A clip driver for driving clips each having a back portion, and abutment portions so that the frontmost clip can hold sheets of paper between the opposite ends of the abutment portions, comprising: a driver body for accommodating a plurality of the clips, the driver body including a paper insertion inlet formed at a front end for inserting the sheet-like members to be clipped, a clip insertion hole formed at a rear end for inserting the clips one by one, and a clip path formed to extend from the paper insertion inlet to the clip insertion inlet; a pair of clip opening springs disposed on the driver body near the paper insertion inlet for opening a nip between the abutment portions of the clip in the opposite directions; a slide is disposed in the driver body on the front end side so as to be movable in a front/rear direction for feeding a frontmost one of the clips in the clip path toward the paper insertion inlet over the clip opening springs by a front end of the slide; a handle one end of which is pivotally supported on the rear end side of the driver body rotatably and movably in the front/rear direction while the other end of which is disposed on the front end side of the driver body; and a connection mechanism for connecting the driver body, the slide and the handle to each other so as to move the slide in the front/rear direction in response to the rotation and movement of the handle means.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a clip driver for clipping sheets of paper of documents or the like, and particularly relates to a clip driver capable of storing a plurality of clips each of which is formed by bending an elastic plate-like body so as to have abutment portions on its longitudinally opposite ends, so that the clips are sequentially fed to a clip opening position in which the abutment portions of each clip are opened so as to hold the sheets of paper between the abutment portions.
2. Description of the Related Art
In JP-Y-58-4698, the Applicant of this application has proposed not only a clip which is formed of a sheet of elastic plate-like member so as to have a back portion formed at the longitudinal center of the plate-like member and abutment portions formed so as to be continued to this back portion so that their front ends abut against each other, but also a clip driver for opening the abutment portions of such a clip so as to make the clip hold sheets of paper such as documents between the abutment portions. This clip driver is constituted by: a driver body having an insertion inlet formed at its front end for inserting end portions of sheets of paper to be clipped, a clip insertion inlet formed at its rear end, and a storage portion formed in its inside for storing clips; an clip opening spring provided near the insertion inlet in the driver body so as to be inserted between the abutment portions of a clip to thereby open the abutment portions against the elasticity of the clip; and a lever storably inserted into the storage portion from the rear end of the storage portion so as to engage with a back portion of a clip to thereby push the clip toward the insertion opening. When sheets of paper are to be clipped, the sheets of paper are inserted to the insertion inlet, and a clip is moved toward the insertion inlet by the lever. As the clip is further moved, the clip opening spring is inserted into the opening between the abutment portions of the clip. The clip is further moved toward the insertion inlet while opening the abutment portions to reach a position where the sheets of paper placed in the insertion inlet are sandwiched between the abutment portions of the clip. When the lever is moved further forward, the clip is removed from the clip opening spring, so that the clip is ejected from the insertion inlet in a state where the clip holds the sheets of paper between the abutment portions.
In the clip driver proposed in the above-mentioned JP-Y-58-4698, there was a defect that it was impossible to charge a plurality of clips in the storage portion because one clip is pushed out by the front end of the lever. Therefore, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,353,157, the inventor of this application proposed a clip driver in which a knob was provided on the upper surface of a storage portion of a driver body so that the knob could slide in the front/rear direction and the front end portion of the knob could move down. In the clip driver, by advancing this knob while pushing down it, a clip was pushed out to the position of an clip opening spring. At the same time, a plurality of clips could be charged in a storage portion. After the first clip was pushed out, the knob was moved back to abut against the back portion of the next clip, so that the next clip could be moved to the portion of the clip opening springs. In this clip driver proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,353,157, it was necessary to move back the knob whenever a new clip was to be positioned to the portion of the clip opening springs, so that there was a problem that the operation was troublesome, although a plurality of clips could be stored so that a plurality of sets of sheets of paper could be clipped continuously.
Therefore, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,996,755, the inventor of this application further proposed a clip driver in which a knob protrusion projected over the upper surface of the front end of a knob, while the knob was always kept backward and upward by a spring. When sheets of paper were to be clipped by this clip driver, the knob was pushed down against the elastic force of the spring and moved forward to thereby push out a first clip. Since the knob was moved up and back when the thumb handling the knob was separated from the knob, the knob could move back without being disturbed by the next clip to push out the next clip.
According to the clip driver in U.S. Pat. No. 4,996,755, it is possible to clip end portions of sheets of paper only by the operation to move the knob forward, and it is possible to clip sets of sheets of paper continuously. However, it is necessary to operate the knob only by a thumb, so that there is a problem that some manual dexterity is required for the operation to move the knob forward while pushing it down.

Fujimidai Mansion 2002, 29-10, Nukui 1-chome


Disclosed is an improved water treatment process that operates on a continuous flow of fluids that are subjected to hydrodynamic waves, acoustic ultrasonic waves in combination with injected ozone and electro chemical treatment. The treatment system provides a cost efficient and environmentally friendly process and apparatus for cleaning and recycling fluids as contaminated as coal slurry, as well as other types of fluids having various levels of contaminants such as aerobic and anaerobic bacteria and suspended solids. The volatile organic compounds are reduced to an acceptable level without the use of acids, ion exchange materials, or anti scaling chemicals which is of economical and environmental significance and benefit.

Coal gasification is a process of converting coal to a synthetic gas by heating it alongside oxygen. This process avoids burning coal altogether, by forcing carbon molecules apart to create carbon monoxide and hydrogen gas. The Lurgi-Ruhrgas process is a well accepted process employed in electric power generation plants to convert coal to gas and utilize that gas to power machinery that generates electricity. Underground coal gasification is another process that converts coal that is still in the un-mined coal seam to gas. Injection wells are utilized to supply oxidants to the coal seams in order to facilitate the oxidation process and produce the gas. This process allows access to coal resources that are too deep, low grade or too thin to be recovered by other methods.
Coal gasification is a "clean technology" which essentially eliminates environmental air pollution. However, the remaining fly ash continues to be an environmental concern due to the concentrations of heavy metals and volatile organic compounds present in the ash. Heavy metals in fly ash, include arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, mercury, molybdenum, nickel, radium, selenium and vanadium, which in sufficient quantities are associated with cancer and other conditions detrimental to good health. Without proper protections, the contaminants can leach into ground water, which negatively impacts ecological systems and poisons drinking water.
In many such instances the treatment of such fluids can be extremely expensive. For example, in 2008 the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston Fossil Plant in Roane County, Tenn. spilled more than 1.1 billion gallons of coal fly ash slurry from a settling pond. The ultimate cost of the cleanup may be well over one billion dollars. Worldwide, the majority of fly ash produced from coal fueled power plants is disposed of in landfills and ash ponds.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that approximately 100 million tons of fly ash is produced annually in the United States by over 500 power plants. As the demand for energy increases, so will the amount of fly ash produced. The discharge of fly ash as a solid or diluted in water is unacceptable unless treated. Currently, most fly ash is disposed of in landfills and holding ponds where they remain untreated.
Water is an important natural resource that needs to be conserved and preserved wherever possible. One way to accomplish that goal is to clean and recycle the by-products of coal based fuel processes. On site processing equipment, at the site, is the most cost effective and environmentally friendly way of recycling this natural resource.
Thus, what is needed is a process and apparatus suited for conditioning water contaminated with heavy metals and organic compounds such as fly ash.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Waste treatment process for coal gasification fly ash


An installation for the cataphoretic dip coating of articles, in particular of vehicle bodies, comprises in known manner a dip tank, into which the articles can be immersed. The negative terminal of a coating voltage source can be connected with the immersed articles; the positive terminal of the voltage source is connected with at least one anode immersed in the coating liquid present in the dip tank. This anode has a cross-sectional profile which, in at least one portion, is adapted as a curved surface to the outline of the articles to be treated in such a manner that the anode follows the outline of said article in approximately parallel manner. This is made possible by the electrodialysis apparatus, by means of which the acid formed during the coating operation is removed from the coating liquid and which is necessary for such installations, being arranged outside the dip tank.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an installation for the cataphoretic dip coating of articles, in particular vehicle bodies, comprising    a) a dip tank, which is partially filled with a coating liquid, into which the articles can be immersed;    b) a coating voltage source, to the negative terminal of which the immersed articles can be connected and the positive terminal of which is connected with at least one anode immersed in the coating liquid present in the dip tank;    c) an electrodialysis apparatus, which is arranged outside the dip tank and by means of which the acid formed during the coating operation can be removed from the coating liquid, such that the acid content in the coating liquid remains within an admissible range.
2. Description of Related Art
In prior art installations for the cataphoretic dip coating of articles, the electrodialysis apparatuses, which ensured a substantially constant pH or conductance value of the coating liquid, were fitted inside the dip tank itself. The corresponding dialysis cells consisted of a housing, which bore an ion-exchange membrane which allowed anions to pass through, but was impermeable to cations and coating solids. The ion-exchange membrane here surrounded the anodes which were responsible for the cataphoretic coating operation. This design inevitably resulted in the anodes' being linear structures. However, since the articles to be coated themselves have an irregularly shaped outline, i.e. have for example curved surfaces, in the stated known installations non-uniform electrical fields were obtained between the anode and the articles to be coated, with the consequence that the thickness of the coating over all the areas of the article to be coated could be kept constant only with difficulty. In order to avoid excessively high local current densities, coating speed moreover had to be limited.
Cataphoretically operated installations with the electrodialysis apparatus fitted in the dip tank had certain further disadvantages which have resulted in the electrodialysis apparatus being removed from the dip tank in more recent known installations and arranged outside said tank with its own voltage source. Examples of such installations of the above-stated type are described in DE 32 43 770 A1, JP 55-00 6452 A and JP 55-05 0493 A. However, relocating the electrodialysis apparatus outside the dip tank in these latter-stated installations did not change the anodes from being linear structures. These installations accordingly also exhibit the above-described disadvantages.

