The present invention is a system and method for providing trapezoidal pixel segments with peripheral interconnections to rows and columns of pixel segments for electrical flat panel display devices. Interconnections made to pixel segments are located substantially in the non-emitting space between pixels. Pixel segment area may be configured to correspond to a desired luminous intensity for individual pixels. Luminous intensity may be determined from user, machine or process identified criteria.

Electrical flat panel displays are becoming evermore popular as a result of improved image quality and reduced form factor over conventional displays. Images viewed on flat panel displays such as OLED and LCD displays are comprised of thousands of pixels having a similar shape, arranged in rows or columns across a display screen. A pixel is a single sample or element of an image located at specific spatial coordinates on a display. Pixels in color displays generally consist of three segments, one red, one green and one blue, which, when observed from beyond a certain distance, blend together and appear as one single color.
An optimum pixel arrangement for color displays is generally referred to as a delta triad arrangement. A delta triad pixel 100 is comprised of three equal area red, green and blue (RGB) pixel segments, such as squares arranged such that each pixel segment contacts the other two, as shown in an exemplary fashion in FIG. 1A. Delta triad pixels produce high resolution, high quality images due to minimized distortion and maximized blending resulting from pixel segments being in contact with one another. The order of the segments may be rotated in various geometries and replicated to cover an area of a display screen.
Referring to FIG. 1B, a delta triad pixel array 110 is shown. Because of the configuration of individual delta triad pixels, a delta triad pixel array 110 leaves blank areas 120 around the perimeter of the display. If a single image covers a substantial portion of a display area, a bezel may cover the blank space. However, in certain instances a zero-bezel display area may be desired, such as when tiling smaller displays together in a mosaic pattern to create a larger display. Blank spaces along the borders of the smaller tiled displays may create undesirable visual effects and poor image quality. As a result, a delta triad pixel array 110 is not desirable for images requiring zero-bezel display areas.
One solution to remove blank edge space is the use of a repetitive pattern of rectangular pixels, used in many flat panel displays. However, the conventional approach of dividing each rectangle into adjacent red, green and blue equal area rectangular segments may compromise the desirable optical effects of the delta triad, because the color segments are no longer in proximity to all other colors, as shown in an exemplary fashion in FIG. 2. For example, in a typical rectangular RGB pixel array 200, the red segment 210 no longer contacts the blue 220 segment, and this may result in a degraded image quality.
Another problem associated with zero-bezel displays is the placement of connections to pixels. In displays with bezels, connections may be placed around the edges of the display making connection in the display's x axis along the left and/or right edges of the display, and, the display's y-axis along the display's top and/or bottom edges without affecting the appearance of the display. Alternatively, one approach to enhancing zero-bezel displays is to make connections to pixel rows and columns in the z-axis out the back of the display panel, instead of only around the edges of a display. Referring to FIG. 3, a pixel array 300 with conventional z-axis interconnections 320 disposed on an interconnecting surface 310 known to the art is shown. Each pixel segment may utilize an interconnection which controls the luminous intensity of the pixel.
However, a problem with conventional z-axis interconnections is blockage of the desired pixel area due to the placement of the interconnection on the surface of a pixel or pixel segment. Similarly, because the pixel material which gives off light is also located at the site of the interconnection, the interconnecting surface 310 blocks some of the emitted light from passing through to the viewer.
The amount of emitted pixel light blocked by an interconnection depends upon the ratio of the interconnection area to the pixel area. Unfortunately, due to the practical manufacturing tolerances required for layer alignment and processing, interconnections usually require too much area on the pixel segment resulting in a degraded image to the viewer. Similarly, on high resolution displays, the dimensions of the space required for interconnection may exceed the desired width of the pixel segment due to manufacturing tolerances.
Consequently, it would be advantageous if a system and method existed which utilized z-axis interconnections that did not compromise pixel image quality while allowing the full display to be viewed with zero space lost to, a perimeter bezel or blank display areas.

Pixel structure for electrical flat panel displays


A method is provided for producing L-ascorbic acid (Vitamin-C) in a single process step. Starting material, particularly a mixture of compounds from the group consisting of glucose, sorbitol, sorbose, and 2-keto-L-gulonic acid, is catalytically oxidized in aqueous solution by hypochlorous acid. L-ascorbic acid then can be separated from the aqueous solution, and the unconverted reactants recycled for greater conversion. The reaction occurs in the aqueous state at ambient temperature near a pH of 5.5 when an optimum amount of hydrous cobalt-oxide is present in the solution.

Manufacturing of L-ascorbic acid (Vitamin-C) is currently based on the synthesis developed by Reichstein and patented in 1936 (U.S. Pat. No. 2,056,126). Over the years, advances in science and technology have led to numerous technical modifications which have improved the efficiency in the production of Vitamin-C and have been incorporated into the Reichstein-Grussner synthesis which is the predominant method used in industry today. The Reichstein-Grussner synthesis involves five distinct steps: catalytic hydrogenation, bacterial fermentation, acid promoted reaction with acetone, catalytic oxidation, and acid hydrolysis (see Kirk-Othmer "Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology", 4th ed., John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1992). The steps of the aforementioned process are such that the synthesis requires the addition of various chemicals (including strong acids and bases), multiple stages of by-product separation, the treatment and disposal of environmentally toxic wastes, and extensive process control mechanisms. Accordingly, the synthesis is very costly. Thus, various attempts have been made to devise a new, more economical and efficient way to manufacture Vitamin-C.
To date, the prior art has concentrated on reducing the cost of synthesizing L-ascorbic acid by increasing the efficiency of, and reducing the cost of, a particular step in the Reichstein-Grussner synthesis. U.S. Pat. No. 2,190,377 to Dalmer et al. discloses a catalytic reaction for converting L-sorbose into 2-keto-L-gulonic acid ("L-KGA"). This method entails reacting an alkaline solution of sorbose with gaseous oxygen in the presence of platinum or palladium metal. This approach condenses two of the five steps of the Reichstein-Grussner synthesis into one step, but still leaves an intricate, multi-step process for vitamin-C synthesis.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,165,151 to Pasternack et al. discloses a method of oxidizing L-KGA to L-ascorbic acid without the use of strong acids or bases as is traditionally used in the last step of the Reichstein-Grussner synthesis. The method involves introducing fine metal filings, including cobalt, into an aqueous solution of KGA. The solution is then heated and agitated to reach fifty percent conversion to vitamin-C.
The foregoing and other alterations to the currently used Reichstein-Grussner synthesis have failed to eliminate aforementioned drawbacks of vitamin-C synthesis in a cost-effective manner so as to be commercially viable.
It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide a single-step synthesis of L-ascorbic acid from D-glucose such that vitamin-C may be produced in a cost-effective manner.

One-step synthesis of vitamin-C (L-ascorbic acid)

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Interior


The present invention relates to new fusion proteins comprising an FGF-18 moiety fused to an anti-NGF moiety. Said fusion protein can be used for the treatment of a cartilage disorder such as osteoarthritis or cartilage injury.

Cartilage is composed of chondrocytes (cells derived from mesenchymal cells) which are dispersed in the matrix (a firm, gel-like ground substance). The cartilaginous matrix is produced by these cells and comprises mainly Type II collagen fibres (except fibrocartilage which also contains type I collagen fibres), proteoglycans, and elastin fibres. Cartilage is found among other places in the joints, the rib cage, and the ear, the nose, in the throat, in the trachea and in the intervertebral disks. There are three main types of cartilage: hyaline, elastic and fibrocartilage, providing different functional properties according to their histological morphology. Articular cartilage, for instance, is a hyaline cartilage, having viscoelastic properties, covering the articular surfaces of bones. The main purpose of articular cartilage is to provide smooth surfaces in order to ensure nearly frictionless movement of articulating bones.
Cartilage disorders broadly refer to diseases characterized by degeneration/disintegration of cartilage and abnormalities in the connective tissues which are manifested by inflammation, pain, stiffness and limitation of motion of the affected body parts. These disorders can be due to a pathology or can be the result of trauma or injury. Mature cartilage has very limited ability to self-repair, notably because mature chondrocytes have little potential for proliferation because of the limited supply with nutrients due to the absence of blood vessels in cartilage. Replacement of damaged cartilage, in particular articular cartilage, caused either by injury or disease is a major challenge for physicians, and available surgical treatment procedures are considered unpredictable and effective for only a limited time in younger patients without osteoarthritic changes. Therefore, most patients either do not seek treatment or are counselled to postpone treatment for as long as possible. When treatment is required, the standard procedure is age dependent and varies between total or partly joint replacement, transplantation of pieces of cartilage or chondrocytes or marrow stimulating technique (such as microfracture). Microfracture is a cheap and common procedure that involves penetration of the subchondral bone to stimulate cartilage deposition by bone marrow derived stem cells. However, it has been shown that this technique does not repair sufficiently the chondral defect and the new cartilage formed is mainly fibrocartilage, resulting in a short-lived repair tissue. Indeed, fibrocartilage does not have the same biomechanical properties as hyaline articular cartilage and lacks often proper lateral integration into the surrounding cartilage. For this reason, the newly synthesized fibrocartilage may breakdown more easily (expected time frame: 5-10 years).
For patients with osteoarthritis (OA) all these cartilage repair techniques fail. The remaining non-surgical treatment consists notably of physical therapy, lifestyle modification (e.g. body weight reduction), supportive devices, oral drugs (e.g. non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) and injection of drugs (e.g. hyaluronic acid and corticoids), and food supplementation. All these treatments are unable to stop OA disease progression. If the pain therapy also fails, surgery, such as joint replacement or high tibial osteotomy for the knee joint, are the remaining options for the patients. Tibial or femoral osteotomies (cutting the bone to rebalance joint wear) may reduce symptoms, help to maintain an active lifestyle, and delay the need for total joint replacement. Total joint replacement can provide relief for the symptom of advanced osteoarthritis, but generally requires a significant change in a patient's lifestyle and/or activity level.
Current available drug treatments are mainly directed to pain relief. At this time, there is no commercially available treatment that restores the cartilage damages (see Lotz, 2010).
Anti-NGF compounds is a category of molecules being described in the context of pain linked to OA. Currently, tanezumab, fasinumab or yet fulranumab are being developed for treating pain in OA patients, and are all currently in phases II/III clinical trials for arthritis and/or chronic pain, based on promising results in phases I to III clinical trials (Sanga et al., 2013; Tiseo et al., 2014; Brown et al. 2012).
Fibroblast Growth factor 18 (FGF-18) is a member of the Fibroblast Growth Factor (FGF) family of proteins. It has been shown that FGF-18 is a proliferative agent for chondrocytes and osteoblasts (Ellsworth et al., 2002; Shimoaka et al., 2002). FGF-18 has been proposed for the treatment of cartilage disorder such as osteoarthritis and cartilage injury either alone (WO2008023063) or in combination with hyaluronic acid (WO2004032849). FGF-18 is currently investigated in clinical trials for the treatment of OA.
Although FGF18 provides good results in articular cartilage repair, there is a need of further molecules able to decrease pain/improve function, while maintaining the efficacy for the treatment of cartilage disorder. Indeed, pain is not only very often associated with cartilage disorders but represents the leading symptom for clinical detection of these disorders.

