A chair having an automatically adjusting resistance to tilt. The chair includes a back support, a frame, a base and a back pivot member, which is pivotally mounted to the frame, and a seat, which is also pivotally mounted to the frame, such that an occupant of the chair adjusts resistance to tilt or reclining of the chair by applying a rearward force to the back support.

A. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a device for supporting an occupant in a seated position, and in one preferred embodiment, to a chair of the reclining back type. In a further preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a chair having a resistance to tilting that automatically adjusts in proportion to the weight of the user and the tilt angle.
B. Description of the Related Art
Reclining type chairs commonly used in offices typically provide for the back support to recline alone, for the seat and back support to recline as a unit, or for the back support to recline in a coordinated proportion with the seat. If the back support alone pivots, it generally creates a problem known as "shirttail pull." This problem is particularly acute if the pivot of the chair back support is not coordinated with the natural body action of the occupant. This problem can also be accentuated by the tendency of the hips of the occupant to slide forward as the back support tilts rearwardly.
In chairs where both the seat and back recline as a unit, in the reclined position there is a tendency to lift the legs of the occupant from the floor, which creates an undue pressure by the forward edge of the seat against the underside of the legs of the occupant immediately above the knee. To overcome this problem, the pivot point of the reclining action may be moved forward sufficiently to permit the occupant's feet to remain on the floor. One undesirable effect of this arrangement is that the body angle between the occupant's torso and his legs is unchanged, and as a result, the occupant's eye level drops undesirably when the chair is reclined.
In any reclining chair, it is desirable that the recline pivot point be at the center of the body or where the occupant's back normally pivots (i.e., an axis through the user's hip joints). However, the pivot point of a reclining chair is normally displaced from the ideal pivot point. It is also desirable to have a chair wherein the angle between the occupant's torso and his legs opens up to relieve internal congestive body pressures. It is further desirable to provide a chair wherein the user's feet remain on the floor and the recline action parallels the natural body action closely enough to avoid the common shirttail pull problem.
Therefore, it is also desirable to provide a chair of simple, economical construction that lends itself to high production manufacturing and fabrication procedures, and yet of clean, pleasing appearance emphasizing the isolated and separate appearance of the seat and back support with respect to the supporting frame and base.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,429,917 to Diffrient allegedly reports a chair with a four bar non-parallel linkage mechanism to obviate many of these problems. Likewise, U.S. Pat. No. 4,943,114 to Piretti allegedly reports a chair with a compact backrest linkage mechanism that enables the chair back support and seat to recline. U.S. Pat. No. 5,251,958 to Roericht et al. allegedly reports a chair with a synchronous adjusting device that uses the weight of the user to provide a restoring force to return the chair back support to an upright position after a user has reclined in the chair. U.S. Pat. No. 5,486,035 to Koepke, et al., asserts, without providing any showing, that "[i]n such constructions, the difficulty of reclining the chair, i.e., generating the reclining force, increases the further the chair is reclined, and it is common to employ adjusting apparatus for increasing or decreasing the reclining tension of a chair, such adjusting apparatus changing the tension of a spring, or otherwise modifying the reclining mechanism" (col. 1, 11. 29-34).
Moreover, while it is believed that some reclining chairs heretofore available have had a means to adjust their resistance to reclining, such adjustments have been less than ideal, very cumbersome or not practicable to an occupant. Instead, rather than confront the processes necessary to adjust their chairs to fit the needs of their particular body build, most occupants of chairs use them without making any adjustments. Consequently, any ergonomic advantages that might be delivered by the properly tuned chair are not achieved. Thus, there remains a need for a chair that is adjustable to the needs of the individual chair occupant without requiring any substantial effort on the occupant's part to effect the adjustments—in other words, a substantially self-adjusting ergonomic chair.

Chair having an automatically adjusting resistance to tilting


A method including receiving a message at a source gateway of the local network, the message includes message data corresponding to a plurality of message elements, assigning a unique group ID based on the type of message received at the source gateway, extracting a message format from the received message, the message format defines how the message data is organized with respect to the message elements, and associating the extracted message format with the unique group ID. The method further including storing, locally, the extracted message format together with the associated unique group ID, establishing a dedicated connection between the source gateway and a target gateway of the remote network based on the unique group ID, encoding the message based on the extracted message format, and sending the encoded message from the source gateway to the target gateway across the dedicated connection.

The present invention relates generally to the field of remote sensing, and more particularly to information processing in a wireless sensor network.
The Internet of Things has become very popular in recent years, and sensor networks, for example, play an important role in the Internet of Things. This has resulted in a very large number of sensors producing overwhelming amounts of data. That data being produced and/or acquired by the sensors in such large quantities has the potential to very easily exhaust network resources. When the network resources become exhausted, the efficiency of data collection and analytics is affected, therefore risking the overall performance of Internet of Things networks.
The traffic pattern of a typical Internet of Things application is very unique. The amount and frequency of data collected from various nodes, for example sensors, is very high; however, the size of each message being sent and received between networks is relatively small. More importantly, a closer look at the messages being sent and received may reveal the data contained in those messages may reflect incremental changes in the data in addition to data without any changes. For example, a sensor acquiring temperature may report little or no change over time.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Delivery of incremental sensor data over optimized channel

International Business Machines Corporation


The present invention relates generally to the field of prophylaxis and therapy for inflammatory and/or fibrotic diseases which include responses to injuries. In particular, the present invention is related to agents that can bind or complex copper such as thiomolybdate, and to the use of these agents in the prevention and treatment of inflammatory and/or fibrotic diseases. Exemplary thiomolybdates include mono-, di-, tri- and tetrathiomolybdate; these agents are administered to patients to prevent and/or treat inflammatory and/or fibrotic diseases, such as pulmonary disease including pulmonary fibrosis and acute respiratory distress syndrome, liver disease including liver cirrhosis and hepatitis C, kidney disease including renal interstitial fibrosis, scleroderma, cystic fibrosis, pancreatic fibrosis, keloid, secondary fibrosis in the gastrointestinal tract, hypertrophic burn scars, myocardial fibrosis, Alzheimer's disease, retinal detachment inflammation and/or fibrosis resulting after surgery, and graft versus host and host versus graft rejections.

Many diseases begin with inflammation, which if excessive, may overwhelm and kill the patient, or if the patient survives, often leads to a disabling fibrosis, which ultimately may also kill the patient.
A classic example is ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome) which may be initiated by any one of several lung injuries (smoke inhalation, near drowning, some infections, etc.). About one third of these patients die, overwhelmed by inflammatory processes in the lung. In those patients that don't die, there is a high risk of developing interstitial pulmonary fibrosis, which is itself often a progressive and fatal disease. A similar pattern is seen in inflammatory diseases of the liver (such as hepatitis C) which lead to cirrhosis, in inflammatory diseases of the kidney, such as glomerulonephritis, which lead to glomerulosclerosis and renal interstitial fibrosis, and in diseases of the skin, leading to systemic sclerosis (scleroderma). Other diseases with similar patterns include pancreatic fibrosis, bowel inflammations leading to fibrosis and obstruction, and acute burn multiple organ damage.
Recently, evidence has been accumulating that the common condition of inflammation may also underlie many other chronic and debilitating diseases, such as Alzheimer's, heart disease, osteoporosis and diabetes, and that drugs that fight inflammation may have a role in preventing or delaying those diseases, or at least slowing them down. Typically, anti-inflammatory drugs belong to the class of drugs known as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS), which include ibuprofen and naproxen, aspirin, and prescription drugs known as cox-2-inhibitors, including celecoxib (Celebrex) and rofecoxib (Vioxx) as well as diclofenac (Voltaren), indomethacin (Indocin), and other less commonly used drugs. However, patients at risk for these common and chronic diseases are not encouraged to take anti-inflammatory drugs, other than aspirin, at least in part because regular use of these drugs is not safe for everyone. Side effects can include stomachache or nausea in up to 20 percent of patients, and stomach or intestinal ulcers and bleeding in 2 percent to 4 percent of those who take the drugs for a year, especially for people over 60. The stomach bleeding can occur with little warning, and it can be fatal. Even low doses of aspirin can cause stomach bleeding in some people, and it can also cause a slight increase in the risk of a less common type of stroke, also brought on by cerebral hemorrhage. Anti-inflammatory drugs may make kidney disease worse, and cox-2 drugs have been suggested to cause an increase in the risk of heart attack.
Currently there is no effective therapy for these inflammatory and/or fibrotic diseases. Moreover, anti-inflammatory drugs possess high levels of risk, especially with prolonged use. Thus, what is needed is an effective therapy for inflammatory and/or fibrotic disease; preferably, such therapy is also safe, especially for long-term use.

Copper lowering treatment of inflammatory and fibrotic diseases

The Regents of the University of Michigan


A method, an apparatus, and a system for configuring, designing, and/or implementing database tables are detailed that provides a framework into which a remainder of database tables is developed. Also detailed is a method to develop this framework of database tables. This so developed framework provides a platform for converting multiple independent heterogeneous databases into standardized homogeneous databases.

