An apparatus to promote gas-liquid contact and facilitate enhanced mass transfer. The dispersed bubble reactor (DBR) operates in the dispersed bubble flow regime to selectively absorb gas phase constituents into the liquid phase. The dispersion is achieved by shearing the large inlet gas bubbles into fine bubbles with circulating liquid and additional pumped liquid solvent when necessary. The DBR is capable of handling precipitates that may form during absorption or fine catalysts that may be necessary to promote liquid phase reactions. The DBR can be configured with multistage counter current flow sections by inserting concentric cylindrical sections into the riser to facilitate annular flow. While the DBR can absorb CO2 in liquid solvents that may lead to precipitates at high loadings, it is equally capable of handling many different types of chemical processes involving solids (precipitates/catalysts) along with gas and liquid phases.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to reactors involving gas-liquid-solid phases, and more particularly to a dispersed bubble reactor (DBR) that removes CO2 from gas streams through enhanced gas-liquid contact and mass transfer, which DBR is capable of handling relatively fine solid particles with relatively high throughputs.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventional gas-liquid contacting equipment in practice includes trickle-bed or packed towers, tray towers, venturi scrubbers, bubble column reactors and cyclonic contactors. Yet, these types of contacting equipment have limitations, including that none can achieve at least 90% CO2 capture efficiency handling precipitated solids.
For example, they cannot handle large volumes of gas such as in an integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) process, and in the flue gas CO2 removal process from a power plant. Shared characteristics of these processes are extremely large overall gas volumetric flow rates, and high CO2 concentrations in the gas-typically in the range of 10-50 percent (%) by vol %.
A case in point is the CO2 in the flue gas from a coal fired pulverized coal combustion (PCC) power plant, where the CO2 production rate is in the range of 1,600 to 2,200 pounds (lbs) for each megawatt-hour (MWh) of power generated. The best-known chemical solvent for this application is a monoethanol amine (MEA) and water solution mixture. The working (absorption) capacity of a 30 weight % MEA solution is in the range of 0.15 to 0.25 mol CO2/mol MEA. This relatively limited working capacity range dictates that for each pound of CO2 absorbed, 18 to 30 lbs of solution must be circulated between the absorber and the regenerator. Thus, for a 1,000 MW power plant, the required solution circulation rate is significant, and on the order of 30 to 66 million pounds per hour (lbs/hr), or 70,000 to 140,000 gallons per minute (gal/min). The flue gas production rate from such a plant is more than 2 million cubic feet per minute.
Such large gas and liquid flow rates create design challenges with conventional gas absorption technologies. Due to limitations in gas velocity, the packed bed or tray tower absorber requires an extremely large tower diameter (over 100 feet (ft) in inner diameter) if a single tower design is attempted.
Furthermore, the unprecedented size of a single tower, in and of itself, presents extraordinary challenges in uniformly distributing gas and liquid throughout the cross-section of a packed-bed absorber. The sheer size of the trays would make the tray tower implausible to design. If one were to implement a multiple tower design, the equipment required for distribution of the gas and liquid to the different towers is prohibitively expensive, as is the cost as a whole, escalating with each additional tower.
Particulates and solvents also present design hurdles. For most conventional solvents, particulates in the solution can lead to operational problems, such as foaming in the absorber. Severe operational consequences arise when the particulates deposit in the voids and cause blockages in the packing, as solvent flow becomes restricted. Conventional designs employ filters in an attempt to remove particulates in the circulating solvent that result from degrading solvent or corrosion product.
Solvents, operating conditions and working ranges carefully are chosen in conventional designs to minimize forming precipitating particulates due to absorption and reaction. Yet, conventional equipment severely limits the solvent choices and working ranges useful in the system, and specifically detrimental in improving CO2 capture process performance.
Large solvent circulation rates in the range of 30 to 66 million lbs/hr between the absorber and the regenerator with conventional processes necessitate significantly large amounts of steam energy to heat the solution in the regenerator. Over 25% of power generation is lost as a result both as energy is consumed by the solvent circulation pumps, and as steam is diverted from the steam turbine to regenerate the solvent.
In CO2 capture systems, it is highly desirable to have solids precipitate out from the solvent solution upon CO2 absorption and reaction in order to reduce the energy consumption with solvent circulation and rich solution regeneration process. One such analysis (Yeh, J. T. et al., Absorption and Regeneration Studies for CO2 Capture by Aqueous Ammonia, Third Annual Conference on Carbon Capture & Sequestration, May 3-6, 2004, Alexandria, Va., USA ("Yeh")) shows that the lowest regeneration energy consumption can be achieved when the absorption and regeneration cycles can be represented with the following chemical reaction (1):(NH4)2CO3+CO2+H2O<=>2NH4HCO3  (1)
Ammonium carbonate solution, which has relatively high solubility in water, is used to absorb CO2 to form ammonium bicarbonate, which has a relatively low solubility and therefore precipitate out from the solution in the absorber.
If the absorber is packed with internals such as structured packing materials and distributors, the ammonium bicarbonate precipitates can deposit onto the packing and render the tower in-operable due to plugging. Yeh observed that ammonium bicarbonate can plug the pores of the sintered metal sparger in laboratory testing, even in spite of the CO2 flowing through the sparger. Hence, one can expect severe plugging problems with the packing material in the tower due to the low gas and liquid velocities, and to the existence of stagnant regions within the packing.
Similar problems due to plugging of passageways by solids in tray column absorbers are known. Another analysis (Brower, et al., Amino-acid Salts for CO2 Capture from Flue Gas, http://www.netl.doe.gov/publications/proceedings/05/carbon-seq/Poster%20147.pdf) shows that solids precipitation is highly desirable to increase the amino acid salt solution CO2 capture capacity, and to minimize overall energy needs of the CO2 capture process. For such solvent solutions that can cause solids precipitation, the conventional packed and tray towers will be unsuitable for CO2 absorption.
Venturi scrubbers and cyclonic spray type contactors can minimize or avoid internal packing, and potentially avoid problems associated with solids precipitation and deposition. A major characteristic of these types of contactors is the short contacting time, generally less than one second. However, for most known CO2 absorption solvents, the required gas-solvent contacting times are much longer. U.S. Pat. No. 7,862,788 to Gal et al. discloses that with 11 ft of packing, and even with piperazine as a promoter, the CO2 capture efficiency is relatively low in a range of approximately 15% to 72% and, without the promoter, in a range of approximately 8% to 35% within the ammonium carbonate and bicarbonate regeneration cyclone (NH3/CO2 molar ratio less than two). Gal et al. illustrates that the contacting time is insufficient. Therefore, venturi scrubbers and cyclonic spray type contactors cannot satisfy the long residence requirements to achieve at least 90% CO2 capture efficiency.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,342,781 to Su discloses an air-lift or bubble column reactor that can handle solids, and has a long gas-solids residence time. However, this type of the reactor has very low gas flow rates, and gas hold-up and the gas superficial velocity is generally less than 3 feet per second (ft/s). Low gas velocities means large reactor size, and at such low gas velocities, the reactor size must be sufficiently large to handle the large amounts of the flue gas from a power plant.
Further, as the CO2 absorption reaction is exothermic, it is necessary to remove the exothermic heat to maintain a low absorption temperature. With air-lift or bubble column reactors, low gas and solvent velocities make it difficult to remove the exothermic heat from the reaction zones. Even large air-lift or bubble column reactors, or multiple smaller reactors in combination, lead to a variety of problems, including poor gas and solvent flow distribution, channeling, inadequate heat dissipation and an inability to operate at low stable absorption temperatures.
A further challenge presented to successful systems that remove CO2 from flue gas is the allowable pressure drop or the power consumption in blowing the flue gas through the absorber due to the large volume. Such blowers consume large power even for small increases in pressure. Studies shows that the CO2 capture from a power plant can reduce the overall plant efficiency by approximately 9%, or in a relative scale by about 25% (see, http://www.fwc.com/publications/tech_papers/files/TP_CCS—10—04.pdf). Absorber designs have little margin for improvements in lowering the pressure drop.
In spite of the many challenges above, beneficial CO2 removal process incorporates contacting syngas from an IGCC process, or flue gas from a conventional PCC power plant, with a liquid solvent. Even with such gas-liquid contact systems, problems remain if cost and efficiency improvements are desired.
With some liquid solvents, high degrees of saturation with CO2 lead to formation of precipitates (crystals). Most gas-liquid contactors are incapable of handling precipitated solid particles. Other gas-liquid contactors do not have sufficiently long residence times to accommodate the relatively slower CO2 capture kinetics.
The inherently large size of conventional contactors for power plant presents design challenges in achieving uniformity throughout the cross-section. For some solvents, the solvent working (absorption) capacities need to be limited to avoid forming precipitates that can lead to operational difficulties with the conventional contactors. Such limitations on the working capacities of the solvent necessitate higher parasitic energy consumption during regeneration and solvent circulation between the absorber and the regenerator. As a result, conventional gas-liquid contactors, and the processes used therein, are too inefficient and too capital intensive to be useful in capturing CO2 from an IGCC process or from flue gas in a coal combustion plant for power generation.
What are needed are cost effective and reliable solutions for processing relatively large volumes of gases in relatively small reactors while also capable of handling precipitates formed in the process. It is to such systems and methods that the present invention is primarily directed.