Fusion protein comprising an FGF-18 moiety


A process for producing a toner for developing an electrostatic latent image. The process has the steps of dispersing in an aqueous medium having a pH of from 4.5 to 8.5 a polymerizable monomer composition containing at least a polymerizable vinyl monomer, a colorant, an organic metal compound, an aromatic carboxylic acid, a polyester resin having an acid value of from 5 mg.multidot.KOH/g to 50 mg.multidot.KOH/g, and a polymerization initiator, to form particles of the polymerizable monomer composition in the aqueous medium, and polymerizing the polymerizable vinyl monomer in the particles of the polymerizable monomer composition.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a process for producing a toner for developing electrostatic latent images which is used in electrophotography.
2. Related Background Art
A number of methods as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,297,691, etc. are known as electrophotography, which is commonly a process in which, using a photoconductive material, copies are obtained by forming an electrostatic latent image on a photosensitive member by various means, subsequently developing the latent image by the use of a toner to form a toner image, transferring the toner image to a recording medium such as paper as occasion calls, and thereafter fixing the toner image by the action of heat and/or pressure or solvent vapor. As methods for developing the electrostatic latent image by the use of toners or methods for fixing the toner image, a variety of methods have been proposed, and methods suited for the respective image forming processes are employed. Further in recent years, electrophotography is sought to achieve higher-speed copying and higher image quality.
Toners used for such purpose have been commonly produced by melt-kneading colorants comprising dyes or pigments, into thermoplastic resins to effect uniform dispersion, followed by pulverization using a fine grinding mill, and the pulverized product is classified using a classifier to produce toners having the desired particle diameters.
Reasonably good toners can be produced by such a production method, but there is a certain limit, i.e., a limit to the range in which toner materials are selected. For example, colorant-dispersed resin compositions must be brittle enough to be pulverizable with ease by means of a fine grinding mill economically available. However, such colorant-dispersed resin compositions made brittle in order to meet these requirements tend to result in a broad particle size distribution of the particles formed when actually pulverized at a high speed, causing especially a problem that fine particles tend to be produced in a relatively large proportion. Moreover, such highly brittle materials tend to be further finely pulverized or powdered when used for the development in copying machines or the like. Also, in this method, it is difficult to uniformly disperse solid fine particles of colorants and the like in the resin, and toners may cause an increase in fog, a decrease in image density and a lowering of color mixing properties or transparency of toners, depending on the degree of such dispersion. Accordingly, care must well be taken when colorants are dispersed. Also, colorants may come bare to rupture sections of pulverized particles, and may cause fluctuations in developing performance of toners.
Meanwhile, in order to overcome the problems of the toners produced by such pulverization, toners produced by suspension polymerization are proposed as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publications No. 36-10231, No. 43-10799 and No. 51-14895. In the production of toners by suspension polymerization, a polymerizable monomer, a colorant and a polymerization initiator, and also optionally a cross-linking agent, a charge control agent and other additives are uniformly dissolved or dispersed to form a polymerizable monomer composition. Thereafter, this polymerizable monomer composition is dispersed in a continuous phase containing a dispersion stabilizer, e.g., in an aqueous medium, by means of a suitable agitator, and is subjected simultaneously to polymerization reaction to obtain toner particles having the desired particle diameters.
Since this method has no step of pulverization, the toner particles are not required to be brittle, and hence soft materials can be used as the resin. Also, colorants may hardly come bare to the surfaces of toner particles, and hence the toners can have a uniform triboelectric charging performance. This method has such advantages. Since also the toners obtained have a relatively sharp particle size distribution, the step of classification can be omitted, or, even when classified, toners can be obtained in a high yield. The method also has the advantage that, since a low-softening substance as a release agent can be encapsulated in toner particles in a large quantity, the toners obtained have a superior anti-offset properties.
As examples where polymerization toners are used, it is proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 5-19662 to use secondary toner particles obtained by fusing primary polymerization particles; in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 4-296766 to use a polymerization toner that transmits the light to which the photosensitive member is exposed; and in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 5-188637 to use a toner specified in its volume-average particle diameter, number-average particle diameter, charge quantity of toner, projected-image area ratio of toner and BET specific surface area of toner. These, however, have not been well satisfactory.
Toners like the polymerization toners, having spherical particles and smooth particle surfaces, have small points of contact with charging members because of such features, and may cause problems of a lowering of charging performance and, in an environment of high humidity, a great lowering of charging performance. In order to solve these problems, it has been required for such toners to be more improved in charging performance than conventional toners.
Conventionally, in order to make a toner hold electric charges, it is possible to utilize the triboelectric chargeability of a resin which is a component of the toner. In this method, however, the toner has so low a charging performance that images obtained by development tend to fog and be unsharp. Accordingly, in order to impart the desired triboelectric charging performance to the toner, it is common to add a dye or pigment capable of imparting chargeability and further add a charge control agent.
Toners containing a charge control agent tend to contaminate toner carrying members such as developing sleeves, and hence the quantity of triboelectricity decreases with an increase in the number of sheets during copying to tend to cause a decrease in image density. Some charge control agents also have an insufficient quantity of triboelectricity and tend to be affected by temperature and humidity, tending to cause variations of image density which occur with environmental variations. Some charge control agents also have a poor dispersibility in resins, and hence tones making use of such charge control agents tend to have a non-uniform quantity of triboelectricity between toner particles, tending to cause fog. Some charge control agents still also have so poor a storage stability that the quantity of triboelectricity tends to decrease during long-term storage.
In polymerization toners, when materials are granulated in an aqueous medium, charge control agents tend to affect the system adversely. For example, problems may arise such that pigments are not dispersed well or that charge control agents dissolve partly to cause fine particles. In particular, formation of very fine particles such as emulsion particles causes contamination of charging members and great damage of toner performance, e.g., inhibition of charging performance of the toners.
Nowadays, charge control agents known in the present technical field include, as negative charge control agents, metal complexes of monoazo dyes, metal complexes of salicylic acid, naphthoic acid or dicarboxylic acids, copper phthalocyanine pigments, and resins containing acid components. Known as positive charge control agents are nigrosine dyes, azine dyes, triphenylmethane dyes, quaternary ammonium salts, and resins having a quaternary ammonium salt in the side chain.
Of these, various metal complexes are proposed as negative charge control agents, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publications No. 43-17955 and No. 55-42752, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 61-155464, Japanese Patent Publication No. 63-1994 and so froth. These certainly exhibit good chargeability, but, according to studies made by the present inventors, it can not be said that they are satisfactory when used in polymerization toners. Thus, it has been sought to make an improvement.

Process for producing toner for developing electrostatic latent images


A method includes the phases of measuring the quantity of a given gas in the gases extracted from a calibration sample of a calibration mud, in at least two stages for extraction under predetermined conditions. A family of curves representing the extraction, under the predetermined conditions, of the given gas from the drilling mud, is established on the basis of the measurements carried out. The method also includes the phases of measuring the quantity of given gas in the gases extracted from an analysis sample of the drilling mud in an extraction stage, under the predetermined conditions; and computing the given gas content of the drilling mud on the basis of the measured quantity of given gas and of a curve of the family.

