An improved tumbler for use in pad driven machinery or the like utilizes a plurality of replaceable wear members mounted to a reel assembly on the conventional tumbler hub. The wear members engage the cleats of the pads to impart relative motion and bear the brunt of the wear generated thereby. The wear members are designed to wear faster than the cleat or reel assembly and are mounted for relatively easy replacement, thus eliminating replacement of worn tumblers.

Many items of heavy machinery such as used in mining operations utilize driven pads which carry a plurality of drive members on their inner surface. These members are engaged by the drive tumbler of the machine to induce relative motion between the pad and the machine. An example of this type machinery is the Hitachi.RTM. 3500 XE. Heretofore, it was determined to be less expensive and less time-consuming to replace the drive tumblers than to replace the pad in this type machinery. Therefore, the drive members on the pads have been made to withstand the wear of engagement and disengagement with the tumbler, whereas the tumblers readily become worn and must be replaced. As might be imagined the replacement of a metal wheel five feet in diameter and ten inches thick is not an easy task. However, the wear at the point of contact between the pad drive members and the tumbler (wheel) necessitates the frequent replacement thereof Accordingly, there exists a need for a construction of such tumblers which would substantially reduce the effort and time required to repair worn surfaces on the tumblers.

Apparatus and method for refurbishing a drive tumbler


A method and apparatus for determining a color and brightness of an LED, when the LED is biased with a current pulse. The apparatus includes a sensor having a plurality of filters and an output probe connected to the sensor, the output probe providing a color output and a brightness output in a single signal. The sensor may further include an input probe connected to the sensor providing power and a ground probe connected to the sensor providing a grounded connection to the sensor. The plurality of filters in the sensor are preferably configured in a matrix array of color receptors having different colors. The method of this invention utilizes pulsing/dynamic sampling to determine a frequency and/or a brightness of the LED output.

Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for testing for the presence, brightness and/or color of a light emitting diode (LED) in a printed circuit board, where the LED is biased either with constant current or with a current pulse.
Description of Related Art
Printed circuit boards typically contain multiple components including: LEDs, resistors, capacitors, diode, fuse, processors, and similar such components. LEDs are often used as external signals, internal diagnostics and for other suitable applications. Typically, verification of the operation of a printed circuit board having LEDs required powering up a fully rendered printed circuit board and manually verifying the operation of the LEDs. Alternatively, a test fixture may be constructed including bulky and expensive fiber optics that extend between the printed circuit board to be tested and a test system.
Verification of the presence and operation of LEDs within a printed circuit board may be accomplished without a power supply such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,490,037, issued to Schmitt, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety in a manner consistent with the present document. Further, verification of the presence and operation of LEDs within a printed circuit board may be accomplished such as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,023,554; 7,227,639; and 7,265,822, each issued to Schmitt, which are also each hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety in a manner consistent with the present document. However, these known methods require a constant current for a sampling period.
Determination of the color and brightness of the LEDs, beyond mere verification, typically requires extensive calibration and set-up to align sensors with the LEDs and run the wiring necessary for sending numerous signals to determine such parameters of the LEDs.

Method and apparatus for determining presence and operation of a component in a printed circuit board


A coating section for coating a traveling web of material, such as paper, wherein the web to be coated travels along a selected one of two different web paths. There is a lower counter roll and an upper press roll which define a nip between them and the distance apart of the two rolls is adjustable. A respective applicator for coating composition is on each of the first and second sides of the lower roll and on the third side of the upper roll, and the third side is the same side of the coating section as the first side of the lower roll. First web guide rollers guide the web from below, past the counter roll and the first applicator and not through the nip. Second guide rollers guide the web through the nip.

The present invention relates to a device for applying coating composition to two sides of a moving web of material.
Such a device is known from Federal Republic of Germany Published Application OS 34 17 487, which corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 4,848,268. FIG. 1 thereof shows two press rolls which are horizontally opposite each other. Within the press nip formed between them, the rolls transfer the coating composition, which had been applied onto their outer surface(s), to a web of material. The coating applicator mechanism employed in each case is a device which carries an elastic doctor holder, including a revolving doctor having circumferential grooves that serve as the doctor element. This device enables application of very small amounts of coating with coating compositions having very low solids content. The amounts of coating composition applied can have a solids content of from 2 to 3 g/m.sup.2 per side of the web of material. FIG. 3 of the patent shows a coating application arrangement using only one roll. A first coating applicator mechanism is associated at one side with the outer surface of the roll. On the other side, also in the region of the outer surface of the roll, there is a second coating applicator mechanism. It is provided with a nozzle chamber for applying coating composition directly onto the one side of the web of material. The other side of the web of material is coated from the outer surface of the roll. In FIG. 1 of that patent, the applicator mechanisms are each provided in the upper, outer quadrant (i.e., on the side of each roll facing away from in each case the other side) and are developed identically.

Device for applying a coating composition to traveling webs of material on two web paths


A display package includes an outer enclosure having a see-through window for viewing an article to be displayed. The article is retaining in a display means. The display means is arranged in the bottom of a box which fits within the outer enclosure. A box top dimensioned to fit over and close the bottom of the box is also containing in the outer enclosure, but is positioned such that it does not obstruct the view of the article through the see-through window.

The present invention relates generally to display packages and, more particularly, to a display package with a substantially transparent window for viewing an article to be sold and a method of displaying and storing such an article.
Conventional packages and conventional methods of packaging commercial products usually do not provide for ways of permitting a consumer to view the product from within the package without having to remove the product from its packaging. The illustration or drawings from the packages may not provide an adequate representation of the actual product being purchased. In addition, consumers are hesitant to purchase any item unless it has properly been scrutinized. Packages that do provide for displays of the commercial product have numerous setbacks. These packages are either too flimsy to withstand the stress placed upon them during their shipment or are too expensive to manufacture since the material used or the process applied are costly. Therefore, manufacturers, packages, wholesalers and retailers are continually seeking to find new and improved packages which are both durable against the rigors of the shipment process and functional in allowing a customer to easily see the product which (s)he is interested in purchasing.
The packaging industry is also searching for methods of prepackaging articles for sale. A pre-packaged commercial product allows for convenience and time efficiency. If an article to be sold is pre-packaged, a store attendant can remove that packaged article from the shipment box and place the package directly onto sales counters, shelves or display racks of department stores or supermarkets for immediate sale.
It would further be extremely desirable to provide a display package which also serves as a gift box for the article.

Display package with a substantially transparent window for viewing an article


A plant propagation system and method are provided for promoting the growth of plant tissue into small plantlets. The plant propagation system includes sealed, semipermeable membrane vessels for completely enclosing plant material therein. The sealed vessels generally are translucent and permeable to gases and liquids while remaining impermeable to biological contaminates. Plant tissue originally extracted from a parent plant can be placed within the sealed vessels and grown heterotrophically. Once the plant material has developed the capability to photosynthesize, the sealed vessels can be transferred to a greenhouse environment for photoautotrophic growth. Once in a greenhouse environment, the sealed vessels are supported in trays and exposed to light, gases, water and a liquid nutrient solution for optimizing growth. A central controller can be included in order to automate the system for controlling the flow of fluids in and out of the vessel support trays while also monitoring system conditions. A disinfectant can also be circulated within the system for destroying biological contaminants in the tray and outside the sealed vessels for maintaining an aseptic environment.

