A flameproof feed-through (200) includes a feed-through element (210) comprising a substantially planar shape, a first interface region (211), and a second interface region (212), wherein one or more conductors (217) extend between the first interface region (211) and the second interface region (212). The flameproof feed-through (200) further includes one or more body portions (220) assembled to the feed-through element (210), with the one or more body portions (220) holding the feed-through element (210) in position with respect to the aperture. The first interface region (211) of the feed-through element (210) extends at least partially to a first side (201) of the flameproof feed-through (200) and wherein the second interface region (212) of the feed-through element (210) extends at least partially to a second side (202) of the flameproof feed-through (200).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flameproof feed-through, and more particularly, to a flameproof feed-through providing control of impedance.
2. Statement of the Problem
Vibrating conduit sensors, such as Coriolis mass flowmeters and vibrating densitometers, typically operate by detecting motion of a vibrating conduit that contains a flowing material. Properties associated with the material in the conduit, such as mass flow, density and the like, can be determined by processing measurement signals received from motion transducers associated with the conduit. The vibration modes of the vibrating material-filled system generally are affected by the combined mass, stiffness and damping characteristics of the containing conduit and the material contained therein.
A typical Coriolis mass flowmeter includes one or more conduits that are connected inline in a pipeline or other transport system and convey material, e.g., fluids, slurries, emulsions, and the like, in the system. Each conduit may be viewed as having a set of natural vibration modes, including for example, simple bending, torsional, radial, and coupled modes. In a typical Coriolis mass flow measurement application, a conduit is excited in one or more vibration modes as a material flows through the conduit, and motion of the conduit is measured at points spaced along the conduit. Excitation is typically provided by an actuator, e.g., an electromechanical device, such as a voice coil-type driver, that perturbs the conduit in a periodic fashion. Mass flow rate may be determined by measuring time delay or phase differences between motions at the transducer locations. Two such transducers (or pickoff sensors) are typically employed in order to measure a vibrational response of the flow conduit or conduits, and are typically located at positions upstream and downstream of the actuator. The two pickoff sensors are connected to electronic instrumentation. The instrumentation receives signals from the two pickoff sensors and processes the signals in order to derive a mass flow rate measurement, among other things. Vibratory flowmeters, including Coriolis mass flowmeters and densitometers, therefore employ one or more flow tubes that are vibrated in order to measure a fluid.
In some environments, electrical signals may need to be conducted through a flameproof physical barrier. For example, a flameproof physical barrier may separate the compartments of a fieldmount transmitter housing. Process control transmitters designed for use in hazardous atmospheres often utilize a combination of protection methods, including flameproof housings and/or barriers, to avoid uncontrolled explosions of flammable gases. International standards define the compliance requirements for flameproof devices and structures.
In the case of Coriolis flowmeter transmitters, it is well known to enclose the active electronics components within a flameproof compartment, so that an explosion of gases that might occur as a result of electrical energy within the electronics will not propagate beyond the enclosure. Furthermore, it is sometimes preferred that user-accessible connection facilities of the electronics utilize "increased safety" rather than flameproof as a protection method, wherein the connection facilities are shown to be non-sparking and therefore incapable of igniting a flammable gas. Under either standard, active electronics which could cause ignition are contained in a compartment wherein any ignition within the compartment cannot escape the compartment.
In order to provide electrical connectivity between the two compartments, a flameproof feed-through is employed. A common prior art flameproof feed-through is a cemented joint bushing. In a cemented joint bushing, a cemented joint may be formed between the conductors and the bushing casing or a cemented joint may be formed between a conductor insulation layer and the bushing casing. In a non-cemented joint, a small-tolerance interface may be used between the bushing casing and compartment wall, including joint interfaces to threaded, spigot, and other bushing casings. In order to be approved as flameproof, both types of joints must meet specific requirements, such as a temperature index rating and chemical compatibility, exceedingly tight tolerances (such as on the order of 0.1 or 0.15 millimeter, for example), and thread count, depth, and tolerance on a threaded joint.
FIG. 2 shows a prior art spigot-type feed-through. Wires, pins, or other conductors are cast into and pass through a feed-through body. A circumferential surface of the spigot-type feed-through body substantially contacts the inner surface of the aperture to form what is termed a spigot joint. A gap, and therefore a flame path, exists between the outer surface of the body and the inner surface of the aperture. The spigot-type feed-through body must achieve a minimal gap so that an unacceptably large gap and unacceptably short flame path are not allowed to exist.
The spigot-type feed-through body may comprise a potting material, such as a plastic. The potting material may be formed in the shape of the aperture and allowed to cure or harden before being assembled into the aperture as a spigot joint feed-through.
FIG. 3 shows a prior art flange-type feed-through. A flange-type feed-through body is positioned over and blocks an aperture. The flange-type feed-through body is larger than the aperture and overlaps the aperture. A gap and flame path comprises a radially directed path, extending outward from the axis between the flange-type feed-through body and an external surface of the barrier, housing, or other structure including the aperture.
All these approaches share certain disadvantages. First, the presence of discrete conductors presents a limitation on the ability to control the characteristic impedance of the electrical connections. As a result, the signal frequency that the connections can effectively carry is limited by the impedance of the prior art feed-through. Second, the process of manufacturing a feed-through involves the application and curing of cement or the need for a plastic over-molding process in order to form the physical barrier around the discrete conductors. These steps increase manufacturing time, complexity, and cost when creating an acceptable prior art flameproof feed-through.


A method of managing carrier aggregation for a multi-radio access technology (RAT) wireless transmitter/receiver unit (WTRU) is disclosed. The method may include: receiving, by the WRTU over a primary channel associated with a RAT of a first type, provisioning information for provisioning a supplementary channel associated with a RAT of a second type; establishing the supplementary channel associated with the RAT of the second type based on the received provisioning information; and wirelessly exchanging, by the WRTU, first data associated with a communication over the primary channel via the RAT of the first type, while wireless exchanging second data associated with the communication over the supplementary channel via the RAT of the second type.

The demand for improved network coverage, improved capacity and increasing bandwidth for both voice and data services in wireless systems has led to continuous development of a number of radio access technologies (RATs) including, but not limited to, global systems for mobile communications (GSM), wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA), high speed packet access (HSPA), including high speed downlink (DL) packet access (HSDPA) and high speed uplink (UL) packet access (HSUPA) with their respective multicarrier counterparts, and long term evolution (LTE), including support for carrier aggregation.

Methods, apparatus and systems for performing multi-radio access technology carrier aggregation


A diverter cartridge for a fluid mixing valve includes an inlet adapter having a first inlet port, a second inlet port, a first outlet port and a second outlet port. The cartridge further includes a diverter plate having a first inlet channel and a second inlet channel. The diverter plate is rotatable relative to the inlet adapter between a first end position, a second end position, and a neutral position between the first and second end positions. Rotation of the diverter plate from the neutral position toward the first end position increases a volume flow rate through the cartridge and diverts the fluid to the first outlet port. Rotation of the diverter plate from the neutral position toward the second end position increases a volume flow rate through the cartridge and diverts the fluid to the second outlet port.

The present disclosure relates generally to the field of valve assemblies for fluid control devices and more particularly to a valve assembly cartridge for controlling fluid volume and fluid temperature.
Valve assemblies are used in a variety of plumbing fixtures for controlling the temperature and volume of water dispensed from the fixture. A valve assembly may receive hot water and cold water from separate supply lines and controllably mix the water to provide an output having an intermediate temperature.
Sequential valve assemblies use a single handle that, upon rotation, opens the valve and increases the volumetric flow rate to maximum flow of cold water. Continued rotation of the handle maintains the volumetric flow rate while increasing the temperature.
Other valve assemblies use two concentrically mounted handles or dials, one to control temperature and one to control volumetric flow rate. Such valve assemblies are typically referred to as "concentric" valves. Current concentric valves suffer from the disadvantage that the concentric controls are frequently interdependent. For example, turning the outer concentric volume control dial may cause the inner concentric temperature control dial to rotate. This results in the inability to set the desired temperature (e.g., by turning an inner concentric dial) until after the volumetric flow rate has been set (e.g., by turning the outer dial). Thus, a user may be required to set both temperature and flow rate sequentially each time the valve is operated.


A fitted mattress cover is provided, having elastic elements at each corner which hold the cover in place. A corner elastic element runs along each corner seam, and is attached to the center of a diagonal elastic element. The diagonal elastic acts a lock system to prevent movement of the fitted sheet during any pull from the top of the fitted sheet. The corner elastic helps to hold the corner of the cover to the mattress, and also prevents peaking of the corner seam, leading to an improved appearance and helps to fit mattresses of different thickness. Elbow elastics at the corners, perpendicular to the corner elastics, hold the side panels tightly to the mattress and inhibit them from sliding upwards.

Fitted coverings for mattresses, e.g., fitted sheets, mattress pads, blankets, and water- or allergen-proof covers, conventionally feature a planar upper portion which is sized to cover the top surface of the mattress, side and end portions which cover the sides and ends of the mattress, and a lower portion, usually formed by extending the side and end portions several inches beyond the bottom of the mattress, which covers only the periphery of the bottom surface of the mattress. The lower portion usually incorporates an elastic along the inner edge or the corners, which pulls the lower portion inward across the lower surface of the mattress, tightening the fitted covering around the mattress and fixing it in position. In order to better retain the cover on the mattress, diagonal elastic strips may be attached between the edges of adjacent side and end portions (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,479,664, 5,513,403, 6,983,500 and 8,438,679).
The diagonal elastic strips, while serving to anchor the covering to the mattress, fail to hold down the corners of the covering. As a result, the corner seam of the cover can slide upwards, creating an unsightly appearance due to "peaking", where the corner seam sticks up above the surface of the sheet. The upper surface of the covering may then no longer lie flat. Furthermore, particularly in the case of a thin mattress, the corners of the cover can come entirely free of the mattress even as the diagonal elastic strips hold the rest of the cover in place.
One proposed solution is the "triangle" bed sheet strap, a set of three elastic straps extending at 120° angles from a central ring. Two of the straps are clipped into place to jointly serve as a diagonal elastic, while the third is clipped to the corner of the fitted sheet, pulling it inward. However, detaching and re-attaching twelve individual clips when changing sheets is an inconvenient task. A comparable solution is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,662,013, where an added elastic band serves the same purpose. While these modifications serve to prevent the cover corner from coming free of the mattress, the problem of "peaking" remains.
A need therefore exists for fitted coverings which do not require a complex installation process, which cling to mattresses of variable thickness, and which provide a neat appearance when installed on a mattress.


