devices, which generally translate to a narrower internal write pulse (datawrt0 or datawrt1). However, in application Ser. No. 08/855,040, entitled "Method and Application for Preventing Write Operations in a Memory", filed May 13, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,825,715, by Stefan-Cristian Rezeanu, and assigned to the assignee of the present invention, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference, it was shown how the timing of the internal data write pulse impacts several write parameters. To overcome these problems, it was further shown how several write parameter (e.g., address set-up T.sub.sa and address hold T.sub.ha) margins could be enhanced by the use of an apparatus which prevents memory writes to undesired locations by blocking the write using an address transition detection (ATD) signal. The apparatus is preferably implemented in a data write bus-to-bitline interface, for example, using passgates (gated by the ATD signal) to control access to a pair of biflines by a data write bus. In this way, improved write parameter margins are achieved without having to rely on narrowing the internal write pulse.
Another challenge facing the designers of modern SRAMs concerns the use of increased bit-size internal word-format designs. In the past, fast CMOS SRAMs were typically implemented as 8-bit word-format components (so-called .times.8 parts). However, it is now becoming more common to implement large SRAMs as .times.16 and larger word-format parts. With the use of such larger internal word-formats comes the use of increased numbers of signals to control write operations in such parts. For example, older .times.8 parts often relied solely on one or two control signals (e.g., the write enable (WE) and/or chip enable (CE) signals shown in FIG. 1) to generate an internal write signal (e.g., signal Internal.sub.-- Write in FIG. 1) which could then be used to gate an internal data signal. However, larger internal word-format parts often utilize additional signals (e.g., byte high enagble (BHE) and byte low enable (BLE) are a common choice for .times.16 parts) to generate the internal write signal. The control of write operations in such a memory device while still preserving the write parameter margins for the device is addressed by the present invention.


Provided is a cassette-vibration isolation device that is easy to upkeep (maintain) and that can cause a heavy structure to rise during an earthquake. The device is provided with an upper base and a lower base that are arranged so that the bottom surface of the upper base faces the upper surface of the lower base; a cavity, which is formed between the upper base and the lower base, and the inside of which is filled with fluid; sealing members, which are provided in an attachable/detachable manner along the inner walls of the cavity, and which maintain the state wherein the cavity is filled with fluid; and a valve, which connects the cavity and a fluid-supply source, and which supplies fluid to the inside of the cavity. During an earthquake, the upper base can rise from the lower base due to the supply of fluid via the valve to the inside of the cavity.

There have been developed base-isolation devices that cause a structure to rise so as to prevent earthquake vibrations from being transmitted to the structure so as to protect the structure from the earthquake. Patent Document 1, for example, discloses a base-isolation device that is configured such that an upper base on which a building is placed is provided so as to contact the surface of a lower base, which is on the ground, and to introduce pressurized gas between the lower surface of the upper base and the upper surface of the lower base, thereby causing the upper base to rise from the lower base, thereby lifting the building. However, although this base-isolation device of Patent Document 1 can lift an ordinary house, it would be extremely difficult for that device to lift a heavy structure such as a high-rise building or a nuclear-power reactor.
Patent Document 2 discloses a base-isolation device that is intended to be used for heavy nuclear-reactor structures. In this device, multiple partitioned spaces are formed underneath a nuclear-reactor structure, between the bottom of the structure and its foundation in the ground, and the partitioned spaces are filled with a pressurized fluid such as oil or water, so as to isolate the nuclear-reactor structure from vibrations of the ground during an earthquake. However, even in an ordinary state in which no earthquake is occurring, pressurized fluid must continue to be filled into this device, which is rather troublesome. In addition, this device does not cause the nuclear-reactor building to rise, and therefore if vibrations due to an earthquake are large, the vibrations might be transmitted to the building and cause damage.


A system and method configured to enhance gameplay between users in an online game and to provide enhanced interest in virtual goods associated with collections of virtual goods through the ability to rotate drop rates associated with these virtual goods from time to time. The system and method includes the provision of functionality which allows providers of online games to periodically rotate drop rates associated with mystery boxes in order to maintain and/or generate additional interest in specific mystery boxes. As a result, it is possible for game operators to enhance revenue opportunities associated with these boxes even in the case where such boxes have been available for a relatively lengthy period of time and/or where players would have otherwise lost interest in specific boxes.