Database development is a relatively new technology dating back to around the 1960's. In 1976, the concept of entity-relationship diagramming and data modeling was developed. One function of data models is to design the structures of databases such as database tables and database columns. By the late 1980's, specialized databases, referred to as data warehouses, where being designed for the purpose of optimizing report generation. The data warehouse database uses data redundancy and data aggregation to improve data retrieval speed.
Alternative data model development methods have since been developed that are variations of the entity-relationship diagrams. These alternative data model development methods are also computer based software applications that include the Unified Modeling Language method and the Object-Oriented Data Modeling method. Also, some vendors supply skeletal data models stored in computer memory that are incomplete data models usually specific to certain industries. The purchased skeletal data models are then completed in computer memory where more specific data requirements are implemented.

Method and apparatus for converting heterogeneous databases into standardized homogeneous databases


A carbonaceous composition usable to constitute a supercapacitor cell electrode, a porous electrode usable to equip such a cell, a process for manufacturing this electrode and one such cell incorporating at least one such electrode, for example in order to equip an electric vehicle. This composition is usable to be in contact with an aqueous ionic electrolyte, is based on a carbonaceous powder and comprises a hydrophilic binder-forming system. The system may include between 3% and 10% by weight a first crosslinked polymer having a number-average molecular weight Mn of greater than 1000 g/mol and having alcohol groups, and between 0.3% and 3% by weight a second polymer of at least one acid and which has a pKa of between 0 and 6 and a number-average molecular weight Mn of greater than 500 g/mol, the first polymer being crosslinked thermally in the presence of the second polymer.

Supercapacitors are electrical energy storage systems that are particularly advantageous for applications that require electrical energy to be conveyed at high power. Their aptitude for rapid charging and decharging, their increased service life compared to a high-power battery make them promising candidates for many applications. Supercapacitors generally consist of the combination of two conductive porous electrodes having a high specific surface area, submerged in an ionic electrolyte and separated by an insulating membrane known as a "separator", which enables ionic conductivity and prevents electrical contact between the electrodes. Each electrode is in contact with a metallic collector that enables the exchange of the electric current with an outside system. Under the influence of a potential difference applied between the two electrodes, the ions present within the electrolyte are attracted by the electrode surface having an opposite charge, thus forming an electrochemical double layer at the interface of each electrode. The electrical energy is thus stored electrostatically by charge separation. The expression of the capacitance C of a supercapacitor is identical to that of a conventional capacitor, namely:
C=ε·S/e, where ε denotes the permittivity of the medium, S the surface area occupied by the double layer, and e the thickness of the double layer.
The capacitances that can be achieved within supercapacitors are nevertheless much higher than those commonly achieved by conventional capacitors, due to the use of carbonaceous electrodes having a maximized specific surface area and the extreme thinness of the electrochemical double layer (typically a few nanometers thick). These carbonaceous electrodes must inevitably be conductive in order to ensure the transport of the electrical charges, porous in order to ensure the transport of the ionic charges and the formation of the electrical double layer over a large surface area, and chemically inert in order to prevent any unwanted energy-consuming reaction.
The energy E stored within a supercapacitor is defined according to the conventional expression for capacitors, namely:
E=½ CV2, where V is the potential of the supercapacitance.
The capacitance and the potential are therefore two essential parameters that it is necessary to optimize to promote energetic performances. The capacitance depends on the porous texture actually accessible by the electrolyte. However, for applications in transport and especially for an electric vehicle, it is necessary to have a high energy density in order to limit the onboard mass of the supercapacitor, which makes it necessary to have a high mass capacitance.
The potential of a supercapacitor mainly depends on the nature of the electrolyte used and especially on its electrochemical stability, it being specified that there are two major families of electrolytes which are organic and aqueous electrolytes.
Organic electrolytes are based on an organic salt (typically a quaternary ammonium salt) dispersed in an organic solvent. Although certain organic electrolytes make it possible to achieve an operating potential of 2.7 V, organic electrolytes have the drawback of being expensive, inflammable, toxic and potentially polluting, thus posing safety problems for use in a vehicle.
Aqueous electrolytes are on the contrary inexpensive and nonflammable, which renders them attractive for certain applications. The potential that can be applied with these electrolytes is limited to the water stability range, of the order of 1.2 V. Among the aqueous electrolytes that can be used in a supercapacitor, mention may, for example, be made of aqueous solutions of sulfuric acid, of potassium chloride, of potassium sulfate or of other salts in an acid, basic or neutral medium.
In order to be able to achieve operation with high powers, the resistance to the passage of the current in the system must be very low. Indeed, this resistance, which is the sum of the resistances of the various components of the system and especially the resistance of the electrolyte, and that of the current collectors, generates losses by the Joule effect which reduce the efficiency of the supercapacitor. An important contribution is the resistance of the interface between the metallic current collector and the carbonaceous active material of the electrode, which is dependent on the quality and on the nature of the contact. It is therefore necessary to use an electrode that has a good adhesion with the metals used for the collectors in order to improve the electrical contact.
There are currently several techniques for the preparation and implementation of electrodes based on carbon powder for supercapacitors operating with an aqueous ionic electrolyte.
A first technique for example described in documents US-A1-2007/0146967, U.S. Pat. No. B2-7,811,337, EP-A1-1 255 261, US-A1-2006/0000071, U.S. Pat. No. B2-7,316,864, US-A1-2011/0176255 and US-A1-2009/0110806, consists in dispersing the carbon powder with a hydrophobic binder in a solvent or organic monomer, in coating the composition onto a current collector then in evaporating this solvent or in polymerizing this monomer. A typical example of a hydrophobic binder used is poly(vinyl difluoride) (PVDF) used in N-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone (NMP). This technique has the drawback of using toxic products and of releasing volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Furthermore, since the binder cannot be swollen by the aqueous electrolyte, it is necessary to have a large macroporosity of the electrode in order to enable the diffusion of this electrolyte into the electrode, which mechanically weakens the electrode and does not make it possible to have a maximum capacitance.
Another technique consists in using a hydrophobic binder, such as a latex in water. This technique, for example described in documents U.S. Pat. No. B1-6,356,432, US-A1-2010/0304270 or JP-A 1-11-162794 makes it possible to avoid the release of organic solvent but does not enable an optimum exchange in diffusion of the electrolyte in the electrode, which does not lead to an optimum capacitance for the electrode.
Document US-A1-2009/0325069 presents another technique which consists in utilizing hydrophilic binder systems used in an aqueous medium, but the only electrolyte tested in this document in connection with the electrodes manufactured by means of this system is an organic electrolyte (see paragraph [0180]) consisting of ethylammonium tetrafluoroborate dissolved in propylene carbonate. The binder systems tested in this document are based on a propylene/ethylene or propylene/butene/ethylene copolymer modified by maleic anhydride, and additionally comprise N,N-dimethylethanolamine (DMEA) or triethylamine (TEA) as basic compound. These systems are prepared using an organic solvent consisting of n-propanol or tetrahydrofuran, and optionally comprise a reactive surfactant.
A major drawback of such a hydrophilic binder system lies in the dissolving thereof in the water of a specifically aqueous electrolyte.

Carbonaceous composition for supercapacitor cell electrode, electrode, process for the manufacture thereof and cell incorporating same


A mounting arrangement for a powertrain of a vehicle, the powertrain comprising an engine operable to produce a torque about a torque axis and the mounting arrangement comprising: a primary coupling connected at a primary mounting point of the powertrain and configured to securely couple the powertrain to a structural member of the vehicle; and, connected between the powertrain and one or more structural members of the vehicle: a pair of pitch control struts configured to substantially inhibit movement of the powertrain in directions perpendicular to the torque axis; and a roll control strut configured to substantially inhibit rotational motion of the engine about the torque axis; wherein the pitch control and roll control struts are connected to the powertrain and the one or more structural members of the vehicle at strut mountings configured to compliantly resist movements of the powertrain about the primary coupling in a direction parallel to the torque axis.

This invention relates to a mounting arrangement for a vehicle powertrain.
A mounting arrangement for an engine must fulfil two main requirements. Firstly, the mounting must be able to support and control the powertrain under all operating loads, and secondly, the mounting must be strong enough to restrain the engine in the event of a crash. Various measures of crash worthiness are used for automobiles around the world, such as the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP), with each measure defining a set of minimum safety requirements that a new vehicle must satisfy. Generally automobile manufacturers strive to exceed the minimum requirements so as to ensure that their vehicles score highly in each measure of crash worthiness.
In an automobile and many other types of vehicle, these requirements must be achieved while delivering an environment in line with the comfort targets for the vehicle in relation to the occupants and persons outside the vehicle. An engine is a significant source of noise and vibration in a vehicle and care must therefore be taken to ensure that the noise and modes of vibration of an engine are sufficiently isolated from the vehicle structure so as not to exceed the noise and vibration targets. Measurements of the noise and vibration characteristics of a vehicle are generally referred to as Noise, Vibration and Harshness (NVH) tests and comprise a mixture of objective and subjective tests on the noise and vibration developed by a vehicle.
In conventional mounting arrangements, an engine is supported by several rigid brackets coupled to the engine by means of flexible bushings, which are typically pan type bushings mounted onto the sides of the engine. The various forces generated between the engine and vehicle structure are distributed over the brackets, which work together to restrain the engine in the event of a crash. Each rigid coupling is generally stiff in all three dimensions so as to provide a secure connection between the engine and vehicle chassis and avoid any resonant couplings between the engine and vehicle. NVH performance can be achieved by appropriate tuning of the flexible bushings.
Such conventional engine mounting arrangements can provide the necessary strength but the rigid brackets add a significant amount of weight to the basic load bearing frame of an automobile. Furthermore, due to package constraints it is often difficult to attach to stiff regions of the body structure which can compromise the mount isolation, resulting in poor NVH performance of the system.
There is therefore a need for an improved powertrain mounting arrangement for vehicles which provides adequate NVH control and isolation.