Installation for the cataphoretic dip coating of articles


Systems and methods for constrained path computation in networks with connectivity and resource availability rules build the necessary constraints directly into the routing graph so that all paths found are by construction satisfying of all the constraints. This is in contrast to the conventional approach of finding multiple paths and then applying the constraints. The present disclosure efficiently addresses the necessary constraints in the routing graph. Path Computation Engine (PCE) performance in terms of time to return acceptable paths to the user generically degrades as network scale (typically expressed through length and number of paths) increases. The present disclosure keeps the input graph small even though the graphs have expanded functionality to address constraints.

Path computation in a network involves finding a suitable route for data between a source (ingress) and destination (egress) subject to constraints, policy, costs, weights, etc. The general approach for path computation is to use graph theory where each network node or network element is a vertex, and each link connecting the nodes are edges. With this abstraction, the path computation process becomes a graph problem. This works well in digital networks (packet, Time Division Multiplexed (TDM), etc.). A typical digital network assumes non-blocking switching functionality at a node and simple links connecting nodes, which simplifies network topology model and path computation algorithms. Photonic networks have more complicated topologies when compared to digital networks. Photonic networks, on the contrary, introduce various constraints that complicate both network topology models and path computation. In addition to wavelength blocking on photonic links and wavelength reach, an architecture of a photonic node is custom, each having unique constraints, such as size and type of digital switching fabric, the interconnection between photonic ports and drop side ports or digital fabric, the interconnection between photonic ports and photonic fabric, directionality and photonic port blocking, photonic port protection. That is, photonic networks and some digital networks have unique connectivity constraints at nodes where a simple vertex is no longer feasible for modeling a node.
Conventionally, a Path Computation Element (PCE) maintains (including updating in the face of network change) a routing graph reflecting both existing and potentially existing connectivity across the devices (nodes or network elements). This routing graph is held in memory for acceptable algorithm performance and is used directly by the various possible shortest path and other optimal topology algorithms.
In finding the optimal path of a new service, the potentially existing subgraphs of the routing graph are generated by the application of internal connectivity rules and inserted into the routing graph, typically interleaving with graph connectivity already established and available. While for some devices, this internal connectivity can be simple (e.g., every input connects to every output); in general, various constraints reflect specific device limitations. Naturally, the broader range of devices supported, the broader the variety of different constraints that need to be addressed by the PCE, hence this represents an ongoing concern for any real-world Network Management System (NMS) PCE.
A k-paths algorithm provides the shortest path between a source and destination along with a next k−1 shortest paths (which may be longer than the shortest path). Once a standard k-paths algorithm such as Yen's algorithm is in place, a weight-ranked stream of paths can be generated and in principle can be filtered against any constraint; the constraint need only be expressed as some true/false property function of the full path to be realized in this way. The key problem with a generic "post-constrained" approach based on validating paths once a k-paths algorithm fully maps them out is the number of paths needing to be generated and examined first before any constraint-satisfying paths are found can be large.
Post-processing approaches can solve general constraints defined at the level of paths, but many inadmissible paths may need to be considered before admissible paths are found, leading to poor solution times. Whereas any specific PCE specialist may arrive at a similar approach to solving problems using a pre-processing graph construction, the naïve expression of the solution multiplies out the memory and structural complexity of the routing graph and algorithms. In some cases, the amount of multiplicity can be prohibitive.


A network environment includes a message-processing resource that receives a communication originated by a communication device and transmitted from the communication device over a wireless communication link. By way of non-limiting example, the communication can be a request for retrieval of content from server resource disposed in the network environment. The message-processing resource processes the communication transmitted over the wireless communication link to identify a network address assigned to the communication device. The message-processing resource maps the network address to corresponding status information associated with the communication device. In response to detecting status information indicating that the communication device has not yet been configured with configuration information supporting secured wireless communications of a particular type, the message-processing resource: initiates generation of configuration information supporting subsequent secured wireless communications between the communication device and a corresponding wireless access point, and forwards the configuration information to the communication device.

Conventional computer devices typically have the ability to identify a presence of WiFi™ access points. For example, according to current technology, to learn of one or more access points in a region, a computer device can transmit a wireless query signal (e.g., a probe request). In response to the wireless signal, any of one or more active WiFi™ network access points in the region will respond with information indicating their identities. Accordingly, via the response information from the access points, the operator of the computer can identify which, if any, WiFi™ networks are available for use in the region.
After identifying available WiFi™ networks, the computer device can initiate display of the identities of the different WiFi™ networks on a display screen. In such an instance, the user of the computer can manually select from a listing of the available WiFi™ networks in which to connect. If the WiFi™ access point is an open WiFi™ network, the user will not need to provide a password to be granted access to the Internet through the selected WiFi™ access point. Alternatively, in certain instances, the user may be required to provide appropriate credentials (such as username, password, etc.) to use the wireless access point if restrictions have been imposed on use of the wireless access point.
If used, a downside of open networks is that illegitimate users (a.k.a., hackers) can potentially eavesdrop on respective wireless communications between a computer device and a respective WiFi™ access point. Via eavesdropping, an illegitimate user may be able to learn of a respective network address associated with the computer device. Using the network address, the illegitimate user may be able to control use of the communication link or steal data. Thus, unsecured wireless communications (such as WiFi™ communications) are undesirable.
To alleviate and/or prevent hacking of wireless communications, several wireless communication protocols have been established for use in WiFi™ applications to provide more secured wireless communications. For example, the EAP (Extensible Authentication Protocol) is a desired protocol for use in wireless network applications. The EAP protocol expands on authentication methods used by the Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP), a protocol often used when connecting a computer to the Internet.
In general, to communicate in accordance with EAP, a user requests to establish a connection to with a respective wireless access point. The wireless access point requests that the user of the communication device provide identification information. The wireless access point forwards the identification information received from the user to an authentication server. The authentication server challenges the user of the communication device to provide proof of the validity of the provided identification information. The wireless access point receives and forwards authentication information (such as password, etc.) received from the user to the authentication server. If the authentication information is correct for the corresponding identity of the communication device, the authentication server notifies the wireless access point to allow the user of the communication device access to access the Internet through the wireless access point.

Provisioning of wireless security configuration information in a wireless network environment


Described is an optimistic fair payment protocol in electronic commerce that provides fair payment while resisting an unconscious double spending attack and other attacks. A buyer receives encrypted e-goods from a merchant, and sends payment to the merchant. If decryption information is not received in exchange for the payment, or the decryption information does not render the e-goods useable, the buyer launches a dispute with a third party dispute resolution service. If the decryption information is received and renders the e-goods useable, the buyer determines whether the e-goods are valid, according to a corresponding description. If not valid, the buyer launches a dispute and provides the e-goods and the description. The third party uses the description to evaluate the validity of the goods to determine whether to refund the payment to the buyer or release it to the merchant.

In commercial transactions, fairness needs to be guaranteed in any acceptable model. This is difficult in an electronic world because receiving the goods from a merchant and getting the payment in exchange cannot occur simultaneously in a distributed system; any protocol used in a network is asynchronous by nature.
This leads to a number of attacks, which have been well researched, and generally conclude that a trusted third party is required to achieve fairness. Simple fair exchange protocols need an active trusted third party (trusted third party) which gets involved in every message exchange. More sophisticated types of protocols are referred to as optimistic protocols, in which a trusted third party is not involved unless there is a dispute, which occurs infrequently. In the above optimistic protocols, a buyer exchanges his signature instead of virtual money. After the exchange, the merchant can use the signature to get money from a bank. As a result of the trusted third party only being occasionally involved, that is, when there is a dispute, optimistic protocols are more efficient. However, note that such optimistic protocols do not protect the buyer's privacy.
In order to solve this problem, there is described the use of e-coins for payment instead of a buyer's signature, where e-coins comprise an untraceable fair payment protocol with an off-line trusted third party. The protocol uses an untraceable offline e-coin and a new primitive referred to as a restrictive confirmation signature scheme (RCSS), in which a signature is confirmed by a designated confirmer, and can be verified only by some specified verifiers.
However, a dishonest merchant may collude with a conspirator to obtain the digital money without delivering the goods to a buyer, essentially taking advantage of the lack of a link between the RCSS-signed order agreement and the buyer's e-coins. To this end, the merchant can send his conspirator's RCSS-signed order agreement and the buyer's pseudo-e-coins in the dispute stage, whereby the trusted third party sends the e-goods to the conspirator, and the real e-coins to the merchant, but nothing to the buyer.
Although there is a proposed solution to the above collusion attack, that improved solution as well as the original solution suffer from a new type of attack, referred to herein as an unconscious double-spending (UDS) attack. More particularly, by exploiting the fact that e-coins can be duplicated unlimited times but are allowed to be spent only once, an unconscious double-spending attack can make an innocent buyer unconsciously spend the same money twice.