The present invention relates generally to a plant propagation system, and more particularly to an aseptic propagation system and process for promoting the growth of plant tissue into transplants.
Micropropagation, sometimes referred to as tissue culture propagation, is the process of growing new plants from a piece of plant tissue that has been extracted from a parent plant with desired characteristics. Micropropagation has recently grown in popularity as a preferred plant propagation technique for a wide range of horticultural crops because of high production efficiency and greater uniformity of the resulting plants. The process results in the mass reproduction of plants having certain desirable characteristics since substantially all of the plants produced are genetically identical to and have all of the desirable traits of the parent. Micropropagation is an especially useful process for genetically engineered plants, high-value transplants, seedless fruits and vegetables, certified disease free plant material and all other plants that cannot be produced from seed economically or uniformly.
In general terms, micropropagation typically includes first selecting a parent plant. The parent plant should be healthy and should have the desired traits that are needed in the next generation plants. A tissue sample is then extracted from the parent. The sample is typically meristematic tissue which is undifferentiated tissue capable of dividing and giving rise to other meristemic tissue as well as specialized tissue types. Meristematic tissue is found in growth areas such as at the tips of stems or at lateral buds. The tissue sample (explant) is disinfested and then placed in a controlled environment and supplied essential nutrients for promoting growth.
Growth of the plant tissue sample into a small plant occurs in four commonly referred to stages. First, growth of the explant is established in a sterile environment. Second, high prolifferation of explant is promoted by repeated selection of small pieces of tissue containing vegetative buds, or other specialized propagative structures (e.g. bulbets, protocorm-like bodies (PLB), microtubers, somatic embryos). The third stage involves forming a shoot from the vegetative bud. The fourth stage involves forming a root on the shoot, thereby completing the development of a whole plant from the plant tissue.
During the first and second stage of growth, the plant tissue is made up of small rapidly dividing cells with high metabolic requirements for energy. The tissue is incapable of carrying out adequate photosynthesis to meet this high demand.
Consequently, initial growth of the tissue is done heterotrophically. Heterotrophic growth is where the organism obtains nourishment and energy from the ingestion and breakdown of organic matter. During this phase, the plant tissue is typically not exposed to light and is fed a growth medium containing organic carbon. The organic carbon is usually obtained from sugars such as sucrose.
In the third stage of growth, leaves and shoots expand and the plant tissue becomes more capable of photosynthesizing. The plant tissue, when exposed to light, gases, water and essential nutrients, derives energy photoautotrophically through the process of photosynthesis. Photoautotrophic growth is where an organism synthesizes organic nutrients by deriving energy from light. In other words, during autotrophic growth, the plant tissue is capable of making its own food which it cannot do adequately during the other stages.
Traditionally, tissue culture propagation has been done on agar or semisolid mediums for providing nutrients and organic carbon to the plant material. The nutrient mediums have been contained in small glass or plastic containers open to the atmosphere for allowing needed gas exchange. However, many problems have been encountered using these techniques. For instance, the largest of these problems has been contamination. Microorganisms such as bacteria, fungus, viruses, molds, yeast or other small plants, which thrive on the organic compounds in the mediums, can attack and kill or inhibit the growth of vulnerable plant tissue samples. In order to prevent contamination, the tissue samples have to be placed in a sterile and controlled environment. As such, all work has typically been confined to the laboratory.
Another disadvantage to using agar or semisolid mediums is the expense or production costs involved in growing the plants. First, high costs are involved in maintaining stringent aseptic environments as described above. The facilities and equipment needed are also expensive necessities. Further, using agar or semisolid liquid mediums requires large amounts of manual labor. For instance, the growing plantlets must be frequently transferred to new vessels with fresh media. This work is very labor intensive because the fragile plants are typically embedded in the spent media and need to be carefully removed. These multiple transfers also limit the ability to automate the system.
Recently, many attempts have been made to develop a plant tissue propagation system that does not require growing plants on agar or semisolid mediums. Instead, the plants are fed a liquid nutrient solution. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,225,342 to Farrell discloses an artificial replacement for the vascular and support functions normally provided by the root system of a plant. The apparatus includes placing a totipotent plant cell on an artificial xylem surface. Xylem is the principal water and mineral conducting tissue in vascular plants. Nutrient solutions are applied in a manner which encourages the growth of the cell to form aerial portions of the plant and which essentially prohibits the growth of plant roots.
In one embodiment, a growth chamber for a vascular plant having xylem and phloem tissue is provided. The chamber is constructed from a high impact polystyrene or polycarbonate material and has three trays for holding various liquids. Inside the chamber, a plurality of totipotent plant cells or explant tissue is inserted through incisions in a sponge which is placed on an artificial xylem surface. A nutrient solution, circulated through the lower tray, is fed to the plant tissue through the artificial xylem. The artificial xylem is preferably constructed of small tubules made from polypropylene. A rinse solution is introduced into the upper tray where it falls onto the sponge where the plant tissue has been inserted. The rinse solution then flows through the sponge to the middle tray where it exits the chamber. Preferably, the rinse media is a sterile, deionized aqueous solution adjusted to the physiological pH of the plant, but any solution which is isotonic and capable of removing endotoxins or waste material exuded by the plant tissue into the sponge is acceptable. Further, the chamber includes a top cover which has a carbon dioxide inlet and a microbial shield-water vapor diffusion membrane. The membrane, preferably made from polyethylene, permits gas transfer without the introduction of microbial contamination into the chamber.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,171,683 and 4,908,315, both to Kertz, disclose an integument and method for microbe propagation and tissue culturing. Here, a sealed integument is made of a semipermeable and translucent membrane which allows light transmission and gas exchange but seals out biological contaminants. A plant, seeds, or plant tissue is placed inside the sealed integument along with a growth medium such as soil or a liquid media. The integument is liquid impermeable so that a liquid or semisolid growth medium cannot escape and dry out the plant. The integument is made from a polyethylene material.
A method and apparatus for culturing autotrophic plants from heterotrophic plant material is disclosed in Timmis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,119,588. In this patent, plant material is embedded in a plug of particulate medium having soil-like properties. The plug should be sterile and may contain water, mineral nutrients or plant hormones. The plug and plant material are then placed in a bag which is preferably made of a material which allows the passage of light and gases necessary for plant growth and development from the ambient environment to the interior of the bag. The bag preferably also passes water vapor at a slow rate from the interior of the bag to the ambient environment for humidity control inside the bag. Candidate bag materials include high density polyethylene, polypropylene, and fluorinated ethylenepropylene.
Other plant growing systems are discussed and disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,212,906 to Okuno et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,184,420 to Papadopoulis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,231 to Kertz, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,049,505 to Sei.
Although disclosing an assortment of plant propagation and growing systems, the prior art still has its drawbacks and deficiencies. For instance, some of the prior art fails to provide a method or apparatus that is truly effective at preventing contamination of the growing plant material. For instance, in many prior art devices the plant material is vulnerable to attack once the growth medium becomes infected with harmful microorganisms. Also, many of the prior art methods fail to provide an efficient way to replace or replenish the plant growth medium once it becomes spent. Further, once sealed in a container, problems have been encountered in the past in getting the small plantlets to photosynthesize.


An apparatus for measuring a fluid flow velocity vector including a signal generator for generating an oscillating electrical signal, an acoustic transmitter for generating an acoustic signal proportional to the oscillating electrical signal; and at least three acoustic receivers for receiving the acoustic signal and generating electrical signals which are phase shifted by the influence of the fluid flow, and a signal processor for receiving and processing the oscillating electrical signal and the electrical signals generated by the at least three acoustic receivers to determine time delays for each acoustical receiver caused by the influence of the fluid flow which are processed to determine the fluid flow velocity vector components.

The invention relates in general to anemometers, and, in particular, to sonic (acoustic) anemometers.
There exist acoustic anemometers, also called sonic anemometers, that measure the temperature and velocity vector components of the wind in the lower atmosphere. In all cases, the anemometers are relatively large, and data is acquired at low rates. The fundamental principle behind the operation of these existing acoustic anemometers is based on the transit time for an acoustic signal to travel along a fixed path from an acoustic transmitter to a receiver.
FIG. 1A shows a prior art anemometer 10. FIG. 1B illustrates the effect of wind velocity vector U on the sound ray vectors for the single axis, dual path configuration shown in FIG. 1A. If t1 and t2 are the transit times for an acoustic signal to leave transmitters 12 and 14 and arrive at the receivers 16 and 18,
t1=d/(m cos xcex1xe2x88x92U"xgr"),
t2=d/(m cos xcex1+U"xgr"),
where U"xgr" is the wind vector component parallel to the fixed path 20, d is the path length, m is the local speed of sound in air, and xcex1=sinxe2x88x921(Uxcfx86/m) is the angle of projection of m onto Uxcfx86, the wind vector component normal to U"xgr".
Two methods can be used to at least determine U"xgr". If the transmitters produce a simultaneous acoustic signal, then the difference between the transit times can be used,       U    ξ    ≈                              m          2                                  (                                    t              2                        -                          t              1                                )                            2                d              .
This reduction is an approximation since it is assumed that U"xgr" less than  less than m. A second method of reduction uses the transit time reciprocal, such that       U    ξ    ≈            d      2                          (                              1                          t              1                                -                      1                          t              2                                      )            .
The second method is exact, and is not dependent on m. Therefore, the local ambient temperature need not be determined.
The local ambient temperature can be determined from the transit times and the normal component of the velocity vector,                                           m            2                    =                                                                      d                  2                                4                                                                            (                                                            1                                              t                        1                                                              +                                          1                                              t                        2                                                                              )                                2                                      +                          U              ϕ              2                                      ,                                          =                      γ                                      xe2x80x83                                    RT                          ,
were xcex3 is the ratio of specific heats for air, typically xcex3=1.4, R is the gas constant for air, and T is the local ambient absolute temperature.
This method of reducing transit times into wind vector components limits the efforts in miniaturizing the measuring apparatus. A trade-off between transit time difference measurement and data acquisition rates is present. The distance d must be sufficiently long to allow high resolution of the transit time differences. Conversely, increasing the length of d requires a decrease in the tone frequency from the acoustic transmitters 12, 14, thereby limiting the highest sample rate possible with a digital data acquisition system.
Commercially available acoustic anemometers usually have d ranging between 10 to 20 cm, and the tone frequency from the transmitters at about 20 kHz. The configuration of several acoustic anemometers established in an array can simultaneously determine the three vector components of the wind, as well as the local ambient temperature. With typical dimensions, the smallest apparatus will have a sensing volume diameter of about 40 cm.
The present invention is an acoustic anemometer capable of instantly measuring all three components of the local wind velocity vector. In one embodiment the local temperature is also measured acoustically. The purpose of the anemometer is to measure the local wind velocity vector components and temperature to sufficiently high resolution such that all velocity and temperature turbulence scales are captured.