Dispersed bubble reactor for enhanced gas-liquid-solids contact and mass transfer


The invention provides means and methods for transduction of a skeletal muscle cell and/or a muscle cell specific precursor thereof. Provided is the use of a gene delivery vehicle derived from an adenovirus, having a tropism for said cells, for the preparation of a medicament. In a preferred aspect of the invention, said gene delivery vehicle comprises at least a tropism determining part of an adenoviral fiber protein of subgroup B and/or F. More preferably, said gene delivery vehicle comprises at least part of a fiber protein of an adenovirus of stereotype (11, 16, 35, 40 and/or 51) or a functional part, derivative and/or analogue thereof.

The technology of delivering genetic material to cells is currently wide spread and finds many applications. With the technology at hand, it is possible to transfer a wide variety of nucleic acids into a wide variety of different cell types. Some of the more classical technologies include calcium phosphate precipitation, liposome mediated transfer, viral vector mediated transfer, particle bombardment and electroporation.
However, there is no ideal system for the transfer of nucleic acid into cells. All of the transfer systems of the art have their advantages and disadvantages. For instance, the calcium phosphate technology has been shown to be very effective in the transfection of many in vitro growing immortalized cell lines, however, transfer of nucleic acid into many primary cells both in vitro and in vivo has proven to be very difficult. In fact, efficient transfer of nucleic acid in primary cells has only become broadly applicable with the development of systems that use viral elements. Such viral vector systems utilize the very efficient mechanisms that viruses have developed to introduce their genetic information into the target cell. One of the best-studied viral vector systems is the adenovirus vector system.
Gene-transfer vectors derived from adenoviruses (so-called adenoviral vectors) have a number of features that make them particularly useful for gene transfer. 1) the biology of the adenoviruses is characterized in detail, 2) the adenovirus is not associated with severe human pathology, 3) the virus is extremely efficient in introducing its DNA into the host cell, 4) the virus can infect a wide variety of cells and has a broad host-range, 5) the virus can be produced at high virus titers in large quantities, and 6). The virus can be rendered replication defective by deletion of the early-region 1 (E1) of the viral genome (Brody and Crystal 1994).
The adenovirus genome is a linear double-stranded DNA molecule of approximately 36000 base pairs. The adenovirus DNA contains identical Inverted Terminal Repeats (ITR) of approximately 90-140 base pairs with the exact length depending on the serotype. The viral origins of replication are within the ITRs exactly at the genome ends. Most adenoviral vectors currently used in gene therapy have a deletion in the E1 region, where novel genetic information can be introduced. The E1 deletion renders the recombinant virus replication defective. (Levrero et al. 1991). It has been demonstrated extensively that recombinant adenovirus, in particular serotype 5, is suitable for efficient transfer of genes in vivo to the liver, the airway epithelium and solid tumors in animal models and human xenografts in immuno-deficient mice (Bout 1996; Blaese et al. 1995). Thus, preferred methods for in vivo gene transfer into target cells make use of adenoviral vectors as gene delivery vehicles. At present, six different subgroups of human adenoviruses have been proposed which in total encompasses 51 distinct adenovirus serotypes. Besides these human adenoviruses an extensive number of animal adenoviruses have been identified (Ishibashi and Yasue 1984).
A serotype is defined on the basis of its immunological distinctiveness as determined by quantitative neutralization with animal antisera (horse, rabbit). If neutralization shows a certain degree of cross-reaction between two viruses, distinctiveness of serotype is assumed if A) the hemagglutinins are unrelated, as shown by lack of cross-reaction on hemagglutination-inhibition, or B) substantial biophysical/biochemical differences in DNA exist (Francki et al. 1991). The nine serotypes identified last (42-51) were isolated for the first time from HIV-infected patients. (Hierholzer et al. 1988; Schnurr and Dondero 1993; De Jong et al. 1999). For reasons not well understood, most of such immuno-compromised patients shed adenoviruses that were rarely or never isolated from immuno-competent individuals (Hierholzer et al. 1988; Khoo et al. 1995; De Jong et al., 1999). The adenovirus serotype 5 (Ad5), is most widely used for gene therapy purposes. Similar to serotypes 2, 4 and 7, serotype 5 has a natural affiliation towards lung epithelia and other respiratory tissues. In contrast, it is known that, for instance, serotypes 40 and 41 have a natural affiliation towards the gastrointestinal tract. For a detailed overview of the disease association of the different adenovirus serotypes see table 1. In this table there is one deviation from the literature. Sequence analysis and hemagglutination assays using erythrocytes from different species performed in our institute indicated that in contrast to the literature (De Jong et al. 1999) adenovirus 50 proved to be a D group vector whereas adenovirus 51 proved to be a B-group vector. The natural affiliation of a given serotype towards a specific organ can either be due to a difference in the route of infection i.e. make use of different receptor molecules or internalization pathways. However, it can also be due to the fact that a serotype can infect many tissues/organs but it can only replicate in one organ because of the requirement of certain cellular factors for replication and hence clinical disease. At present it is unknown which of the above mentioned mechanisms is responsible for the observed differences in human disease association. However it is known that different adenovirus serotypes can bind to different receptors due to sequence dissimilarity of the capsid proteins i.e. hexon, penton, and fiber protein. It is predominantly fiber that is responsible for the initial attachment and thus determines the host range of a serotype. For instance, it has been shown that adenoviruses of subgroup C such as Ad2 and Ad5 bind to different receptors as compared to adenoviruses from subgroup B such as Ad3 (Defer et al. 1990). Likewise, it was demonstrated that receptor specificity could be altered by exchanging the Ad3 with the Ad5 knob protein, and vice versa (Krasnykh et al. 1996; Stevenson et al. 1995 and 1997).
The initial step for successful infection is binding of adenovirus to a cell surface, a process mediated through fiber protein. The fiber protein has a trimeric structure (Stouten et al. 1992) with different lengths, depending on the virus serotype (Signas et al. 1985; Kidd et al. 1993). Different serotypes have polypeptides with structurally similar N and C termini, but different middle stem regions. N-terminally, the first 30 amino acids are involved in anchoring of the fiber to the penton base (Chroboczek et al. 1995), especially the conserved FNPVYP (SEQ. ID. NO. 1) region in the tail (Arnberg et al. 1997). The C-terminus, or knob, is responsible for initial interaction with the cellular adenovirus receptor. After this initial binding secondary binding between the capsid penton base and cell-surface integrins is proposed to lead to internalization of viral particles in coated pits and endocytosis (Morgan et al. 1969; Svensson and Persson 1984; Varga et al. 1991; Greber et al. 1993; Wickham et al. 1995). Integrins are αβ-heterodimers of which at least 14 α-subunits and 8 β-subunits have been identified (Hynes 1992). The array of integrins expressed in cells is complex and will vary between cell types and cellular environment. Although the knob contains some conserved regions, between serotypes, knob proteins show a high degree of variability, indicating that different adenovirus receptors might exist. For instance, it has been demonstrated that adenoviruses of subgroup C (Ad2, Ad5) and adenoviruses of subgroup B (Ad3) bind to different receptors (Defer et al. 1990). Using baculovirus produced soluble CAR as well as adenovirus serotype 5 knob protein, Roelvink et al. (1998) concluded by using interference studies that all adenovirus serotypes, except serotypes of subgroup B, enter cells via CAR.
Although adenovirus vectors have been used to transfer foreign genetic material into a large variety of cell types, skeletal muscle cells (also referred to as muscle cells) and muscle cell specific precursors thereof (myoblasts) have until the present invention at least in part resisted efficient gene delivery by adenovirus vectors. Until the present invention, the limited capability of adenovirus vectors to deliver a nucleic acid of interest to said (precursor) muscle cell was a problem in gene therapy. Effective gene delivery in said cells is desirable, because in the field of gene therapy there is an interest in skeletal muscle as a target for treatment of many different diseases (reviewed in DiEdwardo et al. 1999). For instance, via direct injection of skeletal muscle with either recombinant viruses (Hartigan-O'Connor and Chamberlain 2000; Akkaraju et al. 1999), naked DNA (Li S. et al. 1999) or liposome complexed DNA, researchers are attempting to treat local muscle disease such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). In DMD, proper dystrophin protein expression is impaired due to genetic deletions. However, other structural proteins such as, lamanin-alpha-2-chain, or delta-sarcoglyan cause other types of muscle disease and are therefore also subject of investigation (Vilquin et al. 1999).
Besides muscle diseases, a large number of other human diseases can potentially be treated if highly efficient transduction of skeletal muscle would occur, since skeletal muscle presents a large mass of the human body that is easily accessible. For instance, expression of proteins that are either wrongly expressed, or not expressed at all by a patient suffering from one of many glycogen storage disorders could potentially be treated. Genes known to be non-functional are: for instance Aldolase A, Phosphorylase B-kinase, acid maltase, or ormyophosphorylase (reviewed in DiMauro and Bruno, 1998).
Another example of potential areas in which efficient genetic modification of skeletal muscle could be beneficial are ischemia and peripheral vascular disease because induction of angiogenesis has been shown to be therapeutically beneficial (Isner 2000, Schratzberger et al. 2000). Factors that can induce or inhibit angiogenesis are for instance cardiotropin-1, ang1-7, NOSIII, ATF-BPTI, and vascular endothelial growth factor (Bordet et al. 1999; Rivard et al. 1999). Another example is the genetic modification of the skeletal muscle such that it becomes a "production factory" for therapeutic proteins that can exert their therapeutic effect at sites distant from the skeletal muscle (MacColl et al. 1999). Examples of the latter include growth factors and hormones i.e. EPO, TGF-β, TNF-α, or IL1-IL12 (Ueno et al. 2000; Dalle et al. 1999), blood clotting factors i.e. factor VIII and factor IX (Chao et al. 1999)), neurotropic factors i.e. GDNF or NGF (Mohajeri et al. 1999), or lysosomal lipid degradation enzymes i.e. galactosidase, glucocerebrosidase, ceraminidase. Expression of these proteins in the muscle could be beneficial to treat for instance anemia, blood clotting disorders, or Gaucher disease to name but a few.
Because direct injection of recombinant viruses, naked DNA or liposome complexed DNA has so far not resulted in highly efficient genetic modification of skeletal muscle, alternatives of direct administration approaches are explored. In one such strategy, myoblasts cultured from adult skeletal muscle biopsies are isolated. Myoblasts are subsequently genetically modified and re-infused into the patient, for instance in the skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle or perhaps even in the blood stream giving the fact that, these cells might possess the ability to home to skeletal muscle (Jackson et al. 1999). Transplantation into ischemic regions of a diseased heart of genetically modified myoblasts expressing angiogenic factors might counteract heart failure (Scorsin et al. 2000). This strategy in which genetically modified cells are transplanted directly, is an autologous procedure meaning that cells have to be derived from the patient itself. To broaden the number of applications several polymers have been constructed in which allogeneic cells are encapsulated using semi-permeable membranes which thus shields the cells from the immune system of the host (Li R H. et al. 1998 and 1999). Encapsulated myoblasts thus secrete therapeutic proteins but the myoblasts are protected from the immune system and/or complement inactivation (Regulier et al. 1998; Dalle et al. 1999). Encapsulated cells are surgically implanted at any easy accessible site in the body, i.e. subcutaneous, intra dermal, intra peritoneal, or intra muscular. Another alternative strategy for the direct administration of recombinant viruses, naked DNA, or liposome-complexed DNA is the use of myoblasts for ex vivo tissue engineering also referred to as a "neo-organ approach". This strategy is based on the implantation of cells, either or not genetically modified, in biodegradable scaffolds in vitro (Rosenthal and Kohler 1997, Yoo and Atala 1997, Moullier et al. 1993). The cells adhere to the scaffold after which the scaffold is surgically transplanted. This approach can be used to generate bioartificial muscle (BAM) in bioreactors (Powell et al. 1999). Genes of interest to transfer to myoblasts using this approach are many and include all examples listed so far. Naturally the, same approaches can be followed when undesired genes or proteins have to be eliminated from the body. Hereto, for instance anti-sense molecules (Soreq and Seidman 2000), ribozymes (Morino et al. 20.00), or chimeraplasts (Rando et al. 2000) can be expressed in myoblasts.
From the above non-limiting, examples it can be concluded that efficient transduction of skeletal muscle cells and myoblasts is of great importance. However, although researchers perform a great variety of beneficial applications with gene therapy involving skeletal muscle cells and myoblasts, until the present invention there were no suitable methods for transduction of a skeletal muscle cell and/or a myoblast, a muscle cell specific precursor of at least a skeletal muscle cell.
Transduction of a (precursor) muscle cell with an adenovirus vector was not efficiently possible. Until the present invention, gene delivery was performed in a variety of ways, which were for instance laborious, and/or inefficient. The present invention solves the problem, how a muscle cell and/or a specific precursor thereof can be efficiently infected by a gene delivery vehicle, preferably comprising an adenoviral vector. With the present invention it is for instance possible to perform a wide range of beneficial applications on a wide scale. An efficient way of transducing said (precursor) muscle cells by an adenovirus vector might for instance improve the time and/or extent of treatment of a disease by gene therapy.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Serotype 5 adenoviral vectors with chimeric fibers for gene delivery in skeletal muscle cells or myoblasts