Fair payment protocol with semi-trusted third party


A multi-mode scanning imaging system. The system includes a plurality of sets of optical elements and a scanning mechanism. Each set is disposed with respect to a corresponding image plane and configured to image respective portions of an object. A scanning mechanism produces relative translation between the sets and the object so as to scan the object. Sets of image sensors corresponding to the sets of optical elements are adapted to capture image data representative of the respective portions of the object. A mode implementation system coordinates the image data according to one or more desired modes of operation of the imaging system.

To obtain an image of an object, it is often necessary to scan the object by moving one of the object and the imaging system relative to the other. One common use in which this need arises is light microscopy, particularly where a tissue specimen is being imaged for diagnostic analysis; however, image scanning may be employed where there is no magnification, or where there is demagnification.
In microscopy, the need arises particularly when using conventional, single-axis, microscopes, where resolution must be traded off with the microscope's field of view ("FOV") i.e., the FOV must be decreased in order to increase resolution. Therefore, a microscope with an objective having a FOV that is too small to image an entire specimen at a desired resolution is often provided with a motorized stage for scanning the specimen. The motorized stage translates microscope slides to, sequentially, move one portion of the specimen into a field of view of the microscope and then another, to obtain respective image portions of the specimen. An image of the entire specimen, or selected portions greater than the microscope's field of view, may be assembled from the individual two-dimensional fields of view in a process known as "tiling."
This scanning is time-intensive. Moreover, the tiling process associated with this scanning exacts penalties in speed and reliability. Tiling requires computation overhead, and severe mechanical requirements are placed on the stage, e.g., to translate from one location to another accurately and to settle quickly for imaging, or tile alignment errors may be difficult or impossible to accurately correct. A most serious source of error results from differences in alignment between the line of sensors used for recording an image tile and the direction of horizontal slide transport provided by the scanning system.
Recently, a multi-axis imaging system has been developed employing an array of optical elements. Adapted for microscopy, the array is miniaturized to form a miniature microscope array ("microscope array").
The microscope array is able to obtain a microscopic image of all, or a large portion, of a relatively large specimen or object, such as the 20 mm×50 mm object area of a standard 1″×3″ microscope slide. This is done by scanning the object line-by-line with an array of optical elements having associated arrays of detectors.
The optical elements are spaced a predetermined distance from one another, and the entire array and object are moved relative to one another so that the positional relationship between image data from the detectors is fixed, and data are thereby automatically aligned. This provides the outstanding advantage of eliminating the need for tiling.
Another outstanding advantage of the multi-axis imaging system is its speed. An entire specimen can be imaged in one pass because the FOV of the system can be arbitrarily large without sacrificing resolution. However, a mode of operation in which multiple passes are employed may still be needed where the dimensions of a given array are, for a given application, insufficient to cover the entire area of the object to be imaged in a single pass.
In complex scientific analysis, data from multiple sources are often combined to form a more complete perception of a phenomenon under observation. For example, in medical research, visual tissue information is combined with information about the presence or absence of certain chemical substances in the body of the tissue cells. The latter information may be obtained by use of fluorescent microscopy, two-photon microscopy, or multi-photon microscopy, to detect markers particular to the chemical compounds or biological structures under analysis. Researchers typically must use separate instruments to provide these different imaging modes of operation, which complicates data gathering and presents a problem of positionally correlating data from one instrument with the data from another.
Where conventional single-axis microscopes provide for multiple modes of operation, such as transmitted light and dark field illumination, the modes make use of common optical systems and cannot be used independently of one another, making positional correlation even more difficult as well as time consuming. Regarding multi-axis systems, while it is convenient using integrated manufacturing processes to fabricate arrays that realize a single imaging modality, it may not be practical or even possible to integrate manufacture of an array providing for a desired set of multiple imaging modalities.
Accordingly, there is a need for a multi-mode scanning imaging system that makes available the advantages of a multi-axis scanning imaging for multiple imaging modalities.


A device for the continuous filtration of material blends, in particular for separating impurities from plastic melts. A housing has a hollow cylindrical filter disposed inside. An inside chamber is disposed inside the filter. An annular chamber is defined by the outer surface of the filter and an inside wall of the housing. A cleaning device removes the impurities retained on the filter by a motor driving about an axis coupled to pivot the filter inside the housing. The cleaning device has at least one wiper for removing in the radial direction impurities retained on the filter. A conveying device transports off the impurities removed from the filter by the wiper. The motor-driven filter and the conveying device are driven separately of each other.

1. Field of the Invention
The subject matter of the present invention relates to a device for the continuous filtration of material blends, in particular for separating impurities from plastic melts.
2. Prior Art
Used plastics and plastic waste normally contain high quantities of foreign substances, e.g., metal parts, paper residues, glass, secondary plastics, etc. As a rule, these foreign substances or impurities must be removed prior to the recycling of the plastics. In many cases, this is accomplished by first plastifying the used plastic materials by heating them and by subsequently filtering the plastic melt. For this purpose, so-called melt filtration units are used, by means of which the foreign metal or nonmetal substances or higher-melting plastics are separated. To make possible a continuous and troubleproof filtration, however, the melt filtration units must be continuously cleaned.
German Patent No. DE 43 08 685 C2 describes a generic separating unit in which the contaminated plastic melt is pressed into the inside chamber of a filtration body having the shape of a hollow cylinder and being disposed in a housing. Coaxially disposed thereto in the inside chamber of the filtration body is a rotary-drive scraper shaft which, together with the inside wall of the filtration body, defines an inside annular chamber and which, along its outside, has a plurality of scrapers that run at an oblique angle with respect to the direction of the axis and which together constitute a helical screw. The residues retained by the filtration body on its inside surface are scraped off by the scrapers and, through the rotation of the scraper shaft, are transported to a material outlet point along the filtration body, which material discharge point is located axially opposite the inlet end of the inside annular chamber. In this embodiment, the transporting path for discharging the residues, however, extends across the entire inside surface of the filter, which can quickly put considerable strain on the filtration body, especially if the residues are hard and abrasive. Furthermore, because of the axial movement of the residues along the filter, the filter openings can easily become clogged. In addition, the filtration body of this known separating unit is supported on the housing by means of a constructively complex supporting unit.
German Patent No. DE 32 39 030 A1 describes another separating unit for recycling mixtures of thermoplastic materials and material waste. In this case, the inside chamber of a filtration body in the shape of a hollow cylinder also carries a rotary-drive scraper shaft, on the outside circumference of which scrapers are disposed so as to be staggered with respect to one another both in the axial and in the circumferential direction. Disposed in the filtration body are oppositely placed slotlike outlet openings to which the residues that accumulate on the inside surface of the filtration body are transported by the scrapers as a result of the reciprocating rotary movement of the scraper shaft. However, in this case, the residues being transported to the two outlet openings are again moved for a relatively long time along the inside wall of the filter.
Thus, the problem to be solved by the present invention is to make available a device of the type mentioned in the introduction which makes it possible for the separated residues to be removed from the surface of the filter as fast as possible.

Device for continuous filtration of material blends


A method of manufacturing an image display panel, having one or more cells formed in an isolated manner from one another by partition walls and accommodating image display media and a plurality of image display elements, in which the image display media are sealed between opposed two substrates, at least one of the two substrates being transparent, and, in which the image display media, to which an electrostatic field is applied, are made to move so as to display an image, characterized in that the improvement comprises the steps of: (1) manufacturing a substrate with the partition walls on one substrate; applying an adhesive mixture obtained by mixing a photo-curing resin and a heat-hardening resin on the partition walls; and then connecting the other substrate to the partition walls through the adhesive mixture, the steps of: (2) manufacturing a substrate with the partition walls by forming the partition walls on one substrate; performing a washing by a dry treatment with respect to the thus manufactured substrate with the partition walls; applying an adhesive on the partition walls; and connecting the other substrate to the partition walls through the adhesive, or the steps of: (3) manufacturing the partition walls on one substrate by means of a pale color resist; applying an adhesive colored by a dark color on the partition walls; and connecting the other substrate to the partition walls through the adhesive.