Acoustic anemometer for simultaneous measurement of three fluid flow vector components

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


A draw bar sling for lifting heavy loads such as railroad cars includes a lightweight rigid U-shaped saddle made, for example, of an aluminum alloy, having a central shelf for engaging the coupler tongue of the car and a concave passageway extending under the central section. A loop sling comprising a core bundle of high performance fibers, encased in a tubular abrasion resistant covering, extends in through the passageway to form two closed curve eye sections above the saddle through which a crane hook can be inserted to lift the coupler tongue. A cut proof sleeve surrounds each eye section to prevent the hook from cutting the high performance fibers. The cut proof sleeve comprises multiple layers of high performance fibers, and particularly Spectra, woven at right angles and sewn between sheets of abrasion resistant material.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to lifting slings and more particularly to lift slings designed for lifting heavy loads such as railroad cars.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Slings for lifting heavy objects such as railroad cars currently comprise a steel saddle or arc adapted to be inserted under a railroad car coupler tongue and a steel rope or cable which passes around the arch with a loop or eye at each end for receiving a hook attached to a crane line or cable. Railroad cars typically weigh between about 30 and 100 tons. A standard sling for lifting each end of the small 30 ton car is made of eight parts of 5/8" inches diameter wire rope and generally weighs about 110 pounds (lbs.). Steel slings for lifting a 60 ton car weigh about 210 lbs.
Two to four men are normally required to lift and position each sling in the confined area under the coupler tongue of the cars. It is not uncommon for workers to sustain injuries to their hands, feet or back in positioning the sling from their sheer mass and weight. Further, wires from the strands of wire rope can, and not infrequently do, break exposing workers to hazardous sharp wire ends which may result in serious hand or arm lacerations.
Slings comprising a core of parallel high tensile strength threads and yarns, such as polyester etc., encased in a protective cover, made of a similar material, are known. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,707,021, 4,232,619, 4,210,089, and 4,850,629. While such synthetic fiber slings are considerably lighter than steel rope, they would not be suitable for lifting objects such as railroad cars. First, the coupler tongue would create highly localized stress points in the sling tending to cut or abrade the covering and core. Second, the ends of the sling which loop around the crane hook would be subject to being cut and/or abraded.
There is a need for a light weight lifting sling which is capable of reliably lifting of heavy objects such as railroad cars.


A system-level simulation includes generating netlist information including component library information, which describes instances of the hardware components, and component instance information, which describes component dynamic libraries that include models of hardware components. The simulation is generated at simulation run-time based on the netlist information. Component dynamic libraries corresponding to the component library information are loaded based on the component library information. A simulation dynamic library referenced by the component dynamic libraries is loaded. One or more interlibrary adapters corresponding to the component dynamic libraries are loaded to provide compatibility between the component dynamic libraries and an application binary interface of the simulation dynamic library. Instances of hardware components are instantiated based on the component instance information, and the instantiated instances of the hardware components are connected to form the simulation. The simulation is performed at simulation run-time responsive to the simulation being generated.

SystemC is a system-level modeling language used for simulating the behavior of a system such as a system on a chip (SoC). SystemC allows a system to be described at different levels of abstraction. More specifically, SystemC is a language built in standard C++ by extending the C++ language with the use of class libraries. SystemC provides a system design and verification language that spans hardware and software. Example uses of SystemC include modeling partitioning of a simulation system, evaluating and verifying the assignment of blocks to hardware or software implementations, and measuring the interactions between and among simulated components.
Traditionally, a host compiler generates SystemC system simulations by statically linking together precompiled object files. Prior to execution of the simulation, the host compiler compiles simulation components into a simulation executable file. References by the simulation components to each other are bound to addresses internal to the simulation executable. Statically linked simulations are inconvenient for end users. When a component of the simulation is modified, the addresses associated with the bound references are no longer necessarily valid. Accordingly, the entire statically linked simulation is recompiled to relink references to the correct address, which results in significant time wasted for an end user managing simulations. Additionally, statically linked simulations expose the namespace of simulation components to other simulation components. As a result, different versions of a component cannot be simulated because these components use the same variable and function names. This limitation of static linking hampers simulation of systems with multiple subsystems.

Dynamically loaded system-level simulation


An apparatus for a removable inductive power pad is disclosed. The apparatus includes a frame with an opening in a top surface of the frame, and includes a removable pad with an inductive power transfer (“IPT”) pad embedded therein. The IPT pad is shaped to transmit power to a receiver pad positioned above the removable pad. The removable pad is sized to conform to the opening, where the opening of the frame is shaped to support the removable pad and the removable pad and the opening are sized so that a top surface of the removable pad is substantially level with the top surface of the frame. When the frame is located in a roadway, the frame and removable pad mounted in the opening of the frame are rated for vehicular traffic to drive over the frame and/or the removable pad without damaging the frame or the removable pad.

Fossil fuel vehicles produce pollutants and use natural resources that are typically not renewable. To reduce pollution, electric powered vehicles are becoming increasingly popular. For example, many cities are moving toward electric mass transit vehicles to reduce pollution. Mass transit vehicles powered by overhead power lines have disadvantages, such as high cost and unsightly overhead power lines. Battery powered mass transit vehicles have many advantages. However, most battery powered mass transit vehicles have batteries sized to run for an extended period between charging. A better solution is to incrementally charge mass transit vehicles at various stops along a route. Other types of vehicles may also benefit from road-mounted charging locations.

Wireless Advanced Vehicle Electrification, Inc.


An apparatus for actuating a tube guide expander device inserted in a tube end and extracting it therefrom subsequent to tube expansion induced by guide-expander actuation. The apparatus includes inner and outer sleeve structures which are independently axially displaceable relative to the tube and guide-expander. The outer sleeve structure is engageable with a first compression structure of the device to secure it and its engaged tube in place during relative axial displacement of a second compression structure of the device.. Selectively coupling the inner sleeve structure to the device's second compression structure and axial displacement of both axially compresses a radial expansion element situated between the compression structures and expands the enclosing tube. A series of balls are radially displaceable from an outer unobstructing position through radial openings in the inner sleeve structure and an intermediate sleeve structure to an inner obstructing position protruding into the inner sleeve structure's bore so as to axially engage a portion of the second compression structure and prevent its extraction from the bore during axial displacement of the inner sleeve structure. Radial displacement of the balls is provided by selective axial displacement of the intermediate sleeve structure arranged about the inner sleeve structure. Simultaneous axial displacement of the inner and outer sleeve structures away from the tube with the balls in obstructing position subsequent to the tube's expansion enables extraction of the guide-expander from the tube.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the expansion of tubes in shell and tube heat exchanger tubesheets, and more particularly, to means for actuating and extracting tube guide-expander devices releasably retained in and protruding from the ends of the tubes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Expanding tubes into contact with tubesheet apertures may be accomplished by the use of rolling tools, hydraulic expanders such as those described in commonly-assigned, allowed application Ser. No. 810,817, filed June 28, 1977, and other conventional means. The hydraulic tube expansion is performable after guiding the tubes into the appropriate tubesheet apertures and removing the tube guides from their ends. Commonly assigned, copending application Ser. No. 898,348, filed Apr. 21, 1978, describes bristled tube guides and apparatus for extracting them from the tubes prior to tube expansion. While removal of such bristled tube guides and subsequent expansion of the enclosing tubes would normally be performed manually by workmen from the inside of a channel head on the primary side of the tubesheet, repair or replacement of tubes in heat exchangers previously subjected to hazardous fluids such as the radioactive environment of nuclear steam generators necessitate minimizing workmen's exposure to the radioactivity.
Removal of the bristled tube guides prior to hydraulic or other tube expansion techniques require positioning the extraction and expansion tools in separate operations on each tube. Positioning and supporting such tools is preferably accomplished by a multi-purpose, remotely operated R.theta. machine as disclosed in commonly-assigned copending application Ser. No. 888,701, filed Mar. 21, 1978. While drastically reducing workmen exposure time to the radioactive environment, use of the aforemented bristled tube guide, extraction apparatus therefor, and hydraulic tube expander require at least one manual tool change for the R.theta. machine. During such tool change, the workman is subjected to radioactive exposure.
To further minimize workmen exposure to radioactivity a dual-duty guide expander was developed and is described in commonly assigned, copending application Ser. No. 955,688 filed Oct. 30, 1978. To effectively utilize such tube guide expander, development of an apparatus for actuating and extracting it from the tube was required.