The invention provides an improved lock bar system for enclosing at least one peg hook. The lock bar system can be in a merchandising display with the lock bar system including a peg hook support frame mounted to the merchandising display supporting a plurality of peg hooks in lateral spaced relation. The peg hooks include forward extending rods for supporting retail product, the peg hook support frame supporting a movable product retainer extending across forward ends of the plurality of peg hooks, the product retainer subject to a lock having a locked condition preventing removal of product from the peg hooks and an unlocked condition permitting removal of product from the peg hooks.

This invention relates to a locking bar system for merchandise. More particularly, it is for locking display merchandise that is placed on rods extending from a wall or pegboard. Merchandise is typically displayed to enable a customer to see merchandise and select items prior to purchasing. However, shoplifting is a known problem in retail settings, especially for high priced items.
It would be desirable to enable customers to view merchandise, even high-priced merchandise, on a display. Prior art methods of protecting merchandise include U.S. Pat. No. 5,027,622 to Hatch et al. (Jul. 2, 1991), which includes a locking device for attaching to individual peg hooks. Individually locking peg hooks, however, is inefficient in that store clerks must unlock each peg hook one at a time for customers. Moreover, by locking only the forward end of a peg hook, shop lifters can choose to remove the peg hook entirely to pilfer product. What is needed is an efficient and efficacious system and method for protecting product on peg hooks.


The present invention discloses a method and apparatus for determining and reporting the operational status of an integrated services hub. The AC power supply and wide area network connection of the integrated services hub are monitored, and a signal is sent to a user upon detecting a problem. The AC power supply is preferably monitored through a bit on a power supply status register. The wide area network connection is preferably monitored through a network status register on a line interface chip or chip set residing in the integrated service hub and connected to the wide area network. The warning signal is preferably an audible warning tone played through a telephone receiver connected to the integrated services hub.

The present invention relates to an integrated services hub (ISH) for use with broadband packet networks, and more specifically it relates to a method and apparatus for determining the operational status of the ISH and reporting that status to a user.
Traditionally, telephony communications within the United States were handled by the public switched telecommunications network (PSTN). The PSTN can be characterized as a network designed for voice communications, primarily on a circuit-switched basis, with full interconnection among individual networks. The PSTN network is largely analog at the local loop level, digital at the backbone level, and generally provisioned on a wireline, rather than a wireless, basis. The PSTN includes switches that route communications between end users. Circuit switches are the devices that establish connectivity between circuits through an internal switching matrix. Circuit switches set connections between circuits through the establishment of a talk path or transmission path. The connection and the associated bandwidth are provided temporarily, continuously, and exclusively for the duration of the session, or call. While developed to support voice communications, circuit switches can support any form of information transfer (e.g., data and video communications).
In a traditional PSTN environment, circuit switches include central office (CO) exchanges, tandem exchanges, access tandem exchanges, and international gateway facilities. Central offices, also known as exchanges, provide local access services to end users via local loop connections within a relatively small area of geography known as an exchange area. In other words, the CO provides the ability for a subscriber within that neighborhood to connect to another subscriber within that neighborhood. Central offices, also known as end offices, reside at the terminal ends of the network. In other words, COs are the first point of entry into the PSTN and the last point of exit. They are also known as class 5 offices, the lowest class in the switching hierarchy. A class 5 telephone switch communicates with an analog telephone using the analog telephony signals in the well-known analog format. The class 5 telephone switch provides power to the telephone; detects off-hook status of the telephone and provides a dial tone in response; detects dual-tone multi-frequency signals from the caller and initiates a call in the network; plays a ringback tone to the caller when the far-end telephone is ringing; plays a busy tone to the caller when the far-end telephone is busy; provides ring current to the telephone on incoming calls; and provides traditional telephone services such as call waiting, call forwarding, caller ID, etc.
In an effort to increase the amount and speed of information transmitted across networks, the telecommunications industry is shifting toward broadband packet networks that are designed to carry a variety of services such as voice, data, and video. For example, asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) networks have been developed to provide broadband transport and switching capability between local area networks (LANs) and wide area networks (WANs). The Sprint ION network is a broadband network that is capable of delivering a variety of services such as voice, data, and video to an end user at a residential or business location. The Sprint ION network has a wide area IP/ATM or ATM backbone that is connected to a plurality of local loops via multiplexors. Each local loop carries ATM over ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber line) traffic to a plurality of integrated service hubs (ISHs), which may be at either residential or business locations.
An ISH is a hardware component that links business or residential user devices such as telephones and computers to the broadband, wide area network through a plurality of user interfaces and at least one network interface. A suitable ISH is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,272,553 entitled "Multi-Services Communications Device," issued Aug. 7, 2002, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. The network communication medium typically is a broadband network interface such as ADSL, T1, or HDSL-2. Examples of user interfaces include telephone interfaces such as plain old telephone system (POTS) ports for connecting telephones, fax machines, modems, and the like to the ISH; computer interfaces such as ethernet ports for connecting computers and local area networks to the ISH; and video ports such as RCA jacks for connecting video players, recorders, monitors, and the like to the ISH.
In providing telephony services over a broadband network, the ISH communicates with a service manager. This connection between the ISH and the network element is typically an ATM connection, which is much different than the traditional analog line to the local switch. ATM connections usually do not support analog telephony signals, such as off-hook, dial tone, and busy signals. Therefore, the ISH must provide many of the telephony functions traditionally provided by the telephone provider central office such as detect off-hook conditions, on-hook connections, and digits as well as provide the telephones with dial tone, ring current, ringback, and busy signals. The terms off-hook and off-hook condition as used herein are generic terms meaning that a user device (whether telephone, facsimile machine, modem, etc.) connected to a telephone line is attempting to access and use the line.
Another example of such a central office function being provided by the ISH is backup power. Traditionally in cases of power grid failure, the central office provides backup power to customers' telephones through use of an industrial-strength, petroleum-fueled backup generator. Since it is not economical to equip each customer with a backup generator, an ISH must be equipped with an back-up power supply, which is typically a battery pack, to maintain power to the system in cases of power grid failure. The number of telephone interfaces impacts battery life, as the amount of power used by the ISH increases with the number of telephone interfaces being served. A method and apparatus for polling telephony line status in an integrated services hub to reduce power consumption is disclosed and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,512,817, issued Jan. 28, 2003, incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. Likewise, the use of telephony services impacts how long the batteries can keep the ISH operational because more power is required to maintain phone lines in active (i.e., conversational) state as opposed to standby (i.e., on-hook) or disabled states. The present invention addresses a customer's need for information regarding the operational status of the ISH. For example, by alerting the customer to the fact that the ISH is operating on battery backup power, the customer can adjust his or her use patterns to maximize battery life.

Method and apparatus for determining and reporting the operational status of an integrated services hub


A delay locked loop (DLL) circuit includes a basic loop, a coarse loop, a delay model and a fine loop. The basic loop generates a plurality of first clock signals, based at least in part on an input clock signal, a feedback clock signal and a fine loop output signal. The first clock signals respectively have a phase difference. The coarse loop generates a plurality of output clock signals, based at least in part on the input clock signal, the feedback clock signal and the first clock signals. The plurality of output clock signals respectively have a phase difference. The delay model generates the feedback clock signal by delaying one of the output clock signals by a first time period. The fine loop generates the fine loop output signal, based at least in part on the input clock signal and the feedback clock signal.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments relate to a delay locked loop (DLL) circuit, a semiconductor device employing a DLL circuit and a method of controlling a DLL circuit. In particular, embodiments relate to a DLL circuit configured to generate multi-phase clock signals, a semiconductor device employing the DLL circuit and a method of controlling the DLL circuit.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a delay locked loop (DLL) circuit may be employed in a semiconductor integrated circuit so as to generate an internal clock signal. Typically, in a DLL circuit, an internal clock signal is generated by delaying a system clock signal or an external clock signal by a predetermined delay time. The DLL circuit detects phases of an internal clock signal and an external clock signal, and controls a delay time by a shift operation so as to synchronize the internal clock signal with the external clock signal.
In a semiconductor memory device, such as a dynamic random access memory (DRAM), an internal clock signal generated by a DLL circuit is employed as a timing signal for operating the semiconductor memory device. For example, in a semiconductor memory device, an internal clock signal may be used as a clock signal to output data from the semiconductor memory device and to store data in the semiconductor memory device.
Generally, when memory cells are activated or when memory cells are accessed during a read mode, additional current from an internal supply voltage may be required. The change in demand of current from the internal supply voltage may change a voltage provided to a DLL circuit. The change of the voltage provided to the DLL circuit may change a delay quantity applied to an external clock signal, and as a result the external clock signal may be not synchronized with an internal clock signal. When the external clock signal is not synchronized with the internal clock signal, the DLL circuit may perform a shift operation to compensate for the decrease in the internal supply voltage. Therefore, the external clock signal may be synchronized with the internal clock signal by the DLL circuit.
A DLL circuit employing a coarse loop and a fine loop may be used to lock clock signals of a semiconductor integrated circuit. However, a DLL circuit such as this may not be configured to lock clock signals of a semiconductor integrated circuit that may employ multi-phase clock signals.
Accordingly, there remains a need for a DLL circuit that may address one or more of these concerns.