Online games may include the ability for players to purchase collections of virtual items that are typically associated with gameplay. These collections may be referred to as "mystery boxes" or other names. Typically, these collections are provided in a random fashion such that a purchasing player will not know what virtual items are included in the collection until after that player makes the purchase and "opens" the box.
Some of the virtual items contained in the collection may be associated with a high value and some items may be associated with less value. For example, items that provide an enhanced competitive benefit in game play may be valued significantly more than items that are non-functional such as badges, costumes, etc. The drop rates/probabilities associated with these items are typically random, provided that high value items in the collection may be specifically limited in occurrence to maintain value.
In many cases when a specific collection/mystery box has been available for a relatively lengthy period of time, players may lose interest in the collection/box for a number of reasons. This may be driven by the fact that players already have the items that they need, that they believe that the drop rates for the items they seek are too low and thus they are unlikely to obtain them and/or for other reasons. When players lose interest in specific mystery box offerings, there is a negative impact to revenue associated with these boxes even though the box and the virtual items contained in the box may remain relevant and/or valuable.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and method for rotating drop rates in a mystery box


A postprocessing apparatus stops and positions an image recording sheet delivered from an image forming apparatus at a predetermined position, punches the sheet with a punching unit, and thereafter folds the sheet with a folding unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a postprocessing apparatus (also called a finisher) which subjects a sheet where an image is formed by an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile apparatus, or a composite machine of them, to a punching process, a two-fold process, a Z-fold process, a stitching process, and the like, and an image forming system which has this postprocessing apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, there have been provided a postprocessing apparatus which subjects a sheet where an image is formed by an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a facsimile apparatus, or a composite machine of them, to a punching process, a two-fold process, and a Z-fold process, to enable file stitching, and an image forming system which is obtained by adding an image forming apparatus to this postprocessing apparatus.
A postprocessing apparatus which subjects a bundle of sheets, that form one set with a plurality of sheets, to a saddle stitching process is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Nos. 6-72064, 7-187479, 8-192951, and the like.
A postprocessing apparatus which enables center folding is proposed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Nos. 7-48062, 10-148983, 10-167562, and 11-348451, U.S. Pat. No. 5,108,082, and the like.
A processing apparatus which subjects a sheet to a folding process is popular in the field of bookbinding. A processing apparatus which folds one or a comparatively small number of sheets is popular as an apparatus for forming a sealed document such as a postal matter.
A punching apparatus described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6-182697 is provided midway along the sheet convey path of a sorter that sorts sheets delivered from an image forming apparatus.
A bookbinding apparatus described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 8-319054 has a punching means for forming string binding holes in a sheet by a punching process. The punching means is provided midway along the sheet convey path of the bookbinding apparatus which binds a plurality of sheets, delivered from the delivery portion of a copying machine, in a stacked state.
A folding apparatus for subjecting a sheet to a folding process such as a Z-fold process or the like is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. 62-68973, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 4-64577, and the like.
A sheet postprocessing apparatus which enables folding in two is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Nos. 10-148983 and 10-167562.
Any conventional folding apparatus is a large, expensive one which aims at processing a large number of sheets at a high speed.
In addition to a large number of uniform documents, many documents need to be handled differently in a comparatively small unit. Among documents to be sealed such as direct mail, documents which bear different information such as addresses, e.g., slips, need folding. In this case, the different documents must be manually sorted before or after they are subjected to a folding apparatus.
In this manner, the conventional apparatus which uniformly processes a large number of documents cannot improve the overall efficiency.
The conventional postprocessing apparatus has a center folding portion and three-fold portion that are separate from each other, to complicate the structure that forms different sheet convey paths. Particularly in a structure in which the different sheet convey paths are bent, jamming tends to occur easily.
Furthermore, in the conventional postprocessing apparatus which performs punching, folding into a Z shape, and folding in two, punching is performed after an image recording sheet delivered from an image forming apparatus is folded. The fold of a folded sheet is not always parallel to the leading end or trailing end of the sheet in the convey direction, but is sometimes skew from it. If the skew sheet is punched with reference to its fold for abutment, holes are not formed at predetermined positions of the sheet. When sheets each punched in this manner are filed, a plurality of sheets become unaligned.

Postprocessing apparatus with two or more finishing devices

Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.


A dual-action disconnect valve mechanism for a double column manometer that simultaneously disconnects both tubes of the manometer from external pressure regions or sources, and a fluid displacement reservoir conveniently adjustable for varying the device's reservoir capacity and the height of liquid in the tubes, this adjustment being by a screw type adjustment which easily and conveniently achieves an accurate condition of the liquid levels being substantially exactly at the zero calibration marking. The concepts provide that supplying the manometer liquid at a precise height along the calibration scale without having to move the scale relative to the tubes.