Apparatus for actuating and extracting a tube guide-expander


In place of a controlled object structure, a reaction force simulating actuator is connected to an actuator controlling the structure for recording a displacement at the connecting point. A reaction force at the connecting point after a given period of time is calculated by a digital computer on the basis of the measured value of the displacement and so forth and a known external force. The reaction force simulating actuator is actuated to realize the reaction force calculated value after the given period of time. Accordingly, since a load substantially corresponding to the reaction force from the controlled object structure is provided to a drive device, a test of the controlling drive device to be used in a condition difficult to realize can be performed under substantially similar conditions as in actual usage.

The present invention relates to a method and a system for simulating a structural system including a drive mechanism or a controlling drive mechanism. More particularly, the invention relates to a method and a system for simulating a structural system including a drive mechanism or a controlling drive mechanism suitable for when testing of a controlled object is difficult due to the large length and/or size of the object or where an expected use environment for the object is difficult to simulate.
K. Takanashi, et al., "Japanese Activity on ON-Line Testing", J. of Engineering mechanics, ASCE. Vol. 113, 1987, pp. 1014-1028 discloses an excitation test and a numerical calculation through an on-line computer test.
R. W. Clough, "Dynamics of Structures", McGraw-Hill Kogakusha, Ltd., 1982, pp. 575-578 discloses excitation of a structure and an equation of motion.
A drive mechanism constituting of an actuator and a control unit therefore has been added to a structure in order to control position, velocity, acceleration and so forth on one or more points on the structure. Designing of a control system for the drive mechanism is analytically performed using dynamic characteristics of a controlled object structure, as well as the capacity and dynamic characteristics of the drive mechanism.
However, when the characteristics of the drive mechanism are different from those of a model for analysis, it is possible that a control requirement cannot be satisfied. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the performance of the drive mechanism, namely whether a targeted control can be achieved.
Conventionally, a performance evaluation test for the drive mechanism set forth above has been performed by actually constructing the controlled object structure, or the model of the structure and a controlled drive mechanism and by applying an expected external force and so forth to the controlled object structure.
However, when the structure of the controlled object has a large length and/or huge size, such as a high-rise building and so forth and when the controlling drive mechanism is an active mass damper, it has been difficult to evaluate the performance of the damper by a whole structure test before constructing the building.
On the other hand, when the use environment of the controlled object structure and the controlling drive mechanism is difficult to realize, such as weightlessness in space very high pressure at large depths under sea level, or so forth, the evaluation of the performance of the drive mechanism has been difficult. Also, simulation of the overall structure including the structure of the controlled object and the drive mechanism is equally difficult.
C. P. Price, "Space automation and robotics", AEROSPACE AMERICA, page 851 has introduced a technology for performing a test for a spacial structure on the earth.
The above-mentioned prior art is disadvantageous that it is difficult to implement the performance evaluation test for the controlling drive mechanism when the controlled object structure is difficult to be actually realized for a large length and/or huge size, or when the use environment cannot be realized. Also, the evaluation of performance of the overall structural system has been difficult.

Simulation method and system for simulating drive mechanism


The present invention relates to a stapled peptide, a preparation method thereof and the use thereof, and more specifically to an amphipathic alpha-helical stapled peptide comprising hydrophobic amino acids and hydrophilic amino acids, a preparation method thereof, and the use thereof for intracellular delivery of an active substance.

Typical known examples of cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) include TAT peptides, penetratin peptides, and artificially synthesized peptides comprising 7 to 9 arginine residues. It is known that these peptides are rich in arginine, easily recognize negatively charged substances on the cell surface, and enter cells by endocytotic mechanism.
Such cell-penetrating peptides have been used for intracellular delivery of substances that are difficult to deliver intracellularly, including large molecular substances such as proteins or nucleic acids, and even small molecules. However, such conventional peptides require micromolar concentrations to exhibit a sufficient ability to penetrate cells. These cell-penetrating peptides need to be covalently conjugated to the substance to be delivered into cells in order to increase the cell-penetrating ability of the substance. Thus, these peptides have insufficient efficiency. This is because physiologically active substances (such as proteins or small molecules) to be delivered into cells mostly perform their function at concentrations lower than micromolar concentrations. Thus, efforts have been made to develop a technology that enables cell-penetrating peptides to penetrate cells with high efficiency at lower concentrations.
In recent years, efforts have been made to prepare a stapled peptide from a portion of a physiologically active protein in order to regulate the physiological activity thereof. Such stapled peptides for regulating physiological activity mostly consist of hydrophobic amino acids. This is because amino acids playing an important role in protein-protein interactions consist mainly of hydrophobic functional groups.
Recently, the inventors of the application prepared a peptide multimer comprising covalent linkages at two or more amino acid positions of amphipathic alpha-helical peptides comprising hydrophilic and hydrophobic amino acids (PCT/KR2014/009778). It was found that this peptide multimer can be used as a cell-penetrating peptide. Particularly, as described in PCT/KR2014/009778, the present inventors previously prepared dimeric peptides by introducing cysteine instead of leucine into some hydrophobic residues of amphipathic peptides and connecting the peptides by two disulfide bonds. It was found that such dimeric peptides have a greatly increased alpha-helical content, are chemically stable, and have a cell-penetrating ability which is about 500-fold higher than conventional CPPs.
However, if one peptide of a dimeric peptide has 16 amino acid residues, the dimeric peptide consists of 32 amino acids. Thus, in order to develop a better cell-penetrating peptide, it is required to prepare a stapled peptide and compare the cell-penetrating ability thereof with that of a dimeric peptide.
Under this technical background, the present inventors have found that, based on a stapled peptide, a cell-penetrating peptide that is a peptide monomer can be prepared which has an improved cell-penetrating ability while maintaining its chemical stability, thereby completing the present invention.

Cell penetrating stapled peptide, manufacturing method therefor, and use thereof

SEOUL NATIONAL UNIVERSITY R&DB FOUNDATION


A method is disclosed for producing a heat exchanger having at least one heat transfer surface, wherein the heat is used in a thermodynamic process that uses a fluid that is condensed, expanded, evaporated, and compressed in a cycle process. The area of the heat transfer surface may be dimensioned with respect to a minimum surface area measurement of the heat transfer surface, the minimum surface area measurement being required at least for transmitting a minimum heat quantity to the fluid used with the heat exchanger in order to prevent a condensation of the fluid before, during, and after the compression process. The area of the heat transfer surface may be dimensioned based on a correlation between the molar mass of the fluid and the minimum surface area measurement of the heat transfer surface.

It is known to use heat exchangers in thermodynamic processes. The heat exchangers are in this case used, in particular, to heat a gaseous working fluid, or fluid for short, to a particular temperature level in order to ensure that the gaseous fluid remains in a gaseous state before, during and after the compression, i.e. respectively before entry into a compression device and after exit from a compression device. In this way, damage to corresponding compression devices due to so-called liquid slugging can be prevented.
Because of existing and future statutory regulations in the context of fluids to be used in corresponding thermodynamic processes, development of chemically complex fluids is to be observed, which are distinguished in particular by their good environmental compatibility as well as their safety properties.
The use of heat exchangers in the scope of thermodynamic processes using such fluids is difficult, in particular, since to date there is no known production method for corresponding heat exchangers, by means of which surface sizing of thermal transfer surfaces on the heat exchanger side is made possible in a technically reliable and satisfactory way, such that heat transfer that prevents condensation of such fluids before, after and during the compression is thereby ensured.