A print head cap includes a bottom surface; and a ring-like lip. The ring-like lip surrounds the bottom surface, protrudes toward a nozzle surface of a print head of an ink jet printer and is elastically deformable. The ring-like lip is pressed onto the nozzle surface to cover the nozzle surface therewith. The ring-like lip has corners that change the direction surrounding the bottom surface. The corners of the ring-like lip are more elastically deformable than the other portions of the ring-like lip.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a print head cap for covering a nozzle surface therewith at the time of recovering a print head for ejecting ink droplets onto printing paper or at the time of keeping the print head moist.
2. Background Art
In the related art, as disclosed in JP-A-5-193150, there has been known a cap having a box-like sealing portion, a thick portion formed in the outer circumference of the sealing portion and a thin portion coupling the sealing portion with the thick portion. In order to improve the sealing performance of the cap pressed onto the nozzle surface of a print head, the cap is adapted so that the thin portion is deformed when the sealing portion is pressed onto the nozzle surface, so that the sealing portion is equalized and brought into tight contact with the nozzle surface.
In addition, as disclosed in JP-A-10-211711, the cap is formed into a rectangular box-like shape corresponding to the shape of the nozzle surface.


Disclosed are a thin film transistor array substrate and a producing method thereof in the embodiments of the present invention, the producing method comprising: forming an active layer thin film and a conductive layer thin film on a substrate; depositing a source/drain electrode layer thin film on the conductive layer thin film, treating the conductive layer thin film and the source/drain electrode layer thin film using gray tone or half tone masking process, to form at least two data lines, a pixel electrode and source/drain electrodes of the thin film transistor (TFT); after depositing an insulating layer thin film covered the active layer thin film, the source/drain electrodes, the data lines and the pixel electrode, forming a through hole and a gate insulating layer of the TFT on the insulating layer, to form an active layer of the TFT; forming a gate electrode of the TFT and at least two gate scanning lines cross with the data wires.

Currently, usually a flat panel display is used in the field of displays, and the majority of flat panel displays are an AMLCD (Active Matrix Liquid Crystal Display). Existing AMLCD comprises a TFT (thin film transistor) array substrate, as large-area production of a-Si at a low temperature can be easily achieved and the production technology is relatively mature, it is currently a widely used material for manufacturing the TFT array substrate. However, the band gap of the a-Si material is only 1.7 eV, it is opaque to visible light and is photosensitive within the range of the visible light, thus an opaque metal mask plate (black matrix) needs to be added to shield the light, correspondingly the complexity of the production process of the TFT array substrate is increased, then the cost is increased and the reliability and opening rate are lowered. Meanwhile, to obtain enough brightness, the light strength of a light source needs to be enhanced, and correspondingly power consumption is increased. In addition, the mobility of the a-Si material can hardly exceed 1 cm2·V−1·s−1, thus current TFT array substrates can hardly meet needs of liquid crystal televisions with a continuously increasing size and drive circuits with better performance.
As the a-Si TFT array substrate has the above disadvantages, an oxide semiconductor TFT has been widely paid attention due to its various advantages and has been undergoing fast development during recent years. An oxide semiconductor, being transparent and having a high mobility, fine uniformity and a simple fabrication process, can better meet needs of large-sized liquid crystal displays. Also, the production of the oxide TFT can satisfactorily match current LCD production lines, then the transition is easy, thus people have paid more attention to the oxide TFT which has been a hot research topic recently.
However, the prior art need to use at least 4 masking exposing processes during manufacturing the oxide TFT array substrate, then the production process is very complex and the cost of the mask plate is high, correspondingly the production cost of the product is increased, the yield of the product is lowered, and equipment capacity is decreased.

Thin film transistor array substrate and producing method thereof


An air-fuel ratio control system of an internal combustion engine includes a controller that performs air-fuel ratio feedback control through main feedback control and sub feedback control based on the concentrations of oxygen in exhaust gas upstream and downstream of a catalyst respectively, and the controller stores a constant component of a sub feedback correction value of the sub feedback control as a sub feedback learned value, and sets a feedback target value of the main feedback control to values that are different depending on whether or not exhaust gas is recirculated into intake air. When the constant component of the sub feedback correction value obtained when the amount of recirculated exhaust gas is short of its required amount is stored as the sub feedback learned value, the controller corrects the feedback target value of the main feedback control when the recirculation of exhaust gas is not conducted.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an air-fuel ratio control system of an internal combustion engine, which performs air-fuel ratio feedback control through main feedback control based on the concentration of oxygen in exhaust gas upstream of a catalyst, and sub feedback control based on the concentration of oxygen in exhaust gas downstream of the catalyst.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the internal combustion engine installed on a vehicle, for example, a catalyst provided in an exhaust passage cleans up harmful components in exhaust gas. The catalyst's ability to purify exhaust gas varies depending on the air-fuel ratio as the ratio of air to fuel in an air-fuel mixture burned in a combustion chamber, and the range of the air-fuel ratio within which the catalyst exhibits the maximum exhaust purifying ability is limited. In the case of a three-way catalyst, for example, when the air-fuel ratio of the air-fuel mixture is in the vicinity of the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio at which the entire amount of oxygen in the mixture is theoretically used for combustion of the fuel, the catalyst exhibits the maximum exhaust purifying ability. In many internal combustion engines installed on vehicles, for example, the air-fuel ratio of the mixture burned is obtained from the concentration of oxygen remaining in exhaust gas, and the fuel injection amount is corrected in accordance, with the obtained air-fuel ratio, so that air-fuel ratio feedback control for making the air-fuel ratio of the mixture equal to the optimum value for purification of exhaust gas is performed.
If an oxygen concentration sensor for measuring the concentration of oxygen in exhaust gas is able to show ideal output characteristics, the output of the sensor has a unique relationship with the air-fuel ratio of the air-fuel mixture burned. In this case, if the target air-fuel ratio is set so as to be within a catalyst window as a air-fuel ratio suitable far purification of exhaust gas by the catalyst, and feedback control is executed so that the air-fuel ratio calculated from the measured oxygen concentration of exhaust gas becomes equal to the target air-fuel ratio, only the exhaust gas that has been purified flows out of the catalyst, into the exhaust passage downstream of the catalyst.
However, in reality, the oxygen concentration sensor may not necessarily exhibit ideal output characteristics, due to individual differences and chronological changes in the oxygen concentration sensor and its signal transmission system, changes in the operating conditions of the internal combustion engine, etc. Therefore, even under a situation where the air-fuel ratio feedback control is executed, unpurified exhaust gas may flow downstream of the catalyst. In this case, the oxygen concentration of exhaust gas downstream of the catalyst deviates from a value corresponding to the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio established when the amount of oxygen in exhaust gas is not excessive nor insufficient for exhaust purifying reactions. Therefore, it can be determined from the measurement result of the concentration of oxygen in exhaust gas downstream of the catalyst whether exhaust gas is appropriately purified in the catalyst. Thus, more accurate air-fuel ratio control is realized by performing sub feedback control based on the oxygen concentration of exhaust gas downstream of the catalyst, in addition to main feedback control based on the oxygen concentration of exhaust gas upstream of the catalyst.
A certain length of time is required for the result of the sub feedback control to converge on the optimum value. Therefore, a constant component of a sub feedback correction value obtained in the past sub feedback control is stored as a sub feedback learned value, and the learned value is reflected by the sub feedback control, in an attempt to reduce the time required for convergence.
In some types of internal combustion engines installed on vehicles, exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) for recirculating a part of exhaust gas into intake air is conducted. In the internal combustion engine having the EGR function, it is found that the catalyst window changes when the EGR is carried out. Thus, an air-fuel ratio control system that sets a feedback target value (target air-fuel ratio) of air-fuel ratio feedback control to values that are different depending on whether or not the EGR is conducted has been proposed, as described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-030339 (JP 2005-030339 A). This type of air-fuel ratio control system changes the air-fuel ratio of the air-fuel mixture in accordance with change of the catalyst window depending on whether or not the EGR is conducted. Thus, the control system provides advantageous effects, such as reduction of NOx and improvement of the fuel efficiency, owing to the EGR, while assuring desired exhaust purifying efficiency of the catalyst.
In the air-fuel ratio control system of the internal combustion engine which performs sub feedback control as described above, if the feedback target value (target air-fuel ratio) of the main feedback control is set to values that are different depending on whether or not the EGR is conducted, it is possible to achieve advantageous effects, such as reduction of NOx and improvement of the fuel efficiency, owing to the EGR, while assuring desired exhaust purifying efficiency of the catalyst.
If an EGR valve is stuck in a closed position, namely if the EGR valve is held closed and will not open, the amount of exhaust gas recirculated into the intake air during execution of the EGR may be reduced to be smaller than the originally required amount. In this case, the amount of change in the catalyst window due to the EGR is smaller than that in the case where the EGR is normally conducted.
In this case, the target air-fuel ratio of the main feedback control is set on the assumption that the EGR amount as required is ensured; therefore, the target air-fuel ratio is set to a value that deviates from the actual catalyst window. The deviation of the target air-fuel ratio from the actual catalyst window is compensated for through sub feedback control. Therefore, if the air-fuel ratio feedback control is continued in this condition, the deviation is taken into the sub feedback learned value. Namely, the sub feedback learned value obtained at this time deviates from a proper value by an amount corresponding to a difference between the catalyst window in the case where the EGR is normally conducted and the catalyst window in the case where the EGR is not normally conducted. Therefore, if the EGR is subsequently stopped, and the feedback target value of the main feedback control is changed to the value to be achieved when the EGR is not conducted, a shift may occur to the air-fuel ratio under an influence of the deviation of the sub feedback learned value as described above. In this case, emissions (or exhaust characteristics) of the internal combustion engine may deteriorate until the air-fuel ratio feedback control settles.