Delay locked loop circuit, semiconductor device having the same and method of controlling the same


A skin mounted device holder for holding generally medical devices such as fluid reservoirs. The skin mounted device holder includes a base member comprised of a resilient cloth material and having a VELCRO attached to its top surface and a water based adhesive material coated onto the bottom of its surface, a securing flap having a VELCRO for mating with the VELCRO of the base means, and a connector loop having an attachment for attaching medical devices. The connector loop loops around the securing strap and thus connects the medical devices to the base member.

The present invention relates to a skin mounted device holder for holding medical devices to a person's skin, and more particularly a securing tape in the form of a Velcro type of fastener for securing a reservoir such as for use in holding body fluid.
It is important that the skin mounted devices stick to human skin firmly because one of the most frequent applications of the skin mounted device holder is to hold fluid reservoirs in connection to a woman's mastectomy. In addition, the skin mounted device holder when constructed with hydrogel is easily removable without causing tear of the skin. This is especially important to patients who have already endured painful medical procedures and one less pain would certainly assist in patients' recovery.
It is also important that the means for attaching the reservoirs be easily releasable so that the reservoirs can be quickly drained out and be remounted again.
One of the purposes of the present invention is to replace a tower type of hanger for hanging fluid reservoirs. Therefore, patients need not carry around a bulky tall hanger that restricts patients' mobility.
A need therefore exists for an inexpensive skin mounted device holder for medical patients, especially mastectomy patients.
The present invention provides an economical means to meet the aforesaid everyday common medical requirements.


A fuel control module for a gas turbine engine and method of installation. The fuel control module includes a first frame unit, a second frame unit, a fuel path, and a fuel controller components. The first frame unit and the second frame unit include features for installation in multiple installations and/or multiple configurations.

Stationary gas turbine engines are typically assembled into a "gas turbine engine package". In particular, the gas turbine engine and certain support systems are installed on or within an enclosure on a support platform, keeping systems necessary to the turbine's operation together and in proximity. In some instances, certain support systems may be assembled during the build up of the support platform, before the actual installation of the gas turbine engine. In this way the support systems may be easily "dropped in" the support platform with minimal interference, and connected up to the gas turbine engine after it is installed.
U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2010/0162726 Robertson et al. published on Jul. 1, 2010 shows a mobile platform system for a gas turbine engine. In particular, the disclosure of Robertson et al. is directed toward a system for moving an auxiliary component of a gas turbine engine. The system may have a mobile support platform configured to support the auxiliary component during operation of the gas turbine engine. The system may further have at least one guide assembly operably connected to the mobile support platform and configured to guide movement of the mobile support platform. The system may also have a drive assembly operably connected to the mobile support platform and configured to impart movement of the mobile support platform between an elevated position and a lowered position.
The present disclosure is directed toward overcoming known problems and/or problems discovered by the inventors.


The invention relates to a method for continually producing a suspension of cellulose in an aqueous tertiary amine oxide. The method includes (a) mixing cellulose and an amine oxide-free aqueous phase to form a cellulose suspension in a mass ratio in the range of 1:3 to 1:40, (b) dehydrating the cellulose suspension, wherein the dehydrated cellulose suspension has a cellulose content in the range of 20 to 80 percent-by-mass; (c) mixing the cellulose suspension with an aqueous amine oxide while the cellulose suspension is falling through a vertical fall zone to obtain an aqueous amine oxide-cellulose suspension with an amine oxide content in the range of 70 to 80 percent-by-mass; and (d) conveying the aqueous amine oxide-cellulose suspension through a horizontal shear zone. The invention also relates to a device for carrying out this method.

1. Field of Technology
The invention relates to a method for the continuous preparation of a cellulose suspension in an aqueous tertiary amine oxide for use in the Lyocell method. The invention also relates to a device for performing said method.
2. Description of Related Art
It is known to prepare cellulose form- and spinning masses from cellulose solutions in amine oxides, preferably in N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide and a non-soluble agent for cellulose, preferably water. By forming the solution and drawing and regenerating the cellulose, products are obtained for diverse use in the textile- and non-textile area (see W. Berger, Options and Limits of Alternative Cellulose Dissolution and -Drawing, Lanzinger Reports 74 (1994) 9, pages 11 to 18). BISFA assigned the generic term "Lyocell" to fibers produced with this method.
WO 94/28217 discloses a discontinuous method for the preparation of a cellulose suspension in aqueous amine oxide, where comminuted cellulose and an amine oxide solution are mixed by a rotor with radial stirring elements in a horizontal mixing chamber. The duration per batch is stated as 21 minutes. This method of operation is disadvantageous because two such mixing chambers have to be operated in parallel due to the continuous load of the subsequent dissolution step. Furthermore, the complete emptying of the mixing chambers leads to difficulties.
It is also known from WO 96/33221 to prepare a cellulose suspension in aqueous N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide (NMMO) by mixing the comminuted cellulose in an annular layer mixer directly with the aqueous NMMO, such as 75 percent-by-mass NMMO. The formed suspension is brought to dissolution in a separate film extruder. The disadvantage of the annular layer mixer is that only comminuted, essentially dry cellulose can be used. If the cellulose contains water, the formation of layers in the mixer is difficult due to the mixing with NMMO solution, which was added separately. The water has to be separated thermally. The soluble components of the cellulose reach the spinning solution and lead to disadvantageous properties in the cellulose products. Because the suspension is transported as a layer, the throughput relative to the cross-section of the apparatus is low.
From DE 198 37 210.8, it is known to suspend the cellulose in water prior to the formation of a suspension in amine oxide solution, and to partially separate it again from the suspension agent after a certain amount of time. Then the wet cellulose material is first conveyed through a horizontal shear zone in the absence of amine oxide, and then together with amine oxide. This method of operation requires a relatively long shear zone and thus a significant effort with respect to apparatus. The formation of a uniform suspension is complicated by the fact that the aqueous oxide is fed into a cellulose material that completely fills the available volume of the apparatus.
The present invention is based on the problem to provide a method and a device for the continuous preparation of a cellulose suspension in an aqueous tertiary amine oxide with a reduced apparatus effort for the formation of suspensions and the activation of cellulose for use in the Lyocell process. Especially, the throughput of the cellulose material relative to the volume of the shear zone is supposed to be increased, and thus the preparation time of the suspension is supposed to be reduced. Other advantages are shown in the following description.
Thus, the invention is based on a method for the continuous preparation of a cellulose suspension in an aqueous tertiary amine oxide for use in the Lyocell process, where (a) a cellulose suspension is formed from cellulose and an amine oxide-free phase in a mass ratio in the range of 1:3 to 1:40, (b) the cellulose suspension is dehydrated into a material with a cellulose content in the range of 20 to 80 percent-by-mass, and (c) the wet cellulose material is mixed with enough aqueous amine oxide and conveyed through a horizontal shear zone so that after the mixing, a suspension with an amine oxide content in the liquid phase in the range of 70 to 80 percent-by-mass is obtained, whereby the suspension essentially completely fills the available conveying diameter in the shear zone.
In accordance with the invention, this method is characterized in that in step (c), aqueous amine oxide in finely dispersed form is added to the wet cellulose material in a fall zone only partially filled with the cellulose material, and the cellulose material mixed with the amine oxide is introduced into the shear zone. In a variant of the method according to DE 198 37 210.8, the first part of the shear zone, where the cellulose material is conveyed and homogenized in the absence of NMMO, is obsolete. Furthermore, the aqueous amine oxide is not introduced into a shear zone that is essentially completely filled with the suspension, but rather only into the upstream fall zone. The cellulose material fills the fall zone only partially, so that the introduction of the amine oxide simultaneously leads to a pre-distribution of the amine oxide in the wet cellulose material. It is said pre-distribution of the amine oxide that allows a shortening of the shear zone for the formation of a uniform suspension for the subsequent formation of the solution, which follows the fall zone. Compared to the method of operation according to DE 198 37 210.8, this results in a shortening of the shear zone by approximately one third, and a reduction of investment costs by approximately 10 to 15 percent.
According to the preferred embodiment of the method in accordance with the invention, the aqueous amine oxide is injected into the fall zone. In that way, the falling particles of the wet cellulose material are enveloped by the aqueous amine oxide and a good pre-mix is obtained, which allows a shortening of the subsequent homogenization frame in the shear apparatus. Preferably, N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide-monohydrate is injected into the fall zone.
Surprisingly, it was found that the quality of the pulp was improved, despite the reduction of the process steps and/or the production time of the suspension, which can be determined by means of the very good swelling condition of the cellulose particles in the three-substance-mixture cellulose/NMMO/water at the end of the shear zone. This is attributed to the fact that the fine dispersion of the amine oxide in the fall zone shortens the time period otherwise required until the NMMO solution acts on the cellulose particles, so that the overall swelling of the particles has already progressed farther at the end of the shear zone. The quantity of the aqueous amine oxide added in the fall zone is coordinated with the starter cellulose quantity such that the amine oxide content in the aqueous phase of the formed suspension is in the target range of 70 to 80 percent-by-mass.