Improved document annotation techniques are provided. For example, in one aspect of the invention, a technique for determining an annotation for a document includes the following steps/operations. A user-proposed annotation to be associated with the document is obtained. Then, the technique automatically determines, in accordance with a knowledge base, whether the user-proposed annotation matches at least one allowed annotation.

Numerous applications require the annotation of documents with a fixed set of terms. Examples include video annotation (where the documents are, for example, key frames of a video) and library cataloging (where the documents are, for example, mainly books and magazines). Examples of annotation terms include "outdoors," "face" and "monologue" for videos, and "antiquities," "meteorology" and "fiction" for library catalogs.
Current annotation systems require the annotator to memorize and pick from a large (typically hierarchical) lexicon of terms. Besides the fact that this is a time-consuming process, lexica keep changing and growing over time, requiring the annotator to keep up-to-date. For example, the Library of Congress introduces close to 1,000 new or changed subject headings each week.
A different approach mainly used for text documents, automatically or semi-automatically finds matching annotations. This is achieved via ontology-based text analysis and machine learning techniques, see, e.g., M. Erdmann et al., "From manual to semi-automatic semantic annotation: About ontology-based text annotation tools," Proceedings of the COLING 2000 Workshop on Semantic Annotation and Intelligent Content, Luxembourg, August 2000. An example of such a system is the S-CREAM system, as described in S. Handschuh et al., "S-CREAM—Semi-automatic CREAtion of Metadata," 13th International Conference on Knowledge Engineering and Knowledge Management (EKAW02), 2002.
However, these techniques can have high annotation error rates that necessitate human supervision, since they do not use a knowledge base in making the annotation decision. On the other hand, approaches such as are described in C. A. Goble et al., "Describing and Classifying Multimedia Using the Description Logic GRAIL," SPIE, 1996, annotate and retrieve documents using a well-defined description logic. Even though this approach improves the retrieval quality, it does not free the document repository maintainer from annotating the documents.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,397,181, entitled "Method and Apparatus for Voice Annotation and Retrieval of Multimedia Data," transforms voice annotations into a word lattice and indexes the word lattice. Even though such an approach tries to simplify the annotation process, the approach focuses on the indexing process and does not try to match the voice annotations with a given set of allowed annotations.
Therefore, a need exists for improved document annotation techniques.

Methods and apparatus for knowledge base assisted annotation

International Business Machines Corporation


Embodiments include a technique for scheduling meeting based on calendaring dependencies. The technique includes receiving prerequisite information for scheduling a meeting, the prerequisite information including a meeting agenda, meeting objective, and location, and validating, by a computing system, the prerequisite information based on an aggregate condition of the prerequisite information. The technique also includes responsive to the validation, scheduling the meeting based on the prerequisite information, otherwise restricting the scheduling of the meeting, and electronically transmitting a meeting request including the prerequisite information based on the validation.

The present invention relates to organizing meetings, and more specifically, to scheduling based on calendaring dependencies.
In today's enterprise environment, meetings and conferences are important to facilitate business collaborations and decisions. Whether meetings are scheduled in-person or virtually, business calendars and workload schedulers are an integral part of organizing meetings. Currently, schedulers have the ability to organize meetings for several participants with only an email address. With access to enterprise members' calendars, schedulers have the ability to locate unscheduled blocks of time to schedule meetings. As businesses expand globally, efficient scheduling of meetings is critical.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


A method of selling at least one right associated with contest participants through a computer network is disclosed. The method includes broadcasting contests between the participants through the network, and transmitting to potential buyers an indicator of advertising effectiveness for each participant. The potential buyers are connected to the network via terminals.

The present invention relates to a method of selling a right associated with a game through a computer network.
Generally, contests such as sumo, baseball, football, go, shogi and chess take place before an audience. Mass media such as television, newspaper, magazine and the like communicate the progress of contests to the general public. Players (individual players and teams) have a large number of fans.
As the notability and popularity of players increase higher, their values as advertising spokesmen increase. Enterprises choose players or teams with high popularity and notability to participate in commercial advertisements in television and magazines for increasing the effectiveness of advertisement for their goods. A commercial advertisement contract between a player and a sponsoring enterprise is generally made directly by the player or through an agency or a group to which the player belongs. The payment, which is determined through negotiations, varies depending mainly on showings (issue), past results, popularity and talent of a player. In other words, only an extremely small proportion of players who have made good showings can make commercial advertisement contracts and obtain high payments.
Players in a slump, on the other hand, will obtain low advertising payments, and will encounter difficulties in entering into commercial advertising contracts. Ordinary persons, managers of small-scale companies, and ordinary proprietors, in turn, encounter economical difficulties in making contracts of television commercials with famous players.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,794,207 discloses a conventional reverse auction method. This conventional method may be used by players themselves to sell their advertising rights and sponsor rights. However, it has been difficult for players to directly find advertisers using the conventional auction method.
Small-scale companies, personal stores and individuals may establish home pages (websites) on the internet for advertising their stores or goods at a low cost. The home pages and advertisements may be found by those who intend to look for the stores and goods, but are not visited by many persons and are not very effective.