Air-fuel ratio control system of internal combustion engine


Adhesive and sealant systems based on epoxy resins, polyurethane, silane-terminated polymers, silicones, unsaturated polyester resins, vinyl ester resins, acrylates, polyvinyl acetate, polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinyl ether, ethylene vinyl acetate, ethylene-acrylic acid copolymers, polyvinyl acetates, polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride, styrene-butadiene rubber, chloroprene rubber, nitrile rubber, butyl rubber, polysulfide, polyethylene, polypropylene, fluorinated hydrocarbons, polyamides, saturated polyesters and copolyesters, phenol-formaldehyde resins, cresol-/resorcinol-formaldehyde resins, urea-formaldehyde resins, melamine-formaldehyde resins, polyimides, polybenzimidazoles, polysulfones, which contain 1 wt. % to 15 wt. % of a compacted, hydrophobic pyrogenic silica.

The invention concerns adhesive and sealant systems.
Adhesive and sealant systems are known from Ullmanns Enzyklopädie der technischen Chemie, 4th Edition, Volume 14, page 227 (1997).
They consist of high-polymeric substances having as good strength as possible. Most adhesives and sealants contain high-molecular-weight organic substances as the basic raw materials or reactive organic compounds which are precursors of polymeric substances and which react during the adhesive and sealing process to form polymers.
It is known that for various adhesive and sealant systems, based for example on epoxy resin, polyurethane resin or vinyl ester resin, hydrophobic, pyrogenic silicas are very effective thixotropic agents in comparison to hydrophilic, pyrogenic silicas. Moreover, such adhesive and sealant systems can be made more stable in storage with hydrophobic, pyrogenic silicas than with hydrophilic, pyrogenic silicas (Degussa Schriftenreihe Pigmente (2001) No. 27 and No. 54).
Owing to their fine-particle character, known pyrogenic silicas give rise, to increased dust formation and a long incorporation or wetting time in liquid systems.
It is also known (Degussa Schriftenreihe Pigmente No. 63, 2001, page 25) that due to compaction, pyrogenic hydrophilic silica can be incorporated into the binder in a shorter incorporation time, using a high-speed mixer or high-speed planetary mixer for example.
The incorporation time is understood to be the time during incorporation in which the fine-particle silica has completely disappeared from the surface of the binder and is wetted with the binder. Depending on the batch size, dispersing unit and formulation, the incorporation time can last for up to several hours and in many applications it is therefore the speed-determining step for the preparation of the product.
Compacting the silica reduces the formation of dust by the silica. The lower volume of the compacted silica can also be advantageous in the design of dispersing units.
Disadvantageously, in most applications the viscosity of the binder containing pyrogenic silica decreases markedly during compaction as the compacted bulk density of the pyrogenic silica increases. In the same way the dispersibility of the silica deteriorates during compaction as the compacted bulk density increases. This is manifested for example in the form of speck formation and greater surface roughness. Both effects are significant disadvantages. For that reason the use of compacted hydrophilic, pyrogenic silica in adhesives and sealants is relatively limited.
The object is therefore to produce adhesive and sealant systems in which the above disadvantages do not occur.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A communications system includes a mobile radio network including plural base stations to communicate data to/from mobile communications devices via a wireless access interface, and plural associated communications devices transmitting and receiving data with the base stations. Each associated communication device includes a same common identifier to establish communication sessions communicating data via the mobile radio network. The group of communications devices may communicate machine type communications for a particular application, for example in a vehicle, to report parameters that can be served by a separate communications device that reports periodically on the parameters detected by an associated sensor. With spatial proximity of the communications devices, each can receive control plane signalling data and accordingly communication of signalling data is as if broadcast to a local environment in which the group of communications devices are disposed, to save communications bandwidth proportional to a number of devices in the group.

Mobile communication systems have evolved over the past ten years or so from the GSM System (Global System for Mobiles) to the 3G system and now include packet data communications as well as circuit switched communications. The third generation project partnership (3GPP) has now began to develop a mobile communication system referred to as Long Term Evolution (LTE) in which a core network part has been evolved to form a more simplified architecture based on a merging of components of earlier mobile radio network architectures and a radio access interface which is based on Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) on the downlink and Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) on the uplink.
At present mobile communications services are dominated by human to human (H2H) communications, that is, data which is transmitted by a human to another human or at least data that is transmitted for presentation to a human being. It is now recognised that there is a desire to cater for communications to and/or from machines which are referred to generally as machine type communications (MTC) or machine to machine (M2M) communications. MTC communications can be characterised as communicating data which has been generated from a source automatically, for example in response to some other stimulus or event reporting some attribute of the machine or some monitored parameter or so-called smart metering. Thus whilst human communications such as voice can be characterised as being communications requiring a communications session of some minutes with data being generated in bursts of several millisecond with pauses there between or video can be characterised as streaming data at a substantially constant bit rate, MTC communications can generally be characterised as sporadically communicating small quantities of data although it would be appreciated that there is also a wide variety of possible MTC communications.
As will be appreciated it is generally desirable to provide a mobile communications which use a radio communications bandwidth and core network resources as efficiently as possible, with respect to which MTC communications, for example, can provide a significant challenge.


Disclosed is a tool head, such as a socket, having an annular groove that allows gripping of the tool head to remove the tool head from a tool having a lug, such as ratchet, torque or impact wrenches. The groove is spaced from the drive engagement end of the socket for improved gripping performance. The groove dimensions were determined to improve gripping performance as well. For example, the groove can have a depth of 0.020″-0.050″, preferably 0.020″-0.030″. More broadly, the groove can have a depth of 5.0%-15.0%, and preferably 5.0%-10.5%, of the drive end outer diameter. The groove can, either alone or in combination with the above ranges, have a width of 0.25-0.47″, preferably 0.29-0.43″. The groove can, either alone or in combination with the above ranges, begin at a distance of 0.070-0.160″, preferably 0.090-0.140″, and have an end of groove farthest from the end of the socket of 0.32-0.63″, preferably 0.38-0.57″.

Tool heads, such as, for example, sockets, are a popular form of engaging and then applying torque to work pieces, such as bolts, nuts, screws, or other work pieces. Sockets are elongated, cylindrical pieces that engage the work piece head at a working end and connect to a torque application tool having a lug, for example a socket wrench, torque wrench or impact driver, at a drive end opposite the working end. The socket can apply torque to a work piece to either insert or remove the work piece from a working material by transferring the torque applied by the wrench connected to the work piece.
Tool heads can be different sizes or shapes to account for different sized or shaped work pieces. For example, a bolt having a hexagonal head that is ½″ wide can be torqued with a ½″ socket. Such a socket would typically include a ¼″, ⅜″, or ½″ square female aperture that would be matingly coupled with a torque application tool having a similarly ¼″, ⅜″ or ½″ square male drive lug. The socket/torque application tool engagement also typically includes a detent mechanism, such as where the square aperture includes an indent that detentably engages an outwardly biased ball disposed on the drive lug to detain the socket on the drive lug. Typically, the ball is outwardly biased with a compression spring. When the torque application operation is complete, or the socket needs to be changed or otherwise removed from the torque application tool, the socket can thus be forcibly removed from the lug by applying an outward force that causes the detent to overcome the outward bias of the ball in the detent mechanism.
However, tool heads can sometimes be difficult to remove from a torque application tool lug, for example, when the ball detent is biased with excessive force, or when the ball detent is worn, rusted or otherwise difficult to move. Also, sometimes during the torque application procedure, the socket female aperture rotates slightly relative to the drive lug, causing the socket to become stuck on the lug.
Prior socket heads have implemented a cutout section to improve gripping during removal. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, prior sockets are shown with a smaller 500a working end 505 and a larger 500b working end 505, as compared to the drive end 510. The drive end 510 includes a square drive 515 and a ball detent 525, as with conventional sockets. However, the sockets 500a,b also include a ring 535 that is cut out as compared to a lip 537 adjacent the ring 535. A user can then grip the ring 535 and use the lip 537 to assist with removal of the socket 500a,b. However, the ring 535 and lip 537 combination is still difficult to grip and remove, and lacks dimensions that permit efficient removal of the socket from the wrench.

Tool head with groove for removal from lug


A method of treating tumors and other conditions in a patient is provided. The method involves administering to the patient a treatment medicament. The medicament contains a first component and a second component. The first component can be a quantity of tumor cells derived from the patient, and the second component is a quantity of annexin, preferably annexin V. The first component and second component are provided in a therapeutically effective treatment amount. Other conditions can also be treated with annexin.