Method and device for continually producing a suspension of cellulose in an aqueous amine oxide


A bipolar assembly for use in electrochemical cell stacks, especially stacks operated at low pressure. The bipolar assembly is lightweight and provides a “post-type” flow field that operates with a low pressure drop. The bipolar assembly comprises a gas barrier having an array of electronically conducting posts disposed approximately perpendicular to the gas barrier. Each end of the posts is in electrical communication with the surface of an electrode. Because the bipolar assembly separates a cathode from an anode, the posts contact an anode electrode on one end and a cathode electrode on the other end. The posts provide current conduction through the stack as well as provide the flow fields for the electrochemical reactants. Optionally, the bipolar assembly may contain cooling fluid channels formed by adding additional gas barriers to the bipolar assembly. The space between the gas barriers form a channel through which cooling fluids may be circulated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention provides an electrochemical cell and subassembly for an electrochemical cell, particularly electrochemical stacks.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electrochemical cells include, but are not limited to, fuel cells, electrolysis or electrolyzer cell, electrochemical synthesis cells, electrochemical oxygen concentrators (also known as electrochemical oxygen pumps), and electrochemical hydrogen concentrators (also known as electrochemical hydrogen pumps). Electrochemical cell stacks are made up of individual electrochemical cells that are connected in series. The structure and operation of these electrochemical cells have many common aspects, which will be discussed herein in the context of a fuel cell stack.
The primary components of a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell stack are the membrane and electrode assemblies (MEAs), gas diffusion layers, and bipolar plate/flow field assemblies. These components are assembled in a "stack" with each gas diffusion layer/MEA/gas diffusion layer in the stack separated by a bipolar assembly and each end of the stack having an endplate. Conventionally, the stack is held together under compression, such as by threaded tie rods or a series of bands.
Each of the cells in the stack has an MEA made up of a cathode electrode in intimate contact with one side of a proton exchange membrane (PEM) and an anode electrode in intimate contact with the opposite side of the proton exchange membrane. In the case of a hydrogen consuming PEM fuel cell, the anode electrode comprises an electrocatalyst layer and a porous hydrophobic gas diffusion layer/backing layer. Similarly, the cathode electrode of the PEM fuel cell comprises an electrocatalyst layer and a porous hydrophobic gas diffusion layer/backing layer. For a typical PEM electrolysis cell, the anode electrode comprises an electrocatalyst layer and a porous substrate/current collector material. Similarly, the cathode electrode of a typical PEM electrolysis cell comprises an electrocatalyst layer and a porous substrate/current collector material.
The bipolar plate/flow field assemblies are located between adjacent gas diffusion layer/MEA/gas diffusion layer assemblies and provide flow fields or chambers through which reactants are channeled across the face of each electrode while maintaining separation of the reactants and products. The bipolar plate/flow field assemblies and, where applicable, gas diffusion structures that provide support and backing to the electrocatalyst layers, serve to conduct electricity between each of the cells in the stack and further to ensure that the reactant fluids are evenly distributed over the active portions of the electrodes. Additionally, bipolar plates may be constructed with internal channels to allow the use of cooling fluids for cooling the electrochemical stack if desired.
An assembled electrochemical cell stack can become quite large and heavy with most of the weight being associated with the bipolar plate/flow field assemblies. A well-known challenge to broad usage of PEM fuel cell stacks is that the weight of the stack can become so great that the corresponding power-to-weight ratio becomes unacceptably low. Therefore, many designs of the bipolar plate/flow field assemblies have been developed to reduce the overall weight of the stacks and increase the power-to-weight ratios. These designs have included, for example, use of metal foam in the construction of bipolar plate/flow field assemblies, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,146,780 to Cisar et al., and hereby incorporated by reference, and use of low-density metals that have been coated with a thin layer of a more noble metal for protection against corrosion, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,203,936 to Cisar et al., and hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
While these reduced-weight bipolar plate/flow field assemblies have resulted in electrochemical fuel cell stacks having good power-to-weight ratios when the current densities are greater than 400 mA/cm2, these designs are not as effective to provide efficient fuel cell stacks when the operating pressure of the reactants is low, such as in a fuel cell using ambient air on aircraft flying at high altitudes.
What is needed is a fuel cell stack that provides a lightweight bipolar assembly for an electrochemical cell stack. It would be desirable if the electrochemical cell stack yielded an improved power-to-weight ratio. It would also be desirable if the fuel cell would operate well at low reactant pressures, i.e., at pressures less than one atmosphere. It would be of further benefit if the electrochemical cell could operate with minimal pressure drop through the airside flow field to maintain as high a pressure throughout the system as possible.

Electrochemical cell and bipolar assembly for an electrochemical cell


A system and method is described for permitting the simultaneous automated collection of data with regard to the presence of diseased cells, in particular neo-plastic, dysplastic or cancerous cells, or normal cells at a given site in a section of tissue. This is accomplished according to the following steps. First, IR spectral data are collected simultaneously for each cell or pixel of the tissue. Next, these data are analyzed by identifying the cell types encountered in the sample by comparing them with reference data sets for healthy and diseased cells. Finally, a false color mapping of the distribution of different types of cells in the tissue section is presented that permits assessment of the prevalence of diseased cells.