During the drilling of a well containing oil or another effluent (in particular gas, steam, water), it is known to analyze the gaseous compounds contained in the drilling muds emerging from the well. This analysis facilitates the reconstruction of the geological sequence of the formations passed through during the drilling process and helps to determine possible uses for the fluid deposits encountered.
This analysis, which is carried out continuously, includes two main phases. The first phase consists in extracting the gases conveyed by the mud (for example, hydrocarbon compounds, carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide). The second phase consists in qualifying and quantifying the extracted gases.
A degasser having a mechanical stirring means of the type described in FR 2 799 790 is frequently used for extracting the gases from the mud. The gases extracted from the mud, which are mixed with a carrier gas introduced into the degasser, are conveyed by suction through a gas extraction conduit up to an analyzer, which allows the extracted gases to be quantified.
A method of this type is not entirely satisfactory, especially for oil or synthetic product-based muds. The kinetics for the extraction of the gases from the degasser is, in particular, dependent on the solubility of the gases in the mud. For example, for an oil drilling mud, C4 hydrocarbon gases are extracted more slowly than C1 hydrocarbon gases.
Given the limited residence time of the mud in the degasser, determining the relative or absolute content of the gases contained in the drilling mud from quantities of gases extracted from the degasser requires complex mathematical models and is imprecise.
The main object of the invention is therefore to determine, in a precise yet simple manner, the content of at least one given gas contained in a drilling mud, during a drilling process.

Method for determining the content of at least one given gas in a drilling mud, associated device and rig


A semantic object tracking method tracks general semantic objects with multiple non-rigid motion, disconnected components and multiple colors throughout a vector image sequence. The method accurately tracks these general semantic objects by spatially segmenting image regions from a current frame and then classifying these regions as to which semantic object they originated from in the previous frame. To classify each region, the method perform a region based motion estimation between each spatially segmented region and the previous frame to computed the position of a predicted region in the previous frame. The method then classifies each region in the current frame as being part of a semantic object based on which semantic object in the previous frame contains the most overlapping points of the predicted region. Using this method, each region in the current image is tracked to one semantic object from the previous frame, with no gaps or overlaps. The method propagates few or no errors because it projects regions into a frame where the semantic object boundaries are previously computed rather than trying to project and adjust a boundary in a frame where the object's boundary is unknown.

A semantic video object represents a meaningful entity in a digital video clip, e.g., a ball, car, plane, building, cell, eye, lip, hand, head, body, etc. The term "semantic" in this context means that the viewer of the video clip attaches some semantic meaning to the object. For example, each of the objects listed above represent some real-world entity, and the viewer associates the portions of the screen corresponding to these entities with the meaningful objects that they depict. Semantic video objects can be very useful in a variety of new digital video applications including content-based video communication, multimedia signal processing, digital video libraries, digital movie studios, and computer vision and pattern recognition. In order to use semantic video objects in these applications, object segmentation and tracking methods are needed to identify the objects in each of the video frames.
The process of segmenting a video object refers generally to automated or semi-automated methods for extracting objects of interest in image data. Extracting a semantic video object from a video clip has remained a challenging task for many years. In a typical video clip, the semantic objects may include disconnected components, different colors, and multiple rigid/non-rigid motions. While semantic objects are easy for viewers to discern, the wide variety of shapes, colors and motion of semantic objects make it difficult to automate this process on a computer. Satisfactory results can be achieved by having the user draw an initial outline of a semantic object in an initial frame, and then use the outline to compute pixels that are part of the object in that frame. In each successive frame, motion estimation can be used to predict the initial boundary of an object based on the segmented object from the previous frame. This semi-automatic object segmentation and tracking method is described in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/054,280, by Chuang Gu, and Ming Chieh Lee, entitled Semantic Video Object Segmentation and Tracking, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
Object tracking is the process of computing an object's position as it moves from frame to frame. In order to deal with more general semantic video objects, the object tracking method must be able to deal with objects that contain disconnected components and multiple non-rigid motions. While a great deal of research has focused on object tracking, existing methods still do not accurately track objects having multiple components with non-rigid motion.
Some tracking techniques use homogeneous gray scale/color as a criterion to track regions. See F. Meyer and P. Bouthemy, "Region-based tracking in an image sequence", ECCV'92, pp. 476–484, Santa Margherita, Italy, May 1992; Ph. Salembier, L. Torres, F. Meyer and C. Gu, "Region-based video coding using mathematical morphology", Proceeding of the IEEE, Vol. 83, No. 6, pp. 843–857, June 1995; F. Marques and Cristina Molina, "Object tracking for content-based functionalities", VCIP'97, Vol. 3024, No. 1, pp. 190–199, San Jose, February, 1997; and C. Toklu, A. Tekalp and A. Erdem, "Simultaneous alpha map generation and 2-D mesh tracking for multimedia applications", ICIP'97, Vol. 1, page 113–116, October, 1997, Santa Barbara.
Some employ homogenous motion information to track moving objects. See for example, J. Wang and E. Adelson, "Representing moving images with layers", IEEE Trans. on Image Processing, Vol. 3, No. 5. pp. 625–638, September 1994 and N. Brady and N. O'Connor, "Object detection and tracking using an em-based motion estimation and segmentation framework", ICIP'96, Vol. 1, pp. 925–928, Lausanne, Switzerland, September 1996.
Others use a combination of spatial and temporal criteria to track objects. See M. J. Black, "Combining intensity and motion for incremental segmentation and tracking over long image sequences", ECCV'92, pp. 485–493, Santa Margherita, Italy, May 1992; C. Gu, T. Ebrahimi and M. Kunt, "Morphological moving object segmentation and tracking for content-based video coding", Multimedia communication and Video Coding, pp. 233–240, Plenum Press, New York, 1995; F. Moscheni, F. Dufaux and M. Kunt, "Object tracking based on temporal and spatial information", in Proc. ICASSP'96, Vol. 4, pp. 1914–1917, Atlanta, Ga., May 1996; and C. Gu and M. C. Lee, "Semantic video object segmentation and tracking using mathematical morphology and perspective motion model", ICIP'97, Vol. II, pages 514–517, October 1997, Santa Barbara.
Most of these techniques employ a forward tracking mechanism that projects the previous regions/objects to the current frame and somehow assembles/adjusts the projected regions/objects in the current frame. The major drawback of these forward techniques lies in the difficulty of either assembling/adjusting the projected regions in the current frame or dealing with multiple non-rigid motions. In many of these cases, uncertain holes may appear or the resulting boundaries may become distorted.
FIGS. 1A–C provide simple examples of semantic video objects to show the difficulties associated with object tracking. FIG. 1A shows a semantic video object of a building 100 containing multiple colors 102, 104. Methods that assume that objects have a homogenous color do not track these types of objects well. FIG. 1B shows the same building object of FIG. 1A, except that it is split into disconnected components 106, 108 by a tree 110 that partially occludes it. Methods that assume that objects are formed of connected groups of pixels do not track these types of disconnected objects well. Finally, FIG. 1C illustrates a simple semantic video object depicting a person 112. Even this simple object has multiple components 114, 116, 118, 120 with different motion. Methods that assume an object has homogenous motion do not track these types of objects well. In general, a semantic video object may have disconnected components, multiple colors, multiple motions, and arbitrary shapes.
In addition to dealing with all of these attributes of general semantic video objects, a tracking method must also achieve an acceptable level of accuracy to avoid propagating errors from frame to frame. Since object tracking methods typically partition each frame based on a previous frame's partition, errors in the previous frame tend to get propagated to the next frame. Unless the tracking method computes an object's boundary with pixel-wise accuracy, it will likely propagate significant errors to the next frame. As result, the object boundaries computed for each frame are not precise, and the objects can be lost after several frames of tracking.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A method and apparatus for processing data by a computer and a method of determining data storage requirements of a computer for earning out a data processing task.