As an image display device substitutable for liquid crystal display (LCD), image display devices with the use of technology such as an electrophoresis method, an electro-chromic method, a thermal method, dichroic-particles-rotary method are proposed.
As for these image display devices, it is conceivable as inexpensive visual display device of the next generation from a merit having wide field of vision close to normal printed matter, having smaller consumption with LCD, or having a memory function, and spreading out to a display for portable device and an electronic paper is expected. Recently, electrophoresis method is proposed that microencapsulate dispersion liquid made up with dispersion particles and coloration solution and dispose the liquid between faced substrates, and also it is expected.
However, in the electrophoresis method, there is a problem that a response rate is slow by the reason of viscosity resistance because the particles migrate among the electrophoresis solution. Further, there is a problem of lacking imaging repetition stability, because particles with high specific gravity of titanium oxide is scattered within solution of low specific gravity, it is easy to subside, difficult to maintain a stability of dispersion state. Even in the case of microencapsulating, cell size is diminished to a microcapsule level in order to make it hard to appear, however, an essential problem was not overcome at all.
Besides the electrophoresis method using behavior in the solution, recently, a method wherein electro-conductive particles and a charge transport layer are installed in a part of the substrate without using solution is proposed. [The Imaging Society of Japan "Japan Hardcopy '99" (Jul. 21-23, 1999) Transaction Pages 249-252] However, the structure becomes complicated because the charge transport layer and further a charge generation layer are to be arranged. In addition, it is difficult to constantly dissipate charges from the electro-conductive particles, and thus there is a drawback on the lack of stability.
As one method for overcoming the various problems mentioned above, an image display device comprising an image display panel is known, which has one or more cells formed in an isolated manner from one another by partition walls and accommodating image display media and a plurality of image display elements, in which the image display media are sealed between opposed two substrates, at least one of the two substrates being transparent, and, in which the image display media, to which an electrostatic field is applied, are made to move so as to display an image.
As one example, in the image display device, the partition walls are formed by: laminating a dry-film resist on one of the substrates (or substrates with electrodes) e.g. on an ITO glass substrate as the transparent substrate; performing a pattern exposure through a mask by means of i-line parallel light; developing it by using a sodium carbonate solution; washing it by using a purified water; and drying it. Here, the i-line means ultraviolet rays having a wavelength of 360 nm used as a light source of an exposure device, as is known in the prior art. After that, the image display panel is formed by: applying an adhesive on the partition walls; and connecting the other substrate e.g. opposed substrate to the partition walls through the adhesive. In the method of manufacturing image display device mentioned above, a technique is generally known such that the substrates and the partition walls are connected by using a hot-melt adhesive and a reaction type hot-melt adhesive as the adhesive (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-296622).
However, there is a drawback such that an adhesion property to the glass used as the substrate is not sufficiently obtained if using the hot-melt adhesive or the reaction type hot-melt adhesive. As a result, in various endurance tests (heat-resistant test, humidity test), there is a drawback such that the adhesion property is decreased remarkably. Moreover, if using such liquid-like adhesives, there is a drawback such that the image display media remaining on the partition walls can not be removed due to the adhesive on the partition walls in the case of filling the image display media between the partition walls (tasks of a first aspect of the invention).
Moreover, in the method of manufacturing the image display device mentioned above, a connection between the partition walls formed on one substrate and the other substrate is performed by using the adhesive. In this case, since a washing with respect to the substrate and the partition walls before applying the adhesive is not sufficient, there is a drawback such that a sufficient adhesion property can not be obtained. As a result, in various endurance tests (heat-resistant test, humidity test), there is a drawback such that the adhesion property is decreased remarkably (tasks of a second aspect of the invention).
As one method for overcoming the various problems mentioned above, an image display device comprising an image display panel is known, in which image display media are sealed in cells formed in an isolated manner from one another by partition walls between a front substrate and a rear substrate, at least one of two substrates being transparent, and, in which the image display media, to which an electrostatic field is applied, are made to move so as to display an image by means of Coulomb's force and so on. As one example of such image display device, in order to improve a visibility by making a color of the rear substrate or the partition walls inconspicuous in the case of an image displaying, a technique is known such that a color of a surface of the rear substrate, an overall portion or a surface of the partition walls, and so on is made for example to a color of one of the image display media (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-139748).
However, among the techniques mentioned above, in the case that the overall portion of the partition walls is made to a color of one of the image display media, especially in the case that the overall portion of the partition walls is formed by a dark color such as black, if a pigment or a dye having a dark color such as black is blended in the resist, there occurs a drawback such that a light transmission property of the resist used for forming the partition walls is deteriorated. In this manner, if a light transmission property of the resist is deteriorated, there are drawbacks: such that a light is not evenly exposed to a portion at which the partition walls are to be formed by exposing and curing, when the exposure is performed through the mask; such that a possibility for causing a insufficient development, in which the partition walls are not formed according to the pattern, becomes high especially when forming high partition walls; and such that a sufficient adhesion property between the formed partition walls and the substrate can not be obtained (tasks of a third aspect of the invention).

Method of manufacturing image display panel and image display panel


A hat-and-uniform caddy that has hat space for protective hat storage and transportation in predetermined proportion to uniform space for protective uniform storage and transportation. The hat-and-uniform caddy includes swivel casters and optional center wheels for transporting hat-and-uniform caddy on and off of transportation vehicles and for placing hat-and-uniform caddy immovably on the vehicles for transportation to and from performance sites where the hats and uniforms are used. Space for hats in boxes is provided on horizontal supports with retainer walls. The space for uniforms are provided on hanger rods having notches and optional keepers. Components of the hat and uniform caddy are assembled and disassembled with wheel fasteners which join a plurality of parts simultaneously.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to transportable caddies for containing hats, uniforms and related items neatly for transportation either assembled with the hats, uniforms and related items on them or unassembled for separate transportation and storage.
2. Relation to Prior Art
Transporting and storing hats, uniforms and related items for bands, choirs, entertainers and various groups of performers has long been a time-consuming and often risky problem. It has been relegated to unreliable improvision by marching bands, choirs and other performers that travel to various destinations. Usually, hats, uniforms, related items and garments of performers and entertainers are transported and stored with inadequate care and with inconvenience. They are often put in or on whatever clothes container, rack, rod, shelf, luggage or box that might be available at performance destinations or at base facilities. Although there are known clothing caddies, garment-sales racks and closets for garment storage, there is no known hat-and-uniform caddy for transporting and storing hats, uniforms, related items and garments conveniently, orderly and securely in a manner taught by this invention.
Listed for consideration is related but different prior art that includes the following:
PATENTDATENAMECLASSU.S. Pat. No. 6,478,169 B2Nov. 12, 2002Krusell211/85.7U.S. Pat. No. 6,401,947 B1Jun. 11, 2002Hu et al.211/189U.S. Pat. No. 6,364,330 B1Apr. 02, 2002Weber et al.280/47.35U.S. Pat. No. 5,875,869Mar. 02, 1999Busuttil et al.182/69.6U.S. Pat. No. 5,865,517Feb. 02, 1999Wang312/237U.S. Pat. No. 5,713,584Feb. 03, 1998Crane280/47.35U.S. Pat. No. 4,948,154Aug. 14, 1990Guggenheim280/79.3U.S. Pat. No. 2,266,991Jan. 03, 1961Duffner211/60U.S. Des. 179,459Dec. 25, 1956PottsD14/3


In one approach, a computer mounts a computing device to a target instance, where the computing device stores one or more virtual disks of a source instance, and wherein the target instance includes one or more local disks. The computer detects a disk layout of the source instance. The computer matches the disk layout of the source instance to a disk layout of the target instance. The computer attaches the one or more virtual disks of the source instance to the corresponding one or more local disks of the target instance, where the one or more virtual disks of the source instance are attached as one or more flat files. The computer copies the one or more flat files to the corresponding one or more local disks of the target instance.

The use of virtualization is becoming widespread. Virtualization describes a software abstraction that separates a computer resource and its use from an underlying physical device. Generally, a virtual machine (VM) provides a software execution environment and may have a virtual processor, virtual system memory, virtual storage, and various virtual devices. Virtual machines have the ability to accomplish tasks independent of particular hardware implementations or configurations. System virtualization is implemented through some managing functionality, typically hypervisor technology. Hypervisors, also called virtual machine managers (VMMs), use a thin layer of code in software or firmware to achieve fine-grained, dynamic resource sharing. Because hypervisors provide the greatest level of flexibility in how virtual resources are defined and managed, they are generally the primary technology for system virtualization.
Virtual machines may be migrated between a source host computing platform ("the source host") and a destination host computing platform ("the destination host") connected over a network, which may be a local area network or a wide area network that may include the Internet. Migration can include a move from a source environment to a target environment where the source environment is separate and under different management and security control than the target environment. Whole-instance migration includes capturing an entire operating system (OS) with the software and data included in image form, transferring the system to a new environment and restarting the system. Whole-instance migration is often needed when a customer does not have sufficient documentation of its applications for easy re-install. In addition, whole-instance migration can capture changes made to the server after the initial server setup that were not properly documented.