Phosphatidylserine-dependent Phagocytosis
Phosphatidylserine is a negatively charged phospholipid which is located in the inner layer of the plasma membrane in all cells. Occasionally, however, a phosphatidylserine molecule translocates to the outer layer of the plasma membrane. In living healthy cells, phosphatidylserine which has reached the outer layer is immediately transported back enzymatically to the inner layer of the plasma membrane. In contrast, the phosphatidylserine remains in the outer cell membrane layer in aged and in Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes, in sickle cells, post-inflammatory granulocytes and in apoptotic cells. If a certain degree of phosphatidylserine exposure is reached, phagocytes bind to these cells, which still maintain the integrity of their plasma membranes, via the phosphatidylserine receptor. If the phosphatidylserine density reaches a certain threshold value, the cells which are committed to die are very rapidly phagocytozed. In this process, no release of the cell contents to the surrounding tissue and therefore no activation of the immune system occurs. For this reason, this phagocytosis pathway, which depends on the recognition of phosphatidylserine on the surface of a dying cell, is called non-inflammatory.
The Role of Phosphatidylserine-dependent Phagocytosis in Malaria-infections
In the course of physiological tissue turn-over, when cells which have grown old are removed, e.g. erythrocytes and apoptotic cells, such as post-inflammatory granulocytes, a specific immunosuppression is essential, since in these cases a pro-inflammatory phagocytosis would result in autoimmune phenomena. The non-inflammatory phagocytosis of Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes, however, is responsible, inter alia, for the extremely poor immune response and difficulties in the immunization against malaria. No measure described to date or prophylaxis against malaria considers the circumstance in which Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes are taken up into phagocytes by phosphatidylserine-dependent phagocytosis. Medicaments which affect this phagocytosis pathway are presently unknown.
The Role of Phosphatidylserine-dependent Phagocytosis in Viral Infections
The role of the phosphatidylserine-dependent phagocytosis pathway is similar in viral infections. Viruses which are taken up into phagocytes through the phagocytosis of virus-infected apoptotic cells can thus escape immunosurveillance. The uptake of HIV in monocytes, for example, which takes place without triggering of the "respiratory burst", is responsible for the penetration of the HIV into the long-lived monocyte pool, which is early and unnoticed by the immune system. This infection of the monocytes/macrophages, which is presently not understood, is held causally responsible for the persistence of HIV and thus for the formation of the AIDS syndrome. Although the route of infection of monocytes/macrophages with HIV is presently still not clearly identified in molecular terms, an involvement of phosphatidylserine and the phosphatidylserine receptor is probable because of the non-inflammatory phagocytosis. It was for example possible to show, that retrovirus genomes from apoptotic cell debris can be taken up into cells and cause an infection of these cells. Since HIV can survive for a very long time in monocytes, and is possibly spontaneously released even years after the infection, the human immune system cannot completely eliminate the HIV from the body. Since the HIV damages the immune system somewhat on each release by destroying the CD 4-positive cells, the full degree of the AIDS syndrome can thus take several years to develop. Similar problems also exist in the elimination of other viruses persisting or replicating in phagocytes.
Other retroviruses and particularly the subgroup of the lentiviruses can especially be mentioned here. Some of these viruses (e.g. EIAV, Maedi Visna Virus, CAEV) persist in the phagocytes of hoofed animals and lead to autoimmune diseases. No previously described measure or prophylaxis against HIV infection or infection with other viruses surviving in phagocytes considers the circumstance in which apoptotic cells can be phagocytozed via the phosphatidylserine-dependent pathway. Medicaments which block or modify this phagocytosis pathway are presently unknown.
The Role of Phosphatidylserine-dependent Phagocytosis in Sickle Cell Anemia
The situation is different in patients with sickle cell anemia. Owing to the continuous and extremely rapid phagocytosis of autologous, genetically modified erythrocytes, anemia occurs in these patients, which can lead to death in severe cases if untreated. Here, the fact that the phosphatidylserine mediated phagocytosis proceeds in a non-inflammatory manner is less prominent than the fact that phosphatidylserine-exposing cells are eliminated in an extremely rapid and efficient way. Since there are no medicaments which block or modify this phagocytosis pathway, sickle cell anemia is presently treated with repeated blood transfusions.
The Role of Phosphatidylserine-dependent Phagocytosis in Erythrocyte Stability
A problem similar to that in sickle cell anemia also occurs in the storage of erythrocytes for transfusion. Even under blood bank conditions, an increasing number of erythrocytes exposes phosphatidylserine on their surface during storage. After the transfusion, these erythrocytes are very rapidly cleared by phagocytes and thus are lost. Moreover, the transfusion of a substantial amount of aged erythrocytes exposing phosphatidylderine on their surfaces can be stressful to the recipient's organism. Since there are presently no medicaments or additives to conserved blood which prevent this phagocytosis, the storage of erythrocytes is strictly limited in terms of time.
The Role of Phosphatidylserine-dependent Phagocytosis in Cancer Therapy
Tumor vaccines prepared of autologous apoptotic cancer cells, after injection are usually rapidly eliminated by macrophages via anti-inflammatory phagocytosis and therefore do not result in an efficient sensitization of the immune system to the tumor.
In the preparation of tumor vaccines, the tumor cells returned to the bodies of patients or experimental animals are irradiated in order to prevent the formation of metastases. Since under these circumstances apoptosis is induced in the tumor cells and these are then eliminated in a non-inflammatory manner via the phosphatidylserine-dependent phagocytosis pathway, only a relatively weak immune response usually occurs to the respective tumor. Since at present no substances are known which block or modify the phosphatidylserine-dependent phagocytosis pathway, classical immunization routes and adjuvants are currently used in order to increase the immune response to tumor cells.
Cancer vaccines pursue the strategy of a specific activation of the immune system to achieve the recognition and elimination of the tumor. One possibility is the use of whole tumor cells as vaccines since they display cancer-associated antigens as the immunological key to the destruction of the tumor they were derived from. An obstacle of these vaccinations is the weak immunogenicity of cancer cells alone, which could be overcome by the additional use of immunostimulatory or response modifying molecules. Annexin V is a monomeric protein ligand of anionic phospholipids and exhibits high affinity to membrane bound phosphatidylserine, which is translocated from the inner to the outer cell membrane layer in apoptotic cells. Apoptotic tumor cells do express phosphatidylserine and consequently might maintain an anti-inflammatory and non-immunogenic environment. Apoptotic tumor cells coated with chicken annexin V lack the phosphatidylserine signal on their surface which reduces the interaction with its receptor. In this case, phagocytosis occurs via different receptors, inducing macrophages to secrete pro-inflammatory mediators and dendritic cells to migrate and maturate, thus achieving a specific immune response against the tumor.
Immunological Background
Regulation of the cell number is a key process to normal development and hemostasis in the healthy adult. Organisms keep the correct number of cells by a genetically controlled and well-regulated process of programmed cell death called apoptosis (Kerr, J. F. R., Wyllie, A. H., Currie, A. R. 1972. Apoptosis: a basic biological phenomenon with wide ranging implications in tissue kinetics. Br. J. Cancer 26, 239-57). Typical apoptotic features of a cell are nuclear condensation, cell shrinkage (in opposite to the swollen appearance of necrotic cells), membrane blebbing and protein and DNA fragmentation.
A crucial part of apoptosis is the removal of the intact dying cell from the tissue before it causes inflammatory responses. This occurs through phagocytosis by macrophages. Phospholipids are asymmetrically distributed between the inner and outer layer of the plasma membrane with phosphatidylcholine and sphingomyelin exposed on the external layer of the membrane, and phosphatidylserine, phosphatidic acid and phosphatidylethanolamine predominantly observed on the inner surface facing the cytosol. In cells undergoing apoptosis, as well as after platelet activation or endothelial cell injury, phosphatidylserine is translocated to the outer layer of the membrane and is one of the "eat-me" ligands present on the cell surface during apoptosis (Fadok, V. A., Voelker, D. R., Campbell, P. A., Cohen, J. J., Bratton, D. L., Henson, P. M. 1992. Exposure of phosphatidylserine on the surface of apoptotic lymphocytes triggers specific recognition and removal by macrophages. J. Immunol. 148, 2207-2216). Once committed to die, the cell exposes phosphatidylserine at its surface within minutes while maintaining the integrity of the plasma membrane. Macrophages recognize phosphatidylserine via a specific receptor and thereby activate intracellular pathways which orchestrate uptake of the apoptotic cell.
Phosphatidylserine exposed at the cell surface exhibits pro-coagulant activities. Annexin V, originally discovered as an anticoagulant with an antithrombotic activity in vivo, binds with high affinity to phosphatidylserine on apoptotic cells and thereby impairs the pro-coagulant activities of the dying cell (Reutelingsperger, C. P. M. and van Heerde, W. L. 1997. Annexin V, the regulator of phosphatidylserine-catalyzed inflammation and coagulation during apoptosis. Cell. Mol. Life Sci. 53, 527-32). Fluorescently labeled annexin V is routinely used for the detection of apoptotic cells in flow cytometric assays (Van Engeland, M., Nieland, L. J. W., Ramaekers, F. C. S., Schutte, B., Reutelingsperger, C. P. M. 1998. Annexin V-affinity assay: a review on an apoptosis detection system based on phosphatidylserine exposure. Cytometry 31, 1-9).
The immune system has to contend with the consequences of two types of cell death, necrosis and apoptosis. Apoptosis, as described above, is the physiological form for the non-inflammatory removal of intact dying cells during normal tissue turn over. Unremoved apoptotic cells further proceed to the stage of secondary necrosis and are identically handled. Primary necrosis, in contrast, is a pathological event resulting in cell lysis and consequently in the induction of inflammation.