Unified Modelling Language (UML) can be used to describe systems. A common use of UML is to provide a description of a system that is to be implemented in software. Traditionally, an analyst will study a system that is proposed for implementation in software and produce a UML description of the system. A programmer will then work from the UML description provided by the analyst in order to produce software that implements the system whilst complying with the constraints of the particular architecture of the computing hardware that is to execute the software. Some examples of such constraints are the amount of memory in the computing hardware and the number and processing speed of the processors in the computing hardware.
UML provides a range of methods for describing systems. One such method is the use of activity diagrams. An activity diagram describes a system in terms of activities and control flows between the activities. The control flows are represented by a set of primitives, and these primitives will now be described by reference to FIGS. 1 to 6.
FIG. 1 shows an activity diagram primitive that is called the fork node. Here a fork node 10 describes the relationship between activities 12, 14 and 16. The fork node 10 indicates that upon completion of activity 12, activities 14 and 16 are commenced concurrently.
FIG. 2 shows an activity diagram primitive that is called the join node. Here, a join node 18 describes the relationship between activities 20, 22 and 24. The join node 18 indicates that upon completion of both activities 20 and 22, activity 24 is commenced. Thus, the join node primitive has a synchronising effect, in that it allows an activity to commence only after a plurality of other activities have finished.
FIG. 3 shows an activity diagram primitive that is called the decision node. Here, a decision node 26 describes the relationship between activities 28, 30 and 32. The decision node 26 indicates that upon completion of activity 28, only one of activities 30 and 32 is commenced. Which one of activities 30 and 32 is commenced is decided by a logical condition associated with the decision node 26. For example, whether or not a particular parameter of the system is greater or less than some predetermined value.
FIG. 4 shows an activity diagram primitive that is called the merge node. Here, a merge node 34 describes the relationship between activities 36, 38 and 40. The merge node 34 indicates that activity 40 is commenced as soon as either one of activities 36 and 38 is completed.
FIG. 5 shows an activity diagram primitive that is called the initial node. The initial node indicates the start of the system. Here, an initial node 42 indicates that the system begins with the performance of activity 44.
FIG. 6 shows an activity diagram primitive that is called the final node. The final node indicates the end of the system. Here, a final node 46 indicates that the system ends after the performance of activity 48.
So far, nothing has been said about the nature of the activities that the primitives connect. These activities are almost infinitely diverse in nature. Often, an activity will be complex in the sense that it might be capable of being described by its own activity diagram. Multiprocessor systems can be suitable for conducting wireless communications and in that context examples of activities are:                carrying out a direct memory access (DMA) procedure for moving data from one place to another.        performing a fast Fourier transform (FFT) on a digital time domain signal.        performing a cross correlation of two digital time domain signals.        calculating a cyclic redundancy checksum (CRC) for a data sequence.

Data flows and their interaction with control flows


Disclosed is a packaging film perforating system used in commercially available, horizontal, form, fill and seal packaging machines. The packing film perforating system is attached to a packaging machine via a mounting module. The system is designed to create perforation lines in the packaging film, housing pre-packaged product, being moved by a conveying chain between various functional stations located on said packaging machine.

The present invention is a direct attempt to improve the design, the functionality, and the cost of manufacturing of an existing, packaging film perforating system, utilized on commercially available, horizontal, form, fill and seal packaging machines.
Unlike the present invention, the existing packaging film perforating systems utilize the electric power to rotate the components made to both engage and to perforate the packaging film. The power used to operate these perforating system is derived from the primary drive of the machine, responsible for moving the packing film between various functional stations of the machine. Which means that the existing film perforators are mechanically lined to the primary drive by using mechanical components, such as pulleys and belts.
In theory, this mechanical connection allows for synchronization of the movement of the packaging film perforator with the movement of the film, but in practice, these components appear to function independently, leading to improper perforations and frequent machine breakdowns.
The new design, presented in this application, does not use any external power to rotate the components responsible for performing the film. The new design utilizes the movement, or the progression of the packaging film to rotate the component designed to perforate the packaging film. This component is a perforation disc. The perforating disc is comprising of a plurality of custom-made knives, sandwiched by two flat discs, made to slidably fit onto a free-rotating shaft.
Unlike the previously designed packaging film perforation components, the knives utilized by the present invention have one blunt edge and one sharp edge, and are configured to extend beyond the two discs' outside perimeter. With all blunt edges facing in the same direction, the knives that penetrate the packaging film, are pushed by the moving packaging film, causing the perforating disc to rotate—creation a self-propelled mechanism. This rotation allows the other knives attached to the discs to perforate the packaging film, not only without the usage of any external power, but also with the speed that is perfectly synchronized with the speed of the progressing packaging film.

Self-propelled, packaging film perforating system used in horizontal, form, fill, and seal packaging machines

Abstract: The perforating system is positioned as the last automated station of the packaging machine, and is typically preceded by a plurality of other automated stations designed to fully complete the packaging process. The stations preceding the location of the perforation system may include stations designed to feed both the bottom and the top layers of the packaging film, product fill station, and both the bottom and the top package forming stations.

Abstract: The packaging film perforating system comprises of four primary modules: 1) perforating module assembly, for perforating the packaging film; 2) mounting module assembly, for mounting the perforating module to the machine and for enabling rotation of said perforating module; 3) packaging machine, having a package perforation station for placing therein the perforating module, held by the mounding module; 4) and a plurality of mounting hardware, used for completion of said assemblies.

Abstract: The perforating module assembly is sub-divided into two components: 1) shaft; 2) perforating disc sub-assembly. The perforating disc slides onto the shaft, and is releasably locked in place. The shaft may hold one or a multitude of the perforating discs. Spaces between said perforating disc may be adjusted to accommodate various shapes and sizes of the packaged products.

Abstract: Each perforating disc comprises of a back disc, a front disc, and a plurality of knives. Wherein each of said knives has one blunt edge and one sharp edge. The knives are configured to be equally spaced, with all blunt edges facing in the same direction, and are positioned around the outside perimeter of the two discs. The knives are sandwiched between the two discs, locked in place, made to extend beyond the two discs' outside perimeter.

Abstract: The perforating module is held by the mounting module, by having both ends of the shaft fitted inside bearings, held by two bearing blocks. Using actuators, the bearing blocks along with attached thereto perforating module, are moved up and down, allowing the perforating discs to engage or to disengage the packaging film, located directly below the mounting module. Once engaged, the conveyed packaging film pushes on the blunt edge of the knives, causing the perforating disc to rotate, without application of any external power. The rotation of the perforating disc generates equally-spaced, elongated cuts in the packaging film, forming perforation lines, outlining the ends of the created packages.


A mid-turbine frame is disposed between high and low pressure turbine assemblies. A secondary air system is defined in the mid-turbine frame (MTF) to provide cooling to the turbine section of the engine. The secondary air system may be used to cool and pressurize seals to assist with oil retention in bearing cavities. The temperature gain of the secondary air may be reduced by flowing the secondary air through one or more external lines and then generally radially inwardly through air passages defined in the MTF.

It is known to provide a mid-turbine frame assembly between high and low pressure turbine (HPT and LPT) rotor assemblies to support bearings and to transfer loads radially outwardly to a core engine casing. The mid-turbine frame assembly typically comprises a mid-turbine frame supporting an annular inter-turbine duct therein. The inter-turbine duct is defined between outer and inner duct walls which are interconnected by a plurality of radial hollow struts, thereby forming an annular hot gas path to convey the working fluid from the HPT to the LPT. The inter-turbine duct and the hollow struts are subjected to high temperatures and therefore cooling air is introduced around the inter-turbine duct and into the hollow struts to cool the same. Secondary air is also used to pressurize and cool the bearings supported by the mid-turbine frame assembly. In conventional cooling air systems for mid-turbine frames, the cooling air is fed to the mid-turbine frame centrally through the LP shaft. As the air travels through the shaft, the air picks up heat. As a result, the air available for cooling and pressuring the seals of the bearings is not as cool as it could be. This may have a detrimental effect on the integrity and durability of the bearing seals. It also imposes constraints on the types of seal that can be used in the turbine section of the engine.
There is thus room for improvement.

Air system architecture for a mid-turbine frame module


Techniques to determine when to decrease a frame display rate based in part on the amount or degree of change between sequential frames. The amount or degree of change can be measured based on all or part of similarly located portions of sequential frames. In some cases, power use can be reduced without compromising visual quality by reducing frame display rate when an amount or degree of change between frames is small.

In display technology, frame rate represents a rate at which frames are displayed. In a computer system, a graphics engine generally attempts to maximize the display frame rate of frames provided by graphics applications. The maximum possible frame rate for most real-life applications is 60 frames per second (fps). Higher frame rates typically provide higher visual quality to a user. However, higher frame rates typically involve more power use. In systems where power use is to be minimized, such as battery powered devices, conserving power use can be important.

Techniques to control frame display rate


A protective switch device such as a relay switch is provided with at least one pole having contacts that can be separated. It includes a control mechanism (5) that can cause the opening and closing of contacts (21, 31) and that can be actuated by a protective device (4) that can act in case of electrical failure, and a manual control button (6) controlling an electromagnet (7) for operating the contacts. A moving trap door (11) opens and closes an opening of the box so as to make it possible to change the coil of electromagnet (7). The trap door (11) cooperates with a trap door locking element (81) that can be displaced between a closed position where it immobilizes the trap door on the box and an open position making it possible to open the trap door. The trap door locking element (81) is associated with a selective blocking element (82, 62) able to immobilize it in closed position when manual control button (6) occupies all positions other than the stop position and to free it so that a user can bring it into open position, making it possible to open the trap door, when manual control button (6) occupies the stop position.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a protective switch device such as a relay switch, provided with at least one pole having contacts that can be separated by either a control mechanism that can cause the opening and closing of the contacts and that can be actuated by protective means that can act in case of electrical failure, or an electromagnet controlled by a manual control button.
2. Description of the Related Art
Devices of the above type, called relay switches, are known to integrate into the same box a current limiting, resettable circuit breaker for protection against short circuits and a contactor for automatic control and remote control. In addition, these devices integrate a magnetic-thermal protection that can cause the opening of the contacts in case of overload or excess current.
The user of such a device can replace the coil of the electromagnet which is housed in the box, for example to change its voltage utilization. Safeties are provided to perform this operation. The replacement of the coil of the electromagnet can be performed only after having removed the wires going to the terminals of the coil. After this operation, it is possible to remove a cover providing access to the electromagnet and to replace it. These disassembly and reassembly operations are relatively complicated.