Method for configuring the size of a heat transfer surface


A method for controlling data packet traffic flow over a bus interconnecting two or more nodes in a data communication system, each node having a unique address associated therewith and having a respective buffer memory for temporarily holding incoming data communicated thereto, each node further being capable of multicast sending of data packets over the bus to one or more nodes having respective addresses logically associated a unique address, the method comprising: checking current available buffer memory occupancy upon receipt of a data packet, the node being capable of outputting for transmission on the bus a first flow control indicator message when the data temporarily stored in the buffer memory is above a first buffer occupancy threshold associated with data of a first priority type, and a second flow control indicator message when the data temporarily stored in the buffer memory is above a second buffer occupancy threshold, the second buffer occupancy threshold being greater than the first occupancy threshold; implementing logical flow control to prevent transmission of data packet traffic of the first priority from one or more sending nodes to two or more receive nodes logically associated with the outputting node at the priority in response to receipt of the first flow control indicator message; and, implementing physical logical flow control to prevent transmission of data packet at any data traffic priority in response to receipt of the second flow control indicator message.

The past years have witnessed a tremendous increase in the traffic volumes in both WANs like the Internet and also on-premise LANs like the Ethernet. This increase in traffic volume is due to new technologies, migration from a paradigm of central to distributed computing and a host of new applications. Also, the fast pace of technology growth is witnessing increasingly inter-disciplinary work in which groups of individuals from diverse groups/divisions come together for a project and disband. From a networking standpoint, this implies that the typical communities of interest (COI) such as a department no longer are the rule and in fact these COI are regularly changing. This results in severe network management problems. In addition to traffic volumes and network management problems there is also a bewildering variety of co-existing applications such as telephony, video and data networking. The seamless integration of these services poses an extreme challenge in both the premises network and the wide-area network. This has resulted in a dramatic shift from the present method of operation which typically involves routers and bridges to switching in the premises.
A type of switch architecture that has been considered is a dual-bus-based one with bus slots supporting various port cards that interface to the external world. FIG. 1 illustrates the switching hub architecture 10 including a switch fabric which is a dual-bus architecture where all port boards 25a, 25b, . . . , 25n transmit on a transmit bus 30 and receive from a separate receive bus 40. The transmit bus 30 is looped back onto the receive bus 40 through a loop-back circuit 45 located at the far end of the bus. In the example configuration of FIG. 1, the busses run at multi-Gbps speed, supporting port cards with aggregate rates up to OC-12. The port cards 25a, 25b, . . . , 25n are likely to have various interfaces ranging from CBR circuits like T1.5, Ethernet segments, ATM connections to desktops etc. In particular, such an architecture (or like) is considered as an attractive solution for access and backbone in campus, private or corporate networks.
Access to the bus is achieved via a variation of a round-robin discipline with priorities. Transmission on the bus is in units of envelopes which are ATM cells, e.g., wrapped in some local switch fabric headers which includes sequence numbers, flags and addressing information among other. It is assumed bus collision avoidance is accomplished by a suitable bus arbitration mechanism. The switching architecture could be employed to switch variable-sized as well as fixed size packets. On each visit of the poll to a port card, it is assumed that only one envelope is served. This is sufficient to maintain high throughput in a short backplane because the propagation delay is small and envelope transmission and arbitration by polling can be completely pipelined.
Referring back to FIG. 1, each port card 25a, 25b, . . . , 25n interfaces to the bus via a high-speed chip indicated as respective BIC (Bus Interface Chip) chips 50a, 50b, . . . , 50n that are assumed to have simple high-speed FIFO staging buffers 60a, 60b, . . . , 60n, respectively, for transmission on the unidirectional bus 30 and receipt from the unidirectional bus 40. The port cards 25a, 25b, . . . , 25n each contain a large amount of slow-speed memory, e.g., indicated as RAM 75a, 75b, . . . , 75n to serve as the primary buffering area to and from the actual physical ports represented as input and output arrows 31 to and from each respective RAM. Thus, the function of the BIC memory space 60a, 60b, . . . , 60n is to serve as a staging area for envelopes generated on the transmit side and as a rate-converter (from the bus transmission rates to the port transmission rates) on the receive side. Due to the large potential difference in rates between the bus speed and port rates, buffer overflows are a serious issue on the receive side of the BIC.
Routing in the fabric is achieved based on a logical addressing scheme whereby an address is assigned to each "logical" egress point which represents either a port card, in which case it will be referred to as a physical address as well, a port or even an ATM connection (VP/NVCI). Note that no source addressing is used in the switch, and hence all addresses refer to an egress point. As mentioned above, this logical (physical) address is part of the local envelope header. On the receive side, BICs use this address to filter envelopes destined to them.
There are many simple techniques for implementing physical flow control schemes for unicast-type traffic, e.g., by sending out a control packet or envelope containing buffer congestion indication to the sending BIC board and, for deactivating such flow control for unicast streams by sending a flow control packet that signals deactivation for streams destined to a particular physical address. However, multicast traffic, i.e., where ATM cell traffic is sent from a single source to multiple port boards, has its unique flow control problems. In multicast, routing is accomplished by simply assigning the same logical address to multiple physical entities (ports or boards).
Since the receiving BICs are potentially distinct in their traffic patterns and congest and un-congest independently, flow control is complicated. There are several known flow control strategies, ranging from simple strategies to sophisticated strategies. Simple strategies includes transmitting at a source to conform to the slowest receiver, i.e., the sender flow controls whenever any receiver is congested. Sophisticated strategies include flow control by the sender only when a significant number of receivers are congested. Strategies of the latter type are aimed at feeding the uncongested receivers at the fastest rate possible and not penalizing them for congestion at the slower receivers. However, they suffer from the disadvantage that a reliable multicast service will now require retransmissions to the slower receivers at a later time to overcome the losses. Sophisticated schemes are too complicated to implement at the BIC level and hence a simplistic flow control strategy is desired to operate multicast control at the sender when any receiving BIC is congested and de-controlling only when all the BICs are uncongested.
It would thus be highly desirable to provide a simple flow control mechanism by which congestion status of BICs receiving multicast streams may be determined and which may be appropriately used to de-control the sender.

Method for multi-priority, multicast flow control in a packet switch


A system and method for displacing instruments in a pipe having a portion thereof which is greatly inclined to the vertical. The system comprises in combination: a set of instruments mechanically linked to a first end of an electrically-powered displacement device, a semi-rigid composite rod that can be wound round a drum and at least one electric conductor. The method includes advancing the displacement device using the rod uncoiling from the drum. The system and method is of special use in inclined oil wells.

In the field of well logging, there are several well-known methods for displacing measuring instruments in greatly inclined or even horizontal pipes. It is possible to use drill rods made up end to end and equipped with a transmission cable placed in the inner space thereof, a continuous steel tubing (cabled coiled tubing) also comprising a transmission cable, or mechanical means for displacing measuring tools, such as hydraulically, electrically or electro-hydraulically-powered tractors. Measuring probe tractors are generally fed by an electric cable which supplies electric power to an electric motor driving a high-pressure hydraulic pump. The high-pressure hydraulic fluid actuates wheels placed against the wall of the well or of the pipe. The tensile or thrust force is of the order of 5 to 10 kN. These tractors are mechanically complex and costly because they cannot be too heavy, but they must however withstand the high pressures and temperatures to which they can be subjected in the pipe. Furthermore, the tensile strength of the electric feeder cable does not allow an excessive weight of the tractor. The power supply that can be transmitted is also limited. Moreover, the tensile or the thrust capacity depends on the coefficient of friction between the driving wheels and the wall of the pipe. This explains notably the relatively limited thrust or tensile capacities considering the weight of the feeder cable, the weight of the tractor itself and the weight of the tools to be displaced by the tractor. A conventional logging cable has a steel armouring with a rather high linear weight and wall friction coefficient. When a certain cable length is horizontal, the force of the tractor may not be sufficient to displace the total load. Furthermore, tractors cannot work in open holes because the rugosity of the rock face does not allow correct and effective contact of the driving wheels. Using a continuous coiled tubing equipped with an inner logging cable does not eliminate these drawbacks, on the contrary, because the linear weight thereof is even greater. Furthermore, the surface installation for maneuvering a coiled tubing is bulky and very costly.