Two different types of antigen presenting cells (APC), macrophages and dendritic cells (DC), are involved in the clearance of dying cells: Macrophages degrade and process antigens contained within apoptotic cells, but they fail to induce antigen-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) when injected in vivo. After phagocytosis of apoptotic cells macrophages modulate the immune response by the release of immunosuppressive factors and the failure to present antigen, whereas exposure to primary necrotic cells leads to activation of macrophages towards inflammation. The response against secondary necrotic cells comprises features of the response against apoptotic cells as well as features of the response against necrotic cells.
Optimal cross-presentation of antigens acquired from dying cells by DC requires two steps: (i) phagocytosis of dying cells in the immature DC state and (ii) receipt of an appropriate maturation signal. Immature DC are located in the body's periphery, capture antigen and thus receive a signal to leave the tissue and migrate to the regional lymph node. A maturation signal can be provided e.g. by necrotic cell fragments and leads to a 5-10 fold improved antigen presentation via upregulation of MHC (major histocompatibility complex) and costimulatory molecules and the capacity to induce antigen specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. In contrast, phagocytosis of apoptotic cells in early stages of apoptosis fails to induce full maturation and may lead to the induction of tolerance to self and considerably low immunogenicity. (Sauter, B., Albert, M. L., Francisco, L., Larsson, M., Somersan, S., Bhardwaj, N. 2000. Consequences of cell death: Exposure to necrotic tumor cells, but not primary tissue cells or apoptotic cells, induces the maturation of immunostimulatory dendritic cells. J. Exp. Med. 191, 423-433).
Autologous apoptotic tumor cells are scavenged and degraded by macrophages, thereby preventing accumulation of high amounts of autoantigens in areas of cell death. Under these conditions macrophages actively suppress autoimmune responses through production of anti-inflammatory cytokines like transforming growth factor β (TGF-β), interleukin (IL)-10, platelet activating factor (PAF), and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and through inhibition of pro-inflammatory cytokines like IL-1β, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), IL-12 and IL-8 (Voll, R. E., Hermann, M., Roth, E. A., Stach, C., Kalden, J. R. 1997. Immunosuppressive effects of apoptotic cells. Nature 390, 350-351; Fadok, V. A., Bratton, D. L., Konowal, A., Freed, P. W., Westcott, J. Y., Henson, P. M. 1998. Macrophages that have ingested apoptotic cells in vitro inhibit pro-inflammatory cytokine production through autocrine/paracrine mechanisms involving TGF-β, PGE2, and PAF. J. Clin. Invest. 101, 890-898). Immature dendritic cells fail to receive an adequate full maturation signal after phagocytosis of apoptotic tumor cells. The overall result is low immunogenicity of apoptotic tumor cells. Tumors most probably undergo some level of cell turn over through the cell death mechanism of apoptosis thereby circumventing an effective immune response.
It is believed that the phosphatidylserine receptor (PSR) serves as a crucial switch that controls the development of inflammation and/or the initiation of the adaptive immune response. (Henson, P. M., Bratton, D. L., Fadok, V. A. 2001. The phosphatidylserine receptor: a crucial molecular switch? Nature Rev. Mol. Cell Bio. 2, 627-633). This theory is supported by the fact that macrophages and DC are obviously able to distinguish, whether a cell is going to die by apoptosis or necrosis.
For cases in which sufficient ligation of the PSR occurs, e.g. by an apoptotic cell which expresses phosphatidylserine externally, suppression may dominate: downregulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines through the release of TGF-β by macrophages is induced and DC-maturation inhibited.
Uptake of apoptotic and remarkably also secondary necrotic cells does not result in DC maturation and antigen presentation, but primary necrotic cells, particularly tumor cells, can activate the response. In this case, when ligation of the PSR is insufficient, the pro-inflammatory and immune-stimulatory effects take over: secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines and maturation of DC are induced. Thus, APC are able to distinguish two types of cell death, with primary necrosis providing a critical signal that will promote the initiation of immunity.
There are two possible mechanisms to overcome the dominant anti-inflammatory effect of PSR ligation. The susceptibility of the PSR to protease cleavage leads to the assumption that proteases e.g. released by primary necrotic cells would remove the PSR receptor from the cell surface resulting in transiently unprotected cells that could be triggered to produce pro-inflammatory mediators and/or to fully mature towards an antigen-presenting and immune response stimulating dendritic cell (Fadok, V. A., Bratton, D. L., Guthrie, L. A., Henson, P. M. 2001. Differential effects of apoptotic vs. lysed cells on macrophage production of cytokines: role of proteases. J. Immunol. 166, 6847-6854).
Another possible mechanism is the assumption that proteins known to bind phosphatidylserine with high affinity, such as annexins, will be able to block the exposed phosphatidylserine to reduce its interaction with the PSR. Annexin V coating the surface of an apoptotic cell and thereby shielding the PSR most probably reduces the interaction of phosphatidylserine with its receptor. Several other cell surface or bridging molecules interacting with phosphatidylserine might also be impaired. The overall result would be the loss of the dominating PSR function, the stimulation of macrophages to create a pro-inflammatory environment and a signal for the full maturation of dendritic cells, their migration to lymph nodes, and immune stimulatory antigen presentation, resulting in the stimulation of a specific T cell response.
According to the prior art, annexins are additionally known. Annexin V is a member of a ubiquitously occuring family of annexin proteins which share structural and functional features (Mollenhauer, J. 1997. Multi-author review. Annexins: what are they good for? Cell Mol. Life Sci. 53, 506-556). The common property of annexins is the reversible calcium-dependent binding to anionic phospholipid membranes. Although this property may be due to highly conserved sequences, the existence of at least 13 different annexins in mammalian species suggests that they have specific and diverse biological functions. These functions relate to membrane associated processes, and recent data show their function in the regulation of thrombosis, hemostasis and apoptosis.
Specificity and diversity of annexins may be provided by their N-terminal domains (which are less conserved among different members of the annexin family), but may also be the consequence of interactions of annexins either with other members of this protein family or other cellular partners. Typically, annexins have molecular weights ranging between 30 and 40 kD (only annexin VI is exceptional with regard to its molecular weight of 66 kD).
The annexins also participate in intracellular membrane trafficking during exo- and endocytosis, phagosome formation, and lipid raft clustering (reviewed in Reutelingsperger, C. P. M. 2001. Annexins: key regulators of haemostasis, thrombosis, and apoptosis Thromb. Haemost. 86, 413-419). They inhibit cytosolic phospholipases and protein kinases. Annexin V also possesses a voltage-dependent Ca2+ ion channel activity (Voges, D., Berendes, R., Demange, P. et al. 1995. Structure and function of the ion channel model system annexin V. Adv. Enzymol. Relat. Areas Mol. Biol. 71, 209-239). This kind of activity needs penetration of annexin V into the hydrophobic core of the lipid bilayer, which was recently shown under mild acidic conditions (pH 5-6) (Isas, J. M., Cartailler, J. P., Sokolow, Y., Patel, D. R., Langen, R., Luecke, H., Hall, J. E., Haigler, H. T. 2000. Annexins V and XII insert into bilayers at middly acidic pH and form ion channels. Biochemistry 39, 3015-22).
While many annexin functions are intracellular, others occur outside the cell. Annexin V was found in extracellular fluids like cerebrospinal fluid and blood plasma. The pathway of its externalisation is not fully understood. Once present in the extracellular space, the annexins have been shown to function as receptors for many polypeptide ligands and exhibit a variety of extracellular activities: annexin V binds with high affinity to phospholipid membranes of platelets, inhibits lipid-dependent reactions of the blood coagulation and intravascular thrombus formation, binds to collagens and exhibits lectin activity, i.e. binds to carbohydrate moieties of glycoproteins (Seaton, B. A., Dedman, J. R. 1998. Annexins. Bio. Metals 11, 399-404; Turnay, J., Pfannmüller, E., Lizarbe, M. A., Bertling, W., von der Mark, K. 1995. Collagen binding activity of recombinant and N-terminally modified annexin V (anchorinCII) J. Cell. Biochem. 58, 208-220; Mollenhauer, J. 1997. Multi-author review. Annexins: what are they good for? Cell Mol. Life Sci. 53, 506-556).
Recently, a new class of diseases called the "annexinopathies" was postulated, characterized by an aberrant expression of annexin II or V (Rand, J. H. 1999. "Annexinopathies"—A new class of diseases. N. Engl. J. Med. 340, 1035-36). These diseases strongly indicate that these annexins exhibit a role in the physiological control of blood coagulation.
The medicaments and procedures known according to the prior art, in particular the adjuvants employed today, stimulate the immune system non-specifically. To date, no agent is yet described which prevents or modifies the phagocytosis of phosphatidylserine-exposing cells, thus leading to a specific immunostimulation. The disadvantages which occur in non-inflammatory clearing of whole cell vaccines and virusinfected cells are particularly to be emphasized. On the one hand, phosphatidylserine-dependent phagocytosis contributes to the ineffectivity of vaccines through their breakdown, on the other hand to virus persistence.
Since, in sickle cell anemia, even young erythrocytes expose phosphatidylserine on their surface, they are removed by the endogenous phagocytes. This contributes disadvantageously to the anemia of the patients.
Even for the storage of blood and erythrocytes, no medicaments or additives are known which prevent the breakdown of the donor erythrocytes by the recipient's phagocytes after transfusion. This presently leads to a relatively short shelf life of conserved blood and erythrocyte concentrates and to a marked loss of activity in preserves stored for a long time period.
The object of the present invention is to eliminate the disadvantages according to the prior art. In particular, a medicament or the use of an active compound which brings about an increase in the immunity to viruses, tumors, bacteria and parasites will be specified.