Method of selling right associated with games


Spectral optical imaging at one or more key water absorption fingerprint wavelengths measures the difference in water content between a region of cancerous or precancerous tissue and a region of normal tissue. Water content is an important diagnostic parameter because cancerous and precancerous tissues have different water content than normal tissues. Key water absorption wavelengths include at least one of 980 nanometers (nm), 1195 nm, 1456 nm, 1944 nm, 2880 nm to 3360 nm, and 4720 nm. In the range of 400 nm to 6000 nm, one or more points of negligible water absorption are used as reference points for a comparison with one or more key neighboring water absorption wavelengths. Different images are generated using at least two wavelengths, including a water absorption wavelength and a negligible water absorption wavelength, to yield diagnostic information relevant for classifying a tissue region as cancerous, precancerous, or normal. The results of this comparison can be used to identify regions of cancerous tissue in organs such as the breast, cervix and prostate.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention is directed to spectral optical imaging methods and, more specifically, to optical imaging techniques for detecting human cancer in prostate and other tissues.
2. Description of the Related Art
Cancer is a disease that is characterized by uncontrolled cellular growth, whereby cancer cells continue to grow and divide in an abnormal manner. A tumor, defined as any abnormal growth of cells, may be classified as benign or malignant. A benign tumor remains confined or localized to a given site, whereas a malignant tumor is capable of invading other tissues or organs. Most cancers fall into one of three main groups: carcinomas, sarcomas, and leukemias/lymphomas. Of these groups, the most frequently-occurring cancers are carcinomas. Carcinomas may develop from cells that cover the surface of the body, cells of the internal organs, and glandular cells. Glandular cells are found, for example, in the breast and the prostate. Sarcomas are cancers of connective tissue, such as muscle and bone. Leukemias are cancers of the blood forming cells and cells of the immune system.
All cells consist of two major parts: a nucleus and a cytoplasm. The nucleus is the cell's manager. It contains the cell's genetic material in the form of strands of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). The cytoplasm, a fluid within the cell, contains proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, and nucleic acids in a water-based solution. A change or mutation in the expression of genes causes cancer to occur. In molecular terms, cancer is a genetic change that occurs within the cell. Two distinct classes of cancer-related genes have been identified: oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes.
Lung cancer, rectum cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, urinary cancer, oral cancer, brain cancer and skin cancer represent some of the most frequently occurring cancers. For men, the most common type of cancer is cancer of the prostate. The risk of prostate cancer increases with age. Accordingly, early detection of cancer plays a vital role in reducing mortality from prostate cancer. Present-day screening methods for prostate cancer include digital rectal examinations and prostate specific antigen (PSA) blood tests. There are several different grades or stages of cancer, and these may be ranked using a well-known scale that classifies cancerous and precancerous regions into any of five Gleason Grades, denoted as Stages 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Precancerous stages (denoted as stages 1 and 2) correspond to the early stages of cancer.
In an attempt to develop less invasive diagnostic procedures, recent efforts have been directed towards utilization of near-infrared (NIR) optical spectroscopy for cancer and pre cancer detection. NIR techniques, based upon an understanding of cancer at the molecular level, represent an important step toward early detection of cancer. The optical spectrum of a tissue sample contains information about the biochemical composition of that tissue. A primary objective of NIR is to distinguish molecular bonding within cancerous tissue from molecular bonding within normal tissue by detecting fluorescence and Raman spectra from native molecular markers. A gene that is responsible for prostate cancer is attached or tagged with a certain chromophore (molecular marker), such as dye or semiconductor quantum dots, to enhance contrast and resolution in the NIR optical spectroscopy imaging process. The use of molecular markers could enable the imaging process to penetrate more deeply into tissue under examination, thereby enabling doctors and other diagnostic personnel to obtain more information.
State-of-the-art of present techniques for detection of prostate cancer provide limited contrast, low resolution images that do not enable an accurate identification of cancerous tissue. For this reason, the digital rectal examination (DRE), ultrasound imaging, and prostate specific antigen (PSA) blood test are currently the most commonly utilized methods for early detection of prostate cancer. Although X-rays, ultrasound, and magnetic resonance have also been used to detect tumors, these techniques have limited detection capabilities and/or create safety concerns. For example, X-rays are not well-suited for the detection of tumors less than 1 mm in size and, moreover, represent a safety hazard to the patient.
Optical spectroscopy techniques including fluorescence, Raman scattering and light scattering have been used to investigate normal, benign, precancerous and malignant tissues. For example, NIR spectral polarization imaging has been used to image foreign objects dyed with Indocyanine Green at different depths inside prostate tissues. Some disadvantages of fluorescence and Raman scattering methods are a) a point-by-point evaluation cannot be performed; b) a weak diagnostic signal is provided, relative to the amount of elastic scattering that occurs; and (c) direct contact with cancerous tissue must occur in order to make a diagnosis. Elastic scattering detection examines melanin and hemoglobin absorption by focusing on the ultraviolet (UV) and visible regions of light. In these spectral regions, light is highly scattered, making it difficult to detect any microstructure changes that may occur in a tissue sample.
For the sake of computational expediency, a simplification known as the "diffusion approximation" has been widely utilized for describing light propagation in biological media, especially when scattering dominates absorption and the radiant energy fluence rate close to the source is not known. Transport theory is based upon a radiative transfer equation. The solution of this transfer equation in a highly absorbing medium, such as water, surrounded by the non-absorbing tissue, can be simplified and described by the Beer-Lambert law. Note that water absorption is stronger than scattering at specific wavelengths. The attenuation due to absorption is proportional to the concentration (C) of chromophores in tissues, such as water molecules or a specific dye. The optical path length (d) is described by:
                                                        I              =                                                                    I                    0                                                                          (                                          1                      -                      R                                        )                                                                                ⅇ                                      -                    acd                                                                                or                                                                                A              =                                                ln                                                                                I                        0                                                                                (                                                  1                          -                          R                                                )                                                              I                                                  =                acd                                                                        (        1        )            where A is the attenuation measured in optical densities, l0 is the light intensity incident on the medium, l is the light intensity transmitted through the medium, a is the specific extinction coefficient of the absorbing compound in micromolars per cm, c is the concentration of the absorbing compound in micromolars, and d is the distance between the points where the light enters and leaves the medium (sample thickness). The product (ac) is known as the absorption coefficient (μa) of the medium. R is the specular reflection coefficient (Fresnel reflection) from the surface of the sample. When adding absorbing molecules to a host turbid medium (such as tissue), the backscattered or transmitted signal from the sample (water/chromophore-tissue) will be less, especially when absorption dominates.
To calculate the absorption coefficient of a tissue sample, the transmittance (T) or optical density (O. D., T=I/I0(1−R)=10−O.D) of a thin specimen (such as prostate tissue) can be measured in the ballistic region. In a very thin specimen where multiple scattering is negligible, such that d≦ls(ls is the scattering length), or where absorption is much stronger than scattering, the measured absorption coefficient can be obtained from:
                                          μ            a                    =                                    1              d                                                                                ln                                            (                                  1                  T                                )                                                    ,                              where                                                                          T                    =                                    I                                                I                  0                                                                  (                                      1                    -                    R                                    )                                                      .                                              (        2        )            In relatively thicker tissues, the total attenuation coefficient of a ballistic layer (μt=μs+μa) is measured.
Pursuant to Fresnel's laws of reflection, specular reflection of incident light from a surface is a function of polarization, incident angle, and index of refraction. In the case of unpolarized light, the reflected radiance from a surface is written as
                              R                                (                          θ              i                        )                          =                              1            2                                          [                                          R                II                2                            +                              R                ⊥                2                                      ]                                              (        3        )            where θi is the incident angle, RII is the reflected electric field parallel to the plane of incidence, and R⊥is the reflected electric field perpendicular to the plane of incidence. For normal incidence (θi=0), equation (3) becomes
                              R                                (            0            )                          =                              (                                                            n                  i                                -                                  n                  t                                                                              n                  i                                +                                  n                  t                                                      )                    2                                    (        4        )            where ni is the index of the incident medium, and nt is the index of the transmitted medium.
A linearly polarized light incident on tissue loses its polarization as it traverses the medium for an order of transport length ltr, where
            l      tr        =                  l        s                    (                  1          -          g                )              ,and g is an anisotropy factor. A small portion of the incident light is backscattered by epithelial cells, such that the backscattered light retains its polarization in this single scattering event. The remaining light diffuses into the underlying tissue and is depolarized by multiple scattering. The degree of polarization is defined as:D=(I|−I⊥)/(I|+I⊥)  (5)where the I∥ and I⊥ are the intensities for the parallel and perpendicular components of the reflected or scattered light from the object, respectively.
The contrast is the difference in light intensity in an object or image, and defined as:C=(Imax−Imin)/(Imax+Imin)  (6)where the Imax and Imin are the maximum and minimum intensities of light recorded from the object, respectively.
Scattering and absorption of tissue is caused by the presence of a cellular nucleus (˜10 μm), nuclei (˜3 μm), mitochondria (length ˜1 μm), blood cells, glogi (complicated shapes), cytoplasm, and other tissue structures. The size of the scatterer and the incident wavelength determine the type of scattering that will occur. Also, the distribution of the scatterer size is an important factor in evaluating scattering intensity versus angle
      (          θ      ∼              λ        a              )    .The optical parameters of tissues, such as refractive index n, scattering coefficient μs, and absorption coefficient μa, are responsible for the degree of light scattering in tissue.