Cancer, and a cure for it, are at the forefront of medical research throughout the world. However, the efficacy of treating cancer has changed little in the last four decades. Some of the daunting issues with regard to cancer are that there are many different types and each has its own characteristics. Moreover, many of these different types of cancer are being diagnosed more frequently as the population ages.
The cost of treating cancer on a case-by-case basis is staggering. Much of this cost is reflected by the high technology approaches being used now to treat cancer, such as bone marrow transplantation. It has been found, however, that the overall treatment cost for cancer can be drastically reduced if the cancer is detected early, or at a pre-cancerous state, when it is more susceptible to treatment.
When cancer is identified at the earliest stages, for example prior to its invasion of tissue, it is generally treatable. To illustrate, the advantage of finding tumors while they are small is that they can be completely removed surgically. However, as the primary tumor grows in size, there are local extensions away from it and the ability of the surgeon to remove all the tumor and diseased tissue decreases drastically. Therefore, the smaller the tumor, the more likely the success in treating it.
In determining how to treat a particular cancer, it is also important to stage (or grade) it, at the microscopic level, in tissue removed at the time of surgery. The purpose of examining the resected tissues in this way is to determine, at the microscopic level, the extent of the local spread of the cancer, whether the margin between the resected cancerous mass and the presumably healthy tissue that is left behind is free of cancer, and/or whether there is spread of cancer cells to regional lymph nodes. The microscopic level examination of tissues removed in surgery is an index of whether or not cancer cells have spread beyond the primary cancerous mass and the cancer is likely to grow again, either locally or at distant sites.
The microscopic examination of cancerous tissue and the tissue surrounding it that is believed normal tissue, hopefully will provide information as to whether there is local extension of the primary cancerous mass. This examination also provides a road map to determine which tissue in the patient may still be affected. The microscopic examination of lymph node tissue in the area around the cancerous mass, that typically is resected with the cancerous mass, is a factor in determining the success of the surgery and the therapy to subsequently treat the patient.
For example, in colon cancer, which is the second most common cancer in the United States and the developed world, the prognosis for success is directly related to the extent to which cancer cells penetrate the luminal surface of the colon into (or through) the colon wall. For a given depth of cancer cell penetration into the colon wall, the prognosis degrades as the number of regional lymph nodes with cancer cells increases. The relationships between the local extent of cancer and post-surgery prognosis apply to most cancers, e.g., breast, prostate, head, and neck cancer. As such, the staging of cancer by microscopic level examination of tissues removed during surgery is an important part of the medical treatment of cancer patients.
Presently, the staging of cancer is performed by microscopic level examination of the removed tissue. This method does not provide sufficient accuracy to predict the likelihood that cancer has spread beyond the immediate site of the primary tumor. Thus, it does not provide assurance that all the cancer cells have been removed from the patient. Obviously, there needs to be a practical way to obtain such information.
There is only a general relationship between prognosis and the extent of the local extension of cancers; however, this relationship is not absolute. Frequently, local and/or distant (metastatic) recurrences of cancers occur in patients whose tissue sections have margins that appear free of cancer cells as do the regional lymph nodes. The inability to properly stage cancer based on examination of the removed tissue results in the cancer cure rates being quoted in terms of long-term survival, e.g., 5 or even 10 years of disease free time after surgery.
Pathologists who examine the removed tissue have no adequate means to determine whether all the cancer was in fact removed from the patient. Moreover, they do not have a method to accurately stage the tissue that they have. In attempts to derive the needed accuracy for the staging process, pathologists have developed morphologic criteria to hopefully enhance the accuracy of predicting the biologic behavior of cancers. This process was intended to distinguish between small, apparently contained cancers that will not recur and those cancers that will recur. The prediction of recurrence of the cancer is based of the morphology of the cancer cells and how they are organized. This method for predicting the outcome also has not been successful.
The classification of cancer cells on the basis of their content of DNA and other biochemical measurements of cancer cells have not augmented significantly the predictive value of examining resected cancer tissues. As such, one of the conundrums of oncology and pathology is the well-known phenomena that some cancers behave aggressively to kill the patient while others that appear very similar, which may be found in the same organ, behave in a relatively benign way, i.e., they do not recur after the primary cancerous mass is removed.
Once surgery is completed to remove a cancerous mass, it normally is believed that no more cancerous tissue or cells remain. However, there is a high probability that all the cancer cells have not been removed; therefore, all post-surgical patients may be treated as if they still have cancer cells in their body. This is the case even when a pathology report of the resected tissue suggests that this is not so. The result of this is that a number of patients are treated unnecessarily with toxic drugs because physicians do not know how to identify the exact patients who have cancer cells remaining and who do not.
The poor predictive power of pathological examination of resected tissue may be founded on the fact that there are features of the growth and spread of cancer that are not understood. Moreover, it also may be founded on the fact that the current methods of pathology, which entail the subjective, microscopic examination of stained sections of tissues removed from patients, have proven to be incapable of identifying with any significant degree of accuracy whether or not cancer cells are present in tissues.
Cancer is a disease that evolves in a staged process. This is shown in FIG. 1. In FIG. 1, normal cell 100 will evolve to cancer cell 110 after going through dysplastic stage at 104 and neoplastic stage at 108. The cells at 104 refer to cells that have minimal changes due to pre-cancer. The neoplastic grade at 108 refers to cells that have moderate stages of pre-cancer. Such diagnoses alert the clinician that pre-cancer exists and that some type of treatment of the pre-cancer is needed to cure the condition and prevent the ultimate evolution of frank cancer. As would be understood, the identification of the developmental precursors to cancer cells would present the early detection of cancer. Treatment of cancer at this stage would prevent the evolution of these cells to frank cancer. Unfortunately, current technologies for detecting early stages of pre-cancer are neither sensitive nor specific.
As indicated, microscopic examination of tissues can fail to detect cancer cells. Moreover, current techniques of microscopic level examination of cells and tissues also can fail to detect cells that are intermediate stages of the evolution of normal cells to frank cancer.
The medical community has known for a long time the type of information that is needed to make more accurate and earlier diagnoses of cancer in examining tissue and cells. However, what has not been dealt with is how to obtain this information in an efficient and cost effective manner.
Research has established that the presence or absence of disease in cells and tissues is based on whether molecules are normal in-structure and whether a normal distribution of molecules is present in a given type of cell. This has led physicians to recognize that accurate diagnoses of disease may be based on a gathering and an evaluation of information at the molecular level in cells. As such, it has now become essential to perform molecular level analysis to diagnose diseases, like cancer, at early stages for the accurate detection of specific types of disease through the examination of cells and tissues.
There are two approaches to obtaining molecular level information regarding the presence or absence of disease in cells. The first uses molecular probes that search chemically for specific abnormal molecules. The second is to test for normal and abnormal molecules by measuring their interactions with electromagnetic radiation. The latter method is referred to as spectroscopy.
Spectroscopy has some advantages over the use of chemical or molecular probes in that spectroscopy can make measurements without prior knowledge of the exact type of abnormality present. Further, results from spectroscopy may be obtained faster than when probes are used. It also has been surmised that vibrational spectroscopy is the most useful type for examination contemplated in the present invention. However, vibrational spectroscopic techniques have not been used for diagnosing disease.
Having resolved that vibrational spectroscopic techniques are useful for diagnosing disease, it becomes necessary to provide a method to practically apply those techniques. In order to apply vibrational spectroscopic techniques, it is principally necessary to understand the spectral characteristics of the cells that are being analyzed.
Normal tissue contains many different types of cells. Each type of cell performs a different function. Abnormal tissue will contain a heterogeneous population of abnormal cells and normal cells. The abnormal cells are derived from the tissue itself or are cells that are not normally found in the tissue. An example of cells that are present in tissue that were not derived for that tissue are inflammatory cells which may accumulate in or around cancerous tissue, or metastases of other cancers.
Cells acquired from a region of tissue may contain several cell types, and thus, such a sample will not be homogeneous. The heterogeneity of this sample may result in spectral information which is not indicative of the information that is potentially available from a single cell because any spectral analysis will involve the average of spectra of different types of cells or the spectra of cells with non-cellular elements in the tissue. Similarly, information about a disease encoded within the molecules of a single cell that is mixed with a heterogeneous population of other isolated cells will also suffer degradation of the information by the averaging of spectra over a range of different types of cells. Therefore, the achievement of the desired accuracy through the use of vibrational spectroscopy will depend on collecting spectra from small elements in tissue that are known to be homogeneous.
It is then possible to map tissue elements by illuminating small areas, or pixels, of tissue sections using an infrared microscope, one pixel at a time. However, this method is time consuming, labor intensive, and requires a skilled operator to move the focus of the microscope to adjacent areas of a sample. Noting these problems, there is a need of a system and method that will permit the collection of spectral data at relatively high speed from many contiguous areas, or pixels, of a tissue sample simultaneously and that will map the distribution of abnormal and normal cells in a tissue sample.

System and method for mapping the distribution of normal and abnormal cells in sections of tissue


These teachings disclose a multi-purpose electric window that comprises a printed transparent sheet and a reflective layer laminated onto an electric light-switching device and a power source. The electric light-switching device is made of electrically actuated polymer dispersed liquid crystal or suspended polarized particles laminated between two transparent electrodes. There are surface lens structures at one side or both sides of the transparent sheet. Images are printed unto the surface lens structures. The lens structures are selected from prism, half spherical, half cylindrical, pyramidal, Fresnel structure or a combination of the above. The transparent sheet is laminated on the side with reflective layer or the other side of the electric light-switching device without reflective layer. Light emitting diodes can be placed at the sides or under the transparent sheet.

There are two major types of active electric windows, PDLC (polymer dispersed liquid crystal) and suspended particle device (SPD).
PDLC technology requires micrometer sized liquid crystals to be scattered in an organic polymeric matrix. The optical axes of the liquid crystals (LCs) are normally in random orientations. Therefore, light is scattered to different directions due to the mismatch of refraction indexes between the LCs and the polymer matrix. This makes the electric window non-transparent. However, an electric field can be applied to control and align the optical axes of LCs in the same direction. This makes the electric window turn clear due to the index of refraction matching between LCs and polymer matrix.
A PDLC returns to random orientation, and therefore non-transparent, when the electric field is removed. The PDLC was invented by Dr. Doane and his team in 1984 and published in U.S. Pat. No. 4,688,900. The liquid crystals are made with phase separation technology. PDLCs are made by mixing water insoluble monomers, e.g. epoxy resin and curing agent, with LCs to form a transparent solution. The LC micro particles separate out and disperse in the epoxy matrix due to decreasing solubility as the curing of epoxy proceeds. Electric windows use the LC properties of being able to be oriented by electricity and being naturally random in orientation without an imposed electric field. Light cannot pass through the random LC/epoxy mixture. LCs are aligned with an electric field, which turns translucent mixture into transparent clear.
A suspended particle device (SPD) uses rod-like particles suspended in an encapsulated liquid solution. It is laminated between two sheets of glass or plastic containing transparent electrodes. Similarly to the case of the PDLC, the suspended particles are in random orientation when no electric field is applied. Light is absorbed by particles and the window becomes dark and non-transparent. On the other hand, particles align in the same direction to allow light to transmit through the SPD when electric field is applied. Electricity can be applied to the threshold to control the amount of allowable light or heat transmitted. It becomes a tool for energy saving from air-conditioning in the summer and heating in the winter. In other words, SPD windows can reduce carbon emissions and the cost of expensive glass sealing material.
The light emitting diode (LED) is a semiconducting electronic component comprising a composite light source from inorganic trivalent and pentavalent elements. The initial application of LEDs was for indicator lighting and displays. LEDs are now used in general lighting application since the invention of white light LED. In this teaching, LEDs will be integrated with electric window technology to produce a multi-purpose electric window.