Drug, in particular for modulating the immunological response for the control of viruses, tumors, bacteria and parasites


A flexible material such as garment fabric to be protected against theft is clamped into a lockable security tag. A key can be inserted into a key hole formed in the security tag for releasing the lock and to remove the tag from the garment item. The key thereby has a shape which complements a member of the cam mechanism so as to allow the cam to be operated with the key. A given decoupler is matched to a given batch of security tags, and the given decoupler is not matched to another, different batch of security tags. A certain store, therefore, has a matched decoupler for its tags while another store has a different decoupler which is matched to a different batch. The decoupler is preferably a key. The security tag is thereby provided with a number of pins or prongs which break or bend back if an incorrect key is inserted or if someone attempts to pick the lock.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to security tags which are attached to merchandise so as to prevent the merchandise from being unlawfully removed from the store.
Prior art security tags for the protection of garments and the like against shoplifting are all designed that they can be opened relatively easily by means of a certain device. This device is usually installed at a store register where it can be operated by the clerk. Such prior art decouplers are either handheld or they are stationarily disposed.
There exist several drawbacks with the existing decouplers. For instance, they are quite expensive, i.e. approximately $150.00 to $3,000.00 for air pressure decouplers and, towards the low end, magnet decouplers with a single neodymium magnet. For a store with, say, 40 registers and where only part of the store is clothing or where only part of the clothing is protected, this is a sizeable investment. Another drawback is that anyone can buy these decouplers, which means anyone can open any "security" tag. Logically, then, the purpose of the security tag is defeated when it is opened without being accompanied by a registered sale.


The present invention is directed to a carton for storing, dispensing, and displaying adhesives, caulks, sealants, and other articles in tube form. The carton has two apertures, an upper aperture and a lower aperture. The upper aperture is used for loading the articles into the carton. The lower aperture opens into a trough into which the articles are dispensed and displayed. The bottom wall of the carton is inclined causing the articles stored therein to roll towards the lower aperture and be dispensed into a trough. The carton does not use an internal shelf or other channel which would require space that would otherwise be useful for the storage of articles to be dispensed. The carton uses a trough notch to allow easy removal of the articles from the trough. Preferably, the carton has a notch in the lower portion of the front wall to allow easy access to the articles to be dispensed in order to free jammed or otherwise displaced articles. The carton also preferably has correspondingly positioned holes in the top, bottom and side walls for receipt of a fastener means such that a series of two or more cartons may be securely affixed side by side. The top wall of the carton preferably projects upward beyond the upper edges of the side walls, and the lower edges of the side walls preferably project downward beyond the bottom wall to provide an interlocking feature when two cartons of the present invention are vertically stacked.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus for storing, dispensing, and displaying substantially cylindrical articles. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a gravity fed carton for storing, dispensing, and displaying adhesives, caulks, sealants and other articles in substantially cylindrical tubes. The carton of the present invention requires no internal shelf that would otherwise occupy storage space. Moreover, when used in a grouping, the cartons are uniform in appearance whether full or containing only a single item. The carton of the present invention is useful, particularly in a retail establishment, because it maximizes the internal storage of goods and uniformly displays the goods independently of the amount of goods in the carton.
2. B. Prior Art
A problem facing all retailers is how to make shelves look full even when they are not. Full shelves give the impression to the consumer that the retailer will always have a supply of the goods they have come to expect. To create the impression that the shelves are full, retailers often stack goods at the front of the shelf, leaving the rear empty. Although the stacked wall of goods creates a first impression that the shelves are full, the solution is not wholly satisfactory. When the consumer removes one of the stacked items from the wall of goods, the void of space that lies behind the wall becomes visible. An object of the present invention is to provide a carton for use on a retail shelf that displays the goods to the consumer and that creates the impression of a full shelf when at least one item remains.
The prior art includes dispensers for storing and dispensing cylindrical articles and cans, such as for dispensing soft drinks in a soft drink machine or refrigerated cooler. These dispensers typically use at least one internal shelf which defines a path to guide the cylindrical articles to an opening near the bottom of the carton.
A problem in the prior-art dispensers is that the internal shelf occupies space useful for storing the articles to be dispensed. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,996,344, 2,852,327, 3,805,964, and 4,998,628 each teach a can dispenser having an internal shelf that is inclined downward, along which the cans move from the front to the rear of the dispenser. The shelf necessarily requires space that would otherwise be useful for the storage of articles to be dispensed. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,763,963 teaches a storage-rack assembly wherein bottles and cans are stored and dispensed by way of a serpentine storage column. It is an object of the present invention to maximize storage space within a storage dispenser by dispensing articles without the use of an internal shelf or serpentine storage column.
A further problem with the prior art is that the internal shelves cannot be easily molded by conventional injection molding processes.
An object of the invention is to provide a carton that may be easily molded by injection molding without the inherent difficulties of molding an internal shelf. Another object of the present invention is to provide a display dispenser carton that is capable of being easily loaded with the articles to be dispensed and that allows for the easy clearance of jammed or otherwise displaced articles.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a dispenser display carton that is capable of being laterally or horizontally affixed to one or more other display dispenser cartons, either vertically, horizontally, or both.
Further objects of the present invention will be apparent from the detailed description of the invention.

Carton for storing and dispensing substantially cylindrical articles

Laporte Construction Chemicals North America, Inc.