The present invention relates to manometers (pressure gauges), and more particularly to improved manometers having advantages over known pressure gauges of manometer type.
Still more particularly the present invention relates to flexible U-tube manometers which provide a combination of features, providing for such manometers the advantages of a dual-action disconnect valve and a fluid displacement-reservoir having a displacement adjustment for zeroing out the levels of liquid in the fluid tubes, by the means, features, and combinations thereof which are novel in manometers of this nature.


Heterocyclic-functional resins, such as epoxides, oxetanes, cyclic carbonates, lactides and lactones, are used in radiation-curable formulations along with ethylenically unsaturated materials such as (meth)acrylates to achieve improved mechanical properties and/or lower shrinkage in the cured compositions prepared therefrom as compared to formulations containing the ethylenically unsaturated materials but no heterocyclic-functional resin. Polymerizable, ethylenically unsaturated metal complexes, such as Zn and Ca carboxylates prepared using unsaturated carboxylic acids or anhydrides, may be employed to effect thermal cure of the heterocyclic-functional resin component of such formulations, which are particularly useful in the production of 3D-printed articles and the like.

Epoxy- and oxetane-functional resins have been incorporated into radiation-curable formulations based on (meth)acrylate-functional materials for the purpose of imparting better mechanical properties and lower shrinkage upon curing than is achievable using (meth)acrylate-functional materials by themselves. Most of these formulations utilize cationic photoinitiators such as sulfonium and iodonium salts that have low absorptivities at long wavelengths, which limits the speed at which the cyclic ether-functional components can be cured.


A digital signal processing system for multiplexing/demultiplexing a large number of closely spaced FDM channels in which sub-band definition filtering divides the FDM spectral band comprised of "N" channels into "K" sub-bands in order to reduce the dimension of the polyphase filter fast Fourier transform structure required to complete the multiplexing/demultiplexing. This reduces the order of the required prototype filter by a factor proportional to K. The number of sub-bands K is chosen so that it is large enough to ensure the polyphase filter, fast Fourier transform structure for each sub-band is realizable within a finite word length, fixed point arithmetic implementation compatible with a low power consumption. To facilitate efficient sub-band definition filtering, the real basebanded composite signal is inputted at a spectral offset from DC equal to one quarter the FDM channel bandwidth for the N channels and the signal is sampled at a frequency 50% greater than the applicable Nyquist rate. The quarter band spectral offset and oversampling by 50% above the theoretical Nyquist rate facilitate the use of computationally efficient bandshift and symmetric half-band Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filtering.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an improved digital signal processing method and apparatus for demultiplexing and multiplexing frequency division multiplexed channels and more particularly, to a lightweight, compact, low power system which synthesizes a polyphased filter, fast Fourier transform architecture suitable for use in applications with a large number of channels.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the prior art, digital polyphase filters (PPFs) are used in combination with fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithms to efficiently demultiplex multiple, frequency division multiplexed (FDM) channels. Similarly, the polyphase filters are used in combination with inverse FFT algorithms to multiplex separate signals onto FDM channels. An N branch polyphase filter is realized by factoring (or partitioning) a desired prototype filter's transfer function (or impulse response) into N subfilters. When coupled with an N point FFT (or IFFT) as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, an N branch PPF can be used to implement a bank of N bandpass, N:1 decimating (or 1:N interpolating) filters for demultiplexing (or multiplexing) up to N FDM channels. The MCD/M thus realized represents the most computationally efficient system known for both demultiplexing and multiplexing large numbers of FDM channels.
The minimum order necessary to synthesize the required polyphase prototype filter is dictated by the ratio of the guard frequency band (separating adjacent FDM channels) to channel center frequency spacing, filter passband gain uniformity, channel cross-talk attenuation requirements, and the number, N, of FDM channels to be either demultiplexed or multiplexed. Given a fixed guard band to channel spacing ratio and fixed filter response requirements, the minimum order of the polyphase prototype filter grows linearly with N.
Cellular, Personal Communication Systems (PCSs) and other emerging telecommunications applications continue to demand increasingly larger numbers of ever more closely packed FDM communications channels. Such systems (e.g., satellite based cellular systems) often place stringent constraints on the power, mass and physical dimensions of the digital MCD/M subsystem designed to generate the constituent FDM communications channels. These constraints necessitate the use of short sample word lengths (e.g., from 8 to 12 bits) and fixed point arithmetic in any practically realizable MCD/M system for these applications. Short sample word lengths and fixed point arithmetic are, however, inherently incompatible with accurate, high order prototype filter realizations. Indeed, in some applications, the indicated (higher order prototype) polyphase filter may not even be physically realizable within the finite word length and fixed point arithmetic dimensions necessary to meet the MCD/M subsystem's power, mass and size constraints.