Detecting human cancer through spectral optical imaging using key water absorption wavelengths

Research Foundation of the City University of New York


Disclosed is a first force sensing region of footwear. The first force sensing region includes a first force sensor unit. The first force sensor unit includes a first compliant capacitor disposed with respect to a first plane. The first force sensor unit also includes a strain transformation structure disposed with respect to the first plane. The strain transformation structure includes a first transformation element coupled to an outer surface of the first electrode of the first compliant capacitor and a second transformation element coupled to an outer surface of the second electrode of the first compliant capacitor.

Sensors for detecting, measuring, monitoring, or actuating physical phenomena are ubiquitous in the field of engineering. Some sensors may provide a corresponding output responsive to detecting, measuring, or monitoring physical phenomena. A variety of sensors exist and include temperature sensors, pressure sensors, ultrasonic sensors, strain sensors, light sensors, flex and bend sensors, angular displacement sensors, compressive force sensors, among others. Sensors may use different types of sense elements, such as capacitive sense elements, resistive sense elements, photonic sense elements, or others types of sense elements, to sense or actuate physical phenomena.


In a method for producing an optical unit having an optical element deviating from a circular shape, for an optical imaging system, in particular for a projection objective in semiconductor lithography in the EUV region, a supporting part is provided, which is provided with reference surfaces for adjustment in the optical system, in accordance with which the optical element is connected to the supporting part. Subsequently, there is fixed relative to the optical element a zero point which forms a reference point with a zero point fixed in the optical system during installation of the optical unit in the optical system.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for producing an optical unit having an optical element deviating from a circular shape, for an optical imaging system, in particular for a projection objective in semiconductor lithography in the EUV region.
2. Description of the Related Art
The invention also relates to an optical unit having an optical element for an optical imaging system.
Projection objectives in semiconductor lithography for producing semiconductor elements which operate in the EUV region at wavelengths of around 11 to 13 nm are subject to extremely high requirements placed on the optical elements. This applies, for example, firstly to the useful optical surface within a particular specification (fitting, roughness) with reference to the production and, secondly, also to a later adjustment with reference to a very exact installation position in an objective. This relates, in particular, to mirrors which are required instead of lenses given the very short wavelengths mentioned above. Since the later adjustment with reference to the position of the useful optical surface requires this position to be known down to a few μ, there is the need to provide on the optical unit, for example the mirror, a number of reference surfaces which then form reference surfaces—appropriately referred to a zero point—for installation. A very high economic outlay is required in order to fulfill the requisite accuracy specifications for the reference surfaces. The abovementioned problems are even greater given an optical element deviating from the circular shape, for example a reflecting element or a prism.


A gas turbine engine turbine blade squealer tip includes an airfoil tip cap having an airfoil shape and pressure and suction sides joined together at chordally spaced apart leading and trailing edges of the tip cap. The squealer tip further includes a plurality of squealer ribs extend outward from the tip cap between the leading and trailing edges and substantially parallel channels between the squealer ribs. The squealer ribs and channels may have rectangular cross-sections and may also include a trailing edge rib along a portion of the suction side including the trailing edge and/or a leading edge rib curved around an axially extending portion of the leading edge. The squealer ribs are preferably angled in an axially aft direction from the leading edge on the suction side towards the trailing edge on the pressure side. Channel ribs may be disposed between the squealer ribs and across the channels and may be arranged such that only one of the channel ribs is disposed across each of the channels. The squealer tip may be constructed with no apertures through the tip cap in the channels between squealer ribs.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to turbine rotor blade tip seals in gas turbine engines and, more specifically, to squealer tips with ribs extending between suction and pressure sides of the blade.
2. Discussion of the Background Art
It is well known that a reduction in gas turbine engine efficiency results from leaking of hot expanding combustion gases in the turbine across a gap between rotating turbine blades and stationary seals or shrouds which surround them. The problem of sealing between such relatively rotating members to avoid loss in efficiency is very difficult in the turbine section of the engine because of high temperatures and transient centrifugal loads.
One well known method of improving the sealing between the turbine blade and shroud is the provision of squealer type tips on turbine blades. A squealer tip includes a continuous peripheral end wall of relatively small height surrounding and projecting outwardly from an end cap on the outer end of a turbine blade which closes a cooling air chamber in the interior of the blade.
During operation of the engine, temperature changes create differential rates of thermal expansion and contraction on the blade rotor and shroud which may result in rubbing between the blade tips and shrouds. Centrifugal forces acting on the blades and structural forces acting on the shrouds create distortions thereon which may also result in rubbing interference. This is particularly true during engine acceleration when then rotor is suddenly accelerated.
Such rubbing interference between the rotating blade tips and surrounding stationary shrouds causes heating of the blade tips resulting in excessive wear or damage to the blade tips and shrouds. It is, therefore, desirable to cool the blade tips. However, in the case of squealer type blade tips, heating produced by such rubbing interference is actually augmented by the presence of a cavity defined by the end cap and peripheral end wall of the squealer tip. Therefore, squealer type blade tips, though fostering improved sealing, actually require additional cooling. Cooling of the squealer tip is conventionally provided by tip cooling holes in the tip cap leading from the cooling air chamber to the cavity.
Because of the complexity and relative high cost of replacing or repairing turbine blades, it is desirable to prolong as much as possible the life of blade tips and respective blades. Blade tip cooling is a conventional practice employed for achieving that objective. The provision of holes for directing air flow to cool blade tips is known in the prior art, for instance as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,247,254 to Zelahy, and have been applied to squealer type blade tips as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,540,339 to Horvath.
Turbine engine blade designers and engineers are constantly striving to develop more efficient ways of cooling the tips of the turbine blades to prolong turbine blade life and reduce engine operating cost. However, cooling air used to accomplish this is expensive in terms of overall fuel consumption. Thus, more effective and efficient use of available cooling air in carrying out cooling of turbine blade tips is desirable not only to prolong turbine blade life but also to improve the efficiency of the engine as well, thereby, again lowering engine operating cost. Consequently, there is a continuing need for a squealer tip design that will make more effective and efficient use of available cooling air.


A battery system and an energy storage system including a battery module. The battery system includes at least one battery module that may perform charging and discharging, and a battery management unit that controls the charging and the discharging of the battery module. The battery management unit varies a charge limit value for stopping the charging of the battery module and a discharge limit value for stopping the discharging of the battery module. Accordingly, a lifetime of the battery module is extended.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a battery system and an energy storage system.
2. Description of the Related Art
As problems, such as environmental contamination and resource exhaustion, increase, interest in systems for storing energy and efficiently using the stored energy also increase. There is also increased interest in renewable energy that does not cause pollution during power generation. Thus, research into energy storage systems, which may be used with renewable energy, a power storage battery system, and existing grid power, has been actively conducted as changes occur in domestic and overseas environments.
Battery systems may be supplied with external power, store the supplied power, and externally supply the stored power. That is, battery systems may perform charging and discharging operations. Many attempts have been made to stably perform charging and discharging operations by efficiently controlling battery systems.
The above information disclosed in this Related Art section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Battery system and energy storage system including the same