A signal encoding method and apparatus for encoding input digital signals by so-called high efficiency encoding, and a recording medium having the encoded signals. An attack portion and a release portion of audio signals are detected and a gain control function is selected at least for waveform elements (waveform signals) of a signal portion ahead of the attack portion and waveform elements of the release portion from among plural gain control functions responsive to characteristics of the waveform signals. At least the waveform elements (waveform signals) ahead of the attack portion and the waveform elements of the release portion are gain controlled. The resulting gain-controlled audio signals are transformed into plural spectral components which are encoded along with the control information for gain control. With the present encoding method and apparatus, the encoding efficiency may be improved, while pre-echo and post-echo may be effectively prohibited and the sound quality may be prohibited from being deteriorated even for the high compression ratio.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a signal encoding method and apparatus for encoding input digital signals by the so-called high efficiency encoding, and a recording medium having the encoded signals recorded thereon. The invention also relates to a method for transmitting the encoded signals, and a signal decoding apparatus for decoding the encoded signals.
2. Description of the Related Art
There exist a variety of high efficiency encoding techniques of encoding audio or speech signals. Examples of these techniques include transform coding in which a frame of digital signals representing the audio signal on the time axis is converted by an orthogonal transform into a block of spectral coefficients representing the audio signal on the frequency axis, and a sub-band coding in which the frequency band of the audio signal is divided by a filter bank into a plurality of sub-bands without forming the signal into frames along the time axis prior to coding. There is also known a combination of sub-band coding and transform coding, in which digital signals representing the audio signal are divided into a plurality of frequency ranges by sub-band coding, and transform coding is applied to each of the frequency ranges.
Among the filters for dividing a frequency spectrum into a plurality of equal-width frequency ranges, there is the quadrature mirror filter (QMF) as discussed in R. E. Crochiere, Digital Coding of Speech in Sub-bands, 55 Bell Syst. Tech J. No.8 (1976). With such QMF filter, the frequency spectrum of the signal is divided into two equal-width bands. With the QMF, aliasing is not produced when the frequency bands resulting from the division are subsequently combined together.
In "Polyphase Quadrature Filters- A New Subband Coding Technique", Joseph H. Rothweiler ICASSP 83, Boston, there is shown a technique of dividing the frequency spectrum of the signal into equal-width frequency bands. With the present polyphase QMF, the frequency spectrum of the signals can be divided at a time into plural equal-width frequency bands.
There is also known a technique of orthogonal transform including dividing the digital input audio signal into frames of a predetermined time duration, and processing the resulting frames using a discrete Fourier transform (DFT), discrete cosine transform (DCT) and modified DCT (MDCT) for converting the signal from the time axis to the frequency axis. Discussions on MDCT may be found in J. P. Princen and A. B. Bradley, Subband Transform Coding Using Filter Bank Based on Time Domain Aliasing Cancellation", ICASSP 1987.
By quantizing the signals divided on the band basis by the filter or orthogonal transform, it becomes possible to control the band subjected to quantization noise and psychoacoustically more efficient coding may be performed by utilizing the so-called masking effects. If the signal components are normalized from band to band with the maximum value of the absolute values of the signal components, it becomes possible to achieve more efficient coding.
For quantizing signals split into plural frequency bands, it is known to divide the frequency spectrum into plural frequency bands taking into account the psychoacoustic characteristics of the human hearing mechanism. That is, spectral coefficients representing an audio signal on the frequency axis may be divided into a plurality of, for example, 25, critical frequency bands. The width of the critical bands increase with increasing frequency.
For encoding signals of the respective frequency bands, a pre-set number of bits are allocated from one frequency band to another, or encoding by adaptive bit allocation is performed from one frequency band to another. For example, when applying adaptive bit allocation to the spectral coefficient data resulting from MDCT, the spectral coefficient data generated by the MDCT within each of the critical bands is quantized using an adaptively allocated number of bits.
There are presently known the following two bit allocation techniques. For example, in IEEE Transactions of Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing, vol.ASSP-25, No.4, August 1977, bit allocation is carried out on the basis of the amplitude of the signal in each critical band. This technique produces a flat quantization noise spectrum and minimizes the noise energy, but the noise level perceived by the listener is not optimum because the technique does not effectively exploit the psychoacoustic masking effect.
In the bit allocation technique described in M. A. Krassner, The Critical Band Encoder--Digital Encoding of the Perceptual Requirements of the Auditory System, ICASSP 1980, the psychoacoustic masking mechanism is used to determine a fixed bit allocation that produces the necessary signal-to-noise ratio for each critical band. However, if the signal-to-noise ratio of such a system is measured using a strongly tonal signal, for example, a 1 Khz sine wave, non-optimum results are obtained because of the fixed allocation of bits among the critical bands.
For overcoming these inconveniences, a high efficiency encoding apparatus has been proposed in which the total number of bits available for bit allocation is divided between a fixed bit allocation pattern pre-set for each small block and a block-based signal magnitude dependent bit allocation. The division ratio is set in dependence upon a signal which is relevant to the input signal, such that, the smoother the signal spectrum, the higher becomes the division ratio for the fixed bit allocation pattern, that is the smaller becomes the division ratio for block-based signal magnitude dependent bit allocation.
With this technique, if the energy is concentrated in a particular spectral component, as in the case of a sine wave input, a larger number of bits are allocated to the block containing the spectral component, for significantly improving the signal-to-noise characteristics in their entirety. Since the human auditory system is highly sensitive to a signal having acute spectral components, such technique may be employed for improving the signal-to-noise ratio for improving not only measured values but also the quality of the sound perceived by the listener.
In addition to the above techniques, a variety of other techniques have been proposed, and the model simulating the human auditory system has been refined, such that, if the encoding device is improved in its ability, encoding may be made with higher efficiency in light of the human auditory system.
If DFT or DCT is utilized as the method for transforming the waveform signal (sample data) such as the time-domain digital audio signals, into a spectral signal, a transform is executed using a time block made up of M sample data, and orthogonal transform such as DFT or DCT is carried out on the block basis. Such block-based orthogonal transform produces M independent real-number data (DFT coefficient data or DCT coefficient data). The M real-number data, thus produced, are subsequently quantized and encoded to give encoded data.
For decoding the encoded data to regenerate playback acoustic signals, the encoded data are decoded and dequantized to give real-number data, which then is inverse orthogonal-transformed by IDFT or IDCT. The resulting blocks made up of waveform element signals are linked together for regenerating acoustic signals.
The playback acoustic signals, thus generated, suffer from psychoacoustically undesirable linking distortion caused by block linking. For reducing the inter-block linking distortion, M1 sample data of both neighboring blocks are overlapped at the time of orthogonal transform by DFT or DCT.
However, if Mi sample data each are overlapped on both neighboring blocks for carrying out orthogonal transform, M sample data are produced for (M-M1) sample data on an average, so that the number of real-number data obtained on orthogonal transform is larger than the number of the original sample data employed for orthogonal transform. Since the real-number data are subsequently quantized and encoded, such increase in the number of the real-number data obtained on orthogonal transform beyond the number of the original sample data is not desirable in view of the coding efficiency.
If MDCT is employed for orthogonal transform of acoustic data consisting of sample data such as digital audio signals, orthogonal transform is carried out using 2M sample data by overlapping M sample data on both neighboring blocks, for reducing the inter-block linking distortion for producing independent M real-number data (MDCT coefficient data). In this manner, M real-number data are obtained for M sample data on an average with MDCT so that higher efficiency encoding may be realized than with DFT or DCT.
For decoding the encoded data obtained on quantizing and encoding the real-number data by MDCT for generating playback acoustic signals, the encoded data is decoded and dequantized to give real-number data which is then inverse orthogonal-transformed by IMDCT on the basis of blocks corresponding to the overlapped blocks at the time of encoding to produce in-block waveform elements. These in-block waveform elements are added together with interference for reconstructing acoustic signals.
In general, if the length of a block for orthogonal transform (size of the block along time axis) for orthogonal transform is increased, frequency resolution is improved. If the acoustic signals, such as digital audio signals, are orthogonal-transformed using such long blocks, the signal energy is concentrated in specified spectral components. On the other hand, if orthogonal transform is performed for blocks in which sufficiently long overlap is accorded in both neighboring blocks, inter-block distortion of acoustic signals may be reduced satisfactorily. If orthogonal transform is performed by MDCT on blocks in which the number of sample data equal to one-half the number of sample data of a block are overlapped between the neighboring blocks, and if the number of the real-number data obtained on orthogonal transform is not increased as compared to the number of the original acoustic signals, a higher encoding efficiency may be achieved than in the case of orthogonal transform employing DFT and DCT.
Meanwhile, if the acoustic signals are blocked and resolved on the block basis into spectral components (real-number data obtained on orthogonal transform in the previous example) and the resulting spectral components are quantized and encoded, the quantization noise is produced in the acoustic signals subsequently produced at the time of block-based synthesis.
If the original acoustic signals contain signal components with abruptly changing signal levels, that is portions with abruptly changing levels (transient portions) in the waveform elements, and such acoustic signals are encoded and subsequently decoded, the quantization noise corresponding to the transient portions is spread to portions of the original acoustic signal other than the transient portions.
It is assumed that, as audio signals to be encoded, a waveform signal SW1 is employed, in which a quasi-stationary signal FL exhibiting only slight transition and low levels is followed by an attack portion AT with abruptly increasing sound level, as a transient portion, followed in turn by a succession of high level signals, as shown in FIG. 1A. If such waveform signal SW1 is blocked in a unit time width, signal components in each block are orthogonally transformed, and the resulting spectral signal components are quantized and encoded so as to be then inverse orthogonally transformed, decoded and dequantized, there is produced a waveform signal SW1 in which a larger quantization noise QN1 ascribable to the attack portion AT is superimposed over the entire block, as shown in FIG. 1C. The result is that the larger quantization noise QN1, higher in level than the quasi-stationary signal FL, temporally previous to the attack portion AT, is produced due to the attack portion AT in the quasi-stationary signal FL, as shown in FIG. 4C. The quantization noise QN1, appearing in the quasi-stationary signal portion, temporally previous to the attack portion AT, cannot be masked by concurrent masking by the attack portion AT and hence proves hindrance to the hearing sense. Such quantization noise QN1, appearing ahead of the attack portion AT where the sound level rises abruptly, is generally termed pre-echo. For orthogonal transform of signal components in each block, the block is multiplied prior to orthogonal transform by a transform windowing function TW having a characteristic curve of being smoothly sloped at both skirt portions for prohibiting the spectral distribution from being spread over a wide range.
In particular, if waveform signals are orthogonally transformed using a long block length for improving the frequency resolution as described previously, time resolution is lowered, thus generating pre-echo continuing for a prolonged time.
If the block length for orthogonal transform is reduced, the time period of generation of the quantization noise is reduced. Thus, if the block length for orthogonal transform is reduced in the vicinity of the attack portion, the time period of generation of pre-echo may be reduced, thus diminishing the hindrance to the hearing sense caused by pre-echo.
Referring to prevention of pre-echo by reducing the block length in the vicinity of the attack portion, the block for orthogonal transform may be reduced in length in the vicinity of the transient portion, such as the attack portion AT with abruptly increased sound level, in the waveform signal SW having the quasi-stationary signal FL in addition to the attack portion AT as shown in FIG. 2A, and orthogonal transform may be applied to signal components within the short block. In this manner, the time period of generation of pre-echo may be reduced sufficiently within the short block. If the time period of generation of pre-echo in a block can be reduced sufficiently, it becomes possible to reduce the hindrance to the hearing sense by the so-called backward masking effect by the attack portion AT. If orthogonal transform is applied to the signal components in the short block, the transform windowing function TWS as shown in FIG. 2B is applied before proceeding to orthogonal transform.
On the other hand, if the block length for orthogonal transform is reduced for the quasi-stationary signal FL and for signal portions downstream of the attack portion AT, frequency resolution is lowered thus lowering the encoding efficiency for these signal portions. Thus, it is preferred to increase the block length for orthogonal transform for these signal portions since the energy is then concentrated in particular spectral components thus raising the encoding efficiency.
Thus, in effect, the block length for orthogonal transform is selectively switched for orthogonal transform depending upon the properties of various portions of the waveform signals SW. If the block length is selectively switched in this manner, the transform windowing function is similarly switched depending upon the selected block length. For example, the transform windowing function TW is selectively switched so that a long transform windowing function TWL is applied for a block consisting of the quasi-stationary signal SL excluding the neighborhood of the attack portion AT, and a short transform windowing function TWS is applied to a short block in the neighborhood of the attack portion AT, as shown in FIG. 2B.
However, if desired to implement the method of selectively switching the block length for orthogonal transform depending upon the characteristics of the various portions of the waveform signals in an actual configuration, it becomes necessary to provide orthogonal transform means capable of dealing with orthogonal transform with blocks of different lengths in an encoding apparatus, while it also becomes necessary to provide inverse orthogonal transform means capable of dealing with inverse orthogonal transform with blocks of different lengths in a decoding apparatus.
In addition, if desired to change the block length for orthogonal transform, the number of spectral components resulting from orthogonal transform is proportional to the block length, such that, if these spectral components are grouped together in terms of critical bands as units for encoding, the number of spectral components contained in the critical bands differs with block lengths, thus complicating the subsequent encoding and decoding operations.
In short, the method of varying the block length for orthogonal transform has a drawback that both the encoding apparatus and the decoding apparatus become complex in structure.
For effectively prohibiting the generation of pre-echo in the application of the above-mentioned orthogonal transform such as DFT or DCT for resolution into frequency components, as the block length for orthogonal transform is maintained at a constant value capable of assuring sufficient frequency resolution, there is disclosed such a technique as disclosed in, for example, JP Patent Kokai Publication 61-201526 or 63-7023, corresponding to European Patent Publication Nos. 0193143 and 0251028, which are not written in English.
In these EP publications, there is disclosed a method in which an input signal waveform is sliced at an interval of a block made up of plural data samples, a windowing function is applied to each block, an attack portion is detected, waveform signals of small amplitudes directly previous to the attack portion, that is quasi-stationary signals, are amplified and orthogonal transform, such as DFT or DCT, is applied to the amplified waveform signals to produce spectral components which are encoded.
For decoding, decoded spectral components are inverse orthogonal transformed by inverse DFT (IDFT) or inverse DCT (IDCT) and correction is made for amplification performed on the signals directly ahead of the attack portion at the time of encoding. This prohibits occurrence of the pre-echo. Since the block length for orthogonal transform may be perpetually maintained constant in this manner, the encoding apparatus and the decoding apparatus may be simplified in structure.
Referring to FIGS. 3A to 3C, the operating principle of encoding and decoding employing the windowing technique disclosed in the above publications is explained.
For encoding, the waveform signal SW shown in FIG. 3A is sliced in blocks each of a pre-set length and sample data is overlapped at either ends with both neighboring blocks. The waveform signals SW in the respective blocks are multiplied with transform windowing functions TWa to TWc (FIG. 3B) for prohibiting diffusion of the spectral distribution. It is then checked if there is any attack portion AT in each block where the input waveform signal SW is abruptly increased in amplitude. In the example of FIGS. 3A and 3B, since the attack portion AT exists in the block associated with the transform windowing function TWb, the signal components in this block are multiplied with a gain control function GCb as shown at (b) in FIG. 3C for amplification. The gain control function GCb is such a function which multiplies the signal of small amplitude directly ahead of the attack portion AT in the block, that is the quasi-stationary signal FL, by R, while multiplying the signal of the remaining portion with unity. In the example of FIGS. 3A to 3C, since there is no attack portion AT in the blocks associated with the transform windowing functions TWa and TWc, the signal components in these blocks are multiplied with unity by gain control functions GCa and GCc, respectively, for not performing signal amplification. The respective blocks are orthogonally transformed by DFT or DCT to produce spectral component signals which are encoded.
For decoding, decoded spectral components are inverse orthogonally transformed by IDFT or IDCT and corrected for gain control (amplification of small-amplitude signals) performed during encoding on the signals directly ahead of the attack portion.
With the above-described conventional technique, it becomes possible to prevent the pre-echo from occurring, with the block length for orthogonal transform remaining unchanged, by the gain control operation performed during encoding on the small amplitude signals directly ahead of the attack portion and by the corresponding gain control correction performed during decoding.
With the above-described method for preventing generation of pre-echo by gain control and gain control correction, the gain control amount for the attack portion is fixed, that is, a gain control function of multiplying the signal directly ahead of the attack portion with a fixed factor R on detection of the attack portion and a gain control function of multiplying the signal with unity on detection of no attack portion, are employed, in other words, two gain control functions of fixed values are alternatively employed in dependence upon detection of presence or absence of the attack portion. Thus it is difficult to prohibit the sound quality from being deteriorated especially in case of a higher compression ratio.
Next, it is assumed that, as an audio signal to be encoded, a waveform signal SW2 shown in FIG. 4A is employed, in which a quasi-stationary signal FL with little transition and with a low signal level is followed by the attack portion AT with an abruptly rising sound level as the transient portion followed in turn by a release portion RE with abruptly decreased sound level. Such waveform signal SW2 is blocked with a unit block time width and signal components in the block are orthogonally transformed to produce spectral components which are quantized and encoded. If the resulting signals are inverse orthogonally transformed, decoded and dequantized, the resulting waveform signals SW2 is overlaid with the large quantization noise over the entire block due to the attack portion AT. Thus, the large quantization noise due to the attack portion AT appearing in the quasi-stationary signal FL temporally previous to the attack portion AT and in the release portion RE temporally posterior to the attack portion AT, as shown in FIG. 4C. This quantization noise is larger in level than the quasi-stationary signal FL or the latter portion of the release portion RE. Such quantization noise QN2F appearing in the signal portion temporally previous to the attack portion AT, that is pre-echo, and the quantization noise QN2B, appearing in the signal portion temporally posterior to the attack portion AT, cannot be masked by concurrent masking by the attack portion AT, thus proving hindrance to the hearing sense. The quantization noise QN2B appearing after the attack portion AT is generally termed post-echo. The transform windowing function TW similar to that shown in FIG. 1B is also shown in FIG. 4B.
It is possible with the technique disclosed in the prior-art system to prevent the pre-echo from occurring, while it is not possible to prevent post-echo from occurring.