Protective relay switch having trap door


An image reader has an original tray for feeding an original from a bundle of originals, a first transport passage for transporting the original fed by the original tray, a scanner for reading an image on one side of the original from one side of the transported original, and a CIS for reading an image on the other side of the original from the opposed side to the one side of the transport passage. To read both sides of an original, the image reader is provided with a mode of reading both sides simultaneously using the scanner and the CIS and a mode of reading both sides of the original only by the scanner with the original reversed using a third transport passage, a fourth transport passage, and a fifth transport passage without using the CIS.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an image reader for reading an original image by an image sensor and the like, particularly to an image reader capable of reading original images on both sides and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hitherto, an image reader for automatically reading image information on both sides of an original without the intervention of the user (automatic double-side reader) has been widely used as a reader of a copier, a facsimile, etc., or a scanner for computer input. As the automatic double-side readers, a method of reversing the side of an original in an original reversal section and reading image information is most widely adopted. That is, to input image information on both sides in the method in the related art, one side is read in an original read section and then the side of the ejected original is reversed and again is transported to the original read section for reading the other side.
However, in the automatic double-side reading by inverting the side, it is necessary to reverse the original after once being ejected and again transport the original to the original read section and thus it takes much time in reading both sides and the productivity is poor in reading both sides. The original reversal section requires a complicated mechanism to reverse the side of an original and the original jam occurrence percentage in the original reversal section is high as compared with other transport sections. Improving the reliability is required. Further, to design an automatic double-side reader that is placed in a narrow space, the necessity for inverting an original rapidly in a small diameter may occur because of the necessity for inverting the original and collating the pages of the original at the paper ejection time, etc. Consequently, it is difficult to transport an original of a predetermined cardboard having a large basis weight.
An art of automatically reading both sides in one transport is studied. For example, in JP-A-1-171360 and JP-A-1-293757, two image sensors are placed on both sides of an original path for transporting an original and both sides of an original can be read automatically in one original transport without reversing the side of the original.
Generally, to read an original, for example, a technique of applying light from a light source of a fluorescent lamp to the original and reading the reflected light by an optical sensor through a reduction optical system is adopted. As the sensor in the technique, for example, a one-dimensional CCD (Charge Coupled Device) sensor is used to process one line at a time. Upon completion of reading one line in the line direction (main scanning direction), the original is moved a minute distance in the direction orthogonal to the main scanning direction (subscanning direction) and the next line is read. This operation is repeated over the whole original size for completing reading of one page of the original. As a method of reading an original in order in the subscanning direction without moving the original, a method of moving a plurality of mirrors by a moving body such as a full-rate carriage or a half-rate carriage for reading an original in order in the subscanning direction is also available.
In the read technique, it is necessary to apply a light source to an original and reading the reflected light by a CCD sensor through several mirrors as described above and thus the whole unit tends to become large. Particularly, if a plurality of image sensors need to be placed to read both sides without reversing an original, it is difficult to place a plurality of CCD sensors because of a space problem. To solve the space problem, use of an image sensor called CIS (Contact Image Sensor) for directly reading an image by a linear sensor through a SELFOC lens using a small LED (Light Emitting Diode) as a light source is studied.
However, in the read technique using the CIS, the focal depth is very shallow and if the CIS and an original face go out of distance even a little, out-of-focus occurs and the read image becomes unclear. That is, it becomes hard to provide a sharp image although the whole unit can be reduced. Particularly, to read a color image, a color shift, etc., easily occurs and degradation of the image quality is remarkable. If both reading by the CCD sensor and reading by the CIS are used to automatically read both sides of an original, it becomes hard to match the image quality in the CCD sensor with that in the CIS. For example, if an image read through the automatic double-side reader is printed out, images different in image quality on both sides are output. Such an image quality match problem noticeably appears particularly in color images. For example, so-called business color images such as images with a small number of colors (like plus one color, etc.,) may be able to be handled, but image quality shift becomes particularly large in a catalog image, a photo image, etc., and automatic double-side reading using both the CCD sensor and the CIS cannot be practical if importance is placed on the image quality.


The operating system clocks in each station on a counter rotating ring network of a distributed processing system are synchronized by latching the count in a free running counter in the network interface of each station at the instant a clock message transmitted by a timekeeper station is received. The timekeeper station then calculates from its operating system time-of-day clock and its free running counter, its time of reception of the clock message, and broadcasts this timekeeper time of reception to the other stations. Each other station calculates its own time of reception from its operating system time of day, and the count in its free running counter, and uses the difference between its time of reception and the timekeeper time of reception to correct its operating system time-of-day clock. Repeater and media propagation delays determined from the dynamic topography of the network are taken into account in calculating the correction factor. The free running counter can also be used to maintain a higher resolution local time of day than is available from the operating system time-of-day clock.

This invention relates to synchronization of time-of-day clocks maintained in each station of a distributed processing network system, and in particular to such a system in which there are significant time delays which can vary dynamically. The invention further relates to providing a higher resolution time-of-day clock than is available from the time-of-day clocks typically found in station processors.

Synchronization of time-of-day clocks in a distributed processing network system


A vessel provided with an emulsifying-foaming device for making cappuccino's, whipped cream and the like comprises a vessel body with a cover element and a circulating pump mounted on the cover element and so arranged as to draw a liquid from a bottom portion of the vessel body and jet discharge the drawn liquid on the top free surface of the liquid in said vessel, in order to provide a forced mixing and aeration of the product.

The present invention relates to a vessel provided with an emulsifying-foaming device for making, in a domestic environment, cappuccino's, whipped cream and the like.
Mixing, aerating or emulsifying devices for the above mentioned application are already available. These prior devices substantially comprise a bowl or vessel for holding therein components to be mixed or emulsified and, as a driving member, a perforated and/or finned disc element, which can be reciprocated, like a piston, and possibly rotated in said bowl or vessel.
The driving element is conventionally assembled and guided on a covering element operating as a cover for the vessel, and it operates so as to subject to a stirring action the components in order to introduce into said components a metered amount of air, thereby providing a foamed region arranged on the top of a liquid part.

Vessel provided with an emulsifying-foaming device for making cappuccino's, whipped cream and the like


A method of making a charge dissipative surface of a dielectric polymeric material with tunable (selectable) surface resistivity, comprises the step of controllably carbonizing the surface of the polymeric material in a vacuum environment by bombarding the polymeric surface with an ion beam of rare gas ions, the energy level of the ion source being from 2.5 to 30 keV, in the fluence range 1E16-5E17 ion/cm2 so as to reach a surface resistivity in the static dissipative range of 1E6 to 1E9 ohm/square at room temperature, with a temperature dependence of less than three orders of magnitude between −150° C. and +150° C., while having no impact on the RF performance of the material, with high RF power handling capability, and with tunable thermo-optical properties of the surface, including negligible impact on the thermo-optical properties and RF performance of the material, if required by applications.