In a semi-transmissive liquid crystal display device provided with a liquid crystal panel DP and a backlight BL, black spacers and transparent spacers are mixed and provided in a space between two opposing transparent substrates 4a and 4b, and let r be a radius of the spacers and S be a dimension of a light transmissive region T in a single pixel, then a value of πr2/S is set in a range from 0.001 to 0.01. A stable display is thus enabled by eliminating display irregularities.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semi-transmissive liquid crystal display device having a light reflective region and a light transmissive region in a single pixel region, and more particularly, to the structure of a spacer that defines an interval between a pair of top and bottom substrates.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, a liquid crystal display device has been used extensively as a large-scale, high-definition monitor besides a small- or medium-scale personal digital assistant and a notebook computer.
A display mode of the liquid crystal display device includes a reflective mode in which display is performed using external light that comes incident on the display surface, a transmissive mode in which a backlight is used and display is performed by allowing light from the backlight to pass through the display surface, and a semi-transmissive mode furnished with the functions of both modes.
A semi-transmissive liquid crystal display device achieving the semi-transmissive mode is used as a reflective device with the use of external illumination, such as sunlight or fluorescent light, or is used as a transmissive device by attaching a backlight. In order to provide the display functions of both types, it uses a semi-transmissive film (structured to serve as a half mirror by laminating plural dielectric films having different refractive indexes alternately).
When such a semi-transmissive film serving as a half mirror is used, it is difficult to enhance both functions of reflectance and transmittance.
In order to solve this problem, a semi-transmissive liquid crystal display device is assembled by forming a reflection film in a pixel region and providing a light transmission hole (light transmissive region) in part of the reflection film formed in the pixel region for allowing light from the backlight to pass through.
Meanwhile, it is quite important for the liquid crystal display device to keep a liquid crystal layer uniform at a thickness of a specific value. Hence, in general, a number of fine, transparent spacers to keep the liquid crystal layer at a uniformed thickness are mixed in the liquid crystal layer.
For this reason, in a semi-transmissive liquid crystal device, for example, when black is displayed in a transmissive mode (a display state where transmitted light is shielded), white dropouts readily occur due to the transparent spacers per se and an alignment defect of the liquid crystal on the periphery of the spacers. This is because while liquid crystal molecules are in a twisted state in a space between two substrates, those on the periphery of the spacers go into a state where they apparently stand perpendicularly in the space between the two substrates, and the twisted state of the liquid crystal molecules on the periphery of the spacers is thereby disturbed, which gives rise to a light leaking phenomenon in the liquid crystal layer near the spacer surface.
In addition, spacers provided in a space between two substrates are transparent, and provided on a random basis by means of wet scattering or dry scattering. Hence, the number of spacers provided above the light transmission hole is not constant.
Because a degree of white dropouts in each pixel depends on the number of spacers provided above the light transmission hole, white dropout portions across the entire display region appear as irregularities.
It is possible to prevent the white dropouts caused by a defect of liquid crystal alignment as described above by using spacers (hydrophilic spacers) having undergone treatment to form alkyl groups on the spacer surface. However, because only part of the pixel contributes to a transmissive display in the transmissive mode, the size of the pixel becomes relatively small with respect to the size of the spacers. Hence, when white is displayed on the contrary (a display state where transmitted light is allowed to pass through), black irregularities, by contrast, appear across the entire display region when an alignment restraining force is too strong.
In the semi-transmissive liquid crystal display device having both the light reflective region and the light transmissive region in the pixel region, display irregularities occur after all either in the black display or in the white display.
When the liquid crystal display device is formed using the hydrophilic spacers, leakage of light from the periphery of the spacers can be prevented. However, there arises another problem that an alignment defect of liquid crystal molecules occurs between close spacers.
In order to keep the liquid crystal layer uniform, the necessary mixing density of spacers is 80 or more pieces per 1 mm2 when viewed in a plane, and in order to maintain the liquid crystal layer in a stable manner, a density of 200 pieces per 1 mm2 is necessary. However, when hydrophilic spacers are mixed at a high density, an alignment defect of liquid crystal molecules between spacers becomes noticeable.
FIG. 6 is a plan view of pixel regions showing an inconvenience caused by a defective liquid crystal alignment between hydrophilic spacers.
Hydrophilic spacers 10a are provided in the respective pixel regions. The base material of the spacers is formed by subjecting a monomer having unsaturated ethylene groups to suspension polymerization using a radical polymerizing agent. Polymerization treatment to polymerize alkyl groups (having about 12 carbons) on the surface of the base material of the spacers is applied as hydrophilic treatment.
As a consequence, when the spacers 10a to surfaces of which is applied hydrophilic treatment are provided, because a restraining force to align liquid crystal is exerted on the surface of each spacer 10a, a linear alignment defect region having close spacers as a nucleus as is denoted by numeral 15 may possibly occur due to an external force or stress, such as heat, in a portion where spacers are close to each other. Because there is no phase difference in this linear alignment defect region 15, it becomes a luminous spot in the black display.
Conversely, when a scattering density of spacers is reduced to control the linear alignment defects, the thickness of the liquid crystal layer becomes less uniform. The liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer then become unable to move stably, which results in a problem that liquid crystal display is disturbed.
An object of the invention is to provide a semi-transmissive liquid crystal display device using a reflection film provided with light transmission holes that is capable of performing a stable display by eliminating display irregularities caused by spacers mixed in the liquid crystal layer.
An object of the invention is to provide a liquid crystal display device capable of performing a stable display while suppressing linear alignment defects having spacers as a nucleus that occur between close spacers.

Liquid crystal display device having black and transparent spacers in the transmissive region


A gas turbine shaft bearing system (bearing and/or seal component) service method and service tool that applies biasing force between a gas turbine shaft and a bearing system component supporting the shaft, so that the bearing system component can be removed or installed. The bearing system service tool is coupled directly to the bearing system component and the shaft, preferably without the need for external fixtures. A biasing force generator, such as a hydraulic unit applies a force on the bearing system component to cause component movement on or off the shaft. Counter-biasing forces are resisted by the fixed position turbine shaft. By exerting biasing force directly between the turbine shaft and bearing system component the service tool can be constructed of smaller, man portable components that are more easily maneuvered within relatively confined turbine service spaces, which are common in field installations.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to gas turbine shaft bearing system service method and a gas turbine shaft bearing system service tool that facilitates axial sliding movement of the bearing system bearing and seal assemblies on the shaft during removal and installation service. The tool causes the bearing system bearing and seal assemblies to slide relative to the shaft by application of axial biasing force between the axially fixed position shaft and the bearing or seal of the bearing assembly within the bearing housing envelope. The tool is preferably operable without the need for external fixtures for application of the bearing or seal sliding biasing force, so that it can be man portable and operable within confined field installation spaces.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Industrial gas turbine rotor shafts are supported on bearing systems, including for example an exhaust bearing system within a bearing housing of a single piece exhaust ("SPEX"). A bearing system comprises a seal inboard within the bearing housing and a bearing outboard within the housing that have axially tandem positions circumscribing the rotor shaft. During scheduled turbine shut downs bearing assemblies are removed and replaced in the field installation. It is desirable to return a gas turbine to service as soon as reasonably possible so that it can generate power for the electric grid.
The schematic drawing FIGS. 1-3 show a known gas turbine single piece exhaust (SPEX) 30 tunnel having an external mounting flange 31. Bearing housing 32 is oriented within the tunnel and has a bearing housing end surface 34 and bearing recess 36 in which is retained the slidably moveable bearing system assembly 38A that includes the inboard mounted seal 38B and bearing 38. The bearing assembly 38A separate bearing 38 and the seal 38B are removed and installed serially in the same way by the tool and method embodiments of the present invention. For conciseness of this description, future reference to the bearing system 38A will be focused on the bearing assembly 38, but it should be understood that the same tools and methods are applicable to installation and removal of the seal 38B of the same bearing system 38A. Turbine rotor shaft 40 is supported in the bearing assembly 38 of the bearing system 38A, and has an end face 42 that often includes threaded apertures 44. The bearing 38 is removed and installed with an external bearing replacement fixture 50, which includes a massive sled 52 that rests on the gas turbine pad support structure. The sled 50 supports a hydraulic unit 54 that with hydraulic pump 55 generates the axial biasing force needed to remove and install the bearing assembly 38. A bearing skid 56 may be utilized to bridge the gap between the bearing housing 32 and the sled 52, to provide a convenient resting surface for the bearing assembly 38 prior to it insertion on or removal from the shaft 40. A bearing puller ring 57 is affixed to the external axial face of the bearing assembly 38. The bearing puller ring 57 is coupled to bearing puller rods 58, which are in turn coupled to the hydraulic unit 54 for exerting a pulling or tensile biasing force that extracts the bearing assembly 38 from the bearing recess 36 and the shaft 40. When the bearing assembly 38 is separated from the shaft 40 it may be placed on the bearing skid 56. For bearing reinstallation, the bearing assembly 38 is inserted over the shaft 40, if desired with the assistance of the bearing skid 56, and compressively biased into the bearing recess 36 by interposing stiff slender members between the bearing assembly and the hydraulic unit.
An alternative embodiment of a known self-supporting bearing skid 60 is shown in FIG. 2, which comprises a pair of bearing support tubes 62 flanking left and right sides of the bearing assembly 38 to provide resting surfaces. Each bearing support tube 62 is coupled to the bearing housing end surface 34 by long screws 64 or threaded rods with mating nuts (not shown). Bearing support tube truss 66 is coupled to the turbine exhaust flange 31. The bearing skid 60 is attached directly to the turbine exhaust housing 30 as a free standing unit without the need to support an end on the turbine sled 52. In this way the turbine sled 52 may be maneuvered independent from the bearing skid 60, allowing more positioning flexibility in the field.
In a manufacturing or remote service facility the replacement fixture 50 and sled 52 may be permanently mounted on the factory floor, with the gas turbine moved to different locations within the factory for different fabrication or service operations. In an operational power generating plant field environment the bear replacement fixture 50 including the massive sled 52 are brought to the site and placed on the turbine pad support structure with cranes or hoists within a relatively confined service space that is populated by piping, cables and other power generation equipment. The sled 52 is too large and bulky for man-carrying portability, as it must have sufficient mass to avoid inadvertent movement as the hydraulic unit exerts axial biasing force to insert or remove a bearing assembly 38.
Thus, a need exists in the art for a man-portable gas turbine bearing service method and service tool that can be carried to a field site and installed directly in the bearing housing without the need for cranes or hoists. Advantageously the man-portable gas turbine bearing service tool components are sufficiently small so that they can be readily maneuvered within relatively tight confines of a gas turbine support pad service space.