Digital multi-channel demultiplexer/multiplex (MCD/M architecture)


Statistical processing of insolation data for calculation prediction which requires calculation with conditional branching using an insolation as a variable, or analyze a histogram of an insolation probability distribution based on a probabilistic analysis and mathematically model the insolation as a calculation formula. The techniques described herein can be used to help predict the solar power generation by a solar power generation system.

Sunlight is an energy source in the global environment, and is one of important biological, meteorological, and engineering factors. The use of solar energy in the engineering field is implemented in the form of solar power generation. In solar power generation, establishment of an insolation evaluation method has been regarded as one of important issues to achieve for accurate calculation prediction of power generation.
A solar power generation is determined based on multiple factors constituted by meteorological factors and electronic factors. The meteorological factors herein include influences of the weather on the insolation, and influences of aerosol on the insolation. In addition, the electronic factors include power generation characteristics associated with a solar panel and the like, and power conversion characteristics associated with an inverter device and the like.

Insolation probability distribution analysis method, insolation probability distribution analysis system, insolation probability distribution analysis program product, insolation normalization statistical analysis method, insolation normalization statistical analysis system, and insolation normalization statistical analysis program product


The invention is a novel method of isolating long nucleic acids from samples suitable for nucleic acid sequencing. The method is especially suitable for isolating low-concentration nucleic acids, e.g., viral nucleic acids, from clinical samples.

Existing methods of isolating nucleic acids result in breakage or chemical degradation of a portion of the nucleic acid resulting in recovery of short strands (<500 bp). The problem is especially severe for single-stranded nucleic acids, including RNA. At the same time, contemporary detection technologies, such as real-time quantitative PCR, are able to detect nucleic acids at very high sensitivity, i.e., when a very low copy number of the target nucleic acid (e.g., viral RNA) is present in the sample since they often target short nucleotide strands. However, since the advent of long-read next generation sequencing (NGS), the requirements for nucleic acid isolation have changed and require a more sensitive method to take advantage of long-read NGS as a cutting edge diagnostic tool, e.g., for detecting viral targets. In order to accomplish this, there is a necessity to recover and amplify nucleic acid molecules greater than 1,000 bp in length. Certain single-stranded nucleic acids, including viral RNA molecules are inherently more delicate and easily degraded as compared to DNA molecules during traditional nucleic acid extraction protocols.

Method of isolating nucleic acids for long sequencing reads


A support mechanism includes a bracket, two sliding members, a first arm, a second arm, and an elastic member. The sliding members are slidably connected to the bracket. Each sliding member includes a resisting portion. An end of the first arm is pivotally connected to the bracket. An end of the second arm is pivotally connected to the first arm and the bracket. The elastic member is positioned between the first, second arms and the bracket. An elastic force of the elastic member acts on the first arm and the second arm to make the resisting portions of the sliding members resist the first arm and the second arm.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure generally relates to support mechanisms, particularly, to a support mechanism for a display device.
2. Description of Related Art
A frequently used display generally repositions along two axes. The display panel rotates along a horizontal axis to allow viewing from an appropriate angle. The display panel also rotates on a vertical axis.
However, when the display device is to be viewed from multiple angles of varying height, it may be inconvenient.
Therefore, a support mechanism with adjustable height is desired to overcome the described limitations.

Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (ShenZhen) Co., Ltd.


A printer includes a supporting device, a cantilevered first guide arm, a second guide arm, and a printer head. The supporting device is configured to support a material to be printed. The cantilevered first guide arm has a longitudinal direction. The second guide arm is connected to the first guide arm to be movable along the longitudinal direction of the first guide. The second guide arm extends along a lateral direction substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal direction. The printer head is configured to print on the material supported by the supporting device and provided on the second guide arm to be movable along the lateral direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printer.
2. Discussion of the Background
Various types of printers that print characters, figures, etc. on a substrate such as a paper are available. Among them, printers adapted to be connected to a computer are used widely for business or household purpose. A conventional, typical printer prints characters, etc. on a substrate such as a paper or sheet material, while feeding the substrate in a predetermined direction and moving a printer head in a direction perpendicular to that of the substrate. A printer of this type is described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publications 2003-191455 and 2004-148666. The contents of these applications are incorprated herein by reference in their entirety.
Such a typical printer handles substrates of a predetermined size and shape. A printer prints a substrate by moving a print head over the substrate and by feeding the substrate in the direction perpendicular to that of the print head. Therefore, it is difficult for a printer to handle substrates of different sizes or shapes. In other words, substrates handled by a printer are limited.

Printer with cantilevered first guide arm and second guide arm moveable along the first guide arm