Methods and apparatus for gain controlling waveform elements ahead of an attack portion and waveform elements of a release portion


Processes are provided for making dense, spherical mixed-metal carbonate or phosphate precursors that are particularly well suited for the production of active materials for electrochemical devices such as lithium ion secondary batteries. Exemplified methods include precipitating dense, spherical particles of metal carbonates or metal phosphates from a combined aqueous solution using a precipitating agent such as ammonium hydrogen carbonate, sodium hydrogen carbonate, or a mixture that includes sodium hydrogen carbonate. Other exemplified methods include precipitating dense, spherical particles of metal phosphates using a precipitating agent such as ammonium hydrogen phosphate, ammonium dihydrogen phosphate, sodium phosphate, sodium hydrogen phosphate, sodium dihydrogen phosphate, or a mixture of any two or more thereof. Further provided are compositions of and methods of making dense, spherical metal oxides and metal phosphates using the dense, spherical metal precursors. Still further provided are electrodes and batteries using the same.

Lithium-ion secondary batteries are widely used as rechargeable power sources for many applications such as consumer electronics, electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), satellites, spaceships, medical devices, and power tools. For such applications, Li-ion secondary batteries exhibiting higher energy densities and better thermal safety are desired when compared to those Li-ion cells that are currently available.
In general, the energy density and thermal safety of a Li-ion cell depends on the cathode material used in the cell. To increase the energy density of a Li-ion cell, it is necessary to develop cathode materials which have a high practical capacity and high material density to increase gravimetric and volumetric capacity, respectively. Cathode-related thermal safety problems may be caused by reactions between cathode particle surfaces and the organic electrolytes in charged states. Therefore, to improve the thermal safety of Li-ion cells, cathode materials must be developed with inherent thermal safety and/or which have a surface area that is as small as possible. Also, cathode materials with smooth surface morphologies can enhance the thermal safety characteristics of the cells. Improved safety results from smooth surfaces because the reactivity of materials with an organic electrolyte is very high at sharp edges due to very high chemical activity of ions at interfaces with high curvature.
In general, the morphology of calcined metal oxides is determined by the starting metal precursors and the synthetic methods employed. Both of these considerations also play an important role in controlling the electrochemical properties of the cathode materials in Li-ion cells. Co-precipitation of mixed metal hydroxides is the most widely adopted process to prepare dense, spherical metal precursors. However, co-precipitation of mixed metal hydroxides requires careful control of certain experimental parameters, such as pH and atmosphere. Such control is especially important when the mixed metal hydroxides contain manganese, due to the instability of Mn(OH)2. (J. Ying et al., J. Power Sources, 99, 78 (2001); M. H. Lee et al., Electrochim. Acta, 50, 939 (2004)). When manganese is used as one of the major constituents of the co-precipitated hydroxides, the co-precipitated hydroxide particles do not form dense, spherical shapes. However, since manganese-based cathode materials are promising for other reasons, methods of making dense spherical manganese oxides are highly desirable. More generally, there is a need in the art for inexpensive and operatively simple methods of forming dense spherical particles of active materials for lithium ion cells.

Processes for making dense, spherical active materials for lithium-ion cells


An antiviral agent that contains as an active ingredient a particle of at least one kind of iodide composed of iodine and an element shown in Period 4 to Period 6 and Group 8 to Group 15 of a periodic table or at least one kind of monovalent copper compound. The antiviral agent can be incorporated into a variety of products. The antiviral agent can inactivate a wide range of viruses. The antiviral agent can be designed at a higher degree of freedom in terms of its constituents as compared to conventional antiviral agents. In addition, the antiviral agent can readily exhibit and maintain its antiviral activity because it does not require any pretreatments or special washing processes.

In recent years, increasing cases of deaths caused by viral infections such as SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), norovirus, and avian influenza have been reported. The prospect of a pandemic is now posing a worldwide threat due to ever more advanced transportation networks and continuously mutating viruses. The emergence of new influenza viruses is also an urgent issue that requires immediate action. Although the development of antiviral vaccines is one solution to these problems and is now being hurried, vaccines are only effective in preventing infections by specific viruses because of their specificity. Since vaccine production is a process requiring a considerable amount of time, it is often difficult to reserve required amounts of a particular vaccine. Thus, there is a strong demand for antiviral agents that show antiviral activity against a wide range of viruses.
Viruses are divided into those that are encapsulated in a lipid-containing membrane called an envelope and those that are not. Since an envelope is mostly composed of lipid, it can easily be destroyed by treating with ethanol, organic solvents, soap and other disinfectants. For this reason, viruses with an envelope can easily be inactivated by these disinfectants (i.e., reduction or elimination of the ability to infect). To the contrary, viruses without an envelope are considered to be highly resistant to these disinfectants. As used herein, the terms "virus inactivation activity" and "antiviral activity" both refer to the same activity.
To address the above-described issues, inorganic antiviral agents that have a wider spectrum of activity than organic viral agents have been developed. For example, a fabric impregnated with an antimicrobial dye agent and divalent copper ion is reported to have the ability to inactivate influenza virus (Patent Document 1). Also, an antiviral fiber formed of carboxyl-containing fiber impregnated with a copper compound is reported (Patent Document 2). Furthermore, a cold-worked ultrafine copper fiber effective in inactivating avian influenza virus is reported (Patent Document 3). Use of other elements for inactivation of viruses, for example, use of a titanium oxide photocatalyst, is also reported (Patent Documents 4 and 5).