Copying virtual machine flat tires from a source to target computing device based on matching disk layout

International Business Machines Corporation


An oscillation sieve, including a screen; an oscillator oscillating the screen to sieve a material; a feeder feeding the material onto the screen; a collector collecting the material having passed the screen; a remover removing the material not having passed the screen therefrom; a guide member fixed on the screen, guiding the material fed from the feeder and not having passed the screen to the remover, wherein the guide member is spiral member formed of an elastic material capable of following the oscillating screen.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an oscillator sieving a toner used in image forming apparatus and other raw materials.
2. Description of the Related Art
Methods of visualizing electrostatic latent image information such as an electrophotographic method are used in various fields. The electrophotographic method includes charging, irradiating to form an electrostatic latent image on a photoreceptor, developing the electrostatic latent image with a developer including a toner to form a toner image, and transferring and fixing the toner image. The developer includes a two-component developer formed of a toner and a carrier and a one-component developer formed of only a magnetic or non-magnetic toner. In either case, a toner is a main component. Methods of preparing a toner include dry methods such as pulverization methods; and wet methods such as emulsion polymerization agglutination methods, suspension polymerization methods, drying in liquid methods and rotational phase emulsification methods.
The dry method using the pulverization method uniformly mixing and dispersing materials such as a binder resin, a release agent, a colorant and an optional charge controlling agent with a press kneader, an extruder or a media disperser. Then, the mixed materials are collided to a target mechanically or under a jet stream such that the resultant toner has a desired particle diameter, and further classified such that the resultant toner has a sharp particle diameter distribution. The toner having a desired particle diameter is formed of a binder resin and a colorant, and further includes an inorganic particulate material as an external additive in many cases to improve its fluidity. The toner has sufficient fluidity with the externally added inorganic particulate material, and produces high-quality images without blank images. However, when the toner and the external additive are stirred and mixed, the toners agglutinate with each other or with the external additive, or the external additives agglutinate with each other due to generation of eat and collision of the materials in high-speed mixing.
Meanwhile, the wet methods have problems of aggregates of materials made in the process of emulsification, suspension and drying; and plate-shaped coarse particles caused by materials adhering to the emulsification, suspension and reaction containers, and the stirring blades.
The aggregates in the dry methods and the coarse particles in the wet methods cause a non-uniform gap between a photoreceptor and a transfer material, i.e., a transfer gap in a transfer process in image forming apparatus. The non-uniform gap causes uneven image density and toner scattering on non-image areas. A toner including the aggregates and coarse particles is likely to produce images having uneven image density caused by charge difference due to particle size difference. The aggregates and coarse particles are large elements deteriorating image quality, such as uneven image density and toner scattering on non-image areas. Further, they cause toner scattering in developing of image forming apparatus, resulting in contamination therein.
The aggregates and coarse particles made in the process of preparing a toner cause deterioration of image quality and contamination in image forming apparatus. In order to remove the aggregates and the coarse particles from a toner, conventional toner preparation processes include a sieving process sieving a toner with a sieve.
A toner including the aggregates and coarse particles is fed on a screen of the sieve having a predetermined opening diameter, and mechanical oscillation such as three-dimensional motion is applied to the screen for sieving. The oscillation sieve can separate the toner having passed the screen and the aggregates and coarse particles not having passed the screen. Japanese Patent No. JP-2840714-B1 (Japanese published unexamined application No. JP-H07-275081-A) discloses an oscillation sieve including a guide member at a coarse powder exhaust, guiding the aggregates and coarse particles thereto to be discharged. Japanese published unexamined application No. JP-H11-033488-A discloses an oscillation sieve including an exhaust inhibitor on the screen, preventing the aggregates and coarse particles remaining thereon from discharging from a coarse powder exhaust when sieving. The oscillation sieve prevents the aggregates and coarse particles from discharging from the coarse powder exhaust when sieving, and discharge them therefrom only when doing discharge operation. Japanese published unexamined application No. JP-2006-507934-A discloses an oscillation sieve including a spiral guide member guiding the aggregates and coarse particles fed to the center of a circular screen to a coarse powder exhaust on an outer circumference of the screen.
The oscillation sieves disclosed in Japanese Patent No. JP-2840714-B1 (Japanese published unexamined application No. JP-H07-275081-A), and Japanese published unexamined applications Nos. JP-H11-033488-A and JP-2006-507934-A remove the aggregates and coarse particles formed before sieving process. However, the oscillation sieve disclosed in Japanese Patent No. JP-2840714-B1 (Japanese published unexamined application No. JP-H07-275081-A) discharges even materials having a desired particle diameter, passable through the screen, resulting in lowering of yield rate.
The oscillation sieve disclosed in Japanese published unexamined application No. JP-H11-033488-A prevents materials having a desired particle diameter from flowing out to the coarse powder exhaust. When the oscillation sieve discharges nothing therefrom when sieving, the aggregates and coarse particles unpassable through the screen keep on remaining thereon. When the aggregates and coarse particles keep on remaining on the screen, their ratios on the screen are high and the screen is likely to be clogged, resulting in deterioration of sieving capability. In order to avoid this, sieving operation is switched to discharge operation at a predetermined time to discharge the aggregates and coarse particles on the screen from the coarse powder exhaust. However, sieving operation needs stopping to do discharge operation, and productivity largely deteriorates in long-time continuous operation.
In the oscillation sieve disclosed in Japanese published unexamined application No. JP-2006-507934-A, materials fed at the center of the circular screen are spirally transferred along the spiral guide member on the screen to the coarse powder exhaust formed at the outer circumference of the screen. When materials are spirally transferred, time since they are fed on the screen until discharged at the coarse powder exhaust is assured, and the aggregates and coarse particles are continuously discharged. When time since materials on the screen until discharged at the coarse powder exhaust is assured, those having a desired particle diameter passable through the screen have more opportunity to be sieved, which prevents the yield rate from lowering in the oscillation sieve disclosed in Japanese Patent No. JP-2840714-B1 (Japanese published unexamined application No. JP-H07-275081-A). In addition, materials including the aggregates and coarse particles in a large ratio are continuously discharged from the coarse powder exhaust, which prevents the ratio of the aggregates and coarse particles from increasing, the screen from being clogged, and sieving capability from deteriorating even in long-time operations. Further, sieving operation does not need stopping to do discharge operation as the oscillation sieve disclosed in Japanese published unexamined application No. JP-H11-033488-A, and large deterioration of productivity in long-time continuous operation can be prevented.
However, the oscillation sieve disclosed in Japanese published unexamined application No. JP-2006-507934-A uses a metallic member as a guide member. A high-harness guide member formed of a metal cannot follow the oscillation of the screen. The guide member is fixed on the screen with an adhesive in the oscillation sieve disclosed in Japanese published unexamined application No. JP-2006-507934-A. When a part of the guide member is fixed on the screen, a gap between the guide member which cannot follow the oscillation of the screen and the screen opens and closes at an unfixed part. Meanwhile, when the whole area of the guide member contacting the screen is fixed thereon with an adhesive, the guide member which cannot follow the oscillation of the screen is peeled from the screen, resulting in an unfixed part opening and closing a gap between the guide member and the screen. When materials enter the gap, they are repeatedly crushed therebetween to be solidified, resulting in new aggregates occasionally. In addition, when the gap between the guide member and the screen opens and closes, they are heated by friction therebetween and materials on the screen melt and agglutinate, resulting in new aggregates occasionally. The new aggregates are removed with the aggregate included in materials before sieved, resulting in lowering of yield rate.
Because of these reasons, a need exist for an oscillation sieve using a screen, which prevents its yield rate and sieving capability from lowering, and a new aggregate from generating.


A screen and a method for screening pulp. The screen comprises a body, a screen cylinder arranged inside the body for screening the pulp, and an accept chamber and an accept aggregate connected with it for removing the accepted pulp fraction from the screen. The accept chamber is arranged between the screening surface of the screen cylinder and the screen body and it is arranged to expand in the radial direction of the screen cylinder outwards from the screen cylinder continuously in the longitudinal direction of the screen cylinder towards the line which is parallel to the radius of the screen cylinder and corresponds to the cross-section of the body and on which the accept aggregate is arranged.