Gas turbine shaft bearing system service tool and bearing system service method


A gas valve body with a first flow chamber and, a second flow chamber including and a main valve positioned in line and between the first flow chamber and the second flow chamber. The main valve can be opened by creating a pressure differential across the main valve. An electrostatically controlled pilot valve is provided for controlling the pressure differential across the main valve for “on-ff” operation. The electrostatically controlled pilot valve may also be operated to “modulate” the pressure differential across the main valve along a range of pressure differential values.

Gas-powered appliances typically have some control system included for controlling the operation of the appliance. In this context, a gas-powered appliance may be a water heater, a fireplace insert, a furnace, a gas stove, or any other gas-powered appliance. Also in this context, "gas-powered" typically means that natural gas or liquid propane gas is used as a primary fuel source, but it should be recognized that "gas powered" may also include any other suitable fuel source either in a liquid or gaseous state, as desired.
In a fuel-fired, storage-type water heater, for example, a combustion chamber and an air plenum are typically disposed below or near a water tank. A burner element, fuel manifold tube, ignition source, thermocouple, and a pilot tube typically extend into the combustion chamber. When the temperature of the water in the tank falls below a set minimum, fuel is introduced into the combustion chamber through the fuel manifold tube and burner element. This fuel is ignited by the pilot flame or other ignition source, and the flame is maintained around the burner element. Air is drawn into the plenum, sometimes assisted by a blower, and the air mixes with the fuel to support combustion within the combustion chamber. The products of combustion typically flow through a flue or heat exchange tube in the water tank to heat the water by convection and conduction.
Gas valves used in conjunction with gas-powered appliances are known. These gas valves are typically controlled by one or more magnetic or piezoelectric control valves. However, magnetic valves often require a relatively large amount of power to operate, and are bulky. Piezoelectric valves are often relatively expensive, unreliable over an operating temperature from, for example, −30 to 85 degrees Celsius, and often do not provide a desired displacement for optimal performance. Thus, alternative gas valves are sought.


A moveable electronic toy includes two wheels, two motors configured for driving the two wheels, a deviation detecting module, an adjusting module and a driving module. The deviation detecting module is configured for detecting angular velocities of the two wheels to determine an angular velocity difference between the two wheels. The adjusting module is configured for generating an adjusting signal indicative of the angular velocity of which wheel to be adjusted and an adjustment value of the angular velocity according to the angular velocity difference. The driving module is configured for receiving the adjusting signal and driving a corresponding motor using a pulse-width modulator.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to toys, and particularly, to a moveable electronic toy with wheels and a moving method thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
When a moveable electronic toy, such as a toy car, moves on an uneven terrain, the electronic toy may have a tendency to deviate from the intended path. As a result, a moving direction of the toy car has to be adjusted manually. This is inconvenient.
Therefore, there is a need exist for a moveable electronic toy and a moving method thereof, in which the above problem is eliminated or at least alleviated.

Moveable electronic toy and moving method thereof

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


A method and system to allow the exchange of information between a person's mobile device and a business, institution, organization, agency, etc. to send, as per request, information that is required or is relevant to the parties, without having to interrupt the call. The businesses, institutions, organizations, agencies, etc. can be for instance, a 911 dispatcher office, a merchant that operates through the phone or a service provider, though such examples are not considered limiting.

Cell phones, smartphones and other mobile devices have become the primary method of personal communication for most people. While the benefits of mobile communication devices are well known, there are still some challenges that exist when individuals are communicating on mobile devices. For example, with landline communications, exact location and address information could be associated with a particular line, thus enabling this information to be provided to emergency services dispatchers in the event of an emergency. Mobile devices don't have a dedicated location assigned to them and therefore must rely on methods such as cellular triangulation, GPS or other location services built into existing devices for location determination. This necessitates that this location information be provided in real-time from the mobile device to the emergency services dispatcher. However, this location information is incomplete or inaccurate in most instances. These methods cannot determine floor or apartment number for example. The below disclosed novel system and method is directed to addressing the problem.

Method and system for requesting and sharing information between mobile devices and phone systems


A scannable flop circuit configured for operation in a multiple modes. The scannable flop circuit includes a functional flop having a data input, a clock input, and a data output, a scan flop having a scan data input and a scan data output, and a latch circuit coupled between the functional flop and the scan flop. The latch circuit includes one or more mode signal inputs to enable selection of an operating mode. In a first mode, the latch circuit is configured to enable the functional flop to provide a data signal to the scan flop. In a second mode, the latch circuit is configured to enable the scan flop to provide a data signal to the functional flop. In a third mode, the latch circuit is configured to provide a feedback path in order to feed back to the functional flop a signal generated by the functional flop.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to integrated circuits, and more particularly, to scan elements used to provide access for testing integrated circuits.
2. Description of the Related Art
Scan testing is one of a number of different methods available for testing integrated circuits (IC's). Scan testing may be conducted using one or more internal scan chains each of which includes a plurality of serially coupled scan elements. A scan chain may be thought of as a serial shift register. A string of bits comprising test stimulus data may be input into a given scan chain of an IC by shifting each bit from one scan element to the next until each bit has reached its target element. Similarly, captured test result data may be shifted from the IC by shifting each bit of test result data from one scan element in the chain to the next until all bits of the test result data have been shifted into a test system or other receiving device. Shift operations may be synchronized using one or more scan clock signals, which may be separate from the one or more operational clock signals used by the IC during normal operations.
Each scan element may include a functional flop that is configured to perform operations during normal operation of the IC, as well as a scan flop. After test stimulus data has been shifted to a given scan element, it may be input into the functional flop through its corresponding scan flop. During testing, the functional flop may apply the test stimulus data to circuits connected thereto responsive to one or more cycles of an operational clock signal. The functional flop may also be coupled to receive test result data from other circuits coupled thereto. The scan element may capture the test result data upon the completion of testing, after which it may be shifted from the IC as described above.