Multi-purpose electrical window and methods thereof


An in situ sensor for monitoring the degree of corrosion of rebar in a concrete structure relies on a four-point resistance measure of a test wire embedded in the concrete structure. The resistance across the wire is compared with the resistance of a reference wire, which is corrosion resistant. As corrosion advances, the cross-sectional area of the wire decreases, effectively increasing the resistance measured. The sensor may be used to measure corrosion inhibitor performance, and the effect of dilution.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to an in situ sensor for determining the degree and progress of corrosion of metal or alloy, for example steel, in a matrix structure. Methods of monitoring the progress of corrosion in such structures, as well as methods of determining the effectiveness of corrosion inhibitors and the effects on corrosion inhibitors of environmental dilution, are also disclosed.
2. Background of the Prior Art
The provision of a non-conductive matrix, defining a composition of matter, a structure, or a useful article, provided with conductive metal or alloy therein, is a common engineering composition. A wide variety of matrices are familiar to those of ordinary skill in the art. Among the most common matrices are concrete, refractory ceramics, polymeric coatings or masses (including reinforced resins, filled resins and foams) gels and vitrified glass like compositions. These compositions, and the articles and structures made therefrom, can all be described as being provided of a continuous matrix of the identified matrix material, with conductive elements incorporated in, typically embedded in, the matrix material. Thus, in concrete, steel reinforcement (rebar) is typically employed. Structures prepared from a polymeric matrix include high stiffness, high technology compositions such as aircraft and aerospace parts, which typically use reinforcing fibrous material such as carbon and graphite fibers, or fiberglass yarns, as well as lower strength filled resins, foams and the like. These may be provided with conductive elements for the purposes of reinforcement, to effect resistance heating, or to provide conductivity to the structure as a whole. Similarly, vitrified glass compositions may be provided with electrically conductive elements embedded therein, for example, to carry a current for the purpose of local heating, as in a windshield defroster, or as a reception antenna, for a radio and the like. Additionally, the matrix need not be solid. A wide variety of gels are employed across which a current may be desirably supplied. The most familiar of these matrices provided with metal or metal alloys is reinforced concrete, and this invention is discussed, in exemplary fashion, in terms of reinforced concrete. It will be apparent, however, that corrosion of steel or metal alloys embedded in a matrix is common to all of these structures. It is also common to metal or metal alloy structures that are embedded or coated with plastic film, such as underground storage tanks and the like.
In both concrete and high strength polymer matrixes, metal and metal alloys which are subject to corrosion are provided for reinforcement. The corrosion impacts the integrity and strength performance of the structure in question, and may reduce it below critical values.
The impact of reinforcing steel (rebar) corrosion on the performance life of concrete is now well recognized. For example, more than half of the bridges in the United States are affected by corrosion and approximately 20% have been deemed structurally deficient.
Rebar corrosion is of concern to manufacturers and users of concrete, rebar, and admixtures. This costly form of damage affects both building and highway construction, but there is no clear, reliable way to determine the rate of material loss of rebar embedded in concrete. Measuring the open circuit potential, for example, is easy and inexpensive but unreliable, producing errors three orders of magnitude and higher. Measuring linear polarization is complex, but is encumbered due to the potential drop in the concrete; electrochemical impedance spectroscopy can overcome that problem, but the results are extremely difficult to interpret and expensive to acquire.
One of the most important methods of mitigating rebar corrosion is through the addition of corrosion inhibitors into the concrete mix. Although such admixtures have been used commercially for years, there are no standard tests or specifications for their performance. Tests that are in use have serious shortcomings and do not fully exploit sophisticated electrochemical techniques.
To illustrate, the ASTM G-109 method (Wiss, Janey, Elstner Associates, Inc.) measures galvanic current between the top and bottom rebar mat during wet/dry cycling. Although galvanic polarization is a critical aspect of rebar corrosion, this test does not provide information on the total corrosion rate; it ignores the steady state corrosion current of the top-most layer, which could be significant. Moreover, corrosion in the mid-section of the bar may go undetected and misleading currents can be created by the elctroplater's tape required on the ends of the rebar. This test also cannot establish consistent galvanic couple from sample to sample and lacks statistical data and minimal criteria for inhibitor performance.
The search for a standard test is complicated by the diversity of inhibitors, which may be oxidizing or non-oxidizing anodic, cathodic, oxygen or chloride scavenging, film forming, and so on. Although manufacturers will naturally cite the test that makes their product stand out as a top performer, users require a more balanced approach for a realistic evaluation of all types of corrosion inhibiting admixtures.
There are also various electrochemical testing methods available: open circuit potential (E.sub.oc), polarization resistance (R.sub.p) via linear polarization and R.sub.p via electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). These methods must be used carefully, which is not the case in most reported studies. For example, real time correction (iR) for linear polarization is typically ignored, which causes underestimation of the corrosion rate. When the Stern Geary Equation and the anodic and cathodic Tafel slopes (B.sub.a and b.sub.c) are used, the literature generally assumes some value, such as 26 or 46 mV, for all inhibitors. Finally, most tests wrongly assume that the corrosion current is uniform over the surface.
The testing methods themselves also have inherent advantages and disadvantages. Open circuit potential is easy and nondestructive, but can be ambiguous; it reveals the relative ratio of anodic to cathodic areas but provides no information on reaction kinetics. Linear polarization and EIS provide accurate reaction kinetics data but take several hours per R.sub.p determination and limit the size of the test matrix, since only 10 samples per day can be run. Additional time may be needed to resolve ambiguities in the distributed element response in EIS spectra or in the Tafel slope in linear polarization data.
Developing an accurate test to evaluate corrosion requires a thorough understanding of concrete material science, corrosion, electrochemical test methods, and inhibitor evaluation. Our sensor provides sensitive, unambiguous corrosion data at low cost, and can monitor changes in corrosion aggressiveness over time. This sensor is particularly suitable for monitoring the performance of corrosion inhibitors under various conditions and for gathering large data pools for statistical analysis and standardization.
Our probe is designed to be a standard which can be used by engineers, technicians and scientists to assess the efficacy of commercial corrosion inhibiting admixtures or matrix chemistries or diffusion rates of aggressive species or mitigating agents. Our test is simple and easy, many more samples can be evaluated for more accurate trend and statistical analysis.

In situ sensor for critical corrosion conditions in a material

The University of Virginia Patent Foundation


A side rib provided on an inner wall of a housing creates space, which extends to reach an air hole, between a second ink retainer and the inner wall of the housing. A contact area where a first ink retainer and the second ink retainer are in contact with each other is provided with grooves that communicate with the space provided on the inner wall of the housing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid container that is used, for example, as an ink tank mounted on an inkjet recording apparatus and is brought into contact with an external member for supplying liquid thereto. The present invention also relates to a liquid ejecting cartridge that ejects liquid.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a known inkjet recording apparatus that performs recording by ejecting ink droplets, an inkjet head and an ink tank, which are separate, are brought together when the inkjet recording apparatus is used. To stably retain and supply ink during a recording operation to an inkjet head, an ink tank for such an inkjet recording apparatus needs to have a mechanism for generating appropriate back pressure (negative pressure). A known method for generating negative pressure utilizes a porous member, such as a urethane foam body, as a negative pressure generating member (ink absorber) to use the capillary force of the porous member.
Generally, the capillary force of a nozzle, according to the amount of ink consumed by an ejecting part, allows ink held by the porous member to flow from an ink supply port of the ink tank via a common reservoir to the ejecting part. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-148937 (corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 5,619,239) discloses a structure in which ribs for preventing ink leakage are provided in an ink tank.
An exemplary known ink tank using the capillary force will be described with reference to FIG. 8, FIG. 9A, and FIG. 9B.
FIG. 8 is an external perspective view of an ink tank and FIGS. 9A and 9B are cross-sectional views of the ink tank. FIG. 9A is a cross-sectional view taken along line IXA-IXA of FIG. 8, and FIG. 9B is a cross-sectional view taken along line IXB-IXB of FIG. 8. For the ease of explanation, the drawings show an ink tank 100 separated from a holder.
As shown in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9A, the ink tank 100 includes a housing constituting an ink container. The housing includes a main body 111a with an opening at the top and a lid member 111b for covering the opening of the main body 111a. The lid member 111b is provided with an air hole 115 for allowing air into the housing, and lid ribs 113 for allowing a space for buffering. The bottom of the main body 111a of the housing is provided with an ink supply port 114 for supplying ink to an inkjet head (not shown).
The housing contains a first ink retainer 150 and a second ink retainer 151 that are impregnated with and retain ink. The first ink retainer 150 is disposed between the second ink retainer 151 and the bottom of the ink tank 100. An end face of the first ink retainer 150 is in intimate contact with the second ink retainer 151 and blocks the ink supply port 114 from inside the housing.
As shown in FIG. 9A and FIG. 9B, the inner wall of the main body 111a is provided with a plurality of side ribs 112 surrounding the second ink retainer 151. The second ink retainer 151 contained in the housing is pressed against the side ribs 112 and creates clearances around the side ribs 112. The clearances are not filled with the second ink retainer 151 and communicate with the air hole 115.
The ink supply port 114 of the ink tank 100 is provided with a cap 117 for preventing ink leakage and evaporation during product distribution.
Although the first ink retainer 150 and the second ink retainer 151 are both impregnated with and retain ink, the ink retaining force (capillary force) of the first ink retainer 150 is larger than that of the second ink retainer 151. This enables ink retained by the second ink retainer 151 to smoothly flow into the first ink retainer 150 and increases efficiency of the consumption of the ink retained by the second ink retainer 151.
A mechanism based on the above-described structure for preventing ink leakage will now be described with reference to FIGS. 10A to 10C and FIGS. 11A to 11C.
FIGS. 10A to 10C and FIGS. 11A to 11C are cross-sectional views showing ink tanks capped for product distribution. In each ink tank, an air hole serving as an opening for allowing air into the ink tank faces downward. FIGS. 10A to 10C are cross-sectional views of an ink tank with no rib thereinside. FIGS. 11A to 11C are cross-sectional views of an ink tank with ribs thereinside.
First, an ink tank with no rib thereinside will be described with reference to FIGS. 10A to 10C.
When shock is applied to the ink tank 100 downward in the drawings (toward a surface on which the air hole 115 is provided) during product handling or the like, ink 119 retained near the ink supply port 114 in the ink retainers is moved toward the air hole 115. Since the ink retaining force of the first ink retainer 150 is larger than that of the second ink retainer 151, the ink 119 in the first ink retainer 150 is not easily moved by the application of the shock. Therefore, the ink 119 mainly in the second ink retainer 151 is moved toward the air hole 115.
As shown in FIG. 10B, voids 120 in which no ink 119 is retained are created, as the ink 119 moves, near the boundary between the first ink retainer 150 and the second ink retainer 151. When temperature or barometric pressure changes under this condition, the expansion of air in the voids 120, which are closed spaces surrounded by the ink 119, pushes the ink 119 in the second ink retainer 151 in directions indicated by arrows in FIG. 10C, and eventually causes the ink 119 to leak from the air hole 115 of the ink tank 100.
Next, an ink tank with ribs thereinside will be described with reference to FIGS. 11A to 11C.
When shock is applied to the ink tank 100 downward in the drawings (toward the surface on which the air hole 115 is provided) during product handling or the like, the voids 120 in which no ink 119 is retained are created, as the ink 119 moves, in the boundary between the first ink retainer 150 and the second ink retainer 151, as shown in FIG. 11B similar to those shown in FIG. 10B. When temperature or barometric pressure in the ink tank 100 with ribs thereinside changes, the voids 120 quickly communicate with clearances around the side ribs 112 and further communicate with the air hole 115. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 11C, air flows through air paths 123 indicated by broken lines and pushes almost no ink 119 outward.
As inkjet recording apparatuses become widespread, compact recording apparatuses with excellent portability have been developed. In such a compact recording apparatus, the size of its ink tank as well as the size of its main body is small.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-230702 (corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 6,942,326) discloses a structure that increases the efficiency of the use of space in a known compact ink tank and allows stable supply operations of the ink tank.
The structure will now be described with reference to FIG. 12 and FIG. 13. FIG. 12 is an exploded perspective view showing an external appearance of a known ink tank and inkjet head with holder before being put together, and FIG. 13 is an exploded partial cutaway perspective view of FIG. 12.
As shown in FIG. 12 and FIG. 13, an inkjet cartridge 130 includes an ink tank 100, a holder 131 detachably holding the ink tank 100, and an inkjet head 132 that is integral with the holder 131 and ejects ink.
The inkjet head 132 is provided at the bottom of the holder 131 in use mode during which ink is ejected, and has a group of outlets (not shown) for ejecting ink supplied from the ink tank 100. The holder 131 is provided with a projecting ink receiving tube (external member) 133 at a connection to the ink tank 100. The ink receiving tube 133 communicates via an ink supply path (not shown) with the group of outlets of the inkjet head 132.
As shown in FIG. 12, the ink tank 100 includes a housing 111 constituting an ink container. The housing 111 includes a main body 111a with an opening at the top and a lid member 111b for covering the opening of the main body 111a. The lid member 111b is provided with an air hole 115 and lid ribs 113 for allowing space for buffering.
As shown in FIG. 13, the bottom of the main body 111a of the housing 111 is provided with an ink supply port 114 that is opposite the ink receiving tube 133 when the ink tank 100 is attached to the holder 131. The housing 111 contains a first ink retainer 150 and a second ink retainer 151 that are impregnated with and retain ink.
The first ink retainer 150 is disposed between the second ink retainer 151 and the bottom of the ink tank 100. The first ink retainer 150 is in intimate contact with the second ink retainer 151 and blocks the ink supply port 114 from inside the ink tank 100. The first ink retainer 150 is formed substantially into the inner shape of a portion (undersurface) of the housing 111, the portion in which the ink supply port 114 is provided. The ink retaining force (capillary force) of the first ink retainer 150 is larger than that of the second ink retainer 151.
Since the first ink retainer 150 is formed substantially into the inner shape of the undersurface of the housing 111 in the structure described above, an area impregnated with ink increases inside the ink tank 100. This allows a relatively large amount of ink to be retained in a small ink tank. Moreover, even if ink is supplied at high speed, the amount of unused ink remaining in the ink tank 100 can be reduced and the efficiency of ink use can be increased.
If the first ink retainer 150 is in sheet form, a local deformation that occurs when brought into contact with an external member can be accommodated by the first ink retainer 150 as a whole, and neighboring voids generated by the buckling of the first ink retainer 150 can be minimized. Moreover, reducing the internal volume of the first ink retainer 150 having a relatively large capillary force can reduce the amount of ink remaining inside the first ink retainer 150 and increase the efficiency of ink use.
As inkjet recording apparatuses become widespread, compact recording apparatuses with excellent portability have been proposed these days. In such a compact recording apparatus, the size of its ink tank as well as the size of its main body is small. An important point for such a compact ink tank is how to avoid ink leakage without reducing the efficiency of space use.
However, in a known structure, many ribs for avoiding ink leakage are provided on the inner surface of a housing of an ink tank and create space between an ink retainer and the inner surface of the housing. Therefore, the amount of space in which the ink retainer retains ink is reduced by the amount of space created by the ribs.
As disclosed in the above-described Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-230702 (corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 6,942,326), in the ink tank 100 in which the first ink retainer 150 is disposed over the entire undersurface of the housing 111 to increase the efficiency of ink use, a large enclosed air space is created between the first ink retainer 150 and the second ink retainer 151 because of the large area of the first ink retainer 150, and the possibility of ink leakage increases. However, if more ribs are added to increase resistance to ink leakage, the amount of space in which ink is retained is further reduced.