The invention relates to a screen for screening pulp, the screen comprising a body, a screen cylinder arranged inside the body and having a cylinder surface which is provided with openings and forms a screening surface of the screen for screening the pulp, a feed chamber and a feed connection connected with it for feeding the pulp to be screened to the screen, and an accept chamber and an accept connection connected with it for removing the accepted pulp fraction from the screen, the accept chamber being arranged between the screening surface of the screen cylinder and the screen body.
The invention also relates to a screen for screening pulp, the screen comprising a body, a screen cylinder arranged inside the body and having a cylinder surface which is provided with openings and forms a screening surface of the screen for screening the pulp, a feed chamber and a feed connection connected with it for feeding the pulp to be screened to the screen, and an accept chamber and an accept connection connected with it for removing the accepted pulp fraction from the screen, the feed chamber being arranged between the screening surface of the screen cylinder and the screen body.
The invention further relates to a method for screening pulp, wherein the pulp is screened by a screen comprising a body, a screen cylinder arranged inside the body and having a cylinder surface which is provided with openings and forms a screening surface of the screen for screening the pulp, a feed chamber and a feed connection connected with it for feeding the pulp to be screened to the screen, and an accept chamber and an accept connection connected with it for removing the accepted pulp fraction from the screen, the accept chamber being arranged between the screening surface of the screen cylinder and the screen body.
The invention further relates to a method for screening pulp, wherein the pulp is screened by a screen comprising a body, a screen cylinder arranged inside the body and having a cylinder surface which is provided with openings and forms a screening surface of the screen for screening the pulp, a feed chamber and a feed connection connected with it for feeding the pulp to be screened to the screen, and an accept chamber and an accept connection connected with it for removing the accepted pulp fraction from the screen, the feed chamber being arranged between the screening surface of the screen cylinder and the screen body.
Pulp is screened in a treatment phase before it is supplied to a paper or board machine or a similar apparatus to remove from the pulp various impurities, slivers and other objects deteriorating the quality of a paper or board web to be manufactured. The apparatus for screening pulp is called a screen. The screen comprises a pressure-proof frame, i.e. a body, inside of which there is a screening surface with openings for screening the pulp. The screen also comprises a feed chamber and a feed connection connected with it for feeding the pulp to be screened to the feed chamber inside the screen. The screen further comprises an accept chamber and an accept connection connected with it for removing the accepted pulp fraction, i.e. the accept, from the accept chamber out of the screen and for feeding it forward in the process, and a reject connection for removing the fraction rejected in the screen, i.e. the reject, from the screen for further processing. The screen volume inside the body is thus divided into the feed chamber in connection with the feed connection, the accept chamber in connection with the accept connection, and a reject space in connection with the reject aggregate. The screen also typically comprises a separate discharge connection, through which the impurities accumulated on the bottom of the accept chamber can be removed from the screen.
A commonly used screen type comprises a cylindrical body, inside of which there is a screen cylinder with a cylindrical screening surface with openings for screening pulp. The openings in the screening surface may be, for instance, round or longitudinal holes or parallel slots in the surface of the screen cylinder. The screen may also comprise a rotor arranged inside the cylindrical screening surface for circulating the pulp in the screen, and foil wings fastened to the frame of the rotor and causing a strong suction pressure pulse on the screening surface while the rotor rotates, due to which the reject pulp and the fibres accumulated on the screening surface are removed from the screening surface and returned into the pulp mixture. The screen provided with a cylindrical body and a cylindrical screening surface may be used in both vertical and horizontal positions.
In screens with a cylindrical body structure, the accept chamber may be restricted to the region between the screening surface and the screen body, and the feed chamber is typically arranged at the other end of the screen. There are also screens where the feed chamber may be restricted to the region between the screening surface and the screen body, and the accept chamber is located inside the screen cylinder and at the other end of the screen. Cylindrical screens, however, are often too narrow for a flow, which causes an uneven flow through the screening surface of the screen. In practice, there have appeared dirtiness problems so that a disadvantageous geometry of the accept chamber may cause, for instance, a kaolin slurry to precipitate on the bottom of the accept chamber. Further, it is difficult to empty the cylindrical screen completely during factory shutdowns, for instance. If the application field of the screen is a machine screen, in which a clean, screened pulp is supplied to the machine screen and further to the paper or board machine, the machine screen itself may cause problems, such as web breaks, if its shape is disadvantageous for the flow. This makes the surfaces dirty and causes fibre bundles to accumulate at dead flow points.
One solution for adjusting the flows through the screening surface would be to increase the diameter of the screen body. This, however, increases the manufacturing costs of the screen considerably, a significant part of which is constituted by the flange joints required. It is also more expensive to manufacture the accept opening and its reinforcements when pressure levels become higher, because welding and arranging of an accept aggregate is craftsmanship which requires great professional skills. Further, the rest of the frame structure of the screen may comprise many different structural principles, wherefore the automation of screen manufacture and welding in particular is very limited.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,318,186 discloses a screen including two successive screen baskets and a substantially cylindrical screen body having cone and cylinder parts and convex ends. In the longitudinal direction of the screen, the diameter of the body is larger in the middle of the screen than at its ends, and this solution has been selected on the basis of the space required by the support structure needed for supporting the two screen baskets in the screen. Such a body structure does not, however, prevent the formation of dead flow points, nor does it have an advantageous effect for improving the pulp flow through the screening surface. As to the use of material, it is also very disadvantageous to manufacture the cone structure disclosed in the publication from a sheet material.


A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor chip, a plurality of external terminals, and a board. The board includes a first main surface in which a plurality of first electrodes electrically connected to the semiconductor chip are formed, a second main surface in which a plurality of second electrodes electrically connected to the plurality of external terminals are formed, and a plurality of interconnect layers, provided between the first main surface and the second main surface, for forming a plurality of signal paths that electrically connect the first electrode and the second electrode corresponding thereto. The interconnect layer includes a plurality of metal members which are dispersedly disposed at a distance shorter than an electromagnetic wavelength equivalent to a signal band of a signal supplied to the signal path, in the vicinity of a portion in which a structure of an interconnect for forming the signal path is changed.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a circuit board, and particularly, relates to a technique effective when applied to a semiconductor device having a BGA (Ball Grid Array) structure.
In a plurality of semiconductor devices which are mounted on a circuit board such as a printed board, various discontinuities are present in a signal transmission path for transmitting a signal which is output from one semiconductor device to another semiconductor device, and thus the challenge is how to nullify the discontinuities. In recent years, particularly, in order to nullify impedance discontinuity, a technique for canceling impedance discontinuity using reverse impedance discontinuity has been widely adopted. In short, this technique is configured such that, for example, in case that capacitive (<50 ohm) impedance discontinuity is present in a signal transmission path, inductive (>50 ohm) impedance discontinuity is disposed next to a portion in which capacitive impedance discontinuity is present within the signal transmission path along a signal transmission direction, to reduce signal reflection by bringing average impedance close to 50 Ohm.
The related art of techniques for nullifying the above-mentioned impedance discontinuity is disclosed in JP-A-2004-253947; Nanju Na, Mark Bailey and Asad Kalantarian, "Package Performance Improvement with Counter-Discontinuity and its Effective Bandwidth", Proceedings of 16th Topical meeting on Electrical Performance of Electronic Packaging, p. 163 to p. 168 (2007); and Namhoon Kim, Hongsik Ahn, Chris Wyland, Ray Anderson, Paul Wu, "Spiral Via Structure in a BGA Package to Mitigate Discontinuities in Multi-Gigabit SERDES System", Proceedings of 60th Electronic Components and Technology Conference, p. 1474 to p. 1478 (2010).
JP-A-2004-253947 discloses a technique for serially connecting a third planar line having characteristic impedance higher than that of a first planar line to a fourth planar line having characteristic impedance higher than that of a second planar line, between the first planar line and the second planar line having characteristic impedance higher than that of the first planar line.
Nanju Na, Mark Bailey and Asad Kalantarian, "Package Performance Improvement with Counter-Discontinuity and its Effective Bandwidth", Proceedings of 16th Topical meeting on Electrical Performance of Electronic Packaging, p. 163 to p. 168 (2007) discloses a technique for adjusting average impedance to 50 ohm by interposing the front and rear of a low impedance portion constituted by a through via and a solder ball pad in a high impedance line, as shown in FIG. 6 of the above document.
Namhoon Kim, Hongsik Ahn, Chris Wyland, Ray Anderson, Paul Wu, "Spiral Via Structure in a BGA Package to Mitigate Discontinuities in Multi-Gigabit SERDES System", Proceedings of 60th Electronic Components and Technology Conference, p. 1474 to p. 1478 (2010) discloses a technique for adjusting average impedance of a signal transmission path including a low impedance portion constituted by a through via and a solder ball pad to 50 ohm, using a conductive layer having a shape of an inductor created by combining a small via and an interconnect pattern.