Method and system intended for measurements in a horizontal pipe


A backlight module is provided. The backlight module includes a backplate, at least one supporter, and a plurality of light emitting devices. The supporter is disposed on the backplate, and includes a supporting portion and a buffering portion. The supporting portion is disposed between the buffering portion and the backplate. The elastic coefficient of the buffering portion is smaller than the elastic coefficient of the supporting portion. The light emitting devices are also disposed on the backplate. The supporter is disposed between the light emitting devices. The buffering portion of the supporter of the backlight module is adapted for buffering an external force applied upon the supporting porter or the element disposed thereupon.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a backlight source, and more particularly, to a backlight module having a buffering supporter.
2. Description of Related Art
With fast development of the displaying technology, people, facilitated with those developed display devices, are living with more convenience. Flat panel displays (FPD), having the advantages of light-weight and thin-volume, have become the main stream of the display market. Comparing with most other kinds of FPDs, liquid crystal displays (LCD) have presented superior characteristics, such as better space utilization, lower power consumption, non-radiation, and lower electromagnetic interference (EMI), and thus are widely welcome by consumers. LCDs are not self-emissive displays, and therefore they have to work together with additional light sources when displaying images. Generally, a typical LCD is often provided with a backlight module for providing a light source to an LCD panel thereof.
FIG. 1 shows a partial cross-sectional view of a conventional backlight module. Referring to FIG. 1, a backlight module 100 includes a backplate 110, a plurality of supporters 120, and a plurality of lamp tubes 130. The lamp tubes 130 are held by tube racks 150, and are disposed over the backplate 110. The supporters 120 are disposed between the lamp tubes 130. Typically, the supporters 120 and the tube racks 150 are often integrally configured together by an injection molding process and disposed on a substrate 160. With the above design, the supporters 120, the tube racks 150 and the substrate 160 are in fact an integrally formed structure. Further, the backlight module 100 is often equipped with a reflection sheet 140, and optical sheets 170 for example including a diffusion sheet, a brightness enhancement film, or a prism sheet. The reflection sheet 140 and the optical sheets 170 are adapted for processing the light source provided by the lamp tubes 130 to obtain a plane light source having a uniform brightness and a high luminous efficiency.
Moreover, the optical sheets 170 are usually supported by the supporters 120 and disposed in the backlight module 100. In other words, the optical sheets 170 are direct contact with the supporters 120. Therefore, when the backlight module 100 is configured with an external force, a friction between the optical sheets 170 and the supporters 120 may be caused. As such, the optical sheets 170 are often worn by the supporters 120, and thus are likely to be damaged. When the backlight module 100 of the LCD has such damaged optical sheets 170, images displayed by the LCD may present unsatisfactory displaying performance at where the damage occurs.


In the method for the preparation of maleic anhydride by oxidizing an aliphatic hydrocarbon in the presence of a phosphorus-vanadium-oxygen complex catalyst, the improvement which comprises employing a catalyst with enhanced surface adhesion thereby reducing attrition during preparation of the maleic anhydride.

A. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for the manufacture of maleic anhydride by the oxidation of aliphatic hydrocarbons, and more particularly to the use of low attrition catalysts suitable for producing maleic anhydride from saturated hydrocarbons in high yields.
B. Description of the Prior Art
Bergman et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,293,268 (hereby incorporated by reference) teaches a process of oxidizing saturated aliphatic hydrocarbons to produce maleic anhydride under controlled temperature conditions in the presence of a phosphorus-vanadium-oxygen catalyst.
Typical phosphorus-vanadium-oxygen catalysts for use in tube-type reactors are formed as pills, pellets, slugs, tablets, or extrusions, collectively termed "agglomerates". Charging of such catalyst agglomerates to a reactor is a problem because the agglomerates are dusty, that is, have very low attrition resistance and the phosphorus-vanadium-oxygen dust is moderately toxic. Catalyst structures are easily broken and such breakage can cause undesirable pressure drop difficulties during reactor operation. In attempts to alleviate such problems, high density forms have been employed using higher tabletting pressures. These high density forms, with corresponding lower porosity, are less active than low density forms.
If the attrition of low density phosphorus-vanadium-oxygen catalysts could be significantly reduced without detriment to catalyst performance in the production of maleic anhydride such reduction would constitute a significant advance in the art and is an object of this invention.


The basic wear-lining of a steel converter is made of refractory material at least partly composed of burnt magnesite. Maintenance is performed by spraying refractory material onto this lining or by "slagging-in". The effect of this maintenance procedure, in terms of the duration of the lining, are improved if the particles of the magnesite component of the wear-lining contain on average more than 61/4 percent monticellite. Material of this kind has not in the past been found suitable for a wear-lining.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method of operating a steel converter which has a basic wear-lining formed of refractory material at least partly composed of burnt magnesite including the step of performing maintenance on the said lining by intermittently spraying refractory material onto the wear-lining and/or slagging-in while the wear-lining is hot.
The invention also relates to a method of providing and maintaining such a wear-lining and to a steel converter which is provided with such a wear lining.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In this specification and claims, we use the term "steel converter" to refer not only to ladles used in steel-manufacture by the so-called LD-process but also to the vessels used in all other processes in which a mass of molten metal is refined to steel by blowing in or blowing on oxygen. Such vessels are usually provided with a so-called safety or permanent lining which is formed as brickwork on the steel wall of the vessel, and with a wear-lining which is contacted by the molten metal. It is common to reduce the rate of wear of the wear-lining, and thus increase the useful life of the lining, by performing a maintenance step on the wear-lining regularly after a certain number of charges of the converter. This step is either spraying a refractory mass onto the wear-lining or to coat the wear-lining with slag, in both cases while the lining is hot. The latter practice, so-called slagging-in, typically consists in that any residual slag left in the converter after steel tapping is distributed over the surface of the wear-lining by tipping the ladle. However, methods of distributing residual slag over the wall surface by spraying this slag are also known. None of these methods need any further explanation since they are sufficiently widely known in this technical field.
Although in the past, and even at present in Western Europe in particular, use is frequently made of bricks of burnt dolomite in the wear-lining, there is a marked trend to change over to bricks manufactured of burnt magnesite. It is generally accepted that the use of the latter material may result in prolongation of the useful life of the lining. Bricks of magnesite are obtained by pressing a starting material of burnt magnesite grains, mixed with coal tar products as a binding material, into bricks. Bricks are also sometimes made of magnesite grains which are burnt at high temperatures so that ceramic cohesion between the grains is achieved, whereafter the bricks are impregnated with coal tar products.
The burnt magnesite particles or grains used for the manufacture of such bricks consist chiefly of magnesium oxide, while other oxide components such as CaO, SiO.sub.2, Fe.sub.2 O.sub.3, Al.sub.2 O.sub.3, etc. may also be present to a greater or lesser degree. In mineralogical terms, the magnesite is composed of so-called periclase particles, the size of which typically varies between 0.01 and 0.1 mm. The other oxides mentioned above have various mineralogical combination types, which are principally of the periclase type. On account of their chemical affinity, the oxides CaO and SiO.sub.2 preferentially form compounds with each other, whether or not in combination with MgO.
G. R. Rigby, H. M. Richardson and F. Ball in "Bulletin of the British Refractories Research Association" No. 71 of June 1946, describe a method by which the mineralogical composition of sintered magnesite can be calculated on the basis of its chemical composition. This method, which has been confirmed by experiments, proposes that the ratio of the CaO and SiO.sub.2 oxides present is determinative of the type(s) of silicate produced. In a molar CaO-SiO.sub.2 ratio of 2 or more, these oxides form di-calciumsilicate or tri-calciumsilicate. If this molar ratio is between 1.5 and 2, the compounds di-calciumsilicate and merwinite (3CaO.MgO.2SiO.sub.2) are produced; if between 1 and 1.5, the compounds merwinite and monticellite (CaO-MgO.SiO.sub.2) are produced; if the molar ratio is less than 1, monticellite and forsterite (2MgO.SiO.sub.2) will be produced.
Generally in this technical field it is assumed that the longest life of the wear-lining can be achieved by using magnesite material of the highest possible grade. In this respect a high-grade magnesite material is assumed to be characterised by a maximum percentage of MgO and by a suitably chosen molecular ratio of CaO and SiO.sub.2.
The ratio of CaO to SiO.sub.2 in the magnesite is important particularly in those magnesite grades which contain large quantities of oxide other than MgO. This is the reason that, in the use of magnesite as a lining material for steel furnaces and in particular converters, in general the quality of the magnesite grade is assumed to be higher as the MgO content increases, and the requirement has been set that the molecular ratio CaO:SiO.sub.2 is greater than 2.
When the amount of dirt present is low, the periclase particles will be in direct contact and form a directly bonded structure, but if a high percentage of dirt is present, contact between the perclase particles is via an intermediate phase. If this intermediate phase is low-melting, the obvious assumption is that under operating conditions the wear resistance of the material will be harmed.
Recent developments have shown that the ultimate lifetime of the lining brickwork depends more and more on the extent to which attempts to apply maintenance material onto the wear-lining are successful.