Ion implantation and/or ion bombardment is of growing interest in polymer science and engineering because of its demonstrated capability to modify the molecular structure, surface morphology and physical properties of polymers. During ion bombardment of polymers in vacuum at a wide range of conditions, the most common are the processes of polymer cross-linking or chain destruction due to energy transfer at atomic collisions and with following volatile final products release from the surface of the polymer, surface carbon content increase, called surface carbonization, and subsequent surface reconstruction. Changes in the index of refraction, optical transmission and reflection, and other optical properties of polymer films, as well as adhesion enhancement of coatings have been shown to follow ion implantation and ion bombardment of polymeric surface(s). Those are typically of significant impact, especially when used in space applications such as on spacecrafts, in order to control the mechanical and thermal optical performances of the material or the equipment on board. There may be a significant increase in density as a result of volume and density changes due to surface carbonization, accompanying ion implantation of polymers, mechanical, optical/electrical properties change (such as surface hardness, wear resistance, oxidation resistance, electrical conductivity). Some research studies were done to identify the mechanisms of ion beams interaction with polymeric surfaces and properties change, such as improvement of adhesion of polymers to metals or metals to polymers, etc. Some patents also discloses some work on ion implantation/ion bombardment on polymeric surfaces, such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,199,650 to Mirtich et al. granted on Apr. 22, 1980, U.S. Pat. No. 4,957,602 to Binder et al. granted on Sep. 18, 1990, U.S. Pat. No. 5,130,161 to Mansur et al. granted on Jul. 14, 1992, U.S. Pat. No. 6,248,409 to Kim granted on Jun. 19, 2001, U.S. Pat. No. 6,787,441 to Koh et al. granted on Sep. 7, 2004, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,309,405 to Cho et al. granted on Dec. 18, 2007.
However, none of the existing prior art discloses nor even suggests any studies made to develop a method of ion beam treatment of thin dielectric polymer films, and a product made by this method, to provide ESD (electrostatic discharge) protection while minimize impact on RF performance, for example, for space antenna sunshields or for any other relevant space applications. In this regard, it is important to mention that surface carbonization of polymers by ion beams or, in short, "surface carbonization", is a very wide phenomenon and associated term. It covers a wide range of degree(s) of carbonization, from few percent of exceeding carbon concentration up to almost full "graphitization", with significantly variable amount of chemical bonding reconstruction, such as from sp2 to sp3 carbon bonding states, in polymeric surfaces and subsurface regions, depending on a variety of ion bombardment conditions. The treated surface layers may be very different in composition, structural specifics and final properties. Furthermore, due to variable degrees of carbonization, various thickness of the modified subsurface layers, final change of elemental chemical composition and chemical bonding re-structuring, also depends on the temperature during bombardment and can be identified by advanced surface analysis methods. Therefore final functional properties of the treated surface, such as surface resistivity. RF transparency, and radiation resistance can vary drastically. It is therefore essential to measure and control the desired functional properties (RF transparency, surface resistivity, durability in space environment, etc.) in order to find a special way of treating the material and to define the proper process parameters to get the desired properties. These properties are not inherent to the general process of ion beam treatment of dielectric polymers (or surface carbonization) and cannot be predicted by one skilled in the art without significant research and trials in order to develop a new surface treatment method.
When antenna applications in space are considered and that a dielectric film is required in the RF field (for example sunshields in front of the radiating element and/or reflector of communication antennas), the material needs to fulfill few specific and, to some extends, conflicting requirements. It needs to be RF transparent, or permeable as much as possible, to prevent signal losses, have good thermo-optical properties to control the temperature excursions of the antenna equipment, and have a charge dissipative surface in the entire space-related temperature range to prevent charging and arcing of polymer films under space radiation environment. It means that electrical surface resistivity (SR) over the entire temperature range should be kept within about 105 to 1010 ohms/square; SR to be above about 105-106 ohms/sq. for RF transparency and below 109-1010 ohms/sq. to avoid ESD (electrostatic discharge) issues. This demonstrates the importance to have as low as possible temperature dependence of the surface resistivity to dissipate electrical charges without disturbing RF performance. It is also required to ensure that these properties do not degrade too much over time when those materials are exposed for years in a specified space environment, for instance, such as geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO) space environment, that includes UV (ultraviolet), ionizing radiations, i.e. energetic protons and electrons, and thermal cycling in vacuum.
There are different ways of providing ESD (electrostatic discharge) protection to surfaces of dielectric-type materials in order to prevent charge buildups followed by damaging discharges on electrically sensitive surfaces, especially when dealing with active components such as antennas, electronics and the like, in space applications.
One of the ways used is to apply semiconductor-based thin coatings, such as silicon (Si) or germanium (Ge) under vacuum deposition processes, on the required surfaces. Such coatings have a tendency to provide for a significantly varying surface resistivity over space-related temperature ranges, from about −150° C. to about +150° C., as can be encountered in space applications, with a generally too high SR at low end temperatures to achieve proper ESD protection. Furthermore, such coatings are known to be fragile or brittle (not robust), thus requiring careful handling, and may be sensitive to humidity level (mostly germanium).
Another known way is the application of an electrically conductive coating, such as indium-tin oxide (ITO), as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,283,592 granted on Feb. 1, 1994 to Bogorad et al. for an "Antenna Sunshield Membrane". Disadvantages of this ITO coating is that, beside that it is also fragile (susceptible to cracking), it is too electrically conductive to be considered when RF transparency (or semi-transparency) is needed for a space antenna sunshield, especially in modern high-frequency applications or the like, as it behaves as a barrier to RF signals.
Another way of decreasing the SR of dielectric materials is to load the material with electrically conductive particles such as carbon or the like, as in U.S. Pat. No. 6,139,943 granted on Oct. 31, 2001 to Long et al. for a "Black Thermal Control Film and Thermally Controlled Microwave Device Containing Porous Carbon Pigments". This loading of particles into the material significantly affects its mechanical and thermo-optical properties, as well as its RF transparency in high frequencies, which considerably limit and essentially hinder its use in most modern space antenna applications.
Early sunshield consisted of Kapton™ dielectric sheet painted white, but the properties degraded over time on-orbit, decreasing thermal protection, and increasing RF signal loss. For ITO-coated white paint on black Kapton™ film and ITO-coated clear Kapton™ film with white paint on the second surface, RF losses in the frequency range 2.5 to 15 GHz were known to be on the order of 0.2 dB (decibel), which was not acceptable for operation with current high power signals requirements at Ku-band frequencies and above.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,373,305 granted on Dec. 13, 1994 to Lepore, Jr. et al. offers as an improved sunshield a pigmented flexible film of 0.0005 to 0.003 inch thick with germanium thin coating, vacuum deposited on the space-facing side. Black-pigmented polyimide substrate (KaptonC™ pigmented with carbon black) was preferred, as solar transmittance is virtually zero. The RF loss for uncoated polyimide or polyetherimide film is quoted as being less than 0.02 dB over the 2.5 to 15 GHz frequency range. The proposed black polyimide membrane sunshield construction adds another 0.03 dB for an RF loss of up to 0.05 dB at 15 GHz. Increased loss is expected when using carbon black for pigmentation. Moreover, the electrical conductivity of germanium (and the like semi-conductor coatings such as silicon) decreases at cold yielding to inadequate ESD protection at cold temperature and increases at hot temperatures yielding to higher RF losses and even possibly to a thermal runaway under high RF power signal densities travelling there through. This type of sunshield is therefore not promising for high-power and/or high-frequency operation, particularly in and above Ku-band and Ka-band frequencies, used in nowadays modern applications.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved charge dissipative surface of a dielectric polymeric materials, such as, for example, space polymer films, with low temperature dependence of surface resistivity while keeping unchanged RF performance thereof, and a method of making that surface on space polymers.

Method of making charge dissipative surfaces of polymeric materials with low temperature dependence of surface resistivity and low RF loss

MACDONALD, DETTWILER AND ASSOCIATES CORPORATION


The present invention relates to a hot-melt adhesive composition comprising at least one particular mixture of SBC, at least one tackifying resin, at least one wax, and at least one plasticizer. The present invention also relates to a laminate comprising the hot-melt adhesive composition according to the invention that can be used to manufacture disposable hygiene articles.