A non-halogenated heat-recoverable article which passes the UL Standard for Safety for Extruded Insulating Tubing, UL 224, Fifth Edition, VW-1 flame test is prepared from a composition which contains polyethylene or an ethylene copolymer or a mixture, a hydrated or carbonated inorganic filler, red amorphous phosphorus, and an inorganic filler such as zinc borate. The article has good physical properties as measured by tensile strength and elongation, and good high temperature performance. A particularly useful article is heat-recoverable tubing which has good flame-retardancy as demonstrated by the VW-1 test.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to dimensionally recoverable articles, particularly heat-recoverable articles, and to compositions suitable for making such articles.
2. Introduction to the Invention
Dimensionally recoverable articles such as heat-recoverable tubing are well-known. Such articles are often used to provide electrical and environmental insulation over spliced wires or to protect areas of cables where there are breaks in the insulation. To provide adequate recoverability and flexibility, the articles generally comprise polymers. For many applications it is necessary that the polymer be flame-retarded in order to minimize the risk of damage in the event of a fire. Such flame-retardancy may be achieved either by the use of a halogen-containing polymer, e.g. a fluoropolymer, or by the addition of a halogenated material, e.g. a brominated or chlorinated compound such as decabromodiphenylether (DBDPE), to a non-halogenated polymer, e.g. polyolefins such as polyethylene or ethylene copolymers. Polymeric compounds with such flame retardancy are useful as they self-extinguish when removed from flame. However, they do have disadvantages, as they can undergo continuous combustion to produce a large quantity of smoke, or they can thermally decompose, releasing corrosive gases, e.g. halogen acids, which can be detrimental to personnel or sensitive electronic equipment.
Attempts have been made to incorporate halogen-free flame-retardants into polyolefin resins to overcome the above disadvantages. Halogen-free flame-retardants such as alumina trihydrate (ATH) must be used in relatively large concentration in order to give fully useful flame-retardancy to the resulting compositions. However, when a large concentration of halogen-free flame-retardant is added to a polyolefin resin, the resulting resin composition, when extruded, exhibits reduced physical properties, especially in tensile strength and elongation, and also greatly reduced aging and electrical properties. In addition, these compositions are difficult to extrude and expand into tubing, especially thin wall tubing.
When the composition is used in the form of tubing, a number of product-related flame tests are conducted. Of particular importance is the Underwriters' Laboratories UL Standard for Safety for Extruded Insulating Tubing, UL 224, Fifth Edition, Dec. 15, 1999 (referred to hereinafter as the Fifth Edition VW-1 Flame Test), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. UL 224 contains several different aspects, including measurements of the physical properties, i.e. tensile strength and elongation, and a measurement of the performance of the tubing when exposed to a flame, i.e. the VW-1 (Vertical Wire) flame test. In this test, the tubing is recovered and is then supported by steel music wire while five applications of flame are made. To pass the test, the tubing must not flame or glow more than sixty seconds following any of the five flame applications.
There are a number of issues associated with the VW-1 flame test. First, the lack of a heat sink, as provided by a metal mandrel in other tests, means that the polymer gets hotter, increasing the chances of flaming and making the test difficult to pass. Second, under the provisions of the Fifth Edition test, the UL chamber used for testing has been redesigned; it is much larger and is completely sealed, limiting any drafts in the chamber and making the test more difficult to pass than in older versions of the test. In the test version using the former chamber, provisions were made to allow a draft to be present as long as there was no effect on the character of the applied flame. The draft served to remove any smoke that was generated during the test, but also assisted in damping some types of sputtering flames that might be generated on the polymer. In the Fifth Edition test, the sealed chamber ensures that any sputtering flame on the polymer will not be extinguished. Therefore, products that may have passed the VW-1 test using the older chamber now may have difficulties in passing. Third, it is desirable that tubing made from the same composition should pass the test for a variety of different wall thicknesses and inner diameter values. However, while very large tubing (i.e. tubing having an inner diameter greater than 10 mm) usually passes, as the volume of polymer present makes it difficult to heat sufficiently to flame or glow, and very small tubing (i.e. tubing having an inner diameter less than 2 mm) usually passes, as it is overwhelmed by the heat and burns quickly, intermediate size tubing, i.e. tubing with an inner diameter of 3 to 9 mm often does not pass the test. This is due to the construction of these intermediate sizes, the wall thickness, and the concentration of the flame retardant in the polymer wall.
It is also desirable that the tubing have adequate performance for continuous use at elevated temperature, i.e. at 125° C. Such high temperature performance is particularly important when the tubing is used for automotive applications.
Non-halogen-containing tubing made from a polyethylene-based polymeric composition in which the flame retardant comprises a mixture of a hydrated or carbonated inorganic filler and red amorphous phosphorus is known. While such tubing may have acceptable physical properties, not all sizes of such tubing are able to pass the Fifth Edition VW-1 test, making it unsuitable for applications, including automotive applications, that require passage of such a test. It is therefore, desirable to have a composition for use in heat-recoverable articles such as tubing that exhibits good high temperature performance, has good physical properties, and has the ability to pass the Fifth Edition VW-1 test across a range of sizes. An example of conventional non-halogenated tubing is MTZH™ tubing, available from Tyco Electronics Corporation.

Heat-recoverable article and composition therefor


Whey protein based liquid nutritional compositions are provided. The liquid nutritional compositions include at least 7% by weight protein and all of the protein is provided by a whey protein hydrolysate and an intact whey protein. The liquid nutritional compositions have a neutral pH, a low viscosity, and are shelf stable.

Protein based beverages have gained popularity among the general public, particularly protein based beverages that are low in carbohydrates and fat. These protein based beverages may serve as a healthy snack, a meal replacement, or a supplemental source of nutrition. A number of protein based beverages require the consumer to prepare the beverage by reconstituting a protein based powder with water or another liquid selected by the consumer. However, many consumers prefer the convenience of a ready-to-drink beverage.
Among the various types of protein, whey protein is considered an excellent source of protein based on its favorable amino acid profile and its relatively fast rate of digestion and absorption by the human body. However, sterilization processes used in the manufacture of ready-to-drink protein beverages can damage the whey protein and can create stability issues (e.g., sedimentation, gelation, phase separation, protein aggregation) in the beverage. For at least these reasons, ready-to-drink protein beverages that contain whey protein are typically formulated using a mixture of different types of protein (e.g., whey protein and soy protein) to achieve a high protein concentration, or are formulated using a low pH (i.e., a pH below 4) matrix.


An electronic publishing platform maps supplemental content layers associated with one or more paired target documents, such as user-generated content layers associated with the paired target documents, into a source document. The publishing platform correlates content items in the source document to content items in the paired target documents. Based on the correlation, the publishing platform generates indexes mapping the source document content items to the paired target document content items. The publishing platform uses the indexes to map supplemental content layers associated with the paired target document to the source document.

Field of the Invention
This disclosure relates to correlating documents and mapping supplemental content layers into correlated documents in an online education platform.
Description of the Related Art
The rapid shift to mobile Internet services is bringing content offerings to an increasingly larger number of connected devices. Experiences previously limited to a single device are now accessible across multiple devices as high volume consumer electronic platforms such as smartphones, tablets, eReaders, game systems, Internet TVs, and wearable devices have become new channels to receive digital documents and services. As digital documents are shifting from a static model to a connected one where related, personalized, and other social content are being aggregated dynamically within the original assets, the definition of a document needs to be adjusted to this model and its content properties revisited accordingly.
Textbook publishers regularly publish new editions of textbooks, often every two or three years. The content of these new editions often overlaps with content from the previous editions. However, when a new edition of a textbook is published, the dynamically aggregated content associated with the previous edition is lost. Thus, initial readers of the new edition do not have the benefit of the dynamically aggregated content associated with the previous edition.

Mapping published related content layers into correlated reconstructed documents


Provided are a plasma or serum separator and a plasma or serum sampling method capable of isolating plasma or serum with good efficiency from a small amount of blood without using a centrifuge and without causing leakage of a blood cell component or hemolysis, and in addition, capable of isolating and collecting plasma or serum from a whole blood test sample in a short time with simplicity in a blood test in the scene of medical care requiring an instant treatment any time such as an emergency test, home-use test or the like. The plasma or serum separator for isolating plasma or serum from whole blood comprises: a blood separation member, a holding member covering and holding the blood separation member; a blood introducing portion formed in a portion of the holding member covering a proximal end portion of the blood separation member; and a plasma or serum sampling aperture formed in a portion of the holding member covering a distal end portion of the blood separation member, wherein the whole blood is introduced into the blood separation member through the blood introducing portion, the introduced whole blood is separated such that the plasma or serum is located in the distal end portion of the blood separation member, while blood cells are located in the proximal end portion of the blood separation member; thereby enabling the plasma or serum located in the distal end portion of the blood separation member to be sampled through the plasma or serum sampling aperture.