A main unit (21) attached onto rear side (opposite to a side equipped with a digital display) of a slider (14) and accommodating a transmission circuit inside to transmit measurement data by wireless, and an attachment module (40) to retain the main unit attachably and detachably to the slider are provided. Front profile of the main unit (21) is formed at least not to protrude beyond front profile of the slider. The attachment module (40) is constituted to be plugged into and unplugged from an output connector (18) on the slider (14), and has a connector (44) to connect the output connector and the transmission circuit in the main unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is relevant to a transmitter unit for measuring instruments. More specifically, the present invention is relevant to a transmitter unit for measuring instruments that transmits measurement data measured by measuring instruments such as vernier caliper, depth gauge, and so on to external data processing instruments by wireless.
2. Description of Related Figure
Measurement data acquisition/processing systems are conventionally known, where each measurement terminal transmits measurement data to data processing instruments, and the data processing instruments calculate quality control data or statistic data by means of collecting and processing the measurement data transmitted from each measurement terminal.
Above all, in a system where each measurement terminal transmits measurement data by wireless (wireless measurement data transmission system), each measurement terminal needs to be equipped with a wireless transmitter unit respectively.
As a measurement terminal equipped with a wireless transmitter unit, a vernier caliper shown in FIG. 7 is conventionally known, which consists of a electronic vernier caliper 1 and a transmitter unit 3 connected through a connection cable 2.
The electronic vernier caliper 1 consists of a main beam 12 and a slider 14 travelling along the main beam 12. The main beam 12 has an inner measuring jaw 11A and an outer measuring jaw 11B on the end. The slider 14 has an inner measuring jaw 13A and an outer measuring jaw 13B on the end to measure an artifact together with the jaw 11A or 11B by contact. The slider 14 is equipped with an electric hardware module for electronic vernier caliper.
As detail of the electric hardware module for electronic vernier caliper, the slider 14 is equipped with a signal processor 17 inside, a digital display 16 on front, and an output connector 18 on top. The signal processor 17 calculates travelling displacement of the slider 14 (measurement data) by processing signal from an incremental or absolute position sensor 15 fitted between the main beam 12 and the slider 14 to detect travelling displacement of the slider 14 along the main beam 12. The digital display 16 displays measurement data calculated by the signal processor 17. The output connector 18 outputs measurement data calculated by the signal processor 17 to the transmitter unit 3 through the connection cable 2.
The vernier caliper shown on FIG.7 is operated as follows. Contact the inner measurement jaw 11A, 13A or the outer measurement jaw 11B, 13B with an measurement artifact by travelling the slider 14 along the main beam 12 on condition that the transmitter unit 3 is connected with the output connector 18 on the slider 14 through the connection cable 2. Then, travelling displacement of the slider 14, in other words, dimension between the inner measurement jaw 11A and 13A or the outer measurement jaw 11B and 13B (measurement data) is digitally displayed on the digital display 16. By pressing a transmission command switch (not shown) here, the measurement data is transmitted from the transmitter unit 3 by wireless.
However, according to the vernier caliper structure equipped with a conventional wireless transmitter unit, the connection cable 2 may obstruct measurement when travelling the slider 14 along the main beam 12.
It is an idea to fix the transmitter unit 3 onto the slider 14 by using special fixing means since it is inconvenient to carry the electronic vernier caliper 1 with which the transmitter unit 3 is danglingly connected through the connection cable 2. However, a special fixing mean to fix the transmitter unit 3 onto the slider 14, besides the connection cable 2 to connect the electronic vernier caliper 1 with the transmitter unit 3 electrically, causes inevitable increase of number of components and cost.
In addition, the fixing work is difficult because the transmitter unit 3 has to be firmly fixed onto the slider 14 not to be obstructive to measurement. Furthermore, even if the transmitter unit 3 is firmly fixed onto the slider 14, measurement may still be obstructed by interference between a measurement artifact and the transmitter unit 3 in case that profile of the transmitter unit 3 protrudes beyond front profile of the slider 14.
This problem occurs not only in case of a vernier caliper but also other instruments, such as depth gauge (depth measuring instrument) or linear scale unit (linear displacement sensor), which measures dimensions of an artifact from the slider travelling displacement along the main beam, thickness gauge (thickness measuring instrument), which measures thickness of an artifact from the spindle travelling displacement against the frame in axial direction, and so on.
The object of the present invention is to provide a transmitter unit for measuring instruments which can overcome above conventional problem, in other words, which is not obstructive to measurement, does not cause increase of number of components, and can be attached onto measuring instruments firmly and easily.
In order to attain aforementioned object, the transmitter unit for measuring instruments on the present invention is to be attached to measuring instruments that have a main beam and a slider travelling along the main beam. As for detail of the measuring instruments, the slider has a signal processor to calculate measurement data based on the slider travelling displacement along the main beam and an output connector to output measurement data calculated by the signal processor. The transmitter unit for measuring instruments on the present invention is characterized as follows. The transmitter unit consists of a main unit, which accommodates a transmission circuit inside to transmit measurement data by wireless, and an attachment module to retain the main unit attachably and detachably on the slider. The attachment module, which is constituted to be plugged into and unplugged from the output connector on the slider, has a connector to connect the transmission circuit in the main unit with the output connector on the slider.
In this structure, by inserting the attachment module into the output connector on the slider, the transmission circuit in the main unit is electrically connected with the output connector on the slider automatically as well as the main unit is mechanically retained onto the slider.
In other words, mechanical means to retain the main unit onto the slider works also as electrical means to connect the transmission circuit in the main unit with the output connector on the slider. Accordingly, the transmitter unit can be attached firmly and easily only by inserting the attachment module into the output connector on the slider without using any extra components. In addition, this cableless structure can keep measurement free from obstruction by connection cables.
Also, the transmitter unit for measuring instruments on the present invention is to be attached to measuring instruments that have a main beam and a slider equipped with a digital display in addition to a signal processor and an output connector aforementioned above. The digital display displays the measurement data calculated by the signal processor. In this case, the attachment module retains the main unit attachably and detachably on second side of the slider opposite to first side on which the digital display is located. Further, the transmitter unit for measuring instruments on the present invention is characterized by that the main unit profile is formed at least not to protrude beyond first side profile of the slider on condition that the main unit is retained onto second side of the slider, in addition to the aforementioned characters.
This structure can keep measurement free from obstruction by interference between a measurement artifact and the main unit, besides the aforementioned effects, since the main unit profile at least does not protrude beyond first side profile of the slider (side equipped with the digital display).
On the above explanation, any measuring instrument that has a main beam and a slider travelling along the main beam is applicable.
A vernier caliper that has a main beam with jaws and a slider travelling along the main beam with jaws to measure an artifact together with jaws on the main beam by contact is an example. On the vernier caliper, the slider has a signal processor to calculate measurement data based on the slider travelling displacement along the main beam, a digital display to display measurement data calculated by the signal processor, and an output connector to output measurement data calculated by the signal processor. So is a linear scale unit (linear displacement sensor) or the like that has similar structure.
The attachment module may be any kind of constitution so long as that can retain the main unit onto the slider. However, on the present invention, the attachment module consists of a first retainer and a second retainer to be plugged into and unplugged from the output connector on the slider as follows. The first retainer is extended from the main unit striding over the slider. The second retainer is extended square from the first retainer end and parallel to the main unit. The second retainer has a connector on the end to be connected with the output connector on the slider.
In this structure, the transmitter unit can be easily attached and firmly retained only by inserting the second retainer into the output connector on the slider from right above. Also, the transmitter unit can easily be detached by pulling off in the reverse direction. Accordingly, the transmitter unit can be easily retrofitted to existing electronic vernier caliper equipped with output connector or any other similar measuring instruments.
The transmitter unit may accidentally come off from the slider on this retention condition if force in reverse direction of insertion is applied to the main unit. In order to protect from this accident, a locking means to restrict movement of the transmitter unit in direction of the second retainer coming off from the output connector is provided on a side of the main unit opposite to a side on which the first retainer fitted.
Concretely, the locking means consists of a guide groove on the main unit and a locking piece sliding along the guide groove. The guide groove is formed toward the slider on a side of the main unit opposite to a side on which first retainer is fitted. By sliding along the guide groove, the locking piece can projects and retracts over fourth side of the slider opposite to third side on which the output connector is located. By this mechanism, the transmitter unit can be protected from coming off from the slider in simple structure as the locking piece slid along the guide groove and projected over the fourth side of the slider restricts movement of the main unit in direction of coming off from the slider.
On this locking means, the locking piece can be fixed to the slider not to come off from the guide groove. Accordingly, the coming-off protection mentioned above can be more reliable.
In the transmitter unit structure mentioned above, the attachment module may be constituted integrally with the main unit. However, on the present invention, the attachment module is constituted as a separate unit, which can be coupled and decoupled with the main unit through a coupling mechanism.
In this constitution, both the main unit and the attachment module has a connector, which is coupled automatically when the attachment module is fitted to the main unit. Since this constitution provides electrical connection when the attachment module is fitted to the main unit, no special wiring arrangement needs to be provided. Accordingly, it is easy to assemble the transmitter unit.
In addition, the coupling mechanism consists of retaining snaps on either the main unit or the attachment module and engaging holes to be coupled with the snaps on the other. Accordingly, the attachment module can be coupled and decoupled with the main unit in simple structure.
Further, the main unit consists of a pair of separable case halves, containing transmission circuit inside, which has at least one retaining snap each. Accordingly, the three parts (a pair of the case halves and the attachment module) can be integrally assembled by putting the retaining snaps on the main unit case halves into the engaging holes on the attachment module after the case halves are coupled.
As mentioned before, the attachment module consists of a first retainer, which is extended from the main unit striding over the slider, and a second retainer to be plugged into and unplugged from the output connector on the slider, which is extended square from the first retainer end and parallel to the main unit. In order to provide ergonomic operation in this structure, a switch to send data transmission command to the transmission circuit is located on the first retainer.
More than one function can be operated with this single switch by means of duration control. Concretely, transmitting measured data, canceling transmitted data, and setting unique ID for each transmitter unit can be controlled in accordance with duration of the switch operation.
Further, an indicator device (or light indicator, such as LED=light-emitting diode, EL=electro-luminescent display, laser display, and electric lamp) responding on the switch operation is located on a same side of the first retainer as display side of the digital display on the slider. Accordingly, the switch operation can be monitored in same view as reading measurement data on the digital display.
The transmitter unit for measuring instruments on the present invention can be applied not only to measuring instruments that have a main beam and a slider travelling along the main beam but also to other kind of measuring instruments, such as thickness gauges (thickness measuring instruments) or micrometers, which has a frame and a spindle travelling against the frame.

Transmitter unit for measuring instrument


A pneumatic tire with rim protectors protruding outwardly from the outer side of a tire a distance greater than the outer surface on at least one outer surface of the sidewalls from the bead portions toward the tread and continuously formed in the tire circumferential direction. The rim protectors have the first top portion protruding outwardly from the tire outer side a distance greater than the outer surface through a first hillside portion in a cross-sectional shape from the bead portions toward the tread and a second top portion protruding in a stepped state from the first top portion through the second hillside portion. The second hillside portion extends more to the tire inner side and connects a vertex of the first top portion and an end point in a tread side of a virtual arc on the outer surface of the sidewalls.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to improvement of rim protectors in a pneumatic tire and, in more detail, the present invention relates to a pneumatic tire in which both high speed cornering performance and durability at bead portions are improved while maintaining the rim protection property.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In order to enhance the rim protection property, it is desirable to enlarge the size of the rim protectors, however, it is known that when the size of the rim protectors is enlarged, the rigidity of the rim protectors increases, thereby degrading high speed cornering performance due to interference with rim flanges at the time of high speed cornering.
Conventionally, in order to further improve high speed cornering performance while protecting a rim, a pneumatic tire formed with not less than one circumferential fine groove extending in a tire circumferential direction as a means to decrease the rigidity of the rim protectors (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2000-127717) has been provided. By forming these circumferential fine grooves (slits) on the rim protectors, the rigidity at the time of high speed cornering has been alleviated and improvement in said performance has been attempted.
However, when the circumferential fine grooves (slits) are formed on rim protectors, bead durability is degraded. In addition, forming the circumferential fine grooves (slits) keeping shapes of rim protectors enlarged causes the bead durability to degrade since load around bead portions is heavy.
The object of the present invention is to provide a pneumatic tire in which both high speed cornering performance and durability at bead portions are improved, while maintaining the rim protection property.