Disposable hygiene articles are made from a wide variety of substrates (non-woven, elastomeric material, film, such as polyolefin film and in particular polyethylene or polypropylene film) bonded with adhesive materials. Among examples of disposable hygiene articles, mention may be made of diapers, napkins or adult incontinence disposable articles.
The disposable hygiene articles are produced at high speed line rates. In such production, hot melt adhesives are typically used because they can be easily applied to substrates (at the molten state) and rapidly develop strong bond upon cooling, without any additional manufacturing steps such as solvent removal.
Hot melt adhesives are used in the diaper manufacturing industry to bond a wider variety of substrates within a broader adhesive application process window.
Generally, several kinds of hot melt adhesives can be found in disposable hygiene articles, depending on their emplacement and final function, such as:                Core adhesives: used to keep in place the diaper core (fluff and SuperAbsorbentPolymer "SAP"), during the manufacture of the diaper but also during the use of the diaper mainly after that said diaper has been wet.        Construction adhesives: which bind the polyethylene back sheet to the nonwoven substrates or which bind two nonwoven substrates.        Elastic adhesives: used to bind elastic material (such as polyurethane based strands) to sheet-like substrates (such as polyethylene "PE" or to polypropylene "PP" and Nonwoven substrates).
Depending on the aimed application, the hot melt adhesive should comply with some minimal requirements relative to its end-use and its application (coating) process.
In particular, the hot melt adhesive should display good processability.
Usually, the molten adhesive is sprayed, fiberized or coated on cylindrical or plane surface. Once cooled down, the adhesive needs to fulfill multiple requirements, like bond strength measured by peel force or bond retention under or after mechanical stress, and under or after various thermal conditions.
In particular, in elastic attachment applications, the adhesive should maintain the elastic material in place, particularly when solicited during manufacturing and use of the disposable hygiene article. Indeed, during the manufacture process, the elastic material (for example a set of elastic strands) is usually first stretched prior to bonding and then the adhesive is applied onto the elastic material, either by non-contact (spraying) or contact applications, then the elastic material coated with the adhesive are quickly laminated between two sheet-like substrates (for example a nonwoven substrate and a polyolefin film). After that, the elastic material is permitted to relax, creating a gathered (or rushed) laminate having substantial flexibility. The adhesive thus needs to present high cohesion and elasticity to be resistant enough to creep strength. Moreover, in order to avoid any adhesive failure, good adhesion on the elastic material is also recommended.
Today the market trend is moving toward the production of better quality diapers at higher speed line productivity and reduced cost. To meet this need, higher-speed diapers machines have been developed in the hygiene industry and different ways of cost reduction have been seeked.
One possible way of lowering the production costs is using thinner substrates. However, thinning of plastic substrate such as polyethylene film raises heat damage issues as the hot-melt adhesive is usually applied on the substrate at high temperature (at least 150° C.). In particular, application of the hot-melt adhesive at such temperature on polyethylene film can cause "burn through" problems, such as melting of the substrate or formation of wrinkles on the substrate.
Another possible way of lowering the production costs is applying the hot-melt adhesive at a lower temperature (lower than 150° C., such as 130° C.-140° C.). However, lowering the application temperature increases the hot-melt adhesive viscosity and usually leads to poor processability of the adhesive at low temperature.
In particular, when the production lines reach a 400 meter per minute (m/mn) or higher speed, high pressure levels exceeding the pressure alarm limit are often observed in the pumps and pipes of the coating systems, inducing line shutdown and/or variability of the coated adhesive add-ons.
Moreover, it was observed that the current hot melt adhesives lead to irregular adhesive patterns under continuous or intermittent application process at such line speed. In particular, adhesive scattering at the nozzle exit, build up, poor wrapping of the elastic strand and bad spiral pattern were observed when using different types of continuous or intermittent, contact or non-contact, application processes.
All these problems largely reduce the production line efficiency as they require line stop, line cleaning and maintenance and waste management at start & stop, and also increase the rate of non-conforming end-products for example due to bad patterns or poor bond performances. In this context, it is thus very important that the production lines are not stopped because of issues related or induced by the hot melt adhesive.
Various patent literatures teach to use low softening point tackifier, or less polymer content and more plasticizer to obtain a low temperature applicable hot-melt adhesive, for example to avoid "burn through" phenomenon in case of thinner substrates or thermally sensitive substrates such as polyolefin substrates. However, this often led to negative cohesion and deterioration of creep resistance of the adhesive. Also, the processability of these adhesives was not suitable for high line speed of at least 400 m/mn and intermittent application mode.
WO 2014/175410 (Henkel Ag & Co KGAA) deals with a hot-melt adhesive composition comprising a blend of thermoplastic block copolymers of vinyl aromatic hydrocarbons and conjugated diene compounds, comprising: (A1) a radial type styrene block copolymer having a styrene content of 35 to 45% by weight and a diblock content of 50 to 90% by weight, and having a viscosity at 25° C. as 25% by weight toluene solution of not more than 250 mPa·s., and (A2) a styrene block copolymer having a styrene content of less than 30% by weight, and having a viscosity at 25° C. as 25% by weight toluene solution of more than 250 mPa·s, and a tackifying resin. The composition is taught to be capable to be applied at low temperature (not higher than 140° C.) and to display an excellent adhesiveness to a polyolefin substrate, to be used to manufacture a disposable product.
However, this document does not describe the hot-melt adhesive composition according to the present invention. Neither does it mention the use of a lamination process at a high speed line of at least 400 m/mn. As mentioned above, the use of such high speed line process can raise new problems compared to the use of conventional lower speed application process.
Therefore, there is a real need for Elastic Attachment adhesive offering stable and good performances with enhanced processability at high speed, and which should also be compatible with the new generation of thinner substrates and contact and non-contact application technologies.
It has now been found that it is possible to develop SBC based adhesive, which can be applied at a low temperature (avoiding avoid "burn through" phenomenon) with excellent processability at high speed line (of at least 400 m/mn), which exhibits good coating and adhesive properties for elastic attachment to different substrates and which can provide as well good adhesive pattern control under various application processes.
As mentioned above, one of the advantages of the hot-melt adhesive composition according to the invention is that it can be used at high speed line (of at least 400 m/mn) at a relatively low temperature (as low as 130° C.) and low pressure, and thus enable to avoid maintenance issues and downtime production lines.
Indeed, the hot-melt adhesive composition according to the invention displays excellent processability on high speed coating systems (at a speed rate of at least 400 m/mn and up to 600 m/mn) intended to be used to manufacture disposable hygiene articles without inducing line shutdown (which usually occurs when pump or pipe pressure level reaches or exceeds a maximum limit pressure) and/or without inducing variability of the coated adhesive add-ons.
The word "processability" as used herein corresponds to the ability to melt, pump and transport easily the molten adhesive material to the final location where the bond is required without exceeding the pressure limit in the pumping system (which is usually of 60 bar or above) of standard coating systems, such as those usually used to manufacture disposable hygiene articles, and as further illustrated in the examples.
As mentioned above, another advantage of the hot-melt adhesive composition according to the invention relates to its adhesive properties.
The hot-melt adhesive composition according to the invention displays a good compromise between retention force (cohesion) and adhesion (tackiness) to different substrates (Non-Woven (NW) substrates, Polyolefines such as PE or PP, elastic material such as elastic strands) under various application process, such as those of continuous or intermittent, contact or non-contact coating systems usually used to manufacture disposable hygiene articles.
In particular, it was found that the hot-melt adhesive composition according to the invention enables to manufacture laminates, under contact or non-contact application process, with an excellent creep resistance or bond retention (of at least 75%). In particular, the hot-melt adhesive composition of the invention provides an initial creep resistance of more than 75%, preferably ranging from 80 to 95%.
It was observed that these properties were maintained over time (at room temperature (23° C.) or higher temperature), as illustrated in the examples. In particular, the long term performance of the hot-melt adhesive according to the invention remained roughly unchanged even after ageing for long periods (up to 2-4 weeks at room temperature or at higher temperature (up to 55° C.)).
As mentioned above, another advantage of the hot-melt adhesive composition according to the invention relates to its good coating properties and its good adhesive patterns control, under various application process. These properties are important to get consistent coating results.
It was found that the hot-melt adhesive composition according to the invention provides regular patterns and/or neat cut-offs, under continuous or intermittent application mode.
In particular, it was found that the hot-melt adhesive composition according to the invention can be applied in the desired amount and at the desired location where the bond is required at high speed (>400 m/min) and at low temperature (130-140° C.), under continuous or high intermittent frequency mode, using standard coating systems.
In particular, the hot-melt adhesive composition of the invention provides stable and good wrapping of elastic strands at high line speed.
It has also been found that the hot-melt adhesive composition according to the invention can be used at high speed, as well as at lower speed manufacturing lines of disposable hygiene products, without raising any problems in terms of processability, pattern control, coating property or adhesive performance.
In another aspect, the hot-melt adhesive according to the invention also exhibits a high cold flow resistance, at room temperature (23° C.), and is thus easier to handle and to store.
In another aspect, it was found that the hot-melt adhesive according to the invention is less sensitive to the variation of configuration of the application system, in particular with respect to the contact angle between the adhesive discharger axis and the surface of the substrate to be coated.
Further features and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description of embodiments of the invention, given as non-limiting examples.

Hot-melt adhesive composition for elastic attachments


A zoom lens includes, in order from the object side, a positive first group, a negative second group, a stop, a positive third group, a negative fourth group, and a positive fifth group. During magnification change from the wide-angle end to the telephoto end, the first to fourth groups are moved to always increase the distance between the first and second groups, always decrease the distance between the second and third groups, and change the distance between the third and fourth groups and the distance between the fourth and fifth groups. The third group includes, in order from the object side, at least a positive lens, a positive lens, a negative lens, and a positive lens, and satisfies condition expression (1) below:25<νdD−νdA<70  (1),where νdA and νdD are Abbe numbers at the d-line of the most object-side lens A and the most image-side lens D.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a zoom lens, and particularly to a zoom lens that is suitable for uses with electronic cameras, such as digital cameras, video cameras, broadcasting cameras, monitoring cameras, etc.
The present invention also relates to an imaging apparatus provided with the zoom lens.
Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, as a zoom lens suitable for achieving high magnification, a five-group type zoom lens including, in order from the object side, a first lens group having a positive refractive power, a second lens group having a negative refractive power, a third lens group having a positive refractive power, a fourth lens group having a negative refractive power, and a fifth lens group having a positive refractive power is known.
This type of zoom lens is advantageous for correcting aberrations along with magnification change while keeping the entire length of the zoom lens relatively short. Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2014-029375 (hereinafter, Patent Document 1) discloses this type of zoom lens as Example 6, and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2011-186454 (hereinafter, Patent Document 2) discloses this type of zoom lens as Examples 1 to 3.


Hardware-assisted program tracing is facilitated by a processor that includes a root instruction address register, a program trace signature computation unit and a call signature register. When a program instruction having an address matching the root instruction address register is executed, a program trace signature is captured in the call signature register and capture of branch history is commenced. By accumulating different values of the call signature register, for example in response to an interrupt generated when the root instruction is executed, software that performs program tracing can obtain signatures of all of the multiple execution paths that lead to the root instruction, which is also specified by software in order to set different root instructions for program tracing. In an alternative implementation, a storage for multiple call signatures is provided in the processor and read at once by the software.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to hardware-assisted program tracing, and more specifically to a processor and method that capture a call signature when a specified root instruction is executed, and optionally when the call signature also has a specified value.
2. Description of Related Art
Run-time program tracing software provides valuable insight as to the actual patterns of execution encountered during program execution. Such information can be used to selectively optimize program code and to inform developers of actual run-time conditions. Information gathered by profiling programs that study program execution can be used by systems' processes to adapt pre-fetching and for run-time optimization of program code organization and storage.
Hardware mechanisms have been used to assist in program tracing, such a branch history table (BHT) storage. The function of the BHT is to identify the program path leading up to an event, such as an interrupt, by including the addresses of the most-recent branch instructions for which the branch was taken leading up to the event. Software subsequently reads the BHT in order to identify the program path leading up to the event.
However, specific hardware mechanisms to support program tracing along specific program paths are not generally present in today's processors.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a processor and software that can cooperate to facilitate program tracing and profiling.