Liquid container and liquid ejecting cartridge


A pneumatic radial tire includes a belt layer, comprised of steel cords having a lateral flat cross-section, arranged around an outer periphery of a tread portion of a carcass layer so that the diameter direction of the steel cords is made to follow the planar direction of the belt layer, the steel cord is made a flat 1.times.6 twist structure comprised of filaments of a filament diameter d of 0.20 to 0.40 mm, the long diameter D.sub.L and twist pitch P of the steel cord taken out from the tire are made with respect to the filament diameter d as follows:. 3.67 d-0.04.ltoreq.D.sub.L .ltoreq.3.67 d+0.16 PA1 30d.ltoreq.P.ltoreq.45d. and the elongation of the steel cord caused when increasing a load from 0.25 kg to 5.0 kg is made 0.25% or less.

In the past, for the belt material of a pneumatic radial tire for a light truck (LT) or a recreational vehicle (RV), steel cords having twisted structures of 2+7, 2+6, 3+6, etc. were widely used. These twisted steel cords, however, are high in cost since two twisting processes are necessary for the twisting and are low in corrosion resistance since there is insufficient penetration of rubber into the steel cord, and therefore, there was the problem of the tire having a lower durability.
To eliminate this defect of the steel cords requiring two twisting processes, a flattened (or ellipse or oval) open structure of a 1.times.4 or 1.times.5 twist structure has been developed. However, as a result of studies by the present inventors, it has been found that a flattened open 1.times.4 or 1.times.5 twist structure is insufficient in strength as the belt material of a pneumatic radial tire for a light truck or a recreational vehicle. Therefore, consideration has been given to making it a 1.times.6 twist structure or a larger 1.times.7 twist structure. However, the inventors found that there was the defect that the cord shape became unstable in the case of a 1.times.7 structure.
However, even when adopting a flattened open 1.times.6 twist structure, it was necessary to make the flatness ratio (short diameter D.sub.S /Long diameter D.sub.L) smaller in order to ensure that the rubber fully penetrated into the steel cord. Therefore, the long diameter D.sub.L becomes inevitably larger. As a result, when arranging the cord so that its long diameter direction was along the planar direction of the belt layer, when the count of the steel cord is made equivalent to the count of the belt layer used in the past, the interval between cords becomes smaller, and therefore, the problem occurs that the durability of the belt edges falls.
Further, in the case of a 1.times.6 twist structure, there is the problem that the twist structure becomes unstable compared with the 1.times.4 or 1.times.5 twist structure and tends to cause defects in the twisting.

Pneumatic radial tire with flat 1.times.6 steel belt cord


The disclosed method provides for the precise positioning of the night vision device with respect to the helmet to which it has to be fixed, in order that the user may enjoy optimum viewing conditions. This method consists in determining the position of the support of the device with respect to significant points of the user's head, in contact with the helmet, and then in copying these relative positions on a supporting tool bearing the helmet and the support of the night vision device, and in forming thickness shims between the helmet and the support.

The present invention relates to a method and device for the customization of a helmet with a night vision optical device.
Helmets for pilots of military aircraft that have to carry out night missions are fitted out with night vision devices provided with electronic light intensifiers. The earliest night vision devices fixed to these helmets were relatively bulky <<binocular>> type devices. They gave way to more compact <<eyeglass>> type devices with folded optical paths.
These night vision devices have to be adapted to the vision of each user, and their settings are limited and relatively complicated to make, especially as the size of their pupil is relatively small (generally with a diameter of 10 to 15 mm). This makes it necessary to achieve the precise positioning of their eyepieces in relation to the pilot's eyes.
Now, these night vision devices are linked to the helmet, and there is very little precision in the position of the helmet with respect to the pilot's head, even when the helmet is provided with elements for easy wear and customization (generally consisting of the injection of foam between the inner shell and the user's head). Furthermore, the very geometry of the helmet is such that it is not possible to obtain a very precise positioning of the inner shell with respect to the fastening base of the night vision device, which is fixed to the outer shell.
To resolve these problems of relative positioning, firstly between the pilot's head and the inner shell and, secondly, between the inner shell and the outer shell, it could be planned to add different adjusting devices for adjustment according to the different degrees of freedom (inter-pupil distance and geometrical orientation with major lengths of travel to compensate for the different positioning errors and manufacturing tolerance values). Such approaches have two major drawbacks. The first drawback is the substantial mass of these setting devices. The second drawback, in the case of the use of night vision eyeglasses, is the fact that disparities in position between the optical module of these eyepieces and the helmet have repercussions on the relative position between these eyepieces and the visor: this visor, which is linked to the helmet, should be capable of passing in front of these eyepieces without catching them. The result thereof is that these approaches result in an increased complexity of the hinging mechanism of the visor and/or greater bulk in the visor and/or greater bulk in the helmet.

Method and device for the customization of a helmet with night vision optical device