In a clinical chemistry test and a clinical immunologic test, many of rapid tests for qualitative and quantitative diagnosis have been developed in the field of a hospital-related examination using blood as a sample.
Though part of the clinical tests can be carried out on whole blood, it is necessary to use plasma or serum isolated from a blood sample in order to attain a correct result of the test. If not isolated, red blood cells or an impurity in a blood sample blocks reflected light, transmitted light and emission measured in the test, affecting the measurement adversely.
Measurement on the kind and concentration of a blood component in a clinical laboratory test is usually performed such that whole blood is sampled with a blood collecting device, the sampled whole blood in a blood sampling tube is centrifuged to obtain serum or plasma and the obtained serum or plasma is used as a test sample.
Centrifugation, however, requires hundreds of μL or more of the whole blood amount and further consumes labor and time. Especially, in many fields of biochemical examinations, the presence of blood cells such as red blood cells disturbs the examinations; therefore, the serum or plasma is isolated from the blood in advance and used as a test sample. Hence, a necessity arises for a process in which blood sampled from a patient or a subject is at first coagulated in advance of an examination and then centrifuged to thereby obtain serum. While in Clinical Chemistry Analyzers available in recent years, a necessary mount of a test sample used in any of most examinations is as small as in the range of from several μL to tens of μL because of advancement in technology, a sampled blood amount depends on specifications of a centrifuge and a size of a blood sampling tube, which wastefully requires a blood amount more than necessary.
In the conventional centrifugal separation method, with a smaller test sample amount, separated red blood cells are re-suspended in plasma or serum; a problem arises that it is difficult to obtain only plasma or serum. therefore, in the centrifugal separation method, a test sample amount has to be in the range of from hundreds of μL to several mL, which necessitates a syringe to sample blood, having led to a fault that a great burden is imposed on a person to be examined. Furthermore, since the centrifugal separation method requires a special apparatus for centrifuging and is carried out only in batches, it is disadvantageous in cost for treatments on small number of test samples and unsuitable for an on-demand and instant treatment.
A method of measuring a bilirubin concentration of a neonate is such that a blood-sampling needle is stuck in a sole of the neonate to sample blood with a capillary tube. Sampled blood is separated to obtain serum or plasma by a centrifuge for capillaries and a bilirubin concentration is attained by conversion of an absorbance in the proximity of a wavelength in the range of from 450 to 460 nm, which is a bilirubin absorption wave length, measured with a photometer dedicated thereto as shown in FIG. 17. Therefore, in order to perform the examination, a centrifuge for exclusive use has been required and a time has been consumed in separating operation longer than in measurement itself.
In FIG. 17, reference numeral 50 designates a light source; 52 , a optical light chopper; 54, a heat absorbing filter; 56, a lens; 58, a filter disk; 60a and 60b, interference filters; 62, a capillary tube; 64, a capillary tube holder; 66, a photodiode; 68, an amplifier; and 70, a meter. The capillary tube 62 in which plasma or serum isolated from blood is accommodated is to be held on the capillary tube holder 64 and light from the light source 50 is to be passed through the optical light chopper 52, the heat absorbing filter 54, the lens 56 and the interference filters 60a and 60b and is irradiated to the capillary tube 62, thereby an absorbance being measured at a wavelength in the proximity of a value in the range of from 450 to 460 nm with the photodiode 66 to detect a bilirubin concentration with the meter 70.
As a means to solve the above problem, there has been known dry chemistry. This test is conducted such that a small amount of blood is dropped onto a plate constructed with a plasma or serum separation layer, which is a fiber filter such as a filter made of glass fibers; and a reaction layer located in the lower layer, and then plasma or serum is isolated in the plasma or serum separation layer and a reaction and a color development occur in the lower layer, which is subjected to colorimetry. The dry chemistry is a simple and convenient method not requiring troublesome sampling of plasma or serum with a centrifuge, whereas the test can be applied only to a system foe exclusive use, in which the plasma or serum separation layer and the reaction layer is integrated into one piece. Since one plate can be used to measure only one examination item, plural plates are required for examining plural items; therefore, the dry chemistry is too expensive for its simplicity and convenience to be used widely.
Proposals have been made on methods each obtaining plasma or serum from blood without using a centrifuge (JP-A Nos. 53-72691, 60-11166 and the like). These methods have problems that separation is time consuming, red blood cells cause to clog and hemolysis occurs; they have not been put into practical use.
Various proposals have been made on a technique in which blood is flown through a layer made of a fiber filter under pressure to thereby isolate plasma or serum. Methods and tools disclosed in JP-A Nos. 61-38608, 4-208856 and 5-196620 can sample plasma or serum without using a centrifuge, whereas an amount of plasma or serum obtained is small. Consequently, the techniques have not been widely applied.
A method in which a conventional plasma or serum separating filter is employed has a problem that a special device or tool is required for pressurization or reducing a pressure for collecting plasma or serum and operations are troublesome.
As described above, there has not been available, in the current state, a tool exhibiting a sufficient performance in isolating a plasma or serum component from a small amount of blood to be used for a clinical laboratory test in a short time with good efficiency.
On the other hand, as described above, the following matters may be mentioned in the centrifugal separation method; it takes too much time for separation; it is difficult to sample serum or plasma after separation from a small amount of a whole blood sample; and a necessity arises for an auxiliary facility that is not generally usable outside of an examination room. For the reasons, the centrifugal separation method is perfectly improper for a test implemented by an expert except a clinical laboratory test engineer at a site, other than an examination room, in a point of care test, which is performed in a bed-side test, an emergency test and the like.
In order to avoid the problems, many techniques have been devised and proposed. In these techniques, generally many kinds of materials have been employed for fabricating a filter. As filter materials, there have been conventionally known film materials such as paper, textile, glass, synthetic fibers or the like, each of which has proper pore sizes.
For example, a method has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,816,224, in which glass fiber filter paper and a porous film with a specific size are laminated. U.S. Pat. No. 4,753,776 is related to a device for separating plasma or serum from red blood cells by bringing whole blood into contact with a filter made of glass fibers capable of carrying a red blood cell aggregating agent, and teaches a method in which a thickness and diameter of the glass fiber filter is defined and there is fed to a capillary tube flow device plasma or serum isolated by capillary force from whole blood while the whole blood flows through the filter. In both methods, a practical isolated amount of plasma or serum is usually 25% or less, which causes clogging with ease.
Then, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,665,238, there has been disclosed a method in which serum is isolated with a layer made of a fiber filter such as a glass fiber filter having a pore size of 3 μm or less, and containing mannitol which is a polysaccharide at a content in the range of 1 to 40% and albumin at a content in the range of 0.1 to 15% to thereby achieve separation with a high yield, but this method has faults that no consideration is given to hemolysis and a time taken for separation is long.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,146,163 and DE-A-1498577, another method is described in which whole blood is applied to a material coated with a red blood cell aggregating agent such as a vegetative red blood cell aggregating agent in order to isolate plasma or serum, and as carrier materials that can be used, there are named plastic and fibrous materials such as a card board.
In JP-A No. 61-118661, there has been disclosed a separation method for whole blood in which whole blood is treated with a matrix impregnated with lectin to isolate plasma or serum, wherein the matrix is an absorbing material having a relative resistance as high as 40% to a fluid flow. Furthermore, there are shown matrices each having a fibrous structure or a fiber structure, and having a resistance as small as possible to a fluid flow, and as preferable materials, there are exemplified cotton, viscose fibers and a cellulose material. An apparent fault of this method, however, is a necessity for washing separated plasma or serum from the matrix with a diluent.
In JP-A No. 64-21362, there has been disclosed still another apparatus isolating plasma or serum from whole blood. The apparatus contains an absorbing matrix having treated with a reagent aggregating blood cells, and thrombin or lectin is named as the reagent aggregating blood cells. As absorbing matrices, there are recommended hydrophobic powder, sponge, clay, fibers and a polymer, and fiber-containing paper is recognized as a polymer and a filter paper is a preferable matrix.
JP-A No. 61-207966 teaches a reagent for isolating plasma or serum from whole blood in a case where an absorbing matrix impregnated with lectin is used as a separation layer.
JP-A No. 2-140147 discloses that polycation is fixed on an absorbing solid material so as to create a cationic surface to which red blood cells are coupled when being brought into contact with whole blood, and paper is named as a preferable carrier material.
JP-A No. 60-36961 discloses that plasma or serum is isolated from whole blood using an absorbing porous material impregnated with a material having some polar groups. Examples of absorbing porous materials generally include paper, pad and fibers.
EP-A-0305803 discloses an apparatus for isolating red blood cells from a red blood cell containing body fluid, which comprises a fiber-containing filtration layer including a red blood cell aggregating antibody and if desired, lectin or a glass fiber filtration layer and lectin.
Of the known whole blood separating methods described above, especially practically effective is a method in which whole blood is brought into contact with a fiber containing layer having a red blood aggregating function to cause the fiber containing layer to hold red blood cells. A problem encountered in a case where a fiber-containing layer of this kind is employed is that hemolysis occurs if red blood cells are brought into contact with a fiber-containing layer.
On the other hand, a method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,262,067 is a good method in which a glass fiber layer containing a red blood cell aggregating material is coated with polyvinyl alcohol or polyvinyl alcohol/polyvinyl acetate to thereby enable hemolysis to be suppressed so as to give no practical influence on a plasma or serum component isolated from whole blood, but this method has a problem to take a long time for separation.
Hemolysis releases hemoglobin from a red blood cell to thereby decolorize plasma or serum. Since such decolorization can considerably disturb a colorimetric analysis, as hemolysis of red blood cells caused by glass is smaller in amount, a less influence of an inhibitor is exerted on measurement.
The present invention has been made in light of the above problems and it is an object of the present invention to provide a plasma or serum separator and a plasma or serum sampling method capable of isolating plasma or serum with good efficiency from a small amount of blood without using a centrifuge and without causing leakage of a blood cell component or hemolysis, and in addition, capable of isolating and collecting plasma or serum from a whole blood test sample in a short time with simplicity in a blood test in the scene of medical care requiring an instant treatment any time such as an emergency test, home-use test or the like.
The present inventor has conducted a study on subjects to find a possibility separating a cellular component in non-diluted blood, especially red blood cells from plasma or serum, to prevent hemolysis during the separating, to find a possibility of high speed separation during the separating and to enable the separating in a point of care test in a clinical laboratory test with the result of findings that to the present inventor's surprise, by using a fiber containing a layer including glass fibers coated with hexylene glycol, butoxypropanol or butoxymethylacrylamide as a plasma or serum separation layer, hemolysis does not substantially occur and the fiber containing layer is suited for separating very well a cellular component of non-diluted whole blood from plasma or serum, which has led to the present invention.
It is a second object of the present invention to provide a plasma or serum separating method of isolating-plasma or serum from whole blood, a separator, a test carrier, and glass fibers, in which not only is separation of red blood cells performed in a short time, but a separation ability is also high, and in addition less of hemolysis occurs.

Plasma or serum separator, plasma or serum sampling method, plasma or serum separating method, test carrier and glass fiber