Hardware-assisted program trace collection with selectable call-signature capture

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


The present invention relates to methods for treating nicotine addiction. The method involves administering to the patient an effective amount of a compound having the formula: ##STR1## wherein R.sup.1 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen and C1 to C6 alkyl;. R.sup.2 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, methyl, and ethyl; PA1 R.sup.3 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, methyl, C1 to C6 alkanoyl, C3 to C6 cycloalkanoyl, and pyridinecarbonyl; PA1 Q is a bivalent alkylene moiety; and PA1 Y is selected from the group consisting of a halo-(C2 to C6)-alkenyl moiety having 1 or 2 chlorine or bromine atoms attached to the ethylenic carbon, a cycloalkyl moiety, a cyano moiety, and a cyano-(C3 to C6)-alkenyl moiety. or a pharmaceutically acceptable acid-addition salt thereof.

Cigarette smoking has many adverse consequences. In addition to being one of the major preventable causes of death in the United States from lung cancer and coronary artery disease, smoking has been implicated in cancers of the larynx, pancreas, bladder, kidney, and cervix. Smoking during pregnancy has been shown to increase the incidences of still births, neonatal deaths, premature delivery, low birth weight, and fetal death. Smoking also has adverse impacts on breast feeding: it reduces milk production, decreases the milk's vitamin C content, and increases colicky pain and diarrhea in the breast-fed infant. Hospital admissions for bronchitis and pneumonia are twice as high for children whose parents smoke. These children also have increased risk of cancer later in life.
Despite the potential adverse health effects to the smoker and smoker's family, the vast majority of cigarette smokers are unable to cease smoking. The lack of smoking cessation success is attributed, in part, to nicotine addiction. One third to one half of occasional cigarette smokers graduate to maladaptive use and to physical dependence on nicotine. In fact, addiction to nicotine, as described in past U.S. Surgeon General's reports on smoking, is widespread, with over 50 million smokers in the United States alone. As a result of the effects of nicotine, most tobacco-dependent persons never achieve lasting abstinence, and half of all smokers die prematurely of tobacco-related disease.
Greater understanding of the adverse health effects of tobacco consumption has led to an increase in research on the nature of nicotine addiction and its treatment.
Nicotine is a water-soluble and lipid-soluble base. When delivered in alkaline cigar and pipe smoke, smokeless tobacco, and some European cigarettes, nicotine is readily absorbed across the mucosal membranes of the mouth and nose, which explains the rapid absorption associated with smokeless tobacco. Cigarette smoke is acidic and must be inhaled to be absorbed effectively in the pulmonary alveoli, where absorption is rapid. From the lung, nicotine is absorbed into alveolar capillary blood and carried to the heart and then to the brain and other organs.
All widely marketed cigarettes deliver sufficient nicotine to establish and sustain dependence readily. Cigarettes contain 6 to 11 mg of nicotine, of which the smoker typically absorbs 1 to 3 mg, irrespective of the nicotine-yield ratings provided by the tobacco company. The typical pack-per-day smoker absorbs 20 to 40 mg of nicotine each day, achieving plasma concentrations of 25 to 35 ng per milliliter by the afternoon. The plasma half-life of nicotine is approximately two hours.
The effects of nicotine that are associated with dependence include increased expression of brain nicotine receptors, changes in regional brain glucose metabolism, electroencephalograph changes, the release of catecholamines, tolerance, and physiologic dependence. These effects increase the compulsion to smoke by producing positive reinforcement (with the administration of nicotine) and withdrawal symptoms (with abstinence).
Withdrawal symptoms are intensified by abrupt abstinence from nicotine, beginning within a few hours, peaking within a few days, and typically lasting for four weeks, although there is considerable variability. Most people who quit smoking relapse within one week, when withdrawal symptoms are at or near their peak. Thereafter, the correlation between withdrawal symptoms and relapse is weak.
Although a variety of approaches have been used to treat nicotine dependency, none have proven widely successful. They include stopping "cold turkey", hypnosis, electroshock, acupuncture, behavioral counseling, as well as various forms of therapeutic support. Nicotine replacement therapies, such as via transdermal patches or nicotine gum, in conjunction with behavioral counseling are now commonly used to treat nicotine withdrawal and to aid smoking cessation.
Nicotine gum and transdermal nicotine delivery systems decrease abstinence discomfort, especially anxiety, decreased memory, and irritability. However, they do not reliably decrease weight gain or craving, and they are unable to mimic the high plasma concentrations of nicotine which is experienced when nicotine is delivered by smoking. Moreover, discontinuing the use of nicotine gum can lead to the same withdrawal symptoms as those experienced after cigarette withdrawal. In addition, since nicotine is toxic, the availability of nicotine gum or patches poses a risk of poisoning to children and pets.
Another method for treating nicotine addiction involves the administration of lobeline, an alkaloid obtained from the dried leaves and tops of the Indian tobacco herb, Lobelia inflata. Lobeline is a substituted piperidine compound that produces several physiological affects, some of which are similar to those produced by nicotine. Because of lobeline's pharmacological similarities with nicotine, it has been considered as a substitute for nicotine which assists individuals in lessening addiction to nicotine and in ceasing to smoke cigarettes. However, lobeline's potency in causing these physiological effects is significantly less than that of nicotine. Furthermore, although use of lobeline as a smoking cessation aid has been studied since at least the 1930's, its efficacy has been a matter of dispute. Moreover, severe, undesirable side-effects have been reported.
Although nicotine withdrawal symptoms are, in many respects, similar to those experienced during withdrawal from other addictive substances, including decreased heart rate, anxiety, tension, difficulty concentrating, impatience, depression, increased appetite with accompanied weight gain, irritability, and restlessness, treatment modalities used for other addictions (e.g., cocaine, amphetamine, or opiate addiction) have not found application in the treatment of nicotine addiction.
Studies designed to elucidate the mechanism of nicotine's addictive powers and to correlate this mechanism with those of other addictive substances (e.g., cocaine, amphetamines, or opiates) have been inconclusive. For example, several studies have suggested that nicotine dependence, like cocaine dependence, may be attributed to a reinforcing effect mediated by an increase in dopamine in the brain. Other studies (e.g., Corrigall et al., "Selective Dopamine Antagonists Reduce Nicotine Self-Administration," Psychopharmacology, 104:171-174 (1991)), however, have shown that the effects of dopamine antagonists on nicotine self-administration are different from the effects of these antagonists on cocaine self-administration. For instance, in self-administration studies with cocaine, treatment with dopamine antagonists usually leads to compensatory increases in the amount of cocaine administered. Similarly, animals appear to adjust their cocaine self-administrating response fairly precisely when the dose is changed. However, no such degree of regulation in nicotine self-administration was observed. In fact, the same doses of dopamine antagonists which produce compensatory increases in cocaine self-administration actually produce decreases in nicotine self-administration. Consequently, it appears that the dopamergic responses to nicotine and cocaine are different.
In view of the serious health effects of nicotine dependency and the limitations of presently-available methods for treating this addiction, a need remains for effective methods of reducing nicotine addiction. The present invention is directed to meeting this need.


A multilayer capacitor includes a multilayer body in which a plurality of dielectric layers and a plurality of internal electrodes are alternately laminated, and a plurality of terminal electrodes formed on side faces of the multilayer body. The multilayer body has a first capacitor portion and a second capacitor portion. The first capacitor portion includes first and second internal electrodes as the internal electrodes. The second capacitor portion includes third and fourth internal electrodes as the internal electrodes. Each of the first to fourth internal electrodes is electrically connected through a lead conductor or through lead conductors to one or more corresponding terminal electrodes among the first to fourth terminal electrodes. The first and second capacitor portions have their respective capacitances different from each other.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multilayer capacitor.
2. Related Background Art
An example of the known multilayer capacitors of this type is one having a multilayer body in which a plurality of dielectric layers and a plurality of internal electrodes are alternately laminated, and a plurality of terminal electrodes formed on the multilayer body (e.g., reference is made to Patent Document 1).
Incidentally, a multilayer capacitor to be connected to a power-supply circuit or the like of an electronic device in order to remove noise is demanded to demonstrate the effect of removing noise in a wide frequency band. In order to effectively remove noise in a wide frequency band, the multilayer capacitor of this type is required to have low impedance over the wide band.
Patent Document 1 discloses a multilayer capacitor in which two capacitors with different capacitances obtained by division of internal electrodes are integrally formed. This multilayer capacitor achieves the low impedance in the wide band, based on the integral formation of the two capacitors with different capacitances.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 07-142285


A new and distinct Chrysanthemum plant cultivar is disclosed, characterized by large daisy type inflorescences, consistent flowering response to short days, blooming consistently after 50 to 55 days of short day length, bi color orange and yellow ray florets, moderate to compact growth habit and a postharvest longevity of an average of 35 days.

The new cultivar 'GG 6501' is a product of a naturally occurring, single branch mutation of the parent Chrysanthemum plant variety 'GG 450' (not patented) which is an undistributed proprietary cultivar. The new cultivar was discovered and selected by Leo van Zanten in August 2003 in Oxnard, Calif.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar 'GG 6501' by terminal cuttings and tissue culture was performed in Oxnard, Calif. and Carpinteria, Calif., and has shown that the unique features of this new cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type on successive generations.