Method of providing and maintaining a wear-lining of a steel converter and a steel converter having such a lining


Provided is a lens-driving unit reduced in size and improved in durability. A first flexible printed wiring board of the lens-driving unit has a terminal on one side connected to a first piezoelectric motor and lead in parallel to an optical axis, and the other side connected to a unit for power supply and control, in a loop shape gently bent to an opposite direction to the leading direction. A second flexible printed wiring board of it has a terminal on one side connected to a piezoelectric motor and lead in parallel to the optical axis, and the other side connected to a unit for power supply and control, in a loop shape gently bent to the opposite direction to the leading direction. At such reference plane a structure symmetrically having the second and the first flexible printed wiring board with respect to a reference plane, is employed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lens-driving unit utilizing a flexible printed wiring board.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, many imaging devices such as digital cameras adopt a type whereby a lens group moves in an optical axis direction. Based on such a type, the lens group is generally held by a lens group holding frame. The lens group holding frame is disposed so as to slide along the optical axis through a guide member provided for a casing.
Furthermore, such an imaging device is mounted with a lens-driving unit for driving the lens group holding frame. As the lens-driving unit, for example, lens-driving unit described in Japanese Patent Publication Nos. 2006-098577 and 2005-057837 are proposed. Such lens-driving units are provided with drive means and a flexible printed wiring board.
The drive means is drive the lens group holding frame using a drive force outputted from a driving device. On the other hand, the flexible printed wiring board is supply a control signal and drive power to the driving device. This flexible printed wiring board is made to bend in the optical axis direction so as to connect with the drive source to the power supply and control section. This allows, even if the lens group holding frame moves to slide in the optical axis direction, the flexible printed wiring board to follow the movement thereof.
However, in the lens-driving unit described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2006-098577, a piezo-element as a drive source extends perpendicular to the optical axis. Therefore, in this lens-driving unit, the direction of the driving device is different from the bending direction of the flexible printed wiring board. Therefore, the size of the lens-driving unit must be set to be long in the optical axis direction and the direction perpendicular to the optical axis direction respectively. This may cause the size of the lens-driving unit to increase.
On the other hand, in the lens drive device described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2005-057837, an oscillating wave linear motor as a drive source extends in the optical axis direction. For this reason, in this lens drive device, the direction of the drive device is the same as the bending direction of the flexible printed wiring board. Thus, this lens drive device can reduce the length in the direction orthogonal to the optical axis direction. Therefore, this lens-driving unit is able to make the lens-driving unit more compact.


A dialyzer holder for quickly and securely fastening a variety of different dialyzers in position against a surface of a dialysis machine. The dialyzer holder includes an elongated arm pivotably attached to the dialysis machine. An attachment device for engaging a dialyzer is fixed to the free end of the pivotable elongated arm. The pivotable elongated arm is biased to direct the attachment device toward the dialysis machine, and the elongated arm is of sufficient length to position a dialyzer between the attachment device and the dialysis machine when an operator overcomes the bias force and pivots the arm away from the dialysis machine. The bias on the elongated arm is sufficiently strong to maintain the dialyzer suspended between the attachment device and the dialysis machine, even once the dialyzer is filled with blood and dialysate during patient treatment. Frictional pads placed on the dialysis machine and the attachment device may help to inhibit movement of the dialyzer once it is suspended between the dialysis machine and the attachment device. The attachment device is adapted to engage a variety of different styles and sizes of dialyzers without requiring any type of modification. An alternative attachment device may be used when the dialyzer holder is primarily used with conventional hollow fiber dialyzers and plate dialyzers.

A dialysis machine is used as a substitute for the natural kidney functions of a human body. As such, the dialysis machine cleans the blood of the natural accumulation of bodily wastes by separating the wastes from the blood outside or extracorporeally of the body. The separated wastes are discharged and the cleansed blood is returned to the body.
A dialysis machine uses a dialyzer to separate the wastes from the blood. The dialyzer includes a porous membrane located within a closed housing which effectively separates the housing into separate blood and dialysate compartments. The blood removed from the patient flows through the blood compartment, while a prepared solution of dialysate is passed through the dialysate compartment. The wastes from the blood pass through the membrane by osmosis, ionic transfer or fluid transport into the dialysate and, depending upon the type of dialysis treatment, desirable components from the dialysate may pass in the opposite direction through the membrane and into the blood. The transfer of the wastes into the dialysate cleanses the blood while allowing the desired components from the dialysate to enter the bloodstream.
The transfer of blood between the patient and the dialyzer occurs within a disposable blood tubing set. The blood tubing set and the dialyzer represent a closed extracorporeal path through which the patient's blood travels. The blood tubing set includes an arterial line for drawing blood from a patient, a venous line for returning blood to the patient, and a number of other lines for connecting the arterial and venous lines to the dialyzer and a blood pump.
Two types of dialyzers commonly used in dialysis treatments include the hollow fiber dialyzer and the plate dialyzer. The hollow fiber dialyzer is typically formed from a cylindrical housing having a bundle of hollow microporous fibers extending between opposing ends of the housing. The microporous nature of the fibers allows blood to flow through the hollow interior of the fibers without passing through the walls of the fibers. The hollow fibers are sealed or potted at each end of the housing so that the open ends of the hollow fibers communicate with a blood manifold at each end of the housing, one manifold connected to a blood inlet and the other manifold connected to a blood outlet. The interior volume of the hollow fibers between the inlet and outlet manifolds thus collectively comprise the blood compartment of the dialyzer. A separate inlet and outlet on the cylindrical housing (between the blood manifolds) provides access for dialysate to enter and exit the cylindrical housing. The dialysate enters the housing through the inlet and flows around the hollow fibers in the area between the sealed blood manifolds. The area within the housing between the manifolds which is not consumed by the hollow fibers thus comprises the dialysate compartment. The microporous nature of the hollow fibers allows for the exchange of wastes and other desired components between the blood and the dialysate. The used dialysate is then pumped from the dialyzer while the cleansed blood is collected within the outlet manifold and returned to the patient.
The plate dialyzer typically includes a rectangular housing within which a plurality of membrane plates are stacked together, or within which a single membrane is folded over upon itself a number of times, so that the blood and dialysate compartments are defined on opposite sides of the adjoining plates. A blood inlet and outlet are positioned to communicate with the respective sides of the plates that define the blood compartment, while a dialysate inlet and outlet are positioned to communicate with the dialysate compartment defined by the opposite sides of the plates.
Although the hollow fiber dialyzer is typically more expensive to manufacture than the plate dialyzer, the hollow fiber dialyzer is used predominantly in the United States because it can be cleaned and reused with a single patient a number of times, thereby reducing the effective cost of each dialysis treatment. Due to the intricate flow path between the plates of a plate dialyzer, it is not currently feasible to clean and reuse a plate dialyzer. The cost per dialysis treatment is thus higher with a plate dialyzer than with a reusable hollow fiber dialyzer. However, in countries where a patient's dialysis treatment is subsidized or paid for by the government, plate dialyzers may frequently be used and disposed of as medical waste after each treatment. Additionally, as the cost of plate dialyzers drops, and due to other concerns associated with cleaning hollow fiber dialyzers (e.g., the man hours required to clean the dialyzers and environmental concerns relating to the chemical sterilants used in cleaning the dialyzers), the popularity of plate dialyzers has recently risen. Therefore, to provide hospitals and dialysis clinics with the freedom to choose the type of dialyzer which best suits their needs, and to provide them with the flexibility to change their choice as their needs change, it will be increasingly important for dialysis machines to accommodate both types of dialyzers. Furthermore, it is desireable for dialysis machines to accomodate other types of devices used in extracorporeal treatments, for example a hemo-perfusion cartridge or filter.
Present dialysis machines are typically designed to hold only one type of dialyzer, usually either a hollow fiber or a plate dialyzer. For example, the majority of dialysis machines sold in the United States include a simple receptacle for holding a hollow fiber dialyzer and do not include any means for conveniently holding a plate dialyzer. Force fitting a rectangular plate dialyzer into a receptacle for a cylindrical hollow fiber dialyzer could lead to a serious accident should the plate dialyzer become dislodged and damaged during treatment.
Some dialysis machines have been retrofitted to remove the receptacle for a hollow fiber dialyzer and replace it with a receptacle for a plate dialyzer (or vice-versa). However, such a replacement is difficult and is usually only undertaken when a hospital or dialysis clinic that has used substantially only one type of dialyzer converts to using the other type of dialyzer. Replacing or converting the dialyzer holders on each dialysis machine would not be feasible for clinics that may routinely use both types of dialyzers. Alternatively, some dialysis machines have been retrofitted with a second attachment device for holding a plate dialyzer or a hollow fiber dialyzer. However, these type of aftermarket fixes do not typically function well and, furthermore, producing both types of dialyzer holders represents an extra cost to dialysis machine manufacturers.
Thus, while a number of different types and sizes of dialyzers are currently available for use in dialysis treatments, hospitals and clinics are not always able to benefit from these advances due to the incompatibility of existing dialysis machines with the new dialyzers. Additionally, a similar incompatibility may exist with other types of devices used in extracorporeal treatments (e.g., a hemo-perfusion cartridge).
These and other considerations have contributed to the evolution of the present invention which is summarized below.


A delaying element includes a first XOR logic gate and a second XOR logic gate. A first input of the first XOR logic gate defines an input terminal. A first input of the second XOR logic gate is connected to an output of the first XOR logic gate. An output of the second XOR logic gate defines an output terminal. The second inputs of the first and second XOR logic gates are connected to a second input terminal.

In many applications, processing units, for example the central processing units (CPUs) of microcontrollers, use delay lines.
Many circuits use delay lines. It may, for example, be a question of a circuit for generating random numbers based on the use of delay lines looped back on one another.
There is a need to improve delay lines, for example for random-number generators, circuits delivering physically unclonable functions, and more generally in other applications where similar problems arise.


A method for measuring one or more characteristics of an earth formation wherebyenergy is emitted circumferentially about a borehole into the formation, and the amount reflected back is detected during a plurality of sample periods. The samples are grouped into two or more groups by the azimuthal sector in which the sample was collected. Within a group, each sample is mathematically weighted according to the standoff of the detector from the borehole wall when the sample was taken. Within a group, the weighted samples are summed to produce a weighted total amount of energy detected within a sector. The weighted total is then transformed into the one or more characteristics.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the investigation of subsurface earth formations, and more particularly to methods for determining one or more characteristics of an earth formation using a borehole logging tool.
2. Description of the Related Art
When drilling an oil and gas well, it is often desirable to run a logging while drilling (LWD) tool in-line with the drill string to gather information about the subsurface formations while the well is being drilled. The LWD tool enables the operators to measure one or more characteristics of the formation around the circumference of the borehole. Data from around the borehole can be used to produce an image log that provides the operator an "image" of the circumference of the borehole with respect to the one or more formation characteristics. The data can also be accumulated to produce a value of the one or more formation characteristics that is representative of the borehole circumference.
One type of LWD tool incorporates gamma-gamma density sampling to determine one or more formation characteristics. In gamma-gamma sampling, gamma rays are emitted from a source at the tool and scatter into the formation. Some portion of the radiation is reflected back to the tool and measured by one or more detectors. Formation characteristics, including the formation density and a lithology indicator such as photoelectric energy (Pe), can be inferred from the rate at which reflected gamma radiation is detected. Generally, the more radiation detected by the detectors the lower the density of the formation.
The amount of radiation detected is measured in counts, and is usually expressed in counts per unit time, or count rate. The statistical precision of the count rate is a function of the total counts acquired in a measurement. Precise measurements of low count rates require a longer acquisition time than equally precise measurements of high count rates. Generally, a measurement period of between 10 and 20 seconds is required to obtain a sufficient amount of data for a precise measurement of a formation characteristic. However, typical drilling rates require that the rotational period of the drill string, onto which the LWD tool is mounted, be less than one second. Thus, count rate data from several rotations must be combined to achieve a precise measurement.
In ideal conditions, the counts collected from the several rotations can be summed linearly. Many factors affect the accuracy of the measured count rate both at different points around the circumference of the borehole and at the same point from rotation to rotation. Therefore, various methods have been developed to account for the inaccuracy in the count rates as they are built up for several rotations. The effectiveness of such methods ultimately affects the accuracy of the assessment of the one or more formation characteristics.
One factor that affects the accuracy of the count rate data accumulated during the measurement period is the proximity of the detector to the borehole wall, or standoff. The standoff of the tool can vary azimuthally around the circumference of the borehole, as well as at the same point from rotation to rotation. When the standoff is low, and the detector is close to the borehole wall, the detector is reading radiation reflected primarily from the formation. When the standoff is high, drilling mud that is continually being circulated about the tool fills the annular space between the detector and the borehole wall. The detector in this case is then reading radiation reflected from the formation and the drilling mud, and the resultant count rate is not representative of the formation.
Typically, if the borehole is in gauge and of uniform circular cross-section, the standoff will be substantially consistent around the circumference of the borehole. With consistent standoff or small variations in standoff, known statistical methods can make adequate compensation for the effect of the drilling mud. However, many situations arise where the standoff can vary substantially for different azimuthal angles. More substantial variations in standoff impact the accuracy of the count rate and are more difficult to compensate, particularly as the offset becomes large. For example, the borehole gauge can be elliptical, and if the tool remains centered in the bore the standoff would be the greatest at the major axis of the ellipse. Thus, the mud would have a greater affect on the count rate when the detector is near the major axis, and a lesser affect on the count rate when the detector is near the minor axis. In another example, the gauge of the borehole can be oversized, though circular, elliptical, or otherwise. In such a situation, the tool may walk around the borehole tending to contact the borehole wall at many different points. In a borehole that is highly deviated or almost horizontal, the tool may sometimes climb the sidewalls. Irregular variations that occur when the tool walks in the borehole are difficult to compensate, especially when the standoff changes are large.
Another factor that must be accounted for, particularly when a formation characteristic representative of the borehole circumference is desired, is the variation in the measured parameter at different points around the circumference of the borehole. Typically, earth formations are sedimentary, and thus consist of generally homogenous horizontal layers. Occasionally, however, the layers will have discontinuities of notably different characteristics. The borehole may intersect the discontinuity such that a portion of the borehole circumference has different characteristics than the remainder. Even without a discontinuity, the characteristics of the borehole may be different in different portions of the circumference. For example, a highly deviated borehole may cross a horizontal boundary from one formation to the next at an angle. In some cases, a portion of the borehole circumference is representative of one formation while the remainder is representative of another formation. Such variations in formation characteristics can usually be seen in an image log.
Known techniques that attempt to compensate for perturbations in the count rate have tended to concentrate on achieving an accurate representative value of the formation characteristic for the borehole circumference, rather than an accurate borehole image. As such, the known techniques have relied on generalizations of the data in their methods. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,397,893 to Minette, discloses a method that groups or bins data by azimuthal angle, preferably by quadrant, or by the amount of standoff when the measurement is taken. The data that is grouped by azimuthal angle, that is the most useful for determining a borehole image, does not take in to account actual standoff. The data grouped by standoff is not associated with azimuthal angle to enable correlation with its position in the borehole.
Another system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,473,158 to Holenka et al. teaches a method whereby data is also grouped by quadrant. The statistical distribution of each quadrant is analyzed, and an error factor for each quadrant is calculated. The error factor is then applied to the entire quadrant, rather than the individual data grouped therein. Such generalization by quadrant is not ideal for devising a borehole image nor a representative formation characteristic of the borehole.
Therefore, there is a need for a method of measuring one or more characteristics of formation that more accurately accounts for perturbations in the measurements. Further, it is desirable that this method enable accurate imaging of the entire circumference of the borehole.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Methods for determining characteristics of earth formations